We need to go on with the Lord from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life, and for this we need to go on from the wilderness to the good land where we have the all-inclusive Christ as our everything for the building up of the solid temple of God.
It is good to have the tabernacle as the portable, movable, God’s building, but this tabernacle doesn’t have a solid foundation, and it doesn’t have any stone in its construction. We need to go on with the Lord to enter into the good land where there are materials suitable for the temple’s construction, and we need to give up any wandering in the wilderness of our soul and enter into the full enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ.
Where are the churches today: are they in the wilderness, receiving revelation, building the tabernacle, and feasting on the manna and the water coming from the rock? Or are they in Colossians and Ephesians, walking in a spacious land full of the unsearchable riches of Christ?
We should not be satisfied to remain in a “tabernacle church life” but have a hunger and thirst for something higher in the church life than we have yet experienced.
The Lord within us aspires that we go on with Him for Him to obtain the temple church life in the good land; He wants us to come out of “Corinth” (with the Passover, the manna, the smitten rock, etc) and into Ephesus (with all the unsearchable riches of Christ), out of the wilderness and into the good land, and out of our soul and into our spirit. Amen, let us go on to the good land and possess it by means of the ark and the tabernacle!
The Ark preceded the children of Israel and stayed in the riverbed of Jordan until all have crossed over (Josh. 3:14-17), and by virtue of the ark and the tabernacle, the children of Israel entered into the good land.
May the Lord uplift our experience of Christ and bring us into a higher level, the good land, where the temple can be built up, and may we all press on toward the good land in the church life to have not merely a “tabernacle church life” but a solid “temple church life”!
Seeing how the Tabernacle and the Temple Typify two Aspects of the Church
In the Old Testament we have the tabernacle and the temple as God’s dwelling place; up until king David, there was the tabernacle, and then Solomon built the temple and brought all the items of furnishings from the tabernacle into the temple.
In 1 Kings 8:1-11 we see how the tabernacle was merged with the temple; you could say that the tabernacle was a portable precursor moving through the wilderness, while the temple was the consummation of God’s building in typology.
The tabernacle was a movable “tent of meeting” for God and man, but the temple was a solid building made with stones and iron build upon Mount Zion, a peak of Mount Moriah. Both the tabernacle and the temple signify Christ and His enlargement.
The tabernacle signifies Christ as the embodiment of God to be with man, dwell among man, and be the meeting place of God and man wherever man is in his wandering on earth. The temple signifies the incarnated Christ, the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9) as God’s dwelling on the earth (John 2:19-21; 1:14).
Furthermore, the tabernacle signifies the built-up people of God to be God’s dwelling place, and the temple signifies the enlargement of Christ (the Head) for God’s dwelling place with man on earth. Both the tabernacle and the temple signify the church, but they point to different aspects of the church.
The tabernacle is temporary and on the periphery, signifying the condition of the church on earth, and being a symbol of the local churches. The temple is eternal and in the center, typifying the eternal condition of the church before God, being a symbol of the reality of the Body of Christ.
The dimensions of the temple and of the Holy of Holies in the temple were twice those of the tabernacle, and the size and number of furnishings (with the exception of the Ark) were greatly increased (see 1 Kings 6:2, 20; 2 Chron. 4:1-8; cf. Exo. 26:3, 16, 18, 22-24, 33).
For example, the tabernacle was thirty cubits long, ten cubits high, and ten cubits wide; the temple was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits high and wide. The Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was a cube of ten cubits each way, and in the temple it was a cube of twenty cubits.
This shows us that we need an enlarged and increased experience of Christ to go on from the tabernacle church life to the more solid temple church life.
Lord Jesus, we want to go on from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life; bring us onward with You to have a higher experience of Christ for the building up of the solid church life. Lord, may we see not only the condition of the church on earth but the eternal condition of the church before God. We want to enter into the reality of the Body of Christ by being in the local churches today and having an enlarged and increased experience of Christ!
Having an Enlarged Experience of Christ in all His Riches for the Temple Church Life
The fact that the dimensions of the temple and of the furnishings of the temple (with the exception of the Ark) were twice than that of the tabernacle indicates that, although Christ Himself (signified by the Ark) cannot be enlarged, our experience of Christ in all His riches should be greatly increased and enlarged to match His enlarged expression!
Our experience of Christ in all His riches, as signified by the temple and its furnishings and utensils, should be increased and enlarged for the building of the temple church life, the reality of the Body of Christ.
We need to be strengthened with power through the Spirit into the inner man so that Christ may make His home in our heart through faith, so that we may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the length, breadth, depth, and height are, that is, for us to know the universal dimensions of Christ in our experience of Him in the church life (see Eph. 3:14-19).
An example of having an increased experience of Christ is offering to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Many saints give God all kinds of offerings, giving Him their time, money, and having sweet experiences of Him, but because they lack in affection, they don’t offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.
What God desires is not a lot of sacrifices which can be offered to Him without us being touched in our hearts, but that we would offer a prayer of thanksgiving, having our hearts deeply touched and having our being filled with affection and tender feeling toward God (see Psa. 50:14 and footnote in Recovery Version). We need to offer Christ to God as a thanksgiving offering every day so that we may have a most deep relationship with Him.
The Apostle Paul had many experiences of Christ, preached the gospel in many countries, and perfected many believers in their pursuit of Christ, and still, 26 years after his conversion, he yearned that he would pursue Christ, know Him, and be found in Him, not having his own righteousness but the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith, so that he may know Christ and the power of His resurrection (see Phil. 3:7-14).
No matter for how long we have been saved, our aspiration should be that we pursue Christ to gain Christ, forget the things which are behind and stretch forward toward the vast unexplored territory of Christ before, and pursue toward the goal of the highest enjoyment of Christ.
We need to be daily strengthened by the Father into our inner man so that Christ may make His home in our heart and we would be filled with strength to apprehend with all the saints the universally vast dimensions of Christ, having an enlarged and increased experience of Christ in all His riches for the temple church life.
The tabernacle typifies God’s church on earth (His church in the many localities on earth), whereas the temple signifies the church as the reality of the Body of Christ (see Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 21:10-11). The local churches are the precious procedure God is using to bring us into the reality of the Body of Christ as the glorious goal of God’s economy!
In the local churches with the saints we need to enjoy and experience Christ in an enlarged and increased way so that we may enter into the reality of the Body of Christ and have the temple church life!
Lord Jesus, we want to have an enlarged and increased experience of Christ in all His riches with all the saints so that we may enter into the reality of the Body of Christ, the “temple church life”. Amen, Lord, be increased in our experience and enjoyment. We want to offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving for all He is, all He has, and all He has done for us, being filled with affection and tender feeling toward God. Thank You, Lord! We just want to pursue Christ, run after Him, be strengthened into our inner man, and be in the church life with the saints to apprehend all the vast dimensions of Christ and enter into the reality of the Body of Christ!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, Ed Marks sharing in the message for this week, and Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 57, ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Church as the Temple of God – The Goal of God’s Eternal Economy (2015 Thanksgiving Conference), week 1 / msg. 1, Going On with the Lord from the Tabernacle Church Life to the Temple Church Life.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Thou art the tabernacle too, / God’s holy dwelling place; / Incarnate in the flesh Thou art, / And full of truth and grace…/ The temple was a type of Thee; / The house of God Thou art; / God dwells in Thee, Himself to show, / His fulness to impart. (Hymns #194)
# Lord, deeper make Thy home in me / ’Til ev’ry room belong to Thee, / That Thou might fully make me Thee / And so full rest Thou have in me. / Oh mystery of mysteries— / Lord, Thou in me and I in Thee! / The church, Thy tabernacle, we; / Our temple, Thou eternally. (Song on the church)
# Riches of Christ are typified / By Canaan’s produce rich and sweet, / With which the temple great was built, / The Church’s greatest type replete. (Hymns #820)
About aGodMan
This psalm tells us that some of the saints of God were offering burnt offerings and other kinds of offerings (vv. 8-13), but because they were lacking in affection, they would not offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. Thus, the psalmist, speaking for God, indicated that what God wants is not the burnt offering but the thanksgiving offering. We can offer certain offerings without being touched in our hearts, but when we are thankful to God and offer to Him a prayer of thanksgiving, our hearts are deeply touched and we are filled with affection and tender feeling toward God. This is the kind of offering God desires. Psa. 50:14, footnote, Recovery Version Bible
Just like the Passover is a type or picture of Christ (1 Cor. 5:7), the temple is a type of the church (1 Cor. 3:16). We need to follow the example in these Old Testament pictures to advance in our Christian life from tabernacle church life to the more solid temple church life. We need to advance from wandering in the wilderness of our soul where the tabernacle was to living in Christ as our good land where the temple was built. May we aspire to live such a church life.