As Minister of the True Tabernacle, Christ Ministers Himself to us by His Dispensing

The ascended Christ is a Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle (see Heb. 8:2); as such a One, Christ ministers Himself to us as food, as our life supply, in the way of dispensing.

The actual reason that the epistle to the Hebrews was written and sent to the Hebrew believers in Jerusalem is in Heb. 10:23-25, and it is related to the church life.

This week we want to see more concerning, Practicing the Church Life under the Ministry of Christ as the Minister of the True, the Heavenly, Tabernacle.

The Hebrew believers in Jerusalem were suffering persecution; they were plundered of their goods, some were in prison, and they practiced the church life in an exceedingly difficult situation.

As a result, a significant number of believers were forsaking the church life to return to Judaism; they were abandoning their assembly together, leaving grace for the law, leaving the new covenant for the old covenant, leaving the New Testament economy for the Old Testament, leaving the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek for the earthly outward Aaronic priesthood, leaving the church life for the temple, leaving Christ as the reality of all the offerings who made redemption once for all, and returning to animal sacrifices, counting the blood of Jesus a common thing.

Paul’s practical intention in writing this epistle, which is filled with the word of righteousness and contains many sombre words of warning together with an amazing unveiling of Christ in His heavenly ministry and a clear speaking concerning the coming kingdom, is that he wanted the believers would remain faithful to the transfer that has taken place, and they would go outside the camp of religion, bearing the reproach of the Lord Jesus, even as inwardly they had the blessing of going within the veil.

There is a practical, actual, and experiential connection between the heavenly ministry of the ascended Christ and every aspect of the church life. We need to see this connection.

Christ is interceding for us in the heavenly Holy of Holies, bearing us before God, shepherding us, and He’s the Pioneer and the Forerunner encouraging us, the Mediator of the new covenant and its Executor wanting to make real to us all the bequests of the new covenant.

At the same time, Christ is a heavenly Minister, as a Priest, and His ministry is transmitted into us to supply us with whatever we need humanly, physically, and spiritually, and to sustain us with a particular supply that we may go on.

Christ is a Minister of the Holy Places, Ministering Heavens to us that we may Live a Heavenly Life on Earth

Our ascended Christ today in the heavens is a Minister of the holy places, even of the true tabernacle in the heavens; as such a One, He ministers heaven into us. Christ as a Minister of the true tabernacle ministers heaven (which is not only a place but also a condition of life) into us.

He wants us to be able to sense deep within our spirit a certain atmosphere and condition of life, so that in the midst of whatever is going on outwardly, physically, personally, and corporately, we would live within in another realm, the heavenly realm, by the divine and heavenly supply.

The present Christ – who is now in the heavens as our Minister – is ministering to us the heavenly life, grace, authority, and power, and He is sustaining us to live a heavenly life on earth as He did when He was here (see Heb. 1:3; 4:14; 7:26; 9:24).

We need to learn to come to the Lord and let Him minister to us. We need to recognize that we can’t live without Him, we can’t even be a human being without Him; eventually we all will be simplified and come to Him to say,

Lord, I don’t know what I need, but You do; I will let You minister Yourself into me for the sake of the church. Lord, supply me for the sake of the church with whatever You think I need.

The Lord is constantly serving us: when he was on earth, He came not to be served but to serve; in His heavenly ministry He is serving us, and amazingly as per Luke 12, at the feast in the kingdom, the Lord will still come forth and serve the overcomers.

Today we as believers in Christ cannot live without the Lord; we need His supply, and our experience confirms what Paul already said, which is that His grace is all-sufficient to us. His grace is not just sufficient in general but sufficient for us, in a personal way.

Christ always lives to intercede, and He ministers Himself into us as the heavenly life, power, and authority, so that we may live a heavenly life on earth even as He did.

Sometimes, as we enjoy the Lord and exercise our spirit to contact Him in a normal way in life and peace, there’s a bountiful supply, an unexpected and undeserved influx of grace and life and power, that is beyond our exercise; we enjoy such a supply and are very nourished.

And then, shortly thereafter, something devastating happens.

This is the Lord’s care under His sovereignty; He knows that a certain thing is about to take place, and it has passed through the throne under His sovereignty; He knows that it s hard to bear, and He knows we need a particular supply; He knows that, as this particular thing happens, we may lose our spiritual balance, so He supplies us in advance with whatever we need to pass through that situation.

Christ is in the heavenly Holy of Holies, ministering in the tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man; He bears all believers in all their situations, and Christ ministers Himself to us all as our supply.

Thank You Lord for being the heavenly Minister in the heavens who constantly ministers Himself into our being to supply us and nourish us with whatever we need to live a heavenly life on earth. Lord Jesus, we need You. We can’t live without You, without Your constant supply. We can’t do anything without Your dispensing, Your ministering of the heavenly life, power, authority, and supply into our being. Keep us under Your divine dispensing today, enjoying You by the exercise of our spirit to receive Your supply.

Christ Ministers Himself to us as Food, and we Receive His Dispensing in our Spirit

The heavenly Christ is ministering in the tabernacle which the Lord pitched, not man (Heb. 8:2); this tabernacle, this sanctuary, is in the third heaven, in which is the heavenly Holy of Holies. The heavenly Holy of Holies, where Christ is ministering on our behalf, is connected to our spirit (Heb. 4:12).

Christ’s ministry in the heavens takes care of our needs (Heb. 4:15); from the heavens, Christ ministers Himself to us as food, as our life supply, and He does it in the way of dispensing. Everything related to God and our personal relationship with Him is a matter of dispensing.

Based on the redeeming blood of the Lamb, we can come to the Lord just as we are, washing our robes and coming to receive His dispensing.

The Lord gets tired of us coming to Him and telling Him “how bad we are”; He wants us to come to Him and open to Him, receiving His dispensing, for Christ ministers Himself to us as food. As our Minister, Christ, takes care of our needs, He also carries out God’s economy (Eph. 1:10).

On the one hand He ministers Himself to us to meet all our needs, and on the other, He carries out God’s economy; He takes care of our need in relation to God’s economy. Whatever Christ carries out as the heavenly Minister, He applies to us as the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:17).

The supply that we need comes from the Christ who is both the Lord in the heavens and the Spirit within us (Acts 2:36; Rom. 8:11).

What Christ is doing right now in the heavens is being transmitted into our spirit, and when we exercise our spirit and live in spirit, we cooperate with the heavenly ministry of the ascended Christ.

We want to learn to live in our mingled spirit under the continual transmission of Christ, for Christ ministers Himself to us as food and supply constantly. Now we may experience Him in all His functions as the ascended One (Heb. 1:3; 9:24; 12:2).

We shouldn’t try to figure out what He’s doing, what is He working in our being, or what He’s ministering to us; we should simply exercise our spirit and let the Spirit make real to us what Christ is doing in us.

Christ is administrating the universe – and our personal universe, He is shepherding His flock – and He’s shepherding us personally, He’s encouraging us all – and personally He’s encouraging each one of us, and He is producing overcomers – He can produce us as His overcomer, and He will make us His overcomers.

All we have to do is make sure we are open to His divine dispensing; Christ ministers Himself into us as food and supply, transmitting whatever we need from God the Father (who is the source) into our spirit to supply and sustain us.

We need to be assured that, whatever happens to us and whatever happens in the church, we will have the supply from the Lord, and we will have the grace to sustain us.

Lord Jesus, for the sake of the church, train us to live daily under Your divine dispensing, receiving all that You as the Spirit are transmitting into our spirit. Keep us contacting You in spirit and living in spirit so that everything we do and say would be under the divine transmission. We realize that You want to dispense Yourself into us – Amen, Lord, here we are, opening to You to enjoy You and receive Your divine dispensing to meet our every need! Keep us open to You all throughout the day to receive the divine dispensing so that we may enjoy the ministering of the heavenly Christ through the Spirit!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 35, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Cooperating with the Heavenly Ministry of the Ascended Christ (2017 Spring ITERO), msg. 7 (week 7), Practicing the Church Life under the Ministry of Christ as the Minister of the True, the Heavenly, Tabernacle.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, grant me today’s supply of grace; / May Your divine life grow apace; / Little by little, day by day, to grow / More and more, into You. / Lord, grant me a heavenly, corporate view; / That all of my growth and prayers to You, / Little by little, day by day, / Would cause building up into the New Jerusalem. (Song on the Lord’s supply)
  # Just to be in You as You’re in me. / Just abide in You, Lord, constantly. / Here I’m one with You, as You’re with me. / Here we’re joined as one, Lord, mutually. / God’s dispensing, His economy, / In His Trinity, / He’s transfusing, and He’s mingling / All He is to me. (Song on God’s dispensing)
  # It is our destiny, / To live a normal life in the divine dispensing, / It is a blessing, / To be satisfied with ordinary days / in the divine dispensing. (Song on the divine dispensing)