The picture of the tabernacle in the Old Testament shows us that our God is enterable; He wants His people not merely to outwardly serve Him but enter into Him through the screen (the first veil, signifying Christ who died for us to bring us to God) and the veil (the second veil, signifying the rending of the flesh so that we may enter deeper into God).
Just as the tabernacle in Exodus was enterable, so our God through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection has become enterable: now we as God’s people can enter into God and make our home in Him, even as He makes His home in us.
When Christ became a man He as the Word of God tabernacled among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and reality (John 1:14).
In the Old Testament the priests could enter into the tabernacle, and today all the believers in Christ, as priests, can enter into God and dwell in Him (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 1 John 4:13, 15).
The Lord came through incarnation so that, through His death and resurrection, we would enter into God and dwell in God, even as God dwells in us. Praise the Lord, the incarnated God has become our dwelling place, our home, as a place of enjoyment, and God has been our dwelling place through all the generations until the New Jerusalem, where we will forever dwell in Him (see Psa. 90:1; Rev. 21:22)!
As seen in the type of the tabernacle, there are at least two ways or aspects of our entrance into God: first there’s “the screen”, the entrance to the Holy Place, and then there’s “the veil”, the entrance to the Holy of Holies.
God wants us to enter into Him in a deep and intrinsic way, and His heart’s desire and intention can be revealed to us when we enter into the Holy of Holies.
The first veil, “the screen”, is a type of Christ in His perfect humanity as One who keeps away all negative persons and things outside God’s dwelling place; at the same time, this One, Christ, died for our sins under God’s judgement so that we may be forgiven by God and enter into God’s holy place to enjoy all the riches of God in Christ.
The second veil signifies Christ who died for us, the sinners; His flesh was torn on the cross for us to have a way into God, and now our flesh – our fallen nature – needs to be torn, crucified, so that we may fully enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God to the uttermost.
The Five Pillars attached to the Screen: The Evangelists who Bring People to God
The screen – the first veil of the tabernacle, the veil between the outer court and the Holy Place – was attached to five pillars made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, in silver sockets (see Exo. 26:32, 37).
The screen typifies Christ, but the five pillars attached to the screen signify stronger believers who are identified with the incarnated and crucified Christ to bring men to God; these are the evangelists who preach the gospel boldly and bring people to God.
These pillars right at the entrance of the tabernacle are evangelists, who declare to all that Christ died for their sins. There’s a great need for such pillars, evangelists as gifts given by the Lord to the Body (see Eph. 4:16).
Such ones have a great capacity and power to preach the gospel, and they not only speak the gospel with boldness but also are part of the priesthood and function in coordination to bring the repentant sinners into the building of God, the church.
Such ones preach the gospel in the Body and for the Body, bringing people to God in the church for them to enjoy God in Christ as their portion. The evangelists not only bring people to the cross (typified by the altar of burnt offering in the outer court) and to the washing of regeneration (typified by the laver); they are at the entrance of the tabernacle one with the Lord, and they bring people to God in God’s dwelling place.
We need to be the evangelists one with the Lord, those who live and breathe for the salvation of the unsaved, and we need to be perfected by those who are gifted to be an evangelist so that we may be in such oneness with the Lord to bring others to God.
As those who preach the gospel to bring people to God in His dwelling place, we need to be in coordination, in God’s building; we need to be one with the incarnated Christ to be an entrance for many into God’s building, the church.
We need to seek out to have fellowship and learn from others in the Body, be impressed with the evangelists’ view, practice, and burden, so that we may do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5) to bring others to God to enjoy Him.
There were five pillars holding the screen to the tabernacle, and in between there were four entrances; this shows us that God’s dwelling place is open to all people from the four corners of the earth (Rev. 5:9).
God has opened Himself up in Christ for man to come in; there are four entrances to all men from all over the earth to come into God! No matter the race, culture, nation, ethnic group, the gospel is sounded out by Christ through those who are one with Him to preach the gospel, and God saves man without partiality!
Therefore, whenever someone contacts us in this increasingly divisive society, they need to sense that they are welcomed here with no bias, no partiality! We welcome everyone home in God in the church life!
Lord Jesus, we want to preach the gospel to bring men to God in the Body! We consecrate ourselves to preach the gospel in the Body and for the Body. We want to be one with You as the incarnated Christ to bring sinners to salvation through preaching the gospel to all nations. Praise the Lord, our God is enterable, and in and through Christ man can enter into God and enjoy all the riches of God in Christ! Lord, we want to be one with You to do the work of an evangelist and be perfected to preach the gospel, lead men to salvation, bring them into the church as God’s building, and welcome all men home in God in the church!
The Four Pillars attached to the Veil: Experiencing Christ in a Deeper Way and being One with the Crucified Christ
Once we enter into the tabernacle in the Holy Place, we can enjoy Christ as the showbread table (the food for our daily life supply), the lampstand (the light of life shining on us and purifying us, infusing us, and transfusing us with God), and the incense altar (praying one with Christ for God’s interest and His economy).
However, there’s yet another veil to yet another dimension of God: the veil to the Holy of Holies, through which we can enter deeper into God. This veil typifies Christ who died for us, the persons, the sinners, so that our flesh may be crucified for us to enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God to the uttermost (see 2 Cor. 5:14-15, 21).
This veil was hung on four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold; these pillars are those who experience Christ in a deeper way, those who daily attach themselves to the torn veil, to the Christ who was terminated in His flesh, and bear the testimony that they have been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20).
We need to have more such brothers and sisters who have the experience of the flesh being torn, crucified, and whose being becomes an entrance to the Holy of Holies for all the saints to enter in and enjoy God.
Such ones don’t scold, criticize, or judge others but they minister Christ to them and gently usher them to where they have never been before: God Himself.
Such ones don’t “impose the cross” on others but they know where they are; if they are in the Holy Place enjoying the Lord as the life supply and the light of life, they minister life to them until they have a deeper hunger for God.
The pillars in the tabernacle are one with the rent veil to usher the seeking saints into God; they don’t prematurely force others to enter deeper into God but they themselves experience the rending of their flesh but they help others eat the Lord, enjoy His light, and have a deeper sense of hunger for more of God.
There are four pillars holding the veil, the entrance to the Holy of Holies, and there were three entrances in between them; this indicates that the Triune God Himself is the entrance for His redeemed people to enter not only His dwelling place but also Himself (see Eph. 2:18; Luke 15:3-32; cf. Rev. 21:12-13).
Such pillars are many times the leading brothers who are fully one with the Lord and who experience the terminating of their flesh and the rending of their natural life; such ones go on with the Lord all the time, and their being is a torn veil – they are broken, having no self-confidence, living a crucified life, and ministering Christ to others at a great cost.
May the Lord gain many such ones!
Lord Jesus, raise up many pillars who are one with the riven veil for the saints to enter into the Holy of Holies and enjoy God to the uttermost! Amen, Lord, grant us the experiences we need for us to experience the crucified Christ and bear the testimony that we have been crucified with Christ. May our being be an entrance for others into God Himself. Bring us on with You. We want to go with You until we are in the Holy of Holies, into God Himself, and our being is open, we live a crucified life, and we bring many saints into God Himself in His building!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ron K. for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 101-102 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (part 4, 2016 Summer Training), week 43 / msg. 7, The Veil, the Screen, and the Two Aspects of Reconciliation.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I have passed the outer veil, / Hallelujah to the Lamb! / Which did once God’s light conceal, / O glory be to God! / But the blood has brought me in / To God’s holiness so clean, / Where there’s death to self and sin, / Hallelujah to the Lamb! (Hymns #551)
# Ours is a fellowship in the gospel / Since we received the Lord; / We’re for the furtherance of the gospel, / Spreading to all His Word. / For its defense and strong confirmation / We all partake of grace— / He who began this work will perfect it / Till we shall see His face. (Hymns #1295)
# By the cross discern the spirit; / Passing thru the riven veil, / Flesh and soul are wholly broken, / And the spirit doth prevail. / By the cross discern the spirit, / ’Tis the holiest place divine; / There commune with God in spirit / And His presence will be thine. (Hymns #748)
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The tabernacle in Exodus was enterable. By being incarnated, God not only became a man; He also became an enterable tabernacle (John 1:14). God’s original intention was that all the children of Israel would be priests (Exo. 19:6) and have the right to enter into the tabernacle, that is, to enter into God and dwell in God. In the Old Testament the priests could enter into the tabernacle, and today all the believers in Christ, as priests (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6), can enter into God and dwell in Him (1 John 4:13, 15). The incarnated God has become our dwelling place, our home, as a place of enjoyment (cf. Psa. 90:1; Rev. 21:22). (Exo. 26:36, footnote 2, Recovery Version Bible)
Like the four pillars attached to the veil, the five pillars attached to the screen signify stronger believers who are identified with the incarnated and crucified Christ. These pillars at the entrance of the tabernacle are evangelists, who declare to all that Christ died for their sins. The pillars within the tabernacle are those who experience Christ in a deeper way, who daily attach themselves to the torn veil, to the Christ who was terminated in His flesh, and bear the testimony that they have been crucified with Christ (Gal.2:20). These to kinds of pillars provide entrances for sinners to be saved into God’s dwelling place and then to be terminated so that they may come into God’s Holy of Holies to enjoy God Himself in His fullness. O Lord may our enjoyment of Christ be uplifted to an extent to bring us to the Holy of Holies to enjoy God Himself in His fullness.
Lord, we want to be those who experience Christ in a deeper way, who daily attach themselves to the torn veil, to the very Christ who was terminated in His flesh, and bear the testimony that they have been crucified with Christ and come into God’s Holy of Holies to enjoy God Himself in His fullness. Lord, how we thank You that You are an enterable God, the incarnated God has become our dwelling place, our home, as a place of enjoyment!