The oneness the Lord Jesus prayed for in John 17 is very deep and mysterious, needing a lot of portions in the Bible to explain, expound, and make clear. Humanly speaking, how can we perceive such a oneness – the Triune God in us and us in the Triune God, we being brought into the enlarged oneness of the Triune God?
The type of the tabernacle in the Old Testament gives us a good picture of this oneness. The tabernacle in Exodus 26 was made of 48 boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold, each having 3 gold rings, and they are being joined together by some bars made of acacia wood overlaid with gold.
We are so thankful to the Lord for all the great Bible expositors who dug into the Word of God, into the types and symbols, and now we can see a clear picture of the tabernacle and what it signifies!
oneness as seen in the picture of the tabernacle
The forty eight standing boards are not one in the wood itself but in the overlaying gold. We as the many boards in God’s house are not one in our humanity but in the overlaying gold, in the Triune God.
The wood signifies Christ’s humanity, and the gold signifies Christ’s divinity. We as Christians are not just wood – not even the highest quality of wood, but we are wood overlaid with gold: we are golden, divine!
We have the divine life and the divine nature, and we are both divinely human and humanly divine, expressing the divine life! It is in this divine life and nature that we are one, just as the standing boards are one in the gold.
As we look at the picture of the tabernacle in the Old Testament we can have a practical understanding of the oneness the Lord Jesus prayed for.
As we look at the standing boards overlaid with gold, we see the many human beings with the high and proper humanity of Jesus being overlaid with the divine nature, being one in this life and nature. We also see the rings attached to the boards, which typifies the sealing Spirit, continually sealing us with God Himself.
Finally, we see that there are some bars that unite all the boards together – the Spirit is crossing us, going through us to reach the next board, so that we may be made one practically. What a picture!
the oneness as expressed in the gold rings
I have never thought that the gold rings in the tabernacle in Exodus 26 are related to the oneness the Lord Jesus prayed for in John 17, but praise the Lord for the ministry of the age which opens up the word of God!
Each of the standing board in the tabernacle had three gold rings attached to it and the uniting bars passed through them. This is the initial aspect of oneness – the gold rings, which typify the Spirit of God, the sealing Spirit.
We were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise (see Eph. 1:13). This is the initial Spirit and the Spirit who continually seals us to bring all the essence and element of God into us to conform us to His image, bearing His seal and His mark.
The oneness is in the Triune God – in the gold (the nature of God), and in the gold rings. The gold rings typify the sealing Spirit, which Spirit comes to us with the Father and the Son. The Spirit was sent by the Father and He comes with the Father (John 15:26, see note 1).
The Father sends the Spirit and comes with the Spirit, and when the Spirit comes He brings the Son to us. The entire Triune God – typified by the three rings – comes to us and is in us as the Spirit to seal us, infuse us, mark us, stamp the Triune God on us, and make us His possession and inheritance.
We are one in this wonderful sealing Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God!
experiencing the sealing Spirit in the church life
Sometimes when we come together instead of the gold rings we see and feel the “spikes” from one another’s natural man being expressed.
We need to daily enjoy the sealing Spirit infusing us with God’s element and stamping God’s image on us, and when we come together we need to submit ourselves to the Spirit by exercising our spirit.
If we don’t exercise our spirit, others will be offended and hurt by our thorny natural man; but if we exercise our spirit, we will have a ring on our nose (submitting to the Spirit), a ring on our finger (sealed to be sons of God unto maturity), and we will have the sealing of the Spirit being applied on our being for us to be ONE with the saints.
Lord, keep us enjoying the continual daily sealing of the Spirit! Unveil us to see the picture of oneness in the tabernacle, Lord, and may we enjoy the Triune God that we may be one in Him! Thank You for coming into us as the Spirit bringing the Father and the Son to live in us and make Your home in us. Lord, we treasure You as the sealing Spirit, making us one with all the believers in God’s building!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from, Truth Messages (pages 101-103), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Genuine Oneness of the Body, the Proper One Accord in the Church, and the Direction of the Lord’s Move Today, week 2.
- Buy this morning revival book online via LivingStream.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The Holy Spirit is the seal, / The foretaste, earnest, and the pledge.
# Yes, in my spirit now He is moving! / Yes, I have the anointing!
# Oneness is not unity, outward agreement, but the Triune God including us, in His divine oneness.
About aGodMan
Amen! Lord 'goldify' us more and more!
"The tabernacle in Exodus 26 was made of 48 boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold, each having 3 gold rings,.." But why that picture have 4 gold rings?
oh, Lord… good point. Unfortunately I'm not that good in graphic design, so many times I use pictures found online that best / most accurately represent the thought of the article… in this case it's not that good… – I took it off now…
The boards are not stacked vertically but should be joint together from the end of its edges or else 48 board will not suffice to put up the tabernacle.
🙂 amen. Picture has been removed… we need MORE "graphic designers" who would create images that represent these spiritual realities and proper interpretations of the Old Testament types…
Please change the picture of the boards. It is very misleading.
you're right, the picture is misleading. It has been removed…. Is there a way for you or someone you know to work on and provide a more accurate representation of the boards in the tabernacle?