I am looking forward to the next Crystallization-Study of Exodus when we will dive deeper into the divine revelation concerning the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God among men, but in this morning revival we are only touching the surface and having a foretaste of this matter.
What is in God’s heart, the reason for which He created the earth and the heavens and all things in it, is a dwelling place of God with man. God doesn’t want men who mindlessly and robotically worship Him and do all that He says; God wants human beings who are open to Him, receive His life, are being transformed into the image of Christ, and are built up as God’s spiritual house, the church, for God to have a dwelling place on earth.
When Christ gains a sufficient built-up Body on earth, He will return for His Bride, because His built-up Body is His prepared bride. It is very important for us as believers to have a clear vision of the desire of God’s heart, which is the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, God’s dwelling place on earth.
In Exodus God brought His people to His mountain and revealed to them who He is (the Ten Commandments), and then He showed them the pattern of the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place on earth. The physical tabernacle as God’s dwelling place was actually a symbol of a corporate people, which is the children of Israel as the house of God (see Exo. 25:8-9; Heb. 3:6).
What God desires to gain is not a physical building but a corporate people among whom He can dwell; this people is described by the pattern of the tabernacle, and it is the church as the house of God today.
The book of Exodus may be divided into two sections: ch. 1-24 is the first section, speaking of Israel’s exodus from Egypt and travelling through the wilderness until they reach the mountain of God, and chs. 25-40 the second section speaking mainly of the vision of the tabernacle.
God gave Moses a specific pattern with many details concerning the design, the materials, and the construction of the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place on earth. We need to see the pattern of the tabernacle and realize that the goal of God’s salvation is the building up of His dwelling place on earth, and all our experiences of Christ are for the building up of the church.
The Tabernacle in the Bible: the Physical Tabernacle, Christ, and the New Jerusalem
In the Bible the word “tabernacle” is used in three ways, referring to the tabernacle built at the foot of Mount Sinai, the Lord Jesus as God’s tabernacle with man, and the New Jerusalem as God’s ultimate tabernacle with man.
First, the tabernacle of God refers to the physical tabernacle built at the foot of Mount Sinai according to God’s specific instructions and the pattern given by God to Moses (see Exo. 24-30). This tabernacle, however, was actually a symbol of a corporate people, the children of Israel as the house of God; God doesn’t dwell in tents or temples made by man’s hand, but He dwells among His people, and His people are His dwelling place (Exo. 25:8-9).
In the New Testament, the tabernacle denotes the Lord Jesus as God’s tabernacle with man; when the Lord Jesus came, God came to tabernacle with us (John 1:14). In the Lord Jesus God put on humanity, and God dwelt in man; the tabernacle in Exodus is a type of Christ as the real tabernacle of God.
In the person of the Lord Jesus, God had an individual movable tent, and in Him, all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell bodily; where the Lord Jesus was, there God was dwelling in Him with man.
Eventually, the tabernacle of God refers to the New Jerusalem, where we see that God will tabernacle with man for eternity (Rev. 21:3).
As God’s habitation, the New Jerusalem will be the tabernacle of God with men for eternity. The tabernacle made by Moses was a type of this tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; Lev. 26:11). That type was first fulfilled in Christ as God’s tabernacle among men (John 1:14) and will eventually be fulfilled in the fullest way in the New Jerusalem, which will be the enlargement of Christ as God’s dwelling place. This tabernacle will also be the eternal dwelling place of God’s redeemed people. God will overshadow us with Christ. (See note 3 in Rev. 7:15). Hence, the New Jerusalem will be a mutual habitation for both God and us. (Rev. 21:3, footnote 1, Recovery Version)
First, the tabernacle is the physical movable tent set up by Moses according to the pattern shown on the mountain, then it is Christ Himself as God’s tabernacle with man (God manifested in the flesh and dwelling in man), and lastly the New Jerusalem as the ultimate, consummate, enlarged tabernacle of God with man! The New Jerusalem is the consummate and enlarged tabernacle of God with man, including all of God’s redeemed people – from both the Old and the New Testament.
Today we are the church, the house of God, the temple of God, and we are becoming a part of the eternal tabernacle of God with man, where God and man are dwelling together and God is fully at home in man while man is at home in God. Praise the Lord for the tabernacle of God with man!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to dwell among men as the tabernacle of God with man. Thank You for bringing God into man so that man may be brought into God to become a mutual dwelling place, the New Jerusalem. Make Your home in our heart a little more today. Make our whole inner being Your dwelling place, and may it please You to dwell in us. Lord, grow in us, be enlarged in our being, and gain more ground in us until we become the New Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God with man for eternity!
The Church is Built with the Christ Experienced, Gained, and Enjoyed by God’s People
In Exo. 25:2 God asked Moses to tell the children of Israel to bring Him a heave offering; every one whose heart makes him willing should bring God things such as gold, silver, bronze, blue and purple and scarlet strands, fine linen, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil, spices, onyx stones and precious stones.
When God’s people saw that the desire of God’s heart was to dwell with them, they willingly offered what they had for God’s building; they were moved in their heart to offer what God requested to the point that, under the Lord’s instructions, Moses had to ask them to stop offering because they had enough.
The people gained a lot of things from Egypt, they acquired things, and they possessed things; when they saw God’s heart’s desire, they just poured out everything they had on Him. This heave offering typifies the uplifted Christ, the Christ who was lifted up in His ascension (see Acts 1:9).
The fact that the materials for the building of the tabernacle were offered to God by His people as a heave offering signifies that the church is built up NOT with any natural materials but with the Christ who has been gained, experienced, possessed, and enjoyed by God’s people in resurrection and in the heavenlies.
The church as the dwelling place of God cannot be built by anything natural of man but only with the Christ experienced and enjoyed by God’s people as their heave offering (see Phil. 3:7-14; Eph. 3:8; 2:5-6; 1 Cor. 3:12). All these materials that were used for the building of the tabernacle signify Christ, in particular, the virtues of Christ’s person and work (see Exo. 25:3-7).
There were twelve kinds of materials used, which can be divided into three categories: minerals, plants, and animals (and their by-products). First, we have the minerals, signifying Christ’s building life (1 Cor. 3:9-12); everything that we enjoy and experience of Christ is for the building up of the church.
The plants signify Christ’s generating life (John 12:24), and the animals signify Christ’s redeeming life (John 1:29). The redeeming life (Christ as our Redeemer and redemption) is for the generating life (Christ as our Savior and salvation), and the generating life is for the building life (the church as God’s building, the corporate Christ).
Christ died on the cross for us to be saved and receive the divine life, that is, be regenerated with God’s life, and this is for the building up of the church. Every day we need to apply the blood of Christ, enjoying a fresh application of Christ’s redemption, and we will receive the supply of the divine life to experience Christ as our everything; this experience of Christ is for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ, God’s dwelling place on earth.
Christ shed His blood for our redemption, He is now in us to impart life to us, and this life is for the building of God. Whatever Christ is and whatever He has done and He’s doing are all for God’s building (Matt. 16:18).
Christ was incarnated, lived a perfect human life, died an all-inclusive death on the cross, was resurrected and ascended, was enthroned in glory, and He is now dispensing Himself into His believers, He’s shepherding the saints, He is ministering as our heavenly High Priest, and He is interceding for us before God – all this is for the building up of the church as God’s building.
In the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of God’s building, there will be only minerals (such as gold, pearl, and precious stones); however, in order to arrive at God’s goal, the redeeming life and the generating life are needed (see Rev. 21:18-21; John 1:29; 12:24).
Lord Jesus, thank You for redeeming us and regenerating us for God’s building. We want to enjoy You, gain You, possess You, and experience You in resurrection and in the heavenlies for God’s building. Lord, keep us enjoying all Your riches so that we may be filled with You to build up the church with the Christ we have enjoyed and experienced. We don’t want to mar the building of God by bringing our natural man and work in the church; we want to enjoy Christ and experience Him in His redeeming and generating life for the building of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, brother Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 81-82 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (2), week 12 / msg 12, The Vision of God in a Transparent and Clear Heaven and the Heavenly Vision concerning the Desire of God’s Heart to Have a Dwelling Place with Man on Earth.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# O the riches of my Savior, / So unsearchable, immense; / All the fulness of the Godhead / I may now experience. / O the riches, O the riches, / Christ my Savior has for me! / How unsearchable their measure, / Yet my full reality! (Hymns #542)
# Oh mystery of mysteries— / Lord, Thou in me and I in Thee! / The church, Thy temple—we to Thee, / And Thee our tabernacle be. (Song on the tabernacle of God)
# Build me, Lord, with other saints, / Independence ne’er allow, / But according to Thy plan / Fitly frame and join me now. / In experience not my boast, / Nor in gifts would be my pride; / For Thy building I give all, / That Thou may be glorified. (Hymns #839)
About aGodMan
Early this morning, I enjoyed a hymn written by brother A. B. Simpson detailing his realization that the old man is over and something new has begun. In 1 Corinthians 15:45, there is also something old ending and something new beginning. The Cross is a separating line between the old creation and the new. In the new creation there is only Christ. He is God’s Tabernacle and His Body completes, or consummates His dwelling in and among His people. This building is not made with hands, but is eternal in the heavens, but will come down from heaven to earth, as spoken in Revelation 21:10. As we, the Father’s House, the Son’s Vine, the dwelling place of God on earth, voluntarily allow Him to live in us, through His operation we become this very dwelling place.
To heave is to lift up. [In Exodus 25:2] the heave offering typifies the uplifted Christ, the Christ who was lifted up in His ascension (Acts 1:9); it was often accompanied by the wave offering, a type of the resurrected Christ (Exo. 29:26-28; Lev. 7:30-32; Num. 18:11). The fact that the materials for the building of the tabernacle were offered to God by His people as a heave offering signifies that the church is built up not with any natural materials but with the very Christ who has been gained, possessed, enjoyed, and experienced by God’s people in resurrection and in the heavenlies (Phil. 3:7-14; Eph. 3:8; 2:5-6). Cf. 1 Cor. 3:12 and footnotes.
All the materials for the building of the tabernacle signify the virtues of Christ’s person and work. Twelve kinds of materials were used, in three categories: minerals, signifying Christ’s building life (1 Cor. 3:9-12); plants, signifying Christ’s generating life (John 12:24); and animals, signifying Christ’s redeeming life (John 1:29). The redeeming life is for the generating life, and the generating life is for the building life. The fact that minerals were mentioned as the first category indicates that whatever Christ is and whatever He has done and is doing are all for God’s building (Matt. 16:18). In the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of God’s building, there will be only minerals: gold, pearl, and precious stones (Rev. 21:18-21). However, in order to arrive at God’s goal, the redeeming life and the generating life are needed. (Exo. 25:2, footnote 1, Recovery Version Bible)