The Vision of the Tabernacle |
The Boards of the Tabernacle (1) |
The typology of this picture is fully covered and explained in the Epistle to the Ephesians, especially in chapter four. Verses 1-3 say, “I beseech you therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love, being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” In these verses, Paul presents the way we should conduct ourselves in the church and indicates that we should carry out this pattern through the Spirit. For example, in order to serve the Lord with the other saints, we need to learn to live and walk in our spirit, where the Holy Spirit lives. If we live according to the natural man, the old man, or our soul-life, we will be filled with different opinions, and this will surely break the oneness between us. We must endeavor to stay in the Spirit, allowing the Spirit to bring us into humility and submission. Through the Spirit, our opinions will be taken away and we will be able to accept the Lord’s will.
In order to attain this, the bars are needed, referring to the Spirit who unites us. However, it is important to remember that individually we are channels for the flow of the Spirit. Hence, individually we must be serious about the responsibility of promoting and keeping the oneness between the brothers. We must be the first to deny ourselves, our opinions and our preferences, in order to maintain the oneness. We need to be in oneness in order for the house of God to be built up.
Verse 2 mentions lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, love, peace and bearing one another. All of these qualities are human virtues. However, human virtues are limited. As is commonly said, patience has its limits. How then can we use limited, finite virtues for the building of the church? When God in Christ was on the earth, He experienced and uplifted all the human virtues. No one was more meek or loved more than He did. When we received the Lord Jesus into our spirit through regeneration, we also received these uplifted human virtues. When we remain in the spirit, we are meek and lowly and are able to bear people, love them and be at peace with them. Only in the spirit do we have the human virtues which were uplifted by Christ and are so necessary for building the church.
Consequently, in order to serve God in the church, we need to be in the spirit. We can only serve in oneness with others, who are so different from us, through meekness, long-suffering and love; and these virtues are found in Christ, who, as the Spirit, today lives in our spirit. As an example, we who serve God need to be humble, but we know that all men are proud because pride belongs to the fallen human nature. Even the most simple, uneducated person is proud. On the other hand, the Bible shows that God absolutely condemns pride because it causes us to become useless in serving Him (1 Tim. 3:6; 1 Pet. 5:5-6). How, then, can we be humble in order to serve God and build up His church? It is only by living in the spirit all the time. In the spirit we are able to help the other saints be established in the church, helping them with lowliness. We are able to keep the oneness when we are in the spirit because in the spirit we are always ready to humble ourselves for the sake of the oneness.
It is never too much to emphasize that for the building of God’s house, it is fundamental that we be humble, meek and patient, by exercising our spirit. A brother who has many spiritual “abilities” needs to be humble when he meets with others, in order to not exhibit his “five talents.” It is necessary to give opportunity for the saints who only have one talent to function also. How will we act if a brother is shy or does not want to use his gift to build up the church? If we give ground to our fallen nature, we will rebuke him or despise him; but if we use our spirit, we will care patiently for that brother and feed him spiritually until he is able to function in the church.
We have to be humble. In Matthew 5:3, 5 the Lord says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” According to the worldly standard, the more aggressive we are, the more successful we will be. Nevertheless, in the spiritual realm, in the kingdom of the heavens, we need to be meek so that we may overcome.
If our living in the church is characterized by these virtues, we will have peace with God all the time and all the saints will be encouraged to pursue the knowledge of Christ. The tabernacle is a very clear illustration that shows us our need to cooperate with one another and to be in oneness through the working of the Holy Spirit in us. To attain this, we must diligently strive to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. In this way the church will be built up in love according to the cooperation of each one part (Eph. 4:16).
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