4.1 Into Constraint

God placed three significant metaphors inside the Old Testament so that we might know clearly the meaning and path of our redemption out from lostness into knowing Him. The most significant of those metaphors is the Tabernacle of Moses. Every gospel writer draped every aspect of our salvation upon the various parts of that metaphor.

Knowing the Tabernacle is a requirement for understanding the path of redemption, a path that is not known when the central presence of the Tabernacle, as it fills the entire New Testament, is ignored. The Tabernacle is then supported by two other related metaphors, the three feasts in Israel’s year and the journey of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.

The Tabernacle Pattern. This chapter will show God’s intention in every part of His pattern for how He takes us into the knowledge of what is already True, without reference to any diversions. The next chapter will show the enemies of Christ as they are arrayed across every part of the Tabernacle pattern.

Technically, the Tabernacle has four parts, beginning with the Camp of Israel outside the gate. Then you have the outer court, surrounded by “hangings” of linen. Inside the court is a large tent of various coverings containing two rooms, first the Devoted place, and then the Most Devoted place. There are three entrances, Gate, Door, and Veil, and seven pieces of furniture scattered through the three parts. We will limit this study just to the entrances and the furniture.

Describing the Goal. Here are two descriptions of the Most Devoted as the goal of our journey, showing us what God means for us.

In that day you will know that I am inside of the Father, and you inside of Me and I inside of you (John 14:20). – Therefore brethren, having already a free and bold proclamation of entrance into the Most Devoted inside the blood of Jesus consecrating for us a newly sacrificed as well as a living way through the Veil, that is, through His flesh; and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us approach [everything inside the Most Devoted] with a true heart, in full assurance of faith; having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil consciousness, and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:19-22).

Not “Entering,” but Knowing. We are inside the Most Devoted from the moment we ask Jesus into our hearts, for God alone puts us into Christ. Thus we see that this journey is not our “entering into” Christ Jesus, but rather into knowing what is already True. Look carefully at the wording of Hebrews 10:19, exactly from the original Greek. There is no action of entering, but rather, the action is possessing already a bold proclamation. We speak what is already True with utter confidence.

Yet our knowing of what is True comes only a bit at a time – for several reasons. The first reason is that God is kind. Too much, too fast, would overthrow our sanity. Learning of Christ is a process and it takes time. In fact, we can see “twelve years of school” in correspondence to this path.

The Rule of the Path. Yet this path is also a sifting process, for many want to use God for their own purposes. Going on to know the Lord is by invitation only. No one is compelled. Here is the rule. – Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Luke 11:9-10). Only those who desire to KNOW the living God will persevere all the way through into the full knowledge of God. In this way, Jesus keeps God safe from those who are false.

Each of the three entrances is a specific gospel experience in the life of the believer, and each entrance is the same cloth and the same manner of entrance.

The Gate. An Israelite would approach the Gate into the outer court either leading an animal for sacrifice or carrying a basket of things acceptable for offering. The gate is a heavy cloth, high and wide, barring the way. It could be passed in one way only. The Israelite must drop to his knees, pick up the bottom of the cloth and place it over the top of himself and his sacrifice. Only then could he arise inside this new place.

Put the Lord Jesus Christ upon yourself, upon all that you are (Romans 13:14). What happened in the gospel? We humbled ourselves, confessed our guilt, and asked Jesus to live inside our hearts.

The Altar of Sacrifice. Here is another way of saying the same. – You must be conceived (born) again (John 3:3). Or as Peter put it – Conceived from above by an incorruptible Word.

In that moment a deep sense of cleanness entered into our souls and we knew such joy, that Jesus was indeed our Savior. In that moment, our unregenerate spirit, which had been hardened against God, that is, our old man, DIED completely, and a NEW spirit was created inside our human form. We were now fully aware of God-with-us, though we hardly knew what that meant. Inside the outer court, however, our attention was caught immediately by the scope of dust and noise all relating to the Altar of Burnt Offering, the butchering and burning of animals, and the spilling of blood.

The Cross and the Blood. Thus we spent some time learning the meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus, His death upon the cross, and His Blood shed for us. In my own life, God used Watchman Nee and his book, The Normal Christian Life, to teach me the meaning of that death and that blood, when I first gave my heart back to Jesus at age 19. What I learned from Watchman Nee remains front and center in my conscious thinking to this day, and all I write comes out from the meaning of the Cross and the Blood in the Gospel.

The primary thing that enters our awareness is just how much Jesus loves me. – By this we know Love. And thus our first season learning of that Sacrifice is our beginning awareness of the beauty and affliction as conveyed in the last chapter.

The Bronze Laver. There is a second piece of furniture in the outer court, the bronze laver, a large metal bowl filled with water for washing. – The washing of the water of the word (Ephesians 5:26). We set ourselves to studying the Bible so that we might know God and His ways. We “cleaned up” our outward manner of living according to the instructions in God’s word. We attended Bible studies; we read the Bible from cover to cover. We were eager to learn all that we could.

Here are things Ezra says about the Word in Psalm 119, fully relevant to the Gospel. – Your Word is a light unto my path. – The entrance of Your Word gives light. – I will hide Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You. The word teaches us what is True and right, and what is not.

The Meaning of “Constraint.” The very act of dropping to the ground and of placing Jesus upon ourselves was a constraint, a limitation, for we had separated ourselves from all that is of the world. As Jesus said, “Constrained is the gate and pressed in is the way by which you are led into Life.”

Yet the outer court is very much an in-between place, for the only light upon it is the natural light of the sun, that is, the ability of the human mind to reason and to understand. We read many things in our Bibles that we did not understand, and there seemed to be no real rest in this place for all of the smoke and blood and noise. We had not yet realized that the Spirit of God hovers over us.

The Longing of Thirst. Then, out from that Spirit hovering over us, we began to hunger and thirst for an increase in our knowledge of God and of His Word. Many of the big gospel verses we did not notice at all, but we did begin to see many verses speaking of the Spirit of God, of being empowered to know the Lord, of being led by the Spirit. We read Jesus’ words, “If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink. Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” And – “The water I give will spring up as a fountain of life.”

We knew that we did not really know God, and we did not know how we might ever know such a thing. In God’s gospel pattern of the Tabernacle, we then turned from studying the Bible with our intellects and noticed a large tent just ahead.

Let Us Go On. Let us go on to know the Lord. Is there more that God has for us than what we have known thus far?

God intends for us always to ask, but not just to ask, rather, to believe also that we have received from God all we have asked. We know that God’s word is His will for us, and that if we ask God to fulfill what He says in the Bible in our lives, that He hears and answers us. – Ask, and it WILL be given to you – How much more will your heavenly Father give the Devoted Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:9 & 13).

Having despaired of “figuring out” the Bible with our intellects, we approached God and His word as Mary did, “Let it be to me according to Your word – whatever You might mean.”