Acacia: Christ's Humanity

Ex 25:10 And they shall make an ark of acacia wood: two and a half cubits shall be its length; and one and a half cubits, its width; and one and a half cubits, its height.
Ex 25:11 And you shall overlay it with pure gold; inside and outside you shall overlay it; and you shall make a rim of gold upon it all around.

The Ark of acacia wood signifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God possessing divinity mingled with humanity, strong in character and high in standard. This Ark is the center and content of the tabernacle, spiritually signifying Christ as the content and center of the church today. 

As children of God and believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, our experiences should be in who Christ is in His divinity and in His humanity. Today, Christ is the life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. By living and walking according to the Christ who indwells us, we can live out the life of Christ. This living out of Christ is the meaning of the Christian life. This is the kind of life God desires His children to live. The life of Jesus, when He was on the earth, is the pattern for us to live out and follow as our pattern. Not in an outward way of "what would Jesus do" as some Christians try to imitate, but in the way of experiencing Him as life and life supply. 

As much as Christ's humanity is strong in character and high in standard, our lives should live out the same characteristics; strong in character and high in standard. Today as we live in this evil age, filled with characterlessness and sinful living, the believers can actually live a life, the living again of Jesus on the earth, an anti-testimony to the godless people, in this crooked and perverted generation.  

Satan attacks people's humanity the most.  Therefore, trusting the Lord, the believers need to be exercised in their living to exhibit the life of Jesus as a testimony to others. Action speaks louder than words. In addition to witnessing the love of God and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, we also need to live a life that testifies the very Christ we preach and witness. This is the urgent need today; a living testimony.

According to God's ordination, the rightful place of the Ark is in the tabernacle, and then the temple after the temple was built in Jerusalem by Solomon. The history of the Ark from its rightful position to displaced positions due to the failure of the Israelites and back to the temple must be a reminder and a warning to make sure that our expereinces of Christ must be in and for the church.  The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years (1 Sam. 7:1-2) and then in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months (2 Sam. 6:10-12),  and later David prepared a tent for the Ark in Jerusalem. All these were a record of the abnormal position of the Ark. But when the Ark was brought into the temple in Jerusalem, the glory of God filled the temple, because the Ark has come back to the right position as ordained by God. In a similar manner, our experiences of Christ as the Ark should be on the proper ground of the church. Christ and the church always go together. Therefore, our experience of Christ must be in the church and for the church. 

The experience of Christ as the reality of the acacia wood overlaid with gold must be in the proper church life for the building up of the church as the Lord's corporate expression. This is the need today. 

Experiencing Christ as the acacia wood overlaid with gold must be in the church and for the church.