In the tabernacle we see a clear picture of the anointing and of the law of life. The anointing was upon the tabernacle, for the tabernacle and everything in it were anointed with oil (Exo. 40:9). As we have seen, the inmost item of the tabernacle was the tables of the law, the testimony of the law. By this picture we see that the anointing was outside but that the law of life was inside. In the Old Testament the anointing was for inauguration into function. For example, there was an altar in the outer court, but before it was anointed it could not function. Likewise, although the tabernacle had been erected, it could not function until it had been anointed. Hence, anointing is neither a matter of life nor of nature; it is a matter of inauguration for function. Every time you are anointed, you are inaugurated into your function.
The law was not spread upon the tabernacle; it was placed in the center of it. At the center of God’s people, the children of Israel, was the tabernacle which was enclosed by a wall of linen curtains. Within the tabernacle was the Holy Place, within the Holy Place was the Holy of Holies, within the Holy of Holies was the ark, and within the ark was the heart of the universe, the place where God was. In ancient times, God did not require His people to work nor to engage in certain activities; He required them to live and walk according to the law. If anyone was wrong with the law, he was wrong with God. God was the God of the children of Israel according to the law, and they were His people according to the law.
In the New Testament the anointing is mentioned several times. For instance, in Luke 4:18 the Lord Jesus said that He was anointed to preach the gospel, and Hebrews 1:9 says that the Lord was anointed with the oil of gladness. The Apostle John also speaks of the anointing a number of times (John 9:6; 1 John 2:20, 27). The New Testament also mentions the inner law of life which comes out of the nature of God. In the New Testament the divine life is referred to more than a hundred times. This divine life has been imparted into our being. Most Christians pay attention to the outward anointing, but neglect the inner law of life. Many of those in the so-called Pentecostal movement talk about the anointing. Although they may experience the anointing which is upon the tabernacle, they do not enter into the ark in the Holy of Holies and touch the tables of the law.
Our eyes must be opened to see that the Lord’s recovery is not so much in the anointing as it is in the law of life. In the New Testament the anointing is mentioned less than twenty times, while life is mentioned more than a hundred times. Many Christians are familiar with verses like Galatians 2:20, which says, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me,” and Galatians 4:19, which says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” Although many Christians know these verses, they pay no attention to them. Rather, the Pentecostalists devote their attention to the manifestation of the gifts. In His recovery, the Lord turns us again and again from the outward to the inward.
Although we are saved and in the church life, many of us are still in the church’s outer court. Some might not even be in the outer court, but on the street outside the outer court. Others have gone farther than the outer court, having passed from the altar and the laver into the Holy Place where they enjoy Christ as the showbread and the lampstand, as the life supply and the light of life. Thank the Lord that many of us enjoy Christ in this way. However, this is still only the Holy Place. We must come forward and enter into the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies we touch the ark, Christ Himself. The hidden manna, the budding rod, and the law of life are all in Christ. How we need to touch Christ Himself! Christ today is in the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies signifies that our spirit has been joined to heaven, for the very Person of Christ is the ladder joining earth to heaven and bringing heaven down to earth (John 1:51). If we continually touch Christ in our spirit, we shall enjoy Him as the hidden manna and as the budding rod. Then our daily life and walk will not be according to any teaching, work, activity, or movement, but according to the law of life, the function of the nature of the Triune God. God’s nature is now moving and working within us, adding Christ’s element into our being, transforming us, and producing the many sons whom God desires.
Most Christians are off-center. When I was young, I read a number of books about victory over sin. Those books presented various ways to overcome sin. However, not one of those ways ever worked. Eventually, I discovered a precious word in 1 John 3:9: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Whether we sin or not depends upon whether or not we have been born of God. He who has been born of God never sins. Furthermore, 1 John 5:4 says, “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.” Therefore, overcoming sin and the world does not depend upon a method; it depends upon the birth of God. When we were born of God, the divine life with its nature and law was imparted into our being. As long as we have this divine life with its nature and its law, everything will be all right.
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