Tabernacle
Typological treatment in the corpus
The tabernacle (the Mosaic tent of meeting, Ex. 25-40) is identified in the corpus by Nee/Lee and Noordzij as a type. In Nee/Lee the tabernacle is a type of the tripartite man and simultaneously of the church as the corporate body of Christ; in Noordzij the tabernacle’s fifty golden clasps are a type of the Holy Spirit as the unifier of the body.
Biblical anchoring
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| Ex. 25:8-9 | ”Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” |
| Ex. 26:1-37 | Construction: boards, curtains, clasps, the Holy of Holies |
| Ex. 36:12-13 | The fifty golden clasps that join the tabernacle curtains |
| Heb. 8:5 | The earthly sanctuary as “a shadow and copy of the heavenly things” |
| Heb. 9:9 | The tabernacle as “a symbol for the present age” |
| John 1:14 | ”The Word dwelt [tabernacled] among us” |
Typological exposition by author
Nee / Lee
In The Economy of God (EG, chs. 21-22), Lee develops the tabernacle typology in two directions: the tabernacle as a type of the tripartite man, and the tabernacle as a type of the church.
Tabernacle as a type of the tripartite man. The three spaces of the tabernacle correspond to the threefold division of man:
“Our body corresponds to the outer court, our soul to the Holy Place, and our human spirit to the Holy of Holies, which is the actual dwelling place of Christ and the presence of God.”1
The spirit is the Holy of Holies — the only space where God dwells. The soul (the Holy Place) is the middle ground where the contest is waged between the flesh (outer) and the spirit (inner).
Tabernacle as a type of the church. The boards (acacia wood overlaid with gold) are a type of believers who have human nature (wood) encompassed by divine nature (gold). The two tenons on each board are a type of mutual dependence:
“Two tenons hold it firmly in place. Two means confirmation. […] You and I must first learn that we are only a half; and then we must never act independently and individually without the confirmation of others.”2
The church for Lee is not formed but born — no human hand can build it.3
Noordzij
In the pneumatological section of his system, Noordzij draws an explicit typological connection between the tabernacle and the unity of the body of Christ:
The fifty golden clasps joining the tabernacle curtains (Ex. 36:12-13) are the typological reference point for the Holy Spirit uniting the body of Christ.4 The number fifty links tabernacle, Jubilee (Lev. 25), and Pentecost (Acts 2) as three expressions of one pneumatological reality — the Spirit as unifier.
Sub-elements
Fifty golden clasps (Ex. 36:12-13)
The fifty golden clasps join the two halves of the outer curtain. Noordzij reads these as a type of the Holy Spirit (number 50 = jubilee = Pentecost) holding the two halves of the body of Christ together. (Noordzij, b4; see also 50.)
Boards and tenons (Ex. 26:15-25)
Acacia wood overlaid with gold = human nature enveloped by divine nature; two tenons per board = confirmation through mutual dependence. Lee: type of believers together forming the body of Christ. (Nee/Lee, EG ch. 22.)
The Holy of Holies
The innermost space = type of the human spirit as the dwelling place of Christ. Lee builds on this his entire experiential soteriology: the believer must “enter the Holy of Holies” through the exercised spirit-contact. (Nee/Lee, EG ch. 3.)
Related types
- Connected: jubilee (number 50 links tabernacle clasps and Jubilee)
- Via number symbolism: 50
- Via glossary: mishkan
Footnotes
Footnotes
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Nee/Lee, b2 (The Economy of God, 1964/1968), ch. 3 — the tripartite man and the tabernacle. ↩
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Nee/Lee, b2 (The Economy of God), ch. 22 — boards and tenons as a type of the church. ↩
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Nee/Lee, b2 (The Economy of God), ch. 21 — the church is born, not formed. ↩
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Noordzij, b4 (The Inheritance of Jabez) / b2 (The Ark of Noah), pneumatological section — Jubilee, Pentecost and the fifty clasps as one pneumatological reality. ↩