I.　Christ being the reality of the tabernacle:

A.　The Old Testament tabernacle being a type of the real tabernacle, which was Christ Himself in the flesh—Exo. 25:8; John 1:14.

B.　Christ in the flesh being the tabernacle that brought God to man so that man might enjoy Him.

C.　Through incarnation God becoming a man, mingling Himself with humanity, and becoming His own dwelling place.

D.　The gold and the acacia wood signifying respectively the divine nature and human nature of Christ:

1.　Begotten of the Holy Spirit, having the nature of God—Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:20.

2.　Born of a human virgin, having the nature of man—Luke 1:27, 31.

3.　Being named Jesus by God and Emmanuel by man—Matt. 1:20, 23.

E.　Christ as the tabernacle being God's embodiment:

1.　The fullness of God being embodied in the tabernacle so that man might enter into God and enjoy Him.

2.　God being embodied in an enterable tabernacle indicating that God is enterable.

F.　Christ as the tabernacle being the incorporation of the Triune God with the tripartite man:

1.　God in His Divine Trinity being incorporated from eternity past—John 14:10-11.

2.　Through incarnation this divine incorporation being brought into humanity.

II.　The church being the reality of the tabernacle as a type of the corporate dwelling place of God:

A.　Christ, the individual tabernacle, being enlarged through His death and resurrection to become the corporate tabernacle, the church, the house of the living God—John 2:19, 21; 1 Tim. 3:15-16:

1.　The first tabernacle (temple) being destroyed when Christ was crucified.

2.　In resurrection the Son of God, who Himself is resurrection, raising up not only Himself but also all His believers to produce the enlarged, corporate tabernacle composed of Christ as the firstborn Son of God and the believers as the many sons—Rom. 1:3-4; 8:29.

3.　The tabernacle as God's dwelling place is actually a mutual dwelling place, a mutual abode. This abode is God's dwelling and also the dwelling of God's serving ones. Eventually, God dwells in His people, and His people dwells in Him. This means there is a mutual dwelling in a mutual dwelling place. Such a wonderful dwelling place is the center and reality of the entire universe (The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, p. 338).

B.　The church being the continuation of Christ as the manifestation of God in the flesh—1 Tim. 3:15-16:

1.　Christ, the individual tabernacle, being the individual manifestation of God in the flesh.

2.　The church, the corporate tabernacle, being the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh.

C.　The corporate tabernacle, the church as the enlargement of Christ, being the universal, divine-human incorporation:

1.　The issue of Christ being glorified by the Father with the divine glory—John 12:23-24; 17:1; Acts 3:13.

2.　The Triune God, who is Himself an incorporation, in the resurrection of Christ having incorporated all the believers of Christ into His unique, universal incorporation, producing the universal, divine-human incorporation.

3.　The universal, divine-human incorporation having three aspects:

a.　The Father's house—John 14:2.

b.　The true vine as a sign of the Son—John 15:1, 4-5.

c.　The new child born of the Spirit—John 16:21, 13-15.