THE INITIAL SPIRIT

Until now, you may have thought that the rings were the product of the overlaying of the boards with gold. Sound Bible teachers and expositors agree that the rings signify the initial Spirit given to us, that is, the regenerating Spirit, the sealing Spirit mentioned in Ephesians 1. When we were regenerated, God put His Spirit into us. Immediately, the regenerating Spirit became the indwelling Spirit. This regenerating and indwelling Spirit is the initial Spirit given to us by God. When the prodigal son returned home, three things were put on him: the robe, the ring, and the sandals. The robe signifies Christ as our righteousness, and the ring, the sealing Spirit. In ancient times people used a signet ring as a seal. For this reason Bible teachers say that according to Luke 15, after we come back to the Father, the Father gives us Christ as our righteousness to cover us and the Spirit as the seal to testify that we belong to the Father and that we have become His inheritance.

Another aspect of the ring is revealed in the story of Rebekah. The servant sent by Abraham to obtain a wife for Isaac put a golden ring on Rebekah’s nose. This indicates that the initial Spirit gives us discernment, which is related to the sense of smell. Furthermore, according to ancient custom, a nose ring signifies expression. Therefore, the initial Spirit, who is the sealing Spirit, is the Spirit for discernment and expression. We all have received such a Spirit. We have something within us sealing us and testifying to us that we belong not to the world but to the Father. No matter how dark this age is or how corrupt society may be, we have an inward testimony from the Spirit that we do not belong to this evil age. We belong to the Father, and the indwelling Spirit constantly reminds us of this fact. If we go to a certain worldly place after we are saved, something within will tell us that we do not belong there. This is the sealing Spirit.

This sealing Spirit gives us a sense of discernment, a spiritual “nose.” With this divine sense of discernment we can detect what is of God and what is not of God. The unsaved, on the contrary, do not have this divine sense of smell. Spiritually speaking, all the believers should have a prominent nose. In the Song of Songs the Lord appreciates the nose of His seeking one, which He compares to a high tower (7:4).

We have pointed out that a nose ring also signifies expression, beautiful expression. The sealing Spirit is not only for discernment but also for the expression of God through us. This is the initial Spirit, the regenerating and indwelling Spirit typified in the Bible by golden rings. This Spirit seals us, gives us the faculty of discernment, and enables us to express God.

THREE RINGS SIGNIFYING THE TRIUNE GOD

Because the initial Spirit has been installed into our being, we have become the boards with the rings. How many rings were on each board? If you study the arrangement of the five bars on each side of the tabernacle, you will conclude that there must have been three rings on each board. The five horizontal crossing bars were arranged in three lines, with the middle bar going from one end to the other. Above and below the middle bar were lines made up of two bars each, half as long as the middle bar, joined at the midpoint. Therefore, on each vertical board there had to be at least one ring near the top, one at the middle, and one at the bottom. But were there more than one at each place? Exodus 26:24 speaks of “a single ring,” or “the first ring” (ASV, margin). Hence, on every vertical board there was one ring at each of the three places the horizontal bars crossed it. This means that there were three rings on each board. These rings signify the Triune God. Therefore, the initial Spirit is the Triune God. When the Spirit comes to us, the Father and the Son come with Him. Hallelujah, we have the Triune God within us as the initial Spirit. We are boards not with one ring but with three rings. These three rings are the initial stage of our Christian life, and they indicate that the Christian life begins with the Triune God.

After the golden rings were installed on the boards, the boards were overlaid with gold. The overlaying caused the golden rings and the overlaying gold to have one appearance. This indicates the spreading of the sealing Spirit, and it corresponds to our experience.

POOR IN GOD

To have the rings without the overlaying gold is to be poor in gold. It is to have the Triune God as the rings but not as the gold overlaying the boards. To be in such a condition is to be poor in God. We need to learn to confess that we sometimes are poor in God. We may be rich in the self but quite poor in God. Therefore, we need the initial Spirit to spread throughout our being; that is, the initial gold must spread out in order to overlay us. As we grow in the Lord, the Spirit spreads within us and overlays us with Himself.

The gold did not overlay some inferior or corrupt material; it overlaid acacia wood. Although the acacia wood was very good, it was not the purpose of the tabernacle to express the wood. This indicates that God does not want man to be expressed; rather, He wants to see the expression of Himself. God desires for Himself to be expressed upon man. This requires that man be covered with God, even overlaid completely with Him. In our hymnal there is a hymn entitled “Not I but Christ.” The chorus goes like this:

Oh, to be saved from myself, dear Lord,
    Oh, to be lost in Thee,
Oh, that it may be no more I,
    But Christ that lives in me.

(Hymns, #591)

To be lost in the Lord is to be overlaid with Him and to be hidden in Him. When we are concealed within the Lord Himself, He becomes the expression.