出四十21　　〔摩西〕把柜抬进帐幕，挂上遮掩柜的幔子，把见证的柜遮掩了…。

　　34　　…耶和华的荣光充满了帐幕。

　　弗三16~17　　愿祂照着祂荣耀的丰富，借着祂的灵，用大能使你们得以加强到里面的人里，使基督借着信，安家在你们心里…。

　　帐幕连同约柜的历史，乃是召会历史的预表，完全描绘出召会从开始到如今的过程和光景。这历史主要的有五方面：

　　起初帐幕中有约柜。帐幕是神的居所，与约柜乃是一。…这预表召会的第一个时期…；召会是基督的彰显，基督是召会的内容。在五旬节那天，…基督是约柜，召会是帐幕。那是绝对正常的情形。（神建造的异象，一三四至一三五页。）

　　Exo. 40:21 And he brought the Ark into the tabernacle…and screened the Ark of the Testimony…

　　34…And the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.

　　Eph. 3:16-17 That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts…

　　The history of the [Ark with the tabernacle] is a prefigure of church history, giving us a full portrait of the course and situation of the church from the very beginning to the present time. There are five main aspects of church history.

　　In the beginning the tabernacle contained the Ark. As God’s dwelling place, the two were one…. This prefigures the first stage of the church…. The church was the expression of Christ, and Christ was the very content of the church…. On [the day of Pentecost] Christ was the Ark, and the church was the tabernacle. That is the absolutely normal condition. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, “The Vision of God’s Building,” pp. 255-256)

　　因着神百姓的失败，约柜就被掳去。约柜和帐幕分开，帐幕成为空的。这描绘基督徒的失败，使召会失去基督的实际和同在。这是第二方面，…作为内容的基督与召会分开，召会成为空的器皿，只有外面的彰显，没有里面的实际。…甚至在今天，许多所谓的基督教会，乃是空的帐幕，没有基督在其中作实际。

　　旧约预表的第三种光景是没有帐幕的约柜。约柜和帐幕分开，首先在…亚比拿达家中二十年，（撒上七1~2，）后来在…俄别以东的家中三个月。（撒下六10~12。）因着约柜的同在，神的祝福临到俄别以东家；但帐幕仍然在示罗，和约柜分开。这第三种光景…好多了，但还是不正常。召会历史给我们看见，从第二世纪到现在，…有许多人〔像俄别以东〕在他们个人的生活中，有基督的实际和同在。约柜与他们同在，但这不是正常的光景。

　　第四种位置是，约柜在不正确、不合式的帐幕中。大卫王在锡安预备了一个帐幕〔帐棚〕，但不是照着神在山上启示的样式。这帐棚是照着大卫的意见支搭的。召会历史中满了这样的事。许多忠信的基督徒的确有约柜—仅仅有基督。后来他们感觉需要召会生活以彰显基督，正如大卫感觉需要帐幕以容纳约柜。所以他们照着自己的领会，照着大卫所实行同样的原则，支搭帐幕，设立聚会。…那是不错，却嫌不足。…第四种情形—基督在不正确的“召会”中—只对了一半。…大多数在这种可怜情形中的人，并没有完全的平安或满足，因为事实上他们并不能达到神对召会生活的完全定旨。

　　第五种情形是约柜同着正确的、扩大又扩增的帐幕。乃是在这样的光景里，就是在基督同着彰显祂自己的正确召会中，你感觉到完全在家安息了。

　　第一种〔位置〕完全正确；第二种却全然虚空；第三种位置虽好，却不正常；而第四种位置只有一半的满足；第五种位置有基督作实际，有正确的召会作彰显。…我信在这末后的日子，主不仅要恢复原初、正常的情形，更要扩大召会生活，使召会生活更扎实。…我们赞美祂！（神建造的异象，一三五至一四○页。）

　　参读：认识生命与召会，第十篇。

　　Because of the failure of the people of God, the Ark was separated from the tabernacle, and the tabernacle became empty. This portrays the failures of the Christians causing the church to lose the reality and presence of Christ. This is the second aspect…. Christ as the very content was separated from the church, and the church became an empty vessel, merely an outward expression with no inward reality…. Even today, many so-called Christian churches are empty tabernacles without Christ in them as the reality.

　　The third situation prefigured in the Old Testament is that of the Ark without the tabernacle. First, in the house of Abinadab…for twenty years (1 Sam. 7:1-2) and then in the house of Obed-edom…for three months (2 Sam. 6:10-12), the Ark was apart from the tabernacle. The blessing of God came upon Obed-edom’s house because of the Ark’s presence, yet the tabernacle was still in Shiloh, separated from the Ark. This third condition… is much better. However, it is still not normal. Church history reveals that from the second century to the present time…there have been many persons [like Obed-edom] with the reality and presence of Christ in their personal lives. The Ark was with them, but this was not the normal state.

　　The fourth position is that of the Ark in an improper, inadequate tabernacle. King David had prepared a tabernacle in Zion, but it was not according to the pattern revealed by God on the mount. It was a tent pitched according to David’s opinion. Church history is full of such incidents. So many faithful Christians do have the Ark—Christ alone. Then, later, they sense the need of the church life to express Christ, just as David sensed the need of a tabernacle to contain the Ark. Thus, they “pitch a tabernacle”; they set up a meeting according to their own understanding…. It was good, but it was inadequate…. The fourth condition—Christ in an improper “church”… is only half right…. Most people in this poor condition do not have full peace or satisfaction, because in fact they have fallen short of the full purpose of God concerning the church life.

　　The fifth condition is that of the Ark with the proper tabernacle, enlarged and increased. It is in this situation, of Christ with a proper church to express Himself, that we feel completely at home.

　　The first [position] is completely right, whereas the second is completely empty; the third position is good but abnormal, and the fourth position is one of half-satisfaction; the fifth position is that of Christ as the reality with a proper church as the expression…. I believe that in these last days the Lord is not only going to recover the original, normal condition, but He is also going to enlarge the church life and make it more solid…. Let us praise Him! (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, “The Vision of God’s Building,” pp. 256-259)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church,” ch. 10