Curtains and coverings. Exodus 26:1-14. Looking at the Tabernacle as a building, we would see it as wide as it is tall: 15 feet wide, 15 feet high, and 45 feet long. Inside, the Tabernacle was divided into two parts. The Holy Place was where the table of shewbread was on the south side, the lampstand on the north side, and the golden altar of incense on the west, in front of the beautifully woven veil with cherubim woven into the fabric. That room measured 30 feet by 15 feet. The Holy of Holies, or "Most Holy," where the ark and mercy seat were, was a cube-shaped room 15 feet high, wide, and long. Covering the whole building were two curtains made by skillful craftsmen and two coverings of animal skins.
When a priest entered the Holy Place, the floor of the Tabernacle matched the outside, being just desert sand. The striking contrast between the surrounding beauty above and around and the plainness beneath was evident. Beauty versus barrenness; worthfulness against worthlessness; the eternal against the perishable; glory versus the emptiness of earth. The description highlights a heavenly realm contrasted with the earthly one.
That difference illustrates the church's contrast with the world in this day of grace. As believers and priests, we have heaven above us and surrounding us, yet we live and walk in a world still under the curse of sin. The god of this world will try to keep us looking down and focusing on worldly concerns despite all our blessings in Christ and His own personal glory.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, without setting aside anything of His character, His moral glories, or the Personhood of God, veiled that and was found in fashion as a man. He humbled Himself and willingly came to earth as a man among men. He was in the world but not of this world. That is what He intends for those He has purchased with His blood. We are in the world but not of this world.
Anyone observing the two veils and the ceiling would see fine linen “clear and white” reflecting the light from the golden candlestick. This reminds us of the importance of purity in God's dwelling place. The blue in the fabric symbolizes God's heavenly character in His dwelling on earth. Purple in the cloth signifies our Lord's universal, heavenly royalty and authority in the house of God. Scarlet represents the earthly glory of our Lord, the King of kings.
Looking at the ceiling from inside, one would see a linen curtain woven with blue, purple, and scarlet threads. The white linen is mentioned first here, distinct from the gate, door, and veil, where the colors are more prominent and listed in a different order. Practically, it would reflect more light than the darker colors. Spiritually, it teaches us the importance of righteousness first, which is essential in worshiping God.
Respect, reverence, and holiness define every priest who enters to eat the Living Bread and approaches God to worship in Spirit and truth. Only the priests see that beautiful ceiling of 10 curtains joined together with 50 gold clasps. These curtains do not touch the ground at each end, reminding us of Him, who was not defiled by the world when He was here. We worship One who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners."
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the pure and spotless One, of whom it is written, “In Him is no sin” – the white linen. He is the only One who could say, “I am from above” – the blue. He is coming as the “King of kings” – the purple, and yet He is the One who was born “King of the Jews” – the scarlet. When He comes again, it will be in heavenly glory as the One who will reign over the whole world, and all earthly glory will be His. The cherubim woven in the curtain speak of the holy and just judgment in the dwelling place of God, which will also be carried out in the future kingdom.
The inner curtain teaches those entering the Holy Place to worship that our Lord Jesus Christ is their King, reigning over His people in all His glory. The goats’ hair curtain above the “fine twined linen” curtain symbolizes our Lord as the Prophet. Prophets of old wore garments of goats’ hair as a sign of separation from evil outside, and they were to show the way of righteousness leading to the glories of the coming kingdom.
Placed above that beautiful ceiling made of ten colorful curtains, there were eleven curtains crafted by skilled hands who wove the long, dark hair of goats into curtains two cubits longer than the linen curtain. One part was made of five, and the other of six, joined by brass clasps. This curtain was large enough to cover the top of the Tabernacle's walls in front and also covered the linen curtain on each side. This covering teaches us about Christ as the sin-bearer, similar to the two goats on the Day of Atonement.
The curtain of goats’ hair directs us, like a prophet of the past to the Israelites, toward the glory awaiting those who know and love the Lord. It also signals the righteous judgment and inherent justice in our God's character. As God expands His instructions outward in His descriptions of the Tabernacle, we learn about Him from His own perspective.
In this way, He was the true representation of the sin-offering. Prophets and Nazarites also wore garments made of goat's hair. The Lord Jesus was the True Prophet, whose character was smooth and fine, similar to the curtains made of goat's hair, which distinguished them from goat's skins. These curtains were not visible to human eyes, either on the inside or outside. Only God knows the true value of the Lord Jesus Christ and the perfection of His character.
Above the dark curtain of righteous justice and the white curtain of holiness were two “coverings” made of animal skins. The inner covering was made from rams’ skins that had the wool removed and were dyed red. For righteous justice to be carried out, the sacrifices of rams had to come first. A ram was used to consecrate the priests before they could serve and worship. They were then to be devoted to God's service after being marked out by the ram's blood.
Our Lord Jesus Christ was devoted to God in His work as the obedient Servant of Jehovah. His consecration was complete and boundless because of His sinless perfection. “He gave Himself;” “He offered Himself without spot to God.” As a “covering” in the context of coming from God to man, there was outward affliction and sorrow in the “Man of sorrows and [One] acquainted with grief.” He was seen as a victim by mankind but as the substitute for guilty sinners who say, “The Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” He was the perfect example of what God wanted humans to be; therefore, “He suffered the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.”
He did that so we might be “made the righteousness of God in Him.” Little is said about the two unseen coverings in this passage, so the teaching emphasizes God's outreach to man rather than man's reaching for God. As God reaches further out to us, we learn about the uniformity and purity of our Lord's character as the One trusted and observed by God. "I always do those things that please the Father." Then, as God draws nearer to where we were "in our want and shame," we see the rams' skins dyed red. The shedding of blood to create these skins reminds us of the One who voluntarily laid down His life in an act of unmatched dedication to God's will. He was completely devoted to God in death, just as He was in life.
No mention is made of how these skins were joined together. This covering would be regarded as a single complete entity that shelters everything underneath. The sacrifice Christ made was primarily for God's legal satisfaction. God was pleased with what He achieved in His work of redemption. The need for a suitable sacrifice was found only in Christ, symbolized by the rams' skins as they pointed to the One whom God accepted on our behalf.
The glories of Christ are first presented as Him being the One from heaven (blue - the Gospel of John), the King of kings (purple - the Gospel of Matthew), the Perfect Servant (scarlet - the Gospel of Mark), and the Perfect Man (white linen - the Gospel of Luke), depicted in the visible inner curtain. Then, He is presented as the True Prophet behind the goats’ hair curtain. Next, the first “covering” of red rams’ skins shows our Lord as the One who satisfies the holy God and serves as our Substitute.
Badgers’ skins served as an outer layer of protection against the sun, rain, and storms that could threaten the Tabernacle and its furnishings. The darker leather covering of the badgers' skins was not attractive. It was probably similar in color to the other tents surrounding the Tabernacle. What made them noticeable was the size and shape of the building beneath. The significance of badgers’ skins lay in their ability to withstand the elements that constantly challenged them.
The beauty of the Tabernacle was within. “The things that are seen are temporal; the things that are not seen are eternal.” The beauty of the ceiling and veils, the splendor of shining gold shimmering in the lamplight on both walls and the furniture, would impress the worshipping and serving priests that glory and beauty are associated with the unseen God they worship and represent.
The beauty of Christ's moral glory was not just His uniqueness as a man that could not be mistaken by those who looked on Him from the outside, but by "the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth.” The things He did that brought blessings to many, the miracles proving His deity, even though "there is no beauty that we should desire Him,” would have the earnest seeker raising his eyes above the fence surrounding the Tabernacle and see "there is more here than meets the eye."
We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. Whatever comes against Him from outside, like the weather and heat against the Tabernacle, is resisted by His nature, and nothing inside is changed or affected by external pressure. Satan’s opposition, the challenges of the world, and the flesh subtly do not influence the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The inner curtain of “fine twined linen” symbolizes the pure purity of our Lord. We, too, must actively seek purity in our daily lives. “He that has this hope in him purifies himself even as He is pure [1Jn.3:3].” The goats’ hair curtain reminds us of the importance of distancing ourselves from evil, following the example of God’s Perfect Servant. We who “name the name of Christ (are to) depart from iniquity [2Tim.2:19].” The covering made of ram’s dyed red skin illustrates Christ's dedication and devotion to God. We are called to offer our bodies to our Lord as “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is our reasonable service [Rom.12:1].” Christ resisted the god of this world, as shown by the badgers’ skins that withstand the elements. We are also to resist the devil. “Ye have overcome the wicked one [1Jn.2:14].”