விரிவுரை தற்போது ஆங்கிலத்தில் மட்டுமே கிடைக்கிறது. தமிழ் மொழிபெயர்ப்பு நடைபெறுகிறது.
Exodus 26 — The Veil Between
God gives the pattern for the tabernacle proper. Ten inner curtains of fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim woven in. Eleven curtains of goats' hair covering them. Boards of shittim wood, sockets of silver. The veil of blue, purple, and scarlet — separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy. The hanging at the door.
“And the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”
— Exodus 26:33
- v.1-6 The ten inner curtains of linen
- v.7-14 The eleven curtains of goats' hair; the rams' skins and badgers' skins
- v.15-30 The boards, bars, and sockets
- v.31-37 The veil and the door hanging
Four layers of covering total — the inner linen with cherubim, the goats' hair, the rams' skins dyed red, and the badgers' skins on top. From outside, the tabernacle looked plain. The glory was inside.
Without form nor comeliness (Isaiah 53:2) — Christ from the outside was unremarkable. Inside His humanity dwelt the fullness of deity (Colossians 2:9). The outer badger-skin covering of the tabernacle pictures the unremarkable outer appearance of the incarnate Word.
Every detail prescribed. No room for human creativity in the construction of God's dwelling. The Lord designed His own house; man builds according to specification.
Modern church-building often runs the opposite direction — innovation and human creativity decide everything. The Old Testament precedent shows God's seriousness about His own design. Whatever architectural freedom the New Testament allows for church buildings, the principle of obedience to His design holds for spiritual realities.
The veil between the Holy Place (where priests ministered daily) and the Most Holy Place (where God's presence dwelt above the mercy seat). Only the high priest entered, once a year, with blood (Hebrews 9:7).
At Christ's death the veil of the temple tore from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51). Hebrews 10:19-20 — we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. The veil of His flesh was torn so the way to God could be opened.
The veil was a barrier as well as a sign of the way. God dwelt within; man could not enter. The whole Levitical system was a permanent reminder that sin had separated man from God and only blood — and only some blood, by the high priest, once a year — could bridge the separation.
The torn veil at Calvary did not destroy the holiness on the other side. It opened the way for those whose sin had been atoned for. The believer now has confidence to enter where the high priest once entered with trembling.
The unremarkable outer covering of the tabernacle hid the glory inside. The same was true of Christ's incarnation — no form nor comeliness outside, fullness of the Godhead inside. Stop assessing the spiritual life of others by external appearance. The glory of God dwells in vessels that often look unimpressive to the eye.
The veil is Christ's flesh, as Hebrews 10:20 declares explicitly. When His flesh was torn at the crucifixion, the way into the Most Holy was opened forever. The veil that excluded in Exodus 26 is the same veil that, in its New Testament fulfillment, became the open door. Every believer praying today walks through that torn veil into the presence of the Father.
Four colors with theological meaning: fine white linen (righteousness), blue (heavenly origin), purple (royalty), scarlet (blood/atonement). All four colors meet in Christ — His righteousness, His heavenly origin, His kingship, His blood.
Cherubim of cunning work — angelic figures woven into the curtains. The same beings that guarded Eden after the fall (Genesis 3:24) are present at the doorway to God's renewed dwelling. The cherubim that exclude in Genesis welcome through the tabernacle.