The blue of the tabernacle covering would remind us of Christ as the heavenly one. We look up and see the bright blue sky, and then we think of the Lord Jesus coming down, a heavenly Stranger, to walk through this dark scene. The purple comes next, and then the scarlet. The scarlet was the color of earthly royalty, and so we know that the Lord Jesus is the rightful King who shall someday reign over the whole earth. But the purple was in between the blue and the scarlet, and is a perfect blending of the two. It is another reminder of the divine mystery of His Person. As one looked from the blue to the scarlet his eyes fell upon the purple, and so the Lord Jesus was perfectly divine and perfectly human (sin apart). Faith just believes and rejoices in this.
“His glory — not only God’s Son —
In manhood He had His full part —
And the union of both joined in one
Form the fountain of love in His heart.”
Sin Never Excused
We have considered the cherubim before, and how they speak to us of the righteousness of God in government and in judgment. “Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, forever” (Psa. 93:5), and so these cherubim were wrought into the curtains in order to remind us that God can never pass over sin. It must be judged. But we who are saved know that the judgment of our sins is not future — it took place at Calvary. There the Lord Jesus, the Holy One, “was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). Have you trusted in His finished work? Remember that nothing else can satisfy the claims of a holy God. You have no righteousness of your own, and so why not take Christ as your Saviour and be “made the righteousness of God in Him”? (2 Cor. 5:21).
Ten Curtains
There were ten curtains for the tabernacle, all of equal measure. Five of them were joined together with loops of blue then the other five were joined in the same way. These two groups of five were then joined together with gold clasps in the center. There were ten commandments and ten always speaks to us of responsibility toward God. Man has failed utterly in his place of responsibility, but these curtains typify Christ, and surely there was no failure in Him. Five speaks to us of human weakness, just as David in his weakness chose five smooth stones out of the brook, but in the strength of the Lord he was victorious. The Lord Jesus came in weakness, as the Babe of Bethlehem, but the “loops of blue” would tell us of who He was as the heavenly One. The hymn writer has expressed it so beautifully,
“By weakness and defeat,
He won the meed and crown;
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.”
In the very center, just where the veil hung between the holy place and the most holy place, were clasps of gold holding the two groups of five together. Here we see that although the Lord Jesus came in weakness, it was His Person, like the gold clasps, that gave value to His work. As soon as He had said, “It is finished” on the cross, God Himself could rend the veil so that sinners, cleansed in Christ’s precious blood, might have access into the very presence of God, “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).
Further Meditation
1. What does the color blue represent in the Bible?
2. How many different representations of Christ are there in the tabernacle?
3. The redeemed soul grows as it’s occupied with Christ who is so beautifully presented in the tabernacle. His beauties and perfections are ably presented in Unsearchable Riches by E. Dennett.