Exodus Chapter 26 Verses 31-33  

:31 “And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 33 And thou shalt hang up the veil under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony: and the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.”

We are not left to wander what the veil of the tabernacle and later the temple represents.  In Heb. 10:20 we read: “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;”  Thus the veil which separated between the holy place and the most holy place represents the flesh of Christ.   

Thus, the colors blue and purple and scarlet along with fine twined linen are associated with the flesh of Christ.  According to our previous studies we know that blue represents law or commandment and purple represents royalty and scarlet represents war and blood.  Likewise, the fine twined linen represents righteousness.  In connection with these colors and their representation of the body or flesh of Christ we have the following New Testament verses:

    1. Matt. 5:17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”  This verse tells us that Jesus came to completely and perfectly keep and fulfill all of the law and the prophets.

    2. Matt. 21:5 “Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”  This fulfilled prophecy of Christ declares plainly that Christ is the King and thus is the perfection of royalty.

    3. Rom. 5:9 “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”

    4. Eph. 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”

    5. Col. 1:14. “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

    6. Col. 1:20 “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” 

    7. 2 Cor. 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Verse 1 above tells us that Jesus came to completely and perfectly keep and fulfill all of the law and the prophets. Verse 2 tells us that the fulfilled prophecy of Christ declares plainly that Christ is the King and thus is the perfection of royalty. Verses 3-6 tell us that Christ through his shed blood justified us, redeemed us, and made peace through the blood of his cross.  Verse 7 tells us that Christ is the righteous one and that he made us righteous through His being made sin and suffering on our behalf.   

Moreover, the curtain was made with cherubims which are closely associated with the scriptural subject of witness.  According to Rev. 1:5 Christ is declared to be the faithful witness: Rev 1:5 “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,” 

The vail was hanged on four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold.  In the scriptures the number four (16) is associated with the work of the Holy Spirit.  The fact that the pillars are of shittim wood indicate there is a human element to the hanging and yet since it is overlaid with gold, there is a kingly element to the work as well.  The answer is that the work of Christ is plainly set forth for us in the four gospels.  These men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost to write.   

“And the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy.” Since Christ is that veil that divides between the holy place and the most holy place.  Those who come unto the most holy place must come through Christ as a great number of scriptures teach us of which the following is a small sample:

    1. Rom. 3:24 “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”

    2. Rom. 5:1 “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”

    3. Rom. 5:11 “And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.”

    4. Rom. 6:11 “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

    5. Rom. 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

    6. 1 Cor. 15:57 “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

    7. Gal. 4:7 “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

    8. Heb. 10:10 “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” 

Footnotes:

(16) four Four - Spirit

There is a correlation in the scriptures between the number four and the work of the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, there are four Hebrew and Greek words that are translated into the English word Spirit. Similarly, there are four Hebrew and Greek words that are translated into the English word spiritual. There are numerous groupings of fours in the scriptures that correlate with the work of the Holy Spirit. While our chief endeavor in these writings is to study the working of the Holy Spirit, we will be trying to accomplish this by studying the numerous groupings in scriptures of four things. Some of the groupings of four showing this correlation are:

                   a. The river that was parted into four heads.
                   b. The four living creatures & four cherubims.
                   c. The four wheels.
                   d. The four horses.
                   e. The four beasts.
                   f. The four gospels.
                   g. The four winds.
                   h. Four-square things.
                   i. Four sore judgments.
                   j. Four carpenters.
                   k. Four gifts of gospel ministers.

Verses 34-37 

:34 “And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. 35 And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side. 36 And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. 37 And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.” 

“And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.”  In the above passage we have described for us the placing of the furniture within the tabernacle.  The ark of testimony which represents Christ and his covenant work and the mercy seat properly belong in the most holy place.  Whereas the table and candlestick properly belong in the holy place.   

The mercy seat was placed upon the Ark of the Covenant in the most holy place.  The most holy place is typical of the glory world. The mercy seat represents God’s mercy towards his covenant children.  God’s mercy to his covenant children is based upon the fact that Christ through his covenant work redeemed them and forgave them of their sins and made them righteous before God.   

“And thou shalt set the table without the veil, and the candlestick over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and thou shalt put the table on the north side.”  The Lord revealed to us the significance of the candlestick in the book of Revelations: Rev. 1:20 “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”  The lamps on the candlestick give light to the church and the table holds the source of food for the church.  These are properly placed in the holy place which is representative of the Lord’s church. 

“And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.  And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.”   

“And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework.”  The description of the door hanging sounds very similar to the description for the veil that separated between the holy place and the most holy place.  We know the veil represented the flesh of Christ and the colors described to us the fact that Christ was the perfect keeper of the law (blue), the royal one to come (purple), the prepared sacrifice to redeem his people from their sins (scarlet) and through his redeeming blood to make them righteous (fine twined linen.) 

“And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.”  Shittim wood is associated with the humanity of Christ and gold his divine kingship.  Five is representative of death and brass is representative of judgment.  Christ is both the son of man (shittim wood) and the son of God (gold).  Through  his atoning sacrifice (death) Christ brought the judgment (brass) of  righteousness to his covenant people.  We are able to enter into the church because of the fact that we have been made righteous before God.  Moreover, only those who have been made righteous before God are able to enter into the Church Kingdom of God.