WITHIN THE CHERUBIM CURTAIN TABERNACLE

WITHIN THE CHERUBIM CURTAIN TABERNACLE

We have already tried to show the superiority of the splendid cherubim curtains, and would now still further try to emphasize their pre-eminence. They constituted the tabernacle (Heb. “dwelling”), and all the other parts of the sacred edifice are not mentioned till it has been described. They were made for it; and not it for them (Exodus 26:1-15). The golden boards, as already noticed, are not called the tabernacle but only the boards for the tabernacle (Exodus 26:1, with Exodus 26:15). In imagination visit the sacred dwelling. Standing in the holy place and looking eastward, you observe that the door you entered by forms the east wall, whose loveliness at once attracts your attention. On a groundwork of blue, beautiful palm trees and flowers are interwoven with purple, scarlet and fine twined linen. As you turn round, the veil, forming the west wall of the apartment, now claims your notice. It is even more beautiful than the east wall, for it is not only radiant with the bright hues that adorned it, but in addition, shines all over with lovely cherubim figures. And now, as you turn your wondering and admiring eyes to the roof above you and then to the south and north walls, you see that like the veil they are all glittering with the shining cherubim, who seem to be regarding you with affection. On your right hand stands the golden table, on your left, the golden candlestick, and right before you at the far end of the chamber, the golden altar. When now you enter the holy of holies your admiration increases. One wall, the east one of the holy place, is not enriched with cherubim, but all the walls, north, south, east and west, as well as the roof of this inner sanctuary in which you are now standing, are resplendent with the beautiful colors and with the bright shining cherubim. And besides these symbolic figures looking at you from roof and walls, there are two of solid gold on the mercy seat, on which by a visible symbol God was seated, and shone forth from between the cherubim. These beautiful and symbolic figures so crowd the holy of holies, that it may well be called the cherubim chamber.

Strange as it may seem, some writers confidently tell us that only one-third of these superb tapestry curtains, the part that formed the ceiling, was visible in the interior, and that the remaining two-thirds hung over the outside of the boards, and hid from view, being covered by the goat-hair tent. They are greatly mistaken, for curtains so rich and so beautifully adorned were certainly never intended otherwise than to be seen and to be wholly displayed in the interior, as we have shown they were. Those writers are not less in error who tell us that the greater part of the curtains covered the two internal sides of a sloping roof, and no part of the walls, and that the remainder extended outward from the sloping roof and formed dormitories for the priests (appendix, chapter 28). The entire curtains formed as was meet, and as their name indicates (Exodus 26:1), the dwelling of Israel’s God and King. No part of them formed dwellings for the priests who had their tents with the rest of the Levites close to and around the tabernacle (Numbers 1:53), and on what was considered holy ground.

TYPICAL AND SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE CHERUBIM CURTAIN TABERNACLE It bears some analogy to the believer, to the church, to Christ, and to heaven.

First, To the believer. God who dwelt within the curtains, condescends to dwell graciously in the heart of every true Israelite; “Saints are an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). As the tabernacle was more beautiful within than without, so are God’s children. They are clothed with the spotless robe of Immanuel’s righteousness, and adorned with the graces of humility, love, holiness, and heavenly-mindedness. Arrayed in these, the King’s daughter is all glorious within, and will shine forth with undiminished luster for ever and ever. These are the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, that will never lose their bright and lively hues. Have you this spiritual embroidery, and is it shining out in your daily life? If so, happy are you. Strive by the aid of the Holy Spirit to shine more and more. No fast colors save these—all else will fade and die. Is it, however, otherwise with you? If so, come to Jesus. By faith ask Him to throw around you His own beautiful robe of righteousness, and He will do it. Ask Him to send the Holy Spirit, the Spiritual Embroiderer, to imprint on your souls His own lovely image, and to inwork in you the graces of faith, hope, love, and every other feature of His likeness, and He will send Him. And it will then be true of you, “Ye are a temple of God, and.., the Spirit of God dwelleth in you (1 Corinthians 3:16, RV).

Second, To the church. Believers, of whom the church is composed, although scattered among many sects of professing Christians, are yet all one in Christ Jesus. As the curtains, though woven separately, were afterward sewed together and formed two great curtains united into one tabernacle by loops of blue and clasps of gold, so God’s children are knit together by the silver ties of affection, and bound together by the golden clasps of love. The union of saints on earth, though real and close, is not so apparent as it really is, in consequence of the imperfections of even the best of Christ’s disciples, and of differences of opinion dividing them into various denominations, but even here they shall yet, “see eye to eye,” and be seen to be one as they really are. For this the great Intercessor prayed while on earth, and for this He still prays, as He now stands in the true holy of holies:—”I pray that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee.” God delights to dwell in the midst of the united company of believers, who are His household “and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

Third, To Christ. God dwells or tabernacles in the individual believer, and in the church composed of saints, but in Christ He dwells more gloriously than elsewhere. “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” He is the “true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man,”—a shrine altogether lovely, and a pre-eminently meet habitation for the Deity. God dwelt within the curtains by a visible symbol, seen by no one, save the high priest, and by those who had spiritual discernment when Christ was sojourning in this world and saw God in Him: “He,” said Christ, “that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father.” Though He was in the form of man, His disciples beheld beams of the divine glory shining forth through His humanity (John 1:14). The saints in heaven also behold God in Him. There He is the “face of God,” for as our faces are the medium of expression to our souls, so that of Jesus in heaven will be of God to us. When we look upon it with delight, we shall behold it radiant with the good pleasure of our heavenly Father. Christ in heaven is pre-eminently the tabernacle of God.

Fourth, To heaven. Who can doubt that the beautiful cherubim curtain tabernacle was a type of heaven? Heaven is the place of the most glorious manifestation of God’s presence. There angels and saints behold God shining, not by a mere symbol as He did within the curtains, but in the face of Jesus Christ. There too are those glorious beings who are mighty in strength (and whose perfections and graces were shadowed forth in the cherubim that stood upon the mercy seat, and of those that adorned the roof and walls of the dwelling), even thousands and tens of thousands of holy angels, guardians of the saints while on earth, and their companions and fellow-worshippers for ever in the heavenly temple. What a glorious temple! Christ, the Shekinah, the face of God in the midst. Above, before, behind, on every side, all around myriads and myriads of bright angels and glorified saints, raising their celestial and unwearied voices in one glorious chorus, causing its exalted arches to ring with the praises of that Great High Priest who died for us, and now pleads our cause before the heavenly throne.

From Model. Diagram of Court.