02.10. THE LINEN CURTAINS
THE LINEN CURTAINS THESE curtains were ten in number.
They were made into two great breadths of five curtains each.
They were coupled together with clasps of gold into loops of blue on the edge of the breadth.
They were placed directly under the goats’ hair curtains.
They were a cubit shorter than the goats’ hair curtains. They did not touch the ground as the upper curtains did.
They were, fifty cubits in breadth from end to end when coupled together.
They were coupled together over the four pillars that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy.
One breadth of five curtains, twenty cubits, covered the Holy Place and formed the ceiling. The other breadth covered the Most Holy Place. Half of the breadth formed the ceiling, the other half fell down over the back.
These curtains were seen only as the ceiling. They were dropped over the outside of the boards, so that the boards constituted walls of pure gold for both the sacred places of the interior.
Figures of the cherubim in blue, purple and scarlet were wrought in all the breadths. They were exquisitely wrought in fine needle work.
“Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits; and every one of the curtains shall have the same measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain uttermost from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in I the edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second.
Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches; and it shall be one tabernacle.” (Exodus 26:1-6.)
Linen is flax.
Flax is that which comes up out of the earth. Considered as to base, the linen represents the humanity of our Lord.
Pure white, spotless, these curtains were a fitting symbol of the perfect character of our Lord; as it is written:
“Holy, Harmless, Undefiled, Separate from sinners.” (Hebrews 7:26.)’ , The three colors, blue, purple and scarlet are direct symbols.
Blue is the color of Heaven.
Scarlet is the color of earth, it is the color of kings the color of their kingly robes. Purple is the blending of blue and scarlet. In Christ there is an equal blending of Heaven and earth.
He has the nature of Heaven—divine.
He has the nature of earth-human nature.
Two distinct natures, just as distinct as blue and scarlet—divine and human.
These two natures though distinct are united in one personality. As the nature of Heaven is the nature of God and the nature from earth is the nature of man, the union of these two in one gives us the combination of all combinations-the God-man.
Whenever and wherever you see purple, whenever you realize it is the blending of Heaven and the color of earth, let it say to you that our Lord Jesus Christ is the union of God and man in one eternal person. The cherubim were wrought into the pure, snowy linen in these three colors. The cherubim are “living creatures.” They had four faces.
They had wings.
They had the face of a man, a lion, an ox, an eagle. (Ezekiel 1:10.) The face of the man represents intellect, mind, thought, knowledge and personal will power. The lion, kingly dignity, power and glory. The ox, strength for service. The eagle, power of supreme perception. The cherubim are angels.
Angels have their class.
There is the angel of the species, a range of creation just above man. The seraphim are the burning ones. They are the singers of the universe. The cherubim are the highest order. The word, “cherub,” in its root meaning signifies strength, mightiness.
They are majestic, kingly, almost limitless in power. They are the masters of nature’s forces.
They can play with the winds and the lightnings.
They are the delegated engineers of the universe. They are the executors of judgments.
They will execute the providential judgments of God in the dosing hours of this age; as it is written:
“The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom (the area of it) all things that offend, and them which do iniquity. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire.” (Matthew 13:41-42.)
Read the book of Revelation from Revelation 7:1-17, Revelation 8:1-13, Revelation 9:1-21, Revelation 10:1-11, Revelation 11:1-19, Revelation 12:1-17, Revelation 13:1-18, Revelation 14:1-20, Revelation 15:1-8, Revelation 16:1-21, Revelation 17:1-18, Revelation 18:1-24, Revelation 19:1-21 and you will behold these mighty ones. You will find them acting with supreme control over all the forces of nature, whether they stand upon the four corners of the earth and hold the winds in abeyance, or whether they stand as with one foot planted on the sea or stand immune in the seething flaming glories of the sun.
Angels are what their name and title signify-messengers.
They are the messengers of, and wholly in subjection to, our risen and glorified Lord; as it is written:
“Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” (1 Peter 3:2)
Since the cherubim set forth the angels of God, since they are subject unto our Lord Jesus Christ and receive all power and authority from Him, then these cherubic figures embroidered in the white linen in all their symbolic colors represent the Lord’s supremacy in the universe over all material and intellectual powers.
Supreme intellect, supreme force express omnipotence. The cherubim therefore set forth omnipotence in its final form, in humanity; in short, the cherubim proclaim the deity of the Man Christ Jesus. The priest who walked beneath these curtains in the Tabernacle, walked beneath a mass of outspread wings and feathers. As he looked up he saw everywhere the face of a man surrounded by the symbol of majesty and power and deity; everywhere there were wings and feathers, the face of a man looking out from and above the symbols of deity; everywhere his eye beheld the figure of a man supreme and as very God.
Here is the explanation of that phrase to be found in the psalms about the wings and the feathers of God: “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.” (Psalms 17:8.)
“How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.” (Psalms 36:7.)
“Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be over past.” (Psalms 57:1.) “I will abide in thy tabernacle forever, I will trust in the covert of thy wings.” (Psalms 61:4.) “In the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice.” (Psalms 63:7.)
“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.” (Psalms 91:4.) What a vision it all was.
Light shining from the seven branched golden candlestick and reflected in the burnished, pure gold of the side walls, the golden table with its symmetrical rows of bread, where priests ate and communed with God and with one another in the light, the golden altar with its ascending, white smoke of fragrant incense, the gorgeous vail, the vail beautiful, the ark of the covenant, the solid gold mercy seat, the supernatural shekinah burning in its scintillating, Heaven-sent fire beneath the bowing, golden angels; above in the illuminated, outspread ceiling, blue, purple and scarlet, everywhere the eyes of the Man looking and following each movement of the priest; everywhere the extended wings as a canopy of feathers; everywhere the sense of mystery, glory, God in man and for man, symbolized, proclaimed at every turn.
How little would the passer-by upon the outside who saw only the formless, dull and common looking badgers’ skins know of this.
Only those within the Tabernacle could see and know.
How little do those who are not Christians know of the beauty and wonder and glory of our Lord.
Only those, as I have already said, who are in Christ have seen the beauty, witnessed the glory; and when they speak to others in glowing terms of all He is to them they seem, indeed, to those who have never entered in, as though they were beside themselves and spoke at random.
Inside the Tabernacle—only there could you know the Tabernacle. In Christ-only there and then can you know Christ.