The Veil of the Tabernacle

I don’t know much about nuclear power plants. But I have seen some documentaries and movies! I have also read accounts of the disasters at Chernobyl in Russia and Fukushima in Japan. I have learned from these accounts you don’t mess around with nuclear reactors. They might meltdown. You don’t just waltz into a nuclear power plant without clearance. You approach the area with respect and caution. The boundaries guarding the space must be honored. They are there for your protection.

We have something very similar pictured in the book of Exodus. The Tabernacle is a beautiful object lesson of God’s love and mercy to His people, and His protection. God gave Moses the actual pattern for this forerunner to the Temple some 1500 years before Jesus walked the earth. It is a picture of God’s desire to meet and commune with man. But there is something very dangerous lurking there.

God is holy. He is totally pure and separated from sin. His holiness literally shines forth in blinding glory. Sinful man cannot approach a holy God. We would be destroyed. How can we possibly draw close and commune with God?

Think of Isaiah in Isaiah 6 where he had an encounter with the living God seated on a throne, high and lifted up. He saw the high order of angels called the seraphim calling out to one another, “Holy, Holy, Holy….” and the foundations of thresholds trembled while the temple filled with smoke.” Isaiah was undone. He was ruined because he knew he was a man of unclean lips. Only because one of the seraphim brought him a burning coal and touched his lips which took away his iniquity, did he survive this encounter. Isaiah would not have lived if his iniquity (sin) had not been removed.

Consider the Tabernacle veil which is sometimes called the curtain. This veil separated the outer room of the Tabernacle from the innermost room, the Holy of Holies which contained the ark of the covenant. This is where God said, “There I will meet with you; and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of testimony, I will commune with you…” The veil didn’t keep God in the Holy of Holies, it kept man out! It was a barrier of protection.

The curtain itself was a beautiful linen covering. Figures of cherubim were intricately embroidered upon it with purple, blue and scarlet yarn. The cherubim, the word we from which we get cherub, are not little chubby angels blowing kisses into the air. They are fierce mighty angels whose job it is to guard the holiness, the very presence of God. They are described a few times in the Bible when we see scenes of the throne room of God. They are the same beings whose likenesses carved in solid gold knelt over the ark of the covenant.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, one person, the High Priest, was permitted to go into the Holy of Holies to make atonement for the sins of the people. But he could only do so after elaborate preparations of fasting and ritual washing, prayers and sacrifices. Only then could he first go into the Holy of Holies to make sacrifices for himself. Later in that day he went in to make sacrifices for the people. Even after all the preparation, it was with great fear and trepidation that he approached the ark of the covenant where the holy presence dwelt. Would he survive being in the presence of a holy God? Small bells were sewed into the hem of his garment so the people would know he was still alive while ministering in the Holy of Holies.

By the time of Jesus the Temple, more elaborate and permanent, had replaced the Tabernacle. The curtain in the Temple was sixty feet tall and four inches thick. Matthew 27:50-51 tells us that just as Jesus cried out with a loud voice from the cross and yielded up His spirit, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth shook and the rocks were split. Man could not tear this thick long curtain from top to bottom. God tore that curtain. The way was open through the shed blood of Jesus for sinful man to approach a holy God. The body of Jesus was broken, His flesh was torn, His blood was shed. He who knew no sin became sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God. II Corinthians 5:21.

Hallelujah, the veil is torn, the way is open.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You Lord for your hand of protection and provision that we see in the veil of the Tabernacle. Give us a deep respect and reverence for Your holiness. Thank You that you have made a way for us to come into Your very presence through the shed blood of your son. Thank you the way is open through the curtain.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen