There are encouraging lessons we can learn from many aspects of the law of Moses. In this exhortation we draw a lesson from the veil in the tabernacle. You’ll recall that Moses was given strict instructions to build the tabernacle “after the pattern” shown him in the mount. The instructions are given in the finest of details in the book of Exodus:
“And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubim shall it be made: And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver. 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” (Ex. 26:31- 33).
A great separation
So the veil was to divide between the holy place and the most holy; between the sanctuary and the holy of holies; between the daily activity and the holy activity on the great Day of Atonement; between the ordinary Levites and the High Priest; between the flesh and the spirit; between the sinfulness of man and the righteousness of God.
When the children of Israel entered into the land of Israel, the tabernacle finally gave way to the grand Temple of Solomon. Although made of more permanent materials such as wood and stone, it was built after the same pattern. It was comprised of two major areas within, the sanctuary and the most holy, still separated by a veil: “And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon” (11 Chron. 3:14).
All things under the law spoke of things spiritual if only they had eyes to see and ears to hear. But it was not until the death of the Lord Jesus Christ that the full spiritual meaning of the veil was understood. The gospel of Matthew records: “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Matt. 27:50-53)
Although each of the synoptic gospel writers record that at the precise moment of his death, the veil of the temple was rent, it is only when we come to the book of Hebrews that we have it explained clearly what the veil represented.
Significance of the veil
In this wonderful epistle to his Jewish brethren in Christ, the writer goes to great lengths to prove that: Christ was greater than the angels; Christ was greater than the Levitical priesthood; Christ was greater than the tabernacle. In fact, Christ was greater than the whole law of Moses, as the whole law was just a “shadow of things to come” in Christ Jesus our Lord. And so he speaks of the veil, and says:
“Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God; let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:19-22).
The veil therefore represented the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ, because in the end it was his flesh that stood in the way of reconciliation between God and man; it was his flesh that stood in the way of the sanctuary and the most holy; it was his flesh that stood in the way of the flesh and the spirit; it was his flesh that stood in the way of the sinful nature of man and a righteous God. It was for this reason that God required his sacrifice in all its forms: the sacrifice of self; the sacrifice of self-will; the sacrifice of selfishness; the sacrifice of self-centeredness. After all, he had taught on more than one occasion: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt. 16:24 )— because in the end, it is self that alienates us from God!
And so in Gethsemane he was crushed like olives in a giant olive press, there beneath the pale Passover moon. He lay prostrate before his Father — three times he prayed for help to overcome the flesh. Luke records: “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:42-44).
Catch the echo from the seedbed of creation: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19). The only way in which the curse of Eden would be reversed was by his total submission to the will of God. And God’s will was that he should sacrifice self — not by the sweat of perspiration, but by his sweat like great drops of blood.
Significance of the colors
Now there is a little detail tucked away, back in the text in Exodus 26, that I would like to bring to your attention; it refers to the dyes that were used to make the veil. Each colored thread represented part of the tapestry which made up the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. You’ll remember that there were three colors in the veil — blue and purple and red. “And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubim shall it be made…” (Ex. 26:31).
Blue’s spiritual meaning originates with its most obvious associations — sky and sea. The vast expanses of the sky and sea call to the spirit of man craving release through a sense of infinity. Blue, therefore, is equated with the spirit that soars, with wind that blows across the open plains, with the very breath that we breathe. Blue is the soft living water that falls from above. It is clean and fresh; blue is equated with God Himself. In relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, blue refers to his begettal as the Son of God.
Red’s spiritual meaning starts with its most ancient association — blood. It is equated, therefore, with the heart and the flesh, with emotion and the mortality of man. The bond between red and life has made it a significant color in every culture on earth. Since blood held the secret of life, the color was accredited with special powers. Red was also a color of royalty used by kings down through the ages of time. In relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ red refers to his human nature — as the Son of Man as well as King of the Jews.
Purple is obtained by mixing blue and red. It therefore is associated with a blending of two opposites, a coming together of “flesh” and “spirit.” It speaks also of royalty and kingship. In relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, it refers to his paternity as the Son of God and the Son of Man. Because he is both the Son of God and the Son of Man he has the credentials as a priest, a king and an heir of all things in the Father’s house.
All these spiritual ideas were woven into the righteousness of this “bleached white” veil.
Special quality of scarlet
The detail in the veil that I would like to bring to your attention is the word “scarlet” in Exodus 26:31: “And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubim shall it be made.” The Hebrew word here is towlah (fern) towle’ah and refers to a female worm that was found in the Middle East. It was from this worm that the dye was obtained to stain the fibers that made the red thread in the veil. It was for this reason that the translators of the AV translated this word as “scarlet,” and on eight occasions as “worm.” When the female of the scarlet worm species was ready to give birth to her young, she would attach her body to the trunk of a tree, fixing herself so firmly and permanently that she would never leave again. The eggs deposited beneath her body were thus protected until the larvae were hatched and able to enter their own life cycle. As the mother died, the crimson fluid stained her body and the surrounding wood. From the dead bodies of such female scarlet worms, the commercial scarlet dyes of antiquity were extracted (Ungers Bible Dictionary).
Here, in this minute detail, we are given a most vivid picture of Christ dying on the tree, shedding his precious blood that he might “bring many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2:10). He died for us that we might live through Him!
Psalm 22 alludes to the worm
We come finally to Psalm 22 — a psalm that deals with the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ on the stake at Calvary. This psalm, written nearly one thousand years before the event, records the very thoughts that passed through the Lord’s mind, as his life’s blood oozed from his hands, his feet, his side, his back and his brow.
“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people” (Psa. 22: 1 -6).
The Hebrew word for worm here is towlah, the very selfsame word translated as “scarlet” in the veil! By saying “I am a I towlah worm,” he was saying “I am the one, dying on the tree, I am the one, from whose body the scarlet blood oozes in order to bring life to the children that are still to be born.”
By saying “I am a towlah worm,” he was saying: “I am the the Son of Man, the son of my mother Mary. I am the one who has conquered sin in the flesh.” And the marvel of it all is that he did it for all, Jew and Greek, bond and free, male and female, “who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” He did it so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One