Lecture 6 The Curtains of the Tabernacle

Having considered the principal vessels of the sanctuary, we now come to the consideration of the tabernacle itself.

In the tabernacle of witness, there are two sets of curtains and two coverings.

The ten curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubims, forming the tabernacle; and the eleven curtains of goats' hair forming what is called the tent.

Then the covering of the tent of rams' skins, dyed red, and the covering above of badgers' skins (Ex. 36:8, 13,14,18, 19).

It is of the utmost importance to keep these things distinct in our minds, for although the translators often confound the terms "tabernacle" and "tent" ("mishcan" and "ohel"), and are extremely careless in rendering the words, the Holy Ghost employs the most exact and beautiful precision; and it is by attending to this precision that we may hope, through Divine grace, to ascertain the mind of God.

The tabernacle, as the Hebrew word "mishcan" signifies, is God's dwelling-place, according to Ex. 25:8:

Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them,

and is more immediately connected with God's abiding presence.

The tent ("ohel") is more immediately connected with the congregation, as the place of assembly, and is therefore called "the tent of the congregation"; and I call especial attention to the fact, that the Holy Ghost never uses the expression "tabernacle of the congregation," but always "tent of the congregation"; thus never confounding the two ideas, as the translators frequently do.

"And thou shalt make the tabernacle." A dwelling-place for God with men on the earth. Oh marvellous, condescending grace! (2 Chron. 6:18).

Christ himself, while he was on the earth, was this tabernacle, and as such he abode alone (John 12:24).

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt, or tabernacled, among us (John 1:14).

He was God manifest in flesh: the Godhead and the glory dwelt in him.

But Christ having died, and being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, and sent down the Comforter; by that One Spirit all believers are now baptized into One Body, in union with the risen man, their glorified Head; the Church on earth thus forming the tabernacle, or dwelling-place of God, as, says the Scripture:

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Cor. 3:16).

In this sense the tabernacle represents the whole Church of God — looked at in the Spirit, not in the flesh -- composed of all true believers in Jesus throughout the world.

I speak not now of any manifest oneness, but of that which exists in Spirit, notwithstanding all the outward failure.

As to the materials of which these curtains are composed, first, -

Of fine twined linen {Ex. 26:1}.

Let it be borne in mind, that here the Church is not looked at only as the purchase of the blood of the Lamb - the ram's skins, dyed red, will give us that thought in due time — but as the workmanship of the Eternal Spirit.

The new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him (Col. 3:10);

God's

workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Eph. 2:10); the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24).

The fine linen is the righteousness of saints (Rev. 19:8),

expressive of conformity, through the Spirit, to the image of Christ as the holy one. For

he that is begotten of God sinneth not (1 John 3:9).

The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Rom. 8:4).

And blue. Blue is the emblem of heavenly perfectness.

And how beautifully these two thoughts of righteousness and heavenly perfectness are expressed by the Lord Jesus in his sublime prayer in John 17!

I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil....

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (John 17:15, 17).

Here is the fine linen. And again:

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:16).

Here is the blue.

And for their sakes I sanctify myself (set myself apart from the world to God), that they also might be sanctified through the truth (John 17:19).

Here is the fine linen and the blue combined. For by the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven, uniting the believer with a glorified Christ at God's right hand, just so far as his soul enters by faith into the truth, is he in heart separated from the world, and brought into fellowship with God. And thus the holiness and the heavenliness of Jesus are wrought by the Holy Ghost into his spiritual being.

And purple. The emblem of earthly and heavenly glory combined.

For through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit the believer is identified with the Lord Jesus, in whom the earthly glories of the son of David, and the Divine and heavenly glories of the Son of God, meet and center.

And scarlet. The emblem of earthly glory.

And in the earthly glories of the Son of David the believer shares; and when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, the saints too shall reign, for it is a faithful saying,

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him {2 Tim. 2:12}.

The purple rather expresses the present glory of the Lord Jesus, while the anointed King of Israel, sitting on his Father's throne. The scarlet, his coming millennial glories, in his mediatorial kingdom. But the believer, through the Spirit, is one with Christ in both respects:

With cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them {Ex. 26:1}.

The cherubim inwrought with these various materials, beautifully express the gifts of the Spirit for service to God, in the building up and knitting together the Church, as the body of Christ, in Spirit.

Ten curtains. We have hitherto looked at the Church, in spirit, in its unity; we now contemplate it as composed of various parts or assemblies {the church is not composed of assemblies}.

Thus, in the apostles' times, there were the churches of Galatia, the church in Corinth, Ephesus, &c. And so now, believers, though one in Spirit, are dispersed in various localities. True, in the times of the apostles, there was an outward expression of local oneness which no longer exists. Yet, nevertheless, in spirit and in truth, all believers in a given place are one.

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 one measure {Ex. 26:2}.

The Church of God, in Spirit, as here represented, in any given place, is composed of every real believer in that place — of every converted sinner, of every new-born child of God. Wherever the Spirit of God has come as a quickening Spirit, there he remains as an indwelling Spirit. And every one in whom he dwells, is by him baptized unto the one body, of which Christ is the risen and glorified head.

The length and breadth of every curtain was fixed by God. God's measure of the Church, in Spirit, in any one place, takes in every real believer in that place; but no more. It is inclusive of every quickened soul, but exclusive of every unconverted person.

And God's principles are the same everywhere. He has not one measure for one place and another for another. "Every one of the curtains shall have one measure."

The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains (shall be) coupled one to another {Ex. 26:1}.

Literally, "a woman to her sister." An Hebraism.

When the different local assemblies of believers were outwardly, as well as spiritually one, as in the church at Ephesus, or at Philippi, composed of all believers in Christ in those cities, how real and sweet the fellowship of churches! How close and intimate the fellowship between Colosse and Laodicea! Hence writes the apostle Paul,

When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea (Col. 4:16).

And so writes the apostle Peter, to the elect strangers:

The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you (1 Pet. 5:13).

But even now, while the outward oneness is gone, the fellowship of churches in Spirit remains, hindered, hampered, and feeble though it be; and when two or three are gathered together in {unto, the name of Jesus in different localities, a little of the sweet fellowship of churches may still be enjoyed.

Then again, the vital interests of believers, though sundered by distance of place, are inseparably connected. One member cannot suffer without all the members suffering with it, little as they may healthfully sympathise the one with another.

The membership of the body in Spirit, is the all-important point. Being members of particular churches, is a thought utterly unknown to scripture, and, practically, mischievous in the extreme.

And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain, from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost 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 {Ex. 26:4, 5, 6}.

The marvellous prayer of the Lord Jesus, recorded in the seventeenth chapter of John, gives us, I believe, in the Lord's own words, the precious truths set forth by the loops of blue and taches of gold, uniting the whole into one tabernacle, the dwelling-place of God.

This prayer of Jesus is occupied with the Church of God; it takes in neither Israel nor the world (John 17:9), neither the Old Testament, nor the millennial saints; but the then disciples of Christ, and those who should believe in him through their word - the Church, as built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Having first reminded his heavenly Father of his earthly obedience, and asked to be glorified, as the obedient God-man, with the glory which, as the Eternal Son, he had with the Father before the world was, he then prays for his disciples. He had given to them eternal life, for they had known both him and the Father, and now, taking his place in spirit, as no longer in the world, but as ascended to his Father - he at the right hand of God above, and they still on the earth - he prays that they may be ONE, as the Father and the Son are one, that is, in a spiritual, Divine, and eternal oneness (John 17:11); and this prayer was accomplished when, being by the right hand of God exalted, having received the promise of the Father, he sent down the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, who baptized into one body all believers in Jesus, in union with their glorified head.

Then setting himself apart to the Father from the world which crucified and rejected him, thus sanctifying himself for their sakes, he prays for them, that they, being one with him risen, and thus no more of the world than he is of the world, through the knowledge and apprehension of this truth in the power of the Holy Ghost, that they might be practically sanctified and separate in spirit from the world to God.

He next proceeds to take in all those who should believe an him, during the present dispensation of faith in the inspired word, previous to his return to receive the Church: that they ALL might be one in this divine, spiritual, perfect, eternal oneness. And so they are. And this oneness is the proof to the world of the mission and Messiahship of Jesus (John 17:20, 21).

He is not here contemplating their outward oneness in the flesh, but their inward oneness in the Spirit. Then, making them the sharers of his given glory, he asks that they might be one, as the Father and himself are one, in that glory, in grace! Glorious and blissful prospect!

And when associated with him in that resurrection glory, their bodies fashioned into the likeness of his own, they shall be made perfect in one, and the perfection of the oneness will be manifest.

And when Christ, who is their life, shall appear, and every eye shall see him, and they also appear with him in glory, then will the world know that Jesus is the sent one of the Father, and that they also are loved with the same love as that with which the Father loves him.

Then, as not having yet exhausted the desires of his loving heart, he asks that they may not only be associated with him in his manifested glory to the world, but that they also may be with him and near him in his own eternal dwelling place with the Father, there to gaze on his divine glories, and share his everlasting love.

This divine, heavenly, and perfect oneness of the Church in Spirit, is beautifully typified, as I have said, by these taches of gold and loops of blue.

Gold is the emblem of that which is divine; and blue of that which is heavenly and perfect: and such is the oneness of the Church in Spirit. Their oneness is of God. It is even as the Father and the Son are one, effected by the indwelling of the divine Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and the Son.

But it is a oneness with the ascended Christ, the heavenly Man, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

And this oneness is perfect; although the glorious perfection of it will only fully appear when the one Church, having no spot, wrinkle, or any such thing, shall descend out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and shining with a light clear as crystal.

And this Divine, heavenly, and perfect oneness still exists, and nothing can touch it. The loops of blue and taches of gold never let go their holdfast.

The prayer of Christ secures it. A prayer heard and answered.

The outward manifested earthly oneness of the Church was committed dispensationally to the hands of man, and, like every thing else committed to him, it is gone, utterly and for ever gone.

The earthen vessel has been smashed into a thousand fragments; the golden bowl remains intact.

The flesh of the oyster is corrupting and putrefying; the pearl remains in all its peerless oneness, and its priceless value.

The outward fellowship of Churches and of Saints, where is it? Nevertheless, in Spirit we are still one.

In matters of human opinion, of worldly policy, and of man's imperfect reasoning, how many the points of difference!

In matters of divine faith, of heavenly truth, and of scriptural perfection, how numerous the points of union!

One hundred loops of blue, and fifty taches of gold, unite the ten curtains and every fibre of them into one Tabernacle.

Is all this any excuse for our wretched outward divisions, when not called for by the glory of God and of Christ, and by the interests of vital truth? Is this any palliation of our sin?

Far from it.

And even now, in various parts of the world, the Spirit of God is arousing individual souls to the consciousness of this solemn fact. And by gathering sinners direct to the person of a divine Saviour, and by associating saints around the person of a divine Master, he is bringing twos and threes in separation from human systems which divide, to the divine center, which unites, to taste afresh the blessedness of the words of Jesus, in their comfort, their sweetness, and their power,

that they all may be one (John 17:21).

Outline of Lectures on tr e Tabernacle of Witness 153

The Curtain s of the Tent

EXODUS$26:7-13

of the tabernacle. And thou shalt make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops in the edge of the curtain which coupleth the second. And thou shali make fifty taches of brass, and put the taches into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. And the remnant that remaineth of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth, shall hang over the backside of the tabernacle.

The Goats' Hair Curtains

And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair, to be a tent 3

upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make

{Ex. 26:7}.

The ten curtains of fine twined linen formed the tabernacle; these eleven curtains of goats' hair compose the tent.

Looking on the tent as typical of the Lord Jesus when on earth, it presents him as taking upon him the form of a servant, and made in the likeness of men (Phil. 3:7). Yea more, oh marvellous stoop of condescending love, as made in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3). For the goat in Scripture was especially selected for the sin offering, as typical of Christ; though it was only on the cross that he was "made sin for us." And the parable in Matt. 25:31, to the end, shows the marked distinction in figure between the sheep and the goat. We know that he personally "knew no sin"; yet, in outward form and appearance, he was found in fashion as a man.

At the same time, like the tabernacle enclosed by the tent, he was the habitation of God, the glory of the godhead dwelt within.

In the second place, looking at the tent as typical of the Church of God on earth, it presents us the Church as composed of individuals living in the world: not as the Church inwardly in Spirit, but the Church outwardly in the flesh. 4

It is called the tent of the congregation, as representing those who are associated, or gathered together, to the

confession of the name of Jesus - the assembly, or assemblies, of the saints.

And the tent of witness, as representing them as the witnessing company for Christ in the earth.

I am black, but comely,

says the bride,

as the tents of Kedar;

such is the Church's outward appearance in the flesh,

as the curtains of Solomon (S of S 1:5);

such she is within, as the workmanship of the Divine and Eternal Spirit.

The Dimensions of the Curtains

he length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and th readth of one curtain four cubits {Ex. 26:8)

The dimensions and limits of the curtains of the tent of the congregation, as well as of the tabernacle, are fixed and laid down by God himself in his word.

There are two cubits more in the curtains of the tent than in those of the tabernacle, and this is significant.

The quickening and indwelling of the Spirit of God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is all that is requisite in order to any one's forming part of the Church in Spirit now, as the body of Christ;

for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12:13).

Where there is the revelation of the Son by the Father in the power of the Holy Ghost, there is a living stone; but, in order to form part of the Church as the witnessing company to Christ in the earth, there must also be the confession of Christ, the Son of the living God, as the result of Divine teaching. (See Matt. 16:13-18.) And those who are built upon the foundation, and associated together in this confession, compose the Church of Christ, as the witness for him in the world (John 12:42, 43). There must also be consistency with this confession; for the brother that has offended, and will not hear the Church, or the assembly of those who are gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, such an one is to be regarded as a heathen man, and a publican (Matt. 18:15-20).

He is outside of that which is the witness for Christ in the earth.

The inscription on the curtains of the tabernacle is,

The foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his (2 Tim. 2:19).

The inscription on the curtains of the tent is,

Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19).

As to the Church of God in Spirit — the tabernacle of God — the Lord Jesus knows every one of those who belong to him.

They may not be able to apprehend themselves with certainty that they belong to Jesus; the world may not know it; they may be hidden ones; but the foundation of their security is this: the Lord knows them, and all they that are his at his coming, shall be raised to the first resurrection, and every member of his mystic body shall form part of the Bride in the glory. But as the witness to Christ in the earth — the tent of the congregation — the pillar and ground of God's truth separation from evil is the principle of its very existence:

without this it crumbles into ruins. Moral or doctrinal evil, admitted into an assembly of witnesses for Christ, is like a fretting leprosy in one of the curtains of the tent, which will destroy it in the warp and woof (Lev. 13:47-52).

Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved {Rom. 10:13}.

This is true of all who compose the tabernacle, or Church of God in Spirit.

And,

Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity {2 Tim. 2:19}.

This is the precept which is imperative on all who form part of the tent of the congregation — the witness to the name and truth of Christ on the earth.