26 “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker. 2 All the curtains are to be the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide. 3 Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five. (Exodus 26.1-3, NIV)
The Tabernacle of Moses was portable. You could dismantle the whole thing, carry it around and then erect it again in a new location. I believe this is an image of Jesus on earth – moving around from town to town bringing the good news. The Temple of Solomon was certainly not portable and represents Jesus in Heaven, reigning from His throne.
The tabernacle was made from a frame of acacia wood, but was wrapped up like a tent with a curtain made of four different layers, the inner layer being finely twisted linen, which we will look at in this post. Finely twisted in the NIV is fine twined linen, and what it means is the whitest of all white linen. When you realize this, you will be reminded of Mark 9 where the clothes of Jesus became “dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them”. Jesus in His glory was not just whiter than Daz white, He was whiter than any white ever.
In Revelation 7.14, white robes are seen as a symbol of righteousness. And one thing we know about Jesus is that He is righteous. He lived the perfect sinless, righteous life and that was the qualification to be our Saviour. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness.
Now, here is something so powerful. You could not see the inner layer from the outside of the Tabernacle, only the priests could see the white linen. That is a very powerful image. When we meet as church and start singing about Jesus, starting thinking about His grace and goodness, we see His righteousness, His grace and His life. But those who are not priests, not Christians, cannot see how precious and pure Jesus is. You have to come inside to grasp how wonderful He is, and the more we come inside to the Tabernacle and join with Jesus and His body the church, the more pure we see Him as.
Jesus wants to reveal Himself to you as pure and precious, white, righteous, pure, and wonderful. Come inside and see!
Next week, we will look at the other layers of this amazing curtain!
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