The Gospel Woven In: God's Tent and the Fabric of Christ
Introduction: The Divine Blueprint
When modern Christians come to passages like this one in Exodus, their eyes have a tendency to glaze over. We see cubits and loops, curtains and clasps, and we think we have stumbled into the architectural footnotes of the Bible. We treat it like a divine instruction manual for assembling an ancient piece of IKEA furniture. But this is a profound mistake. What we have here is not a tedious list of specifications. We have God Almighty, the creator of nebulae and nautiluses, pulling back the curtain of heaven to show us the blueprint for His own house. This is not just a tent; it is a portable Mount Sinai, a miniature cosmos, a tangible gospel woven with threads of blue, purple, and scarlet.
The pagan nations surrounding Israel had their own temples, their own houses for their non-gods. But those places were designed by men to appease angry, capricious deities. They were often dark, bloody, and grotesque places. God, in stark contrast, designs His own dwelling. He does not ask for man's opinion. He reveals the pattern of heavenly realities and commands Moses to build a copy on earth. Every detail, from the type of thread to the number of loops, is pregnant with theological meaning. God is a God of glorious, intricate order, not sloppy, sentimental chaos. And in this order, He is telling us everything we need to know about who He is, how He can be approached, and the nature of the Redeemer who was to come.
These instructions are a direct polemical assault on all man-made religion. Man's religion is ugly, chaotic, and ultimately empty. God's religion is beautiful, ordered, and full of His presence. To read this chapter as a mere historical curiosity is to miss the point entirely. This is a detailed schematic of the person and work of Jesus Christ, and a pattern for the nature of His body, the Church. Let us therefore pay close attention.
The Text
"Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful designer. The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall have the same measurements. Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another. And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain in the one set, and likewise you shall make them on the edge of the curtain that is outermost in the second set. You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite each other. You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and you shall join the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the tabernacle will be a unit."
(Exodus 26:1-6 LSB)
The Fabric of Redemption (v. 1)
We begin with the very materials of the main structure.
"Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful designer." (Exodus 26:1)
First, notice the number: ten curtains. Ten is a number of covenantal order and completeness. It is the number of the Ten Commandments, the foundational law of this covenant. It is the number of the plagues on Egypt, the judgments that established this covenant people. This dwelling place of God is the heart of that covenant order. It is a complete and perfect design.
The material is "fine twisted linen." In Scripture, fine linen consistently represents righteousness. Revelation 19 tells us that the fine linen, clean and bright, is the righteous acts of the saints. But their righteousness is a derived righteousness. This linen points ultimately to the perfect, unblemished righteousness of Jesus Christ, which is imputed to His people. It is "twisted," which speaks of strength and durability. Christ's righteousness is not a flimsy thing.
Into this fabric of righteousness, three colors are woven. These are the colors of the gospel. Blue speaks of the heavens, of divine origin. It reminds us that our salvation comes from above. Jesus is the Lord from heaven. Purple is the color of royalty. It declares that the one who dwells here is a King. This is the tent of the great King, Jesus Christ, the King of kings. And scarlet is the color of blood, of sacrifice, of atonement. It shouts that the only way to approach this holy, heavenly King is through the shedding of blood. So here, in the very fabric of God's house, we have the story of redemption: the divine King who would shed His blood to give us His righteousness.
And upon this fabric are images of cherubim. Cherubim are the guardians of God's holy presence. They guarded the way back to Eden after the fall. Their presence here signifies that the Tabernacle is a new Eden, a place where God will once again walk with man. But it is a guarded place. Holiness is protected. And notice, God commands the making of these images. This is not a violation of the second commandment; it is an explanation of it. The second commandment forbids worshipping images of your own design. It does not forbid all art or imagery in worship. Here, God Himself commands it, reminding us that He is Lord of beauty and He delights in the work of a "skillful designer." God is not a utilitarian. He loves excellence and artistry offered in His service.
The Mathematics of Order (v. 2-3)
God's instructions are not vague. They are precise, mathematical, and orderly.
"The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the width of each curtain four cubits; all the curtains shall have the same measurements. Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another." (Exodus 26:2-3 LSB)
The uniformity of the curtains is important. Each one is identical. In the body of Christ, there is a fundamental equality before God. Each member is essential to the whole structure. But these individual curtains are not meant to remain separate. They are to be joined into two large sections of five curtains each. The number five in Scripture often relates to grace and provision. We have five books in the Pentateuch, the foundation of the law. Perhaps these two sets of five represent the two tablets of the law, or the two great commandments upon which all the law and prophets hang. Or perhaps they prefigure the future joining of Jew and Gentile into one body. The point is that God's design takes individual pieces and integrates them into a larger, unified whole. The Christian life is not a solo affair.
The Golden Clasps of Unity (v. 4-6)
Now we come to the mechanism that holds it all together. And here, the typology shines with particular brilliance.
"And you shall make loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain... You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set; the loops shall be opposite each other. You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and you shall join the curtains to one another with the clasps so that the tabernacle will be a unit." (Exodus 26:4-6 LSB)
How are these two great curtain sections to be joined? With loops and clasps. The loops are to be made of blue thread, the heavenly color. This tells us that the source of our unity is divine. It is not a product of human effort, committee meetings, or sentimentalism. The connection points are from heaven.
There are to be fifty loops on each side. The number fifty is profoundly significant. It is the number of Jubilee, the year of release, liberty, and restoration. It is the number of Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit descended to create the New Covenant church, joining believers together into one body. The unity of God's dwelling place is a Pentecostal unity, a Jubilee unity, a unity of Spirit-wrought freedom.
These loops are fastened together with fifty clasps of gold. Gold, throughout the Tabernacle, speaks of that which is divine, pure, and glorious. So what is it that takes these two separate entities and makes them one? What holds everything together? Divine, glorious, golden clasps. This is a picture of the person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the one who joins Jew and Gentile. He is the one who takes disparate, individual believers and clasps them together into one body. The unity of the Church is not our work; it is His divine, glorious, and precious work. The result is stated plainly: "so that the tabernacle will be a unit." The Hebrew is mishkan echad, one tabernacle. Out of the many, one. This is the great mystery of the gospel, prefigured in the construction of a tent in the wilderness.
Christ, Our Tabernacle
This entire structure is a magnificent sermon about Jesus Christ. He is the true Tabernacle, the place where God came to dwell with man. The apostle John tells us that the Word became flesh and "dwelt," or literally "tabernacled," among us (John 1:14). In Him, the divine (blue) and the human (linen) are perfectly woven together. He is the King (purple) who offered Himself as the sacrifice (scarlet). His body was the curtain, torn for us so that we might enter the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 10:20).
And by extension, this is a picture of the Church. We, the people of God, are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). We are the individual curtains, all made of the same fabric of Christ's imputed righteousness. We come from different backgrounds, different nations, different personalities. We are the two large sets of curtains. But we are not meant to be separate. We are joined together by the heavenly loops of God's calling and the golden clasps of Christ's finished work and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Our unity is not a vague aspiration; it is an architectural, theological reality. It is designed by God, skillfully wrought, and divinely fastened.
Therefore, let us look at the Church not as a loose collection of individuals, but as God's Tabernacle. Let us marvel at the wisdom of the design. Let us treasure the golden clasps that hold us together, resisting all the forces that would try to pull the curtains apart. For God has determined to make us one dwelling, mishkan echad, for His glory.