The covering of the tabernacle consisted of four layers. The first and innermost layer (vv. 1-6), referred to here as the tabernacle, consisted of ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet strands. The number ten signifies human perfection and completeness (see note Rev. 2:10^2g), and the fine linen curtains typify Christ’s fine humanity. Hence, the first layer of covering typifies Christ as a fine, perfect, and complete man without defect, shortage, or excess (John 19:4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22). This layer was not only a covering but also a protection for the standing boards and all the contents of the tabernacle, signifying that the humanity of the Lord Jesus covers, protects, and embraces all His believers as the church. The first layer of covering, forming the ceiling of the tabernacle, is the inward expression of the beauty and glory of the Lord Jesus in His humanity.

Fine linen signifies righteous conduct (Rev. 19:8). Fineness signifies evenness, and being twined here signifies being dealt with through sufferings and, hence, not loose. Fine twined linen signifies the fine living of Christ manifested through suffering and trials.

See note Exo. 25:4^1a.

Cherubim denote God’s glory manifested in the creature (Ezek. 1:5, 22; 10:1, 18; Heb. 9:5). Here the cherubim embroidered on the linen curtains signify God’s glory manifested in Jesus as a man, a creature (John 1:14; Col. 1:15). That the number of the cherubim is not given indicates that God’s glory manifested in His creature is immeasurable (cf. note Exo. 25:19¹ and note Exo. 25:39¹).

The skillful workman, the embroiderer, here signifies the Holy Spirit, and the embroidering of the cherubim on the curtains signifies the constituting work of the Holy Spirit in the Lord Jesus to make the glory of God manifested in the creature. Cf. note Psa. 45:14¹.

Five is the number of responsibility (cf. note Matt. 25:2^1a), and two is the number of testimony (Deut. 19:15). The two sets of the five curtains joined to one another (vv. 4-6) signify the continuous life of the Lord Jesus as a life of responsibility for a testimony.

The joining of the two sets of five curtains resulted in a large sheet measuring forty cubits by twenty-eight cubits. Twenty-eight is composed of four times seven, the number four signifying man as God’s creature (Ezek. 1:5) and the number seven signifying completion (see note Rev. 1:4^1a). Thus, the length of each curtain also signifies the completeness and perfection of the Lord Jesus as a man (cf. note Exo. 26:1¹). The number forty signifies testing and trials (Heb. 3:9; Matt. 4:2). Hence, the forty cubits signify that the Lord’s completeness and perfection as a man have been tested, and He is approved by both God and man.

The tabernacle itself was thirty cubits in length and ten cubits in both width and height (see note Exo. 26:18¹ and note Exo. 26:33¹). When the tabernacle was erected, the sheet of linen curtains was spread upon the standing boards (vv. 15-30). The sheet hung over the rear of the tabernacle by ten cubits and over the sides by nine cubits each, with no overhang at the front, the entrance, of the tabernacle. The number nine, composed of three times three, signifies the Triune God in resurrection. The overhang of nine cubits on each side signifies that the Lord Jesus was a perfect and complete man overflowing with the Triune God in resurrection in an even and balanced way.

Loops signify availability for joining. That the loops were on the edge of the outermost curtain in each of the two sets of five curtains indicates that they were the issue of a life of responsibility for a testimony (see note Exo. 26:3¹).

Clasps of gold signify the joining power of the divine nature. The joining of the curtains to each other made the tabernacle one, signifying that all the virtues of the Lord Jesus form one perfect, complete, and whole testimony.

See note Exo. 25:4³. The second layer of covering typifies Christ as the One who was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) and who died on the cross for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18). The first two layers of covering together signify that the Lord Jesus, the perfect man, was made sin in the eyes of God for our redemption.

In v. 1 the first layer of the covering of the tabernacle is itself called the tabernacle, and here the curtain of goats’ hair is a tent to cover and protect the tabernacle.

As a perfect man, Christ is heavenly, but when He was made sin for us, He was not heavenly. Thus, the loops on the second layer are not said to be blue (cf. v. 4).

The clasps signify joining power, and bronze signifies God’s judgment (Num. 16:39; 21:8-9). The joining of the tent by the bronze clasps signifies that God’s righteous judgment holds together the judged and tried Christ as a complete person.

The joining of the curtains in the second layer resulted in a rectangle measuring forty-four cubits by thirty cubits. This layer of goats’ hair was laid over the tabernacle in such a way that it hung over the back and the two sides (vv. 12-13), completely covering the standing boards and the linen curtains. According to v. 9 the sixth curtain was doubled over at the front of the tent for protection and strengthening. The hanging over of the tent at the back and on the two sides of the tabernacle indicates that after Christ was made sin and was judged by God for sinners, He became the covering and protection of the believers, who are the components of God’s dwelling place (see note Exo. 26:15¹).

The overhang of the tent on each of the two sides of the tabernacle was one cubit longer than that of the linen curtains (v. 8a, cf. v. 2a). Hence, the linen curtains were fully protected by the tent of goats’ hair. The overhang on the two sides signifies the redeeming Christ becoming the protection of God’s dwelling place in any situation, whether hardship (the north side — v. 20) or ease (the south side — v. 18) (cf. 2 Cor. 12:7-10; Phil. 4:12-13).

See note Exo. 25:5^1a. The third layer of covering typifies Christ as the One who accomplished redemption by dying and shedding His blood to meet God’s need and ours (Heb. 9:12-14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Col. 1:14). Rams are males and signify Christ as a strong man who died for our redemption.

The first three layers of covering signify that because the perfect man (the first layer, the fine linen), Jesus Christ, was made sin for us (the second layer, the goats’ hair) as our Substitute, redemption has been accomplished (the third layer, the ram’s skins dyed red). Christ’s full and complete redemption, which is Christ Himself, covers God’s chosen and redeemed people, who are His dwelling place.

See note Exo. 25:5². The fourth layer of covering, the porpoise skins, signifies that Christ is without comeliness or beauty (Isa. 53:2). The covering of porpoise skins protected the tabernacle from storms and rain, signifying that Christ as our covering enables us to stand against Satan and all his attacks.

The walls of the tabernacle, composed of standing boards, typify the believers built together to be the dwelling place of God (Eph. 2:22; 1 Pet. 2:5). Thus, the church, the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12), is included with the individual Christ in the type of the tabernacle (see note Exo. 25:9^2b). In the picture of the tabernacle the corporate Christ is covered by the individual Christ (cf. 2 Cor. 12:9). The fact that the covering of the tabernacle is revealed in Exodus before the boards indicates that Christ’s redemption had to take place before the church could come into existence.

The boards were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold (v. 29), the same materials used to make the Ark (Exo. 25:10-11). This indicates that the boards are the enlargement and extension of the Ark. In the same way the believers in Christ, typified by the boards, are the enlargement and extension of Christ as God’s testimony (John 12:23-24; 2 Cor. 10:1; Phil. 1:8, 20-21a). Through regeneration the believers have received the uplifted humanity of Jesus and His overlaying divine nature to become boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The overlaying of the acacia wood with gold signifies that the divine nature of Christ has become one with the believers’ human nature to be the expression of God.

The width of each board, one and a half cubits, signifies that every believer is a half unit needing to be matched by another to form a complete unit of three cubits for the building of God’s dwelling place. Cf. note Exo. 25:10³.

The tenons and sockets (vv. 17, 19) are for standing, whereas the rings and bars (vv. 26-29) are for uniting, to make the individual boards of the tabernacle a corporate entity.

On each side of the tabernacle there were ten pairs of boards (vv. 18, 20) forming a wall of thirty cubits. The number thirty, composed of ten times three, ten being the number of human completion (see note Rev. 2:10^2g) and three signifying the Triune God in resurrection, indicates the complete and perfect humanity in resurrection with the Triune God. This is the testimony of the built-up church.

Sockets signify stability for standing. Each socket was made of a talent (approximately one hundred pounds) of silver (Exo. 38:27), signifying the redemption of Christ as the solid base for the believers’ standing in God’s dwelling place (John 14:2-3 and note John 14:3²). The two tenons, which fit into the two sockets under each board, may signify our complete faith in Christ’s redemption, which gives us a firm and unshakable standing (2 Cor. 1:24; Rom. 5:2; Gal. 5:1).

Lit., one. So also in vv. 21, 25; 36:24, 26.

A corner is where a turn is made. The doubling of the corner boards (v. 23) signifies that at each turn in the Lord’s move there is a need for doubling, strengthening, reinforcing. For example, at Antioch there was a turn toward the Gentile world; for this Barnabas and Saul were doubled and strengthened to become corner boards for the building of the church (Acts 13:2, 46).

There were a total of forty-eight boards in the tabernacle (vv. 18, 20, 25). The number forty-eight is composed of six times eight. Six refers to man created on the sixth day, who became fallen and was later redeemed, and eight refers to resurrection, which occurred on the eighth day, the first day of a new week (John 20:1). Thus, six times eight indicates that as standing boards in the tabernacle, the believers are created and redeemed people in resurrection.

The bars were made of acacia wood for connecting strength and overlaid with gold for uniting. They signify the initial Spirit (see note Exo. 26:29²) becoming the uniting Spirit to join all the members of Christ into one Body (Eph. 4:3-4). The boards stand in silver, signifying Christ’s redemptive work, and they are united by gold, signifying Christ’s divine person. That the bars were made of acacia wood indicates that the oneness of the Spirit involves not only Christ’s divinity but also His humanity (Eph. 4:2 and note Eph. 4:2^1a). In actuality, the uniting bars signify not the Holy Spirit alone, but the Holy Spirit mingled with our human spirit (Rom. 8:16) — the mingled spirit, which includes both divinity and humanity.

There were five bars for the boards on each side of the tabernacle (vv. 26-27), the middle bar stretching from end to end and being twice as long as the other bars. Hence, the five bars formed three lines, indicating that there were three rings on each board to serve as holders for the bars.

The uniting of the boards of the tabernacle involved the passing of the bars through the rings on each board to join the boards together. This signifies that the believers in Christ are united when their spirit cooperates with the Spirit, thus allowing the uniting Spirit to pass through them to join them to other believers.

In order to become one entity as God’s dwelling place, the forty-eight boards in the tabernacle had to be united in oneness. The oneness of the boards of the tabernacle was not in the acacia wood but in the gold that overlaid the wood. Gold signifies the Triune God with His divine nature, and the shining of the gold signifies the glory of God. The oneness of the boards in the overlaying gold symbolizes the oneness of the believers in the Triune God and in His glory, His expression. This is the practical oneness for which the Lord prayed in John 17:21-23. This oneness is the building up of the believers to be God’s dwelling place (cf. John 14:23).

The gold rings signify the sealing Spirit (Eph. 1:13), the initial Spirit, i.e., the regenerating Spirit (John 3:6), given to us by God at the time of our believing in Christ (Gen. 24:22; Luke 15:22; Acts 2:38). Since the number three signifies the Triune God in resurrection, the three rings (see note Exo. 26:28¹, par. 1) indicate the all-inclusive Spirit of the Triune God in resurrection (John 7:39) for the uniting of the believers (Eph. 4:3).

In material, color, and workmanship the veil was exactly the same as the first layer of the covering of the tabernacle (v. 1). The veil, signifying the flesh of Christ (Heb. 10:20), separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (v. 33) and also covered the Ark of the Testimony (Num. 4:5). This signifies the separation between God and fallen man because of man’s flesh (Gen. 6:3; cf. Gen. 3:22-24 and notes). This veil was torn through Christ’s crucifixion, signifying that the flesh of sin was crucified through Christ’s death on the cross to open a new and living way for sinful man to contact God on Christ as the propitiation cover in the Holy of Holies (Matt. 27:51 and note Matt. 27:51^1a; Heb. 10:19-20; Rom. 3:25; cf. Exo. 25:22).

Lit., give. So also in v. 33.

The pillars, like the boards, were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold and stood on silver sockets, which signify Christ’s redemption. Hence, the pillars signify believers (Gal. 2:9; Rev. 3:12; 1 Tim. 3:15) who are strong to bear the testimony of Christ’s incarnation and crucifixion. The veil being attached to the pillars implies the identification, the oneness, of Christ as the veil with those believers who are pillars. The pillars in God’s dwelling place no longer live in the flesh but bear the testimony that the veil of their flesh has been torn, i.e., that they themselves have been terminated and their flesh has been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20; 5:24). The riven veil on the pillars becomes an entrance for God’s people to enter the Holy of Holies to have the full enjoyment of God. See note Exo. 26:37¹.

The hooks of gold by which the veil was connected to the pillars signify the holding and connecting strength of the divine nature, by which the stronger believers are connected to Christ to bear the testimony of His incarnation and crucifixion.

With the tabernacle there were a total of one hundred silver sockets, ninety-six for the boards and four for the pillars. Ten is the number of human completion (see note Rev. 2:10^2g), and one hundred, composed of ten times ten, signifies the full and complete fulfillment of the requirements of the Ten Commandments. The one hundred sockets were made from the expiation silver collected from the people (Exo. 30:11-16; 38:25, 27), signifying that as the boards and pillars for the building up of God’s dwelling place, God’s redeemed people stand on the solid redemption of Christ.

The veil was hung under the fifty clasps on the first layer of the covering (v. 6), which formed a line on the ceiling of the tabernacle twenty cubits from the entrance and ten cubits from the back wall. This indicates that the Holy of Holies was a cube measuring ten cubits in each direction, and the Holy Place, measuring twenty cubits by ten cubits by ten cubits, was twice as large as the Holy of Holies. Furthermore, the veil was a square, ten cubits by ten cubits. Cf. note Exo. 26:3¹, par. 2, and note Exo. 26:18¹.

The screen as the entrance to the tent was made of the same material as the first layer of the covering and the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (cf. vv. 1, 31). The screen signifies Christ in His perfect humanity as the One who keeps all negative persons and things outside God’s dwelling place, and as the One who died for our sins under God’s judgment (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18) so that we may be forgiven by God and may enter into the Holy Place of His dwelling to begin to enjoy all the riches of God in Christ.

The screen and the veil in the tabernacle signify two aspects of the all-inclusive death of Christ. The screen indicates that Christ died for our sins so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may be justified by God. The veil indicates that Christ died for us, the sinners (2 Cor. 5:14-15, 21), so that our flesh, our fallen nature, may be torn, crucified, that we may enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God to the uttermost. These two curtains are related to the two aspects of reconciliation spoken of by Paul in 2 Cor. 5:18-21 (see note 2 Cor. 5:20²).

The tabernacle in Exodus was enterable. By being incarnated, God not only became a man; He also became an enterable tabernacle (John 1:14). God’s original intention was that all the children of Israel would be priests (Exo. 19:6) and have the right to enter into the tabernacle, i.e., to enter into God and dwell in God. In the Old Testament the priests could enter into the tabernacle, and today all the believers in Christ, as priests (Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6), can enter into God and dwell in Him (1 John 4:13, 15). The incarnated God has become our dwelling place, our home, as a place of enjoyment (cf. Psa. 90:1; Rev. 21:22).

Like the four pillars attached to the veil (v. 32), the five pillars attached to the screen signify stronger believers who are identified with the incarnated and crucified Christ (see note Exo. 26:32² and note Exo. 26:32³). These pillars at the entrance of the tabernacle are evangelists, who declare to all that Christ died for their sins. The pillars within the tabernacle are those who experience Christ in a deeper way, who daily attach themselves to the torn veil, to the very Christ who was terminated in His flesh, and bear the testimony that they have been crucified with Christ (cf. Gal. 2:20). These two kinds of pillars provide entrances for sinners to be saved into God’s dwelling place and then to be terminated so that they may come into God’s Holy of Holies to enjoy God Himself in His fullness.

Between the five pillars supporting the screen there were four entrances into the tabernacle, and between the four pillars supporting the veil there were three entrances into the Holy of Holies. The fact that the screen has four entrances indicates that God’s dwelling place is open to all people from the four corners of the earth (Rev. 5:9). The three entrances in the veil indicate that the Triune God Himself is the entrance for His redeemed people to enter not only His dwelling place but also Himself. Cf. Rev. 21:12-13 and note Rev. 21:13¹.

Bronze signifies God’s righteous judgment exercised on rebels (Num. 16:38-39; 21:9). The five sockets of bronze indicate that Christ was judged by God for our sins. See note Exo. 27:2².