“ Thou shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made; and thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim 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, 3331And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: (Exodus 26:31)
33And thou shalt hang up the vail under the taches, that thou mayest bring in thither within the vail the ark of the testimony: and the vail shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. (Exodus 26:33).) Very precise are these directions about the veil; its substance, its colors, its place, and its use, all are described, leaving nothing to be supplied by the wit of Aholiab, the device of Bezaleel, or the wisdom of Moses. And as God instructed Moses, so Solomon, four hundred years afterward, made a veil for the house which he built, of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon. (2 Chron. 3:1414And he made the vail of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubims thereon. (2 Chronicles 3:14).) To divide between the holy place and the most holy was one great use of it, but also, whilst it hung there in its pristine completeness, it marked the limit of approach for the sons of Aaron to the presence chamber of the Lord God of Hosts. Before that veil in the sanctuary, and up to it, each priest, when in the holy place, could go, but behind it none could venture, except the High Priest, once every year on the day of atonement. Within it was that chamber, where, after the death of Moses, unbroken silence reigned, except when the High Priest passed behind the veil. Whilst Moses lived, at times, as we learn from Num. 7, the silence which characterized that chamber was broken by the oral communications to the Mediator from the Lord Jehovah. When he died those communications ceased, and, though daily the holy place must have resounded with the footsteps of the officiating priests accomplishing the service appointed them, no sound from within that curtain broke on their ears who were without. Yet God’s throne upon earth was within that veil. He dwelt between the cherubims, and the bright cloud of glory—the Shechinah betokened His presence in the Sanctuary. (Lev. 16:22And the Lord said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. (Leviticus 16:2).) How solemn must that stillness have been to the priests as they went about in the holy place. They knew the character of the chamber within, but heard no sound of life proceeding from it, though the living Lord Himself made His earthly throne the mercy-seat. In thick darkness He dwelt, and in an atmosphere which was not to be disturbed by the presence of those who caused din and discord without; for when Aaron entered, he entered only as the type of the High Priest of the Heavenly Sanctuary, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Very jealously did God guard the entrance into the holiest. Redeemed by blood, as the children of Israel were, they never could get beyond the brazen altar in the court of the tabernacle. Consecrated though the sons of Aaron had been, in accordance with a ritual of Divine appointment, they could never get behind the veil, within the holiest of all; and Aaron, though privileged by virtue of his office to enter that innermost sanctuary, could only pass within by blood, having first taken in a censer filled with sweet incense, but lighted with live coals from off the altar that was before the Lord (Lev. 16:1212And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: (Leviticus 16:12)), that the cloud of incense might cover the mercy-seat, from which shone out in brightness the only light of the holiest.
For hundreds of years did this condition of things continue—viz, a nation in relationship with God, owned by Him as His people, yet never allowed access into His immediate presence; for the veil, stretched across the full width of the sanctuary, proclaimed that there was a spot on earth on which even the feet of God’s priests could not tread. Very clear and very marked was the message conveyed thereby from God to man—that as yet the way of the holiest had not been made manifest, though the typical meaning of the veil itself, and the typical teaching as to its colors, were subjects all that time unrevealed. That a way would one day be opened, could be learned from Aaron’s periodical entrance on the great day of atonement; but how that way would be opened out, and when, remained for all those centuries a close, an insoluble mystery.
At length the day and the hour arrived when that mystery was to receive its solution; and as, by Divine teaching, Israel had understood that no child of Adam could remain in God’s immediate presence, so, by a Divine act on the part of Him who directed the erection of the veil, the way and the ground of access to Him were disclosed in a moment of time.
But God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts, nor His ways like our ways; for that which, in accordance with all human thought, would have sealed man’s doom forever, and taken away irrecoverably all hope of being before God without the fire of His judgment descending on him—viz., the death of God’s Son on the cross—was the efficacious ground on which He could righteously act in the fullest grace to sinners, and permit, what never had been known before, the soul to enter with boldness into His very presence, and to be at rest before the throne. All that men could do to express their hatred of God, and of all that savored of God, that they had done. Jesus hanging on the cross, and there at that moment dead, betokened what men must be, whose hands were stained with the blood, not merely of a righteous man (for that was nothing new in this world’s history), but of the Holy One, the first and the only, in the fullest sense, faithful and true witness for God upon earth. “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.” (Matt. 27:50, 5150Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51And, 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; (Matthew 27:50‑51).) Never before had men such an opportunity for showing themselves to be unworthy of favor from God, and they did not miss it. For Him, who went about doing good (Acts 10:3838How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. (Acts 10:38)), they had thus openly rejected; and though no charge worthy of death could be substantiated against Him, they had not paused for one hour in their restless activity till their wish had been gratified, and the plans of Satan carried out in the ignominious and agonizing death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Beyond that they could not go. All that they could do against Him personally, that they had done; but death, to which they had delivered Him, barred all further pursuit of the object of their hatred, and demonstrated that the outward actors in that scene were but creatures, and creatures of very limited capacity. They could judge Him to be worthy of death; they could urge the governor, as permitted by God, to wield the sword of judgment against the Lord; but death, to which they delivered Him, shut them out from further ill-treatment of Him. Their power as men was limited, though they might, as they did, put forth all their strength.
But when they had done all that they could, having put out of the world by death the Prince of Life Himself; God began to work, to manifest what He is, and what He could do. He rent the veil—a fact narrated in a very few words-an act done in a moment of time, hut a fact and an act of great and abiding importance, and, as such, three times over stated in the Word. Matthew, Mark, and Luke narrate it—the two first in its historic order in relation to the other events of that day; the last in a moral order, in accordance with the plan often to be traced in the Gospel which bears his name, bracketing, as it were, together the supernatural events of the crucifixion, the great darkness over the land, and the rending of the veil in its midst. At the ninth hour, the hour for prayer, the Lord died, and, at the same time, the veil was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. God, in accordance with whose command the veil, through all the changes and vicissitudes of the tabernacle and the temple, had divided the holy place from the most holy, and screened from the gaze of the priests, as morning and evening they burnt incense on the golden altar before it, the ark and the mercy-seat; by His own act, without the intervention of a single human creature, rent the veil—a testimony, as was afterward explained, to the opening up of a new and living way into His presence. And this divine act was one of immense significance. It spoke of an evening sacrifice at length offered, which was perfectly acceptable to God. It told of the character and purpose of the death of God’s Son on the cross, who gave Himself to die as the sin offering, and to make atonement for sinners. It bore witness, likewise, that God could now allow men to enter into His presence, whilst He maintained at its full height, by the way of approach, the standard of His holiness.
God rent the veil. We should mark the word. God did not remove it Himself, nor did He authorize its removal by others. He did not withdraw it, nor did He roll it up from the bottom, nor lower it from the top like a curtain. He rent it in the midst. And, perhaps, the priest who ministered that afternoon at the golden altar of incense, or, certainly, those who entered the sanctuary shortly after its occurrence, must have seen the veil still hanging up on some of the pillars or hooks to which it was attached, but with a way into the holiest at the same time displayed by the rent made in its midst. “A new way, and a living way.” A new way it was, for no high priest had, in such a manner, entered the holiest before. Year by year, as often as they observed the ritual appointed for the day of atonement, they must have passed behind the veil, but, now that it was rent, such a way into the holiest was unneeded. A living way it was, and is. For, whereas none of the sons of Aaron could penetrate within the veil, save the High Priest, and then in the prescribed manner, else death would have awaited them and him; now that the veil has been rent by God, there exists no barrier on His part against the entrance of His people, who are a holy priesthood unto Him, into the place where He is on His throne. But, let it ever be remembered, they can enter only through the veil. The way opened, but opened in this manner; and the veil, as we learn in Heb. 10:2020By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (Hebrews 10:20), being a type of the Lord’s flesh, the typical meaning of its colors can be discerned as well as the teaching about the veil itself. Christ died, then the veil was rent, and that of which there had been no type was immediately disclosed. Types there were of the Lord’s death as the voluntary offering on His part, as well as the sinner’s Substitute. Types too there were of Him as a man upon earth, nor were there wanting in the ceremonial law those which had respect to His resurrection (Lev. 14: 6, 7; 23:1111And he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. (Leviticus 23:11)); but no type could there be to illustrate the way into the holiest, to be opened up by His death. Of this the rending of the veil is the only illustration, and that, once rent, was an operation which could never be repeated. The ground, on which the entrance would be based, was typified as often as the high priest went within the veil with the blood of others but, as the way was to be through the veil—the flesh of Christ—the same veil could only be rent once, if the truth as to the death of Christ once for all was to be taught to, and maintained by, His people. He died, and God’s immediate response to the voluntary surrender of His Son to do His will on the cross, and to be the sinner’s Substitute, was the significant rending of the veil. Till He died, none, born in sin, could go with boldness to the mercy-seat; but, when He died, before ever He was taken down from the cross, men, we learn, were no longer to be kept out of the innermost sanctuary, if only they would approach through the veil—that is to say, Christ’s flesh.
And now the typical meaning of its various colors can be discerned. There was but the one veil, into the fabric of which different colors were introduced. And, since that veil was the type of the flesh of Christ, the different colors of blue, purple, and scarlet, with the fine twined linen, and cherubim of cunning work, typify certain things, which in combination are to be met with alone in the Virgin’s Son, conceived by the Holy Ghost. The heavenly man He was; so blue is the first color mentioned. Christ He is, and as such all the glory of the world will be centered in Him (Psa. 2); so scarlet, the emblem of worldly glory, was to figure in that then mysterious curtain. But, though the heavenly Man, and the Heir of all things, suffering lay in His path, the cross before the throne, so purple beside blue and scarlet was to be introduced into the vail, with fine twined linen, declarative of His spotless holiness, whilst cherubim of cunning work were to be wrought on the fabric, indicating that the man, of whom that curtain was a type, was to wield the power of the throne of God. But where, it may be asked, do we learn what those colors represented? Are they mere guesses, or arbitrary conjectures, or does the Word of God sanction such an interpretation? Num. 4:5-145And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it: 6And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. 7And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal: and the continual bread shall be thereon: 8And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: 10And they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar. 11And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: 12And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar: 13And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth thereon: 14And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to the staves of it. (Numbers 4:5‑14) furnishes us with the key, as it tells us of the different colored cloths, in which the ark, the table of show-bread, and the brazen altar were enwrapped. A cloth of blue was the external covering of the ark. A cloth of scarlet was underneath the covering of badgers’ skins which enveloped the table of show-bread, its dishes, its spoons, and the twelve loaves, typical themselves of perfection in administrative government upon earth. A cloth of purple was the only covering of the brazen altar besides the external wrap of badgers’ skins. The meaning, then, of these colors all found in the veil, seems clear, and the order in which the purple and scarlet were arranged is suggestive, and since the cherubims are mentioned in Scripture in connection with the judicial action of the throne (Gen. 3; Psa. 18; Rev. 4, 5.), their presence on the veil may well intimate, that to Him, of whose flesh the veil was a type, all judicial action of the throne of God has been committed. (John 5:2222For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: (John 5:22).)
But not alone do we read of the veil being erected, and subsequently of its being rent. These are historical facts of which the Word informs us, but facts, too, with the practical bearing of which all Christians should be acquainted. Hence we read in Heb. 10 the exhortation to make use of the road, so graciously made for us into God’s presence. We approach on the ground that Christ’s blood has been shed, but through the veil—His flesh. Thus, whilst God has opened up for us one way in His grace, He would impress surely on all hearts, that no other road can lead us into His presence, if divine judgment is not to overtake us. And as we are indebted to His grace for opening up the way, we are indebted likewise to His goodness for acquainting us with it. Those, to whom the sacred writer wrote about it, were those best acquainted with the meaning of the veil when unrent; and he would have them, and have us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to make a free use of the way which Christ hath consecrated, or dedicated, for us through the veil—that is to say, His flesh.
Believers, then, may now with boldness enter the holiest of all, for it is to believers that the exhortation is addressed. For, as of old, none but the priests could enter the sanctuary, so none now but those who believe in the Lord, and as such are members of the holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)) can enter the holiest of all, and then only through the rent veil—that which, as rent, reminds us of Divine judgment poured out on the Son of God’s love.
Truth this is suited for Christians at all times, and most needful in this day when lax views are abroad concerning God and His grace. Grace is free to all who will accept it, and a man’s former state and ways are no hindrance, if a believer on the Lord, to his entering the holiest now. But when lie enters, and by the way he enters, he bears witness to the holiness of God whilst sharing in the riches of His grace. He enters by a road which speaks of judgment borne for him by God’s own Son. He enters on the ground of the value of Christ’s precious blood. He enters, by means of His death, through the veil— His flesh. Merciful and gracious God is, but never at the expense of His holiness. One road, and one only, has there ever been made by which we could enter into His presence. God rent the veil, and by it teaches us the need there was for His Son to become incarnate, but the imperative necessity, too, of His death. As incarnate, the veil unrent was a type of Christ, but, as such, showed that then no way to enter the holiest had been made manifest. It was the rending of the veil which disclosed the living way into it. Incarnation and crucifixion were both necessary before that way could be made known.
How a simple fact like this, and the Divine teaching about it, preserves the soul from being led away by human thoughts, and men’s erroneous conclusions! To be brought into God’s presence in a way in accordance with His mind, whilst refusing to believe in the mystery of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, is thus shown to be impossible. To believe in His incarnation without bowing to the truth of His atoning death, will shut out a soul from God’s presence, as completely as the sons of Aaron, the priests, were excluded from all entrance into the holiest. The thought that God is too merciful to punish sinners is refuted by the fact, that the Holy One of God had to die before the way into the holiest could be made manifest. Divine judgment has been executed on Him. God has shown at the cross what His holiness demands, whilst displaying there also what His love could give. And, though believers on the Lord Jesus, and they only, have permission to enter the holiest because of the efficiency of His atoning blood, the very road upon which they must travel to reach the mercy-seat and the throne, attests both the necessity and the validity of His death. The need of the incarnation and the death of Christ believers bear witness to when they enter the holiest; and, entering through the rent veil—the flesh of Christ—they own, that every other avenue, by which men would seek to make a way into God’s presence, is barred as effectually as ever; for one way, and only one, has ever been opened, and that by God Himself—that true and living way, which declares in clear, solemn language, that only, because His Son had died to make atonement, could He rend the veil. For gracious and merciful though He is, He never can be gracious, He never will be merciful, at the expense of His holiness.