Exodus 27:12-2112And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits: their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. 13And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. 14The hangings of one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 15And on the other side shall be hangings fifteen cubits: their pillars three, and their sockets three. 16And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four. 17All the pillars round about the court shall be filleted with silver; their hooks shall be of silver, and their sockets of brass. 18The length of the court shall be an hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. 19All the vessels of the tabernacle in all the service thereof, and all the pins thereof, and all the pins of the court, shall be of brass. 20And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. 21In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel. (Exodus 27:12‑21)
These lovely white hangings tell of the perfect walk of the Lord Jesus in His pathway through this world. The officers sent to arrest Him returned with the report, “Never man spake like this Man.” He could say to the Jews, “Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” And three times Pate confessed, “I find no fault in this Man.”
Like the fine-twined linen hangings of the tabernacle court, “He could not be hid"; He could not be less than perfect in all that He said and did. In the rejection of this blessed One, the holy One of God, who went about doing good, man’s true character came out as an enemy of God.
These beautiful white hangings were all around the tabernacle court, but on the east side there was the gate or entrance. This gate had four pillars, and it brings before us the Lord Jesus as the true door, the Saviour who with outstretched arms now offers salvation to “whosoever will,” to the “four corners” of the earth.
The east side is the sunny side, where the sun will rise. And this would remind us of the Lord Jesus as the “Sun of righteousness,” who is soon to “arise with healing in His wings” (Mal. 4:22But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)) over this sin-weary earth. His advent will dispel all the darkness and gloom that Satan and man’s sin have brought in, and sweep away the ruins of the fall. Lord, haste that day!
The Gate of the Court
THERE ARE several things about “the gate of the court” that make us think of the Lord Jesus.
It was a beautiful gate, for it was mad of blue, purple, and scarlet, and fin, twined linen wrought with needlework. Is not the Lord Jesus “altogether lovely” — in the holiness of His character and the spotlessness of His life? Then it was a wide gate, measuring 20 cubits, or 35 feet in width. So the Lord Jesus is a Saviour for all who will come to Him. “Whosoever will may come.” That is a wide word, “WHOSOEVER,” and shuts out none but those who shut themselves out.
Then the gate of the court was easily opened. It was not made of wood, or iron, or brass, which would have made it a heavy gate. But it was just a curtain; a little child might lift it up and enter into God’s holy courts. So in order to be saved we are not told to do some great and difficult task, but simply to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in Him alone.
“Only a step to Jesus!
Believe and thou shalt live;
Lovingly now He’s waiting,
And ready to forgive.”
Also the gate is like the Lord Jesus because it was the only gate. If any one refused to go in by that gate he remained outside. Does not this tell us that Jesus is the only Saviour, and that if we refuse to be saved by Him we shall be forever lost? Did He not say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me"? John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6).
ML-08/23/1970