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. 4:2) 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 14:6.
ML-08/23/1970