The Colors Of The Tabernacle: Tabernacle Series Part 7

Exodus 26:1
“Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple, and scarlet thread; with artistic designs of cherubim you shall weave them."

Exodus 26:31

““You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.”

There are no insignificant details from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21!  Absolutely none.  Everything in it tells us something wonderful about Jesus and is not there just to make the book thicker.  It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that, just as Hebrew is a language of picture writing like Chinese, so colors have meaning and also play a significant role in the Bible. 

From the High Priest's garments to the furnishings, coverings, curtains, implements, everything In the Tabernacle of Moses was designed according to God's exact specifications which He gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  

There were three main colors:  Blue, purple and scarlet, woven throughout the tabernacle from it's coverings and curtains to the garments of the high priest.  A fourth color, the pure white linen which is not readily visible, served as the foundation of every fabric.

Unique in their construction, the high priest's garments and the Ephod itself also had a fifth element woven throughout:  Pure gold thread.  Gold depicts God's divinity and gave to the fabric a sheen as well as durability.  Five is also the number of grace!  We'll talk about gold later on because it's a whole story in and of itself.

White speaks of purity and righteousness. Blue typifies God's divinity.  You might say it is the "color of God."  Blue has a very special meaning to Him which is discussed in another article.  Follow the links below if you'd like to know more:

http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/07/tekhelet.html

http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-blue-tassel_29.html

God made the sky blue to reflect the glory of His beloved Son!  Purple depicts royalty and red is a picture of His human side as well as His shed blood.  These three colors are always recorded in this order:  Blue, purple, scarlet. Even the order is a message!

Before Jesus was born as a human baby, He was all God, or you could say "all blue."  
Humans, of course, are red blooded. "Adam," one of the words for "man," in Hebrew, literally means "red-blooded man."  In modern Israel the word for blood is the word, "dam," which is the root word for "A-dam."  

Jesus, the "all blue," was born of Mary, an "all red," and God became something He never was before:  PURPLE:  The Perfect Human.

Remember your finger painting days in kindergarten when you mixed red and blue?  What did you get?  Purple!  Jesus, the "all blue," was born of Mary, an "all red," and God became something He never was before:  PURPLE, the color of royalty! The Perfect Human.

As believers, you and I start out "all red," accept the "all blue," and we also become purple, royalty like Jesus!  

Once this color change has happened, there is NOTHING and NO ONE that can reverse it.....including you, no matter how bad you are or how far you stray.  You are purple for all eternity.  

It's another way our Father is telling us that our salvation is eternal; irreversible; irrevocable. That means you cannot ever be guilty of committing the so-called "unpardonable sin."  

(For more on that topic, follow this link:  

http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-un-pardonable-sin.html)

(The Apostle Paul.)

The New Covenant is hidden in various places throughout the Old Testament.  What else would Jesus have talked about to the Apostle Paul, right?  He went though the Old Testament, the way He learned it from Jesus, and revealed the spiritual truths hidden there.  Of course, The New Testament wasn't written as yet because it was Paul who penned 3/4 of it as one of God's many Jewish secretaries, you understand.  

The stories, the events, the people, places and even numbers recorded in the Bible were specially selected by the Holy Spirit to serve as object lessons and visual aids to teach us spiritual truths. It's amazing to me how skillfully He crafted the scriptures so that is it like a living, breathing organism.  It speaks to us in different ways at different times and even prophesies the future.

These truths about colors perfectly illustrate John 10:27-30 where Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.””

NO ONE is able to snatch us out of either Jesus' hand or our Father's hand!  How's that for security?!

Even more amazing, each of the four main colors of the Tabernacle correspond to a specific Gospel.  Jesus is portrayed as "King of Kings" most often in Matthew's gospel. The Lion corresponds to it because the Lion is the King of beasts as Jesus is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The color of royalty is purple so it is the "color" of this gospel. The lineage recorded in Matthew proves his rightful, kingly claim to the throne of His father, King David.

In Mark He is portrayed most often as the suffering servant which is why red corresponds to this gospel.  The ox was used as a sacrificial animal as well as a beast of burden; a servant.  Jesus went about doing good, healing, restoring.  He says in Mark's gospel that He came NOT TO BE SERVED, but to serve.  There is no genealogy here because the pedigree of a servant is unneccessary.  

(The Temple veil with depiction of the four gospels.)

Then we come to the Gospel of Luke.  Here, Jesus is portrayed in very domestic settings, living among the ones He loved so much, like Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The Prodigal son is recorded here.  White is associated with this gospel.  Jesus is most often referred to in Luke as "the Son of Man," hence the picture of a man's head on the temple veil.

(Jesus gently rebukes Martha and defends Mary.)

Why portray Him as a man?  Because it is so easy to get caught up in His majesty and might as a holy God that we sometimes forget that He is also fully human, with human emotions and human sympathies.  He doesn't merely know how we feel; He feels what we feel! He loves us as family!  His lineage recorded here goes all the way back to Adam proving that He didn't just take on human form like invasion of the body snatchers; He is 100% Man.

In the Gospel of John, where His Godhood is revealed, Jesus is portrayed most often as the "Blue" or "Very God" from heaven. The Eagle, which soars high above in the heavens, represents this Gospel.   There is no genealogy here because, as divinity, He has no beginning and no end.  

GOLD

Remember I said Gold was a subject in and of itself?  It is the fifth element.  Artisans of ancient Israel took the purest fine gold and first hammered or beat it into very thin sheets until it was paper thin.  Next, they cut it into tiny strips, rolled and stretched it until it was very fine thread.  This was woven in amongst the blue, purple, scarlet and white linen and fashioned into the Ephod and the breastplate on which were mounted the 12 precious stones.

This hammering, beating, cutting, rolling and stretching is a graphic representation of the beating Jesus took in our place.  He was brutalized so badly by the sadistic Roman soldiers that He was not even recognizable as human.

All the rest of gold in the entire tabernacle was fashioned in the same way:  Beaten and hammered into shape...and there's a whole lot of it!  (Box of tissues, please!)

Go through each of the Gospels sometime.  Look at the beautifully woven tapestry of the Blue, Purple, Scarlet, the White.....and the Gold.  Trace the colors for yourself.  See the white as the Man, sound asleep in the boat awoke to the cries of His loved ones.  See the power and majesty of the Blue as He commands the wind and waves to be still with a word: SHALOM!  

See the Red as our divine servant went about doing good, the One Who suffered all for our sakes. See the Blue as He healed ALL who were sick and oppressed of the devil.  See the Purple as The King Who sat down on the mount to teach the people, not as the Scribes and Pharisees but as One having authority. See the King Who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.  

See the Gold as the One tested by the devil and found to be the genuine article.  He was very God in human form.  It makes me want to fall on my face and give thanks to our Father for sending the One Who was beaten and broken for us so that we would be spared. 

If you're facing a seemingly insurmountable problem in your life and you need a really big miracle, the most powerful ones are where He raised the dead.  Read the Blue Gospel:  John.  Reach out to Him. He's the God of the "impossible;" The One Who parts the waters and makes a way where there seems to be none.  He's the One Who brings the dead back to LIFE! 

(If you're curious as to why we have only four gospels and not simply one or more, follow this link:  

http://emmausrevelations.blogspot.com/2014/06/why-do-we-have-four-gospels.html)

In any event, be warmed, filled, blessed, encouraged, healed and inspired as you look for Jesus in the tapestry of the Gospels represented by the Colors of the Tabernacle.