13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE

January 6, 1965

Henry F. Kulp

We have been studying the roof of the tabernacle, and it is made up of four curtains, all of different materials, all of different colors. The first color we studied, in Exodus 2: 1 was a curtain made of fine, twinned linen—it was perfectly white. It was made up of 10 separate curtains. It had colors of blue, purple, and scarlet. Then it had cherubims woven in it, and the last time we studied this Scripture, we said this speaks of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we said the only way you could see this curtain was going inside the tabernacle and looking up. We do not look around, we do not look down, we do not look in, but we are commissioned to look up.

1/ Exodus 26: 1 - 6 Moreover thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of

fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: with cherubims of cunning work shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure. The five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling; and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost edge of another curtain, in the coupling of the second. Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second; that the loops may take hold one of another. And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle.

The word "taches" means hooks or clasps.

We have the first curtain, that I would like to call the glory curtain, because it shows us the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. But than we go to the second curtain.

Exodus 26: 6 - 8 And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, and couple the curtains together with the taches: and it shall be one tabernacle. And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

We read that the second curtain was made of goat’s hair, and 11 curtains shall thou make. Notice, there are 11 curtains. The first curtain showing the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ had 10—this has one more.

Notice the 2nd verse of Exodus 26 The length of one curtain shall be eight and

twenty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and every one of the curtains shall have one measure.

The length of one curtain shall be 8 and 20 cubits, and the breadth of one curtain 4 cubits. Comparing that with the 7th verse, the goat’s hair covering was to have 11 curtains. There is a meaning in that, and I want you to notice.

In the 8th verse The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits: and the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

The length of one curtain shall be 30 cubits—the other was 28, this is 30. The

tabernacle was 10 cubits high, 10 cubits across, and 10 cubits down on the other

side., that is 30 cubits. The first curtain was only 28 cubits, that was the glory curtain, and it did not touch the ground, the floor of the dessert, the sand. The second curtain was 30 cubits, and it did reach just to the floor, or the sand of the dessert, covering the other curtain entirely. It was a cubit beyond the other curtain—a cubit on the one side, and on the other side, and of course, there was a reason for the 11 curtains, instead of 10, so in the front and back they lapped over this other curtain. It was absolutely hidden from the outside. So you had to go inside to see this glory curtain. Just so one has to be in Christ to see the glory of Christ. No one in this world knows the Lord Jesus Christ, or knows anything about Him who is not saved and in Christ. They make many different ideas concerning Christ, but they are certainly foreign to the Word of God.

2/ II Corinthians 4: 3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 

Certainly the Gospel is hid to them that are lost, and they haven’t seen the glory of Christ.

Then notice verse 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

No light, whatsoever through the blinding by Satan.

Now look at the 6th verse. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of

darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Only those who have been inside, under the light of the Gospel have seen that glory, and that glory is in the face of Christ—He is the Glorious One. Satan has blinded the minds of the world, and while they talk about Christ, they have never seen Him in His true glory. Don’t you see? God made it so that not one inch of the glory curtain could be seen from outside, and you cannot understand Christ unless you are saved and in Christ.

3/ Exodus 26: 7 And thou shalt make curtains of goats' hair to be a covering upon the tabernacle: eleven curtains shalt thou make.

This covering was goat’s hair. That animal didn’t have to die—all the other animals did. When we come to the other curtains, we find that the other animals had to give their life, typical of the Lord Jesus Christ, having to die. But this curtain was made of goat’s hair, expertly woven from long white silky hair of the eastern goat. Not like our back-alley goat. The hair was clipped and woven into this curtain. It was wonderful—a beautiful curtain—and it was white.

4/ A coat in the Bible, was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as our sin-bearer. The

goat was a clean animal, fit for sacrifice upon the altar of burnt offering. On the Day of Atonement, the priest was to take two goats. One was slain a the altar and his blood poured out at the base of the altar, symbolic of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death.

Leviticus 16: 19 - 22 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.

The live goat had the priest, who was Aaron, laying both is hands upon the head of the live goat, confessing all the iniquities of the children of Israel and their transgressions, putting them on the head of the goat and sending them away into the wilderness. So this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin-bearer.

Leviticus 16: 7, 8 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat.

There was a transference of our guilt to Him, and He paid the price of death by the shedding of blood, and He took our sins as far away at the east is from the west. So this goat’s hair curtain, speaks of Christ our sin-bearer, our substitute.

Notice, Hebrews 9: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

All of this, therefore, is suggestive—the curtain of goat’s hair was a second covering of the tabernacle, and so therefore, we must receive Christ as our sin-sacrifice before we can see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ.

5/ Exodus 26: 14 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed

red, and a covering above of badgers' skins.

This third covering was ram skin—tanned, preserved and sewed together, and it was dyed red. I am firmly convinced in the Bible that red speaks of blood. Down through the years, I have asked the Lord to give me the ability and the knowledge of how to preach the blood. In the little time that one has on this earth, we should be always talking about the blood. Everywhere in this tabernacle God puts red, and of course, the church has lost its theme—it has gotten rid of the blood of Christ. Let us just think about the ram as a bloody substitute for the lamb in death speaks of Christ, dying for us.

Genesis 22: 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

Here in this chapter we have an illustration of a wonderful truth. Abraham is told to take Isaac, his son, to Mount Moriah to be sacrificed upon an altar, and after Abraham had bound Isaac, laid him on the altar, lifted the knife to slay his son, had the fire in the other hand, to set fire to the wood, so it would consume the sacrifice, he was suddenly arrested and interrupted by God, Who ordered him to stay his hand, and Abraham was turned from the altar, he lift dup his eyes, and looked and behold, a ram caught in the thicket by his horns, and here we are face to face with God’s ram. Here was God’s provision for Isaac, to take the place of Isaac. Isaac was under the sentencing of death. He deserved to die, but God provided a substitute. Note carefully the words, IN THE STEAD OF HIS SON, that is in the plan of his son.

Then notice Genesis 22: 14 And Abraham called the name of that place

Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

Jehovah will provide a substitute for me. Two-thousand years ago, this type was

completely fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to be the

substitute and to shed His blood for a covering for sins. In the Old Testament—and as a washing away of sins in the New Testament.

6/ Now the last curtain in Exodus 26: 14 And thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above of badgers' skins.

These badgers’ skins had no colorful beauty, they were drab, dull and a blueish grey, for the outer covering was exposed to the sun and the rain and the storms and the sand. It was the only cover visible to the outsider. And, of course, this speaks of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The badgers’ skins represent all the world can se  in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, until they have been saved.

7/ The word, badger, in the original, is porpoise. This outer covering of skins was made of leather, and the skins ere taken from the porpoises. Not badgers as it is in the English translation. This was a marine animal—a sea animal, which was found abundantly in the Nile and the Red Sea. It is related to the whale and the dolphin. It’s hide made excellent leather.

8/ Israel had no trouble obtaining this leather when they were in Egypt. But here in the dessert, far from the sea, they could not obtain. Evidently, the Israelites had stocked up on these leather skins when they left the land of Egypt, and they had stocked up on them for probably a very good reason. They were to pass through a rough, and howling dessert, and this leather made wonderful material for shoes.

Ezekiel 16: 10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

It tells us that this leather was usually put to that use. I cloth thee also with bordered work, and shod thee with badger skin. It should read—I shod thee with porpoise skins.

So this leather was used for shoe leather. Now the Lord demands that they give this precious leather—plentiful in Egypt, but unavailable in the dessert for the covering of the tabernacle and the service of God. God asked them to give up their shoe leather, literally, the shoes off their feet for the service of God. Can you imagine the nation saying, Lord, are you asking us to give you our very shoe leather? That is asking too much. How will we be able to work in this burning sand? How will we stand against the harshness of the sand? It will cut through any other covering that we have. Is God asking too much of you?

AMEN

1/6/1965 / 13 - STUDIES IN THE TABERNACLE / 4/27/2025