The Spiritual Application of the Veil and the Screen in the Tabernacle in Exo. 26

This week in our time in the morning with the Lord we enjoy the topic of the Veil, the Screen, and the Two Aspects of Reconciliation, based on the portion in Exodus 26 speaking of the two entrances into the tabernacle and their spiritual application.

All the items and furnishings in the tabernacle in the Old Testament have a spiritual significance and can be applied to our Christian experience so that we may live a life for the fulfillment of God’s purpose and God’s building may come into being.

The Veil signifies the Flesh of Sin Crucified through Christ’s Death for us to Contact God

In the tabernacle there was an inner veil of blue, purple, and scarlet strands and fine twined linen, hung upon four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (see Exo. 26:31-32).

This veil, signifying the flesh of Christ rent on the cross, separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, and it also covered the Ark of the Testimony (see Heb. 10:20; Exo. 26:33; Num. 4:5).

It is not only our sins that separate us from God; even after we experience forgiveness of sins, there still remains something else that separates us from God: our flesh, the totality of our fallen human being.

The inner veil being open or rent signifies that Christ’s flesh was rent for us on the cross; similarly, our flesh needs to be broken, terminated, so that the inner barrier would no longer remain but we would contact God in spirit.

Praise the Lord, the veil was torn through Christ’s crucifixion – the flesh of sin was crucified through Christ’s death on the cross to open a new and living way for us, sinful men, to contact God in Christ as the propitiation cover in the Holy of Holies (Matt. 27:51; Heb. 10:19-20; Rom. 3:25; cf. Exo. 25:22)!

God’s goal is not for us to merely enter into the Holy of Holies where we can enjoy something of God or of Christ, but for us to be brought fully into God Himself and have a direct contact with Him, in His glory, being one with Him for the fulfillment of His heart’s desire!

The pillars, like the boards, were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold and stood on silver sockets, which signify Christ’s redemption. Hence, the pillars signify believers (Gal. 2:9; Rev. 3:12; 1 Tim. 3:15) who are strong to bear the testimony of Christ’s incarnation and crucifixion. The veil being attached to the pillars implies the identification, the oneness, of Christ as the veil with those believers who are pillars. The pillars in God’s dwelling place no longer live in the flesh but bear the testimony that the veil of their flesh has been torn, that is, that they themselves have been terminated and their flesh has been crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20; 5:24). The riven veil on the pillars becomes an entrance for God’s people to enter the Holy of Holies to have the full enjoyment of God. (Exo. 26:32, footnote 2, Recovery Version Bible)

The veil was hung on four pillars; the pillars like the boards, were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, and they stood on silver sockets; these pillars are not a type of Christ (who doesn’t need redemption to stand) but of believers who are strong to bear the testimony of Christ’s incarnation and crucifixion (Gal. 2:9; Rev. 3:12; 1 Tim. 3:15).

It is good for us to be boards in God’s house, that is, to be members of the Body of Christ with a high and proper humanity being overlaid with God as gold, but there’s a need for a number of saints to pass through a very lengthy and severe dealing under God’s hand to be strengthened to be unshakable pillars.

These are not a special spiritual category of people; they are believers whose life history with the Lord has issued in their becoming pillars joined to the veil, joined to the Christ whose flesh was rent on the cross.

Such ones are fully one with Christ, even identified with Him, just as the veil was attached to the pillars in the tabernacle.

The Lord needs to gain such believers whose living is in oneness and identification with the incarnated and crucified Christ, to the extent that their testimony is not only that Christ’s flesh was rent but that their own flesh has been rent, their natural man has been broken, and they themselves have been terminated.

The Lord wants to gain many who live in the reality of Gal. 2:20 – their flesh was crucified with Christ, and they are so one with the Lord that they become an entrance for others into the Holy of Holies, into God Himself.

We all know that it is the Triune God in Christ who is our way into God; Christ said, I am the way; however, the Lord wants to gain many believers who are so one with Him that we become an entrance for many others into God Himself, being channels of supply and ministering life to them.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter and the eleven became the entrance for three thousand people to enter into the kingdom of God, and together they continued steadfastly and pursued the Lord.

The Lord today is carrying out the ministry of reconciliation through many of His believers who are fully one with Him, first to reconcile sinners to Himself through the Lord’s precious blood, and then to reconcile believers living in the flesh to God through the cross so that they may live in the Holy of Holies one with God.

This ministry of reconciliation is carried out by some who are one with God and have the proper experiences that qualifies them to bring people to God and into God. When we touch such ones, we touch their spirit, and we pass through them and into God. We need such pillars who are so one with God that they bring us also into God.

Lord Jesus, thank You for loving us to the extent that You gave Yourself up for us, the sinful persons. Thank You for opening a new and living way for us back into God to contact Him through Your flesh which was broken for us on the cross. Thank You for opening the way back into God to enjoy Him, fellowship with Him, and be one with Him. Lord, give us the experiences we need for us to be fully one with You, standing on Your redemption, and having our flesh broken and terminated so that we may become an entrance for many saints into God, into the Holy of Holies!

The Screen signifies Christ in His Humanity and as the One who Died for us to be Forgiven and to Enjoy God

Right at the entrance of the tabernacle there was “a screen”, a veil which the Bible calls “screen”, made of blue, purple, and scarlet strands and fine twined linen, and this screen was hanging on five pillars made of acacia wood overlaid with gold (see Exo. 26:36-37).

This screen was at the entrance to the Holy Place, and it signifies Christ in His perfect humanity as the One who keeps all negative persons and things outside God’s dwelling place, and as the One who died for our sins under God’s judgement so that we may be forgiven by God and may enter into the Holy Place of His dwelling to enjoy all the riches of God in Christ (see 1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18).

How can we, sinners and even enemies of God, come into God’s presence to enjoy Him in Christ? It is only through Christ, the One who has died for our sins and bore God’s judgment on our behalf.

Through believing into Christ and being identified with Him, we can enter into the Holy Place of His dwelling to begin to enjoy all the riches of God in Christ. The screen indicates that Christ died for our sins so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may be justified by God.

We are so thankful to the Lord that He bore our sins in His Body on the tree, and the fire of God’s judgement burned in His being as He died for us.

Now by believing into Him, we are clothed with Christ as a garment of righteousness, and God sees us as being covered in Christ who is our righteousness – and He approves us according to His standard of righteousness.

The screen and the veil in the tabernacle signify two aspects of the all-inclusive death of Christ. The screen indicates that Christ died for our sins so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may be justified by God. The veil indicates that Christ died for us, the sinners (2 Cor. 5:14-15, 21), so that our flesh, our fallen nature, may be torn, crucified, that we may enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God to the uttermost. These two curtains are related to the two aspects of reconciliation spoken of by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (see footnote 2 on v. 20 there). (Exo. 26:36, footnote 1)

The veil which separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, indicates that Christ died for us, the sinners, so that our flesh, our fallen nature, may be torn, crucified, that we may enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God to the uttermost (2 Cor. 5:14-15, 21).

These two curtains are related to the two aspects of reconciliation spoken of by Paul in 2 Cor. 5:18-21, which we will enjoy and study later in the week.

How we praise and thank the Lord for dying for our sins to open the way for us to come and enjoy God, and for dying for us, the sinners, for us to fully enter into God and be united, mingled, and even incorporated with Him to become His enlargement and expression in the universe!

Lord Jesus, thank You for the great love with which You loved us: even when we were dead in sins and we were enemies of God, You died for our sins to bring us back to God! Thank You for bearing our sins in Your body on the tree, bearing the righteous judgement of God so that we may be forgiven and justified and have peace toward God. Hallelujah, we are now justified in Christ, and God sees us covered with Christ who is our righteousness! Lord, we thank and praise You for dying for our sins and for dying for us, the sinners, to fully reconcile us to God!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother Ron K. for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 99-100 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (part 4, 2016 Summer Training), week 43 / msg. 7, The Veil, the Screen, and the Two Aspects of Reconciliation.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Redeemed—how I love to proclaim it! / Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; / Redeemed through His infinite mercy, / His child, and forever, I am. (Hymns #301)
  # The veil is rent and opened is / A new and living way; / With boldness thru the precious blood, / We come to Thee to pray. (Hymns #771)
  # We come forward by a new way, / Freshly cut and freshly slain, / To the Holiest of Holies; / Glorious access we obtain. (Hymns #1217)