Exodus 26:1 mentions the colors blue, purple, and scarlet. Blue signifies something heavenly in both nature and appearance. As revealed in the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus in His humanity and human living was altogether heavenly. He lived not as an earthly man, but as a heavenly man, both in nature and in appearance. For this reason, He could say that He came down from heaven and that He was the heavenly bread, the bread of life (John 6:32, 35).
Purple is a kingly color. It denotes that which is kingly both in position and behavior. Although the Lord Jesus was a Nazarene, He conducted Himself as a king. The Gospel of Matthew portrays the Lord Jesus as One who acted and behaved like a king.
Scarlet is a dark red color. This color signifies sin and also signifies the shedding of blood for redemption. Isaiah 1:18 speaks of the people’s sins being as scarlet. This shows that scarlet signifies sin. But as illustrated in the Gospel of Luke, scarlet also signifies the shedding of blood for redemption for sinners. Therefore, the scarlet in the first layer of the covering of the tabernacle signifies the shedding of the blood of Jesus for redemption.
Verse 1 also speaks of “cherubim, the work of a skilled workman.” The cherubim signify God’s glory manifested in Jesus as shown in the Gospel of Mark. Cherubim denote God’s glory manifested in the creature. The fact that we are not told how many cherubim were embroidered on the linen curtains indicates that God’s glory manifested in His creature is immeasurable. God’s immeasurable glory is also indicated by the fact that the dimensions of the cherubim on the propitiatory cover of the ark are not given. We are not told the size of the cherubim on the ark, and neither are we told the number of the cherubim on the curtains. The silence of the biblical record in both cases indicates that the manifestation of God’s glory is beyond measure.
We know from the book of Ezekiel that the cherubim are living creatures in whom the glory of God is seen. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He as a man was a creature manifesting the divine glory. The Bible reveals that Christ is both the Creator and a creature. According to Colossians 1:15, Christ is the Firstborn of creation. As a genuine man, the Lord Jesus had a body of blood, flesh, and bones. Are these not the elements of a created being? Therefore, in His humanity Christ was a creature, but a creature upon whom the glory of God was manifested. This is the significance of the cherubim embroidered on the linen curtains.
In the Gospel of Mark we see that the Lord Jesus was a slave-man. But upon this slave-man God’s glory was manifested. How wonderful that the four Gospels cover the aspects of Christ’s humanity as typified by the colors blue, purple, and scarlet and by the cherubim!
The cherubim on the linen curtains were the work of a skilled workman, or of an embroiderer. The workman here denotes one skilled in the art of embroidery. The work of an embroiderer signifies the constituting work of the Holy Spirit in the Lord Jesus. Thus, it is the Holy Spirit who is the skilled workman, the embroiderer. Today the Holy Spirit is doing the work of embroidery on us. He uses many “needles,” both large and small, to accomplish this work.
Verse 2 says that the curtains were twenty-eight cubits in length and four cubits in width. The number twenty-eight is composed of four times seven, with four being the number of the creature and seven also being a number of perfection. Thus, the length of each curtain also signifies the perfection of the Lord Jesus as a man.
We have pointed out that the number four signifies the creature. Since there were ten curtains, each four cubits in width, we also have here the number forty. In the Bible forty is the number of testing and trial. This indicates that as a man the Lord Jesus was tested. Because His completion and perfection have been tested, He is a man approved by both God and man.