Verse 32 mentions that the pillars had hooks of gold. These golden hooks signify the holding and connecting strength of the divine nature. Only the divine nature can connect the pillars to the incarnated and crucified Christ. Only through the holding strength of the divine nature can we bear the testimony of Christ’s incarnation and crucifixion.
We have seen that the four pillars stood upon four sockets of silver. These sockets indicate Christ’s redemption for the creatures. With the tabernacle there was a total of one hundred silver sockets, ninety-six for the boards and four for the pillars. The number one hundred is composed of ten times ten. Ten is the number of human completion and perfection. Ten times ten signifies the full and complete fulfillment of the requirements of the Ten Commandments according to what God is. The number ten is also seen in the Holy of Holies, a cube measuring ten cubits in each direction. According to 38:27, the silver for the redemption of the lives of the children of Israel was a little more than a hundred talents. All the children of Israel were God’s redeemed people. For this reason, each had to pay a piece of silver as a symbol of God’s redemption. Everyone had to pay the same amount. From the silver collected from the people, one hundred talents were used to make the one hundred silver sockets for the tabernacle. This no doubt signifies that as the boards for the building up of God’s dwelling place, His redeemed people stand on the solid redemption of Christ.
Each of the children of Israel paid a half-shekel of silver. Since a shekel is twenty gerahs, a half-shekel is ten gerahs. Thus, we once again have the number ten signifying human completion. God’s commandments for man are also ten. Ten commandments signify a full and complete demand on man. Because God’s people must bear the complete responsibility and have a complete fulfillment of God’s requirements, each must pay ten gerahs. The total of so many gerahs of silver is a little over a hundred talents. All these cases of the number ten, indicating complete demand, requirement, responsibility, and fulfillment, are related to Christ and to Christ’s redemption. Christ’s redemption is in the number ten. Ten is composed of two times five, with five being the number of responsibility and two the number of testimony. Thus, two times five signifies two times responsibility for a testimony. This is Christ with His redemption.
The veil covered the ark of the testimony (Num. 4:5). Those who entered the Holy Place could see the table, the lampstand, and the incense altar. However, they could not see the ark of testimony. Not only did the veil separate the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies; it also covered the ark. This signifies the separation between man and God (Gen. 3:24). Now we can answer the question we raised at the beginning of this message: Why was there the need of a separating veil within the tabernacle? There had to be a separation because fallen man in his nature is separated from God. Because we are still in our fallen nature, there is a separation between us and God. Fallen human beings cannot come to the ark in the Holy of Holies to contact God, converse with God, or have fellowship with God. Although God loves us and desires to have fellowship with us, our fallen nature does not allow Him to do this. We are sinful, but He is righteous. We are unjust, but He is just. A just and righteous God cannot meet with unjust and unrighteous people. There must be a separation between Him and them, a separation signified by the veil within the tabernacle.
This veil was broken at the Lord’s death (Matt. 27:51) to open a new and living way for us to contact God (Heb. 10:19-20). Because of the fall, we became sinful in nature. For this reason, there had to be a separation of the ark in the inner chamber of the tabernacle from the outer chamber. As a result of the fall, man has become flesh. For the most part, in the Bible flesh is a negative term; it denotes the fallen man. We fell and became flesh. Now this flesh is a veil separating us from God.
The ark is of a different category of furniture from the table, the lampstand, and the incense altar. At the table, the lampstand, and the incense altar, we have something of God, but we do not have God Himself. God Himself is at the ark in the Holy of Holies. Although fallen persons may receive God’s supply and see His light, they cannot contact Him. To receive supply and enlightenment from God is one thing; to have direct contact with Him is another thing. Suppose, for example, that a son offends his father in a certain way. Although the father still desires to give the son something to supply him, he cannot see him until the barrier, the separation, between them has been removed. The father may say, “He is my son, and I want to supply him with my riches. But I cannot see him until the barrier is removed.” This illustrates the fact that God will not see us and have fellowship with us or speak with us face to face until our flesh is broken. God loves us, and He will supply us with His riches. Nevertheless, until our flesh is broken He will not speak to us face to face from the ark. There is a veil separating us, and this veil is the flesh, our fallen being.
The problem of the flesh, our fallen being, is different from the problem of sins. This is a matter of our being, of our person. Our sins have been forgiven, but we ourselves remain a problem. Even though our sins have been washed away, we are still with the flesh, and the flesh may be unbroken. This unbroken flesh is the veil.
Exodus 26:33 and 34 say, “And you shall put the veil under the clasps, and you shall bring in there, within the veil, the ark of the testimony; and the veil shall make a separation for you between the holy place and the holy of holies. And you shall put the propitiatory cover upon the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies.” The clasps under which the veil was put are the clasps on the first layer of the covering. We have seen that this layer, made of ten pieces, each four cubits wide, was forty cubits long. Fifty clasps of gold connected the two main sections of the covering, each of which measured twenty cubits in length. Twenty cubits of this layer covered the Holy Place, ten cubits covered the Holy of Holies, and ten cubits hung down over the back side. Because the curtain, the veil, was under the line formed by the fifty clasps of the ceiling, we know that the Holy of Holies was a cube measuring ten cubits in each direction. There were ten cubits of the first layer to cover the area from the veil to the standing boards at the rear of the tabernacle. Thus, the Holy of Holies measured ten cubits in length, width, and height.
The fact that the Holy of Holies was a cube measuring ten cubits in three directions signifies completion in completion. The Holy Place, measuring twenty cubits by ten cubits by ten cubits, was twice as large as the Holy of Holies. Furthermore, the veil was a square, ten cubits by ten cubits. It was a square in full completion.