The Colors Of The Tabernacle: Tabernacle Series Part 7

There are three main colors:  Blue, purple, and scarlet.  A fourth color, the pure white linen which is not readily visible, served as the foundation of every fabric. The high priest’s garments, however, were unique in their construction in that there was a fifth element woven throughout:  Pure gold thread.

Gold in the Bible depicts God’s divinity.  It gave to the fabric a sheen as well as durability.  Five is also the number of grace!  We’ll discuss more 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.  This color has a very special meaning to Him and is discussed in great detail in the articles below.  You may follow the links below if you’d like to read more on the topic of colors:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2016/05/15/the-blue-tassel-part-5-high-priests-garment-series/)

God made the sky blue to reflect the glory of His beloved Son.  When you look up at the sky, what do you see? Blue, of course, assuming it’s not all clouds.  That’s all the unsaved can ever see.  You and I, however, by faith can look beyond the “Veil of blue” and “see” The One Who sits at the right hand of the Father. 💖

Do you happen to know the last time anyone who is unsaved saw our Lord Jesus? When He hung on the cross. After He arose, He only appeared to believers.  Forty days later, He ascended back to His Father and is now hidden from the unregenerate behind “The Veil of blue sky.”

Even in the Old Testament, unbelievers only saw, “The Blue.”  Wherever the Ark traveled, it was covered first with the Temple veil, then with badger skin dyed red, and finally, with a blue cloth.  In fact, no one outside of the priests, (a picture of believers) ever saw the actual Ark:  THEY ONLY SAW THE BLUE.  Jesus, you see, is only revealed to Priests/believers!

As for the other colors, Purple depicts His royalty and Red is a picture of His human side, as well as His shed blood.  These three colors are always recorded in the same order:  Blue, purple, scarlet. Even the order is a message!

Message In The Colors.

Before Jesus was born as a human baby, He was all God, or you could say “all blue,” coming down to earth from the heavens above.  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 of  “A-dam.”

Remember your finger painting days in kindergarten when you mixed red and blue?  What color resulted?  Purple, of course!  Jesus, the “all blue, (very God)” was born of Mary, an “all red, (Fully human)” and He became PURPLE: The Perfect Human.

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As believers, you and I start out “All red.” When we accept Jesus as our Savior the “All blue,” we also become purple: Royalty like Jesus! We are, after all, king priests after the order of Melchizedek, just like our 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 YOU ARE PURPLE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

As you have read before in this series, the New Covenant is hidden in various, sometimes curious, places in the Old Testament.  What else would Jesus have talked about to the Apostle Paul, right?  Paul taught from the Old Testament, of course, because there was no New Testament. He learned it from the risen, glorified, exalted Christ Himself, Who revealed the spiritual truths hidden there.  That’s how the New was written. His letters became about 3/4 of the New.

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He was just one of God’s many Jewish secretaries. Godly men of old spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to record what we now call our Holy Bible. The stories, events, people, places, even numbers recorded in scripture, were specially selected by the Him to serve as object lessons and visual aids to teach us spiritual truths. It’s amazing to me how skillfully He crafted them so that they are a living, breathing organism.  They speak to us in different ways at different times and even prophesy the future. 😮

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This message in the colors perfectly illustrates 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.”

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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 that 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 fact, it shows He has a double claim.

(For more on the Gospel of Matthew, you may follow the link below:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2017/04/17/the-gospels-part-4-matthew/)

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 unnecessary.

(For more on the Gospel of Mark, you may follow the link below:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2017/04/17/the-gospels-part-5-mark/)

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Luke.

Then we come to the Gospel of Luke.  This is the priestly gospel.  Here, Jesus is portrayed as fully man, in very domestic settings, living among the ones He loved so much:  Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The Prodigal son is recorded here.

Luke begins with the story of the priest, Zacharias, who was struck dumb while ministering at the altar of incense. White is associated with this gospel as ministering priests always wore white.

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. (For more on the Gospel of Luke, you may follow the link below:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2017/04/17/the-gospels-part-6-luke/)

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 some parasite or 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, that soars high above in the heavens, represents this Gospel.  There is no genealogy here because, as divinity, He has no beginning and no end.

(For more on the Gospel of John, you may follow the link below:

https://emmausroadministries.international/2017/04/17/the-gospels-part-7-john/)

Gold, as I said earlier, is a subject all its own.  It is the fifth element. Artisans were gifted by God with enhanced abilities to undertake the tasks of making the garments and implements for the Tabernacle.

They used the purest, finest gold, hammered or beaten into very thin sheets until it was paper thin. Then it was cut it into tiny strips, rolled and stretched it until it was very fine thread.  It was then woven in amongst the blue, purple, scarlet and white linen and used to make the garments of the high priest, 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! 😭😭 (Box of tissues, please!!).

Remember, He was in the hands of the Romans who had no law telling them “50 stripes minus 1 (49).” We have no idea how many times He was struck. 😭😭😭

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!  (Another box of tissues, please! 😭😭😭😭😭)

Woven Tapestry.

Go through each of the Gospels sometime.  Look at the beautifully woven tapestry of theBlue,the Purple, the 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 and 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 and before Whom all the temple soldiers fell in the Garden when they came to arrest Him.

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 BlueGospel:  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 raises the dead back to LIFE!

Be warmed, filled, blessed, encouraged, healed, delivered, and inspired as you look for Jesus in the tapestry of the Gospels represented by the Colors of the Tabernacle

You may follow the link below to Part 8 where we will discuss how the Tabernacle shows us how God protects us: