The Tabernacle 08 the Veil — J. Henry Brown

The Veil in Exodus and Hebrews

Shall we turn again to the book of Exodus, reading in chapter 26. This evening we're going to turn our attention to the veil, Exodus chapter 26 and reading from verse 30. And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was should be in the mount.

And thou shalt make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet and fine twined linen of cunning work. With cherubim shall it be made. Not cherubim. Cherub is singular and cherubim is plural. With cherubim shall it be made.

And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold upon the four sockets of silver. And thou shalt hang up the veil under the tatches or the clasps that couple the two sets of curtains together.

Thou shalt hang up the veil under the tatches that thou mayest bring in thither within the veil the ark of the testimony. And the veil shall divide unto you between the holy place and the most holy. And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

Now let us read a little in the epistle to the Hebrews that will help us in our talk this evening. Hebrews chapter 9. I want a few remarks to help us as we are reading. Hebrews chapter 9. Reading from verse 1.

Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service and a worldly sanctuary, or rather a world sanctuary, a sanctuary that was down here in the world. For there was a tabernacle made the first.

Now this means the first place. Remember that the sanctuary is divided into two places. And now the writer is saying there was a tabernacle made the first, or the first place, the holy place, wherein was the lampstand and the table and the surebread.

Which is called the sanctuary or the holy place. And after the second veil, that may be looking upon the door as being the first veil, after the second veil the tabernacle which is called the holiest of all.

The second place which was called the holiest of all. Which had the golden center and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold. Wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's rod that budded and the tables of the covenant.

And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat of which we cannot now speak particularly. I'm very sorry that he couldn't speak particularly because it would have been a great help to me, I would know more about it.

Verse six. Now when these things were thus ordained the priest went always into the first tabernacle. Now that's into the first place of course, the holy place. Accomplishing the service of God. But into the second, that is into the holiest of all, went the high priest alone once every year.

Not without blood which he offered for himself and for the errors of the people. Now notice particularly this verse, verse eight. The holy ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.

The holy ghost this signifying that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. Whilst that first part and all that concerns it is still standing there is no way into the holiest of all.

Which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation or the time of the new order or the time of the setting of things right.

Now let us turn to chapter ten, reading from verse twelve. But this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, forever sat down on the right hand of God. From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.

For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Now look at verse nineteen. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

The Veil and the Grace That Brings Us Near

Well that is our reading for this evening and our subject is this veil that divided between the holy place and the holiest of all. Now we have made our way slowly progressively until we have taken in what we have found down in the court and also what we have found in the first place, the holy place.

And this, I am sure, has been a great blessing to us because it has shown us how wonderful the grace of God has been toward us. How that he has come right out to where we were. There was nothing to commend us.

He came out just because he wanted to come out. He came out in great love and rich mercy, came right out to where we were in that place of sin, came out in the person of his beloved son, and came out not to condemn, not to judge, but came out to make provision for us, to make it possible for us to make our way into his presence, to have access into his presence, to be able to have that fellowship and communion.

God not willing that we should remain outside. And so then we found that when God was bringing in this priesthood it was all typical and intended to be a help to us. And so we saw that in coming out he reaches that furthermost place of the sin offering and then he begins to move back in.

And as he moved back in he went into that first place, the holy place, and he dealt with that altar of incense and then he came out to the labor. Now we have gone forward steadily seeing that God has come out to us and made provision.

We by faith have availed ourselves of what he has provided and we have done that by faith as we saw the priest pressing their hands upon the heads of those three offerings, sin offering, burnt offering, offering of consecration, identified with them in that way.

So we have been to the cross and by faith have identified ourselves with Christ as sin offering, burnt offering, offering of consecration and so brought into all the value of that finished work of Christ and established before God as priest and now have access into his presence.

We can now serve him. We saw that the work was finished and complete as far as the priesthood was concerned, that they never went back again for a repetition of any of these offerings, never went back to be bathed a second time, to be clothed a second time with the priestly garment.

That was all once and for all. And so we too when we come into all the value of that finished work of Christ on the cross, a sin offering, burnt offering, offering of consecration, it is once and for all.

By that one work of the cross he has perfected us forever. And so we find that we can now move forward and as we move forward we came to the altar and we examined that and we saw the meaning of it and then we moved on a little further and we came to the laver and that reminded us that whilst down here we can see a work that was complete and perfect, we realise that the priests were not perfect in themselves, they could become defiled and so God had provided the laver for them.

At that laver they washed hands and feet. So we have a laver, if we who have been brought into this fellowship, into this finished work of Christ and have access into the presence of God, we need to remember that we can become defiled too and we must make use of our laver.

So if we confess our sins he will be faithful and just to forgive, to cleanse from all unrighteousness and so restore us to that fellowship and communion with himself. So way down there that question of condemnation has been settled once and for all.

But the question of communion is another matter and that is something which we must take heed to from day to day. Our salvation complete and perfect from the moment when by faith we identified ourselves with Christ on the cross.

But our communion, now from day to day, that must be preserved and if we stumble a fall then we remember the laver. We confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive, to cleanse and so restore us to the fellowship.

From Christ Crucified to Christ Glorified

So now we are able to move in. We have come into all the value of this which has taken us to the cross and it enables us to go on to all the value of what we find in the sanctuary. And the moment we entered the sanctuary we saw the difference that all this takes us to the cross but all that is inside that is taking us to the glory.

This is Christ and him crucified and inside is Christ and him glorified. And so we must come into all the value of Christ crucified before we can come into the value of Christ glorified. The one leads to the other.

The one is a means to the other. And I have said again and again let's beware of making the one something in itself. It is a means to something else. And I think we have seen these past few nights, we have had a glimpse at any rate of what God intended to secure in us.

Not wanting just that we should be saved, that our sins should be forgiven and that we should come to know the Lord Jesus Christ in this way, to know him objectively but that we should go on to know him in a deeper and a mightier way.

To go on to know him in the power of his resurrection. And so you remember the apostle Paul when he is writing that epistle to the Philippians. You find him striving, as he is writing, striving to reveal something which was holding him at the very centre of his being.

And what was it? It was that he might know Christ. And if we had heard Paul use those words, had Paul said to us, oh that I might know him, oh that I might know Christ, we would have said, Paul what are you talking about?

If anyone knows Christ, you do. What do you mean by saying, oh that you might know him? And Paul would say, yes, I know him. I know him objectively. I know him as being on that cross. I know him as being on that cross for me.

As being on that cross as me. I know him as being up yonder in the glory. He is there at the right hand of God in all the value of that finished work of the cross. And he is there for me and as me. I know that.

I know him objectively. But oh that I may know him. That I may know him subjectively. That I may know him up there as being in me down here. And when he wrote his epistles to the Galatians he said, my little children, for whom I travail in birth until Christ is formed in you.

Christ in you. This was the thing that held him at the very centre of his being. To go on to know the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of his resurrection. Oh that I may know him. The fellowship of his suffering.

Being made conformable unto his death. To know him and the power of his resurrection. We might be inclined to say, Paul, you haven't got that quite straight. Why don't you talk first of all about the suffering and then talk about the death and talk about the resurrection.

Suffering, death, resurrection. Why do you say, oh that I know him and the power of his resurrection and then you go on to talk about suffering and death. Yes, he says, because you see the only possible way that I can come to know him and the power of his resurrection is that I come to know him in his suffering and in his death.

So he wants to go on to know Christ in that deeper and mightier way. He's going to the cross. He's knowing Christ objectively as his saviour. Knowing him in all the value of that finished work of the cross.

That's one thing. That wasn't something in itself. That was a means for something else. It enabled him to go on to know Christ in that deeper and mightier way. And so I've tried to help you to see. You must first of all come into all this, all the value of that work of the cross before you can go on.

Before you can go on to know Christ in this deeper and mightier way. And so, entering in the sanctuary, we immediately find that we are dealing with Christ up there. He's the altar of incense. He's the high priest.

He's the incense. He's everything there, ever living to make intercession. We saw that he was the table. He's the showbread. He's up there maintaining us in that place of fellowship and communion. He's the lampstand.

And there are the lamps placed upon the lampstand in such a way as to light up its lovely workmanship. And so we realise now that these priests had access to that holy place and they were having to do with things up there.

They were having to do with those things which were typical. For as the reality is Christ up there in the presence of God as our altar of incense, as our table, as our showbread, as our lampstand. And remember how the Spirit takes over the things of Christ.

As the lamps were lighting up the lovely workmanship in the lampstand. So the Spirit of God takes over the things of Christ and reveals them to us, having in view this, that we shall be conformed to the image of the Son.

Progressively from day to day we are to become more and more like God's beloved Son. And that is something which he's purposed from way back in eternity. Not purposing that we should sin and that he would bring in the cross.

Oh no. God could never do that. But he knew what would take place. He knew that man would sin. And way back in eternity he planned out to meet it. And therefore when he is meeting that in the cross, the cross is not something in itself.

That cross is making possible what he was out to secure from the very beginning. And so now we can see, once we are brought into all the value of that finished work of Christ, now we are going on to know him in this more wonderful way.

That Christ up there, he sanctified himself that we might be sanctified. He is our sanctification. It is to what he is up there that we are to be brought progressively. And the only possible way is when the Spirit takes of the things of Christ and reveals them to us.

It is only by revelation that these things come to us and are made over to us. And I can stand here and I can talk to you and I can reveal, I can talk to you about these things from night to night, but I can't reveal them to you.

I can't make them over to you. But only tell you about them. Only the Spirit of God can reveal these, make them over to you in a very real way. So then we have taken in what we find in the sanctuary. But now we have realised there was a veil.

The Veil as the Barrier to God's Presence

And the veil was put there and it divided between the first place and the second. And the priests were not able to go through the veil into the second place. And in that second place was the ark, the mercancy, with the cherubim of one priest with it, denoting the very throne of God.

But they did not have access to the very throne of God. They could take in the altar of incense and the table and showbread and the lampstand with the seven lamps. But they could not go beyond the veil.

Once every year the high priest went through the veil, not without blood, offered for himself and offered for the others and the people. But he never opened the way for anybody else to go in. And there was no real way in.

But God arranged that he should go in once every year. But there was no way through. And so we read those words in the epistle to the Hebrews. The Holy Ghost thus signifying that the way to the holiest of all was not yet made manifest.

While as yet all this is going on down here. No way in. So there is a veil and the veil says no way in. Now that veil was made of fine twine linen. It was embroidered with blue and purple and scarlet and also it had cherubim embroidered upon it.

And there is no doubt that that veil is bringing before us the Lord Jesus Christ. That fine twine linen will speak of his righteousness. And then that blue will speak of his heavenly character. And the scarlet which is worm scarlet will speak of his suffering.

And the purple will speak of that glory which is yet to be his and the cherubim. They will bring before us as we have already seen in some measure. They are God's executive. They are there as the guardians of the very throne of God.

They are there to preserve the majesty of the throne of God. All judgment is committed into the hands of the Son, into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that veil brings before us the Lord Jesus Christ.

But why did God have the veil made in this way of being typical of the Lord Jesus Christ and then have it supported there upon those four pillars making it impossible for anyone to enter into the Holy Sepulchre.

Why was the veil there? Now I want you to follow me very carefully because this may be something new to you. I want you to think for a moment about these people Israel. We have been centering our thoughts in the priesthood not in the people outside.

Israel Called to Be a Kingdom of Priests

Now I am thinking about these people outside. Now remember that when God brought them out of the land of Egypt redeemed by blood and then they were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea entered upon their wilderness journey.

Now God has got his people, a redeemed people and he says to these people through Moses, if you will obey my voice, if you will keep my covenant, then you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. You see God was looking down upon a mass of people, upon the nations and he was thinking that how shall I meet this deep and dire need?

How can I reach the nations? And he decided to do it in this way. He called out one man, that was Abraham. And it looks as if he was an idolater, living among idolaters. What God saw in him I don't know.

But God saw Abram and he said Abram come out. And he came out. And so now God looks at this man Abram and he makes a promise to him. And we find now that Abram is Isaac. And then Isaac, Esau and Jacob.

And then Jacob comes into the picture with his twelve sons and now we have the twelve tribes. And these twelve tribes redeemed out of Egypt, there in the wilderness, God now says to them, if you will obey my voice, if you will keep my covenant, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests.

Because through you, as a kingdom of priests, I'm going to reach out to all these nations and I'm going to make my glory known. It will be through you that these nations will be able to draw near to me.

You shall be my priesthood. Now we get that settled. This is what God said. And this is what he wanted. He wanted his nation of Israel to be a kingdom of priests. And through them to reach out to the nations to make known his glory.

Now these people Israel when they heard these words they said yes, we will obey your voice, we will keep your covenant. They were rather foolish in doing it, but they did. And so God took them up on it.

God knew very well they never could. He knew that. But he's going to let them try. And in letting them try, he's going to accomplish something else. And so he says to them, all right. Now you say you will obey my voice, you will keep my covenant.

I say if you do, then you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests. Meanwhile, whilst you are trying to prove yourselves, whilst you are trying to show me that you will obey my voice and you will keep my covenant, whilst that is going on, I must have a sanctuary.

In your midst in which I can dwell. And in that sanctuary I'm going to have offerings and sacrifices that will enable me to go on with you. Whilst you are seeking to prove to me that you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, whilst this is going on, I want this sanctuary.

And that sanctuary will enable me to go on with you. There will be the shedding of blood, there will be offering and sacrifice, and all that will enable me to go on with you whilst you are proving what you say.

So then, these people are on probation. They are to produce a righteousness that God can accept. And therefore justified in the sight of God, they will be unto him a kingdom of priests. Now this was the position of these people Israel.

Justification by Faith Rather Than Works

Now God made perfectly clear this. The thought that has been in the mind of God from a way back in eternity is this. That if ever man was justified in his sight, it would only be upon a principle of faith.

Right away back from eternity, when God planned that cross, that suffering and death of his beloved son, from a way back in eternity, the thought in God's mind was, if ever man is justified before me, it will be on a principle of faith.

Never upon a principle of work. Because if it were upon a principle of work, then man would have whereof to boast. God said he will never boast before me. So it is on a principle of faith. And then God as much as said, and I want to show you this so you will understand it, you will see it.

So he said, now look, I am calling this man out. His name is Abram. I am calling him out and I want you to look at this man. And we look at this man Abram and we find that God had called him out and he came out.

He didn't know where he was going. He went to look for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He came out and we look at this man and this man believed God. When you notice this, this man is a man of faith.

He is a patterned man of faith. Abram believed God and his belief was reckoned to him for righteousness. Therefore he was justified in the sight of God. Now this is the thought in the mind of God. You see?

And he never departs from it. Abram believed God, his belief reckoned to him for righteousness and therefore he is justified on the principle of faith. God says, now have a good look at that man, because that is my thought.

Now then, what do you say? I would like you to be a kingdom of priests, but you can only be a kingdom of priests if you obey my voice and if you keep my covenant. Then if you keep that covenant you will produce a righteousness.

Now God says, it's for you to prove yourself. Now they said, we can. We will. Alright. Now whilst you are doing this, you are on probation and you are going to try and produce that righteousness by means of the law.

Now, whilst that's going on, I'm going to have this tabernacle, I'm going to have all these offerings and sacrifices continuing to enable me to go on with you. And Moses, make a veil and hang that veil upon those four pillars.

There is no way into my presence for these people until they have kept, until they have obeyed my voice and kept my covenant. Until they have produced a righteousness that I can accept. Not until then will they ever be able to go through that veil.

So the Holy Ghost signified, no way in whilst all this is going on. And this is going on because they are on probation. And so there's no way in. If these people eventually produce that state of being right, that righteousness that God can accept, then the veil will be taken down.

And they shall enter and stand in the very presence of God. Now God knew very well that they would never produce that righteousness. He knew it. Well, you say, well then why did he let them try? Well, you see, this was going to accomplish something else.

God has made clear his thought, justification on a principle of faith. He saw that these people had a different thought in their mind. In the mind of these people was this thought, justification on a principle of work.

You see the two thoughts. God's thought, justification on a principle of faith. Man's thought, justification on a principle of work. So God says, alright. It's no good me reasoning or arguing with these people.

It's far better for them to experimentally prove that they cannot produce that righteousness. So, I'll put them on probation. I'll say, alright. Now you produce that righteousness. Come on. You said you will.

Now you get busy and you produce the righteousness that I can accept. Mean what? I am veiled. You cannot enter into my presence. Once every year the high priest shall come in with the blood of the sin offering and sprinkle it there upon that very throne, upon the mercy seat, to enable me to continue with you.

Maybe hundreds of years. But I'm prepared to let you prove to yourselves that you cannot produce the righteousness that I can accept by means of the law. When God spoke to Abram, he said, Abram, I'm going to bless you and I'm going to make you a blessing.

And in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed. Now who was the seed of Abraham? He said, well, the seed of Abram was Isaac. But God wasn't talking about Isaac. Oh, well, the seed of Abram was, well, it was Israel.

He wasn't talking about Israel. Well, when he said the seed of Abram, who did he mean? And the apostle says, the seed of Abram is Christ. All right, now we see. Abram, I'm going to bless you. You have been justified on the principle of faith.

I'm going to bless you and in thy seed, Christ, shall all nations of the earth be blessed. How? Upon that same principle of faith. In your seed, Christ, all nations of the earth may be blessed. It will be on the same principle of faith.

You got that? Now this is God's thought and he's making it perfectly clear. And then he allows 430 years to pass with just that thought before he said, I'm going to bring in the law. These people say they can, they will keep my covenant, obey my voice.

So I'm going to give them the law. Now, the law was not God's thought. It was man's thought. It was their thought. Not God's thought. He said, now, just a moment. Isn't this the law of God? Yes, it's the law of God.

Is there anything wrong with it? No. It's the law of God and it's holy and it's just and it's good. But it is not God's thought. It cannot be. Because the law is not of faith. The law is of works. Therefore, the law is not God's thought.

God's thought is justification on the principle of faith. The law is not of faith. The law is of works. So therefore, what God saw in the minds of these people was they thoroughly believed that by their own works they could produce a righteousness, a state of being righteous that God could accept.

And they would be justified on the principle of works. Now, God made perfectly clear that justification on the principle of faith. And then he took them up and he said, alright, you tried. It was out of the question.

They never could do it. Now, God waited. And he waited to see if these people would acknowledge this. That they would begin to realize more and more how impossible it was to keep that law. How impossible to produce that state of being right that God could accept.

And then they would be able to enter into his very presence. They went on for hundreds of years. And do you know what they finally did? Rather than admit that they couldn't produce it, they built up self-righteousness.

And do you know the Lord Jesus never spared them for that? That self-righteousness, he never spared them for it. But that's what they did. So now you can see how they failed, how miserably they failed.

The Law as a Schoolmaster and Ministry of Condemnation

Yet we say, well, why was it that God, knowing that they would fail, why did he put them on probation in this way? Because, you see, the law could be a schoolmaster that experimentally they could be brought to be justified by faith.

That as they sought by means of the law, by means of their own work, to produce that righteousness which they thought they could produce, and God could accept, they would realize that they could not do it.

And then they would say, well, not by law, not by work, but by what? Well, by faith, that's it. So the law would be a schoolmaster that would bring them to Christ that they might be justified by faith.

And they never did. You see, the law was never given that man might be justified by it. It was never given that man might get to heaven by it. It was never given that man might obtain eternal life by it.

Why was it given then? It was given that we might have the knowledge of sin. The law was a ministry of condemnation and it was a ministry of death, it wasn't a ministry of life. And when God gave that law, his intention was that that law would open their eyes and open their understandings and they would realize that the very law that they were trusted in to bring them life would bring them death, that there was no hope for them.

The Law Reveals Sin but Cannot Make Life Straight

Coming across on the ship, I saw some people who were very fond of getting into a corner with Bibles and reading. And I went along and I said, you seem to be very fond of reading your Bible. They said, yes we are.

I said, why is it that you like to read it so much? They said, well, it tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. I said, yes. Does it tell you anything else? Yes, it tells us how we are to keep the law. So I said, well, what do you think, what does it mean when it says, tells you about the Lord Jesus Christ?

What is this? Well, of course he is the saviour. Well, now what's this law? They said, well, of course we have to believe in him and we have to keep the law. Well, I said, I can understand when you say believing in him, that means salvation, but when you say you have to keep the law, I don't quite follow this.

There's something wrong with it. Oh no, they said, no, this is what we find in the Bible. We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we must keep the law. Well, I said, I'm sorry, but I couldn't accept that.

So they said, well, we've got to pray for you. So I said, oh, well, I'm very pleased about that. They said, yes, we're going to pray for you because, you see, if you don't keep the law, you'll go straight to hell.

So you're in a very serious position and we're going to pray for you. So I said, oh, so you reckon then that if I don't keep the law, I'm going straight to hell? They said, yes. And I said, I'm going to tell you something.

I'm going to tell you this, that if you put yourself under the law, in order that you may be saved and get to heaven, there's one thing that that law will do for you. One thing which is absolutely certain.

And they looked at me and said, and what's that? I said, it will send you straight to hell. The very thing that you're putting your trust in will slay you. Paul himself said, the very law that I saw was unto life, I found it to be unto death.

The very thing that I trusted would save me, destroy me. And I said to these people, you, if any measure, you trust in the law for salvation, for eternal life, that law will send you straight to hell.

How dare you say a thing? I said, I said it on the authority of the word of God. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy in the face of two or three witnesses. Can you tell me you don't? Tell me that you keep that law?

You may be able to say, I never committed adultery. And you're talking about your body. When the Lord Jesus Christ was talking about the law, he said, he that looketh upon a woman and lusteth after the woman hath already committed adultery.

It's not just your actions, it's very thought and your motive. What hope is before you then? The law will only condemn. It's a ministry of condemnation, it's a ministry of death. And it was brought in that we might have the knowledge of sin.

And when we get that knowledge of sin, what do we do? The law serves its purpose. It brings us to Christ that we may be justified on the principle of faith. By the law cometh the knowledge of sin. How then could the law save?

The law is not of faith. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. Now that's what the scripture says. Not what I say, but what the scripture says. By the deeds of the law.

No matter what you do with the law, by the deeds of the law, no flesh can ever be justified in the sight of God. It's only on the principle of faith. By the law cometh the knowledge of sin. When we went out to Central Africa, we had a baby six months old.

The Level and the Law’s Function

I had an idea we might live in a tent, you know, here in the abiding city, you know, travelling around, preaching the gospel in all the villages. And then I realised, you know what we had last night, lightning and thunder, well we get worse than that out there in Central Africa.