(Exodus) Exodus 26:1-14 — J. Vernon McGee

The Four Coverings of the Tabernacle

Now, will you notice that we come now to chapter 26, and we have here the curtains of linen. And I want to say just a word concerning them. The tabernacle proper had over it three coverings. It had a linen covering, well, it had four coverings actually.

It had first that linen covering that was put all over the tabernacle proper. Now, that's the part that was 30 cubits long, 10 cubits wide, 10 cubits high. Now, this linen cloth, as it was sewed together, came up over all of that part.

And it came down the sides and didn't quite touch the ground. It was not permitted to touch the ground. Well, let me read this, verse 1 of chapter 26. Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twine linen, and blue and purple and scarlet, with cherry beams of cunning work shalt thou make them.

The Linen Covering Reveals Christ's Inner Beauty

You see, it was a beautiful thing. That fine twine, bisis, Egyptian linen, and in it was woven cherry beams. It revealed just the beauty inside. It couldn't be seen outside. And very frankly, the beauty of Christ cannot be seen by the world.

He can only satisfy one of his own. And that's the reason worship of him is so important. And why believers ought to gather together is that they might not only feed on Christ, but that they might behold him in his beauty.

You remember he said that where I am, there ye may be also. He wants us to be with him. And today we ought to be with him. That is in our worship of him, beholding his beauty. Over in the 17th Psalm, David wrote, Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings.

The Goat's-Hair Covering and the Sin Offering

Now, those wings were in the cherry beam that were up over in the linen cloth above. That's a good place to be hidden today, underneath those wings. And then the next was this goat's-hair curtain, verse 7.

And thou shalt make curtains of goat's-hair, to be a covering upon the tabernacle. Eleven curtains shalt thou make. And you see, they had to be sewn together. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits.

And you see, it means it would just exactly go up one side ten cubits, over the top ten, on the other side ten. So it would exactly cover the tabernacle. And the eleven curtains shall be all of one measure.

Christ's Sacrifice as the Message to the World

And then he goes on to tell about how they're to be put together, with loops and rings that would hold them together. And it speaks actually of the sin offering. It speaks of Christ's worth for sinners.

The goat's-hair actually was seen from the outside. It was really what the world can see, that it speaks of the death of Christ. In fact, this is the message that's to be given to the world. And we read in Hebrews 9, 26,.

For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He's appeared. This is the message that should go forth.

The Ram's-Skin and Badger-Skin Coverings

Then we have in verse 14,. And thou shalt make a covering for the ten of ram's skins, dyed red, and a covering above a badger's skin. Now, the third covering was ram's skin, dyed red. And then on top of that, there would be the badger's skins.

Now, actually, the badger's skins were made of seal skin. The women used to wear seal skin coats. Well, the tabernacle was probably the first one that ever wore a seal skin coat. After 40 years in the wilderness, they were marred by time, but they always protected that which was within.

Christ's Hidden Beauty and the Prophet Isaiah's Witness

And this speaks of Christ's walk before man. Now, we said a moment ago in the linen covering, you had to go inside to see his beauty. Well, on the outside, there's no beauty that we should desire him, the prophet Isaiah said in the 53rd chapter, verse 2.

No beauty that we should desire him. You'll have to go inside to behold his beauty. The world doesn't see in him what you and I should see in him at all. That's very important to see.