Well, good morning. Our lesson
this morning is going to be taken from Exodus chapter 26. Begin
reading in verse 31, if you'd care to locate that. Exodus 26,
beginning in verse 31. The title of our lesson is The
Veil, Christ and Him Crucified. Exodus 26, verse 31. And thou
shalt make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine
twine linen of cunning work. With cherubim shall it be made.
And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shidom 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 taches, 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 the veil,
and all of its colors, is a picture of Christ. They use blue thread
in the veil, in the making of the veil. You know blue is a
picture of the color from heaven, telling us that the one who's
coming, the Savior who's coming, is coming from heaven. And then
they use scarlet thread. Scarlet is a picture of blood.
But it's also a picture of man. Adam was made from the red clay,
from the red dirt. As scarlet tells us the man who's
coming is bringing blood to shed as a payment for sin. is the
color of royalty, a king is coming. But also purple is a mixture
of the blue and the red. The blue the color of heaven,
the red the color of man. Telling us this king who's coming
is both God and man. He's the God-man. And then they
use fine twine linen. Linen is white, a picture of
holiness and righteousness. But linen is made from flax that's
grown from the ground. And that's telling us, giving
us a picture of the sinless humanity of the man, Christ Jesus. Now,
this white linen was fine twine linen. That's a picture of the
perfection of Christ, both His inward and outward perfection.
You know, a lot of times we think of something sinful to do, and
we don't do it, and we're kind of proud of ourselves. But that's
still sin, because we thought it. Sin is what is inside of
us. Christ never had a thought of sin. This fine twine linen
is a picture of his inward perfection and his outward perfection. Scripture
says this veil is a cunning work. There has never been another
tapestry, another drape made like this one. It was all woven
into one piece about a handbreadth thick. That's a picture of Christ. Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
born from a virgin's womb. He's such a cunning work. that
only God could make the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says,
A body hast thou prepared me. This body of the Lord Jesus Christ
was a work that God made, a cunning work. The body of Christ, the
humanity of Christ, is such a cunning work. The angel didn't even know
what to call that child of Mary's womb. The angel said, That holy
thing which shall be born of thee. shall be called the Son
of God." He's such a cunning work, the angels didn't know
what to call him. They just called him that holy thing. The Lord
Jesus Christ is the cunning work of the wisdom of God. And then
the veil had pictures of cherubims woven into it. Now, I've told
you this before, a cherubim is not that chubby child with cute
wings that we see pictured so much on Christmas trees and stuff
this time of year, but a cherubim is a mighty living creature that
Ezekiel saw. When Ezekiel wrote of the cherubim
that he saw, he said he had the likeness of a man, and he had
four faces, the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face
of an ox, and the face of an eagle. Ezekiel said that cherubim
sparkled like polished brass. He had four sets of wings, four
sets of hands, and that cherubim represents judicial power. judicial
authority. That's the power of Christ to
judge the earth. And that cherubim, in his judicial
authority and power, a cherubim was the one who guarded the Garden
of Eden after Adam was thrust out. A cherubim was placed there
with a flaming sword which turned every way to keep Adam from coming
back to that tree of life. And those cherubims are a picture
of Christ that the Father has given all power to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He has all power in heaven and
earth. because he's the sovereign Savior. That's what this veil
is telling us. The picture of the cherubims
is telling us the one who's coming is a sovereign Savior. Now, you
see, this veil has two sides. It touched both where God dwelt
in the Holy of Holies, and it touched where man dwelt out there
in the holy place. And that's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our mediator. Now, Christ doesn't just touch
both God and man. Christ is coming to reconcile. God and man, bring them back
together. We are separated from God and Adam, but in Christ,
he's going to reconcile his people to God. It's not just that he
can touch both, not just he can talk to both God and man. Christ
is coming to reconcile God to his people. And this is amazing
truth we see in this veil. The one pictured in the veil
with all these glorious attributes is going to come incarnate. He's going to become a man. to
save people, sinners like you and me. He's going to come and
suffer and die for people like you and me. He's going to come
pay the sin debt of sinners like you and me. Now, that veil is
a cunning work, but I'm telling you, God's grace, it's much more
cunning, much more amazing than this veil ever was. Now, the
veil is a divider. That's what, in the instructions
that God gave Moses, he said the veil will divide between
you in the holy place and the most holy. The veil is a divider. It separated the holy place from
the holy of holies. And that veil blocked the entrance
to the presence of God. If you tried to go around the
veil, if you tried to go under the veil to get into the holy
of holies, you're going to die, unless you're the high priest
bringing blood on the Day of Atonement. And this veil gives
us a hint of God's eternal purpose. Now, it was a divider, but it
was a veil. separating men from God. It wasn't
a stone wall. It was a veil showing us there
is separation between God and men, but that separation is going
to end someday. You see, this veil shows us that
if sinners like you and me are going to be reconciled to God,
we must have Christ and him crucified. If we're going to be reconciled
to God, Christ must come incarnate. He must be a man. He must be
made a man. He must live as a man in sinless
perfection. But He also must die. That man
Christ Jesus must die. If Christ just came incarnate,
if He just came as a man and He never died, Christ would be
the veil always blocking our entrance to God. If God's Son
became a man and He lived a perfect life, and then he ascended back
to the Father, Christ would eternally stand as the example of what
we're not. In that way, Christ would always
be blocking our way to God because Christ would always stand as
the impossible standard that you and I could never meet. In
order for us to be in the presence of God, we have to be as perfect
as Jesus Christ or we can never be in God's presence. If we fall
just one millimeter short of the perfection of Christ, we'll
be eternally damned. So if Christ came incarnate,
he lived a perfect life in the synod back to the Father, he
would left a standard, a bar, that's too high for us to meet.
So in that way, he would always be the veil separating us from
God. And as long as the Lord Jesus
Christ lived on this earth as a man, he showed the separation
between a holy God and sinful men. And for 2,000 years, that's
exactly how this veil stood, as a separator, a divider between
God and men. It was a constant reminder, as
long as that veil hung there, we were constantly reminded that
men could not see the way to God yet. And as long as that
veil hung there, the commandment was, come not. Now look over
in Leviticus chapter 16. This veil is a divider, and as
long as it hung there, It told us the commandment was, Come
not. In Leviticus 16, verse 2, And the Lord said unto Moses,
Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times
into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which
is upon the ark, that he die not. For I will appear in the
cloud upon the mercy seat. See, the commandment was, Come
not at all times. Now, you'll notice the commandment
wasn't, Come not. It was, Come not at all times. God, the commandment
was come not at all times, but God did give us pictures of his
eternal purpose. One day a year, there was a day,
one day a year, on the day of atonement, the high priest could
crawl under the veil with the blood of the sacrifice that he
would sprinkle on the mercy seat. Now on that day of atonement,
it wasn't the beauty of the veil that let the high priest crawl
under. It was the blood. On that day, it wasn't how good
or how righteous the high priest was to let him crawl under the
veil. It was the blood that he brought. It wasn't how well dressed
and all the high priestly garments that he wore. We'll look at all
his high priestly garments in a few weeks. They're glorious
garments, but it wasn't those glorious garments that let him
crawl under the veil. It was the blood of the sacrifice.
The high priest was accepted in the blood because when the
high priest brought the blood, It showed this, a substitute
had died for sin. If the high priest is bringing
blood, there must have been a sacrifice for sin, and that's how he could
be accepted. And the purpose of God, after
all those over 2,000 days of atonement, the purpose of God
was finally revealed. The purpose of God in salvation,
the purpose of God in reconciling sinners to himself was finally
revealed. when Christ died. If you look
over Matthew chapter 27, at the very moment that Christ died,
that veil was torn in two from top to bottom. Look at Matthew
27 verse 50. Jesus, when he had cried again
with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And behold, the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and
the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, And the graves were
opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and
came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into
the holy city, and appeared unto many. At the very moment Christ
died, that veil was torn from top to bottom, showing us that
now the way to God is open, and there is eternal life through
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ." All these saints were resurrected
out of the grave when Christ died. We have life through the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the veil was torn in two
from top to bottom, showing us that because of the death of
Christ, now the way to God is wide open for sinners to come
to God through Christ. Now, there is a connection between
the death of Christ and the veil being torn in two. That veil
was torn in two as it hung between heaven and earth at the exact
moment that Christ died as he hung between heaven and earth.
And it was God that tore this veil from top to bottom. You'll
notice it wasn't torn from the bottom up. If it was torn from
the bottom up, that would be an act of man, because men dwell
here below. God dwells above. The veil wasn't
torn from the bottom up. It wasn't an act of man. The
veil was torn from the top down, showing us that the tearing of
that veil was an act of God. Just like the death of Christ
was an act of God. Now we read that no man, the
old writers all say this, no man could have torn this veil
in two. Just like no man could have taken
the life of Christ. They couldn't take his life from
him. He had to lay it down. And no man could tear this veil.
Now this veil is a hand-wrapped thick. And the old Jews say if
you had two pair of oxen and you tied them to the veil and
drove them in opposite directions, those four oxen pulling in opposite
directions could not have torn this veil. And the veil hung
loose on the attaches. So if someone brought a sword
and tried to chop the veil, it was so thick, plus it hung loose
and had a little give to it, a sword couldn't even cut it.
The tearing in two of the veil was an act of God. And God did
that to show his people that God's people will never be separated
from God again. The Apostle Paul asked this question,
shall anything separate us from the love of Christ? And he went
through all that long list of things that we're afraid of that
may separate us from the love of Christ. And the apostle concluded
this, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And we can't be separated
from God because of the death of Christ, our substitute. Now
there are so many ramifications of this veil being torn in two.
I'm going to give you four or five of them. The veil had separated men from
God because of sin. Isaiah 59 verse 2 says, But your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins
have hid His face from you. But when Christ died, men are
not separated from God anymore. Well, why not? Because Christ
was separated from God for us. When Christ was made to be guilty
of the sins of His people, the Father turned His back on His
Son. The son was separated from the
father so that his people would never be separated from God anymore. And now this veil that had been
a barrier is made a gateway. Now, because of the death of
Christ, sinners can walk right through that opening, right to
the mercy seat. Now sinners can come at all times
to God through the Lord Jesus Christ because of his death.
Second, once this veil was rent in two, The legal dispensation
is over and now the gospel dispensation has begun. Now, you've got no
idea what I just said, so I'm going to tell you what that means.
It's simply this. We don't approach God through
the law because now God's revealed his grace. We approach him and
we worship him in spirit and in truth. God's not worshipped
in the form and ceremony of the law. Now, God's worshipped in
Christ by the preaching of the gospel. Once Christ died, all
those legal sacrifices were finished. All through the Old Testament,
you read of sacrifices over and over and over again. But we don't
take turns bringing lambs and goats and bullocks to bring out
there in the parking lot and sacrifice. We don't slit their
throat and catch their blood and roast their body with fire
and take the blood and apply it to our doorposts and sprinkle
it on a mercy seat. We don't do that. Sam, have you
ever seen a sacrifice, an animal sacrificed? I haven't either. We don't offer blood sacrifices
anymore. And you know why? Just one reason. Because Christ has been offered.
Christ is the one sacrifice that has put away all the sin of the
true Israel of God. So there's no more need for another
sacrifice. All those other sacrifices were
just pictures telling us that Christ is going to come and offer
a sacrifice for sin. Well, now that sacrifice has
been made. there's no more sacrifices under the law made for sin because
Christ has died. Third, when the veil was torn
in two, right in the middle, we got a full view of the ark
and the mercy seat. Now you imagine there at the
moment that Christ died, there were priests working in the tabernacle.
You imagine how terrified they were to see that veil torn in
two from top to bottom and they were able to see the mercy seat.
I bet you anything, they just ran away in terror. And as they
ran, they had to wonder, why didn't I die? I saw the mercy
seat, I saw unto the Holy of Holies, why didn't I die? Well,
they didn't die for this reason. Because the death of Christ opened
the way for sinners to see God. Now the mercy seat is seen. Now
the glory of God is fully seen in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, while that veil hung there,
separating the holy place from the Holy of Holies, if anyone
did see past the veil and they saw into the Holy of Holies,
they would have died. Those priests in the temple,
when Christ died and the veil was torn in two, they didn't
die because the way to God is open by the death of Christ.
But now, not only will a sinner not die when we come to God through
Christ, it's impossible. Listen to me. It's impossible. for a sinner to die if we come
to God through Christ. Why is it impossible for a sinner
like me to die if I come to God through Christ? Because Christ
has already died, and the death of Christ opened the way for
sinners, so sinners won't die when we come to God through Christ
because He's already died for us. Four, the veil being torn
from top to bottom shows us that the way to God is open in Christ
for the worst sinners to come and find mercy and forgiveness
for their sins. The veil wasn't torn just over
here in the corner, was it? The veil wasn't torn horizontally.
It wasn't torn across partway up. You know, if it was just
torn partway up, Sidney could go through. But I couldn't. I'm
too tall. I'm too great of a sinner. But
it wasn't torn horizontally, was it? A little hole wasn't
torn in the veil. So a small sinner could crawl
through. If just a little hole was cut
in it, you could crawl through. I couldn't. I'm too great of
a sinner. It wasn't a hole torn in the veil. It wasn't torn horizontally. It was torn from top to bottom,
showing us that the way is open for the worst of sinners to come
to God through Christ. No matter what size, no matter
what shape, no matter how great sinners they are, we come to
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're not crawling through
a loophole in the law now. We're not just sneaking in the
back door because somebody accidentally left it unlocked. We're coming
to God right through the front door, through the Lord Jesus
Christ, fully accepted by the Father in Christ. Fifth, when
Christ died and that veil was torn in two, the commandment
changed. Now, we read that earlier, the
law commanded, Come not at all times. Now the commandment's
changed. The gospel commands sinners to
come. Come. The commandment of the
gospel is come to Christ. Christ has opened the way to
God. There's nothing preventing you from coming to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ because Christ has removed every obstacle. The command of the gospel is
come to Christ. Now, don't just stand there admiring
the beauty of Christ. You know, that day of atonement,
the high priest just couldn't stand there admiring the beauty
of the veil. Oh, it was beautiful. It was a cunning work. But he
couldn't just stand there admiring the beauty of the veil. He had
to bring the blood and crawl under the veil, didn't he? Well,
don't just stand there admiring the beauty of Christ. Don't just
stand there admiring His holy perfection. Don't stand there
admiring how kind and gracious He is to sinners. Don't just
admire Him. Come to Him. Lay hold of Him
by faith. Don't just stand there admiring
the death of Christ. It's like you just can't stand
there admiring the miracle of the torn veil and just stand
off, you know, the distance looking through the torn veil, looking
at the mercy seat. Don't just admire the death of
Christ, the miracle that Christ was made to be sinned. Don't
just admire that. Don't just admire the miracle
of God's grace that his son would die for sinners. Don't admire
the miracle. Come to Christ. Lay hold of him by faith. Wash
yourself in the blood. Come to Christ. Now look at Hebrews
chapter 19. And don't just come. Come boldly. Come boldly and confidently through
Christ. Hebrews 10 verse 19. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Now remember the commandment
of the law was come not. Now the command of the gospel
is come. and come boldly, come confidently,
because it's Christ who died. This is the only reason a sinner
can come confidently, because it's Christ that died. See that? Nobody could come in full confidence
under the law. All the law did was cause men
to fear, to be full of fear all the time. You imagine the fear
that the high priest felt once a year when he crawled under
that veil. He had bells on the bottom of
his rope so people could hear he was still alive. If they heard
the bells ringing, they could tell the high priest was still
moving around and he was still alive. Legend has it that they
tied a rope around the ankle of the high priest so they could
pull him out if he died. Now, God didn't tell them to
do that, but men did it. Well, why did they feel it necessary
to do that? Because the law makes people full of fear. The high
priest When he crawled under that veil, he always moved around
quickly in fear. But now, the commandment is come,
at all times, and come boldly, without any fear. Now, come reverently. You're still coming before God.
But come without fear. Reverently, but without fear.
Sinners can come boldly, right this second, into the holiest.
Now, what's the holiest? The presence of God. The presence
of God himself is the holiest, and the holy of holies, that's
where God dwelt above the mercy seat. And because God dwelt there,
that's why he told Aaron, don't you come at all times. A sinner's
going to die in the presence of God. But now the commandment
is come into the presence of God boldly. But now one thing
hasn't changed. The commandment's changed. The
commandment used to be come not at all times. Now the commandment
is come at all times. But one thing hasn't changed.
We still come to God by the blood. Now, it's not animal blood, but
we come to God boldly through the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And because of the blood of Christ,
the weakest believer can come to Christ with the same boldness
that the Apostle Peter had. Now, Peter was a bold man, wasn't
he? Well, how can someone like me,
a sinful, weak, timid man like me, come to God as boldly as
the Apostle Peter? The Apostle Paul, he's a bold
man. He faced lions. He faced all
these enemies of the gospel. He dealt with the terror of Rome
itself. How can I be as bold as the Apostle
Paul? I can be as bold as the Apostles
Paul and Peter. if I come to God based on the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't be bold if I come through
anything I did, but if I come in the person and the work of
Christ, I can come to God with all boldness. Look at verse 20,
Hebrews chapter 10. We come boldly by a new and living
way, which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh. Now scripture leaves us no doubt
that this veil is a picture of Christ incarnate. The veil is
a picture of his flesh. And we come by a new and living
way. Now that phrase new and living
means a freshly slaughtered way. And what that means is this.
Christ is not sacrificed repeatedly. Christ is sacrificed once. Because
one time is all it took. Scripture says Christ is the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I don't know exactly
when that was, but that's a long time ago. But you know what? The blood of Christ is still
not stale. Christ died in time, as we humans measure time, over
2,000 years ago. That's a long time ago, but the
blood's not stale. Millions of people have come
to Christ to be cleansed of their sin, but the blood of Christ
has not lost one ounce of its power to save. The blood of Christ
is just as powerful as if it had just been shed this moment.
Now, brethren, we're not preaching leftovers. You know, three or
four days ago, Christmas Day, everybody had got the family
together and had a big Christmas meal. I bet it tasted good, didn't
it? Oh, that was a good meal. And
if you're like us, you've been eating on leftovers for three
or four days. And after three or four days,
those leftovers, they've lost some of their freshness. lost
some of their taste, haven't they? That's not the blood of
Christ. That's why I said we're not preaching
leftovers. Dear dying Lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. To all the ransomed church of
God be saved to sin no more. The blood of Christ is always
fresh and powerful to save. So, verse 21, having high praise
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true and full
assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold
fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful
that promised." See, we come to Christ, we come to God by
Christ, and we keep coming, we keep believing the way is still
open to come to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me
give this quickly in closing. This glorious, beautiful veil
that is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ was held up by four
pillars made of incorruptible wood covered with gold. Now,
we've seen this over and over again in our study of the tabernacle.
That's a picture of Christ the God-man. That incorruptible wood
is a picture of the sinless humanity of Christ. He was made a real
man. And as a man, he was without
sin. He's incorruptible. Even when
his body died, his body didn't corrupt and decay because he
had no sin. That incorruptible wood is a
picture of the sinless humanity of Christ. But those pillars,
that incorruptible wood, is covered with gold. Gold is a picture
of deity. And you put the gold and the
wood together, two elements, but one pillar. God and man,
two natures, but one Savior. One God-man. Christ is the God-man. There's a God-man coming. Those
pillars. wooden pillars covered with gold
picture. And these pillars are a picture of Christ. All the
attributes of God that we see in the veil can only be held
up and on display for all to see by Jesus Christ, the God-man. Everything in salvation depends
upon and is held up by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what these
pillars, their function was to hold the veil up and they held
it up. The veil hanging there depended upon those pillars,
just like everything in salvation depends upon and is held up by
the Lord Jesus Christ. And these pillars were set in
bases made of silver. This is the silver that they
got from the atonement money. Remember this when we studied
the foundation of the walls, those silver sockets? They got
that from the atonement money that the children of Israel brought
when they were counted that they die not. And it was the redemption
money, the atonement money. Well, they used that leftover
silver to make the basins for these pillars. And this shows
us that the purpose of Christ in coming to this earth as a
man, his purpose was to redeem his people, to make an atonement
for the sins of his people. The foundation of everything
our Lord Jesus Christ did during his earthly ministry as our representative
was to redeem his people from their sins. And then the veil
was suspended by pure golden hooks. They weren't wood covered
with gold. They were pure golden hooks,
showing us that Christ, the God-man, the Son of Man, was held up and
supported during his earthly ministry by divine power, the
power of God. And then last, these veils, they
hold up the veil, the veil suspended from these pillars, but they
also hold the ceiling up. So that the way to God is still
open. You know, once the veil was torn in two, if the pillars
fell down, the ceiling would fall down. The ark and the mercy
seat would still be covered, still be blocked. The way to
God would still be blocked. But when the veil was torn in
two, the pillars still stood. There's a unity of message with
the pillars, the standing pillars, and the torn veil. And this is
what their message is. Come to Christ. The way's open. the veil is torn in two, the
pillars hold the ceiling up, so the way to God through the
Lord Jesus Christ is wide open. The commandment is come to Christ. Come to Him and have salvation
and forgiveness of your sins. All right. I hope the Lord will
bless that to you.