The Court

Approaching God

A tabernacle was set up.—Hebrews 9:2 (NIV)

Régis Liberda

Because there is so much in the ninth chapter of Hebrews about the Tabernacle, Christians realize there is much more to the religious arrangements God ordained for his people after they left Egypt than meets the eye.

If we consider why God wanted his people to build this Tabernacle, we first think of the need for a special meeting place for the people, where leaders such as Moses and Aaron could convey the instructions of the law. But if the need were only for a meeting place, it could have been in front of Moses’ tent. The people needed something more than just a place to meet: they needed a “house” for their God in the middle of the encampment, a kind of temple as it were.

The Tabernacle was a kind of temple. During the captivity in Egypt, the Israelites had seen temples devoted to the Egyptian gods. So a temple, even if made of wood and cloth, provided a tangible representation for the presence of a God the people knew as “YHWH,” the God of their fathers, whose worship and will was not known until the law was given to them.

The description of the Tabernacle is to be found in Exodus chapters 25 to 27. Its building, organization, and the sacrifices offered appeared to be new and complicated compared to the clear messages and promises given by God to Abraham and his posterity.

Actually the Tabernacle was necessary as a way to define Israel’s obedience to God, to unify them as a nation, and to bring organization to their daily life.

But the apostle tells us in the epistle to the Hebrews that it was more than this: the death of our Lord gave the Tabernacle a higher meaning for each Christian who wants to draw closer to God. So this Old Testament structure becomes a way to him and provides an interesting study to better understand how we can follow our Master.

The Way to Holiness

The temples we see in ancient civilizations have different areas, courts, and chambers where access was gradually restricted. For example, Egyptian temples generally had a first court where people could offer sacrifices, see idols of their gods, and give money.

In a restricted chamber inside or beside the court only priests could enter; generally in a small room was a statue of the most important god; just the high priest or the king could enter to offer perfume which they did only once a year. Everyone knew the way to the holy place was gradually restricted and depended on the personal status of each person in the society. The Tabernacle God designed for Israel had a similar organization. It was the Almighty himself who decided each feature of the religious life of his chosen people.

The usual approach to study the symbols suggested by the apostle in Hebrews is to describe the Court, its furniture, and the different events which took place there. This is generally called the type; the significance of these things is the antitype.

Instead of that approach let us look at how someone approaches from outside the curtained Court until he enters under the veil or door of the Holy.

From the Camp to the Court

The Tabernacle was in the middle of the camp in the desert. How much could be seen from the outside? One could only see a white curtain around the Court which was five cubits high (about 7½ feet) made of fine twined linen. It was 100 cubits long (150 feet) on the two longest sides and 50 cubits long (75 feet) on the two shortest sides. From a distance a person could see this white curtain and above it, the top of the Tabernacle, which was twice the curtain’s height. This Tabernacle was dark since it was made of the skin of dolphins. Because this gray skin was not colored, it was not attractive to the eye.<FOOTNOTE: Editors’ note: Scholars are not in agreement on the animal providing the skins for the outer covering of the Tabernacle. Badgers and seals are among other suggested animals.> A foreigner could never imagine that this was the house of the Creator of the Universe. Who would imagine there was so much gold inside? A stranger would consider this a sad house for the God of Israel compared to the magnificent temples of pagan gods.

No, the Tabernacle as seen from outside was not attractive. But God knew it had to be this way. The lessons are obvious:

The camp in the desert where the Tabernacle is set is the world.

God does not attract anyone by apparent riches. We do not come to God because of the majesty and beauty of some building. Our reasons are not visible.

Many think that the truth is as unattractive and “gray” as a dolphin skin. Many think a Christian life is sad and dark; they do not know that for Christians the exterior has no value. Inside there is light, joy, richness, and peace.

Some are interested to know more. They suppose that this tent contains something more, and they draw closer. The closer they get, the greater appears the building, but they cannot see what is inside the Court since the linen hanging is too high. They can only see the top of the Tabernacle or tent.

When they are very close, they can only see a “white wall”; the Tabernacle itself has “disappeared.” They know there is something beyond the wall but they cannot enter into the Court because of that “wall.” It is the white linen. Linen represents the justice of God; white represents purity and holiness: “Fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Revelation 19:8, KJV).

In front of that white wall, one understands he is a sinner. If he circles the wall trying to enter the Court, he continues to be stopped by this justice. When he finally recognizes his situation as a sinner, a unique door appears on the eastern side.

The sun arises in the east at the beginning of a new day. Likewise when someone reaches the door of the Court, a new day or a new life starts for him. He is now walking in the light.

The entrance to the Court is in the middle of the east side. God said to Moses, “For the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen” (Exodus 27:16).

The hanging of the door to the Court was distinctively different from the pure white curtains surrounding the other sides. The Hebrew word macak (Strongs #4539) is used exclusively for the four-colored, embroidered linen used at the three entrances: the Court, the Holy and the Most Holy. The Hebrew word for the plain white hanging of the Court is qela (Strongs #7050).

This door represents our Lord Jesus who said of himself, “I am the door. Whoever enters through me, will be saved” (John 10:9, NIV). “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, NIV).

The door is of fine linen because Jesus has completely satisfied the justice of God. It is white to express the holiness and the purity of the Son of God. As Paul writes, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, KJV). This door is a type of the Lord and was embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet.

Blue is the color of the sky without clouds and is a symbol of what is heavenly. It is also the color of nobility. We recognize those qualities in our Lord. He came from heaven, he then returned there as a divine creature. Can we find a greater nobility than that of our Lord?

Scarlet is the color of blood. It symbolizes his sufferings and death on the cross. It is his blood which gives life and purifies.

Purple is a precious color, reserved for kings. It applies to our Lord Jesus who became King of kings and Lord of lords since Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18, NIV).

So long before our Lord appeared, a door symbolized him as Savior and King. This door was 20 cubits wide by five cubits high and was supported by four posts. A door 30 feet wide like this one shows that the way to salvation excludes no one. To enter the Court one must recognize Jesus as his Savior and King.

Inside the Court

The Court was the first area where ordinary people could not enter. Although it was outside, it was not covered by a roof. It was separated from the camp by a white curtain high enough to keep people from seeing what happened inside.

A special class of people was responsible for the work in the Court: the Levites. All were descendants of Levi, a tribe which had no inheritance in the land but lived off the tithes paid by their brethren.

The service of the Levites put them in a special relationship between the people and God, in a certain sense higher than others, so that to know, to see, or to serve things that others could not see was something accepted, and even respected.

What does a Christian see when getting into the Court? Having recognized Jesus as his Savior, he is, of course, interested in everything in the Court. He sees the tent, whose top he saw from the outside, but this time he also sees the entrance to the tent, similar to the court’s but twice as high. It appears to him that he is now in a position like that preceding: in front of a door hiding something else.

He is probably intrigued by this situation and starts to walk to the tent. But before he reaches it, he must pass near two pieces of furniture new for him: an altar and a laver.

The altar, the first piece of furniture, was made of wood covered with copper, and was used to burn up sacrifices placed upon it such as during the consecration of the priesthood and the Day of Atonement.

The Christian sees the altar with an offering burning upon it. He understands that here in the middle of the Court, Jesus has been sacrificed for him. He starts to recognize that a similar sacrifice is needed from him if he is to enter beyond the next door!

Yes, Jesus allowed himself to be sacrificed for the entire world of mankind. He was perfect and became flesh to do the will of his father. The wood of the altar, typifying humanity, reminds us that Christ became a man for the express purpose of experiencing our infirmities and “to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

A Christian understands this altar is not an ornament of the Court, but a place where bulls and goats were killed and sacrificed, a place many times covered with blood and ashes, with the smell of burning meat, and much smoke. The grate of this altar was not on the top like a modern barbecue. It was placed half way between the bottom and the top of the altar: “Thou shalt put it [the grate] under the compass of the altar beneath, that the net may be even to the midst [Strong’s #2677: half or middle] of the altar” (Exodus 27:5). This placed the grate at the 1½ cubit mark, the same height as the mercy seat in the Most Holy. Both are considered in the design to be at the same “level”; neither towers above the other.

Continuing to the entrance to the Holy, there is one more article of furniture: the laver. Exodus 30:18 says it was “a laver of brass” (Strongs #5178—copper or something made of copper). The translators of the King James Bible usually used the word brass which is an alloy of copper and zinc. (The Hebrew word is translated copper by the KJV translators only in Ezra 8:27.) Copper is a material which symbolizes perfect human nature.

The laver was the last piece in the way to the Holy: “thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar” (Exodus 30:18). It was used to wash the hands and feet of Aaron and his sons when they went into the Tabernacle. They did not wash directly in the laver but ladled out water for washing so the precious water remained unpolluted.

As water typifies the word of God, the Christian getting close now to the Holy sees the importance of being purified “by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:26, NIV).

At this step an approaching Christian accepts this purification as did all the followers of Jesus. Even if the Master did not need any purification, since he was perfect and without sin, by washing the feet of his disciples Jesus showed another important element of that washing: humility.

Now the Christian is at the door of the Tabernacle. After his journey through the Court, he is ready to follow his Master into the “greater and more perfect tabernacle” (Hebrews 9:11, KJV).