Introduction
Read Exodus 26:1-6. The covering embroidered with Cherubim was the innermost covering over the Sanctuary. It was this covering that formed the actual Tabernacle, in the specific sense of Exodus 26:1. The Cherubim embroidered covering also formed the ceiling of the Tabernacle, looking up from inside the Sanctuary.
Since much of the embroidery hung over the external walls of the Boards, what was visible from the inside was only a small part of the whole. There were 10 curtains individual curtains, to begin with, each 13 metres x 2 metres approx. Five curtains were then coupled together with one another, and likewise the other five. Then the 2 x 5 curtains were looped together, using 50 golden clasps to make one enormous embroidery 13 metres wide and almost 19 metres long.
The book of Exodus does not give us the precise pattern of the embroidery, but we are told that the colouring was blue, purple, scarlet and white (the colour of the fine twined linen) and that the motifs were Cherubim angels (Exodus 26:1).
These colours are not new to us. We have seen them at the Door to the Outer Court and again at the Door to the Sanctuary; they also appear in the Veil, the entrance ‘door’ to the Holy of Holies. They speak of Christ’s heavenliness, His royalty, His saviour-hood and holiness, as seen in the four gospels.
The reappearance of these colours inside the Sanctuary, embroidered on the ceiling, reminds us that it is the Beloved Son in His fourfold character who is Head over all things to the Church Ephesians 1:22.
The Cherubim are there reminding us, perhaps, of two things:
1. The Cherubim were placed at the east of Eden “to keep the way of the tree of life”. Genesis 3:24.
To ‘keep’ in Hebrew means to observe, keep watch over, preventing Adam and Eve from returning to partake of the tree of life; here in the Tabernacle, the Cherubim are over-seeing what goes on inside the Sanctuary.
2. The Cherubim are among those in heaven who bow the knee to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, Philippians 2:10 / Revelation 5:11-14, so He is truly Head over all things to the Church.
John, one of the disciples closest to Jesus, declares “We beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”, John 1:17
As we progress closer and closer to the presence of God in the Tabernacle, we too need to behold His glory, setting our minds on the things which are above where Christ is, not on the things that are on the earth, Colossians 3:1-2, and realise that what we can see is but a small part of the whole.
