Introduction
Read Exodus 27:16-17.
The Door of the Outer Court was a large curtain, made of fine linen, coloured in blue, purple, red and white. The curtain was supported by wooden pillars that were based in brass sockets, with silver capitals, just like the other pillars of the Outer Court curtain. The door curtain was fastened to the pillars with gold hooks.
Each of the colours has a significance:
Blue indicates heavenly and godly: “Behold your God”, Isaiah 40:9, pointing to John’s gospel, where doubting Thomas eventually says to Jesus “My Lord and my God”, John 20:28.
Purple signifies kingship: “Behold your King”, Zechariah 9:9, pointing to Matthew’s gospel, where Jesus, the descendant of King David (Matthew 1:1), declares after rising from the dead: “All authority in heaven and on earth is given to Me”, Matthew 28:18.
Red signifies blood: “Behold My servant”, Isaiah 52:13 / Isaiah 53:5, pointing to Mark’s gospel, where Jesus says He “came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many”, Mark 10:45.
White signifies purity and a right humanity: “Behold the man”, Zechariah 6:12, pointing to Luke’s gospel, where Pilate says of Jesus “Behold, I have found not one fault in this man”, Luke 23:4 / Luke 23:14.
These four colours are woven together to become the complete Door, just as the four gospels combine to give a complete picture of Jesus. Jesus Christ is pure and righteous, kingly and godly, and this is how He as a man can be our ransom, the Door for us to enter into God’s presence in the Tabernacle.
Jesus said “I am the Door; if any man enters through Me he shall be saved”, John 10:9, and “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to [God] the Father except through Me”, John 14:6.
This claim by Jesus is unique and exclusive, but just look at Jesus’ life and His conduct: He was surrounded by all kinds of people with all sorts of histories and conditions and motives, yet Simon Peter (one of His closest disciples) could later say of Him “He did no sin, neither was there any deceit found in His mouth”, 1 Peter 2:22.
Peter had seen Jesus in all sorts of situations with all manner of people (from religious leaders to the lowest prostitutes, publicans and tax collectors), yet he wrote “we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of that One’s majesty”, 2 Peter 1:16.
The Door of the Outer Court is the only way in, inviting and attractive. The Door speaks of both the compassion and the kingliness of Jesus, His nature as both God and a genuine man, Son of God and son of man, woven together like a beautiful tapestry of “the appearing to man of the kindness and love of our Saviour God”, Titus 3:4.
Jesus said “I am the Door; if any man enters through Me he shall be saved”, John 10:9. Do take a good look at the Door; then enter in through the Door. Once you are inside the Tabernacle, you will discover so much about what Jesus meant by “be saved” and how this can come about in your experience, beginning at the Burnt Offering Altar and the Laver.
