The veil was made using the four colours blue, purple, scarlet, and white of the fine linen, Exodus 26:31 / Exodus 36:35, which corresponds with the four Gospels.
Unger, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Blue signifies Christ’s heavenly origin. Purple suggests his royal lineage as David’s Son. Scarlet indicates his sacrificial blood shed for fallen mankind.’
We have seen these four colours previously at the door of the outer court, Exodus 27:16-17, the door to the sanctuary, Exodus 26:36-37, the cherubim embroidered covering, Exodus 26:1-6, which forms the ceiling of the tabernacle and on the ephod the high priest wore, Exodus 28:5-14 / Exodus 39:2-7.
The veil is the final door to pass through to enter into the presence of God in the Holy of Holies, Exodus 26:32-33 / 2 Corinthians 3:14-16. Entry was forbidden to all except one, the high priest, and his access was not free; he was permitted entry once only per year, on the Day of Atonement, when he brought the blood of the sacrificed goat to sprinkle on the lid, called the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant.
The atonement cover or mercy seat on the ark of the covenant law was to be kept in the Most Holy Place, Exodus 26:34. The showbread table was to be placed outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and the lampstand opposite it on the south side, Exodus 26:35.
The veil reminds us that we are excluded because ‘we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’, Romans 3:23. However, just as the Passover lamb was slain for the redemption of the children of Israel in Egypt, and the goat was slain so that its blood could obtain God’s forgiveness for the Israelites on the Day of Atonement, so Jesus ‘bore our sins in His own body on the tree’, 1 Peter 2:24 / Isaiah 53:6.
The effect of the death of Jesus was dramatic: the earth quaked, rocks were split, ‘and the veil in the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom,’ Matthew 27:51, signifying that God tore it because the veil in the temple was twenty-five metres high. Here in the tabernacle, the veil was just over four and a half metres high.
Some suggest that Matthew 27:54 and Luke 23:47 both record that the centurion at the crucifixion site saw the veil torn in two. This means that this Gentile sinner could also see straight into the Holy of Holies.
This is a picture to show us that it is now possible, on the basis of faith in Jesus’ death for our sins, to stand in the presence of God as justified and forgiven people, Romans 5:1-2.
As Hebrews 10:19-22 shows, the way to the Holy of Holies has been opened up for us through the veil of Jesus’ flesh being torn on the cross. There is a ‘new’, literally ‘freshly slain’ and ‘living’ way for us to enter.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not just our freshly slain, dead offering, He is also the Living One, Luke 24:5 / Revelation 1:18, risen from the dead and ascended, our great High Priest, with our names on His heart, the Breastplate, and shoulders, the shoulder stones, going into the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence is over the Ark of the Covenant!
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Without any doubt, the Holy of Holies, where the presence of God is represented as being enthroned there, is a type of heaven itself.
1. God was enthroned in both, Revelation 4:1-2.
2. Divine light is in both, Leviticus 16:2 / Revelation 21:23.
3. Both have worshipping cherubim, Exodus 25:18 / Revelation 4:6-8.
4. Both are golden, Exodus 25:11 / Revelation 21:18.
5. Both are represented as perfect ‘cubes,’ here as 10 X 10 X 10 (cubits), and heaven as a cube of 1,500 miles in width, breadth, and height, Revelation 21:16-17.
6. God’s law is in both, the tables of the testimony here, the eternal law of all the universe in heaven, Psalms 119:89.
7. The Atonement was made in both, here, by the high priest on the Day of Atonement, and in heaven by Jesus Christ, once and for all,’ Hebrews 9:11-13.