Exodus 27:16 And for the gate of the court shall be an hanging of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework: and their pillars shall be four, and their sockets four.
Notice that the construction of the outer gate is similar in construction to the gate of the tabernacle. (Exodus 26:36) And thou shalt make an hanging for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, wrought with needlework. And also notice that the vail within the tabernacle is similar. (Exodus 26:31) And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: It’s fine twined linen of blue, purple, and scarlet. These three colors are God’s chosen colors. These are the colors of his theme. From the outer gate to the inner gate and through the vail, blue, purple, and scarlet surround the way.
Now the court around the tabernacle was not so colorful. (Exodus 27:9) There shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen… Now the bible doesn’t particularly say what color these hanging will be. Most people assume that they were white. It’s astounding how most commentaries will say that they were white when the word white is only used in the law to describe two things: the manna and leprosy. It is never employed in the description of any items of the tabernacle. Now these hangings around the court were made of linen; which is from the flax plant. And it’s taken from the fibers of the actual stock, not a cute little white bundle like cotton. So the natural color of linen is a light brown truly. So I don’t know if it was white. I don’t know if Clorox was in business back then. They may have had a bleaching process, but I don’t see how we can know that. Remember they were out in the wilderness. I would think that there were some limitations.
But there was most definitely a contrast between the curtains of the court and the curtains of the door. They didn’t have to ask where the door was or guess. It was lit blue, purple, and scarlet. And this color scheme was used all the way into the holiest of all. I think maybe this speaks to us of the familiarity of God to us. (Malachi 3:6) For I am the LORD, I change not… (Hebrews 13:8) Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Now Jesus is the door. (John 10:9) I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. It seems to me that whichever entrance you go through, whether it be the outer court, the holy place, or the most holy place, it’s going to look the same. There’s going to be familiar colors about it. This bring my mind back to a message I preached a while back on the Holy Spirit, The Things of the Spirit, Part 4.
This really gets more interesting as we look the hand of the Lord in Ezekiel’s experiences. So he’s been commissioned to go the people of the captivity, and tell them, “Thus saith the LORD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. And the first message he gets to preach is not to them, but to himself. That alone ought to be a message to us. Nevertheless, his experience with God goes on. The next one, (3:22) begins with hand of the LORD. “And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face.” Now I don’t know how much time passed between verse 21 and 22, but apparently some time has passed. What we see here is that he’s now come to a place in the plain where the glory of the LORD is. And he makes it known that it’s “as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar…” He said “It’s just like it was back when I was at the river.” He remembered back when the heavens were opened up before him at the river of Chebar. He remembered the four living creatures, and the wheels in the sky, and the throne of God and glory of God. (1:28) “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face…” And when the hand of the LORD was upon him and brought him to that plain, the bible said, “…behold, the glory of the LORD stood there.” And he said, “Hey, that’s the glory of God and it’s just like it was before.”
Can I say this: God doesn’t change. “Jesus Christ is same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hey I remember that day I got saved. I remember when I had a head on collision with glory of God. I remember in the wretchedness of my sin, I met God. I remember when I fell on my face. It was horrible to be lost. It was horrible to be without hope. It was terror to before a Holy God. But can I say this: It was glorious. It was an experience filled with the glory of God. Oh it was glorious when Jesus whispered in my ear that he loved me and wanted to save me. It was glorious to finally, for the first time in my life, fall on my face and call upon the name of the Lord; and cast myself on the mercy of God. It was glorious. And I thank God that sometimes, the hand of the LORD still brings me to a place where I find God and I can say, “That’s the same glory which I saw by the river of Chebar.” And I can still fall on my face before the glory of God. We can grow cold on God. It’s easy to do. Ah! Like that old songs says: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love…” But by the hand of God, he brings us back to that place; a place where we can worship him before his glory. And we need to go to a place like that.
I don’t know about anybody else, but I had times I’ve told God, “I need to hear from you Lord! I need something. I need to see something or I don’t think can go on anymore like this.” I remember when Patty was pregnant with Carina. We didn’t know what we were going to do… We didn’t have no doctor, no midwife, nothing. We didn’t want a doctor. We didn’t trust any. We still don’t. So I was scared. I was scared we’d lose the baby; and with no doctor and no midwife, if something went wrong, I was scared we’d lose all our kids. I didn’t tell God, “Thy will be done. Whatever your will be Lord, I’ll be okay with it.” No I didn’t say that. I said, “Lord, if we lose this baby, I’m not gonna make it. I won’t have the strength to press on. I’ll be done.” But by the hand of God, the glory of God stood there. I couldn’t fall on my face, I was driving to work. But if I could, I would have. I needed that. And God knows we need that. I don’t know what you’re going through, but I know there’s no peace like the presence of God. God knows we need that. Ezekiel needed that. Look at what happens next to him.
(vs 24-26) Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
Thou shalt be dumb? If I was Ezekiel, I would have gone nuts. Lord, you called me to preach! Lord you told me to go! Lord you even warned me of the consequences if I didn’t go! Lord why are you making me dumb? Why are you taking away my speech if you want me to preach? But that’s not what he said. Listen, it doesn’t have to make sense if the glory of God is there. It doesn’t have to make sense if the hand of the LORD is there upon you. That’s the only reason Ezekiel didn’t go mad; because he knew it was of God because he remembered the glory.
There will be familiar colors amidst every door that God will lead us through. If God is in it, God will put his hand upon it as he did before. We see those same colors we saw when we first got on this narrow way. (Philippians 1:6) Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: It’s very important that you begin right; that you start right. It’s important that you use the entrance that God has provided. (John 10:1) Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. I tell you, it’s a wonderful thing to come into the fold the way God has appropriated. The Psalmist wrote (Psalm 84:10) For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.