The Pillars of the Vail

Ver. 32. And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon four sockets of silver.) This beautiful and significant vail, representing the incarnate Savior, Immanuel, God with us, was to be suspended on four pillars of shittim wood, overlaid with gold. And can we be at a loss to ascertain the fact which answers to this foreshadowing? Did not God employ four individuals, men of like passions with ourselves, but Divinely qualified by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, to hold up to view the great mystery of godliness, —God manifest in the flesh?
In the four inspired records of the life and death of Jesus, the whole truth of his person is exhibited as the Incarnate One. Whereas the five gifts given from an ascended Savior go a step beyond, and in addition present him in his risen glory at God’s right hand.
Their hooks, were to be of gold.
Their capacity to take hold of, to select, and to arrange, the various incidents in the life and death of the Man of sorrows, his words and teachings, so as to bring out the truth of his Person in all its fullness, was of God.
So that those apparent discrepancies between the narratives of the four inspired historians, which so puzzle the natural mind, and so often render futile the attempt to form a harmony of the four Gospels, these seeming are, in fact, the marks and proofs of the handiwork of a Divine Editor.
Under his all-wise guidance and control, Matthew selects and arranges those materials which present the Lord Jesus especially as the Son of David and of Abraham, in connection with the kingdom, and with the promises made of God unto the fathers.
This corresponds with the scarlet.
Mark presents him especially as the Son of God and Son of Man, in his untiring service. The purple.
Luke, as the social Son of Man, and in connection with mankind at large. The fine twined linen.
And John, as the Divine and heavenly Stranger, in all the perfection of his character and ways.
Answering to the blue.
The full-length portrait—the perfection of the truth of the person, of our precious Immanuel, is the result of the whole, combined.
These pillars stood on four sockets of silver.
For while the four inspired historians were employed and capacitated of—God to exhibit the truth of the person of Jesus, they themselves reposed on his redeeming work, and on his precious and atoning blood.