The Veil and the Separation – Holiness Demands a Mediator
As God’s instructions for the Tabernacle continued, He described something that would stand as the most sacred boundary in the entire sanctuary: the inner veil. This thick curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn—finely twisted linen with cherubim skillfully embroidered—was to hang from four gold-covered pillars. Behind it lay the Most Holy Place, the space where the Ark of the Covenant rested and where God's presence would dwell in its most concentrated form.
The veil was not decorative. It was protective. It separated sinful man from the holy presence of God. Later Torah legislation specifies that the high priest enters the inner sanctuary on the Day of Atonement with sacrificial blood (Leviticus 16), a pattern later summarized in Hebrews 9:7. The veil proclaimed that access to God was restricted. His holiness could not be approached casually. It was a physical symbol of the spiritual chasm that sin had created.