Unlike red and yellow, blue remains blue throughout all its shades. How like heaven that is!
Some today are not as quick to accept the old explanations for the color scheme God used in the curtains. Why should blue point to heaven? Why not water, or something else? That’s a fair question, so let’s examine it. The only use of blue, other than in the tabernacle, the temple, and the High Priest’s garments, was in the clothes of every Israelite. “Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners” (Num 15:38). The reason? So they would “remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them” (v 39). It was their lifeline to the God of heaven. The word corners in Hebrew is kanaph, and is also used for wings. What is the first mention of kanaph? Speaking of the exodus, the Lord said, “I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself” (Ex 19:4). In fact, to this day, as the Jew puts on his prayer shawl, he recites, “O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain” (Ps 104:1-2). Can you see the link there between the Israelite’s clothing, and God’s heavenly blue “curtain” reflected in the tabernacle? David links the two: “I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings” (Ps 61:4). So the blue would remind observers that the tabernacle was not an earthly invention. It was an outpost of Heaven, coming from the mind of God. It was the blue fringe of heaven that the woman touched when she sought healing from Jesus, claiming the promise that “the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings” (Mal 4:2; see Mt 9:20-22). How different for those who reject His protective wings (23:37)!