A Review Of Covering In The Old Testament

This chapter provides a very brief overview of the matter of covering in the Old Testament. Each heading deserves a major studying in it’s own right. But that is not possible here. However, even as we scan the Old Testament we will begin to grasp what a vital matter this is in the sight of God and ask ourselves why that is.

The Glory of the Lord

In Exodus 24:15-28 we read:

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

It is interesting that this connection between the glory of the Lord and something covering it comes again and again in the Old Testament.

For instance, when the tabernacle was erected:

Then the cloud covered the tent of the meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34)

In Numbers 9:15-16 we read:

On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire. That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.

Now consider Isaiah 4:5-6:

Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding-place from the storm and rain.

We will look further into the subject of the glory of the Lord at the conclusion of our studies.

The Tabernacle

The tabernacle is one of the greatest symbols in the Old Testament. Every single thing in the tabernacle was symbolic. It was a pattern of heavenly things. Curtains of a goat hair were made as a covering over the tabernacle. The curtains had to hang over the sides to cover it completely.

Then over this there were two further coverings, one of rams’ skins dyed red and the other of seal skins. We read about all this in Exodus 26. All these coverings have meanings and significance, which can be studied further with the help of a good commentary.

The Cherubim

Whoever sees the cherubim in scripture is always struck by one thing. Their wings. What are cherubim and what do they look like? We have a description in Ezekiel 1:23. They are angelic beings, which have three pairs of wings. One pair is used for flying and two pairs are used for covering themselves.

In three different places in Scripture we read how the wings of the cherubim had to cover the ark of the covenant.

One of these is found in 2 Chronicles 5:7-8:

The priests then brought the ark of the Lord’s covenant to it’s place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and it’s carrying poles.

The cherubim are a composite symbol. We find them also in the book of Revelation 4:6-8 where they are round the throne of God. They are symbolic of the glory of God which is in them. They are also symbolic of the kind of creator that is God.

Isaiah, when he saw the Lord seated on a throne, also saw seraphs, which are rather like cherubim. What he saw is described in Isaiah 6:1-3:

I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphs, each with six wings with two wings they covered their faces, with two wings they covered their feet, and with two wings they were flying and they were calling to one another:

Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole Earth is full of His glory.

Old Testament examples of covering for individuals

In Exodus 33:21-23 we find:

Then the Lord said, ‘There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you on a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen.’

Why is it necessary for God to cover Moses, one of the most righteous men that we know in the Bible? Why should he be hidden, covered, when God showed Himself to him? One day every one of us is going to see the glory of the Lord. But the glory of the Lord could destroy us unless we were covered.

Toplady understood this when he wrote: ‘Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.’

Now consider Isaiah 15:16 in the Revised Version:

I have put my words in thy mouth and covered thee in the shadow of my hand -- That I may plant the heavens and lay foundations of the earth and say unto Zion, ‘Thou art my people.’

That is a most extraordinary statement! Before God fulfills His purpose He takes this one, puts His words in His mouth and covers him with the shadow of His hand. Modern scholars haven’t understood it so they have altered the text slightly!

Look also at Isaiah 49:1,2.

When speaking of Israel he says:

Before I was born the lord called me; From my birth he has made mention of my name.

He made my mouth like a sharpened sword ,

In the shadow of his hand he hid me.

Covering again! we have already seen it in psalms 91verses 1 and 4:

He who dwell in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty… He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge…

Similarly in Psalms 61:4:

I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.

(Literally shelter here means ‘covert’ or ‘covered place’.) We all know that this matter was also (but not only) linked with the idea of God’s protection in times of battle. As we read in Psalms 140:7:

O Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, who shields [covers] my head in the day of battle.

In Deuteronomy 33:12 we read of Benjamin:

Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields [shall cover] him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.

Then in Isaiah 61:10 we begin to see the link between covering and the work of the Lord Jesus more plainly, especially in the Revised Version:

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.

The relevance of Levitical offerings

Many Christians today, perhaps most, don’t have the remotest understanding of the relevance of the Levitical offerings. Were those just part of the Old Testament, part of the law? No! The more we can understand these offerings, the more we can see that they were all fulfilled by Christ and the more we appreciate His finished work and its absolute relevance for every aspect of our lives today.

We read about these offerings in Leviticus chapters 1-7. The reader would do well to take time to read through these chapters. There are five offerings mentioned:

- the burnt offering.

- the meal (or grain) offering.

- the peace (or fellowship) offering.

- the sin offering.

- the trespass (or guilt) offering.

Christ has become every one of those for us. He is the five fold offering or sacrifice for us. As such He covers every single aspect of our relationship with God and with man. In other words, we are covered by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, by His finished work. So let’s consider this in a little more detail.

The burnt offering

This had to do with service and worship. Some people think that all you have to do is give your life to the Lord and fling yourself into the work of God. That is the surest way to get uncovered!

How did God receive this offering? It had to be burnt up! The whole thing had to be consumed by fire! The further and deeper I get in serving God the more I must plead the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ as my burnt offering. My service will never be acceptable to God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ.

The meal offering

The meal or grain offering was always mixed with other offerings. It speaks of humanity; of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ. We sometimes find cold, hard, legal, mechanic service or ministry in Christians. It is not human!

But Jesus shows us humanity. It shines through Him even when God is most revealed in Him. Jesus is the only one who can bring that kind of humanity into my life and yours. He was offered as humanity for us. So God can produce something in you and me in this area as we take Christ as our sacrifice and covering.

The peace offering

The peace or fellowship offering is the one offering which everyone shared in. First the priests, then the Levites and then the people. It speaks of peace between you and God, but also of peace between you and your brother or sister. You share or participate in it together.

Do you know Christ as your peace or fellowship offering? Relationships within the church are continually subjected to pressure. We have an enemy who is often breathing into our ears insinuations about one another. He tries to strain relationships to breaking point.

Beware of depending on natural ’likes’, of thinking ’we get on so well, but he and I will never fall out!’ When the devil gets to work the dearest natural relationship can come to a breaking point. We even see this in what were once good Christian marriages.

There is only one way through! Jesus Christ was our peace offering. He is the offering that expresses reconciliation and true fellowship or oneness. It is He that we share. He is our unity. We don’t agree to agree or try to make our opinions the same. Rather we must hold to the oneness of the Lord Jesus Christ, made available to us through the offering of Himself once and for all.

The sin offering

The sin offering is perhaps the most easily understood and appreciated by believers. Most of us know we sin and fall short of God’s standards.

Blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins, and everything about the shedding of blood, in this offering was described as ‘most holy’.

Jesus Christ died as our most holy sin offering. There is no other way we can atone for our sins. Every true Christian knows this. As we read Ephesians 1:7:

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace…

So our redemption or salvation is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary. Was there ever a more holy site or more scared moment in history?

Every communion service reminds us that Christ died for our sins. As we gather around the Lord’s table we are reminded of these eternal truths, and so are the powers that look on. Therefore communion is also ‘most holy’ and should be treated with reverence, however simply it is celebrated.

The trespass offering

The trespass or guilt offering was the offering made when a person sinned unintentionally. We find many Christians today that say, or think, “God won’t hold me responsible for something that I didn’t even know was sin.” But that is wrong! It is totally subjective.

Sin is sin. Sin is not what we know to be sin! We all sin at times without even realizing it. This is what the trespass offering was for. God will pass over sin like this because, and only because, the Lord Christ is our trespassing offering. He will not pass over it because we didn’t realize we were doing wrong!

Sometimes when we come to a service or meeting it feels ‘heavy’ and ‘dark’. We might look for various causes. Sometimes it will be something as simple as unwitting or unintentional sin. For example, people may have talked or behaved unwisely and, because we are all bound up together in one body, we ‘infect’ one another. The invisible forces of evil round about us know all about it and they come in like a flood. Then we need to hold the Lord Jesus up as trespass offering. Immediately the atmosphere will ‘break’. It is no good blaming flesh and blood, or circumstances. If we blame people then roots of bitterness begin.

In summary

So we can see that we have a five-fold offering and covering in Christ. This is what it means to be ‘in Christ’. God has given us a salvation so great, so perfect and complete, that not a single line of attack from Satan needs to be successful.

The provision is there in Christ. But we do need to understand it and appreciate it. We need to learn to pray with wisdom and understanding. We need to know when to take the Lord as a peace offering, a sin offering, and so on. You can only know that by anointing. That is effective prayer!

As the devil attacks we must take the covering. If we are alive to God and to the Spirit of God there will be times when we know in our spirit that there is something going on to which the only answer is a specific aspect of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. If we don’t see this and tackle the problem in another way ‘in the flesh’ we always make matters worse and not better. There is much to be done ‘behind the scenes’ and that is often the only way it can be done.

Those who are in leadership in our churches must learn how to take Christ as our five-fold offering and plead Him for the whole of the body; Especially for those who don’t know what they are doing. Better still is to teach them, so that all of us learn these truths and become more effective against the ‘wiles of the enemy’.

When Job’s friends said some very stupid things and angered the Lord, He told them to go and ask Job to pray for them. It was Job who had to pray for God’s forgiveness for them, and when Job prayed God did forgive them.

Similarly, when the children of Israel murmured against the Lord, God told Moses that He was going to destroy them. But Moses reminds God that He brought them out of Egypt and asked what the nations will say. Again God told Moses to pray for the people and because of Moses’ prayers they were forgiven and spared.

How we need leaders in the church today who will pray for their people when they have sinned. How prone we all are to react in the flesh. There is another way, if we will only understand these five-fold offerings. I have seen people kept in spiritual life by the secret prayers of people when they should have been struck down under the judgment of God.