The Book of Exodus

Explanation

God gives Moses the order for raising the tabernacle, and He fixes the day: "the first day of the first month." Nearly a year had passed since Israel came out of Egypt, and now, on new year's day, at the head of a new beginning, the dwelling place of God would be set up among them. Moses is told to place each thing in its appointed spot: the ark within the vail, the table and the candlestick in the holy place, the golden altar before the vail, the laver between the tent and the brazen altar, and the hanging at the court gate. Then he is to "take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is therein," and hallow it, and anoint Aaron and his sons for the priesthood. Everything is to be consecrated, set apart, and made holy, for the God who is about to fill it is holy, and nothing common may serve Him.

Gospel Focus

That the tabernacle was raised "on the first day of the first month" is full of meaning. God gave His dwelling place a fresh beginning, at the head of the year, among a people He had redeemed out of Egypt. Redemption leads to a new beginning, and the goal of that new beginning is that God might dwell among His people. Notice too that everything had to be anointed and hallowed before the glory came; the oil of consecration prepared the way for the presence of God. So it is with us. Before the Lord fills a life with His presence, He sets it apart and anoints it by His Spirit, for "ye have an unction from the Holy One" (1 John 2:20). What was smeared with oil in shadow, we receive in substance, the Spirit of the Anointed One poured out upon us. God is still in the business of taking the redeemed, setting them apart, anointing them, and coming to dwell within. Let Him consecrate every vessel of your life, that you may be a holy dwelling fit for His glory.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

"Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he." Piece by piece Moses raised the tabernacle: he laid the sockets, set up the boards, put in the bars, reared up the pillars, spread the tent, brought in the ark, set the table and lit the lamps, placed the golden altar and burned the incense, hung the gate, set the brazen altar and the laver in place. Seven times over in this section the record repeats the same words, "as the LORD commanded Moses," like a drumbeat of obedience. When all was done, the text says simply, "So Moses finished the work." One man had overseen the raising of the entire dwelling of God, and he had left nothing to his own judgment; every board, every hanging, every vessel was placed just as God had said. The finished tabernacle was a monument to careful, complete obedience.

Gospel Focus

"So Moses finished the work." Those words echo across Scripture. At creation, God finished His work and rested; here Moses finishes the tabernacle; and on the cross the Lord Jesus cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30), completing the work of redemption. What began in Exodus with a groaning, enslaved people reaches its goal in a finished dwelling for God, and it all came through obedience. The repeated refrain, "as the LORD commanded Moses," is the great lesson of these closing chapters. Israel had once worshipped in their own way at the golden calf and reaped judgment; now they build and raise the tabernacle exactly as commanded and receive the glory. God is not honored by our inventions but by our obedience. And there is comfort here too: the work God gives, He enables us to finish. Moses did not abandon the task halfway; by the help of God he saw it through to the end. Whatever God has called you to build, build it His way, and trust Him to bring it to completion, for "he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

Explanation

Here is the goal of the whole book. All the labor, the offerings, the weaving and the goldsmithing, the careful obedience, had one purpose: that God might come and dwell among His people. And now He does. "A cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle." The visible presence of God, the same cloud that had led them from Egypt, now descended upon the finished house and filled it. So overwhelming was the glory that "Moses was not able to enter." The mediator who had spoken with God face to face on the mountain could not now step into the tent, for the fulness of God's glory filled every part of it. The God who had brought Israel out of bondage had not done so merely to set them free, but to dwell in their midst. The empty, obedient tabernacle became the filled, glorious dwelling of the living God.

Gospel Focus

The glory filling the tabernacle is the heart of the whole gospel: God coming to dwell with man. This is what redemption was always for. It reaches its fullness when "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,)" (John 1:14), for the word translated "dwelt" means He tabernacled among us; Jesus is God come to dwell, the true tabernacle in whom "dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9). And the wonder does not stop there. What filled the tabernacle of old, and dwelt bodily in Christ, now dwells in His people, for "ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16). The same glory that Moses could not enter now fills the believer by the Spirit. Yet notice the difference the new covenant brings: Moses could not enter for the glory, but through the blood of Jesus we now enter the very presence of God with boldness. The distance of the old covenant has become the nearness of the new. The God of Exodus did not save His people to leave them; He came to dwell among them, and He has come to dwell in us. That is the goal of your redemption too, that God Himself, in all His glory, would make His home in you.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

The book closes with the presence of God leading His people forward. When "the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys"; but if the cloud did not lift, "then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up." Their movement was governed entirely by the presence of God. They did not march by their own plans or by the season or by the pathway that seemed best; they moved when God moved and stayed when God stayed. And the presence was constant and visible, "the cloud of the LORD was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel." Day or night, resting or traveling, the whole nation could look and see that God was with them. So the book of Exodus, which began with a people crying in bondage, ends with that same people led by the visible glory of God through the wilderness toward the land of promise.

Gospel Focus

The cloud that led Israel is a beautiful picture of a life directed by the presence of God. Israel did not choose their own way; they followed the cloud, moving only when God moved and resting when He rested. So the people of God are still called to be led, not by their own wisdom, but by His presence, for "as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Romans 8:14). The same God who guided by cloud and fire now guides by His indwelling Spirit, and the walk of faith is learning to go when He says go and to wait when He says wait. Notice that the presence was there "by day" and "by night," in the light and in the darkness; God did not lead only when the way was clear but also through the night seasons. And the guidance was "throughout all their journeys," to the very end. So Exodus leaves us with the picture of a redeemed people, indwelt and led by God, journeying home. That is our story too: brought out of bondage, filled with His presence, and led step by step by the God who dwells among us, until we reach the promised rest. Follow the cloud; He knows the way home.