40:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 On the first day of the first month shalt
thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. 3 And thou shalt put therein the ark of the
testimony, and cover the ark with the vail. 4
And thou shalt bring in the table, and set in order the things that are
to be set in order upon it; and thou shalt bring in the candlestick, and light
the lamps thereof. 5 And thou shalt set
the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the
hanging of the door to the tabernacle. 6
And thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of
the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. 7 And thou shalt set the laver between the tent
of the congregation and the altar, and shalt put water therein. 8 And thou shalt set up the court round about,
and hang up the hanging at the court gate. 9
And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and
all that is therein, and shalt hallow it, and all the vessels thereof: and
it shall be holy. 10 And thou shalt
anoint the altar of the burnt offering, and all his vessels, and sanctify the
altar: and it shall be an altar most holy. 11
And thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot, and sanctify it. 12 And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water.
13 And thou shalt put upon Aaron the
holy garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto me
in the priest’s office. 14 And thou
shalt bring his sons, and clothe them with coats: 15 And thou shalt anoint them, as thou didst
anoint their father, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office: for
their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their
generations.
40:16 ¶ Thus did Moses: according
to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he. 17 And it came to pass in the first month in the
second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle
was reared up. 18 And Moses reared up
the tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and
put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. 19 And he spread abroad the tent over the
tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the LORD
commanded Moses. 20 And he took and put
the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy
seat above upon the ark: 21 And he
brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the vail of the covering, and
covered the ark of the testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses. 22 And he put the table in the tent of the
congregation, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, without the vail.
23 And he set the bread in order upon it
before the LORD; as the LORD had commanded Moses. 24 And he put the candlestick in the tent of the
congregation, over against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward.
25 And he lighted the lamps before the
LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. 26
And he put the golden altar in the tent of the congregation before the
vail: 27 And he burnt sweet incense
thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses. 28
And he set up the hanging at the door of the tabernacle. 29 And he put the altar of burnt offering by
the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it
the burnt offering and the meat offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. 30 And he set the laver between the tent of the
congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal. 31 And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their
hands and their feet thereat: 32 When
they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the
altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses.
33
And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and
set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.
40:34 ¶ Then a cloud covered the
tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter into
the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of
the LORD filled the tabernacle. 36 And
when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel
went onward in all their journeys: 37
But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day
that it was taken up. 38 For 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, throughout all their journeys.
Much of what is written here has already been commented on. We’ve
learned a great deal about our worship and our reality here in Exodus and there
are a few things I want to point out again. Our work for God is only acceptable
to God if it is sanctified by Him. He makes our prayers and our worship acceptable to Him.
Aaron acts as a mediator between God and man in his office as
priest. For Christians, Christ is our mediator. There are many verses about
Christ bearing our sins and I will not post them all but this one is applicable
to what Aaron was doing. We need no priest other than Christ, fully human and
fully God, who in his humanity is our priest.
1Timothy 2:5 For there
is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus…
Aaron is to bear the
iniquity of the holy things in 28:38 and
make acceptable to God the Hebrew’s fallible and weak offerings to him. Our
worship without God’s help is a meager and pathetic thing. We don’t even know
how to pray as we ought, we are so blinded by our sin nature. We need help.
The Holy Spirit even sanctifies our prayers.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.
Another point is that God blessed the midwives and made them
houses.
Exodus 1:21 And it came to pass, because the midwives
feared God, that he made them houses.
Now, lest you think God is in the
business of building suburban developments near Cairo understand that a house
can be a family, or a dynasty, that goes on for generations.
Exodus
6:14 These be the heads of their fathers’ houses: The sons of
Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be
the families of Reuben.
1Samuel
20:16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the
LORD even require it at the hand of David’s enemies.
As well as a building…
1Kings
9:10 And it came to pass at the end of
twenty years, when Solomon had built the
two houses, the house of the LORD, and the king’s house,
So, depending on the context house can
be short for household as well including servants, wives, and children.
Genesis
45:2 And he wept aloud: and the
Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh
heard.
So, a question for fundamentalists
arises naturally from this. Is this reference following a physical building or
a group of people characterized in type as a spiritual building?
1Corinthians
14:23 If therefore the whole church be
come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in
those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad?
How do physical buildings come together
to meet? Seems an absurdity.
Colossians
1:18 And he is the head of the body, the
church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things
he might have the preeminence…24 Who now
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the
afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
The church is Christ’s body on earth,
not a building.
Acts
2:47 Praising God, and having favour
with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be
saved.
1Timothy
3:15 But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is
the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
So, what is the house of God, to the
Roman Catholic ‘wannabes’ of Protestant fundamentalism, the Vatican’s
auxiliaries? Has the gate of heaven reference
in Genesis 28:17 confused you? Do you consider your specific church building,
the place where your church meets, the ladder between heaven and earth? What
about Christ in John 1:51? And what about these verses?
1Corinthians
3:16 ¶ Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Corinthians
6:19 What? know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are
not your own?
Our bodies are the tabernacle
where God meets with us after the resurrection because His Spirit resides in
us.
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man
love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him.
Romans 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
God’s Spirit is already inside of us if we are Christians and we
do not need to ask for Him to “come down and walk among the pews.” We should
ask to be filled with His Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 And be not
drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things
unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 ¶ Submitting yourselves one to another in the
fear of God.
God has placed in our
hearts the things He wants from us if we will hear and obey.
Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel;
After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Corinthians 3:2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts,
known and read of all men: 3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink,
but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy
tables of the heart.
We must remember that Christ has fulfilled the Law for us. He is
the fulfillment of it.
2Corinthians 3:12 ¶ Seeing then that we have such hope, we use
great plainness of speech: 13 And not as
Moses, which put a vail over
his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of
that which is abolished: 14 But their
minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in
the reading of the old testament; which vail
is done away in Christ. 15 But even unto
this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord,
the vail shall be taken away. 17 Now the
Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty. 18 But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord.
In Paul’s great argument, his letter to the Romans, he lays it
out.
Romans 10:1 ¶ Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God
for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant
of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth. 5 For Moses describeth the
righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall
live by them. 6 But the righteousness
which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall
ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who
shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. 11 For the
scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Always remembering that we Christians are not justified by the Law
given to Moses.
Galatians 3:19 ¶ Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till
the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. 21 Is
the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a
law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by
the law. 22 But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be
given to them that believe. 23 But
before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which
should afterwards be revealed. 24
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are
no longer under a schoolmaster. 26 For
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to
the promise.
There are many wonderful passages in Exodus. One that is revealed
in the translation of great importance is this.
Exodus
12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every
man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for
the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to
the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your
count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be
without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep,
or from the goats:
These verses give us an understanding who Christ was and is.
He is a lamb (verse 3), a
sacrifice and ransom to God, the propitiation to satisfy God’s wrath for
mankind’s sins against Him. He is the lamb (verse 4), the only way to salvation. He is your lamb (verse 5), who
died for your sins on the cross at Calvary and rose for your justification.
God is with us in our wilderness wanderings as we leave the world
when we are born again and often wander in the wilderness trying to find our
way. God wants to lead us, to direct us
to our Promised Land, eternal life with Him. The kingdom of God is within us.
Luke 17:20 ¶ And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of
God cometh not with observation: 21
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom
of God is within you.
Exodus teaches us about how the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt as
we are enslaved to the world before we followed Christ. The Red Sea crossing is
our salvation experience as we are led by God toward what He has ordained for
us. We resist and struggle against Him often and just as the generation of
Hebrews that left Egypt could not enter the Promised Land neither can our
flesh, in its present form, go to ours. We must leave our temporal bodies in
the wilderness.
God’s glory filled the tabernacle in the wilderness and we should
desire that His Spirit fill this tabernacle in which we walk and live in a
fallen world. In that tabernacle is an ark that contains the testimony of God
as it should be in us.
Exodus teaches so much and I have only scratched the surface. I
hope you will look into it for deeper truths and more important connections
than I could give you here.
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