Exodus 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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