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Good morning my friends, today we’re in Exodus chapter 40 together.
We all know the feeling of arriving somewhere after a long journey. That’s what Exodus 40 is… arrival. The work of fabricating all the pieces of the Tabernacle has been completed and Moses has inspected everything and found it to be exactly what he remembers God had described to him on the mountain. Now it’s time to assemble this “Tent of Meeting” for God.
Have you recognized that God is very strategic? He pays close attention to dates, times, places and people. Exodus 40:1 says “The LORD said to Moses: ‘Set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the first month.” Do you remember back in Exodus 12, God had initiated the Hebrew calendar and given specific instructions about when every family was to take a one year old lamb, then when to sacrifice it, and what to do with the blood on the door-frames, and how to be ready to leave Egypt when the angel of death would pass over?
Do you remember Exodus 19 tells us it was in the third month after leaving Egypt that they arrived at Mount Sinai. Moses has been up that mountain a total of 8 times to meet with God, and learn what it means to be a people of God, with a sacred place designated as a ‘Tent of Meeting”, so God would dwell among His people and meet regularly with them. Do you see in this first verse of Exodus 40 it is clear there are two names for this special place of encounter with God that Moses will erect today. . . ‘the tabernacle’ and ‘the Tent of Meeting.’
So it’s been almost exactly one year since these 2 million people scurried out of Egypt, and now, today, Moses will lead the construction of this God designed “Tent of Meeting”. Undoubtedly Moses selected several skilled workmen to help him, and I would imagine among them were Bezalel and Oholiab, who had supervised the fabrication of everything.
Please notice in vs. 9 & 10, Moses was to anoint every piece of the tabernacle, consecrating it to God for His glory. “Take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it; consecrate it and all its furnishings and it will be holy.” This was no ordinary construction project. This would be a holy tent, used for a holy purpose, and where-ever it was erected, that would be a holy place of encounter between God and His people.
May I ask… is that how you view your church building, the place where you gather to meet with God and God’s people? Or how about the place where you meet privately with God? That special place in your home which you’ve designated as your ‘tent of meeting’ (Exodus 33:7-11) where you meet alone with God…is that place sacred, because of the encounters you have with God there?
You’ll notice in Exodus 40 God gives instructions for Aaron and his sons to be consecrated on this day as well. And if you’ll look closely, there it is again… that little phrase that assures us everything was done on this day, exactly according to God’s instructions. Do you see vs. 16? “Moses did everything just as the LORD commanded him.” That phrase is repeated again in vs. 19 and vs. 21 and 23 and 25 and 27… Look closely my friends, how many times do you see that phrase? WHY?
Do you suppose it’s because Moses wanted everyone who would ever read this account to know, that he was meticulous, very careful to set up this “Tent of Meeting” for the first time, exactly as God instructed Him? Do you suppose Moses was setting a standard, so that in the future, the 10th time, the 30th time, the 100th time this Tent was dismantled, moved and set up again, it was done with careful attention to do so “…as the LORD commanded…”?
Exodus 40:33 says “And so Moses finished the work.” I imagine the crowd around the work site has been huge all day, watching this remarkable construction project. And now, perhaps with the sun low in the west, Moses steps back, claps the dust off his hands, puts his weary hands on his hips and says ‘it is finished’! I wonder if Moses looked up and ask quietly “So, God, what do you think?”
And then it happened… the cloud which had hovered on the top of Mount Sinai, the cloud into which Moses had gone several times up that mountain. The cloud which wasn’t a normal cloud…it was the cloud of God’s Presence, THAT cloud, descended down the mountain, and came to rest on the Tent! Here’s how Moses wrote about that moment… “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud had settled upon it and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
And what would you have done in that moment, if you were standing in the crowd watching this? Did you know exactly this same thing happened about 500 years later when the great TEMPLE was completed in Jerusalem? Listen… “When King Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. The priests could not enter the temple of the LORD because the glory of the LORD filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the LORD above the temple, they knelt on the pavement, with the faces to the ground and they worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD…” (2 Chronicles 7:1-3)
And may I give you one more time in history, something like this happened? Matthew 17:1-6 “… Jesus took with him Peter, James and John… and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shown like the sun… just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus… a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My Son, whom I love, with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell face-down to the ground, terrified.”
So honestly now my friends, what has been your journey with God over the years? What have we learned from Moses and his many trips up Sinai, into the cloud with God? What about the little ‘tent of meeting’ in Exodus 33, and now this first day of the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt… and the glory of the LORD here, in the refugee camp, filling the “Tent of Meeting”? Remember, God had said He wanted to be with His people, not far away. He wanted His Presence to distinguish His people from all other people on the earth. And what about you and me, modern day God’s people? Is the Holy Spirit alive and vibrant in us, so very evident that we are distinguished as God’s unique people today, my friends?
Finally, look at the last three verse of Exodus… “In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out… so the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, during all their travels.” I love that, how about you? Any moment, day or night, anyone of these 2 million people need not have any doubt about where God was, or if they were exactly in the place God wanted them that day. All they had to do was look at the Tent of Meeting…was the cloud hovering or moving? Now my friends, are you and I living like that? Are you confident you are today exactly in the place God has led you and do you have a strong sense of the Presence of God with you in that place? Can you discern when the cloud is moving, when God is leading you to make a change? Is your relationship with Jesus close enough that you can follow Him and move with the cloud?
I know our reading schedule has us planned to return to the New Testament tomorrow and resume our following the Apostle Paul in his journeys, but I’ve been feeling a strong leading to stay with this Mount Sinai cloud for another week. So tomorrow, we’ll be in Numbers chapter 2, and for 7 more days we’ll stay with Moses and these 2 million slave refugees, who are learning to be God’s People, with God’s Presence among them. For today… may I simply invite you to spend some time talking with God about how HE has led you in your lifetime, and where you are right now, today, in your journey with Jesus? Are you content with God’s Presence, like they were in Exodus 40 or 2 Chronicles 7?
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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