The Big Crescendo (Part 2)
The Big Crescendo (Part 2)
a commentary on Exodus 40 (Interpretation)
Thank you, Lord, for this day. May it be used for your glory!
Good morning everyone and welcome back to this week’s Biblit, part 2!
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Once again, this week is the final crescendo for Exodus. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. When God’s glory dwells with Israel once again!
Now, let’s be real for a second. It’s a cool moment to read about right? It’s even epic to visualize. But we don’t have the Tabernacle anymore. It’s hard to grasp what any of Exodus 40 really has to do with us.
Well, I think if we dig in a little further, we will see it has everything to do with us. Well, not us, but with Christ.
Let’s jump in!
Interpretation
There are 2 major points I want to focus on today.
God Gave Them Direction
If you recall from yesterday, the way this passage ended was that God’s glory came into the Tabernacle in the form of a cloud. Or a fiery cloud at night.
As long as His glory cloud stayed put, so did Israel.
But as soon as His glory left, Israel followed.
And they did this for the next 40 years until they eventually reached the promised land! And then eventually there was a temple built and all of that.
That’s getting ahead of ourselves, though.
The big point here is that God’s direction for Israel could not have been more clear. Israel couldn’t make a mistake in interpreting His direction.
If the cloud stays, they stay. If the cloud leaves, they leave.
Simple!
They didn’t have to guess, they didn’t have to plan, they just followed God’s simple directions for their lives.
God’s Glory Limited
The next piece I thought was really interesting is that the text specifies Moses was not able to see God’s glory.
“Moses was unable to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud rested on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” (Exodus 40:35 CSB).
If you recall from a previous Biblit, Moses wanted to see God’s glory desperately. And he was granted to see part of it.
But he never saw the fullness of God’s glory.
Not for another thousand years or so…
It seems like God likes to deal in the thousands.
He dwelt with man in Eden, then sin separated us. Then after a thousand years or so, He dwelt with them again in the Tabernacle. Then another thousand years or so and we see His glory dwell with us through someone else: Jesus Christ.
John says this:
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 CSB).
Jesus was the fullness of God’s glory, dwelling with man in a way that could finally be observed!
Here is what I think ties this all together. If we fast forward a bit into Jesus’s ministry, there is an amazing story found in all 3 synoptic gospels: the Transfiguration.
This is when Jesus went up the mountain with Peter, James, and John and God’s glory shined down on Jesus. Remember that one? There is a ton in there to unpack, and our Biblit is not about that. So I won’t go into it now.
But what I do want to mention is one of the other mystery people that shows up at the Transfiguration…Moses!
Moses prayed to God to see His full glory and God answered that prayer, and we get to witness it. He stood face to face with Jesus, in the fullness of God’s glory.
And what did they talk about? Jesus’s death. But the Greek word used there is the same one used for the word exodus.
Just as Moses led the exodus from bondage in Egypt, Jesus led the ultimate exodus from bondage to death into eternal life in the fullness of God’s glory!
And that is what the Tabernacle ultimately points to. The next time someone questions whether the whole Bible is about Jesus or not, tell them to read Exodus.