Exodus 40

The components of the tabernacle have been carefully constructed, and the holy items to go inside it were made exactly as specified. At long last, the time has come for God’s dwelling place to be erected. God gave the order for Moses to do so, and “This Moses did; according to all that the LORD commanded him, so he did” (v. 16). Moses’s complete adherence to God’s instructions, as well as the obedience of the craftsmen charged with building this tent and its furnishings, “reminds us that Divine work must always be done according to the Divine pattern, and most strictly in the Divine way. The truth is so self evident [sic], that it would seem needless to stress it. Yet a perpetual temptation to the mind of man is to endeavour to improve upon a Divine plan.”[i]

Oh friends, do not fall into the trap of thinking you know better than God. When the devil tries to lure you into this faulty logic, Isaiah 55:8-9 is a great passage you can use to rebuke those lies: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God is God, and we are not. Let’s humbly recognize our limitations in light of His infinite wisdom.

The book of Exodus closes with an acknowledgement that, after the tabernacle was put up just so, God’s Shekinah glory (His divine presence) filled the tent (v. 34). Matthew Henry’s comments on this significant event: 

The shechinah, the divine eternal Word, though not yet made flesh, yet, as a prelude to that event, came and dwelt among them, Jn. 1:14. This was henceforward the place of his throne, and the place of the soles of his feet (Eze. 43:7); here he resided, here he ruled. By the visible tokens of God’s coming among them to take possession of the tabernacle he testified both the return of his favour to them, which they had forfeited by the golden calf (ch. 33:7), and his gracious acceptance of all the expense they had been at, and all the care and pains they had taken about the tabernacle. Thus God owned them, showed himself well pleased with what they had done, and abundantly rewarded them. Note, God will dwell with those that prepare him a habitation. The broken and contrite heart, the clean and holy heart, that is furnished for his service, and devoted to his honour, shall be his rest for ever; here will Christ dwell by faith, Eph. 3:17. Where God has a throne and an altar in the soul, there is a living temple.[ii]

Can others see God’s Shekinah glory through you? If not, perhaps the throne of your soul is still occupied by something or someone other than its rightful Owner. 

Our reading today ends with the following statement of the Israelites: “Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up” (vv. 36-37). God’s people waited on Him to take their next step; how willing (and patient) are you to do the same? 

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Journal responses to the following prompts:

·       Can others see God’s Shekinah glory through you? 

·       God’s people waited on Him to take their next step; how willing (and patient) are you to do the same?

[i] Morgan, G. C. (1952). Searchlights from the Word. Wipf and Stock. p. 36.

[ii] Henry, M. (2014). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible. (Vol. 1). Hendrickson Publishers. p. 352.