15 chapters… THEN…
I was reading Exodus 40 in my quite time this morning. Let me share with what I learned.
So the last 15 chapters of Exodus (which I have been reading this past week) are all about the tabernacle and all the very detailed specifics on how it should be built and how to conduct yourself around this holy place. Honestly: the boring stuff, the mundane stuff, the details… to which I found myself skimming through on several occasions to get to the more important stuff. Until the last chapter of Exodus were everything comes together.
Exodus 40:16 – “This Moses did; according to all that the Lord commanded him, so he did.” The past 15 chapters Moses did everything the Lord commanded him to do. In the next 16 verses this phrase was repeated 8 times. “ as the Lord had commanded Moses” (vs 16, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29 and verse 32).
After Moses had did everything The Lord commanded “THEN the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Vs 34
This is my revelation: I breezed through 15 chapters of Exodus because they were boring and talked about tedious details of what Moses needed to do in order to build the tabernacle. So I could get to the good stuff like Gods Glory (pillar of cloud by day and fire by night). But if Moses would not have spent the time to properly build the tabernacle according to Gods exact specifications he would have missed Gods glory. How often to I try and breeze through my 15 chapters of life that I don’t like in order to get to the good stuff I know God wants to do.
We cannot enjoy Gods presence unless we are willing to put the time and effort into building a sanctuary that he can dwell in. We need to realize that the 15 chapters need to happen in order to experience the words in verse 34, “THEN… the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle”.
I cant breeze through my 15 chapters of life, I need to do everything “as the Lord command[s]” so that “THEN” I will experience his desire/plan for my life.
“We cannot enjoy Gods presence unless we are willing to put the time and effort into building a sanctuary that he can dwell in. We need to realize that the 15 chapters need to happen in order to experience the words in verse 34, “THEN… the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle”.
It is true Obedience is Key in following the Lord, knowing Him etc. But I will say, since Jesus came the Law was done away with. We are the tabernacle that God dwells in, Jesus did everything that needed to be done for us to experience and know God. The word is one complete redemptive story. Jesus completes so much of the Old Testament that we find ourselves striving for on our own. Grace and Mercy, how great that is to be able to know God based off His character not ours. Good post my friend.