“Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
~ Exodus 40:35
Hi James and Ellen,
What does your room look like? Is your room always neat and clean with your bed always made? Or does your room always have toys and dirty clothes scattered everywhere with your bed always unmade? If Jesus was living right now in your house, how would you like your room to look like? If you could see God always watching you, how would you keep your room? God tasked Moses to build a place for His presence. Why do you think that God wanted to have a special place for His presence to be built among His specially chosen guys and gals? God wanted to be close enough to His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, for them to be able to always sense His holy presence. God knew exactly how He wanted to have built the special place for His presence. The place that God tasked Moses to build for Him was to be called the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting. In the five books that Moses wrote – which are the Bible’s first five books, Moses was passing on the Torah or the law or the teachings of God to God’s specially chosen guys and gals. Exodus 40 concludes the book that Moses wrote about how God chose him to lead God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids out of Egypt, about how God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were finally able to leave Egypt for the land that God had promised Abraham that his extended family would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . , about how God’s specially chosen guys and gals struggled in getting to know God in the way that God wanted them to know Him and about the laws and plans that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai for His specially chosen guys and gals to obey by doing or not doing. God gave to Moses – when Moses was with Him at the top of Mount Sinai, the plans for how He wanted Moses to have the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, built.
If you had to build a place for God where God’s presence could always be sensed, what would the place look like? If you had to build a place for God’s presence, what kinds of items would you make to be used in the place? Would you ask God first what He would want in what you would build for Him? Moses knew that he had to have the place built exactly as God had told him to have the place built for His presence. What Moses had guys build for God’s presence is not like anything that you would ever build as a place to live. God’s specially chosen guys were who made and built everything for the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, but Moses was who put everything together that was made and built for the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting. The first month’s first day was the day that God told Moses to put together the place where He would have His divine presence reside. This day was almost one year exactly from the day when the death angel passed over the homes of Israelite guys and gals who had painted lamb’s blood on their door jams. The first thing that God tasked Moses to do was to place the Ark of the Testimony inside the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting. The Ark of the Testimony was the actual place where God’s presence would actually be. This made the Ark of the Testimony the most holy place inside the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting. God told Moses to have a curtain made to hang in front of the Ark of the Testimony so that no guy or gal could see the Ark of Testimony. God also told Moses that He wanted some specific items made for inside the tabernacle – the Tent of Meetings, such as a table made with precise measurements, a lampstand, a basin for water and a gold altar for burning incense. God also told Moses to set up a courtyard around everything – and that He wanted a curtain at the courtyard’s entrance. God also told Moses that on the day that the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, was to be dedicated that Moses was to take some oil and anoint all the items – including the altars, utensils, lamps and the basin that was in the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, making them all holy. God told Moses that he was then to at the entrance of the tabernacle – Tent of Meeting, wash Aaron and his sons with water and he was to dress Aaron in sacred garments. Moses was then per God’s directive to anoint and consecrate Aaron to be the priest who would serve Him. Moses did everything just as God asked him to do everything. Moses reported seven times in these last pages of the Exodus Book that he was being obedient to God.
After Moses was finished with putting together the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, and everything in it, God totally covered the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, with the cloud that He was using to lead His specially chosen guys, gals and kid. God had been using this cloud for His holy presence. God’s magnificent and mighty glory filled the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting. After all that Moses had done for God in putting together the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, verse 35 says, “Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” How do you think that Moses felt when he realized that he would not be able to go into the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, after he had been tasked by God to be the guy to put the tabernacle – the Tent of Meeting, together? Do you need to build a special house today to have God’s presence close to you? If a guy, gal or kid makes a decision of faith, the guy, gal or kid will know that God’s presence – as God the Holy Spirit, is living within him or her. God – because of what God the Son did on a cross, now lives in the guys, gals and kids who have made decisions of faith to believe what Jesus did for them. Is God’s presence today inside or outside your lives? If God’s presence is living outside your lives, your grandpaa believes that there is an emptiness in your lives but if God’s presence is living inside your lives, your grandpaa believes that your lives are hope filled.
Exodus 40 (204)