Exodus | A People With God
For Meditation
Our series in Exodus concludes this week with a look at Exodus 40, the description of the completion of the tabernacle, and God’s dwelling within it. This is the culmination and conclusion to this book of a people in exile: God has come to dwell among them. Despite their idolatry and pride, God has restored his presence to his people.
This story isn’t just the conclusion to the story of the Israelites in the desert, but the whole story of the Bible. We see here in Exodus, and again later in the Gospels, that even though we were cut off from God in Eden through our sin, God is absolutely committed to restore his intimate presence with us forever - no matter what we’ve done, or how far we’ve strayed.
God’s dwelling among his people in the tabernacle is a wonderful way to end our series, but also ushers us naturally into the upcoming season of Advent. It is in this season that we look forward and expectantly await God sending his holy and perfect Son to tabernacle among us (John 1:14), just as he has done for his people here in Exodus.
Once published, our weekly Worship Guide can be downloaded by clicking the image below.
Notes on our Worship Space:
The Cross, the Font, the Table, the Book
As we explore what it means to be the people of God, we have positioned these four symbols prominently to remind us of God’s faithfulness and where we find life, hope and our identity. The cross speaks of Jesus’ atoning death, the Font speaks of the new life he gives us through baptism, the Table speaks of our resurrected Savior who continues to gather us around his table of grace, and the Bible speaks of our source of authority and comfort as God speaks through his living word even today.
The Banners
The 10 banners hanging in the sanctuary represent the messages in our series on Exodus. It is not just the spoken word but the creative, visual word that tells us of God’s love and faithfulness. See if you can guess which banner goes with which story! Many thanks to the team of Third artists who put them together: Mark Sprinkle, Holly Smith, Kathy Ames and Sarah Hale.
Exodus 40:1-2
1 Then the Lord said to Moses: 2 “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.
Exodus 40:12-17
12 “Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. 13 Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint him and consecrate him so he may serve me as priest. 14 Bring his sons and dress them in tunics. 15 Anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations.” 16 Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him. 17 So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.
Exodus 40:34-38
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 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 Israelites during all their travels.
