God's glory Resident (Ex. 39:32-40:38)

8/13/2008 9:35 AM

My Worship Time           Focus:  God’s glory resident

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference: Exodus 39:32-40:38

            Message of the verses:  This is the last section in the book of Exodus and there is many verses to look at and again too many to copy to this SD. 

            The book of Exodus started out with the children of Israel in Egypt and ends up with the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai with the tabernacle finished just as God had commanded Moses to have it built.  This section is about the completing of the tabernacle and setting it up and then the glory of the Lord filling it.  Israel could not move on their journey until the cloud of the Lord would leave the tabernacle and then they would know that God was again leading them on their journey.

            In his commentary on this section Dr. Wiersbe follows the glory of the Lord throughout the Bible as he explains where it has been and where it will be.  God’s glory is called the Shekinah glory and in Exodus 40:35 that word is translated “settled.”  “Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”

            In 1 Samuel 4:21-22 the work Ichabod is found and that word means “the glory is gone.” The glory was gone from Israel because of the sinfulness of the priests and it would not return until Solomon dedicated the temple that he had built for the Lord.  The Shekinah glory then again entered, this time the temple.  It would again leave as seen in the book of Ezekiel and the next time it would appear was when Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of Mary and then after thirty-three years it was nailed to a cross.  The glory of the Lord today is found in individual believers, the local church, and the universal church and I am not talking about buildings, but the word church means the called out ones and that of course is people. 

            Someday soon, and it could be even today, Jesus Christ will again leave heaven and take His bride, the church, home to be with Him in heaven in what is called the rapture of the Church and then God’s glory will be in heaven.  Revelation 21:23 reads as follows:  “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

            In Exodus 40:33 at the very end of the verse it says that Moses finished the work: “Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.”  God had given Moses a job to do of making sure that the tabernacle and all the articles that went along with it were built correctly and he did that and then all of these articles along with the priests were set apart to serve the Lord.  This was also seen in Exodus 28-29, which have already been looked at.  Moses obeyed the Lord in doing all that He had told him to do and that is how this wonderful OT book of Exodus ends.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to pick up on those words in Exodus 40:33b as to how this section speaks to my heart this morning.  Jesus Christ used similar words on the cross whenever He finished the work that God had called Him to do when He said “It is finished.”  Those words literally mean “paid in full,” and that is why Christ came to earth to pay for my sins in full so that I can have a relationship with God.  This was the work that the Father had given Jesus Christ to do and He finished it just as Moses finished the work of building the tabernacle.

            God has also given me work to do and there is no vacation from the work that God has called me to do.  I can only do the work that God has given me to do in the power of His Holy Spirit for if I try to do His work without His Spirit and also the guidance of His Word then the work would be done in vain.  This area of my life is something that I have been focusing in on for a number of weeks, that is doing God’s work in the power of His Spirit as He leads me while reading and studying His Word.  I do not want to finish my time on this earth relaxing as if I had nothing to do for the Lord, but be very sensitive to the Spirit of God as I read the Word of God in order to do the work of God and finish my course well just as Paul wrote to Timothy about.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Be very sensitive to the Spirit of God in order to do the work of God and not try and do it on my own.
2. Ask God to direct my path.
3. Put on my spiritual armor.
4. Praise the Lord for our new granddaughter.

Memory verses for the week:                      Exodus 20:1-6

1 ¶  Then God spoke all these words, saying,

2  "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3  "You shall have no other gods before Me.

4.  You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

5.  You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and forth generations of those who hate me,

6.  but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

8/13/2008 10:39 AM