CHAPTER 40

(1491 B.C.)

THE TABERNACLE

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²On the first day of the first month shall you set up the Tabernacle of the tent of the congregation. (The setting up of the Tabernacle, with the Sacred Vessels placed in proper order so that the proper worship of the Lord may begin, was the single most important thing on Earth at that particular time. One year had passed since they had left Egypt.)

³And you shall put therein the Ark of the Testimony (Ark of the Covenant), and cover the Ark with the Veil (hang the Veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, with the Ark situated in the latter; the Veil thereby hid it from view).

⁴And you shall bring in the Table, and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it (put the twelve loaves of bread on the Table); and you shall bring in the Candlestick (Lampstand), and light the lamps thereof (the Lampstand sat on the north side of the Tabernacle, with the Table of Shewbread situated on the south side).

⁵And you shall set the Altar of gold for the incense before the Ark of the Testimony, and put the hanging of the door to the Tabernacle (this was at the front of the Tabernacle, which led into the Holy Place).

⁶And you shall set the Altar of the Burnt Offering before the door of the Tabernacle of the tent of the congregation (this Brazen Altar was a Type of the Cross).

⁷And you shall set the Laver between the tent of the congregation and the Altar, and shall put water therein (the Priests, upon entering the Holy Place, which they did constantly, had to wash their hands and feet in this water each time they went in, signifying the cleansing by the Word, which is needed by all Believers, and constantly).

⁸And you shall set up the Court round about (the fence), and hang up the hanging at the court gate (the one entrance into the Court).

⁹And you shall take the anointing Oil (a Type of the Holy Spirit, which would anoint Christ [Lk. 4:18-19]), and anoint the Tabernacle (a Type of Christ), and all that is therein, and shall hallow it (consecrate it totally to the Lord), and all the Vessels thereof: and it shall be holy.

¹⁰And you shall anoint the Altar of the Burnt Offering, and all his Vessels, and sanctify the Altar: and it shall be an Altar most holy. (Christ sanctified the Altar, i.e., the Cross, meaning that the Cross didnt sanctify Christ. This completely refutes the unscriptural doctrine that Jesus died spiritually on the Cross. That statement means that some believe and teach that Jesus became a sinner on the Cross, died and went to Hell, as all sinners do, and was Born-Again in Hell, etc. None of that happened! The Cross, and the Cross alone, was the place of victory, and total victory at that. When He said, It is finished, the Scripture tells us that the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom [Mat. 27:51]. This tells us that the Cross opened up the way for all of mankind, by exhibiting Faith in Christ, to enter the very Holy of Holies.)

¹¹And you shall anoint the Laver and his foot, and sanctify it.

CONSECRATION

¹²And you shall bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and wash them with water. (The water is typical of the Word of God [Eph. 5:26].)

¹³And you shall put upon Aaron the Holy Garments, and anoint him, and sanctify him; that he may minister unto Me in the Priests office. (There is no more Priesthood in the New Covenant, because Christ has satisfied all the demands of Mediation, with Himself becoming the Mediator. It was all done through the Cross [I Tim. 2:5].)

¹⁴And you shall bring his sons, and clothe them with coats:

¹⁵And you shall anoint them, as you did anoint their father, that they may minister unto Me in the Priests office: for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations (as long as the Old Covenant lasted, which it did unto Christ).

¹⁶Thus did Moses: according to all that the LORD commanded him, so did he (he never deviated from the pattern, not whatsoever).

¹⁷And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the Tabernacle was reared up. (The first day of the first month of the second year, in a sense, tells Israel that they now have a new beginning. They should be careful that they make the most of it.)

¹⁸And Moses reared up the Tabernacle, and fastened his sockets, and set up the boards thereof, and put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars.

¹⁹And he spread abroad the tent over the Tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it; as the LORD commanded Moses. (Today, these things are but a memory, having all been satisfied by what Christ did at the Cross, which made them unnecessary. But until Christ came, the Tabernacle and the Temple were necessary, for God sought to dwell among His People.)

²⁰And he took and put the Testimony (Ten Commandments, written on two stone tablets)into the Ark, and set the staves on the Ark, and put the Mercy Seat above upon the Ark:

²¹And he brought the Ark into the Tabernacle (into the Holy of Holies), and set up the Veil of the covering (separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place), and covered the Ark of the Testimony; as the LORD commanded Moses.

²²And he put the Table (Table of Shewbread) in the tent of the congregation, upon the side of the Tabernacle northward, without the Veil.

²³And he set the bread in order upon it before the LORD (twelve loaves); as the LORD had commanded Moses.

²⁴And he put the Candlestick (Lampstand) in the tent of the congregation, over against the Table, on the side of the Tabernacle southward.

²⁵And he lighted the lamps before the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. (Moses lit the lamps before the Lord, which referred to the fact that the Lord was minutely inspecting everything that was done.)

²⁶And he put the Golden Altar (Altar of Incense) in the tent of the congregation before the Veil (it was situated in the Holy Place, in fact, sitting immediately in front of the Ark of the Covenant, but separated by the Veil):

²⁷And he burnt sweet incense thereon; as the LORD commanded Moses (it was burned twice a day, at the time of the morning and evening Sacrifices 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.).

²⁸And he set up the hanging at the door of the Tabernacle (the front door, covered by a curtain containing the same colors as the Veil immediately in front of the Holy of Holies).

²⁹And he put the Altar of Burnt Offering (a Type of the Cross) by the door of the Tabernacle of the tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the Burnt Offering and the Meat Offering; as the LORD commanded Moses. (The Tabernacle, having been made according to the Divine Pattern, even as we shall see, was filled with the Divine Glory, but not until precious blood had been shed by the Sacrifices on the Brazen Altar, and with all anointed with Holy Oil. Only in a Crucified and Anointed Saviour can God dwell with man.)

³⁰And he set the Laver between the tent of the congregation and the Altar, and put water there, to wash withal.

³¹And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat:

³²When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the Altar, they washed; as the LORD commanded Moses. (The water typified the Word, with the washing typifying its application. Without the Word being applied to our lives, it serves no purpose.)

³³And he reared up the Court round about the Tabernacle and the Altar (the fence), and set up the hanging of the Court gate (the entrance to the Court). So Moses finished the work (and exactly as the Lord had instructed him).

THE GLORY

³⁴Then a Cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the Glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle. (The Glory that filled the Tabernacle fills our hearts and lives presently in the Person of the Holy Spirit.)

³⁵And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the Cloud abode thereon, and the Glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle. (The idea seems to be that Moses attempted to enter the Tabernacle, but the Glory of the Lord occupied the Tabernacle, at least at this time, in such a powerful way that the Law-Giver was unable to do so. There is even a possibility that it knocked him off his feet.)

³⁶And when the Cloud was taken up from over the Tabernacle, the Children of Israel went onward in all their journeys. (Israel did not determine or decide where they would go, or how long they would stay where they were. Not even Moses decided this. It was all decided by the moving of the Cloud. The great question is, Where is the Cloud?)

³⁷But if the Cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up. (They didnt move until the Cloud moved.)

³⁸For the Cloud of the LORD was upon the Tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the House of Israel, throughout all their journeys. (So, the great Book of Exodus closes out with the Glory of the Lord. It began with the People of God serving as slaves in Egypt. It ends with them free from Egyptian bondage and, furthermore, the Glory of the Lord residing in their midst.)