Exodus 40

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And the cloud covered the tabernacle of the congregation, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.
(Exo 40:34)

The book of Exodus ends with a bang! The time had finally come; the day had finally arrived that the tabernacle would be set up. It was not just on any random day, it was on the first day of the first month of the year… The day we would normally refer to as “New Year’s Day”. This was the New Year’s Day to beat them all! On this day something phenomenal would happen. The glory of God was going to come down and take up residence in the Tabernacle… God was going to dwell among His people.

On a typical New Year’s Day, we begin to put into effect the “New Year’s Resolutions” we have made during the final days of December. Resolutions to eat less and exercise more. Resolutions to watch less TV and spend more time enjoying the outdoors. Resolutions to do just about anything under the sun that might improve the quality of someone’s life. This year was different for the children of Israel. It wasn’t a mere resolution; they experienced a Divine intervention that would forever alter the way they related to God. This year marked the beginning of a new era for them, an era where the presence of God abode in their midst.

I wish I could travel back in time to see it happen. It must have been a glorious celebration that the Jews took part in as God took up residence in the house they had built Him. More than ever before, they were going to be able to know that He was with them and that He was going before them.

We have something even better than a house for God to live in. If we look at John 1:14 we read this glorious phrase: “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. That word DWELT is the Greek word for TABERNACLE… It literally means that Jesus came and tabernacled among us! God didn’t merely come and dwell in a building as in the days of old, He came this time and took on Himself the form of a man! So much greater than a cloud on the tabernacle, God Himself was now walking the land of Israel!

If you can believe it, it gets even better. After Jesus fulfilled His mission by dying on the cross, rising again three days later, and ascending into heaven, He moved His tabernacle to an even more intimate place. Now the God of the universe has taken up residence in the hearts of all those who have called upon His name! Like that incredible New Year when everything changed for the Jew, we have a new life in Christ at the moment of salvation. No resolution, a divine intervention… God Himself (Father, Spirit, and Son) living in your heart and guiding and directing your life! My prayer for you is that the parallel wouldn’t end there. I hope and pray that each one of your lives would be filled with the glory of the Lord for all to see, just like the tabernacle of old. Let that glory work in and through your life, and be a light for Jesus to the world around you!!!