How does the book of Exodus end? In Exodus 40, the book closes as the glory of God comes down to fill the newly built tabernacle. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt shows how Exodus ends with God dwelling among His people. After all the instructions are carried out “as the LORD commanded Moses,” the tabernacle is finished and the cloud of God’s glory fills it — so completely that even Moses cannot enter. Dr. Holt explains that this points to the regulative principle, that we worship God His way rather than ours, and to a deeper need: Moses, still a sinner without a sufficient sacrifice, could not go in. That need is finally met in Christ. The cloud and fire that led Israel remind us that our comfort is God’s presence, not perfect circumstances.

Questions this study answers:

1. Why was God so specific about the tabernacle? Because worship is to be done His way, not ours. The repeated phrase “as the LORD commanded” underscores it.

2. Why could Moses not enter the tabernacle? Because he was still a sinner with no sufficient sacrifice. It showed the need for a greater Mediator — Christ.

3. What did the tabernacle ultimately point to? God dwelling with His people — fulfilled in Jesus, “God with us,” and in believers, who are now God’s temple. “Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” — Exodus 40:34 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the Exodus Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

It has been said that the book of Exodus is the gospel in Old Testament clothing.

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In other words, the book of Exodus contains signs and shadows that point forward to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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If you've never considered that idea before, then join us for today's study.

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As we said just a moment ago, there are 40 chapters of Exodus.

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Now, the first 25 chapters deal with God's deliverance of the people from Egypt.

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So you read about the plagues and the Passover and Moses and Pharaoh going head-to-head and the like.

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The first 25 chapters deal with them going out of Egypt and then arriving at Sinai.

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And the latter half of those chapters involve God dealing with people at Sinai.

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He spoke. He gave them the Ten Commandments.

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Of course, they didn't respond as you would think that they ought to.

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Shortly thereafter, they had the gold calf, as we saw roughly two weeks ago.

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So God's people, the first 25 chapters deal with their deliverance and their time at Sinai.

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Then when you get to about chapter 25 forward, all the way to the end of the book,

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you see the focus on one thing, on the tabernacle.

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25 chapters with miracles and deaths and fighting and plagues and Passover and all these things.

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Fire and lightning on Mount Sinai.

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And then the last 15 chapters, really just about one thing, the building of a tent, so to speak.

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Now, hold the phone here. This has got to be a really important tent. If 25 chapters are devoted

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roughly to God's giving the Ten Commandments and the covenant and the law and the deliverance and

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all that sort of stuff, and then the last 15 chapters, 15 chapters, that's a lot of chapters,

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deal with the construction of a tent, a tabernacle, then we have to stop there and realize

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that this tabernacle is a lot more important than we probably give credit to it

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when we read through these passages.

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When we read through Exodus, some people just kind of stop as they get in

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and they start reading about the pomegranates and stuff around the priest's wardrobe

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and they say, what does that do for me?

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Well, a lot, as we talked about a few weeks ago, if we take the time to study what it says.

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With that said, let's stop and think about the tabernacle for a minute.

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The tabernacle is one of the most amazing things that God ever did.

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Why?

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Well, think about it up until that point.

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God had had his people, and the people had had their God, and yet when they had sought God out,

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they had to pray a call upon him from a distance, so to speak. At times, he drew near to the people

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like he drew near to Moses in the form of the burning bush, and yet there seemed to be this

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distance. Now, if you remember the pagan nations, the pagan nations had gods in the plural. The

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Egyptians, they had lots of gods. We saw that in the first 10, 12 chapters of Exodus. They had lots

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of gods. Now, if you were Pharaoh, how did your interaction with the gods work? Well, if you're

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Pharaoh, you remember what we saw? Pharaoh would get up and he'd grab his Pharaoh shampoo and his

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Pharaoh towel and he'd go down to the Nile. When he got to the Nile, he'd meet with, so to speak,

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he would pray to the gods that were there because they were gods of a local jurisdiction. You had

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to go and seek out the gods somewhere. And some of the gods you could never hope to reach where

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they were. The gods of the underworld, the god of the sun and the like, you have Ra and Osiris and

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like. Some of these gods were so far removed from you as to have no real interaction, no real

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interaction with you. Well, Jehovah, the god of heaven, the god of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac,

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he had an altogether different and much better intention, and his intention was this,

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that his people would be able to meet with him directly.

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That the God who formed, the creator who formed created beings,

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that he desired that the created beings would be able to interact directly with him, the creator.

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And if you remember, that's always the way it worked.

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Back in the Garden of Eden, that's the way it worked.

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God formed the cosmos.

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He formed planets and stars so remote you can't see it with the strongest telescope.

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He formed this gigantic universe.

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Right in the middle of it, so to speak, he creates the earth and he places upon it two people.

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And then what did God do?

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Did he stare at them the way we might stare at ants under a magnifying glass?

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Did he look at them from afar and go, I wonder what they're going to do down there?

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No, he does the exact opposite.

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He goes and he walks and talks with our first parents in the cool of the afternoon.

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The creator wants to be, wants to engage with the created.

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And that's good news if we ever have hope that heaven is going to surpass our present reality.

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God wants to be with his people.

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We see that in the garden.

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We also see it here in the tabernacle.

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God tells Moses, he says, build this tabernacle.

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Now, here's the specifications.

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It needs to be built in such and such a way.

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And he gave him all the parameters about how this was to be designed,

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how it was to be constructed.

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But the intention was that when it was constructed,

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as we're seeing here in verse 40, when the bars were raised,

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when it's finally erected, that he would come down

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and that he would dwell in the midst of his people.

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Not on the top of a mountain where you had to send one guy up to talk to him,

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as Moses did, but he would dwell in the midst of the campsite of his people.

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And that was unlike any other culture of the day,

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because all the other cultures, if you went to the Egyptians and others and said,

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well, where's your gods? Well, which one?

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Well, I don't know. Pick one.

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Well, the god of the Nile, where is he?

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Well, he's over by the Nile.

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The god of the sun, the god of the underworld.

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You had to point somewhere else.

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Israel now, with the construction of the tabernacle, could do something no other pagan nation could.

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If you asked an Israelite, where's your God? They could say, right here. You see that glory cloud?

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He's right here. He's in our midst. This is the most amazing, one of the most desirable things,

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because it pointed forward to the temple. The temple ultimately points forward to the temple

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that is our body, and all this ultimately points forward to heaven, where guess what? God is going

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to dwell with his people. I will be your God and you will be my people. That's been the desire that

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God has had for reasons that are just inexplicable to you and I, because sometimes we can't bear to

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be around ourselves. And yet God, who looks down at us from a position of supreme holiness, wants

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to be with us and wants us to be in his midst, not just like on the grounds of heaven, but in his

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midst to the degree we'll have personal interaction with our maker, wiping tears from our eyes, his

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everlasting arms falling upon us. Well, the tabernacle was an Old Testament picture of this.

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I will be with you. I'll be with you. And then when scary stuff happens, as it will, because

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it's a fallen world, I will be with you. When the enemies come, as they will, because it's a fallen

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world, I will be with you. The tabernacle was a picture of this. And this is what we see in these

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first few verses. Now, after all these chapters of preparing the tabernacle, now it's ready. And

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we see in verses 17 through 21 that it is about to be erected, it is about to be set up. Let's

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look at verses 22 through 33 to see how Scripture expands on this. So verse 22, you still have Moses

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doing the setup. So Moses put the table in the tabernacle meeting on the north side of the

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tabernacle, outside the veil, and he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord, as the Lord had

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commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tabernacle meeting across from the table on the

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south side of the tabernacle. He lit the lamps before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses.

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He put the gold altar in the tabernacle meeting in front of the veil. He burned sweet incense on it

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as the Lord had commanded Moses. He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle and he put

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the altar burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tabernacle meeting and he offered

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upon it burnt offerings and green offerings as the Lord had commanded Moses. He set the laver between

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the tabernacle meeting and the altar. He put water there for washing and Aaron, Moses, and his sons

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would wash their hands and their feet with water from it.

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Whenever they went into the tabernacle meeting,

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whenever they came near the altar,

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they washed as the Lord had commanded Moses.

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And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle

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and the altar and hung up the screen of the court gate.

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And so Moses finished the work.

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What phrase is repeated seven times there?

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As the Lord had commanded Moses.

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For 15 chapters, God had given Moses just very clear instructions

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on everything to do with this tabernacle.

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You saw the specificity there, and that's just one small section.

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Read the 15 chapters.

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God had a very clear picture of what he had in mind.

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Now, why does it matter?

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Well, it matters if the tabernacle is a type of heaven.

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You understand this?

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If the things here are symbolic of things there, then of course it matters.

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And if Moses and Aaron just got innovative and said,

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you know, let's put the bread over here, the water over there,

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and who needs this veil anyway?

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It's just going to get in the way of us seeing the mercy seat.

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Everything that God commanded had importance.

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And all of it, in a way that we can't fully understand the here and now,

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pointed forward to the heavenly reality that is yet to come.

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So God gives Moses strict, strict commands.

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And notice their commands.

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Seven times it didn't say, as the Lord suggested to Moses.

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As the Lord nudged Moses.

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As the Lord recommended to Moses.

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It doesn't say that in the least.

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It says, as the Lord commanded Moses.

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Seven times.

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Now, again, could Moses have cut corners or included his own innovations?

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Well, he could have tried, but it wouldn't work out so well.

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And we know it wouldn't work out so well because of what we saw just two weeks ago.

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Because Aaron tried it.

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remember aaron tried to cut some corners didn't he yeah moses goes up to the mountain he's up there

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40 days that was a little too long for the people their tummies are rumbling they're you know looking

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where is this guy where is this guy and they go to aaron and say look he's we don't know what's

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happening apparently he's not coming back so you know get with get with the gods that's your job

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priest man get with the gods evidently that god apparently he's retired or off doing his thing

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with Moses. We need gods. And so Aaron goes ahead, and he gathers the gold, and he throws in the fire

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and forms and creates this gold calf. And as we discussed, in Aaron's mind, it's possible this was

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some amalgamation of the worship of the true God with some of the foreign practices that the

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Egyptians and others had had. It was syncretism. It was a blending of that, perhaps, in Aaron's

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mind, which is right. I mean, I think Aaron still knew that Jehovah was God, but he tried to make

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that got visible so that the people would be satisfied and pacified, right? That's cutting

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corners. That's innovation. That's saying, I think I know what God wants. You know, God said some

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stuff, yeah, but he said it 40 days ago or 2,000 years ago. I think I know what he wants. I think

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I know what he wants. And so Aaron tries it. It doesn't work out that well. And we know it didn't

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work out that well because many died as a result they were judged for their partying and naked

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revelry in front of this golden cow all manner of calamity hit because of what they did and moses

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when he came down and saw what had gone on what was his moses reaction well he throws down the

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commandments as an illustration of how they had just broken the commandments number one of which

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you shall have no other gods before me. He looks at the cow and says, what is that? Then he says,

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oh, what's number two? Thou shalt have no graven images. What is that? He throws down these

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commandments. They'd already broken them. They'd already broken them. What he was doing was just

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symbolic of what they'd already done. And then, as we know, he just obliterates this golden calf,

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just crushes it into powder, and he's not done yet. He takes the powder, as we saw,

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and he puts it in the drinking water and he makes the people drink it.

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There was no greater way to desecrate that false idol

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than to have it pass through the digestive system of its worshipers.

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Moses looked at what God had said and said,

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we're going to do things God's way.

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If God has spoken, then what he said hasn't changed in 40 days.

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It hasn't changed in 2,000, 4,000, 6,000 years either.

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We'll do things God's way was Moses' plan, and they had a recent history to know that trying

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something different wouldn't work. Innovation in this context was a very, very bad idea,

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especially since God had given them so many specifics. You know, some of us have had the

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experience of building a house. My wife and I, the only house we've built was actually the first

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house we ever owned. We lived in Oregon at the time. We actually only lived in this house a year

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before we moved cross-country at that time, but we built a house, and what we found was that the

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builder did all right, but sometimes the subcontractors were the ones with the problems

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with STEM. Subcontractors would go, well, we ran out of the flooring that the customer order says,

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but we have this other flooring available. They won't mind. There's other things. It was the

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weirdest thing. You'd go and inspect this house, and you'd go, what is this? And you'd see areas

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where corners were cut or cheaper ingredients were used or what have you. And we were upset.

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You don't want that. We had an agreement about what was to be built. It doesn't mean you can

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go on just because we're not standing right in front of you and just do it your own way.

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Do you expect us to be happy when you've cut the corners? Do you expect us to be thrilled with your

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innovation, which just happens to be innovation that'll save you money? No. I don't want innovation

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when I'm building a house. You know what? I don't want it when I'm ordering food at a restaurant.

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When I order food at a restaurant, what's the food I hate most? Celery. Well, number two. Number two,

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I don't like mayonnaise on stuff. I do not like it. I used to get secret sauce on burgers as a

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kid. Like my folks that would order me a cheeseburger going out, you know, would show up

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with secret sauce. It was the most dreadful stuff. And so to this day, to this day, we'll order food

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someplace. I think Wendy's is the biggest culprit. We'll order food. The amount of times we've gotten

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home and they're in front of me, I open it up as mayonnaise. It boggles the mind. It absolutely

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boggles the mind. And I hate it. I want to send it back. Of course, I'm at home, so I don't have

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any option. I don't want innovation. I don't want something different than what I've ordered. And

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if that's true of me, if I can get irritated and reject a sandwich because it's slathered in

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mayonnaise, then guess what? God can get upset and reject worship that's slathered in paganism,

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that's slathered in innovation. Why do you think Nadab and Abihu died when they went into

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the tabernacle and offered strange fire that scripture says God had not asked for.

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God takes his worship seriously, and it hasn't changed all these years later. There's a reason

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we have something called the regulative principle. The regulative principle suggests this,

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that what we do is regulated by this book, by what God has told us. Now, there's a lot of different

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ways in which certain things can be understood. The wardrobe of the pastor, the songs that are

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sung, and the like. There's a lot of different ways in which things are implemented, and yet

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there are principles here that better not change. That better not change from how they were first

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given all these centuries ago. Worship is to be regulated by God, and that's what we see in a

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microcosm in these verses. All right, so now the tabernacles. We go look at the verses 34 and 35

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now. The tabernacle is now built. The tabernacle has been set up. All their level of effort has

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been complete, and God is pleased with it. And we're going to see that he's pleased with it by

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what we see in verses 34 and 35. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory

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of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses, Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle meeting

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because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. All right, so

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Moses and the others, they've completed the tabernacle, and I just said that God is pleased

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with their efforts. How do we know he's pleased? Well, what did we just see? God came and dwelt

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in it and filled it. Scripture validates that Moses did as the Lord had commanded. Seven times

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we see that. And then God puts his own stamp of approval on this building project by descending

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and filling it, the Shekinah cloud of his glory. What a sight that would have been to see.

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As a side note, throughout the Old Testament, when God was the most well-pleased with his people,

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You see this in the days of King David and early Solomon.

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God would come and dwell with his people, and that was a good sign.

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Having his presence meant a whole lot to them.

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It's when his presence departed that things got terrible.

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You remember last year we studied the book of Ezekiel?

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So here in Exodus 40, God's presence fills a tabernacle.

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What happened to Ezekiel 10?

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His presence departed.

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Remember, that's one of the things that makes Ezekiel so hard to read,

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is it's kind of dour, and why is it dour?

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It's dour because of what the people did.

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Good gravy.

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Read about what the people did.

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There was all manner of atrocities and idolatry and nonsense.

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They were worshiping everything they could imagine.

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And God had been so patient and so patient.

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He had sent them so many prophets, and they killed or rejected those guys.

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And then ultimately, in Ezekiel 10, God, remember the wheels and the chariot of fire and the like?

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God gives Ezekiel a vision.

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It's a vision of the temple.

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Ezekiel, remember, he's in Babylon.

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He's not even there.

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He gets this vision of it.

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And what he sees is at the threshold of the temple, he sees God's glory depart.

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He sees God's glory ascend into heaven.

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That which descended here and filled the tabernacle,

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a presence that the people could tangibly see.

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Ezekiel 10, because the people had rejected and rebelled and rebelled and rejected, it left.

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And what happened immediately thereafter?

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Well, the temple was destroyed and the people were enslaved.

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Things get bad.

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when God's presence is not in the midst of his own.

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Whatever the case here,

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here we see that God is filling the tabernacle.

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He has descended.

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His people have honored at this point

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what he told them to do.

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They have built what he told them to build,

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and they did it exactly as he said

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under Moses' leadership,

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and so he fills the tabernacle.

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With that said, something weird happened in verse 35.

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What happened in verse 35?

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God's glory had come down, but then in verse 35, it says Moses was not able to enter the

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tabernacle. So God's glory comes down, but Moses suddenly can't go into the very thing that he

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helped to build. Now, why not? Moses was kind of what you would call the foreman of this project,

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right? He was the one who went through the punch list. He did all this stuff. He was the foreman

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of the project. But here in verse 35, it says that he couldn't enter in. Why not? If anyone

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could have entered in, surely Moses. Why does verse 35 say that he could not enter? What's that?

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He wasn't a priest. He wasn't a priest. So part of it is his role. Part of it was his role. And

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God has assigned different roles to say the king or the high priest or what have you. So that was

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part of it. The other part of it is because he was a sinner. And that's not a small statement to make

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because think about it. When the high priest did enter, how often did they go in? Did they just

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kind of head in anytime they wanted and say, hey, God? Once a year. Once a year they went in. And

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then when they went in once a year, what did they do first? Well, they consecrated themselves and

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washed themselves, and they washed themselves again and consecrated themselves again, and they

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prayed themselves up. And then they had a sacrifice to offer on behalf of their own sins and the sins

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of the people. In order to enter into God's presence, there had to be a sacrifice. At this

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point, verse 35, we don't see that. Moses was an amazing guy. He was the most righteous man of his

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age, but he was still caked in his sin, and that was a non-starter as far as entering into

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the tabernacle. Now, let's stop here, because we have to draw some application for you and I out

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of this. If a righteous guy, if a righteous dude like Moses, if the most righteous guy of his age,

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on the entire face of the earth at that time.

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If a righteous guy like Moses

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could not enter a tent where God is,

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how do you plan to enter heaven where God is?

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You see this?

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If Moses, whose righteousness,

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I'll say this with some degree of uncertainty,

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if Moses' righteousness exceeded ours,

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and again, at that day and age,

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he was a friend of God, he met with God,

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he was just the most righteous guy on the planet.

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But if the most righteous guy on the planet

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could not enter a tent where God is,

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what is your hope upon your own death

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to waltz into God's heaven where he is?

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Well, the solution is what we've already alluded to

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just a moment ago.

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There must be a sacrifice.

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If the high priest could only enter,

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bring the blood of a sacrifice,

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if that was a singular means,

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sacrifice. If that was a single means by the priest, symbolically it could enter into God's

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presence. What's different now? Well, in a sense, nothing. With that said, what kind of sacrifice

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do we need? Do we need bulls and oxen, goat and sheep, all the pelicans and Biloxi, all the gators

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and Orlins? Is that what God's being honored with? Well, no, we need a better sacrifice. We need a

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better sacrifice than the ox and the bulls and the donkeys and the pigeons and the turtle doves and

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all the other stuff they tried for centuries. All those things were shadows and types of a greater

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sacrifice yet to come. And that sacrifice, one word, two syllables, is Jesus. Right. That's the

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sacrifice. Hebrews 9. Now, the book of Hebrews was written to tell the Jewish community how these

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Old Testament narratives connected with the gospel, connected with the life and personal

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work of Jesus Christ. So in Hebrews 9, the author of Hebrews explains, and he connects the dots

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between Jesus and this tabernacle

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and this sacrifice.

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Listen to what he said briefly in Hebrews 9.

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He says,

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But Christ came as a high priest,

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which is important,

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as a high priest of the good things to come,

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with a greater and more perfect tabernacle,

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not made with hands,

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that is not of this creation,

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not with blood of goats and calves,

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but with his own blood.

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He entered the most holy place once for all,

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having obtained eternal redemption.

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For Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands,

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which are copies of the true.

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You see this?

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The tabernacle is a type or shadow of heaven.

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He has not entered holy places that have been made with hands,

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which are copies of the true,

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but he has entered heaven itself,

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now to appear in the presence of God for us.

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Not that he should offer himself often,

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as the high priest goes in the holy place every year

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with the blood of another.

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Jesus would then have to suffer often

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since the foundation of the world.

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But now, once at the end of the age,

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He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

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And as it is appointed for men once to die,

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but after this the judgment,

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so Christ offered once to bear the sins of many.

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Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of every goat or sheep

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that was ever slaughtered.

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All those things, you could slaughter them to the rafters,

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and none of that would pay off a single sin.

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However, the sacrifice of those animals

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It's always meant to point ahead towards the death of one

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whose sacrifice would atone, not just for one sin,

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but collectively all the sins of God's people

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throughout all the ages.

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Now, how can any one person do that?

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Well, if it's you or an I, we can't.

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But Jesus was different.

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He was fully man, like we, but he was also what?

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Fully God.

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And you'll find that makes all the difference.

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Jesus lived the life that you and I should have lived,

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and he died the death that we should have died.

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And in Hebrews 9, we see that God is well-pleased

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through his sacrifice to forgive our sins.

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So back in the day, the reasons Moses couldn't enter the tabernacle

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was A, because he wasn't a high priest,

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B, because there was no sacrifice involved.

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And in order to enter a tent, in order to enter a temple,

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in order to enter into heaven, there must be payment made.

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And what we rejoice and recognize all these years later is this,

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that payment was made on Calvary.

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What happened on Calvary was the fulfillment of all these things that the Old Testament text

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pointed forward to. Jesus Christ did things that Moses never could. First of all, he lived a

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sinless, perfect life. Moses hadn't done that. Moses had killed a man and hit him in the sand

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decades earlier. Moses may have been an awesome guy, but he was still a sinner. But Jesus was

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not a sinner. He was sinless. Furthermore, he could enter into heaven itself because he was

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a high priest and didn't need a sacrifice in order to get there. Now, with that said,

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If Jesus Christ is doing that, entering into heaven,

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what good would that do us if he didn't invite us to join him?

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Well, what did he tell his disciples on the night he was betrayed?

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He said, in my Father's house are many mansions.

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I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you may be also.

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And I will come, and I will return, and I will take me,

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that you might join me in this glorious, holy, esteemed, heavenly place.

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But you don't punch your ticket there by doing better works than a person down the street.

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You don't punch your ticket by doing any collectional works.

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You don't punch your ticket at all.

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That's not what grace is.

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Grace is this, that while we were sinners, Christ died for us,

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and out of his own volition and desire to save people like you and I,

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he hung on a cross all those centuries ago,

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paid our debt all these centuries later,

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and in due time he sowed the seeds of faith in your heart

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that you might respond and believe and trust in him alone

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and put all your works to the side.

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The Apostle Paul, who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews,

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The Pharisee of the Pharisees, who had trusted in his works all his years,

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came to realize that his works were rubbish.

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And that's what he called them.

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He said, the singular basis by which I have hope,

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the singular basis by which I'm saved, is that Jesus Christ died for me.

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You see this throughout the book of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

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You see this in the book of Exodus, if you'll look.

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All right, let's look at our final verses.

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Final verses, verses 36 through 38.

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Now whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go

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onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey until the

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day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord is above the tabernacle by day and fires over

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by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. You know, back when

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the israelites had first left egypt they didn't know what was in the wilderness they expected to

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be scary and dangerous but they hadn't been there so what did god do they didn't even know where

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they were going they were going someplace scary they were going someplace dangerous they were not

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especially well provisioned they didn't have a lot of swords and weaponry and chariots to deal with

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any enemies they might find and they didn't even know where they were going so what happened

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Well, God led them.

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The same God who had cast plague after plague down on the Egyptians,

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now, miraculously, in the sky, led them

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through a pillar of fire by night and smoke cloud by day.

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And so he led them forward.

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And that's what we see in this text.

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Now, if you were just an average Israelite,

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let's put ourselves in the shoes of one of these individuals

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for a moment as we look to wrap up this morning.

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You've just left Egypt, which is the only land you'd ever known,

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the only place you'd ever known.

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You left a place that was terrible in the sense that there was beatings.

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The beatings will continue until all improves.

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There was beatings by the dozen.

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But there was food.

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There were beds.

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There was places to sleep.

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There was at least some sense of a future.

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And now, not only have you left all that behind,

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but you've gone to a place that is as stark as stark can be.

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If you've ever traveled or seen these regions,

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there's not much more of a God-forsaken place on this globe

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than the very places that they went.

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so let's say you're out there in the wilderness even after the events of sinai even as you look

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around you see manna and so forth you're still scared you're still you're still anxious with

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that said you had this one advantage was on the very night that you might be scared in your tent

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and you might be anxious about what the future might hold you might worry about what's over the

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horizon at those times when the fears of where you were crept in you could do this one thing

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you could exit your tent, you could look up, and what did you see? You saw this pillar of fire that

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had not left and would not leave until they'd entered the promised land. You could look in

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your own campsite, you could know the glory of God was there. So the comfort was not found in

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idealized circumstances. For some of us, that's where we think our comfort will come. When life

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calms down, when the doctor's report turns up good, when these challenges dissipate, then, then,

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when life is idealized, then I can relax. Then I'll know I'm safe. Believer, you're safe right

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now if God's with you. Remember what we said, I don't know, one, two weeks ago, we talked about

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the shepherd's psalm. The shepherd's psalm says this, yea, though I walk through the valley of

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the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're with me. You're with me. They

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can look at the pillar of fire and say, God is with me. God is with me. And that's what we see

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here. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, they moved on their journeys. If the

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cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey until the day that it was. For the cloud of the

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Lord was above the tabernacle by day and fire was over by night in the sight of all the house of

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Israel throughout all of their journeys. As we wrap up this morning, let me ask you, are you

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traveling through the wilderness? It'll take different forms, but are you traveling through

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wilderness in your own life? Are there scary things on your radar, on your horizon, maybe

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you right in front of you. Well, wouldn't you like to see a pillar of fire? Wouldn't you like

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tonight to look up and see a pillar of fire? Would that comfort you if you knew that God was showing

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you a sign that said, I'm with you. We got this. I'm with you in the midst of what you're facing.

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Well, let me suggest this to you. As neat as that would be to see the pillar of fire by night and

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to see it every night through the balance of our scary days, as neat as that would be,

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I'll tell you this much. God has given you one better. God has given you one better. You don't

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need to look to the tabernacle. You don't need to look for the pillar in the sky. You just need to

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look in the mirror. What does 1 Corinthians 3 say? It says, don't you know? Don't you know you who

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are scared? Don't you know you who are anxious? Don't you know you who are doubting? Don't you

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know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If the tabernacle

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was meant to comfort his people, if it was God's way of saying, I'm with you when you face the

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Philistines and the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Jebusites and cancer and death and sickness,

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if the tabernacle was God's way of saying, I'm with you, and they could look to that tabernacle

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and say, yes, he's with us, look to the pillar and say, yes, he's with us, you and I have one better.

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1 Corinthians says you are the temple.

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If the temple was better than the tabernacle,

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you're better than the temple.

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Why?

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Because following Pentecost,

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the Holy Spirit now dwells in the hearts of his people,

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the hearts of believers.

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And because that's true, we're never alone.

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Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

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I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.

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And I don't need to look at a tent in a desert to know that.

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If you've been walking with God for some period of time,

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you understand what it means to say this,

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that God is with me.

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And I know I'll still face scary stuff.

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I know eventually I'll face my own mortality.

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But even as I face that, God is with me.

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And he has never departed me all of my days.

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Those of you who have spent some time in the faith

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know what it's like to have that very statement stress tested

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by pain and hardship.

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And what you found, what I found, is that it holds up.

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That God is with me.

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And there's a peace that surpasses all understanding

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and it comes from this, not from me looking in a tent,

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but from me in prayer, understanding and feeling

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in a way that I can't fully articulate,

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but feeling and knowing with certainty that God is with me.

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No matter what this world might bring to my door.

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If that's you this morning,

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if the world has brought all sorts of scary things to your door,

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know this, God is with you.

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He may not change your circumstances.

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In fact, your circumstances may get worse,

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but the thing you can take to the bank

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the lock of the day is this that whatever those circumstances are that god will stand with you

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and then he will hold you in the midst of what you're facing his presence will never leave you

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he will never forsake you just like israel here in the last chapter the final chapter of the book

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exodus he tells people i'm with you i'm with you as you look at those scary things and guess what

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Guess what, Israel?

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I am going to lead you, and I am going to take you into the promised land.

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If you're facing hardship, if you're facing cancer,

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if you're facing economic hardships, relational hardships,

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whatever you're facing, know this.

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There is a promised land that awaits.

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The present life may be difficult, but God is with you in the midst of it,

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and in due time, he will carry you on eagle's wings

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to the very place you desire to go,

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a place where you'll be free of all the hardships you now face,

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and a place in which his hand, a time in which his hand will wipe away those tears,

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and you'll dwell with him for eternity.

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That's something to look forward to, and that's the narrative,

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not only the book of Exodus, but it's the narrative of the fullness of Scripture.

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Let's pray.