Exodus 40: Open For Business

A building can look finished on the outside and still feel empty until the lights come on and the doors swing open. Exodus 40 is that moment for Israel’s tabernacle, the final step after a long season of planning, building, and waiting. When God’s glory fills the tent of meeting, it becomes more than sacred furniture and careful craftsmanship. It becomes a visible reminder that the God who set them free is also the God who will stay with them. 

We walk through the dedication of the tabernacle in Exodus 40: the Ark of the Covenant behind the curtain, the lampstand and bread of the Presence, the incense altar, the burnt offering altar, and the wash basin. Over and over, the text says Moses does everything “just as the Lord had commanded,” and that repetition matters. It shows how worship, holiness, and obedience form a people who can move forward into the promised land with confidence, not because they are strong, but because God is near. 

Then comes the stunning turning point: the cloud covers the tabernacle and the glory of the Lord fills it so powerfully that Moses cannot enter. That same cloud becomes Israel’s guide for every stage of the wilderness journey, with fire glowing at night so no one doubts God’s presence after dark. We also talk about what that means for us today: you don’t go to church and leave God there. If you follow Jesus, you are never truly alone, no matter the season you’re in. 

If this encouraged you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one place in your life where you need to remember God is with you right now?

Transcript

Welcome And The Daily Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us, and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Exodus Finale Open For Business

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Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, the grand finale, Exodus chapter 40. And today's title is Open for Business. Open for Business. You know, one of my favorite things is I live in a city called Bowling Green, Kentucky, and it seems like almost every week there is a new small business that is opening up. And I love watching the process because, you know, many times it's a new construction. So you will see them, you know, break ground, lay the foundation, and they'll build the infrastructure. And then it seems like nothing is happening, even though you know stuff's happening on the inside, right? And then one day you'll be driving by and you'll see lights are on. And still for a while, nothing's happening. And then you slowly see furniture going there. And then you can tell they're doing like some testing and all this kind of stuff. And then it seems like for a while, nothing's happening. And then boom, open for business. And it's just so much fun going in there and just seeing all the stuff. And that's what I think about when I think about this chapter. They have been working on and building the tabernacle and all this kind of stuff. And now finally it's time to open for business, to worship. And now that they are going to get ready to worship, they can begin their journey

From Egypt To A House Of Worship

SPEAKER_01 1:36

to the promised land. So we're going to get all of that. This is the final chapter. It's going to be great. Get your Bibles, get your Bible journals out. Also make sure you take just a moment, like, share, and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. And make sure you're going to the Bible breakdown discussion on Facebook. There's an amazing group of people doing a wonderful job, writing blog articles, devotionals on there every single day. You can get all that information at the Biblebreakdown.com because the more we dig, the more we find. Well, once again, they have been building the tabernacle, the house of worship where people were going to be able to worship. And what a journey we've been on. When we first began this, Israel was in bondage in Egypt. And then God sent Moses to declare the goodness of God. And there were the ten plagues, and all of that was uh was just amazing. And then God set them free. But then Egypt, the uh the army of Egypt started coming after them. So God split the Red Sea and they would go through there on dry ground. And then God caused the sea to come back over and destroy the Egyptians. And then they started off and they didn't even make it to Mount Sinai for they they were just a complainant. But God was good. They got there to Mount Sinai, God's presence came down on Mount Sinai, and then through that whole process, God gave Moses the plan for the house of worship because God said, You're gonna go to the promised land, and I'm going to. Now, obviously, God's everywhere, but it's like I want my visible presence as far as a place where you know that I am dwelling with you, I want to go with you. And so that's what they've been constructing is this house of worship where they could go and worship God. And they've been preparing it. We've been reading for days now about how they were building this and building that. Well, now it is time for them to dedicate the temple. And once again, once it's dedicated, the house of worship is now open for business. They're gonna head toward the promised land. So let's read this together, this grand finale of Exodus.

Setting Up The Tabernacle Step By Step

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Exodus 40, verse 1 says this. Then the Lord said to Moses, set up the tabernacle on the first day of the new year. Place the Ark of the Covenant inside and install the inner curtain to enclose the ark within the most holy place. Then bring the table and arrange the utensils on it, bring the lampstand and set up the lamps, place the gold incense altar in front of the ark of the covenant, then hang the curtain at the entrance of the tabernacle. Place the altar of burnt offerings in front of the tabernacle entrance, set the wash basin between the tabernacle and the altar and fill it with water. Then set up the courtyard around the outside of the tent, hang the curtain for the courtyard entrance, and take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all its furnishings to consecrate them and to make them holy. Anoint the altar of burnt offerings and its utensils to consecrate them. Then the altar will become absolutely holy. Next, anoint the wash basin and its stands to consecrate them. Priest, present Aaron and his sons at the entrance of the tabernacle, and wash them with water. Dress Aaron with the sacred garments and anoint him, consecrating him to serve me as a priest. Then present his sons and dress them in their tunics. Anoint them as you did their father, so they may also serve me as priests. With their anointing, Aaron's descendants are set apart for the priesthood forever, from generation to generation. Moses proceeded to do everything just as the Lord had commanded him. So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year. Moses erected the tabernacle, setting down its bases, inserting its frames, attaching it crossbars, and setting up the posts. Then he spread the coverings over the tabernacle framework and put on the productive layers, just as the Lord had commanded him. He took the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant and placed them inside the ark. He attached the carrying poles to the ark and set the ark's cover, the place of atonement, on top of it. He brought the Ark of the Covenant into the tabernacle and hung the inner curtain to shield it from view, just as the Lord had commanded him. Next, Moses placed the table in the tabernacle along with the north along the north side of the holy place, just outside the inner curtain. He arranged the bread of the presence, also known as a table of showbread, on the table before the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded him. He set the lampstand in the tabernacle across from the table on the south side of the holy place. He lit the lamps in the Lord's presence just as the Lord had commanded him. He also placed the gold incense altar in the tabernacle in the holy place in front of the inner curtain. On it he burned the fragrant incense just as the Lord had commanded him. And he hung the curtain at the entrance of the tabernacle, and he placed the altar of burnt offering near the tabernacle entrance. On it he offered a burnt offering and a grain offering, just as the Lord had commanded him. Next, Moses placed the wash basin between the tabernacle and the altar, and he filled it with water so the priests could wash themselves. Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons used water from it to wash their hands and feet. Whenever they approached the altar and entered the tabernacle, they washed themselves, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he hung the curtains forming the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar, and he set up the curtain at the entrance of the courtyard. So at last Moses finished the work. Here we go.

The Glory Cloud Guides The Journey

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Then the cloud covered the tabernacle, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could no longer enter the tabernacle because of the cloud had settled down over it, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Now, whenever the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. But if the cloud did not rise, they remained there until it lifted. The cloud of the Lord hovered over the tabernacle during the day, and at night the fire glowed inside the cloud, so the whole family of Israel could see it, and it continued throughout all their journeys.

God With Us In Every Season

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Wow.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

And so ends the book of Exodus, but not the journey of the people. So let me tell you what happens after this. The Bible says that after they had built the tabernacle, and can you imagine just now, first of all, it's it's important to realize that God is everywhere, right? He he is he holds the universe in the palm of his hand. So it's not like he can't be one place or another, but he allowed a concentration of his presence to reside in this tabernacle for the people to see, I'm going to. I'm going to go on this journey with you. And so there was this cloud that would hover over the tabernacle to remind the people that this wasn't just a building, this was a representation of where God was dwelling. They had tents they lived in, God had a tent he was going to live in. And so he would have a cloud by day. And what I love is he wanted them to know I'm also with you at night. So there would be a fire, a glow at night. So they knew that God wasn't going anywhere, day or night. And then the Bible says that after this, now you have Leviticus where it was telling them, okay, here's how you do the do the offerings and the different things and all this kind of stuff. And then numbers says, and they start out on their journey and they head toward the promised land and they get up to all kinds of stuff. It's a long journey. They're not even near done. But what I love about this is no matter the journey, whether it was wonderful success or they had to deal with failure and rebellion and all this kind of stuff, the cloud stayed. God stayed with them. He was there for the journey. It's open for business. And you know what I love about God? That's what he does with us. When we ask God to come and we repent of our sins and we come and let him take over over our lives, and we call it coming to live in our heart, but really he doesn't live in our heart, he lives everywhere. He takes over our lives. God says, I'm coming too. You know, you don't go to church and leave him there on Sundays, but we become the tabernacle of God. He he comes and lives in us. And so wherever we go, he's with us. He's with us in the morning, he's with us at night. There's no place that we can go, that his presence is not near. And that should be the greatest comfort that we have is while there was not a single journey, whether they were doing great or they were in rebellion, there wasn't a single journey that the nation of Israel went that God didn't go, the same with us. Right now, God is with you. If you are going through the greatest season of your life, God is with you. If you feel all alone, God is with you. If you're dealing with shame because of things of your past or maybe even things going on in your present, God is with you. He wants to be more real than you can imagine. Here's my question for you today. When is the last time that you just stopped and thought, I'm not alone right now? The very presence of God surrounds me. If you're a Christ follower, the very presence of God is within me. And that God is just a whisper away. God's even closer than that. God is a thought away. But closer than when you can even think of his name, God is there. And he is with you throughout all the journeys of life. Isn't that amazing? He doesn't just set us free like he did at the beginning of Exodus. He sets us free, he sets up our life, and then he walks with us through every adventure. Let's pray together

Prayer And Closing Promise Of Freedom

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right now. God, thank you so much for the book of Exodus. Thank you for the journey that you've had us on. Thank you, God, that this journey is not even close to over, but it's just been a wonderful beginning. I pray, God, as we continue to read your word, you'll continue to open our eyes to see that you are with us and you are for us and you are journeying with us through every adventure of life. I love you. I'm so thankful for you, Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And amen. It has been a wonderful journey to read through the book of Exodus with you. And I want to read this one more time. Exodus 6, verse 6 says, I will free you from your oppression and I will rescue you from slavery. What an honor it is to know a God of freedom. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the next part of the Bible Breakdown Podcast.