Exodus 40:18-38 NKJV
18 So Moses raised up the tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. 19 And he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 20 He took the Testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings of the ark, and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. 21 And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, hung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the Testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
22 He put the table in the tabernacle of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil; 23 and he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 24 He put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle; 25 and he lit the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 26 He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil; 27 and he burned sweet incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 28 He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle. 29 And he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 30 He set the laver between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar, and put water there for washing; 31 and Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it. 32 Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meeting, and when they came near the altar, they washed, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 33 And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work.
34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
With Moses abiding by the Word of the Lord, the completion of the tabernacle takes place. God’s presence with His people takes on a new chapter (so to speak). A cloud covered the tent, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. It was filled with glory, as when Solomon consecrated his temple (1 Kings 8:11), where the same words may be found. It was magnificent, like Jerusalem on Pentecost (Acts 2:2).
For us — the “glory of the Lord” is our Lord Jesus Christ! Isaiah refers to Him in such a way: “Your light comes, and the glory of the Lord arises upon You.” For Christ is the brightest of the glory of the heavenly Father (see Hebrews 1:3) and has revealed Himself to the world with the great and divine glory, of which John 1:14 proclaims: “We have seen His glory, glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We shall close out with the final words on the mysteries of Christ in the Book of Exodus by Valerious Herberger (a 16th & 17th century Lutheran theologian), who, as you have followed earlier, tends to bring it back to Christ through prayer. So… Let us pray: “Oh, Lord Jesus, my last hour will also be called a departure or exit from all misery! Help my life to conclude as Moses’ exodus, or “exit,” concluded (Deut. 34:5). Let this be my art of dying, my solace and treasure in my last journey from this life. O Lord Jesus, cover my soul with the cloud of Your grace, fill the tabernacle of my heart with the glory of Your comfort, abide with me and do not forsake me. And when I must bid this world good-night, then arise O Captain of Life. “Let God arise, that His enemies may be scattered (Ps. 68:1). Lighten then the dark night my gloomy heart, show me in bright daylight the way to heaven, O my King and Lord. Go out before me, as Micah 2:13 says, and bring me to life everlasting, and my departure will be a blessed exit from all misery and a blessed entrance to that joy which no man shall take from us (Jn. 16:22)” (The Great Works of God, Part VI, translation Matthew Carver, pg. 594, Emmanuel Press).