40:1ff Moses was careful to obey God’s instructions in the smallest detail. Notice that he didn’t make a reasonable facsimile of God’s description, but an exact copy. We should follow Moses’ example and be fastidious about our obedience. If God has told you to do something, do it, do it right, and do it completely.
40:16 God told Moses how to build the Tabernacle, and Moses delegated jobs in order to do it. God allows people to participate with him in carrying out his will. Your task is not just to sit and watch God work, but to give your best effort when work needs to be done.
40:17-33 The physical care of the Tabernacle required a long list of tasks, and each was important to the work of God’s house. This principle is important to remember today when God’s house is the church. There are many seemingly unimportant tasks that must be done to keep your church building maintained. Washing dishes, painting walls, or shoveling snow may not seem very spiritual. But they are vital to the ministry of the church and are an important part of our worship of God.
40:34 The Tabernacle was God’s home on earth. He filled it with his glory—the overpowering sense of his presence. Almost 500 years later, Solomon built the Temple, which replaced the Tabernacle as the central place of worship. God also filled the Temple with his glory (2 Chronicles 5:13, 14). But when Israel turned from God, his glory and presence departed from the Temple, and it was destroyed by invading armies (2 Kings 25). The Temple was rebuilt in 515 B.C. God’s glory returned in even greater splendor nearly five centuries later when Jesus Christ, God’s Son, entered it and taught. When Jesus was crucified, God’s glory again left the Temple. However, God no longer needed a physical building after Jesus rose from the dead. God’s temple now is his church, the body of believers.
40:38 The Israelites were once Egyptian slaves making bricks without straw. Here they were following the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire, carrying the Tabernacle they had built for God. Exodus begins in gloom and ends in glory. This parallels our progress through the Christian life. We begin as slaves to sin, are redeemed by God, and end our pilgrimage living with God forever. The lessons the Israelites learned along the way are ones we also need to learn.