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This morning we’re reaching the end of our look at the life of Moses as recorded in the Book of Exodus, and I truly hope that you have seen that this is not just a story of a Hebrew and his people and what God did way back then.  Every story points ahead to the greater story, every deliverance and salvation points ahead to the greater salvation.  I can just see Jesus on the road to Emmaus, saying “you know that Passover lamb?  That was testifying to me!  The rescue through the Red Sea?  The rock in the wilderness?  The bread from heaven?  The glory of God?  It was all testifying to me.”  It is all about the gospel.  It’s what we all need - more than 3 sermons on how to be a better parent, or how to manage your money, or deal with stress – you need to believe the gospel.  It’s not just for conversion, but for believers as well.

Let’s finish our look at the life of Moses by looking at Exodus 40:18-38 and the construction of the tabernacle.

Exodus 40:18-38 - When Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place, erected the frames, inserted the crossbars and set up the posts.  ¹⁹ Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering over the tent, as the LORD commanded him.  ²⁰ He took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attached the poles to the ark and put the atonement cover over it.  ²¹ Then he brought the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain and shielded the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD commanded him.  ²² Moses placed the table in the Tent of Meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the curtain  ²³ and set out the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD commanded him.  ²⁴ He placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle  ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD commanded him.  ²⁶ Moses placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the curtain  ²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the LORD commanded him.  ²⁸ Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to the tabernacle.  ²⁹ He set the altar of burnt offering near the entrance to the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings, as the LORD commanded him.  ³⁰ He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing,  ³¹ and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet.  ³² They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, as the LORD commanded Moses.  ³³ Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.  ³⁴ Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.  ³⁵ Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.  ³⁶ In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out;  ³⁷ but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out-- until the day it lifted.  ³⁸ So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. 

When you read Exodus, you begin in slavery, there’s a lot of action as God rescues them from slavery, and then he brings them out into the wilderness, gives them the law, and then much of the last 15 chapters of the book is about setting up something called the tabernacle, climaxing in Exodus 40 with the construction of the tabernacle.  Reading today it may be hard to get, but this was central to the Exodus story.  What was the tabernacle?  What do we learn from it?  And how does it fit into the larger salvation story of the Bible?