Today's TRC DB & Lena's Journalin to Exodus 40 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Exodus 40:1-38
The Tabernacle Completed
1The LORD now said to Moses, 2"Set up the Tabernacle F93 on the first day of the new year. F94 3Place the Ark of the Covenant F95 inside, and install the inner curtain to enclose the Ark within the Most Holy Place. 4Then bring in the table, and arrange the utensils on it. And bring in the lampstand, and set up the lamps.
5"Place the incense altar just outside the inner curtain, opposite the Ark of the Covenant. Set up the curtain made for the entrance of the Tabernacle. 6Place the altar of burnt offering in front of the Tabernacle entrance. 7Set the large washbasin between the Tabernacle F96 and the altar and fill it with water. 8Then set up the courtyard around the outside of the tent, and hang the curtain for the courtyard entrance.
9"Take the anointing oil and sprinkle it on the Tabernacle and on all its furnishings to make them holy. 10Sprinkle the anointing oil on the altar of burnt offering and its utensils, sanctifying them. Then the altar will become most holy. 11Next anoint the large washbasin and its pedestal to make them holy.
12"Bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tabernacle, and wash them with water. 13Clothe Aaron with the holy garments and anoint him, setting him apart to serve me as a priest. 14Then bring his sons and dress them in their tunics. 15Anoint them as you did their father, so they may serve me as priests. With this anointing, Aaron's descendants are set apart for the priesthood forever, from generation to generation."
16Moses proceeded to do everything as the LORD had commanded him. 17So the Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the new year. F97 18Moses put it together by setting its frames into their bases and attaching the crossbars and raising the posts. 19Then he spread the coverings over the Tabernacle framework and put on the roof layers, just as the LORD had commanded him.
20He placed inside the Ark the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, F98 and then he attached the Ark's carrying poles. He also set the Ark's cover—the place of atonement—on top of it. 21Then he brought the Ark of the Covenant into the Tabernacle and set up the inner curtain to shield it from view, just as the LORD had commanded.
22Next he placed the table in the Tabernacle, along the north side of the Holy Place, just outside the inner curtain. 23And he arranged the Bread of the Presence on the table that stands before the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded.
24He set the lampstand in the Tabernacle across from the table on the south side of the Holy Place. 25Then he set up the lamps in the LORD's presence, just as the LORD had commanded. 26He also placed the incense altar in the Tabernacle, in the Holy Place in front of the inner curtain. 27On it he burned the fragrant incense made from sweet spices, just as the LORD had commanded.
28He attached the curtain at the entrance of the Tabernacle, 29and 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.
30Next he placed the large washbasin between the Tabernacle and the altar. He filled it with water so the priests could use it to wash themselves. 31Moses and Aaron and Aaron's sons washed their hands and feet in the basin. 32Whenever they walked past the altar to enter the Tabernacle, they were to stop and wash, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
33Then 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.
The LORD's Glory Fills the Tabernacle
34Then the cloud covered the Tabernacle, and the glorious presence of the LORD filled it. 35Moses was no longer able to enter the Tabernacle because the cloud had settled down over it, and the Tabernacle was filled with the awesome glory of the LORD.
36Now whenever the cloud lifted from the Tabernacle and moved, the people of Israel would set out on their journey, following it. 37But if the cloud stayed, they would stay until it moved again. 38The cloud of the LORD rested on the Tabernacle during the day, and at night there was fire in the cloud so all the people of Israel could see it. This continued throughout all their journeys.
FOOTNOTES:F93: Hebrew the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting; also in 40:6, 29. F94: Hebrew the first day of the first month. This day of the Hebrew lunar calendar occurs in March or early April. F95: Or Ark of the Testimony; also in 40:5, 21. F96: Hebrew Tent of Meeting; also in 40:12, 22, 24, 26, 30, 32, 34, 35. F97: Hebrew the first day of the first month, in the second year. See note on 40:2b. F98: Hebrew the Testimony.


Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
I love to study the tabernacle. It is an amazing specific and intricately detailed model.
What is it a model of? It is a model of people. Isn’t that so cool? Are we not amazing and specifically detailed? Even more so than this Tabernacle model.
Why did God model it so? Why so specific?
It shows He loves and cares and wants us, even in our own sinful nature, to be led to Him and come into His holy awesome presence where we find He is all we need and where our needs for Him will be revealed and satisfied.
I like how this scripture details the tabernacle from the outside in.
Set up the tabernacle and place the Ark of the Covenant inside of it.
What does that mean?
It means you have a living being, born of natural means, now the first thing and most important thing to do is to make a place inside of that person for God to live. They need to be born again, they need to be sanctified by God’s spirit through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, get saved from the effect of the natural bloodlines they were born in. Get cleaned up from the call of the flesh and the world, open the door to Christ, invite Him in and allow Him to live in and through each person alive on earth.
Let there be light enough to see God’s presence there continually.
Put incense just outside of this holy of holy place. Let there be a sweet scent there, and inviting fragrance for intimacy there.
Outside of here, as one approaches the presence in the inner person, let there be a washing from where we’ve been that is not in or of the unhindered pure presence of God. Even as ministers of God who stand in the gap for people, helping them to come to forgiveness and be able to see God for themselves, one can get stained by natural blood. They’ve stood in a place of service and have done very good things, but were dirtied by life and its requirements. They need to be washed.
With washing also needs to come replenishing. Anointing and covering with what is of God, rather than what is of the world or your natural heritage or even service and ministry to others, for God. The priests anointed all that leads us to approach God. I was thinking about the scents. From outside of the tabernacle, we smell like who we are or where we’ve been or where we go each day, even in our thoughts. Then we come towards God’s presence and need to be stripped per se of all of this.
There’s a need for blood shed. Blood shed for the forgiveness of sin. What does that mean exactly? It means one gives his life for another. Lays down his life a ransom for the payment of the penalty that sin required. In order to have God’s presence in us someone had to die for that privilege to be awarded. Sin’s penalty is death. If we don’t die, someone or something has to. God made lambs to take the place of man, and then Jesus came as the Lamb of God to take away all sins. Lambs were sacrificed for each person’s sins, but Jesus was sacrificed willingly for all sins. So we approach through shed blood.
Can you imagine the smell of shed animal blood? Even if one washes he cannot be completely rid of that smell, especially if he is the priest who has to sacrifice for say 50 people in a day! I bet sin became putrid to him. I bet he wished there was a better way. I bet he was so happy when people repented! Went and sinned no more. One less sacrifice to make. Yet if they sinned he rejoiced that there was the ability to make a blood atonement for the sin, so those who sinned could be forgiven rather than die un redeemed.
The smell on him was a scent of flesh. God provided ways to change the scent. Anointing the utensils, anointing the tabernacle furnishings, and the persons who desired to serve the Lord.
The incense was being burned so that even the air was being cleared of the flesh’s scent.
When a priest approached the most intimate place of God’s presence he wanted to stand before God all washed, all anointed, and newly scented in ways the Lord liked, in what was pleasing to God. A cleaned up, redeemed vessel is oh so pleasing to God.
May the pleasure of the Lord be upon us and work in us change, from worldliness, and flesh natured scents to Divine life and Holy Anointing which pleases the Lord.
Aaron and his descendants after him were anointed and clothed for the approach of God’s Holy presence and so we should be. They were taken out of the world and made holy unto the lord for the Lord’s use and work. They were in God’s continual presence, this is our destiny, this is our call, to always be in His presence wherever we are at the time. To carry God’s presence everywhere we go.
I recently heard that we may not think we take God everywhere. Like if we grieve Him in a certain place we go He stays home, no we are His mobile presence and we take Him along , we may grieve Him where we go, but we do take Him there.
Now be careful little eye what you see, now be careful little ears what you hear for the Lord who loves you so goes wherever you may go so be careful little feet where you walk…. And That’s not just for Sunday school aged kids, It’s for us all!

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.