*Scripture: Exodus 40:17-38 (NKJV)* 17 And it came to pass in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up. 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. *Devotion* The glory of God was veiled in a cloud. The cloud acted as a screen to shroud the fullness of the divine presence from sinful eyes in order to prevent their death. In that cloud the Lord God willingly confined His gracious presence as He led Israel safely out of Egypt and through the desert. Now, with the tabernacle completed “the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” Jesus is the glory of the Triune God, veiled in humanity (see John 1:14). Clouds appear in the Gospels to remind us of this. Whenever they appear big things happen. On the Mount of Transfiguration, from a cloud, the Father’s voice disclosed the glory of Jesus. The Father commanded Peter, James, and John to listen to Him, for He is the Incarnate Word through Whom the Father speaks. And as Jesus ascended into Heaven a cloud covered Him. Jesus’ humanity is the cloud that veils His divinity. The preaching of the Gospel delivers Jesus so that we come to discover “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor. 4:6). Jesus is our place of worship. In Him the Divine Service is enacted. In Him we have access to the Father’s grace, for He brings us near to the Father and presents us to Him. His flesh is our new and living way into the Father’s presence. Rev. Dcn. Jerry Dulas, as eCourier of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
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