God's House in Order: The Grammar of Obedience Text: Exodus 40:17-33
Introduction: From Blueprint to Building
We live in an age that despises blueprints. Our generation is allergic to instructions. We want the freedom of self-expression without the constraints of a fixed design. We want to build our own lives, our own morality, our own reality, using whatever materials we find lying around, and we want to call the resulting shack a palace. But the book of Exodus ends with a thunderous repudiation of all such architectural folly. For chapters upon chapters, God has been giving Moses the most detailed, intricate, and demanding set of blueprints the world has ever seen. Now, at the climax of the book, the blueprints become a building. The divine design becomes a divine dwelling.
The final chapters of Exodus can seem tedious to the modern reader. There is a great deal of repetition. God says, "Make it this way," and then the text says, "And they made it that way." But this is not poor editing. This is the very heart of the matter. The repetition is a drumbeat of faithfulness. It is the rhythm of covenantal obedience. God is teaching His people, and us, a foundational lesson: you build God's house God's way. There is no room for improvisation. There is no place for artistic license. The creature does not get to tell the Creator how He ought to be worshiped or how He will dwell among them.
This passage is the culmination of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. They were saved from bondage not to wander aimlessly in the wilderness, but to become a worshiping people, a kingdom of priests, with God dwelling visibly in their midst. The construction of the Tabernacle is the goal of the Exodus. God brings them out so that He might bring them in, into His presence. And the only way into His presence is the way He Himself prescribes. This detailed account of the Tabernacle's erection is a masterclass in the grammar of obedience, showing us that true worship is not about our feelings or preferences, but about careful, meticulous, joyful submission to the Word of God.
What we are witnessing here is nothing less than the construction of a miniature, portable cosmos. It is a new Eden, a beachhead of Heaven on earth, where God will once again walk with man. And as we shall see, every board, every curtain, and every piece of furniture is dripping with theological significance, pointing forward to the true Tabernacle, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the house He is building, which is the Church.
The Text
Now it happened, in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. Moses erected the tabernacle and laid its bases and set up its boards and inserted its bars and erected its pillars. He spread the tent over the tabernacle and placed the covering of the tent on top of it, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. Then he took the testimony and put it into the ark and attached the poles to the ark and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle and placed the veil of the screen and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. Then he put the table in the tent of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil. He set the arrangement of bread in order on it before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. Then he placed the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle. He lighted the lamps before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. Then he placed the gold altar in the tent of meeting in front of the veil; and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. Then he placed the screen at the doorway of the tabernacle. He placed the altar of burnt offering before the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and he offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. He placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing. From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. When they entered the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses. He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the screen for the gateway of the court. Thus Moses finished the work.
(Exodus 40:17-33 LSB)
The Foundation of Faithfulness (vv. 17-19)
The work begins with a specific date and a foundational action.
"Now it happened, in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. Moses erected the tabernacle and laid its bases and set up its boards and inserted its bars and erected its pillars. He spread the tent over the tabernacle and placed the covering of the tent on top of it, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses." (Exodus 40:17-19)
The timing is significant. This is almost exactly one year after the first Passover. God is marking a new beginning. The first year was the year of redemption from slavery. The second year begins with the establishment of worship. Redemption is never an end in itself; it is always for the purpose of worship. God saves us from something in order to save us to something, namely, fellowship with Him.
Notice who does the work. "Moses erected the tabernacle." While Bezalel and Oholiab were the master craftsmen, Moses the mediator oversees and executes the final assembly. This is a priestly act. He is setting up the house where God will meet with His people. The structure is built from the ground up: bases, boards, bars, pillars. This is a picture of right order. You don't start with the roof. You start with the foundation. And the foundation of all true worship is the Word of God, which is precisely what Moses is following.
And here we find the refrain that will echo like a bell throughout this entire chapter: "just as Yahweh had commanded Moses." This phrase, or one very much like it, appears seven times in our text and many more times in the surrounding chapters. This is the seal of divine approval. This is the definition of success in the kingdom of God. Success is not innovation; it is obedience. Success is not creativity; it is conformity to the divine pattern. God is not looking for our bright ideas. He is looking for our faithful obedience. The modern church is infatuated with novelty, with chasing the latest trend, with marketing gimmicks designed to make worship more "relevant." But God's standard of relevance is faithfulness to His commands. The most relevant thing we can do is exactly what God has told us to do.
Furnishing the Holy of Holies (vv. 20-21)
Once the structure is up, Moses begins to furnish it, starting from the inside out, from the most holy place.
"Then he took the testimony and put it into the ark... and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. He brought the ark into the tabernacle and placed the veil of the screen and screened off the ark of the testimony, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses." (Exodus 40:20-21 LSB)
The first and most important piece of furniture is the Ark of the Covenant, containing the "testimony," the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. This is the heart of the Tabernacle because it represents the very throne of God. God's rule is founded upon His law, His unchanging moral character. At the center of worship is the Word of God. But this law is a law that condemns us. It is a testimony against our sin. So, on top of the Ark is placed the mercy seat, the Kapporet, where the blood of the atonement would be sprinkled once a year. Here, at the very throne of God, law and mercy meet. God's justice is satisfied and His mercy is extended, all through the shedding of blood.
This entire arrangement is a magnificent picture of Christ. He is the Ark, the one who perfectly contained and kept the law of God. He is the Mercy Seat, our propitiation, where the wrath of God against sin was fully absorbed (Romans 3:25). And then a veil is put up. This thick curtain separates the holy God from sinful man. It is a constant, visible reminder that sin creates separation. Access is forbidden on pain of death. But we know what happened to the veil when Christ finished His work. It was torn in two, from top to bottom, signifying that the way into the true Holy of Holies, the very presence of God, has been opened for all who come by faith in Him (Matthew 27:51).
Furnishing the Holy Place (vv. 22-27)
Moving out from the Holy of Holies, Moses furnishes the Holy Place, the room accessible only to the priests.
"Then he put the table... He set the arrangement of bread in order on it... Then he placed the lampstand... He lighted the lamps... Then he placed the gold altar... and he burned fragrant incense on it, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses." (Exodus 40:22-27 LSB)
Three items are placed here. First, the Table of Showbread on the north side. Twelve loaves of bread were kept on this table, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, perpetually in the presence of God. This is a picture of communion and provision. God desires to fellowship with His people and to be their provider. Jesus picks up this imagery when He declares, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). He is our true sustenance, the one who brings us into God's presence.
Opposite the table, on the south side, is the golden Lampstand, the Menorah. Its seven lamps were to burn continually, providing the only light within the Holy Place. This represents the light of God's truth, His divine revelation. God does not leave His people to stumble in the dark. He provides His Word as a lamp to our feet (Psalm 119:105). Again, Jesus fulfills this: "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). The light we have is from Him, and the church is called to be a lampstand, holding forth that light in a dark world (Revelation 1:20).
Finally, directly in front of the veil, stands the Altar of Incense. Here, fragrant incense was burned morning and evening, and its smoke would ascend up and over the veil into the Holy of Holies. This represents the prayers of God's people, made acceptable through the priestly ministry and ascending as a sweet-smelling aroma before the throne of God (Revelation 5:8). Our access in prayer is not based on our own merit, but is offered on the basis of a sacrifice, pointing to the intercession of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ.
At the Doorway: The Courtyard (vv. 28-33)
Moses then moves outside the tent itself into the courtyard, setting up the instruments of sacrifice and cleansing.
"He placed the altar of burnt offering before the doorway... and he offered on it the burnt offering and the meal offering... He placed the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing... From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet... Thus Moses finished the work." (Exodus 40:28-33 LSB)
The first thing one encounters upon entering the courtyard is the bronze Altar of Burnt Offering. You cannot approach God's house without first dealing with sin. The way in is through blood. A sacrifice must be made. This altar stands at the very entrance, declaring to all that the wages of sin is death, and that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. It is a bloody, brutal, and unavoidable reality. This, of course, points to the cross of Christ, the ultimate altar where the Lamb of God was sacrificed once for all.
Between the altar and the tent is the Laver, a large basin of water for the priests to wash their hands and feet. After the sacrifice, there must be cleansing. Atonement is followed by sanctification. We are not only forgiven, we are washed. This points to the daily cleansing from the defilement of sin that we need, a cleansing provided by the water of the Word (Ephesians 5:26) and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). You deal with sin at the altar, and you deal with the filth of the world at the laver.
And with the final screen of the court erected, the text gives us this glorious, final statement: "Thus Moses finished the work." This phrase deliberately echoes the creation account. In Genesis 2:1, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished." Moses, as God's covenant mediator, has completed a work of new creation. He has built a microcosm, a sanctuary world where God and man can dwell together. This finished work of Moses is a type, a foreshadowing of the greater finished work of Christ, who, upon the cross, declared, "It is finished" (John 19:30). Moses finished the house; Christ finished the work of salvation that makes us the house.
The Grammar of Our Worship
This entire chapter is a lesson in liturgical grammar. There is a right way to approach God, and it follows a divinely appointed pattern. You don't just barge into the Holy of Holies. You must come God's way.
You begin outside, in the courtyard, at the Altar. You must begin with the cross. You must acknowledge your sin and cling to the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There is no other way into the family of God. This is justification.
Then you move to the Laver. Having been justified, you are now engaged in the lifelong process of being cleansed, of washing away the grime of sin through repentance and faith. This is sanctification.
Only then can you enter the Holy Place, the place of priestly service. As a kingdom of priests, we now have access. We come to the Table to have communion with God through Christ, the Bread of Life. We stand by the Lampstand, receiving light from Christ, the Light of the World, so that we might be a light to the nations. And we approach the Altar of Incense, offering up our prayers, which are made acceptable through the fragrant intercession of our High Priest.
All of this is our preparation to one day enter the true Holy of Holies, not made with hands, when Christ returns. The central lesson is this: God has a prescribed order for worship because worship is a re-enactment of the gospel. Our worship services should reflect this grammar. We are called to order, we confess our sin (the altar), we receive assurance of pardon (the laver), we hear God's Word (the lampstand), we sit at His table (the table of showbread), and we offer our prayers and praises (the altar of incense). This is not empty ritual; it is the shape of the gospel, the pattern of relating to a holy God, established here at the foot of Sinai and fulfilled perfectly at the foot of Calvary.