Do you want to learn how to read, interpret, and apply God’s word? In today’s episode, let’s get some hands-on practice.
This is Scripture for Students. I’m Steve Whitacre, president of Trinity College and a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville. I want to help students build a daily habit for life-long Bible reading. Today is March 28, 2025 and this is a Read With Me episode from Exodus 40. What I mean is that in this episode, rather than you just listen to me talk about the day’s reading, I want to read the text with you and have you get some hands-on experience with interpretation. So grab your Bible, your journal, and a pen, and let’s get started.
Our readings for today are Exodus 39, John 18, and Proverbs 15.
Please open your Bibles to Exodus 40.
That’s right, I’m doing something a little different here. Exodus 40 is one of our chapters for tomorrow, March 29. But I really want to talk about it in today’s episode, so you can double up and read two chapters of Exodus today or you can pause the podcast here and come back tomorrow. Your call!
Either way, I want us to look at what happens in Exodus 40. It’s pretty exciting, so I hope you’ll stay with it.
I’ll tell you a story to get us into this. My family moved around a lot growing up, about every 2–3 years, we would move on to a new city and a new house so that by the time I graduated high school I had lived in 7 different houses which is certainly fewer than some people, but still a lot of moving. I always loved moving days. Moving into a house—even if it was an old house, it was new to us. We would get in early and clean and you got to set everything up just the way you wanted. It was always an adventure.
In today’s Scripture for Students, guess what? It’s moving day. I’m going to read some verses from Exodus 40 and see if you can tell who is moving in!
Exodus 40:1–3
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “On the first day of the first month you shall erect the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
3 And you shall put in it the ark of the testimony, and you shall screen the ark with the veil.
Now, let’s jump down to Exodus 40:17,
17 In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.
And now, jump down a little bit further and we are also going to read Exodus 40:32–38,
32 When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the LORD commanded Moses.
33 And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
36 Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.
37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing and the keeping of his Word.
Ok, so whose moving day is it? Did you figure it out? If you were thinking God himself, you are absolutely right. Look at verse 33: it says, “So Moses finished the work.” Everything is all put together, cleaned up, arranged just so. The tabernacle is ready for occupancy. And then what happens? Amazing: in verse 34, “…then the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” It says it again in verse 35.
This is an amazing passage and now I want you to be able to make some observations, too. I’d like you to take a minute and read through this last paragraph of Exodus again and pay attention to the word “cloud.” Then make a list of everything the cloud does in this paragraph and also write out: what do you think is the significance of the cloud? So now you can pause the podcast, do that, and come back when you are done.
Ok, what did you find? Hopefully you wrote down some things like this: first, the cloud covered the tent so that the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In verses 35 and 36, the cloud either settles on the tabernacle or is taken up from it, so that the people know that they are supposed to either stay or go. And maybe you noticed in verse 38 that it is a cloud during the day but turns into a pillar of fire by night. And: in verse 38, it was always in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. That’s pretty thorough.
So what did you put for the significance of the cloud of the Lord? Well, you probably said something like, it is the visible manifestation of God’s presence with Israel. It could be the presence and power of the Holy Spirit with them, but if it not, the cloud’s presence with Israel is a constant reminder to them that God is with them and for them and present to help and protect them. What a wonderful gift that is!
Next, let’s think about the significance of this moment. What do you think it would mean to Israel that God moved into the tabernacle with them? Take a minute and try to imagine that you are one of the Israelites at this time. Remember what it said in verse 17: It was the first day of the first month of the second year. In other words, it has been a year since the Israelites were miraculously delivered from the Egyptians. They have been encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai the whole time. So what do you think it would mean to them? Take a minute, try to imagine that you were there, and write down a few things that you think it would mean to you. Now you can pause the podcast, do that, and come back when you are done.
Ok, what did you come up with? There are probably a lot of ways to answer this question. Here are a couple ideas. It certainly meant that God was pleased with the construction of the tabernacle and the organization of the priests. So, Moses and Aaron, Bezalel and Oholiab and all the rest, must have done their jobs right.
I also think it would have been incredibly comforting to think that God would work all these miracles to deliver us and is now staying with us to provide for us and protect us. If he did all that for the Exodus, surely he isn’t going to stop until we make it to the Promised Land.
Finally, I would like to think that it would motivate all to obey. If God’s holiness is this serious, and God is this serious about his people’s holiness, we should work to be holy. Is that what the people did? Well, we’re going to have to read Leviticus and Numbers to find out.
That’s all for today. If you enjoyed this episode please share it with a friend and follow us on Apple Podcasts.
This content is sponsored by Trinity College of Louisville. We shape young men and young women for Christ and for the church. Learn more at TrinityCollegeLou.com. Until next time, keep growing!