Day 42: Exodus 36-38

Welcome to 5 -Minute Bible, your daily guide for your daily reading. Today's February the 11th and we'll be talking about Exodus 36 -38.

Today's reading brings us into the work of obedience after repentance. Exodus 36 -38 records the actual construction of the tabernacle furnishings and its structure.

What God revealed on the mountain and what Israel nearly forfeited through idolatry is now being carried out with careful faithfulness.

The question driving these chapters is no longer whether God is going to dwell with his people, but whether his forgiven people will actually obey his word precisely.

Exodus 36 begins with the building of the tabernacle itself and the craftsmen begin to construct the curtains and the frames and the coverings exactly as the

Lord commanded. The repetition is deliberate. After the chaos of the golden calf,

Israel does not improvise anymore. They listen, they obey, and very rigidly in fact.

Exodus 35 then details the making of the sacred furnishings that are going to go inside the tabernacle.

These are things like the Ark of the Covenant, the Mercy Seat, the Table of the Bread of the Presence, and the

Lampstand. Each item is reflecting access to God through atonement and through provision and through light, but access that remains mediated and holy.

Exodus 38 then turns outward to the altar of the burnt offerings in the courtyard, furniture items that are outside of the tabernacle.

And in that way, the sacrifice stands at the entrance, blood must be shed before anyone draws near.

And the chapter closes with an accounting of the materials that were used, emphasizing transparency, order, and accountability in the worship of God.

Now as you read today, I want you to ask the following question. What does faithful obedience look like after forgiveness has been granted?

And Exodus 36 -38 shows us that grace doesn't produce a laissez -faire sort of attitude, but careful obedience, not casual worship, but deliberate obedience.

The central pattern in Exodus 36 -38 is obedience that is shaped by mercy. Israel is no longer trying to earn

God's presence, but they are trying to respond to it. Every detail matters, not because God is petty, but because God is holy.

And this intersects directly with our life as well, because after failure, we often swing towards carelessness or despair.

But Exodus charts a better path. Forgiven people obey with humility and with precision and with gratitude.

Grace doesn't loosen obedience, it deepens it. But it doesn't deepen it through legalism, it deepens it through gratitude.

Now Exodus 36 -38 also points clearly to Jesus Christ, because the mercy seat anticipates

Christ as the place where atonement is made and where God himself meets with sinners.

The altar, the entrance, prepares us for the cross, where access to God is secured through sacrifice.

The tabernacle structure itself anticipates Christ, who is the true dwelling place of God. He is the

Word made flesh who came and tabernacled among us. And in Him, obedience is no longer a fearful attempt to avoid judgment, but a grateful response to the grace that has already been given on the cross.

Now as you read Exodus 36 -38, I want you to notice the quiet faithfulness of God's people.

There's no thunder, there's no spectacle, there's no golden calves, there's just obedience. Tomorrow, we will complete the work and we will see whether God's glory is going to return to dwell among this forgiven and obedient people.

But with that, read your Bible carefully, devotionally, and joyfully, and may the Lord use His Word to sanctify you completely, and we will continue our journey tomorrow.