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#995 - Exodus 40 – Setting Up the Tabernacle · The Bible Study Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. The Bible Study Podcast, Episode 995. Today, the
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  Speaker 1: Bible Study Podcast concludes the study of Exodus with Chapter 40.
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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bible Study Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen.
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  Speaker 1: It may seem strange to say that we're going to
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  Speaker 1: conclude Exodus because we still have the people sitting in
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  Speaker 1: the middle of the wilderness. but we'll talk more about
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  Speaker 1: why this book ends here and what we do next.
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  Speaker 1: But first, a word from this sponsor. So Exodus 40
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  Speaker 1: is about setting up the tabernacle, all this, the work
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  Speaker 1: that we have been doing to put things together and
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  Speaker 1: make things ready to do the worship that the people
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  Speaker 1: of Israel will be doing here in the wilderness and
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  Speaker 1: then into the promised land. But you may notice with
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  Speaker 1: the end of the book of Exodus, and we have
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  Speaker 1: gotten out, but we haven't gotten in. Yet, either successfully
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  Speaker 1: or unsuccessfully to the promised land, we end this book
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  Speaker 1: still at the mountain of God at Mount Sinai in
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  Speaker 1: the Sinai Peninsula. Now, the story continues into the book
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  Speaker 1: of Leviticus, which is a law book, and into the
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  Speaker 1: book of Numbers, which is both census, and then both
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  Speaker 1: of those have aspects of narrative in them as well.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to continue on to study both of those.
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  Speaker 1: What I haven't decided yet, and I will decide between
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  Speaker 1: now and next week, is will we take a quick
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  Speaker 1: break and do a book from the New Testament as
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  Speaker 1: a palate cleanser before we jump back into this Old
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  Speaker 1: Testament into the Torah. Stay tuned next week to find
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  Speaker 1: out more about that. But first, Exodus 40, setting up
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  Speaker 1: the tabernacle. Then the Lord said to Moses, set up
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  Speaker 1: the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day
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  Speaker 1: of the first month. Place the Ark of the Covenant
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  Speaker 1: in it and shield the Ark with the curtain. Bring
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  Speaker 1: in the table and set out what belongs on it.
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  Speaker 1: Then bring in the lampstand and set up its lamps.
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  Speaker 1: Place the gold altar of incense in front of the
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  Speaker 1: Ark of the Covenant law and put the curtain at
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  Speaker 1: the entrance to the tabernacle. Place the altar of burnt
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  Speaker 1: offerings in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the
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  Speaker 1: tent of meeting. Place the basin between the tent of
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  Speaker 1: meeting and And the altar and put water in it.
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  Speaker 1: Set up the courtyard around it and put the curtain
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  Speaker 1: at the entrance to the courtyard. Take the anointing oil
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  Speaker 1: and anoint the table and everything in it. Consecrate it
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  Speaker 1: and all its furnishings and it will be holy. Then
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  Speaker 1: anoint the altar of burnt offerings and all its utensils.
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  Speaker 1: Consecrate the altar and it will be most holy. Anoint
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  Speaker 1: the basin and its stand and consecrate them. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to pause here. This is all the stuff. that is
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  Speaker 1: going to be consecrated. Consecrated means dedicated to God's use,
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  Speaker 1: and holy means set apart for God's use. So we're
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  Speaker 1: going to take all those things they've been building, all
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  Speaker 1: the tabernacle pieces, all the poles and the rings and
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  Speaker 1: the curtains, and then the table and the movable altar
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  Speaker 1: and the lampstands, all those things. We're going to bring
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  Speaker 1: it in in a particular order. We're going to set
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  Speaker 1: it up the way that God intended, and then we're
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  Speaker 1: going to anoint it with oil. And this is this
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  Speaker 1: ceremonial way to see for the people to see that
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  Speaker 1: these are now gods. These are now set apart for
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  Speaker 1: God's use, and they use that holy oil to do that.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing magical about the oil. It's an outward sign
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  Speaker 1: of this relationship between these things and God, that these
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  Speaker 1: are now dedicated to God. In the same way, when
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  Speaker 1: we anoint the priests, which we're about to do, there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing magical about oil. But this process here says something
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  Speaker 1: about these people, that these people have been set apart
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  Speaker 1: for God's use as holy people, as priests, priests, the
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  Speaker 1: people who come between us and God. Especially here in
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  Speaker 1: the Old Testament, where not everyone gets to go into
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  Speaker 1: that holiness of holies, not everyone gets to do the sacrifices,
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  Speaker 1: not everyone is taking part in worship in the same way.
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  Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons why in the New Testament,
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  Speaker 1: we talk about the priesthood of all believers, because we
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  Speaker 1: don't need a priest now to intercede because the high priest,
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  Speaker 1: our high priest is Jesus, who was also our sacrifice.
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  Speaker 1: And so that's all done. All of this type of
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  Speaker 1: worship wraps up in Jesus. He's both the sacrifice and
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  Speaker 1: the priest. Continuing on, bring Aaron and his son to
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  Speaker 1: the entrance of the tent of meaning and wash them
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  Speaker 1: with water. Then dress Aaron in the sacred garments, anoint
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  Speaker 1: him and consecrate him so that he may serve me
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  Speaker 1: as priest. Bring his sons and dress them in tunics.
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  Speaker 1: Anoint them just as you appointed their father so they
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  Speaker 1: may serve me as priests. Their anointing will be to
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  Speaker 1: a priesthood that will continue throughout their generations. Moses did
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  Speaker 1: everything just as the Lord commanded him. There's that phrase again,
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  Speaker 1: that we're doing things just as the Lord commands. That's
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  Speaker 1: who came up with this whole system, remember. So the
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  Speaker 1: tabernacle was set up on the first day of the
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  Speaker 1: first month in the second year. And we say the
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  Speaker 1: second year, this is the second year since we've left Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: So we have been here at Mount Sinai now for
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  Speaker 1: a long time, for most of a year. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: with Moses going up for 40 days and getting instructions
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  Speaker 1: and then the whole golden calf thing and then going
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  Speaker 1: up again, for another 40 days, and then all of
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  Speaker 1: this creating all these things has taken some time. When
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  Speaker 1: Moses set up the tabernacle, he put the bases in place,
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  Speaker 1: erected the frames, inserted the crossbars, and set up their posts.
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  Speaker 1: Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put
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  Speaker 1: the covering over the tent as the Lord commanded him.
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  Speaker 1: He took the tablets of the covenant law and placed
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  Speaker 1: them in the ark, attached the poles to the ark,
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  Speaker 1: and put the atonement cover over it. Then he brought
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  Speaker 1: the ark into the tabernacle and hung the shielding curtain
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  Speaker 1: and shielded the ark of the covenant law as the
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  Speaker 1: Lord commanded him. Now, it's interesting here. We talk about
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  Speaker 1: the ark of the covenant. Remember what's inside are those tablets,
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  Speaker 1: those two stone tablets, which Moses prepared, took up the mountain,
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  Speaker 1: and God wrote on this law. And so it is
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  Speaker 1: the embodiment of the promises of the understanding, the covenant,
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  Speaker 1: of how God is going to behave towards them and
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  Speaker 1: how they're going to behave towards God, especially how we're
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  Speaker 1: going to behave towards God. And these are the Ten Commandments.
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  Speaker 1: They're very important. And that is not just the Ark
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  Speaker 1: of the Covenant, but the Ark of the Covenant Law.
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  Speaker 1: That is what this Ark is. That is what this
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  Speaker 1: box that they're going to move around is, an embodiment
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  Speaker 1: of this promise between God and his people. Moses placed
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  Speaker 1: the table in the tent of meeting on the north
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  Speaker 1: side of the tabernacle outside the curtain and set out
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  Speaker 1: the bread on it before the Lord as the Lord
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  Speaker 1: commanded him. He placed the lampstand in the tent of
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  Speaker 1: meeting opposite the table on the south side of the
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  Speaker 1: tabernacle and set up the lamps before the Lord as
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  Speaker 1: the Lord commanded him. Moses placed the golden altar in
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  Speaker 1: the tent of meeting in front of the curtain and
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  Speaker 1: burned fragrant incense on it as the Lord commanded him.
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  Speaker 1: Then he put up the curtain at the entrance to
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  Speaker 1: the tabernacle. He set up the altar burnt offering near
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  Speaker 1: the entrance to the tabernacle. the tent of meeting, and
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  Speaker 1: offered on it burnt offerings and grain offerings as the
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  Speaker 1: Lord commanded him. He placed the basin between the tent
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  Speaker 1: of meeting and the altar and put water in it
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  Speaker 1: for washing. And Moses and Aaron and his sons used
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  Speaker 1: it to wash their hands and feet. They washed whenever
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  Speaker 1: they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar
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  Speaker 1: as the Lord commanded Moses. Then Moses set up the
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  Speaker 1: courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the
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  Speaker 1: curtain at the entrance to the courtyard and And so
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  Speaker 1: Moses finished the work. And so they're setting up all
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  Speaker 1: these things. And we should remember that when the temple
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  Speaker 1: is eventually built, and that will be hundreds of years
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  Speaker 1: from this point, after they've gone into the promised land
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  Speaker 1: and after they've had the judges, and then we're going
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  Speaker 1: to get into the kings, and we're going to have
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  Speaker 1: King Saul, King David, and then finally in the time
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  Speaker 1: of Solomon, we're going to build the temple, which is
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  Speaker 1: sort of a permanent version of this same system. We're
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  Speaker 1: still going to have that curtain that will separate the
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  Speaker 1: holiest of holies, that curtain that was torn in two
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  Speaker 1: when Jesus died to say that that entryway between us
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  Speaker 1: and God was now facilitated by the death of Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: the perfect sacrifice. The glory of the Lord. Then the
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  Speaker 1: cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of
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  Speaker 1: the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the
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  Speaker 1: tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it
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  Speaker 1: and the glory of the Lord filled And so after
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  Speaker 1: they've done all this work, God shows that he is
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  Speaker 1: living with his people, that he is accepting their worship,
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  Speaker 1: that he is going to be with them with this
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  Speaker 1: very physical manifestation of God, this glory of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: filling the tabernacle. And you'll hear that talked about in
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  Speaker 1: hymns and such. Listen for those phrases. You'll find it
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  Speaker 1: in worship songs and hymns, the glory of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: filling the tabernacle or filling the temple. But it is
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  Speaker 1: embodied here at the end of the book of Exodus.
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  Speaker 1: And with that, we're going to end this study of
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  Speaker 1: the book of Exodus. Next week, we will start another study,
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  Speaker 1: either one of the books from the New Testament, and
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  Speaker 1: I've got some thoughts there, or we'll jump right into Leviticus.
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  Speaker 1: Come back next week to find out. With that, we're
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  Speaker 1: going to end this episode of the Bible Study Podcast.
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  Speaker 1: If you have any questions, send an email to chris2x
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  Speaker 1: at gmail.com, or better yet, leave a comment on this
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  Speaker 1: episode at thebiblestudypodcast.com. And as always, thanks so much for listening.
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  Speaker 1: I want to take just a second to thank the
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  Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on
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  Speaker 1: this podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you'll find dozens
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