Daily Lectionary | Exodus 27 & Matthew 24:29-51
Exodus 27
Summary
There are three sections to the tabernacle complex. First, the Most Holy Place that includes the ark of the covenant. Second, the Holy Place includes the lamp stand and table of the bread of presence. Third, in Exodus 27 we have instructions for a courtyard. Each of the three sections is divided by a veil or screen.
We may think about these sections of the tabernacle in relationship to creation and the divisions of earth:
The altar is outside of the Most Holy Place and the place where sacrifices are burnt. So there’s a progression: moving from the east towards the west, you enter the tabernacle complex, pass through the fiery altar, enter the Holy Place with its lampstand and bread bread, pass through the veil guarded by embroidered cherubs and enter into the Holy Place, where the ark of the covenant rests with its two cherubs seated on top facing one another creating a throne for the Yaweh.
The instructions for the tabernacle and its furnishings, we are reminded, come from a pattern that God gives to Moses. The tabernacle is an earthly expression of a heavenly reality. While the tabernacle is based on a divine pattern, it requires the people of God executing its construction and bringing gifts, like the oil for the lamps, for its continual use.
The people have a role to play in bringing gifts, but the sons of Aaron, the priests, have a role to play in keeping the worship of the tabernacle going.
Reflection
In what ways does the tabernacle reflect creation? Why is this important?
Matthew 24:29-51
Summary
The “sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” This will happen, Jesus says, right after the tribulation. These events are not literal, but in scripture the heavenly bodies represent the world powers (cf. Isa. 13:10). The tribulation will result in a new world order, a new regime. And the arrival of the Son of Man will indicate the new world is here.
Jesus tells us that the events he’s predicting will be witnessed in “this generation,” that is the generation of the disciples. Jesus is predicting events that are soon to pass--and we can take this to the bank: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Matt. 24:35).
But it will all happen at an hour and in a way that no one expects. So Jesus tells the disciples to prepare by being a faithful servant.
Matthew 24 begins with a prophecy of the temple’s destruction and that remains the theme throughout. The end of the temple will be the end of an old world. Jesus will bring to an end, by bringing judgment, Jerusalem and the entire Old Covenant system that required the temple.
Reflection
If Jesus' prophecies are referring to events in the first century, what warnings and counsel might we still take from this passage in view of his coming again?