“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 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. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. 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.” (Exodus 40:34-38)

“The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.”” (Leviticus 1:1-2)

Moses was definitely an important guy, but he was still a guy – sinful, fearful and prone to anger. He needed to be saved (just like us), but wasn’t able to look back at Jesus and the cross and know salvation like we do. He had to look forward towards a veiled promise that God would take care of everything. But Moses is saved through Christ, just like us; so God gives us that visual and shows us through Moses’ journey how that worked.

Tomorrow we will get into more of this, but with today’s passage above we see that there was a time, even after Moses had been used in incredible ways by God, where Moses was not allowed in the direct presence of God. We know he got there (after all, God talked with Moses face to face), but the power of this story is when and how.

At the end of Exodus and beginning of Leviticus, God speaks to Moses (after His glory filled the tabernacle) from outside the tent of meeting. God is inside, but Moses can’t come in. So Moses stood outside to hear the Lord. Then God starts talking about offerings and such. Interesting. This is a clear setup to what the book of Leviticus is about. We will discuss that more tomorrow, but today let us together celebrate the fact that Moses, a flawed character, yet faithful and loyal in his relationship with God was no better than you or me. He needed saved by grace through faith just like we do now, and we know that Moses does reach the direct, intimate relationship status with God – which with the ripping of the curtain of the Holy of Holies during the crucifixion, we can also have direct access to God and cry out to him intimately “daddy!”

Let us enjoy God’s gift to us of hindsight and the ability to see how intricately and powerfully He laid out the plan of salvation and the promise of Jesus. Blessings to you!