Getting things sorted

Exodus 36:8 - 40:38

(For those following along in the one year bible this is Feb 14 and 15)

You really have to admit that these are some of the harder passages to get through when you're trying to stay on top of reading through the bible in a year. First because they are fairly detailed in terms of what is being built, crafted, assembled etc... but also because it feels like you just read all of it a couple chapters back!!
Chapters 36-40 can almost be easily summed up by simply saying..."And they did everything just as the Lord had commanded". Talk about saving on papyrus!!! Come on man where was their green thinking?
Now to be fair, I did NOT go back and compare the 'what they did' in these chapters to the 'what they were told to do' a few chapters back but I think if the reports were at odds that would have been pointed out.
There were a couple of bits I found interesting though:
At the end of chapter 38 we're told the weight of the metals used in creating the tabernacle:
A little more than a ton of gold
Three and three quarters tons of silver
About 2 and a half tons of bronze
Now granted all of this was in cast or beaten pieces, many quite small...but imagine having to move all that every time you set out from one place to the next...the total weight of the tabernacle gear that had to be moved must have come close to weighing ten tons!! Then you had set up and tear down, a whole bunch of special requirements for handling the sacred goods...These guys were the ULTIMATE roadies.

The other piece that struck me was in the last four verses of chapter 40.
They assembled all of the tabernacle as God has instructed...notice that the Holy of Holies is set up too and that no one dies from touching the sacred bits. None of it is considered sacred because of what it is in itself...but the sacred bits ALL become sacred when..."the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle."
(Ex 40:34-35)

No matter how many instructions we follow, no matter what work we do, even following God's law to the letter, we are not holy, not set apart, until the Spirit of God enters in...it is at that moment that everything is changed. We're still expected to obey on our end, to do the work, but God is the one who completes it.

I just thought that was cool illustration.