TLIC Daily. February 4. Finished the Work.

Exodus 40:33-34. ³³So Moses finished the work. ³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 

Notice how the language at the end of Exodus echoes the language at the beginning of Genesis:

Genesis 2:2. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done.

We all know that Genesis is the book of beginnings, but what we may not know is that Exodus is the book of new beginnings, of new creation. Genesis begins in chaos, “without form and void.” But then God adds shape and beauty to the terrestrial “wilderness.” He plants a garden paradise as his earthly temple where he will dwell with man. A place where man will serve and worship God.

But by the time we get to Exodus all of creation has gone terribly awry. God’s people aren’t worshiping him in a garden-temple. They aren’t serving God, ruling with dominion over creation. They’re enslaved by a mad man, building his towers. By the time we get to Exodus, creation needs a reboot. A do-over. So Exodus becomes a new creation story. A re-creation.

Before you can have a re-creation you must have a de-creation, and that’s what the ten plagues were – the necessary reversal of Genesis 1-2. The anti-creation. A return to chaos. Man losing his control over nature. Life turning to death. At the Red Sea, the waters that God joined together are split in two in Exodus. And the Hebrews are led into the “formless void” of the wilderness.

It is there that God will meet them on a mountain and begin to re-create them as his people. His covenant promises will add shape and beauty to their lives. It will bring order to their chaos. God will re-plant the garden as a tent where he will meet with them. He will be their God, they will serve and worship him, and they will be his people.

Just as God finished his creation work in Genesis, here again in Exodus 40, he has finished his re-creation work through Moses – So Moses finished the work. And it was good – the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

We must understand, however, that God’s de-creation and re-creation work in Exodus is only a shadow. The ten plagues didn’t actually judge all sin and the tabernacle didn’t actually bring salvation. Exodus shows us the truth that before creation can be fixed it must be broken. Before there can be new life there must be death. But something way beyond the Exodus is needed.

Jesus came to earth to truly re-create us. How? By first becoming the creation and then by allowing himself to be de-created on the cross. Jesus became “without form and void.” He was torn in half like the sea. He entered the chaos of death. But then, in a glorious resurrection, Christ was re-created. In him, the new humanity was forged through death, made alive by the Spirit, and brought into a new covenant with God on Zion’s mountain. That’s our Christ!

In Christ we too have been de-created. We died with Christ. We were crucified with him on that cross. But also in him we have been re-created by our union with his resurrection. To live is Christ means that the de-creation and re-creation work of God in us is finished. We are the new creation. Right now! The glory of God has entered the tabernacle of God – us, the church. Now we can fearlessly walk through the difficult but glorious daily cycle of de-creation and re-creation because we know that the work is already finished.

You: Do you see yourself as God’s finished new creation work? His ongoing work? How are both true at the same time?

You in Christ: How does knowing that you are the new creation in Christ allow you to worship and serve him today in freedom?

Christ in you: What part of your life will you allow Christ to de-create and then re-create today?