In the middle of God’s instructions to Moses concerning the tabernacle and priesthood, God makes an interesting statement: “I will also meet with the Israelites there, and that place will be consecrated by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar; I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests” (Exodus 29:43-44).

“Consecrate” means to make holy, to sanctify. And while we might skim past this statement in our Bible reading, if we tease out its theological implications, it has important applications for how we grow in holiness in our daily Christian lives.

“Consecrated by My Glory”

In Exodus 29, God is telling Moses about how Moses needs to build the tabernacle and its furniture, and about how Moses needs to consecrate the tabernacle and priests for God’s dwelling and service. In fact, from the beginning of these instructions in Exodus 25 until this passage, God tells Moses “you shall do such-and-such” 193 times. But if you had seen God’s glory in the Egyptian plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, and his thunderous, fiery presence on Mt. Sinai, you’d probably wonder, “How am I supposed to make something holy enough for this incomparable God?”

That’s why I’m sure God’s words in Exodus 29:43-44 were reassuring for Moses. God told Moses that he himself would make the tabernacle and priests holy. Yes, Moses and the Israelites needed to work, but God’s glory would ultimately sanctify these things, not the Israelites’ work. And this isn’t the first time this has happened in Exodus.

A Holy Bush

God first appeared to Moses in the middle of the desert in a bush that was burning but not consumed. When Moses approached this strange sight, God told him, “Do not come closer. Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5).

Were that piece of ground and that bush intrinsically holy before God revealed himself there? Did God appear in that bush because it was the holiest bush in the desert? Did the ground and bush stay holy after God left? No. The bush was holy because God was there, and it ceased to be holy when God left. Yet, while God was speaking to Moses from it, that random bush in the middle of the desert was the holiest place in the universe.

A Holy Place

In Exodus 26:33-34, we learn about the Holy of Holies, or the Most Holy Place (Exodus 26:33-34). This was the inner room of the tabernacle where the ark of the covenant was housed and where no one except the High Priest could enter, and even then only once a year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16).

What made this section of the tabernacle so special? God’s presence. This was the specific place in the tabernacle where God dwelt. If not for God’s presence, the Most Holy Place would be just another room in just another construction. And so, at the end of Exodus, God’s glory fills the tabernacle, making it so unbearably holy that not even Moses can approach it (Exodus 40:34-35).

“With Unveiled Faces”

The idea of God’s glory sanctifying us is paralleled in 2 Corinthians 3, where Paul contrasts the lesser, fading glory of the Old Covenant and the greater, eternal glory of the New Covenant. He says that in the Old Covenant, Moses hid the fading glory of God from the Israelites through a veil, and that even today, a veil still lies over the hearts of unbelievers, shielding them from seeing the glory of God. However, when someone turns to Christ, the Spirit removes that veil, enabling them to see God’s glory in Christ.

Paul ends by saying, “We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). Do you see the parallel with Exodus? We behold Christ’s glory, and it consecrates us. God’s glory makes us gloriously holy, just like God’s glory did with the bush, tabernacle, and priests in Exodus.

What does this mean for us?

Look for God’s Glory

When you read your Bible, look for God’s glory, what it reveals about God. When you talk about the Bible, talk about God’s glory. This is why I strive to emphasize God’s glory when I preach. That’s what will create holiness in my audience. If we want to be sanctified, we must behold God’s glory in God’s Word. If we don’t, we’ve missed the one thing that can actually change us.

Always Grace

The removal of the veil, the freedom to behold God’s glory, and the sanctifying work all come from the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, because it is God’s glory that changes us and not we ourselves, our sanctification is by the grace of God. We have the responsibility to gaze into God’s Word to see his glory, just like Moses and the Israelites had a responsibility to construct the tabernacle and perform certain consecration rituals, but our sanctification is always ultimately fueled by God’s grace. From the consecration of the tabernacle to your daily devotions, God’s mode of operation has always been to make things holy by his grace, not merely by our efforts. We must humbly depend on God to change us. We must pray for the Spirit to open our eyes to see his glory. And when we see it and are transformed, we must always give thanks to God for his work of grace and glory.