From Creation to Tabernacle (1:1–18)
Quick! Answer this question without looking up the answer: How does the book of Exodus end? Recent experience tells me that most people aren’t sure about the answer to this question, but the answer is actually pretty important for understanding the narrative arc from Genesis through Exodus.
Genesis starts with creation. God creates the world and his image bearers, then dwells with his people in the temple known as the Garden of Eden. Then Adam sins, and humankind is exiled from the garden and the presence of God. Tragically, God no longer dwells among his people.
Throughout the story that follows, God does appear at certain moments to be with his people, but these instances are just that: instances. God appears, and then he leaves.
But then, with an outstretched arm, God frees his people from Egypt and calls them to Mount Sinai, where he meets them on the mountain. And this time, God shows up, and he intends to stay. He gives Moses not just the Law, but also instructions for building the Tabernacle, the movable dwelling where God would live with his people as they traveled through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.
The book of Exodus concludes with God’s glory filling the Tabernacle.
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 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 (40:34–35).
In that moment, the narrative arc of Genesis–Exodus was complete. The God who had at first dwelt with his people was now dwelling with them once again. But what does this have to do with the Gospel of John?
John draws on this very narrative arc in the introduction to his Gospel:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:1–3).
The introduction begins with creation and then moves to presence and glory:
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
The Greek word translated as “dwelt” is σκηνόω, from σκηνή, which means “tent.” This word is the one used for the Tabernacle in the LXX (the Greek translation of the Old Testament).1 John’s point is fairly obvious. The God who created the world and then dwelt with his people has come to dwell with his people once again in the person of Jesus. John wants his readers to see that Jesus is the tabernacling presence of the creator God back on earth once again, and that seeing him is to have seen the glory of God.
First Post (Jan 1, 2026)
Happy New Year! Thank you for signing up to Walk with Jesus in 2026! Each year, many people make resolutions for their health, finances, and habits—all good things. But what about our spiritual life? The Word became flesh. God has united himself to humanity forever, and that changes everything. As followers of Jesus, shouldn’t our resolutions be about following him more closely? About loving people more genuinely? We’re starting with John because there’s no better place to begin walking with Jesus than “In the beginning.” Happy reading!
In the LXX, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exod 40:35) is translated as δόξης κυρίου ἐπλήσθη ἡ σκηνή.