The Cloud by Day and the Fire by Night
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Our study opens with a very brief statement which reads: "On the day that the Tabernacle was reared up." The Tabernacle was the place where God dwelt. It was there that He met His people, and there that He manifested Himself unto them.
Stephen, in speaking on the memorable day of his martyrdom said: "Our fathers had the Tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen." After that Solomon built Him an house. Stephen continued, "Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands."
The present tabernacle in which God deigns to dwell is the bodies of believers, even as it is written, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" This is also seen in the statements of Christ, where He said that He would abide in us and that His Father would come and take up His abode in us.
When we think of the Tabernacle of old, however, we stand in amazement at every detail that marked its construction. The Tabernacle proclaimed Christ and many things relative to Christ. The whole thing was typical of things to come. It was for this cause that God spoke unto Moses that he should make it according to the pattern showed him in the mount. It was because Moses realized the typical meaning of the Tabernacle, that we read seven times, in the last chapter of Exodus, these striking words: "As the Lord commanded Moses," so did he. Moses obeyed to the letter every instruction until he had finished the work.
Not alone was the Tabernacle itself typical, but also everything that was placed within it, was typical. In the outer courts, before one entered the Tabernacle proper there was first of all the brazen altar. Upon this altar sacrifices were made. No one could even approach unto the Tabernacle, itself, nor have a right even to entrance into the Tabernacle enclosure without the offering of blood. So it is today, there is no approach to God apart from the Calvary Sacrifice.
Next to the brazen altar came the laver. This was made of brass and it was filled with looking glasses around it. The idea of the laver was personal cleansing. The looking glasses made sin manifest. The laver was "the washing of water by the Word." It stood for the sanctified life. It suggested that the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son keeps cleansing us from every sin.
In the first inside court of the Tabernacle proper, there were three significant constructions. First, there was the table of shewbread. This spoke of Christ as the Bread of Life, the sustainer of His people. This symbolism follows throughout the Scriptures. The Lord Jesus, Himself, said that He was the Bread which came down from Heaven. He added, "I am the Bread of Life." He asserted that he who ate of this Divine Bread should never hunger.
There was also the altar of incense. This altar stood for the prayers of God's people. Prayers acceptable. It showed that we can get through to God, and that our prayers are a sweet smelling savour, made acceptable unto the Father, because of the Son.
Thirdly, there were the golden candlesticks. These proclaimed Jesus Christ the Light of the World, the light of life. The Gospel of John speaks very definitely of Christ the Light. John's Epistle is just as emphatic.
In the Holy of Holies was the Ark with its mercy seat covered by the cherubims. The faces of the cherubs looked down upon a broken Law, which lay inside the Ark and under the mercy seat. They looked down, however, by way of the mercy seat of gold, upon which the high priest placed the blood every year.
I. SOME SUGGESTIONS RELATIVE TO THE TABERNACLE (Numbers 9:15)
1. The Tabernacle brings to mind a backward look. When we think of the erection of the Tabernacle we think of God in the midst of His people. It was so in the beginning. Israel had direct fellowship with God. God's presence with Israel was surpassed only by His presence with the first man, in the Garden of Eden. Israel did not need to think of God as far distant in the skies. God dwelt with her, walked with her, talked to her. He described Himself as an eagle bearing His people on His wings. He said: "So the Lord alone did lead him."
He said: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him." He added: "I drew them (that is Israel and Ephraim) with cords of a man, with bands of love." How great was God's love for His people. He surrounded Israel as a fire. He led her with His eye.
2. The Tabernacle brings to mind a present look. God was with His people in the Tabernacle. He is now with us. We love the little expression, so frequently found in the Scriptures "In the midst."
The Lord said: "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." In the Book of Revelation, where we have the story of the seven Churches, we find a marvelous description of Jesus Christ accompanied with this remarkable statement concerning the Churches, And in the midst of them, "One like unto the Son of Man."
It is only when you come to Laodicea that you find Jesus Christ excluded by a world-centered and world-pleasing Church. There, He stands outside the door knocking.
The last command of our Lord was that we should go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. With the command came the promise, "Lo, I am with you alway."
3. The Tabernacle brings to mind a future look. In Zephaniah we read of the Millennial Kingdom under these words: "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save."
II. THE GLORY CLOUD (Numbers 9:15)
In the early part of our verse is the statement, "The cloud covered the Tabernacle." This cloud has a remarkable story throughout both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures,
1. The Cloud and the Tabernacle. In Exodus is the expression: "So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle."
It must have been a wonderful hour when God thus manifested His glory.
2. The Cloud in the Temple. We read in I Kings, "So was ended all the work that King Solomon made for the House of the Lord." Then followed the dedication of the Temple, and Solomon's marvelous prayer. It was, however, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought up to the Temple and when the trumpeters and singers were as one, "to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of musick, and praised the Lord, * * that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the House of the Lord."
3. The Cloud leaving Israel. In the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 8, we read the sad story of the cloud departing from the Temple of God. It is in chapter 10, that we find this statement, "Then the glory of the Lord went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the Lord's glory." A little later we read: "Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the Mountain which is on the east side of the city." That cloud will never return to Israel until Christ returns to Israel in the cloud of His glory, and every eye shall see Him.
III. THE TENT OF TESTIMONY (Numbers 9:15)
This is a marvelous verse, and we cannot pass it over too quickly. Another statement in the verse is this: "The cloud covered the Tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony." This is a most significant expression, and we immediately ask: In what sense was the Tabernacle a tent of testimony? Was it because Moses placed the testimony of God into the Ark? The Ark was certainly an Ark of testimony, and the Tabernacle took its name therefrom and was called the Tabernacle of Testimony.
We have three suggestions to make:
1. The Ark was a testimony to the nations around, of God's presence with His people. If anyone came against Israel, or sought to molest Israel, they realized that God dwelt in the midst of His people. What is our security today? Is it not the fact that God is with us?
2. The Ark was a testimony to the nations of God's provision for His people. We are not talking of temporal provisions, but of spiritual. God provided every spiritual blessing to Israel, and the Ark, in its every typical meaning, testified to those provisions. There was not one thing in the Ark, nor about it, that did not bear testimony to what God was to His people, and what God was doing for His people.
3. The Ark was a testimony to God's preservation of His people. Have we not read, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The Ark seemed to say, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." The Ark seemed to say, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" As long as God dwelt with His people they were safe. Christ said, "Because I live, ye shall live also."
IV. THE FIRE BY NIGHT (Numbers 9:16)
1. This is an age of darkness. How dark it. was in Egypt when God spoke judgment unto the Egyptians. Unto Israel, however, it was light. How dark it was among the nations, in Moses' day, when the Tabernacle was reared. However, with Israel it was light.
How dark it is today! The Bible never speaks of the present age excepting tinder the typology of darkness and of night. However, saints are called the children of the light; the children of the day, and not of the darkness, nor of the night. Our path is a path "that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." It grows brighter and brighter because there shines above us the pillar of fire by night.
2. The light shone in the darkness. Jesus Christ is the Light of life. Some men do not care for the light, because their deeds are evil. Have you not read the statement in Matthew? "The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nepthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." Thus it is that the pillar of fire makes us think of Christ who is the Light.
3. The light by fire is the suggestion of warmth in the midst of chill. Whenever the sun goes down, the atmosphere is cooled. We speak of the chill of the night. When the sun, however, rises its heat begins to drive away the cold. Let us, therefore, as we think of the pillar of light remember that it was also a pillar of fire. Fire gives light, but it likewise gives heat Is there anything that warms the heart of the believer like the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire?
At Pentecost "cloven tongues like as of fire, * * sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." It was then that their hearts were filled with joy and they "did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" It was then that the Christians were together in hallowed comradeship "and had all things common."
V. JOURNEYING WITH THE CLOUD (Numbers 9:17)
How striking are the words: "And when the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, then after that the Children of Israel journeyed."
1. A God-planned life. When we think that every movement of the Children of Israel, during the years of their wilderness journey was under direct command from God, we cannot help but ask the question, Does God also have a plan for our lives?
Let us remember how it is written that we are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." It is also written, "To every man his work."
Surely "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." Mark you, it is not merely the life as a whole, but the steps that means each detail of the life.
2. May we know God's plan? Israel had no difficulty in knowing. Whenever the cloud was lifted, they immediately began preparation to follow it in the way that it led. May we know, is there a cloud that will lift for us? God has given very plain instructions on this line. He says: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." This is the first step in knowing God's will.
Again, He says: "Be not conformed to this world," that is, do not walk as men, do not follow the movements of earthly clouds. This is the second step in knowing God's plan.
He says: "By the renewing of your mind," that is, put the Living God back of your thinking and your choices. Let Him take charge of the spirit of the mind. This is the third step.
Immediately we are told that we will know what is God's good and acceptable and perfect will.
3. The vital responsibility of life. Had Israel not journeyed when God gave command; had they not followed the cloud, what indescribable havoc would have come to them. So it is that anyone who walks outside of the will of God will meet disaster.
VI. THE TIME TO GO, AND THE TIME TO STAY. (Numbers 9:18)
Our verse says: "At the commandment of the Lord the Children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the Tabernacle they rested in their tents."
1. The life of action. We realize that there is a time to serve. The same God who said, "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy," also said: "Six days shalt thou * * work."
The life of uncommanded rest is just as fatal as the life of uncommanded activity. The soldier does not march until he hears the command to go forward. To rush into the fray uncommissioned is to rush to defeat. It is also defeat to be idle, when it is time to serve.
The thing that grieves us is that the commands, "Go ye into all the world," "Go out into the highways and hedges," "Return to thine own house," are being so ruthlessly set aside.
One of the chief sins is the hiding of the talent, or of the pound in the napkin. Jesus told us we were to occupy. He said: "Till I come." To one man the Lord said, "Go work today in My vineyard," but he would not. God forgive the millions of Christians who never move when the cloud moves.
2. The life of rest. When the cloud tarried, they tarried. There is a time for us to steal apart a little while and rest. The rest life, however, does not mean a life of inactivity. It is the time for prayer and for communion. We stop the while, in order that we may take on fuel for another journey. We tarry, that we may become stronger for another fight Remember as you think of the rest side of life, that in the beginning there were six days of labor to one of rest. Let us rightly proportion our lives to this rule.
VII. ABJECT OBEDIENCE. (Numbers 9:1-23 : selections from verses 19-23)
In the verses before us there are several statements to which we will call your attention.
1. In Numbers 9:19, "The Children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord."
2. In Numbers 9:20, "According to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents."
3. In Numbers 9:21, "They journeyed: whether it was by day or by night."
4. In Numbers 9:22, "Whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, * * and journeyed not: * * they journeyed."
5. In Numbers 9:23, "They kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses."
If ever there was a picture anywhere of absolute and abject obedience, it is here.
1. They obeyed under all conditions. They journeyed whether by day or night. If the cloud moved by night, they moved. They did not wait for the dawning of another day. We are not only to obey the Lord, but we are to obey Him immediately. When God said to Philip, "Go * * unto the way that * * is desert," Philip arose and went.
2. They obeyed at all times. That is, whether it were a day, or a month, or a year. Once God said to Israel, "Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount," then they journeyed.
Beloved, let us stay put till the cloud moves. Let us neither run ahead of God, nor lag behind Him.
3. Keeping tryst. It is thus that we like to sum up these verses. It is thus that we hope to sum up our lives. It was the mother of Christ who said to the servants, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." It takes just as much fidelity to Christ to be a shut-in, in His will, as it does to be out in the front of the battle. We are just as faithful staying with the stuff, as we are standing at the front, providing this is God's command. The eighteen years at Nazareth were just as vitally a part in the life of Christ, as were the three and a half years of ministry.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Cloudless lives are not the most beautiful. A life with clouds of struggle and sorrow, all lighted up with the rays from the Sun of Righteousness, far excels in beauty any sunset ever seen. The spray thrown up by the rushing torrent of Niagara greatly adds to the beauty of the Falls, because the sun paints rainbows upon it. And so lives with Niagara torrents of struggle are the more beautiful for the clouds raised by such struggle, if they are flooded with light from Heaven. There is one place where clouds are never seen; and that is the desert of Sahara. Desolation and death are twin monarchs there, The lives which have been richest in good works have been like the life of the Man of Sorrows, full of clouds, and a bow of promise on every cloud. Dr. A. C Dixon.