As the Lord may graciously help
me, I turn your prayerful attention to the book of Nehemiah. The book of Nehemiah, chapter
nine and verse 19. Nehemiah nine and verse 19. Here we have recounting the Lord's
goodness to Israel in the wilderness. Nehemiah 9 verse 19. Yet thou
in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness. The
pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead
them in the way. Neither the pillar of fire by
night to show them light and the way wherein they should go. That's Nehemiah 9. and verse
19. Well we have before us, as the
Lord helps, this great subject of this pillar of fire, the pillar
of cloud and the pillar of fire that Israel knew as they travelled
through the wilderness. They'd come out, they'd just
come out of Egypt, they'd come out from slavery, they'd had
that redemption of the death of the lamb, picturing, of course,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who would die in the place of his people,
and that would bring liberation, that would bring redemption,
that would set them free from slavery. And then there was the
giving of this symbol. Remember, the Old Testament was
very symbolic. There was many pictures here,
and they had this pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. And as
I was traveling to work this week, last week, a beautiful
morning on Friday morning, as I traveled in the train, and
it was a beautiful sunny morning, and yet, as it was quite early
still, there was these patches of mist, of cloud, and they really
stood out from the beautiful sunshine. There was just these
areas of cloud, and I thought of how In the midst of that wilderness,
it must have been so hot and arid and dry, and yet there was
this cloud at certain locations. Indeed, this cloud that God had
miraculously provided for them. And you see, it made me think
of this biblical thought that happened to Israel, the cloud. how it covered them. And as we
look at this, you see, there was ascending of the cloud and
the fire after the liberation and the death, the liberation
from Egypt and the death, and how God's people, you see, were
being led through the wilderness by this pillar of cloud and by
this pillar of fire. and how that is a picture of
the Lord leads his people by his Holy Spirit. And Jesus, you
see, as we read in John's gospel, when he was saying he was going
to leave them, they were sorrowful. They were distressed. They couldn't
see there was anything positive from Jesus leaving them. But
he said, it is expedient for you that I go away. Because if
I go away, I will not send the comforter. And you see, there
was a sending of the spirit to come when Jesus had died. And of course, that's why we
have the Passover, where Jesus died, and then we have Pentecost,
those 50 days later, which was the sending of the spirit, and
how that was then The spirit came down and particularly in
a in a in a in a most strong way, symbolically in these clothing
tongues of fire and was such a blessing to the church and
the building up of the church at the time of Pentecost. And
of course, it stayed with us today. So the thought is here,
the thinking of the the the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
as being a symbol of the presence of God in his Holy Spirit with
his people, leading them. And we read, you see, that he
is a guide, that we have a guide here. And a guide leads, you
see, and in this verse that we have named for a text, it says,
Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsook them not in the wilderness.
The pillar of cloud departed not from them by day to lead
them in the way. You see, there was this pillar
of cloud and fire was to lead them, to guide them and to show
them the way that they should go. In Numbers, we didn't read
this, but in Numbers chapter nine, we read this. at how this
cloud totally showed them what they should be doing and guided
them as to what they should be doing. In Numbers 9, verse 19,
we read, and when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many
days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and
journeyed not. And so it was when the cloud
was a few days upon the tabernacle, It is Numbers 9 verse 20. According to the commandment
of the Lord, they abode in their tents. And according to the command
of the Lord, they journeyed. So it was when the cloud abode
from evening until the morning, that the cloud was taken up in
the morning, then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night,
that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it
was for two days or a month or a year, that the cloud tarried
upon the tabernacle, Remain there on the children of Israel abode
in their tents. So whether Israel moved or whether
they stayed by day or by night, it was all to do with this with
this cloud and whether it moved or whether it stayed and how
we are to be guided. You see, in the New Testament.
In Romans, let me just find that Romans chapter eight. Romans 8 and verse 14, we have
these words. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And how Israel, you see,
was led by that cloudy pillar by day and by night. And how
when it moved, they moved. When it stayed, they stayed.
They were guided by that cloud. And here, this is picturing the
Spirit, you see, who is to guide his people. as many as are led
by the Spirit of God. They are the sons of God. Israel
was symbolically that children of God. We know that the New
Testament says not all Israel were of Israel, but symbolically
they were a picture of God's people who were guided and directed
by the Spirit and by God through the Spirit. So we have this idea
of guidance and how they were led to the right way, and we
need to be led in our lives to be followers of Christ, and that
the Lord has given us this Holy Spirit to guide us, this Holy
Spirit to shed light on His Word, and that gives us light in our
pathway. Then I want to look at, you see,
when they first came out of Egypt, they didn't have The tabernacle,
the tabernacle had not yet been constructed. That was really
a year later, nearly a year later, that they actually had a tabernacle.
There was a tent of meeting, it was called, but it was not
the tabernacle. And if you look in Exodus 40, in Exodus 40, verse
34, we have these words. Exodus 40, verse 34. Then a cloud
covered the tent of the congregation in the glory of the Lord. build
the tabernacle. That's Exodus 40 verse 34. But
if you look at verse 17 of Exodus 40, and it came to pass in the
first month, in the second year of the first day of the month,
that the tabernacle was reared up. If you remember the first,
that was the second year, so it was just under a year later,
because they came out on the 14th day of the first month of
the first year. That's when they came out. And
the following year, second year, But in the first day of that
month, that's when the tabernacle was reared up. So it was just
under, it was something like 14 days shy of a year later that
this tabernacle was reared up. And you see here, rather than
just then as we read in Exodus 13, in Exodus 13, we read, and
the Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud and to lead
them the way. Here, when the tabernacle was
built, constructed at the command of what God gave Moses, then
the cloud dwelt upon that tabernacle. We see this in verse 34 of Exodus
14. Then a cloud covered the tent
of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle. So this cloud, depicted the Holy
Spirit as it were, and it rested upon the tabernacle. And what
was the tabernacle? What was the tabernacle so much
picturing? Surely the tabernacle so much
it spoke of Christ. It spoke of the ark was there. Ark kept keeping the law. The cherubims were there. The
mercy seat was there. And you see how there was then
this cloud that covered it. We've just sung in that way,
for glory and a covering, how that cloud gave a glory. And
we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, you see. We read in John's Gospel,
chapter three, that the Spirit, let me just turn to that. John's
Gospel, chapter three. John 3, verse 34, for he whom
God sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit
by measure unto him. So the Lord Jesus was filled
with the spirit. He had that without measure. And here you see it was the cloud
particularly dwelt above the tabernacle. It was that, and
you think of the Lord Jesus as he went down into his baptism. It was that symbol of a dove
resting upon him as he came up out of the waters, symbolizing
the Holy Spirit and how that dwelt upon Christ. He was filled
with the Spirit and how in the Old Testament, symbolized, it
was this cloud over glory. It's interesting. I was looking
through our hymn book at all the different references there
are to clouds. The predominant reference for
clouds actually is in a negative way. The clouds of difficulty
and clouds of trouble. But here you see, and when you
have that cloud in a clear day, you can see there's not clouds
everywhere, but there's just this cloud as it were, this mist
on its own. There's something beautiful about it and how that
gives a covering to us and how that dwelt above the tabernacle. It wasn't cloud everywhere. There
was cloud in that particular place. It was a local cloud. That's very different than if
we have in England, quite a lot of cloudy days, cloud everywhere.
You don't see any sun. But here there was, I guess,
the sun shining. But on one area, there was no,
no, it was, it was covered by this cloud. And how the Holy
Spirit, you see, it exhorts Christ. It gave the glory. You see here
it says, then a cloud Cover the tent of the congregation, and
the glory of the Lord fill the tabernacle. Now, you see, the
spirit, you see, we read that in John's gospel. The work of
the spirit, it speaks not of itself. It's not there, as it
were, to bring attention to itself. If you look in John 16, verse
13, it says, how be it when he, the spirit of truth, is come,
he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. So here, the spirit, its purpose,
as it were, is to give glory to that tabernacle, and how pictures
how it's the great work of the Spirit glorified the work of
Christ. And may that be in our own hearts
and affections. Well, another point that I want
to look at is in Nehemiah, the text that we've read in Nehemiah
chapter 19, sorry, Nehemiah 9 verse 19, sorry, We read, yet thou in thy manifold
mercies forsook them not in the wilderness. The context here
is Nehemiah's relating all the way the children of Israel acted. And he's just mentioned that
they'd made this molten calf, that they'd done so much to provoke
God's anger. And that's why our verse that
we've named as a text begins with this word, yet. This is
amazing. This is astounding that yet,
thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not. This is
the long suffering of God. Forsookest them not in the wilderness.
The pillar of cloud departed not from them by day to lead
them in the way, neither the pillar of fire by night to show
them the light. So here in this verse, there's
a clear mention, it mentions that also in Exodus 13, what
we read together Verse 22, he took not away the pillar of cloud
by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
It was always there for those 40 years in the wilderness until
they got to the promised land. And how the spirit, you see,
is the Lord Jesus, when he brings people out of Egypt, out of the
Egypt of this world, they're brought, you see, into that pilgrimage. They're on that journey through
the wilderness of this world. And they're not just on their
own to go their own way, to do their own thing. They are to
be guided by the Spirit. And the Spirit led them in a
way which was very different than, it says that in Exodus
13, that they didn't go the most straightforward way. It says
that specifically, that he didn't lead them the straight way. He
led them by a different way. And he had a purpose in that
and how the Lord leads his people. to give them an expected end.
He wants to bring them in an expected end. He's got work for
them to learn. They've got to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. But the point I'm making here
is that it was with them always. You think of what a comfort that
must have been to Israel. But all their misbehaviors, that
cloud still stayed there. All their memories, all the things
that they passed through, that cloud still stayed there, all
in the daytime. And in the nighttime, that fire
that gave light to them and warmth, that was there through the 40
years. And how we might say, well, Wouldn't
we like that today, to have those physical symbols? But the Lord
has promised, you see, the Lord has promised these things for
His people. If you look in John 14 and verse
16, John 14 and verse 16, we have these things, and I will
pray the Father, and He will give you another comforter, that
he may abide with you forever. Jesus came to this earth for
that, to suffer, to bleed, to die, to work out a righteousness
for his people, and then to rise again, to then ascend to be with
his father in heaven. He was not gonna be with us always,
as it were, but he was gonna send the comforter who was going
to, and you think what a comforter that was, to Israel, to have
that fire. and a cloud with them all the
time, a comfort. And may we be encouraged that
God has said that his people today, in their wilderness journey
from the city of destruction to the celestial city, they have
a guide, they have one that is with them. And this is a great
preciousness, is it not, to the Lord's people? Think of that
as picked up in Psalm 23. Psalm 23, that very well-known
Psalm about the shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. But that
picks up that in Psalm 23. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. That's the reason. Thou art with
me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. The comforter, Jesus
gives the Holy Spirit this name, the comforter. And how David
was able to say in Psalm 23 that that was a comfort to him, to
know that the Lord was with him. And we pray, we often say to
one another, the Lord be with you, and it's such a preciousness
for the Lord's people to know that the Lord is with them and
in his presence to help them day by day. But this was despite, you see,
their provocations, despite their sins, despite all the difficulties
they walked through. And you see David, the sweet
psalmist of Israel that wrote Psalm 22, 23, also wrote Psalm
51. And he says in Psalm 51, Verse 11, pass me not away from
thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. David, in Psalm 51, had made
great provocation. He had sinned greatly with Bathsheba
and Uriah, and all that occasion, yet he pleased with the Lord.
Pass me not away from thy presence, and take not thy Holy Spirit
from me. presence of God with his people.
What a comfort and a blessing that is to them. And if we look in Hebrews chapter
15, sorry, Hebrews 13, we have also a very precious word, Hebrews
13, verses five and six, let your conversation be without
covetousness. We live in a world of covetousness,
each seeking to have more and more for themselves. Never content
with what they have, always looking at others. Let your conversation
be without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have. Why? Why should we do that? This
is the reason. For he hath said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. This is the reason why they should
not fear. This is the reason Why? That they should not covet, because
they've got him, they've got everything. And I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say, the Lord is my
helper, and I will not fear what man should do unto me. But this
cloud in the daytime and this fire at night depicted the presence
of with Israel, his ancient people,
picturing today his people of every kindred, nation, tribe,
and tongue, his church, his bride, that he is with them in their
troubles, in their difficulties, despite all their provocations. That does not mean, therefore,
that we are not concerned about provoking the Lord, but we should
be We should mortify, therefore, the deeds of the body. But here, you see, we have this
encouragement that the Lord will never take away, never take away
his spirit from his people. Well, another aspect of this
cloud is in the nighttime, you see, it gave light. I understand in deserts, you
might think always that a desert is a very hot place and in the
hot burning sun it is. But actually at night it can
get very cold. There's no water. The water is a good stabiliser
of temperature and stops it getting too hot and stops it getting
too cold. It's got a large thermal inertia. But in the desert, it
can get very cold. And you see, there was this by
night, to keep them warm and to give them light. And you see,
that's such a spiritual thing as well, isn't it, the night?
How the Lord Jesus says, I am the light of the world, and how
he gave light to his people. And the Holy Spirit, you see,
enlightens us, enlightens our minds, enlightens us to the sinfulness
of sin, enlightens us to the preciousness of the gospel, opens
our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of his law. It's the
work of the Spirit. You see, what's been done at
Calvary is so precious. He's made a way of salvation
for his people. But without the Spirit applying
it and opening the eyes of God's people to behold it, it would
be a salvation that would be not used and not applied and
not to benefit his people. But no, this salvation that's
accomplished at Calvary is applied by the Holy Spirit into the hearts
of God's people. It's a light. See, we read that
in our text in Nehemiah 9, verse 19. Yet thou in thy manifold
mercies forsook them not in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud
departed not by day to lead them in the way, neither the pillar
of fire by light. to show them light. Light. Oh, it's pitch darkness. We don't know where we're going.
Oh, we need the light. Lift thou up the light of thy
countenance upon us in the way wherein we should. Which way
should we go? What is the right way? What is
what will be the way that will lead us into eternal life? Oh,
it's the Holy Spirit that comes and reveals to us the exceeding
sinfulness of sin and the exceeding preciousness of the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Light. And of course, light tells us,
it indicates to us the truth. You see, it's a lack of a lack
of light, if we're in the dark, we're unaware of what's around
us. We don't know that a cabin is in front of us. We're walking
along in the dark and there's a great big ditch in front of
us. If the light's off and we have no light, we walk straight
into it. We're totally ignorant of its
presence. And yet, when the light shines,
it shows us the truth of the pit that's before us and the
reason why we should not go forward and we should go around it. And
you see, it gives us truth. 16 verse 13, we have, how be
it when he, the spirit of truth, is come. The spirit shows us
truth, the truth of what we are and what Christ is. It shows
us the truth. This world which lies in wickedness,
it doesn't know the truth, because it doesn't know the exceeding
sinfulness of sin, and it doesn't know the way to be saved in the
Savior. How be it when he, the spirit
of truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth. This light, as this fire at night
gave light to Israel. It was a wonderful blessing that
it took to Israel. But it was for us, you see, today,
picturing today, the Holy Spirit, what it does to us. He will guide
you into all truth. And that's so much what we need. But then we speak not just of it being
a pillar of fire by night, but a cloud by day. And you might
think perhaps where we live, generally speaking, we prefer
not to have the clouds. We prefer to have the bright
sun on a day like today. And the fact there's little or
no clouds about, we think that's lovely because we get the full
light of the sun. But obviously, sometimes, in
our land, we do get in the midsummer when it's so hot. And then you
see, we start to understand what it was like for Israel in the
wilderness. When it's a very hot day and
then we're in the hot sun, then to have a shadow, then to have
someone to, something to hide us from the sun is very, very
welcome. And how you see the Lord is that
to his people, a covering, a shade, In Psalm 90, we read of that,
Psalm 90. The Bible pictures these things very
much. Psalm 91, sorry. He that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. And we read also that the Lord
is like a great rock. in a dry and the shadow of a
great world in a dry and thirsty land. How God, that was a picture
of a rock. But you see, then if you always
hide behind a rock, then you wouldn't go on your journey.
But you see, God provided this miracle of a cloud that moved
with Israel and kept them sheltered just where they were, like a
moving, a moving car, a wonderful provision. It was so miraculous,
their journey, through the wilderness, it would have naturally been
a certain death for two million people to live in a desert when
there's nothing growing and there's no water would be certain death. And that's why the Holy Spirit
you see is so vital. The Holy Spirit in Christ, Christ
that bread of life, Christ that water of life, the Holy Spirit
giving them light in the darkness, the Holy Spirit sheltering them
from the great heat. We read in Psalm 121, it's often
referred to as the Traveler's Psalm. Psalm 121, verse five
and six. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is the shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. that this traveller is realising
when they walk through the hottest part of the day. And of course,
in Israel, where these things are, it took place that they
have much stronger sun, much more direct light from the sun
and much more hotter conditions than we're used to in the UK. But you see, and then it was
a great provision how God provided a covering and how the Lord protects
us, you see. The sun shall not smite me by
day. How that picture of the Holy
Spirit protects his people, protects them from their enemies and from
those things which would overthrow them, from the impossibilities,
from the heat and the burden of the day, that God put that
shade across them so that as that sun beat down, it couldn't
penetrate, it protected them. and how the Lord is able to keep
him, we read that in Psalm 27, how the Lord is able to keep
his people in his pavilion. The idea there was in the midst
of the battle, there will be a place of the king's pavilion,
a place of safety in the midst of battle and how the Lord is
able to keep his people. So there was that light, we read,
we've spoken of the light, we've spoken then, of the covering.
Psalm 105 speaks also of this. Psalm 105 speaks of this covering. Psalm 105 verse 39. He spread a cloud for a covering
and fire to give light in the night. So here it's a covering.
Tell the Lord people need to be covered. Cover my defenseless
head with a shadow. of thy wings." How the Lord is
that covering and a blessing to his people. Then another aspect
you see that we read of in the time of Israel was, we have it first mentioned, the
cloudy pillar in Exodus 13, but in Exodus 14 we find that the
position of that cloud was put in a special place. And that
was because the Egyptians were chasing Israel and they had decided
to bring them back into slavery. They decided that they didn't
want them to let them go and they were going to bring them
back with force. And yet you see this symbol of the Holy Spirit
was used to protect them. was used for their great benefit. You look in Exodus 14 and verse
20. This is the account of the Red
Sea. Exodus 14, verse 20, and it came
between them. This is talking about the, let's
look at verse 19 of Exodus 14. And the angel of the Lord, which
went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them,
and the pillar of a cloud went from before their face and stood
behind them. And it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And here you see,
we have the protection that God gave Israel in this cloud. It
protected them from their enemies. Their enemies could not come
near them because it was, we read that it was darkness to
them. It was darkness to the Egyptians.
It was pitch dark. and yet gave light to Israel.
Israel carry on their journey through the Red Sea while the
Egyptians were in a darkness. That's a wonderful thought, you
see, in the New Testament, in Romans chapter eight, we have
these words, Romans 8, verse 31. What shall we say then to these
things? This is Romans 8, verse 31. If
God be for us, who will be against us? And how that was true of
Israel, wasn't it? Oh, naturally speaking, they
had their chariots, they had their horsemen. Israel was no
match to Pharaoh and his army. They had their cattle, their
little ones. They were a sitting target. And
yet, you see, God protected them. God stood between them. If God be for us, who can be
against us? And how this was symbolized in
pictorial way in the Old Testament, The New Testament has not lost
its power. We have the same God today, and that God that showed
his arm, his outstretched arm, for Israel then, he has not lost
his love to Israel. He has not lost his love to his
people. He's still able to protect his people. He's able, it is
true still, if God be for us, who can be against us? And this
is a rhetorical question. The answer is clear, nobody.
Nobody can be against us and prevail. Nobody can overcome
us. Pharaoh and his host realized
that it was futile to fight against Israel. And as they came into
the... We read that in Exodus 14, and
it came to pass, Exodus 14, verse 24. It came to pass that in the
morning watch, the Lord looked upon the host of the Egyptians
through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the
host of the Egyptians and took off their chariot wheels and
they drove them heavily so that the Egyptians said, let us flee
from the face of Israel for the Lord fight is for them against
the Egyptians. This is this cloud and this cloud. All the power of the Holy Spirit,
how we need, quench not the Holy Spirit, but we are to walk in
the Spirit. We are to know that mind of the
Spirit that we might truly be know the blessing. Just one last
contrast I want to bring with this pillar of fire and the pillar
of cloud is the difference it was to Israel and to Egypt. You see we read in Exodus 14
verse 20 and it came between the camp of the Egyptians and
it was the camp of and the camp of Israel and it was a cloud
and darkness to them to the Egyptians but it gave light by night to
these The one came not near the other or the nine. So here, the
spirit puts a separation between the Egyptians and Israel. If you look in the New Testament,
in Matthew's Gospel, in chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11 and verse
25, we have these words. Matthew 11 verse 25, at that
time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord
of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even
so far, for so it seemed good in thy sight. See, we have here
the hiding and the revelation. Egypt, it was hidden, it was
darkness. But to Israel, it was light.
And here we have, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent. They are not able to see the
glory of Christ. They are not able, by their own
wisdom, to find out God. Thou hast hidden these things
as it was darkness to the Egyptians. But the babes, the little ones
in grace, those that the world despised, the Lord has revealed himself
to them. Not unto the world, but
unto them. And so the Holy Spirit, that
light and darkness, giving light to God's people, giving darkness
to his enemies, or how we need the Spirit. We need the Spirit,
the Spirit that speaks not of himself, speaks of Christ. It
rested, it stood above the tabernacle, it pointed to Christ. It was
the glory, the Shekinah glory of the temple was this cloud
that stood above it. The Holy Spirit showed the glory
of Christ and how we need that in our heart to see the glory
and how we read that the Lord is shining our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. This is the Spirit's work to
reveal Christ to his people. Though they're dead in trespasses
and sins, they've been washed, they've been redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb, and yet they're not left to walk in the wilderness
by themselves. They have the Spirit that never
leaves them, And you see, we read that lovely word, I will
never leave them, nor forsake them. That's what we read in
Hebrews 13. For he hath said, I will never
leave them. I will never leave them. How
Satan would twist those words. But that's what God has said,
and that is what you'll say. I will never leave them. And
the type is that that cloud and that pillar never left Israel.
That is the picture. God will never leave his people.
That Holy Spirit will guide all Israel from Egypt. That promised land to be with
him, which his father, may the Lord bless him.