May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this morning as we meditate in His Holy Word.
Let's turn to the book of Nehemiah, chapter 9, and we'll read verse
12. The book of Nehemiah, chapter
9, and we'll read verse 12. Moreover, Thou leadest them in
the day by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire,
to give them light in the way wherein they should go. The history of the children of
Israel is very instructive for us today. It occurred many years
ago, of course, and we might think, well, it's just an interesting
history account and it's no relevance really to us today. But of course
it does have much relevance and really the vital An important
element of it is this, that as Israel were directed by the Spirit
of God in all that they did in their journeys, the central theme,
of course, in their journey was that they were directed to the
Messiah, the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can see that
as we trace out the accounts right back from Genesis and as
we read here together in Nehemiah, as Nehemiah commences, reminding
the people from Abraham. You may remember that last Thursday
we read the account of Stephen, the deacon, and he went back
in the account to Abraham as well. Of course in the beginning
there we see so very clearly how the Lord was with them and
with Abraham and with his people and as you trace it out carefully
you will notice that the great element is this. There was the
need for sacrifice and in that sacrifice there was the shedding
of blood. Those are really the relevant
theme. that we read as we follow through
the Old Testament brings us into the New Testament and there of
course it brings us to the gracious and glorious time of the Saviour
in his wonderful life and his glorious death and his wonderful
resurrection and his ascension into glory and now today for
his intercession. And so we should never think
that the Old Testament is irrelevant, we should never think that it's
old-fashioned and it's out of place and it's not needful to
read or to meditate upon because there is much truth and much
blessing. We read together this ninth chapter
this morning and in this ninth chapter really Nehemiah and the
Levites, they direct the children of Israel to understand how they
had again and again departed from Almighty God. How many times
they had sinned against the commandments of God. They turned their back
upon Him. They followed their own way. And yet, what do we
read? Again and again, God's mercy. Again and again, God's forgiveness. Again and again, God's love towards
them. Utterly unworthy of it. We today are really no different. It's good sometimes if you and
I just pause for a moment in the midst of our busy lives in
which we all live, no doubt. to ponder the path of our feet
and to see whether we are walking in the way of the Lord, or whether
we are disobedient, or whether we are walking contrary to God. So the Lord knows, and you and
I know as well. Often we perhaps turn a blind
eye or a deaf ear to the real truth of God, just because it
doesn't suit our way of life, just because it doesn't suit
the conditions we find ourselves in. What a blessing it is to
have this wonderful account to remind us of the Lord's constant
mercy and constant favour. And this verse here, which we
read this morning, this twelfth verse in this ninth chapter,
tells us very clearly that the Lord led the children of Israel
by this cloudy pillar and in the night by a pillar of fire.
And this commenced very soon after they come out of Egypt,
before they come to the Red Sea, the Lord graciously appeared
to them with this very clear sign, very clear direction. They couldn't mistake the pillar
of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night. And that was with
them, right through the wilderness. and brought them right across
Jordan into Canaan. We may say, and you young people
may say, well, what's the relevance? What's the picture that we really
see of that? Well, the picture that we really
see is this. Israel were in Egypt. And they were in Egypt, and they
weren't free to do what they were directed to do. They were,
as it were, the word is, in bondage. That means they were tied up,
really. They were chained up. They weren't
free. They were slaves. Slaves to the Egyptians. And
they had to obey them. And they had to do what they
were told. And it wasn't an easy life they
had. They had a very difficult life. But what did they do in
that time? They cried under God. When they
first went down into Egypt some 400 years previously, they'd
had a very wonderful time. God had favoured them, God had
blessed them, God had provided for them. And when we think that
they'd come out of a place of famine, brought down into Egypt
through the good officers of Joseph who the Lord had raised
up to be the governor of the land and therefore they were
accommodated in Goshen, the best part of the land of Egypt. And
the Lord was with them. And then, of course, gradually
the Egyptians turned against them and they became these slaves. And there they were then in this
difficult environment, but they prayed to the Lord and the Lord
heard them. And so today the relevance is
really this. You and I might find ourselves
in perhaps difficult situations in a worldly environment. Perhaps at one stage we were
quite happy to be involved in it and to enjoy, as it were,
the pleasures of sin for a season. But then, perhaps, we found it
wasn't quite so comfortable. It became more and more uncomfortable. And we wanted to get out of the
condition. We wanted to get out of the situation. We were really tied up there
and we were bound up there and it wasn't easy to escape. and
in reality we couldn't escape. Well what a mercy today if you
and I are found praying unto God for deliverance. Because God heard the prayers
of the Israelites and we can believe today He hears the prayers
of His people. And what a blessing it is if
therefore He hears and answers our prayers. Now then, God appeared for them in a very
remarkable way, a way which they could never really have planned,
and we are thankful we have the same God who today does appear,
still, in ways perhaps that you and I could never really have planned.
And so we find that God sent Moses, and Moses was prepared
by God for 80 years, 40 years in Pharaoh's palace, 40 years
in the back side of the desert, to prepare Moses to come and
be the one that should be the leader and bring the Israelites
out of Egypt. And you can read in Exodus, it's
called Exodus because it was an exit from Egypt. It was a
glorious exodus of the Israelites. And you can read of all the plagues
that occurred there and the wonderful time that Lord blessed the Israelites
with when there was that wonderful ceremony of the Passover instituted. So gloriously significant. how wonderfully directing the
children of Israel to the Messiah, the Saviour, signified by that
lamb that was taken and the blood shed and slain and the blood
taken and put on the doorpost and the lintels and then with
that last plague when the avenging angel came and slew all the firstborn
It was only safety to those who were in the dwellings, who passed
under the blood, placed in a doorpost and lived with us and gone into
that place. And so there was a wonderful picture which was
displayed to Israel and that picture continued with them right
up until the time when the Lord Jesus Christ partook of that
Passover for the very last time when he was 33 years old and
just the day before he was crucified upon that cross at Calvary. So we see how relevant and important
it was. Well now we have these words
here this morning. They'd come out of Egypt. Where
were they to go? What was to happen? They didn't
know, they hadn't got any direction. They didn't know where they were
to go, how they were to get to Canaan. They'd had a promise,
the promise going right back to Abraham, which was some 1,500
or so years previously, that there would be that deliverance.
How was it to be performed? Well, the Lord graciously gave
them this wonderful direction in this cloudy pillar of cloud
by day and of fire by night. And that was that which God ordained
to direct the children of Israel for all those years and to bring
them at last safely into Canaan. Now the direction that we have
today is clearly this. We still need today direction
by Almighty God. And you might say, well, how
are we to get that direction? How are we to be directed? Well,
Israel were directed and sometimes they stayed in a place for just
a day or so, sometimes a week, sometimes a month, sometimes
a year or so. But they did not move until the
cloud moved. But when the cloud moved, they
moved. And there wasn't any discussion
about it. There wasn't any opinion given
whether they should go or whether they should not go. When the
cloud moved, they moved. And so you may say, well what
is the direction to me today? I don't see a physical cloud
moving. No we don't. But what do we have? I believe we have the gracious
direction of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are therefore to look
to Him for direction. Whether it's the daytime or whether
it's the nighttime. You might say, well, just explain
that. Well, let me explain it in this
way. The daytime may be in our spiritual life when things seem
to be relatively clear. It may be sometimes a nighttime
in our spiritual experience. And then you see, when it's night,
we need a very clear direction. Israel were blessed with this
fiery pillar and I believe the Lord gives us the gracious direction
as we look to the Saviour and perhaps in these dark times we
are directed even more clearly to the cross of Christ. because there is not only we
might say the fiery pillar but there the light shines and it
shines out of darkness it shines out of darkness we
ought to be reminded perhaps of that text in Isaiah chapter
50 and verse 10 which tells us this
It's a good word to just ponder. Isaiah knew the path. Who is
among you that feareth the Lord? Well, I hope we are amongst those
who fear the Lord. That obeyeth the voice of his
servant, obeyeth the voice of God. Well, that's a question,
perhaps, as to whether you and I are obeying the word of God,
the voice of God. The Lord knows and only God knows. I don't know, but you know and
God knows. Obeyeth the voice of his servant
that walketh in darkness and hath no light. You might say,
well I didn't expect my path to be like that. I didn't expect
to be obeying God's voice and now find that it's a dark scene
and I can't see clearly at all. That's why the Jew and the Misra
were blessed with this pillar by fire. They didn't just journey
in the daytime, they journeyed also by night and therefore They
weren't able to say, well this looks a good way, that looks
a good way. They wouldn't have been able
to see the way they were going. But the Lord gave them that light,
that fiery pillar, by night. And the Lord gives us that sight by night. And that sight by night surely
is none less than the glorious light of the Gospel, the glorious
light of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a wonderful view by faith
of the cross of Christ, realising that there is centred all our
hope, all our hope for time, all our hope for eternity. So you see, the blessing is this. as Isaiah tells us. He doesn't say, well, give up,
stop where you are, don't do anything at all. No, he says,
let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. You see, the Lord gives us faith to wait and to stay upon our
God. as we may journey on in what
may appear to be dark all around us. And yet you see the light
of the glorious gospel in the face of Jesus Christ shines before
us. What are we to do? We are to
keep that light in view. you may remember that picture
that is given to us by John Bunyan in The Pilgrim's Progress in
the life of Christian as Christian journeyed through the wilderness
to come to glory at last and he came to this place once where
he needed the direction and Emmanuel had come and asked him a question
and he said well look do you see that yonder light? and he said well I think I do
it wasn't very clear I think I do and he said keep that light
in view while as we journey on. You see,
we may perhaps begin our journey, our spiritual journey, it may
seem to be rather dim, and yet there is a light, and it may
be burning. We ought to keep it in view. And the good thing is this, it
means that our eyes are not to wander all around, we are to
concentrate upon that light. And that means we are to concentrate
upon the light that shines forth through the glorious light of
the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ. Because that light directs us
to the glorious Saviour himself. And therefore it directs us to
the glorious work of the Saviour, which all of us need, the wonderful
work of the Saviour, because He died in order to save our
souls, in order to redeem our souls, and that's good news.
And that will rejoice our hearts. Yes, it may appear dark around
us, but there's that light shining, and that'll make all the difference.
What a blessing then, for us to have that shining in our hearts,
even today. Well, Israel, they journeyed
all these many, many years, but they didn't move until God directed
them. But when it moved, they moved. Let us be clear about that. They
didn't continue and say, well, I think we'll stay tonight in
the tent. I don't think it's a good night to start moving.
I'll stay where I am. No, they moved. When the cloud
moved, they moved. And the good news is this. God
never makes a mistake. You and I make many mistakes
because we try to choose our way and we try to choose our
time. Both of those things are in the
control of Almighty God. Let us not forget that God does
not make any mistakes. 19 Thou in thy manifold mercies
forsookest them not in the wilderness. And you and I are travelling in the wilderness today. It's
a great blessing, isn't it, to think the Lord, He knows where
we are exactly. Exactly. He knows where we are
this morning sitting here in chapel. He knows where we're
going to be this afternoon. He knows the path exactly. 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. Isn't it good, therefore, to
have such a gracious God who does not deal with us as our
sins deserve? But a God who is kind and gracious. Now as we think about the children
of Israel's journey, we should not forget there was that very
sad and very solemn time when they'd been going for about a
year or so, from having come out of Egypt, and they'd come
to Cain Ishmael and the Lord told them to go and spy out the
land, the land of Cain, and to see whether it was a good land
to encourage them so they could then go and possess it. So the Lord graciously allowed
12 spies, one person from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to
go and spy out the land. Well, they went out and they
spied the land and they spent 40 days doing it. So they had
a good time, a good look round and they came back and they were
asked, well, what was it like? And they said, well, it's a good
land, no doubt about that, it's a good land. But 10 other spies
said, But there's giants there, and there's high walled cities,
and we won't be able to conquer them, so we mustn't go up." Whereas, of course, Joshua and
Caleb said that they were able to go up. Caleb said, we are
well able to go up, and he was right. But you see the ten other
spies, with their, it's termed, evil report. It wasn't a good
report. Discouraged Israel. So they said, well, we're not
going up then. We're not going to obey God. We're not going
to obey God. My friend, it's a very solemn
position to be in, to not want or to not obey God, even if the
path may seem difficult. We should realise that the path
of the Christian is difficult, but if God before us, as Paul
says, who can be against us? Don't worry about what people
are saying. Don't worry about what the devil
says. Remember what God says. If God
before us, who can be against us? The Israelites, as you probably
remember, refused to go up. So God told them, all right,
you've been 40 days checking out the land. You are now going
to walk in the wilderness for 40 years, a day for a year, or
a year for a day. All of you who are over 20 years
of age will never come into Canaan. You will die in the wilderness. It was a very solemn judgement,
wasn't it? They'd had clear directions and
they refused to go up. And then they suddenly realised,
hold on a minute, we made a big mistake. We will go up and possess
the land. God was not with them and they
failed. My friends, never disobey God. Never think the way is too difficult. Never think the path is too hard. when David wrote the 107th Psalm,
which of course was a good many years after this, after the time
they came out of Egypt. He tells us, He, Almighty God,
He led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city
of habitation. Have faith in God. Have faith in God. Lead not to
your own understanding. Lead not to your own plans. Lead
not to your own way. Look to Jesus, who has said,
I am the way, the truth and the life. God is the way. Look to Him, don't look anywhere
else. If you and I look to Him, you
see, we will see then, as it were, the cloud moving. When
He moves, follow that way. Follow Him. He leads in the right
way. And what's the good truth? The
good truth is this. His way has a wonderfully good
ending. What's that ending? safely home
in glory. Israel came eventually home across
Jordan into the land of Canaan. When they got safely there, you
see, there was no need then for the cloud to lead them anymore.
Blessed be God when you and I, by His grace, get to glory. There will be no need for any
more leading because we shall have been led by the right way. You and I read these accounts,
don't we? We've no doubt read them many times. And yet you see, do they affect
us or do they not? Remember, Nehemiah says. He's reminding
the children of Israel that the Lord led them in the day by a
cloudy pillar and in the night by a pillar of fire to give them
light in the way wherein they should go. So although perhaps
it may seem dark, it's because you're looking to your own reasoning. The light wasn't on the ground,
was it? It was a cloud. It was up. They needed to look
up and to see how the light shone and how the light directed them,
which it did and which it does today. The Lord has said He will
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do these things for
them. We should never forget that we
are to pray to God. We should never forget we are
to seek his guidance and direction. And we should never get impatient. Sometimes we are impatient. Sometimes
we find the way is not to our liking. Sometimes we find the
journey is not very easy. Sometimes we might be thinking,
well, I must be on the wrong track, because it's not all working
out as I had hoped, as I anticipated. God knows and he has a perfect
plan for you and me and we should always remember that plan, that
plan is to lead us at last home to glory. That's the purpose
of the plan and also in leading us and directing us in that way
has another very important element. And what is that? To bring glory
to God. Because you and I will then have
to say, it was the Lord that led me. It was the Lord that
directed me. It was the Lord that guided me.
And therefore, I bow down and praise Him. Praise Him. Again, as you and I read the
Word of God, there are many, many, many occasions when Israel
did praise God. It depends how lacking that is
today, isn't it? Praising God. Perhaps it's because
we don't have anything to thank God for. Perhaps it's because
We haven't been looking to Him. We've been looking to ourselves.
We've been looking around. We've been looking down instead
of looking up. Well, my friends, always remember
that Israel were directed in this great and glorious and wonderful
way by this unmistakable pillar. It didn't have to say, I'm not
sure whether this is right or I'm not sure whether this is
wrong. A pillar of cloud was clear to see. A pillar of fire
was clear to see. And my friends, God today leads
us in the same way. He leads us in a way that we
can see. Perhaps we don't want to see,
that's very different. but he does lead us in a way
and we have his word which he has given us to direct us and
to bless us and what a favour and what a mercy that is and
so we should be thankful today that we have an account like
this we should be thankful today that the Lord spoke to Nehemiah
that he was able to address all these people, and you probably
noticed as we began this chapter, I always think it's a very wonderful
introduction really, because the children of Israel are there,
and what do they say? Stand up and bless the Lord your
God forever and ever. Isn't that good? Isn't it good
for us today? to heed such directions. Stand up, don't keep on sitting
down, don't keep on lying down perhaps. Stand up and bless the Lord your God forever
and ever and blessed be thy glorious name which is exalted above all
blessing and praise. Thou, even thou art Lord alone,
Thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their hosts,
the earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all
that therein is, and Thou preservest them all, and the host of heaven
worshipeth Thee. Well, what a picture that is! How good it is for us today to
be reminded of such a glorious statement, Thou art the Lord,
the God who didst choose Abraham, broughtest him forth out of Ur
of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham. And so it
goes on. Why it's good for us today. You
know, we've read it also in the beginning of this statement. Because they stood in their place
and read in the book of the law of the Lord their God one fourth
part of the day. Well I wonder if we'd get a bit
fed up, a bit bored perhaps. You had to stand up for six hours
and hear the Bible being read. I wonder if you'd all be happy,
if you'd all rejoice in it. Or you'd say, well hold on a
minute, you'd better stop there, I've had enough of this. Well, these people,
they listened, didn't they? And what was told them? Well,
they were reminded again and again of the sinful state they'd
been in. And again and again in the mercy of God and the direction
of God and how He's been with them and how He's led them, it's
good to ponder. Ponder the path of our feet.
Ponder the path that we have walked in. Perhaps it's made
us sorry and sad and plead for forgiveness and plead for that
direction and strength to walk in the way the Lord would have
us to lead in. to walk in our other path, He
would have us to walk in and to be directed by none other
than the Blessed Spirit of God with our eyes set and centred
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us not take our eyes off
of the Saviour. Let us follow Him. He sits before us as a glorious
example. My friend, surely our hope is
to be found in heaven at last, in glory. I hope it is. I hope
your great, great desire is, your great concern is, to be
found in heaven at last. This is the important thing.
May the things of the world be strangely dim. in the light of
His glorious face. Well, my friends today, think
upon these words, think upon our little path, your path in
my life, being led by the blessed Spirit of God in the same way,
not in a physical way of a pillar, but in a spiritual way, and have
the evidence that God is with us, remembering if God before
us who can be against us. Amen.