Let us turn once again to God's
Word. That portion we were considering
earlier today in the morning hour in Exodus chapter 40. And there the last verses of
the chapter, the last verses of this book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 40. reading from
verse 34, 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. And when the cloud was taken
up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward,
in all their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken
up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.
For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and
the fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house
of Israel throughout all their journeys." And earlier, of course,
we were considering something of that glory of God that was
so evidenced there in the tabernacle. Moses had finished the work,
we're told at the end of verse 33. God had brought the children
of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt under his good hands,
brought them into the The wilderness at Sinai entered into covenant
wisdom when he descended upon the mount back in chapter 19
and then the speaking of the Ten Commandments, the word of
the covenant in chapter 20 and now the people were afraid and
they desired that Moses should be their mediator and Moses is
subsequently called up into the mount and is there 40 days and
40 nights and receives all that direction and instruction with
regards to the furnishings of the tabernacle and the worship
of God. All that work was finished and
we read the chapter this morning and now it's God who gives command
concerning the manner in which the tabernacle is to be set up
and the placings of all the furniture there in the opening words, the
opening verses of this chapter. and then we're told how Moses did all according to all that
the Lord commanded him so did he at verse 16 in every detail
he carefully follows the instruction of the Lord and having set the
tabernacle up and placed all those various necessary furnishings
having finished the work then a cloud covered the tent of the
congregation and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and it's interesting because we come
then to the book of Leviticus and we see that immediately the
Lord calls unto Moses and speaks unto him out of the tabernacle
of the congregation. And then he begins to give all
those instructions with regards to the various offerings, the
sacrifices, the feast, all that was pertaining really to the
worship of God. We go straight from these words
at the end of this 40th chapter then into the next book, the
third book of Moses called Leviticus. It all concerns God, it all concerns
His glory, it all concerns the right and the proper manner in
which they were to worship Him. Now this morning, just briefly
to remind you, we considered how God's glory was very much
revealed. and the God who reveals himself
of course is that one who is spoken of as a consuming fire
all the holiness of God those angels, those seraphim, those
burning ones who are before his throne as they cannot bear the
sight sinless angels, they veil their faces and they veil their
feats and they cry holy holy holy lord god of hosts this is
that god who is a consuming fire and in all that glory he descends
upon the tabernacle and the tabernacle of course covered by curtains,
as we said this morning. Not only that, goats' hairs and
ramskins, and yet, when this glorious God descends in all
his majesty, yet the fire does not consume any of these coverings. It's like the burning bush. like
at the beginning of Exodus there in the third chapter where Moses
is in the backside of the desert caring for the sheep of his father-in-law
Jethro and he sees a remarkable scene he sees a bush burning
and yet the bush is not consumed and it's the same here the tabernacle
isn't consumed it's the glory of God it's God coming again
to reveal himself it's that covenant name the name that God had declared
remember there in chapter 3 we read those words in the sixth
verse of that chapter he says to Moses I am the God of thy
fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob
and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God and
then how He declares himself, verse 14, God said unto Moses,
I am that I am. And he said, Thou shalt not say
unto the children of Israel, I am that sent me unto you. The very basis, of course, of
the name Jehovah. Literally, that name Jehovah
means He is. If we were to translate the word,
it's the verb to be and God speaking of himself of course speaks here
in the first person God says I am and what do his people say
they say he is that's the name Jehovah he is that God who is
the unchanging one I the Lord change not he says
therefore ye children of Israel are not consumed what a revelation
is this then of God and God's covenant name and yet we remarked
also this morning strangely with this revelation there's also
a holding back in a sense there's a certain concealing besides
the glory of God there's the clouds that's covering the tabernacle
God's concealing himself verily thou art a God that hideth thyself
in the law Moses is associated with the law The law was given
by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. That fullness of revelation doesn't
come until Christ with the law. There's thick clouds, as we read
back in Exodus chapter 19, the 19th chapter of this book, and
there at verse 16, the thick cloud that was upon the mount. And so, a revealing, yes, but
also a certain concealing until the coming of Christ. Christ
outwarned, He was the fulfillment of all these things, that more
perfect tabernacle, spoken of in Hebrews 9, which the Lord
pitched, and not man. That that we have in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and all that the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished here upon the earth, the very antitype of all that
tabernacle worship in the Old Testament. And there, where has
Christ gone? Why, Christ has entered heaven
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. He is the forerunner. Oh, it's
in Christ that we have the full and the final revealing of God. with open face, beholding, says
Paul, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, will change from
glory to glory. Oh, how God is that One who made
the light to shine out of darkness and has now shined in our hearts
to give the knowledge of His glory in the face of the Lord
Jesus, or as the margin says there in 2 Corinthians 4, in
the person. the glory of God in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I said this morning how we
have to make that distinction then always between these two
things, between law and gospel. And the ministry of one and the
ministry of the other. The law, that ministration of
death and of condemnation. And the gospel, that ministration
of the Spirit of God, that ministration of righteousness. that righteousness
that comes only in Christ who is the Lord's, our righteousness. But I want now to move on and
to consider these last three verses that follow that glory
of God to be witnessed in the tabernacle. Verse 36, 37 and thirty-eight. And when the
cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children
of Israel went onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud
were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that
it was taken up. For the cloud of the LORD was
upon the tabernacle by day, and the fire was on it by night,
in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their
journeys." Here is God directing His people. Here is God protecting
his people and these are the two things that I really want
us to consider as we turn to these closing verses of the chapter. God's directing of his people
and God's protection of his people when he is there in their midst. Isn't the Lord that one who is
pleased to come and help undertake for his people in all the circumstances
of their lives how the tabernacle of the Lord is with them that
fear him to deliver them. And that's what we have here.
First of all though let's consider something of the Lord's direction. Now we saw this morning as we
were looking at the former part, verses 34 and 35, and I remarked
on the way in which Moses was obedient to God's commandment.
We have that repeated expression in all the verses, how Moses
did all as the Lord commanded. Verse 19, as the Lord commanded
Moses, Verse 21, as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 23, as
the Lord had commanded Moses. And so it goes on. And I think
if I'm right, there are seven times that expression is used.
Everything is done then exactly as God's commanded. all of the
furnishings were to be made according to the pattern that had been
shown in the mount. And when it came to the erection
and the establishing of the tabernacle, so too they must carefully observe,
and Moses does it, all that the Lord command it. And also when
it comes to the way in which the people are to be directed,
how they are to be led, and we see it in that portion that we
read in the ninth of Numbers. Look at the words that we have
there. We read these words, Numbers 9, 18, At the commandment of
the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment
of the Lord they pitched. verse 20 and so it was when the
cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle according to the commandment
of the Lord they abode in their tents and according to the commandment
of the Lord they journeyed again at verse 23 at the commandment
of the Lord they rested in the tents and at the commandment
of the Lord they journeyed they kept the charge of the Lord at
the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses there's a clear
emphasis there on the fact that they were only to move as God
commanded them, as God directed them and that repetition as the
repetition here in this 40th chapter is not vain repetition
God's words are God's words and God never repeats himself in
vain there are no idle words anywhere in the Word of God. It was as God commanded them
that they journeyed. It was as God commanded them
that they stopped and pitched their tents and abode in a certain
place. And what do they have here in this fiery, cloudy pillar? It's spoken of as the cloud of
the Lord in verse 38. The cloud of the Lord was upon
the tabernacle by day and fire was on it by night. It's a very
token of God's presence. Remember that before ever they
had the tabernacle, even when they first came out of Egypt,
they had that cloudy fiery pillar to lead and to guide and to direct
them in the way. We have the law given in chapter
20 but we go back further to chapter 13 at the end of chapter
13. The Lord went before them by
day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night
in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before
the people." They are the Lord's people, the Lord is clearly the
one who is leading them in the way. And later we find Nehemiah
in his day. And of course Nehemiah is involved
with another gracious deliverance, got to deliver his fathers from
the bondage that was Egypt in the Nehemiah's day he was one
of those who returned from the captivity and was very much involved
in the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and he can look
back to what the Lord had done in the days of Moses Nehemiah
9 verse 19 thou in thy manifold mercies he says forsookest them not in the wilderness,
the pillar of clouds departed not from them by day to lead
them in the way, and neither the pillar of fire by night to
show them light and the way wherein they should go." How they would
look back then, the American look back, and time and again
they would look back upon how it was the Lord God himself who
was the one who was ever leading them in the way. Again we see
it in the book of Psalms, Psalm 78. In the day time also he led
them with a cloud and all the night with a light of fire. All they knew that this was the
God who would lead them. What does God do as he leads
his people? Well two things we see here quite
clearly. God leads them and gives them
rest. He certainly is a God who is
pleased to grant them that gracious rest. There were times when they
did not move at all. And again, it's quite clear,
is it not, there in that record that we have in Numbers chapter
9, the end of verse 18, As long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle,
they rested in their tents. 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. Verse 22, Whether it were
two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the
tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode
in their tents, and journeyed not. But when it was taken up,
they journeyed. or the Lord gave them those remarkable
periods of rest. And there is that also in the
lives of all God's believing people. Isaiah tells us, He that believeth
shall not make haste. God's people are not to be a
hasty people. Whatever we would do, we're to
be those, surely, who would, like the children of Israel,
wait upon the Lord and look to the Lord for His leadings. We're
not to be hasty, we're not to be impulsive. We certainly see that sometimes
in the Lord's people. We see it, for example, in the
life of a man like Simon Peter, how impulsive Peter was, how
quick. We're God's people. The Lord
says in the Psalm, doesn't He be still and know that I am God's. We're to wait on the Lord. That's
what God's people do. They don't act. They don't want
to act in their own spirit. They want to be those who are
clearly being directed by the Lord in all that they do. We
should make all these matters a matter of real prayer. The
psalmist says, Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Twice there in that 27th Psalm
Wait on the Lord. And then again he says, Wait
I say on the Lord. And what does the Lord say? My time is not yet come, but
your time is always ready. It's not easy, is it, to be still,
to wait upon the Lord. Sometimes we think, well, something
surely has got to be done, we've got to be active, we've got to
be doing something. No, there is a waiting upon the
Lord because the Lord gives His people rest when He leads them
aright. He leads them besides still waters, does He not? He leads them in green pastures.
He brings them to places where they will find refreshment. There
was then to be that time when they didn't move. They're not at home of course,
they're journeying all the time in a sense, they've not yet arrived
to that land of promise. that place that he had spoken
of to their fathers, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. What was
the purpose of him bringing them out of the bondage that was Egypt? It was to take them into that
promised land, that land flowing with milk and honey, without
having to wait God's time. They were there many times to
be still, but then God also would move them onwards as we're told
here in verse 36 when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle
the children of Israel went onwards in their journeys or when the Lord would have them
move forward He clearly makes it evident that that's what that
would be about again in those verses in the 9th chapter of
Numbers verse 21 so it was when the cloud abode from even unto
the morning and 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 sometimes it might come in the middle of
the night And what are they to do? The Lord is indicating there
is a time to move forward. The strange dealings of the Lord. There is a time for action, for
moving onward, for going forward. In 1 Samuel 21 and verse 8 we
have those words, The King's business requireth haste. Are
there not those times when we must see to it? there's a work
to be done, there's a time for activity and there we need grace
to understand the relationship between these two things we need to know when we're to
be waiting upon the Lord and when on the other hand we're
to be moving forward there's a sense in which we see
something of the relationship between these two things earlier
in this book, in Exodus chapter 14. I don't know if you've ever,
well I'm sure you've read these verses, but it's ever occurred
to you that there seems to be a sort of contradiction? That's
how I read it. What is the Lord doing? What
is the Lord saying to his people here in chapter 14? in verse 13, Moses says unto the people, fear
ye not, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord which he will show you today. You remember how the
Egyptians having let them go, Pharaoh's had this change of
mind, he's pursuing them. and it's the Red Sea that's before
them, and the mountains round about them, and the host of Pharaoh
behind them, pursuing them. How can they escape? They're
going to be overrun by these pursuing Egyptians. Moses says
to the people, fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation
of the Lord which he will show you today. For the Egyptians
whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
The Lord shall fight for you, and He shall hold your peace.
Be still, in other words, and know that I am God. And then,
verse 15, the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore cryest thou
unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel
that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and
stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children
of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
They are told in one verse to stand still, and they will see
the salvation of the Lord. Then they are to go forward. Strange words in so many ways,
and yet we see here the relationship between these two things. You
see, when God's people are standing still, and when they're waiting
on the Lord, it's not something passive. It's not something passive. It's spiritual. There's much
calling upon the Lord. There's much crying to the Lord.
That they might understand what the Lord is doing, the way in
which the Lord would have them advance. And immediately, we
see that that that true waiting upon the Lord is not in vain
because the Lord is going to make a way but they have to venture
forth in faith the sea is still before them but Moses is there
and Moses is to lift up the rod and the Lord himself is going
to make a way for them through the midst of the red sea though
they were ever mindful of these wondrous works that the Lord
did for them and we went before them Well, this is the God, you
see, that was there in the midst of the tabernacle. When God descended upon that
tabernacle and manifested His glory, where is it that God is
to be found now? Why? It's there in the Holy of
Holies. There's the Mercy Seat. Well,
remember how Moses has to place all those pieces of furniture
and amongst them the Ark of the Covenant with it covering the
Mercy Seat with the cherubims, one on each end it's in the Holy of Holies, it's
a throne room of God and that's the God to look to, the God who
dwells there in their midst seated as it were between the cherubims
it's the Mercy Seat in the New Testament the antitypes to the
throne of grace is it not? where we are to come boldly to
the throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need and how they were mindful of these things
the language there in Psalm 80 give ear O shepherd of Israel
thou that leadest Joseph like a flock thou that dwellest between
the cherubim shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh
stir up thy strength and come and save us turn us again O God
and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved again at the
end of that 80th Psalm we have that refrain turn us again O
Lord God of hosts cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved
Well, we need the Lord then to be that one who will lead and
guide and direct us even as He did with the children of Israel
by like a flock. He directs them like a flock,
the shepherd who goes before his sheep. The Lord, my shepherd,
I shall not want. He leadeth me in green pastures
or maketh me to lie down in green pastures. and leadeth me beside
the still waters. And what does God do? As I already
intimated, immediately after these verses at the end of the
book of Exodus we come into the third book, we come into the
book of Leviticus and here is God now is there in the tabernacle
and the Lord calls unto Moses and speaks unto him out of the
tabernacle and gives him all those instructions and directions
the Lord is that one who is ever pleased to lead guide and direct
his people and we need to be those who are hearkening to his
voice well we need to listen the words of Isaiah thine ears
shall hear a word behind them, saying this is the way, walking
in it when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the
left. Oh, we know not the way. We feel it sometimes so weak
we know not the way to the sitter. The writer says weak in myself,
in him I'm strong, his spirit's voice I hear. The way I walk
cannot be wrong, if Jesus be but there. Surely that is the
great thing, the Lord Jesus is there. And if the Lord is there, that's
the way wherein we are to walk. The friends and counsellors bereft,
I often hear him say, decline not to the right or left, go
on. No, here's the way. the Lord will lead his people
he will guide, he will direct his people and as he does all
these things for them so also we see him as that God who protects
them in the way and so turning briefly in the second place from
God's directions to God's protections we're told in verse 38 the cloud
of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day and the fire was on it
by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout
all their journeyings here was something for them to behold
and I'll say something presently about that beholding that sight
of faith in the sight of all the house of Israel but first
of all Isn't this God's provision of shelter from all their troubles? Or there's a place, you see,
of safety. Psalm 27 5, in the time of trouble,
he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secrets of his tabernacle
shall he hide me, he shall set me up upon a rock. or the words
of the psalmist you see. Now the psalmist is mindful of
the word of God. Doubtless the psalmist is familiar.
The Psalms were written after the books of Moses. The first
five books of scripture, the books of Moses. They had those
five books and they were familiar with those five books. And that's
where they found their comfort. as they've heard something of
the history of the Lord's dealings with their fathers. In the time
of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of
his tabernacle. The tabernacle is so much associated
with God. It's God's presence. This is
the glory of Jerusalem really. The tabernacle and then the temple.
And that's why it was so awful when Jerusalem fell to those
Babylonians and how that holy place was so desecrated by the
hordes of those Babylonian soldiers setting up their banners there
in God's house I don't know if I can remember
offhand but I think it's Psalm 55 that laments all that came
upon the house of the Lord when they set up their banners. I'm not so sure it was 55. This is the trouble when one
relies on a poor memory. No, no, it's up there. Can't
find it, sorry. But there's a psalm that speaks
of all that befell them. When Nebuchadnezzar came, Jerusalem
fell, and there were the Babylonians triumphing, setting up their
banners throughout the temple of the Lord, the temple raised
to the ground. How awful it was. That was the
place where they looked for safety. And of course, you know how Jeremiah
is continually rebuking them. They were such formalists. This
is the trouble, you see. They understood these things,
but then they just rested in the form. They'd say, the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord
of these. Oh, we're safe. We're in Jerusalem. This is the
city of God. Here is the place of God's glorious
abode. We have the temple. what can
anyone do against us? it was a vain religion it was
a vain religion but how in spite of their abuse
of these things there is that comfort that God is the one who
will continually care for his people and how God did indeed
shelter them from trouble by means of that fiery cloudy pillar
you know when those Egyptians were pursuing them towards the
Red Sea we referred just now to chapter 14 and see again in that 14th chapter
how the fiery cloudy pillar affords real protection it says there
at verse 19 the angel of God which went before the camp of
Israel removed and went behind them and the pillar of the cloud
went from before their face and stood behind them normally the
cloudy pillar would go before them and lead them in the way
but it comes now behind them and Moses stretched out his hand
rather verse 20 and he came between the camp of the Egyptians and
the camp of Israel and it was a cloud and darkness to them
and it gave light by night to these, so that the one came not
near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong
east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the
waters were divided." Or the fiery clouded pillar comes between
the camps of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. And to one,
to the Egyptians, it's darkness. But to the Hebrews, it gives
light. It's God's way of protecting
them. God is there, of course. All
God is there is in that cloudy, fiery pillar. And all of that
is associated so clearly with the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Is he not the one who is identified
as the angel of the Lord? That portion that we read in
chapter 23 Behold I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the
way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Beware
of him, obey his voice, provoke him not, for he will not pardon
your transgressions, for my name is in him. What sort of an angel
is this? This is no created angel, the
angel of the Lord, it's Christ. It's one who can pardon sins,
who can forgive sins but God only. And what does the Lord
God say here in verse 21 concerning this angel? My name is in Him. If thou shalt indeed obey His
voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto
thine enemies and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine
angel shall go before thee. Oh, it's the Lord Jesus Christ
that's associated with this cloudy, fiery pillar. The one who is
going before them to lead them in the way, the one who is there
to protect them. And then, there's a sight to
behold. It's all in the sights of all
the house of Israel throughout their journeys. Is he not indicating
that this is a people who are walking by faith? It's not natural sight. It's
a spiritual sight. They behold the significance
of these things. Moses. We're told there in Hebrews
11, that great chapter that speaks of the faith of those Old Testament
saints. The mighty acts of their faith.
Moses endured as seeing Him who was invisible. That's faith. That's the sight
of faith, seeing that God who is invisible, we don't see him
with the natural eye, we're to see him with our spiritual sight.
We walk by faith and not by sight. Is it not that looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith? Where can we obtain faith? Where can we find faith? We cannot
give ourselves faith. it's the gift of God by grace
are you saved through faith and not of yourselves it is the gift
of God and how do we obtain that saving faith that justifying
faith that praying faith it's looking onto Jesus looking away
looking only onto Jesus He is the object and it's this that
they are looking to you see The clouds of the Lord was upon the
tabernacle by day, the fire was on it by night, in the sight
of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. Those who
are true Israelites, those who are spiritual Israelites, are
they not those who are looking to the Lord Jesus, leading them
in the way? Oh, the way I walk cannot be
wrong if Jesus be but there. How important it is that with
those who desire either to be still, to wait upon the Lord,
or to move forward, because we are those who know what it is
to commune with our Lord Jesus Christ, to look to Him, to pray
to Him, to call upon Him, that He would indeed be our teacher,
our instructor, that He would lead us in the way, that He would
keep us safe from all harms and all dangers. When the cloud was
taken up from over the tabernacle, we're told the children of Israel
went onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken
up, then they journeyed not to the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was
upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night in the
sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.
O the Lord, grant that we too might walk by such faith as we
see evidenced in this people. The Lord bless his word. Let us close our worship today
as we sing hymn 812, the tune is Dublin 129. Whene'er I make some sudden stop,
for many such I make, and cannot see the cloud cleared up, nor
know which path to take, I to my Saviour speed my way to tell
my dubious date. Then listen what the Lord will
say, and hope to follow that. 812, 129.