If you will take your Bibles
for our scripture reading and turn with me to Exodus chapter
40, the last chapter of the second book of the Bible, the book of
Exodus. I'll be speaking from the last
three or four verses, but I wanted to Go back and read a little
bit in the chapter. In verse 18, Exodus chapter 40,
it says, And Moses reared up the tabernacle, not personally,
but with the priest and all the appointed means of God, he reared
up the tabernacle, fastened his sockets, set up the boards thereof,
put in the bars thereof, and reared up his pillars. And he
spread abroad the tent over the tabernacle, the layers, and he
put the covering of the tent above upon it as the Lord commanded
Moses. And he took and put the testimony
into the ark, set the staves on the ark, put the mercy seat
above upon the ark, and he brought the ark into the tabernacle and
set up the veil of the covering, covered the ark of the testimony
as the Lord commanded Moses. He put the table in the tent
of the congregation upon the side of the tabernacle northward
without the veil, and he set the bread in order upon it before
the Lord. as the Lord had commanded Moses.
And he put the candlestick in the tent of the congregation
over against the table on the side of the tabernacle southward. And he lighted the lamps before
the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses. And he put the golden
altar in the tent of the congregation before the veil. And he burnt
sweet incense thereon as the Lord commanded Moses. And he
set up the hangings at the door of the tabernacle. He put the
altar of the burnt offering by the door of the tabernacle, the
tent of the congregation, and offered upon it the burnt offering
and the meat offering as the Lord commanded Moses. And he
set the labor between the tent of the congregation and the altar,
put water there to wash withal. And Moses and Aaron and his sons
washed their hands and their feet thereat. And when they went
into the tent of the congregation and when they came near unto
the altar, they washed as the Lord commanded Moses. And he
reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar
and set up the hanging of the court gate. 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. When the cloud
was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward
in their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken
up, They journeyed not till 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. May the Lord add his blessing
to the reading of his word. You will turn back with me to
Exodus chapter 40. I want to talk to you for a little
bit about the abiding cloud. It says in our text that the
cloud abided with Israel. When they were stopped, that
cloud abode in that tabernacle. Nobody could go in it. Glory
to the Lord filled that tabernacle. And when that cloud was taken
up, Israel hiked up, took the tabernacle, and went where the
cloud led them to go. And the message this morning, I hope,
is what this abiding cloud is all about. Israel was a people
set apart by God for the glory of His name. They were a natural
people. They were not all saved. They
were typical of salvation, typical of God's elect. But God singled
out this nation, and through this nation, He taught us much
about His elect. He took these people from Pharaoh
of Egypt, and after a long journey in the wilderness, made them
to inherit a land flowing with milk and honey, a promised land,
a land that he promised long before they become a nation.
And they were a people separated by God, delivered by God, and
led of God all their days. God interacted with Israel like
no other nation in the world. And as a nation, they were typical
of God's church, His elect. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9, He tells
us this, Ye are a chosen generation. Talking about His church. A royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show
forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous life, which in time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. God has a people. You'll find
it from Genesis all the way through Revelation. God has a people.
Let that sink in. God Almighty, who created all
things, has a people. They've always been his people.
There is no beginning with God. God has no beginning. When he
talks about the beginning, it's for our sake. We have to have
a beginning to even begin to perceive our God and what he's
done. God has a people. It's a people
who from the beginning are chosen to salvation, he says. They're not chosen for this purpose
and that, but they're chosen unto salvation. Now listen, through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. We're
unto, Paul said, He called you by our gospel. This is God's
purpose from the beginning. This is how He adds to His church. This is the means that God has
chosen. They're called by the gospel
of Jesus Christ to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Israel being typical of God's
elect, it teaches us a great deal about our callings and the
dangers we face in a hostile world. In Exodus chapter 40,
the Holy Ghost inspired Moses to write about an abiding cloud. Biding cloud. Everything in creation
has something to teach us about the glory of God and the salvation
of chosen sinners. Everything. The heavens declare,
David said, the glory of God and the earth showeth His handiwork.
God created all things by our Savior. And here's what it says
in Colossians 1. All things were made by Him and
for Him. They're made for Him. How are
they made for Him? They picture His work. They assist Him in His work. And I see in God's deliverance
of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt, a picture of His church
being delivered out of the bondage of sin, and of the law, and of
the curse of God on a fallen world. Now in Israel's exodus out of
Egypt, God established His presence with them in the form of a cloud. God's presence is with His church. You hear me? He ain't with every
church. It's with His church. God's presence. Nobody else. Egypt followed them. They were a great nation. Probably
the greatest nation in the world at that time. They followed them,
but they didn't have a cloud. They didn't have the presence
of God. Exodus 13, 21, it said, and the
Lord went before them by day in the pillar of a cloud to lead
them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light, so that they could go by day or night, either
one. He took not away the pillar of
the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before
the people." Now, there are six prominent
things about this cloud that will help us to understand the
significance of it. You want to always go back to
the beginning. And the first mention of a cloud
is immediately after the flood of Noah. It says, and the Lord
set his bow in a cloud. There were no clouds before the
flood. There wasn't even rain. A mist
came up from the earth and watered everything. There was no rain.
People thought he was nuts when Noah said the Lord is going to
destroy this world by water. But after the flood there was
clouds and God put his bow in the clouds. And this he did as the promise
of God's unchangeable covenant grows. Why a cloud? Well, they tell me a cloud's
made up of millions of particles of water so that the cloud actually
testified of the wrath of God being satisfied and the promise
in that cloud of his bow. He puts it in the cloud. When
John is describing heaven as he saw it as the Spirit of God
revealed it to him, John said, A throne was set in heaven, and
one who sat upon it, and there was a rainbow around his throne. What's the bow in the cloud?
It's Christ. The second prominent mention
of the cloud was just outside of Succoth, just over the Nile
River and immediately after Israel left Egypt. It tells us in Exodus
13, 21, it was to lead them the way. There's just one way, Christ
is the way. And the cloud led them the way. The third prominent mention of
the cloud is in Exodus 19 at the giving of the law. In this
revelation of the cloud, bounds were set for the people concerning
the law. You could come hither so far,
but you don't come into this mountain. You don't touch the
mountain. There was a division set between
the law and the people, what the people could do concerning
the law and what the people couldn't do. You could come to here and
see it, and that's as far as you can go. Then in the New Testament, the
cloud again appears on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter got
all excited and he said, let's build some tabernacles up here.
One for Elijah, one for Moses, and one for Christ. And a cloud
appeared. And a voice came out of the cloud
and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.
You hear Him. You listen to Him. A bright cloud appeared and God
spoke from the cloud. And in this account is the revelation
of the true tabernacle of God. This is Christ. He's the tabernacle. The reason Moses couldn't go
into that tabernacle, because that tabernacle represented Christ. It represented Christ. He couldn't
go in there. Christ does this work. Christ
is the intercessor. One mediator between God and
me and the man, Christ Jesus. And then fifthly, we see the
cloud at the ascension of Christ in Acts 1 verse 9. It says, while
the disciples beheld the Lord, he was taken up and a cloud received
him out of their sight. And here we see the presence
of God carrying our Lord up to his throne, ushering him up to
the throne in a cloud. And then the last mention of
the cloud is in the promise of his second coming. He says, they
shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great
glory. The cloud is a picture of the
Spirit of Christ whose presence and power are made known through
the preaching of his gospel. Do we have a cloud? We do. We do. How do we know that the
cloud is with us? Because the gospel is being preached
to you. That's how you know. There is
no other way to discern the Spirit of God. I get so disgusted knowing
now the truth about it and being raised in religion and lied to,
I get disgusted when I hear men start talking about all this
stuff concerning the Spirit of God. The only way you can know
the Spirit of God when He's coming ain't going to speak of Himself.
That's what He said. He's not going to do it. What's
He going to do? He's going to take the things
of Christ and show them to you. How's he going to do that? Through
a preacher. I can give you verse after verse
after verse from this book, that book, and another book. And then
you can go back in the pictures and you can see it. You know,
when the father dealt with the prodigal coming home, and he
ran out to receive him and fell on his neck and kissed him and
showed his love, and the son had his little memorized thing
that he said, He memorized it, and he said, Father, I sinned
against heaven, against you, and all that. Just let me have
a job as a servant. I just need some bread. The Lord didn't say anything
to him, did he? His father didn't say anything to him. He turned
to his servants, and he told his servants, he said, put my
robe on him. Don't hold it up and say, here
it is, you put it on. No, you can put it on if you
wanted to. You put it on him. You clean
him up, get rid of those rags, and put the robe on him. You
put the shoes on him. You put the ring on his hand.
Put it there. Don't give it to him. Don't offer
it to him. Put it on there. How do you do that? You preach
the gospel of Christ. He shall save his people from
their sin. They're sealed. That's what you
preach. They're sealed. There's nothing
you can do. Nothing. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not even though you're saved. It's the gift of
God. The cloud's a picture of the
Spirit of Christ, whose presence and power are made known through
His gospel, and we're told in Hebrews 12-1, We also are encompassed
about with so great a cloud of what? Witnesses. Witnesses. There's your cloud. God's presence with His people
is made known by way of the preaching of the gospel. Now let me give
you four things to help us make a right application of this blessed
figure and also allow us to draw some comfort as we see these
things in connection with the salvation of our souls. The first
thing I want us to see is that this cloud manifested the presence
of the Lord with Israel. The Holy Spirit is expressly
called the Spirit of Christ several times in the Scripture. He gives
it to us. In 1 Peter 1.11, talking about
the old prophets and their writings, he said, of which salvation the
prophets have inquired, and searched diligently who prophesied of
the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner
of time, now listen to this, the Spirit of Christ which was
in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. What comes? The Spirit of Christ. He received
the Spirit without measure, didn't he? It's the Spirit of Christ
that manifests God's presence and favor with His people. He
said, because they're sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of
His Son into their hearts, enabling them to cry, Abba, Father. And
there's no other way to discern God's presence than the Holy
Spirit of promise, which is in, this is the earnest of our salvation. And we receive it through the
preaching of the Gospel. That's the cloud. We preach a
Christ whose presence you can't enter into. You can't go where
he's at. He's seated at the right hand
of God. He is God come into the flesh.
He's not going to share that glory with another. Not with
Moses, not with Aaron, not with anybody. And that cloud was a sign of
God's favor. It's God's favor when He raises
up a church that preaches the gospel. God's shown His favor
in that community. There's no other blessing as
great as that. None. And there's no other way to know
it than the preaching of the gospel. And then secondly, I
want us to see this. This cloud was with them. It
was with them. It wasn't with Egypt. It was
with Israel. It was with them. When God manifests
the Spirit of Christ to His people, it is to bless them. It's for
them. And it's to make His presence
and favor known. How do we know when God's made
His presence and favor known? Well, the sky's full of clouds,
isn't it? In this world full of evil spirits,
Israel's cloud illuminated the darkness. There was light in
that cloud. There was light in it. It illuminated
in the darkness. Israel's cloud had a bow in it. A confirmation of the covenant
of grace satisfied justice. Israel's cloud
gave them direction. It didn't leave them in their
ignorance, it gave them direction. Israel's cloud set a barrier
between them and their enemies. Israel's cloud left destruction
and misery in its wake. You know in John chapter 3, he
says, He that believeth not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him. This cloud was with them. They
had what no other people on earth had, the cloud of God's presence
and power. And how'd they get this cloud?
God gave it to them. He gave it to them. One day it
wasn't there, and the next day it was. Isn't that how salvation
works? One day it's just not there.
It's not there. You're empty and hurting and
calling out and all of a sudden it's there. The understanding's
not there. We're in ignorance and darkness
and confusion. One day, next day we're not.
One day there was no cloud, the next day there was a cloud. What have you gotten, Paul said,
that you haven't received? How come you're here today in
this congregation and not another one? You ever think about that? You reckon God just throws some
things out there and just leaves it all to chance? You can't even
imagine yourself sacrificing your son to what might never
come to pass. You wouldn't even think about
doing it, let alone God. How come you have an understanding
while others say that man's crazy? He's crazy. You don't go over
at that cult, do you? They think they're the only ones
who know God. I've heard it all. Then the third thing I want us
to see is what this cloud was all about. This cloud is about
Christ. He led them the way. He is the
way. It revealed to them the will
of God, Exodus 40, 37, and 38. It revealed to them the will
of God. Christ said, in the volume of
the book it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God.
I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. And I raise Him up at the last
day. But more than anything, it confirmed
and set apart from all others the true tabernacle of God, which
is Christ. There was one tabernacle that
God recognized, one tabernacle. All his dealings with Israel
took place in that tabernacle. That's where sin was forgiven.
That's where prayer was received. Everything that between the people
and God took place through that tabernacle. Nothing was done
apart from that tabernacle. Christ being come a high priest
of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle.
That's Himself. And it was not made with hands,
that is to say, it wasn't of that old building. Neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. He is the one true tabernacle. In Exodus 40, verse 34, it says,
Then a cloud covered the tent, or the tabernacle, the congregation.
And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And as the tabernacle
in the wilderness was sanctified by the Spirit of God, so we're
told in John 3, 34. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto
him. This is the one true tabernacle. And brethren, think about that
old tabernacle and the priesthood and the sacrifices. What benefit
would it have been for anything that they have done on its own? What benefit could they possibly
have received from killing a calf, or killing a lamb, or killing
a goat, pouring its blood out, roasting its flesh on a fire?
What benefit could they possibly have received from any of that
apart from Christ? And Moses, He didn't just have
them do these things and leave them to imagine whatever they
wanted to. He told them what these things
meant. Moses taught them what this altar
and this tabernacle was all about. What benefit would any of these
things be apart from an understanding of what they meant? A dying lamb,
goat, bullet, what good is a priestly, all this fancy priestly apparel,
what would it amount to if it's not pointing to the glory of
God in Christ? Everything in religion has no
purpose or value without the revelation of Christ in it. And
as this cloud abode in Israel, God instructed Moses, who in
turn instructed Israel. And then notice how this cloud
comforted Israel. It says it was a shade by day
and a fiery pillar by night. That comforting, ain't it? Where do you get your comfort?
Oh, I get mine through the Gospel of Christ. I can't find any comfort
anywhere else. Always there. Always visible. Always a blessing. And religion is nothing but an
empty, powerless profession apart from the Spirit of Christ. This cloud is about Christ. And
then lastly, this cloud manifested a division. There's a two-fold
division manifested by the Spirit of God in the preaching of the
Gospel, same as it was in this class. The first was very obvious. A division between Israel and
the world. The church and the world, if
you will. He calls them the church and the wilderness. It was his
church. In Exodus 14, 23, it says, And
the Egyptians pursued and went after them in the midst of the
sea. God divided the sea. Israel passed
across safely. Waters piled up on each side.
Here comes Pharaoh with all of his army, all of his horsemen,
all of these things. In the midst of the sea, even
all Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen. And it came to
pass that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host
of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire, that cloud, and
of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, he caused
their chariot wheels to fall off, and the horses had to drag
the chariot. And they said, let's get out
of here. Let's get away from Israel, for
the Lord fighteth for them against us. But it was too late. It was too late. And God buried
them in the midst of the sea. The Holy Spirit bears witness
against all those who will not obey the gospel declarations
and commandments and refuse to bow to Christ, the Lord of heaven
and earth. Now I want you to hear what I'm
getting ready to tell you. As surely as the Egyptians were
cursed in the sea, Those who will not bow to Christ will fall
under the wrath of God. Men and women fall every day
in your sight and you don't even realize it. How do they do it? They refuse to bow to Christ. He said all power in heaven and
earth given unto me. Now you go preach the gospel.
You preach it to every creature. I don't care who he is. If he'll
come and sit and listen, you preach to him. I don't care if
he's on death row. I don't care if he's in a leper
colony. I don't care where he is. You
preach the gospel to him. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. No doubt about it. They're going
to be saved. He's going to save every one of them. He that believeth
not, the same shall. Write it down. Shall be done. When? Way down yonder? Uh-uh. Oh, I quoted to you John
chapter 3 a while ago. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Many women died Every time
the gospel is preached, you see the curse. That cloud was a curse
on Egypt. It was a curse. There's a division between God's
camp and the world. In Exodus 14, 19, it says, 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. and it came between the camp
of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and it was a cloud
and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these,
so that the one came not near the other all through the night."
All through the night. What was light to one was darkness
to the other. What was favor to the one was
a division to the other. What was comfort to the one was
despair, to the other. How does he get any comfort out
of that? Nothing man hates more than a
sovereign God, but let him get in trouble. The only thing that'll
do him any good is a sovereign God. Lord, can you take this
cancer away? If he's sovereign, he can. Will
he? I don't know. But he could if
he would. And one less than sovereign ain't
going to do you any good, is he? There's a manifest division between
God's elect in this world, and it's manifested by the Spirit
of Christ in the preaching of the Gospel. And this cloud set
a division between believers and unbelievers. That's the second
division caused by this cloud. It caused a division in Israel
itself. Right in their midst. In 1 Corinthians
10, verse 1, Paul said moreover, brethren, I would not that ye
should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud. All of them. Korah, Dathan, Abiram,
all their families. They were all under the cloud.
And they all passed through the sea. And they were all baptized
unto Moses and in the cloud and in the sea. And they all ate the same spiritual
meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For they drank
of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ,
the smitten rock. But with many of them, God was
not well pleased. Why? He tells you in Hebrews
chapter 4, they all heard the gospel same as we did, but it
wasn't mixed with faith in them that heard it. And God said in
his wrath, you're not going to enter into my rest. You're not
coming in. With many of them, God was not
well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. And that's
what he told them. Your carcass is going to lie
in the wilderness. You're not coming in. And then
he goes on to point out a lot of their flaws, and then down
in verse 11, of 1 Corinthians 10, he says, Now all these things
happen unto them for examples, and are written for our admonition
upon whom the end of the world is come. Wherefore, let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. They rejoiced when
they crossed over that sea, didn't they? Boy, they were dancing
and blowing the trumpets and having a good time. And they
come down there and murmured. And then God threw the tree into
bitter waters of Mara and sweetened the waters for them. That's what
the cross does, sweetens the water for the believer. God himself through the Spirit
of Christ and the preaching of the gospel will divide within
his assembly and bless those who believe and curse those who
don't. I see it all the time. May the
Lord be pleased to manifest the Spirit of Christ in us and in
our preaching and make us a blessing to God's Israel.