If you will, let's turn in our
Bibles again tonight to the book of Exodus. If you will, Exodus chapter 12.
I have three things that I want to point
out to us this evening before we come to my text. My text concerns six ways that
the pillar of cloud and of fire may be a picture or a type of
God the Holy Spirit and his work. But before we come there, let
me point these things out. First in Exodus chapter 12, beginning
with verse 30, reading through verse 37. And Pharaoh rose up in the night,
he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was
a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was
not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron
by night and said, rise up and get you forth from among my people,
both ye and the children of Israel, and go serve the Lord, as you
have said. Also take your flocks and your
herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent
upon the people that they might send them out of the land in
haste, for they said, we be all dead. And the people took their
dough before it was leavened, their knitting troughs being
bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. And the children
of Israel did according to the word of Moses. And they borrowed
of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment.
And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians,
so that they lent unto them such things as they required. and
they spoiled the Egyptians. And the children of Israel journeyed
from Ramses to Succoth before about 600,000 on foot that were
men beside the children." We've already thought in previous messages
looked at the fact of the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his word. Fulfilling his word which he
had spoken unto Abraham first and then unto Moses of the Israelites
being set free. And at the same time, they spoiled
the Egyptians. I could not help but think as
I read those verses just now about Pharaoh. as he asked Moses
to pray or bless him, bless me also. That's a far cry from his
first encounter when he said, who is the Lord, that I should
obey his voice. That's quite a move, isn't it? When God taught Pharaoh who he
is, and now he asked the prophet Moses to bless him, to pray for
him. The second thing, I just want
to remind us of God's faithfulness in fulfilling his word. Second,
in the next verse, in verse 38, we read, and a mixed multitude
went up also with them, and flocks and herds, even very much cattle. A mixed multitude went with the
Israelites. Now, who knows why they went,
but as one writer pointed out, Satan is presented in the word
of God to us both as a roaring lion and as a subtle serpent. It was as a roaring lion, he
tried to keep Israel in captivity. That didn't work. Now they're
set free and as a subtle serpent, he mixes with the people of God,
these mixed. And in Numbers chapter 11, you
don't need to turn there, but we read, and the mixed multitude
that was among them fell a lusting. Now, and then it says, and the
children of Israel also wept again and said, who shall give
us flesh to eat? But the verse of scripture there
shows that it was first this mixed multitude that began to
murmur and complain about the manna. and desiring that God
would give them flesh to eat, but the Israelites, they joined
in with them. And we are reminded by this,
how the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15, that evil companions
are manners, corrupt good manners rather, evil companions. companions
corrupt good manners. And I just mentioned that God's
children, we are in this world, but we're not to be of the world.
And our bosom buddies, our best friends, should not be the people
of the world. Because just like this mixed
multitude brings trouble upon the Israelites, so many times
God's people are turned away from the truth, from following
God, because of the fellowship that they have with those who
are not believers, who are not in the household of faith. Now,
the third thing I'd point out to us in Exodus chapter 13, verses
17 and 18, and it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people
go that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,
although that was near. For God said, lest peradventure
the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about
through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, and the children
of Israel went up, harnessed out of the land of Egypt. What does that mean? they went
up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. Well, I remember we
used to harness the horses to the wagon. There was a way to
do that, to harness them. And when I've read this before,
I've always thought that that's what this was saying, that they
went up harnessed, that is loaded with the jewels that they had
borrowed from the Egyptians. But if you notice, there's a
marginal reading. If you have a Bible that has
marginal readings, and right before that word harnessed, by
five in a rank, by five in a rank. And I point this out to us tonight
just to remind us that God is a God of order. They didn't go
up, they didn't leave Egypt as a multitude, just all on their
own, but they went up in order. Now, John Gill said this could
be translated in five companies. That may be, no doubt that is
true, five companies. But the point I want to make
is they went up in some order. They didn't just all take off
on their own. And it reminds us that God is
a God of order. And we know the scientists tell
us in the universe how they can predict, for instance, an eclipse
of the sun. Because God is a God of order,
right? Creation shows that he is a God
of order. And we are reminded when the
Lord Jesus Christ, on one occasion when he fed 5,000, he had the
men, the scripture says, sat down in companies of 50s and
100. And remember the Apostle Paul
wrote to a church that was in trouble because of disorder in
the services. Everyone wanted to show out.
show off their gifts, and God said, let everything be done
decently and in order. God is a God of order. Well, I just wanted to point
those three things out and get into my text tonight. And I'm
going to skip over verse 20 here in chapter 13. Skip over verse 19, I should
say. Because in this verse, we have
an account of Moses taking the bones of Joseph with them. Now, Joseph had been dead for
many years. But you know, in Hebrews chapter
11, where it lists the various things that men of God and women
of God did by faith, I thought about Sarah. how it says that
at 90 years of age, it was by faith that she had the strength
to carry a child and to bear a son. And we think about various
men there like Abel and Noah and Enoch, but how about Sarah,
what she did? And she did it by faith, by believing
God's Word. And you know, Joseph, he's mentioned
there. And the two things that he is
mentioned for that he did by faith is he showed that he believed,
he believed that God was going to deliver his people out of
Egypt because he said, Take my bones, take my bones with you
when you leave and bury them in the promised land." And that's
what they did. Now, I'm sure Joseph's body had
been embalmed because the Egyptians were known for that. We visited
the British Museum years ago in London and I don't know how
many mummies we saw, but there was a lot of them. They were
good at that, embalming and preserving the body after death. They embalmed Jacob, remember,
and carried his body back out of Egypt into Canaan to be buried. But I'm sure they embalmed the
body of Joseph, too, and they've kept it all these years, hundreds
of years. And now the time has come and
they leave and they take his bones with them. But I said I
wanted to skip over that. I really didn't. But look in
verse 20. And they took their journey from
Succoth and encamped in Etham. in the edge of the wilderness
and 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. In John chapter 16 and verse
13, the night before our Lord was crucified, you remember,
along with his disciples. He spoke to them more about God
the Holy Spirit in those three chapters, 14, 15, and 16 of the
gospel, according to John, than any other time. But one of the
things in John 16 he said is, when the spirit of truth has
come, he will guide or he will lead you into all truth. And I want us to think tonight
six ways that this pillar of cloud and of fire may be a type,
may be a picture of God the Holy Spirit. The first thing we notice
is the time when this pillar was given to Israel. The time
when this pillar was given to Israel. It was after the Lamb
had been slain. It was after the Passover and
Christ is our Passover. He is a lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. But the Holy Spirit, this pillar
of fire and pillar of cloud was given after the lamb was slain. And think of our Lord's words
there in John 14 when he said, nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. And how did he
go away? How did the Lord Jesus Christ
go away? He went away by his cross, didn't
he? Went away by his death on the
cross. He went away by his resurrection
and his ascension. And the end of that verse is,
for if I go not away, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if
I depart, I will send him unto you. And we see here, it was
after, after the Passover lamb was slain that the pillar was
sent. So it was after the lamb of God
Our Passover was slain that God the Holy Spirit was given on
the day of Pentecost. Keep your places here, but look
with me, if you will, in the gospel of John chapter seven. John chapter seven and verse 37. We read, in the last day, John
7 and verse 37, in the last day, that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. What an invitation. What an invitation. If any man thirst, Only God can make a person thirsty. Only God can. But if any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Can you imagine, you
know, they talk about this man Elon Musk being the wealthiest
man in the world, richest man, whatever, and I'm sure he is.
But could he ever give an invitation like this? Whosoever is thirsty,
let him come unto me. He couldn't. I'm talking about
just giving everyone a drink of water out of a faucet or something
like that. Think of how this shows the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. If any man thirsts, no matter
how many, if a person's just thirsty, His lips are parched. His throat, spiritually, is dry
because of his sin. His soul is afflicted with thirst. David said, as the heart, the
deer, paneth after the water brook, so my heart paneth after
thee. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, and
that's what it means to drink, isn't it? He that believeth on
me. As the scripture has said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now, the Lord
said that, but notice how John explains this in verse 39. But this spake he of the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit, this water, water of life. as he told the
woman at the well. But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. Now notice these
next words. For the Holy Ghost was not yet
given. And that word in italics is certainly
necessary, isn't it? He could not be saying for the
Holy Spirit was not yet. No, the Holy Spirit is eternal,
one with the Father and with the Son. But the Holy Spirit
was not yet given, and notice the reason. Because Jesus was
not yet glorified. When Jesus was glorified, when
He was seated at the right hand of the Father, then on the day
of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given. This pillar of cloud
and of fire only came after the Lamb was slain. That's a wonderful
picture, isn't it? I can't claim originality for
much of this, but it's good, isn't it? The second thing, notice
the pillar was given freely to Israel. You know, we don't read that
here's Moses and Aaron, I assume they're at the front of this
group of people leaving, 600,000 men leaving, they're up there
in the front and they're fixing to go out into a wilderness.
Aaron, don't you think we better ask God for some help here? Don't
you think we need to pray and ask the Lord to send someone
to lead us, to guide us? We don't know the way, going
through this wilderness, but we don't read that, do we? We
don't read that they asked for this pillar to be given unto
them. So in the case of the disciples
of our Lord. Now we know they were troubled. Our Lord says, let not your heart
be troubled. They were troubled that evening,
that's sure, and troubled because the Lord was leaving them, but
not one of them, not Peter, not John, not Thomas, none of them
said, Lord, would you give us the Spirit? Would you send the
Spirit to lead us and guide us? No one did that. The Lord declared
that He, He said, I will not leave you comfortless. They didn't
ask. They didn't pray and petition
Him for this. The pillar of cloud and the pillar
of fire was freely given, freely given. Third, we notice that the cloud, the
pillar of cloud was given to lead Israel. Notice that in verse 21, and the Lord went before
them by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the way. I thought about the words of
Joshua when Israel was crossing the Jordan River going into the
land of Canaan. He said this to the nation. that you may know the way by
which you must go. Now listen, for you have not
passed this way before. You've never crossed over this
river, Jordan. You've never passed this way
before. Well, here they are. They're
leaving Egypt to go out into a wilderness. There was no road
maps. There was no GPS. to guide them
and lead them, but what God gave them was an infallible God, God
the Holy Spirit. Tonight, how thankful you and
I should be to have God the Holy Spirit to lead us and to guide
us as we go through this wilderness world. Romans 8 in verse 14 says, as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. And remember this, when we think
about the Holy Spirit leading us, guiding us, he will always
do so using the written word. The written word of God, that's
how he will guide us and lead us through this wilderness. How
thankful we should be for God the Holy Spirit. You know, he
doesn't speak of himself. He doesn't witness of himself.
And that's the reason many times, I believe, in the beginning of
the letters, especially, you will see God the Father and his
Son, Jesus Christ, but not God the Holy Spirit will not be mentioned. Why? He's not bringing attention
to himself. He's here to glorify Jesus Christ,
our Lord. to point men to Him. All right,
here's the fourth thing. Notice the pillar was given to
give light in verse 21. And the Lord went before them
by day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them in the way, and
by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. to give them
light to go by day and night. Now, again, I want you to keep
your places here, but if you want to turn with me to Nehemiah chapter nine. Nehemiah chapter nine. And, Nehemiah here is just rehearsing
the history of the nation of Israel in this place. Chapter
nine and verse 12 is the verse I'm looking at. Moreover, thou
lettest them, talking about the nation of Israel, Nehemiah speaking
to God, thou lettest 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 Holy Spirit teaches us the way
in which we should go, just like He taught or led the nation of
Israel in the way that they should go. You know, in Psalm 36 in
verse 9, the psalmist said, in thy light, God's light, the Holy
Spirit's light, in thy light shall we see light. In thy light
shall we see light. In the light of the Holy Spirit,
we see our sins as exceeding sinful. We see our righteousnesses
as filthy rags. In His light, we see light. Apart from His light, we don't
see. He is the light that enables
us to see our sins, to see our righteousness as filthy rags
before God, and thank God to see the preciousness of the blood
of Jesus Christ. To see how precious is that blood
of Jesus Christ by which our sins are forgiven, by which we're
justified and sanctified, all by His sacrifice, His atoning
work. Number five, the pillar was given
for a covering. And this we learn from Psalm
105. If you want to look at this,
Psalm 105. And verse 39. Verse 38 says, Egypt, if you've
turned here, Psalm 105, verse 38, Egypt was glad when they
departed, for the fear of them fell upon them. He spread a cloud
for a covering and fire to give light in the night. You know
what this covering was for? It was for protection. Now, when
our soldiers went into Iraq, several years back, I remember
reading the temperature there was 135 degrees. And they had to be dressed in
full battle attire. 135 degrees, that's pretty hot,
isn't it? This wilderness, I mean, you think of the sand, I mean,
you just put your foot down on that sand, it scarts your feet. God gave them this pillar of
cloud for covering, for protection, to keep them from the heat of
the sun. So the Holy Spirit is our protector,
isn't he? Yesterday in Spurgeon's evening
devotion, I'm sure all of us read this. He was commenting
on Job 14 in verse 14, the words, all the days of my appointed
time will I wait. All the days of my appointed
time I will wait. Isn't it a blessing to know tonight
that our times are in his hands? And they're appointed. We're
not going to go over, and we're not going to go before what he
has appointed for us. And doesn't it call for praise?
When you look back, if you're like me, praise and thanksgiving,
as you look back over your life, things that stand out. Flashbacks,
I call them. Flashbacks. of near, near tragedy. I mean, awful things that just
was so, so near to taking place. And God delivered us, delivered
me and my family many times. Oh, I just am so thankful for
God's providence. I'm thankful that my times are
in his hands. I know you are too. God the Holy
Spirit protects us. Now he gives his angels charge
over us, doesn't he, to keep us in the way. Many times those
things that we see as near, we call them accidents, but there
is no accident really. But tragedies, near tragedies,
God sent an angel. I've had many of God's children
over the years tell me, I just know they say something like
this. I just know God sent his angel. I mean, usually in a car,
in a car situation. And God delivered me. And he
did. And he did. And we're thankful,
just as God gave this covering for protection for the nation
of Israel. And the last thing, the sixth
thing, I want you to notice back to Nehemiah chapter 9, if you
want to go back there, Nehemiah chapter 9. This pillar was never taken from
Israel till they entered the land of Canaan. You say, what's amazing about
that? What's amazing to me is all the murmuring, the complaining,
the unbelief, wanting to turn back at one time and go back
to Egypt, all of those things that Israel experienced during
those 40 years, and God never forsook them. He never took this
pillar of cloud, pillar of fire away. Nehemiah chapter nine and
verse 19, Yet thou, in thy manifold mercies, 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. God has promised you, he's promised
me, all of his children, that God the Holy Spirit will be with
us. He has sealed us until the day
of redemption, and that's even the body. Even though the body,
I know, will turn back to clay, turn back to dust, but you may
be sure about this when the Lord descends from heaven, this body. It's sealed. What's left of it
may just be DNA. I don't know. But it's going
to be resurrected and reunited with our souls to enjoy God forever. Amen. Amen. Well, I thought these were beautiful
pictures of God, the Holy Spirit, types of God, the Holy Spirit.
Thank you.