Numbers 9:15-17 English Standard Version

The Cloud Covering the Tabernacle

15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. 17 And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped.

This is such a wonderful picture of us following Jesus. I will not go into the aesthetics of the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle. What needs to be pointed out is the journey day after day, night after night and the fact that He was always there until they reached the Promised Land.

There is so much ground to cover in the wilderness experience in pondering all that happened. The battles fought and won, and the heightened emotional turmoils of the people and how God and Moses dealt with it all can be exhausting. We do not have the time and space here to cover that ground today.

Our sojourn on earth is not unlike their wilderness journey. We are described as sojourners in the bible and we must remember that the root word indicates a temporary stay. This is but a day by day and night by night journey. He is always with us.

Hebrews 13:5 English Standard Version (ESV) Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

At the time of the writing of Hebrews there might have been a greater need for money to live on and it might have been a leading cause of worshiping things rather than God. We know now in these times that money is but one temptation amongst many that offer themselves up as an opportunity to drift away from where God is leading us.

We may feel that the tabernacle encampments have gone on too long where the cloud has covered the tabernacle and has not indicated that we are on the move. Lack of movement entertains thoughts of self and our emotions can seek to fill the time with thangs that are not healthy for our souls.

The tabernacle encampments have purpose also but it is not meant to be an opportunity for self-interests to be entertained but rather to be exposed.

How we spend our rest stops is important.

That is when Moses entered the tabernacle, when the cloud covered it.

Psalm 69:13 English Standard Version (ESV) But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.  At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.

What is the acceptable time in our lives that activates God’s saving faithfulness?

If we look at the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it did not begin until the forerunner spirit of John the Baptist came and preached repentance. The fact that Jesus came to John to be baptized even though He had done nothing to repent of before He began His ministry sets the order of saving faith.

Repent of a life lived in sin and discover the acceptable timing of saving faith.

Repentance cannot be looked at as being sorry about the life we lived. Repentance is turning our backs on living a life of sin and starting to follow righteousness.

Is righteousness an idea or a man? Neither, He is God. God’s saving faithfulness was to send His Son into the world to show us what a righteous walk looked like.

Over and over again Jesus said “Follow me.” 

Where He led them was to the Cross.

The Cross is the transition point where God ended obedience to the law for righteousness sake and replaced it with faith in Christ’s sacrifice.

Galatians 2:20 English Standard Version (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We “Cross over” from death to life because we place our faith in the work of the Cross. We do not get there without it.

Ephesians 2:8 English Standard Version (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

At the acceptable time, beginning with repentance. It is the beginning, not the end.