Word of Salvation – September 2010

 

Numbers 9 – FOLLOW THAT CLOUD… OBEY THAT WORD – by John Westendorp

(Sermon 9 in a series on Numbers)

 Scripture Reading: Numbers 9.

Singing: Book of Worship – 115 / 203 / 358 / 441

 

Introduction: Do you believe that God really guides you through all the ups and downs of your life?

This week, as you make tough decisions, are you convinced God is actually leading you?

God’s guidance! It’s a topic over which Christians disagree.

Perhaps I could sum up the debate by mentioning two extreme positions among believers.

 

At the one extreme are those Christians who say: You just use your brains!
In the normal affairs of daily life God doesn’t need to give you special guidance.
Even when you have to make difficult decisions… that’s your call.
If it’s a tough issue you’ll grow through it… even if you make a wrong call.
So basically this view says: You just need to make wise choices in life.
And when you do that God will bless your actions.

 

At the other extreme are those who are always waiting for a clear ‘word from God’.
I once met a young man who took this to ridiculous lengths.
He’d wait for God to tell him if he should eat something with his fork or with his spoon.
Okay… I’m exaggerating! But you get the point I’m making.
This man was almost immobilised unless he had a so-called ‘word’ from the Lord.
People like that will only act on something if they are certain they are within God’s will.

 

In Numbers 9 Israel is about to set off on their journey across the wilderness.
They are clearly guided and led by God… but they also have certain responsibilities.
So this chapter offers us some balanced and helpful perspectives on guidance.

 

A] FOLLOW THAT CLOUD.

 

1. One of the wonderful things in this chapter is the appearance of a cloud over the tabernacle.

That portable temple… the place of God’s residence among His people has been finished.
In previous chapters this temple and its altar were dedicated and the Levites began their work.
As the dedication is finalised this cloud now covers the tabernacle.
During the day it’s a cloud… at night it glows with fire.

 

Every Israelite in that camp would immediately have understood what was happening.
They had seen this cloud and this pillar of fire before.
It was when Pharaoh and his soldiers had threatened to destroy Israel at the Red Sea.
But God had come between them as a cloud and as a pillar of fire.
He lit up the way for the Israelites through the sea.
And the dark cloud threw the Egyptians into confusion.
Now this same cloud hovers over the tabernacle.

 

We read about that guiding cloud and we think to ourselves: This is awesome.
Here is the great miracle of the presence of God in a cloud and in a pillar of fire.
It’s one of many signs and wonders experienced by ancient Israel.
They had witnessed the ten plagues in Egypt as God devastated the land.
Every day again they received from heaven the miraculous bread of God… the manna.

 

Today you might be inclined to envy these Israelites… you might even wish you had lived back then.
Wow…! What a wonderful reminder… the visible presence of God day by day.
You get up in the morning and look at the tabernacle and there it is… the cloud.
You poke your head outside the tent-flap at night and it’s there… the pillar of fire.
If only I had lived back then when God visibly led His people it would be much easier to believe.

 

Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.
Do you recall how many adult Israelites, who saw the cloud, made it to the Promised Land…?
Just two! Joshua and Caleb. The others all died in the wilderness for their unbelief.
It’s not really such an advantage having this miraculous cloud of God’s presence.
You still need faith to survive the journey.

 

Jesus once told the parable of the rich man and Lazarus… a story where the rich man ends up in hell.
He asks that Lazarus might go and see his five brothers so they won’t end up in hell.
He says: if someone returns from the dead then they will repent.
And then significantly Jesus puts these words in the mouth of father Abraham:
They have Moses and the prophets.
If they don’t believe Moses and the prophets they won’t believe even if someone returns from the dead.

 

Some people today still put a lot of stress on miracles… they want to see signs and wonders.

But at the end of the day the issue is whether you believe the Word of God or not. Do you live by faith?

 

2. This cloud is obviously part and parcel of God’s guidance of His people on their wilderness journey.

Read these verses and we quickly get the picture.
When the cloud moves the people of Israel move.
When the cloud settles the people of Israel settle.

 

God guides His people on their journey through the wilderness.
And that guidance is quite specific.
God doesn’t give Moses a map and tell him to work it out from the map.
He doesn’t give him a diary or a travel itinerary with all the moving dates clearly marked.

Instead of a map God gave them a cloud and He basically said to them: Follow that cloud!
That cloud was a powerful sign of God’s own presence.
It was God Himself who led His people on their travels… God was their Guide.
He was better than a map and better than one of those GPS gadgets in a modern car.

 

For Christians the travels of Israel in the wilderness become a metaphor of the Christian life.

We owe that imagery to the apostle Paul in 1Corinthians 10.
There he repeatedly compares Israel in the desert with Christian living.
And so we have taken on board this guidance of God throughout our life.
We sing of the reality of that guidance in some of our hymns:
Guide me O my great Redeemer, pilgrim thru this barren land!

 

At the same time this is a topic where we need to keep our feet on the ground.
We must balance this teaching about the cloud and pillar of fire with something else.
In Numbers 10 we find some strong hints that Israel’s leaders needed to be responsible.

That comes out in two ways:
First the Ark of the Covenant travelled ahead of them… to seek out a suitable camp.
Second, Moses asks his father-in-law, Hobab, to go with them on their journey.
He argues that as a desert dweller Hobab has had more experience.
He knows where the best camping places are.
So Moses speaks of Hobab as acting as their ‘eyes’ for them (see Numbers 10:31).

 

So the picture of God’s guidance becomes a little more complex:
God guides through the cloud and the cloud determines their camping and travelling times.
Yet Israel’s leaders need to act responsibly as they find suitable places to camp every night.
Guidance is not about God relieving us of our decision-making responsibilities.
A Christian who is led by the Lord doesn’t kiss his brains good-bye.

 

3. There is even a sense in which this story of God’s presence in the cloud is not first about guidance.

It is first of all about obedience.
Would Israel follow that guidance from the Lord? Would they follow the cloud?
The issue in Numbers 9 is that of total unswerving obedience.

 

Let me show you one of the ways in which that comes out in Numbers 9.
This story of God’s guidance in the cloud seems unnecessarily repetitive.
Over and over it talks about them camping and moving… camping and moving.
There’s example upon example given. Listen to some of them again:
Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days…!
Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening to morning…!
Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time…!

And then each of those examples is followed by statements about their obedience.
At the Lord’s command they would encamp, and then at His command they would set out.
That phrase “at the command of the Lord” occurs 7 times in these verses.
So the whole stress is on the Israelites moving obediently with the cloud.

 

That means that while guidance is a reality, guidance is not a ‘take it or leave it’ affair.
When God guides it’s not so as to give people some extra options to consider.
Moses and Aaron didn’t call a meeting on the day the cloud lifted.
And then ask the leaders to vote in favour of moving or in favour of staying.
Following that cloud was non-negotiable.

 

That also means that guidance here calls for contentment.
When our kids or grandkids get sick of travelling they ask: Are we nearly there yet?
I heard of some parents who got sick of their kids asking, Are we nearly there yet?
So Dad said to the kids: “We’re not going to get to grandma’s until it’s dark.”
So I don’t want to hear you asking anymore, “Are we nearly there yet?”
Well, five kilometres up the road one of the kids asks, “Dad is it nearly dark yet?”
With that leading of the cloud of God’s presence there was no room for that kind of discontent.

 

4. All of this leaves us with a question: How do we apply this to ourselves today?

I haven’t noticed any special clouds leading me? I haven’t seen a cloudy pillar of fire at night either.

God obviously doesn’t guide you that way. So what do we as a NT Christians do with this?

 

We could remind ourselves that in the NT clouds are often associated with Jesus.
On the Mountain of Transfiguration a bright cloud enveloped Jesus and His disciples.
At His ascension a cloud hid Jesus from the eyes of His disciples as He rose up.
We’re told that at His coming Jesus will appear on the clouds.

It’s as if Jesus claims the imagery of Numbers 9 for Himself. And rightly so!
As God was present with Israel constantly in the cloud so Jesus is with us constantly too.
We today live after Pentecost… we live in the age of the Spirit.
And the Spirit of God personalises the presence of Jesus.
We are one with Jesus by faith… so much so that Paul says: we have the mind of Christ.
We today are guided and led by the Spirit of God who lives in us.
And thru the Spirit’s work Jesus Christ becomes our daily guide through life.

 

That doesn’t necessarily make the matter of divine guidance in our life an easy matter.
Elizabeth Elliot once wrote a book on guidance with the telling title: ‘A Slow and Certain Light’.
In other words it’s not as easy as just following the cloud.
Guidance comes gradually as we think thru the issues with a Christ-enlightened mind.

 

One of the problems is that this guidance by God’s Spirit has often led to weird interpretations.

So more needs to be said about guidance. And Numbers 9 does have some further things to teach us.

 

B] OBEY THAT WORD.

 

1. Numbers 9 seems to commence on a totally different note altogether.

So much so that we wonder what the two parts this chapter have to do with each other.

 

God reminds Moses that the time has come to celebrate the Passover.
You’ll recall that the Passover was a special meal eaten when Israel left Egypt.
God had commanded the Passover to be kept as an annual event.
It would be repeated from generation to generation.
So now on the first anniversary of their exodus out of Egypt it’s Passover time.

 

Back in Exodus 12 the Passover had been instituted with very stringent requirements.
And that was for a very good reason… Jesus fulfilled the Passover.
Many aspects of the Passover point to Jesus and His saving work.
For example: they were not to break any of the bones of the Passover Lamb.
That was a reminder that not a bone of Jesus was broken when He died.

We also remember that at the Last Supper Jesus changed the Passover into the Lord’s Supper.
So the Passover was regulated with very precise instructions.
And we find some of the instructions from Exodus 12 repeated here in Numbers 9.

 

So this is a very important event here on the first anniversary of their deliverance from Egypt.
And again the details of it are non-negotiable… just as following the cloud was non-negotiable.
Israel couldn’t hold it any time of the year that they felt like. God set the date.
No Israelite could say, “Well I’m not real fond of lamb, I’ll substitute chicken instead.”
God not only set the date for the Passover, He prescribed its celebration in detail.

 

2. However the issue in Numbers 9 is not just the Passover celebration.

The real issue is that some people cannot celebrate the Passover because they are unclean.
They have been in contact with a dead body and that has ceremonially defiled them.
And that ceremonial uncleanness bars them from the Passover feast.

 

So the situation we have here is that two instructions from God clash in their life.
On the one hand, God’s clear command is that they keep the Passover.
On the other hand, God’s command is also that contact with the dead makes one ceremonial unclean.

The point is that there are two divine truths that clash here.
So these folk would sin if they didn’t keep the Passover.
But these folk would also sin if they kept the Passover while they were defiled.
The choice is either not keeping Passover at all or keeping it in a sinful (defiled) way.

 

We call that a moral dilemma.
Let me give you another example of a moral dilemma.
In World War II many Europeans hid persecuted Jew in their homes.
Sometimes German soldiers would come and ask whether Jews were hiding there.
If these folk said, “No!” they would be lying.
If they said, “Yes!” They would be condemning Jewish people to death.
That’s a moral dilemma.

 

So how do we handle moral dilemmas? It’s an area of life where God’s guidance is especially needed.

And these people recognise the need for God to guide them in solving this dilemma.

So they come to Moses and Aaron with their problem.
I guess that’s a good place to start… talk to the spiritual leaders of the church about it.
Today we might seek God’s guidance in a moral dilemma by talking to the Pastor about it.

 

3. What Moses then does is quite instructive and helpful.

Moses initially calls them not to act at all. He says: “Wait until I find out what the Lord’s will is.”
The Hebrew text is quite telling here.
Literally Moses says: “Stand still!” Or “Stop!” And that’s good advice.

 

All of us have moments in life when we need further light on a subject.
There are circumstances where we have to make tough decisions.
And we feel we don’t yet have enough light on the subject to act wisely.
At times like that it can be dangerous to act until you have the insight that you need.

 

So here we have circumstances in which Israel did not have enough information.

They were not able to make a good decision. Moses basically tells them to defer it for a while.

 

That’s important when it comes to decision-making.
We live in a society where this dilemma would not have been seen as a problem.
Today people would be inclined to say: “Big deal? What does it matter?
As long their heart is in the right place let them participate in the sacrament of the Passover.
These people love the Lord, so it’s fine!”

 

We have the same sort of thinking about the Lord’s Supper in many churches today.
God has also given some rather precise instructions about the celebration of that sacrament:
That we need to partake in a worthy manner, recognising the body of Christ;
This ritual of the church is only for believers… those who confess Christ.
But in many churches those warnings are simply disregarded.
Anyone can come as long as their heart is in the right place.
Just participate… why make a big deal of these things?

 

Moses did not suggest that exact obedience wasn’t all that important.

No! He said: Stop! Don’t do anything until we learn what God’s will is in this matter.

 

4. The wonderful thing is that God did offer guidance. He made His will known.

And that will of God highlights the grace of God. This is the God of the second chance.
God did not permit these people to participate in an unclean state.
But He didn’t want them to miss out on the Passover either.

So a wonderful solution is found to this moral dilemma:
A second-chance Passover for those unable to keep the first Passover.
But again it is very carefully prescribed.
This irregular Passover will take place exactly one month after the regular Passover.

 

What’s more this second-chance Passover is only for those with very valid excuses.
The lazy, who just couldn’t be bothered, or those who kept it at another time were cut off.
They were to be excommunicated from the people of Israel.

 

That makes us realise that here too the important issue is obedience.
Previously it was obedience to the guidance of God in the cloud and the pillar of fire.
Now it is obedience to the guidance of God given thru His Word to Moses.
Following the cloud was non-negotiable. Obeying the Word was non-negotiable.
And obeying the Word is still non-negotiable.

 

I find it sad that today so many Christians make poor choices in life that they later regret.
So often it is because they are ignorant of the guidance God gives in Scripture.
In the inscripturated Word we find the principles to guide us in our moral dilemmas.
We have God’s Spirit within us making us one with Jesus by faith, giving us the mind of Christ.
But we also have the Word of God… and the Spirit never moves us contrary to that Word.
Let’s then devote ourselves to the Word so that through the Word God will guide us.

 

Amen.