Numbers 9:1-23
When the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai, the Lord commanded them to keep the Passover, but there were some men among them who had been defiled, and were therefore unable to keep it at the appointed time. They wanted to keep it, however, and so they came to Moses, asking if any provision could be made for them. The Lord said that they could observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month, instead of the first month, and this they did. We know that the Passover pointed on to the cross, just as the Lord’s supper looks back to it. And so, even as there was a gracious prision of the Lord for these defiled men, no doubt if there were due exercise on the part of a good many who have “excuses,” they would find how the Lord could, and would, open the way for them to be present at His table to remember Him in His death. It is always good to see a willing heart, for where there is such the Lord always comes in.
There is another point of interest and warning here. If an Israelite who was clean, and not in a journey, failed to keep the Passover, lie was to be cut off from his people. This was, of course, law, and now we are under grace, but this is a solemn consideration for one who, either willfully, or through neglect, fails to keep the Lord’s supper. Surely it would show a lack of affection for the Lord, who instituted this blessed feast on the night of His betrayal, to be absent or hold back from responding to His dying request. If one who had taken his place at the Lord’s table continued in such a course, it would be necessary for those who have the care of the saints of God upon their hearts, to bring it before him. If such carelessness continued, the assembly would undoubtedly have a principle here upon which to act in dealing with him. Would it not lead us to question whether there were any true affection for the Lot it all, when one continually absented himself or herself from the table of the Lord without any good reason?
When the tabernacle was pitched, the glory cloud rested upon it, as the Lord had promised. It was like a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud to hide them from the hot sun by day, and when the Lord wanted them to move on, then the cloud lifted and went bore them. Then, whether it were in the daytime or at night, they must take their journey. How good it was for the people to have such a sure, unfailing, and loving Guide who always “led them.. by the right way” (Psalm 107:7), and yet how often they murmured! We know, too, that we now have tile same loving Guide, not in a pillar of fire, but a living Man at God’s right hand who leads us by His Spirit through His Word. May we ever wait upon Him, being careful that we do not stand still when He wants us to go forward, or go forward when He wants us to stand still. Whether it were for two days, or a month, or a year, the children of Israel were never to journey without this Divine guidance (the moving of the cloud), and the same principle applies to us today. Even in the smallest matters, as well as in the greater things, we shall always find One whose loving heart is interested, and who delights to have us look up and say as Saul of Tarsus, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” He has a definite path for us each step of the way, but like the children of Israel we will have to “look up” to know it. May the Lord keep us all, young and old, looking up.
ML 08/19/1951