We have here the blessing of the Lord which precedes always our miseries and our complaints. God ever begins with grace. He promised redemption after the fall before it was a question of repentance of sins. We have also here the history of our privileges. The people were guided by the Lord. We are led by grace. From the moment that God owned a people, He abides in their midst. God abides in the church by the Holy Spirit. The sin of the church is to quench or grieve the Holy Spirit, to extinguish the free action of the gifts. The Israelites were to be guided of the Lord, as we should be; they are the picture of what we are. All that happened to them as recorded in scripture was written as types.
The two privileges of the church of God are to have the purpose and will of God written in the word, and the Holy Spirit to make us understand it.
Redemption places us in the wilderness with God. It is the presence of God Himself that conducts us. The presence of God must be owned if we would be strong and courageous in crossing the wilderness. “On the day that the tabernacle was reared up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony.” The presence of God is attached to His law. “At even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire until the morning. In the darkness and difficulties the presence of God is even more manifest and visible.” So it was always; the cloud covered it [by day], and the appearance of fire by night. When the cloud rose, Israel journeyed; where it abode, there they encamped. “At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord, and journeyed not. And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the Lord they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not; but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed: they kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord, by the hand of Moses.” (Chap. 9:18-23.) They marched or encamped at the Lord's will. Nothing simpler or more beautiful than the manner in which Israel if faithful attended each moment to the will of God.
That which does us most harm is our attending to our own will, even doing the things of God according to our own will. Israel knew not whither they were going, but they marched without question or hesitation, following the movement of the cloud. Circumstances make no difference to the child of God: he does the will of God in all circumstances, he has no other rule than God's will. How could they find the way night or day in the wilderness without a way? Circumstances were nothing. It was needful to attend to the Lord.
Philip was extremely blessed at Samaria; but in the midst of all that the Spirit says to him, Arise, and go southward on the way that goeth down from Jerusalem to Gaza (which is desert). And he arose and went. God had a sheep there. He obeys, and when the work is done, he is found at Azotus, preaching the gospel to all the cities till he came to Caesarea. His obedience is a fine example of the guidance of a child of God. To obey is more important than all the rest. Christ comes to do the will of Him that sent Him. When it is necessary to act, He does act. He says, If one walketh in the light, he stumbleth not. To rise, to rest, all this ought to be done according to God's will. In Matt. 11:25, 26,25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. 26Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. (Matthew 11:25‑26) Jesus gives His Father thanks, because it was His good pleasure to hide the things of God, from the wise and prudent, while revealing them unto babes. He adds, Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Take My yoke upon you: submit entirely to the will of God. The child of God ought to have unswerving confidence in God, and to obey Him completely.
In the midst of the night the fiery pillar moves; God says, Go. They go without knowing whither, but knowing it is God who guides them. It is no question then of taking account either of time or of circumstances; God gives the word.
In John 10:7-97Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. 8All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:7‑9) Jesus says, I am the door of the sheep. When He has put forth all His own, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him, because they know His voice. It is our privilege to be guided at each moment by God. But it is necessary to pay heed to the Lord: if not the cloud might rise, and no one perceive it. It is thus in paying heed that one goes onward when the cloud lifts; it must be done in the details of each day. If the aged Simeon, guided by the Holy Spirit, had not come into the temple, he would not have had the privilege of meeting with the child Jesus there. The least circumstance may have serious results, and we are the purchased of the Lord without anything to do if it be not to pay heed to the Lord and to march when He leads the way.
The silver trumpets were the testimony of God. (Chap. 10:1-10) To own openly, frankly, the truth of the Lord concerns us much, because the Lord puts Himself forward to render testimony to His truth. Here the main object was to gather the people of God around Him, or to make them journey, though other purposes were served, as for the chiefs to gather and for alarm in war, besides for joy over the sacrifices. But the alarm in war was to remind them of God's intervention. Let us sound the testimony without fear. He will not fail to appear.
For the march the prescribed order is modified (vers. 11-28) from chapter 3:27, when we come to fact. Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun went first; then the tabernacle was borne by the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari; then came these other tribes, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad; then the sanctuary with the Kohathites; after them Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, and Dan, Asher, Naphtali in due place.
Moses besought his father-in-law to be for Israel instead of eyes (vers. 29-32); but here again grace acts extraordinarily. (Ver. 33) The ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them in the three days' journey to search out a resting-place for them. God knows very well that even in the desert we need rest before Him.
See what God's faithfulness does for us. When Israel had to cross the Jordan, the ark of the covenant goes before them and is set in the midst of the river, which is clean dried up. Yet did it then overflow its banks, as it was the time of harvest. There it stays till every Israelite had crossed. The passage is an image of our death and resurrection with Christ. God accommodates Himself, not to sin, but to the effects of sin. When Israel failed in faithfulness and was affrighted by the Canaanite, He turns them away from Canaan, but the cloud turns away also. The most faithful souls must suffer from the state of the whole church. (So the faith of Elijah was extraordinary; but he could not go to Jerusalem.) Caleb and Joshua must for thirty-eight years accompany Israel in the desert and undergo the exterior consequences of sin. We must in the wilderness not follow sin, but undergo the painful consequences of the state of the church. But we can count on the cloud, on the faithfulness of God. When the Holy Spirit has been grieved, He cannot sanction the evil, but He does not fail in His faithfulness toward us. Jesus was isolated; He passed through the wilderness Himself. He understands and feels the state of the people of God and prepares them in the wilderness places of rest.
We can always count in the wilderness on the goodness of God. We cannot see then on the road. Moses wished to find a guide in Hobab: this was to forget the guidance of the cloud. There, is no way in the wilderness; but God is there. It is because we do not discern the cloud when all is easy, that we do not see it when all is difficult. After sin what is not more difficult. Two things give us confidence-the written word, and the Holy Spirit. For human reason cannot sound the word; without the Spirit it comes to nothing. The Holy Spirit guides us by the word. The two things are necessary: neither the word only without the Spirit, nor the Spirit without the word. The Holy Spirit is needed to have the desire to understand the word, as well as the strength to walk and obey. We need God and the word of His grace. And we have God to instruct and conduct, us. The child of God may, when he is attentive to it, discern clearly the direction of the Holy Spirit. One cannot be guided of the Spirit when one does that which is contrary to the word; we can, if we can make it say like Moses in verse 35, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered.