Numbers: Faith, Law, and History

Following the Lord

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: Following the Lord

Genre:

Track: 14

Dictation Name: RR181G14

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we thank thee that thou, who art Lord of heaven and earth, the maker of all things visible and invisible, in thy grace and mercy, has chosen to make us thy people and to dwell with us, among us, and in us. Our God, we thank thee. We bring into thy presence thy suffering saints the world over, beseeching thee, O Lord, restore unto them the joy of salvation. Bind up that which is broken, strengthen those who are disheartened and afraid. Grant that thy church, persecuted the world over, may triumph and thine enemies be confounded. Bless us as we give ourselves to thy praise and to the study of thy word. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Our scripture is from Numbers 9:15-23. Following the Lord. Numbers 9:15-23. “And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning. So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. 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.”

At the time of the Exodus, the fertility of Arabia was far greater than we realize. There were still streams that ran the year round and forests, and of course, an abundance of grass and game. All the same, it was necessary from time to time to shift the encampment’s location. Moreover, the changes in location had to be determined by God. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle by day and the fire by night, Israel was to remain in their place. When the cloud or the fire moved then, whether by day or by night, all Israel had to move also. In this respect, they resembled an army on the march. In the twentieth century, radio communications guide armies on the move. In Antiquity, an army or a caravan was preceded by a burning torch, whose flame or smoke guided those behind in the way that they should go.

In this instance, the fire was not an actual blaze, but something, in its fierce brightness, resembled a consuming fire. The goal of the journeying away from Sinai was to the borders, finally of Edom and then into Canaan. In verses 22 and 23, the purpose of these instructions is very plainly stated; Israel’s total conformity to the will of God. The guidance was miraculous. There was nothing natural about the cloud and the fire. They were constantly present throughout the wilderness experience and they were inseparable from the sanctuary. This manifestation of the cloud and fire reappeared at the dedication of Solomon’s temple. We encounter it again at the transfiguration of our Lord, and the clouds are to accompany the end of the world in Christ’s return. Here, the cloud and fire set forth the divine presence, God’s presence. God is with His people to guide them.

There is an additional significance. It means protection. In Psalm 105:39, we read, “He spread a cloud for a covering and fire to give light in the night.” The pillar and the cloud were visible expressions of God’s invisible presence. They were a theophany. A theophany is a word that is not too often used now a days, but it’s an important word. It means an appearance of God. These theophanies are related to the various names or titles given to God from one end of the Bible to the other. They are aspects of God’s self-revelation, but they are all partial in their scope.

Gustov Eiler said of God’s name, “In short, God names himself, not according to what he is for himself but what he is for men, and therefore, every self-presentation of God in the world is expressed by a corresponding name of God, but the biblical notion of the divine name is not exhausted by them. It is not merely the title which God bears in virtue of the relation in which he places himself to man, but the name of God, that expression designates at the same time the whole divine self-presentation by which God, in personal presence, testifies of himself; the whole side of the divine nature which is turned toward man. Be it understood, the divine name is not everywhere present where there is a working of divine power, but everywhere where the God of revelation as such gives himself to be recognized in his acts so as to be confessed and invoked.”

Thus, as we have different revelations of God, we have a different title given to him each time, and a theophany is related to the various names of God. Where there is a theophany, there is usually also the use of the name Jehovah, or Yahweh. When Elohim, meaning God but in the plural is used, this is not normally the case, and its use is not normally connected with theophanies. Now, this is a very interesting thing because the word Elohim comes closer to being an abstraction. It is not but it speaks of God as something far and above and beyond, but it is when God reveals himself that He uses the title Yahweh, or Jehovah, meaning “I am that I am,” “I am the one who cannot be defined, all things are defined by me.”

Theophanies are God’s appearances to man, and a couple of things are clear from them, both of which we’ve already touched on. First, Jehovah means “I am that I am,” or “He who is.” It is the most difficult term applied to God, because it means that He is beyond all definition. He is absolute being. He is the source of all definition. He is the creator of all things. The use of Yahweh or Jehovah stresses the unbridgeable gulf of being and nature between God and man. It is a name that speaks of transcendence and remoteness, but it is precisely this name that stresses how great God is that He uses in every theophany, in every appearance, in every self-revelation.

Then second, at the same time, it is usually when Yahweh or Jehovah is used that we have anthropomorphisms applied to God. An anthropomorphism is a name which ascribes to God something that is a characteristic of man. It is done so that we can understand God by things we know, but it is when we have the revelation of the name of God, “I am that I am,” or “He who is,” that we have the anthropomorphisms. So at one and the same time, we see how far beyond anything we can imagine God is, and yet how closely He relates himself to us and to experiences that we can understand, and this is true of the theophany of the pillar and the cloud. It is simple and very understandable. Everyone can see a pillar of fire, and a cloud, and God, who is beyond time and space, reveals himself in time and space in a way that people can understand.

This text makes clear, especially in verses 22 and 23, that the covenant people were called to be faithful, to be obedient. G. Campbell Morgan summed it up very well when he said, “No responsibility rested on the people save that of obedience. They were not called on to consider the time or the direction of their march, but it equally true that they were not permitted to object or delay, all of which served to keep the fact of the sovereign authority of Jehovah perpetually before them.” They had to go when God said “go.” They had to stop when God said “stop.” They had to learn obedience.

Now in our time, it is customary to treat obedience as a childish and simplistic requirement, but God emphatically requires it of us all, and He stresses it with different words and in many ways. Throughout their journeying, the pillar and the cloud were very visible and dramatic reminders of God’s command. They were a reminder that God’s word and will must command and control us. A man who feels no need for such reminders is a dangerous man. Certainly, one of the functions of preaching and worship is that God’s reminders remain fresh in our minds. We are called to believe and to obey.

Seven times in the verses of our scripture, verses 15-23, the text speaks of the commandment of the Lord, then the charge of the Lord is referred to twice. So, in these few verses, the stress on obedience is very, very strong. The abiding location of the pillar of cloud and of fire was always the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies in particular. It represented not only God’s presence, guidance, and protection, but also his very present power and judgment. Israel understood this. In Numbers 17:10-13, the rebels recognize that this presence meant death to all who were disobedient. God’s presence works both ways; to bless and to curse. This is what our age fails to understand. If a groups calls itself a church and invokes the name of God, they are inviting both blessings and curses for faithfulness and disobedience, and this is a fact which, unfortunately, neither national Israel nor the church have fully appreciated.

In 1 Peter 4:17, we are plainly told that judgment must begin at the house of God. Our Lord affirms this also. He says in Luke 12:48, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more,” and this is something the people and the churches of America should take to heart, for much has been given to us, and more will be therefore, required of us. The privilege of God’s presence means therefore, greater judgment when faithlessness or apostasy occur.

At the same time, Isaiah 4:4-6 tells us of the privileges which mark a repentant, regenerate, and faithful people. Isaiah says, “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.” Isaiah here talks about the future, when God will purge His true church of all apostasy, and He will protect His covenant with a care that will exceed that of Israel in the wilderness journey. Isaiah is talking about God’s people in every age, because they are a privileged people, therefore, they are a readily judged people. Therefore, God deals with them with a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning when they are faithful, but when they are faithful, upon all the glory of God shall be a defense. God disciplines and prepares His people for the dominion work of His kingdom. Let us pray.

O Lord, our God, we thank thee for thy presence, for the discipline of the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, that we may be prepared for thy service, wherein thy glory shall be a defense for us. Give us joy in all thy ways, teach us to see thy hand even in those things which we do not want, or do not like, knowing that all these things come from thee, and have a glorious purpose for thou dost make all things work together for good to them that love thee, to them that are the called according to thy purpose. Give us faith and hope. Teach us to be obedient, to know that thy word is truth, and thy word alone must govern us. Bless us in thy service, we beseech thee. In Christ’s name. Amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] Is there a connection between the cloud and references to Christ’s coming in the clouds of heaven?

[Rushdoony] Yes, I pointed that out in passing, that it’s the same thing, and it’s the same cloud at the Mount of Transfiguration as I pointed out, so that from beginning to end, it has the same meaning of the particular presence of God, a theophany, and of course, Isaiah, in speaking of that, says that whether we see the cloud and fire, they are with us always, wherever God’s name is invoked, as a spirit of burning and judgment or as a defense and blessing. Yes?

[Audience] I guess I was wondering how would you take that passage literally about Christ coming on the clouds of heaven of terms of how it’s usually taken, that second coming?

[Rushdoony] The answer is we’ll know when it happens. We’re simply told that, one way or another, there is an association and it’s very real. The specifics? We don’t know. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] Dave made comments of his interpretation of that. It says the Lord descended, he’s talking about the cloud, that he saw the cloud was a sign and the reality behind that was that it was the Lord. {?}

[Rushdoony] It’s surprising how many times there is a reference to the pillar in the cloud and the wilderness journey in God’s dealing with Israel in the Psalms. So, the book of Psalms can be read as a commentary on two things: One, on the law, and the other, on the wilderness journey and the experiences thereof. So that, from one end of the Psalms to the other, you have a reflection of David and others on these things. Yes?

[Audience] You talked about blessing and judgment, and I always have a funny feeling when I hear churches singing “God Bless America,” because so often they don’t have an appreciation of the necessity of judgment. Is it presumptuous to ask God to bless that which is in need of judgment, or is it alright because the judgment will come anyway?

[Rushdoony] It is presumptuous and it will come anyway. Yes, we are very much in need of judgment and we are beginning to undergo judgment, the whole world is, and to sing “God Bless America” without faith, as most people who sing it do, is really sinful, and it is to invite judgment. Now, we can pray and sing “God Bless America” if we, at the same time, recognize that what we are asking God to bless is what is godly in this country, not that which is apostate, that which is anti-Christ. So, the way it is normally sung is simply asking God to ratify what men do and to bless it. Yes?

[Audience] If you have an evil leader . . .

[Rushdoony] A what?

[Audience] An evil leader.

[Rushdoony] Yes.

[Audience] You have an evil leader. Can you ask God to bless him with the truth?

[Rushdoony] Of course. Yes, you can. The requirement of scripture that we pray for those in authority is very often misunderstood, so that in many churches it is customary to say, “Lord, bless the president and congress,” and so on, when such a prayer is wrong. What they should say, “Open the eyes of the president, and give him understanding of thee and thy word.” That is a more godly prayer, or to bring judgment upon them when they are confirmed and resolute in their apostasy, but simply to bless them is wicked. What we’re having now a days is that people are shopping around for someone to bless them, even as Ahab did with the false prophets, you remember, and Jehoshaphat asked that a true prophet be brought, Miciah, who predicted death for Ahab, and we saw this very recently. President Bush goes to a modernistic church, and the pastor was against the war, but not on biblical grounds. On left wing and semi-pacifistic grounds. So, he had Billy Graham to come in and pray for him, and bless the war effort. So, he was dealing with two false pastors. One speaking out of total unbelief in the inerrant word of God, and the other speaking, not out of “What does God say about warfare?” but in terms of “I’m going to support my country and my president.” Well, if there are no further questions or comments, let us conclude with prayer.

Our Father, we give thanks unto thee for thy word. In a word full of uncertain and evil words, we rejoice in thine infallible word. We give thanks unto thee also for the presence and indwelling of thy Spirit. In a world full of false spirits, we thank thee, our Father, for thy gift. Teach us to walk day by day, taking hands off our lives and committing them into thy care. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape