Numbers 9-10

Numbers 9-10

The tabernacle was built, and God’s presence resided there.  In past chapters we have seen the presence of God manifest as a cloud and as fire.  We see this again here, but instead of God coming and going from the Israelites, He has permanently set up shop with them inside the tabernacle. The cloud or fire would hover above the tabernacle as a sign letting the Israelites know that God was still with them.  How cool that would have been to see God’s manifest presence hovering above the tabernacle.  The cloud/fire also told Israel when it was time to leave the place they were at and move to a new location.   

So far in our reading we have seen God manifest himself as fire several times.  A few examples of this are:

• He appears to Moses as a bush on fire in Exodus 3
• He leads Israel out of Egypt by a pillar of fire in Exodus 13
• God appeared on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 19 and again in Exodus 24
• He consumes the sacrifices made on the altar with fire in Leviticus 9

Now that the tabernacle is built His presence is signified by fire above the tabernacle.

Fast forward to the New Testament, in Acts 2, where WE are now the “tabernacle” and fire from heaven came down and rested on the people there in the upper room.  We see this shift of God residing among the people to God residing inside His people.  We have become the Temple of God.  

What a great and glorious thought that God now inhabits us.  And not just for a time or until we sin (as God did with the ancient Israelites) but permanently inhabits us.  There is nothing that we can do that will separate us from God.  God inhabits our lives and we are always His.