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294 The Tabernacle God when, upon and within the finished tabernacle, the Shekinah Glory had descended. We read the Holy Spirit's own record of this miraculous story in Exod. 40: 33-3 8: "So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tab- ernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys: but if the cloud were not t:iken up, then they journeyed not till the day th:it it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys." In the beginning of these studies we saw that the glory of God upon and within the Jewish tabernacle was a type of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in the church; for Jehovah said to Moses, "Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" (Exod. 2 5: 8). In this church age the believer's body is "the temple of the Holy Ghost" (I Cor. 3:16; 6:19). The church is "the household of God ... an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2: 19-22). And the Holy Spirit is, in very truth, the Christian's Guide and Power, even as the pillar of cloud and fire was Israel's unfailing Guide and Power throughout the wilderness journey from Egypt to Canaan. Even on the march, the ark of the covenant was the symbol of God's Presence, literally "in the midst" of the camp. With minute detail God told Moses in what order the tribes were to journey, as the Shekinah Glory led the way. We turn to the second and third chapters of Num- bers for these instructions. Six tribes went forward on the
The Tabernacle march, three tribes in one rank. Then the tabernacle followed. And finally the remaining six tribes, also by their ranks, completed the army of 600,000 soldiers, to say nothing of women and children and the aged men. Wagons and oxen were provided for the Gershonites and Merarites (Levites) , whose duty it was to take care of th~ tabernacle, with all its pillars and sockets and boards and hangings and cords. But the Kohathites carried the sacred pieces of furniture on their shoulders, after the priests had carefully covered them from the gaze of men. All of this detail speaks to us of the sacredness of this "sanctuary," in which Jehovah dwelt among His people. Often we wonder if the church of our crucified and risen Lord is conscious of His will for her separation from the godless world. We fail so many times in living as before Him who dwells within these bodies of ours. We dishonor His holy name by careless and unconfessed sin. May He give us grace to remember at all times that our bodies do not belong to us, to do with as we please; that we have been "bought with a price," even His own precious blood. Then only shall we keep "our garments unspotted from the world" which thrust the Son of God out at the point of a spear. Then only shall "the glory of the Lord" shine through the testimony of our lives, even unto the salvation of never-dying souls, and to our Lord's own honor and glory. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire 1. A Guide. In Num. 9:17 we read, "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." For forty years the Shekinah Glory led the people of
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