So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, that people of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle and according to the command of the LORD they remained in camp; then to the command of the LORD they set out. And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out but when it lifted they set out. At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out. [Number 9:16-23]
Where is my cloud?
That’s all I want to know. I read this repetitive passage, finished, and sat there yearning for something this concrete to tell me when to go and when to stay. When to remain in camp and when to set out. It sounds so cut and dry for the Israelites. They just had to obediently follow the cloud.
So where is my cloud?
I’d love for a cloud to hover around and direct my next decisions.
I was relaying all of this to my dear friend E. She looked over at me mid-stride and said, “You are the temple now.”
Well.
That changes things, eh?
So tabernacle means “residence” or “dwelling place”. It’s where God lived. Among the Israelites the tabernacle was the center. The Holy of Holies. And in the center of the center, only the High priest was allowed past the curtain into the inner tent where the Arc of the Covenant was held.
But this is what I forgot: we have a new covenant.
Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. [Heb. 8:1-2]
Since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new a living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God...[Heb. 10:19-22]
The new temple is Jesus. I’ve heard people say that Jesus is God “tabernacling” with us. Dwelling with us. I’ve also heard it said that God "moved into the neighborhood" when Jesus resided here on earth. He is our High Priest who enters into the Holy of Holies and opens the curtain.
Are you ready for the crazy part? Not only is Jesus now our High Priest and our tabernacle, He lives in us. So essentially we too take on His identity!
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Sprit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus ins the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.
[1 Cor. 3:16, 2 Cor. 6:16, 1 John 4:13-15]
The tabernacle is inside of me. God dwells in me. Resides with me.
Those statements hold so much weight. I am nearly giddy with even scratching the surface of what this means and how this changes my life. How it changes me.
Part of what it means is that, the cloud I’ve been looking for isn’t hovering over God’s presence in a tent somewhere. Because God’s presence is in me.
I am that temple.
The cloud is over me. Maybe that realization is all I needed to find and follow.
