The Cloud That Is Fire

"One Year Bible" Old Testament History Passage
Numbers 8:1-9:23

"Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night."  Numbers 9:15-16 (NKJV)

Angelic presence!  This was no ordinary cloud.  During the daytime, it was probably a billowing, cumulus-type cloud -- morphing and boiling above the tabernacle, casting a shadow of protection from the heat of day.  Then, at nighttime, in the dark, the interior of the cloud would shine out.  There was a fire in it!  It was a cloud of fire that provided warmth from the cold desert nights.

This cloud was the same cloud we find in Ezekiel chapter one.  As Ezekiel stood by the River Chebar in Babylonian captivity, he looked up and saw "a whirlwind...a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire" (Ezekiel 1:4).  This is the cloud, the whirlwind, out of which God spoke to Job (Job 38:1).  John describes something similar in Revelation 10:1, "I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud.  And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire."  This cloud will attend the Second Coming of Jesus for the Bible says, "Behold, He is coming with clouds..." (Rev. 1:7)

This is the cloud of God's protective presence that resides with and over God's people.  God attends His purposes with His powerful presence.  Angelic forces are assigned by God to minister to those who are heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14). 

Two major things are provided by this cloud:  1) PROTECTION and 2) GUIDANCE.  Our job is to stay under the cloud.  There we will find God's care.  There we will find God's purposes.  Psalm 91 calls this "the secret place of the Most High...the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).  Are you abiding under His shadow today?  Are you following the cloud of His presence as He moves to fulfill His plan for your life?  Our greatest task is to STAY UNDER THE CLOUD.