Miracle In The Desert

Feature 3 –November 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Miracle In The Desert

This world is a wilderness wide! We have nothing to seek or to choose; We’ve no thought in the waste to abide; We’ve nought to regret nor to lose.—John N. Darby (1800-1882)

These lines sum up the situation of Christians. They are in the world but not of it. God is with them, and the Holy Spirit dwells in them – their body being His temple (1 Cor. 6:19). The Lord Jesus said to believers, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Mt. 28:19 KJV ), and He promised that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (18:20).

God desires to have intimate relationships with His people. For example, He walked and talked with Adam in the garden of Eden before the fall. Abraham was the friend of God. And when God gave Moses instructions for building the tabernacle He said, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Ex. 25:8).

After hearing of the great acts of God for His people Israel in delivering them from Egypt, some individuals from other nations desired to come under the authority of God by coming to Israel. If such a one came to the nation in the Sinai Desert after the tabernacle was set up, he would have found a vast rectangle marked by a 7 to 8 foot high, pure white, linen curtain. He might have seen the bronze in which the posts supporting the curtain were set, but the pillars and the silver couplings – silver speaking of redemption – would have been unseen. In the sun the bronze and the linen would have been hard to look at because of their brightness. The curtain of perfect purity represented God’s perfect standard of righteousness, and the bronze sockets displayed God’s judgment and justice. Looking at these things one might sense his unworthiness, even uncleanness, to enter the amazing enclosure. Thousands of tents arranged in an orderly manner surrounded the rectangle.

But long before he could discern the individual tents and the large structure in the middle of them, a great phenomenon would have caught his eyes: a solid pillar of cloud reaching up from the structure to beyond the clouds. At night he would marvel how the cloud changed to a pillar of fire, reaching, as it were, to the heights of heaven. Watching this during the day the person would feel a sense of profound dread, as if Someone immensely powerful and all-knowing was there who knew all about him. At night the Presence of the One displayed by the fire would give light in the surrounding darkness – a comfort and an inspiration to the people resting in their tents.

Walking around the enclosure, the stranger would be conscious of being shut out. Coming to the middle of the east side, there was a wonder so great that it might take one’s breath away: a curtain of fine linen the height of the other but embroidered in all manner of blue, scarlet and purple colors (Ex. 38:18). This wonderfully embroidered curtain might seem as if it were inviting people to come in. But standing there one would be conscious of all the wrong thoughts and deeds lying uncomfortably in his past. How might a man be able to enter through that gate?

Let’s suppose that while the stranger stood at the gate a corner of the wondrous curtain lifted and a man dressed from head to foot in white linen with a white cap on his head appeared – his attire displaying the same purity as the curtain. That man, a priest, then may have asked the stranger, “Where is your sacrifice? You cannot come in unless you have a victim – a ram, a lamb or even a dove – to sacrifice (Num. 15:14). God will only accept you when you bring a sacrifice.”

Shaking his head in bewilderment, the stranger might have asked the priest questions about God. If so, the priest would answer, “Our God is Jehovah Elohim, He who created the heavens and the earth, who rules the vast universe, whose people we are and whose dwelling place this is.” The stranger might have shaken his head and said, “How can such a wonderful God live here on earth in this desert?” The priest would explain, “Our common ancestor sinned and the whole race was fallen and wicked; the earth was filled with violence. Therefore, God rightly destroyed the world with a flood; only eight were saved. The truth of God was kept alive, and God chose Abraham our forefather and brought us, his descendants, here for God to give us His law.” The stranger may have already heard of the first humans who had sinned and of the flood sent by God because of man’s behavior. With a growing desire the stranger may well have said, “I want very much to know about the true and real God – your God.” Today we remember that Jesus said, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden” (Mt. 11:28).

Recognizing his need, the stranger might have answered the priest, “I am truly burdened with a load of sin. Now that I see the purity and holiness of your God, I want Him to be my God, if He will have me.” Responding, the priest would give an invitation, “Then come in and learn about the Lord of Hosts. All that you see here tells you something about Him.”

Once having brought his offering, the stranger could then be led through the gate. The stranger, seeing that he had his back to the east and the rising sun realized that this place was completely different from the temples of all other gods. They faced the rising sun as if to worship it, but this one faced in the opposite direction as if to face the mystery and have it resolved somewhere under the darkness of the cloud which stood above the structure before him.

In front of the structure was a large altar of bronze, and by it was a massive bowl where the priests had to wash. As he was told about these things, the stranger understood that God was so holy and pure that only those whom He had cleansed dare approach Him.

“Here the people bring their sacrifices, and here we burn morning and evening a burnt offering so smoke from the burning sacrifice is always ascending to God. Though He dwells here with His people, His real place is in heaven, yet even the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. He is everywhere, all-powerful and knows all.”

The need of offerings for sin and for trespasses (particular sins) to be offered continually made sense to the stranger who was aware of sin in his life. The animals for these sacrifices were killed by the altar and then burned outside the camp, for they became, as it were, sin. Other offerings, the whole burnt offerings and peace offerings, were burned on the altar. The stranger was given to understand that no man could truly offer gifts to God. What God wanted was man’s appreciation of the One offering who was to come – One who would offer Himself completely to God always, delighting to do His will.

The stranger would likely wonder: “Who is and will be completely pure and will offer Himself as if He were a burnt offering and a sin offering, thereby making peace with God?” Although he might be puzzled, his spirit would soar within him, perceiving that some great and wonderful mystery was about to be revealed.

“It is the Anointed One, a Coming One who will be like Moses our leader and the bringer of God’s law to us. He will be both Sacrifice and Savior. We do not know how, but it will be so, for that is what God has decreed.” There may have been a distant gaze on the priest’s face as he explained this, looking longingly up to the heavens and yearning for the coming of the Anointed One.

Taking his eyes from the altar and the laver, the stranger would behold the entrance to the Holy Place itself. Like the entrance to the enclosure, it stood supported by five pillars set in bronze sockets. The pillars were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The stranger’s questions would come fast and eagerly as to what was beyond that curtain embroidered in gold thread with blue, purple and scarlet embroidery on the fine white linen.

The priest would explain, “These are the colors of heaven, of royalty and of humanity with the gold of deity. The Anointed – only He is all these in One Person.” Finding this difficult to understand, the stranger might stammer, “How can God be both One and more than one?”

The priest would not fully understand either, but he would explain to his guest that the very first words in the law were “In the beginning God created.” He would then go on to explain that the word “God” was plural and the verb “created” was singular, concluding that this was the nature of the Godhead: One God but three persons.

The stranger might look longingly at the curtain wondering what was inside, yet full of fear for this God was Holy, with purity beyond human understanding. His questions might be answered as the man in white continued: “A priest enters every day to burn incense on the golden altar. On one side of the altar is a lampstand of gold with seven branches and seven lamps which give light in the darkness. On the other side is a table overlaid with gold, on which is bread. God is Light and He is our light, lighting our way through this desert. He also provides for us, preparing a table with bread from heaven, the manna that we eat. Just as our Lord is the source of all life, so He sustains us with His own life. The incense on the golden altar speaks of the delight the Father takes in His Son, the Anointed.”

“And beyond that?” The inquirer might seek an answer expecting there to be nothing but darkness. However, he would be even more overawed with the answer: “Beyond that is another curtain embroidered with blue, purple, scarlet and gold. On it, as on the inner curtains spread over the tabernacle of God, are embroidered cherubim, mighty angels who attend continually about the very throne of God.”

To the stranger’s question, “And where is that throne?”, the priest would answer, “It is in the third heaven, but also in this Holy of Holies where the ark of the covenant rests. Golden cherubim, with their wings stretched out, look down on the mercy seat, which is the throne of God where He dwells among His people.”

The stranger either surrenders his heart and mind to Him is who Prophet, Priest, King, Judge, Sacrificial Victim and Mighty Savior, or he goes away discontented and unhappy, ensnared in the fear of man. Which would we do, surrender or go away? What can we do to acquire salvation? Nothing!

Nothing either great or small; Nothing sinner no! Jesus did it; did it all, Long, long ago.—James Proctor

The Bible simply says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31).

By Roger Penney