THE TESTIMONY

C. A. Coates

“And on the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle of the tent of testimony ... And when the cloud rose from the tent, then the children of Israel journeyed; and at the place where the cloud stood still, there the children of Israel encamped”, Numbers 9: 15–18. The Lord would give His people very great interest in “the cloud”, and especially in the place which it has in directing their collective spiritual movements. It is mentioned fourteen times in Numbers 9 and 10. This is a new form of guidance which was not known until the tabernacle was set up.

The cloud had been seen before as going before the people by day and by night to lead them in the way out of Egypt (Exodus 13; 21, 22). Its leading then was with tender consideration for a people who were not yet prepared to face conflict. In the early days of our spiritual history there is a divine leading which has regard to our weakness and inexperience, and the possibility of our being discouraged, and which takes us around to avoid “the way of the land of the Philistines”. God has to teach us how to walk before we are prepared to fight (see Hosea 11: 1–3). Then when the Egyptians pursued Israel “the pillar of the cloud went from before them, and stood behind them. And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel”, Exodus 14: 19, 20. It teaches that God is for us against all the power of the enemy.

When, after the making of the golden calf, Moses pitched the tent outside the camp, “it came to pass when Moses entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and (Jehovah) talked with Moses”, Exodus 33: 9. God sanctioned in a remarkable way the act of His servant; all the people had to recognise that Moses was approved by Him. It was not that Moses followed the cloud, but the cloud followed him! In a day of general departure the cloud is with those who are faithful, and who maintain what is due to the Lord.

But in Numbers 9: 15 the cloud is seen covering the tabernacle of the tent of testimony. The testimony had now taken definite and complete form; that is, of course, in a typical way.

There was something set up in this world which was of God in every detail. It was then material and typical, but it has now been set up in a real and spiritual way. The whole mind of God as to what He would have to be set forth in testimony has now taken form. Whatever is of God, as set forth in Christ or which is the product of His work in His saints,

can now be viewed as a complete whole. That is the thought suggested in the tabernacle of testimony.

Exodus is largely occupied in bringing before us the constructive side—how God’s mind can be worked out by the Spirit through the affections and wisdom of His people so that it takes a concrete form. The material is there seen as furnished by the people, and their wise-hearted labour gives it form according to the pattern seen in the mount. This speaks of things being worked out, so that they do not remain abstract truth merely, but take concrete form. This is a very important side of things; the truth is not to be left abstract; it is to take shape in a practical way.

But it is to be noticed that the tabernacle is only called “the tabernacle of the testimony” once in Exodus, and that is when the constructive work is finished (Exodus 38: 21). It is evident that the testimony must be, in itself, a complete whole, and must comprise all that in which the mind of God is set forth. In Numbers it is eight times called the tabernacle or tent of the testimony, and the Levites are appointed over it, and encamp round it, and keep its charge, and Aaron and his sons serve before it as priests. So that in this book the saints are not looked at as the tabernacle, but as set in relation to it in a military or levitical or priestly way. The testimony of God is contemplated as something complete in itself, now committed into the hands of men so that God may be served in relation to it, and that it may be carried through the wilderness without damage or deterioration. The people of God are all set, according to this book, in relation to “the tent of testimony”. It is our bond holding us in unity, our chief interest and holy charge; and it is in relation to it that we serve God. Now “the cloud”

covers that; it is the one thing which God sanctions as being altogether of Himself, and constituting His testimony. It ought to be a great concern to us that there is such a thing today as “the tabernacle of the tent of testimony”, and “the cloud” covers it. “The cloud” does not cover what is of man; it rests on what the Lord has pitched and not man.

Then we learn another thing of great importance. “When the cloud rose from the tent, then the children of Israel journeyed; and at the place where the cloud stood still, there the children of Israel encamped”, Numbers 9: 17. That which is of God, and which He sanctions by His presence, is not a stationary thing. It was designed to be carried from one pitching place to another by levitical service, and the time which it remained in each place was determined by the time the cloud remained on it. This has nothing to do with providential guidance in regard to the circumstances of our individual pathway. All the exercises connected with the movements of the tabernacle of testimony are collective exercises. This kind of guidance has to do with collective movements on the part of the people of God. If the cloud moves we have all to move together. It is, of course, important that we should not move in self-will in our individual path, but that we should be dependent on God for every detail in it. He will certainly not fail those who confide in Him as to that. But the movements here are the movements of the tent of testimony, and everyone in the Israel of God has to move with them, or be left behind.

We have to accept it as part of God’s revealed truth that there is such a thing as the divine testimony in this world, and that God orders His people in relation to it. His interest is there,

“the cloud” is there; not on tabernacles that men

have pitched—there are many of them—but on the tabernacle which the Lord has pitched.

There is something which is of God, and “the cloud” is on that. Those who move with it know the blessedness of moving with God, and having His presence with them. If we do not move with the cloud we shall lose the light and power of God’s presence. I do not say that we shall cease to be the subjects of His love and faithful care, but we shall not be moving with Him.

The truth of “the tabernacle of testimony”, like many other parts of the truth, has been obscured for many centuries. It may be doubted whether the saints generally even in the early days of the church’s history entered into the wondrous wealth and spiritual import of the types. They may have been, like many other parts of Scripture, amongst the divine treasures held in reserve for the last days, that the mind of God might be apprehended in its entirety by saints of the assembly before this marvellous period ends. At any rate, it is certain that the truth of the tabernacle system has shone out again in recent times for the illumination of faith in a way that has not been known since the days of the apostles. Many thousands of saints have apprehended that there is such a thing as the tabernacle of testimony, and have realised that “the cloud” covers it.

But then there is another thing. This chapter speaks very definitely of collective movements under divine guidance in relation to the tent of testimony. The cloud remains so long in one place, and then it moves on. This is a feature of great interest and importance in connection with the testimony. It will be found in different positions, and will move according to divine sovereignty from one position to another. God thus intimates that He will, from time to time, give a new exercise to His people;

they will have to move on to apprehend things from a different spiritual standpoint. Not that the testimony itself changes, but it has to be viewed in a new setting.

Do you look at the testimony from the same standpoint now as you did ten years ago? If you do, it raises the question whether you have been moving with “the cloud”. People who live on the ministry of the past, and neglect that of the present, are not watching the cloud. It is good to recognise all that has been of God in the past; indeed we see its true value more clearly as we move on with what He is giving and supporting today. The ministry of the present does not discredit the ministry of the past; it develops and enlarges it, and brings out more clearly the mind of the Spirit in it. The spiritual man alone discerns the movement of “the cloud”.

The sons of Aaron the priests blow with the trumpets; they are the first to see the cloud move, and they give the trumpet call to all Israel. The spiritual ministry of the moment, at any time, indicates where the cloud is. That ministry is not merely the exercise of gift in a levitical way; it is the present voice of the Spirit. “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies”.

Get alongside anyone who is moving with the cloud, and he would be able to say, Everything is opening up to me in a new and blessed way. I am kept in exercise all the time, but I am realising more and more what a wondrous thing Christianity is. And you might ask, Are you alone in this experience? And he could say, Oh, no; there are thousands of others who share it, who are learning the necessity of moving on, at the cost of much exercise, with the testimony. They are all seeing things in the same new way, and wondering at the blessed movements of the cloud. That is why we get together as often as we can to break bread, to pray, to read the Scriptures, and to converse of the things we are delighting in.

If people do not move with the cloud they soon begin to look with distrust and suspicion at those who do. And sometimes they make themselves quite miserable over what is making others divinely happy. We may depend upon it that the, cloud will move whether we do or not. The trumpets will sound, and joy and prosperity in relation to the testimony will depend on hearing them and moving forward.

When the cloud dwelt the children of Israel “kept the charge of Jehovah, and journeyed not” (Numbers 9: 19). It is important to keep the charge. We must not hurry away from a divine exercise too quickly, or we shall fail to get the good of it confirmed in our souls. If the cloud is “long upon the tabernacle” there is need for time to gain the spiritual benefit of the new outlook. If a “few days”, the exercise can be matured more quickly. Sometimes it is only “from the evening until the morning”, or “a day and .a night”, or “two days”, or “a month”, or “many days”. There is nothing stereotyped or mechanical about it; we are kept in daily dependence, and in readiness to move as soon as the cloud rises. “The cloud” directs the movements of a living people. The movements of the testimony are a test to the affections and spiritual energies of the saints, but they are a source of continual freshness and gain to those who move with them.

(From ‘Outline of Numbers’, chapter 9)