THE PRESENCE OF GOD
F. C. Mutton
I am thinking of the wonderful fact that the presence of God can still be known and experienced. In Exodus 32 there had been the terrible disaster of the golden calf. Jehovah’s people had turned from Him to sacrifice to another god and Aaron the priest had led in this departure. We see how Moses acts in the face of this disaster, and without having direct instructions. It says in verse 7—“And Moses took the tent, and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp”. That was his own instinct as to what was suitable in this situation. It is like the end of Hebrews—“Let us go forth to him without the camp” (Hebrews 13: 13). And Moses had great faith; he called it “the Tent of meeting”. In spite of the disaster there would still be a meeting-place to which God would come. So verse 7 affords guidance and direction.
We are to go forth to Him without the camp. I wish to speak of Moses as representing a faithful believer. There was nothing outwardly great; the tabernacle had not yet been constructed; it was just “the tent”—I suppose it was Moses’ tent; nothing outwardly great at all. And that is our position. Moses entered into the tent and then a most wonderful thing happened—Jehovah stood by His servant—“And 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”. It speaks of the divine presence that we may know today. The pillar of cloud descended, reminding us of the coming down of Jesus.
We know He is in glory, but in Matthew He says, “I am with you” (Matthew 28: 20); and Paul says, “The Lord stood with me”, 2 Timothy 4: 17. And the Holy Spirit has descended. I think this is a wonderful comfort, that God thus relates Himself to His people. God moved in relation to one faithful man—Moses—and confirmed what he had done, confirmed the position he had taken up. Let us not be found in any position where we cannot know the divine presence.
So there is what was outward here—the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent—and then there are divine communications with one man out of all the thousands of Israel. It is like 2 Timothy 2. One man had followed righteousness, faith, love and peace, and God was with him. So there is what is inward—“And Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”. Moses entered into the tent and within there are these divine communications. This means everything to us; this is one of the greatest things that we can know. We certainly need to be exercised as to a right position, but we are to have inward confirmation in divine communications.
The Lord says much about this in John’s gospel, as to what comes from the Father and through Christ by the Spirit. How wonderful this is in our comings together—our readings and ministry meetings—to have a sense of immediate divine speaking. “Jehovah spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”. That again is like John’s gospel, where the Lord speaks of His own as His friends. It is speaking in nearness, like John in the bosom of Jesus—“face to face”. All this was experienced in Exodus 33 by one man, and is experienced by the two or three who gather to the Lord’s name. So we are comforted, encouraged and edified.
Finally, we have Joshua; he was Moses’ “attendant”. How much we need this element in the rising generation. Joshua’s life was spent within the tent. This was early in his history, and how valuable a servant he became. May this feature be found in all of us, so that we find our life in the assembly, where the presence of God is known.