Read: Numbers 8:1-9:23; Mark 13:14-37; Psalm 50:1-23; Proverbs 10:29
God gave Moses instructions to place the menorah in the Holy Place where the light shined forward to light the room. The menorah stands for the revelation and illumination we get from God. It is to light our way. In a larger scale, that is exactly what He did with his cloud that looked like fire at night. It was the same presence but showed up differently in the day as it did in the night. In the day, the cloud led them but at night it was a light to them. When we are in the daytime and everything is going well, the Holy Spirit is not so obvious. He is like a comforting cloud. But when we are going through our nights of trial and things are not so clear, the Holy Spirit is a fire. He shines brightly for us.
Clouds are the promise of rain - they stand for hope, but fire cleanses and burns things up - it stands for trials. The good news is both of them stand for the powerful and glorious presence of God. God is glorified when things are going well for us and when things are hard. He is always with us; always leading us.
God doesn’t change in his nature, but he progressively changed his rules just as we change our rules with our kids. They have different rules for different stages of their development. Before, the priesthood started at age 30 and now God says they can enter in at 25. (The driver’s license age just changed.)
It used to be that the first-born were the Lord’s and now the Levites took their place. God had said that Passover was celebrated on the first month, but when some of the people couldn’t celebrate it then, he told them they could do it the next month. God is showing us his mercy. He is not the mean God with a stone waiting for us to make a mistake so he can stone us. He is very compassionate and merciful.
In Mark, Jesus told them what would happen in the very end. God wrote his book for everyone that would live on the earth. This particular passage is written for those “left behind” till he comes again. It will be terrible times on the earth for them, but they will read this and know what to do.
Jesus gave them a clue to know what season they were in - the fig tree. Israel is always the keystone. When its branches begin to bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you will know that summer is near. Then you know that Jesus is right at the door. Summer comes before Fall. Jesus will come again on Tishri One which is the Feast of Trumpets. It usually happens in September. So summer is when Israel will start budding and sprouting which means that they will start awakening to the fact that Jesus is the Messiah. Many individual Jews are coming to the truth but this is talking about Israel as a nation. No one know the exact year this will happen, but we do know the season. Our job is to know our season and follow our cloud.
Lord, may we always be awake and looking for your presence to come. We trust in your timing and your plan. Help us to be diligent with the segment of your timeline that we are to uphold.
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