Leviticus 16:2-3

I will appear in the cloud.

Jehovah appearing in a cloud

I. The cloudy dispensations. By a cloud I understand a density approaching to darkness and gloom; and yet that very density and darkness inhabited by the glory of God. If the glory of God were to burst upon us without a cloud, it would be nothing less than a consuming fire. The Church of God has to pass through dispensations that are cloudy in her public capacity, in God’s providential dealings with her individual members. Look, for instance, at the Church of God as a body at the present time. Is she not beclouded? Are there not clouds of ignorance, superstition, idolatry, despotic power--clouds of carnal wickedness under the name of Christianity, overspreading Zion? The cloud is still more dense when it overwhelms the soul, as it regards its conflicts when darkness overspreads the mind, and the poor believer cannot pray, cannot sing, nor cannot believe.

II. The appearance that is promised. “I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat.” He appears as a wonder-working God; and when in any of the dispensations to which I have referred, the hand of God is seen, how are the souls of God’s people filled with awe! “I will appear.” Is it the Church that is overwhelmed with a cloud? I will appear for her deliverance, though I may suffer her to pass through fire and through water first. Is it Providence that is mysterious--every hope cut off, all prospects darkened? “I will appear,” says Jehovah. Mark the promise--it is positive--“I will appear.” The cattle upon a thousand hills are His property; the gold and the silver He declares are all His own; the hearts of kings are in His hands, and He turns them as rivers of water as He pleases. So that He appears working wonders frequently in the world, and those very things which were most threatening appear to be the very things that God was making use of for the real advantage of His people.

III. The mercy displayed. It is the mercy of the Triune Jehovah, the gift of mercy from God the Father--immutable, eternal, covenant mercy--the mercy of God. That mercy is fully and freely displayed in the person of Christ; yea, more, so far as regards our view of it--the mercy of God the Father laid up from everlasting, recorded in the covenant, fixed in decree, is, to a certain extent, concealed from us, until we discover it in the person of Christ. But when we are brought to view Him as the mercy promised, and then mark the display of that mercy in His incarnation, in His obedience, in His merit, in His blood, in His sufferings, in His victories, in His present employment before the throne, why He is all mercy--mercy embodied in the person of the glorious Mediator. And then, if we look at the merciful dealings of God the Holy Ghost with His people, in melting their hearts, making them new creatures, giving them life Divine, perfecting the work He has first commenced in personal experience--why we come to this conclusion that our God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is the God of mercy, a merciful God. Then mark the transcendent glory of this mercy, how it is displayed in the face of misery, and rebellion, and ingratitude, and all our wanderings, and all our wants.

IV. The effects which follow when Jehovah comes down and appears in the midst of the cloud. It is not merely for a momentary interposition, but for a permanent deliverance, and mercies may be expected by all the praying seed of Jacob. Now allow a familiar illustration here. If a benevolent individual, very wealthy, were accustomed to take a seat, as they used to do in olden times, at the gate of the city, or in any other place of public concourse, and to do so for the very purpose of distributing his bounty, would not that gate be crowded? Who would not go there? Even if we did not want pecuniary alms, if honours, jewels were to be distributed by this person, who would not be there? Who would not receive some token of the kindness and favour of such an one? My hearer, is it not grievous that you and I are not oftener at the mercy-seat? (J. Irons.)

The concealing cloud

I once visited an invalid woman. She had been confined to bed for a long time, and when I spoke to her, she said: “I think the Lord has forgotten me altogether.” The eye of faith had grown dim through bodily weakness, and I replied to her, “Did you ever go down the river and see the lighthouse?” She said she had. “Well, suppose you lived on the opposite side from it, and one day the mist came down, and it grew so thick that you could not see the lighthouse on the other side; would you believe it was there?” “Oh, yes,” she said, “because I had seen it before.” “And there is another thing would make you believe, I said; “you would hear the shrill whistle coming from the lighthouse warning mariners of the danger that was near. In the same way you should believe that the Lord is still near you; that He has not forgotten you, although a cloud has come between you and God; if you will but listen, you will hear His voice speaking to you; the mist will soon roll away if you look right at Him with the eye of faith.” She did look, and beheld Jesus as precious to her as ever. (J. Cameron.)