Assassins Among Us #23: From Cloud and Fire to the Holy Spirit

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Yesterday we discovered that the riches of His inheritance aren’t things—they’re Him. The treasure isn’t what God gives. The treasure is that God gives Himself.

Israel had the cloud by day and the fire by night. God’s visible presence WITH them. Guiding, protecting, illuminating. But we have something greater.

THE UPGRADE

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” — John 14:16-17 (ESV)

Did you catch it? Jesus Christ said the Spirit “dwells WITH you and will be IN you.”

For Israel, God’s presence was WITH them—external, visible, hovering over the tabernacle.

For us, God’s presence is IN us—internal, invisible to others, dwelling in the temple of our bodies.

This isn’t a downgrade. This is an upgrade.

EXTERNAL TO INTERNAL

Think about what Israel experienced. They could look up and see the cloud. They could point to the fire. But they couldn’t carry it with them into their tents. They couldn’t take it into battle. They couldn’t have it with them in their private moments.

The presence was visible but external.

Now think about what we have. No one can see the Spirit hovering over us. We can’t point to a pillar of fire. But we carry Him everywhere we go. Into our homes. Into our workplaces. Into our battles. Into our darkest moments.

The presence is invisible but internal.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” — 1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV)

You ARE the tabernacle now. The cloud and fire don’t hover over a tent in the wilderness. The Spirit dwells in you.

WHAT THIS MEANS

Israel had to go to the tabernacle to meet with God. You don’t.

Israel had to wait for the priests to mediate. You don’t.

Israel had to watch from a distance as the cloud descended. You don’t.

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.” — Ephesians 2:18 (ESV)

Access. Direct access. Not through a priest, not through a building, not through a ritual. Through Jesus Christ, by the Spirit, to the Father.

This is what the cloud and fire were pointing to all along. Not just God WITH His people. God IN His people.

TOMORROW: THE SPIRIT AS ACCESS AND INTIMACY

What does this access actually look like? And why do so few believers experience it?

Most ministries stay in the safe middle. We bring marginalized truth back to the center.

THE PROPHET’S MARGIN Truth From the Narrow Place

ONE TRUE LIGHT MINISTRIES Damascus Road Journey: STOP. LOOK. LISTEN. LIVE. www.onetrulight.org