Numbers 9:15-18 says, “On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony; and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until morning. So it was always; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, then after that the children of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel encamped. At the commandment of Jehovah the children of Israel set out, and at the commandment of Jehovah they encamped; as long as the cloud settled upon the tabernacle, they remained encamped.” Verse 21 says, “If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they set out; or if it remained a day and a night, when the cloud was taken up, they set out.” The cloud typifies the Spirit in the day, and the fire typifies the Spirit in the night. The tabernacle typifies Christ as God’s dwelling among His people. Jehovah is the Triune God.
The cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle indicate that the Divine Trinity is for God’s people to stay or to journey that they may enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity all the time and all the way. When they remained and when they journeyed, God’s presence was with them as the Trinity. God is sometimes objective to us, but the Trinity is always subjective. In other words, when we experience God, He is the Trinity. The Trinity is not for doctrinal knowledge of the Godhead but for the experience and enjoyment of God by His people.
Numbers 20:6-8 says, “The glory of Jehovah appeared to them. Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod...and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water. Thus you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink.” In these verses, glory is God expressed, and Jehovah is the Triune God. The rock typifies the crucified Christ following God’s people. First Corinthians 10:4b says, “They drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” Christ today as the Spirit follows us everywhere. The water typifies the Spirit of life (v. 4a; John 7:38-39). This water began to flow out of the smitten rock in Exodus 17 and continued in Numbers 20. According to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the rock must have followed the children of Israel and flowed out water to quench their thirst throughout their journey in the wilderness for forty years. The Spirit as the living water flowing out of Christ as the smitten rock is the flowing out of the Triune God, and the issue of this flow is the conclusion of the entire Bible. The river of water of life that proceeds out of the throne of God with the tree of life growing alongside in Revelation 22:1-2 is the flowing out of the Triune God. This is a great matter. The smitten rock in Numbers 20 shows that the Divine Trinity follows God’s people on their journey to quench their thirst so that they may enjoy the riches of the divine life.
The five cases we have considered in Numbers—the separation of the Nazarite, the threefold blessing of Jehovah to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the offerings, the cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle, and the smitten rock—all involve the Triune God. We need the Divine Trinity for our consecration as Nazarites. The Trinity is the structure and content of the divine blessing to us. We need the Trinity for the function of the tabernacle and the altar. We need the Trinity as God’s presence to stay with us, journey with us, and guide us. We need the Trinity to be the source of living water that always follows us to quench our thirst.
Apparently, the book of Numbers is a record of the numbering of God’s people and their journey in the wilderness. Actually, such a record is structured with the Divine Trinity. Without the Divine Trinity, the record in Numbers would be empty. The intrinsic reality of the record in Numbers is the Divine Trinity, as revealed in the separation of the Nazarite, Jehovah’s threefold blessing to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the altar, God’s continual presence with His people in their journey, and the thirst-quenching rock that followed them as they followed God. This reveals how crucial the Trinity is. The Divine Trinity is our way to follow the Lord, our way to serve Him, and our way to be supplied with life.