Numbers 9:1-23 (NLT)
1 A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. In the first month of that year he said,
2 “Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time,
3 at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. Be sure to follow all my decrees and regulations concerning this celebration.”
4 So Moses told the people to celebrate the Passover
5 in the wilderness of Sinai as twilight fell on the fourteenth day of the month. And they celebrated the festival there, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
6 But some of the men had been ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, so they could not celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day
7 and said, “We have become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body. But why should we be prevented from presenting the LORD’s offering at the proper time with the rest of the Israelites?”
8 Moses answered, “Wait here until I have received instructions for you from the LORD.”
9 This was the LORD’s reply to Moses.
10 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If any of the people now or in future generations are ceremonially unclean at Passover time because of touching a dead body, or if they are on a journey and cannot be present at the ceremony, they may still celebrate the LORD’s Passover.
11 They must offer the Passover sacrifice one month later, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They must eat the Passover lamb at that time with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast.
12 They must not leave any of the lamb until the next morning, and they must not break any of its bones. They must follow all the normal regulations concerning the Passover.
13 “But those who neglect to celebrate the Passover at the regular time, even though they are ceremonially clean and not away on a trip, will be cut off from the community of Israel. If they fail to present the LORD’s offering at the proper time, they will suffer the consequences of their guilt.
14 And if foreigners living among you want to celebrate the Passover to the LORD, they must follow these same decrees and regulations. The same laws apply both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.”
15 On the day the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered it. But from evening until morning the cloud over the Tabernacle looked like a pillar of fire.
16 This was the regular pattern—at night the cloud that covered the Tabernacle had the appearance of fire.
17 Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp.
18 In this way, they traveled and camped at the LORD’s command wherever he told them to go. Then they remained in their camp as long as the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle.
19 If the cloud remained over the Tabernacle for a long time, the Israelites stayed and performed their duty to the LORD.
20 Sometimes the cloud would stay over the Tabernacle for only a few days, so the people would stay for only a few days, as the LORD commanded. Then at the LORD’s command they would break camp and move on.
21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only overnight and lifted the next morning. But day or night, when the cloud lifted, the people broke camp and moved on.
22 Whether the cloud stayed above the Tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, the people of Israel stayed in camp and did not move on. But as soon as it lifted, they broke camp and moved on.
23 So they camped or traveled at the LORD’s command, and they did whatever the LORD told them through Moses.
Even if unqualified in the moment because of something they had touched, if there was to be participation in what God was establishing for them as a nation, Passover was a required celebration. This wasn’t just a taking a break from work for a day to hang out with the fam, either, This was shutting everything down until the cloud lifted from the tabernacle. While there was continual deference to the Presence that was guiding them through the wilderness, this remembrance of the reason they were free was a focus on complete attention and reliance on Him, and, it was not optional. Honoring their God in a personal presentation and consumption of the Passover meal was meant to be a powerful turning of hearts from the surrounding distractions that would enslave to the One who Delivered. It wasn’t just their turning to Him, though, as their celebration of His care for them allowed for Him to have an extended settling of His glory on the camp.
These times of prolonged adherence to and reliance on the movements of their God allowed for the development of a relationship that, over time would result in His intended leading of them into the Promised land. This fixation on the glory cloud for all movement, with a dramatic remembering of where there freedom came from, allowed for a generation to grow up with the Glory of God as their life’s direction.
Though there is no longer a religious requirement of celebration, there is yet a heart necessity of remembering and fixating on the One who became our Passover, our poured out blood, and our deliverance from the kingdom of darkness into the light. For all who have been redeemed, there is yet a necessity of setting aside the distractions for life for extended deference to the Presence, where the schedules of life are put on hold till the movements of God indicate otherwise. For Christ to be our life as all the old dies, there is still a need for the Glory to determine movements, as there is no going without Him. As Moses insisted on no passage without His going with them, so this heart and this passion will make possible complete occupation of all the promises that have become “yes” in Christ.
Beyond the personal participation in the celebration of our Passover Lamb, there is a nurturing of the precious hearts we’ve been given to care for in their development to become God’s fulfillment of the plans that require more than just indifferent acknowledgment. As our children observe extended passionate fixation on the Glory of His presence, their hearts will be formed in a culture that requires Him for their every movement. Through them His purpose will be fulfilled.