Exodus 13:22
Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Exodus 13:17-22 and 1 Corinthians 10:1-5
Today the journey begins for the Israelites. It’s time to leave Egypt. They have all their families, livestock and Egyptian plunder loaded up and they head out. Picture about two million people and an even larger amount of animals all gathering together and setting out on a journey to the promised land. It’s simply an amazing sight to imagine.
“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night” (Ex 13:21). God wanted to make sure that the Israelites knew who was leading them out of Egypt so He appears to them as a pillar of cloud and fire. We aren’t told the size of these pillars but I believe they were large enough for the back of the caravan to see them. Maybe they even extended all the way to the heavens just so that there was no doubt that it was God they were following.
We are told the obvious practical reason that God appeared to them as a cloud by day and fire by night. During the day, the sun is bright and hot. The cloud provided protection from the heat and shade from the sun. During the night, it was dark and cold. So the fire provided light and heat. God is providing what they need.
There is no direct mention of Jesus being directly linked to the pillar of cloud and fire in the New Testament. Some speculate that Jesus was in the pillar as “the angel of God.” This is a similar argument of God’s appearance in the burning bush. For both the burning bush and the pillar, some passages in Exodus YHWH is specifically said to be in them and in other places we are told it is “the angel of God.” Regardless, I see the symbology to Jesus in the pillars and since this is my study I am going to try to make the connection.
Paul saw Jesus in the pillar of cloud and fire. “Our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:1-3).
Paul is recounting for the Jews the journey of their ancestors in the Exodus. The passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, the forty-years in the wilderness, the experience of being led by the pillar of cloud and fire, and the provision of manna and water from the rock. All of these stories are familiar to them because they have retold them time after time during the Passover festival. But they have missed the hidden treasure in all of those events. They need to see Jesus in them.
Jesus is our pillar of cloud and fire. Jesus prayed to his Father, “I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me.” Just like the cloud, Jesus is our protector. “The One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them” (1 John 5:18). We don’t need protection from the sun, we need protection from Satan. Jesus provides that cover.
Jesus also said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). We don’t need light to see where we are going at night or to keep us warm. We need light to see the trap of sin so that we can experience life to the fullest. Jesus is the light.
The pillar of cloud and fire were practical needs that God provided to the Israelites on the journey out of Egypt. They are also symbols of the spiritual needs that we have on our journey of life. Jesus provides those spiritual needs for us. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Eph 1:3).
Christ in the Old Testament 
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