Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] This morning we're gonna be in the Book of Numbers.
[00:00:04] So in case you were wondering, it's like math class today, Book of Numbers is where we'll be. And how many of you like going on camping trips?
[00:00:15] How many of you like camping without an RV or in cabins, just in real tents?
[00:00:22] And now.
[00:00:23] So today we're gonna talk about a camping trip.
[00:00:28] A really, really long camping trip.
[00:00:30] Nobody expected the camping trip to be this long.
[00:00:33] We're going to see in the Book of Numbers, this camping trip should have lasted actually about two weeks or so.
[00:00:41] It didn't. It lasted a lot longer than that. So instead of lasting about 14 days, it lasted about 40 years.
[00:00:48] And talk about, would you like to go camping in a tent for 40 years? Anybody? All right, so that's what we're looking at today in the Book of Numbers.
[00:00:58] Before we dive into this, if you haven't been with us for the last few weeks, we've been going through a series in the Old Testament, particularly looking at a survey of the Old Testament.
[00:01:07] And through it all, not only are we going to have a better understanding about the things that happened from Genesis to Malachi, these 39 books, but also see Jesus coming alive and showing himself through these books. So let's pray together, and then we will start off in, Dear Jesus, thank you that we're able to come before you this morning, that we're even able to approach with confidence the throne of God. Because, Jesus, of what you have done on our behalf, as we just sung moments ago and even heard from your Word about your holiness, how different you are from us, how incredibly perfect and right and just you are in all areas and good and loving and merciful, so different from who we are as fallen people. And yet, Jesus, you stepped into our world because you wanted to have a relationship with us. You wanted to bridge the gap between a holy God and broken mankind.
[00:02:08] And so it's because of your work that we're able to spend time here and ask that you teach us and you show us what you want us to learn.
[00:02:17] Ask that you would speak through me and the things that I say, that it would just be the things that are on your heart.
[00:02:22] And as we walk through this, Lord, that you would change us to look more like you. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:29] All right. The Book of Numbers. What a fascinating title, right? I mean, of all the titles, what could this book be about?
[00:02:37] Now, what's interesting is in the Hebrew tradition, this book wasn't called Numbers. It was actually just labeled in the wilderness, which actually is A much more appropriate title, isn't it?
[00:02:49] Because how many years did they spend in the wilderness? About about 40 or so years.
[00:02:54] And so it's an appropriate title. But the Book of Numbers comes from something that happens at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book. And there's a census that's taken. And we're going to see that here in just a moment. And so that's where the Book of Numbers, the name comes from, is a census that is taken of the people of Israel at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book, which you know, because we've already talked about this, how many years separate the beginning of the book and the end of the book? 40 years. 40 years. And so what we're gonna see is how many people started off in this journey and how many people after 40 years are still left. And actually, what we're gonna find, it's a very pretty much almost the exact same number. Now, what has happened already, Moses has already freed them from Egypt. They were in slavery there for over 400 years. The people were so happy to be done being in slavery to Pharaoh. The plagues have already happened. The Red Sea parted. They got into the wilderness. We've seen this in the last few weeks. And after they've come into the wilderness, God leads them to this giant mountain called Mount Sinai. And they're there for actually about a year or so. And so what happened at Mount Sinai? God brings them there and says to Moses, I am gonna teach you the law. I'm gonna show you what I want you to follow the law to follow, because I'm gonna bring you into a great and beautiful and wonderful land. And I need you system of government. I need you to have rules in place to protect you and to provide for you. And so Moses goes up on this mountain, and that's where we get the Ten Commandments. That's where we get laws about purity for the nation of Israel. They get all sorts of rules about offerings. And God sets up the blueprints, gives them the blueprints for something called the Tabernacle, which is just a big tent that God says, I'm going to dwell. My presence is going to dwell at this tent called the what, the Tabernacle. And so God gives them the blueprints for that, and then they make it. That's the end of Exodus. And then Leviticus is God giving very clear instructions to the Levites in how they are to work around and serve in the Tabernacle. And so God wants to Give them very, very clear instruction about that. So there's no mistake on how and why to worship him.
[00:05:10] So the Levites now have their instructions. And so now we step a little bit further. A year or so has gone by since they've come to Mount Sinai and they're about to go. How long is that journey from Mount Sinai to the promised land? How long should it be? About two weeks, right? It shouldn't be very long. And that's moving two and a half, maybe 3 million people. That's a big camping trip, right? That's a lot. How many of you want to go camping with 2 million people?
[00:05:34] Some of you go camping so you can get away from 2 million people.
[00:05:38] Let's look at just a brief snapshot of what happens in this book. It's on the screen for you as well.
[00:05:45] Numbers Records the 40 year journey through the wilderness. Throughout this book we find stories of God's commands, the people's disobedience, punishment, intercession on their behalf and then God's mercy. Now, I underlined a few words on the screen there because there's a particular cycle that we're gonna see as we go through this book. So if you like to write things down, write that down.
[00:06:08] Commands, disobedience, punishment, intercession, and then mercy. And that's what we're actually gonna find over and over and over again in this book. It's important for you to have that structure kind of tucked away in your mind because it's gonna give a lot of body and understanding to what is going to happen as we go through this book. So as we step a little bit further into this on your outline, you could write this in the basics. Is the top portion there in your outline? The author, the timeline and location, who wrote the book, when is this happening and where is this happening? You could write those in. It's on the screen. Moses was the author. Not very debated there. And then when did this happen? The Israelites, most people believe from lots of information, the Israelites crossed over the red Sea about 1446 years before Jesus or BC. And so now we're a year later, thus 1445, and then 40 years minus that is 1405. So that's the time frame that we're looking at. And then where is this taking place? If you've been with us for a few weeks, you've seen some pictures of this. I put this on the screen, a couple pictures on the screen. The wilderness is where they are.
[00:07:20] And so there's some pictures. Isn't That a great camping spot, right? When you think I want to go camping, that's what you think, don't you? Right there, that's prime real estate. Now, there's three locations. You can go back one slide for a second. There's three locations that one more that we're going to see that take place in this. One of them is at Mount Sinai, which we talked about. That's going to be kind of here, if you will. The second place is a place called Paran, or Paran. That'll be the middle section that we're at the second location. And then the third location is in a place called Moab, or the Plains of Moab. So three locations. And that's kind of an important framework for you to have Mount Sinai, Paran and Moab. And so we're going to spend some time at those three locations. The structure in which you're going to see in a minute that will reflect these three locations as well. Let's look at some characters or some subjects that we're going to talk about here, and then we'll dive right into the content of this book. We see a few important characters in the subjects. We see Moses and Aaron. Obviously, they are going to be there. Moses is the leader. They are brothers. He and Aaron are. Aaron is the high priest. And Joshua is gonna succeed or take over for Moses. We're gonna see that at the tail end of the book. Eleazar is Aaron's son. He's gonna take over for Aaron. Maybe you might know the story about this guy named Balaam, and he had a donkey that talked. If you don't know about that, we'll talk about that a little bit. Balak was the king who asked him to curse Israel. There's a guy named Korah and some of his friends. We're gonna talk a little bit about them. And then there's the beginning of all of the ites, the enemies of the Israelites, the Canaanites, the Moabites, the Midianites, the Amorites, the Amalekites, and so on and so forth. So we're going to see some of them today as well. All right, let's jump right in. Numbers, chapter one. If you have your Bibles again, hopefully it's in front of you there. You're going to be just flipping through your Bibles together. That's what we're going to do here.
[00:09:15] And start off. So in chapters one through four, you could write this. In actually, chapters one through 10, I should say, is Mount Sinai. And I think that's on the screen there. You could write that in at Mount Sinai. That's the first of the locations. Now, what happens at Mount Sinai?
[00:09:32] First off, remember that the Book of Numbers, it comes from something that happens at the beginning of the book. What happens at the beginning of the book? A census. There's counting. And so God says, I want you to count everybody, particularly actually, the men who are 20 years and older. Count all of them. And. And I'm gonna save you a lot of time of reading and pulling out your calculator and figuring out how many there are.
[00:09:56] Of the 12 tribes of Israel, there's about 603,000 men 20 years and older. And then you have to add on the Levites who were not counted, plus the women and children. So we're looking at about what, two and a half million plus people that are here at the base of Mount Sinai. Now, I want to pause for a minute because oftentimes, and maybe you've already seen this, as you read through the Scriptures, you see lots of names. Sometimes it's genealogies.
[00:10:25] And we all are either tempted, maybe if you're listening to the Bible, to start doing other things and just tune it all out, right? Or if you're reading through the Bible and you're like, there's a lot of names that I can't pronounce. And then we move on to the next chapter. I want you to think about why that's there. Because God intentionally put all of those names there. Did you know that? It wasn't an accident.
[00:10:44] As we think a little bit about why this is here, what this would have meant to many of the Israelites is this. They just came out of the land of Egypt, where they were a mass of unknown people to the king.
[00:10:58] And numbers starts off saying, yes, you're still a mass of people, but you are known to your true king.
[00:11:06] Every single name that's there reminds them of, we are remembered by our God. We are known by our God. One pastor said this. Whenever God counts people, it's because people count to God. And it's just a reminder as we look through that these people thousands of years before today are still remembered because they mattered to God. So we see a big census that takes place in chapter one. Chapter two, if you're looking in your Bibles, God then lays out how the camp is to be arranged. And. And it's all supposed to be centered around the tent where God's presence dwells, called the tabernacle. And I think I put a picture, maybe on the screen if I remember there's a picture of the tabernacle for you. Go one slide further. And this shows a picture of. There's kind of a picture. It's kind of. You can see the groups of people, all 12 tribes wrapped around in the center. You see this kind of cloud that comes up, that's where the tabernacle is. God's presence dwells above the tabernacle. There's a pillar of cloud there, this tall cloud that exists there during the day. And at nighttime, there's a tall pillar of fire. And so at all times, people could see God's presence is with us. Now, right around the tabernacle. Let's say this is the tabernacle. Right here. Right around the tabernacle, the Levites are told that you're gonna camp in three groups around the tabernacle. And then everybody else in their tribes. And you can read this in chapter two. And following, you can read about how each of the tribes. There's three groups on this side, three groups on this side, three Groups on this side, and three groups on this side. Now what's three times four? We're in math class again.
[00:12:40] 12, right? So 12 tribes all wrapped around. And then the Levites are not a part of those groups. They're closer to the tabernacle because their job is to take care of this place called the tabernacle and everything that happens inside of it.
[00:12:55] We look on a little bit further in chapter five through nine, we see that they're given lots of instructions about purity, about offerings. And the Levites are told, God is holy. He cares a lot about what happens here.
[00:13:07] Chapter seven, fun fact for you is the longest chapter in the book of numbers. So since we're talking about numbers, the longest chapter is 89 verses in chapter seven. And that is a 12 day period of time where people bring their offering to, to the Levites to say, here's what God has blessed me with. We're gonna bring it to the Levites and bless the Levites and this place of God and what we know here in chapter nine. And following God then says, all right, here's my presence, right? You see that on the screen? There's my presence right there. The cloud that comes down right over the tabernacle. We're wondering, when do the people get to move, right? It's supposed to be a two week journey.
[00:13:49] When does God tell them to move? The way God tells them to move is he says, whenever the pillar of fire or the cloud moves away from the tabernacle. Here's the tabernacle. Here's the pillar, moves away from it. What they were supposed to do is they were supposed to blow trumpets to get everyone to pay attention, kind of get out of their tents, pack up. And then wherever the cloud went, that's where the people went. And so it was really like their own gps, if you will.
[00:14:14] Now, I know some of you are thinking they didn't have satellites. They didn't have a global positioning system. This was God's positioning system. So this is literally their GPS for them. So then they would move wherever God would tell them. And so now we know they're at Mount Sinai, right? First location. Now we're about to move to the second location. God's given them all the rules, all the laws, counted them. There was about what, 600,000 plus men over 20. And now he's like, all right, now the camping trip is about to begin, or the traveling is about to begin to our final destination. And that brings us to point B on your outline, Traveling and complaining. Chapter 10 through 12 talks a little bit about this. All right, so you could write that in B on your outline. Traveling and complaining.
[00:15:00] It's like a good start to any trip, maybe if you've gone camping before. That's what this right here is describing. Your most recent camping trip.
[00:15:08] And so now we start off, they're gonna start traveling. Chapter 11.
[00:15:13] The people, as per. They have done many times before. It says this. They grumbled against Moses and against God, because what were they eating so far? This little white stuff that falls from the sky. They wake up in the morning, it's called manna. And it's the people. They're gonna start traveling from the mountain. And then they start complaining, and they say, moses, we're tired of this manna. We would like meat. And God actually gets very upset about this. Look in your bibles at chapter 11.
[00:15:42] Hopefully flip over there to verses one and two. This is really important because this sets the stage for what we're going to see many more times later on. The people complained. It says in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes.
[00:15:53] God just freed them from 400 years of slavery. But still.
[00:15:57] And when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outlying parts of the camp.
[00:16:07] Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
[00:16:12] Now, as you look at that, you remember those five words that we looked at earlier. God's commands, disobedience, intercession.
[00:16:20] You remember that. That. We see that right here. Again, the people are complaining, reminding themselves and each other around them that we don't like what God is doing. We don't think God is going to provide for us. And God gets angry about that. And then Moses intercedes on their behalf. And God shows mercy. He brings the fire.
[00:16:40] You look in chapter 12 a little bit further, we see Miriam and Aaron. And who are they?
[00:16:46] Moses, older brother and sister, Miriam and Aaron, they now get upset, and they say, moses, we don't think that you should be in charge. You have way too much power. Look at all of these people. And you seem to be the guy in charge of everybody. And Moses says.
[00:17:03] We read this, actually, in this book. Moses was the most meek person, more than any other person.
[00:17:08] Which is interesting, because Moses was like. Moses was the.
[00:17:12] Moses was the most meek person.
[00:17:15] Moses was incredibly humble, though. And so here's what he does. His brother and sister are saying, moses, you shouldn't have all this power. And Moses says, well, let's take this up with God. And so they go into the tent of meeting. And Moses is there, Aaron's there, and Miriam's there. And they're like, God, what do you think should happen? And God says, moses, I mean, Miriam, Aaron, I've placed Moses in charge. And they're not excited about this. And here's what happens when the presence of God lifts from around them. They find that Miriam has this crazy skin disease.
[00:17:44] And she gets really concerned. Understandably so. And so actually does Aaron and Moses. Moses is not like, that proves you right. Like, that's what happens if you complain against me. Moses actually intercedes on behalf of his sister, who was just saying, hey, Moses, you shouldn't be in charge anymore. Now Moses is praying, God, will you please heal her?
[00:18:03] And God says, we're gonna wait this out for seven days.
[00:18:07] And we're gonna be reminded that here's the lesson. Maybe write this down somewhere. God takes complaining seriously.
[00:18:15] And complaining is often contagious.
[00:18:19] So as the song says, be careful, little mouth, what you say.
[00:18:23] Because God does.
[00:18:25] God does.
[00:18:27] God wants to live with the Israelites in this lush land of promise, this promised land that he's told them is coming. He wants them to trust, and he wants us to trust him through hardship.
[00:18:38] He wants them to center their entire lives on them. But the Israelites, they struggle to rely on God. They complain, they despise the food that he provides, and they wish they were back in Egypt. That's what we see here. And here's the question for us Will this generation learn to trust God's good and kind character? That's the question for us. So we were at Mount Sinai. We have this traveling, complaining and we learn God takes complaining incredibly seriously. He wants us to trust him.
[00:19:08] And so then we move to the second location. You could write this in at Kadesh is what the, or some places are called, Kadesh Barnea. And this is at Paran. We talked a little bit about this before. This is the second location that they are at. And this is in chapters 13 and following. So flipping your Bibles there to chapter 13 of numbers. And we're gonna see some key events that happen at this location. Fascinating stuff. If you thought the Numbers wasn't an interesting book, just listen to this next section here, chapter 13. They now get to the southernmost part of where the promised land begins. Deuteronomy tells us something.
[00:19:44] They say, all right, we're here, our 14 day journey is now done.
[00:19:49] Let's go into this land that God says we've been waiting for for so long. Are you with me still? And so what happens is Deuteronomy tells us the people were concerned and said, hey Moses, can we send in some spies to just check out the land? We need to do some research on this land before we get go, before we all like flood into the land. And Moses says, sure, let's do that. And so they send in 12. 12 comes up again, look at that, another number. 12 tribes go in. 12. The heads of 12 tribes go in. So 12 individuals, heads of each of the tribes, they go into the land. And how long do they spy out the land?
[00:20:25] For 40 days. And so the rest of Israel is staying here at this location. Kadesh and Paran or Kadesh Barnea. They're waiting for 40 days for these spies to come back and tell them what, what they find. I put some words on the screen here to help us give us some framework for what happens in chapters 13 through 20. It's not on your outline. You could just write this in to help you give some framework for what's about to happen. So the first thing that happens is they do some research. And then after the research they come back, these 12 tribes come. These 12 people come back and they say to all of Israel, the land is beautiful. It is literally everything that God said it would be. It is incredible. The food is amazing, the land is amazing. There's plenty of water, but.
[00:21:07] Right, that's what we're waiting for.
[00:21:09] But, but the people there are strong and we don't think we're able to beat them in battle. We don't think we're able to conquer this land. Some even say that there are giants in the land, like David and Goliath, kind of giants in the land. There's no way we're gonna be able to beat them. So 10 of them say, we can't do it. And now there's two individuals that say, God will help us. Isn't that what God wants them to learn through this whole journey? God will provide. Even in the midst of incredible opposition, God will provide. That's what God wants them to believe. And only Joshua and Caleb, two out of the 12 people say God will take care of us. And then what we have is the next section there in chapter 14 is there's this rebellion out of what, fear. All of the people listen to who, the 10 or the 2.
[00:22:02] The 10. And they say, look in your Bibles. Chapter 14, verse 8 goes on and tells us what happens. Look in your Bibles. There it is. Something else actually. Verse. Yeah. If we go up a little bit further, the people, the whole congregation said, this is verse two. The whole congregation said to them, would it be that we had died in Egypt? In other words, we left Egypt. We should have just died there. And then they go on and they say, we're just gonna die in the wilderness. Why is the Lord bringing us to the land, into this land to fall by our swords? And then they say this. Remember our wives and our children. We're just all gonna die here. And everyone gets really, really upset, particularly at Moses and Aaron, and they're not believing what Caleb and Joshua have to say. And then this rebellion happens. And here's what they do.
[00:22:52] Find a new leader. And all go back to where?
[00:22:55] Egypt, because that was better.
[00:22:58] But that's what they think right now. So we have research that happens. There's rebellion out of fear. The fear is rooted in we don't trust that God is gonna take care of us. And then we go on a little bit further to this guy named Korah. Can you say Korah?
[00:23:13] There's this guy named Korah, and He has about 250 other friends. And those aren't just Facebook friends. Those are probably real friends.
[00:23:22] And so he and his buddies, they come over to Moses and they say this to Moses, we don't think you should be in charge. Do you feel like that? Didn't that just happen a minute ago with Miriam and Aaron? They said, we don't feel like you should be in charge. That again, happens. And so now we have a rebellion out of jealousy. In chapter 16 and 17, Korah says, we don't think you should be in charge. Moses to lead us and Aaron, why do you think you get to be the guy who goes to God? And. And so there's this rebellion against both Moses and Aaron. And here's what Moses. Remember Moses, the most meek person who ever.
[00:23:56] Whoever lived. Here's what Moses does. Moses says, korah, let's talk.
[00:24:01] Here's what we're going to do. If God wants you to be in charge, you guys are just going to die of natural causes. Because the consequence for them not trusting God was we're going to have to go and wander in the wilderness for 40 years. God says, you didn't believe me? You all are gonna die. We're gonna start over with the next generation. Korah doesn't like that consequence. And so he says, moses, I think I should be in charge. Me and my friends. And Moses says, this Korah here, how about this? If you all just naturally die, then so be it. You can be in charge. I shouldn't be in charge. But if God thinks I should be in charge, here's what's gonna happen. The land is going to open up. You and your friends are gonna fall inside, and it will close back over you. Okay, that's crazy, right? Like, don't say that to somebody you don't like, by the way. Don't recommend that. But that's what Moses says to Korah. If God is actually for me, you will die by the earth opening up and closing over you. No sooner had Moses finished what he was saying than what happened.
[00:24:58] The earth opened up and the people fell in. And then the earth closed up over them. That's quick response, isn't it? Imagine everybody else going, I'm gonna follow that guy. I am not arguing anymore. Well, so we dealt with coup number one with Korah and his friends. But there's something else that happened as well. They also were disagreeing with Aaron. And so here's what God said to the people. Hey. And speaking through Moses, he says, all right, if you don't believe that Moses should be in charge, here's what you should do. Moses, Aaron has a staff. What I want you to do is, is get 12 other people from the other tribe or 11 other people from the other tribes. Get a staff, write their name on it, put it in the tabernacle for a day, and then I will come dwell on it for a minute, check on it tomorrow. And whoever's staff buds. Cause their names were written on the staff. Whoever staffs Buds. That's the person that I've chosen to be the next to be the high priest. Okay? And so that's what they do. They write their names on it. They stick it in the tabernacle.
[00:26:00] And the next day they check on the staff. Whose staff? Which, by the way, if any of you ever hold just a stick, does it bud? Does leaves come from it? It's not. No. The next day they check on it. Whose staff has a bud on it? Aaron's. Now everybody again is saying supernaturally, God is showing us that Moses is supposed to be in charge. And who else is supposed to be in charge? And Aaron. So the coup Thou, this rebellion out of jealousy, comes to a stop a little bit faster here. Verses, chapters 19 through. Or chapters 15, 18 and 19 is more rules, more laws. God really has to give them more clarity and reminders because now he knows, and they know. You're gonna be here for how many years?
[00:26:39] 40 more years? Y' all are forgetful people. Here's some more reminders. And this starts off this journey of 40 years. Starts off in chapter 20 when Miriam, she dies. If you flip in your Bibles, chapter 20 starts off with Miriam dying.
[00:26:54] And then after that, the people, they complain about their thirst. And something else significant happens. God tells Moses when the people complain about water, he says, go over to this rock. This kind of echoes back. This has sort of happened before, right? Well, the complaining has happened many times before.
[00:27:11] Go to this rock. And this time, God tells Moses, don't hit the rock. But do what? Speak to the rock. Moses, if you read in your Bibles, there, Moses is very angry about this complaining. Chapter 20 talks about this. Moses is fuming. And so he goes with Aaron to this rock that God told him to. And instead of speaking to the rock, he grabs his staff and he hits the rock two times. Now he disobeys God. And yet God shows mercy and actually still has water come flowing from the rock. Isn't that God being merciful there? He didn't say, you did it wrong. I'm not gonna bless you. He still gives them water. But there's a consequence. The consequence is this. You and Aaron are no longer gonna be able to go into the promised land. At first, it was gonna be the everybody's gonna die over 20 years old, except Joshua, Caleb, Aaron and Moses. Now, Aaron and Moses, you also are going to die. And only Joshua and Caleb are gonna be able to enter into the promised land. And so that all happens at this place called Kadesh in Paran. So we've been at Mount Sinai. We've traveled, we've complained. We've been at Kadesh here, where you see all these R words, where there's been research and rebellion and more rebellion and rules and this rock and water coming from it. Now we have another traveling day. Days, actually. And look in your Bibles there. This next Traveling Time, Chapter 20 through 21. We see that they're at a few different locations. This is when there's traveling. And honestly, there's dying. That happens. People are dying because the 40 years has begun.
[00:28:40] And there's a lot of people that God actually is going to let die in this period of time.
[00:28:45] Aaron, we see dies. He's 123 years old. And then many. And this is.
[00:28:50] And then after that, his son takes over as high priest. And the people begin to wander and wander and wander. But something else happens. God continues to give them victory amongst the people who are in that land, even in the wilderness, the Canaanites, they end up beating the Amorites they have battle with, and they end up beating them, which means there's more people dying there. And then we come to our final location. Can someone breathe a sigh of relief?
[00:29:14] Right, we are finally here. The three locations. We finally made it to the last place. This is at the Plains of Moab.
[00:29:21] The Plains of Moab. And there's three B words there on the screen. That gives us some structure to what happens here. The first is this.
[00:29:30] They show up at the Plains of what, Moab, the king of Moab, does this. He looks back at everything that has happened so far and with the nation of Israel. And he says, these people aren't trained well in military battle, but they keep winning in all of these other battles with the other tribes getting closer and closer and closer and closer to me. And now they are literally right outside my neighborhood. Like, they're right there. Here's Israel, here's the king of Moab. And how do you think he feels?
[00:30:01] Scared. Because so far, Israel has traveled and traveled and traveled, and they keep winning all of these battles. And. And now they're right there, and he's thinking, I'm next.
[00:30:11] He would be obviously really, really concerned. And so here's what he does. He says, I'm gonna hire a pagan prophet, and I'm gonna ask this pagan prophet to curse the nation of Israel, because I know if they've beat everyone else so far, I'm not gonna be able to stand against this nation of Israel. So I'm gonna ask the gods, if you will, to curse this People. So he hires this guy named what?
[00:30:34] Balaam. You might have heard about Balaam and his donkey, right? He hires Balaam and says, will you please come? Because this giant nation of Israel has come and they're right here. And I'm afraid. And so he hires him. Balaam goes, and on his way there, that's when the donkey actually speaks up. It's just a very short part of the story. Balaam goes, and he goes over with the king, and here they are looking at this vast amount of people, two and a half million or so people there. And Balaam and Balak are talking. And Balak says to Balaam, alright, curse them. And here's what happens. Balaam, does he curse them?
[00:31:11] No, he blesses them. You can read about this in chapters 22, 23 and 24. He offers his great blessing over the people of Israel. Was that what he was hired to do?
[00:31:22] Not at all. So then Balak, he has a brilliant idea. Let's change locations.
[00:31:28] And so he goes, let's look at the people from this side over here. Hey, all right, this time I want you to curse them. All right? You got that? Cursing, Got it. Balaam speaks, what does he do? Blesses them again.
[00:31:40] The king's getting annoyed, so they go to another location. He's like, all right, this is a different side of people, different angle. You need to curse them. Got it.
[00:31:48] What does he do?
[00:31:49] Blesses them again. And here's what it says, three blessings so far. And the king is annoyed. He's like, I did not hire you for this, just leave. And here's what it says. Balaam saw that it pleased God so much that he blessed his people that Balaam did it a fourth time before. And then after that, then Balaam leaves.
[00:32:09] Now Balaam then goes home. And what we see then after that is this. And I don't know this, but it's a possibility. It may have been. A commentator mentioned this, and I think it very possible Balaam and Balak may have talked after. That's Balaam, the false prophet who somehow had this connection with the one true God, talks, perhaps with the king. And this is just my thought, this does not say, this is perhaps Balaam said this.
[00:32:33] I can't mess up this nation, Israel. God won't let me. But if you want to find a way to mess up this nation, Israel, just send your false gods into the nation and God will get their. God will get mad at them. Because here's what we see in chapter 25, what happens. It starts off in chapter 25 and says this.
[00:32:52] Then the people of Israel took the daughters of the Moabites, of the Midianites, particularly BAAL of Peor is what he's called this false God. And what the people start doing is having idol worship and sleeping with and marrying women who were not of the nation of Israel. Many things that God had already said in the ten Commandments, do not do this.
[00:33:14] Now they got this idea and I don't. Again, I don't know if that actually is what happened, but. But we find in numbers, chapter 31 is, Balaam is actually killed by the nation of Israel.
[00:33:23] Did you know that later on, Balaam is killed by the people that he blessed, perhaps because of this very thing. And so then what we find is the people of Israel, they begin to worship this false God. And God gets very angry to the point of even 24,000 people dying because of that. So there's Balaam we talked about. BAAL comes in, they worship baal.
[00:33:46] And then after that, the basics. This is the tail end of the book.
[00:33:49] There's another census that happened. A census means what did they do? Counted everyone right? That's where we get the number. That's where we get the title of this book. God gives them some more rules. Joshua is commissioned to take over for moses. And chapter 33, if you feel like Numbers is just a lot of busyness and you can't really track what's going on, read chapter 33. It's like a summary of the whole book. So just read there. If you feel like I was lost, 33 will help you out a little bit. And then chapters 34 through the end of the book gives us final instructions, last instructions. So that brings us to the end of Numbers. But there's something else.
[00:34:24] Moses is still around and he is going to share his last few words with the nation of Israel, if you would. The last words on his deathbed perhaps is what we might attribute it to today. And that's what Deuteronomy is all about. So come back next week. That's Deuteronomy for you. What are the last things that Moses is going to say to this nation that he loves and that he has led so much? You see, there's a few more points on your outline. Let's talk about that for just a couple minutes.
[00:34:50] Three on your outline. Seeing the Savior, that's what we see through this book. Where is Jesus in all of this? Firstly, we see most clearly, perhaps is in John, chapter three, verse 14, Jesus, when he's talking to Nicodemus in This upper room at nighttime. Jesus says this. Just as the Son of Man, just as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be. You know, this verse lifted up. This is a direct correlation to Moses taking this bronze snake, putting it on a staff, and the people in the midst of this plague that God had sent the people looking to this bronze snake that was on the staff that Moses had put. And people were literally dying. And Moses said this. Look at this bronze snake that God told me to make. And if you look at it, you will be what?
[00:35:37] Saved.
[00:35:39] You will literally be saved. You are on the verge of dying, but all you have to do is look to this bronze snake. And here's what Jesus is saying here in connecting these two points. It's this.
[00:35:51] It's not works that save you.
[00:35:53] It's not following all of the rules. It's this. It's realizing, just as they did when they were in the wilderness and they got bit by a snake and they realized, I have poison in my veins, and. And I can do nothing to solve the problem for the poison inside of me, except one thing. Look to that bronze snake. That's what they had to do. It wasn't doing a lot of other works. It wasn't all sorts of offerings. It was look to the snake. Here's what Jesus is telling us. Friends, you and I have this disease inside of us called sin.
[00:36:25] And there's nothing you can do about it. Absolutely nothing. No matter how much you work to try to be better, there's nothing you can do about it because the sin is pumping through your veins. And the only resolution to that, because we know the outcome to the poison, is gonna be death. The only resolution is looking to who?
[00:36:44] Jesus Christ.
[00:36:45] You cannot save yourself. That's what they learned in the wilderness, and that's what we know today as well. Look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We also see this. Jesus is our faithful provider. Not only was he lifted up to bring life, he is our faithful provider. In the midst of Hebrews speaks actually a lot about this as well. Jesus journeying with the people of Israel, providing meat and water and victory and direction. Even when the people continued to sin, God continued to be faithful. He continued to be kind and merciful and patient.
[00:37:21] 40 years of wandering. Talk about a long camping trip, right?
[00:37:25] Did God get tired of them? He was frustrated. But did he leave them?
[00:37:30] No, not once. He provided for them. In the midst of all of that. And thirdly, on your outline, you could write this in Jesus, our Intercessor for mercy. Our perfect intercessor. In the midst of all of that that happened, there was a time we talked about a minute ago that Moses was told to go to this rock. And he was told to speak to the rock, right?
[00:37:52] But he didn't. What did he do instead?
[00:37:55] Practice his swing right on the rock.
[00:37:58] And in all the other times when the people would sin, it says this that Moses would go and intercede for the people.
[00:38:06] But then there was that time that Moses did the wrong thing. And who interceded for Moses?
[00:38:11] No one. And he had to take the punishment himself and not enter into the promised land. Jesus is better than Moses.
[00:38:19] Jesus on our behalf, is our intercessor before God. And I am so, so grateful to know this. Jesus never messed up. He does not need an intercessor. He always intercedes for us. Right? I think I put it on the screen as well. Hebrews chapter 7, verse 25 speaks about this. He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him. Since he always lives to intercede, to make intercession for you. And he is perfect.
[00:38:47] He is perfect. What does this teach us for our lives?
[00:38:52] What does this teach us? The application part. Because all scripture is given by God for teaching and. Yes, and also rebuking and correcting and training in righteousness. What does this teach us about God, about life or mankind? And about me? A few things. I put this on the screen. I'll read through them briefly. But incredibly important, when we learn about this, this about God. He is holy. That means he is different. It doesn't just mean he is perfect.
[00:39:16] And what also means then is this. His commands are no joke.
[00:39:20] It's no joke. We see this clearly in the Book of Numbers. We also see this. The Lord will provide even when I am unfaithful to Him. Aren't you happy about that?
[00:39:31] I know that when I make the mistakes, when I do the wrong things, he doesn't say, I'm done with you. I'm washing my hands. That's it.
[00:39:36] He continues to show up in our lives.
[00:39:40] God's mercy is most clearly demonstrated for us post resurrection Christians at the cross. That reminds us of his deep desire to be in a regular relationship with us.
[00:39:53] He has incredible mercy for us. That's that cycle that we saw. What does this teach us about life? Particularly as Christians on the screen here?
[00:40:00] As Christians, we are in a similar place to the Israelites. I don't know if you felt this as we read through this.
[00:40:07] They had been freed from Slavery in the bonds of what nation were they in slavery to? In Egypt? God promised them the promised land. And right now, they're in the middle. You and I are in the middle, aren't we?
[00:40:20] You and I have been freed from the bonds of sin. And we've been promised eternal life in the presence of God forever. We're in the middle. Heaven is coming. Amen.
[00:40:30] And we're, like, stuck, if you will, right here, going, man, I want to do what's right, blessed to have the Holy Spirit. I wanna do what's right. And I feel myself failing at times. I feel myself doubting God at times.
[00:40:42] I want to experience the fullness of what God has for me in heaven. And yet I'm still stuck right here.
[00:40:49] While we're in the waiting room, God desires to teach us how to trust him and how to glorify him or magnify him, to show him off to the world. That's what he wanted to teach the Israelites, and that's what he wants to teach you and I.
[00:41:03] And lastly, what about us? Me, personally, I wrote this in the first person.
[00:41:07] Am I willing to follow, to obey and to trust God wherever He leads me? That's the question the Israelites had to ask themselves.
[00:41:16] Am I keeping my eyes fixed on his presence? Remember the tabernacle, right? His presence is there all the time.
[00:41:23] Am I fixing my eyes on his presence, my ears listening to his voice and my feet ready to go wherever he may take me, just as they were called to be ready wherever he goes? It's not us, us saying, God, will you join me in my pursuits? It's God, I want to join you in what you're doing already.
[00:41:41] And as I obey, as you and I obey and trust God, I do so because of at least a couple reasons I believe he is holy. In other words, his commands are no joke.
[00:41:54] His holiness matters. And his mercy is wonderful, knowing that even though I stumble and I fall, and I stumble and I fall and I trip up and I complain and I doubt and I doubt and I doubt again, his mercy continues for me.
[00:42:09] If you've never trusted in this God, I invite you to do that today. Let's pray.
[00:42:14] Dear Jesus, thank you that you stand in the gap for us.
[00:42:20] Thank you for your incredible love for us that even though you clearly laid out your commands for us and we regularly stumble and fall in disobedience, as we regularly miss your holiness, take things into our own hands, we have an intercessor.
[00:42:38] And, yes, we deal with consequences of our failures at times and yes, your mercy is more.
[00:42:45] We praise you for that this morning.
[00:42:48] Pray for all those here today, Lord, with whatever you might be prompting them to do, Lord, that you would help them to submit to you.
[00:42:54] And perhaps today, right now, that it's to trust in you, their Savior.
[00:43:00] Perhaps there's some here today that realize they have this problem of sin and they can't fix it. Lord, I pray today would be the day that they look to you just as the Israelites looked to that snake on that staff and experienced salvation. Lord, today, those here today who have never trusted in you would look to you as their only way of salvation.
[00:43:23] For those of us here today, Lord, that have trusted in you, I pray that you would help us to keep trusting in you, to keep looking to you and to believe that your way is better than ours. In Jesus name, amen.
