Numbers (Part 12)
Bible Study Time 3-30-08
(From James Roberts 4-18-99)
Bible Study Time 3-30-08
(From James Roberts 4-18-99)
Last week we took another look at the significance of the ordinance of the Red Heifer in Numbers, Chapter 19. This was a very unusual ordinance in which the children of Israel were asked to take a red heifer with no spot or blemish and sacrifice it outside the camp. It was to be burned upon the altar, and then its ashes were to be mixed with water.
If a person became unclean by coming into contact with a dead body, he could be made pure once again by being sprinkled with this mixture of water and ashes. Therefore, this mixture was called the water of purification.
Routinely the priests would come into contact with dead bodies as they did their priestly duties in the tabernacle. When this happened, they would become ceremonially unclean, and this meant that they could not participate in the religious ceremonies of the tabernacle. However, they could be cleansed and made pure by being sprinkled with the water of purification.
The book of Hebrews tells us that we today are not cleansed by the blood of animals or by a ceremonial washing with water. We are made clean by the blood of Christ. We are all born in sin as sons of Adam, and therefore our defilement goes far beyond the outward defilement associated with being near a dead body.
Our defilement is that of the heart and conscience, and our only hope for cleansing is to confess our sinful state before the Lord as we put our faith in the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. I John 1:9 says:
1 John 1:9 NKJV
9 If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Even after we make this confession and receive eternal life, we still have to deal with a sinful nature. When we sin as believers, our sin causes a spiritual separation between us and God. Our fellowship with God is broken, but when we come to God, confessing our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us. With our sins forgiven, our fellowship with God is restored.
Confession is not a matter of begging for forgiveness. It is a matter of revealing to God a heartfelt brokenness that flows from a sincere conviction of sin. If we recognize our sins and acknowledge them before God, God looks to the blood of Christ which was shed for our sins, and He forgives our sins.
As we move into Numbers, Chapter 20, we see the death of Miriam. She, like all children of Adam, had to face death because of the curse of sin. All human beings are in Adam by nature, and the Bible says that in Adam all die. The only way to escape the curse of eternal death is to trust in the work of Christ upon the cross. Jesus told Nicodemus that:
John 3:16 NKJV
16 . . . God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The Bible makes it clear that Miriam died in the wilderness, and there are two reasons why Miriam had to die in the wilderness. First, she was not only identified with Adam, but she was identified with the congregation of Jews that had refused to go into the promised land.
God had promised the children of Israel that He would conquer the Canaanites and give their land to the Jews as an inheritance. However, the Jews refused to believe the word of God. Therefore, all those who were twenty years of age and older were sentenced to die in the wilderness. Miriam was identified with these rebels and so she had to face death in the wilderness. God is always faithful to His word in His promises and in His judgments.
The second reason that Miriam had to die in the wilderness is that she was identified with Moses. Moses was the Lawgiver, and the Law was an instrument of condemnation. The Law could never bring its followers into the inheritance of God. Moses, himself, was not allowed to enter into the promised land and neither was Aaron. These things happened to picture the inadequacies of the Law.
When it was time for the children of Israel to enter into the promised land, they were led by a man named Joshua, not Moses. Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and, in fact, Joshua and Jesus are the same name but in different languages.
After wondering in the wilderness for forty years, those Jews who were identified with Moses died in the wilderness, while those who were identified with Joshua were taken into the promised land. The Law does not have the power to bring salvation even to those who are its strictest followers. In reality, the inheritance of God is promised only to those who put their faith in Christ. Paul said, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus for they have obtained the inheritance of God by faith.
In the second verse of Numbers 20, we find the children of Israel in the wilderness with no water, and we find that once again they started complaining against Moses and Aaron. But notice that as they complained against Moses and Aaron, they implied that God, Himself, was also to blame for their predicament.
They said that it would have been better for them if they had died with their brothers before the face of the Lord. They recognized that they were in the wilderness because of the judgment of God, and they were saying that it would have been better if they too had died like so many of their friends and relatives. They were essentially blaming God for their circumstances.
Ultimately, however, their formal accusation was against Moses and Aaron. They accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness without water. They accused Moses and Aaron of lying to them, saying that the wilderness was certainly not a place of figs and vines and pomegranates.
The truth is that the blame did not belong with the Lord, and it did not belong with Moses and Aaron. No, the blame belonged with the children of Israel. They were the ones who had refused to believe the word of God, and they were the ones who had refused to go into the promised land.
They could have simply entered into the land of promise by faith, but when they refused to enter, the Lord shut the door. They could blame no one but themselves for their meager existence in the wilderness.
Isn’t this just like human nature though? When we fail, we like to blame someone else. And isn’t it interesting that so many people blame the Lord for all of the problems in this world? However, the fact is that all of the problems that we face in this world are a result of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, a curse was placed upon man and upon all of the creation. Romans 8 says that the whole creation groans together in pain because of this curse. God is not responsible for all of the terrible things that we see in our world.
When we see tornadoes and earthquakes and other natural disasters, people often say, if there is a God in heaven, why does He allow such things? Well, all of these things happen as a consequence of the curse of sin. Sin always brings heartache, disappointment and trouble, but the blame does not belong with God.
May I say to you this morning, if you are in the midst of trials and afflictions, God has provided a remedy for sin. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ are given the peace and the joy of the Lord. He gives peace and joy in the midst of trouble and in the midst of sorrow.
The Bible does not say that all of our troubles will disappear when we put our faith in Christ, but it does say that Jesus Christ will give us the strength, the grace and the ability to endure any difficulty or trial. The Apostle Paul tells us that:
1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
This verse literally means that with each new trial, God will literally provide the way to escape.
For those who are burdened down with the cares of this world, God has provided the remedy. If you find yourself burdened down this morning, wondering why God has allowed this or that in your life, you can turn to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is the ever loving God, the omniscient God, the all powerful God, and He is the one who loves you more than you can imagine. He loves you so much that He sent His own Son to die on the cross for your sins. Simply trust Him, and He will save you. Then, He will sustain you and strengthen you.
There are those who blame God for their problems, but there are others who like to blame other people. The children of Israel blamed Moses, but Moses was not responsible for their difficulties. They, themselves, were responsible. God does not want us to blame other people for our failures. He wants us to come to Him and acknowledge our sin and our shortcomings. When we do, we find salvation and the peace that passes understanding.
Next week we are going to see the failure of Moses and Aaron as they struck the rock to produce water. They did this even though God had instructed them to speak to the rock. To truly serve the Lord, we must listen carefully to His word, and then do what He bids us to do.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for studying with me in this, another broadcast, of Bible Study Time.
Church links:
If a person became unclean by coming into contact with a dead body, he could be made pure once again by being sprinkled with this mixture of water and ashes. Therefore, this mixture was called the water of purification.
Routinely the priests would come into contact with dead bodies as they did their priestly duties in the tabernacle. When this happened, they would become ceremonially unclean, and this meant that they could not participate in the religious ceremonies of the tabernacle. However, they could be cleansed and made pure by being sprinkled with the water of purification.
The book of Hebrews tells us that we today are not cleansed by the blood of animals or by a ceremonial washing with water. We are made clean by the blood of Christ. We are all born in sin as sons of Adam, and therefore our defilement goes far beyond the outward defilement associated with being near a dead body.
Our defilement is that of the heart and conscience, and our only hope for cleansing is to confess our sinful state before the Lord as we put our faith in the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. I John 1:9 says:
1 John 1:9 NKJV
9 If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Even after we make this confession and receive eternal life, we still have to deal with a sinful nature. When we sin as believers, our sin causes a spiritual separation between us and God. Our fellowship with God is broken, but when we come to God, confessing our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us. With our sins forgiven, our fellowship with God is restored.
Confession is not a matter of begging for forgiveness. It is a matter of revealing to God a heartfelt brokenness that flows from a sincere conviction of sin. If we recognize our sins and acknowledge them before God, God looks to the blood of Christ which was shed for our sins, and He forgives our sins.
As we move into Numbers, Chapter 20, we see the death of Miriam. She, like all children of Adam, had to face death because of the curse of sin. All human beings are in Adam by nature, and the Bible says that in Adam all die. The only way to escape the curse of eternal death is to trust in the work of Christ upon the cross. Jesus told Nicodemus that:
John 3:16 NKJV
16 . . . God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The Bible makes it clear that Miriam died in the wilderness, and there are two reasons why Miriam had to die in the wilderness. First, she was not only identified with Adam, but she was identified with the congregation of Jews that had refused to go into the promised land.
God had promised the children of Israel that He would conquer the Canaanites and give their land to the Jews as an inheritance. However, the Jews refused to believe the word of God. Therefore, all those who were twenty years of age and older were sentenced to die in the wilderness. Miriam was identified with these rebels and so she had to face death in the wilderness. God is always faithful to His word in His promises and in His judgments.
The second reason that Miriam had to die in the wilderness is that she was identified with Moses. Moses was the Lawgiver, and the Law was an instrument of condemnation. The Law could never bring its followers into the inheritance of God. Moses, himself, was not allowed to enter into the promised land and neither was Aaron. These things happened to picture the inadequacies of the Law.
When it was time for the children of Israel to enter into the promised land, they were led by a man named Joshua, not Moses. Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and, in fact, Joshua and Jesus are the same name but in different languages.
After wondering in the wilderness for forty years, those Jews who were identified with Moses died in the wilderness, while those who were identified with Joshua were taken into the promised land. The Law does not have the power to bring salvation even to those who are its strictest followers. In reality, the inheritance of God is promised only to those who put their faith in Christ. Paul said, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus for they have obtained the inheritance of God by faith.
In the second verse of Numbers 20, we find the children of Israel in the wilderness with no water, and we find that once again they started complaining against Moses and Aaron. But notice that as they complained against Moses and Aaron, they implied that God, Himself, was also to blame for their predicament.
They said that it would have been better for them if they had died with their brothers before the face of the Lord. They recognized that they were in the wilderness because of the judgment of God, and they were saying that it would have been better if they too had died like so many of their friends and relatives. They were essentially blaming God for their circumstances.
Ultimately, however, their formal accusation was against Moses and Aaron. They accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness without water. They accused Moses and Aaron of lying to them, saying that the wilderness was certainly not a place of figs and vines and pomegranates.
The truth is that the blame did not belong with the Lord, and it did not belong with Moses and Aaron. No, the blame belonged with the children of Israel. They were the ones who had refused to believe the word of God, and they were the ones who had refused to go into the promised land.
They could have simply entered into the land of promise by faith, but when they refused to enter, the Lord shut the door. They could blame no one but themselves for their meager existence in the wilderness.
Isn’t this just like human nature though? When we fail, we like to blame someone else. And isn’t it interesting that so many people blame the Lord for all of the problems in this world? However, the fact is that all of the problems that we face in this world are a result of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, a curse was placed upon man and upon all of the creation. Romans 8 says that the whole creation groans together in pain because of this curse. God is not responsible for all of the terrible things that we see in our world.
When we see tornadoes and earthquakes and other natural disasters, people often say, if there is a God in heaven, why does He allow such things? Well, all of these things happen as a consequence of the curse of sin. Sin always brings heartache, disappointment and trouble, but the blame does not belong with God.
May I say to you this morning, if you are in the midst of trials and afflictions, God has provided a remedy for sin. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ are given the peace and the joy of the Lord. He gives peace and joy in the midst of trouble and in the midst of sorrow.
The Bible does not say that all of our troubles will disappear when we put our faith in Christ, but it does say that Jesus Christ will give us the strength, the grace and the ability to endure any difficulty or trial. The Apostle Paul tells us that:
1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
This verse literally means that with each new trial, God will literally provide the way to escape.
For those who are burdened down with the cares of this world, God has provided the remedy. If you find yourself burdened down this morning, wondering why God has allowed this or that in your life, you can turn to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is the ever loving God, the omniscient God, the all powerful God, and He is the one who loves you more than you can imagine. He loves you so much that He sent His own Son to die on the cross for your sins. Simply trust Him, and He will save you. Then, He will sustain you and strengthen you.
There are those who blame God for their problems, but there are others who like to blame other people. The children of Israel blamed Moses, but Moses was not responsible for their difficulties. They, themselves, were responsible. God does not want us to blame other people for our failures. He wants us to come to Him and acknowledge our sin and our shortcomings. When we do, we find salvation and the peace that passes understanding.
Next week we are going to see the failure of Moses and Aaron as they struck the rock to produce water. They did this even though God had instructed them to speak to the rock. To truly serve the Lord, we must listen carefully to His word, and then do what He bids us to do.
Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for studying with me in this, another broadcast, of Bible Study Time.
Church links:
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