Numbers (Part 12)(BST 3-30-08)

Numbers (Part 12)
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:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 11)(BST 3-23-08)

Numbers (Part 11)
Bible Study Time 3-23-08
(From James Roberts 4-11-99)

Last week, as we continued our journey through the scripture, we looked in the book of Numbers, Chapter 19, where we saw a very unusual ordinance that God gave to the people of Israel. It was the ordinance of the red heifer.

After the red heifer was checked to ensure that it had no spot or blemish, it was taken outside the camp and burned. Then the ashes of the red heifer were gathered and mixed with water. If and when the priests became ceremonially unclean by coming into contact with a dead body, they were to be sprinkled with this water. This water was the water of purification.

The book of Hebrews teaches us that the Old Covenant water of purification was only effective so far as the purification of the flesh was concerned. It had no power to purify the conscience. However, Hebrews goes on to remind us that if this water did purify the flesh, how much more effective is the blood of Christ when it comes to purifying our hearts and minds through the ministry of the New Covenant.

According to the terms of the Old Covenant Law, the nation of Israel was called to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood. They were to serve as a nation of priests over the Gentile nations. Unfortunately, they failed to fulfill their mission because of their own rebellion against the Lord and His Law.

However, Jeremiah spoke of the day when this mission would someday be fulfilled through the power of the New Covenant. Jeremiah said:

Jeremiah 31:31-32 (NKJ)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

God’s plan and purpose for Israel was dependent upon the coming of the New Covenant, and Jesus indicated that His shed blood would serve as the blood of the New Covenant. After the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Peter was anticipating the blessings of the New Covenant kingdom. In his first epistle to the Jews, he wrote:

1 Peter 2:9 NKJV
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Zechariah describes the New Covenant kingdom, saying:

Zechariah 8:23 NKJV
23 . . . 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"

Beginning in Isaiah 60, Isaiah describes the ministry of the Jews in the New Covenant kingdom, then Malachi describes John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus as the messengers of the New Covenant. He says:

Malachi 3:1-3 NKJV
1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts.
2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.

John the Baptist came preaching the baptism of repentance to the people of Israel. They needed to prepare their hearts to serve the Lord as a nation of priests. In Luke, Chapter 3, John the Baptist baptized the people with water, and he told them to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.

However, the children of Israel were not allowed to enter into the kingdom because they refused to accept the Lord Jesus as their promised Messiah. The religious leaders arrested Jesus, and the people shouted, away with Him, crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar. Pilate declared, I find no fault in this man, but the people insisted that Jesus should be put to death, saying, let His blood be upon us and upon our children.

This nation whom God had called to be a nation of priests became defiled by coming into contact with a dead body, and that dead body was that of the Lord Jesus. To perform their duties as a nation of priests in the kingdom, they would need to be purified by the water of purification.

Accordingly, in Acts, Chapter 2, Peter told the Jews to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. To enter into the kingdom, the Jews would have to submit to the water of purification as well as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If they had done these things, Jesus Christ would have returned from heaven to establish the kingdom.

However, throughout the book of Acts, the Jews proved their unwillingness to repent, and time and time again they refused to accept Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah. Therefore, at the end of the Acts period, God set aside Israel’s kingdom program so that He could bring in a totally new program. This program was the program for the church of our present age, and it was revealed exclusively to the Apostle Paul.

Believers today are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, and we must look to the writings of Paul to find the specific instruction that God has given to us. In Ephesians, Chapter 4, Paul says that for us today:

Ephesians 4:4-5NKJV
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

In Acts, Chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, there were two baptisms. Believers at that time were baptized in water and then they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Today, we have only one baptism.

Romans, Chapter 6, tells us that believers today are baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and Paul makes it clear that this is a spiritual baptism. This is the one baptism that is required of believers today. After experiencing this baptism, believers today can say with Paul:

Galatians 2:20 NKJV
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Israel had to have the water of purification to prepare them for their priestly duties in the kingdom of the New Covenant, but believers today have no expectation or hope concerning the earthy, New Covenant kingdom. The Apostle Paul tells us that we have a heavenly hope and a heavenly calling. We have been raised up to be seated with Christ in the heavens, and we are therefore citizens of heaven. In Colossians 3, Paul says:

Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Israel’s hope was to serve the Lord in an earthly kingdom, but our hope today is to be caught up to be with Christ in the glory of heaven. Today, we do not look to a ritual of water to purify us, but we are purified by the word of God. Ephesians 5 says that:

Ephesians 5:25-26 NKJV
25 . . . Christ . . . loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

When the word of God convicts us of sin, we know that we can confess our sins, and God will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 10)(BST 3-16-08)

Numbers (Part 10)
Bible Study Time 3-16-08
(From James Roberts 4-4-99)

This is the time of the year that man has set aside to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. John, Chapter 5, says that Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders:

John 5:39 NKJV
39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

As we study the scriptures from cover to cover, we find ample testimony regarding the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw a type of Christ’s resurrection in Chapter 17 of the book of Numbers. The Lord told each leader of the twelve tribes of Israel to inscribe his name on a stick, or a rod, and bring it to the tabernacle of the Lord. Aaron was told to write his name on the rod that represented the tribe of Levi.

All the leaders of Israel brought their sticks and left them at the tabernacle, and the next morning they found that Aaron’s stick had actually come to life. His stick was covered with leaves and blossoms, and it was bearing ripe almonds.

This is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who came as the great High Priest of Israel. He was put to death by His own people, but as Aaron’s rod came to life after being dead, the Lord Jesus also came back from the dead. When He came back from the dead, He brought forth much fruit. Hebrews 2 says that Jesus died to bring many sons to glory.

Aaron was confirmed as the High Priest of Israel when God brought His dead stick back from the dead. In like manner, the Lord Jesus was confirmed as the great High Priest of Israel when God raised Him from the dead.

In Numbers, Chapter 18, God gave Moses certain responsibilities in regard to the nation of Israel and the duties of the Levites in the tabernacle, then in Numbers 19, God gave Israel a very unique ordinance. It was the ordinance of the red heifer. In Numbers 19:1, we read:

Numbers 19:1-22 NKJV
1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 "This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.
3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him;
4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting.
5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.
6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.
7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening.
8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening.
9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.
10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.
11'He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
13 Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.
14'This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days;
15 and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean.
16 Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17'And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel.
18 A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.
19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.
20'But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.
21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening.
22 Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.'"

According to the Law, a person was to be considered unclean if he came into contact with a dead body. This did not signify moral defilement. It simply meant that they were ceremonially unclean and could not participate in the ceremonies of the tabernacle.

This was particularly significant for the priests. If a priest came into contact with a dead body, he was not allowed to officiate over the ceremonies of the tabernacle until he was purified by the water of purification. Strict obedience to this law would prevent any defilement of the tabernacle.

The book of Hebrews shows that this ceremony regarding the red heifer was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The red heifer was taken outside the camp and killed even as the Lord Jesus suffered outside the city of Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus was taken out to Mt. Calvary where He died, the just one for the unjust. He was put to death, suffering in the fires of death for your sins and for mine.

After the red heifer was burned in the fire, its ashes were gathered and mixed with pure water. This water was then sprinkled upon the unclean person to accomplish his purification. This points to the cleansing of the human conscience which was made possible by the death of Christ. Hebrews, Chapter 9 and verse 11 tells us that:

Hebrews 9:11-14 NKJV
11 . . . Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Jesus Christ came as Israel’s great High Priest so that He could offer His own blood for Israel’s eternal redemption. He came to purge Israel from her sin, not just ceremonially with an outward cleansing, but He came to purge her conscience so that she could serve the true and the living God.

That very same offering of blood that was offered for Israel was also offered for us. When Christ died on the cross, He died for you and for me. His blood cleanses us from all sin and brings redemption. In the first chapter of I John, we are told that if we walk in the light as Christ is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Then, we are told that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Next week, we’re going to spend some more time on this subject to show that this particular ordinance of the red heifer was especially relevant to Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ came to be Israel’s High Priest, but when He came, the Jews said, away with Him, crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar. Later they said, let His blood be upon us and upon our children. By killing the Lord Jesus, the nation of Israel came into contact with a dead body, and they would have to be cleansed by the water of purification before they could do that work which God was calling them to do.

Next week we are going to see how the ceremony of the red heifer relates to the ministry of John the Baptist. The, we will see how it relates to the ministry of the twelve apostles before the cross and how it relates to their ministry after the cross.

But for the few moments that we have left today, I’d like for you to consider the fact that God loved you enough to come from heaven’s glory to live among men so that He could offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin. He lived perfectly before God not only according to the letter of the Law but also according to the spirit and intent of the Law. He lived a perfect life so that He could die for your sins.

Jesus Christ came to be the sin bearer. We could never pay the price for our own sins so Christ came to bear our sins on the cross. The Apostle John said that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. We are cleansed from all sin the moment we believe, but the blood of Christ keeps on cleansing us so that if we become defiled by sin after we believe, we can confess our sins and God will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Oh, what a wonderful gift God has given to us in the gift of His Son, in His death, His burial, His resurrection and His ascension back into the heaven.

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:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 9) (BST 3-9-08)

Numbers (Part 9)
Bible Study Time 3-9-08
(From James Roberts 3-28-99)

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw in the book of Numbers the rebellion of Korah and his followers. God had chosen Moses and Aaron to lead the children of Israel, but these men stubbornly refused to submit to their leadership.

As it turns out, Korah was a grandson of Levi, and the Levites were called by God to serve the Lord in the tabernacle. However, God had singled out Moses and Aaron, as members of the tribe of Levi, to lead the children of Israel. While Aaron and His sons were called as the priests of Israel, it was Moses who communicated directly with God.

Korah was of the tribe of Levi, but he was jealous of Aaron’s position as the High Priest. He was not content to serve the Lord in the mundane duties pertaining to the tabernacle. So Korah joined forces with two other Levites named Dathan and Abiram, and they went out and recruited 250 men from the various tribes of Israel to join them in their rebellion against Moses and Aaron.

God told Moses to have these men take censers which were lit with fire from the altar, and they were all to burn incense upon their censer. This was something that only the priests were allowed to do according to the Law, but this was God’s way of demonstrating exactly who had the authority to burn incense before the Lord.

Moses told the entire congregation to separate themselves from Korah, Dathan and Abiram. He said, if these men die a natural death then God has not chosen me as your leader; but if the earth opens up and swallows these men and their families and their possessions, then you will know that they have rebelled against the Lord; they have not just rebelled against me, but they have rebelled against the Lord. As the people watched, the earth opened up and swallowed these men with their families and the possessions. They all went down into the pit alive, and afterwards, the earth closed up behind them.

But that is not the end of the story. God was still going to deal with the 250 men who joined with Korah in this rebellion and who were burning incense on their censers. Since only the priests of the Lord were permitted to burn incense, fire came out from the Lord and consumed these men who were burning incense.

Then Moses instructed Eleazar, the son of Aaron, to pick up the censors of these 250 men. These censers were holy because they had been used to burn incense before the Lord, and they were not to be discarded as a common thing. God instructed the people to take those censers and hammer them out into bronze plates, and then He told them to place those bronze plates upon the altar in the tabernacle. He said that the bronze plates would stand as:

Numbers 16:40 NKJV
40 . . . a memorial to the children of Israel that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the LORD, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the LORD had said to him through Moses.

By judging and slaying those who had rebelled against Moses and Aaron, God had clearly shown that Moses was His appointed leader over Israel. However, in verse 41, we read the response of the people.

Numbers 16:41 NKJV
41 On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the people of the LORD."

Now, who was it that had judged the rebels? It wasn’t Moses, and it wasn’t Aaron. It was the Lord, Himself, who had judged them. The earth had opened up to swallow some and the fire came out from the Lord to consume the others. Moses could not have caused the earth to open up and swallow those who were swallowed. Only the Lord could have done that. But the people accused Moses and Aaron of killing the children of the Lord. Then verse 42 says:

Numbers 16:42 NKJV
42 Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

This must have been a frightening sight because they knew that when the glory of the Lord appeared in this manner, judgment was near. Then verse 43 says:

Numbers 16:43-45 NKJV
43 Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.
44 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
45 "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." And they fell on their faces.

Obviously, the Lord was ready to consume all of the children of Israel, but I Corinthians, Chapter 10, says that the children of Israel were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Well, what does that mean? It means that these people had become identified with Moses; they had become his people. Moses was responsible before the Lord for these people, and so what did Moses do every time God was ready to destroy the people? Moses would stand as an intercessor before the Lord on behalf of the people.

When Moses prayed, God would listen. And even though there were consequences for their sin, God would spare the children of Israel. So in verse 45, God said, get away from the congregation that I may consume them, but Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the Lord. Then:

Numbers 16:46-48 NKJV
46 . . . Moses said to Aaron, "Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun."
47 Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.

Here we see Aaron standing between the living and the dead with the censer in his hand offering up incense before the Lord. Then we read:

Numbers 16:49-50 NKJV
49 Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident.
50 So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

This is so interesting because this is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here was the High Priest standing between the living and the dead burning incense before the Lord.

The Book of the Revelation tells us that the incense is a picture of the prayers of the righteous. So here in the book of Numbers, the burning incense pictures the prayers of Moses and Aaron on behalf of the children of Israel. Aaron, the High Priest, was standing between the living and the dead, between the wrath of God and God’s people, making intercession for them.

In God’s long term plan for the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ will stand as Israel’s great High Priest. He will stand between Israel and the wrath of God. He will make intercession for Israel, and God will forgive their sin. But today, we also have a great intercessor before the Lord. We too look to the Lord Jesus Christ as our intercessor. The Bible says that there is one mediator between God and man, and that’s the man, Christ Jesus. Today, Jesus Christ makes intercession for us. When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.

God tells us today through the Apostle Paul that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank God, the plague has stopped because of the work of the Lord Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection. He is ever ready to make intercession for us as He sits at the right hand of the Father.

Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior today? Have you come into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the very Son of God? He is the one who died for you and was buried and rose again.

Now, in Numbers, Chapter 17, we see another demonstration of the mercy and the longsuffering of God. After all of these amazing events, God still gave the children of Israel another demonstration to prove that only Aaron and his sons were to serve as the priests of Israel.

God told Moses to collect a rod, or a stick, from each of the leaders of the tribes of Israel. Then Moses was told to write Aaron’s name on the stick that came from the tribe of Levi. At that point, Moses was told to put all twelve rods in the tabernacle. In verse 8 of Numbers 17, we read:

Numbers 17:8 NKJV
8 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.

Miraculously, over one night, the stick from the tribe of Levi came to life and budded with blossoms. Not only had it budded and blossomed, but it had produced ripe almonds. So Moses took all of the rods out of the tabernacle and placed them before the people so that they could see what God had done. When the people saw it that only Aaron’s rod had had come to life, they were terrified before the Lord. In verse 10, we read that God told Moses to:

Numbers 17:10-13 NKJV
10 . . . "Bring Aaron's rod back before the Testimony (in the Ark of the Covenant), to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die."
11 Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.
12 So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Surely we die, we perish, we all perish!
13 Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?"

But in Chapter 18, God revealed the means by which the people could enjoy the service of the tabernacle and not die. He said that they could come to the tabernacle to present their offerings to the priests, but only Aaron and his sons were to come near to God in the service of the tabernacle. Furthermore, God said that only the Levites were to come near to assist Aaron and his sons in the service of the tabernacle; the rest of the congregation was excluded from these duties. Then God said that the priests and the Levites were to be supported by the tithes and offerings of the people.

Well, I see that our time it gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 8) (BST 3-2-08)

Numbers (Part 8)
Bible Study Time 3-2-08
(From James Roberts 3-21-99)

Last week in our journey through the scripture we looked at the book of Numbers, chapters 14 and 15. We saw in these chapters that the people of Israel were right at the gateway to the land of Canaan at Kadesh Barnea. This was the Promised Land and God would have taken them right on into the land, but instead of believing God, they believed the report of the ten spies. These spies went into the land for 40 days and reported back that the giants of the land were too great for the children of Israel to overcome.

The people became discouraged and plotted to stone Moses and Aaron as well as Joshua and Caleb, but God overruled. Instead, He told them that they would have to go back into the wilderness where they would wonder one year for every day that the spies had been in the land of Canaan. God said that all of those who were twenty years old and older would die in the wilderness but that He would then take the next generation into the Promised Land.

We saw also in the 15th chapter that God told the people to put tassels as a border on their garments, and they were to run a blue thread through this border. This blue thread was to be a constant reminder of the fact that God had called them unto Himself as a holy people. God had set them apart, and they were not to take part in all of the idolatrous worship of the nations round about them.

Now, in the 16th chapter of the book of Numbers, we see a very sad situation. Here we see a great rebellion against the appointed leaders of Israel. Numbers 16:1 says:

Numbers 16:1-2 NKJV
1 Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men;
2 and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown.

Korah and certain others went around stirring up the leaders of Israel, and they found 250 men who were willing to join them in a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. These are men of renown. They are respected men in the congregation and notice what they did:

Numbers 16:3 NKJV
3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?"

These men said that Moses and Aaron were full of pride and were exalting themselves as princes over the whole congregation. They said that Moses and Aaron were making themselves out to be holy when, in fact, the whole congregation was holy in the sight of God.

This argument had some validity. God had indeed called the whole nation of Israel to be a holy nation, but God had further separated out certain people for different areas of leadership. Korah and his followers were actually complaining about the position of authority that God had given to them. They were simply jealous of Moses and Aaron.

Certainly, Korah should have known better than to complain against Moses. Previously, Miriam and Aaron had complained that Moses was too proud and that he was assuming too much authority among the people. However, at that time God set the record straight by stating that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. And certainly, Moses was a very humble person.

When God called Moses at the burning bush, God told Moses to go and speak to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh, but Moses said, I’m not able to do that; I’m a man of stammering lips. So God said, OK Moses, I’ll give you Aaron to be your spokesman.

You see, Moses was very humble, and when Miriam and Aaron complained against Moses, God gave Miriam leprosy, and she had to stay outside the camp for seven days. In this way God made a public example out of Miriam, and Korah and his fellow rebels should have known better that to complain against Moses.

Nevertheless, they started complaining that Moses and Aaron were exalting themselves as princes over the people, and Numbers 16:4 says:

Numbers 16:4-7 NKJV
4 So when Moses heard it, he fell on his face;
5 and he spoke to Korah and all his company, saying, "Tomorrow morning the LORD will show who is His and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to Him. That one whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him.
6 Do this: Take censers, Korah and all your company;
7 put fire in them and put incense in them before the LORD tomorrow, and it shall be that the man whom the LORD chooses is the holy one. You take too much upon yourselves, you sons of Levi!"

Korah said that Moses was taking too much authority, but Moses came back and said that Korah and his followers were assuming too much authority by rebelling against God’s appointed leaders. In verse 8, Moses said:

Numbers 16:8-10 NKJV
8 . . . "Hear now, you sons of Levi:
9 Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to serve them;
10 and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? . . .

The fact is that Korah, as a Levite, has been chosen to serve the Lord in a special way in the tabernacle, and he should have known the significance of such a calling. However, he was not content with that which God had called him to do. So Moses reminded Korah and his followers of the great privilege of their calling, but then Moses asked:

Numbers 16:10 NKJV
10 . . . are you seeking the priesthood also?

God had called the tribe of Levi to serve the Lord in the tabernacle, but He had further separated out Aaron and his family as the priests of Israel. While the priests offered up the sacrifices and offerings of the people, the Levites were to do the various other duties that related to the service of the tabernacle. Now, verse 11 says:

Numbers 16:11 NKJV
11 Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the LORD. And what is Aaron that you complain against him?"

Notice that in the sight of the Lord this was no small thing that Korah was doing. Korah was the ringleader of this rebellion, and certainly, this rebellion was different from that of Miriam and Aaron. While Miriam and Aaron had complained about Moses among themselves, Korah had complained to the leaders of the all the tribes of Israel. This was a serious offense against the Lord. In fact, the book of Jude mentions Korah’s rebellion. In verse 10 of that book we read that false teachers:

Jude 10-11 NKJV
10 . . . speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.

Notice that Korah is placed right in the same company with Cain and Balaam. Cain had refused to offer the required sacrifice before the Lord, and he then he killed his brother. Balaam was tempted to place a curse upon the children of Israel in exchange for money. Clearly, Korah’s rebellion is presented as one of the great rebellions of the Old Testament. So how did Moses respond to Korah’s challenge? Numbers 16:12 says:

Numbers 16:12 NKJV
12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, but they said, "We will not come up!

These men were coconspirators with Korah, but it may be that they were actually led astray by Korah. When Moses called for them, they said:

Numbers 16:12-13 NKJV
12 . . . "We will not come up!
13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey . . .

Just think about what they were saying. They had been in Egypt under terrible hardship, and yet they said that Egypt was a land that was flowing with milk and honey. Well, that might have been the case for the Egyptians, but it certainly was not the case for the children of Israel.

These men went on to say, is it a small thing that:

Numbers 16:13-14 NKJV
13 . . . you have brought us up . . . to kill us in the wilderness, that you should keep acting like a prince over us?
14 Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!"

These men were now blaming Moses for the fact that they had not been allowed to go into the land of Canaan. When the children of Israel refused to go into the land, Moses pronounced the judgment of God. But then, there were certain Jews who refused to accept the judgment of God. They decided to go in and take the land in their own strength, but they were killed by the Canaanites.

Now, these men were saying that Moses had failed to take them into the Promised Land. They were unwilling to accept that it was their own rebellion against the Lord that had prevented them from entering into the land. Now, notice in verse 15:

Numbers 16:15 NKJV
15 Then Moses was very angry, and said to the LORD,"Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, nor have I hurt one of them."

At this point, God physically separated Moses and Aaron from Korah and his followers, and Moses instructed the children of Israel to physically separate themselves from those who had rebelled. Then Moses said:

Numbers 16:29-32 NKJV
29 If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.
30 But if the LORD creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the LORD."
31 Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them,
32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods.

May I just say this to you? This may seem to be a small thing that Korah and his followers did. They simply questioned the authority of Moses, but when you look in the book of Jude, you see that this was a great rebellion against God. Obviously, those who rebelled against the Lord under the Law died without mercy, but today we live in the age of God’s grace.

Today, people openly express their hostility to the word of God and to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they seem to experience no adverse consequence. However, the Day of Judgment is coming. It is a terrible thing to trample underfoot the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, when the Day of Judgment comes, all those who have rejected Jesus Christ will be eternally condemned to the lake of fire.

Do you know Christ today? Those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ have no reason to fear the judgment of God for there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

I see that our time it gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 7) (BST 2-24-08)

Numbers (Part 7)
Bible Study Time 2-24-08
(From James Roberts 3-14-99)

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw the children of Israel at Kadesh Barnea, right at the doorway of the land of promise. God had given them that land and would have taken them right on into the land, but the people refused to go in because they heard an unfavorable report from ten of the spies who went in to spy out the land.

These ten spies said that the land was indeed a land that flows with milk and honey but that the giants of the land were too great to overcome. They reported that the children of Israel would never be able to take the land because the obstacles before them were too great.

Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who came back insisting that God was able to give them the land even as He had promised. They said, if the Lord delights in us, He will take us into the land; truly the land has many giants, but the Lord is able to take us into the land and give us the victory.

The people believed the spies who predicted defeat, and they became discouraged. As a result, they took up stones to stone Joshua and Caleb.

Then the Lord told Moses that the children of Israel were going to have to go back into the wilderness. They would have to wonder in the wilderness one year for every day that the spies were in the land of Canaan.

The spies were in the land of Canaan for forty days, and so the children of Israel were sentenced to wonder in the wilderness for forty years. God said that all those who were twenty years old and older would die in the wilderness, but then He promised that He would bring their children into the land of promise.

Now, in Numbers, Chapter 15, we find God giving the children of Israel some instructions for when they did enter into the Promised Land. He said, when you do enter into the land, there will be strangers who will be with you in the land.

These strangers were people who were not a part of the nation of Israel; they were to be what we would call proselytes. They were Gentiles would live among the Jews and accept all of the laws and customs of the Jews.

The Lord said that there was not to be one law for the stranger and another law for the children of Israel. No, there was to be only one Law for both the Jew and the stranger. These strangers were to come in and live among the children of Israel, but they were to live by all the rituals and forms and ceremonies that were prescribed in the Law, and they were to live by the same civil code as the children of Israel.

The Law was good and holy. If the children of Israel had obeyed that law, it would have given them perfect direction in their relationships one with another. The stranger who came to live among the Jews was to be a beneficiary of this just and holy law.

In the Law, God gave a law to deal with people who committed presumptuous sins. These were sins which were done intentionally, and there were certain prescribed offerings that they were to bring before the Lord for presumptuous sins. Then, there were also certain prescribed offerings which they were to bring if they sinned unintentionally.

As you know, the Law of Moses said to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. The children of Israel were to keep this law perfectly and do no servile work on the Sabbath. Whether it was the weekly Sabbath, the yearly Sabbath, the Sabbath of Sabbath’s, or whether it was the year of the jubilee, all of the Sabbath days were to be kept. These were holy days that were to be set apart completely for the Lord.

Now, in Numbers 15, we see an incident which relates to the law of the Sabbath. In verse 32, we read:

Numbers 15:32 NKJV
32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.

This seems to be a very innocent kind of activity, doesn’t it? This man was simply going around gathering sticks. It could be that he was planning to build a fire to bake bread or cook his meal, and this was forbidden on the Sabbath day. So in verse 33 we read:

Numbers 15:33-36 NKJV
33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.
34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.
35 Then the LORD said to Moses,"The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp."
36 So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.

God told Moses to have this man stoned with stones because he was gathering sticks on the Sabbath. What a severe judgment this was, and it’s very interesting to compare this event to what Jesus taught about the Sabbath.

The Lord Jesus ministered under the Law covenant, and He did keep the Sabbath day. He did not advocate breaking the Sabbath day. However, He did heal people on the Sabbath, and He did do all sorts of good deeds on the Sabbath day. When confronted by the Jewish religious leaders, the Lord explained that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath was made for man. Then He said, my Father works on the Sabbath, and just as my Father works on the Sabbath, I also work. He reminded them that the priests were permitted to minister on the Sabbath day according to the Law.

Essentially, the Lord Jesus was reminding the Jews that God never ceases from His work. By Him all things consist. By His power the many processes of our universe continue in harmonious function. If God stopped working for one moment, the universe would disintegrate into nothing. It is God who holds all things together.

In the Genesis account of creation, the Bible says that God rested on the Sabbath day, and this means that God rested from his work of creation. This does not mean that God stopped his work of holding the universe together. God works continuously and so Jesus said, just as the Father does good things continuously, even so I must continue doing good works even on the Sabbath.

When we come to the book of Colossians, Chapter 2, and verse 16, the Apostle Paul says that we today should not let any man judge us in regard to meat or drink or the Sabbath days, and then in verse 17 he gives the reason. He says that these things were:

Colossians 2:16 NKJV
17 . . . a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

God rested on the seventh day of creation, and He gave all of the Sabbath days of the Law, but these things were simply pictures or shadows of Jesus Christ. He says that the substance is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, if anyone wants to enter into a Sabbath rest, they must cease from their own works just as God ceased from His work on the seventh day of creation. As God rested in His finished work, even so you and I must cease from our own works of righteousness which we have done. Today, God calls us to rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross.

The great difference between having salvation in Christ and having religion is found in the matter of works. Religion says that if you do this and this and this, then God will look upon you with favor. But our salvation in Christ says, to him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness.

In Numbers, Chapter 15, we see that the Law was a law of condemnation. The book of Galatians and the book of James both remind us of the fact that if a man breaks one law, he is guilty of breaking the whole Law. So in Numbers, Chapter 15, when this man was out picking up sticks, he was guilty of breaking the law of the Sabbath, but he was really guilty of breaking the whole Law. It didn’t matter that he had not committed adultery, and it didn’t matter that he had not stolen or lied. He had broken the Law by picking up sticks on the Sabbath day.

This pictures for us so vividly the condemnation that comes by the Law. We are all guilty of breaking the Law. Not one person has kept that Law perfectly except the Lord Jesus Christ. But because Jesus Christ kept the Law perfectly, He was able to go to the cross and shed His blood as the blood of the spotless Lamb of God. This is the blood that God accepts as the payment for all sin.

The only way that you and I can enter into a Sabbath rest is to put our faith in the saving power of the shed blood of Christ. When we do this, we can rest in the finished work of Christ. This rest is certainly a rest that outshines by far the Sabbath rest of the Law. As Paul said, the Sabbath rest of the Law was merely a shadow of the rest that is provided in Jesus Christ.

Now, in Numbers 15:38, we find the Lord telling the children of Israel to do something that is very interesting. He tells Moses:

Numbers 15:38-41 NKJV
38 "Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners.
39 And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,
40 and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God.
41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God."

This blue thread that ran through the tassels of their garments was to remind the children of Israel that God had given them the Law to separate them from all other nations. It was to remind them that they were not to take part in all of the religious idolatry of the other nations. They were to be a holy people, separated and holy for the Lord.

May I say this to you this morning? God has given to believers today His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, and He has given to us His word to remind us of who we are. Like the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, we are to be a holy people. We have been chosen by God to be His own peculiar, unique treasure. He says therefore that we should not walk as other Gentiles walk, but we are to be reminded that we belong to a heavenly company. We are members of the Church which is the Body and Christ, and Christ, Himself, is our Head. He wants us to be separated unto God for His work.

I see that our time it gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 6) (BST 2-17-08)

Numbers (Part 6)
Bible Study Time 2-17-08
(From James Roberts 3-7-99)

Last week in our journey through the scriptures, we looked at chapters 13 and 14 in the book of Numbers, where we saw the children of Israel at Kadesh Barnea. At this point, the children of Israel were standing just outside the Promised Land. Kadesh Barnea was the gateway to the Promised Land, and all they had to do was to enter into the land that God had given to them.

Now, you may remember that God told them to select twelve men to go in and spy out the land. They were to select one man from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, and these men were to go through the land and bring back some of the fruit of the land so that the people could see how glorious the land was that they were going to inherit.

When the spies returned from their mission, they did give a glowing report of the land. They showed the people a cluster of grapes which took two men to carry, and they described the land as a land that flows with milk and honey.

However, ten of the spies reported that they would not be able to take the land because the men of the land were too great. They said, the men of the land are giants who live in walled cities, and we are as grasshoppers in their sight.

After this, Joshua and Caleb gave their report. They said that the nation of Israel would have no problem conquering the land. They said, if the Lord delights in us, He will give us the land that He has promised to us.

Unfortunately, the children of Israel sided with the ten spies who doubted the power of God, and so they began to murmur and complain. They said that God had brought them out of Egypt to kill them, and they started making plans to return to Egypt.

Then God spoke to Moses and asked, how long am I going to put up with these people? He said, I am going to disinherit them and make of you a great nation.

Moses reminded God of the fact that if He killed the Israelites, the Egyptians would say that the God of Israel was not powerful enough to take His people into the land of promise. They would say, the God of the Jews was able to take them out of Egypt, but He was not powerful enough to take them on into the land of Canaan.

Moses negotiated with God on the basis of the glory of God, and it was on this basis that Moses pleaded with God to forgive the sin of the children of Israel. Numbers 14:20 says:

Numbers 14:20-24 (KJ2000)
20 And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to your word:
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22 Because all those men who have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put me to the test now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to give unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land in which he went; and his descendants shall possess it.

So we see here that God told Moses that He would not allow that generation of Jews to go into the land of promise. But notice in verse 26:

Numbers 14:26-38 (KJ2000)
26 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, says the LORD, as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
29 Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
30 Doubtless you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31 But your little ones, whom you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
32 But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your harlotries, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness.
34 After the number of the days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall you bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.
35 I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36 And the men, whom Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land,
37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.

God brought the children of Israel right up to the door of the Promised Land, but they refused to enter into it because of their unbelief. And God said, because you have done this, you are going to turn around and go back into the wilderness, and you will know my rejection for forty years.

God said that for each day that the spies were spying out the land, the children of Israel would wander in the wilderness for one year, one year for each day. Furthermore, all of the men of Israel who were over 20 years of age would die in the wilderness except Joshua and Caleb.

In I Corinthians, Chapter 10, Paul says that believers today should be aware of what happened to the children of Israel in the wilderness. He says:

1 Corinthians 10:11,12 (KJ2000)
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come.
12 Therefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

These events recorded in the book of Numbers were given as examples for our learning, and we find a detailed application of these events in the book of Hebrews where the writer explains that the Law Covenant which was given at Mt. Sinai ended with the death of Jesus Christ. He explains that the death of Jesus Christ established a new and better covenant.

Jesus Christ came to the Jews offering Himself as their Messiah or King, but according to the New Covenant, He also serves as Israel’s High Priest. Hebrews says that this twofold ministry is pictured in the Old Testament figure of Melchizedek for Melchizedek was a King-Priest. Under the Law of Moses, the king was to come from the tribe of Judah, while the priest was to come from the tribe of Levi. No one could serve as the king and as the priest under the Old Law Covenant, but the book of Hebrews declares that the Lord Jesus Christ came after the order of Melchizedek and that as such He is able to serve as both King and High Priest.

The writer of Hebrews says that the children of Israel were standing in a position that was identical to the position of the Jews as they stood at Kadesh Barnea. They too were standing at the door to the promised kingdom. They were in a position where they could go right in and enjoy the rest that God had promised them. All they had to do to enter into the promised kingdom was to believe the word of God.

Hebrews warns the children of Israel of the consequences of not believing God, and it warns them of the consequences of not entering by faith into that which God has promised. Hebrews reminds the children of Israel that when their forefathers at Kadesh Barnea refused to go into the land of Canaan, they were forced to wander in the wilderness until all the men of that generation were dead. Hebrews 4 says:

Hebrews 4:1-3 (KJ2000)
1 Let us therefore fear, lest, although a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3 For we who have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest . . .

Why did the Jews at Kadesh Barnea not enter God’s rest? It was because they did not believe that God would give it to them. Even though God had revealed His power to them time and time again through mighty miracles, they would not believe the promise of God.

God had promised them the land of Canaan, and He had told them to go in and spy out the land to see what a wonderful land it was, but even after seeing the glory of the land, they refused to believe the word of God. Therefore, they came short of entering into the Promised Land, and as a result, that generation was rejected by the Lord for forty years in the wilderness. They rejected God’s word, and God rejected them.

At the time that the book of Hebrews was written, Israel’s promised earthly kingdom was being offered to the nation of Israel. If they would just believe that Jesus was the promised Messiah, God would send Jesus back to establish the kingdom. The book of Hebrews warns the children of Israel of the dire consequences of refusing to believe the word of God and of refusing to enter into that which God has promised.

During the thirty years that followed the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, God used the Apostles of Jesus Christ to make this offer of the kingdom to the Jews. However, the Jews steadfastly refused to accept Jesus was the Christ, and as a result, God temporarily set aside Israel’s kingdom program. At that point, God started revealing His program for today through the Apostle Paul.

God called the Apostle Paul to reveal the program for the Church which is the Body of Christ. This was an entirely new program which had never been mentioned in the prophesies of the Old Testament. This program was a mystery. It was a sacred secret which had been kept secret since before the foundation of the world. God never gave one hint concerning this program to anyone until it was clear that the Jews of the Acts-period were going to reject Jesus Christ and His kingdom.

When Israel rejected Jesus Christ and the kingdom, God set their kingdom program aside, and He began to call out the Church to which we belong today. In this Church, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. The Jew does not have preeminence over the Gentile, and the Gentile does not have preeminence over the Jew.

Let me just close by saying that there may be one listening to this program today who has never really trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. If that is the case for you this morning, then you are standing, as it were, at your own Kadesh Barnea. If you are fearful of moving on into the salvation which God has provided for us, let me encourage you to believe what God had said Jesus Christ and move on into the salvation of God. You don’t know what tomorrow might bring. Won’t you put your trust in Jesus Christ today and enter into that rest that God has provided for you.

I see that our time it gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 5) (BST 2-10-08)

Numbers (Part 5)
Bible Study Time 2-10-08
(From James Roberts 2-28-99)

On our journey through the scriptures, we have come to the book of Numbers, and last week we looked at Numbers 11 and 12. There we saw the great sin of the people of Israel as they began to murmur and complain against Moses and ultimately against the Lord. The Lord had been providing them with manna from heaven day by day. This food was delicious and it was an all purpose food, but the people began to despise the manna when they thought about the flesh pots of Egypt. They began to long for the cucumbers, garlics, and melons.

The manna is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who is that bread from heaven. He is the One who satisfies the hungry soul. Our gracious God has provided the true bread for us. May we never be like the people of Israel who began to despise the precious manna that fell from heaven.

When God the lust of the people for flesh, He told Moses to sanctify the people against tomorrow for I am going to show them my great glory by giving them meat to eat.

But Moses asked, how can we feed all these people, will we have to kill all the sheep and all of the herds in order to be able to feed all these people?

But God said, my arm is not shortened that I cannot do what I have said I will do.

So the next morning, God sent a great number of quail into the camp. They were piled up about three feet deep all around the camp for about day’s journey. At last the people were able to eat the meat that they had been craving, but God sent judgment upon the people because of their sin of rebellion.

Then in the twelfth chapter we saw a very sad thing where Miriam and Aaron began to speak out against Moses. They complained that Moses had married an Ethopian woman, but this was just an excuse. In reality, they were upset that Moses was getting too much credit for all of the glorious things that God was doing. They admitted that God had spoken through Moses, but then they proclaimed that God had also spoken through them. They said that they were just as deserving of leadership as Moses.

When Moses brought Miriam and Aaron to the tabernacle, God spoke to them and said, I speak through visions and dreams to other prophets, but I speak to Moses as a friend would speak to a friend, face to face. Then the Lord challenged Miriam and Aaron and asked them how they could dare to murmur and complain against Moses.

The Lord was so angry with them that Miriam was stricken with leprosy, and she had to be put outside the camp. Aaron as the High Priest was to pray for Miriam so that she could be healed. In seven days, Miriam was healed and brought back into the camp again.

In the thirteenth chapter, we see the children of Israel continuing on in their journey to the Promised Land. When they arrived at Kadesh Barnea, they found themselves standing at the door to the Promised Land. God told Moses to select one person from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Those selected were to go in and spy out the land.

Moses told them to go in and travel throughout the land to see if the people were rich or poor, if they lived in camps or strongholds, if they lived in cities or out in the country. They were to evaluate the condition of the land and the people. Moses told them to bring back some of the fruit of the land, and he told them to be of good courage as they went about accomplishing this task.

Well, these men did as Moses told them to do. While they were in the Valley of Eshcol, they found a cluster of grapes that when it was cut down and hung on a pole, it took two men to carry it.

After forty days, they returned to Moses and the children of Israel. They showed them the cluster of grapes which they had collected, and they said, truly this is a land that flows with mild and honey. But then they said, nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong, the cities are fortified and very large; moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak.

Then Caleb said, let us go up at once and take possession of the land for we are well able to overcome it. But the other men said, no, we are not able to go up against the people of the land for they are stronger than we are; the people of the land of Canaan are giants; when we saw the Canaanites, we were as grasshoppers in our own sight, and we were as grasshoppers in their sight as well.

Actually, these ten men who were afraid to enter into the land were half right. Undoubtedly, the children of Israel were much smaller, and they did appear as grasshoppers to the giants of the land of Canaan. But it’s interesting that they said that they were like grasshoppers in their own sight. From the natural, human viewpoint, they were just being realistic. In the natural realm, they would not have been able to have overcome the giants of the land of Canaan. They were just like grasshoppers in comparison to them.

When the children of Israel heard this, they began to complain against Moses, saying, why have you brought us out here with our children to die; why didn’t you just leave us alone in Egypt? Some even wanted to select a new leader who could lead them back to Egypt. But notice what Joshua and Caleb said in Numbers 14:6.

Numbers 14:6-7 (KJ2000)
6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of them that searched the land, tore their clothes:
7 And they spoke unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceedingly good land.

Now, in the next verse we are going to see the eye of faith. The ten fearful men were looking at their situation through the eyes of the natural man, but Joshua and Caleb were able to see through the eye of faith. They said:

Numbers 14:8 (KJ2000)
8 If the LORD delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which flows with milk and honey.

Now, why is it that Joshua and Caleb could say this? In Numbers 13, verse 1, we see that:

Numbers 13:1-2 (KJ2000)
1 . . . the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 Send men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel . . .

Obviously, Joshua and Caleb took God at His word. When God said, I’m giving this land to the children of Israel, Joshua and Caleb knew that God was able to overcome the giants and take the nation of Israel into the land. So they said, if the Lord delights in us then He will bring us into the land. They did not say, we will go into the land, but they said, He will bring us into this land which flows with mild and honey. Then they said:

Numbers 14:9 (KJ2000)
9 Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear you the people of the land; for they are bread for us . . .

They said, we can eat these giants up for the Lord will be with us to give us the land. Then they said:

Numbers 14:9 (KJ2000)
9 . . . their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us . . .

You see, the reason the Canaanites had no protection is that the Lord was the shield, and the protector and the defender of the people of Israel, and the Lord had given them that land. Therefore, the people of the land of Canaan were defenseless before the Lord.

Joshua and Caleb knew this and they were ready to go in. They begged the people of Israel not to rebel against the Lord, but to take Him at His word. But do you know what they did? In verse ten we read?

Numbers 14:10 (KJ2000)
10 But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel.

At this point, the children of Israel could see that the Lord was about to speak.

Numbers 14:11-12 (KJ2000)
11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will it be before they believe me, with all the signs which I have shown among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a greater nation and mightier than they.

God told Moses that the children of Israel were all worthy of death, and He told Moses that He would make a great nation of him. God was offering to take the promise that had been given to Abraham and give it to Moses, so that only the descendants of Moses would be the heirs of the promises of God.

Numbers 14:13-19 (KJ2000)
13 (But then) Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for you brought up this people in your might from among them;)
14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that you LORD are among this people, that you LORD are seen face to face, and that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them, by daytime in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if you shall kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
16 Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to give unto them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I beseech you, let the power of my LORD be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I beseech you, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of your mercy, and as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

Moses negotiated with God, saying, Lord, you have forgiven these people so many times, and now I am standing before you, between you and these people, and I am asking you to forgive their sin.

Here we see Moses as the great intercessor, the great mediator between Israel and God. In this, Moses is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ.

May I say this to you just in closing? You and I were just like the people of Israel. We were rebellious people; we were children of wrath; we deserved the wrath of God because of the enormity of our sin. Every one of us, as children of Adam, deserved the wrath of God, and God could not just clear us of our guilt. But God did provide a way whereby we could be cleansed and cleared of all guilt.

God took care of our guilt by sending His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bear in full the penalty for our sins that we might become the children of God in Him. Because of the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross, God is just and justified when He justifies all those who believe in Him.

And now we have a mediator, we have an intercessor, at the right hand of the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous One. He is the One who pleads our case before the Father for He has paid in full the penalty for our sins.

I see that our time it gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 4)(BST 2-3-08)

Numbers (Part 4)
Bible Study Time 2-3-08
(From James Roberts 2-14-99)

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw that God brought the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. He led them through the Red Sea and took them to Mt. Sinai where they stayed for about a year. During this time, God prepared them for their journey through the wilderness.

At Mt. Sinai, God gave the children of Israel the Law and the ordinances of the tabernacle. In the Law, God taught them how to worship so that He could be their God, and they could be His people. The tabernacle was going to be the dwelling place of God among His people.

When the time came for the children of Israel to leave Mt. Sinai, they had no sooner started their journey than they began to murmur and complain. God had made great provision for the children of Israel by giving them this very unusual food called manna, which was bread from heaven. This manna was an all-purpose food which could be prepared so many different ways and it was delicious. But when the people of Israel began to remember the food that they had enjoyed back in Egypt, they began to yearn for those things which they had left behind.

This is a picture of the carnal Christian today. God has provided the Lord Jesus Christ to meet our needs as we travel on our wilderness journey. He is the true bread from heaven, and He is so precious. But many times, as we begin to look at the things of the world, we begin to yearn for those things which we have left behind. As a result, the preciousness of Christ is diminished, and we may even begin to despise the things of the Lord. Only as we judge that sin and confess it before the Lord can the Lord become precious to us once again.

In our previous lesson in Numbers, we saw the inability of Moses to provide the leadership that the people needed. Moses asked the Lord, How can I bear this people; what have you got against me that you would put this leadership role upon me; I can’t bear this people.

And you know, Moses had the Spirit of God upon Him so that he could have done that work, but because of His own weakness, he began to complain against the Lord. Moses’ weakness is a picture of man under the Law covenant. Romans, Chapter 8, tells us that:

Romans 8:3,4 (KJ2000)
3 . . . what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, (judged) sin in the flesh:
4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

In the book of Numbers we see that God heard Moses’ prayer and gave Moses 70 men from all of the tribes of Israel. God put His Spirit upon these men so that they would be able to share the burden of leadership.

From this we see that you and I today, in our own strength and power, cannot do those things that God has called us to do, but as we look at Romans 8 once again, we see that the Spirit of God helps our infirmities. He helps our infirmities just as these 70 men were given to Moses to help him.

What a great difference is seen between Moses and Christ. Moses was a faithful man in all of God’s house, but Moses was called as a servant. In the book of Hebrews we see that Jesus Christ is faithful in His own house; He serves as a Son.

Jesus Christ is the One who is always there to help us as we face the difficulties of life. John said that the Law came by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and what a great blessing it is to be able to live under the grace of Jesus Christ as opposed to living under the Law.

It’s very interesting to see that after these 70 men were commissioned and were given the Spirit of God, that God told Moses:

Numbers 11:18 (KJ2000)
18 . . . say unto the people, Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you shall eat.

The people were to sanctify themselves because God was about to do something that was unheard of, something that was almost unimaginable. God said that he was going to feed meat to the people, and Moses asked how that could possibly be. He said, if we go out and get all of the fish in the sea, it won’t be enough to feed all these people; will the people have to kill all of their herds of cattle?

But the Lord said to Moses:

Numbers 11:23 (KJ2000)
23 . . . Is the LORD'S hand shortened? you shall see now whether my word shall come to pass unto you or not.

God said, my arm is not shortened that I cannot do all that I have said I will do. This is a great eternal principle that we all need to keep in mind. God is able to do whatever He says He will do. In the book of Ephesians, God tells us that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. At times we may think that our circumstances are so difficult and so burdensome that there is no way out, but the Lord is able to deliver us.

I believe the Lord was preparing Moses and the people for that time when they would stand at the very border of the Promised Land ready to enter in by faith. God wanted to emphasize to Moses that there was nothing too hard for God to perform. God was indeed perfectly capable of taking them into the Promised Land, and He miraculously provided meat for them to eat there in the wilderness to prove His power.

Now, let’s look in Numbers 11:31, and we’ll see exactly how God was able to feed all the children of Israel with meat.

Numbers 11:31 (KJ2000)
31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits high above the face of the earth.

Notice that God provided quail all around the camp for about a day’s journey, and the quail were about two cubits deep all through this strip of land around the camp. A cubit is about 18 inches, so the quail were about three feet deep for a day’s journey all around the camp. Now, notice verse 32:

Numbers 11:32 (KJ2000)
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quail: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

So, the people worked all day, all night and all the next day, gathering quail and preparing them for food to eat. God had said that He would provide so much meat that they would be sick and tired of it, and so it was that they ate and ate and ate, and verse 33 says:

Numbers 11:33 (KJ2000)
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague.

I believe that this plague came upon those who had not sanctified themselves and prepared themselves for this day. Moses had told the people that they were to be sanctified against tomorrow. But there were many who went out and with greediness they devoured that which God had given them. As a result, God’s anger broke out in the camp and killed a great number of the people, and the dead were buried there in the desert.

Now in the twelfth chapter of Numbers, we see something very sad. We see Aaron and Miriam began to be jealous of Moses. They began to think in their own minds that Moses was taking too great a burden upon himself. They thought He was becoming too proud as a result of what God was doing through Him.

To support their case against Moses, they raised the issue of His having married an Ethiopian woman. This was undoubtedly Zipporah, the wife that Moses had married while he was on the backside of the desert in the land of Midian. This was before God brought Moses back to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. They complained about Moses’ marriage and said:

Numbers 12:2 (KJ2000)
2 . . . Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? has he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

The Lord heard what they said and was obviously very displeased because in the next verse we read:

Numbers 12:3 (KJ2000)
3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth.)

Moses was not proud and arrogant. His position of leadership had actually caused him to be very humble before the Lord. Miriam and Aaron were simply jealous. But notice what God says in verse six. After having Miriam and Aaron brought to the tabernacle, God said:

Numbers 12:6 (KJ2000)
6 . . . Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

The book of Hebrews tells us that God spoke through the prophets in many different kinds of ways. He often spoke to them in dark speeches. Many times the people could not even understand what the prophets were saying, but God would tell the prophets to proclaim the message anyway. God spoke to these prophets in visions and in dreams, but God told Miriam and Aaron that this is not the way He spoke to Moses. Verse 7 says:

Numbers 12:7,8 (KJ2000)
7 My servant Moses is not thus, who is faithful in all my house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even clearly, and not in dark sayings; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

We find out later in this chapter that Moses’ sister, Miriam, became leprous, and she had to be put outside the camp for seven days because of her rebellion against the Lord. Aaron was not stricken because he was the High Priest, and he was the one who was going to make intercession for Miriam in order that she might be healed.

Now, I want to just mention that many times you and I as believers may develop a spirit of jealousy in our minds and in our hearts, and it causes us to be ineffective in the work of the Lord. When that is the case, God wants us to bring judgment upon ourselves, as it were. We need to judge that sin by confessing it to the Lord so that we can be brought back into fellowship with the Lord. Only by this means can we truly be cleansed of our sin and used by the Lord for His honor and His glory.

I see that our time it gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 3) (BST 1-27-08)

Numbers (Part 3)
Bible Study Time 1-27-08
(From James Roberts 2-7-99)

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we looked at the book of Number, Chapters 9 and 10. We saw two means by which God directed the children of Israel as they traveled through the wilderness from Mt. Sinai to the Promised Land. The first was with the pillar of cloud by day. The cloud gave them their orders as to when they should move and when they should rest in the camp.

When the cloud rested upon the tabernacle, they were to remain in the camp. They were not to strike out on their own, but they were to rest in the camp as they waited upon the Lord. When the cloud lifted up, they knew it was time for them to resume their wilderness journey.

The second way that God gave direction to the children of Israel was by the sounding of the silver trumpet. It’s interesting to notice that silver is a picture of redemption, and only those who have realized the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus can hear clearly the sound of the silver trumpet.

When it was time for the children of Israel to move out, the cloud would lift up off the tabernacle, and the people would assemble in their assigned marching positions. Then, when the trumpet sounded, the first group would begin to march. When the trumpet sounded the second time, the second group would begin to move, and so forth, until the whole nation was marching, following the cloud as it moved through the wilderness. The silver trumpet was also used to sound an alarm in the camp and to call the people together for a holy convocation.

Now, this morning I’d like for us to look at the book of Numbers, Chapter 11, where we see that almost immediately after the children of Israel left Mt. Sinai, the people began to murmur and complain. This reminds us of the book of I Corinthians, Chapter 10, where the Apostle Paul tells us that these Old Testament events happened as examples unto us so that we might learn not to murmur and complain.

Since these Old Testament events were written as examples for our learning, we’re going to look this morning at some applications that we can draw from these illustrations. Notice as we began in verse one:

Numbers 11:1 (KJ2000)
1 And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burned among them, and consumed some that were in the outlying parts of the camp.

Now, why is it that this fire started in the outlying parts of the camp? As it turns out, that is where the mixed multitude lived. The mixed multitude included the Egyptians who had left Egypt with the children of Israel. This probably included Egyptians who had married into Jewish families, but it may well have also included some Egyptians who had simply wanted to leave Egypt having seeing the judgments of God.

Whatever the case, we see further on in this chapter that it was the mixed multitude that first began to murmur and complain about their wilderness experience. Therefore, the fire broke out first in the outlying parts of the camp where the mixed multitude lived. Now, verse two:

Numbers 11:2-4 (KJ2000)
2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.
3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
4 And the mixed multitude that was among them had a strong craving: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

Notice that it was the mixed multitude that began to have intense cravings for the things that they had left in Egypt. And what happened then? This desire soon began to infect all of the children of Israel so that the whole camp began to murmur and complain as they remembered the things that they had left in Egypt. They remembered all of the good things, but they forgot about all of the hardships they had experienced there.

At this point, let me say that the mixed multitude speaks of the world among believers. So often it is the people of the world who influence the children of God rather than the children of God exerting an influence over the world. This is not according to God’s will. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 12:

Romans 12:1,2 (KJ2000)
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

In Exodus 11, we find the children of Israel being conformed to the mixed multitude. Oh, so many times Christian people will accept the standards of the world rather than accepting the perfect standard that is set by the word of God. It is God’s will for us to reveal to the world the righteousness of God so that they too can be taken out of the world and added to the family of God. Now, verse 4:

Numbers 11:4,5 (KJ2000)
4 . . . the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:

You see, they remembered all of those things that gave flavor to their food back in Egypt, but as we all know, many times the aftertaste of things such as onions and garlic can leave a foul taste in your mouth long after they have been eaten. Well, that’s the way it is with the world. It provides a passing pleasure, but it leaves a bitter taste after that moment of pleasure is gone. Now notice verse six:

Numbers 11:6-9 (KJ2000)
6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, besides this manna, before our eyes.
7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium.
8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

Here we see that the people began to despise the manna even though the manna was an all-purpose food. The people could prepare that manna in so many different ways, but as they began to yearn for the things of Egypt, they grew dissatisfied with the manna that God had provided even though this manna was pleasant to the taste and profitable for nourishment. In John, Chapter 6, we see that the manna was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the true bread from heaven.

The manna in the wilderness was pleasant food; it was nutritious food. It was an all-purpose food which supplied the daily needs of the people, and it was free for the taking. But sadly enough, the people in the wilderness began to lose their taste for the manna.

This is a picture for us today of the fact that many Christians, as they begin to be conformed to this world system and the things of the world, they will begin to value the things of the world more than they value Jesus Christ, the true manna from heaven. Now let’s read verse ten:

Numbers 11:10-15 (KJ2000)
10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
11 And Moses said unto the LORD, Why have you afflicted your servant? and why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people upon me?
12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that you should say unto me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse bears the nursing child, unto the land which you swore to give unto their fathers?
13 From where should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.
15 And if you deal thus with me, kill me, I pray you, out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

Here we see Moses, the great leader of the children of Israel, confessing his inability to lead the people, and he complained to the Lord, saying, why have you given me these people to lead?

In the book of I Corinthians, Chapter 10, we find that the children of Israel were baptized into Moses as they followed the cloud and went through the Red Sea. In other words, God identified the children of Israel with Moses so that they became His people, but Moses freely admitted his inadequacies.

Moses is a picture of the insufficiency of the Law. Many people today look to the Law to supply their spiritual needs, but the Law is insufficient even as Moses was insufficient. Moses said, who am I to give these people meat?

The children of Israel were baptized into Moses, but according to Romans 6, believers today are baptized into Jesus Christ. This is not something that man can do. It is something that can be done only by the Holy Spirit. When we believe, the Holy Spirit baptizes us into Jesus Christ and identifies us with Him.

If you’re a believer today, you can say, I died with Jesus Christ. I was buried with Him, I was raised with Him, I am now ascended with Him and seated with Him in the heavens. You can say with the Apostle Paul, I am accepted in the beloved; when God wants to see me, He just looks over at His Son and He sees me in the Son.

In John, Chapter 1, John compares the ministry of Jesus Christ to that of Moses and says:

John 1:17 (KJ2000)
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The Law was insufficient to meet the needs of the children of Israel, but the work of Christ upon the cross supplies our every need. Romans 8 says:

Romans 8:3,4 (KJ2000)
3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
4 That the (righteous requirements) of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The Lord Jesus Christ, into whom we have been baptized, will never complain to the Father, saying, I am not able to bear them; why have you done this to me? No, Jesus Christ gladly owns us as His own, and He serves as our intercessor in the heavens today. If we sin, He pleads our case before the Father. We have an advocate with the Father in the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.

How thankful we should be today for that which we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know Him today as your Savior? Have you trusted Him? If you have, you have been baptized into Him. You have been accepted in Christ, and He will supply every need that you have. He will be the manna from heaven that supplies your every need.

I see that our time it gone. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/