Do the letters belong to the books and the numbers belong to the mathematics?And not the other way around?! Maybe that’s your reaction when someone tries to convince you that you can add “X” of something. Many of us feel a similar impact when our reading of the Bible leads us to the first three chapters of the census in numbers. “What’s going on with all this calculation!? Is there a spiritual good with 46,500 rubies?
The Book of Numbers can begin and (almost) end with its eyes fixed on the per capita count, but among these inspired government documents, the book traces Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land. It also tells of a journey full of hope and warning to which every Christian must pay attention. Here is a way to summarize the main idea of the whole book: Numbers teach us that when God is with His people, all they should fear is sin itself.
- With this main idea in mind.
- I want to offer six ways to serve God’s people by preaching through the Book of Numbers.
That’s what I’m saying. All types of Old Testament writing can be found in the numbers. Alongside these “compulsive” recordings of the census are some of the best-known stories of Sunday school (the donkeys who speak, does anyone remember?). codes of law, psalms, and prophecies? and all are mixed, sometimes terrifyingly, as when the great tragedy of kades’ rebellion is followed, without further explanation, by ceremonial recipes of food offerings.
Therefore, as you work with the book, you will help your congregation grow in its ability to understand and apply all kinds of scriptures you will find in the Old Testament. In addition, the built-in variety means that when your head starts to hurt when you try to understand the red heifer ritual in Numbers 19, you are just a chapter in the merib waters drama.
The apostles regularly evoke the desert generation, without comments or explanations. When Paul warns against idolatry, three of his four illustrations come from Numbers (1 Corinthians 10:7-10). Balaam’s story appears several times to present a variety of points: Immorality (Apoc 2. 14), Greed (Thu 11; 2Pe 2. 15) and MesianIc Wait (2Pe 1. 19). The comparison in Hebrews 3 is based on Numbers 12, and when Jesus points his crucifixion to Nicodemus, he assumes that Nicodemus knows Numbers 21 (John 3:14).
Of course, it is not necessary to know the under-history to understand the apostles’ arguments, but by working with numbers, from start to finish, and by repeatedly establishing these patterns of connections to the New Testament, you are showing your people how to read the Old Testament with Christian eyes.
As you and your congregation grow in this capacity, the Apostolic Instruction of the New Testament has a great impact. For example, in The Avengers, Tony Stark nicknamed Thor the “Point Break,” without explanation. My kids find it strange. But I find it funny because, having been a child in the ’90s, I understand the reference [i]. So when Paul says, without explanation, “Aren’t we testing the Lord, as some of them have already done and perished by snake bites?”(1C 10. 9), our people will do one of two things, or do you think, it’s strange?How did you test Jesus? Or might you think, “Muttering Jesus by saying he doesn’t do enough could kill me?”(Nb 21. 5). Teaching by numbers will help develop the last answer as the most biblical.
Here is one aspect of the purpose of these census records: when Moses conducted the second census, all the people in the first census were dead; died at trial because of their lack of faith in Kades (Numbers 14). without delving into some stories, he reveals the plot of God’s centrality among his people and the persistent and fatal failure of people to trust them.
You realize that the great sin of rebellion, which led to God’s rejection, was the result of the visibly banal sin of whispering against God. You see Moses demonstrating that an act of presumption is sufficient to be duly condemned. are important, but not decisive: involuntary sin is always a sin. You see that God’s holiness is the greatest threat to God’s people because we are decidedly profane. In a culture of easy belief, Numbers reminds us that those who are called by the name of Christ must be holy and hate sin. Those who just use the label? Christian, as long as they persist in an unfaithful rebellion, will they eventually die?For eternity.
Are the roles and purposes of priests a recurring theme in Numbers?perhaps the most remarkable priestly duty is to protect. Eighteen times Aaron, his sons, and the Levites must watch over their priesthood, tabernacle, and other tribes (Numbers 3. 7). But that raises the question: What were they protecting the congregation from?Gods!
Approaching the holy God without being called and impure means death. The priesthood served the nation of Israel by avoiding presumption and recklessness in the Lord’s approach. In many contexts, a believer’s priesthood has been used to separate believers from each other: “If we are all priests who have access to God through Jesus, then why do we need someone else?”It’s all right, but you can be wrong. We hope that the Book of Numbers will reconfigure the image of the priesthood in your congregation by restoring it to what it should be, that is, an office to serve one another, growing together in piety.
Israel’s journey revealed its own lack of faith, but it also demonstrated God’s power. Many things could have destroyed this nation of newly freed slaves, without military training and without supplies for a trip to the desert, but they survived. The hostile infertility of a foodless desert, the hostile aggression of veteran armies in search of easy prey, and the hostile prayers of a prophet with a success story, none of this was a problem for the God of Israel.
Once again, census records are educational, but this time with hope. Despite the sin of his people, God’s plans have never changed. The first generation was disqualified, but Numbers ends with a second-generation winning streak, anticipating his success under Joshua. All we should fear is our own sin, but that is what we should fear. God will preserve His people through all the threats of the world against him. Almost the entire first generation died in the desert, but two faithful spies and God- Fearing?Joshua and Caleb, were they saved. God knows how to preserve His saints from eternal evil, both yesterday and today.
If the greatest threat to God’s people is the same holiness of God, our greatest hope is the righteousness that was given to us in Jesús. Si the only threat to God’s people is our own sin, what remains to be feared if we have been forgiven?In Christ?
God has shown, with power, that anyone who intends to approach him without going through high priest’s ations does so at the expense of his life (Numbers 16). But God went further, proving that He would do more than just avoid death through the high priest God would use his high priest to bring dead things back to life (Numbers 17).
When the holy God is with his people, all we must fear is our own sin, so it is so good news that our humble God became flesh, lived, and died among his people to make atonement for their sins. But Jesus did more than just prevent us from dying in God’s presence. Does his resurrection give us the hope that one day we will live with him?Safe and forever.
I found Dennis Cole’s commentary on the numbers (New American Commentary series) useful for some of my most detailed questions. However, certainly the most authorized resource is the use of Numbers, made by the Apostles of the New Testament, there is no doubt whether you are looking for this resource with effort!
[i] NdT: In reference to the film “Point Break” in Brazil?Emotion Hunters? (1991).