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Numbers chapter 9 I had mentioned that we're probably not going to look at every jot and tit of the Book of Numbers tonight we're going to just introduce the book and I want to read a section from Numbers chapter 9 if you're familiar with Numbers Chapter 1 you should be thankful that we're not reading that it's a long census with a lot of difficult names but I want to look at chapter 9 specific specifically verses 15 to 23 and we'll notice later how that connects to some previous things in the penit so beginning in Leviticus uh I'm sorry numbers 9 at verse 15 now on the day that the Tabernacle was raised up the cloud covered the Tabernacle the tent of the testimony from evening until morning it was above the Tabernacle like the appearance of fire so it was always the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of Fire by night whenever the cloud was taken up from above the Tabernacle after that the children of Israel would journey and in the place where the cloud settled there the children of Israel would pitch their tents at the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey and at the command of the Lord they would Camp as long as the clouds stayed above the Tabernacle they remain encamped even when the cloud continued long many days above the Tabernacle the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord and did not Journey so it was when the cloud was above the Tabernacle a few days according to the command of the Lord they would remain encamped and according to the command of the Lord they would Journey so it was when the cloud remained only from evening until morning when the cloud was taken up in the morning then they would Journey whether by day or by Night whenever the cloud was taken up they would Journey whether it was 2 days a month or a year that the cloud remained above the Tabernacle the children of Israel would remain encamped and not Journey but when it was taken up they would Journey at the command of the Lord they remain encamped and at the command of the Lord they journeyed they kept the charge of the Lord at the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses amen well as we look at introduction with reference to scripture typically we consider matters like the author of the particular book the date of composition the various themes and various connections to other books and so that's what we're going to take up tonight first we'll look at the title the author and date and then secondly the contents of the book itself now the title numbers comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament you maybe have heard of that the septu aent the Latin Vulgate also does that as well and numbers is taken from the two censuses that we find in chapters 1 to 4 and then the second census in chapter 26 so numbers basically arithmetic the the various numbers involved in counting the various people here in the nation of Israel now in the Hebrew Canon the title of the book is in the wilderness and that's from the first few words in numbers chap 1 and verse one and that's a good summary statement of what the Book of Numbers is about it's the children of Israel in the wilderness going going basically from point A to point B remember God calls them out of Egypt he redeems them by the power of His might and he has done that so that he can give them the land of promise that he had spoken to Abraham Isaac Jacob so numbers records those wanderings from point A to point B now in terms of the author there's no reason to denounce Mosaic authorship Moses wrote this along with the other four books in the pentat so Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy the fivefold work of Moses we call it the pentat and then in terms of the time frame uh one man says the Book of Numbers opens with Israel still at sin if you turn back to numbers chap 1 specifically in verse one now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of sin and if you look up just a bit to Leviticus 27 at verse 34 the these are the Commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Si so you see that continuity between the books of Leviticus and numbers so they're presently at SI they don't leave until chapter 10 and verse 11 but back to the quote The Book of Numbers opens with Israel still at sin one month after the erection of the Tabernacle and 13 months after the completion of The Exodus the book ends with Israel in the plains of Moab some 40 years later you can turn to chapter 36 verse 13 again you'll see how that's situated in the larger work called the pentat so in chapter 36 at verse uh 13 we read these are the Commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded the children of Israel by the hand of Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho and of course that's where the book of Deuteronomy takes place so it's in the plains of Moab the Wilderness generation the successive generation the second generation is gathered in the uh Plains of Moab and basically Deuteronomy is a series of exhortations given by God through Moses to the children of Israel to prep them for the conquest so the promise of God to Abraham in terms of him giving him the land of promise is brought to fruition gradually through God's grace through his preserving power and according to the faithfulness of his spoken word so Deuteronomy then is the Preparatory work before they go under General Joshua into the land to conquer the land as God had given them command so we see that in this particular book it is something of a transition as I said a point A to point B but one man says it is thus The Narrative of a spiritual pilgrimage and when we read the book of numbers again there's lots of lots of names in terms of the censuses or Sensei if that's the plural form of censuses it's probably censuses but just a little joke there um but with reference to the to the to the the data the historical narrative and the names and the numbers and the various persons and the various things going on there's a lot of legislation uh uh repetition of laws that had preceded in The Book of Leviticus laws that would be crucial as they enter into the promised land but there are narratives in the book of numbers that we are very much associated with that are very encouraging for the people of God so that whole spiritual pilgrimage Motif I think is very helpful as we approach The Book of Numbers we see the lows of Israel and more lows of Israel and even more lows of Israel but the book ultimately ends on a positive note and again that's not owing to Israel and their faithfulness but rather to the faithfulness of God almighty so one of those particular situations is in John 3 when Jesus says just as Moses lifted up the serpent so must the son of man also be lifted up and that's coming right from The Book of Numbers It's a Wonderful analogy of the healing power of our Lord Jesus Christ when God sends those fiery serpents to the grumbling Israelites and they are bitten and they are plagued God's command to Moses is to construct this uh Brazen uh uh serpent lifted up in the wilderness and all those who look to that serpent will live so again Jesus invokes that as a wonderful analogy with reference to his crosswork on Calvary such that all those who look to him in faith will have everlasting life the balum oracles those should prove to be very fun uh bit difficult when you get to balum I think we're most familiar with balam's ass but balam's prophecies are a lot more difficult to wrap one's mind around but I think the emphasis there is basically again on the future promise or the promise of a future Messiah that would make good the promises of God that are yay and amen in him it's not the faithfulness of Israel that is going to land them in blessing it is ultimately the faithfulness of the true Israel of God our Lord Jesus Christ so spiritual pilgrimage is a good way for us to Pro approach this particular book now in terms of the contents we're going to spend the most of the time tonight here I want to look at the emphasis on the journey as a means by which to outline the book in other words when you come to a large work of narrative it's good to have an outline some sort of framework some sort of a way to approach it so that you can sort of consolidate the data and put it in its proper places if you think in terms of Journey The Narrative is pretty straightforward so you have the preparation for departure in chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 10 verse 10 so they're in Mount Si and then they need to move on to the land of promise so that's necessitating movement on their part they're going to have to Journey the second block is the journey from Mount Si to Kadesh Bara so that's in chap 10 verse 11 to chap 12: 16 so from sin to Kadesh Bara and then in chapter 13 to 19 you basically have movement in and around Kadesh Bara and then the third movement by way of the journey is the journey from Kadesh Bara to The Plains of Moab so that takes place in chapter 20 verse 1 to chapter 22 verse one properly but then the movement in and around the plains of Moab is all the way from 22 to 36 so that's sort of a focus on the journey but there's another way to approach this particular particular book in just a two-fold division and the first is the failure of the old generation in chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 25: 18 so you had those that were called out of the land of Egypt through the power of God most high you had them gathered together at SI you have them then launch into this Wilderness wandering and then you have the Judgment of God because along the way they sin most specifically in chapters 13 and 14 which we'll look at in a moment but you can look at this book but as the failure of the old generation 111 to 2518 and then the beginning of the new generation in 261 to 3613 hence the two censuses you have the census of all Israel in chapter 1 well of course that generation is obliterated except for Joshua and Caleb and Moses so in chapter 26 it is necessary to once again have a census of all the men that are age 20 or above that are ready for war now thirdly we ought to connect the book to the rest of the pentat and I think that's pretty simple basically the Book of Genesis I mean there's a lot going on in Genesis but relative to the connection here with numbers I would suggest the promise to the Patriarchs in Genesis is foremost we need to make sure we understand that that what happens in Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy and then subsequent history in Israel is all predicated upon the promise of God to the Patriarchs in the Book of Genesis you've got the promise to the Patriarchs in Genesis you then have secondly the kingdom of priests in Exodus remember God says that he's going to make them a kingdom of priests they're to mediate the blessing of Yahweh to the Nations around them now they fail in that particular Endeavor but was the purpose thirdly with reference to Leviticus you have the Holy people of God not holy in terms of their perfect conduct but holy in terms of them having been separated from the Pagan Nations around them by God the laws that we saw there the ceremonial laws the things respecting worship the things respecting Holiness and sanctity those things were to identify the children of Israel as a separate people from the Heathen and the Pagan that they lived amongst and then Deuteronomy is ultimately the inheritors of the promised land so again those exhortations are calculated to encourage the children of Israel such that when they depart from The Plains of Moab into the land of Canaan they are fit and ready and able to go to take the land as God had commanded that brings us again to the Book of Joshua wherein we see a positive reflection upon the conquest and then the Book of Judges where it's a more negative reflection upon the conquest so when Joshua looks like they're doing great judges not so great they didn't fully dispossess the land of the Canaanites as was the command of God and thus they were molested and affected and and and hindered by Canaanites in the land but even more so in the book of Jes the children of Israel ape the conduct or they imitate the conduct of the Canaanites around them so they increasingly become like the Canaanites and right for the Judgment of God Almighty so that's kind of the flow from Genesis to Joshua then fourthly we ought to appreciate a specific connection to Exodus and Leviticus a specific connection to Exodus and Leviticus you can turn to Exodus 40 Exodus 40 we looked at this several times as we went through the Book of Leviticus in fact we connected Leviticus to this particular section we're going to do the same thing with numbers connect it to this particular section remember that in the book of Exodus it basically is broken down in three parts first you have Deliverance God powerfully delivers the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage in chapters 1 to 19 then you have demand God's commands from sin in chapters 20 to 24 and then you have have dwelling God's command to them to build a tabernacle so that he may uh dwell in their midst and that takes up chapters 25 to 40 so in chapter 40 they erect the Tabernacle they get it into practice and then at the end of Exodus 40 we notice that the glory of God comes down he comes to dwell in the midst of the people notice in verse 34 then the cloud covered the Tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle and Moses was not able to enter the Tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle so basically what you have here is God's purpose to dwell in the midst of his people in fact turn back for just a moment to chapter 25 chapter 25 verse 8 let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among you that's repeated a couple of times along the way so basically Exodus ends with the fruition of that God now dwells in the midst of them but if you read the text you'll notice a particular tension God May dwell in the midst of them but they're not able to enter into his presence so it's a dwelling place but it has not yet become a meeting place and that's the purpose the D Tabernacle is the place where God dwells among his people so that they may have access to him and communion with him now remember the Tabernacle and then later the temple they do not contain God Solomon makes this very clear in the dedication of the temple in First Kings chapter 8 there is nothing on Earth there is no creature that can contain God when we talk about God's dwelling in the Tabernacle and then the temple we have in our minds a special manifestation of God's presence here on Earth and that's what the Tabernacle and the temple do so here we've got attention at the end of the book of Exodus we have the dwelling place but it is not yet a meeting place and if you notice it's Moses who's not able to enter the Tabernacle of meeting Moses is probably the godliest guy in all of Israel Moses was upright Moses is called the friend of God in Exodus 33 and yet Moses himself cannot enter in to the dwelling place of God because of the glory of God that tells us something of the Holiness of God it tells us something of his Supreme majesty and his sovereignty and his excellence and his power but it as well tells us something about the sinfulness of man even a holy man like Moses was not a perfect man there was still uncleanness there was still impurity so Moses couldn't just wander in the dwelling place of God well that's what brings us to the Book of Leviticus that tension upon which the book of Exodus ends is solved for us in the Book of Leviticus specifically through sacrifice and priesthood and that is primarily what you see in the first nine chapters of The Book of Leviticus so we have this problem a holy God that's not the problem but a holy God dwelling in the midst of a sinful people in order for the sinful people to enjoy meeting with God there needs to be sacrifice there needs to be priesthood there needs to be mediation there needs to be cleanliness there needs to be Purity there needs to be clean hands there needs to be a way of access into the very presence of God Almighty so as you move through the Book of Leviticus again that's predominantly what you see you see the laws or legislation concerning sacrifice in the first several chapters you see a priesthood established and instituted for the express purpose of facilitating that Dwelling Place becoming a meeting place you see that achieved or realized at the end of chapter n notice specifically at Verse 18 he also killed the bull and the ram as sacrifices of Peace offerings which were for the people and Aaron's sons presented to him the blood which he sprinkled all around on the Altar and the fat from the bull and the ram the fatty tail what covers the entrails and the kidneys and the fatty lobe attached to the liver and they put the fat on the breasts then he burned the fat on the altar but the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved as a wave offering before the Lord as Moses had commanded then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people blessed them and came down from offering the sin offering the burnt offering and peace offerings and Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt off offering and the fat on the altar when all the people saw it they shouted and fell on their faces so through sacrifice and through priesthood a sinful people is able to enter into the presence of God hopefully you're thinking in terms of New Covenant and you'll see how all of this prefigures typifies and foreshadows the sacrifice and priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ in fact much of the New Testament specifically the book uh the book of Hebrews reflect s often on these pental books in order to demonstrate how Christ fulfills all that we see in these books of Moses now of course in chapter 10 you have a uh priesthood that abuses their calling and God sends forth fire to kill them and to judge them but in essence in terms of man's approach a sinful man's approach to a holy God as Michael Morales says Israel's sin must be dealt with expirated only cleansed Humanity May belong to Yahweh the way to God then is through a bloody knife and a burning Altar and another significant feature here in the Book of Leviticus is in Leviticus chapter 16 Leviticus chapter 16 deals with the day of atonement and the day of atonement happens once in a year and the high priest goes into the holy of holies the high priest alone no one else and the high priest alone with all of his Royal without all of his Royal Guard he goes in simply in linen and he goes in with the blood of a lamb or the blood of a goat so that he can pour it on The Mercy Seat probably two or three times to make atonement for the children of Israel for his own house for the Altar for the very Tabernacle itself and then he takes a second goat and he lays his hands upon that that goat and he confesses the transgressions of Israel and then he drives that goat out into the Wilderness and so what you see there again is very typical with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ in Christ we have blood atonement in Christ we have the experation of the removal of sin that picture of the goat being driven out into the Into the Wilderness is a wonderful emblem of what Christ does in terms of our own sinfulness so you see how Leviticus resolves the tension that Exodus poses at the end in chapter 40 but if you go back to Exodus chapter 40 we'll see how it links to the Book of Numbers notice in Exodus 40 again I'll just reread that section and then follow along or follow from there then the cloud covered the Tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle and Moses was not able to enter the Tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle so Leviticus deals with that tension the prescription of sacrifice and priesthood cleanses man such that he can enter into the presence of God such that he can dwell in the midst of God but then notice in verses 36 to four uh 38 this connects to the Book of Numbers whenever the cloud was taken up from above the Tabernacle the children of Israel would go onward in all their Journeys but if the cloud was not taken up then they did not Journey till the day that it was taken up for the cloud of the Lord was above the Tabernacle by day and fire was over it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel through out all their Journeys so from this vantage point in Exodus 40 specifically veres 34-38 we see the predicate for the Book of Leviticus and then the Book of Numbers we see it built right in here and then that section that I read in chapter 9: 15 to 23 you ought to hear reminiscences of this particular passage in terms of Journey in terms of the glory cloud with reference to the children of Israel so guidance for the people of Israel given by God through his dwelling among among them so Leviticus deals with how do we uh meet God and then with reference to numbers how do we see God's presence Among Us and again that Tabernacle is the visible representation on Earth of God's nearness to his people and so that idea of guidance that idea of God's direct inter vention over the children of Israel and their Journeys to not only make the promise to Abraham way back in Genesis but to see it through to fruition such that the children of Israel will enter into the promised land conquer it and possess it at least for a time now again when they act like Canaanites God will dispossess them from the land he does that in 7:22 through the through the Assyrian Empire with reference to the north northern tribes he does it in 587 586 through Babylon to the southern tribe so when the children of Israel imitate the Canaanites around them we see that God's law is consistent he's not capricious he's not arbitrary he doesn't just get on a whim and say well you know I don't like those Canaanites anymore I want Israel to go in and dispossess the land no God used Israel who were not altogether righteous to as an instrument of judgment upon the Canaanites who were even less righteous and then when Israel Apes their conduct then he's going to use Assyria and he's going to use Babylon and in ad70 he uses the Romans to engage in the Covenant curses indicated in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26 the the the Bible fits together beautifully the Bible is a whole the connections are very very strong and when we come to books like this hopefully we see that and it encourages us in terms of the the the veracity of scripture it's truthfulness but divine inspiration men didn't just happen upon these thoughts and and sort of put it down on paper this is of God all scripture is given by inspiration of God so notice the guidance of God for the people just a couple of sub points here the presence of God in the camp of Israel so in those early chapters and again this is basically 1:1 to uh 10:10 tonight so you probably never thought you'd get that much of a block of narrative in a Bible study though I'm sure we have done that somewhere else at some point in the penud but oh probably scabs and sores and whatnot in The Book of Leviticus I don't know going through yellow sores and what the priest pronouncement was just in seem unto edification and I'm not a priest or a levitical priest some of that stuff is a bit confusing this side of the new Co in this new covenant era but the presid presence of God in the camp of Israel one of the emphases is now God is dwelling in the midst of his people via Tabernacle and so then there are specific instructions in terms of north and south and east and west in terms of tribal placement God comes to dwell amongst the people and the people are the people of Israel represented in those tribal groups and so we see them sort of gathered around in terms of life in terms of religion and then ultimately in their Journeys the Tabernacle is placed and they resume those positions in terms of the camp Morales says the Wilderness sojourn by the way I quoted uh Michael Morales a few times in The Book of Leviticus I've already quoted him here on Leviticus is a great biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus I I highly recommend it and then I don't want to say lucky for me but providentially for me he's released a commentary on the book of numbers and thus far I've only read a bit of the read the introduction it's very good volume one is out volume two is coming out but he makes this observation the Wilderness soj was the context for Israel to learn to live as a Covenant Community so they're brought out of Egypt they are then gathered at the base of Si there they receive a multitude of law was specifically 255 to 40 in terms of the Tabernacle the sanctuary The Dwelling Place of God well now it comes to pass now the Covenant Community who had sworn Fidelity to Yahweh in Exodus 24 is all cohesive and gathered at his feet so the Wilderness sojourn was the context for Israel to learn to live as a Covenant Community as the multitudes redeemed out of Egypt were organized into a four square en cment embodying the polity structure and nature of the Sinai Covenant a community where Yahweh dwell among his people as Sovereign and intriguingly when you get to the Book of Ezekiel for instance and he engages in the or or he describes that Visionary temple in chapters 40 to 48 all kinds of reminiscences about this situation that we find in terms of the tribes gathered in the sanctuary near the sanctuary of God and then I think John the in the Book of Revelation in chapters 21 and 22 is drawing from that as well so what you find here in the Book of Numbers is somewhat a paradigm for all future tabernacling and templ in terms of God and his people Morales again says while the Covenant is ratified in Exodus and the sacrificial system is legislated in Leviticus it is not until numbers where the Covenant Community is realized in its archetypal form that the story of Israel's learning how to submit to yahweh's leadership through his newly appointed offices and institutions is narrated so this is the beginning as it were again we know it goes back to Genesis but you see development you see pieces put being put into place well when we get to the Book of Numbers the pieces are in place the Covenant Community is assembled the Covenant Community now has a particular task in mind to go into the land of Canaan and dispossess the land according to the promise of God to the Patriarchs it's a very wonderful and cohesive uh look at the pentti and then with reference to the camp basically of matters concerning the people and the camp in chapters 1 to six we'll just do a bit of a fly over here so matters concerning the people in the camp in chapters 1 to six and then various matters concerning the Tabernacle itself in Chapter 7 to 10 and so again all these pieces in place and then we see God's guidance very specifically throughout the Book of Numbers we see his guidance in the first place in the midst of various troubles in chapter 11 they're hungry well The God Who dwells among them and The God Who is Sovereign provides for them you'll see various leadership struggles in the book of numbers and again God makes clear his mind mind relative to who is to lead the people of Israel so you've got leadership struggles in chapters 126 and 17 and then you see this Danger from without so you've got the internal problems that typically always face a a people group but there's usually external problems as well there's adversaries and with reference to the adversaries you see the emphasis on that in chapters 13 and 14 so basically in chapters 13 and 14 you have a reconnaissance mission Moses sends out spies to Recon the land of Canaan remember they're going to war they're going to battle they're going to dispossess the land of the Canaanites and as any good military strategist would they would try and find out what kind of weapons the enemy has what kind of resources does he have to to to try and resist our Invasion attempt is the land worth it I mean do we even really want to go into this land if it's a bad land and it's not what God had promised so that that fear of adversaries regardless of God's dwelling in the midst of them is one of the predicates as to why God destroys that first generation and then with reference to uh uh guidance of God all the way into the promised land so as as I mentioned earlier you can look at two things the book of numbers in two big Parts the the the the demise of the old generation and then the rise of the new generation the fact that there's the rise of the new generation again it's not owing to the goodness of the people it is owing to the goodness and the graciousness of God Almighty step dster is commenting on the latter section of the book the new generation and he says the remainder of the book with its stress on a census of the new generation in chapter 26 preparations for the occupation of the land in chapters 27 and 36 the transition of leadership from Moses to Joshua in chapter 27 and a description of the boundaries of Canaan in chapter 34 seems to be more positive so we must not miss that there's a lot of sin and there's a lot of judgment and there's a lot of issues facing Israel in the book of numbers but the fact that numbers ends with a generation gathered on the plains of Moab to be exhorted by Moses and then to enter into the promised land shows us once again the faithfulness of the God who promised to Abraham Isaac and Jacob that he would give them a good land and then finally I want to just focus on the function of numbers as a whole so we've seen its connection to the pentat in a general way a specific connection to the book of Levi uh Exodus and Leviticus but with reference to the function of numbers as a whole and this is not an exhaustive list it's not an authoritative list it's just some thoughts for us to consider as we move through this book I'd say the overarching theme has to do with God the overarching theme has to do with God of course we see the sins of the people of course we see some of the triumphs of the people we see all of that to be sure but I would suggest first we see the presence of God in the midst of his people and again this is helpful for us as New Covenant Believers because we have access through priesthood through sacrifice to the living and true God Jesus is the true temple of God Jesus is why there was a Tabernacle in a temple this is why you've probably heard me say on many occasions that this idea of among some Christians that we need a rebuilt temple in a revived Roman Empire is absolutely contrary to biblical Revelation that is to go backward in Redemptive history the Tabernacle and the temple existed to point to Christ once Christ is here we don't go back to Temple we don't go back to Tabernacle when you ask the question about ezekiel's Visionary temple in Ezekiel 40-48 he's not talking about a rebuilt Temple and a revived Roman Empire he is preaching Christ he is preaching the gospel he is preaching the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in the language and in the conventions that the people of God would have understood at that particular time so we've got the presence of God in the midst of his people secondly the necessity of God for victory over their enemies they'd learned that lesson in the Book of Numbers they were going to need that lesson when they went up against all the various IES that were going to be occupying the land of Canaan and when we uh cam read it on on uh on Sunday night Joshua chapter 10 the Lord God fought for Israel that wasn't the first time in the conquest led by Joshua you'll see it throughout the Book of Numbers I would suggest thirdly the promise of God as the basis for the relationship it's not their Merit it's not their lawke keeping it's not their goodness it's not their their sanctity it is rather God's goodness or rather God's promise that serves as the basis for the relationship and as I mentioned vaguely earlier the the Oracles of balum seem to suggest that it's not more obedience on the part of Israel that's not what's going to gain them or keep them in the favor of God well in one sense it is but not Israel those people the true Israel of God which is Jesus Christ again I think balum is preaching the promise of God in Jesus Christ now in a lot more difficult way to get than say a Romans 1 or a Romans 4 or a Galatians 1 and 2 but nevertheless when balam is sent by B to curse the children of Israel God blesses the children of Israel and throughout balam's oracles we get glimmers and glimpses of a blessed Messiah to come that is going to save his people from their sins and then another overarching theme so presence of God necessity of God for victory promise of God as the basis for for the relationship and then I would suggest fourthly the commands of God to regulate the conduct of the people the commands of God to regulate the conduct of the people how do you keep this group together how do you have Tribal allotments you know dwelling right near that Sanctuary how do you have it such that when the glory Cloud lifts and they're called The Journey how do you have it when they go into battle that that that without some cohesiveness without some legislation without some overarching God who is controlling them and I think that's one of the issues is that he's preserving the nation of Israel to keep the line clean and pure with reference to the the coming Messiah you see it brought into Jeopardy along the way in the in the Old Testament books but it's always kept and it's always kept by the power of God for the express purpose that the lion of the tribe of Judah would come he had to be a davidic king had to come from the line of David well if you would have left it up to Israel and this is what happens in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah what do they do they go out and they marry pagans well Ezra and Nehemiah they don't want Ezra says no you need to put those pagans away not gun ahead put away but separate from them why because you're going to jeopardize the line of the Messiah the the the seed of the woman promised in Genesis chapter 3 the the the blessed one of Israel that's going to come to redeem us from our sins this body had to be held together and it was held together by something a whole lot better and a whole lot greater and a whole lot more glor glorious they than them than them than they themselves they would have lost it 100 times over but God preserved them and God kept them now finally the historical situation just to run through some of the contents in the book not verse by verse but just some of the major themes first the command concerning the censuses that's how the book starts with a census that's probably not the way we'd start a book uh we'd build up to that we might paint some background data but again it's close connection with Leviticus Exodus prior and Genesis prior there doesn't really need to be a buildup but specifically you've got an a census in the first generation in chapter 1 and following and then you've got the second census in chapter 26 dumbrell says a new census called for in numbers 26 indicates that the 40 Years of wandering are over and a new beginning is heralded but turn to numbers chap 1 so that we can see the purpose for the census I don't know cuz I don't think I looked at it when it came to my house whenever it was a few years ago but from what I understand they're asking do you have spare bedrooms and those sorts of questions in the Canadian census is that accurate has anybody ever seen a census that's kind of like you know a Walmart flyer you don't look at the censuses but but very invasive very uh uh none of your business type stuff like I'm a citizen in this body politic i' like the right to privacy I don't want big brother to know there's an empty room in my house so he can ship an immigrant in there that might eat my cat or dog sorry I just had to throw that if anybody's up on the news but but but with reference to the censuses in the Book of Numbers it's very specific look at chapter 1 verse one now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of sin in the Tabernacle of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt saying take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families by their father's houses according to the number of names every male individually from 20 years old and above all who are able to go to war in Israel that's the purpose for the census when you look at chapter 26 and the second census that is the same purpose notice in 264 take a census of the people from 20 years old and above just as the Lord commanded Moses and the children of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt so it's the uhjust as the Lord commanded Moses the census is specific it is with reference to male fighting persons why because they're going into Canaan and the Canaanites aren't going to hand them the land the Canaanites aren't going to say hey Israelites are here honey pack your bags let's leave everything we've worked hard for and built with our own two hands and let's just give it up for the Israelites that's not going to happen every bit of ground that they get in the the land of Canaan is going to be bloodied with Canaanite blood now this is the command of God remember we've got the stipulation for holy war very clearly laid out in Deuteronomy 7 as well in the book of Exodus so this mandate by God to go into the land of Canaan and dispossess the land of the Canaanites that dispossession wasn't through invitation it wasn't through paying them off it was through conquering that's why we call it the conquest and so as they are moving through the Wilderness they're going to have some skirmishes they're going to have some battles they're going to have some fights there are going to be people in you know in their Journey their sojourn that they're going to have to deal with but when they get to the land of Canaan and they go into that land they're going to need to be prepared to fight and again how do you move an army if you don't know who you've got how do you move an army if you don't know who's able to function so it's a beautiful thing God is uh uh over sovereignly these people but he uses means he uses the leadership of Moses he puts down those who challenge moses' leadership uh with reference to to Joshua he supplies a successor to Moses so God the Lord rules and Reigns to be sure Po and it is Direct in terms of a of a theocracy but it's mediated through priests it's mediated through a king it's mediated or king-like figure and again all of that to teach us that the champion to come is going to be a prophet priest and King so what God is doing in the Old Testament is basically telling us what the Messiah is going to look like when he comes in the new in the New Covenant so you've got the command concerning the censuses the purpose for the censuses and then thirdly the preparation of the people for life in the promised land they've gotten lots of legislation in Exodus and Leviticus remember that first generation died off I'm not suggesting that the second generation didn't have access to what they had been taught but it is incumbent upon this second generation to learn these things and again that's much of what the book of Deuteronomy why it repeats much of the book of Exodus is so that the people can learn how to function for their tenure in the land and many of the laws given that we call judicial laws or uh uh the the political use of the the the I'm sorry the judicial use of the law uh chapters 20 uh 21 to 23 in the book of Exodus and then again lots of them in the book of Deuteronomy are to govern the nation of Israel while they while they while they are in the land it's why our confession says those judicial laws are no longer binding on the people of God in the New Covenant because we're not uh uh that Commonwealth of Israel is no more but it goes on to say there's a general Equity you can appreciate what God does through those judicial laws and and put them into practice in a way in the New Covenant but a strict one for one judicial law Exodus 21-23 carry over into the New Covenant Church and a strict parallel way that's a misstep that's not something that is uh uh a legitimate with reference to the word of God so then fourthly you've got the failure of the first generation and the SE uh success of the second generation turn over to numbers 13 I've alluded to it we should just look at why this was the case and why it was that God judged them so severely now as I said it's a recon mission they go into the land and the initial report is it's a good land but there's some big bad people then they revise their report and they say good land big PE or I'm sorry they the the the the 10 spies say good land big people the good spy or the Joshua and Caleb rather say good land big people but bigger God we we've got this and then the other spies re Revis their report they say bad land big people no chance so of course when when the spies go back to report to the congregation of Israel as you might imagine the congregation of Israel doesn't listen to Joshua and Caleb they don't listen to good land big people but bigger God they listen to the 10 spies who say bad land big people no chance now what this indicates is a lack of faith look at how the section begins in chapter 1 um chapter 13:1 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying send men to spy out the land of Canaan which I am giving to the children of Israel this was settled this was a done deal Abraham Isaac Jacob they all received the promise they're in this very Vantage Point presently because of this promise they're not there again because they decided it might be a good thing for us to go and try to dispossess the land of the Canaan no it was all predicated on this gracious promise of god notice Caleb understood this verse 30 chapter 13 then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it why because our God we have seen him we have known his presence we have witnessed his power of course we can take this we've got this so so that's why the Judgment of God falls upon that generation the congregation of Israel without any faith whatsoever in the promise of God listen to the 10 grumbling whining spies and basically said there's no hope for us and of course Moses intercedes uh stays the hand of God according to the manner of men at least for a time but there is Judgment upon them I would suggest fifthly with reference to the Book of Numbers it's programmatic and by programmatic I mean that it's a program for the subsequent H happenings to the nation of Israel I mean when you look at the prophets you get the same movement you get lots of problems lots of complaints lots of grumbling lots of sin and a lot of Grace on the part of God most high there would be a host of failures in the subsequent history of of Israel but the faithfulness of God him uh would likewise be obvious I would suggest sixth the presence of God with his people in the wilderness I'm going to end tonight quickly or soon uh on a on a statement that affirms that but the presence of God with his people in the wilderness that's a good theme for us in this new covenant setting again not one for one parallel we are not old Covenant Israel America is not old Covenant Israel I know a lot of Americans like to think that they're old Covenant Israel but they're not the the the one for one strict parallel is not there but we see patterns we see similarities we see that in the lives of God's people in this present evil age it feels at times like a Wilderness it feels at times like we're strangers in a very strange land if you're not feeling that presently I want to give you a shake and ask how I mean the things that you see on a regular BAS bis are pretty perplexing so in one sense in a New Covenant setting and in our Arena we can look back on the book of numbers and see hey you know even in the midst of the Wilderness even when it seemed like they were destitute even when it seemed like they were just aimlessly wandering around God was present with them God was in the midst with them dumbrell again says the glory cloud is thus God's manifested presence serving both to save and to judge Israel during this Wilderness period and then another uh emphasis in terms of the historical situation is the faithfulness of God with reference to the promise to the Patriarchs if you've read numbers recently or if you've ever read numbers you'll know that there was a man by the name of zahad who had daughters and of course zahad died and he had no sons and so the daughters come and say hey do we get a share in the tribal allotments it's not our fault I'm kind of reading between the lines here not our fault that dad died not our fault that there's no brothers this is mentioned twice isn't that interesting God's word takes up the the the downtrodden and poor these sisters that are that are wondering whether or not they will have a share in the land of promise you see it in chapter 27: 1-1 and then again in chap 36: 1-12 now on the one hand that makes for a nice moving delicate story God has a heart for these sisters who have no father and no brothers but what is the bigger Point Illustrated there is a land to inherit the promise of God to Abraham Isaac and Jacob has come to fruition it has come to realization the daughters of zahad are going to own property in the land promised by God to Abraham that is what you need to get from that and then uh finally the goodness of God In The Exodus and in the wilderness turn to the book of Deuteronomy in the first exhortation on the plains of Moab you've got sort of a historical review well not sort of of but you do have a historical review notice in Deuteronomy 1 and we'll just end here in verses 29 to 33 then I said to you do not be terrified or afraid of them the Lord your God who goes before you he will fight for you according to all he did for you in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness so you tried and proved your God in Egypt so the book of Exodus and in the wilderness The Book of Numbers where you saw how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son in all the way that you went until you came to this place yet for all that you did not believe the Lord your God who went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pit your tents to show you the way you should go in the fire by night and in the cloud by day so the goodness of God runs very loudly and clearly through Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy originating in Genesis fruition in the New Covenant with our Lord Jesus Christ so as Israel interpreted the Wilderness God had abandon them Moses says no that's absolutely positively not the case it was as it were like a man carrying his son that's how God tended to you in the wilderness so hopefully as we approach the book as we move on from chapter 10: 11 into that first journey we will see these things and hopefully be an encouragement to us well let me pray Our Father in Heaven thank you for your word thank you for its cohesiveness thank you for the history thank you for the theology thank you for the prophecy and how it points us to our Lord Jesus Christ and we bless you that as Paul says all the promises of God are yay and amen in him and we Rejoice that you have given us a saving interest in Christ Jesus our lord go with us now watch over all the brothers and the sisters in our local church bring us together on the Lord's day that we may we may worship you in spirit and in truth and we pray through Christ the Lord amen well any questions or comments on not