The tribe of Dan, positioned as the rear guard of Israel's camp, is characterized by its strategic northern location and its symbolic representation as a serpent, ready to strike. It traces Dan's history from its settlement in the north, its association with idolatry exemplified by Micah's ephod and Jeroboam's golden calf at Dan, and its eventual replacement by the Levites in the millennial temple. Despite Dan's historical failings and the tribe's absence from the sealed 144,000 in Revelation, the sermon highlights God's persistent grace, evidenced by Ezekiel's prophecy of Dan receiving an inheritance and Samson's sacrificial act. The message concludes by emphasizing that God's grace extends even to those who stray, offering salvation at life's end, and that all tribes, like the rear guard, are positioned by God to follow His lead.
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Well, I'd like us to turn in our Bibles, please, to the book of Numbers again so that we're reminded which tribes we're looking at this morning. We're looking at those who were the rear guard on the north side, encamped on the north side, and they're called the fourth rank. So Numbers chapter two, and we're reading from verse twenty-five. The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side by their armies, and the captain of the children of Dan shall be Ahiazer, the son of Amidshadai, and his host, and those that were numbered of them, were three-score and two thousand and seven hundred, and those that encamp by him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the captain of the children of Asher shall be Pagiel, the son of Okran.
and his host and those that were numbered of them were forty and one thousand and five hundred then the tribe of Naphtali and the captain of the children of Naphtali shall be Ahira the son of Enan and his host and those that were numbered of them were fifty and three thousand and four hundred verse thirty two these are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers, all those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty. Verse thirty-four, and the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward every one after their families according to the house of their fathers.
These three tribes are easy to remember as far as their location is concerned, because the three pieces of land that they ultimately settled are all in the north as well. You remember that Dan was given a piece of land down on the coast in the land of the Amorites, and he wasn't able to drive the Amorites out. The scripture says that they drove them up into the hills. They wouldn't let them come down into the valleys. And so the Danites packed their bags one more time and moved to the extreme north of the land of Israel, up to a town called in the Old Testament, Laish. And they renamed the town Dan.
And so the traditional length and breadth of the land of Israel has been from Dan to Beersheba. The tribe of Dan is described as a snake. Now we've been thinking about Judah as a lion, and we've been thinking about the wild, the donkey character of some, and we've been thinking about others in various scenes of animal life. Well, it's interesting that Dan is called a serpent. And we are told that like a serpent, it will cause horses to shy.
and the horsemen to be thrown back. It's quite a graphic scene, isn't it? And it pictures for us the strategic location of Dan on the northern approaches of the land. We have heard in recent years of a great deal of activity in what is called the Beka Valley, when they talk about the Soviets and the Syrians being in the Beka Valley. Well, the Beka Valley runs down right beside the city of Dan. And this particular location of the Danites, they were the forward line and all the attacks of the Syrians as they came down, and anyone else from the north, the Persians and so on, anyone traveling from the northeast would travel right by Dan.
And so they were the first line of defense in the land of Israel. and the city of Dan today. When you go up to Dan, there's a little pocket. The border comes along, drawing it your way. The border comes in from the coast like this, and then all of a sudden there's a big hump that goes way up into Lebanon, really, and then comes back down around through the Golan Heights, to the Sea of Galilee. And that hump, where the land goes up into Lebanon, shoves up into Lebanon, that was the territory of Dan. that little we did, surrounded on three sides by the enemy. And there it sat with Lebanon on the north and on the east, pardon me, the west, and then the land of Syria on the east.
And Dan was this little enclave up there with really very little help, very little protection. And so they had to be like a serpent, ready to attack at a moment. The people of Dan strategically were located there on the northern approaches to the land of Israel. Now, when Jacob blessed Dan, in Genesis forty-nine, he said, Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Now, we specifically read, at the beginning of Jacob's blessing, these words, This is what will happen in the last days.
This was what was going to happen to these tribes in the last days. Now, of course, this term the last days is a fairly elastic sort of a phrase, isn't it? The last days can mean the last age before the coming again of the Lord. And so we can honestly say that we are living in the last days. But as far as the last days of Israel are concerned, of course, this is speaking to us of the time of Israel's coming discipline and ultimate glory. And so it's interesting to notice that the Lord, through the prophecy of Jacob, specifically records that Dan shall be one of the tribes of Israel in the last days.
because that's going to be important to us when we get to the book of Revelation. In Judges chapter eighteen, we have that sad story of a man by the name of Micah who had built himself a little holy place and had designed for himself an ephod and had hired himself a priest. You remember the words that underscore the book of Judges? There was no king in Israel in those days, and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. And here's a man who's doing what he thinks is right. He had stolen money from his mother.
And in order to appease her, he built an ephod out of it. Some sort of form of worship, some object of veneration. And his mother first cursed whoever it was that stole the money. and then turned around and blessed him for having made this ethos. Well, he's doing all right with his hired preacher until along comes a group from Dan, and they offered the preacher a better contract. They said, why be a preacher over a little congregation if you could have a big congregation? And so, as the way is, he packed his bags and went with them. And the last pathetic scene in the life of this man.
He comes running down the hill, waving his hand, saying, stop, stop, don't take away my ephod and my priest. And they said, if you don't turn around and head back home, my friend, this will be your last day on earth. And so, sadly, he turns and heads back to his house and he says, what have I more? All his investment was in this false religion he had designed for himself. Well, the Danites took this man back and the ephod and they established according to Judges chapter eighteen idolatry in the land of Israel this was not the first time the Israelites had been guilty of idolatry but this was the first time that idolatry had been institutionalized it became the official religion of the Danites and we discover later when King Jeroboam separated from Rehoboam and established his northern kingdom in Samaria, taking with him ten of the tribes.
He was the first one to build an iron curtain. The iron curtain that ran between the land of Israel and Judah because he didn't want his people going down to Jerusalem to worship for fear there was a tendency for them to settle down there. And so he built golden calves and had them established, one at Bethel, which was the southern edge of the land of Israel, not the land of Judah now, but the northern kingdom of Israel, right down on the line between Israel and Judah. And the second one he established up at Dan. Many years later, the Lord Jesus, took his disciple for a little walk up into the north.
And I believe that he was transfigured on Mount Hermon. In any case, after that marvelous scene, when the night was turned today, they traveled back in a circuitous route and arrived at the city of Caesarea Philippi, which had been established where ancient Dan had been. when you go to that particular spot today you find the source one of the three sources of the Jordan River the Banias flows out of this massive rock face this rock face this solid rock wall has built into it little niches and these niches were used to place their idols there now the name Banias is actually pan yes but the Arabs can't say P they say B if I tell you the story about the Arab on the phone he was talking and he said spelled out a word for the fellow and the fellow said well is that a P or a B he said
well it's a B can't say anything else it's a B it's a B like in Bombay not the Bombay in India the Bombay in Italy well They can't say P, so they say B. So Pan was the Greek god. You see, when the Greeks came in, they tried to paganize everything. And so the name Dan was changed to Pan. And Pan was the god of sheep and shepherds. And so they... gave this name to this place, Pan.
Of course, the word Pan has to do with all the gods. Pantheistic means all the gods. And here on this rock face were little niches committed to the pagan gods. Dan, down through the ages, was characterized by this pagan idol worship. Now, right at that spot, The Lord Jesus asked an important question. He said, who do men say that I am? Well, they said, some say you're Jeremiah, perhaps because they saw him weep so often. Some say you're John the Baptist raised from the dead, and some say you're Elijah.
But then he said, who do you say that I am? And Peter in that ringing confession said, thou art the Christ. the anointed, the sent one of God. And then he added, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Standing there before all of those dead gods, those pagan gods, those little idols that had eyes but couldn't see and mouths that couldn't speak, he said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And so the Lord Jesus responded to him and said, now Peter, the Lord had to reveal that to you.
Flesh and blood didn't reveal that to you. And upon this rock, standing before that rock committed to pagan idols, upon this rock, the rock Christ Jesus, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. It was right there in Dan. in the seat, in the heart of idolatrous Israel, that that great declaration was made, that on the rock Christ Jesus, the church would be established, and no pagan influences, no godless idolatry could ever shake the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ.
Samson came from the tribe of Dan. And it's interesting to notice that Samson was the only judge whose tribe did not follow him. They gave him absolutely no support whatsoever. I think sometimes when we see some Christian, perhaps in the public eye, and they collapse under the pressure, I sometimes feel a twinge of guilt, do you? But if maybe we had prayed for them more, they might have been sustained in the time of trial.
Some of these individuals are under a great deal of pressure, you know. And I think we ought to pray for them. For the enemy loves to bring a man in the public eye down for the influence it has in the lives of so many. And Dan... didn't support Samson. Maybe if they had, things would have ended up differently. Just the same, Dan did provide a judge for his people, as Jacob had prophesied. And as much as we tell our Sunday school students, they ought not to be like Samson.
There are certain things about Samson that I find admirable. And I see especially in those last moments of his life, his willingness to substitute himself, to sacrifice himself for the cause of his people. Now Samson is a sad story because while Samson was able to defeat the Philistines, he wasn't able to conquer his own heart. And I think many times while we seek to do great exploit for God, some of our greatest conflicts are within our own breath. It was D.L.
Moody who said, I have more trouble with that man, D.L. Moody than any other man I know. And Abraham Lincoln on one occasion when asked concerning the possibilities concerning the upcoming election said, Well, I'm not worried about Douglas because he's from the north and the south and the north won't have him. And I'm not concerned about Seward because he's from the north and the south won't have him. If I'm to be defeated, it will be by that man, Lincoln. And if we're to be defeated, Christian, just as in the case of Samson, there was no Philistine cord strong enough to hold him.
There was no Philistine prison secure enough. to contain him. It was only a sin of his own heart that brought Samson to his knees. And so it is in our own lives, as we hear the words of the great apostle, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth. No, good thing. Oh, that we might be reminded of that and have absolutely no confidence in the flesh. that we might have all our confidence in God. Well, we come to this little mystery in the history of Dan.
When we turn to the book of Revelation, we discover that there are twelve tribes recorded for us that are going to be selected by God, one hundred and forty-four thousand strong, twelve thousand from each tribe, who will be preserved. They will be sealed in the midst of the weeks and preserved through the tribulation period and they will be the seed from which will grow this great nation of Israel again we read down through the list and the first thing we notice is that the tribe of Ephraim has been renamed Joseph so that Joseph is brought into focus again because you know a lot of people don't know their history their Bible history and God wants Joseph to be in a position of honor and so he takes the inheritance of the firstborn and renames the tribe of Ephraim Joseph.
But the other change that occurs is that the Levites who were singularly the lords and were not included in the stated inheritance of the land of Israel, they replaced the tribe of Dan. We discover that as we read in the Old Testament that the tribe of Dan had custom design their own priesthood. They had taken a line from Moses, actually, and following this line of Moses through, they had established their own priesthood. We were talking last evening about these black Jews from Ethiopia, the Philoshes, and they purportedly are from the tribe of Dan.
and that's how the state of Israel recognized them as coming from the tribe of Dan and they supposedly were separated from the land of Israel way back in the early days long before the destruction of the temple and so they have a functioning priesthood and it could very well be that this priesthood has come down through the line their own their own design their own priesthood that they custom made It had nothing to do with the recognized line of Levi. And so in the book of the Revelation, God is declaring that he is re-establishing the priesthood as he ordained it.
And he will not do with any designs of men. I think very often of the nation of Israel coming out of the land of Egypt. And God could have said to Israel, now make me a nice place. build me a nice tabernacle, something that you think would be nice for me. After all, these people had just built some of the most glorious buildings that have ever been established on the face of the earth. If you go down to El-Karnak, ancient Thebes, in the land of Egypt, you will see one temple that covers sixty acres.
One temple, the temple of El Karnat. As you walk down through a roll of ram's head sphinx, and you enter in through that into this fabulous area of pillars, the court of pillars was designed to record the history of the pharaohs. And on every inch of those pillars, and by the way, the top of the pillars are the shape of a lotus flower. And they say that fifty men could stand on the top of one of those pillars. That's how phenomenal this structure is. The ceremonial pool is about half the size of the lake.
It's phenomenal. This huge lake that spreads out into the distance and everything that you see is on the most grandiose and beautiful scale. You look at the Queen Hatship soots mortuary temple fabulous buildings well it was the Israelites who built them you know they built the treasury cities in the land of Egypt and God could have said to them well now you just make me something nice but God didn't say that did he he said Moses you make sure that you do it exactly according to the pattern that I gave you in the mouth you know when it comes to worship when it comes to the service of God we're not free to make up our own minds and say I think the Lord would like this he told us what he likes he specifically recorded it for us and we are responsible to be careful to do it exactly according to the pattern and so God is going to reestablish the Levitical priesthood but Dan isn't really left
out you know we turn over to the book of Ezekiel and there we read in chapter forty eight the land that is given again as the land is redistributed and it's given to the tribes and the very first one name just so we don't miss it is the tribe of Dan and God in grace comes in and provides for them this inheritance in the land. Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel in the last days. And so the story of Samson is a sad story with a happy ending.
And the same is true of the tribe of Dan in general, that their hearts had turned away to other gods, to other objects. They had not given their whole hearts to God But God was willing to take Samson after a life of failure, and he was willing to take up the thread of his life one moment before he died. That's the grace of God, admit. And God is willing to take a man, to take a woman. At the very end of life, we've seen it happen. You can't count on it. But many a soul who has lived life herself and lived life in sin in the dying moments of their life as that thief on the cross, they reach out to God, and in mercy he takes them and saves them by his grace.
What a God that he would do that. And here's the tribe of Dan from the very beginning of their history right to the end. It's all idolatry, but somehow God reaches down and in mercy he takes them just the same. And Ezekiel tells us, But the very first tribe that is given an inheritance in the land is the tribe of Dan. And so God shows his grace. Let's turn over to Deuteronomy thirty-three for a moment. And we're reading a little bit about the tribe of Asher.
Asher is the next tribe established beside Dan on the north side. And in Deuteronomy chapter thirty-three we read verse twenty-four. And of Asher he said, let Asher be blessed with children. Let him be acceptable to his brethren and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy days so shall thy strength be. There is none like unto the God of Jishuran, who rideth upon the heaven in thy health and in his excellency on the sky.
The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee. These are wonderful words, aren't they? Given to the tribe of Asher. Now Asher sits in the area around the modern city of Haifa today, where the Carmel Range pushes its way into the Mediterranean Sea. It's the only bump on a very regular coast. It included the mouth of the Jezreel Valley, the Kishon River Valley.
But we read when we turn to Judges chapter one and verse thirty one that Asher in unbelief was not able to take the land there. They weren't able to take the fortified city of Akko, Acre today. They weren't able to take these coastal towns and so they were squeezed up into the hills of Carmel and there they dwelt timorous, shaking, fearful, and we see them there in unbelief. But when we turn to Second Chronicles thirty, Hezekiah gives the call, sends out his messengers through the land, to come down and to worship the Lord again in the city of Jerusalem.
He calls the people to worship. And we discover, Asher, not only in unbelief in Judges chapter one, but we see them in restoration. For we read that while many mocked, many despised the invitation of the king, the people of Asher began their journey down the coast road, down to Joppa, and then traveled inland to the city of Jerusalem that they might remember the Lord. And so God again shows himself in grace to the tribe of Asher. But I love these words concerning Asher.
As thy days, so shall thy strength be. God has measured out the span of our lives, and God has measured out the strength of our lives. The length of our lives and the resources of our lives are actually measured out, the one balancing out the other day by day. God knows. how long we will live, and God knows how much we need in resources in order to live for him right to the last. And so he says, as thy days so shall thy strength be.
And then these beautiful words in verse twenty seven, the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. My father was visiting in the city. I won't tell you what city it was, but it was a long way away from here. There's a dear sister in that particular city. She was always thinking about other people, always caring for them, always going out of her way. If someone was sick, someone in need, she was always there ready to help. But she had had an operation and a and they had had to give her a fair bit in the way of medication and it had caused her a great deal of anxiety and depression my father went round to visit her and as he rang the doorbell she came to the door she opened the door and she saw him standing there and she just broke into tears and she stood there weeping and finally she said boy i'm right at the bottom And my father came in and sat down with her and opened up to
Deuteronomy chapter thirty-three. And he reminded her that in the prophecy of Jonah, the Lord prophetically said, the weeds were wrapped about my neck. And so I went down to the bottom. He was the only one who ever really went down to the bottom. And there He made a place to lay the everlasting arms, so that no matter how far down we go, we can always say, underneath are the everlasting arms.
What a wonderful security we have. The God who hovers over us, the God who goes before us, the God who follows after us, the God who dwells within us, is the God who has placed underneath us the everlasting arms and we can always be sure no matter how far down we go that underneath are the everlasting arms. In the last minute I'd like to think about the tribe of Naphtali. Naphtali said Moses, is a hind let loose.
He giveth goodly words. In Deuteronomy chapter thirty-three, we read the story of Naphtali. And concerning Naphtali, he says, And of Naphtali, he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord, satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of the Lord. Barak came from the tribe of Nazdali. He was like a hind let loose.
He was a little reluctant in going in the first place, you know. A hind is a timorous creature, a creature that is easily frightened, but oh, how a hind can run when it's motivated. Well, Barak needed a little motivation, didn't he? And Deborah provided that. And when finally he got going, we read that he discomforted Cicera, and Cicera fled on foot from his chariot, and Barak chased the forces of Cicera all the way up to the northern border, and not one enemy got away. And so Barak was a time bled loose.
But I discover when I come to the New Testament that the Lord Jesus, after he was driven out of the city of Nazareth, came to the land of Mastelai. Mastelai is the land along the north and western shore of the Sea of Galilee. He was going to select for himself some disciples. to follow him through his three years of public ministry. And it was from the land of Naphtali that the Lord Jesus selected eleven of his twelve disciples. Only Judas, from Kyria, from the land of Ruben, did not come from the land of Naphtali.
Peter and James and John and Andrew, all of these disciples, except for Judas, came from the land of Naphtali. Now think of these words. Nastelai is a hind let loose. He giveth goodly words. And so these eleven men, liberated from the bondage of their sin, went forth proclaiming the gospel, and in the words of Deuteronomy thirty-three, possess thou the west and the south. You see, Nastelai is in the extreme northeast of the land of Israel. And so moving out south and west, they covered the land, proclaiming the message, and they gave goodly words.
No wonder Moses, looking forward, could say concerning Naphtali, Oh, Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord. for the three years of public ministry of the Lord Jesus were largely spent in the land of Naphtali. It was there that he found a sort of home. Capernaum is called the Lord's own city. It was there that he fed the five thousand. It was there that he walked on the sea. It was there that he blessed little children and healed the blind and the sick and the halt and the lame.
It was there he spoke those gracious words. It was there he taught his disciples. And it was back to the land of his beloved Galilee, to the land of Naphtali. The Lord Jesus said, I will go before you into Galilee. And there once again, before he took them down south again to the little place of Bethany, and there about home to glory he gave his final instruction to his own and sent them forth as hinds let loose to give goodly words everywhere they went well we are to follow in their train we who have been set free from the bondage of sin are to bear with us these goodly words so that others as they see the ministration of Christ through our lives might be satisfied with favor and full with the blessing of the Lord.
And so we have made our journey around the camp and we have seen that every tribe was responsible to be in its place, to stand by its own emblem, and to be ready to move in its relationship to the Ark of the Covenant at the heart of the nation of Israel. And so in our own lives, God puts us where we ought to be. And He tells us when to march and when to encamp. And all our lives are centered around that blessed man, the man who is on the center tree, a man who is the center of glory, the man who is the focal point in all our hearts.
May the Lord help us, then, to glorify Him on the earth as we were meant to do, to march when He calls us to march, to fight, when He calls us to fight, to stand still, when He calls us to stay, and may we honor Him in all our ways. Shall we pray? Father, our Father, we thank thee that thou art the eternal God, and underneath are the everlasting arms. What a wonderful place of protection we have. What a wonderful blessing that we might say with Napoli of old, that we are full of thy blessing.
How thou hast filled our little hearts up to overflowing. And it's all because of that lovely man at thy right hand, the risen Christ. He was enough to satisfy thine infinite heart. And surely he's enough to satisfy our little hearts as well. We are well pleased with him. And just as surely as he liberated those of old from the bondage of their sin and sent them forth to the south and to the west to bear these goodly words. we too who have been liberated, would pray for holy boldness that we might go for from this place, ready to speak a word for thee.
We thank thee for our studies together, for thou hast unfolded to us some lovely truths from thy word. It is thy word and thy truth, and we thank thee for applying it to our hearts in such a way that we might be a little less like the world and a little more like thy lovely son. And so we commend ourselves to thee for thy gracious ministration upon our lives and pray that we might be ready to rise up and go when the cloud moves and then to encamp and wait until thou art ready to take us a little further along. We thank thee that as our days so shall our strength be, and thou hast promised to lead us all the way through.
Until at last in glory, we shall see the one who has brought us on our journey safely to the end of the road. We thank thee again for all thy goodness to us, and for our blessed Lord Jesus, the true ark around which we are gathered today, in his own