Grant, John: Egypt To Canaan-04 ~ Num 1

Now, can we turn this evening, please, to the book of Numbers? I'm reading in chapter number one. Chapter number one please, of the book of Numbers. Verse one. and the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year, after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel after their families by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls. From ten— twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel, thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. And with you there shall be a man of every tribe, everyone head of the house of his fathers. Verse seventeen. and Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by their names, and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month, and they declared their pedigree after their families by the house of their fathers, according to the number of names from twenty years old and upward by their polls. Now, can we turn over to chapter number two, please? Verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house, far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch. And on the east side, eastward, on the east side toward the rising of the sun shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch. Now we'll move on again, please, into chapter number, uh, three. Verse one. these also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in Mount Sinai. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron, Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests which were appointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office, and Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. And Eleazar and Ithamar mis- ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron, their father. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. Chapter number five, please. Chapter number five, verse eleven. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside and commit a trespass against him, and a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner, and the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled, or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled, then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her the tenth part of a nefer of barley meal, for he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon, for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. Uh, and verse number, uh, twenty eight, and if the woman be not defiled but be clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive seed. And finally, please, just a little further over, and we'll glance at some of these things tonight in chapter number eight, verse one, the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. And Aaron did so. He lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses. And the work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof was beaten work, according unto the pattern which the Lord had showed Moses, so he made the candlestick. Now, I think that will suffice at the moment, and the Lord will bless the public reading of scripture to us. In the interregnum between where we left off last evening and to the beginning of chapter number one of the Book of Numbers, there has passed nine months or so, uh, certainly between what we dealt with last evening and the, uh, time when the tabernacle finally was filled with the glory of the Lord, and that took place on the first day of the first month of the second year when the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. You know, of course, that the incident to which I directed your attention last evening, ultimately the giving of the law, took place in the third month, and so we have nine months when the tabernacle was given, and when the tabernacle was built and erected, and when the glory of the Lord entered it. When you address your attention to Numbers chapter number one, you find that a further month has passed, and this book commences on the first day of the second month of the second year after the departure out of the land of Egypt. And so almost a year has passed since that momentous day when the Passover lamb was slain in Egypt. And what I want to do this evening is just look very briefly at the preparations that were made for the wilderness journey. We have dealt a bit with the prelude, maybe not quite just the two evenings that we meant to, but nevertheless, what I want to deal with this evening is the preparation that is made in these opening chapters of the book of Numbers for the journey towards, uh, Canaan. I want you to observe, please, that there is a number of things to which they had to address their attention. In chapter number one, they were told to be ready to combat. It was a question of men fitted for war, and it was combat that was the point at issue in chapter number one. In chapter number two, they were given the order in which they were to camp, and if we look at these chapters, we will see that as they congregated around the ca- the tabernacle, there was an order in which the camp had to be laid out. Now you might say, what has that got to do with the journey? We will see tomorrow evening. No, we won't. We will see on Sunday afternoon exactly how important the order of the camp was. And so to camp in chapter number two and to combat in chapter number one. When you go a little further and you then take your attention into chapter number three and four, you will see there that the point at issue there was the responsibility to carry, and they were there carrying the tabernacle through the wilderness, and it was their responsibility to bear the weight of that during the wilderness journey. So you're building a picture to combat, to camp, and to carry. And then when I go a little further into the book of Numbers, and I turn to chapter number five and to about chapter number eight, I find that there there is a ministry that would teach them that it was necessary for them to consecrate themselves unto the servant of Jehovah. I could go a little further and go to chapter number nine, where we find it was necessary for them to commemorate the day of redemption and to take of the Passover. And so these issues were real issues for the wilderness. The whole question, the responsibility to combat, the responsibility to camp, the responsibility to carry, the responsibility to consent- consecrate themselves, and their responsibility to commemorate the day in which they left Egypt, uh, under the sha- and under the, uh, covering of the blood of the slain lamb. We will not go into the Passover or into the tabernacle as such, because in the eight meetings at which we, uh, have at our disposal, time does not allow for that. S- so I suppose I may occasionally just call on your knowledge of the tabernacle a little as we go through. So let us look at these things this evening. This, of course, the Book of Numbers is truly the book of the wilderness. You will find, for instance, that in of it we learn about the wilderness of Sinai in chapter number one. If you go on a little further, eh, to chapter number ten, you deal there with the wilderness of Paran, and again it's a wilderness. And then in chapter number fourteen, the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea is again brought to our attention. And then you will find in chapter number twenty, you are brought into the wilderness of Sin. So this is a wilderness book, the wilderness of Sinai, the wilderness of, uh, Paran, the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, and then the desert of Sin. It was a hostile environment. I want us just to keep that in mind. It was a hostile environment through which they had to pass. My brethren and sisters, we are passing through a wilderness. You see, we will see, perhaps next week, that the believer is seen sometimes as being in the wilderness and sometimes as being in the land. But here, the wilderness is a hostile environment. Now, it wasn't the Sahara Desert. They couldn't have gone through as we they did, eh, through a Sahara Desert, but it was a wilderness, and it was a hostile experience. And I take it to be it was a place where there was little of sustenance, no apparent real sustenance for the people of God, and in that hostile environment, they were, of course, to, uh, come to know their God. In the desert, God will teach thee, said Mr. Darby, what the God that thou hast found. And in the desert they would learn the necessity of continued dependence on their God. And in the wilderness they would be taught what it was to rely on him. And in the wilderness God would teach them what the God that they had found. I tell you, these are the lessons we will learn as we follow the remarkable journey of two to two point five million people as they traverse the wilderness. Some time ago, it was almost now seventy years ago, Winston Churchill was asked who was the mightiest national leader of history, and without any hesitation, he replied Moses. He s- he reckoned him to be, and he quoted the fact that he had all those folks, over two million of them, to take them through a hostile environment and to land them safe at the end of the journey to face Canaan. He reckoned that required supreme qualities of leadership. Now, of course it did, but these supreme qual- qualities that were found in Moses were not natural qualities. They were spiritual qualities that enabled this remarkable man to lead these people. Would that we had time in these meetings to speak about Moses, but we don't have, else we will never land the people on the other side of Jordan. Now, what I'm going to do is just take up a little from each of these chapters and sketch in some of the lessons that we can learn. And so we address our attention, first of all, to the necessity of the people as they understood and realized that they must indeed be ready for combat, and we will see later that indeed they had to be. And so chapter number one, I want you to notice, please, the first very simple lesson, that in the wilderness, the testimony would be under attack. Now that's the first lesson. It's a simple lesson, but it lies really right on the surface. They were going to be under attack. I tell you, the testimony today, as it always has been, is under attack. There is a foe, there are forces which are ranged against us, and the testimony was under attack. So keep that in mind, that in the wilderness, it's a hostile environment, and the testimony is under attack. I want you to notice secondly, please, that in order to defend the testimony, maturity was required. The people were to be numbered from twenty years old and up, and so it required a degree of maturity to defend the testimony. You see, sometimes people say, well, I know John three and sixteen, and that's good enough for me. The answer to that is that's maybe good enough for you, but not good enough for God. You see, that's the kind of answer. We're not so in- much interested in what you feel good about, we're more interested in what's good for God. And spiritual childishness is never countenanced in scripture. It required a degree of maturity. It was not left to those who were the most elderly, but they had to be twenty years of age and upward when they were numbered for war in chapter number one. I want you to notice, please, that the remarkable fact here, and don't say to me it was just an omission on Moses' part, no such thing. The remarkable fact, do you notice, is there's no retirement date from the battle. Now, we will see it was different from Levi, but no retirement date from the battle. In other words, there was no discharge in this war, so that it required maturity to defend the testimony, and there was no date when you could say, I'm retiring. Sometimes I had brethren say to me, you know, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to retire from oversight. I give them the answer that was given by generations before me. To whom do you send your retirement notice? You see, uh, you cannot give it to the brethren because they didn't recruit you. So you've got to send it to the glory, to where the recruitment came, you know, and the postal service with that kind of letter, I'm sure, would not be readily acceptable. There is no retirement in the war. Now let's grip that. No retirement. As years go on, the nature of the work changes, and those who are older in life are not expected to be carrying or doing the heavy lifting, as we say, but nevertheless, there is still no retirement, and so maturity demanded to preserve the testimony through the wilderness, but no discharge, no retirement in this war. Now, young folks, always pick up little things like that because it's the detail of scripture that simply sparkles before your, before your mind. I want you to observe, please, that, eh... the Levites were to be regarded as somewhat different. We'll deal with that in a minute. But I want you to notice, please, that it's recorded of the children of Israel when they went out of Egypt. They went out, they went out in, I suppose a word we could almost translate it rose. They went out in an orderly way. It was not a bunch of stragglers coming out of Egypt. They marched out as a victorious army, and they marched through the wilderness as a victorious army. It is reckoned that the cavalcade would cover about forty miles. It was a long, long cavalcade. No wonder we will see later that Balaam uttered the words that he did, and what a magnificent scene it was as they moved through the wilderness. And remember, the news of their triumph went into Canaan and was heard in Jericho. For Rahab, they heard what had taken place at the Red Sea, and they heard about the mighty victories that forty years later would be won on the east bank of the Jordan as they approached from the south into the land of these kings. They heard. This was a powerful military force that came out, I tell you, bonded and merged and brought together by the work of God. No discharge in the war, maturity necessary, but the necessity to understand that the testimony must always be guarded, and there is combat in this war, and there is combat today. Let us keep that in mind. We don't retire from the service of God, and with what strength we have in our bodies and what purpose we have in our hearts and devotion and affection in our breasts, let us seek to carry on the work until the going down of the sun. Now, that's all really I want to say about chapter number one. We want to spend a little more time in other chapters. But when I come to chapter number two, it is not now the question of the combat into which they were entered, it is the question of the camp where they would gather round the tabernacle. I want you to notice, please, that as they gathered round the tabernacle, the sanctuary was central to the camp of Israel. Now keep that in mind. I want you to understand that. It was central. And so, in the wilderness, the testimony, the sanctuary is the gathering point, is central. Now Israel was not an assembly in the sense that we have a New Testament assembly, but the principles that mark the gathering round the tabernacle, eh, strayed across the dispensations, because we see here, and we will see in a moment, that there are similarities. But nevertheless, I want you to notice that. In the wilderness, the testimony was central. Now, can I suggest, and perhaps this is application rather than exposition, can I suggest that the assembly ought to be central to the lives of the saints. It should be the very center. It should be the very center of your life. Now, you might say, well, that's my family, but I'm speaking to wise men, judge ye what I say. Of course, the family. Folks have said to me, well, the family is the center. Of course, well, the s- the family itself should have a center, which, of course, is the testimony. Now, observe secondly, please, that we learn from chapter number two that this is always temporary. It is not a permanent resting place. It is temporary. And what we are going through today is temporary, and the testimony is central. But I want you to notice that the testimony is visible. Do you notice that? For instance, look at chapter number two. Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the ensign of their father's house. Now, do you notice two things there? Firstly, there were no hidden Israelites. There was a standard, pitched by his own standard. I tell you, every Israelite raised his standard. My brethren and sisters, there should be no such thing as hidden Christians. Every test, every individual should raise their standard, and here you have it. No one was ashamed to say that they were part of this. No one said, well, I would rather be with a mixed multitude, or I would rather pretend to be somebody who's just a camp hanger-on. And no, no, not that at all. They pitched by their own standard, and do you notice, with the ensign of their father's house. And so there was no hidden Israelites, and secondly, they each displayed a clear pedigree by their father's house. I tell you, it's good when there is a clear testimony, and good when there is a clear testimony to the world, in that there is an ensign raised to show to whom you belong and the people to whom you belong. Remarkable that it was so, and that is how they gather. A clear pedigree with no hidden Israelites. A clear testimony. Now, I'm not just talking about a testimony in the sense that you look back and you say, I can give you the date, I can give you the time if you can, and all that kind of thing. I'm talking about the testimony of a life lived in close touch with the sanctuary, and that is a testimony to the world. And so we have that as they congregated. And so there was a testimony that was central, there was a testimony that was temporary, there was a testimony that was visible, and there was a testimony that was laid in a very ordered way. And we will see this evening just how ordered it was. But I want to go on again, and I want just to think of how they did camp. I'm sure you're aware of it, but let me say it just briefly. How did they camp? Sometimes you see a picture of the tabernacle, and you see that the camp is maybe just about a hundred yards from the, uh, uh, the tabernacle itself. I don't think it was like that. I rather think it was because remember, all the people could gather in front of the tabernacle. Now, even if you go as far as saying, well, that wasn't really all the people, that was just the elders of the people, it was a mighty number. And they could gather before the tabernacle, well, perhaps allude to some of the occasions, one particularly when they did. So there must have been a large enough area in the front. Now, the only clue I have, and if you say to me that's pure speculation, I'll say amen, you were awake. It is pure speculation. But I'll speculate, and I wonder if it was the distance of the two thousand cubits that had to be between Israel and the Ark as it went down into the Jordan. Now, two thousand cubits, if you say a cubit is eighteen inches, well, you can soon work out how many feet and yards that was, and it was a considerable distance. Now, that's pure speculation, sufficient to say there was an area in that the sanctuary itself was not crowded in roundabout. It is reckoned that the camp, some expositors reckon seven miles across, some reckon fourteen. I'm not qualified to judge exactly who is right. Sufficient to say it was a large camp. Remember, two, two point million people, a large camp. Uh, the city of Glasgow at its height had about one point one million people, so you double that and more. And here we have it, and the sanctuary sat in the middle. To the north side was the tribes of Dan and Asher and Naftali. If you were to take your attention to the west side, there was Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. If you were to take your attention to the east side, there was Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. If you were to take your attention to the south side, there was Reuben and Simeon and Gad. And come back again round that circuit. If you were to take your attention to the north side of the Levites, there was the tribe of, of the house of Merari. If you were to go round to the west side, there was there the house of Gershon. If you were go to the, uh, south side, there was there the house of Kohath. If you were to go to the east side, there was there Moses and Aaron and his sons. Moses and the priests were there. It was very orderly. Add them up and you will find this, that the Levites over twenty years of age, who were therefore qualified for service, numbered eight thousand five hundred and eighty. The total number of the Levites, including the children, were twenty two thousand three hundred. of the house of of of Levi. Eight thousand five hundred and eighty Levites who would be responsible for carrying the testimony. At the north side, one hundred and fifty seven thousand odd Israelites, going towards the west side, one hundred and eight thousand odd Israelites, going towards, that is males over a certain age, I should say, going to the east side, one hundred and eighty six thousand four hundred. going down to the south side, one hundred and fifty one thousand four hundred and eighty. A mighty, mighty horse, an impressive sight, laid out in an orderly way round the tabernacle. And I simply emphasize that, that there is order about God's gatherings. This was done in an orderly way, and there was order about the whole thing. Now let us take this a little further, and I want just to speak just a little about the Levites. I think before, I think before we really join the journey, as we will tomorrow afternoon. No, we won't. I'm determined to make this tomorrow afternoon. I wouldn't be surprised if I turned up for it tomorrow afternoon. I just want to speak about the Levites for uh fifteen minutes or so, because it's vital. Because what I'm going to speak about, you might say tonight, what's this got to do with the journey? You will see as we go on just exactly what it has to do. I want to speak about the Levites. You may know that the Levites, the tribe of Levi, were those who were chosen of God for the maintenance and for the carrying of the tabernacle and its vessels. They had much more to do than that, but nevertheless, that was the initial purpose. You know that the tribe of Levi was the tribe from which Moses came, obviously, as did his brother, his three-year-old— his brother who's three years older than him, Aaron. Now, I'm just going to take time tonight to speak about the Levites. I would go back, first of all, to Genesis forty nine. And I read in Genesis forty nine the words of Jacob as he blessed his sons on the day of his death. When he reached a height of spiritual appreciation, the highest he had ever been on his last day on earth. A great man, a prince with God, one who struggled with God. I want you to observe, please, what he says. Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty were in their hands, and I tell you, he advises the brothers, the other brothers, to have nothing to do with Simeon and Levi. He ga- he gives that advice. To be accurate, I'm going to read it so I can quote it accurately, and he says, Simeon and Levi are brethren. I get this now, yes. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man. Simeon and Levi, two of the sons of Leah. And three things Israel's sons are told to do with these men. Can I suggest it? It says this, come not thou into their secret. Have nothing to do with their counsel. Unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united. Avoid their company, for in their anger they slew a man. Don't imitate their conduct. Now that's said of these two tribes. Don't listen to their counsel. Don't follow their conduct and avoid their company. Now the reason for that was the dreadful behavior of Simeon and Levi over the matter of Dinah. If you're not aware of that, go back to the book of Genesis and read that these men became murderers in an attempt, so-called, to preserve the dignity of their sister. That was the excuse, and they became murderers. So much so that Jacob said, you've made us to stink in the land. Have you ever wondered why Joseph could not find his brethren there feeding their sheep when he went to get them? Not a long time had passed, not a bundle of years had passed. Do you know, I believe the reason they were not there, I believe they probably had to move on because their names still did stink in that land. And I believe there's a link between his failure to find them there and the fact that it was there that they so marred the testimony of Jacob and his sons. And so we have them here. And then you come, don't you? You come to the fact that Levi was chosen for such spiritual, eh, eh, eh, eh, responsibilities. Why was it? Why was it? Why was leaving Levi chosen? I know what you're going to tell me, no, you're not going to tell me, but if you didn't know Exodus and Numbers, you would tell me. You would say it was because Levi stood with Moses in the day when they had to choose who was their God, and Levi stood with Moses. Well, you're right in your fact, but wrong in your assumption. They did stand with Moses, but it was not that that led to the choice of Levi to be lifted up to such privilege. For this reason, that the choice was already made in Exodus two. There met a man of the tribe of Levi and took the wife, a daughter of Levi, Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses, and they came from the tribe of Levi. So Levi had the hand of God on it before Moses was born. Now, why was Levi lifted up to such dignity and Simeon went down to such, eh, depths. Now listen, there are questions. Why in Genesis did one of the servants of Pharaoh get lifted up to glory and the other went down to death? Why? I know I said to you last time, it was a picture of Calvary. One innocent man, two guilty men, and one went to glory and the other went down. I tell you, Joseph in prison is a picture of the cross. But more than that, can I suggest that what you see in the lifting up of Levi is the sovereign act of God in choosing his servants? He need give us no answer. He need give us no explanation. He need to tell us no reason. He has no responsibility to that, and we have no right to ask. It is the sovereign choice of God, and we rest on the fact that whatever God does is right, and he raised the tribe of Levi, and how dare we say, how can the clay say to the potter, why hast thou made me thus? I tell you the sovereign act of God. Young brother, young sister, the Lord will, if you go in for the things of God, as I trust you would, and I would encourage you for the simple reason there's no life like it, and it's the very best life that heaven can give. But I want to tell you this, when he lays his hand upon you, the service that you will perform, the gifts with which you have been endowed by the risen Christ are given in his sovereignty, and he chooses his servants, and he chooses what they must do. And I tell you, do not try to buck that and make yourself what God never intended you to be. I'm just going to repeat, I think, what I said to you before, and I've said it so often, you get tired listening to me. In the gospel by Mark, come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. Don't make yourself into an evangelist. Don't make yourself into a teacher. Don't make yourself into a help. Don't make yourself into anything. You do the following, and he will do the making. That's the principle in that. Just make sure that you're going to follow him and obey him and submit him, and he will make you what he wants you to be. Now, that is the sovereign choice of God, and Levi has to be chosen for this great service. And the priestly family came from them. And so that was their sin. When you turn to look at Numbers chapter eight, you get their separation. In Numbers chapter eight, they are separated. Now we will see this when the Bible speaks about separation. We will see this tomorrow. That sometimes we fall short in our estimate of separation, and we say that to separate is just to separate out. Well, that's only half the truth. When the world speaks about separation, that was it mean. But when the Bible speaks even about sanctification, which of course is separation, it is to be separated for something of great and high dignity. And when I speak about their separation, they've been separated out from the tribes of Israel, the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, who are essentially adopted by Jacob, eh, they make up the fact that there still will be twelve tribes and that Jacob will have the firstborn's double portion. Now, by the way, but here we have it, and in Numbers chapter eight, they are separated. I want you to notice just this. They are sprinkled with water, and then they wash themselves and they take a razor to their flesh. The sprinkling is what God made them in divine purpose. It is the positional thing, and the shaving and the washing is the practical thing. And so, if we're going to serve God, he has separated us out to service, but it's up to us to keep ourselves pure and keep ourselves clean and keep ourselves fit, and that act of the Levites is a picture of that, and so they were separated out. I want you to notice their service. What did they do, these Levites? You'll be interested to know that at twenty five years of age, they started their Levitical service. Twenty five. And you get that in Numbers chapter eight, verse twenty four. I want you to notice that in chapter fourteen, their mature service started when they were thirty and they retired when they were fifty. Now, before you raise your hands and say, I wish I was a Levite, just wait. They served a five-year apprenticeship from twenty five to thirty, and then once that apprenticeship was finished, they worked for twenty years, and then they retired from that active service. I've often said, I remember when the newspapers in Scotland used to have no news in the front, only adverts. That was the posh papers had that. No new, only adverts because they disdained news. They were above that. Uh, and there used to be an advert appeared regularly on the front of the Glasgow Herald, and I used to, as a youngster in the train going to work, wonder what it meant. Porter required. No heavy lifting. I used to wonder, why do you need a porter if there's no heavy lifting? You know, seemed like a good job. Seemed like the kind they had in the railway, called a porter, but if you asked him to lift something, it wasn't his job. You see, well, the heavy lifting stopped at fifty. but I tell you, after fifty, these older men, there were other tasks, which we will see, other tasks, and they taught the scriptures, et cetera. They became the mature overseers of the whole work of the Levitical tribe. Now, I want you to notice what their duties were. What were the duties of the Levites? And all this we'll see working out. We must know this before we g- we start the wilderness journey. The duties of the Levites, well, they carried the testimony. Eight thousand five hundred and odd of them. When the cloud moved, they all had something to do. Now, it would not be chaos. Everybody would have their task. They carried the test. Now, some of the heavy parts were placed in wagons that the princes gave to Moses. But the holy vessels had to be carried, and it was the responsibility of the leave out to ensure that everything was dismantled and reassembled. As a matter of fact, we don't have time to go into it, the order of the march determined that by the time the ark arrived at the stopping place, the sanctuary was up and ready for the ark to enter, because the ark was the symbol of the presence of God. They carried it through the wilderness. I tell you what responsibility that was. Kohath carried the ark, covered finally by a blue cloth, with the veil, with the altars, and with the holy vessels. Three families of Levites, the family of Kohath, the family of Gershon carried what the sisters would probably call the soft furnishings, the curtains, the coverings, the hangings, and the cords, and Merari carried the boards, the pillars, the bars, and the sockets, et cetera, of the tabernacle. And the every, every single one had a job to do. I've often wondered, I've often wondered if a keen son of Marari turned up at twenty five and says, I'm ready for service. He was shining bright and all polished up. I'm ready for service, and and and and the cloud is moving, and the priests have blown the trumpet, and it's ready for me to do my work for God. When the men say, yes, I've got your work, can you carry that pin? A pin? Abba, a pin? I have to carry a pin. I'd be ashamed to go and tell my mummy. I have to carry a pin. Look at it. Now, a pin would be about eighteen inches long. Remember, there was a lady later who used a tent peg very effectively, and it wasn't just a wee bit of wood. Oh, I tell you, little did he know when he opened the tent door and went in that day, that she was, she was a, a master wielder of a mallet. But you know, a pin. I'm getting a pin! And, and he's carrying a board, and they're carrying sockets, and he's asked me to carry a pin. Ah, listen. There's no work too insignificant in the service of God. You know this? If that pin got lost, the stability of the structure would be compromised. Everything was vital. Everything was necessary. And in the assembly, there is no task too mean for us to be exercised in it. And if you're young and you think you are the budding greatest gospel preacher that Start Road has ever seen in his life, and you're asked maybe to do something fairly menial, just remember this, that everything is of value in the service of God. And always remember that other people's assessment of your abilities is far more substantial and far more worth listening to than your own. So the pin carrier would carry his work. Notice, as they went through the wilderness, the great order of it. So that was the first thing they did. They carried the testimony. I want you to notice, please, in chapter one verse fifty, we learn that they served the tabernacle. They served the testimony. Now notice there is a group of people now, and it is their responsibility to be servants of the tabernacle. Now listen, in a local assembly, every saint should be a servant. Isn't it a beautiful thing, Chloe? A servant of the church that is a synkriya. Now that's a beautiful thing. And we learn in the book of Numbers that these men were supposed to be servants. And there you have it. They shall minister unto it. In chapter one, verse fifty, they were to be the servants of it. In other words, to maintain it, to keep it, to value it, just to make sure that anything that needed to be done about the tabernacle, they were willing and they were able to do it. Good in an assembly when you've got that. Good when there are happy pin carriers. Good when there are happy servants, and good indeed when they are happy in their work. Now, I want you to notice in chapter one verse fifty three we learn something more about them. We learn this, that they were to guard the testimony. They were to camp round it, that there be no wrath upon the congregation, and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony. They were to guard it. They valued it. I tell you, good when saints value their assembly and seek to guard it. And so they carried it, and they served it, and they guarded it. And we go a little further about this. Do you know what they did? They built and dismantled it. Now, I trust you don't think I'm going to spiritualize this too much. I have a feeling if you, if you think that, I'll disagree with you, nicely. But they knew how every part fitted. They knew how the whole thing came together as one whole. They were intelligent as to the structure. My brethren and sisters, there never had been such a structure as this. There never would be again. And don't listen to folk that say that this was an imitation of idol sanctuaries. Perish the thought, I tell you, no such thing. But it's good in the assembly when we are aware of how the whole thing fits together. When we are conscious of the divine architecture that is to be found in the house of God. When we're conscious of the work of the great builder. Now, I know you might say, well, I have laid the foundation, et cetera, and Paul knew that. That's exactly what I mean. He knew what a foundation was. He knew how to lay it. He was spiritually intelligent, as we ought to be, as to the structure of the house of God. And these men knew that. They understood it. I want you to notice that, eh, they were teachers as well of the word of God. They taught the scriptures. They went throughout the land and they taught the scriptures, uh, so that others would understand the mind of God. But the last thing I want to say to about them is this, that the word Levi means united. They were united in that they were the sons of Leah, eh, they were united in the murderous acts that took place at Shechem. But think of that word united. They were united in their service for the tabernacle. It's good when those who gather are united, and united folks can do a lot more than disunited folks. So they were united, and that's how they could do it. Everybody just did his bit, and and there they went. And I tell you, it was, it must have been a grand thing to see. eight thousand five hundred of them. It would be done in no time at all. And off they would go with the order of the march. We'll see it on Sunday afternoon and how they went. The Levites. It is a beautiful study just to think of their service. Now, but we must go on. Oh dear, yes, we must go on. And that's how they would carry. I want you to notice, please, that what happened was this, that the priests saw this, the, the cloud rising. The cloud would guide them. The cloud by day and the fire by night. And as they saw it rising, they blew the trumpets. But I want you to notice this. The priests and the Levites were nearest the sanctuary. And I want you to notice it was those who were nearest the sanctuary who first discerned that God was moving. They were closest. Now, we will see that there's things that happen to those that were furthest away, but it was the priests at the gate of the tabernacle who were the first to discern, and when they saw the cloud moving, they blew the trumpets. And so it was as God moved, they moved, and those nearest the sanctuary first discerned the mind of God. Have you ever been asked the question, how do I know God's will? I think everybody's been asked that question. As a matter of fact, we've all asked that question to ourselves. It's a strange question because there is so much in scripture, it's quite clear, this is the will of God, even your sanctification, etcetera, so much. And so when we're speaking about how do I know God's will, it's usually about a particular decision that's got to be made as far as how we do in life. Sometimes we tackle it from the wrong side. Sometimes we try to look at circumstances, whereas I think there's something else. Now, now my wife's with us here, so I've got to be careful what I say, but if you were to say to me, does your wife like this? I've been married to her for, I think I'm correct in saying it's forty three years. Does she like this? I would say perhaps no. Now, how how do I know that she doesn't like it? Do I know it because when we get married, she presented me with with a wee list of books, wife's likes and dislikes. And and I and I would flick up and say, just a minute, what are you talking about? Yeah, so tea, right, that's under tea, isn't it? Yes. No, she doesn't like milk in her tea. Says it in the book. N- n- you see, that's how we sometimes tackle a thing. But you see, if you were to say to me tonight, does your wife like milk in her tea, I would say no. Not because she wrote it in a book, but because I've lived with her and got to know her. The secret of knowing somebody's mind in an issue is to live with them and get to know them. And if I'm living with Christ, I'll get to know his mind. I'll understand the points at issue. I'll understand what he may like and what he may not like. Now, there are times that I might not be aware, maybe a new situation. Does my wife like American coffee? That's a new situation, you see. She does actually, but I mean, that's a new situation. So what would I do? I would just go and ask her. Knowing I'd get an answer, in confidence that I can go before the Lord. I know him. I know there are things that he would not wish me to do, places he would not wish me to go. There are things with which he would not wish me to be associated. And the closer I am to him, the more I will understand his will. Getting to know him is the secret of getting to know his will. That's it. And it was the priests who, when the cloud rose, first blew the trumpet. They saw it, they assembled the people, and the people followed in order. And we must be that. And so they had to carry. But I said also that as far as combat and camping and carrying, they also had to be consecrated. That's why I turned your attention to Numbers chapter five, and I'm going to speak about this for about ten minutes, and that will perhaps be enough for tonight, because, God willing, on Sunday we will start the second stage of the journey from Horeb, and during those four meetings we will deal with them under law, moving right up to the crossing of the Jordan. Consecration. This comes in at chapter five. Look at chapter five and look at chapter six. In chapter five, there is provision for defilement, and in chapter six, there's provision for devotion. In chapter five, it's the, uh, law of jealousy, the trial of jealousy, and in chapter six it's the Nazarite. Now, I'm not going to speak about the Nazarite tonight. Time would not allow a whole night. The trouble about eight meetings on the Egypt to Canaan is you've got to cut a lot of it out, but nevertheless, we will just look tonight at the trial of jealousy and see that morally and spiritually it's here in the book in the right place. If these people are going to follow the Lord, they must be consecrated, and there must be certain things absent from them. Now, look at the cause of this trial. What was the cause of this trial? It is indeed called the trial of jealousy. What was the cause? The cause was the suspicion of a husband that his wife had been secretly unfaithful. So what is the trial of jealousy? It is the testing of the affections of the bride in the wilderness. That's what it is. It is the testing of the affections of the bride in the wilderness, and Israel would learn that their affections are about to be tested over and over again. My brethren and sisters, may I understand that in many, many circumstances into which I come, they are simply God testing my affections for the Lord. Do I really love him? My affections have been tested. So what you have here is this trial of jealousy, which is the testing of the affections of the bride in the wilderness. Now, that really was the cause of it. I want you to notice, please, that it was secret unfaithfulness that was the point at issue, not open unfaithfulness. Openly, the bride was faithful, but secretly the husband suspected otherwise. You see, we cannot hide anything from Christ, and if we are secretly unfaithful, he knows about it. And we will be tested on it, and before I close today, I want to let you see Paul using the trial of jealousy in the New Testament, because he does, to test the affection of the saints. In the wilderness, affections are prime. I want you to notice, please, that it's true as far as secret sin is concerned, that we fear discovery more than we fear discipline. I think that's true. We fear discovery at the hands of men more than we fear discipline at the hands of God. And this is, this is the whole thing behind Numbers five. To fear discovery by men rather greater than we fear discipline in the hands of God. I want you to notice, please, uh, there is not in Numbers five a trial for an unfaithful husband. Can I give you one reason for that? The Lord is never unfaithful. The Lord is never unfaithful. So there's no trial put in here for an unfaithful husband, but there is for the unfaithful bride in the wilderness. Now, that was the cause of the trial. I want you to notice the conduct of the trial. The conduct of the trial is this, eh, that the man brings his wife to the priest, and he brings an offering, a tenth part of a nefa of barley meal, and that speaks of humiliation. He shall pour no oil upon it, nor any frankincense thereon, because there's no joy and there's no fragrance in this. And it's an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial to bring iniquity to remembrance. The br- the priest brings her near. The priest takes holy water from the laver in an earthen vessel, and of the dust under the floor of the tabernacle of the congregation, and he takes it and puts, uh, puts that dust into the water. Now, I- I don't want the priest uncovers her head, but what he does do, if you look down this, is he makes her drink that water. That's the trial of jealousy. Now, you could spend a whole meeting this. I don't want to do that. He makes her drink the water. The spirit testing her internally, testing what she's like inside. We noticed that. And the test is, is the flesh dead or is the flesh active? That's what the test is. If the flesh is dead, there will be no response from it in the sense of discipline. Now, notice, please, that's an internal test. Now, what were the consequences of the trial? The consequences of the trial are this, if she's guilty, listen to what the word of God says. The curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot, and the people shall, the woman shall be a curse amongst her people. The her belly shall swell, the flesh will be magnified, the thigh will rot, her walk will be affected. Now listen, if I have secret sin in my life, the flesh in me will be magnified. Now you understand what I'm meaning by that? The characteristics of the flesh that are dishonoring to God will become magnified, and my walk, the standard of my life, and the progress of my life will be affected. In other words, the swollen, eh, belly and the rotting thigh were public manifestations of secret sin. And secret sin will manifest itself ultimately. God will not have it otherwise. And I want you to notice, please, what happened if she was guiltless. If she was guiltless, no effect to her flesh, no effect to her walk, and she became fruitful. She became fruitful. She shall conceive seed. So, faithfulness tested results in fruitfulness. I think that's a lovely thing. Tested, resulting in fruit. She shall conceive seed. My brothers and sisters, our affections are being tested. They are. Listen to Paul in Second Corinthians eleven. I am jealous over you. It's a right thing for God to be jealous. There's nothing wrong with that. God is a jealous God, jealous of his glory, jealous of us. Paul was jealous of us. He says, I'm jealous over you. One Corinthians sixteen. Now, Paul applies the trial of jealousy to the Corinthian assembly. Now, let- let's just see exactly how the Corinthian assembly responds, and, uh, it's interesting to notice. Listen to this. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema, let him be cursed. He has applied the trial of jealousy, and he says, if any man fails and does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. That's the application of the trial of jealousy to the Corinthians. Now, was it seen publicly amongst them? Was it seen publicly? Well, think of the swelling of the woman. What does he say was one of the problems in Corinth? You're puffed up. You're puffed up. The flesh was magnified. Ah, but there was more than that. You walk as men, he tells them in one Corinthians chapter, eh, number three. You walk as men. The thigh was rotting, the flesh was puffed up. Why? Because there was secret lack of affection for Christ, and he's applied the trial of jealousy, and they failed. So if you look at me, and you see the flesh, anger, malice, pride, greed, the root is I don't love the Lord as I should. I'm unfaithful. But remember this, that that's the negative part of unfaithfulness. The positive part is my affections must be placed on something or someone else. And if my affections are placed on something or someone else, the flesh will magnify, and you'll see it in my walk. And as they face the wilderness journey, they must understand and realize that devotion to and affection for Jehovah must be the root cause of every action, every thought, every word, every deed. And if they fail, the flesh will be magnified, and the walk will be affected. And God willing, in Lord's day, we'll commence in Numbers ten as they now commence the journey. In the law of the Nazarite, in Numbers six, there is provision for devotion. If there was any man or any woman who wanted to rise above the spiritual mediocrity of their day and of their generation, provision was given in number six. One of the things a Nazarite had not to do was to drink wine. Turn to the pro- well, I tell you, do your homework and see which minor prophet it is. Do you know what Israel ended up doing? Encouraging the Nazirites to drink wine. In other words, if amidst that company there was one who really had a devotion for God, for Jehovah, Israel was determined to bring them down to their own level. Now that's what happens when folks have failed the trial of jealousy. They want to bring others down to the same level. But God willing, let us seek just to have the devotion of the Hebrew servant who said, I love my master, my wife, my children. I will not go out free. Shall we pray?