Gooding, David: 5 - Understanding Numbers

To see you. Customary when I speak, uh, criticisms come that from time to time I lower my voice, and those, uh, who should hear cannot hear. If that should happen in the course of this, uh, talk or any others, please make a big disturbance. Set off the fire alarm or anything like that, and they who have responsibility for me will see that I behave better, if possible. The program tells us that this morning we come to study the book of Numbers. And like the rest of the Pentateuch that we have so far studied, it raises the question for us Christians, does it not? Why should we bother to study it and take it seriously? I mean, you can get to heaven without knowing the book of Numbers. And since, uh, if we are believers, we are sure of getting into that glorious heaven of God. I repeat, why should we study or take seriously the book of Numbers? First of all, of course, there is the basic reason that, uh, we believe it to be inspired of God. And secondly is the fact that if we take our New Testament seriously, we shall find it referring to the book of Numbers, uh, every now and again, and inviting us to consider the detail of the histories in that book. And thirdly, there is the analogy. The book of Numbers in Hebrew is simply called Bemidva, meaning in the wilderness. The term numbers we owe to an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew, uh, into Greek, but in Hebrew it is called simply in the wilderness. It is the story of Israel's journey, not com- not completely from Egypt, for they had left Egypt and come to Mount Sinai, where they had become seriously disorientated about the goal they should be aiming at, and nearly perished under the judgments of God. In God's mercy, they were given another opportunity. And the book of Numbers, therefore, declares what happened to them in the wilderness. They were in the wilderness when the book of Numbers begins. They are still in the wilderness when the Book of Numbers ends. It's not until Deuteronomy and then the Book of Joshua that they cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. So for Israel, the story of the Book of Numbers is the story of their journey. And we find it therefore, uh, interesting for ourselves because we too are on a journey, and we're not yet at the goal. What What was the nature of the journey? Well, for Israel, of course, it was basically geographical. You left Egypt, you put your nose in the direction north, uh, east, north or something, and walked one foot in front of another. And you got there eventually. Ah, but it was more than just a geographical journey, wasn't it? This was a journey of discovery of what they were themselves. I don't know what they thought of themselves when they began, but if you listened to them at the Red Sea, you'd have thought that they were such a pious group of believers that you'd never met the like of them in all your life. They sang until their lungs would burst. Praises to God. Uh, but then they journeyed. And from time to time they discovered that they weren't quite the nice people that they thought they were. Under the disciplines of God, they had to face themselves, and much correction needed to be done. It was not only a journey of discovery of themselves, it was a journey of discovering what God was actually like. Of course, they held part of their creed that God was perfect. And as I say, as they came out of Egypt and saw the triumph that God provided for them at the Red Sea, they were full of praise of God, genuinely praising out of gratitude to the Lord. It wasn't long thereafter when they discovered that God wasn't quite what they thought he was, and got sore upset about God and what he had allowed them to endure. And those of us that have been a long time on the Christian journey will recognize the relevance of it. There have been times, have there not, when our hearts have been full, brimful of worship. There have been other times, haven't there? When God's ways with us have been a puzzle and painful. The book is realistic anyway. And we must prepare ourselves, as we read the book in detail, that on this journey there came some ferocious disasters. Which reminds us of the ditty, God had it inserted into the chapters that deal with the preparations for the journey. Practical preparations and spiritual preparations. God had it recorded that from time to time, Aaron the high priest was to gather the Israelites together and speak to them and bless them in the name of the Lord. Let's read that blessing, shall we? As a preparation for our study. This is chapter six, verses twenty two to twenty seven. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his son, saying, On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel. You shall say unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. So shall they put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. I wish I had the powers of an Aaron. That now in these moments I could repeat this blessing until it got right into our very hearts, to bring the divine comfort and strengthening that we need, whatever stage in our journey we have reached. The Lord bless you. You will see, if it should ever happen, that the enemy of souls should insinuate into their hearts that God was not a God of love, actually, and cared little for them. Then, of course, it might invalidate the whole journey. The thing that would be vital in the testings that would be, that would come upon them was the preservation of the blessing of God, God's attitude towards them. The Lord bless you. And keep you. Number one requirement in all that hazardous, howling wilderness, to be kept, kept by the power of God. For however prosperous life may be, should it be that we lost the sense of the grace and the keeping of God. Then we should be lost indeed. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious to thee. Being of a simple mind myself, I do admire the way that the ancient Hebrew dares to speak of God in ordinary everyday language as though he had a face. And the Lord bless thee and make his face to shine upon thee. It's a delightful notion. When I think of that, I, I think of a little child I knew, and it was father's birthday, and mum had given the child the necessary cash to make it think it was buying daddy a present, you see. Shaving cream or something. Useless. And, uh, here's the little one coming to daddy, and she's going to give a present. Cor, look at her face. It's all shining, isn't it? What? And it challenged me to ask, when did I last look up into the face of God? And sense the face of God shining towards me. Because of the grace, the ten thousand and one graces that he has provided for me. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, so that we may revel in the inexhaustible wealth of the grace of God. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee. Now I have myself found out s- how difficult it can be in some nations, because they don't have the gestures that the English were taught to adopt, so that they might be loved everywhere around the world. There are some nations where, if you shake your head sideways on, so far from saying no, you are saying yes. To say no is to lift your head back, that you're denying the request or whatever. You, you need to know what the gestures are, don't you? The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. I hazard the guess that this has to do with our prayers, when we come to the Lord with our prayers and requests, and wonder what his answer will be. If you went to an ancient with a request, and he were to lift his head backwards and not look at you in the face, you would know he was refusing. He wasn't even listening to your request. And as a practical, uh, uh, maneuver, it was good if you, when you came to him before you issued your request, you got hold of his beard, so he couldn't lift up his countenance away from you, you see, but would listen to your request. So here, lifting up the countenance upon you is to look you still full in the face. Evidence that he has heard your prayer. And will deal with it as best seems to him. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Or to pray and seek his wisdom and then be left without answer, or seemingly so, can be profoundly disturbing. The Lord bless you, therefore. So shall they set, they put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them. God's provision, therefore, put here amongst the chapters that deal with the practical provisions for the journey, and dealing, of course, with the spiritual challenges that would come. What were those difficulties? Let us concentrate on some of the major difficulties as are related in this book of Numbers. In chapters fourteen and fifteen, Israel quite quickly arrive at the border of the land of promise. And sent twelve spies in to reconnoiter the land. Ten of them came back with a miserable report. It was a terrible land. It ate up its inhabitants. It was occupied by ferocious enemies. It was suicide to try and go in. And the people? They said to Moses, look here, Moses. We wouldn't have come if we'd have known it was like this. We're not going in. And they spoke of making a captain over them and going back to Egypt. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, tried to comfort the people and encourage them. Yes, there would be fighting to be done, and fighting against people that seemed at least, seemed to be giants. But God is with us, they said. We failed to convince the people. They point blank refused to go in. And the implications of it? Well, it made a nonsense of the whole journey. It It made made a very big question mark over the reality of their faith. For the original gospel message to them was that God had not only come down to deliver them by the Passover lamb and by the power of God's spirit at the Red Sea. But God would go before and strengthen them in the fight that they needed to face as they entered the promised land. And two douchable warriors like Caleb and Joshua rejoiced at the opportunity. Ha ha. Chasing a few giants? I think it a dull afternoon when I didn't have to come to chase any, he says, Caleb, you see. Ha. No. They refused to go in. And suggested making a captain for themselves to lead them back to Egypt. It must be evident to us that this did not merely question their faith in that moment. It questioned whether they had really believed God's promise from the start. For he come down to bring them down out of Egypt and into their divinely given inheritance. Two chapters in the New Testament are devoted to comment on this stage in Israel's experience. And the Holy Spirit himself, who indicts the lesson, sums it up this way in Hebrews chapter three, verses eighteen and nineteen. And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. Now, there are different words for unbelief as for belief in the New Testament. This word that is here used, they could not enter in because of unbelief. Is a word that means basic unbelief. He that believeth on the Son has everlasting life, says John the Apostle. He who... Well, our English versions will say don't, doesn't believe, but it's this word here. It means literally to fail to be convinced. It was a gospel they didn't believe. And it was serious, was it not? They came out of Egypt, yes. On the promise that God was bringing them to their inheritance. Faced with the inheritance, they point blank refused to go in. What did that show you about their initial profession of faith. We have become partakers of Christ, says the writer to the Hebrews. We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast unto the end. It could be a little tricky to understand the logic, couldn't it? How do you make a past thing depend on a future thing? We have become, if we hold fast to the end. Ah, but you see, the evidence of genuine faith under God's mercy is that it will, in the end, persevere. How would you sum up the experience of these people when faced with their inheritance, they now refuse to go in. They hadn't really believed, had they? In this matter of the inheritance. And the writer to the Hebrews cites the warning of the Holy Spirit to those who had become slack, perhaps because of persecution, and faint-hearted, that nonetheless they were to pull up their spiritual socks and persevere, and God would see them through. It is the mark, therefore, of a genuine believer, that he holds on to faith in Christ. You say, but what about Peter? Did he not deny the Lord? He did indeed. And that's why he had a high priest who prayed for him, not that his testimony should not fail, his testimony was ruined. Didn't pray for him that his courage shouldn't fail, that was shattered. Prayed for him that his faith shouldn't fail. And what a remarkable thing our blessed Lord did for Peter in the hour of his trial. He said to Peter, yes, you will deny me. Before the cockroach flies, you'll deny me. Peter didn't believe it. Didn't believe Christ. Said, no, Lord, you've got that bit wrong. When he denied the Lord for the third time. That old cockerel crew. And now Peter believed Christ more than he had ever done before. He had no option, did he? The thing had come true. And then to his mind would beco- would come the word of the Lord Jesus. When you are restored, not if you are, strengthen your brethren. So he would have a ministry in spite of his failure. He would, yes. Not if ever, but when you are restored. Strengthen your brethren. So does our blessed Lord, our great high priest, work for the maintenance of our faith. But let us pass on to another notable transgression in the course of the journey. And this is the one that is recorded in chapter sixteen Following. following. The ringleader of this disobedience and rebellion against Moses and against God was Korah. Now the epistle by Jude cites three names of the three gravest apostates. There was Cain, of course. He was bad enough. He slew his brother. And then there was Balaam. He perhaps was even worse. Finally, there was Korah. He was the worst of the lot. For Cain, whatever be said of him, wasn't the high priest, nor was he a priest. Balaam was bad enough, he was a religious man, though a false prophet and a false priest. Korah? We should nowadays describe him as being in holy orders. He was a Levite, junior servant in the tabernacle hierarchy of priests and Levites. And that he should lead a revolt is astonishing. And he and his accomplices came to Moses and Aaron. And they say to them, you take too much upon yourself, you Moses and Aaron. For everyone of the Lord's people is holy. That was true, but Moses had been appointed by God as the apostle of their faith. What Moses said and wrote was the inspired word of God, was it not? Hope you believe it. And to say that just anybody can be a Moses. Is quite false, of course. And as for Aaron, it wasn't open just to anybody on the Day of Atonement, for instance, to go into the Most Holy Place on the behalf of the nation. It was limited to their great high priest. Cora denied both in the cause of some spiritual democracy or something. I have known various university theological departments. What fearful things have been done and said. In many of them. Some of them deny the existence of God. Some deny the literal resurrection of Christ. Some deny the doctrine of the atonement. Many deny the inspired authority of Holy Scripture and have destroyed the faith of many. We are not short of corers in our modern age. This is one of the perils of the wilderness journey, and it had to be faced. I must not spend time on its gory details, but among the judgments of God upon Korah and company were the challenge to them to take censers and put on incense and stand there publicly burning their incense and see what God would do. And when they did it, the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them whole. As a result of the fire that burned, Aaron High Priest was told to go and take from the embers what was left of the censers, and to beat them out and put them on the big altar, nail them on the sides of the big altar. And you can see the effect of that, can't you? When you came in seriousness to that altar, if you were attending to the facts, you would see these censers. And if you were younger, you might ask, well, what are they there for? And you would be told the story of the rebellion of the priestly core against Moses and Aaron. The New Testament refers to it in two places. In the epistle by Jude, we are, we are told about the gainsaying. That's good authorized version, and I still know mine. Uh, you'll say it's very good authorized version, gainsaying. Hebrews chapter twelve says, our Lord, we are to think about our Lord who endured the contradiction. Hm? That's very good too, for the authorized. They both represent the same Greek word, which means to speak against, but in the sense of rebellion. It is a fact, isn't it, that whenever we come to the cross of Christ and see on that cross our blessed crucified Lord Jesus. How can we fail to remember what the human race did to God's Son? Consider him who endured the contradiction, the rebellion of sinners, but then we have to correct the thing a little bit. Sinners against themselves. It was suicide to do what Korah did. It's eternal suicide to do what the nation did to our blessed Lord. Consider him, lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. For the Hebrews to whom these words were written had been recently enduring persecution of all kind, including the loss of their possessions. The danger was to faint under it. Consider him who endured that rebellion of sinners against themselves, lest you be weary and faint in your mind. Let's come to Numbers twenty. And here is an instance where the Israelites had run out of drinking water, and on applying to God, Moses had been told to take his rod with Aaron and speak to the rock, and the water would come forth. But Moses seemingly lost his temper, understandably perhaps, with all the complaints, the endless complaints of the people that he was trying to lead. And so he collected the people, and he and Aaron took the staff, and instead of speaking to the rock, they s- smote it, saying, Hear now, you rebels, shall we bring forth water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand and smote the rock with his rod twice. The water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, because you believe not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. Let's pause to take it in. Moses, after many years of faithful, sacrificial service to God and his people, made this mistake. It carried consequences. Neither he nor Aaron was allowed to bring the nation into their promised inheritance. And Moses pleaded with God more than once to reverse the decision and let him lead the Israelites into their promised inheritance. Moses had devoted his life to the scheme, and not to be allowed to enter into its triumph was a very bitter pill, of course. But God was insistent. Neither Moses nor Aaron was allowed to bring Israel into their promised inheritance. Don't worry, you'll meet Moses in heaven, probably Aaron as well. Don't say, gone to heaven, good man. Yes, well, careful if you should meet him in glory. If the conversation gets anywhere near to water out of rock, uh, find some other topic you could get on quickly. Because it was a sore point with Moses. Didn't lose his salvation, but he wasn't allowed to take the people into the land. Why was it? What was so wrong? Well, here were people, and they were complaining once more. But there are complaints and complaints, and some people complain even if a flea bites them in the work of the Lord, you'll see. And others get struck down with fever. And Moses had just about had enough. But here were the people, and they'd run out of water. And this time had Moses eyes to see it. They were not rebelling against God. They were faced with the reality. Their little children had no water. Their stock had no water. And Moses took the matter to the Lord. And this Lord- time, the Lord, in his great compassion, understood their suffering and why they pleaded for water, and was going to give it to them. He told, uh, Moses and Aaron to take the rod. Be careful that you get the rod right, which rod it was. It was not the rod of God's judgment that Moses lifted up over the Nile and turned it to blood. It was the rod that was set up before the Lord. And that Numbers has told us in an earlier chapter was the rod that set up before the Lord, blossomed and brought forth almonds and confirmed the priesthood of Aaron. And what an exhibition of the mercies of God it was going to be. In answer to the people's cry, there was Moses, there was Aaron, there was the rod of his priesthood. It was going to be a magnificent example of the mercies of God that had provided a priest to intercede for them. Instead of it, between the two of them, they called the people rebels, instead of just speaking to the rock, and it would have listened to them, so to speak, and God would have given them. They belabored the rock. Well, God gave the people water, for he was merciful to the people. But Aaron and Moses had grievously misrepresented God. As I speak, as a teacher, I'm not unaware of the problem of rightly representing God to his people. What if I were overharsh? And to people in trouble, and having difficulty carrying on believing that God cares for them. If I simply diagnosed their trouble as sheer rebellion and rebuked them and called them rebels. Oh no. It is a serious thing to represent God, and very serious if we misrepresent him. He didn't lose his salvation. We shall meet him in heaven. But it put a limit on his usefulness. What a thing this journey was. And then, of course, we come to another problem mentioned in chapter twenty five, which tells us that Israel stayed in a place called Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. For they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat and bow down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said to Moses, take all the chiefs of the people and hang them up unto the Lord before the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel. Look down to verse seven. and when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw it, a flagrant case of an Israelite defying God by bringing a Moabitish woman, a Midianitish woman into the camp. Who rose up from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the pavilion and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, so the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. Verse el- uh, ten, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them that go, uh, among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Now, in some modern languages that happen to use English, the word jealousy is a bad thing. But in scripture, it can be a very good thing. A man that really loves his wife, what would you have him feel if some corrupt man steals his wife from him? And God being God, and having loved us, regards it as a fearful sin against his love. If we should be disloyal to him. In one Corinthians chapter ten, Paul deals with this practical problem in Corinth. You see, it was a customary thing that if you invited guests to dinner, you might, uh, uh, instead of taking them out to the Hilton or whatever hotel is the latest in favor in the glossy magazines. You took them to the temple restaurant where the meat was fresh. It was free offered on the altar just the other minute, you see, and brought by the priests, and you could buy it and have it cooked, and cor, the steaks were marvelous, you see. Could be a bit expensive. But what was the harm in it? And, uh, Paul has to argue the case with them. You cannot have fellowship with God, with the table of the Lord and the table of demons. The reason? One Corinthians ten and verse twenty two, Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Notice what he says now. Are we stronger than he? The The question. question carries a warning, doesn't it? God will not permit forever in his people disloyalty that provokes his jealousy. And what is true at the physical level is true at the spirit. Let me cite you two Corinthians chapter eleven. I read it at some length. Would that you could bear with me in a little foolishness. Nay, indeed, bear with me, for I am jealous over you with the godly jealousy, for I espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ. Our conversion to Christ is in a way like a wedding, isn't it? I've espoused you to Christ. You are not free to entertain other possibilities. You know what it is, well, perhaps you don't, but an onlooker sometimes gets the impression of what is happening. Here is a dear lady, and of course, there's great competition. And her difficulty is making up her mind. Shall it be George? There's a lot to be said for George. Cor, father is very wealthy, you know, manager of a shipping line, poor. And it does look wonderful to find, uh, you know, an extended, uh, taxi thing coming up at your door. Uh, the official chauffeur opening the door for you. There's a lot to be said for it. On the other hand, there's Thomas, you'll see. Now, George is nice, but he's a bit crude. And Thomas is a delightful musician. Well, shall it be Thomas? Or then... it could be Robert, you see. And there's nothing wrong in sitting down and pondering the options, is there? What oh? And coming to the decision, however that is come to, who knows, but coming to the decision, you see. Ah. Ah. But once the dear lady has said I will, then it is not freedom to envisage other possibilities, but disloyalty. I've espoused you to one, even to Christ. Let me talk to my younger brothers and sisters. This is a something that can get sorely tested in academic circles. Are we going to accept Christ and his word as the final authority? Or shall we go off to modernism and regard Holy Scripture as exchangeable for other ideas? It is not just an intellectual problem. It is a moral and spiritual problem. I've espoused you, espoused you as a virgin to Christ. Pray God you may remain loyal to him, your Your Lord Lord. and your lover. We have arbitrarily taken some incidents from the book of Numbers. I hope I have convinced you that Numbers is profitable for us Christians to study and study intensely if need be. They were on a journey. It tested the reality of their faith. We are on a journey likewise. We cannot expect that the journey will do other than test the reality of our faith. And that being so, let me repeat the words again. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.