Numbers
Tonight
we began our journey into the book of Numbers. There are many interesting
things that can be found in this book so we have will have several lesson from
the book Numbers.
First
lets take a look at the names of this book. There are actually two. First lets
start with the one we already know, Numbers. This comes from the Greek and is
fitting title of the book because a census is taken in Chapter one and
following at
Author
Once
again the author is Moses. Just as in the book of Exodus and Leviticus we see
God speaking through Moses and we find Moses writing down what God commands
him.
Numbers 33:2 2 Now Moses wrote down
the starting points of their journeys at the command of the LORD.
Key Words
Wanderings or sojourning
Key Pharse
All that are able to go
to war this occurs 14 times in the first alone
Key verses come from the Key chapter of the book
Numbers 14:22
"because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in
Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times,
and have not heeded My voice, 23
"they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers,
nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.
You know this is really sad here in chapter 14. The Children
of Israel had seen first hand the power of God and how he dealt with the
Egyptian army. God was ready to give the children
Numbers 14:34 'According to the number of the days in which
you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one
year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.
I think the main lesson
that the book of Numbers teaches is that unbelief and disobedience will keep
you from having an abundant life and heavenly hope. Not ice what the writer of
Hebrews says about this.
Hebrews 3:7
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His
voice, 8 Do not harden your
hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me,
tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10
Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They always go astray in
their heart, And they have not known My ways.' 11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They
shall not enter My rest.' " 12
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in
departing from the living God; 13
but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of
you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of
Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: "Today,
if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the
rebellion." 16 For who,
having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of
Unbelief is a very
dangerous thing and so we can learn a valuable lesson from the book Numbers and
Beware of unbelief and beware of disobeying Gods will. Because of the children
of
1 Corinthians 10:1
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were
under the cloud, all passed through the sea,
2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the
sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual
food, 4 and all drank the
same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them,
and that Rock was Christ. 5
But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were
scattered in the wilderness. 6
Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust
after evil things as they also lusted. 7
And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written,
"The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." 8 Nor let us commit sexual
immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand
fell; 9 nor let us tempt
Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them
also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened
to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the ages have come. 12
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed less he falls.
As Christians we must always be careful that we don’t stop
paying attention how we are living our lives for God. Some may become over confident and think there is no way they can sin against God.
People who get to this point are not really much different than the children of
Now let’s do a quick
overview of the leading topics of Numbers.
1-10 Organization at
Moses is commanded to
number the people and get the men ready are 20 years or older to prepare for
war. The Levites are given different duties in regards to the tabernacle.
11 70 Elder appointed and Quails sent.
70 Elders are appointed
to help Moses out and then people complain about not having food so God sends
them Quails for month so that they are running out their nose.
12 The Jealously of Miriam and Aaron
They are jealous of Moses
new Ethiopian wife
13 -14 The disobedience at Kadesh
This is where the
children of
15-19 The events of their 40 years
Just as the titles says
we learn what happens to the children of
20 The sin of Moses and death of his siblings
In this chapter both
Miriam and Aaron die. Moses also sins by striking the rock out anger when God
asked him to speak to the rock and so Moses is not allowed to go into the
promise land either.
21 The Brazen serpent
Once again the Children
of Israel rebel against God and he sends fiery serpents to bite them and when
they do they die. Moses intervenes and God tells Moses to make a serpent out of
Bronze and raise it upon a pole and whoever looks upon it after being bitten by
one the poisonous serpents will be healed.
22-25 Balaam and his talking donkey
Balak the King of Moab hires Balaam to curse the
children of
26 The second census
The children of
27-34 Additional laws and preparation for entering
35 Cities of refuge
If a man killed someone
by accident he could flee to one of these cities and be safe from an avenger
until he stands trial before the congregation.
There are 3 more high
points I want look at from the book of Numbers.
1. In Chapter 6 we learn
about the Nazarite vow. Both Samson and John the
Baptist were Nazarites . One of the sins that led the
Amos 2:11 I
raised up some of your sons as prophets, And some of your young men as Nazirites. Is it not so, O you children of
2. Grasshopper complex –
Numbers
Joshua 2: 8
Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9 and said to the men: "I
know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on
us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of
you. 10 "For we have
heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out
of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on
the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11 "And as soon as we heard these
things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in
anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above
and on earth beneath.
Part of winning any
battle requires that you have
confidences that you can win. As
Christians we are fighting a spiritual
warfare against the devil and all things that are evil. But if we began to
doubt our ability wage this type of war if we began to doubt that God is there
to help us then we to can become grasshoppers in our own eyes. If we allow
ourselves to become like this than we lose the battle.
The Hebrew writer says:
Hebrews 10:35 35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which
has great reward.
Friends, with God on our
side we should be the most confident
people that are. There is nothing that this life can dish out that we cant
approach in confidence when we are in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:11 Not
that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to
be content: 12 I know how to
be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have
learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. 13 I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me.
Another passage that really encourages me about God
and what Jesus does for us is found in:
Hebrews 4:14- Seeing then that we have a great High
Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold
fast our confession. 15 For we do not
have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all
points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to
the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need.
Jesus can relate to us
and knows all about our troubles and we can truly draw strength from that. So
let’s do our best not become grasshoppers in our eyes.
3. The third thing I want
to show is one of the most beautiful passages
that you will find in the book Numbers. Take a look a what God says
before the
Numbers
There are several type
and antitypes in the book of numbers. I just want to mention a few. First Moses
is a type of Christ in the fact that he leading the people to promise land. The
promise land is a type of heaven and the wandering in the wilderness is typical
of the difficulties that we face in this
world. You also notice that only those who were faithful and obedient to Gods
will were able to enter into the promise land. The same is true today only
those who are faithful and obedient to Gods will be able to enter heaven.
In conclusion there is
two fold message from the book of Numbers.
1 Gods people are saved
to serve
2 Gods people must beware
of unbelief.