Through the Bible - Numbers

Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the day of the provocation... when your fathers tempted me, and proved me, and saw my works for 40 years. Wherefore, I was grieved with that generation... So I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest. — Hebrews 3:7-11

The wilderness book of the Bible — where redeemed people learn the hard lesson that desire to obey God is not the same as power to obey Him.

Where Numbers Fits in the Story

We began several weeks ago in Genesis, which shows us man's complete inadequacy. The book leaves us with man dead in a coffin in Egypt. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:11 that all these things happened to Israel as examples for us, written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages have come. From the time Jesus ascended, we have been in the last days, and God instructs us through His Word.

Genesis is summed up in Romans 3:23: all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Man is dead in Egypt with no way to reach God. Then Exodus comes along with the great "but God." He does what man cannot do, revealing His redemptive power. Romans 5:6 captures it: when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Then comes Leviticus, summed up in Romans 6:1: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God brought His people out by a mighty hand and then said, in Leviticus 20:26, You shall be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. Leviticus showed us the costliness of holiness and fellowship with God.

The Romans 7 Experience

Now we come to Numbers — the wilderness wanderings. Whenever God says, "Be holy," man tries and fails. That is Romans 7:14: the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Paul says the good he wants to do, he does not do; the evil he hates, he does. In doing so he proves the law is holy, just, and good — but he also discovers, in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing. The will is present, but the power to perform is not.

Remember, it took God one day to get Israel out of Egypt, but it would take 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel. Every one of us, called to be holy, finds the desire present but the power lacking. Desire without power falls flat on its face. And Paul comes to the cry God wants every one of us to reach: Oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

Numbers shows us this more clearly than any other book. Here is a redeemed people who said in Exodus, "All that the Lord has said, we will do." How long did it last? About 40 days, until they were dancing around a golden calf. The answer to "Who will deliver me?" waits for Joshua, but Numbers lays bare the problem.

Sanctification on the Way to Glory

Redemption does not stop at taking man out of Egypt; it also takes Egypt out of him — that is sanctification. But sanctification is not the finished product. Redemption goes on to glorification. God is fashioning us into the image of Christ, and one day, when we see Him, we shall be like Him, transformed in the twinkling of an eye. The whole creation groans for the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8).

Right now we are in the process of being made holy. Israel's very name means "governed of God," yet coming out of Egypt they were anything but governed of God. They were a stiff-necked people — and so are we. We are all stubborn to the core, unwilling to yield. But submitting to God is the only way of holiness, the only way to be truly whole.

God's Way Versus Our Reason

Numbers shows a people who would not trust God's way. God sought to lead and provide, but they constantly pitted their own reasoning against His. Have you ever found God's way not measuring up to your opinion of how it should be done? That is exactly Isaiah 55: My ways are above your ways. Solomon warned us twice — Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 — there is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. He said it twice because we need to hear it over and over.

This book has application to us like no other in the Pentateuch, because the focus of every living Christian is sanctification. We are justified and will be glorified, but right now we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds.

A Warning to Christians: Hebrews 3-4

The writer of Hebrews, speaking to Jewish Christians, points directly to Israel's wilderness wanderings: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. They could not enter in because of unbelief. So he says, let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Notice this: Hebrews says the works were finished before the foundation of the world. The work to take Israel into the land — and the work to take us into the victorious Christian life — was already accomplished. Revelation 13:8 calls Jesus the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The work is done. Yet some never enter, because of unbelief. Jesus says, Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Between Mount Sinai and the promised land lies the wilderness, the place of learning to depend completely on the Lord.

The Generation That Fell

Numbers 14 is the key event Hebrews remembers. God tells the Exodus generation that, because they provoked Him by unbelief, they will not see the land. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness... except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. They had seen the plagues, the Red Sea, the provision — yet only two years out of Egypt, they refused to step in by faith.

And there were many people. Numbers gets its name from the censuses in chapters 1 and 26. The first census counted the men 20 and upward ready for war: 603,550 — not counting children or wives, and these were large families. Every one of those men, plus their generation, would die in 38 years. That is over a million people, averaging about 85 deaths a day, with some days seeing 24,000 die for their sin. This nation got very good at funerals.

The Champions of Complaining

The other thing they excelled at was complaining and murmuring. Nobody has to teach you to be good at that — we are all pretty good at it. Just two years removed from slavery under harsh taskmasters, they complained against the God who was caring for them. For 40 years their clothes and shoes did not wear out. He gave water from rocks and manna from heaven. And still they complained the whole time.

Division One: Presence, Provision, Protection, Guidance

The book divides into three sections. Chapters 1 through 10:10 reveal God's presence, provision, protection, and guidance. He was with His people in a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day — a cloud that not only led them but covered them in the hot, arid desert. Imagine surrounding peoples coming around a hill at night and seeing an enormous pillar of fire in the camp; they would turn and walk the other way.

He provided manna and water — the daily necessities Jesus speaks of in Matthew 6: Seek ye first the kingdom of God... and all these things shall be added unto you. And He led them, always keeping His tabernacle in the very center of the camp — Judah and others to the east, the rest to north, west, and south, the presence of God in the midst. It pictures the indwelling Holy Spirit, central to our lives.

Division Two: Failure and Slow Growth

Numbers 10:11 begins the second section: the cloud lifted, and Israel journeyed from Sinai into the wilderness of Paran. Notice how God guided them — by keeping them in the coolness of the cloud. You want to follow the Lord? Follow Him in the place of peace and comfort. Paul knew this in Philippians 4:6-7: God leads us by His peace.

Chapters 11 through 26 deal with the failure of the people and their slow growth to maturity. This is exactly where we usually find ourselves. We still sin and fall — 1 John says anyone who claims to have no sin is a liar. But like a child learning to walk who falls less as it grows, our falls should become fewer the longer we walk with the Lord. By the end of this section, Israel begins to win battles against kings like Sihon and Og — victory is starting to come.

Complaining Against God's Provision

Their first complaints concerned provision. God had given manna in Exodus 16 — tasting like oil and honey, a picture of the Word of God we must gather daily. But it was God's plan that they grow tired of the wilderness fare, because He wanted to bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. If He had served them animal-style burgers and hotcakes every morning, they might never have wanted to leave the wilderness.

Instead, a lusting arose. They craved meat and reminisced about the leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt — strange foods to long for when God was offering an abundant land. So God said, fine: you will eat meat until it comes out your nostrils, not for a day or five days but a whole month. He sent quail, and they gorged until they were sick of it, then complained again. They were not content. Godliness with contentment is great gain — and they had no contentment.

Complaining Against God's Blessing

At Kadesh Barnea (Numbers 13), right at the door of the promised land, twelve spies went in and brought back enormous grapes carried on a pole between two men. Ten admitted the land was good and fruitful — but there were giants, the sons of Anak. Note Numbers 13:33: we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. In their own eyes the blessing was too big to take — though Hebrews 3 reminds us the work was already accomplished.

Only Caleb and Joshua said, "Let's go up; these people are bread for us." But the congregation refused, wept all night, and prepared to choose a leader to take them back to Egypt — back to bondage instead of pressing into the promised land. They got ready to stone Caleb and Joshua. Because these two were men of faith, they alone of that whole army would enter the land. God sentenced the rest to 38 more years in the wilderness — a year for each of the 40 days the spies had searched the land.

Complaining Against God's Leadership

In Numbers 16, Korah and 250 men challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron, demanding to be leaders themselves. Moses, the most humble man around, said, "Let's seek the Lord." Each man was to bring incense before the Lord. As with Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus, fire came and devoured the 250. And God did a new thing: the people moved their tents back, the earth opened, and it swallowed Korah's company alive. God thus declared the leadership He had ordained.

Victory and the Blessing of Balaam

As that generation passed and their children grew under God's preparation, the surrounding nations took notice and came against Israel — and God brought victory. They would go out 12,000 strong, destroy an enemy army, and return with all 12,000, none injured.

Alarmed, Balak king of Moab summoned the prophet Balaam to curse Israel. On the way, Balaam's donkey balked, crushed his foot against a wall, and finally spoke to him — and remarkably, it did not even faze Balaam; he argued right back. He could not see the angel of the Lord standing ready to strike him, but the donkey could. When his eyes were opened, the angel warned him to speak only what God would give.

Four times Balaam rose to curse, and four times he could only bless:

How shall I curse whom God has not cursed?... God is not a man that he should lie... Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel. (Numbers 23)

How could God not behold iniquity in Jacob? Because, as David says, blessed is he whose iniquity is not imputed unto him. Then the Spirit of God came upon Balaam: How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob... as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. Like Psalm 1's righteous man, planted by rivers of water, this is God's view of His people even in their failures — His righteous, blessed seed whom no one can curse.

Division Three: A New Generation Prepared for Blessing

By Numbers 26, the people stand again at the edge of the promised land, 38 years later. God commands a second census, finding the nation had decreased only slightly — still about 600,000 men ready for war. From chapters 26 through 36, God reorganizes this new generation and prepares them for blessing, instructing them again about the feasts and laws, and telling them exactly how to divide the land by lot among the tribes and keep that inheritance.

They stand looking across the Jordan at Jericho, and Moses, now 120 years old, is near death. Leadership will pass from Moses to Joshua. Moses pictures the law, which is holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12) — there is nothing wrong with the law; the problem is in us, which the law exposes. But the law cannot bring you into the life of blessing and victory. Only Joshua can.

From Moses to Joshua

The name Joshua — Yehoshua, "the Lord is salvation" — carried into Greek becomes Jesus. Next week in Deuteronomy, God speaks His law a second time to the new generation, again calling them to holiness and showing them how to live as His priests to the world. Then in Joshua we will see God bring His people into the land of victory the law could never reach — entered only by faith.

Numbers has great application for us because of the work of sanctification it portrays — the same work taking place in your life and mine every single day. Ultimately God wants to take us out of the wilderness and into the land of rest, the victorious Christian life. May every one of us be entering into that life right now.

Closing Prayer

God, we do thank You for the truth of Your Word, and I pray that You would apply these things to our hearts. Thank You that You have brought us out of the world, out of Egypt — the work we could never do in our own strength. And Lord, if we find ourselves today in the wilderness, where it seems dry and hot, going through trials, where we keep falling down and failing, I pray You would help us to come into that life and walk in the Spirit, as we will see in Joshua. Lord, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. Teach us to walk after Your Spirit and bear the fruitfulness of Your Spirit, to eat the good of the land. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.