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Chapter 2 The Numbered People “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 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; every one head of the house of his fathers..…And
the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. (Numbers 1:1-54) The first four
chapters of the Book of Numbers deals with the numbering of the children of
Israel, by which the camp of Israel was set up around the tabernacle and the responsibilities
to each family (tribe) were assigned by divine order. In the Book of Exodus,
Israel was delivered from Egyptian bondage and slavery. The Lord God
miraculously set them free from 400 years of captivity. They marched through
the Red Sea and saw God destroy Pharaoh and the Egyptian armies in the sea. Miraculously,
day after day, God guided them, provided for them, and protected them as they
marched through the desert wilderness. When
they got to Mount Sinai, the Lord Jehovah appeared to them in a spectacular
way. God called Moses up on the mountain and gave him the law. While Moses
was on the mountain receiving God’s holy law on tables of stone, Israel was
led by Aaron to make and worship a golden calf and called it the worship of
Jehovah! In
the Book of Leviticus, while they were still encamped around Sinai, the Lord
God, the God of all grace (in all the typology of the tabernacle, the
priesthood, the sacrifices, and ordinances of divine worship), showed them
how he would accomplish the salvation of his chosen people by the doing and
dying of his Son, the Lord Jesus. At the end of the Book of Leviticus, Israel
had been out of Egypt for a little more than a year. Exodus covered a year. Leviticus
covered only a month. Then,
we come to the Book of Numbers. Numbers encompasses more than 38 years. This
third book of Moses tells us what happened during those 38 years. The Hebrew
title of this book gives us an idea of its theme. In Hebrew this book is
titled “In the Wilderness” instead of Numbers. — The Book of Numbers is all
about Israel in the wilderness. It is a picture of God’s church, the Israel
of God, God’s elect in this wilderness of woe, called earth. There
is in this world of woe a people chosen and redeemed by God, a people for
whom all the wonders of providence are performed, a people chosen and
numbered for war, a people who shall be crowned with all the glory of heaven
when their journey is done. That is the
message of the Book of Numbers. That is what the Book of Numbers is all about.
A Numbered People The Book of Numbers is all about
a numbered people. The children of Israel, I remind you, were “the church
in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38). They represented God’s elect, God’s covenant
people, the Israel of God, the church, God’s holy nation and royal
priesthood. Everything that happened to those people, throughout their history
in the Old Testament Scriptures, happened by divine appointment for us, for
our learning, for our instruction, as examples of God’s saving grace given to
us and wrought in us (1 Corinthians 10:1-11). Observe these
numbered people closely. They were a people snatched by God’s
hand from tyrannizing foes. A miracle
of care supplied their daily
needs. A moving
pillar of fire and of cloud guided them in their way. God has given them his law. He has fenced them off from all other people
by circumcision and by their distinct, peculiar worship. Their contact with the
world is broken.
They move amid the nations
of the earth as strangers and pilgrims,
odd-balls, eccentrics, peculiar, strange people, unknown by the world around
them. God is with them. His sheltering arms is their
defense. Goodness and mercy
guard their
every step. The land of promised rest is the horizon
of their hope. Child of God, as we read Israel’s
history, we are looking into a mirror. They picture our heavenly Father’s special dealings with
every heaven-born soul, a picture of every believing sinner. In every age
and place there is an Israel
thus mercifully loved, and led, and fed. Like
them, we often err and fail.
Like them, we often sin and stray. Like them, we are miraculously preserved. We should always see ourselves in Israel’s history. Our every step finds
counterpart in them. The parallel is obvious. They once
groaned bitterly in cruel
bondage. But mercy
set them free. Believer, you too were
once a slave
at Satan’s will.
He ruled you with
an iron yoke.
But now the chain
is broken, and you rejoice. You are now the ransomed freed-man of the Lord! By
his commandment to number the people, the Lord God graciously kept a detailed
and precise record by which the genealogy of our Savior might be traced
(Hebrews 7:14). And by numbering his people, the Lord Jehovah seems to say, “The
rest of the world matters nothing to me. You are my singular people, my
jewels, precious to me.” — That is precisely what he says (Isaiah 43:1-4;
Romans 9:11-27; Titus 2:11-14). People in a Wilderness The people before us are people in a
wilderness; for them a wilderness of woe, an empty, desolate desert, a place
of much pain and sorrow. The
wilderness was never meant to be Israel’s destination. God’s intention was to
bring them into the Promised Land of Canaan. The wilderness was intended as a
temporary place, a place through which to move, not a place in which to live. Israel’s tribes journeyed as strangers through a desert-waste. Is not that the case with
you? The abiding
place is not here. Our rest is just
over there, just across the hill, on the other side of the river. Israel was escorted and protected by a heavenly guide.
So, too, the hand of the Almighty has marked out our course for us and is our guide by day and by night. Is your soul needy? The bread of life
fails not. Are you thirsty? The water
of life is ever springing. They had heard
the thundering of God’s law and trembled for a mediator. So, too, God’s holy law has
pierced the
deep recesses of our souls. We have learned by the gospel of both our sin and the glorious righteousness of God in Christ. We have been convinced by the
Spirit of God of sin, righteousness, and judgment: our sin, the righteousness
of God in the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ, and judgment executed
and finished by Christ’s substitutionary atonement. Was Israel God’s special portion? You, too,
are not your own. You
are a purchased property,
his peculiar people.
Before the people
move from Sinai, God gives
command to register the Number of each tribe. Account must be distinctly taken. All names must be recorded. Their multitudes must all be reckoned and exactly known. Things that
are numbered are chosen things; and you are his elect, chosen of God.
Numbered things are prized by those who possess them; and the Lord God has
made you precious in his sight. Numbered things are protected things; and you
are the apple of his eye. In the numbering of Israel we read rightly, if we read God’s
special love. His people
are numbered because they are
loved. O my soul,
come bow before
the God of all grace for his great love! It’s worth exceeds all worlds. — My God loves me! —
My name is in his heart! — The Lord of all creation
prizes me as
one of his chosen jewels! Why was the Lord Jesus sent to bear
your sins? Why has he robed
you in his righteousness? Why did
Jehovah inflict
on him the hell-pains which were justly yours? Why was Christ slain? Why
are you spared? There
can be only one reply. — God loves you! Why did the Spirit
of God awaken you from your spiritual
death? Why did he show
you your ruin? Why did he reveal Christ to you? Why did he melt your stony heart and give you
faith in his dear Son? There can be only
one reply. — God loves
you! How is it that your little
boat still rides above the raging billows of an engulfing world? How is it that your tottering feet are still
upheld along
the slippery hill which
leads to Zion’s heights? The strength is not your own. It is most freely given.
There can be only one reply. — God loves you! When did this love begin?
Tell me when God began
to be; and I will tell you when his love began. This love will
expire when God is no more God. It
is everlasting love, from everlasting to everlasting. God loves you! What an amazing
impulse to bear the willing servant over all mountains of doubt, and
fear, and
hindrance! — God loves
me! What a strong
shield to ward off Satan’s darts!
— God loves us! What
a soft, sweet pillow of unfailing peace! — God loves us! What a great light in the dark day of trial! — God loves me! What a cordial of invigorating comfort. — God loves us! What a blessed foretaste of a sure
heaven! A Time of War The children of Israel were numbered for
a time of war. None were
numbered, but those whose age and strength fitted
them for war.
It was God’s wise, good, and gracious intention that his people spend 40
years at war. Surely, every person here who has experienced and is
experiencing God’s saving grace in Christ sees the picture before us. — It is
by the wise, good, and gracious purpose of God that his people live the days
of their lives appointed by him at war, never at ease but at war, never at
peace but at war. We are at war with the world. The world presents its countless troops. All are quick to wound and skilled to capture. The cares of the world wrap us like
weeds wrap a stalk of corn, and keep wrapping until
they have choked out all life, except God himself keep us. The deceitfulness
of riches, the love of the world. and the religion of the world are all
relentless foes (1 John 2:15-18). We
are at war with the flesh, too. The flesh is an internal foe, haunting the secret
chambers of the heart,
and entwined around our very being. What pride, what horrid self-righteousness, what
vile unbelief we contend with every hour! The flesh, all that is born of the
flesh is of the devil. It gives no respite.
No respite can be
given to it And we are at war with the devil! Satan
roars! He deceives! He whispers! He insinuates! He assaults! We must relentlessly
resist him! Believer, yours is a warrior’s
life. Fight,
as one fighting for eternity. Strive, as one striving for a kingdom. March, as one resolute to take heaven by storm.
The Lord Jesus Christ calls. He commands.
He leads. Follow him boldly. Follow him faithfully. Why? Why has our God chosen thus to
save us? — “To the praise of the glory of his grace!” He could have
saved us and taken each heaven born soul immediately to heaven, as he did the
dying thief. But three times he tells us in the first chapter of Ephesians, he
saves the way he saves to the praise of his glory, to the praise of the glory
of his grace in Christ in sovereign election, eternal predestination, blood
atonement, and effectual grace. A Waiting Crown For this numbered people there was a
waiting crown — Canaan! The numbered host was numbered for the fight.
The fighting host will soon shout, “Victory!” No one will
triumph, who has never
fought. No one,
who truly fights, will fail. “For I am
now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto
all them also that love his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8). A Substitution Made In the numbering of Israel and
the specific exemption of the Levites from the numbering, a substitution was
made. “But the
Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. For
the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying, Only thou shalt not number the tribe
of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: But thou
shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the
vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it: they shall
bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister
unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle.” (Numbers 1:47-50) Back
in Exodus 13:2 the Lord God said, “Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,
whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of
beast: it is mine.” God took the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn. “And I,
behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of
all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel:
therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all the firstborn are mine;
for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I
hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall
they be: I am the LORD.” (Numbers 3:12-13) Wondrous
grace! Wondrous, wondrous grace! — The holy Lord God took his own dear Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in our stead! And he takes us, his loved, chosen, numbered
people in Christ’s stead! The ransom price for all those numbered of God is
exactly the same (Exodus 30:12-15). The silver of the sanctuary of God, the
price of our atonement, is the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-21). “Under the blood of Jesus, Safe in the Shepherd's fold. Under the blood of Jesus, Safe while the ages roll. Safe though the worlds may
crumble, Safe though the stars grow dim. Under the blood of Jesus, I am secure in Him.” Don Fortner |
Pastor
Fortner’s |