Numbers 23:1-26:22

Numbers

23:1-30  -  Our words are to be an echo of God’s Word. We are to speak only what God says (8,12). Before we can speak for God, He must speak to us. ‘God’s Word is truth’ (John 17:17). God does not lie. He does not change His mind. What He says, He does. He fulfils His purpose (19). How does God carry forward His purpose of blessing? We receive His blessing. We share His blessing with others. We can only bring blessing to others when we ourselves seek blessing from the Lord. His blessing comes to us. His blessing reaches out through us. We speak His Word, yet - through our words - He speaks (20). This is the work of the Holy Spirit. ‘God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit’ (Ephesians 6:17). The Spirit uses the Word to convict us of our sin and lead us to our Saviour (Hebrews 4:12-16).

24:1-25  -  When ‘the Spirit of God came upon him’, Balaam’s ‘oracle’ was described as ‘the message of the man who sees clearly’. His ‘eyes are opened’. He sees ‘with far-seeing eyes’. He ‘hears the words of God’. He ‘sees the vision of the Almighty’ (2-4,15-16).  Balaam looks beyond his own time. ‘With far-seeing eyes’, he prophesies concerning our Lord Jesus Christ: ‘I see Him, but not now’ (17). Balaam catches a glimpse of Jesus Christ, the ‘King of kings’ (Revelation 19:16). This is what we must pray for: ‘the revelation of Jesus Christ’. Pray that you will be ‘in the Spirit’, ready to ‘hear what the Spirit says’ (Revelation 1:1,10; 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22). God is the unchanging God - Nothing changes Him (23:19). He is also the changing God. He changed Balaam. He will change us!

25:1-26:22  -  Read of Israel’s adultery and idolatry and remember God’s Word of warning: ‘Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mould’ (25:1-5; Romans 12:2). God is looking for people who have the ‘same zeal’ as He has (25:11). Those who are zealous for God may be few in number, but we must not be discouraged. Glorying in Christ our Saviour, we must continue to be zealous for Him. In Christ we have ‘peace’, ‘atonement’ and a ‘perpetual’ salvation (25:12-13; Romans 5:1-2,9-10). We are saved to serve - This is the thought contained in the phrase, ‘all in Israel who are able to go forth to war’ (26:2). The wilderness wanderings were over. God was doing a new thing. He was looking for a new people, determined, by grace, to carry His work forward into the future. He is still looking!

Numbers 21-22

Numbers

21:1-35  -  In verses 5-9, there is an illustration of God’s salvation (John 3:14-15). There is sin and death (Romans 5-6; 3:23, 6:23). Christ prays for our forgiveness (7; Luke 23:34). Lifted up on the Cross, He dies that we might have eternal life. In love, He appeals to us, ‘Look to me and be saved’ (John 12:32; Isaiah 45:22). Enter, Destroy Possess (21-24, 33-35): Let Christ enter your heart, destroying Satan’s strongholds and taking possession of your life (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5). If we are to be victorious to the ‘praise and glory and honour... of Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 1:6-8), we must ‘go by the King’s Highway, not turning aside to the right hand or the left’(22; 20:17). For the Christian, ‘the King’s Highway is ‘the Way of Holiness’: ‘This is the way, walk in it’ (Isaiah 35:8; 30:21).

22:1-41  -  Learn from the past. In 2 Peter 2:15-16, Jude 11 and Revelation 2:14, we are encouraged to learn from the events of this chapter. Each passage contains a warning. (a) 2 Peter 2:15-16  - Don’t leave ‘the straight way’ and follow the crooked way! (b) Jude 11 - Don’t let making a profit become more important than being a prophet! (c)  Revelation 2:14 - Make sure you don’t get drawn away from God into sin! What is God saying to us here? - ‘these things happened... as a warning... they were written down for our instruction... let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall’. With the warning, there is also the promise: ‘...God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide a way of escape...’ (1 Corinthians 10:11-13).

Numbers 19-20

Numbers

19:1-22  -  The sacrifice was to be ‘without defect’. There was to be ‘no blemish’ (2). Here, we have a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ - ‘without sin’, He offered Himself ‘for the sins of the people’ (Hebrews 4:15; 2:17). The gathering of ‘the ashes’ (9-10) speaks of the completeness of Christ’s work for us - ‘for all time a single sacrifice for sins’ (Hebrews 10:12). The danger of becoming unclean through touching a ‘dead body’ (11) - there is a warning for us here. ‘Dead in trespasses and sins’, we have been ‘made alive’ in Christ (Ephesians 2:1). We dare not look back (Luke 17:32; Genesis 19:26; Luke 9:62; 2 Peter 2:20-22). We have been purified ‘from dead works to serve the living God’ (Hebrews 9:14). Christ ‘saves to the uttermost’. How dare we ‘shrink back’ from Him? ‘Have faith. Be saved’ (Hebrews 7:25; 10:39).

20:1-29  -  No man or woman is indispensable. God’s work goes on, with or without us! (a) Miriam (Moses’ sister) served and worshipped the Lord (Exodus 2:7-8; 15:20-21). Now, her time had come. She was not to enter the land. She ‘died’ (1). (b) Moses had been the leader of God’s people. He sinned, and he was excluded from the promised land (12). Do not rest on your laurels. Yesterday’s grace is not sufficient for today’s challenges. A day-by-day walk with the Lord is called for. (c) Aaron (Moses’ brother) had stood alongside Moses in leadership. He ‘died’ (28) without entering the promised land. In the leadership of God’s people, the names and the faces change - but the Lord never changes. He remains unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable in His love. When Moses, Aaron and Miriam had gone, God was still there!

Numbers 16-18

Numbers

16:1-50  -  ‘You have gone too far!’: They regarded themselves as ‘holy’, yet they refused to go ‘too far’ with God (3)! What kind of ‘holiness’ is this? There is a ‘holiness’ which is more concerned with respectability than obedience to God. Faced with ‘the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’, we dare not say, ‘We will not come up’ (12; Philippians 3:14). We are to be ‘holy’: ‘Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity’ (4; 2 Timothy 2:19). ‘Separate yourselves’ (20): This is not the false separation of the Pharisees - Spiritual ‘pride’ is ‘an abomination to the Lord’ (Proverbs 11:1-2). Maintain your high calling - Don’t get dragged down to the level of those who ‘will not come up’ to where God wants them to be - and remember: ‘By grace... not your own doing... the gift of God’ (Ephesians 2:8).

17:1-18:32  -  The call comes from God - to Aaron, to Christ (17:5; Hebrews 5:4-6). Christ is both the Offering for sin and the Great High Priest (Hebrews 5:7-10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:25). We look at ourselves, and we say, ‘We perish, we are lost, we are dead’ (17:12). We look to Christ, and everything changes (John 3:16; Luke 19:10; Ephesians 2:1). ‘Service’ and ‘reward’ (18:31): The Lord blesses those who serve Him faithfully each day (1 Corinthians 15:58). Building on Christ, we seek to do work of lasting value - ‘gold, silver precious stones’. We dare not rest content with shallow superficiality - ‘wood, hay, straw’. There is ‘a reward’ for those whose ‘work’ is ‘built on the Foundation, which is Jesus Christ’ (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).

Numbers 14-15

Numbers

14:1-45  -  ‘All the congregation raised a loud cry...’, ‘all the people of Israel murmured...’, ‘all the congregation said to stone them...’ (1-2,10). Was there any ‘light at the end of the tunnel’? Yes! - ‘The Lord... will bring us into this land’ (8). With the promise, there was also the warning: ‘Do not rebel against the Lord’ (9). Though angry, God remained patient: ‘How long will this people despise Me? How long will they not believe in Me?’ (11). He was waiting patiently for a change of heart. Moses prayed for mercy without presuming on it: ‘He will by no means clear the guilty’ (18-19). God announces His pardon (20). Nevertheless, there may be times when God says, ‘Enough is enough - It’s time for a new beginning’: Only Caleb, Joshua and the ‘little ones’ would enter the land (30-31): No one else! Not even Moses!

15:1-41  -  We read of offerings for ‘atonement’ (25,28). We think of Christ: He went ‘outside the camp’ for us (35-36; Hebrews 13:12) - to bring us forgiveness (25,28). We are to ‘be holy to our God’, the God of our redemption (40-41). Obedience to God is of the utmost importance: We need to be reminded of all His commandments (39). Our supreme motivation is redeeming love. This divine redemption creates a relationship. God is our God and we are His people. Out of this relationship is to come the obedience of faith (40-41). ‘E’er since, by faith, I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme, and shall be till I die’;  ‘When He comes, our glorious King, all His ransomed home to bring, then anew this song we'll sing, “Hallelujah! What a Saviour!”’ (Mission Praise, 671; Church Hymnary, 380).

Numbers 12-13

Numbers

12:1-13:33  -  Miriam and Aaron complained (12:1-2). Caleb and Joshua encouraged (30; 14:6-9). Thank God for encouragers! How did Moses react to criticism? He ‘was very meek’ (3). He was like Jesus - ‘When He was reviled, He did not revile again’ (1 Peter 2:23). Moses - ‘a servant’ - was  ‘entrusted with all God’s House’: We look beyond Moses to Christ who is ‘faithful over God’s House as the Son’ (12:7; Hebrews 3:5-6). In times of difficulty, we draw our strength from Him. Where there is the encouragement of faith, the discouraging voice of unbelief is not far behind it. Unbelief sees nothing but problems - ‘We are not able...’ (30-31). ‘Not able’ or ‘well able’? The choice is yours. Choose faith. There must be no place for unbelief.

Numbers 10-11

Numbers

10:1-36  -  God’s Word - ‘the testimony’ (11) - reveals God’s purpose (29) and provides God’s guidance (33). The ‘cloud’ is like the presence of God’s Spirit hovering over us. Great things are about to happen. The Spirit of God is moving over the face of the people of God gathered for worship (11; Genesis 1:2). Through the Word, the Spirit draws our attention to the Lord who has promised good to us (29). Instructed by the Word and strengthened by the Spirit, we ‘journey’ with God (33). We are moving on with God, looking forward to the fulfilment of His good purpose. We have heard the trumpet sound, calling us to worship the Lord, to be His soldiers and servants (1-10). We hear the divine declaration, ‘I am the Lord your God’ (10), and we say, ‘Yes, Lord, You are our God’ (Psalm 63:1; John 20:28).

11:1-35  -  ‘The people complained in the hearing of the Lord’ (1) - Remember: All our words are spoken ‘in the hearing of the Lord’! There was ‘a rabble among them’ (4): What problems there are when such people are mingling with God’s people! What are we to do when this happens? - Pray for God’s help (10-15). God will not disappoint us - He gives people who will ‘take their stand with us’ (16), the Spirit who rests on God’s people (25), the Word, ‘strong meat’ to sustain our spiritual strength (31-32; Hebrews 5:12-14). The lure of  the world , the pull of the flesh - ‘the rabble’ wanted to go back to ‘Egypt’ (4-6):  This is the attack of  the devil. Standing in Christ’s strength alone, we ‘resist the devil’. Defeated by Christ, Satan can do nothing but ‘flee from us’ (Philippians 4:13; James 4:7; 1 John 3:8).