The Theme of Numbers Part 2
Last week we saw that the book of Numbers gets its name from the numbering of the people. There are many numberings in the book. They were numbered for the army; they were numbered for service in the Tabernacle. They are even numbered right down to the place where they were to sleep at night.
Numbering has to do with ownership and assignment to service. It has to do with God’s plan for their lives. And of course each person once they knew what God’s plan for them was, had the free will to accept it and follow it or not.
And we see in this book that it was God’s plan that He should come first.
It is in the book of numbers that the rule was given that when the tabernacle and their camp was moved, that the tabernacle had to be the very first thing that was set up. The tabernacle came before their own household. It had to be set up first. God was telling them that He is to come first in all things. That was His plan for them and that is His plan for us. Jesus said:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.
It is only right that God should come first.
A quick recap of the previous books is helpful. The main theme of Gen. is Man is a sinner and God wants to save.
The main theme of Exodus is redemption. God has the power to redeem and all those that applied the blood in faith were saved from the death angel. God delivered them out of the control of the world and it’ wicked one.
Then comes Lev. The theme of Lev. is worship. It is in the proper order. A man who realizes he needs saving (Gen) gets redeemed (Exodus) should now worship God. That is the natural order. While much of the details of how to worship in Lev. Do not apply to us. There are timeless truths there that we should take note of.
Like how the offerings had to be offered with salt. When talking about food, salt fights corruption and decay. All of our worship should be offered to God with salt in that in all our worship we should endeavor to keep corruption and decay from our worship.
So the order goes a man needs saving, then gets redeemed, and now is worshipping God. That is Gen, Exodus, and Lev. Now what.
Next is the theme of Numbers.
God has a plan for every one of His children. He has redeemed them. They have been bought back with a price. He has the right to have a plan for every one of His own.
The theme is God has a plan for every one of His children and every one of His children has a free will to accept God’s plan or not. Acceptance of God’s perfect and good plan for your life brings blessings. Rejection of God’s plan for your life brings wandering around in the wilderness.
Walking with God’s plan for your life leads to the victorious Christian Life. Rejection of God’s plan leads to the defeated Christian life. That is the theme of the book of Numbers.
The book of numbers records the rejection of God’s plan for their lives and the resulting experiences of the wilderness journey which is a type of the defeated Christian life.
Num 11:1 And [when] the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard [it]; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed [them that were] in the uttermost parts of the camp.
Now remember these are a redeemed people, and they are worshiping. They have the tabernacle, but are they living a victorious Christian life? No they are wining, complaining, and belly aching.
Num 11:2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.
Num 11:3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.
Does this sound like they are living according to God’s plan here? Are they having victory here? No they are getting the fire of God’s judgment.
Num 11:4 And the mixt multitude that [was] among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Num 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Num 11:6 But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes.
These people are a picture of defeated backslidden Christians. Lusting and complaining is not living the abundant victorious Christian life. They are living defeated in sin. And sin spreads. The sin of lust and complaining against God spread until every man wept in the door of his tent.
Num 11:10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.
Because of their complaining God will send them flesh to eat for a whole month until it comes out at their nostrils and is loathsome to them.
Num 11:18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for [it was] well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.
Num 11:19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;
Num 11:20 [But] even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which [is] among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?
What they had greedily coveted became nauseating in short order. Are they having spiritual victory here? Are they living the abundant Christian life here? Are they living according to God’s plan for them? The answers are no, no, and no!
Then in the next chapter we have the sin of Miriam and Aaron.
Num 12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Num 12:2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard [it].
And you know what happened. We covered that last week.
Num 12:9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
Num 12:10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, [she was] leprous
Miriam had to leave the camp. Moses then prays for her. This is another case of Moses being a mediator and thereby picturing Christ who is our mediator. The Lord refuses to heal her immediately but tells Moses to shut her out from the camp for seven days, after that God heals her. And during this time the people did not journey until Miriam was brought in again.
Her rebellion and sin not only made her sit in defeat, but it affected the entire camp. They had to just sit there. The cloud had already departed from off the tabernacle and because of her sin they had to wait before they could follow after God.
What a difference we see between Moses and Miriam. Moses needed a veil to hide his glory and Miriam needed a veil to hide her shame. We see Miriam here not living the victorious Christian life, we see Miriam living the defeated Christian life.
That brings us to the account of the 12 spies. If they would have been of good courage and believed God, their report might have been the confirmation of their faith. It could have been: the people of the land are strong, so let’s get excited about what our God IS GOING TO DO.
But instead ten of them bring an evil report and say that we are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” In effect they were saying that God is not able to keep His promise and that He is a liar.
You know that we do the same thing when we disbelieve the promises that God has given us and when we go against His will for our lives.
And disbelieving God is living the defeated Christian life in the wilderness. Unbelief will leave you in the wilderness. That is just a fact and it applies to us today.
Num 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Num 14:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Num 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
God’s longsuffering has limits and now God says no Canaan rest for you. They now have to wonder in the wilderness for 40 years. One year for each day that the spies were in the land.
The ten men who brought the evil report died by the plague before the Lord. God took them out in judgment right away.
Then the people tried to go up and take the land but God is not with them, the ark stays in the camp, and the Amalekites and the Canaanites smote them.
Through unbelief in God’s provision and protection they fail to enter the land. And now through unbelief in the severity of the judgment of God, they try to take the land in their own power.
Read just a little farther and we see Korah and 250 princes of the assembly challenge Moses and Aaron. They tell Moses and Aaron that they have taken too much upon themselves. But Moses and Aaron did not take their job, it was ordained by God. It was God’s plan for Moses and Aaron.
God tells Moses to separate themselves from them so he may consume them in a moment.
Moses prays and as soon as he gets done speaking, the earth opened up and swallowed up Korah and all that pertained to them. Fire then comes from the Lord and consumes the 250 men that offered incense.
Are they living in victory or in defeat? Are they living a life that is pleasing to God? Are they living according to God’s plan for them? The answers are no, and no!
The next day the congregation murmurs against Moses saying “Ye have killed the people of the LORD.”
14,000 people died in the resulting plague.
Now remember this was a redeemed people. They were redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and later they were typically baptized at the Red Sea.
And you cannot loose your salvation. Some people make the mistake of thinking that Canaan rest was a type of heaven. That is not true. There are to be battles in Canaan and there will be no battles in heaven. So Canaan rest is not a type of heaven.
It is a type of the victorious Christian life. A life in the land of milk and honey. A life were God fights the battles for you and He gives the victory.
This is the life that God wants for all of his redeemed people.
Joh 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.
Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.
God wants to give you an abundant victorious life. He wants His children to enter into Canaan rest. A life of walking with God, letting Him fight your battles and giving you victory and blessing. A wonderful life of praise and joy.
But they could not enter the land because of unbelief. We know this because of the New Testament.
Heb 3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
Heb 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
Heb 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Heb 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Psa 78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
And we can do the same thing. They did not believe God’s promises and had to live a defeated Christian life. They rejected God’s will for their life and had to live in the wilderness instead of the land of milk and honey.
We can do the same thing. We can choose not to believe God’s promises. We can choose to reject God’s will for our life and we can live a defeated Christian life.
We need to take what happened to them to heart and let it admonish us to not do the same thing that they did.
We should trust in God’s perfect knowledge and in His great love for us. And accept that the plan He has for our lives is what is best for us.
The theme of Numbers is God has a plan for every one of His children and every one of His children has a free will to accept God’s plan or not. Acceptance of God’s perfect and good plan for your life brings blessings. Rejection of God’s plan for your life brings wandering around in the wilderness. Walking with God’s plan for your life leads to the victorious Christian Life. Rejection of God’s plan leads to the defeated Christian life.
See more lessons on the themes of Old Testament Books