Numbers 20

Miriam and Aaron would die in the wilderness. Their brother, Moses, would not be allowed into the promised land.

The events that led to the disappointing news that even Moses would not enter the land are recorded for us here and in other places. The problems (no water and the related grumbling of the people) are plainly written. Moses and Aaron brought these before the Lord, and the Lord gave His specific instructions to the mediator of the Old Covenant.

The words and actions of Moses are written for our consideration. This much is clear: that Moses committed a serious breach in the eyes of the Lord. Rather than theorize too much on the offense, it is best for us to consider the Lord's own words very carefully, since God knows the heart, and observes things that people cannot see.

“Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” The key words here are “believe” and “holy.”

Moses' failure was, at root, a problem of unbelief. This does not mean that Moses was not one of God's children. He appeared with Jesus at the Transfiguration. Yet he too tasted unbelief, and that unbelief overflowed in the stress of Meribah.

Moses forgot to show the Lord as “holy.” The Lord is set apart. He alone can bring water from a rock to supply His sons and daughters. We have streams of living water flowing from the Rock, which is Christ. Moses is not our rock. He is not the Water from the Rock. He is not the Provider of the Water from the Rock. These honors are reserved for the Triune God.

There are ways of ministering to others where we get in the way of the grace and glory of God. The water may still come forth, but our unbelief has put the focus more on us than on the holiness of the Lord. We may still be used in the Lord's service, but He will show Himself as holy. There may be sad consequences that come to us and others because of our unbelief.

The Lord disciplined His people in the wilderness, but He did not abandon them or His promises. Though the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, would not show charity to the Israelites in their journey, God would carry them through this and every trial.

This chapter began with the death of Moses' sister and it ends with the death of Moses' brother. In between, the Lord records a sad episode of not only the unbelief of the congregation, but even of Moses himself. These are the facts, but they are not the only facts.

The congregation wept for Aaron for thirty days. We mourn the sorrows that families face and we regret our own sin and unbelief. Yet we do not grieve as those who have no hope. The Rock has come for us. He has poured out the gift of refreshing Water from on high, a Water that will last for all eternity. The Provider of every good gift has kept His promises to His people. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

1 Kings 13

A prophet was sent by the Lord to Bethel to speak God's Word against the false religious system that Jeroboam had established in Israel. Although the king was there in his presence, the prophet spoke directly against the altar, the place of false sacrifice. In this Word from God, he delivered an astounding prophecy that would be fulfilled three hundred years later in the days of the last good king of Judah, Josiah. (2 Kings 23:17).

King Jeroboam of Israel had set up the altar in Bethel out of fear that the people of Israel would return to Jerusalem for the appointed festivals. The king now attempted to assert his authority over this prophet of God, but a sign of the Lord's judgment came against him immediately. The man of God extended the Lord's mercy to the king by praying for his healing, and he was immediately healed.

The chapter concludes with a strange series of events involving two genuine prophets, deception, the death of the first prophet, and a solemn testimonial from the second. These events may seem bizarre to us. Above all else, they were a display of the knowledge and power of God, as well as His seriousness regarding exact obedience to His Word.

These two men would end up sharing a grave that would be a marker of the truth of God's Word in the days of Josiah. While other graves in Bethel would be unearthed, and dead bones would be used by Josiah to defile this old false altar, the shared grave of these men would not be disturbed.

The extraordinary story of Josiah was many generations away and would further heighten the truth of the testimony given that day long ago in Bethel. Yet even when the Word was originally spoken in the days of Jeroboam, it should have been clear to the king that God's truth was near, and that He was calling the king to repent. But he would not listen.

Our Messiah, Jesus, is holy. He is a prophet of perfect truth and a King who came to serve us in unblemished righteousness. He is set apart from all the sinful personalities on the face of the earth, however great they may be. Yet He was determined to be very near to His people in His death, His burial, and His resurrection.

The cross of Jesus has become our death. We were buried with Him in baptism. We are seated with Him already in heavenly places. His holiness, so different from our own record of obedience, has become the legal record for all who call upon His Name. The key words and events of His power and love, recorded for us so convincingly in the Scriptures, are a monument to the church forever of the abounding greatness of our eternal Prophet, Priest, and King.

1 Kings 12

Solomon was a very forceful ruler. When the time came for his son, Rehoboam, to take his place, the people brought their concerns to the new king under the leadership of one of Solomon's enemies, Jeroboam.

Israel asked Rehoboam to lighten their load. The more seasoned advisers of the king urged accommodation, but the young men around him advised a show of strength. Beyond all the wisdom of counselors, God was accomplishing His own purposes.

The Lord had revealed some time before this exactly what would happen after Solomon's death. God would now accomplish what He had announced through His prophet. The nation would be divided. The northern tribes would follow Jeroboam. Only Judah, the tribe of kings, would stay with Solomon's son.

Rehoboam gathered the troops from Judah and the neighboring tribe of Benjamin. It was his intention to bring the rest of Israel into submission by force. But the Lord sent another prophet to the king with this message: “This thing is from Me.” According to God's instruction, everyone went home in peace, and Israel and Judah were divided.

From the beginning, the story of the kings of the northern tribes was one of fear, confusion, and disobedience. Jeroboam set up shrines in the southern and northern reaches of his territory in order to dissuade the people from returning to Jerusalem. He made up his own feast, established his own priesthood, and sacrificed offerings on his own altar, all against the Law of God.

God is not the author of sin. Yet the Lord understands well the trouble that has come into the world through evil, and He is ordaining everything according to His own plan of grace. Though His good hand may be hard to see behind the brash foolishness of Rehoboam and the fearful idolatry of Jeroboam, we are reminded that it was the Lord who had announced that after Solomon's days there would be a division between Judah and the northern tribes. Now it had taken place.

As God had warned, there would be consequences for Solomon's disobedience. But nothing could ever turn the Lord away from His eternal promises. The line of David would continue on to the next generation. Neither the kingdom of Rehoboam nor the kingdom of Jeroboam would be the final kingdom of God. Behind these frowning providences was the eternal blessedness of our great Messiah. In His face we have found perfect righteousness and eternal peace.

1 Kings 11

Solomon was a glorious king, but he was not the Messiah. He married many foreign women who were not dedicated to the Lord. Eventually these wives turned away the king's heart form the Lord.

Israel was never to be a place of religious diversity. The land was to serve the world as a picture of the clarity of the perfect worship of heaven. There could be no monuments or shrines to false gods in Immanuel's country. Yet Solomon set up high places where his wives could worship their own gods. The Lord was not pleased.

God spoke to Solomon about the consequences for His disobedience, consequences that would come in the next generation. There would division and trouble in the land.

Nonetheless, the promises of God would stand. The glorious Messiah King that Solomon had displayed for us in earlier days would one day come with the fullness of His heavenly blessings.

We long for that good King. He will be utterly faithful to the glory of God forever. And we long for a kingdom that can never be divided from within or destroyed from outside forces.

God's eternal purpose will come to pass. He is far more dedicated to His own Word than we are. Jesus gave His blood in order to secure the glory that will one day be revealed from heaven. He will bless us with peace forever.

The Father of glory has been true to His own Name and to the perfect Son of David. The line of the promised King would come through the tribe of Judah which would soon be separated from the other tribes to the north. Through the coming Immanuel, God with us, the gracious purposes of God would be extended far beyond the borders of Israel.

Numbers 19

We don't use the blood of a bull or the ashes of a heifer in any of our spiritual ceremonies today. We have something better than that, something that can even cleanse our consciences, not only from sin, but from dead religious works. We have the blood of Christ shed for us, and the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out upon us.

Not that we are without rituals. We do have water baptism and the regular celebration of the body and blood of the Lord. These are gifts that Christ has instituted for the church. They are signs and seals that remind us of our hope in Jesus Christ alone.

In the days of Moses and Aaron, Israel was prepared for the coming of the Messiah through rituals that showed a way of purification through cleansing.

The water of purification could provide ceremonial cleansing for an outward uncleanness, such as might result from contact with a dead body. But that water could not address the inner uncleanness that comes through defiling thoughts and actions. Only Christ could satisfy our deepest longing for lasting and perfect purification.

Christ not only cleansed us, He also cleansed the heavenly sanctuary. (Hebrews 9:23) He knew what was necessary in order for us to be with Him forever, and He accomplished it all for us. On earth, He did all that was required for the Messiah to do on earth. It is finished. In heaven He is doing all that is necessary for the Messiah to do at the right hand of the Father. We shall be eternally free of all uncleanness. We will live in a new cosmos of complete blessedness and purity.

Our bodies will be clean. Our dwelling places will be clean. Our relationships will be clean. Our souls will be clean.

Baptism testifies to these great promises of God to us in Jesus Christ. Consider the eternal love of the Father. Consider the death and resurrection of Jesus the Son. Consider the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. Think about your baptism and walk in the heavenly power of God's love that can do much more for you than anything made with the ashes of a heifer.

Luke 22:63-65

Part 11 of 21

[63] Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. [64] They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” [65] And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.
(Luke 22:63-65 ESV)

11. Beaten and mocked by ruthless men

Spewing out hate toward God,

Jesus, my Lord, faced shame for me.

My life is not that hard.

Numbers 18

The Lord gave the Old Testament priesthood as a gift to Aaron and his descendants. He reaffirmed the exclusiveness of this gift by causing Aaron's staff to blossom in the previous chapter. But the gift of the priesthood was not entirely safe. The danger of death was everywhere.

There were blessings connected with this sacred job. Certain portions of offerings belonged to the priests, as well as many other gifts for the care of the priestly families. But everything had to be done strictly in accord with the ceremonial laws that the Lord had spoken, and the priests and Levites did not have the same kind of tribal inheritance in the land that would be given to the rest of Israel. God was to be their portion.

As a tribe, the Levites had the danger of proximity to the work of the priests. They also had the privilege of the provision of the tithes of Israel. The tithes were their inheritance. But what if people would not pay their tithes?

A tithe of the tithes would go from the Levites to the sons of Aaron, the priests. The Levites were to give away the first and the best to the priests, just as others were to give the first and the best to them.

The leadership of Levi and of the Aaronic priesthood was an essential part of Old Testament ceremonial life. God would not allow the other tribes to do what he had given only to Aaron and to the Levites to perform.

With this special life came provision. But that provision was dependent upon the obedience of the nation. Also with this holy life came substantial danger. This chapter ends with the sobering statement, “But you shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, lest you die.”

To draw near to a just God without the protection of an acceptable atonement was extremely dangerous. Who could survive if God came to judge? Who would be able to keep on trusting when the people grumbled and complained? Would there even be significant enough provision to keep the work of the sanctuary going?

But all this was nothing when compared with the challenges that faced our High Priest when He came to die for our sins. His life was His offering to God for us, and He freely gave it. He did not have a place to lay His head, yet He trusted perfectly in the One who judges justly, and who promises to supply all our needs.

This is the true Priest, and the Servant of the Lord. His name and His cross have become our boast. In His faith and obedience there is a light that guides us. In His resurrection we have a very secure hope.

Numbers 17

Even in the Old Covenant, the Lord had established more than one system of governance. The tribes had leaders under Moses who were to move forward as he moved forward with the tribe of Judah in a position of prominence. But at the center of the camp was the Lord's sanctuary under Aaron, the High Priest, a Levite.

This second authority, the permission to draw near to God in accord with His Word, was an important marker in our preparation for the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, who was not only the King of the Lord's Kingdom, but the High Priest over a royal priesthood. He was not of the descendants of Aaron, because the Old Testament priesthood would not continue in the New Covenant. The right of access to God through Jesus would allow all of God's children, Jews and non-Jews, to boldly approach our Father through the Son of God.

For the Old Testament period, challenges to Aaron's authority as High Priest were answered not only by Moses, but also by a visible sign given by the Lord Himself. Only Aaron's rod, out of all the staffs from the leaders of the tribes, would miraculously produce buds. Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony. On the next day, only Aaron's staff had not only buds, but blossoms, and even almonds. A dead piece of wood had been given life.

This blossoming staff was a visual testimony of the Lord's seal on his own Word. This should have stopped all the grumbling over spiritual privileges among the descendants of Israel.

The reaction of the Lord's children was recorded for us to consider in the final verses of the chapter: “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?”

It was true that all who would transgress the Law, approaching the Lord in unauthorized ways without regard for the spiritual duties and privileges given to Aaron, deserved to die. But there was a future hope, not only for Israel, but for all the tribes of the world included in the Lord's promise to Abraham. God's intention was to bless all the nations through the Seed of Abraham.

The singular Seed, an individual, has saved the plural seed, a community. The union between the One and many is something that the church celebrates every time we eat the holy bread together. We proclaim the Lord's death until He comes, and we ourselves are called the body of Christ.

This great privilege of access to the Father is ours through Jesus, our High Priest. The door to heaven is open to Jews and Gentiles in Christ. There is no other Name given among men by which we must be saved.

He is the Resurrection and the Life. He is the new blossom of everlasting spiritual authority. He bids us to come to Him, and to find everlasting life, peace, rest, and fruitfulness. Through Him, we shall not perish.

Numbers 16

Moses and Aaron were from the clan of Kohath of the tribe of Levi. There were many other Kohathites, but by God's command, only the descendants of Aaron among them could be priests. All of the people of Israel were counted as a kingdom of priests to God, but not all reigned over the nation as kings or offered incense to God as priests.

Some of the men resented this, and they assembled a group of 250 chiefs of the congregation in a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Their claim was that all the congregation was holy. This was true, but that did not mean that God had not set apart Moses and Aaron for certain functions that were only for them. Korah and his company also made the charge that Moses and Aaron, according to their own desires for glory, had exalted themselves above all the other Israelites, which was not the case.

Moses understood that this attack was against God and not merely against Aaron and his sons. When we have rebellious impulses against those in church authority, is it possible that we are really fighting against God?

Some of the men that were involved in this rebellion refused to even come to Moses when he sent for them. They renewed their claim that Egypt had been a land flowing with milk and honey for them, and that Moses was at fault for leading them out into the wilderness.

These rebellious men were putting themselves in great danger. It was not even safe to be anywhere near them. The earth swallowed them up and fire came out from the Lord to consume those who were offering incense against the Lord's commandments.

Despite these miraculous displays of divine judgment, the people of Israel still grumbled against Moses and Aaron. God was ready to consume them all. He used Moses and Aaron to plead for this sinful nation. Christ, our great High Priest, not only interceded for us, but gave His life for us at the appointed time.

The wrath of God was a very serious matter for the consideration of all the earth. Only the blood of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, could have made effective atonement for us. His death stopped a plague that would have consumed us and our families forever.

1 Kings 10

 “The Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon.” We cannot be sure where Sheba is, but we see in this royal person another representative from the nations of the world, like Hiram of Tyre, but this time from further away. The word of Solomon's glory and wisdom reached other lands and drew people to Jerusalem.

What she experienced in person did not disappoint her. In fact, the truth about Solomon was even greater than what had been reported to her, and she blessed Solomon's God. She sealed her visit to the king with great gifts in his honor.

Hiram recognized the glory of Solomon from the north. The queen of Sheba came from the south. Yet the gifts of these two royal persons were such a small taste of the glory that would come to Jesus from afar when people from every tribe and tongue and nation would dedicate their lives to Him.

Solomon not only received gifts from the queen. He also gave gifts to her of all that she desired. But Christ, after ascending to the Jerusalem that is above, has given greater gifts to the church than could ever have been given by any rulers of the earth. We have the Spirit of heavenly wisdom in us by the gift of our great King.

The queen's gift to Solomon was very substantial, but it could not compare with the great wealth of Solomon. Intriguing gifts from far off lands were coming to the Lord's anointed king.

Though Solomon “excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom,” we have a far wiser and more glorious king in Jesus Christ. He came to earth with the clarity of heaven regarding what had the greatest potential for amazing worth. He had the wisdom to see the value that had been built into humanity, created in the image of God, and redeemed by the precious love of heaven's King.

Your life is of more worth to Him than much gold. Through His apostle, we have been told that the glorified church will be a rich inheritance for our Savior, who gave His own blood for our redemption. May God grant us the wisdom that we need from on high to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ according to the glorious worth that He has set upon us.

1 Kings 9

Paul writes these words to the church in Ephesus: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8) Because of the grace of God, we have the security of a final verdict in God's courtroom. We are more than “not guilty.” The verdict is “perfectly righteous” because the righteousness of Christ has been credited to our account.

How did that happen? For us to have that secure verdict credited to us, a Son of David needed to live out a life of perfect righteousness and die the death that our unrighteousness deserved. This is what Christ has done for us.

When God appeared to Solomon a second time, He spoke to Him not of eternal grace, but of the necessity of Israel's obedient works in order to keep the land, the temple, and the king. How could this be? The relationship with Israel had a works component to it. God would bring disastrous consequences to Israel if they turned away from Him by disobeying His commandments and following idols.

Even when the Law was given through Moses, Israel was warned that the arrangement of the Old Covenant would be temporary. In Deuteronomy 31:29 Moses said to the people, “I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

How did the failure of Israel and her kings according to a system of works fit in to the Lord's eternal plan of grace? The Old Covenant system of worship and Law was destined to failure, exposing all the world as lawbreakers deserving eternal death. But a Son of David would come who would be a Law-Keeper. By His life and death, the promises of God to His elect would be established.

Disobedience still has consequences for the church today. God disciplines those He loves. But nothing will ever separate us from the legal verdict that God has won on behalf of His chosen people. We are “righteous” in Jesus Christ forever and ever.

The working out of God's drama of redemption required the end of Old Testament Israel and the beginning of the era of resurrection in Jesus Christ. Now the good news of a perfect Son of David is spread all over the earth, and the ancient promises of God to Jews and non-Jews are upheld forever in Jesus Christ. Solomon had an important role to play in this drama. He showed the failure of even a very great and glorious king as we will soon see. Solomon could not have saved us. He Himself needed a Redeemer. He also gave us a brief glimpse of what it would be like when the true King would finally come in glory.

The picture of glory in the reign of Solomon had some cracks in it. Hiram was disappointed in the cities that Solomon gave him. None of the citizens of heaven will be disappointed in the glory of Christ and His kingdom when He comes to establish a renewed heaven and earth. Solomon had forced labor and there were people in the land who were not supposed to be there. The glorious kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom of willing sons of God. Those who are enemies of that kingdom will be separated forever from the Lord's children.

Finally, despite the fact that the word of Solomon's glory would reach foreign shores and attract much attention in its day, his kingdom was very small compared to the glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ. Even now as we wait for His coming, millions upon millions of His children in heaven and on earth have eagerly dedicated to Him all that they are and all that they possess. We have been declared to be a rich inheritance for a King who is far greater than Solomon. (Ephesians 1:18)

1 Kings 8

Solomon built the temple in Jerusalem, but only God could fill the temple with His Presence. The Lord's glory cloud was so palpable on that day that the priests could not stand up for their service.

The blessing of the great king of Israel was upon the assembly of His people. Solomon also blessed the Lord for His great faithfulness.

Solomon knew that he was chosen by God to be the son of David who would build this great house of God. But did he understand that One greater than he would one day more perfectly fulfill the words of 2 Samuel 7:14, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.”? (Hebrews 1:5) Could he see that a greater Son of David would build a more enduring temple and reign over an everlasting kingdom?

The end of the ages has come upon us, and we see these truths with clarity. The Lord has fulfilled all His promises in His great Son, Jesus. Yet even now, we only see our King with the eyes of our hearts. When will we see Him face to face? Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

There is no God like the God of Israel. His promise to David has been confirmed in the resurrection of Jesus, the firstborn of an everlasting resurrection kingdom. Jesus paid close attention to the way of His Father. He has been confirmed as the Son of God forever.

If God chose to hear the prayers of His servants of old when they turned toward His temple in Jerusalem, how much more will the Lord hear our cries as we lift our hands up to heaven in the Name of His Son? We can serve Him on earth with boldness and appropriate confidence as we seek to follow His Word.

The Lord in heaven will hear us when we seek His forgiveness. He will give us spiritual armor for the day of battle. He will feed us with bread from heaven. He will heal our diseases. He will help those who are strangers to His people, drawing them lovingly to Himself as they call upon His Name. He will welcome His children home again to His house when they cry out to Him even though they have wandered away into the bondage of sin. Freedom Christ will set many captives free.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, His hands were raised in benediction over His disciples. We have His royal blessing over the church at this very hour. All the nations of the earth are hearing His voice from heaven through the ambassadors He sends forth with the message of the cross.

His sacrifice of Himself is far more powerful than all the oxen and sheep that Solomon offered up to God at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. His blessing that is coming upon the earth will be far more glorious than anything that we ask for or imagine. Our hearts are full of joy even now because of all the goodness that God has promised to us in the sure Name of Jesus. He is the holy Servant of the Lord and the eternal King of an everlasting kingdom of glory.

Numbers 15

After all that has taken place, even after the people did not obey God in the incident with those he sent to spy out the land, though they would not go in when He commanded them to go in, and though they insisted on going in when He told them not to go in, the Lord was still the God of Israel. God was still speaking to Moses, and He still had words for the congregation through His chosen mediator.

Life went on. The future generation would go into the land one day. There they would offer to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices. They would include a grain offering and a wine offering with it as appropriate. Even sojourners would come through the land and follow these commands.

Amazing. We had almost thought it was all over. But the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Even when all seems lost.

The land was a good land, and the descendants of Jacob would have that land one day. They would bring their contributions to the Lord, even the first of their dough as a contribution to the Lord throughout their generations. There is something so comforting about this. Heaven is good. Despite our foolishness and rebellion, we will eat of the fruit of that land.

This continuity of God's eternal purpose did not mean that sin was suddenly acceptable. Even unintentional sin required sacrifice. Thanks be to God for His Son, the Lamb. The requirements of God have been fully met in His obedience and atoning death. Without this, nothing makes sense, and there can be no real peace.

We have been forgiven. But high-handed sin against the Lord? I wouldn't try it. A Sabbath breaker was executed by God's direct instruction.

Israel needed to do all of God's Law. All of it. That was a burden that we and those who went before us could not bear. We could have worn the tassels on our garments,but we would not have fully obeyed the Lord. Christ did that for us. He is the Lord our God.

Numbers 14

How quickly can you forget the promises of God? The Lord had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, involving, among other things, a land. God delivered His people out of Egypt and had brought them by His mighty hand to the very place and time where that promise was about to be fulfilled.

But the enemies in the land looked like giants to Israel, and the Lord's congregation felt like grasshoppers in their sight.

The Lord had never suggested that they would receive the land because of their own knowledge or strength. The people believed a bad report, a word of fear and faithlessness, and the consequences were devastating. All the congregation raised a loud cry.

They longed for death back in Egypt rather than the gift that the Lord had promised. They wanted to pick a Moses-replacement and make the journey back to slavery.

Moses and Aaron begged the assembly of the people of Israel, and Joshua and Caleb tried to persuade them. Their important message was not only about the goodness of the land but the faithfulness of the Giver. God would bring them in. He could defeat enemies much more challenging than the Anakim. They should not rebel against the Lord.

Their response: The congregation was ready to stone them, but the glory of the Lord appeared to the people.

God told Moses that He was ready to start everything all over with Moses, destroying all the rest. Moses reasoned with the Lord, pleading for mercy based on the Lord's own glory. The Egyptians and the inhabitants of the land must not be allowed to concluded that the Lord was not powerful enough to keep His promises. Moses only begged the Lord to be true to His own character, since the Lord is slow to anger and is able to forgive iniquity. He called to God's own mind His steadfast love and covenant faithfulness. Surely God's heart was expressed by Moses as an inspired intercessor facing the demands of the Lord's holiness. That may be hard to understand, but then the cross is hard to fathom. It is the place where the Lord's mercy and justice meet and we are saved by God's gift of Himself.

The Lord rightly loves His own glory. There is no one like our God. It is right that all the earth should see that He is powerful to save and that He hears the prayers of His servants for their lives, for their families, and for the congregation that is named by His Name.

God did pardon, but that generation would not enter the land, except for Caleb and Joshua. The next generation would be brought into the land. The rest would die in the wilderness over the course of forty years because of their faithlessness.

Moses gave this divine verdict to the people, and the people mourned greatly. They then attempted to change their minds and go into the land as if God had not spoken His mind to them at all. Moses urged them not to go, but they would not listen, and they were defeated.

When we pray as Jesus taught His disciples, we say, “Thy kingdom come.” Yet when we live as if God's promises were not trustworthy, we forget the achievement of the cross and the pledge of the resurrection.

Do we really want the kingdom of God for which the Son of God gave His blood? Let us listen to Jesus Christ and do today what He calls us to do. Let us go where the Spirit of Christ leads. He will surely take us into the land!

Numbers 13

The promise of the Lord was clear. He was giving a land to the descendants of Jacob. The time had come for them to see that land. God commanded Moses to send representatives from the tribes of Israel into the land so that they could report back to the rest of the people.

The assignment He gave was specific. They were not sent out as military strategists who were supposed to assess the feasibility of Israel dispossessing the Canaanites from the land. They were simply to report what they saw. Were the people strong or weak? Were they few or many? Was the land good or bad? These were the sort of questions they were to answer. They were also told to be of good courage and to bring some of the fruit of the land for the people to see. After forty days these appointed representatives reported their findings to the people and showed them the fruit of the land.

All the men had seen the same land, yet only two of them saw that land with the eyes of faith, Caleb and Joshua. They knew that the land was Israel's, given to them by God. The others urged fear and faithlessness and even spread a false report about the land to the people, saying that it was a land that devoured its inhabitants. They claimed that “all the people” were of great height. When they looked back to themselves all they could imagine was certain defeat.

“We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Generations later, long after Israel had first taken the land, a true giant of the Philistines, Goliath, would defy the people of the living God. Young David was able to see this brute with the eyes of faith. Others murmured the chilling assessment of sure defeat. David knew the power of the God of Israel working through His appointed servant.

Centuries after David, a descendant of this chosen king would stand up to powerful adversaries and proclaim the Word of God with perfect faith. He was able to see more than the formidable opposition that gathered against Him. He insisted that in His father's house were many rooms, and that in His death, resurrection, and ascension, He was going to prepare a place for them. He knew that He came from the ultimate promised land, and that after men had rejected, dishonored, and killed Him, they would not be able to prevent Him returning to the place from which He had come.

This Jesus, through His own blood and righteousness, has accomplished a stunning conquest over sin and death. He has led the way into heaven, a land of glory. His report to us is good. His instruction for us is to see the gift of God with the eyes of faith, and to take the land by the strength that God supplies. In His power we go forth to certain victory. We will not succumb to evil and fear. We will take the land that God has promised.

Numbers 12

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses. The occasion for this painful dissension was Moses' marriage to a Cushite woman. This was only the flashpoint of a larger rebellion. In their words they revealed their spiritual jealousy. “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?”

As with the complaining of the congregation at large, we are told that “the Lord heard it.”

Moses was an unusually meek man. Despite his own humility, even his brother and sister resented him as if he were pursuing an agenda of personal domination over others.

Moses might have ignored this offense, but the Lord would not. His words were direct: “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” The Lord visited them in a pillar of cloud, and He called to Aaron and Miriam. He spoke to them about their brother Moses. This Moses was more than a prophet. This servant of God was faithful in all God's house. God spoke to Him very clearly. Moses even beheld the form of God. This should have made Aaron and Miriam afraid to speak against Moses, for he was the most important servant of the Lord in his day.

When the cloud of God lifted, Miriam was leprous. Aaron now turned to Moses with submissive supplication, calling his brother “lord” and admitting their foolishness and sin. He pleaded with Moses for mercy for Miriam, and Moses pleaded with the Lord. “O God, please heal her – please.”

God heard the prayer of His servant Moses. There was a measured discipline of Miriam. She was shut outside the camp for a defined time period, seven days, but was then restored, and the camp of Israel was on the move again.

The Word of the Lord had come with power, love, and correction. Further danger was averted, at least for the moment.

Moses was a leading servant in the Lord's Old Testament house, but the Messiah was greater than Moses, since He is the builder of a new resurrection kingdom.

Like Moses, Jesus was a meek man, Many dared to oppose Him, speaking in opposition to Him, and even raising their hands against Him. Yet in their worst attack, the Cornerstone of a new resurrection house was being put in place, and mercy was established for sinners.

It is never safe to oppose this Jesus or to abuse His humble children. They are so close to Him that they are identified as the body of which He is the Head. Our only wise course is to take refuge in Him and to follow Him, and to submit ourselves to one another out of reverence for Christ.

1 Kings 7

What are we to make of Solomon's other building projects? The account in 1 Kings 7 simply lists these great works that the king completed without any critique. Could it be that these great houses and halls were built for some other reason than for us to judge Solomon?

These great achievements were all part of the glorious reign of this king of peace. The Lord was not against the glory of Solomon. He was the one who gave Him this great wealth and honor. We are to see in these grand achievements not only a man of great ability but even more than that a God who keeps His Word. As the Lord had promised to Solomon, He gave the son of David not only great wisdom, but also extraordinary riches and honor.

We need to make the inseparable connection between the glory of the king and the wonder of the temple of God. We have a King who is coming with greater glory than Solomon. We are joint-heirs with Him, and together with Him we have become the temple of the Lord our God. His future glory has been welded together inseparably with our hope.

What is our relationship to the King of Glory?

It is our joy to be His servants now and forever. In the days of Solomon a man named Hiram was given the privilege to use his wisdom and skill in doing great works of beauty and usefulness for the glory of the God of Israel. He applied himself to the tasks he had been given, and his work was counted as the work of the king himself.

We also live in an era when a great temple is being built for the Lord God by a great King. He has called many people from the far corners of the earth to be his servants. From His place of authority and dominion at the right hand of the Majesty on high, he has ordained good works for us that we might walk in them.

We are happy to admit that none of has anything that is not first the gift of God to us. We do not presume to judge the glory of our great king. That is not the heart that He has put within us. We cast our crowns before Him. We bow before Him and joyfully confess that Jesus is Lord.

We also remember His eternal love for us displayed through the cross. We are so grateful to be His servants. Yet Jesus is not content to let “servants” be the last word describing our connection to Him. Our Savior has counted us as His treasured possession in the house of the Lord. Through Him we are more than conquerors, and we have even become sons of God in Him who rose from the dead for our justification.

1 Kings 6

What a difference 480 years can make! God took His people out of the wilderness, gave them a land, and established them under a wise and powerful king. Now that king would dedicate himself to the building of a temple to the Lord in the place that God had chosen.

The house that Solomon built for the Lord was impressive, but God was not seeking an impressive building for Himself. He sought an obedient King leading a faithful people in accord with His holy commandments. A consecrated people would make a more glorious temple for the Lord than anything that Solomon could construct.

Solomon's temple followed the general pattern that God had given for the earlier tabernacle, only grander to the eyes of men. But what are the Lord's eyes searching for? God looks for one life completely devoted to Him in love. This one life would be His Most Holy Place, the Cornerstone of a living temple of people dedicated to the Lord.

The temple in Jerusalem would be a ceremonial holy place for Israel as the Lord waited for the coming of the one Man of perfect obedience. That one Man would be greater than Solomon's temple, and would make the only safe way for us to be with God forever. We would find our communion with God in Him.

Solomon's temple, like the tabernacle that came before it, would be adorned with images of heavenly beings. The temple that Jesus would build would secure for us eternal access to a renewed and purified resurrection kingdom, the new heavens and earth, where we will abide with our God in perfect righteousness forever.

Solomon was seven years in building the temple. Though men sought to tear down Jesus forever, He built up a new resurrection temple of the Lord in just three days, as He had promised. He is the Father's house for us. As He told us in John 14:2, “In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you.” We find our rest in Him. He is our dwelling place.

1 Kings 5

Zeal for the Lord's house consumed David. But by the Lord's instruction, the construction of the temple in Jerusalem would not be accomplished by David. Solomon would build this great building.

God had given Solomon peace on every side. According to God's description of Israel during Solomon's reign, there was “neither adversary nor misfortune.” This glorious king would oversee the construction of a holy house that would be inhabited by the Lord God Almighty. Solomon believed the Word of God that came to his father, David. He would build a house for the Name of the Lord.

The old movable worship house of God, the tabernacle, was built according to the Lord's explicit instruction to Moses based on the pattern shown to him on the mountain of God. Now, about 500 years later, a more impressive dwelling place would be made from the cedars of Lebanon. This would be accomplished under the oversight of the new king of Israel.

God provided the materials necessary from a neighbor to the north. Instead of war, there was peaceful trade conducted with much joy. God granted to Solomon great wisdom and the gift of peace. The king used these gifts to do a great work for God.

The timber and the stone necessary for the building of the temple came to Jerusalem through the labor of many hands. It was part of the glory of God working through this great king that thousands of Israelites and many people of other nations did their part in order to supply everything that was necessary.

The old tabernacle had its day, and now the day for the temple in Jerusalem had come. Yet this temple would not last forever. A new day would come hundreds of years later when another descendant of David would say these words to His disciples about the temple in Jerusalem, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” He also would speak of His own body in this way, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The resurrected body of Christ would be a temple of God for a new world.

Jesus, the Son of God, would build up this new temple, of which He Himself became the Cornerstone. Even now we are being built up into a great temple of the Holy Spirit as the body of Christ. This great new worship house is made up of people from all over the earth. The destiny of mankind is being fulfilled in our day as Jesus is overseeing from heaven a more glorious work than anything that Solomon could have ever accomplished in Jerusalem.

The greatest King of Glory uses us in His plans. He sees the beginning, the end, and all the steps along the way in His great endeavor. It is our joy to be able to serve Him and to wait for His victorious return. It is our privilege to be His church, “the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:23)

Numbers 11

Up to this point in the book of Numbers the story has been one of order and blessing. The book now turns to the disappointing history of the people of God during their wilderness wanderings. When we look at the history of Israel, when we read about the New Testament churches, when we consider the testimony of church history, and when we make an honest assessment of our lives, we are reminded of our need for a Savior.

Numbers 11 begins with the words, “and the people complained.” There is ample room in our relationship with the Lord for an honest lament before God. He knows our weakness, and He hears our cries for help. The problem was that instead of bringing their helplessness to the Lord in faith, the people complained “in the hearing of the Lord.” They were complaining about their lives and about God, and God heard it.

What was the result? The fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. What put out the fire? The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.

The people were hungry in the wilderness, not only for food, but for their former way of life in Egypt. They wept and they complained to one another, remembering the former days, maybe forgetting that they had cried out to the Lord for help when they were slaves in Egypt. They remembered life in Egypt as if it had been a great and varied banquet. The miracle manna that God was sending to them for their sustenance provoked no thanksgiving from their lips.

People were weeping. God was blazing hotly in His anger. Moses was displeased too. He talked with God, and he wanted to die.

God's solution to this crisis was multifaceted. He brought aid to the covenant mediator, and He disciplined His covenant community with a plague from the very meat for which they longed.

God's aid to the covenant mediator was through the gift of Spirit-touched leaders in a wonderful anticipation of the New Testament age and even of the fullness of heavenly life. The gift of the Spirit was for service. These men would bear the burden with Moses.

The discipline of the Lord sounded like a great provision; a month of meat. Moses did not believe such a thing was possible. He would learn that the Lord's arm was powerful, but the quail would not be a blessing.

Meanwhile, the glory cloud of God came upon the seventy elders that Moses gathered, and even on two who were not with the larger group. Joshua was alarmed that these two men were prophesying in the camp. Moses words in reply were prophetic, not only of the coming New Testament era, but of the day when resurrection life would be full in the kingdom of heaven. He said, “Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

For now the Lord would send more quail than the people of Israel could have ever dreamed of. But with it came God's wrath as He “struck down the people with a great plague.”

When we long for some old life that we imagine to be better than it really was, we insult the Christ who died on the cross for our sins. He took the plague of God's wrath that was rightly directed against us. He suffered that we might have abundant life. Can't we trust Him in this present hour? May He fill us even now with His Spirit, that we might speak the oracles of God and live the life of love.

Numbers 10

Why do you believe in God? Reason? History? Scripture? Experience? All four have a divine story to tell for the person who has ears to hear by the Holy Spirit. But whether or not you or I believe, one day the fact of Christ will be undeniable. The trumpet will sound.

God prepared us for a life of faith and for the culmination of His great purposes with something so simple as the use of trumpets. He gave Israel a feast of trumpets every year, but this was not the only time that the sound of the trumpets was heard among God's people.

All of the old ceremonies of preparation were the context for Jesus' prophesy about “a loud trumpet call” and for the apostle Paul's words about what would take place “at the last trumpet” when death would be “swallowed up in victory.” What can we learn about that coming day and about our lives today from the varied uses of the trumpet call in Old Testament Israel?

The sound of the trumpet meant something to God's people. It was a call to come together sounded by a leader in response to some condition. God would raise up His glory cloud to call His people forward, but it would be one of God's servants that would blow the trumpet.

Blowing the trumpets in different ways signaled different messages. Based on these variations, either leaders were summoned, the entire congregation was called to the tent of meeting, or the tribes were instructed to set out on the next leg of their journey. Israel was moving toward a promised destination. God was leading them. He was using His priests and His tribal chiefs to move His people in the direction of His will. The sound was not a call to individualism, but to a communal walking in accord with Lord's voice.

Along the journey, Israel needed to be protected from potential enemies. They needed to know that God had not forgotten them. The trumpet not only was a call to the people. It was also a surprising plea, like the prayers and worship of the church, that Israel might be remembered before God and be saved from her enemies.

It was not only a call of need, but of celebration, for the trumpets were also sounded on the day of gladness. When it was time for the joy of worship together, at the appointed feasts of God, at the beginning of a new month, at the sacrifice of peace offerings, the trumpets spoke a message before God and man that was more than words could communicate.

With the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, and with His gift of the Holy Spirit from heaven, the cloud of God has lifted up from the Old Testament holy place. The people of God are being led forward by Word and Spirit from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. God is in the lead. He calls some to be special ambassadors, but the whole community of faith is on the road of Christ toward a new heavens and earth.

The Lord's church is an inviting church. It calls all of the faithful from among the Gentiles to be brought in to worship the God of Israel. Just as Moses strongly encouraged his Midianite relatives to find a place in the camp of God, Jesus has issued a call to all the spiritual sons of Abraham to find their place in His church. His word to every neighbor is simple: “Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to His Israel.” Those who come along can help us through the wilderness. Each one has a gift from God.

One day this gospel phase of the journey will be over. The last trumpet shall sound for the greatest gathering of His worldwide congregation. Then the enemies of the Lord will flee, but Jesus will return to the thousands and thousands of His full Israel. Come soon, Lord Jesus!

Numbers 9

The story of the Passover event and the institution of the commemoration of this great redemption has already been told in other places. The command to keep the Passover is retold in this chapter because life does not always work out as we might like.

God had given two inflexible commands: the Passover had to be kept on a specific day every year and it could not be kept by those who were unclean. Yet the Lord would be surprisingly flexible, and men would be able to keep the Passover in the second month rather than the first because their contact with a dead body or their presence on a long journey prevented them from participation in this important celebration at the commanded time.

This was one of God's surprises. The Lord, who is inflexible in His demand for perfect holiness, somehow finds a way to accommodate our weaknesses, our tragedies, and even our heartfelt desires. This is our God. We need to follow Him in helping weak and harassed people among us and all around us. He gives us many a fresh start.

This did not in the least mean that God had abandoned His standards. All of the laws concerning Passover had to be kept. For example not one of the bones of the sacrificial lamb could be broken.

God would not accommodate a person's mere preferences. If a person did not come on the first month at the right time because of some casual personal reason, that person would be cut off from the community of Israel.

The Lord, the Son of God, became our Passover Lamb. In accord with the Scriptures, not one of His bones was broken. He met all the holy requirements of His Father when He redeemed us through His own blood. Because of His great work, and because of Him alone, we have abundant forgiveness and even divine accommodation to our weakness.

How are we then to live as followers of this Lamb? We must be led through this life by the Spirit of God. Only through this work of the Spirit graciously applying the holy Word of the Lord will we know what to say and do. The essential for us is God.

Like Israel in the wilderness, we move when God moves, and we stop when He stops. We should not pretend that our navigation through this perilous world is a simple matter of using our understanding in following a list of written instructions. There is more to wisdom than an inflexible application of established commands. The Lord must lead.

He will not lead us against His own Word. Yet we will never be able to navigate His will through the mysteries of life without a living Guide.

Numbers 8

Jesus commanded His followers to be the light of the world. He also said that He Himself was the light of the world. Prior to either of these declarations, Israel was given a picture of these great blessings through the lampstand in the tabernacle.

Numbers 8 told us that these Old Testament lamps were to shine on something. They were “to give light in front of the lampstand,” inside the tabernacle in the holy place, so that the priests could do the tasks that God called them to do.

The priests came from the tribe of Levi, but most of the Levites were not priests, as God made clear in many places. The clans of the Levites each had their appointed tasks in connection with the tabernacle structure and contents. They had to be set apart for this important work and marked as holy.

The active Levites were cleansed by sprinkling with the water of purification. Their hair was shaved with a razor all over their bodies, their clothes were washed, and they were counted as “cleansed.”

Everything was set apart by sacrifice before it could be of service. The Levites needed more than a water ceremony in order to serve the Lord as He commanded. They needed to be associated with sacrificial cleansing containing the blood of the sin offering.

The Levites were brought before the tent of meeting with the whole assembled congregation. The people of Israel placed their hands on the Levites, and the Levites were offered up to God for this divine service in place of all of Israel. Then the Levites placed their hands on the bulls. One was offered as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. This blood sacrifice was to make atonement for the Levites.

The Levites had their own sins. They had not fully loved their Lord with their every breath. It was necessary for them to be purified with the washing of water through sprinkling, but it was also necessary for the blood of the sacrifice to atone for what they lacked in the fullness of obedience that the Lord required.

The Levites belonged to God. They were the substitutes for the firstborn of Israel who had been spared in the day when God struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt. They were a gift to the High Priest to serve in the tent of meeting in the name of all of Israel. This was the Lord's decision. No other plan would have been safe.

This service was performed by the males of the tribe of Levi who were in the prime of their lives. They needed to be at least twenty-five years old, and they could not be over fifty years old. These were the ones who were set apart by washing and by sacrifice. These were the servants of the Lord who came to God for the rest of the congregation of His people.

In the New Testament we have one premier Servant of the Lord. He was willing to be washed ceremonially in order to be identified with us. He did not bring the blood of bulls and goats in order to be acceptable for His appointed service. He came to God as one who was well-pleasing to Him without any ceremonies. But He laid down His life as a sin offering for an entire kingdom. He has taken His rightful spot through the greatest of all blood sacrifices and through the most hearty vindication of His perfection.

He is the Light of the world, and His light shines on us. Now, by the virtue of His great light, we have become the light of the world. We have been washed with pure water and sprinkled by His blood. It is our privilege to follow this One Man in His cross-love for the unworthy. He gave Himself in the full service of consecration in the very prime of His life. We serve Him as those who have first been served by Him.