A Climatic Failure of Faith- An Overview of the Book of Numbers Numbers is the book of divine discipline and a cautionary tale to Christians. A lack of faith or unbelief doomed an entire generation of Israelites to wandering aimlessly in the wilderness until they died. While it may be necessary to have wilderness experiences to bring about spiritual growth and maturity, we should never allow a lack of trust and dependence on the person, promise, and power of Christ to prolong a short journey of eleven days into 40 years of utter agony and frustration. In the New Testament, the writer to the Hebrews by the Holy Spirit makes reference to this climatic failure of faith as the quintessential warning to Christians not to repeat the error of the Israelites when the going gets tough. The Holy Spirit says in Hebrews 3:7-11 says, “…Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, proved Me, and saw My works for 40 years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation…so I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” And in Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” The bottom line is that we must realize that Christ is larger than any problem that we will ever face in this life and we must base all of our decision making accordingly. The Old Generation (Numbers 1:1-10:10) The book opens with the nation of Israel still at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses had received the revelation on the Creation, the Flood, and the covenant that God made with the patriarchs- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The tabernacle was complete along with the laws governing worship- the sacrifices, the festivals, and the Aaronic priesthood. Before making the trek to the “land flowing with milk and honey”, God organized the people by tribes around the Tabernacle and gave the order in which they would march. “For God is not the author of confusion and let everything be done decently and in order.” A census was taken by tribe. The number of males that were 20 years or above was 603,550. The Tragic Transition (Numbers 10:11-25:18) The Israelites had developed bad habits that ultimately would cost them dearly. The Israelites had already established a penchant for murmuring and complaining, instead of thanking and praising God for His provisions. Bread rained down from heaven. Water came out of a rock. Their clothes did not wear out. The Angel of the Lord- the preincarnate Christ- was leading them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. Despite all of this, the people’s faith was stunted and they focused on perceived problems instead of God’s goodness. It all came to a head at Kadesh Barnea as they forgot that it was the power of God that had gotten them thus far and it was that same power that could ultimately take them to the land of Promise. Twelve spies were sent to survey the Promised Land. Ten of the twelve came back with a bad report saying that the land was full of giants and that the Israelites did not have the resources to defeat them. Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, tried to strengthen the people in the Lord, but they were not hearing it. A plan was devised to kill Moses and return to slavery in Egypt. God had had enough. The generation of the Exodus would not be the generation of the Conquest. The Next Generation (Numbers 21-36) After 40 years of wanderings in which every member of the old generation died, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, a new census was taken. The number of males 20 years and above was 601,730. This was the generation that would fulfill the land promise that God made to Abraham 700 years earlier. The timeless lesson for us today is that God’s people can only move forward as they trust and depend upon Him.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 17:56:51 +0000
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