Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions.

Welcome back, we are glad you have joined us. This is episode 230 of Missions on Point. I hope you have enjoyed following along with us as we consider how books of the Bible lead us to thinking about the church’s task in global missions. Today we are talking about the book of Numbers. You’re probably wondering if we are going to make it through every book of the Bible. Well, we are not, but the first five books, called the Pentateuch, are so foundational to the rest of scripture, that it’s really helpful to talk about each one. For many books, we will lump them together with others in the same genre.

First, a quick review. Genesis began God’s plan in creation and the foundation of the redemption of mankind through the promises to the Patriarchs. Exodus saw God rescuing his people from slavery and dwelling in their midst through a covenant relationship. And Leviticus, which we looked at last week, saw God cleansing his people from their sin, making them holy through substitutionary atonement, and calling them to live in that holy life in contrast with the nations of the world. And at the end of the third book of the Bible, we have a lot of promises, but not a lot of fulfillment. There are a lot of problems caused by our sin, and God’s path has been set for restoring mankind and the world. God has shown us his intention to move into close fellowship with us and given us a picture of how he is going to do that in Jesus.

The book of Numbers now takes us on a journey. There is a lot of movement in this book, and a good number of years pass by too. The book is laid out by the movement between and activities at three geographic locations. And we should also pay attention to the time that transpires between these three main locations. We start at Mt. Sinai and 20 days pass in the first 10 chapters. Then they moved to Kadesh, where the people refused to obey God and enter the land. And then 38 years pass from Numbers chapter 10 to 20 as they wander in the wilderness from Kadesh to Moab.  And then from chapters 20 through 36 another 6 months pass as God now talks to the second generation to come out of Egypt. The passage of time and the movement between locations tells the story of a journey, Israel’s journey. And we are given the sense that it speaks to a larger passage of time in all of history and greater movement more than just from Mt. Sinai to the Promised land, but from Eden to heaven.

The outline of this book is fairly straightforward with four distinct sections. The first and the last sections parallel each other as they are marked off by the genealogies, the numbering of the people, from which this book gets its name. The middle two sections give the account of Israel’s poor choices which delay the fulfillment of God’s promises, and yet God proves his faithfulness as his sovereign hand works on behalf of the people and even despite them.  The breakdown is like this. First, God rules over the camp; second, Israel rebels; third, God is faithful; and then fourth, God rules over the camp again. The main theological theme of the book continues the message of Leviticus with God’s holiness. We learn of God’s holiness through these stories of God’s presence with his people, his purity, his judgment, and his mercy. The great story here is one of God’s restoration of his rightful reign over his rebellious people. Death permeates this book, and the sacrifice of a mysterious red heifer brings cleansing from death in the middle of this book. And a bronze snake is lifted up on a pole to show us the symbol of our sin, and our dependency on God through faith alone. This is the story of the gospel. God once ruled his people in perfect order, yet they rebelled, and through God’s gracious mercy, he then restores hope, and a second generation replaces the first.

When we study the book of Numbers we are rehearsing the gospel message, rightly situating ourselves on the journey as we anticipate entering the promised new heavens and earth. We look back to our freedom from slavery and know that it was for a purpose, to obediently follow our king and fight for holiness now. We dare not turn away from the task before us for fear of our own security. This is the primary way that the Book of Numbers leads us to think about missions as we rehearse the gospel message and the story of history and how all people are called to be a new generation to follow God through faith in Jesus Christ.

I’d like to highlight four ways that the gospel is highlighted and rehearsed in the Book of Numbers.

First, we have the theme of God’s presence. Aaron’s blessing is famously found in chapter 6, calling on God to bless his people with his face shining upon them, with gracious favor, God looks on his people and goes with them. This reality is famously symbolized in the pillar of fire and cloud that guide Israel as they wander in the desert. The arrangement of the camp as they march and as they rest situates the tabernacle at the center. That arrangement shows the prominence of God’s presence. God also guides his people through his word, as he gives clear regulations for them to follow and to ensure their blessing. As we obediently walk in God’s presence there is security, joy, peace, delight, and guidance. This is the good life, lived by faith, walking with God. And this is the joy of the good news that we proclaim to the world. Their chaotic, sin-filled lives of anxiety, insecurity, and aimlessness can find meaning and purpose through faith in our King, who would dwell with us. Furthermore, this is the confidence of every missionary, as Jesus promises to us in Matthew 28 that he will be with us even to the end of the age. God’s presence gives us the power we need to obediently follow him until the end.

Second, we consider God’s Purity. Since God is holy, he demands that his people be holy. We saw this in Leviticus, and it gets reemphasized here. And this is demonstrated through the nation’s ritual purity. Chapters 5-10 give several laws about how the Israelites were to be pure, warning them against defilement. The focus of purity is worship. They maintained their purity in recognition of God’s holiness. The first 10 chapters of this book are somewhat idyllic. There’s no sin. It’s just the imagination of a well-ordered life under God’s command. Blessed in God’s presence, full of the joy of a life of purity. And what a perfect way to begin a gospel presentation too. We can easily know that the life we live is not the way it’s supposed to be, because it is not too hard to imagine a life the way it is supposed to be. The climactic sin for the nation in their journey comes at the end of the book when they follow Balaam’s lead and intermarry with the Moabites and Midianites. Purity is also the focus of the priesthood. One of Israel’s primary rebellions in this book is against Aaron and the priesthood. Aaron has a unique role as the nation’s mediator. He stops a plague through his prayers. When his role is doubted by others, it’s his staff that buds, spontaneously producing life.  The people need a priest to be pure. But they also need a sacrifice. With all of the death in this book, the sacrifice of the red heifer is distinct from the traditional sacrifices. It’s a one-of-a-kind rare sacrifice. And it points us to the unique rarity of Jesus as our one and only pure and spotless sacrifice. Jesus cleanses us and makes us pure. He is our true priest. And this is the hope of every person now, that through faith in Jesus, they can be cleansed of their sins, and saved from death.

Third, God’s Judgment is a major theme in Numbers, and this theme also leads us to think about the hope of the nations and our need to go into all the world and tell them about God’s judgment. The point is that we do not take sin as seriously as God does. People don’t know that they are in need of a savior because they don’t know God’s righteous standards, and they don’t think their sin is that bad. The Israelites rebelled against God as they refused to obey Moses. It began at the outskirts of the camp with complaining about their food. It soon spread to every tent, and God judged them by giving them what they wanted. It eventually reached a fever pitch as the nation took the advice of the 10 unfaithful spies and they refused to go into the Promised Land. And when God judged them with 40 years in the wilderness, they refused to accept that punishment too. Korah and his followers rebelled against God’s leadership and they were swallowed by the earth. Eventually, the rebellion even reached the highest leadership as Aaron and Miriam complained against Moses. God threatened to destroy the nation and restart with Moses because that is what they deserved. It’s a major point in this book. They don’t deserve to enter the Promised Land. The entire first generation out of Egypt is doomed to die in the wilderness as they wander for 40 years, with a couple of exceptions. And the second generation turns out to not be any better. And that’s what we need to realize too. We are no more deserving than they were. We are just as rebellious by nature. All people everywhere need to know that they have offended the holy God. They need to be warned that judgment for their sin has been pronounced, and their time is short. Either Jesus will return or death will find them first. There is an urgency in the Book of Numbers that today is the day of salvation. Scripture warns us not to harden our hearts like the Israelites did in the wilderness. The nations need people who have compassion for them to intercede for their salvation, like Moses, as well as people who are righteously zealous for God’s holiness, like Phineas, and people to rush into the dying crowds to avert the spreading plague of death threatening to overrun everyone, like Aaron. God’s judgment is a motivator for missions.

Fourth, we consider God’s Mercy a motivator for missions, too. We should be stunned by Israel’s rebellion, but we should be equally stunned if not more so, by God’s incredible patience and mercy. All day long, he held out his hand to a stiff-necked and rebellious people. Although Israel’s sin delayed the nation’s entrance into the land, their eventual entrance was inevitable, because God’s mercy was greater than their sin. Jesus explained the lesson of the wilderness wanderings to Nicodemus, saying that just as the bronze snake was raised in the wilderness for their salvation, so now all we need to do is look to Jesus raised up on the cross for our salvation. We go to the nations and beckon them to look and live. God’s merciful protection of his covenant promises is especially on display as he defends the blissfully ignorant Israelites from the curses of the false prophet Balaam. God’s word can not be thwarted for he will bless those he has chosen to bless. We, too, are called to listen to God’s words. He can make a donkey talk, so he can even make a false prophet speak his words and give a promise to all the nations that a star would arise out of Jacob and crush the head of the serpent once and for all. God doesn’t give up on his chosen people, despite their sin. He promises that they will inherit the land, but it’s not because of their own righteousness. God’s mercy is a motivator for missions because he has a chosen people from among every nation, and we can be confident that God will not give up on them, too.

Those are the four motivators for missions from the book of Numbers: God’s presence, God’s purity, God’s judgment, and God’s mercy.

Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at Propempo.com and missioserve.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.