The book of Numbers describes 40 years of disobedience by the Israelites as they wandered in the wilderness. If you want to be a disobedient nomad, here is what it looks like – idolatry, complaining, fear and disobedience. Numbers also includes two numberings of this disobedient people across two generations in chapters 1 and 26 and two sets of instructions in chapters 5–9 and 21–36. 

You will also notice the centrality of the presence of God, as God places the Tabernacle, the place of His presence, in the middle of all the tribes. This served as the central focus of the people in the wilderness and made it clear that God would never leave or forsake His people.

Let's just pray first. Lord, I thank you for your putting your word down for us, for helping us to understand the goodness of your ways. And Lord now I pray that you would give us a way of understanding this great testimony that you've given to us in Numbers. Thank you for your love for your people, your preserving love as you number each one who are yours and each one who are not for your own glory amen okay so if you got outlines in front of you I'm just going to work through this ten point outline You know the first thing that I want to talk about is the theme of the book of Numbers and the theme is wilderness wanderings or in the wilderness and Numbers gives you 40 years of disobedience in wilderness wanderings. And if you want to be a disobedient nomad, here's what you get.

Here's what it looks like. What it looks like is that instead of going a journey of just a few days then it'll take you 40 years. So that's the theme. It's idolatry, it's complaining, it's fear, it's disobedience. That's the theme.

The message is that disobedience will launch you on a track of wandering. And there are various tests that God brings to His people in the wilderness. And there are two things that you see all throughout the book and that is that number one They failed Number two God was faithful And you'll see that over and over again. God preserves his people. That's one of the great themes in the book.

1 Corinthians Chapter 10 is the interpretive key for the Book of Numbers. And if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 10. If not, I'll read it for you. But 1 Corinthians 10, it gives you the New Testament sense of the wilderness wanderings. And so in 1 Corinthians 10, 1, you read, Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that our fathers were under the cloud all passed through the sea all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink.

For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." Paul the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 10 with that phrase is directly referring to the book of Numbers. And then in verse 5, but with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted and do not become idolaters as were some of them, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play." And then he goes on and just continues to itemize the problems with idolatry. But 1 Corinthians 10 makes it clear that numbers is given to us to show us what idolatry looks like so that we can identify it in our own lives. You know, fear, disobedience, complaining is all part of this idolatrous picture that we have there.

And that really explains its applicability. Numbers is very applicable to us in the New Testament era. These events and numbers took place For a new covenant purpose they were designed for Christians in the 21st century to read the book and learn for today I'm gonna give you six things that we learned from numbers and the first of all We get an example That comes out of 1st Corinthians 10 6, that what happened in the wilderness happened as an example. So when you read this book, ask the question, what's the example here? What's the example here?

You'll run into lots of ceremonial law. You'll run into some strange practices to your ears. But you should always ask when you read the book of Numbers, how is this an example for me? Here's the second thing, warning. These events provide a moral warning so that we don't crave evil things as they did.

You'll run into the word cravings a couple of times, cravings. Cravings are dangerous. These things that happen in the wilderness, they demonstrate cravings that will get you in trouble. You know, there were a couple of million people going through the desert in the wilderness and they had cravings. Those millions of people as they walk through the wilderness are To teach us they sort of are our mentors in dealing with our cravings What you do with your cravings will mark the whole course of your life These events were written down as a warning about cravings.

And you just might ask yourself, what are the things that I'm craving? And what is the trajectory of fulfilling those cravings? Here's the third thing, idolatry. This is the third thing we learned from Numbers, idolatry. It shows you what idolatry looks like.

We've been going through Isaiah and been dealing with idolatry a lot. But numbers gives you a lot of illustrations of idolatry, different kinds of idolatry and how it looks. Number four, self-confidence. The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 10, uses the things that happen in numbers to help us to not think so self confidently. He warns us against thinking that we can't fall.

So numbers should humble you. It shouldn't make you think, oh, how much better I am, you know, compared to all those people in numbers. It should make you think, how am I vulnerable to fall in the same way that they were. Number five, Jesus. This book teaches about Jesus.

In verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 10, it says that the rock was Christ. And at the very end of the session today, I'll give you various illustrations of Christ, various types of Christ that are in this book. But this book teaches us about Jesus. There are many illusions and images of Jesus. And then number six, blessing.

We'll get to this in more detail in a few minutes, but number six, 22 to 26, teaches us that God has provided a blessing that's unstoppable. And I'll explain why I said that, but this Numbers 6 22-26 is that famous passage, The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Just one of the most wonderful passages of scripture is in Numbers chapter 6. That might be one of the most famous passages of Scripture in the entire Bible and there it is in the book of Numbers.

So those six things we learn from the book of Numbers. Now let's talk about the time and place of the book of Numbers. Now just get this, only one year has passed since the Exodus. The Exodus happened in 1445 BC most likely. So you're talking about maybe 1444 BC.

It's right at the beginning of the wilderness wandering. So think about that. They only, they left Egypt only a year ago. Of course, you might think, wow, they've already spent a whole year in the wilderness. But It hasn't been that long.

And the consequences of their unbelief is being exposed. So Numbers documents a 40-year journey. And it starts right at the beginning of the journey. Remember Leviticus? It was written in two 40-day periods of time.

But Numbers now was written to span this entire season of the children of Israel. The journey begins in Kadesh Barnea and it ends in Kadesh Barnea. Now just track that for a second. The distance that they needed to travel from the Promised Land was only an 11-day journey and it took 40 years. It should have taken them 11 days.

It took 40 years. Here's what you should conclude about that. When you choose worldliness, your 11-day journey turns into a 40-year nightmare. So the book of Numbers tracks this timeframe and it begins with the heads of households, you know, reciting genealogies and that type of thing. You have the sins of the first generation being documented for the benefit of the second generation.

One generation dies in the wilderness. Remarkably, all those people who saw the plagues of Egypt, they saw the exodus, they saw the parting of the Red Sea, they saw so many things, they saw God's miracles, but they were going to die in the wilderness because of their disobedience. So a number shows how one generation dies and another generation replaces it. The disobedient generation is for the benefit of the second generation. So that's the time and the place.

And then let's talk about literary genres briefly. I've written them down. There's so many different literary genres in this book. I've quoted a scholar on this book. It's a compilation including poetry, speeches, songs, travelogues, tribal listings, camping directives, priestly regulations, religious calendars, prophecy, a diplomatic letter, and military records.

You also find, you know, all kinds of ceremonial law and moral law, you know, in the book. And The main characters, primarily, I'm just going to list the ones that are in the book the most. Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Caleb, Miriam, the sons of Korah, Dathan, Balak, Balaam, and all kinds of priests. Those are the basic characters. So just think about what do you learn from those different characters.

Whenever you read the Bible you have characters that serve it as an example. You should always ask when you deal with the characters in the Bible, how does this person reveal my life? Or how does the way that this person handled certain situations, what does it mean to me? Is it meant to change me? So you're going to read about a lot of different people.

Caleb, absolutely fascinating person. You'll read some phrases about Caleb that are so amazing. You'll see Miriam's jealousy. You'll see the sons of Korah's jealousy. These problems that you see arise among these people that I just mentioned, you'll see the same things happen in the church today.

You'll find Miriam, you'll find the sons of Korah, you'll find Balak and Balaam, and you'll find, you know, the priests. All these characters are in the New Testament Church. Okay, let's talk about numbering the people. This is really critical. That's why the book is called Numbers.

There are two numberings of the people of two generations. In chapter 1 is the numbering of all the people from the Exodus. Remember you're only a year away from the Exodus. And then in chapter 26 is a numbering of the people who are left over, who did not die in the wilderness. Now I want to talk about the significance of numbering for a second.

First of all, the numberings are significant because it shows how the generation who saw the miracles of Exodus didn't follow the Lord. Who did survive? Joshua and Caleb. Only two. That should take your breath away, that there are only two who are faithful.

It's a little bit like the parable of the lepers. Ten were cleansed, but only two came back to thank the Lord Jesus. Anyway, so Numbers is showing you the events that lead up to the dying out of one generation and the replacement of another generation. One author called this a 40-year long funeral march because that's really what it was. God was waiting for one generation to die off before He sent His people into the Promised Land.

God is looking for a devoted people to conquer the territory that He has. It took 40 years to get rid of that first generation. So Here's another thing you learn about numbering. In God's mercy, He numbers His people. God numbered His people for a number of different reasons.

One is to prove His promise to multiply His people that all the families of the earth would be blessed. And God is faithful to His promise. He's going to preserve His people. Now these people, they're not in the promised land right now. But God is proving that He's going to preserve them in their journey up to the promised land.

You can think about the numbering in different ways. Here's one way to think about it. Numbers begins with a command to the shepherds to count the sheep. When you look at the numberings, think of God counting the sheep. God numbers, not just his sheep, he numbers the very hairs that are on your head.

He puts your names in the Book of Life. And here, The numbering is significant because it shows us God's unique care for his people. He numbers them one by one, like with the Lord Jesus, who said that he leaves the 99 and he goes and finds the one. The only way you can even think that way is if you are a numbering God. God numbers his people.

You know, there's that song that says, Oh Lord, I want to be in that number. And that's the whole idea. And this is also the doctrine of election. God numbers his people and he ordains who they are. If your assurance of your salvation is based on what you've done, then your faith rests on sand.

But if your faith is based on what God has done, then your faith is on solid ground. And Numbers really shows us a people for God's own possession. They are an elect people, and because they are elected one by one, they are counted one by one. Also, too, they were numbered for the purpose of war as well. And I think this teaches us about the role of the church to engage in battle.

The preaching that we do is designed to prepare the church for war. And we wage war by serving, by speaking, by bearing fruit. But the numberings of the people perform all these different functions. I think the heart of numbering is a shepherd who loves the sheep. He knows who the sheep are.

He knows where the sheep are. You know, He keeps their tears in a bottle. He knows the steps of their feet. And He numbers the hairs on their head. And He always knows whose are His and who are not His.

And the question you should be asking is, am I His? Or am I not His? Am I in that number? It's the most important question. But in the numbering, you see God's grace and His favor and His preserving love, He's preserving His people.

Okay, let's talk about item number seven on your outline now, the centrality of the worship of God. And this brings us to what you'll read about the tabernacle. And what we find about the tabernacle is that the tabernacle was placed right in the center of all of the tribes. The tabernacle served as a central focus of the people in the wilderness. The tabernacle was put there in order to show the people that God was near and God would actually come down into the tabernacle and demonstrate his presence and his glory would be shining.

So when the people look toward the tabernacle they're really looking toward the presence of God. The presence of God is the central matter for the people of God. All the tribes arranged themselves around the tabernacle and they were focused on God. God wanted all the families to have their focus in God. And So you had tribes from the north and the south and the east and the west.

All of them gathered right around that tabernacle, but he had them focused on the worship of God. That means that that's how it should be at all times, that our families, our lives, have their center in the worship of God. And that He is present, that He's full of glory. And what this means is that you have the Ark of the Covenant in the center of the camp. You know, I was reading one of the interns' daily reports yesterday, and he was talking about a pastor he used to have.

The pastor would say that You should think of your life as a target. And God is at the center. And we should be aiming for the center and not aiming to the edges. The edges is the world. The center is God and His holiness.

The orientation of your heart is everything. Is it oriented toward the world or is it oriented toward God? Numbers gives us the reason for the centrality of the worship of God. God is there. A heart, a family, a church that is focused on God and His presence is the most wonderful thing that you can be involved in.

And so let's go to item number eight, the unstoppable blessing of God. Now there are different places to go to learn of this and there are two places. One is in Numbers 6, 22 through 26, and the other is Numbers 23, 1 through 30. And demonstrated in Numbers is the way that God does not allow blessing to be deprived of his people. That he's a God of blessing and nothing is going to hold his people back from blessing.

The illustration of this is Balak and Balaam. So you have two characters Balak who's the king and Balaam who is the subject proves this. So three times Balak tempted Balaam to curse the people of God. Now, you remember Balaam, probably the most famous thing about Balaam was his donkey. Balaam's donkey talking to him.

It's one of the funniest parts of Scripture. It's absolutely hilarious. When you get there, just enjoy the story. It's so amazing what God did with this animal. You know, it's the perfect children's story.

You know, you have a talking animal except for this is real. It must have been very strange for Balaam. But Balak takes Balaam up on top of three mountains to urge him to curse the people of God. And there was great gain for Balaam to curse the people of God. It would have brought him into a place of prominence and blessing in the eyes of the state.

But for some reason, Balaam couldn't curse God. He had Balak, you know, trying to use every possible way to get him to curse God, But he just couldn't do it. The main lesson coming from Balaam and Balak, whom you know Balak tried to use to curse the people of God, is that no one can curse God's people unless God desires it. No one can curse God's people unless God desires it. Now the other side of this story I think is pictured in Numbers 6 22 through 26.

And that's the passage where you read, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you, you know, and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Those are just some of the neatest words that have ever been written in any language. These verses in 22 through 26 are really critical.

They're structured in a really interesting way. You know, when you start out with, the Lord bless you and keep you. Here's the structure of this. In Hebrew, there are three lines to the poem. In the first line there are three words, in the second line there are five words, in the third line there are seven Hebrew words.

So you have three words, five words, and seven words in this poem. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his faces shine upon you. So, in each new line, the poem is a little bit longer. It even goes deeper than that.

Same syllable in 12, 14, and 16. And there are consonants, all the consonants are the same in verse 15, in verse 20, and verse 25. But If you subtract the word Yahweh from these verses, you're left with 12 words in these verses. And it's been suggested that the Hebrew poetry is so powerfully crafted that you're just left with twelve words. And some have said they represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

I don't know if that's true. But the Hebrew structure of the poem is really very beautiful and it's just those three lines. This is something you should memorize. This is something that you should say to your children when you put them to bed. I went through a season where I recited this to my children when I put them to bed for years.

I haven't done all that lately, but it's a real blessing. Psalm 67 echoes this portion of scripture. So here are a few things that we learned about the blessing. There are six things that you learn about this blessing. Number one, God is the only source of blessing worth having.

God is the only source of blessing worth having. Secondly, only God can bless you with the blessing you need. Only God can bless you with the blessing that you need. Here's the third. God cares for His people.

You know, He says, the Lord bless you and keep you. And the focus is on you. And I think it's both corporate and personal. I think he's talking about the church corporately and I think he's also talking about the individual. But it is in God's design that he would pour out blessing toward His people.

And then number four, God delights in His people. It says here that His face shall shine upon you. This is code for God's approval, for His desire to be together with you, personally present. You know, the Lord make His face to shine upon you. It's a picture of a people who care about the countenance of God.

They want the presence of God. It's a text that helps us to see how God delights in His people. And number five, how God gives grace. You know, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and be gracious unto you. You know, how much grace have you received?

More than you deserve. That's the answer. And then number six, Rest. He gives rest. He gives peace.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. The word for peace that he uses here has to do with total well-being. You know from the tip of your head to the tip of your toes, everything is blessed. That's the picture of Shalom in the Bible. You know, the Lord Jesus is intent on your well-being.

That's why Jesus said, My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I to you. In Isaiah, you know, the Lord says that Christ is the Prince of Peace. And in the very last verse of Isaiah 49, it informs us that there is no peace for the wicked. This theme of God's delight, you know, and His protection of His people is really clear there in chapter 6. Now there's more I think to consider about this and that is it's the way of salvation because God cursed his son in order to bless repentance sinners And it was God's Son who took our punishment for us in order to give peace to His sons and daughters.

Remember what it says in Isaiah 53? The chastisement for our peace was upon Him. So He was chastised for our peace for all of our consolation. And so you have this whole matter of blessing in the book of Numbers. And then let's talk now about the structure of the book.

Now there are two censuses as I said at the beginning. One in chapter 1 and the other one all the way in chapter 26. The two censuses. I'd encourage you to try to compare the two and see what the Lord is teaching. But the outline is a pretty simple outline.

Chapters 1 through 12 is the first generation. Chapters 13 through 19 opens with the 12 spies that went into the Promised land and God's punishment. And then finally in chapters 20 through 36, a new generation enters the promised land. So I want to just give you some, you know, just stop by a couple of different places to show you some of the things that are here. There are so many marvelous things in this book, but I'm just going to stop at a few of them.

In 1 through 9 there's this preparation for the journey and the census that takes place. And it's a picture of God's covenant faithfulness. And in Genesis 12, in Genesis 15, in Genesis 28, verse 14, where God gives his blessing towards his sons. We learn that God is preserving his people. And even when there's egregious disobedience, God is not done with his people.

He's still working to preserve them. And so you see that in the book of Numbers. Open your Bibles to chapter 1 and look at verses 1 through 4. This really speaks of the purpose of the book of Numbers. And it reads, Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tabernacle of meeting on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel by their families by their father's houses according to the number of their names every male individually from 20 years old and above, all who are able to go to war with Israel.

So the numberings are to identify who the troops are for the conquering of the Promised Land. In chapter 2 we learn that they are organized for worship and I'll just read chapter 2 verse 2 to you but it really proclaims the purpose of the tabernacle. This is chapter 2 verse 2. Every one of the children of Israel shall camp by his own standard beside the emblems of his father's house. They shall camp some distance from the tabernacle of meeting.

On the east side toward the rising of the Sun those of the standard of the forces and Judah shall camp according to their armies." So they're organized for this worship and they're also organized for military purposes. Notice that last little phrase, according to their armies. As you're reading through numbers, take note of when that is said. It appears several times. Here's what's remarkable to me.

He's basically saying that families are armies. That's what they're documenting, these families, and he calls these families armies. And I think it's a good thing for a church family and a little biological family that they really understand the purpose of their life. They're like a little army. They're not just hanging out.

But they actually are there to fight for certain things. Churches and families should fight for every good thing. You see these armies going out, but God views your family like an army, that you would be fruitful and multiply, that you would strengthen it and make it ready for the world. So think of your family as an army. Okay now let's turn to Numbers 5 verses 1 through 8 and what we learn in 5 1 through 8 is that God is concerned about holiness.

And He actually, from time to time, will divide the camp between the ungodly and the godly. But if you look at 5, 1 through 8, you'll hear this language surrounding the purity in the camp. And he says, I and the Lord God spoke to Moses saying, command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. Now just notice that. There's a leper, there's somebody with a discharge, and there's somebody who's been defiled by a dead body.

Those three things. You remember in the Ebola epidemic problem, you remember people were getting Ebola by touching dead bodies? So that's the idea. There's infection in dead body. The people of God were to deal with the body in a very, very special way.

But in Numbers 5, you have the leper, the person with the discharge, and the one who has been defiled by a corpse. So these are laws of pastoral care. They're laws about defilement. They're laws to show you that Jesus exercised pastoral care toward His people. He wants to keep them clean, and so He has them do certain things to keep them clean because He cares about them.

I believe these laws here about infection and dead bodies are twofold. And first of all, they're about God's kindness toward His people. He commands His people to do things so plagues don't spread quite as much as they would among an ignorant people. And God wants to deal with infection that's spread. He also is restricting contact with dead bodies and the issue is holiness.

So those two things are being put before the people of God. Now there's a New Testament correlation to the leper and the person of the discharge and the person defiled by a corpse. And what I'm sure happened is that when the Hebrews first read this, they could relate to it immediately in the New Testament era, and here's why. Well, let me just point out, You have 5, 1 through 8, which has to do with, you know, there's a listing of the leper and the discharge and the corpse. And then it goes on and continues to speak of those issues down into, I guess verse 8, 1 through 8.

But like if you go to Luke 5, 12 and 13, you'll find something really interesting. You're going to find a leper And Jesus heals his leper. In Luke 5, 12 through 13, and it happened when he was in a certain city, that behold, a man who is full of leprosy saw Jesus and he fell on his face and implored him saying, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Then he put out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing be cleansed. Now when Jesus reached out his hand to that leper it was scandalous because you weren't supposed to touch lepers.

And you know Jesus uses this whole story to declare what you read about in Luke 5 31. And Jesus answered and said, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have come not to call the righteous, but also the sinners to repentance." So you run into this leper and then In verses 40 through 48 in Luke 8, there's a woman with a discharge. It's interesting, just sequentially you have this same situation where you have these same people. So there's a woman with a discharge in verse 40 of Luke 8.

So it was when Jesus returned that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him. And behold, there came a man, Jairus, and he was the ruler of their synagogue and he fell down at Jesus feet and begged him to come to his house. So then verse 42, for he had an only daughter about 12 years of age and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes thronged him. Now a woman having a flow of blood for 12 years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of his garment.

And immediately her flow of blood stopped, and Jesus said to her, Who touched me? When all denied it, Peter and those who are with him said, Master, the multitudes throng and press you, and you say, Who touched me? But Jesus said, Somebody touched me, for I perceived power going out of me. Verse 47, Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him. She declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched him and how she was healed immediately and he said to her daughter be of good cheer your faith has made you well go in peace So that's the woman with the discharge.

And then at the end of this same chapter Luke 8 49 through 56, you have a daughter who is dead. You have a dead body. So verse 49 says, while he was still speaking somebody came up, came from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher. And Jesus says, don't be afraid, only believe and she will be made well.

Jesus shows up and he finds her dead and people are ridiculing Jesus because he's not treating her like she's dead. And in verse 53 one of the most astonishing things happened At least in the eye of the Hebrew, he touched her. He touched that dead body and he said, little girl arise. You know, what does all this mean? Because you have the leper, you have the discharge, and you have the dead body in Deuteronomy.

And then Luke records these exact three things in sequence. Luke knew the Old Testament. He loved God and he understood the imagery in the Old Testament. But Jesus takes her by the hand, which was crazy for him to do in his society. So, Here are a few things I think we learned.

One, Luke is telling us that Jesus has the power and the ceremonial law didn't have that same power. And secondly, that what the ceremony couldn't do, Jesus does. You know, you have these ritual matters of the ceremonial law that are fulfilled in Christ. If you look at chapters 10 and 11, you'll find the testimony of their complaining. You're going to read a lot of complaining in numbers.

And God doesn't take too kindly to complaining. You know, if you're not satisfied with the life God gave you, you complain. Just remember the book of Numbers and what happens to those who complain. Well, you know what, the complaints, they really were just a rejection of God. That's all they were.

And so the children of Israel complained about different things. As you Read it, ask yourself, what did they complain about? And how do I complain about similar things? Then in chapter 11 verse 33 you'll see the plague that came upon the people of God for complaining. And you run into that word craving that I mentioned at the beginning in chapter 11 verse 34 where you read, So he called the name of that place Kibroth-Hattava because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

Yielded to craving. And then from chapter 12, 1 through 3, verses 4 through 8, you'll find Miriam and Aaron challenging Moses. And we don't have time to really unpack all this, but there is probably a spirit of jealousy, and God punished them severely for it. And then in chapters 13 through 19 you have the spies and the punishment. You know there's this tragic error in this whole culture of complaining.

Joshua and Caleb and the 12 spies went out to look at the Promised Land. But when that happened, the people wanted to stone Moses. His popularity was probably at a low point at that time. But he sent out the 12 spies and Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that were faithful to God. Chapter 14 verse 22 is a key verse.

Look at it with me. 14, 22. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land where he went and his descendants shall inherit it. Now here you have Joshua and Caleb as the only two that were faithful. But notice what it says about Caleb.

He has followed me fully. What a wonderful thing to have on your tombstone. He followed me fully. He followed God fully. That's the kind of worshiper that God is looking for Somebody who follows him fully who doesn't have his eyes toward the world But he has his eyes toward the center.

This is exactly what Caleb's life was like. And then, so you find in that same chapter, Israel refuses to conquer the Promised Land except Joshua and Caleb. And then, in the third section of the book there's this new generation entering the Promised Land from chapters 20 to 26. Now there are all kinds of fast-moving narratives here. I'll just point out one of them.

They have to do with the revolts against Moses' leadership. The sons of Korah in chapter 16 is a critical one. Chapter 20, one through three, is really critical. So now you have this whole new generation entering into the Promised Land. In this section you have Balaam, the pagan prophet, and Balak, the king of Moab.

The king of Moab wants the people of God to be cursed and also to destroy them within through lust. And it worked. It caused thousands and thousands to die, thousands on both sides. And The whole discussion with Balak and Balaam is just absolutely fascinating. You know, try to go slow on that because there really are so many lessons.

In chapter 27 you have the laws of inheritance. Now, The land was passed down through the male line unless the male line was blocked out. And you'll meet the daughters of Zelophehad. Got that? The daughters of Zelophehad.

The daughters of Zelophehad, I think, figure into the whole doctrine of womanhood. What you find with the daughters of Zelophahad is that they'd lost their male line and it was just a bunch of girls and what do you do if you're just a bunch of girls and you don't have a husband and your family line and your inheritance is being compromised. Well what you learn from the daughters of Zelophehad is that God doesn't exclude the daughters at all. He makes a way when they lose their families, when they lose their husbands. He gives his inheritance to those who don't have one.

And he preserves the inheritance of those who had one. So, there's just a recognition of the importance of womanhood and that a woman is not only defined by her husband. A woman is defined by God and his constant care for her and he'll care for her on the matter of his inheritance that God is faithful. You'll also read about the cities of refuge in chapter 35. The cities of refuge are really significant because the cities of refuge provide a place of refuge for those who are fleeing from someone who is angry with them and they really are pictures of the gospel.

Okay let's talk about Christ in the book of Numbers. I'm going to give you several places where we see Christ in Numbers. And the first is in 5, chapter 5, verses 1 through 5. And this is the whole idea of being put outside the camp. And the idea is that though you may be outside the camp, because of God's love you can come back in.

So outside the camp. Also Christ suffered outside the camp so there's even more there but look for that terminology outside the camp. What happens outside the camp and you'll find lots of things happen to those who are outside the camp. The second image of Christ is the bronze serpent. You can read about that in chapter 21 verses 4 through 9.

Interestingly enough, Nicodemus in his meeting with Jesus records this very same passage of scripture in numbers, the whole matter of the bronze serpent. And the bronze serpent is recorded in chapter 21 verses 4 through 9 and is fulfilled with Nicodemus in John 3 verse 14 and also in the rock in 1 Corinthians 10. So the bronze serpent is a picture of Christ. So not only do you have this whole matter being outside the camp as a picture of Christ, you also have the bronze serpent. Thirdly, there's Balaam.

Balaam prophesies Jesus and a star. In Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, you can read about this. But Balaam actually prophesies Christ. And then also, there's the pillar of cloud and fire there is the red heifer sacrifice There are lots of images of Christ here. And then finally Aaron's death.

You can read about that in chapter 20 verses 22 to 29. Why is Aaron's death significant? Well he's the high priest and he dies. That's really important because there is a priest who never dies. The high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, lives eternally And so your priest never dies.

In other words, your advocate never dies. The cleansing of your sin doesn't ever die out. The one who makes sacrifices doesn't disappear. There's a sacrifice for sin during your lifetime, and your priest will never die. That's what Jesus Christ teaches us about the priesthood.

So there it is. There's the book of Numbers. It's very diverse. It has so many different themes. But Israel had all the outward manifestations of righteousness.

They saw the miracles, they had the heritage, But they were hardened toward the Lord. And so, in the wilderness you see the manifestations of their lostness. Their rebellion, their complaining, their rejecting the authorities of God, their yielding to their cravings. All these things are signs. They're signs that you're not part of the people of God, that you are cut off, and that you're going to die in the wilderness.

It was a generation like that that died in the wilderness and numbers is given to us to show what a people look like who are going to die in the wilderness and won't enter the promised land And so you should listen to it. A generation like this died in the wilderness. And I'll read in Chapter 14, Verse 30. They all died except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun. He says, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you to dwell in, but your little ones whom you said would be victims, I will bring in and they shall know the land which you have despised.

But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness 40 years and bear the brunt of your infidelity until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness." And then verse 34 is really fascinating because it tells why 40 years. Chapter 14, verse 34 tells us why 40 years. According to the number of days in which you spied out the land, 40 days. For each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely 40 years, and you shall know my rejection." Those are terrifying words.

You shall know my rejection. There's nothing worse than a person can experience is to know the rejection of God. And so Numbers shows you these two kinds of people. Those who are going to die in the wilderness that have been shown the rejection of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of those who were outwardly righteous, but He says to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me. I never knew you." So that's the whole message of the book of Numbers and that is this, that if you reject the Lord you will wander in a wilderness and you'll die there. It's a pretty sobering message. At the same time, nothing can stop the blessings of God. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace." So there it is. There's the book of Numbers. I hope you have a great time reading it.