Numbers 9:6-12—6 Now there were certain men who were defiled by a human corpse, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and Aaron that day. 7 And those men said to him, "We became defiled by a human corpse. Why are we kept from presenting the offering of the LORD at its appointed time among the children of Israel?" 8 And Moses said to them, "Stand still, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you." 9 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If anyone of you or your posterity is unclean because of a corpse, or is far away on a journey, he may still keep the LORD's Passover. 11 On the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight, they may keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.’” So, the original question was “can a person who could not be at Passover on 14 Nisan get a do-over?” Well, yes. If they had just buried a relative, or they were afar off, they could gather on the 14th day of the second month, the month of Iyar. As Nisan falls in the months of March-April on our Gregorian calendars, Iyar falls in April-May. This was called the “Second Passover”, or פסה שנ׳ (“Pesach Sheni”) The rules were the same, though. They set apart a lamb on the 10th day of the month, kept it until the 14th, killed it at twilight and roasted it. However, unlike the Passover on 14 Nisan, where they were to eat unleavened bread for 7 days following, this was a one-day festival, and the eating of unleavened bread was not mandated. And this really showed how devoted some people were, and how they believed God, that they wanted to honor Him despite obstacles being in their way.
Now, what do you suppose would happen to someone who could not keep the Passover at the appointed time, and did not keep the “Second Passover”? Numbers 9:13—13 “‘But the man who is clean and is not on a journey, and ceases to keep the Passover, that same person shall be cut off from among his people, because he did not bring the offering of the LORD at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.’” Notice I said at the outset the person could not keep it. If you could keep the Passover at the appointed time, at twilight on the 14th of Nisan, you were expected to keep it. If you could not keep it then, you could keep it on 14 Iyar. And if the person did not keep it even then, that person was cut off from his people. God is a God of second chances, and does not restrain His grace from those who seek His will and seek to live for Him and keep His commandments. He calls us to do the same. Matthew 18:21-22—21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” So are we to start counting the number of times our brother sins against us, and when we get to 491, tell him “Okay, you’ve reached your limit. I will not forgive you any more”? No, of course not. Consider how many times God has forgiven you, and continues to forgive you. Lest you think that once Jesus washed you, your feet do not get dirty again. Now, you may say “if my brother sins against me 490 times, and they repent and ask forgiveness 490 times, is that true repentance?” Is that any different from when we ask God for forgiveness? How many times do we transgress against him in a single day? Yet we repent and go and ask him to forgive our sins. I dare say in any given year, that number is far greater than 490.
The point is that 490 is not a static number, and we are not to count the number of times our brother sins against us. Many people say that Paul preached a different message than Christ did, but this is one place where we can tell that person that they are mistaken. 1st Corinthians 13 is called by many “the love chapter”, for it outlines what love towards our neighbors looks like. And one verse that gets misused is 1st Corinthians 13:5—[love] does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil. And I want to focus on that last part, thinks no evil. The KJV and NKJV translate that passage thus, but I really think it misses the mark, as many later translations have improved upon it and have rendered it does not take into account a wrong suffered. The Greek of that section is λογίζεται τὸ κακόν (logizetai to kakon), and it literally means “to reckon inwardly things of a bad nature”. Young’s literal Translation says [love] doth not impute evil. So if we truly love our neighbor, we will not go through our life counting how many times they have done us wrong, remembering the even greater number of times we have done wrong to God.
But to show us that He is an exacting God, that to cross certain lines is unacceptable, and that even with how patient He is, His commands are not to be trifled with, He tells the people that even though He gives them a second chance to keep the Passover if they cannot do so on 14 Nisan, He says the person who neglects either the first or the second Passover shall be cut off from among his people. When the Bible talks about people being “cut off”, it does not mean shunned, or ostracized or even sent away. It means dead. The person who did not keep the Passover, God would destroy them. He set His appointed times to be observed at the required time, and He had a reason. And the people were not to reject these times, because doing so would be to show a sort of flippancy toward these times and, subsequently, toward God. And are we any different? If we ignore His Christ, Whom He sent to bear away our sins, do not our sins stay with us, and will they not lead us to be cut off from Him? Hebrews 2:3—How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation. Hebrews 10:28-31—28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The Law condemned to death anyone guilty of a capital offense if two or three witnesses gave proper testimony. But there is a far worse punishment for those who reject His Christ. If one does that, they will not be judged by a human jury or tribunal or court-martial. They will be tried by God Himself, by His Law, by His justice, by His perfectness, and will be found wanting and will suffer an even graver, and eternal, punishment. The Expositor’s Greek New Testament—
“The guilt of the apostate which justifies this sorer punishment is detailed in three particulars. He has trampled on the Son of God. The highest of Beings who has deserved best at his hands is spurned with outrageous scorn…“and has reckoned the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified, a common thing”…This blood is the purifying agent by which men are fitted for the fellowship and service of God, and so brought within the covenant…This sole means of purification, the sanctifying virtue of which the supposed apostate has experienced, he now counts common or unclean…The third point in the heinousness of the sin of apostasy is “and has insulted the spirit of grace”…The spirit of grace is the distinctive gift of Christian times, and is not only the Pauline but the universal antithesis to the law. To have blasphemed this gracious Spirit, who brings the assurance of God’s presence and pardon, and gifts suited to each believer, is to renounce all part in things spiritual.”
Do not neglect so great a salvation. Do not tread the Son of God underfoot, do not count the blood He shed as common or unclean, and do not despise the Holy Spirit!
Numbers 9:15-23—15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. 17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. 18 At the command of the LORD the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the LORD they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped. 19 Even when the cloud continued long, many days above the tabernacle, the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not journey. 20 So it was, when the cloud was above the tabernacle a few days: according to the command of the LORD they would remain encamped, and according to the command of the LORD they would journey. 21 So it was, when the cloud remained only from evening until morning: when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they would journey; whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud was taken up, they would journey. 22 Whether it was two days, a month, or a year that the cloud remained above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would remain encamped and not journey; but when it was taken up, they would journey. 23 At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
Ever been on a long trip and just felt like stopping somewhere, and said “this is as good a place as any. Let’s stop.” Then when you think the time is right you say “Okay, this is as good a time as any. Let’s go!” These people did not have that option when it came to their journey from Sinai to Canaan. On the first day the Tabernacle was erected, God covered the Tabernacle in a cloud. During the day it was a cloud, at night it was a pillar of fire. Whether day or night, if the cloud or fire was there, it was there for one reason: that was where the people were to stay. If the cloud remained, the people remained. If it moved, the people moved. No one was to say “You guys stay here, my wife and I are going on ahead. We’ll see you when you catch up” or “You guys go on ahead, we’ll catch up later”. No one was exempted from this command. This was a way to train the people to keep their eyes always on God. To always be looking for Him, to always be seeking Him. And also, to show them that they could look everywhere on every horizon, but He was in that one place. And that cloud led the Tabernacle around, and where it stopped, they were to pitch that great Tent.
Let’s fast forward to Solomon. The man who did not ask for riches or wealth, but rather wisdom from God. His father, David, desired to build a temple for God. 2nd Samuel 7:1-2—1 Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies all around, 2 that the king said to Nathan the prophet, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains." The man after God’s own heart grew weary of having God lead around a tent (and maybe thought that God was confined to that tent), and desired to build a permanent place for God to set His name. Even his prophet Nathan agreed 2nd Samuel 7:3—Then Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you." They were both guilty of trying to move when the cloud was standing still. Keep in mind, of course, that this was at the time when the Ark of the Covenant returned to Jerusalem and after the death of Uzzah for putting his hand on the Ark (2nd Samuel 6:6-7). This dismayed David, and more than likely, after it weighed on his heart, he thought that there should be one place where God kept His glory and His name. And while David’s heart was in the right place, it was not yet time for God to settle His cloud in one place. 2nd Samuel 7:5-13—5 “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in? 6 For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ 8 Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David…10 I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously…12 When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”’” The group Point of Grace did a song called “Steady On”, which talks about how often we are unable to wait for God to do something, and we think we have to act before He has said to move. The chorus goes:
We run on up ahead, we lag behind You
It’s hard to wait when heaven’s on our mind
Teach our restless feet to walk beside You
‘Cause in or hearts, we’re already gone
Will You walk with us
Steady On
That’ was the problem David faced so many times. He wanted to run on up ahead, when He should have just walked beside God. Which is why we read in Psalm 46:10—Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Whether He moves, or whether He stands still, He will be exalted forever. Amen.
Well,
we know that God did establish a place for His name. In 2nd Chronicles 1:1, we see that the Tabernacle was in Gibeon, which was located
north of Jerusalem in what is now called the West Bank. Solomon went to the
Tabernacle, and that was where he asked God for wisdom and received it. While
the name David (דָּוִד)
means “beloved”, the name Solomon (שְׁלֹמֹה
[shelomo]) meant “peace” (as it was derived from the word שָׁלוֹם
(shalom) which means “completeness,
soundness, welfare, peace”). And it was by Solomon that God’s Ark found
peace, as he had the temple built in Jerusalem (2nd Chronicles
2:1-5:1); this was where God would place His name (2nd Chronicles 7:12), and the cloud overshadowed it (2nd Chronicles 5:13-14) and the fire came down and devoured the sacrifices (2nd Chronicles 7:3). And with these two signs, God made His presence known, and
established Jerusalem (יְרוּשָׁלַם, [Yerusalam]
“teaching of peace”) as the city where His glory and His name would reside (so
to speak).
Yet again, as so many times before, this points us to our Lord Jesus. For it was Jerusalem where He was slain for our transgressions. And what did He say in John 2:19, 21—"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up"…He was speaking of the temple of His body. And it was on Christ that He placed His name, for He was His Son, in who He was well pleased (Matthew 3:17, 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). John 17:6—“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world.” And in the death of Christ we see the fulfillment of the type given us in 2nd Chronicles. Jesus manifested—made “visible or known what has been hidden or unknown, to manifest, whether by words, or deeds, or in any other way”—the name of God. At His death there was darkness over the land (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44), and He sent his holy fire of wrath upon His son as a sacrifice for our sins (Mark 15:34). AW Pink in his classic “The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the cross” in the chapter “The Word of Anguish” sums it up majestically:
“At the cross all our iniquities were laid upon Christ and therefore did Divine judgment fall upon Him. There was no way of transferring sin without also transferring its penalty. Both sin and punishment were transferred to the Lord Jesus. On the cross Christ was making propitiation, and propitiation is solely Godward. It was a question of meeting the claims of God’s holiness; it was a matter of meeting the demands of His justice. Not only was Christ’s blood shed for us, but it was also shed for God. He hath given Himself for us and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour (Ephesians 5:2), Thus it was foreshadowed on the memorable night of Passover in Egypt: the lamb’s blood must be where God’s eye could see it—“when I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13)”
May we be a place where God places His name. May we live to always look for the cloud and the fire, and follow Him. May we always remember that our Passover Lamb was not of the herds and flocks, it was not of any earthly stock, but this Lamb came down from God, is feasted on as one sacrifice by us who are of one body, was consumed by the fire of God to make a sweet smelling sacrifice, was enveloped in clouds and darkness, but rose again, that He might show Himself to be triumphant over every enemy, and give to us that victory over the grave, that we may live forevermore with Him in His kingdom.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
