A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 8 (Part 1)

 Numbers 8:1-4—1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Speak to Aaron, and say to him, 'When you arrange the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.'" 3 And Aaron did so; he arranged the lamps to face toward the front of the lampstand, as the LORD commanded Moses. 4 Now this workmanship of the lampstand was hammered gold; from its shaft to its flowers it was hammered work. According to the pattern which the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand. This is a rather odd passage, and a rather odd place for it. In the middle of all these commands about what was to be consecrated and how, God drops in this command about how to light the lampstand. Before this passage, we read about how He commanded the carts and oxen to be brought to the Levites, and after this passage we read about the consecration rites for the Levites. So why do we see this passage about lighting the lampstand?

Well we read later in the chapter (verse 22) that the ministry of the Levites was to begin either that day or shortly thereafter. Which is why it is so important to not just pick out a verse or passage at random and use it to build a doctrine. Every verse in the Bible must be understood in its context, and should not be wrestled out of its context to fit one’s desires. Jeremiah 29:11 is such a verse. People will pluck it off the page and call it their “life verse”, when they were never and Israelite that was taken into captivity to Babylon. Now, does God promise good to His people? Yes. But not always in this life. We may see persecution in this life, we may see poverty or disease. But after this life is over, He has promised us joy unspeakable.

So then, the reason this passage comes where it does is that there needed to be light in the tabernacle, as the coverings cut off any light from getting in. And notice, there are instructions on how the lamps were to be placed in the lampstand. They were to give light to the area in front of the lampstand. They were not to face the curtain behind it. They were to shine into the first room in the Tabernacle. This is what Jesus said in Matthew 5:14-16—14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” If these lamps faced the curtain, they would provide no light for the tabernacle, and would be like a lamp hidden under a basket. They would not have served their purpose. And in the same way, we do not fulfill our purpose if we do not let the light of Christ shine forth from us.

Many people go to church on Sunday morning, sometimes Sunday night or even Wednesday. They sit and listen to the preacher, they sing, they sit in Sunday School. But when they are outside the church walls, there is nothing in their lives that would show that they are a Christian. Or worse, they have been at the bar the night before—not sharing the gospel, but reveling with drunkards and storing up wrath against themselves. They are like lamps in the lampstand lighting the curtains. And as James wrote in James 2:14-26, does that faith save us? Our faith, if it does not have works to give evidence of it, is dead. It is alone. It is, as he points out in James 2:19, the faith of demons.

 You see, Jesus said we are to let the light we have been given shine out of us, and we are not to hide it. And when we do let that light shine forth, the people that see it will glorify God. You may say “but many will not believe!” This is true, many won’t. They will still glorify God, but not willingly. They will glorify Him in their destruction. Before we knew Christ, not only were we in darkness, we were darkness. Romans 12:12-13—12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. The things we did prior to knowing Him were darkness, and we were right smack dab in the middle of them. Notice I say “we”, including myself. If God had not brought me out of the darkness, I would have glorified God in the depths of Hell. It still astounds me that He would pick me out of that and make me what I am today. I do not boast of myself, nay, I abhor myself in dust and ashes as did Job. And were it not for Him keeping me, I would go right back to wallowing in the same mud I was in before.

And let no one think they are any different. None of us was ever any more worthy that another when it comes to salvation. As Martin Luther so famously said, “We are all mere beggars showing other beggars where to find bread.” And as another quote says, “the only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin that made it necessary.” We are never righteous enough to earn salvation, no matter what The Vatican says. And to say we can be evil enough to lose our salvation—that is really saying we can be righteous enough to keep it. John MacArthur said the following:

It’s impossible to lose your salvation because you didn’t do anything to gain it. I’ll reverse that a little bit: if you could lose your salvation you would. If my salvation depended on me, I would lose it. I don’t have the power to keep my salvation. Listen to the words of Hebrews, that He ever lives to make intercession for us, for the purpose of bringing us to glory (Hebrews 7:25). The reason that Christians are going to get to heaven is not because they hold on; it’s because Christ holds on. He will bring many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10). If Christ didn’t hold onto me, I would never get there. That is the incredible reality of His high priestly work.

You don’t keep yourself saved. Jesus keeps you saved. Romans 8:35-39—35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written: " For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In other words, if you are saved, there is absolutely nothing on earth, under the earth, in the Heavens, nor principalities nor powers that can separate you from Christ. He is the light of the world (John 8:12). In 1^st John 1:7, the Apostle says that if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. Jesus’ light shines in the darkness, and His blood cleanses us when we walk in His light. So let us always walk in His light, that we may be forgiven of our sins and walk in fellowship with one another.

One more thing about the lampstand. It was set opposite the Table of Showbread. So it cast its light on that bread. And we have to ask, what is the purpose of the showbread? It was to be food for the priests as they ministered in the Holy Place on the Sabbath. But there was to be one other thing on that table: wine. Exodus 37:16 (ESV)—And he made the vessels of pure gold that were to be on the table, its plates and dishes for incense, and its bowls and flagons with which to pour drink offerings. I use the ESV version here, since the NKJV—and even the KJV—do not fully render this verse, and leave out the portion that deals with drink offerings. But that is an important part of this verse. Because it really completes the meaning of the Table of Showbread. And really lends more meaning to how the lamps in the Lampstand were to face. You see, as I said earlier, we are to be a light in this dark world. We are to let our light so shine—why? So we can look good to the world? So that we can outshine our neighbor and bring more attention to ourselves? No! “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” We are to let our light shine to guide the world to Christ. We are to let our lives show forth Christ, so that all may see Him and glorify Him.

All through Scripture, bread and wine are symbols that point the way to Christ. And even the Table of Showbread, with the bread and wine, are not the first time we see this. In Genesis 40, we see Joseph in prison in Egypt, and who do we read about being imprisoned with him? The Pharaoh’s butler and baker. “Butler” is better translated as “cupbearer”, the one who gave Pharaoh his wine. So the cupbearer handled the wine, and the baker made the bread. And interestingly, Genesis 40:20-22—20 Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. 21 Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh's hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. So on a national holiday, a pagan ruler brings out two prisoners. He sets the one prisoner free, and then hangs the other on a tree. Think about that.

Jesus, when He is criticizing the people for only following Him to get a free meal, tells them in John 6:32-35—32 Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34 Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always." 35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” He is not to be, as the showbread, eaten but once a week. He is to be taken in every day, to give us life and to sustain us. And let us not forget when our Lord kept the Passover with His disciples. What did they have at what we call “The Last Supper”? What are we to partake of when we eat of the Lord’s Table? Bread and wine. Matthew 26:26-28 (see also Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20)—26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” In one of His last lessons to His disciples before His crucifixion, Jesus once again uses the elements of the Table of Showbread to point to Himself as the true bread from Heaven. And we, as lights in this dark world, are to “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Part 2 next week

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen. 

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 7

 Numbers 7:1-9—1 Now it came to pass, when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, that he anointed it and consecrated it and all its furnishings, and the altar and all its utensils; so he anointed them and consecrated them. 2 Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, who were the leaders of the tribes and over those who were numbered, made an offering. 3 And they brought their offering before the LORD, six covered carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two of the leaders, and for each one an ox; and they presented them before the tabernacle. 4 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 5 "Accept these from them, that they may be used in doing the work of the tabernacle of meeting; and you shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service." 6 So Moses took the carts and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. 6 So Moses took the carts and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. 7 Two carts and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service; 8 and four carts and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the authority of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 9 But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders.

This may very well have taken place after what we read in Leviticus 8:10. When we are reading Scripture, especially the Torah, we need to remember that it was not all written in chronological order as we think. Consider, almost every chapter (not every chapter, mind you), from Exodus 20 through Numbers 6, begins with the words “And the LORD spoke to Moses…” So all these chapters deal mostly with God speaking, and Moses speaking those words to the people, with very little action on the part of the people, save, for example, the Golden Calf episode and the actions of Nadab and Abihu. That is the trouble with many skeptics: they think that some “Middle Eastern goat herder” was sitting around in a cave, and said to himself “I think I’ll write a Bible”. That is why one must not just read the Bible, but rather study the Bible, so he may have a better understanding of it, so he does not fall into the trap of not believing Him. There are some passages of Scripture that are difficult to understand, and cannot be interpreted except by other Scriptures. As Paul writes in 1st Corinthians 2:14—But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And since all Scriptures was given by the Holy Spirit (2nd Timothy 3:16), what better way to understand the difficult passages of Scripture than by way of other Scripture?

Now, as far as the passage at hand. This was the first offering God required of the heads of each of the 12 Tribes. What was the purpose of the carts? Well, if we refer back to Numbers 4, we will understand that these were for carrying the elements of the Tabernacle. Not every item could be carried by staves on the shoulders of the Levites, so they had to be loaded onto a cart and carried that way. The sons of Gershon were to carry 25 …the curtains of the tabernacle and the tabernacle of meeting with its covering, the covering of badger skins that is on it, the screen for the door of the tabernacle of meeting, 26 the screen for the door of the gate of the court, the hangings of the court which are around the tabernacle and altar, and their cords, all the furnishings for their service and all that is made for these things (Numbers 4:25-26). Ever help someone take out a carpet? How heavy is it? This was the burden of the sons of Gershon. They had to carry the curtains and coverings for the Tabernacle, and trying to carry this on their shoulders would have required an enormous amount of effort. So they were given these carts to carry them through the desert. The sons of Merari were to carry 31 the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, 32 and the pillars around the court with their sockets, pegs, and cords (Numbers 4:31-32). This one really needs no explanation. These things could not have been carried by themselves, or they would have been dropped, the cords would have gotten their feet tangled causing them to fall, etc. They had to be carried in a cart to facilitate their transport to Canaan.

But then we get to the sons of Kohath, and they get no cart. Numbers 7:9—But to the sons of Kohath he gave none, because theirs was the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders. They were to carry the Ark of the Covenant, the Table of Showbread, the Lampstand, the Altar of Incense and the Altar of Burnt Offering on their shoulders via staves inserted through the rings of gold on each corner of each item. They were not to be transported on one of the ox-carts. Remember how I said earlier that Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture? This is one of those places. 2nd Samuel 6:6-7—6 And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God. Some people are amazed that God would strike down Uzzah. After all, he was just making sure the Ark didn’t fall to the ground. But there are two things we need to consider: (1) In Numbers 4:15 we read that when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. If it were not lawful for the ones carrying the Ark to touch it, then it goes to show that one who was not a Levite could not touch it, lest he die. Furthermore, and more related to our passage in Numbers 7:9, (2) the service of the sons of Kohath was the service of the holy things, which they carried on their shoulders. The Ark of the Covenant was the most holy thing in the Tabernacle, and it was not to be treated as a common thing. It was where God met with the High Priest on Yom Kippur. It was where He dwelt between the cherubim. And as such, God has a right to determine how it is to be handled, and how it is not to be handled. The same is true for the teachings of Christ. They are not to be handled lightly but are to be held in higher esteem than any volume written by man. He will hold those accountable that write any literature against the Christ, and who openly (or even secretly) write anything against His Christ, or teach men to do things which are abominable to Him.

And there are many today who do just that. They want to make God more palatable to the masses, and to the sinner, so they make God, they make Christ, and they make Christ’s cross, less offensive, and they leave the Cross out of their teaching. Elevation Church, pastored by Steven Furtick, one of the most man-centered “preachers” there is, left out the words “Calvary” and “Resurrection” on their invitations for their Easter service, because they didn’t want to offend anyone:

I'm putting a lot of my focus, energy, time, resources toward what I would call the ‘cold audience,’ people far from God,” she reiterated. “I'm not going to say the word ‘Calvary,’ not going to say the word ‘resurrection,’ I'm not going to say the ‘blood of Jesus,' I'm not going to say any of these words that make someone feel like an outsider. This is really an important guide for how we develop language. Anyone can be a part of our church; it might not be for everyone, everyone might not like it, but anyone can come.”

(https://www.christianpost.com/news/elevation-church-sent-easter-invites-that-omit-resurrection.html)

Brandon Robertson, who calls himself a pastor, is an openly gay man who sells a brand of “Christianity” that has no problem with homosexuality. He has said that “drag is holy”, that when Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb, He was really calling him to come out and announce he was gay, and other such despicable heresies. This is how he is described in one magazine:

Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted spiritual thought-leader, contemplative activist, and commentator, working at the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal and the author of Nomad: A Spirituality For Travelling Light and writes regularly for Patheos, Beliefnet, and The Huffington Post. He has published countless articles in respected outlets such as TIME, NBC, The Washington Post, Religion News Service, and Dallas Morning News. As sought out commentator of faith, culture, and public life, he is a regular contributor to national media outlets and has been interviewed by outlets such as MSNBC, NPR, SiriusXM, TIME Magazine, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Associated Press.

(https://progressingspirit.com/paupress/profile/20015)

Do you think God is okay with these kinds of things? Do you think He is okay with ignoring the cross because it might offend someone? Jesus said to Peter, after Peter told Him that He would not go to the Cross, “Get the behind Me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23). Do you think God is okay with a man claiming that He will accept those who live a life of debauchery into His kingdom? Paul said in 1st Corinthians 6:9-10—9 …homosexuals, nor sodomites 10 …will inherit the kingdom of God. These are those that Jesus spoke of, who worship mammon instead of God, who lead men away from God and into Hell, who do not give the proper reverence to God, and who do not see Him as more than a plaything. They are like Uzzah, who do not take into consideration the glory of God and His righteousness. AW Pink wrote the following in his book “The Attributes of God”:

The wrath of God is His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin. It is the moving cause of that just sentence which He passes upon evil-doers. God is angry against sin because it is a rebelling against His authority, a wrong done to His inviolable sovereignty. Insurrectionists against God’s government shall be made to know that God is the Lord. They shall be made to feel how great that Majesty is which they despise, and how dreadful is that threatened wrath which they so little regarded. Not that God’s anger is a malignant and malicious retaliation, inflicting injury for the sake of it, or in return for injury received. No; while God will vindicate His dominion as the Governor of the universe, He will not be vindictive.

Is God love? Yes (1st John 4:8). But He is also a God of wrath, and will not allow Himself to be worshipped in any other way than in righteousness, and will punish any who mock His name or mock His Christ. Numbers 7:10—Now the leaders offered the dedication offering for the altar when it was anointed; so the leaders offered their offering before the altar. The phrase “dedication offering” is the Hebrew word חֲנֻכָּה (hanuka). Does that look familiar? It should. It is the same word as Hanukkah, the Jewish festival celebrated in December with the lighting of the Menorah.

Numbers 7:13-88 outline the offerings that were brought by the heads of each tribe, which were 13 one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; 14 one gold pan of ten shekels, full of incense; 15 one young bull, one ram, and one male lamb in its first year, as a burnt offering; 16 one kid of the goats as a sin offering; 17 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings: two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year (Numbers 7:13-17). Do not think the Israelites had it easy in the desert. They had to give much to His service, including articles of gold as well as animals to be sacrificed. They had to give up a lot. But they had this hope: The Promised Land. If they gave up a little now, they could look forward to a far greater promise in the land of Canaan. We can see a picture of Christ in all this. Hebrews 12:1-3—1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. Jesus gave up more, and endured more, than we could ever imagine. God the Son, who lived in perfect harmony and unity with the Father since eternity past, had to set His glory aside and be made in the form of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), to face hostility, be mocked, spat upon, called Beelzebub, reviled by those who called themselves by His name, then be nailed to a cross to die, something God had never done (which is why He had to be made flesh), in order to obtain that eternal pardon for all whom the Father had given Him.

And you see, this is why I do this. This is why I go through the Old Testament Law—to show how it all points to Christ and our walk with Him. Can you imagine all this as your life? We have it easier—although not always easy by any stretch of the imagination—than those did when it was written. We are no longer bound by this Law, since Christ has set us free from it (Romans 8:2). We have the fulfillment of the Law, Christ Himself, living in us so we no longer have to bring sacrifices of bulls and goats, we merely look to the One who was sacrificed for us (1st Corinthians 5:7). But we think we have it so hard. Many don’t want to hear hard truths because they are hard to hear. Why? Because men are growing dull of heart. They want to be eased through this life. They don’t want to have to think, they want things given to them on a silver platter with a big red bow tied around them. They don’t want to sing hymns that are based on theology, they would rather hear pop tunes with a little Bible kinda sprinkled in. The PCUSA, the liberal arm of Presbyterians in the United States, thought the words “til on that Cross, as Jesus died/The wrath of God was satisfied” was too controversial, and they didn’t like the fact that it spoke of God as being wrathful.

Last summer the modern hymn “In Christ Alone” made headlines for its lyrical references to the wrath of God and atonement theology. A hymn committee with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) wanted to add the song to their new hymnal, Glory to God, released this fall. But in doing so, the committee requested permission from the song’s writers, Stuart Townsend and Keith Getty, to print an altered version of the hymn’s lyrics, changing “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied” to “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified.” The songwriters rejected the proposed change, and as a result the hymn committee voted to bar the hymn.

“The song has been removed from our contents list, with deep regret over losing its otherwise poignant and powerful witness,” committee chair Mary Louise Bringle told The Christian Century. The “view that the cross is primarily about God’s need to assuage God’s anger” would have a negative effect on the hymnal’s ability to form the faith of coming generations, Bringle explained.

 (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/keith-getty-on-what-makes-in-christ-alone-beloved-and-contested/)

So rather than admit their theology is faulty, they decided to just ignore the fact that God is a God of wrath, and just make their congregants feel happy-clappy through the service, and not feel uncomfortable about their sin. Now, are there saints in the PCUSA? Possibly. There will be saints in Babylon the Great, for it says in Revelation 18:4—And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” We are not to sit in service with those who reject the reverence of God in order that they may feel good about living in their sin. We are to come out of such assemblies, and worship with those who worship God in spirit and in truth.

Numbers 7:89—Now when Moses went into the tabernacle of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice of One speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him. The phrase “mercy seat”, in the Greek Septuagint it is rendered ιλαστηριου (hilasterion), which means

“relating to an appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, expiatory; a means of appeasing or expiating, a propitiation; used of the cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement (this rite signifying that the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins, was offered to God in the blood as the life of the victim, and that God by this ceremony was appeased and their sins expiated); hence the lid of expiation, the propitiatory”

It is the same word that is translated “propitiation” in Romans 3:25—[Christ], whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed and Hebrews 2:17—Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people and 1st John 2:2—And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world and 1st John 4:10—In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And in the English translation of the Septuagint, it is rendered “propitiary”. Interesting, isn’t it? That the mercy seat would be described as the place where forgiveness of sin was given by God on the Day of Atonement, would be referred to by a word which was used to describe Christ! When we put our faith for forgiveness in Christ, God meets us in the ιλαστηριου (hilasterion), which is Christ, thereby making propitiation for us and forgiving us of our sins. And not only for us, but for all those who belonged to God before Christ came in the flesh. For how were they saved? By the blood of bulls and goats? No! They were saved as we are, by the blood of Christ. You may say “well, that’s ridiculous, they lived and died without knowing Christ, having lived long before His coming!” But you see, that is thinking in human terms. But Revelation 13:8 says that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. And since He was slain before the foundation of the world, then His blood was given for those who lived before His coming! And He was known to some before He came, like David (Psalm 110:1), Abraham (John 8:58) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1, Isaiah 53:2-10). In a sermon on Leviticus 16:34, Charles Spurgeon said thus:

But mark, this goat's blood was not only shed for many for the remission of sins as a type of Christ, but that blood was taken within the vail, and there it was sprinkled. So with Jesus's blood, "Sprinkled now with blood the throne." The blood of other beasts (save only of the bullock) was offered before the Lord, and was not brought into the most holy place; but this goat's blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat, to make an atonement. So, O child of God, thy Saviour's blood has made atonement within the vail; he has taken it there himself; his own merits and his own agonies are now within the vail of glory, sprinkled now before the throne. O glorious sacrifice, as well as High Priest, we would adore thee, for by thy one offering hot hast made atonement for ever, even as this one slaughtered goat made atonement once in a year for the sins of all the people.

We have a far greater propitiation than a goat, that only took away the sins committed in the previous year. A goat that would have to be replicated the next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and so on. And each one would only take care of the previous year’s sins. But now we have a Lamb, one who takes away ALL our sins we have ever committed, One who has gone inside the Holiest Place in the Heavens, with the most perfect and precious blood, One who is without spot or blemish, One whose blood has made propitiation for not only those who show up at the door of the Tabernacle, but wherever those people might be—in the mountains of Tibet, or the jungles of Africa; in Los Angeles, CA or in Union Springs, NY. On the islands of the Philippines or in the shadow of Ayer’s Rock in Australia. In the Mansions of Park Place, or the prisons of Romania. He is always there, waiting to forgive, that He may present you as a gift to the Father, not having spot or blemish. A perfect Savior can make the most vile sinner a Perfect saint!

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 6, the Nazirite Vow (Part 4)

"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

4) The LORD…be gracious to you. Grace. The one thing we need from God, and one thing it is so hard to ask for if we are allowing our flesh to dictate our lives. Because, for one thing, grace is a gift. Romans 4:4—Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. One thing that separates Christianity from all other religions is grace. In Islam your good deeds must outweigh your bad deeds, and if not—even by the weight of an atom—Allah the All-Merciful™ will send you to Hell. In Buddhism and Hinduism, you must do your dharma—your religious duty—in order to advance. In Roman Catholicism you must do good works to be saved—not that you must do good works to show you are saved as it says in James 2:18. The grace shown by God is this, that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Other religions cannot grasp that. They think that you have to do good in order to be accepted by God. What was so special about these pitiful little Israelites that God said “you are Mine”? Nothing. What was so special about Abram that God sais “all nations shall be blessed in you”? Nothing. What was so special about Isaac or Jacob—especially Jacob—that God would bring about a great nation from them? Nothing. What was the defining characteristic of Moses that made God say “That’s him! That is the man who is perfectly capable and equipped to lead over a half million people in the wilderness and appear before me!” Absolutely nothing. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Nothing. What was it about you that made God say “Yes! I want that person! He/she has done spectacularly amazing things and I want them on My team!” Answer: less than nothing.

So why did God choose Abram? Why did He choose Isaac and Jacob? Why did He choose Moses? Why did He choose—you? One word: GRACE. The passage that is stamped on your forehead whenever you join a Baptist church is Ephesians 2:8-9— 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. The argument is “well, which of them is the gift—the grace, the faith, or the saved?” The answer of course is “Yes”. It is all of them. Grace is obviously a gift, “good-will, loving kindness, favour: of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues” according to Strong. Romans 11:5-6— 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace. Guess how much God’s grace depends on us? Again, nothing. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Nothing.

 

How do I know this is true? Because I know me. I know the man I used to be. The music I listened to, the movies and TV shows I watched, the beer I drank. But I will say this much—I did not have a problem with pornography. I watched it every chance I got with no problem. I lived the struggles men face—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1^st John 2:16)—and I didn’t back down to them, I charged full face right into them and enjoyed every minute of it. If you had told me back then that I would one day have a website where I would tell everyone reading it the truth of God and His Christ, I would not have believed you, even for a second. From the hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed” by DW Whittle:

 

I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me is daily shown,

Nor why, with mercy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own.

I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart,

Nor how believing in his word wrought peace within my heart.

I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing us of sin,

Revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in him.

I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noon-day fair,

Nor if I’ll walk the vale with him, or meet him in the air.

 

There is also a refrain in there, taken verbatim from 2nd Timothy 1:12—I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. That is another component of grace, is God keeping those who are His until that last Day. It was a hurdle I had to get over, that when God saves someone, they are in His hand forever. Some dismissively call it “once saved always saved”. I prefer to call it the Perseverance of the Saints, and is found all over Scripture, most notably Philippians 1:6 and Hebrews 10:14 and, as above, 2nd Timothy 1:12. To say that one can be saved and God would not hold on to that person not only makes the one who thinks that turn God into an unfaithful God, but also contradicts Scripture.

 

5) The LORD lift up His countenance upon you. What does it mean for God to “lift up His countenance”? Well, we know God does not have and actual face. We see all the Renaissance paintings of God sitting on the clouds, a bearded old man who reaches out a finger to give life to Adam in Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But in all reality, God is Spirit (John 4:24), and does not have an actual face like you or me. In fact the Westminster Confession says “There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions” (Westminster Confession, 2.1).

Well, it is what we call “anthropomorphic language”: giving human traits to a being that is not human. And we know God is not human—obviously. But He had to express Himself in a way the people could understand. And this is but one way. The first place we see it is after Jacob wrestles with the Angel in Genesis 32:30—So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." Now we know that Jacob did not really see God’s face, because God tells Moses in Exodus 33:20—“But,” he said, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” Again, Jacob used anthropomorphic language.

We must understand that the “face of God” is not something that can be seen, but something that must be sought after. It is us knowing Him, and Him knowing us. It is us seeking Him so we may know His will, and Him looking upon us that He may lead us and guide us. The phrase “seek His face” is used 7 times in the Old Testament, 3 times in the Psalms. David was a man after God’s own heart (1st Samuel 13:14), and constantly sought the face of God, that he may know what His will was and how he should go about pleasing Him (1st Chronicles 16:11 [which is repeated in Psalm 105:4], Psalm 27:8). This phrase is also used in 2nd Chronicles 7:14, Hosea 5:15 and Hosea 7:10. When we seek the face of God, we are asking for an audience with Him, to pour out our prayers and supplications.

Now, does God hide His face? Yes. He even hid His face from David. Psalm 30:7—LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. Why would God hide His face? Well, even though David was a man after God’s own heart, he stumbled. There was a time when he REALLY stumbled (2nd Samuel 11:4). And when he did stumble, God would not be there for David. And no matter how he may have been treated by men, this made David cry out even stronger. When I was in high school, I tried to sneak off with a friend of mine. When mom found out—and caught me—she didn’t hit me or lay any kind of corporal punishment on me. Know what she did? She said “I’m really disappointed in you”. Ouch! There I was, in my high school football jersey, bawling my eyes out because of her words. It hurt worse than any kind of lashing. But it got her point across. That is what it was like for David when God hid His face.

A couple other times when God hid His face, the first is Isaiah 54:8—"With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer." Of course, this is right after the prophecy of Christ, in Isaiah 53. He is speaking, I believe anyway, to Israel after they crucify the Lord of Glory, and He turns away from them. But this will not be a turning away forever, and He will bring them back to Himself (Romans 11:1-5). We also see Him hiding Hid face in Ezekiel 39:23—“The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword.” This was when God allowed Israel to be taken into exile by Babylon (2nd Chronicles 36:16-21). He allowed them to be taken away because they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy (2nd Chronicles 36:16). Then when calamity fell upon them, they had nowhere to turn, there was no one who would fight for them, and God Himself fought against them and they fell into captivity.

 

But God… My favorite phrase in all of Scripture. Romans 5:8—But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God, who is rich in mercy, lifted His face to us Gentiles--Gentiles from whom He had hidden His face for so many years--and welcomed us into His kingdom. He sent His Son, His perfect, beloved Son, in the flesh, to dwell with us, and to give His life for us so that all those who believe on Him could gain eternal life—not by the blood of bulls and goats, but by faith in the Only Begotten Son of God, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead! Praise His name! And when we say God looks upon us—let’s face it, God sees everything. He is always there, omnipresent, all-seeing, all-knowing, all and in all—what we mean is summed up neatly in 1st Peter 3:12—For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers. He does not hide Himself from those who believe and belong to Christ. He may seem far away, but He isn’t. He is there, always there, to hear our petitions and supplications, and to offer a way of escape from temptations. JC Ryle has this to say about our free forgiveness in Christ—

 

If any man is willing to be saved, the Lord Jesus Christ stands ready to save him. "Come unto Me," He says, "weary soul, and I will give you rest. Come, guilty and sinful soul, and I will give you free pardon. Come, lost and ruined soul, and I will give you eternal life. Come and be freely saved." Oh, reader, let this message be a word in season! Arise and call upon the Lord. Let the angels of God rejoice over one more saved soul; let the courts of heaven hear the good tidings that one more lost sheep is found. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

 YHVH lifts His countenance on all who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. A great blessing these Israelites did not know at the time, but understood when Christ entered through the gates of Heaven, leading captivity captive, leading His saints into everlasting glory. Amen!

6) The LORD…give you peace. When men talk about peace, it is always temporary. And it always hinges on both sides giving what the other side wants. And it never lasts. Why? Because humans are involved. James 4:1-3—1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Why does negotiating for peace take such a long process? Because neither side wants to give anything up, but they want the other side to give up stuff. Look at the Middle East. They have had a merry-go-round of peace talks for how many years? And are they any closer to having a lasting peace in that area?

Consider the Camp David Peace Accords, signed in 1978 by Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin. The three men agreed on a plan that would suit everyone. And what happened in 1981? Anwar Sadat was assassinated. By whom? By an Islamic extremist who was ticked off that Sadat would sign a peace deal with Israel. In 1993, Bill Clinton negotiated a peace settlement between Yitzhak Rabin and Yassir Arafat, which split the West Bank into Israeli and Palestinian sectors. Donald Trump brought Benjamin Netanyahu together with the leaders of Bahrain and the UAE in 2020. And yet, today, we have Palestinians holding Israelis hostage while Israel bombs Palestine. Not to mention the war in Ukraine (and oh by the way, neither side in the Russia-Ukraine war is a “good guy”. The people of those countries, yes. Their leaders? Not so much). Nations will never be at peace with each other because human beings are involved.

But God… The One who rules over all of Creation, the One who holds all things in His hands, the One of who it has been said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Abraham Kuyper), has made a way for us humans to be at peace with Him. He gives us peace through the blood of His cross. And we give Him…..what, exactly? What is there that we can give Him that He needs? Our good deeds? Isaiah 64:6—But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. Titus 3:4-5—4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us… Galatians 2:16— knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. We are not saved by our “good” works. It has been said that “we contribute nothing to our salvation except the sin that makes it necessary.” This quote has been attributed to both Jonathan Edwards and Philip Melanchthon, and I have found nothing that settles the debate of who said it originally. But whoever said it, it is correct.

God gives us eternal life and what do we give Him? Our sins. Doesn’t seem like a fair trade now, does it? But God is not fair, and we should be eternally grateful for that. Because if God were fair, we would all be burning in Hell for all eternity, and Christ would not have come down to die on the cross to bear away our sins. But God was not fair! He was not fair to His Son, who died that we may have peace with God. John 14:27—“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Romans 5:1—Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul starts his epistles with the words “Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”. See, the Greeks and Romans believed in a plethora of (little-g) gods. And by plethora, that says a lot 😀. Sorry, couldn’t resist, Well, I could have, but…Anyway. One thing they never had with any of these gods was peace. They were always worried about offending them; they had to continually offer oblations and sacrifices to them. But what do we do if we do something that offends the God of all Creation? Pray. Ask forgiveness. And guess what? He’ll forgive. The hymn “O God of Love, O King of Peace” by Henry Williams Baker:

 

O God of love, O King of peace,/Make wars throughout the world to cease;

Our greed and violent ways restrain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Remember, Lord, your works of old,/The wonders that your people told;

Remember not our sins' deep stain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Whom shall we trust but you, O Lord?/Where rest but on your faithful word?

None ever called on you in vain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.

Where saints and angels dwell above/All hearts are joined in holy love;

Oh, bind us in that heav'nly chain./Give peace, O God, give peace again.     

 In our fallen state, we were at enmity with God. He gave us His Son, who gave His life on Golgotha that we may be saved from our sins and from the wrath of God. And what do we give Him in return? We give Him nothing that He needs, for He needs nothing. But we give Him our lives, our love, and our sins, which made it necessary for us to be saved from His wrath and from death and hell.

 "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 6, The Nazirite Vow (Part 3)

Next, our text in Numbers spells out the sacrifices the Nazirite would need to bring after the days of his vow were completed, so we will skip down to one of the oft-quoted passages in Scripture, Numbers 6:23-27— 23 "Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: 24 "The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace."' 27 So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them."

1) The LORD bless you. What does it mean to be blessed by God? Does it refer to material gain? Partially, perhaps. You hear people say of someone who has an abundance of cash, “God has blessed them!” But is it always a blessing to be rich? 1st Timothy 6:9—But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. When you set your face toward becoming rich, the tendency sometimes is to maybe cut a corner or two on your way there. And once you get there, you may not happy staying there, and will want more. Ecclesiastes 5:10-12—10 He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. 11 When goods increase, they increase who eat them; so what profit have the owners except to see them with their eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep. If you have investments, you have to watch the markets to see which way they are going. Always got to keep up with the Dow Jones or the S&P or the NASDAQ.

 John D Rockefeller, Sr. was the richest man who ever lived. He was a billionaire—with a ‘B’—by the time he was 53. You want to know what he feasted on? Crackers and milk. Was all his stomach could handle. Even his doctors couldn’t help him. Well, he lived until he was 97 years old. What changed? How could this man who pretty much survived on crackers and milk live another few decades? He stopped worrying about his money and started giving it away. And guess what? He was still rich even after doing that! He is quoted as saying "If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it."

So what does it mean to be blessed by God? It means this: to live in His goodness, to be led by His Spirit, to be accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6), to live with Him and to be with Him eternally. It may be as a rich man, it may be as a poor man. It may be as a prince or as a pauper, but we cannot think that being blessed is all about what we have in this lifetime. We have to understand that being blessed by God means more than that. Who would you say was more blessed? King Nebuchadnezzar, in all his kingly pomp and apparel? Or the widow in Mark 12:42 and Luke 21:2 who put her last two mites into the collection box? Robert Hawker says about this widow—

 

How little is understood of the nature of true charity. A man may give thousands, and yet have no real charity towards God. And another may give but little, yea, nothing, and yet in the Lord’s sight be very bountiful. And the reason is plain. Where the love of God in Christ is in the heart, this, like a fountain, will diffuse streams from the same source all around.

 2) The LORD… keep you. The word “keep” means “pay heed to” or “to guard. At this time, Israel was just a baby nation. They did not even have a home yet. They were still wandering in the wilderness. They were beset roundabout by enemies—not only enemies of them, but the enemies of God as well.  Yet God held them in the palm of His hand and said “you are Mine”. If you read in the Book of Joshua, you read of their many conquests against nations that were much more physically prepared for battle. You read many times when God tells Israel, “don’t go into this battle, for I will not be with you”. And sometimes they would go into that battle anyway, and they would be routed. Or if He would command them to go into battle because He was with them, they would rout their enemies.

Take David, for example. Here was a ruddy little kid who kept sheep. And he was to go up against this man who was, according to the biblical account, almost 10 feet tall, who was covered in armor and held a spear that weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 pounds. The man had trained for war all his life, while little ol’ David kept watch over his sheep. But we all know what happened. That little ruddy boy slung one rock from his sling that entered deep into the giant’s head and killed him. Do you think it was the stone or even the speed with which David moved his sling that killed Goliath? No. 1st Samuel 17:47—“Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands.” He would go on to write in Psalm 20:7—Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. It is not by physical force that they won their battles. I could even point back to Exodus 14 when He parted the Red Sea for the children of Israel to pass through, then brought the water down on top of Egypt’s chariots and drowned them.

 The mighty power of thy right hand,

O Lord, most glorious shows;

Thy right hand, Lord, in pieces dashed

The proud insulting foes.

Excelling greatness those o'erthrow

Against thee who presumed;

Thou sendest forth thy flaming wrath,

Which them, as chaff, consumed.

(“The Song of Moses”, John Barnard)

In all our trials we can say with David that the battle belongs to the Lord. We can fight with all our strength, we can wrestle with all our might, and we can strive with everything in us. But without the Lord of Hosts on our side, we will not prevail. Whether it is in money or sports or business or whatever endeavour, we need to ask God if it is right to fight whatever battle we are thinking of. And if it isn’t—leave it alone. Let it be. Because if it is not from the Lord for you to fight that battle, He will oppose you every step of the way, no matter how hard you bang your head against that wall.

 

3) The LORD make His face shine upon you. We know that God is light, and there is no darkness at all in Him (1^st John 1:5). And that darkness is simply the absence of light. So when we see this, The LORD make His face shine upon you, this is what we need to remember: this blessing for the people is that they are asking God to always be available to meet their needs. And I don’t mean that in a bad way. They would be asking God for His favor in their lives. That whatever He calls them to, He would be there to guide them through it. That He would be the center of their lives.

 

Ever have one of those days when it seems like God is a million miles away? That nothing is going right and you feel downtrodden and alone? Sometimes you need to just stop and talk to Him. We call that “prayer”. And I’ll admit, that is not my strong suit. But there are times in the middle of life when you just need to stop and get alone and say to Him something simple like “God help me”. It’s not wrong to do that. Do you always know what you need to pray for? No. Does God? Yes. Matthew 6:8—“For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” That should be one of the most comforting things you could ever hear. We have a God—a God who created all things and upholds all things simply by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3)—He is a God who, even though He may seem to be a million miles away, is closer to you than even your own skin. And He knows what you need even when you don’t. And when you don’t know what to ask for, the Holy Spirit does. Romans 8:26—For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The late RC Sproul said this—

 

We ought to pray only according to God's will—according to what He desires for us—but we cannot do that perfectly. Yet that should not lead us to stop praying or to believe our prayers will be ineffective…Paul says that the Holy Spirit takes our imperfect prayers and makes them perfect. He intercedes alongside us and within us "with groanings too deep for words" (or “groanings which cannot be uttered”—ed.). Invisibly and inaudibly, He takes our prayers and makes them conform to the perfect will of the triune God. His ministry of intercession is effectual …We need not fear that the imperfection of our prayers and the weakness of our flesh will prevent us from persevering to the end or keep us from waiting patiently for the final glory to come.

 

We know that darkness is the absence of light. May we not only look to find the face of God and to rest in His light, but may He continually make Hos light to shine on us, may He never hide His face from us, and may we always walk in the light of His love.

 

Part 4 next week

 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.