Finally, after one year from leaving Egypt, Israel gets the opportunity to celebrate their first Passover Feast! This was done in remembrance of being "passed over" when God killed the first born sons of Egypt. It is a special feast because it will futuristically represent Jesus Christ, the "first-born" son of God, who will shed His blood for man's sins!
NOTICE what happens as they prepare to celebrate their first Passover at noon time! Some men, who had been defiled due to touching a dead person, complained that they couldn't participate in the noon time celebration. Moses went to God about it. God gave the instructions to Moses that these men could celebrate the Passover, but that they needed to wait exactly "one month" before they could celebrate it.
Think about this! Jesus died on the cross on the very day of the Jewish Passover celebration in Jerusalem. You can imagine the sacrifice Joseph of Arimathea and the women were making when they took down the crucified body of Jesus and prepared it for burial. They were made "UNCLEAN" under the Jewish Law! Therefore, they lawfully could NOT participate in the Passover celebration they were so eagerly looking forward to. By touching the dead body of Jesus they were disqualified from participating with the rest of their families and needed to wait one month in order to celebrate it. It would be like having to stay home all by yourself and miss the Thanksgiving or Christmas celebration with your family! However, they didn't care! A horrible tragedy had taken place. And, as they gently unhooked the body of Jesus off of the Roman cross, I would imagine they felt like all Americans on that fateful day of 9-11-2001 when the twin towers disintegrated and killed more than 3000 innocent Americans! Joseph of Arimathea and the women weren't in a celebratory mood! They felt a large hole in their gut because Jesus, the Savior of the world, had died!
Only from this chapter (Numbers 9) can you realize the full sacrifice Joseph and the women made that horrible day on Golgotha's hill!
Numbers 10 reminds me of the trumpet call of the rapture! In this chapter, God gives Moses instructions for using trumpets to sound off a variety of messages to the more than 1 million people of the nation of Israel. These trumpets were often used acting like a modern-day PA system that blasted messages to far distances. My mind can barely imagine 1 million people congregating in tents and how vast of an area that must have took to hold them all. I remember when Billy Graham spoke in a crusage in Korea and 1 million people stood shoulder to shoulder to hear him speak. It seemed like the crowd had filled the entire scope of the visible landscape surrounding that stage. When you add tents and land for raising flocks, Israel must have been spread over several miles of desert! It took trumpets of pure, hammered silver to declare a message to the far ends of that camp! Only the priests could sound the trumpet. And, they would sound them for various reasons, such as:
1) To congregate the entire nation near the entrance of the Tabernacle
2) To break down the camp
3) To move on to a different camp site
4) To go to war
This reminds me of the TRUMPET BLAST FOR THE RAPTURE OF THE SAINTS! In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, God says, "For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the TRUMPET call of God." One day soon, you and I will hear the blast of God's trumpet resounding worldwide calling ALL BELIEVERS around the world to COME NEAR TO THE ENTRANCE (remember - Jesus is the door!) OF THE HEAVENLY TABERNACLE!!! What a day that will be! Are you ready????
How cool it would have been to see God's presence in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night! Yet, in spite of His presence, Israel (Moses too!) began to lose faith!
1) In Chapter 11, fire destroys people on the outer edge of the camp because they complained of hardships in the desert! Wow! Maybe we Christians ought to STOP COMPLAINING about our hardships in life!?
2) Moses is angry with God and attempts to remind God that he didn't want this job of leading the nation of Israel. Moses feels that God unjustly chastens him with that leadership position! He squarely blames God in verses 11 - 15. He even asks God to kill him!! Wow!
3) The Sanhedrin is born! God tells Moses to choose 70 leaders to help him share the burden. This group of 70 eventually becomes The Sanhedrin in the day of Jesus. They are responsible for killing Him!
Chapter 11 takes on a whole new and sad perspective! There are MANY lessons to learn from this.
Notice the Bible says in verse 1 "The people soon began to complain." It didn't take long. They were soon complaining about not having meat to eat! Look at what happens next.
1) Complaining angers God! Why? It shows a lack of faith in His loving provisions. It says His anger "blazed against them." To show His anger over their lack of faith in Him, He cause the outskirts of the camp to become a blaze of fire. They are surrounded by a wall of fire. No one can escape and I'm assuming by their fear that it's closing in on them. In fact, the fire was so intense that it "destroyed the outskirts of the camp."
2) Only prayer satisfies the heart of God! Even Moses loses faith and asks God, "Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them?" How quickly we forget God's power, and how quickly we forget to TAKE EVERYTHING TO HIM IN PRAYER!
Chapter 11 takes on a whole new and sad perspective! There are MANY lessons to learn from this.
Notice the Bible says in verse 1 "The people soon began to complain." It didn't take long. They were soon complaining about not having meat to eat! Look at what happens next.
1) Complaining angers God! Why? It shows a lack of faith in His loving provisions. It says His anger "blazed against them." To show His anger over their lack of faith in Him, He cause the outskirts of the camp to become a blaze of fire. They are surrounded by a wall of fire. No one can escape and I'm assuming by their fear that it's closing in on them. In fact, the fire was so intense that it "destroyed the outskirts of the camp."
2) Only prayer satisfies the heart of God! Even Moses loses faith and asks God, "Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds, would that satisfy them?" How quickly we forget God's power, and how quickly we forget to TAKE EVERYTHING TO HIM IN PRAYER!
Listen, God answers as specific as we pray! Instead of complaining, be thankful for what you have and if you do have a need "pray" or ask God to meet that need! God takes it personally when we complain!!!
3) How Satan will use the ungodly to influence the faith of the Godly! Look at verse 4. It was the "foreign rabble" that influenced God's people to change their heart toward God. It's amazing how much our friends and those we hang with can influence us either for good or bad. Sadly, we adapt to our surroundings. So, here's my question - "Who surrounds you?"
4) Moses becomes overwhelmed! By this time, Moses has had it. He's burned out! He would rather God kill him than to endure the complaints of the people. But notice how lovingly God comes to his rescue. He provides 70 other leaders (eventually they become the Sanhedrin) to help him with the load of complaints.
5) Moses has a CRISIS OF FAITH! Even Moses struggled with his faith in God! Notice verses 21-23. Moses is at the end of his rope. Even though he's visually sees God everyday and enjoys a verbal exchange with God everyday - still Moses wonders "HOW" God will meet their needs! Isn't that amazing?
6) You pay for your sin! Notice how God answers their prayers and sends an almost limitless supply of quail. More than enough! No one could have see that miracle coming. But it did. However, God knew those who were complaining and wanted to go back to Egypt and back to their old lifestyle. As they ate, God allowed a plague to kill every single one of them. Even God can loses His patience with us!
3) How Satan will use the ungodly to influence the faith of the Godly! Look at verse 4. It was the "foreign rabble" that influenced God's people to change their heart toward God. It's amazing how much our friends and those we hang with can influence us either for good or bad. Sadly, we adapt to our surroundings. So, here's my question - "Who surrounds you?"
4) Moses becomes overwhelmed! By this time, Moses has had it. He's burned out! He would rather God kill him than to endure the complaints of the people. But notice how lovingly God comes to his rescue. He provides 70 other leaders (eventually they become the Sanhedrin) to help him with the load of complaints.
5) Moses has a CRISIS OF FAITH! Even Moses struggled with his faith in God! Notice verses 21-23. Moses is at the end of his rope. Even though he's visually sees God everyday and enjoys a verbal exchange with God everyday - still Moses wonders "HOW" God will meet their needs! Isn't that amazing?
6) You pay for your sin! Notice how God answers their prayers and sends an almost limitless supply of quail. More than enough! No one could have see that miracle coming. But it did. However, God knew those who were complaining and wanted to go back to Egypt and back to their old lifestyle. As they ate, God allowed a plague to kill every single one of them. Even God can loses His patience with us!
There's no doubt that today's chapter readings provide a lot of insight into the heart of God! We see God as being faithful to meet ALL of our needs, and we also see that He doesn't like it when we complain!
May you enjoy His presence today!
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