With God In the Wilderness: Introduction


Sermon by J. Ligon Duncan on January 3, 2007 Numbers 1:1-4

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Wednesday Evening

January 3,
2007

Numbers 1:1-4

“With God In the Wilderness: Introduction

Dr. Ligon Duncan
III

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to
the Book of Numbers. I would encourage you to bring your Bibles, though. I hope
that over the course of our studies of the Book of Numbers you’ll get a good
foundation, a good grasp, of this whole book, and that you’ll want to make notes
along in your own Bible as we work through the book. Later on this evening I’m
going to hand out a rough outline of where we’re going in this book as a whole,
as well as an overview outline of the larger book. But we’ll hand that out later
in this evening.

Here is a book, the fourth book of the Old Testament
in terms of its literary order; the fourth book of the Old Testament in terms of
the chronological order of the story of God in the days of Israel…36 chapters,
1,288 verses. And you may be scratching your head…why in the world Numbers?
Well, I’m going to try and make a case for that to you tonight.

Let’s read God’s word, and before we do let’s look
to Him in prayer and ask for His help and blessing.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your word. We ask
that You would speak to us wonderful things from Your Law, that we would respond
in faith, that we would respond in delight, and to your glory. We ask in Jesus’
name. Amen.

This is the word of God:

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the
tent of meeting, on the first 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 sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’
households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head from
twenty years old and upward, whoever is able to go out to war in Israel, you and
Aaron shall number them by their armies. With you, moreover, there shall be a
man of each tribe, each one head of his father’s household.’”

Amen. And thus ends this reading of God’s holy, inspired,
and inerrant word.

When was the last time that you studied the Book of
Numbers? Maybe some of you work through Bible reading programs from time to
time; when was the last time you read through the Book of Numbers? It’s probably
not one of those books that’s up in your “Top Ten Bible Books” favorites list,
but it’s a great book.

You say to me, “But it’s got a lot of funny names.”
Yes, it does.

“And it’s got a lot of lists of funny names.” Yes, it
does.

“And it’s filled with history, and I don’t like history!”
But I do!

“And it’s got a lot of laws in it, and it’s about
something that’s way, way out of date and not relevant to me today. It surely
was relevant to the children of Israel in the time of the wilderness wandering,
but what does it have to say to me today?”

And my response to that is to ask you–and this is
another good reason to keep your Bibles with you on Wednesday nights–to turn
with me to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, his first letter to the
Corinthians, because what the Apostle Paul tells us in I Corinthians 10 is
that the Book of Numbers was written for you as Christians today
. Don’t
believe me? Well, let’s read

I Corinthians 10:1-13:

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under
the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in
the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the
same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which
followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was
not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.”

Now you need to understand that the Hebrew name for
the Book of Numbers…you’ve caught as we read in the English why we call this
book the Book of Numbers…because of that verse in which God instructs Moses
and Aaron to take a census. That’s where we get the name Numbers
for this book. They were to number Israel. But the Hebrew name for this book was
In the Wilderness. So Paul is getting ready to apply to you what happened
in the wilderness. Notice what he says: “They were laid low in the wilderness.”
Now what is his next word?

“Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil
things, as they also craved. And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as
it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.’ Nor
let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one
day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by
serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our
instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

Did you hear the Apostle Paul give you a quick
outline of the Book of Numbers there? And then what does he say? ‘These
things happened and were written down for you.’
Now that ought to
considerably change our approach to this Book of Numbers.
Far from being
musty, dusty, irrelevant Hebrew history, this is a book for today, for
Christians, for our times, for our lives. I even like the name of the book:
In the Wilderness.
That’s where sanctification happens–in the wilderness.
Did then, does now. If you’re in the wilderness, this book’s for you.

I want you to notice four things that the
Apostle Paul tells us specifically about the Book of Numbers in I Corinthians
10.

1. First of all, notice he says in verse 6 that these
things that happened in the story of the children of Israel in the wilderness
recorded in the Book of Numbers happened so that we would not crave evil things
as they craved evil things.
So the Apostle Paul is telling you that the
history of Numbers is in part a negative example to us, designed to keep us from
doing the wrong things that they did in the course of their lives, in the course
of our own Christian lives.

2. Secondly, if you look at verses 11, the Apostle Paul
tells us that these things actually happened as an example for us.
That’s
extraordinary, isn’t it? He doesn’t just say that they were written down for an
example for us, but that they happened for an example for us. In other words,
this book is not a Christian book secondarily and a Hebrew history book
primarily, from which we can get some implicit second-hand, indirect
applications for our life. No. These things actually happened as an example for
us. In this the Apostle Paul is telling you that the history of Israel in the
wilderness is an example to you as believers. There is something that you are
supposed to learn as a Christian from the history of Israel in the wilderness.

3. Thirdly, notice in verses 9 and 10 that the Apostle
Paul explicitly warns us against trying the Lord
, and then he mentions the
incident of the serpents and the bronze serpent, and he warns us against
grumbling against the Lord. And so he draws yet another deduction: we’re not
only not to crave the wrong things that they craved; we’re not only to recognize
that their history is an example to us; but, thirdly, we are not to put the Lord
to test or to grumble like the Israelites did.

It’s very interesting. One of the themes that we’re
going to see through the Book of Numbers is when Israel fails, it typically
fails in two areas. It either fails in faith or in practice. It either fails in
trust or in obedience. And what’s the song we sing? “Trust and Obey, for
there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Numbers is the living, breathing, walking, talking, poster child that proves
that that song is true, because it shows you what happens every time Israel
fails to trust and obey. And that’s what the Apostle Paul is saying in verses 9
and 10 of I Corinthians’ 10.

4. Fourthly, the Apostle Paul tells you that this book
is about Jesus.
He mentioned that at the very beginning of the chapter,
didn’t he, when he spoke about them “…drinking from the spiritual rock which
followed them, and that rock was Christ.” In other words, he’s telling you that
there are evidences of Christ in this story. We will see that those things are
not peripheral to this book, but in fact central to understanding this book.

For all those reasons, the Apostle Paul is
commending to you the story of Numbers. Now, if that’s not enough for you, let
me pile on two more reasons why this book ought to be of great, great
interest to you.

First of all, this book is summarized in one of
your favorite hymns.
Anybody here tonight know a famous Welsh hymn that
tells the story of the Book of Numbers? And Derek can’t answer! Anybody want to
guess? Anybody want to guess? Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah. It’s the
story of Numbers. We’ll sing that hymn some during the course of our study
through this book. William Williams was called ‘the Isaac Watts of Wales’, who
wrote that hymn, and you’ll see how beautifully he captures the story of Numbers
in that hymn and applies it for you as a believer. I hope we’ll take that in, in
the course of our study of this book. So there’s another good reason to love the
study of this book.

But yet one more reason is simply this: the
stories in this book are great!
Even if you don’t like history, the stories
in this book are great, and they’re not the stories that you’ve heard over and
over and over again in your Bible classes and Sunday School classes, because,
sadly, we neglect so many of the stories of the Book of Numbers. But you’ll
recall hearing these stories if you grew up under the teaching of God’s word,
and you’ll delight in remembering things that you thought you never learned in
the first place, and in being introduced to things that you’d missed the first
time through, and being reintroduced to stories that you’d completely forgotten.
Oh, it’s a book of great stories, and even the laws–I promise you!–will make
sense, once you understand the stories, because the laws in the book are
connected to the stories in the book.

You know, one thing you learn about Moses in the
Book of Numbers is that he could flat tell a story! And he knew what he was
doing. Yes, he was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but he had a plan
when he was laying out this book. This is a great book, a practical book, a
helpful book for you and me to study over the months to come.

5. Now let me say a few things about what unifies this
Book of Numbers. The first thing that unifies the Book of Numbers is God.
God–who He is; what He is like–is one of the four or five major themes of the
Book of Numbers.

You know, not too long ago I read a
relatively modern theologian who said: “You can either believe that God is
strictly just or that He’s mercifully forgiving. I choose to believe that He is
mercifully forgiving.” Well, my friends, he’s just made a choice that the Bible
just won’t let you make, because the Bible says that God is strictly just and
He is mercifully forgiving. And if you ever wanted a book that demonstrated that
truth, it is the Book of Numbers, because we will behold in the Book of Numbers
both the kindness and the severity of God.

J. Sidlow Baxter, the great preacher, in fact said
that was the great theme. He took those words out of the Book of Romans and he
said that’s the theme of the Book of Numbers, it’s both the kindness and the
severity of God; God’s strict judgment and justice against sin, and God’s lavish
mercy and grace to undeserving sinners. You see it in spades in the Book of
Numbers. Does that message ever get old? Don’t we need to hear it again and
again? Well, this book if about God.

6. This book is also about Moses. You know, we know
the stories well of Moses’ own struggles with obedience and unbelief in the
course of his life. We know how reluctant he was to go down into Egypt at first,
and how God had to cajole him into his calling. But we probably forget the
personal family pain that Moses experienced during the course of his leadership
of Israel in the wilderness. Do we remember that Moses’ own brother and sister
attempted to undermine his leadership of Israel when they said, “Is Moses the
only one here who gets prophecy?” Can you imagine that? All that you’ve gone
through, and your own brother, your own sister turn against you. And then you
find out in part it’s because they didn’t like Moses’ wife. (Now, Moses didn’t
know family problems like we have family problems, did he? No, we have family
problems that the people of the Bible just didn’t understand.) Can you imagine
the heartache? Here’s Moses, the God-chosen leader of Israel, whose brother and
sister turn against him in part because they don’t like his wife. Can you
imagine that family heartache underneath all the other heartache that that man
had to bear?

We learn a lot about Moses in this book. In one
chapter we’re told that he’s the humblest man on the face of the earth. This is
a book that tells us a lot about the character of Moses.

7. This is a book that tells us so much about the
journey that Israel is on.
The very journey that Israel is taking through
the wilderness, according to the Apostle Paul, is designed to tell us something
about the journey we take through this life as Christians in the course of our
sanctification. The Book of Hebrews makes this clear. The journey and the
wilderness reappear in the Book of Hebrews. Yes, the Book of Hebrews is in some
ways the New Testament version of the Book of Leviticus, but you know, there are
other ways in which Hebrews is the New Testament version of the Book of Numbers.
And so that theme of the journey in the wilderness is a great theme in the book.

8. But finally, the theme of the bad behavior of the
Israelites is so apparent in the book.
And you know, my guess is by the time
we finish reading and studying through this whole book, we’ll be tired of their
bad behavior! And when we get tired of reading about their bad behavior, let me
just remind you of two things. Just think how tired God was of their bad
behavior. And then think about how patient and gracious He was. Yes, He shows
His justice; but you can’t read the book without seeing the patience, the
forbearance, the putting up with this stuff, of God.

9. And then secondly, and maybe even more importantly,
before we get too impatient with their disobedience, let’s think about our
disobedience and how tired it must make God.

I was talking this afternoon with some Christian
leaders, and one of them was Jerry Bridges, who’s going to be preaching for us
in March. Dear, dear man. And he said, “Oh, I’m shaking at my boots at the
thought of preaching at First Presbyterian Church!” I had to laugh! I said,
“Brother! You have to shake in your boots? What about me?!” But he was
telling me he has just written a new book, and it’s called The Acceptable
Sins of the Saints
…the acceptable sins of the saints. Has that title got
your attention? And the subtitle is The Sins That We Have Come to Tolerate in
the Christian Life
. And while we’re pointing our finger at the culture and
all the bad things the culture is doing, the things that we ourselves have come
to tolerate…that’s the theme of the book. He said when he started the project
he was really excited. He said, “By the time I finished that book, I felt like I
was shoveling… [and you can just figure out the rest, OK?]” But how
appropriate. And doesn’t the Book of Numbers…won’t it remind us of that? We’re
quick to point our finger at the Israelites, but this book has something to say
to us.

This is a great book, and it’s a book that we need
for today.

On the front of the sheet that we’re handing out
there is the title of our series, which is going to be With God in The
Wilderness
. And you’ll see something of what we’re going to try and do
during the course of our study. During the course of our study, I hope to
frequently have for you maps, so you can get a feel for where Israel is going
and where Israel has been. And then on the other side of the sheet, you will see
an outline of the Book of Numbers, and if you’ll look real quickly at that
four-part outline, you’ll notice something really interesting: the first section
of the Book of Numbers, the first ten chapters, basically–covers a period of 19
days. The second section of Numbers, from 10-14, covers a period of ten days;
the third section of Numbers, from chapter 15-19, covers 37 years; and then, the
final section from 20-36 covers a period of ten months.

Now, do you notice the utter asymmetry of the
chronological sequence that’s being covered there? If we were writing it, you
know, we’d break it down into ‘ten years, ten years, ten years, ten years.’ I
suspect that the very dissimilarity of the lengths of time represented in each
section point to the fact that there are specific lessons that Moses wants us to
learn. He’s not just doing the job of an historian; he’s doing the job of a
pastor, and he’s wanting to bring things to your attention…not so that you’re
smarter about the history of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness…although I
hope you’ll be smarter about the history of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness
before it’s all done…but not just so that you’ll know more stuff about
Israel’s history in the wilderness, but so that you’ll love God more, and know
God more, and would walk with Him more closely. No, Moses is writing this book
as a pastor, not a historian; and you can see it even in the way he breaks the
material down.

Well, join me on this adventure together with God in
the wilderness.

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank You for this great book and for this
opportunity to study it together. Give us a fire in our bones to know You
through the story of Your dealings with Your people, and we’ll give You the
praise and the glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s stand and sing The Doxology.

[Congregation sings.]

Grace and peace to you in this new year, from God
the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

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