As we come to the end of these studies in the
book of Numbers, the following are some of the things we may wish to
consider further:
1.
The Holiness of God
Under-girding all that we have read is this
truth: that Israel were a people who had been called into being by God
who is described as holy. If we remember back to Exodus 19, we remember
that the Lord creates fear in the presence of the people by His might
and power and ‘differentness'. Moses has learnt something about this
along the way and therefore he feels how terrible it is whenever the
people grumble and complain and rebel. This God is utterly perfect and
therefore sin is like graffiti on a masterpiece painted by one of the
world's best painters – it is terrible! God is love and therefore all
of His plans and purposes for His people are good. When one or more
of the people break into these plans with their rebellion, they must
be dealt with so that they will not infect and harm the rest of the
people.
God's objective is to get a holy people
into this Land of plenty so that they can be a light to the rest of
the world, showing them God's love and goodness. That is why these chapters
are so crucial, because they show us the Lord dealing with a people
who keep on going astray, and yet He perseveres with His Plans. He has
got to get a holy people who are in relationship with Him into the Land.
It's part of the plan to let the world see Him. Part of this holiness,
this ‘differentness', is God's grace, His goodness which continually
restrains Him. Again and again, the people defy God and really deserve
to be wiped out – but they're not! Yes, individuals are removed, and
an entire generation is removed, but it is done in such a way that the
next generation are given the chance of going in still.
Do you see that ‘holiness' is much
bigger than the concept of moral perfection – it is perfection in every
way possible, so that God's dealings with His people are the very best
that can be in the light of the circumstances. You may find this difficult
to believe, but if you really have a teachable heart, can we challenge
you to go back and skim read the historical narrative parts of this
book again, with this in mind, and ask the Lord to show you the reality
of this – what it really means to say God is holy, utterly perfect,
utterly good in all His dealings with His people..
2.
The Sinfulness of Mankind.
If you have read many of these sets of studies you will
know that so often these two headings come out in the conclusion. The
reason for this is very simple: the holiness of God and the sinfulness
of mankind are the two interacting forces that make up the Bible. From
the outset of our studies in Numbers, we saw the Lord providing supernatural
guidance in the form of a cloud and a pillar of fire that went ahead
of the people. We have seen the Lord provide food and drink for them
in the two weeks it took to reach Kadesh. He provided them with excellent
leadership and gave them all the guidance they needed. Indeed some of
this was pretty scary!
So how was it then, that we kept finding ourselves
reading about grumblings, complaining and rebellion? How could the people
be so stupid in the face of the awesome presence of this miracle-providing
God? The answer has to be Sin. This self-centred, godless tendency that
seems to rise up in every person, that the Bible calls Sin, that is
the answer. What makes the whole thing even more incredible, is that
when you look coldly and dispassionately at the goings on of Israel
, if the power had been in our hands, we'd have probably wiped them
all out very early on and gone and looked for another nation to work
with! Yet God doesn't! Why not? Well certainly for the reason we gave
in the first paragraph, that He still wanted a people who would be a
light to the rest of the world, but perhaps also because He wants us
to see and to understand something of the reality of Sin.
In a day when sin is dismissed as a figment
of the Bible's imagination, these accounts scream back, “Who are you
kidding! Look at this! Think about this! Realise it is something inherent
in the human race that utterly condemns us!” When you really see this,
you'll understand a bit more why the Son of God had to come and give
His life for us, and worship him. May it be so!