THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So the book of Numbers chapter 2, we'll read the whole chapter together. of Israel shall camp each by his own standard with the banner of their father's house.

They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. Those to camp on the east side towards the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companions, the chief of the people of Judah being Nashon, the son of Amminadab. His company is listed being 74,600. Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, the chief of the people of Issachar being Nathanael, and the son of Zoar. His company as listed being 54,400.

Then the tribe of Zebulun, the chief of the people of Zebulun, being Eliab, the son of Helan, his company as listed being 57,400. All those listed of the camp of Judah by their companies were 186,400. They shall send out first on the march. On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their companies, the chief of the people of Reuben being Eliezer, the son of Chidu. His company as listed being 46,500.

And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, the chief of the people of Simeon being Shelumel, the son of Zerushaddai. His company as listed being 59,300. Then the tribe of Gad, the chief of the people of Gad, being Elisaph, the son of Reuel, his company, as listed, being 45,650. All those listed of the camp of Reuben by their companies were 151,450. They shall set out second."

Then a tent of meaning shall be set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps. As they camp, so shall they set out, each in position, standard by standard. On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by the company, or by their companies, the chief of the people of Ephraim being Elishamah, the son of Ammihud. His company, as listed, being 40,500. And next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the chief of the people of Manasseh being Gamliel, the son of Pehazu.

His company as listed being 32,200. Then a tribe of Benjamin, the chief of the people of Benjamin, being Abedan, the son of Gidioni, his company as listed being 35,400. All those listed of the company of Ephraim by their companies were 108,100. They shall set out third on the march. On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan, by their companies.

The chief of the people of Dan being Ehiza, the son of Amishadai. His company, as listed, being 62,700. And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, the chief of the people of Asher, being Pagiel, the son of Okron. His company as listed being 41,500. Then the tribe of Naphtali, the chief of the people of Naphtali being Ahira, the son of Enan.

His company as listed being 53,400. All those listed of the camp of Dan were 157,600. They shall set out last, standard by standard. These are the people of Israel as listed by their father's houses. all those listed in the camps by their companies was 603,550.

But the Levites were not listed among the people of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses. Thus did the people of Israel, according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, And so they set out each one in his clan according to his father's house. Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. So, brothers and sisters, we're in chapter two of this book, the fourth book of the Bible, the book of Numbers.

We commenced chapter one last week. Now we know the context. The context is the people of Israel have now been rescued from the land of Egypt, from being under the slavery, under the evil Pharaoh, by God, through miraculous means, through his strong arm. And now they're in the Sinai wilderness before the Lord. And they're being prepared.

They're being prepared now to take possession of the land that God had prepared or had promised to Abraham. The land he promised to Isaac and the land he promised to Jacob. But brother, we know that that land is inhabited and the inhabitants of that land that they're going to get the land of Canaan. Well, those people are not going to hand it over to the Israelites on a platter. They're going to have to fight for that land.

The Israelites will be God's army. And as an army that will go into the land in a conquest, in a fight, with a war-like battle to conquer the land. And the land is occupied, we know, by quite wicked people who God's judgment will befall through people in this conquest. So what we see in the passages or the chapters that we have before us is very much war language. Chapter 1 was no different.

If you remember last week when we went through chapter 1, we saw that the emphasis was God giving command to Moses to number the fighting men. Those men over the age of 20 were able to pick up arms and go battle on behalf of Israel, but the Levites weren't included. The Levites had another task. God had ordained the tribe of Levi to take or to tend the needs of the tabernacle. Now we know that there's a little over 600,000.

We saw that last week and we saw it this week. A bit over 600,000 are fighting men over the age of 20. We have to remember something. That sounds like a big number and it is. But these men aren't soldiers.

They were slaves. Yes, their backs were strong and their hands were calloused, but they were passive in Egypt. They never fought anyone before. They don't know how to yield a sword. They don't know how to engage in battle, in a fight.

They don't know any of these things. And if they're going to conquer the inhabitants of the people of Canaan, a people who are battle-ready, a people with organized armies and who are prepared and willing and capable to protect their own, they're a formidable enemy. We'll go on to see this in the next few months. Israel will have to learn a big lesson, and it's a lesson in trust. They're going to have to trust Yahweh.

They're going to have to place their eyes upon Him and Him alone. And they're going to have to embrace Him for who He is. Because on their own, they can't accomplish anything. And that trust, beloved, will be well placed. Because God has never let them down.

We've seen this. We've worked our way through Genesis, all the way through now the fourth book. of the Bible. And we've seen time and time again the strong arm of the Lord being with his people. He exampled so beautifully when he rescued them from the clutches of the evil Pharaoh in Egypt.

That was a demonstration of God's power. That's the God that they will have to learn to explicitly and fully and completely trust in. Yes, the Canaanites will be a formidable, powerful enemy, but Yahweh is powerful, and He's more powerful yet. Israel must come to remember this. Their focus must not be on themselves or their own ability.

Because, beloved, we know that they don't have the intelligence at this point, or the power, or the strength, or the know-how, or the skill, or the ability, you name it, to engage in war against formidable enemies and win. Not yet. but they'll be reminded over and over again that they are God's people. Yahweh is their God. And therefore, if He is their God, and He says, go, I will be with you, then they have nothing to fear, beloved, and everything to gain.

That's the lesson they need to learn. That's the lesson. Look, if they look to themselves, then yes, their knees will tremble. But if they look to God, they can take courage, because God is mightier than any of their foes. Their hearts ought to be reminded once again of what God has done for them.

Their hearts ought to be once again ignited to God, to love Him, predisposed to give Him their affection, their efforts, their love, their worship. All that. God ought to be the center and the focus of their very being because of what He has already proven to be for them. He ought to be the focal point in all of their lives. Everything.

He ought to be the center of their lives. And that's spelt out for us, I believe, here in chapter 2. It's spelt out for us in the way that the tribes were instructed and how they were instructed to be camped in the wilderness. No matter how long that wilderness is going to be, I mean, if the people were obedient and they took courage in the Lord, it would have been a few months. But instead, we know the journey was about 40 years in total.

Irrespective, this is how they were going to be camped. Now, we read through the passage fairly quickly, so I'll give you a quick rundown. Twelve tribes will be camped in sets of three. Now, Joseph, the tribe of Joseph, is split in two. We know that Ephraim and Manasseh, his two sons, and we'll get to the tribe of Levi in a few moments.

The Lord begins with the East. That's pretty important. The three tribes to the east, he says, will be Judah, Issachar, and Zebun. That's where they will be in the east. The three tribes to the south is Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.

Then we have three tribes to the west, Ephraim, Manasseh. They're the sons of Joseph and Benjamin. And then the three tribes to the north, which are listed for us, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. And in verse 17, before you, we're told about the tribe of Levi, which will be set before the tribes, but that will be closer to the tabernacle. The tribes will be a little bit scattered on the outside, but the Levites will be closer to the tabernacle in the middle.

The Levites will surround the tabernacle, and then you have the 12 tribes on the outside. Now, why are they set up this way? Put your eyes down now to verse 2. Let's look at part B, the second part of verse 2, where it reads, if you have your ESVs, they shall, that is the people of Israel, they shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. Where are their eyes?

Their eyes are to be looking to Yahweh. The camp, beloved, is where these people do life. This is where they live. This is where they eat. This is where they drink.

This is where fathers discipline their children. This is where people engage in conversation and visit one another. This is where they do life. And in all of life, we're told that no matter what camp you're part of, you're facing the tabernacle, the manifest presence of God. You're facing God.

In other words, in everything you do, be reminded of who you are. Be reminded of who he is. You're God's people and He is God and He dwells among you in all of your life. God is to be the focal point. Yahweh is to be the focal point for these people.

Everything they do should be saturated with worship towards God. Everything. God is in your midst. That's no small deal. The creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who is all-knowing, the one who has no beginning, who has no end.

He has covenanted with his people and he said, I will be your God and you will be my people. You need to feel the weight of that. And beloved, if these people felt the weight of that, then there would be nothing in their heart but worship. Not a day would pass by without their eyes being fixed upon this tabernacle. After all, they're all facing it.

Yahweh is in our midst. We are, we are his people. And beloved, we know this is the greatest privilege on the planet. There is no other nation, no other nation that could look to the left and the right, that could look all over the globe. There was no other nation for which Yahweh said, I'm gonna covenant with you.

And I'm gonna be personally known by you. That is an incredible, incredible privilege. So God should be at the forefront of their minds. He should be the focus of their hearts, of their eyes, of their activities. Their whole being ought to be centred upon God.

They are to look to Him for their lives, for their provision, in worship, For their health, for their peace, for their well-being, for their rest, for every part of life. They're looking to Yahweh. Their eyes are looking to Yahweh. And this is what God is doing. He's getting their eyes and their gaze fixed upon Him.

And He's teaching His people a lesson. That He is to be front and center. And the people need to know this. And by the experience they've had already, the salvation that they've already experienced from the hands of Pharaoh, and being slaves and in bondage of that land for over 400 years, and being supernaturally rescued from there, then beloved, people like that should have no excuse other than to look to God. And we can look back and point the finger all we want, but beloved, we know, even today, If we're saved by the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, we have no excuse than to place our trust in him, but we know also how far we fail in that area, so we have no right to point the finger.

If God is with them, and he's abundantly sufficient for all their needs, he's proven it, we've read the rest of the book and he continues to prove it, then the question is why would they have their gaze upon anyone else? And so Yahweh says, you will be encamped around me and you will look to me because I am all you need. And when they're on the move, because that's what the passage tells us as well, that the people of Israel will also be on the move. And when they're on the move, their eyes are also to be on Yahweh. Now, if you look down at verse 17, the tribe of Levi, is mentioned there as well.

We're told that when they're on the move that they're the ones who would be moving with the Israelites, but they'll be in the middle there between Ephraim and Reuben. But there's something interesting. There's something interesting here. Because in fact, in verse 2 in the original, it connotes not only the tribe The tribes were facing the tabernacle. This is the 12 tribes still we're thinking about.

Not so much Levi right now, but the 12 tribes. They were facing the tabernacle. In some of your Bibles you might actually have the word distance away. Because the word connotes both, and the translators have used one or the other, but really it does connote both. Now not only are they facing Yahweh, but they are a distance away as well.

That is most likely because it is a demonstration that Yahweh, that God is infinitely holy, infinitely holy. But at the same time, he has made a way to dwell among his people. And the question is, how will he dwell among his people? And then you have who is in between the tabernacle and the people. We're told that in verse 17.

It is the tribe of Levi. They're the stand-in-betweens. They're the mediators. And this is reflected even more so in the next chapter, we're told, as well, in chapter 3. The tribes looking towards the tabernacle would first look through and their eyes would pierce through the Levites.

It didn't matter whether they're on the east or the south or the west or the north because the Levites were actually by clan divided in the east and the south and the east and the north. So it didn't matter what tribe you're part of, when you look to the tabernacle, your eyes need to cross over the very place that the Levites were dwelling. Because this is a demonstration. that to look at the Levites, you're looking at really a clear picture of the grace of God. That although Yahweh is infinitely holy and people, corrupt people, have no right in and of themselves to fellowship with Him, for Him to be in their midst, By His grace, He has made a way.

He has made a way to bless His people. He has made a way to be approached by His people. He's made a way to dwell among His people. And He's done that through a mediator. And since Judah is the one who's listed first, and we're told in the passage that it's Judah who sets out first, as well, amongst all the tribes, he's the one who sets out first.

So Judah becomes preeminent, or the preeminent tribe, in our text. In fact, of three tribes that are together, Judah is named over the three. We find that in the others as well. And so when you're looking from the east, and that's where Judah is on the east, when they're looking over the Levites to look at or to gaze upon the tabernacle or the manifest presence of God, what do they see? We're told in chapter 3, we don't read it this evening, but we're told in chapter 3 that they would gaze upon not only Moses, who is the mediator, but also Aaron and his sons.

So in other words, it's the priests that would be in view if you're in a tribe of Judah. But I said earlier, no matter what tribe you're from, to look to the tabernacle, you need to first gaze through the dwelling place of the Levites. And that's very much the mediatory role of the Levite priest is very much depicted in the sacrificial system. We went through the book of Leviticus and that was all brought to light. for us.

And this is even more so here, not more so, sorry, but again, it's added to here that God is demonstrating to his people, not only am I going to be the focal point of your lives and your efforts, your life and all your activities, but you approach me through a mediator. This is a lesson. It's a picture that is being taught. And beloved, we know this is an allusion to Jesus Christ, do we not? God is in the midst of his people and unworthy people only through mediator.

And the only true mediator we know between God and man is Jesus Christ. These people didn't know that. These people trusted the Lord and they apprehended him for his word. They trusted in what or meant to trust in what he said and to do the things he said because they loved him and they trusted him. And he's proven to be faithful every step of the way.

But isn't it glorious to be able to read the Old Testament with New Testament eyes? What a glory. And we're meant to do that. We're meant to do that. Because Jesus, in Luke 24, speaking to the two disciples, he said, all the scripture speaks to me, he said.

That's the hermeneutic principle, the principle of interpretation that our Lord Jesus Christ gave us was that you'll find me in the Old Testament. Don't try to press me in there. You don't need to do that. I'm there. I'm already there.

I'm there. The whole message of redemption in the Old Testament is pointing towards the Redeemer, the once and for all Savior, Jesus Christ. And I think, I believe he's seen here as the great high priest, not just the Levites, but the great high priest, the one, the mediator who went into the very throne room of grace in heaven and mediates for his people with his own blood. But as I said, this text is very much a military text. It has military language all over it.

In fact, the original term translated in our Bibles that we have several times listed for us as company, you see that in the Bibles. You have company or companies like in verse 2 and verse 4 and verse 8 and so on is actually the word that's also translated army. For example, in verse 4, Nashon, the chief of the people of Judah, has a company of 74,600. Actually, the text signifies him as being a chief. That's what he says.

He's the chief of his people. But if the company is referring to an army, which that's what it means, and these people are being prepared for battle. In fact, when they leave from one place to the other, if the text doesn't tell us in verses 9 and 24, they simply just depart. It says they march on from there. Who marches?

Soldiers march. They march to go into battle. And so this chief of his people, if his company is the army, then he can be seen as a commander or a captain of the army. And he says there's 74,600 strong. And when they're on the move, in the order that they were given, the Levites carrying all the contents of the tabernacle, were to march in the very midst of the people, right between, as I said earlier, Reuben and Ephraim.

Now, the glory of God in the glory cloud, in the day, in the pillar, at night was with them also. But additionally to that, the picture that we see here with the Levites carrying the ark and the furniture and all the parts of the tabernacle that will be erected from one place to another. Remember, the tabernacle is a moving tent. It gets disassembled and reassembled. But the Levites will take it down and they would walk in the midst of the tribes.

Two tribes in the front, two in the back, and they would be in the midst with the tabernacle in their hands. And beloved, that is a reminder that God is with his people no matter where they go. Whether they're stationary, whether they're doing life in a stationary place, or whether they're picking up and marching on into battle, then God is with them, no matter where they are. God is with his people. They're not alone.

He says, I will not leave you to fend for yourselves. He's going to send them into battle. That's why the men were counted. He's going to. This is what God is going to do.

He's going to send them into fierce battle. But he's not going to send them alone. He's going to be with them. And he's telling his people, take heart. I am with you.

Look. Look at the Levites. Look at the tabernacle. It's coming with you. When you stop, you're looking at it.

I'm there. You see the glory cloud in the day and you see the pillar of fire at night. I am with you wherever you go. Take heart, my people. Take heart.

I am with you. I love the words of Deuteronomy 31 verse 6. And this is on the eve of the conquest, not this generation. This generation did not take heart. They didn't trust in the Lord.

They weren't bold into trusting the Lord Yahweh. And they were fearful and they shrunk back from going into the land. But the next generation does go into the land led by Joshua. And this is the words the Lord speaks to them. I love these words.

He says, be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dread of them. The them is the enemy in the land of Canaan, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. I love that. When he says be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dread of them.

You stand back and say, how? We're not battle trained. We don't know how to yield the sword. We're actually we're not fit to fight. We're not soldiers.

We're slaves. But then you get these remarkable words, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. And here it is, this is just dripping with grace. He will not leave you or forsake you. I love that.

I love that. And beloved, why would their knees tremble when the almighty God of the universe is with them? The war won't be easy, but God is with them. that they had to take peace and comfort in Him. They did not take peace and comfort in the size of their army or in the strength of their fighting men.

No, they're not to take peace in that at all, but in God Himself, because God is with them. And if they're going to win the battle, it's going to be through the strong arm of the Lord. And so they will march and march. And they're led by who? We're told they're led by the tribe of Judah.

That's the first tribe that will march before them. And as I said earlier, the head of every tribe is like a captain, and the one that goes ahead would be someone somewhat likened to a general. Beloved, as I said, we have to read this with New Testament eyes, because this is clearly pointing to Jesus Christ. Who is the Lion of Judah? It is the Lion of Judah who goes before them, before God's people.

He is true Israel. And he is the one who wages before, and he is the one who conquers the enemy. He crushes the head of the serpent, of the enemy. And he earned, through his work, he earns the inheritance that's been promised to God's people. And he brings to fruition the full and final rest that his people so desperately, so desperately desire.

And beloved, when our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lion of Judah, our Redeemer, when he hung on that cross and he cried out, it is finished, he conquered the enemy. There is no one else, there's no other enemy yet to be conquered. It is done. It is finished on the cross. It is accomplished on the cross.

He said it with his own words. It means everything that needs to be done has been done. Genesis 3.15, the seed of the serpent will crush the head of the serpent and on that cross he says, I've done it. You and I are waiting in time and space to enjoy the fullness of that.

But beloved, it's done. It's a done deal. So if you're in Christ, then even now rejoice in that truth, beloved, because it's glorious. Our Lord said it won't be easy. It won't be easy.

We live in a world where we still experience the enemy. We do, don't we? We know that Satan is our enemy. We know our flesh that lives within us is always battling against our spirit. And we know the system of the world is against the people of God and against our Savior.

There is still a formidable enemy, but he who is with us is greater than he who is in the world. And take heart at the words of our Lord Jesus Christ when he said, in this world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have what? overcome the world. Or better yet, that word in the original also means, and it's translated to, it is conquered.

I have conquered the world. Who's our conqueror? It's Jesus Christ. He is already conquered. He is the Messianic King.

Our great general has gone out before us, conquered the enemy. And he says, I've done it. Believe upon me and enjoy the inheritance that I have earned for you. Let's pray.