THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. I'm going to invite you, beloved of Christ, brothers, sisters and friends to please open up your Bibles to the Book of Numbers. We're going to continue with our corporate reading of the scripture as we always do.

Numbers chapter 32. We're going to be reading this chapter together as is our custom here, as we've been doing it for almost three years. Chapter 32. We're going to read this time and then by God's grace. And by faith, we expect in the spirit of Christ that we will be able not only to understand the words that we're going to read, but that the Lord might guide us as we speak and as we receive this word.

And then our brother is going to bring the sermon to us from the Gospel of John. So, brothers and sisters, beloved of Christ, brothers, sisters, friends, whoever is online, let's read together Numbers chapter 32. Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock, and they saw that the land of Jazar and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. So the people of Geth and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, Ataroth, Dibon, Jezer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elialeh, Sebon, Nebo and beyond, the land that the Lord has struck down before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock. And they said, If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession.

Do not take us across the Jordan. But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land of the Lord has given to them? Your fathers did this when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the valley of Skol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them.

And the Lord's anger was kindled on that day. And he swore, saying, Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt from 20 years old and upward shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the Kinasite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord. And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. And behold, you have risen in your father's place, a brute of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel. For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.

And they came near to him and said, We will build sheepfolds here for livestock and cities and for little ones. But we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.

So Moses said to them, If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven out his enemies from before him, and the land is subdued before the Lord, then after that you shall return and be free from obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and his land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. Build cities for your little ones and foals for your sheep, and do what you have promised. And the people of God and the people of Reuben said to Moses, Your servants will do as my Lord commands. Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, but your servants will pass over.

Every man who is armed for war before the Lord to battle as my Lord orders.' So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. And Moses said to them, If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben Every man who is armed to battle before the Lord will pass with you over the Jordan, and the land shall be subdued before you. Then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.

And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, what the Lord has said to your servants, we will do. We will pass over, armed before the Lord, into the land of Canaan. and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan. And Moses gave to them, to the people of Gad, and to the people of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, king of Bashan, the land of its cities, with their territories, the cities of the land throughout the country. And the people of God built Dibon, Atarot, Aroer, Atorah, Chopan, Jezer, Gog, Geba, Beth, Nimrah, and Beth-Aran, fortified cities, and foals for sheep.

And the people of Reuben built Heshbon, Elialeh, Kiriath Haim, Nebo, and Balmean. Their names were changed, and Zipmah, and they gave orders to the cities that they built. And the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, went to Gilead and captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. And Moses gave Gilead to Machir, the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. And Jair, the son of Manasseh, went and captured their villages and called them Havod and Jair.

And Nobba went and captured Kinat and its villages and called it Nobba after his own name. This is the reading of God's word. May the Lord bless us as we meditate together. Lord Jesus, help us. brothers and sisters, we continue with our or through our journey in the Book of Numbers, approaching now to the Book of Deuteronomy.

And as I said last week, the few times in the last month or six weeks, perhaps that I have had the opportunity to address you from this pulpit on this topic of the Book of Numbers of the people of Israel through the Book of Numbers. My intention has been to present to you different elements of the promise of God given to the people of Israel. Because when we understand that promise of God given to the people of Israel, we can understand better and in the context of the new covenant, the promise of God given to the church. So in that intention from our heart to meditate together in these characteristics of the promise of God, we have said that intention, the heart of God in giving this promise to the people of Israel was to do it in a way of an inheritance. That is the first thing that we have said.

God is going to give this promised land and that promised land is going to be an inheritance given to the people. That inheritance is going to be given to the people of Israel through a mediator. That mediator was Moses. He's going to die very soon after this, and then there is going to be passing to Joshua, who is the one that is going to take them into the promised land. We said that it's not only an inheritance given through a mediator, but it's also the requirement of obedience.

The people of Israel were given this promise from God of this promised land as long as they obey. Obedience is more clearly manifested in the sacrificial system as they continually relate with this God who is their Savior, their Father and their God. This is obedience that was necessary through the wilderness. And as they make it into the promised land, an inheritance that is given through a mediator and the necessity of this obedience that, of course, under the old covenant was partial obedience. And then by God's grace last week, I also mentioned that this promise of God, which is an inheritance given through a mediator through with the necessity of obedience, also had in it the requirement of the divine necessity of the destruction of God's enemies.

God decided in his wisdom that the way that he was going to give the promised land to the people of Israel was not only as an inheritance given through a mediator and the requirement of obedience, but also through the destruction of God's enemies, which are the enemies of the people of Israel, this promised land that was on the other side of the Jordan, and a glorious inheritance promised by the Lord to be given through, in this case, Joshua, the mediator, in the requirement of obedience and through the destruction of the enemies as they approach towards the land and as they conquer once they are in that land. Now here in chapter 32, beloved of Christ, we have a complication for this promise. We have a complication because they have not even made it into that promised land, into that inheritance. They have not even crossed into it. They are very soon, they are very like, they are there, they are going to do it very soon, cross the river and receive the inheritance.

But before they cross the river, the Jordan River, even as we sang, before they cross the river, they face this complication. And the complication that we have in Chapter 32 is that 2.5 tribes out of the 12 tribes of the people of Israel, the Reubenites, the Gadites and half tribe of Manasseh are now coming to Moses and to Eliezer and to the leaders of the people of Israel to say, Look, this land that is just here in front of us is so good. We have so much cattle, so many animals and so many things. And this land that is just here before we get into the inheritance is the perfect land for our needs.

We have 2.5 tribes out of the 12 coming to request Moses before they receive the inheritance, before they make it through the river, before they receive the fulfillment of the promise of God, before we have 2.5 tribes. requesting to receive possession that is not only asked and required before they enter into the promised land, but it is clearly outside of the land of the Canaanites. We have a complication.

And Moses knew that. That's why he responds with anger, right? He's upset. He even compares that intention of the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribal Manasseh with what happened in Kadesh Barnea and in the great rebellion that cost the first generation. We have a controversy and we have a complication.

However, after Moses and these people from these tribes, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the tribe of Manasseh, after they speak, then Moses says, Are you going to discourage your brothers from Israel? We have conquered all of this land all together, and now we're going to go into the promised land, and you want to remain here and let us alone conquer the other land and distribute it ourselves? If you want to come, if you want to inherit this land, you're to come with us across the river and fight with us so that we all together will fight and distribute the land, and then you can return. And that is exactly what happens. This is exactly what is going to happen.

The people from the Reubenites and the Gadites, they are going to have these desires, and they have tribal manaset. They're going to have this desire of settle themselves before they get into the promised land on the other side of the Jordan, and they will send the men of war. with their brethren, the Israelites, across the Jordan River, with Joshua, and with the priestly system, and with the priesthood, to conquer the promised land. And all of that is going to take place in the Book of Joshua as we are going to see it, and also in the Book of Deuteronomy. But now, how are we going to understand that?

I don't know if you see the complication of this. Because we have a seeming separation of the people of Israel before the promise is fulfilled. Not only a physical separation, but also the promise seems to be not completely given to the whole people of Israel. And if we have said that this promise given to the people of Israel about this promised land that they have not received is a shadow of the promise of God given to the people of God, namely the church and their new covenant. How are we going to understand that?

How are we going to understand that 2.5, whatever percentage, almost 20% of the people of God are going to receive a portion that is outside the promised land and that is given before the fulfillment of the promise as they cross the Jordan River. How are we going to understand that? How are we gonna pass it into the New Testament? Are we just simply going to say that these tribes represent the Gentiles who are outside the promised land and that these are just united later on?

Or are we going to say something like these represent those who opened their eyes to see the temporal matters and they saw that the land was so good and their hearts were conquered and taken captive by the beauty of the land, which was not the land that the Lord promised, and they did not want to continue moving forward into the promised land? Of course, we are not going to say any of that, because even though it sounds like it makes sense in a particular way, every time that we interpret the Old Testament, and we are going to bring light of the Old Testament into the New Testament, we are to submit ourselves to what is written, and within the boundaries of the scripture, we are to understand the intention of God under the Old Covenant, two, four, or four, one, to the reality of the New Testament. Great danger there is in this type of allegories and great danger there is in men just simply taking stories of the Old Testament and jumping outside of the ramp of this of scripture just to apply allegorically things of the Old Testament into the New Testament. So how are we going to understand this whole thing? Because I don't know if I have been clear, even as we have just read Beloved of Christ.

But there is certain thing that it seems that we decide to answer. Why would I fraction of the people of God? receive a portion that is outside of the promised land, receive it before the fulfillment of the promise. And these seemingly be OK because Moses is the one that agree to give them that land. That's what we were just reading to the chapter.

So how are we going to understand this? It's actually very simple. We're just simply submit ourselves to what is written and we're going to understand that step by step. I want you to see these first of all. I want you to see that it is in the mind of the Rubenites and in the mind of the Gadites.

And then we know also in the mind of the half-tribe of Manasseh, this was not something crazy, that this was not something illegal, that this was not something out of their mind. For them, it made sense. If you go to chapter 32 in verse too, you can see that for them, they simply opened their eyes, they surveyed the land, and they saw that the land was really good for livestock, right? For animals and for cattle. And they had much of it.

They had lots of cattle. So they reasoned. Let's just take this land because we have lots of cattle and this is going to be sufficient for us. So it says in verse two. So the people of God and the people of Ruben, we also know later on in the chapter also have tribal men, I say so that the people of God and the people of Ruben came and said to Moses and to Eliezer, the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation.

Ataroth, Diban, Jaser, Nimra, Heshbon, Elialeh, Seban, Nebo, and beyond. The land that the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock. And they said, if we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for our possession. Do not take us across to Jordan. So he made sense in their minds that these were just a legit legitimate question or request.

Now, why would they have that in their mind? The answer is very simple. The answer is that it was actually the plan of God. that some of his people will receive a portion of land that was seemingly outside the promised land before they crossed the Jordan River. Again, it was not the intention of these 2.

5 tribes upon this moment that they just simply said, OK, let's just take this land, which is outside of the promised land, before we fulfill that. But rather, I'm just going to show you very soon that it was the intention and it was the plan of God to give these 2.5 tribes. Of course, they did not know. We did not know.

But it was the intention of God that there will be a land that was going to be taken in possession that was outside the promised land that was going to be allocated or given before they crossed the Jordan. And one can see it implicitly there in the question or in the requirement or in the request is the word better off these people, they say, inverse for the land that the lower is struck down before the congregation of Israel. They knew that this land that is just going to be summarized as the land of two kings, Og and Sihon, that this land was the land that had been struck down by the Lord. What do they mean by that? If you come back to Numbers chapter 20, I think it is, Numbers 21.

If you come back to Numbers chapter 21, beloved of Christ, Here in Numbers 21, we have the story of the wars in which God destroyed these enemies, in which these people are now opening their eyes and survey this land and seeing how fruitful and how good land it is for them. The conquering of this land started in chapter 21 of our book of Numbers. Now we could read the whole section there, but let me just simply just read from verse 31. I hope that that is the person that I wanted to point you to. Yes.

21, 31. It says that after after the the narrative of one of the worst that they conquered portion of the land that says that is relieved in the land of the Amorites and Moses sent to spy out Jayser and they captured these villages. And this possess the Amorites who were there. We're speaking about the land in which we are now in number 32. And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan and the king of Bashan came out against them.

He and all his people to battle at Idre. But the Lord said to Moses, Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand and all his people in his land. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, who is the other king. So exactly the same. Destroy the cities, destroy the people, and the land is given to them.

king of the Amorites who lived at Hezbollah. So they defeated him and his sons and all his people until they had no survivor left. And they possessed his land. So when the Lord destroyed through the Israelites, these two kings, the promise of the Lord was that they were not only going to destroy the people and destroy the cities, but that Israel was going to take possession of this land, which was outside or let's say beyond the Jordan or before the Jordan, whatever, outside of the promised land that they or the Lord had promised to the people of Israel. Why would they give them into possession for them to lose the land?

It does not make sense. The Lord had given them this land so that it will be possession of the people of Israel. So it makes sense that these 2.5 tribes now, when they see this land that they had heard from the mouth of Moses, that they had taken possession of. that they can request it, that they can request.

So now we understand that. But the reason here is why would the Lord allow that all of these things happen? Why would the Lord work in his council and in his perfection a way of giving the land to the people of Israel in which 2.5 tribes of the people of Israel will settle outside of the promised land and will receive a portion of an inheritance before the fulfillment of the promise. We have the answer in scripture.

So if you come with me to Deuteronomy chapter 3, In Deuteronomy chapter 3, we do not only have the confirmation that it was the will of the Lord that these 2.5 tribes will inherit before the fulfillment of the promise and outside, seemingly outside of the promised land, that it was the will of the Lord, but also we have the purpose of it. So let's perhaps just read a portion of it, and then I will point you to what I want you to say. So let's just go in chapter number three, and let me just highlight those verses that confirm that it was the will of the Lord that these 2.5 tribes will receive the land before the fulfillment of the promise, and a portion of the land that was seemingly outside of the promised land.

It says in chapter three, verse one, Here's the narrative, you know, like the first three chapters of your army will start just with the narrative of what had taken place. So then chapter three, it says, Then we turned and went up the way of Bashan and all the king of Bashan came out against us. He and all his people to battle at Idre. What do we have just read, right? This is verse two.

But the Lord said to me, Pay attention. Do not fear him, for I have given him all his people and his land into your hand. Confirmed. And you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites who lived at Hirshbon. So the Lord, our God, gave into our hand also the king of Basham and all his people, and we struck him down until he had no survivor left.

And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a city that we did not take from them. Sixty cities, the whole region of Argab, the kingdom of Gog in Basham. All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and barbs, besides very many unwalled villages. And we devoted them to destruction or consecrated them, as we did to Sihon, the king of Heshbon, devoting to destruction or consecrating every city, men, women, and children.

But all the livestock and all the spoils of the cities we took as our plunder, so we took the land at the time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan from the valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon. And he continues in a very similar narrative. I don't think that I have to prove anymore that it was the will of the Lord that this land will be given to these people. Now come with me to verse 12. It says when we took possession, are you there in verse 12?

When we took possession of this land at that time, possession taken, I gave to the Rubenites and the Gadites the territory beginning at Orer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon and half of the hill country of Gilead with its cities. And it will continue the narrative of the distribution of the land to the two point five tribes that requested in numbers 32. Now we go down to verse 18. Here we're going to have the divine testimony of what has taken place. Verse 18.

And I commanded you at that time, saying, Moses, this is Moses, the Lord your God has given you this land to possess. Utterly confirmed now, all your men of valor shall cross over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel, only your wives, your little ones and your livestock. I know that you have much livestock. So they were telling the truth, of course, shall remain in the cities that I have given you until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as to you. And they also occupy the land that the Lord your God gives them beyond the Jordan.

Then each of you may return to his possession, which I have given you." It comes, not only the confirmation, but it comes now the purpose of everything that has just taken place in verse 21. Now pay attention to this and have in your mind the definition of faith as is given to us in Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1. that faith is the substance, the assurance of things that we have not seen, right? Yet when the New Testament speaks of our faith and something that is assurance, a conviction of things that we have not seen, at the same time says that when we are in Christ, we love Him, yet we have not seen Him.

We believe in Him, yet we have not seen Him. All of this controversy of faith, of something that has taken place in the past for the believer and an assurance of something that yet has not taken place. Verse 21, it says, And I commanded Joshua at that time, Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. That is, the two kings that were defeated, whose land was taken in possession and has now been distributed to these 2.5 tribes.

Right, brethren? It says, And I commanded Joshua at that time, Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you, beloved of Christ. The glory of our faith.

The glory of our faith. That when the New Testament defines the faith of the people of God, even in the Old Testament or in the New Covenant, it calls us to have certainty and conviction and full assurance of things that have not taken place yet. Just as for Joshua and the people of Israel, the conquering of the promised land, crossing the river, was something that had not taken place yet. Yet the faith that we have from this glorious God of ours, established in the person of Jesus Christ, is not a faith that is meant to be established only in words that have no connection with actual manifestations of God's power. But the faith that we have about the things that are to come are established upon the glorious accomplishments of God that He has conducted, performed, and accomplished on behalf of His people.

So then when Joshua will see the taking over of the land of these two kings, and when Joshua will see how these two kings are not only defeated and the land taken, but how these 2.5 tribes are receiving the inheritance, The Lord through Moses is just as I have defeated these people. And just as I have given this inheritance to these two point five tribes in the same way, when you cross the river, you're going to conquer the kings of the land. And I'm going to destroy those kings because I am the one that is fighting for you. so that you are to go across the river and then you're to walk towards those enemies, the Canaanites, with full assurance that even though there's going to be mighty kings that are going to rise against you, then this Lord who has defeated these kings before the fulfillment of the promise is going to indeed do the same once you cross the Jordan River.

In the same way, beloved of Christ, our certainty of our entering into the promised land is not established only in words that are hanging from the earth, but the words of the promise of our inheritance into the promised land are established upon the accomplishments of God in the person of Jesus Christ. He has conquered and he has defeated already. And because this has been already accomplished, we can have absolute faith and hope and certainty that just as the Lord Jesus Christ conquered and was triumphant upon that cross, that the victory that the people of God will have as they enter into the promised land, the new heavens and the new earth is absolutely confirmed because it's not us, the one who fight, but it's God, the one that is fighting for us. So then God, in order to strengthen the faith of his people, has accomplished Mighty works, even before the fulfillment of the great promise, and even before they cross the Jordan River, just as we have received so many accomplishments of God before we cross the Jordan River into the eternal fulfillment of the promise, so that our faith might be established not only in the words of God, but in the glorious accomplishments of His mighty hand. So Father, mother, what is the meaning of this Passover?

And God said to the father and to the mother, you will tell your children the purpose of the Passover and the purpose of the almighty works and mighty things that I did, liberating the people out of Egypt. And then, Father, Mother, what is the meaning of these stones? And what is the meaning of these altars? The conquering of the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River. When we come and take those elements in our hands to put them in our mouth and to break the bread as a congregation.

What is that? That is just simply the witnessing of the testimony of the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ upon that cross. And then when the saints come together, those who by grace through faith have been united to him, they come as the heirs of Christ who have already received the inheritance sealed by the Holy Spirit. are waiting only for the consummation of time. But in the mind of God, they are like the Gediites or the Reubenites or the half-tribal Manasseh.

They have already received the promised land because of the accomplishments of God. The church comes together, the refreshment of the presence of the saints, the preaching of the Word, the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the partaking of the elements and all the ordinances, the seeing a brother or sister going into the water and coming out of the water redeemed and united to Christ. All of these are glorious shadows. of the heaven that we will be partakers of. We have already received a substance and a taste of this glorious inheritance that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished for his people.

And this is to not only empower us on a Sunday, but is to empower us in our battle, knowing that having received this glorious inheritance by the sealing of the spirit, It is not us who fight, but it is the Lord fighting through us individually and as a church so we can move together as a covenant people individually in the power of the Spirit, in the love of Jesus Christ with the two edged sword that is the Word of God moving towards glory. awaiting for the crossing of the river, not a physical river, but a river in which we're going to enter into the kingdom and be with our Lord and our Savior, never to be separated because he's the one who has conquered enemies before and enemies as he brings the fulfillment of that glorious promise and the one who is in Christ and the one who has been partaking of his spirit. receives that glorious presence and certainty, not only when that moment arrives, but now, because the faith of the New Testament gives us the substance of the things that we hope for, gives us the conviction of the things that we have not seen, because He's the one, He's Jesus Christ, the one who makes all of these things real to the heart of the believer, amen?