FBC Morning Light (2/24/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We are in Numbers, chapters 15 through 21, and as part of the chronological approach, there's so many bits and pieces of things here that are referenced throughout the New Testament.

Overview of Numbers 15 through 21

It's a good idea just to give a brief overview, and we will eventually be talking about chapter 20, verses 7, 7 through 13. So in chapter 15, we have a bunch of the rules and regulations for the different types of offerings, including down in verses 30 and 31, where it talks about the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people, because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment.

That person shall be completely cut off. His guilt shall be upon him. In Hebrews, it talks about the willful sin and how there was no offering for the willful sin, and this is what it's referring to. Chapter 16 talks about the rebellion of Korah.

In chapter 17, a brief chapter talks about Aaron's rod that budded, as opposed to all the other rods from the different tribes that did not bud. In chapter 18, we have rules for the priests and Levites.

Chapter 19, purification laws. Chapter 20, I'll come back to that. And then chapter 21, we have the story with the bronze serpent, where the bronze serpent was made for people to look up to, to be healed from the poisonous serpent bite, as well as the defeat of King Sihon and King Og.

Moses Striking the Rock and Misrepresenting the People

Back to chapter 20, and in chapter 20, Moses and Aaron are without water, and the people are rumbling and complaining. And in verse 7, it says,. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water.

Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. Verse 10, And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels!

Must we bring water for you out of this rock? And just take a moment and think about what he just said. Moses called the people rebels. Were they rebels? Well, in one sense, yes. They were complaining, they were grumbling, they had just rebelled against the leadership of Moses.

And so many times throughout this wilderness wandering that they've been doing, they would say, Moses, you brought us out into this desert to die. Can't we just go back and have the garlic and the leeks from back in Egypt?

And so yes, in one sense, they did rebel. But yet, who else is here? Was all of Israel rebelling? Did everyone rebel? And the answer to that is no. No, he is lumping everyone together. And if you remember a time in your life, maybe when you were in a classroom doing what you were supposed to do, and the teacher comes in and yells at the whole class, that's wrong.

That's the wrong thing to do. Right? And so that's what Moses just did. He lumped everyone together here as rebels. And yet many of these people are people who are faithfully doing what they're supposed to do.

The Consequences of Moses' Disobedience

So verse 11 says,. Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. The Lord was still faithful in spite of Moses' lumping everyone together in making the mistake they made.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe Me to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.

This is where Moses lost his ability to take the people into the promised land. And when the Lord says,. Because you did not believe Me to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, there's a lot that can be said about this, but let me say this.

If you are someone who is leading a ministry, maybe a pastor, and you think that the congregation's responsibility before the Lord is something that you can control and manipulate into something more than what it is, or less than what it is, or whatever it is you're trying to manipulate and do, you are walking in the same path that Moses did here.

Moses was trying to control the people by calling them rebels and striking a rock in his anger and his frustration over how they were behaving. You're in a dangerous way when you think that you can control and manipulate the relationship between God and His people.

Ultimately, it is God who is in charge of taking the Word and making it come alive in someone's heart. It is God who works in someone's heart in the hearing of the gospel. It is not for you to manipulate.

It is not for you to control. Let's take a moment and pray. Heavenly Father, thank You that You are the One who is in control. Help us to be faithful, to share Your Word, to speak faithfully, but not to try and control and manipulate, but rather just to speak Your Word and let Your Holy Spirit work.

It's in Your Son's name, Jesus, we pray. Amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.