“A Man of Character” – FBC Morning Light (2/27/2024)

Well, a good Tuesday morning. Today we're reading in the book of Numbers, chapters 25 through 27, and let me just mention something that I think is kind of interesting. You may not, you may totally just say, oh, well, that's great for you, but no thanks.

And that is, chapter 25 begins with this, it has to do with the census. Now, the context here is the Israelites are at the end of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and they are about to enter into the land of promise.

So this is at the end of that wilderness time, and the Lord tells Moses to take a census again. And so he does, and when he conducts his census, he goes through all the different tribes and gets the numbers of each tribe, and when all is said and done, there's a total of 601 ,730 men who are able to go to war.

Okay, that was the criteria for numbering these different individuals. So what's interesting is when you compare that census with the one that you read about in Numbers, the first couple of chapters of the book of Numbers, and that, the earlier census was taken within a couple of years of coming out of Egypt.

So at the very beginning of the Exodus. And if you go back to that time and you look at the total number of men who were able to go to war 38 years earlier, there were 603 ,550. So in those 40 years, there's been a net loss of almost 2 ,000 men able to go to war.

But what's really striking is at the end of chapter 26, where it says, in verses 63 and following, these are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

And then in verse 65 it says, the Lord had said to them, I'm sorry, verse 64, among these there was not a man of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.

In other words, of the 601 ,730 men counted now, none of those men had been counted in the first census. Well, what's happened? Well, in the 38 years of wandering, they all died exactly as the Lord had said.

And that's what verse 65 points out. The Lord had said of them, they shall surely die in the wilderness. So there was not a man of them left except for Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.

So the Lord's judgment, punishment for the disobedience of the men who would not take the land of Canaan when he first said go, it's been fulfilled, it's been executed. And there's not a man of them left.

The Consequences of Sin and the Fulfillment of God's Word

But what I really wanted to highlight in this reading today is in chapter 27, I think is really kind of one of the saddest episodes in the life and experience of Moses. And that's when the Lord comes to him and says to him to go up to this Mount of Baram and see the land which I've given to the children of Israel.

He says, you're going to go up and look at it, you're going to go see it, but you're not going to enter into it. And he tells him why in verse 14, because you rebelled against my command to hollow me at the waters before their eyes.

And you remember that account. So Moses is about to die. He's about to pass off the scene. God graciously gives him an opportunity to see the land, but he's never going to set foot in it. And this just reminds us that though sin may be forgiven, and our relationship with God can be restored, there may be consequences of that sin that are not eliminated.

And that's the case in Moses' experience here. But what's further interesting to me is how Moses responds to all of that. He doesn't respond pouting. He doesn't get angry with God. There's none of that.

Instead, how does Moses respond after God tells him go up, see the land, because you're going to pass off the scene? Verse 15, Moses spoke to the Lord saying, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.

Even at this stage of Moses' life and leadership, knowing that he's not going to get the greatest blessing of entering that land of promise, his primary concern is not with himself, but with the people that he has been leading for these last four decades.

Now, this is a man of great integrity. This is a man of great character who shows primarily concern for others and not for himself. Oh, that we would be like that. Our Father and our God, we thank you today for your faithfulness to your Word as you brought it about with all of those who did not survive through the wilderness.

You said they wouldn't, and they didn't. And for your faithfulness to Moses and to the Word that you gave to him. We thank you also, Father, for the example of Moses as he challenges us to be a people of character, good character, and a people of integrity.

May we be with that, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, I hope you have a good rest of your Tuesday, and may the Lord bless you in it. Good day.