Would you turn with me in your
Bibles to the book of Numbers? The book of Numbers. I'm so thankful that the Lord
gives us the opportunity anywhere in his Bible, anywhere in the
word of God, and by just taking a small shovel and doing just
a tiny bit of digging, we get to see the oil of gladness, the
Lord Jesus. He's everywhere. And that was
his promise that he would be everywhere in scripture. If you
were somewhere and you only had one book of the Bible, relish
and delight in Christ in that one book. It's not going to be
law. It's going to be Christ. As I think about our message
this morning, we're going to be in chapter two. I know of
only one preacher of the gospel that ever knew the true results
of his preaching the gospel. And that's Jesus Christ. He is
the only one that knew every heart in his congregation. Whether
they be 5,000 or one, he's the only one. Now every other preacher
of the gospel, all those things are hidden from us. We don't know the results of
preaching the gospel. Some will say they are the result
and yet never show any fruit of it. And some will say, not
for me, and sometime later. The book of Numbers chapter two.
I'm glad we got to the second chapter. And it too is repetition. As
just like the gospel is, it's just repetition, repetition. Over and over again from different
angles and different sides, different facets of the same person, Jesus
Christ. And that's what we're gonna find
here in this second chapter of the book of Numbers. Now I like
sometimes just thinking about what other people that might
have observed what was going on in the book of Numbers might
have said. It doesn't tell us that there
were anybody that ever watched them. There were no other, it
doesn't say there were any other travelers that were there observing
the children of Israel as they came out of Egypt and came into
the wilderness wanderings there at Sinai, but if there had been,
I'm sure that most of them would have said, now that looks like
a bunch of foolishness. What are they doing? Now we find
that same thing mentioned about the gospel when it was preached.
The Apostle Paul shares with us, to the Greeks, it was foolishness. To the Jews, it was a stumbling
block. But to those that we read in
Acts 1348, those appointed, those set apart, those predestined,
those marked out by Almighty God before the foundation of
the world, they believed. And I'm just so thankful that
God gives belief to someone. Now here in the second chapter
of the book of Numbers, we have these words recorded. I'm just
going to read the first three or four verses and then the last
few verses of this chapter. And then it doesn't mean that
we're not going to come back here with something. But here
in the second chapter of the book of Numbers, it says, and
the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying, And that, once
again, reminds me of how condescending it was for the Lord of glory
to come down and talk to an individual, talk to a man. If you look up
the word glory, as it's found in John chapter 17 in his great
high priestly prayer, restoring to me the glory that I had with
thee before the world was, that is a very interesting word. And
it shares with us in word language what glory, what awesome. Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ
is and is in. And here we have this glory coming
down to a man by the name of Moses and instructing him with
regard to a whole bunch of folks that he had just brought out
of Egypt. It says there in verse one, the
Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron saying, and Moses was the
secretary that faithfully took down the words that the Holy
Spirit gave him with regard to all of these things and it says,
every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his standard
with the ensign of their father's house far off about the tabernacle
of the congregation shall they pitch. And on the east side toward
the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard of the camp
of Judah, pits throughout their armies. And Nahashon, the son
of Amenadab, shall be the captain of the children of Judah, and
his host, and those that were numbered of them, were threescore
and 14,600. Now we will travel over to the
last three verses of this chapter, beginning with verse 32, These
are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by
the house of their fathers. All those that were numbered
of the camps throughout their host were 600,000 and 3,000 and
550. But the Levites were not numbered
among the children of Israel as the Lord commanded Moses.
And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord
commanded Moses. So they pitched by their standards,
and so they set forward everyone after their families according
to the house of their fathers. Now in your mind's eye, put this
tabernacle, a very small building that was built by the direct
instructions of what Moses saw in the mount. God revealed to
him this very small structure that was going to be built there
so it could be taken down and put up and taken down and put
up as they travel through the wilderness there before they
got over to the land that God had promised to them. Now put
that right in the middle around this tabernacle. were the tribe
of Levi and specifically on the east side was Moses and Aaron
and their families. Now out in the four directions
of this world there were going to be 12 tribes distributed but
absolutely told exactly where they must camp while they were
there when that tabernacle was not in a movement stage. This
is how you will camp and Judah was put on the east side number
one closest to the tabernacle on the east side. And then we're
going to find two more tribes out on the east side. We can
follow that as we go through this book. We have the south
side, there's going to be three tribes. On the west side, there's
going to be three tribes. And on the north side, there's
going to be three tribes. And I read somewhere that this
took 12 square miles. Now, I don't know if that's true,
but it's going to take quite a bit of room for all these people
to be camping around the tabernacle in this orderly fashion. Now
it reminds me of a couple of verses of scripture that we find
in the New Testament about the orderliness of God. that God
has an order just like he has a number and he is going to carry
it out just like he ordered it to be carried out. And it was
the responsibility of these 12 tribes of Israel, the tribe of
Levi, Moses and Aaron to see that it was carried out. Now
over every tribe there was a captain and it was the captain's responsibility
that this all be carried out just like it was supposed to
be. Would you turn with me, keeping your finger here, but turn with
me over to the book of 1 Corinthians for just a moment. This shares
with us, as this camp is set up, three tribes, three tribes,
three tribes, and three tribes. Right in the middle is the tabernacle. And just immediately around the
tabernacle are the tribe of Levi. And just at the east of the tabernacle
Those two auspicious men and their families Moses and Levi
notice with me over here in the book of 1st Corinthians chapter
14 in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 You know the Bible adds a
lot of information about man's thoughts if we were just able
to keep what the Bible has to say we would be orderly and We'll
be in an order orderly fashion, and there wouldn't be any disorderly
Here in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verses 1 through 5,
follow after charity and desire spiritual. Now you notice that
word gifts there? It's in italics. This is not
part of the original. It was supplied. So he is more
concerned about the spiritual than spiritual gifts. He is interested,
the Apostle Paul, every gospel preacher, is more interested
in your spiritual welfare than your spiritual gifts. Now those
spiritual gifts are given by God and His people will carry
them out just as He has ordered it. But when it comes to the
preaching of the gospel, we're dealing with spiritual things
and we want you to have spiritual blessings and we want you to
be spiritual and that alone can come from God. But it is through
the preaching of the seed, the Word of God, that He does that
very thing. So here it says, desire spiritual. But rather that ye prophesy.
Preaching the gospel is the most valuable thing that we can do.
It's not what we do for God, but what God does for us through
the preaching of the gospel. Now he's going to make us both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. And that's what he
does with his people, just like he did with the children of Israel
and their exact positions around the tabernacle. Now, I don't
have a record, but I can just know what man is like, that some
of those tribes or some of the people in those tribes that says,
well, why did Judah get first place? That's just a normal reaction
for us as human beings. But when we're given the spirit
of God, we realize that he is sovereign over all things. And
what he gives somebody is going to complement the rest. Don't
get jealous over the gift that God gives to somebody else. I
know this about a gospel preacher. There are many that can preach
the gospel better than I can, but they can't preach a better
gospel. That's what we have in common. Well, here it goes on
to tell us, for he that speaketh in a, did you notice that word
again? Unknown? That's not in the scriptures.
That is a supplied word by the translators. He that speaketh
tongue. That's a language. That's Spanish. That's French. That's German. That's English. That's English
English. speaketh not unto men, but unto
God. Now, Brother Lance Heller is
a missionary down in New Guinea. And he does not know all of the
languages of all the tribes. You know what? He barely knows
a little of the language of the tribe he deals with the most.
But he has a language. He has learned a language called
Pidgin English that those folks understand and he can speak in.
But if he came here and brought a message in pidgin English,
how many of us would say, amen to that? We would have to ask
him, what are you talking about? And that's what he goes on to
tell us here. If there's someone coming in here that speaks French
and knows the gospel, we need an interpreter, or it's foolishness
to us. All right, let's follow this
down. Would you look there at verse 39. I need to back up just a little. Verse 33, verse 33, there we
go. Now the reason for all of this
and the reason for Numbers chapter 2 and the illustration that is
given there is for God is not of confusion, but of peace as
in all the churches of the saints. God is not of confusion. Now the translators supplied
a language there, two words, the author of. But if we just
read that for God is not of confusion. God is not of confusion. And
then if we look there in verses 39 and 40, it says, wherefore,
brethren, covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak in tongues.
Let all things be done decently and in order. So as we go back
over here to the book of Numbers, we find those words of God that
were given to us in the New Testament are illustrated in the Old Testament
that God is a God of order, and he does things decently and in
order, and he expects his people to do things decently and in
order, as in all the churches. You know what that means? The
ones over there in Ephesus and the ones in Philadelphia, when
they were started, believed exactly the same thing about God, exactly
the same thing about grace, exactly the same thing about sin, exactly
the same thing about man, and exactly the same thing about
salvation. And over time, there were those
that came in and brought another message, and we find the end
of the church at Philadelphia, and the end of the church at
Ephesus, and the end of the seven churches of Asia, as is recorded
in the scriptures. But the orderliness was established
in the beginning. Now let's go back over here to
the book of Numbers. These verses in Numbers chapter
2 describe the exact place and where in relationship to everyone
else and to the tabernacle they were to be. You notice with me
that the first tribe that's mentioned is the tribe of Judah. Judah
has a very important place in the lineage of Jacob. Judah has
a very important place in the list of the tribes because out
of Judah we've read over in the book of Revelation chapter 5
and verse 5 Jesus Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah. This
one that was in charge, the very first one identified on the east
side as the rising of the sun in the first place, right before
the tabernacle, there was this tribe that was going to be, in
essence, the leader of all the tribes. They were going to lead
out when they started leaving camp, and they were going to
be the number one tribe established here as where it was going to
be. Why? Because in all things, Jesus, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, will have preeminence. He is the first and foremost
that must be in the believer's heart and mind. Turn with me
back to the book of Exodus for just a moment. In the book of
Exodus chapter 17, there's one of the tribes that gets a little
out of hand. Now, it's a small tribe. He has the Banny Rooster
syndrome. Tribe of Dan. And the tribe of
Dan decides he's going to go up against the rest of the folks.
And here in the book of Exodus chapter 17 and verse 15, we have
an establishment of preeminence. Who shall go first? And it is
recorded here because God himself wants his people to recognize
that the line of the tribe of Judah has preeminence in all
things. that he might have the preeminence. The number one, the book of Exodus
chapter 17 and verse... Forgive me just a moment. Judges
chapter 20. Judges chapter 20. In Judges chapter 20 and verse
18, it says, then the children of Israel arose and went up to
the house of God and asked counsel of God and said, which of us
shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin?
And the Lord said, Judah shall go first. Now the line of the
tribe of Judah leads out in every spiritual battle. Judah, or the
Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ, goes up against
every enemy of the church. The Lion of the tribe of Judah
is the one that hung on the cross in payment for the sin of all
the people. So the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has all the preeminence in salvation.
He has all the preeminence in glory. He has all the preeminence
in the preaching of the gospel. He has all the preeminence in
all things. He must be number one, and he
is in God's sight. He is in the Holy Spirit's sight. He is in the sun's sight, and
he is in the sight of his true people, Israel. Here in the book of Numbers chapter
two, it says, every man of the children of Israel shall pitch.
Chapter two, verse two. Numbers chapter two and verse
two, every man of the children of Israel shall pitch. Now, have
you ever camped in a tent? If you have, you've pitched a
tent. That's what this means, to encamp
or to pitch a tent. Now every man of the children
of Israel shall pitch this pitch a tent to encamp. Now we heard
read a verse in the book of Psalms, Psalm 34, that uses the same
word that's mentioned here in Psalm 34 and verse 7. Now my
heart was touched as I heard verse 6 read. So I wanna read
verse six and verse seven out of Psalm 34, but in Psalm 34
and verse six, it says, this poor man cried. That struck me. This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Now
notice verse seven with me. The angel of the Lord encampeth. round about them that fear him
and deliver him." What's the word there? Encampus. The angel of the Lord. Did you
know it's not a guardian angel? It's the angel of the Lord that
encamps with his people, that surrounds his people. It is not
some small being. It is the being, the one who
has all the preeminence that encamps with his people. As it
says there, the angel of the Lord encampeth around about them
that fear him, and delivereth them. He has all power to do
all of that. So we have picture tent. And
then we find out that the angel of the Lord has already pitched
his tent where his people are, wherever they are, in what part
of the world. He has pitched his tent in their
direction, and he encampeth around them, and he is their protection.
He is the only one that can deliver us whole before the throne of
grace and say, welcome thou chosen for the foundation of the world.
Welcome thou to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. I've encamped about you all through. Prior to you being born, even
in the council halls of eternity, I camped on your purpose, and
I've watched over you, and cared for you, and guided you, and
directed you, and kept you from doing some of the stupidest possible
things that you could have done. I'm going to deliver you whole
before my father, and I will lose none of you. I've encamped
well about you. Well, it goes on to tell us in
that same verse of scripture there in the book of Numbers
chapter 2. In Numbers chapter 2, the comment is made here in
verse 2. It says, every man of the children
of Israel shall pitch his own standard. Now, that word standard
means a flag or a banner. Now, there was four. This doesn't
mention. I cannot find it in scripture.
I've read it somewhere. I just looked it up. We got the
internet out here. It's wonderful. I just looked
it up and according to Jewish tradition, there were four standards. One on the east side, one on
the west side, one on the north side, and one on the south side. And Judah's standard was the
lion. It had a picture of a lion on
it. The other side there, Ephraim was an ox, the first in his row,
and Dan was an eagle, and the last was a man. Now did you know
that over there in the book of Revelation, it talks about these
same four creatures? And in the book of Ezekiel, it
talks about these same four creatures. God has had the gospel from the
very beginning, and he will continue it to the very end, And in it,
he shares with us that there is one, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, that he is a servant, the ox, and that he is glorious
before the foundation of the world in his glory and ego, and
yet he came as a man. This is our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, fulfilling all of those types and shadows and
pictures. Truly he is the lion of the tribe
of Judah. Truly he is the ox that was a
servant of the Most High God. Truly he is glory before the
foundation of the world. And truly he came down here and
committed himself to man so that he might bear the weight of their
sin and completely put it away by the sacrifice of himself.
The standards declare it as they circled the tabernacle. This
word is also used in a wonderful passage of scripture over in
the Song of Solomon. Would you turn with me to the
Song of Solomon? In the Song of Solomon, we have one verse
of scripture. All the rest of them are found
in the book of Numbers that use this word. But in the Song of
Solomon chapter 2, Song of Solomon chapter 2, we have this word
also used. And it is used in such a beautiful
statement about the Lord's love for his people. Song of Solomon,
there in chapter 2 and verse 4, he says, he brought me to
the banqueting house, and his banner over me is love. Now his love and our love are
two different types of love, because his love, What's that
say? Husbands, love your wives even
as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That's that kind of love. It
is a love that transcends all love that's ever happened in
this world. This love, his banner over the
church is his love for the church to the point that he would even
give His life a ransom for the church. Well, we find out in
that same second verse of that chapter of Numbers, it tells
us here there will be a standard and an ensign. Now, that word
ensign is an interesting word, and we find it several times
in the scripture, and it's sometimes translated a token. It's a ensign
of the Father's house. And if you turn with me back
to the book of Genesis chapter 9, we have some of the most outstanding
descriptions of what this word really means, this instant. It's a token. It also could be
a flag. But here in the book of Genesis,
and if Lord be unmerciful to us, we're going to get some more
rain. And it might come by a thundercloud. And we might get to see a rainbow.
And that's what we find here in the book of Genesis, that
God promised this world a token. Genesis chapter 9 verse 12, it
says here, and God said, this is the token of the covenant.
I've made a promise, I'll keep my promise. I will never destroy
the world like you've just seen it destroyed. This is a token
of my promise. And every time, the scientists
may describe the rainbow as this. And some people may say, well,
at the end of the rainbow is a pot of gold. But the church
says, that's a promise. That's a token of his promise
and he has promised to keep it to the very end. And in fact,
as we go over to the book of Revelation, we find that again.
It's a token of the covenant of grace there in the book of
Revelation. But notice this with me. Here
in the book of Genesis chapter 9 verse 12, God said, this is
a token of the covenant which I make between me and you. I
like it. It's between him and us. You
know what kind of promise we can keep when it's between us
and him? It's not kept. But when it's kept between him
and us, it is kept. Every living creature that is
with you for perpetual generations, I do set my bow in the cloud,
and it shall be for a token of the covenant between me and the
earth. And it shall come to pass that when I bring a cloud over
the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud, and I will
remember my covenant which is between me and you, and every
living creature of all flesh, and the water shall no more become
a flood to destroy all flesh." That's just a covenant, a personal
covenant, a personal token that God has for his people wherever
they are. I promise. Well, there's a much
greater token, a much greater instance And that's the blood
of Christ. It is a token of the everlasting
covenant. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know it won't be too long
and we're going to take an emblem of that token. We're going to
look at a type of that token. The Lord has Commission the church,
commission the people that know the gospel as oft as you do this
to remember the shed blood and broken body of the Lord Jesus
Christ for you. That's what this means. So we
have a token here. And here we have a token over
here around all of the tribes of Israel as they surround the
tabernacle, they surround the Levites. And for a great distance
on this side and a great distance on that side, in very careful
order, it is that way. But when you came into that camp,
you're going to see the standard, and you're going to see the ensign.
You're going to see the token. Let's look just a little bit
more at this in Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14. You know where
that verse of scripture describes. Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14.
It isn't quite December yet, but this verse of scripture shares
with us that God has sent a token. God has sent Isaiah 7.14, what
do we find there that encourages the church and was a blessing
to the church in Isaiah's day, and a blessing to those shepherds
in their day, and a blessing to the church today that he would
send the God-man to be the sacrifice for his people. Isaiah 7.14,
the same word is found in this verse of scripture. It says,
therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Got your binoculars out? We're
looking for that sign. And you know it was fulfilled
many years later when those shepherds were called on by the angels
of the Lord to come down to Bethlehem because this day is born unto
you a Savior which is Christ the Lord. He is our ensign, and
he grew up as we grew up, yet without sin. Isaiah chapter 7,
verse 14, it says, I'll give you a sign. Something like this
has never, ever, ever happened before. Behold, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and he shall call his name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is God with us. In the New Testament,
we have a Greek word that is so similar And it's found in
the book of Matthew chapter 12. In Matthew chapter 12, the Lord
spent a lot of time, just like anybody else, spends a lot of
time with a lot of people that don't know the gospel. These
religious folks, and we heard in the Bible class this morning
about their synagogue. It didn't matter. what they were
depicting there, they went down to the synagogue. One man went
down to pray. Can you imagine him going down?
He went down to the synagogue to pray, and inside the synagogue
is Medusa? Or he went down to the synagogue,
and inside is a picture of some other foreign god? It's astonishing. And yet, there
was a man who went down to pray at the temple. And he says, God,
be merciful to me, a sinner. I don't care the trappings that
are in here. I don't care about the sacrifices in here. I don't
care about that lamb on Passover day. I don't care about any of
that. Would you be merciful to me, a sinner? And Jesus says,
I'll tell you what, that man went down to his house justified.
Here in the book of Matthew chapter 12, we have a whole group of
people that were around the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're trying
to catch him. And in the book of Matthew chapter
12 verse 38, these words are recorded. Matthew chapter 12
and verse 38, and this is somewhat the same word, a sign, a token. Then certain of the scribes and
Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you. You know, if you came into the
host of the children of Israel, those signs were most apparent. Here's Ephraim, there's Jacob,
or excuse me, there's Manasseh, there's Judah, there's the other
tribes. It's most apparent. Just look
around, you can find it. We would seek a sign from you. And he answered and said unto
them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And there shall no sign be given
but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and
three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three
days and three nights in the heart of the earth. You want
a sign? Go to an empty tomb. That's just
how well he took care of the issue that was set up on his
shoulders. He took care of it completely.
The Lord Jesus Christ took care of the complete and total problem
that was there and set up an incense, set up a sign, set up
a token, set up a promise that he would take care of all his
children all the way through. The tribe of Judah would be stationed
around the tabernacle every time they encamped on the east side
toward the rising of the sun. And this tribe was watched over
by the captain of the tribe of Judah. And we know his name as
it's recorded over there. Now, we're not going to take
time to go over to four places in the New Testament. But there
are four places in the New Testament that share with us the same word
that is found in this verse of scripture in the book of Hebrews
chapter 2 and verse 10 that we have a captain of our salvation
over there they had a captain over the tribe over here we have
a captain of our salvation the Lord Jesus Christ he's called
a prince twice that's the same word and you go to Hebrews chapter
12 and verse 2 that same word is used as he is the author and
finisher of our faith if you have Godly faith, it had to be
authored by God. And in the end, when our faith
is no more necessary, he'll be the conclusion of it. What does
that mean? We'll get to see him face to face. He's the author
and finisher of our faith. In the time we have left, we'd
like to observe what we find in the scripture as the Lord's
Supper. It is declared to us by the Apostle
Paul, the Lord in the gospel shared with us, But in the book
of 1 Corinthians, we have the Apostle Paul dealing with this
very subject as he's speaking to the church of Corinth.