Numbers chapter 22, and in a
moment or two we'll read from verse 22. But just to lead into
that, this is the account that we have of Balaam, the soothsayer,
Balaam. And we're going to think about
Balaam and his journey to see Balak, the king of Moab, in a
few moments. But just to set the scene from
the beginning of this 22nd chapter, let me point out a couple of
things that the Lord teaches us here. The children of Israel
had to go around the country of Edom and that was all in God's
plan and they went by a circular route around Edom and we're told
that they came to the borders of Moab. So this was another
country in that wilderness journey that the people had and they
camped in the plains of Moab and they were getting closer
and closer to the land of Canaan all the time and at some point
they would have to go through these nations in order to get
into the westward side of the Dead Sea and into the area along
the coast of the Mediterranean, which we now call modern day
Israel. So they were camped still in
the wilderness side of the land, but getting closer and closer
all the time to Canaan. And the nations in Canaan, began
to fear what this people would do. And no doubt it was well
known in Canaan that Israel had left Egypt, undoubtedly the circumstances
of that leaving would be known, and they had been wandering in
the wilderness for decades. They would know about the promises
of God given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They would know about
Israel being promised this land of Canaan, that they would possess
it and Balak, the king of Moab, was afraid. especially when he
heard about the defeat of the Amorite kings and the Amorite
cities. We spoke a little bit about that
last week. And so Balak contacted another
nation, one of the other nations in Canaan, and they're called
the Midianites. And together, the Midianites
and the Moabites, they devised a plan to bring trouble on Israel. Now it wasn't that they were
planning to attack them immediately, but they thought that it would
be good, perhaps for morale, perhaps to solicit the power
of their gods, and perhaps even to call down a curse of the children
of Israel's own god upon their head. and there would be very
good benefits to be had if Balak and the Midianites could succeed
in this purpose. So they thought that they would
get a famous soothsayer, a man called Balaam, to come and to
put a curse on Israel. And maybe they had heard how
the Lord was frequently angry with the children of Israel when
they rebelled, or when they spoke against God, or when they spoke
against Moses. And perhaps they thought that
they might use this against the people and for their own good. And in Numbers chapter 22, through
23 and 24, we learn a lot about
this man, Balaam. And he's a bit of a puzzle. He's a bit of an enigma. Let
me say at the beginning, it seems clear to me that Balaam was a
wicked, self-serving and greedy man who acted for love of money. And there is no doubt that he
caused Israel a lot of trouble. In the Old Testament, the prophets
such as Micah and Nehemiah, even Moses and David, perhaps certainly
one of the Psalms recounts this man Balaam, they refer to him
negatively. And in the New Testament, he's
condemned by the apostles, Peter, Jude and John. So there's no
question about the status of this man. He was a wicked man
and he was a wicked example to other wicked men. And yet, and yet God used him
to do a job of sending fear through the nations of Canaan. in a way
that nothing else and a way that no one else could do. And I think this is very interesting.
He's quite an intriguing character. So Balak, the king of Moab, sent
for the soothsayer, Balaam, and he offered him a large amount
of money. He offered him honour and riches
in order to curse the children of Israel. However, when the
messengers of Balak came to Balaam, God also came to Balaam, and
perhaps it was in a dream or perhaps it was in a vision, but
God tells Balaam not to do Balak's bidding. Nevertheless, although
he is at first rejected with his offer, Balak is persistent
and he sends several requests to Balaam until Balaam agrees
to go to the Moabite king despite God's warnings. And on the way
to Moab this strange incident occurs involving Balaam's ass
and we read about the miracle of a donkey that spoke in Numbers
chapter 22. So we're going to read from verse
22 now, and we'll read down to verse 35. Here's what the word
of God says. So remember, Balaam is on his
way to see Balak, the king of Moab, and Balak hopes that he's
going to curse Israel. And we're told in verse 22, and
God's anger was kindled because he went And the angel of the
Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass,
and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel
of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand. and the ass turned aside out
of the way and went into the field and Balaam smote the ass
to turn her into the way. But the angel of the Lord stood
in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall
on that side. And when the ass saw the angel
of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed Balaam's
foot against the wall, and he smote her again. And the angel
of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place, where
was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel
of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam. And Balaam's anger was
kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened
the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I
done unto thee that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass,
Because thou hast mocked me, I would there were a sword in
mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam,
Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I
was thine unto this day, was I ever wont to do so unto thee?'
And he said, Nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes
of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way
with his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed down his head and
fell flat on his face. And the angel of the Lord said
unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three
times? Behold, I went out to withstand
thee, because thy way is perverse before me. And the ass saw me,
and turned from me these three times. Unless she had turned
from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. And Balaam said unto the angel
of the Lord, I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stoodest
in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeased
thee, I will get me back again. And the angel of the Lord said
unto Balaam, Go with the men, but only the word that I shall
speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the
princes of Balak. Amen, may God bless this reading.
Now, we're going to come back to the story of Balaam again
next week, if the Lord wills, because what happens in the next
part of the story is a very powerful statement of God's purpose to
fulfil his promises and to be seen to do so. However, there
are a few lessons that I want to take from this rather amazing
encounter between the angel of the Lord and Balaam and his ass. I think at the very least we
can say that you shouldn't be cruel to animals in this story
and Balaam is to be reprimanded for the way with which he struck
this ass. But here's three things that
I want to draw to your attention just quickly as I think they're
good lessons and applications for us. The first one is this.
Here we see a fact from Balaam's life that I think you will find
to be true in your own life and in the lives of others, especially
as you're growing up, you're growing older, you're maturing,
and you begin to see the way that people act and the way that
people think. Here's the thing. People usually
find a way to do what they want to do even when they know they
shouldn't. People usually find a way to
do what they want to do even when they know they shouldn't. The Lord told Balaam not to go
with Balak's nobles, this group that he sent to invite Balaam
to come back and curse Israel. God said, don't go with them. The Lord told Balaam not to take
Balak's money. And he told him definitely not
to curse Israel, whom God had blessed. But the thing was this,
that Balaam was eager to get his hands on Balak's money. And he was eager to possess all
that Balak was offering him by way of fame and honour. So Balaam hoped to be able to
find a way to do what God said and yet nevertheless benefit
from Balak's offer. He wanted to do both things. He thought that he could do both. And I was thinking about that,
and I thought to myself, you know, that's what many people's
thinking is with respect to the law of God. The law of God tells
us what God doesn't want us to do. But those who are under God's
law, they always wonder how far they can go doing the things
that they want to do without actually breaking the letter
of the law. They want to appear to do what
God says, But secretly, they also want to find a way of doing
what they want as well. We have a word for that. We call
it legalism. And that's how legalists act. They want to know how far they
can go without going too far. Balaam knew lots of stuff about
God. He had even spoken to God. He
saw the angel. He understood why his donkey
was acting in the way that it was. He saw the sword of the
Lord drawn. He knew lots of stuff about God,
but he never knew God by faith. And we have to be careful that
we don't just learn stuff about God without ever learning about
the true person of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ is what brings us into a relationship with God
and trusting in the things that Christ has done is the beginning
of that personal relationship with God. It's an amazing thing. This is the second point that
I have for you to think about. It's an amazing thing that God
spoke directly to this soothsayer in the first place. And yet,
Balaam didn't heed God's warning seriously, as he should have
done. So as Balaam travelled to meet
Balak, the angel of the Lord, and by the angel of the Lord
I understand actually that to be not a created angel, but the
Lord Jesus himself, in what we sometimes call a pre-incarnation
appearance. You've heard me speaking about
these appearances of the Lord Jesus before. Usually he's appearing
to his own people, but here he appeared as well to Balaam, although
he did it with a sword drawn. But it seems to be that the angel
of the Lord is the Lord Jesus himself, meeting this man in
the way with sword drawn as if ready to slay Balaam. Now Balaam didn't see the angel,
but the ass on which he was riding did. Three times. And the very
first time the ass ran into a field. That was an embarrassment to
Balaam. You can imagine this fully grown
man sitting on this rather small donkey, this ass, and it just
ran off the road into the field and he would be taken by surprise
and he would be embarrassed. He had two servants that were
riding with him. It would appear that he wasn't
in control of the beast. and he started to hit the animal
back into the path that he was on. The second time, the ass
saw the angel of the Lord, it cowered in against a wall and
it crushed Balaam's foot. The third time, there was nowhere
to turn and the ass just literally collapsed beneath the rider. Each time Balaam beat the animal
and he got angrier and angrier until he said that if he had
a sword he would have killed the poor beast. And it was then
that the ass spoke to Balaam in an amazing way. And I think
there's a lesson here too. The Lord tells his people how
he would have us live. But often, as we have seen, we've
got our own ideas. And patiently, the Lord delays
our progress. It's as if he halts us along
the way that we are going. He blocks our path. He stands
in front of us. He even brings us warnings in
the most unexpected ways. Here's a little personal testimony. As I look back on my life, I
have cause to thank the Lord for preventative grace. In mercy, the Lord has prevented
me from doing things that I wanted to do because he knew better. Because like a good father, he
said, enough. I'm putting an end to this. And
he causes the circumstances to change where if things had gone
on, I would have happily done things that I should not have
done. That's like a talking donkey.
If the Lord ever brings a talking donkey to tell us that we're
on the wrong path, then it's time for us to stop and listen. And maybe it won't actually be
a talking donkey, but I think you will know it when you see
it. The Lord showed Balaam how close
he was to danger and to death. And I'm sure that the episode
was designed to impress Balaam and even to terrify Balaam and
to reveal the danger that he was in. God's plan was that Balaam
should now continue to Moab and to meet Balak. However, Balaam
would not curse Israel. He'd say only what the Lord put
into Balaam's mouth to say. Now that would not please Balak,
and we'll find out about that on another occasion, but it would
be God's way of announcing to the nations of Canaan what was
about to befall them for their wickedness and how God's promises
and purposes for the children of Israel would be fulfilled. The lesson in that? God's will
is being done in this world and the blessing of the church is
one side of his will, but it's not his whole will. Just as God
shows mercy to some he will reveal his anger and his wrath upon
others. Just as God blessed the children
of Israel for the sake of Abraham's faith and for the sake of Jacob's
faith, he will also bring judgment upon the wicked. That is certain
and that is sure. Sometimes God raises up nations
to do his will and to execute his judgments on wickedness. Sometimes he just uses one person
or a set of circumstances or he just instils fear and dread
in men's hearts concerning the punishment for sin and judgment
that is to come. And whatever it is that this
world fears, whether it's nuclear war, or advanced AI technology,
or disease and viruses, or economic collapse, or environmental catastrophe,
any or all of these things may happen. But whatever the world fears,
It will in the end be God's judgment upon sin and the church has no
need to fear. Our Saviour is also our defender. Our God is our friend. The judge of the earth has already
found us not guilty. In Christ he sees no sin in his
people. I think you'll be surprised to
learn who the first person was to make that statement. We'll
come back to that another day. But maybe we worry what is going
to happen in the future. Let us be content to know that
the future is in God's hands. And this world might scheme and
plot against God just like Balak and the Midianites and Balaam.
They might scheme against his people, but no one can curse
those whom God has blessed, and all whom the Lord has blessed
in Christ shall be fully and finally saved. No one can touch
us when the banner of God's love flies over our heads. Amen.