The Necessity of Faith (Walk Thru the Bible Week 6)

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Welcome to Walk Through the Bible, Susan Michael's 12-month journey through the most exciting

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book on the planet.

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It will transform your life one page at a time.

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Be sure to subscribe for future episodes that will ignite your faith and bring your Bible

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to life.

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Now, let's join our host, Susan Michael.

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Well, hey there, welcome back.

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This is Walk Through the Bible Week Number 6.

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Today we are going to be talking about our reading from this week which covered pages

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158-190 of the Daily Bible or the dates February 5-11 in the Daily Bible.

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We are going to talk today about the necessity of faith.

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I don't know how you react when you don't have faith or you are lacking faith, but the

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Israelites have several examples in today's reading of what a lack of faith looks like.

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And it may look like not turning to God for help because we don't believe that God can

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help or it might mean complaining and murmuring because we don't have faith that God is going

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to improve our lot and do what He has promised.

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And thirdly, it could mean rebelling against the leadership that God has given us.

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It's all directed at God Himself and it's a reflection of our lack of faith in whom

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God chooses and how God leads.

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So let's start our stories this week.

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So first let's review.

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God brought His people out of Egypt, He has demonstrated His power by caring for them,

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feeding them, providing them with water, showing Him that He is the God that's going to take

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care of all their needs.

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He called Moses up on the mountaintop and He proposed marriage to His people and they

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agreed.

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And so He gives them the Ten Commandments which is a ceiling of the covenant and He

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tells them how to build a tabernacle so that He can come down and dwell with His people.

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So now we have skipped a little bit of scriptures.

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If you're reading through your Bible and you don't have a chronological Bible like

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the daily Bible, you're going to notice that we skipped some places in Exodus and Leviticus.

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And that's because we're saving up all the sections of scripture about the law and all

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of the 613 commandments that God gave His people.

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We're going to deal with all those later in one section.

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So today we're continuing on with our story.

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It's now been one year already since the Exodus.

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Can you believe it?

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And it's time for them to celebrate their first Passover, which they do.

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In a future episode, we're going to talk about what that looks like, the episode, the celebration

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of the Passover and the meaning of it.

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But let's continue with our story.

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So now it's time, God instructs Moses to begin numbering the Israelites.

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And a census of the people was usually, and in this context it seems like, it was to prepare

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them for war and how many men of fighting age were there.

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And so this numbering of the tribes was in order to come up with that number.

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Now it says that there were roughly 600,000 men.

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And if you add to that, wives and children, we're talking about easily 2 million people.

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But you'll find that there are some scholars and archaeologists that say, there's been

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a mistranslation of the word for thousand and that that word should be translated as

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a military unit.

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So there were units, not people.

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And therefore, if you add up the units, it comes to a lot less people.

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Let's face it, 2 million people to feed and water and lead through the wilderness.

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That's an overwhelming size crowd.

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But that's how our translators have translated that word for thousands to come up with 600,000

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men.

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On the low side, another translation would say there were only between 7,000 and maybe

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up to 20,000 people.

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An easier crowd.

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But when we read our scriptures, it says 600,000 in English.

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And later on we find that there were plagues and there were incidences where 20,000 died.

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So 20,000 dying is not a huge number if you're looking at 2 million people.

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But it would wipe them out if we were looking at a smaller crowd.

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So I'm just telling you the issues.

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We know that whatever the number was, it was a lot of people.

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And here Moses has taken an accounting of them and has organized them.

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And he's told them exactly how to camp around the Tabernacle and where the Levites are to

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camp.

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By the way, the Levites were not counted with the fighting men.

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They were counted separately because their job is to tend to the holy things and to the

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Tabernacle.

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They were not to fight.

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So now the cloud begins to lift.

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It begins to move and the Israelites are now on the move.

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Their journey has begun.

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But what happens right away is there are murmurings and complaints in the camp.

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They miss the fish and the leeks and the onions and the garlic of Egypt.

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And it is known that in the area of Egypt called Goshen, where they would have lived,

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it was rich with fish and leeks and onions and garlic and these things that are mentioned

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in the scripture.

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It was a very lush area for these items.

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Now it says in this section of scripture that the murmuring seemed to come from what in

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the NIV uses the word rabble.

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Other translations use it as like a mixed crowd.

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So what it seems to be indicating is that the Israelites that mixed with the Egyptians

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and perhaps some of the Egyptians that came out of Egypt with them because other people

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came out with them, that these were the ones that complained the loudest.

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And this is an important lesson for us later on to understand the influence of outsiders

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that would have on the people of Israel and how dangerous it was.

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So here Moses goes to God and I find this to be another kind of comical section of our

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reading.

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Moses goes to God and he pleads and he says, what have I done to deserve the burden of

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this people?

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Did I give them birth?

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They're not my people.

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Why do I have to put up with them?

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And God of course tells him, I get 70 elders, I'm going to anoint them for leadership as

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well and I'm going to provide help for you.

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Moses needed help.

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He was to his wit's end with the murmuring and the complaining.

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So Moses assembles 70 elders from all of the tribes and it's a very interesting passage

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here where God takes the Holy Spirit that's upon Moses and anoints these 70 elders and

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it says that they are prophesying, which seems to indicate some kind of a spiritual experience

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that might relate to actually the day of Pentecost some what 1500 years later when the Holy Spirit

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fell on those gathered in Jerusalem and it says there were tongues of fire on their heads

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and they spoke in other tongues.

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Another kind of ecstatic experience brought on by the Holy Spirit and we read about it

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here in the wilderness.

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Now God then provides so much quail for the Israelites that they actually get sick from

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it and there's a plague because of the murmuring and the complaints because of their lack of

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faith.

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Then we have another interesting story where Miriam begins to lead somewhat of a rebellion

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against Moses and she gets Aaron to back her and it's all over his new wife who is from

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Kush, she's a Kushite.

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And I want to bring this out because when we look at this scripture from 21st century

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life we've seen the slavery of the black Africans and the Kushites were a darker skinned

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group of people from the southern Nile region so below Egypt and much darker in skin tone.

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And so we might read this and think that actually they're looking down upon the Kushite woman

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because of her skin tone but that's not at all what the scripture says nor implies.

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And I just recently read something that was so interesting here, I wanted to bring it

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out.

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If you notice here what Miriam says of Moses is who does he think he is anyway?

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And the very following scripture right after this story is, this is what it says, it says

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that now Moses was a very humble man.

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So what does that have to do with it?

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But Miriam was like complaining that he thought too highly of himself by marrying this woman.

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And so what I read recently is that the Kushites were in no way considered inferior or looked

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down upon in any way, in fact they were known for being very fierce soldiers and in a way

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a higher fighting class and so actually Miriam might have been saying that Moses has married

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too high for himself.

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Who does he think he is marrying a woman of that higher society or higher class?

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And then the scripture go on to say that Moses was a very humble man.

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So the scripture is taking up for Moses in this situation.

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So it's interesting, that's why it's so important that we study the context for the

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scriptures and we do everything that we can to take off our cultural lenses and our assumptions

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and dig deeper into what was going on in the society around them when this happened and

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to see it through the eyes of the locals and then we understand it better.

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Then we have a very, very key story that I really want to take a minute to emphasize

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here and this is the story where it's time for the Israelites to enter the land and so

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they send in twelve spies, one from each tribe to scout out the land.

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Well we all know the story, we've heard it in Sunday school so many times and the spies

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go in and they come back and they're carrying these huge grapes and they're showing the

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fruit of the vine, the fruit of the land and they're saying surely it is a land flowing

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with milk and honey but wait a minute there are strong and big people there and walled

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cities and there's no way we can take this land.

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But there were two spies that said surely we can do it because God is with us and all

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the people listen to the ten spies and the negative report and this robs them from the

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opportunity to actually go in and take the land.

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Now you know the report back was a very real report, it's interesting because the spies

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were instructed to go in and spy out the negative and the hill country but when you

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read the description the spies went way beyond the hill country, they went on up to the Jezreel

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Valley over to the coast, they came down so they saw peoples in more areas than what God

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wanted them to see so it was more intimidating to them.

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Yeah, the giants were still in the hill country, it was still going to take faith and courage

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to go in and take just the hill country but by taking too broad of a look I think it really

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wore down their faith and so they come back with this negative report.

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And the giants were very real, you know there's an Egyptian papyrus that is called the Anastasi

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the first papyrus and it refers to these fierce warriors living in Canaan that were seven

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to nine feet tall.

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So that is a confirmation that what the Bible's calling giants really were, they were gigantic

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people, nine feet tall, that is very big and that would be very overwhelming and so the

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spies said you know we're as grasshoppers before them, in other words they can stomp us

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out, they can devour us, they can wipe us out.

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So of course the Lord gets angry because of their lack of faith because they're not going

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to go in and take the land based on their ability, it's all God has promised them that

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he's going to go before them and that he's going to drive out the inhabitants before them

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and so it's all a lack of faith on their part of what God has promised them and so the Lord

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gets very offended over this and he says okay you know one year for every day that you were

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away and he says to them that they have rejected the land, they've rejected his promise which

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is he takes it very personally here and so the people say okay okay we'll go, we'll go

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and they go in and they try to take the land in their own strength, the Lord is not with

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them and of course they're defeated.

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This is a very important lesson for you and me because the land, we can see it as like

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a shadow, a type and shadow of our life in Christ, of our salvation, we enter the land

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through Christ but then there are promises for us in the land but we have to in a way

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go in faith that God is with us and tackle these things and see his victory in these

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areas in our life and in our world and it may be daunting things, I mean people that

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have serious addictions may be afraid to enter the land that they don't believe God can

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help them or it could be someone with a physical need for healing or for health or it could

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be a broken marriage or a broken relationship or all these things that it's easy for us

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to say no it's just impossible and sit back in the wilderness and complain about it, feel

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sorry for our self when the whole time God is saying if you would just have faith in

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me I'm going to help you but you've got to get up and go, you've got to go after it,

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you've got to walk into the land and you're going to see me deliver you and I will say

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that a couple of years ago I went through a situation, I was kind of battling with this

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and over the issue of when do we just see God's promises and when do we have to pray

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them into being and kind of grappling with this and do you know it was this story that

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really spoke to my heart about the spies and their report that we have to go in and

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take the land in faith, we have to demonstrate our faith by tackling these things and we're

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going to see God clear it out for us, we're going to see God deliver us but we if we don't

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have faith we're never going to step forward, we have to have faith and we will see the

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goodness of the land, we will see all the good things that God has promised us.

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So now but in our story the Israelites because of their lack of faith they couldn't enter

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the land and so they were told for 40 years now you're going to wander until every last

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one of you that has had this negative report dies out because you're not going to enter

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the land, your children will but not you and so we see then this murmuring now becomes

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a rebellion against the leadership and against Aaron's priesthood and so there's this story

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of where the rebels that are standing up against Aaron as the priests and the priests and they're

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trying to do it themselves and of course they are punished and there's an interesting story

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here where God tells Moses to take a staff from each of the 12 tribes and put it in the

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tavernacle and I am going to demonstrate who I've chosen and so the next day they find

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that it was the rod of Aaron that had not just sprouted it had actually blossomed and

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that was God's way of saying this is who I have chosen and he is going to be the priest

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and you are not going to rebel against this and it's also his way of demonstrating his

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power over creation and over natural things and it's a very interesting story.

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Now the Levites are told that they are the Levites and the descendants of Aaron are told

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you are to be the priest you are to care after the tavernacle Aaron you are to be the priestly

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family and but you're not going to inherit any land in the land so that's interesting

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but the ties of the people are going to support you and then our next story is where Moses

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and Aaron themselves then displeased the Lord and this is a warning for all of us.

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None of us should think that we are above displeasing the Lord that we are above becoming

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rebellious ourselves and it's an interesting story here because in early on in the wilderness

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wanderings at a site called Refhedin the Lord told Moses to strike the rock and he would

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provide water and Moses did it and the Lord provided miraculously provided water for the

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people but now here we have there in a different area of the country and this time God tells

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Moses not to strike the rock but speak to the rock and God will provide water.

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What does Moses do?

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He goes and he takes his rod and you could say out of anger he strikes the rock and he

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says what is it we have to do we have to provide water for you again so Moses is acting like

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he's the one providing the water and this is very displeasing to the Lord.

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In this area of the Sinai Desert or of the wilderness you could say the formation is

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very very different than it was in that first story.

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In this area the rock is very very porous and water seeps in and builds up inside and

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it forms a crusty covering over it and if you know where to look and there's indications

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you can see where there may be water leaking out all you have to do is strike it and it

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breaks open and the water will come out and so Moses may have not performed any kind of

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miracle whatsoever.

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He might have read the geography and struck where he knew it was crusty and water would

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come out and he takes the credit for it and God is very displeased if Moses had only spoken

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and water came out God would have gotten the glory.

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So we need to be very very careful that we always give God the glory and we not try to

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take credit on our own and so the Lord says here that Moses neither Aaron nor Moses will

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enter the Holy Land.

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Too bad.

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But the Lord is showing here a very important lesson that there are consequences for sin.

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If we think that we can just go off in our own strength, that we can be arrogant, that

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we can be angry, that we can walk in sinful ways and not suffer the consequences of it,

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that we are deceived and this is the lesson that God is showing his people that there

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are consequences to your disobedience and I'm trying to prepare you for a Holy Land

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in which you will need to be a holy people and so I cannot tolerate this kind of rebellion.

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Okay, then that leads us to another very interesting and very curious story.

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We have two stories left today.

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This one is this very odd story of how there were serpents coming after the Israelites

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and so God tells Moses to get a bronze covered serpent and put it up on a pole and that if

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the people will look upon it, they'll be healed from these serpent bites.

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Now this is so curious because it's like what?

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Is this like magic or something?

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You know, back in Egypt, the Egyptians, we find it on some of the pharaohs and the leaders

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that they would wear an ornament, maybe of a serpent because of the belief that if you

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look at an image of something, it will protect you from that very thing.

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So there could be a hint of this from Egypt that if you just look at the serpent, this

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will protect you.

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But it's very interesting that some 1500 years later, Jesus actually refers to this

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and says that he will be lifted up as was the serpent in the desert.

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So I think we need to take a deeper look at this, that this has nothing to do with anything

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magical from Egypt.

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The rabbis explain it that the lifting of the serpent, it required the person had faith,

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number one, if they don't have faith that this is going to work, then they're not going

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to do it, right?

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So number one, the expression of their faith would be to obey this command and look at the

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serpent.

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And so through their faith and their obedience, they then experienced a miraculous healing.

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So Jesus then said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the

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Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal

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life.

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So Jesus certainly saw this as an expression of faith and obedience and that as we look

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to him, Jesus, who was lifted up on the cross, that our faith will save us.

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The story of today is then as the Israelites are moving on, they go around Edom and they're

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going around Ammon, but they come to the people of the Amorites who come out to fight them.

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So they defeat the Amorites.

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So now the king of Moab is very worried.

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He sees all these people headed his way and he wants to defeat them.

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So he hires a prophet to come and speak a word of curse over the Israelites and that

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will then allow this king to go after them and to defeat them.

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Now you might say there's superstition here, whatever it was, that's what he believed,

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and so he wanted this prophet to come.

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He even hired a prophet from outside the area to come in and pronounce this curse upon the

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Israelite people.

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And so we have this really interesting story.

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It's kind of a fun story because it's got a talking donkey in it, but in the end, Balaam

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is unable to curse the people of Israel and instead he blesses them and he prophesies

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over them to the point to where he knows that the God of the Israelites is using him to speak

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these pronouncements and so he stops even trying to do anything else and he just speaks

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blessing over them.

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There's four very powerful blessings and prophecies that he speaks over the people.

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First he prophesies their prosperity, he prophesies their coming monarchy and kingship, he prophesies

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that they're going to defeat all of the peoples around them, and then he has this amazing

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prophecy of a star that will come out of Jacob and rabbinic tradition has interpreted that

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as a messianic prophecy and it could be that the wise men that followed the star, the messiah

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star, that it goes back to this scripture that out of Jacob would come a star.

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And it's interesting at the very end of the book of Revelation, some of the very last

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words of Jesus in that book are, I am the offspring of David, the bright and morning

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star.

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So here God uses an ungodly prophet, Balaam, to speak a prophecy of a coming messiah and

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Jesus says, I am he, the bright and morning star.

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Balaam also refers to the Israelites as a people who dwell alone and the actual translation

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of that is almost like that they themselves are dwelling alone, that it's something that

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they're doing, they're different, they're different from the peoples around them, they're

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standing apart from the peoples around them and it's all because of their God.

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And throughout history we've seen this, that the Jewish people have been a people apart,

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God's laws made them different.

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We're going to talk about that when we get to the section on the laws by being obedient

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to what God told them to do, they stood out, they were different.

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And sometimes that made them an object of scorn and of hatred, but they stuck to it

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and they've carried this burden of being God's people throughout history knowing that it

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often made people hate them because we don't like what's different.

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But here Balaam says, he puts the nail on the head and he says that they are a people

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alone, they are a nation apart from all the other nations.

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So what do we see here in these stories this week?

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First we see God is greater than anything you might want to say would limit him.

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We see in this story God used a bronze serpent as a foreshadow of what he was going to do

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with Jesus on the cross.

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We see God used a pagan prophet, Balaam, to speak words of truth over his people that

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are so profound.

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I mean, our God is so great and we need to make sure that we're not like the ten doubting

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spies that don't have faith in this great God, or that we're like the ones that murmur

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against his leadership in Moses and in Aaron, or that we're like those that murmur because

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we don't think God's provision for us is good enough.

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We see that he's promised us greater things and we are displeased with what God's doing

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in our lives today.

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Our God is so great.

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We need to have faith in him, follow his instructions, and follow the leaders that he's put in our

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life knowing that we're going to enter the land and he has good things for us there because

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he is such a great God.

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I am so glad that you chose to join me this week.

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I hope you enjoy next week's readings.

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I'll be back here again next week and until then, God bless.