Feb 4 (Num 17-20)

Numbers 17

God confirms the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants. Aaron is the high priest from the tribe of Levi, but we have the real High Priest in Yeshua...Christ Jesus. (See Gen 14 and Heb 7)

Numbers 18

The duties of the priests and the establishment of the tithes to support the priests are documented here. I tell my kids that God wants to use ALL OF US, but He does call out certain people to lead. Pastors and Bible teachers are held to a high standard, and if they lead people astray from God, they will suffer immense torment in hell. God blesses those that lead people to Him, but He curses those who lead them away.

Numbers 19

God is showing the Israelites that it takes great measures to wash away sin and filth. Of course, all of these offerings only "cover up" their sins...it takes God in the flesh (Jesus) to completely wash them away!

Numbers 20

In Exodus 17, God has Moses strike the Rock to provide living water for the people. Here, God instructs Moses to speak to the Rock, and the same result will occur. Moses, such a great man of faith, slips and strikes the Rock.

There are many lessons here, but I stress only a few for my kids:

~ The Rock is Jesus in typology (Matt 16:18, Luke 6:48, 1 Cor 10:4)

~ When Jesus came the first time, He was stricken and provided life by His resurrection

~After that moment, we can enter the throne room of heaven by speaking to the Rock...Jesus in prayer

I stress this to my kids, since it is important...Moses was an incredible man of faith. He showed great humility and compassion for the people. Remember, he even offered to forfeit his own salvation, in order to preserve the nation's salvation!

But here was this great man who let his temper get the best of him, and the result is that he won't have the satisfaction of walking into the Promised Land with his people. I know this makes "little ole me" feel pretty vulnerable...how about you?

God was establishing a typology that Moses messed up. I have asked God and some wise men in my Bible studies this question: "Why did God allow Moses to mess up this typology?" After all, God could have stopped Moses just before he struck the Rock, and told Moses to quell his anger and speak to the Rock like instructed. But God didn't...why not?

So far, the only answer I have is that God allows free will in our lives. Even though we may be walking with Him, we have the free will to walk away. We may do 90% of what God wants, but if we disobey for 10%, we are guilty of disobedience. This is very heavy, but also, very important to teach our kids.

I stress to them, that even though they are "good kids" and treat people well most of the time, they are not exempt from God's correction if they disobey in a small amount. Sin is sin...God won't allow us to follow Him halfway!