Living in the Land (Numbers 31-36)

Most Americans believe in heaven and that they'll be there.

What about you? Do you hope in heaven?

Are you headed there? How often do you meditate on the

hope of heaven? Daily.

Weekly, Rarely. Richard Baxter meditated on

heaven often one of the most significant 17th century English

Puritans. He wrote over 140 books.

I don't even know the average, you know, per year, including an

800 page book on heaven. It was a runaway bestseller,

multiple editions within the first couple of years, but I'm

afraid today it likely would have flopped.

Even in churches, conversations about heaven seem to be on the

decline. One professor studied the

difference between songs used in American churches from 2000 to

2015 and those used from 1737 to 1960.

He said among the many similarities, one difference was

striking. The topic of heaven, which was

once frequently and richly sung about, has now all but

disappeared. Now, I trust this professor's

never visited Trinity Baptist Church on a Sunday morning like

today. We sing a lot about heaven, but

we still need to recover our heavenly hope.

So why should we remember where we're headed and how we'll get

there? Why is that important for us?

Because God presents the Christian life like this, we're

in the middle of an exodus from death to life, a journey from

the city of destruction to our heavenly home.

In other words, we're walking through the wilderness and we

need to make it home. And one of the books God's given

us to lead us along is the book of Numbers.

So if you have your Bible, please open in Numbers chapter

Numbers 31 · chapter mention

31. If you don't have a Bible,

please raise your hand. Somebody would be glad to bring

you a Bible right now in this moment so you can follow along.

Anyone need a Bible? It's our gift to you.

If you don't own one yourself. And if you're not familiar with

the Bible, you can just look at the table of contents at the

very beginning. You'll find Numbers, 5th book of

the Bible early on in the Bible, Numbers chapter 31.

Numbers 31 · chapter mention

This is the last sermon and a series of sermons on Numbers.

Numbers is about how the Lord delivered his people from

slavery to Egypt and then prepared to lead them to the

Promised land, but they had to go through the wilderness.

Numbers is 36 chapters. You probably could have told the

story in just a few chapters because the journey should have

just taken a few weeks. But it took 40 years because

when the first generation was on the verge of the promised land,

they refuse to enter God's rest. So Numbers is the story of how

the Lord led his people to the promised Land despite their

rebellious refusal to enter. Now the book begins in the

wilderness of Sinai. That's chapter one, verse one.

We're going to see the last verse today and it ends by the

Jordan at Jericho, meaning in chapters 31 to 36.

What we're going to cover today, Israel's on the verge of the

promised land. They're on Jordan, stormy banks.

You know, when the apostle Paul reflects back on numbers in

First Corinthians chapter 10, he says these things were written

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

down for our instruction on whom?

The end of the ages has come. Numbers was written down for

Christians, us, people living in the last days.

And as we live in those last days, with heaven just over the

horizon, what instruction do these six chapters of Numbers

have for us? Here's the main point of today's

sermon. Be ready to depart this

wilderness and dwell with God in heaven.

Friends, be ready to depart this wilderness and dwell with God in

heaven. Now to help us on our way,

Numbers gives us 4 pictures of us on our journey.

That's what we're going to consider this morning. 4

pictures. First, chapter 31, we're

soldiers in a battle. That's the first picture.

We're soldiers in a battle. I'm going to read a little bit

of chapter 31 before just a quick overview of the chapter.

You have to remember back to chapter 25 first.

In chapter 25, the Midianites seduced the Israelites to commit

spiritual adultery against the Lord, leading to a plague.

Thousands died. Now here in chapter 31, the Lord

sends the Israelites to pay back the Midianites with vengeance.

Chapter 31 I'll read verses 1 to 18.

The Lord spoke to Moses saying avenge the people of Israel on

the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered

your people. So Moses spoke to the people,

saying, armed men from among you for the war, that they may go

against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian.

You shall send 1000 from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.

So there were provided out of the thousands of Israel, 1000

from each tribe, 12,000 armed for war, and Moses sent them to

the war. 1000 from each tribe, together with Phineas the son of

Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the

trumpets for the alarm in his hand, they ward against Midian.

As the Lord commanded Moses and killed every male, they killed

the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evie,

Reckham, Zur, Kor, and Reba, the five kings of Midian.

And they also killed Balaam the son of Bayor, with a sword.

And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and

their little ones, and they took his plunder all their cattle,

their flocks, and all their goods, all their cities in the

places where they lived, and all their encampments.

They burned with fire and took all the spoil and all the

plunder, both of man and of beasts.

Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to

Moses and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the

people of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab by the

Jordan. At Jericho.

Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the

congregation went to meet them outside the camp.

And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the

commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds who had

come from service in the war. Moses said to them, Have you let

all the women live? Behold.

These, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to

act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of Payor.

And so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.

Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill

every woman who has known man by lying with him.

But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him,

keep alive for yourselves. We'll pause there, friends.

Notice this is the Lord's final assignment to Moses, vengeance

on the Midianites. So in verse 4, Moses sends 1000

soldiers from each tribe to war. They kill every male.

Verse 75 Kings and Balaam, that military medicine man, the

sorcerer who tried to curse them into oblivion in verse 8.

But it's who they don't kill that angers Moses.

He commands them to kill every male child and every woman who's

known a man. You probably have questions

about that. We'll get to that in just a

minute. But the rest of the chapter

includes the Israelites who participated in this war,

purifying themselves and then distributing the plunder.

Look at verses 32 to 35. It's an amazing plunder.

Over 600,000 sheep, over 70,000 cattle, over 60,000 donkeys, and

32,000 virgin women. This is all a foretaste of the

abundant blessing that awaits them in the promised land.

And what's even more amazing is verse 49.

Look at verse 49. When they counted the Israelite

soldiers, not a single one was missing.

They marched into battle by faith and God supernaturally

spared them. He protected them.

Now, why did Moses command them to kill the male infants and the

women who'd been with a man? Maybe you're wondering, is this

right? Is this genocide?

Friends, this is not genocide like what's happening to the

Uyghurs in China, because it has nothing to do with race and

everything to do with rebellion, as verse 3 makes clear.

Look at verse 3. This is the Lord's vengeance on

Midian. The Midianites were rebels

against God. They bow down to false gods, and

they seduce the Israelites to do the same.

And so the male children are killed because they represent

the seeds of future Midianite revenge.

The women who'd known a man are killed because they're the ones

who Moses says seduced Israel. These are not innocent people

slaughtered. These are rebellious people

judged by a holy God. If you have problems with this

passage, consider it once again how holy our God is and how

sinful we are. God is holy, friends, we are

not. The truth is, every person on

this planet deserves this same judgement.

This war against the Midianites is a picture of the final

judgement ushered into the present.

So what's the lesson for us? Why was this written down for

our instruction? Here's two First, our journey to

heaven is through a war zone. Now.

The battle lines have changed since numbers.

Our warfare is now spiritual in nature.

We are soldiers in the Lord's army.

We've been given the full armour of God.

We must put to death the deeds of the flesh.

Friends, that is the Christian life.

I was talking to a friend recently who had signed up for a

cruise, Celebrity Cruises. It was a special section on the

cruise called The Retreat. Sounds nice, doesn't it?

I mean, you get a personal Butler, all your meals are made

by a Michelin star chef. And in that section of the

cruise, and I love children. No children are allowed peace

quiet as you just cruise through whatever destination you choose.

Is that the picture of the Christian life we're given in

scriptures? Friends, the Christian life is a

war. This church is a little

battleship. We're sailing through enemy

lines as we speak. I wonder if you feel like your

life is a war zone. Satan's schemes around every

corner, your own enemy within attacking you at every moment,

that last enemy death ever looming on the horizon.

If you feel like life is war, then you just might be marching

in the right direction. Jesus said the gate is narrow

and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it

are few. In this life you need to make

war, but as you wage war friend, don't forget to enjoy the

spoils. In Isaiah 9, the prophet Isaiah

describes the joy of the gospel as the rejoicing that occurs

when victors divide the spoil after defeating their enemies.

In Isaiah 9, the battle that he's reflecting on is this

defeat of the Midianites. Friend, have you experienced the

joy of the gospel? Have you enjoyed the plunder

that Christ has won four sinners on the cross?

As we've seen in our passage, God is holy.

We are rebellious and deserving of his wrath, his vengeance.

And yet the beauty of the gospel, the good news of the

gospel, is that the only innocent man, Jesus Christ,

truly God and truly man, took vengeance.

All of God's wrath that you deserved for your sin, if you

trust in him and turn from your sin.

Friends, the the beauty of the gospel is that in Christ there's

only one casualty. The innocent man is the only one

slain, and those deserving of wrath are pardoned, forgiven if

they've trusted in him. And Jesus rose again, truly

victorious over the grave, victorious over all his enemies,

and he's seated at the right hand of God the Father, and he

will come again. Friend, if you've not trusted

Christ, turn from your sins and trust in him.

And those spoils of the gospel, that plunder can be all yours.

Oh, brothers and sisters, what joys do we have in the gospel?

The forgiveness of our sins, Friendship with God, everlasting

life, the Spirit, the local church?

Lovejoy, peace, hope. It is all ours in Christ Jesus.

Yes, we're walking through a war zone, but friend, if you're in

Christ, the battle has already been won and all those gifts are

just a foretaste. They are the appetizer of the

main course, which is yet to come.

Friend. The second lesson, the second

lesson from this passage is it's brief, but it's sobering.

It's a warning. It's a warning for all those who

haven't trusted Christ. God's judgement is certain.

Not everyone who thinks they'll enter heaven will be there with

God. Jesus said the gate is wide and

the way is easy. That leads to destruction, and

those who enter by it are many. Friend, if you've not repented

of your sins, if you're not trusting in Christ, if you're

not following Him, then a day of vengeance is imminent for you.

You're fighting for the wrong army.

The path that you're walking on right now is not heading to

heaven. It's heading to hell.

Friend, don't you want to enter heaven and dwell with God?

Sadly, in chapter 32, not everyone does.

Not everyone wants to enter the promised land. 2 tribes in

chapter 32 try to settle east of the Jordan.

Here's the second picture of us on our journey.

We're a family with brothers and sisters.

We're family with brothers and sisters.

In chapter 32, two tribes, Reuben and Gad, fixate on their

possessions and they actually try to forsake the Promised

land. Thankfully, after Moses rebukes

them, they repent and they commit to crossover the Jordan

with the rest of the tribes. Look at chapter 32.

I'm going to read verses 1 to 15 now.

The people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great

number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazzer

and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place

for livestock. So the people of Gad and the

people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eliezer the

priest, and to the chiefs of the congregation, Aderoth Dibben,

Jazzer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elila, sebum Nebo.

And beyond. The land that the Lord struck

down before the congregation of Israel is a land for livestock,

and your servants have livestock.

And they said, If we have found favour in your sight, let this

land be given to your servants for a possession.

Do not take us across the Jordan.

But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben,

shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here?

Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel

from going over into the land that the Lord has given them?

Your father's did this when they sent them from Kadesh Barnia to

see the land for the when they went up to the valley of Eshkol

and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the

people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given

them. And the Lord's anger was kindled

on that day. And he swore, saying, Surely

none of the men who came up out of Egypt from 20 years old and

upward shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to

Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed

me. None except Caleb the son of

Jefuna the Kenazite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have

wholly followed the Lord. And the Lord's anger was kindled

against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness 40

years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight

of the Lord was gone. And behold, you have risen in

your Father's place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still

more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel.

For if you turn away from following Him, He will again

abandoned them in the wilderness, and you will destroy

all this people. Friends, look again at the 1st 4

verses of this passage. What could be so important to

Reuben and Gad that they're willing to forsake the promised

land, abandoned their brothers, and depart from the Lord?

Look at verse 1. Moses awkwardly front loads the

fact that Reuben and Gad had a lot of livestock.

They love their livestock. In the 1st 4 verses livestock is

repeated 4 times. If you struck up a conversation

with Reuben and Gad, I bet you they would bring up their

livestock. Livestock is listed before any

mention of their children. It's listed before their mission

to the Promised Land. It's even listed before any

mention of the Lord himself. In fact, in their first speech,

they only briefly mentioned the Lord one time.

What is important to Reuben and Gad friends?

This is an insight into their spiritual sight.

Their focus is not on receiving the Promised Land, it's on

settling down the first chance they get.

They want to settle east of the Jordan.

Lot separated from Abram and went E to Sodom.

Esau separated from Jacob and went E to Dare.

Reuben and Gad request to settle E away from their brothers and

sisters east of the promised land.

And so of course Moses refuses their request.

Verse 6 Shall your brothers go to war while you kick up your

feet? Moses says they're in danger of

discouraging the heart of the nation and therefore destroying

them. Notice here their desire leads

to discouragement which will lead to destruction.

That's why Moses cares about it. They should be concerned about

their brothers. Their only concern is

themselves. They place their possessions

over people, animals, over their family, and that's why Moses

accuses them. He accuses them of being like

their fathers. He says you're on the verge of

repeating the rebellion of the 10 spies from the first

generation, that generation that died in the wilderness.

If you follow the fathers and desert the land and forsake the

nation, Moses says you'll abandoned the Lord.

What a rebuke. Now, thankfully, this second

generation does not follow their fathers.

They hear the rebuke. They receive it.

You could say they repent and they make a vow to Moses and to

the nation to send their soldiers to not return home

until the Promised land has been won.

And yet Moses still issues a warning to them.

Verse 23, he says, if you fail to keep your vow, be sure your

sin will find you out because with God there's no secret sin.

Here's the picture we're getting here in in Numbers chapter 32.

Numbers 32 · chapter mention

It's the picture of us on our journey to heaven as a family, a

family with brothers and sisters.

Christian, God adopted you into his family and you're not an

only child. When he brought you home, you

found out you have brothers and sisters.

You belong to one another. We're on this journey together.

So let me ask you, Christian, what could possibly lead you to

forsake your family to refuse heaven and settle for earth?

What were Reuben and Gad willing to trade their family for?

Well, just notice the things they talk about.

Sin in our lives runs like a stream from our hearts.

You just need to follow it, trace it back to the source.

What's that thing in ruining Gad's life that they're willing

to sin to get? If you just listen to their

conversations, their requests, it just leads you to the feet of

their favorite idol. For Ruben and Gad, they love

their livestock. Perhaps they love their careers,

their security that those livestock brought.

They love possessions more than their brothers.

They love their stuff more than their God friends.

Their desires were disordered, and disordered desires leads to

the discouragement of other Saints around you as they see

you fall into sin. Ultimately, it leads to

destruction. How can we rightly order our

desires? One way is to beware of the love

of money. That is what captivates their

hearts. Jesus says the cares of the

world and the deceitfulness of riches have choked out the faith

of many. Money and the things it can

purchase tricks us into thinking we don't need others.

We certainly don't need God. Now here's the thing.

Nobody says I mean mostly. Nobody says I love my livestock

more than I love the Lord. Nobody says I love my job more

than I love the local church. Nobody says that but their

speech. What did Reuben and Gad always

talk about? What came up in reference to the

Lord? What about your conversations?

What about the things that captivate your heart?

What about the replay in your head, your hopes, your

ambitions, your dreams? Friends, we need to be aware of

the love of money. We enter this wilderness with

nothing. If you've ever had a child and

been in the room, the baby comes out with nothing.

There's nothing. We depart this wilderness again

with nothing. So why?

Why should we spend our time in between fixated on passing

possessions? Friends, another way to rightly

order our loves, our desires is to be aware of the needs of our

brothers and sisters. Our love for God is seen through

our concerning care for our brothers and sisters in the

church. The apostle John said if anyone

says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

He's lying. Brothers and sisters, we will

get to heaven together or we won't get there at all.

That's the purpose of friendship in the local church.

We're helping one another make it through the wilderness to the

city of God because no one can faithfully follow Jesus alone.

one-on-one disciple is one way we carry this out, whether

that's over a quiet cup of coffee or while you're folding

laundry at home. It's crucial to our ministry to

think of one another, to invest in one another, to pour in our

spiritual efforts towards one another's well-being.

Another way is prayer. Maybe you don't have time to

meet with anyone right now. That's OK.

Are you struggling on behalf of the members of this church in

your prayers? It's vital to our care for one

another. And you can't really do any of

this if you're neglecting to meet together.

If you're forsaking the assembly, you can't care.

Love, show concern for your brothers and sisters.

Brothers and sisters, none of us can make it to heaven by

ourselves. We need one another.

We need one another's help. We need to help one another.

Who are you helping to heaven? If you're not helping anyone to

heaven, is it possible that you're not heading there

yourself? True Christians help one another

to heaven because we're family. We're brothers and sisters now.

No family is perfect. Trinity Baptist Church is not a

perfect church. But by God's grace, thank the

Lord for the way that this is already being cultivated in our

very church members who just met each other eight months ago for

the first time, caring for one another, showing spiritual

concern for one another, knowing one another's needs and meeting

them. Let's pray that that just

continues to grow more and more throughout our church.

Picture #3 picture #3 is a big one.

Chapters 33 through 35. Here's the picture.

We're pilgrims on a holy path. Chapters 33 to 35.

Now I'm making a choice here. I'm only reading a few verses,

and I'm going to summarize a lot of it.

This text of numbers, Numbers 31 to 36 is 5000 words.

If I read the whole text in this sermon, I would say Amen, let's

pray, and that'd be the sermon. So that's a choice we're going

to make, and it's fine. Hopefully you read the passage

beforehand, and if you haven't, read it after the service later

today. Chapters 33 through 35 form a

unit. First, Moses recounts Israel's

journey, and that's kind of like an introduction to the Lord's

last five speeches to Moses in the Book of Numbers.

So you have the intro, the recounting of the journey, and

then that leads to five speeches from the Lord to Moses.

We'll look at the recounting first, and then we'll look at

the five speeches. So look at chapter 33.

I'm just going to read 2 verses, Chapter 33.

These are the stages of the people of Israel when they went

out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the

leadership of Moses and Aaron. Moses wrote down their starting

places, stage by stage, by command of the Lord, and these

are their stages according to their starting places.

Now in 49 verses, Moses retells Israel's history.

They started in Egypt and they're ending by the Jordan.

In between there's 42 stages, 42 stops along the way.

And what's remarkable if you read through these about the

Lord's recounting of their story, is that there's not a

single mention of their complaining.

They're grumbling, their unbelief, their outright

rebellion. It's as as if in the Lord's

recounting he is passing over their former sins, and therefore

the rhythm is simply this. They set out and they can't.

They set out and they can't over and over again because the

wilderness was never meant to be their home.

They were always simply just passing through.

I don't know if you've ever been camping.

I love camping, personally. I'm not talking about glamping,

You know, where you bring an air conditioner and 3/4 of your

household and you've set it all out and you've got ATV, you

know, it's basically as if you're home.

No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Backcountry

camping. Like you go into the woods with

a backpack and everything that you have with you is in that

backpack. And I love that.

I love going through the woods, sitting by the fire, drinking

coffee in the morning around the campfire.

But I'll tell you what I love also when camping is over and

when you get back home and there is air conditioning and I'm

thankful there's air conditioning in this gym today.

You know, I love that experience.

When you get home, you shower and you get to sleep in your own

bed. People who tell you that camping

and sleeping work together, they're lying.

It does not. You can only sleep when you get

home. Everyone knows that.

Here's the thing, this picture of the Christian life, it's one

of a big camping trip. It's one where we're pilgrims

walking through the wilderness, not home yet.

Parents, one way to get this in your kids bones.

This is a tip from Sunday school this morning.

Eric Beech said this. Read your kids pilgrims progress

written by another Puritan. That is a great allegory of what

the Christian life is. It's a pilgrimage.

It's from the city of Destruction, headed to the

Celestial City. The Christian life is in

between. We're not home yet, friend.

Reflect on your journey so far. In God's wisdom.

Where has he taken you? What are you could say your

stages? That'd make a good for a good

question. At the potluck after the

service, if you're sticking around, ask somebody who's

there. What are your stages?

Where's the Lord taking you? You know, for me it's cities.

Worthington, MN where I was born, where I think I became a

Christian. Kansas City where formative

years of my Christian life were lived.

A brief stint in Fayetteville, AR where I grew a ton because of

a faithful local church. Dubai United Remembrance. 7

years there with dear friends and a dear church. 5 months

formative months at in Washington DC at a great church

there. Now here in Durham slash Chapel

Hill we're technically right on the border and I live right over

there so Durham is technically part of my journey.

Good churches along the way too. I am so thankful for Unity

University Baptist Church in Fayetteville, AR and Covenant

Hope church in Dubai and Capital Baptist Church in Washington DC

and Trinity Baptist Church here. So many Christians who have

helped me along the way. I couldn't name them all.

I miss many of them dearly. What about you?

What are your stages? Where has the Lord brought you

through? Where has He brought you from?

The Lord leads us through every stage, and every stage is a

further departure towards our final destination.

Sometimes in this journey, we feel confused or lost.

Sometimes it feels like we got off on the wrong stop, like

we're staring at a dead end, like we're in the middle of the

valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes it feels like we wish

we could go back, but we can only go forward.

Brothers and sisters, keep walking by faith, not by sight.

In 1761, John Newton encouraged his friend.

When you get to heaven, you will not complain of the way by which

the Lord brought you. He who has been with us thus far

will be with us to the end. Christian, you're a Pilgrim.

You're just passing through and you're on a holy path.

And that's really what the next 5 speeches are about.

Holiness. After the Lord recounts their

journey, he speaks to Moses. Five more times in the book of

Numbers, five more speeches. You can see those speeches.

Each one begins with the Lord spoke to Moses.

Chapter 33, verse 50. Chapter 34, Verse 1, Chapter 34,

Verse 16, Chapter 35, verse 1, Chapter 35, verse 95.

Speeches, each with instructions, looking West of

the Jordan, life in the promised land.

That's what the five speeches are about.

Here's a brief recap. There's actually a pretty clear

logical ordering of the speeches.

The first speech, they're told they must drive out the

inhabitants and destroy all the idols of the land.

The second speech, they're then given the boundaries of the

land. So once the inhabitants are

removed, here are the boundaries of the land.

In the third speech, they're told how they can divide the

land among the tribes, and in the fourth speech, once the land

is divided, cities need to be chosen to give to the Levites to

care for them. And the 5th and final speech, of

those Levitical cities, some will function as cities of

refuge. Now what's the point though of

these five speeches? If you look at chapter 35, the

last verse says the point, chapter 35, verse 34, you shall

not defile the land in which you live in the midst of which I

dwell, For I, the Lord dwell in the midst of the people of

Israel. The reason the Lord was giving

them the promised land was so that they could dwell with Him.

In other words, the point of the land was the Lord.

The land was a gift that pointed to the gracious giver of all

gifts. And because there was, because

their Lord was a holy God, they were told to rid themselves of

all idolatry and to continue to make sure that they themselves

were wholly devoted to Him. Friends, the glory of heaven.

It's not ultimately reuniting with loved ones, though that

will be a sweet reunion. It's not ultimately that there's

no more sin, though. Imagine that day, the glory of

heaven, the goodness of heaven. The point of heaven is God

himself. In high school I remember

conversation with friends and they they asked the question,

would you go to heaven if God wasn't there?

Friends, heaven is in heaven if God is not there.

Everything good about heaven flows from the presence of our

holy God. We're pilgrims on a holy path.

We're heading to our holy God, and we reflect that heavenly

hope today by walking in holiness.

Like Israel was called to drive out the inhabitants of the land

to destroy all the idols. We can't grow complacent in

mortifying our sinful nature. It's a cancer.

It will spread throughout our bodies and into our churches.

It must be put to death. What does holy holiness look

like as you walk to heaven? Holiness looks like taking every

aspect of your life and then devoting it to the Lord.

Your home, your family, your career, your work, your

relationship with your colleagues, your quiet moments

when you're alone with your thoughts, your future and

devoting it to the Lord. Lord, this belongs to you.

Lord, this is yours. Heavenly hope changes your

present day behaviour. It causes you to think about

every weight that you have, to consider every sin that clings

so closely that's keeping you from dwelling with the Lord.

It's remembering that the Lord's dwelling with you even now.

As Jesus said to us, Behold, I'm with you always, even to the end

of the age. How does knowing that Christ is

dwelling with you now help you walk a holy life today?

Are you aware of various of your life that you've sectioned off

from Christ, from holiness? Are you aware of patterns of

thought that continue in your heart that you need to devote to

the Lord? Once again, pilgrims regularly

re evaluate their path. Am I headed on the right

direction? Am I walking in holiness today?

Friends, we've covered 3 pictures.

We're soldiers in a battle. We're citizens of a heavenly

Kingdom. We're pilgrims on a holy path.

Here's the 4th. The final one turn to chapter

36, where a bride awaiting her groom, Chapter 36 where a bride

awaiting her groom. In chapter 36, the daughters of

Zola Fahad desire life in the promised land with the Lord.

They represent Israel, they symbolize the Lord's faithful

bride. Look at chapter 36, The heads of

the father's houses of the clan of the people of Gilead, the son

of Machar, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the people of

Joseph, came near and spoke before Moses and before the

chiefs, the heads of the fathers houses of the people of Israel.

They said, the Lord commanded my Lord to give the land for

inheritance to Lot to the people of Israel.

And my Lord was commanded by the Lord to give the inheritance of

Zelophahad our brother, to his daughters.

But if they are married to any of the sons of the other tribes

of the people of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken

from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the

inheritance of the tribe into which they marry.

So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance.

And when the jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then

their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe

into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from

the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers.

And Moses commanded the people of Israel according to the words

of the Lord, saying, The tribe of the people of Joseph is

right. This is what the Lord commands

concerning the daughters of Zelophaha.

Let them marry whom they think best, only they shall marry

within the clan of the tribe of their father.

The inheritance of the people of Israel shall not be transferred

from one tribe to another. For every one of the people of

Israel shall hold on to the inheritance of the tribes of his

father's. And every daughter who possesses

an inheritance in any tribe of the people of Israel shall be

wife to one of the clan of the tribe of her father, so that

every one of the people of Israel may possess the

inheritance of his father's. So no inheritance shall be

transferred from one tribe to another.

For each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on

to its own inheritance. Verse 10.

The daughters of Zelophah did as the Lord commanded Moses.

For Mala, Terza, Hogla, Milka, and Noah, the daughters of

Zelophah had were married to the sons of their fathers brothers.

They were married into the clans of the people of Manasseh, the

son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the

tribe of their father's clan. These are the commandments and

the rules that the Lord commanded through Moses to the

people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at

Jericho. If you remember back Genesis 17,

the Lord promised Abraham, I will give to you and to your

offspring after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land

of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.

Numbers 36 ends with more than a promise that the land will be

given. It ends with a promise that the

land will be preserved from one generation to the next.

Now, as you've probably noticed as I read, the keyword of this

chapter is inheritance. It's mentioned 17 times in 13

verses. The inheritance of the land will

be passed down for generations to come.

The gift of the land will be a lasting 1.

And we see all of this come through the daughters of

Zelophahan, if you remember them, Mala, Noah, Hogla, Milka,

and Teresa. Back in chapter 27, they faced a

problem. Their father had died, meaning,

and he also had no sons, which meant that they would not

receive the inheritance of the land.

They presented themselves to Israel's Supreme Court, to Moses

and to the leaders, and the decision was from the Lord that

they were right. But here they face another

problem. Their problem is that if they

marry outside of their clan, eventually their tribe will lose

the land. So again they appeal to Moses,

and the Lord says again, verse 5, they're right.

So the Lord commands the daughters to marry whomever they

think best, as long as it's someone in their tribe.

And the problem's resolved. Why does Moses choose to end the

Book of Numbers with the daughters of Zalufahad?

Why are they so important that they actually frame the second

generation? They're mentioned in chapter 27.

They're again here at chapter 36.

The reason is because if you remember from Numbers 11 to 25,

the first generation complained about the food, despise the

land, and in chapter 25 even committed spiritual adultery

against the Lord by bowing down to Baal.

And then in chapter 27 we were presented with the daughters of

Zola Fahad. They are presented as the

faithful bride of Israel, a picture of what the nation

should be, a people who have fearless faith, who long for

life with the Lord in the Promised land.

And here in chapter 36, Israel is on the verge of the Promised

Land. They're about to experience life

with the Lord forever in their home, with their divine husband.

It's no coincidence then, that the book concludes by

referencing the daughters of Salafah had and their marriages.

They represent Israel, the faithful bride of the Lord.

You know, I remember waiting for my wedding day.

Hannah and I got married March 19th, 2016.

It's also our Wi-Fi password. It's an easy way to remember

your anniversary. I tried to marry Hannah many

years before then. That's another story.

We eventually dated for six months around, engaged for five

months, married in a little barn in Fayetteville, AR.

I remember those months leading up, the anticipation, the

longing, the days could not fly by fast enough and then they

make you wait at the front as the bride comes in the room even

more. I remember when those doors

opened and their Hannah was and the waiting was over.

Friends were presented in the Scriptures as the bride awaiting

her groom. Whether you're single or married

or a man or a woman, the Bible depicts the church as the bride

of Christ. You know, the apostle John saw a

vision of that glorious day in Revelation 19.

He said. I heard what seemed to be the

voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters, and

like the sound of mighty peals of Thunder crying out.

Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and exalt and give Him the glory, for the

marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself

ready. Brothers and sisters, this is

the wedding that you've been waiting for.

That's the groom you were created for.

Jesus is the one that your soul longs for.

So how should we wait for that day?

Like the daughters of Zalufa hat with eager longing, with

courageous risk taking, with bold faith, our heart should cry

out, come, Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, these

things took place as examples for us.

Numbers was written to remind us that though we walk through the

wilderness, our wilderness days will soon be over, will soon

depart and dwell with the Lord forever.

Let's turn our hearts towards heaven more often as we

conclude. The Puritan Richard Baxter, the

brother who wrote that 800 page treatise on heaven.

His heart was turned towards heaven during the winter of 1647

when his nose started to bleed and the medical wisdom of the

day said that he had an excess of blood and so he opened up 4

veins followed by more blood. The loss of blood nearly killed

him and it was there on his deathbed that he began to write

what he initially intended to be his funeral sermon.

Those thoughts, those thoughts steadily grew into that best

seller on heaven, The Saints Everlasting Rest 800 pages,

reflecting on one verse of the Bible, Hebrews 49.

There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, and Baxter

dedicated the book to his beloved church members at

Kidderminster. The dedication reads written as

it were, by a man who was between living and dead.

He wrote in his book, Reader, take your heart once again and

lead it by the hand. Bring it to the top of the

highest mountain. Show it the Kingdom of Christ

and glory of it. Say to your heart all this will

your Lord bestow on you. It is the Father's good pleasure

to give you this Kingdom. Friends, don't settle for earth

when you were made for heaven. Let's pray.

Father, we pray for us as we journey to heaven together.

Lord, we pray you give our hearts hope.

Hope that Christ is with us now, hope that Christ will return.

And Lord, we pray that that hope would prepare us well as we show

concern and love for one another as we head to heaven together.

We pray in Jesus name, Amen.