24 ”Rest for the Blessed” Numbers 23:27 24:25 | Thursday, March 19, 2026

Amen. I encourage you to take your

prayer list and pray for your fellow

members here uh this coming week. Want

do want to mention that we do have

Easter tracks and door hangers as well

on the welcome table. Um we'll be doing

those next week, but there are some if

you want to do your own neighborhood,

your own block or whatever that might

be. We wanted to make those available to

you as well. Let's take our Bibles and

go to Numbers chapter 23.

Numbers 23 · chapter mention

Numbers 23 as we'll continue in our

series here through the book of Numbers,

God's way in life's wilderness. We're in

the account about uh Balum. Balam is a

pagan soothsayer who is hired by the

Moabites and the Midionites to curse

Israel in hopes of gaining an advantage

and victory over them. God, however,

told Balam not to curse Israel because

they are blessed. Balam decides to go

anyways and the Lord sends his angel to

get in his way with a drawn sword in his

hand. And Balam's donkey turns into the

wilderness and then crushes his foot

against the wall and then plops down

right underneath him. One of the most

humorous stories in the Bible. God opens

the mouth of the donkey. The donkey

begins to talk to Balam and be like,

"Why are you hitting me? Have I ever

acted this way?" And Balam says, "Well,

no." And then it says, "God opened his

eyes and he saw the angel of the Lord

and it says he fell flat on his face

before God." God told him to go ahead

and go, but only speak what the Lord

says. And so last week we looked at his

first two oracles that really were

designed to communicate this to Bailac

that Israel can't be cursed because

God's blessing can't be reversed. That's

what we saw in those first two oracles.

What we're looking at tonight is the

final oracles that Balam gives. It's

actually uh one oracle and then a series

of four at the very end. And what God is

doing is he's offering Israel some

assurance of the outcome of his

blessing. That's what we're looking at

tonight. So let's look at Numbers

Numbers 23 · chapter mention

chapter 23. We'll begin reading in verse

27. And then we'll read through the end

of chapter 24.

Bible says, "And Bailac said unto Balam,

come I pray thee, and I will bring thee

unto another place, per adventure it

will please God, that thou mayest curse

me them from thence." And Bailac brought

Balam unto the top of Peor that lookth

toward Jeson. And Balam said unto

Bailac, "Build me here seven altars, and

prepare me here seven bulocks, and seven

rams." And Bale did as Balam had said,

and offered a bulock and a ram on every

altar. And when Balam saw that it went

that it pleased the Lord to bless

Israel, he went not as other times to

seek for enchantments, but he set his

face toward the wilderness. And Balam

lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel

abiding in his tents according to their

tribes. And the spirit of God came upon

him. And he took up his parable and

said, Balam the son of Bor hath said,

and the man whose eyes are open hath

said, he hath said, which heard the

words of God, which saw the vision of

the Almighty, falling into a trance, but

having his eyes open. How goodly are thy

tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O

Israel. As the valleys are they spread

forth, as gardens by the river's side,

as the trees of lime alows which the

Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees

beside the waters. He shall pour the

water out of his buckets, and his seed

shall be in many waters, and his king

shall be higher than Aag, and his

kingdom shall be exalted. God brought

him forth out of Egypt. He hath as it

were the strength of a unicorn. He shall

eat up the nations, his enemies, and

shall break their bones and pierce them

through with his arrows. He couched. He

lay down as a lion, and as a great lion,

who shall stir him up? Blessed is he

that blessth thee, and cursed is he that

cursseth thee? And Balac's anger was

kindled against Balam. And he smote his

hands together. And Bailac said unto

Balam, I called thee to curse mine

enemies, and behold, thou hast

altogether blessed them these three

times. Therefore now flee thou into thy

place. I thought to promote thee unto

great honor, but lo, the Lord hath kept

thee back from honor. And Balam said

unto Bailac, "Spake I not also to thy

messengers, which thou sentest unto me,

saying, If Bailac would give me his

house full of silver and gold, I cannot

go beyond the commandment of the Lord to

do either good or bad of mine own." But

what the Lord saith, that will I speak.

And now, behold, I go unto my people.

Come therefore, and I will advertise

thee what this people shall do to thy

people in the latter days." And he took

up his parable and said, "Balam the son

of Bor hath said, and the man whose eyes

are opened hath said, he hath said,

which heard the words of God, and knew

the the knowledge of the most high,

which saw the vision of the Almighty

falling into a trance, but having his

eyes open. I shall see him, but not now.

I shall behold him, but not nigh. There

shall come a star out of Jacob, and a

scepter shall rise out of Israel, and

shall smite the corners of Moab, and

destroy all the children of Sheth. And

Edom shall be a possession. Seir also

shall be a possession for his enemies.

And Israel shall do valiantly. Out of

Jacob shall come he that shall have

dominion, and shall destroy him that

remainth of the city. And when he looked

on Amalecch, he took up his parable and

said, "Amalec was the first of the

nations, but his latter end shall be

that he perish forever." And he looked

upon the Kennites, and took up his

parable, and said, Strong is thy

dwelling place. Thou putest thy nest in

a rock. Nevertheless, the Kennites shall

be wasted until Asher shall carry thee

away captive. And he took up his parable

and said, 'Alas, who shall live when God

doeth this? And ships shall come from

the coast of Kdum and shall afflict

Asher and shall afflict Eber, and he

also shall perish forever. And Balam

rose up and went and returned to his

place. And Bailac also went his way.

Interesting and somewhat difficult

language and terms to understand. And

that's because this is poetic

parallelism in this discourse that he is

giving. It's not always the way that we

talk, but I believe that God will help

us to make it clear what he's getting

across. So the title of our message

tonight is rest for the blessed. Rest

for the blessed. And so let's pray one

more time. Ask God to help us. Lord, I

just want to ask you one more time to

give us clarity on this text. I need

your help to speak it in a way that

would be clear and in a way that would

be practical and helpful. And certainly

we want to glorify our savior Jesus

through it. For every word of God will

ultimately speak toward him. And so help

us to do that just tonight. In Jesus

name I pray. Amen.

Whenever you're worn out, what's the one

thing that you really want? It's rest,

right? Just long for rest. ice cream.

Okay, that's one thing that you could

want. But I would say most of us would

probably say rest. I mean, think about

when you get home from a 12-hour shift

at work, your feet are sore, your ankles

are popping, your knees are aching, and

and you're you're you might have a

headache as you're heading home, or it

might be that you even dozed off a

little bit as you were heading home

because you're just exhausted. Well,

then you can come home and when you get

home, your wife's ready to talk, the

kids are ready to play, the dogs up in

your face, and and you're just like,

"Man, just give me a moment here to kick

back and rest." That's how we can feel.

Or after a long week of work and study

and exams and projects, you maybe clock

out on Friday and you're coming to the

weekend and you sometimes the only thing

that really sounds appealing to you is

the pillow and your bed. just want to

get some sleep. Or you might go on a

Disney vacation, you know, because you

go on vacation to rest, right? And so

you go to Disney and you do three parks

in three days and you're you've walked,

you know, dozens of miles throughout the

course of that week. And if you don't

take a couple days at the end of that

week to rest and recover, by the time

you get home and you head back to work,

you'll feel like you just want to go

back and get some rest. That's what

you're still longing for. Well, just as

we long for rest when we are worn out,

after 40 years of wilderness wanderings,

Israel is worn out. I think as we've

come through this journey with Israel,

we could see many of the reasons why

they, as a nation, have endured slavery

for 430 years. They've wandered in the

desert for 40 years, camping out,

scraping and clawing for resources,

enduring rebellion, plagues, suffering,

and death in the wilderness. They've

been opposed by their brothers, the

They faced some battles. They've walked

thousands of miles and have dealt with

hunger and thirst plenteously along the

way. And I think it'd be safe to say

that they were worn out. And what their

souls are really long for at this stage

of the journey as they are right on the

other side of the Jordan River is for

that land of rest that has been promised

to their fathers. That's what they're

longing for. But we know of course that

what stands between them and rest is the

book of Joshua. Battles to fight, giants

to face, walls to destroy. There's a lot

that they are facing ahead, cities to

conquer. and and it's kind of like

coming home from a long day expecting to

rest only to find conflict. That's what

it feels like at the end of this

journey. And you know what? That's a lot

of times what the Christian life is

like, isn't it? There are times in our

lives when we can be worn down by

whether it's work or whether it's

conflict in our lives or whether it's uh

just the the daily struggle of life, the

battles that we face. We're we're

longing for rest and then another battle

comes. Another battle battles with sin,

battles with spiritual opposition or

internal fleshly demons, so to speak,

dark thoughts,

wars with anger, lust, pride,

selfishness.

That's what we face. We face financial

hardships, failing health, check engine

lights,

you know, and it seems like just as you

come through one thing, you're coming

into another thing. That's a lot of

times how the Christian life feels. And

sometimes we can feel so worn down by

the battles that we wonder if victory is

even achievable. If I'm going to get

through this, how am I ever going to

overcome sin? Will will evil ever leave

me alone and stop tempting me and stop

oppressing me? Will I ever find the rest

my soul is longing for? That's what we

could ask to. Well, in this text

tonight, the Lord is offering assurance

of victory to his weary people. He wants

Israel to understand from these final

oracles that they can have assurance of

victory to come. That as they go in to

conquer the promised land, they can know

that victory will be achieved. And it's

because of these two promises that God

gives to Israel in these oracles. Now,

you might say, "I don't see Israel in

this text. This is Balum talking to

Bailac, the king of Moab. And so, what

does Israel have to do with this?" Well,

who's reading numbers for the first

time? Israel. And so, what's the reality

is is camped down here in the valley.

And something is going on up in the

mountain that at this point they don't

even know about.

But they're going to find out. And the

way they're going to find out is because

of the sin that takes place in the next

chapter. And it's going to reveal later

in chapter 31 that Balam counseledled

Bailac to send Israel into this sin. You

can't curse him, so you might as well

destroy him from within. That was kind

of what happened. And so they're going

to learn about Balum, and they're going

to learn about what was going on. And as

they come through this, they realize

through these oracles that Balum makes

under the spirit of God's power that God

has promises for them. These promises

are meant to assure them of present

victories.

But I want to tell you today that we're

not just here to talk about Israel. Of

course, God's word is profitable for all

of us for instruction. We saw in 1

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 10 that Paul refers

to a number of things here in the

wilderness journey. And it says these

were our examples that we should not sin

as they sinned but that we should trust

God. And so we understand that numbers

has valuable truth for us today.

And the truth for us is found in the

same promises that were given to them.

What are they? Well, let's look at them

together. I want you to see first of all

that to assure Israel of victory, the

Lord promised a guaranteed rest. a

guaranteed rest. What happens here? I'm

going to do this like we did last week

and kind of summarize the narrative side

of things. It's kind of like same story,

second, third, and fourth verse. So, I'm

just going to summarize these things.

We're really going to focus on the

prophetic oracles that uh Balam gives

off here. And so, Bailac takes Balam to

yet another place. This is what he's

done. We'll try to curse them from here.

Okay. Can't curse them from there. Let's

go over here and try to curse. Nope.

Can't curse them from there. So now he's

saying, "All right, well, let's go over

to this place and maybe it will please

God." This is what Bail's asking. Maybe

it will please God to curse them from

there. And so he takes him there and he

goes through the whole sacrificial

system again of seven rams and seven

bulocks on seven altars. And then Balam

uh sees, however, as we move into

chapter 24, that it pleased God to bless

Israel. He understands this because of

what God told him initially, but then

also because of the angel of the Lord

that stood in his way. And now through

these first two oracles, he understands

there's no enchantment, there's no

magical curse or spell, no amount of

divination that I can do to move God to

curse this people. They're blessed. He's

made up his mind. So it says that

instead of this time seeking after

enchantments that this time he just set

his face toward the wilderness and he

looked at Israel and it says that the

spirit of God came upon him. And so this

is not a prophetic oracle that comes

from his own divination or enchantments.

This comes straight from God.

It says that he takes up his parable and

the Lord gives him this vision of

Israel's future and it begins to show

and let me just give you kind of what

this vision is in a nutshell. Israel

will flourish into a powerful kingdom of

rest. That's what it communicates.

Israel will flourish into a powerful

kingdom of rest. So let's look at it

together in verse number three. and he

took up his parable and said, and I want

you to notice this. This is going to

echo back to when the Lord got in his

way and he fell flat on his face and he

saw the angel of the Lord, which is like

a visible manifestation of God there

with a sword drawn in his hand. And so,

it's going to echo back to some of that,

but I want you to notice the that what

this is doing is it's like piling on

affirmation that this came from God. It

says uh it says there in verse number

three, Balam the son of Bor hath said

and the man whose eyes are open hath

said he hath said which heard the words

of God which saw the vision of the

almighty falling into a trance but

having his eyes open. The idea is of

falling into a trance is that he's not

in control right now. Why? The spirit of

God has come upon him is what it says uh

back in verse number two. And so as the

spirit of God comes upon him, he is

speaking on God's behalf. And he says

this in verse 5, "How goodly are thy

tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O

Israel." So he's looking out in the

wilderness. And it tells us that he sees

Israel camping tribe by tribe. And

you'll remember that arrangement from

the beginning of numbers where you've

got uh God's tabernacle in the middle.

The cloud of God's glory is over it and

then you've got the kind of like a

square formation here that as they are

camped around the tabernacle of God. And

so he sees their encampment and he says,

"Man, this is beautiful. This is

beautiful. How goodly are thy tents and

thy tabernacles, oh Jacob." And so this

tells us this first part is going to be

talking about the camp of Israel. And

here's what he says in verse 6. As the

valleys are they spread forth as gardens

by a river's side, as the trees of lines

which the Lord hath planted, and as

cedar trees beside the waters. You get

this picture here. This big beautiful

lush green valley, a a flowing river

coming through it, trees flourishing

around it, the fragrant of these the

fragrance of these line allows. And so

he he is seeing Israel as a lush

flourishing camp. They have multiplied

and they are spreading forth throughout

this valley. And really what this is is

it is a present blessing of promise

fulfilled. That what he is proclaiming

here is that God has multiplied them

just as he said he would to Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob. He's fulfilled that

promise. Now, just as we've seen in

these previous oracles, it focuses here

on the fulfilled promise of God that

they are a lush, thriving, flourishing

kingdom. But now it's going to say that

they will be a powerful kingdom of rest.

It says in verse 7, he shall pour the

water out of his buckets. That's like an

abundance of of water that that he's

going to overflow the bucket here and

his seed shall be in many waters. And so

the idea is that it's going to continue

to flourish. It's going to continue to

grow. It's going to continue to to flow.

And then it says, "And his king shall be

higher than Aag, and his kingdom shall

be exalted." Aag is like a title of the

Amalachite kings, just like Pharaoh was

a title of the Egyptian kings. And so

it's talking about this Aagite dynasty

here that would have been very powerful.

And if you remember who Amalecch is,

Amalecch is that nomadic tribal

scavenger group that attacked Israel in

the wilderness. and they they they

prayed on the weak and on the feeble and

the old that were in the back, you know.

And so God said, I'm going to have war

with Amalecch throughout her

generations. And so this is this is

saying that there's a king that's going

to come who's going to overpower this

Amalachite dynasty. It says his kingdom

shall be exalted above the others.

Here's the question. How will this

nomadic tribe of Israelites

continue to grow and flourish into an

exalted kingdom with an exalted king?

Verse number eight, God brought him

forth out of Egypt. He hath as it were

the strength of a unicorn. We talked

about this last week. This is not a

magical horse with a rainbow horn coming

out of its snout. This word translated

unicorn is a wild, untameable,

undomemesticated ox that if you can

imagine like the bull riding ones where

where they're just going crazy and

bucking and and the idea of the horns is

that it's got these massive ferocious

horns that push everything out of the

way. Balam says under the spirit of God,

that is what their God is like. that as

he brought them out of Egypt and has

brought them through the wilderness and

is bringing them into Canaan, he is

going before them like this ferocious

beast and he's knocking everything out

of their way. That's how they're going

to grow. That's how they're going to

flourish. Not because of who they are or

what they've done, but because of who

God is and what God does. The result of

God leading them forth is this. He shall

eat up the nations, his enemies, and

shall break their bones and pierce them

through with his arrows. All of this

language is not the language of

continual battle. It's of finished

battle. It's of conquering. It's of

destroying their enemies. And so,

because God is leading their way, Israel

is going to conquer.

And so, so then here is the end result

of this. In verse 9, he couched. The

idea is that he kneelled down. The

imagery here is of a lion. So I want you

to think for a moment. Get the image of

your mind as we saw in the oracle last

week when the lion rose up and the lion

went out and would not return and rest

until he had conquered his prey. That's

what we saw last week. And now this week

he says he's coming back and he's

kneeling down and he's lying down. And

who shall stir him up? Now, this is

interesting. This is a direct quote from

Jacob's blessing upon Judah at his

deathbed in Genesis 49. Direct quote. It

says, "Judah is like a couching lion.

And as a great lion, who shall rouse him

up?" is how it's worded in Genesis

Genesis 49 · chapter mention

chapter 49. What this is doing, what

Israel would catch from this is that

this is talking about a lion king who

would rise up from the tribe of Judah

and would lead Israel into battle and

his brethren would go behind him. Now,

by this point in the narrative, we have

found that Judah is the captain of

Israel. That Judah is the one leading

the way. They're the first one to go out

in the camp. They're the one who camps

uh closest to the tabernacle. They're

the banner that leads the way. And so

Judah is now rising to the top here. And

they are recognizing this that with God

leading our way as an ox and with the

lion of Judah leading our way as a king,

we are all going to lie down and rest in

this exalted kingdom. See what God's

telling him? Rest is coming. Rest is

guaranteed. This is the promise of God.

the king will be exalted. You will

conquer your enemies and you will lie

down with him to rest. And then he

finishes off with this familiar refrain.

Blessed is he that blesseth thee and

cursed is he that cursseeth thee. Those

who lie down in this kingdom of rest

under the reigning king will be blessed

with Israel. But those who stand against

this king and this kingdom like Moab and

the Midionites and the Amalocites, they

will come under a curse.

And so the Lord's promise here to Israel

is a guaranteed rest. And his desire is

that this guaranteed rest would assure

them of promised victory to come. Why?

Because how are they going to lie down

and rest in this land? How is this king

going to be exalted and this kingdom be

lifted up? How is that going to happen

unless Israel has a successful conquest

of the land? That's God's exact point.

To assure them of victory by promising

them a guaranteed rest. The outcome of

God's blessing is that their enemies

will be defeated and they will lie down

to rest. And this future outcome can

give them assurance of victory today.

That they can have victory over Moab.

They can face the Amalachites and the

Canaanites and trust that walls will

come down and giants will fall and

armies will be destroyed. Because just

as God has fulfilled his promise to

multiply Israel into this flourishing

nation, they can trust that God's going

to fulfill this promise to bring victory

and rest. So therefore, fight these

battles today because on the other side

is a lasting rest. That's the first

promise the Lord gives, guaranteed rest.

But Balam has another oracle to give.

And in this second oracle, it provides a

promise to assure them of how that rest

will really come. And so to assure

Israel of victory. Number two, the Lord

promised not only a guaranteed rest, but

he promises them a guaranteed rain. A

guaranteed rain is coming. Bailac is

furious

in the middle. I I don't I almost wonder

if this last series of oracles was

actually part of the first because

Bailac claps his hands in the middle of

this thing as he's blessed is he that

blesseth thee and cursed is he that

curse thee. And it says bail smoked his

hands together. Hey, knock it off. I've

hired you to bless them and you've

cursed them these three times now. He

said, I would have given you great

honor, but the Lord has kept you back

from honor. Balam reiterates, I've told

you and I told your messengers, even if

you gave me your household of silver and

gold, I could only say what the Lord

tells me to say. Balam says,"All right,

I'll go my own way. I'll return to my

people. But I've got a final word for

you. I'm going to tell you what this

people shall do to your people in the

latter days. Emphasize that word, the

latter days. That means later, not now.

It could, but it also has this

connotation of in the future, but also

in the end times. And so it signals to

us early on that what we're about to

hear has a distant uh fulfillment, but

then it also has an even more distant

fulfillment, an already but not yet idea

to this. And so let's look at this final

oracle here in verse 15.

It says he took up his parable and said

once again, Balam the son of BR hath

said and the man whose eyes are open

hath said he hath said which heard the

words of God and knew the knowledge of

the most high which saw the vision of

the almighty falling into a trance but

having his eyes open. Again, this comes

from God. Notice verse 17. I shall see

him but not now. I shall behold him but

not nigh. He says, "I I see somebody

coming, but he's not coming yet." Well,

exactly who is it? He says, "A star.

There shall come a star out of Jacob."

Now, the heathen nations would use the

word star to symbolically represent a

king. And so, in his own understanding,

he recognizes that a king is coming. But

then it uses this word and a scepter

shall rise out of Israel. And so you

have this word scepter which is the

royal staff. Now if you were to go back

to Genesis 49 in the very same blessing

that Jacob gives to Judah, he tells them

this. The scepter shall not depart from

the house of Judah until Shiloh come.

Shiloh is a Hebrew word that means the

one to whom it belongs. And so what that

means is Judah is going to be a

placeholder for a king to come. But then

that even that king who receives the

scepter will be a placeholder for

another king to come. And so Balum is

saying here that there is a king coming

from Israel. And what will this king do?

It says there in verse 17, "He shall

smite the corners of Moab and destroy

all the children of Sheth." Now, there's

debate here about all these different

names and groups because some of these

names share part of the Semitic line,

the descendants of Sheim, which were

blessed by God. And so, you're looking

at this and and wondering, is this

talking about the children of Seth or or

And so, there's different ones that

we're going to see that. But what I want

you to understand in this poetic

parallelism is when two names are given,

they're referring to the same people.

Israel and Jacob, Moab and Sheth, Seir

and Edom, those both represent the

Uh you'll have Asher and Eber.

And so these are not those those

descendants that were blessed under

Shem. the we are to understand that

these are different tribal groups in

this immediate area that are

interrelated to each other somehow. And

so what he's saying here is here's what

what the king is going to do to you bail

and your people. He's going to smite all

four corners. You know what that means?

Total destruction. Is to conquer you.

And then in verse 18, Edom who opposed

Israel in the way. These are the

descendants of Esau, Jacob's twin

brother who had the blessing of God. And

yet what we find is because of the

rejection and oppression of

Israel, they lose the blessing. That's

why you have that prophetic statement in

Micah that says, "Jacob have I loved,

Esau have I hated." That it's because

Edom made a conscious decision to oppose

God's people and their brothers. And

therefore God brings them under this

same curse that Edom will be a

possession and Seir will be a possession

for his enemies. And it says this,

Israel shall do valiantly. They're going

to conquer valiantly. It says in verse

number 19, because out of Jacob shall

come he that shall have dominion. He

will reign and shall destroy him that

remainth of the city. Then he sets his

eyes upon different tribal groups in

that area. In verse 20, when he looked

on Amalecch,

that pesty group that continually fought

against Israel and picked them off and

and and and just went after them, the

one that God said, "I'll have war with

them." It says that this king is going

to come up. And it says, "Amalecch was

the first of the nations, but his latter

end shall be that he shall perish

forever. Destruction." Verse 21. and he

looked upon the Kennites. Now, this is

is a little strange because we've seen

the Kennites before.

Moses' father-in-law Jethro and his

brother-in-law Hobab are Kennites. And

so, these are people that have been

friendly to the Israelites. They fall

under the group of the Midionites. But

the Midianites are conspiring in this as

well. And so, thus far, we've seen it

relatively favorably. And so look, it

says he took up his parable and said,

"Strong is thy dwelling place, and now

put us thy nest in a rock." Think about

an eagle's nest up on a cliff in safety

and protection from all the other

buzzards and thing animals that would

want to harm it. It's saying you have

this position that appears protected.

This position that appears strong, and

yet in verse 22, it says, "Nevertheless,

the Kennite shall be wasted until Asher

shall carry thee away captive." Then it

says, "And he took up his parable and

said, alas, who shall live when God

doeth this? God is doing something and

who stands a chance against him?" Says

in verse 24, "Ships shall come from the

coasts of Kdum." Kdum is a name that

refers to seafaring peoples. So it

whether it's the Philistines or people

from Tarses or from Cyprus or Cree or Ty

and Siden that they they would come and

they would afflict Asher. So now Asher

who carried away captive the Kennites he

is now being afflicted and and Eber

would be related to them. But then it

also says and he those of the coast of

Kdum shall perish forever. You know what

this looks like? Kingdoms are going to

rise

but they're all going to fall under this

king and under this people. And Balam

concludes goes his own way and Bailac

goes his own way.

All of this communicates

that this king who will come from Israel

of the lion of the tribe of Judah will

be empowered by God to conquer all of

Israel's enemies. And as verse 19 said,

he shall have dominion.

The king will reign and Israel will

rest.

That's God's message to them. Why?

because they got victories in or they

got battles in front of them. And God

wants them to know no matter how tall

the the walls are, no matter how huge

the giants are, no matter how vast the

armies are, no matter how strong and

fierce their weaponry may be, he wants

them to know that you are going to have

victory over every single one of them.

Why? Because God is bringing them out of

Egypt and into Canaan like this wild ox.

And he's going to push everything out of

the way that may get in the way. and

he's going to establish them in this

land and he's going to bring up a king

who will bring them to rest. The

question of course is who is this king?

Who is this king?

The specific king in view was David. Was

King David

because it was David who was chosen by

God of the tribe of Judah. It was David

who destroyed all of the Amalachites

except for 400 who escaped.

There was uh it was him who subdued the

Moabites, the and the

Philistines. It was David who conquered

valiantly and established the kingdom

and whose son Solomon inherited a

kingdom of peace and rest.

But that rest was short-lived

because David fell with Ba Sheeba. And

his family tail spun into wickedness and

immorality.

And his son Solomon turned to many women

and then turned to their gods. And the

kingdom was torn into. And nobody from

that Davidic line ever lived up to all

that Balum said here.

Therefore, the prophets, inspired by

God, came to the conclusion that a

greater son of David would come and

would finish the job and would conquer

their enemies and secure eternal rest

for his people. And what the Lord is

giving Israel is the assurance of

victory today by promising a guaranteed

rest under a guaranteed reign.

And that promise to them because of the

fallenness of David and of his line has

been brought to us today in his son

Jesus Christ.

The Lord assures you and I of victories

today by promising us as well a

guaranteed rest under Christ's

guaranteed reign. We have the same

promises to us and the same asurances of

victory today because Jesus came from

the house of David and from the tribe of

Judah. And he rode on a donkey into

Jerusalem to bring rest to the kingdom

of Israel. But of course, we know

according to God's divine plan, they

rejected his reign. They crucified him.

But they did not take his life. For he

laid down his life for himself, for our

sin. And he paid the price for all of

our sin, for all of humanity in all of

time through the singular,

allsufficient, perfect, sinless

sacrifice of his own body and his own

blood. And his blood is the atonement

for all of our sin. But the third day,

God raised him from the dead. And 40

days later, he ascended into heaven. And

where was he seated? on a throne. Do you

know what that means? He reigns even

now. And because he reigns today, you

can have rest today. See, this is not

just a promise for off in the future.

This is a promise that makes a

difference in your life today. Because

in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse number

Hebrews 4 · chapter mention

three, it says, "For we which have

believed do enter into rest." The

context of that verse is the wilderness

context. The generation that could not

go in because of unbelief. The author

uses that to show that the way we enter

into the final Sabbath rest of God is

through Jesus Christ. It's through faith

in him. And so therefore, in one sense,

if you have trusted Jesus as your

savior, then you have already entered

into what is called Sabbath rest. It is

a rest you have when works have ceased.

>> You see that means that your salvation

is not dependent on what you do, but

it's dependent on what Christ has done

already for you. He conquered sin when

he died on the cross. He conquered death

when he rose from the dead. And so

therefore, we do not strive to be holy

or to live righteously in order to

obtain a greater blessing from God, a

greater favor from God, a greater

acceptance from God, or a greater rest

from God. Because all of that has been

secured through the finished work of

Jesus Christ. The reason we live holy

and blamelessly in this ungodly present

world is not to be in God's favor or to

have God's rest but because we are in

God's favor and we do have God's rest.

It should be the natural response of

believers to enjoy God's rest in

obedience to Jesus Christ.

Why?

Because Jesus reigns.

Because Jesus reigns, you can rest.

Well, then why do so many Christians

struggle to be at rest? You ever been

there before where you feel restless as

a Christian?

Where you you don't feel good in your

conscience? you you you don't feel like

you're really resting assured in your

relationship with God. Well, I just

wonder that perhaps it could be because

spiritually speaking, we go to Disney,

we call that rest.

What do you mean by that? I mean this,

some Christians turn to pornography and

fornication and adultery and call that

satisfaction

because they pursue money endlessly,

wearing themselves out with no

relationship with God, never reading

God's word, never spending time in

prayer, missing worship all of the time,

and call that pursuit of money. That's

the fulfillment that I'm longing for.

That's where I think I'll really find

rest. Building that massive retirement

portfolio so they can travel all around

the world to the neglect of their

relationship with God. And they think

that is what will satisfy me. Some go to

alcohol and say because it feels good to

just have that buzz. Some will smoke

weed and just say just to let the cares

of life go and just to to just veg out

for a little bit. Some will turn to the

TV just constantly and to their screens

all of the time thinking that that is

what will provide them rest. And yet,

you know what happens? Try to sit still

for five minutes with nothing in your

hands

and you get restless. Why?

We're going to things other than Jesus

thinking they'll provide satisfaction.

They'll provide fulfillment. They'll

provide the rest that our weary souls

are longing for. We have this tendency

in our fallen fleshly nature to think

that real rest is found somewhere

outside of Christ's reign. When what the

scripture says is that real rest is

found under Christ's reign. When Christ

reigns, you find rest.

Can I ask you, does Christ reign over

your life?

Does he have dominion

over your family, your home, your bank

accounts?

Does he have dominion over what you do

with your time? Does he have dominion

over your body? Does he get to tell you

what you do with your life? Are you

under his reign? I truly hope that you

see that you can have rest, but it'll

only be when Christ reigns.

But this rest that we experience today

is only partial, isn't it?

Because just when you feel like you have

rest,

here comes another battle,

another struggle with sin, another

temptation,

another another negative thought,

another time of depression, another time

of anxiety, another time of panic. And

just when you feel like you should be

settling in and should be having rest,

you just continue to face conflict with

this world of darkness. Listen, we have

a measure of rest right now because

Christ presently reigns. But we will

rest fully when Christ returns.

It's when he returns. See, Jesus can

return at any moment. And when he does,

he will conquer every evil king, every

evil kingdom, and every evil soul with

the word of his mouth. We won't have to

worry about nukes when Christ returns.

>> We won't have to worry about soldiers

giving their lives on the battlefield.

When Christ returns, that'll be done. We

won't have to worry about terrorism,

car bombs. We won't have to worry about

the violence in our streets anymore

because it will all be conquered. He

will cast Satan and every false religion

and every false prophet and every wicked

soul into the lake of fire. And he will

even cast death and the grave into the

lake of fire. Death will be no more. No

more funerals.

Praise God. No more miscarriages.

No more losing and burying your children

or your parents or your spouse. No more

of that. Death will be finished. He will

abolish sin, pain, and suffering

forever. And he will create a new heaven

and a new earth where Jesus reigns, God

abides, and you rest. That's what's

coming.

That's God's promise.

His promise to Israel then still remains

for us today.

You have a guaranteed rest under a

guaranteed reign. And may those

guarantees assure your soul as you face

the battles of today.

You can look sin in the eye

and say, "Christ has conquered you.

You're powerless in my life.

You don't determine what I do today. I

know that he reigns. I know the rest is

coming. sin. You will not win this fight

today because I am bowing my knees

before the lion of the tribe of Judah.

Jesus is my king.

When death comes, you can face it

without fear, knowing just on the other

side is rest and glory.

When Satan opposes you, oppresses you,

or haunts you with dark thoughts,

or with bitter thoughts of your past

life,

you can declare that sin has been

conquered by your king.

If God doesn't hold it over your head,

neither should you. It's finished in

Christ.

Today, you may have seen this

uh but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Nau paraphrased from Will Durant's book,

The Lessons of History,

and was acknowledging a somewhat what

what we see as true in history. And this

was his paraphrase. This is not the

direct quote of the book, but he said

this. History proves that unfortunately

and unhappily, Jesus Christ has no

advantage over Genghask Kong. Because if

you are strong enough, ruthless enough,

powerful enough, evil will overcome

good.

That's what history looks like, doesn't

it?

Evil reigns.

David would ask, "Why the wicked prosper

while I'm out here in this cave fending

for my life?"

Sometimes it sure feels like evil

overcomes good,

but that's not true. Because we know

that in the end, we have a promise. evil

will be destroyed. Righteousness will

prevail and we will rest because Christ

will overcome evil.

There's much advantage to Christ being

your king. And so I just want to

encourage you believers, fight today's

battles with faith,

knowing that rest is guaranteed

under the reign of Jesus Christ.

Can I ask you finally tonight

if you know for sure that you will enter

that rest?

Because what Hebrews tells us is that

the only way to enter that rest is

through faith in Christ. It's not our

good works. It's not our religious

performance. It's not even our baptism

or our church membership. It exclusively

boils down to whether or not you have

trusted in Christ alone for your eternal

salvation. He alone paid the price. He

said his final words on the cross, "It

is finished.

Done. Paid in full. Nothing left to do

to trust him tonight.

Works will cease

and you can rest in his salvation.

And then you can fight those battles

against sin, against those personal

demons, so to speak, the conflict in

your life with the assurance that you

will rest and Christ will reign. So I

encourage you to trust him today. Our

heavenly