["Pomp and Circumstance"]
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136. Master, the tempest is raging, song number 136. We're gonna have to sing this one out with some passion, alright?
Song number 136 on the first.
Master, the tempest is raging The billows are tossing high
The sky is o'ershadowed with blackness No shelter or help is nigh
Carest thou not that we perish How canst thou lie asleep
When instrument so madly is standing The graven in achy deep
The winds and the rain shall obey My will, please be still
Whether the wrath of the storms or sea Or demons or men or whatever we be
No outer can swallow the shame where lies The master of ocean and earth and skies
They all shall sweetly obey thy will Please be still, please be still
They all shall sweetly obey my will Please, please be still
Sing one more song, brother Graham. 202. Song number 202.
This will be the last song for favorites.
My Redeemer, song number 202. Take it out on the first.
I will sing of my Redeemer And his wondrous love to me
On that cross he suffered From the curse that set me free
Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer With his love he pushes me
On that cross he sealed my pardon Gave the death and made me free
Amen. We're singing.
Amen. All right. Well, let's take our bulletins tonight.
We'll look at some announcements quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand
and one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we'll get one for you.
The thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly, and that's a good verse.
If you open up your bulletins, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning service, 10.30 a.m.
We had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service, of course.
And we encourage you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study at 7 p.m.
If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
And then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 p.m.
If you are a soul winner, please don't forget to add your salvations on the communication card so that we can update the bulletin
and also make sure you return the map.
If you have a map that you did not finish, just mark what was done, what was not done, you can return it in the bin in the foyer.
That way we can get it recycled and get it back out.
And of course, if you're running late to one of our soul winning times, you can call us or text us at the number there, 916-868-9080.
Let us know that you're planning on being there but you're running late.
That way we can have a partner and a map and everything that you need.
If you're a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we're glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the building tonight.
As you go out of our main foyer or our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up.
And on that table you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you.
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist. It's very well made, very interesting.
We think you'll like it and want to give us just a gift.
So please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin.
And if you need a pen, just raise your hand.
We can bring you by Verity Baptist Church pen.
We'd love to have a record of your attendance and we'd like to send you something as well but we need your info to do that.
So please take a moment to fill the card out.
When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song.
And when we're done singing, we'll receive the offering.
As the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate.
If you look at the announcements there, of course, we're a family integrated church.
Children and infants are always welcome in the service.
We don't separate children from their parents for any reason.
We do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for convenience.
So please make sure you use those if needed.
If you need to be baptized, you can let us know on your communication card as well from the Baptist Place if you check that off.
And we'll follow up with you in regards to that.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, we have our series that we're going through tonight.
We are in Chapter 2 of the Book of Numbers and I'm glad that you're here, of course, for that.
And then, of course, we have the Ladies' Tea and Mother's Day coming up.
All the ladies are invited to an afternoon tea in honor of Mother's Day.
That's Saturday, May 13th.
If you've not yet signed up, you can do that on your communication card and please do.
And if you'd like to help with the Ladies' Tea, there are volunteer opportunities in the main foyer.
There's a whole table set up with several different clipboards and you can help.
We could use the help.
My wife would use the help with all sorts of different things.
Washing tea cups, decorating, serving tea, helping clean up after the event, baking baked goods, bringing baked goods and stuff like that.
So if you could help us with that, please go by there and sign up.
And then, of course, Mother's Day is the next day, Sunday, May 14th, 1030 a.m.
We'll have the children's choir singing and we'll be giving out the t-shirts to all of the ladies.
And then tonight is the choir recording.
So make sure if you are part of the choir that you don't forget about this right after the service tonight, about 10 minutes after the service.
Just don't get distracted and miss it because they need to get in there and in the fellowship hall, it's all set up and ready to go.
You're going to record and this will happen three Sunday nights in a row.
So this is the first Sunday night.
So if you could help us with that, we'd appreciate it.
Children's choir, of course, they have practice at 515.
Homeschool group, they've got PE class this Thursday, April 27th.
There's other things there for you to look at.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of April.
This week we have Miss Lindsey Johnson's birthday on April 25th.
Brother Alan Courtney has a birthday on April 26th.
Noah Sweeten has a birthday on April 28th.
And Brother James and Miss April Villa have an anniversary on April 28th.
Praise report, money matters, all those things are there for you to look at.
And I think that's it for all of the announcements.
So we're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week as we prepare to receive the offering tonight.
And we'll sing, oh it is wonderful to be a Christian.
Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first.
Life has purpose now it never had before.
There is meaning to each day and even more.
For a joy and peace I can't explain is mine.
Since I found new life in Christ my Lord be mine.
Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian.
Oh it is wonderful to be God's child.
Oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven.
To be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled.
I can go directly to the Lord over here.
He has told me I may boldly enter there.
And he listens as his promises I give.
I find mercy there and grace for every man.
Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian.
Oh it is wonderful to be God's child.
Oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven.
To be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled.
Let's sing it out on the last.
And I hope when heaven's glory fills my soul.
Where I'll live with Christ forevermore I know.
That is why the things of earth I lose to.
I've eternal riches better more than you.
Oh it is wonderful to be a Christian.
Oh it is wonderful to be God's child.
Oh it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven.
Oh it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled.
Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for allowing us to gather tonight.
Lord, we pray that you'd bless the offering.
We pray that you'd bless the time set aside for a study of your word.
Lord, I pray that you'd help us to learn from Numbers chapter 2, to be encouraged by it.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Please open our eyes to Numbers chapter 2.
Numbers chapter 2, if you need a Bible you can put your hand up and an extra group will come by and bring you a Bible.
Numbers chapter 2, if you need a Bible keep your hand up and an extra group will come by.
Numbers chapter 2, we'll read the entire chapter as our custom.
Numbers 2, beginning in verse number 1.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the end sign of their father's house, far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.
And on the east side, toward the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies.
A nation the son of Amittadab shall be captain of the children of Judah.
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were threescore and fourteen thousand and six hundred.
And those that do pitch next unto him shall be the tribe of Issachar.
And Nethaneel the son of Zuar shall be captain of the children of Issachar.
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were fifty and four thousand and four hundred.
And then the tribe of Zebulun, and Eli the son of Helan shall be captain of the children of Zebulun.
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were fifty and seven thousand and four hundred.
All that were numbered in the camp of Judah were one hundred thousand and fourscore thousand and six thousand and four hundred throughout their armies.
These shall first set forth. On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies.
And the captain of the children of Reuben shall be Eliezer the son of Shaddiur.
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof, were forty and six thousand and five hundred.
And those which pitch by him shall be the tribe of Simeon.
And the captain of the children of Simeon shall be Shalumiel the son of Jerusalem.
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof of them, were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.
And then the tribe of Gad, and the captain of the sons of Gad shall be Elisaph the son of Reul.
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof of them, were forty and five thousand and six hundred and fifty.
All that were numbered in the camp of Reuben were one hundred thousand and fifty and one thousand and four hundred and fifty throughout their armies.
And they shall set forth in the second rank.
Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp.
As they in camp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.
On the west side shall be of the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies.
And the captain of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elisham the son of Amahud.
And his host, and those that were numbered thereof of them, were forty thousand and five hundred.
And by him shall be this tribe of Manasseh.
And the captain of the children of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Perazor.
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.
And then the tribe of Benjamin.
And the captain of the sons of Benjamin shall be Abiden the son of Gideoni.
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were thirty and five thousand and four hundred.
All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were one hundred thousand and eight thousand and one hundred.
Throughout their armies, and they shall go forward in the third rank.
The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north side by their armies.
And the captain of the children of Dan shall be Ahizer the son of Amishadeh.
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were threescore and two thousand and seven hundred.
And those that encamped by him shall be the tribe of Asher.
And the captain of the children of Asher shall be Pagiel the son of Ochran.
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were forty and one thousand and five hundred.
Then the tribe of Naphtali, and the captain of the children of Naphtali, shall be Ahire the son of Enon.
And his host, and those that were numbered of them, were fifty and three thousand and four hundred.
All they that were numbered in the camp of Dan were one hundred thousand and fifty and seven thousand and six hundred.
They shall go hindmost with their standards.
These are those which were numbered of the children of Israel by the house of their fathers.
All those that were numbered of the camps throughout their hosts were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel, as the Lord commanded Moses.
And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.
So they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward.
Everyone after their families, according to the house of their fathers.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening.
God, I thank you for your word, and for our church, for everyone that's here.
I ask that you please give us all a turn of hearts with a message tonight.
I ask that you please be with our pastor to strengthen him and fill him with his spirit.
Lord, we love you.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Alright, we're there in Numbers, chapter number two.
And of course, last Sunday night we began a new sermon series, a Bible study, in the book of Numbers.
And we are, of course, going to be in a few chapters that are kind of like this before we get into all of the stories.
The book of Numbers has a lot of interesting stories and famous stories,
but it's got some chapters dealing with the preparation of the children of Israel
before they begin their process of walking through the wilderness and making their way to the Promised Land.
And in this chapter, you'll notice that we deal with, if you're paying attention as we're reading,
it deals with the arrangement of the camp of the children of Israel.
In Numbers, chapter two and verse one, the Bible says,
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch.
And that word, pitch, is kind of like the idea to set up a tent, to set up or fix something.
The children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard.
I want you to notice that word there, standard.
And when the Bible says that they were to pitch by his own standard,
the word standard there is a reference to like a banner or a flag,
something that was visual that would represent where they were supposed to be.
So we're told here that every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the N sign.
And I want you to notice that word N sign.
And you'll notice that in that word N sign, you have this word sign, S-I-G-N.
And the idea there is that this was like an emblem or a symbol that would be on the standard.
So every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard with the N sign.
So you have a flag or a banner, some sort of a visual thing that had a symbol or an emblem on it
of their father's house far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.
Now, what we see in this chapter, and I'm going to walk you through it,
we see the arrangement of the camp.
And what I'd like to do tonight is show you, first of all, the arrangement of the camp, of course.
And then I want to give you some things to kind of think about,
some interesting things that we can maybe study out regarding this chapter.
And then, of course, I'll end with a couple of applications.
But I want you to notice that the camp of the children of Israel,
remember they are right now in the wilderness of Sinai.
They are at the base of Mount Sinai.
They are in the valley pretty much underneath this mountain.
And the children of Israel are pretty much just encamped however they want.
They've been there for about a year, and they've kind of just been scattered in whatever way they want.
They've had their tents situated however they want.
But God is now preparing them to begin to journey through the wilderness.
And as they journey, they are to journey in a certain procession.
They are to journey in a certain way, and God wants them to be organized in that way.
And what I want you to understand as we kind of move through this chapter is that you've got the 12 tribes.
Of course, there's actually 13 of them, if you remember, because the Levites are not counted as one of the 12 tribes.
And if you remember, Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, were divided into two tribes.
So you have 12 tribes, but really there's 13 tribes, and they are going to be put into four different camps.
Now, you'll notice that the first camp, and if you're taking notes or if you want to take notes,
this is kind of maybe a little more of a difficult chapter to outline, but I'll give you an outline if you want it.
You'll notice that first you see the east side of the camp on the east side of the tabernacle.
And this is what's referred to as the camp of Judah.
Now, notice there are numbers, chapter 2 and verse 3.
And on the east side, toward the rising of the sun, shall they...
Now, I want you to notice the word there, they. That's plural, meaning more than one.
So it's not just one tribe on the east side. The Bible says,
And on the east side, toward the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah.
I want you to understand that everyone that is camped on this east side is in the camp that is known as the camp of Judah,
but there is more than just the tribe of Judah in that camp.
The Bible says, read it again, verse 3,
And on the east side, toward the rising of the sun, shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies,
and Nahshon, the son of Amminadab, shall be captain of the children of Judah.
And we saw that last week in chapter 1, that he was the head of that tribe.
So we have on the east side, and I kind of want you to picture this.
All of these camps are going to be surrounding the tabernacle.
So just for you to kind of get a picture, imagine the tabernacle is right in the middle.
Remember the book of Leviticus is all about the worship in the tabernacle, the work of the tabernacle.
We talked about the fact that they spent one month building the tabernacle,
and it is now built in the middle of the camps of Israel.
Around the tabernacle, we don't see it in Numbers chapter 2,
but we'll see it in Numbers chapter 3 that you actually have the tribe of Levi that is divided around the tabernacle.
Their tribe has been divided in such a way that they are camped around the tabernacle.
You have the family of Kohath on one side, the family of Gershon on one side,
the family of Merari on one side, and then you have Moses, Aaron, and his sons encamped on the east side,
which is the entrance into the tabernacle.
So if you just kind of get this, imagine the tabernacle,
and if you're imagining the east side, just for your own, if you can kind of see it in your mind's eye,
if you can think of the four directions, you have north, east, south, west.
Never eat shredded wheat, right? That's how you're supposed to remember it.
And you've got the north side and the east side where the sun rises.
The tabernacle would be situated in such a way where the entrance is facing the east side.
There's only one entrance, only one way to come into the tabernacle,
facing the east side.
Moses and Aaron and their sons are camped right in front of the entrance of the tabernacle.
The three different families that make up the tribe of Levi are camped around the tabernacle,
Kohath, Gershon, and Merari.
And then on the east side of that tabernacle, you have the children of Israel pitching their tent on,
and it's the standard of the camp of Judah.
And then in verse 3 again, on the east side, toward the rising of the sun,
shall they of the standard of the camp of Judah pitch throughout their armies,
and Nahshon the son of Amenadab shall be captain of the children of Israel.
And his hosts and those that were numbered of them were threescore and 14,600.
So we see the tribe of Judah, and we've got 74,600, just like we saw in Numbers chapter 1.
Then in verse 5, the Bible says, and those that do pitch next unto him.
I want you to notice this little phrase, that do pitch next unto him.
And I'm going to bring that up later on in the sermon, so I want you to remember that we referenced that.
And those that do pitch next unto him, referring to those who pitch next unto Judah, right?
Because in verses 3 and 4, we saw the tribe of Judah.
Those that do pitch next unto Judah shall be the tribe of Issachar,
and Nathanael the son of Zuar shall be captain of the children of Israel,
and his hosts and those that were numbered of them were 50 and 4,400.
So we have the tribe of Judah on the east side, 74,600.
And then pitching next to Judah, we have Issachar, 54,400.
Then in verse 7, the Bible says,
Then the tribe of Zebulun and Eliab the son of Helan shall be captain of the children of Zebulun,
and his hosts and those that were numbered thereof were 50 and 7,400.
And I want you to notice here, when we read about Zebulun,
we are not told that they are pitching next to Judah.
And I just want to highlight that for you.
They are in the camp of Judah, but they're not pitching next to Judah.
So then in verse 9, we kind of have a review of this first camp, the camp on the east side,
which is the camp of Judah.
Notice verse 9,
So that number that you read there in verse 9 is a total of those three tribes.
On the east side, you have the tribe of Judah, and then next to Judah you have Issachar,
and then you have Zebulun.
On the east side, which would be what we would consider the front side,
they are stationed on the front of the tabernacle of Israel,
or at the entrance of the tabernacle.
And notice it again there in verse 9,
all that were numbered there in the camp of Judah were in a hundred,
and four score thousand and six thousand and four hundred.
And notice it says,
So when they begin to move through the wilderness,
they will move in a progression where this camp of Judah will be leading the way.
They will be pitching their tents up, you know, getting all their stuff together,
and they'll be moving in this order.
So we've got the east side.
Then in verse 10, we see the south side, or the south camp.
Notice there are numbers 2 and verse 10.
So there we see the tribe of Reuben, forty-six thousand five hundred,
just like we saw in Numbers chapter 1.
We've got on the south side now the tribe of Reuben.
Next to them, verse 12, and those that were numbered.
So just kind of get this in your head.
You have the tribe, you have the tabernacle.
You have the Levites that are on the tabernacle.
On the east side, you have the tribe of Reuben.
On the east side, you have Judah and the camp of Judah.
Then as we move to the south side, you have the tribe of Reuben.
Then in verse 12, the Bible says,
And those which pitch by him, those which pitch by who?
By Reuben.
They're pitching by Reuben, shall be of the tribe of Simeon.
So you have Reuben, then Simeon, and the captain of the children of Simeon
shall be Shelemiel the son of Zerusiah and his host,
and those that were numbered of them were fifty and nine thousand and three hundred.
So we have fifty-nine thousand three hundred in the tribe of Simeon,
just like we saw in Numbers chapter number one.
Then verse 14, the Bible says,
Then the tribe of Gad.
Again, I want you to notice that we're not told that Gad is pitching by Reuben.
We're told that Simeon is pitching by Reuben,
and then we're told about the tribe of Gad.
Then the tribe of Gad and the captain of the sons of Gad
shall be Eliaseph the son of Reul,
and his host and those that were numbered of them were forty and five thousand
and six hundred and fifty.
And then in verse 16, we have a total of that south side camp,
or the camp of Reuben. Verse 16,
all that were numbered in the camp of Reuben.
So I want you to notice, the camp has three tribes in it,
Reuben, Simeon, and Gad,
but it's known as the camp of Reuben,
just like the east side had Judah, Isaacar, and Zebulun,
but it's known as the camp of Judah.
So here in verse 16 we're told,
all these that were numbered in the camp of Reuben
were in hundred thousand and fifty and one thousand and four hundred and fifty.
That's one hundred and fifty, one thousand and four hundred and fifty.
That's the sum total of those three tribes throughout their armies,
and they shall set forth in the second rank.
So when they begin to move through the wilderness,
when they're going to travel through the wilderness,
first the east side camp,
the camp of Judah will begin to move,
then the south side camp will begin to move behind them.
This is the order or the progression in which they will go.
Now in verse 17 we have a mention of the Levites.
Notice verse 17,
Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall step forward
with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp.
As they encamp, so shall they step forward,
every man in his place by their standards.
So keep this in mind,
the tabernacle is in the middle,
and the Levites are surrounding the tabernacle.
Again, we'll see it in Numbers chapter 3,
but you have the different families of the Levites,
Kohath, Gershon, Merari,
are surrounding the tabernacle,
and Moses and Aaron and their sons are pitched
in front of the entrance of the tabernacle.
When they begin to move,
think of the tabernacle right in the middle,
you have the camp on the east, the camp of Judah,
and then we've seen the camp on the south,
we have the camp of Reuben.
When they begin to move,
Judah and his camp will begin to move
and make their way through the wilderness.
As they make their way,
then the south camp will begin to move behind them.
As they make their way,
then verse 17 tells us that the Levites
with the tabernacle will begin to move behind them.
And then of course we're going to see
that the other two camps will follow behind them.
So as they travel through the wilderness,
you'll have the twelve tribes
divided into four divisions
with the tabernacle and the Levites
right in the center of them
as they travel, and when they pitch,
they are divided by the directions
of north, south, east, and west,
and you've got the Levites
with the tabernacle pitched in the middle of them.
That's what verse 17 is talking about.
Then the tabernacle, the congregations,
will step forward with the camp of the Levites,
and in the midst of the camp,
so shall they set forward every man
by his place, by their standards.
Then in verse 18,
we read about the west side,
and this is the west camp
or the camp of Ephraim. Notice verse 18.
On the west side shall be the standard
or the banner or the flag
of the camp of Ephraim.
So we have the tabernacle in the middle,
we've got the camp on the east
or the camp of Judah,
we've got the camp on the south
or the camp of Reuben,
we've got the camp on the west side
or the camp of Ephraim.
According to their armies,
and the captains of the sons of Ephraim
shall be Elishaimah, the son of Amahud,
and his host, and those that were numbered of them
were 40,500.
So we have the tribe of Ephraim,
40,500, just like we saw in numbers chapter 1.
Notice it again, verse 20.
And by him,
and by who?
By Ephraim is Manasseh,
and by him shall be the tribe of Manasseh,
and the tribe of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel,
the son of Perazor,
and his host and those that were numbered of them
were 30 and 2,200.
So you have the tribe of Manasseh,
32,200 is by Ephraim,
and then we're told
that Benjamin, verse 22,
then the tribe of Benjamin,
and the captain of the sons of Benjamin
shall be Abidon, the son of Gedioni.
Notice that we are not told that Benjamin
is by Ephraim, and I'm just highlighting
these things for you just so you can be aware
of them, and I'll talk about them here in a minute,
verse 22. Then the tribe of Benjamin,
and the captain of the sons of Benjamin shall be Abidon,
the son of Gedioni, and his host and those that were
numbered of them were 30 and 5,400.
And then of course in verse 24,
you have the total of the whole thing,
and all that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim
were 100,000,
and 8,000,
and 100, that's 108,000,
108,000,
100,000 throughout their armies,
and they shall go forward in the
ranks. And then in verse 25,
of course, you have the
north side. So you have the east side,
the south side, the west side,
and then you've got the north side,
verse 25. The standard,
again, the banner or flag,
of the camp of Dan shall be
on the north side by their armies,
and the captain of the children of Dan shall be
Ahazur, the son of Amishadeh
and his host and those that were numbered of them
were 3,000,000,000,
2,700. So you have the tribe
of Dan, 62,700,
just like we saw in Numbers chapter 1,
verse 27, notice it again,
and those that encamped
by him, who's encamping by
who, shall be the tribe
of Asher. So the tribe of Asher
is camping by the tribe of Dan,
and those that
encamped by him shall be of the tribe of Asher,
and the captain of the children of Asher shall be
Pagiel, the son of Akhran
and his host, and those that were numbered in them
were 41,500.
Then in verse 29, we're told about the tribe of
Naphtali, then the tribe of Naphtali,
notice it, I'm
just highlighting it for you to see it,
we're not told that Naphtali
is camped by Dan.
We're only told that Asher is camped by Dan.
Then we're told Naphtali, the tribe of Naphtali
and the captain of the children of Naphtali shall be Ahara,
the son of Enon, and his
host and those that were numbered of them
were 50 and 3,400.
And then in verse 31
we get the totals of that camp, and they
that were numbered in the camp of Dan
were in 100,000
and 50 and 7,600.
So 157,600
which is the sum
of those three tribes, Dan, Asher and
Naphtali, they shall
go hindmost with
their standards.
So we're seeing not only the layout of the camp
but we're seeing how they are to travel.
You have the tabernacle with the Levites in the middle,
you have the camp of Judah on the east,
the camp of Reuben on the south,
you have the camp of Ephraim
on the west, and then you have the camp of
Dan on the north.
When they're pitching, when they're spending time there
or spending the night there, that's how they
are to be laid out.
When they are moving, then the camp of Judah
or the camp on the east side is to go
first, then the camp on
the south is to follow, then the
tabernacle, then the camp on the west
excuse me, then the camp on the west
yes, and then the camp on the north.
That is the order or the progression
by which they are going.
Now, I want to just kind of spend some time and
explain just some interesting things
that I think about this chapter
and I'll just go ahead and say this up front
that what I'm about to
just kind of talk to you about is not
there's nothing dogmatic about
this and it's just kind of more
opinion and just things that I think are
interesting. I am going to give you some things that are
dogmatic at the end when I get to the application.
So what I'm saying is from now
until the application, you don't have
to agree with me and if you want
to argue with me, just talk
to the staff, guys.
But I just
think it's interesting and you know, it's just kind of
some interesting things to consider when
you look at this chapter and
you know, what else am I supposed to preach out at Numbers
chapter two? I mean, we're pretty much done with the whole thing.
But let me just give you some things to consider.
There's some debate
as to the layout of
the children of Israel. I would say controversy
but it's not really a controversy, just questions
that people have regarding how
they were laid out. And there are pretty much
two ways to kind of think about it
and I'll give you my opinion
and it really is not worth arguing with anybody about
and it doesn't really matter but I just think it's
kind of an interesting thing. Some people
believe, and I don't lean in this
direction, I don't think this, that the children
of Israel, if you would have seen
them, if you would have had an aerial view
of the children of Israel, you would have seen
the tabernacle in the middle and then you would have
seen these flagship tribes, right?
You would have seen Judah, Reuben,
it would have been Judah,
Reuben, Ephraim,
and Dan on the
east, south, west, and north
and then you would have seen the tribes
next to them. So what I'm trying to say is
you would have seen like, for example, let's say
the tribe of Judah
is right here, if you can kind of imagine
this. This is the one time where I think the
liberals got us beat, where like
a screen would be really nice right now
that I can just kind of lay
this out for you, but you have to use your
imagination, alright? But if you think of like the tribe
of Judah, you know, you got the tabernacle
here, okay, who's following me
at all? Alright, you got the tabernacle
here, then you have the tribe of Judah,
right? Well some people
believe that the other two tribes,
so you have Issachar and
Zebulun, are next to Judah.
And if you would
have seen the children of Israel
encamped
around, it would have looked like a
Rubik's cube, with like
the children of Israel all next to each other.
Other people
believe that they
were encamped in lines
or rows.
And when I first was studying this out and kind of looking at this,
obviously I didn't really care or have an opinion on it,
but I thought, you know, it's interesting
and we don't really know for sure,
but based off the text
itself, I tend to agree
that they were lined up in a
row, meaning if you have the
tabernacle with the Levites surrounding it,
then you have the tribe of Judah,
but instead of having
Issachar and Zebulun like this,
it would have been Judah with
Issachar and Zebulun like this.
More in a row.
Now that makes sense for a couple of reasons.
Number one, this is how they're traveling.
So it makes more sense
that they're traveling in a row,
where they're kind of lined up one
right after the other. But the reason
that I kind of just came to this conclusion, again this is
my opinion, is because
God, I don't think God puts
anything in the Bible just for fluff.
Everything's in the Bible for a reason.
And you'll notice as I highlighted
to you as we read verses 5 and 12
and 20 and 27, that the Holy Spirit
was very careful to tell us that this
tribe was by this tribe.
That you have, you know,
Issachar by Judah,
but it doesn't tell us Zebulun is by Judah.
That you have Simeon by Reuben,
but it doesn't tell us that Gad
is by Reuben. That you have Manasseh
by Ephraim, but you don't have Benjamin
by Ephraim. That you have
Asher by Dan, but you don't have
Naphtali by Dan. And I think that would make
sense if you consider the fact that they were
in a row, because if you have
on the east side, if you have
Judah, and then
we're told Issachar is by Judah,
and then we're told
and then Zebulun, but we're not told Zebulun
is by Judah, that would make
sense that they're in a row because Zebulun
this kind of line is not
by Judah. Does that make sense?
Where if it was, you know,
Issachar was by Judah,
and Zebulun was over here, then Zebulun
would have also been by Judah.
So it is my opinion that they're
laid out, you know,
north, south, east,
west, but they are laid out in
rows. So you have
Judah, Issachar,
Zebulun, you have Dan,
Asher, Naphtali, you have Reuben, Simeon,
Ad, you have Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin,
they're laid out in these rows, which again would make
sense because this is how they're going to move through
the wilderness, so they're moving
in a line in order.
Now, none of that matters, and it's not
worth arguing, and please don't, if you're listening to this
online and you don't agree, please don't send me the email, okay?
It doesn't really matter.
The only reason that I even bring it up,
or the only reason that I think it's an interesting thing
is because the Bible,
and we're going to get to it later on
in the book of Numbers, like you, do me a favor,
remember this 30 weeks from now?
When we're like in, towards
the end of the book of Numbers?
Because if you remember, there's a very famous
story in
the book of Numbers about a guy named
Balaam. And Balaam,
if you remember, was paid
to go up on a mountain, and
to look down upon the children of Israel,
and to put a curse
upon them. Now if you remember in the
story, he's not able to do it, God makes
him bless the children of Israel, not curse it.
But one thing that Balaam does
when he gets up on that mountain, and he
looks down upon the children of Israel, is that he
makes a comment in regards to
how beautifully the camp
is set up. He talks about
the fact that the camp of Israel
is beautifully organized
and set up. And it's just
interesting to me that if you were to consider
the fact that you have the tabernacle
on, in the middle,
and then you have Judah,
Issachar, and Zebulun
in a line,
consider the fact that Judah
is bigger than these other tribes,
so this line would have gone further.
And then you've got
on the
south side, Dan,
Asher, Naphtali. Then you have on the
east side,
excuse me, on the west side,
you have Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin.
And then on the north side,
Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.
If that's the case,
which I believe the Bible seems to
indicate that that's the order they're in,
then what Balaam would have been looking
down on would have been the children
of Israel, the tribes of Israel,
organized around the tabernacle
in the shape of a cross.
And it's just kind of interesting to me
that Balaam would go up there,
look down upon the children of Israel,
see this
million, I mean there's probably
two million people that are organized
in these camps in the shape of a cross,
and then he says, that's a beautiful sight.
So, not that it means anything,
not that it matters anything, but I just think it's
interesting and something for you to
consider. And if you've got a better
outline for Numbers chapter 2, then hand
it over.
I'll preach that as well.
Number two,
kind of a second thing to consider that I think
is interesting.
People often make a big deal
about these standards and these end
signs. Notice in Numbers chapter 2
and verse 2,
every man of the children of Israel shall pitch,
again, the idea is like pitching their tent,
setting up or fixing something,
by his own standard.
The standard, if you study that word out throughout
the Bible, it's very clear it's like a banner
or a flag. In fact,
the Hebrew word,
standard here, is
translated in other portions of the Old Testament
as the word banner.
So it's some sort of a flag or banner
that represents
this camp. So every camp, you have
these four camps, and every camp
has their own banner.
And the Bible says, by his own
standard, with an end sign.
Which again, an end sign is like
an emblem or a symbol.
Today we would call it maybe like a logo
for that camp.
Now here's what we know.
We know that they were divided into four
camps. We know that every camp
had its own standard or banner
or flag. And we know that every flag
had an end sign, some sort of a symbol
on it. It says there in verse
2, every man of the children of Israel
shall pitch by his own standard with
the end sign of their father's house
far off about the tabernacle
of the congregation shall they pitch.
All that we do know for
sure they had. Now
keep your place there in numbers
if you'd like. Obviously that's our text for tonight. But go with me
if you would to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 4.
Last book in the New Testament should be
fairly easy to find. Revelation chapter 4.
People often,
and this is a very popular view,
people will often
make
the assumption,
and look, I hate assumptions.
I don't think we should have tried, we shouldn't
assume anything. We should
know what the Bible says and all that.
We shouldn't assume anything in any situation.
But people will make
the assumption that these four
banners
with these four end signs
had the images
or the end signs
or the symbolism of
these four
well-known beasts that
surround the throne of God.
Let me just show it to you real quickly. Revelation chapter 4.
Look at verse 6.
Revelation 4.6. And before the throne
there was a sea of glass. This is the throne of
God in heaven. We're getting a vision of the throne
of God in heaven. And before the throne there was a sea
of glass like under crystals
and in the midst of the throne
and right about the throne were four beasts
full of eyes before and behind.
So we have these four beasts, these cherubims
and
the Bible tells us that
they had different faces. Look at verse 7.
And the first beast
was like a lion.
And the second beast like
a calf. And the third
beast had a face as a man
and the fourth beast was like a
flying eagle. So we have these four
beasts that are surrounding the throne
of God in heaven. They're cherubims
but each one has a different
face. The first had a face of a lion,
the second of a calf, the
third of a man, and the fourth
of a flying eagle. And of course these
four beasts are crying
out day and night, holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
and they are praising
God in the throne room of God.
Now people will make the assumption
that these four enzymes,
these four banners for these four
camps that had these symbols on
them, here's what we know. There were four
standards, I should say four standards,
there were four standards and each standard
had an end sign. We know that for sure.
People assume that these
four beasts were on that end sign. Now let me
just be clear
about that. As far as
I can tell, and I spent some time
looking through Scripture to see if I could
find it, as far as I can tell
and if you know something different, please let me know,
there is
no biblical evidence to prove
that those four
end signs were
the images of a
lion, a calf, a man
or an eagle.
As far as
I can control it,
I'm never going to lie to you and tell you
there's something in the Bible that's not in the Bible
because I can't find
that. I can't find a verse or anything that
even alludes to that. Now I'm not
saying that those
images weren't on those
signs. I don't know. I don't think anybody
knows. The Bible, as far as I can
tell, it doesn't tell us.
However, what I
do think, because when I started
looking at this and I thought, I wonder if that's
true, I began to study it out
and as I was studying it out and looking
at these four different beasts, I
began to see a lot of different connections that they do
have with the tribes of Israel.
And though I'm not going to stand up here
and tell you that these four
banners had these four symbols
on them because I don't know that and I can't find a
verse that proves that, what I can tell
you is that these, first
of all, these four beasts are
very prominent. You
may not have really noticed them,
but they are prominent throughout the
Bible. And I do
think that these four camps
could be an
illustration or a picture
of these four beasts. So I
just want to be clear about what I'm saying. I'm
not saying that these
banners had the symbols of
these four beasts. They may have,
I know they had some sort of insight.
I don't know what that was. I can't find anything the Bible
tells us and I don't think anybody can
because I did a lot of research on it
and I can't find anybody that
other than just saying like some old
rabbi said, you know,
said something which obviously I don't trust.
So we don't know
what was on there, but what I do want
to kind of point out to you is that
I do believe that there
is a connection or a representation
between these four
camps and these
four beasts. Now let me just kind of highlight
that for you because you'll notice the
Bible oftentimes emphasizes
numbers
and it's pretty
consistent in those emphasis. For example,
like, if you think of the number
three in the Bible, what would you think of?
Not a trick
or a question. I'm not trying to make you look dumb. The Trinity, right?
I mean, and consistently
when you see three throughout the Bible,
it's usually a reference to the Trinity.
If you see the number six
throughout the Bible, it's
consistently a number. It's called the number
of man because it consistently represents
mankind. First of all, of course,
666, the number of the
Antichrist, but also man,
human beings were created on the sixth day.
When you see the number
40, you often see this
idea of judgment
or preparation
or preparation for a minister to receive
something. Obviously, we have Moses
going up to the mountain for 40 days, 40
nights. We have Elijah going up to the
mountains 40 days, 40 nights. We have Jesus
fasting 40 days, 40 nights in the wilderness.
So what I'm saying is you often,
when you see a number in the Bible,
it's usually pretty consistent.
Moses fasted 40 days,
40 nights. Elijah fasted 40
days, 40 nights. Jesus fasted 40 days,
right? So it's usually pretty consistent. You don't
go from like, it means
the Trinity here, it means the Trinity here,
it means the Trinity here, and then it's something
random over here. It's usually
pretty consistent. So
the number four
is often associated
with these four beasts. Now I just want you
to look at it again, Revelation chapter 4
verse 7. And the first
beast was like a lion,
and the second beast like
a calf, and the third beast
had a face as a man, and the fourth
beast was like a flying eagle. That's
in the New Testament. Let's look at it in the Old Testament.
Go to the book of Ezekiel, if you would.
Ezekiel chapter 1. If you go towards
the end of the Old Testament, you have the major prophets,
you
have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
those big books
towards the end,
then of course you have the book of Ezekiel.
Ezekiel chapter 1. Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Lamentations, Ezekiel, then you have the book of Daniel.
Ezekiel chapter 1.
Ezekiel chapter 1 and verse 10, we have
Ezekiel seeing a
vision of the throne room of
God, just like John saw
in Revelation 4.7 when he described
the lion and the calf
and the face of a man
and a flying eagle.
Ezekiel is also
getting a view
into the throne room of God, and I want you to notice
what he describes. Now obviously Ezekiel describes a lot.
We're not going to go through all of it. I just want to highlight
the beast for you. Ezekiel chapter 1 verse 10.
Notice what he says.
As for the likeness of their faces,
they four had,
notice what he describes. Number one,
a face of a man, and number two,
the face of a lion,
and on the right side, and they had
number three, the face of an ox
on the left side, and
they four also had
number four, the face of an eagle.
So here Ezekiel is telling us
that he saw these beasts,
and they four had the face of a man
and the face of a lion on the right side,
and they four had the face
of an ox on the left side,
and they also had the face
of an eagle. So I want you to notice what Ezekiel describes
is four beasts
with four faces on one head.
Each beast
had a face
that was facing
in a different direction.
You understand what I'm saying?
One had the face of a man
and the face of a lion on one side,
the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle.
In Revelation, we're told
that the first beast had a face of a lion,
the second beast had a face of a calf, the third beast had a face of a man,
the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
In Revelation, it seems to indicate that you have
four beasts
with four different faces. Ezekiel
is describing more of four
beasts that each have
four faces. Now is that a contradiction?
I don't think it's a contradiction. Obviously,
God could have made two different types
of the same thing,
just like he made humans
that look different.
You know, I look good, you know, whatever.
Or, I don't know,
or maybe John was just looking
at them from one direction and he said,
you know, lion, calf,
man, eagle, and if he would have
went the other way, it would have been like,
oh, lion, you know, I don't know.
But obviously, you have these
four coming up.
And it's the same beast, it's the same animal.
The lion,
the man, the eagle,
and then I also want to point out
for you that Ezekiel describes
one as an ox
and then
John describes one as a calf.
But obviously, the calf
that he describes is the calf of
an ox. It's referring
to the same animal. And then it's brought
up again in Ezekiel chapter 10 and
verse 14. Look at that. Ezekiel 10
14.
And everyone
had four faces. Ezekiel 10 14.
And everyone had four faces.
The first face was the face
of a cherub, and the second
face was the face of a man,
and the third face of a lion,
and the fourth face
of an eagle.
So here we have the face of a cherub,
the face of a man, the face of a lion,
the face of an eagle. So again,
we see the same faces, the lion,
the eagle,
and the man. I do want you
to notice here, one is described
as a cherub,
which in Ezekiel 110 was described
as an ox, which in Revelation
was described as a calf, and
I just believe these are all talking about the same thing.
And if you say, why is he saying
it's the face of a cherub, I
just would believe that cherubs have
a face that looks like an ox.
Which, if you think about that, and I don't want to go off on
this rabbit's trail, but if you think about that,
Satan was a cherub,
and heathen religions
all throughout history have worshipped
cows and
oxen and things of that nature.
So the point is, we're
seeing these four different beasts, right?
And I think however
you want to cut it, we can agree
that there's a lion,
there's an ox, there's a man,
there's an eagle. We see that in Revelation,
we see that in Ezekiel.
Now here's what's interesting,
is that these four beasts
all correlate,
because remember, the number four comes up, right?
When you see numbers in the Bible,
and I'm not one of these numerology
guys that says, you know, take a chapter
and divide it by twelve, and then divide it by
three, and then divide it by six, and then add a
remainder, and if you do that on, you know, whatever.
And then it spells
the Jews, or something.
That sounds ridiculous. But obviously,
you can't read the Bible
and not realize that some numbers are emphasized.
I mean,
three, six, forty, seven,
the number of completion. Every time you see seven,
something is being complete.
The heavens and the earth were created in seven days.
You see that all throughout the Bible.
So think about the number four.
The number four, we see it
obviously come up with these beasts
surrounding the throne of God,
the lion, the calf, the man, the eagle.
Obviously, we see the twelve
tribes divided into four camps,
so we're going to see if there's a connection there
with these four beasts. But let's think about another
section of the Bible that maybe
would be correlated with the number four,
and maybe you're thinking about this, maybe you're not,
but I'll go ahead and give you
the answer. How about the four gospels?
The four gospels,
which are the bread and butter of the
Word of God, the entire
Old Testament is leading us up to
the gospels. Everything after
the gospels is pointing us back to the
gospels, and the gospels are
the focus of the
Word of God. Why? Because Jesus
is the focus of the Word of God, and the gospels
are about Christ. Now we have
four gospels, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John.
Sometimes people ask
the question, why did God give us four gospels?
Well, He gave us four
gospels for a lot of different reasons, but let me just
explain this.
One of the reasons for the four gospels is
that the four gospels represent,
or I shouldn't say represent, I should say
present to
us the Lord Jesus Christ
in four different
lights, or with four
different themes.
And I want you to consider
the fact that these four
themes
coincide and correlate
with these four B's.
Let me explain to you.
Let's begin
with the Gospel of Matthew, right? The first
gospel. The Gospel of
Matthew, and I'm not going to have you run any
verses because we'll be here all night. You can just study this
out on your own if you'd like. And I'm just going to give
you just a few things to consider. There's
so much more that could be said. I just don't have time
to do that. The Gospel
of Matthew
presents for us the Lord Jesus
Christ as the King of the Jews.
This would
correlate, when we're looking at these four
B's, lion, ox,
man, eagle, this would
correlate with the lion.
Because a lion is awfully
associated with a kingdom or with a king.
We even refer to the lion
as the king of the jungle.
So the lion is a reference
to the king.
Jesus is king
because he's from the tribe of Judah,
and we're told that
he is the, in the book of Revelation, we're
told that he is the lion of the tribe
of Judah. So
the book of Matthew presents
for us, or
portrays for us, Jesus
as the king of
the Jews. Let me just give you some things
to consider regarding the Gospel
of Matthew and why that would be.
First of all, the book of Matthew
gives us a lineage of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That
lineage, however, is
not the lineage of
his mother, which is given in Luke,
which is the lineage that you would think that
we would get, but it's
the lineage of his
stepfather, Joseph,
and it's the lineage that gives him
the kingly right.
If you look at the lineage in Matthew,
and I, years and years and years ago, I
preached through the Gospel of Matthew, and we pointed
this out when we did it, you'll notice that
the lineage given to
us in the Gospel of Matthew is
meant to show us
and to prove to us that
Jesus is the king of the Jews. You'll
notice that that lineage goes through
David, which
was the king, and is
the right to Jesus as
king because Jesus will
be on the throne of David.
And then it goes through David.
What does that prove? That Jesus is the king.
And then it goes to
Abraham. What does that prove?
That Jesus is the king
of the Jews, or the
Hebrews, but obviously at the time
that Jesus was alive, the other
tribes were dispersed, and
it was of the tribe of Judah, so
he'd be the king of the Jews. The lineage,
right at the beginning of the Gospel,
shows that to us.
When you study the Gospel of Matthew,
you'll notice that a theme in the Gospel
of Matthew is that it's constantly
quoting Old Testament prophecies.
We're constantly reading in the book of
Matthew as it is written,
and then it'll quote some Old Testament
prophecy, and usually those prophecies
have to do with Jesus
as his position of king, or
his position of Messiah, his position
as the anointed one. The word
kingdom is used
56 times in the Gospel of
Matthew. So it's
pretty well understood and documented
and pretty much nobody argues the fact
that the Gospel of Matthew
represents, or sheds
light on the fact, or portrays
the fact that Jesus is
the king of the Jews. Why?
Because he is the lion
of the tribe of Judah.
That's literally in the Bible.
So we see how the book of Matthew
correlates with that
beast of the lion
that represents kingdoms, and all throughout history
lions have represented kingdoms.
Then we have the next Gospel,
the Gospel of Mark. What does that represent?
Well, Mark
represents for us, or portrays
for us, or I should say presents for
us the Lord Jesus Christ
as a servant.
In the Old Testament, Isaiah
represented him, or presented
him as the suffering servant.
Mark does the same. You'll notice
that in the Gospel of Mark, there is no lineage.
Why?
Because a servant doesn't need a lineage.
A servant doesn't need to prove
his pedigree. He's simply a
servant. The book of Mark
is a book that focuses on
the actions of Christ.
At Verity Baptist Church, over the last
12 years, we've preached through, I don't know,
probably close to 50% of the
Bible. We've gone verse by verse through it.
And we've done the Gospel of Matthew,
the Gospel of John, the Gospel of
Luke. The one Gospel we've not done
yet is the Gospel of Mark, and we will
do that at some point over the next 10 years,
I'm sure, before we finish the
Bible. But one thing I want you to
notice is that the Gospel of Mark
focuses on the actions
of Jesus. There's not a lot of dialogue.
There's not a lot of conversations.
There's no, like, sermons
that are, you know, like the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew, or conversations
that Jesus had. It focuses
on the actions of Jesus
and the things that He did. Why?
Because it is showing Him
or presenting Him
as a servant. If you'll
notice, the Gospel of Mark,
it's a short book, 16
chapters, in comparison
to some of the other Gospels, but it's a
fast-moving book. You ever notice that
when you read the Book of Mark? There's
lots. There's a lot going on
in every chapter. It's a
fast-moving book. It focuses on the
actions and the service of Christ.
It moves quickly. Throughout the
Book of Mark, you'll see these words come up
over and over again, straight
way. You'll see the word
straight way used time
and time again. Nineteen times
in the Gospel of Mark is the word
straight way used. Seventeen
times is the word immediately
used. So when you're reading the Gospel
of Mark, you're kind of like catching your breath as you're
reading it, because it's just a fast-moving book.
It's just telling you, first He did this, then
He did this, straight way they went there,
immediately they did that, and it's
showing the action and the
service of Jesus because
it represents or
it presents Jesus for us as
a servant.
That correlates with the ox
because the ox throughout
history has been known as a beast
of burden, an
animal that is meant to serve,
an animal that is used
in work
and in labor, and that's what we see
in Mark. So you have these four beasts
surrounding the throne room of God. A lion,
an ox, one that has the face
of a man, and then an eagle. And those
correlate with the Gospels. You have
Matthew that presents Jesus
as king, lion.
You have Mark that presents
Jesus as a servant,
an ox. Then you
have Luke. We just got done with the Gospel of Luke.
So this should be pretty
familiar to you. What does Luke
represent? Luke presents
for us the humanity
of Christ.
It represents and it portrays
and it presents to us Jesus
as a man, as a human
being. That
correlates when you look at our
four beasts, lion, ox,
and then the face of a man
is the Gospel of Luke
where it shows Jesus as a man.
Remember the lineage in the
Gospel of Luke? The lineage
of Luke does not go
through David. It goes back
to Solomon
and it goes back to that family
but it does not go through David.
But then it continues
all the way to Adam.
You say, why would his
lineage go all the way to Adam?
Because it's not highlighting that it's a king,
that he's a king, though he is a king,
it is highlighting that he's a man.
That he's a descendant of Adam.
That he's a human being.
So the lineage in Luke
pushes us back and takes us all
the way back to Adam
to show us, to portray for us,
to present for us the Lord Jesus
Christ as a human being.
The term Son of Man
is used 26 times in the
Gospel of Luke.
Luke, of course, if you remember,
we studied Luke, I mean we just finished it
a little while ago, and Luke
was a physician.
He was a doctor. And for that reason
the Gospel of Luke gives
us more physical and
bodily descriptions of Jesus
than any other Gospel.
Luke is the one that tells us
that Jesus told them
touch my body, look at
my, you know, I have bones and I have
flesh, I'm not a spirit.
Luke is the one that gives us all
these descriptions, these physical
descriptions of Jesus when he heals people
and different things that he did. Why?
Because Luke is a physician, but because
of the fact that the Gospel of Luke is
representing Jesus as a man.
So you have Matthew representing
Jesus as a king. That correlates
with the lion. You have Mark
represents Jesus as a servant.
That correlates with the ox.
You have Luke representing Jesus as a man.
That correlates with the face of a man.
And then the fourth
Gospel is the Gospel of John.
That correlates with the eagle.
You say, what is the Gospel
of John? John is different
than the other three Gospels.
The other three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke
are known as the synoptic Gospels.
And they're known as the synoptic
Gospels because you get snippets
of a lot of the same
stories. They kind of follow a similar
outline. Where John
is divided, the Gospel
of John is not divided
chronologically, although none of the books are really
chronological in the way that
you and I would think, but the Gospel
of John is really divided.
If you study the Gospel of John, you'll notice
that when it's divided, it's outlined
by seven different statements that
Jesus made. The seven
I am statements in the book of John.
Where Jesus said, I am the way, the truth,
and life. Where Jesus said, I am the resurrection.
Where Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
Where Jesus said, I am the door.
Where Jesus said, I am the good shepherd.
Those seven statements are actually
the outline of the Gospel of
June, and what do those seven
statements represent, or what do we learn
from Jesus saying, I
am. What we learn is of the deity
of Christ.
Luke highlights the humanity of Christ.
John highlights
the deity of Christ. This is where
we read the term over and over,
the Son of God. This is where we have
the most famous verse in the Bible.
John 3, 16, For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son.
If you notice the lineage of
John, if you go to John chapter 1
and verse 1, you don't have a lineage
that takes you back through David
to Abraham, like Matthew
did, proving that Jesus was a king.
You don't have a lineage that takes you back
to Adam, like Luke did, proving
that Jesus was a man, but you have a lineage
that says this, In the beginning
was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. Why? Because the Gospel
of John highlights
and portrays for us,
and represents for us, and
presents for us the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Son of God,
as God in the flesh.
And that correlates with the eagle
because of the fact that the eagle
is a heavenly creature.
It's a creature that is
in the air. So you have the
eagle up in the air, and
of course, what are eagles known for?
They are known for ascending and
descending. This is what the Son of God
did. He descended down to the
earth, and then of course we know that He
ascended back up into heaven. So here's
what I want you to understand. These four B's
are correlated
to the four Gospels. Lion,
ox, man, eagle,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
Matthew
represents Jesus as a king, the lion.
Mark represents Jesus as a
servant, the ox. Luke represents
Jesus as a man, the face of a man.
John represents Jesus as the
Son of God, or as deity, or as God in
the flesh, the eagle.
Now let's
talk about these four camps.
You forgot about numbers, too.
We have these four camps, right?
Judah,
Reuben, Ephraim,
Dam. Are there any
connections between these four camps? Well,
I've already told you one. Go back to Revelation
if you would.
For sake of time, I'm not going to take you to everything
because I just don't have the time to do that, but
let's run a few verses and I'll give you some things.
The camp on the east side
is the camp of Judah.
This should be fairly easy to figure out.
Judah correlates
with Matthew and the lion.
Revelation 5
5.
And one of the elders saith unto me, weep not.
Behold,
the lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David,
have prevailed to open
the book and to lose
the seven seals thereof.
So here we are told that the
connection to Jesus being
a king is the fact that
he is of the tribe of Judah.
He is of the lineage of David, but
he's called the lion of the tribe of Judah.
So that's very easy to see how that
connects with the lion,
the four
beasts around the throne room of God.
We see the lion and the lion is connected
with Judah, but that's not the only connection. Let me
show you another connection. Go to Genesis
chapter 49.
Genesis chapter number 49.
In Genesis 49,
if you remember, Jacob, who's
now called Israel by this time,
is getting ready to die.
And he calls his twelve sons
and he's gonna
just give them some final words.
And really, Jacob, you know, it's a
touching scene where he's giving them some final
words, but he's also kind of telling them off,
some of them.
He's like getting some things
off his chest right before he dies.
It's just kind of interesting, you know.
And I want you to notice what
Jacob or Israel says to Judah.
So Israel's on his deathbed.
Notice what he says to his son Judah.
Genesis 49 verse 3. Judah,
thou art he
thou art he whom thy brethren
shall praise. Thy hand
shall be in the neck of thine enemies.
Thy father's children
shall bow down before
thee. Now why does
Jacob tell Judah
that Judah's father's
children, Jacob's children
are gonna bow down to Judah?
Why? Because the king will come
from Judah. So they're gonna
bow down to the king in Judah.
Notice the connection to the lion.
Verse 9. Judah is a lion's
whelp. From the prey
my son, thou art gone
up, he stooped down.
Notice, he couched as a lion
and as an old lion, who
shall rouse him up?
So notice that there is a connection
which cannot be denied
between the king
being connected to Judah
and the lion being connected to
Judah. So we see that there's
a connection with this east camp,
the camp of Judah. It's
connected to the Gospel of Matthew.
It's connected to the beast
at the throne room of God, which is a lion.
Why? Because Judah is associated
with the lion, the lion of
the tribe of Judah. Make sense?
Then we have Reuben.
When we get to Reuben,
of course, we have Judah on
the east, and then we
have Reuben on
the...
Excuse me, I'm gonna
look at my notes here. I'm gonna get all confused.
Reuben is on the north.
Now here's the interesting thing about
Reuben. Reuben
is actually the firstborn son of
Jacob. And we
talked about this last week. He loses
his birthright because he went
into his father's bed and
went to bed with one of his father's wives.
So as a result, he's demoted.
But Reuben is actually the firstborn.
Now let's see if we can find a connection
between Reuben and
an ox.
And again, this is just, none of this is doctrinal
or dogmatic. None of this is gonna affect your salvation.
If you don't agree with me, it's fine. It doesn't matter.
I just needed to preach something.
Genesis 49, and I think
it's interesting. Genesis 49,
look at verse 3. This is Israel speaking
to his son Reuben. Genesis 49 3.
Reuben,
thou art my firstborn,
my might, and the
beginning of my strength,
the excellency of
dignity and the excellency
of power. So Jacob
says to Reuben, you're my firstborn
son. And he says, because you're my firstborn
son, you are my might
and the beginning of my strength.
He says, you picture my strength as
you're my firstborn son, the first son that
I had in my youth. So you picture
my strength. Now let's see,
is there a connection between Reuben and
an ox? We'll go to Proverbs. Real quickly,
Proverbs chapter 14.
From the center of your Bibles, you have the book of Psalms.
Right after Psalms, you have the book of Proverbs.
Because what we're
told about Reuben is that he
represents the strength of Jacob.
Reuben, thou
art my firstborn, my might,
and the beginning of my strength.
Now remember, an ox or
an oxen are beasts of burdens.
And
throughout the Bible, they are
represented as
symbols of strength.
Let me just give you an example of that.
Proverbs 14, 4.
Where no oxen are,
the crib is clean.
But much increase
is by the strength of the ox.
So notice that the
ox pictures strength.
Jacob
told his son Reuben,
you are my might and the
beginning of my strength.
So we can see
how Reuben
on the north side
could picture that
ox. So we have Judah
on the east. We have
picturing a lion.
We have Reuben on the north
picturing an ox.
Then let's talk about
the tribe of Ephraim
or the camp of Ephraim on the west.
Now if you're following the
gospel, the order of the
gospels, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, John, or if you're following
the order of the beast
described in Revelation, the lion,
the calf, the face
of a man, and the flying eagle,
when we get to the west
to Ephraim,
what we should be seeing here is
a camp that pictures
a man. Right?
The gospel of Luke
portrays Jesus as a man.
The beast himself
at this point has the face
of a man. So we got to ask the question,
does this
west side camp,
the camp of Ephraim,
Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, does it
represent a man? Well here's what's
interesting.
Is that Ephraim and Manasseh
and Benjamin are actually all
connected to one man.
Because when you talk about
the tribes of Judah,
or the sons of Judah, Judah
had 12 sons.
But keep this in mind because I think
people sometimes they make assumptions
and they get
bad
thoughts because of their assumptions.
So I've heard people say like,
well in the Bible you had all these
people and they had all these kids, right?
Look, I'm all for big families.
I want you to be fruitful and multiply. I'm not preaching
that I actually preach that that's a good thing.
But let me tell you something, you don't really see
like the Duggars in the Bible.
Do you understand
what I'm saying? Where like one woman gives birth to
18 or 19 children?
And you know, if you
ask me like, pastor do you recommend
us having 20 children? I would say no.
Well look at how the Duggars
turned out. Like those
kids turned out really bad.
Almost virtually all of them.
So, and what people will
say to me is like, well Jacob had 12 sons
and one daughter. Yes he did.
From four wives.
You understand that?
It wasn't just one woman popping out 12
kids or 18 kids.
So you know, just don't make these assumptions like
well Jacob had 12 kids. Do you have four wives?
Because don't make that same assumption.
But here's what I want you to
understand that Jacob has four wives
that produced 12 sons
and one daughter.
These 12 sons of Israel
are not all full brothers.
Because they have different mothers.
They have the same father
but a lot of them have
different mothers. What's
interesting about the west camp
of Ephraim, Manasseh
and Benjamin is that they're all connected
to one man. Because of the fact
that Ephraim and Manasseh
are two sons of Joseph.
So Joseph
has two sons
and they're actually Manasseh
and Ephraim are full
brothers.
Their father
for both of them is Joseph
and they both share the same mother.
So they're full brothers
and they're sons of Joseph
and then you have Benjamin.
What's Benjamin? The brother of Joseph.
You say but aren't they all brothers of Joseph?
But the difference with Benjamin is that he's the
only full brother of Joseph.
He's the full brother
of Joseph because of the fact
that they're the only two
that were born of Rachel.
So this camp
on the west side
there's three
tribes, Ephraim, Manasseh
and Benjamin but they all have an intimate
relationship to one man, Joseph.
Manasseh and Ephraim
are the sons, the full
sons of Joseph and
Benjamin is the only full
brother of
Joseph.
Here's what's also interesting.
Joseph in the Old Testament
is a type of Jesus.
And I don't have time to get into all that.
We could preach a whole series on the life of Joseph
but let me just give you some food for thought.
Both Joseph and Jesus
were sold and betrayed by their brethren.
Both paid for sins
that they had not committed.
Both were taken out of the prison or the pit
and ascended to be
sitting on the right hand of the throne.
So Joseph
and there's other stuff we could talk about.
I'm not going to take the time to do it.
But Joseph is definitely a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have Judah on the west
pictures the lion.
Reuben on the north
pictures the ox.
Ephraim on the west
I'm sorry, did I say Judah on the west? Judah's on the east.
Ephraim on the west pictures
the man.
The beast that has the face
of a man but also
the tribes are connected
to one man and that one man
is also a very well known type of Christ.
So we see how that tribe
could picture
or represent the man. And then the last
thing, the last tribe
the southern tribe
or the southern camp is the camp of
Dan. Now are you there
in Genesis 49?
Look at what Jacob says about
his son Dan. Genesis 49
verse 16.
Dan shall judge his people
as one of the tribes
of Israel. Dan
is connected to judgment.
Dan is connected to judgment
and this is not the only time, I won't take the time
to have you go there, but when Dan is born
his mother calls him Dan and
she references the fact that
God has judged her and given her
Dan. So the name of Dan
is connected to judgment in one
shape or another.
And then of course
the eagle
is a picture of the
deity of Christ. Now go to Deuteronomy 28
if you would, real quickly, Deuteronomy 28
we're going to be done in like a few minutes
okay.
Actually we're not, I still have to give you the applications
I don't know why I said that.
We'll be done soon.
Deuteronomy 28
The eagle throughout
the Bible is also
associated with judgment.
Just real quickly, Deuteronomy 28
49
The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far
Deuteronomy 28 49
from the ends of the
earth. Notice what it says
As swift as the eagle
fieth, a nation whose tongue
thou shalt not understand.
So throughout the Bible we see that this eagle
often we see an eagle
in prophecy and prophetically
and it is often
time associated with judgment.
And if you consider the fact that the eagle represents
the deity of Christ
and the fact that he's coming in the clouds
remember eagles
ascend and they descend
when Jesus comes back
remember he's coming in his glorified
body and he's coming back to do what?
Because the first time he came
he came to die
but the second time he comes with a rod
of iron. What is he coming
to do? To judge the earth.
So we see that Dan
is associated with judgment
and we see that the eagle
is often associated with judgment
so we see that these four
camps
not only do they literally
picture a cross if we're correct
if I'm correct on the way
we're kind of understanding that
but we also see that
each camp
is representing one of these
beasts who are representing
a facet of the Lord Jesus Christ
the lion, the ox, the man
the eagle. So let's kind of
finish this up. Go back to
Numbers.
Here's a couple things.
The tabernacle
the tabernacle
houses the ark of God. We haven't really talked
about it. We talked about it a lot in Leviticus
and I'm sure we'll get into it
in the book of Numbers as well. But
the tabernacle
represents God.
It's not God but it represents the
presence of God. It represents
the fact that God is dwelling with His people.
That's why they would do the sacrifices
at the tabernacle. That's why Moses
would go to the tabernacle to meet with God or to speak
with God. The tabernacle represents
God. So think about this. In the throne
room in heaven you have God
sitting on His throne and around
Him are these four beasts
a lion, one with the
face of a lion, one with the face of a man
one with the face of an eagle, one with the face
of a calf or an ox and they are praising
God. Holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty which was and is
and is to come. And then
down on the valley
of Mount Sinai at
this time in history
you have the nation of Israel
surrounding the
tabernacle which is a picture
and an image of God and the presence
of God. And around this tabernacle
you have these four camps
that also represent these
four beasts as worshipping
and glorifying God on the throne.
So it's just a
very beautiful and interesting
thought when you consider
that if you were to get an aerial
view like Balaam did and you would look
down you would not only see a
picture of the cross but you'd see a
picture of the throne.
The throne room of God and the fact
that these four different camps
represent these four different
beasts and they are surrounding
the tabernacle which represents
the presence of God. Numbers
chapter 2 look at verse 32. These are
those which were numbered of the children of Israel
by the house of their fathers. All those that were
numbered of the camps throughout their host were
600,000, 300, and
550. That's 603, 550,000.
That's what we saw in the previous chapter.
But the Levites were not numbered. Next
week we're going to talk all about the Levites in chapter 3.
Among the children of Israel as the Lord commanded
Moses and the children of Israel did
according to all that the Lord commanded Moses
so they pitched by their standards and so
they were set forward, everyone after their families
according to the house of their fathers. Now real
quickly, let me give you two applications. If you
didn't agree with any of that, that's fine. You
don't have to listen to any of that if you don't
want. But you do have to listen to this.
This is not up for debate.
This is the word of God. Two takes away from
the book of Numbers, chapter 2.
Real quickly, don't turn anywhere.
I'll just read this for you. Takeaway number
one, everything should be done decently
and in order. The Bible says
in 1 Corinthians 14, 40,
let all things be done
decently and in order.
And we see that this is
just the character of God. God
wants things done right. God
wants things done well. And we see
that God takes this congregation
that is pretty much just encamped however
they want and he puts them in order.
He says, no, these three tribes
on the east side and these three
tribes on the south side and these three
tribes on the west side and these three
tribes on the north side and when we begin
to move, we're going to move in a certain
direction and procession. Let all
things be done decently and in order.
And you know, in your life, you should try to
live a life of decency
and order.
Everything should be done decently in order. But then
number two take away is this,
that everything in our lives should revolve
around God.
Colossians 3, 4 says this, when
Christ, I love this little phrase,
who is our life
shall appear, then
shall ye also appear with him
glory. And the fact that you see
these twelve tribes
organized into four camps
and they're all organized
to always be
surrounding
the presence of God, the tabernacle.
When they're pitched, they surround
it on the
east side, on the west side,
on the north side, on the south side.
When they begin to move, you have
the first tribe on the east go,
the second tribe on the south go,
the tabernacle go, then the
tribe on the west, then the tribe on the north.
Even as they're moving, they've got the
presence of God in their midst. As
they are pitched, they have the presence of God
in their midst.
And you know, the application for you and I
today is that our lives
should revolve around God.
We should not be these people who are
Christians on Sunday and then like
everyone else, Monday through Saturday, no.
My life should revolve God
and revolve around God and
revolve around God's word and revolve
around God's people. Hey, we should be a
Christian all the time.
And our lives should be surrounding
God and should be
revolving around the
presence of God.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this chapter.
And Lord, I realize that some of these things
that we talked about are not dogmatic
and I think maybe just interesting
and things to talk about.
But help us to take away
the actual takeaways
that we should live lives of
decency and order. Let everything be done decently
and in order. And that we should live
lives that are
surrounded, that are revolving
around God and God's word.
And Lord, we thank you for it.
In the matchless name of Christ, we pray.
Amen. Alright, we're going to have brother RJ
come up and lead us in a final song. Just want to give you
a couple reminders. First of all, don't forget
or I want to encourage you to be back on Wednesday
night. We started the Book of Galatians
last week. We're going to finish
chapter 1 on
Wednesday night and we're going to be looking
at the testimony of Paul. Paul begins
to give his personal testimony
and there's some really interesting things and cool
things that we can learn from that. So make sure you're here
tonight. We'd love for you to be a part of that.
Also, I want to remind you
for the ladies that if you could go by
the ladies' tea
sign-up sheets that are
in the foyer. We've got clipboards and you can
volunteer for different things. Please go by there
and volunteer for something or help with something. We would
appreciate that. And if you don't mind just looking
around your area, kind of picking up your mess
or whatever, putting the hymn book back and all
those things decently and in order.
We want to live lives with decency and in order.
And if you can help us kind of get organized
it helps the cleaning crew on Monday.
If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know.
We'll have brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
Now let's grab our songbooks and turn to page
number 304.
Song number 304.
Nothing between
my soul and the Savior.
Song number 304.
Sing it out on the first.
Nothing between my soul
and the Savior.
Not of this world's
elusive dream.
I have renounced
the sins of pleasure.
Jesus is mine.
There's nothing between
nothing between
my soul and the
Savior, so that
His merciful face
may be seen.
Nothing preventing the
least of His cable.
Keep the way clear
and nothing between.
Nothing between
my worthy
pleasure. Habits
of life go harmlessly
seen.
He must have my heart
from Him ever
severe.
He is my own.
There's nothing between
nothing between
my soul and the Savior.
So that His face
may be seen.
Nothing preventing
the least of His cable.
Keep the way clear
and nothing between.
Like pride or like
station, self or
friend shall not
intervene.
Though it may cost me
but tribulation,
I am resolved.
There's nothing between
nothing between
my soul and the Savior.
So that His
placid face may be seen.
Nothing preventing
the least of His
cable. Keep the way clear
and nothing between.
Sing it out on the last.
Nothing between
and many hard
trials. Though the
world of death
be complete.
Watching with prayer and
myself denied.
I'll triumph at last
with nothing between.
Nothing between
my soul and the Savior.
So that His face may be seen.
Nothing preventing
the least of His
cable. Keep the way
clear and nothing
between.
Amen. Great singing. If anyone here has questions about
salvation, baptism, or church membership,
pastor will be at the door. He would love
to talk to you or the director who's trained
to do that as well. And if you're in choir,
we're going to start recording around
7.50, so if you could make your
way to the Fellowship Hall
around 7.50, we would appreciate that.
Brother Graham, would you dismiss us with a word of prayer?
Father God, thank you
for this day
for this message. Thank you
for all of the chapters of this Bible
that give us edification.
Please bless us the rest of this week
and bring us back safely on Wednesday night.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
Amen.