Thoughts on Numbers 27 & 1 Peter 4-5

Today’s reading: Numbers 27; 1 Peter 4-5

Thoughts on Numbers 27

Moses’ response/attitude in the second half of Numbers 27 is really challenging.

God had already told Moses that he would not get to enter the promised land because he and Aaron did not uphold Him as holy before the people at Meribah and Kadesh, but now it is time for Moses to fully face that consequence. God tells Moses to go up Mount Abarim and see the promised land, after which he will die.

At this point, I honestly think it would have been entirely reasonable for Moses to ask God for a second chance. Think about it, how many times during the exodus and the wilderness wandering was God going to destroy the people, but then relented at Moses’ intercession for them? Moses was God’s instrument to lead the people out of Egypt, and he has been faithful in leading them for 40 years around the wilderness. Plus, he never would have been in the situation to strike the rock if the people hadn’t rebelled and refused to enter the land the first time. Moses could appeal to God’s mercy, as he has done for the people, or he could appeal to his faithful track record, or he could try to shift the blame to the people, and maybe God would relent, just like He did for the people, and let Moses enter the land. But this isn’t where Moses goes.

What is Moses’ concern at this point? It’s not Himself, but the people. When God tells Moses he is going to die, Moses asks God to appoint someone to lead the people in his place. This is a really humble and godly act on Moses’ part, and it ultimately is a blessing to Israel for decades to come. The period of the judges was marked by there being no king in Israel and everyone doing whatever was right in their own eyes, but that did not start until Joshua and the elders who were his contemporaries died. Because Moses asked God to appoint a leader in his place, Israel was led into and established in the land in relative faithfulness to Yahweh, and it is not until Joshua fails to follow suit and dies without appointing a successor that Israel descends into spiritual chaos.

Following God is always the best choice. It is not always the direction we want to go, and it is not always the direction we would choose, but if God is calling us to something, there is nothing better for us to do than humbly submit and follow, knowing and trusting that He is good. This is much easier said than done at times, and I know I would have struggled to respond so humbly to the Lord in Moses’ sandals, but his is definitely an example worth following.

Thoughts on 1 Peter 4-5

The reading in 1 Peter this morning makes me think of something that I has struck me a number of times in the past, and that is how much harder it is to stay faithful to Yahweh than to any other god.

Over and over again as we have been reading through Exodus and Numbers, we have seen Israel turn against God, and as we continue through the Old Testament we see time and again that Israel turns to follow the gods of the nations around them. Those nations don’t seem to have trouble staying faithful to their gods, it really seems like primarily an Israel problem. So are the Israelites a uniquely fickle and faithless people? I don’t think so, because once they turn to those other gods, they don’t seem to have trouble continuing on with them.

And I don’t think this is purely an ancient phenomenon either, but I think this is something we see today as well. It seems like it is generally harder for people to live consistently faithfully for the God of the bible throughout their lives than faithfully pursuing other religions and spiritualities. But it’s not just an internal difficulty, but an external pressure as well. Peter talks about this over and over in his letter, that they need to stay strong under slander and persecution. And what are they getting slandered for? For doing good and for not living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. And this same thing happens today. If a Christian decides to avoid these things to be faithful to the Bible, they are a prude, but if someone following an Eastern religion decides to avoid these things seeking enlightenment, they are an example of piety and self-sacrifice in the name of a higher calling.

What’s the difference? Peter tells us in chapter 5 what the difference is, and that is that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Humanity exists in the middle of a spiritual war with God and His angels on one side and some number of rebellious members of the heavenly host on the other. This is not a war of swords and arrows, but a war of ideas and truth. We exist in a world where very real, powerful, brilliant, magnificent spiritual beings are actively seeking to turn us away from God. In this war, the battleground is not our behavior, it is our allegiance, so it makes sense with what the Bible teaches us about the spiritual realities around us that the same activities that are maligned when performed in the name of Christ are celebrated when performed in the name of literally anyone or anything else.

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can get to the Father except through Him. Our salvation is based on our aligning ourselves with God, in Christ, by faith. That is our sole foundation in this war, and it is the foundation that God’s enemies seek to erode.

Following a false religion is easy because, not only is there not opposition, there is even encouragement, as what you are doing aligns with the desires and pursuits of God’s enemies. But to put your flag in the ground on the side of Yahweh is to paint a target on your back for the opposition. In this war we have the assurance that He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world, but that does not mean there is no fight and that does not mean it will always be pleasant. That is why Peter has encouraged his readers so many times in this letter not to be discouraged or give in to the slander and persecution they are facing for following Christ, but to continue on as faithful witnesses of the Savior who died for us. And this is why the need and encouragement to endure is such an often repeated theme throughout all the New Testament letters and books, because staying faithful to Yahweh is much more difficult than staying faithful to any other god, because life and truth are found only in Him, and the devil and his angels will work tirelessly to turn you away from Him.

Living faithfully for God through to the end is not easy, and there will be times and seasons where it will be more difficult than others, but in the end, no matter what we may have to endure in this life, it will all be worth it for the glory of knowing Christ and being found in Him on that day.