Wilderness journey: Dibon-gad to Gilgal
Wilderness Journey • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture reading: Deut. 32:48-52
Scripture reading: Deut. 32:48-52
That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
The Israelites have been here for 39 years, and it’s the last leg of the journey. They’re almost there. In fact, they’ve been fighting and conquering enemy armies for the past couple of months. And all they have to do now is enter into the promised land.
But at the final 41st campsite outside of Canaan, something terrible happened.
And there are three major things that happened at the plains of Moab. A temptation, a headcount, and a death.
The temptation of the Moabites
The temptation of the Moabites
So what happens at the plains of Moab? If you were an enemy commander, and this mighty army of Israelites are coming near your border, and you know they’re stronger than your army. You’ve heard the stories of how their God fights for them. What do you do? You turn their God against them. How? You study up on what their God considers to be sin, and you make them sin. And it just so happens that you have all these beautiful women from your country. So what happens? Let’s see.
While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
So what happens? The Israelite men were probably amazed at the beauty of these Moabite women. It’s like… all this time they only knew these tough and rugged and dusty Israelite women who’ve been traveling all their lives. But these Moabite women are delicate, they’re wearing fashionable clothes and have pretty jewelry. So the Moabite women invite them into their tents for some dinner. But oops, before dinner we have to offer the food to this god called Baal. It’s nothing serious, just a custom. And because the Israelite guy is so smitten by her, and it’s just the two of them. No one’s going to know. So he quickly bows his head and has the delicious food, and drink some good wine. And by the time he leaves her tent, he’s done the deed. He’s lost his sexual purity and he’s committed idolatry.
And this happens to so many Israelites that God sends a plague upon His own people, and 24,000 Israelites die (Num. 25:9).
And this same thing happens to so many of us in our journey of faith. Many of us are going to be tempted to commit the same kind of sin, especially as youths and young adults, where the dating scene is so hot and happening. We’re living in a world of sexual sin, whether it’s physical or digital. And so I want you to break up into groups and come up with a solution to this problem.
What can we do, as Christians, to remain holy in a world full of sexual sin?
I’m going to give you 5mins. And I want to see some bible verses as well. Feel free to use your phones to search for bible verses.
The headcount of the Israelites
The headcount of the Israelites
So after the events of the temptation and the plague, now Moses does a headcount of the Israelites. This is the second time that Moses is doing a headcount. When’s the first time? It was at Mt. Sinai, about 38 years ago. And the population of each of the twelve tribes were recorded. Here’s a table that compares the first and the second headcount. It’s comparing Num. 1 and Num. 26.
What we see is that in the first headcount, tribe of Simeon was quite large at 59,300. But by the time of the second headcount, it had dropped to 22,200. Why the sudden drop? It’s possible that a large number of the tribe of Simeon were involved with the Moabite women.
And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites.
I’m not saying that this happened, but looking at this chart, it seems probable that many of the Simeonites committed sexual immorality with the Moabite women. And so many of them died because of the plague.
Another big change we see is in the tribe of Manasseh. They almost doubled in size from 32,200 to 52,700. Why? I don’t know.
The death of Moses
The death of Moses
Now after all this, Moses reiterates the law of God to the second generation of the Israelites. That’s the entire book of Deuteronomy. Deutero is Greek for ‘second,’ and nomos means ‘law.’ So Deuteronomy means ‘second law.’ Why? Because Moses goes through the law for a second time.
Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying,
And after going through the law, God tells Moses to go up to Mt. Abarim. There God shows Moses the promised land of Canaan from that mountain top, and then God makes Moses die.
That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
Why did Moses have to die? God says it was because he broke faith and did not treat God as holy.
because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.
God points back to the incident at Kadesh.
What happened at Kadesh? The Israelites ran out of water, and they started to grumble again. And so God told Moses to speak to the rock.
and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
But instead of speaking to the rock, Moses hit the rock twice.
And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.
Why did Moses do this? Because he was so angry at the Israelites. They kept grumbling and grumbling every time things didn’t go their way.
Why was this so important? It’s because the rock that Moses struck was the same rock that had been sustaining and providing water for them all these years in the wilderness. And the NT teaches us that that rock represents Jesus.
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
Now this rock in the wilderness represents Jesus. But for some reason, it has stopped giving water. And so now God tells Moses to speak to that same rock, so that it will pour out water again. Why not hit it again? The answer to that question lies in the Hebrew word for rock.
The first time God tells Moses to strike the rock, the word for rock is Tsur. Tsur. Can you say it with me? Tsur.
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Tsur is a large boulder. When Moses struck the rock, water came out. And that water sustained and gave life to the people.
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Now the second time, God tells Moses not to strike, but to speak to the rock. And this time the word for rock is Sela. Sela.
“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”
Sela is a craggy rock that has many splits and holes, like this picture.
the rock badgers are a people not mighty,
yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
Now, how did a Tsur rock turn into a craggy rock? It’s because Moses struck it.
If this rock represents Jesus, who gives us the water of life, then who struck Jesus? The Jews did. The Romans did. Where did they strike Him? On the cross. And even after Jesus died and resurrected, His body still bore the marks of the crucifixion.
So the rock in the wilderness foreshadows Jesus Christ, who was struck for our salvation. But if we strike Him again, we cannot enter into the promised land. The book of Hebrews calls this ‘crucifying Him again.’
For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
God told Moses to speak to the rock, but Moses struck the rock instead. What does it mean to speak to the rock? Do you speak to something that’s dead or alive? Alive right? If you knew that this rock that has been sustaining you for all these years was alive you wouldn’t hit it right? Not unless God commands you to.
So this shows us that there are two kinds of people in the end time when Jesus returns. The first kind will strike Him. The second will speak with Him. The first kind only wants the benefits He gives. The second kind wants His Word. That’s what it means to speak with the rock.
There are those who only care about what the rock can do for them. And then there are those who care about what the rock has to say.
so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
When Christ returns a second time, He will come to those who eagerly wait for Him. Not for the benefits or the blessings He gives, but because they love Him and His Word.
Conclusion: Crossing the Jordan River
Conclusion: Crossing the Jordan River
Let’s now conclude our wilderness journey series with this final thought. How can we enter into the promised land? The Israelites crossed two bodies of water in their journey. The first was the Red Sea. And for the Red Sea, Moses raised his staff and the waters parted. And then the Israelites walked through. But now the Israelites are crossing over the Jordan River. This Jordan River symbolizes the gateway to the promised land. We want to cross over into the promised land right? So how did they cross it? Let’s read.
So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.
It says that the priests bearing the ark stepped into the Jordan river first. What’s the ark? Ark means box. It’s a box that has the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments and other items. And this ark represents God. So the priests who were carrying God stepped into the Jordan River. And was the River dry? It was overflowing. That’s the last thing you want to be doing. Because you don’t know how deep the riverbed is. You don’t know if there’s a sudden dropoff, and you slip and fall into the rushing currents.
So what does this represent? Only those who trust God can enter into the promised land. Only those who are willing to step forward in faith. And only those who hold onto God. Why hold onto God? Because the ark represents God, so these priests carrying the ark were literally holding onto God. We must also hold onto God like this, trust in God’s promise, and step forward in faith.
And what happened to the waters? After the priests stepped in, the waters rose up in a heap very far away. At where? A city called Adam. I don’t think that’s a coincidence right? Why? Because Adam represents the brokenness of sin. It was through Adam and Eve that sin came into this world. And the Bible puts it this way. You are either in Adam, or in Christ. If you are in Adam, then you’re in sin. But if you’re in Christ, then you are saved from sin.
For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
So I pray that we will hold onto God, trust in His Word, and step forward in faith. That’s what it means to be in Christ. And that’s how we can finish our spiritual wilderness journey in the church, and enter into heaven.