Conquering the Shadowy Place
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
“Everything that the light touches is our kingdom.”
These are the words of Mufasa to his son Simba in the movie: Lion King. Simba responds with the most poetic words: “wow.”
Simba is so surprised that their land consists of everything that the light touches, but he wonders about the shadowy place, so he asks his dad, “what about that shadowy place?”
Mufasa responds by telling him, “you must never go there.”
The Shadowy Place is a graveyard. It’s a desolate place where life withers and death flourishes. No one would want to live there.
Would you want to live in the Shadowy Place?
No one would want to live in a place like this. It would be like living in the desert.
There’s no water.
There’s no food.
There’s no life.
It would be very difficult for anyone to survive in the desert.
This is what Israel had to do. They had to survive the Shadowy Place.
Before Israel entered the promised land, where were they? They were in the wilderness, a place where life withers and death flourishes.
Living in the wilderness was not easy for them. They struggled. It was so bad that there were times when they wanted to go back to Egyptian slavery.
The wilderness was hard for the Israelites. All of them didn’t make it through. Remember an entire generation died in that wilderness, but some of them survived and made it through.
The reason I bring this up is because we are in the wilderness.
Genesis 2:5-10.
5 When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, 6 and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
Before God planted the garden (this coincides with day 3), there was nothing. The world was a lifeless wilderness, but God’s garden is different. God’s garden is filled with life. Things just grew.
Genesis 3:17-24.
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
When man was expelled from the garden, they were expelled into a wilderness of sorts. In the garden, things just grew. Man had to manage the garden but didn’t have to toil. When we were exiled from the garden we had to work and toil to bring life from ground. Man was exiled from the garden into the wilderness.
The book of Hebrews makes this point clear. The author of Hebrews wants us to see that Christians are living in the wilderness just like the Israelites were. Christians are the new Israelites journeying towards the promised land.
Hebrews 3:7-4:11.
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
“As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ”
although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, we (Christians in the wilderness) have received the good news. Just like them, we are journeying towards rest.
So, the author of Hebrews wants us to see ourselves as the new Israel in the wilderness.
This explains a lot, doesn’t it?
At times, it feels like we are living in the Shadowy Place. At times, this is a very hard world to live in. We are surrounded by evil and death, and sometimes it feels like too much.
This is because we are journeying through the wilderness, and we need to know what to do to make it through.
This is what we are going to talk about in today’s lesson. We are going to learn how to conquer the wilderness by looking at how the Israelites were supposed to conquer the wilderness.
God is in the center
God is in the center
A. In Numbers 2, we are told how the Israelites were supposed to arrange their camp.
Numbers 2:1-7.
1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side. 3 Those to camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah by their companies, the chief of the people of Judah being Nahshon the son of Amminadab, 4 his company as listed being 74,600. 5 Those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, the chief of the people of Issachar being Nethanel the son of Zuar, 6 his company as listed being 54,400. 7 Then the tribe of Zebulun, the chief of the people of Zebulun being Eliab the son of Helon,
Here we see that the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon camped on the east side of the encampment.
Numbers 2:10-14.
10 “On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their companies, the chief of the people of Reuben being Elizur the son of Shedeur, 11 his company as listed being 46,500. 12 And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, the chief of the people of Simeon being Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, 13 his company as listed being 59,300. 14 Then the tribe of Gad, the chief of the people of Gad being Eliasaph the son of Reuel,
Here we see that the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad camped on the south side of the encampment.
Numbers 2:18-22.
18 “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their companies, the chief of the people of Ephraim being Elishama the son of Ammihud, 19 his company as listed being 40,500. 20 And next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, the chief of the people of Manasseh being Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, 21 his company as listed being 32,200. 22 Then the tribe of Benjamin, the chief of the people of Benjamin being Abidan the son of Gideoni,
Here we see that the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin camped on the west side of the encampment.
Numbers 2:25-29.
25 “On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their companies, the chief of the people of Dan being Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, 26 his company as listed being 62,700. 27 And those to camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, the chief of the people of Asher being Pagiel the son of Ochran, 28 his company as listed being 41,500. 29 Then the tribe of Naphtali, the chief of the people of Naphtali being Ahira the son of Enan,
Here we see that the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali camped on the north side of the encampment.
Do you know who was in the center of the camp? Numbers 2:17.
17 “Then the tent of meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; as they camp, so shall they set out, each in position, standard by standard.
The tent of meeting where God dwells was in the center of the camp.
This teaches us an important lesson. If Israel was going to conquer the wilderness, then their lives needed to revolve around God. They needed to have God at the center of their lives, and this is symbolically shown through the arrangement of their camp. This is the lesson for us. If we are going to conquer our Shadowy Place, then our lives must revolve around God.
It’s easy for us to prioritize self.
This is what the Israelites did. Numbers 11:1.
1 And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.
Who’s misfortune? Their misfortune. It was all about them.
Numbers 13:30-14:4.
30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Caleb was focusing on God, but the rest of the Israelites were focusing on their own weakness. Their lives didn’t center around God… Their lives centered around themselves.
What happened to that generation? That generation died in the wilderness.
We must be a different people. Our lives must be centered around God and not self.
Matthew 6:33.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
If we focus on God, he will ultimately take care of us.
There are so many things that take our focus
School
Finances
Family
Politics
Pandemic
Satan wants us to focus on the waves rather than on God. Our focus, our lives need to revolve around Jesus.
We see this idea in Revelation as well. Revelation 1:12-13, 20; 4:1-4.
12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
1 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
In both of these contexts, we see that God’s people are oriented around God.
So, what’s the point? God must be the center of our lives.
God is in front
God is in front
In Numbers, God does tell the Israelites how they should camp, but God also tells the Israelites how they should travel.
There was a particular order that the Israelites were supposed to travel in. Numbers 2:9.
9 All those listed of the camp of Judah, by their companies, were 186,400. They shall set out first on the march.
Here we see that Judah was supposed to set out first in the March, but did Judah really lead the group?
Numbers 9:15-18.
15 On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. 16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. 17 And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. 18 At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.
Here, we see that Judah wasn’t really the leader of the camp, God was the leader; he set out first.
This is another lesson that we need to take away from the book of Numbers. If we are going to survive and conquer the shadowy place, then God must be out front. He must be the master of our lives.
I feel like this is hard for us at times because we are a nation of free men and women. No one is our master… We live our own lives, and no one is in charge of us.
This country was founded on freedom. We are our own masters. This mentality has had a negative affect on our culture, and we are starting to see the negative impact of it today.
Citizens don’t respect the authority of police, and political leaders.
Children don’t respect the authority of teachers and parents.
We are in charge. No one can tell us what to do.
This mentality has made its way into our religion as well.
America is a religious nation, isn’t it? A majority of Americans are religious, so America is a religious nation, but it is also an immoral nation. How do these two go together? They go together when God isn’t in charge.
America is a religious nation, but it is also a greedy nation. How do these things go together? They can only go together when God isn’t in charge.
I’m reading a book called Bad Religion, and the author the author says that “America’s problem isn’t too much religion, or too little of it. It’s bad religion.”
He goes on to say, “The result is a society where pride becomes ‘healthy self-esteem,’ vanity becomes ‘self-improvement,’ adultery becomes ‘following your heart,’ greed and gluttony become ‘living the American dream.’”
If we are going to survive the wilderness, God must be in the lead. Hebrews 4:6-7.
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
Why weren’t the Israelites able to enter God’s rest? It’s because God wasn’t leading them.
Numbers 14:4.
4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
We must be different. God must be in charge of our lives.
Conclusion
Conclusion
There is rest waiting for us. But rest is only waiting for those who conquer the wilderness.
Are you journeying towards rest?