Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
The story of the Israelites really is a shocking, dramatic story.
In Genesis 12, God makes three promises to Abraham.
He promises that his family will be a great nation with a great land, and they will become a great blessing to the world...
...But at the end of the book of Genesis, where are the Israelites?
They are in Egypt.
At first, the relationship between the Egyptians and the Israelites is a good one, but that doesn’t last long.
Eventually, the King of Egypt decides to mistreat the Israelites and subject them to hard labor.
Why does he do this?
Exodus 1:8-16.
In the interest of National Security, the Egyptians decide to afflict the Israelites.
So, the Israelites were afflicted in Egypt for 400 years.
Genesis 15:13.
Israel’s affliction went on until God said it was enough.
Exodus 2:23-25.
So, God saves the Israelites from Egypt and brings them into the wilderness.
While they are in the wilderness, God takes care of them, makes them his people, and eventually brings them to the border of their new land.
The Israelites were all set to enter the promised land, but it doesn’t happen… Why?
To answer that question, we are going to go through the book of Numbers and look at seven different times that the Israelites decided to rebel against God.
Israel In The Wilderness (Seven Acts of Rebellion)
These seven rebellions are arranged in a particular way that is very common in scripture.
It’s called a chiasm.
It’s kind of like a sandwich with bread on the outside and meat on the inside.
In this case, the chiasm is designed to direct your attention toward the center, so as we go through numbers, we will start from the outside and move to the inside.
1st and 7th Rebellion
The outer pair of stories share similarities.
In Numbers 11:1-3, the people complain so God sends fire to burn parts of the camp.
In Numbers 21:4-9, the people complain again so God sends fiery serpents.
2nd and 6th Rebellion
The next inner pair of stories focus on how the people complain about food.
2nd Rebellion
In Numbers 11:4-35, the people complain because they didn’t have meat to eat.
Numbers 11:4-6.
So, what does God do?
God gives them quail.
Numbers 11:18-20.
6th Rebellion
In Numbers 20:1-13, the people complain because they don’t have enough water to drink.
Numbers 20:2-4.
So, God tells Moses to speak to the rock, but he strikes the rock instead.
So, in this pair, the people complain about food and water, and God provides it for them.
3rd and 5th Rebellion
The next inner pair of stories focus on a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, Israel’s leaders.
3rd Rebellion
In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of the woman that she had married.
Numbers 12:1.
So, God punishes them for their sin.
5th Rebellion
In Numbers 16-17, We see another rebellion, but this time against both Moses and Aaron.
In this rebellion Korah, Dathan, and Abiram gather 250 of the Levites to try and overthrow both Moses and Aaron.
They claim that all of the Levites are holy, so they ask why Aaron and Moses are exalted.
Numbers 16:3.
Ultimately, they are punished for trying to overthrow God’s appointed leaders.
So, in both of these stories there is a rebellion against God’s leaders
4th Rebellion
At the very center of these stories is the most shocking rebellion of them all.
In this context, we see that God had led the people to Paran, or Kadesh Barnea, which is just south of the promised land.
Numbers 13:1-3.
The men go to spy out the land, and some of the spies have a good report.
Numbers 13:30.
But what do most of the spies say?
Numbers 13:27-28, 31.
Most of the spies give a bad report.
“We can’t take this land.”
This is how the people react.
Numbers 14:1-4.
What does God do?
God gave them exactly what they wanted.
So, what do we see from the Israelites in the wilderness?
Why were they unable to enter the promised land?
Why couldn’t they enter?
They rebelled against God.
Numbers 14:22-23.
This was the God who brought them out of Egyptian slavery….
How could they think that he would let them starve in the wilderness or die taking the land?
He was the one keeping them alive in the wilderness, and they still failed to trust him.
They rebelled against one another.
Aaron and Miriam rebel against Moses over the silliest thing… Because his wife was a Cushite woman.
Kohath rebels against Aaron for the silliest reason… Because they felt like Aaron and Moses were hogging the glory.
This is just shocking.
These people are in the wilderness (desert).
If they are going to survive, then they need to lean on God, and they need to work together.
Christians In The Wilderness
So, how is this relevant to us?
We are not the ancient Israelites, and we are not living in the wilderness.
Hebrews 4:1-13.
The author of Hebrews says that we, as Christians, are just like the Israelites in the wilderness.
He makes this clear throughout the letter.
They received a gospel like we received a gospel
Hebrews 4:1-2.
They received a gospel just like we received a gospel.
We as Christians have the gospel, but the Israelites in the wilderness had a gospel as well.
God promised them that he would bring them home and dwell with them, and that’s the same promise that we have.
God promised them a land of rest, and God promises us a land of rest as well.
We have a high priest just like they had a high priest
Hebrews 4:14.
We have a high priest just like they had a high priest.
In the wilderness, where did that high priest serve?
In the tabernacle…
We have a tabernacle just like they had a tabernacle
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