"Setting Forth with God"

I read this week of a 21 year old girl named Eliza who was living a vibrant and meaningful life as the director of an art gallery. She was completing a college education and had hope to one day get married and love her children as well as her parents had loved her.

This bright future and gleaming hope wasn’t always what Eliza had to look forward to. At the age of 20, she was just weeks from death. She had been living with heart failure since the age of 14. It was at that young, innocent age that she began to feel like she had no energy and the doctors told her she had the heart of a 70 year old. Her heart failure left her in a state where her heart could not pump enough blood around her body where by the age of 20, just weeks from death, she was confined to a bed, unable to move, and the recipient of medication to prevent fluids from building in her body because without them, her body would drown itself.

Her situation was grim. She was in need of a transplant, but she was too far down on the transplant list to reasonably think she could get a heart in time. What worked against Eliza was the medical understanding that the only hearts that can be transplanted are those that come from brain dead patients while the heart is still beating.

Eliza and her parents were beginning to accept the likely outcome that awaited her, when the phone rang. On the other end of the phone was a doctor who explained an advancement of medical technology that had discovered that hearts which were restarted within 20 minutes of stopping are viable organs for transplant - and they had one for Eliza! The procedure is now known as a “donation after circulatory death” and the doctor who discovered it has described it as a game changer in the world of heart transplants because it opens up so many more possibilities for viable organs for donation.

Tension

Medical advancement is an amazing thing. I was looking at the impact that particular medical advancements have had upon lives. Toilets, invented in 1875, and the blood transfusion, invented in 1913, are each credited with saving 1 billion lives since their introduction. These advancements have led humanity into a new future where the longevity and health of human life has been given a renewed promise.

Medicine isn’t the only field that we can see the impact of advancement. We consider the last century’s worth of advancement in automobiles that have gone from a crank starts to push-button electric vehicles or human flight that has reduced worldwide travel from months to hours. What great feats of human ingenuity and exceptionalism?!

But, I wonder this morning, as we reap the rewards of promises fulfilled from journeys made in the last century, if we as a people of God are as open to advancing to the land of promise that the is Lord leading us to?

Truth

As our church has been on a journey of sorts to read the Bible together in 2022 and it is the Chronological reading plan which has mapped our path, we turn our eyes to a text that we read from Monday with just a subtle reminder that if you have fallen behind in your reading, today is Sunday and it marks the start of a new week - avoid the burden of trying to overcome the monumental feat of catching up, just start fresh today.

There are three distinct observations that I want us to make from this text this morning.

1. God Leads His People

We pick up in the story of Israel about a year after God has delivered his people from Egypt and led them through the Red Sea, holding them in an encampment at the base of Mt Sinai for a majority of that year while God gives to Israel through Moses his Law. By this time, Israel has already shown themselves to be an impatient people with idolatrous hearts after the golden calf incident, but serving as a foreshadow to the Person of Jesus Christ, Moses interceded for Israel and averts the wrath of God from being poured down over the entire nation.

And now, Numbers 10:11 “the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony.” At last, the cloud that has been upon the tabernacle established at Sinai - and let’s be clear, this is the cloud that is the visible presence of God - the cloud lifts from the place that Israel would go in to meet with God and offer sacrifice to him, thus signaling to Israel that it was time to load up. God was now moving them in their journey to fulfill his commitment to deliver to them the land of promise.

So as we read from Numbers 10:14-28, the people of God are assembled in an orderly fashion as commanded by their tribes, each led by their tribal leader. The tribe of Judah is to lead, the tribe of Dan is the caboose in the endeavour (which by the way, when your name is Dan and you’ve got a type-A personality, can I point out that this kind of thing knocks you down a few rungs?) and protected by the tribe of the Levites in the middle of the procession are the sacred objects of God.

There are a few things I hope we might all see from these verses:

God leads his people. From Numbers 10:13, the tribes assemble based on the “command of the Lord by Moses” and Moses appeals to the wilderness camping experience of his father-in-law Hobab in Numbers 10:31 to help the nation on their the journey to the Promised Land, it is evident that there are human leaders involved in the work of God. But as they lean in to their callings, human leaders do two things: they remind the people of God of what God has spoken to them in his Word while also calling the people to lift their eyes to the presence of God in their midst, who leads them as the pillar of cloud, rather than allowing their eyes to fall to the dust of the road.

Following where God leads isn’t easy. Numbers 10:12 “the people of Israel set out by stages from the wilderness of Sinai. And the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.” Though Israel is on their march towards the Promised Land, God sees fit to lead them from one desert to another desert. Though God is leading, though God is present, the immediate conditions for the people of God do not get any easier. There is nothing noteworthy of the landscape and the earth beneath their feet in Paran is just as parched as it was at Sinai. Israel is learning that following God does not necessarily bring relief to their immediate situation.

Thirdly, the optimistic reader may make an effort to assume that the worst won’t come to be. God has commanded and Israel is obeying. God is very present amongst the nation and he is visibly leading his people. Every tribe is doing exactly as it should in the moment, packing up their tents and belongings, packing up the sacred things of Israel, loading up the tabernacle. Sure, they are relocated to another desert, but everyone is following their orders and God is with them - what more would they need, right? Well, though I didn’t read it at the start, allow me to read Numbers 11:1 “And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes.” Starting well with God doesn’t mean we finish well in following him.

2. Others Are Invited to Join

It may seem odd to shift from a depressing thought that starting well with God does not directly relate to finishing well, with what I want us to observe next, but I believe this can be a form of encouragement to those in this room (or online) who have been sitting on the fence. Those individuals who are equally feeling God pull at their heart and feeling their feet glued to the floor when the end-of-service invitation is extended. What I invite us to see next is that God invites others to join the journey.

Specifically in the text, through Moses, God invites a non-Israelite to enjoy equally in the promises of God. This is no small thing, because at this time in redemption history, God has specifically chosen Israel to reveal himself to all the nations, yet we see God’s own heart revealed here as it is his desire that none should perish and that each should come to repentance.

Numbers 10:29–32 ESV

29 And Moses said to Hobab the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the Lord has promised good to Israel.” 30 But he said to him, “I will not go. I will depart to my own land and to my kindred.” 31 And he said, “Please do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. 32 And if you do go with us, whatever good the Lord will do to us, the same will we do to you.”

What Moses is offering to his in-law Hobab are three things:

A new family. Hobab already has his own family, but by his invitation, Moses is inviting his in-law who is not an Israelite, to identify with the larger family of God.

A new inheritance. When he is accepted into the family of Israel, Hobab is committing himself to follow Moses into the Promised Land that God has promised the nation. There is a cost that Hobab will incur, or a price that he will have to pay, if you like. And that price is this - in order to receive the inheritance of the Promised Land that is promised to Israel, Hobab will have to surrender the land…his heritage and namesake that he is keen to return to in order to follow God. If that isn’t costly enough, following God through Moses into the land of promise will cause Hobab to join Israel in their trials and sufferings as they make their pilgrimage from Sinai to cross the Jordan river. At this point in time, all Moses can offer Hobab is the promise of a hope that is extended by the God of Heaven and Earth if he is willing to submit himself to trials and abandoning the life he had before.

Moses also offers his in-law a new mission. Moses’s offer to join Israel involves a mission for Hobab. The Israelites are essentially traveling blind, not knowing the land through which they are traveling and Israel needs Hobab’s “eyes” (v. 31) to direct them through the great and terrible Sinai Desert. Hobab, as a native of that area, can serve as an expert guide, bringing the people to the watering holes and helping them avoid pitfalls and enemies along the way.

Coming back to the thought that all of this can be an encouragement to those who are on the fence about matters of faith, the fact that God invites others to join him is the beauty of the gospel. I have said now a few times this year that in the Old Testament, we see types and shadows of Christ and his kingdom, and this text is no exception to that. In the cross of Jesus Christ, the wrath of God that we each are due for our sin committed against holy God was satisfied. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God has given to us the certainty that Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, given the certainty that we need not have fear of anything including death and the devil, and that his kingdom has arrived but is not fully here.

As Christians, we are marching, redeemed wretches that we are, proclaiming the name of the only one who saves, encouraged by and sharing the burdens of the new family that God gives us when he calls us to salvation, awaiting the inheritance that he has promised us in that sweet Beulah land. God invites you to join his family, receive the bounty of his inheritance, and to be faithful in service to the mission he has given to the Church, with the assurance that

3. God Protects His People

When the pillar that is the presence of God rested upon the tabernacle, the cloud literally rested upon the ark of the covenant that was within it, so as to say that the ark was the throne of God in the midst of the tabernacle.

And so, Israel is led by God though the cloud and by God’s throne, the ark of the covenant (vv. 33–34). When the cloud arises and the ark goes forth from the tabernacle to lead the people or when the ark is brought back into the tabernacle, Moses chants a prayer to those visible signs of God’s presence.

Numbers 10:35–36 ESV

35 And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.” 36 And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Lord, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.”

Those words come to be part of Israel’s hymnology. They serve as the opening of the hymn of Psalm 68:1-2 “1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him! 2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away; as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God!”

The Song of the Ark reminds Israel that it is not alone in its struggles and trials in the wilderness journey from Sinai to Canaan. It reminds Israel that God is its protector. The Israelites have enemies, to be sure, but Yahweh in their midst is available to help them scatter their enemies. The second part of the song emphasizes God’s presence among them. The ark is a symbol of God’s throne and presence in the tabernacle in the middle of the Israelite camps.

Application

I wonder if this morning we who are in Christ have moved past accepting in only our minds that God is present with us and protects us. No, he does not rest upon the ark of the covenant and move as a pillar of cloud today, but rather the God of Heaven and Earth rests upon and within, the child of God.

When preparing his disciples about the fact that he was going to soon die, Jesus taught about the Holy Spirit in this manner:

John 14:16-17 The Father “will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."

To the young child who lives in fear at home because mom and dad constantly fight, because of the Holy Spirit, you are not alone and he knows your fear and he wants you to know that one day, all fighting and tears will be no more.

To the teenager and young adult who feels inadequate because they are without a boyfriend or girlfriend, because of the Holy Spirit, you are not alone because God has bound you to Jesus and has given you a purpose for your life to bring him glory.

To the adult who feels absolutely isolated because their spouse or children are consumed by career or hobby, because of the Holy Spirit, you are not alone because God has laid for you the foundation of a relationship with One who will never leave you or forsake you.

To the senior who lacks certainty about why God still has them here, though their family and friends are now gone, because of the Holy Spirit, you are not alone because your mission is not complete and your assignment is greater than your circumstances.

God is always present with those he has redeemed - why would he abandon anyone whom he purchased with the precious blood of his Son?

If we each would pray that the Spirit of God would take this truth and transport it from our brains to being planted firmly within our hearts, then knowing that God is present and protects his children will allow for us to move from the position of fear...to trust...as we collectively journey together as a church.

Remember Eliza, whose story I told to start our time together? I find it to be a curious thing that no one complains about advancements in medicine that preserve or prolong life. Nor are there complaints about technological inventions that improve travel, or those inventions that reduce our burdens in the home. For example, I know of no one who complains that their produce is preserved for weeks in their refrigerators or that clothes can be washed and dried without a clothesline and a trip to the river with a washboard.

Yet as plainly as we can see in our text heading into Numbers 11, God’s presence and God’s leading and God’s saving does not prevent human beings from sinfully responding out of their fear rather than operating out of their trust in God when the Lord calls his Church advance by moving from where its been and how it’s always done things. Read a few verses into the next chapter and you’ll see how the references to the way things were in Egypt come up.

I want to extend a word to leaders, those who are entrusted to undershepherd the flock of God and those who are leading community ministries: Though God may be very plainly in the midst of your ministry and evidently leading your church or your ministry into a new future, a takeaway here is that the very evident fruit of the Spirit being born right before the eyes of all will not prevent the complaints from coming.

Inspiration

Like Israel, the Lord has this church on a march. We are in transition. There are things about our situation that have changed, and one point of encouragement that I am told routinely is that the doors of this church have never been opened wider! To God be the glory as he sees fit to extend to this church opportunities to bless this community, this county, and even to the ends of the earth!

Imagine that for a moment… Can God use FBC Devine to affect lives around the globe? Yes. That’s why we take seriously what this church has affirmed as our mission from God: to equip all generations to impact lives for Christ. Training each of us to do kingdom work across and between every generation represented for the glory of the One before whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess is Lord.

Can you imagine being a part of something that has worldwide impact? That’s the invitation of the Christian to participate in the local church in advancing the gospel. For the glory of One.

Action

As I close, I have to ask, where do you see yourself following along on this journey? There are only three ways that I can see you choosing to respond.

The first is to ask yourself, do you even give a rip about the things of God? In the church there are a subset of people that I’ll refer to as consumers of Christian services. They go to the churches or the camps or the gatherings that tickle their fancies. They show up when they need to be seen because it benefits business, it looks good for political aspirations, or maybe it just gets mama off their backs.

I have to ask, why are you here if you are not interested in involving yourself in where God is laboring to advance his kingdom? You may hear anger in my voice and if you do, you’d be mistaken. What you hear is pain. You can be so much more useful to God and it breaks the heart of a pastor to see those who would rather play church than be the church.

The second group are people who involve and assert themselves with a motive to secure their comforts - and that comfort is found in clinging to the past. Those who cling to the past are those who position things starting with their happiness with how things were and share complaints with how things are going. “We liked our fish in Egypt”, said the Israelites. “We liked the way Pastor So-and-So did things 40 years ago”, says the Christian.

Loved ones, complaining is not a legitimate response, even to the lousy accommodations of a wicked world. Most people think they will stop complaining when they finally get happy, when the truth is that people will get happy when they finally stop complaining! The difference is profound. We must each solemnly reflect upon the source of our grumblings and when necessary, sacrifice the idol that is its source. As to the idols of the past, lest you think I make an example out of nothing, you needn’t look further than the adhesive stickers in every pew bible, the bronze plaques of names inferior to Jesus, and portraits of people whose blood was not shed for your salvation to witness the altars to the past that have been erected here.

The final group are those who are packed and loaded, eyes set upon Christ and of genuine heart, with full abandon and trust to live these words:

Wherever He leads, I'll go Wherever He leads, I'll go I'll follow my Christ who loves me so Wherever He leads, I'll go