Whisper Of God Ministries

If you have struggled with reading the Bible daily, don’t give up.  You can do it.  Perhaps Leviticus or Numbers took you off your beginning routine of daily reading because they were too foreign to you. Don’t quit!  If you are off track, now is a great time to begin anew with the book of Deuteronomy.  If you are on track, WAY TO GO!  I know you are seeing the benefits. 

Deuteronomy is the last book of the Pentateuch.  Again, Moses is the author.  If you get to reading and think that all this sounds pretty familiar – you are right.  Deuteronomy means “second law” or better yet “the repetition of the law.”  It gives us a brief second glance at what has come before.  The purpose of the book is the renewal of the covenant that God has made with Israel.  The second generation is finally about to enter the Promised Land and Moses renews and reviews with them all God has done for them.  They are to renew their commitment to live for God and to be Holy as He is Holy.  It was probably written in the Plains of Moab just before Moses’ death.  Joshua adds the last account of Moses’ death and burial by God. 

The book mainly consist of three great speeches or addresses by Moses to the people as they are about to enter the land.  This new generation needs to hear all these laws and promises.  Moses recounts the exodus and how God has made provisions for the people he has chosen.  He talks about the miracles God performed in the wilderness for them and his great care for them.  Moses repeats the Ten Commandments that were given by God.  He reviews again the regulations for worship, feats, rites, rituals, and the general conduct for living as a community of believers. 

The book concludes with Joshua being installed and ordained as the new leader and successor to Moses.  Moses blesses the twelve tribes much like what Jacob did at the end of Genesis.  The book closes with the account of Moses seeing the Promise Land from Mount Nebo and his death.

Christ is seen in Deuteronomy in several familiar ways.  The renewal of the covenant looks forward to the new covenant that will be in Christ Jesus.  As we have said before, the sacrifices and rituals are a foreshadowing of Christ as the ultimate and final sacrifice for the removal of sins. 

I had the great opportunity to stand on Mount Nebo only a few weeks ago.  On a clear day you can see almost all of the Promise Land.  I could not help but let my heart wonder to the closing words of Deuteronomy.  What a privilege Moses had to be used by God to perform so many miracles and miraculous signs.  He knew God as it says “face to face.”  You have an even better opportunity today, through Jesus Christ and the workings of the Holy Spirit, to not only know God but to have that same power that parted the Red Sea live in your heart and mind.  Are you taking advantage of that power by living to the fullest for God? 

The Book of Exodus is a great Old Testament book!  Not only is it the story of how God brings His nation Israel out of captivity in Egypt and leads them to the Promise Land, it is also a foreshadowing of what Christ will do for us as the Passover Lamb.  His blood atones for our sins and gives to us that blessing of eternal life.  Additionally, the book is full of great Christian lessons. 

One such lesson is found in Exodus 14 where the children of God are trapped between the approaching army of Pharaoh and the sea. They have nowhere to go.  The vast army of Egypt is about to overtake them.  The Israelites cry out to Moses “was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”  What follows is one of the greatest visual stories in all of Scripture.  We know it well.  For there with the army upon them and the sea before them, God tells Moses in 14:15, “Why are you crying out to me?  Tell the Israelites to move on.”  Move on but where – move on into the very sea.  Keep going forward.  Moses raises his staff over the sea as God commands, God drives the waters back on each side, and they cross over on dry ground. The point I want to make here is simply this.  God had led the Israelites to the very place where they saw no hope. In their minds, this was the end.  How often does that happen in our own Christian walk?  We find ourselves, through no fault of our own, at the end of all hope.  We see no way out of the situation in which we find ourselves.  Any yet, even in the midst of our suffering, we are right where God wants us to be.  Why?  Why does God lead us to a place where we see no hope?  Often times it is because he wants us to completely depend on Him and move on in faith.  Just because we find ourselves in the midst of pain and suffering, it does not mean that God has abandoned us.  He is always there, and He calls us to walk by faith when our earthly eyes cannot see through the tears of life.  Faithful living is not always easy, but it will always bring us closer to Him.  Are your struggling now with any issues of life where there seems to be no hope or no way out?  Are you caught between your own Migdol and the sea? “Move on” is God’s call to us.  Live by faith.

The Book of Numbers 

This week we move from Leviticus to the book of Numbers.  As I said before, Leviticus has been a difficult book to read and understand for most of us.  Many of us have not spent much time in either of these books during our Christian pilgrimage.  They remain very different and tough to absorb, but they are full of God’s living and breathing Word.  While they both contain glimpses of Christ, we must spend time there to see Him. 

Numbers is the fourth book in the section of Scripture often called the Pentateuch or Book of the Law.  The title in Hebrew means “in the desert” or “in the wilderness”, but the name we have in our English Bibles comes to us from the Greek translation which named the book for the list of fighting men.  So from that Greek name we get the name of Numbers.  In the 36 chapters, the book tells the story of the wanderings of Israel in the desert from Mt. Sinai where they received the law, to the plains of Moab where they will enter the Promise Land.  Like Exodus, Numbers combines stories of history with legislative rules and rites. 

Three main themes can be found in Numbers.  First, Numbers gives an account of God’s great mercy for His people.  He leads and directs them in their journey through the wilderness.  He brings compassion and comfort in their sufferings and He holds them up in difficult times.  We see His unending patience for a rebellious and grumbling nation.

Secondly, we see the failure of the first generation that came out of Egypt to adhere to God’s commands.  Even after this group has seen and participated in miracle after miracle, the faithfulness of God time and time again, they stumble and fail to move into the Promised Land that God has given to them.  Because of their lack of faithfulness, He brings punishment on that generation.  In His mercy, however, He gives hope to the next generation. 

Lastly, He prepares this next generation for the fulfillment of His promise of the land by forming His army.  If they will remain faithful, He will provide for them, fight for them, and lead the way for them into the land.  Remember as you read this book that contains strange and confusing rites, God is forming His people to carry out His purposes.  They must have both physical (practical) and spiritual (Holiness) laws to succeed as a nation in the desert and beyond in the Promised Land. 

Christ is visible in Numbers in various ways.  Even as Israel prepares to fight a Holy War, we know that Christ will return to fight the final Holy War, to banish Satan for all time and bring His people into the New Heaven and New Earth.  We can contrast the failure of the children of Israel to be faithful to God with Christ’s perfect faithfulness in His life as He lived to do His father’s will completely and willingly.  We see Him portrayed in the sacrifices mentioned.  Furthermore, we see God dwelling in the midst of the camp in the Tabernacle.  Christ has humbled Himself to tabernacle within us by dwelling in our hearts by the Spirit.   

Finally, perhaps two of the most famous things from this book are found in Numbers 6:24-26 and 20:12.  In chapter 6 we have the famous priestly prayer or blessing.  It is a Hebrew parallelism where the same idea is communicated 3 times in different words or ways.  I often use this prayer in teaching as an explanation of the word “blessed” from the Beatitudes.  Sadly, Numbers 20:12 contains the story of Moses striking the rock to get water from it after God had commanded him to simply speak to the rock.  For this sin Moses is told he will not lead the people into the Promised Land.  Many of us might think that this is cruel and mean of God after all that Moses has done.  God always demands our best and commands us to be Holy.  How fitting is it though for God to continue to show His great mercy and grace to Moses even though Moses died before the people entered the land – Moses did eventually stand in the Promised Land (Mark 9:4).    

Shortly after the month of February begins, we move from the familiar books of Genesis and Exodus and into the less familiar book of Leviticus.  Leviticus is one of the most difficult books for the modern Christian to read.  It has been suggested to me that I look at emailing you brief summaries of each book as you begin to read them.  I must admit that I have rarely heard sermons preached on this book.  However, I hope that as you approach it, you will find great insight into what Christ has permanently done for you in His death on the cross.  I also want to encourage you to not read this book with a mindset of having to plow through it just to get to Numbers.  I pray that you will find great opportunities to praise God for what He has done in your life when you consider His great Holiness that is spoken of so often in this book. 

The name “Leviticus” comes to us in Latin from the Greek that means “for the Levites” or “about the Levites.”  The Levites were the priests for the nation of Israel.  The book is basically written to the priests and the nation of Israel about the various sacrifices and the ceremony that surrounds them and about how they are to worship a Holy God.  Written by Moses, it is part what we commonly refer to as the Pentateuch.  Pentateuch is a name for the group of the first 5 books of the Bible.  Most of what happens in the book takes place around Mt. Sinai, where Moses received not only the Ten Commandments but also the rest of the Law. As you read the book, your mind may be overcome as you try to picture the various sacrifices, ceremonies and rituals – many of which are very foreign to us today.  However, as you begin to step back from them and think through what the sacrifices mean, you can see that we worship a Holy God and what He requires in our lives.  You see the Israelites needing to come to terms with sin, the need for continual sacrifices to atone for their sins, and how God demands a payment for sin.  We also get a sense of God’s Holiness.  Too often today we try to bring God down to our level by forgetting that He is above all Holy.  While we have direct access to God now through His Son Jesus Christ, God remains Holy and we must always remember that we serve a God whose ways are not our ways.  His call is to be Holy like Him (11:45). In Leviticus, we learn that God wants to dwell with us and in the New Testament – in us.  He has a great love for His people.  While we are sinners, He has provided a way to atone for that sin so that He can continue to dwell with us and in us.  In Leviticus, that is accomplished by the sacrifices commanded as the priests laid their hands on the animals to symbolize the putting of the people’s sin on the animal.  Today, we know that Jesus Christ is the ultimate and permanent and complete sacrificial Lamb for our sins.  He was perfect, without blemish in His life and, yet, He took your sins and mine upon Himself and shed His blood for the atonement of our sins once and for all.  If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, He has paid for your sins and demands that you try and live a life that is striving for holiness.  You will see in Leviticus an Old Testament means of forgiveness that is fully realized in Jesus Christ.  Read with great gratitude for what He has done for you in your life in saving you from your sins!

Shortly after the month of February begins, we move from the familiar books of Genesis and Exodus and into the less familiar book of Leviticus.  Leviticus is one of the most difficult books for the modern Christian to read.  It has been suggested to me that I look at emailing you brief summaries of each book as you begin to read them.  I must admit that I have rarely heard sermons preached on this book.  However, I hope that as you approach it, you will find great insight into what Christ has permanently done for you in His death on the cross.  I also want to encourage you to not read this book with a mindset of having to plow through it just to get to Numbers.  I pray that you will find great opportunities to praise God for what He has done in your life when you consider His great Holiness that is spoken of so often in this book.  The name “Leviticus” comes to us in Latin from the Greek that means “for the Levites” or “about the Levites.”  The Levites were the priests for the nation of Israel.  The book is basically written to the priests and the nation of Israel about the various sacrifices and the ceremony that surrounds them and about how they are to worship a Holy God.  Written by Moses, it is part what we commonly refer to as the Pentateuch.  Pentateuch is a name for the group of the first 5 books of the Bible.  Most of what happens in the book takes place around Mt.

Sinai, where Moses received not only the Ten Commandments but also the rest of the Law.

 As you read the book, your mind may be overcome as you try to picture the various sacrifices, ceremonies and rituals – many of which are very foreign to us today.  However, as you begin to step back from them and think through what the sacrifices mean, you can see that we worship a Holy God and what He requires in our lives.  You see the Israelites needing to come to terms with sin, the need for continual sacrifices to atone for their sins, and how God demands a payment for sin.  We also get a sense of God’s Holiness.  Too often today we try to bring God down to our level by forgetting that He is above all Holy.  While we have direct access to God now through His Son Jesus Christ, God remains Holy and we must always remember that we serve a God whose ways are not our ways.  His call is to be Holy like Him (11:45).  In Leviticus, we learn that God wants to dwell with us and in the New Testament – in us.  He has a great love for His people.  While we are sinners, He has provided a way to atone for that sin so that He can continue to dwell with us and in us.  In Leviticus, that is accomplished by the sacrifices commanded as the priests laid their hands on the animals to symbolize the putting of the people’s sin on the animal.  Today, we know that Jesus Christ is the ultimate and permanent and complete sacrificial Lamb for our sins.  He was perfect, without blemish in His life and, yet, He took your sins and mine upon Himself and shed His blood for the atonement of our sins once and for all.  If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Saviour, He has paid for your sins and demands that you try and live a life that is striving for holiness.  You will see in Leviticus an Old Testament means of forgiveness that is fully realized in Jesus Christ.  Read with great gratitude for what He has done for you in your life in saving you from your sins!

If you are struggling to keep up reading or even remembering to read each day, don’t be too worried; you are not alone.  It takes 21 days to form a habit and keep doing it.  If you are behind somewhat now, you can easily catch up.  Just don’t give up!  Almost the entire last third of the Genesis is about Joseph.  This section is full of lessons for every day.  One of the greatest lessons taught here is the art of Forgetting.  Joseph had many reasons to hate his brothers.  After all, they had sold him into slavery in a foreign land.  But God wanted him there for a purpose – a purpose even in the midst of his great suffering.  In bring about that purpose, God gave to Joseph the gift of forgetting.  He could have easily had his brothers arrested and killed for what they had done to him.  After all, he was second only to Pharaoh in power there, but Joseph chose to not only forgive his brothers but to also forget their sin against him.  God empowered him in such a strong way that Joseph even named one of his sons Manasseh which comes from the Hebrew word “forget.” So often I hear the phrase, “I’ll forgive but I’ll never forget.”  True forgiveness involves forgetting as well.  When God forgives you, He forgets your sin, He never holds a grudge.  The next time you are called to forgive someone – a family member or a friend, forgive and forget – that’s God way.  What grudge are you holding onto this week that God could help you forget?