Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast. If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you. Thank you for joining us today. Father God, we just center our hearts now and we focus our mind on you. No matter what the weather is or circumstances outside today, Lord, we just choose to turn our hearts towards you, God, and towards your scripture. We pray, God, that you just open up your word tonight, Lord, and just let it flow like a river, God, into our hearts.
Lord, let us discern how you would want us to discern, God. Let your spirit just fill our minds and our hearts, God, and just let your word come alive, God, and just bring that truth through us to the world around us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. So we are on Numbers three tonight, and just to kind of set a little context.
It's hard, you know, as you're reading through even these earlier chapters of the Bible, you know, we have a, we have a tendency to, to want to, want to go through it in a, you know, in a very linear way. And it's just not the way, it's not the way it's written. It'll jump back and kind of jump forward and kind of recount certain, certain things, and it can get kind of confusing. We've talked about that already where, okay, hey, don't we just go over this in the last book or whatever.
But God has a way of reintroducing things for, for a purpose. So just kind of to get an idea of where we're at, where we're at, Israel is still, you know, encamped at Mount Sinai. And in numbers three, what God is going to be doing here is establishing a bit of a tribal structure, and he's going to appoint leaders to that.
You know, he's in, he's reiterating some of the responsibilities when it comes to worship and the temple, and, you know, he's calling, you know, again, you know, the Levites, and he's going through a little bit more discussion on the first-born. And that's already been, been brought to the table a number of times. So the consecration of the first, first-born. So let's start with verses one through four.
This is the account of the family of Aaron and Moses as the time the Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai. The names of the sons of Aaron were Nadab, first-born, Abihu, Elizar, and Ithamar. Those were the names of Aaron's sons, the anointed priests who were ordained to serve as priests. Nadab and Abihu, however, died before the Lord when they made an offering with unauthorized fire before him in the desert of Sinai.
They had no sons, so Elizar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father, Aaron. So it starts out with just a little bit of genealogy on Aaron's side, which we have been through before. But, you know, lineage and genealogy were super important to the Jews, as we can see from the beginning of Numbers. It's just something that they held very close to. It was very important. Who your father was and his father and his father and his father was just super important to them.
I mean, it's important to us when we think about it. But to them, it took on a whole other meaning, which is, you know, one of the reasons why you look at the book of Matthew and it's the only one of the four gospels that has that genealogy, the lineage of where Jesus came from. And that's because of the audience. It was written to Jews. So they first wanted to establish this from a Jewish cultural perspective. Okay, Jesus is credible because this is where he came from.
So they often start out with this, and this is just kind of a short genealogy here. But it also recounts the story that we read in Leviticus 10, 1 through 2, where Nabob and Abihu died in their offerings.
And we talked a bit about the process of the temple and being in there and going into the Holy Holies, all this sort of thing, where they were wearing bells and they had rope tied to them just in case you were struck dead in the presence of God because you had sin in your life or whatever you had going on that wasn't fitting to be before God. So that's what happened. It doesn't go into tremendous amount of detail.
I mean, we could have a discussion just about that tonight and how that could have come about. What are some of the potential things that could have happened? But it underlines the seriousness of this. And we went all through that in Leviticus, talking about this process and protocol and all of these things that God put in place because it was serious business atoning and coming before God like this. And this just underlines that specific.
We know in the New Testament, there's tons and tons of references to the holiness of God and we have to be holy before God. Hebrews 12, 28 through 29, let us worship God acceptably with reverence and all for our God as a consuming fire. So we know that, and I think, you know, for me, I don't know about you, but for me, sometimes it's just, you know, it's hard to wrap your head around all of this, you know, about, you know, God and who he is.
I think I've said this before, I don't know if I've said it in front of this group, but, you know, someone once said, you know, was posed with the question of, you know, if you can, you know, prove God exists, they don't believe. And this guy said, well, God doesn't exist. You think about how we think something exists. God doesn't exist the way we know things exist. I mean, he transcends. I mean, he is by what all things exist came into being. So he can't exist the way we know it.
It's on a different level. So, you know, sometimes if it's hard to wrap your head around this, just say, well, that's just because God is who he is. And we can't comprehend it. We will one day, we will comprehend it. But he doesn't exist the way we think of existing things. He is by which all things exist because of him. So just kind of frames it up a little bit different.
But, you know, the whole context here and this reference back to Leviticus about the brothers, you know, there are high standards for leadership in God's church. You know, he doesn't want just anybody standing up there. I mean, and there's consequences for disobedience. I think even natural consequences for that, let alone spiritual consequences. James warns us about this, and not many should become teachers because there's an accountability piece to that.
So let's move on to verses five through 13. The Lord said to Moses, bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron, the priests to assist him. They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work of the tabernacle. They are to take care of all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, fulfilling the obligations of the Israelites by doing the work of the tabernacle. Give the Levites to Aaron and his sons.
And they are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him. Appoint Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. Anyone else who approaches the sanctuary is to be put to death. The Lord also said to Moses, I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of their first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine for all the firstborn are mine.
When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether human or animal, they are to be mine. I am the Lord. So the Levites are chosen and set apart to serve Aaron with the priestly duties. So we read about this. This is again reiterated from Exodus when we went through that. So God claims the Levites as a substitute for the firstborn sons of Israel. So this is in reference to the infants who were killed, the firstborn who were killed in Egypt.
It's a reminder to them of the Passover. And how God spared theirs, all the ones that had the blood, they were saved. So this idea of substitution is brought in here where one group, the Levites, are standing in for another and taking on their sins. So what does that remind us of? Obviously how Jesus stood in for us. It's a foreshadowing of what Jesus would fulfill. And not only from a sacrificial perspective, but also in this idea of we're all now considered priests. So what were the priests?
The priests were the Levites. So in a way, we are part of that priesthood. First Peter 2.9 says, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood. Imagine for a minute what a, that this is part of understanding the magnitude and the holiness of scripture. Just think for a second what a huge concept that must have been for Peter to make that statement. You are a chosen people and a royal priesthood knowing that he is speaking not just to Jews, but to Gentiles as well.
I mean, he never in a million years on his own could have come up with that idea of, okay, yeah, the Levites did all of this and they were the substitution and sacrifice. They atoned for all of this. And now we are this royal priesthood. It's a concept way too big for Peter and way too big for any of us to get. I mean, we get it because we read it. They didn't have any of this stuff to read back then.
This was a huge, huge concept that points back to Leviticus and Numbers and who we are now because of what Christ did. John 1.9, John 1.29 says Jesus is called the Lamb of God and this points to he was that lamb and we went through all of this in Leviticus, the various animals that would atone for it. He was this perfect lamb. So he was not only the greater substitute, but he was the perfect one who substituted for us.
He stood in for us, took on just like the priests are taking on the sin of the people and atoning for them, he is atoning for all of us. So this next portion of scripture, 14 through 39, a little bit of a larger clip. This is where he begins to talk about the organization of the Levite clans and how they are gonna be divided. I may or may not read through all of this. Let's see how it goes.
The Lord said to Moses in the desert of Sinai, count the Levites by their families and clans, count every male a month old or more. So Moses counted them and he was commanded by the word of God, as he was commanded by the word of God. These were the names of the sons of Levi, Gershon, Koeff, and Muriah. These were the names of the Gerthonite clan, Libni, Shammai, the Kothite clans, Amram, Ishar, Hebron, and Uziel.
The Muriah clan, Malai, Mushi, these were the Levite clans according to their families. The Gershon belonged to the clans of the Libnites and the Shammites, these were the Gershonite clans. The number of all the males, a month old or more, were counted was 7,500. The Gershonite clans were the camp on the west, behind the tabernacle. The leaders of the family of the Gershonites was Elisaph, son of Lael.
At the tent of meeting, the Gershonites were responsible for the care of the tabernacle and tent. It's covering in the curtain at the entrance of the tent of meetings. The curtains on the courtyard, the curtain in the entrance of the courtyard, surrounding the tabernacle and altar, and the ropes and everything related to their use. So just, we'll pause there for just one second and get right back into it.
But if you recall back to the description of the temple where we went into very elaborate detail about the curtains and the coverings and the tent and all of these things, there was a lot of maintenance required for that stuff. A lot of maintenance. And we're not just talking, you know, light linen cleaning here. And remember, these things were significant, significant creations that were made. They were ornate and made with gold and silver and special things.
And just, they would require a lot of care. So that was the responsibility of this group to maintain all of that stuff. So let's keep going, 27. The coeth belong to the clans of the Amorites, Isherites, Hebronites, Oozilites. These were the coethite plans. The number of all the males, a month old or more, was 8,600. The coethites were responsible for the care of the sanctuary. The coethite clans were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.
The leader of the families of the coethite clans were Elisaphon, Son of Oozil. They were responsible for the care of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altar, the articles of the sanctuary used in ministering, the curtain and everything related to the use. The chief leader of the Levites was Elisaphon, Son of Aaron, the priest. He was appointed over, over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.
And again, as we're going through that list of things, you can remember what the description of each of these things were and the purpose, you know, the ark and the table and the lampstand and the altars and all of these things had very, very, very specific purposes to them. To Mariac belong the clans of the Malites and the Mushites. These were the Mariac clans. The number of all the males, a month old or more, were counted was 6,200.
The leader of the families of the Mariac clan was Zureal, Son of Abahal. They were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. The Mariacs were appointed to take care of the frames of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, bases, all the equipment and everything related to their use as well as the posts that surrounded the courtyard, their bases, the tent pegs and the ropes.
So this is just, you know, as I was reading this and preparing this, I was just thinking back to all of the description that went with that and I even remember thinking to myself, that's just a lot of stuff. That's a lot of stuff in there. So God is kind of going through this process where we have, you know, four specific groups or clans of people that are responsible for taking care of these things. So this is an organizational chart here for the maintenance and care of the temple itself.
So they were under the sons of Levi as leaders, you know, they named them off and they were covered, west side, south side, north side and then Moses, Aaron and the priest camped on the east side. So each group, they were assigned very specific instructions, you know, on care.
I'm sure we're just kind of, I mean, imagine, you know, when you think back of the, you know, the incredible detail that God had put into all of the construction of the temple and all of the, just the precision and the detail that went into place. Can you imagine the instruction manual for cleaning all that stuff? That's not listed in here, but it had to be pretty deep, pretty deep stuff.
So, and don't forget, there was the tent and all of that was set, the tabernacle was set up to be transported. So when moved from one place to another, you had these clans that were responsible for all of that piece of it as well. So when I read through things like this, it really brings, you know, brings back, it makes me think about, you know, God really is a God of order and things have to be precise and specific and detailed for them.
I once heard somebody talking about DNA and this person was saying, you know, if you're, you know, if you're a scientist and you're really objectively looking at the construct of DNA, you can't deny the existence of a creator because it's just impossible. There's just too many numerical things that just are just so incredibly and vastly complicated but they're in such a very specific order that it had to be by design. It couldn't be anything, anything else.
And that's because as we go through these chapters, we just see God is a God of order and he's a God of design and he's an incredibly creative and detailed God. All of those things are important to him. 1 Corinthians 12, 18 says, but in fact God has placed the parts of the body, every one of them just as he wanted them to be. So he constructed us exactly the way he wanted us to be. So there is order, there is delegation, there is calling. Everyone had a specific role here.
Now, let's wrap this up with 40, 40 through 51. So the Lord said to Moses, count all the first born Israelite males who are a month old or more and make a list of their names. Take the Levites for me in place of all the first born of the Israelites and the livestock of the Levites in a place of the first born of the livestock of the Israelites. I am the Lord. So Moses counted all the first born of the Israelites as the Lord commanded him.
The total number of first born males, one month old or more listed were 22,273. The Lord also said to Moses, take the Levites in place of all the first born of Israel and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the Lord. So I missed a number because I didn't read through that one, but when you counted up all of the clans of the Levites, there was a total of 22,000. So when they counted up all of the first born, there was 22,273.
So there's 273 extra. Let's read about this. So Lord also said to Moses, take the Levites in place of all the first born of Israel and the livestock, the Levites in place of the livestock. The Levites are to be mine. I am the Lord to redeem the 273 first born Israelites who exceed the number of Levites. Collect five shekels for each one according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs 20 gurus. Give the money for the redemption of the additional Israelites to Aaron and his sons.
So Moses collected the redemption money for those who exceeded the numbers redeemed by the Levites. From the first born of the Israelites, he collected silver weighing 1,365 shekels according to the sanctuary shekel. Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and his sons and he was commanded as he was commanded by the word Lord. So we have here this whole process is this redemption of the first born, right?
And this whole thing is symbolic that we know of what Jesus did, but they're taking this census here, 22,000 Levite males versus 22,273 first born Israelites. So the extras, they were redeemed by silver, sort of a ransom payment for them. And it is a vivid reminder to me that we are redeemed at a cost. There was a cost that Jesus paid, the ultimate cost. So this idea of first born consecration, you know, after the Exodus, the first born sons were considered consecrated to God.
There was always that. I mean, you go all the way back to, even back to Abraham and there was something about the first born that was consecrated to God. So here we have this substitution that the Levites formalized this and it became this national practice for them. So the Levites were to serve and they were not given as part of these other tribes. Their inheritance was to serve God. That was their inheritance. They didn't own land.
They didn't own any of this stuff that the other tribes did own. So they were set apart and they were the royal priesthood back then in charge of the temple. So looking at this idea of substitution and where Jesus would step in and be that ultimate sacrifice, all of this. And you gotta think that, you know, the Jews back in that day, the time of Jesus, they would have known this scripture well. I mean, if you've ever seen and then chosen how they're just constantly reiterating scripture.
You know, the Torah, the Torah said this or Torah reminds us of that. They went through, and I talked a little bit about this on Sunday where they transitioned from, you know, passing the word on orally to, you know, in this temple-based worship to a text-based.
The scriptures were everything to them and they, the Jewish males, they went through this rigorous schooling process where the memorization of all of the Torah and memorization of these scriptures, and that's how they would identify the top of the class who would move on through the priesthood and then the others would just go on to, you know, whatever their family trade was.
But the ones that rose up and that really, you know, they would say had that anointing on them, they would go through the priesthood. So they, the disciples would have had a deep, deep understanding of all of this and a recollection of this whole idea of back then the, you know, the ransoming and the redemption and the atonement and all of this stuff.
And I think that, you know, the picture that we get of the disciples is often this picture of, you know, they just, you know, Jesus just would even get frustrated with them to the point where, you know, when are you ever gonna get this? And I think it all clicked on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit just consumed them and they were all of a sudden able to supernaturally connect what Jesus was talking about, connect the dots with their Torah that they already had in their hearts.
And all of this began to come alive, you know, and they would be able to piece together things like Mark would say the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many. This is a supernatural understanding of what went on. You had talking about the priesthood, again, you know, Peter saying, in 1 Peter 2.5, you also like living stones are being built into spiritual houses to be a holy priesthood. That's not just some guy who's putting these words together.
Again, these are big, big concepts that God is supernaturally downloading to them saying, okay, remember? Remember in Numbers when we talked about this? Well, let's connect that to what I did on the cross and that's what they're doing in scripture. There is an order of worship that God is just going to reiterate and reiterate and reiterate and reiterate. We feel like we've been through this again how many times now, but there is a process. God is not a God of disorder when it comes to worship.
There is a process to it. And God is instilling this structure and this order and assigning very specific roles for his church back then. So a few just recapping call outs. God calls specific people to serve in specific ways. And this is what he was doing with the Levites. And this role of the Levites as we continue to progress through these early books, you're gonna see their role just evolve out and it's an amazing process to watch to the point.
And they were in charge of worship, which meant they were just musicians and singers and they found power in that worship before God to the point where when they were fighting battles, the Levites were in front and they were sounding their instruments and sounding their voices in there. It was this power of God that just went forth before any blows were struck or any weapons were done. Musicians were out there doing that.
So you're gonna see this role of the Levites just continue to expand and grow. So God has specific callings for specific people to do specific things. And I think that's something that we need to take to heart. Holiness matters to God. We know that through the blood of Jesus, we've been made, we've been made holy because we wouldn't be able to be in his presence in our sinful nature. We just couldn't, just like the Israelites couldn't be.
Even the priests couldn't be to the point where Aaron's sons were consumed by fire. Substitution and redemption are key themes throughout scriptures. The Levites stood in for the firstborn, Christ stood in for us. God is a God of order, not chaos, both in the wilderness and today in his church. Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church as we praise God and discuss his word. Don't forget to join us for worship live Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day.