Numbers Review

The first thing that we can say about Numbers as we review it is that it deals a lot with numbers.  It had been forty years since the people of Israel were last counted, and a whole generation had died.  They had wandered these forty years because of a lack of faith when they got to the edge of the Promised Land.  Until we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we will always be on the edge of the Promised Land.  They were counted by tribe by the number of males over twenty who were able to go to war.  This unwillingness to go to war under God's guidance had caused a generation to pass away.  They had been afraid of dying in a war, but they died anyway.   We should never let fear of the things in this world keep us from serving God, because in the end, we are going to die anyway.  Our faith in God will determine our destination, though, whether we are to go into the Promised Land of Heaven, or be forever outside of it.  The Levites were not counted with the rest of the people of Israel, because they were set apart to care for the tabernacle.   They were not a part of those who were to be able to go to war, and I believe that God still sets aside His ministers today who are to be concerned with doing His work even in times of war.  The people of Israel were to be divided by tribes, each with their own standard.  They were the people of Israel as a whole, but were twelve tribes within the whole group.  We are all a part of the family of God as Christians, but we are not all a part of the same family, congregation or even nation.  There was a set order of travel when the people moved, with the tabernacle in the center. As Christians today, God directs each of us as individuals and as congregations, but Jesus Christ must be in the center of all that we do.