Numbers 2:1-3
God’s Design, Man’s Desire
Concerning the Old Testament, the Apostle Paul wrote:
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto
them for ensamples: and they are written for our
admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come.
That means that we can learn something about our present by looking
at their past. They are our examples, either to learn from by looking
directly at what they did and how God responded to them; or through
a type or symbol. Let’s do that this morning and see what revival is.
When the Jews came out of Egypt, they travelled as a group, guided by
the Lord who dwelt physically among them in the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark of the Covenant, with the Shekinah glory, was a picture of
Jesus. The camp consisted of the followers of God, the Jews. The camp
then is a picture of the believers, either the whole body or the
individual. The location of the Ark to the camp showed the
relationship of God to the people, and it shows us the relationship
of God to the believer or to the group of believers.
Sadly, what God intended to be and what came to be are often two
different things, and such was the case with the location of the
Ark of the Covenant. While God’s designs should be our desires,
they often are not.
Consider with me this evening:
I. God’s Design - God intended the Ark to be in the middle of the
camp.
Numbers 2:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and
unto Aaron, saying,
2 Every man of the children of Israel shall
pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of
their father’s house: far off about the
tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.
3 And on the east side toward the rising of the
sun shall they of the standard of the camp of
Judah pitch throughout their armies…
A. This passage is describing the layout of the camp of Israel.
1. \\#Ex 12:37\\ tells us there were about 600,000 men
traveling in the group that left Egypt for the Promised
Land. That did not count the older, the women, or
children.
2. If each man had a wife and two children, an average size
home in America just a few years ago, then there would
have been around 2.4 million Jews in the Exodus.
3. Since Jewish families were larger than our average and
since there were still so many we are not counting, it is
likely that the Exodus was even larger.
B. God did not let the Israelites march and camp in just any
order.
1. I’m sure there were many reasons for that, of which it
might have been that the confusion and chaos would slow
down the people and perhaps even cause dangers along the
way, especially to the weak.
2. The text we are reading explains how the Israelites were
to set up camp.
3. It tells us that Ark was to be set up and all the tribes
would camp in relationship to where the Ark was located.
C. The first tribe mentioned was Judah and all its armies and
people.
1. \\#3\\ Judah was to camp due east of the Ark.
Numbers 2:5 And those that do pitch next unto
him shall be the tribe of Issachar…
Numbers 2:7 Then the tribe of Zebulun…
2. These three tribes together were considered to be the
"camp of Judah."
Numbers 2:9 All that were numbered in the camp
of Judah were an hundred thousand and fourscore
thousand and six thousand and four hundred,
throughout their armies. These shall first set
forth.
3. When Israel marched, Judah lead out first.
4. When Israel fought, Judah was the leader to these three
tribes as a group and these three tribes lead the nation.
D. This pattern was followed for all twelve of the tribes, the
only exception being the Levites who camped with the Ark
\\#Num 2:17\\.
1. \\#Num 2:10-16\\, three tribes are assigned to the south
side of the Ark. Reuben was the leader of those three
tribes, and Rueben was joined by Simeon and Gad.
2. \\#Num 2:18-24\\, three tribes are assigned to the west
side of the Ark. Ephraim was the leader of those three
tribes, and Ephraim was joined by Manasseh and Benjamin.
3. \\#Num 2:25-31\\, three tribes are assigned to the north
side of the Ark. Dan was the leader of those three
tribes, and Dan was joined by Asher and Naphtali.
E. I tell you all of that to point out where God intended the Ark
of the Covenant to be in the camp of Israel.
1. God intended the Ark to be in the center, in the middle,
of the camp.
2. Remember, the Ark is a picture of Jesus and the camp is
a picture of the believer.
3. Where is God to be in the life of the believer?
(a) In the center.
(b) Everything is to rotate around Jesus, everything.
(1) We educate ourselves, choose a career and then
select jobs within that career all dependent
upon Jesus being the center of our lives.
(2) We select our friends, our mates, even those we
hang with all dependent upon Jesus being the
center of our lives.
(3) We make daily decisions, develop personal
habits, grow our work ethics and businesses,
build our testimonies and reputations all
dependent upon Jesus being the center of our
lives.
(4) Not only so, but we face difficulty and even
death, our deaths and the deaths of our loved
ones, dependent upon Jesus being the center of
our lives.
(4) This is God’s design for our lives and should be
our purposeful desire in life, Jesus always at
the center of everything.
(5) But God’s designs are not always our desires.
4. The same is true in church, Jesus is to be the center.
A church makes its decisions, guides its worship,
determines what its ministries will and will not be, what
it will and will not spend its funds on, all based on our
dependence upon Jesus being in the center of everything.
5. The same is true of a nation, as least any nation that
calls itself a Christian nation such as our nation.
II. Man’s Desire - God settled on the Ark being outside of the camp
of Israel.
A. This passage was written just after Israel had worshipped the
golden calf, and God had sent judgment.
Ex 33:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart,
and go up hence, thou and the people which thou
hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto
the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give
it:
2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I
will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and
the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and
the Jebusite:
3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for
I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou
art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in
the way.
B. Some things were the same.
1. Israel would still go to the Promised Land (verse 1).
2. God would still protect Israel (verse 2).
3. The Promised Land would still flow with milk and honey
(verse 3A).
4. But God would no longer abide in the camp (verse 3B)
5. If you are not sure of that, look at verse 7.
7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it
without the camp, afar off from the camp, and
called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And
it came to pass, that every one which sought the
LORD went out unto the tabernacle of the
congregation, which was without the camp.
C. Because Israel sinned, God had the Ark of the Covenant, the
place of His presence, removed outside of the camp.
1. I don’t know which direction.
2. I don’t know how far away.
3. All I know is this is what God had done.
D. \\#3\\ God explained His action.
Ex 33:3 …for thou art a stiffnecked people:
lest I consume thee in the way.
1. God left the camp so that He might reduce the camp’s chances of
being judged and destroyed by God’s wrath when they sinned.
2. Now think about that for a moment. Is that literally
true?
3. I know that is the impression God gave, but is it so?
a. Well, no.
b. Israel was in just as much danger of being judged by
God with the Ark of the Covenant sitting outside the
camp as they were with it sitting inside the camp.
4. How do I know? Because…
a. God does NOT lose control.
(1) Not once. Not ever.
(2) If He did, we wouldn’t be here.
b. God NEVER judges in haste and repents in leisure. God
is JUST and His JUDGMENTS are always TRUE and
RIGHTEOUS.
c. God’s knowledge and power are NOT lessened any by
moving His Ark a few thousand feet outside of the
camp.
(1) What God knew and saw sitting in the middle of
the camp, He knew and saw sitting outside of
the camp.
(2) Yet that is the impression God wanted to give.
5. Why did God want to give these impressions?
a. My guess is that God wanted to show the Jews what
their sins were doing, i.e. "pushing" God outside of
their camp.
(1) The impression the Jews may have gotten was that
putting the Ark outside the camp gave the
sinning Jews some measure of protection from a
just God, but it did not.
(a) Only God’s mercy gave them protection.
(b) God was using mercy as a buffer to put some
distance between the sinning Jews and the
justice of God.
(c) We might even define mercy as the distance
God puts between the sinner and the
justice of God.
(2) Putting the Ark outside of the camp illustrated
what sin and the mercy of God were doing.
b. That is also case when a Christian chooses to sin, we
push God outside of our lives.
(1) Pushing God out of your life does not give the
sinner any protection from a just God.
(2) God’s mercy does that.
(3) But the more we abuse mercy, the further from the
center of our life God is "pushed."
c. However, not only does the Christian get the benefit
of some sinful lead way when he "pushes" God out of
the camp, it also costs him some things.
(1) With God on the outside of the camp...
(a) We are subject to God’s justice at any
moment.
i. Just because that Ark was outside of
the camp did not mean that God would
not swiftly judge them.
ii. Sin is sin, and God's judgment upon it
can come without notice or warning.
(b) We are deprived of God’s best blessing and
protections.
i. No matter which side of the camp the
Ark was moved to, the other side
would become more vulnerable.
ii. I know God's power could reach across
the camp to the other side, but the
question is "Would God do it?"
(c) We are deprived of God’s nearest presence.
We can still have fellowship with God, but
now we have to work all the harder to have
it.
Ex 33:7 …And it came to pass, that every one
which sought the LORD went out unto the
tabernacle of the congregation, which was
without the camp.
(2) The problem with sinning Christians was much the
same as it was with the sinning Jews.
(a) They accepted and even grew to like having
God just outside of the camp.
(b) Moving God out of the center gives us a
false sense of being in control.
(c) We think we can do what we want to do and
when we want God, we just have to go a
little bit further to get Him.
(d) Friend, that is not how it works!
III. Sin’s Consequences - If God is pushed too far away, His
presence will leave all together.
Eze 10:18 Then the glory of the LORD departed
from off the threshold of the house, and stood
over the cherubims.
A. That means the glory of the Lord, God’s presence, left His
resting place in the Temple of the Lord and headed out the
door.
1. Thresholds are the sills at the bottom of doorways.
2. This is God’s glory leaving the Temple.
a. Once the Shekinah glory left the Ark, it no longer
represented the presence of God.
b. An Ark without the glory of God represents DEAD
religion.
3. But God’s glory did not stop in the doorway.
Eze 11:23 And the glory of the LORD went up from
the midst of the city, and stood upon the
mountain which is on the east side of the city.
B. The last time Ezekiel saw the presence of God, He was headed
away from the city and over the mountains.
C. What happened? Israel had "pushed" God’s presence further and
further away from the camp of Israel until He just left.
D. But all of this is for ensample.
1. We are the camp and the Ark of the Covenant is Jesus.
2. I know that Jesus will never leave nor forsake a believer,
but we can "push" God so far away that for all practical
purposes, we are on our own.
a. I believe that is what many Christians have done.
b. I believe that is what many churches have done.
c. And I believe that is what America has done.
(1) As a preacher of the Word of God, I have warned
from this pulpit to as many as my voice would
reach that this nation has sinned against a
holy God.
(2) We have pushed God out of our schools, out of our
government, out of our homes, out of our
churches, and out of our lives.
(3) Since 9/11, September 11, 2001, I have
repeatedly said that attack could not have
happened unless God had forsaken our nation.
(4) Through decades of moderate Republicans and
liberal Democrats our nation has moved further
into sinful waters and pushed God further from
this land.
3. However, it is neither the nation nor the church that
needs to repent at this time.
a. At this time, it is the individual Christian that
needs to repent.
b. This need is the case because we have an election or
because our calendar is tells us that it is time for
another series of Revival meetings.
c. It is essential because Christians have pushed God so
far out of their lives for so long that we are in
danger of not only pushing Him out of the camp but
out of the city and over the mountains.
d. None of us will like it.
(1) Not being in a nation without God.
(2) Not being in a church without God.
(3) Not being a Christian without God.
My time is gone, but if the Holy Ghost is here, you don’t really need
me anyway. If you are lost, you need to get saved. If you are a
Christian, you know if God is in the center of your life or not.
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