In a small Bible church not too far from here, the pastor was preaching book by book, verse by verse through the Bible. And there God's Spirit brought to life my heart and it opened my eyes and my ears to the truth of Jesus Christ. And while I don't remember what passage he was preaching from, I do remember this, suddenly I knew. that I had heard the truth that I had been looking for for a long time. Because Scripture was then central to my salvation, I joined the Gideons. That was my first Christian ministry. Paul writes this, he says in Romans 10, 17, that faith comes by hearing, and hearing from the word of Christ. So I wanted to be part of an organization that was dedicated to bringing scriptures to people, because faith does come by hearing the words of Christ. Gideon's distribute pocket-sized versions of the New Testament and the Psalms. They're called Personal Worker Testaments, PWTs for short. And they distribute them on school campuses, elementary, junior high, high school, and college campuses. One day I was with one of my favorite distribution guys, an elderly man named Clyde. And we were distributing on the campus of San Jose State University. As I was standing there, I saw a man approaching who looked like a professor from his dress. He had the tweed jacket with the leather patches on his sleeves, tie and a dress shirt with dress jeans and sneakers, and walking with a purpose that said that this guy is someone important, this guy is someone in the know, this guy is someone who needs Christ. Clyde's main point that he had trained me in being a Gideon was to emphasize the word free. So I extended a personal worker testament to this man and I said, free Bible. He looked at me with fire in his eyes and he said, I would have absolutely nothing to do with that genocidal, misogynistic, bunch of superstition that you hold in your hand. Get away from me." And he reeled on his heel and turned and walked away in a huff. How do you really feel? Now I was shocked. Clyde wasn't. He'd seen this before. And oftentimes that is exactly how people respond because when they consider themselves to be intelligent and informed, and then without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, they read through some of the Old Testament accounts of conquering the Promised Land through the complete destruction of the inhabitants, it could give the impression that the God of the Old Testament is an angry God of wrath. as opposed to the God of the New Testament, Jesus, who was loving and kind and gracious and gentle. But this is a serious and heretical error called ditheism. Ditheism. Ditheism is the error that there are two gods of the Bible, one angry, wrathful one in the Old Testament, and then one new, gentle and loving, revealed in Jesus in the New Testament. But a Spirit-led reading of the Bible shows that the God in the Old Testament is compassionate and forgiving, showing mercy to mankind from the time of His very first sin. Yet He is also rightly wrathful against sin. The love of God in both Testaments is best summed up by this Old Testament verse found in Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7, where God tells Moses that He is the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty. visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. Now, in the New Testament, we see God incarnate in Jesus Christ. And Jesus himself says that he only does and says what he has seen his father doing and what his father tells him to say. And yes, he displays compassion and love towards sinners, but we find that it is always balanced by his just condemnation for those who lead people astray. Consider these words from the supposedly meek and mild Jesus. He said these to the religious leaders of his day. He said, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, and dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faithfulness. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others, you blind guides, straining out a gnat, swallowing a camel. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, I say! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside you are full of greed and self-indulgence, you blind Pharisee! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. You serpents! You brood of vipers! How are you to escape being sentenced to hell? How did he really feel? Jesus, meek and mild. Beloved, I tell you this, there is one God in the three persons revealed in the triune Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is the same in the Old and in the New Testament. He is merciful and just, extending grace to sinners, yet he punishes those who continue in sin. And this is the main point of our passage today in Numbers chapter 31. Many have read this account of the judgment on the Midianites or other seemingly bloody and genocidal accounts of the conquering of the promised land, and they've responded with anger like that professor did. So what are we to make of these passages? That's a question that rolled around in my head after that man responded as he did. That's the subject of this message that I've titled, Judgment Day for Midian. And I invite you to open your Bibles to Numbers 31, as we begin. Now on the top of your handout, I've written out the one big idea that comes out of this text, and it's this. Sin brings God's wrath and He judges and punishes sinners in a controlled and a righteous way. Yet God graciously extends mercy towards sinners without compromising His justice, righteousness, and holiness. And our text shows us this in three ways. First, God's judgment on Midian was because it was punishment for their sin of leading the Israelites into physical and spiritual adultery. His judgment came through the concept of holy war where his wrath was displayed in a measured and a righteous way. So we need to look at this concept of holy war and understand it rightly as God portrays it in the Bible. Second, we'll see how God extended mercy to Israel in a way that demonstrated His grace without compromising His righteousness and His holiness. And third, we'll consider Israel's response to these events and from that form the larger picture of how we are also offered grace and mercy and how we should respond as God's people on this side of the cross. Righteous wrath, amazing mercy, and grateful response are what I hope to show you from Numbers 31 during our time this morning. So let's begin with God's righteous wrath and the concept of holy war. Now, like the professor, people wonder about a God who apparently wipes out people without cause, including women and children. One of our girls has been witnessing to a friend of hers, and he asked this very question phrased this way. His question was, if God is good, Why does he allow evil and then wipe out those who do evil? To answer that let's begin by looking at the background for this passage in Numbers 31. It's back in chapter 24 and 25 and there we have the story of the pagan prophet Balaam who was called to curse the Israelites as they were camped on the border across the Jordan River from the Promised Land. This was an area called Moab and it contained a couple of different people groups, Midianites, Moabites primarily. And Balaam, he was hired to curse them because the king of Moab was concerned about immigration issues. Illegal immigration issues. So he calls Balaam to curse them. Balaam comes down. But God used Balaam in a unique way as we saw. And instead of cursing them, Balaam was caused by God to bless them. Understandably, the king of Moab was not particularly pleased, nor were the elders of Midian. And Balaam really was sent away in shame, but not to be outdone. Balaam then goes to the leaders of the Midianites and convinces them to send their women to entice the men of Israel into adultery and idolatry. And sadly, the men of Israelites fall for this one. Numbers 25, 1-3, we read this. While Israel lived in Shittim, it's in the Moab area, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These, the daughters, invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to the Baal of Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And that righteous anger resulted in a plague that broke out in the camp, and 25,000 Israelites died before Aaron's grandson, a priest named Phineas, who was zealous for the Lord, put a stop to it by demonstrating that zealousness for the Lord by running through with a spear an Israelite man and a Midianite princess named Cosby who were about to flaunt their sin before the entire congregation. Now having brought judgment on his own people God also at that time promised to punish Midian for the sin of tempting Israel in the first place. So we need to recognize that God will punish those who tempt people into sin as well as people who fall to the temptation to sin. Jesus said this. He said, Woe to the world for temptations to sin. For it is necessary that temptations come. Why is that? For the growth of God's people. It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. Now remember when Jesus said woe earlier. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites, right? Tempting others to sin, especially God's people, is very serious business indeed. God's punishment came on Midian. It was delayed briefly, but it comes now in chapter 31, verses 1 and 2. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Avenge the people of Israel, on the Midianites, afterward you shall be gathered to your people." This was to be Moses' last military campaign as leader and commander of the Israelites. It was a holy war, a vehicle used to bring God's final judgment on the Midianites at that time. It was final judgment because in a holy war the entire population was to be killed and their cities and towns burned. But understand that this was the exception. This was not to be Israel's main style of warfare in the future. Holy war was restricted to those battles that occurred between the time of the exodus from Egypt until the occupation of the promised land was complete. So by the time of the end of the book of Joshua, holy war was done. Once in the promised land, Israel would never again be directed by God to completely wipe out a nation or people group through holy war. So holy war must be understood then with the backdrop of the final war to end all wars. The holy war that will occur at the end of time. You see, just like the promised land is a shadow of the heaven to come, the reality to come, So, too, holy war in the Old Testament is a shadow that points us to the reality that there will be a final judgment on all mankind for sin. When you put it against that backdrop, then, we can understand, then, this idea of holy war. You see, man cannot reasonably expect that God will allow his cosmic treason and his rebellion to continue indefinitely. There will come a day when, in God's eyes, the sin of the world is complete, and then the judgment of God will fall on all mankind. Dr. Lawson described this two weeks ago in our Sunday School teaching as God's eschatological wrath. Eschatological means end times or last end days. The eschatological wrath. It's the wrath of His final judgment at the end of this present age. So to understand this account of holy war against Midian, we need to see it as a shadow of this coming judgment. And for this particular branch of the Midianites, their sin had reached its fullness. And for them, judgment day simply arrived a little bit earlier than it will for the rest of us. Now there's three features that distinguish Holy War, understanding it with that context or that background. Three features that distinguish Holy War. First, verse 3 says that it was ordered by God for a particular purpose. It was ordered by God for a particular purpose. That purpose was to avenge his people. Second, Israel's military force was limited by God to 12,000 total soldiers. 1,000 from each tribe, as verse 5 and 6 tell us. And this imposed limit was intended to show that the victory was God's victory, not man's. We see the parallel in Judges, where Gideon's force of men was limited for that same reason. So, second, the force was limited. Third, verse six says that the battle was led by a priest of God. Phineas, the son of the high priest, he had the trumpets to sound the battle cry, and he had with him the vessels of the sanctuary, presumably even the Ark of the Covenant, which led before the battle, that represented God going before his people as the ultimate commander of the battle. And this was a fitting role for Phineas since he was the one who had been jealous for the Lord's glory back in chapter 25. And verses 7 through 12 then tell us that the war went according to plan. The soldiers do exactly as the Lord commanded. They killed the kings of Midian, including the princess Cosby's father, Zur, along with Balaam, who in the end finally receives his due payment for his continuous rebellion, even in the face of the mercy that God had extended to him over and over again. They took all the Midianite women and children captive. Along with the animals and all their possessions, they burned their cities and their towns and their camps. And when they returned from the battle, Moses and Eleazar, the high priest, and all the chiefs came out to meet them outside the camp. But when Moses saw that he had spared the Midianite women and children, he was angry. Look at verse 15 and 16. Moses said to them, Have you let all the women live? Behold, these, on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident at Peor. And so the plague came among the congregation of the people. So Moses orders the soldiers to kill every woman who was not a virgin and all the male children. But he's not acting on his own authority. He's not acting out of anger. He is simply acting out God's command for holy war. This was judgment day for Midian. These women were the ones who caused God's people to fall into sin and idolatry, and male children grow up to be Midianite soldiers. Therefore, they were to be destroyed, for this was God's chosen day for judgment on Midian. It was not genocide. It was not infanticide. was not ethnic cleansing by one ancient tribe against another, as the professor wrongly thought. Neither is it to be confused with jihad, the Muslim idea of their version of holy war. That's not what it is at all. Instead, holy war is the shadow God graciously gives us as a warning of the judgment that will one day come on all who are outside of Christ. These three features, and the fact that Holy War was restricted to the time between the Exodus and the occupation of the Promised Land, is what distinguishes biblical Holy War from any other war. And it is the answer to the professor's question, or anyone else who questions these Old Testament accounts. So to help you remember, here's our first fill-in. Biblical holy war was God's judgment for sin. It was won by God's sovereign power through a limited force. It was led by God, represented by the sanctuary vessels. And it was a shadow of the final judgment that will one day come. In Romans 1, verses 18 and then 32, Paul writes this. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For although they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them." You see, God judges those who tempt and those who fall to the temptation. Judgment Day, as I said, for Midian didn't come immediately, but it came eventually. And, beloved, one day the sins of this world, too, will be complete in God's eyes. And then Judgment Day will come. Holy War and the fate of the Midianites in Chapter 31 is simply a shadow of the reality that we all need to come to grips with. Now the second thing to see in this passage is God's amazing mercy. His amazing mercy. Verses 19 through 24 describe the cleansing ritual that was necessary for the soldiers to re-enter the community. And then verses 25 through 47 detail the distribution of the spoils of the war. And even though the soldiers had warred at the command and the direction of God, The contact with dead bodies had defiled them. Therefore, before they could re-enter the camp, they needed to be ritually cleansed. Now back in Numbers 19, we learned about something called the water for impurity. That water contained the ashes from an unblemished red heifer that was burned outside the camp, along with cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn. The ashes then were mixed in this water and it was called the water of impurity. And when we studied that text we found that it was one of the clearest shadows in the Old Testament of Jesus and his atoning death. We have Isaac, Abraham and Isaac. We have the Passover lamb, shadows of Christ's death and redeeming work. We have the waters that came forth from the rock at Meribah there. We have the lampstand that we talked about that was outside the Holy of Holies as both the pictures that Jesus gives life and Jesus gives light. And then the red heifer because of the way he was sacrificed because it was an unblemished, unusual type of beast and how he was sacrificed. His ashes then were mixed with this water and it was the water of cleansing from impurity. So, beginning in verse 21 there, Eliezer, the priest, directs that the cleansing of the soldiers and the bounty from the war occur. So, everything that was able to withstand being passed through the fire for cleansing would be cleaned by passing through the fire. And those things that could not, including the soldiers, were then to be cleansed using the water for impurity. Now, just as holy war is a picture of God's judgment on sin, this cleansing water for impurity, allowing re-entrance into the camp and the presence of God, is a picture of God's mercy. Then verses 25 through 47 describe the distribution of the spoils by the numbers, so to speak, and after all, Numbers would not be numbers without the numbers, would it? What's notable here is that although the victory was God's, his people actually enjoyed the bulk of the spoils. The soldiers received the largest share. If you run the numbers through your calculator, you'll find out that they received 49.8% of the bounty. And those who had remained behind had not qualified for war. They received 48% and God, who rightly could have taken all of it because he was the vicar, merely asked for a token, 2.2%. That was to go for the service of the Levites and to support the tabernacle. So here we have another picture again, don't we? A picture of how God works. God won the victory that resulted in this great bounty, yet he gave it right back to the people. And it works that way today as well, when we think about it, because God gives gifts or resources or insight, and we then use them as the body of Christ to build others up, to help a brother or sister in need, or to encourage or console or even correct someone. Yet when we do, we are only using the spoils that God has given us, so to speak. Paul puts this nicely, he says in Ephesians 2.10, For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has prepared beforehand, so that we might walk in them. And this mercy of cleansing and then the dividing of the spoils This really is a picture of the reality of what we have today with God and the works that he prepares for us to do and the gifts he gives us to do that. And all of this did not go unnoticed by the Israelite soldiers. Look at verses 48 and 50 with me. Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses and said to Moses, Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord." Now, instead of taking what God had given them and using it for themselves, When the commanders recognized that not one Israeli soldier had fallen in battle, they brought all the gold that they had captured to the Lord for the use in the tabernacle. And they described this as a means to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord. In other words, they recognized that their lives were not their own, but they belonged to the Lord. They had had a front row seat and seen God's vengeance poured out on people for sin, yet they recognized God's mercy in providing the external cleansing that they went through with the water for impurity, realizing that they needed more than that. They needed an internal cleansing as well. That's what atonement means. It's a reparation or a payment for a wrong or an injustice. The soldiers had seen God's wrath poured out on their enemies, but by his mercy, every single one of them was still standing. And every single one of them would be welcomed back into the Lord's presence through his mercy of the water for impurity. So they were simply responding in recognition of that mercy, and they responded with a free will offering that was far and above what God had asked for. God's mercy is truly amazing, isn't it? And that really leads us to the third point, the grateful response that should come whenever we recognize the truth in this passage, just as the Israelites did. This is where we bring the story forward into our time now, because we're no different than these Israelites, are we? They recognize that except for God's mercy toward them, they were no different than the Midianites on whom God had just poured out his righteous wrath. So in truth, we also are really no different than the Midianites, are we? Except that we, too, have come under God's mercy, which he has extended toward us in Christ. The simple truth of the Bible is this. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Each and every one of us. And it's not external cleansing we need. That was Jesus' woe to you Pharisee statement to the scribes and the religious leaders of his day. We need an internal cleansing. because we've all violated his commands. We're all rebels. We're all perpetrators of cosmic treason. But as our passage shows, sin brings God's wrath. But while it shows that the execution of his judgment against sin has been delayed, just as it was for a time for Balaam and the Midianites, it would also be foolish of us to presume that it will not finally come. Foolish. This old but appropriate truth, then, is our second fill-in. Though the mills of God's judgment grind slowly, they grind exceedingly small. British theologian Donald Guthrie put it this way. I love the Brits. They always put things so eloquently. He says this. Slow goes the hand of justice, like the hands on the clock, ever moving, creeping slowly on, with emotion all but imperceptible. Still, stand in awe. The hand of justice has not stopped. Although imperceptible, it steadily advances. By and by, it reaches the twelfth hour. Now the bell strikes. Then, unless you have fled to Christ, The blow which was so slow to come shall descend over the head of the sinner with all its accumulated force." You see, no one will escape God's judgment for sin. But those who have confessed Jesus as their Savior can rest in the assurance that God has judged their sin in Christ on that Roman cross. outside of Jerusalem a little over 2,000 years ago. So it would be remiss of me at this point if I did not ask you if you have fled to Christ. Have you fled to Christ? Only there will you find shelter when God's final wrath comes. Only there will you find protection from his judgment. And make no mistake, it will come. And if you have not fled to Christ, I would urge you, do so today. Because when the hammer of his final judgment begins to descend, it will be too late. Flee to Christ if you have not done so. If you have, If you are redeemed by Christ and His finished work for you, then I would remind you of the source of that redemption. Now, previous to Paul's passage or the sentence that Paul wrote that I just read to you in Ephesians 2.10, he says this. He says, But God, being rich in mercy, Because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved, and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable richness of His grace and kindness toward us in Jesus Christ. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us in Christ Jesus, has made us alive by grace. We have been saved. The reality is God's judgment will come. But the gospel is that by God's grace, through the gift of faith, those in Christ have been saved and are saved from God's wrath because God's wrath was poured out on his own Son on the cross. That's why Jesus said, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But you know what? Because he took that infinite wrath for sin, as only he could do being the infinite son of God, because he took that wrath for sin, he said, it is finished. So then, loved ones, how are we to respond to this mercy? We do so following the advice of the writer to the Hebrews, who gives us two concrete ways to respond. First, in chapter 13, verse 15, he writes, through him, that'd be Jesus, through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Now, notice it says continually. That means that as Christians, we are to continually have the song of God in our hearts. Running through our heads, singing it in the shower, top of our voices in the car. Raising our hands in joyful abandonment on Sunday morning together as the corporate body of Christ worshiping together in song. Continually having the song of sacrifice, which is a praise to God, the fruit of our lips that acknowledge his name. Continually, we are to be joyful in all circumstances, not happy, but joyful. It's a difference. In our home fellowship groups, I would urge you, if you are not in a home fellowship group, get into one. I can't believe how many times in preparation for a sermon what we're learning in the home fellowship groups continues to come in, because the Word of God is consistent from beginning to end. That's the reason that happens. But in our home fellowship groups, we've been studying through the letter of 1 Peter. And in this, in Peter's letter, he says this, and it's not a suggestion. It's an imperative verb. That means it's a command. Peter says this, But rejoice, there's the verb, rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice, imperative verb, rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. That means we sing songs continually. We sing them with abandon. We give Him the fruit of our lips in response to the mercy that He has shown us in His Son. Second, the writer to Hebrews says this in verse 16, he says, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Now, neglect is an interesting word choice here because neglect indicates that we can forget. We can stop doing. And that's true, isn't it? In fact, we're encouraged by the world to to neglect others and focus on ourselves. It's called subjectivity. It is probably the greatest bane going on in the Mosaic and the postmodern generation today. Have it your way. You only go around once in life. You deserve a break. We're so encouraged by the world to focus on ourselves that we even call our phones and our tablet computers and our personal music players, I. Why do you think they do that? But in response to God's mercy, we're encouraged to focus on others and to do good and to share. God says that such sacrifices are pleasing to him. And yes, it is difficult to put the needs of others before our own, isn't it? Because oftentimes when we're about to do that, we think they don't deserve it. I could use this 50 bucks better than they could. But we're not to neglect doing this good. Here's our last fill-in then. Our response to God's mercy is continual praise as the fruit of our lips, to not neglect to do good toward others, and to keep our focus on Jesus and the cross as we do so. And it's that last one that then is important because the only way to do the first two is by having your focus continually on Jesus and the cross. Again, the writer to Hebrews 12.2, he says this, he says, Keep looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was sent before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Now, seated there, Jesus continually intercedes for all of those who are his. He's continually washing us in the water for impurity, which is His shed blood. In this way, we then have access to the very throne of God. So those who are in Christ will never face His final judgment for sin, because those sins have already been judged in Christ. Therefore, we look to the cross, we look to Jesus as the encouragement necessary to remain steadfast praising God with the fruit of our lips and doing good continually. It's the cross where we have forgiveness. It's the cross that is the source of our motivation to continue to grow in holiness. It's the cross where we are freed from the just judgment of God. And it's the cross that we must look to. as we continue the good work that he has begun in us and has promised to complete on the day of Christ Jesus. It's about the cross. It's about Jesus. It's about looking to him and growing in Christ's likeness. And when the last day comes, it's the cross and our Savior's finished work upon it that will shield you from the righteous wrath of God. Let's pray together. Oh, Father, we marvel at your mercy, even as we see your just judgment on sin and sinners. And it must be that way. For if you were to leave sin unpunished, you would not be just. Your holiness would be compromised and your righteousness tarnished. But oh, what mercy you have displayed in the cross. standing at the center of history and the epicenter of your eternal plan. We see that you are both just and the justifier of sinners. What mercy toward us that your righteous wrath was expended on your own eternal son on our behalf for our transgressions. What amazing love. What amazing love for us was demonstrated by Jesus to face the cross and the full measure of your wrath with joy. Lord, may we never lose sight of these truths, and may gratitude undergird then our desires and our efforts to grow into the likeness of your Son. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.