All right, we are finally back in the book of Numbers, and we are going to, well, I'll just show you here. So this is my note so far in Numbers, and this is what we got left. So we're not completely to the end yet, but this last several chapters should go relatively quickly now that we've got through the whole Balaam ordeal. So we started Numbers 26, we're actually on verse which is the second, this is the second census that was taken. We talked about Reuben so far, so that's where we are. And I'm just gonna try to give you the numbers of the first census compared to the numbers of the second census. I'm not sure that we can draw tons of conclusions with that, but it is helpful and it is called the Book of Numbers. So the tribe of Reuben, I actually had 46,500 people in the first census. They are now at 43,730. So they have taken a slight dip down. They, if you remember, were associated with Cora's Rebellion. And there was a good number of them that were killed in Cora's Rebellion. So that could be a connection to their losing but it's also a sign of grace as well because they're still there. I mean, they haven't, they're not wiped out, right? They're still there. And so you have Reuben, and now we're on, oh, and one other thing, even though it looks like when you're in the story of Cora's Rebellion that they're just completely gone, nobody left, we see in the second census that there were still people of Cora's tribe that existed, and they will actually eventually, some of them will become the sons of Cora, which will be like, song leaders in Israel during David's time. So, anyway, so that's where we are. We're right now on verse 12, which is Simeon, so let's go ahead and read verses 12 through 14. I'll read the first one, and so you guys can get loosened up, limbered up to read names for me. The sons of Simeon, according to their clans of Nimuel, the clan of the Nimuelites of Jamin, The clan of the Jaminites, they were the rock stars of the day. Of Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites. Of Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites. Of Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites. These are the clans of the Simeonites, 22,200. So, 22,200. Notice, if you can read this, what do we see about Simeon? Way down. They're probably the one that has lost the most people. The wilderness years were not very good to them. 37,000 people less. Numbers 25, which is just the previous chapter. The name of the slain man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, chief of the father's house belonging to the Simeonites. So, if you remember that, that's the case where he speared through, and it's like this example of absolute open rebellion to God, and he gets speared. It is probably the case that during that rebellion, And during the plague, there were lots of people that died, that a good portion of them might be Simeonites in that. So that could be an explanation of this. We're seeing different mentions of names, like the Nimuelites, the Jamanites, the Jacobites, the Zarahites. These aren't really mentioned, these sub-tribes aren't really mentioned much else in scripture. There's some connections in a couple places, but really not that much. And so, I don't have a whole lot to say on that except that if we were living at that time and we knew those people, it would seem very important to us. It just doesn't seem that important to us because we're a long way away. But God actually does know each of us by name, even if we don't know, people by name so I've kind of reasoned this through often in Scripture whenever Scripture seems to bring somebody's name they don't really doesn't mean a whole lot to us today just that you know someday people will forget you too but God's not going to forget you I think is a very important lesson he he knows you by name and he these people were members of of Israel his people and and God remembers them even if the saints further on does not. So let's just keep going and we'll make some broader conclusions and I'll get your thoughts. So numbers 26, 15, 18, let's have Ryan, you can give the microphone to Ryan, let him read those for me. Now, Brian, I expect you to get them all exactly right. You're now an elder, and elders know how to pronounce Hebrew, right? Yeah, I've been working on it. The sons of Gad, according to their clans, of Zephan, the clan of the Zephanites, and Haggai, the clan of the Haggaites, of Shunni, the clan of the Shunites, of Osni, the clan of the Osnites, and Eri, the clan of Erites, and Arad, the clan of the Eredites, and Ereli, the clan of the Erelites, These are the clans of the sons of Gad, as they were listed, 40,500. Okay, nothing different. Same thing I just said before, bunch of sub-clans. We do know that they go down, so each of the three first tribes all go down in number. We don't have any mention of any of those other sub-clans anywhere else in scripture. Yeah. Not a whole lot to say there, just making a connection between these first three are all going down in number. Not a lot down except for Simeon, but they're still going down. Judah 19-22, let's have Mike Starnes read that. The sons of Judah were Ur and Onan, and Ur and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Judah, after their families were, of Shelah, the family of Shelanites, of Perez, the family of Farzites, of Zerah, the family of Zarhites, and the sons of Perez were of Hezron, the family of Hezronites, of Hamul, the family of Hamulites these are the families of Judah according to those that were numbered of them three score and sixteen thousand and five hundred Okay, can you guys do the math three score and six one? You know, what is that in number? Seventy six thousand five hundred they are the first tribe that goes up Right. They're actually one of the larger tribes and they go up which Judah's obviously gonna have importance, because of David and Christ moving forward, but there they are, they move up slightly. What else do you notice about this description though? It's a little different than the last one. Right, they give these two individuals, this is a census, right? You're talking about big picture, the census, all about numbers and clans, and then they bring in Ur and Onan. What do they tell us about them? All right, so what's the significance of that? If you can think of it, you know what? Do you remember the story of Ur and Onan? They were the evil sons of Judah, and it's all the way back in the story of Genesis 38. Let's just, yeah, let's just read that. So turn to Genesis 38. Let's see, Sam Payne, you wanna read for us? Genesis 38, 1-10. It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside a certain Adulamite whose name was Hira. There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite who was Shua. She took her and went into her, and she convinced and bore a son, and he called his name Ur. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again, she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Shezib when she bore him. And Judah took her wife Ur. his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. But Ur, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, go into your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother. But Onan knew that the offspring would not be of his, so whenever he went to his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground, so as to not give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord and he put him to death also Okay, so here we go. This is this occurs. Obviously, it's a very we're not gonna go into all the details of this Hopefully I'll do better job of going in the details and we preach through that but big picture Erronean on good guys Terrible, right? If you know the issue of Tamar, that's a big part of this as well, because then Judah himself comes into some sin there and she tricks him and all that kind of stuff. Very interesting story. Not the kind of story you're happy to have in your family history, right? Your past is a little storied past. And so why do you think that Moses, includes this, something that occurred hundreds of years before, into his census. Why do you think he does that? Okay, so it can be a warning. Warning to who? Not to live that way. Okay, good. Okay, so maybe the rooting out of evil? Okay. What's that? Who hasn't forgotten? God has not forgotten this event? Okay. You guys are giving me all the negative Lessons, I'm more of a positive optimist What's that you're positive it's negative there you go Is it not possible have we not seen in the book of Numbers a theme that That Israel throughout her time in the wilderness struggled with sin and rebellion. Is that obvious, right? And there are consequences, so you guys are correct, you know, warning, you wanna not be that way, you wanna root out the evil, certainly that is an appropriate lesson, but let me ask you this. Does the rebellion of the Israelites in the wilderness prevent God from moving his promises forward. Okay, so is there not a mention, like is it not nice to mention Judah, who will be the forefather of Christ and of David before him, is it not nice to know that Judah's sins Right? I mean, Judah was sinful in this whole situation with Ur and Onan. Ur and Onan are cut out, that's right, they die. But Judah is actually experiencing blessing. Right? So is it not possible that part of this mention of Ur and Onan is that the sins of one generation of God's people will not inhibit God from carrying forth His promised salvation? They're not exclusive, the warning side is clearly there, but sometimes it's harder for us to see the positive side. This is an obvious mention of this reminder to them that God brought good. In fact, Judah is the fact that they are one of the largest tribes is a sign of God's incredible mercy to Judah. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah, and we're quick to point out, you know, look at Simeon gets crushed because, you know, because of their sin. And it's true. If you want to rebel against God and fight against him and not walk in his ways, there are, there's a judgment that God will bring upon you. And it's 1 Corinthians 10 says, that people perished in the wilderness, didn't make it to the promised land because of their rebellion. So this side warning is good, but I just don't want us, I want us to balance that with the incredible mercy of God. And if you remember in that story of Judah, one of the defining moments of Judah's life is not that he defends all of his actions. One of the defining moments is that he actually admits that Tamar is more righteous than him. So the brokenness, the humility, the willingness to say, I am not right with God and need God's mercy is foundational to who we are as Christians. So anyway, just, so you can learn all kinds of stuff from the book of Numbers. And what you're doing is you're seeing these censuses, you're comparing the numbers, and then if they insert something that's not really a census type statement, then you should go, why is that there? You should be asking that question. Okay, so... The sons of Perez, the sons of Judah and Perez, the Perizzites are listed, and they are Tamar, Bears, Perez, and Zerah. And so those tribes are currently existing and they're thinking all the way back to what went on with Judah and Tamar and God's faithfulness to them. Okay, next one, Issachar. Erica, would you read 23 to 25? The sons of Issachar, according to their clans, of Tola, the clan of the Tolaites, of Puvah, the clan of the Punites, of Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites, of Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites, these are the clans of Issachar as they were listed, 64,300. All right. 64,300. Again, we're We're not really giving anything extra in this one. But we do see that they're going up, right? Almost 10,000 going up. So we've got three tribes that went down, two that are going up. I don't really have any other observations for that. Anybody see anything that they want to mention? OK. Eric, you still got the mic? Oh, Christian, good, 26 and 27. The sons of Zebulon, according to their clans, of Sered, the clan of the Seredites, of Elon, the clan of the Elanites, of Jalil, the clan of the Jalilites, these are the clans of the Zebulonites as they were listed, 60,500. All right, they were 57,400. Now they're what? 60,500. 500. Okay, they too go up. So we've had three that went down, now we have three that go up. Zebulon, again with sub-clans. Yeah, nothing that I really want to mention about this. Elon is a Hittite name, which is kind of interesting. Probably not the same guy. But one of the daughters of Esau to Basemath was Elon. Basemath was the daughter of Elon, the Hittite. So just maybe some influence there. They're living among Canaanites, so even their names get mixed a little bit. But again, not much I can give here. There is an Elon that becomes a judge in Israel eventually, but not usually the same guys, so. 2628, still got the mic? Keep reading. Just read 28 right now. Yeah, read 28. The sons of Joseph, according to their clans, Manasseh and Ephraim. Okay, just stop right there for a second, but hold the mic, What do we notice about Joseph? Obviously, he's one of the twelve sons, but he's divided into two, right? Ephraim and Manasseh. And that's important because you still have twelve tribes, twelve is going to be the number of completion, and because you take the Levites out, you still need to have twelve tribes to keep that, so you've got a double portion given to Joseph because of his faithfulness in Egypt. So again, just like you saw with Judah, God's mercy, even in sin, you also see from the mention of Joseph, God rewards faithfulness, right? So it works both ways there. So again, back to your statement, do we strive to be unfaithful? No, we should strive to be faithful. God rewards faithfulness, it matters, and so Joseph, he's given a double portion because of this faithfulness. So, 29 through 34, keep going, Christian. The sons of Manasseh of Machir, the clan of the Makarites in Machir, was the father of Gilead. Of Gilead, the clans of Gilead died. These are the sons of Gilead of Eser, the clan of the Lesserites. Of Helek, the clan of the Lesserites. of the Helicites, and of Asriel, the clan of the Asralites, and of Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites, and Shemaida, the clan of the Shemadites, of Hephaer, the clan of Hephaerites. Now the son of Hephaer had no sons, But, uh, daughters and the names of the daughters of cellophane, where Mel, Mel, Mel, uh, no, uh, Oh, glass Milka and T's Tersa. These are the claims of Manasseh of those listed were 52,700. Great. Alright, so just big quick thing, Manasseh begins at 32.2, they're now up to 52.7, so they go way up. Huge, the tribe of Manasseh, which will be important because Manasseh's kind of on like this huge tribe, it actually goes on both sides of the Jordan to some degree, it's a big thing. But there's another thing that's really important here, that we're told about, again, something that doesn't have to do with the census itself, you wouldn't think that it matters at all, what do you see in verse 33? Yeah, the daughters, okay? So you have Zalophahad, and so, you know, you might just think, well, who cares? There's, you know, somebody didn't have any sons and their line dies out. But in Israel, that's a big deal, why? Because of the land, you have an inheritance, right? Every person in Israel is gonna have some connection, some inheritance rights to the land. Do we not say that in Christian belief as well? That every Christian has a portion of the inheritance, the eternal new heavens, new earth. And so, in Old Testament Israel, your inheritance was tied to the male line. Obviously, our eternal inheritance is not tied to that. And I believe that this here is kind of the beginnings of this. God opening up that the inheritance is both for men and women right here. So we haven't got to Zelophehad yet, but if you look at chapter 27, what do you see the whole chapter's about? Right, that's exactly right, the daughters of Zelophehad. So in the census, they're inserting this so that you will know that it's almost like before the fact, you're gonna get the story in the next chapter, but in this, it shows that yes, the daughters of Zelophehad have an inheritance. And even though their father died and had no sons, they are part of this inheritance. Very intentional. That's right. It's obviously that they have not looked at Shechem as like nobody's going to name their kid Shechem, right? So they, yes. without giving a whole lot of thought, Howard, you might have more thought, I would say, similar to Judah, right? That this was bad, bad, and yet God is, there's a whole tribe of Shechemites as a part of this, so that's God's merciful thing, so. You might have more thoughts on that, Howard. But yes, that's a good observation. Yes. Now do you guys know where Gilead is? The Gileadites? You can probably look on your maps in your, well actually it's not written on there on the map I have. But Gilead is, Gilead is over here. Jabesh Gilead, so it's, and you can see this is the tribe of Manasseh here. So this is their tribe. on the west on the east side of the Jordan which technically is Not a portion of the inheritance. That's another thing you're gonna have to deal with you the inheritance Basically is everything moving this way and then up and then down like this, but here We're gonna have a whole portion the Manassas on both sides of the Jordan, but a whole portion in Gilead So Gilead is going to be this this bonus land that kind of becomes a portion of Israel even though it wasn't originally a portion of Israel and that will be a big issue when they take the land as well, so All right 35 to 37 Let's see Mary Dunn will read for us. I These are the sons of Ephraim, according to their clans, of Shuthla, the clan of the Shuthlites, of Bekr, the clan of the Bekrites, of Tehan, the clan of the Tehanites. And these are the sons of Shuthla of Aran, the clan of the Aranites. These are the clans of the sons of Ephraim, as they were listed, 32,500. These are the sons of Joseph, according to their clans. So they're down, Ephraim's down, Manasseh's up, pretty significantly down, almost 8,000 down. But together, if you bring them together, both here and here, they are still bigger, they become even larger than Judah. just like moving forward, Ephraim and Ephraim Manasseh becomes the leader of the northern tribes, which would later become Israel when there's a split between Ephraim Manasseh and Judah. There'll be a split between those two, so. Let's see. Yeah, that's all I'm gonna give right now. 38 to 41. Mary, you still got the mic? Keep reading. The sons of Benjamin, according to their clans, of Bela, the clan of the Belites, of Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites, of Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites, of Shefu, Shephufam, the clan of the Shephufamites. Of Hufam, the clan of the Hufamites. And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman. Of Ard, the clan of the Ardites. Of Naaman, the clan of the Naamites. These are the sons of Benjamin, according to their clans. And those listed were 45,600. Okay, so I'll put Benjamin down here. if I can get all these guys on here or not. Benjamin, so he previously was 35.4, 35.4, and now what is he? 45.6, so he's going up. Not a particularly large tribe, but he's definitely going up. Benjamin will eventually be subsumed sort of with Judah into the two southern tribes. But there they are right now. And then Dan, we got Dan and Asher to go. Keep reading, Mary. These are the sons of Dan, according to their clans. of Shuham, the clan of the Shuamites. These are the clans of Dan, according to their clans. All the clans of the Shuamites, as they were listed, were 64,400. Yeah, they don't get much, do they? In terms of written. So they were 627, 627. 64, 4. 64, 4. So they still went up. And relatively large tribe. which is gonna be amazing, because Dan is gonna become a, they're kind of a split tribe. There's some here, and then there's some down here, and they, if Dan Keenert were here, he's really into the Danites. But they really do not have a rich heritage moving forward, but here they're doing pretty well. And then Asher, let's see, Mary, keep going, you're doing good. The sons of Asher, according to their clans, of Imnah, the clan of the Imnites, of Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites, of Beriah, the clan of the Berites, of the sons of Beriah, of Heber, the clan of the Heberites, of Malkiel, the clan of the Malkielites. And the name of the daughter of Asher was Sarah. These are the clans of the sons of Asher as they were listed, 53,400. What does Asher mean? Happy, yeah. So they go up almost 12,000. Anything you notice in this one? Yeah. And again, there's no explanation for that. But take a guess. What do you think? Why might that be important in here? Those are the ones, I think, that have the highest jump on people. Oh, the tribe goes up. But just the mention of this daughter of Asher, I mean, why would you insert that? You just have to take an educated theological guess, you may not be 100% right, but you're just trying to, what could this possibly? Very good, that's all, yeah, she was important enough that maybe she did something that was important, you know, people knew of her, she was significant, and again, in a day that everyone thinks that the Bible cuts on women all the time, and no, the Bible often will honor women. And in this situation, we don't really even know what the reason for that was. But he definitely, Moses inserts this for a very, to give her honor, for sure. There's nothing negative. Right, it's not like the daughters of Zelophehad, right? Or with Judah and Tamar, nope. So, it's just. That's one of, two or three educated guesses and one makes as good sense as any other ones. We don't really know what, like the etymology of Hebrew. So we know Israel, you know, but we don't really know Hebrew, so. Okay, now we're down to the last one, Naphtali. Keep going, Mary. We're just, I know you like to read, and you're probably making it merciful for everyone else that doesn't want to be called upon right now, so. The sons of Naphtali, according to their clans, of Jazil, the clan of the Jazilites, of Guni, the clan of the Gunites, of Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites, of Shillam, the clan of the Shillamites, these are the clans of Naphtali, according to their clans, and those listed were 45,400. So they go down. OK, so total it up here. How many go down? How many go up? Let's see, we've got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven that go up and five that go down. So. Oh, yeah, where they fit around the around the I still happen to have mine, Lee, so I can pull that out for you. So, okay, so Ruben, Simeon, and Gad, they were all the South, and Gad, all three of those go down. That was that Korah's rebellion. Yep, so then you have, in the north, you have Dan, Asher, and Naphtali. So there you have a mixture. Two up and one down. In the west, you have Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin. So that would be Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh. These three were in the west. And there you have two up and one down. And then in the east, those are the ones that were connected most with Aaron and Moses and the priests were in the east. You had obviously Judah. Then you had Issachar and Zebulun. So these three here were in the east. Yeah, all around the tabernacle. That's what Lee was asking, how they fit around the tabernacle. It does seem to be that this southern portion did the worst because of the rebellion that we thought of with Coors Rebellion and stuff, so. Mike, what was the time span for that census? They were about somewhere between 38 and 40 years apart, between one and the other. See, because what you have going on is as soon as you enter into the wilderness, there's a census, but then After they go up, they're supposed to attack the promised land from the south. After they fail to do that, they have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And God says that no one over 40, over 20, no one over 20 years old will make it into the promised land. The only ones that will make it are Joshua and Caleb. The rest of them will die in the wilderness. So it's all the new generation coming up and that this second census is of those who were of 20 years old or less and those who were born in the wilderness would be the second generation. Yeah, so the wilderness Let's see here. This doesn't quite do it either. Let's get a bigger one. So here's Israel, and they come up out of Egypt. This is the Sinai. Most people think that Mount Sinai was down here. But they were gonna come just straight up through here, and then they don't. So they wander in this wilderness for 40 years. And then when God brings them in in Deuteronomy, He takes them this way, up here, they conquer kingdoms over here, and then they come in through the east, which is part of the reason why it's always the temple faces east, the king's coming from the east, all those kind of imagery as well. So, yeah. Okay, so overall, did anybody add up the numbers? Do you have it in your book? What's the overall total? Yep, and what was it before, 603,550. So there's a slight, when you deal with 600,000 people, it's a very slight decrease in this. Right, oh yeah, so you got women and children still, yes. These are just the men fit for being in the army. So what do you learn from this? Even though that on an individual basis, You know, your faithfulness or rebellion matters. It always matters. You know, you can't just say, ah, do what you want, and the world wants to say, do it, live any way you want, God's gonna bless you. You know, that's not true. But at the same time, God is faithful to basically sustain his people through 40 years of rebellion. It's fascinating when you start thinking about how God is not limited by the obedience or rebellion of his people. And it's pretty, it's encouraging, so... Yeah, so just so you... So in terms of you personally, you are a slave to sin. You are converted, redeemed, baptized, You then live in this world as a sojourner and you are heading towards the promised land which is the new heavens and new earth. So God in his infinite mercy to you, gives you a picture of this in the history of Israel. So Israel was a slave to Egypt. They experienced their conversion slash baptism at the Red Sea, right? I should put in there, the giving of the law, this is how you're supposed to live, comes after that. Then they live in this world as sojourners, which is similar to wilderness. And they are moving towards the promised land. So you can say like Israel's wilderness wanderings is the best place to explain where we are as the church. So we have, this is one of the reasons why numbers should be studied. because it's the one book of the Bible that deals with the wilderness, which is where we are as a church. We are in the wilderness. We haven't reached our promised land yet. And what were the problems of the Israelites in the wilderness? They grumbled. They rebelled. They distrusted. Right, all the things, and what God wants from you in the wilderness is faith and obedience. Okay? But is your, does your faith and obedience, although it's significant to you on an individual level, right, because those who have faith will be blessed, those who don't will be cursed. Does your personal faith and obedience, does it stop God from giving the inheritance to all of his people, not in the least. It's very important to see all this, right? So, it's really understanding how to use scripture is very helpful if you understand this paradigm. God has actually, in the history of his people, has set it up in such a way that it's like a mirror to your own life. Is that not cool? Yeah, yeah, you can look at it that way like so the if you go through Israel's history We'll do stage two They get in the promised land Right Israel goes in They conquer the promised land, but God then has to show them that this promised land, this physical promised land, is not actually this new heaven's new earth. Right? So he has to show them that. So what happens is, even when they're in the promised land, it is not perfect. There is all the problems of the wilderness continue, even when they're in the promised land. Right, which showed, will all these problems exist in the new heavens, new earth? Not at all. But they still exist here in the promised land, and so what happens is you hear of, in the scripture, they say, oh, Joshua, David were not able to give Israel rest. Right, so then you start thinking that the physical promised land wasn't really the real promised land, and you go through the whole, history of Israel as a nation, and you see that they fail. All the way down to the very king, the kingship of Israel fails. And that's where you get to the exile. And so people are wondering, have all these promises of a promised land, have they just utterly failed? Are they just done? The kings have died, everything's done. You can see all kinds of imagery of this in Lord of the Rings. Has that line failed? That kind of thing. So you're in exile and you're saying, oh, all is lost. The promises of God have failed. Just what we've been telling you, that even though you have personally struggled with rebellion, God's promises move forward. When they get to the exile, they just think, oh, it is done. God's promises have failed, they are done. And that's where you get Ezekiel in Jeremiah, which, you know, we have Ezekiel up here, but the promises of the new covenant, right, in Christ's blood. And so through this one coming Messiah, he will actually bring, not back to the physical promised land, but he will be able to get you all of the promises of the new heaven and new earth. But what's the one thing that has to be fixed in order to have rest? Your sin, you've gotta be completely cleansed of your sin, which all the Old Testament animals couldn't do that, so only Christ's death on the cross can cleanse you from your sin. And your heart of rebellion has to be fixed. That's why we have up here, I'll remove your heart of stone, give you a heart of flesh, put my spirit in you, and cause you to follow my decrees and keep my laws. Because in order to experience the new heavens and the new earth, the one thing that has to be fixed is your heart of rebellion. Yep. And Moses is a great, that's a great example because he, he is, you know, a lot of people that died in the wilderness, you might wonder if they actually made it to heaven, you know, they might've remained in their rebellion. But Moses obviously was a man that was repentant, that newly, truly knew Christ, that was, you know, he was, you know, a humble man. And yet because of his sin, Moses needs a redeemer as well. So he's not allowed to just go in on his own. He's not the true Messiah. But God takes him up on the mountain and says, it's all yours. And so just that picture is really good, which is why we have the hymn, There is a Land of Pure Delight. If you haven't ever heard that hymn before, in O Day of Rest and Gladness, every Sunday, every Lord's Day, we view our promised land. It's like we're up on Mount Pisgah every time we come to church. So we're viewing our promised land. Because we're still down here struggling with our sin, we're still trying to fight in the wilderness to get rid of the evil in our hearts and be holy and loving of God, and we're still trying to move towards our promised land. Which, turn to Philippians 3, one of my few favorite verses in scripture, I only have a couple of them. Philippians 3, 14, 13. Brothers, I do not, well, let's start in 12. Not that I have already obtained this, meaning the resurrection from the dead, or am already perfect, meaning complete sanctification, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. I'm not there yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind. What lies behind? Sin, death, slavery, that's what lies behind. I forget that and I'm straining forward to what lies ahead. What lies ahead? Rest, perfection, new heavens, new earth. So I'm straining forward to what lies ahead. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's the Christian life. That's where you are. Just like Moses seeking his promised land looking at it. Anyway, all that's very big picture stuff. So yes, we are in a sense in our exile, spread out, scattered. Diaspora is another picture of that. But Jesus is collecting his people from the ends of the earth and bringing them into his kingdom to our eternal home. So. All right, can we get through chapter 26? I think we can. 57 to 62. Do you still have the microphone, Mary? Oh, give that to Laurie Pate. Please. 57 to 62. This was the list of the Levites according to their clans. Did I, I think we're at 52. Excuse me, start at 52. 52 to where? 56. OK. Among these, the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names. To a large tribe, you shall give a large inheritance. And to a small tribe, you shall give a small inheritance. Every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list. But the land shall be divided by lot. according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit. Their inheritance shall be divided according to the lot between the larger and the smaller. Okay, so what do we learn here about the inheritance? So the size of the tribes did have some connection with the relative obedience or disobedience of that tribe. So what do we see here about the inheritance and the tribe? What principles are we told? Yeah, so if your tribe is large, you're going to get a larger inheritance. If your tribe is small. So it would make sense to do that, right? But what else is going on here? So there's, in some sense, the inheritance is proportional. Well, how else is the... Determined by lot. Yeah, so like, you know, not every piece of Israel was exactly the same. And it was interesting providentially, some people got the very best land and others got kind of more difficult land, and you might thought, oh yeah, the best land, that's great. But usually it was in the areas of the most fertility that most of the pagan cults rose up to. So you think it's good to be in that area, but it really created problems as well. But all I wanna get at here is that When you think about Lot, it is God's sovereign choice. So, this is just attention. I don't understand how this works in the new heavens and the earth perfectly, but in some sense, my faith and obedience matters. I don't know how that works in the new heavens and the new earth, but there are different rewards. There are different things. Not every person will have the exact same inheritance in the new heavens and the new earth. will be proportional to who you are and even somewhat connected to your obedience and faith in this life it's there I can't I can't get it it's not just this passage is plenty of other passages this is clear in Scripture at the same time everyone is going to be happy with their inheritance because it's God's sovereign choice and he gives it to you and so I don't Will we really care if sin is really ripped out of us and our heart is really given? Will we be like the disciples clamoring who gets on the right hand and left of Christ? Or will we be happy to be a doorkeeper in the house of our God? Do you see how that, so like, whatever God gives you in heaven, whatever his personal inheritance in your life will be good. And part of the joy of heaven is you'll be happy with your life. and you won't be clamoring for someone else who has a different life. And God has apportioned all this. Some people, we're all his body. Some of us are his little finger. Some of us are the heart. Some of us are the mouth. In eternity, I don't know how that all works, but we're all part of the body. And you're happy with that. That you are just, you're in. You're in with the kingdom, right? You're there in glory, and that's what matters. And so I think part of this acceptance here is that you know God could have made the the promised land like a like a cube and every portion of it was exactly the same you know and everybody just gets the exact same thing but that's not the way he's divvying out so comments or questions on that right Yeah, don't choose a lot. Don't just say, I want the best land, give me that. No, you know, take what God gives you. Yeah. I think in like you were talking about in the new heavens and new earth and our gifts will be so obvious to us, and I think God will just fulfill that desire of us using that gift, so that'll go along with whatever our lot is. We'll just be thrilled because we're using the gift we were meant to do with. And who you are as a person. Yeah, I don't know what we think of heaven. It's just this mindless kind of thought, but no, I think it's going to be life. You know, I think we're going to be different. Some of us like big crowds, some of us like more private area. I mean, I don't know what it's all gonna be like, but it'll be according to your, who God has made you to be. Get rid of all the sin, who you are. And it'll be perfect, it'll be wonderful. Anyway, so we didn't get all the way through, but I think that's it. We'll be able to finish this next week and get into the Daughters of Zelophehad next week. Father, thank you for this time, and thank you for the book of Numbers. Even though it is tedious and difficult to read names, your hand wrote these. And I am glad that on the final list, my name will be written. And I'm thankful for that, that you will not forget me, that I've been written on the hands of Christ and in his blood. And I praise you for that, in Jesus' name, amen.