2025/08/31 Numbers Intro; Jesus in the Wilderness; Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250831_numbers-intro.mp3

We’re starting our journey through another book of the Bible this morning, looking at Jesus in the wilderness. This is the fourth book in the Old Testament, and we know it by its English title ‘Numbers.’ It gets this title from the two numberings or census of the people in Numbers 1 and Numbers 26, but the original title of the book was usually taken from the first word or an early significant word of the scroll. Hence Numbers would have been known by the first word in the Hebrew text; ‘wayedabber’ – ‘and he spoke’ or by the fourth word; ‘bemidbar’ – ‘in the wilderness’.

Numbers 1:1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

The Sacred Writings Point to Salvation through Faith in Jesus

But why study Numbers? My quick answer is rooted in what we believe about the Bible; Paul tells Timothy

2 Timothy 3:15 …you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

When Paul is writing, he is referring to ‘the sacred or holy or set apart writings’; ‘all Scripture’ as what we now call the Old Testament. Every bit of it is able to make us wise for salvation through faith in the Messiah Jesus, even Numbers. If God says Numbers is profitable for teaching, I want to teach it. I want to see how Numbers points us to salvation through faith in Jesus. I need reproof, correction, training in righteous. I want to be complete, equipped for every good work.

Jesus in Numbers

But why am I titling this as ‘Jesus in the Wilderness’? According to 2 Timothy 3:15, Numbers points us to salvation through faith in Jesus. How many of you are familiar with John 3:16?

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Did you know John 3:16 is rooted in the events of Numbers 21? Jesus said:

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (Nu.21), so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

In some way, Jesus’ death on the cross was prefigured and pointed to by Numbers 21. We actually see this throughout Jesus’ life.

Numbers 2-10 give instructions on the camp of Israel arranged around the tabernacle, instructions on who is qualified to serve the tabernacle, who is excluded, how it is protected, and what kinds of sacrifices are to be offered, John 1:14 tells us that ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’; literally pitched his tent, or tabernacled among us.

In Exodus 40 and Numbers 9, we see the glory cloud over the tabernacle, and John 1:14 continues ‘…and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.’

Exodus 16 and Numbers 11 describe manna, God’s bread from heaven that he supplied to feed his people in the wilderness. In John 6 Jesus claims to be the bread of God who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Exodus 17 and Numbers 20 describe God providing water out of the rock for the people to drink. In John 4 Jesus claims to be the living water that satisfies.

In Numbers 27, Moses prays that the congregation would not be like sheep that have no shepherd; Jesus in Matthew 9 has compassion on the multitudes ‘because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’ In John 10 Jesus claims to be the Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for the sheep.

In Numbers 9, the people keep the Passover for the first time after leaving Egypt. John 19 records that Jesus’ legs were not broken on the cross in fulfillment of the requirements for a Passover lamb in Exodus 12 and Numbers 9.

Jesus wandered in the wilderness for 40 days of testing without food (Mat.4), and unlike the Israelites, he walked in perfect obedience to his Father. Jesus is the greater Israel.

Throughout Numbers, God put his words in the mouth of Moses, to speak to the people. In Deuteronomy 18, the Lord told Moses

Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

The people in John 6 recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of this; Jesus is the greater prophet, the greater Moses. Jesus himself said in John 5:

John 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.

Numbers is ultimately about Jesus in the wilderness.

Numbers Warns the Church

Numbers is also a warning to us. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to the predominantly non-Jewish Christian church in Corinth, and in Chapter 10 he says:

1 Corinthians 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud (Nu.9:15-23), and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (Ex.14:19-31; Nu.33:8), 3 and all ate the same spiritual food (Ex.16:14ff; Nu.11:4, 11-35), 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ (Ex.17:1-7; Nu.20:2-13). 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness (Nu.11, 14:28-35; 16-17; 26:63-65). 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” (Ex.32:4-6) 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day (Nu.25). 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents (Nu.21:4-9), 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer (Nu.11:1ff; 14:1ff; 16:42ff; 21:5-9). 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

‘These things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction’. Numbers is for us; Numbers is a warning to the church. We face temptation, but God is faithful. In it we see our fallen sinful nature, and God’s abundant faithfulness.

Where We are in the Story

But before we just dive in to Numbers, I want us to understand where we are in the story, and where we are going.

Numbers is the fourth book of the Jewish Torah (law or instruction) or Pentateuch (the five books of Moses).

Genesis is a book of beginnings; the beginning of the world; beginning of man, beginning of sin, beginning of judgment, beginning of hope, beginning of promise, beginning of a nation. Genesis starts with God who always was, with God’s good creation, introduces Adam and Eve, who quickly rebel against God’s good purposes for them to reflect his image to creation; instead they seek to be their own gods, corrupting God’s good world with their sin, bringing decay and ultimately death into God’s good world. Humanity continues to spiral out of control, until in Genesis 5-9 God was sorry that he made mankind, and decided to cleanse the earth with a flood and start over with Noah and his family. But the with the world repopulated, in Genesis 10-11 mankind is still united in rebellion against God, so God disperses the nations and begins to reveal himself to one family, Abraham. In Genesis 12, God promises Abraham land (that will become very significant in Numbers) and promises to bless him so that through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. We read Abraham’s story (and his promised son Isaac) in Genesis 11-25; Isaac’s son Jacob’s story in 25-35, and one of Jacob’s son Joseph in 37-50. Jacob (renamed Israel) and his 12 sons end up in Egypt because of Joseph.

Exodus picks up the story 400 years later, where those 70 people from Jacob’s family seeking refuge in Egypt have now become a slave force so populous it threatened Egypt to the point that the Pharaoh attempts to have the firstborn Israelite males killed at birth. It is during this time that Moses is born, adopted by the Pharaoh’s daughter, raised in Pharaoh’s court, attempts to take matters into his own hands to stand up for his people, and flees to the wilderness for 40 years. Moses, now humbled, is ready to be used by God to set his people free from slavery in Egypt. Exodus 1-18 recounts how God freed his people from slavery and provided for their needs in the wilderness, in spite of their grumbling. In Exodus 19-24, God gives his newly freed people his covenant expectations, God makes promises to them, and they in turn are to live up to God’s standards. It is in this section that we find the ten commandments, among other laws. The rest of Exodus (chapters 25-40) are instructions for building a sanctuary, a royal throne room tent so that God can dwell with his people. Actually, chapters 25-31 give the detailed instructions on the construction of the tent and everything in it given to Moses by God on the mountain. Chapters 35-39 mirror those chapters, describing how Israel meticulously and faithfully constructed everything according to God’s instruction. But the beginning of chapter 32 describes how Israel, in the middle of their honeymoon, committed infidelity and broke God’s covenant, went astray and worshiped other gods. Chapters 32-33 God determines to send the people away, fulfilling his promises to them but withholding his presence. Moses prays for the people, begging God to go with them and be their God. God extends grace, and in chapter 34, renews his covenant with them. God’s grace toward rebels allows them to make a tent where he will dwell in their midst, be their God, and take them to be his lawfully wedded people. Exodus ends with the tabernacle set up at Mount Sinai, and the glory cloud of God’s presence coming to dwell in the tent among his people as if nothing had happened.

Leviticus acknowledges that God’s presence among sinful, rebellious, wayward people is dangerous. God is holy, and must be treated as holy, approached in the way he proscribes, or we will not survive the encounter. We are sinners, so Leviticus gives animal sacrifices as a way for the sins of God’s people to be covered, and instructions on how those who have become unclean or contaminated by contact with this fallen world may be cleansed and restored to a condition fit to be part of God’s people.

Numbers picks up where Exodus left off, God’s people still at the foot of Mount Sinai, tabernacle in operation, now with God’s marching orders to go and take the promised land. Chapter 1 numbers the military aged men who will fight those whose sin has escalated to the point that God is ready to wipe them out and cleanse the land. Chapters 1-10 are the preparations for the people to advance at God’s command. In chapters 10-12 they travel from Sinai to Kadesh, the south border of the promised land, complaining as they go. Chapter 13 is the fateful turning point of the book, where ten of the twelve spies discourage the people, who want to return to slavery in Egypt.

God responds:

Numbers 14:27 “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. 28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected.

Thus began the 40 years of wilderness wandering, until that generation counted in chapter 1 had died. Chapters 1-25 recount their grumbling and rebellion in the wilderness, interspersed with God’s giving instruction, providing for and protecting them, and the greedy pagan prophet Balaam hired to curse Israel, who instead is restrained to bless them because God has blessed them. Chapter 26, the numbering of the next generation, is the turning point where this believing generation begins preparations to possess the land under Joshua’s command.

Deuteronomy means the second giving of the law; it is Moses’ farewell to the people, expounding God’s original covenant and exhorting this new generation to obedience, unlike their fathers who disobeyed and fell in the wilderness.

Questions to Ask in the Wilderness

Here’s some questions we will be asking as we walk with Jesus through the wilderness; Who is God, and who am I – what does this reveal about the character of God, or about my fallen state and natural tendency? How can I avoid walking in the flesh and instead walk by the Spirit? How does this point us to Jesus – our need for Jesus or who he is in his grace?

My prayer for us as we study this book together is that we see ourselves more clearly, so that we can crucify our flesh with its passions and desires, and walk in step with the Spirit who is Holy (Gal.5:24-25), and that we can see God more clearly in all his glory, holiness, and magnificent grace toward sinners like us.

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2025.08.31 Sermon Notes

Introduction to Numbers; Jesus in the Wilderness

Why Numbers? 2 Timothy 3:15-17

It points us to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus

Jesus in Numbers

John 3:14-16 / Numbers 21 (Jesus lifted up)

John 1:14 / Numbers 2-10 (God tabernacles with us)

John 1:14 / Numbers 9 (glory of God with us)

John 6 / Numbers 11 (bread from heaven)

John 4 / Numbers 20 (living water)

John 10 / Numbers 27 (good Shepherd)

John 19 / Numbers 9 (Passover Lamb)

Matthew 4 / Numbers (wilderness obedience)

John 6:14 / Deuteronomy 18:18-19 (greater Prophet)

John 5:46 ‘Moses wrote of me’

Numbers warns the church

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

The context of Numbers

Genesis 1-4 God’s good creation / our rebellion

Genesis 5-9 cleansing the earth with a flood; grace to Noah

Genesis 10-11 mankind in rebellion; nations dispersed

Genesis 11-25 Abraham (and his promised son Isaac)

Genesis 25-35 Jacob (Israel) and his 12 sons

Genesis 37-50 Joseph in Egypt

—400 years later—

Exodus 1-18 God frees his enslaved people through Moses

Exodus 19-24 the covenant relationship

Exodus 25-31 instructions for God’s tent

Exodus 32-34 covenant treason, forgiveness, covenant renewal

Exodus 35-39 God’s tent constructed according to plan

Leviticus; how to dwell with a holy God; sacrifice, purification

Numbers 1-25 the disobedient generation died

Numbers 26-36 the faithful generation entered in

Deuteronomy; second giving of law to faithful generation

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org