The Old Testament Book of Numbers

As Seen Through New Testament Gospel Eyes

The first part of this book (Chapters 1–10) is fairly detailed about things for the people to follow to be right with God and living in his ways. It has instructions, offerings, the Levites, and Passover.

The second part (chapters 11–36) is what I call the changing of the guard from the first generation in the wilderness to the second generation who are ready to go into the promised land.

In most of the latter part of the book, we see the first generation dying off because God said they didn’t believe him and trust him. So they didn’t enter The Promised Land as Joshua and Caleb said they should.

God just made them wander about the wilderness for 40 years.

This should speak to us today: it is not our job to judge the word of God, and to decide whether we will believe it or not, like these ancient Jews did.

We are called ‘believers.’ Our job is to believe (John 6:29). Today, Jesus tells us to believe his gospel (Mark 1:14–15). Not living his gospel truth leaves us figuratively in the Wilderness of life, just like the Jews were in.

Today I see this as us being on THE GOSPEL ROAD, which is the road God says to walk, and it’s paved with his love and grace.

But we can choose to walk another road. I call this THE GARBLED ROAD. It is full of ruts and pot holes and delays and detours and dead ends.

We are told we are ‘destroyed’ if we don’t believe as Jesus says to, and don’t walk THE GOSPEL ROAD (Acts 3:22–26). This doesn’t mean we are going to hell. But it does mean our lives are in disarray, wandering about and lacking God’s power in life. We lawyers call this ‘a lark of our own,’ — getting lost in the wilderness of life.

It means we don’t experience ‘the abundant life of Jesus’ (John 10:10).

Paul speaks to this saying there are ‘10,000 Instructors in Christ,’ and very few ‘Fathers of the Gospel.’ We get to choose who we listen too, and Jesus says to only listen to his gospel.

But there are many ‘Instructors’ who put the spotlight on us, telling us what to do, and what not to do, so that we stay in God’s good graces, and so he blesses us. This sounds good to us because we are more in control. But it’s ‘The Garbled Road.’

These preachers “Don’t know what they are saying, or the matters about which they make confident assertions” (I Tim 1:7). We have so many choices today: more theologies and denominations and preachers preaching different things, it’s easy to become confused.

If we listen to them, we wind up never finding ‘The Gospel Road.’

So, like the ancient Jews, we just remain in the wilderness of life. God gives us our choice what to believe, and if we walk ‘The Gospel Road’ or not.

But many humans are a funny breed. We don’t like being told what we have to do or believe, even by God himself. We want to be in control, not God. Paul calls this, “Serving the creature (us), not the Creator” (Rom 1:25).

God says his gospel is his ‘new and living way,’ and for us to walk it. When we do, like the Jews, we live more in the Kingdom of his Promised Land.