Psalm 25 [7]:

8 Gracious and righteous is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way. 9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

We saw before the remarkable piety and courage of the Psalmist to cry out to God even amidst grievous afflictions and persecution, insomuch that He remembers God as kind and full of tender mercy towards him, even while the afflictions were fresh in his memory, yea even when pressing down upon him. And this is a singular act of faith in believers, when they rise above their trials, and come forth as gold, showing forth the glory of God in their character. This exercise of faith is very precious in the sight of God who often sends tribulation our way not to chastise, but to test, that the trial of faith would be perfect, and patience would have her perfect work. Let us bear this in mind, that God does well to test us, and we come forth as gold when we persevere in devotion, prayer and good works. We should also note the nature of God and his work of salvation manifested in the next verse. For David is careful in speech and makes sure to attribute all glory to God and dispose of every idea of free will or merit, which is a singular characteristic of the righteous. Often it is said that God judges the cause of the righteous, but David here says that God will teach sinners, to show forth the weakness of man, and his inability to merit forgiveness or help. Truly God gives bountiful redemption graciously, without any works going before, therefore He is here called gracious and righteous, as the manner of his salvation is merciful and yet according to justice. He will draw sinners to Himself, but not without covering their transgressions and enabling them to moral purity. He chooses a people from among a world of fallen men, all are sinners, and yet when they are called they are made willing to forsake sin, and are covered with His own righteousness that they might be acceptable before Him. And since He teaches sinners in the way they are made meek and humble, ready to acknowledge their sin and submit to God’s authority to govern them by His word for the rest of their lives. Therefore first they are called sinners, then immediately after, meek, for that is the singular mark of the Spirit of Christ, who Himself bore our sins and infirmities being clothed with meekness. As it is written, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let the same mind be in you, which was even in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God: But he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God hath also highly exalted him, and given him a name above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, unto the glory of God the Father.”

Calvin,
Pausing for a little as it were in the prosecution of his prayer, he exercises his thoughts in meditation upon the goodness of God, that he may return with renewed ardor to prayer. The faithful feel that their hearts soon languish in prayer, unless they are constantly stirring themselves up to it by new incitements; so rare and difficult a thing is it to persevere steadfastly and unweariedly in this duty. And, indeed, as one must frequently lay on fuel in order to preserve a fire, so the exercise of prayer requires the aid of such helps, that it may not languish, and at length be entirely extinguished. David, therefore, desirous to encourage himself to perseverance, speaks to himself, and affirms that God is good and upright, that, gathering new strength by meditating on this truth, he may return with the more alacrity to prayer. But we must observe this consequence — that as God is good and upright, he stretches forth his hand to sinners to bring them back again into the way. To attribute to God an uprightness which he may exercise only towards the worthy and the meritorious, is a cold view of his character, and of little advantage to sinners, and yet the world commonly apprehends that God is good in no other sense. How comes it to pass that scarcely one in a hundred applies to himself the mercy of God, if it is not because men limit it to those who are worthy of it? No on the contrary, it is here said, that God gives a proof of his uprightness when he shows to transgressors the way; and this is of the same import as to call them to repentance, and to teach them to live uprightly. And, indeed, if the goodness of God did not penetrate even to hell, no man would ever become a partaker of it. Let the Papists then boast as they please of their imaginary preparations, but let us regard this as a sure and certain doctrine, that if God do not prevent men by his grace, they shall all utterly perish. David, therefore, here commends this preventing grace, as it is called, which is manifested either when God in calling us at first renews, by the Spirit of regeneration, our corrupt nature, or when he brings us back again into the right way, after we have gone astray from him by our sins. For since even those whom God receives for his disciples are here called sinners, it follows that he renews them by his Holy Spirit that they may become docile and obedient.

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Opening Prayer

Lesson 28. [1.2.5.] The Contents of Holy Scripture. Pt. 5. The Law: Numbers.

Westminster Confession of Faith 1.2

Under the name of holy Scripture, or the Word of God written, are now contained all the books of the Old and New Testaments, which are these:

Of the Old Testament

• Genesis
• Exodus
• Leviticus
• Numbers
• Deuteronomy
• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• I Samuel
• II Samuel
• I Kings
• II Kings
• I Chronicles
• II Chronicles
• Ezra
• Nehemiah
• Esther
• Job
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• Ecclesiastes
• The Song of Songs
• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Lamentations
• Ezekiel
• Daniel
• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi

Of the New Testament

• The Gospels according to:
  • Matthew
  • Mark
  • Luke
  • John
• The Acts of the Apostles
• Paul’s Epistles to:
  • Romans
  • Corinthians I
  • Corinthians II
  • Galatians
  • Ephesians
  • Philippians
  • Colossians
  • Thessalonians I
  • Thessalonians II
  • Timothy I
  • Timothy II
  • Titus
  • Philemon
• The Epistle to the Hebrews
• The Epistle of James
• The First and Second Epistles of Peter
• The First, Second, and Third Epistles of John
• The Epistle of Jude
• The Revelation

All which are given by inspiration of God, to be the rule of faith and life.

Intro. John Calvin, Sermon on Deuteronomy, 2nd sermon.

3 And it came to pass, that in the fortieth year, the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all the things that the Lord had commanded him to say to them:

4 After he had overcome Sihon, King of the Amorites which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og, King of Bashan which dwelt at Ashtaroth in Edrei.

5 And so Moses began to declare the Law beyond Jordan in the land of Moab, saying:

6 The Lord our God spoke to us in Mount Horeb, saying: you have stayed long enough at this mountain.

7 Turn you and depart, that you may go to the hill of the Amorites, and to all the Countries thereabouts, in the plain about the hill, and in the low places towards the South, and upon the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Canaan, and in Libanus to the River, even the great river of Euphrates.

8 Look about you, I have set the land before you, enter into it and possess the land which the Lord God has sworn to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give it to them and to their seed after them.

I have told you already, that the doctrine which is contained here, is not the beginning of a matter, as though it had been new to the people, and that God had not taught it them before: but a confirmation of the things that Moses had spoken in Horeb, because the people had not profited so well by them as they ought to have done. And it has been declared further; that God had spend the space of forty years or thereabouts in subduing the people, which had been over stubborn even at the very first, and could in no wise abide to take his yoke. For this cause is the time set out here, to the end that we might understand, that the people ought to have framed themselves to some obedience, after so hard and so long a chastisement as you had endured.

Besides this, there is one other circumstance: which is, that people had already had some victory against Og, king of Basan and his neighbors, wherein they had had experience of Gods favor. And I told you that those things were worthy to be marked, because they be the two means whereby God draws men to him, to win them withal and to enjoy them. On the one side he chastises them, to that end they may learn to obey him as being under his hand and authority: and on the other side he uses gentleness, to make men in love with him, and to consider that nothing is better for them, than to stick to him at whose hand they look for all welfare. And both of these are expressed here by Moses: namely that the people had lingered in the desert forty years long, feeling Gods horrible punishment for their shrinking away from him: and yet nevertheless, had overcome Sihon and Og and such like kings, albeit not by their own power, but by Gods help.

Wherefore let us learn to profit ourselves, with them for offending him, as well by Gods scourges when we be beaten with them for offending him, as also by his benefits whereby he witnesses that he is ready to receive men to his mercy, and to have pity upon them when they return to him. And let such knowledge make us teachable. When so ever it pleases God to preach his words to us, let us have our hearts open to receive it: let us be playable to follow that which he commands: and to be short, let us yield ourselves wholly to his goodness.

Now it is said here, that Moses expounded the Law, albeit that in the Hebrew there is a word which signifies, that he vouchsafed, or listed to declare the Law. And that serves to show still that he performed his commission with a free courage or willing mind. For it may be that he whom God commands to teach his people, shall discharge himself thereof, albeit but as it were by force: and such necessity, if a man have an eye to it, does always import a constraint, so that all that all that ever we do shall be nothing worth. And here the ministers of Gods word are exhorted, not only to preach the word that is committed to them: but also to do it with a free and cheerful courage, according also as S. Paul avows it to be requisite, and protests that he himself did so. And therefore let the example as well of Moses as of S. Paul, serve for our instruction.

Moreover, let us mark also, that under this saying of the Law, is comprehended the rehearsal of the things that Moses intended to make, of the things that were come to pass. True it is that the word Law betokens teaching and instruction: and therefore a man might ask at the first blush, what instruction there is in the report of stories. It is not without cause, that Moses has said so. For when God puts us in remembrance of our sins, and of the benefits that he has bestowed upon us, and of the chastisements which we have received at his hand: it ought to teach us to our profit. Gods setting of such things before us, is not to make us pastimes: but to the end, that on the one side we should be the better disposed to serve him, and to continue in his fear, and on the other side be trained and allured to resort to him, and to seek all our welfare and all that ever belongs to our salvation, at his hand.

We see then how it is not without cause, that Moses gives the name of Law or Doctrine, to the rehearsal of things that were come to pass, for so much as by that means the people ought to have been led to God, and to have been the better edified. And therefore let us mark, that when we read the holy stories, it is not only to know what has been done, to the end we may be able to talk to it: but to the end we should behold there the grace of God towards the faithful in delivering them. Also we must consider after what manner he has exercised his children in patience, and made them to wade through many afflictions, that their faith might be tried: and consequently how he never forsakes them at the point of need and necessity. Again we must consider the justice that he has executed in punishing such as have done amiss and transgressed his will.

If we have such regard and discretion with us, the Stories will be as an instruction to us. For we shall be better assured by them, than if God did but simply tell us what he requires at our hands and what our duty is. That then is the thing which we have to bear in mind: and it will be a good preparative for us to the things that are to ensue. For otherwise it would be thought an unprofitable thing, to know that Moses chose men to govern the people, and that on the other side the people followed not Gods commandment in pursuing their enemies, and such other like things. What have we to do with those things, will some men say? But for as much as we be admonished, that all these things concern our instruction: we must put them to such use as nothing may be unoccupied: assuring ourselves that God procured our benefit and welfare, when he did set forth to us as it were in a painted table, the things that belong to us at this day, and may be applied to our instruction.

Whereas it is said, That it is enough that the people had tarried a certain time at Mount Horeb: therein we see that Gods delivering of the children out of the bondage of Egypt, was not to lay the bridle in their neck that they might go where they listed: but to be their governor forever. And that is a thing that ought to stand us in good stead. For we have a president, that when God receives us for his people, it is not only for a day or twain, but for purpose to have a continual care of us to the end, so as he will not leave us in the middle way, but proceed in guiding of us still, until we become to our right mark.

And this is a very profitable doctrine: for what a thing were it, if God should once give us his law, and set us in a good trade and afterward let us alone without looking to us? We see our own frailty, in so much that we could not step one step but we should be ready to stumble or to start out of the way, and the encumbrances are so many and so great, as it would be impossible for us to overcome them, if God assisted us not. And therefore let us learn, that when God has once adopted us, and chosen us to be of his flock: it is not to the end we should but only take a taste of his grace for a day: but to the end that he will continue in doing us good: and his taking of us into his government, is of purpose never to give us over, so as we shall always be under his protection, and he will never cease to increase the good turns that we have felt and received of him, until we become to the full perfection.

For as much then as we see that he never leaves his work unperfected, but goes through with it, as it is said in the Psalm: it ought well to cause us to magnify his goodness, and to encourage us to give ourselves wholly to him. And the same belongs to the spiritual health of ourselves, according to this saying of S. Paul in the first Chapter to the Philippians, that he which has begun the good work will go through with it, even to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wherefore let us mark, that whereas God declares here by the mouth of Moses, that the people had tarried long enough about mount Horeb, and that he would have them to go forward: thereby he does us to understand, that feeling he has delivered us from the dungeon of death, and from the bondage of the devil and of sin: we shall have him to be our guide forever, so we hearken to his voice, and doubt not but he thinks upon us and will continually lead us still.

Therefore, when as God tells the people that they get it not by their own power, and sends them back to the promise that he had made long ago: it is to show us that whereas he is our Father, whereas we be maintained by him in this world, and whereas we look for a better and more excellent life than this: we must not dream upon any desert or power of our own, but attribute all wholly to his mere free goodness, in that he utters the infinite treasures of his grace and love towards us.

Thus much have we to remember in the first place. Now then, will we be sure that God will never fail us, neither in this life, nor after we be gone hence? Will we have an infallible hope of the heavenly life? Let us have our eye upon the promises: let us not wander here and there as a number do, which are carried away with fond curiosity: but let it suffice us that God has certified and taught us, that he will not only be a Father to us to guide us in this world, but also that he will never leave us, so as we shall always be governed by him, and that when he has tried our faith, we shall have full fruition of the things that are promised us: and when we be once rid of this mortal body, we shall be raised up again, and enjoy an immortality which is hid from us as now. Let us content ourselves (say I) with this word of God’s mouth for all other things, and let us not seek after our own foolish fancies how the matter shall go: but have God once spoken the word, let us hold us to it.

And in very deed it behooved the people always to come back to this saying, I am your God and the God of your offspring after you. And again to this, I am the Lord which shows mercy to a thousand generations: as we shall see hereafter. Now, this was not said for that one time only, it must be accomplished nowadays also. Then let us consider that God having once planted the warrant of our salvation, will have it go forward daily, so as we should know that he calls us to the possessing of his kingdom, and that in us he calls them that are to come after us: insomuch that the children which come to Christians, are already chosen of God to be his flock and of his household, and God has taken that to himself already, even before they come out of their mother’s womb.

Is not the knowledge of such doctrine an excellent strengthening to us, when we see that God has given our salvation a ground to build upon, before we were born or created? Yes.

And although we do but as it were creep on all four here below upon the earth, and our body is to us as a corruptible and transitory lodging, and we be weighed down with these base things: yet must our true dwelling place needs be above, and we ourselves must needs be citizens of heaven and fellows with the Angels beforehand, and possess the thing beforehand by faith and hope, which we have not as yet in very deed, as the holy fathers have done before us, who notwithstanding had not things opened so plainly and manifestly to them, as we have now, nor nothing near.

Thus see you the manner how Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not disappointed of the land which God promised to give them, although they never had the full fruition thereof themselves, but waited patiently till the convenient time were come, for God to put their successors in possession of it after their decease.

Since it is so, let us walk on upon earth in sufferance of many conflicts, looking only upon the things that are promised us, not doubting but that we be sure of the benefit of them already, although we hold them not in our hands, nor behold them with our eyes. For why? God cannot fail his promises.

And therefore let us weigh well these words where he says, get you hence and possess the land. God says not singly to his faithful ones, go your ways, see what you can do, try your strength, and in the meanwhile leaves them at all adventures: no, but he says to them, go to possess. As if he should say, do but only apply yourselves to serve me, and let me alone with the doing of it. For I will work after such a sort, as he that endeavours to follow me shall not lose his labor, he shall not take pain in vain. I will make all his doings to prosper.

That then is the thing that we have to mark upon this strain. And therefore what excuse is there for us, if we follow not our Lord whithersoever he calls us, considering that his voice, Go and possess, ought to sound in our ears? And if it were spoken for the land of Canaan, much more shall it be avowed and verified still at this day.

Wherefore whensoever we be slow to obey God, loath to part from this world, or astonished with distresses: let us enter into such thoughts as these: Alas, is it possible for me to come to God? How may I overcome so many and so great distresses? It far surmounts all my power and strength.

When we be so encumbered and brought in perplexity and doubt, let us bethink ourselves thus: well, seeing it has pleased God to show himself to me, it is good reason that I should be contented with the assurance that he has given me, and with the experience of his goodness which he has made me to feel. And so must we pass on forward still, notwithstanding all the temptations of distrust that may come in our heads.

Lesson: Numbers

I. Introduction to Numbers: Obedience and Trial

The Book of Numbers (Hebrew: בְּמִדְבַּר – Bemidbar, meaning “In the Wilderness”)

• The term “Numbers” is derived from Arithmoi, referring to the census of the people in Chapters 1-3 and 26.
• This book chronicles the Israelites’ wandering, rebellion, and early conquest stages, continuing the laws from Exodus and Leviticus.
• Disobedience leads to punishment; Moses is barred from entering the Promised Land due to his sin. Israel wanders until the disobedient generation perishes in the wilderness (Heb. 3-4:3, 1 Cor. 10:1-14).

Key Chapters:

• Ch. 1-4: Census and tribal arrangement
• Ch. 6: Nazirite vow
• Ch. 10: Departure from Sinai
• Ch. 11-14: Complaints and refusal to enter the land
• Ch. 16: Korah’s rebellion and judgment
• Ch. 20: Moses strikes the rock and is denied entry
• Ch. 21: Bronze serpent raised (a type of Christ – John 3:14)
• Ch. 22-24: Balaam’s cursing turned into blessing
• Ch. 25: Israel’s sin with Moabite women; Phinehas stops the plague
• Ch. 26: Second census
• Ch. 27-36: Inheritance laws, vows, borders, and final preparations

Upon the Bronze Serpent: (George Hutcheson)

Christ here pointeth out himself as the Saviour of sinners, having sufficient virtue to cure the sinfulness and misery of such as flee to him by faith, and to keep them from perishing, and save them. This he doth under the type of the brazen Serpent lifted up in the wilderness at God’s command, for curing of the Israelites bitten with the fiery serpents, Num. 21:6, 7, 8, 9. Christ, by subjoining this to the doctrine of regeneration, doth partly teach Nicodemus the way of attaining regeneration, which is by the Spirit’s applying of the merit and virtue of Christ’s death in the first act thereof, and by the regenerate man’s applying the same by faith, for carrying on that work to cure themselves perfectly; and partly, he teacheth him that regenerate men are not to rest on anything in them, but must be led out of themselves to Christ for attaining salvation.

Doctrine 1: Truly regenerate men, and such as are minding that work in earnest, will see great cause and need to make much use of Christ; for, so much doth this doctrine, and the dependence thereof teach.

Christ and the use to be made of him was pointed out to believers under the Old Testament by types and figures; which, as it should sweeten unto us the reading of these things, so it should point out our mercy, that we have not such dark and long prospects through which only they could look to him, but we may see him more clearly; for, Christ sheweth here, that he was typified by the lifted up Serpent.

It is our duty to dip in the application of this and the like types, till we find the agreement that is betwixt the truth and the type; for, so doth Christ cast us a copy in the explication of this type, wherein we may see:

First, they agree in the original occasion: As Israel’s deadly misery occasioned the setting up of the Serpent, so the occasion of Christ’s sending into the world was man’s sin and misery, man being so bitten with that old Serpent, that the venom is gone through him all, and he become liable to intolerable pain, if his conscience were not lulled asleep.

Secondly, they agree in the impulsive cause; that, as the Serpent was a remedy of God’s own prescribing out of his great mercy, so is this remedy for lost sinners.

Thirdly, they agree in their present condition when they were made use of; for, as the Serpent was like that which bit them, so was Christ true man, the second Adam answering to him by whom sin came into the world: as this Serpent was without venom, so was he without sin: as the Serpent was made of brass, and not of gold; so appeared he not in glorious state, nor majesty: and, as the Serpent was a very unlikely mean in itself, so they needed clear eyes who would see salvation coming by a suffering Lord, by a worm and not a man.

Fourthly, they agree in the use to be made of them, and in the fruits that follow thereupon.

And so, As the Serpent was lifted up on a pole at God’s command, that the offer of this remedy might be made conspicuous unto all Israel; so Christ, in regard of God’s decree and sentence against sin, and in regard of predictions concerning him, must be lifted up on the cross, and be broken there, that this ointment might be let out for our cure, and he is made conspicuous to the Church on the pole of the Gospel, that faith may get footing on the offer made of him.

As the way of cure by the Serpent was a look, so it is believing in him, and laying hold on him by faith, that only bringeth cure of the guilt of sin, of the pain of conscience through sin, and of the dominion of sin.

As it was ground enough for any bitten Israelite to look to this Serpent, that he had need, and thirsted for cure by this appointed mean; so a felt sense of sin is a warrant sufficient for sinners to lay hold on Christ the offered remedy.

As a simple look, though at great distance, and in some with weaker eyes, brought cure to them who were bitten, whatever they were; so a weak act of true faith, and at a great distance will cure the bitten sinner without exception; whosoever believeth, and though his faith were never so weak, if it be faith.

As this look healed the bitten Israelite, and kept him from death, so though all men are in a state of perishing, and secluded from heaven without Christ, yet by faith in him sinners are freed from death, and made heirs of life; they shall not perish but have eternal life, and this includeth remission, reconciliation, perseverance, and all the means leading to these ends, and is a benefit far beyond what an Israelite got by looking to the Serpent.

Christ in Numbers

1. The Rock that Gave Water — 1 Corinthians 10:4
2. The Bronze Serpent Lifted Up — John 3:14–15
3. The Star Out of Jacob — Numbers 24:17 (a Messianic prophecy)
4. The High Priest Who Intercedes for the People — Moses, Aaron, Phinehas, Eleazar

Conclusion

Closing Prayer

Youtube Audio: https://youtu.be/6xVt0ZdbR1c