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We are in Numbers 34.
If you've been walking with the Lord for a while,
you know that there are seasons of miracle and just spiritual power,
just like living in your life.
And then there's maintenance and administrative things that God does.
And chapter 34 of Numbers is one of those.
So we're going to learn all about the boundaries of the Promised Land tonight.
If you like maps, then this was the right night to come.
I've got one for you.
It was actually really hard to find a map that showed the whole boundary.
Oh, there it is right there.
Thanks, Justin.
All right.
Let's pray.
Lord, we just thank you for your word.
Thank you that even a passage like this, very detailed about boundary lines and leaders that are going to divide up the land.
We thank you that even this has spiritual teaching and meaning for our lives as believers.
So we trust, Lord, that you have something for us tonight.
And I pray that your spirit would be with us, especially as we divide into groups after I teach for a little bit, Lord,
and that you would just bring good insights, Lord, to help us not just walk away feeling like,
oh, that sounded nice, but Lord, I just pray that you would bring things that change our heart, change how we view your character,
how we view who we are.
Lord, just use this chapter, even if it doesn't feel like it is something that can change our hearts,
God, just use it to change our hearts, soften us to be more like your son, Jesus.
All right.
We're going to read through the whole thing and then we'll go back up to the top.
I want to pause and just say, I'm going to butcher all these. So just bear with me.
Okay. Zinn was an easy one, but acrobim or whatever that one is, I don't know.
All right.
And cross to Zinn and its limits shall be south of Kadeshbarni.
Then it shall go on to Hazar Adar and pass along to Asman.
And the border shall turn from Asman to the Brook of Egypt and its limit shall be at the sea.
For the western border, you shall have the great sea and its coast.
This shall be your western border.
This shall be your northern border from the great sea.
You shall draw a line to Mount Hor.
From Mount Hor, you shall draw a line to Lebohammoth.
And the limit of the border shall be at Zaddad.
Then the border shall extend to Zifran and its limit shall be at Hazar and Nan.
This shall be your northern border.
You shall draw a line for your eastern border from Hazar and Nan to Shephan.
And the border shall go down from Shephan to Ribla on the east side of Aen.
And the border shall go down and reach to the shoulder of the sea of Chinnereth on the east.
And the border shall go down to the Jordan and its limits shall be at the Salt Sea.
This shall be your land as defined by its borders all around.
Moses commanded the people of Israel, saying,
This is the land that you shall inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to give to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.
For the tribe of the people of Reuben, by fathers' houses, and the tribe of the people of Gad,
by their fathers' houses, have received their inheritance, and also the half-tribe of Manasseh.
The true tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan east of Jericho toward the sunrise.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance.
Eliezer the priest and Joshua the son of Nun.
You shall take one chief from every tribe to divide the land for inheritance.
These are the names of the men of the tribe of Judah.
Caleb the son of Jephuna, of the tribe of the people of Simeon.
Shemuel the son of Amahud, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Eladad the son of Chislon, of the tribe of the people of Dan, a chief.
Buki the son of Jogli, of the people of Joseph, of the tribe of the people of Manasseh, a chief.
Hanael the son of Ephod, and of the tribe of the people of Ephraim, a chief.
Camul the son of Sifton, of the tribe of the people of Zebulun, a chief.
Elathan the son of Parnak, of the tribe of the people of Issachar, a chief.
Paltil the son of Azan, and of the tribe of the people of Asher, a chief.
Ahad the son of Shalomi, of the tribe of the people of Naftali, a chief.
Pedihel the son of Amahud.
These are the men whom the Lord commanded to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel in the land of Canaan.
Alright, thanks for bearing with that.
I'm having a baby in three months, so my wife and I have been looking at these names.
Jogli was one of the contestants.
You know, I really love though, in verse one, the Lord spoke to Moses.
And I like that because right from the bat, it reminds us that this is not Moses' plan, this isn't Moses' division,
this isn't Moses' order of the inheritance, it's God's.
He promised them that he would bring them to this place.
They're now standing just miles away from the land that was promised, not to these men, but to Abraham.
Many, many books of the Bible, well not too many actually, a few books of the Bible prior.
And now they're standing just on the other end, looking over perhaps.
A lot of scholars think that God took Moses like he often did up onto a mountain.
So he was probably looking down on this view that we're looking up at that map.
The red, by the way, is the borderline that we're seeing here.
The blue is another borderline, but you have to read Ezekiel to understand what that one's about.
We're not going to get into that.
It's just the only map I could find had both on there.
But again, this is the Lord's doing.
It's the Lord fulfilling his promise.
It's the Lord showing his character of faithfulness.
It's the Lord showing his character of being a person that says something and comes through, always.
And they're right on the cusp of it.
But before they can walk into it, there has to be some form of order.
I can imagine just this giant horde of Israel coming into the land without borders and without division set up.
It would just be chaos and feuds and fights and arguments over who gets what land.
And therefore, God wanted there to be order.
And so we see that right there in verse one, that this is all the Lord's doing.
And then it says, command the people of Israel and say to them, when you enter the land of Canaan.
Another point there on God's character.
He didn't say, if you enter the land, but he said, when you enter the land.
When you obey, but also when, because I'm a God of faithfulness.
I'm a God that will make this happen because I promised it.
And we were just talking a few weeks ago on a different chapter in Numbers about vows and how we can make vows and not fulfill them because we're human and we fail.
But God made a vow with his people and he's not going to fail it.
And so he can say with confidence, when you enter the land.
I just love that because we can rarely say that when you do this.
In James, it literally tells us, don't say when, but rather if the Lord wills it.
And we can walk in action, but knowing that God is the one that ordains everything, not us.
And he's going to fulfill this.
So what is this section though?
There's just so much detail.
As I was studying this and trying to find commentaries, honestly, that actually had information on this chapter.
And it was actually more challenging just to find a commentary that had more than a paragraph or two about this.
Because unless you go into the minute detail of where all these locations are, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of meat here for us.
It doesn't seem like there's a lot of spiritual application here for us.
But I just want to point out, and actually, I didn't give myself one of those papers.
Could I have one?
Because there's a couple of verses on there that I wanted to bring up.
Thanks, Ken.
Thanks.
Two verses that I wanted in particular to point out.
One being Second Timothy, the Lord put this on my heart as I was studying this.
And I was just like, Lord, I don't know what to do with this.
And I've read this in the past and doing a yearly read through.
And it's never been something that I've stopped in and went, wow.
Wow, God, you're so good.
But in Second Timothy 3.16, it says this,
All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
So I can just read that chapter and then read this.
And then we could break up in the discussion group, I guess.
No, I'm just kidding.
No, but Hebrews 9.15 is another one I want to highlight.
In Hebrews 9.15, it says,
You see, when we're reading in this and we see that there's so much emphasis and detail on boundaries,
how can we not apply that to our own lives as those that also have an inheritance?
They're walking into the Promised Land, and it is given to them.
I want to just really emphasize that.
That's why it's highlighted there.
Command the people of Israel, say to them, when you enter the land of Canaan,
and then it says, this is the land that shall fall to you.
Meaning, it's not of your doing.
You're not going and working for this land.
It is a gift.
That is the definition of inheritance, meaning that you didn't deserve it.
You didn't earn it.
It was just given to you.
It's your birthright.
And in Christ, it has been made our birthright through Christ, not through us.
And that's what Hebrews 9.15 is highlighting for us.
And so we can look at this and see that they're walking into an inheritance,
but they also had to go and they had to conquer this land.
We're going to see all the next...
Well, in the next two books, really, in Deuteronomy, but more so in Joshua
and in Judges, we see battle after battle after battle.
We actually see a list of all the enemies that Moses had to conquer.
And then I believe it's in chapter four, maybe, of Joshua.
Let me see real quick.
Oh, it's further than that.
Here it is.
So it's actually in chapter 13.
Well, 12, 13, and 14 as well.
In Joshua, where it gives us an entire list of all the enemies and the armies
that Joshua and Moses defeated.
And I love it because Moses being the picture...
I think we talked about this a few weeks ago.
Moses being the picture of the Old Covenant.
Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus, being the picture...
He's not Jesus, but he's the picture of a shadow of what is to come,
is a picture of the New Covenant.
Moses' list of who he defeated is big.
But Joshua's list of who he conquered and defeated is really big.
And I love that because as they're walking into this Promised Land,
God has work for them to do.
And we've been given an inheritance.
We've been given a Promised Land.
Ours is eternal.
It cannot be taken from us.
Whether we are faithful or unfaithful, God is always going to be faithful.
And so it's ours for eternity.
But God also has a work for us to do.
And I was talking to Brian back there,
and he actually brought up something really encouraging.
I'm going to bring it up too.
The importance of boundaries.
And I heard this quote on...
When God gives us boundaries,
he doesn't do it to keep things that are good from us.
He doesn't do it so that we're missing out.
He does it because he wants to keep us protected,
but he also wants to keep us in his holiness.
And the analogy given was,
if you were to put a fence around a herd of sheep,
which Jesus calls us sheep so often,
if you put a fence around a herd of sheep,
it's not so they can't enjoy what's on the other side of the fence.
It's so that they can be protected from the enemies,
the wolves, the creatures outside that want to destroy them.
And in the New Testament, we've been given so many boundaries.
We've been given the way to live like Christ.
Things that we are not to do, not to take part of,
and better the way to live through spiritual disciplines,
such as prayer and community and reading our word,
showing hospitality, loving like Christ loved.
Those are all things that we do as we walk in our holiness,
which is the inheritance that we've been given through Christ.
He gave it to us, and then he gave us the boundary lines
through Christ of walking your holiness.
You've been given it freely,
but we always have a choice to walk in it, don't we?
There's actually, this was an Elizabeth,
if you're here Sunday,
I am like obsessed with Elizabeth Elliot right now.
Her story is just incredible.
And there was a quote that she had where she said,
the most powerful spiritual weapon we have,
people often say is prayer,
or people often say is the word of God,
but the most powerful spiritual weapon we have is obedience.
Because we can be praying,
we can be devoted to reading scripture every day,
we can be devoted to each other in service and in love,
but if we are not walking in obedience
and we're rather walking in disobedience,
the enemy is laughing at us
because he has us right where he wants us,
walking outside of what God wants for us.
So I know all this doesn't fully apply to this chapter,
but God has given us an inheritance,
and it is good,
and he wants us to walk in obedience
so that we can enjoy it,
just like he wanted the Israelites to walk in obedience
so that they could enjoy this inheritance.
And in Deuteronomy,
it gives another chapter
where Moses sings a song.
It says he sings a song.
I tried singing it.
It doesn't flow very well,
so I don't think Moses was very musically talented,
but that's a good point.
And I'm sure in Hebrew it's much, much better.
We'll have to try that sometime.
But over and over in this song,
it's saying God has given you this land.
God has given you this portion.
God has given you all these blessings,
and I want you to enjoy them.
I want you to be blessed by them.
But if you disobey,
if you do not walk in the will of your Father,
it will be taken from you.
And then I'm reading right now in Judges,
and it's chapter after chapter
where somebody comes and honors the Lord,
and they go and defeat somebody.
And then the next chapter always starts with,
and they hoard against the Lord,
and the Lord's wrath was angered.
Because they just continue and continue
to go back to their identity of sin
instead of walk in their new life
that God was trying to show them how to do.
Well, the good news is that,
like I said earlier,
our inheritance is eternal.
That's what it says in Hebrews 13.
Or chapter 9, sorry.
It is a promised eternal inheritance.
And so no matter what we do,
nobody can take it from us.
Nobody can take our eternity from us.
And that is what separates us,
even from the Israelites,
is that through Christ,
we're given an eternal inheritance
that can't be taken,
even when we're disobedient.
But again, he calls us to walk in obedience
for our good so that we can enjoy
and be protected under his holiness.
All right, the next section in here.
The leaders.
We get this list of leaders from verse 16
all the way down to verse 29.
I'm just going to read through it one more time.
I know it probably sounds tedious,
but I don't know.
Reading that verse in 2 Timothy made me feel like
I just need to keep reading it anyways.
So I'm just going to read 16 down at the end.
The Lord spoke to Moses saying,
These are the names of the men
who shall divide the land
to you for inheritance.
Eliezer the priest and Joshua the son of Nun.
You shall take one chief from every tribe
to divide the land for inheritance.
And then it gives the names.
These are the names of the men.
From the tribe of Judah,
Caleb the son of Jefuna.
Of the tribe of the people of Simeon,
Shemuel the son of Amuhud.
Of the tribe of Benjamin Eladad,
the son of Jilsen.
Of the tribe of the people of Dan,
a chief.
Buki the son of Jogli.
Of the people of Joseph,
of the tribe of the people of Manasseh,
a chief.
Hanael the son of Ephad.
And of the tribe of the people of Ephraim,
a chief.
Camuel the son of Shifton.
And of the tribe of the people of Zebulun,
a chief.
Eliphan the son of Parnak.
Of the tribe of the people of Issachar,
a chief.
Paltel the son of Azan.
And of the tribe of the people of Asher,
a chief.
Ahihud the son of Shalomi.
Of the tribe of the people of Natali,
a chief.
Pedahel the son of Amuhud.
These are the men whom the Lord commanded
to divide the inheritance for the people of Israel
in the land of Canaan.
Why do we get this list of names of people
that are going to divide?
I think one reason is that, again,
the Lord is a God of order.
And part of that order is headship and humility.
And the people of Israel,
as they're walking into the land,
needed to humble themselves to let these men lead.
And be the ones in charge of giving them their inheritance.
And in the same way as believers in Christ,
we are under a headship of Christ.
And whenever we are walking into unity with Christ,
when we accept Him as our Lord and Savior,
and we begin to receive this inheritance,
He calls us to do the same thing.
To walk in humility under Him.
And to be able to enjoy what He's giving us.
I remember hearing that recently of
submission is more challenging,
but far more enjoyable than leading.
Because it takes every fiber of our selfishness
to fight and say,
no, I'm going to submit to a leader.
But it comes with great joy
because we don't have the responsibility
that rests on the shoulder of the leader.
And that responsibility for us rests on Christ.
It rested on, I have a mic in my hand,
but two arms spread out wide with nails in them.
And so we can thank Jesus for that.
And enjoy having Him be our leader
that is going to be the one giving us our inheritance.
And then also names are so important to God.
Now these really aren't names that I would choose
to name any of my kids.
Maybe Joseph, that one's in there,
so that one's not too bad.
I'm having a daughter though, so that might not work out.
But God really, really
highlighted people's names in here.
And the thing that came to my mind
is in Revelation when it talks about a book of names.
A book with your name and my name.
A book of life.
I just take great comfort in that
knowing that all of these people that we read about,
all through scripture,
that can seem so meaningless to us
by a name that we hear one time
and never hear of it again.
God cares intimately for that one person.
So much so that He wanted us to know who they are.
And in that same way, because we're in a book
with our name in it, He cares intimately about us.
So just love that.
Well, let me pray,
and then really I wanted to spend the rest of our time in discussion
because I know this can be kind of a dry chapter,
I mean, honest, but,
you know, I was encouraged just talking to you a bit ago, Brian.
I think that you have great insight already
and I have a feeling that other people
are going to bring good insight into this
as we kind of sit in this together
and not just hear me talk.
So let me pray and then we'll divide into discussion groups.
Lord, we just thank You for this chapter.
Thank You that
all of scripture is profitable for teaching,
for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, Lord.
We know that even this chapter is
profitable, Lord, to our spiritual growth.
And so we thank You.
Lord, we thank You for remembering these names.
We thank You for making these boundary lines detailed,
reminding us, Lord, that You have given us detailed boundary lines.
You've given us clear directions on how to live like Your Son.
And, Lord, You've designed those boundaries,
not for us to fight against them,
but for us to be obedient to so that we can be protected,
so that we can enjoy the blessing of holiness.
So, Father, we just thank You and we praise You
and we ask that You lead us in this time of discussion
in Jesus' name. Amen.
Thanks for joining us at Lansdale Life Church
as we praise God and discuss His Word.
Don't forget to join us for Worship Lives Sunday mornings
at 10 a.m. Eastern on YouTube.
Be blessed and have a great day!