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Scripture Reading: Num. 6:13-16, 22-27; 7:1, 11-17; 9:15-18, 21; 20:6-8
Prayer: Lord, we believe that the reality of the Divine Trinity is with us. We thank You for Your cleansing blood and the anointing Spirit. Lord, we trust in You for Your blessing. We realize that we are nothing and that we can do nothing. Whatever we do by ourselves is in vain. How we need You! We need You for the divine revelation, the divine mystery, of the Divine Trinity. Make the Trinity real to us. Lord, we need Your fresh speaking so that we may receive the bountiful supply of Your life. Lord, cleanse us once again, and accept us. May our heart be open to You and hungry and thirsty for You.
In this chapter we will consider the Divine Trinity as revealed in five cases in Numbers: the separation of the Nazarite, the threefold blessing of Jehovah to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the offerings, the cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle, and the smitten rock.
The word Nazarite means “one who is separated.” The root of the noun Nazarite is the Hebrew verb nazar, which means to be separated (6:2). The Nazarites were separated from the world unto God. In the Old Testament God ordained that the descendants of Aaron would be the priests. Thus, some were born into the priesthood according to God’s selection. However, the door was not closed for others who desired to serve God, for God also established the principle of the Nazarite. If those who were not born into the priesthood had a heart to serve God, they could volunteer as Nazarites. Samuel was a Nazarite. He was not born a priest, but by becoming a Nazarite, he eventually acted and served as a priest (1 Sam. 1—3). The Aaronic priests were chosen by God, but the Nazarites volunteered themselves. These two principles still exist in the church life today. On the one hand, we are chosen by God (Eph. 1:4); on the other hand, we need to volunteer as Nazarites in order to serve as priests. Although we know that we are chosen by God, in our actual service we do not have much consciousness of being chosen. Instead, when we serve in the church life, we are mainly conscious of the need to volunteer. The Lord Jesus was the real Nazarite. As His followers, we need to volunteer to serve God. Romans 12:1-2 speaks about voluntarily offering ourselves and being separated from the world unto God.
I knew from my youth that to be a Nazarite means to volunteer oneself, yet only recently did I see that the Trinity is altogether involved with the separation of the Nazarite. In the separation of the Nazarite there was the need of several offerings — the burnt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, and the meal offering of different kinds of cakes anointed and mingled with oil. These four kinds of offerings were basic to the separation of the Nazarite.
Numbers 6:13 says, “This is the law of the Nazarite when the days of his separation are fulfilled: He shall be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.” The Tent of Meeting refers to Christ as the dwelling place of God and the meeting place of His people. Every instance of enjoying the Trinity that we have seen throughout Exodus and Leviticus is at the Tent of Meeting. We must never leave Christ as the Tent of Meeting, because He is the ground and sphere for our enjoyment of the Divine Trinity.
Verse 14 begins, “He shall present his offering to Jehovah.” The Old Testament almost always uses the expression offering to Jehovah; very rarely does it use the expression offering to God. The divine title Jehovah bears two primary characteristics in the Old Testament. It denotes God’s relationship with man, and it denotes the Trinity. We have seen that in Exodus 3:6 Jehovah said, “I am...the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jehovah identified Himself as the God of three generations, a threefold God, implying the Divine Trinity. Thus, in the separation of the Nazarite in Numbers 6, Jehovah is the Triune God.
Verse 14 continues, “One male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one female lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace offering.” The burnt offering signifies Christ for God’s satisfaction, and the sin offering signifies Christ for the Nazarite’s sin. The burnt offering was the base, the basic offering, of the Nazarite vow. In order to be a Nazarite, we need to live a life as a burnt offering — a life absolutely for God. The sin offering is necessary because our sinful nature frustrates us from living absolutely for God. The vow of the Nazarite does not include a trespass offering, because the basic cause of our not living a life absolutely for God is not our trespasses but our sinful nature. Even if we did not commit any sins or trespasses, we would still have this inward sin. Some unbelievers are apparently able to be good people with a high character and may even control their temper better than some seeking Christians do. However, such well-behaved ones are far away from God, and sin is still within them. Our natural constitution is sinful and not for God regardless of how good it might be in the eyes of man.
The peace offering in the Nazarite vow shows that we enjoy peace when we live a life of volunteering to serve God. When we do not live a Nazarite life, a life absolutely for God, it is difficult to have peace. If we do not live a Nazarite’s life, outwardly we may have no problem with others, but inwardly we will have a problem with everyone. The peace offering typifies Christ as the Nazarite’s peace with God and with His people.
Verses 15 through 16 say, “A basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their meal offering and their drink offerings. And the priest shall present them before Jehovah and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.” The basket of unleavened bread contains the constituents of the meal offering. Anointing is an outward union; mingling is an inward blending. Few Christian teachers dare to talk about mingling, because in the early church an erroneous doctrine of mingling was condemned as heretical. Some oppose our teaching that in Christ God was mingled with man, because they think that mingling two things of different natures produces a distinct, third nature. However, Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged defines mingle as “to bring or combine together or with something else so that the components remain distinguishable in the combination.” Thus, when two things are mingled together, their natures remain distinguishable. When tea and water are mingled together, they do not lose their distinct natures. The picture of the fine flour being mingled with oil in the Old Testament type of the meal offering shows us clearly that in Christ humanity was mingled with divinity.
The unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil and the unleavened wafers anointed with oil refer to the sinless Christ mingled with and anointed by the Spirit as food to both God and the priest. Christ is sinless, and He is anointed outwardly by the Spirit and mingled inwardly with the Spirit. He is without sin, and He is full of the Spirit. Such a Christ is food to both God and to the serving ones.
The meal offering typifies Christ for God’s satisfaction, and the drink offering typifies Christ for God’s pleasure. The drink offering was of wine (Lev. 23:13), which is for the pleasure of the drinker. Satisfaction and pleasure are different. Although we are satisfied with the main course of a meal, we may not experience pleasure until we eat dessert. God desires not only satisfaction but also pleasure. We may satisfy God by offering ourselves to Him, but we also need to please God by pouring ourselves out.
The apostle Paul said that he was poured out as a drink offering to God (Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6). Paul poured out his entire being for God’s pleasure. The part of Paul’s life that was a pleasure to God was his martyrdom. Paul lived a consecrated life, a Nazarite’s life, which was a reproduction of Jesus’ life and a satisfaction to God, and when Paul was martyred, he was poured out as a drink offering to God. Paul satisfied God as food while he was alive, and he pleased God as a drink offering at the conclusion of his life.
With the consecration of the priests in Leviticus 1—7 there was the burnt offering, the sin offering, the peace offering, and the meal offering but no drink offering, but with the separation of the Nazarite the drink offering was included. This indicates that if we serve God based only on His selection, we may satisfy God, but we must volunteer to serve God to give Him pleasure. Voluntary service is very pleasant to God.
The separation of the Nazarite was so that he might participate in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity in type. Even before a Nazarite began serving, he participated in the riches of the Trinity when he separated himself from the world unto God. According to the charge in Romans 12:1, we need to voluntarily consecrate ourselves to God, and the types in the separation of the Nazarite in Numbers 6 show that the Divine Trinity is fully involved in our consecration.
Numbers 6:22-27 says, “Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the children of Israel; you shall say to them, Jehovah bless you and keep you; Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; Jehovah lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel, that I Myself may bless them.” Jehovah charged the priests to bless His people in His name in a threefold way. This was the threefold blessing of Jehovah the Triune God to His people.
Because Jehovah is mentioned three times — once in each part of the threefold blessing — Jehovah is the Divine Trinity. The first part of the blessing, “Jehovah bless you and keep you,” implies the Father, the first of the Trinity. The second part, “Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you,” implies the Son, the second of the Trinity. Face signifies presence. Shine implies light and means that something is coming. Be gracious means “give grace.” Thus, in the second part of the threefold blessing, Jehovah comes to us and gives grace to us, which is more subjective and experiential than Jehovah’s blessing and keeping us. In the third part of Jehovah’s threefold blessing, which implies the Holy Spirit, the third of the Trinity, Jehovah lifts up His countenance upon us and gives us peace. The face (v. 25) denotes the presence of the person, and the countenance denotes the expression of the person. The countenance is more particular and intimate and is mostly for pleasant expressions such as love, mercy, and kindness.
Verses 24 through 27 are the blessing of the Triune God. The Father blesses and keeps us. The Son, who is God incarnated, is the shining of God’s presence and brings grace (John 1:14, 16-17). The Spirit is God’s intimate, pleasant presence and gives us peace. Several New Testament Epistles say, “Grace to you and peace” (e.g., Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 1:4). Grace is God for our enjoyment, and peace is the result of our enjoyment of God. Grace is Christ (2 Cor. 13:14a; cf. 1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:20), and peace is the Spirit (Rom. 14:17). God’s face and God’s countenance, Christ and the Spirit, and grace and peace are all similarly related. The Trinity is uniquely unveiled in the threefold blessing in Numbers 6.
The threefold blessing of Jehovah the Triune God to His people was for the priest to bless the children of Israel so that they could enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity. This Old Testament blessing prefigures the New Testament blessing of the Triune God dispensing Himself in the Divine Trinity into us for our enjoyment.
Numbers 7:1 says, “Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it and all its furnishings and the altar and all its utensils, and had anointed them and sanctified them.” Verses 11 through 17 say, “Jehovah said to Moses, They shall present their offering, one leader each day, for the dedication of the altar. And he who presented his offering the first day was Nahshon...of the tribe of Judah. And his offering was one silver plate...one silver bowl...both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; one golden cup...full of incense; one bull of the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male of the goats for a sin offering; and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs a year old.”
The furnishings of the tabernacle were its furniture, and the utensils of the altar were its vessels. The tabernacle typifies Christ as the dwelling place of God among His people. The anointing oil typifies the all-inclusive compound Spirit. Jehovah is the Triune God. The pure oil in the meal offering typifies the Spirit. The meal offering typifies Christ as food to satisfy God and His serving ones. The incense typifies Christ as a sweet savor to God for His acceptance of His people. The burnt offering typifies Christ for God’s satisfaction. The sin offering typifies Christ crucified for the sin of God’s people. The peace offering typifies Christ as peace between God and His people for their co-enjoyment. God and His people enjoy Christ as the peace offering together.
Numbers is a continuation of Leviticus, which is a continuation of Exodus. Actually, these three books are one record. The first part of this record, Exodus, stresses the tabernacle; the second part, Leviticus, stresses the priesthood; and the third part, Numbers, stresses the function of the tabernacle and the altar and the service of the priesthood. The tabernacle and the altar were set up in the last chapter of Exodus, but their function began in Numbers 7 with the offerings for the dedication of the altar. This dedication was for the tabernacle with all its furnishings and the altar with all its utensils to be put into function through the dispensing of the Divine Trinity so that God’s redeemed people could enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity all the time through all their generations. The beginning of the function of the tabernacle and the altar altogether involved the Divine Trinity.
Numbers 9:15-18 says, “On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony; and in the evening it was like the appearance of fire over the tabernacle until morning. So it was always; the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, then after that the children of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel encamped. At the commandment of Jehovah the children of Israel set out, and at the commandment of Jehovah they encamped; as long as the cloud settled upon the tabernacle, they remained encamped.” Verse 21 says, “If sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they set out; or if it remained a day and a night, when the cloud was taken up, they set out.” The cloud typifies the Spirit in the day, and the fire typifies the Spirit in the night. The tabernacle typifies Christ as God’s dwelling among His people. Jehovah is the Triune God.
The cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle indicate that the Divine Trinity is for God’s people to stay or to journey so that they may enjoy the riches of the Divine Trinity all the time and all the way. When they remained and when they journeyed, God’s presence was with them as the Trinity. God is sometimes objective to us, but the Trinity is always subjective. In other words, when we experience God, He is the Trinity. The Trinity is not for doctrinal knowledge of the Godhead but for the experience and enjoyment of God by His people.
Numbers 20:6-8 says, “The glory of Jehovah appeared to them. Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Take the rod...and speak to the rock before their eyes, so that it yields its water. Thus you shall bring forth water for them out of the rock and give the assembly and their livestock something to drink.” In these verses glory is God expressed, and Jehovah is the Triune God. The rock typifies the crucified Christ following God’s people. First Corinthians 10:4b says, “They drank of a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.” Christ today as the Spirit follows us everywhere. The water typifies the Spirit of life (v. 4a; John 7:38-39). This water began to flow out of the smitten rock in Exodus 17 and continued in Numbers 20. According to Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 10:4, the rock must have followed the children of Israel and flowed out water to quench their thirst throughout their journey in the wilderness for forty years. The Spirit as the living water flowing out of Christ as the smitten rock is the flowing out of the Triune God, and the issue of this flow is the conclusion of the entire Bible. The river of water of life that proceeds out of the throne of God with the tree of life growing alongside in Revelation 22:1-2 is the flowing out of the Triune God. This is a great matter. The smitten rock in Numbers 20 shows that the Divine Trinity follows God’s people on their journey to quench their thirst so that they may enjoy the riches of the divine life.
The five cases we have considered in Numbers — the separation of the Nazarite, the threefold blessing of Jehovah to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the offerings, the cloud and the fire covering the tabernacle, and the smitten rock — all involve the Triune God. We need the Divine Trinity for our consecration as Nazarites. The Trinity is the structure and content of the divine blessing to us. We need the Trinity for the function of the tabernacle and the altar. We need the Trinity as God’s presence to stay with us, journey with us, and guide us. We need the Trinity to be the source of living water that always follows us to quench our thirst.
Apparently, the book of Numbers is a record of the numbering of God’s people and their journey in the wilderness. Actually, such a record is structured with the Divine Trinity. Without the Divine Trinity, the record in Numbers would be empty. The intrinsic reality of the record in Numbers is the Divine Trinity, as revealed in the separation of the Nazarite, Jehovah’s threefold blessing to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the altar, God’s continual presence with His people in their journey, and the thirst-quenching rock that followed them as they followed God. This reveals how crucial the Trinity is. The Divine Trinity is our way to follow the Lord, our way to serve Him, and our way to be supplied with life.
