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Scripture Reading: Num. 21:4-9, 21:10-20; 20:1, 20:14-21, 22-29; 27:12-14; 33:1-49
In chapters twenty and twenty-one of Numbers, there are some important matters which we need to see. These matters are treasures, and we need to have the insight to see their preciousness. For example, Numbers 20 shows us the divine way to receive the divine supply, the way to receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit. In the New Testament we do not have a chapter that reveals as clearly as Numbers 20 the way to receive the bountiful supply of the Spirit. Philippians is a book on receiving the bountiful supply of the Spirit, but not even in this book do we have the precious matter revealed in Numbers 20. In this message we will endeavor to see the treasures in Numbers 21.
It is enlightening to compare Numbers 20 and 21. Both chapters speak of the people's contending. In Numbers 20 the children of Israel were contending for water. This contending was fair because it came from the people's thirst. In Numbers 21 the children contended again, but this time their contending was not fair, because it came from the people's impatience. God did not punish the people for their contending in chapter twenty, but He did punish them for their contending in chapter twenty-one.
God had brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and had brought them into the wilderness, where the way was rough and very difficult. "The soul of the people became impatient because of the way" (21:4b). The way was harsh, and their patience was exhausted. In their impatience they "spoke against God and against Moses, Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and no water, and we loathe this contemptible bread" (v. 5). From God's point of view, this contending, unlike the contending for water, was not fair. God had not promised that the way through the wilderness would be easy. They should have anticipated a difficult journey. Therefore, God was not happy with them and He punished them.
In chapter twenty Moses was angry with the people, but God was not angry with them. In chapter twenty-one Moses was not angry with them, but God was angry. "Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died" (21:6). This was a serious punishment, a punishment that caused death to the contending people.
"The people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. Pray to Jehovah, that He take away the serpents from us" (v. 7). In all their journeying, this is the first time the children of Israel confessed their sins. Having confessed their sin in speaking against God and Moses, they asked Moses to pray for them, and he did so.
"Jehovah said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived" (vv. 8-9). This bronze serpent typifies Christ (John 3:14), and the pole typifies the cross (1 Pet. 2:24). In typology bronze, or brass, signifies judgment. The Hebrew word translated "looked at" in Numbers 21:9 may also be rendered "regarded," or "looked intently at."
The bronze serpent is a type, and in John 3:14 the Lord Jesus applies this type to Himself. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The bronze serpent had the form of a serpent but not the poisonous nature of a serpent. This is a full type of Christ coming in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3) to be our replacement. In Numbers 20 we have a type of Christ as the crucified and resurrected One flowing out the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit, but in Numbers 21 we have a type of Christ as our replacement and substitute.
When the children of Israel were bitten by the fiery serpents, they became serpents in the eyes of God. They were serpentine and had the serpentine nature. The bronze serpent, however, had only the form of a serpent but not the nature of a serpent. Therefore, the bronze serpent could be a type of Christ, who had the form, the likeness, of the flesh of sin but not the sinful nature of the flesh of sin. The bronze serpent was put on a pole, which signifies the cross. Thus, in the wilderness there was a bronze serpent on a pole, portraying, in type, a replacement on a cross. The bronze serpent on the pole indicated that the children of Israel, who had become serpentine, were put on the pole where they were replaced by something that had the form but not the nature of a serpent.
Long after Numbers 21 was written, Christ came, and in His conversation with Nicodemus He referred to the type of the bronze serpent. The Lord Jesus seemed to be saying to him, "Nicodemus, the picture of the bronze serpent on a pole signifies what I will be for you. That serpent was the replacement of your forefathers so that they could be saved from death and have life. I will do the same for you. I will die on the cross as your replacement so that you may have eternal life."
At the time the Lord Jesus spoke this word to Nicodemus, it is not likely that he understood it. Nicodemus surely did not regard himself as a serpent but as an ethical gentleman who came to the Lord Jesus for the purpose of receiving teachings about his behavior. However, in His word concerning the bronze serpent, the Lord Jesus appeared to be saying to Nicodemus, "You should not consider yourself a gentleman but realize instead that you are a serpent. You became a serpent when in the garden Adam was bitten by the serpent. Because you have a serpentine nature, I have come not to teach you but to be your replacement. In the eyes of God, you are a serpent. As your replacement, I will be lifted up in the form of a serpent." It is a great blessing for us to know that, as the fulfillment of the type of the bronze serpent, Christ came in the likeness of the flesh of sin to die on the cross as our replacement and substitute.
When Adam was bitten by the serpent, we all became serpents. Christ has come to be our replacement, and we have believed into Him. At this point we need to ask an interesting question: Are we who believe in Christ still serpents? The answer to this question depends on whether, in our experience, we are in John 3, which speaks of the bronze serpent, or in John 7, which speaks of coming to the Lord and drinking (vv. 37-39). If we are drinking of the living water, then we are no longer serpents. But if we are short of the living water, then we are contending serpents.
Christ today is no longer the bronze serpent — He is the life-giving Spirit. The One who died for us on the cross in the form of a serpent, in the likeness of the flesh of sin, has passed through death and resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This means that He has changed His form. When He died on the cross, as indicated in John 3, He was in the form of a serpent, but when He came back to His disciples, as revealed in John 20, He was the life-giving Spirit. What kind of Christ is He to you today? Is He a bronze serpent or the life-giving Spirit?
As a believer in Christ, are you still a serpent? The answer depends on whether you are dry, lacking the life-giving Spirit, or are drinking of the Spirit. Apart from the life-giving Spirit, we are contending serpents. In the church life we may be either contending serpents or life-giving-Spirit drinkers. May we all be those who drink of the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit!
On their journey, the children of Israel had a number of failures. The book of Numbers shows us that the result of those failures was death, not only of the common Israelites but also of Miriam (20:1), Aaron (20:22-29), and Moses (27:12-14). Miriam, Aaron, and Moses were leaders among the people. Miriam was a prophetess, Aaron was the high priest, and Moses was the unique leader. The result of their failures was death. This should be a warning to us today. We should be careful concerning failures, because failures result in death.
In the further journeying of the children of Israel, there was the hindrance of Edom (20:14-21). Edom consisted of the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. The children of Israel were descendants of Jacob. Thus, there was a close relationship between Israel and Edom. In Numbers 20 Israel tried to get help from Edom. However, Edom refused to offer help to the children of Israel.
In typology, Israel may signify our spirit, and Edom may signify our flesh. Israel's trying to get help from Edom signifies that we may sometimes try to help our spirit by depending on our flesh. Our flesh, however, will never help our spirit. We should be those who are in the spirit and who do not try to get help from the flesh.
Eventually, the children of Israel arrived at the top of Pisgah (21:10-20). Pisgah was the mountain on which Moses was standing when he saw the good land.
On their journey to Pisgah, the children of Israel passed by the well of Beer, where Jehovah commanded Moses to gather the people together that He might give them water. This well typifies Christ (John 4:11-12), and the water from this well typifies the Spirit (John 4:13-14; 7:37-39). In Numbers 21, therefore, Christ is typified both by the bronze serpent and by the well. As the bronze serpent Christ is for our replacement, and as the springing well He is for our enjoyment.
In Numbers 21:17 and 18 Israel sang a song to the well: "Spring up, O well! Sing to it!/The well which the leaders dug,/Which the nobles of the people hollowed out/With the scepter and with their staves." (For a hymn on the spiritual significance of digging the well, see Hymns, #250.) According to this song, the well was dug by the leaders and the nobles. Those today who seek after the Spirit and take the lead to dig the well are noble and are leaders.
In this message I would also like to say a word concerning the stations of the journey made by the children of Israel. According to Numbers 33:1-49, there were a total of forty-two stations, from the land of slavery to the land of rest.
The record of these forty-two stations does not mention anything about the failures of the people. If we had only the record in Numbers 33, we would think that in their journey the children of Israel were altogether aggressive, positive, and successful, going from one station to another until they reached their goal — the land of rest. As a result of our reading of Numbers 1 through 33, we may have the opinion that there was nothing good with the children of Israel. But chapter thirty-three shows us that in the eyes of God the record regarding them is positive. This indicates that, in His view, God always considers His people in a positive way. God looks at His people not from the angle of the bad but from the angle of the good.
You need to be mindful of this whenever you are tempted to criticize a particular local church. Whether the church is marvelous or pitiful actually does not depend on what the church is; rather, it depends on what you are. If you have a negative attitude and view the church from a negative angle, you will not see anything good in the church. If you have a positive attitude and view the church from a positive angle, you will say that the church is marvelous. Concerning the church life in our locality, we should not be defeated or disappointed, and we should not lose heart. We need to view the churches in a heavenly way and realize that all the local churches are parts of the coming New Jerusalem.
From our study of the book of Numbers, we need to learn that the way we look at God's people is a serious matter. Perhaps in your eyes God's people are not very good. But God sees them as chosen, redeemed, saved from the bondage of the fall, enjoying Christ, being built up with the Triune God, formed into an army to fight for God, and prepared by God to possess the all-inclusive Christ as the good land. If we see God's people in this way, we will not lose heart or be discouraged concerning the church life.
The forty-two stations in chapter thirty-three typify forty-two generations, from Abraham to Christ (Matt. 1:17). At the conclusion of the journey of God's people in the Old Testament, there is a record of the forty-two stations. At the beginning of the New Testament, there is a record of the forty-two generations. The goal of the forty-two stations was the good land, and the goal of the forty-two generations was Christ. The correspondence here indicates that God's intention is to bring all His people to the good land as the goal. Today Christ is our good land, our land of rest.
In the Old Testament the goal was at the end, but in the New Testament the goal is at the beginning. This means that we, the believers in Christ, begin from the goal. This may be compared to the significance of the Sabbath in Genesis. The Sabbath was the result of God's work. He worked for six days, attained His goal, and rested on the seventh day. This means that for God the Sabbath came as the result of His work. But man's relation to the Sabbath is very different. For man, the Sabbath is not an ending but a beginning. Man was created on the sixth day, probably late in the afternoon. This means that soon after man came from the creating hand of God, the day became the Sabbath, and this day signified not the ending of man's work but the beginning of his enjoyment. Therefore, to the working God the Sabbath is a result, but to the enjoying man the Sabbath is a beginning. The principle is the same with God's goal of bringing us into Christ as the good land. For us today, this goal is not a result — it is a beginning. Where are you — in the result or in the beginning? The best way to answer this question is to say we are in the result which, for us, is the beginning.
This principle applies to everything in the spiritual field. To God, the goal is the result; to us, the goal is the beginning. We do not make a long journey to reach the goal. Instead, we begin at the goal and then go forward in our Christian walk.
The forty-two stations in Numbers 33 correspond to the forty-two generations in Matthew 1. The end of both is Christ. The end of the forty-two stations was the good land, which typifies Christ, and the end of the forty-two generations is Christ Himself. Christ to us is the reality of the good land. In the Old Testament God's people journeyed and then arrived at the goal. But in the New Testament we, the believers, are already in the goal, we are enjoying the goal, and our enjoyment of the goal becomes our supply as we walk along the way.
The New Testament was written in such a way as to show us, in Matthew 1, that the goal, the result, is attained only after a long journey lasting forty-two generations. The result — Christ — is here today. There is no need to wait for the future to reach the goal, to enter into the result. No, we begin with the result. When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into the result. Everything has been completed, and everything concerning our enjoyment of Christ has been prepared and is now on the "table." We simply need to come and dine and enter into the enjoyment of Christ.
