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Scripture Reading: Deut. 8:2
We come now to the third message on the vital sketch of the divine revelation in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers concerning God's economy with His chosen and redeemed people. In this message we will consider the frustrations suffered by God's people on the journey to the good land.
We have seen that God's people need to receive the divine revelation concerning God Himself and His economy and also that they need to be formed into a priestly army. Now we will see that God's chosen and redeemed people also need frustrations. Do you believe that you need frustrations? Whether you believe this or not, the fact remains that frustrations occur and, in a sense, actually are needed. Let us now consider the different kinds of frustrations suffered by God's chosen and redeemed people on their journey to the God-promised good land.
The first frustration was the exceeding lust of the mixed multitude among God's chosen and redeemed people (Num. 11:4a). Were those who were of this mixed multitude saved? This is a difficult question to answer.
Perhaps you are wondering how there could be such a mixture among God's pure people. But even among the twelve disciples chosen by the Lord Jesus there was one who was a mixture — Judas. Furthermore, the parable of the tares (Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43) indicates that in the world there is a mixture of tares and wheat.
The mixed multitude lusted exceedingly, and this stirred up the lust of the God-chosen and God-redeemed people. Lust was already present with God's people, but it needed to be stirred up, and it was stirred up by the mixed multitude. It is easy for the lust among God's people to be stirred up by the mixed ones.
In 1 Corinthians 5:6 Paul says, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump." In Numbers 11 the mixed multitude was like leaven, and this leaven leavened the "whole lump" of God's people.
Numbers 11:4b-15, 31-35 speaks of the lust which came directly from God's chosen and redeemed people.
Numbers 11:5 says, "We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic." Here we see that God's people remembered the Egyptian food (the worldly taste), which suited their lust. God's people were lusting for the worldly taste.
In verse 6 the people went on to say, "Now our soul is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna before our eyes." This indicates that they abhorred the God-given manna, which is a type of Christ as the bread of life. This manna was very tasteful. However, it had a heavenly taste, not an Egyptian taste. Instead of liking the heavenly taste of the God-given manna, the people abhorred it.
According to verse 10, everyone was weeping at the entrance of his tent. They wept because the food they had was not according to their taste.
The anger of Jehovah burned greatly over the people (v. 10b), and He struck them with a severe plague (v. 33).
Numbers 12:1-15 records the rebellion of Miriam, who was Moses' older sister. Moses was the God-chosen leader, and Miriam was a prophetess who, after the crossing of the Red Sea, led the women in praising God (Exo. 15:20-21). Although she was Moses' sister and served together with him, she still rebelled against him. This indicates that even those who are very close to one who takes the lead among God's people may rebel against him.
Miriam rebelled because she was jealous of Moses' position in the oracle of God. She, along with Aaron, said, "Has Jehovah indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" (Num. 12:2).
Miriam took as a cloak for her rebellion the weakness of Moses in marrying a Cushite woman (v. 1). I do not know why Moses did this or when he did it. Perhaps this was a weak point in Moses' life, but this weakness did not spoil his function. Miriam used this weakness as an excuse, as a standing, to rebel against Moses.
God came in to deal with Miriam's rebellion. She was condemned by God and suffered the punishment of leprosy (vv. 6-15a), a disease which indicates that one's sickness is inward. Suffering such a punishment, Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days.
As a result of Miriam's rebellion and punishment, the journey of the people was delayed for seven days (v. 15). Her rebellion surely was a frustration to God's people.
Numbers 13:28—14:4 speaks of the unbelief of God's chosen and redeemed people. This took place at Kadesh-barnea, after the spies had come back from spying out the good land. With the exception of Caleb and Joshua, the spies brought back an evil report, saying, "The land, through which we have gone to spy out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great size. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are from the Nephilim); and we were in our own sight like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight (13:32-33). When the people heard this, they wept. Their weeping was not only a matter of unbelief but also of rebellion.
The unbelief of the people provoked God's anger toward them (14:11-12).
This unbelief also caused them to forfeit the right to enter the God-promised good land (vv. 22-23).
God punished the people by causing them to wander in the wilderness and to be consumed there (vv. 32-35). God said to them, "Your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness" (vv. 31-32).
In Numbers 16:1-12 we have the record of a corporate rebellion, the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred fifty leaders. Korah was a Levite, and Dathan and Abiram were leaders among the people. They convinced two hundred fifty of the leaders to join in a conspiracy to rebel.
Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred fifty leaders of the assembly "gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, You have gone too far! For all the assembly is holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the congregation of Jehovah?" (16:3). This indicates that these rebellious ones were jealous of the high position of Moses and Aaron. This matter of jealousy concerning position and leadership has always been a problem among God's people. Often, those who are jealous in this way have ambition but do not have the capacity to match their ambition. Throughout the history of God's people, rebellion has been caused by the combination of ambition and the lack of capacity. This was the situation in Numbers 16. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were ambitious, but they did not have the capacity which Moses and Aaron had.
Korah was not satisfied to be a leader in the Levitical service, which was secondary to the priesthood, and Dathan and Abiram were not satisfied to be leaders in the assembly of God's people (vv. 8-11). They all wanted a higher position, but according to God's sovereignty, they did not have the capacity for such a position.
In Numbers 16 we also see God's punishment upon the rebels. Although Moses was meek, he called on God to come in, and God came in to punish the rebels.
The earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with their households and all the men that belonged to Korah and all their goods, so they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol (vv. 31-33). They went to Sheol without dying. I believe that they were the first group of people to perish in this way.
According to verse 35, fire came forth from Jehovah and consumed the two hundred fifty leaders.
Finally, the wrath of Jehovah went forth to consume fourteen thousand seven hundred people with the plague (vv. 44-49). This was a very serious judgment.
God's judgment here was a threefold judgment, involving the earth, the fire, and the plague. To the rebels this was a judgment, but to the entire congregation of the children of Israel the whole matter was a frustration. But through this frustration, and especially through God's judgment, the people were sifted, purged, and purified.
Another frustration to God's chosen and redeemed people was Balaam's plot and teaching (Num. 31:16; Rev. 2:14b).
Balaam taught Balak to stumble the God-chosen and God-redeemed people by seducing them to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab, which led them into idolatry (Num. 25:1-2). It is hard to believe that a large number of God's people could commit the sins of fornication, which damaged themselves, and idolatry, which insulted the person of God. Nevertheless, many of the people fell into these sins.
Through this fall into fornication and idolatry, the God-chosen and God-redeemed people provoked God to consume twenty-four thousand of them with the plague (Num. 25:3, 9). This was a great sifting, purging, and purification. Through this frustration the children of Israel were purified, and after this purification they were renumbered.
With respect to whatever is negative in our situation and condition, frustrations are needed. I have considered this very much as I have faced the recent rebellion among us. Whether we realize it or not and whether we understand it or not, we need the purification which comes through the frustrations.
All the frustrations suffered by God's chosen and redeemed people should be considered as means to humble God's people by afflictions and to test them on their journey in the wilderness (Deut. 8:2). This is our situation today. The different kinds of frustrations are used by God to humble us and to test us. As we make our journey through the great and terrible wilderness, we will suffer frustrations again and again. Just as some made themselves sacrifices for the benefit of the children of Israel, today some may become sacrifices for our benefit, in particular for our purging and purification. From this we see once again that the record of the journey of the children of Israel in the wilderness is a record of our journey today. The frustrations they experienced in their journey we will also experience in our journey. Therefore, it is helpful for us to consider the frustrations recorded in the book of Numbers.
