God Opens A Way To Be Restored

Numbers 15:1-41                                By Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verses: 15:39-41                          6-24-16

“You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”

The Israelites had just fallen into some deep sin. They were complaining and rebelling and treating the Lord with contempt. They were inviting judgment on themselves. They were stuck in the quagmire of sin. But God was with them. Though judgment was handed out and the people suffered a lot, they were not to remain in their situation. God made a way for his people to be restored. It was through making offerings pleasing to the Lord, and holding onto their identity as a holy people, called to serve God’s holy purpose. Our God is a God of hope. When people fall into sin, God still hopes in them and opens up a way for them be restored.

Part 1: God Was Eager To Restore His People By Accepting Sacrifices (1-21)

Look at verse 1-21, “The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home 3 and you present to the Lord food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord—whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings— 4 then the person who brings an offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil. 5 With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering. 6 “‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil, 7 and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 8 “‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the Lord, 9 bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil, 10 and also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. This will be a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 11 Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner. 12 Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare. 13 “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 14 For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’” 17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you 19 and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. 20 Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.”

After disobedience and total defeat, the Israelites were sent back to the wilderness for forty years to receive God’s training. They must have felt hopeless and totally despaired. So God spoke these words to plant hope in their hearts. He taught them how to worship and thank God “after you enter the land.” (2) God cares about the despair that creeps into our hearts at times.

In this verse God is now talking to the younger people of the Israelite nation. Look at verse 2, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home…” These were the people that were born in the desert, who had not experienced God’s deliverance from Egypt, and would later enter the Promised Land. We would call them the Millennials now.

Though they had their own issues, God was confident that the people would do two things, enter the land and live a spiritual life, where they would present offerings to the Lord. I am totally impressed that God lived in hope in the younger generation.

How often do we blame the problems of our country on the Millennials? But actually it was not the Millennials who produced many of the problems. The Millennials are now starting to run the country. And they are doing a pretty good job. We need to place our hope in the young generation and expect great things from them as God does.

The people were called to make significant offerings to the Lord. Look at verses 3-13. They were expensive offerings, a ram, a bull, olive oil, grain and wine. This was not just pocket change. They were offering things that really meant something to the people wandering in the desert. It required faith to offer such things.

The people were to give the first of their ground meal. Verses 20b-21 read, “17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you 19 and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. 20 Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.” Giving the first of your ground meal, or anything for that matter, requires faith, for you are not sure if there is more to come. A person who makes a “first portion” offering is truly showing faith.

These offerings were a pleasing aroma to the Lord. God is pleased, not because he likes the smell of barbeque and fresh baked bread. It was a pleasing aroma because these offerings required faith on the part of the giver.

There is mention about foreigners who lived among the Israelites in the time of Moses. Look at verses Numbers 15:13-16, “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 14 For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’”  

God was well aware that there were foreigners among the people and do you know what? He was alright with that. They were allowed to be among the people of God. But they had to make the same sacrifices as the Israelites were making. One sacrifice was to be made for all. They had to worship God in God’s way–not according to their own customs or desires. The laws and regulations applied to the foreigner and the native Israelite alike. The laws were not just secular laws, but even spiritual laws that involved worship. The Israelites and the foreigner would be same before the Lord. This is what was required if they want to dwell among the Israelites.

The God of the Bible had a purpose for this. He wanted to establish the nation of Israel as a Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation. They were to reveal the glory of God and God’s redemptive ways. They were to bring forth the prophets, the Word of God, and the Messiah Jesus. They were to point the whole world to God. The demand that all of the foreign-born must follow the laws of the land, including the spiritual laws about sacrifice, were to keep idol worship from the hearts of the Israelites, strengthening their relationship with the God of Israelites and keeping them on the track to fulfilling God’s holy purpose for them.

This ignites some thoughts about the immigration issues today. Many foreign-born people are very happy to hear that God accepted the foreign-born among his nation in the Bible (1400 BC). Many were willing to abide by the laws of the land, but not the spiritual laws of Israelites. But those who submitted were welcome to live among the Israelites and enter the Promised Land together with them. But the fact that the Bible states that the foreigner had to submit to some of the spiritual laws of the Israelites, would not go over too well with many.

This brings up some thoughts about immigration today. It would be very hard to accept the principle brought forth in this passage, for it seems unreasonable to us, to make people summit to religious laws already established in this land. We do agree with subjection to secular laws. But in a sense we are making people be subject to spiritual laws, indirectly. Many of the laws of the land have their foundations established on Judea-Christian principles. And so, by making immigrants abide by the laws of the land, we are making them abide by some Judeo-Christian principles, whether we intend to or not. They need to submit to laws built on Judea-Christian principles that sometimes go directly against immigrants’ religious beliefs. This is something we can not avoid.

Part 2: Unintentional and Intentional Sin. (22-36)

The sin problem is not resolved by excuses, but by repentance and forgiveness. Before God’s eyes there are two categories of sins, unintentional sins and intentional sins. In this passage God addressed both types of sin.

God gave some direction concerning unintentional sins. Look at verses 22-29, “‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses— 23 any of the Lord’s commands to you through him, from the day the Lord gave them and continuing through the generations to come— 24 and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering. 25 The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the Lord for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering. 26 The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong. 27 “‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven. 29 One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.”

The sacrifice for unintentional sins was necessary because of the complexity of the law and the inexperience of the people call to obey it. There are sins that we fall into, not because we are trying to, just because we do.

God expects whole communities to keep the law. There was individual and community sin. We tend to think only about the individual sins, but there are community sins too. Yes, a community can fail to keep God’s commands. God does not just think about the individual, he thinks about the whole community keeping them both accountable. The one who sins in ignorance, or the community that sins in ignorance, could find forgiveness through a sacrifice of atonement in that time.

There is another category of sin, intentional sin. This passage deals with that too. Look at verses 30-36. “But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. 31 Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’” 32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Intentional sins seem more terrible, for they are done deliberately, in defiance to God, and not just by mistake or in weakness. Intentional sin grows out of an improper attitude towards God. Think about a child who knowingly disobeys their parents challenges their authority and dares them to respond. Both the act and the attitude of intentional sin have to be dealt with.

Intentional sin meant death. Look at verse 30, “But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel.” This refers to viciously, with purpose and openly defying the Law of God. Such a person must be cut off from the people, which meant that a person is cut off from the Lord. It meant death. Look at the sad story in verse 32-36. Stoning a man for gathering wood on the Sabbath was a severe punishment. The act was a deliberate sin, defying God’s law against working on the Sabbath. Perhaps the man was trying to get ahead, in addition to breaking the Sabbath. His sin is very visible among believers. We don’t stone people today, thanks to the Gospel of Jesus, but God is still concerned about all sin and longs for all people to be restored through faith in Christ.

Why is God so serious about this category of sin?  Sin can never be ignored. Among the Israelites, you couldn’t have people flaunting and deliberately disobeying the Lord’s commands. God had a purpose, to establish this three million people as a Kingdom of Priests and Holy Nation.  What if people were so proud and defiant to sin against God? What would happen if this type of sin spread throughout the whole community? God is very sorry when this happens, not wanting anyone to perish.

All sin brings spiritual death for it attempts to cut off our relationship with the Lord, the giver of life. Even those who refuse to believe in God feel the pangs of death to their souls when sin takes its toll. They feel deadness in their hearts and don’t know why. If they don’t come to Jesus for forgiveness, they will have to have to stand alone in the Judgment.

I get it that God is concerned about intentional sins. As a parent I would get really upset if my child deliberately disobeys me and treats me with spite. It is clearly a serious offence against God and God has declared it so. It breaks the relationships with the God.  But even though God is bothered by intentional sin, his grace covers that too. He sees and understands the motivation that causes us to engage in sin such sin. There are many reasons for intentional sins, pride, anger, fear, frustration, etc. There are times when, out of frustration, we say, “I don’t care if is a sin or not.” But God is patient with us. He bears with us, he wants to help us through the struggles and our right times. He can do this because Jesus came to be our Savior. God is full of grace. He is so patient and kind. He helps us through the rough moments when we are so tempted that we engage in intentional sin.

But, I would be very cautious not to push thing too far with God. God may be gracious, but there will a time when we will reap the fruit of rebellion. I am not saying that we will loose our salvation, but we will receive God’s fatherly discipline, which is not very pleasant at times.

We might despair that we can never overcome our tendency to sin. Of course there was the offering of sacrifices in Moses’ time. Today Jesus is our sacrifice offered once and for all who believe. We can repent of intentional sins and come to Jesus. But there are ways to help us avoid falling into sin. This way is revealed in the tassels

. Part 3: The Wisdom Of The Blue Tassels (37-41)

God was concerned about his people having a sense of identity and at the same time he showed them some ways to avoid falling into sin. Look at verses 37-41, “37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’”

The Israelites were to make tassels on the corners of their clothes. (38) It was to be worn on the outer garment and on each of the four corners. The tassels also helped people to avoid sinning against God. Look at verse 39-41 again, “39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’” (NIV)

Let’s explore some ways that we can be helped through understanding what these tassels represent….

1. Remember the commands of God. (39a) This requires regular Bible study. But we don’t have to rely on our own feeble efforts to remember everything. God promises to remind us of his commands. (Jer 31:31) When we are tempted God will be quick to remind of his commands, causing us to think twice about what we are about to do or face.

2. Obey the commands of God. (39a) Having a desire, and engaging that desire, to obey God is a powerful way to keep our feet from going astray.

3. Call it like it is, sin is sin. (39b) It is chasing after the lusts of our hearts. Being led into sin means that we are not a Bohemian adventure. No, It is sin and the devil wants us to chase after the lusts of our hearts. Why? It is an attempt to break our relationship with the Lord. We need to call a spade a spade and see things the way that the Lord sees them. Then we can have strength to not chase after the lusts of our hearts.

4. We are consecrated to the Lord. (40b) Knowing our identity is important. By God’s grace we are his children, his holy people, set aside for a clear purpose, to serve him and bring him glory. We have a clear identity. Knowing who we are before God will help us to avoid sinning against the Lord.

5. Always remember who God is. (41a) “I am the Lord Your God.” We belong to God. We are his possession. We are not our own. He was perceptually reminded of the special relationship he had with the Lord. The color blue reminded him that help came from above. How can we sin intentionally if we belong to God?
6. Always remember God’s grace. (41) Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

We are weak and powerless not to sin. But obviously there are ways to grow in our faith that will keep us from falling away.

Prayer: Lord, I am so thankful that you are a gracious and forgiving. Even though your people rebelled against you in so many ways, you are there to restore them and help them to continue on their journey.

One Word: God is eager to restore his people.