Numbers 21:1-35. God Calls His People To Come And Share In His Victory-my devotional 9-10-16

Numbers 21: 1-35               Kevin E. Jesmer

Key verse 21:34a                  9-10-16

“The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land….” NIV

In this passage we see that God’s victory is assured. It is his victory as he unrolls his redemptive plan. He invites his people of faith to draw near to him by faith and come along for the adventure of a lifetime and beyond. It requires faith and trusting the Lord as you follow him. This message will be in three parts…

Part 1: It Is Not How Much We Emote….It Is Simply God’s Right Time (1-3)

Part 2: Enter Into God’s Way of Salvation By Faith (4-9)

Part 3:  God Is Victorious And Calls Us To Share In His Victory (10-35)

Part 1: It Is Not How Much We Emote….It Is Simply God’s Right Time (1-3)

       Look at verses 1-3, “When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them. 2 Then Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.” 3 The Lord listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.”

It was time for the Israelites to begin their push into the Promised Land. The generation that had experienced the miracles in the Egypt and who had rebelled against the Lord, died in the desert. After wandering through the desert for forty years it was time to push forward. But getting the land would not be easy. There would be lots of battles.

In this passage, it was time for one off those battles. Look at verse 1, “When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.” Arad, the Canaanite King attacked and captured some of the Israelites.

God was going to give the land to the Israelites. But he would train them in faith at the same time. He would do this in order to unite them and strengthen them as a nation. He would develop their military skills. Though his way would be tough, it was God’s perfect way and plan for his people.

The Israelites begin this part of their journey very enthusiastically. They were very spirited. Look at verse 2, “Then Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy their cities.” They made a vow to God that if he gave Arad’s army to them, they would destroy all of their cities. God accepted their vow. He recognized their faith and their spirit. He was pleased with that. He led them into victory, which would have happened despite of their spirited approach. It is nice when our enthusiasm and God’s will coincide. God is glorified and the people are excited about following the Lord.

To many people, the Israelites’ spirited cries don’t sound much different than the cries of Muslim extremists. But we need to understand this in an historical context. God was not only establishing his people as a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation, according to promises, he was also using the Israelites as instruments of judgement on a people who, for centuries, engaged in cruel and horrific forms of worship, like child sacrifice and temple prostitution. God had been bearing with all of this patiently but now it was time for judgement. There was a purpose and it was backed up by the prophecies and the promises of God. The Israelites were not just a group of extremists, rising up to form their own caliphate. No. What was happening with the Israelites was unfolding according to God’s sovereign will, backed up by prophecy.

With the Lord’s help, they gained the victory. It was all because of God’s sovereign will. God was pleased to grant them the victory by his grace. The peoples’ response to this movement of the hand of God contributed to the elation. They were full of faith, enthusiasm and confidence in the Lord.

God granted them the victory, not because of their good attitude. It was simply because it was God’s time. It was God’s time to bring his people into the Promised Land according to his promises. Their attitude and their eagerness simply added to the joy of their experience with God.

They could have gone into the battle complaining and kicking and swearing. Or they could go in with hearts full of faith and energy and enthusiasm. They could choose. That doesn’t mean that God was not going to establish his people in the Promised Land. He was determined to do it. The Israelites chose the most blessed way.

They were blessed by God because of his sovereignty. They were not blessed because of the intensity of their eagerness. After all he did give the water from the rock despite off their complaining. Later on in chapter 21, we will see that the Israelites gained the victory, by God’s grace despite of their complaining.  This is important.

It is not up to our emoting to experience God’s blessing. It is all about God and his will. This frees us inwardly. The onus is not on us to emote. We need faith, yes, but this too is a gift from God. I don’t know what I would do if I was forced to be positive and emote well in order to maintain my good standing with the Lord. Most times I am not excited or emoting well. This is a type of salvation by works. It is really a trap. God does what he wills and we are simply invited to participate in what God is doing.

God’s victory is complete when it is God’s time to make things happen Things seem to fall into place miraculously. The pieces fit together. Every day is filled with praises to God. I feel this way about all the doors that Jesus is opening in the mission to the North. How great it is when all the different factors come together and God leads us into his victory. How exhilarating a life of faith can be when that happens.

Part 2: Enter Into God’s Way of Salvation By Faith (4-9)

Look at verses 4-9, “4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”

The people could not maintain their enthusiasm and their eagerness when hardships ensured. Look at verse 4, “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way;” The people grew impatient. They lacked food and water and they were tired eating the bland food. They became fatalistic, thinking that they were going to die. All of this was the bad fruit of unbelief.

Notice the resurgence of grumbling and complaining did not stop the Lord from bringing them into the Promised Land. Nor did it stop the victories that they accomplished as a nation that is led by God. It is even more evidence of God’s will unfolding despite fickle human emotions and feelings.

It does not mean that God was pleased with all of their lack of faith and its bad fruit. No, what they were doing was inviting God’s judgement on them.

God’s judgement came upon the camp. Look at verse 6, “Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died”. The whole camp was filled with venomous snakes that bit the people and they died. Their complaining and rebellion could not continue. It was crucial that it stop.

The responded well with repentance. They came to Moses confessing their sins. Look at verse 7a, “The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us…” The asked Moses to pray for them. They were taking the first steps towards forgiveness and restoration.

The coming of the snakes was not God’s fault. The fault was with the people. Sometime it takes personal suffering to lead us to repentance.  Before this it was not easy for them to confess and repent. But when they and their family members were being bit by venomous snakes. their hearts became more tender towards God. Why is it that only humble ourselves and seek God’s forgiveness after we have suffered? Why not come to God quickly, trusting in his love for us right from the start? God would rather have it this way. But that is sinful human nature for you.

Moses responded to their request for prayer. He was not filled with thoughts of, “You got yourselves into this mess, get yourselves out of it. “No. He was ready as a  servant of the Lord to pray for the people he was called to serve.

Moses prayed to the Lord and God provided a way to be saved. Look at verses 8-9, “The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”  They were to make a bronze snake and place it on a pole. Anyone who was bit by the poisonous snakes could look up at the snake on the pole and live. This was God’s way of salvation for any who were bitten.

It was a type of filter. Anyone who had faith could be saved. Think about it. The venomous snakes were on the ground. They were biting people. Our human instincts would be to save ourselves. We would be looking down on the ground, being extra careful and try to crush the snakes before we or our family members would be bit. But God wanted them to look up to the snake on the pole. This didn’t make sense humanly. It required faith to take their eyes off of the snakes and entrust their lives and the lives of their loved ones to God. They needed to trust God and his word and his way of salvation. Those who had this faith were saved and those who did not perished. All the people were eligible and capable to engage their faith. But some chose not to while some chose to engage faith. God provided a way to be saved and faith and trust and obedience were at the core of that way.

Sometimes our problems and our sins “bite” us. Satan is out to “bite” us. It is like poison entering our veins. We become wounded. We look down trying to solve our problems without looking up to Jesus lifted high and exalted. We don’t trust God’s way of salvation. We reject Gospel solutions to our problems. We grow desperate. We apply our unbelief to our family members. We become weary and falter in our endless futile attempts to save ourselves. Why do we do this? It is because of our unbelief. Our unbelief is deadly.

We tend to think that God’s way does not make sense. We think that our own human plans make more sense to us. But the people in this passage, who thought that their own human plans made more sense, died in their own human sense. We only have so much time to rise up out of the quagmire of the bad fruit of our sin. Don’t waste your time with your human wisdom alone. Find the solution in Jesus. Find God’s way of salvation and enter into that way by faith.

God calls us to glorify him in the midst of our crisis’. In order to do so we need faith. We need faith to look up and see Jesus. Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6) We need obedience to the Gospel. It takes faith. When we hold onto faith, then we experience God’s miraculous deliverance. We see that our salvation is by God’s grace and not by our human effort. It all has to do with lifting the eyes of our heart up to Jesus and off of the problems of this world. Then we experience God’s deliverance.

Part 3:  God Is Victorious And Calls Us To Share In His Victory (10-35)

        Look at verses 10-35,  “ 10 The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. 11 Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise. 12 From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. 13 They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says: “. . . Zahab in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon 15 and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the settlement of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.” 16 From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.” 17 Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,18 about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah, 19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, 20 and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

Defeat of Sihon and Og

21 Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites: 22 “Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24 Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25 Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. 26 Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon. 27 That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt;   let Sihon’s city be restored. 28 “Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights. 29 Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites. 30 “But we have overthrown them; Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.” 31 So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. 32 After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei. 34 The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” 35 So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.”

Israel was not so passive when passing through the land of the Amorites. Look at verses 21-26. Like their request to the Edomites, they asked to pass through the land. They promised to not take advantage of the nation’s resources. They were very truthful and just in their dealings with the people.

But Sihon, king of the Amorites would not let them pass. He came to them with his armies to drive the Israelites out. Israel fought them and captured all the cities of the Amorites. In the past they did not engage in battle with the Edomites, but this time they did…why?

It was time to enter the Promised Land according to God’s will. It was God’s will to move forward. There were reasons why the Amorites faced such defeat. Only God knows all the reasons. But God was working through his people to unfold his plan of world redemption.

The people of God were experiencing total victory. Look at some of the verses that appear in these verses.

1. 13, They wrote of the victory in books
2. 16 God was providing for them as they went.
3. 17 The sang as a nation
4. 24a They put their enemies to the sword.
5. 25a Israel captured and occupied cities
6. 27. Poems were written
7. 30 They overthrew their enemies and demolished them.
8. 31. They settled in the land that their hearts longed for.
9. 33. They defeated whole armies.
10. 34 God was with them and he spoke to them through Moses.

v.35 They left no survivors.

1. 35 They took possession of the land.

Wow! For so many years, nothing was happening. There were lots of complaints, defeated words, God’s judgement and wanderings in the desert. But now it seems they are experiencing total victory. Can you imagine being among the people through whom God was working through? God is a very victorious God and he wants to share in the victory with all of his people.

The reason for their victory was that God was with them. Look at verse 34, “The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” They were not always emoting well, and being enthusiastic and positive. No. It’s is not that they changed. It was that God was with them and it was his time to bring his people into land.

God was with his people. God is the Almighty and All-powerful Creator God. This God is our heavenly Father. He loves us and dwells among us. He is victorious in his plan of world redemption. Nothing can stop our God. And he calls his people to follow him and share in his victory. If God is for us who can be against us?

There is another aspect of sharing in God’s victory. It is found in verse 34a, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land….”  God says, “I have delivered him into your hands.” God is speaking in past tense. God wants his people to know that they need to move ahead knowing that God has already achieved the victory. His people are simply involved in a “mopping up” operation. That is how assured the victory is.

Everyone wants to live with a sense of victory and overcoming in life. Nobody wants to live in defeat. One of the greatest compliments that you can give a person is, “You are an overcomer!”. Everyone likes to hear, “You truly are a survivor!”. People like this. They want to live with a sense of overcoming something and surviving against all odds and coming out on top. Some get this through school or the military or sports etc. But that sense of victory is short lived in light of a lifetime and especially eternity.

True and deep and lasting sense of victory comes through following Christ, through faith, into his victory. He invites all to do this. In Christ there is victory. One of my favorite hymns is “Victory in Jesus” When I was a new believer, I used to sing this hymn as I walked to work along the streets of Winnipeg. My heart was filled with a deep sense of victory every day. And that victory came from Jesus Christ and the work that he accomplished in my life. It came through the Gospel. Where else can you experience such victory on life, except in Christ? It just does not exist in the world.

Here are the lyrics.

O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow’r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, “Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,”
And somehow Jesus came and bro’t
To me the victory.

I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I’ll sing up there
The song of victory.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you the real victory that you bring into our lives through faith in Jesus and the Gospel. Jesus is the Gospel. Thanks for bring me along in your victory.”
One word: Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.