Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110731.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part X: Interpreting Our Experiences With Scripture For Settled Living
(Numbers 9:15-18 et al.)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Though we know we need to trust God in living, some of us believers seem go from one unsettling crisis to the next unsettling one, so the "life of faith" becomes a series of events where we stay all mentally and emotionally inflamed!

    Take for example the national sovereign debt ceiling crisis:

    (1) When this sermon was being prepared, The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2011, p. A21 had run Erica Orden's story ("Prolonged Debt Talks Hurt All, Mayor Says") telling how New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed America's "defaulting on its debts . . . would have potentially disastrous economic consequences for us all."

    (2) Due to the fear such a default was giving many investors, Tom Lauricella's story ("Swiss Franc Gives Shelter in Storm", Ibid., p. C1) noted the Swiss franc "is taking its turn as a safe harbor for investors battered by dueling debt crises in the U. S. and Europe."

    (3) Brendan Conway's report ("Debt Stalemate Weighs on Stocks," Ibid., p. C5) added that Monday's market saw stocks fall due to the "deadlock in Washington's debt negotiations . . ."

    (4) Tatyana Shumsky wrote the story, "Gold Hits High on U. S. Debt Divide," Ibid., p. C7 reporting how "Gold prices swelled to a record on the deadlock over raising the U. S. debt limit as investors sought a refuge from the uncertainty surrounding the possible financial knock-on effects from the drawn-out saga."

    (5) She added that U. S. "Treasuries, which are also considered a so-called safe-haven investment, declined because their valuation would likely be pummeled by any kind of default."

    Thus, a well-meaning believer could wonder in his walk of faith with God if this all meant he was supposed to sell his bank CDs and U. S. Treasury bonds and invest in gold and Swiss francs!

    Yet, if the president and congress were to settle their differences and prevent the debt failure that was due to occur on August 2nd, the Swiss franc and gold values might greatly dip, so staying in Treasury bonds and CDs would be the safer investment!

    Thus, the tendency was for the believer to wring his hands along with the world while praying fervently for wisdom!

    Thus, we ask, "I KNOW I NEED to trust and obey the Lord, but I need HELP getting off this roller-coaster ride of being so UNSETTLED in going from one crisis to the next! Any ideas?!"

    Need: "I know I must trust God to be blessed, but life's crises are so many and so often, I need help to stay settled in spirit. Any ideas?!"

  1. In her wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, Israel enjoyed God's COMFORTING PRESENCE of His GUIDING CLOUD by day and PILLAR of FIRE by night, Numbers 9:15-18.
  2. However, as we before learned, even THIS experience did NOT keep Israel from REPEATEDLY FRETTING over God's ability and will to help her in her repeat trials of faith in the wilderness.
  3. Nevertheless, HAD Israel INTERPRETED God's cloud and fiery pillar in light of SCRIPTURE, she would have been FAR MORE SETTLED in TRUSTING and OBEYING Him for BLESSING:
    1. God's cloud and fiery pillar first signified God's presence in written Hebrew Scripture at Genesis 15:17 NIV: there, a smoking firepot and a blazing torch passed between several sets of severed animal sacrifice bodies when God made a covenant with Abraham, Genesis 15:8-21.
    2. In Abraham's era, such a practice meant "may the same be done to the one who breaks the covenant" as had occurred to the sacrificial animals! (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Genesis 15:10)
    3. Also, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch in Abraham's native Mesopotamia were used in rituals to "ward off evil." (E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], p. 113-114, cited in net.bible.org, Gen. 15:17, ftn. 48).
    4. However, God alone -- no other entity -- passed between the animal parts, so God ALONE promised to protect Israel! (Genesis 15:12, 17)
    5. Thus, any Hebrew who would have recalled his SCRIPTURE at Genesis 15:8-21 would realize God's promise to Abraham was meant to assure Abraham's descendants, Israel, that God intended help and protect her as a nation with the utmost of His ability and will!
    6. Also, ten prophecies God gave with this promise were being fulfilled:
      1. Israel was a foreigner in Egypt, Gen. 15:13a with 46:2-3.
      2. Israel was enslaved there, Genesis 15:13b; Exodus 1:8-11a.
      3. Israel was oppressed in that slavery, Gen. 15:13c; Ex. 1:11b.
      4. Israel was in Egypt for 400 years, Genesis 15:13d; Ex. 12:41.
      5. God judged Egypt as promised, Gen. 15:14a; Ex. 6:1-12:29.
      6. Israel thus came out of Egypt, Gen. 15:14b; Ex. 12:30-34, 37.
      7. Israel was leaving Egypt very wealthy, Gen. 15:14c; Ex. 12:35-36.
      8. Abraham had long before peacefully died, Gen. 15:15a; 25:7-8a.
      9. He had then been buried in a good old age, Gen. 15:15b; 25:8b-9.
      10. Israel was headed toward Canaan, Gen. 15:16a; Exodus 3:16-17.
    7. There were more predictions left to be fulfilled, and contemplating them in view of God's faithfulness to keep His Genesis 15:8-21 Word THUS FAR would greatly encouraged the people of Israel:
      1. God promised to give Israel future victory over ten NATIONS in the Promised Land, all ten named in Genesis 15:18, 19-21!
      2. The last nation named, the Jebusites, would be defeated by David in 1 Chronicles 11:4-9 over a thousand years after God's Genesis 15 promise to Abraham , Ibid., Ryrie, p. 2021-2025!
      3. Besides, all the land Israel was crossing in her wilderness journey God had Scripturally promised as her future blessed possession!
        1. God had promised Abraham the land "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates," Genesis 15:18 KJV.
        2. This "river of Egypt" is not just the "wadi of Egypt," a ravine south of Gaza that seasonally had water and was Israel's south border in 1 Kings 8:65: though that word for "river" is from nahal that means "wadi," the Genesis 15:18 "river" is from the Hebrew word nahar, meaning the Nile River! (Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 523, 20; B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 636, 625; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Genesis 15:18-21)
        3. Now, Israel had left Egypt from Rameses and Succoth EAST of the Nile, Ex. 12:37; The MacMillan Bible Atlas, 1968, map 48.
        4. So, to recall the Scriptural background of God's cloud and fiery pillar would lead Israel to realize that where she was traversing between Egypt and the Promised Land, God planned to give to her, and one day make into a lush land "flowing with milk and honey," Exodus 3:8! Thus, the Sinai Peninsula where Israel faced her wilderness trials was part of her future blessed land, a land to bloom as a rose in Christ's kingdom, Isaiah 35:1!
      4. Thus, realizing the Scriptural implications of the cloud and fiery pillar would have settled Israel in the Sinai Peninsula journey: she would have known she could trust God to meet her needs then and there as He abundantly planned to do in her future!
Application: May we (1) believe in Christ for salvation from sin and hell, John 3:16. (2) May we TRUST God in living, (3) viewing our experiences in life in view of Scripture to be settled in all our trials.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 In our introduction, we noted how the looming national debt default crisis set to occur August 2 if the president and congress failed to agree on handling the problem had unsettled many. Believers who know they must trust God with their needs could easily be "caught up" in fretting along with the world over whether to stay in bank CDs and U. S. Treasuries, assuming the debt crisis would be avoided, or to sell them and buy gold and Swiss francs in the event of a debt default!

Well, applying this lesson leads to a settled mind for believers:

(1) We have often taught that SCRIPTURE at Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 notes that no man knows the economic future, so we must spread our investments around in different realms, to diversify!

Well, a financial commentary in The Wall Street Journal, Ibid., p. C8 ("Treasury Holders Learn to Grin and Bear It") revealed how wise it is to do now exactly what Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 teaches. It claimed: (1) "(M)ost investors still don't believe even a fractured U. S. Congress would be stupid enough to force a default," Ibid. Then, (2) "Several days remain to secure a deal, and there will be wiggle room to prioritize payments and avoid a default for a short while after that," Ibid. (3) "(M)ost of the biggest holders of Treasuries have little choice but to wait out any uncertainty . . . (in having) no incentive to do anything that would damage the value of (their) investment(s)" such as "sell [their Treasuries] and risk destabilizing the market," Ibid. Add to this the fact that (4) "there is no comparably liquid, high-quality euro bond available" to compete against U. S. Treasuries (Ibid.) and (5) "markets for oil and gold" are "too small and volatile to house [national] reserves" (Ibid.), the best thing for ALL investors, big and small (like us), is to stay diversified as Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 teaches!

(2) Finally, in last Wednesday's Church Prayer Meeting Bible study, we came to Hebrews 13:5-6 that directs us not to love money, but to rely on God for our livelihoods, not being afraid what man (like government leaders or political factions) can do to harm us! God signaled by this "coincidental" union of this passage with the current economic crisis our need to keep our eyes not on money or other people, but on Him to meet our living needs! That settles us!

May we thus INTERPRET our DAILY EXPERIENCES in light of SCRIPTURE to be SETTLED in our LIFE of FAITH, that we enjoy God's BLESSING in its fullest sense!