Jesus in Numbers

So many instructions around the tent…the tabernacle…the dwelling place of God. Only the Levites must put it up and take it down.  Anyone else who approaches it is to be put to death (Numbers 1:51). It is the center of camp and the Israelites are to camp around it, but some distance from it (Numbers 2:2). It is holy space and on our own we are unholy. I see you, Jesus, as the way to holiness. In you and through you we are able to approach God.

To be sure no one approaches God’s dwelling place, heavy, thick curtains are installed. But when you died on the cross, this separation was no more…

³⁷ And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Mark 15:37-38

I see me in the grumbling and unbelief of the Israelites despite the signs and wonders performed Moses and Aaron. You cast out demons, you healed every kind of sickness, you fed thousands out of nothing, you turned water to wine, you raised the dead, you made the blind see and the deaf to hear. But among your own people, you experienced only unbelief, grumbling, and a death sentence.

I see you in the water God allows Moses to extract from a rock (Numbers 20:5-11). You are the everlasting living water that quenches our thirst and satisfies like nothing else can. 

Only through you can we never be thirsty again.

The constant complaining and sinning of the Israelites, despite God’s provisions, lead to snakes prowling around, biting, killing. But God provides a way to live. The terror with each strike as the poison makes its way through the bodies. Families desperate for a way to keep them alive, crying out to Moses to seek God on their behalf. The news quickly spreads that Moses is up to something. At God’s direction, he constructs a bronze snake and places it atop a pole. Look to the pole, they say, to the snake on the top. Looking up will keep those bitten from death (Numbers 21:7-9). I see you Jesus, atop the cross. When we look up to you, we too can live, despite the bites of our sin.

I see you in the fourth prophesy of Balaam (Numbers 24:15-19). In the star that pointed the way to your glorious, humble birthplace, and in the scepter that represents your kingdom.

I see you in the plea from Moses…

Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation  who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” Numbers 27:15-17

Though Joshua was selected for this time, you, Jesus, are the Good Shepherd now and we are your flock. I see you there gently leading the way.

And I see you beautifully in the God ordained cities of refuge. A safe place to live in peace when fear, doubt, destruction, condemnation are swirling about (Numbers 35:6-12).

You, Jesus, opened up God’s dwelling place for us to approach God personally. You fight for us even during our grumbling and unbelief. You are the living water, our Good Shepherd, our place of refuge. You are who we look up to in order to be saved from certain death.