King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Thursday, March 04, 2021
Chapters: Numbers 20-21
Message: The Fallout of Aggression
Hello My Friend,
When you stop to think about all the people in the world, and how many actually believe in or I should say accept God, that is an astounding number. With each year that passes even less believe in God, and you would think that with all that is going on in the world right now that more would be turning to Christ, but the sad truth is they are not. It is a great reminder that the less who believe the sooner we are to Christ returning, and what Jesus said, [Mark 13:7-8,12-13 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. 12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.]
I believe that deep down, they fear death and hell, they are just too proud to humble themselves and receive Christ. God does not want to see one soul in hell, but pride will send them there quicker than they can blink their eyes. Israel’s journey back toward the promised land after the ten spies gave their evil report and God forbade them to enter for forty years was not a happy one. I imagine it was rather discouraging to know that no matter what you did if you were over the age of twenty you would never reach the promised land. Since they actually kept murmuring the entire time that God brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness that is exactly what was going to happen. Even though thousands of them already died, there were still many left, and after all they had witnessed they still fussed and had not faith in God whatsoever. And they are at it once again.
[Numbers 20:1-5 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 4 And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.]
[Would God that we had died when our brethren died] I am taking a class in human relations, we are learning about frustration and aggression, and how people tend to attack the ones that have nothing to do with their issue. People become aggressive when they see something as an obstacle of them getting the things they want, but what they refuse to accept is that they are the obstacle. Each and every one of those fools could have repented at any time, and God would have forgiven them and allowed them to go into the promised land. They refused to do that, and therefore, God denied them. If they deny Him He will deny them, [Matthew 10:32-33 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.]
There is actually someone worse than those who deny God, and they are the ones who go back and forth with their faith. They only want God in their lives when they have everything they want, whenever God obstacles come they turn on Him. Now, it had been thirty-eight years since the Israelites were denied entrance into the promised land. All those who were over twenty at that time died, except Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua, and now they were allowed to head back toward Canaan. So, this is the new generation complaining that there was no water for them to drink. God commands Moses to speak to the rock to bring water, but Moses and Aaron both did something that caused God to deny them entrance into the land promised to them.
[Numbers 20:8-12 Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.]
[and with his rod he smote the rock twice:] We know Moses had a temper, he was frustrated at the Israelites and turned his aggression out on, believe it or not, God. So, why did God get angry at both Moses and Aaron, and deny them entrance into the land promised when it was Moses who struck the rock? First of all, He was commanded to speak to and not strike the rock. Second, he struck it twice, which means, the first time water probably did not come out of it. God saw both his and Aaron’s faith, while we do not read it, perhaps it was Aaron who told Moses to strike the rock the second time. So many people believe, and I too believed this, that the reason God forbade them the land promised had to do with Moses disobeying His command. The reason I do not believe that anymore is because of why God told them they could not go, [Because ye believed me not,].
Faith goes a long way, even though we are saved by grace through our faith, and nothing can ever change that, unless we believed in vain, our faith is what grants us access to some of the greatest earthly blessings. However, a lack of faith can provoke God and deny us access to those things. You see, if it was sin committed by Moses, Aaron would have still been able to go, but for some reason they both did not believe that God would bring water from the rock, which was determined when he struck it twice. We must understand that once we are saved, we cannot lose our place into the promised land, but we can lose certain things for our lack of faith, [I Corinthians 3:12-15 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.]
It is a sad truth that we often lose out on earthly things promised to us because our lack of faith, and what God denies us, He gives to someone else. Very few of us know when our time on earth will be over, it is God who appoints the time we are born, and the time that we die. Aaron’s time was up, God commanded that Moses take Aaron back to his home, not before telling him to strip him of his priestly garments and give them to his son.
[Numbers 20:23-28 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, 24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: 26 And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. 27 And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.]
[and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people,] Since Aaron was not able to cross over into the land promised, he would die just like Miriam and the others did. This in no way denied him access into paradise, which is where a saved soul would go until Christ’s passion. [and Aaron died there in the top of the mount:] Mount Hor sits on the eastern side of the Arabah, pretty close to Edom, where Esau’s descendants dwelt. This mountain, which is a dark red bare rock, is nearly five thousand feet above the Mediterranean. Even after centuries, on top of the mountain still rests a small square building, crowned with a dome, called the Tomb of Aaron, [Luke 23:42-43 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.]
As you can imagine, the Israelites were rather frustrated after such a long march round the land of Edom they were very discouraged, and spoke out. This time not only took their aggression out on Moses, they spake against God. Out of anger He sent fiery serpents among them and many died at the result of their unbelief.
[Numbers 21:4-9 And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
[And Moses made a serpent of brass,] Why was it made of brass (bronze)? It resembled the color of the fiery serpents. They had to look up to the serpent by faith, and when they did they were cured. The fiery serpent actually represents Satan and sin, sin of any kind, even unbelief, brings death. The brass serpent represents Christ, and just like anyone who looked to the brass serpent was cured, we are cured when we look to Jesus, [John 3:14-15 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.]
Discontent, discouragement, and unbelief often cause us to question God’s ways, but let me tell you, we will never understand all of God’s ways, as He always has a reason for the things He allows in our lives. We must have faith in God, without faith we cannot please God, even when we are saved. Until we get some faith, we will lose out on a lot that God has to offer us, but when we come together in our faith, we become powerful. The rest of chapter 21 gives an account of how the neighboring nations, who by now knew that Israel was coming, were defeated when they attempted to fight off the Israelite’s.
[Numbers 21:13-14,16,21-24 From thence they removed, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, which is in the wilderness that cometh out of the coasts of the Amorites: for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. 14 Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD, What he did in the Red sea, and in the brooks of Arnon, 16 And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the LORD spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. 21 And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 Let me pass through thy land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king’s high way, until we be past thy borders. 23 And Sihon would not suffer Israel to pass through his border: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness: and he came to Jahaz, and fought against Israel. 24 And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok, even unto the children of Ammon: for the border of the children of Ammon was strong.]
[Wherefore it is said in the book of the wars of the LORD,] This is why history itself proves that God played a huge role in Israel and the nations surrounding it. They may not have turned to God, but they knew that He was with Israel, and every one of those miracles was documented somewhere besides what we read in the Scriptures. The fact that it is mentioned in the Bible proves that every nation had knowledge of the Almighty, although it was not inspired, which is why it is not a part of the Scriptures themselves. It is a great reminder that whether or not a nation accepts God as theirs, every knee will bow to Christ, [Isaiah 45:22-24 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. 23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Numbers 21:9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for Your Word that teaches us everything about You. We do not need a special degree to understand You, we just need faith in You. Even through we live by faith in Your Son saving us, at times our faith does lack, and when that does You can deny us things that we have longed for. We can become discouraged, frustrated, and even aggressive as we think about what we have lost. Lord, Let us be reminded that even though Your deny us some earthly things, we are still granted access into Your Kingdom, because we have believed in Your Son, and received Him as our Saviour. As we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by Your Word, let us meditate upon Your Word so that we are able to know how to handle the evils of this world. You are truly the One who meets all our needs. There is nothing we lack when we commit our faith and trust in You and obey Your commands. Leep our hearts open so that we may follow Your will, and receive all You have for us, and let us not get deceived by disbelief. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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