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: Saturday, March 09, 2024
Chapters: Numbers Chapters 33-34
Message: Eternal Inheritance
Hello My Friend,
Did you ever start thinking about all the things that happened to you in your lifetime, the good, the bad, and the ugly? Looking back on my years and all the crazy things I did before Christ and I can see God’s hand in it and how He put everything into place for me to accept His Son. And even though He did not know me and I did not know Him personally for quite a while, He still did not give up on me. And here is the most astounding thing, no matter your past, Jesus, only reveals Himself to those whom have some faith in Him, [Matthew 11:27-30 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.]
Reflection is a good reminder of just how lost we were before Christ, how far He takes us on our journey after we found Him, and why we do not want to let go of Him under any circumstances. As we continue in the reading of Numbers, the Israelites are camped out near Jericho, awaiting the command that allows them to cross over and into the promise land. They did nothing to deserve this, yet God did not go back on His promise to give them land that they would inherit forever. It has been a long journey, forty years, and the oldest people left from the time they departed out of Egypt except for Moses was Joshua and Caleb. Now, Moses recalls their journey.
[Numbers 33:1-5 These are the journeys of the children of Israel, which went forth out of the land of Egypt with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. 2 And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of the LORD: and these are their journeys according to their goings out. 3 And they departed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians. 4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments. 5 And the children of Israel removed from Rameses, and pitched in Succoth.]
[with their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron.] An army is more than a military branch of soldiers, it is also a great number of people and in this case, the Israelites were an army of people led under the hand of Moses and Aaron, who was led under the hand of the Commander in Chief Himself, the Almighty God. Under the hand of every good leader is the Almighty God Himself, and without God we truly are lost, [Psalms 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.]
The one thing that we do not find Moses doing as he is writing down the account of their journey is recalling all the times where the Israelites rebelled against God, even the evil report of the ten spies. A good reminder when reflecting on our past is not to dwell on all the bad things that we did. And do you know why? God, has already forgiven us and forgotten what we have done. That is if we have found Christ and accepted Him as our Saviour. Those whom have not found Christ when they stand before Him to give an account for their lives, He will bring up every bad thing, including the opportunities where they were introduced to Him and did not accept Him, [Revelation 20:12,15 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.]
As for those whom have found Christ, their names are written in the book of life and they too will give an account of their lives, but it will be of what they did after they found Him. Now, we can recall Aaron and how he messed up incredibly when he made that golden calf, gossiped about Moses, and at Meribah when he did not believe that God could bring water out of a rock by speaking to it, but as far as God was concerned, all of that was forgotten. What was remembered was his journey up unto the day he died, [Numbers 33:37-39 And they removed from Kadesh, and pitched in mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. 38 And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month. 39 And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.]
[Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD,] Aaron, may not have been able to cross over into the land of promise, but he still had faith in God up until the day he died. Disbelief in God doing something is not the same as not believing in Him at all, we all lack faith at times, in fact, Jesus, was constantly asking the disciples where their faith was, but that does not alter our salvation. No one loses their salvation, unless we believed in Christ in vain or never believed at all, our names are forever written in the book of life no matter how many times Jesus asks us where our faith is, [Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.]
God, never said that our faith in Christ would not come with many challenges of our faith, and not in the way that we might think. When God challenges our faith He does not do it to get us to question our faith, it is the devil who does that, He does it to actually strengthen our faith. Think about it, when things are going well and we do not have any challenges we tend to get lazy in our faith and rely more on what we have done instead of what God has done for us. That is when God will shake things up a bit and bring those challenges, [1 Timothy 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.]
God, was giving the Israelites the land of Canaan, however, there was a challenge, and God, tells Moses what they would need to do once they crossed over, [Numbers 33:49-53 And they pitched by Jordan, from Bethjesimoth even unto Abelshittim in the plains of Moab. 50 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: 53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.]
[When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;] I tell you what, we have states bigger than this land, but God does not want us scattered all over the place, He wants us close-knit together. Why? So that we are not only dependent on Him, He can better keep us out of danger, and from the temptations of the world, [James 1:13-14 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.]
Once we receive Christ as our Saviour we become one of His sheep and He keeps us close-knit together within the confinements of His spiritual fence. Yes, we are scattered all over the world and sent out into the world to reach the lost with the Gospel, but that is where it ends. We are not to become like them, we are not to even learn of their lifestyles and what they are like, but unfortunately we do. However, learning of what they are like can actually be a blessing in that it reminds us that we are all sinners and Jesus gave His life for all sinners, [1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.]
Most of us who are saved have come from out of the world and that is what becomes our testimony to reach the lost. It is also a huge reminder of why we need to stay within the confinements of the fence that Jesus puts around us once we are saved, [1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.]
However, if we jump that fence and get caught up in the world it will become a curse to us. This is exactly what God warns the Israelites of if they fail to drive out all the people and destroy their idols, [Numbers 33:55-56 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. 56 Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.]
[that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.] Do you understand why it is important for saved, born again Christians to come out of the world? God, is not opposed to us working out there within reason or making a living out there as not everyone is called to serve Him in His ministry. What He is opposed to is our living like them, besides, and we cannot live like them because we belong to Christ. Anything that we knowingly do that is against God will bring a curse upon ourselves because the Holy Spirit indwells us, [1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.]
God’s promises are conditional when it comes to earthly possessions, He will give, but He will also take away should we take advantage of His good graces. Now, while we cannot do anything to get or keep our salvation, everything that we do after we are saved is part of our being faithful and obedient to the one who gave His life for us. When we pass over the Jordan and into the promise land, that is when we will receive our inheritance of eternal life, but until then God wants us within the confinements of His fence. He does not even want us to dwell among other Christians who do not have likemided faith. Now, God, commands the Israelites to divide the land once they are on it. Each tribe will receive a portion of land for their own from the four corners of the boarder.
[Numbers 34:2-3,6-7,10,12 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land of Canaan; (this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan with the coasts thereof:) 3 Then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the coast of Edom, and your south border shall be the outmost coast of the salt sea eastward: 6 And as for the western border, ye shall even have the great sea for a border: this shall be your west border. 7 And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor: 10 And ye shall point out your east border from Hazarenan to Shepham: 12 And the border shall go down to Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the salt sea: this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.]
[this is the land that shall fall unto you for an inheritance,] From north to south, east to west, God places His people where He feels they will be of great use for Him. Some will travel to many cities, many states, and even many countries, while some will stay put right where we are until the day He brings them home. Wherever God leads us we will follow one way or another, but our final resting place will be the land that we inherit from God Himself. By the way, did you know that Jesus is our inheritance? Well, He is if we have accepted Him as our Saviour, [Ephesians 1:10-11 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:]
[this shall be your land with the coasts thereof round about.] Did you ever study a map of where you are headed? That is even easier now that we have maps in our phones, but did you notice how the highways are built? You can literally see spaghetti lines that are twisted in every direction at the intersections. I bring this up because the journey of a saved, born again Christian is often like these spaghetti highways, it is not one straight line even though the way we are to take is strait, [Matthew 7:13-14 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.]
Our journey is a bunch of hills, valleys, and mountains that we must go up and down, and if we trust Him, He will get us through every one of them until He brings us home. And I will tell you this, we will lose some earthly promises because we did not have enough patience to wait for His time or lacked some faith. Always remember that the most important promise that God will never deny us is eternal life through our faith in Christ, [1 Corinthians 3:14-15 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.]
Now, when the tribes of Reuben and Gad saw the beautiful land before them and how much there was of it, they did not want to dwell in the land that God promised them, instead they asked if they could remain there. God, reminds Israel that they already received their inheritance.
[Numbers 34:13-17 And Moses commanded the children of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to give unto the nine tribes, and to the half tribe: 14 For the tribe of the children of Reuben according to the house of their fathers, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to the house of their fathers, have received their inheritance; and half the tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance: 15 The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance on this side Jordan near Jericho eastward, toward the sunrising. 16 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 17 These are the names of the men which shall divide the land unto you: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun.]
[The two tribes and the half tribe have received their inheritance] Remember, God, is not the one who gave them this land, but they wanted it and therefore that is what they got. God, will warn us that we need to stay out of the world, and while He does intervene more than we realize, if we are persistent He will let us go. However, by doing so we risk God’s protection and this is where many Christians get entrapped into hard bondage until they either repent or made such a mess of their lives that God’s only way to protect them is to bring them home before their time. I have seen so many Christians die in their sin because they could not break free from that bondage, [James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Numbers 33:4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.]
Today’s Prayer: God, I know that Your hand is in everything that I go through on this earthy journey as I await the promise land. Thank You, for loving me and not giving up on me, for giving me an inheritance that is eternal. No matter what You give or take away while I am here, there is one thing You will never take away and that is the inheritance awaiting me in the promise land. Lord, Lead me and guide me, let Your work appear through me, and be the glory of those You have entrusted me to share the Gospel with. And let Your Son be upon me, as You establish Your work in me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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