“Then the tent of meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; as they camp, so shall they set out, each in position, standard by standard.” – Numbers 2:17

The Book of Numbers is another Old Testament book that doesn’t get much love from Christians. The first few chapters are so full of numbers that many would-be readers decide it’s time to head for greener pastures. What a shame! Numbers is full of exciting adventures, terrible failures, gracious provision, and merciful forgiveness. More Christians would probably stick with it if our Bibles used the Hebrew name for the book: “In the Wilderness”. That sounds much more exciting, doesn’t it?

Numbers is the story of Israel’s repeated rebellion and failure and God’s miraculous provision “in the wilderness”. It describes how rebellion doomed a generation to live in the harsh desert and how God provided for them anyway. It’s the story of living in the remarkable reality highlighted by this verse – God’s presence dwelling in the center of their camp. That’s the wondrous reality described by all the numbers in chapter 2. The Israelites spent their decades camping in the desert in a very specific way. At the heart off their camp was the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, in which God’s visible presence dwelt. Despite all the hardship of life in the desert, God was visibly residing in the center of their camp. How amazing is that?!?

That’s the essential reality underlying all the stories in Numbers. Regardless of whether the people acted in faith or fear, obedience or rebellion, God was right there in their midst. Who else, in all of history, can possibly say that??? Well, actually, every believer in Jesus Christ! What?!? Yes! The essential reality of Christian life, which we seldom appreciate properly, is that every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit of God living in them. Every follower of Jesus is a Tabernacle, a Tent of Meeting. If Jesus is your Lord, God is living in you. That’s even more extraordinary than what’s highlighted here in Numbers!

If this is true for you – because you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ – do you live like it? Does the presence of God in your very midst change how you think, speak, act, and react? How you view the world? How you view other people? How you view yourself? It should!!! Just as having God in the midst of their camp was a life-altering reality for Israel, it should be a life-altering reality for you. Think about that! And #FollowJesus

“You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 23:42-43

People have short memories. Even the most striking and vivid events in our lives gradually blur and fade over time. And we may, or may not, pass those memories down through the generations. God knows all about human forgetfulness. That’s one reason the Old Covenant included annual feasts and festivals focused on engaging the senses to retell, and symbolically relive, the great works of God.

The experience of the Exodus was to be retold over an elaborate dinner every year at Passover. Older generations were to testify to the younger generations about God’s saving power. The experience of the Wilderness was to be retold every year during the Feast of Booths, as one generation testified to the next about God’s gracious provision.

If you aren’t Jewish, you aren’t required to celebrate these festivals. But what are your annual reminders, traditions, and celebrations that serve to keep your memory fresh about God’s miraculous works and ways? What celebrations do you use to pass the story of God’s power and presence to rising generations? What do you use to engage the senses and refresh your memory about God’s grace and mercy? People have short memories. Brainstorm ways you could regularly refresh your memory about God’s goodness and share those memories with others. #FollowJesus

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 19:9-10

As God prepared the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land, He established rules like these. Rules providing for those in need by giving them the right to gather leftover produce from any field. God wasn’t concerned with perfect efficiency because He understood His infinite capacity to produce and provide. Rather, He was concerned with generosity and provision for neighbors in need. While God’s stated will was for none of His people to be poor in the Promised Land, He also understood that in a fallen world, poverty would happen. And God cares deeply for the poor.

In ways large and small, obvious and subtle, God declares His consistent concern for the poor and vulnerable. This is true from the beginning to the end of the Bible. Old Testament. New Testament. Care for the poor and vulnerable is part of God’s unchanging nature. We, His people, are commanded to share His concern. We must live it out in practice, not just theory. In deeds, not merely words. With generosity, not excuses. Cultivate God’s heart for those around you in need, then act on that heart in love. #FollowJesus

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” – Leviticus 17:11

Life is in blood. Blood is life (verse 14). This ancient principle explains what Jesus did for us on the cross. It explains why Jesus went to the cross. It explains why Jesus took on a human body and nature and entered our world in the first place. Life is in blood. However, sin leads to death. All sin is rebellion against God’s authority and He is the source of all life. To sin is to separate ourselves from life and bring death upon ourselves. Hence the beginning of Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death…” The truth is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

Because sin is death and blood is life, God appointed the sacrifice of blood to make atonement for sin. When we sin, either die for that sin or something innocent must die in our place. That’s what Jesus came to do. He lived a perfect, sinless life and then went to the cross to make atonement for our sins. His body broken and His blood shed to wash away our sins. His blood gives eternal life when trust in Him, His death, and His resurrection from the dead.

Similarly, every covenant of God is sealed with blood, because blood is life and to break a covenant is to ask for death. Jesus sealed the new covenant of grace through His shed blood. We’re no longer doomed to the futility of trying to save ourselves by good works and self-discipline. We are renewed and transformed by God’s grace through faith in His Son. His blood for our lives. Blood is life. #FollowJesus

“Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.” – Leviticus 15:11

This is what makes the story in which a woman with a years-long discharge of blood is healed by touching the fringe of Jesus’ cloak so remarkable. That story isn’t just about extraordinary faith and the power of Jesus to heal. It’s one of two interconnected stories in which Jesus has contact with someone who, according to the Law, should have made Him unclean but didn’t. Instead, Jesus healed the woman and raised a dead child to life!

What makes these stories so important is that under the Law, uncleanness spread like a virus. If anyone touched something or someone unclean, because of leprosy, the discharge of bodily fluids, or death, that person became unclean. Uncleanness spread like wildfire. Under the Law, there is only one Being able to reverse that flow of uncleanness. Only one Being Who spread cleanness rather than uncleanness. God. Only God could make the unclean clean. Only God could have contact with the unclean and not become unclean Himself.

In these stories in which Jesus came in contact with someone or something unclean under the Law, the fact that He never became unclean and instead healed the underlying cause of uncleanness is a powerful evidence that He is God. They aren’t just great miracles, they are the quiet testimony that Jesus is God come in the flesh. God come to earth to make all who put their faith in Him clean forever. This is the person and power of Jesus – trust and do not doubt that if you are in Christ, you have been made clean! #FollowJesus