Numbers 20:14-21 Bible Study | Episode 786

October 14, 2024

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Numbers 20:14-21   Bible Study | Episode #786

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life.

Hi.

This is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up.

His word to you and allow you.

To see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in numbers, chapter 20. Numbers, chapter 20, and verse 14. We just kind of completed the passage where Moses, as the leader, well, he finally kind of has capitulated to all the rebellious people and allowed his emotions to get involved. He. He's. He's been told he's not going to go into the promised land. And then we have an interesting little passage. It's not going to be the final time we deal with this nation, but it's a. It's a interesting passage in that there's not a conflict right now. There's going to be a conflict. There'll be a conflict down the line. But the issue is that the Edomites, who are Esau's children, the nation of Edom, are the descendants of Esau. And if you've been going through our Bible study in the morning, you know that Esau was. Was the brother of Isaac, and they. I mean, it was the brother of Jacob. And the issue was that, well, you had the whole thing of them cheating Esau out of his inheritance, or he thought they had cheated him out of his inheritance, and, in fact, he'd given it away for a bowl of porridge. But anyway, there was a lot of ill will between the descendants of, well, Jacob and Esau. And so when we get to this point, you would think that that had passed away. You would think that that would be something that would have. Would have kind of been water under the bridge. But as you can tell, it's not water under the bridge. It's. It's. It's something that is not. Is not forgotten or not given up on. And. And why not? Because we. We know that that's the case even in this part of the world, even today. And you go well in that. Just natural for that to be that way. Not necessarily. I would say, spiritually speaking, yes. But if you said, is that naturally the way things are, I would say not always. It's not really always that way. Because the truth is, the number of tribes and nations that we come from, the different tribes and nations that have existed in that part of the world through Europe and Asia and Africa, are just too numerous to count. And them coming into being and coming into play in the world stage and on the world stage in history is there's just so many of them. So many. And trust me, I study world history a lot. And the groups of people, the groups of. Even when you're studying the roman empire and the number of tribes, the gallic tribes and the tribes from the Caucasus and the tribes from the asian steppe and the tribes from all through, all the way across into Spain, and the peoples that they dealt with in North Africa and all the way into the arabian peninsula and those areas, they aren't necessarily the people that we see there today. They were different groups of people in different nations that migrated here and there and everywhere. And so the truth is that when you look back on time and space, it's not really like there's been these set in stone nations that have always been there, even as recently as the first part of the last century. If you looked at a european map, you would see nations that you've never heard of before. If you're not a history buff, you would see countries that you didn't even know existed, like the Ottomans. If you're not from. If you don't understand history. The Ottoman Empire was a huge empire in Europe. Most people don't know that. You would see a nation called Prussia and wouldn't see a nation called Germany in the very first part of last century. You would see nations and states that don't exist today and did exist for a long time and not anymore. And once you kind of realize that, you realize that the world we live in is definitely a world that is always changing and always becoming new and different. And it's not, even though it seems so concrete the way we look at it, even our own bodies are not concrete. They're a majority liquid. And it's always changing. We know our bodies is always changing. The older we get, we realize that we're not even close to the same as we used to be. And so when we get to eat them, you would think that that's not. But in the spiritual, things don't change. In spiritual, think God. The things are far more concrete. They're far more real. And the issues that people have in heaven with each other or the people. The issues that people have in the spiritual with each other. Are far more set in stone by our actions. Jesus told us to store it for ourselves. Treasure in heaven that moths or rust doesn't destroy. And thieves don't break in and steal. What he's saying is that the Spiritual is more concrete than the Physical. The Spiritual is more permanent than the Physical. And that which we store up in heaven is there. And that which we fail to store is not there. And so when we think about this passage of passing through Edom, that's the things I think about. That's how I kind of consider this. It's not going to be a conflict now, but it is going to be a conflict. It says, now, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. Thus says your brother Israel. Notice they're telling them, we're not against you. We're your brother. We come from the same line. And they do. They do. And if you'll remember, Esau and Jacob did make peace with each other. Now, they did not build a strong relationship with each other, but they made peace with each other. And so that peace ought to still stand. He says. Thus says your brother Israel. You know all the hardship that has befallen us. How our father went down to Egypt. And we dwelt in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians afflicted us. And our father, when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us up out of Egypt. Now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards. Nor will we drink water from wells. We will go along the king's highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Until we have passed through your territory. Kings highway was a major. Was a major thoroughfare. Now, it's not like an interstate of today, but it was a major thoroughfare in that it was a well worn path. A well worn road that went from Egypt up into. Up toward Europe. And then. And then broke off and kind of headed toward Asia. I always call it the asian steppes. But that's what they are. As you head up. If you head up through Syria. And then up through Persia and Turkey and that area, you're heading toward the asian steppes. And the king's highway was a highway that went from Egypt all the way up there. And Edom was along that road, along that highway. So now you know that the children of Israel are up in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula. They're up in the northern part, near where some of the conflict that's going on in Gaza is. It'd be closer to Egypt, but it would be in that area. And so they said, let's pass through the land. Let's go. Bye. Then Edom said to him, said to him, you shall not pass through my land lest I come out against you with the sword. Well, that's unfriendly. Really? Really. That was kind of a unfriendly comment. And what's going on here is that spiritual issue still exists, and it's still there, and it is a problem. And I would say this to you, do your best not to create those issues. Do your best to sue those issues. Even when it becomes very difficult to deal with somebody or some group of people, it's best to let those things be and just move on, because they do have significance in the eternal. Like I said, nations and states and peoples and tribes come and go, and they have throughout history for thousands of years. And you come from groups of people that you have no real understanding of and no real knowledge of. But the spiritual things that you do are permanent. And oftentimes when we do those things, we should. We need to understand the significance of them, the significance of them for the good and the bad. And I want to say that in its completion, the significance of them for the good and the bad and what we do and how we react and how we live our lives have great significance because God has made us born again and give us eternal life, and that life is powerful and we shouldn't. We shouldn't. We should understand how important it is that the words we say and the things we do have great significance. And oftentimes, especially when you wield that life and that power in the right way, it has greater and greater significance. And some of the conversations that you have with people and the things that you say to them, even though for you, they may just pass by and be just another issue another day. But for some people, they have permanent and lasting impact for the good and the bad. And that's that. Storing and not storing, I guess, is the best way to say it. That's what I guess it's loosening, is the way it's described by Jesus. That which you store or loosen in the spiritual has great significance, and it sits there permanently, even though the world is so fluctuating and so seemingly unpermanent. It says so the children of Israel said to him, we will go by the highway. And if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot. Nothing more. They're making those things, but they're making their request known. But the truth is that they're not interested in having a good relationship with Israel. They're not interested in having peace because of the things of the past, because of the issues of the past. And then he said, you shall not pass through. So Edom came out against them with men and with a strong hand. Thus, Edom refused to give Israel passage, passage through his territory. So Israel turned away from him. And notice, it seems like you would say they and we in this passage, but it's very personal. It says, you know, we have a lot of I and he. And so there's. There's a. It actually kind of moves back and forth from those things. Like, you know, we're going to do this. But then I say, Edom. Well, it's not Edom. Edoms. It's not Edom. It's. It's the Edomites. It said, they say, I'll come out against you with a sword. It's personal. It's very personal. It's very individualistic. So there. There is the seed planted there. Eventually, there's going to be conflict and war, and we'll get to that eventually one day as we're going through scripture. But that conflict and war is going to be a constant problem for the Edomites, and it's going to be a constant problem for. For the Israelites because of the issues of the past. And that's why we should be in the business of changing the world we live in by building things up and not loosening things in heaven, but making things permanent in the spiritual. And so that's just a little insight. This passage, in all actuality, is not a lot of to be said here in the sense of not a lot happening, but there's a lot happening, actually. And oftentimes we think that what we've done and what we've said has, you know, it's just really nothing. But it's not nothing. It's something. You have the spirit of God in you, so everything is something.

As you go today. I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today. In Jesus name.