In His Service (Numbers 3:1-4:49)
Last Sunday we began a new sermon series in the book of Numbers. We learned from the opening census that God had grown Israel into a nation with 603,550 warriors. God had indeed kept His promise in Genesis 12 to make Abraham into a great nation so that the rest of the world will be blessed.
The arrangement of Israel’s camp in chapter 2 showed God’s faithfulness in restoring access to Him. For the first time since Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden, God had chosen to dwell among His people. God’s tent or tabernacle, which housed His presence,
was situated in the heart of Israel’s camp. But because God’s holiness cannot tolerate sin, the Lord appointed the Levites to form a special barrier around His tent. The Levites prevented people from entering His holy presence.
Today, we are going to double click on the Levites and learn more about them in Chapters 3 and 4. We will learn how they came into full-time ministry and their specific duties.
My first point from Numbers 3:11-51 is the redeemed belong to God. My second point from Numbers 3:1-10 and Numbers 4:1-49 is the redeemed are devoted to His service.
The redeemed belong to God and are devoted to His service.
The big idea of today’s sermon is the redeemed belong to God and are devoted to His service.
The redeemed belong to God (Num 3:11-51)
Many of us are familiar with incentive-based systems where a reward is given for completing a particular task or for exhibiting a particular behavior. Our government has successfully employed this system in many areas, rewarding us with points for clocking 5000 steps a day, having 7 hours of sleep and buying food with the healthy choice symbol. Married couples are given incentives for each new child they have. And most recently, the National Library Board started giving virtual coins redeemable for cash when people read for at least 15 minutes a day. Perhaps you’re wondering if Bible reading counts.
We must, however, be careful about letting our experience with these incentive-based systems influence our understanding of Christianity. God makes clear in passages like Ephesians 2:8-9 that no one can earn their own salvation. God does not reward us for
performing acts of service. Attending a church service, praying before a meal or giving money does not contribute to our salvation in any way.
The Good News of Christianity is that salvation is a gracious gift of God. It is made possible by the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Hence any acts of service that we do for God are never for salvation, but always in response to what we have received from God. We love, because He first loved us. We give, because He first gave His Son. We serve, because He came to serve us.
This concept of serving God because of what He first did goes way back in time.
Before giving the Levites specific duties, God first reminds them of the salvation Israel had experienced. Listen to 3:11-13.
God explains in these verses why the Levites are His. He had previously saved all the firstborns of Israel when they were still slaves in Egypt.
Because Pharaoh had refused to let God’s people go, God unleashed a most severe plague. The angel of death would pass over the land and the firstborn of every man and beast would die. Because every family has a firstborn, every family would experience great loss.
But in His grace, God provided a way of escape. He instructed the Israelites to slaughter a lamb for every family and smear its blood on their doorpost. In this manner, the angel of death struck the Egyptians but passed over the homes of the Israelites. In utter defeat, Pharaoh let God’s people go.
If not for God’s intervention, Israel would have remained in slavery. If not for God’s grace in instructing the Israelites to sacrifice a lamb, all the firstborn of Israel would have perished. Therefore, Numbers 3:13 states that Israel owed their lives to the Lord.
Israel had experienced God’s redemption and they belonged to him, both man and beast. This meant that the whole nation was to glorify God. The entire nation was to worship God and make Him known. But how would an entire nation worship God each day of the week?
Since there are many tasks that people have to attend to, God sets apart a segment of the population for dedicated service to His tabernacle.
The proportion of Israelites that God would set apart is based on the first Passover. The number of firstborns that God had saved would be the number of people dedicated to His service.
But instead of taking the firstborn from every family, God chooses to enlist the Levites. This is explained in Numbers 3:14-51.
In Numbers 3:14-39, the Lord instructed Moses to take a census of male Levites aged 1 month and over. We learn from the census that the Levites were organized into three main groups according to the three sons of Levi—Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Each group was assigned a camping location around the tabernacle, and each group was given specific duties concerning the tabernacle.
Numbers 3:31 for example tells us that the Kohathites were in charge of guarding the contents of the tabernacle, which included the ark, the table and the lampstand.
We will refer to some of these details later in the second half of the sermon.
For now, take note of the final tally of the census in Numbers 3:39. There were 22,000 male Levites aged 1 month and older.
In Numbers 3:40-43, God instructed Moses to take a census of all the firstborn among the people of Israel aged 1 month and over. And there were listed 22,273 firstborns.
The purpose of the two different censuses is a follow up to Numbers 3:12 where God had provisioned for the substitution of every firstborn. God would enlist one Levite into fulltime service for every firstborn of Israel.
But when we compare the two totals of 22,000 Levites and 22,273 firstborns, we note that there are 273 firstborns of Israel who had no substitute.
Therefore, God provides yet another means of substitution for them.
Let us read Number 3:44-51.
Although Numbers 3:11-51 contain much detail about the Levites taking the place of the firstborns and what they were to guard, we must not overlook the most important point—the Levites’ devotion to serving God is grounded in the salvation that Israel had experienced.
The Levites were representatives of a nation who had experienced God’s redemption. Every Levite represented a firstborn who had escaped the angel of death. The consecration of the Levites reminded every Israelite family that they were alive because of the salvation they had received from God. Israel is the redeemed people of God.
This is why the nation was to be God-centered. They were to follow God’s leading, and literally encamp around His presence.
The nation also had a collective responsibility in ensuring the right worship of God. They were to regularly set apart a portion of their resources to support the Levites and upkeep of the tabernacle. Israel’s priorities and commitment to God stood in contrast to their neighbours because they had experienced God’s salvation and now belonged to Him.
Friends, the gospel tells us that we have experienced an even greater deliverance than what the Israelites encountered. Whilst God had delivered Israel from Pharaoh, God has delivered Christians from the devil’s domain.
Whilst we were living under the devil’s rule, we were enslaved to sin. We were promised happiness, but it was fleeting. We were promised freedom, but in reality, we were oppressed. Oftentimes we were left disappointed and even had to bear various consequences for our sins. Romans 6:23 tells us that we were under a death sentence.
But God in His grace provided the ultimate lamb to take the punishment that we deserve for our sins.
John the Baptist exhorts us in John 1:29 to behold Jesus who is the Lamb of God. John calls Jesus the Lamb of God because he wants us to see the connection to the Passover. Whereas a one-year-old lamb offered temporal protection from death during the plague, the Lamb of God removes the sting of death and offers eternal life.
The effectiveness of Jesus’ sacrifice is worlds greater than a one-year-old lamb because Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus came into our world to be our perfect substitute. He came to succeed where we have failed. He obeyed the commands of God that we have struggled to keep. Jesus resisted the temptations that we so easily give into.
Most significantly, Jesus bore the punishment that we deserve for our sins. He took our place on the cross so that we no longer need to fear God’s wrath. At the cross He cancelled our debts and set us free from the devil’s domain.
This is why Jesus is the ultimate Lamb who has the power to take away our sins and free us from the curse of death. All who believe Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life.
Friends, this is the good news that God wants you to hear. If you have been exploring the faith, I urge you to behold the Lamb of God who takes away sin. Jesus gave His life so that you can live. He invites you to experience freedom from sin and death. So please speak to any of us after service about your questions.
Church, have we let the reality sink in that we have been redeemed from sin by the Lamb of God?
How are we centering our life around the Lord?
The redeemed belong to God and Israel literally arranged her life around God's presence. The question for us is: how are we centering our life around the Lord?
Are you more committed to growing spiritually or advancing your career? Are you concerned about making disciples or multiplying your possessions? Are you more focused on getting likes for your posts or pleasing God?
We are reminded in 1 Peter 2:9-10 of the new identity God has given Christians. The redeemed belong to God. The redeemed have a new master. Therefore, upon conversion, our focus should shift from serving ourselves to serving God. Our attention should move from pursuing our pleasures to pleasing God.
We are now a royal priesthood set apart to serve God. We are a people for His own possession.
The rest of Numbers 3 and 4 describe how the Levites were devoted to God’s service.
The redeemed are devoted to His service (Num 3:1-10, 4:1-49)
Numbers 3:1-4 tells us that the priests were a special subset of the Levites. From out of the 22,000 male Levites, God only ordained Aaron and his four sons as priests.
In Numbers 4:16-20 God gives the priests unique responsibilities for the holy things. If anyone else touched a holy item, they would be put to death. Even looking at the holy things for a moment would result in death.
Therefore, whenever Israel was on the move, the priests had to first prepare the holy items for transport. On average we may move homes just a few times in our life. But because the Israelites were on a long journey from Sinai to the Promised Land, they would set up camp and break camp frequently. Hence it was important for the nation to know how they were to move God’s tabernacle.
God specifies in Numbers 4:5-15, the kind of coverings the priests were to use for each item. The ark of the testimony represented God’s presence and was the most holy item. Hence it required three special wrappings to protect it from the elements and from the rest of the people. Only the ark’s outer covering was in blue to showcase its importance.
Large items like the ark, the table that displayed the offerings and the altar were placed in carry frames or on poles so that they would not come into direct contact with the movers. A mere touch would result in death. Hence the priests are warned in Numbers 4:18-20 of the fatal consequences of failing to properly wrap each holy item. The lives of the Kohathites rested in their adherence to God’s instructions.
The level of detail given for packing each holy vessel illustrates the holiness of God. The Lord is truly set apart from the rest of us. He is perfect without spot or blemish. He has no sin and is righteous. Therefore, no human can go near Him. No one can touch His things and live.
The holiness of God should give us pause. It should cause us to give God the reverence and honor that He is due. We should be careful to not use His name in vain. We should speak respectfully to Him and take our worship of Him seriously.
The Puritans, for example, were intentional in preparing for Sunday worship. They would review their actions and repent of their sins. They would aim for a good night's sleep so that they could be punctual and attentive for worship.
Let us likewise reflect on how we treat God as holy.
The Aaronic priesthood was charged with upholding the holiness of God and teaching Israel to give God the honor and respect that He is due. Hence the priests personally guarded the entrance into the tabernacle. They pitched their tents right in front of the door to the tabernacle. They would serve as both the spiritual leaders of Israel and the chief guardians of the tabernacle.
The rest of the Levites were to support the priests in their duties. They were to care for the priests and take direction from them. Every male Levite had a shared responsibility to guard the tabernacle, lest God’s wrath fall upon the Israelites.
In Numbers 4, God appoints a subset of the male Levites to help whenever the tabernacle had to be moved. Only Levites aged thirty to fifty were allowed to serve in this capacity. Mature enough to not fool around, but young enough to carry things.
Now those of you who are over 50 might be thinking you can retire in peace. But do not forget that there was actually no retirement from the more general duty of guarding the tabernacle. God was only imposing an age range for the specific task of moving the tabernacle.
God also specifies which items of the tabernacle the three groups of Levites were responsible for moving.
The Kohathites were in charge of the sacred furniture of the sanctuary, the Gershonites were responsible for the curtains and covering of the Tent of Meeting while the Merarites handled the framework, with its posts, pegs and ropes.
Although the Levites received different roles, each one played an important part in dismantling and setting up the tabernacle. None could simply decide, “I'd rather do Kohath's job.” None could say, “My role is insignificant.” Every role was sacred because every role was by divine appointment.
Our text tells us that God determines who serves, what they do and how they do it.
The Levites needed to work together to transport the tabernacle from place to place. Together, they honored the Lord, and together they assisted the priests in worship.
Everyone is also warned about modifying God’s instructions in Numbers 3:4. Half the priesthood had been put to death when Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai. Because they offered what God had not commanded and profaned His holiness, the Lord put them to death. It did not matter that they were priests. The problem was that they tried to worship God in a manner that they thought was good. They had failed to worship God based on His terms and directions. In an instant, they were killed and left with no offspring.
What a warning this is to us. Because of the freedoms we have in Christ, many have forgotten who God is. We think more about our preferences than about what God has commanded. We focus more on our comfort and convenience than on what is honoring to God.
But God is the King of Kings. Heaven is His throne and earth is His footstool.
Therefore, we should humbly receive God’s Word as one receives words from a king. God is not giving us some proposals for our consideration. God is instructing us in His ways. The wise recognize that the Words of God give life and are to be treasured.
Christianity is not a buffet spread for us to pick and choose what we like. We are not free to reinterpret His word so that it is more aligned with our personal beliefs or more sensitive to our culture. Christ is Lord, and His Word informs the way we think about work, relationships and the resources He has given us.
As a church, we are called to organize ourselves according to God's Word rather than our preferences. His Word governs how we worship, how we treat one another, how we address sin, and how we serve together.
Because Jesus is the head of the church, it is His Word that underpins our decisions and guides our actions as a church.
Numbers 3 and 4 also give us a beautiful picture of God’s people serving together. God planned for a whole community to serve Him. He meticulously divided the various responsibilities and tasks among different groups.
Together they offered God the worship that He was worthy of.
Although some had charge over a sacred vessel whilst others were responsible for tent pegs, they all contributed to the same mission. Together they offered God the worship that He was worthy of.
Friends, do you value serving God as one church?
The apostle Paul says 1 Corinthians 12:27 that “Christians are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”
Jesus did not die so that we would continue living for ourselves. Jesus gave His life to redeem a people for God. He shed His precious blood to make us into a kingdom of priests. He added us to His body so that we might live for Him.
So let us treasure our new identity as the people of God and prioritize serving together as one people. Let us not only do the things that we enjoy, or see certain roles as less significant. Let us find out the needs in our church and avail ourselves.
Because many of you serve in Sunday School, parents are able to attend service and the children are taught God’s truths. Because some of you answered the call to serve in the First Impressions Team, we are able to be more hospitable to visitors and better manage the carpark situation. Our church is greatly strengthened when her members are centered on Christ and united in His service. Every role in the church is important. You can hear me speak and see my slides because we have volunteers managing the Audio and Visuals. We have refreshments after church because volunteers brew the coffee and clean up after.
Remember that the Levite handling tent pegs was serving the same God as the priest handling the sacred vessels.
God does not measure significance the way we do. God is pleased when we faithfully serve Him with the gifts and opportunities He has given us.
Although Numbers 3 and 4 contain much information about the specific duties of the Levites, it is important to remember that their service was grounded in the salvation Israel had experienced. Their devotion to God demonstrated what it means for the redeemed to belong to Him.
Similarly, we do not serve in order to become God's people. We serve because Christ has redeemed us and made us His people.
We are now a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. So let us treasure our new identity, and faithfully live it out by devoting our lives to Him.
Let us pray.