Walking with God and fighting the forces of evil

Text Numbers 21:10-35 Time 11/11/12 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We come this week to the next part of Numbers and to Numbers 21:10-35. What we are told in these verses may appear to be a little mundane and irrelevant to us today.

First, we are told in verses 10-20 how the Israelites moved on from where they were when we last saw them, first to Oboth then to Iye Abarim then into the Zered Valley and finally to the Arnon Gorge, the border of Moab. In verses 16-20 we learn more about their movements at that time. A fuller list of places visited comes in Chapter 33 but this section shows how they skirted around Moab to come to the eastern border.

Then, secondly, in verses 21-35, we read of their famous victories in battle over Sihon, King of the Amorites and Og King of Bashan, victories much celebrated in the rest of the Old Testament.

Now once we remember who these people are and where they were going we will see that there is nothing mundane about it. These were the people of God who he had brought out of slavery in Egypt and who he was soon to bring into the Promised land, where in due time he would settle them and after many years and exile and return, the Messiah himself would be born.

As for relevance, we have only to turn to the New Testament Book of Ephesians and consider what Paul says to believers there to see the relevance to us of being on a journey and in a fight.

In Ephesians 4:1 he says

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life to walk (literally) worthy of the calling you have received

and in verse 17 he says

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live (walk) as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

He says in Chapter 5

Live a life of love, live as children of light (again “walk”) and Be very careful, then, how you live (walk).

Of course, when he comes to Chapter 6 it is all about the armour of God we need to be

strong in the Lord and in his mighty power wearing the full armour of God so that we can take (y)our stand against the devil’s schemes recognising that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

So here is a passage that yes is about walking and fighting in the desert many years ago but because it is about God's people walking and fighting we ought to see that it has something to say to us today, living as we do in the desert of this world and needing to keep going and to win our spiritual battles. So two lessons

1. Christian, you are on a journey; expect to be moving on and expect to be refreshed by God

Now I don't know if you have noticed but everyone these days is on a journey. People seem to have picked up the idea from Christians and now it is so common, it has become a cliché. It is so that we are on a journey but it is not quite the journey as it is sometimes portrayed. Firstly, the Bible's emphasis is on the fact that there are two different roads – a broad road that leads to destruction, a narrow road that leads to eternal life.

1. Get on the right road and expect to be moving on

The first thing we all need to do is to get off the broad road and on to the narrow road, which is entered by means of the narrow gate, which few pass through and which indeed is hard to find. Once we are on that narrow road, what we need to do, as the Israelites do here in the desert, is to move on from place to place. Here it is very literal. They camp at Oboth. Then they set out from Oboth and camp(ed) in Iye Abarim, in the desert that faces Moab toward the sunrise. We don't know where those places are but From there they move(d) on and camp(ed) in the Zered Valley which is where the southern border of Moab is. They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the desert extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the (northern) border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

Verses 14, 15 add That is why the Book of the Wars of the Lord says: “... Waheb in Suphah and the ravines, the Arnon and the slopes of the ravines that lead to the site of Ar and lie along the border of Moab.” From time to time there are references in the Old Testament to books that no longer exist. There are perhaps as many as 20 or so. This is the first one mentioned - the Book of the Wars of the Lord. Others include the Book of Jasher, the Acts of Solomon, the visions of Iddo the Seer, etc. Perhaps the Book of the Wars of the Lord was a collection of poems. All we get here is a fragment from it. The point of the quotation is to confirm that the Israelites came to the border of Moab and skirted round it. They did not go in.

That brings us to verses 16, 17 which I want to say something about in a moment. The section finishes off with verses 18-20 and another four places visited that we don't know much about. Then they went from the desert to Mattanah, from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth, and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.

The point for us as Christians is that as believers we must always be moving on, going on from where we are at to the next place in our journey. The New Testament talks about going on from faith to faith and from grace to grace – that is from trusting God to trusting him more, from knowing his grace now to knowing it again.

2. Get on the right road and expect to be refreshed by God

The second thing I want to do here is to focus on verses 16 and 17 where it says

From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the Lord said to Moses, Gather the people together and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well! Sing about it, about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank - the nobles with sceptres and staffs.

Just before this, there is the incident where the people complain about the lack of water and no doubt water was constantly an issue as they traipsed through the desert. But here we have first God's provision and then the people's good response. The word Beer makes us think of a certain alcoholic drink but in Hebrew it means “well” and the place Beer, wherever it was, got its name because there God gave them a well that produced water. The Israelites sang about it. The reference to the princes or nobles having sunk it with their sceptres and staffs is not literal but it does mean that either the leaders of some desert tribe were used to sink the well that Israel then found or that their own leaders somehow took a leading part in sinking the well. The point, however, is that it was source of great joy and encouragement on the way as they journeyed through the desert.

In Acts 3:19 Peter says to the people Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Peter's word for refreshing is a word that means to breathe again rather than to have ones thirst slaked but the two thoughts are similar. Water and air, especially fresh water and fresh air, are basic to our human need and so like the Israelites of old we also may need times of refreshment on the way and we can know them if we will Repent ... and turn to God. The journey of life is a long one and we stand in constant need of refreshment. The way to get that refreshment is to be daily repenting and turning to God.

Back in nineteenth century America, an evangelist wrote this letter. He explained how “with great reluctance” he had left a convention where he had expected to enjoy many blessings because of an appointment to speak in a place called Springfield, where he was to speak alongside several others. He says

“The morning sermon was given by Rev Professor D Noyes, of Dartmouth College. It was listened to with perfect attention, notwithstanding the crowd. The object of the sermon was to answer the objection brought by some against Christianity, namely, its cost. This he did most effectually, by showing the difference between 'the cost of supporting the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan.' And by the abundance of statistical information which he presented, he must have convinced all present that, in every sense of the word, it is vastly more economical to serve Christ than it is to serve Satan; and in regard to morality, religion, civilisation and human progress, the difference cannot be computed. My discourse in the afternoon was designed to show the importance and utility of public Christian worship; which followed that given in the morning quite appropriately, and was listened to with perfect attention and great patience.

“That day, to Springfield, was a season of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, in more senses than one. The people seemed to be of one heart and one mind; and just after the commencement of the afternoon services, the earth began to drink in the most delightfully refreshing rain that you can imagine; which put a new and smiling face upon that 'hill country,' and which was reflected by the smiling faces of the worshippers.”

Seasons of refreshing can come to individuals, to communities, to nations. Pray for them to come.

So what does the Christian life look like? It is a journey, moving forward from faith to faith, grace to grace. It is marked by seasons of refreshing, when people repent and God provides for his people the spiritual refreshing they need.

2. Christian, you are in a battle, expect to be attacked but expect to be victorious

At the same time as being a journey, the Christian life is also a battle and we are reminded of that in verses 21-35. What happens here is (21, 22) that

Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites: Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the king’s highway until we have passed through your territory.

It seems reasonable enough

But (23) Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the desert against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel.

It is like Edom all over again. It is reminder that as Christians we are to live at peace with everyone as far as lies in us but that will not always be possible.

As we make our journey through the wilderness of this life there will in certain places be attacks on us by God's enemies, by people like Sihon. Here the attack is physical, which will not always be the case, of course. Here we read (24-26) that Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, ie capital city, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.

Again here we have a quotation from some poets (27-30)

That is why the poets say: Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; let Sihon’s city be restored. Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights. Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites. But we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.

It is difficult to follow what is going on here but perhaps it best to see the opening and closing verses as being spoken by Israel's poets (27, 30) and the central part by Amorite poets. They say

Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights. Woe to you, O Moab! You are destroyed, O people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.

What rejoicing there was at their victory over Moab

But says Israel we have overthrown them; Heshbon is destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba. It might even be Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon (ie against Moab) but now (says Israel) We have demolished them as far as Nophah, fire extends to Medeba.

This is the area later given to the tribe of Gad. In verses 31, 32 it says that

Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.

We read next that (33) they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, to the north and once again were attacked – this time by Og king of Bashan the land parallel to the Sea of Galilee and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei near his border. We are told (34, 35)

The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you, with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.

So once again another great victory. These victories are celebrated in the rest of the Old Testament.

The lesson is obvious. Yes, there are battles in the Christian life but we can expect victory if we refuse to be afraid and look to the Lord instead to be victorious – victories over temptation and our own flesh, over the devil, over the world in its efforts to draw us into sin. There is victory with him.

So in a word keep going, keep fighting. Entrance into heaven and victory forever is certain if we look to the Lord.