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For Glory to Appear

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INTRODUCTION

Here the priests of Israel are ordained, and their garments and the sacrifices that set them apart proclaiming our salvation in Jesus Christ. He is our High Priest who leads us in worship every Lord’s Day to offer our sacrifices of praise, and by His ministry, our worship is made potent to batter the gates of Hell and turn the course of human history.

THE TEXT

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil…” (Lev. 8-9)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The ordination of the priests took place over the course of eight days (9:1, 8:32). On the first day, the congregation witnessed Aaron and his sons being washed, anointed, and dressed in their uniforms (8:1-13). Then three animals were sacrificed: a bull for sin offering (8:14-17), a ram for an ascension offering (8:18-21), and a ram of “ordination,” a sort of peace offering (8:22-29). Some of the oil and blood was sprinkled on Aaron and his sons after this, and they ate a meal at the doorway of the tent of meeting, where they were to remain for the next seven days (8:30-36).

On the eighth day, two sets of sacrifices (one set for Aaron, one for the people) were offered so that “the glory of the Lord would appear” (9:1-7). Aaron offered a sin offering and an ascension offering for himself (9:8-14), and then he presented the sin offering, ascension offering, grain offering, and peace offerings for the people (9:15-21). Finally, Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire consumed the offerings on the altar and the people shouted and fell on their faces (9:22-24).

FOR GLORY AND BEAUTY

Ever since the Garden of Eden, clothing has been deeply theological. When Adam and Eve sinned, their eyes were opened to see their own nakedness, and they tried to cover their own shame, but God made clothing for them from the skins of animals (Gen. 3:7, 21). This is the story of all human history: we have guilt and shame and either we try to hide it or we receive God’s covering. Elsewhere, we are told that part of the reason the priests were given a uniform was to cover their nakedness (Ex. 28:42), but it was also for “glory and beauty” (Ex. 28:2, 40).

This was to picture for Israel their need for salvation: instead of shame and mourning, God offered to provide “garments of salvation” (e.g. Is. 61:3, 10). This is the offer of the gospel: to be clothed in Christ. “And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” (Heb. 4:13-14). This is really what we mean by “clothed in Christ.” We mean that Christ is your great high priest, that His glory and beauty are your glory and beauty.

Very practically, all clothing is either seeking to reflect this reality with fitting praise, gratitude, and glory, or else it is a reflection of man’s own self-seeking arrogance and ostentation.

THE ORDER OF THE SACRIFICES & COVENANT RENEWAL WORSHIP

The ordination of the priests is one of the places we look to for our order of worship. While we need not insist that another order would be sinful, we want our worship to be “according to Scripture.” We know that Scripture commands us to confess our sins, to hear the Word read and preached, and to celebrate communion together, but what order are we to do it in?

In the Old Testament when the three central sacrifices were offered (Sin, Ascension, and Peace), they always seem to be offered in the order seen here (Lev. 9:3-4 cf. 8:14-31) and in a couple other places (cf. Num. 6, Ez. 45:17). We see the same theological order in the covenant renewal at Sinai: blood is sprinkled on the altars and on the people (Sin), the elders ascend the mountain (Ascension), and they eat and drink with God (Peace) (Ex. 24).

We call this order of worship “covenant renewal worship”: we confess our sins, we ascend to God through the Word read and preached, and we sit down to eat and drink at peace with God and one another. If you put a Call to Worship at the beginning and the Commissioning at the end, you have “5 Cs”: Call, Confession, Consecration, Communion, Commission.

We call it “covenant renewal,” but we could just as easily call it the “gospel enacted”: we are summoned to worship God, but we know we are sinners in need of forgiveness, so we confess and are assured of God’s pardon through Christ. Then we ascend into the presence of God in and through the Word of Christ which cuts us up on the altar. Finally, we feast at peace with God and one another before being charged and sent out with His blessing.

CONCLUSIONS

It’s striking that God commands the people to ordain these men to the priesthood in a certain way so “that the glory of the Lord shall appear” (9:6). We see an analogous result in the ordination of deacons in the New Testament: when the apostles determined not to neglect the Word of God and prayer, they ordained seven men to oversee the physical needs of the congregation, and the “Word of God spread and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem…” (Acts 6:7). When God’s people are obedient in appointing Spirit-filled leaders, the glory of the Lord appears, and more people turn to the Lord.

The same thing is true about faithful and obedient worship in general. When we obey the Lord in our worship services, both inwardly and outwardly, seeking Christ in it all, the glory of the Lord appears. When our worship is ordered according to Scripture, God promises that even unbelievers will fall down and worship God, saying that God is truly in our midst (1 Cor. 14:25). This is not some kind of mechanical theological formula, but it is a sure promise of the Living God received by faith in Christ alone.

The Book of Revelation can broadly be read as a heavenly worship service, with Christ our High Priest leading worship such that the judgments fall on the earth (Rev. 5-6ff). So we worship God in heaven on the Lord’s Day so that God’s Kingdom will come and His Will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. And with Christ our High Priest, it is sure to be done.

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Your Reasonable Service

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INTRODUCTION

We have already covered the 5 main sacrifices in the first five chapters, but the next two focus on specific tasks and duties of the priests with regard to the sacrifices. Here, God is instructing Israel to obey carefully, making distinctions between holy and common, clean and unclean.

REVIEW

Leviticus 1: Ascension/Burnt Offering – God invites us to draw near with all that we are: the whole animal goes on the altar.

Leviticus 2: Tribute/Grain Offering – God provides our daily bread and all things, and therefore, He claims our full allegiance: bread on the altar.

Leviticus 3: Peace Offering – God invites us to have fellowship with Him and one another with a meal: the fat goes on the altar and we eat together in the presence of God.

Leviticus 4: Sin Offering – Sin defiles us and our land, but God takes it upon Himself so we can be clean: the blood goes in front of the veil and on the altar for cleansing, the carcass is burned outside the camp.

Leviticus 5: Guilt/Reparation Offering – All sin requires repentance and sometimes restitution: a ram for the Lord and restoring what was lost or stolen plus twenty percent.

THE TEXT

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering…” (Lev. 6:8-7:38)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While the earlier chapters described God’s provision of sacrifice for Israelites to draw near, here God gives commands to the priests for carrying them out. Instructions include the continual sacrifice, every morning and evening for the Ascension Offering (6:9-14), which portions of the Tribute Offerings (grain) belong to the priests (6:15-6:23), how the blood of the Sin Offering consecrates whatever it touches (6:24-30), how the Reparation Offering is like the Sin Offering and who may eat it (7:1-7), as well as the skin and Tribute grain that belong to the priests (7:8-10).

Peace Offerings may be made on occasions of thanksgiving (with unleavened and leavened bread), or upon the completion of vows, or as a voluntary offering, but must be eaten on the day of the offering (thanksgiving) or on the second day (vows/voluntary) (7:11-18). The meat of the Peace Offering must be kept ceremonially clean, ceremonial cleanness is required for all who partake of the Peace Offerings, and any unclean who partake are to be cut off from the people (7:19-21). While the Israelites may use the fat of animals for other purposes, they may not eat it, especially from a sacrifice, nor drink the blood (7:22-27). Finally, while individual Israelites must bring their own the Peace Offerings, the priests are to receive their portion and see to it that the fat is burned (7:28-36). This concludes the law of all the sacrifices and offerings (7:28-38).

HOLY, CLEAN, UNCLEAN, & CUT OFF

We will have opportunity to consider these categories more as we go on, but just notice how God is requiring the priests and the people to pay close attention to details: clean (6:11), holy (6:18), most holy (6:25, 29), clean (7:19), unclean (7:20-21). These generally correspond to whom the sacrifice belongs (holy/priests, clean/congregation). And those who fail to honor these distinctions are to be “cut off” (7:21, 25, 27). This means they are excommunicated from the presence of the Lord while the uncleanness persists, often only requiring a washing (Lev. 22:3-7). While these instructions are primarily given to the priests, we see that individual Israelites are also responsible to make sure the priests are following the instructions (7:18). The overarching principle here is the holiness of God. On the one hand, one does not just saunter into the presence of God, and yet, on the other hand, the whole sacrificial system was God making a way for sinners to draw near.

These categories were training wheels for New Covenant holiness. In the New Covenant, the holy blood of Jesus has gone into the Most Holy Place and splashed on this planet earth, consecrating the whole world to the Lord. Zechariah foretells this when he described a day when the bells on the horses would be consecrated with “Holiness to the Lord” as well as every pot in Jerusalem (Zech. 14:20-21). This is particularly true of believers who have been sanctified with the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:29). All that we do and touch is now holy to the Lord. In the New Covenant there is only “one baptism,” one washing, but we apply the promise of that cleansing through confession of sin: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:7). This is also the goal of all correction (Gal. 6:1, Mt. 18:15).

This requires Christians to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17). And yet, if God saves you in a situation where you are already yoked to an unbeliever, trust Him to use it to sanctify the unbelieving spouse, otherwise the children would be unclean (1 Cor. 7:14). So an unbeliever is not a marital option for believers, but when it comes to friends and business partners, the question is: which way is the influence going? “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” (Jude 21-23).

CONCLUSION: YOUR REASONABLE SERVICE

While God raises up teachers and ministers, all believers have priestly responsibilities in the New Covenant: “Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ… But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:5, 9, cf. Rev. 1:5-6). The Bereans were more noble because they “received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11). “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

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Christmas for the Blind: A State of the Church Message

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INTRODUCTION

This is something of a Christmas message and end of the year State of the Church sermon all wrapped into one. But the point is that I want to meditate on the covenant curses that are raining down on us in the form of Covid-statist tyranny, the sexual promiscuity and perversion jihad, on top of abortion insanity, fiscal madness, and political imbecility. Christians find themselves caught in the middle of family and culture turmoil. What are we to do? The central thing we must do is recognize all of it as judicial blindness from the Lord. He had done this.

THE TEXT

“According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (2 Pet. 1:4-9).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

By His power, God has given to His people everything that they need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ, at all times and in all places (1:3). Having escaped the corruption of the world, Christians are to grow in holiness and godliness through God’s great and precious promises (1:4). The broad outline of that growth is listed in seven additional steps added to faith in those promises (1:5-7). With those eight virtues abounding in Christians, they cannot be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus (1:8). But a Christian who lacks these things is blind, near-sighted, and has forgotten that he has been forgiven (1:9).

TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF JUDICIAL BLINDNESS

We know from elsewhere in the Bible, that unbelievers have a certain kind of spiritual blindness: 2 Cor. 4:3-4: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Likewise in Ephesians 4:18, speaking of the Gentiles, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” That is one kind of judicial blindness. But here in 2 Peter 1, we have a different kind of blindness described, what we might call a covenantal judicial blindness. Peter is describing believers who have not progressed as far as they should have as blind and forgetful (2 Pet. 1:9). Jesus calls the church of Laodicea to repent of a similar blindness: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked… anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:17-19).

COVENANT BLINDNESS & CALAMITY

This same covenantal blindness is described in the Old Testament: “If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God… all these curses shall come upon thee… The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart: and thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness…” (Dt. 28:15, 28). Likewise, in Isaiah’s commission: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed… But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return…” (Is. 6:10, 13). So when God’s covenant people disobey and break covenant, God sends covenant curses and spiritual blindness on them for the purpose of dividing the faithful from the unfaithful: some are proven to be complete unbelievers who die in their blindness, but there are some who struck with some blindness in order to chastise them, and call them to repentance (e.g. Rev. 3:17-19, Jn. 12:37-43).

CONCLUSIONS & APPLICATIONS

While America is fast joining the post-Christian nations of the West, there is another sense in which covenanted nations do not have the luxury of forgetting their Christian past. They may forget their Christian past, but their Christian past cannot forget them. Or to be more precise, God does not forget covenants made and broken. And we have manifestly fallen under covenantal curses. We have murdered our own children, and while we have not yet stooped to eating them, we most certainly have experimented on them and used their bodies for sorcery (what we call “medical research”) (Dt. 28:53-58). We have been chased by tiny minorities of sexual madmen (Dt. 28:25, 32:30), and we have been struck with terror and diseases (Dt. 32:25, 28:59-61).

But it is perilously easy to make light of our sins in the church because they do not seem as bad as the pagans, but that is not at all the same thing as holiness, as godliness and virtue (2 Pet. 1:5-7). It’s said that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, but listen to what it says: “he that lacketh these things is blind” (2 Pet. 1:9). Do you lack any virtue, any temperance, any patience, any brotherly kindness or charity? Those “little sins” of anger, lust, envy, selfishness – they are blindness and near-sightedness. And like the church of Laodicea, we are tempted to make light of them because of how fabulously well-off we are: “knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind…?” We think we know what joy is because we have high speed internet, Instagram, and food on demand. But that isn’t joy. Joy is serving the Lord with gladness of heart for all the abundance of things (Dt. 28:47). Joy is holiness.

The only way out of this mess is if Jesus gives us eyes to see. “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (Jn. 9:39-41).

Are you blind? Is our land full of the blind? Christ was born so that the blind might see.

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The Shout of a King (A Star Out of Jacob #2)

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INTRODUCTION

This second blessing pronounced by Balaam doubles down on the first, insisting that God is determined to bless Israel because He always keeps His promises. On top of that, God insists that He sees no evil or trouble in His people. This doesn’t seem right to us, and that’s why we need to be reminded how His grace works.

THE TEXT

And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. 23:18-24).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

God address Balak with a “shema” summons to hear, just as Israel is command (cf. Dt. 6) (23:18). God assures him that he doesn’t lie and he doesn’t change his mind like men; what He has promised to do, He will surely accomplish (23:19). Balaam repeats that he has received another instruction to bless; God has blessed and it cannot be reversed (23:20). But this isn’t merely a refusal to curse; God does not see any iniquity in Jacob, no reason to curse Israel (23:21). The Lord Himself is in the midst of Israel, and therefore God only hears the voice of a great king (23:21). God brought them out of Egypt with the strength of a unicorn, so there is no incantation or divination that can come against them and the whole world is impressed with what God has done (23:22-23). Therefore, Israel will be a conquering nation, like lions that devour their prey (23:24).

UNBREAKABLE COVENANT PROMISES

When God says He isn’t a man who changes his mind or breaks his promises, He is pointing back to the covenants He has made and kept. God made covenant with Adam in the Garden after the Fall, promising to one day crush the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3). God renewed covenant with Noah, saving his family and promising never to flood the world again (Gen. 9). God renewed covenant with Abraham and promised that in his seed all the nations of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 15, 17). God kept those promises by delivering Israel out of Egypt (Ex. 3) and renewing covenant at Sinai (Gen. 19-24). This track record has only increased, as God kept covenant through the judges and renewed His promises to David (2 Sam. 7). All of these promises are being fulfilled in Jesus. This is what Mary and Zechariah sing about at the coming of Jesus (Lk. 1:55ff). All the promises of God find their “yes” in Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). God is not a man who lies or goes back on His word. But God is the kind of God who loves men who have.

WHAT GOD SEES

We noted last week that Balaam’s first blessing is already incredible since God pronounced a blessing on a nation full of complaints and unbelief, but God goes even further here insisting that He has not seen any trouble or wickedness in Israel (23:21). On the surface this is outrageous, since the book of Numbers chronicles Israel’s troubles and evil. But the same verse explains how this is possible: God Himself is in Israel, the shout of a king is in their midst (23:21).

What Balaam is prophesying is God’s covenant love and promises. The God who calls light out of darkness and life from the dead, calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Rom. 4:17, cf. 2 Cor. 10). God promises the complete remission of our sins, a perfect standing, and His complete approval and everlasting blessing in Christ crucified and risen from the dead. Faith in Christ is being fully convinced that what God has promised, He is able to perform (Rom. 4:21). And when that kind of faith receives those promises, an individual is justified. Faith sees Christ for us, and God simultaneously sees Christ in us. God forgets all our sins in the blood of Jesus, and the status of Christ’s perfect obedience is imputed to us (Rom. 4:22-24).

In the covenant, God declares His love and intention to bless. In the covenant, He declares us holy, saints (1 Cor. 7:14, cf. 1 Cor. 1:2, Eph. 1:1, etc.). And when that love is received, when that promise is believed, we are justified, and all that God sees in us is Christ. All He hears in us is the shout of our King. And one of the most glorious things our king shouts is: It is finished. In Christ, He doesn’t see any trouble or evil in you. This isn’t a blind, sentimental love; it’s a bloody, truthful love.

CONCLUSION

Christianity is a militant religion, but what is frequently misunderstood or misconstrued is the fact that our militance is driven by God’s fierce grace. What do we want to see fill Moscow? God’s grace: His fatherly, covenantal affection. So, fathers, are you for your children? Can you pronounce this blessing on your family?

Do you have a critical eye or a covenantal eye? A covenantal eye is not blind to flaws or weaknesses, but it is inclined to overlook them, wants to see them repented of. Love covers a multitude of sins, and love confronts some sins. But God’s grace is lavish, and we are called to give what we have been given.

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Let Me Die the Death of the Upright (A Star Out of Jacob #1)

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INTRODUCTION

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we will spend the next four Sundays looking at four prophecies of the coming hope of Israel from an unlikely source: Balaam, the scoundrel prophet of Israel. Despite the circumstances, these are some of the greatest benedictions of Scripture describing God’s determination to bless Israel through the coming Messiah and in Him, all the nations of the earth.

THE TEXT

“The Balaam said to Balak, ‘Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here…’” (Num. 23:1-13)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The backdrop to these verses is famous: Balak King of Moab hired Balaam to curse Israel apparently because he intended to go to war with them (cf. Josh. 24:9). On the way, the Lord’s angel confronted him, but only his donkey could see the angel. After beating and threatening the donkey, the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and he spoke and then Balaam’s eyes were opened to see the angel. Having been severely warned by God, Balaam arrives and instructs Balak to set up an elaborate set of altars and offerings, and speaks this “parable” saying that Balak has called him to curse Israel (23:1-7). But Balaam asks how he can possibly curse whom God has not cursed, and how can he denounce whom God has not denounced (23:8)? Therefore, out comes a great blessing: Israel is a great and mighty nation that can be seen from the tops of the rocky crags of mountains, and Israel is famous among the nations – well known, unique, and not mistaken for any other nation (23:9). Israel is very numerous – who can count the dust of Jacob? Who can even number a portion of the dust of Israel (23:10)? Finally, Balaam insists that Israel is righteous and upright, and so blessed, that there could be no better death than to die among them: let my end be like his (23:10).

A PROVERB IN THE MOUTH OF THE KING

The word translated “parable” or “discourse” is the word for “proverb.” And while this word can sometimes refer to a “byword,” a sort of cautionary tale, clearly something more “proverbial” is going on here: there is deep kingly wisdom at work here. But it isn’t Balak or Balaam. Notice the layers of irony: Why in the world would a pagan king hire an Israelite prophet to curse Israel? Apparently Balak knows that Israel has the upperhand and he wants that mojo. Balaam would apparently be willing to curse, and yet all that can come out is a blessing on Israel (four times). Add to this the fact that Israel is not really in great shape. Remember the unbelieving spies and all the complaining in the wilderness (Num. 13-14), and even though Balaam couldn’t curse Israel, he was involved in the relatively successful plot to seduce the Israelite men with Moabite women (Num. 25, 31:16). This is all high octane providence, which is just another way of saying God is King over all. Sometimes people object to the doctrine of providence because they think that God will be harsh, unfair, or petty, but this story illustrates God’s abundant patience, overwhelming kindness, and amazing sense of humor. Left to ourselves, we seek and deserve cursing, but God the Wisest King works all things according to His counsel because He is determined to bless (Eph. 1:11).

Balaam is hired to pronounced curses, but the only thing that can come out is blessing: “How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or who shall I defy, whom the Lord has not defied?” (23:8). And so it is in all things in this world: Joseph: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen. 50:20). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). This same providence was at work in a Roman census that sent a young couple to Bethlehem, and an evil king’s plot to kill a young child (Mt. 2, Lk. 2). The center of this doctrine of providence is the Cross itself: “Him [Jesus], being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, yet by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay” (Acts 2:23). God is King, and this world is His proverb.

THE DEATH OF THE UPRIGHT

The final benediction of this first prophecy is really striking. One suspects layers of irony here as well. Many of the Israelites will be dying shortly after they fall into sin, and Balaam will die in battle (Num. 31:8). But the straightforward meaning of the blessing is that there is no better way to die than being among the tribes of Israel. Death is a curse (Gen. 3:19), and death is an enemy (1 Cor. 15:25-26). And yet, the Bible also says that when a man puts on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ (1 Cor. 15:54).

Balaam’s blessing is that all would die the “death up the upright,” that all might have his end (Num. 23:10). This is Jesus, the seed of the woman, the descendant of Eve, the seed of Abraham, who came to crush the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Jesus is the upright one, the Righteous One, and in His death, He crushed the head of the serpent, the devil. He destroyed his power by taking all the accusations he could bring against us and they were nailed to His cross, taking away the fear of death (Col. 2:14, Heb. 2:14). The death of the Upright Man took away the sting of death (the law and our guilt) so that it is only “sleep” for those in Him.

CONCLUSION: TAKING UP HIS CROSSES

The call to follow Jesus is the call to take up His cross. He calls us to die, but if we can see that summons from the tops of the mountains where Balaam prophesied, we can see that call to die with Him as the greatest honor, the greatest blessing. Jesus was born to die, so that we might die with Him, so that we might rise with Him.

It has been said that everyone wants to save the world, but no one wants to help mom do the dishes, which is just to say, the really hard part is choosing the right death. “Everyone dies, not everyone truly lives” is just another way of saying not everyone chooses the right death. You can lay your life down by helping with the dishes; you might also need to lay your life down to lead your family in cheerfully doing the chores. Your car might need fixing, but so might your five year old’s heart. You may be burdened with many cares, but have you considered that your cross may be to lay them down? This death is a blessing. Maybe not easy, but it’s always good.

Fundamentally the right death is the obedient death. Many of these deaths are straightforward (repent), but when it gets really gnarly, trust Christ our wise King who knows how to turn all things for our good. This is His story, and He knows the way out of every grave.

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