Learning and Living

Read Numbers 9:1-12; Numbers 1-2
 
Numbers 9:1-2 A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. In the first month of that year he said, 2 “Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time.”
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Numbers 9:6 But some of the men had been ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, so they could not celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day 7 and said, “We have become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body. But why should we be prevented from presenting the Lord’s offering at the proper time with the rest of the Israelites?”
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Numbers 2:34 So the people of Israel did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses. Each clan and family set up camp and marched under their banners exactly as the Lord had instructed them.
 
AS you read Numbers 2, you’ll certainly understand why this book is so named. These details help us understand that Israel was a significant nation God was teaching, so they could learn to live as his people. To become one nation in I AM’s purpose, Israel needed to learn God’s laws and then live into them with one mind. Learning and living into God’s laws would assure God’s protection and provision.
   The census numbers also were to count the fighting men available to conquer the Promised Land. This is a significant number! Once God had established Israel as a nation in the desert, they could go as a nation to their new home. God is a Father moving his children to a new home.
   Correct worship was central to Israel’s unity. The first anniversary of the Passover was the right time to worship God as one nation. Together, Israel celebrated God’s grace and power to save them. But some could not celebrate the Passover because they had attended to a dead body. One who did so was considered unclean for a time – God’s quarantine to protect against infectious diseases. The unclean who questioned their access to the Passover had a proper fear of God. They had seen or heard of Nadab’s and Abihu’s deaths. They had learned they could not trifle with their approach to the Holy God. So they asked a good question. The LORD taught the correct way for them to honor the Passover celebration. The learned to worship correctly. They lived more closely with God.
   The third verse today truly is about learning and living with God. This is a very special moment in Israel’s history. So the people of Israel did everything as the Lord had commanded Moses. As God’s story continues, there will be few moments when Israel so completely learned and lived God’s law.
   Let’s use this verse to measure our own lives. Are we learning from God? Are we living into what we learn? Consider, too, the church God has formed from sin’s slavery. Does the holy universal church learn and live into God’s truth?
   Let’s be sure we submit to God’s Word to be a unified church. Let’s remember his love and sacrifice for our souls. Let’s strive to fully obey our God, who instructs us on our journey to heaven. Learning and living God’s Word secures his provision and protection for us now and forever.