08 December 2024 // Numbers 22-24
APPLICATION: Read & watch/listen to Numbers 22-24.
Christmas in the Old Testament
SERMON REVIEW:
The Scene: Numbers 22
The Fear of Balak vs. 1-4
The Fame of Balaam vs. 5-6
The Response: Numbers 22
God uses a donkey vs. 22-30
God used a man vs. 35-40
God uses “oracles”
The Vision: Numbers 24:17
What he sees:
“him”
A star
A scepter
LIFE APPLICATION:
It’s easy to be so focused on our goals that we miss important things going on around us. The angel of the Lord standing in Balaam’s way was important for Balaam to see, but he was blind to it. He needed the help of another to reveal what was right there in front of him.
We live in both a physical and spiritual world at the same time. We’re pretty good about seeing things in the physical, but it is very common to struggle to see in the spiritual realm. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord even though Balaam did not.
A prayer that I commonly pray is, “Lord, give me eyes to see as You see.” He has been faithful to answer this prayer with supernatural sight. Sometimes, it is to be able to see the angels that are present all around us. Other times, we are permitted to see the demonic (an important revelation, but not a pleasant one). Most often, what we get to see are people as the Lord sees them.
My follow up prayer is, “Lord, how do you want me to respond to what I see?” When He opens our eyes in the spiritual realm, it is for a purpose. There is a responsibility to speak, or act, in accordance with the Lord’s words. Repeatedly in the story of Balaam, we see the Lord say, “You must say only what I tell you.” (verses 20 and 35)
Don’t Beat the Donkey and Other Lessons from Numbers 22
February 18, 2022 | Mark Henslee
There’s a story in the Bible about a man named Balaam. You can read the entire story in Numbers chapters 22 through 24. I’ll give you a brief summary.
Balaam was not an Israelite but was a prophet who had some connection with God. A king hired Balaam to curse Israel. God told Balaam not to go, then to go, then on the way opposed his going, then said to go (gets a bit confusing). Balaam’s donkey spoke to him (not your everyday occurrence). Instead of cursing Israel, Balaam spoke blessings over God’s people.
Don’t beat the donkey
The first lesson that I’m learning from this story is that when a friend starts acting strangely, don’t lash out at them. In other words, don’t beat the donkey. There is, more likely than not, something we don’t see or know that is causing the strange behavior. In verse 30, the donkey pointed out that what it did, in addition to speaking, was not normal. Balaam beat the donkey before considering why it was acting out of character.
Our friend may be trying to get our attention and isn’t sure how to do it without offending us. A good question to ask is, “What am I not seeing?” We all have different perspectives. It is important to be open to hearing from others what they are seeing. In fact, it may save us much heartache, even if it costs us some embarrassment in the process. Alternatively, when someone acts out of character, they may be dealing with something in their life that you can come alongside them and help. At the least, you can be understanding of their difficulty.
We need open eyes
It’s easy to be so focused on our goals that we miss important things going on around us. The angel of the Lord standing in Balaam’s way was important for Balaam to see, but he was blind to it. He needed the help of another to reveal what was right there in front of him.
We live in both a physical and spiritual world at the same time. We’re pretty good about seeing things in the physical, but it is very common to struggle to see in the spiritual realm. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord even though Balaam did not.
A prayer that I commonly pray is, “Lord, give me eyes to see as You see.” He has been faithful to answer this prayer with supernatural sight. Sometimes, it is to be able to see the angels that are present all around us. Other times, we are permitted to see the demonic (an important revelation, but not a pleasant one). Most often, what we get to see are people as the Lord sees them.
My follow up prayer is, “Lord, how do you want me to respond to what I see?” When He opens our eyes in the spiritual realm, it is for a purpose. There is a responsibility to speak, or act, in accordance with the Lord’s words. Repeatedly in the story of Balaam, we see the Lord say, “You must say only what I tell you.” (verses 20 and 35)
Balaam understood this and told Balak multiple times that he could only say what the Lord said (22:38, 23:12, 23:26, and 24:12). We have to recognize the same thing. My thoughts and opinions don’t matter when I’m speaking on behalf of the Lord. I can only say what the Lord tells me to say.
It may be the Lord opposing us
There is a part of the story that I’ve always struggled to understand. God told Balaam to go with the men (verse 20), but His angel stood in Balaam’s way as he went. Then, in verse 35, the Lord’s angel says, “It’s all right for you to go.” What sense does that make?
There is almost always opposition when we are walking in obedience to the Lord’s instructions. However, I expect the opposition to come from the enemy, not from the Lord Himself. Why, if I’m being obedient, would the Lord stand in the path?
Verse 32 gives the answer for the Lord’s opposition to Balaam. “Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was reckless and contrary to Me.” (NASB) Balaam was doing what the Lord said to do, but he was reckless in how he was doing it. Method and motivation matter.
The Lord looks at our hearts and sees us for who we truly are. What is our true motivation? Am I serving the Lord out of obligation, for personal gain, to feel good, to pay penance for past sins, or any number of other reasons? We can be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. The Lord is so interested in our motivation that He may stand in our way of doing the things He told us to do if we aren’t doing them for the right reasons.
We need to check our motivation and then verify that our method is what the Lord wants. I can be fairly blunt in speaking the Lord’s words, which sometimes is appropriate. Most often though, the Lord wants me to speak with compassion, which requires tact. I need an understanding of the person I’m speaking with.
What if you’re the donkey?
There will be times in our journey that we are the friend that sees something that is being missed. How we communicate what we see is important.
Balaam’s donkey tried to change course for Balaam, then it pushed Balaam into a wall, and finally it just dropped down and stopped moving altogether. Unfortunately, Balaam didn’t understand what the donkey was trying to communicate. This led to embarrassment and frustration for both parties.
It was only after the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and he spoke clearly, that Balaam understood. When we are trying to help someone, we need to ask the Lord for the right words that they may be able to hear. Then, we are to say only what the Lord tells us.
Balaam blessed Israel instead of carrying out the king’s desire to have them be cursed. While his initial motivation was questionable, he submitted to God above man. Are you willing to risk becoming like the misunderstood donkey to redirect someone when needed? Do you have people in your life that are trying to get your attention? Are your motives pure and methods honoring?
DIGGING DEEPER:
A Star from Jacob
The greatest declaration of Israel’s future blessing, though, was left for the distant future. In Balaam’S FINAL final oracle he announced that a star would come out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel, a great king who would definitively crush all of her enemies (24:17–19). In that day, pride of place would not be sufficient to keep Israel’s adversaries safe: the Amalekites, who were “first among the nations,” would come to ruin (24:20). A secure location would be no defense either: the Kenites would be flushed out of their rocky lair (24:21). Even those whom God used to destroy those nations would themselves ultimately go down in defeat at the hands of others—the Assyrians who would overcome and enslave the Kenites would themselves be subdued in due time by a warlike power from across the sea (24:24). Meanwhile, those who brought low the Assyrians would themselves come to ruin in the end (24:24). Who can endure this great day of the Lord’s wrath (24:23)?
This final oracle thus spans the entire sweep of human history. Nation after nation will rise to world domination and then fall to defeat. But when the messianic King arrives on the scene, no people other than Israel, the nation set apart, will survive the final day of destruction. At the end of all things, when all of human history has played out its course of changing fortunes, the Lord’s people will be the only ones left standing.
If it is true that Israel as God’s people has a unique relationship with the Lord that means both their present blessing and final security, then they are indeed to be envied. If the Lord has chosen Israel to be his own and has promised to be with them in the past, the present, and the future, then Balaam’s wish is understandable: “Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!” (23:10). When you even out the merely temporary fluctuations in the fortunes of people and nations, there are ultimately only two fates offered in this world. There is the Lord’s blessing leading to a flourishing life and an enviable death or the Lord’s curse leading to defeat and ultimate destruction.
Yet the coming of the star that Balaam foresaw wasn’t entirely what you might have predicted. At the birth of Jesus, a heavenly star indeed rose over Israel to mark where the infant King lay. Yet the baby King lay in a manger, not in a palace, and those drawn by the star were not Israelites but foreign Magi, students of signs and portents as was Balaam, who came from the east, Balaam’s former home (Matthew 2:1–12). King Herod, an Edomite by descent, was not instantly crushed by the coming of this new King but continued his rule, slaughtering scores of innocent children in Bethlehem. The rising of this star in Christ’s first coming did not yet bring about the total destruction of the nations, for Jesus had come first to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to … Israel” (Luke 2:32). Yet in another way, his coming was exactly what Balaam anticipated: those who, like the Magi, blessed the new Israel, Jesus, and submitted to him found a blessing for themselves. Meanwhile, those who cursed this new Israel found themselves under a curse, just as the Lord had promised Abraham (24:9; see Genesis 12:3). What is more, the day is yet coming when God’s final judgment will be delivered on Herod and on all those who stand against him and his anointed.
Israel’s Blessings Fulfilled in Christ
What that means, then, is that these oracles for Israel are precious promises for us. Some Christians believe that Old Testament promises that speak of “Israel” are only intended for ethnic Israel and not for the church. For them, Balaam’s prophecies speak of a glorious future for the physical descendants of Israel, but they would call any attempt to apply these promises to the church “replacement theology.” I would suggest that this is a misunderstanding of what the Scriptures teach about Israel. It is not that the church has replaced Israel in the New Testament so much as that Old Testament Israel—ethnic Israel—finds its true goal and fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is himself the star of Jacob, the Israel of God.
In the person of Jesus, therefore, the true Israel has arrived, and all those who come to God by faith in him—Jews and Gentiles alike—become God’s children and are thereby incorporated into this new people of God (John 1:11, 12). In Christ, Jews and Gentiles together become the true heirs of the promise given to Abraham, his spiritual descendants (Galatians 3:29). Outside of Christ, on the other hand, there is no longer any true Israel. It is those who are in Christ who are the true chosen people: a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9). We have been chosen by God for exactly the same special relationship that he had with his Old Testament people. In his incredible grace and mercy, God chose us before the foundation of the world, so that we might be blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3, 4). He has rescued us from the final judgment that awaits all those who remain outside his people and has given us the glorious inheritance of a relationship with himself. In Jesus, the star of Jacob has risen for us and for our salvation.
If this is so, then we may have the assurance of the Lord’s settled purpose to bless us in Jesus Christ. No one can rob us of that blessing, and nothing can prevent us from inheriting its promises. All those who trust in Christ and are united to him by faith will die the death of the righteous, for Christ’s righteousness is credited to them, exactly as if it were their own. Whatever life throws at each of us, it must therefore always be “well with my soul,” for Christ has died in our place and is now risen from the dead. If we keep our eyes on that reality, then none of the traumatic rises and falls in our temporal fortunes that are an inevitable part of life in this fallen world can ever completely shake us. We will be settled on a solid rock, established on a firm foundation. People may come and go: some will let us down and hurt us, while others, no matter how faithful, will ultimately die and leave us on our own. But God will still be there. Fortunes may be made and lost, houses may burn, stock markets may crash, and cars will inevitably rust. Yet in Christ, we have an inheritance that no misfortune can touch. At the end of the day, only God remains, and those upon whom his blessing rests.[1]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
[1] Iain M. Duguid and R. Kent Hughes, Numbers: God’s Presence in the Wilderness, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 286–289.
Christmas in the Old Testament
SERMON REVIEW:
The Scene: Numbers 22
The Fear of Balak vs. 1-4
The Fame of Balaam vs. 5-6
The Response: Numbers 22
God uses a donkey vs. 22-30
God used a man vs. 35-40
God uses “oracles”
The Vision: Numbers 24:17
What he sees:
“him”
A star
A scepter
LIFE APPLICATION:
It’s easy to be so focused on our goals that we miss important things going on around us. The angel of the Lord standing in Balaam’s way was important for Balaam to see, but he was blind to it. He needed the help of another to reveal what was right there in front of him.
We live in both a physical and spiritual world at the same time. We’re pretty good about seeing things in the physical, but it is very common to struggle to see in the spiritual realm. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord even though Balaam did not.
A prayer that I commonly pray is, “Lord, give me eyes to see as You see.” He has been faithful to answer this prayer with supernatural sight. Sometimes, it is to be able to see the angels that are present all around us. Other times, we are permitted to see the demonic (an important revelation, but not a pleasant one). Most often, what we get to see are people as the Lord sees them.
My follow up prayer is, “Lord, how do you want me to respond to what I see?” When He opens our eyes in the spiritual realm, it is for a purpose. There is a responsibility to speak, or act, in accordance with the Lord’s words. Repeatedly in the story of Balaam, we see the Lord say, “You must say only what I tell you.” (verses 20 and 35)
Don’t Beat the Donkey and Other Lessons from Numbers 22
February 18, 2022 | Mark Henslee
There’s a story in the Bible about a man named Balaam. You can read the entire story in Numbers chapters 22 through 24. I’ll give you a brief summary.
Balaam was not an Israelite but was a prophet who had some connection with God. A king hired Balaam to curse Israel. God told Balaam not to go, then to go, then on the way opposed his going, then said to go (gets a bit confusing). Balaam’s donkey spoke to him (not your everyday occurrence). Instead of cursing Israel, Balaam spoke blessings over God’s people.
Don’t beat the donkey
The first lesson that I’m learning from this story is that when a friend starts acting strangely, don’t lash out at them. In other words, don’t beat the donkey. There is, more likely than not, something we don’t see or know that is causing the strange behavior. In verse 30, the donkey pointed out that what it did, in addition to speaking, was not normal. Balaam beat the donkey before considering why it was acting out of character.
Our friend may be trying to get our attention and isn’t sure how to do it without offending us. A good question to ask is, “What am I not seeing?” We all have different perspectives. It is important to be open to hearing from others what they are seeing. In fact, it may save us much heartache, even if it costs us some embarrassment in the process. Alternatively, when someone acts out of character, they may be dealing with something in their life that you can come alongside them and help. At the least, you can be understanding of their difficulty.
We need open eyes
It’s easy to be so focused on our goals that we miss important things going on around us. The angel of the Lord standing in Balaam’s way was important for Balaam to see, but he was blind to it. He needed the help of another to reveal what was right there in front of him.
We live in both a physical and spiritual world at the same time. We’re pretty good about seeing things in the physical, but it is very common to struggle to see in the spiritual realm. The donkey saw the angel of the Lord even though Balaam did not.
A prayer that I commonly pray is, “Lord, give me eyes to see as You see.” He has been faithful to answer this prayer with supernatural sight. Sometimes, it is to be able to see the angels that are present all around us. Other times, we are permitted to see the demonic (an important revelation, but not a pleasant one). Most often, what we get to see are people as the Lord sees them.
My follow up prayer is, “Lord, how do you want me to respond to what I see?” When He opens our eyes in the spiritual realm, it is for a purpose. There is a responsibility to speak, or act, in accordance with the Lord’s words. Repeatedly in the story of Balaam, we see the Lord say, “You must say only what I tell you.” (verses 20 and 35)
Balaam understood this and told Balak multiple times that he could only say what the Lord said (22:38, 23:12, 23:26, and 24:12). We have to recognize the same thing. My thoughts and opinions don’t matter when I’m speaking on behalf of the Lord. I can only say what the Lord tells me to say.
It may be the Lord opposing us
There is a part of the story that I’ve always struggled to understand. God told Balaam to go with the men (verse 20), but His angel stood in Balaam’s way as he went. Then, in verse 35, the Lord’s angel says, “It’s all right for you to go.” What sense does that make?
There is almost always opposition when we are walking in obedience to the Lord’s instructions. However, I expect the opposition to come from the enemy, not from the Lord Himself. Why, if I’m being obedient, would the Lord stand in the path?
Verse 32 gives the answer for the Lord’s opposition to Balaam. “Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was reckless and contrary to Me.” (NASB) Balaam was doing what the Lord said to do, but he was reckless in how he was doing it. Method and motivation matter.
The Lord looks at our hearts and sees us for who we truly are. What is our true motivation? Am I serving the Lord out of obligation, for personal gain, to feel good, to pay penance for past sins, or any number of other reasons? We can be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. The Lord is so interested in our motivation that He may stand in our way of doing the things He told us to do if we aren’t doing them for the right reasons.
We need to check our motivation and then verify that our method is what the Lord wants. I can be fairly blunt in speaking the Lord’s words, which sometimes is appropriate. Most often though, the Lord wants me to speak with compassion, which requires tact. I need an understanding of the person I’m speaking with.
What if you’re the donkey?
There will be times in our journey that we are the friend that sees something that is being missed. How we communicate what we see is important.
Balaam’s donkey tried to change course for Balaam, then it pushed Balaam into a wall, and finally it just dropped down and stopped moving altogether. Unfortunately, Balaam didn’t understand what the donkey was trying to communicate. This led to embarrassment and frustration for both parties.
It was only after the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and he spoke clearly, that Balaam understood. When we are trying to help someone, we need to ask the Lord for the right words that they may be able to hear. Then, we are to say only what the Lord tells us.
Balaam blessed Israel instead of carrying out the king’s desire to have them be cursed. While his initial motivation was questionable, he submitted to God above man. Are you willing to risk becoming like the misunderstood donkey to redirect someone when needed? Do you have people in your life that are trying to get your attention? Are your motives pure and methods honoring?
DIGGING DEEPER:
A Star from Jacob
The greatest declaration of Israel’s future blessing, though, was left for the distant future. In Balaam’S FINAL final oracle he announced that a star would come out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel, a great king who would definitively crush all of her enemies (24:17–19). In that day, pride of place would not be sufficient to keep Israel’s adversaries safe: the Amalekites, who were “first among the nations,” would come to ruin (24:20). A secure location would be no defense either: the Kenites would be flushed out of their rocky lair (24:21). Even those whom God used to destroy those nations would themselves ultimately go down in defeat at the hands of others—the Assyrians who would overcome and enslave the Kenites would themselves be subdued in due time by a warlike power from across the sea (24:24). Meanwhile, those who brought low the Assyrians would themselves come to ruin in the end (24:24). Who can endure this great day of the Lord’s wrath (24:23)?
This final oracle thus spans the entire sweep of human history. Nation after nation will rise to world domination and then fall to defeat. But when the messianic King arrives on the scene, no people other than Israel, the nation set apart, will survive the final day of destruction. At the end of all things, when all of human history has played out its course of changing fortunes, the Lord’s people will be the only ones left standing.
If it is true that Israel as God’s people has a unique relationship with the Lord that means both their present blessing and final security, then they are indeed to be envied. If the Lord has chosen Israel to be his own and has promised to be with them in the past, the present, and the future, then Balaam’s wish is understandable: “Let me die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!” (23:10). When you even out the merely temporary fluctuations in the fortunes of people and nations, there are ultimately only two fates offered in this world. There is the Lord’s blessing leading to a flourishing life and an enviable death or the Lord’s curse leading to defeat and ultimate destruction.
Yet the coming of the star that Balaam foresaw wasn’t entirely what you might have predicted. At the birth of Jesus, a heavenly star indeed rose over Israel to mark where the infant King lay. Yet the baby King lay in a manger, not in a palace, and those drawn by the star were not Israelites but foreign Magi, students of signs and portents as was Balaam, who came from the east, Balaam’s former home (Matthew 2:1–12). King Herod, an Edomite by descent, was not instantly crushed by the coming of this new King but continued his rule, slaughtering scores of innocent children in Bethlehem. The rising of this star in Christ’s first coming did not yet bring about the total destruction of the nations, for Jesus had come first to be “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to … Israel” (Luke 2:32). Yet in another way, his coming was exactly what Balaam anticipated: those who, like the Magi, blessed the new Israel, Jesus, and submitted to him found a blessing for themselves. Meanwhile, those who cursed this new Israel found themselves under a curse, just as the Lord had promised Abraham (24:9; see Genesis 12:3). What is more, the day is yet coming when God’s final judgment will be delivered on Herod and on all those who stand against him and his anointed.
Israel’s Blessings Fulfilled in Christ
What that means, then, is that these oracles for Israel are precious promises for us. Some Christians believe that Old Testament promises that speak of “Israel” are only intended for ethnic Israel and not for the church. For them, Balaam’s prophecies speak of a glorious future for the physical descendants of Israel, but they would call any attempt to apply these promises to the church “replacement theology.” I would suggest that this is a misunderstanding of what the Scriptures teach about Israel. It is not that the church has replaced Israel in the New Testament so much as that Old Testament Israel—ethnic Israel—finds its true goal and fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is himself the star of Jacob, the Israel of God.
In the person of Jesus, therefore, the true Israel has arrived, and all those who come to God by faith in him—Jews and Gentiles alike—become God’s children and are thereby incorporated into this new people of God (John 1:11, 12). In Christ, Jews and Gentiles together become the true heirs of the promise given to Abraham, his spiritual descendants (Galatians 3:29). Outside of Christ, on the other hand, there is no longer any true Israel. It is those who are in Christ who are the true chosen people: a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9). We have been chosen by God for exactly the same special relationship that he had with his Old Testament people. In his incredible grace and mercy, God chose us before the foundation of the world, so that we might be blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3, 4). He has rescued us from the final judgment that awaits all those who remain outside his people and has given us the glorious inheritance of a relationship with himself. In Jesus, the star of Jacob has risen for us and for our salvation.
If this is so, then we may have the assurance of the Lord’s settled purpose to bless us in Jesus Christ. No one can rob us of that blessing, and nothing can prevent us from inheriting its promises. All those who trust in Christ and are united to him by faith will die the death of the righteous, for Christ’s righteousness is credited to them, exactly as if it were their own. Whatever life throws at each of us, it must therefore always be “well with my soul,” for Christ has died in our place and is now risen from the dead. If we keep our eyes on that reality, then none of the traumatic rises and falls in our temporal fortunes that are an inevitable part of life in this fallen world can ever completely shake us. We will be settled on a solid rock, established on a firm foundation. People may come and go: some will let us down and hurt us, while others, no matter how faithful, will ultimately die and leave us on our own. But God will still be there. Fortunes may be made and lost, houses may burn, stock markets may crash, and cars will inevitably rust. Yet in Christ, we have an inheritance that no misfortune can touch. At the end of the day, only God remains, and those upon whom his blessing rests.[1]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- What lessons can we learn from Balaam's struggle between personal gain and obedience to God's will when faced with temptation?
- How can we discern when our own motivations are driven by personal desires rather than a genuine desire to follow God's leading?
- How does this story illustrate the importance of being open to God's guidance, even when it may not align with our initial expectations?
[1] Iain M. Duguid and R. Kent Hughes, Numbers: God’s Presence in the Wilderness, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 286–289.