Numbers 1-36 – Study Guide

Wandering in the Wilderness

From Creation to Canaan

Numbers 1-36

Introduction

“Are we there yet?” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that question, I’d quit pastoring today. Long road trips with a vehicle full of kids often comes with its challenges.

“I need to use the restroom.”

“Are we there yet?”

“Can’t I get this snack?”

“When will we be there?”

“I don’t like this snack as much as theirs. I want theirs!”

“Are we there yet?”

Driving 10 hours with kids can seem like an eternity. When then, must it have been like for Moses to lead 2 million people 200 miles through the desert from Sinai to Canaan? Imagine, for a moment, Moses reaction when God told him that instead of the 11-day trip it ought to have been, the journey would take 40 years. Well that’s what the Old Testament book of Numbers is all about.

Raise the Need, State the Destination, Give Signposts:

Numbers is a book about the faithful God and a complaining people. Israel “grumbles,” “quarrels,” “complains,” and “speak against.” Those words occur over 15 times.

Much like the children in the backseat of a car, Israel whines and complains constantly. Only, they aren’t whining against a physical parent. They are whining against God himself, their deliverer and redeemer.

Numbers breaks down into two parts. Chapters 1-26 is about a complaining generation that dies wandering in the desert, while chapters 27-36 are about the maturing of the next generation to go into Canaan. The pivotal moment in Numbers is chapters 13-14 where they get to the Promise Land, but the older generation refuses to go in, fearing that God will not deliver. And God says, “Ok, you’ll die in the wilderness, and your children will go in.” And that’s what the book is about.

Now, this has incredible application for us, because the New Testament constantly likens the church to Israel in their wandering. The New Testament is constantly saying, “Just like them, you have been delivered by God. God has promised you a Promised Land—the New Creation. You too are wandering; this is the land of your sojourn. You’re not home yet.” And therefore, you and I can fall into the same temptations and sins as they did.

Though there are plenty of rabbit trails and subplots, Numbers tells one story with one big application:

Our faith grows in spite of our doubts and through God’s testing as we consider his faithfulness.

That’s our outline for Numbers. Today we’ll see that faith grows: in spite of doubts, through testing, as we consider God’s faithfulness. And I pray that no matter where you are in your walk with Christ, whether you are just learning about him, or if you have walked with him for decades, I pray today would trust him on the journey, look to him for direction, and rest in his faithful promises.

1. Faith Grows in Spite of Doubt (Numbers 1-14)

God’s people can be redeemed and yet restless. This is one of the storylines of the entire Bible. From Abraham to the Apostles, God promises to bring his people into a land of their own, to give it to them forever, and there they’ll enjoy communion with him, life, health, and endless joy as they behold his glory and serve him gladly. And yet, every story in the Bible tells how all of us, on that journey, are restless, fearful, doubting, and even complaining.

And that’s what’s happening in Numbers 1-14. In the first 4 chapters, Moses takes a census of the people; nearly 2 million of them. God organizes the camp of Israel, and gives instructions for their worship. In chapters 9-10 they follow God through the desert toward Canaan as he leads them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And he feeds them every single morning with bread that just shows up miraculously called manna. Look at what’s going on: God is preparing them, leading them, and even feeding them.

And yet, in chapters 11-14 doubts, complaints, and grumbling erupts: we hate this trip, we hate this food, we hate the leader. That’s 11-12. And then we hit the big blow up in the book. Numbers 13-14 tell of Moses sending 12 spies into Canaan to spy out the land. The bring back giant clusters of grapes and says, “Yes! This is an incredible land the Lord has promised to us.” But ten of the spies say, “But the Lord won’t give it to us, because the inhabits are too strong.” Only two spies, Joshua and Caleb, put their faith in the Lord, and the people listened to the ten over the two. Numbers 14:11 says this:

¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?

Friend, they complained about the food God provided in the wilderness. They doubted his goodness when the task he set before them seemed to difficult. They envied an easier life. And we do just the same thing.

How often do we complain about our ordinary jobs, our modest incomes, or the difficulties of those God has placed in our life rather than thanking him for the work he has given, the resources he has supplied, and the relative peace we do have in our relationships?

It’s so easy for any of us, on a tough day, when our body is weak, or our thoughts are dark to begin asking ourselves the same questions they did: “Did God bring me all this way to let me die? Just like Israel, who wished they could return to the food they had in their Egyptian slavery, we too flirt with old patterns of sin which once brought us comfort or security. We give in to bitterness, sulking, moping and whining.

Now, I want to make a careful distinction right here: there is a difference between godly complaining and ungodly complaining. What’s the difference? Godly complaining desires God himself, ungodly complaining seeks to escape God for something else.

Godly complaining sounds like the Psalms. Going to the Lord. Seeking his face. Sharing your complaints but ultimately desiring his presence. Ungodly complaining, like that in Numbers says, “Would that we had died in Egypt, away from the Lord.” So, Godly complaining runs to God in trust; sinful complaining runs from God in unbelief. One cries in the father’s arms, the other kicks against the father’s will. One is prayer; the other is rebellion.

Friend, do you know that you can complain to God? You can cry in your Father’s presence. You can even wrestle with him, so long as you aren’t running from him. Don’t be like the children of Israel, who ran from the Lord. Go to him in your need. Lay your burdens at his feet and your faith will grow in spite of your doubts.

2. Faith Grows Through Testing (15-25)

Well the children of Israel said, “Would that we had died in the desert,” and God granted their request. Everyone in that older, first generation who left Egypt, would wander in the desert for 40 years until all except Joshua and Caleb died. That’s Numbers 15-25. So many different things happen in these chapters, so let’s just go chapter by chapter:

• Numbers 16-17: A man named Jorah leads a rebellion against Aaraon as the high priest, God judges them and vindicates Aaron’s office.

• Numbers 20: Moses, weary of the peoples complaining, disobeys God’s instructions, and God tells him that he will now die outside of Canaan.

• Numbers 21: God tests the people by sending serpents in the desert who bite the people and kill them unless they go and look on a bronze serpent that Moses craft.

• Numbers 22-24: A foreign prophet named Balaam is sent to curse Israel, but instead God blesses them.

• Numbers 25: Finally, as the last of the old generation dies off, they begin to worship the false deity Baal, kindling the Lord’s anger and judgement.

In Deuteronomy 8:2, the Lord spoke to Israel saying,

And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

The forty years of wandering in the wilderness was a time of testing, a time of humbling, so that the people would see what was in their heart.

Friend, that is exactly how God tests us today. Consider the tests they endured:

They were delayed in their destination for 40 years. Friend, God may have you in a season of wandering, teaching you patience and dependence. The people only had manna to eat. He may have you in a season of scarcity, in order to teach you contentment and trust in his provision. Fiery serpents bit them and made them sick. Friend, your poor health maybe driving you to look to Christ and rest in him.

Have you ever wondered why, when God saved you by his grace, he didn’t remove all your temptations in an instant? Wouldn’t that have been nice? “Lord, I put my faith in you!” Wham! Temptations gone. Friend that’s not the way he works. I wish there was no need for us to have a time of confession each week. Even though God does not tempt us to evil, he nonetheless uses all things to test us, to forge us, and to shape us more and more into the image of his Son, Jesus Christ.

God teaches many things through the tests we endure: he teaches us patience, contentment, humility, submission. But beneath every lesson, beneath every test is one giant question: Do you trust me? Do you really trust me?

He humbles us and tests us so that we might know what is in our heart. You can’t know that you trust the Lord until all self-reliance is stripped away. You can’t know if you trust the Lord if you still have strength to stand. You can’t know if you trust the Lord is there’s an ounce of pride left.

You’ve heard it said that God will not send you anything you can’t handle. That’s silly and dangerous counsel. Friend, God will send you circumstances that carry you to the end of yourself, so that his strength will be made perfect in weakness. He will lead you into the wilderness to humble and test you.

So, friend, do no wait until the end of the test to look back and ask, “So, what did God teach me?” Ask that question today. Whatever trial and struggle you face, ask the Lord to teach you and guide you.

Give up yourself to him, and you will find yourself. Lose your life, and you will find it. Submit to the test. Go through the fire. Allow yourself, as it were, to die in the wilderness. Nothing that has not died in the wilderness of faith will ever make it into the Promised Land.

Testing hurts, but ultimately it heals. Israel’s children didn’t just survive the wilderness—they learned to trust the God who never stopped providing for them. And that’s what we’ll see next:

3. Faith Grows As We Consider God’s Faithfulness (26-36)

Number 26 is almost like going back to the start. There’s a new generation, a new census, and a new leader chosen: Joshua. Their worship is renewed in chapters 28-30, and in 34-36 the Promised Land is divided up and allotted to the 12 Tribes, even before they enter it.

If we had time today, we could turn over to the book of Joshua, which I preached through last year and continue following the story: Israel goes into the land with faith, the Lord goes before them, they settle in Canaan and build homes. They are no longer a wandering people. And in Joshua 21:45 we read these words, after the wandering in the wilderness, after the conquest of Canaan:

Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

Through their own complaining, through the testing in the wilderness, Israel saw God’s faithfulness, his patience, his love, his strength, and as they saw him demonstrate his own faithfulness over and over and over again, they finally understood he would not leave them. He would not forsake them. He would not abandon them. He would fulfill all his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

When they were hungry, he gave manna from heaven. Every morning, for 14,600 days, God fed them. Friend, those meals didn’t just feed their stomach. It fed their faith.

And we may be tempted to say, “If God would provide for me like that, then I could really trust him.” Friend, God has provided far better for us than he did even for them. They only saw his faithfulness in black & white. We see it in full color. They saw his faithfulness in 2 dimensions; we see it in three, because we have seen Christ Jesus, the one to whom the book of Numbers pointed:

Israel was sent into the wilderness to be tested for 40 years, and in Matthew 4, Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tested for 40 days.

In fact, Satan lays the same exact temptations Israel faced before Jesus Christ.

• Israel wanted better food in the wilderness, and Satan tempted Jesus with bread. And Christ responded that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word from God’s mouth.

• Israel wanted power and so they turned to worship Baal. Satan offered Jesus power and dominion, and Jesus refused, saying, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”

• Israel feared God’s protection and care. Satan told Jesus to throw himself off the roof of the temple to see if God would protect him. And Christ refused saying, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”

Friend, Jesus Christ is the true and better Israel who succeeded where Israel failed. He never once opened his mouth to complain. He never once faced the testing of God and wished he could run from it.  Where Israel grumbled for bread, Jesus Christ became the true bread which comes down from heaven, who when eaten with faith, gives eternal life to his people. Where Israel feared to face giants in Canaan, Jesus Christ crushed the head of Satan at the cross.

Church, because Jesus passed every test God set before him, your failures don’t have to condemn you. Your doubts don’t derail you. Your complaints don’t cancel his promise.

This life, in some respects is a wilderness, and though the wilderness is not your final home, it’s also not your tomb.  So, stop asking, “Are we there yet? We aren’t We aren’t home yet.

If you’re still grumbling—look to Jesus Christ, who never grumbled, even when he took your blame.

If you’re wearied by the journey, look to the cross, and see how far Christ has gone for you.

If you feel today like you are dying—look to the empty tomb of Jesus Christ and know that you to will, be raised.

Our faith grows as we consider God’s faithfulness to us.