“Generation: Next (Numbers 26-27)", Will DuVal | 5/18/25
Numbers 26-27 | 5/18/25 | Will DuVal
But I wanna talk to the KIDS this morning - KIDS: where you at? Let me hear it!
Alright, kids: here’s why I wanna talk ESPECIALLY to you this morning, because the passage we’re about to read… and the sermon you’re about to hear, which I’ve entitled “Generation: NEXT” is especially aimed at YOU.
If you DON’T typically join us for “big church” on Sundays, or if you ARE new this morning, we’ve been studying the Old Testament book of NUMBERS since January now. It’s the story of God leading his people AFTER he’s rescued them from slavery in Egypt but BEFORE he’s led them into the Promised Land of Canaan, and here in the MIDDLE, He’s been leading them through the WILDERNESS. Where God has MIRACULOUSLY provided for them: he has GUIDED them by taking the form of a CLOUD by day and a FIRE by night, he has FED them by raining down these Krispy Kreme donuts from heaven called “manna”, God has even given them water when they were thirsty by splitting open ROCKS - not once, but TWICE now!
But DESPITE all of God’s provision, the people still didn’t TRUST Him. So when God led them to the edge of the Promised Land and told them to go in and TAKE it, they got so SCARED of the people LIVING there, they disobeyed God. So He said, “Fine, I’ll give the land to your CHILDREN instead.” And God let them wander around the desert another 38 years until all of that old, faithless generation died off, and a new, FAITHFUL generation was ready to go in.
And that brings us to chapters 26 & 27 for this morning. I hope you brought your BIBLES, or at least your Bible APP. If you are a VISITOR with us and you NEED a Bible, please just raise your HAND our Welcome team would love to give you a Bible; that’s YOURS to KEEP as a “thank you” for joining us.
But here in Numbers 26, God is going to SPECIFY that “not ONE of those listed by Moses & Aaron” in the ORIGINAL census, taken back in ch1, will be listed in THIS census now, in ch26. Kids: a census is just a “counting” of everyone present; like when your teacher takes attendance. That’s why the book is called “NUMBERS” - kids: how many of y’all like NUMBERS? Math?? Good, me too. I’ve got a few math problems for you later in the sermon, so make sure you’re paying attention… (Speaking of math, I just LOST 83% of the kids… and the adults too - “If there’s MATH involved, I’m OUT!” you say… NO! You stay WITH me!)
But NO overlap between these two censuses, and Moses’ FIRST census included Israelites 20 years old and up… and now they’ve wandered around the desert for 40 years… so how old were the YOUNGEST Israelites of that OLD generation, who had to die out? 20 + 40 = ??
60! Good. (Warm you up with an easy one…) EVERYONE who God is preparing here to enter the Land is under the age of 60.
Now if you’re OVER the age of 60 this morning, we love you too - and let me tell you why this sermon is for YOU too: it oughta serve as a WARNING to you, NOT to be like the old generation of Israelites that we find here! In the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 10 retells this story and it says of these seniors that, “God was not pleased [with them], and they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not [do] evil as they did.” (vv5-6)
So let’s ALL seek to learn from their negative example this morning.
And specifically, there are FIVE things God wants us to learn from these 2 chapters. Really, TEN things, cuz there are 2 blanks per bullet point, in your bulletins. Kids: if you can pay attention and fill in all 10 of those blanks, I’ve got a little reward for you. But listen: if you’re daydreaming and you MISS a blank, you CANNOT ASK Mom & Dad; you gotta stay LOCKED in. Okay- Ready? Got your pens out?
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#1) We must FOLLOW the Lord and WORK together. (26:1-4a)
FOLLOW the Lord and WORK together.
We begin in Numbers ch26, v1: “After the plague…”
Now pause THERE. That was LAST week, in ch25, when Israel SINNED with “the daughters of Moab” and worshiped their false GODS, so God sent a PLAGUE on them, but a guy named Phinehas stepped up and ATONED for their sin and STOPPED the plague. Much like JESUS, who forgives OUR sin and stops the plague of DEATH that sin causes.
But now “AFTER the plague”, v1: “the Lord said to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron, the priest, 2 “Take [another] census of all… the people of Israel, from twenty years old and upward…”. And v3: “Moses and Eleazar… [did] as the Lord commanded.”
God is TEACHING us here: the importance of 1) FOLLOWING HIM, and 2) WORKING TOGETHER.
Ch25: they DIDN’T follow God, and they PAID for it with a PLAGUE. Now in ch26: they DO follow God - they take the census EXACTLY as He commanded them to - and they’re gonna be REWARDED for their OBEDIENCE.
Once there was a woman listening to Jesus teaching and she was AMAZED, so she shouted out: ““Blessed is the womb that bore you!” (Lk 11:27). Some Christians believe that; that MARY was somehow special. But listen to how Jesus RESPONDED to her; he said, ““Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”” (v28).
Kids: you have been BLESSED (most of you) to be born to Christian parents. But Jesus is warning us here against thinking that our PARENTS’ faith can somehow SAVE us. No! He says, you must “HEAR the word of God and KEEP it”, for YOURSELF! You must follow JESUS… for YOURSELF.
And the OTHER lesson we learn in v1 is the importance of working together. For 40 years, Moses & his brother AARON were the dynamic DUO. But who’s leading NOW?
“Moses and ELEAZAR, the SON of Aaron” (v1). This is Israel’s first intergenerational leadership team. And it would have served as a powerful visual symbol that God was now passing the torch on to the next generation of leaders.
It’s so important still TODAY that the various generations of the church be able to work TOGETHER. Especially in leadership.
You know, I couldn’t help but WONDER, reflecting on this passage this week, if perhaps the reason God seems to have frustrated many our appeals for leadership from the OLDER generation of the church, here at West Hills - and I want to be clear: we are blessed with some WONDERFUL leaders aged 60+; we praise GOD for y’all! But I’ll be honest: we’ve also got some senior saints who SHOULD be leading somewhere in the church by now but AREN’T - and this passage made me wonder if maybe God is telling us that it’s time to start passing the torch. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the average age of our congregation has been steadily DROPPING the past 6 years now. And that’s a really HEALTHY thing; so many churches out there are aging and DYING out - not us! Praise God!
But maybe God’s telling us that the leadership needs to better reflect the church at large. I think we’ve got some incredible YOUNG potential leaders here, many of whom are chomping at the BIT, READY to pick up the torch and RUN with it, if we’ll just give them the chance. I think it’s time.
The THIRD and FOURTH lessons we learn here (bullet point #2 now, kids…):
2) God VALUES everyone but CHOOSES some. (26:4b-50)
God VALUES everyone but CHOOSES some.
V4b: “The people of Israel who came out of the land of Egypt were…” - and now we get a LONG LIST, stretching all the way to v50, of all TWELVE tribes of Israel, along with their KIDS, who form the “CLANS” of each of the 12 tribes. And we’re not gonna read the whole list, but let’s at least look at the tribe of REUBEN as an example in vv5-9:
“5 Reuben, the firstborn of Israel; the sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; 6 of Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. 7 These are the clans of the Reubenites, and those listed were 43,730. [But then the list continues on in v8…] And the sons of Pallu: Eliab. 9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram.”
Now NOTICE - and if we read the genealogies for all 12 tribes we’d see it again and again - but ALL of Reuben’s 4 sons get NAMED here: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. And it highlights the fact that God values everyone.
I counted 104 names in God’s list here. And you might think, “Well THAT’s boring; a whole long chapter just full of names…”. But guess what: it wouldn’t be so boring if YOUR name was there, would it?! Recorded in the BIBLE, God’s special BOOK, preserved of all of ETERNITY!
Did you know that God is keeping ANOTHER book as well; it’s called the “Lamb’s Book of LIFE”. And the entire BOOK is just one GIANT list of names. And again you might think, “Sounds boring”, but not if YOUR name is written in it! Because all those - and ONLY those! - whose names are found in the Lamb’s Book of Life will spend ETERNITY with God in HEAVEN.
And listen: God WANTS that for YOU; He WANTS it for EVERYONE - 1 Timothy 2 says that “[God] desires all people to be saved and to come to [know] the truth: that there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all” (vv4-6). God is HOLY; but we are SINFUL; so we needed a “mediator”, a SAVIOR, to die in our place to pay for our sins as a RANSOM for us. And listen: God SO values you, He so values everyone, He so loved the WORLD, that He gave His only SON, that whoever BELIEVES in Him - whoever trusts in JESUS - will NOT perish, but will instead get their name written in God’s book, and enjoy EVERLASTING LIFE!
“Oh, when the saints / Go marching in / Oh, when the saints go marching in // Oh Lord, I want to be in that… [NUMBER!]” – Numbers aren’t ALWAYS boring, are they? Not if you’re included in THAT number, on THAT day, when Heaven’s ROLL CALL gets read!
God values EVERYONE. Everyone remembers MOSES; NO ONE remembers HANOCH. But guess what: they BOTH made the LIST. The New Testament calls the Church the “BODY of Christ”, OF which, EVERY believer is a “MEMBER”. And it says “God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.” (1 Cor 12:18) He chose SOME of us to be an EYE, or an ear, or a hand… and OTHERS to be a PINKY toe. But before you say, “Aww MAN; I’m just a PINKY toe?!” - have you ever STUBBED your pinky toe? …BROKEN it?! The Bible says, “the parts of the body that seem to be [pointless] are actually indispensable”. Everyone is important.
But it DOESN’T say “EQUALLY important”. You’d RATHER lose a pinky toe than an EYEBALL, wouldn’t you? And if we look back at Numbers’ census now, Hanoch is important, but only PALLU’s SONS get named: Eliab; and Pallu’s GRANDSONS: “Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram”. Because God CHOSE them to play a more significant role in His STORY.
Don’t you want God to choose YOU for GREATNESS? Not to make a name for YOURSELF, I hope; but for HIS glory; to make HIS great name FAMOUS. The Church needs believers in this next generation - and EVERY generation! - who are praying: “God, USE me! In a POWERFUL way, I pray. If you’ve chosen me to be a Hanoch, a pinky toe; that’s cool too. Cuz we’re all important, and I’m just grateful you chose me at ALL, to be ANY part of the body, your family… But God, I love you so much, I wanna do something GREAT for your Kingdom - I wanna be a MOSES! Or at least a Pallu, whose children and grandchildren make the list too.”
As long as it’s about HIS glory and not your OWN, that’s a prayer our God LOVES and HONORS: “God, CHOOSE me and USE me!”
Lesson #3: We must KNOW where we came from and LEARN from our past. (26:4b-11)
KNOW where we came from; LEARN from our past.
It turns out not EVERYONE who made the list left a legacy we should aspire to: v9 reminds us WHY Dathan and Abiram are forever remembered:
“These are the Dathan and Abiram, chosen from the congregation [it’s not ALWAYS good to be “chosen”; depends on what you’re chosen FOR; in THEIR case, they…], contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the Lord 10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died, when the fire devoured 250 men, and they became a warning.”
That was ch16 of Numbers. And a quick glance down the census list here reveals a number of OTHERS whom God similarly “chose” to be “WARNINGS” to us:
*the SIMEONITES, in vv12-14. Their headcount has plummeted to just 22,200 now; whereas in the FIRST census, in ch1, they numbered 59,300. That’s a 63% LOSS. Why? Probably because they SPEARHEADED the rebellion last week in ch25, and were disproportionately punished by the plague, which killed 24,000 people. And GAD and REUBEN, who camped and marched with the Simeonites, were ALSO two of the only other tribes that had declined over these 40 years between censuses. Which goes to show: be careful who you hang out with! “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor 15:33). Conversely, though, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, who all camped and marched together as WELL, all experienced a nice BUMP in their populations. So “GOOD company can also foster GOOD character” and growth.
*If we skip down to v19, we’re reminded of the “sons of Judah: Er and Onan; [who] died in the land of Canaan,” once again, for their SIN. (Gen 38)
*Then in v61: “Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord.”
You know, they say if you don’t LEARN from the past you are DOOMED to REPEAT it. But they ALSO say you learn more from the LOSSES than you do from the WINS. That’s why God left us more VILLAINS than HEROES here; to learn from their NEGATIVE examples, what NOT to do; v10: “they became a WARNING” to us: Do NOT REBEL against the LORD!
But we DO find at least ONE positive example of someone who actually TOOK that advice here: the “sons of Korah” in v11, who “did NOT die” with their father back in ch16, when HE rebelled and died. As a matter of fact, these same sons, YEARS later, would go on to pen some of the most beautiful psalms in all the psalter: “God is our refuge… an ever-present help in trouble. We will not fear, though the earth gives way” (Ps 46:1-3). The sons of KORAH, of ALL people, might well have been AFRAID of the “EARTH giving WAY” - opening up and swallowing THEM down to Sheol too! But they write, “We will NOT fear”, because “GOD is OUR refuge and help”. We KNOW where WE came from, and we’ve LEARNED from OUR past.
**“I’m not CHEATING on MY wife, LEAVING MY family; cuz I’ve BEEN on the other SIDE of it; I’m not DOING that to MY kids.” We need to be like KORAH’s kids, and LEARN from our FATHERS’ mistakes.
“I’m not LETTING work become an IDOL for me, and missing my kids’ games and recitals, missing dinner and bedtime…”
Know your family history; it seems like every other person in my WIFE’s family tree was an ALCOHOLIC, so she said early on: “Alcohol is an ‘acquired taste’ that I am NOT trying to ACQUIRE; I’m not even MESSING with it; it’s RUINED too many lives.”
About every other person in MY family died of HEART problems. If I was SMART, I’d cut back on the salts and sugars, the french fries and ice cream… but I mean… it’s fries and ICE cream; some things are worth DYING for! 🙂
But you get the point: you are NOT your PARENTS! You don’t HAVE to fall prey to the same pitfalls THEY did!
KNOW where you came from, and LEARN from the past: the wins, but especially the LOSSES.
Lesson #4) God is FORGIVING & FAIR but JEALOUS & JUST. (26:51-65)
Our God is FORGIVING & FAIR, but He is ALSO JEALOUS & JUST.
Let’s skip down now to v51: “This was the list of the people of Israel, 601,730.”
Now on the ONE hand, our FIRST reaction to that number ought to be to MARVEL at just how FORGIVING God is. He truly IS a God of second chances - and third… and fourth… TENTH chances?! How many are they UP to by now? They grumbled for water at Marah, for food at Sin, for water AGAIN at Rephidim, there was the Golden Calf at Sinai… God warned ‘em back in Numbers 14: “I’ve forgiven y’all TEN times already,” and that was before they refused to enter Canaan, or Korah’s rebellion, or the fiery SNAKES, or they worshipped BAAL last week. It’s a testament to God’s FORGIVENESS that there are ANY Israelites left by this point, much less 601,730!
He truly IS “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love [who] forgives iniquity” (Ex 34:6-7).
BUT, “who will by no means clear the guilty”; God is JUST. He will NOT simply turn a blind eye to SIN.
And Israel’s SIN is the reason they ONLY numbered 601,730; God had PROMISED to MULTIPLY them as numerous as the STARS. And back in Egypt, He HAD; Israel had grown exponentially. But now, after 40 years, for the first time EVER, their population has actually DECLINED. In ch1, the FIRST census, they numbered 603,550. Math Kids: what’s 603,550 - 601,730? Quick…
Good: 1,820. Now how about THIS one: that’s a WHAT percent DECREASE? (Who said “0.3%”?! Great math!)
But not great NEWS, for Israel; they’ve plateaued. God WANTS to GROW His people - “I will build my church,” Jesus declared, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mt 16:18). And He IS building it… just not in OUR country. Christianity continues to grow worldwide; but in America, the church is SHRINKING. And we can complain about the CULTURE, or we can look in the MIRROR, and ask ourselves: “Why aren’t we REACHING them?” We have the BEST news imaginable to share - “God is FORGIVING; He sent JESUS for that very PURPOSE!” - are we SHARING Him with others? Or are we stagnant?
Now look quickly at v53: “Among these [tribes] the land shall be divided for inheritance according to the number of names.” One of the reasons for TAKING this census was so that Israel would know how to divvy up the Promised Land once they entered in. v54: “To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance; every tribe shall be given its inheritance in proportion to its list”. God is FAIR.
And he’s SO fair, he doesn’t want them complaining, “Why does THEIR land have more RIVERS than ours?” “OUR land has too many MOUNTAINS; it’s hard to FARM”. So v55, God says, “the land shall be divided by lot.” You want FAIR? Cast LOTS, roll DICE to see which portion you get. Fairest to leave it to “chance”.
God is forgiving and FAIR, but he’s ALSO JEALOUS and JUST. God commanded, “You shall have NO other gods but ME… for I am a JEALOUS God” (Ex 20:3-5). And we’re reminded of it now in vv57-62, with the tribe of LEVI. We won’t read it all, but if you’re new, back in ch3, God chose the Levites specially to belong to HIM. ALL of Israel belongs to God, but the Levites were devoted exclusively to the Lord, serving in the tabernacle, God’s HOME. And the Levites had to RELY on God exclusively too; look at v62: “they were not listed among the people of Israel, because there was no inheritance given to them”. God said, “You don’t need land; I will be your portion. You’re not gonna farm to provide for yourselves like everyone else; I’LL provide for you; trust ME.”
And God still calls us to a radical devotion to and dependance on Him today. “Love ME with all your heart, mind, soul and strength”; “Trust in ME with all your heart… and I won’t lead you astray”.
And God is CLEAR: anything LESS than that, is SIN. And He WARNS us: “Not only am I jealous; I am JUST. I WILL punish sin.” And he reminds us of THAT now in vv64 & 65: “Among these [listed in this census] there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron [in the FIRST census]. For the Lord had said of them, “They shall die in the wilderness.”
For their SIN. Their FAITH-lessness.
Friends: you need to know this morning that God is JUST. He WILL punish sin. And the Bible says, “the wages of sin is DEATH.” God is SO holy that the ONLY fitting punishment is DEATH; ETERNAL death and separation from Him and the wonderful INHERITANCE that He OFFERS us - God wants to give us a BETTER Promised Land, HEAVEN!
But we can only enter IN by FAITH. Moses’ generation FAILED to get in because they failed to trust in the LORD. Don’t make the same mistake THEY did: “Whoever BELIEVES in Him - TRUSTS in Jesus - shall NOT perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE!”
Which brings us to Lesson #5, and ch27: We must claim our INHERITANCE and then pay it FORWARD. (27:1-23)
CLAIM our Inheritance and pay it FORWARD.
We won’t read all of vv1-11 but here’s the SUMMARY: there’s these 5 daughters of this man named ZELOPHEHAD, who had “DIED in the wilderness”, we’re told in v3. But “he had no SONS”. And in THOSE days, only MALE children received an inheritance. But this is the first “women’s rights movement” in history; don’t ever let anyone tell you God is a chauvinist!
Zelophehad’s daughters go to MOSES and argue: “Why should the name of our father be taken away [just] because he had no son? Give to US… our father's [share of the land].”” (v4)
So “Moses brought their case before the Lord. And the Lord said, “They’re right. You shall give them possession of an inheritance”. (vv5-7)
And here’s the takeaway, friends: there is PLENTY of Promised Land for EVERYONE to get a share - God desires ALL PEOPLES to be SAVED:
Men AND women;
young AND old;
Jew AND Gentile;
rich AND poor;
Republican AND Democrat…
There is NO one our God CAN’T SAVE!
But here’s the thing: you’ve got to CLAIM your INHERITANCE.
Imagine you received a LETTER in the mail - I mean an OFFICIAL looking letter, sealed and notarized; this ain’t no “Nigerian prince” scam; it looks LEGIT - informing you that some wealthy distant relative of yours had died and left you a substantial portion of his inheritance. Don’t you think you’d at least WRITE BACK… EMAIL… CALL… isn’t that worth at least picking up the PHONE to look INTO, and check OUT?!
Listen: GOD has left YOU an inheritance that is INFINITELY better than ALL of the riches that this world has to offer; don’t you think you should at LEAST look INTO it for yourself? Investigate the truth claims of Christianity?
But here’s the thing: investigating won’t SAVE you. Simply being present at the reading of the “will” doesn’t win you the estate; you’ve gotta SIGN on the dotted LINE to make it OFFICIAL.
Some of you have been “investigating” Christ for YEARS now, and this morning, it’s time to CLAIM your inheritance!
You say, “But I want PROOF; I can’t SEE God…”. Faith is believing WITHOUT seeing; “the assurance of things hoped for” (Heb 11:1). Zelophehad’s daughters couldn’t see the Promised Land yet either, but they TRUSTED God to GIVE it to them! I can’t see HEAVEN yet, but I’m TRUSTING God to make GOOD on His promise. I’m CLAIMING my inheritance; have you claimed YOURS this morning?
Lastly, once you HAVE, then you pay it FORWARD to OTHERS. Like MOSES. This last part of ch27 is bittersweet; God chooses JOSHUA to succeed Moses as Israel’s leader. v12:
“The Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. 13 When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, [you’re gonna DIE] 14 because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy… before their eyes.”
[And instead of trying to ARGUE and PLEAD with God, make his CASE… what does MOSES ask?] 16 “Let the Lord… appoint a man OVER the congregation… who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep who have no shepherd.”
[Moses was a GOOD SHEPHERD, who CARED for his flock - for GOD’S flock - and knew they were gonna need ANOTHER shepherd to REPLACE him.]
18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. 19 Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight. 20 You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey… At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in… And Moses did as the Lord commanded him.”
Listen: ONE day, God willing, maybe when I’m ready to RETIRE and pass the TORCH on, I’ll come back and preach a whole sermon just on these 12 verses, and we’ll outline a “biblical leadership succession” plan, and highlight the seven traits of a godly successor.
But for NOW, let me just CLOSE with two final exhortations:
First: we’ve got to pay it FORWARD. Parents… GRAND-parents… ELDERS… LIFE group leaders…: you will not LEAD forever. One day, you too will be “gathered to your people”, and finally get to ENJOY the REWARD of your eternal inheritance in Christ.
But UNTIL then, you oughta ask every single DAY: “What can I do TODAY, to pay that inheritance forward to OTHERS?” To INVEST, to SOW the SEEDS of the gospel into the lives of OTHERS. And help raise up the NEXT generation of God’s people, like MOSES here with Joshua, and leave behind a LEGACY of FAITH.
The GREATEST legacy you can leave will NOT be written in “legalize” on paper, in your “last will and testament”, but rather, it is written by God’s SPIRIT on the HEARTS of those you have helped lead to CHRIST.
And that’s our second and FINAL exhortation: YES, we need to help raise up - ask God to raise up! - the next generation of “shepherds” in the church. But more than ANYTHING - more than “A” good shepherd; Church: we need THE Good Shepherd! The One who laid down His LIFE for the sheep, that WE might have life ETERNAL.
Moses can’t GET you into the Promised Land. The “LAW”, your good deeds, will NEVER measure up.
But you know who CAN get you in? JOSHUA… or in Aramaic: YESHUA… or in English: JESUS!
Only JESUS can get us in! Have you trusted in Him today?
Let’s pray…