"A Special Appointment (Numbers 3-4)", Will DuVal | 1/26/25
Numbers 3-4 | 1/26/25 | Will DuVal
This morning we’re talking about APPOINTMENTS. Not like the “doctor” or “dentist” kind. But as in “a placement” or “designation”. We don’t often USE the word in that sense, although we’ve heard it more recently in light of some of President Trump’s… “interesting” Cabinet-level appointments. Perhaps you yourself have at some point been “appointed” to a certain position or team within your workplace.
But the word IS used in that way with GREAT frequency all throughout the book of NUMBERS. I told you that “Numbers” is sort of an unfortunate title for the book, however, the Hebrew word for “appoint” - paqad - is actually the SAME verb used for “NUMBER”, as in “Moses numbered the Israelites”. Almost ⅓ of the occurrences of the verb paqad in the OT are found here in the book of Numbers - 91x! And it has a connotation not only of “counting” but also of ORGANIZING, which as we’ve seen, is such a PROMINENT theme of this book; the reason Israel is BEING counted is so they can be counted ON… to FIGHT in God’s army, to FUNDRAISE for God’s tabernacle. So the Israelites are not just being “numbered”; they are being “APPOINTED” to play their part within the assembly of God’s people. And we drew a parallel with church membership TODAY. God APPOINTs you to play your role within the body of Christ here at West Hills.
Well this morning, as we continue our study of Numbers, or “Appointments”, we’re gonna zoom in on one of the tribes of Israel in particular - remember there are TWELVE tribes, or 13 depending on how you’re counting - Joseph’s family line gets split in two, with his sons Ephraim and Manasseh - but that was BECAUSE God declared that ONE of the 12 original tribes should not BE counted along with the rest… would not RECEIVE an allotment of the PromisedLand when they arrive there, like the rest… and that’s because God had a SPECIALcalling - “appointment” - reserved for this tribe; they would belong (as we’ll see this morning) in a special and exclusive way to HIM, to GOD; “they are MINE” (3:12), God says, in reference to… the LEVITES.
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The Levites were descendants of LEVI, Jacob’s 3rd son. And we heard, back in ch1, they are SPECIAL - God told Moses to take a census of everyone EXCEPT the Levites, “But appoint (paqad) the Levites over the tabernacle” (1:50). Remember, the tabernacle was the portable “tent of meeting” that served as the center of Israel’s WORSHIP - where they would meet with God, when His presence descended on the ark of the covenant, inside the Holy of Holies. But ONLY the high priest - the MOST special Levite - could go in. Then you had the REST of the Levitical priests, who helped offer the sacrifices and refueled the sacred LAMP, and baked the holy BREAD… lots of OTHER special, sacred duties. And the PRIESTS were only a small subset of the WIDER tribe of the LEVITES.
So if a quick visual would help: God chooses- “appoints” - ALL of Israel as his special people, his “treasured possession” among all the nations. But then he appoints the LEVITES to be his special TRIBE amongst all his people. And then he appoints the PRIESTS to be ordained to a special POSITION, of ministry, within the tribe of the Levites. And finally the HIGH priest is appointed as Israel’s unique representative and mediator before God. (And this diagram is not drawn to scale; the Levites were the SMALLEST tribe; and only a fraction of them were chosen to be priests, and of course only ONE HIGH priest.)
Now, what does any of this have to do with US, today? I think it’s fair to see an analogy here with God’s organization of his NEW covenant people, where JESUS is of course our high priest (Heb 4:14), pastors today serve in a kind of “priestly” role, facilitating worship for God’s people. But then we don’t really have an additional distinction anymore between “Israel” and “the Levites”; everyone ELSE just belongs to “the CHURCH”. And in THAT sense, just as the LEVITES, we’ll see, will be appointed to serve in a mostly behind the scenes, but nevertheless VITAL role, for ensuring the proper protection and prioritization of God’s worship, so too, EVERY believer today has his or her part to play in making sure we COLLECTIVELY keep Christ at the CENTER, where he belongs. That was the big takeaway from LAST week, in ch2 - we PRIORITIZE worship, we CENTER on Christ. The Levites made sure it STAYED that way; so too EVERY covenant member of God’s people today has been appointed to do the same.
YOU have a “special appointment” from God, if you belong to him. That’s what God declares of the Levites here: “They shall be mine”. If you are HIS, if you belong to God, then you have a unique calling, a “special appointment” from him, that includes at least 4 responsibilities that we find here in Numbers 3 & 4.
So let’s READ it now. We won’t read the whole thing; But we’ll read enough to see what the Levites’ assignment was all about, and then consider especially how it relates to OUR calling as God’s people today.
(SCRIPTURE: Num 3:1-26, 39; 4:46-49)
“These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. 2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar… the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. 4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. 7 They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. 8 They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. 9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. 10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.”
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.”
14 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15 “List the sons of Levi, by fathers' houses and by clans; every male from a month old and upward you shall list.” 16 So Moses listed them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded. 17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei. 19 And the sons of Kohath by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 20 And the sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their fathers' houses.
21 To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these were the clans of the Gershonites. 22 Their listing according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was 7,500. 23 The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle on the west, 24 with Eliasaph, the son of Lael as chief of the fathers' house of the Gershonites. 25 And the guard duty of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting, 26 the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords—all the service connected with these…
[and we’re gonna skip down to v38, after Moses has listed the Kohathites - their clans, their headcount, their camping spot, their chief, and their GUARD duties, over “the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars…”
And then he lists the same for Merari, who guarded “the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases…” And we read…]
38 Those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, guarding the sanctuary itself, to protect the people of Israel [from just walking right in the entrance and being struck DEAD!]… 39 All those listed among the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron listed at the commandment of the Lord, by clans, all the males from a month old and upward, were 22,000…
[And now we’re gonna skip WAY ahead…
The last section of ch3 is “The Redemption of the Firstborn”; we’ll come back and discuss it later…
And I’m just gonna SUMMARIZE ALL of ch4 for you quickly: God calls Moses & Aaron to count all the male Levites specifically, now, not just a month old and up, but between the ages of 30 & 50; in other words, as v5 puts it: “all who can come on duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting.”
And then God OUTLINES that work: before Israel sets out on the march, Aaron & his sons must enter the tabernacle and pack everything up VERY carefully - detailed instructions given here - and then the Kohathites carry all the holiest things - the ARK, the TABLE, the LAMPSTAND… all wrapped up, “but they must not touch the holy things,” v15 warns - they can’t even LOOK AT them, v20 warns, “not even for a MOMENT” - “lest they die.”
Eleazar oversees the moving job, and himself carries the sacred oil and incense…
The GERSHONITES transport the curtains & screens & hangings…
And then MERARI carries the rest, the “bars, pillars, and bases” of the tabernacle…
Then we get a HEADCOUNT of all the “active duty” Levites within each of those 3 “houses”...
Before we hear the TOTAL in v48…]
4:46 All those who were listed of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel listed, by their clans and their fathers' houses, 47 from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who could come to do the service of ministry and the service of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, 48 those listed were 8,580. 49 According to the commandment of the Lord through Moses they were listed, each one with his task of serving or carrying. Thus they were listed by him, as the Lord commanded Moses.”
This is the word of God…
Now, I really don’t want us to get too bogged DOWN in the minutiae here, the exact DETAILS - it was important for THEM to know exact headcounts; and exactly who carried exactly what, and exactly how to wrap each holy object…
Just as it’s important for US to know TODAY - within our OWN context - exactly HOW many members we have at the church, and exactly WHO serves in which ministries, and then WITHIN each ministry… exactly HOW much “gain” Brian needs for his guitar in the monitors, exactly how many SCOOPS of COFFEE are needed to brew in our carafes.
Details are IMPORTANT. That’s certainly one of the big picture takeaways we want to glean here: once again, that minutiae MATTERS, to God. I’m just not sure how important ancient ISRAEL’s details are today for US. There IS no tabernacle anymore; WE are the temple of God - the CHURCH.
So I’m not gonna over-stretch the analogy and try and find some deep symbolic meaning in every piece of furniture we find here in the tabernacle. We’re gonna keep it pretty “big picture” this morning. And here’s the big picture: literally, a picture of the tabernacle complex; we examined it all in great detail during our study of Exodus 2 years ago. But the main idea this morning is simply that because the tabernacle was so CENTRAL in Israel’s worship, it needed to be GUARDED while Israel was in camp (lest a NON-priest come too near and be KILLED by God’s sheer HOLINESS); and then it had to be TRANSPORTED whenever Israel was on the move. And it was the LEVITES who served as both the tabernacle’s BOUNCERS and its BEARERS. Security and shipping - that was their job description. And that’s about 90% of what chs3 & 4 of Numbers lay out for us. But WITHIN that big picture description, we see 4 big PRINCIPLES here that inform HOW we ought to think about our role as “worship assistants”, if the analogy holds, and you and I really are modern-day Levites.
And the first is this: we begin the same place we started the LAST two Sundays - with a call to OBEDIENCE. Levites, both then and now, them and us, we are appointed to OBEY. (3:1-4)
Ch1 began with God’s call to obey and “take a census”... (1:2)
Ch2 began with God’s call to obey and organize their camps…
But ch3 emphasizes God’s call to obedience even more emphatically, by reminding us of the “generations of Aaron”, his SONS. And the FOCUS here - the purpose for starting the passage this way - is found in v4, where we’re reminded that “Nadab and Abihu [Aaron’s first and second born] died… when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord”. Now, You may recall that story from our study of Leviticus… ch10 last year; really the ONLY story in the entire BOOK of Leviticus. 26 chapters of LAWS, and just one chapter, one STORY, of these two Levitical priests, Nadab & Abihu, DISOBEYING God’s very specific instructions for worship, and their ensuing DEATHS as a result. It’s a BIZARRE story; it’s a SCARY story; it’s an UNCLEAR story - we don’t know if Nadab & Abihu were just forgetful, neglectful, LAZY - taking shortcuts - or if they were being outright REBELLIOUS, insisting on THEIR way of doing things over against God’s. But frankly, it doesn’t MATTER. That’s part of the POINT of the story: at the end of the day, disobedience is disobedience. Whether it is unwittingly NEGLECTFUL disobedience, or openly defiant disobedience, either way: it’s DISOBEDIENCE!
So God reminds us of this story right out of the gate to highlight the truth that anyone who would serve him in this kind of special capacity, as a Levite, a “worship assistant” - and ESPECIALLY those who would serve more specifically as PRIESTS, “worship LEADERS” - they MUST pursue lives of whole-hearted OBEDIENCE to God.
Look again with me at the language used here in verses 6 & 9 in particular, and consider once again this analogy of US being Levites and Christ being our high priest:
“Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him… [v9:] you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. ”
Church: you and I are to be “wholly given” to our great high priest, Jesus Christ. Who does not need us to “minister TO” him, but who DOES call us to “minister THROUGH” him, through His power and Spirit, Christ sends us INTO the world to reach the lost, and then he calls us BACK together as his body, to minister to one another.
Jesus said, “If you LOVE me, you will KEEP my commands”; “love God, love neighbor.” We are appointed to obey.
And secondly, a big PART of our obedience is our SERVICE. Like the Levites, we are appointed to SERVE (3:5-10; 25-38; 4:1-33). We mentioned THEIR service already - guarding & transporting; security & shipping. That’s the bulk of these 2 chapters.
And we’ll stay at a big-picture level, but let’s consider HOW God calls us to serve.
We know WHAT the Levites do - guard and carry. But HOW do they do it? We’ve got a LOT of different “WHATs” today - I preach, some of you sing or strum, others usher or rock babies; our “WHATs” vary widely. But the HOWs of serving haven’t changed in 3,500 years; the HOWs are the same for those serving in the pulpit AND in the pews. And we find FIVE adverbs, 5 “HOWs” in these 2 chapters; these are SUB-points, now, under appointment #2:
First, we are called to Serve WHOLE-HEARTEDLY.
I pointed out verse NINE of ch3 already: “[the Levites] are wholly given to [Aaron]...” Serving as a Levite in the tabernacle was NOT a normal 9-to-5, punch-out-and-go-home kind of job. There was no “work-life balance”; the Levitical work WAS their life.
Commentator Iain Duguid (49) makes a similar observation about v15, where God tells Moses to “List the sons of Levi… every male from a month old and upward you shall list.”” Duguid points out: “The Levites were to be entirely dedicated to the Lord from birth. As a result, it was not simply the Levites who were old enough to fight, those twenty years and older who were to be counted, as was the case for the other tribes. Rather, ALL of the Levites one month old and older were to be counted. From their earliest days, they belonged completely to the Lord.”
And Church, I propose to you that they are intended to be a picture of our OWN “complete, whole-hearted belonging” to the Lord as well. Jesus said the greatest commandment in ALL of God’s word is that we love the Lord our God with ALL of our heart, mind, soul, & strength”. And when we LOVE him that way, we will naturally SERVE him the same.
I have long believed that one of the BEST ways to open the door to gospel conversations is when someone new asks you, “What do you DO?”, as they so often do; the second question you get asked after your name is “What do you DO”, for WORK - and I think every CHRISTIAN’s response should be “I serve the Lord.” When they look back at you dumbly, you can ADD: “I serve the Lord… as a software engineer, at Boeing”, or “I serve the Lord… in H.R., at WashU.” You can go on to answer the question they THINK they’re asking. But you START by answering the question at face value; if you’re asking “what I DO,” not just 9-to-5, but with my entire BEING, like what I’ve been put on this PLANET to do, the answer is: God put me here to serve HIM. Most of my waking hours I serve Him as a data analyst, a teacher, a police officer… But I also serve him as a parent, as a child, as a friend, as a kids Sunday school teacher… we serve him wholeheartedly in ALL that we do; “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,” Colossians 3 exhorts us, “You are serving the Lord Christ.” (vv23-24)
And that’s why SECONDLY, we b) Serve CAREFULLY, i.e., “with CARE”, both in the sense that you DEMONSTRATE care for others, but also that you TAKE care for your OWN safety.
That’s ANOTHER reason God starts with the Nadab & Abihu story in ch3: to remind them of the SERIOUSNESS of the work they’re doing; this is LIFE AND DEATH stuff!
Growing up, I thought it was so cool, so important, that my dad was a doctor, and every day peoples’ LIVES were on the line when they came to see him. I never considered that one day peoples’ ETERNITIES might be on the line when they came to see me in the office.
But I’m not the only one; it’s not just the “priests” here, who are handling with life and death matters. There’s a reason God gives the Levites here DETAILED instructions for something as seemingly mundane as carrying a POLE across the desert. Because that POLE holds up the TENT that houses the ark of the covenant where God HIMSELF RESIDES! That’s a pretty stinkin’ IMPORTANT pole! You better take great CARE, when carrying it. Levites serve with intentionality and seriousness; with a sense of the weight and importance that is due their role.
Do you serve that way? Perhaps the reason you feel bored and unfulfilled right now in life is because you have FORGOTTEN what it is that you DO, what God PUT you here for. You think, “Well I’M not a doctor; I’M not a pastor; I DON’T deal with life or death matters; I just sell cars; I just wait tables; I just stay at home with the kids; I’m just RETIRED…”
“I JUST…” - and you’ve forgotten that you have - we ALL have - the most important JOB on the planet; we don’t “just” ANYTHING - we SERVE THE LORD! And I may do it as a pastor and you may do it by staying home with the kids, but we’re ALL serving the LORD. And by the way, I know it’s easy to lose the forest for the trees, when you’re wiping butts and getting whined at all day long, but being the primary caregiver for a young, impressionable child - you are the #1 SOUL-shaper in another person’s life. That is life and death work.
You sell cars? We ALL take our lives in our hands every time we step behind the wheel - that’s life and death.
You serve food? You bring LIFE.
You’re RETIRED? Wonderful - you get to be a FULL-time missionary now. Cuz we NEVER retire from serving the Lord.
All work is meaningful, weighty work, and ESPECIALLY so in the CHURCH. Again, you may be tempted to think, “Well, easy for YOU to say, Pastor, you get to open God’s WORD… stand up and speak on behalf of GOD every Sunday; I just open the doors, I just make the coffee, I just click slides and turn volume knobs…”
Again with the “I just…”
If you don’t turn the knobs, they can’t HEAR me preach the gospel!
If you JUST open the door - if you don’t do it “with CARE”, with intentionality and a sense of the importance that is due your role - if you don’t do it with a smile and a handshake and a friendly greeting, then no matter HOW great the sermon is, they’re probably not coming back, because MOST visitors decide whether or not they’ll return to a church within the first 2 minutes of walking in the building, before Pastor Brian or I ever open our MOUTHS. And if they manage to make it through the front door, through the Cafe, and into the sanctuary, past the USHERS without a single “Good Morning! I don’t think we’ve met…” - anything I preach is gonna fall flat. It just sounds like hypocrisy.
There are NO “I justs” in the church; no small roles, only small mindsets, small appreciations of the importance of the role.
“I’m just the assistant pre-K teacher…” - you “JUST” separated Billy and Bobby so that SUZIE could actually pay attention and understand the GOSPEL for the very first time in her LIFE, and give her life to CHRIST later that night at home. But all the lesson prep from that LEAD teacher means NOTHING without your “crowd control”.
There are NO “justs” in ministry. So we serve CAREFULLY. This is life and death work.
At the SAME time, thirdly, we also c) Serve HUMBLY.
Yes, it’s important work… and at the same time, if you’re Merari, you’re still carrying poles through the desert. And let’s be honest: most Sundays Suzie does NOT go home and get saved later that night; MOST weeks you spend 75 minutes separating Billy and Bobby SEEMINGLY for NOTHING! And the pastor can try all he wants to convince you that this is “life and death” work, but most weeks it feels like you’re JUST changing diapers in the nursery… or you stand up front week after week on the prayer team, but no one ever comes and asks for prayer… or you serve faithfully at the Info Bar, but it’s hard to convince visitors to actually stop by.
Most of serving IS the unglamorous work of carrying poles, clicking slides, cleaning coffee pots. That means you’ve gotta be willing to serve HUMBLY.
Imagine being in the clan of Merari, and hearing that not ONLY are you carrying the poles while the Kohathites are trusted to carry the ark of the covenant, but you’ve gotta DO it, ch4, v32: “under the direction of Ithamar the son of Aaron.” Can’t you imagine them thinking, “Ummm, we’re just transporting some bars and pegs and cords; I’m not sure how much “DIRECTION” we really need here, Ithamar. I think we got it.”
We put you in the same spot HERE, don’t we? Where you’re asked not ONLY to humbly change diapers or pass out bulletins, but to do so under the DIRECTION of Ms. Ally, or Andrew and Cassidy. And 90% of y’all do it so graciously, modestly… but every once in awhile you hear it, “Do I REALLY need to come to a 2-hour training to be taught how to take kids to the bathroom? How to lovingly but firmly separate Billy and Bobby? This ain’t ROCKET science…” Or “Are you really gonna say something to me about showing up 10 minutes late to pass out the bulletins? There’s only like 5 people in the sanctuary, and I’m doing this for FREE! I am VOLUNTEERING my time, out of the GOOD-ness of my heart…”
And a self-effacing attitude gets replaced by a self-important one. But God calls us to serve HUMBLY. Look at ch4, v16; even ELEAZAR, the “son of Aaron” and soon to be high priest is called to carry the oil and incense. No one is “above” the unglamorous, unassuming work of the ministry. There’s a sink FULL of my dirty dishes from the past week down in the staff office that I just haven’t had time to clean yet. The moment that I start thinking to myself, “I’m too important to clean dishes” - that’ll be the beginning of the END of this church. That’s how pastors fall and churches crumble - it may END with a sex scandal or a fist-fight on the elder board, but it always starts with somebody simply getting too big for his britches. “I don’t clean dishes”. FIRE me!
We must ALL serve HUMBLY.
Now, that said, we also serve - FOURTH - COMPLIANTLY. We serve in compliance with our God-appointed role, which DIFFERS from person to person. If we had read all of ch3, we would’ve heard that Moses & Aaron camped to the EAST of the tabernacle, the place of honor, like JUDAH last week. Then Kohath to the south, in second position; Gershon to the west in third; and finally Merari to the north. What’s interesting is that, like LAST week, where JUDAH got the prime real estate even through they were descended from Israel’s FOURTH-born son, so too here KOHATH was Levi’s SECOND oldest, but got preference over GERSHON, the eldest. Duguid notes (53): “Natural precedence is not decisive for position in God’s kingdom… It is God’s prerogative to choose the younger ahead of the older, as he does so often in Scripture, to demonstrate that standing in his kingdom is a matter of GRACE and not of works. The sovereign King can choose… which clans are to be assigned to which tasks. They belong to God, and they are therefore his to command as he pleases. It is the same way in our service to God. He assigns us our place in his kingdom and gives us the gifts that he sees fit.”
For some of us, that means teaching and preaching, shepherding and soul-care. For others, that means serving on the church building design team, the project management team, the audio-visual-and-lighting for the new sanctuary renovations team. “As each of you has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace”. What is YOUR gift? And how does God want you to USE it to edify this body? (By the way: quick Public Service Announcement - we are trying to coordinate those teams right now, for the whole building renovation effort; if you have GIFTS, TALENTS, SKILLS, that you could share with us - even if you already MENTIONED it to me, and offered, I’ve probably FORGOTTEN… please come talk to me or one of the other elders, so we can put you to work. Thanks so much. 🙂)
But lastly on #2 - SERVING (I told you it was the bulk of the passage!); we are to Serve SACRIFICIALLY. Look at what God says in ch3, v12: “I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb… The Levites shall be mine”. What’s that all about?
Well, vv40-51 explain it further. Remember when Pharaoh refused to let Israel go free, from slavery in Egypt, and God sent the 10 plagues? Remember the TENTH plague was the “death of the firstborn”, and how did Israel ESCAPE? God said, “Look, if this is a matter of punishing SIN, then YOU - Israel - deserve my wrath as WELL!” But God did TWO things to rescue them. First, he instituted the PASSOVER, and we’ll talk about it more in a few weeks, in Numbers ch9. But then God also commanded Israel to “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb… both of man and of beast, is mine.”” (Ex 13:1)
Passover reminds us that because of our sin we all deserve DEATH, and therefore we need a sacrifice… But the consecration of the firstborn reminds us that BECAUSE of God’s MERCY, in NOT punishing us, but rather providing that sacrifice for us, we therefore OWE him our entire LIVES!
And here in Numbers 3, we discover that instead of every firstborn Israelite being expected to dedicate their life completely to serving the Lord, God called the LEVITES to be their SUBSTITUTE; to stand and serve sacrificially in their place. As Duguid points out (54): “The job of the Passover lamb was to die; the job of the Levites was to live, completely devoted to God.”
Now look: I could try and “apply” this sermon point by telling YOU to go serve sacrificially. I could apply it by pointing out the similarities here between the Levites and modern-day PASTORS; while we ALL belong to the Lord (just as all of ISRAEL did), a special few of us have been ordained - “consecrated” - to devote our entire LIVES to serving Him in the ministry. But I think ANY application of this point about “sacrificial service” would be COMPLETELY short-sighted if it didn’t CENTER on CHRIST! God’s OWN firstborn. Who not only sacrificially died in our place as our Passover Lamb, but who also lived the only life of TRULY perfect obedience and service to the Father, sacrificially in our place as well. Such that WHEN he died on that cross, Jesus not ONLY took all of our sins and punishment upon himself, as our substitutionary sacrifice in the negative sense; but he ALSO gave US all of HIS righteousness and holiness, in the positive sense, without which we can’t have relationship with a holy God. We call it “double imputation”; our sins to him, his righteousness to us.
This is how Christ SERVES us as our SAVIOR - he “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many,” not just by dying the death we deserve in our place, but by living the consecrated life of OBEDIENCE that we owe God but so often fail to live. Jesus gave HIS life AND death… as a RANSOM, to REDEEM us.
And that brings us to point #3 now: Levites are Appointed to REMIND of redemption. (3:11-13; 40-51)
In vv40-43, God has Moses count all the firstborn in Israel, and the number was 22,273. [keep in mind, those were only the firstborn SINCE their Exodus from Egypt; the other firstborn had already been redeemed, at the first Passover.] But back in v39, we heard that Moses counted all the LEVITES and their number was 22,000 even. So God says in v45, “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel… The Levites shall be mine”, serve sacrificially in their place. But then there were still an additional 273 firstborn without a Levite to account for them. So God says in v46: “And as the redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of Israel, over and above the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels per head… and give the money to Aaron as the redemption price”.
In other words, every single person had to be redeemed. And every single LEVITE stood as a REMINDER of that redemption. Duguid notes (55): “The Levites were… a constant reminder of the grace Israel received in redemption… They were a perpetual pointer to the fact that God rescued his people out of Egypt and that they did not experience the judgment plagues… They are a reminder that when God rescued his people, he did so with a PRICE…
Like the Levites, who substituted for the firstborn of Israel on a one for one basis, redeeming each particularly… so also Christ’s perfect life and death atoned particularly for all of his elect. He did not simply write a blank check that was sufficient for humanity. On the cross he wrote a check that specifically provided the payment for each and every one of his elect people, not just making their salvation potentially possible, but actually purchasing [us]. He therefore now owns each one of us… obliging us to live lives that are wholly devoted to him.”
And Church… Christian… your life now serves as a “constant REMINDER” a “perpetual POINTER” to that priceless redemption check that Jesus Christ wrote for YOU, on the cross.
And LASTLY, BECAUSE of it - because you are a modern-day Levite who has by grace been appointed to belong to the Lord, that means you are ALSO #4- Appointed to MATTER. (3:14-39; 4:34-49)
That is once again a theme running through these chapters that we would be REMISS to just skip past - all the obscure names and exact numbers… 2,750 Kohathites… 2,630 Gershonites… 3,200 Merarites… what’s the point?
The point is that every last ONE of them MATTERED to God; v46: “ALL were listed”; v49: “each one with his task of serving or carrying”. No job, no Levite, was too small or too insignificant.
Speaking of NUMBERS, did you know that according to Jesus, we matter SO much to our heavenly Father, he actually numbers the hairs on our HEADS?! (Lk 12:7) Now, some of us make the job a little EASIER for him than others… “You’re welcome, God”...
But kidding aside, you MATTER to God.
You may feel like you don’t matter at the office; your serving is too SMALL there; your BOSS’s boss doesn’t even know your NAME…
You may honestly feel like you don’t matter HERE some times, at church; like no one would notice if you stopped coming. If that’s you, first of all, it’s not TRUE; you matter to us. We may just need a way to SHOW it. Please fill OUT the Connection card, so we can reach out. Please sign UP to serve in a ministry; cuz we’ll DEFINITELY miss you when you missing means we don’t have COFFEE! You DO matter here.
But even when it doesn’t feel like it, you need to know MOST of all that you matter to GOD.
Not because of how faithfully you OBEY him, or how whole-heartedly, how humbly, how carefully, compliantly and sacrificially you SERVE him. But because of how faithfully and sacrificially CHRIST has served YOU. You are a gloriousreminder of his redemption, all to the praise of HIS great grace.