Worship:
Message:
See video here.
Transcript:
Good morning, everyone. And I’m glad each one of you are here and I hope you’re blessed. Pastor Frank Jr. His message did he did the first service, you really want to watch it online. It was really, really good. It was a blessing. And I hope all of you picked up one of these in the way in, did you? Okay, you’re going to need it as I go over the teaching. We will not be having Wednesday night prayer Bible study this week or next week, because it’s Christmas Day, New Year’s Day. But we will be having a Christmas Eve service on Tuesday. And I encourage you to come. It’s a great time for us to just contemplate the fact that Jesus Christ came. I mean, historically, and it’s not the actual problem is probably not the actual time of year that he came but he did come he came to earth that he might free man from all of his sin. And so that is the purpose of our Christmas Eve service. When you think traditional No Christmas carols and and we also have a little teaching I teach Why did Jesus need to come and then pastor Frank jr will teach the purpose of His coming and what it accomplished. And then of course we end with the candles and silent night you know the traditional Christmas Eve that we encourage you to come. And also you get to see me my Christmas tie if you come and if you wonder what my Christmas tie is the first year bionaire together 50 years ago, she gave me a tie for Christmas. I gave her a car but anyway but she gave me a tie a tie for Christmas. And I have worn it every Christmas Eve since then. Nicole and so it gets a little you know threadbare and and stuff like that, but you get to see my bright Christmas tie. And plus we have a great time together. And so anyway, let’s pray. Father, we come before you in Jesus name and we thank you so much for your word. Your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light to our path. It gives us wisdom and direction. And I asked Heavenly Father, that you would use the teaching this morning, to truly minister to each one who is here, that they might be encouraged in you and in all your ways. Father, the things of this life can be so discouraging. And so, just so burdensome, but in you we have, we have peace in you, our burden is lifted. In you we have purpose and direction. And so Father, I pray that you would come and Minister your wisdom to each one here this morning, I pray in Jesus name, Amen. And Amen. You know, probably this morning as we go through the through this teaching, you’re going to see the old science teacher and me the old math teacher and me because I like to look at numbers and lay them out in such a way that it has meaning because we have to understand that everything that was written in this book that we call the Bible had a purpose and reason for it to be put in there. This is the most Accurate book that anyone can ever read. And some of the things that we find in Scripture, as we dig in our mind blowing, you can’t exhaust this book. I don’t know how many times I’ve read it. I don’t know how many times I’ve taught through it. Because you know, in our fellowship, we teach every word we go right to the Bible. And every time something more comes out, something more comes out. So this morning, we are in Numbers, chapter two. And, you know, when we look at portions of Scripture like this, it might seem like, Wow, what’s in here? But in reality, what’s in here is very mind blowing. Because one of the things we have to realize that all of Scripture points to God, it points to the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. You know, there’s some people that have a problem with the Trinity. They’ll say how can there be you The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and yet one God, how can that be? Well think about this, you as an individual, our body, soul and spirit, yet you’re one person. Right? We have a body, you know, that has to exist in our environment requires certain nutrients and water and all kinds of, you know, we have a body, we know that we have a soul, which is our personality, you know, who we are as a person, and our different desires and wants and so forth. But we also have a spirit to kardi the heart, the inner man that is reaching for something higher than this world has to offer, reaching to God. And so we understand the importance to the Trinity in ourselves, and we need to understand the importance of the Trinity in the Word of God. Jesus is the one who has testified to all through Scripture, because he is the one who would redeem man back to himself. Now you understand, we wouldn’t need the Bible. If Adam and Eve never sinned. Do you realize that we wouldn’t need it? But they did sin, and there became a separation between God and man and that separation was called sin. So therefore sin had to be atone for, and that’s why scripture from beginning to end is testifying to us that Jesus is the Messiah who would redeem us back to God, by the forgiveness and removal of our sin. It’s absolutely amazing. And I’ve heard someone say that the Old Testament is Christ concealed and the New Testament is Christ revealed. I don’t agree with that. I think the Old Testament is Christ revealed. I think the New Testaments Christ revealed, the one is the promise that was coming. The other one is, he has come and in some, Chapter 14 verse seven, it says this, then I said, Behold, capital I I come in the scroll the book, it is written of me And then is quoted in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse seven. And it says this, then I said, Behold, this is talking about Jesus coming Behold, I have come in the volume of the book, it is written of me to do your will, oh God. And so it’s telling us that this book is about Jesus Christ. This book is about the gospel, the good news that he would bring to us that we might have our sins forgiven, and be back into relationship with God. And we’re going to find in this chapter of Leviticus chapter two, we’re going to find the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. And it might seem amazing, and I’m not going to actually read every verse of the gospel. I hope you I mean of Leviticus, Numbers, I’m sorry, chapter two. But I hope when you get home, you’ll read of Numbers chapter two, but I’m going to be laying out what is in this particular chapter. verses one and two. It talks about the tabernacle, which was the presence of God. And it was the very center of the camp of Israel. Pastor Frank shared last message, that the tabernacle was placed in the very center of the camp, and then the Israelites camped around it. And this tabernacle represented the presence of God. And so we have to understand that as Christians, our purpose of gathering together is to gather around fellowship in the presence of God, that He would be here with us. And so the reality is that any church, that is a Christian church, that really understands and believes the scriptures, knows that when we come together is to have fellowship with Him and with one another. That’s our purpose, to study His word, to praise his name, and to have fellowship together in him. And thing we have to understand is the Lord is not The center of our church, we really have to understand this. All we do is have a religious gathering. There are a lot of groups to get together every week and they have religious gatherings. But you know what religion is? Religion is man’s attempt to have a relationship to God. Guess what? It doesn’t work that way. God, the kinds of Senate and came to earth, to have a relationship with us, we don’t reach up to God, God reached down to us, we have to understand that. And that’s your reason. If it’s a true Bible believing Christian church, we come together to worship the Lord, understanding that he is here to save souls and to heal hearts. That’s why God is here. Now, church then is not about anything else, but worshiping and serving the Lord. Now, one of the things I think is very interesting. The remainder of this chat As I said, is all about the tabernacle that was in the middle of the camp. And then the, the tribes of Israel as they camped around the tabernacle. And this is what the Israeli camp would have looked like, if you were up on the hillsides, looking down at it. And if you look at the cover of the pamphlet that I passed out to you, this one right here, I mean, this is just a rough and we’re going to get into more detail of what it would have looked like all around the desert, Sinai desert, all around the wilderness where they were there were these large mountains. And you could imagine that there might have been people up on these mountains looking down at the Israeli encampment, and it would have been absolutely 100% mind blowing to see. Absolutely. And in the center of the camp, of course, was the tabernacle. And the tabernacle, only the Levi’s could serve in the tabernacle, and they’re the only ones that were able to camp. Right around it. Now the Levi’s were made up of three clans. And also Moses and Aaron. You had the clan of Gershon kohath Moran. And then on the other side, in the east side, you had Moses, Aaron, and their sons, Moses and Aaron and their sons, they served in the tabernacle, as priests. They took care of making sure everything was taken care of as far as the offerings and the sacrifices that were made for the people. They were the priests of the tabernacle. But the other tribes of Israel that were on the other three sides, the Northwest and north south and west side of the tabernacle, their purpose was to carry the tabernacle and to keep it up. When we get further on in numbers, we’re going to find the different tribes are different clans of the Levi’s they had responsibilities some to tear the tabernacle down and to carry the stage. And, and and you know the different coverings and like that. And you had other other clans that were responsible for carrying the Ark of the Covenant and all the things that went with it, and then the other articles of worship. And so that was the purpose of the of the whole tribe of Levi. But the three clans had those responsibilities of taking care of the tabernacle proper, and Aaron and Levi, where the priests, Aaron and his stones were the priests of the tabernacle itself. Now at this point, we’re going to find that the Levi’s aren’t listed. These are just 212 tribes of Israel. The Levi’s will be listed in chapter three, which I have next Sunday morning, and we’ll be looking into that but believe it or not listed in this chapter. But Abraham’s grandsons, grandson Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, and The word Israel means God is present, or God is here. It means child of God has different meanings like that. Now, here’s the 12 sons of Israel. This is what makes up Israel the 12. The 12 tribes Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Isha car Zeppelin, Dan, Joseph, Benjamin Neff to lie, Gad, and Asher. And if you take notes, write down first Chronicles chapter two, verses one and two. First Chronicles chapter two verses one and two. Gentlemen, Genesis chapter 35. And verses 22 through 26. And Genesis chapter 49, verses one through 28. And it lists these tribes and how they were separated. And we’re going to find is very interesting. So hang on, he And follow me closely, okay. Now, this is the origin of Israel’s 12 tribes that we just mentioned here. However, when it came to organizing Israel for military purposes, God told Moses that, that the tribe of Levi was not to be listed with the men of war. They were not to go in to battle. And so you have a problem here you have one of the tribes being eliminated. In other words, they weren’t allowed to be listed as a fighting tribe. They were the ones who would take care of ministry and in the temple. So what did they do? They took Joseph and took his name out of the tribes of Israel, and replaced it with his two sons, monastic and efram. So now you have 12 tribes, it but instead of Joseph, you have been asset and efram because the leave it had to be separated from war for the very purpose of ministry to God in the tabernacle. And if you take notes again that’s found in in Numbers chapter one verses 30 to 35, and also in verses 47 through 50. And you might want to write down to the whole idea of who Ephriam and Manasseh are in Genesis 48. First one, verse five, and verse nine. I like to give you these references because the whole thing that you need to understand we have to compare everything to the Word of God. We took the name brand, the brands were have more noble character than the Thessalonians for the received the Word of God with all eagerness, but daily, they examine the scriptures to see if what Paul was saying was true. I want you to know that what I’m sharing with you is True this word of God, and that’s why I take time to give you all these references. Now recognizing the division in the tribe, in other words, Joseph was removed, and then we have a monastic taking your place. Keeping that in mind, I want you to turn to Revelation chapter seven, and verses four through eight. Revelation chapter seven, verses four through eight. And in Revelation, chapter seven, verses four through eight, we have the 12 tribes of Israel listed again. But here’s the interesting thing. It’s different than the list we have in numbers. It’s different than the list we have in Genesis. It’s a little different. And there’s a reason for it, but let’s look at Revelation chapter Seven starting with verse four. And the list of the tribes is different you have Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, next to him. Minister, Simeon Levi is listed now. Is it car? Zeppelin, Joseph and Benjamin. Now that’s interesting because Joseph and vanassa are listed along with Levi. Why? Because they replaced Dan and efram, dan and efram are not listed in this particular account. They’re listed in the Genesis account. They’re listed in numbers, but they’re not listed here. Why? Well, because Dan and efram were removed from the tribes of Israel. And the reason is they rebelled against God. Dan had their inheritance in the southern right outside of Jerusalem, and they rejected their inheritance. And they moved to the far north, where God did not intend them to go. And on top of that, because they wanted to separate from the southern tribe of Judah and Benjamin, they didn’t want their people going in and worshiping God in Jerusalem. So consequently, they establish fail worship, so that the northern tribes worship fail. And that’s why when we go through kings and Chronicles, the northern kingdom didn’t have one good king, because they were in total rebellion from the beginning. And then we find that efram right behind Dan followed suit and forcing two people to follow bail. So God removed them, they’re gone. And so you have Joseph takes the place of one of them and Levi takes the place. of the other. Now, what’s interesting here is why would leave by now be a tribe. Because a separated priesthood is no longer necessary. There’s no longer a need for separated priesthoods. Because we have to realize that according to if you take notes, First Peter, chapter two and verse nine, you and I are a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people belonging to God to declare his praises and glory. We’re royal priesthood now. We’re the ones who declare the praises of God. We don’t need any human priests to mediate between us any longer. So leave I no longer had that position so they could be listed with the rest of the tribes. And Joseph was put in there with his son NASA, because Dan and efram were removed. So if you ever want wondered, when you go through Scripture and you look at Revelation, you say, Why are the 12 tribes different? That’s the reason. The Bible is amazing. I mean, there’s a good reason for everything we find in Scripture, obviously. Now, getting back to our account of believe it, and you’re not going to find that in chapter two, we’re going to find this in chapter three. The number of Levi’s was 45,000, from the three clans that the Levi’s kohath, Gershon, and Merriman, and they surround it the north south and west side of the tabernacle, and of course the east side was reserved for for Moses and Aaron and Aaron and his sons were the ones that served as priests entering through the eastern gate. Now here’s the thing we have to understand when we come to the number in each of the clans that are mentioned here and number in Numbers chapter three. As far as the lead lights are concerned, we have to double the number. Why? Because it tells us very plainly that as far as the Levi’s were concerned, they only numbered males from one month old enough. The only ones that were numbered were males from one month old and up. So if you wanted to get a more accurate number of how many Levi’s there were in the tribe of Levi, you had to double it, in order to accommodate approximately the same number of women. You follow my point? And that’s where we come up with the number 45,000 total men and women that were of the tribe of Levi.
Now, the tabernacle itself, we know from discussing this construction in the last book, the tabernacle was 75 feet on the east and west. When hundred feet on the north and south and page two, you have a little diagram of the tabernacle, it’s all blue. And it’s where the particular tribes were placed. The three clans of Levi were on the west, north and south, while Moses and Aaron occupied the east, which I mentioned is very significant. And we’ll get into that a little bit later. It’s very significant. Now, if you take the clans of Levi, okay, and you have this conservative population of 45,000, if you allow force square feet per person, and that’s not much, right, this is really conservative, because we’re talking about setting up camp. And if you’re talking about fair four square feet per person, that’s very conservative. But if you take four square feet per person, times to 45,000 Levi’s you have a very good Conservative number of about 180,000 square feet for the three clans of Levi, and they surrounded the three sides of the tabernacle, west, north and south. And if you divide the require 180,000 square feet by three sides, it would require 60,000 square feet per side of the three sides of the tabernacle, you can see the little diagram there. This would take a space if you want to write this in this is the approximate space it would take. In order for that number 60,000 it would be 200 feet by 300 feet. In three sides, you’d have 200 feet by 300 feet in order to support that number of the clans of Levi. But on the east side it was occupied by Moses and Aaron and his sons, because they were the priests of the tabernacle The east side is where the opening to the entrance of the tabernacle to the Holy of Holies actually was. And the high priest entered through the Eastern Gate, the eastern side of the tabernacle, to go in with the blood of the sacrifice to offer it in the presence of God. And so when the priest of Israel was atoning for the sins of the tribes of Israel, the people, the children of Israel, he took the blood, and he went in through this Eastern Gate, and he went in through the eastern entrance into the tabernacle, into the holy place. And then once you’re in the Day of Atonement into the Holy of Holies, the most holy place. So it’s interesting, if you want to turn into Hebrews chapter nine. This is very, very interesting. And this is what I meant when I said we no longer needed priesthood because Jesus came the purpose of the priest was to offer the blood sacrifice for the into the people. The turn the Hebrews chapter nine and verse 12. He was 912. Look what it says, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his capital H talking about Jesus with his own blood he capital, he entered the Most Holy Place. Look at once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Wow. Jesus doesn’t need to offer sacrifice over and over. You know the blood of goats and bulls and calves that was just temporary. But Jesus entered in once and for all times, and for all people to make a time with for our sin. That’s the reason Scripture tells us anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. No one’s excluded. Anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. Now, the next Chapter three and verse two. Talking about this Eastern Gate, the high priest entered through the Eastern Gate, okay. And we also we’re going to find in a moment, but we’ll talk about that in a minute. In Acts chapter three, verse two, it says a certain man lane from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, Shahar around, and that’s what it is in the Hebrew. And the gate beautiful literally means the gate of mercy. So that’s where they laid this lame man. And remember, he was healed and got up and gave glory to God that occurred at the eastern gate. The eastern side, if you have your picture, the tabernacle where Moses and Aaron were, where the priests work, now you and I are the royal priesthood of God. And then in Matthew chapter 21, verses one through six we find it was through this gate that Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem. And the people claimed him as being the Messiah Hosanna King David in the highest. How amazing is that? Now, the thing that’s interesting is that the original eastern gate was actually cemented off by selling me the magnificent. And he was the head of the Ottoman Empire. He was the millah of the Muslim of the Ottoman Empire. And he took the Eastern Gate because he knew the prophecies, and he covered it up with 15 feet of concrete. And the reason he did it is because he didn’t want the Messiah to come through it. He knew the prophecies that the Messiah would come back. This isn’t the 1500s he didn’t want the Messiah to come through. See what a lot of people don’t realize is that is suam is a made up religion. I’m not trying to be ugly, or I’m just factually it’s a made up religion. Because you had Mohammed who I won’t even get he was a weird guy. But you have Mohammed and he wanted to establish his own religion. And he went to the to the Jews and said, We want to be part of you. And you said no, because you have a lot of beliefs that are wrong. He went to the Christians and said, We want to be part of you. And they said, No, because you have a lot of weird ideas that don’t go along with Scripture. And so consequently, he actually captured some Jewish scribes and scholars, and he had them write their Bible, what they call the Bible, the Quran, and then it’s separated by syrus or chapters. And the interesting thing is if you actually study the Quran, Jesus Christ is in it, but they don’t see it, because they’re blind to it. Because these scribes, they were, you know, writing it out, and they added this stuff to kind of fool the Muslims. The point is, the reason the magnificent semantic dissolve is because he wanted to prevent the Messiah from coming through it. Because it was prophesied that when Jesus came back to Earth, he would go through that gate. Now, what’s interesting is the ceiling off of the eastern gate was prophesied. In Ezekiel, if you want to write this down chapter 44, and verses one through two, then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary which faces towards the east Eastern Gate, but it was shut. And the Lord said to me, this gate shall be shot. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter it, because the Lord God of Israel has entered by it, therefore it shall be shut. Jesus entered through it in a triumphant entry. It’s called triumphal entry because we think of it as his downfall. It wasn’t. He died on the cross to fulfill his processes. And and the reason he came that you and I might be freed from sin. So he entered through it, we call it the triumphal entry because it was triumphant. Because through the death of Jesus Christ, you and I are a royal priesthood, you and I are saved are born again have the assurance of heaven. And this prophecy is telling us this gates going to be shut until the Messiah comes back through it again.
Now, in Zachariah 14, three through four, it tells us that when Jesus comes back, escape will no longer be shut. All right? And in Zachariah, it’s talking about revelation. When Jesus comes back with the host of heaven were with him and all the armies did the earth come against him, and he fights against them and he destroys them the arm and then he goes to the Mount of Olives to enter in to old Jerusalem into the, into the temple. So in Zachariah chapter 14 Turner with me Zachariah 14 so K to use your index if you don’t know where some of these books are, okay? Zachariah 14 verses three and fourZachariah 14 verses three through four Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations all the nations that are gathered together against him if you read Revelation 1920 as he fights in the day of battle, and in that day, excuse me, Listen, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of all shall be split into from east to west. In a very large Valley, half of the mountain shall move towards the north and half towards the south. So that’s wild. So when Jesus comes back is prophesied, he would enter once again into the Old City of Jerusalem and into the temple through the eastern gate. But the thing is, the Eastern Gate, this there now is not the original Eastern Gate. It’s not your original Eastern Gate. Because any of you who’ve been to Israel with us, you know that in order to go back and find Asian sites, we have to dig down. Because as time goes, dusk comes and they settle and so forth. So the eastern gate is no longer visible. And there are archaeologists, and we’re going to be looking at one particular archaeologists in a moment, but I’ll save that who have tried to find the original Eastern Gate, but they were prevented. from doing it because there was a Muslim Cemetery in front of it, so they weren’t allowed to excavate. They weren’t allowed to find it, you know, to dig for it. But the discovery of the original Eastern Gate, as I said, they couldn’t excavate it. But you have Dr. James Fleming. Now Dr. James Fleming, you can look him up online. He’s an archaeologist of esteem from Hebrew University. And Dr. Fleming when he was still working on his PhD, and he was actually doing his PhD on the eastern gates and significance biblically. And he was in the spring of 1969. He It was a very rainy spring, more rain than normal, and he was outside the eastern gate. This they’re now taking pictures of it. And the ground underneath him collapsed and he fell down to the ground about 15 feet. Right in front of him was the original Eastern Gate. So the original Eastern Gate is now about 15 feet under the present Eastern Gate. And what is this telling us? Jesus will place this foot and the Mount of Olives, and it’ll separate into causing this valley. And it’ll go right down to the original Eastern Gate. And Jesus will go through a just as was prophesied through the original Eastern Gate. How can you look at things like that and not understand this is the word of God. This is true. This is absolutely amazing. You can’t make that kind of thing up. It’s absolutely amazing. just blows my mind when I look at it. Okay. And, you know, he’s the reason he’s going to go through the original Eastern gates because he’s going into Jerusalem to establish His throne. For the millennial kingdom, for the millennial his millennial reign, it’s amazing. everything set up for it. You realize how, you know, you watch the news, and you want to slit your throat. Just joking. Not that really. Because politics, politics, politics, politics. Do you know what’s been going on in Israel the last week? No, of course you don’t. It’s not report it. Because politics, politics, politics, but we need to be looking up. Because everything is taking place to set up exactly as the Bible says it would be when Jesus calls his church out of the world, and he sets out His wrath on the earth. Is that close brothers and sisters, that Jesus is coming for us? It is so so amazing because people say well, how can we have a resurrected body even if you’ve already died here? What are we were deoxyribonucleic Guess we’re DNA. That’s what we are, you know what DNA is? information. And when you have the genetic code, you just have an alphabet of who you are. So for Jesus, who knew us from before the foundations of the earth relate, guess what? He can create us right back up into who we are with our glorified bodies. And enough, we’re, you know, it’s amazing. I get excited because it’s exciting.
You know, it’s so amazing because people say, well, as science goes on further and discovery discovers more and more intellectual concepts of the universe and so forth. Christianity and religion is just going to go by the wayside. Know, the more science has become evolved. I hate using that term. But the more science has grown, the more it proves the Bible. It’s absolutely amazing. Did you know that there are group of archaeologists, they call themselves biblical archaeologist. They’re not believers. These aren’t Christians. These aren’t, you know, Jews that are believers. These are believers. The reason they call themselves biblical archaeologist is because they found the Bible to be true as far as putting the place and location of different archaeological sites, and they use the Bible to go and find places and they’re there. It’s absolutely amazing. Now getting back to the location of the tribes, okay, around the tabernacle, you have Judah is the car is everyone on the east side with the standard or banner of a lion tells you that as you study is equal to I want you to read it when you get home. Then you had Reuven Gad in Simeon on the south side with the standard of a man. Then you had Benjamin ephrem and monastic on the west side with a standard of an ox. Then you had Dan Asher enough to lie on the north side with a standard of an eagle Well, what’s the point of that was well write this down, write this down zekiel chapter one, verses 10 through 11. And Revelation chapter six, or chapter four, I’m sorry, Revelation chapter four, verses six through 11. And the reason I tell you to write that down, because you have the living creatures with the face of a lion, a man, an ox, and an eagle is found in those portions as well. These same amazing now I love it. In Revelation, chapter five, verses four through six, because we have to understand Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Israel, right you have the line that was first one. That’s where Moses and Aaron and their families were on the eastern gate they had the line is their standard and it says wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, Do not wait Behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the route of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loosen the seven seals, that’s Jesus Christ. And then as far as the standard of a man, it represents that God would become flesh. And if you take notes write down john 114, the Word became flesh, you know that one, and write down Philippians chapter two, verses six through seven, who being in the very nature of God did not consider equality with God something p grass, but he made himself nothing taking the very nature of a man. So we know God became man in Jesus Christ, as far as the ox is concerned, the standard of the ox yasu the beasts of burden. And then in Matthew chapter 11, verses 28 through 30. Jesus calls people he says, come to you, all of you who are who are burden heavy laden and I will give you rest. You know, take your yoke upon me, Jesus the same. I’m the ox who’s going to carry your burden? I’m going to be the one who carry your burden for you, just like the standard of the ox. Then the eagle, of course, represents freedom and endurance. In Isaiah, chapter 40, verse 31, it says, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles to a run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. And that’s why it tells us in the Gospel john, chapter eight and verse 3036, so if the sun sets you free, you will be free indeed, the eagle So Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah who became a man to carry our burdens, that we might be set free from the bondage of sin and death and start with wings of eagles. Why? those standards there, you’ve got the gospel. You got every prophecy of Jesus Christ. And I won’t get into this but you can take the four Gospels and the four gospels also represent these four creatures. It’s absolutely amazing.
Now in attempting to ask your ascertain the total population of each of the 12 tribes, we have to compute the number of fighting men This is different than the Levi’s the Levi’s counted all men from one month old enough, and so you just double their number to get their population. But with the 12 tribes, you you actually numbered the fighting men as given an you know, biblical record. And then you figure there would at least be an equal number of women right? women use the outnumber men were being very conservative. So if you had that many fighting men, you’d have this many adult women. And then if you considered each child each family had two children. That is how You can get a very conservative, but probably likely, at least it might probably would be bigger but a very conservative estimate of the tribes. So when you had Judah instacart and Zombieland on the east side, that’s where Moses and Aaron were, get your little diagrams here. They had total population of 505,200. Ruben stimming, and Gad on the south side, with the total population of 454,350 efram minassian. Benjamin, you’ll find it on your diagrams in here as well on the west side with total population of 324,300. And then on the north on the north side, you had Dan Astra enough to lie with the total population of 432,800. Now this gives us a total population counting to 45,000 leave it of 1,835,600 people. And that is not counting those who came with the Israelites, in fact that you can read scripture and it’ll tell you that they brought this mixed multitude that came with him. That would easily put the population of this group wandering the world wilderness around 2 million. And as Pastor Frank mentioned this morning, he said you could take the three counties that we have, you know, Madison County, Onondaga County, and Oneida. What’s the other county? What was it? As we’re going to take all those counties, it’s only about 800,000. Can you imagine you were talking here, a probably 2 million people. Now. Under Judas banner on the east, you had 500 and this has taken our calculations Now, you know of adding an equal number of adult women and two children. So under Judas banner on the east, you had 505,200 times the four square feet per person, super conservative, that would occupy 2,020,800 square feet. But the width could not be any wider than the tabernacle proper, including the Levi, so couldn’t be any wider than 300 feet, which would make the length three. So the tribe of Judah, and it’s a car and zebby line would be 300 feet wide, they’re all going to be 300 feet wide, and it’d be 8000 feet long. So it would be one and a half miles. For some people ask, Well, how do we know the columns were straight? Because very specific direction is given that there to be on the east side. The North side the West Side, not northeast, not Northwest, not southeast, you understand what I’m saying they couldn’t spread out, they had to be directly, directly in line parallel with the particular sides of the tabernacle according to where they were assigned. And so anyway, Judah isn’t lined up like that would end up being 300 feet by a mile and a half long. On the west side, you would have a population of three and 24,300 times four, and one I just going to give you it would so on the north side, which is the shortest side, it would be 300 feet by 4000 feet long, about three quarters of a mile long. And the tribes that occupied the north and south side were approximately the same size. And Reuben and Dan were approximately 450,000 and multiplying the dog so it would end up being 300 feet by 600 feet. They would be the shortest. So now if you take these tribes as they’re lined up on the tabernacle, remember they can’t be northeast, or, you know, or Northwest, it had to be just north, and it had to be just south and then where the Abraham and Moses had me just east, and it had to be just west. So if you look on your outline there, you have a cross. So if someone was standing up on a mountainside, they were seeing a nearly two mile cross. Now think about this, in the tabernacle itself. You had a cross within the cross. I don’t have my tabernacle out here but I think did I put this on their page or not? This isn’t on there but you had the brazen altar of sacrifice where it was made. And then right in front of that you had to brazen lever with priests would wash before he took it in. And then as he went in, on the right, you had the table show bread. On the left. You had the candelabra. You had the menorah. And then as he went into the Holy of Holies, you had the altar of incense. And you had the Ark of the Covenant, you had a cross inside the tabernacle itself. Unbelievable. And so, on top of all that, when you just try to picture what this camp would look like, you’re standing up in the mountain, you’re seeing this giant cross. And you have this kind of glory of God coming out of the tabernacle. I mean, Pastor Frank talked about that in the first service, you know, pillar of cloud by day and pillar fire by night, can you imagine at night, but how high was that pillar? I think probably went all the way up to the stars. I don’t think we just assume, you know, it was huge. It was a presence. It was the ship kind of presence of God, that would have lit up the whole camp of Israel. I mean, you look at that, and you think that’s amazing. And then we then we remember, this same God, who did all this, who accomplish all this desires to come and dwell within our heart, as a seal and deposit of our salvation. Anyone, no one’s excluded, who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, saved from all their sin and all their death and eternal death. Because here’s the thing, brothers and sisters. we all we all know we’re sinners. We all know we’re sinners. There’s not a day that we lay down at night, we don’t think oh my gosh, for all have sinned, we’re all sinners. But here’s the good news, the grace of God. The grace of God is not an excuse for us to go out and sit and go to order. I will do whatever I want because of the grace of God. The grace of God is that we might recover from sin. You see the difference? One is like pre grace. But I’ll do whatever I want. So I get the grace of God. The other one is, I have sin, God will forgive me by His mercy, and I’ll be able to be back into relationship with Him. And the wonderful thing is, brothers and sisters, when you take a fall, when you follow the SIM, you don’t have to go back to the beginning and start over again. When you get up. You start off right where you are. You guys know my verse, right? Proverbs, the righteous man fall, seven times, he rises again, but the wicked fall by calamity. So the point is, the sign of being a righteous person isn’t that you never fall. If you get back up, you start following Jesus. I mean, I’d asked you to raise your hand if you’ve ever fallen to sin, but I don’t want to make you out a liar. So I won’t do that because we’ve all fallen fall. short of the glory of God. And the reason that we bring this out because it shows God’s love for us. All God has ever desired is to have a relationship with his people, so always ever desired. And that Adam and Eve broke that relationship by disobeying him and believing Satan. And g Jesus was so loving, that he was willing to come to earth as a man in order to restore that relationship with God. Absolutely amazing. It’s mind boggling. And I’m telling you, brothers and sisters, if you have a scientific mind, if you have, you know, a mathematical mind or just a very inquisitive mind, read the Bible with an open mind, and your mind will be blown. I mean, how can you look at things like I’ve covered this morning, I know it was a lot It might even be confusing. But if you look at what I’ve covered this morning, it’s mind blowing the Israelites set up their camp like a cross. And redemption comes through the cross to tell a story. It is paid in full. Jesus Christ died on the cross and all of our sins are forgiven and taken away. How amazing. It’s absolutely amazing. So when we think about Jesus Christ, coming to earth, in the flesh, we have real reason to celebrate. It’s our redemption, brothers and sisters.
Father in heaven, we thank you for this portion of Scripture and the great lessons that are found in it. And I pray, Lord, that even though there were a lot of figures and numbers and kind of confusing, that these your people would take that little book at home, open up the book of Numbers, and have their minds blown. I thank you, Jesus for all that you do, and for all that you are, and I pray this in Christ’s name, amen and amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai