Hold onto the Specific God-given Word to Lead the People to Follow the Trumpet Sound (Numbers 10:1-10)
Today, I will be sharing God’s grace from Numbers 10. Numbers is a book that was written so that the Israelites would be able to conquer Canaan, so there are different kinds of strategies that the world even uses, so this is talking about the group and organization that God has called. The order that God has given isn’t an order that the world talks about; the world may try to establish their own order, but if they do not make this order before God, then they have no choice but to fall into sin, Satan, and curses.
But a person’s physical order is connected to their mentality. The Israelites lived in Egypt however they wanted, focused on what benefits themselves and helps them and grants them the most money. They lived diligently, but in God’s eyes, they lived carelessly, so that’s why later on, they suffered. God liberated the Israelites from Egypt through the blood of the Lamb. He liberated them but the Israelites’ nature was still in the past. Their priority was still the physical things, on themselves.
That’s why the first thing they always thought about was, “What do I eat? What do I wear?” Even though they received the grace of God, that still came out. So, they made decisions and lived their life centered on themselves. They still held onto and tried to fulfill the same mission and goal they had while they were in Egypt. These Israelites were supposed to conquer Canaan, but how did God do that?
The Israelites couldn’t conquer Cannan by swords or fighting, so this is a war that God had to fight and win. The strategy for them to be victorious is how are they going to follow God’s Word, so that’s why God told them to build the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was a way for God’s to change the Israelites’ mistakes into a blessing. The Tabernacle was a place for the Israelites to receive God’s grace and fully believe and come out from their unbelief. That’s why God gave them the Ten Commandments and the Word so they could follow it.
In the midst of this, God gave them the Word of Numbers 10 and the Israelites were supposed to traverse through the wilderness, so on the Sabbath day, they remained at the Tabernacle and worshiped, so this is the practice the Israelites became accustomed to, so that they could receive healing. So, they gave worship at the Tabernacle every day, in the morning and in the evening. This was the method for the Israelites to give worship to God.
If they aren’t within God’s method, then they have no choice but to become slaves to the world, but there are many church officers and church members who don’t think this way because they’re rooted in worldly things and think that’s everything, so as time passes on, God’s Word is definitely correct, and that’s why the Tabernacle where God’s grace resides is so important. The success that comes follows after success in worship, but if a person moves based on success, that person have no choice but to become enslaved. They may work diligently, but they have no choice but to be seized, and eventually, all of those things will be taken away by Satan, and that’s why God gives these great circumstances. God makes it so that you must give of everything you have.
God is training the Israelites within the wilderness, changing their nature so that they don’t have to do this. God’s greatest sign for the Israelites to move was through the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. During the day when the pillar of cloud moved, the entire Israelite community moved as well. In the night, God resided with them through the pillar of fire and protected them.
There were over 200,000 people residing in the Israelite community, and if the cloud moved, they would have to move as well. The Word is the Word, but God gave them a detailed Word today, and within this detail is God’s time schedule and answer. How does this tribe consisting of over 200,000 people move when the pillar of cloud moves? This answer needs to realistically be applied within our lives.
With the priests and the Ark of the Covenant in the front, the east south west north moved together. The direction of East is the direction of the Asian countries, they passed the Mount of Sinai and headed East, that is, towards Asia. The opposite is the West, then there’s the South and North.
Through Moses the Lord says in Numbers 10:2, “Make two trumpets of hammered silver,” so there are trumpets you can make out of a horn of an animal, but God told them to make two trumpets of hammered silver, and I think this was one of the first instruments. “Use them for calling the community together and for having the camp set out.”
So, the pillar of cloud moves and the Israelite community has to move, so why did God tell them to make the trumpets? This is a detail so the 200,000 Israelites can go out together. The trumpets make a noise so God is giving his sign through the trumpet. God gave this detail that, when someone blows the trumpet, they have to move all together. This is the message that, when the pillar of cloud moves, the entire Israelites have to move as well.
So when the trumpet is blown, the Tent of Meeting has to be collected together. This is the Word, but a very specific Word. When you receive the specific word, you’re able to see the answers. If the pillar of cloud moves but you just move however you want, you won’t be able to see the answers. The church is moving along but the individual isn’t able to receive any answers. The individual doesn’t know what position to take or when to move out with their tribe, so that’s why they are not able to revive answers. The entire church is moving and the person is dragged along, unable to receive answers.
Numbers 10:3, “When both are sounded the whole community is to stand before you in entrance to the Tent of Meeting.” Numbers 10:4, “If only one is sounded, the leaders, heads of the clans of Israel, are to stand before you.” God is the God of assembly. The leader means someone who can lead thousands of people, so even before they moved, God assembles the leaders who are leaders of their own tribes, and God gives the word before they come out. What is the standard of the leader? Is it talking about the leadership of the world? No, it’s about the leadership of God. It’s talking about the leadership of the one who is able to relay the Word of God correctly. This has nothing to do with age; this is talking about the leadership of the person who’s able to relay the word of God in the finest detail to the overall whole.
It says, “Assemble the leaders.” When you correctly hold onto the Word of God, God will attach people to you whether it’s through the your field, or regional churches so that you’re able to relay the detailed Word of God. These people are the people who we are supposed to raise as church officers, but these people need to receive training, and that’s when they can receive their own answers. If they’re not able to relay the correct word but they stand as a leader, they’ll cause their tribe to fall into confusion. So, if God is training the remnants from a young age, it’s a sign from God that He will use those remnants.
Numbers 10:5, “When a trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping on the east is to set up.” I told you before, East means towards Asia and Judah was the tribe furthest to the east. If they don’t hear the sound, they’ll be confused and wonder, “What am I supposed to do? Where am I supposed to go?” In the tribe, there are many people, and among those people, there is a leader in charge of the thousands of people, and all these leaders come towards God, and this Word needs to be relayed correctly.
It’s the same for the family, the family needs to be detailed and correctly relayed, and that’s when I can be within the flow of God’s answers. If the tribe furthest to the east is supposed to head out but they don’t know when or how, they might be dragged along towards the direction but they themselves won’t revive the answer.
Numbers 10:6, “At the sounding of the second blast, camp on the south is to set out,” so when the second blast is sounded, the camps to the south are to set out. Numbers 10:7, “To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the signal for setting out,” so what’s all this? This means God is working with this order through His Word. This means the Israelites must have this as their nature, to be trained with this.
“Last night, I had a dream, so I’m just going to follow my dream,” then it’s going to be difficult for that person. “Yesterday, God gave me a dream and told me to stay, so I’m going to stay,” then it’s going to be hard for that person. “Today, I don’t feel so well, I’m not going to do it,” then that person won’t have answers. What does this have to do with your unhealthy state? It means, no one should be ill in this world, it means to move within your disease. “I’m busy,” but that’s your circumstance. You must move with God’s Word as your priority.
So, God trained the Israelites in this way while they were in the wilderness, so there are many messages within this. God is with us and guides us, but ultimately, the problems we face are problems for us. It is my problem, it is the problem of “myself.” My thoughts are not aligned with God’s Word, so I assert that I’m right. These people ultimately have no choice but to die in the wilderness.
Everyone must eventually die, but these people aren’t able to see the conquering of Canaan; they die in the midst of suffering, being stressed out. Instead of praising God on their deathbed, they struggle to stay alive. Instead of thinking, “I’ve fulfilled God’s Word and I am now passing away,” instead they are filled with resentment and greed saying, “Oh, I wasn’t able to fulfill my dream and goal”, and that’s evidence they have lived in vain. If they face death and praise God, it means they have lived this way, praising God.
Numbers 10:8. “The sons of Aaron the priest are to blow the trumpet and will be the lasting ornaments for you for the generations to come”. Everyone has a position; anyone could do it but there are specific positions. Jesus Christ has already come so we are living within the time period after that, so the leadership in the church must specifically, in detail, give the Word to the church members that’s how we revive answers. The mission and calling of the church members is to relay this word to the non believers and the people in the field. This is God’s order; this is God’s way of changing the world through biblical evangelism.
There are some people who may scream and shout, having no concern for the trumpets, but that won’t last long. War is different from a one-on-one battle. A war and a battle are very different. A battle is just one fight that occurs, and even if I win one battle but lose the war, it means I’ve ultimately lost. Pastor Ryu is looking at this overall spiritual warfare as he goes forward, so that is why he gives us this overall direction, but each of the churches are within a battle, and within this ultimate war and strategy, we have to fight our own battles.
“I don’t want to do that, I’m confident in my own strength so I’ll just fight on my own,” they might be able to go on for a little bit but later they will fall. Do you know the movie, “Rambo”? With my ideology, it’s something that could never happen. Of course, he’s battling against a police officer so he’s able to win, but if he was battling against the military they can just drop a bomb and he would die. So there are some people who think like Rambo and think they can fight the spiritual battle and think they are so great, so they don’t even know they’ll die and they die quietly, because what they see is only the gun or the sword; they don’t know the organization. They only know the one-on-one battle, they think, “I’m so strong and mighty, I’ll win this. Whomever I face, I can give them the Word.”
But there’s a war, and there’s a battle, and that’s why God gave us the church. The Church is Christ’s body and God gives the Word. The Holy Spirit is within us, but why do we need the Church? Our Father, He is with us, Immanuel, he is with the Church. It is talking about the community that moves together, and this is where God gives His Word. That is why we have our own individual churches in different regions, so that God can give His Word specifically to the specific regions. That’s why when you receive the Word, you have to specifically apply the Word within your life.
If you’re not specific about this, the church may receive answers but you won’t be able to receive answers. I may relay the Word but I also need to receive the Word and apply the Word to my family and field, and that’s how I follow the Word of God and the sound of the trumpet. The pastor relays the Word but if they themselves aren’t able to apply the Word and receive answers, then they might be able to relay the word but they’re not able to receive answers themselves, because relaying and applying the Word are different. Of course, God may melt something within me, so that I may be able to relay that, but the order is, I have to be able to apply the Word to be able to relay it.
The one who thinks of God’s work. The things we think about are typically people’s works, so that’s why Jesus told Peter to think of God’s work. Try to apply this Word of God to your life realistically. I had to go with my daughter to her school to return some supplies, so when we had to go to John Burroughs, we passed by large and beautiful houses, full of trees and lush gardens, and as I looked in the rearview mirror, it seemed she was thinking about something.
“What are you thinking about when you see those great houses?” She has no thoughts; her dad is just asking her this question, but the reason why I asked her about this is because I felt like, when she sees these great things, she’ll think of things with human standards, so that’s why I gave her the Word. But one day, all of a sudden, Fanny knew about all the different brands of cars, so when we were in the apartment garage, she was looking at the different cars and saying, “This car is expensive,” so she was ultimately thinking that our car isn’t that great.
These are the things that happen in our home. Why can’t we raise a dog? We can raise a dog if we moved to a different apartment, but why don’t we go to a different apartment? How are we to apply the Word of God to these kids? She might have some resentment or feelings because “oh I can’t go to a different apartment because I’m a pastor’s daughter,” so she’s continually being imprinted with the works of people and worldly standards, but what is God’s work?
God’s standard is to change the world through His Word. Our life doesn’t move back and forth depending on the size of our house. When you receive the word of God, we have to apply it to your field, because even in your workplace, you experience many things and so you need to apply it to receive answers. Sometimes when you make decisions you might make decisions based on your standards.
That is why when you end your day, you must check your day with the Word of God. That’s when you don’t go in the opposite direction of the Word of God, so these 2 million Israelites are moving together, and this is the word God is giving to us, “I need to live the life of continuously going towards Canaan,” and because I’m actually able to confirm the word of God, it becomes fun. Even though you’re not able to see it, if you’re able to confirm it, your life comes to life.
That’s why there must be a leader who can do this within your family. If you don’t do this, then the pillar of cloud may be moving but you don’t have answers in your life, and the children have resentment and complaints, but they just follow along. Because the Word isn’t being correctly relayed to them, they have no choice but to complain and be resentful. If the church was a place where great, renowned leaders gathered together, the children might think, “This is a great place,” but it’s not like that, so that’s why we must correctly relay the Word of God so their imprint, root, and nature will be able to change. What about unbelievers or religious people in your field? You must relay this Word so they may be changed.
Numbers 10:9 talks about what they must do when the trumpet is sounded. It says, “When you go into battle in your own land, which is the land of Cannan against an enemy that is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets, then you will be remembered by the LORD your God and be rescued from your enemies.” Before, when the trumpet was sounded, we followed the Word of God, but when we follow the Word of God within the field, God says He will remember us, what is that? That is prayer.
That is why, holding onto the Word, we must do 24 hour prayer, and that is when you will be remembered and God will rescue you from your enemies. So, being a slave of the enemies means you’ve become a slave to the world, but when your life changes into a life of prayer, that’s when God remembers it and rescues you. When you receive the Word and hold onto the Word in prayer, that is when God will work.
There are lots of prayers, some that He answers and some He holds back on, so sometimes a parent will listen to their child and remain still, saying nothing. Even though the parent has said everything that it needs to be said, but the kid does not understand, so they continuously repeat the same thing, over and over, so that is why you must correctly hold onto the Word of God and pray.
God works according to His promise. We don’t pray for what we want because everything we want is physical things, it’s like, “my side,” “your side.” If you listen to me well, you’re on my side, you’re a good person, but if you don’t listen to me, you’re on the opposite side, you’re a bad person.” But that’s not right, but that’s how we pray. “Oh God, that person isn’t so great; do something about it.” That’s why people come to the church and fight and pray, “God, can you do something about it?” And that’s why we need to correctly hold onto the Word and pray.
Go into the field and that’s when God will rescue us. First seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, pray so that the Kingdom of God will be established in your workplace so that the forces of darkness will be broken. When you see other people, you must see their spiritual state. Let’s say you can’t see it, “Pastor, I still can’t see it; I don’t know what you’re saying.” Of course, you can’t see it right away, but this is something you must have.
There must be an inner origin of their actions and speech; when I see this, I can understand them, but if I think of their actions from a legalistic or humanistic point of view, I have no choice but to fight with them. Then what happens? You might avoid them, or you might say something, but God says He will send us into the land of Canaan to save people. When you want to save other people, you must be able to see their spiritual state correctly. This is a spiritual state that began when they were separated from God, and because they’re separated from God, they’re centered on their own thoughts, on people, and on their desires.
So, you need to see their actions and speech based on what’s imprinted and rooted within them. Without seeing that, and you’re just focused on the physical things, it’s hard to understand them. So, people who aren’t able to understand the gospel cannot see the spiritual state so they cannot relay the gospel well. So, when someone strange comes into the church, they’re not able to understand them at all. They can’t see the spiritual state and only have the law and their own standards. That becomes a church that isn’t able to save people.
That’s why you must receive the training to see people’s spiritual state. If you lose hold of this, people have no choice but to fight and be at war. They’re not just fighting; they’re uncomfortable with each other because they can’t understand the other person; they can’t even understand their own spiritual state. So there’s no other type of hell.
In order to save the field and understand why you need to share the gospel, you need to first be able to determine the person’s spiritual state. Look at Joseph, even though Potiphar’s wife came onto him, he was able to understand it and let it go. He understood this and held onto the covenant of world evangelization and just went on and that was the way to save that person. Look at Joseph’s brothers. Joseph already analyzed them, he knew why they had no choice but to be that way, and because he understood, he wasn’t captivated by that. Do you just understand that? No, you hold onto your covenant and mission and that’s ultimately how you save other people. Numbers 10:9, it says He will rescue you from your enemies, He will save you and it says He will fight your battles. Ultimately, it is God’s victory but it is also our victory.
Numbers 10:10, “Also in your times of rejoicing, your appointed festival, you are to sound the trumpets over your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. They will be a memorial for you before your God, I am the LORD your God.” What does this mean? We don’t have any of these festivals, but since the New Testament, we can consider this to be worship. As we give the burnt offering and fellowship offerings to the LORD, sound the trumpets, and that’s when they will be a memorial for you before your God.
How is this a memorial? It is because God will answer. When you praise, praise is also prayer. Some people think praise is just a song and that’s when they write their offering and prayer topics. You must prepare your offering the night before, and prepare your heart in prayer as well. Praise is also prayer and that’s what God remembers, so God receives our praise, but there are some people who just cross their legs and are on their phone. That isn’t worship; that’s why they’re not able to receive the Word. They don’t receive the word spiritually but they just know it with knowledge.
They need to receive the Word spiritually in order for their heart to move and apply it, but because they just know it as knowledge, their heart doesn’t move. In worship, you give worship to God, but some people just go in and out, but how important is it to stand before God? Not being able to worship means you’re not able to receive an answer. God said He would remember it. Why do we pray all together? It’s not what the pastor does as a representative; it’s what we do all together so you can hold onto the Word of God and pray, so we need to give praise to God.
Even though offering is money, there is also a prayer topic within that. Prepare that the night before and write down your prayer topic and then offer it to God, and that’s when God says He will remember it. What does that mean? He says He will answer. When you fail in worship, it means you fail in life. That is why when you come to worship, you must come in the cleanest way possible and present to him in the most presentable manner ; this isn’t legalism.
If you were to go on a date, would you go in your current apparel? If you need to go meet your child’s teacher, would you go in the clothes you’re wearing right now? You must think of worship highly, because the posture of worship comes from your heart. I’m not saying wearing short sleeves to church is bad, I’m just saying, what is the thought with which you come to church? Are you just coming, “Oh, are you just coming after going to the market as a secondary thought?” Are you wearing the clothes for worship?
People in the army wear fatigues and their stature is different, so if you see those uniforms, the soldiers look so handsome and they show off their identity through their apparel. If you see the military, they just do whatever they want, so if they wear normal civilian clothes, they would do whatever they want and they might just run around everywhere, because all the lower-class officials have to do is clean, to take care of the chores, so that’s why their mentality is at that level, but the military in the US have a different kind of mentality, and I think it’s because they volunteer themselves to join the military, but they are different. If they become a captain or an official, they become completely different with their uniform, they can’t just do whatever actions they want.
I’m not talking about the clothing. There’s no good or bad clothing, but with what kind of clothing and what kind of heart are you wearing to worship? This is talking about worship, the position of your heart and giving worship to God. That is what it means to stake your life on worship, and worshiping everyday.
Numbers 10:11-28. It says specifically who must move when the trumpets are sounded, so missions is also mentioned while they’re in the wilderness. Numbers 10:29, “Now, Moses said to Hobak son of Ruel Moses’ father in law,” sometimes Moses’ father-in-law is named Jethro, so this is the family member of Moses’ wife whom he met while they were in the wilderness. I’m not sure if it’s the older or younger brother but they agreed to have him follow along.
But in Numbers 10:30, “No, I will not go. I’m going back to my own land and people.” But in Numbers 10:31, Moses said, “Please do not leave us, you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.” Numbers 10:32, “if you come with us, we will share with you whatever good things the lord gave us” So even though he’s not an Israelite; he’s a Gentile, but Moses is trying to include him in the community so he can be part of the Kingdom of God.
There are many people who are unbelievers who use their materialistic things to help God’s work, but eventually, later on, they’ll believe in Jesus, so even in the field, there may be unbelievers who help you because they have something we don’t have. There might be some people in the field who can become like our eyes, those who know everything about their business in the field, and these people have their own position to fill, so the unbelievers may help with evangelism and give useful information, but eventually, later on, these people will be part of God’s blessing.
Looking in Judges, the family of Hobak actually become part of the Israelite community, and God continuously doing the work of saving lives through the Israelites. God does this through the Israelites, so God does this through your training. So later on, Moses marries an Egyptian woman. That means regardless of their race, many of these people became part of the Israelite community. God’s mission of saving the 237 nations has been continuing since then even now.
And he prays, “Rise up LORD may your enemies be scattered and may Your foes flee before You.” They are actually talking about physical trumpets, but the Old Testament also signifies spiritual things. Even now, we don’t blow the trumpet, so it’s important for the spiritual meaning to be relayed to us as well, so listen carefully to the announcements because through the announcements, the work of God is realistically being carried out. There are some people who don’t listen to the announcements. Even these details need to be relayed to other people.
Always have the bulletin, because in the front and the back, there is the gospel message, and there’s also the outline of the Sunday message in Korean and English, and it also has the order for when you should pray. The announcements are all there, and so today at 9pm, there’s the youth and college minister retreat. Always have your bulletin with you. If it’s too much to carry around, you can just take a picture of it with your phone.
Prayer
I hope we can be the people who follow the sound of the trumpets. Let us pray the prayer that God will remember tonight.
This year, RCA will be in person in Washington DC, just as we had before. Usually we’d go to Navajo during the last week of June but we’re not able to do that this year. In California, the pandemic is declared to be over, but it’s difficult to go to Navajo in June, but if it’s possible, we may be able to go in July or August but we must adjust to what they have as well.
In terms of the church, we are also thinking about going to Mexico and also the Karen tribe. We can go to Mexico whenever we want. The Karen tribe isn’t ready for everyone to go, but a few of us can go just to see what it’s like. So, throughout the coronavirus, God has opened these doors, and this is where we will follow, so you need to be able to see that the remnant and has prepared, will be the ones who gather together at this place.
It’s the same for Remnant Day, because it’s actually a meeting for the evangelists to receive training and for people to go all in. There are remnants whom God has prepared and those people will be the people who will surely go in this, so let us pray together. Let us pray for our summer schedule as well as the Remnant Conference of America, and let us pray for the church’s missions fields.
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of the Father, and the indwelling, guidance, communion, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the people of God who desires to hold onto your word and correctly relay it the field, upon the remnants, the multiethnic people, and the people who are suffering spiritually, mentally, and physically, be with them now and forevermore, amen.