God’s Method to Meet with God: Worship and Sacrifice (Numbers 3:1-13)
Today we will share the word of God, Numbers 3, the Levites.
The main content of the book of Numbers is to count the population of the Israelites. And then God makes each of the tribes set up station in the north, south, east, west centered upon the tabernacle and gives each tribe an army. When these people lived in Egypt, their lifestyle was not so structured. They lived a life in Egypt without the Gospel. Then the life they lived in Egypt simply said, living however they wanted to. There was no need to set up a tabernacle, or center their lives on God, or meeting any of these laws, if anything they had the freedom to live however they wanted.
However, the result that they faced with that kind of lifestyle was disasters, and slavery in Egypt. And the core center that allowed them to be liberated from the disasters of sin and slavery of Egypt was the covenant of God. In reality these people were not just slaves to Egypt, but slaves to Satan. As a result, even though they had all the possessions they wanted, their lives was ultimately a disaster. That is why God gave him the covenant to sacrifice the lamb, atonement for their sins and to put the blood of the lamb on their door, and that was a sign that they would be liberated from Egypt and slavery.
If you ask the people of the world they would say, “Why do you need the blood of the lamb? You need money.” The world would tell you that you won’t need the guidance of God and that you can live however you want, and make your own judgements and decisions. But these people don’t even recognize that they are enslaved to the world, that’s why they gave mental suffering, it’s because they are enslaved. In reality they are enslaved by themselves. Doing whatever I want is not actually freedom it is the life of slavery. Then you live a life of suffering by not getting the things that you want.
Ultimately you are enslaved to yourself, if you really find out the truth, you are enslaved by Satan. And that is why the education of America is great but it is not aligned with the Gospel. Physically speaking we have peace and freedom, and it’s better than living in a society that has no physical freedom and peace. However if you say the things of America is the best, and everything, you are being deceived as well. We can only be liberated from ourselves, is to give everything to God. Before that point we will never be free.
As evidence of that it is difficult for us to live in the world, human relationships are so difficult, why? It’s because you are enslaved to yourself, in other words, you are so bound by yourself, you throw a fit for yourself. You’re actually making your own problems. Buddhist try to empty themselves to solve this problem, and it would be fine if they could empty themselves but can they really do that? And even if you do empty yourself, you are filled with other spiritual things instead. By that point you are completely seized.
Humans can never experience true happiness, joy, peace, and freedom, unless they are filled and give themselves to God. That is Exodus. After the Exodus, the Israelites have to go entirely into the blessing of God, that is worship. Then what is worship? It is completely giving yourself to God. If you’re coming to worship to fulfill the desires that you want, then that is not true worship. That is still a state that you’re bound by yourself. Worship means you are completely liberated from yourself and now you’re completely back to God. Apostle Paul confessed in prison, just as I am in physical shackles right now, I hope that you all will become slaves for Christ.
People who have experienced this will understand the greatness of the gospel. I’m sure this isn’t the case for you, but it’s possible that if someone has received the gospel incorrectly, they’ll think the gospel is about asserting themselves and what they want. In other words, they’ve received a religion and they’ll never be able to escape from their own standards or the standards of their family line. That is why Leviticus talks about the worship and sacrifices as the methods to be with God.
Being with God contains the meaning that I no longer need my own things. If you think that being with God is simply a way to fill your lacking parts, that’s not Immanuel; you’re still full of yourself. You talk about being with God; however, that is not the “being with God” that the Bible talks about. The devil will start being with you instead. “But I listen to the Word of God, I know the terms, “with” and “Immanuel,” why am I still being seized?” It’s because you’re not truly with God. “But I accepted Him and I’m 200% sure that God is with me.”
What does that mean? It means you don’t need yourself anymore. If God is with you, it means you’re completely satisfied because you don’t need the things of yourself. Then, how is God with me? That is the life that I live. God is with me through the Word, through worship, and the power of prayer. That is the blessing the saved have received, so we can give 200%, 300% to God.
Therefore, stop trying to solve your problems by your own standards; give it to God and see what God does. If you have a disease, it may be your desire to get rid of that disease, but it is better to look to God Who has given you your disease. If we think the way we want, we wouldn’t want to die, but we shouldn’t pray to God, “Please, keep me alive.” We die because that is better, because God’s plan is the best. God even gave you the disease because according to God’s plan, this is the best. This is what it means to give everything up to God.
Without being able to do that, you will constantly be suffering and afflicted, you will endlessly be seized by yourself and these family problems will go down the generations. I’m sure none of you are like this, but repentance is realizing this today. If you’re still holding onto yourself while repenting and apologizing for various aspects of your life, that’s worthless. Success in worship means you completely let go of everything else and hold onto only God.
It’s possible this happens at once, but for most people, it happens little by little. That’s why the method for God to be with us in the wilderness is worship, and when we wage war to conquer Canaan, the Israelites did not fight with their swords. It seems on the outside that they’re fighting, but the real issue is, how much are they fighting with the power of God? The book of Numbers tells us to prepare for that from now on. He is telling us to prepare our army in the position He has given us in each of our tribes, but our nature from living in Egypt asks, “Why must we do this?” It’s the same thing as asking, “Why must I live my life like this?”
People who think like this will have much suffering because right now, they are fighting against God’s thoughts with their own thoughts. Ultimately, God will win. Many people hit physical rock bottom, then having no choice but to acknowledge God, they come back to God and give their testimony. After returning, they need to press forward, but they keep talking about their returning. It’s the same thing as an unbeliever who must grow but they keep talking about their acceptance.
There’s no problem for someone who has accepted, but what’s important is whether you’re living a life of salvation after having received salvation. Acceptance means you accept Him as the Lord and Savior of your life. It means you’ve accepted and acknowledged the fact that you’ve died on the cross and now Christ lives in you as your Lord. My old self, living centered on myself, has been crucified on the cross with Christ, so now God’s Word is my word, God’s plan is my plan, and God’s strength is my strength. It doesn’t matter, Old Testament or New, the form of your life should be the same.
What we read in Numbers 3 is regarding the tribe of the Levi. The Levites didn’t count the males over 20 years of age; they were excluded from the census of Israel. There were 12 tribes of Israel by excluding the tribe of Levi, but Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, replaced Levi. I said this before, but the tribe of Simeon and Levi were actually cursed to begin with. It’s because they had the problem of their family line of prioritizing their personality, their wrath and revenge, over the word of the covenant and God’s time schedule. They had the DNA where they would fight before speaking, so after they heard that their sister Dinah had been raped, they didn’t even think about it, but they started fighting. When their father Jacob received the Word of God and relayed it to his sons, he said, “If you live by the sword, you will die by the sword.”
If you prioritize anything above the gospel, that’s the reason you will die. Of course, for Christians, there is no such thing as actual failure, but your physical state will fail because of that, and you will crumble mentally. Your mental state will collapse. Your mental state should be stabilized through God’s strength but instead, you’re thinking of whatever it is that you’ve prioritized over the gospel, so that is why you crumble.
The thing that changed the fate of the Tribe of Levi was, when the Israelites began to worship the golden calf, Moses said, “All who are on the side of the LORD, come here,” and the Levites came and killed all the idol worshipers with the sword. Among the twelve tribes, the only one that went on God’s side was the Levites, meaning the tribe of Levi went into the direction that God desired, and that’s why the tribe of Levi turned into the tribe that God considered as most precious, because when everyone was worshiping idols, no one else stood on God’s side. I don’t know if it’s just because they were looking for an excuse to use their sword because of their personality, but God said, “Whoever wants to stand on the side of the LORD, come,” and the Levites went.
From that point on, the tribe of Levi was held in God’s hand, and Moses and Aaron are part of the Levite tribe. Moses is younger and Aaron is older, and God called Moses to be the leader and his older brother Aaron was called as the High Priest. The fact that Aaron is the high priest means he’s the only one who can go from the Holy place into the Holy of Holies once a year. Among the Levites, the person who can go to the place closest to God is Aaron, and Aaron had four children.
Two of them died in the wilderness, because the role of the priest is such that they must keep the light of the temple lit 24 hours. But they can’t keep this light lit by any fire, they have to keep it from the fire from the altar and take it into the Holy place. However, when these two sons of Aaron took fire from someplace other than the altar, they were cursed by God because they didn’t follow God’s Word exactly. The two other brothers carried the line of the priesthood.
So, these two brothers are new priests, and many people would come through them, but what did they have to do? They had to do the role of the priests and offer sacrifices. So, if that’s what the priests did, which is to give sacrifices, what did everyone else in the tribe of Levi have to do? That’s the content of Numbers 3:6. “Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron, the priest, to assist him,” so the rest of the Levite tribe had to help to make the worship take place. “They are to perform duties for him and for the whole community at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of the Tabernacle.” So, it says they performed the duties for Aaron and the whole community. Numbers 3:8 means they care for the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and fulfill the Israelites’ obligations by doing the work at the Tabernacle.
“So, give the Levites to Aaron and his sons are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to him, and if anyone from another tribe comes to the sanctuary, they shall be put to death.” God is giving them a very definite, firm boundary. The thing that’s most difficult in your job is if you’re not able to respect your roles and responsibilities. Nobody knows what to do, or one person has all the duties and the other person is just slacking off. That’s the problem, but God is very definite with roles and responsibilities.
There’s no haphazardly going back and forth for God. For any single person God has called as His child, they have been given a task. Without knowing what you must do, you don’t know God very well. Some people who go to their job with a blank mind and make money, but many of you come to church with a blank mind, so this is wrong according to God; you’ll be fired from your job. You all have your roles in the church as well, for what? For worship. This is your role for the entire congregation. We no longer have the tribe of Levi; we are in an age where everyone is a priest.
Everyone plays the role of the priest. Of course, there is someone set apart as the pastor to deliver the Word of God, but it’s not as if you’re bringing a lamb and slaughtering it as a sacrifice. After Jesus Christ died on the cross, the curtain dividing us from the Holy of Holies split, and so now we are able to go before God and play the role of the priest. At the church, the pastor gives the Word and the message of God, but you play the role of the priest to deliver the Word to your field.
In Numbers 3:12, “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male’s offspring of every Ishmaelite woman.” What does this mean? It means every single firstborn child in the Israelite tribe belongs to God, and when they were leaving Egypt, God saved all the Israelite’s firstborn sons, meaning they belong to God. So, the fact that every single firstborn child belongs to God in every family means they have to give their lives entirely to God. But instead of taking the firstborn from every family, God is taking the Levite tribe as a representative of all the firstborn.
It says the reason why in Numbers 3:13, “For all the firstborn are mine,” meaning we aren’t to live however we want. Then, after this, God begins the census of the Levite tribe. When the Lord is giving the census of the Levites, he counts the Levites that are even 1 month old, that’s Numbers 3:15. In all the other tribes of Israel, God only counted the males who were over 20 years old, but for the tribe of Levi, God counts every male even from one month old. What’s important here is that in Numbers 3:14, “The LORD said to Moses in the desert of Sinai,” and Numbers 3:16, “So Moses counted them as he was commanded by the words of the LORD.” God is always giving us His Word, and what’s more important than that is whether we’re living, following God’s Word.
Aaron’s two sons died because they did not move, following God’s Word. More so than people being your problem, the real problem you have is your own unbelief. Everything in the world belongs to God: money, your health, everything belongs to God. What’s important is, “am I someone who belongs completely to God?” The real problem is that you don’t think in a gospel-centered way like this, so that is why it’s a blessing that, through worship, you can see and restore your original self.
Ever since they were liberated from Egypt with the Passover Lamb, everything was prepared to conquer Canaan. We’re not following a religion where we have to do religious acts to say, “Give me this, give me that. How are my children going to grow up in the future?” These are the things that other Gentile religions worry about. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ said, “It is finished.” All the problems of your past, present, and future until you go to heaven are taken care of by the Lord and He is with you.
The real question is, “What kind of ‘me’ am I?” Am I a “me” living for myself or do I completely live for the Lord? It’s one of two things. Am I the “me” who belongs to the Lord or am I the “me” who belongs to myself? Which “me” am I?” If that “me” doesn’t change to be the one who belongs to the gospel, I’ll have problems, slavery, and suffering.
However, if I move as a child of God, accurately following the Word of God, then everywhere I go, it is an answer and blessing because for 24 hours, He is my Lord, so I receive answers for 24 hours. Then, the “you” that doesn’t see this as an answer is a “you” who lives for yourself, so you can’t see this as an answer. If someone asks, “What’s the method for receiving answers?” That’s wrong from the beginning. Instead of thinking of how to change yourself, you’re thinking, “What are the methods of pleasing God to get material blessings?” That’s just like any other religion, like Buddhism.
How can evangelism take place? It’s all the same, God is the Master. God has finished everything towards world evangelization and is guiding me step by step. It’s not about whether something is or isn’t working, what I should or shouldn’t do. If you say, “Let’s see if they can do anything without me,” actually, they will do better without you. If you’re there, it doesn’t work out; you’re the one suffering, you must disappear; only the Lord is necessary for you. So, I’m maybe “me,” but it must be the “me” who completely belongs to God and the Lord takes complete control over me. That’s what you call a Christian.
If a person like that goes into the Lord, with the Lord completely with them, then what could be a problem for them? “I went into the world but it’s so unfair,” but what do you think is unfair? It’s because you calculate based on your own benefit. “I was at a loss or disadvantage.” Have you ever seen the Lord be at a loss? As a Christian, you represent Christ but you proclaim the wrong gospel. You must proclaim the correct gospel. As evidence you have the correct gospel, even if you face a loss, it’s not a loss. Even if it may seem unfair, it’s not unfair; it’s a blessing. You have Christ, but you say this is unfair? That is not relaying Christ; that is relaying people’s words.
So, when I say the gospel isn’t being proclaimed, it’s not because of laziness; it means you have lost hold of who you are. Because you’ve lost hold of who you are, of course the gospel isn’t being relayed. If you try to evangelize in a state where you’ve lost hold of yourself, I’m sure that’s not bad because no matter what your true motives are, it is what God desires. The only problem is that it’s going to be up to you to have continuation. May you let go of all your religiosity and legalism and go into the complete gospel.
Me? There is no “me.” It’s better if you’re not there. It was better when I came back from Korea. Every time I come back after a few weeks of being gone, everyone’s changed more. It’s God, God takes care of His children, isn’t that right? If you have the correct gospel, God takes care of your children.
So, there were three sons of Levi, named Gershon, Kohath, and Mehari from Numbers 3:18-20. These were the sons of Levi, but they weren’t the priests themselves, but they were from the tribe of Levi that had to assist the priests. Moses belonged to the Gershonites, and it’s also recorded how many of them there were and what their roles were. In Numbers 3:21-26 talks about the Gershonites, and their role is to take care of the curtains of the courtyard, the curtains at the entrance of the courtyard surrounding the Tabernacle, the altar, and the ropes. The roles the Gershonites of the Levite tribe was related to the curtains and ropes, everything related to their use.
From Numbers 3:27, it talks about the Kohathite clan and they had to take care of the sanctuary and every article contained within. It was a very important job, and they were to be situated south of the Tabernacle. Finally, the Mehari clan in Numbers 3:33-36, and they would camp on the north side of the Tabernacle. They would take care of the frames of the Tabernacle, the crossbars, posts, base, and all its equipment, everything related to their use.
In Numbers 3:39, when counting all the Levites, there were 22,000 males. So, we’ll conclude the rest of Numbers 3, Numbers 3:43 says, “The total number of firstborn males 1 month old or more was 22,273,” so there’s a discrepancy of 273 people because in the beginning, they counted the total number of Levites as the firstborn males over one month old as commanded by Moses and Aaron, but the total number of Levites over one month old was 273. It should be the same number, so in Numbers 3:43, it talks about the firstborn males in all the tribes, and it should be the same as the children who are one month or older in the Levite tribe, because the only the Levites’ firstborn males, one month or older, were counted, but because the rest of the Israelites had 273 more firstborn children, In Numbers 3:46, it said to redeem the 273 firstborn Israelites, who exceed the number of Levites. Collect five shekels for each one according to the sanctuary shekel, which means it’s determined by the sanctuary.
This means every single person in the Israelite community has to give their lives entirely to God. Because there were 273 fewer people in the Levite tribe by comparing the rest of the firstborn children, the difference must be made up in money. In Numbers 3:45, “The Levites are to be mine, I am the LORD.” This means that the firstborn son in every family belongs to the Lord, and the firstborn is talking about the representative. The death of the firstborn represents the death of the family line. What does this mean? It means this belongs to God, so that the Israelite community cannot assert what they want, but each individual gives themselves to God.
Now, we are in this age where everyone can be the priest; we do not need a priest, but we can be with God personally. To what extent do you live a life with God? That will help you conquer Canaan. Are you going to be led exactly according to the Word God gives you? That is what God is continuously training us for in the book of Numbers before they go and conquer the land of Canaan.
Tonight, when you’re worshiping, or every morning as you restore worship for yourself, the standard of successful worship is when you let go of everything of yourself, wholly pointing towards God and towards what God desires, and that gives you true peace, rest, and joy. However, Satan blocks that with the things you see with your eyes, with the things of eating and living. Satan will make you go astray with your name and your pride, and Satan will block that with false successes. Honestly speaking, we’re within Satan’s temptation every single day. So, every single day of our lives, we must restore worship and go in the direction of conquering Canaan, giving ourselves wholly to God.
If you’re in the midst of hardship or circumstances, know that is a blessing. The true standard of a blessing is that God completely controls you and is completely with you. It’s only suffering because you try to not go into that problem, but know that that suffering is a blessing because you’re going to surrender to God anyway; that’s why it’s a blessing. “Oh, but that doesn’t happen to me,” but God is just taking it easy on you; ultimately, He will. “Even if I don’t surrender everything to God, I can make money and succeed in the world,” but God is just taking it easy on you so that you will keep going on the incorrect path, but God will change you because you won’t be the one to change the world; you will be attacked by Satan.
I hear a lot of people say, “I used to be this successful in the past,” then it will take a little longer for you. What did you do in that time? “I did this and God gave me this blessing,” well, God is taking it easy on you. Some people say, “I evangelized and God blessed my business.” Why don’t you take a look at their present situation and research what happens to them in the future? Everything will crumble in their lives to the point where they have no choice but to surrender to God because they don’t know God. “I did this and that,” but we are not people who can control God.
“From the beginning, I was suffering,” then that is a blessing from the beginning. If you live your life not suffering, then God has to break you down in the end, then that’s even harder, but suffering from the beginning is a blessing, because from the beginning, you can give your life entirely to God and God can fill you up completely and take complete control of your life. That’s the life of a true priest and a true child of God in this age. Every time we worship, we must restore that spiritual state and then go out. Once you go home, every time you open your eyes, you must restore that spiritual state again before going out into the world, then you will stand as a witness to how God is working.
Then after you come back from the world, you’ll have a lot to say. There will be some situations where you’re deceived by the world and you’ve lived your life as your own master, then you come back. However, there will also be times when God gives you the answer through His Word when you come back. So, restore yourself again and I hope you can enjoy these blessings. There is no other gospel. The incorrect gospel, the mixed gospel, and legalism will all fall.
The complete gospel, not the haphazard gospel, but the complete gospel will yield complete evangelism. You have to have a complete evangelism for the forces of darkness to be broken down, and you will not be deceived. Within that is the economy of light. Let us enjoy that blessing.
Let us pray holding onto the Word God has given us today.