The Standard by which We Make Decisions is the Word of God, to Make Disciples of All Nations (Numbers 36:1-13)
We will share God’s grace with Numbers 36, which is the last chapter in Numbers. God has given His Word following the stream of His covenant. What kind of stream of the covenant is the book of Numbers in? God is telling each of the tribes to prepare before going into Canaan. God has already given them the land of Canaan and told them to prepare.
Do you think these words came all of a sudden, from out of nowhere? God had already promised Abraham in Genesis 12 to go to the land of Canaan. Then He kept the Israelites in Egypt for 430 years, then He fulfilled the exodus through Moses, and He fulfilled His covenant. They cannot simply go into the land of Canaan because there were people in the land, living there already, worshiping idols and rejecting God. Then, these people will not give over their land gently, but they would have to win over the land in war. However, this was a war that God was fighting personally through the Israelites.
Then, as we read through the book of Numbers, what is the stream of the covenant today? You have to be able to see right now, through the words of the Bible. In this biblical time, Jesus Christ was not yet born, and the words, “All nations will be blessed through your seed” is fulfilled 2000 years after their point. And another 2000 years from that point, what do you think is the word God is giving to us? I hope you will think about these points while we receive God’s word today.
First, God works with His Word. The Word of God does not change. Our lives work out according to God’s Word. Anything that is not God’s Word is bound to end, and I hope today may be a time of God’s grace where you hold to God’s covenant.
The chapter we’re reading today is regarding the tribe of Manasseh. What happened to the half-tribe of Manasseh is that there was a father who passed away and left behind five daughters. Numbers 27 already told them what to do in such a situation. If they do not have any other family, they have to give this land to their closest relative. However, what’s the reason this was brought up again in Numbers 36? It means this inheritance of the father who passed away must be given to the 5 daughters.
But what’s going to happen if these daughters get married and go to another tribe? Then the inherited land of the half-tribe of Manesseh would belong to another tribe through marriage. The elders of the tribe of Manesseh go to Moses and ask this question, “Because of the year of jubilee, where all of the properties are returned to the original owner, even if these 5 daughters sold their property to the tribe of Manesseh and got married to another tribe, after 50 years, the property would return to them.” Moses heard this and realized this was correct. God gave this inheritance specifically to Manesseh and never traded it to somebody else. Moses received this answer from God and then gave them this Word.
Numbers 36:6 says, “The LORD commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: they may marry anyone they please as long as they marry within the tribal clan of Manasseh,” and as long as they do this, the inherited land of Manesseh would be preserved. Then, whether these five daughters get married to someone else within the clan of Manasseh, or they remain single, the land would be preserved. This means that what God has promised, what God has given as a covenant, will never change.
For us, we face a lot of circumstances and think, “What must we do in this situation or that situation?” However, you must make your decision in that situation based on God’s Word. God had already given His inheritance to the tribe of Manesseh, so you have to find your resolution within God’s Word. The daughters must also make their decision, not based on who they like, but within the confines of God’s Word.
Then, God is working the same way right now with His Word. Even right now, we ask questions like, “What do we do in this situation or that situation?” but we have to find the answer within the principles of God’s Word. Church officers must be able to interpret these situations. They need to be able to take the Word of God and apply them to their circumstances. Otherwise, you’re going to end up interpreting all the environment, land, and culture based on what is advantageous or beneficial to you, then you’ll become further and further from God’s Word.
Therefore, you must be able to interpret or situation based on God’s Word. A lot of people say, “The Word of God doesn’t match with me,” and what should we do in that situation? Today, this is the answer. There’s something God has given to the half-tribe of Manesseh, and if the five daughters want to get married to someone from another tribe, they should not get married.
I have to align myself to God’s Word because God’s Word can never change. The walk of faith isn’t something you live according to your circumstances, but you adjust your circumstances based on God’s Word. Then you will receive the works of Word fulfillment taking place in your life. For this person, the answers will continuously find their lives, where God is fulfilling the Word in their lives invisibly.
During this time, why did the land of Canaan have to be given as an inheritance? Because they had to live there. That’s where they had to live with faith, fighting wars against idol-worshipers and establishing God’s Kingdom until Jesus Christ was born. The way they suffered later on is that they had to cast out all the Canaanites, but they left some remains, and they fell because of that later on. When they let the Canaanites stay, they had their own reason. They had their own personal thoughts, “These people seem okay, do we really have to cast them out, too?”
Ultimately we suffer because of our own thoughts. All we have to do is follow according to God’s Word, then God’s Kingdom is established and you can see God working. When I went to New York, I saw that the people were bustling, and things were expensive, but the people living in New York don’t want to leave. Usually I have a regional church with a missionary in Dallas on Tuesdays, but we couldn’t meet because their internet cut out. People in Texas say, “You should move to Texas because the land is cheap and you pay less taxes,” but their internet doesn’t work. I’m sure it’s not everywhere in Texas, but because there aren’t as many people living there, it’s not as developed.
Some people try to move out of California because of the high taxes, and that’s a fact. At first, we get a lot of benefits from being in California, but later on, we have to give it all away in taxes. What should we do in that situation? Should we go towards a place with lower taxes or should we stay here? People who are centered on money will go towards the place with lower costs, but where is the Word of God there?
That’s why people chase after money; instead of being able to control money, I am being controlled by money, so I makeake my thoughts and decisions completely irrelevant to God. The people in the Bible today are right, too, if they get married to someone else, they would give away the inheritance. Because it’s an inheritance of their father, if they get married to someone else, they have to give the inheritance to another tribe, but that’s their individual thought. God gave His inheritance to the tribe of Manasseh. If you apply the Word of God well, you’ll begin to be liberated from many things. Even if California is expensive, if God had a mission for you here then you stay here. Don’t you think it’s the same thing? God’s Word is the priority; money must not be the priority. That’s very important.
During the time of Revelation, there will be so many things happening; what are you going to do then? Even right now, because of the volcanic activity, there are tsunamis heading towards Japan and California, so should all the missionaries in Tonga run away and leave the country? If God gave the mission of Tonga evangelization to those missionaries, they need to stay there whether they live or die. But in other words, we live our lives without God’s Word, changing according to our circumstances.
Even though we believe in God, we don’t really believe. Our status has already changed into children of God, but because we make our decisions based on standards of the world, irrelevant to God’s Word, we face unnecessary suffering.
About 1500 years after the passage we read today, Jesus Christ was born in the land of Canaan among Abraham’s descendants, the people of the covenant. The word God promised to Abraham began to be fulfilled, “Your seed will take over the fortress of the enemy,” it means He will break down the authority of Satan on the cross. It’s the fulfillment of the words of the covenant from Genesis 3:15, “Through your seed, all peoples on earth will be blessed.”
Then Jesus Christ came to earth and gave the promise, “Make disciples of all nations.” Now, the Jewish people aren’t the Jews, but the descendants of Abraham are those who believe in this covenant. They only needed the blood lineage until Jesus Christ was born; after Jesus Christ is born, we don’t need the blood lineage anymore. This was the word God first fulfilled now that the time has come.
Today, we’re reading Numbers, but as we’re reading Numbers, you must see today. You must be able to see the stream of the Word of God. What are the words in the Bible from the Old Testament saying about today? After Jesus Christ resurrected, He gave this mission on the Mount of Olives. Just like the tribe of Manasseh received their land of inheritance in the land of Canaan, now, it is no longer about the inherited land, but it is about the covenant we’ve received.
Now, we don’t need the land of Canaan; we just stayed there until Jesus Christ was born. Once Jesus Christ has come to earth, our inheritance is no longer in the land of Canaan, but it is our mission to make disciples of all nations. I must remain within that Word, and our decisions must come from those words. That’s why in Acts 1, the members of the Early Church gathered together to pray for the working of the Holy Spirit to come upon disciples of all nations.
Then today, in this age, what is the Word we must hold onto? Through the church, family, and the region we live, we must be able to pray for the proclamation of the gospel, and I also must remain within making disciples of the 237 nations of the world because those words will never change. I make my decisions within those words. But if we face a situation and make a decision not based on the word of God, then that’s irrelevant to God. Go and make disciples of all nations, it will be fulfilled without a doubt.
Mark 16, Jesus told us to heal because there are so many people who are diseased, because it’s something we cannot receive treatment for in hospitals. Because the fundamental things are destroyed, that’s something hospitals can’t treat. The fundamentals being destroyed means that our spiritual state is already destroyed, and this isn’t something that can be cured by a hospital treatment.
Because our fundamental things are destroyed, our mental state is seized, so in other words, we have to be saved from or liberated from our mental state, but we’re so seized by depression, we cannot be liberated. Simply put, money is just money, but our minds are seized, so we’re bound to be seized by money. We have to heal those people, but with what will we heal them?
Politicians cannot lay a hand on this because the fundamental things must be changed. The most a politician can do is to strategize about how to use taxpayer money. They cannot save people’s spirits. They can allocate budgets but they cannot heal. Then, can doctors do this? Doctors can look at a problem they see and try to treat that issue. Psychologists try to treat the mental state, but they cannot do a good job because they do not really know.
To some extent, these things are possible. However, the destroyed spirit is invisible to doctors or physicians. Mark 16 tells us to proclaim the gospel to heal all nations, so that means the gospel has to go in for healing to take place. When this Christ is transmitted, then this person’s problems are all finished already. Do you believe this or not? Even if you don’t believe in that, if you just believe in Jesus Christ, you’ll have salvation. But for the people who really believe in that, as time passes, they will continuously see God’s answers.
Even if this person faces problems they see, because they believe the fundamental things are solved, as time passes, those problems will be resolved. Why do we say that churches do not have the gospel? We’re not saying they do not believe in Jesus Christ. They believe in Jesus and have salvation; however, it’s made so that they cannot enjoy or proclaim the complete gospel.
So, then people say, “Oh, can I really change this person with ministry?” It’s because this person has not been changed or finished by the gospel themselves. If someone looks at someone else’s disease and wonders, “I wonder why this problem hasn’t been finished yet,” it’s because they haven’t finished everything with the gospel themselves.
They have received salvation but they do not understand and cannot enjoy the gospel, but if that’s the kind of gospel you have, you will never be able to save someone else, because you’re not confident in yourself yet, that’s what it means that the church doesn’t have the gospel. It doesn’t mean that they don’t have salvation through Jesus Christ. Because they don’t have the complete gospel, they’re all getting stuck within their problems.
They cannot enjoy true freedom. If taxes are too high in California, they have to run away from it. If California starts shaking with earthquakes, they have to run away to a place that doesn’t have any earthquakes, it’s because they don’t have a mission for what they have to live for. Was Jonah able to run away? While he was running away, he was thrown into the ocean, he faced death and was resurrected. It wasn’t something he could run away from.
If you hold onto, enjoy, and testify of the Word of God exactly as He gives it, that itself is the Kingdom of God. So enjoy and testify of this gospel, but we don’t know this gospel and we cannot enjoy it, so people talk about Jesus Christ but it’s not fitting with the Bible, and when they face a problem, they get stuck in the problem even though it’s already finished, even though their spiritual state is already finished. This problem will be resolved in its time schedule, it’s not something to worry about.
“The problem is right here, how could it be finished?” The fundamental thing about that problem is finished. The depression you have doesn’t matter because the fundamental problem has already been finished, so with enough time, that problem will disappear too, and you have to enjoy it in order for you to overcome, you have to testify about this to receive healing, and the next generation will be saved. Whenever you face a problem if you don’t have confidence in this complete gospel then you aren’t able to relay or save anyone else, and you cannot revive yourself, either.
If you keep trying to evangelize in a state before you have the complete gospel, it’s not going to work out, then your brain will keep wandering around, looking for methods. Because I personally do not understand or enjoy the gospel myself, I keep on trying to evangelize using methods. “I tried doing this and it worked, I tried doing that and it worked well,” but after time passes, nothing will remain. At first, it’s working out, but the complete gospel has to go in order for that person to be liberated. That’s the gospel to transmit. That is the gospel we receive and must enjoy.
Do not do this with your own strength but do this by the power of the Holy Spirit. Evangelism is impossible without the working of the Holy Spirit. Making disciples of all nations is impossible with your diligence, you need the work of God, and that’s why when we pray, we pray for the working of the Holy Spirit upon evangelism. But if we don’t understand the gospel, we pray for a lot of unnecessary things. We keep praying that God will finish something that is already finished, so we don’t pray for what we ought to pray for. That’s why the gospel is disappearing.
Then, even if people go to church, it’s not finished yet. Spiritual problems and mental problems keep plowing into individuals and going to church isn’t the solution, then one day, when they face their limit, they don’t have to go to church anymore. That’s why there are so many churches in America but they’re not able to save. You must know this and ask, “Why was I called?” You must know this. You have to know this in order to overcome and transcend your field and go into the covenant of transmitting God’s Word.
So, according to the Bible, God gave a mission to each tribe, just as God gave a mission to your church, your region, and your family line. God has allowed your business for this purpose. Living in the land of Canaan isn’t the issue; there is a mission in our lives. Working and making money is not the issue, there is a mission in our lives. “Go and make disciples of all nations,” proclaim the gospel to all nations and heal them. My job, my business must be within this.
God has given the talents to the remnants for this purpose. God gives talents for evangelism. God doesn’t give you talents so you can eat and make a living, He gives it for evangelism. The reason God gave them the land of Canaan wasn’t so they could make a living, but it was because there’s a mission.
Why do I live in the land of California? It’s because God has a mission for us. If the taxes are too high, God will work upon your business appropriately but because we don’t have this, our lives just follow money around. “Oh, my business isn’t taking off here, so I’ll go somewhere else,” even then it’s not going to work for that person, because if our lives could work out according to our diligence, why would the Lord give us His Word? God has to bless us, and God blesses the ones who have the covenant and blesses others through them.
Remnants must know that there are talents God has given to us in order to use for world evangelism, and for the work of missions and evangelism, God is also going to give you the answer of specialization on top of your talents. There’s a land or region where God has prepared for missions and evangelism for you. That’s what this word means in today’s terms.
The remnants must know this as they study, there is a talent and specialization God has given to me to make disciples of all nations and heal. “Oh, that’s why God is allowing me to live here.” It’s not about running away because taxes are too high, but God has to work here, because he sent me here. It’s not about, “Oh, my body is diseased and weak so we cannot fulfill God’s mission,” but you fulfill God’s mission through God’s power.
God’s Word doesn’t change. The 70 workers and the 70 disciples know this. If people like this exist from region to region, then Word fulfillment takes place. “I’m too old now, I don’t want a mission, I just want to retire and play.” Try that and see what happens, that’s someone who lives their walk of faith without God at all. Until the day we die, we are fulfilling God’s mission, and if we don’t have a mission from God, He will take us. This means everyone has a mission.
You need to hold onto your mission to help raise up the next generation through your prayers and through the Word of God. In the land, there is a standard for retirement, but from God’s perspective, your retirement is the day you die. It means that until the very moment you pass away, you have to be enjoying God’s mission, and then you go. That’s what this means. God is working without changing so we can fully complete the mission God has given to us.
God fulfills his mission centered on the church, and that’s why Jesus raised up the Early Church, and that’s why God raised up the Antioch Church through Stephen’s persecution. God then raised up the church of Philippi to send out missionaries. God raised up churches, region by region, in Ephesus, Thessalonica, and Corinth because inside of these contained all the missions of family and regional evangelization. So, a church isn’t a place from which you go back and forth. Without a doubt, God’s mission always moves through the church,then through me and then the field.
We’ll conclude the word. The Word God has promised to us never changes. Then, in this circumstance or that circumstance, the standard upon which we make our decisions is the Word of God. The regional evangelism where I live, my family line evangelization, and the 237 nations, until when? Until the Lord calls me back.
If someone says they do not want to do this, they are saying they do not need the power of God. But if we do not have the power of God, when we get older, we don’t have power of our own, so we have to live powerlessly, and if we do not need God’s mission or power, when we get sick, we must live sick lives. It turns out that this is incredible disbelief towards God. May every person without exception go into God’s mission to save the people around them.
As of today, we’ve concluded Numbers, and starting from next week, we’ll be going through Deuteronomy. When we first started the book of Numbers, I told you guys to create these tribes in your family, and the answers will follow accordingly. There were people who restored their mission within these words. There are some people whose thoughts are so stubborn now that their answers will come later. Either way, God gives us His Word and guarantees it and next week we will go over Deuteronomy.
Prayer
Let us hold onto the Word God has given to us and pray together. Allow us to save our missions, family line, region, church and the world. May we hold onto these words and apply them in all circumstances. Let us pray together.
Our second prayer topic, let us pray for the missions field where we are living in and the 50 states of America. It’s great that there are a lot of churches, but what’s important is that there must be the flow of the covenant and the Kingdom of God must really be established. Even if religious life may be able to give salvation, it cannot liberate the person or save their spirit, so let us pray for regional evangelization.
Let us pray together for our missions fields. Whenever you pray, God works with His Holy Spirit upon the person or place you are praying for, holding onto God’s covenant. The works will only take place after the demons are cast out and God’s Kingdom is established there. Let us pray for our missions fields.
Benediction
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the heads of the people of God who desire to make their decisions based on the covenantal faith, upon all of their businesses, education, and ministries, be with us from now until forevermore always, amen.