No Death in the Presence
Numbers 5:1-4 (ESV) The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. 3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.
God is constantly teaching His people in the book of Numbers about their condition and His holiness. He is also teaching us about the truest nature of ourselves in light of who He is and how much we need Him to intervene in our condition.
These verses seem cold and unloving on the part of God. But they are meant to instruct and point us to Jesus. The Bible is about Jesus. The purpose of the Old Testament was to reveal our need for Him, what we need from Him and what He will do to supply our needs in Himself. Here we come to understand the presence of God calls for a death-free environment. God is the God of the living not the dead. He gives life abundantly.
Our condition before this God is precarious. We are literally dying every day. How was God to teach this deep truth to an ancient people? Through laws that dealt with the physical illustrations of our condition. Leprosy was living death, semen or blood discharges were signs of life leaving the body, dead bodies are as much a visible representation of death as you can get. For this reason, God's people must keep separate from all appearances of death as they dwell with God.
Again, God is instructing about deeper realities than we perceive in ourselves. So the Israel camp with the Tabernacle becomes witness of what our condition does to us. In His presence is true and everlasting life. Outside His presence is ultimate death and deterioration. Israel would know clearly by sending all who had the appearance of death upon them outside God's presence that when they drew near to Him, they only experienced life and when they were away from Him, they only experienced death. These are powerful truths on which the New Testament realities are built. However, the most powerful reality is how we cross from death to life.
In the New Testament Jesus is the One in whom is LIFE and that life was the light of men. He is the one who comes to the aid of those who are languishing under the power of inevitable death. He is the only one who can take the dead person and bring Him back into the presence of the Living God. How does He do this? He becomes the outcast of death. He is taken outside the camp and put to death. His blood flows and His skin is ripped apart. He literally takes death and puts it to death for us.
For Israel, the cross was such a powerful vision of the hope of Torah. Someone needed to make it possible for death to no longer have the last word. Someone needed to do what the law could not do. Someone needed to bring dead people to life. In the Gospels Jesus gives us glimpses of His power to do that in temporary healing (all whom He healed eventually died anyway). But in His death and resurrection He paves the way back to God's presence for permanent residency for all who trust in Him.
UIKEYINPUTUPARROW"Who will save me from this body of death?... THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!"
God is constantly teaching His people in the book of Numbers about their condition and His holiness. He is also teaching us about the truest nature of ourselves in light of who He is and how much we need Him to intervene in our condition.
These verses seem cold and unloving on the part of God. But they are meant to instruct and point us to Jesus. The Bible is about Jesus. The purpose of the Old Testament was to reveal our need for Him, what we need from Him and what He will do to supply our needs in Himself. Here we come to understand the presence of God calls for a death-free environment. God is the God of the living not the dead. He gives life abundantly.
Our condition before this God is precarious. We are literally dying every day. How was God to teach this deep truth to an ancient people? Through laws that dealt with the physical illustrations of our condition. Leprosy was living death, semen or blood discharges were signs of life leaving the body, dead bodies are as much a visible representation of death as you can get. For this reason, God's people must keep separate from all appearances of death as they dwell with God.
Again, God is instructing about deeper realities than we perceive in ourselves. So the Israel camp with the Tabernacle becomes witness of what our condition does to us. In His presence is true and everlasting life. Outside His presence is ultimate death and deterioration. Israel would know clearly by sending all who had the appearance of death upon them outside God's presence that when they drew near to Him, they only experienced life and when they were away from Him, they only experienced death. These are powerful truths on which the New Testament realities are built. However, the most powerful reality is how we cross from death to life.
In the New Testament Jesus is the One in whom is LIFE and that life was the light of men. He is the one who comes to the aid of those who are languishing under the power of inevitable death. He is the only one who can take the dead person and bring Him back into the presence of the Living God. How does He do this? He becomes the outcast of death. He is taken outside the camp and put to death. His blood flows and His skin is ripped apart. He literally takes death and puts it to death for us.
For Israel, the cross was such a powerful vision of the hope of Torah. Someone needed to make it possible for death to no longer have the last word. Someone needed to do what the law could not do. Someone needed to bring dead people to life. In the Gospels Jesus gives us glimpses of His power to do that in temporary healing (all whom He healed eventually died anyway). But in His death and resurrection He paves the way back to God's presence for permanent residency for all who trust in Him.
UIKEYINPUTUPARROW"Who will save me from this body of death?... THANKS BE TO GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD!"
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