– Grace In Judgment
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Numbers 26 & 27 and Psalm 111 (NIV)
(Joshua Ong, Core Team Member, SGM)
READ:
When I read Numbers 26 (ESV), it initially seemed to be a boring list of numbers recording the numbers of Israelite men according to the tribes of Israel However, amidst the repetition of numbers and names of fathers and sons, some verses broke the repetitive pattern of words and numbers, and were striking:
V9 “… Dathan and Abiram, … who contended against Moses and Aaron in the company of Korah, when they contended against the LORD and the earth opened up its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah, when that company died …”
V19 “… Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.”
V61 “… Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorised fire before the LORD.”
Why were these verses inserted to break the flow of the list of numbers?
OBSERVE:
I observed that the common thread that ties verses 9, 19, and 60-61 in Numbers 26 is the fact that God is a God who punishes evil and sin (For example, Datham, Abiram and Korah challenged the God-appointed leadership of Moses and Aaron and so God punished them).
These chapters also reminded me of the holiness and righteousness of God, and the call to his people to be holy before a holy God. He is a God worthy to be feared as the righteous Judge over all. It made me wonder: in remembering the grace and forgiveness of God, have I cheapened God’s grace by closing a blind eye to and even indulging in sin in ways that are not pleasing to him?
APPLY:
Yet I think the application of this passage cannot simply be fearful obedience to God in my life. The danger might be that obedience now comes from the fear of a fierce taskmaster, with no joy present at all!
By no means! It is only when I truly appreciate the righteousness and justice of God, and my deserving of His judgment that the grace and forgiveness secured for me by Christ shines all the more. The Old Testament is necessary for understanding the New! The old covenant as shown by Numbers 26-27 could not address the problem of sin fully . Forgiveness and salvation only make sense when there is something that we need to be forgiven for and saved from.
From here, my motivation for obedience and service to God is no longer fear of judgment, but love and thankfulness for a holy God who has saved me.
Being reminded of God’s judgment has caused me to be reminded of His grace through Christ all the more, and the motivation to love and serve Him with all my heart, aligning my life with God’s righteousness.
DO:
In my Bible reading, I desire to meditate on the Old Testament and God’s acts of judgment, not as a contradiction to the New Testament and the grace of God, but as passages which deepen my thankfulness for the forgiveness and salvation secured by Christ. I also desire to meditate on God’s holiness and righteousness and seek to walk in a way which pleases Him, for in God’s acts of judgment in the Old Testament I am reminded of how important our holiness is to Him.
PRAY:
Dear God, thank you for your Word, that you do not hide who you are from us, that you do not leave us to wander in darkness lacking the truth. Thank you for how your Word shows me your righteous judgment on sin and evil. Help me to appreciate your holiness more deeply each day, that I may walk in your ways and grow in my thankfulness for the grace, forgiveness and salvation that you have shown me through Jesus. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
