总题：民数记结晶读经（一）
Crystallization-Study of Numbers (1)
Message One
Being Formed into an Army to Fight with God for His Interest on Earth
Scripture Reading: Num. 1:1-3, 18, 24, 45-46; 2:1-2, 17, 32; Exo. 12:41, 51; 13:18
I. It is not accurate to say that Numbers is merely a book of wanderings and repeated failures; Numbers is a book of victory and glory—1:1-3, 18, 24, 45-46; 2:1-2, 17, 32; 33:52-53:
A. The book of Numbers presents a glorious scene with standards and ensigns, with formations and order; it was glorious that on the earth God not only had a dwelling place but also had an army—2:17; Exo. 25:8; 6:26; 7:4; 12:41, 51; 13:18.
B. From beginning to end the book of Numbers is a glorious book; in the beginning God formed the army, and at the end we have a record of the dividing of the land conquered by this army—1:1-3; 33:52-53.
C. The picture in Numbers shows the Triune God and His chosen people mingled together as one entity so that God may move on the earth and conquer His enemy in order to regain the earth for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose—10:33-36; Eph. 3:11.
II. The central thought of Numbers is that Christ is the meaning of life, the testimony, the center of God's people, and the Leader, the way, and the goal of their journey and fighting—1:5-53; Col. 2:9:
A. In Numbers Christ is revealed as the meaning of life for God's people:
1. The Ark of the Testimony was the center of the Tabernacle of the Testimony—1:50, 53.
2. The Ark with the tabernacle was the meaning of the Israelites' life.
3. The meaning of our human life is for God in Christ to enter into us and be expressed through us—Col. 2:9; 1:27.
4. When we see the vision of Christ in God's economy, we begin to realize that Christ Himself is the purpose of the universe and also the meaning of our human life—vv. 15-20; 2:2, 9-10, 17; 3:4, 10-11.
B. Christ, who is the meaning of the life of God's people, is God's testimony—Num. 1:53:
1. Since the Ark typifies Christ, the meaning of the Israelites' life was to take care of Christ as the testimony of God.
2. In the Old Testament the Testimony refers to the law:
a. The two tablets on which the law was inscribed were called the Testimony (Exo. 25:21) and were placed in the Ark.
b. Because the Testimony was put into the Ark, the Ark was called the Ark of the Testimony.
c. The law of God is a testimony of what God is; it tells us what kind of God our God is.
d. The law, as a portrait of what God is, typifies Christ as the embodiment of God in all His divine attributes—Col. 2:9.
C. Christ is the center of God's people—1:15, 18:
1. This is portrayed by the way the children of Israel were encamped around the tabernacle—Num. 2:2.
2. In the church life today we should take Christ as our unique center—Heb. 2:12.
D. Christ is the Leader, the way, and the goal—Matt. 23:10; John 14:6; Phil. 3:12-14:
1. Christ is the One who is moving, acting, and always proceeding onward:
a. In His proceeding onward, Christ is our Leader (Matt. 23:10), our way (John 14:6), and our goal (Phil. 3:12-14).
b. The unique Leader in the church is Christ; He is leading us on the way and toward His goal, both of which are actually Himself.
2. Philippians 3:12-14 indicates that Christ should be our goal, our aim; Christ is the goal toward which we press.
E. If Christ were not all of this to us, there would not be a way for God to gain the ground on earth to build up His kingdom with His house—Matt. 16:16-19.
III. The book of Numbers records how God's chosen and redeemed people were formed into a priestly army to journey with God and to fight with God for His interest on earth—1:1-4:49; 9:15-10:36; 12:16; 20:1-21:35; 31:1-54; 33:1-49:
A. The army is for God's people to fight so that God can gain the ground on earth to build up His kingdom with His habitation—Exo. 12:41, 51; 13:18.
B. In Numbers we can see three things: the formation of an army, the journeys of that army, and the fighting of the army—10:33-36:
1. The formation of the army was for fighting, and the fighting required the army to journey, not to stay in one place.
2. Always the children of Israel were going on from place to place to gain ground that God might have a people to be built up for His kingdom and His house—33:1-49.
C. Numbers 1 and 2 reveal that the children of Israel were formed into an army because they were surrounded by enemies:
1. This army was necessary for the protection of God's testimony—1:1-3.
2. The children of Israel were formed into an army able to fight for the protection of God's testimony:
a. According to the picture in Numbers, the army was encamped around the tabernacle to protect the sphere, the realm, in which the tabernacle was erected—2:2.
b. God viewed the children of Israel in the wilderness as an army fighting for His testimony—Exo. 12:41, 51; 13:18.
c. Apparently, the children of Israel were fighting for themselves; actually, they were fighting for God's testimony on earth, for among them was the Tabernacle of the Testimony, God's dwelling place on earth.
3. In this warfare there were two main functions: the function of fighting the enemies and the function of maintaining the tabernacle, which represented God's testimony in the universe—Num. 1:1-3; 21:1-3.
D. In the forming of the house of Israel into a fighting army, we see the principle revealed in Genesis 1:26-28:
1. God desires a corporate man to represent Him in subduing and regaining the earth from the usurping hand of Satan—Eph. 4:24.
2. God had given Israel a good land called Canaan, but the Israelites had to take this land from the usurping hand of God's enemy; they had to gain the land by fighting, defeating all the enemies—Num. 21:1-3.
E. The army of God defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan—vv. 1-3, 21-35:
1. The kings of Arad (v. 1), of the Amorites (v. 21), and of Bashan (v. 33) were the "gate guards" on the east of the Jordan, guarding the land of Canaan, the kingdom of darkness, for Satan.
2. In order for the children of Israel to enter into the good land, they had to pass through the territory controlled by these kings and had to fight against them, destroy them, and take over their territory.
3. This signifies that in order to enjoy the unsearchably rich Christ, the church must defeat and take over the territory of the enemies signified by these kings—Eph. 3:8; 6:10-12.
F. In the typology of the Old Testament, Canaan has two aspects:
1. On the positive side, Canaan, a land of riches (Deut. 8:7-10), typifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches (Col. 1:12; Eph. 3:8).
2. On the negative side, Canaan signifies the aerial part, the heavenly part, of the kingdom of Satan:
a. As the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and as the ruler of the authority of the air (Eph. 2:2), Satan has his authority (Acts 26:18) and his angels (Matt. 25:41), who are his subordinates as principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12); hence, Satan has his kingdom (Matt. 12:26), the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13).
b. The Canaanites typify the fallen angels, the rebellious angels who follow Satan (Rev. 12:4, 7), who have become the powers, rulers, and authorities in Satan's kingdom (cf. Dan. 10:13, 20).
c. The fighting of the children of Israel against the Canaanites that they might possess and enjoy the good land typifies the spiritual warfare of the church as a whole, including all the members, against "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies" (Eph. 6:12) so that the saints may enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive land.
d. The church must be such a corporate warrior, fighting against Satan's aerial forces so that God's people may gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, establishing and spreading the kingdom of God so that Christ can come back to inherit the earth—Matt. 16:27-28; Rev. 11:15; 12:10.
G. The entire Bible shows us one thing—that God's intention is to have a people formed into an army to take Christ as their meaning of life, testimony, center, Leader, way, and goal and to proceed on and fight for God so that He may have the ground on earth and have a people built up as His kingdom and His house, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem—Gen. 1:26-28; Exo. 12:41, 51; 13:18; Matt. 16:16-19; Eph. 6:10-12; Rev. 17:14; 19:11-16; 21:2, 10-11.