Crystallization-Study of Numbers (1)
Message one
Being Formed into an Army to Fight with God for His Interest on Earth
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Num. 1:2-3 Take the sum of all the assembly of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth for military service in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their companies.
Eph. 6:10-11 Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.
Word of Appetizer
The book of Numbers records why God’s chosen and redeemed people were formed into an army.
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 enemies.
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.
Spiritual Burden
Because God desires a corporate man to represent Him in subduing and regaining the earth from the usurping hand of Satan, God’s chosen and redeemed people need to be formed into an army to journey
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
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.
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.
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.
The Experience of Life
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. The meaning of our human life is for God in Christ to enter into us and be expressed through us.
Christ is the One who is moving, acting, and always proceeding onward; In His proceeding onward, Christ is our Leader, our way, and our goal. He is leading us on the way and toward His goal.
Practice and Application
In the church life today we should take Christ as our unique center.
The spiritual warfare of the church as a whole, including all the members, against “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies” that the saints may enjoy Christ as the all-inclusive land.
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 that He may gain the ground on earth and have a people built up as His kingdom and His house, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Num. 1:1-3 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, take the sum of all the assembly of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ households, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth for military service in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their companies.
Num. 33:53 And you shall take possession of the land and dwell in it, for to you I have given the land to possess it.
I. Numbers is a book of victory and glory.
■It is not accurate to say that Numbers is merely a book of wanderings and repeated failures;
■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.
■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.
■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.
Key Verses (2)
Col. 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Num. 1:53 But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there be no wrath upon the assembly of the children of Israel. And the Levites shall keep the charge of the Tabernacle of the Testimony.
Num. 2:2 The children of Israel shall encamp each by his own standard with the ensigns of their fathers’ households; they shall encamp facing the Tent of Meeting on every side.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
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
■In Numbers Christ is revealed as the meaning of life for God’s people; The Ark with the tabernacle was the meaning of the Israelites’ life.
■Christ, who is the meaning of the life of God’s people, is God’s testimony.
■Christ is the center of God’s people; this is portrayed by the way the children of Israel were encamped around the tabernacle.
■Christ is the Leader, the way, and the goal; Christ is the One who is moving, acting, and always proceeding onward; 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.
■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.
Key Verses (3)
Exo. 12:51 And on that very day Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Eph. 6:10-12 Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, for our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 Numbers is a book of victory and glory—Num. 33:25-53
(Please illustrate that why we regard Numbers as a book of victory and glory.)
T2 In the picture portrayed in Numbers, God’s move was in the Ark with the tabernacle—Col. 2:9; Eph. 2:21-22
(Please illustrate that what the picture in Numbers shows.)
D2
T1 The central thought of the entire Bible is Christ—Col. 2:9
(Please illustrate that what is the central thought of the book of Numbers.)
T2 The Ark with the tabernacle was the meaning of the Israelites’ life—Num. 1:53; Col. 2:9
(Please illustrate that how Christ is revealed as the meaning of life for God’s people in Numbers.)
D3
T1 Christ is the center of God’s people—Num. 2:2; Col. 2:9
(Please illustrate that how Christ is revealed reveal as the center God’s people in Numbers. )
T2 Numbers reveals that Christ is moving, acting, and always proceeding onward—Matt. 23:10; John 14:6, Phil. 3:12-14
(Please illustrate that in Christ’s proceeding onward, Christ is our Leader, our way and our goal.)
D4
T1 In Numbers we have the army, the Journey, and the fighting—Num. 10:33-36
(Please illustrate those three things we can see in Numbers.)
T2 The army was encamped around the tabernacle to protect the sphere, the realm, in which the tabernacle was erected—Num. 21:1-3, 1:53
(Please illustrate that in warfare there were two main functions: the function of fighting the enemies and the function of maintaining the tabernacle.)
D5
T1 The purpose and goal of the fighting was to possess the land—Num. 21:1-3, Gen. 1:26-28
(In the forming of the house of Israel into a fighting army, what principles do we see revealed in Genesis 1?)
T2 God’s chosen and redeemed people is the priestly army—Num. 21:1-3, Eph. 6:10-12
(Please illustrate that the fighting of God’s people against the kings was for the entrance into the good land that the kingdom of God might be established there.)
D6
T1 Canaan’s two aspects of the positive side and the negative side——Eph. 3:8; 2:2.
(Please illustrate that in the typology of the Old Testament, what are the two aspects of Canaan.)
T2 The entire Bible shows us one thing—Gen. 1:26-28; Rev. 21:2
(Please illustrate that what is the one thing.)
