40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Episode 134 (Numbers 8:1-9:14)

Episode Date: September 25, 2018

Chad and Daniel discuss the Levites becoming a living sacrifice and how it relates to what Paul says later in Romans 12. What are the implications of being part of the priesthood of all believers? They discuss the Old Testament saints writing things they didn't fully understand. Some men become ritually unclean and are unable to celebrate the Passover and Moses goes to God for a solution. God shows His desire for people to be able to participate in His promises. Have a listen! 1517 Podcast Network Donate HWSS Livestream

Welcome to another episode of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. 40 Minutes in the Old Testament is a 1517 podcast, network podcast. that means you can go over to 1517.org check out all the other podcasts that we got going on over there covering all the things that you need to know about all the things that are important to make

you live your best life right now in this moment you want to live your best life now you probably got to go over to the podcast network there's like there's like 10 hours of podcasts a week that would make your life infinitely better

you know what go over there watch your life improve for the better anyway chad how's it going i'm just laughing just thinking we were kind of we're going to the theology of glory that's right that's right i gotta get the sales pitch there it will probably be disturbing if someone grabs that listens to it and doesn't understand that there's like yeah there's a tongue in cheek yeah there's a little bit of Sorry. I mean, do I think that if you frequent the podcast network, your life may change for the better? I think it might. It might.

Absolutely. But only because I think your theology will change for the better. I don't think it'll—I think there's a lot of ways in which it probably isn't going to, like, get you a raise or anything like that. Yeah, good theology always leads to a flourishing life, right? That's right. Flourishing means it just—yeah, it's better. It's better. I mean, it might not always improve outwardly, but inwardly it certainly will. That's right.

It's the key to the abundant life. So it really is. The key to the abundant life is good theology because good theology lets you know that the abundant life isn't the abundant life that you thought it was. That's how I connect those dots. Perfect. Yes. Chad, we just got back from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Yeah, I was going to say, it seemed like I just saw you like two days ago. I know. I know. Good time. what a great city event yeah met a lot of uh a lot of great people down there in fact uh if you're if you're listening to this right now we uh some of you anyway have uh i've just come back from hattiesburg yourself or live there or in that vicinity because we got to meet you down there yeah that's right yeah it's great uh great people and i have not been that's my first time

like really in mississippi besides just passing through and hattiesburg hattiesburg is a great city great little city man it's got that it's got that old college town feel to it yeah really cool cool place great church down there uh just a just a great conference and we're gonna turn around and we're gonna be back at it again that's right well we got about got about a month and then uh about a month from right now and we'll be down in san diego and then we turn around we'll take we'll take the rest of the year off after that from events after that let people celebrate thanksgiving let them celebrate christmas and then tell them better get back on the wagon because that's when stuff starts rolling out as far as city events go so it's a it's a good thing man the train the

train doesn't stop he's still on a rolling so chad where are we in the gospel according to the book of numbers yeah we uh we wrapped up chapter seven last time uh didn't really talk about a whole lot in chapter 7, because it's kind of just a delineation of all the various contributions that the 12 tribes made to the tabernacle, and then wraps up in verse 89 with a description of Moses going into the tent of meeting and God speaking to him from above the mercy seat. So we talked about chapter 7, I mean chapter 6, and then chapter 7 last time. So we're here in Numbers 8, and we're going to hear a little bit about something we've already talked about before, the lampstand and the tabernacle. That's the first four verses.

And then 5, verse 5 through the end, is all about the Levites. We're going to talk about them for a minute. So, yeah, these first four verses really are kind of a repetition of what we've talked about already in, I guess, a couple times. first of all in Exodus and then in Leviticus, that Aaron is going to be responsible for lighting the lamps on the lampstand, which is in the holy place, not the Holy of Holies, but the holy place inside the tabernacle. And there's a brief description of how that lampstand is made. You might remember, of course, you've slept several times since then, unless you're way behind and you're in exodus right now but uh we we uh we talked about the connection between that

lampstand the seven the seven uh branched lampstand and what we see in revelation that uh that typology that that foreshadowing that the lampstand is is meant to uh meant to produce And that is that the lampstand is both a foreshadowing representation of the seven spirits of God, or really, I should say, the sevenfold spirit of God, as well as the churches. In Revelation 1, Jesus is standing in the midst of the seven lampstands, and he says these seven lampstands are the seven churches, which also have the sevenfold connection with the spirit. uh it's not seven holy spirits but it's a sevenfold spirit and anytime you have seven in the scriptures it's a it's the uh it's the the symbol of of wholeness or completion of perfection so the sevenfold spirit of god is simply another way of saying that the holy spirit is the the complete the perfect the entire spirit of god and just as he brings light

illumination so this lamp stand brought light brought illumination to the uh to the holy place and its its location is significant here because uh god is there between the the cherubim above the mercy seat and as you move outward from that direct presence of god that's where you find the lamp stand and that's the way the spirit works too in fact we even say in the creed he proceeds from the Father and the Son. So that light goes out from him just as that lampstand is out from God. It's in that outer room. So you got all sorts of symbolism, theological symbolism taking place there with the lampstand. So when you think about the lampstand, don't just think that, oh, this is there for light. Well, of course, it was there for light, but it was there for much more. It was there

to to symbolize the spirit who gives illumination as well as the church that the spirit creates and the church that the spirit enlightens so you got all that kind of packed into this one bit of furniture in the tabernacle so that is the first four verses it's a little recap there what we talked about before beginning at verse 5 and then on through 26 which is the last verse of the chapter we hear about the levites now we've we have talked about the levites before but this is going to be the the most expansive description of who the levites were and what what they did and how they were distinguished from the priest this is the most extensive description of that that we've seen that we've seen so far so just like the priest went through a long ordination

purification sanctification ordination ceremony so you have something like that with the levites although not nearly as elaborate so what happens is that the levites are they're uh they have this kind of special water put on them to cleanse them to purify them for service and it's it's a really it's kind of a kind of a strange strange water so this is verse seven it says you thus you shall do to them for their cleansing. You shall sprinkle the water for sin, sometimes translated purifying water on them. So this is not just any old water. This is a technical term in the Hebrew for the kind of water that we, this is kind of strange, the order of the sequence here. We haven't actually heard about this yet. It hasn't been described in full yet. We're only going to get

to it in Numbers chapter 19. So presumably, everything is not exactly sequential here, but the kind of water that is used to cleanse the Levites that's described in Numbers 19 is the water that is made from the ashes of a red heifer. So if you were to flip forward to Numbers 19, you'd read about how this red heifer was sacrificed, and then its entire body was burnt and mixed with uh let's see cedar and and hyssop and uh something else cedar and hyssop and scarlet material so all these were kind of burned together and then mixed together and the ashes the ashes from that that uh that sacrifice were put into water and that that strange mixture was used to cleanse a person most of the time was used to cleanse a person who had become defiled by

contact with a dead body so we talked about that plenty of times how how death or contact with the corpse makes one ritually defiled so this this watery ash mixture from a red heifer and those other ingredients that was used to cleanse those who had been defiled by uh by a corpse but in this case it's used to also to to cleanse the levites so this kind of this red heifer ashes water is placed on them this is how they're cleansed that's how they're purified and they also uh they shave and they they wash their they wash their clothes and then they're sort of ready for what is to come at that point and there's a couple sacrifices that are offered in their stead and in verse eight those are described and then we have something kind of strange that happens it says

in verse 10 that the levites they're they're brought before the lord and it says that the israelites lay their hands on the levites now we most of the time we associate this the israelites laying their hands and this isn't aaron and his sons this is the israelites laying their hands on the heads of the levites most of the time we associate that with sacrifices so you bring your sacrifice, you bring your lamb, you put your hands, you actually, a better translation would be to lean on. This isn't just like gently resting your hand on top of the head. This is more like leaning your body weight. It's kind of like putting yourself onto whatever head it is that you're leaning on. In this case, it's the Levites. So they're cleansed, they're purified,

the chains are closed, they shave, and then they're brought before the Israelites, and the Israelites lean on them, lay their hands on them, and then we have this real unexpected and kind of strange declaration. It says, verse 11, Aaron shall then present the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the sons of Israel that they may qualify to perform the service of the Lord. So a wave offering, I think we've covered that back in Leviticus. A wave offering is an offering that is lifted up. I guess it's kind of the image of waving it before the Lord. So it's not actually put on the altar. It's placed kind of toward the altar, sacrificed toward the altar, but not actually burned. So it's a sacrifice, but it's more of a symbolic sacrifice in that

since it's actually not consumed by the flames on the altar. So what's going on here? These are the Levites. Now they're cleansed, they're shaved, clean clothes. The hands of the Israelites are laid upon them like they would a sacrifice, and then the Levites become a sacrifice, except they are, of course, a living sacrifice. and as a result of what is done to them this cleansing and this laying on of hands and this presentation of them as a wave offering they are therefore now qualified for the service of the

lord and then i want to talk about that some more in a second let me kind of finish this out it says that then the levites turn around they offer sacrifices they're thus separated from the rest to the Israelites. In fact, verse 17 is God is speaking, and he says, the Levites shall be mine. And then later on, it says in verse 16, that they are wholly given to me. That is W-H-O-L-O-I. They are completely, wholly given to me from among the sons of Israel. What they're doing is they're taking the place of the firstborn of the Israelites. And we discussed this plenty of times back in Exodus, how the firstborn belonged to God. So instead of the firstborn of the Israelites belonging to God, of all the Israelites, it's going to be the firstborn, it's going to be

the Levites taking the place of the firstborn. And they, therefore, are going to be the ones who perform various kinds of guarding and serving and transporting and kind of grunt labor at times for the priesthood. They're like the servants of the priest, but they get to that point by virtue of them being set apart and cleansed and offered as a as a sacrifice as a as a wave offering for for the israelites now the reason that i reason i love this imagery is because it's it shows us kind of the background of what what paul is getting at in romans chapter Romans chapter 12, when he talks about his urge that by the mercies of God that we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, and this is our spiritual service

of worship. So this is the background, I think anyway, this is the background of what Paul is getting at in Romans chapter 12, verse 1, that, you know, this idea of a living sacrifice is nothing new to the New Testament. Already in Numbers, the Levites were a living sacrifice. They are those who are cleansed and then presented to God as an offering, and yet an offering that doesn't die, but instead that lives. Well, Paul says in Romans there, I've heard like a million that take in a million different directions, except for very rarely the direction backwards to the Old Testament. It goes right, left, forward, up, down, not usually back.

And the truth is that the living sacrifice language is that you have Christians who are part of the priesthood of all believers being called to be priests. And as a living sacrifice, as you're called to enter the priesthood of all believers, you put yourself forward as one who will do priestly duties. And, well, what does that mean? Well, it means that you'll tend to the sins of your neighbor. You'll tend to the sins of the brethren, right? And so you'll make sure that they know they're forgiven.

You'll make sure that they know they're absolved, that this is what Levites do. You'll make sure that the unclean are baptized in a sin-purifying water. That's what you do. And so presenting your body as a living sacrifice is to present yourself in the flesh as someone who will perform priestly duties. And those priestly duties have everything to do with the atonement, dealing with the forgiveness of sins, dealing with worshiping God. Yeah, so often when you hear this language of our bodies being a living sacrifice, it's taken in an almost exclusively kind of moralistic sense, right? So make sure that since your body is a living sacrifice, that you do everything with it that is right. Now, that's an element, of course, because Paul talks elsewhere about your body being a temple of the Holy Spirit, and don't take your body, which is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and join it to an idol or join it to a prostitute.

So there is that element of the law. But in Romans chapter 12, I don't really think that's what Paul is emphasizing. He's not talking about anything other than the entirety of the person, heart, mind, and body being sacrificed to God, but a living sacrifice. And as a result of that, then, yeah, we serve as Levites, we serve as priests, we serve as those who have to do with sin and forgiveness and worship and service and all these things that the Levites were involved with as well. So that's kind of a little bit of background, I think, to Romans chapter 12. If you're looking at that sometime, wondering kind of what Paul is getting at there, he's picking up on the language of numbers, except in this case, it's not just the Levites who are the living sacrifices, the ones who are now the substitute for the Israelites. It's everybody. It's all those who have been baptized into Christ, our great high priest, who now are those who serve us as priests, who serve us as Levites, who serve us as those who are always involved one way or another around the service of the tabernacle, the new tabernacle, which is Christ, the Word made flesh. Now, all of us are firstborn because we're in the church of the firstborn. We are those who are united with the firstborn of creation, the firstborn from the dead. So we can see ourselves then as the fulfillment of the Levites because it is Christ who has brought all of this to fulfillment and then brought us into himself by baptism.

so that we become the New Testament equivalent of what we see in the service of the Levites. Yeah, I mean, in some sense, you have the Levites fulfilling the role of the firstborn for the people, and they have the sacrificial system, and they're dealing with worship and everything, but it's all foreshadowing, and it's not painted in full color, really, of what the church gets to do now and what Christians get to do now is you're brought into the great high priest, the firstborn of many brothers of whom you are one. Then you are a little Christ, which means you are a little priest.

But you know the whole story, man. You're not painting in a limited palette here. You're not foreshadowing anything. You actually get to go back. you get to actually look back and preach and absolve from the cross forward as opposed to looking down the corridor of time towards the cross. You actually, that has happened. And so what an advantage you have as a priest over the Levites

who are doing things that in some ways they don't even really understand, but we have the advantage of understanding all of it. Yeah, it's kind of like Peter talks about how the prophets were always searching their own writings, right, in order to find out the fullness, right? They're always looking for when the Messiah is to come, what it's going to be like. So they're actually searching their writings or reading the writings of other prophets because all of this was not yet. And then we stand on the other side of that not yet. And so we're able to read through the prophets, to read through the Torah, to read through the Psalms with all of the fulfillment

in view and so we're able to see we're able to see so much more we're able to see things that the prophets themselves were not able to see because there's certain things that are only visible in scripture on the other side of the cross i mean we see that obvious in the case of the disciples right i mean they actually live and and uh live with jesus they travel with jesus they hear him teach over and over and yet to the very end i mean up to the point of his ascension they still don't get it you know at his ascension they're like lord at this time are you going to restored the kingdom to Israel, you can just see him kind of standing there shaking his head like, God, these guys, they still don't get it. It's not until the Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost

when all of this begins to open up. And just like the Emmaus disciples, their eyes are opened. And so our eyes continue to be open as we see more and more of what these elements in the Old Testament we're pointing to. And so we're able to see at least as much as we can. And this is, of course, There's always room for growth for us, too, but we're always able to see the fullness that is intended in these old texts. Yeah, I mean, I sometimes think about David, you know, if you're painting the words, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Yeah, those come from a legitimate place where he's certainly feeling that. But he and no one after him until those words exit Christ's mouth have any idea what he just wrote.

yeah i mean he doesn't know the fullness of what he just wrote man like i mean you have no you have no idea what the words that you just penned yeah you see so much of that in the psalms where david is you know david's describing you know a really bad place he's in right or he's trapped or people are after him or he's just feeling this abandoned by god and he he puts that into speech not realizing that this speech is is really not going to come fully true until it's on the lips of the new son of David. And then it's only true for David's life and for Christ's life and for our life. It kind of comes into its true fulfillment at that point. Yeah. Okay. So that's, I think, enough to say about the service of the Levites. And we'll add

one more thing, and that is that the kind of the heavy lifting that was done literally by the levites was restricted to a certain time uh of their of their lives so we this is one of those places where we have uh we have two different uh two different numbers so in numbers four i believe it is it says the levites were to serve from age uh 30 until they were 50 not not in all the work they did but in that like i said the heavy lifting because remember they were the ones responsible for uh for transporting the the tabernacle when it was disassembled now here we have the age of 25 old 25 years old and until they were until they were 50 and then they uh retired if you will from from their work so is it 25 or is it 30 well who knows we have two different two different numbers

here uh if we follow what the rabbis recommended when they interpreted these these uh two different numbers they said well you start at 25 and you kind of learn the ropes and then you actually begin fully in service when you're 30 so you got like a five-year internship i suppose but however you want to resolve those two different numbers uh they're they're both there in the text well i know there's an argument for uh 30 being the actual beginning mirroring like how uh how christ waits until he's 30 to begin his his priestly ministry yeah and i think there's a there's an argument for that certainly certainly uh a foreshadowing argument yeah that there's a it's not like he you know just randomly picked 30 instead of 26 or 31 or or 38 or whatever but

the 30 years old is a perfect parallel here with biblical service so this is when he he comes to do his his unique service in his in his public ministry but he didn't make it to retirement He did not. He retired the whole thing. Hey, you know what? This means that I can retire two more years, by the way, because I'm 48. So, I mean, I got two more years to go, and then I'll be able to retire. Good luck with that.

Yeah. I might have to stretch it out a few more years after that. Yeah. Unless I get that winning lottery ticket. That's it. That's it for Chapter 8 about the Levites. So we're going to jump into Chapter 9. Look at us moving around long.

We're almost at a transitional point. After we get past Chapter 9, we are going to enter into the travels of the Israelites. So you may remember they've been here a long time, all, you know, for the last, I don't know how long we've been doing this, a lot of months anyway. We've been sitting at the foot of Mount Sinai. We got there in Exodus 19. we stayed there all through Leviticus and through eight chapters of Numbers we're still at Sinai we have not yet left for the Holy Land but we're getting very very close so we are now in the first month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt that's how

verse one begins so it's the first month second year after they come out of the the land of Egypt And you know what happens in the first month, and that is the celebration of the Passover. So this is going to be the second Passover that Israel has celebrated. So, of course, the first one was in Egypt itself during the 10th plague when they were redeemed and set free. But this second one is going to happen at Mount Sinai. so on the 14th day of the month it says at twilight they are to observe everything that god commanded them back in exodus chapter 12 and verse in chapter 13 about the celebration of the passover so this is kind of a the first passover got them out of egypt and the second

passover is going to kind of get them out of sinai it's going to get them moving away from mount sinai onto onto the promised land so that's described in the first uh first five verses and then we we kind of have this uh it's kind of odd section here where we have an exception that's made so the first five verses are all about the passover but then verse six and following says there were these guys who uh were made unclean because they came into contact with uh with a corpse presumably like somebody in their family or a close friend or you know somebody somebody close to them anyway had died and because they had to prepare the body for burial of course they come into contact with this with this dead person well there's a problem

because here we are you know we're smack dab in the middle of the passover we're getting ready to celebrate it and these guys are now ritually unclean and because of that they can't celebrate the Passover when everybody else does. But they're, you know, they're a little upset about this because, of course, they want to celebrate the Passover, but they can't because they're ritually unclean. So what are they going to do? So they decide that they're going to hit up Moses and Aaron and see if there's something that can be done so that they too can celebrate the Passover. So they come to Moses in error and they say, look, we're unclean because we came into contact with a dead person. And because of that, you know, we weren't able to celebrate the Passover, but is there something that can be done?

So why are we restrained, it says, from presenting the offering of the Lord at its appointed time? Moses says, and I love this, I love this verse by Moses. This is verse eight. Moses says, wait, literally stand there. Don't move. Just wait. And I will listen to what the Lord will command concerning you. I love that verse because it shows that Moses, for all his importance, and for all his leadership, was actually the one who was there to do the Lord's bidding. So he could have just said, oh, let me think. We'll come up with something, or let me think on it, and I'll see what kind of option B we might come up with. No, he says, look, just stand

there, wait there, don't move, and I'm going to go find out what God says, which is, needless to say, very good advice you know if you're if you're worried about something and it's something that god has something to say about well then you're a whole lot better off just waiting and finding out what god has to say about it than proceeding on your own wisdom or or experience and this is exactly then what moses does he uh he goes to god and god says well here's what we're going to do there is an exception. If the Israelites are unclean because of contact with the corpse, or we have another exception here, it says if they're on a distant journey. Well, what's a distant journey? How distant? We don't know. Of course, as you might imagine,

the rabbis in later years went to great lengths to define exactly how far a distant journey would be it really doesn't apply in the current situation because they're i mean you're not going to go on a distant journey when you're stuck there at mount sinai but if you're in the holy land years later you yeah then you might if you're say you're uh involved in trade so you might journey uh have an unexpected journey somewhere else during the time of the passover so these two exceptions if you're ritually unclean or if you're on a journey then here's what you're going to do. On the second month, not the first month, that's the regular Passover, but on the second month, the 14th day of the month, then you basically have your own Passover. And it goes

on to describe what's to take place then. So it's a case where even though the Passover is supposed to be on the first month, God makes an exception. This is him kind of taking into account the fact that things happen people become unclean people go on distant journeys and god's desire is so great that his people celebrate the passover and his people's desire is so great that they get to celebrate the passover that we come up with a with a with a later celebration so it's kind of like you know uh for whatever reason we can't celebrate christmas on december 25th we got to work what okay you can celebrate it january 25th it's that it's that sort of thing so you still get to celebrate it, except it's going to be a month later. So that's the first 14 verses of that

chapter. Anything you want to jump in there and add about that? Any Passover experiences from your past? No, I don't have a lot of Passover experiences, but I do have experience with God been very determined for me to know that he is uh that he's for me and that's ultimately what that's about is that uh how how important what what is it what is the passover about like that like why not how come moses wasn't like look dude if you miss a year it's not it's not the end of the world you know uh why why is that well it's it's because of what it represents uh it's because of what it is what it it testifies to that is coming and that is well there's we've talked about the Passover a ton but I mean there's a lot going on there I mean obviously it it represents

Christ uh ultimately uh being slain being the lamb who is slain and and God passing over uh the the mass of sinful humanity it pointed towards that and so God wants you to celebrate that that which is coming um it foreshadows the supper itself i mean the the passover is where christ institutes the lord's supper so what it does is it speaks to god's desire to do whatever it takes to make sure that you get to participate in this and that's that says something about the character of god he he didn't make this hard fast rule it's like this day and and you better just make it happen on this day look if you are traveling back from some place and you end up in a shipwreck man you better figure it out it's not that because the passover isn't law the passover is foreshadowing

the gospel so what is there in there well there's some leniency in there and there's a bunch of grace in there that says look if for some reason you know you can't you can't do it here here we'll give you another opportunity to do it here this is this is foreshadowing uh what i'm going to do for lawbreakers and so uh you see god go above and beyond to make sure that all get to participate in it yeah to kind of use new uh adopt new testament language and hebrews talks about who christ who for the joy said before him endured the cross so his his our salvation was his joy so it's kind of like that with the passover israel's salvation their redemption their freedom was always joy And he wants Israel to share that joy with him.

They want, I mean, Passover is not all about all doom and gloom. This is a party. This is a joyous celebration of God's redeeming work. And he doesn't want anybody to miss out on it. I mean, you see this divine attitude a lot in the parables of Jesus. You know, he makes a feast and he wants people there. He wants them to enjoy it. So, you know, when people don't show up in these parables,

He's like, well, go out and and compel them to come in because I have all this ready. I'm the wines poured. The the the the barbecue is ready. Everything is ready. So I want my house full. So go out and get the people because I want them to experience my love and my grace, my hospitality and my my redemption. And that's that's what's really going on with the Passover. He makes an exception for the Israelites because he wants them to experience and to participate in this joyous celebration of his love and his mercy. Yeah, Jesus seems like he's the kind of guy that is devoted to having parties go well. Yeah, you see that all over the place, right?

Interesting attribute. I mean, his first miracle is, well, we can't have the wine running out. That's no good. That's super interesting. there's there is this emphasis that this isn't just in the life of jesus this is in the entirety of scripture this like eating and drinking together is it is like that is a spiritual thing like there's something going on there and it's not that didn't start with jesus that we've seen a ton of that um in some instances i mean as you look at the festival days that are like that are

established days these are like god instituted celebrations so god is a god who not only is okay with the occasional celebration but like mandates celebration like you're like look guys you're gonna party and here's the days you're gonna do it i'm gonna mandate this party yeah It's kind of like the Sabbath, right? Like, you're going to rest. And I'm going to make sure that you're going to do it. And like all things, of course, we try to screw that up. And people, you know, the Pharisees screwed up that stuff too.

Not just the Sabbath, but feast days and everything else where they make them a pain in the neck. And that was never supposed to be the case. They're all supposed to be these mandated, wonderful, joyous, celebratory things you're supposed to eat drink and be merry with one another yeah when we were talking about this uh the image of flat that flashed into my mind i don't know if you've seen this or not babette's feast do you ever see you ever see that movie i have not yeah you'll check that out sometime uh i've seen i've seen the movie it's uh it's a foreign language movie

um it probably came out 20 years ago but babette's feast is the name of it and we were when we were in Mockingbird in New York City, I went to see a play that was based upon the movie. It's probably based upon a novel. But anyway, Babette's Feast ends with this great celebration, and you have a bunch of people attending it who were kind of these legalistic, moralistic people in the past, and all of a sudden they're swept up in the joy of the feast. And it's a great parable of how the ministry of Jesus works. He brings us away from our enslavement to the law and into the joy of this great feast that he prepares for us, in which he gives his all that we might participate in that joy that he shares in our own salvation. So that's, yeah, my best piece is a great

illustration of that. And this, in numbers, is a great illustration then of God's intense desire for us to party and to celebrate and to rejoice in his grace. And he makes sure that that happens for the Israelites just like he makes sure it happens for us. That's it. And that is it. We're going to have to pause right there.

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Chad, I will see you next week. All right. We'll see you then. We'll see you next time.