Joshua is Ordained

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every weekday morning, you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee, we get into God's word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through the books of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Hebrews. I'm so glad to be with you today. Why don't we have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's word.
Let's pray. Father, you are a wonderful God, gracious and merciful, abounding in loving kindness. Father, we pray that as we get into Numbers chapter 27, that you would please help us to understand. Please teach us your ways. In Jesus's name, amen. All right, so here we are in Numbers chapter 27. This is verses 12 through 23. Now the Lord said to Moses, go up into this Mount, into this Mount of Byron. and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel.
And when you have seen it, you shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. For in the wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my command to hallow me at the waters before their eyes. These are the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said to Moses, Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit. and lay your hand on him.
Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight, and you shall give some of your authority to him. that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him, by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, and he and all the children of Israel with him, all the congregation. So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. We need to ask ourselves our normal three ABC questions. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So what is this passage about?
Well, God tells Moses to go up Mount Abiram. He's going to see the promised land and he's going to die. He's gonna die because of his own sin because of his own rebellion when he had struck the rock Because he got mad and he didn't hallow God's name So he there's gonna be a punishment for that. He's not gonna get to enter into the promised land And so Moses has already been told this before. Obviously, he's grieved about it, but he also doesn't want to leave the people like a sheep without a shepherd. So he asked God to raise up a leader for them, somebody who will rise up and go and go down, somebody who will lead them in and take them out. He wants God to give them a good leader.
And the Lord himself is the one who says, take Joshua, the son of man. This is verse 18. Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. That's what I would underline in my Bible as the best verse because this is Joshua's command by God himself to be set in this place of leadership. This is where putting a hand on him and having Eleazar, the high priest after Aaron's died, having the priest actually set him apart for that.
This is what we now today call ordination, right? And so God is setting him apart and saying, you have a special job to do. Notice the Spirit's already in him. It's not that he's going to be inaugurated and then have it, but the Spirit's in him. This is the guy that God is choosing.
Who's Joshua? Joshua is this proven leader. Joshua was Moses' assistant and went with him up to Mount Sinai. Joshua was there and leading the people in the battle against the Amalekites. Joshua was also there as one of the two spies who went into the land and tried to encourage the people to keep going in Numbers chapter 14. Joshua is a good leader. Joshua is a godly man.
Joshua loves the Lord. And he may not have the strongest confidence in himself. He may have difficulty at times, as when we get into the book of Joshua someday, right? The Lord has to tell him again and again and again, you know, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. But the Lord chooses Joshua.
He's the man who's going to secede Moses. God isn't going to allow his people to go without a leader. So what is this section about? This is the secession plan for Moses. The baton of leadership is being passed off to Aaron, not to Aaron, sorry, to Joshua. So what are we called to do? How does this apply to our lives? Where's the covenant connection? How does this show us Jesus Christ? Well, this is a really fun one to show us Jesus Christ, because you know what Jesus's name is? Jesus's name in Hebrew is Yeshua. Do you know what Joshua's name is in Hebrew? Yeshua. Jesus is our new Joshua.
Jesus is our leader, right? Remember what Moses had asked. Moses had asked for God to raise up a new leader, but notice what he had said at the very end, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd. We know that Jesus is the good shepherd. We know that we are Jesus's sheep.
That Jesus is the one who knows us by name and we hear his voice. And so God has not left us without a leader. God has given us his son, Jesus Christ. And he's also given us his spirit. So we can thank the Lord. That generation after generation, the Lord has provided a shepherd. And best of all, he's given us Jesus Christ. We can love him and follow after him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much that you have given us our proven leader, Jesus Christ. that you have given us our king, you have given us our shepherd.
Lord, we pray that we would follow after you. Lord, we pray that you would please help us to love you. Lord, we pray that we would go where you would lead us, that when you rise up and when you go out, that we would go where you would have us to go. And when you come back and when you stay, Lord, we pray that we would learn to stay.
Lord, thank you that you lead us to the green pastures, that you bring us to the still waters. Please bless us, Lord. Let's love you. In Jesus's name. Amen. May God bless you. May you love the Lord with all your heart. And I'll see you next time. Bye.