SUMMARY
Pastor Jason discusses the lessons Israel learned from their sins, emphasizing the greater danger of internal sin over external threats. He recounts a catastrophic plane crash in Tokyo, highlighting Japan Airlines' commitment to safety and learning from past disasters. Paralleling this, he explains how God's faithful love was demonstrated through the census of Israel, revealing 601,000 men aged 20 and above, and the selection of Joshua as a faithful leader. He connects these lessons to the need for faithful living, consecration, and commitment, drawing parallels to the offerings and feasts in Leviticus and the ultimate Shepherd King, Jesus Christ.

SERMON TRANSCRIPT

Flip the Flop: Turning Disaster into Lessons
About a year ago, almost exactly a year ago, in January 2024, there was a catastrophic accident on the runway at Tokyo Haneda Airport, whereby a Japan Airlines plane crashed into an earthquake relief plane on the runway. There were five people on the earthquake relief plane, and 379 passengers, including children, on the Japan Airlines plane. What happened was that Graham Braithwaite (Professor of Safety and Accident Investigation at Cranfield University)––he weighed in on this crash. He says, “From what I saw on the footage, I was surprised and relieved that everyone got out.” Now to be clear, all five in the relief plane died, but all 379 passengers were safely and miraculously evacuated and brought to safety. He says, “It's such a severe impact for any aircraft to have to withstand. But knowing what I know about that airline and how much effort they put into safety and into crew training, the fact that they did do such a good job shouldn't be such a surprise.” He mentioned that “it was really a catastrophic accident nearly 40 years ago that helped turn JAL into such a safe airline. In a culture like Japan's, they took that responsibility as a group, and wanted to make sure nothing like that ever happened again.” So 40 years ago, similar kind of crash, almost all died. They learned that lesson, and so in the CNN travel news report, they said with regard to what happened last year “how safety rules ‘written in blood’ saved lives in Tokyo plane crash.” They took it to heart, they learnt and they turned something disastrous into something good. So Professor Graham goes on to say, “So when things go wrong, they see it in terms of how they can learn. Everything is an opportunity to improve.”

God’s Faithful Love and Steadfast Commitment
So Japan managed to turn a disaster into something good. And in the passage we read, in a sense, God is going to turn a disaster into something good. You see in Numbers 25, which we looked at last week, Israel sinned against God with adultery and immorality at Peor. And it is at that point of time that 24,000 people were killed. It was a disaster in Israel. But today, we're going to see how God is going to turn this disastrous event into a teachable moment. He's going to turn this flop and failure of Israel around. So my title today is rather curious, but it is called “Flip the Flop”. It's going to turn this disaster into something good. And God is going to teach important lessons to the people of Israel. Now this is very similar to what we looked at in Numbers 14 and 15. I know you have forgotten it by now, but Numbers 14 is when Israel at Kadesh Barnea said, “We will not enter the Promised Land.” And God was angry with them, because they have sinned against God in rebellion 10 times at least. And so the people were forbidden from entering the Promised Land––at least the first generation. And many of the leaders died. But immediately after that, in Numbers 15, God gave them important spiritual lessons. So here it is again, Israel had just sinned against God. This is the second generation, and God is going to flip that bad situation around for their good by teaching them important spiritual lessons again. So the second generation will be taught, I think, three things.

Number one, they are going to be taught God's faithful love. This is a reminder of God's faithful, steadfast, strong love for Israel. Now, faithful love is something we all kind of say, it's good, it's nice, but something that is very rare today. We are all made for love. We are made to want to be loved. Nobody wants to be hated. Everyone wants to be loved and accepted and embraced. And we are also made to give love. That's the innate desire of every single one of us. But it's very hard to find real lasting love in the day and age we live in, because modern society questions the notion of commitment in love. We think to ourselves, there really is no need to love anybody for a lifetime. Well, it's nice for you to say it should last a lifetime, but practically, we all appreciate love or we enjoy love only while it lasts.

So there are many casual relationships in society. People talk about friends with benefits. You just hook up with someone for a while, enjoy a moment of pleasure, but you really don't want to stay with the person for too long. No strings attached. Or maybe we talk about cohabitation. There's no need to be married. Don't be committed in such a deadlocked situation. Just stay for a while, and if things work out, stay together. If they don't, you just break up. People today even talk about open relationships. Open relationship means for now you're committed to one person, but that does not rule out the potential for you to get to know other people in a dating relationship. And people talk even about polyamory, which is to have many relationships at the same time. And that's perfectly normal for a lot of people in society because the notion of commitment is questioned. So they have casual, multiple, temporal relationships, and that's the milieu of love we live in today.

So it is in such a context, in modern society that I think this idea, this teaching of faithful love, really is fresh and powerful, that there is such a thing called unconditional, steadfast, faithful, unchanging love. And God is saying to Israel after they had sinned, “I love you with a faithful, steadfast, unchanging love.” How is He going to communicate that? Well, it's communicated in this very interesting thing we're going to read of. After the plague, so after they had sinned, after they rebelled against God, God said…I might have thought, “It's over for you, Israel.” I might have thought God would say, “It's game over. I'm going to move on from you stiff-necked, rebellious people to a different people. I'll choose another, different people to fulfill my purposes.” But that's not what God said. God stuck in with them because He said, “Take a census.”

What do you mean by “take a census”? Number your people. Number all men who are 20 years and above. Why number them? Because God is saying, “Prepare for war.” Why prepare for war? Because I'm going to lead you into the Promised Land. So you number them because you are prepared for war, and you number them so that you may know how the land should be distributed amongst you. The biggest tribes will have the biggest portions of land. And so subtly but still clearly, God is saying, “Israel, I'm not giving up on you. You sinned against me. I've judged your people. I still love you, and I'm going to give you the Promised Land. So number your people.” Now, the census yielded this result. There were 601,000 men who are 20 years and above. Now this is all, if I may say, “fresh” second generation people, all right? The first generation census was very similar. The stats were very similar. That's 40 years ago in Chapter 1. So 40 years later, the numbers are back to about the same level, except that all of them in the first generation have died away. We know that because of verse 64: “...among these there was not one of those listed by Moses and Aaron the priest…” This referred to the first census 40 years ago in Numbers 1. All of them have died, except for Caleb and Joshua. So 99.9999% of them mati (Malay for “died”) already in the wilderness. They will not enter the Promised Land. But God is saying, “For this second generation, I'm faithful to what I said. First gen won't go in, but the second gen will, and they will have the land divided for an inheritance.”

Now in Chapter 27 you see this curious story of the daughters of Zelophehad. I'm not going to explain all the details there, except to say that these five daughters of Zelophehad came because their father died and he had no sons. So if they do not say anything, the father's inheritance will be sucked away, absorbed by others, and there will be no inheritance given to his name. So the daughters came to Moses, in essence, to lay claim to their father's inheritance. They're saying, “My father's name should not be lost in the inheritance. So we claim this inheritance for us, but actually it's for the father.” Now, God settled that matter for them. But the point, I think this is the point. The point of this incident is to show that Israel believed that God will give the Promised Land. So I think that's the purpose. The census was taken to communicate God is giving the land. Zelophehad’s daughters’ story is included to show that they believe that God is going to give that land and all that to show, to convey that God is displaying faithful love in the instructions that He's giving to them.

God's love is strong and steadfast, even when God's people do not deserve it, even when we sin against Him. Now this, I think, needs us to link back. You see, there are some linkages here, all right? We link back to Numbers 14 and 15, but we also link back to a story in Exodus 32 where Israel sinned against God in the golden calf incident. So they rebelled against God. God punished them. Moses pleaded for God not to forsake Israel. God answered that prayer, and then Moses said, “God, can You show me Your glory?” It's a very interesting prayer request, but “God, show me Your glory. Show me who You really are.” And he hid himself in the cleft of the rock. But what's more revealing is that God revealed Himself with these words. God said in Exodus 34: “The Lord”...this is God's own self-description, all right… “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands.” Now this is the very first thing God said about Himself. Now we know from creation He is great, He is powerful, He’s mighty, He’s wise. But the first thing God said about Himself is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, keeping steadfast love. I think that's what we need to learn. What Moses needed to learn after the golden calf incident is God's faithful love, and what Israel needed to learn after their sin at Peor is God's faithful love.

You and I are made to be loved, but we are often disappointed in this world because we don't find faithful love. We see people betray us. We see the world disappoint us. We live anxious, depressed, nervy lives because we are searching for love, and it is like clutching at straws. It's very hard to find! But in the midst of all these disappointments, there is this bright light of God saying, “I'm a God of steadfast love, and I've given My Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross and thereby demonstrate My love that if My people will repent and believe in My Son, you belong to Me, and I belong to you, and I love you with this steadfast love.” So if you're here today, I'm saying the Bible really communicates to us the God of the Bible, that He's a God of great mercy and grace and steadfast love. He doesn't love you because you're worthy. He loves us because He is love, and He loves us with such strength and constancy and permanency. It is a wonderful thing in a world that absolutely lacks it.

The Need for a Faithful Leader
Well, let's move on. Because not only did God communicate faithful love after they had sinned, God communicates to Israel their need for a faithful leader. Moses is now speaking to the Lord. Or the Lord is now speaking to Moses again. So the Lord said to Moses a second time after chapter 26, 27 the first half, where God spoke to Moses. Now the Lord said to Moses again a second time, “Go up into this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. When you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was.” So, this is like the parting, last scene: “You are going to die, Moses, go see the land, but you will die after that, soon after that. You are not allowed to enter the Promised Land like the rest of Israel, because you rebelled against My word when you struck the rock twice, even though I did not instruct you to.” So this is Moses knowing that his employment is up; he's going to retire in heaven soon. And Moses then said to the Lord… I would have thought Moses might have complained a bit, “Aiyah, why like that? Let me go into Promised Land, lah. Let me step in for a while, lah.”

But he didn't. He didn't complain at all. He was not petulant, but he said, “Lord, let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.” So Moses, even at the last days of his life, was not concerned about himself, but for the people of Israel; he knew that they needed a leader. He's going to go. But this bunch of sheep, quite rebellious, foolish sheep––they need a shepherd. They need a leader.

Now there is this language used here, “go out before them and come in before them”, that may seem a bit strange to us now, but later on in the rest of the Bible, it is a phrase that is used for going out for war, and it is also a term that will be applied to kings as they lead people out for war. So Moses here is kind of saying we need a leader who will fight for us. We need a leader who will be a king for us. Now, Israel, to be clear, has no king for now or for the short term. It's only later on that they will have a king. But here that kingly message, or that kingly motive, is already seeded in Numbers 27. Not only is Moses saying we need a leader who is a king, but we need a leader who is like a shepherd, who will care for the sheep. So you have this shepherd king language that is being used here. Now later on in verse 18, “The Lord then said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your on hand on him.’” So Joshua is going to be that leader who is a kind of shepherd king, and who is anointed, who has the presence and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The Ultimate Shepherd King
Now, when I say shepherd king, I think most of you would think about someone in the Old Testament that is best described as shepherd king, and his name will be King David. David will be known as that young shepherd king, pictured here as seen in the sling that he holds in his hand. But there is another shepherd king that is mentioned in the New Testament. Who is that greater Shepherd King? And his name will be Jesus. So there is this motif, or this idea, this theme, that is developed here in Numbers 27 that Israel, God's people, would need a leader who is a shepherd king, an anointed one. David springs up in our mind. But we think further beyond that in the New Testament to the ultimate Shepherd King, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Anointed One. We know that in Matthew 3, when He was baptized in the River Jordan, what happened immediately after was that the Holy Spirit came upon Him like a dove. Jesus is that good Shepherd, because He said, “So, I am the good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.” And then Jesus is that great King, because soon after He was born, men from the east, wise men, would come and bow down and worship Him, saying, “We come to worship the King of the Jews.”

Joshua was a kind of shepherd king. David was a kind of shepherd king, but Jesus is the ultimate Shepherd King. So the Hebrews author then says in Hebrews 4, Joshua was their leader, but he could not lead Israel to perfect rest. David was a leader, but David likewise could not lead Israel to that perfect rest. Only Jesus can lead His people to the perfect rest, because only Jesus can save His people from their sins. Only the Son of God can die, lay down His life and cleanse His people from their sins, and only Jesus can lead you today to that perfect rest. So He says to you, “Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Because Jesus is the ultimate anointed Shepherd King.

See, the Bible is not very complicated after all, isn't it? It speaks about God's love for us––God's wonderful, magnanimous, gracious, merciful love. And in His love, He gives us a Saviour, a Leader, a Shepherd, a King who will lay down His life on the cross to pay for your sins and to bring you into rest, rest from sin and rest from the penalty of sin, that you may know God and enjoy Him forevermore.

Faithful Living Before the Lord
So Numbers 26 to 30, we are unravelling that puzzle. We see that God is talking about a faithful love. God is saying, “I'm going to give you a faithful leader.” And lastly, in the last three chapters, we look at what it means to have faithful living before the Lord.

Now it's going to be seen in the two chapters of offerings and the one chapter of vows. And I think the offerings and the vows taken together describe what it means to live life before God. It means that we are to live in consecration, and we are to fulfill our commitments, and we do this all because God first loved us. Now I know consecration is a big word. What does it mean? Consecration just means dedication, the setting apart of our lives for God. So God, via the offerings and via the vows, will teach His people what it means to live life unto Him, to dedicate ourselves to Him and to keep our commitments. Now I wish I had more time to talk about the vows, but I think I'll just leave it as commitments, and you can read it up for yourself. Something unique there is that ladies’ vows can be cancelled or invalidated by men of authority over them, i.e. fathers or husbands. Please, don't take it as a bad thing––“wow, so unfair.” No, take it as a good thing, because the idea here is that these ladies have an additional layer of protection to prevent them from making unadvised or ill-advised vows. As we saw, perhaps in the vow of Jephthah, when he vowed something very strange and foolish, and he is put in a difficult situation because he might have to offer his daughter as an offering. So that took place in the days of Judges, where everybody did that which was right in their own eyes. There was no proper authority. And maybe that's the idea that is communicated in Numbers 30, but I swing back. It is about commitments, but let me focus on the consecration.

The Rhythm of Offerings and Feasts
What does it mean to dedicate our lives to God? I think it is beautifully expressed in the offerings. There are several offerings mentioned in 28 and 29. There are the daily offerings; every day you can offer to God your offerings. Now, what do these offerings symbolise? If you recall our journey in Leviticus. When did we do Leviticus? Do you all remember? Is it last year? Is it last year or the year before? I can't remember. It should be about there, lah. Leviticus: we talked about the offerings. And essentially, the offerings represent two things. Number one: “sorry”. Very good. Number two: “thank you”. The two things that are very hard for people to say, but they are expressed in their offerings––burnt offering, peace offerings, sin offering. They are, in essence, either “sorry” or “thank you” or a combination of both. So every day, Israel is reminded in these times to offer their “thank you’s” and their “sorry’s” to God. That's what it takes in a healthy relationship.

But besides daily offerings, they have weekly offerings, and then they have monthly offerings, and then they have yearly offerings. So there is a rhythm being built up. And in the yearly offerings, there are seven of them. Actually, five are listed explicitly here, but I think they are the associated feasts to be celebrated. So you have Passover; you have Firstfruits with it, the Feast of Weeks; you have Trumpets; you have Day of Atonement; and Booths. Sound familiar to you? You have been through Leviticus, you will know them. If you have not been through, this is like, “What in the world is this?” But why these offerings and feasts? Well, Leviticus is helpful. We have to build on what we have learnt.

Leviticus is a book about drawing near to God. I hope you remember the main big idea. And the key to drawing near to God is really holiness, without which no man can see God. And in Leviticus 23, we mentioned how we need to be a holy people who are served by holy priests or priesthood, and it involves holy periods or times. And it also concerns holy property, the land. So for Israel to draw near to God, they need to be holy in all these areas, you see. And the feasts and the offerings remind us about holy periods. I think that's very beautifully described in the Seven Feasts of Israel. The seven are as mentioned, which are kind of repeated in the offerings in Numbers 28 and 29.

And they kind of also point us to the work and ministry of Jesus Christ. Number one, the Passover reminds us of the redemption by Jesus, how He is the Passover Lamb, how He is pictured in that lamb slain so that the blood smeared on the doorpost would cause the Angel of Death to pass over, so that you are spared, you are saved, you are redeemed. The Feast of Unleavened Bread speaks of rescue, because that unleavened bread is described to be the bread of affliction. It's a reminder of how they were slaves in Egypt and how God set them free. We look at the Feast of Firstfruits, and in the New Testament, we are told that Jesus is the firstfruits. What do you mean Jesus is the firstfruits? Well, firstfruits refer to the first crops in the harvest season, and Jesus is the first to rise from the dead with that glorified body. So the Feast of Firstfruits reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and subsequent resurrection of those who believe upon him. The Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, is beautifully, I think, displayed in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit came upon the church. And the Holy Spirit came upon the church because Jesus had won that victory. He has conquered sin, death and hell with His death and resurrection, and the Spirit is given as a reward of His finished work. Then we have the Feast of Trumpets, and we know in 1 Corinthians and in Matthew 24, Jesus will return at the sound of a trumpet. So I think it pictures the return of Jesus a second time. The Feast on the Day of Atonement is a reminder of how sins are forgiven, and I think that refers to how Jesus returns to judge all the earth, and those who believe in Him are forgiven of their sins or are given remission of sins. And finally, the Feast of Booths is a reminder of how Jesus would come and be King, to rule and reign over us.

So the feasts remind us of God's calendar for world salvation. This is God's timeline for world events. Let me make this even clearer, if I can, to say that the seven feasts are actually celebrated actually only in two portions of the year. They are split into two in terms of the timing throughout the year. The first four are celebrated from March to June. That is the first to third month in the Jewish calendar. Spring time they celebrate these four. And in autumn, or in fall, they celebrate the next three. And again, prophetically, I think they point to the first coming of Jesus and to the Second Coming of Jesus. And so in the first coming, this is all Jesus accomplished: redemption, rescue, resurrection, reward. But in the second coming, well, He's going to return for us, forgive the sins of those who believe upon Him, and He will reign over this earth.

What's my point? I know this is all very complicated. I totally understand. If you're new with us, this is like, “What in the world? Did you just ramble on? What? Matthew 24? 1 Corinthians 15? Wow, this is all so complicated.” I get it, but I think there are also those who can get it. I hope this helps you, but if you are lost, the big idea is this: God's people must honour God with our calendars, with our rhythms, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly rhythms, just as God has honoured His Son in His world calendar. It's all about Jesus and what He has done and how we are to live worthy of His calling as a result.

The Joy of Living Faithfully
So I bring you back to faithful living. It's about consecration and commitments as a response to His love. There is an aphorism in modern day since 2012. I did a little bit of research about YOLO. Not Jolo, but there's a young man in our church called Jolo. Not Jolo, but YOLO, which stands for You Only Live Once. And in YOLO––I checked the Cambridge dictionary. There are different ways to describe this, but according to Cambridge dictionary, this is used, especially on social media, to mean that one should do things that are enjoyable or exciting. So we live in a day and age where people really want to enjoy life, right? I think my parents, a lot of you of that generation, you're not thinking about enjoying life. You're thinking about doing what is right. You're laying up reserves for your children so that they do not suffer the way you suffered. But today's generation thinks about YOLO. Enjoy life.

Now, let me ask you, is it wrong? This is a bit touchy, right? All the young people here: “I really believe in YOLO, I really think I should enjoy life. Wow, you say I'm wrong.” Well, I'm not saying you're wrong. “But you pastor, what. Always tell us to serve God, what.” But I'm not saying you're wrong. I just want you to think about this with me. YOLO––if it's about enjoying life, finding pleasures and joys––that in and of itself, can I say to you, is not really wrong. Just as you are made for love, you are also made for joy. Nobody is born into this world saying “I want to be unhappy”. Nobody lives his life saying “I want to suffer”. No, because everybody works towards joy. That's how you and I are made. Let me say this. Even Jesus. Because the Bible says in Hebrews 12, “for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross.” Why did Jesus endure the cross? Let me tell you why. Because He lived for joy. He lived for that which is to come. So you and I are all made to live for joy.

But the question here is, where do you find that joy? If you are really, really thinking about this matter, you would aim for the joy… If you are wise about it, you will aim for joy that is the longest, isn't it? We say people are stupid when they don't study and when they don't work hard, when they live only for the here and now, because they are very short-term in their thinking. They enjoy life now. But what about them when they are 30 or 40 or 50 or 80? So we say to them, study hard. Not that I don't want you to enjoy life, but you got to work hard, because that lays down a foundation for you to have the longer joy, you see. Nothing wrong with looking for joy, but don't aim for short-term joy. And I say to you, even if you study hard, work hard to get that joy until you're 80, 90, or 100, I still think you're not wise enough. Actually very stupid, because your life doesn't end at 100. That 100 is just a tiny little fraction of an infinitely long life you're going to live after that. Because according to the Bible, it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment you have a whole eternity.

So what is really advantageous for you? Live a life that secures the longest joy in eternity. And the Bible tells us, “You will make known to me the path of life in Your presence.” In God's presence is fullness of joy… “And at Your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.” Nothing wrong with you aiming for joy, but don't look for it in all the wrong places. Don't look for it in sin that offers to you momentary pleasures. There are pleasures in sin, but they don't give you lasting joy. In fact, they keep you from the source of lasting joy, who is God. Be wise. Live faithfully before God. Consecrate yourself to Him, because at His right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.

The Supreme Worth of God
You know, a pastor, a preacher, is not telling people to do what they do not want to do? If that's my job description, I'm a miserable man, because I'm always swimming against the tide. But a preacher's job is to show people the supreme worth of God and how He has loved His people. And when you see that, and you wise up and you realise that with God is where longest joy is, you fall in love with Him. You serve Him. You give your life to Him, because you follow Jesus, who for the joy that was set before You, You endure the cross and You despise the shame. Israel was given beautiful lessons after they sinned, lessons about God's faithful love, about the need for a faithful leader and about faithful living. May these be the lessons you learn in your life, too, Father, thank You for this time. Bless the word to all our hearts. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.