The Lord instructed Moses as to the offerings and sacrifices they were to make when they entered the land. The Israelites had rebelled against the Lord and wanted to go back to Egypt. The Lord had told them that they wouldn’t enter the Promised Land, but their following generation would. Despite their rebellion and punishment, the Lord showed them his mercy. These promises were to be realised when they entered the land.
God was merciful to the Israelites. His instruction about sacrifice was to cover sin and to remind them of the atonement and the need to give thanks. This included the time they were in the wilderness. They were to give thanks and to express joy even though they were under God’s punishment. God was promising them that he would lead them into the land and not abandon them in the wilderness. “When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving to you.” (v2) Note the word ‘when’. Even though they were some years from entering it He is assuring them that they will get there.
I am not going into the offerings and sacrifices save to say that joy and thanksgiving seem to override the giving. It is not a chore it is something that we do willingly, joyfully and with thanksgiving. This was all preparation for the generation which would enter the land.
The offerings and sacrifices were for their own people but also strangers in their assembly (v11-16). They were all equal in this.
In Christ we are heaven bound for God has ‘raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:6). We are also told to set our affections on things above not earthly. (Colossians 3:2-4) which indicates that we will be with Christ in glory.
Verses 22-29 deal with the Lord’s provision for unintentional sin.
This applies to individuals and nations, including strangers. Some would say there is no such thing as unintentional sin, and some would say if it were unintentional then it can’t be sin. God, however, states that even if it is unintentional, it is still sin, so there can be no excuse. Sin is sin; however we want to label it, and there must be repentance to obtain forgiveness. Note that it even says, in effect, if no-one else knows. That is what I take “without the knowledge of the congregation“ to mean, although I could stand corrected. God always knows and He alone can forgive.
Verses 30, 31 deal with Presumptuous sins. I understand these to be be deliberate rebellion against God. It is clear that these sins carry a far more serious punishment. He will be cut off from his people. This is despising the word of God and must not be tolerated, and their guilt remains.
Isaiah 5:20 tells us that us that one must not call evil, good and good, evil. It is common in our world today and those who twist things around are given credit, but we must beware that God does not look upon it that way.
Those who were in blatant rebellion against God were barred from entering the Promised Land, hence their guilt remained, but God in his faithfulness to his promise, granted the next generation with Caleb and Joshua to enter the land. Even Moses didn’t get in because of his disobedience.
There follows an example of presumptuous sin in that a man was caught gathering sticks on the sabbath day. They had received the law of God which included keeping the sabbath day holy. The Lord instructed Moses to have him stoned to death outside the camp. It seems a very high penalty for such an offence, but some commentators suggest that the man did it deliberately in defiance of God, therefore, the penalty was set to make him an example.
We need to bear in mind that the Promised Land in this case is not heaven in our case. There was sin in the Promised Land, there will be no sin in heaven. Upon repentance and faith in Jesus Christ for salvation we can be forgiven and are guaranteed a place in heaven. If we still sin, and we will, we are not barred from heaven as a result. Repentance is repeated act. I believe that we cannot lose our salvation. Jesus said that we receive eternal life when we are born again. If it is eternal, then it cannot be temporary or dependent upon certain conditions. My salvation does not depend upon me but on The Lord Jesus Christ.
If we commit certain sins after we are truly saved, however much we repent of them, we may face the punishment for those here on earth, we may be sent to prison, but we will not lose our salvation.
The Lord instructed Moses to tell the people to make tassels on the corners of their garments and put blue thread in them. (v37-41) This was to be a reminder to keep the commandments, to be holy as God is holy and to remind them that they were God’s people.
We should be careful, however, not to abuse and pervert God’s commands. Jesus rebuked those who ‘enlarged the borders of their garments’ (Matthew 23:5). They were guilty of making the tassels larger so that people would see them, thus making a show of their so-called holiness. We can be guilty of this today by the way we dress and display ourselves.
