Numbers chapter 22 verse 36 through chapter 24 verse 25. These are God's words. Now, when Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the border at the Arnon, the boundary of the territory. Then Balak said to Balaam, did I not earnestly send to you calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you? And Balaam said to Balak, look, I have come to you. Now have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak. So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-hizab. Then Balak offered oxen and sheep and sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him. So it was the next day that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, that from there he might observe the extent of the people. And Balaam said to Balak, build seven altars for me here and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken. And Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar. Then Balaam said to Balak, stand by your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me and whatever he shows me, I will tell you. So he went to a desolate height, and God met Balaam. And he said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram. Then Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth and said, return to Balak, and thus you shall speak. So he returned to him. There he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes and Moab. And he took up his oracle and said, Balak, the king of Moab, has brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east. Come curse Jacob for me, and come denounce Israel. How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom Yahweh has not denounced? For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him there, a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous. Let my end be like his." Then Balak said to Balaam, what have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look you have blessed them bountifully. So he answered and said, must I not take heed to speak what you always put in my mouth? Then Balak said to him, please come with me to another place from which you may see them. You shall see only the outer part of them and shall not see them all. Curse them for me from there. So he brought him to the field of Zephim, to the top of Pisgah and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. And he said to Balak, stand here by your burnt offering while I meet with Yahweh over there. And Yahweh met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, Go back to Balak, and thus you shall speak. So he came to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering. And the princes of Moab were with him. And Balak said to him, What has Yahweh spoken? Then he took up his oracle and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear. Listen to me, son of Zippor. God is not a man that he should lie, nor a son of man that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has he seen wickedness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt. He has strength like a wild ox. For there is no sorcery against Jacob nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, oh, what God has done. Look, a people rises like a lioness and lifts itself up like a lion. It shall not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain. Then Balak said to Balaam, neither curse them at all nor bless them at all. So Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell you, saying, all that Yahweh speaks, that I must do? Then Balak said to Balaam, Please come, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there. So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor that overlooks the wasteland. And Balaam said to Balak, build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams. And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on every altar. Now when Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek to use sorcery, But he set his face toward the wilderness, and Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel in camp hoarding to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon him. Then he took up his oracle and said, the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, the utterance of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down with eyes wide open, How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel, like valleys that stretch out, like gardens by the riverside, like aloes planted by Yahweh, like cedars beside the waters. He shall pour water from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than a gag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt. He has strength like a wild ox. He shall consume the nations, his enemies. He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. He bows down, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who shall rouse him? Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you. Then Balak's anger was aroused against Balaam and he struck his hands together and Balak said to Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times. Now, therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, Yahweh has kept you back from honor. So Balaam said to Balak, Did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying, If Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of Yahweh to do good or bad of my own will. What Yahweh says, that I must speak. And now, indeed, I am going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.' So he took up his oracle and said, the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor, the utterance of a man whose eyes are opened, the utterance of him who hears the words of God and has the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down with eyes wide open. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of Tumult. And Edom shall be a possession. Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. Out of Jacob one shall have dominion, and destroy the remains of the city. And he looked on Amalek, and he took up his oracle and said, Amalek was first among the nations, but shall be last until he perishes. Then he looked on the Canaanites, and he took up his oracle and said, Firm is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock. Nevertheless, Cain shall be burned. How long until Asur carries you away captive? Then he took up his oracle and said, alas, who shall live when God does this? But ships shall come from the coasts of Cyprus, and they shall afflict us for and afflict Aber, and so shall Amalek until he perishes. So Balaam rose and departed and returned to his place. Balak also went his way. So far, the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. So we have for a couple of weeks noted that Black knew that if he was going to survive this ocean of Israelites that was now on his border. that he needed genuine divine intervention. He couldn't settle for the prophets of the false gods, whose words were not reliable. He needed the guy who, when he curses, they're cursed, and when he blesses, they're blessed. And that's why he was trying to get Balaam, so that he could get a word that would work. One of the problems, however, is that Balak is making several mistakes. And we see them in series here in the lengthy passage that we have just read or heard read. The first mistake that he makes is thinking that there is some power in the preacher himself, that the reason that what Balaam says comes true is somehow in Balaam. And he thinks that maybe he can bring Balaam over to his side and over to his God's side. Notice before Balaam starts having Balak offer these offerings, and it was apparently at the Lord's own instruction, because in his first interview with the Lord, he reports to the Lord that they have offered according to what evidently was expected by the Lord. But before they do that, Balak offers oxen and sheep and sends some to Balaam and sends some to the other princes. He thinks that perhaps if we can get Balaam on the side of our God instead of on the side of their God and their people, we can get out of Balaam that really powerful, strong word that we need in order to survive and curse and destroy these Israelites. And that may sound silly to us, but there are many people who get hooked into what we might call the celebrity preacher idea, that there are certain men that what they say is really powerful, not necessarily because of the God who sends them, not necessarily because of the word that they are expositing, but because of the man and they attach some hope to the person himself. Well, that does not turn out to work. The first prophecy does not go the way that Balak had wanted from Balaam. And then he says, oh, you know what the problem was? It was a matter of perspective. There's a little bit of magic there. There's a little bit of man-centeredness, humanism there. He says, I let you look at too many of them while you were prophesying. Let's get a different angle. where you can just see the outskirts and they won't look like so many because the first prophecy had them as the dust of the earth. And if you just see a few, maybe you can say something cursing like, oh, look at how paltry they are. And so few of them in the outskirts of the wilderness. It's very silly. But we make mistakes like that, thinking that what is right or wrong or true depends upon our particular perspective and what we can see at a particular time. makes the mistake of hoping in the person of Balaam, makes the mistake of thinking that it depends on the point of view, as if God can be manipulated by circumstances, something that Balaam was participating in as well. Because when we come to the third prophecy, it tells us that Balaam stopped trying to manipulate God. He stopped using what what 23 verse 23 and 24 verse 1 call, at least in our English version, sorceries. Black at that point thought that maybe it wasn't perspective so much as geography. This is something that we see in other places. I have some nephews who at one point in time, there was this worship song, and those of you who are into that stuff probably know exactly what it is. God of the hills and valleys, or as they would sing it, God of the hills and valleys. And the song was actually misusing a passage in which Israel had one in the mountains and their enemies thought, well, maybe Yahweh is stronger in the mountains than he is in the valleys. Let's lure him into some other God's domain. And if you've ever had the I wouldn't say misfortune, but be careful. Know that it's false religion, but if you've ever been exposed to the sad mythologies of the Greeks and the Romans, where, you know, they have each god has his own domain and one is stronger in one place, one is another. There may be a little bit of that here. where the second prophecy is going so bad for him, Balak interrupts Balaam, he says, stop, don't say anything else, good or bad. We'll put a pin in it and we'll move to another place where maybe the change in geography will allow them to be cursed. And so Balak makes all these mistakes. He's not treating the living God as God. and finding his peril and his danger as an indication that he needs to repent. He needs to be found in and with these people in whom and unto whom God has promised his blessing. Needs to give up the idea of cursing them. And so against the backdrop of this false religion, these mistakes that Balak is making as he's trying to hire Balaam and Balaam at first is really trying to earn his ire. from Balak against the backdrop of those things, we have these four prophecies. And in each of the prophecies, there's at least one or two important theological conclusions or spiritual applications that the Holy Spirit gives us over against how Balak is thinking and how even Balaam at first is thinking things for us, to consider our own place in the history of the world. And by our own, I don't mean just America generally, or the church in this time, or our congregation specifically. I mean your own personal place where you will end up, as you may sometimes hear people talk about being on the right side of history. while knowing who is the sovereign over all history, and knowing how he determines what he will do, and with whom there is blessing and safety, and even blessedness and death, that will enable you to be on the right side of history. And the Holy Spirit helping us then will consider Very briefly, the four prophecies. The first prophecy, under this consideration, you will die, but whose death or what kind of death will you die? The second prophecy, under this consideration, who will be king? The third prophecy, what does history look like when you have eyes to see? history when given eyes to see. And then the fourth prophecy about the coming of the king, which once we get through the second prophecy, hopefully the tension or why that is such an interesting consideration in the fourth prophecy, hopefully that will be apparent by then. First one, you will die. But whose death you will die? The half of the prophecy, or at least the opening part of the prophecy is just a summary of what has happened so far. Balak has called Balaam to curse Jacob. Excuse me, Jacob. The problem is God, Yahweh, is in control. And Balaam is not permitted to curse or denounce Jacob or Israel. And then he remarks on Israel's holiness and on the fulfillment of God's promises, Israel's holiness. We see in verse nine, uh, from the top of the rocks, I see him from the hills. I behold him there, a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations. In other words, it is a mistake for Moab to see Israel. and to think of them and think of their threat as similar to the threat that any other nation with a horde of people would have been. This is not merely a numerous people who might be dangerous in a military situation. This is a people who have been set apart from the rest of the nations. they're holy, they're consecrated unto God. But then the fulfillment of God's promises, verse 10, who can count the dust of Jacob, or number one-fourth of Israel? This is the fulfillment of what God told Abraham, or Abram, at the time he hadn't changed his name yet, in Genesis 13, verse 16, that if you could count the dust of the earth, you could count the number of his offspring. What Balaam is basically saying is God has fulfilled that promise. And then the realization, of course, comes upon Balaam that God is fulfilling all of his promises. That we are not able to escape death, but we are able to die one of two kinds of deaths. And he says, let me die the death of the righteous and let my end be like his. You see, Balak, the king of Moab, is trying very hard right now not to die at all. But that's actually kind of silly and kind of foolish. Because even if he doesn't die by an Israelite sword in his 30s or 40s or 50s or however old he was at the time, how much time would that buy him? Another 20 years, 40, 50, maybe by some extremely unusual providence, 60, 70 more years, but he's still going to die. and he's still gonna have to face his creator. And either he's gonna die with righteousness counted for him in Jesus Christ, he's gonna die the death of the righteous and stand before God and his death will have been a blessing and an entry into blessedness, or he's gonna die the death of the wicked. And who cares if you lived it up for 100, 120, whatever years? and almost none of us get that many. If you die the death of the wicked and you appear in yourself and you appear in your sin before the Lord, every one of you is going to die. I actually can't remember how many, if any, little graves with short lifespans there are in our little cemetery out here. I served at a church once that had a cemetery that went back to the Revolution, and there were many in certain seasons of the life of that church. Certain seasons had lots of little graves. And I would take my children for walks in the cemetery and we would stop especially at the graves of children that had died at the same age as my son or my daughter. And I would talk to them about their death. Because it doesn't seem real to you when you're a child. And we don't become much wiser in our 20s or 30s. And then we try to avoid it in our 40s and 50s and 60s. And then we come and we realize that we are leaving this world. Not everyone gets to realize it. Not everyone gets to think about it. But Balaam thought about it as he was looking at this people and realizing that this nation has been separated from the other nations and that God is keeping his promises. Other things promised to Abraham included the gospel in Jesus Christ to which he had responded by faith. Genesis 15 verse six. The story of history attests the faithfulness of God. Every promise that he has kept, every prophecy that he has fulfilled tells you that the God who promises blessing for those who die in Christ will give you righteousness through faith in Christ. If you believe in him, you will be counted righteous and you will die the death of the righteous. On the second prophecy, the big question is who will be king? And perhaps if there was one apparent weakness to the nation of Israel is that they didn't have a king. And we've actually seen that a little bit in the wanderings, haven't we? There seems like, because God is their king, but many of them are not treating God as a king, seems like there's a bit of a power vacuum. And every once in a while, the authority structure descends into a little bit of chaos. And maybe that could have been a hope for for Balak who at this point is hoping that a different vantage point is gonna change the prophecy. Well, that doesn't work because God is not gonna change his mind about what is going to happen with Israel, verse 19 and 20. But then there's this curious verse in verse 21, this curious saying in verse 21, he has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has he seen wickedness in Israel. Now, did you read that like I was tempted to read that and think, what? How could God miss all of the iniquity and wickedness in Israel? Well, it's because the primary thing about Israel is not Israel, it's Israel's God. It's Israel's king. Indeed, all of those sacrifices that he gave them by which to draw near in Leviticus, they were the foreshadowings, they were the picture book that told about how Jesus would come and be his people's righteousness and take away their sin. This isn't saying that God didn't notice that they were sinners. It's that God was not treating them with respect to their sin. Well, what is, how is God treating them? Well, that's in the rest of verse 21. Yahweh is, God is with him, and the shout of a king is among him. So what does the Lord see when he looks upon the Israelite camp? And he's gonna open Balaam's eyes to see this in the third prophecy. He sees tents and dwellings, but in the middle of those tents and dwellings, he sees a palace with the king of glory. Yes, it's a portable tent, it's the tabernacle, but the one who dwells in the midst of the camp, is Yahweh himself. And he has so atoned for his people. He provides such atonement for his people that they can dwell in the presence of God. Again, remember, we noted this several times when we were going through Leviticus, how one of the triumphant jubilations at the end of the Bible is the dwelling place of God is with men. The atonement has worked. God's redemption has worked. We rejoice at the end of the Bible. And there's a picture of that in the camp of Israel. They may not have a human king, but Yahweh his God is with him and the shadow of a king is among them. God brings them out of Egypt, not Moses. God, and he has strength like a wild ox. This is actually, a description that you find in a couple of places in some ancient Near Eastern texts that God has, in his providence, allowed us still to have when it talks about a king who is really unstoppable in his military prowess. that he has strength like a wild ox. In other words, it's like if Mr. Sepiki had a prize bull with great big horns and a nasty temper and you sent just a person out there without any weapons to try to fight him and that bull would just tear through anyone who was before it. That's the description here of the military strength or prowess of Yahweh as king. And so the only way that Balak can survive is to submit to the kingship of Yahweh. He's not going to be able to be or to summon a power that is going to resist or be able to oppose. And he's not going to be able to change God's mind. In fact, it's illegal to try. Verse 23. It says there is no sorcery against Jacob or divination against Israel in our English version. The preposition, the prefix there can just as easily be in Jacob or in Israel. And we actually know that that's true, isn't it? It was illegal for them to practice sorcery. It was illegal for them to practice divination. God is not one who can be manipulated by magic. We pray in submission to Him. We make requests known to Him in prayer that are agreeable to His Word and to His will. Now, this teaches us something about prayer, doesn't it? It reminds us something about prayer. that you shouldn't think that you can manipulate God by superstitious things in your life. You really shouldn't think that you can manipulate God by certain acts of obedience or service, as if you could do more than you owed to him. As if when you had done all your duty, you shouldn't say, I am an unprofitable servant. And you shouldn't view prayer as a way of manipulating God. By all means, instructed by his word, lay out before him your plight and your condition, which he already knows, and lay out before him his character, which he already knows, and lay out before him his promises, which he already knows, and ask him to act according to his character and keeping with his promises, which he loves to do, and you and I can't always understand what that's going to look like in terms of the details. of how that works out. But let us put away the idea that we are going to manipulate God by prayer, that we are going to somehow change what he is going to do by prayer. Oh, prayer changes situations because God changes situations. And he's commanded prayer as one of the means by which he loves to work, responding to the cries of his people that come through his son that glorifies him, glorifies his goodness, glorifies his wisdom, glorifies his gospel, glorifies his son. But don't use prayer as if you can manipulate God. That's superstition, that's sorcery, that's divination. God must be king. This is the big question in every one of our lives. Who will be king? As long as you are trying to be king, as long as you are trying to determine all the outcomes, as long as you are trying to maintain a sovereign control over what comes out of your life, You will be frustrated like black. God will be king and you can trust him. You must submit to him and do what he says. Duty is ours. Events are God. Events are God's. Events belong to God. The third prophecy then, this is what we called history when you're given eyes to see. And that's the introduction to the third and fourth prophecies is different than what we saw in the first two. And the reason is given to us in verse one of chapter 24. Now when Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek to use sorcery. So that gives us a little window into what he was doing when he said, you stay here with the seven sacrifices and I'm going to go off to a place by myself and try to meet with the Lord by myself. Apparently there was something that Balaam was trying to do when he was off by himself. to try and manipulate God and get from him the answer that Black was willing to pay so handsomely to receive. But at this time, he doesn't go. He doesn't go to the desolate place. He stays there. And he raises his eyes and he looks. And what does he see? Well, he sees the encampment of Israel. And he sees in the middle of the camp, the tabernacle. the tabernacle in its central place. When it talks about Israel encamped according to their tribes, you remember how the tribes decided where they would be. Well, they didn't decide, did they? Who decided where each of the tribes would be? God did. And so you had the three tribes to the east and the three tribes to the south, east and south and west, and the three tribes to the north and in the center of the tabernacle. And now that his eyes are opened and he hears, he's listening to, he's submitting to what God says. That's what verse three and four are saying. And that's what he's gonna say again at the beginning of the fourth prophecy, verse 15 and 16. Now that his eyes are opened and he's actually listening to what God is saying, he looks out and what he sees is the new garden of Eden. Now, it's a people in the wilderness. They're not actually surrounded by gardens and rivers and valleys and aloes and cedars with the waters falling. Really, I think the root there that's translated buckets here is actually tree boughs, so like boughs heavy with water from the dew or maybe after a rain shower. But why does he use that language? Well, because God is restoring by means of Israel what was lost in Eden. It is as if the Garden of Eden has come back with the primary feature, which is the fellowship of the Lord. That's why this is where there is blessing. We're all cursed and Adam, but if we can be brought into this people, if we can be instead of their enemies, if we can be allied with them, this is how this is how we can die the death of the righteous. This is how we can come into the blessedness of having God as our king. And that's why he quotes now, or at least alludes to what God had said to Abram in Genesis chapter 12, blessed is he who blesses you and cursed is he who curses you. Blessing can only be found by submission to Jesus Christ and to not be, not have your allegiance with the nations that rage and the kings and the peoples that plot in vain. There is blessing only with Jesus, and without Jesus there is only cursing. The two opposites can never agree with one another. They're mutually exclusive. Either all blessing with Jesus, or all cursing without him. Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you. And so that's the story of history. God restoring Eden, with Jesus as King, for everyone who finds their blessing in Jesus. That's the end of Psalm 2, isn't it? Psalm 2 begins, why do the nations rage and the kings and peoples plot in vain? But it ends, blessed are all who trust in him. Kiss the son, blessing is found with him and it's offered to us who were God's enemies. So instead of trying to throw off Christ's rule, instead of trying to get your way and to be in control, to take the seat of authority for yourself, Kiss the son, blessed are all who trust in him." And Psalm 2 then really is the key to understanding the fourth prophecy because we already have God as king. Chapter 23, verse 21 and 22, and then chapter 24, verses 7 and 8. We already have God as king. Well, if God is already the king of Israel, why is there the need for this other king? When Balak tells Balaam, go home. You've missed your chance to earn the money. And Balaam says, all right, I'm gonna go. But before I go, I've only been telling you so far about what I see now. Let me tell you about how it ends. And he prophesies about this glorious one. I see him, but not now. So he's not there yet. I behold him, but not near. He's not there yet. Who is he talking about? A star shall come out of Jacob. Well, now we know. Especially because we have Jesus in the book of Revelation referring to himself as the bright and morning star. A scepter shall arise out of Israel. This was already prophesied about the tribe of Judah, wasn't it? But why? Why this other king? Well, because this other king is also God. God raises up for himself a man by sending his son into the world to be the son of David, according to the flesh, but demonstrated and declared to be the son of God with power by the Holy Spirit. by the resurrection of the dead, by the Holy Spirit. The opening verses of Romans chapter one tell us, even with God himself as king of Israel now, his plan is to bring a king, a king who we know is King Jesus. And what does King Jesus do with the nations? Well, verses 18 through 25 are littered with it. Either you are those, you are among those who kiss the sun and blessed are all who trust in him, blessed are those who bless him. Or you end up destroyed as his enemies, as Edom and Amalek and the Kenites and the Assyrians, which is Ashur, and the Greeks who come from the West, and they, well, the Assyrians actually are destroyed first from the East, but the Babylonians and the Persians are all kind of identified with the Assyrians, and then they come from the West, from Cyprus, verse 24, all of the nations will be destroyed. You know, statism is a very wicked and dangerous religion. It's really attractive when you can be the country that has more weapons and more wealth for a little bit of time and you start to think that you are it. You run the world and you are going to be forever. But every one of these nations that's listed here has been destroyed. And there is no nation, there is no state that has in itself the power of God. There is either kissing the sun and submitting to him, not just for individuals, but for nations. Because Jesus, the King, the one in whom we may die the death of the righteous, the one who can give us eyes to see, the one in whom there is blessedness for us. He does shatter the nations with his rod of iron. And so that's the last thing that Balaam sees and prophesies here. Lest Moab hope in itself as a nation or a kingdom, or lest any of our other nations or kingdoms since then put hope in ourselves, put hope in the state. And so whose death will you die? Will you die the death of the righteous? And who is your King? I hope it's not you. I hope Jesus is your King. And where are you looking for blessedness? I hope it's not through any manipulation of God, but that you find all of your blessedness in praising Jesus, recognizing Him. Blessed are those. Blessed are all who put their trust in Him. Blessed are those who bless Him. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for recording for us this interaction between the king of Moab at the time and the greedy prophet, so that certain ways of thinking and feeling about things that deceive us in our own hearts might be identified. and that your word would direct us back to yourself and to your plan for all of history. We do look forward to the day when we hear the triumphal shout, the dwelling place of God is among men. Grant to us already right now to trust in Christ, to be righteous in him, to be sure of blessing, so that when it comes time for each one of us to die, we too would die the death of the righteous. For we ask it in the name of Him who is our righteousness, even Jesus. Amen.