We turn this evening in the Old Testament to the book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 27. Numbers 27. Israel is on the border of the promised land. Moses is not going to be able to lead them across, but Moses is still on the scene shortly before his death. Numbers 27. Then came the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hephir, the son of Gilead, the son of Maker, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph. These are the names of his daughters, Malah, Noah, and Haglah, and Milcah, and Terzah. They stood before Moses, and before Eliezer the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Our father died in the wilderness and he was not in the company of them that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died in his own sin and had no sons. Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family because he had no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father. and Moses brought their cause before the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Salafahad speak right. Thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren, and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them. And those first seven verses are our text this evening. And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter. And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren. And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father's brethren. And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it, and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this Mount Abiram, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel. And when thou hast seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered, for ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes, that is the water of Meribah in Kadish, in the wilderness of Zin. And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, let the Lord, the God of all, the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thine hand upon him, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight. now shall put some of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. And he shall stand before Eliezer the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him, And he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and he laid his hands upon them and gave them a charge as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, I preached from this text many years ago on the occasion of baptism. But it's really a text fitting for the occasion before us this evening, in which we rejoice over the confessions of faith of two young women in the congregation. Because this text, as we shall see, records another confession of faith, that of five young women in the congregation who were sisters. The confession took place likewise, not only before the elders of the congregation, but before the whole congregation. And a significant confession it was. At the time recorded here in Numbers 27, the children of Israel were still in the wilderness, but on the border of the promised land. They had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, the just chastening of God's hand upon the constantly complaining Israelites. But they had come to the end of that God-ordained period of chastisement, and God was soon to lead them into the promised land. They were on the east side of the Jordan River preparing to cross into the land of their inheritance. That numbering in the previous chapter, Numbers 26, God commanded Moses to number the people for the purpose of dividing the land and distributing to the people their inheritance. That numbering confirmed that no man who had been numbered at Sinai 40 years before remained, except Caleb and Joshua, God's faithful servants. All the others had died in the wilderness. And that's the context in which these five young women make their appearance before Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and the whole congregation. So with that brief introduction and also with application to us and especially to you two young women, Alyssa and Grace, who made your confession of faith tonight, I call your attention to the claim of godly women. We notice concerning these five daughters of Zalapahad, first, their bold request. Secondly, the divine approval that was given to their request. And finally, the great blessedness that followed. The five daughters of Zalapahad, who were young women, came with a bold request. They came, mind you, before the leaders of Israel, those whom we would refer to as the elders of the church, the aged Moses, Eliezer the priest, the princes or exalted ones of the congregation, which was probably the 70 elders that God had given to assist Moses in the labors, but also all the congregation. We office bearers realize how difficult it can be for young people to appear before the consistory, the body of elders, to make confession of their faith. It's understood that there's a certain level of anxiety, intimidation, nervousness that a young person experiences in coming to the consistory. And no matter what the elders try to do to alleviate that and to make them appear comfortable, it's understood that there's a certain level of feeling uncomfortable simply because It's not common circumstances. It's not something a young person does all the time. Now think of these five young women making their appearance before a very large body of men, perhaps in excess of 70 men, with also the whole congregation being present. And then think of the fact, and I call your attention to this, these women, the five daughters of Zelophehad, were young women. The term for daughters in this text is the most general Hebrew term with reference to children. There are many more specific Hebrew terms which point us to to specific time periods in a child's life and development. Here, the word used is just the general term for children of the female gender. But when we turn to Numbers 36, we find out that these five daughters of Zelophehad were young women. That is, they were women nearing the age of marriage, which would have put them as a group in the age of mid-teen to early 20s, because it was customary in those days for women to be married at what we would consider a very young age. They were women who could have been peers of Alyssa and Grace or you other young people and young adults. So in the light of this text and the opening verses of Numbers 36, the daughters of Zelophehad were young women who had reached the age of maturity The age when, if it is God's will to lead young men into their lives, they're capable of taking on the great responsibilities of marriage. But that means, as the text makes clear, they are capable, first of all, of holding, laying hold of spiritual responsibility. Because in order for one to lay hold of the responsibilities of holy marriage, one must certainly be able to lay hold first of his or her spiritual responsibilities. The only way to build a godly marriage, after all, is by building upon the foundation of God's word, the foundation of faith in Christ Jesus. So these are spiritually-minded young women, all of them, and they were therefore a blessing to Israel, the church, because godly young women are truly a blessing to the church, and we believe that concerning you, Alyssa, and you, Grace. Now these young women stood before all Israel and confessed their faith. They viewed that as their calling. And they did so by making a bold request. They desired a portion in the inheritance of Israel. They wanted a piece of the land of Canaan. Now I want you to understand, these five daughters of Zelophehad, all of which are named in verse one, were not the self-appointed leaders of spiritual rights in Israel, women's rights. They were not there crying for equal rights and equal pay and equal roles for women. I would guess that in our day when the Bible is so twisted by so many, to fit our modern culture, there are those who would interpret this text in such a way as to fit their own concept of a social gospel. That would be a terrible misinterpretation of this text, one that would destroy the gospel significance of God's holy word. They made a bold request for land, all right. This wasn't just any land. There was spiritual significance to their request. And that's important for us to see. You young women, Alyssa and Grace, have been through some trials in your young lives. These young women also. Mela, Noah, Hagle, Milcah and Terzah also had lived through some very trying times. Remember, they had been born into very troubled times in God's church. They had grown up knowing the chastening hand of God upon his church, Israel. Melah, being the oldest daughter, saw more than did her youngest sister, Terza, but they had all grown up surrounded by death. They had watched the fathers of their peers die. Many of those fathers, young men with young children, and more, Already at a young age, they had seen their own father taken in death. Zelophehad had died in the wilderness among the many thousands who would not be able to enter the promised land. Though not personally partaking of the sins of those who had rebelled against the Lord, Zelophehad did come under the consequence of Israel's guilt, and that is a matter of corporate responsibility, so he had died in the wilderness. Not only that, but Zelophehad had died having no sons. Now some of us fathers have no sons. to rear boys is not in God's purpose for us. But to have only daughters was considered a calamity in Israel at that time. That's because the family inheritance was only passed on in the line of sons. The preservation of a man's name came only by sons. And don't forget, the inheritance in Canaan was given according to a man's name. When a man like Zahaphath died, having no sons, it meant that his name would be forgotten. And the place that he had been promised as an inheritance would be lost. In addition, it mustn't be forgotten, we're talking about the inheritance of Canaan. And for those who laid hold of the promise, Canaan was heaven. Canaan was a picture of heaven. In Canaan, God lived with his people as the father of his redeemed and the promised Messiah. To the God-fearing Israelite, therefore, it was a tragedy to lose his inheritance and have it taken from his own generations. It was just as great a tragedy for them as it is for us to see our children go astray, not confessing faith in Christ and walking with the world as Esau's, rejecting their spiritual heritage. No greater sorrow could a godly household experience. It's against that background that the five daughters of Zelopheh had come before Moses and the congregation of Israel and said, why should the name of our father be done away from among his family because he had no sons? Give unto us, therefore, a possession among the brethren of our father. I refer to this as a confession of faith. Indeed, it was. These five young women had not even seen the land of their father's inheritance. They knew that God had promised it to his people. They remembered that Jehovah had promised that he would lead them into a land that overflows with milk and honey, a land that belonged to them and to their generations by promise. And we may certainly understand that Zelophehad himself had a hope for that land and taught that to his daughters. These young women, believed the promise of God. They believed it to be a promise worth having. So substantial was that inheritance to them. They were afraid that they themselves should be left out. They longed for that Canaan. contrary to many others whose focus was merely on the present and the things behind because many of them still longed for Egypt. Mela, Noah, Hagla, Milcah, and Terzah had a fervent desire to be numbered among those children of Israel who would receive the blessed inheritance which Canaan denoted. Rather than looking only at what was seen, they laid hold by faith of the spiritual reality marked out by God's own word and the possession that would belong to his people in the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ. And such conviction must have had the effect of confirming the expectation of the entire congregation. This confession would have encouraged others also to take the same view of that as yet unseen land that had been promised them. There's a reason, after all, that the Bible tells us of this bold request being made not just before the elders of the congregation, but before all the congregation. And that's the confession that our young sisters have made before us tonight. Whether they grasp the full extent of what they have confessed is not the question, because who of us ever grasps the full extent of what the promises of God and the blessings of the covenant mean to us. But this is our confession when we lay hold of the promise of God our Savior. We don't disregard this earthly life. We're not unaffected by earthly things and earthly trials and temptations. But our perspective of life is not a common perspective. We have a different view of things than does the news media and the world around us. We have a different perspective from that of an unbeliever as well as many misguided religious people because we lay hold of God's Word and evaluate everything in its light. And therefore, we realize that we are sojourners here and that all things are given us with a view to something far greater than anything here. We look for that inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, as Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, verses four and five. Is that true of you? There's another thing that we ought to notice in this connection. These five women knew that this inheritance would be received only after encountering great difficulties. They didn't make this bold request expecting that by making this confession of faith in God's promises, they would then be exempt from any further difficulty. They had no grand delusion of a dream world life in a protected castle in that land of their inheritance. They had heard of the story of the 12 spies that had been sent to view that land, 10 of which returned and said with trembling voices, we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. So great were the people of the land. They have cities walled to the skies. They have chariots of iron. We can never win the land. But these women believed that God himself would give them what he had promised, even if they knew not how. They realized that struggles lay before them, especially as those who to this point had no husbands to lead them and guide and protect them. But they made their bold request, believing. Believing all that God had revealed to them by his word. And that's also the significance of our confessions of faith. I would have you understand that. That's not to say we're always so strong in our faith. We know too that if the obtaining of that inheritance were left to us and to our fighting for it and taking it, we would surely despair. but we certainly have more than did the five daughters of Zelophehad, as they considered in hope that which lay before them, inasmuch as we have seen Jesus himself ascended on high to prepare that place for us and have heard his promise that he will come again and receive us unto himself And as we can see by faith that God's promise was of such value that our Lord and Savior laid down his life to make us partakers of that blessing, we confess, though trials are many and temptations great, The Lord our righteousness is our helper. And we shall walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I can see that there's nothing of such value in this life that it can begin to compare with that which God has set before us in the promised inheritance. Yet one more thing noteworthy about this request, I refer to the fervency with which these young women pursued their spiritual goal. You realize it's quite a rare thing to see young women and young men, perhaps even more so, pursuing godliness and their spiritual hope with such fervor Young women, the age of Zolafahad's daughters, are usually more concerned about the clothes they wear, or the young guy they have their eyes on, or who they are seeing, or the latest music, or what they're going to do with their lives, and whether or not they're going to marry. Isn't it true? Those of us with teenagers or who have had teenagers, and you who are in the years of young adulthood now, certainly know what it's like. You know the common pursuits. And often we adults are no different. We pursue the things of today. And no little pleasure. But these five young women, though not unaffected by their surroundings and not uninvolved in other activities common to their times, had a proper focus. They were not living just for the present. They had outgrown their childhood. They were not satisfied to get lost in passing pleasures. They looked to the future. They looked to the time when Israel would take their possession in the land of Canaan, the promised land. And they needed to have a place there. They needed to know that they would have a place in the promised land. They sought the blessing of Jehovah God. There was nothing more important to them. And so it must be for us, for you. You must know that you have a place in the promised land. You must know that the promises of God are for you. And to that end, you lay hold of the word of God, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Knowing that the entrance into this land depended upon the shed blood of the lamb By which alone they had been delivered from the bondage of Egypt, that terrible type of our sin and death, these young women laid claim to that blessed promise of God. They laid claim to it for themselves. Though their father had been a sinner, and they were too. let alone the fact that as women they were making a bold request for the seemingly impossible and that for which they were unworthy. That didn't stop them. They came before Moses, their mediator, and said, give us a possession among the brethren of our father. This request, if granted, must receive divine approval. You notice Moses brought their requests to the Lord God. God had not yet spoken to such a request. Moses and the elders were called to make a judgment for which they had no standard. And it's worth noting they didn't simply render an opinion in this matter. The issue, after all, was far too serious for a mere human opinion. Moses was not prepared to make a judgment in the matter until he had brought the matter to God and heard from God the answer. Moses was not ashamed to confess his ignorance, nor to show his dependence upon the Lord. To the Lord he would go, seeking wisdom. Matters of such difficulty and such serious implication did not arise very often We find just four cases in this period of history that were brought before Moses for judgment where he needed time to seek specific direction from the Lord. Two were matters of discipline, the one concerning the blasphemer in Leviticus 24, the other concerning the man who was found gathering kindling on the Sabbath day, Numbers 15, And then another was the case involving the proper partakers of the Passover in Numbers chapter nine, where God instructed that those who had been defiled by a dead body should yet partake of the Passover only one month late. But those who willfully neglected partaking of the Passover should be cut off from Israel, cut off from among the people. Those were the three cases where Moses sought direction from the Lord. The present case is only the fourth that was too difficult for an immediate decision on the basis of what God had already revealed to Moses. And therefore Moses sought the answer from God himself. A reminder also to office bearers today that whenever a serious matter is brought before us, the matters that are in question, God requires that we inquire of him to search what is now his complete revelation in Holy Scripture. So we look for what God has said in his word with specific application to the case at hand. Because God's word must be the rule for our doctrine and walk of life. Numbers 27 verses 6 and 7. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. Thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father's brethren, and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. Moses consulted with Jehovah at the mercy seat in harmony with what the Lord had spoken to him earlier in Exodus 25 verse 22, when he said, and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which I will give thee in commandment, unto the children of Israel. From the mercy seat, the Lord spoke. From the mercy seat, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled for the people, Jehovah spoke. From the mercy seat, God looked upon the blood of his own dear son, and gave answer to Moses. And so the Lord maintained the cause of these five young women. They who sought the Lord were blessed by the Lord and given the inheritance for which they longed. So you and I are given the inheritance of the land of promise where Christ dwells at God's right hand. For the sake of Jesus' blood, we are given that access. It's only through Jesus by whom we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God, Romans 5 verse 2. The great blessedness is found in their acceptance with God. To have God say, they speak right, I have accepted them. There is no greater blessedness than that. Many there are today who live unconcerned about this spiritual inheritance, they go on living as if there's no tomorrow. May God give us grace to see the example of his work in the daughters of Zelophehad and those in our day who walk the same pathway laying claim to their inheritance in Christ Jesus. To have the inheritance of sons, even sons of God in Jesus Christ, that's the essence of Christianity, beloved. Because that's to have the Lord God look upon us in his own dear son and draw us to himself. It doesn't matter what hindrances there might appear to be in the obtaining of that inheritance, we might have come from a sad past. By all appearances, we have no right to the inheritance. And in fact, by our sins, we forfeited it all. But when we lay hold of the promise of Jehovah by faith in Christ Jesus, and bring our cause before God, our mediator, And before the mercy seed of the shed blood of the lamb, we shall take our place among the chosen people of God and receive the inheritance God has promised to those who love him. Blessed be God for bestowing his great blessings upon us and upon our children who lay hold of him. This blessedness fell upon the household of Zelophehad. It was the desire of these young women in seeking the kingdom of God to bring honor also to the name of their father. There are those in the church today, sad to say, who fulfill the sad words of the book of Proverbs, bringing heaviness and shame to their parents. But no greater joy is there for godly parents than to see their children walk in truth. And to that end, Zelophehad taught his daughters the importance of the inheritance of Jehovah. Although Zelophehad could not see this day, he had five daughters, all of them claiming the heritage of the children of God. Blessed be God, I say, for his wonder work of grace revealed in our young women and young men, even in the line of continued generations. In thankfulness to him, Let us seek first his kingdom and righteousness and continue to teach our children and youth the importance of these things. Sons and daughters of godly parents, all you who come under this gospel, look to your mediator. Look to Jesus Christ. In Him is our answer. Lay hold of the promises of God and make your bold request, because He never fails in the bestowal of His blessings upon those who come to Him in faith. Amen. Gracious Father, we give thanks once again for the occasion of this evening, the confessions of faith that we have witnessed and in which we have joined as we have heard thy word proclaimed to us again. Father, grant that we live in the joy of that inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus. to the honor and glory of thy name, amen.