Child Like Faith

I was reminded the other day of how Jesus used a child as an example of how we are to be, to enter the kingdom of heaven. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:1-5 Sorting through various study aids on this subject, I realized there was more to this passage than the  typical understanding. Children have no concept of the impossible because they haven't defined what is, and what is not possible. No impossibilities or assumptions; no fear (child like faith). By further digging, I discovered more meat on the bone.

The key words in the passage are “humbles” and “change” in verses 3 and 4. If I put myself in the child’s place (called over to stand among several adults) I find myself thinking of several things. First is the concept of obedience as Jesus calls him over to the group. Because he was probably taught to respect his elders, he obeyed, walked over and stood amongst the disciples. Humility here means the willingness to accept oneself as being of little account and to be regarded as unimportant (God, creator of the universe is of great account and we are of none). As a child this seems to be easier to attain, rather than later in life when we are “set in our ways.” Of course, Jesus is speaking to adults, not children. So the challenge or struggle is this…...we must change our natural (set in our ways) preference of putting ourselves on the throne, and bow to His authority in all facets of our life. The bible tells us again and again how we are to be. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Php 2:5-8 What an example! The creator of the universe was willing to be of little account and of no importance, in obedience to the Father!

We are to imitate Christ’s humility. If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Php 2:1-4 We all will end up on our knees, (Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18) it’s just a matter of how we get there.

Are you willing to change and humble yourself like the child Jesus had called? Are you willing to accept yourself as being of little account and unimportant, so to put others first and yourself last, to glorify and exalt God the Father?

Vertical focus—not horizontal!

Conquer the Land

There is one other interesting type that’s found in Numbers 2. The 12 tribes were told to group into four camps. Each tribe had a standard and symbol, but Judah, Isaachar and Zebulin were to rally around the standard of Judah. They collectively represented 186,400. Reuben, Simeon and Gad collectively represented about 151,000. Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin collectively represented 108,100. Dan, Asher and Naphtali, 157,600. Judah’s standard was the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Reuben’s was a man. Ephraim’s was the ox. Dan, the eagle. These four symbols are also the four faces of the cherubim around the throne of God in Isaiah 6 , Ezekiel 1 and 10, and Revelation 4.

Each of the camps, of three tribes each, was to encamp on one of the four cardinal compass directions (N, S, E, or W) with respect to the camp of the Levites enclosing the tabernacle (See here). We can only guess at how much space was required by the Levites, whether it was 100 feet on a side, 100 yards, or whatever. But whatever it was, we’ll assume that length as a basic unit.

To fully appreciate all of the implications, you must try to think like a rabbi; you need to maintain an extremely high respect for the precise details of the instructions. They resorted to heroic measures in their attempt to comply with the letter of the law.

The Camp of Judah had to camp east of the Levites. This poses a technical problem. Notice that if the breadth of their camp was larger than that of the Levites, the excess would be southeast or northeast, not east. Therefore, if they were to comply strictly to their instructions, their camp could only be as wide as that of the Levites, and they then would have to extend eastward to obtain whatever space they required.

The camps of Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan had the same constraint on the south, west, and north, respectively. The length of each leg would thus be proportional to the total population in each camp. If we assemble what we can infer from the Biblical account, we can imagine what the camp of Israel looked like from above: the tabernacle and the Levites in the center, surrounded by the four faces of the tribal standards, and each of the four camps of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan, stretching out in the four cardinal directions. We can also tally the size of each tribe to total the relative length of each camp as they stretched out in each of the four directions. (See the plan view, on a relative scale, here).

The Book of Numbers is a fascinating study in many ways. Expositionally, it demonstrates integrity of Design; homiletically, it reveals that these were real people with practical problems; and, devotionally, we see that ''crossing over Jordon'' is not ''going to Heaven'' - life is a warfare. Each one of us is in our own ''wilderness'' and every day is our ''Kadesh-Barnea'' - will we trust God and ''conquer the land''? Will we resolutely try to surmount the obstacles that lie in our way…or will we shrink from the apparent difficulties and remain slaves to the sin in our lives?

Used by permission Chuck Missler—www.khouse.org