Numbers 2:1-3:51 ~ Mark 11:27-12:17 ~ Psalm 47:1-9 ~ Proverbs 10:24-25
Today is March 4th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you, and it’s a special day. It’s really just for me, but today is my birthday and a long, long time ago I decided to stop adding up the numbers every year that are more and more discouraging and start celebrating by Daily Audio Bible years. So today is my 12th birthday, which reminds me of how faithful God has been and how many days and weeks and months we’ve been in this together, reading the Bible fresh every day. So that, reading the Bible fresh every day, is why we have come here today. So as we end another of our weeks together, we’ve been reading from the Names of God Bible this week, which is a nice change of pace because it gives us the original language names whenever God is referred to, so that is fun. That is what we’ll read from today and then we’ll move to something else tomorrow. Numbers chapter 2, verse 1 through 3:51 today.
Commentary
You can see in the book of Numbers that we’re running into a lot of numbers, but we can also see that things have shifted from the book of Leviticus. Where the law was being given in the book of Exodus or the law was being outlined, we can see that things have shifted. We can see that now from nothing we have a tabernacle, we have all of the things that serve the tabernacle. We have the tabernacle in the center of the camp, so this is a visual representation of how things are to be set up in this new culture – God in the middle of it all, communicating outward to everyone.
And then today, after this census was taken and all for the numbers have been counted, they have been arranged. This is how the camp will camp. This is how we will move. This is important because there are a lot of people. So now we know who is ready for battle if battle is necessary. And we also have marching orders. This is how they will move out. This is the order in which they will move out. This is who is going to be on the north side, the west side, the south side, the east side. This is how this is all going to work. So we can see that we’re getting ready to go somewhere. All of this has happened within a couple of years. So we’ve handled this territory in what, a week and a half, a couple weeks? But for them it was a couple years. It is remarkable what happened in that space of time because this complete change in identity and custom and ritual and understanding has happened and the people have had a chance to kind of live into this for a bit. It’s not like they’ve been standing still. There has been a lot going on. It took a while to build all that stuff. It took a while to ingrain all of these things into the fabric of this culture. So now they have battle formation. They have marching formation. They are ready to move out and we’ll be doing that along with them soon.
In the book of Mark, Jesus’ confrontations happen with religious people which is the irony because he is very kind and gracious and merciful to sinners, setting them free everywhere he goes, everything he does practically. But these Pharisees, religious leaders who travel around and watch him and are just trying to figure him out and are confrontational toward him because he is becoming more and more popular and has more sway, has more power, they turn against him. They are trying to trick him. They are trying to capture him in something wrong.
He tells this story today and it’s an antagonistic story, but it wasn’t necessarily antagonism that Jesus was after. He was showing them what they look like. He was actually offering them the truth, a mirror, a chance to examine themselves. And he basically in parable form, in story form recaps their history. He talks about a king, which would be God, who buys this vineyard and sets it all up for use, which would be the world. And then he goes away and when harvest time comes he sends someone to collect his share. And that doesn’t go well. And he sends somebody else and that doesn’t go well. And then he sends someone else. We can see this as God sending the prophets throughout the ages. And it doesn’t go well. Some are beaten. Some are marginalized. Some are ignored. Some are killed until there is really one left to send – his own son. And he sends his own son and they decide, ‘Oh, this is the heir. If we kill this person, then the whole thing will be ours.’ And they do.
So Jesus is giving them a glimpse into their own soul, into their own predicament. And not just the religious leaders, but their whole history. How it has gotten to this. And they don’t listen. They want to do exactly like the story. They immediately want to take Jesus out of commission, totally realizing that he is talking about them, but just not comprehending the gravity of the truth that he is giving them.
We can do the same thing. We can read in the gospels these confrontations with religious leaders and we can see their antagonism and we have the benefit of seeing how wrong they were, but we hold those same kinds of postures toward each other, toward God. I mean, if we would stop and look back over our lives and the grandest of our mistakes and look at them honestly, we would see God has been sending counsel all along. He has been coming for us all along. And we’ve just ignored. So rather than just looking at the Pharisees as these distasteful, antagonistic, jealous people who just do not understand or get Jesus, may we look for those places in our own hearts because we’ll find it there. And we don’t want it there. But every time we’re faced with an obstacle or a fear or a disruption of our control over things, we see this stuff starting to bubble up. So may we follow in the footsteps of our Savior and not in the footsteps of the Pharisees.
Prayer
Jesus, that really is one of the reasons that we stay in this rhythm every day, to be informed and directed by your word so that our hearts are refreshed and our minds and hearts are reoriented to you. So, yeah, we realize that we have been pharisaical in many ways. A lot of times it has a religious connotation to it in the way we try to formulate our boxes of theology, but it is beyond that. It is in every posture of heart where we move toward jealousy and arrogance, or we move toward indifference, places that we move that are not healthy, places that keep us out on the edge instead of giving us margin in our lives. So we invite you. We invite you into this.
Father, I thank you for these 12 years personally. I thank you for the change that has been made in my own heart and life. And I thank you that we have been able to do this together as a community for this long. I pray your favor and blessing over many, many more years where we can continue to shout as loud as we can around the world your word. Help us each, Lord, to be shouting it continually by the very weight of our lives. Come Jesus, we pray. In your name we ask, amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website. It’s where you find out what is going on around here. The More Gathering for Women is coming up and registration for that will be closing soon, so deeply and definitely invite you, ladies, that are looking for the master reset button. You’ll find that and more at the More Gathering for Women. You can get all the details at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Everything that you would want to know. So check that out.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at www.DailyAudioBible.com. Thank you humbly, gratefully for all these years together, for what we’ve been able to do together, and for what we will continue to do in the future. Thank you for your partnership. So the link is on the home page. If you use the app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hi beautiful family. This is Pastor Gene calling to pray together. Father, we love you this morning. Thank you for sacrificing your life to give us new life. Father, we pray for Cory who is struggling with his marriage. Father, we pray for the restoration of his family. We pray for the restoration of his relationship with his wife and his children. Please come and save, O God. Father, we pray for Joe the Protector. We love him. It is good to hear his voice. We pray that you will lift his spirit. We pray that you will continue to do a mighty work in his marriage, Father. Father, we love our brother David from Kansas and pray for his protection and strength, for his restoration of health and joy because your joy is his strength. Father, we thank you for our sister Jacqueline, Salvation is Mine. Father, we pray for her continued strength, health and restoration of her body and spirit. Father, we pray that her emotions will be subject to the counsel of God and that every thought that rises itself against it will be defeated, in the mighty name of Jesus. I pray that you will help her to enter into your rest and trust that you are there regardless of her feelings. I rebuke Satan’s lies from my sister’s life and I pray for personal new friends that will be the hands of Jesus for her, O God. Father, I thank you for my sister Melisa from Alabama. Happy belated birthday to my sister. I just bless you for a beautiful lady with the cutest southern accent and a wonderful heart. Bless my sister, O Lord. And I pray with my sister Becky from Orlando mourning the passing of baby Ian. I pray for that little brother and the rest the family. Love you, my sister Becky. Father, we love our sister Sarah from Nebraska and pray for blessings upon her life too. We pray all these things in Jesus’ name. Amen. Pastor Gene from Bradenton, FL.
Hey DAB family. This is Byron out in Florida, Abiding in Him. Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lent season and at first I really didn’t think much of this. I didn’t grow up with the Christian calendar as part of my religious tradition. Or seeing what it can mean, I really didn’t know anything about it until I started listening to the DAB and I heard Brian talking about it. And even then for the first couple of years of listening I didn’t really participate or pay much attention to it. But then he began to explain the significance of the Christian calendar and the rhythms there and I slowly started to embrace what was going on and began to give up something for Lent. And I found, just like he says, that whatever I gave up either didn’t come back or when it came back it was different. It wasn’t like it was before. It was better or a different priority. And even now, this will be my third year participating in this practice, I still don’t fully get it. I still don’t fully understand this sort of contemplating the cost of sin. I understand it in my head, but I’m still not quite getting what this whole thing is about. I guess I’m calling just to explain my journey with it because it has just been something that has increased over time and has gotten deeper and deeper over time, from just giving up something to really starting to contemplate what my life is all about and allowing him that period of time to just take things over. Funny enough, what I’m currently giving up for Lent is going to bed at 10:00 each night, which for me is a huge deal because I have a lot of things going on. It’s not unusual for me to stay up past midnight on weeknights. So even though I have all these things going on, I’m still giving that time. I really don’t know what that means. I just felt like that is what he wants me to do. So maybe I’ll learn something new. But I just wanted to encourage you. Even though it has already started, it is not too late to ask God for something to be put on your heart to be re-prioritized.
Hi DAB family. This is Sam calling from Vancouver, WA at my office in Portland. Just calling in response to a prayer request I heard on February 18th from Darrin in College Station. Just want to let you know I hear you, Darrin, and I’m praying for you and thinking of you. Praying that you feel God near. I appreciate the prayers that were also prayed that day from men just dealing with anger and frustration and then to also feeling closeness to God and those who are struggling with depression. All those really resonated with me and so I want to thank you all for speaking those out and just being vulnerable. And thank you for all that you guys do and are. I just ask for prayer support for my work situation. I’m feeling a little frustration and stress over some scheduling issues that my boss is frustrated with in terms of me having to adjust my schedule for my family and some scheduling my wife needs to have for her job as well. We’re making lots of efforts to adjust and do things for each other and don’t feel like she is being understanding. My review is coming up next year so just lots of different things. I need prayer and wisdom on just how to approach that in a healthy way that is just caring and healthy. From Sam, Sidney, Grace, Serena, and Judah, appreciate your prayers and support. We love you. God bless you.
Hi DAB family. This is Mimi in Atlanta. Just getting to work, but I just wanted to let you know that I am praying, specifically lifting up all the requests that I’m hearing as I listen in the evening before I go to sleep and God is able. He is big enough and he is weaving things so intricately and detailed in your lives that you just won’t believe how he is going to work out each case scenario as we all pray for each other. My request today is again Rick Y., father of my son, grandfather of my grandchildren, called to ministry over 20 years ago to preach and teach by God, and then almost a total of 20 years, maybe 15 years total away from it. So the walls have been erected back in the day, but God is bringing them down. I just pray that the Lord continues to do that and I ask that you all pray for him as well because is the father that sons look to and grandsons are going to be looking to. So I just ask him for a miracle in Rick’s heart and life and that the Lord calls him back for whatever service he has for him because he does, and I know it to be true. So thank you so much. I love you all. Can’t wait to go to the More Gathering. First time going and I am going with anticipation. So if anyone is sitting on a fence whether or not they should go, I say yes, just do it. Make a call and God will provide the finances and I’m praying for an amazing time up in North Georgia. God bless you all. Love you. Bye-bye.
Hi Daily Audio Bible family. This is Christy, the English missionary calling from the Philippines. I would like to first give a praise report regarding Jerry. He was the inmate who spent 22 years in jail for the duration of his trial. After his acquittal in December, he has since been joining our prison ministry team, so that is wonderful. Every week he gets to go into the jails with us and to share what the Lord has done in his life. So that is really great, a praise report, but today I call for a prayer request for Ivan. Ivan is one of the __________ children that we have in our children’s home and he has Down syndrome and right now he is in need, great need of heart surgery. We were told it was going to be very expensive, so we raised the money that they were asking, but only to find that when we paid the money it just got him on the list. So we found out he is #351 on the waiting list. So we’re really praying for a miracle for Ivan. So we would appreciate if our DAB family would join us in this. Either that the Lord would heal Ivan or for a miracle also to get him an earlier schedule. He loves the Lord and he totally trusts the Lord completely, so we’re believing for his miracle. So we would appreciate prayers for that. Thank you all. Have a nice day. God bless you. Bye now.