If you’ve read through the accounts of the Exodus and Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, our Old Testament reading has some familiar themes. If we go back to the beginning of the chapter, Numbers 11, we find that the people are complaining about their “misfortunes.” They’re grumbling about how “bad” their lives are since they were rescued from slavery … which is an odd shift in perspective. They went from crying out to the LORD for deliverance from the cruelty of their Egyptian slave masters, to complaining about their lives since they are no longer slaves. Then they complained about the food. God had provided manna for the people – literally, bread from heaven. Their response? “Oh, how we wish we had meat and fish and cucumbers and melons and leaks, and onions and garlic like we did in Egypt … and all of it was free!” (Except for the whole slavery thing, and the food that God gave them really was free … they just had to gather it daily.)
It makes some sense that God is angry with his people at this
time. And it makes sense that Moses is overwhelmed. He’s asking, “What did I do
to deserve this?” He actually says to God, “If this is how you’re going to treat
me, just kill me now.”
God responds to both of these situations – His complaining
people and His overwhelmed prophet. Of the people, He says, “Oh, I’m going to
give them meat all right! So much they’ll be sick of it!” But for Moses, His
response is one of compassion. He tells Moses to gather seventy men of the
elders of Israel. These are heads of the family, tribal leaders. God says, “I will
take some of the Spirit which is on you, and I will put Him on them.”
He’s not saying that He’s going to take the Spirit away from
Moses, so Moses will then be depleted. He’s taking the same Spirit – the Holy
Spirit, as we know Him in Christ – and placing Him upon these leaders to equip
them to lead the people – not just politically, but to lead them in the faith.
So that’s what God did, as we read in Numbers 11:24-30. It
says that the Spirit rested upon these men; they didn’t seize the Spirit or get
hold of the Spirit. God gave Him as a gift for the sake of His people. And then,
the elders prophesied; they proclaimed God’s Word. It’s an amazing one-time
miracle, as they didn’t prophesy in the same way again.
But as the events unfolded, something extra-unexpected
happened. There were two elders who had “remained in the camp.” Do you know why
they remained in the camp? Me either! The text doesn’t say. (Some people have
made a lot of this, but it’s just conjecture and not necessarily helpful. What
matters is that they’re back in the camp.) But these two elders received the
Spirit of God, too, and they also prophesied!
Moses’s servant, Joshua, responded to this by asking Moses to
stop them. To which Moses says, “Would that all the LORD’s people were
prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit on them!”
And here is something else that is unexpected: that is
exactly what the LORD has done. He has put His Spirit on His people make us to
be prophets.
Now, don’t hear what I’m not saying! Has God turned all of His
people into a bunch of wild-eyed weirdos with crazy visions and fantastic
dreams?
Well, no. We need to remember that to be a prophet is to be
God’s messenger. No wildness necessary. We’re just carrying the message of God’s
Word – both about sin and judgment, and about God’s mercy and grace – to our
time and place.
Then again, yes. At Pentecost, when the Spirit was given to a
new set of leaders in a miraculous way, Peter said that these events fulfilled
a prophecy given to Joel about sons and daughters prophesying n the Spirit,
young men seeing visions, old men dreaming dreams, and men and women together prophesying
because the Spirit is upon them … is upon us.
But here is what I would ask at this point: What are the
dreams and visions of God’s people? Acts 2:21, again quoting Joel, points us to
God’s vision for His people, and therefore, this is our dream and vision as well:
That everyone who calls on the name of the Lord would be saved.
You, like the people of Israel, have been rescued from
slavery. Your slavery was not to another nation, but to sin, to death, and to
the passions of the flesh. These are the same things that led Israel to
complain in the wilderness, and we are tempted by them too. But you, you, have
the Spirit of God upon you! Peter says, later in Acts 2, that when we are
baptized for the forgiveness of sins, we also receive the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
Does that mean we will speak in different languages the way
the Apostles did at Pentecost? That we will call large crowds to faith, and
lead gigantic movements of the church for the sake of the kingdom? Maybe. But
the gift of the Spirit is first and foremost faith. To be sure, we need those
leaders in the Church – pastors, DCEs, teachers, deaconesses. (And let me say
this, if the LORD calls you to that work, it is good work! It isn’t always
easy, but it is blessed! Pursue it!) But it is more likely that we will work in
smaller ways.
Often, the work of the Spirit for the sake of the kingdom
looks like loving your neighbors for Jesus’ sake. It’s raising your children in
the faith; praying with and for them, talking about the Bible, setting an
example of Christian living. A lot of times, the Spirit’s work in the kingdom
takes place when we as brothers and sisters in Christ point one another back to
Jesus and encourage one another to walk in faith. The prophesying we do might
happen more sporadically, as the Spirit opens opportunities in conversations to
tell people about the hope we have in Jesus. A lot of this work of the Spirit
is prayer, prayer, prayer as we call out to God that His name be hallowed, His
kingdom come, and His will be done.
And, yes, there will be work and sacrifice in that as we give
from the blessings of our lives to support the mission and ministry of the
Church, but all of this is focused toward this vision and dream: That everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
God has put His Spirit on His people, just as Moses wished.
He did that so we would prophesy – that we would carry the message that in
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, there is hope, blessing, life,
forgiveness, and salvation.
Don’t get caught up in the temptation toward complaining. You
have greater treasure than this world can offer. The Holy Spirit Himself dwells
in and upon you. You have God’s Word and Promise. And you are set aside to
share the good news of God’s salvation here and now.
Happy and blessed Pentecost! Amen.
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