B’midbar (Numbers), In the Wilderness
Numbers 1:1 – 4:20
Hosea 1:10 – 2:22
I Corinthians 12:12-20
For most believers in the Messiah, heaven is a place we’ll all fly away to in the sweet bye and-bye. That seems to be what we first think about when we hear or sing about heaven. There certainly is joy in the hope of our glorious destination when He returns!
The Reality of Heaven on Earth
Years ago, a song called ‘Heaven in the Real World’ by Steven Curtis Chapman and by other musicians at that time helped believers bridge the vast gap between the reality of heaven with life here on earth. How can we relate to heaven in our day?
In the Torah portion B’midbar, can the twelve tribes of Israel camped in the wilderness reflect the twelve corresponding constellations in outer space? What can that teach us about gatherings of believers in Messiah being connected with the heavenlies?
As the redeemed children of Israel scattered all over the planet today, I’ve often wondered how can we understand what Paul wrote to the Ephesians about how YHWH has ‘seated us together in heaven through Messiah Yeshua’:
But Elohim, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our sins, He made us alive together with Messiah by whose grace we are saved; and raised us up together and seated us together in heaven through Messiah Yeshua, that in the ages to come, He might demonstrate, the exceeding great riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Messiah Yeshua. Ephesians 2:4-7
What an awesome work of redemption by our Messiah Yeshua! Not only did He make us alive from being dead in our sins, He ‘seated us together in heaven’ through Him! That brings new meaning to how His love lifted us and how great His grace is transferring us by faith into His heavenly realm with Him! How can we better relate with that realm of heaven where by His grace we are seated together through the Messiah?
The Third Heaven
Paul wrote about a man who was caught up to a mysterious place called the third heaven; whether he was in his body or just in spirit, not even Paul knew (1 Cor 15:47). The ‘third heaven’ begs the question – what do the Scriptures indicate as to what the three realms of heaven are?
- The first heaven is the atmosphere directly above us where the clouds and the weather are (Deuteronomy 11:11; Psalm 104:12; Isaiah 55:10).
- The second heaven may then be outer space – the infinite universe where countless stars and galaxies exist (Psalm 8:3; Isaiah 13:10).
- Even more inconceivable is the third heaven that exists beyond the dimensions that human beings can detect with the five senses. If the second heaven is awesome beyond our wildest imagination, how much more awesome is the third heaven beyond the dimensions that we can comprehend?
Yet the Scriptures describe the highest realm, the third Heaven, to be where –
- our Heavenly Father dwells (Psalm 33:13-14; Mat 6:9),
- the throne of YHWH Elohim is seated (Isa 66:1);
- our High Priest Yeshua ministers (Hebrews 7:26)
- the glorious Temple is located (Revelation 11:19)
- the New Jerusalem descends from (Revelation 21:1-2)
The gates of the New Jerusalem in Heaven have the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel written on them (Revelation 21:12). On the foundation stones of the walls of the city are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:14). In the Scriptures, twelve is the number for the divine authority or the government of the Kingdom of Israel.
The Kingdom of Heaven
In the Gospels, we find Yeshua teaching His twelve disciples often on the ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’ We find this reference in 30 verses, all in the Book of Matthew. All three of the other Gospels wrote ‘the Kingdom of God’ 47 times, but never ‘the Kingdom of Heaven.’
Why would only Matthew emphasize Yeshua’s sayings on the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’?
The themes of the Book of Matthew addressed a Jewish audience. Interestingly enough, the Jewish rabbis of Yeshua’s day, even to this day, believed that no interpretation of the Scriptures comes from Heaven, but only from the rabbis. For Yeshua to teach that He came from Heaven and that the Kingdom of Heaven was near directly challenged their doctrine on the relevance of Heaven. They taught that no one needed Heaven for revelation, they just needed the rabbis to teach them. Uh, so arrogant, huh? But Yeshua by real-life parables taught the reality of Heaven on Earth.
Matthew’s Gospel presents the Messiah to us as the King, the Lion of Judah. See the chart attached below to find how the four Gospels correspond with the four offices, the four faces of the Messiah, and the four sets of three tribes seated around the Tabernacle in the Wilderness (as described in the portion B’midbar), among other sets of four.
The Kingdom of Heaven is the Kingdom of the King Yeshua. Connect that with the twelve sons of Israel and the twelve apostles on the New Jerusalem’s gates and foundations. We then can begin to picture what the Kingdom of Heaven is truly like. We can then better understand the realm of the third Heaven as that of divine authority under the rulership of the King of Israel, the Messiah Yeshua.
In the Book of Daniel, a vision of the rulership of King Nebuchadnezzar revealed to Daniel the king’s majesty and dominion had ‘reached unto heaven (shamayim)’ (Daniel 4:20-22); but that being the authority and rulership of a human king. Could this vision teach us something about how the Messiah in us has influence in Heaven and on earth?
The Kingdom Within us
How can we observe the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, on earth today? For those who pray ‘The Lord’s Prayer, we often pray for His Kingdom to come. What did Yeshua teach His disciples about how the Kingdom does come?
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the Kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20-21
Then the Messiah goes on to parallel the Kingdom of God with His coming down like lightning flashing from heaven when He returns. He said not to look there or look here for His coming and run after those who say He’s come. We only need to look to the Kingdom of Heaven within us.
In this way, Yeshua taught that the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Heaven and that that Kingdom is within our souls. Within us is where the Messiah dwells and is seated upon the throne of our hearts. Where Yeshua dwells is where Heaven is. Heaven is in part within our hearts. There is where we are seated together through the Messiah.
YHWH commanded Moses to see to it that he built the Tabernacle according to what he was shown on the mountain. That principle can also apply to organizing the assemblies of His people according to the organizational pattern we see in B’midbar, in the wilderness. What pattern do we see of the four sets of three tribes organized around the Tabernacle, which was built after the pattern of the Tabernacle in Heaven?
The names of the twelve sons of Israel and the names of the heads of the tribes give us knowledge and understanding of how the Kingdom of Heaven is reflected here on earth. The Hebrew word for name, ‘shem,’ is in the word for heaven ‘shamayim.’ Names teach us about Heaven and how the divine authority is administered from Heaven to Earth.
One application of this principle is developed in an article I wrote on how to organize for Sukkot, patterned after the four camps around the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. To expound on this subject is too much for this article.
I encourage anyone in leadership to study the organizational scheme of B’midbar, the meanings of the names of the twelve tribes and their tribal chiefs, the blessings of Jacob and of Moses upon the twelve sons of Israel and their descendants, and other tribal characterizations in other Scriptures. That study would improve any ministry’s functions.
From that study, wisdom can be gained that far exceeds anything a man can come up with – such as registering with the US Government as a 501(c)3, patterning a congregational administration after an American business model, or other modern, traditional means of organizing faith-based organizations. Any leadership group ought to spend more time discussing how we are ‘seated together in Heaven through the Messiah’ according to the Scriptures, than studying man’s organizational schemes, in my humble opinion.
The Head of the Congregation
The Torah portion begins with a command for a census, which means so much more than a head count. From the Hebrew, we can see it has more to do with the Messiah.
“Lift the Aeph-Tav-Head of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, by their heads…” Numbers 1:1-2)
Through Moshe, YHWH commanded His people to lift up the Aleph Tav-Rosh, the Head. This points to the One Who is the Aleph and the Tav, the Beginning and the End, the Head of the congregation. Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians that YHWH lifted up the Messiah as Head of the assembly:
…He (YHWH) worked in Messiah in raising Him from the dead; yea, He seated Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, Psalm 110:1
far above all rule, and authority, and power, and lordship, and every name having been named, not only in this age but also in the coming age;
and He “Put all things under His feet” and gave Him to be Head over all things to the assembly, Psalm 8:6
which is His body: the fullness of the One filling all things in all…
Ephesians 1:20-23
Whenever we come together in any gathering, the first order of business is to lift up (nasa) the One Whom Abba raised up to be the actual and rightful Head and highest authority over us all – Yeshua Ha’Mashiyach. A good way to do that is to start out with praise, worship, and prayer, lifting up our Messiah. Another way is to testify how wonderful and good He is to us, and how our God has blessed our lives in so many ways. Another way is to study and make an application for how an assembly’s leadership is to minister to the congregation through the Messiah, the Head of the Body.
When we come together next Shabbat and for the next festival, Shavuot, let us remember the words of our Messiah Yeshua: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself.” John 12:32
Lord of Hosts
Because Yeshua was lifted up in humility on the tree to die out of love for us, Abba has raised Him up to the seat of power and authority as King over all His Kingdom. Together with Him, we are seated in a host of authority and rulership through Him in His Name.
Before we count on men fit for war, we better count on Yeshua being the exalted Head, Commander in Chief, the Lord of Hosts; that is if we are ever to win any battles that He sends out to wage against our enemies. May King Yeshua be preeminent in all things!
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For by Him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together.
He is also Head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He will come to have first place in everything.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:15-20
In the Name of the King of Israel and the King of Heaven and Earth,
David Klug
The Four Offices of the Messiah from the Torah to the Brit Hadashah
