“The apostles regularly make reference to the wilderness generation without comment or explanation. When Paul is warning against idolatry, three of his four illustrations come from Numbers (1 Cor. 10:7–10). Balaam’s story comes up several times to make a variety of points: immorality (Rev. 2:14), greed (Jude 11 and 2 Pet. 2:15), and Messianic expectation (2 Pet. 1:19).”

“Letters belong in books, and numbers belong in math—not the other way around!” Maybe that’s your reaction when someone tries to convince you that you can add x to something. A lot of us feel a similar shock when our Bible reading brings us to the first three census-taking chapters in Numbers. “What’s with all this math!? Is there any spiritual good in counting 46,500 Reubenites?”

Numbers may start and (almost) end with eye-glazing head-counts. But between those inspired government documents, it traces Israel’s journey from Mount Sinai to the Promised Land. Furthermore, it narrates a journey full of hope and warning that every Christian needs to heed. Here’s one way to summarize the main idea of the entire book: Numbers teaches us that when God is with his people, the only thing they need to fear is their own sin.

With this main idea in mind, I want to offer six ways you’ll serve God’s people by preaching through the book of Numbers.

1. You will help them read the entire Old Testament.

Here’s what I mean. Every kind of Old Testament writing is found in Numbers. Alongside those tedious census records are some of the most well-known Sunday School stories (talking donkeys, anyone?). We also read law codes, psalms, and prophecy—and they’re all mixed in together, sometimes jarringly so, like when the great tragedy of the rebellion at Kadesh is followed without comment by ritual recipes for food offerings.

So, as you work through the book, you’ll help your congregation grow in their ability to understand and apply all the kinds of writing they’ll encounter in the Old Testament. Plus, the built-in variety means just when your head is starting to hurt from making sense of the red heifer ritual in Numbers 19, you’re only one chapter away from the high drama of the waters of Meribah.

2. You will give them a crash course in biblical theology

The apostles regularly make reference to the wilderness generation without comment or explanation. When Paul is warning against idolatry, three of his four illustrations come from Numbers (1 Cor. 10:7–10). Balaam’s story comes up several times to make a variety of points: immorality (Rev. 2:14), greed (Jude 11 and 2 Pet. 2:15), and Messianic expectation (2 Pet. 1:19). The comparison in Hebrews 3 draws on Numbers 12. And Jesus points Nicodemus to his crucifixion by assuming he knows Numbers 21 (John 3:14).

Of course, you don’t have to know the backstory to understand the apostles’ points. But working through Numbers start-to-finish and repeatedly making those New Testament connections models for your people how to read the Old Testament with Christian eyes.

As you and your congregation grow in that skill, New Testament apostolic instruction packs a greater wallop. For example, in The Avengers Tony Stark nicknames Thor “Point Break” without explanation. My kids think that’s odd. But I think it’s hilarious because, as a child of the 90s, I understand the reference. So when Paul says, without explanation, “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents” (1 Cor. 10:9), our people will do one of two things. They’ll think, “That’s odd—how did they test Jesus?” Or, they can think, “Telling Jesus he’s not doing enough could kill me!” (Num 21:5)! Teaching through Numbers will help cultivate the latter, more biblical response.

3. You will show them the seriousness of sin.

That’s one point of those census-record bookends: by the time Moses took the second census, everyone in the first census was dead. They died under judgment for their faithlessness at Kadesh (Numbers 14). So, when you do more than just dip in for a few stories, you unfold the plot of God’s centrality among his people, and their persistent and ultimately fatal failure to trust him.

You see that their great sin of God-rejecting rebellion was the fruit of their seemingly mundane sin of God-rejecting grumbling. You see Moses demonstrate that one act of presumption is all it takes to be justly condemned. You see that intentions are important but not ultimate: unintentional sin is still sin. You see that God’s holiness is the great threat to God’s people because we are decidedly unholy. In an easy-believism culture, Numbers reminds us that those called by Christ’s name should be holy and hate sin. Those who merely wear the label “Christian” while persisting in faithless rebellion will only end up dead—for eternity.

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