The Book of Numbers describes the layout of the tabernacle and the encampment in the wilderness. The tabernacle faced eastward toward the rising of the sun. If you were to go inside of the tabernacle and look out to the east you would see Moses (the prophet), Aaron and his sons (the priest), the tribe of Judah (the king) and the sun. Could it be that from God's viewpoint in the tabernacle He saw the future work of the Son of God? Jesus Christ is the prophet, priest and king and according to Malachi 4:2, He is the "Sun of righteousness". In addition to this we can see that the work that Jesus did during His earthly ministry was that of a prophet. In His death, burial and resurrection, He preformed His priestly work. When He comes again in Revelation 19, He will be coming as a King establishing His throne and when He is ruling and reigning, truly, He will be the "Sun of righteousness" with healing in His wings.
Gary North, in "Millennialism and Social Theory" (p.136-137), demonstrates the worldly outlook of the Christian Reconstructionists. He labels those who disagree with his postmillennial doctrine as "pessimillenialists." That is, they are pessimistic because they do not believe that Christians will conquer the world before the physical return of Christ. One of the greatest faults he sees in premillenialists is their conviction that Christians should be looking for the return of Jesus Christ. According to him: "Christians were told to look skyward prior to the fall of Jerusalem... But their deliverance came in history... That one-time deliverance of the early Church is today long behind us. It is surely time for Christians to begin lookingforward, in time and on earth, for their deliverance, not upward." He even scolds an amillennialist for saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come."
The Book of Numbers is a great book when looking for devotional material. In chapters 1-10 the people seem to be wholly following the commandments of the Lord. However, chapter 11 is the beginning of woes. The very first phrase is "And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord". In chapter 12, we find the murmuring moving up the ranks into the leadership and infecting Miriam and Aaron as they murmur against Moses. In chapter 13, ten of the twelve spies come back with an evil report concerning the land of promise. In chapter 14, we find the people wanting to make a captain to return to Egypt and then wanting to stone Joshua and Caleb for their report of faith. This chapter includes the decision of the Israelites not to go into the land of promise, and then their decision to go into the land of promise after the Lord told them they could no longer go in. The Israelites decide to go against the commandments of the Lord and try to take the land of Canaan on their own, only to be smitten by the Amalekites and Canaanites.
Mathematics can be quite complex, yet one of the most basic divisions of mathematics is called arithmetic. You may better grasp what I am talking about when I say that the most basic operations of arithmetic are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. A grasp of these basic operations is a necessity for anyone who desires to grasp any of the more complex divisions of mathematics. Interestingly enough, the same things hold true for the Christian life. It can be quite complex, but at the same time we could break it down to the simplicity of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
