Numbers 11:24-30 (ESV)
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
26 Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
{Prayer}
As we enter into the month of June tomorrow, we also enter into the time of year which tends to be the high point of wildfire season. All it takes is a spark, some heat, some wind and a tiny little brush fire can turn into an engulfed field of flames. A hot leaf blown out of a fire pit while camping can turn a tinderbox of a forest into a blazing inferno.
These fields of fire, these blazing forest infernos, as we witness on the news each summer, they can be hard to handle and even harder to get under control. These fires are extremely destructive as they burn up hundreds and thousands of acres of natural wildlife as well as destroy entire towns and cities, homes, businesses and individual lives.
But you know, that one, tiny, little flame, all by itself without wind or something to burn isn’t really all that much. Think about it this way … let’s say your power goes out at night. Everything is pitch black and quiet. To get around the house you need some sort of light so you go and light a candle. That one candle with that one little flame provides you some light but by no means is it going to light up the room. So what do you do if you want more light? Right, you light more candles. The more candles you light, the better the light, the better you can see what is going on and what you are doing.
Let’s look at Moses in our Old Testament reading this morning from Numbers 11. Simply put, a single burning candle in the midst of a dark time. Think back to how God chose Moses through the burning bush to be the one to go and stand as God’s representative before Pharaoh. God put His flame within Moses to be His representative. After Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go, Moses would continue being God’s light among the Israelites as he led them through the Red Sea and to the base of Mount Sinai. As they would travel throughout the wilderness, Moses continued to be God’s flame.
But the relentless grumbling and complaining of the Israelites was getting to be too much for Moses. You need to remember … this group of Israelites is no small group. In Numbers 1, Moses is commanded by God to do a census of every male from twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war (1:2-3). The total, get this, the total number of males from twenty years old and upward who were able to go to war was 603,550 (1:46). That’s just the war fighting males. It’s believed that there were roughly 2.2 million people following Moses through the wilderness to the Promised Land.
Leading this many people, having to deal with their relentless grumbling and complaining all by himself … Moses had enough. After he vents to God a bit he says, “I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness” (Numbers 11:14-15). “If you will treat me like this … kill me at once.” That is no little request by Moses. The lone light of the Israelites who is trying to lead the people through the darkness of the wilderness is essentially asking to be snuffed out.
Moses needs help. If the people are going to see the blessings which God is giving them, he needs help. He can’t do it by himself. So God tells him, “go and find seventy elders from among the people and have them gather with you at the Tent of Meeting. There I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself” (Numbers 11:16-17).
Moses is probably like “Sweet! I finally get some help! Thank you Lord!”
But remember what happens? The LORD comes down in the cloud, speaks to the elders, takes some of the Spirit from Moses and gives it to the seventy elders. Once they receive the Spirit of God, they start prophesying, they start proclaiming the Word of God (11:25).
God takes the Spirit that was on Moses and shares it with the seventy elders. Think about it this way. Moses is a candle and God’s Spirit is the flame. The seventy elders are seventy candles. God takes Moses and the flame of the Spirit and proceeds to light the other seventy candles with Moses. So although it sounds like God is taking away the Spirit from Moses, that isn’t what is happening at all. God is simply spreading it around.
Like I said, Moses was probably super excited about this. As these men received the Spirit of God, they started prophesying, they started proclaiming God’s greatness. Moses is probably thinking that the greatness of what God is doing amongst 2.2 million Israelites is going to spread like wildfire.
But it’s like there was this giant fan set up outside of the tent of meeting, for as soon as the seventy elders walk away from the Tent of Meeting, the Spirit leaves them. Their light is blown out. They don’t even make it one day of helping Moses. Moses has to be devastated but who knows … maybe the Israelite people were really saturated with God and there was no need for Moses to have help in sharing the good news of God and leading this large group of people.
Ha! The spiritual life of the Israelites was probably as dry as a drought-ridden forest. The proclaiming of the greatness of God should have lit up the Israelites like a blazing inferno. But instead, Moses is told about two men, Eldad and Medad. These two men should have been at the Tent of Meeting with the others but maybe it was a good thing they weren’t for these men also received the light of the Spirit and were proclaiming God’s greatness within the camp. Joshua wanted Moses to stop them, to snuff out there light. Moses however was like, “Are you kidding me? Are you jealous for my sake? Man I wish the LORD made everyone his prophet and would put his Spirit on them! I can use all the help I can get!”
Unfortunately, that flame never took off within the Israelite camp. Throughout the course of their history, that spark of goodness never truly ignited the fire within them.
That is until the event which we celebrate this morning. Gathered together in one place, a mighty rushing wind from heaven came and filled the house where the disciples and other followers of Jesus were gathered. All of a sudden, divided tongues like fire appeared and rested on each of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They all began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:2-4). These followers of Jesus were like dry wicks just waiting to tell others about all the things Jesus had taught them and did in their presence. On Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus rose from the grave, the dry wicked disciples were lit on fire.
And man what a fire! All it took was a spark and Peter begins to preach about the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and about how the Jesus who the Jewish people crucified is the Son of God who came to defeat the powers of sin, death, and Satan. After Peter is done preaching the people ask, “what shall we do?” Peter says, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). That day, three thousand souls were saved.
All it took was a spark and the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the good news of Jesus took off like a wildfire and lit up the world. The world then was dark and dry. The preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the good news of Jesus by the disciples would light up the world. Even through times of persecution, through times of plagues, even through the rise and fall of numerous things … the flame of Christ continues to burn.
And it is evident still today. Even though things have happened lately which has slowed our lives down, which have restricted what we do, which have been very difficult to control … the good news of Jesus, the good news of the light of world continues to shine and burn brightly. And it does so through you!
Even though you can’t see it, even though the Spirit of God is not like a little flame dancing on the top of your head … that same Spirit which was with Moses as he led the Israelites in the wilderness, that same Spirit promised and given to the disciples on Pentecost … it is the same spirit in you. How do I know? Because I can see the side effects of the Spirit. The side effects, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22-23).
The world in which we live is like a very dark and dry field which desperately needs to be lit with the flame of the Spirit. As I said a couple of week ago, be bold, be bold in your faith. Share the love of God and plant the seed in all those you come in contact with. If you do that, then the Spirit of God will do the rest. All it takes is a spark to start a wildfire. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.