PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2025-2026

At the end of our reading in Corinthians Paul asks a question of the disobedient church: “Should I come to you with a stick or with love?” This could be our theme for both of our readings. We see once again the people of God rebel against Moses and his leadership, even to the point where there are leaders who are mentioned along with an army of men who are willing to go against Moses and Aaron and their leadership. It is an attempt at a civil war, it is our January 6 written out in Scripture, but we see how Moses handles it. He allows God to do the work and he separates the three leaders of the rabble mob from the rest of the congregation and the earth literally swallows them and their families and their tents whole. Then the other 250 are killed by the Lord. You would think this would teach those who rebelled against the Lord a lesson.

But then in the next chapter we read about more complaints from the people of Israel to the point where God sends a plague and Aaron has to hustle out there with his censer and incense to prevent the plague from spreading. But thousands of people still die as a result of the plague. You would wonder how bad did it have to be in order for the people to miss the presence of the Lord which seems so obvious in their midst to rebel against Moses and Aaron. But isn’t that the same question that we can ask for our time. The presence of the Lord is so obvious in our midst and yet we continue to miss it and we continue to wonder where God has gone. If we would only open our eyes.

In Corinthians we see Paul scolding the church because of the divisions that they have created which is centered around who they prefer: Paul or Apollos. I love how Paul talks about the building upon the foundation and that each builder leaves their mark, but it is still the foundation, Jesus, that remains and that is built upon. That can be seen so clearly in our church as well. So many pastors have come and gone over the years and yet Jesus has remained the foundation. Praise be to God!

It makes sense to combine these verses in Numbers and Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth. So here in Numbers we have the narrative of when God decides to punish the Israelites who complained against him so that they would not enter into the promised land. Moses sent spies out into the land, one from every tribe, and they all came back complaining about the land that the people there were giants and so would consume them if they tried to overtake them. The only two who did not complain were Joshua and Caleb. As a result of the other 10 no one in that generation who complained would enter the promised land. This is where they are getting their wish to wander in the wilderness rather than having to face the giants of the land. They actually said that, they would rather either go back to Egypt or wander in the wilderness. So God gave them this wish for 40 years and he commands that they take up their tent stakes and start heading back toward the Red Sea, from whence they came, to begin to wander.

Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth, which he founded and which he loved, is a letter of castigation and warning to a congregation who heard the Gospel and yet was not obeying the Gospel as they should have. Paul reminds them that God has chosen the weak and the foolish of the world to confound that which is considered wise and strong of the world through the preaching of the Gospel. He states that he was not called to baptize, but rather to bring the Gospel. He castigates the church because they are taking sides based upon those who were baptizing them within the church.

I always had thought that the banishment to the wilderness for 40 years took place when Moses struck the rock, but no, it is here in where the people refuse to listen to the promise of the Lord that they are going to be able to enter the promised land. I guess in theory Moses is still allowed to enter the promised land until he isn’t when he strikes the rock for water. That is coming up a bit later, we will see.

Israel is preparing itself to set out and to discover and enter into the promised land. All the pieces are now set. The details of the Tabernacle is in place, the tribes each have their responsibilities and their duties, the people have been consecrated before the Lord to carry out their duties, and now they are ready to move, and they do move. There are a couple of interesting verses that I wanted to highlight. The first is the Aaronic or the Priestly blessing. You can find that in 6:22ff where Moses commands the Levites and the sons of Aaron to bless the people with a blessing that is used to this day. It is a comforting blessing and one that rings familiar when we hear it.

The second Scripture that I want us to see, which is much less significant than the previous one and much less impactful than the previous one, is 8:25-26 where we read that the Levites should do the work of the Lord when they turn 25 but then at age 50 they are to retire from serving in the primary role, while they are still allowed to serve in a secondary role. This might be the only place where we see that people are told to retire from doing the work of the Lord in a specific way.

A little story that I wanted to share with you. I remember going to hear Tony Campolo speak in a small church and the premise of his talk, because the congregation was much older, was that the Lord never tells us to retire, we are to work for the Lord our entire life, regardless of our age. It is a great message, but in the congregation an elderly woman, very elderly, who apparently knew her Bible really well, pointed out this verse and left him speechless. It was the first time that I had seen him not know what to say. But of course we don’t apply this to our lives today. Retiring at 50 isn’t an option in this day and age for most of us, and not because of the financial impact, but because there is so much more that we can do after 50.

There is no better way to do the work of the Lord than to do it in community. So Moses and Arron who clearly were leading the people of Israel are given the task by God earlier to build a tabernacle in which the Lord can reside as they are on their journey from Egypt to the promised land. The tabernacle is no simple building, it is actually quite complex. And since the people of Israel were on a journey it took a lot to move it from one location to another every single day. As a result the descendant of Levi were given the task of overseeing the movement of the tabernacle from one location to the next. Each family had a specific task and that task had to be completed by them in order for the tabernacle to be moved successfully.

We begin our reading in Numbers with, well, numbers. We find the people counted in a census by Moses and Aaron and those numbers are reflected in our reading.

We just read two complete books of the Bible. These writings were given by the same disciple who lay on Jesus’ breast at the last supper and the one who was at the foot of the cross and given charge over Jesus’ mother, Mary. I want to focus on I John 4:16ff. It is within these verses that so much of what we believe and who we are is focused. Vs. 16 tells us that God is love and that then transitions into what impact does the fact that God is love have on our daily lives? In vs.18 we read that perfect love, the love of God, casts out fear. Can you imagine how your life might be changed if you live it without fear? Can you imagine the difference.

Think of all the things of which we are fearful. If you have children I don’t even have to start, we have a plethora of fears from which to choose. But the perfect love, that love that we have in Jesus as his disciples, is what ought to cast out fear. This is something upon which we can rely without any conditional statements attached to it. When we love and follow Jesus we can live our lives without fear. Vs.19 gives us the basis for infant baptism which is that we love because he first loved us. We come to follow Jesus because even before we were born (Psalm 139) he knew us and loved us. Even while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8) Jesus chose to die for us and redeem us from our sin. The love that God has for us from the very beginning, from even before the beginning, is sufficient to allow us to live without fear.

Finally, in vs.20 the very clear commandments to love our neighbor. John tells us that it is impossible to love God if we do not love our neighbor. That should be very sobering and convicting to us and should place us on a path to loving our neighbor.

We close Leviticus with a reminder of how important the year of jubilee was for the people of Israel. Keep in mind that this concept of Jubilee completely flies in the face of our societal bent to capitalism. You can’t have jubilee to capitalism, complete chaos would break out. The concept of Jubilee is that after a certain period, 7 years or 50 years depending on the reading, that which was bought return back to the original owner. Can you imagine if I bought a house and then after 7 years, or even after 50 years it returned back to the original owner? That was true of property, of people, and of land, and of basically anything that remained after that period of time. One cannot follow the concept of jubilee and live within the same kind of economic system that we have within our own society. It just doesn’t work and complete chaos would ensue. This then requires a decision. We have made the decision and it is to not live within economic framework as described in Scripture.

The Psalms are also memorable ones, including the last words of Psalm 19. See if this sounds familiar: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Yes, those are the words that I pray before I being preaching. This entire psalm is given over to the glory of God as creation spring forth from the speech of God, from the Word of God as we see in Genesis when we read: And God said, let there be light…etc. God begins every act of creation with a Word, God said, and then what follows is God creating.

Once again I take no pleasure in basically pointing to Leviticus and saying look at all those laws! They were clearly established to create a legal society in which the people of Israel knew exactly what to do. But when we read in Hebrews the same account of the laws that were given, including the sacrifices and the purpose of those, the author highlights the necessity of faith that was a part of that experience. It was grace and faith which makes us saved and not the works and the sacrifices that were done on our behalf. Jesus is the great sacrifice who was crucified outside of the temple (read city) gates and so as a result we have been washed clean in his blood.

Each chapter of Hebrews that we read today, 11,12,13, starts off with memory verses. Look at them: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (11:1) “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” (12:1) and finally “Let mutual love continue.” (13:1) The emphasis on faith and grace is so overwhelming because it takes our salvation completely out of our hands and places it squarely on the shoulders of our Savior, where it belongs.

These chapters in Hebrews contain the very meat of what we believe in regards to the atonement. What is the atonement?, you say. The atonement is what we believe in regards to why Jesus had to die for us. Here in Hebrews is calls us back to the sacrifices that were necessary in order to fulfill the law. You know, the law that we have been reading that contains so many do nots. The priest in the Old Testament, Hebrews remind us, is not capable of forgiving once and for all, but has to continuously provide forgiveness for every sin every single time.

Not so with Jesus. Because Jesus is the Son of God his voluntary single sacrifice is sufficient once and for all because the blood that he shed on the cross was sufficient for a sacrifice that needed to be done once and for all. The necessary sacrifice was found in Jesus himself and this sacrifice is able to remove our sin for all times. There is no continual sacrifice that was needed because of the blood of Jesus like there used to have to be continual sacrifices in the Old Testament. There is no clearer explanation as to why we are forgiven through the blood of Jesus. These are incredibly powerful and meaningful chapters or us understanding our status before God. We are forgiven, period. There is no need of continual and yearly or periodic forgiveness.

So why would we waste our time in looking at a whole variety of Scriptures that deal with leprosy, and then deal with discharges, and then deal with the role of Aaron and his sons? What good is that to us today? I always take joy and comfort in knowing that the detail in which God has worked in the past to ensure our salvation, remains true today. The last chapter in Leviticus deals with the “scapegoat”, who is placed in the midst of the people of Israel and upon whom is all the sin of Israel cast. That goat is then cast out of the camp and so the sins of the people of Israel are forgiven. No longer do the sins reside upon the people but rather God has found a way to wash the sins of the people clean. That was then, this is now.

In Hebrews we read that the law has been rendered obsolete, at least that is the word used in my translation. Jesus said something similar when he said that he came not to eliminate the law, but to fulfill it. The fact that the law has become obsolete does not eliminate it, but it does place it in a very specific role which is secondary to the law of loving God and loving neighbor which Jesus has brought. As the author of Hebrews once again states, Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry. That is a great way to understand the role that Jesus played as not only Savior and the one who provides complete forgiveness, but he also sets a path before us of a more excellent ministry.

We find the ordination and consecration of Aaron and then immediately following the death by fire of two of his children. You see once they see their dad become almost without equal, they think that they are able to do anything that they want. But instead God says no, you have to obey my commandments and do things the way that I have told you to do them. They are not children, they are adults, but they also think that they have free reign because of the position of their father. A series of laws follows in Leviticus.

In Hebrews you have a verse that is a source of much debate and controversy and you can find that in Hebrews 6:4 that states that it is impossible to restore to repentance one who has already believed but then fallen away. The debate comes with the question of “once saved always saved.” That statement is one in which I fully believe, even as people try to parse away this concept with questions as to whether that someone actually ever fully believed or not. Allowing God to be Lord over all things, including salvation, removes any certainty in us anytime that we speak about salvation, especially when we are speaking about leaving people out of salvation. God is the Lord of all things including who just might be in the Kingdom with Him. We don’t get to decide that, for better or worse.