Matt Hagee - Following God's Lead

In Numbers 10, the Israelites begin their journey from Sinai toward the Promised Land, but this moment marks the start of 40 years of wandering in circles due to disobedience and unbelief. Pastor Matt emphasizes that we must listen to God’s clear direction (like the trumpets and the cloud) rather than human reason or the wrong voices, so we don’t waste our lives going in circles.

Welcome to this week’s Sunday conversation. Today, I want to take us to Numbers chapter 10, beginning at verse 11, and kind of give us a context for what’s happening with Israel at this very moment.

The Departure from Sinai

This is what the Bible says in Numbers 10:11: «Now it came to pass on the 20th day of the second month in the second year that the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of the testimony, and the children of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sinai on their journeys, and then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.» So they started out for the first time according to the command of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

Here in Numbers 10, the children of Israel are on the move, really for the first time in a long time. They came out of Egypt in Exodus, they crossed the Red Sea, and a few days later, they’re up against the border of the promised land. At this time, Moses tells the spies to go into the land and see what the land has. It’s at this time that the children of Israel come back with the report that the land is uninhabitable, and they refuse to do God’s will.

From Exodus to Numbers – The Context

In Exodus 24, verse 9, they came to Mount Sinai. God gives them the Ten Commandments, God gives them the law, the Torah. God gives them the plan for the tabernacle. God gives them all of the sacrifices and the seasons, and the things that they should do that you read about through the entire book of Leviticus.

Remember Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, now Numbers. You say, «Well, Pastor Matt, why aren’t you teaching from one of the weeks in Leviticus?» If you understand Exodus and Numbers, then all of the things that are described in detail in Leviticus are to be applied in the places of the tabernacle, the sacrifices, and the ordinances of life in Israel. So Leviticus is the law. It’s the letter of the life that is supposed to be lived by those who believe in God.

The Tragic Decline in Numbers

Here in Numbers, the reason this book is called Numbers is because we begin to see a tremendous decline in the children of Israel. Numbers begins with 603,550 men over the age of 21. Bible historians have said there were 635,550 men, that’s in the Bible, counted in the census that is given to us in chapter 1, verse 46 of the book of Numbers.

So Numbers 1:46 has 635,550; Numbers 26:51, at the end of the book, 1,820 fighting men are left. 1,820 from 600,000 is a long way the wrong way. Why? Because the children of Israel did not obey God’s command. He commanded them to possess the promised land. They chose to live in fear; they died in the wilderness.

This verse that we’ve read here in Numbers chapter 10 is where the process of walking in circles for 40 years begins. They were not fulfilling God’s plan, God’s command to all creation—not just Adam and Eve, but to you and I—to be fruitful and multiply. If you’re not being fruitful and multiplying, if you’re decreasing instead of increasing, something’s wrong.

Wandering in Circles – A Warning for Us

And the reason that the children of Israel are decreasing instead of increasing is that instead of walking with God and following Him, like they did across the Red Sea, like they did to the water that came out of the rock, like they did to the border of the promised land, instead of walking with Him, they’re now wandering in circles.

Sometimes your life can be an endless wandering in circles. And the question is not, «God, where are You?» The question is, «Why have you stopped walking with God?» If you’re wandering in a circle, what you need to do is stop and go back to the last place that God was clear with you, and begin again.

In Numbers 1-9, we have what is called the order of the assembly. It’s where the children of Israel become organized. They assemble. We have the sacrifices that are instituted as God gave command to Moses that this is what should be done, and when it should be done, and how it should be done. The nation is living as it should, and everything is well.

However, whenever they begin to disobey and disbelieve God, they start to move in circles. They’ve got motion, but they’ve got no progress.

God Is Not the Author of Confusion

1 Corinthians 14:33 tells us that God is not the author of confusion. When you are walking with God, you’re not confused. When you’re walking away from God, confusion is all you’ve got.

When people see your life, and you profess to be living for the Lord, when people see your work, when people see the way that you operate, it shouldn’t be a confusing thing. They should be able to clearly see that there is a God, and He’s blessing you.

Psalms 14:1 very clearly says, «The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'» And I don’t know too many people that would be brave enough to actually profess that there is no God; but I know a lot of people who live as if God doesn’t exist.

The Two Silver Trumpets – A Picture of Order

What’s the difference between someone who verbalizes it and someone who behaves as if God isn’t there? All you have to do is look around you. God is everywhere. He’s in creation. He’s in all of the elements that you see in the world. And when you recognize Him on a large scale, you need to start to follow Him in your daily life.

In the book of Numbers, we begin to understand the prophetic signs and sounds of trumpets. Remember, I talked last week about there being God’s will concealed and God’s will revealed.

Well, Numbers chapter 10:1 and 2 describes two trumpets. It says, «And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Make two silver trumpets for yourself. You shall make them of hammered work. You shall use them for calling the assembly and for directing the movement of the camps…'»

Practical Purpose of the Trumpets

Now, what’s the purpose of these two trumpets in the context of the book of Numbers? It’s a very practical reason. You’ve got millions of people—600,000 plus men and their families and children. You have millions of people that you’re trying to organize and move. So they used the trumpets as a form of cues. If you heard both of them at the same time, everybody gathered. If you heard one, a group began to move. If you heard two, then you began to move in another direction. This was to avoid chaos. God is not the author of confusion.

The Trumpets as a Shadow of Future Events

So what’s the picture and the revelation in our life? The trumpets are a shadow of the two witnesses in the book of Revelation. In the book of Revelation, we read about two witnesses that are going to come back to the earth. Many Bible scholars believe that they are Elijah and Enoch…

We read in Numbers 10:3 and 4 that the blast of the trumpet brought the leaders of the tribes together. We remember what the Bible says at the last trump of God. Remember Paul wrote in Thessalonians, «The trump of God shall sound; the dead in Christ shall rise, and we shall all be brought together; and so shall we be with the Lord.»

The Trumpets in Action – Orderly March

In Numbers 10:5-7, it says, «And you shall sound the advance and the camps that lie on the east side shall begin their journey…»

Judah was the tribe of worship and praise. Issachar, Zebulun, Levi—these were the individuals that encamped on one side of the tabernacle. Why? Because they were brothers…

The Trumpets for War and Celebration

In verse 9, the trumpets tell people when to go to war… And in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feasts, at the beginning of your months, you shall blow the trumpets…

You say, «Pastor, what’s the point of telling us about all of these different trumpets?» First and foremost, if you didn’t know which trumpet you were listening to, you would do the wrong thing at the wrong time.

The Final Lesson – Following the Right Sound

The point is this: Which sound are you following? What noise are you listening to? We sometimes want to pretend like everything that we hear is expert advice. It’s not. If it does not agree with or come in compliance with God’s word, it’s void.

Moses invites his father-in-law Jethro to come along on this journey… But God says, «You don’t need to follow him; you need to follow the cloud.»

Numbers 10 says, «And the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle of testimony and moved through the wilderness of Sinai to the wilderness of Paran.»

Final Application and Invitation

The Bible tells us in the New Testament that Christ is the head of the church. If we will do what He says, we’ll get to the promised land. If we will follow the cloud, if we will walk in the revelation of His truth, we won’t waste our time in circles…

If it seems like your life is going in all directions and not making much progress, ask yourself who you are listening to, what you are following, and are you living by the revelation of God’s truth or living by the reasons of others around you?

We’re going to keep making progress book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. I want you to join us on this journey. If you haven’t downloaded our reading schedule, I encourage you to do that at our website. I encourage you to be a part of what we’re learning as we walk through the Bible chapter and verse together throughout the rest of this year. If you haven’t started yet, today’s a great day to begin. And if you have begun already, keep with us. It’s only going to get better. God bless you, and I look forward to seeing you again very soon.