Daily Devotion | Numbers 4:1–20 | 2026 April 13

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 4:1–20 | 2026 April 13

Scripture: Numbers 4:1–20 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 April 13

Speaker: Rev. John Chen

Transcribed, translated & edited by: Joseph Wang (Yufan)

Alright, dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you. We thank God for His grace. We come to study Daily Devotion. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 4, verses 1 through 20. Let us pray. Lord, at this moment we thank You that You are so willing to reveal Yourself to us. Lord, You lead us before Your Word, so that we may know how exceedingly careful You are concerning Your own sanctuary. Lord, You also let us know how careful we ought to be in matters concerning what is holy. We must rely on You to live a holy life, to be careful in everything, and in everything to follow Your statutes and ordinances. Be with us. In Christ’s name, Amen.

Now, when we come to this passage, what we see is that God spoke to Moses and Aaron concerning how they were to act when carrying the furnishings of the sanctuary—how they were to wrap them, how they were to lift them, and how they were to transport them. This shows the holiness of God. When God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle, we discussed in detail how every single item pointed to Christ, right? We know that God especially charged Moses, saying, “You must build the tabernacle according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.” You could not build it according to your own ideas. This shows that God has definite regulations concerning the way He is to be worshiped.

So when we come to today’s passage, we see that not only did God have detailed requirements concerning how the furnishings of the tabernacle were to be made, how they were to be arranged, and where each item was to be placed, but even when they were to be moved, how they were to be moved, what was to be used to cover them, what was to be used to carry them—these things all had a strict procedure. So once again we see how precise what we in the Reformed tradition call the regulative principle of worship, and the principle of the limitation of worship, really is. This principle of limitation means that when we worship God, we may only do so in the manner God has instructed; we may not invent new ways by ourselves. This principle reminds us that when we worship God, we must not bring in our own private ideas. We must act according to what Scripture instructs. This is in keeping with the requirement of the second commandment.

The second commandment says that we shall not make carved images. We shall not make any likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth. Now this meaning is actually very easy for us to confuse with the first commandment. The first commandment says that you shall have no other gods. The second commandment says you shall not make carved images. At first it seems like it means the same thing. But actually it does not. The second commandment requires holiness in the manner of worship. It says that when you worship God, you must worship according to the way God has appointed. Of course, this commandment also points to Jesus Christ, because we must worship God in the Lord Jesus Christ. When we spoke about the Ten Commandments, we already explained this, so we will not repeat too much here. God hates it when man tries to manipulate Him. God is not pleased when man comes to commune with Him in man’s own way. Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire and in the end were put to death. Therefore, when God requires people to worship Him, they must do so according to the way He has prescribed.

And we know that in the New Testament this points to Jesus Christ. Then in today’s passage we see that God gave explicit instructions even for how His things were to be wrapped and how they were to be carried in transport. This shows how greatly God cares about His own holiness. So I think the first lesson we need to learn here is that when we serve God, we really must be careful in all things. Paul exhorts us in the same way in the New Testament. What does this mean? It means that when we deal with anything, we should not be careless. We should not be sloppy. We should not handle things in a rough, hasty, and indifferent way. On the contrary, in everything we do and in everything we think, we must be careful. We should think about how this matter glorifies God, and how it accords with God’s commandments. This way of thinking must become a pattern in our lives—a settled habit—to be careful in all things.

Someone may say, “Then am I not being restricted? Does this not make me feel constrained?” Actually, this is not a matter of being constrained. The problem is that in our character, according to our sinful nature, we like to live in our own way. And then we interpret living according to our sinful nature as though that were freedom, as though that were what it means to pursue liberty. But in fact that is simply indulging the flesh. On the contrary, when serving God, we are to be careful in all things. So God requires Christians, throughout the whole course of life, also to be careful in all things. Do not treat your life casually. Do not treat your work casually. Do not treat your family casually. Do not treat your children casually. In speaking and in acting, be careful.

Then someone says, “Wouldn’t that make me feel oppressed?” Actually, no, it would not. When you are within this kind of order and regulation, you can experience God’s holiness, and you can also experience all the joy that belongs to a person in Christ. This is what I want to remind everyone of: do not always feel that the moment a requirement is mentioned, you think, “This is too restrictive. This makes me uncomfortable.” Let us use an example. Think of when you play a ball game, right? When you are playing, is it more joyful to say, “I’ll just hit it any way I want, I’ll do whatever I feel like,” or is it more joyful to play according to the rules and find that the more you play, the more delight you have? This is very typical. In basketball, so many people are all competing for one basketball. Well then, if that were not the case, why not simply give everyone a ball, right? Let each one play by himself. But then that would no longer be playing basketball. The joy of playing lies precisely in the fact that you are playing within the rules.

Actually, there is a great deal of enjoyment in that. It has to be played in that way, and then the more you play, the more interested you become. Many unbelievers in the world also enjoy sports and recreation and ball games. Why is that? So this proves that it is absolutely not the case that as soon as there are restrictions and rules, then you must necessarily be unhappy. That is what I mean. It is not like that. In fact, rules can make us happy. Therefore, when we serve God, we should not have mistaken thoughts. Being restrained within this framework, being careful—there is joy in that. Do not always think that indulging the flesh is joy. Actually, indulging the flesh is like one person alone, holding a badminton racket and wildly swinging it around on the bed.

That has no real meaning at all. Rather, it just looks childish, right? Alright, let us now look at the specific passage. First, in this numbering of the people, the age range this time is from thirty years old to fifty years old. This counting is different from the earlier one. Earlier it was from one month old and upward. There, even if a person could not do anything at the time, he was still counted. But here it is thirty to fifty years old. Why? Because carrying and arranging these furnishings required men of very mature life. Earlier, when the people were numbered for warfare, twenty years old was enough. But in the numbering for transporting these sacred furnishings, the person had to be thirty years old.

Why thirty years old? Because it is only at thirty that a man’s life begins to reach maturity. Why did they retire at fifty? Because after fifty a person’s physical strength begins to decline. So the period of service for the Levites was very short—only twenty years. Their life had to be very mature at thirty, and then by fifty, while their strength was still enough, they had to step down quickly. They could no longer do it, because ministering in holy things was a very serious and solemn matter. So I think this also reminds us of something: when you call a minister of the Word, he should not be too young. If he is too young, that surely will not do. But he also should not be too old. If he is too old, that also will not do. Even though serving in the pulpit may seem to be just preaching one sermon, actually it is not that simple. It requires a quick mind and many such things. This is an extended implication that we are drawing out here.

Now then, when the camp set out, what did they need to pay attention to? Here the passage speaks about how the ark was to be covered, and then how the lampstand, the table of the bread of the Presence, and each item was to be covered. In fact, each one was covered differently. You need to pay attention to the differences here. First of all, with regard to the ark—that is, the ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat is connected with it—how was it covered? First, what was the innermost layer? The innermost layer was the veil. And the veil signifies that within it there were scarlet threads and blue threads—all of these were there. Now what was this for? This was to cover the ark. So if you understand the ark from this angle, then during the process in which the ark was being carried, the ark, in a sense, was also inside the veil. You can understand it that way. So the ark was always covered by the veil. Therefore, the first thing they did was to take that veil—the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place—and use it to wrap the ark.

Then what was outside of that? Outside of that was goatskin, and outside of that was a cloth all of blue. So this is easy to recognize. If you look further down, all the other furnishings had goatskin as the outermost layer. But the ark, together with the mercy seat above it, had the veil inside, then goatskin, and then outside of that there was another layer—a blue cloth. So blue is the color of heaven. Therefore, what this tells us is that when the ark and the mercy seat were being transported, they were wrapped inside the veil, and thus they were still covered by the veil.

Goatskin—every item had goatskin underneath it. What is the meaning of the goatskin on the outside? The goatskin on the outside is, first, practical—it is waterproof. In addition, goatskin is not eye-catching. So what does this tell us? It tells us that the furnishings of the sanctuary, in the end, all appeared outwardly plain and unimpressive. That is what it shows us. Then outside there was a layer of blue cloth. If you continue looking downward, among all the furnishings of the sanctuary, only this ark had blue cloth on the outside, representing the color of heaven. The others were different. If you keep looking down, the table of the bread of the Presence—this step is different. First there was a blue cloth. I said blue represents the color of heaven. So the table of the bread of the Presence had a blue cloth, that is, the color of heaven. Then the plates, the dishes, and the bowls were placed on it, and on the table there was the regular bread that was continually set before God.

Then over the table of the bread of the Presence there was another covering, a scarlet cloth. This also does not appear on the others. A scarlet cloth was put over it, and then goatskin was laid over that, and then the poles were inserted. So with this one, the goatskin is on the outside, but inside there are two layers: one is the blue cloth, and one is the scarlet cloth. We know the meaning here. The blue cloth represents the color of heaven. The scarlet cloth signifies the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not doing arbitrary allegorical interpretation here. We are using a way of speaking according to the biblical significance of these symbols, and this significance is correct. Because if there were no scarlet cloth covering it, then there would be no covering and cleansing by blood, and it could not become clean, it could not become holy. These things, as they appear, are ordinary things; they need the covering and application of Jesus Christ’s blood in order to become holy.

Someone may ask, “Then why is there no scarlet cloth with the ark? By all reasoning, the ark is more holy, so should it not even more have scarlet cloth?” But this is different. Why? Because on that veil there were already cherubim woven with scarlet and blue threads. So inside the veil there is red, there is the color of heaven, and there is also the red color. So this is what we explained earlier. It is equivalent to saying that the ark was still not exposed. When it was being transported, the ark remained inside the veil. That is the point. Then again, the lampstand was wrapped in blue cloth. Inside there is the blue cloth, and outside there is goatskin—those two layers. Then the golden altar, that is, the altar of incense, was the same: inside there was blue cloth, and outside there was goatskin. So for all these things, it is blue cloth and goatskin—two layers. The only item wrapped in three layers was the table of the bread of the Presence. Earlier we mentioned that the table of the bread of the Presence represents God’s provision for man. So here there seems to be a significance in this: that even while Israel is on the march, God will not cease supplying His people. This is our explanation here.

Then all the other items were covered in these two layers—blue cloth and goatskin. The blue cloth represents the color of heaven, which means that all these furnishings belong to heaven and cannot be used for earthly purposes. Later, when the Babylonian empire was about to fall, on that very night, they brought out these vessels and used them for drinking wine. And the result was that their kingdom immediately came to an end. These items, being wrapped in blue cloth, indicate that they are only for heavenly use, only for offering to God. If they are used by man in a common way, judgment comes immediately. That is exactly what happened at the fall of Babylon.

As for the outer goatskin, as I already mentioned, its color and meaning point to something ordinary. Practically speaking, it is waterproof, but symbolically it is very plain and not eye-catching. All the furnishings of the sanctuary were like this. Outwardly they appeared very ordinary, but inwardly they were of incomparable glory. This also signifies the Lord Jesus Christ. Outwardly He had no beauty that we should desire Him, but inwardly He brings eternal life.

So through these images, these Old Testament pictures—when we read them, we may just read through them quickly and not pay much attention—but in fact, every image within them points to Christ. They show that the life of Jesus Christ, outwardly, appears lowly, but inwardly it is full of glory. And of course, this also represents our Christian life. As we live in this world, outwardly we may appear humble, without outward beauty, without riches and honor, but inwardly we possess eternal life. This is something that we can see corresponding in ourselves. Therefore, we should not care about outward lowliness. We should not care that we have no outward attractiveness. We should not care about how others evaluate us, because inwardly we possess that infinitely beautiful, heavenly life. This is what is represented by the blue cloth and by these vessels.

Then there is also the altar. The altar was covered with purple cloth, not blue cloth. Why? Because the altar was on earth. The other furnishings were things of heaven. They belong to what is heavenly. But the altar was on earth. It is where man offers sacrifices on earth. It is the place of communication between God and man. Therefore, it uses the most noble color among men—purple cloth. This signifies that the bronze altar is the most honorable thing on earth. It is covered with purple cloth. Then all the utensils are also covered with goatskin. So you see, the furnishings here are easy to distinguish. There is one item whose outermost layer is blue cloth—that is the ark. That absolutely cannot be touched. The others are all covered with goatskin, but from the outer shape of the goatskin, the Levites could roughly recognize which item was which, and thus they could carry out their work properly.

Then, after Aaron and his sons completed the covering, what happened next? Aaron and his sons were responsible for covering and wrapping all the furnishings of the sanctuary. But after they finished covering them, who carried them? The sons of Kohath carried them. They were not allowed to touch the holy things directly. They could only carry them by means of the poles. They could only lift them, lest they die. These items were all to be carried by the sons of Kohath.

Later on, the Israelites forgot this ordinance. They used a cart to transport the sacred furnishings. You remember in the time of David—yes, I misspoke earlier—it was in David’s time. They used a cart to carry the ark. And when Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the cart, he was struck down by God. Many people think that Uzzah died unjustly. They say, “He was just trying to help, he was steadying the ark, why was he struck down?” Those who say this do not understand. God had already given very clear instructions. As we said earlier, according to the regulative principle, you cannot carry the ark in just any way. These holy items must be carried on the shoulders, not transported by cart. They must be carried by the Levites.

But you can clearly see that in David’s time, the Pentateuch had basically fallen into neglect. No one was reading it, and no one knew it anymore. This is such a tragic thing. So Uzzah, of course, should have been struck down. Why? Because he was a priest. If you do not even know this, then how can you serve God? From this perspective, even though we have not yet come to that passage in detail, I will mention it here. This is something that a priest must know. They could only carry it. Then Eleazar, who later succeeded Aaron as high priest, what was he responsible for? The oil for the lamp, the fragrant incense, the grain offering, and the anointing oil. He was responsible for overseeing all these things and all the furnishings of the sanctuary.

Then toward the end, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron that the clans of the Kohathites were not to be cut off from among the Levites. How should we understand this? Let me use an analogy, though it is not entirely appropriate. It is as if they had something like a “protection.” If they sinned, they would be disciplined, but they absolutely could not be cut off. Why? Because they were those who came near to the most holy things. Among the clans, they seemed to have a kind of priestly protection. They could not be cut off. Because they were to serve at the altar, on the one hand they themselves had to strive to maintain holiness, but on the other hand, God gave them special protection. This is a clan—it is not a tribe, Levi is the tribe, but this is a clan within it—and this clan could not be destroyed, because each person had his assigned task to do, so that they might live and not die. This was a grace given to them. So verses 18 and 19 are a grace given to them.

But at the same time, they were also given a command: they must not go in to look upon the holy things even for a moment, lest they die. So man cannot directly look upon God’s holy things. God’s holy things are like God’s own presence. Everything there is holy. If you look upon these holy things, it is equivalent to seeing God. And an unclean person cannot see the holy God, so he will surely die.

So what was their command? After they carried the items and set them down in their place, they had to leave immediately. Then Aaron and his sons would go and uncover them and arrange them. The wrapping and the uncovering—these things the sons of Kohath were not allowed to touch. They could only carry. They could not look. So this was the responsibility of the sons of Kohath.

So I think when we study this passage today, some may say, “What does this have to do with me? I do not need to carry the ark now.” But as I mentioned earlier, the first application is that we must be careful in all things. The second is that for us, we can more clearly see how God, throughout the whole process, gives instructions and shows us that everything must be done in a proper and orderly way. So once again we see God’s holiness, God’s rules, and God’s order—how good and how beautiful they are. Even in something like transporting the furnishings, it is not chaotic or random. On the contrary, it is extremely precise. Who does what, who wraps what, who carries what, what is used to wrap, how many layers—there is meaning in all of it.

So I think for every Christian, after we study Scripture, we should become people who are orderly. In everything, we should act in a proper and orderly way. There should be no chaos at all. You see, in God’s house, nothing is chaotic. Everything is done in order. Who does what, and when it is done—God has authority over all these things. None of it is accidental. So this reminds us to keep order, to have rules when handling all things, to have clarity in our minds, and to have a clear line of thinking. This reflects God’s attributes.

So for us as human beings, we must continually learn from Scripture, so that our minds may become clearer, and our hearts may better discern all kinds of truth, and we may grow in wisdom, rather than remaining in impurity, confusion, and emptiness. That state of chaos and emptiness belongs to the powers of darkness. But the Holy Spirit brings fullness, and the Holy Spirit brings order. This reminds us that as Christians, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. We should become people who are very orderly—our use of time should be orderly. Do not waste time. Do not keep scrolling through short videos. Do not let your time become disordered and chaotic.

The same is true for the church. The church is a holy body, and in all things it should be arranged in a well-ordered manner. So may God help us, that before such reverence, we ourselves may also be shaped and molded. Our sharing today ends here. Thank you, everyone.