Daily Devotion | Numbers 9:1–23 | 2026 April 23

Title: Daily Devotion | Numbers 9:1–23 | 2026 April 23

Scripture: Numbers 9:1–23 (ESV, reference only)

Date: 2026 April 23

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 that has brought us to a new day to study the daily spiritual food. May the Spirit of God lead us, so that in this new day we may still understand His will more deeply. Alright, let us come. The passage we are studying today is Numbers chapter 9. Let us pray. God, we thank You. We thank You that You are willing to show such favor and mercy. You lead us so that on such a morning we may be awakened by You, and our ears may be able to hear Your precious word.

Lord, before You we confess that we are unclean, and we are corrupt. We often follow our own will instead of following Your will. We ask You to grant grace in our midst, so that through today’s passage we may be better gained by You. We pray and ask in Christ’s name, Amen. Alright, let us look at Numbers chapter 9. Chapter 9 speaks about two things. One is the keeping of the Passover, and the other is the matter of the cloud. Let us look at them one by one. Now in this matter of keeping the Passover,

let us first not rush so quickly into looking at the content of the passage itself. We need to pay attention to several models. Pay attention to several models. The first model is this: when the Israelites encountered a problem, they went to Moses; then Moses went to ask Jehovah; then Jehovah gave instruction. This is the model for handling problems. That is to say, these statutes written in the Bible were not thought up by Moses himself. Nor was it that Moses reasoned well and decided, this should be done this way, or that should be done that way. No, that is not it. Everything was special revelation. This is the first model: when there is a problem, what do you do? You go to Moses. And then what about Moses? Does Moses make the decision himself? Moses does not. Moses says, “Wait,” in verse 8, “and I will hear what Jehovah commands concerning you.”

So that is the first model. Then what is the second model? It is the model of God’s mercy. These people could not keep the Passover, but then what? The method God gave was, it does not matter, they could delay it by one month and then keep the Passover. So this is God’s mercy. We know that for the Israelites, the Passover was a day to commemorate redemption. It was a great day. Now for such a great day, if someone could not keep it because of certain circumstances, then what should be done? God has mercy. You delay it by one month and then keep it. So here we see that God toward His people truly is full of lovingkindness. For such an important feast, if you cannot keep it, then what should be done? There is a merciful rule, namely, delay it by one month.

Then there is another merciful rule. What is it? It is that outsiders were not required to keep it together with the Israelites, but if they wanted to keep the Passover, then what should be done? They could still observe it according to the statute and the rule of the Passover. So here again we see that God’s intention is to push salvation to all nations and all peoples. He desires that more people may enter into this Passover. This is God’s intention. So if a stranger dwells among you and wants to keep the feast, then what should be done? It does not matter. Just keep it according to the statute and the rule. It is enough that he does it just like the Israelites.

So here again we see the principle of God’s mercy: one is a postponement of time, and the other is the inclusion of Gentiles. Alright, after speaking about these three principles, let us look at the specific passage. They had come out of Egypt, and now it was the first month of the second year. This second year means that the Israelites had already been in the wilderness for about a year. They had remained in the wilderness to receive God’s statutes and rules, and now a year had passed. Yet the ordinance was still this: keep the Passover at the appointed time. On the fourteenth day of this month at twilight, keep this feast at the appointed time, according to all its statutes and all its rules. Then verse 4 speaks of keeping the Passover.

And here in chapter 9, a phrase that appears repeatedly is this: the people of Israel did just as Jehovah commanded Moses. Then when we come to the end of chapter 9, it is the same way: at the command of Jehovah they camped, and at the command of Jehovah they set out. They kept what Jehovah had commanded, according to the command of Jehovah through Moses. So here we see that in chapter 9, just like in chapter 8, what is manifested is the obedience of the Israelites to God. Yesterday we mentioned this too. We should not always assume that the people in the wilderness were altogether terrible. There were times when they obeyed, and this is something we need to pay close attention to.

As for the ordinance of the Passover, when we studied Exodus, especially chapter 12, we already spoke about it in great detail, so here we will not repeat too much. But the meaning is very clear. It was to commemorate that in Egypt they were slaves. They had no way to leave Egypt. Pharaoh wanted to keep them there. Pharaoh insisted on keeping them and would not let them go. In the end, through the plague of striking down the firstborn, God delivered them out.

Yesterday we also mentioned that in fact they too should have been struck down in Egypt together with the Egyptians, but because of the blood of the lamb, because of the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ, they came out. So this is a very important day of remembrance. To remember what? To remember God’s deliverance of them, and God’s redemption of them. In fact, this deliverance and redemption was not merely a release from under the authority of Pharaoh. Everyone must remember this point. It was a release from under the wrath of God. You must remember this meaning of the Passover. They were enslaved by sin, controlled by Pharaoh, and were under the wrath of God. Because in the end, because they sinned, they were under God’s wrath. And so God raised up Pharaoh to oppress them, and raised up sin to control them. So we must remember such a model.

Then God, through Jesus Christ, by His own blood applied and covering them, caused them to be delivered from God’s wrath. Thus they were reconciled to God, baptized in the cloud and in the sea, and brought under the name of Moses. Passing through the Red Sea is such a model, a model of being united to Christ. Before, for them, it was being brought under Moses. Now in the New Testament it is being brought under Christ. It is such a model. It lets us know what the Passover meant for the Israelites. It meant a state in which sins are forgiven and one enters into a new life. This is what God intended to express in the Passover. Therefore, when the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” So here it is very clear that it points to Jesus Christ as that Passover lamb.

And in the New Testament, when the Lord Jesus Christ, on Thursday evening, ate the Passover meal, it showed that He is the true sacrificial lamb, and He is also the true high priest who offers sacrifice. So when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, the meaning of the Passover became completely clear. Namely, through the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Israelites could be delivered from sin and could enter into the blessed condition of being with God.

That is the matter of the Passover. Next, let us look at why exactly these people could not keep the Passover. The reason was that they were unclean because of a dead body; they had become unclean by touching the dead. As for becoming unclean by touching the dead, we mentioned earlier that God is the eternal living God. God is life. Therefore, God hates death; He hates this kind of evil and defilement. In the Bible, touching a dead person is a very unclean thing. So because they were unclean, they could not keep the Passover. Thus life and death stand in opposition to one another. The eternal living God—within Him there is no death.

When we are in the eternal living God, we receive eternal life. But those who do not believe in God, their lives remain in death, and in the future they will enter into an even deeper death. So here there are also several concepts that we need to adjust a bit. In the biblical understanding, the meaning of death is not disappearance. Many people think that death means there is nothing left. Death is not disappearance. Death means being separated from God’s grace and from God’s love. Death is a kind of separation, just as a dead person is one whose body and soul are separated. So here death means separation. When we speak of a dead person, we mean a person who is cut off from the grace of God.

How can a dead person receive life? A dead person needs to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to receive this life, because Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” So it is in Jesus Christ that we receive this life. Therefore we must understand why in the Bible touching the dead, touching a corpse, is regarded as something especially unclean. It is because the eternal living God has nothing to do with death. Those who are ruled by the power of death and ruled by sin are in death. So touching the dead is unclean. Of course this includes defilement, and it also includes violation of God’s established order. All these things are things contaminated by death, so we must keep far away from them.

Then they went and found Moses. So they were still willing to follow God’s law. And as we mentioned earlier, Moses went to ask God. He asked God, and then God instructed them that they should keep the Passover. And the ordinance remained the same. The content was the same: nothing of it was to be left until the morning, none of its bones were to be broken, and it was to be kept according to the ordinance of the Passover. So here He mainly mentions two points—brief and concise—God mentions two points concerning the ordinance of keeping the Passover, that is, the key points. Or rather, the key points are these: it is to be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs together with the Passover lamb.

Everyone should not think that these two points are just casual remarks. Actually there should be three points here. We should read three points here. The first point is how it is to be eaten. The second point is that it must not be left until the morning. The third point is that its bones must not be broken. You see, all of us must not make the mistake of thinking that these were just said casually. They were not said casually. These are three key points. When you keep the Passover, there are three things you must pay special attention to. First, unleavened bread and bitter herbs are to be eaten with the lamb. Now what does this mean? It means this is clearly a type of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. All those who, together with Jesus Christ, are baptized and brought into Christ, all those who would follow Christ, clearly must live a life of suffering. And this suffering means putting oneself to death on the cross. One must overcome one’s old self and enter into suffering. So this is the first meaning: to eat bitter herbs and unleavened bread. One must not be contaminated by the leaven of the world. One can only, in the Lord Jesus Christ, suffer together with Him.

Then what is the second key point? It must not be left until the morning. That is to say, the Passover is a redemption tied to a specific time. It can only be eaten within this time. If you eat it after this time, then it is unclean. So here it seems that God gives us a principle of limitation: you may only eat the flesh of this lamb together with the unleavened bread and the bitter herbs within the designated time. As for what this principle of limitation signifies exactly, we cannot really speculate too much. But quite clearly, this principle of limitation has much to do with God’s redemption, because God’s redemption is limited. God redeems only a portion of people. Of course, whether this doctrine can be directly reasoned out from these passages—probably not. But there is at least some shadow of it here, so we mention it a bit. Then what is the third matter? It is that not one of the bones of the lamb may be broken. This shows that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is complete.

Later in the Gospels we see this fulfilled. The death of the Lord Jesus was a supernatural death. It was not really just some natural kind of death, as though after He cried out that final word, He simply breathed His last in an ordinary way. So later, when the Roman soldiers went to strike His legs—to break His legs—they found that He had already died. Therefore Jesus’ legs were not broken. Of course, this was due to God’s supernatural preservation, but it tells us that the death of the Lord Jesus was in fact a supernatural event.

When we spoke about the cross, and when we mentioned it at Christmas, we said that ordinarily, if a normal person were under the cruel punishment of the cross, he could probably remain for several days before truly dying. The main cause of death was suffocation, not pain, and not blood loss, but suffocation. And the meaning of breaking the legs was that the person could no longer push up to breathe, and so they would die more quickly.

But the death of Jesus Christ was supernatural. So the bones of the Lord Jesus were not broken; they were not struck and broken. Therefore these three matters are three things that God especially wanted to remind the Israelites of. First, the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, that it was to be eaten at the appointed time. Third, that the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus is complete. In this way God told the Israelites that these three things point to Christ. They point to Christ.

Then there is another ordinance that we especially need to remember, namely verse 13. If someone could keep the feast but did not keep it, then what was the result? The result was that he would be cut off from among the people. So if you cannot keep it, God has grace and lets you postpone it by one month. But if you are qualified to keep it and yet do not keep it, what happens? You will be cut off from among the people. Now what does this cutting off mean? I have mentioned this before. Some say it means that such a person would be put to death by the Israelites. Some say it means a sudden and mysterious death, that God directly strikes him down.

There is also another view, and personally I think that this cutting off should mean being driven away, or expelled from such a community. I think this meaning may fit “cut off” even better. That is, his name is no longer counted as proper; he can no longer remain on the membership roll. He has to be cut off, because he violated the law and was expelled. As for whether a person who has been expelled still has an opportunity to return later, that is another matter. But at present, as far as the ordinance of keeping the Passover is concerned, the point is this: if you are qualified to keep it, you must keep it. If you cannot keep it because of circumstances, then postpone it by one month. But if you are qualified to keep it and yet do not keep it, then you are to receive discipline and be cut off.

Alright, that is the matter of the Passover. Then it goes on to speak about the matter of the cloud over the tabernacle. Here, I think what this gives us by way of reminder is this. Let us first look at the text itself. What does the text say? It says that over the tabernacle there was a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. It was one thing, that is, a cloud. This cloud covered the tabernacle, that is, the tabernacle of the testimony was covered by the cloud. Then at night this cloud looked like fire, because the purpose was to make it visible, so that the Israelites could easily identify it. So there was a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire.

And the rule is also very clear. When the cloud rose, when the cloud moved, the Israelites moved. When the cloud did not move, the Israelites did not move. This rather long section of Scripture is speaking about this one matter. Whether it stayed for a few days, or for a month, or for years, in any case, the point was this: follow the cloud. This is what the Israelites had in the wilderness, the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.

So what is the spiritual meaning here for us? The spiritual meaning is that when the Israelites were in the wilderness, it was not for them to decide how they should go, but rather it was for God to decide how they should go. I think such a meaning is a particularly important concept for believers today. We follow Christ; it is not that we walk in front and Jesus follows behind us. It is not that when we run into difficulty, we pull Jesus over to help us out a little. Very often, when we worship God, this is one of our misconceptions. We often say, “God, I have encountered such-and-such difficulty. Please come help me.” I am not saying that you may not pray like that. But I hope that we can have an awareness that, in essence, it is God who leads us, not we who lead God.

We must be very clear about this. The life of a Christian, and a church that belongs to God, follows God’s pillar of cloud and God’s pillar of fire. All plans and arrangements are things that we do under the will of God. Of course, that does not mean that Christians do not need to work, or do not need to make plans. No, that is not the point. The point is to make us understand more and more that we should be sensitive to God’s leading for the church, and to God’s leading for our personal lives.

I think this is what today’s passage particularly reminds us of. If God does not move, do not move. If God moves, then you simply move with Him. Then some people will say, in the wilderness the Israelites had the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire that they could see, but here where I am, will God give us some special word, such as, today you should do this, tomorrow you should do that? Is it this kind of supernatural guidance? Clearly, it is not. This too is what many people in charismatic circles think. They think God will lead them in this way, and they seek this kind of inner guidance, this inner voice. It seems very spiritual, but actually it is not.

The fact is that in the process of guidance, from the perspective of theological principle, God guides us. But in the concrete process of actual practice, in the first cause God guides us, while in the second cause we need to keep reading Scripture, keep praying, follow God’s statutes and ordinances, and be sensitive to God’s guidance of us. In the realm of second causes, we must diligently make use of them and fulfill our human responsibility. This is an extremely important matter. For example, in our lives we need to follow God’s statutes and ordinances. We need to live a holy life. These are things that you must do. This is already God’s guidance for you. You should not say that you still need some additional supernatural guidance.

For example, if in life you encounter matters such as corruption, bribery, or the taking of bribes—things that do exist in life—then that is something you certainly must not do. You should not say, “Well, God did not tell me I could not do it. The pillar of cloud did not guide me, and the pillar of fire did not guide me.” No, you cannot play tricks like that, because the law has already been given to you. The law has already been given to us. The law is the lamp that guides our path. To live according to the law is to live by following the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. This has already been given to you.

Of course, in the course of this, can God also give some special guidance? At certain points in your life, can He guide you in some particular way? Of course, we also believe that He can. However, such supernatural ways may be something that one encounters but cannot demand, and they are not done according to the methods we imagine. I think this too is a place where we especially need to be reminded. So, to put it briefly, what is the Christian life? It is to live according to the law, to follow God’s statutes and ordinances closely and strictly, because the law is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. This light is the light of the Holy Place within the tabernacle. This light is the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire for the Israelites in the wilderness.

God has already told us the road. It is to walk according to the law. And in this process, God will still guide us, and He will still direct us, so that we may live even better within His statutes and ordinances. This is what it means to follow God. It is not that there is some supernatural thing every single time; rather, it is that every single time one must act according to God’s law. So may God lead us, so that in our lives we may learn to follow God’s law, and submit under God’s will, and let God lead us to live a holy life. Let God lead us through this wilderness journey of life, so that we may enter the good land of Canaan. May God have mercy on us. Alright, our sharing for today will simply end here. Thank you, everyone.