Latest / Scripture Central / Finding Christ in the Wilderness | Numbers 11-14; 20-24; 27 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | May 4-10

Transcript

Finding Christ in the Wilderness | Numbers 11-14; 20-24; 27 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | May 4-10 · Scripture Central

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How do we get through the wilderness?
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There's no problem so bad that complaining about it won't make
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it worse. Looking to Jesus Christ, that's
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what gives you the courage. Will I really trust the one who
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has already faced my giants? Sometimes it's the simple things
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that we don't have faith to believe in.
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Could it really be so simple? Well friends, I don't remember
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very much from my Old Testament year of seminary.
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I was in 9th grade and honestly, I was more interested in the
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young ladies in the class than I was the topic.
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One thing I do remember about 9th grade seminary is that was
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the year that I got kicked out of seminary one day.
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So if you ever happen to be an early morning seminary teacher
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and there's a rowdy boy in your class, just have patience with
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them things. Things could work out.
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Another thing I remember from that year of seminary though, is
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one day the teacher came into the room.
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We were studying the book of numbers and he wanted us to
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write something down next to where it said numbers in the
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title. He said in the margins, I want
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you to write in the wilderness. Now, that's a random fact to
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remember from your 9th grade seminary class, but it stuck
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with me all these years. It wasn't until many years later
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that I understood why he had told us to say that.
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You see, in English, we call it the Book of Numbers, based on
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the Greek title, based on the Septuagint that we've talked
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about before. And if you read in Numbers,
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chapter 1, you can easily see why this is the case, right?
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Number, number, number, number. It's all about Numbers for much
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of the book, but the Hebrew title of the Book of Numbers is
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different. The Hebrew title actually means
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in the wilderness, and Numbers takes more time in the
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wilderness than Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy
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combined. So let's zoom back for just a
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moment and see how Numbers fits into the big picture.
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So if we start in chapter 12 of Exodus, it's about one year from
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the first Passover to finishing the Tabernacle.
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The book of Leviticus takes about one month as God reveals
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laws of holiness, and then the book of Deuteronomy is a month
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or two as they renew the covenants prior to entering the
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promised Land. So in between is the book of
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Numbers, which takes almost 40 years.
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This is the Israelites wandering in the wilderness.
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And today we'll see why the Israelites, instead of taking a
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few weeks or months to get to the Promised Land, took 40
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years. Now, it's easy to get bogged
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down in the Book of Numbers because there are lots of lists
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and things like that. But there are also powerful
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stories that point to Jesus Christ.
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In fact, Book of Mormon authors loved to talk about stories from
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the Book of Numbers and point us to them.
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So today we're going to focus on six stories from the Book of
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Numbers. We'll see the complaining, the
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10 and the 2, the Passover exception, the daughters of Zolo
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Fahad, the talking donkey and the serpent on a pole.
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Six stories. And because I really believe in
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the value of different Bible translations, we're going to use
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a different Bible translation for each of the stories we
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explore today. We'll start with the King James,
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which is written at a 12th grade level, and we'll wind up with
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the New International Readers version, which is written at a
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third grade level. And part of my point in doing
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this is you might be fine reading any version of the
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Bible. Your reading skills might be
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great, but it's almost certain that you have a cousin, a child,
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a friend, so in your circle that does not understand the Bible
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because they can't read at the level of the King James.
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And so my hope is that as we see these different Bible
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translations that you'll realize that no matter what a person's
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reading level, there's a Bible that will work for them.
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So let's start with the complaining.
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I think you'll agree that if there's one thing humans are
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good at, it's complaining. We complain about anything.
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The weather, it's too hot, it's too cold, it's too wet, it's too
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dry. Unless it's 72° and free
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Chick-fil-A is being delivered to our porch, we're not
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satisfied. I mean, think about Wi-Fi.
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When I was in college, there was no such thing as Wi-Fi.
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Now if a page takes 2 seconds to load, it's like I'm job in the
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wilderness. God, why have you forsaken me?
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Now I bring this up because this isn't new.
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When we open the Book of Numbers, we see a pattern of
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complaining. The people complained and the
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Lord heard it and his anger was kindled.
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A couple of chapters later, all the children of Israel murmured
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against the Lord and against Aaron.
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And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long
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shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmur
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against me? I have heard the murmurings of
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the children of Israel. So the pattern is the people
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complain, the Lord hears it and he's not happy about it.
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The people even complain about what had been a blessing.
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They say, wherefore have you brought us out Egypt to die in
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the wilderness. There is no bread, neither any
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water and our soul, lo this, this light bread.
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Their souls loathe manna. God is literally giving them
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miraculous food in the desert and they're mad about it.
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Can you imagine what the Israelites would say if they had
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social media? Maybe Joe the Israelite would
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tweet something like this Day 4007 29 of eating Mana.
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Same thing every day. Still no Chick-fil-A hashtag,
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Worst road trip ever hashtag Bring back Egypt.
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Or maybe Joe the Israelite would create an Instagram poll, like
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would you rather eat cucumbers in Egypt or Mana in the desert?
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Now, it's easy to poke fun at the Israelites, but we do the
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same thing, right? Maybe we pray to have a family,
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but then we complain when our kids aren't perfect.
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We're probably all guilty of complaining, and sometimes we
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have really serious things to complain about.
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Maybe even what we might say is a justifiable complaint.
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That's why I love so much this quote from Little Richard G
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Scott. He said we should never complain
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when we are living worthily about what happens in our lives.
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14 years ago the Lord took my wife beyond the veil.
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I love her with all my heart, but I have never complained
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because I know it was His will. I have never asked why, but
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rather what is it that He wants me to learn from this
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experience. I believe that is a good way to
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face the unpleasant things in our lives, not complaining, but
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thanking the Lord for the trust He places in us when He gives us
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the opportunity to overcome difficulties.
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So I think we all know that complaining isn't healthy, but
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how do we break the cycle and stop complaining?
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A psychologist named Doctor Robert Keegan at Harvard
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University shares a simple process that for me is really
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helpful if I can remember to do it.
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Here's how it works. Step one is take your complaint
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and turn it into a statement of what you want to have happen.
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So if my complaint is how there's no food in the house,
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that's my complaint. What do I want to have happen?
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I want to have lots of delicious food around me.
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Step 2 is take responsibility for making what you want become
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reality. So I can go shopping, I can
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order DoorDash, I can raid my roommates fridge, right?
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I have lots of options. Let's see a couple of other
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examples. A person is in Sunday school.
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They think this is so boring. That's their complaint.
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What do they want to have happen?
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I want to be spiritually fed. Great, then I can take
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responsibility for making that happen.
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I can pray for the teacher. I can take notes.
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I can open my scriptures. Or another example, a person
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complaints. Nobody ever talks to me.
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Turn that into a statement of what you want.
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I want to have good relationships with people.
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Then I take responsibility for making that happen.
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I can say hi to people, join a club.
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There's so many things in my control.
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See, complaining is reactive. The two step process helps us
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shift into a proactive mode. So I want you to try this.
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Take a moment, think about this two step process.
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Maybe try it with a complaint that you've had.
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Maybe you've had a complaint in the last week or the last month,
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or maybe even this morning. Take your complaint and turn it
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into a statement of what you want to happen, and then think
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about how you could take responsibility for making what
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you want become reality. I've had to move and in my past
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I've always been kind of more introverted and this last move,
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which was about 6 months ago, I felt kind of alone in my new
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ward and I decided, well I can change that.
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It's up to me to put myself out there and get to know people.
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I've decided to make that more of a positive thing in my life
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and try to get to know them and put myself out there, and my
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husband told me that too. He said really it's up to us to
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make that a more positive thing in our lives.
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Yeah, I love that. Shifting from being a victim to
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taking control. Exactly.
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We don't need to be the victim here.
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Thank you. Now you might think to yourself,
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well, what if I have a complaint that I can't do anything about?
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It's completely out of my control.
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And that's where I think Elder Scott's comment is so valuable.
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He lost his spouse. There was nothing that he could
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do about that temporary separation, but he still chose
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to never complain. Some things, when they're out of
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our control, we can't fix it. We just have to put it aside.
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I love what Elder Holland said. It was something like there's no
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problem so bad that complaining about it won't make it worse.
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Now in our second story, the ten of the two, I want to take a
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deeper look at complaining, this sort of a special case of
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complaining, and maybe we can introduce it with a modern
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story. President Ukdorf told this many
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years ago. You might remember it.
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It was about a waiter at a restaurant who served a man a
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nice meal. And at the end he said to the
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man, did you like your meal? The man said everything was
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great, but you only gave me two pieces of bread.
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So the next day the waiter served 4 pieces of bread.
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It wasn't enough. The next day the waiter served 8
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pieces of bread. The man still wasn't satisfied.
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So the next day the waiter had a great idea.
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He cooked a nine foot loaf of bread, cut it in half and
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delivered it to the man. He thought the man would be
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ecstatic, but instead the man frowned and said, well, I see
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we're back to just two pieces of bread.
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This story reminds us that you always have a choice.
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There's a positive side of things you can see, or a
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negative side. And this story is powerfully
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illustrated in the account of the 12 Israelite spies.
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So this is before the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.
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The Israelites have only been out of Egypt just over a year,
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and they're getting ready to enter into the Promised Land.
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But Moses sends 12 spies, one from each tribe, into the
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Promised land to get a feel for what it's going to be like.
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He says, go to the Hill Country, see what the land is like,
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whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether
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they are few or many, whether the land they live in is good or
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bad, and whether the towns that they live in are unwalled or
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fortified. Be bold and bring some of the
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fruit of the land. So 40 days later, the 12 spies
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returned with a report. The good news was the fruit of
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the land was incredible. This was a great land they were
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going to come into. But ten of them said we are not
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able to go up against this people for they are stronger
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than we. All the people that we saw in it
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are of great size. We seemed like grasshoppers.
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So the report of the 10 is those guys are giants.
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There is no way we can defeat them.
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But two of the spies, their names were Joshua and Caleb,
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gave a different report. Joshua and Caleb said the land
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is an exceedingly good land. The Lord will bring us into this
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land and give it to us. Do not rebel against the Lord
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and do not fear the people of the land.
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All the spies saw the same thing.
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They all saw the same land, the same fortifications, the same
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people. 10 Focus on the bad, too focused on the good, but the
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Israelites listened to the 10 The Israelites said would that
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we had died in the land of Egypt.
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Why is the Lord bringing us into the land to fall by the sword?
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Let us choose a captain and go back to Egypt.
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Why? Why would you want to go back to
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Egypt? And because of this rebellion,
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the Lord says no one who saw the miracles in Egypt is going to be
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able to enter into the Promised land.
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This is why the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40
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years. Only Joshua and Caleb, the two
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spies with the good report, will be able to enter the Promised
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land. We might say it like this. 10
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saw problems, but two saw promises.
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Simple math tells you that if there's 12 people and only two
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see the promises, it's a lot easier to spot the problems than
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to see the promise. It's easier to complain than to
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have faith. So we might ask ourselves, how
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can I be the two and not the 10? What's the secret?
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Do I just use Doctor Keegan's method a little more often?
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Do I need to take a positive psychology class?
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Obviously, I think those things could be helpful, but ultimately
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I don't think it was because Joshua and Caleb just had extra
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positive psychology. They saw something that the 10
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didn't see. They saw the Lord.
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Remember their comment? The Lord will bring us into this
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land and give it to us. Their courage wasn't in
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themselves, it was in Jesus Christ.
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The Israelites faced a people that to them seemed like giants.
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But Joshua and Caleb knew that Jesus would face the greater
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giants of sin and death on the cross, that he would rise.
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And because he rose, even when nothing in our lives seems
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right, we know that nothing will ever be permanently wrong.
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Looking to Jesus Christ, that's what gives you the courage to be
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the two. Yes, 10 saw problems and two saw
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promises, but one secured the victory.
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So the question isn't will I be the 10 or the 2?
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The question is, will I really trust the one who is already
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faced my giants? Now, these first two stories go
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together, kind of have a theme of complaining.
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The next two stories are also related, and they have to do
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with exceptions to the rule. And I think most of us probably
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believe in the rules, but we also probably believe we're the
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exception sometimes. Like maybe you're driving
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somewhere and you believe in the speed limit, but you're late,
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you're in a hurry, or you're at the grocery store and you notice
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that the Express checkout lane only allows 10 items, but your
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items are really small, so they could all kind of group
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together, right? Sometimes it's more serious.
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A person might generally believe in honesty, but when we have the
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chance to download a file, I might think, wow, this doesn't
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really count. It's tricky because sometimes
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there are legitimate exceptions to the rules, and sometimes we
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just think we're an exception and we're making excuses and
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rationalizing to do what we want to do.
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So how can we know the difference?
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Let's explore a story in Numbers Chapter 9.
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So in Numbers Chapter 9, it's about one year after Exodus 12,
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after the original Passover. And if you remember, there was a
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specific day that Passover was to be celebrated, so that time
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is coming up. But there were certain men who
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were unclean through touching a dead body.
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Remember ritual purity that we talked about in Leviticus?
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This is that issue. So they could not keep the
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Passover on the appointed day because they're ritually
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unclean. So the people want to
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participate. They go to Moses and say, what
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do we do? When it came to pass, Moses
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said, sorry, we have a policy here, no exceptions.
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Just kidding. That's not actually what It's
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not actually what Moses said. Actually, Moses is always
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checking with the Lord. He said, wait, that I may hear
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what the Lord will command concerning you.
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So Moses explains the situation to the Lord, and it's
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interesting that the Lord expands the exception.
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Not only does he say yes, they can keep the Passover on a
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different date if they're unclean through touching a dead
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body. He also says if a person is on a
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long journey, he can still keep the Passover one month later
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than the normal date. So the Lord was comfortable with
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making an exception. And I think it's interesting
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that the Lord's the one who created the law initially, like
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he could have built in like codes and sub codes and said,
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well, in these all these circumstances, but he didn't do
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that. He gave the law.
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But then when circumstances came up, people turned to Moses,
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turned to the Lord and he was flexible with exceptions.
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It's important to note though, that not everyone is an
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exception. The Lord says if anyone who is
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clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that
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person shall be cut off. So it comes back to our original
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question. How do I know if I'm really an
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exception or if I'm just kind of making an excuse?
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That person shall be cut off from his people because he did
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not bring the Lord's offering at its appointed time.
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Now we might say the people in Numbers Chapter 9, they had a
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big advantage because they could just go to Moses and say, could
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I be an exception? So wouldn't it be nice?
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Maybe if you heard something from the prophet, you could just
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knock on his door and say, am I an exception to this?
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Well, maybe you could just write President Oakes a letter.
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If you think you're an exception, actually don't do
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that, President Oakes said in one address.
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If you feel you are a special case, please don't write me a
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letter. I have learned that the kind of
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direct counsel I have given results in a large number of
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letters from members who feel they are an exception, and they
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want me to confirm that the things I have said just don't
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apply to them in their special circumstance.
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Whether an exception applies to you is your responsibility.
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You must work that out individually between you and the
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Lord. This is a weighty
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responsibility. It requires maturity.
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I mean, you can probably think of either your own life for
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examples from others where people said they were an
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exception, but really it was just a rationalization or an
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excuse. So if we ever have to ask
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ourselves, am I an exception, I have to take seriously the
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responsibility of working that out with the Lord.
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I love what President Packer taught.
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Things are not always easy when we receive counsel.
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Always we can say we're an exception.
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But I say, As for me, I'm going to follow the rule 1st.
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And then should there be an exception, perhaps that will be
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made known. Now, this is not an easy topic.
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I don't think this is revelation one O 1.
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This is more like revelation three O 1 because you have to
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kind of wrestle with your own thoughts and desires.
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So take a moment introspectively and think about this issue.
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How have you, in your own life been able to tell the difference
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between genuinely being an exception versus just making an
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excuse and rationalizing? If I say a prayer and I am
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faithful, God will tell me if I am, if I am making an excuse or
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if I am genuinely an exception. That's really the whole gospel
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right there. Thank you.
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I just had the thought that when we maybe judge somebody else
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that we think that are making an exception, but maybe they have
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taken that to the Lord and they've gotten their witness or
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their answer and we can respect their answer for them.
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And maybe it's different than what our answer is and just
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respect each other. We don't have to explain it to
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everybody, but just trust in our own answers or their own answer
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to and respect it. Yeah, it makes you wonder, like
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the people in Numbers Chapter 9, maybe their neighbors noticed
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all those guys aren't celebrating the Passover, and
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then a month later they do. They're like, oh, look at those
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guys. But yeah, we don't need to
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judge. Thank you.
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When this theme comes up in my life, I have to stop and ask
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myself, am I avoiding a lesson that God is trying to teach me?
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Because I don't want to admit when I'm wrong and it's
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sometimes denying me of the blessing of being able to offer
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my contrite heart to my Savior. So sometimes it requires me to
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really navigate the hard parts about being a human and then I
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have to stop and ask myself, is this bringing me closer to God
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or is this taking me further away with excuses?
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Yeah, thank you. The next story we'll explore is
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also in this genre of being an exception.
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So this is the story of the Daughters of Zoloft, Fahad.
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Here's what's happening. By the time we get to the end of
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the Book of Numbers, it's towards the end of the 40 years
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of wandering in the wilderness. So most of the people have died.
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And there was a man named Zolo Fahad who had passed away.
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He had seven daughters and no sons.
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So according to the law, the inheritance of all of his land
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is going to pass back into his tribe, not to his daughters.
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So the daughters could say, well, Oh well, we have nothing.
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Life's hard, but instead the daughters of Zolo Fahad stood
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before Moses and said our father died in the wilderness.
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Why should our father's name disappear from his clan because
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he had no son? Give us property among our
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father's relatives. What does Moses do?
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Well, of course, you know, Moses is always checking with the
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Lord. Moses brought their case before
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the Lord and God clearly responded.
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What Zolo Fahad's daughters are saying is right.
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You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among
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their father's relatives and give their father's inheritance
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to them. So because of the faith of the
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daughters of Zolo, Fahad and Moses, humility in turning to
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God, the whole inheritance law system is changed, not just for
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them, but for all of Israel going forward.
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To me, the story is a reminder that revelation is scattered
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among us. It's not Moses at the top giving
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all the information. There's lots of revelation
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coming through Moses. There's also revelation and
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insights scattered amongst the people.
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And I think we see the same thing today.
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You might remember the story of Aurelia Rogers in 1878.
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She was living in Utah, and she noticed a problem in her
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neighborhood. There were a lot of rowdy boys.
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And she thought to herself, there's no way these boys are
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going to grow up to be worthy husbands and fathers in Zion.
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So she had an idea of gathering these boys together and teaching
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them songs about Jesus and giving them instruction.
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But then she thought, you know, the boys don't sing very well,
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so I'm going to invite the girls to come too.
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You probably can see where this is going.
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Classes being organized for young children, singing songs,
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learning about Jesus. This is the beginning of the
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primary program. Primary starts because a woman
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saw a problem in her neighborhood and started solving
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it. Now you don't have to start a
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major church organization either to be like the daughters of
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Zulu. Fahad.
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A couple years ago, there was a woman in my steak, and she was
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really inspired by Elder Stevenson's comments and general
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conference about celebrating the Easter season, about emphasizing
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Palm Sunday and Good Friday. So it was around January or
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February, and she sent an e-mail to the stake presidency and
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said, hey, are we doing anything in our stake to celebrate Palm
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Sunday? They were back and said, no,
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we're not, but you're welcome to lead an initiative if you want.
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And so she got things together. And on the evening of Palm
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Sunday, we had 1500 plus people in our stake center gathered
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together and the children were up front singing, waving palm
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branches. It was incredible.
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And the woman could have complained.
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How come our steak doesn't do a Palm Sunday activity?
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But she saw a problem and she spoke up.
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Now, just like with many other true gospel principles, I think
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we have to be careful with this one because I think this story
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could be misapplied, right. Hiram Page thought he was
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receiving lots of good revelations, but he'd been
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deceived. And even if a person isn't
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deceived, I might have a really good idea, but I take it to my
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Bishop or my state president, and the suggestion isn't
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accepted. So I think there's different
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ways you can go wrong. You can go wrong by just sitting
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back, complaining, not offering your good ideas.
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But I can also go wrong by criticizing leaders if my ideas
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aren't accepted. And I love that the daughters of
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Zulu Fahad strike the balance. Now this takes us to probably
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the strangest story in all of scripture, or at least one of
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the top ten. It's the story of the talking
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donkey. And as we'll see you, you
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probably know the basic story, but you might not know the sad
25:45
ending of the story because sometimes we skip over it.
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So we're in numbers. Chapter 22, the 40 years of
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wandering in the wilderness is up.
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Israel's getting ready to enter the promised land, and the kings
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and the surrounding lands are nervous about Israel trying to
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take over their territory. So there's a guy named Balak.
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He's the king of Moab, and he goes to a local prophet whose
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name is Balaam. It's a little confusing because
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their names are like, Balak is the king, Balaam is the local
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prophet, and Balaam is not an Israelite.
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So Balak goes to Balaam, who's not an Israelite, but he's known
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as having prophetic powers, and he asks Balaam to curse Israel.
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Balaam's response is powerful. Balaam says, even if Balak were
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to give me his palace filled with silver and gold, I would be
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powerless to do anything against the will of the Lord my God.
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Nope, not going to help you. But then Balak sends more
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servants to Balaam, offering more promises, more treasure.
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So Balaam's like, well, maybe I'll ask the Lord again.
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Kind of reminds me of Joseph Smith, Martin Harris, and the
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Lost. 116 pages. So that night God came to Balaam
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and told them, since these men have come for you, get up and go
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with them, but do only what I tell you to do.
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So Balaam saddles up his donkey to go meet Balak, but it seems
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like right away he does something contrary to what God
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wants him to do. We read God sent the Angel of
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the Lord to stand in the road to block his way as Balaam was
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riding along. Balaam's donkey saw the Angel
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and bolted off the road into a field.
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But Balaam beat the donkey and turned it back onto the road.
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This happens three times and finally the donkey just lies
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down in the middle of the road. Balaam is so furious that he
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starts beating his donkey with a staff, and then the Lord gives
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the donkey the ability to speak. The donkey says, What have I
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done to you that deserves you beating me three times?
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Balaam said. You have made me look like a
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fool. If I had a sword with me, I
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would kill you. But I am the same donkey you
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have ridden all your life. Have I ever done anything like
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this before? Balaam realizes.
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No. Then the Lord opened Balaam's
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eyes and he saw the Angel of the Lord standing in the roadway
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with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell
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face down on the ground before him.
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The Angel said. Why did you beat your donkey
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those three times? I have come to block your way
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because you are stubbornly resisting me.
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Three times the donkey saw me and shield away.
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Otherwise I would have certainly killed you by now and spared the
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donkey. So Balaam confesses I have
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sinned. I didn't realize you were
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standing in the to block my way. I will return home if you are
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against my going. Got to love that about Balaam.
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His heart seems to be in the right place.
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OK I'll go back but the Angel says go with these men but say
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only what I tell you to say. So Balaam arrives.
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Balaam says please curse Israel, and multiple times Balaam opens
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his mouth. But every time he opens his
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mouth, instead of cursing, blessings come forth, including
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one of the clearest messianic prophecies in the Old Testament.
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Balaam said. I see him, but not here and now.
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I perceive him but far in the distant future.
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A star will rise from Jacob. A scepter will emerge from
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Israel. Maybe in the star rising we see
29:34
echoes. The Rising Star reminds us of
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the Star followed by the Wise Men.
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And notice the irony. Balaam was hired to curse God's
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people, but ended up proclaiming the one through whom all curses
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would be broken. Balak was so angry that Balaam
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had blessed Israel and not cursed it, that Balak said, I
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thought to promote thee unto great honor, but lo, the Lord
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hath kept thee back from honor. Now I think that's a great
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phrase to mark in your scriptures.
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The Lord has kept you back from honor.
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Think about it in your life. Has the Lord ever kept you back
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from honor? I'm reminded of the story.
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You probably are familiar with it.
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It's about a man named Hugh, and he was working in his garden.
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There was a current Bush that had really overgrown itself.
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And so he chopped it down to size.
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And mentally he could kind of hear the current Bush weeping,
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saying, why have you chopped me down?
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And Hugh said, I'm the gardener here.
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I know what I'm doing. Then years later, Hugh, who was
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a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was
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in line for a promotion in the military, but he was
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specifically denied the promotion because he was a
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member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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When this happened, he was devastated.
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And he turned to God and said, God, how could you let this
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happen to me? And he heard the Lord say back
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to him, I'm the gardener here. Can you see this example of the
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Lord keeping Huey Brown back from honor?
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Honor in the military. But God had a different plan.
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Eventually Huey Brown became a member of the First Presidency.
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So think about your life. When is choosing the right kept
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you back from honor? What happened in the short term,
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in the long term? In some cases, maybe there's a
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short term set back like Huey Brown received, but a long term
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blessing. And sometimes, as we've seen
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many times throughout this course, things don't always work
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out in mortality for the righteous.
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Sometimes the Lord will keep you back from honor.
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But if the story ended there, I think we'd still say what a
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great story, Balaam. He's faithful, he's strong, he
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prophecies of Christ love it. But then the story takes a dark
31:57
turn because on the outside, Balaam looks obedient.
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He's only speaking the words God gives to him, but inside he's
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scheming. He's still chasing after money.
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Balaam gives Balak an idea. He says, I can't curse Israel
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for you, but maybe you can corrupt Israel.
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The Book of Revelation tells us this part of the story.
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Balaam showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel.
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He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by
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committing sexual sin. So what we're about to read in
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the Book of Numbers? Revelation tells us this whole
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thing was Balaam's idea. While the Israelites were camped
32:40
at Acacia Grove, some of the men defiled themselves by having
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sexual relations with Moabite women.
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These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods,
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so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of
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Moab. In this way, Israel joined in
32:55
the worship of Baal of Pure, causing the Lord's anger to
32:59
blaze against His people. As a result of this idolatry,
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there's massive destruction and trials amongst the Israelites.
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Balaam didn't curse the Israelites with words, but he
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managed to corrupt them with temptation.
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So what happens to Balaam? It's an unfortunate ending for
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him. He's executed by the Israelites
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and that's the end of the story. And the New Testament he's held
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up as an example of what not to do.
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We read Balaam loved to earn money by doing wrong.
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At the end of the day, Balaam is kind of a paradox.
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Or some things he does and you think yes, go Balaam, but at the
33:34
end he loved money so much he chose to follow sin rather than
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the Savior. At the end of the day, his
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donkey saw things more clearly than he did.
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And I think if there is a hero in this story, it's got to be
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the donkey who in a way points us to Christ.
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Think about the donkey who is being beaten by Balaam, even
33:59
while the donkey is saving Balaam's life, pointing us to
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Christ, who was beaten by the very people he came to rescue.
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The donkey is the unlikeliest of heroes, but even he points to
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the true hero. Now, the final story we'll talk
34:17
about today has to do with a serpent on a pole.
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And it begins on a familiar note.
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The Israelites are complaining. Why have you brought us up out
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of Egypt? We will all die here in the
34:26
desert. There isn't any bread, there
34:29
isn't any water, and we hate this awful food.
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Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the Israelites.
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The snakes bit them. Many of the people died.
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The others came to Moses. Now I just want to pause here
34:43
for a moment. You'll notice that we're now
34:44
using the new Internet International Readers version,
34:47
which is written at a third grade level.
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And there are different things that make something a higher or
34:52
a lower grade level. For example, if you've got long
34:55
words, even if you can understand it, like the word
34:57
unprofitable, it's a longer word that would make it a higher
35:00
grade level. You also have archaic words,
35:03
which are words that we never use anymore.
35:07
Archaic itself almost sounds like an archaic word.
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And then there's also the length of sentences.
35:12
If a sentence is really long, that makes it harder to
35:15
understand. So you'll notice here in the New
35:17
International Readers Version, all the sentences are really
35:21
short. And that might be annoying to
35:24
some of us, but remember, this version of the Bible is
35:26
translated from the earliest available manuscripts and it's
35:29
designed to be read by a third grader.
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So we keep reading. The people say we have sinned
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when we spoke against the Lord and against you.
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Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.
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So Moses prayed for the people. Even with all their complaining,
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Moses is still loving. He's always checking with the
35:49
Lord. The Lord said to Moses, make a
35:51
snake, put it up on a pole, then anyone who is bitten can look at
35:55
it and remain alive. So Moses made a bronze snake, he
35:59
put it up on a pole, then anyone who was bitten by a snake and
36:03
looked at the bronze snake remained alive.
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Now, a question that sometimes people have is why would a snake
36:10
be used to represent Jesus Christ?
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You're probably thinking to yourself, I wish I could read a
36:15
whole article on this topic. Wish granted.
36:18
I have linked to one on the course website, and you should
36:20
definitely check it out. For our purposes, we'll focus
36:23
less on the snake and more on the fact that prophets in the
36:27
Book of Mormon clearly understood that this symbol
36:31
pointed to Christ. Alma said Jesus Christ was
36:34
spoken of by Moses. Yeah, a type was raised up in
36:38
the wilderness that whosoever would look upon it might live.
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And many did look, look and live.
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Now notice that many looked, but not everyone, Nephi explains.
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The labor which they had to perform was to look, and because
36:53
of simpleness of the way or the easiness of it, there were many
36:59
who perished because it just seemed too easy.
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They might have said, what? Leave my tent to go look at a
37:05
serpent on a pole? That's never going to work.
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And it makes me wonder if we, too, are ever hesitant to do the
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simple things. And it came to pass that there
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once was a man named David. David was struggling in his
37:18
marriage. It seemed like every
37:19
conversation with his wife ended in contention.
37:23
So we turned to an older couple in his ward.
37:26
David admired this couple, and he thought that they might give
37:29
him some good advice. What do you do to have a strong
37:32
marriage? He asked them.
37:33
Well, the wife said with a smile, we pray together every
37:37
day. We read the scriptures together.
37:39
The husband said we make it a priority to attend church and
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the temple together as a couple. As David walked away, he was
37:47
disappointed. He thought to himself, that's
37:49
just the typical church answers. That stuff won't help me.
37:54
Alma said the reason they would not look is because they did not
37:59
believe that it would heal them. Sometimes it's the simple things
38:03
that we don't have faith I believe in.
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About 100 years after Alma, on the other side of the world,
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Jesus Christ was talking with a man named Nicodemus.
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Christ referred to this same story.
38:16
He said Moses lifted up the snake in the desert.
38:19
In the same way, the Son of Man must also be lifted up.
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And remember in Scripture that phrase lifted up in reference to
38:28
Christ is talking about his crucifixion.
38:31
The Savior says the Son of Man also must be lifted up.
38:34
Then everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
38:39
On another occasion Christ said I am going to be lifted up from
38:44
the earth. When I am, I will bring all
38:49
people to myself. In the desert.
38:52
God's people found life by looking at a serpent on a pole.
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At Calvary. We are pulled to Jesus Christ,
39:00
lifted up on a cross. Those who look to him will live.
39:06
So today we've been wandering in the wilderness with the
39:09
Israelites. We've seen complaining about
39:12
hard things. We've seen being proactive and
39:14
exceptions to the rules and even a talking donkey.
39:18
Each story points to Jesus Christ.
39:23
As we're all wandering in our own wildernesses, we're going to
39:26
face lots of challenges, lots of difficulties.
39:29
How do we get through the wilderness?
39:33
Could it really be so simple? Could looking to Jesus Christ
39:38
really be enough?