«　WEEK 1　DAY 4　»

　　Exo. 12:51 And on that very day Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

　　13:18 Thus God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up arrayed for battle out of the land of Egypt.

　　Chapter 3 of Philippians indicates that Christ should be our goal, our aim. We who love the Lord and seek Him are not aimless. Our aim is Christ Himself. He is the goal toward which we press. (Life-study of Philippians, p. 8)

　　In Numbers we see God's redeemed people being formed into His army and their journey in fighting for God. The army is for God's people to fight so that God can gain the ground on earth to build up His kingdom with His habitation.

　　At this point, I would like to make a comparison between Numbers and Leviticus. Leviticus stresses the redeemed's worship and living. Numbers stresses the redeemed's journey and fighting. In Leviticus God's redeemed were instructed in how to worship God and live a holy life. In Numbers God's redeemed were formed into an army and fought for Him throughout their journey.

　　In Numbers we can see three things: the formation of an army, the journeys of that army, and the fighting of the army. The formation of the army was for fighting, and the fighting required the army to journey, not to stay in one spot. Always the children of Israel were going on from place to place to gain ground that God might have a people to be built up for His kingdom and His house. For this reason, in Numbers we have the army, the journey, and the fighting. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 2-3)

　　Chapters 1 and 2 of the book of Numbers reveal that the children of Israel were formed into an army because they were surrounded by enemies. This army was necessary for the protection of God's testimony. Around the church as God's testimony today, there are many enemies. Because we are an anti-testimony, there are many enemies to the Lord's recovery. Hence, there is the need of an army to protect the testimony. We have seen that this army does not take care of the Tent of Meeting directly. Rather, according to the picture in Numbers, the army was encamped around the tabernacle to protect the sphere, the realm, in which the tabernacle was erected. For the keeping of the Tent of Meeting, there was the need for a peaceful sphere. Because the twelve tribes camped around the Tent of Meeting, wherever the children of Israel went, there was a peaceful realm in which the tabernacle could be erected. Today in the Lord's recovery we need the young people to be an army encamped around the church life.

　　Following Leviticus we come to Numbers, a book of service. The Hebrew word service in Numbers 4:3 has the meaning of military service and thus refers to warfare. God viewed the children of Israel in the wilderness as an army fighting for His testimony. Apparently, the children of Israel were fighting for themselves. Actually, they were fighting for God's testimony on earth, for among them was the Tabernacle of the Testimony, God's dwelling place on earth. In this warfare there were two main functions: the function of fighting the enemies and the function of maintaining the tabernacle, which represented God's testimony in the universe. Only those between the ages of thirty and fifty had the privilege of doing the work in and around the tabernacle. Those between twenty and thirty, however, were qualified for the military service, that is, for fighting the enemy. Numbers 1:3 says, "From twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth for military service in Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their companies." This indicates that those over the age of twenty were qualified for military service. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, "All Ages for the Lord's Testimony," pp. 11, 4-5)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1977, vol. 2, "All Ages for the Lord's Testimony," chs. 1-2; CWWL, 1986, vol. 2, "Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord's Recovery, Book 1: The Vision and Definite Steps for the Practice of the New Way," ch. 14