The God of the Second Chance

NUMBERS 9

Law. It has a very negative ring to it, doesn’t it? It sounds like rules and regulations, which we naturally hate. We instinctively respond, “Don’t tie me down! Don’t tell me what to do or who to be!” We want to define ourselves and do whatever we wish. Mercy and forgiveness, on the other hand, are very popular. Everyone wants to be allowed to fail, to escape the negative consequences of our actions, and to be given a second chance. Nowhere are these diverse attitudes more apparent than in the spiritual realm. As soon as you talk to people about God and God’s Law, the questions and opinions flow. Do you want to start a heated discussion at your place of work or school? Just ask the question, “Is God a God of rules and regulations, or is he a God of grace and mercy and love?” and sit back and watch the results. That’s a question about which everyone has an opinion. Even those who don’t believe God exists have ideas about what kind of God he ought to be if he did.

Many of those ideas revolve around the relationship between law and grace, obligation and mercy, regulation and forgiveness. Some people describe their understanding of a God who is almost all justice and obligation, with very little mercy and grace. Others (a much larger group) urge a view of an easygoing God whose obligations and regulations are fairly negotiable, swamped by his general beneficence toward mankind. Many would depict the Old Testament view of God as the former, an unbending, harsh, legalistic God, while suggesting that the New Testament shows us a kind, loving, and merciful God. That’s not a new idea. It goes all the way back to the second-century heretic Marcion, who wanted to separate “modern” New Testament Christianity from its “old-fashioned” Old Testament roots. Whatever your view, though, clearly the relationship between law and grace, between God’s justice and God’s mercy is an important one, and one that this passage in Numbers 9 is going to clarify for us in some remarkable ways.


THE GOD OF RULES AND REGULATIONS

The first thing this passage confirms for us is that God is indeed a God of rules and regulations, a God who is concerned about precise obedience. God spoke to Moses and commanded the Israelites to celebrate the Passover (v. 2). It was not simply an invitation to join him at the temple of their choice if they felt like it. God commanded them to celebrate the Passover. This was the first month of the second year of the exodus; so it would have been the first time that the Israelites celebrated the Passover after the original historic event of the Passover meal. God was reminding them that this meal had not been instituted simply as a unique event but as an annual celebration, a lasting commemoration for the generations to come (see Exodus 12:14).

Nor were the Israelites free to improvise and innovate when it came to the manner in which they celebrated the Passover. God had told them when and how they were to celebrate the Passover: in the first month from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, they were to eat bread with no yeast. At the end of that time, each family was to take its own Passover lamb and slaughter it, collecting the blood. They were to smear the blood on the top and sides of the entrance to their house (Exodus 12:22), and then to eat the body of the lamb inside their safely marked houses. They were not to break any of its bones (Exodus 12:46). Nor was this simply a mime show. Unlike circumcision, which demanded no comprehension from those taking part, the children participating in this ceremony were expected to ask questions and to understand the answers. They would ask, “What does this ceremony mean?” and receive the answer, explaining the significance of the Passover as a reenactment of the great act of deliverance by which God’s people were redeemed out of Egypt (Exodus 12:26, 27).

The proper and precise celebration of the Passover is thus very much the focus of the opening section of Numbers 9. God told the people not simply to celebrate the Passover but to celebrate it at the appointed time, in accordance with all of its rules and regulations (vv. 2, 3). The Israelites could not celebrate the Passover however they felt led—for example, with lox and bagels rather than lamb and matzos, or on the night of the fifteenth rather than the fourteenth because the fourteenth was always their night for going bowling. It was not enough to do what God had asked in some vague way. Precise, detailed obedience was necessary on the part of Israel, and precise, detailed obedience was what they delivered. We are told, “according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did” (v. 5). The same concern for rules and regulations emerges again at the end of our passage (v. 14): the resident alien who lived among Israel could also celebrate the Passover (if he had been circumcised; see Exodus 12:48), but he too must follow all of its rules and regulations.


THE PRINCIPLE OF PRECISE OBEDIENCE

Here, then, is our first principle from this passage: in serving God, precise obedience to all of his rules and regulations is necessary. This is true in all of life: in every area we are to be governed by God’s rules and regulations, by the richness of God’s revelation of his will for our lives in his Word, the Bible. I am to obey God in everything—in the words that I say, in my conduct, even in the thoughts that I think. Even brushing my teeth or choosing whether to buy a new car or one that is used are acts that are governed by his Word in a general way.

However, it is particularly true that our worship of God is to be governed by his Word. After all, God has a lot more to say in his Word on the subject of worship than he does about tooth brushing and car buying. One of the principles that is to govern the church in our worship, just as for their Passover, is that we are always and only to do what God has commanded in his Word. He has not simply commanded us to worship him and left it up to us to decide how that worship is to be offered. On the contrary, when we worship him we do so according to all of the rules and regulations in his Word, seeking carefully to do not only what he has commanded but to do it in the way that he has commanded. This is the principle that is often called “the regulative principle of worship.”1 We don’t do anything in worship simply because it appeals to our emotions or to our culture or because it is traditional. We need to have a good Biblical reason for why we do everything that we do in worship.

Now, of course, just believing in the regulative principle of worship doesn’t solve all worship issues, any more than agreeing with your daughter that she should dress in accord with Biblical guidelines tells you exactly which outfit she should wear today. Some forms of attire are obviously clearly excluded by the Biblical requirement of modesty. It is not hard to reach agreement that extremely revealing necklines and ultrashort skirts do not meet the Biblical test. Other outfits will be more debatable. Biblical modesty does not mean, at least in my judgment, that girls need to dress like transplants from the last century. Different families will sometimes come up with different guidelines and different judgment calls. The important thing, though, is that having agreed on the basic principle with your daughter, you have a basis on which to have good discussions and reach godly conclusions.

It is the same way with worship.2 Some churches that affirm the regulative principle of worship may do things in worship that make me uncomfortable, while others may interpret the Bible in ways that are more restrictive than my understanding. Yet if we agree on the principle that in worship we only do what God has commanded and absolutely nothing else, no matter how well-intentioned, then we have a basis to sit down and talk and seek to reach a fuller awareness of what the Word of God actually says.

That is the principle that governs the worship at the church I pastor: we will only do what God has actually commanded us in his Word. Because of this commitment, we don’t do some things that you will find in many other evangelical churches. At the same time, our worship is not necessarily the same as every other Reformed church: the regulative principle of worship does not necessarily lead to cookie cutter conformity. Whatever we do in worship—or don’t do—we believe we have a Biblical reason for it. Behind all of the specifics is the bigger principle that in worship we only do what God has commanded us. The God of the Bible is a God to whom specifics matter, a God who is concerned about rules and regulations, about precise obedience to his commands.


THE GOD OF SECOND CHANCES

Yet the focus of the passage as a whole is not simply on the fact that God is a God of specifics who expects his rules and regulations to be observed precisely. It also shows us a second principle—namely, that God is a God of second chances. The center of the chapter addresses the situation of a number of Israelites who were unable to take part in the regular Passover meal because they were ceremonially unclean. That was a severe problem since taking part in the Passover was not an optional activity. You couldn’t just say, “Oh well, I’ll catch the fun next year.” On the contrary, anyone who did not partake in the Passover was to be excluded from the community (Exodus 12:19, 47). It was not that this group of people had willfully ignored the Passover command or even carelessly neglected their duties. They had come in contact with a dead body, either accidentally or as a matter of necessity, and so were unable to partake at the regular time (9:7). What were they to do? Must they be excommunicated from the Lord’s people?

That was the issue that these men brought to Moses, which he in turn took to the Lord (v. 8). In response to their inquiry, the Lord gave an additional commandment that addressed not only this situation but others that were like it. The question they had asked concerned only those who were ceremonially unclean through contact with a dead body (v. 7). The answer was broader, however, addressing also those who might be unable to keep the Passover because they were on a long journey (v. 10). In other words, God used this specific incident to address a wider issue in worship.

What was the Lord’s response? In the first place, notice that the solution to their problem was not to pretend there was no problem. God didn’t say to them that exact obedience doesn’t really matter, provided their heart was in the right place. The Lord didn’t permit these men to participate in the Passover in an unclean state, nor did he let them celebrate it at whatever time they may wish. Yet at the same time, he recognized that precise obedience is not always possible in a fallen world, and so he provided for a second-chance Passover, an “irregular” celebration. This second-chance Passover was to be celebrated exactly one month after the first and was to be observed in accordance with all the same rules and regulations (v. 11). It was the same precisely observed Passover, simply one month later. What is more, this second-chance Passover was only for those with a valid reason for not observing the Passover at the proper time. Those who had no excuse and simply failed to observe the Passover at the time when they ought to were still to be cut off from the community (v. 13).


THE IRREGULAR PRINCIPLE

This irregular principle of worship (and, more broadly, of life) is very important to our thinking as Christians because in a fallen world we often find ourselves in situations where precise obedience to God’s Word is simply impossible. Sometimes our past sin places us in a situation where there seems no way to get from where we are to where we ought to be. Perhaps a man married someone who is not a Christian, even though he knew it was wrong to do so. Now he finds himself stuck in an awkward situation, unable to do everything God’s Word requires. Or perhaps a wife finds spiritual leadership in her home thrust upon her because she’s married to an unbeliever (what the Bible calls “an unequal yoke”). If God were simply a God of rules and regulations, such persons would be without hope. Yet because God is the God of second chances, there is hope for them. They can repent of their sin and find a way back to an obedience that is as close as possible to what it ought to be. God’s grace is sufficient for all of us.

Perhaps you find yourself on the horns of a dilemma because of the general fallenness of the world and the complexities of life. Starting a new church involves all kinds of irregularities. Biblically, churches ought to be governed by a plurality of elders (see Titus 1:5). That is undoubtedly the right way to do things, and wherever possible it is the best way to plant a church as well. Yet in a new church you cannot always have multiple elders present from the outset. Sometimes the church planter is effectively alone in spiritual oversight, a kind of local pope. Is that the right way of doing things? No. However, if you only ever did things the “right” way, many ministry opportunities would be lost! Is it wrong to sometimes have a church under the oversight of a single church planter? No, it is not wrong, but it is irregular.
Sometimes a tribe of polygamists comes to faith in Christ. It is not Biblical for a man to have more than one wife. Yet if the husbands put away their multiple wives, these women may be left facing shame, poverty, and isolation. One solution is to recognize this as an irregular situation: those who have married multiple wives in the past can keep them and continue to provide for all of their needs, but no more polygamous marriages are permitted within the church. Over the course of time the situation gradually moves from irregular to regular.

The irregular category bridges the gap between right and wrong by recognizing that there are some situations where pursuing one Biblical principle and meeting people’s needs necessarily brings you into conflict with another Biblical principle. The solution is neither to declare the Biblical principles irrelevant, as liberals would, nor to declare people’s needs disposable, like the Pharisees. It is rather to seek God’s direction and to do the best you can in the present circumstances, while moving as quickly as possible toward fulfilling all of the Biblical principles. As this passage shows us, God is not just the God of rules and regulations, but the God who extends grace and mercy into the messy world of reality.


GRACE TO THE ALIENS AND STRANGERS

Further, God’s grace is not simply extended to his own people, to the descendants of Abraham. That brings us to the third principle in this passage: God’s grace reaches out to include the aliens and strangers among his people in the Passover meal (v. 14). Think about the profound symbolism of that inclusion. The Passover meal was the celebration of God’s redemption of his people out of Egypt, in faithfulness to his promise to Abraham. God had obligated himself to deliver this people and to give them a land in which to live. Yet he had no obligation to anyone beyond the boundaries of that family. He had made no promises to these aliens and strangers of the kind he had made to Abraham. Yet even those who by birth were outsiders to the covenant could be included in his people and celebrate the Passover. All they had to do was to come by faith and receive the covenant sign of circumcision in order to be received into the covenant community. Then they too could eat the Passover meal, with all of its symbolism.

This is a principle that we saw graphically depicted for us recently in my church through the baptisms of three children adopted from other countries. By nature these children were outsiders to God’s promises. They weren’t born into the homes of believing families. Left to themselves, they might each have grown up as outsiders to the gospel, never even hearing about faith in Jesus Christ. Yet by God’s grace they have been brought into the covenant community, just as our natural-born children are. When they are able to understand and profess the reality of that redemption for themselves, they too can partake in the new-covenant meal of the Lord’s Supper. Indeed, God’s gracious inclusion of aliens and strangers into his people covers most of us. Hardly any of us are by birth children of Abraham. Yet God in his mercy and grace has reached out more widely than simply to Israel with the gospel. He has brought those who were once far from him into his kingdom as his sons and daughters.


LAW AND GRACE

How can this be though? How can one God be a God of rules and regulations, a God who insists that we worship him in strict accord with the principles laid down in his Word, and at the same time also be the God of mercy and grace who gives second chances and includes aliens and strangers? Is God schizophrenic, unable to make up his mind whether to be strict or to be merciful? Certainly not! Nor is this a contrast between a rule-making God of the Old Testament and the gracious God revealed in the New Testament. Both aspects of God’s character are here in the Old Testament. The Passover itself shows us how God can be both the God of absolute obedience and of grace and mercy. At the first Passover, one life was substituted for the life of another. The Passover lamb took the place of the firstborn son and enabled him to live through its death. Nor was it an even exchange. You couldn’t just take a mangy and worthless lamb and offer it as your Passover lamb. It had to be a lamb without any spot or blemish, perfect in every way, without a broken bone even in death. Yet your firstborn son didn’t have to be perfect at all: whether he was a little angel on the one hand, or a rambunctious, self-absorbed hellion on the other, his personal holiness had nothing to do with his life being spared. All he needed was the faith to be inside the house that was daubed with the blood of the perfect lamb.

No wonder Paul calls Jesus Christ “our Passover lamb” (1 Corinthians 5:7). For Jesus Christ is the reality to which that Passover lamb pointed year after year. The Passover lamb testified to a salvation that came by grace through simple faith to sinners. It pointed them to God’s commitment to save a people for himself by the perfection of a substitute, someone who would fulfill all of God’s rules and regulations in their place, enabling God to extend his grace and mercy to them. It spoke of a cosmic second chance for unclean humanity—that even though in our first parent, Adam, we all sinned and therefore deserve God’s rejection and his wrath, in Christ we receive his mercy and his blessing. All we have to do to receive forgiveness is place our faith in Christ.

Does that mean, then, that it doesn’t matter how we live because Christ has done it all for us? By no means. Those who received a second-chance Passover were not to be emboldened to sin by that opportunity. On the contrary, as they sat down to eat the body of their Passover one month after everyone else, their hearts should have been stirred to such thankfulness for the Lord’s mercy and grace that they resolved to live lives of new obedience to all of his rules and regulations. It is no coincidence that the Passover feast combined the sacrifice of the spotless lamb with a period of abstention from anything containing leaven. Leaven, with its association with change and decay, was a natural symbol for sin, corruption, and death. Those who are redeemed from death by the lamb should be eager to flee from sin and death. This is the connection that Paul makes in 1 Corinthians 5:7, 8: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

God’s rules and regulations are nothing less than his wisdom written down to guide and guard our hearts and lives. There is therefore no conflict in the end between God’s precise demands and his loving-kindness. He has fulfilled the Law’s demands for us in Christ and thereby enables us to come to him with reverence and delight and profound wonder. We who once were aliens and strangers, completely separated from his people, have by his grace and mercy been grafted into his people. We who are God’s second-chance people by grace should as a result be eager to worship and serve this God according to all of his revealed will, so that he might receive the praise and glory that is due him.

Duguid, I. M., & Hughes, R. K. (2006). Numbers: God’s presence in the wilderness (pp. 121–128). Crossway Books.