What the Book of Numbers Taught Me About My Identity in Christ

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Have you ever started reading the book of Numbers and found yourself struggling to stay awake?

For years, that’s exactly how I felt.

• The long lists of names.
• The repetitive offerings.
• The detailed instructions.

I often found myself wondering why God didn’t simply summarize entire chapters in a few sentences.

But one day, while reading through those seemingly repetitive passages, I discovered something I had completely missed.

Hidden among the censuses, tribal assignments, and tabernacle duties was a powerful lesson about my identity in Christ.

And once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it.

What caught my attention wasn’t the tribes that were counted.

It was the tribe that wasn’t.

We see that as the Israelites prepare to go to the Promised Land, they number those able to go to war because they will face off with their enemies as they go in to seize the land God had promised them.

Do we know how to battle our enemy?

Do we properly use the weapons God has given us to face off with the enemy of our souls and defeat him?

However, there was one tribe they did not number: the Levites.

The Tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe; they held the sacred duty of serving the Lord in the tabernacle. In fact, we see this stated throughout chapter 3:

You shall take the Levites for Me – I  am the Lord – instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel. Numbers 3:41

At first, this might seem like a minor detail.

But it actually points forward to one of the most important truths of the New Testament: who we are in Christ.

In Exodus 19, God told Moses to tell all the people of Israel. “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

God never intended there to be a tribe of priests; His intent all along was for the nation of Israel to be a kingdom of priests.

But then something happened.

In Exodus 20, after God descended on Mount Sinai, the people responded very differently than God intended:

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

What the Book of Numbers Taught Me About My Identity in Christ

The nation of Israel had experienced an amazing visitation of God, unlike anyone in history before had experienced.

He came down to them in all His glory and power, and rather than standing in awe of Him, rather than embracing His visitation, they chose to withdraw from Him.

But they didn’t just withdraw from Him; they rejected Him. They said to Moses, “We don’t want to hear from God; we want you to hear from God, and then you can tell us what He said.”

The consequence of their rejection was that God chose the tribe of Levi to be the priestly tribe.

Are there times when we withdraw from the presence of God rather than daily standing in awe of His presence?

In the desert, every tribe had its own position surrounding the temple.

Do we know our place in God’s kingdom?

Then something remarkable happens.

What Israel lost through fear and distance from God is restored through Jesus Christ.

After Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we read Peter’s words:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.

Through Christ, what was lost through fear and distance from God was restored.

Once again, God’s people became a royal priesthood—a kingdom of priests unto our God.

But there’s one more detail in Numbers that completely changed the way I think about my identity in Christ.

In Numbers chapter four, we read how each family in the Levite tribe had a special role in carrying parts of the tabernacle as they traveled through the desert.

This was a very serious thing because each utensil in the tabernacle was consecrated.

The Ark of the Covenant, which contained the literal presence of God, was special. They were not to look upon it nor touch it, or they’d die.

However, God no longer dwells in a box. God dwells in the hearts of mankind, and we have become His holy tabernacle.

What do we carry around with us wherever we go?

Do we carry around the sacred presence of God?

Or do we carry things God never intended us to carry?

• Our past.
• Our shame.
• Our hurts.
• Our disappointments.
• Rejection.
• Self-condemnation.
• Our perceptions of what other people think about us.

If we are God’s dwelling place, then what fills our hearts matters.

These questions are significant because how we understand our identity in Christ will determine how we approach our role in the body.

No one role is more significant than the rest.

No one role is better or higher than the rest.

We are all priests unto our God.

Yes, we all have a different function in the body: some are lay ministers, some are pastors, some are prophets, some are teachers; but we all have a role in the body.

Just as the kidneys – which we don’t see –  are vital to the health of our body, so the head is also vital to the life of the body.

One is seen, the other is not. But the body cannot exist without either.

The book of Numbers taught me something I never expected to learn from a list of tribes and tabernacle duties.

My identity is not found in my past, my failures, or what other people think of me.

My identity is found in Christ.

✔️ I am part of a royal priesthood.

✔️ I have a place in God’s kingdom.

✔️ And I carry His presence wherever I go.

✔️ The same is true for you.

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