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As part of an excursus from our study of Luke 22 on Yeshua’s teachings to the 12 during and just after His last Pesakh (Passover) with them, we’re looking at John 13-17. There appears to be a number of parallels between John 14 and Num. 10:29-12:15 that seem to suggest that the “going” Yeshua is referring to would be into the grave and then to God’s throne, reserving the privilege to dwell with God for anyone in the wold who want it.
There is a chiastic structure in John 14-20 that is similar to the chiastic structure in Num. 10:29-12:15. The children of Israel and the Apostles had seen many great works done in their midst. They knew what God and what Yeshua could do. They had to make the same choice: Will I follow or not?
Five themes common to John 14–20 and Numbers 10–12
Where are we going?
Moses pleaded with his father in law not to leave them because Yitro (Jethro), who was a Midianite knew the land and knew where they could camp (Num. 10:29-32). The Apostle Thomas pleaded with Yeshua not to leave them because He was the only one who knew the way (John 14:5).
Yitro and Yeshua both said no. They had to leave the camp.
Three days’ journey towards rest
The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and the cloud led the way for three days “to seek out a resting place for them (Num. 10:33-34).
Moshe prayed for victory over Israel’s enemies when the Ark left (Num. 10:35-36). Moshe pleads for God to “return” when the Ark stopped. This is shortly before they were going to send the spies into the land the first time. The children of Israel didn’t trust Moshe’s prayer to God for their victory.
I used to think that Yeshua’s comments about finding rest were about Yeshua going to heaven. Yeshua said that he would teach us that true rest is all about.
Can we trust You?
Some in Israel continually complained of the various hardships of God’s leading during the Exodus. God sent a fire on the outskirts of the tents of the encampment.
They gathered in the front of their tents with a “desirous desire” complaining and weeping before God about only getting the daily bread of manna and lusted for the cornucopia and fleshpots of Egypt.
Yeshua said that God’s people should be thankful for their daily bread, whatever that daily bread is. The daily bread is a message of God’s provision. He will give you enough to live.
Deut. 8:2-4 Moshe gives us the lesson of the manna.
“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” (Dt. 8:2–4)
Yeshua answered Thomas by assuring them that He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” Yeshua has been showing the 12 and Israel proper who God is and God’s concern for their situation and yearnings.
Enter the Spirit
The people were demanding meat, “Show me the meat” God did and they got the plague. This incident caused Moshe to realize that he was doing too much work and he finally harkens to his father in law’s advise to delegate.
After that, God tells Moshe to pick 70 elders of Israel and God would put his Spirit on them to lessen Moshe’s burden on leading the people.
Just as Moshe was given comforters and helpers, Yeshua promises the Apostles that they will receive a Comforter and Counselor to help them in their duties.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” (Jn. 14:16–17)
Who really speaks for God?
After the plague of meat that follows the answering of the putrid “prayers” of the petulant, Aharon (Aaron) and sister Miriam, seemingly spurred on by Moshe’s “foreign” wife, challenge Moshe’s relationship with God. The LORD challenges them about who the LORD appears to face to face, and Miriam is disciplined with an “unclean” skin condition (Num 12:1–8).
Moshe doesn’t just receive visions and dreams. He spoke with God face to face as with a friend. This is referenced by Yeshua in John 16 when Yeshua tells the Apostles that they are His friends.
Yeshua started revealing to the 12 the deep connection He has with the Father, and how they could also form such a personal connection, becoming a friend of Yeshua and, thus, a friend of God, the way Moshe was a friend of God.
Yeshua said to Love God and to do what he Says. Be careful about bickering about what you think God should do. God will do what He wants to go when He wants to do it and will use whoever He wills to do it.
If you love Me, keep My Commandments?
This is always how God’s Torah was supposed to go out. It was always a spirit-lead movement. Yeshua’s words and God’s words in the Torah are the same.
The “disciple whom Yeshua loved” (Jn. 13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20) recorded this instruction from Him at least six times (Jn. 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 1Jn. 5:3; 2Jn. 6).
Are “My commandments” different from the LORD’s commandments, i.e., the Torah, the Law? As we had discussed, Yeshua just had given a “new command” to “love one another, even as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34–35).
The long-suffering, selfless patience and giving of God is our model for loving God (not in patience with any supposed failings but trusting that the LORD’s plan is best) and loving other people. This is how the Torah was intended to be lived out.
They saw God in action in the Torah, and the 12 apostles saw God in action through Yeshua.
A note on John 14:2-3
When Yeshua said to “believe in God” He was actually saying “you believe in God,” according to the translators of the New American Standard Bible. Without the pronoun, one might think that trust in Yeshua is different from trust in God.
Speaker: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.