Falaite Fepueli 20, 2026

NOMIPA 21-22; SAAME 96:10-13

God, the righteous Judge, is also a gracious Redeemer. Because sin exists and leads to death, both judgment and atonement are necessary.

Ko e ‘Otua, ko e fakamaau faitotonu, ka ko e Huhu’i ‘alo’ofa. Ka koe’uhi ko e kei ‘i ai ‘a e angahala ‘oku iku ki he mate, ‘e kei fiema’u pe ‘a e fakamaau mo e totongi huhu’i.

You would not want to live in a city where there was no law, no punishment for crime, and no restoration for the criminal. Life in such a city would be dangerous and unbearable. In the same way, you and I should be thankful that God is a perfectly holy Judge who hates sin in all of its forms. You and I should be thankful that sin has consequences and penalties. You and I should be thankful that the one who sits on the throne of the universe takes sin seriously and is angry with sin every day. If God were to turn his back and let sin reign on the earth, we would have no hope. At the same time, you and I should never stop celebrating that, because God is who he is, he not only judges sin but also extends grace for sinners. This is the overarching plot of the biblical story: sin, judgment, and atonement.

That plot plays out in brief form in Numbers 21:4-9. The people of Israel attacked the very character of God: his goodness, his faithfulness, and his commitment to provide. They said they hated where God had led them and loathed what he had provided. There is no way that a holy God who loved his children could have turned his back on this rebellion. So God sent deadly serpents among his people. The serpents were both a discipline and a warning.

But God was not done. He had no intention of wiping out his children. As he disciplined them in righteous anger, he remembered his covenant to them and provided for them a way of escape. He commanded Moses to put a bronze serpent on a pole; those who looked upon it would live. Here again is the great plot of the biblical narrative: sin, judgment, and atonement. But here also is a foreshadowing of where the biblical story is headed. There would be another tree. Nailed to it was not a serpent but the Son of God. He hung there as the atoning sacrifice for my sins and yours (John 3:14-15). We, too, have questioned God's goodness. At times we have loathed what he has provided. We have rebelled against his authority, choosing to follow our own way. We have looked back longingly at the idols that once enslaved us. We deserved God's judgment, but he met us at that tree outside the city walls. His anger with sin and his grace toward the sinner drove Jesus to the cross.

Because of God's unrelenting anger with sin and because of the magnitude of his grace, there will be a day when sin will be no more. There will be no more rebellion. There will be no more questions of his goodness. There will be no more challenges to his authority. And we will be with him in a place of complete peace and righteousness forever. God takes sin seriously, and, because he does, we have hope now and for all of eternity.

 Tu’apulelulu Fepueli 19, 2026

NOMIPA 18-20; SIONE 6:25-40 

Not only is God the ultimate provider, but he is also the ultimate provision.

‘Oku ‘ikai ngata pe ‘i he tokonaki ‘e he ‘Otua ‘etau ngaahi fiema’u, ka ko Ia pe ‘a hotau tofi’a fakatalutalu.

Nothing gives a person more security and rest of heart than knowing that the King of kings has promised to provide for him. God is the Creator, owner, sustainer, and ruler of all things. Nothing that exists is outside of his command. When he says he will provide, not only does he have the position and power to do so, but his storehouse is limitless. Because his eye is always on his children and his ears are always open to their cries, he never fails to provide just what they need, just when they need it. This is God's faithful commitment to all of his children. But his promises to Aaron and the Levite priests were different and unique.

Because of their priestly duties, they had no means of support and no inheritance in the land. God set up a system of tithing so that what they needed would be provided. Their security was not in this system, however, but in the unique and powerful commitment of the Lord. Note these words in Numbers 18:20: "The LORD said to Aaron, 'You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel." These words are meant to instill hope and security.

When God says, "I am your portion," he is saying that he is their inheritance and their provider. But there is more. God is saying, in effect, "Your allotment, your portion, of what has been provided is me. I am not just your provider; I am the provision. You have hope and security, no matter what, because I, the Lord of heaven and earth, have given myself to you."

You may wonder what this has to do with you. Because of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we, God's children by grace, are a "royal priesthood," a "holy nation" (1 Pet. 2:9). By grace we can enter the Holy of Holies and stand before God unafraid. By grace we have been called and welcomed into the service of worship and we present our bodies as living sacrifices before him (Rom. 12:1). We are not just God's adopted children; we are a community of priests before him under the chief priest, Jesus Christ.

Not only does God say to us "I am your portion forever" and make provision for all our needs, but he is the ultimate provision. He has given us himself forever. We who were once poor are now rich because God is our inheritance forever. He not only provides for what we need; he is what we most desperately need. This gift is too huge in grace and glory for our limited minds to grasp. In the full range of his glorious glory, God has given himself to us. Could there be any better news than this?

 Pulelulu Fepueli 18, 2026

NOMIPA 16-17; ‘AISEA 52:13-53:12

Jesus stands as the mediator between us and God. He takes God's judgment on himself, so that it will not fall on us. What amazing grace!

‘Oku tu’u ‘a Sisu ko e taukapo ‘i he vaha’a ‘o e tangata mo ‘Otua. ‘Oku ne tali ke hilifaki kiate Ia ‘a e fakamaau ‘a e ‘Otua, ke ‘oua na’a to mai kiate kitautolu. He toki kelesi fakaofo mo’oni!

Some moments in Old Testament history summarize the entire redemptive narrative for us in one story. We need to pray that God would give us eyes to see these examples of redeeming grace and to understand that they are always about Jesus. In Numbers 16 we find ourselves at a shocking and sad moment in the story of God and his people. In holy anger God metes out judgment against his rebellious and complaining people. God will not compromise his high and holy requirements in order to have communion with his people. He will not allow challengers to his authority, faithfulness, or loving provision. In this moment we are reminded again that the wages of sin is always the same: death.

But this is not just a sad passage of holy judgment; it is also a beautiful portrait of God's provision of redeeming grace. Though 14,700 Israelites died, a tool of intervening grace spared the nation from being entirely wiped out. Aaron was the tool of this grace. He literally ran and stood between the dead bodies and those who were alive, with his censer filled with incense, to make atonement for God's people. Priests were never to come near dead bodies for fear of contamination, which would make them unclean and unable to do their priestly duties. But Aaron, as a tool of atoning grace, stood between the living and the dead, rescuing God's people from God's deadly and righteous anger.

It should be impossible for us to look at Aaron here and not see Jesus. He is the greater Aaron, the Savior who comes to stand between the living and the dead. He not only makes atonement for the sins of his own; he is the atoning sacrifice. He not only is the Great High Priest; he is the Lamb of sacrifice. He not only stands between the living and the dead; he dies so that all who place their trust in him will live. Every act of atonement in the Old Testament is a finger pointing us to Jesus. The Old Testament is not simply a series of stories from which we can draw moral lessons. No, it is one story with many chapters. It is the story of the tragedy of sin and the progressive plan of God to provide a once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The story of Numbers 16 confronts us with the fact that God takes sin seriously, and we should too. If sin is not serious, then there is no need for a Savior, but, if it is, then all of humanity is in need of Christ's willingness to stand between the living and the dead and make atonement for sin. There is never a day when you and I are free from our need for his atoning grace.

 Tusite Fepueli 17, 2026

NOMIPA 14-15; ‘AISEA 6:1-7

God is perfectly glorious all the time and in every way, but we need grace to open our often-blind eyes to see the magnitude of his glory.

Ko e ‘Otua, ‘oku haohaoa ma’u pe ‘a hono langilangi ‘i he tapa kotoa pe, ka ‘oku tau fiema’u ‘e kitautolu ha kelesi makehe ke faka’ā hotau mata ‘oku fa’a kui ‘o ‘ikai ke tau mamata ki he lahi faufaua ‘a hono naunau.

A glorious painting was on loan to the museum for a limited period of time, and I just had to see it. However, many other art lovers had the same response. When I arrived at the museum and found the gallery where the painting hung, so many people were already there that I couldn't even get into the room. I craned my neck to get a glimpse from the doorway, but all I could see was a brown corner of this masterpiece. If you had asked me then, with my limited view, to describe this glorious masterwork, I would have given you a description that was anything but glorious. The problem wasn't that the painting lacked artistic glory. No, the problem was mine. I had a vision problem that kept me from seeing, being in awe of, and celebrating the extent of the glory that the painter had laid down on that canvas.

I am convinced that one of the reasons the book of Numbers is in the Bible is to display the extent of the glory of God and, not only that, to demonstrate how God unleashes his glory to provide for his people. The glory of God and the glory of his love for his people shine in Numbers like a galaxy of stars in the night. Here we see the glory of his presence, the glory of his wisdom, the glory of his power, the glory of his patient love, the glory of his guidance, the glory of his forgiving grace, the glory of his discipline, the glory of his protection, the glory of his provision, the glory of the specificity of his care for each of his children, and the glory of his zeal to deliver what he has promised. Yet, when his children look at this portrait of his glory, they don't see glory. It is a sad picture of the tragedy of spiritual blindness. For this, all of humanity needs a Savior who has the power to open blind eyes to the grace and glory that are all around.

Just as God is about to deliver the land that he had promised to his children so long ago, a moment when his glory is about to shine its brightest, his people respond with this:

"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" And they said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt." (Num. 14:2-4)

Panic in the face of opposition blinds the Israelites from seeing the glory of God's almighty power that would rain down to deliver this promised place into their hands. This narrative asks this question of us: What blinds our eyes from this same God of awesome glory and the grace he daily provides in his Son, the Lord Jesus?

 Monite Fepueli 16, 2026

NOMIPA 11-13; 1 KOLINITO 10:9-10

Complaining is always dangerous because it causes us to be willing to question the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord.

‘Oku fakatu’utamaki ma’u pe ‘a e launga he ‘oku fakatupu ‘iate kitautolu ‘a e loto ke tau fakafehu’i ‘a e lelei mo fai tonunga ‘a e ‘Otua.

Every parent has experienced it. You get up every morning with a commitment to provide what is best for the spiritual, emotional, and physical help of your children. You actively do things every day because you love them, you know what they need, and you do what is necessary to provide it. You are not perfect, but your intentions are good-hearted and loving. But your children don't always appreciate you. They aren't always thankful for your loving attention or hard work. They often complain about what you feed them or schedule for them. They don't always think that your intentions are good, and they often find it easier to complain about you than to be thankful for you. But it's not just children, sadly, who do not praise, because complaining is the default language of fallen humanity.

The story recorded in Numbers 11 is striking, sad, illuminating, and convicting. The children of Israel were on a long journey through wilderness country to the land God had promised them. They were living what was essentially a nomadic life. It was therefore impossible for them to plant seeds, cultivate crops, or harvest food to eat. So God, in one of the most striking miracles of provision in Scripture, caused edible material to appear every morning like dew on the ground. This is both a visible demonstration of God's commitment to unleash his almighty power to provide for his people and a visual prophecy of his ultimate provision from above, Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life, the manna come down from heaven. Manna was nutritious, but here is God's dear children's response to this amazing provision: "Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, 'Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at'" (Num. 11:4-6).

Notice what is happening here. You can't complain about God's provision without questioning his wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, and love. If you question his goodness, then you will stop relying on him for help: you don't trust someone you don't think is good. If you don't functionally trust God, you will take your life into your own hands, and, with a heart that's turning away from him, you will be susceptible to look at what is bad and see it as good. God's complaining children looked back at Egypt and didn't remember it as a horrible place of slavery and suffering; it looked more like a great Middle Eastern deli!

Allowing your heart to complain and your mouth to grumble is always spiritually dangerous. The same heart that caused people to reject wilderness manna caused people thousands of years later to reject the ultimate provision of manna, Jesus. May God grace us with always-thankful hearts. 

 Sapate Fepueli 15, 2026

NOMIPA 9-10; TEUTALONOME 30:15-20

The way to live in light of the grace of the constant presence of the Lord is to willingly and joyfully submit to his commands.

Ko e founga ‘o ‘ete mo’ui ‘i he maama ‘o e kelesi ‘o e ‘ete ‘i he lotolotonga ‘o e ‘Otua, ko ‘ete loto fiefia ke te lalo’aoa ki he’ene ngaahi fekau.

"On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle" (Num. 9:15). This was not just another cloud in the sky. This was the most wonderful and important cloud ever. It was the cloud of the presence of God that hovered like a covering over the tabernacle. This cloud was a visible sign that the Lord God Almighty, the Creator and ruler of all that is, had set his love on these people and had chosen to dwell with them. This was so wonderful and amazing, it is hard for us to take it in. God had taken them for his own. He had made covenant promises to them. He had blessed them with his law. He had designed a system of sacrifices so that their sins could be confessed and forgiven and they could be cleansed and restored. And then the Lord of lords demonstrated that he would not be a distant monarch, with little attachment to his people. No, he chose them so he could be with them. The glory of his presence therefore hovered above the tabernacle, a constant reminder of the amazing grace of his presence.

But it is important to recognize that the cloud above the tabernacle was not just a cloud of presence; it was also a cloud of guidance. The God who dwelled with his people was the supreme guide of his people. The cloud of God's presence wasn't stationary. It moved, and, when it moved, the people of God were called to follow and move with it. They had to disassemble the tabernacle and their personal dwelling places, pack up their things, and follow. This cloud of presence and guidance moved not at a regular or predictable pace but according to the will of the Lord. When he decided to move, his people had to willingly move with him. When the cloud remained, they had to stay in that place. The children of Israel were called not only to celebrate the presence of the Lord but also to submit to his guidance: "At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out" (Num. 9:23). The guidance of the cloud wasn't advice. The movement of the cloud represented the command of the Lord. For the children of Israel, the way to recognize and celebrate the Lord's presence was to follow his commands. The cloud represented not only the grace of his presence but also the call to submit to his rule.

So it is with us. The grand mystery of the Christian life is that we celebrate the grace of God's love and presence and accept his claim on our lives and the call to submit at all times and in every way to his commands. So we are thankful for the grace of Jesus, who empowers our resistant hearts to follow him, desiring and doing what he commands.

 Tokonaki Fepueli 14, 2026

NOMIPA 7-8; HEPELU 7:26-27

The need for the Old Testament priests to be repeatedly cleansed should make us thankful for the coming of a priest who needed no cleansing.

Ko e tu’utu’uni ki he kau taula’eiki ‘o e Fuakava Motu’a ke nau toutou fakama’a, ‘oku fakaake ‘iate kitautolu ha fakafeta’i ‘i he hoko mai ha taula’eiki ‘oku ‘ikai toe fiema’u ke fakama’a.

Luella has been known to say, "I can't understand, with just the two of us living here, how things get so dusty." Have you ever noticed that nothing in your life stays clean? Your clothes don't stay clean; your house doesn't stay clean; your car doesn't stay clean; your teeth don't stay clean; your garage doesn't stay clean--the list goes on and on. We spend a large portion of our time working to keep things clean. Even more important to recognize is that your heart doesn't stay clean. Sin causes us to wander away from God's holy standards and expose ourselves to things that are not morally pure. Temptation seduces us into seeing as beautiful the things that God calls ugly. The dirt and dust of a heart not yet free of sin causes all of us to need a constant cleansing stream of God's grace.

So we find this directive in Numbers 8:5-6: "The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them." Before the priests could do their holy sacrificial work before God and on behalf of his people, they needed to be cleansed. It is important to understand that the priests did not stand above the need for sacrifices to be made to atone for their sins and to grant them forgiveness and cleansing before God. The priests did not live above a need for God's grace. They were men with sin still living inside of them, which meant they desperately needed for themselves what they had been called to offer to the rest of God's people. No one has ever lived above the need for a sacrifice for one's sin, just as no one has ever lived above the need for God's forgiving and cleansing grace. No one.

I think particularly of the leaders of Christ's church. This portion of God's word has been retained for you as a warning and a calling. There has only ever been one priest who needed no cleansing, the Messiah Jesus. He alone lived without the need for the forgiving and cleansing stream of God's grace. It is vital that you look at the people to whom you have been called to minister and see yourself as another person in need of God's grace. A seminary degree doesn't make you a grace graduate. A ministry calling doesn't make you a grace graduate. Ministry gifts don't make you a grace graduate. Ministry experience and success don't make you a grace graduate. Like the priests of old, it is important to recognize that, this side of eternity, the school of God's grace has no graduates. It is spiritually vital for you to humbly acknowledge that every part of the gospel that you hold before your people, you desperately need yourself. And it is good to remember that no one gives grace better than a person who knows he needs its cleansing stream himself.