Introduction

Numbers chapter 31 recounts an event where God commanded Moses to avenge the Israelites against the Midianites. A thousand men from each tribe of Israel were selected for battle, and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, was sent with them. The Israelites killed the five kings of Midian and also slew Balaam, the son of Beor, with the sword. They seized much plunder but did not kill the women of Midian.

When Moses saw this, he was angry with them and said:

Have you spared all the women? These women are the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. Now kill all the boys and every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

The Israelites then killed these people, and those who had done the killing underwent purification. Moses divided the spoils of war: half to the soldiers who had fought and half to the rest of the Israelites, with a portion set aside for sacrifice. Not a single soldier was lost in the battle; all returned alive. Finally, the Israelites offered a thanksgiving sacrifice for their victory.

Reflect on what Moses' purpose was in writing this chapter. What title could summarize its content? He was encouraging the Israelites to be avenging warriors for the Lord. Hence, the title could be Becoming an Avenging Warrior for God.

Knowing God According to the Bible

In our generation, the understanding of God is often vague. Do not assume that many churches have a profound understanding of God; in reality, many treat God like Santa Claus, as if He does not rebuke, reprimand, or kill. They think of God as merely loving, like Santa Claus. But a careful reading of the Bible suggests otherwise.

Our God is a God who avenges; do not think He does not. Our God killed many Midianites in the Bible. In the Old Testament era, God was a God of vengeance. I believe anyone who can read knows that our God is a God of vengeance. Why? When the Israelites left Egypt, God established the Ten Commandments:

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.(Exodus 20:5-6)

Our God is a God of vengeance. There are many instances of this concept in the Old Testament.

He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.(Isaiah 59:17)

God wears vengeance daily. Our God does not make mistakes in these matters.

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,(Isaiah 61:1-2)

Our God is a God of vengeance. Do not think of Him as just a loving Santa Claus. This holds true in the New Testament as well.

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.(Romans 2:4-10)

The final book of the New Testament, Revelation, also clearly states that our God is a God of vengeance. We must understand that the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament are the same God. A pastor who enjoys exploring church building with me shared that he had taken many detours in his years of building a church, and each discussion with me brought much insight.

However, he asked me some difficult questions yesterday. One of them was: What do you think is the difference between the New Testament and the Old Testament? Some people believe that the God of the New Testament is love, while the God of the Old Testament is wrathful. Do not be mistaken; the God of the New Testament and the God of the Old Testament are the same God, who has never changed. Our God, in both the New and Old Testaments, is a God of vengeance, repaying each person according to their deeds.

I hope to lead everyone to know God according to the truth of the Bible. My answer to this question is: The requirements of the Old Testament were too low; the requirements of the New Testament are very high. Because in the New Testament, we have the Holy Spirit to help us. In the Old Testament, this was unattainable, but in the New Testament, God enables us to have the Holy Spirit's assistance.

In the Old Testament, God had a wonderful plan for the Israelites. However, without the redemption of Jesus Christ, they lived in weakness. In the New Testament, it is not just tithing but offering our whole being, presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. The Old Testament was about keeping the Sabbath, while the New Testament is about keeping all seven days, twenty-four hours a day, with the entire week belonging to God.

Our understanding of God must align with the Bible. We must know that the church is the body of Jesus Christ, and God values the church. Those who corrupt the church will be corrupted. Many people in the church wear masks, enticing others to sin, and they walk in the way of Balaam. Balaam was originally a prophet of the Lord God, but he was killed in the Midianite camp. So, in the church, if anyone tries to corrupt it, they will be recompensed, though we may not know when.

Numbers chapter 31 is the day of the Lord's vengeance. How does God avenge? Through a group of warriors, a thousand from each tribe, totaling twelve thousand. These warriors killed all the Midianite men. Why did God avenge this? Because Balaam enticed the Israelites to sin, corrupting them.

These women are the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people.(Numbers 31:16)

Once, a sister among us, after being with us for some time, often called some of the sisters in the church. She told them many corrupting things, such as, This is unreasonable, that is unreasonable, speaking much about the knowledge of good and evil. These sisters reported it to their leader, who said, Be careful, stay away from her, lest you be corrupted.

After a while, she started to find people to speak corrupting words to again. What retribution did she face? All the orders she received were returned, one after another. She did not know what was happening, her work became increasingly difficult, and eventually she could not sleep, her entire spirit collapsed. This sister came to me, and I arranged for my coworker to minister to her. However, after she recovered, she still chose to walk a corrupt path. We must be clear that corrupting the church is corrupting the body of Jesus Christ. It is opposing God, which is a critical matter!

Brothers and sisters, we must be warriors of the Lord. Even if you do not fully devote yourselves, do not participate in the devil's schemes to corrupt God's people. Know that God will recompense.

Balaam received the retribution he deserved, the Midianites received the retribution they deserved, and all five kings of Midian were killed. Moses' father-in-law was a Midianite priest, and Moses' wife was a Midianite woman, meaning the daughter of the Midianite priest was Moses' wife. Now, all the Midianites were killed, which is hard to imagine. Did they not know how the Lord God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and defeated the Egyptians? Did they not know how powerful the Lord God was? They knew. Knowing how powerful God was, why did they still do this? Because they thought God would not avenge.

Brothers and sisters, even if you do not become warriors today, do not walk the path of Balaam and the Midianites, nor the path of greed. Balaam was a greedy prophet, greedy to the point of forgetting how powerful God was, and his end was being killed. As Numbers chapter 31 recounts, the Israelites died one after another in the wilderness, and the Midianites, who corrupted God's people, received the retribution they deserved.

Remove the Weakness of Sentimentalism

Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who had returned from the battle. “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. Now kill all the boys and every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.(Numbers 31:13-18)

Is this Moses? Is this Moses' acting in accordance with the God’s will? We always find it so cruel, hard to accept. But what we do not know is that God is not pleased with the sentimentalism within us! Know that sentimentalism will harm God's people. Looking closely at the Old Testament, you will find that Moses does not like sentimentalism. Why did Moses do this? Because Moses knows God, and he knows that God is a God of vengeance. God does not want Moses to serve Him with a sentimental heart, because this matter is a spiritual matter. We must know God and understand His will. Building a church with the sentimentalism will not work.

What was the situation at that time? The Israelites were ensnared by Balaam's scheme, and the Lord God sent a plague upon the people of Israel. A priest named Phinehas took a spear and pierced through an Israelite leader and a Midianite woman, and so the plague against the Israelites was stopped. Can you imagine? The plague stopped just like that, Phinehas had a zeal for God.

Brothers and sisters, today you must know that our God is a jealous God. If you love God, God will keep covenant and show mercy to you for a thousand generations; if you hate God, God will repay you to the third and fourth generation.

Our God is a jealous God. This is a spiritual matter, the fundamental principle of whether we are building the church according to God's word. The church is definitely not a place of sentimentalism, but a place to keep the words of the Lord God. Because God's church must be built on the rock of truth. These people caused the Israelites to suffer a plague, are they not God's enemies? If we sympathize with God's enemies, how can we escape God's judgment? So Moses was angry with the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, because they did not understand God's will. This ignorance exists in many churches.

Today we must have a new understanding of the church, and not be friends with God's enemies, nor be sentimental towards God's enemies. In these matters, everyone must understand that it is difficult to understand these things with a worldly view, so many people got the plague and so many Midianites were killed. Either you stand on the opposite side of God, continuing to have a hardened heart, or you stand on God's side and become a person blessed by God.

Brothers and sisters, do not have pity on those who deserve to die, nor have pity on those who cause others to stumble. They must receive the retribution they deserve, but as for you and me, we must be warriors of the Lord God. Remove those confusing things within us. Phinehas, without sentimentalism, has become our role model, because he stopped the plague. So brothers and sisters must begin to know what kind of God we have.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.(Hebrews 6:4-8)

Brothers and sisters, do not take the wrong path. Those who suffered the plague died, and the Midianites were struck down by God, all receiving the retribution they deserved. Hebrews is talking about this very thing, do not take the wrong path. Our God is not Santa Claus. Brothers and sisters, today, start to strive to be warriors of God, enter into God's will, stand strong before God like Phinehas, and become priests and people after God's own heart. Do not be like these Israelites who went out to battle and came back with sentimentalism.

Brothers and sisters must know God. Our God will not show mercy to those who are damned and deserve retribution. Today, the grievances and hardships we endure for the sake of God's kingdom will surely be remembered by God. However, God will absolutely not let go of these enemies — those who have corrupted God's church.

Let the unrighteous still be unrighteous, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still be righteous, and the holy still be holy. “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. (Revelation 22:11-12)

That is to say, today we must begin to remove the sentimentality within us. We must build the body of Jesus Christ, build God's glorious church, become elite soldiers of Jesus Christ, and become a blessing to all nations and peoples on this earth. We must serve according to God's will, not according to our own sentimentality.

Many Christians, when reading the Bible, feel sorry when they see that many people have died. Whether a person lives to a certain age or dies, it is actually the same. Because whether or not one attains eternal life is the most crucial thing. Apart from that, the length of one's years on earth is not important.

Elite Soldiers Who Avenge God Must Purify Themselves

God wants the elite soldiers returning from battle to purify themselves and has given the regulations for purification:

Settle down outside the camp for seven days. Anyone who has killed someone or touched a dead body must purify themselves, along with their captives, on the third and seventh days. You must purify every garment, everything made of leather, all goat hair cloth, and all articles of wood. Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had been in battle, “This is what the Lord has prescribed in the law that Moses gave: Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—everything that can withstand fire—must be purified by fire, and then it must be purified with the water of purification. But everything that cannot withstand fire must be put through water. On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean; then you may come into the camp. (Numbers 31:19-24)

Why is purification necessary? Why didn't Phinehas need to purify himself after he pierced the adulterous Israelite chieftain and the Midianite woman? But why do these Israelites who have fought in battle and experienced war need to purify themselves? In fact, having experienced war, having killed people, and having touched the dead, they will have shadows in their hearts. The sentimentality in their hearts will bring deep accusations against themselves. The devil often uses these psychological shadows to accuse them, making them feel very uncomfortable. The shadows in people's hearts become a source for the devil to accuse us. Purification is a spiritual purification, a purification in the thoughts and intentions.

Choosing to be an elite soldier of the Lord God, one who avenges God, must experience war, so one must purify oneself in conscience. Thank the Lord, I myself do not have that kind of sentimentality. There is only one thing in my heart, and that is to do according to God's word. What if I do something wrong? Don't worry, everyone. God will surely discipline you if you do something wrong, and then listen carefully to God's word to correct it.

We must imitate Phinehas, who was a priest with a zealous heart for God. He had no shadows in his heart at all, and the devil had no way to accuse him. So we must not believe in so-called purification regulations. The key is whether our thoughts and intentions are in God's word. If our thoughts and intentions are in accordance with God's word, living according to God's word, then there is no problem at all. Purifying oneself to avenge God refers to the issue of conscience. From today onwards, we must re-examine the thoughts and intentions within ourselves and remove those thoughts and intentions that do not conform to God's word.

Just Be an Elite Soldier

Not only must we be elite soldiers, but we must also be priests of God like Phinehas. The rewards for being an elite soldier are very high. Know that after elite soldiers return from battle, the rewards are very generous. Look at the distribution of spoils in the scriptures. Just the cattle alone amounted to 72,000 head, half of which, 36,000 head, were divided among 1,200 elite soldiers. Each person received three head of cattle, as well as other sheep, donkeys, women, etc. One head of cattle was equivalent to two years' salary for a person at that time. Therefore, brothers and sisters, from today onwards, we must understand that the rewards for being an elite soldier after fighting a battle are very high.

We must know that being a Christian, we should not be a confused Christian, but a resounding Christian. Including being a pastor, being a leader, we must do it resoundingly, and the rewards will be very high, because this is the principle of the Matthew effect.

For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. (Matthew 13:12)

When these thousand people were selected, the people around them might have felt that being selected was a very unlucky thing. Just like in the workplace, whenever the boss gives me the most challenging problem, the colleagues around me will have thoughts like, He's going to be unlucky, This difficult task is given to him again. Here, when they knew that each tribe had to send a thousand elite soldiers to fight, some people would also think, Oh, I'm not going. I don't want this unlucky thing. I don't want to do this, thinking it was a difficult task. But is this really a difficult task? Today, we must know that this is not a difficult task. Being an elite soldier is not a difficult task. Because that is the most rewarding thing to do, doing it according to God's will, the rewards are really high.

From 600,000 Israelites, 12,000 were selected to fight. After the victory, these 12,000 people received half of the spoils, and the remaining half of the spoils were distributed to the entire congregation. Calculated in this way, the reward for being an elite soldier in battle is five times that of a non-elite soldier. Similarly, being a Christian, we must be a Christian at the top of the pyramid, and building a church must also be building a church at the top of the pyramid.

Phinehas received the most among all the people. He was the priest of the elite soldiers. Today we must know that the rewards for being a victorious elite soldier and a victorious priest are very generous. We must not have a poverty mentality. Don't think that full-time co-workers are not spiritual and love money too much just because God gives them generous rewards. Everyone must know that it is not the people who love money who get rewards, but the priests and elite soldiers who do what is in accordance with God's will who get rewards.

Those who think that going out to fight is a difficult task, when they see these elite soldiers going out to fight and returning victoriously without a single death, and receiving generous rewards, how do they feel at this time? They may regret that they were selected at the beginning but retreated and did not go or they may be thinking that going out to fight is not a difficult task but a good task. We must choose to train ourselves well on the battlefield and become elite soldiers who can strike the devil and the enemy, and receive generous rewards.

Elite soldiers are very difficult to die on the battlefield. People who are afraid of death will die on the battlefield. If people are afraid on the battlefield, they will attract those bullets, guns, and swords to fall on themselves. The reward for being an elite soldier is very generous. On the one hand, they cannot die, and on the other hand, what they get after winning the battle is a lot.

Among us, there is a sister who has cancer and is in great pain, with a lot of garbage in her head. When she is very tired, she asks her family to find her a better doctor. In fact, the hospital is no longer accepting her at this time. If the battle is not won, the doctor has no way. The only victory is to remove the filth inside you.

People make a victorious decision, remove the filth from our hearts, and let our thoughts and intentions be the same as God's thoughts and intentions. Don't be the kind of person who dies in the plague, don't be the person cursed by God; no longer live according to your own will, but live according to God's will; don't conform to the customs of this world, but conform to God's word.

Today, I give everyone an advice: I have never seen an unvictorious Christian have good rewards. Only victorious Christians have generous rewards. So we must all be elite soldiers, yearn to be elite soldiers, fight for victory, and even cancer will be healed. If a person has cancer and still does not repent, continues to live in the old logical system, refuses to fight, still follows the customs of this world, and is full of garbage in his head, he will not be able to go on. Even if we pray for you again, it is not as good as making a decision in your thoughts and intentions—I want to be an elite soldier of God today.

Today, we must see through everything in the world, consider everything as dung, and only gain Jesus Christ as the most precious treasure. Becoming an elite soldier in the kingdom of Jesus Christ will not only bring benefits in this world, but also enable us to enter eternal life after leaving this world. This is what Jesus said: If you give up wives, children, fields, and houses for the sake of God's kingdom, there is no one who will not receive a hundredfold in this life and eternal life in the age to come. Do not covet the gold and silver of this world, otherwise you will embark on the path of Balaam, coveting the benefits, glory, wealth of this world, and you will bear the same fruit as Balaam.

Victorious Elite Soldiers Offer Thanksgiving Sacrifices

We must know that whenever we receive rewards from God, remember that the battle was not won by you, but God made you victorious. God chose you to be an elite soldier, but it is God who actually wins, not your muscles and arms, not your swords and spears, nor the horse under your crotch. It is not by horses, not by strength, not by power, not by talent that people win, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts.

Today we must have a heart of gratitude and re-examine ourselves. Can we be an elite soldier of the Lord today, an elite soldier of God? How generous are the rewards of victory! Today, no matter how much you give, it is not too much, because it is God who makes us victorious. Today, there are very many brothers and sisters who are victorious in our church.

There was a sister who did not know how many great immortals she worshiped, but in the end, her problems were not solved. The price she paid for each great immortal was tens of thousands of yuan, but when it came to giving offerings to God, she was calculating every penny, and even giving a tithe felt like too much. How much filth is in our thoughts and intentions today? The requirements of the New Testament are more than just a tithe, but a whole body, whole person, and whole heart offering. If you take out a tithe, and even ten percent feels like too much, then do your thoughts and intentions need to be completely repented of?

When I was talking to the leaders of the church, they said one sentence to me that moved me very much: From now on, I want to donate 20%. I asked why. They said, I am willing! Because God has made me victorious and made me receive generous rewards, I want to offer the best to God. I am very grateful.

Then the officers who were over the troops, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came to Moses and said, Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord. (Numbers 31:48-50)

Our lives belong to God. As a result, Eleazar the priest collected their gold.

So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the jewelry made into articles. All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord weighed sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. Each soldier had taken plunder for himself. Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord. (Numbers 31:52-54)

What generous rewards there are for being an elite soldier of God! God is the God who makes us victorious. Offer a sacrifice of victory as an eternal memorial. We must offer the best to God and place it there as an eternal memorial. My heart must always honor the Lord, determined to set myself apart to God, so David says in the Psalms:

My soul, you must honor the Lord! You must always praise our God! Let our hearts completely turn to God, no longer loving money, but loving God. What God has prepared for those who love Him is what eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, and hearts have not imagined. Can everyone know today what a precious salvation we have received, can everyone know today that being an elite soldier of the Lord, paying the price of training on the training ground, seems like a difficult task, but going to the battlefield to fight for God, strike the devil and the enemy, release the captive souls, and let these people receive the rewards of victory in Jesus Christ, how wonderful this is!

I said, God, I offer myself completely, may you remember me. The sentence I like the most is in the prayer in the last chapter of Nehemiah:

My God, remember me with favor! This is what everyone who serves God should say. At that time, we will not come before God with a ashamed heart, but with a fearless heart and say, God, what you have commanded me to do, I have done. I have done according to your word. Please remember me and be gracious to me.

Nehemiah could choose to continue to be a cupbearer before the king, and would not suffer any hardship, but he chose such a difficult task to lead the Israelites. Know that with God remembering him, what does money count for. From today onwards, those who are willing to be elite soldiers of God, to be centurions and commanders of thousands of God, offer the best part of our gold to God after our victory, and God will surely remember you! Amen! Establish a victorious elite soldier church, and God will fulfill our dreams. May God bless everyone!