Foreword
Numbers Chapter 7 begins by stating, When Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it (Numbers 7:1). The establishment of the tabernacle is not detailed in Numbers because it is not the central theme. The primary focus is on people and numerical calculations, such as counting those capable of wielding weapons, assigning responsibilities, and outlining the duties of the Levites, along with the responsibilities of the tribes and priests. Now, it begins counting the offerings of the people, indicating that offerings are to be accounted for.
Then, it recounts the offerings of the tribal leaders and mentions that when Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant, from between the two cherubim; it was the Lord speaking to him (Numbers 7:89). Therefore, I summarize this chapter as anointing, offering, and speaking with God. We humans deeply desire God to speak to us, and God's communication with us is closely linked to offerings. Moses wrote these events to convey anointing, offering, and speaking with God.
Only with Destiny, Can One Be Sanctified
God speaking to us is something that most people dream of. However, we should also be thankful that God has not spoken to us, because if God speaks to you, but you do not listen, you will be cursed. Why would He speak to us? The reason is simple: He wants us to fulfill a destiny.
You might ask, where is this destiny? In fact, destiny is within the anointing. When Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it, and he also anointed all the utensils in the sanctuary. Today, we brothers and sisters must understand one thing: Anointing is destiny. God anointed David and made him king of Israel; David's destiny was to be king of Israel. Some are anointed to be priests, and that priesthood is their destiny. Everything related to God must be anointed. Being anointed is entering into destiny; what God anoints you to do, that is your destiny. Anointing actually gives you an office.
Only with destiny, can one be sanctified. One must enter destiny to become holy; without destiny, it is impossible to be holy. The Chinese Mingding Destiny gospel that we proclaim is, in essence, anointing. Today, we must all enter destiny to become sanctified, to become holy. If your destiny is to be an engineer, you will not be sanctified; if your destiny is to be a priest of the living God Jehovah, then you must be anointed and then sanctified. Without anointing, without sanctification, God cannot speak to you. In other words, the words that God speaks carry destiny.
Today, as we study the Bible, we must understand what God wants us to do in this world. If God brought us into this world to inherit His wrath, then your destiny is to inherit His wrath, to be destroyed, a vessel for receiving God's wrath. Perhaps you might say, God, you are the creator, how can I argue with you? Since I was created to display your wrath, then I will be someone who displays your wrath. But that is not the case. God still gave us the right to choose when He created us. However, some people inexplicably choose to display God's wrath.
But since God has chosen you and me, allowing us to read His words, to know that He is God, to know that without destiny, there is no holiness. Without holiness, there is no space for God to speak with us. So today we must know that we must enter destiny. Abraham sought a destiny, and that is why God spoke to him, saying that he would become a blessing to all nations.
We do not need to invent something called destiny. We only need to emulate Abraham. As long as you have the likeness of Abraham, you are a descendant of Abraham. Today our God is the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac. We must have some attribute of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob on us. This attribute is called destiny. They are all people who are willing to give up everything, even their own lives, to enter the kingdom of God.
You and I must know for sure that anointing is destiny. After anointing, one will be sanctified. Can everyone understand? Today, as we study the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, it is all about one thing: how can people live well? Without destiny, it is impossible for people to live well. Why do people suffer? Because they have no destiny. They treat trivial matters in life as significant, and then nothing else in their life becomes important. If we treat destiny as the most important thing in our lives, then everything else is minor.
So today we brothers and sisters must begin to see that anointing is very important. What is the purpose of receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit? The answer is to enter destiny.
Some might say, I don't have spiritual gifts. It seems God hasn't given me any gifts. There are many gifts without destiny. In fact, gifts are a smaller proposition, and the larger proposition is called destiny. When a person is anointed by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will come upon him, to receive power, and then what? The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. To make disciples of all nations. This destiny is to be a blessing to all nations on earth. How do we bless them? By leading them into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
Offerings for Destiny
Once we receive destiny, the first thing is to offer. We must know that offering is a very important thing. Without offering, God will not speak to you; without destiny, people will not offer; with destiny, people will offer themselves for the destiny they hold onto. In the Old Testament, it was offering one's most precious possessions. Only by offering what you consider most precious will you be pleasing to God. David was such a person, and so was Samuel.
The people who pleased God in the Bible were all like this, especially the prophets from Abraham onwards, all those who gave everything they had for God. There was a prophet who God asked to run naked through the streets. A person who does not give himself for God cannot do this. There was another prophet who God told to marry a prostitute, and another prophet whose child God named with a prostitute-like name. A person is willing to do such things for God because they have a destiny on them: I live for God. So I do as God says, and that is offering.
When we humans offer, what is it for? It is not for my own benefit but for offering for destiny. This explains why many people offer, but after tithing, they do not see God's blessing. Some people offer and then wait for blessings, and after a while, they don't see the blessings and start to get anxious. Where are the blessings? Blessings are in destiny. Without destiny, your offerings may sometimes be blessed and sometimes not. But if you receive destiny, and you offer money and yourself for destiny, you will be blessed one hundred percent.
This statement has biblical basis. God first spoke to Abraham in Genesis 12 because God wanted to make Abraham a blessing to all the families of the earth, so God wanted to bless him. That is to say, there is no blessing outside of destiny. Without destiny, people do not know why they live. If they live for money, money becomes their control; if a person lives for love, love becomes their control; if a person lives for God, there is no control. That is the key. A person who lives for God will definitely be blessed because there is no blessing outside of destiny.
Believing in the Lord Must Reach the Realm of Destiny
Believing in the Lord must lead to destiny, living for God will surely be blessed! We can see in the offerings in Chapter 7, silver dishes, silver bowls, covered carts, etc., these are all good things, all offering their most precious things. You offer for what you live for. If you live for God, you offer all your most precious things to God for the use of the tabernacle. Don't offer tips. Today we must know for sure that if believing in the Lord cannot reach the realm of destiny, it is really difficult to be blessed.
I served a businessman who had also experienced many of God's grace. His business sometimes improved and sometimes did not. Later, he could not continue to believe! Because he believed in the Lord to let God be his servant, to make it easier for him to do things. If we believe in the Lord and have the courage to let God help us do business, that is really bold. I have to admire it! As a result, his blessings really disappeared! Later, he lived even harder; he asked me why this happened? The teacher replied, You know yourself.
In our church's gatherings, if you attend once, you will hear the word destiny. If you attend twice, you will hear it twice! Today's Bible study also mentions destiny many times. Whether you like it or not, the word destiny must enter your mind. Because there is no blessing outside of destiny! Do you want to turn your business around? If you want to turn it around, enter destiny, live for God, not for yourself! Living for yourself is not the gospel revealed in the Bible;
The gospel revealed in the Bible is the gospel of living for God. I give my life to God, and God leaves my life to me. If you keep your life for yourself, as a result, God takes away your life, or even if God does not take away your life, the devil comes and takes away your life. If you don't love money, God will bless you with a lot of money. If you love money, God will take away the only money you have, and the devil will come and empty it out! Be a smart person, don't live for yourself, live for God. This is very important!
Destiny as Anointing and Dedication
The dedication included carts and oxen, but no horses, and the carts and oxen were not given to the Kohathites. This was because the service of the sanctuary was to carry the holy things on their shoulders, from the day the altar was anointed. The leaders came to dedicate the altar, as mentioned in verses 9 and 10. When we consider this, the Bible subtly indicates that the holy things should not be carried on oxcarts. The Bible records that David used an oxcart to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, and the cart nearly overturned. A man named Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark and was struck dead by God. Although the Ark was in Uzzah's house for more than twenty years, from Samuel to David, the Ark remained there for many years. But the result was that David got it wrong.
Because the Bible clearly states: The carts and oxen were not given to the Kohathites. This was because the service of the sanctuary was to carry the holy things on their shoulders. It is essential to know that God's service of the sanctuary can only be carried out by people. We must all realize that there is a price we must pay. The affairs of the sanctuary concern destiny; cattle have no destiny, but people do. Carrying the Ark must be done by people, and the weight must be borne by people. Because God is the most holy God; only people are worthy to serve God, it is a glorious destiny, and it cannot be entrusted to oxcarts.
Destiny is anointing and dedication. The offerings of the Israelites were recorded in detail every day, with clear records of gold and silver vessels, carts, horses, oxen, and sheep. Once, I wanted to compile and present the amount of offerings for the construction of the temple, which I felt was in line with the Bible. Some people disagreed, thinking it was not permissible, because their offerings were very small, and they were embarrassed, afraid of being exposed. Such a mentality is wrong, it is a fear of losing face.
I know a church where the brothers and sisters all made offerings, and once the pastor announced them and posted them on the church wall. After that, the pastor was almost driven out of the church by some brothers and sisters. The disputes were stirred up by those who offered little and those who did not offer, because their names were not written on the offering list. They would say, The left hand should not know what the right hand is doing, and should not be announced! But I think it should be announced, because that is how it is announced in the Bible!
Some time ago, when some people made offerings, they said that the good deeds done by the left hand should not be known by the right hand. The offerings of the tribal leaders were given to God, not to themselves. Our God is a God who bestows blessings. The more we offer, the more God blesses. The less we offer, the less blessing God gives. It is like a farmer sowing seeds in the ground. In autumn, those who plant more reap more, and those who plant less reap less. The blessing is for ourselves!
Those who offer do not lose out. We offer to the eternal God, and He will surely take care of our finances. As long as God resolves the illnesses in the family, it saves a lot of money. Illnesses costing ten thousand, one hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, one million, and all kinds of disasters, God has spared us from, and we are very cost-effective. If God blesses what we do with our hands, and we are blessed as soon as we do it, then offering is very cost-effective! I have never seen anyone who offers suffer. Brothers and sisters, do not think that offering is doing God a favor. If you give alms to a beggar on the street, you can do good with your left hand without letting your right hand know. That is giving to the beggar, but offering is giving to God.
Recording these offerings in the Bible is to set a good example for people today. Offering is not something to boast about, because you are doing good to yourself, so there is nothing to boast about. Your willingness to offer your life is also your choice! Therefore, being willing to offer money, gold, silver, lambs, carts, cattle, and so on, is a willing and joyful offering. Because there is destiny, to live for God, and also to lay down one's life on the altar, to be the Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of this generation. Willing to follow in their footsteps and become a blessing to all nations. Not wanting to seek or gain anything for oneself, but God will surely bless. I have never seen anyone who sacrifices his life to God suffer.
Numbers 7:89: Now when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him. Because Moses offered his whole being, and the people of Israel were willingly and joyfully offering. In the days of David, David also encouraged the Israelites to offer in the same way. David said, Who am I, and what is my people? Such a blessed king also offered so willingly and joyfully.
All things come from the Lord, and we offer back to God what comes from Him. This is the attitude we should have. Do you think what you own is yours? No, we are merely stewards. All things come from the Lord, and all these things were created by God. Recently, someone published a survey result: People have finally found the secret to happiness. When opened, it turned out that happiness has nothing to do with money. This survey is very interesting, and it was not written by Christians.
These people have done a lot of research. For example, some people have money, one million. They have ten million in starting a business, get venture capital to become one hundred million, then one thousand billion, then ten thousand billion, but later find that they are becoming less and less happy. In the past, they could be satisfied by filling their stomachs, but now they have to support the families of eight thousand employees. Some wealthy people have twenty thousand employees, and some have three hundred thousand employees. Originally, they only had to worry about their own affairs, but now they have to worry about the salaries of three hundred thousand employees. They also have to participate in various trade activities and are directly affected by trade. Then they find that they still eat three meals a day and sleep in one bed. As a result, their hearts are tired and their bodies are tired.
People think that having money will bring happiness, but they find that they are even more unhappy. Jack Ma gave a wonderful speech: He said that the happiest time for people is when they have a few million. When they have tens of millions, they start investing and worry about it. When they have hundreds of millions, they start worrying about the real estate market. When they have tens of billions or hundreds of billions, they start worrying about employment and the market. What is the happiness index of people? Anyway, it is not money.
The happiness index of people lies in why we are living. Whether we are people with destiny, whether we are people of dedication. If we are people dedicated, we are destined people, we will surely be blessed by God. And we will become prophets and seers! God will tell us what will happen in the future. We want to be God's good friends, become God's servants, and become God's children. It is too easy for God to bless us; if we know that the housing price will rise in the future, we can just buy it! Why are people willing to offer themselves? Because there is destiny.
Summary
So, brothers and sisters, are you willing to offer yourselves completely? Either serve God or serve mammon. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. This is what God says. Serving God will not mean having no money, you will have money. Money is very simple. But serving mammon, everything will fall through. Serving God, all the promises will be fulfilled in us! Because we have destiny, promises will be fulfilled in us. Becoming children of the eternal God, anointing is destiny, and then there is dedication, and then God will reveal future things to us. How blessed it is that God will speak to us. God is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the God who controls all things in the universe, willing to watch over and protect us, and even speak to us, all because we have destiny from God within us.
When Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it (Numbers 7:1).