Numbers 27:1-11 - The Certainty Of The Promised Inheritance

I. THAT ZELOPHEHAD , AS ONE OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION , HAD A PROMISE OF AN INHERITANCE IN CANAAN TO BE HIS ( i.e; HIS FAMILY 'S) FOR EVER . Even so we, in that we belong to "this generation" (cf. Matthew 24:34 ), which has received the promise of eternal life, and a kingdom which cannot be moved ( Hebrews 12:28 ), are without question heirs of salvation, and look forward to a portion amongst the faithful.

II. THAT ZELOPHEHAD HIMSELF DIED IN THE WILDERNESS , AND THAT BY REASON OF SOME SIN WE KNOW NOT WHAT . Even so we die without having received the promised glory; in all probability we shall all so die; and death is the wages of sin, and the body is turned to corruption because of sin.

III. THAT THE DEATH OF ZELOPHEHAD SEEMED TO BAR Ills CLAIM TO ANY INHERITANCE AMONGST HIS BRETHREN , SEEING HE HAD NO SON TO TAKE HIS PLACE AND NAME . Even so death seems at first sight, and in the eyes of the unwise, to cut off hope and to separate from the living, and to deprive those that "are not" of the reward to which they looked. And this was thought to be the case even by them that believed in the first days ( 1 Thessalonians 4:13 , sq.).

IV. THAT BY THE WILL OF GOD , HIS NAME AND INHERITANCE WERE PRESERVED IN ISRAEL BY MEANS OF HIS DAUGHTERS . Even so, neither death nor failure in this world will be permitted to deprive us of that inheritance in a better world which the mercy of God reserves for us, not because we have deserved it, but because he has promised it.

Consider again, with respect to the daughters of Zelophehad—

I. THAT THEY RECEIVED THE REWARD OF FAITH , IN THAT THEY DOUBTED NOT THAT THE LORD 'S PEOPLE WOULD RECEIVE EVERY MAN HIS PORTION IN THE LAND OF PROMISE ; although they were yet on the other side of Jordan. It is in perfect faith of the fulfillment of God's promises that we must so ask as to receive.

II. THAT THEY RECEIVED THE REWARD OF COURAGE , IN THAT THEY BEING WOMEN WITHOUT ANY NATURAL PROTECTOR , BROUGHT THEIR CAUSE OPENLY BEFORE MOSES , AND SO BEFORE GOD . It is with boldness, not confounded by our own weakness, that we are to make our requests known unto God ( Ephesians 3:12 ; Hebrews 10:19 ), assured that no one is unimportant with him, and no cause disregarded by him.