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83.
Numbers 17: “A Gift to Remember”
South Woods State
Prison in Bridgeton, NJ –Men’s Evening Chapel on 12/17/2017
(edited
July 2021)
Tonight I want to speak to you on the general theme
of gifts and giving. We will be looking, mainly, into Numbers chapter 17. By
the way, we have a small Christmas gift for each of you tonight at the end of
this service. It has been fully approved by the chaplain and is supplied to you
by our church at Aldine in Elmer, NJ. [note: It was an attractive Nativity
Bookmark with a hand-written Christmas Greeting from the church.]
Bible scholars have pointed out that sometimes
people in the Old Testament can be viewed as “types” or forerunners of people
that would come along later. For instance, we might see Moses as a type of
Christ in Deuteronomy 18:18-19, where God told Moses,
“I will raise them up
a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in
his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it
shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he
shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”
Paul reminds us, in the New Testament, in I Corinthians
10:11-12 that the people and the events of the Old Covenant are still
profitable for us to study. He says:
“Now all these things happened
unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take
heed lest he fall.”
So, with all this in mind,
I want to share with you my personal Bible study this week in the Book of
Numbers chapter 17. We will see right away that God sets up a contest among the
Children of Israel because they had been questioning the leadership of Moses
and Moses’ brother, Aaron.
Verses 1-5: “And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of
them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes
according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man's
name upon his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi: for
one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers. And thou shalt lay
them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I
will meet with you. And it shall come to pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall
choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the
children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.”
Some of the people had been “murmuring.” I want to say that if you
are called by God today to serve Him in any capacity, sooner or later, you will
also hear some murmurings. And just like with Moses and Aaron, the only way you
will be able to continue to serve the Lord will be by His intervention into
your life and ministry.
Verses 6-9: “And Moses spake unto the children of Israel,
and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one,
according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was
among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness.
And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of
witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and
brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. And Moses
brought out all the rods from before the Lord unto
all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.”
Now that was a SPECIAL DELIVERY! That was an amazing gift from God
to Aaron! And this gift, unlike so many during the Holiday season, this gift was
destined to be held onto, kept close, and remembered for a long, long time:
Verses 10-13: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the
testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take
away their murmurings from me, that they die not. And Moses
did so: as the Lord commanded
him, so did he. And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we
die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the
tabernacle of the Lord shall
die: shall we be consumed with dying?”
Aaron’s Rod was to be placed in the very Ark of
the Covenant in the Tabernacle! It would rest right next to the Tablet
containing the 10 Commandments and the pot of Manna with which God miraculously
fed them all on their journey. I told you earlier that I think Aaron represents
us as we struggle with our faith, and our service for Christ amidst all the murmurings
of this life. Why, sometimes I have even murmured against my own ministry! Maybe
not out loud but from down in my heart where only God and myself can hear it
and I’m certainly not proud to admit that.
At Aldine Church, as I believe you do here, we
have special communion services to remember the Work of Jesus on our behalf at His
Last Supper with His Disciples and on into the garden and Calvary. The Ark in
the Tabernacle, a box or chest, was something like that for Ancient Israel. A
place to be reminded. Every good relationship requires a good memory, and that
includes our relationship with the Lord.
Why was the Rod added to this collection? It
represented life overcoming death, hope overcoming despair, and Truth
overcoming murmurings and lies about God and about His servants. The flowers
and almonds that grew from that dead stick were a direct answer to the
murmurings of the people. To better understand the whole background of this
incident we need to back on up into Numbers chapter 16.
Numbers
16:1-3
“Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,
and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of
Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain
of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly,
famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much
upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and
the Lord is among them:
wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?”
The ring-leader of this
rebellion was named Korah. He is specifically used as a bad example in the New
Testament (for that see the Book of Jude at verse 11). Here’s what happened to
Korah:
Numbers
16:4
“And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:”
And this is what God told Moses to tell Korah:
Numbers
16:6-7
“This do; Take you censers, Korah,
and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before
the Lord to morrow: and
it shall be that the man whom the Lord doth
choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.”
Numbers
16:9-10
“Seemeth it but a small thing unto
you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel,
to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the
congregation to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee near to him, and
all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also?”
Korah was a Levite who was
already entitled to serve in the Tabernacle, but he wasn’t satisfied with that.
He wanted to do Aaron’s ministry. He wanted to be the High Priest, not just one
who served the Tabernacle. He wanted to have equal say with Moses. But the Lord
was only speaking through Moses. This man Korah was very religious. He was all
about religion and spiritual pride and religious ambition! And those things get
you into a lot of trouble. Look at this:
Numbers
16:15-19
“And Moses was very wroth, and
said unto the Lord, Respect
not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I
hurt one of them. And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before
the Lord, thou, and they,
and Aaron, to morrow: And take every man his censer, and put incense in them,
and bring ye before the Lord every
man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of
you his censer. And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and
laid incense thereon, and stood in the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation with Moses and Aaron. And Korah gathered all the congregation
against them unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the glory
of the Lord appeared
unto all the congregation.”
Moses was so frustrated.
He knew he had served God and the People of God honestly and sincerely. And now
Moses begins to prophesy:
Numbers
16:28-34
“And Moses said, Hereby ye shall
know that the Lord hath
sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If
these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the
visitation of all men; then the Lord hath
not sent me. But if the Lord make
a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that
appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall
understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking
all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the
earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the
men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that
appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon
them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were
round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow
us up also.”
One thing I learned from
this study, this week, is that Almighty God is not Santa Claus. God is slow to
anger, and we Praise Him for that, but He is also righteous and complete in His
judgement. He’s not trying to terrorize ANYBODY and He Loves everybody. It’s
true, but that is not to say that He can be mocked without consequences:
Numbers
16:35
“And
there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two
hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”
If all you want to believe in this Holiday Season
is Santa Claus, then maybe this passage isn’t for you. I’ll tell you something,
it’s very challenging for me. The murmurings of Korah turned out to be deadly.
And not just for Korah. The murmurings had spread and grown among the people. And,
just like the Gospel can leave behind seeds that sometime later may grow up
into true faith, murmurings against the Lord may linger too and
re-surface at any time. The negative influence of just one person can be
tragic. Look at what was happening then:
Numbers
16:41
“But
on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against
Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord.”
Now, my purpose tonight is not to try to condemn any
of these people or anybody else. The person I need to watch most closely is
myself. Have I, at times, resented the Lord’s judgments in my life? Or resented
Him and maybe even criticized some of His servants because I wasn’t pleased
with what was going on in my life as I perceived it at that time? Before I was
a Christian, definitely. And now, yes, even now at times.
I’ll tell you something else I realized this
week. Just like some of them in Ancient Israel, I have failed to see God’s hand
at work in our world today. I can still get all smug and to try to act as if
everything that happens in the modern world must now be explained by medicine, science,
luck, etc. I confess to you that I live sometimes as if I was in total control
of my life. And when I think and act that way, aren’t I sinning every bit as
much as these people were sinning by murmured against the LORD?
I used to hear the old-timers pray something like
this: “Lord, I thank you for waking me up this mornin’. I thank you for putting
breath into my lungs, food in my stomach, and a roof over my head.” I realize
now, more than ever, that they knew what they were talking about! I think I
used to half laugh at them, but I should be bowing down and praying like that every
day! God is not Santa Claus. God is real. His judgments are real. His Love is
real and His blessings are all real! But some thing else that is real is that
you can cross the line with Him, too:
Numbers
16:42-46
“And it came to pass, when the
congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward
the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the
glory of the Lord appeared.
And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the
congregation. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume
them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. And Moses said unto Aaron,
Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and
go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is
wrath gone out from the Lord;
the plague is begun.”
I know we have close soon, but did you notice
Aaron, here? Remember earlier, I mention that Aaron, the brother of Moses is,
to me, more a representation of us than of Christ. Aaron struggled at faith. He’s
a little like the Apostle Peter who came along later in the New Testament.
Back at Mt. Sinai Aaron had feared the people so
much that he turned his back on God and built a golden calf as an idol for them
to party around and worship. Now, that’s a real failure! But people who fail
(like me) can still grow in their faith because all things are possible with
God. Just look at how this man had changed:
Numbers
16:47-50
“And Aaron took as Moses
commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague
was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for
the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and
the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand
and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. And Aaron
returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and
the plague was stayed.”
Aaron, like many of us
today, was weak and imperfect at times. But he grew in his faith and in spiritual
strength. And, in my opinion, from what I read in the Scriptures, Aaron
overcame his fear of the people with love for the people. That was God’s work
in his life! Remember now, for forty years, the People of God had to bring
their sacrifices to Aaron so he and the priests could offer them to the Lord.
They would bring in their most valuable animals whose offered blood was, at
that time, an attempt to cover their sins. Sins of commission and sins of
omission. Thousands of sins and thousands of sacrifices. Old Aaron must have
heard a lot of confessions out on that wilderness march! And I think he wound
up consoling a lot of people. He knew, personally, what it meant to fail the
Lord and to regret it.
And you know what
happened, the people began to love him back. You can see it in Numbers 20:28-29,
a couple chapters down the road from where we’ve been studying tonight. Look at
how the Children of Israel responded to Aaron’s death. Listen to what the Bible
says:
“And Moses stripped Aaron of his
garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of
the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. And when all the
congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even
all the house of Israel.”
Time restrains us, and I
know you have to move on, but let me just assign you a little homework, if you
want it. Sometime this week get out your Bible and compare Aaron’s priesthood
to the believer’s priesthood today as described by the Apostle Peter in I Peter
2:5-10. And if you really need something else to do, compare Aaron’s priestly
garments (which are physically laid out in Exodus chapter 28) with our
spiritual garments as described to the church at Colossae by the Apostle Paul in
Colossians chapter 3. That’s I Peter 2:5-10, and then compare Exodus 28 with
Colossians 3.
Thank you, as always, for
your patience with me tonight and please take one of the gifts on the way out
if you would like one. Merry Christmas to each of you. Let’s pray.
______________