Numbers (Part 12)(BST 3-30-08)

Numbers (Part 12)
Bible Study Time 3-30-08
(From James Roberts 4-18-99)

Last week we took another look at the significance of the ordinance of the Red Heifer in Numbers, Chapter 19. This was a very unusual ordinance in which the children of Israel were asked to take a red heifer with no spot or blemish and sacrifice it outside the camp. It was to be burned upon the altar, and then its ashes were to be mixed with water.

If a person became unclean by coming into contact with a dead body, he could be made pure once again by being sprinkled with this mixture of water and ashes. Therefore, this mixture was called the water of purification.

Routinely the priests would come into contact with dead bodies as they did their priestly duties in the tabernacle. When this happened, they would become ceremonially unclean, and this meant that they could not participate in the religious ceremonies of the tabernacle. However, they could be cleansed and made pure by being sprinkled with the water of purification.

The book of Hebrews tells us that we today are not cleansed by the blood of animals or by a ceremonial washing with water. We are made clean by the blood of Christ. We are all born in sin as sons of Adam, and therefore our defilement goes far beyond the outward defilement associated with being near a dead body.

Our defilement is that of the heart and conscience, and our only hope for cleansing is to confess our sinful state before the Lord as we put our faith in the cleansing power of the blood of Christ. I John 1:9 says:

1 John 1:9 NKJV
9 If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Even after we make this confession and receive eternal life, we still have to deal with a sinful nature. When we sin as believers, our sin causes a spiritual separation between us and God. Our fellowship with God is broken, but when we come to God, confessing our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us. With our sins forgiven, our fellowship with God is restored.

Confession is not a matter of begging for forgiveness. It is a matter of revealing to God a heartfelt brokenness that flows from a sincere conviction of sin. If we recognize our sins and acknowledge them before God, God looks to the blood of Christ which was shed for our sins, and He forgives our sins.

As we move into Numbers, Chapter 20, we see the death of Miriam. She, like all children of Adam, had to face death because of the curse of sin. All human beings are in Adam by nature, and the Bible says that in Adam all die. The only way to escape the curse of eternal death is to trust in the work of Christ upon the cross. Jesus told Nicodemus that:

John 3:16 NKJV
16 . . . God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The Bible makes it clear that Miriam died in the wilderness, and there are two reasons why Miriam had to die in the wilderness. First, she was not only identified with Adam, but she was identified with the congregation of Jews that had refused to go into the promised land.

God had promised the children of Israel that He would conquer the Canaanites and give their land to the Jews as an inheritance. However, the Jews refused to believe the word of God. Therefore, all those who were twenty years of age and older were sentenced to die in the wilderness. Miriam was identified with these rebels and so she had to face death in the wilderness. God is always faithful to His word in His promises and in His judgments.

The second reason that Miriam had to die in the wilderness is that she was identified with Moses. Moses was the Lawgiver, and the Law was an instrument of condemnation. The Law could never bring its followers into the inheritance of God. Moses, himself, was not allowed to enter into the promised land and neither was Aaron. These things happened to picture the inadequacies of the Law.

When it was time for the children of Israel to enter into the promised land, they were led by a man named Joshua, not Moses. Joshua is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and, in fact, Joshua and Jesus are the same name but in different languages.

After wondering in the wilderness for forty years, those Jews who were identified with Moses died in the wilderness, while those who were identified with Joshua were taken into the promised land. The Law does not have the power to bring salvation even to those who are its strictest followers. In reality, the inheritance of God is promised only to those who put their faith in Christ. Paul said, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus for they have obtained the inheritance of God by faith.

In the second verse of Numbers 20, we find the children of Israel in the wilderness with no water, and we find that once again they started complaining against Moses and Aaron. But notice that as they complained against Moses and Aaron, they implied that God, Himself, was also to blame for their predicament.

They said that it would have been better for them if they had died with their brothers before the face of the Lord. They recognized that they were in the wilderness because of the judgment of God, and they were saying that it would have been better if they too had died like so many of their friends and relatives. They were essentially blaming God for their circumstances.

Ultimately, however, their formal accusation was against Moses and Aaron. They accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness without water. They accused Moses and Aaron of lying to them, saying that the wilderness was certainly not a place of figs and vines and pomegranates.

The truth is that the blame did not belong with the Lord, and it did not belong with Moses and Aaron. No, the blame belonged with the children of Israel. They were the ones who had refused to believe the word of God, and they were the ones who had refused to go into the promised land.

They could have simply entered into the land of promise by faith, but when they refused to enter, the Lord shut the door. They could blame no one but themselves for their meager existence in the wilderness.

Isn’t this just like human nature though? When we fail, we like to blame someone else. And isn’t it interesting that so many people blame the Lord for all of the problems in this world? However, the fact is that all of the problems that we face in this world are a result of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, a curse was placed upon man and upon all of the creation. Romans 8 says that the whole creation groans together in pain because of this curse. God is not responsible for all of the terrible things that we see in our world.

When we see tornadoes and earthquakes and other natural disasters, people often say, if there is a God in heaven, why does He allow such things? Well, all of these things happen as a consequence of the curse of sin. Sin always brings heartache, disappointment and trouble, but the blame does not belong with God.

May I say to you this morning, if you are in the midst of trials and afflictions, God has provided a remedy for sin. Those who put their faith in Jesus Christ are given the peace and the joy of the Lord. He gives peace and joy in the midst of trouble and in the midst of sorrow.

The Bible does not say that all of our troubles will disappear when we put our faith in Christ, but it does say that Jesus Christ will give us the strength, the grace and the ability to endure any difficulty or trial. The Apostle Paul tells us that:

1 Corinthians 10:13 NKJV
13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

This verse literally means that with each new trial, God will literally provide the way to escape.

For those who are burdened down with the cares of this world, God has provided the remedy. If you find yourself burdened down this morning, wondering why God has allowed this or that in your life, you can turn to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is the ever loving God, the omniscient God, the all powerful God, and He is the one who loves you more than you can imagine. He loves you so much that He sent His own Son to die on the cross for your sins. Simply trust Him, and He will save you. Then, He will sustain you and strengthen you.

There are those who blame God for their problems, but there are others who like to blame other people. The children of Israel blamed Moses, but Moses was not responsible for their difficulties. They, themselves, were responsible. God does not want us to blame other people for our failures. He wants us to come to Him and acknowledge our sin and our shortcomings. When we do, we find salvation and the peace that passes understanding.

Next week we are going to see the failure of Moses and Aaron as they struck the rock to produce water. They did this even though God had instructed them to speak to the rock. To truly serve the Lord, we must listen carefully to His word, and then do what He bids us to do.

Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for studying with me in this, another broadcast, of Bible Study Time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 11)(BST 3-23-08)

Numbers (Part 11)
Bible Study Time 3-23-08
(From James Roberts 4-11-99)

Last week, as we continued our journey through the scripture, we looked in the book of Numbers, Chapter 19, where we saw a very unusual ordinance that God gave to the people of Israel. It was the ordinance of the red heifer.

After the red heifer was checked to ensure that it had no spot or blemish, it was taken outside the camp and burned. Then the ashes of the red heifer were gathered and mixed with water. If and when the priests became ceremonially unclean by coming into contact with a dead body, they were to be sprinkled with this water. This water was the water of purification.

The book of Hebrews teaches us that the Old Covenant water of purification was only effective so far as the purification of the flesh was concerned. It had no power to purify the conscience. However, Hebrews goes on to remind us that if this water did purify the flesh, how much more effective is the blood of Christ when it comes to purifying our hearts and minds through the ministry of the New Covenant.

According to the terms of the Old Covenant Law, the nation of Israel was called to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood. They were to serve as a nation of priests over the Gentile nations. Unfortunately, they failed to fulfill their mission because of their own rebellion against the Lord and His Law.

However, Jeremiah spoke of the day when this mission would someday be fulfilled through the power of the New Covenant. Jeremiah said:

Jeremiah 31:31-32 (NKJ)
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 "not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

God’s plan and purpose for Israel was dependent upon the coming of the New Covenant, and Jesus indicated that His shed blood would serve as the blood of the New Covenant. After the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Peter was anticipating the blessings of the New Covenant kingdom. In his first epistle to the Jews, he wrote:

1 Peter 2:9 NKJV
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

Zechariah describes the New Covenant kingdom, saying:

Zechariah 8:23 NKJV
23 . . . 'In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, "Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."'"

Beginning in Isaiah 60, Isaiah describes the ministry of the Jews in the New Covenant kingdom, then Malachi describes John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus as the messengers of the New Covenant. He says:

Malachi 3:1-3 NKJV
1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts.
2 "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire And like launderers' soap.
3 He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the LORD An offering in righteousness.

John the Baptist came preaching the baptism of repentance to the people of Israel. They needed to prepare their hearts to serve the Lord as a nation of priests. In Luke, Chapter 3, John the Baptist baptized the people with water, and he told them to bring forth fruit worthy of repentance.

However, the children of Israel were not allowed to enter into the kingdom because they refused to accept the Lord Jesus as their promised Messiah. The religious leaders arrested Jesus, and the people shouted, away with Him, crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar. Pilate declared, I find no fault in this man, but the people insisted that Jesus should be put to death, saying, let His blood be upon us and upon our children.

This nation whom God had called to be a nation of priests became defiled by coming into contact with a dead body, and that dead body was that of the Lord Jesus. To perform their duties as a nation of priests in the kingdom, they would need to be purified by the water of purification.

Accordingly, in Acts, Chapter 2, Peter told the Jews to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. To enter into the kingdom, the Jews would have to submit to the water of purification as well as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. If they had done these things, Jesus Christ would have returned from heaven to establish the kingdom.

However, throughout the book of Acts, the Jews proved their unwillingness to repent, and time and time again they refused to accept Jesus Christ as their promised Messiah. Therefore, at the end of the Acts period, God set aside Israel’s kingdom program so that He could bring in a totally new program. This program was the program for the church of our present age, and it was revealed exclusively to the Apostle Paul.

Believers today are members of the Church which is the Body of Christ, and we must look to the writings of Paul to find the specific instruction that God has given to us. In Ephesians, Chapter 4, Paul says that for us today:

Ephesians 4:4-5NKJV
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

In Acts, Chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost, there were two baptisms. Believers at that time were baptized in water and then they received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Today, we have only one baptism.

Romans, Chapter 6, tells us that believers today are baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and Paul makes it clear that this is a spiritual baptism. This is the one baptism that is required of believers today. After experiencing this baptism, believers today can say with Paul:

Galatians 2:20 NKJV
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Israel had to have the water of purification to prepare them for their priestly duties in the kingdom of the New Covenant, but believers today have no expectation or hope concerning the earthy, New Covenant kingdom. The Apostle Paul tells us that we have a heavenly hope and a heavenly calling. We have been raised up to be seated with Christ in the heavens, and we are therefore citizens of heaven. In Colossians 3, Paul says:

Colossians 3:1-4 NKJV
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Israel’s hope was to serve the Lord in an earthly kingdom, but our hope today is to be caught up to be with Christ in the glory of heaven. Today, we do not look to a ritual of water to purify us, but we are purified by the word of God. Ephesians 5 says that:

Ephesians 5:25-26 NKJV
25 . . . Christ . . . loved the church and gave Himself for her,
26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

When the word of God convicts us of sin, we know that we can confess our sins, and God will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for studying with me in this, another broadcast, of Bible Study Time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 10)(BST 3-16-08)

Numbers (Part 10)
Bible Study Time 3-16-08
(From James Roberts 4-4-99)

This is the time of the year that man has set aside to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. John, Chapter 5, says that Jesus told the Jewish religious leaders:

John 5:39 NKJV
39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.

As we study the scriptures from cover to cover, we find ample testimony regarding the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw a type of Christ’s resurrection in Chapter 17 of the book of Numbers. The Lord told each leader of the twelve tribes of Israel to inscribe his name on a stick, or a rod, and bring it to the tabernacle of the Lord. Aaron was told to write his name on the rod that represented the tribe of Levi.

All the leaders of Israel brought their sticks and left them at the tabernacle, and the next morning they found that Aaron’s stick had actually come to life. His stick was covered with leaves and blossoms, and it was bearing ripe almonds.

This is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ who came as the great High Priest of Israel. He was put to death by His own people, but as Aaron’s rod came to life after being dead, the Lord Jesus also came back from the dead. When He came back from the dead, He brought forth much fruit. Hebrews 2 says that Jesus died to bring many sons to glory.

Aaron was confirmed as the High Priest of Israel when God brought His dead stick back from the dead. In like manner, the Lord Jesus was confirmed as the great High Priest of Israel when God raised Him from the dead.

In Numbers, Chapter 18, God gave Moses certain responsibilities in regard to the nation of Israel and the duties of the Levites in the tabernacle, then in Numbers 19, God gave Israel a very unique ordinance. It was the ordinance of the red heifer. In Numbers 19:1, we read:

Numbers 19:1-22 NKJV
1 Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 "This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.
3 You shall give it to Eleazar the priest, that he may take it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered before him;
4 and Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood seven times directly in front of the tabernacle of meeting.
5 Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight: its hide, its flesh, its blood, and its offal shall be burned.
6 And the priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet, and cast them into the midst of the fire burning the heifer.
7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes, he shall bathe in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp; the priest shall be unclean until evening.
8 And the one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe in water, and shall be unclean until evening.
9 Then a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and store them outside the camp in a clean place; and they shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for the water of purification; it is for purifying from sin.
10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until evening. It shall be a statute forever to the children of Israel and to the stranger who dwells among them.
11'He who touches the dead body of anyone shall be unclean seven days.
12 He shall purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not be clean.
13 Whoever touches the body of anyone who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the LORD. That person shall be cut off from Israel. He shall be unclean, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him; his uncleanness is still on him.
14'This is the law when a man dies in a tent: All who come into the tent and all who are in the tent shall be unclean seven days;
15 and every open vessel, which has no cover fastened on it, is unclean.
16 Whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17'And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel.
18 A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there, or on the one who touched a bone, the slain, the dead, or a grave.
19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, wash his clothes, and bathe in water; and at evening he shall be clean.
20'But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean.
21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening.
22 Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.'"

According to the Law, a person was to be considered unclean if he came into contact with a dead body. This did not signify moral defilement. It simply meant that they were ceremonially unclean and could not participate in the ceremonies of the tabernacle.

This was particularly significant for the priests. If a priest came into contact with a dead body, he was not allowed to officiate over the ceremonies of the tabernacle until he was purified by the water of purification. Strict obedience to this law would prevent any defilement of the tabernacle.

The book of Hebrews shows that this ceremony regarding the red heifer was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. The red heifer was taken outside the camp and killed even as the Lord Jesus suffered outside the city of Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus was taken out to Mt. Calvary where He died, the just one for the unjust. He was put to death, suffering in the fires of death for your sins and for mine.

After the red heifer was burned in the fire, its ashes were gathered and mixed with pure water. This water was then sprinkled upon the unclean person to accomplish his purification. This points to the cleansing of the human conscience which was made possible by the death of Christ. Hebrews, Chapter 9 and verse 11 tells us that:

Hebrews 9:11-14 NKJV
11 . . . Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Jesus Christ came as Israel’s great High Priest so that He could offer His own blood for Israel’s eternal redemption. He came to purge Israel from her sin, not just ceremonially with an outward cleansing, but He came to purge her conscience so that she could serve the true and the living God.

That very same offering of blood that was offered for Israel was also offered for us. When Christ died on the cross, He died for you and for me. His blood cleanses us from all sin and brings redemption. In the first chapter of I John, we are told that if we walk in the light as Christ is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Then, we are told that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Next week, we’re going to spend some more time on this subject to show that this particular ordinance of the red heifer was especially relevant to Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ came to be Israel’s High Priest, but when He came, the Jews said, away with Him, crucify Him, we have no king but Caesar. Later they said, let His blood be upon us and upon our children. By killing the Lord Jesus, the nation of Israel came into contact with a dead body, and they would have to be cleansed by the water of purification before they could do that work which God was calling them to do.

Next week we are going to see how the ceremony of the red heifer relates to the ministry of John the Baptist. The, we will see how it relates to the ministry of the twelve apostles before the cross and how it relates to their ministry after the cross.

But for the few moments that we have left today, I’d like for you to consider the fact that God loved you enough to come from heaven’s glory to live among men so that He could offer Himself as the perfect sacrifice for sin. He lived perfectly before God not only according to the letter of the Law but also according to the spirit and intent of the Law. He lived a perfect life so that He could die for your sins.

Jesus Christ came to be the sin bearer. We could never pay the price for our own sins so Christ came to bear our sins on the cross. The Apostle John said that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. We are cleansed from all sin the moment we believe, but the blood of Christ keeps on cleansing us so that if we become defiled by sin after we believe, we can confess our sins and God will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Oh, what a wonderful gift God has given to us in the gift of His Son, in His death, His burial, His resurrection and His ascension back into the heaven.

Well, I see that our time is gone for this morning. Thank you for studying with me in this, another broadcast, of Bible Study Time.

Church links:

http://www.peacechurch-ok.org/

http://www.eleventhavenuechurch.com/

http://gracebiblechurch-fw.com/

Numbers (Part 9) (BST 3-9-08)

Numbers (Part 9)
Bible Study Time 3-9-08
(From James Roberts 3-28-99)

Last week in our journey through the scripture, we saw in the book of Numbers the rebellion of Korah and his followers. God had chosen Moses and Aaron to lead the children of Israel, but these men stubbornly refused to submit to their leadership.

As it turns out, Korah was a grandson of Levi, and the Levites were called by God to serve the Lord in the tabernacle. However, God had singled out Moses and Aaron, as members of the tribe of Levi, to lead the children of Israel. While Aaron and His sons were called as the priests of Israel, it was Moses who communicated directly with God.

Korah was of the tribe of Levi, but he was jealous of Aaron’s position as the High Priest. He was not content to serve the Lord in the mundane duties pertaining to the tabernacle. So Korah joined forces with two other Levites named Dathan and Abiram, and they went out and recruited 250 men from the various tribes of Israel to join them in their rebellion against Moses and Aaron.

God told Moses to have these men take censers which were lit with fire from the altar, and they were all to burn incense upon their censer. This was something that only the priests were allowed to do according to the Law, but this was God’s way of demonstrating exactly who had the authority to burn incense before the Lord.

Moses told the entire congregation to separate themselves from Korah, Dathan and Abiram. He said, if these men die a natural death then God has not chosen me as your leader; but if the earth opens up and swallows these men and their families and their possessions, then you will know that they have rebelled against the Lord; they have not just rebelled against me, but they have rebelled against the Lord. As the people watched, the earth opened up and swallowed these men with their families and the possessions. They all went down into the pit alive, and afterwards, the earth closed up behind them.

But that is not the end of the story. God was still going to deal with the 250 men who joined with Korah in this rebellion and who were burning incense on their censers. Since only the priests of the Lord were permitted to burn incense, fire came out from the Lord and consumed these men who were burning incense.

Then Moses instructed Eleazar, the son of Aaron, to pick up the censors of these 250 men. These censers were holy because they had been used to burn incense before the Lord, and they were not to be discarded as a common thing. God instructed the people to take those censers and hammer them out into bronze plates, and then He told them to place those bronze plates upon the altar in the tabernacle. He said that the bronze plates would stand as:

Numbers 16:40 NKJV
40 . . . a memorial to the children of Israel that no outsider, who is not a descendant of Aaron, should come near to offer incense before the LORD, that he might not become like Korah and his companions, just as the LORD had said to him through Moses.

By judging and slaying those who had rebelled against Moses and Aaron, God had clearly shown that Moses was His appointed leader over Israel. However, in verse 41, we read the response of the people.

Numbers 16:41 NKJV
41 On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, "You have killed the people of the LORD."

Now, who was it that had judged the rebels? It wasn’t Moses, and it wasn’t Aaron. It was the Lord, Himself, who had judged them. The earth had opened up to swallow some and the fire came out from the Lord to consume the others. Moses could not have caused the earth to open up and swallow those who were swallowed. Only the Lord could have done that. But the people accused Moses and Aaron of killing the children of the Lord. Then verse 42 says:

Numbers 16:42 NKJV
42 Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned toward the tabernacle of meeting; and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

This must have been a frightening sight because they knew that when the glory of the Lord appeared in this manner, judgment was near. Then verse 43 says:

Numbers 16:43-45 NKJV
43 Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting.
44 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
45 "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment." And they fell on their faces.

Obviously, the Lord was ready to consume all of the children of Israel, but I Corinthians, Chapter 10, says that the children of Israel were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Well, what does that mean? It means that these people had become identified with Moses; they had become his people. Moses was responsible before the Lord for these people, and so what did Moses do every time God was ready to destroy the people? Moses would stand as an intercessor before the Lord on behalf of the people.

When Moses prayed, God would listen. And even though there were consequences for their sin, God would spare the children of Israel. So in verse 45, God said, get away from the congregation that I may consume them, but Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the Lord. Then:

Numbers 16:46-48 NKJV
46 . . . Moses said to Aaron, "Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun."
47 Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people.
48 And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.

Here we see Aaron standing between the living and the dead with the censer in his hand offering up incense before the Lord. Then we read:

Numbers 16:49-50 NKJV
49 Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident.
50 So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

This is so interesting because this is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here was the High Priest standing between the living and the dead burning incense before the Lord.

The Book of the Revelation tells us that the incense is a picture of the prayers of the righteous. So here in the book of Numbers, the burning incense pictures the prayers of Moses and Aaron on behalf of the children of Israel. Aaron, the High Priest, was standing between the living and the dead, between the wrath of God and God’s people, making intercession for them.

In God’s long term plan for the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ will stand as Israel’s great High Priest. He will stand between Israel and the wrath of God. He will make intercession for Israel, and God will forgive their sin. But today, we also have a great intercessor before the Lord. We too look to the Lord Jesus Christ as our intercessor. The Bible says that there is one mediator between God and man, and that’s the man, Christ Jesus. Today, Jesus Christ makes intercession for us. When we sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.

God tells us today through the Apostle Paul that there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Thank God, the plague has stopped because of the work of the Lord Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection. He is ever ready to make intercession for us as He sits at the right hand of the Father.

Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior today? Have you come into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the very Son of God? He is the one who died for you and was buried and rose again.

Now, in Numbers, Chapter 17, we see another demonstration of the mercy and the longsuffering of God. After all of these amazing events, God still gave the children of Israel another demonstration to prove that only Aaron and his sons were to serve as the priests of Israel.

God told Moses to collect a rod, or a stick, from each of the leaders of the tribes of Israel. Then Moses was told to write Aaron’s name on the stick that came from the tribe of Levi. At that point, Moses was told to put all twelve rods in the tabernacle. In verse 8 of Numbers 17, we read:

Numbers 17:8 NKJV
8 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.

Miraculously, over one night, the stick from the tribe of Levi came to life and budded with blossoms. Not only had it budded and blossomed, but it had produced ripe almonds. So Moses took all of the rods out of the tabernacle and placed them before the people so that they could see what God had done. When the people saw it that only Aaron’s rod had had come to life, they were terrified before the Lord. In verse 10, we read that God told Moses to:

Numbers 17:10-13 NKJV
10 . . . "Bring Aaron's rod back before the Testimony (in the Ark of the Covenant), to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me, lest they die."
11 Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did.
12 So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Surely we die, we perish, we all perish!
13 Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?"

But in Chapter 18, God revealed the means by which the people could enjoy the service of the tabernacle and not die. He said that they could come to the tabernacle to present their offerings to the priests, but only Aaron and his sons were to come near to God in the service of the tabernacle. Furthermore, God said that only the Levites were to come near to assist Aaron and his sons in the service of the tabernacle; the rest of the congregation was excluded from these duties. Then God said that the priests and the Levites were to be supported by the tithes and offerings of the people.

Well, I see that our time it gone for this morning. Thank you for listening to Bible Study Time this morning.

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