Standing Between the Dead and the Living
Admonitions for the Last Days • Sermon • Submitted
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· 334 viewsKorah's Rebellion, God's wrath, and Mosos' and Aaron's intercession
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Opening Song:
647-Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory
Scripture Reading: Numbers 16:46-48
Background Context
12 spies
people rebel
Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
want to go back to Egypt
God punishes
10 spies die of plague
everyone to die in wilderness
then people go to fight
lose terribly
God says,
go back to wilderness
Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men.
Why is Korah?
-- Levite
-- cousin of Moses and Aaron
Who were these 3?
-- sons of who?
Why does Korah try to get these on his side?
-- first born
-- supposed to be leader
And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men.
Now who does he have with him?
-- 250 chief
-- well know leaders
No small insurrection.
They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
What is their problem?
What accusation?
-- they made themselves leaders.
What do they mean by that?
-- we don’t like your leadership.
-- this must not be from God.
-- God did not appoint you.
-- you put yourself there.
-- these problems we have had
they are not from God
but from you!
When Moses heard it, he fell on his face,
How does Moses react?
-- fall on faces
-- numerous times
What does that mean?
-- humility and prayer.
-- intercession
and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning the Lord will show who is his, and who is holy, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him. Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company; put fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord tomorrow, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!”
As he prays, the Lord gives direction.
What is the plan?
-- tomorrow bring censors before Lord...
Why tomorrow?
-- give time for repentance
What are censors?
-- only Priest use censors for incense in the temple
What is the test about?
-- okay, if you are all holy
come and test it out
see if God accepts you.
And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi: is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?
The Lord has bless and chose them.
But now they want what?
-- more
-- more than what they were given
-- power
-- leadership
-- authority
Therefore it is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”
Moses say, you are not attacking me and Aaron. You are attacking who?
-- God
Is that true? How so?
--
And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up.
What is Moses seeking to do here?
-- meet personally
-- work things out
-- see what their motive is
What do they say next?
What is their reason?
(next verse)
Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”
Notice what they say:
Where did they claim Moses took them from?
-- land flowing with milk and honey
What????
How could they say that?
Where did they come from?
-- Egypt
What was it like?
-- terrible slavery
What are they calling it?
-- land flowing with milk and honey
What happened to their memory?
-- we deceive ourselves
when we get caught up
in our own lies
because we do not
want to believe the truth
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Then, they actually accuse Moses.
Of what?
-- trying to make himself king
-- not actually being able to
deliver on the promise
of the land flowing with milk and honey
of trying to take
all their stuff.
-- putting out their eyes
What do they mean by that?
-- he is trying to make
them blind and
take advantage of them.
Who is really blind?
Who is seeing clearly?
-- the Israelites
have become
pathological liars.
-- they believe their
own lies and
call truth falsehood.
And Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”
Moses prays again.
Notice this prayer.
Not intercession.
What is his prayer for?
What does he ask of God?
-- “do not respect their offering”
And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, before the Lord, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring before the Lord his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.
There is a great showdown.
It reminds me of another great showdown.
-- Elijah vs. Prophets of Baal
“The appearance of Korah and his company, all impiously exercising the priests’ office with their censers, struck the people with admiration. They did not see that these men were offering a daring affront to the divine Majesty.” 3T 351
Then Korah assembled all the congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the congregation.
Who gathers the people?
Moses?
-- no
-- Korah
-- He is that bold and confident.
What happens next?
-- God make clear his will.
And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”
Why would God say that?
-- to encourage intercession
“If God had purposed to destroy Israel, who could plead for them? ... But Moses discerned ground for hope where there appeared only discouragement and wrath. The words of God, “Let Me alone,” he understood not to forbid but to encourage intercession, implying that nothing but the prayers of Moses could save Israel, but that if thus entreated, God would spare His people.” PP318
And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”
Again they fall on their faces.
What are they they doing at that moment?
--praying
Praying for what?
-- intercession
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
Then Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
Now,
Moses had just
been interceding.
Before God told him
to stand back.
Moses interceded more.
Now,
God says stand
back again,
Now, Moses does what?
-- He stands back
Why?
How did he know God was serious this time?
-- Because he prayed
-- but God did not relent
How can we discern the limit of God’s mercy?
--
How can we know when God says, it is too late?
--
And he spoke to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be swept away with all their sins.” So they got away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.
Why did God destroy them?
-- unrepentant..
So we can discern when God says enough?
-- when they individual is utterly unrepentant
Can we evaluate someone’s level of repentance?
Yes or No?
-- yes,
-- but imperfectly.
Have we been asked to do so?
What about the verses that say not to judge?
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
What does God teach here?
-- don’t judge when you have not right to
-- do judge when you are working on that log of your own.
There is another verse that sheds light on this:
Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
What does this teach?
-- those who are spiritual are stewards
-- but be careful that we not think
too highly of ourselves in the process
-- be humble
And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.
What happens next?
-- 250 destroyed
If God was going to do that anyway, why didn’t they get swallowed with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram?
-- gave a chance for:
repentance
change their mind
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide, for they have become holy. As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel.” So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar, to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his company—as the Lord said to him through Moses.
This is very interesting.
What they did was
an affront to God.
Yet, how does God consider the censers that are offered as a polluted offering?
-- they are still holy
The people are not holy.
they are put to death
But the instruments
of worship
are still holy.
How can that be?
-- because God is that holy
It was sad that
such punishment
was required.
But thankfully
the rebellion
was completely
checked...
Or was it???
(go on)
But on the next day all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.” And when the congregation had assembled against Moses and against Aaron, they turned toward the tent of meeting. And behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.
The Bible says,
“but the next day...”
What does that tell you?
-- God allowed more time to pass
Why more time?
-- repentance
What happened that night?
-- more rebellion
-- more rejection
“But while they fled from the judgments, through fear of destruction, their rebellion was not cured. They returned to their tents that night terrified, but not repentant.” PP401
What would repentance require of them?
-- confess they are wrong
-- accepting judgment of God
-- they would all die in wilderness
-- letting go of cherished ideas
Moses is bad
Moses is to blame
Korah is nice
“They had been flattered by Korah and his company until they really believed themselves to be very good people, and that they had been wronged and abused by Moses. Should they admit that Korah and his company were wrong, and Moses right, then they would be compelled to receive as the word of God the sentence that they must die in the wilderness. They were not willing to submit to this, and they tried to believe that Moses had deceived them.” PP401
That night of probation was not passed in repentance and confession, but in devising some way to resist the evidences which showed them to be the greatest of sinners. PP402
How do we know they were not repentant?
-- because they said God’s divine act in opening the ground and sending fire from the cloud was Moses act (in league with Satan).
-- this is the work of the unpardonable sin
When we call
evil good and
good evil
we are rejecting
the voice of God.
When the pharisees said
Jesus did miracles by
power of Beelzubub
Satan won, because
they rejected the Spirit.
Same happens here.
“It is by sinful indulgence that men give Satan access to their minds, and they go from one stage of wickedness to another. The rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, so that it is easier for them to take the next step in sin and to reject still clearer light, until at last their habits of wrongdoing become fixed. Sin ceases to appear sinful to them. He who faithfully preaches God’s word, thereby condemning their sins, too often incurs their hatred. Unwilling to endure the pain and sacrifice necessary to reform, they turn upon the Lord’s servant and denounce his reproofs as uncalled for and severe. Like Korah, they declare that the people are not at fault; it is the reprover that causes all the trouble. And soothing their consciences with this deception, the jealous and disaffected combine to sow discord in the church and weaken the hands of those who would build it up.” PP404
The leaders in rebellion
claimed Moses wanted to
make them blind.
The truth of the matter
they wanted to make
themselves blind!
But what about us?
What are the characteristics of Laodicea?
-- wretched
-- miserable
-- poor
-- BLIND
-- naked
Is it possible, we are just like our spiritual parents?
-- yes,
-- most assuredly
And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.”
In times of perplexity, where did Moses and Aaron keep finding themselves?
-- in God’s house.
-- seeking God’s wisdom
Again God said, get away from them. Again, what do Moses and Aaron do?
-- fall on faces
-- intercede
Why does God decide that it is time to punish and not forgive?
-- because they are unrepentant!
-- (nothing like repeating yourself over and over)
Again, Moses knows that judgment is sure but what does he do?
-- does not stop interceding!
Is God desperate to punish?
-- no, the opposite.
Why does he communicate like that?
-- to make a point.
-- to help us see the intercession
Why did this happen?
-- the plague is the natural result of rejecting God and turning away form Him.
But what about the word, “wrath has gone out from the Lord”?
--
Is it okay for God to become angry?
-- yes, we hurt Him with our actions.
So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
Title of the sermon:
“Standing Between the Dead and the Living”
Who actually does that?
-- Jesus
As priest, Aaron,
representing Jesus
Stands in the gap.
Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah. And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting, when the plague was stopped.
Lets process this
a little more.
The Bible calls this,
the rebellion of Korah.
As we see,
it was more than
just Korah.
But let’s ask
a few questions.
What is rebellion?
Why does somebody rebel?
-- rebellion only occurs against
leadership
not subordinate.
Recently, I’ve heard
lots of conversation about
institutionalization
Why it is bad?
--
I agree with
a lot of that.
But I think
one reason
why people are against
institutionalization
is because they
don’t like spiritual leadership.
or bad leadership.
This concept of ecclesiology
study of church organization
is very old discussion.
It is very popular
to say
“I’m not religious.
I’m spiritual.”
What do people mean when they say that?
-- different reasons
-- generally: I’m against institutionalization
Just so you know
I am too.
I’m not against institutions
I’m against institutionalization.
When the institution
becomes bigger than
the God of the institution.
Let’s admit,
there are issues in
spiritual leadership today.
In Babylon
but even in Laodicea.
Rebellion occurs
against leadership.
People say,
I don’t think it is right
that spiritual leaders
tell people what to do.
Often,
what they really mean is:
“I wish I was
the one telling people
what to do.”
But do they say that
out loud?
No!
“The Hebrews were not willing to submit to the directions and restrictions of the Lord. They were restless under restraint, and unwilling to receive reproof. This was the secret of their murmuring against Moses. Had they been left free to do as they pleased, there would have been fewer complaints against their leader. All through the history of the church God’s servants have had the same spirit to meet.” PP404
Korah did not admit
what was the real problem.
He lied to everyone
until he believed his own lie!
How does rebellion work?
-- it happens in the shadows.
-- it happens quietly at first.
-- people begin talking.
“To those who are in the wrong, and deserving of reproof, there is nothing more pleasing than to receive sympathy and praise. And thus Korah and his associates gained the attention and enlisted the support of the congregation.” PP397
How does rebellion start?
“The charge that the murmurings of the people had brought upon them the wrath of God was declared to be a mistake. They said that the congregation were not at fault, since they desired nothing more than their rights; but that Moses was an overbearing ruler; that he had reproved the people as sinners, when they were a holy people, and the Lord was among them.” PP397
...
“They decided that all their disasters were chargeable to him, and that their exclusion from Canaan was in consequence of the mismanagement of Moses and Aaron; that if Korah would be their leader, and would encourage them by dwelling upon their good deeds, instead of reproving their sins, they would have a very peaceful, prosperous journey…” PP397
What was rebellion founded on?What was the truth?How about us today?
“When the church depart from God they despise the plain testimony, and complain of severity and harshness. It is a sad evidence of the lukewarm state of the church.” 2SG 283.3
It it possible, we live the same experience?
“Their insinuations were so readily received that they ventured still further, and at last they really believed themselves to be actuated by zeal for God.” PP396
What happened as they shared their feelings?
--- other agreed
--- convinced they were right
--- and God was on their side!
“These deluded souls [Korah and sympathizers] really came to believe that they had a zeal for the Lord in the matter and that they would not be excusable unless they carried out to the full their purpose of making Moses see and feel the preposterous position he occupied toward Israel.” 3T 343
What happened in their hearts.They were sure thatGod was leading.Spirit and truth on their side. Must do what is right!
The same thing is
happening today
even in Laodicea.
“In this work of disaffection there was greater harmony and union of views and feelings among these discordant elements than had ever been known to exist before.” 3T 346
Before the rebellion the people were?
— discordant?
Now the people are?
— in harmony
They take this as a sign,
this must be from God.
Why did God punish one group at time?
-- we already said,
to give time for repentance.
-- God punished in the most
phenominal ways.
sink holelightning boltimmediate plagues
Why?
-- to get their attention!
-- to show it was God working!
But did the people change their mind?
-- no
Why? How could they not change their mind???
“It was this act that sealed their doom. They had committed the sin against the Holy Spirit, a sin by which man’s heart is effectually hardened against the influence of divine grace… It is through the agency of the Holy Spirit that God communicates with man; and those who deliberately reject this agency as satanic, have cut off the channel of communication between the soul and Heaven.” PP405
What is the unpardonable sin?
“There is no reserved power by which God can work to convict and convert the sinner.” PP 405
Why did God have to destroy the people?
-- because there was nothing else that he
could do to save them.
Rebellion is about:
how we relate to authority.
Women’s ordination
Ellen White
Decision in local church.
All is rebellion!
And we all have this tendency.
“The sad history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who led ancient Israel into rebellion, is recorded as a warning to the people of God until the close of time… Many who imagine that they have a sincere zeal for the honor of God, have permitted Satan to control their minds, and are accomplishing his purposes… Many have not a sense of the sinfulness of their own natures, nor of the grace of forgiveness. They do not wish to be disturbed… This class never see the necessity of reproof. Sin does not appear exceedingly sinful, for the reason that they are not walking in the light, as Christ is in the light. The Hebrews were not willing to submit to the directions and restrictions of the Lord. They were restless under restraint. They desired to have their own way, to follow the leadings of their own mind, and be controlled by their own judgment. Could they have been left free to do this, there would have been no complaints of Moses. God would have his people learn the precious lessons of humility and of willing obedience to his requirements. They will then be united in their purposes and motives, and will thus be brought into harmony of action.” ST 9/16/1880
Here we stand,
on the boarders of the
promised land.
What shall we do?
Rebel?
Humbly submit
Closing Song: 518 - Standing On the Promises