THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Number 16. Now Korah, the son of Ishar, 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.

And they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from among, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. 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 yourself above the assembly of the Lord? When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, 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. And Moses said to cry, Here now, you sons of Levi, is it too small a thing for you that God, 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? Therefore, It is against the Lord that you and all your company have gathered together.

What is Aaron that you grumble against him? And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, We will not come up. 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.' 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. 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. 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. And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, separate yourselves from among this congregation that I might consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man seen?

And will you be angry with all the congregation? And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Say to the congregation, Get away from the dwelling of Korah, Dathom and Abiram. Then Moses rose and went to Dathom and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 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 Abraham.

And Dathan and Abraham 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 he 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 is split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up. with their households and all the people who belong to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belong to them went down alive into Sheol and the earth closed over them and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, Let the earth swallow us up. And fire came out from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Tell Eliezer, 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 hammer plates, as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord, and they became holy.

Thus they shall be assigned to the people of Israel. So Eliezer the priest took the bronze censers which those who were burned had offered, and they hammered out as a covering for the altar. Let's retake it from verse 38. Verse 38. As for the censers of these men who have seen at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammer plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord and they became holy.

thus they shall be assigned 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. Verse 41. 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, and the glory of the Lord appeared. 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 began. Verse 47. 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, Aaron, and he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 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. This is the word of God.

Amen. Brothers and sisters, we continue through our journey through the Bible and through the Book of Numbers. And as I was thinking this morning, every single book of the Bible can be seen and understood from different perspectives. When it comes to this book of numbers, we have said in the past that we can understand this book of numbers as the book that tells us the story of the people of Israel as they are going to the promised land. They were liberated from the land of Egypt, and now they have started their journey towards the promised land.

But in another sense, this Book of Numbers can be understood from the perspective of two different generations of the people of Israel. The generation, the Exodus generation that was liberated from the land of Egypt, and the new generation or the younger generation, which will be the generation that will make it into the Promised Land. Remember that the Exodus generation, because of the rebellion and because of their sin, they will perish in the wilderness and they will not make it into the promised land. But the younger generation, those who are 20 or younger than 20, and the Levites and Caleb and Joshua, they will make it into the promised land. So in a sense, we can see this book of numbers from the perspective of an older generation being replaced by a younger generation onto whom the promise of the promised land will be given.

In the New Testament, as we've said many times, the apostle Paul writes, and he says that all the things that happened to the Exodus generation and, of course, also to the wilderness generation or the younger generation were written and took place so that they will be an example for the church of the new covenant that is for us. And in another sense, beloved of Christ, the things that the Lord God of Israel did to the generation of the Exodus, the older generation that received the judgment happened to them for the sake of the younger generation who will make it into the promised land. Keep your mind with that statement. Many of the things that happened to the older generation, the ones that are going to perish, in the wilderness happen so that the younger generation, by the grace of God, because they are equally rebellious and they are equally wicked, will make it into the promised land. But in order for the new generation to make it into the promised land, the older generation has to be removed.

And indeed, it is going to be removed. Not only the older generation, but the intermediary of the older generation, so that even not even Moses will make it into the promised land. Moses, as it was with the older generation, will be replaced by Joshua, who will command the new generation into the promised land. Everything that happened to the older generation, the one that perished in the wilderness, is with the purpose not only of teaching us, the church, but also for the sake of the new generation who will make it into The promised land. Why am I saying all of these things?

I'm saying all of these things because what we have in front of us in Chapter 16 is precisely one of those sovereign decrees of God upon the older generation that comes to complain for the sake of future generations of the people of Israel. Beloved of Christ, what we have here in front of us in chapter 16 is one more rebellion of those rebellious people that belong to the older generation of Israel. And what we have in front of us is not only a rebellion, but rather is God working through the disobedience of this older generation for the sake of the younger generation. What we have in front of us, beloved of Christ, is the beginning of the confirmation of the Levitical priesthood for the younger generation. This is not only going to happen here in Chapter 16, but it's going to happen in Chapter 17 and in Chapter 18.

What we have here is the beginning of the confirmation of the Levitical priesthood unto future generations. What we have in front of us is a rebellion against the priesthood, the Levitical priesthood that was in Aaron. You remember that from among the Israelites, the tribe of Levi was set apart to be the servants of the temple. You remember that, right? And from the Levites, the family of Aaron, they were set apart so that they will be the priest that will serve in the tent of meeting.

No other Levite could be a priest, only Aaron and his family. And the rest of the Levites, they were given the privilege of serving the priest and serving the tabernacle. And now what we have in front of us, it is just simply that some of those Levites who had a very important role in serving the tabernacle and serving the people of Israel. Some of those Levites who had certain reputation and authority within the people of Israel. They were consumed by covetousness and pride and jealousy, and they were not contempt with the fact that they were the servants of the temple, the tabernacle.

And now they wanted to be high priest. Those are the sons of Korah and his people who were Kohathites. If you remember, the Levites were divided into three different groups that will serve the tabernacle. And Korah was a Kohathite. And this Korah, the one that is the rebellious person in this chapter, beloved of Christ, this Korah, he had the privilege of serving the people of Israel, carrying the items of the holy place.

He would have been seen as someone with much reputation and authority and status among the people. The Levites were supposed to be an example to the people of Israel. The Levites were supposed to be holy, set apart to the Lord for the service of the tabernacle. The Levites were supposed to be an example unto the rest of Israel so that they would see the work of the Lord in His tabernacle, in His dwelling place. But now we have Korah and the Kohathites being filled with pride, not satisfied with the role that they had as Levites, but now wanting to come and challenge the authority not only of Moses, which they have already done in the past, the people of Israel, but challenging the priesthood of Aaron.

And not only that, but you know how the Apostle Paul It says in 1 Corinthians that bad company corrupts good morals. Well, these people will camp in the south of the tabernacle, very close to the ruminants. And they convinced the Reubenites that we have here in chapter 16. They were convinced the Reubenites also to come and rebel against Moses and Aaron. And you remember that the Reubenites or the Reuben, he was the firstborn of Jacob, and he was supposed to be the one who was going to be in authority in Israel.

But because of his sin that he violated or broke the confidence of Jacob by being with his concubine, the right of being the firstborn was removed from him and given to Joseph and his sons. Judah and Ephraim will take power. So the Reubenites from long ago, many hundreds of years, they had this in their mind that they were supposed to be the ones that were supposed to be in authority and power among Israel. But because of their sin of Reuben, their forefather, they had not had that power of authority. So we have Korah, the Kohathite, beloved of Christ, and we have the Reubenites filled with pride coming to question Not only the authority of Moses and the workings of the Lord, but primarily they are questioning the priesthood of Aaron.

Beloved, what happened here in chapter 16 and what is happening in chapter 17 and 18 is crucial for the gospel. So keep your mind with me, because beloved of Christ, when they come to complain against Moses, they are saying, who has made you? the high authority in the land, in the camp, who has given you the right to call yourself holy above the others. We are following the law, we are following all the standards of righteousness, even that which you have given us, the promise that you have given us in chapter 15. We are following all of those things.

Who has made you holier among us? And who has given you that? And not only that, but Moses interprets their complaint and he says, do you want to take the priesthood from Aaron? That was their purpose. So Aaron, or better Moses, is going to say, whoever is the person that is meant to be the high priest, let's show that to the congregation tomorrow.

You guys, Korah and the Reubenites and all of those of you who claim to have the right to be in the immediate presence of God. So bring your censors with your with your offerings and come before the tent of meeting that the Lord had said that it was only for the people of Aaron to be there. and come before the 10th meeting and let's see who is the one that the Lord has chosen. And beloved of Christ, as we have just read, the Lord is filled with anger because of the rebellion of these people. And he's going to ask, move yourself from among them.

I'm going to consume them and I'm going to execute judgment upon them. I will keep my promise through you. But the intercession of Moses and Aaron preserves the whole of Israel. And what we see and what follows, beloved of Christ, is precisely that, the confirmation of the priesthood of Aaron through the judgment of Korah and the Reubenites and the leaders of Israel who wanted to take over the priesthood. Keep your mind with me.

They wanted to take over the priesthood. They were not happy being the servants of the temple. They were not happy with the role that they had. They wanted to take the priesthood. Beloved of Christ, if the Lord did not confirm the priesthood to the Levites and to the family of Aaron, after many years and after the departure of Moses, the people of Israel would have had a good case against Aaron.

Aaron was the one that allowed the people of Israel to corrupt themselves in next to the chapter 32. Remember, he is the one that allowed them to build unto themselves graven images and all of these things that were breaking the covenant. The sons of Aaron were the ones that he entered into the dwelling place of the Lord with a strange fire and they were consumed. Aaron and Miriam were the ones that questioned the authority of Moses. Once Moses is gone, once the system is gone, all the Israelites will question the priesthood of Aaron with lots of reason.

The Aaronite family or the family of Aaron have committed all of these sins. Let's replace them by a holier Levite family. But the Lord, beloved of Christ, knew that the perseverance of the endurance of the Aaronic family and the priesthood until the new covenant was vital for our salvation. So stay with me, keep with me, because beloved of Christ, here we can see not only that the Lord confirms the priesthood to Aaron by bringing judgment to Cora and the others, But he will continue to do that in chapter 17 and in chapter 18. Aaron will be confirmed as the high priest for the people of Israel.

And there is nothing that the people of Israel can do to go against that. Even if the people of Israel do not agree with the judgment of the Lord, as is what we have here, that the people of the Lord will complain from the judgment that came upon the 250. You have killed the people of the Lord. Not even that complaint will remove the fact that Aaron is meant to be the high priest and that the high priesthood is to be kept and preserved through that line. Why is this?

This is for a couple of reasons. The first one is for what the author of Hebrews tells us, Beloved of Christ, that no system of the law can be separated from the system of the priest. The system of the law that was given to the people of Israel operated only through the priesthood. So whenever a person broke a commandment of the law, they will come to the priesthood or they will come through the priestly system to make atonement and the people of Israel will continue. The law was connected to the priesthood.

The Levitical priesthood in Aaron was to be kept and preserved, connected with the law of Moses until the point in which the law was going to be replaced. And we have, beloved of Christ, The Lord Jesus Christ coming to this world, dying upon the cross, shedding his blood to institute a better covenant that gets rid of the law as a covenant, but also that replaces the priesthood that was through Aaron to establish a better priesthood. And that is according to the order of Melchizedek. Because once a better covenant is established, not only a better law is given, the law that is in Christ Jesus himself, but a better priest is given. Not a priest according to the Levitical priesthood in Aaron, but a priest whose name is love, whose name is Jesus Christ, a priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

A priest who accomplishes spiritually what Aaron did in the midst of the congregation. Place your eyes, please, in verse 47. Better verse 48. And I don't know how good you are picturing what you read, but try to picture this. Because the Lord has brought a plague that is going to destroy the people of Israel.

An atonement was meant to be done within the Tent of Meeting. You remember that atonement was meant to be done in the Tent of Meeting. But then Moses, seeing the urgency that the Lord is bringing judgment upon the people of Israel, he says to Aaron, go and take the censer and go and make atonement for the people, not in the midst of the Tent of Meeting, but in the midst of the assembly. The urgency of the judgment of God being poured upon these complaining and rebellious people. And Aaron comes in verse 48, And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

He stood, a mere man, With a mere piece of incense, he stirred between the one that was living and the one that is dead. And the plague of the Lord that was coming from his divine presence stopped. The intercession of Aaron will be successful this time, but the intercession of the priest of the system of Aaron will never be sufficient to cover for the sins of the world and of the people. Even though I even can picture here the urgency of Aaron coming in the midst of the congregation to offer the incense so that more and more people would die. By the grace of God, I can picture in my heart the intercession of Jesus Christ upon the cross.

offering a sacrifice that will never require to be offered once again. The one standing between the living and the death and the plague of death and sin indeed was stopped by Jesus Christ, the higher priest, not a priest according to the order of Aaron or according to the system of Israel, but a priest according to an order that is eternal. So the Lord was to preserve not only the law, but also the priesthood that is in Aaron, so that in due time, the Lord Jesus Christ will be born under the law and will be born under that priesthood system, that he will fulfill all the requirements of God and will be able to establish through his blood a better covenant that gives us life eternal and that redeems us from the condemnation of the plague of death. And not only that, but unites us to the beloved of the Father. And we can come to Him always with assurance and certainty that in Him there is complete forgiveness of sins.

Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.