THROUGH THE BIBLE - Numbers..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one from each father's house, from all their chiefs, according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff, and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi.

For there shall be one staff for the head of each father's house. Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumbling of the people of Israel which they grumble against you. Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and all their chiefs gave him staffs, one for each chief, according to their fathers' houses."

Twelve staffs. And the staff of Aaron was among the staffs. Moses deposited the staffs before the Lord in the tent of testimony. The tent of the testimony. On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony and behold the staff of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms and he bore ripe almonds.

Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel and they looked. And each man took his staff. And the Lord said to Moses, Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die. Thus did Moses, as the Lord commanded him, so he did. And the people of Israel said to Moses, Behold, We perish.

We are undone. We are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord shall die. Are we all to die? Are we all to perish?

Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. Well brothers and sisters, we have been working our way through the book of Numbers and obviously we're in the 17th chapter of this book. But the 17th chapter of the book of Numbers doesn't stand alone. If you recall from last week when our brother was teaching us the 16th chapter, he said that chapter 16, 17 and 18 have one overarching theme to them.

And that thing is that Yahweh, the Lord God, is confirming the priesthood to be the Aaronic priesthood. That He has made a choice. He has made a decision that Aaron and his posterity will be the priests who will serve the Lord in the tent of meeting and they will be the ones who mediate and intercede for God's people who offer sacrifices to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. It would be the Aaronic priesthood who would be the ones who represent, before Yahweh, the whole congregation of Israel. But there was a problem.

The people of Israel had a problem accepting God's Word. They had a problem believing and acknowledging the plan of God for them was better for them than others. Because it wasn't as though God needed to reconfirm. I mean, He's already confirmed that the Aaronic priesthood would be the chosen priests. to do this duty.

He's already done that. We've worked our way through the book of Leviticus. We've worked our way thus far in the book of Numbers and we know over and over again it is very clear that Yahweh has those of Aaron's clan to be the priests. But the people grumble. The people complain.

And if you remember when we started the book of Numbers, I said to you, I said, brace yourself, because in this book, we're going to come across some serious grumblings, some serious complaining. And we've seen our fair share of that already, haven't we? And what we see before us here is being almost typical of what we've seen in the people of Israel, the sort of contempt toward God and towards His Word. I don't know if you got it, but last week when we were reading through chapter 16, there was a passage there, there was a verse there. I think it was chapter 16, verse 13, in fact.

I wonder if you realize how sinister the complaint was coming from the mouth of the tribe, the leading men in the tribe of Reuben. These men were rebuking Moses' leadership, if you remember. And then they say this. They regret leaving the land flowing with milk and honey behind to die in the wilderness. Did you get that when we read it last week?

It's not as though they're looking towards the land God's going to give them. They use the same words. The land of Canaan that would be one day given to the posterity of Abraham as God had promised is the land described by Yahweh as the land flowing with milk and honey. And these Reubenites are calling the land they just left. the land flowing from it.

Egypt in their eyes had become the coveted land and what is before them they didn't want. They despised it. They despised the redemption of God. They despised his word and now they're despising the Aaronic priesthood, which is the priesthood that Yahweh has chosen, the clan is chosen to serve him in the tabernacle as priests. And so God is angered with them.

So in the last chapter we saw God's wrath being manifested upon this type of unrighteousness on two occasions. And in both occasions, God also confirms once again that it is Aaron who he has chosen as high priest and it is Aaron's clan who are to be the priests serving God in the temple on behalf of the whole congregation of Israel. The first instance you might remember was Korah's uprising. He's uprising against the authority that God had placed. He was against Moses.

He had much to say about Moses' leadership. And also, from the mouth of Moses, we come to realize that he had a bit of a qualm with Aaron and the fact that Aaron's posterity are the ones who are going to be priests. See, Korah was from the clan of the Kohathites. And you remember our brother explained for us last week that the Kohathites were the ones in charge of taking the sacred things in the temple or in the tabernacle and transporting those, including the Ark of the Covenant. But being second wasn't good enough for these men.

They wanted to take first place. They wanted to be the ones who were the priests. And so we see the rebellion of Korah and that clan with 250 men who go and burn incense. And then we're told that there are some in the tribe of Reuben, in particular Dathan and Abiram. They voiced their disdain for the leadership that God had ordained above them, Moses and Aaron also.

And so, about a day later we're told, One day later, at the request of Moses, the Kohathites, that's poorest people, they begin to burn incense before the Lord, 250 of them in fact, as though in their mind thinking that they are worthy to do the very functions that God had said only the priests ought to do, if you remember. And they had no fear. No fear! You would have thought they would have learned from Nadab and Abihu. These are priests.

These are the sons of Aaron. Yet they burned strange fire, unauthorized fire. And what did God do? He poured down fire from heaven. And these men met with the same fate because God was burning with anger against them.

And so fire came down from heaven and consumed them. This is the contempt they were showing to God. And also we know that the fire came down from heaven also and consumed the dwelling place of Korah. And the dwelling place of these Reubenites, it consumed their wives and their kids and their possessions, their tents. The ground opened up and they fell in, into Sheol alive.

They met, they met with God's judgment. And God is saying, I have chosen a priesthood. Aaron will be the high priest and his posterity will be the priests. I have chosen. I have made a choice.

It's up to you to simply obey. God doesn't need to explain why. It's not as though Aaron was more noble and more holy. We know that wasn't the case. What was he doing when Moses was on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments from the Lord?

He was crafting something. Wasn't he an idol for these people to worship? It didn't matter. The Lord said Aaron will be my high priest and his posterity will be the priest going into perpetuity until the old covenant comes to an end and it's up to you as the people of God to obey. In the second instance we see where God does confirm that he wants Aaron indeed to be the high priest.

is when the whole congregation begins to complain. Not just Korah and the Kohathites and a few in the clan of Reuben, but now we're told all the congregation, all of them, every one of them, all of them, begin to complain. Why? Because they're complaining against Moses and Aaron. They're accusing Moses and Aaron to be responsible for the deaths of the people.

And they're upset. Again, God sends a plague from heaven and then we see them dying by the thousands and then Moses said to Aaron, you get some incense and go and stand between the living and the dead and make atonement for these people. What does Aaron do? He does. He goes and intercedes for these rebellious people and God listens.

to Aaron. God's anger, God's fury in judgment is abated. And you have to see the difference because that plague was stopped. 14,700 did die, but the plague was stopped. You see, when Korah and his people went and burnt incense, God's anger was burnt and he sent fire from heaven.

But when Aaron burns incense, the Lord abates and listens and the plague comes to an end. What's God saying? God's saying I have made a choice. I've chosen Aaron. I've chosen his sons.

That's the priesthood that I have chosen for this covenant. You're my covenant people and that priesthood will be inherent to the covenant that I have made with you. Now there's a third. A third time that God confirms that this is the priesthood he wants and it's down here in chapter 17. You see, the complaining of the Israelites continues.

That's implied according to verse chapter 5. The people still don't get it. They're still not joyfully submitting to God's plan because God's plan is better for them than their own plans. So they continue to grumble. They continue to complain.

They still haven't figured out the importance to acknowledge and to accept the Aaronic priesthood. And they'll need to be convinced of this, beloved. They need to be convinced of the absolute necessity of it for their well-being. They need to be convinced. Because the time will be coming where they're going to have to fund this priesthood from their own money.

Through tithes and through their first fruit offerings. We see that in the next chapter, chapter 18. But they're not yet there. So God gives them another confirmation. So he tells Moses to gather the staff of chief men from every tribe and write their name on it.

We know the story, we've just read it. And then those staffs are placed before God in the tent of meeting overnight. And then the next day God, well that day God says that the staff that will sprout will be my choice. But I've told you so many times in the past, but the grumbling continues. This time I'm going to bring the grumbling and the complaining to an absolute end.

I'm going to do something that these people, these people are just going to be blown away with. And so Moses comes in the next day and what does he find? He finds only Aaron's staff. blossoms, and it even produces fruit. It's incredible.

Imagine seeing that sight, ripe almonds on a piece of wood. Beloved, for the third time, God makes his choice known without any ambiguity. He has chosen the Levites, the Levites for the special privilege to serve him in the tabernacle. And he's chosen from the Levites, Aaron's clan, to be the priests. That the priests would be the ones who draw near to him.

And as they draw near to him, they will come and they will make atonement for the people of Israel. And so when Aaron's staff was presented to all the people, and it is all the people, verse 9 says that. What was their response? Verse 12. Behold, we perish.

We are undone. We are all undone. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord shall die. Are we all to perish? The point got across finally.

It seems like they understood the seriousness of drawing near to God in the presence of God to draw to him or near to him through a mediator. And they're saying we're undone. Are we going to perish? Is our life going to come to an end? That's what they're asking Moses.

It's true. You come to the Lord without His choice of mediator, you will perish. If you do it your own way, you'll perish. But you don't need to perish. You don't need to perish.

There's nothing of life in their response. These people were so infatuated with death. When coming out of the land of Egypt, they're back against the Red Sea. Moses, what have you done? You brought us out here to kill us.

We're hungry, Moses. You brought us out here to die from starvation. We're thirsty. You brought us out here to die from thirst. You brought us out here to send us into the land of Canaan where there's giants to kill us.

It would have been better for us to stay in Egypt. And now, are we dead? God has not liberated these people that He has made a covenant with from the land of Egypt. He hasn't done that to bring them to complete destruction. They've accused God of that over and over again, but that's not why He saved them.

The whole exercise in these chapters are for these people to finally understand that the unapproachable God has made a way. He's actually made a way to be approached and to dwell among a sinful people, which is the greatest privilege to mankind. But it needs to be done through an intermediary. It needs to be done with a mediator and God's chosen mediator, not one you've chosen for yourself. One that God has chosen for Himself.

There's a real seriousness about this. And they're right in saying we're undone, we're gonna perish. They're right in saying that. If they disobey, they will find it's fatal. They will be undone, but only if they do it their own way.

Because also what we find before us is that life is on offer. Twelve dead pieces of wood enter into the presence of God. Twelve dead pieces of wood enter into the presence of God in the tent of meeting. But one comes out teeming with life. God's choice.

God's choice. God's way is life, beloved. All roads don't lead to Rome. Yes, God made a covenant with all these people, but he's chosen a way, a way through the Aaronic priesthood, through a high priest who would represent the people and bring atonement on behalf of the people. You do it according to God's way and there is life, not death.

The wrath of God is seen on unrighteousness. We've seen that over and over again. We saw it in chapter 16. But if they trust Him, they'll experience life like never before. Outside the presence of Yahweh, there is only death.

Outside the presence of Yahweh, they are just like every one of those 12 pieces of wood, dead. But the living God has made a way through. His choice of high priest for his people to enjoy life. One way to life. And as we've said time and time again, what we see in the Old Covenant through the pages of the Old Testament, what we see is a type and a shadow of the reality and the substance to come.

Because Aaron, beloved, hear this, Aaron was no more the true and final mediator of life than the countless lambs sacrificed made actual atonements for sins. Aaron was God's choice for the old covenant that God made with his people in order for God to accept the atonement made. It was Aaron and his sons who were the priests, and he would accept atonement based on the blood of the many animals that would be slaughtered. But Aaron and his son's service was a type of something greater to come. It was something temporal, making way and pointing to something eternal.

The hope of true Israel is in a greater mediator to come. For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all." 1st Timothy 2.5. Christ Jesus.

Christ Jesus is our great high priest. Christ Jesus is God's eternal choice for the priesthood. One who will not come to an end. Aaron dies, he doesn't even make it into the promised land. But here you have one in Christ Jesus, the eternal son of God, who makes atonement for sins once and for all.

And he's in the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek. Bringing in a new covenant, not the old. The old has come to a close. He brings in a new and better covenant. A covenant that is not ratified in the blood of animals, but a covenant that is ratified in the blood of God, according to Acts chapter 20.

The Son of God, He hung on that cross to shed His blood for a better covenant to be your great high priest and mine beloved, if you've come to trust in Him by faith and through grace. By grace and through faith, my apologies. Better covenant. A better covenant in the Son. His blood cleanses us from all sin and unrighteousness.

He is both the Sacrificer and the Sacrifice. Beloved, in His resurrected life, He becomes the true and only mediator of the life of God Himself. You want to experience the life of God? The life of God that is teeming with life. Eternal life.

Life that never comes to an end. The sacrifice of Christ brought life, brought death to an end, brought sin to an end for those who trust in Him. There is only one way, and God has made His choice. That way will come through the eternal Son of God who came into this world, became a man to be your representative and mine as our great high priest. And if we come to trust in Him, beloved, we'll know life.

Apart from Him, there is only death. Let's pray.