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Okay, you can turn to Numbers 
chapter 16. Numbers chapter 16, we looked 
at Numbers 16 last week. I had mentioned 
that the Hebrew Bible starts chapter 17 in verse 36 of chapter 
16. So we did that section 36 to 
40, but I wanna reread that and then finish all the way through 
chapter 17. So beginning in Numbers 16 at 
verse 36. "'Then the Lord spoke to Moses, 
saying, "'Tell Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, "'to pick 
up the censers out of the blaze, "'for they are holy, "'and scatter 
the fire some distance away. "'The censers of these men who 
sinned "'against their own souls, "'let them be made into hammered 
plates "'as a covering for the altar, "'because they presented 
them before the Lord. "'Therefore they are holy, "'and 
they shall be assigned to the children of Israel. So Eleazar 
the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned up 
had presented, and they were hammered out as a covering on 
the altar, to be 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. 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 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. Then Moses and Aaron 
came before the tabernacle of meeting. And the Lord spoke to 
Moses saying, get away from among this congregation, that I may 
consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. 
So 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. 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. And he stood between the dead 
and the living. So the plague was stopped. Now 
those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who 
died in the Korah incident. So Aaron returned to Moses at 
the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped. 
And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel 
and get from them a rod from each father's house, all their 
leaders according to their father's houses, 12 rods. Write each man's 
name on his rod and you shall write Aaron's name on the rod 
of Levi. For there shall be one rod for 
the head of each father's house. Then you shall place them in 
the tabernacle of meeting before the testimony where I meet with 
you. and it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose 
will blossom. Thus I will rid myself of the 
complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against 
you.' So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their 
leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to 
their father's houses, 12 rods. And the rod of Aaron was among 
their rods. And Moses placed the rods before the Lord in the 
tabernacle of witness. 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. Then 
Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the 
children of Israel, and they looked, and each man took his 
rod. And the Lord said to Moses, bring 
Aaron's rod back before the testimony to be kept as a sign against 
the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from me 
lest they die. Thus did Moses, just as the Lord 
had commanded him, so he did. So the children of Israel spoke 
to Moses saying, surely we die, we perish, we all perish. Whoever 
even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord must die. Shall we 
all utterly die? Amen. Well, I think that this 
section, along with beginning in chapter 16, beginning in verse 
one, all the way through chapter 18, seems to have an emphasis 
on the priesthood. Remember that in the previous 
part of chapter 16, we have challenge to Moses and Aaron's leadership 
and authority. There is a man by the name of 
Korah, and he seems religiously motivated because he wants to 
participate in the priesthood. He's not content just being a 
Levite and having the task given to the Kohathites, but he wants 
to actually engage in offering sacrifice to the Lord. So Korah's 
challenge against Moses and Aaron seems to be specifically targeting 
Aaron. In fact, you see that throughout 
the section. Notice in chapter 16 at verse 
3. For all the congregation is holy, 
every one of them, and the Lord is among them." So the emphasis 
on the holiness of the people, certainly a concept that is true 
in Old Covenant Israel, but it does not legitimize every single 
person being a priest to God. That was confined to the house 
of Aaron, but it seems that Korah is longing for and desiring that 
particular task. Verses four to seven, the contest 
or the challenge is priestly in nature. Take your censors 
with your fire and present it up to the Lord, and the one that 
the Lord chooses is the one that will be accepted by the Lord. 
And then notice in 11, verse 11, therefore you and all your 
company, this is Moses' words, are gathered together against 
the Lord. And what is Aaron that you complain against him? And 
then notice in the bronze covering over the altar, if you look specifically 
at verse 40, "...to be 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." So there's definitely an emphasis on priesthood. Now, 
Dathan and Debiram seem to be challenging Moses with reference 
to political authority. If you look specifically at verse 
13, But then as well, God, several 
times throughout the narrative, indicates that a challenge against 
Moses and Aaron is ultimately a rejection against God. But 
it does seem like priesthood is the emphasis here. People, 
at least Korah and his fellows, were longing to participate in 
priestly offerings the way that Aaron and the way that his family. 
So we have this positive reception or affirmation of Aaron over 
and over and over again in this brief section. You see it in 
the rejection of Korah and Dathan and Abiram, their rejection via 
fire and the earth opening up to swallow them. As well, we 
see it positively affirmed in the section in verses 41 to 50, 
and then all of chapter 17 in terms of Aaron's rod being the 
one that buds and blossoms. All of this highlights that it 
was the sons of Aaron alone who were to officiate at the altar 
of the Lord. So it shouldn't surprise us that 
in chapter 18, basically, you have a restatement of the duties 
of priests and Levites. So the priesthood is on the block 
here, and that's the emphasis in this particular section. So 
we'll look first tonight at the complaint of the children of 
Israel in chapter 16 verses 41 to 50, and then secondly the 
budding of Aaron's rod in chapter 17 verses 1 to 13. Not a lot 
to say in chapter 17 other than Aaron's rod budded, blossomed, 
and produced almonds, and it did reflect the affirmation or 
confirmation or vindication of God concerning the Aaronic priesthood. So this is probably going to 
be a shorter study tonight just in terms of the material. But 
note first with reference to the complaint in terms of the 
accusation. Verse 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, the complainers are identified all the congregation 
of the children of Israel. If you go back to chapter 14, 
this is not new. Chapter 14, specifically verses 
1 to 4, this is the response of all the congregation to the 
spies, the antiprophets, that gave a bad report concerning 
the land. So all the congregation was roped 
in by those antiprophets, and of course all the congregation 
believed the antiprophets, and as a result now the congregation 
is upset with Moses and Aaron. So this is not the first challenge 
in chapter 16 that we've seen to their leadership. Notice after 
Moses speaks, or rather Joshua speaks, Notice what happens in 
verse 10, and all the congregation said to stone them with stones. 
Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting 
before all the children of Israel. And then as I said with reference 
to 16, 14 indicates that every act of rebellion against Moses 
and Aaron is ultimately an act of rejection against God. If 
God installed Moses and Aaron, which he did, to attack Moses 
and Aaron is to reject God. You see the same sort of thing 
in 1 Samuel chapter 8, when the people want a king for themselves. 
Samuel is musing before the Lord, lamenting before the Lord, talking 
about being rejected. And God says, it's not you they're 
rejecting, it's me that they're rejecting. So a rejection of 
Moses and Aaron is a rejection of the living and true God. And 
then notice as well, with reference to the complaint, with reference 
to the complaint. So in chapter 16, with reference 
to Korah, if you look at the end of verse 3, it says, So now 
the complaint has been shaped and molded and twisted a bit, 
even more perversely, such that you have killed the people of the 
Lord. They wanted to be exalted over 
the people of the Lord. Now they're actually homicidal 
and murderous and engaging in the killing of the people of 
the Lord. And there could be no further contrast with the 
truth. Notice that they refer to the 
people of the Lord. Well, the earth swallowed up 
and the fire consumed the rebels who joined themselves with Korah 
and Dathan and Abiram. The people of the Lord were not 
consumed by the judgment of God, but rather these rebels that 
had risen up against Moses and Aaron. And so the very language 
that they are using is poisoning the well. You have killed the 
people of the Lord. They imply that Moses and Aaron 
actually have a problem with the Lord. I mean, they killed, 
after all, His people, so certainly that would indicate they are 
now maverick. They are off the rails, and they 
are now just in this murderous rage against these innocent, 
Christ-loving and exalting, sinless people wandering haplessly through 
the wilderness. But now Moses and Aaron just 
want to target them for destruction, because Moses and Aaron are the 
worst possible people on the face of the earth. And then notice 
they wrongly say that Moses and Aaron killed them. Moses and 
Aaron didn't have the power to open the earth. Moses and Aaron 
didn't have the power to consume these rebels with fire. Moses 
and Aaron did not kill these people. It was God the Lord who 
had killed these rebels against Him. Now, before we move on, 
I would just suggest that they should have exercised just a 
smidgen of caution. Note the connection here, verse 
41. On the next day, all the congregation 
of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. You 
probably should have given it a few days to muse on the situation, 
to reflect upon the particulars, to contemplate before you start 
pointing the finger at Moses and Aaron. I think that illustrates 
something that's true of all of us, this hastiness and this 
quickness to act. This idea that we immediately 
know everything, having assessed the facts for all but 24 hours, 
and we're ready now to launch an offensive against the men 
that God's ordained to lead this motley crew through the wilderness 
and get them to the land of Canaan. This was an unwise, very imprudent 
situation that the children of Israel undertook at this particular 
vantage point. This is unwise, it is ungodly. All the congregation should have 
greatly chastened their hearts before making further complaints 
against the God-ordained leadership of Moses and Aaron. Think about 
that. God just killed Korah, Dathan, 
and Abiram for the specific act of challenging Moses and Aaron. So now all the congregation is 
going to come and accuse Moses and Aaron for actually killing 
the people of the Lord? Not a bright bunch, brethren, 
and I think that this underscores sort of that mob mentality or 
that herd mentality. We're not supposed to just get 
sucked into the thoughts of a Korah, a Dathan, and a Byron. We're 
to think biblically. The first to plead his cause 
seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. It is 
folly for somebody to answer a matter hastily. Proverbs 18 
is a beautiful, wonderful treasure trove of good jurisprudence and 
how we ought to be patient before we engage in the sorts of things 
that these people are engaging in, and it's going to cost them 
14,700 people as a result of their waywardness. This is a sad and pathetic illustration 
of what happens when people don't chase in their hearts, when they 
don't sit on things for a while and figure out the best course 
to pursue. Which the best course to pursue 
here was? Yes, Moses. Yes, Aaron. Where 
would you like us to go now? After God kills the Korah and 
company, that should have been the only legitimate response 
on behalf of all the congregation of the children of Israel. Not 
complaining, not whining, and certainly not complaining and 
whining and accusing the two men that God had ordained to 
lead his people. Now note the warning in verses 
42 to 45. We see the presence of the Lord 
in verse 42 without any invocation on the part of Moses. Notice 
in 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. Morales says, the threat was 
so great against his servants, Yahweh appears immediately, even 
before Moses can respond to their grumbling. So this is God understanding, 
and I speak in the manner of men, of course He understands, 
the exact issue as to what's happening here. They haven't 
learned their lesson. They haven't submitted to the 
leadership. Thus, they're still rejecting 
God. You reject Moses and Aaron, you reject God. So God knows 
that now they're actually accusing Moses and Aaron of being the 
orchestrators of murder out here in the wilderness. So the Lord 
responds. And then the Lord gives this 
warning in verses 43 to 45. Notice, the glory of the Lord 
appears, verse 42, then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle 
of meeting. Remember that glory and presence 
and appearance of the Lord cuts both ways. It's for blessing, 
it's for guidance, it's for his communion with his people, but 
it's also for judgment. And so when the Lord suddenly 
appears in the midst of the tabernacle on the heels of the complaints 
of the children of Israel, alleging that Moses and Aaron have become 
murderers, this is an ominous sign. So Moses and Aaron come 
before the tabernacle of meeting. And the text is always very conspicuous 
that Moses and Aaron really are God's ordained servants. It's 
Moses and Aaron that continue to have talk with God. It's Moses 
and Aaron that are continually talked to or spoken specifically 
to by God. And it's a wonderful example 
of these people being completely foolish and naive concerning 
the reality. So notice in verse 44, the Lord 
spoke to Moses saying, get away from among this congregation 
that I may consume them in a moment. We see that in chapter 14. You 
see that in chapter 16. It's an expression of God's righteousness. It's an expression of God's judgment. It's not an expression of deliberation 
on the part of God. On the one hand, I really want 
to kill everybody, but on the other hand, I don't think I'm 
going to do that. No, it's the language of men, it's in the 
manner of men to underscore God's holiness, His righteousness, 
and His justice, and just how wicked Israel is. They deserve 
to be utterly consumed, they deserve to be decimated, they 
deserve to be wiped off the map, and to join Dathan and Abiram 
being swallowed up into Sheol alive. But the Lord says this, 
and then note what Moses and Aaron do in verse 45b, and they 
fell on their faces. Again, the humility of Moses 
and Aaron before the Holy God and their expression of dependence 
upon Him relative to the situation. And so now we come to a positive 
display, a positive vindication of Aaron's priesthood. Aaron 
is successful when it comes to intercession. Akora and his rebellion, 
not so much, but Aaron is. So notice what happens. Moses 
gives him instruction in verse 46. So 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. So the necessity of atonement, 
the idea is here, covering sin. to deal with the sin problem. And note that atonement always 
assumes or presupposes wrath, and that is made very specifically 
known here. Make atonement for them, for 
wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun. If you 
turn to the book of Romans, I think you see this same emphasis in 
terms of wrath revealed and then atonement wrought. In Romans 
1, verse 18, you read that the wrath of God is revealed from 
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who 
suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So Paul, Romans 1, verses 16 
and 17, gives his thesis statement. He basically says, I'm going 
to write to you about the gospel. The gospel is the power of God. 
It is powerful to save the Jew, the Greek, for in it the righteousness 
of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the 
just shall live by faith. Verse 17. Notice verse 18. He doesn't say, for the love 
of God. No, he doesn't start with the love of God. He starts 
with the wrath of God. That's the problem. That's the 
presupposition. That's the situation. So in 118, 
you've got wrath revealed. And then 321, you've got righteousness 
revealed. But now the righteousness of 
God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and 
the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus 
Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference, 
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being 
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is 
in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His 
blood through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in 
His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously 
committed. to demonstrate at the present 
time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier 
of the one who has faith in Jesus. So wrath is revealed, Romans 
1.18. Righteousness is revealed, Romans 
3.21. How is that righteousness revealed? 
It's revealed in the setting forth by the Father of the Son 
on the cross as a propitiation by his blood. The idea of propitiation 
speaks specifically to God's wrath. Jesus takes that wrath 
in our place. So this idea of atonement that 
we find here in the Old Testament squares with that whole concept 
of what we see in terms of the cross. That's why when you read 
passages like these, it may seem a bit odd and a bit obscure because 
it's so far removed. But boy, if you don't see Jesus 
in verse 48, He stood between the dead and the living, so the 
plague was stopped, you should see Jesus there. You should see 
Jesus here, typically, in the Aaronic priesthood. So notice, 
after the instruction, and after the reason for the instruction, 
make atonement for wrath has gone out from the Lord, the plague 
has begun, 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." 
This is a great expression of a priestly man. Aaron wasn't 
a perfect man. Aaron wasn't a sinless man. We see in chapter 12, Aaron and 
Miriam launch the offensive against Moses himself. So Aaron's not 
a perfect man, but when there's atonement to be made and there's 
intercession to be had, he's going to run right into it. He's 
going to go right there. Morales makes the observation 
with reference to this, along with Leviticus 16. This passage 
is much like the central passage of Leviticus, the Day of Atonement, 
Leviticus 16. In both, Aaron is instructed 
to take a censer, putting on it burning coals of fire from 
the altar and incense, for the sake of making atonement for 
the people of Yahweh. Leviticus, which pertains to 
the cultic approach to Yahweh, focuses on Aaron's role in the 
Holy of Holies, while Numbers, which pertains to the camp of 
Israel, centers on Aaron's role for the covenant community's 
survival in the wilderness. This is crucial activity and 
intercession on the part of Aaron at this juncture because this 
could decimate. God's already expressed his mind 
in verse 44. The brothers fall on their, sorry, 
verse 45. The brothers fall on their faces. 
Moses gives command to make intercession, so Aaron steps up to do so. And then in verse 48, he stood 
between the dead and the living, so the plague was stopped. Who 
but Gil could be quotable here, right? In this, he was a type 
of Christ, the mediator between God and man, the living God and 
dead sinners. For though his atonement and 
intercession are not made for the dead in a corporeal sense, 
nor for those who have sinned and sinned unto death, the unpardonable 
sin, nor for men appointed unto death, but for the living in 
Jerusalem, or for those who are written in the Lamb's book of 
life. Yet for those who are dead in sin and as deserving of eternal 
death as others, whereby they are saved from everlasting ruin, 
and the plague was stayed, it proceeded no further than where 
Aaron stood and offered his incense and made atonement. So the consequence 
of the atonement and intercession of Christ is that the wrath of 
God's sin, the wrath of God's sin deserves, comes not upon 
those that have a share therein. The second death shall not seize 
upon them, nor they be hurt with it. For being justified by the 
blood of Christ and atonement for their sins being made by 
his sacrifice, they are saved from wrath to come. Great comment, 
great link between Aaron and verse 48 and what Christ accomplishes 
in terms of his high priestly service on behalf of God and 
towards sinners. And then in verses 49 and 50 
you get a summary. Now those who died in the plague 
were 14,700 besides those who died in the Korah incident. So 
Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting 
for the plague had stopped. A couple of other instances of 
atonement where you see that wrath averted or dealt with is 
in 2 Samuel chapter 21 and 2 Samuel chapter 24 as well. In fact, 
we've looked at the 2 Samuel 21 in a Lord's Supper service 
not too long ago, so look at chapter 24 in 2 Samuel. This is the necessity of atonement, 
judgment upon David's sin. 2 Samuel 24, 18. And Gad came that day to David 
and said to him, go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing 
floor of Arana, the Jebusite. So David, according to the word 
of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. Now Arana looked and saw the 
king and his servants coming toward him. So Arana went out 
and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. Then 
Aaron said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And 
David said, To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar 
to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people. Now Aaron said to David, Let 
my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. 
Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements, 
and the yokes of the oxen for wood. All these, O king, Orana 
has given to the king. And Orana said to the king, May 
the Lord your God accept you. Then the king said to Orana, 
No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price. nor will 
I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which cost 
me nothing. So David bought the threshing 
floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver, and David built there 
an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, 
so the Lord heeded the prayers for the land and the plague was 
withdrawn from Israel. And the same thing, I might mention 
21, just the one verse. 21, 14. They buried the bones of Saul 
and Jonathan, his son, in the country of Benjamin and Zelah 
in the tomb of Kish, his father. So they performed all that the 
king commanded. And after that, God heeded the 
prayer for the land. So this idea of atonement that 
you find all throughout the Pentateuch and in the Old Testament is absolutely 
essential to a proper understanding of who Jesus is and what Jesus 
has accomplished on behalf of his people. And certainly Paul 
expounds that in great detail several places in his epistles, 
we see it in the Apostle Peter, we just see this emphasis on 
Christ as a sacrifice of atonement to deal with the wrath of God 
targeting held deserving sinners. Well, in chapter 17, you've got 
the budding of Aaron's rod. Basically, instructions are given 
in verses 1 to 5. 12 rods, one of them with Aaron's 
name on it. And God basically says that if 
the rod or the rod that buds and blossoms is certainly the 
rod of his acceptance or the man that is accepted with reference 
to priestly activity. So they comply, verses six and 
seven, and then they examine the rods in verses eight to 13. 
Notice, 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. Then Moses brought out all the 
rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel, and 
they looked, and each man took his rod. So basically, this confirms, 
affirms, and vindicates that this is indeed the man of God's 
choosing. This hopefully will put to rest 
any further rebellion down the line of a Levite or Enite that 
wants to jump into the priestly office. The priestly office is 
confined to Aaron and to his family, and that's the emphasis 
that you find. So then notice verse 10, the 
Lord said to Moses, bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony 
to be kept as a sign against the rebels. We know that this 
is where it is because we see it in Hebrews chapter 9. Aaron's 
rod that budded was in that place. But it was specifically to be 
kept as a sign against the rebels, similar to the bronze covering 
in chapter 16 in verses 36 to 40. You were supposed to look 
at that bronze covering, you were supposed to look at or contemplate 
the fact that Aaron's rod alone budded, and you were supposed 
to realize that if I have any inklings for the priesthood, 
but I'm not from the sons of Aaron, I better get rid of that 
thought altogether because it doesn't go well when I try to 
usurp that authority or when I try to complain against God's 
given authority. So he says, bring Aaron's rod 
back before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the 
rebels that he may put their complaints away from me lest 
they die. Thus did Moses just as the Lord 
had commanded him, so he did. Now these last two verses are 
interesting. Note first the recognition of 
Moses' leadership. Took a while to get there, but 
we got there. So the children of Israel spoke 
to Moses. They've had spoke to him in the 
past. They charged him with murder. 
They charged him with trying to exalt himself. Certainly they'd 
had spoken to him in the past. But the way that the text reads 
is that they are now faced with the inevitability, Moses and 
Aaron are the guys. Okay, let's just finish this, 
let's put it to rest here in this portion of the desert, and 
let's move on. So the children of Israel spoke 
to Moses, saying, Note the right fear of God that's been inculcated. Again, it took some doing getting 
there, but they got there. So they say, surely we die, we 
perish, we all perish. Whoever even comes near the tabernacle 
of the Lord must die. Shall we all utterly die? Gil, 
again, says, they who were before so bold and daring as to think 
the priesthood was common to them with Aaron. common to them 
as with Aaron, or they had as good a right to it, and might 
go into the sanctuary of the Lord where he did, are now so 
frightened at the rod being laid up as a token against them, that 
they thought they must not come near the tabernacle at all, and 
if they did, would be in the utmost danger of death." So what 
have they learned in this roundabout difficult way? They've learned 
that Moses is their leader and the only way they get near the 
tabernacle is through the properly functioning priesthood. It's 
not them. It's not Korah, it's not Dathan, 
it's not Abiram, it's not anybody that has a hankering after it, 
but they've recognized the holy precinct, which is the tabernacle. And the only way for unholy sinners 
to get into that holy precinct is through the men ordained by 
God to function as priests, to function in terms of sacrifice, 
to produce the cleanliness for those sinners so that they can 
have access into the presence of God's house. And then note 
how 18.1 begins. And the Lord said not to Moses, 
but he said to Aaron. And again, that's not the first 
time in the Pentateuch that Aaron is spoken to directly, but I 
think it's significant here in this section, 16 to 18, which 
seems to be overall a vindication of Aaron's priesthood with reference 
to the children of Israel. So in conclusion, we see what 
we see a lot in the book of Numbers, the waywardness of the people. 
The presence of God does not cure that. You would think God's 
presence through pillar and cloud would cure that waywardness. 
It doesn't. The judgment of God doesn't even 
cure it. I mean, I'd like to think that 
if I saw what had happened to Korah and Dathan and Abiram, 
the next day I wouldn't be leveling accusations of murder against 
Moses and Aaron. But I know myself better than 
that. I would have been right there 
with all the children of Israel complaining about Moses and Aaron 
being the butchers in the wilderness. But with reference to the waywardness 
of the people, this is the whole point of verse 48. And he stood 
between the dead and the living. So the plague was stopped. Christ 
Jesus came into the world, sinners to save. He didn't come to rescue 
and fetch people that had it all together. He didn't come 
to rescue and fetch persons that were spotless, pure, perfect, 
and holy. He came to fetch those who were 
wayward. And so in the midst of all this, 
as difficult as it may be, we have the priestly intercession 
of Aaron functioning typically as a Christ-like figure amongst 
the people. I would suggest, secondly, and 
this is probably something we should appreciate more than we 
do along the way, is the difficulty for Moses and Aaron. Man, that 
had to be a tough job. As far as jobs go, that has to 
be... I mean, right now, presently, 
of all the pastors I know in the orbit in which I travel, 
To me, Peter is head and shoulders. The guy in Myanmar, head and 
shoulders. None of us know anything as to what he's going through. 
I mean, that's just a mindset or a skill set that I know nothing 
of. No one I know knows nothing of. 
But with reference to tough jobs that we find in the Bible, Moses 
and Aaron had it really rough. I would say thirdly, the glory 
of Christ. He stood between the dead and 
the living and made atonement for the people. We are liable 
to God's wrath because of our sin. We are expected to perish 
in hell forever because of our sin. Christ comes, assumes our 
humanity, and then is delivered up because of our sin. It's not his sin, it's our sin. Delivered up because of our offenses, 
and then he is raised for our justification. We ought to bless 
God for number 16. Not just all of the judgment 
and the heartache and the hardship that comes against the rebels, 
but the atonement of verse 48. It speaks the reality that God 
is in the business of reconciling sinners to himself through his 
ordained means, specifically the priesthood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. And the book of Hebrews takes 
great pains to show that Christ is superior to Aaron in every 
possible way. Christ is the superior priest 
to which Aaron and his sons pointed forward. Well, I'll pray and 
if there's any questions or comments, we can deal with those. Father, 
thank you for your word. Thank you for the atonement that 
we have. in our Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful display 
of this, typologically, in Aaron and his sons. We thank you for 
these Old Testament passages that show forth the glory of 
our blessed Redeemer. Help us, God, to honor you. Help 
us to praise you. Help us to learn the lessons 
from this wayward people, not to go thou and do likewise. Give 
us grace to be faithful to you. Keep us by your Spirit. And we 
pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, any questions 
or comments? It really is amazing. I mean, the next day they charge 
Moses and Aaron with murder. You killed the people of the 
Lord. Do you hear yourselves? because we are that way too, 
right? I'm sure that somebody could 
look over our shoulder, oh, about a thousand times a day and go, 
really? That's what you're thinking here? That's how you're gonna 
navigate through this? That's wisdom as far as you're 
concerned? Prone to wander, prone to leave 
the God that we love. Praise God for Aaron at number 
16 and Jesus everywhere else.