Standing between the dead and the living!
• Numbers 16: 46”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."
• 48”And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.”
TAKE YOUR CENSER!
We need leaders who will be humble, obedient and God fearing, God would never promote a puffed-up heart. Korah and his team stand up against Moses and Aaron and said,’ for all the congregation is holy – every one of them.’ These 250 men were no ordinary men but they were chiefs of the congregation and well-known men. We can smell ‘envy and bitterness’ emitting from the outrageous group! The response of Moses towards this is commendable, he fell flat on his face and said, ‘the Lord will judge the holy and the unholy!’ Amen. Perfect decision; brawling, arguing and clashing is not the godly way to react to misunderstandings but like Moses, we got to take it to God. Moses commanded Korah and his rebel group to bring 250 censers and Aaron to bring his censer as well, before God. When they did it, the glory of the Lord appeared and the Lord commanded the godly people to separate themselves from the rebellious group. Move away! Are you listening? Have nothing to do with the wicked and the unrighteous, lest you get destroyed with them. Caveat! A young boy went along with his friends, to meet a woman friend in her flat. The boy knew nothing of their intentions, yet, was hanging around with them, eventually their visit ended up in murdering the woman. Alas, the boy had to run for his life and stay hidden away from his family and the world for the rest of his life! Price for wrong association is pretty heavy!
We read of the earth splitting and earthquake for the first time in the Bible in this chapter:
Numbers 16:30”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."
EVERYTHING WAS DESTROYED: I would like to point out something here, not only were the people destroyed but everything that belonged to them got swallowed into the earth. Read:
Numbers 16:32”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.” God despised their wickedness, cheekiness and snootiness and wanted no ‘trace’ of them, hence He wiped away all the people that belonged to Korah and his goods as well. Let this incident instill fear in our hearts to reverence God and obey His commandments. God expected much better behavior from the chiefs of the congregation, but they perished under the earth because of their impudence and insolence. We got to respect the leaders kept above us by God!
DOUBLE TROUBLE: Following the earthquake , fire from the Lord came and consumed the 250 men who offered the incense.(v 35) Your sins will be found and you would be punished! How we wish to skip these portions of the Bible and be spared of reading the painful and ugly events but God has not eliminated it and kept it there for us to read, understand, fear and know He is God! Many may not even know about these events in the Bible.
Friend, men/women visit pubs, drink, dance and stay together for overnight parties, commit the most atrocious sins and yet dare to say, “don’t interfere in our freedom”. No matter which part of the world , God’s laws are to be revered and obeyed. Let the world know ‘THERE IS A GOD WHO IS WATCHING THE SINS OF THIS WORLD AND VERY SOON AN END IS AT HAND. REPENT AND COME TO JESUS!’
REMEMBRANCE: Read: Numbers 16:38 “The censers of these sinners against their own souls, let them make them broad plates for a covering of the altar……and they shall be a sign unto the children of Israel."
The insolent team of Korah did not give a thought for their souls that would perish when they indulged in quarreling with the men of God. A married man when he dates another woman does not think of his soul but his lustful eyes roves sinfully. Young men/women trade their precious souls for the vanity of this world and perish. Matthew 16:26 “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Now watch this, God does not want you to very soon forget His rod of correction! We got to remember His chastisement, fear Him and walk in the path of holiness and righteousness. Look what He does, He commands Eleazar the son of Aaron to take out the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives and let them be made into hammered plates as a sign for the people of Israel. While Eleazar looked for the censers, he had to dig them out, ignoring the burnt bodies of Korah and his unruly team. Alas! In a minute they got burnt and perished!
Hardened Hearts: Despite all this, look what happens , on the very next day (v 41) all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said: "You have killed the people of the LORD.” The people failed to get it: a) the wicked were mentioned as ‘people of the Lord’ and the chastisement of the Lord was not understood but interpreted as killed by Moses and Aaron. They failed to see the finger of God in the incident, what good it is to go to church week after week when we fail to get spiritual understanding? Answer me. Loads of people are heading straight to hell though they had been regular church goers! Caveat! The Lord needs not church-goers but doers of the Word! Are you listening? James talks about this wonderfully: James 1:22”be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
I asked a highly educated young Christian man who claims that his parents are also very godly, if he prays, he answered: ’I do a short prayer when I do find the time.’ Further I asked ‘what about fasting’, with irritation in his voice, he said ‘we are not used to fasting.’ I asked what about Bible reading, he casually replied, ‘I find it very difficult to read the Bible, however, I read portions of New Testament but not the Old Testament.’ His answers jolted me severely and it kept ringing in my ears and taunted me! He was no stranger to me, he did spend some time with us when he was free but over a period of time people change, leave…..and answer so rudely. Hard hearts! The Lord says (Zechariah 7:12) ”They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.”
RUNNING BETWEEN THE DEAD AND THE LIVING: The wrath of God burnt against the arrogant grumblers and He ordered Moses and Aaron to get away so that He could destroy them; however , what Moses and Aaron do now, is simply amazing, they fell on their faces. Moses ordered Aaron to swiftly take the censer and run between the dead and the living because the plague had already begun. The love, compassion and leadership qualities of Moses and Aaron stands above all that had happened thus far! This is also what I would highlight today ! Aaron was not young when this happened; yet as an old man, he runs between the dead and the living interceding for the very people who were against them. I guess, Aaron kept crying to the Lord as he ran up and down in the midst of the congregation: “Lord, you forgave the sins of this wretched man who made the golden calf and made the people sin, please forgive these people who have sinned against you and help them understand you.” While he prayed, ‘the plague was stopped.’ Glory to Jesus! God would hear your prayers too! In the earthquake 250 men died, but when the people again raised their voices against God and the leaders and refused to obey God and honor Him , 14,700 people died in the plague.
Let us cease from the mad pursuit of everything trivial and meaningless to a deep awareness of God and His ways!
Let me give you some rapid-fire applications from the above message:
a) Respect godly leaders and do not rebel against them, wait for God’s time to promote you rather than argue and brawl.
b) God hates disobedience and presumptuous, willful sinners; He would wipe them away with no trace whatsoever. Caveat!
c) Let us not harden our hearts when He speaks to us.
d) We got to forgive the offenders and run between the dead and the living to save their souls from the pit of hell.
God bless you!
BALA SAMSON
