“GAP FILLERS”
Numbers 16:41-50
Numbers 16:48 reads “And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.”
A gap is a separation in space, an incomplete or deficient area, a break in continuity, the
lack of balance, a wide difference in character or attitude, a problem caused by some disparity.
Filler is a substance added to a product to increase bulk, weight, viscosity, capacity, or strength.
No doubt some of you during these past couple of weeks have placed a towel on the floor in front of your door. The space between the door and the floor is a gap, the towel you placed between there is the filler; the purpose was to bring continuity between the door and the floor so the strength of the heat inside of your house would increase.
I am talking about Gap Fillers!!!!!
There is a commercial on T.V. about a particular clothing store that says, “Fall into the Gap.” I would like to change it a little bit and ask the question “Can you stand in the Gap”? Look at someone and ask them this questions “Are you a Gap Filler”?
Gap filler is one that is able to stand in that cavity between the dead (the world) and the living (God). Often times we call it an intercessor one that prays and petitions for the favor of another. We find in the 48 verse that Aaron stood in this gap, between the dead and the living.
Let me give you a little history of what was going on and why we find Aaron standing in the gap between the dead and the living. Korah a Levite, and the 1st cousin of Moses and Aaron, along with Dathan and Abiram the chief men of the tribe of Reuben, (for those of you that are up on your Bible know that Reuben was the eldest son of Jacob and according to tradition should have received a double portion of the inheritance, from his father Israel, but God had another plan – don’t you know that What God has for you is for you) Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, developed an incorrect concept of God and became jealous of Moses and Aaron. Because of this incorrect concept of God they became prideful within themselves and boasted of their self-righteousness.
How many of you know that pride is the antithesis of God. No other sin is more despised by God than that of pride. Pride is self-reliance without God, a spirit that desires total independence from God. Pride cause contempt toward others, pride manifest itself in self-assertion and causes one to turn from worshiping God to worshiping self. In Greek Mythology we read about Narcissus, who looking into a fountain feel in love with the person he saw, thinking it was some kind of water nymph that desired to have him and when he felt rejected by the water nymph he which was his own reflection, committed suicide because he was unable to posses that which he saw and feel in love with. Because of their pride they boasted of their self and said in verse 3 “And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” But what they failed to understand is that all are called, some are chosen, and others are appointed, they may have all been called, but they all were not appointed. All of us are called into the ministry of reconciliation but all of us are not appointed to be the pastor. Understand that every body in the church is not going to be a pastor, everybody in the church is not going to be a deacon, everybody in the church is not going to be a missionary, but whatever position God calls you to be in the church he qualifies you for that position. And you need to do that position with dignity and honor, praise and thanksgiving unto Lord. If you are the janitor every time you sweep the floor give God praise because someday you know you will go sweeping through the city.
Because of their incorrect concept they began to falsely accuse Moses and Aaron for taking honour for themselves and treating the people unfairly. However Moses being a man of God, appointed by God, to do the will of God was able to discern that the rebellion was not against Moses and Aaron, but against God because of the incorrect concept they had developed. They said that a great wrong had been done against them by bringing them out of Egypt, the land that flowed with milk and honey; they said that the intention was to kill them in the wilderness.
But these men could not understand that because they were lifted up in pride, so Moses being a man of God said OK this is what we need to do and he challenges them to appear with Aaron the next morning, at the time of offering up the morning incense, and let God judge the matter. In other words let’s see who God qualifies and whose ever offering He accepts that is the one that is called and qualified to do the job. Korah accepts the challenge and the next morning 250 men, followers of Korah, with their censers along with Aaron and Moses and stood in the door of the tabernacle, but Moses had already prayed and asked God not to respect their offering.
Because of their rebellion against God and the men of God, God was getting ready to destroy all of them, He told Moses get thee up from this congregation that I may consume the in a moment. But Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces, they stood in the gap and because they stood in the gap God had to change His mind to what He was going to do to giving them the chance to do what was right and then if they didn’t do what was right they had to suffer the consequences. The 22nd verse read “And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation.” This was standing in the gap. Which caused God to change His mind.
WATCH THIS: - The reason God had to change His mind was not because Moses and Aaron were so special by themselves, but because of “LOGOS” which is God’s Word.
In Isaiah 55:11 the Bible says “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” God’s word is called Logos when you, or I or Moses and Aaron for this matter become Gap Fillers we become Logi within the Logos, we become word within the word and the word is in us. In John 1:1the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Since the word is in us and the word is God, when we stand on faith we are standing on God, in God, and God is in us, so when Moses and Aaron stood in the Gap God couldn’t destroy all the people because He can’t go against Himself.
In verse 23 & 24 reads “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” God changed His mind, He wasn’t going to consume all of them, but He was going to give them the opportunity to do what was right.
In verse 26 the Bible says “And he spake unto the congregation, (this is Moses) saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. This was the chance for them to do what was right or suffer the consequences. So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: (they turned from their wicked ways) and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. .” They were so wrapped up in pride they felt self-reliance without God and they stood in defiance against God in the doors of their tents and He caused a consuming fire to come out of the censers and consume the 250 men and then the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed alive those that stood with them in defiance against God, their families, their sons, even the little children.
Then God gave the commandment that the 250 censers be made into a memorial unto the children of Israel to remind them that no stranger come near to offer incense unto the Lord unless he be as Korah and his followers.
God gave a warning unto the people in order to wake them up. He needed to get their attention. I am here to tell you that 911 was just a warning to get the attention of America. America needs to wake up.
But on the very next morning the children of Israel began to complain yet again accusing Moses and Aaron that they have killed the children of the Lord, all because they had an incorrect concept of God and because of this incorrect concept they were caught up in a negative feedback loop. This is what the world is face with now, they are caught up in a negative feed back loop.
A negative feedback loop is this an incorrect concept of God, and because of this incorrect concept we they got angry with God, because they / we don’t understand how God operates, this leads to complaining, which led them to begin to rebel against God., which caused even more discouragement because they didn’t understand God, which caused the to begin to doubt God, that led to fear , that they were going to die, which caused a feeling of hopelessness they felt hopeless because of their incorrect concept of God which cause them to be angry with God, which led to complaining, which led to rebellion, which caused discouragement, which led to doubt, which led to fear, which led to hopelessness, which was caused by their incorrect concept, which ultimately caused them to loose out on their inheritance. Because they were caught up in this negative feedback loop.
Because of this God was getting ready to consume them in a moment, and told Moses to get out of the way, but Moses said unto Aaron Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.” He stood in the Gap between the dead and the living he was a Gap Filler.
The world today in caught in a negative feedback loop, they have an incorrect concept of God they believe that it is God’s desire for us to be happy, but their concept of what happiness is, is incorrect. They think that happiness is living in a fine home, driving an expensive car, having prestige and power, and never having the devil on our backs at all. They feel that happiness is a life of trouble free living and the Bible says in Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” and in 1 Peter 3:14 “Happy is the man that suffer for righteousness”.
Happiness is not based on good things only, but since our concept of what happiness is has been incorrect we feel as though if things aren’t going a certain way that God has rejected us, because he is not operating in our expectations. Then when things like 911 happen they get angry with God because of the incorrect concept of God, they begin to complain and say how could God allow that to happen, then they begin to rebel against God they are caught up in a negative feedback loop of emotions. That is why America is going through the things that they are going through right now because of their incorrect concept of God and the plagued is starting, because God has become angry with America for turning away from Him.
That’s why there needs to be someone that is able to stand in the Gap. In Isaiah 6 God was looking for someone to send and asked the question whom shall I send and Isaiah said “Here am I; send me.” He was willing to stand in the Gap between the dead and the living.
Today God is looking for someone to stand in the Gap, are you willing to be a Gap Filler.
However there are certain qualifications to being a Gap Filler.
The Qualifications of being a Gap Filler are:
1. You must be Humble: This is without pride, willing to listen and do what God says do. Many people want to be in the lime light, many people want to be the preacher, because it seems like it is just all glitz and glitter, but it requires you to fall on your face when you would normally want to see the destruction come. That is what was Jonah’s problem, he wanted to see the destruction of Ninevah, but God said I have appointed you to be a Gap Filler so he had to go into the bottom of the whale, deep into the bottom of the sea, in-order to come to the bottom of himself and become humble.
That is the qualification that made Moses and Aaron great Gap Filler because they were willing to fall on their faces for the sake of the people. Are you willing to fall on your face for those of the world, not just your loved one, but for those that persecute you as well.
2.You must have true Love for the people: Not what we call love because that’s not love that Eros. Eros triggers our senses, our sight, our smell, our touch, our taste, and sound and puts us in contact with our environment, and because things are pleasurable to us, because certain things excited the erotic nature in us, because things make us feel good and are good to the flesh we believe this is love because it is good to us. But that is not the kind of love that qualifies you to be a Gap filler, but you must have that Agape love, Agape is not predicated on our goodness, but is solely based on the strength of God. God’s love for us is totally independent of any outside source. God’s love does not get frustrated with people, people that after all he has done will not love him back.
Can you love somebody even though they don’t love you back, I’m talking about being a Gap Filler.
Yet in still he keeps pumping and pumping love toward us and all we do is keep taking and taking, never once ever giving anything in return. Yet He never stops loving us, He never runs out of mercy for us, any body that is capable of loving you and me and never run out of love, never stop giving and giving after all we do is take and take and take has to have an abundance of love. We are not giving anything yet He loves us. God says I love you even though you are incapable of loving me back; I love you just because you are there. There is nothing I need from you I just love you, I don’t love you because you praise me, because before you could praise me I loved you. I love you and I don’t need you to love me back for me to love you I just love you independent of you loving me I love you for me, I love you. Understand in order to love and not get something back you got to have something in you, around you, over you, under you, through you to be able to love something that can’t love you back. So we see that this love relationship is totally one-sided. If you want to be a Gap Filler you must infuse Eros with Agape, since God produces Agape then I can begin to love like God loves me and this is being Holy. Then I have another of the qualifiers to being a Gap Filler
3.You must have Boldness: Boldness is the opposite of fear. The Bible says in 2nd Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” To be a Gap filler you must have the type of boldness to venture into the infectious sinful world to save the lost, not counting or worrying about yourself, but that you may fulfill the ministry that God has placed you in. This is called being a peacemaker the Bible says in Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God”: - Many people have a misunderstanding of this because they believe that it is referring to be peaceable or the keepers of peace; however, it is talking about the ones that brings peace to an un-peaceable situation. Understand that a peacemaker is not a characteristic of a Gap Filler but a responsible activity belonging to every Gap Filler in this Christian walk.
The Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5:18-20 “And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God”. This is the ministry that every Christian has and that is reconciliation. Reconciliation is - to restore to friendship or harmony.
The Bible says in Mark 2:17 “When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Our job of being a Gap filler is to lead the lost souls back to God. When we lead the lost souls, sinners, back to Christ, then their souls are no longer suffer to be reconciled back to that status they had before the fall of man, this is the concept of a peacemaker.
The reward of a peacemaker is to be called a child of God. He is already a child of God when you are reconciled back to God. That is your heritage; however, it is not heritage that is in view, but his character. When people see you standing in the Gap bringing peace to their sin-sick, troublesome, totally separated from God souls they notice the image and likeness of your father Jesus Christ.
We are the only Jesus this world will ever see we must stand in the Gap reconciling men and women boys and girls back to the father. Are you a Gap Filler.
If you are going to be a Gap Filler I dare you to stand upon your feet put those blessed hands together open that sanctified mouth and say Lord if you can use anything you can use me. Here I am Lord send me, I am will to be a Gap Filler standing between the dead and the living.
Let’s take a minute and go back to Calvary. I want to show you something about the ultimate Gap Filler. At Calvary on Golgotha’s hill, after being beaten all night long, after being humiliated, after having had to carry the Patibulum through what is now called the Via Della Rosa, the way of suffering, Jesus is offered a mixture of Wine & Myrrh, which was a type of anesthesia that was called a stupefying drink, which was to ease the pain of the crucifixion by causing the person to go out of their mind. But Jesus refuses the drink, he wasn’t worried about himself at all. The Roman soldiers pulled him down to the ground 4 soldiers, 2 on one-side and 2 on the other, pinned His arms to the Patibulum by smashing their knees into His arm at the elbow and holding His hand flat against the Patibulum, the other would drive the spike into His hand. I’m told this spike was about 6” long and about 1” thick.
I often thought they nailed His hand in the middle, but I come to find out that it was done at the base of the hand, if you find what they call the life-line in your hand and run down toward your arm just about at the end of your hand you’ll find a dent or a GAP they drove the spike in there, this was to keep the body from pulling off the spike, the thumb gave it that stability.
Coming down the whole length of the arm right through that gap is what is called the Median Nerve, it goes into the hand and then branches off into each fingertip. The Median nerve is a sensory and motor nerve, which means it, not only controls movement but also is what give you the sense of tough. When they drove the nail into His hand they cut the Median nerve, His hands began to draw up like claws.
Then they lifted Him up onto what is called the Stipe, and nailed His feet to the cross. Just like in your arm there is a nerve that runs the entire length of you leg into the tips of your toes, it is called the Peronial Nerve, it controls movement as well as sensation.
Fire ran from His arms and legs, He didn’t have to go to hell, He had hell in His body, but what a mighty God we serve. By Jesus being stretched out on the cross, with hell going through His body, it was the first time since the fall of man that God and man came together. Jesus was our GAP FILLER.
Are you Gap Filler???????
Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
Boanerge Ministries
