Standing Between The Dead And The Living!

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.