NUMBERS 15:1-18:32 The passage before us today finds the children of Israel on their wanderings through the wilderness. When you stop and think about it, not a whole lot is written about those 40 years. But, I want you to just stop and think about this with me Have you ever gone on a trip and you missed your turn and you got all turned around trying to get back to the right road? Sometimes it takes a good long while to get straightened out and when you finally do get back on the right road, you look at the clock and you say, Good grief, I ve wasted 45 minutes just going around in circles (Ex: Helen and me trying to get to the airport) Well, these folks wandered around in circles for 38 years 40 years in all when you take in the trip from Egypt and the time spent at Sinai. They made no advance and no retreat in their journey. They simply wandered aimlessly around and around in the wilderness. It was just one long funeral march as all those 20 years and older the folks we saw last week who didn t trust God died off, one by one. Each time one of them died and was buried, it was yet another reminder of God s judgment upon His people. During this 40 year period, an old generation passed off the scene and a new generation came on, and this happened, as we saw last week, because the folks of the older generation were not willing to do God s will. In today s lesson, we re going to see that God has to restate or repeat the divine ordinances He had already given them. 1) The Repeating of God s Ordinances Now, we re not going to cover this chapter and all the sacrifices listed here, but I do want to point out a few things Why do you think God repeated these ordinances at this particular point? Well, remember how the previous chapter ended? God had pronounced divine judgment on everyone 20 years old and above and then, right after that, there was a humiliating defeat of these same folks as they ran ahead of the Lord and decided they would just run over to Canaan and attack the Canaanites and the Lord would forget all about everything. Of course, this didn t happen. But, let me ask you Is God going to completely sever His relationship with His children? Is He going to forsake them and raise up a new people? Are they going to wander in the wilderness forever as nomads, with no place to call home? Is God s covenant with Abraham and his descendants going to be nullified? Is God going to just break this covenant? NO!! 15:1-2: God says, When you enter the land where you are to live, Page 1 of 7
which I am giving you So, I believe Chapter 15 is here so that God can repeat His ordinances so that the younger generation will know what s expected of them God will repeat and reaffirm all this again just before they enter the land. If we were to cover this chapter in depth, we would see 4 special instructions to the children of Israel that we would do well to pay attention to today a) They were to please the Lord - verses 1-21 tell of various offerings the people were to make offerings of their flocks and herds, of their grain and flour and wine offerings that were to be a soothing aroma to the Lord. sweet savor (3 times) This phrase, soothing aroma (or sweet savor ) always indicates pleasing the Lord. You know what amazes me? It never ceases to amaze me that I can actually please the Lord. I mean, I can t even please some of you but I can please the Lord! (and may I say to you, if I please Him, it really doesn t matter if I please you ) But, I can please the Lord by my offerings, not only my material and monetary offerings, but also of my time and my prayers and my service Everything I do and all that you do should be done to please the Lord! Not only were they to please the Lord, but b) they were to seek the Lord - verses 22-29 Here, the sacrifices are for sins that were committed by the people unintentionally actually unintentional sins of omission. These were things the folks should have done but didn t do, because they didn t know better. God says sins of ignorance aren t automatically forgiven just because we don t know better or unintentionally forget God s commands. See, if God did not hold man accountable for sins of omission and sins of ignorance then it would be so simple to just do nothing and to stay ignorant of any of God s commandments and then, we wouldn t ever sin we wouldn t be sinners But, Beloved, God s Word teaches us that we aren t sinners because we sin, we sin because we re sinners. So, God tells us that He will be found if we seek Him with all our heart, and we are to seek Him and His forgiveness even for our sins of omission. David said, Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. See, David knew that God knew his heart better than David knew his heart! Page 2 of 7
Not only do these sacrifices tell us that they were to please the Lord and seek the Lord, but they also tell us that d) they were to fear the Lord - verses 30-36 These verses tell us that God takes very seriously presumptuous sin (KJV), or defiant sin (NAS). The Hebrew literally means to sin with a high hand as though the person were shaking his or her fist in the face of Almighty God and daring God to do something about it! Romans 3:18 describes these folks as having no fear of God before their eyes. Moses gives an example of such a man in verses 32-36 A man gathered wood on the Sabbath and he was brought to Moses and Aaron and they kept the man in custody and asked the Lord what they should do with him and look at what God said verse 35 Beloved, it s a dangerous thing for Christians to say, Well, I ll go ahead and sin, because afterward I can always ask God to forgive me. Let me tell you something you can believe something profound This profound truth has two points: 1) Professing Christians who repeatedly and deliberately sin probably aren t Christians at all 1 John 3:9 tells us that no one who is born of God practices sin. This doesn t mean Christians don t sin but it does mean they don t make sin a deliberate part of their lifestyle 2) True believers who adopt a careless attitude about sin will be chastened by the Father until they submit to His will Hebrews 12:10-11 tells us that they (our earthly fathers) disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness. When the German poet, Heine, said on his deathbed Of course God will forgive me, that s His job he did not understand the awfulness of sin, nor did he understand the high cost of God s grace. God s grace is free to you and me, but it cost God His Son! Not only were they to please God and seek God and fear God, but also e) they were to remember the Lord - verses 37-41 These verses tell us that they were to sew a border of blue with tassels on their garments and when they looked at these tassels they were to remember God s commandments. Let me ask you what is your border of blue? Is it your Bible? Is it your Christian friend who holds you accountable? Is it your church? Well, let me say that we have a reminder these folks didn t have, and that reminder is the dear Holy Spirit!! And, I truly believe this if you will just be still and take the time to just be quiet and let the Holy Spirit speak to you each day, you will remember the Lord. David said, Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget none of His benefits. Well, not only does today s lesson teach us of the Repeating of God s Ordinances, it also teaches us of Page 3 of 7
2) The Rebellion of Korah s Crowd I read this week of a 1997 Lincoln Continental in mint condition that had been reduced to $500.00. But, for all its great condition and its unbelievably low price, no one wanted to buy it You know why? Because it wouldn t take you where you wanted to go, but only where you ought to go! Many times that s the way we follow the leaders God has given us we follow them only when they take us where we want to go but we don t follow them if they take us where we ought to go Korah rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and God didn t like it at all! And, not only did Korah rebel but he gathered up others to rebel as well. In fact, he and Dathan and Abiram and On together with 250 leaders of the sons of Israel assemble against Moses and Aaron. They questioned the authority of Moses and Aaron verses 3-5. Well, let me just sort of summarize what happened here Moses told Korah and his rebellious friends to come the next day and bring their censers and put fire in them and lay incense upon them in the presence of the Lord and God would choose the one who is holy. But these men refused to come and they accused Moses of taking them into the wilderness to let them die. So, Moses issued the command a second time, and this time for all 250 of them to come and for each to bring their own censers and put fire in them and lay incense on them and this time they came but, Someone else showed up as well! Verse 19b And the glory of the LORD appeared to all the congregation. God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from that congregation because He was going to consume them instantly And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and interceded once again for the people of Israel. (Moses spends a lot of his time interceding for these folks, doesn t he?) Then, God told Moses and Aaron to get back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and Moses told the congregation the same thing that they shouldn t be close to the tents of these wicked men. Well, let s look down at verses 28-35 Then, God commanded Aaron s son, Eleazar, to make the censers of these men into hammered sheets for the altar as a reminder verse 40. Now, wouldn t it be great if this story, as bad as it is, ended right here? But, it doesn t. The next day the people came back to Moses and accused him of causing the death of the LORD S people and when they did this, they looked over toward the Tabernacle and the glory of the LORD appeared there verses 44-45. Moses knew what was about to happen. Moses knew God s wrath had gone forth and God was getting ready to strike the people with a plague, and Moses ordered Aaron to bring incense quickly and make atonement for the sins of the people. God indeed brought a plague and when Page 4 of 7
they counted the corpses there were 14,700 dead that day besides the 250 that died with Korah. What is it in the human heart that makes it so easy to follow the crowd and disobey the Lord? It s sin it s pride and jealousy and rebellion. The human heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked and except for the grace of God, and the Holy Spirit living within us we would all do the same thing!! Not only do we see The Repeating of God s Ordinances and The Rebellion of Korah s Crowd, but we also see 3) The Revelation of God s Choice The episode in Chapter 16 prompted God to settle once and for all for all the people whom He had appointed to be the spiritual leader of His people. God would prove once and for all that He had chosen Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. The test was really very simple. The leader of each tribe gave Moses a rod and upon each rod Moses wrote the name of each tribe. Moses also took the rod of the tribe of Levi and wrote Aaron s name upon it. Moses then took all these rods and brought them into the Tabernacle in front of the Holy of Holies. Now, Beloved, these were dead pieces of wood. These were dried, dead walking sticks. Look what happened verse 8 Aaron s dead walking stick sprouted and put forth buds and not only that, but it produced blossoms and not only that, it bore ripe almonds! What in the world does this mean to you and me today aside from the fact that we shouldn t mess with God s appointed leaders? Well, this is a beautiful picture of LIFE OUT OF DEATH! This is a beautiful picture of RESURRECTION! I told you all last week that the Old Testament is full of types and pictures and here is a great one! Just as Aaron s priesthood was confirmed by resurrection by life out of death by a dead stick that bore fruit the priesthood of Jesus was confirmed by His resurrection. The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus wasn t a priest when He was here on earth. Think about it we have no record of Jesus offering sacrifices in the Temple. We have no record of Jesus going into the Holy of Holies. Jesus wasn t from the priestly tribe of Levi Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. But, Jesus became our High Priest When? AFTER HIS RESURRECTION!! Hebrews 5 tells us Jesus was designated as our High Priest not before His death but as the writer of Hebrews says when He was saved out of death. The Book of Hebrews goes to great lengths to tell us that Jesus is a better High Priest than the sons of Aaron. Page 5 of 7
Why? Because His position will never change. Because He has an unchangeable priesthood. Because He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. Because He ever lives to make intercession for you and me. He feels all our hurts. He feels all our burdens. He feels all our doubts and all our fears. He is touched by all our infirmities. He sympathizes with each one of us. Let me ask you Do you need mercy today? Do you need peace today? Are you lonely today? Do you have a problem you can t solve alone? Are you at a crossroads and you don t have a clue which way to go? Are you grieving over the loss of a dear loved one? Are you grieving over the loss of a relationship? Is life just a struggle? Are you being tempted to just give up? Well, let me tell you to go to your High Priest today!! He ever lives to make intercession for you. He wants what s best for you! He knows what s best for you. He s at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for you! Sometimes I may ask you to pray for me and you might forget. Sometimes you may ask me to pray for you and I might forget. But, our dear Lord Jesus Christ never forgets! Last night while you slept, He made intercession for you. Right now, He s doing the same thing I love the story of Aaron s rod that budded. I love the fact that God preserved it as a reminder to the people by the way have you counted the reminders that God gave the people in today s lesson? He gave them the reminder of the blue tassels and the reminder of the censers that were hammered into platings for the altar, and here He gave them the reminder of the rod of Aaron. I love the fact that God placed Aaron s rod inside the Ark so the people would never forget God s choice. But, you know, I love the picture it represents even more the picture of our the dear Lord Jesus Christ who became a baby in Bethlehem, and lived among men and taught and healed and comforted them, who died on a Cross and was raised the third day, and became our great High Priest, and entered the Tabernacle in heaven and presented His own blood so that we might be brought out of darkness into light and out of death into life Well, let s look at one more thing this passage teaches and then we ll be through 4) The Regulations for Priest and Levites Briefly, chapter 18 simply tells us that God expected the priest to cooperate with each other Page 6 of 7
and the priests were to be supported by the people with their tithes and the priests were to tithe their income as well Beloved, never forget that you and I are priests. In 1 Peter, we have been called a holy priesthood and a royal priesthood and a holy nation and a people of God s own possession. My prayer is that as God brings lost people into our lives, That we will be able to lead them to our Great High Priest. I pray that our lives will show forth to others that we please the Lord, and seek the Lord and fear the Lord and remember the Lord. I pray the Holy Spirit within us will be so evident that others will see Him and be reminded they need the Lord as well. The story is told of a man named Bill who was a drunk. Bill stumbled into a mission one day and after hearing the Gospel, Bill became gloriously saved. Bill stopped drinking and decided to just stay at the mission and minister to other folks who, like himself had a battle with alcohol. Well, Bill eventually died, and at his memorial service, someone gave an invitation and an old drunk stumbled down the aisle and fell at the altar. Someone came to him and said, Do you want to give your heart to Jesus? The old drunk looked up at him and said, Is Jesus as good as Bill? Oh, how I pray that folks would be drawn to Jesus because they see the goodness of the Holy Spirit in us! Page 7 of 7