God’s Will is Specific

Transcript

GRS 2-32
4/09/2006
God’s Will is Specific
Numbers 17-20
Gil Rugh

We are in the Book of Numbers and you could turn to the Book of Numbers and the 17th Chapter in your Bibles, we are moving through the history of Israel. And Israel is in a time of wilderness wandering, as we call it, because that’s what they are doing. They are wandering in a wilderness region, wilderness region being a region that does not sustain large populations of life over time. It’s not good for growing crops. But God is providing in a special way for the people with manna from Heaven and his other special provisions that we will see even in our consideration tonight.

Perhaps the major crises during the wilderness years of wandering with what was related in Numbers Chapter 16, a severe challenge to the leadership of Moses, the role of Aaron by Korah and some men associated with him supported by 250 prominent leaders in the nation Israel and that insurrection is put down by direct intervention of God and the earth opens up and swallows Korah and some of the other rebels.

The 250 leaders who joined them are consumed by fire, and the very next day people grumbled against Moses and Aaron as though they hadn’t really grasped what was going on and they blame Moses for bringing about the death of these people. And that brings further plague from God and in Numbers 16:49, 14,700 additional people die. They understand, well, these are God’s people and I refer to them as God’s people because God has chosen the nation Israel for himself. And they are in covenant relationship with Him by virtue of being the Jews. But you understand that to the bulk of the nation are unregenerate people and so they lack spiritual sensitivity and spiritual awareness and they end up being blind to the most obvious displays of God’s power and God’s presence.

We come to Chapter 17 and God is going to establish clearly for the nation the role of Aaron and his descendants because we have the Aaronic priesthood, the priesthood that began with Aaron and is followed by the line of his descendants and God is going to make clear that he has chosen Aaron and only Aaron for that role. So Chapter 17 demonstrates the authority of Aaron’s priesthood if you will and he has to put a stop to the grumbling, down in verse 5. “Thus I will lessen from upon myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you." And in grumbling against them, against Aaron in the position he has and that’s what’s immediately going to be addressed, they are grumbling against God and God’s established ordained to plan, down in verse 10. The Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against me, so that they will not die." So in verse 5, he referred to the grumblings against you, verse 10, the grumblings against me because Aaron is God’s divinely appointed representative and it is only Aaron and his family that are qualified to carry out the high priestly ministry and the work of the priests in the nation.

So the plan of the God sets forth verse 2 of Chapter 17 of Numbers, "Speak to the sons of Israel. Get from them a rod for each of his father's household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their fathers' households. And you shall write each name on his rod.” The rod symbolizes leadership and so each tribe, the 12 tribes, the 12 families presents the rod, symbolizing the leadership for each of these 12 tribes. And then you write your name on it, so we don’t get confused whose rod belongs to who, there is only 12 and they have the names inscribed on them.

Verse 3; “Write Aaron’s name on the rod of Levi.” Aaron is of the tribe of Levi; for there is one rod for head of each father’s household. You shall deposit them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the testimony where I meet with you. You place them in before God. “It will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout.” There is something supernatural here. Here you have a rod with the cut from a piece of wood, but it would have been carved into a rod. It’s cut-off from all life, obviously. God is going to do something unique. He is going to select one of these rods and he is going to cause it to manifest life. It’s going to sprout and that will indicate to you the one that I have chosen and obviously it’s going to be Aaron’s rod. So Moses follows through.

Verse 7; they deposit the rods before the Lord. Verse 8; now on the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, put forth buds, produced blossoms and it bore ripe almonds, it was a multiplied miracle. Even if you’d had a live almond bush, if it had no buds and no almonds or anything on it, it wouldn’t happen overnight. But now you take a piece of dead wood and overnight Aaron’s rod demonstrates life and that indicates God has sovereignly chosen Aaron. He is the one who can give life.

Verse 10 that we read then, but the Lord said to Moses, “Put the rod of Aaron back before the testimony.” So it is to be preserved as an ongoing witness that Aaron and his descendants have been divinely chosen by God to be the priests. This is not a role they took on themselves. This is the whole issue in Korah’s rebellion that Moses and Aaron took to themselves, elevated themselves as special leaders and you understand this is God’s appointment.

Then verse 12, the sons of Israel spoke to Moses saying, “Behold, we perish. We are dying. We are all dying. Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, must die. Are we to perish completely?" So, a recognition; they can’t come before the Lord. There is that ongoing impact of the events, the consuming of the 250 prominent leaders who tried to offer incense censers with firing it before the Lord and fire consumed them. The plague that swept through Israel and killed 14,700; so now the people are reacting on the other side, oh, what are we going to do? Well, God’s plan is you don’t come near. Aaron comes near as your representative. The priest from the line of Aaron come and represent you before me.

And so that’s the role of the Aaronic priesthood. Aaronic priesthood stands between God and men, and under the Mosaic system people did not have direct immediate access into the presence of the Lord. They had to come through a human priest, the line of Aaron. So that’s what Chapter 18 and Chapter 19 set forth. Here is God’s plan. You’re right. The nation will perish if they keep trying to take upon themselves the role of priest. God determines how you come before Him. It’s a serious matter. That’s true, always been true, always will be true. It is true today. There is only one way to come before God, His way. Men find this offensive. They get upset. They decide that their way is as good as any way or perhaps better. God is God. He said, “It’s my way and any other way will bring destruction, maybe not immediately on the spot but ultimately it will bring destruction.” We function under the Melchizedek in priesthood of Christ. If you don’t come through Him, you don’t come into the presence of God, and all of who try to come in other way will suffer destruction ultimately.

So we come to Chapter 18 and that’s the answer to the cry of the people at the end of Chapter 17, how do they avoid – how do they come before God and yet not perish? They come before God with their representative. So the Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons in your father’s household with you shall bear the guilt in connection with the sanctuary. You and your son shall bear the guilt in connection with your priesthood.” In other words, I am selecting you on behalf of the people to Aaron, the Aaronic priesthood that will do the sacrifices that will remove the guilt of the nation. They can operate on behalf of the people to bring the offerings that will be sacrificed and thus remove the guilt of the nation.

Down in verse 7, “You and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood for everything concerning the altar and inside the veil, and you are to perform service. I am giving you the priesthood as a bestowed service. The outsider who comes near shall be put to death." So the people can only come into the inner sanctuary, the place where god manifests his presence through their representative, Aaron and his family.

The Levites; now remember, the Levites were broader than just a family of Aaron. The Levi had several sons. One of them is the line from which Aaron comes. That is the only line of the priests. So not every Levi is a priest; only the Levi through the line of Aaron. The other Levites though are to work on behalf of the descendants of Aaron, Aaron and his descendants, and they are responsible for all that ministry associated with the tabernacle and its worship. Even though only the priests can come on behalf of the people before the Lord. So you have to set-up and take down on the tabernacle, the carrying for the all the things associated with the tabernacle that’s in verses two to six.

Verse 2, “But bring with you also your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be joined with you and serve you, while you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony. They shall thus attend to your obligation, the obligation of the tent that they shall not come near to the inner sanctuary and to the ministry of the altar. They are not qualified to offer the sacrifices. Only the priests can do that. So they are associated in the ministry of the tabernacle but they are not priests. Alright, verses 8 to 20; now you have priests marked out and you have those who helped the priest in their ministry, the whole of the tribe of Levi. Now verses 8 to 20, talks about how the priests and then the Levites following that, verses 21 following, are to be supported.

And so, verse 8; the Lord spoke to Aaron, “Now behold, I myself had given you charge of my offerings, even all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel. I have given them to you as a portion and to your sons as a perpetual allotment. This shall be yours from the most holy gifts reserved from the fire and then all the various kinds of offerings. Verse 10, “the most holy gifts you shall eat.” Verse 11, “this also is yours, the offering of their gift and so on and so. Here is how the priests will be supported. The appointed portions of the offerings that are brought are for the provision of the priests and to provide for them. They receive parts of the sacrifice when the first roots of the harvest are brought that’s for the priests, the first born animals, and so on. So that’s the provision.

Verse 14, “every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.” That refers to things that are dedicated to God by a special oath, well that will be. So when they bring that and say “I made a special oath and this has been dedicated to the Lord,” when that is brought to offer to the Lord, it becomes the priests and that – so all these kinds of instructions are here, down to verse 20. Then the Lord said to Aaron, “you shall have no inheritance in their land or any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.” The provisions are made so that the priests can devote themselves totally to their priestly ministry.

When it comes to dividing the land, when they go into Canaan, the priest will get no portion to farm, to pass-on his inheritance. Certain cities will be designated priest cities for their dwelling but they won’t get land; they don’t need to work the land. They don’t need to raise livestock because they are to be perpetually supported down through the generations and this keeps Israel’s focus on the importance of worship at the center of what they are as a nation.

Verse 21 down to verse 32 talks about the provision for the Levites. So down to verse 20, verses 8 to 20 talks about the family of Aaron, the priests’ provision. Now verses 21 and following talk about the sons of Levi and God’s provision for them because they are involved in the work of the tabernacle, taking it down, setting it up and so on. So that’s God’s provision for them.

Down to verse 26 and following, the Levites are to pay a tithe of what they are given. They get a tithe from the people and then they pay a tithe and then the rest of it is theirs. And as Israel is faithful in carrying out their responsibilities, this would provide quite a sizable income for the Tribe of Levi and this will be large amounts that are given for the care of the Levites, the priests, and the Ministry of the Tabernacle. This becomes a pattern that Paul picks up on and says “that’s why in the church and in the Ministry of the Gospel those who minister the word of god are supported by those who benefit from the ministry.”

Turn over to First Corinthians 9. We are coming up on this in our study of Corinthians. In the First Corinthians Chapter 9, you see how Paul connects it to this event. First Corinthians 9. On verse 11, if we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? And Paul says “we have that right, but we didn’t use that right in our ministry to Corinth.” Verse 13, “do you not that those who performed sacred services eat the food of the temple. Those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar.” So that’s what we are just reading about, God’s provision for that in Number 17 that he is talking about.

God specifically laid out that those who are involved in the spiritual ministry in Israel are to be supported by those who are the recipients of that ministry. “So also the Lord directed those who proclaimed the gospel to get their living from the gospel.” We will get into all the details of that when we get in there. You see Paul is building on those established here and saying that principle continues and it is why general pattern was that those who were bringing the word of God to them are supported by them.

Alright; you come to Chapter 19; and you have instructions regarding the ordinance of the red heifer. Not too long ago, there was a lot in the news about the red heifer because supposedly, you know, the Israelites, they were trying to find a red heifer that met the requirements of Numbers 19 and we all got interested in that because they were looking at it because that was necessary there for the cleansing of the land and the priest and the people. So get ready for actual temple service. And one of the articles then indicated the interest there is among Jews in finding a truly red heifer without blemish because that’s necessary for purification from corpses.

Anybody who touches a dead body is defiled. If you are in a tent and somebody drops dead, you are defiled. So, the provision for removal of that kind of defilement is the Ordinance of Red Heifer. So this is on the provision for cleansing the camp of Israel from defilement and keeping it from the judgment of god.

We are not told why any kind of association with the dead body is defiling. It maybe because death is associated with sin, the wages of sin is death. By one man sin entered the world and death by sin. And so, it may be that is a constant reminder of the defilement of sin that is associated with death because the only reason there is death is because there is sin because sin is the penalty – death is the penalty for sin.

Alright, Numbers 19. “This is the statue of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying speak to the sons of Israel that they may bring you an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect.” And if you remember, I don’t know, several years back, I’d say a year or two and it’s probably been ten that they were talking about and they thought they had a red heifer and then they found some gray hairs in it. Well, then they said, it doesn’t qualify because it’s not unblemished. It has to be – well, “they have to have an unblemished red heifer in which is no defect on which a yoke has never been placed. You give it to Eleazar the priest and it shall brought outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence.”

Significance of the red heifer, perhaps to symbolize blood and be a reminder of blood as the issue in this removal of guilt. The Eleazar has to take the animal outside the camp for slaughter representing the fact that we are going remove the impurity from the camp and the defilement that has come to the camp. This is the only sacrifice that can legitimately take place outside the camp though the sacrifices had to take place at the altar associated with the tabernacle. But this sacrifice was to take place outside the camp.

Verse 5, “the heifer shall be burnt.” “So he slaughters the animal,” verse 3. He takes some of the blood and sprinkles it in front of the Tent of Meeting so that blood is brought back in and sprinkled there, indicating the sacrifice has been made, death has occurred to satisfy the demands of God’s righteousness. “The heifer then is burned in his sight; its hide, its flesh, its blood with his refuse shall be burnt.” So a portion of the blood is sprinkled before the presence of God. The rest of the blood and everything else associated with this animal is burned up. And “the priest shall take cedar wood,” verse 6, “hyssop, scarlet material cast it in the midst of the burning heifer. The priest shall wash his clothes, bathe his body in water, afterwards come into the camp, but the priest shall be unclean till evening and other ritual purifications take place for people who have been involved in this.”

Verse 9, “Now a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. The congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it as water to remove impurity. It is purification from sin.” So these ashes are kept there and later they are instructed there to the -- water to be added to them and then they are applied to a person who becomes defile.

So you see something of all the rituals that is required here that was all drawing Israel’s attention to the need for a sacrifice and the proper kind of sacrifice and one that has been sacrificed and all the details of it done according to the God who must be appeased, whose righteous demands must be met and removal has to be on his terms.

Verse 11, then you told, “The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days. That one shall purify himself among cleanness with the water on the third day. On the seventh day, he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day then on the seventh day he will not be clean. Anyone who touches a corpse, the body of a dead man who has died, does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord.” That person shall be cut-off from Israel, because the water for purity was not sprinkled on him. He shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

“This is the law when a man dies in a tent. Everyone who comes into the tent, everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean for seven days. Every open vessel which has no covering, tied down on it shall be unclean. Anyone in the open field who touches one who has been slain with a sword, who has died naturally, any touch with a human bone, a touch of grave, anything associated with death needs purification,” and so the red heifer cleansing.

So verse 17, “The unclean person shall take some of the ashes of the burned purification from sin, flowing water shall be added to them.” So that’s how you get the ashes and they talk about the water sprinkled on because the water is added to the ashes, fresh water, so that then they can be sprinkled on the person indicating what? The benefits of this sacrifice have been applied to you; the death that is required has been applied. You have the substitute. All of these various sacrifices, I mentioned, you can read about the general sacrifices set forth in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. As you know, the red heifer, all of this is doing what? The wages of sin is death and any kind of defilement that makes you unclean before God requires cleansing and so these detailed instructions.

We read them and say, “Oh! Wow. I am glad I didn’t live under the Mosaic Law.” I don’t know either. I am glad I wasn’t a priest under the Mosaic Law. It would have been a privilege, but it would have taken adjustment in my thinking and be responsible for the slaughtering of the animals, the draining of the blood, the applying of the blood, the parceling out of the animal, all those things that were required. Interestingly here, the applying of the red heifer ashes into water can be done by any clean person, that doesn’t have to be done by a priest. Now the sacrifice of the red heifer had to be done by the priest, but the water for cleansing is kept out in a clean place and any clean person who themselves is not defiled can apply it to an unclean person for the carrying out of this particular ritual.

We have all these details and in the Book of Hebrews, the contrast is drawn. Why don’t you turn to Hebrews Chapter 9, all the way towards the back of the New Testament, Hebrews Chapter 9. And what he is doing in Hebrews is showing the complete superiority of Christ to every aspect of the Mosaic System and so the whole book of Hebrews is about the superiority of Christ demonstrating he is superior to all elements and aspects of the Mosaic System and its priesthood.

And in Chapter 9, you have a talking about the verse – the verse 1 talks about even the first covenant that’s the Mosaic Covenant contrasting that with the new covenant instituted in Christ and all the guidelines there down in verse 11, in contrast to all the sacrifices and the gifts and the offerings, food and drink and washings and so on, down through verse 10. But when Christ appeared as high priest of the good things to come, he entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say not of this creation, not through the blood of bulls and goats and calves, but through his own blood. He entered the holy place once for all having obtained eternal redemption. So Jesus Christ made the final sacrifice and entered the courts of heaven itself. I mean that earthly tabernacle was just a physical representation of God’s presence.

But when Jesus Christ made his sacrifice, then he entered into the courts of heaven itself. The very presence of God, having obtained eternal redemption for the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled and it says, the various sacrifices including the red heifer sacrifice. If those sacrifices are being applied to the individual who has been defiled sanctifies for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. All that the rituals, sacrifices of the old law could do was to provide ceremonial cleansing in the physical realm because it’s not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

What saved those people was not the sacrifice of the animals, but their faith in the God who had spoken and thus their response in faith and obedience to what he said. But salvation came because God was going to provide the sacrifice to which all these sacrifices were looking and anticipating. Good thing for us, you say “well, I am glad, why do I even need to know about all that stuffs that are in the Mosaic Laws, it’s done?” No, we learn from it. One of the things we are learning, you better do it God’s way.

The church today needs to learn this. We think we structure our worship; we structure our ministry according to what the people of our day want. No, nothing has changed. Everything has to be done in the way God wants, according to God’s instructions, for the honor of God not the pleasing of men. Our failure to appreciate what was revealed in the Old Testament minimizes our ability to grasp the seriousness about the matters of worship of the living God and the Book of Hebrews makes clear.

In fact, you’re so close, go to Chapter 10 and note the verse 28. “Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy.” We saw that with the man gathering stones -- gathering sticks on the Sabbath day executed. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of grace? You understand to reject Jesus Christ is far more serious than any of the offences that could be committed under the Mosaic Law because we have greater light, God’s own Son came to earth to be the sacrifice and now for you to reject him and when you refuse to believe in him and bow before him as your sacrifice and savior, God said, it is just like you are trampling on him with your feet. You treat him with disdain.

Now these Jews understood the punishments under the Mosaic Law. What do you think the punishment will be for those who would treat the sacrifice of God’s Son that way? Only Jews could understand it. You walked up and trampled all over the sacrifice that had been just offered in the presence of God, you are done. I mean, any offence, but that would be so abhorrent you would have been executed on the spot. Now, you are talking about trampling underfoot the Son of God and the seriousness. So these things are to drive home to us, God is serious about these matters.

Come back to the Book of Numbers. Chapter 20 is a major chapter because it tells about the death of Miriam, tells about the death of Aaron and it tells about the coming death of Moses. So, three key people involved in the Exodus and leading God’s people through the wilderness; two of them are going to die on this spot and the other is going to be told he will never enter into the Promised Land because of sin committed in this chapter.

The 40 years of wilderness wanderings are just about over. We are near the end of the 40 years of wilderness wandering. So you can see the Book of Numbers does move us along. It doesn’t get into all the lot of the details that would have taken place.

In Chapters 13 and 14, we have the spies going into the land and God’s judgment consigning them to 40 years of wilderness wandering, Chapter 14. Here we are at Chapter 20; the 40 years of wilderness wandering are over or just almost over. We know that because Aaron is going to do die in Chapter 20. And according to Chapter 33, verse 38 of Numbers, Aaron dies 40 years after the Exodus from Egypt. So 40 years after the Exodus occurred, Aaron dies. We are then a year or so of the end of the wilderness wanderings and the entering into Canaan.

Okay, Chapter 20 opens up. Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation came to the Wilderness of Zin in the first month and the people stayed at Kadesh. They are back where they were 40 years ago, almost 40 years ago, then were Kadesh-barnea where they sent the spies into the land. Now Miriam died there and was buried there, Moses’ sister, Aaron’s sister. Moses, Aaron are brothers and Miriam is their sister. She dies at the spot, nothing else said here, but she died there, was buried there.

Sadly, we could be reading the events of almost 40 years ago because you read verse 2, “There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves against Moses and Aaron.” The people thus contended with Moses and spoke, saying, "If we only had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die here? Why have you made us come up from Egypt to bring us into this wretched place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates nor is there water to drink.” They are right, it’s a wilderness.

But you know this sounds like, what we heard, go back to Numbers 14. As a result of the report of the spies in Chapter 13, Chapter 14 of Numbers verse 2, “All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we have died in the Land of Egypt or that we had died in this wilderness?” Almost 40 years later, they are back at the same spot. What is that they’ve learnt? Hardly anything, grumble, grumble, grumble, oh! I wish we had died in Egypt. Oh! I wish we had died in the wilderness. Well, as the remainder of the people will die in the coming months that were 20 years old and upward, but a sad state of affairs. Moses and Aaron proceed to the Tent of Meeting to fall on their face and to get a word from the Lord regarding the situation.

Verse 8, important and a reminder. The Word of God is important as he gave it, not the gist of it, but exactly as he gives it. God says to Moses, now note here, these verses are important, “Take the rod -- you are familiar with the rod of Moses and Aaron -- and you go and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes that it may yield its water. Take your rod with you and speak to the rock. Then thus, rock, water will come out from the rock and the congregation and all the animals will have water to drink.

Come back to Exodus 17, we’ll be back to Exodus 17. For a similar situation, but similar doesn’t make it the same. Exodus 17, where are they? Exodus 17, they journeyed by stages from the Wilderness of Zin according to the Command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim. There was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses, hey "Give us water to drink "and they grumbled against Moses and saying, and then verse 5 the Lord said to Moses "Pass before the people, take some of the elders with you; take your you struck the Nile. Verse 6 "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; you shall strike the rock, water will come out.”

Similar situation, different instructions, “You take your rod and you strike the rock,” Exodus 17. Numbers 20, “You take your rod, but you speak to the rock.” Does it matter, we know the outcome, it matters greatly. Then so similar, “You are going to the rock, you are going to have your rod.” Only difference is on the prior occasion, you hit the rock with your rods, on this occasion you speak to the rock. So Moses does his God tells him.

Verse 9, he took the rod, then he assembles the people and he gives a speech, not a good one. Moses and Aaron gather the assembly and they are joined together here, and in the rebuke and judgment that’s coming, they will be joined together. They gather the people before the rock and he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water from you out of this rock?” and Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and you know, it works. Water came forth abundantly and the congregation, their beasts drank, so looks like everything is okay. They got water from the rock just like God said they would.

But the results don’t justify the needs. There is a serious problem here. God didn’t say strike the rock, he said speak to the rock. Well, it must be all right because they got water. Remember, be careful, we look at results and say Oh! It must be okay, I mean look, God blessed, who will find fault with this? The only one who matters. No one else in Israel would find fault with it, they got the water they want, but you know, who has a problem with it. The only one who matters. Who is that? God, because he didn’t say strike the rock, he said speak to the rock, don’t be so picky, I always have to be looking at the details.

Verse 12, but the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not believed me, to treat me as holy in the sight of the sons -- I mean, this is a serious matter now -- the holiness of God is an issue here. In the side of all of the congregation, “Hey, look, let’s not make this bigger issue than it is. I mean, we got water, I had my rod, you said speak and I hit, but no damage done, great damage done. The holiness of God is at stake; you didn’t treat me as holy. Therefore, you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I had given them. I mean that was dumbfounding, it’s every time I read it.

Moses after all that he is gone through for the last 40 years, dealing with the grumbling complaining people, they are not going into the Land, that’s how serious it is. You didn’t treat me as holy. You really didn’t believe me. Hey, wait a minute, I took my rod and we could understand giving a lecture to the people and it’s God’s way. I mean, we don’t have a meaning God, we have a loving God, but we have a serious God. I always think that God adjust to us and he is so pleased with anything we do. He is just so happy to have anybody who would do anything for Him that even if it’s not like he says that will be all right, he is just so -- I mean where do we get this idea? We don’t get it from the word of God. I mean, Moses is more meek than any men on the face of the earth. God declares there is no one before Moses or after Moses like Moses. The God speaks face to face with Moses, trips up on a detail here and he is not going into the Promised Land.

40 years of faithfulness and he is not going into the Promised Land because he hit the rock instead of speak to the rock. I mean, I didn’t say disbelief an issue, but then I read verse 12 and say, “you haven’t believed in me, you haven’t treated me as holy.” I don’t think if it is like the holiness of God is at stake over this. The God tells me it is. Well, we don’t obey him, we are not treating him as holy, so a serious matter. Those were the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them. I mean, GOD is serious about his holiness. He will be treated as holy. When he sentences people to hell, it will demonstrate his holiness. I mean, the Seraphim of Heaven might say a six call out holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. I mean, his holiness will be demonstrated. So, from Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the King of Edom, we are going to move on.

Let me say a little bit before we move on about the issue of striking the rock. The rock is used as a type of Christ, so we get to a little bit further along in Corinthians, Chapter 10 to talk about that. Something that the real sin of Moses here was he struck the rock twice and Christ was only to be smitten once and there is no doubt that the rock is a type of Christ because of New Testament uses it that way, but I think we are going to be careful that we know the fact that he disobeyed here wasn’t the serious thing. The serious thing was he broke the type that God intended. But the Bible doesn’t say that. The New Testament doesn’t say that. The context here doesn’t say that.

The real issue is he didn’t believe God. Well, I think he believed God. He just didn’t do exactly what he said. Well, if you really believe God, you do exactly what he says. Disobedience is always an evidence of lack of faith on that occasion and disobedience is always an indication of a failure to treat God as holy. So we got to be careful that we don’t look for something more serious than just what happens here. What happens here is as serious as he gets, a refusal to believe God and to treat him as holy. That’s the real offense here and that’s the way the scripture deals with it.

Look over in Chapter 20 verse 24. Aaron will be gathered to his people. Aaron will get here in a moment, but he has jumped ahead for his death. He shall not enter the land which I have given to the son’s of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. Moses is going to die now. He can’t go into the land because you too rebelled against me, against my command. You see how God use it. The refusal to do what he said or what about what was going on their mind? What about—it doesn’t matter. You didn’t do what I said. You rebelled against my command.

Look over in Chapter 27. Just now, we are getting ready for -- we are talking about the death of Moses, verse 12, then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up to this mountain.” And verse 13, “You look over from the mountain into the Promised Land, that’s as close as you are going to get. Then when you’ve seen the land, you will be gathered to your people as your brother Aaron was.” Verse 14, “For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against my command to treat me as holy before their eyes at the water." I mean, nothing’s changed here. You have to die without going into the land because you rebelled against my command and you didn’t treat me as holy. You can’t treat me as holy and not be obedient. So I vindicate my holiness by your punishment. So you see the constant emphasis regarding this matter.

You are moving on to Numbers. Go to Deuteronomy after Numbers. Chapter 1, Moses will say to the people of Israel, “You caused me to sin” and there is an element of truth to that. Chapter 1 verse 37. He is reiterating what God has said and the fact that he won’t be going into the land. In verse 37, "The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, 'Not even you shall enter there.” That’s true. I mean, if the people hadn’t complained, Moses wouldn’t have gotten in that predicament. So what he says here is true, but it doesn’t exonerate him, it doesn’t change anything and the people did move into Zin. But that doesn’t excuse him, he is still accountable to God for his action, reminder to us. You are in Deuteronomy, look at Chapter 3 verse 26.

He reiterates it again, but the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me and the Lord said to me, “Enough: speak no more to me of this matter.” I am a little bit like the response Paul got in it in Second Corinthian Chapter 12, when he bestowed the Lord three times for the messenger of Satan to depart for him, the Lord said no. My grace is sufficient for you. That’s the answer. Matter is done, and so we didn’t get all of the details here, Moses evidently, it’s not recorded, begged the Lord to reconsider. The Lord says, “Enough: shut up. Don’t talk to me anymore about this matter, it’s done.” There is no change and Moses will die without going into the Promised Land, serious, serious issue.

Turn over to Psalm 106. And Psalm 106 rehearses Israel’s rebellion and God’s grace in delivering them and sparing them and down to verse 32. They also provoked him to wrap at the waters of Meribah. That’s where we have the issue of the rock that we are dealing with. So then it went hard with Moses on their account. So yeah, it was – we can understand humanly Moses’ frustration here because they were rebellious against his spirit. He spoke rashly with his lips. He spoke rashly with his lips. I thought it was a problem, he hit the rock. Yes, but in that context, I remember come back now, the Numbers 20 again. I told you his speech wasn’t good.

Verse 10, he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Evidently Moses here is taking to himself what God reserves for himself. And not doing it God’s way demonstrates that in the words that he speaks to the people here. He is not to bring forth water from the rock, the Lord brings forth the water from the rock. And if you do it the Lord’s way is a demonstration of that, but Moses here in his words speaks rashly and then acts rashly and even the Psalm draws attention to that fact.

So the people who are involved, but to remind you, like we tell our kids, well, my friends made me do it. No, your friends didn’t make you do it. They may have encouraged you to do it. They may have made it easier for you to do it, but you decide it. We need to remember that as God’s people, all are excuses, why I didn’t do, what I should have done is God’s #. There are no excuses except why all these people yes Lord, yes Lord, they did it, they did it. Oh, yes it was my wife, oh it was my husband, it won’t change anything. Why didn’t I treat the Lord as holy and obey him?

All right, we can wrap up the events here. We will jump down; we will get to Corinthians and remember the water came out. The end does not justify the means. Churches get into trouble on this because they look, they do things and we say, well they are not doing it biblically, but look at all that’s happening, God is blessing as though it must be alright not to do it biblically because the results, it’s never alright not to do biblically. Moses got the water out of the rock at a terrible price.

verses 14 to 22 is an issue of the Israelites looking for a permission to go through the land of Edom and they say, verse 14 from Kadesh, Moses sent messenger to the King of Edom, “Thus your brother Israel has said,” interesting here, but remember the Edomites are descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. So there is the recognition of that family connection here and Israel will not go to war with Edom here over this matter. They want permission to cut through their land. It would be shorter on their journey back in preparation to go into Canaan, but Edomites won’t let them, so they have to circle around their land, which makes difficult journey, the more difficult. We won’t go back and check the record of the Edomites, Genesis 37:1 tells us that Esau was the father of the Edomites.

Come down to verse 24 as we wrap up the chapter and what we read, Moses and Aaron go up on Mount Horeb and he is going to die there. Verse 25, take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up to Mount Horeb, strip Aaron of his garments, put them on his son Eleazar and the priestly garments were representative of the priesthood. The fact that now the son of Moses will wear these indicates that the high priestly position has been transferred from Aaron to his son. They do that, Aaron drops dead from the mountain top and Moses and Eleazar came down to the mountain and there is a 30-day period of mourning in Israel for Aaron.

What he wonders, here is Aaron -- Moses losing his brother, what’s the emotion here? Here is Eleazar, his dad is going to die here, what’s -- no indication, no, Aaron is not dying from old age even though he is 133, not dying from a particular physical ailment, he is dying because of his sin, just like Moses. When he goes up to the mountain to die, will be told he is in good health, his eyes are still good, better than mine, he wasn’t wearing glasses, his ears were better than mine, he didn’t have a ringing, he is doing fine. He is just going to drop dead because your time is up particularly because of the sin that you committed.

So, major transition point in Israel’s history and we are very close to going in the land and two of the key people now are dead and the great leader Moses is confronting the reality of his soon death because of his rebellion. So many ways, a sad chapter, chapter characterized by death, characterized by rebellion and the two go together. The way it is a sin is death.

Simple point; sometimes God just you know -- and then other time he goes, that’s why we better walk carefully because he determines his response to our disobedience and what is most fitting and the timing of it all. We will get to this in First Corinthian Chapter 11, because the failure to absorb the Lord supper properly, some of you are weak, some of you are sick, and a number of you have died. We are accountable to God and he needs out punishment and he needs out discipline.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your grace, thank you for the record of Israel’s history. And Lord so much of it is a tragic record, as we look at their rebellion and so much of it is a record of blessing and encouragement as we see your grace manifested again and again. Lord, even as we’ve contemplated death, disobedience, sorrow that brings, yet Lord we see that your plan goes on; and Aaron is replaced by another priest and Israel is going into the land that you had promised, and you are a God who keeps his word, and Lord that is a great blessing to us. Lord, we thank you for the high priest that we have today in your son, Jesus Christ, the one who represents us in your presence, the one who has made possible for us to come in him into your very presence and be received and welcomed that we might receive from you all that we ask. Lord, may we be careful to walk in obedience that counts your holiness as precious. Lord, our obedience is required, may that characterize us as a church, characterize us as individual in our daily walk with you. We pray in Christ’s name, amen.