Then the LORD said to
Moses, “Say to the assembly,
‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’” Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel
followed him. He warned the assembly,
“Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging
to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan
and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little
ones at the entrances to their tents.
Then Moses said, “This
is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that
it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually
happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens
its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go
down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the
LORD with contempt.” As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split
apart and the earth opened
its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all
their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the
earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
At their cries, all the
Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were
offering the incense. The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to take the censers out of the
smoldering remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers
are holy— the censers of the men
who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to
overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become
holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.” So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who
had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the
Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense
before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.
Jesus is the Great High Priest
I. God has chosen the priesthood
Out of all
of the families of Israel God chose only one family to go into the
Now think about this. This order came through the hands of Moses, who was the younger brother of Aaron. Could it be that some began to wonder whether Moses was making these rules up or giving preferential treatment to his brother? That, I don’t know. But I do know that this idea of having special honor or privilege did not sit well with Korah, who led a rebellion. After a little investigation in the Bible I found out that Korah was actually a first cousin of Moses and Aaron. They both descended from the tribe of Levi. The father of Moses was the brother of Korah’s father. So, envision the scene again. Both Korah and Moses come from the same ancestry. They aren’t that far apart at all. It makes me wonder if this also led to what happened just prior to today’s text.
Numbers 16:1-3 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’S assembly?”
Korah and the leaders wanted there to be no system of priesthood; no special privileges. He wanted the whole community to be treated equally; with nobody being placed over them. He felt that the whole community was holy in and of itself and that each had a personal relationship with the LORD; that they didn’t need this system of sacrifices and blood in order to be holy or to keep holy. Korah accused Moses and Aaron of going too far in setting up this priesthood and placing themselves as the go betweens between themselves and God. This was an attack against the Word. It was an attack against the priesthood. It was an attack against the way in which the LORD had established for the Israelites to be washed and cleansed from their sins; through the sacrifices of the ordained priests at the temple.
This reminds me of the argument you hear from people today. Who are you Christians to say that you have a special right or privilege to enter heaven? What makes you any more special than us? Korah came with a spiritual argument; one that was couched in Judaic terms of holiness and being in the LORD’s presence. So people say today that we are all creatures of God, and therefore we are all loved by God. It is preposterous to the world to think that we as Christians should have any more right to heaven than anyone else; just because of a person called Jesus Christ who is said to have made the sacrifice to make us right with God. This is nonsense to the world; that God would accept Christians who believe in Jesus as opposed to a good Muslim or Jew who doesn’t believe in Jesus. Aren’t we all children of God? Don’t we all come from Adam and Eve? Doesn’t Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all go back to Abraham? So what’s the difference? Who are WE to say that we get to go to heaven but THEY don’t.
And yes, even within the realm of Christianity there are many self chosen and self ordained spiritualists who have had their own visions from God and their own revelations. They claim a new type of spirituality through a new program of self denial or prayer or some other way that will make them closer to Christ. They claim to have true Christianity because they have more spiritual music and real and genuine programs at their church. Yet all of the while they talk about growing closer to Christ they never seem to mention the cross. They seem to ignore baptism and the Lord's Supper; the most intimate places where God places Himself. So in a round about way they are throwing out the High Priest. They are claiming a direct relationship with God apart from the priesthood. They are Korah’s rebellion in modern clothes.
It is appealing to our American individualism to think that since we can have a personal relationship with Christ (which is overly stressed in American Evangelicalism) that we really don’t need the church or a pastor; that we can handle all of this Christian stuff on our own. Yet I wonder why God’s Word said in Ephesians 4:11-13, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” If God gave pastors and teachers to build up the body of Christ, then it would appear evident that pastors and teachers are meant to be used in addition to the prophets, apostles, and evangelists; which we all have in God’s Word. If you get away from the church, then you also naturally take yourself away from the Lord's Supper. Where is Christ but in the Lord's Supper? Where is the Lord's Supper but at the church? You also find fellow Christians who are not afraid or ashamed to profess their faith at church. It might be a good thing to have a pastor who is called to take care of your soul; to make sure that you are being fed with God’s Word. But to have someone “over you”; or to have other Christians “help you”; this ruffles feathers; it makes grown adults feel like children; and well, that just won’t do for many Americans who specifically move away from home to hide from their parents and live their own lives and do their own thing. “Pastors and teachers have their own set of problems. They are sinful too. So who are they to tell anyone else what to do? How dare they pontificate!” It mirrors the attitude of Korah and his followers.
II. Any other way is damned
Envision the scene in your
mind. Dathan and Abiram had
come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the
entrances to their tents. To me it
almost seems that these two families are putting themselves out in the open and
wanting to evoke sympathy from the crowd; as if they were the martyrs for
standing against Moses and doing something brave. I don’t know.
Maybe they were accepting the punishment in repentance. I wonder where Korah was? He didn’t stand at the mouth of his
tent. He stayed in his tent; perhaps he wouldn’t
even give Moses the honor of standing there for his judgment. Perhaps he was too proud to repent. Nonetheless, it was they who put themselves
against Moses and Aaron. It was they who
said they didn’t need the priesthood. They
accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves and putting themselves above the
rest of the Israelites. He (Moses) warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these
wicked men! As spiritual as they may have wanted to
appear, they were wicked in the end because they rejected the priesthood. They wanted to eradicate the way that the
LORD designed for them to find forgiveness and mercy. These priests were shadows pointing forward
to Jesus, the High Priest. They were
meant to foreshadow the way that we would have access to God; through Jesus
Christ.
Aaron wasn’t any better
than anyone else. (And neither are we as
Christians for that matter.) It didn’t have anything to do with his heritage;
coming from the tribe of Levi; Korah came from that tribe also. If you recall, Aaron’s own sons Nadab and
Abihu were burned up in fire by the LORD for offering unauthorized fire. Aaron’s family were only chosen as vessels
through which God could show His grace and mercy. It had nothing to do with them. It had everything to do with the LORD; He
simply wanted to use them to convey His mercy.
They were the way that the LORD chose to show the Israelites that He was
forgiving and merciful; through the sacrifices of animals that the people still
brought to the temple and the priests sacrirficed. This was the way that the LORD wanted to deal
with His people; in order to foreshadow Christ.
So when the followers of Korah were rebelling against Moses and Aaron;
God counted it as if they were rebelling against Him. The LORD needed to make a statement and send
a message to the people that this kind of rebellion was not acceptable. It would not be tolerated. What follows is one of the most shocking
judgments you will see in the Old Testament.
“Move back from the
tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will
be swept away because of all their sins.” (Note here how the LORD said not
even to touch anything belonging to them.
It reflects on the infectiousness of sin. Even a mere touch would contaminate. . . .
but so also it is with the LORD’S holiness and forgiveness.) So
they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram
had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at
the entrances to their tents. (“Little ones”
in the Hebrew clearly denotes even the youngest of children – this is hard to
see – yet it shows that even little ones needed the priesthood.)
Then Moses said, “This
is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that
it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually
happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens
its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go
down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the
LORD with contempt.” As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split
apart and the earth opened
its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all
their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the
earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
At their cries, all the
Israelites around them fled, (note that it was the
screams of the people that went echoing in the ears of the survivors, making
them terrified. It is interesting to
note that Psalm 46 says, “Even if the earth give way we will not fear. It was written by “the sons of Korah.” Not all of Korah’s children rebelled. Some stood against their own father’s
rebellion and survived!) shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were
offering the incense. Doesn’t this remind you of Sodom and Gomorrah?
How dare we ever paint
the LORD as being indifferent towards sin and rebellion; as if He didn’t care
or only winked at it. How on earth can
people say that the LORD has no wrath over those who reject His Christ? Such theologians will be punished most
severely. Here we see a foretaste of
hell; for those who wanted to approach the LORD based on their own holiness and
their own worthiness apart from Jesus, the great high priest, there is only
hell and fire to pay. Jesus went on the
cross for a reason; to take the fires of hell on his shoulders. The cross is the ONLY PLACE to find refuge
from God’s wrath and also to receive the holiness which God demands and the
forgiveness that we all need. This is
why we race our children to baptism, because God promises the cross is
there. This is why we savor the Lord's
Supper, because the blood and righteousness of Christ is there. This is why we crave the Gospel; because
Jesus Christ is there. This is why we
love coming to church. At these places
God provides a huge refuge in which we can stand; a place where God’s wrath has
already been paid; and salvation is ours free of charge. But without Christ, were we to try and stand
before God with the Jesus of the Muslims which got down from the cross; were we
to stand before God with our own system of trying to claim holiness merely
because we are “spiritual” or because we are created by God; we will burn in
eternal fire. But when we approach the
throne through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus the Great High Priest; it is
only here that we find refuge from the fires of heaven.
Note with what delicacy and
zealousness the LORD works to preserve His priesthood; to make sure that the
people are clear that this is the only way.
The LORD said to Moses, “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, (Eleazar was the third in line after Nadab and Abihu had also tried to
approach God on their own and been burned) to take the censers out of the
smoldering remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers
are holy— the censers of the men
who sinned at the cost of their lives. (Imagine this scene! Here you
would see the charred remains of human beings who had burned to a crisp. You’d probably have to pry the censers out
from the charred hands. Imagine the
smell!) Hammer the censers into
sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have
become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.” So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who
had been burned up, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the
Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense
before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.
The message was clear. Only the ordained priest could come and make
the sacrifice. This was the LORD’S
chosen way. Every time they approached
that altar the bronze on the outside would carry a history with it and say,
“You can’t make this sacrifice, but the priests will for you.” And so the LORD was foreshadowing to us a
very important message. Jesus stepped
through all of the burnt carcasses; through all of the failed attempts to get
right with God; walked through all of the screaming crowds; allowed Himself to
be condemned by one who betrayed the high priesthood. He; the ultimate High Priest; put Himself on
the altar. God’s fire came raging down
on Him on Golgotha. There, on the cross,
an empty shell of humanity hung there; having gone through the most awful rage
a person could ever imagine; the rage of God.
The blood of Jesus came pouring over the sides of the altar; dripping
down the brazen and proud sacrifices that we tried to make for God. It was there that He died. Scraped from the ground, placed into a grave,
the world left Him for dead. Yet God
raised Him from the dead. God accepted
this one of a kind sacrifice. God said
to the world, “It is finished. The
sacrifice was made. Your sins are paid
for. Your pride has been punished.”
Do not even attempt to come to my
heaven with sacrifices of your own. God
says, “It is only Jesus’ sacrifice I will accept on Judgment Day. Come before me with your own works and your
own priesthood and I will make you burn in hell.” So we come to baptism. So we come to the Lord's Supper. So we come to the cross. We believe that this is plenty; this is
enough. Our pride needs the brazen
warning. Our nostrils need to smell the
burning flesh. We need to have it made
clear to us. Like the Old Testament
priests we can pray. We can read God’s
Word. We are all holy in God’s sight;
but it is only through the One sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The LORD’s message to us is the same
as it was to the people when the Tower of Siloam fell. It is the same as it was to the people when
Korah’s rebellion took place. Here we
stand in the face of such judgment and death; facing earthquakes and untimely
deaths. We too could be destroyed by
God’s wrath or by natural death any day.
Death is not a respecter of persons or of age. What is the message to us? Repent, or you too will perish. Repentance means that we recognize who we are
and what we deserve as sinners; we can’t approach God on our own. We aren’t holy. We need Jesus to approach Him for us; to make
the sacrifice for us; so that His blood can run down our brazen sacrifices of
pride and cover our sins. Lent is a time
to reflect on the fact that we too deserve to die; but it is also a time to
appreciate the fact that Jesus made the complete sacrifice for us; that we have
that sacrifice through baptism, the Lord's Supper and the Word; that it is ours
through faith. Never lose sight of the
cross. Never forget the rebellion; never
follow the rebellion even if it is from your own family or your own heart. Follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and
Him alone. Amen.