[8:00 a.m.] A Better Hope (Numbers 16:1-5, 17:1-12; Hebrews 7:11-19)

We are in the Book of Numbers, chapter 16.

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

We're going to read the introduction to an episode, and

then we're going to read another episode of what happened to

God's people in the wilderness. That's what the book of Numbers

is all about. So let's hear now the word of

the Lord #16. Now Cora the son of Ishar, the

son of Kohath, the son of Levi, Nathan, and Byram, the sons of

Eliab, and on the sons of palace sons of Ruben, took men, and

they rose up before Moses with a number of the people of Israel,

250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well

known men. These assembled themselves

together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them,

you have gone too far, for all in the congregation are holy,

every one of them, and the Lord is among them.

Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?

When Moses heard it, he fell on his face, and he said to Cora,

until all the company in the morning the Lord will show who

he is and who is holy, and will bring him near to him.

The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him and then we

move over to the next chapter to another incident which happened

shortly after this one. The Lord came to Moses saying

speak to the people of Israel and get from them Staffs, one

for each father's house, from all the chiefs according to

their father's houses. 12 Staffs.

Write each man's name on his staff.

Write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, for there shall be one

staff for the head of each father's house.

Then you shall deposit them in the 10 of meeting before the

testimony where I meet you, and the staff of the man whom I

choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from

me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble

against you. Moses spoke to the people of

Israel, and all their chiefs gave him Staffs, one for each

chief, according to his father's house. 12 Staffs and the staff

of Aaron was among their Staffs, and Moses deposited the Staffs

before the Lord in the tent of the testimony.

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and

behold, the staff of Aaron and the House of Levi had sprouted

and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe

almonds. Then Moses brought out all the

Staffs from before the Lord to the people of Israel, and they

looked, And each man took his staff.

And the Lord said to Moses, put back the staff of Aaron before

the testimony to be kept, as a sign for the rebels, that you

may make an end to their grumblings against me, lest they

die. Thus did Moses, as the Lord

commanded him, so he did. And the people of Israel said to

Moses, Behold, we perish, We are undone, We are all undone.

Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the Tabernacle of

the Lord, shall die. Are we all to perish.

The answer to that question is, yes, the word of the Lord.

You may be seated. You may be seated.

Two different episodes here. And this, of course, is not.

Begin the strain that we're familiar with.

This entire book has been story after story of God's people in

the wilderness under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.

And they are on many occasions and in various ways and reasons,

provoking the Lord. They are testing him.

They are pushing him to the brink.

In fact, he does come to the brink on a couple of occasions.

The Lord says, I tell you what I will do.

I will just wipe out this whole nation and I'll start over with

you. Moses and Moses pleaded for the

people, and as the good the priest that he and Aaron were,

they pled for the people and the Lord had mercy.

They reminded the Lord that the covenant was with Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob, and he needed to fulfill his covenant in God.

Said, I'm a covenant keeping God, and I'm gracious and I'm

slow to anger. And so as they become, began to

know the Lord, they begin to mediate for the people before

the Lord, and the Lord spared them time.

Again you remember, let me just review a few of them back in

chapter 4, which we didn't look at.

The people had a strong craving, a strong craving.

And the Lord ended up wiping out the people that were complaining

and grumbling and and saying to Moses, we'd rather died in

Egypt. It was better in Egypt than it

is out here in the wilderness. Why did you break bring us to

this land? You told us you were bringing us

to a land of milk and honey. And here we are in the desert

and the Bible says that a great plague came and killed them,

those that were complaining. And to the others the Lord

performed a miracle of salvation.

He sent from the sea a great breeze that brought in a huge

flock of quail, and that quail served as a meat to go along

with the mana and to satiate the people of God.

In Chapter 11, there's a story about, and I like the way the

ESV says it, Usually I'm going back and talking about the way I

like the King James Version saying something.

I like the words that's used here by the translators.

The rabble, the rabble. You know, every church has a

rabble. You you just have to pay

attention for a while and find out who they are.

The rabble and he defined of those who dwell on the outlying.

They're the people that are on the edges of the camp.

They're the people that are the furthest away from God's

presence in the Tabernacle. They're the people that are

furthest away from the leadership that surrounds the

Tabernacle, that the the the tribe of Levi and all of his

three sons and Moses and all over there they're further out

from even the their own kin. Folks.

What's worse is they're the ones that are the nearest to the

pagans. They're the nearest to the

world. They're the nearest to the

Canaanites and all of the godless people around and

they're under their influence. These are the out outliers.

That's the rabble, and it's the rabble that brings up the

complaining against Moses in Chapter 11.

In chapter 12, another one we didn't look at, but it's Aaron

and Miriam. Aaron, of course, is Moses

brother, who now is the designated priest for the

nation, as we learned today by God's choosing.

And Moses the leader and the younger sister, along with

Aaron, decide that they have as much going for them spiritually

as Moses does. They had looked at Moses.

I said, you know, I remember when he was nothing but a snot

nosed baby in a in a in a basket, in the bulrushes.

And here he is lording over all these people and leading.

We have as much capacity. In fact, Miriam says, I'm of the

older one and I've got great insight and nurturing capacity.

The Lord speaks to me. The Lord inspires me.

I need a women's ministry and I need to serve all the people,

the men and the women. And Aaron says, well, I'm the

one with all the gifts. I'm the one that does the

talking. I'm the one that has the gifts

up front. So what do why do we hate Moses?

And they, they led among themselves a confrontation with

Moses. And by the time the Lord got

through with them, Miriam had leprosy, and Aaron was a

quibbling mass of insecurity. The Lord dealt with them on that

occasion. And then on another occasion we

saw this last week. They went to spy out the land

and the report came back. And you know, the story went all

over it last week about the Minority Report, the majority

report. And they decided then, lack of

faith that they would not go up into Canaan and possess it the

way the Lord said he had given it to them.

Because they just didn't think they could win the battles.

They didn't think they could conquest.

They needed a little more experience.

They needed a little more attend a few more church services, a

few more apologetics lectures before they could really go and

do the things that the Lord had called them to do.

And so they they rebelled against the Lord.

And it wasn't so much that they refused to go in.

That was bad enough. But what was even worse?

You remember they said, let us choose a leader who will lead us

back to Egypt. That's apostasy, that's

deconstruction, that's departing the faith, that's turning back.

A rebellion often is led by people who really care, who want

to reform, who like it the way that it is, but they feel like

it needs to be better. And a rebellion can be of a good

sort or it could be of a meaner sort, but it's still people who

care about that particular leadership and that particular

structure and that organization in the direction and the goals.

And so they they lead this little movement to kind of

rectify some things and reform some things.

And it forms a a rebellion of sorts.

And that's bad enough. But an apostasy is when you turn

your back and walk away and go back.

So God's people are continually provoking him, and then in 14 we

find that the Lord said he was going to after they had had

failed him at Katy Schmarnia and entered the land with the the

spies report in chapter 14. The Lord said you're going to

all die in the wilderness, and He decided.

Then the Lord told Moses to tell the people that they themselves,

those people that were standing on their two feet and doing

everything they were doing then would not be the generation that

would enter the land. There'd be another generation,

which means they had 35 or 6 or 7 or 8, whatever years under 40.

It was left to be led and wandering through the wilderness

before they ever once again came back to the point of entry into

the land of Canaan. And now we come to Chapter 15,

and we have a formal rebellion. Let's just look at a few things

about it. Number one, it was led by a guy

named Cora. He's referred to in the New

Testament as having led a rebellion.

The book of Jude talks about the way of Cain, the rebellion of

Cora. It talks about the error of

Balem. These are three outstanding Old

Testament examples which we won't go into all of them, but

they're they're ways of apostasy, unbelief, turning

back, turning aside, opposing God in his gospel, in his

Christ. And so we are warned even in the

New Testament not to be like these guys.

And this is one of them. Here the rebellion of Coralite

was a large rebellion and they these people that are named, are

principally the sons of Levi, which means that they're kinsman

to Aaron and Moses, because they're descended from Levi as

well. That's the tribe that the Lord

will designate to be the priestly tribe the tribe and the

Levites the the the people there.

So the tribe of Levi was had they felt more than one capable

leader. And this Cora and notice what he

did. He, He and He was joined by the

way, by the sons of Ruben, who by the way were the tribe that

kept closest to the Levites on that side of the camp.

They were, they were their near neighbors.

They were also pretty close tribes growing up.

You remember the first four sons of Jacob were born to Leah and

Simeon was the oldest. And then they went down Simeon,

Levi and Judah. Those were the four sons of

Joseph and Leah which formed the 1st 4 patriarchs of the sons of

Israel, the sons of Jacob. So they've always been close.

Like Judah and Benjamin were always close.

Asher and Gad were close. If you study the confederation

of tribes over the Old Testament, you'll see how

certain ones kind of stood together.

Dan and half tribe of Manassa I'll stop.

Mainly I'm stopping because I don't remember the rest of them.

So they they select and notice how it's done.

It's from the congregation they choose from the assembly.

Well known men, a little democracy in action.

They took personalities, they took well known leaders of the

clans and the tribes, and they put them together and they

started a rebellion. A pretty good company for Moses

to face a fellow Levite and his cohorts.

Some men from Ruben and probably well known men to to Moses.

And these men were chosen by the people.

And this was the accusation they'd again made against Moses.

Anarity said. You have gone too far.

It was. We've had enough of your

leadership. You have taken us beyond the

point of competency. You have been acting on the

Peter Principle. You've been promoted beyond your

capacity and so they brought these accusations to Moses and

said for all the congregation are holy.

And if you'd have seen Aaron a few months back, leading the

worship service down around the golden calf, you wouldn't have

been impressed with this holiness anymore than you would

have your next door neighbor there in Levite land.

And God had consecrated the people and called him to

holiness. So the people have a status

equal. There's no one more outstanding

than any other in our company. We are we, we have a good policy

of equity in this tribe and we expect it to be implemented in

the government. And so that's what we are

looking for. We're looking for a people who

have been chosen by the people and come out of a congregation

that is holy, every one of them, And the Lord is among them.

In other words, they're just as spiritually qualified as you.

Why then do you exalt yourself above the assembly of the Lord?

And Moses, basically, as he often does, his meekness and his

humility calls him, and often he just instead of being defiant

and lording it over them, he simply falls on his face.

Before the Lord, Moses and the Lord had their own conversations

going through this whole time. It's unbelievable what the Lord

dealt with and how he propped up and held and ministered to Moses

when when Moses went through it in normal enormous amount of

trouble. One of the the chapters that we

haven't looked at is when when he bears this burden he can't

handle by himself. And the Lord gives him support

and they select elders from the people.

But he falls upon his face before the Lord and he says

decor in the company. In the morning the Lord will

show who he is and who is holy and will bring him near to him.

Knows tomorrow we'll let the Lord demonstrate who ought to be

the High priest of Israel because that's really the

crisis. It's a crisis in the priesthood.

It's not just Moses leadership, it's who's the priest.

Notice the spiritual terms that are dealt with.

The Lord is with them. They're holy.

This is the spiritual leadership of the people, not just the the

the governmental leadership or the the leadership that Moses

gave. In so many ways, this was the

spiritual leadership. This was a rebellion against

God's choice of Aaron or or as they thought Moses choice of

Aaron. And what kind of nepotism is it

when you're given an assignment to get your brother to join up

in the company with you at the top of the company?

And this is what they were accused of.

You see, Moses always had trouble back, way back when he

killed the Egyptian. Do you remember when he saw the

Egyptian abusing one of his brothers?

He he killed the Egyptian. And the next day he went back

and one of the Jews said to Moses, who are you to rule over

us? This, this people have from the

very beginning, they've all had their doubts about Moses and his

leadership. This time.

It's Aaron now, amount of time, so I won't tell you the rest of

the story. You got a homework assignment.

Read the rest of chapter 16 and it's long and it's involved.

And you're going to find God judging the people and you're

going to find the the people being pleaded with by the Lord

to get away from this group of rebels.

Korah and his cohorts and these 250 chiefs of the clans of

Israel get away from twice. The Lord has to warn them

because what he does is he opens up the earth and they're

swallowed up hole. They go into shield alive into

the heart of the earth. They're buried alive literally.

And anybody that was near them slid into the big chasm.

So the Lord had separated the people to get back and this

causes the people once again to be humbled and and they're

judged. And then they take the the

sensors that had been used by these 250 men that were with

Cora. And they took those sensors

which were made out of precious metals, maybe even gold, and

they beat them into a big cover that they used to cover over the

altar. It was probably a second

covering that went over the whole altar, which had of course

the chair beam, the mercy seat, that over the arc of the

covenant, which provided a protection, a hedge against

anybody approaching God. These people who tried to come

and approach God and to assume the spiritual leadership were

dealt with by God. Now oh, and then then the big

take those censors and start a fire, and there's a big fire,

and now the fire comes, a plague.

And he was only Aaron rushing in with his censor in the middle of

it all that stood between the fiery plague and the people that

spared him. I don't know if they put this in

the 10 commandments or not. Just a lot of drama in the a lot

of good movie making out in the scenes in the Old Testament,

I'll tell you that. But let's look just for a moment

here at this, this one that happened in 17.

This is now a direct crisis of spiritual leadership.

They're directly disputing Moses.

And the Lord brings the test, tells Moses what to do.

Let each tribe, the 12 tribes bring their leader and how their

leader someone representative as one of the plans to put a staff.

And Moses takes the 12 Staffs, the just the regular staff and

puts them before the Lord overnight.

And the next morning when he goes in to the 10 of meeting,

the Staffs were unaffected, all of them except for one, and that

was the staff of Levi. And it was not only had been

changed, but it had been sprouted and and caused to bud.

And to bloom and to bear fruit. And that's highly symbolic of

the touch of the Spirit of God upon something.

And it's likely that the white blossoms of the almond bud,

Lily, white, pure white, were symbols of the purity and the

holiness that God demands. And so the significant thing

there, when you see the The thing is this is the is what was

said and the people said to Moses, behold, we perish, we are

undone. And it says are we all to

perish. There was this final horrible

conviction came upon them when they realized the nature of

their rebellion and what they had done.

They realized that they had committed virtually an

impartinable sin, and they knew they stood in the judgment of

the Lord. Now there was a Hebrews passage

there in your in your bulletin that I didn't read.

And the reason I didn't is because I have selected one just

a few chapters earlier than that one, and by way of application.

And I'm going to read a couple of paragraphs of this particular

Hebrews chapter 3 by way of application, because this, this

Hebrews 3 · chapter mention

particular chapter applies directly to the provocation that

we just read about. Therefore this is the writer of

Hebrews exhorting the Christians here.

Now this word Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a

heavenly calling, consider Jesus the true chosen high Priest, the

Apostle and high Priest of our confession, who was faithful to

him, who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful at all of

God's house. For Jesus has been counted

worthy of more glory than Moses, as much more glory, as the

builder of a house has more honor than the house itself, for

every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is

God. Now Moses was faithful at all

the God's houses, servants to testify to the things that were

to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over

God's house as a Son, and we are His house, be the church.

We, the Christians, are His house, if indeed we hold fast

our confidence and our boasting and our hope.

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit said today, if you will hear His

voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,

Cora's rebellion, and the others on the day of testing in the

wilderness where your Father's put me to the test and saw my

works for 40 years. Therefore, I was provoked with

that generation. And they said they will always

go astray in their hearts. And they have not known my ways

as I swore in my wrath. They shall not enter my rest.

Are we all going to die in our sins?

Yes. Yes.

That's exactly where we're determined to die.

That's where our choices of leadership, our choices of life,

our choices of living, our choices of serving, that's where

they leave us. We're so helpless and depraved

in our soul that that is our destiny.

We will not not survive it. You won't survive this life into

the next life without eternal life.

And this life is in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

And listen so, so now the admonition.

Bear with me just a couple of minutes.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you and unbelieving

heart leading you to fall away from the living God that's

falling away. That's that apostasy that says

we'll choose a leader and go back, but exhort one another

every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you

may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original

confidence firm to the end. For who were those who heard and

yet rebelled the story we just saw this morning?

Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?

And with whom was he provoked for 40 years?

Now, as it was those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the

wilderness? And to whom did he swear that

they would not enter his rest? But to those who were

disobedient, so we see that they were unable to enter because of

unbelief. Don't let your heart that is

hard. Don't let your heart that's in

rebellion. Don't let your heart that is

that is this the very theater and arena of sin and your

disobedience cause you to miss. How shall we escape if we

neglect so great salvation? The only way to go to an

eternity of punishment and perdition is to trample over the

blood of Christ. Why will you die, O Israel?

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord,

Come to Christ, come for salvation.

Hear him, receive him, embrace him, look upon him, believe in

him, trust him, Follow him all the way through death's door

into eternal life. Come and and the day of

salvation is only one day in Scripture.

Today. Today.

Don't let the sun go down tonight unless you know how your

soul is with God. Is it well with your soul?