The Sons of Korah Died Not | Dr. Jerry Mason

Could you clap your hands to the Lord this morning and thank Him

Amen. Amen.

If you have your Bibles this morning, turn with me to the

book of Numbers, Numbers chapter 26.

Numbers 26 · chapter mention

Give honor to our Bishop and Sister McGee.

Give honor to our pastor and his wife is there.

Not here today, but want to honor them and appreciate them

for their leadership. Honor my wife and love and

appreciate her so very much. She's the better part of our duo

and I'm thankful for her. My son and daughter-in-law and

of course the best of us. Piper, the Queen of the family

man. She makes me a happy pops.

My favorite people on earth. I love and appreciate them.

Numbers 26 and 11 very long verse very lengthy reading this

morning says notwithstanding the children of Korah died not Lord

bless you. You may be seated today.

I want to talk to you this morning for a few minutes of

time today on a subject the sons of Kora died not.

And this might be a subject that takes me 30 minutes to, as we

say, lay the foundation or provide context.

It might be 5 minutes of preaching after that, I don't

know, but we'll see. The Sons of Korah died.

Not in many modern organizations.

The most dangerous power struggles often don't come from

outsiders, they come from insiders.

It's the long tenured leader who feels overlooked, the trusted

team member who starts questioning every decision, or

the influential voice who quietly gathers agreement in

hallways before addressing leadership directly.

What begins is just asking questions slowly shifts into

influence building, alliance forming, coalition building, and

eventually a court coordinated challenge to establish

authority. On the surface it can sound like

a push for fairness or reform, but underneath it's often a

something much deeper. It's pride addressed as

principle or ambition disguised as accountability.

It's a power play. It's a play for position.

That same dynamic is not new. Matter of fact, the ideology of

corporate takeovers is ancient. It often shows up, or it shows

up vividly in numbers. Chapter 16 where a respected

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

Levite by the name of Cora, along with two men named Dathan

and Abiram step forward to challenge Moses and Aaron, not

because they lacked opportunity, but because they wanted more

than what had been assigned to them.

What follows is not just a leadership dispute, but a full

scale rebellion that reveals how quickly discontent can escalate,

when ambition overrides alignment, and how seriously God

treats the disruption of divinely established order.

Numbers Chapter 16 tells the story of three people who played

Numbers 16 · chapter mention

pivotal roles in an uprising that occurred against Moses and

Aaron, challenging their God-given authority.

First there was Cora, the chief architect of the rebellion and

it's core leader. So much so that in various texts

this is referred to as Cora's rebellion.

Cora already had a significant role in ministry, serving in the

Tabernacle, but instead of honoring that calling, he turned

it into a competition. He had access to holy things,

but confused access with authority.

Cora did not appreciate the weight of what he had or the

boundaries that God had set to top all this bad off.

It was as if it wasn't bad enough already.

Cora refused correction. Let me just pause right there

and say outside of my notes this morning, you're it's a sad life

to live when you can't take correction.

You you have to be able to take correction both in the spiritual

and the natural realm. His pride kept him away from

repentance. Carnal ambition was the fight

for authority rank position against the spiritual order of

God. In concert with Cora were two Co

conspirators, Dathan and Abiram, who worked to amplify the revolt

against God's appointed leaders over the people of Israel.

Cora, Dathan and Abyram gathered 250 leaders of Israel who were

prominent leaders of Israel who chose to side with the rebellion

and support the uprising against Moses and Aaron.

Corin, Cora, Dathan, and Abyram questioned Moses authority and

challenged Aaron's priesthood. The rebellion gained momentum

and became a public challenge instead of a private struggle.

Leadership from a natural perspective has immense value

and is a major determining factor to the success of a

business, A-Team, a project, or a relationship.

God appointed. Leadership, while bringing the

same value and strength, adds to it a mandate from a holy God

that brings with it anointing, direction and purpose.

Ladies and gentlemen, much like we do not get to pick our

leaders in the natural world, we also do not get to pick who God

chooses and who God appoints and who God chooses to anoint.

That's His job, not ours. So the issue we play witness to

with Cora and the rebellion he originated, at its core is an

issue of pride, jealousy, and a desire for position rather than

submission to God's order. They wanted positions of rank.

They wanted power and authority. Since God didn't choose them for

the position that they expected, they questioned those that were

in that position, and they questioned their abilities and

their calling. They did not respect the divine

order of God and the calling that He put in place, and they

failed to understand that their extreme disrespect for God's

chosen ministers was a slap in the face to God.

So God responds very decisively in #16 and verse #32 the Bible

tells us. And the earth opened her mouth.

The earth opened up and swallowed them up, and their

houses, and all the men that have pertained unto Cora and all

their goods. That's a pretty bad ending to

such a circumstance that could have been avoided if two people

had privately had a conversation rather than a public display of

disagreement. The earth opened and swallowed

Cora and those that aligned with him.

It was a dramatic judgment that underscored how seriously God

views rebellion against his established authority.

But something else very remarkable happened.

Numbers 26 and 11, I read to you one more time, says

notwithstanding the children of Korra died not despite their

father's rebellion, the sons were spared.

Now I need to pause here and and spend maybe 5 minutes to provide

some context to the word children that we read in numbers

26 and 11, because I believe it's important.

I believe it's important to understand how this translates

from the original text and how it applies to us today.

There are nuances and cultural implications to language.

Any student of language here today, at any level, beginner or

fluent, understands that translation is not always A1 for

one word swap there there's there's influence, there's

meaning, there's culture, there's all kinds of nuance

involved in translating. And when you're going from

Hebrew to English, there's times that can be quite difficult.

Numbers 26 and 11 says the children of Cora died not.

I presented you with a message titled today called The Sons of

Cora Died Not. The first question is why?

And the second question is, why is this important?

To answer these, I'm going to give you just a brief study of

the words in translation. So give me 5 minutes here.

I'm not going to spend a lot of time.

I'm not trying to teach you Hebrew and I'm not trying to

convince you to learn it, but there's an application here that

I believe is important or I wouldn't share it with you

today. In the Hebrew language, the

words for children are starting with the first one is tough.

It means little ones or dependents, and it's only used

in the Bible whenever it's an it's a reference to men, women

and children. OK, there's plenty of times we

have that kind of reading the men, the women and the children

were present. That's the word used for

children in that context is tough.

The the primary word for child that is used is yelled.

It is a child that is a boy. Yella Deem is children that are

boys. Again, you don't have to

memorize these words but just stay with me for a moment or

two. Yalda is a child that is a girl.

Yella Dope is children that are girls.

You have to understand Hebrew is a gender specific language, OK,

And Spanish is gender specific. There are multiple languages

throughout the world that are not similar to English that are

gender specific in nature. This is not a full list of

Hebrew references for child or children, but I want to keep the

list short today. I don't want to get bogged down

in the words as much as I do the application.

It is important to note that there are masculine and feminine

forms of words in Hebrew for almost every noun.

Adjectives always mirror the gender of the noun.

Numbers and verbs and pronouns. They are very specific, so when

translating from that to English, English does not mirror

that. And there is no general word in

Hebrew for children. The way we use it, we use

children. It could be male or female, it

could be, it could be Reese and Alex.

If you're old enough and you want to call them children,

there's generalities that could be used in that.

That is not the case in Hebrew in, in Numbers 26 and 11.

Again, this is in the Hebrew and, and I believe we've got it

today on the slide. And I'm, I'm sharing this with

you for context as proof. OK, I'm not asking you just take

my word for it. I want to validate what I'm

telling you, especially if this is something that you don't

know, but what you see on the screen reads as UVNE Koraklo

metu, and it translates as the sons of Kora died.

Not now. If you listen to if you listen

to it phonetically, you didn't hear any of the Y words that I

used. Yell at yella deem y'all die

Yella dope. You didn't hear any of those.

What we heard is the plural masculine construct of the

Hebrew word Ben. I've got a nephew named Ben, so

it's very easy to remember. Ben is the Hebrew word for son.

When this verse was translated, it was difficult to catch that,

capture, that nuance. Coming to English, I'm spending

this much time on this because I believe it's important to define

what children means. Even though in English it's a

generalized term, the target audience of the word in numbers

2611 is very specific. The children of kora that were

written about were the sons of kora.

This is important. You know what?

You're probably wondering, why is this important?

I want to share it with you and I hope that I can get this

across that you believe it's just as important as as I do.

But I believe it's important today because you don't build

legacy without sons. You don't build lineage without

sons. I'm sorry to point out the

obvious, but for families that have all girls, the father of

that family, at some point his name is going to drop off,

right? So it's important that we

understand we weren't just generalizing a word of children.

We're not looking to just see Kora die off.

There's a purpose that 1415 chapters later we see a verse in

the Bible that says, oh by the way, the sons of Kora didn't

die, Kora messed up. Kora had a severe rebellion.

Kora didn't appreciate his God calling and he wanted more.

He almost sounds like a natural story of the spiritual story in

Genesis of Lucifer. Kora was coveting a position

that God didn't position him for.

It's important today that we follow the calling God has given

us in the position He wants us in.

I've seen too many people in life mess their life up because

they won't step into their God calling, but they'll step into

something they want and that's dangerous for us to do.

So Cora. Cora has died.

We've already established that Cora has died.

All the people that aligned with him, they've died.

Their houses are gone, their goods are gone.

They've all been swallowed up by the earth.

They no longer exist. But oh, by the way, his sons

didn't die. So the children reference is

very specific in translation to let us to allow us to know the

nuance that children there is sons, it's the heritage, it's

the carrying on of what was established.

And this is important today. So let's quickly circle back to

our opening verse. Numbers 2611 notwithstanding,

the children of Cora died, not now we understand the context of

the verse. So let's get a little bit more

to the heart of the matter. Cora, their father died.

We've established that, but I want to point out some things

about his death. Cora didn't die of the old age.

He didn't fade out peacefully. He didn't leave behind a stable

inheritance. He didn't have a life insurance

policy that kicked in after he was gone.

He died in a way that fractured his legacy instead of finishing

well. This patriarch of the family

died not from illness but from insurrection, not from weakness

but willful rebellion, not from accident but intentional

defiance to divine order. Not from an external attack, but

he died from his internal pride. He didn't just lose his life, he

discredit his his leadership. Cora didn't just fall, he pulled

others down with him. He didn't just die, he

redefined. This is important.

This morning, Cora didn't just die.

He redefined his family's legacy.

He redefined his family's identity.

We've all done it. If we're honest with ourselves.

Somebody mentions a family name. Yeah, I know that family.

They all fill in the blank. They all Alcoholics, they all

whatever. They're all this.

They're all trouble. They're right.

We've all done it. And we we make those general

sweeping statements off of the knowledge of what the family

name represents. Cora altered the identity of his

family so that the name of Cora did not represent a leader in

the Tabernacle. The name of Kora did not

represent a God called Servant. The name of Kora represented

rebellion, pride, negative things, the list could go on and

on. Defiance.

He discredited his family. His name became synonymous with

rebellion, and the name of the family line became a public

disgrace and a divine judgement because God responded to his

disgrace by opening up the earth, swallowing him up.

Cora traded assignment for ambition.

He exchanged calling for comparison.

If only we had time to talk about the comparison trap today.

But we don't. Just don't fall in it.

He abandoned stewardship for status.

He confused access to God's work with authority over God's order.

Cora didn't just make a bad decision.

He normalized rebellion, he organized opposition, and he

attempted to replace what God put in place.

As a matter of fact, today I believe Cora may have been a

type and shadow of a modern day problem in society because

today's society has a very popular way of thinking.

If I don't agree with you, I'll just take you out.

That's a problem in today's society, that we can no longer

disagree and still walk together.

So there's a principle of consequence here. 1 moment of

unchecked pride can echo across generations.

One leader's rebellion can reshape how a family name is

remembered. One refusal to submit can create

a culture of instability behind you.

And yet his story does not end in total generation collapse.

His sons did not die with him. The Bible says the sons of Korah

died not that's not just a simple statement letting us know

that they avoided death. We are.

We are being instructed here that the sons of Korah were

preserved for purpose. Korah's lineage was not erased.

His name was not only associated with failure, but his

descendants, excuse me, later became voices of worship.

The sons of Korra became voices of worship.

They became voices of instrumentation.

They became worship leaders in the presence of God in the

nation of Israel. They also became authors to

portions of the Psalms. The sons of Korra, even when at

this I'm telling you this means today that even when a father or

a mother fractures their legacy, God can still redeem the line

and refuse to repeat the pattern.

You do not have to follow after what happened the generation

before you. The sons of Korah show and

demonstrate to us that you do not have to repeat what you come

from. The sons of Korra broke the

cycle, but they did not break the covenant.

They chose not to inherit their father's rebellion.

They chose not to imitate his ambition.

They chose not to align with his resistance.

They chose not to adopt his posture toward authority.

All choices that they had to make for themselves.

They separated themselves from the spirit of Korra without

losing their identity. They were still Kora's

descendants, but they're reframing the name, they're

reshaping the family line, and they're re establishing

something that is more akin to how Kora started.

They refused to normalize what their father modelled.

They refused to make rebellion a family trait.

They refused to let pain become permission.

They refused to confuse heritage with destiny.

While others pursued position, they pursued God's presence.

While others fought for status and position, they stayed

committed to the service that was before them.

While others challenged authority, they embraced their

assignment. While others were out building

carnal influence, the sons of Korra built worship.

They built an opportunity to get in the presence of God.

So instead of being known for rebellion, they became known for

worship. Leaders in Israel, gatekeepers

to sacred places, authors and carriers of psalms that has

shaped our lives for generations.

Let me pause here and remind us this morning that Second

Corinthians 5 and 17 says, therefore, if any man be in

Christ, he is a new creature. Somebody shout new creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become

new. My family might be Alcoholics,

but I'm a new creature. My family might be drug addicts,

but I'm a new creature. My family might have

relationship issues, but thank God I'm a new creature.

My family might have anger issues, they might be known for

bar fighting and all kinds of destruction, but I can stand

before God and say I'm a new creature.

My family might have set me up for failure in life with the

name they've established, but I am a new creature.

I don't have to repeat. You don't have to repeat what

was handed down. I will tell you today that there

is no St. without a past, but there is also no Sinner without

a future. We have hope today.

What began as tainted lineage became a trusted voice in

worship. The sons of Korra became

associated with some of the most powerful declarations in

scripture. Many of them we know, Many of

them some of you can probably quote from by heart.

You just may not recognize that the sons of Korah authored them

Psalms 42 and one. As the heart panteth after the

water brooks, so panteth my soul after the Oh God. 45 and 17 I

will make thy name to be remembered in all generations.

Therefore shall the people praise thee forever and ever. 46

And one God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in

trouble. 46 and seven, the Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge. 47 And one we quoted often.

Oh, clap your hands, all you people, shout unto God with a

voice of triumph. Can you imagine that the person

of sons of Kora, the lineage of Kora the, the, the descendants

of Kora who authored this, who know Kora's reputation, who know

what Kora tried to do to the family line, who know the way

that Kora tainted the name of the family.

But yet they stand before God in his temple, in grace and in

mercy and in worship. And they're so excited about the

opportunity that God has laid before them that they can't help

but say, oh, clap your hands. It's a day to rejoice.

It's a day to give thanks to God.

It's a day to understand I'm not where my family was.

So I will shout unto God with a voice of triumph for all that

God has done. Psalms 84 and 10 for a day in

thy courts is better than 1000. I had rather be a doorkeeper in

the House of my God. Bishop.

I've heard this voice, this verse all my life.

We've got songs that sing about this verse.

Better is one day in your courts.

Better is one day right? We've got we've got songs

authored off of this passage. We sing them.

I like it. I like it in moderation.

It's a little bit repetitive, but that's all right.

I like it. It's got good meaning.

A Bishop when I when I understood the correlation to

authorship to chorus family and I read verse 10 again that it

says for a day in thy courts is better than 1000.

It's taking on new meaning now. This is not just anybody with a,

a pen and a a scroll, just just writing that God is good and a

day in his courts is good and, and, and all thanks be to God.

And this is all just great and grand.

This has a meaning today that is so much richer and deeper than

what I had originally understood.

Because the people that are writing it, they could have been

in somebody else's court if they had followed family line and

family name. They might not be in God's

court. They might not be in God's

presence. And they're saying rather than

rather than meet rebellion, rather than follow my father of

old, rather than follow the things of my family, I'd rather

just be a simple doorkeeper in the House of God.

I don't need status. I don't need position because

that's what Cora was chasing. Kora wanted the publicity.

Kora wanted the stars and the the fame and the popularity.

Kora wanted the pulpit ministry. Kora wanted to stand under the

lights in front of everybody. We get the sons of Kora who are

worship leaders in Israel generations later with a lineage

of blood that ties back to him, as their father said.

You know what? I don't need status.

I don't need position. I don't need popularity.

Just let me be a doorkeeper. Just let me open the door for

somebody else. Just let me have the opportunity

to welcome somebody else into the courts of God.

My God. That's powerful today.

That provides so much context and meaning to why that verse is

even necessary to begin with. I'd rather be a doorkeeper in

the House of God than to do well in the tents of wickedness.

For the Lord God is a son and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly or

correctly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the

man that trusteth in thee. The same family name that once

echoed rebellion, that once echoed a desire to do everything

for himself regardless and despite what God had set in

place, now echoes trust and a longing for God's presence in

worship. But here's what's important

today. The sons of Cora, they didn't

choose their origin. You don't choose your family.

You don't choose your last name, or at least not the one that

you're born with. It's given to you.

You don't choose the orientation or the the what the

representation of that name is. You don't choose the reputation

of your family line. You're born into that.

But you do have a choice in determining your destiny.

What do I do with my name? Where do I take this?

Do I repeat old habits or do I make different choices?

That is our choice. I have heard people, I have

heard countless people, I've probably even said it numerous

times myself in my lifetime, talk and excuse people's

behavior because, well, they're just like their dad, or they're

just like their grandpa, or they're just like their aunt, or

they're just like their mother. They're just like their Whoever

we say it, I'm not going to ask you to admit to it.

I know you probably said it. We have all said it, We'll

probably all continue to say it because it's just something that

we do. But I want to circle back to 2nd

Corinthians 517 for a spiritual reflection for us this morning.

Because in the things that we say, well, they're just like,

and they're just like, and they're just like.

If those things are behaviors that go against the character of

the Christian that is walking a walk with God.

Let's go back to 2nd Corinthians and be reminded that if we are

in Christ, we are a new creature That overrides Sister Margaret,

That overrides my natural bloodline, that blood of Christ

on Calvary, That makes me new. That overrides me being just

like my grandfather. That overrides my attitude, my

bad attitude, being just like my uncles.

That overrides all of that because if I am in Christ, I'm

new. Old things, old things are

passed away. Behold, all things are become

new. It's important for us to

remember that today because it's important for us to not excuse

ourselves out of choices that we need to make when it comes to

following God. You may inherit dysfunction, but

you don't have to distribute it. You don't have to live in it,

you don't have to repeat it. You may come from broken homes,

broken relationships, broken leadership, but you don't have

to reproduce it. You may carry a difficult name,

but you can define a different future.

The sons of Korra built their lives to build worship, proving

that legacy is not just what you inherit, but it's what you

choose to continue. I remember for the Alex will

come to the keyboard this morning.

I remember as a child, I remember being places with my

parents. Of course, anybody that knows me

knows that my father pastored for 4040 years or so and I was a

child. And of course not just because

they were pastor even before they were pastoring.

When the family, when my parents went to church, the family went

to church. So we kids went to church.

I'll not go down a rabbit hole this morning, but let me just

pause and say that's how it's supposed to be.

But I remember them engaging in conversations with people that

were not of the church and I would be standing there and they

would be having adult conversation.

And I remember, Brother Fred, times where people would say,

well, do your kids go to church with you?

My parents would say, of course. And those ladies or gentlemen

would respond with, well, just just wait till they get out of

your house. Just wait till they can make

their own decisions. Just just wait.

We'll see. We'll see if they still go to

church then. What a sad life that must be,

number one, to have said that in front of their children.

I find that very distasteful today as an adult.

But my point is, yes, when I got to a certain age and I was

outside of their house, I had choice.

Whether you are choosing not to repeat something or choosing to

repeat something, you have to make a choice.

And I am thankful today that up until now and and prayerfully by

the grace of God, continuing from now, my choice is to serve

God. My choice is to continue to

further the legacy and name that was built before me.

But if you're here today and you are chasing and running away

from something, there's someone you can run to.

We can run to the arms of Jesus. One of my favorite verses in the

Bible I recognize now are written by the sons of Korra.

And that is God is my refuge and strength.

When I don't know where to go, I can go to Him when I'm running,

when I'm out of options. And yeah, I know today we

shouldn't wait until we're out of options and choose Him last.

But in our humanity, sometimes that's what we do.

We try to do it all on our own and then we go to God.

It happens to every one of us. But thanks be to God that versus

just as real, if He's your last choice as it is is, He's your

first choice. He is our refuge and He is our

strength. I can only imagine what the sons

of Korah needed refuge from. They had a bad family name.

They had they had. They had to prove themselves at

some point that they were not like their father.

The Apostle Paul had a similar fight and struggle When he got

saved. He had to prove that he was not

like his former name. His name was changed by choice

because he was building a new future.

He was building a new legacy. Would you stand with me this

morning? It is possible that the chorus

sons could have been the same worship leaders and temple

servants that they were If Korah had not rebelled.

The destiny of Korah's sons could have been the same because

the family line was already in temple service.

What's important that we recognize today is that despite

what happened, they ended up in service to God.

Everything I've said for the last 36 minutes all comes down

to this. Your past does not have to

define you. The story that has been written

in your life does not have to be the final chapter.

If we will come before the presence of God and allow God to

help us rewrite our story. He's a good author.

He's a good writer. He knows how to pin the story

just right. The sons of Korah died not.

I'm thankful for that today, because it gives me hope.

It gives me hope that for every mistake in my family, for every

mistake in my life, for generations that preceded me,

things that were not right, that they did not have to be perfect

for God to use me, for God to welcome me, for God to save me.

Your past doesn't have to define your future.

Only God can do that if we will allow it.

Would you lift your hands, bow your head?

Whatever you want to do right now to pray.

This altar is open this morning. I feel a sweet presence of the

Holy Ghost here today. I want to encourage someone

today in the Spirit. Focus more on your today and

your future in God than your past.

Once God has forgiven you, your past is redeemed.

You don't have to repeat that. You don't have to walk in the

steps of your forefathers if they were not what God ordained.

Don't allow the name of whatever is hanging over you to define

you. Allow God to come into your life

and define your steps. Allow God to order your steps.

The Bible says that the steps of a good man are ordered by the

Lord. I don't know that I can say in

and of myself and my flesh that I'm good.

Only God can define goodness in my life.

But I must surrender to Him so that He can define, that He can

order my steps, and He can allow me to make right choices,

whether at your seat, at your couch, at home, at this altar

this morning. Let's take a moment.

Let's take a moment here as we sing.

Let's take a moment to lift up the name of Jesus and just

prayerfully talk to Him about where we're at in our destiny

and our walk with him because God is able today to rewrite

your story.