Standing Between the Living and the Dead
By Rev. James May
Numbers 16:48, "And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed."
Rebellion is a strong word that has a powerful effect upon the heart and soul of man. Rebellion, when you break it down, appears to sound like it’s a “Rebel – Lion”, and to me that gives a pretty good picture of what rebellion is really all about. It’s someone with the heart that is filled with the pride of a lion, thinking of himself alone, and who will fight and bring violence against anything or anyone who infringes upon his right to roar. As a lion is called the king of the jungle for his ferocity and power to kill, so are most people on the face of the earth, for each of us tends to think of themselves as the king of their own domain.
Whether we are talking about man in the beginning of time; or man in this present hour, there is a common ground that we all stand upon; and that ground is the place of rebellion. Adam stood in that place while in the Garden of Eden and became a “Rebel” against the commandment of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, defying the Word of his Creator and declaring that he would not live under the Law of his God.
Modern man does the same thing. He declares, either by word or deed, that he will not bend his knee, nor bow his head, nor reverence and fear the God of all Creation. A quick look at the news of our day will show the defiance in the hearts of men against God Almighty. The human race is so filled with pride and selfishness that the heart still drives mankind to be a Rebel against the Lion of Judah, and very few are willing to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!
Even in the very House of God, among His own Adopted Children, there is often a spirit of rebellion; rebellion against the Word that convicts for sin; rebellion against authority that is ordained by God and rebellion against anything or anyone who tends to try to change us to become anything other than what we already believe is good enough.
There is a story in the Book of Numbers, Chapter 16, concerning the Children of Israel in their march through the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Though God had wrought miracle after miracle in their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, yet the Children of Israel continually found themselves in a state of rebellion against the leadership that God had placed over them, and indeed against the God that had delivered them.
Understand this; God had already brought them out of bondage; and that bondage in Egypt is a type, a representation in Old Testament form, of the pit of miry clay called sin that every one of us was born in. When each new generation was born in Egypt, they didn’t have to be made slaves; they were born slaves and had no power to deliver themselves from the iron fist of Pharaoh. They needed a Savior and Deliverer; someone who would step up and call down the power of God to deliver them. Of course we know that the man who God called to do just that was Moses, and Moses was given a voice, someone who would speak for him, his own brother whose name was Aaron.
It is often said that Moses is a type of Christ as that deliverer of the church and that Aaron, Moses brother and spokesman is a type of the Holy Spirit that speaks to us and leads us to follow Jesus.
Let’s fast forward in the journey of the Israelites and remember that they made it all the way to the Jordan River, the very boundary of the Promised Land that God had given to Abraham, and it was described in the Bible as “a land that flowed with milk and honey”. Their Promised Land had everything in it that they would have ever needed to be a powerful, happy, prosperous and godly nation. But nothing comes from God without a living, active faith; and faith is something that the Children of Israel showed a lack of at every turn. Here, at the very brink of great victory and the fulfillment of the promises of God, their faith failed and they were turned back into the wilderness to wander another 40 years. A whole generation of faithless Children of God perished in the wilderness and never obtained the promises of God because they refused to believe God would fulfill His word to them.
I wonder how many generations of Gentiles, your ancestors and mine, failed that test of faith? How many failed to see the Promised Land; failed to trust God to give them the desires of their hearts; failed to believe that in Jesus there was provision for the body, water for the soul and life forevermore? How many times have we, right here this day, come to the brink of the river, tried to look over on the other side, and could not see any way that God would give us the life we wanted? All we saw were the giants in the Land; obstacles too big; people who had more power to drag us down than we could handle; persecution from friends and neighbors that we considered greater than the promises of the Almighty God!
How many of us today are facing our own Jordan River and God is saying, “Step out by faith and take the land that is before you!” But we won’t move because it’s a scary thing to step out into the unknown. It seems so much safer just to hang out where we are and watch the river flow than to step into the water and taking a chance of making a wrong step and drowning. Some people stand by the river, looking over into that place where they know they should go in God, into a deeper relationship; into a more active ministry; into a work that they’ve been called to do; but they won’t step out into the water by faith and trust God to bring it to past. It’s just too comfortable to hang on in the desert place and enjoy thinking about it rather than doing it.
You will never inherit the land hanging out on the wrong side of the river. You have to step out in faith, believing, and let the Holy Spirit guide you. You’ll have to learn to walk closer to Jesus. You’ll have to just trust God and keep on making the next step. But God will take you into places that you never dreamed possible if you’ll only have the faith to step out and follow Him!
It wasn’t Moses’ fault that they didn’t enter the Promised Land. It’s wasn’t Aaron’s fault that they had no faith! It wasn’t God’s fault that they wouldn’t trust Him and follow Him to victory! It was their own lack of faith in spite of all that God had done for them! They had that slave mentality that had kept them in bondage in Egypt and though God had taken them out of Egypt, they hadn’t taken Egypt out of their own hearts and minds, and like Lot’s Wife, they kept looking back to where they’ve been instead of where they were going.
Let that be a lesson to all of us; you’ll never move forward or grown in the Lord as you should as long as you are always focusing on the past! You can’t change the past; but you can stop it from controlling your future! Learn from it, remember the pit that God brought you out of, then forget it and keep moving forward, keeping your eyes on the prize of the Crown of Victory that is ahead instead of the defeats that are left behind.
They were turned back into the wilderness, and with their backs facing the Promised Land, they walked into a continual and deadly place of rebellion against God and against Moses! They kept looking toward Egypt instead of looking toward the Promised Land. Where their heart was, their mind stayed; and their whole life was wasted looking in the wrong direction.
As I read Numbers chapter 16, I began to see a clear pattern that has been repeated many times in the hearts of men throughout the history of man, and it is still being repeated today.
In the 3rd verse 4 men rose up against Moses; 4 men full of pride and jealousy! These men were Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On. These were men of the tribes of Israel, three of them being of the Tribe of Levi and one from The tribe of Rueben.
If you remember anything about the Tribes of Israel, you will know that the Tribe of Levi was chosen by God to be ministers and servants who were to work at caring for the Tabernacle of Moses, and that the Tabernacle of Moses was the place in the camp of Israel where the presence of God dwelt. What a privilege it is to be chosen by God to work in his kingdom. Regardless if their job was hammering stakes to hold up the outer walls, assemble and disassemble the gold plated Acacia boards of the Holy Place, or carefully fold and wrap the veils that stood before the Ark of the Covenant, it was all a labor of love for the God of Israel; at least it should have been a labor of love.
Some of the Levites sang in the choir as the sacrifices were offered. Others took part in the assembling of the Brazen Altar and the Laver of water where the priests were commanded to do their work. Only the priests could carry the Ark of the Covenant, but that was a commandment of God and anyone who touched that Ark other than those chosen to carry it would die instantly under God’s judgment. The Levites were not chosen to be the priests, but to serve in the Tabernacle. They could do everything except what the priests were given to do, but there was a dividing line that they must never cross.
The only people who were chosen to serve as priests were the sons of Aaron, who was Moses’ brother. The Aaronic Priests were called and anointed to carry the blood of the lamb, to present the blood before God in the Holy of Holies, and to care for the Altar of Incense, the Lampstand and the Table of Showbread. Only a priest could enter into the Holy Place, and only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies. Only a priest could handle the sacrificial offerings. This all pointed to the fact that only Jesus, our Great High Priest, would be worthy to be the sacrifice for our sin. For anyone else to try to usurp that authority, or to push himself into that position without the anointing of God meant death.
Since Aaron is a type of the Holy Ghost in speaking for Moses, it seems to me that what the Bible is trying to tell us is that it takes the anointing of the Holy Ghost to serve as a priest. It’s a special anointing that no Levite had. They were anointed to serve in one capacity and the priests in another. God choose whom He will and He anoints us to do a job, and we should be so grateful to serve wherever God chooses to use us. It’s a great and wonderful privilege to work in the House of the Lord.
Two of Aaron’s own sons, men who were chosen to be priests, overstepped their bounds, even though they were anointed to be priests. They took it upon themselves to offer strange fire upon the Altar of Incense, overstepping their assigned duties, going beyond their anointed task, and in Leviticus 1:1-2 we are told that the fire of God’s judgment shot out from the altar and consumed them.
When God gives us a place; that’s where we need to be. Far greater than what I said last week about being like a nail fastened in a sure place; this lesson from God’s Word tells us that if we don’t obey the Lord and not only stay in our place, but carry out our duties as God specifies, then we are subject to the judgment of God for our rebellious heart. Too many people presume too much; just presuming that you can do the same thing that God calls someone else to do; and then trying to usurp that position can get you into more trouble with God than you want to handle.
These 4 men, Korah, Dathan, Abiram and On; along with many others that came under their influence were soon to discover how dangerous it is to the play the games of jealousy, envy and rebellion against the will of God!
Somehow it comes into the heart of man that he deserves so much more than he’s getting. Mankind also believes that he should be the master of his own destiny and the ruler of his own life. Pride and selfishness reigns in the life of all of us from time to time, and even in the people of God I’ve seen this arise.
Korah and his followers decided to call a meeting and confront Moses and Aaron with their grievances. Now it’s one thing to come to God with questions and concerns, but it’s another thing altogether to come to God with the attitude of a know it all.
Their accusation against Moses and Aaron was simple. They accused Moses and Aaron of taking too much power upon themselves. Their attitude was one that I’ve heard so many times; “Just who do you think you are? Who do you think you are, Moses? What gives you the right to exercise the authority that you do over us? Are we not as good as you are? Are we not as holy before God as you are? What makes you any better than us? And the same goes for Aaron!”
Moses immediately fell on face before God. He didn’t lash back at them, although he probably felt like doing just that. Instead, Moses fell down and prayed for these men, and all of the camp of Israel, for Moses knew that what they had done was not against him; but against God!
It’s was God who set Moses and Aaron over the Children of Israel; and it was God who had placed the Levites in their positions; and these men were defying the divine order of God! Terror for what God might do to the people struck the heart of Moses. He feared for Israel and cried out to God for mercy on their behalf.
The acts of defiance against Moses, against Aaron and against God would not go unanswered.
Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." These defiant Jews were about to find out just how terrible God’s power of destruction can be.
In the 13th verse of Numbers chapter 16, these defiant men even confessed that they thought the land of Egypt was better than the Promised Land. They called Egypt the land of milk and honey.
Oh how terrible it is when we begin to live in rebellion against the Law of God! Isaiah 5:20, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" When we begin to listen to the voice of Satan, and allow pride and jealousy to arise in us, our vision of right and wrong are skewed.
Look around our society today and you can see this in action. Many are saying that Christianity is the evil that plagues the world; and that those who preach that Jesus is the only way to salvation are the troublemakers because we are intolerant of people who teach anything else. Men will try to excuse their rebellion against the authority of Christ by saying that there are many ways to Heaven. They will pass laws to make immorality and degenerate behavior legal, and at the same time, pass laws that restrict even speaking the name of Jesus or reading a Bible in a public place, saying that it infringes upon the right of all men to think the way they want. We are fulfilling Isaiah 5:20 right now.
Like Korah and his followers, mankind says, “We are good as you. We are equal, or even better than Jesus. We don’t need a leader. We can save ourselves. We don’t need to hear some preacher or some book to tell us what to do.”
I’ve seen this same attitude in the church! “Preacher, I don’t need you to tell me how to act, what to do, and what not to do! I’m as good as my neighbor, even better than many! I can hear from God just as much as you can. I don’t need church! I don’t need a teacher! I can get it all on my own! If I feel like I want to do something for God, I don’t need the approval of any pastor because I can hear the voice of the Lord just as good as he can.” That’s nothing more than an evil spirit of pride; a spirit that rejects the counsel of God and defies the leading of the Holy Ghost! Yes, you can hear the voice of the Lord as good as the pastor can, but do you have the anointing that he has for the office, and do you have the authority under the Word of God to do whatever you want to? God has a divine order and when we step out of that order, we are walking on dangerous ground!
Korah and 250 of his followers brought their own brass censers to the court of the Tabernacle. Censers were used to carry burning incense before the Lord and only a priest could do that according to God’s instructions. They came to show Moses and Aaron that they could do the work of a priest and a leader of the people just as good as Moses and Aaron could. They came and stood before the very door of the Holy Place and took fire off of the Brazen Altar to burn their incense.
Incense is a type of the prayers of the saints and these men had their prayers, but their prayers and offerings were not accepted because of the pride of their hearts. We can pray all we want for God to give us this ministry, or let us be lifted up, but unless it’s in God’s will, we pray in vain.
There are people today who are full of themselves. They aren’t teachable; they never shut up long enough to hear anyone or learn anything. They’ve always got to put in their two-cents worth, and frankly, I think that most of the time we need to give them at least a penny and half in change because what they have to say is so foolish. All it does is prove to the whole world just little they really know, but they are so full of selfish pride and a know-it-all attitude that they think they’re really being helpful. Sometimes you just want to say, “If you’ll be quiet and listen, rather than to keep running off at the mouth and arguing about every point, you might accidentally learn how foolish you really are.” But realistically, the best thing you can do for people like that is just put them in God’s hands and walk away because they aren’t teachable and will probably never hear anything other than their own voices.
Like Korah and his cronies, their hearts are set on rebellion; fixed on pride of self; and their only desire is to take over where they have no place of going. Because of their continued hard-headed and hard-hearted attitude, and their jealousy, God finally told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from these rebellious men, and that everyone whose tents were even close to these men should move away lest they be consumed with the same judgment as Korah and his followers. They were not to even touch one thing that belonged to these men because it was all cursed in the eyes of God for their rebellious attitude!
Let me tell you that if you think you’re a Child of God, you’d better check your heart and your attitude to see if pride and jealousy are there, because God hates those things and they are a sin that will steal your eternal soul and bring death, both physically and spiritually.
Moses and Aaron, and all of the people of Israel who stood with them, separated themselves from Korah and his band of followers. Even the 250 who had been drawn in to be a part of Korah’s rebellion drew back a little. Something happened to really put the fear of God into their hearts.
The Shekinah, the very glowing, radiant light of the power and presence of Almighty God that normally rested between the Cherubim above the Mercy Seat upon the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies, came forward and stood at the door of the Tabernacle. God’s presence was with Moses and Aaron in a clear and visible way! There was no question whose side God was on in this battle. He stood with his anointed ones, Moses and Aaron.
1 Chronicles 16:22, "Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm."
Let me tell you people of God, that we better be careful when we speak out against a man or woman of God! You might not agree with their form of ministry. You might not like the way they preach or teach. You might think that you know more than they do. You might think that they are being too hard, or too soft, or too anything. But never forget that if they are preaching Christ and Him crucified, that they are still speaking under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Don’t put yourself in the place of “touching the anointed one of God”, and don’t let yourself be caught up in trying to discredit those whom God has anointed.
At Moses’ word, God honored his chosen man and proved who was on the Lord’s side. The ground beneath the feet of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. These rebellious men, along with their entire family, wives, children, along with their tents and all that they owned were swallowed alive into the pits of hell and the earth closed over them. It’s wasn’t just an ordinary earthquake, but the earth moved more like a wild animal that opens its mouth wide to swallows its prey. The hole opened; they fell in and the hole closed.
The screams of the dying and terror in their eyes as they fell alarmed the rest of the people and they began to turn and run away lest they too would be swallowed up, but that didn’t save those who had rebelled along with Korah. The fire of God’s wrath, like lightning that came from the Shekinah, and fire from the altar killed all 250 of them.
If you had stood there, would that have been enough to persuade you to repent of your rebellion? It wasn’t enough for Israel! Oh how far had their lack of faith taken them! Even though God’s judgment had fallen and he had clearly shown who was called and anointed to lead Israel, the people began the very next day to murmur against Moses accusing them of murdering all of those who had died the day before! This is a definite case of what I call “Terminal Stupidity”! When will we ever learn? You saw God’s wrath swallow up 250 and more yesterday! Have you forgotten already? Are you dumb enough to continue in rebellion and think you’ll get away with it! I see danger ahead; can’t you?
But we can’t point fingers at Israel. How many times have we seen the good things of God and yet we still see Christians who rebel against the authority of the preacher of the gospel, or rebel against the leadership that is placed over them, or how many times have we seen people who simply refuse to come under authority but will bow up, get angry and even leave the church because they can’t have their own way?
All of us have seen how many people will backslide and fall into such deep pits of sin and despair that some never come out of! It’s as though their sin of rebellion opens its mouth and swallows them up, heart and soul, and they never experience the anointing of God again.
Do you think it can’t happen to you? How many times does the judgment of God have to fall, and how much pain and death will men have to face; or Christian, how much trouble is going to have to come into your life before you realize that it’s futile to fight against the power of God and the authority that God has placed over you. How many people today will run from the House of God every time the preaching gets hot and conviction falls on them for their sin of rebellion? We must repent of our bad attitudes quickly before the judgment comes.
As the people stood that day, accusing Moses and Aaron of murder, suddenly, beginning at the front and moving to the back of the congregation, people began to drop dead on their feet in an instant of time. The wave of God’s judgment could be visibly seen as it moved back into the crowd. People were dropping dead, row upon row!
Moses commanded Aaron to quickly grab a censer of burning incense and run among the crowd, in effect, offering a prayer of atonement for their rebellion! As Aaron ran quickly, the incense arose before God, crying out for mercy; crying out for the plague of death to cease.
Numbers 16:48, "And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed."
14,700 of the Children of Israel died in a few moments of time as God’s wrath went among them! That’s not counting those who had died the day before! If Aaron had not stood there with his censer, there’s no doubt that all of Israel would have died for that spirit of rebellion.
Let me tell you people of God, that this is no game we’re playing. Whether our hearts are right and our spirits are right is a matter of life and death! All of mankind died in an instant of time when Adam took that bite in the Garden of Eden. The price of sin is death, eternal death. We were born dead; spiritually dead!
Then Jesus ran among men, carrying that incense, that censer filled with his prayers to the Father on behalf of all men. He came and stood between the living God and the souls of dead men as our intercessor. The judgment of God was set for every one of us to die in the pits of the flame just as Korah did. But Jesus came running from Glory, the Shekinah Glory of God dwelt among men; and he stands today, having been nailed to an old rugged cross, giving his blood as payment for our sin, and risen from the dead. Jesus is standing there between the living and dead.
Jesus is the way to life! Beyond Him is life; before Him is death! Who will be on the Lord’s side?
In Numbers 16:50 we see that Aaron and Moses returned to the door of the tabernacle and plague stopped!
Jesus went down, took the keys of death, hell and the grave; and today the power of death is stopped! Jesus is the resurrection and life; and all who will have life must come by Him!
Let us check our own hearts and see if there is a spirit of rebellion in us? Are we teachable, or does pride rule in us? Are we submissive to the leadership that God has anointed over us, or do we live in rebellion against that authority? As long as that authority is anointed and operates according to God’s will, we must be willing to bow before it!
Lord help me, never to try to usurp the position and the authority of those who are placed over me! Lord, help your children in this church to never do that either! The One who is over us all is Jesus! Let us never think that we know more than Christ himself. Let us never to presume that we can live without the Law of God! Let us always realize that except for the mercy and grace of God, we would be counted among the dead.
Is your heart right with God today? Have you repented of that spirit of pride; of rebellion against the leadership and authority of God; of that self-centered desire for what you want instead of what God wants? The Word of God teaches us today that without Jesus, we have no chance. We either submit to Him or we die! God’s wrath is coming soon upon all who will refuse to serve him in spirit and in truth. The plague of death will come upon every one of us who has not been fully persuaded to surrender all to Jesus.
The Book of Revelation describes the judgment of God that falls upon the Antichrist and the False Prophet, and all of his followers at the end of the reign of the Antichrist upon the earth. It is very similar to what happened to Korah and his followers.
Revelation 19:20, "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."
Revelation 19:21, "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."
In that day, rebellion against God will meet God’s wrath. With the word of His mouth, millions will fall dead in their tracks while Antichrist and his False Prophet fall into the pits of hell while they are still living. All of those on the side of the dead will fall into that awful place, never to get out again.
Where do you stand today? Are you on the side of the living, or of the dead? Jesus stands in the middle, beckoning us all to come to him and have life eternal. It is His desire that none should perish; that none should suffer judgment; that none should ever be lost; that none should stand in a place of rebellion.
Jesus is standing between the living and the dead, beckoning us to come to Him and stand among the living who will be eternally blessed. Come, stand with us. Every one of us must repent of that rebellious nature; that heart that says, “It’s my life, my way; and I’ll do it the way I choose.” We must choose to follow Jesus and come under His authority as our Lord and King.
AMEN
