STANDING BETWEEN THE LIVING & THE DEAD
Num. 16:41-50
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: Repeating the Same Mistakes
1. I visited someone in the hospital and they told me they met a lady in the emergency room who had both ears bandaged. "What happened to you?"
2. "I was ironing some clothes at home when the phone rang, and I unconsciously put the hot iron to my ear."
3. "Okay, but you have both ears bandaged. How come?" "Because they called back a second time."
B. TEXT
35 “And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. 41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the Lord’s people,” they said. 42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the Lord appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown. 46 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.” 47 So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. 48 He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. 49 But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah” Numbers 16:35, 41-49.
C. THESIS
1. The God we serve is a God of Power, a holy God, not part of this creation. It’s part of His nature to destroy evil.
2. One would think that the death of 250 men and the ground opening to swallow Abiram’s rebels would be enough to discourage the rebellion of Israel. But the next day all the Israelites gathered and surrounded Moses and Aaron, charging them with killing the Reubenites & Levites.
3. Can you picture the scene? The infuriated mob, numbering in the millions, coming toward the two men, alone by God’s Tent. No doubt they would’ve torn them to pieces on the spot.
4. But just as they were rushing up like waves of the sea, the cloudy pillar which hung above the tabernacle descended, and enveloped the tent in its mysterious billows. Then in the center of this cloud there blazed out that marvelous light called the Shekinah – the indication of the presence of Him who can’t be seen, but whose glory is manifested.
5. The people stood back a little, and Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces in prayer, pleading with God to spare the people, for they heard the voice of God saying, “Get away from these people, that I may destroy them in at once.” Moses, with his undimmed vision, saw the Israelites on the far edge of the crowd begin to collapse to the ground, in a wave of death.
6. Moses shouted, “Up Aaron! Take your censer, put in incense and holy coals, and run among the people, for the plague has begun.” Aaron, a man of probably a 120 years, filled his censer and ran as if he were a youth, swinging it toward heaven with holy energy, knowing that in his hand was the life of the people. When the incense was accepted in heaven, the scythe of death stopped its gruesome harvest.
7. On one side of Aaron were heaps of corpses going off into the distance, and on the other side stood the living people, living only because of Aaron’s intercession. If Aaron had not intervened, all 2.7 million Israelites would have fallen dead.
8. Paul said, “These things happened to them as examples...as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come” 1 Cor. 10:11.
I. REASON FOR THE SUDDEN DEATHS
A. BECAUSE GOD MUST HAVE A PURE CHURCH
1. This event should shock all readers: isn’t this God’s elect people? Whom God, by great signs and wonders, delivered from the Egyptians? Hadn’t God promised to bring them in the promised land? Why then would God now almost destroy them?
2. BECAUSE GOD MUST HAVE A PURE CHURCH. The Israelites had suffered a lot from the Egyptians. On their journey other nations attacked them. But the MOST DANGEROUS threat wasn’t from outside Israel, but from within them; the lack of the fear of the Lord!
3. DO WE FEAR GOD? "God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning," Ex. 20:20. “Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence?” Jer. 5:22. The Lord Jesus said, "...do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more....Fear Him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear Him” (Lk. 12:4-5).
B. THEIR ACCOUNTABILITY WAS GREATER
1. 2 or 3 drops of chlorine purifies a gallon of water. Why? Because it’s so pure that its purity gives it power/ potency.
2. It’s the same today; God would rather have a small church that is pure, than a big church that is disobedient or rebellious. Why did such strong judgment fall on the Israelites? Because God had directly revealed Himself to them.
3. The greater the knowledge of God, the greater the responsibility. Jesus said, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required,” Lk. 12:48. As Americans, with easy access to the Bible and churches, we will be held especially accountable.
C. HUMOR
1. A rabbi was teaching his students a lesson on preparing for death and on repentance. One of the students asked, "Rabbi, when should a man repent?"
2. The rabbi responded, "Repent a day before your death." His students were confused. "How can a man know the day of his death?" they asked.
3. His answer: "He cannot, and since he may die tomorrow, it's necessary that he repent every day."
II. WHY WEREN’T THEY MOVED BY GOD’S PRESENCE?
A. WE MAY BE UNDER THE SAME DELUSION
1. What if you had been an Israelite in Egypt and saw the 10 plagues fall on Egypt at God’s command & destroy it – would you really believe God is real & working on earth? Yes!
2. What if you, with them, had seen the Red Sea parted and walked through the middle, all night, with 500 feet of water on both sides of you – would you be in awe of God?
3. What if you had stood at Mount Horeb and seen God come down in fire on the mountain and speak with a voice like thunder – reading the 10 commands to you – wouldn’t you fear God?
4. Korah and his rebel friends had all seen these, but they still felt like they could run their lives like they pleased and ignore God! This is a warning to us!
5. It’s possible friends, to be right in the middle of revival, to see the power of God and the place shaken, and be a witness to the miraculous – and yet be unaffected by it. How frightening! (Like Ananias & Sapphira in Acts 5.)
6. It's a terrible danger to be in the presence of revival yet not enter it. God save us! Give us tender hearts O God! Open our eyes and save us from indifference and a wicked spirit. There's one foot between genuine conversion & false -- the distance from the head to the heart! Have you taken hold of religion, or has JESUS taken ahold of you?
7. David prayed, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me!” Ps. 51:10-11. May God give us the heart of David – a correct attitude toward God!
B. JUDGMENT BEGINS AT THE HOUSE OF GOD
1. The Scriptures teach the “Judgment must begin at the house of God” 1 Pet. 4:17. God can't judge the world unless He gets His own house in order first. That's why He's going to purify the church before the rapture.
2. This scene is a picture of the final judgment. There’s one Person who will stand between the living and the dead – the Lord Jesus Christ. Aaron is symbolic of Him in 3 ways:
III. AARON WAS A TYPE OF JESUS CHRIST
A. HE HAD A LOVE GREATER THAN SELF-INTEREST
Q If you had a mob crying for your blood, would you be in a hurry to save them from judgment? You might be tempted to say, “It serves them right; I’ll wait awhile until the biggest part of them have reaped what they’ve sown, and then I’ll intervene.”
1. Though the crowd was crying for his blood, Aaron DIDN’T say, “If I go into that crowd, they may kill me, as furious as they are.” But he never considered his own safety. Into the crowd he ran. It was same kind of self-sacrifice that Jesus demonstrated when He came down to earth among a bunch of violent and rebellious people, to save us! He didn’t withhold His life, but surrendered it for us. He didn’t hide His face from spitting, His back from beatings, nor His hands from piercing. What a Savior!
2. Aaron could’ve said, “If I expose MYSELF to the wrath of God, it may destroy me with the rebels!” But he stepped into the line of fire. So did Jesus, taking the sins of the world on Himself, and absorbing the wrath of God, that should have fallen on us.
3. Aaron was probably 120 years old, yet he RAN to save them. It shows the greatness of his love. But how much more loving is Jesus, who said, “Greater love has no one than this: that a man lay down hiss life for his friends. And you are my friends, if you do what I command” John 15:13-14.
B. HE OFFERED THE PERFECT SACRIFICE
1. Only one sacrifice would stop that plague. When God saw the sins of the world, He said, “Only one sacrifice is great enough to erase all those sins – the sacrifice of Jesus!” Jesus poured out ALL His blood, though just one drop was enough to atone for the whole world.
2. Jesus alone saved us; He said, “I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with me” Isa. 63:3, KJV. “There is no other name under heaven...whereby we must be saved” Acts 4:12. He will never be a part-Savior (He won't allow our works, philanthropy, or generosity to play a part); He will never share that status with any other.
C. HE DIVIDES ALL PEOPLE - THE SAVED & THE LOST
1. The plague was coming. The faces of men grew pale, they groaned and held up their hands to ward off the foe. In vast heaps the people fell, until almost 15,000 had been destroyed.
2. Aaron put himself right in the path of the plague. Like Christ – On one side of Him stands the living, and on the other side the dead. “On which side are you today? Are your sins forgiven?
3. There are only two sorts of people in the world: the living and the dead, the pardoned & the unpardoned, the saved and the lost. What’s the difference? God’s Son!
4. This scene of Numbers 16 will be reenacted at the Judgment of the Nations. Matt. 25:32-33 tells how Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats. Christ will be the great divider. Will you be among the saved or the damned on that day?
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. William Cowper was an English poet (dates) who became completely depressed at an early age when his mother passed. When he was hit with a crisis he couldn’t deal with, his depression drove him to attempt suicide.
2. He tried to take poison, but it wouldn’t work. He tried to jump off a bridge into the Thames River, but his taxi driver stopped him. The next day he took a knife and attempted to fall on it, but it broke. He tried to hang himself but was found, cut down and revived.
3. He was put into an insane asylum for 18 months and met a Christian doctor. He read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11 and then Romans 3:25. God opened Cowper’s eyes to the beauty of the grace offered him in the gospel. He said,
4. “Immediately I received the strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my pardon sealed in His blood. In a moment I believed...the [Good News]…my eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with [emotion]; I could only look up to heaven...overwhelmed with love and wonder.” https://marcjsims.com/2014/11/25/suicide-and-grace-the-life-of-william-cowper/
5. He later wrote the great hymn, “THERE IS A FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD.” We’re going to sing it. As we sing it, if you want to be cleansed by that blood, then make your way to the front.
1).There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains (3X), And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains.
2). The dying thief rejoiced to see, That fountain in His day; And there have I, though vile as he, Washed all my sins away (3X), And there have I, though vile as he, Washed all my sins away.
3). Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood, Shall never lose its pow’r, Till all the ransomed church of God, Are safe, to sin no more (3X), Till all the ransomed church of God, Are safe, to sin no more.
4). E’er since by faith I saw the stream, Thy flowing wounds supply,, Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die (3X), Redeeming love has been my theme, And shall be till I die.
B. THE CALL
1. PRAYER TO BE WASHED IN THE BLOOD & FORGIVEN ALL OUR SINS.
2. BAPTISMAL SERVICE.
