May 9

Numbers 17-18 I remember reading somewhere once that Martin Luther froze in fear of God at the first occasion of His presiding over communion. He could not do it! The fear of God was so great upon Him! At one point in His quest to love God, he indicated that He hated God because the standard God set was so high that he could not attain it! In his ill-directed pursuit of God he pursued all kinds of self-inflicted penance in hopes of satisfying the wrath of God against his sin. He descended to the depths of self-flagellation in hopes of bringing life under control to appease God. But it was to no avail until he embraced salvation by grace through faith. He could not provide the sacrifice needed. The people were terrified as they considered the wrath of God in relation to His design for authority. Finally, they are beginning to get the importance of His wrath as it related to them. There is a set order of authority that God gives to bring the removal of sin from His people. Yes, the path is through sacrifice, but the people thought anyone could sacrifice. That was the essence of Korah’s rebellion. The people accused Moses of killing the rebels. They still did not get it. The problem was one of a recognition of authority. They did not realize that they did not have the authority to take matters into their own hands. They did not understand their place in God’s redemptive purpose. They wanted a place which did not belong to them. Then the Lord brought forth another miracle to designate to them the source of redemption. The leader of each tribe had to bring his staff or rod. The rod was a symbol of their authority or power to rule their tribe. The rod was left in the tabernacle overnight. The next day only the staff of Aaron, representing the tribe of Levi, was fruitful. It bore buds, blossoms and ripe almonds. Clearly the miracle indicated that only the line of Aaron bore the authority for priestly intercession. Then they began to understand a little bit more that redemption comes from God, not man. They realized that they had been trying to grasp a place which they could not obtain and had made a mockery of God’s mercy and grace. Num 17:12–13 So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?” They get it. Chapter 18 is God’s answer to their fear. Yes He is the one who redeems, but He chose a specific order for the distribution of that redemption. The Sacrifices spoke of the redemption to come, but it was administrated through the priesthood. They would bear the guilt of the people. The people could relax and let the sacrifice take care of it. But they also needed to remember their place among the people of God. Because of their tremendous responsibility, the priests had no inheritance in the land. The Lord was their inheritance. Today, Jesus is our sacrifice. It is still administered through Him as our High Priest, but we are all now all a holy priesthood. Our inheritance is in Him. Is that not marvelous? I have the awesome privilege of having Him as my inheritance! But there is still a principle that was seen in Aaron’s day. There still are appointed positions of responsibility that God appoints and raises up within the body of the priesthood of believers. There are still apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers etc. Everyone has a position appointed to them by the Lord, we need to find who we are and be that. We also need to be careful about taking someone else’s responsibility. The Glory of Jesus is that He takes away our sin so that we can come boldly before the throne of God. He takes our fear and replaces it with joy. We need not cringe before Him, but we should repent and enter into his courts with praise, with thanksgiving and with joy. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john