Numbers 16:1-11
~28 min read
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
The Scripture passage for our consideration this morning is taken from the book of Numbers, chapter 16, verses 1 to 11. And we shall consider the whole chapter also, as we see the context of the whole account in Numbers 16. Let me read to you verses 1 to 11 of Numbers chapter 16.
”Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face: And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him. This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company; And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.
And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons of Levi: Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee near to him, and all thy brethren the sons of Levi with thee: and seek ye the priesthood also? For which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered together against the LORD: and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him?”
Amen. The Lord add His blessings upon the reading of His Word. God's Sovereignty Displayed. Although we are now believers, regenerated because we have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and as our Saviour, our bodies — our carnal flesh, our hearts — are still influenced by the many philosophies and many principles of the world.
And we see that many of the Christians today are still in that idea and that thinking of following their hearts. And that is popular in secular theology: Follow your heart. And because of this thinking and this perception, many would follow their own desires and delight in life rather than following the ways of God.
There are many who, though they desire heaven — to walk on the streets of gold — they still also want to accumulate gold on earth. Though they are promised the crown in heaven, they also want some crown here on earth. They who are promised of the blessings in heaven, they still want pleasures and entertainment in this world.
No wonder that there are many in the churches today that are defying God's sovereign will and way — because they are mostly guided by their own delights and desires of life. And this is what is common in most evangelical churches today. Hedonistic Christianity is up, and is influencing many. But biblical Christianity is different.
As we know of how Abraham, when he followed the call of God, left the comforts and convenience of the city of Ur in his time, and went into a nomadic kind of life in the wilderness — a place which he even didn't know where, and what to do there. We think of Moses, who left the pleasures of the kingdom of Pharaoh, and to be in the place of the afflicted people, as he wants to be with his own brethren.
We think of the Apostle Paul, who, though he had that knowledge and understanding worthy to be part of those who are among the top Pharisees in the land, went into missionary journeys where he was stoned, jailed, imprisoned — even to the point of death — willing to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, not thinking of pleasures and whatever things in this world.
And those are examples given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself — He who left His glory in heaven, who came down here on earth, not thinking of being welcomed as a king or living in a palace. He came as a slave and even went to the cross.
And when He went to the cross, He was not enjoying all those weeping, all those humiliation, the scourging, the beating — but He endured the cross. He suffered all because there is the joy that is set before Him — not at that very moment, but He looked forward because He knew that His sacrifice is the payment of the penalty of all our sins. We have to rethink modern Christianity's thinking.
And here we have in this passage God's sovereignty displayed — even in commotions and problems and other things that happened in this account — God displays that He is indeed in control. He is the one who knows things. He is the one who arranged things. No one can dictate Him. He can do whatever He pleases. He does things according to His will and His pleasure. He plans all these things even before we exist. And He knows all things even before this universe was created. Indeed, God is sovereign.
And because He had done this, how should we submit to Him? How should we come before Him and say: "Lord let me know what is thy will for my life. And let it not be that my own pride and greed will come up and dictate whatever things that I do, and my heart to dictate me to do whatever pleases me and whatever that will comfort me and whatever that will satisfy me. Help me to know what is thy will. Whether it be walking on a very rocky and thorny ways or in very straight and narrow way let me follow you Lord for I know you have arranged all these things for thy glory and for thy honor. And let this be our prayer always.
Let us not be dictated by the things that cause us to always desire only for ourselves. And this is what is happening even among young people today, who jump from one company to another workplace, from one place to another — because they want all for themselves. We have to think where God wants us to be, and what God wants us to do. Let us listen to God's Word, not to the dictates of our hearts.
I. In Exposing His Opponents
And in this passage we see how God displays His sovereignty in spite of the rebellion of the people. In verses 1 to 3, we see here how these people who were renowned and were considered as princes — exalted ones — rebelled against Moses and Aaron.
And in verse 1, what is given as an emphasis here in the original is the word “take” which is, of course, for English grammar, placed at the last part of the verse: “Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men.” They took people.
And the idea of taking here was not just a thing that came up right at that very moment. They were already planning. They were already brooding. They were already thinking. This has been in their hearts. The word "take" here is even the idea of taking a wife — where there is the idea of pursuing, persuading, courting. And these people have been doing this in the past — only that the Lord restrained them, only that the Lord prevented them.
But they were hiring, and they were talking, and they were seeking, and explaining, and trying to win the hearts of others — chit-chatting and trying to take the loyalty of some people for them. And then, when God, in His sovereign plan, exposed them, revealed them — here, they took these people. These were not ordinary men.
As we see here — Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi. They were Levites. And if we look back in Numbers chapter 3, we see how they were specially chosen by God. Not because they were talented people. Not because they were specially skilled people. It was God's sovereign will for them to come and be part of the work — the ministry.
If you see here in verse 5: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.” (Numbers 3:5–6) It was God who just asked them to come and serve Me — not that God saw that they were people of special abilities. It was God's sovereign will. And they should have honoured, feared, and understood the privilege given to them.
Verse 7 says: “And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle.” (Numbers 3:7–8)
We know the Kohath family — or the Kohathites — were assigned to do a special work. Whenever they were moving from one place to another, they were given a special duty. And that was given to them in chapter 4. “And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it,” —And these were holy things. They were not given to any other tribe. They should have found themselves very privileged of this role— “but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.” (Numbers 4:15)
This was a special duty for them, and they should have been satisfied and contented that I am serving the LORD in this manner. But now Korah, the son of Izhar, of the Kohathites, the son of Levi, with some people under Dathan and Abiram. And who are they — who are these people, Dathan and Abiram? They're sons of Eliab. They are the sons of Reuben. Reuben was the eldest son of Israel — of Jacob.
And in those days of the patriarchal system, they thought — and they were still influenced by tradition — that it is the oldest brother who should be the head and who should have a special place in the family. And so Dathan and Abiram thought that, “Well, we also should have a place in the leadership. Why is it always Moses and Aaron? Why is it always that they tell us and dictate us when to move, when to go, when to stay, where to stay, how long will we stay here? Why should it be them always?”
They did not know that their murmurings — and by the way, the book of Numbers, some commentators also renamed and retitled this as The Book of Murmurings; because you will find in this book so many murmurings among the people when they were in the wilderness. They could not see that God had chosen Moses — and that God spoke through Moses.
And when they complained that “why is it Moses that will always decide for us?” — they were complaining to God: “God, why will You talk only to Moses? Why will You talk only to Aaron? Why will You demand these things to these people alone — why not to us?” And this is what they are complaining. They were not actually complaining against Moses and Aaron. They were murmuring against God.
God is sovereign. He chose Moses and Aaron to lead. And they were given special privileges to do their part. Why did they want to be like Moses and like Aaron — and to be part of the decision-making of the assembly?
That was what they wanted. We see that here in verse 3: “And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?” (Numbers 16:3)
“Ye take too much upon you.” You’ve gone too far, Moses. You have gone too far, Aaron. You have done that which is beyond your ability, or your position, or your authority. We should be also deciding with you. Why will you not consider us? And Moses and Aaron say, “Well, this is not our decision. God told us to move. God told us to stay. God told us to be in this place. It was not our own choice.”
But they were seeking a position. They were seeking some kind of honour and authority in the assembly. They wanted to be known also as leaders of the church — of the assembly. They wanted also to be known as ones who have authority and a say in the words. They were saying, “Well, the LORD is also among us. We are also holy people. We are also consecrated people, devoted people. We also know the Word of God. Why can’t the LORD tell us?”
Or — they are not saying this — but that is the implication of their complaints to Moses and Aaron: “Why is it always that you do all the decisions? Why can’t you refer it to us also?” And Moses could have explained to them: “Why should it ask for you? This is what the LORD wants us to do. Do you have to tell us whether we have to agree with God or not? Or to vote — is God right or not — and then after that, well, maybe God is right, so we will follow Moses?”
Moses was just obeying the Word of God: “Move here. Go there. Stay here.” And he just wanted to follow the ways of God. But these people — they were not mindful of God's sovereign will over the lives of the assembly. They were just following their own greedy and selfish hearts, to be known also as people of authority.
And this is also what we see in Dathan and Abiram. Look at verses 12 to 14: “And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?” (Numbers 16:12–13)
You see, Moses was pleading with them: “Come, and let us talk. What is this problem? No, I will not come up. We will not come up. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?” You see — now they are calling Egypt — and this is what is the context here — the land of Egypt — as what they said here — “the land which floweth with milk and honey.”
They forgot that a few years back, they were crying to God: “Lord, deliver us from this bondage. Deliver us out from this slavery of Egypt. Deliver us out of this being under always in the servanthood of the Egyptians.” And God delivered them up.
Was it Moses who decided that they will come out of Egypt? Was it Moses who decided that they will come out of this land? It was the LORD — out of His mercy and compassion for them. He brought them out of Egypt. But when they were out, and they were still in the wilderness, they now complain against Moses and Aaron: “You brought us out of Egypt.”
Well, thank God Moses was so meek, and so lowly, and always submissive to God’s will. I imagine myself — if I was Moses, I would have told them: "Go back to Egypt if you want." But this is also a teaching for leaders — that we should be humble and be patient and understand the needs of the people. Here they labelled Moses as the one who brought them out of Egypt.
And look at verse 14: “Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, you brought us out of Egypt. You promised to bring us into the land of Canaan. But we are still here in the wilderness.”
Was it Moses' fault? Was it because Moses just wanted them to be in the wilderness for forty years — or thirty-eight years — going around, so that he would be prince, and he would be called the leader? Was it Moses' will and purpose? Was it not because of them?
We know in chapters 13 and 14 of the book of Numbers how these things happened. They were already in Paran — that was a place just a few weeks' travel to the land of Canaan. They could have gone through and crossed into the land of promise — and they were there. But when Moses, through God’s instructions, sent spies to see the land, the twelve spies came back — and ten of them told lies. Well — they were telling probably according to their own perception of unbelief.
They were telling: “There are giants there. The walls of these cities — they are thick. We cannot even come and conquer this land. You know, we are just like grasshoppers before these people. How can we come? How can we go in? How can we conquer the land when we cannot do anything and we cannot even fight against them?” And the people were scared. In unbelief they said: “We will go back to Egypt. Find us a captain. Find us a leader. We will go back to Egypt.”
And that’s how the LORD decided: “Twenty years old and upward — you will perish in the wilderness.” Wasn’t because of Moses. But they are blaming Moses. It was because of their unbelief. They didn’t want to trust in what Joshua and Caleb said: “We can do it. The LORD is with us. Come, and let us conquer the land.” But they won’t do it. Why? They didn’t believe in the sovereign plan of God.
God already told them — even when they were still in Egypt — you will end up in the land of promise. They were always dictated by their hearts: “We will be there easily. We will be there not fighting. We will arrive there with an easy way.”
And that’s how many people want to live as Christians — they don’t want to even sacrifice. They were blaming Moses — when they should be blamed in the first place. They were the ones that were the cause of why they could not go and move towards the promised land.
II. In Revealing His Appointments
And look at this next thing that they do—that in this time that they were rebelling against God, God in His mighty way revealed to them His commissions, His appointments, His ordained will. Who are the people whom I should talk to and should lead the assembly? Who are these people who will follow and should serve in the tabernacle? Who are these people who should lead the army? Who are these people who will do this and who will do that?
And if we know that that is the part that God has given us, or they know that God has given them, they should just fulfil and do whatever they can to the best of their ability to fulfil what God wanted them to do. It is by God's sovereign will—a wise counsel of God—as the Lord here revealed to them that they were specially separated for the service of God.
Look at here in Numbers 16:9: "Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them?" Not all, not anyone, not all tribes can come. You were specially chosen sons of Levi. But you took too much, or you want to take too much for what the Lord has given you.
And so the Lord revealed His commissions: “I have commissioned Moses to lead. I have commissioned Aaron to be the high priest. I have commissioned you Levites, you Kohathites, to do these things. And you have to fulfil whatever I have appointed—I have commissioned—you to do. Don't go for other roles. Don't go for other positions. Don't envy other people. Don't try to get others’ hand or seat. Just do your part.
III. In Executing His Judgments
But then they continued to rebel against Moses and Aaron. And the Lord, in His sovereign will, revealed also His condemnation. He revealed His condemnation. You may be princes. You may be exalted ones. You may be men of renown. You are well known to be of this kind of people. You have a name. You are known to many people in the assembly. You are a special group of people.
But even though you have this kind of name and character and positions—I have this will—sovereign will. If you will continue to rebel against Me, then the judgment will come. You see how merciful God is—when, before the judgment was given, they were given a chance.
Look at Numbers 16:16–17: "And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the Lord, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow: And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the Lord every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer."
The censers were pans or shallow bowls for them to carry coals and put incense to offer sacrifices unto God. And when they got this, they should have remembered, "Oh, this is our role. This is our part. This is a great privilege for us. And when we come before the Lord using these instruments, I must be clean. I must be holy. Or else what’s the use of coming to sacrifice when my heart is evil, and wicked, and full of anger?”
They should have repented of their sins and come to God: "Lord, as I come before You with these censers, I am reminded that I am serving a holy God. I am doing this holy service. Let me repent of my sins and come before Thee. And what I have done, oh Lord, cleanse me and forgive me. "But they continued to have this hardened heart. They continued to rebel against the people whom God appointed over them.
And you see—and many of us are acquainted with what happened—God will not give His judgment over what we sin, or over the sin of man, and He will not also under punish a sin. Just fair, exact. God is just and righteous.
And that’s what Moses asked: if you continue to rebel against God—because you are not rebelling against men, you are not rebelling against us—you’re rebelling against the will of God. If you will continue this, “then Moses says: Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord." (Numbers 16:28–30)
If this will happen—they have provoked God, the Lord, the sovereign God. They have not provoked me and Aaron. They have provoked the Lord God Almighty. They should have heard the words of Moses, and they should have been convicted and said, "Lord, forgive me." But they did not see the sovereign will of God—the sovereign way of God—over their lives.
And look at verse 31: "And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods."(Numbers 16:31–32)
What a scary thing. Well, scary thing—if I’m preaching here falsely, and then this stage will open up, I’ll be swallowed, and you will have no preacher. Or what a scary thing—if one by one, some of the church will just come down and be swallowed because you are rebelling against the Word of God.
We are thankful that God is still gracious and merciful to us today—giving us a chance and a point of time where we can come to repent and say, "Lord, sorry for what I’ve done." That is how gracious our God is. That is how sovereign our God—and He has given us this chance to come and confess our sins before Him. And He is just and faithful to forgive us of all our sins. That is the goodness of God.
But these people who continued on—they were given all the chances. They were reminded of their roles and duties to be part of these offerings. And they were told by Moses how great is the punishment that they will have if they continue on. Yet they did not change their hearts. And lo and behold—they’re gone.
What about Dathan and Abiram? Well, we see here: "And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense." (Numbers 16:35) And also the rest of those people who rebelled against God. We don’t want to reach that point—where we shall see God’s judgment upon us. We shall see, behind all scenes around us, God’s hand working—and that we have to submit to Him.
IV. In Showing His Compassion
You see here how God continued to be gracious and merciful. Not only that, in His sovereignty displayed, He showed and revealed how He has appointed, He has given His commissions and His condemnation. But He is also showing us how compassionate God is—that in this time where the sins of those sinners, they were taken—and here in verse 40 He says here they will be taken as a memorial unto the children of Israel.
A memorial. A reminder to let them know: don't do it again. Don't do it again. And we thank God that we have here in this book a record of this so that we can reflect. I will reflect. We will reflect—that we will not do against the sovereign will of God.
And instead of acknowledging how God is working in their midst, instead of submitting themselves to the will of God and giving them to what God has directed them to do, they continued on to murmur against Moses and Aaron. You see, they have witnessed how people were swallowed up by the earth. They have witnessed how the fire from heaven burned and consumed those 250 princes. Yet they remained hardened.
I pray some of us here—probably—I would not take it lightly that we are in this worship service always coming every Sunday, but some of you or many of you have not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. You have not truly trusted in Him. You just come because you are expected to come. You just come because you should be counted as one here. You should come because your parents want you to be here.
Or you should come because your wife pulled you here to be in this place. Or you should come because I have a duty here, and if I will not come, people will ask where I am. But inside, don't even listen and don't even want to know God's Word. Don't want even to hear the Word of God. I just want the words to come into my ear and pass by the other ear. Don't do anything about it.
We have in this record, my dear friend, this solemn and grave warning from the Lord. This is not just a physical condemnation. What awaits every sinner is a condemnation that will last for eternity, that will not end, that will be forever and ever. And this is what the Word of God says. This is not my opinion. This is not my conviction. This is what the Word of God is telling us. And I pray, let us come and repent of our sins. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What do you want to do? You want to prove yourself that you can do something for your salvation? You want to prove yourself that you are well and you are right and you are okay and you are a good person so that you don't need Christ? Come on, let us trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have in this record these people—instead of submitting to the will of God, instead of submitting to what God has said to them and told them and showed them exactly, openly here—they continued to murmur.
Look at verse 41: "But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord." Moses and Aaron, you are criminals. What is the implication? We know how Moses described here—that it was the earth that opened her mouth. It was the Lord's judgment that caused them to be swallowed up. It was the fire from the Lord that consumed the 250 princes. It was the Lord.
And when they say, “Moses and Aaron, you are killers, criminals,” that implies that they also point their fingers to God. God, You are a criminal. You killed these people. They are holy people. They are good people. They are people of renown. They are people exalted. They are the princes of our assembly. You killed them—You, God, You killed them. How dare these people to say that to Moses and Aaron, with an implication that they are complaining to the Lord.
“And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered—verse 42—against Moses and against Aaron, they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, a cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.” As if saying, I am responsible over these things. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, "Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment." (Numbers 16:45a,)
He did not tell Moses and Aaron, "Command other people, some of the tribes, get their swords, kill these people." No. God Himself says, “I, I, I may consume them as in a moment, and all will be gone.” But we see also here how the compassion of God—and this is being shown and revealed to us through the Lord Jesus Christ—in here, in this atonement that we have in this account, how “Moses said unto Aaron: Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them." (Numbers 16:46a)
Make an atonement for them. And this atonement is not just an atonement that they have done because of what Aaron has assigned as a priest. This is an atonement that was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. This is an atonement that looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. This is an atonement of what the Lord will do for us.
All these things are made possible because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. And though all of them were worthy of God's judgment and consummation, our God here in His goodness, in His compassion, in His mercy, atoned some of them. And we are thankful that most of us here who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ have this grace.
Do you think you are here because you are good? Do you think you are here, part of a church, because you have been doing better things and charitable and loving, you are so kind—and that's why God chose you? It was all by God's sovereign will. He picked you up. He wrote your name even before we were born.
Children—children here—please understand this. You have not done so much bad things. And you may think that I am chosen because I am still a child, I'm still good, I'm following Mum and Dad. Understand this, little children who are here: it is by God's sovereign will that you are chosen. It is by His own decision that He put your name there.
"And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed." (Numbers 16:48) He stood between the dead and the living. The living were preserved. The dead, they were condemned. We thank God that all of us here who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ—who truly trusted, not just because you think you have trusted, not just because you think you have served, not just because you think you are old enough to have done many things for the Lord—all those things that you have done are nothing.
You are not saved because of what you have done. We are saved because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. And that's why we must give ourselves to obey what God wants us to do—to submit to His sovereign will. He has given us so great a privilege to choose us to be part of the living, to save us in spite of our murmurings, in spite of our complainings, in spite of our rebellion, in spite of what we have done against God. He chose us to be part of those who will be atoned—not because of what we are or what we can do, but because of His sovereign will and pleasure that He chose you and me to remain alive and continue to live for the Lord.
There are many things in our lives that may seem difficult to take. There were times in my student days that I wanted to rebel. I wanted to assert my right. Thank God for the reminders. No way, José. No way, José. You don't have to do it. Submit to what God wants you to do. It is difficult. It is very humiliating. Sometimes you cannot take it anymore. You want to shout out.
And there were times that I even came out of myself, followed my heart rather than follow the sovereignty of God. And I asked forgiveness from the Lord. I know, Lord, I have sinned against Thee. I'm not even worthy to become a preacher of Thy Word.
But let us trust in what God has arranged for our lives. He is not the God who does not know what He is doing. He knows all things—that in spite of the cloudy and troubled days, He's there who knows what is ahead of us. That in spite of the troubles that we come, and in spite of what comes into our church—troubling days of our church, very stormy days of our church—God is working. Trust in the Lord.
And let us do what is good and not evil. Let us overcome evil with good, and let us do what is right and continue to pray for one another. That though there are problems and trials that may come, and Satan is doing his utmost to destroy the church, God is able to prevail because He is sovereign.
But He wants us also to submit to His sovereign will. Because if we are not, and we do not do our part, He will not—He is not a God who is a respecter of persons. He will not say, “Oh, you are Levites—I don't want to touch you. Oh, you are sons of Reuben, the elders of the family—I don't want to touch you. You're exempted. Oh, you are princes and all well-known people—I don't want to burn you.”
Please understand this: whether a pastor, a preacher, elder, a deacon, an ordinary member—if we continue to harden our hearts before God—we shall be swallowed up. We shall be burned. And I pray we shall learn from God's Word. I pray we will not take it lightly. I pray we will understand and hear it from God. If there are words that I say that come from me, let it be erased from your mind. But if there are words that you have heard from God, let it sink deep into our hearts, and let God work in our lives.
We're in a time where we in the church are overwhelmed by the world, overcome by the world. Instead of the church influencing the world, it is the world that influences the church. And philosophies and ideas of church members are from the secular world.
We are not seeing everything in the spiritual realm, in the spiritual sense. We are not seeing the sovereign hand of God over these things. We are just looking on people: “Moses, Aaron, you are doing this.” We are not looking at the hand behind them and the words that dictate them.
And that's the ruin of the church—if we just see man and not God. And I pray the Lord will help us, will cause us to understand these things. Let us praise God that He is such a good God. That though we are on shaky ground, He will always fix us up.
Trust in the Lord. He is indeed a God who is sovereign. And though there are times that we are shaken—I got shaken—but the Lord will help us. May the Lord forgive me, for there are times that I failed Him. And may we always seek God's help and trust in Him.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee, Lord, for this account that Thou hast preserved for us. Indeed, O Lord, we don't want to see many people killed, being burned. Yet Thou art our God who is all-sovereign, not only in commissioning people but even in condemning those who continue to rebel against Thee. But we trust in Thy compassion. We trust in Thy love. We trust in Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we pray, Lord, that will You speak to each one of our hearts this morning, to show us Thy way. Help us to see not in the sense of this world, but in the spiritual understanding that Thou art in control of everything. Help us to see Thy hand leading this church. Help us—to see Thee, O God—guiding our leaders, even the members. Help us, Lord, to be part in the work that Thou hast for this church. And help us, that we may be faithful unto Thee. And we pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF NUMBERSGod’s Sovereignty DisplayedGod’s Sovereignty DisplayedNumbers 16:1-11
The Lord's ProtectionThe Lord's ProtectionNumbers 16:31-50
