Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / May 7, 2023 | Numbers - Korah's Rebellion

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May 7, 2023 | Numbers - Korah's Rebellion · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Morning.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it's already like a billion degrees outside.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so pretend with me for a second that you're uh going to an ice cream parlor and you're going to get a cone, okay?
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and you walk in, you're like, that's an easy image.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you walk in and um you see all the different kinds of ice cream, the tubs in the glass case in front of you, and there's a whole bunch of them, and there's some of them that you're already really attracted to.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like for me, I'm a Rocky Road guy, okay?
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I do Rocky Road.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: My wife, she loves mint with Oreos, okay?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: So that's hers.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But there's some in that that like I don't know why pistachio is ever an ice cream flavor.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Never understood it.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Do any of you eat pistachio ice cream?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: What what do you like about it?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Everything?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Everything, including the green color?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyhow, some of us like pistachio.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, so all of it though, everything in the case is ice cream, um, but it has different flavors.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So this morning we're looking at a story in the book of Numbers, and it is going it is similar to stories that we have looked at previously.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Israel, uh, if you were to guess, is going to rebel against God, and God is going to respond to that rebellion.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: What's different, though, is again sort of this flavor of rebellion, and that we're going to be able to pull out something from it that the other ones we haven't been able to see, right?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: See, chapter, if you haven't been with us or if you're new, uh chapter 11 was when all the quail came.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we said, well, in that rebellion, one of the things that we learned was that we should be a people who are thankful for the gifts that God has given to us and should develop a heart of gratitude and not always looking for, you know, what we don't have.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when we looked at chapters 13 and 14, and that was when they were turned, just last week, when they were turned away from the promised land because of unfaithfulness.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: We said, well, if we align ourselves with God's will, then we might be able to find success.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: But when we go our own way, we're never gonna find success.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes God is not most interested in our desires, but in bringing about his will.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: So this morning we're gonna be in chapter 16, and we're going to look at a new story and a pretty dramatic story of rebellion.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, as we look at this story, you're going to notice a couple different things.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: One of them is there's actually two rebellions happening at one time.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's a twofer, okay?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Two for one special on rebellions in Israel that day.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but also what is going on is we have transitioned to a new point in the story where everything that we read now is happening to a group of people who were rejected from the promised land because of unfaithfulness, and for those aged 20 and over, are sentenced to die in the wilderness.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because that is their story, that's their context now, that is going to change the way that they act and behave, and it's gonna play into a whole bunch of different things.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: But anyhow, so our text this mornings, number 16, if you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn there.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have your Bibles, you should bring them next week.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, number sixteen, um, we are introduced to the players.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Korah, son of Izar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and on son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took 250 prominent Israelite men who were leaders of the community and representatives in the assembly, and they rebelled against Moses.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, You have gone too far.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord's assembly?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so we find here all of our culprits that we're going to be looking at this morning.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there's two different rebellions.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: The first one has to do with Korah, who is a Lev, and the other has to do with Dathan and Abiram, who are Reubenites.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, if that language is confusing, it's just going back to the tribes of Israel.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are twelve tribes, and you might recall from the beginning of, well, it's Leviticus and Numbers, but the Levites, one of the twelve tribes, are set apart from the other eleven tribes of Israel, specifically because they are going to minister at the tabernacle.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: They're going to do things like pick it up and carry it when it's time to move.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're going to basically be the assistants to the priests.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the high priest is Aaron, and then his two sons, whose two remaining sons, um uh Eliezer and Ithamar, they are serving as the high priests, okay?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: With Aaron kind of at the top of the pyramid.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So let's we're gonna kind of break these two apart, and then eventually they're gonna be handled together as one sort of situation.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: So Korah comes before them, and he says, Listen, Moses, I've got a problem with you, and that problem is that God has made us holy, and he dwells among us, and therefore I have certain rights.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Those two claims that Korah makes, right, when he says, Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them, those two statements are true.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: So when we talk about being holy, right, it is not the act of being sinless, but I mean, we've almost talked about it ad nauseum, but the idea of being clean and unclean in the Old Testament was very relevant, and everybody who is within Israel's camp is clean, okay?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: They are fit to be close to the presence of God, which, second point, is among them.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, he dwells in the tabernacle, right?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: God is um in that space, he's above the Ark of the Covenant.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so Korah is right on these two points.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: He says, We are holy in accordance with the law, and uh God is present among us.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: The problem in his rebellion comes then in the third point, where he presumes upon that information and says, Therefore, because of those two things, myself and the other Levites are fit to be the priests.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: We want Aaron's job, essentially.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a problem because God has appointed Aaron.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: God has appointed Aaron to be the leader, to do these kinds of things, and Korah is saying, we don't like that.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, his his phrase at the beginning there, you have gone too far, is really translated as like, enough.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Enough is enough.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: We should be there, right?
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Why then do you exalt yourselves above the Lord's assembly?
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, really the question is like, who died and made you priest?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Who died and made you king, right?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we go, oof, not a great start.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that is, we're gonna walk now through the rebellion of Korah for a second.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and we're gonna learn more about that, and then later on we'll switch to Dathan and Abram.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, verses four through seven.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: When Moses heard this, he fell face down.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then he said to Korah and all his followers, Tomorrow morning, the Lord will reveal who belongs to him who is set apart, and the one he will let come near him.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: He will let the one he chooses come near him.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Korah, you and all your followers are to do this.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Take fire pans, and tomorrow place fire in them and put incense on them before the Lord.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Then the man the Lord chooses will be the one who is set apart.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is you, Levites, who have gone too far.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's go backward and start there, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: The it is you, Levites, who have gone too far.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, is he not just talking to Korah?
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, Korah has a whole like rebellion growing behind him.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: In the previous passage, right, we see that there were two hundred and fifty prominent Israelite men.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And there are three ways that they describe them, right?
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: One is that they're prominent Israelite men, two is that they were leaders in the community, and three, that they were representatives in the assembly.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: So these are not just like the hasbins that have come along and showed up at the like picket time, but it is in by the number 250, we think that they are representative of probably a much larger rebellion that has come about, and these are like the cream of the crop, okay?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: At the very least, they are those who are recognized within the nation as being leaders, and they are behind Korah and are positioning themselves then against Moses and Aaron.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: And what we're about to see is that when you position yourselves against Moses and Aaron, you're not really going against them, you're going against the one that appointed them to their jobs.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, Moses says that you Levites have gone too far.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: But now go to the beginning of that passage, right?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in verse 4.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Moses fell face down.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: His response to these heavy accusations, like, Who put you above all of these things?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: And they're not done there, and all the things they'll say to Moses, but his response is to go in prayer to the Lord.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't know how long he is face down, right?
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but when he rises, he has an answer from God, which will be the test that will display the answer to Korah's question, right?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Korah says, Who decided?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Who made you the one over our whole assembly?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Moses, like, this is how we'll answer your question.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to take these fire pans, and what they are are these like bronze uh mobile sort of containers that the Levites would use, and they would take hot coals and they would put them in there, and then they would put incense on top of that, and it would burn the incense, which is normally like some kind of gum of a tree, and uh that's like sandalwood and those kinds of things.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And anyhow, it's going to burn and make this smell.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it was portable.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so all the Levites have this, right?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: They're a priestly class.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: They aren't the high priest, but they're working in the tabernacle.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so Moses is like, okay, go get your fire pans out from under your bed or wherever they're at, and tomorrow morning come here to the tabernacle with the coals, and we're gonna see what happens.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: We will deceive who is fit to offer incense before the Lord.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: One last thing, though, um, and it depends how good your memory is, but you might recall back in Leviticus chapter 10 was the last time that we heard about people offering incense to the Lord in their fire pans.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: There were two guys named Nadab and Abihu.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: They were Aaron's sons.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: They offered unauthorized fire, and they were consumed by that fire.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: They died.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it was a whole lesson about that.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so you maybe remember that, but nevertheless, like they would remember it.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so the um, you know, it's just not already starting out on the most positive of grounds for them.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Moses basically said, okay, home field advantage, right?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to set up this situation.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's Korah, but he's not done speaking with Korah yet.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's it he's administered the test that will come about, but then he says, Now listen, Levites, isn't it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the Israelite community to bring you near to himself, to perform the work at the Lord's tabernacle, and to stand before the community to minister to them.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: He has brought you near, and all your fellow Levites who are with you, but you are pursuing the priesthood as well.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the Lord.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: As for Aaron, who is he that you should complain about him?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so what he's saying here is he's drawing out this idea, right?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: He says, Okay, Levites, you have already been set apart.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: You already have a special job.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: You have a privileged position in the entire nation of Israel, where you alone are the ones who get to draw near to the tabernacle, right?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, the high priests are the one offering the sacrifices, but you are the intermediary between Israel and these high priests.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: You are closer to God than anybody else in the other tribes, and yet you are not satisfied with your privileged position.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: You want an even more privileged position.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so Moses is just very clear here.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: He says, It is not against us that you are upset, right?
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Who is Aaron that you are upset with him?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: But it is against the Lord that your rebellion has really moved to.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it's important for us to see that as well.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when we read the Old Testament, it is so easy to get caught up in the context of what is going on here.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you should read the Old Testament in context, right?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: You should read it, understanding the story and what it meant.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, if we read this story and only think of it in terms of a nation wandering through the desert, then we're missing the things that God has for us.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that is to be learned from this passage is that when we are in rebellion or unsatisfied with the way that our life is going, we must be careful because if our claim begins going against other people and it is not righteous, really, it is a claim against God Himself.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: It is not a Trojan horse where we are upset with other people and God isn't really included.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: But if we are unrighteously upset and we go before other people, well, God is like, I'm the one now you're blaming.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm you're in rebellion against me.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: And at the very least, that is exactly what's happening here.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And Korah and his followers are guilty.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: So now Moses is going to kind of transition, though.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: He sent for Dathan and Abirum.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're moving to the second rebellion.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Korah has sort of been set up, right?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Moses has addressed him and what is going on.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's administered the test that will happen the following day, and he has also given basically his opinion, um, his justified opinion on their situation.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And we're going to kind of leave it there until it's time to revisit.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: So now we go to Dathan and Abiram.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: The sons of Eliab.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: But they said, so Moses sends for them and they're like, No, we're not coming.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Furthermore, you didn't bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey, or give us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Will you gouge out the eyes of these men?
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: We will not come.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've heard a lot of these accusations before.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: Chapter 11, Chapters 13 and 14, but even elsewhere, right?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: They say things like, The Lord has led them into the wilderness to die, right?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that they are God has failed to bring them into the promised land.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Or at the very least, they're saying Moses has failed to lead them into the promised land, right?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um they this idea, the second to the last sentence there, will you gouge out the eyes of these men?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a really metal way to basically say, have you deceived thus?
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have lied to us.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: How we might say, have you pulled the wool over our eyes?
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: But like really intense.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: The next time, like in your workplace or something, somebody brings you a report or gives you an answers, sends you an email, and you go, Are you trying to gouge out my eyes right now in the way that do you think I was born yesterday?
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: See how well that goes.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um so Dathan and Abram have a conspiracy, basically a conspiracy theory against Moses.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: They are not just saying that he failed to lead them into the promised land, they are also saying that Moses knew that he could not lead them into the promised land and led them as a sham away from the land of prosperity and into this desert where they're all going to die.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: They're referring to him almost as if he's like some political figure, and he's like, You ran on the platform that you could take us to the promised land, and you failed, and so why do you get to be our leader?
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Remember the context, chapter 14, they just got turned away.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is fresh in their mind.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: But there is one very significant thing that is new in this passage.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: How do Dathan and Abiram refer to Egypt?
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, thank you.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: The land flowing with milk and honey.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: So previously, they had said that the land where they were slaves for 400 years, they said, let's go back there.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: We lived at no cost, as if being a slave had no cost to them.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And now it is not just the land where they lived freely contra the promised land, but now it is no longer the promised land that God is giving to them, but Egypt is the promised land.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: We are content, like our complaints are evolving and our ignorance is evolving, as they are not just saying, God, we don't like your plan.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: God, you failed in your plan, but Lord, you have deceived us and you have led us away from the best thing for us.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: That tells you where they're at.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so Dathan and Abiram, perhaps in uh rebellion to Moses, even just sending for them from their tents.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Moses is probably at like the tabernacle and wants them to come up there, and they're like, we're not leaving our houses, right?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, we're not going one step further with you.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: So as we move on, uh verse 15, Moses is now angry.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, kind of understandably, right?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: Said, Moses became angry, but he doesn't respect their rebellion with response to them.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's speaking to the Lord.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Moses became angry and said to the Lord, Don't respect their offering.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: I have not taken one donkey from them, or mistreated a single one of them.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: So Moses told Korah, You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: You, they, and Aaron.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Each of you is to take his firepan, place incense on it, and present his firepan before the Lord, two hundred and fifty of them.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: You and Aaron are each to present your firepan also.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Each man took his firepan, placed fire on it, put incense on it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting, along with Moses and Aaron.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: After Korah assembled the whole community against them, at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole community.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were making a movie about the journey in the wilderness, this would be one of your big scenes.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because what is happening is they're at the tabernacle, the Lord has descended, right, in his cloud of fire, and so his presence is known to the entire community, and you have Korah leading his 250 followers, and they have their fire pans, okay, with incense burning, and behind them is basically a whole nation, too, which is not pushing back against these people.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's language in chapter 16 about the whole community sort of supporting what they're doing.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have this entire group arrayed against Moses and Aaron standing on the other side, who also have their fire pans.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Moses and Aaron are included in this test.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the battle lines have been drawn, and sort of Moses and Aaron, and then you've got the tabernacle on that side, right?
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so you've got this amazing scene that is set, and it's almost like one of those gladiatorial arena things, like two will enter, one will leave.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like there's there's only one side here that is going to prevail.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: Either Moses and Aaron were wrong, they were uh prideful, they were terrible leaders, uh, that uh intentionally deceived Israel and led them to their death, or Korah is wrong.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then Dathan and Abim who are sort of included in this judgment as well, right?
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so now we have both sides that are basically set up for the answer to this question.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have Korah, his 250, and then you have Dathan and Abirim who actually are still stuck back at their tents because they said they weren't going to leave.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, now we're gonna flip back to them and finish out their story, Dathan and Abiram's before we get to the judgment.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, separate yourselves from this community so I may consume them instantly.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: But Moses and Aaron fell face down and said, God, God who gives breath to all, when one man sins, will you venge your wrath on the whole community?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord replied to Moses, Tell the community, get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abram.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: So they kind of get a heads up on what's happening here, right?
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's not really like in question to Moses and Aaron, what is the result of this judgment will be.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: But like they have so often before, Moses especially goes before the Lord and he says, God, in your mercy, will you deal gently with our people?
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: And what is so amazing about this is when they go, and we've talked about this before, so I'll just kind of briefly summarize, but Moses has a lot of these prayers.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: God wants to come down and he says, I'm going to destroy this nation.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he says a number of times, I'm going to start over with you, Moses.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to be the one that now populates.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And my promise is going to be set back a couple generations, but eventually we'll get there and they will be righteous.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses, who is so humble and empathetic to those who are rebelling against God, he says, Lord, in your mercy will you be kind to them.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what Moses is doing is not saying that God is unjust and his wrath that he would pour out on the unrighteous Israelites.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: God is can display his power that way.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: But instead, Moses says, Lord, would you display your power instead through your mercy and your grace?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Both of them are going to show the nations that you are a God that should be trusted and followed, that you are a God of loyalty and a God of justice.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: But this one saves a lot of people.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so God, uh, every time that Moses goes to him, changes his judgment in response to righteous Moses' prayers.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um sometimes, like in chapters 13 and 14, he says, I'm still going to judge the whole nation, but it won't be instant.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: It will be everybody 20 years and up will die over the next 40 years in journeying.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: That would be the merciful part.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And here God says, Okay, I won't judge the entire nation, even though it seems like they are all God wouldn't say seems, even though they are culpable in this rebellion, I'm going to just sort of judge those who are most guilty of leading the charge.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so then we head into our final account.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: So Moses got up, went, and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: He warned the community get away now from the tents of these wicked men.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Don't touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Ebiram.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, two things.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: One, what is also always known in the community is the battle line that the Lord is drawing.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is not a guess, right, as to where God stands in this spectacle.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: Moses goes before Dathan and Abram.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, he has to go, he says he got up and went to them because they refused to go to him.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: So now he goes to their homes, their tents, right, and near their families, and he is walking around everybody who is near and is eager, right, to see what is going to happen.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, like the principal is coming here to these guys.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses says, everybody get away from them.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because what you are doing, this goes back to our language of being clean and unclean, right?
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like you not only relationally and emotionally should you be distant from these rebels, but physically you must separate yourself from their camp because it is unholy and it is a stain on our community.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: What they are doing is going to be judged as those who are rebels and treason as those who are committing treason within God's kingdom.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so Moses says, you must step away.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: He gives everybody the opportunity to move away from their prideful rebellion against them that says, why don't we get to be leaders?
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's really what Dathan and Abiram are doing too, right?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: They say, Well, Egypt is the promised land.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is nothing.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Dathan and Abiram, their grand design is they're going to pick up Israel and they're going to take them back the way of the Red Sea, back to the nation of Egypt, because, hey, that's the land of promise.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: So Dathan and Abiram come out and stood at the entrance of their tents with their wives, children, and infants.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I included this because I think it's important to see the effect here of a generational kind of sin, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: That the shame and the indignity of what Dathan and Abiram are doing is partly that they are unaware of how it is going to ruin their whole family.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: And for those of you, I it'sn't true in my family, there are probably some of you who have a generation one, two, even three back, where the sin of an ancestor has impacted you, though you really had no choice about it, that some sort of shame that came along with them or decision that they made has affected where you're at right now.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: And here we see Dathan and Abiram, even though they have been told that they are wrong and they see before them God's decision, they are so resolutely committed to the idea, right, that they have been deceived that God has gouged out their eyes, right?
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that they know the truth, that they are going to ruin their families with it.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the ironic thing about Dathan and Abiram is their charge, right, that Moses couldn't lead them into the promised land.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: The reason he couldn't is because of people like Dathan and Abiram who lacked faith in God.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so they are the reason for their own destruction.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as we get to this passage and you see this about their family, even more so than you were before, your heart should just break at what is going on and the effect of sin and rebellion and those who continuously go against the God that has been gracious to them.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: This is like the fifth and sixth rebellion in the last two weeks, okay?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: They are not the first of their kind.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I had to cut out a little passage here where Moses then speaks to them.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because both of our rebellions have now come to the point where they're ready for judgment.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: We've understood why, right?
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: One is Levite, one is outside, one is against Aaron, one is against Moses, but both of them, kind of this pincer movement, are going to get handled together because really, no matter their claims, they're rebelling against the Lord.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so Moses has this really startling language, and he goes to them and he says, okay, basically, like hypothetically, if the ground were to open up beneath you, okay, then you would know that you are wrong and God is justified.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: He says this basically to the nation that is watching, because this is primetime TV.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, they are arrayed in their battle positions, ready to see which side God is going to pick, because that's the challenge.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so the whole nation is watching.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_00: And Moses says, You're going to see something new, something that has never happened before, something so miraculous that it is going to shock you.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if it just so happens that it is the earth opening up, you will know that it is the Lord justifying those he has chosen and rejecting those who are unrighteous.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you know?
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Just as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split open.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, all Korah's people and all their possessions.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: They went down alive into Sheol with all that belonged to them.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: The earth closed over them, and they vanished from the assembly.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: At their cries, all the people of Israel who were around them fled, because they thought the earth may swallow us too.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Fire also came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were presenting the incense.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_00: So in one moment both parties are answered.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: To the two hundred and fifty who were in front of the tabernacle with their fire pans and lit coals, the fire within flamed to life and consumed the individuals who were trying to serve, who were, you know, arrayed in this position.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: They were burned alive in their unrighteous fire that they offered.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then Korah, Dathan, and Ebiram, who are all apparently near each other in their tents, the ground opens up underneath them and closes again.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: And everybody who had made the intentional decision to be a part of their rebellion goes down as well.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: It says into Sheol, Sheol is the land of the dead in the Old Testament.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Like they were not as concerned as we are with like all the questions about heaven and the afterlife and stuff like that.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're just like they grouped it all into one location.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sheol is the land of the dead.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: The righteous go there, the unrighteous go there.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: God deals with them in that way.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, only dead people go to Sheol.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, now the spectacle, the uh ancient televised event, is that now live people are going down into Sheol.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And what is also startling about this and how dramatic it was, because this actually is this is the last passage we're looking at this morning, but this isn't the end of chapter 16.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, as they continue to have reactions to the shocking thing that just happened, um, one of the other things that is shown is that uh this earth that is swallowing them and their cries and all of this that is going on, right, that God has dramatically displayed the truth of what happens to everybody who is a rebel in his kingdom.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: Those who were rebels in his kingdom are deserving of the death penalty.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: That is the way that God's kingdom is arranged and set up.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so what is shocking to us who are reading this should not necessarily be the fact that God chose this specific punishment, right?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: As startling as it may be, but rather that this is not the outcome of everybody in the Bible who rebels against God.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: See, we come to this, and I hope you're not just like, you know, rubbing your hands, you're like, yes, I can't wait for more crushing of rebellion.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, our heart should be broken because of individuals who cannot understand what it means to go against the God of the universe, who cannot understand what it means that the Lord has given them a plan and has saved them and redeemed them from slavery, and they not only reject it but say that he is a liar and that they have a better plan.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: And when they rebel against his kingdom in such a way, the shock for us most of the time is, wow, God, this seems so intense.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: But in reality, this is the punishment for everybody who is a rebel in his kingdom.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: But we say, well, why, though, God make, you know, why not just, I don't know, make them fall dead?
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why have the earth swallow them up?
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: There are certain uh lessons that you have learned in your life that you have only learned because of pain, right?
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um the stove is hot.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: The one section of the knife is sharper than the other, okay?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that plant over there is poison ivy in the woods.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's candy that if you eat too much, uh, you'll get sick.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: And no matter how many times your parents told you, don't touch the hot stove, don't touch the sharp end of the knife, right?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Don't uh go into those plants over there.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, only have two pieces of candy, right?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like the thing that made us learn those lessons was that you touched a hot stove.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: At least I touched a hot stove.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently, none of you touched hot stoves, but we all touch hot stoves, right?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not that your mom told you to not touch it, it's that you burn yourself one time and you go, okay, lesson learned.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we can take the most mundane of activities, right?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Getting an upset stomach or a hot stove, and we can say we learned those lessons no matter how many times somebody told us, because we saw or felt that pain.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so now you go to Israel, and what has been true over and over and over again, alongside every one of their rebellions, is that they are not learning the lesson of what it means to rebel in God's kingdom.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so they continually run headlong into this sort of solid wall that is God's will, and they're frustrated every time they come against it, even though they are the ones who have failed to understand the lesson.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so what God is merciful, I will say confidently, that He is mercifully showing to the nation of Israel is this is what you are heading towards.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, when it was uh chapters 13 and 14, and everybody over the age of 20 doesn't get entered into the promised land, it might be years before they experience the ends of their rebellion.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: And here God says, You say that you deserve something that I have not given to you, and you say that you are justified when you are not, and you question every motive that I have and call me evil, this is what you get when you commit treason in my kingdom.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the Bible consistently tells us.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just an Old Testament concept, it's a New Testament concept as well.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul picks up on in Romans 6 when he says the wages of sin is death.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: The wage, what you have earned, what you deserve for the work that you have done is death.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one of you, including me, is deserving of death for being a rebel in God's kingdom.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you say, Well, that's pretty intense.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's kind of the gig.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: God is the one who is over all things and he sets the rules.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we, who are his creation, butt up against those rules and not only say that we disagree, but that we have the better plan and we rebel against him and lead people astray and lead people away from a good God, because he is a righteous God, we are deserving of death.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: This is central to your theology, is that you understand the wrath of God is appropriate for the sins that are committed.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: But that is not the end of the story, is it?
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: God is one who brings a righteous wrath, but he is also one who has provided a pathway out.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: The rest of that verse is for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: The Israelites did not have as clear of a path forward as we do.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ironically, we have less of an excuse to rebel against God.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: We have less of a reason, if you could even call it one that they had, to bring before him as an accusation.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: What we have is a very clear, revealed history that we are all sinners, that we have all rebelled against his kingdom, and we are all deserving of death.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the only pathway forward is by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, so that you might be saved from the righteous wrath of God.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_00: What God has done is brought about a situation where he is both good because he is addressing evil, and he is also merciful because he has allowed those who are evil to not be impacted, or at least to not face eternal suffering because of their judgment.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: So the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: So we look at this story in number 16, and it is a different flavor of rebellion.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the last thing, though, that I would impress upon you about the story, which is that you still might be, you might have heard everything I've said this morning, and you're like, the idea of the wrath of God makes me uncomfortable.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I don't like that the God that I worship opens up the ground beneath people and swallows them again because they rebel.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to read the Bible and remove all of the sections with an X-Acto knife where God righteously deals in his justice with evil, then what you have created is A, a God of your own design, and B, a God who does not address evil.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: The problem that you have, and the problem that we all struggle with, it's just some people just like really hang on to it, is that we are considered evil because of our sin.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we love to think of ourselves as good.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: The quintessential question, why do bad things happen to good people, there are no good people.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, well, I've got no.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody has fallen short of God's glory, and upon that standard we rise or fall.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so you go back and you say, if you've created this God that where there is no wrath, there is no judgment, there is no there is no justice for evil, then what you have actually made along with this God of your own design, and you've picked and chose, is a God that actually is evil because he does not judge evil.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: And what you have also done very sneakily is made yourself out to be the one who gets to determine what is right and wrong.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: When you say, I don't like the way that God is handling judgment, what you're saying is your perspective on judgment is better than his.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have placed yourself in that position, now you are the one who determines, because of course we all think some things are deserving of judgment.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now you are the one who sets the line about what is right and wrong, and now you are the one who has become your own God.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: So what we're end up with is either you can believe in God's system of judgment, or you can believe in your system of judgment.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think, as your pastor, it is very wise of you and rational to accept the God and the creator of the universe in his system of judgment instead of your own, which is inherently flawed.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier on, when Moses went before, Moses and Aaron went before the Lord, and they say, God, God the creator of all things, they use a very, very interesting phrase.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas before, at all other times, when Moses has gone before God, he uses his covenant name.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay?
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: In the Hebrew, in the in the text, uh it's not always shown in the English, but there's a bunch of different names for God.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: Each one has its own flavor.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: Normally, Moses uses the covenant name of God, right?
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: And appealing to the interest that God has made the decision to make this special relationship with Israel.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_00: This time that is not the case.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: He uses the most generic name for God possible.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: He calls him El.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: He says, God, basically the way that we would say the God of all creation, Lord over all.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then he says, the God that breathes life into all flesh.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is his address to the Lord.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, generic name, the one who breathes life into all flesh, might you have mercy.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: That is the scale that we are talking about.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that Moses brings that up because when we consider questioning God, what you have to remember is you are not just going against, in this case, Moses and Aaron, or the person that you perceive that you don't really like the judgment that they are making after following after the Bible.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: But when you go beyond that, what you are going against is you're saying, I'm going against the God that breathes life into all flesh.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you are a rebel.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we are all rebels, and we all need Jesus Christ so that we might be brought into God's kingdom and be forgiven of our rebellion and our treason, and we might have fellowship with Him forever.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you would take the elements of communion, this is what communion represents.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Communion represents as a church community that we are remembering God's gift of mercy in Jesus Christ that saved, right?
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to use the song, amazing grace, a wretch like me, or we can just keep using the language of this morning that we are rebels in his kingdom.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: But the blood and the body of Jesus Christ is what made it so that everybody who did not deserve to be in his kingdom is able to repent of their sins and trust in him for eternal life.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_00: So when Jesus was with his disciples preparing to be crucified the night before, he took the bread and he says, This is my body which is broken for you.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do this as often as you eat it in remembrance of me.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: That body that was broken was then followed up by a cup of wine that represented his blood.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: His blood the next day that was going to be poured out for the sins of all mankind and all rebels who did not deserve it, but yet were graciously given it so that they might accept it.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_00: He said, This is the blood of the new covenant poured out for you.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we come before you.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: The God that puts breath into all flesh, the creator of all, the King, our Father, the one who sent our Savior, and the one who has now given us the Holy Spirit so that we might be able to better understand the truth of these things.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: God, we ask for forgiveness because we are rebels in your kingdom.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_00: We love to fight against you.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, in so many different ways, in so many different flavors, God, we are rebels in your kingdom.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: And Lord, I ask that you would forgive us of this, and that, Lord, as we repent of those sins, we might understand what it means and what we have been saved from as rebels in your kingdom.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, that by the power of your spirit, that it might draw us deeper into fellowship with Jesus Christ, because we understand what we have been and will be saved from because of your mercy.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we look at these stories, let us be reminded of the cost of sin, of the cost of rebellion, the cost of treason.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: And God, let us appreciate even more the cross of Jesus Christ.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's in his name that we pray.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks everybody for being with us this week.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: Have a good one.