I direct your attention to the
book of Numbers again. The book of Numbers chapter 20,
the gospel according to Numbers. For many, many years, it was
very difficult for me in reading the Old Testament to find anything
much. There were a few good places,
you know, but I have found as we've been going through the
Old Testament, that every book of the Bible, God gave for one
reason, and that is to glorify Christ, to exalt Christ, to raise
him up. As he said, if I be lifted up,
I will draw people to me. And that's the purpose of the
book of Numbers, is to exalt Christ. Now we're gonna find
out in the book of Numbers, as we do in the book of Leviticus
and Deuteronomy, that much of that is done in a pageant form.
I like a good play, don't you? They're enjoyable. I remember
when I was in high school, Mrs. Fox wanted me to learn Shakespeare
so badly, and I despicably despised it. And then one day, after we'd
moved to Central Point, Nancy said, I've got tickets to go
see Shakespeare. And I said, you better find someone
else to go with you, because I'm not going. And about six
weeks before the Shakespeare play, she said, remember, we're
going to the play. And I says, you better find someone
else. Two weeks away, we're going to
the play. I says, I am not going. I didn't
enjoy it in high school. I will not enjoy it today. And
finally, she said, today's the day. And she got me. And she
took me to the play. And I am there in five minutes.
I am awestruck. What you cannot do in reading
it happened in seeing it. And I am thankful, as we heard
this morning, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. It's much more than just hearing
it, it's seeing it. Job said many, many years ago,
I've heard of you by the hearing of my ear, but now my eye seeth
you. So as we look here in the book
of Numbers chapter 20, we have an event that is going to disturb
the children of Israel. They're gonna mourn for 30 days. Aaron is going to leave this
life and enter into the next. And he is told that in Numbers
chapter 20 verse 22, and the children of Israel, even the
whole congregation journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mount
Hor. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in Mount Hor by the coast of the land of Edom saying,
now remember last week we looked there, they wanted to go through
Edom, but they were prevented from going through Edom. There
is no shortcuts. You're not going to take a shortcut.
God is going to give us the long cut, always. He said, and in
verse 24, this is what the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron there
at the coast of Edom. Aaron shall be gathered unto
his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given
unto the children of Israel, because you rebelled against
my word at Meribah. Remember there? Aaron was participating
in Moses striking the rock twice when he was only asked to speak
to it, but we find out that the church has always thanked God
that Moses and Aaron did not enter the promised land. They
are representatives of the law, and the law could save nobody. It was weak through the flesh.
It is weak and beggarly is what we read in the book of Galatians.
that God, that's his standard. And yet nobody is able to keep
it. The Lord Jesus Christ alone could
keep that. And he gives us, he imputes to
us the righteousness that he has. He is the righteous son
of God. All right, now it tells us in
verse 25, here's what's going to happen. Aaron's gonna die.
Take Aaron and Eliezer, his son. and bring him up into Mount Hor.
Now, I was reading through here and I said, you know, I don't
know what I would do if someone says, we're gonna take you up
on this mountain and you're gonna die there. And I was probably
saying, you know what Peter said? No, what Peter did when the Lord
said, I must go. And he pulled out that sword
as Mike brought out this morning and whacked the guy's ear off.
Now, I'm not convinced he was aiming for the ear. I think it was much more serious
than that and the Lord prevented that from happening and then
put the year back on and it was as if it had never been taken
off. But here we find that Aaron and Moses and Eleazar are consigned. Their mind is consigned to God's
purpose and God's will. Moses did as the Lord commanded
and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation
and Moses stripped Aaron of his garments. and put them upon Eleazar
his son." Now we're going to have a new high priest. Aaron was the first one. Aaron
was the first high priest that was dedicated by the Lord from
a human standpoint. Now we find out that he is just
a pageant player. He is just part of a play, if
you would, that represents the true true high priest that has
ever been the high priest on the behalf of the church. He
has always been a high priest, but this man had a weakness. We all have a weakness. We will
not last in this flesh forever. So he takes him up there and
he demonstrates that the law had a weakness and those who
were very important officials in the law had a weakness. They
died, they could not continue because of death. Verse 28, Moses stripped Aaron
of his garments and put them upon Eliezer, his son, and notice
what happened. And Aaron died there in the top
of the mount and Moses and Eliezer came down from the mount And
when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned
for Aaron 30 days, even all the house of Israel. What an incident
takes place here, and it's here by divine appointment. God had
purposed this to be written before the foundation of the world.
It was in God's internal everlasting purpose that this experience
take place here and that Aaron be told that he was going to
go up on Mount Hor and at that time he was going to die. Now
we're going to find out much like Moses. The record tells
us about Moses that he had not grown weak and his eyes had not
abated. You know, Aaron had traveled
through the wilderness just like the rest of the people with the
same sandals. the same clothes, everything
did not wear out like we're used to. And Moses was written about
that and Aaron had the same issue. He was not wore out because of
age. God brought him to the point
and the end was there. Now we find in the scriptures
that you and I, every one of us, it is appointed. There is a day of appointment. God has written down, if you
please, metaphorically speaking, there is an appointment for every
one of us, everyone that has ever been born into this world,
there is a day of appointment that we will leave this life. It is appointed and a man wants
to die. That is God's word. And we're
headed in that direction quicker than we think. And as the older
we get, time seems to go by faster, doesn't it? What we find in this
passage of scripture, and I just want to bring out three important
things that we find in this passage of scripture. Number one, death
is universal. Aaron is at a very high position
in Israel. He is the high priest. Moses,
we're gonna read about him eventually. He has a very high place and
he is an important figure in all of what God has done with
Israel as well as with Aaron. But we find out that even those
in such high places are going to face the same thing. It is
appointed and a man wants to die. You know, the judgment that
came upon Adam for sinning in the Garden of Eden The day you
eat, you shall die. Well, people tell us, well, look
at that, he didn't die, he's gonna live on. On the front of
your bulletin is a chart that I found online, thank God for
the online, most of it, some of it, but it just goes across
there and we find out that Adam lived to be, what, 930 years
and he died. We're gonna read part of that
in just a moment. All of those great patriarchs, I can't imagine
living that long. They lived a good percentage
of the time this world has been. They reached a long ways. I read
somewhere, I think it was Adam could have seen his seventh great
grandchild. From that chart, it appears that
Adam could have known Noah. My goodness, what? I remember
when I was in the third or the fourth grade, we had a teacher.
I don't know which year it was. We had a teacher by the name
of Mr. Rainville, and he was a religious person. He brought up about man long
time ago living to be 25 years old, and then as medicine progressed,
they lived to 35 and 45. I raised my hand and I said,
you know, people used to live to be 900 years old. Oh, they
didn't either. I went into the little school
library and pulled out the Bible and opened it up to the book
of Genesis because my Sunday school teacher had just gone
over it. And look here. Well, that has to be wrong. It's
not wrong. It's in the scriptures. That's
how long they lived. But they died. Death is universal. And we're
going to find that by Aaron's death, it demonstrated an imperfection
in Aaron and the Aaronic priesthood. And then we'd like to conclude
with the thoughts about our Savior, the perfection of the priesthood
of Christ. All right, turn with me to the
book of Genesis chapter five, if you would. In Genesis chapter
five, we have a list here. Genesis chapter five, beginning
with verse five. After the fall, it was appointed. There is an appointment. Now,
did God change his mind? Absolutely not. God is immutable. He never has changed his mind
about anything. If he did change his mind, he
would have changed his mind about me. I am thankful that the scriptures
share with us in the book of Malachi, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God is demonstrating
that if I was to deal with you like people deal with people,
then everybody that ever was saved, I would just erase anyway,
because they continue on saving. But we find that this God, the
immutable God, when he chose a people in Christ before the
foundation of the world, where their names were written down
in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world,
when there was a lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
when God's purpose was ordained from the foundation of the world.
He purposed in that that everybody that Jesus Christ died for on
the cross would have eternal life and nothing would stop them
from entering into his presence. We all shall be presented spotless
before him. And the church says, hallelujah,
because that certainly isn't up to me. It's truly up to him
to do that very thing. In Genesis chapter five, it says
in verse five, and all the days that Adam lived were 930 years. And we have the same epitaph
for the rest of them, and he died. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. That's the promise that God gave
through Adam that every descendant of Adam shall die. Now we have
two. I'm not going to get into a discussion
over it or an argument over it. I won't even debate it. It is,
there are two that are found in scripture that pass through
without seemingly going through that process. Well, I think probably
something happened that God ordained that they got to see something
like we're going to see, but he took them out, whatever. Verse
eight of the same. And all the days of Seth were
912 years. Can you imagine living for 912
years? And he died. Enos lived 90 years
and begat Canaan. And there in verse 14, it shares
this. And all the days of Canaan were
910 years and he died. And in verse 17, and all the
days of Mahaliel were 890 and five years and he died. And can
you imagine what people said about that? I wonder what he
did that he died so young. A hundred years younger than
the rest of them. And then we dropped down to verse
20 and all the days of Jared were 962 years and he died almost
a century. I'm excuse me, a millennium.
Thank you. And then if you go down to verse
27 and all the days of Methuselah were 969 years and he died. And
then in verse 31, And all the days of Lamech were
777 years, and he died. We find that death is universal. We can go to any place in the
world and find cemeteries. It attests to the fact that God's
word is a fact. It is true that we will meet
that day. It is assigned unto us to meet
that day. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. And here we find that the
Apostle Paul, as a secretary for the Holy Spirit, was called
on to write these facts down. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 15,
and there in verse 22, the scriptures share this about this very subject,
for as in Adam, all die. It's just the way it is. People may live to be a hundred.
I watched a little clip the other day on YouTube and it was going
over some of the people that are in, Henry Kissinger, 96 years
old. But you know what? He shall die. We find people dying in their
young years, we find them dying in their middle-aged years, we
find them dying in their, and we find them dying in their old,
old age, and that's just what we find in the scriptures, just
as with Aaron. He went up onto the mount, and
there he died. God didn't predict it, he promised
it. When he spoke to him, you're
going to go up on that mount and you shall die. In the book
of Romans chapter 5, would you turn there with me as the Apostle
Paul again, as a secretary of the Holy Spirit had this to say.
Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. The scripture share this, Romans
chapter 5 and verse 12. It says, wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so death
passed upon all men for that all have sinned. There is a consequence
for sin. In our natural state, there is
a consequence for sin. There is a consequence for being
related to Adam and that is death. You know what? God has given
us all this time to hear his word. God has given us all this
time to hear Him. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? In the book of number, excuse
me, Hebrews, Hebrews chapter nine, verse 27, Hebrews chapter
nine and verse 27, we have this, it is just as sure as God sits
on his throne. It is just as sure as his word. It is just as sure as God spoke
it from heaven. And as it is appointed unto man
once to die, but after this, the judgment. It is appointed. It is an appointed time. Wednesday,
I have an appointment. I plan on keeping it. I trust
I can keep it. But all the appointments that
the Lord made on our behalf is kept. And this one is sure, just
like the day that he allowed us to hear the gospel, just like
the day that he allowed us to trust him because he gave us
the faith to believe him, just as everything that has transpired
has fallen out because of the eternal purpose of God, this
too shall take place, that we shall die. When I was in college, I took
a class called Death and Dying. And the guy that was teaching
the class says, you know, they're no longer called undertakers.
They're called grief therapists. Well, we certainly do grieve.
when our friends and loved ones passed. Do you remember what
happened when Stephen was stoned to death? They came and collected
his body and buried it and they mourned. The scriptures tell
us that it is okay to mourn, but not as those who have no
hope. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Job chapter 14. Job chapter 14. Job chapter 14, and there in
verse five. Seen, his days are determined. The number of his months are
with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. What a statement we read here.
Well, we find if we go through the scriptures very much, we're
going to run into this very principle that death is universal. Sometimes we read in the scriptures
that death was sudden and with the stoning of Stephen, my goodness. How could God be involved in
that? God was involved in that, make
a surety of it, because there was a man there who hated God
and hated God's people and hated Stephen to the core that stood
there while they laid their garments at his feet and ordered this
to take place. And down the road a ways, God
met him and called him to his grace. You know, that whole situation
bothered him the rest of his life, but he was thankful that
God had had his name written down in the Lamb's Book of Life
before the foundation of the world, because he would have
never asked for it to be written down on his own. We find here that there was certainly
an imperfection in Aaron and the Aaronic priesthood. It was
a performance. It was a pageant, a play, a type
acted out, a reenactment, but no spiritual value to save. Aaron had no spiritual value
as the high priest to save. Not one act of Aaron as high
priest ever helped one person spiritually. Oh, they may have
been people out there. I wish I was in Aaron's family
so I could have that very fine robe put on me that I could look
like him. But there was not one person
that was ever blessed spiritually by this high priest. The type,
the picture could not feed or shelter or clothe. He lacked great ability through
though dressed to the nines. If you go over to the book of
Exodus chapter 28 or Exodus chapter 39 and read about the clothing
that he had made for him, God ordained that this particular
clothing be ordained and put on him. What finery it was and
what person had to have the gift of of doing such things as this,
God gave them. And when it was all put on him,
we could see types and shadows and pictures of our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ, in everything. But what he wore saved nobody. What he did saved nobody. And
what he prayed could only pray for himself. We find that there
was much lacking. Aaron was just as limited due
to the fall and sin as Judas. was to merit spiritual blessings. Hear me again. Aaron was just
as limited due to the fall and sin as Judas was to do anything
that would merit God to do any blessings for him. What did he
have to depend on? The eternal, everlasting, unchangeable
grace of Almighty God. Nothing else. Judas and he could
stand together when it came. And most people said, well, he
just, look what he did, look what he did. And God would say,
it didn't do one thing. Salvation has always been by
grace. Salvation will continue to be
by grace and it will forever lastingly be by grace. The merits
of Christ was for Aaron and not for Judas. That's the only way
Judas could stand before the Lord was the merits of his savior,
the Lord Jesus. Since Aaron was a direct descendant
of Adam, he was born a sinner and he was also sentenced to
physical death, death by sin. Turn with me to the book of Romans,
if you would. Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter 8 and verse 3.
Now I realize I am reading one or two verses. Go back, check
the context. Our time is so limited, but in
Romans chapter 8 and verse 3, for what the law could not do. The translators would have been
well to underline that. what the law could not do, in
that it was weak through the flesh, couldn't be kept. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh. What a blessing God provided
in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, on the behalf of the church,
that what could not be done any otherwise, that God would send
his son and his son would take care of the problem. He died
on our behalf. He died for us. In the book of
Hebrews chapter seven, would you turn there with me? Hebrews
chapter seven, as we think about this, that there was nothing
in Aaron. The imperfections of Aaron were
of such greatness. You know, I've said many times,
particularly when we were going through the book of Leviticus,
that Aaron, once a year, entered into the Holy of Holies with
a basin of blood to sprinkle on the mercy seat, all a pageant,
a play, a type, and a shadow, because not one drop of animal
blood ever paid for any, not one sin, but on his way in there,
He would confess if he was here this day that on his way in doing
the most holy thing he did in through the year, he committed
enough sin in his mind to condemn him to an eternal hell if it
wasn't for salvation in Christ Jesus the Lord, doing his most
sacred thing. And the same is true with us.
We have committed enough in this service Thanks be unto God for his everlasting
Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, who has promised to present his
people spotless. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 23,
we read this. And they truly were many priests. Why? Because they were not suffered
to continue by reason of death. One of them died. Eliezer came
off the mountain. He's the high priest for his
lifetime. And after him, his son. And he's
the high priest his lifetime. And how many high priests there
were between Aaron and the time the Lord Jesus was here upon
this earth, I cannot count. Probably you get online, you'll
find somebody guessing at it. But they all continued not. as it tells us here, by reason
of death. Well, this leads us up to such
a wonderful thing about this whole experience, and that is
the perfection of the priesthood of Christ. We have a pageant
played out. We have a play going on. These
things were done for our examples. These were done for a picture
to us. They were done to show us that
there could only be hope in Christ Jesus. There's no hope in Aaron. There's no hope in Moses. There's
no hope in Eliezer. There's no hope in the basins
of blood. There's no hope in those animal sacrifices. It's
brought to our attention here in the New Testament that the
blood of bulls and goat could not take away sin. But the blood
of Jesus Christ takes away sin for time and for eternity. In
the book of Hebrews chapter 7, again there, let's look down
there. It tells us in In verse 22, Brother Loren read
this. I just want to make a few comments.
It tells us about, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a
better testament. I've been advised never to be
a cosigner. Don't be a cosigner for anybody. Well, I broke that rule. Sometimes our children help us
do that. Now, Jesus was never a cosigner,
but Jesus is a surety. He is the security or the pledge
for a person. Before the world began, The Lord
Jesus, the Son of God, became the surety for the church. He said, I will stand in their
place. I will take what is due them.
I will pay their price. I will do whatever is necessary
so that those the Father gives to me shall be mine forever. This is a promise that he made
in the covenant of grace. It was not in time. It was in
the covenant of grace. It wasn't when he was arrested,
he said he would do that. It wasn't when he was born, he
said he would do that. But he said he would do that
in the covenant of grace. I will be their surety. You remember
there was one of the sons of Jacob. When they went down to
Egypt, he said, that man down there knows we have another brother. His name is Benjamin, and he
wants to see him. Well, why did he want to see
Benjamin? Because they're full brothers. And his dad says, no, I will
not let it happen. I will not let that break my
heart again. To lose another son by that wife
would break my heart. And Judah said, I'll be a surety,
my life for his life. Well, that's a nice picture,
and he would have done that. But you know, we didn't have
anything to trade with. We didn't have anything to give.
We were worthless when it comes to salvation. We were worthless.
We're sinners by nature and practice and choice, and yet we have someone
who said he would be our surety. That takes grace. That takes grace of God. That
takes the eternal love of God. That takes a promise that that
debt that was owed because of sin would be paid for in full. And that debt was paid for in
full by Jesus Christ on the cross. He bore the sins of many. He took upon himself the stripes
of the sheep. This is what he did. This Jesus
Christ being the God-man is a surety, one that is bound himself to
another to see something is paid or performed. And when he came
to this earth, he never had in mind to do anything else but
to go to the cross. He set his face as a flint. He
never came down here to set up an earthly kingdom. He said that
my kingdom is not of this world. It's a spiritual kingdom. He'd
been practicing working at that from eternity. People that were
saved in the Old Testament, people were saved in the New Testament,
people saved today, are his part of his kingdom. He's the king
over all his subjects. We find here, turn with me to
the book of Hebrews chapter 8, if you would. Hebrews chapter
8 verse 6. Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 6,
we read these things. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry. Isn't it wonderful to have the
book of Hebrews complimenting the book of Numbers? We have
the book of Hebrews that tells us now, but now hath he obtained
a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is a mediator
of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if the first covenant had
been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the
second, if the Old Testament had been faultless." God's law is faultless. The problem that we face is nobody
can keep it. Someone might ask us, well, how
are you doing with the Ten Commandments? Well, not very good. And they
might answer like the Pharisee would, well, I've got most of
them down, I'm working on, get a couple more, I'll have it taken
care of. You know what? They've just broken the law because
the law says thou shall not bear false witness. Don't tell a lie. Nobody can keep it. No human being born after Adam
can keep it. Why was it so important that
Jesus Christ not have that physical relationship with Adam. If he
had of, he could not have taken care of sin. Aaron was no doubt
a very honorable priest, but he could not take care of sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, born after the spirit,
born because of God, determined this is the way that it must
take place and no other way will do. said that through this man, this man. Verse eight of our
reading in Hebrews eight, for finding fault with them, he saith,
behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah. Now, as we study this out, we
find out this is just a statement about an everlasting covenant
that has always been in effect. We call it the New Testament
or the New Covenant because we read it from Matthew on, but
we find it has always been the covenant of grace. It has not
changed over time. And finding fault, he said, I'm
going to make a new covenant. They could not keep it. Israel
could not keep it. Neither could anybody else. They
were the experiment. God's chose them. and selected
them to be an experiment that we might look back on and say,
you know, God gave them everything. God watched over them. He led
them. He fed them. He clothed them.
He was with them. He put up with their nonsense.
You know, we're gonna get into chapter 21, the first four verses
of the next chapter. Oh, wow. And then Israel complains
again and fiery serpents are sent. the patience of God with
that nation? And he sums it up and said, they
just could not comply. Therefore, I'm going to reveal
the everlasting covenant. And in the everlasting covenant,
I have a people that I chose in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Verse nine, not according to
the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant, I regarded them
not. In chapter 10 of the book of Hebrews, verse 10, chapter
10. And verse 10, let us read this.
By the witch will, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 10. By the witch will,
we are sanctified to the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all time. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. That's what we said about Aaron,
the high priest. Once a year, he was to enter
in. Now, all the other times that
he was about his business, all the other times when sacrifices
needed to be made, daily sacrifices, and once in a while when someone
came by and said, you know, the Lord has revealed unto me what
a sinner I am. I'm bringing this lamb as a sacrifice. I don't think that very often
happened. because a sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Spirit hath made them
thus. We won't go do that on our own. But this man, verse 12, had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. First priest to ever sit. All the others, next day it was
the same old thing, over and over and over. But this priest
accomplished what he intended to do when he became the sacrifice
for the church and he is sitting at the right hand of the Father.
Aaron did not die for even one sin, but he died because he was
a sinner. Jesus Christ did not die because
he was a sinner. Jesus Christ died for sinners.
What a difference. Aaron's sacrifices did not take
care of one sin of his own. That's one of the things that
we noticed about the Old Testament priests, that they first of all
had to offer a sacrifice for themselves and then for the people,
and neither one of them accomplished anything. It was a pageant being
played out to demonstrate that nobody is saved by the law, nobody
is saved by Aaron the high priest or even his son or grandson,
nobody is saved by Moses, nobody. Everybody that's ever been saved
has been saved because of the free and sovereign grace of God
Almighty in Christ Jesus. And that's the way it's going
to continue until the last day. That will be what's going to
continue until we're given our last day. only thing that makes
the difference is God's pre and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. And that's the only way that
anybody can meet God on good terms is because of Jesus Christ's
sacrifice on their behalf, the putting away of sin on their
behalf, that he became the surety for his people and paid the price
for his people and no one else But nobody will charge God in
that day because he will let us, he will let anybody, he'll
let everybody know this is the reason that you are on the left-hand
side. You're a sinner. This afternoon up at the Vets
home, we're gonna look at a passage of scripture in the book of Luke
that says there was a woman that came into a meal who was a sinner. And Jesus goes on to talk to
the Pharisee and say, let me talk about two debtors, two people
that owe a lot of money. One owes 500 days worth of labor, and the
other one owes 50 days of labor. And the creditor says, they couldn't
pay, so he says, I forgive all. And Jesus said, Pharisee, who
do you think loved the creditor the most? She was a sinner. Aaron was a
sinner. All his children were. Moses
was. Everybody ever born, nothing but sinners. God has chosen to
save his people, sinners. and let them know it by grace.