Alright, let's open our Bibles
again in Numbers chapter 16. As I was preaching last Sunday
morning, we've been going through the book of Hebrews. I mentioned
the censer that the writer told us was in the Holy of Holies. And as I was preaching, I thought
of this passage of Scripture and determined I would like to
preach on it soon to show us a time where that censer was
used to make intercession for the people. And I hope this morning
by this passage to give hope to rebels who have sinned against
God and to show you Christ our hope. I titled the message, He
Stood Between the Dead and the Living. Verse one of Numbers
chapter 16, Now Korah, the son of Izar, the son of Kohath, the
son of Levi, And Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and on the
sons of Pila, sons of Reuben, took men, and they rose up before
Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the
congregation, famous in the congregation, men of renown. And they gathered
themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said,
you take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them, and the lords among Wherefore then lift ye
up yourselves against the congregation of the Lord. Now, shockingly,
these men that rebelled against Moses and Aaron are men of renown,
the scripture calls them. These men were the leaders in
Egypt. Korah was a Levite. He was a
cousin of Moses and Aaron. And they said, you know, we're
just as good as you fellas. What makes you so special? We're
just as fit to be the priest as you are. And most of Israel
followed Korah in this rebellion. And we just read what happens
to them at the end of this rebellion, which shows you the importance
of sound leadership, good leadership, doesn't it? Well, Moses' reaction
to this rebellion was so wise, it was to pray. Verse four, and
when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. Moses' reaction
to this rebellion was to pray. Now look over here at verse 19.
And we'll see how the Lord responded to this rebellion. And Korah
gathered all the congregation against them under the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation. And the glory of the Lord appeared
unto all the congregation. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, saying, Separate yourselves from among this congregation,
that I may consume them in a moment. Now, the Lord wasn't just going
to kill the leaders of this rebellion. He was going to wipe out the
whole nation, three million people. that come out of Egypt, God's
going to wipe them all out. He's going to start over again
with Moses and Aaron. Now, how did Moses and Aaron
respond to this? Put yourself in their position.
How would you respond? How would I respond? Did they
say, I like it. Lord, they've treated me so bad.
This rebellion. Lord, you get them. It's just
right. You told me there are stiff necked
people. You're right. You're right to destroy them
all. That's not what they did, is it? It's not what they did.
Verse 22. And they fell upon their faces
and said, Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh. Here's
a question. Shall one man sin and without
be wroth with all the congregation? Moses and Aaron, instead of being
glad, rejoicing that God was going to wipe out the people,
They prayed for the people. They made intercession for them,
and the Lord spared them because they did. And in this, hold your
finger, look at Matthew chapter five. Isn't this exactly what
the Lord taught us to do? Matthew chapter five, verse 43. You have heard that it hath been
said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them, which despitefully
use you and persecute you. That's what the Lord taught us
to do. And that took God's grace. But that's what Moses and Aaron
did. They prayed for the people who had treated them so horribly. But the real blessing here This
is what I want us to see is how Moses and Aaron gave us a picture
of Christ interceding for his sinful people. In the garden,
Adam was somebody, wasn't he? Oh, he was a man of renown. He was a brilliant man. He was
the representative of the entire human race. And Satan came and
murmured against God to Eve. And he told her just what Korah
said. You're fit to be God. You're
fit. You're just as fit to be God.
You're you're if you eat this fruit, you'll be fit, able to
determine good and evil. God will be the one deciding
that anymore. You will be. Now, Eve was deceived by this,
but Adam was not. In open rebellion against God,
knowing exactly what he was doing, Adam took the fruit of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, and he ate it because he
wanted to be God. He wanted to know good and evil.
He wanted to decide what is good and evil. And like I said in
the lesson this morning, Satan lied to him, didn't he? He told
him, you'll know good and evil. When they ate the fruit, they
knew evil. When Adam ate the fruit, they knew evil. Both of
them did. But they didn't know good, did they? They didn't know
it anymore. It's the same thing Cora's saying.
We're all fit to be the high priest. When Adam disobeyed God,
the whole human race died because of one sin. one man. Moses and
Aaron said in verse 22, shall one man sin and wilt thou be
wroth with all the congregation? Is that true? Is God really angry
with the whole human race? Did God really kill the whole
human race because of the sin of one man? Did he really do
that? Yes, he did. Yes, he did. We should be thankful
as an aside, because the only way you and I can be saved is
by the obedience of one. That's another message, but I
think you get the point there. Well, if God was angry with the
whole human race because of the sin of one man, why didn't God
wipe out the entire race when Adam fell? Why didn't he? Because before there was a sinner,
there was a savior. And Adam took that fruit. The
Lord Jesus Christ already stood as the surety for his people.
He already stood as the intercessor for his people. And he said,
Father, I'll pay their debt. Father, I'll take their punishment
and my blood will pay for their sin. Even though they've sinned
against me, I'll go pay their debt. And the whole human race
was not destroyed for this one reason. that Christ be glorified,
that Christ be glorified so that God could show mercy to his elect
through the obedience and through the sacrifice of Christ. And
men continue to carry out the same rebellion right up to today,
and they will until the end of time, because we've all got Adam's
nature. We continue to rebel against
Christ the prophet, saying, I don't need Christ to know God. I can
know him myself. I can figure him out myself.
I don't need Christ the prophet to reveal God to me. We rebel
against Christ the high priest and say, I don't need Christ
to make a sacrifice for me. I can decide for my own self. I can make my own decision. I
don't need Christ to intercede for me. I can live well enough
that God will accept me. And if I need some intercession,
I'll just get married to do it. That rebellion. And that's exactly
what it is. That's rebellion. It makes God
angry. Then why doesn't God wipe out
the whole race now? Why does God keep putting up
with our sin and our rebellion? The answer is the same as it
was for Adam and the garden. It's for Christ's sake. Christ
came to save all those that the Father gave him to save. He suffered
and he died for their sins. Now they must be saved. Their
sin has been put away. And God is sparing the entire
world until he calls out all of his elect to faith in Christ.
See, God's sparing the people for Christ's sake. Now verse
23, back to our text. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about
the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up
and went unto Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed
him. And he spake unto the congregation,
saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men,
and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all of
their sin. And you know how this story ended
up. We read it just a few moments
ago. In verse 32, the earth opened up her mouth and swallowed them
up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto
Korah. and all their goods, they and all that appertained to them
went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them,
and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel
that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they
said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out
a fire from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that offered incense."
Now this story is given to teach us a very important spiritual
truth. And this is what it is. The only
way that we can come to God and be accepted is through God's
high priest, through the Lord Jesus Christ. If you and I are
going to come to God and not be killed, we must have a mediator. There's got to be somebody between
us and God. If we try to come our own selves
and our own obedience and our own self, we're going to be killed.
That's why Korah and his family and all those people that followed
him were killed. They rejected God's high priest. And when Korah
rebelled against Aaron, the sin really wasn't that he spoke against
Aaron. I reckon that was bad enough. Here's what he was rebelling
against. God's way of salvation through
one high priest, through God's appointed high priest. Now that's
the picture. Here's the substance. The Lord
Jesus Christ is God's high priest. He's the great high priest. We've
been studying about him in the book of Hebrews. And the only
way sinners like you and me to come to God is through the Lord
Jesus Christ, by being in Christ. And this is good news. Now, by
our sin, we deserve damnation, we deserve for God to condemn
us, but this is good news. There is sure, certain salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're great sinners, but there
is sure, complete forgiveness of sin in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's sure damnation outside
of Him. because of our sin. But there is sure salvation in
Him. Now aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful that God
has provided mercy for rebels in His Son? That ought to make us worship
Him. That ought to make us live our lives. That ought to make
us live every moment of our lives being thankful for God's mercy.
Never having it go out of our mind for a moment. God's mercy
to us. All right. Everybody here has
heard that before. I mean, if you've been here one
time, you've heard what I just said before. Well, Frank, why
preach it again? I mean, I've heard that. Why
don't you give me something new? It's because of how soon we forget.
Look at verse 41 in our text. but on the morrow, all the children
of Israel gathered or murmured against Moses and against Aaron
saying, you've killed the people of the Lord. The next day, the next day, I
mean the next day, the smell of the smoke was still in the
air. That scar in the earth was still there. They didn't have
time for any grass to grow over or anything. And while that visible
reminder is still there, the people rebelled against God again. Oh, aren't you thankful? God's
mercies are new every day. The next day, don't mean the
next day, the people rebelled against Moses and Aaron again.
They accused Moses and Aaron of being the one to kill Korah
and his followers. They said, this is all your fault.
They made heroes out of the rebels, didn't they? They made heroes
out of them. They didn't die for their own fault, for their
own sin. Moses, it was your fault. You
interceded. They got killed. It's your fault.
Doesn't that sound a whole lot like the mob that gathered outside
of Pilate's hall? Crucify Jesus and give us bravess. Jesus, now he doesn't do nothing
but good for us, but crucify him. And give us Barabbas who's
gone around killing people and stealing their money, their stuff. Give us Barabbas. You see, here
is the reason that we preach the grace of God in Christ. We
don't preach fire and brimstone preaching, trying to scare people
into making a decision because you can't threaten somebody in
the kingdom of God. You just can't do it. It's the
goodness of God that leads us to repentance. We preach God's
grace because it's his goodness, his grace, his mercy. The revelation
of his son, who is good, that's what leads sinners to repentance.
We preach God's grace because the only thing that will break
the stony heart that we're all born with is God's grace. It's
the only thing. The natural heart cannot be broken
with threats. The natural heart can't be broken
with the rod of the law. It's just like an anvil. You
can't break it. The natural heart cannot be reformed
by religion. You might be able to reform the
outside a little bit, but you can't reform the heart. God has
to take that stony heart out of us and give us a new heart,
a heart of flesh, a heart that believes Him or will never believe.
Well, look at verse 42. It came to pass when the congregation
was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked
toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and behold, the
cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. Moses and
Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation. This lynch
mob is gathering to kill Moses and to kill Aaron. I mean, they've
come together to kill these two men. And the glory of the Lord
appeared in that cloud outside of the tabernacle. Suddenly,
everybody remembers yesterday. when they see the glory of the
Lord appear in that cloud. Now they remember yesterday,
and they remember this is how God showed His wrath yesterday.
That got everybody's attention, didn't it? Verse 44. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may
consume them as in a moment when they fell upon their faces. Now
this is just like yesterday. God said, Get away from them.
I'm going to destroy them. I'm going to spare you and Aaron,
but I'm going to destroy the rest of the nation. Well, all
right. This is two days in a row now.
I mean, a man's patience is only going to go so far, right? What's
Moses and Aaron's reaction today? I know yesterday they prayed
for the people, but what is it today? I mean, now is it, Lord,
they should have learned their lesson yesterday. So now it's
good. I'm tired of people attacking
me this way. Lord, get them. That's not what
they did. And God would have been true
to his word and wiped out the entire nation if Moses and Aaron
had not made intercession for Israel again. Here they are. They're pleading for mercy for
Israel again. I hope that you can identify
with the people who rebelled again tomorrow, who rebelled
again today, because that's what we do every day, day after day
after day after day. And there's hope. There is a
good hope in God's mercy. Christ is pleading for mercy. There is a good hope. There's
a good hope in mercy for sinners. And I'll say it again. Aren't
we thankful? that God's mercies are new every day. Aren't you
thankful that God never gets tired of showing mercy to sinners? Aren't you thankful that Christ,
the Savior, never tires of making intercession for his people? I'm thankful. I'm thankful he
ever liveth making intercession for his people. Moses is pleading
for mercy. But God's justice must be satisfied. Isn't that right? If God's God,
in all things, God's justice must be satisfied. Well, what
will satisfy God's justice and let God show mercy? One thing,
the atonement. Verse 46, 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. For there's wrath gone out from
the Lord. The plague is begun. Aaron got coals from off the... He told him to get coals. Where
did he get the coals from? Well, he got the coals from the
brazen altar. The brazen altar is where the
burnt offering, where the sin offering were sacrificed. And
that's a picture, that altar is a picture of Christ our sin
offering being sacrificed for the sins of his people. And Aaron
put those coals in that censer, the censer we talked about last
week that's in the holy place. He put incense on those coals
and a sweet smoke went up from them. And that smoke, scripture
tells us, is a picture of Christ's prayers, his intercessory prayers
for his people. Now, the intercession of Christ
is always based upon the sacrifice for sin. That's why he got those
coals from the brazen altar. He didn't get them from his wife's
stove where she's cooking dinner. Not just any coals will do. There
have to be coals from the brazen altar because the intercession
of Christ is always based upon his sacrifice for their sin.
God is merciful to sinners because the blood of Christ satisfied
God's justice. The sacrifice of Christ paid
for all the sin of his people. That's why God's merciful to
his people because his justice has been satisfied in the death
of his son. Moses told Aaron, now Aaron, you get down there
to the people. The plague has begun. God's wrath has gone out
and everybody's going to be killed. And as you get down there making
that atonement, the only thing that's going to stop this plague,
the only thing that's going to stop God's wrath is your intercession
that's based upon the atonement. In verse 47, this verse catches in my throat
every single time I read it. Aaron took as Moses commanded
and he ran. He ran into the midst of the
congregation. Behold, the plague was begun
among the people and he put on incense and made an atonement
for the people. Now Aaron is an old man. He's
older than Moses. Moses was 80 when this whole
thing began. Somebody can probably figure
it out. But I do know this, Aaron's an old man. And he ran. He ran to the altar
to get those coals. And he ran to get the incense. And he ran to the people. Aaron is running to save the
people who are trying to kill him. You think of that. He's
running to make an atonement for this rebellious people because
he loves them. They're rebellious people, but
he loves them. They're his brethren and he loves them. And Aaron
didn't take his sweet old time to get there so that when he
finally got there, they'd appreciate him. Aaron didn't jog. So, you know, the people would
feel at least some of the pain that they deserved for what they'd
done to him. Aaron didn't get down there and say, how do you
like me now? Are you sorry for the way you treated me now? He
didn't say, fellas, I'll forgive you if you make the first move
toward me. He didn't say, I'll come down into your midst if
you come to me first. He didn't make them apologize
first. Aaron ran. He ran and he made atonement
for their sin. You see, Aaron is the high priest. There's one man in Israel who
can do this, who can do this job, who can make an atonement
and intercession for the people. It's the high priest. Aaron's
got to do the job and it's going to be done. So he ran and he
made an atonement. He made intercession for the
people. And when he made intercession for the people, He didn't say,
now Lord, they didn't mean it. No, they meant it. They did it
yesterday and they did it today. They mean it. He didn't say,
Lord, they won't do it again. Because yeah, they will. They
did it yesterday. They did it today. They'll do
it tomorrow unless you stop them. They'll do it again. He didn't
say, Lord, they'll do better next time because they can't
do better next time. All they can do is sin. So Aaron ran. to make atonement for the sin
of the people. You got the picture? The plague
has gone out. And there they are in the wilderness.
That plague is just sweeping across the wilderness like a
line of death. And old Aaron, without any regard
for his own person, ran right into the midst of that group
of rebels. Right in front of that line of death. Right in
front of that plague. And he stood still. Now, that plague is heading straight
toward Aaron. And in all that congregation,
Aaron's the only one that didn't do anything wrong. And the plague's
heading straight toward him. Verse 48. And he stood between
the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed. See, now
as Aaron, he stopped running. The plague's coming toward him,
but he didn't run away from it. He stood still. Aaron stood in
the breach between the dead and the living. On one side, everybody's
dead. No exceptions. On the other side,
everybody lives. No exceptions. They all live.
The plague stopped where the atonement was made. See, Aaron
ran down to the people, but remember, he didn't come empty handed,
did he? He came with an atonement that pictured the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the only difference between the dead and the living,
the only difference was the atonement that Aaron brought. And in the
end, Aaron was the best friend those rebellious people had,
wasn't he? Even though they were trying to kill him. Now, what
a picture. I've said all that to get right
here. What a picture. Christ our Savior. When Adam
murmured against God, the plague of death went out. In Adam, all
died. See, you and I were in Adam.
He was our representative, and we did what he did. You and I
rebelled against God, just like Aaron did, because we were in
him. Just like the children of Israel rebelled against God,
we rebelled against him. And we said, we're as good as
God. I'm qualified to be God. I don't
have to have this man reign over me. I'll decide what's good and
evil. I'll decide the way of salvation.
I'll decide what to do. And the first chance we got,
the first chance we got to lay our hands upon the Son of God,
we killed Him, trying to put Him off the throne. The plague
of death has gone out. Now we're all here alive physically
this morning. The plague of death has gone
out. The plague is already in our bodies and soon it's going
to kill us. Unless God's merciful, we'll
die the second death. The plague of the second death
is heading straight toward us because of our rebellion in Adam.
And I told you before there was a sinner, there was a Savior.
But what did Christ the High Priest do? Did He say, Father,
let them suffer a while? And then maybe I'll come help. No, he didn't do that. The father
prepared a human body for his son and he ran down, down, down,
down, down, down to where we were to be clothed in human flesh. And he ran to make an atonement
for sin. This is urgent business from
a boy Our Lord knew this is urgent business. I must be about my
father's business. This is urgent. And as a full
grown man, when his hour had finally come. Other times, nothing
happened. Nobody could lay hands on him.
His hour was not yet come. But when his hour was come, he
said, I must go to Jerusalem. I must be given. to the scribes
and the Pharisees, the chief priests. I must be given to Gentiles
to do with me as they will, because I must go make an atonement for
sin. See, he ran with urgency. It was urgent for him to obey
God's law because his people must have an obedience. They
were rebellious people. They're dead in their sins, but
he loved them. And it was urgent for Him to
give them a righteousness. And when His hour was come to
go to the cross, He ran there with urgency. Nobody took Him
against His will. He ran there urgently because
He loved His people while they were yet sinners and gave Himself
for them. He loved His brethren, which
the Father gave Him, just like Aaron loved his rebellious brethren.
Christ loved His brethren that the Father gave Him. The flag
of God's wrath is sweeping toward us like an overflowing scourge.
And the Lord Jesus Christ came and stood in the breach. Just like Aaron, he didn't come
empty handed. Look back at Hebrews chapter 9. The passage we looked at last Sunday,
Hebrews chapter 9. Christ didn't come empty-handed,
verse 11. But Christ being come a high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption. See, Christ came and he stood
in the breach. Not with a picture of the atonement. He came with
his own blood, which made atonement for the sin of his people. Now
to make atonement for his people, to justify them, to make them
without sin, Christ had to be made sin for his people. In order
for God's justice to be satisfied, he had to die the death that
that sin deserved. And that's what he did willingly. Christ let that plague of death
fall straight on him. He willingly sacrificed himself
to make atonement for his people so his people would live. Well,
what happened to the plague of God's wrath? The plague of God's
wrath stopped where it met the atonement. The plague of God's
wrath stopped where Christ died. God's wrath could go no further.
God's wrath, this plague, exhausted itself on Christ the sacrifice. He consumed the plague so that
it no longer exists for God's people. The sacrifice justified
God's people, satisfied God's justice and made them without
sin. And the proof of it is his resurrection. Christ did die
for the sin that was laid upon him, but he was raised again
from the dead for our justification as the evidence that his death
justified his people. And he rose to glory to sit down
on the right hand of the father, where he sits at this moment,
ever living to make intercession for the sins of his people. And
he's not constantly pleading with his father saying, father,
forgive that one, forgive that one, forgive that one, forgive
that one, forgive their sin. And they were my sacrifice for
them. He's sitting there silently. The evidence in his body of his
sacrifice is all that it takes to make intercession for his
people. The scars in his body, his hands, his feet, his side,
his head, are the evidence in his body he was sacrificed for
the sins of his people. And that's all the father needs.
His sacrifice puts away the sins of his people. It's his sacrifice
that makes intercession for his people. And to think, to think
that He did all of that. That He went to these great depths
at great expense to Himself. To humiliate Himself. To be made
flesh like we are. To appear in human flesh. To humiliate Himself. The shame
of the Holy Son of God. To be made sin for His people.
To suffer, not just the physical pain, but separation from his
father. My God, my God, why is thou forsaken
me? To give up the ghost and die.
It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. That he did all of that for sinners, for rebels like
you and me. See, this is what gives rebels
hope. gracious death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amazing grace,
isn't it amazing how sweet the sound that saved a wretch, a
wretch like me. The Lord Jesus Christ stands
between the dead and the living, between the sheep and the goats,
the goats on his left hand, the sheep on his right. One lives,
the other dies. What's the difference? Really? Now, what's the difference? We
need to know this. What's the difference? Is it
they're good works? Is it that they repented enough?
What is it? Is it that one not as bad as
the other? No. No, both deserve to die. Both are equally guilty. Then what's the difference? The blood atonement of Christ.
It's the only difference. It's all the difference between
life death. Well, why would the Lord, the
Lord of glory, do all this for such a sinful people? Because
he loves them. Because he loves them. They didn't
love him. He said, they hated me without
a cause. They yelled, crucify him. They said, we won't have
this mandarino for us. They hated him, but he loved
them. And the apostle John said, here's
the proof of it. He gave himself He is their propitiation. That's
the proof of it. Those people are born hating
Him, but Christ died for them. He put their sin away. They're
not going to stay dead. They're not going to stay that
way. He gives them a new heart, a heart that does love Him, a
heart that believes Him, a heart that trusts Him to be everything
they need for salvation. That heart trusts Him to be the
only difference between death and life. Trust Christ. I stand amazed. I stand amazed
in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene. And I wonder how he
could love me, a sinner condemned unclean, but he did. And that's why he made an atonement.
This is what I want to close with. I want you to take this
home. I want you to think about this today. maybe God be pleased to make
us just be overwhelmed with his son. The very one that we stand
against is the one who ran to make an atonement for our sin.
God help us, God help us to worship him and trust him. Let's bow. Father, Human language cannot express
our wonder and our amazement that you'd send your son to make
an atonement for the sin of your people. We can't praise you enough,
but with what you've given us, we praise you. We can't thank
you enough. The Father accept our thanksgiving
in Christ. for his sake. Father, I pray
that you would cause the name of your son to be glorified and
magnified. Give your people some understanding
of the glory of Christ our Savior, that we would love him, that
we cling to him, that all of our faith and hope and our confidence
would be in him alone. It's in his precious name we
pray and give thanks.