So today we're going to Numbers
chapter 20, and we'll read from verse 22. And the children of Israel, even
the whole congregation, journeyed from Kaddish and came unto Mount
Hor. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,
Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, for he shall not
enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel,
because ye rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son,
and bring them up unto Mount Hor. and strip Aaron of his garments,
and put them upon Eleazar his son, and Aaron shall be gathered
unto his people, and shall die there. And 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, and Aaron died there
in the top of the mount. and Moses and Eleazar came down
from the mount. And when all the congregation
saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days,
even all the house of Israel. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. In our travels with the children
of Israel, we have come to that episode in their history where
it is recorded concerning the death of Aaron. And for the testimony
that he left us, I want to mention a few things concerning his life,
things that we have mentioned before as we have followed this
history, some of the successes and some of the failures, and
of course, the lovely picture of the Lord Jesus Christ that
Aaron left to us in his high priestly role. Aaron means mountain
or lifted up and it is a suitable name for one who began life as
a child of a slave but was lifted up by the Lord and became the
high priest of the children of Israel and was used to perform
by God great miracles and to reveal great truth. The Lord
lifts his people out of the slavery of sin. So in a sense, all who
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ are like an Aaron. We have also been lifted out
of that slavery of sin. Aaron was the older brother of
Moses and he was younger brother to Miriam. And Miriam and Aaron
and Moses are some of the key characters in the story of the
children of Israel's liberation from Egypt and their journeys
to the promised land of Canaan. Aaron was married to a lady called
Elisheba and had four sons to that lady, one called Nadab,
one called Abihu, one called Eleazar and one called Ithamar. When Moses, back in Egypt, was
being commissioned by the Lord to be the leader of the children
of Israel, he complained that he was not the right person to
go and speak to Pharaoh because Moses claimed he was slow of
speech. And therefore, God chose Aaron. to go with Moses and to be his
spokesman before Pharaoh. And indeed, when we read the
account of the miracles that were performed and the plagues
that came upon Egypt, we usually make reference to Moses, but
it was actually Aaron that was the actor, was the one who performed
the actual miracle or indeed brought the plague on the particular
occasion. As the history went on, we discovered
that Aaron was present on the top of a mountain during a battle
that Israel had with the Amalekites. And together with Hur, another
leader of the children of Israel, he held up Moses' arms. when Moses became weary throughout
the day. And as Moses' arms were lifted
up in the act of blessing, so the children of Israel prevailed
against Amalek. And when Moses' arms drooped,
Amalek prevailed against the children of Israel. And Aaron
was one of those who held the arms of Moses up until the people
had prevailed against their enemies. Afterwards, when the children
of Israel camped at Sinai, Aaron was with his two sons, Nadab
and Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel permitted to accompany Moses
partway up into the Mount Sinai where God gave Moses the Ten
Commandments. And Aaron and these other men
were granted, at a distance, a manifestation of the glory
of God. So Aaron was a man who had been
blessed and had been used by the Lord throughout the different
episodes of the children of Israel. But then we find that there were
some dark periods in Aaron's life as well. When Moses remained
in the mountain for 40 days, we are told that Aaron came back
and when he returned to the camp, either through fear or ignorance,
he agreed to the demands of the children of Israel to make an
emblem of gold in the form of a golden calf. like they had
seen worshipped in Egypt. And when Moses returned to the
camp, Aaron was rebuked by his brother for his part in this
act of foolishness and rebellion. And then Moses interceded for
Aaron, not perhaps the first time, and certainly not the last
time. He interceded for Aaron before
God, and Aaron's sin was forgiven by the Lord, which was, when
we read the story of the golden calf together, perhaps a great
act of mercy, or an act of great mercy, perhaps we should say.
When Moses was in the mountain, he had received direction from
God concerning the proper method of worshipping him. It wasn't
to be with any reference to a golden calf. You see, that's what happens
when people try to make up their own religion or their own religious
practices. They get it wrong. The very time
the children of Israel and Aaron were making that calf, God was
instructing Moses as to how he would be worshipped properly. And Moses was instructed to build
a tabernacle where sacrifices would be made and where God would
meet his people at a mercy seat. And Aaron, for the rest of his
life, was to have an important role in this worship. God told Moses to appoint Aaron
as high priest and that he would serve and represent the people
before God. Aaron and his sons were consecrated
to this priestly office and they were given garments that they
would wear which would set them apart and indicate some of the
aspects and elements of this great role which was not only
physical but spiritual. And then we find that at that
time two of Aaron's four sons acted foolishly and they didn't
follow the instructions that God had given concerning their
duties in his worship. And Nadab and Abihu, we're told
that they offered false incense or strange incense. They tried
to approach God by a different way, a way that differed from
what he had specified. And they were slain by the Lord. So even although they had had
much blessing and they were the sons of Aaron, Aaron knew loss
and sadness in his life at the death of these two sons. And all during the wilderness
journey of the people for almost 40 years, Aaron fulfilled the
important role of high priest. And then there was an episode
when he and Miriam murmured against Moses in connection with Moses'
wife, we are told. and they might have been punished
severely by the Lord had not Moses again interceded for Aaron
and Miriam. Miriam was leprous for some time
but Moses again interceded, asked for God's forgiveness. Aaron
acknowledged his own and his sister's guilt and they were
forgiven. Later In the wilderness journey
some prominent men tried to displace Aaron from his role and the Lord's
anger slew them and their families and the next day judgment fell
upon the people of Israel from God and it was only halted when
Aaron went amongst the people and interceded for them. Thousands perished by that disease,
but Aaron thereby demonstrated his special role with God as
a priest amongst the people. And to further show that Aaron
was God's chosen priest, Moses called for each tribe to provide
a rod and God caused Aaron's rod to bud and blossom and bear
fruit and so he established him once again in that high priestly
role. Then there was a final incident
which was strange and we made reference to this last week when
Aaron was involved with Moses in the sin of unbelief for failing
to sanctify the Lord in the eyes of the children of Israel at
Meribah when water again was brought from the rock. And for
their unbelief, neither Aaron nor Moses were permitted to enter
into the promised land. And our verses that we read today
tell us how Aaron, with Moses and his son Eleazar, climbed
Mount Hur on the borders of Edom. and the high priestly robes and
the high priestly office was taken away from Aaron and placed
on his son Eliezer. And that role of high priest
passed to Eliezer and Aaron died there on the mountain. we're
told that he was gathered to his people, which is what that
little phrase means, that he died there. And we have seen
how frequently Aaron, in his official character as high priest,
was a type of Christ. And his priesthood for all the
years that he served in that role was designed by God to be
a shadow of heavenly things. And it was designed to lead the
minds and the understanding of the faithful people amongst the
children of Israel to look forward to the time when a greater priest
and a better priesthood would come. That priesthood, of course,
came by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. And here's just a couple of lessons
that I want to leave with you from Aaron's life. A couple of
little applications, which I think if we remember Aaron, we might
also remember these. First is this. That although
Aaron was greatly honoured to be a type of Christ in that priestly
office, Aaron's life reminds us that he was only a man. He was sinful, he was fearful,
he was foolish, and despite many blessings from God, he continued
guilty of unbelief. Aaron's life is a reminder to
us all that none of us is able to stand before God except that
we do so in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Because we are
all in ourselves, without God, without Christ, sinful, fearful,
weak and foolish people. But in Christ Jesus, we are saved
and delivered from all our failures. Moses interceded for Aaron several
times because of his faults. And we need the Lord Jesus Christ
to intercede for us. Here's another lesson from Aaron's
life. Aaron made some very serious
mistakes in his life. And yet the Lord was willing
to use that weak man in his service for many years. As we grow up
and perhaps have responsibility or take responsibility for a
variety of things, We will see in our lives that there are things
which shouldn't be there. We will do things that are wrong. And sometimes we will bring shame
on ourselves and on our testimony, our witness. However, we learn
from Aaron's life that there is forgiveness with the Lord. And I want you to remember that.
God forgives his people and he is gracious and kind to us in
our weaknesses. He not only forgives, he restores
and he is pleased to use us in his service despite our lack
of belief and our lack of faith. Some of the sins that Aaron committed
were truly shameful but God's grace was sufficient for him. Sin abounded in Aaron's life,
but grace much more abounded. And it shows us that no sin is
too great for Christ's blood to cleanse. Let us remember that. We may be young, we may have
a lot of trials ahead of us, but no sin is too great to be
cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Never imagine that there
is a sin too great to be taken to the Lord for forgiveness. The Bible says in 1 John 1, if
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And one last point and then we're
done today. Aaron died and was gathered to his people. And this
is a great hope of every believer. When our life in this world is
over, we go to a better place. We go to be with the Lord and
we are gathered with our people and his people. Aaron maybe thought,
I can't go yet. There's still too much to do.
But God provided Eleazar to take over Aaron's role. And let us
all trust the wisdom and timing of the Lord in all matters of
our life and even of our death. We have a great and loving God
who is slow to wrath, quick to forgive, and we may be calm and
content that our lives and the days of our lives are well cared
for in his hand. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.