to Numbers chapter 17. Numbers chapter 17. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and take every one
of them a rod according to the house of their fathers. Of all
their princes, according to the house of their fathers, 12 rods. Write thou every man's name upon
his rod, and thou shalt write Aaron's name upon the rod of
Levi. For one rod shall be for the
head of the house of their fathers. and thou shalt lay them up in
the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I
will meet with you. And it shall come to pass that
the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom, and I will make
to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby
they murmur against you. And Moses spake unto the children
of Israel, And every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece. For each prince won, according
to their father's houses, 12 rods. And the rod of Aaron was
among their rods. And Moses laid up the rods before
the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass
that on the morrow, Moses went into the tabernacle of witness.
And behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded,
and brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds.
And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord unto
all the children of Israel. And they looked and took every
man his rod. And the Lord said unto Moses,
bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony to be kept for
a token against the rebels. And thou shalt quite take away
their murmurings from me, that they die not. And Moses did so
as the Lord commanded him, so did he. And the children of Israel
spake unto Moses saying, behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh anything near
unto the tabernacle of the Lord shall die, shall we be consumed
with dying. In the chapter before the one
we just finished reading, chapter 16 of Numbers, there is a rebellion
of the nation of Israel which is recorded. If you look back
into chapter 16 and verse 3, we read, they gathered themselves
together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, you,
ye take too much upon you. Ye take too much upon you. Moses, ye take too much upon
you. You made yourself a prince and
a ruler. If you look down to verse 13
of that chapter 16, Moses, you take too much upon you. You just
decided that you would be the king, that you would rule over
us. They said in verse 13, is it
a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that
floweth with milk and honey? They forgot that they'd been
servants, slaves in Egypt. How quickly they forgot and told
Moses, while you brought us up out of a place that was a place
of abundance, flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the
wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over
us? Moses, you take too much upon
yourself. You have made yourself a ruler
over us. And Aaron, You take too much
upon yourself. If you look back in verse three,
ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy,
every one of them. Aaron, you take too much upon
yourself. You alone serve as a high priest. When we all might do the same
thing, we all are holy. The whole congregation is holy,
set apart. We all might enter into the priest's
office and offer sacrifices unto God. And if we were to read the
entire 16th chapter, we would see that God settled that matter
with two judgments. God settled their murmuring when
they complained and said, Moses, Aaron, you take too much upon
yourselves. God judged them in two ways. First, there came out a fire
from the Lord and consumed 250 men who offered incense unto
the Lord. I said first, no, that was second.
First, God opened up the earth and swallowed many of these rebels
up, them and their families and everything the scripture says
which pertained unto them. Never had happened before. I
doubt it's ever happened since then. Moses wanted God to do
something supernatural, and God did it. He opened up the earth
and just swallowed them up, and they went down live into the
pit, the scripture says. Then the next day, the congregation
murmured against Moses and Aaron, if you look in verse 41 of chapter
16. The next day, they murmured,
the scripture says, but on the morrow, all the congregation
of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron,
saying, you, ye have killed the people of the Lord. Ye have killed
the people of the Lord. Everyone who was killed, everyone
that God killed, they had brought that upon themselves by their
rebellion, by their sin, by saying to Moses and Aaron, you take
too much upon yourself. Moses, who made you a prince? Aaron, why should you be the
only priest, the only high priest in the nation. God then sent a plague when they
came the next day and accused Moses and Aaron of being responsible
for the deaths of those people. Then God sent a plague among
them, and that plague was only stayed by Moses telling Aaron,
take your censer. and put fire on it from the altar,
and ran among the people. And he did that, and the plague
was stayed. It was stayed, but God killed
14,700 people. Look at that in verse 49. Now they that died in the plague
were 14,700 beside them. that died about the matter of
Korah, those who died by the earth swallowing them up, and
the 250 princes who offered incense before the Lord. Besides those,
God tells us exactly how many, 14,700. Now chapter 17 begins
with the Lord speaking to Moses. Notice how it begins, and the
Lord spake unto Moses. You know, it's easy to read over
that and not stop and think of the patience, the long-suffering,
the mercy of God Almighty. After they had murmured, complained,
and rebelled against God's leaders, against God's priest, God speaks
unto Moses. and he will work a miracle. God
would work a miracle to show, to demonstrate that he had chosen
and ordained Aaron to be the high priest. There were 12 tribes
of Israel. Jacob had 12 sons, of course,
and each one stands for a tribe. And so the prince of those tribes,
they were to bring a rod And for the tribe of Levi, Aaron's
name was written somehow on the rod. Each tribe, their prince's
name was placed on the rod. And then it was laid up before
the Lord. And we should notice this, that
before God works the miracle, he tells Moses, and Moses the
people the miracle that he's going to work. If you notice
in verse five, and it shall come to pass that the man's rod whom
I shall choose shall blossom and I will make to cease for
me the murmurings of the children of Israel whereby they murmur
against you. It's important for us to take
note that before God worked the miracle, he told the miracle
he was going to work. Matthew Henry pointed out, it
was requisite that they should be told of it, that it might
appear not to be casual. In other words, God told what
he was going to do before he did it. So the next day when
they brought these rods out and they see Levi's rod and Aaron's
name on it blossoming, that they don't say, well, that was just
coincidence. That just happened. No, it didn't
just happen. And God told them beforehand.
I want you to look with me in Isaiah chapter 48. Keep your
places here. But we know that the nation of
Israel was given to idolatry all through the Old Testament.
We see that time after time after time. They forsake the only true
and living God. the fountain of living waters,
and they hew out broken cisterns." They began to worship false gods,
idols. And one of the things that God
tells them, especially in these few chapters in Isaiah, beginning
from chapter 40 on, God demanded that their so-called gods prove
themselves to be gods. prove themselves to be God. You
say that this is a God, let him prove himself. And one of the
ways that God demanded that they prove themselves was to foretell
of something that was future. And then it came to pass. They
couldn't do that, of course. They were dead idols. But notice
here in chapter 48, What God says, the living and true God,
beginning in verse three. I have declared the former things
from the beginning. You know that verse in Acts chapter
15? Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. I have declared the former things
from the beginning and they went forth out of my mouth and I showed
them And I did them suddenly, and they came to pass. They came
to pass. Because I knew that thou art
an obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass. You know, they called me till
I'm stiff-necked. Stiff-necked. Stiff-necked. They would not bow. Bow to the
Lord God. I have even, notice verse five,
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee before it
came to pass. God said I told you what was
going to happen before it came to pass. Only God can do that. You know, if you had to confess
deal with someone and they question you. Well, how do you know the
Word of God is the inspired Word of God? Well, one way I know
that it is inspired by fulfilled prophecies. By fulfilled prophecies. Things that God spoke of old
and it came to pass. I have even from the beginning
declared it to thee before it came to pass. I showed it thee
lest thou shouldst say, mine idol, mine idol hath done them,
and my graven image, and my molten image hath commanded them. God
said, I told you before it came to pass, lest you would try to
say that your dumb idol, your dead idol had done this. And God tells Moses, before they
ever lay these rods up In the holy of holies there, in the
tabernacle, what's going to happen? And notice something else here
in verse six of our text, back in chapter 17. And Moses spake
unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes
gave him a rod of peace. For each prince won, according
to their father's houses, 12 rods, and the rod of Aaron. Now notice this. was among their
rods. I have 12, imagine this, 12 rods,
and Aaron's rod wasn't over here, closer to the Ark of the Covenant. No, his rod was among the 12
rods. So that they couldn't say, well,
the only reason his rod butted is because he was closer there.
No, his rod was in the midst. of the rods that were laid up.
Twelve rods laid up before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness,
verse seven says. And Moses laid up the rods before
the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. Now, there are two parts
of the tabernacle, you know that. The holy place where the lamp
stand and the table of showbread and the golden altar was placed
in that compartment. And the priests were in there
ministering every day. The lamps had to be trimmed,
so forth and so on. The Holy of Holies, only the
high priest could enter into that part of the tabernacle one
day out of the year on the great day of atonement, not Moses. not Moses. Moses could enter
there, and that's what he did here. If you study this out,
you will see what is called the Tabernacle of Witness. It refers
to the Most Holy Place. The reason it's called the Tabernacle
of Witness is because that's where the testimony was in verse
4. And thou shalt lay them up in
the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony. Where was
the testimony? The testimony was the two tables
of stone upon which God had written what we call the Ten Commandments
and placed in the Ark of the Covenant. These rods were laid
up into the most holy place. Turn back with me to Exodus just
a moment. And this was pointed out when
God gave the instructions to Moses concerning the tabernacle. In Exodus 25, and it came to
the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat. In verse 21, it says,
and thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark. You know, the Ark was built out
of wood that wouldn't decay, overlaid
with gold. All of it somehow pictured Christ,
didn't it? And inside the Ark was the testimony,
the covenant. That's the reason it's called
the Ark of the Covenant. The covenant was placed in there.
But in verse 21, and thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon
the Ark, And in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that
I shall give thee. And there, now notice, there
I will meet with thee. Thee is singular. Moses, there
I will meet with thee. And I will commune with thee
from above the mercy seat. from between the two cherubims,
which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things, which
I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Three times in verse 22, we have
that singular word, thee, thee, there I will meet with thee. Three times in verse 22, only
Moses, was allowed to go into that tabernacle
to meet with the Lord. When Moses came to the end of
his life, we read this in almost the last verse of Deuteronomy,
not quite, I think about the third from the last verse. There
arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses. whom the Lord knew face to face,
face to face. Moses brought the rods out the
next morning. And the rod of Aaron, of course,
we're told it not only blossomed, but it blossomed, but there was
almonds already on that rod. And then Moses was commanded
to bring the rod again before the testimony and it was kept
there. So we've got now the Ark of the
Covenant, the mercy seat in the Most Holy Place, Aaron's rod
that budded, and at one point, that golden pot with manna was
also placed there alongside the Ark of the Covenant. Now, this
is where I would repeat the words of those Greeks. In John chapter
12, it came, I believe it was to Philip who said, sir, we would
see Jesus. We would see Jesus. And looking
at this, this historical event, I have four things that I would
bring out to us that will picture to us the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that, of course, is how he was revealed in the Old Testament,
isn't it? Through these types and shadows
that were given. Four things that stand out to
me. First, notice Aaron's rod grew
before the Lord. It was laid up in there before
the Lord, before the testimony, before, that's where God's manifested
his presence, the Shekinah. between the cherubims. Aaron's
rod grew before the Lord, so the Lord Jesus Christ is pointed
out several times unto us in the scriptures that he grew before
the Lord. I want you to look at a couple
of places. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah chapter 53. We all recognize this is one of the greatest chapters,
if we could compare chapters, in the Word of God. It's all
precious, isn't it? It's God's Word. But Isaiah 53
pictures a suffering Savior, suffering substitute, doesn't
it so well? But notice in verse 2, for he
shall grow up before him. Now before who? Where was Aaron's
rod laid? It was laid up before the Lord. He That is, Christ shall grow
up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. Now these rods were all dry. All the 12 rods that were laid
up before the Lord, they were all dry. They were used probably
as walking staffs, something like that, by all the various
princes of the tribes. But when we read this about Christ,
for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root
out of a dry ground, this reminds us that the household of David,
he's the son of David. Well, when David was king, that
was a great house. That was a great house. I mean,
he was a great ruler. He was a wealthy ruler. When
the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world, the woman that God
had chosen to be his mother, she was married to a man, both
Mary and Joseph were of the house of David, that's true. But he
was a carpenter. He was a carpenter. It was as a root out of a dry
ground, the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you still have your scripture
open to Isaiah? Look in chapter 11. Verse one says, and there shall
come forth a rod, a rod out of the stem of Jesse, a rod. The Lord Jesus Christ here is
referred to as a rod. A branch shall grow out of his
roots. Of course, Jesse was the father
of David, so he came from the house of David as a rod out of
the stem of Jesse, as a root out of a dry ground. And in the
prophecy of Zechariah, the Lord Jesus Christ, now listen, he's
referred to there, the man whose name is the branch. And that word branch, every letter
is capitalized because it's Jehovah, the man whose name is the branch,
that is Jehovah Jesus, the Savior. Aaron's rod grew before the Lord,
so Christ grew before the Lord. Aaron's rod demonstrated that
God had chosen him and him alone to be the high priest. That's
what these men were murmuring about. They felt like, well,
anyone, everyone can be a high priest. Everyone can serve in
this capacity. Why is it that only Aaron can
do that? Because God chose him, that's
why. Because God said Aaron, that's why. In Hebrews 5 we read,
no man taketh this honor unto himself. They didn't have a day
at school, you know, what do they call it when, what? Career day. They didn't have
a career day. And some of the people said,
you know what I've always wanted to be is a high priest. That's
what I'd like to be. No. No man taketh his honor, the
scripture says, unto himself, but he that is called of God. God called Aaron. God purposed
that Aaron be the high priest, the only high priest. There was
only one. God called him, and God called
the Lord Jesus Christ and ordained him to be our high priest. In fact, God made him his high
priest with an oath. Those other high priests, none
of them were made high priest with an oath. After Aaron, they
just inherited that office. But no, God made our high priest,
the Lord Jesus Christ, one with an oath. In Hebrews 7 and verse
21, we read, for those priests, those Aaronic priests, were made
without an oath, but this with an oath. The Lord swear and will
not repent. He's never going to change. Thou
art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. The word
forever brings me to the third thought. Aaron's rod was laid
up in the holy of holies. And that showed that the priesthood
of Aaron would continue with Aaron and his sons all through
that old dispensation. But it would end when that old
dispensation had reached its goal, G-O-A-L, when it had reached
its end. Remember what Paul wrote in Romans
chapter 10 in verse 4? Let me read it to us. Let's start with verse one. Brethren,
my heart's desire, prayer to God for Israel is that they might
be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Isn't that, doesn't
that just take away the thoughts that so
many people have? Well, as long as a person's sincere.
As long as he's sincere, she's sincere, that's all that matters.
Just be sincere. No, Paul's talking about some
people who were very sincere. They were. But they being ignorant
of God's righteousness. The righteousness of God, the
righteousness that he wrought out by his coming into this world
as a man and his obedience to God's holy law. They're ignorant
of God's righteousness, and so they go about to establish their
own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness, the goal of the law. That's what that
really means, isn't it? The law was always pointing to
Christ, always pointing to Him. He's the end of the law. For
righteousness, notice, to everyone that believeth. To everyone that
believeth. Do you believe? Do you trust
in Christ tonight as your Lord and Savior? And your righteousness
is the righteousness of God. And that righteousness means
that God declares you to be righteous, to be just before him. Aaron's
rod was laid up in the Holy of Holies, showing that that priesthood
would come to an end when that tabernacle and all of it was
done away with. That's what happened when Christ
died on the cross and that veil in the temple there in Jerusalem
was divided from the top to the bottom, showing that the way
into the most holy place, that way into the presence of God
Almighty, has been opened up once and forever. And how Christ
is the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by him. One other thing. Aaron's rod
was fruitful. It was fruitful. It budded, blossomed,
and brought forth almonds. What a picture to us of the fruitfulness
of Christ, his priesthood. A high priest, according to Hebrews,
was to do two things, or a priest, rather, was to do two things.
He was to offer gifts and sacrifices. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, as
God's high priest, he's offered that one sacrifice for sins forever. Forever. We don't have priests. We're
all made priests under God. separate category of people in
the Christian church who are priests. We're all priests unto
God. We all have access unto God.
And the sacrifices that we offer, they're sacrifices of our lips,
not blood sacrifices, of course. Christ offered that one sacrifice
for sin and gifts unto the Lord. The priest was to offer gifts
and sacrifices, and the gift that we offer is ourselves. I beseech you, therefore, men
and brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. Well, this is just one of many
types, I believe, in the scriptures in the Old Testament. that all
point in some way to Christ. And I'm sure some of you probably
could bring out some other things that picture Him, this rod of
errands that picture Christ to us. Now I'm going to ask the
men of our church