God Empowers His Servants To React Quickly On Behalf Of The People

Key Verse: 16:48      6-27-16

“He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.” (NIV)

Part 1: God Makes Unholy Things Holy (36-40)

At the beginning of this passage we learn about what happened to the censers from which fire came out to burn up the 250 of Korah’s followers. The censers became part of the altar Let’s see why. Look at verses 36-40 read, “ ³⁶ The LORD said to Moses, ³⁷ “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy— ³⁸ the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.”  ³⁹ So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar, ⁴⁰ as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.”

God had poured out his judgment on the 250 men. Fire came up, out of the censers and burnt the men to completely. The offices that he set in place had a vital purpose and a holy purpose. The office of the priesthood could not be violated. The censers were picked up, out of the ashes. The ashes were deposited outside the community. Eleazar the priest had men hammer the censers flat and had the bronze sheets fastened to the altar. This is why God has the censors hammered out and attached to the altar. “This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.” (40b) The censers would be sign to the people. God wanted the censers memorialized in a way that when the Israelites came to offer up sacrifices they would see the bronze sheets and remember the account of Korah’s rebellion. They would know that the offices of the church are holy and must not be challenged in an unholy manner. It also shows something about God, how he can bring good even out of rebellion and how he can make unholy things holy.

The hammering of the censers also teaches us that the offices of the church are holy and must not be tampered with. The priesthood in Moses’ time, was a holy office. It served a holy purpose, to bring the people to the Lord. Some positions in the ministry among the Israelites could be changed or let go, but not the priesthood. It was to be maintained and protected from generation to generation. In the New Testament era, there are offices in the church that are holy and need to be upheld from generation to generation. 1 Corinthians 12:27-28 read, “27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.” (NIV) The Gospel must be upheld first and foremost.

God changes things that are not holy into things that are. These censors were owned and held by 250 men who challenged Moses’ and Araon’s position as priests. They felt they had every right to do the priestly job that Moses and Aaron were doing and they demanded it. In doing so they were treating that priestly office with contempt and as an unholy thing. But God showed everyone who was right and who was wrong, when he made fire come out of the censers. The men were doing an unholy thing. Their rebellion was unholy. Their censers, which where their own property, were unholy. But God somehow redeemed the story and the censers and dedicated everything, in regards to the rebellion, as holy. God made the censers holy. He made the account of the rebellion holy, for it would teach a good lesson to future generations. People would always remember God’s act of judgment on those who sinned. They would always be reminded of God’s holiness.  Our God is the one who makes unholy things holy.

Before meeting Jesus we were unholy. We were living in rebellion towards the Lord. We were the recipients of judgment. But Jesus died and on the cross for our sins. Through faith in his shed blood on the cross, we have been made holy. Prior to meeting Jesus our lives were a huge saga of sinning. But God made our life story holy, for now it is a story of redemption that reveals the glory of God. So in a sense, the hammered censers are a testimony about how God makes things holy. Our past lives, the story about how God redeemed us, is something that we should always remember as we come to worship Christ. That testimony will always lead us to behold the holy, living God.

Part 2: God Helps Us To React Quickly To A Need (41-50)

Verses 41-50 read, “ ⁴¹ The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD’s people,” they said.  ⁴² But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. ⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the LORD said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown. ⁴⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. ⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.”

The peoples’ grumbling never ended. It was only one day after Korah and his associates, perished for their grumbling and complaining against God and now the Israelites started all over with more complaining.  The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron accusing them of killing 250 of the Lord’s people. (41) The spirit of rebellion once again surfaced. It would destroy many people if it were not stopped. Their faith eroded and they had thoughts of giving up and turning back.

They were complaining against Moses and Aaron. They were blind to the fact that it was Moses and Aaron who were praying for the judgment of God to be averted. Moses and Aaaron were praying for the people. These people were very blind.  

They failed to realize that it was not Moses who exacted judgment on those who rebelled. It was the Lord himself. And so, once again the people were challenging the Lord. This really shows how blind the people were. They could not even see God’s hand at work. They only saw people and blamed people for things that hey could not accept.

Let’s think about the path of rebellion towards God. It begins with dissatisfaction and skepticism, then it moves to grumbling about God and the circumstances we find ourselves in. Then it grows into bitterness and resentment. Then comes rebellion and hostility. All of this leads to separation from God and God’s people. Any choice to side against God is a step in the direction of letting go of him and attempting to make your own way through life. It may be time to ask ourselves, “Do I rebel against God and his sovereignty and against the ways of God?”

God’s judgment would come again in verse 42, “But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared“ Moses and Aaron knew what was going to happen. God was about to kill a whole lot of people. As the plague was being poured out on the people, they jumped into action in verses 43-48, “⁴³ Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴ and the LORD said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown. ⁴⁶ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has started.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them. ⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped “

Like good shepherds they stood up and took their priestly role. They fell facedown. This means that they prayed and brought everything before the Lord. They exhibited their total dependence on God. They took up the censors and somehow made atonement for the peoples’ sins. We are not sure what Aaron was doing. He actions are not found in the Bible anywhere else. But it makes sense if we realize that Aaron was acting quickly and doing something, anything by faith. God accepted what he and Moses did. The Bible said that Aaron stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. God accepted their prayers and atonement offerings, but not before 14,100 people died. Once again Moses and Aaron were serving a priestly role on behalf of the people.

14,100 people died of the plague. We are not told what the plague was. But it was from God. It was very specific too, for only those who were murmuring against Moses were stricken. It would have been a whole lot worse if Moses and Aaron had not jump up interceded for the people.

It is not easy to be servants of God, caring for the needs of a huge community with a large percentage of complaining people. It is a very heavy cross to bear. But this passage shows the grace that was poured out on Moses enabling him and Aaron to stand as servants of God for the people. They were constantly falling down before God, bringing everything to God in prayer. They were telling the people what God told them to say. They were doing what God told them to do. They had wisdom and insight to act quickly where there was no direction from God, like Aaron holding a censer. Any servant of God must depend on the Lord or they will never be able to stand. They will burn out very quickly and not know how to respond quickly.

We also need shepherds who could see what is happening and quickly jump in to minister to the people…to pray for the people and lead them to ultimate sacrifice, Jesus. Aaron cared. He prayed, he was ready and stood up and made himself vulnerable in order to pray for the people and thousands of them saved. We need such bold leaders today who can stand in the gap and pray for the people of our land.

I also can see that servants of God do make a difference. There are some people who think that God will save who he wants no matter what servants of God do. They might think that in this passage, that only 14,700 people would have died if Moses and Aaron did nothing at all. But it looks like their standing in gap made a difference. It affected the outcome. Look at verses 48-50 again, “⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped. ⁴⁹ But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah. ⁵⁰ Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.”  Our service to the Lord makes a difference. We do play a vital role in the work of God and God has called us and helps us to serve that role by his grace.

Prayer: “Lord, thank you for calling us to be servants of God who can react quickly to a spiritual need. Help us to respond and stand in the gap for the people, praying for them and leading them to Jesus.”

One Word: Be ready to pray and minister at any moment.