Word of Encouragement (10/26/2022)
And the people of Israel said to Moses, “Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. 13 Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, shall die. Are we all to perish?” (Num. 17:12-13)
We can understand why the people of Israel lamented in this way. Korah’s rebellion ended when the LORD caused the earth to open up and swallow him and the 250 chiefs, who joined him in rebellion, along with their households (16:31-35). The next day, the people of Israel approached Moses and Aaron and accused them of killing the people of Israel (16:41). The LORD, then, caused a plague to break out and 14,700 people were killed (16:49). More would have died if Moses did not instruct Aaron to burn incense for their atonement (16:46). Then, to demonstrate God’s choice of Aaron and his household for the priesthood, the LORD commanded each tribe to present a staff with its name on it, including Aaron and his staff inscribed “Levi” on it. These staffs were deposited into the tabernacle overnight. When they were taken out the next morning, only Aaron’s staff blossomed and bore almonds (17:8).
By these three incidents, the LORD made it unmistakably clear that only Aaron and his household, whom He chose to serve in His tabernacle, could serve in the tabernacle. There were many things that the people of Israel could voluntarily do to serve the LORD out of their love for Him. The Nazirite vow was one of them. But, when it came to the covenant offices—prophet, priest, and king—the LORD had to appoint them. It was a huge privilege to serve the LORD in these positions; people could not take them at will; the LORD had to grant them to His chosen servants.
Korah’s problem was being jealous of what Moses and Aaron received from God. To be sure, desiring to serve the Lord in a greater capacity is not a bad thing. We should try to outdo one another in doing good (cf., Rom. 12:10). The question is why we want to do it: is it for God’s glory or our own? If the former, we would not be jealous of others, who have more honorable callings. Why would it matter as long as God is glorified? If the latter, we will be resentful of them, as Korah was.
It was a good thing for the people of Israel to desire to draw near to the tabernacle of the LORD. That was ultimately what God wanted for all His people, not just the Aaronic priests: “...you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:6). But this could not happen under the old covenant, in which the household of Aaron was set apart to serve as priests. The people of God had to wait until Christ, the great High Priest, would come and rend the veil in two through His perfect atonement and grant access to the Most Holy Place in the heavenly temple itself. Until then, they had to be reminded of the gravity of their sin, which disqualified them from entering the sanctuary of the LORD; they needed the mediation of the Aaronic priests. But they also had to realize the limitations of the old covenant priesthood: even with the mediation of the priests, they could not enter the sanctuary portion of the tabernacle; under the Levitical system, they could never be (legitimate) priests and draw near to the LORD in the sanctuary. Refusing to accept God’s arrangement and wait for God’s timing was an act of rebellion and sin.
What a blessing it is that we no longer have to wait. Jesus Christ, the great High Priest, has come and removed our guilt and sin as far as the east is from the west. In Him, we are God’s royal priesthood (1 Pet. 2:9). We have free and full access to God’s mercy seat in the heavenly sanctuary. It is our loss that we skip worship services and neglect our time of prayer. But I wonder which is worse. Korah’s rebellion? The people of Israel lamenting about not being able to draw near to the tabernacle of the LORD, which showed their unwillingness to wait for God’s time? Or, our negligence in our royal-priestly duty to draw near to God in worship and prayer, especially when we consider what Jesus had to suffer and sacrifice to grant us this privilege?
May the Lord help us to be faithful and increase in the joy of drawing near to Him!