In our Numbers passage today we read about an incident that shows just how blind we can be to the sin in our lives, as well as a beautiful picture of Christ.
Korah and the other ringleaders of a rebellion against Aaron's authority and supernaturally destroyed, along with their entire families, by God in an earthquake-like event.
250 more rebels are also killed by a fire sent from God.
And then the very next day, the people ______? After hearing what happened the day before, how would you expect that sentence to end? Maybe that the people worshiped in gratefulness? Maybe that they brought extra offerings of thanksgiving? Maybe that they turned out in full support of their clearly God-given leadership?
Nope.
The people complained and blamed their leaders for the destruction of the rebels!
At this point, God has had enough, and sends a plague that kills over 14,000 of the sinful Israelites.
A plague that was only stopped when Aaron, the high priest, the very target of all this hate and envy, steps in and stands in the gap between life and death, offering atonement for the sin of the people in order to stop the wrath of God, in an act of unmerited love and mercy.
A beautiful, though obviously imperfect, picture of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our perfect atonement, who took the wrath of God upon Himself when He died on the cross, to stand in the gap between eternal life and death, in the ultimate act of unmerited love and mercy.
What is our response to Him?
In our NT passage, we read the story of John the Baptist publicly calling out King Herod on his sin, resulting in his imprisonment and eventual beheading. Will we, like John, stand up to a culture that is hostile to biblical truth, no matter the cost?
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Numbers 17-19; Mark 6:30-56
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Numbers 16:13
Isn’t it enough that you brought us out of Egypt, a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us here in this wilderness, and that you now treat us like your subjects?
Here we see again how some of the Israelites were thinking just of themselves and not of what all God had done for them, and they went on to pay for it. We are not on the same level as God, and need to obey Him. He has done so much for us, we should start out by praising Him.
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