Gooding, David: 5 - Second Rebellion - Part 1

So now we come to consider the second major rebellion that occurred in Israel's traveling across the desert. It is the rebellion led by a certain Korah, on the map here, it's this one, a certain Korah who was a Levite. And the first question that arises in our minds, perhaps, is this: why should we trouble about it? We can get to heaven without knowing about Korah, can't we? Yes, you certainly can. It is doubtful whether the dying thief knew anything about Korah, even if he knew something about Moses. And that very day he found himself in paradise with the Lord Jesus. Only I think that most of us are not expecting to go to paradise necessarily within the next hour. So why should we trouble to learn about, uh, Korah? And the answer is given us in the New Testament, in the epistle by Jude, which is the second last book in the New Testament. And he, and Jude, as we shall find in a moment, mentions Korah. But let us read a verse or two to put Korah into his New Testament context. This is Jude chapter, uh, uh, verse three. He only has one chapter, uh, it says verse three: Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write to you, exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered unto the saints. And we see it once, I suppose, the connection between those two ideas. He wants to write about our common salvation, and that's what we would like to hear about, isn't it? We love sitting back on our seats, so long as the preacher is tolerable, and listening all about our common salvation and how we're all going to arrive in heaven one of these days. Yes, but there's another side to it. While I was thinking to write to you about our common salvation, I was constrained, presumably by the Holy Spirit, to write to you, to exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith, the faith, the body of doctrine that lies behind our salvation. And why should I bother about contending to the faith? Well, because if our faith isn't right, you have no salvation anyway. If Jesus is not the Son of God, you sitting here are a lot of deceived folks. There is no salvation for you. If Jesus isn't risen from the dead, you are still in your sins. And therefore, in this modern world that rejects the doctrines and the faith upon which our salvation is built. In this modern world, therefore, we as believers, if we're concerned about our own salvation and the salvation of others, we must learn to contend for the faith. It is our responsibility. And why should we need to contend? Verse four gives the answer. For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old set forth unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. That is, some of them say that because we're saved by grace, it doesn't matter how you behave, and you mustn't condemn any kind of behavior, even though it be the worst of perversions. They turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. And secondly, they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. They've They kept crept in privily where to? Into the church, of course. They came in under flying, uh, under uh, false colors. They crept in privily. And now they're proceeding to disseminate doctrines that deny both the deity and the humanity of Christ, his atoning death, and above all, his supreme lordship. And so we have to learn to contend for the faith. Just to show you I'm not talking a lot of overheated imagination, let me hold up before you this volume. It was published about twenty years ago. It is entitled The Myth of God Incarnate. It is edited by a certain professor, John Hick, who is an expert in academic, or was an expert in academic world on comparative religion, and would himself pretend to be a believer. It is written by Christian theologians, or outwardly Christian theologians. Whole number of them. And, uh, their common purpose and consent is this, that the doctrine of the incarnation is a myth. It isn't true. And, uh, you'll see Morris Wilks tells us, in the course of this, uh, uh, book, giving his own, uh, uh, uh, ideas. He writes as follows: The Christians of the early church lived in a world in which supernatural causation was accepted without question. And divine or spiritual visitants were not unexpected. The early Christians, they lived in a world, you'll see, as he says, where supernatural causation, that is, things happened because God supernaturally intervened. And that's a world that accepted that as a obvious possibility, and sometimes things did happen. Of course, if the incarnation is true, then that is not only an interference, it is an invasion of our human world by God himself. God become human, the Word made flesh. The one by whom all things were created, born of a virgin into our world. That is divine causation in a very big way, isn't it? Now listen to this theologian. Says he, such assumptions, however, have become foreign to our situation. In the Western world, both popular culture and the culture of the intelligentsia has come to be dominated by the human and natural sciences to such an extent that supernatural causation or intervention in the affairs of the world has become, for the majority of people, simply incredible. The transformation in popular assumptions has been recent and far-reaching. So what? Carry on preaching the gospel, you might have thought. No, says Morris. You have to give up the notion of the incarnation, because it is logically absurd anyway. How can God become human? That's a contradiction in terms. And, uh, we must give up making the claim in our modern world. The last, uh, essay in the book is written by a Professor Nynum, also a theologian. He didn't want to join in writing with the rest, he said, because they all say that, whereas they can't believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, they think that Jesus Christ is special. But for my part, says Professor Nynum, that's impossible to think that Jesus Christ was even special. How can you regard someone of whose life you only have a tiny portion of his adult life in the Gospels? How could you possibly say he's special? Certain men have crept in, haven't they? In our day, not, not unawares, anyway, not privily, denying their sovereign Lord and Master, and yet professing to be Christian. Don't you suppose that that's going on just in some remote universities? It will be increasingly taught by teachers of religious education in the schools. It will be increasingly taught thus over here, as it has long since been taught by teachers of religious education in schools in Britain. We must learn, therefore, earnestly to contend for the faith. So what has Cora got to do with all this? Let's look at verse eleven. Woe unto them, that is these false teachers, for they went in the way of Cain and ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire and perished in the gainsaying, that is in the rebellion of Korah. Three gentlemen, if that's the right word to use to describe them, three gentlemen. You will notice that all three committed their atrocities in the context of religion. Cain murdered his brother Abel in the context of offering sacrifice to God. Cain was what we call a layman anyway, but he was offering a sacrifice to God, and when God said, no thank you, that's the not not the right kind, I want this other, he murdered his brother. Balaam was a religious professional, he was a prophet. But he was much attached to the money. And for hire, he poured himself out like water coming out of a bucket to get as much money as he could by means of religion. He was worse than Cain then. Worst of all was Korah. Because whereas Balaam was a false prophet, Korah was a priest in holy orders, that is in minor orders, a minor priest, a Levite, to use the Old Testament term. One to whom was given to carry some of the most sacred vessels in the tabernacle. It was he that led the rebellion. So let's turn back to the Old Testament then, to the book of Numbers, and consider who was involved in this rebellion. We begin in chapter sixteen and verse one. Now Korah the son of Itzhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, he was the ringleader and the mover in the rebellion. He was a Levite of the, of the branch of the Kohathites. They were the people that carried the ark of God and the table of showbread and the lampstand, the incense altar, the most holy vessels. He led the rebellion. Secondly, there was a certain Dathan and Abiram and On, three gentlemen of the tribe of Reuben. Now, how they came to be affected, you, uh, is simply this. When the tabernacle was put up, and if you care, there is the tabernacles here, sitting here, and this is the east end, the door in, and this is the west end, and this is the north end, and therefore this is the south end. Round the tabernacle was a first circle of tents. They contained the priests, Moses and Aaron and the priests, and then the Levites. They were the first circle round. Then there came the tribes in a second circle, so to speak. Each side there were three tribes. The details are given us in numbers, of course. On the south side, among the Levites, there were the Cirthites, of course. They were on the inner circle, south side inner circle. The three tribes that were on that south side in the outer circle were led by Reuben, and hence the close association between, uh, Korah, the, uh, Kohathite Levite, and the men of the tribe of Reuben, three of them. Then in ad- in addition, chapter, uh, tw- sixteen and verse two, and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the congregation called to the assembly, men of renown. That was a sizable bunch, and all of them very influential men who sat on numerous committees. And people that sit on committees are by definition important, aren't they? Of course they are, you'll see. And then who else? Well, look at verse forty one. But on the morrow, after God had destroyed Korah and his confederates, all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. And so seriously God took that as a rejection of his judgment on Korah and the, uh, and his Confederate rebel- rebels, that God sent a plague among them. One little bit of leaven leavens eventually, if it's not stopped, the whole lump. That is a, a metaphor used in the New Testament of immoral behavior. A little leaven, if allowed to go on, will leaven the whole lump. It is used of false doctrine. A little leaven will leaven the whole lump. So what was the, uh, the, uh, charge in the rebellion. Well, we must distinguish two things. There was, first of all, what Korah said on his own behalf, le- bringing, of course, his confederates with him. Verse three: they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Wherefore then lift you up yourselves above the assembly of the Lord. This was a rebellion against Moses and against Aaron. Moses, of course, was the apostle of Israel's faith. Aaron was the high priest of their faith. They rebelled against the apostle and high priest of their confession. Notice on what ground they did it. Said they, all the people are holy. Do you know that was true? Well, true to a certain extent. For according to Exodus nineteen, and you may care to take down the reference so you can check my remarks, according to Exodus nineteen, when God came down on Sinai, he said to Moses, I want you to go and tell the Israelites, you have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, and how I have brought you out from that house of bondage and have brought you to myself. God early on stating what the goal of redemption is. Not yet had he brought them into the pro- promised land, that was their destiny. But the goal of redemption, to bring you to myself. May I make the point? The goal of your salvation is what? Don't be too quick to s- all out to answer at once, that would be rude. You should hear what you said if you all answered at once. The goal of your redemption is? The Lord God. Thank you, sir. In other words, the goal of our redemption is not heaven. That's our destiny, you know. That's a glorious destiny. The goal of our redemption is God himself. What would you say if God came to you and said, now look here, I'm going to revise my plans. I've invited you to come to heaven, and uh, I keep that promise, and you'll go to heaven, well, like, you know, uh, eventually, you see. But I shan't be there now. I've got other things interested me, and I, I, I shan't be there. But you can come to heaven, I shan't be there. What would you say? You would say, Lord, well, I'm very sorry you won't be there. I, I, I miss you from some- somewhat, but nonetheless, of course, I want to get to heaven. That's the main thing, isn't it? No, of course it isn't the main thing. The goal of redemption is God himself. So God came down long before they got to the promised land. I brought you, he says, to myself. Now, if you will keep my commandment and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me. I shall make you a kingdom of priests. All the earth is mine, and from all the earth I shall count you my especial treasure house. All the people then consecrated to God. In that sense, yes, Korah was true. Ah, but that being said, Moses and Aaron were unique, were they not? This very book of Numbers, eh, in an earlier chapter tells how Aaron and Moses, uh, Aaron and Miriam criticized Moses for marrying the wrong woman. That's always a, a lot of talk in coffee circles, but anyway, you know, have you heard who Moses has, oh, married? Breathtaking, as you see. And they criticized him. And God came out and talked to them very bluntly. You dare criticize Moses? Why, if there's a prophet around, I will talk to him in parables and things, but Moses, I talk to him face to face. Moses, the unique Old Testament vessel of God's self-revelation. The inspired promulgator of the law, called therefore the law of Moses. The one who went up as a mediator between Israel and God and went up into the glory of the f- of the fire and the thunder and received the tables of stone written with the finger of God. Moses. And Korah is saying that, look, you take too much upon yourself, thinking everybody's going to obey and believe what you say just because you say it. We're just as good as you. Our opinion is as good as yours. In fact, we're more modern than you are, uh, Moses. I see. And Aaron? What was special about him? Well, he was not merely a priest. He was the high priest. He was the one man in all Israel who, on the Day of Atonement, was allowed to take in the blood of the sin offering way beyond the second veil into the holiest of all, and stand in the presence of God as a mediator between God and his people, and sprinkle the blood of the atonement on the mercy seat and before it. Unique. In Israel's salvation. This is what Korah denied and rebelled against. Why does Jude warn us about Korah? Because there were men in his day, in the church, if you please, denying Denying the uniqueness of Christ as the apostle of our faith. God incarnate, the eternal Word of God, the Word become flesh, the words I speak to you, these are the words my Father has given me. They are spirit, and they are truth. With utter divine authority. No, no, say many modern theologians. Jesus was just a man of his own day, and when it came to the Old Testament, he had no better ideas than the ordinary people of his day and thought Moses wrote the Pentateuch, when we know now he didn't, you see. And in many things he was mistaken. It was the early church that increased his, uh, reputation and turned him into a god. He was just an ordinary person, very special person, knew God very well, a window into God, but he was just a fallible human. That is commonly taught in many academic departments of theology, in many universities, in the West. And Aaron? Well, he was high priest, and therefore the central figure in the Day of Atonement ceremonies, who appeared i- outside i- in public to put away sins by the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement, then went back into the very presence of God and appeared in the presence of God for the people, and then came out again the second time and offered the sacrifices that completed the ritual. But the New Testament, you won't need me to tell you, says that our Lord was infinitely greater than Aaron. For Aaron, like the rest of men, was but a failing man, and he died, and all his successors died. Our blessed Lord is high priest after a different order. He's a high priest appointed by God, the very God that said, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, installed him as our high priest, as saying, sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet. Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Oh, but you see. Yes, he made atonement, did our Lord for us. No, he didn't, say some theologians. We don't believe in atonement. We don't believe in vicarious atonement. And Mr. Chalk, is not that his name? Head and chairman of an evangelical organization has recently published an article in which he says he no longer believes in the substitutionary atonement of Christ. For if it is true that God punished his son for our sins, then God ought to be had up in court for child abuse. Evangelical? Leader of evangelicals in Britain? We need to be realists, don't we? We need to strive earnestly for the faith, once and for all delivered to the saints, because in the first place it involves the unique glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Yeah? That was Korah then. And what about his mates, Dathan of Byram and On? Well, they stayed in their tents, and uh, Moses sent a message to them, chapter sixteen, verse tw- uh, 12. And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and they said, we will not come up. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? But thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us. Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and billards. Wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. So they defied Moses. Can't even come and talk to you, they said. Now, I fancy that some of you may think that because of my old age, I got the thing muddled up and read it the wrong way round. but I didn't. You just squint a li- again at that verse to see, uh, verse thirteen. to what they actually say. Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey? What, Egypt? Egypt. Brought us up out of Egypt. And they say, look at the miserable thing you've done. Egypt was a land flowing with milk and honey. Glorious. And you brought us up out of that. And you have all these fancy promises of a land out there in the blue somewhere, that God is going to give us a promised land flowing with milk and honey. You haven't brought us there yet, have you? And ruined our enjoyment of life by your narrow ideas of life being a pilgrimage on towards a promised land. So what would you call these gentlemen? Dear believers? So now they're saying, Moses, by your theories, do you see your dim view of Egypt as the world under the power of a sinister prince? This is, this is neurotic Moses. Actually, Egypt was a place flowing with milk and honey. And all these folks, you've de- you've misled them into the wilderness and ruined their lives, you'll see, whereas they might be in Egypt enjoying themselves to the full. Such men have modern counterparts, don't they? Oh, you evangelicals with all your rules and regulations, you mustn't do this, and you shouldn't do that, and you shouldn't do the other. Spoiling people's lives and so concentrating on this supposed heaven that nobody's ever yet seen, and you haven't brought us there anyway, ruining our lives. You ought to have left us in peace in the world, to enjoy the world, that's it. That's the thing. Ever heard it? Oh, he has. He's been in some doubtful places then, uh, you'll see. But there you are. Ever heard it? Yes. And then they add another thing. You've not only not brought us into your supposed promised land, we doubt whether it even exists. But he says, wilt thou put out the eyes of these men called of Dathan and of Byram? He accuses Moses of intellectual obscurantism. You won't allow them to think, Moses. You've shut their eyes. They're not free to think. You've got them thinking on tram lines that you've laid down, Moses, and we protest in the name of intellectual freedom against you and all your rules that supposedly come from God. This is an ancient story, but if you think of it, it's up to date, isn't it? So says the world, and so say some in the churches. Christianity is merely about enjoying this world to the full, not thinking about a promised land laid up for us in heaven. Because it isn't true that Christianity is intellectual obscurantism. The Holy Spirit himself urges us to think. We are to think, and to think critically, and to think God's thoughts after him. So then there were the two hundred and fifty men. They were very important men, you know, company secretaries, presidents of the board, and ministers of education, or things of that order. They were men of renown, called to the various, uh, congregational departments of government, they were. And Cora was teaching them that they too, you know, democracy, you know, everybody equal in this life, and this business of only the priests being allowed to burn incense before God, nonsense. All of you chaps, you're just as acceptable to God and can, uh, uh, uh, fulfill the priestly, uh, services as the rest of them could. You say, well, that sounds a little bit like true Christianity, doesn't it? I mean, are not all believers priests? And there's only one high priest, and that is Christ. All believers are priests. Yes, they are indeed. Christ, by his sacrifice, has made us a kingdom of priests. That is perfectly true. But then Aaron was high priest, and now in Christianity, Aaron's order is gone by the board, isn't it? And there is a new priest. That is Jesus Christ, our Lord, great high priest. On him and on his intercessions and on the atonement that he has made hangs all our salvation. And you see it in picture when God had, uh, executed judgment on the, uh, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and all who sided with them. The people who had escaped the judgment so far now turned round on Moses and said, look here, Moses, they were the people of God as much as you. You've gone and destroyed them, and you shouldn't do that. Nice people they were, and uh, equally people of God. And God himself had declared his judgment on them. And because they would not agree with God on his judgment of these rank heretics and rebels against God. Then God sent a plague among them. And we read, you see, that Moses went in, look at verse forty six— Moses said unto Aaron, take thy censer and put fire therein from off the altar, and lay incense thereon, and carry it quickly unto the congregation, and make atonement for them, for there is wrath gone out from before the Lord. The plague is begun. Moses told Aaron to make atonement for them, which he did. When you read of atonement in the Old Testament, it's our modern word propitiation. And propitiation has to do with staying the wrath of God, satisfying the wrath of God against sin, and thus saving the people from enduring the wrath of God. That is, of course, what our blessed Lord has done. He is the propitiation for our sins. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins. Marvelous Savior, able to save us so that we may be utterly sure we shall be saved from the wrath of God through him. What happened to the actual judgment? We better stay and get this clear before we have our coffee. Do you see? Because reading the text is told in the good Hebrew manner, but not quite like a modern novel, uh, do you see, by Mrs. whatever her name is, Waldins or something. Yeah, do you see, it's told in a Hebrew manner. What happened in good English is that Korah incited these men of Reuben, who eventually stayed in their tents and wouldn't even come and talk to Moses, but abused him. Korah also incited two hundred and fifty of the leaders of the princes among the tribes. And then he incited the whole congregation. And mark what he did now. He got those two hundred and fifty men, and Moses said, yes, you carry on and do it, and we shall see what happens. And they all had census, and they came in the gate of the tabernacle and assembled in the court, right in front of the door to the tabernacle. The core are there offering their incense before God. Now, what God said at that mo- uh, point was this, he told Moses to go down to, um, uh, the tents of Dathan and of Byram down in Reuben. They were outside the tabernacle in the second row round, and to warn everybody to get clear of those tents. Get away. Korah, it seems, did likewise. He left the two hundred and fifty men in the court and came out back to his own tent. What happened then, as you know, when the crowds left the tents, God opened the very earth and swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all they had. Though Korah's sons were saved, you'll be pleased to know, and eventually became their a- their pre- their uh descendants became famous singers in the temple of Solomon. But then there were the two hundred and fifty men in the tabernacle court, those princes of renown, and fire came out from God and annihilated them. And then there were the people who the next day came and complained to Moses. They were the people of God as much as we, and you have no right to take punishment out of them like that. And because of that, God, because they had, uh, accused God of an injustice, he sent the plague among them. Many perished, and more would have done had it not been for the efficacy of the atonement that Aaron made for them. What a gloomy topic that is to get on. Who organized these meetings to, to consider such a gloomy topic when we could all have been singing I'm H-A-P-P-Y all the day long, do you see? Dear, oh dear, oh dear. Happens to be inspired scripture. It pertains to the rights of him who died for you. And shed his blood for you. And if anybody knowingly, having been illuminated by God's Holy Spirit, so that they know as s- clearly as they know anything, because they've been illuminated by God's Spirit. Who then turn round and trample underfoot the Son of God. Not accidentally stumbling over him, but trample underfoot the Son of God, and you've got to do that deliberately, haven't you? That is, they deny his deity. In consequence, they count the blood of the covenant common. If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, his blood is of infinite value. Our salvation depends on it. But if he's not the Son of God, if the incarnation is not true, then his blood is no more value than your blood. It is common blood. If somebody denies the deity of Christ, and with it the next logical step that he was just an ordinary man and his blood is common, and then to crown it does despite to the spirit of grace. You'll see that spirit is the spirit of truth, you know. It's the spirit of God. It's the spirit of holiness. But here it is done despite to the spirit of grace. Why is that? Well, when Israel denied the Lord Jesus and crucified him on a cross, he was buried and God raised him the third day. God sent the Holy Spirit down from heaven and offered those very murderers forgiveness. And not only forgiveness, but salvation. And not salvation by doing their best to keep the law, but salvation free and for nothing. A gift, not of works, lest any man should boast. If somebody has his eyes illuminated to all that, and then with his eyes open, deliberately denies the deity of Christ, counts his blood common, and says to the Holy Spirit, I don't need your grace. I can earn my way to heaven. What then? There is no such sacrifice for such a person anymore, says Christ, says the New Testament. If he won't have the sacrifice of Christ, there is no other. What then? Nothing but an expectation of fiery judgment. That is very solemn, isn't it? We are striving for the truth of the gospel. This is basic gospel. God help us to arm ourselves, to understand the issues, that we in our day and generation may strive for the truth of the gospel. It was a sad thing, wasn't it, that this rebellion was led not by some Amalekite or Philistine. It was led by someone among the Israelites themselves, and note where he came from. He wasn't an ordinary person. He was a Levite in holy orders. What could have stopped that rebellion or prevented it from happening? Well, of course, there's this bit about the Levites here, and what the basis of God's claim upon them was. And then there's a big section here, isn't there? Of the dedication of the Levites and what that meant. But it's time we had coffee, isn't it? So let's take a relief to eat our tea, coffee, and buns, but then I shall ask you to come back by about half past nine or twenty five to ten, just for a short session when we might consider the preparation that God has made for the Levites and for us who are Levites in our day and generation.