is the passage that I've been given here, 41 through chapter 17. I'm going to go ahead and read this section here at the end of Numbers, beginning 41 to the end. On the next day, all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, you have killed the people of the Lord. Now it happened, when the congregation had gathered against Moses and Aaron, that they turned towards the tabernacle of meeting, and suddenly the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. Then Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of meeting, And the Lord spoke to Moses, get away from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell on their faces. So Moses said to Aaron, take a censer and put fire in it from the altar. Put incense on it and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord. The plague has begun. Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded and ran into the midst of the assembly, and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put it in the incense and made atonement for the people. and he stood between the dead and the living. So the plague was stopped. Now those who died in the plague were 14,700 beside those who had died in the Korah incident. So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped. We have come to some of the darkest times in Israel's history, moments of the greatest rebellion, really moments that defy logic. But it is the nature of sin, the irrationality, Now, certainly you can look at the times of, say, the divided kingdom, the days of Ahab and Jezebel and others, and see great wickedness in the land. But in terms of blatant rebellion, it's really hard to beat what's happening here at these times, right? Just look at what we have here in our text at the end of chapter 16. I want to point out that In the worst moments though, it is incredible how vivid a picture of the gospel is also presented at the same exact time. So when we look at what we're looking at here, it begins with, on the next day. The word there for next day is mokarath, and it means really the next morning, as soon as the sun rises. So we see this, that Korah and all the men with him that we studied last time, that the earth had opened up and swallowed them whole. The earth had opened up, all of them went down, and then the earth actually closed up over them. Then, as all the people are running around in a panic, trying to run away from the earth, fire comes out and burns up 250 men who were left there, who were holding the censors in their rebellion. And yet, And yet, all of the people who just saw that happen, just saw that happen with their own eyes, saw something that could not be explained on a natural level. This was an unbelievably supernatural moment. Right there, in the middle of that, they can't even wait an entire day. The very next morning, they immediately come to Moses and Aaron and rebel again. right after that. That is some incredibly irrational behavior. You would think that after watching that sort of a thing happen that you would at least pause, maybe just back off a little bit, even if you were still in rebellion and still hated Moses and hated God, that you would at least say, well, maybe we should wait and see what happens. No, it's very next morning. They couldn't even wait a whole day. And what do they say? They accuse Moses and Aaron of killing those who had rebelled the day before. They watched the Lord do it, and yet they blame Moses and Aaron. None of this makes sense. And look at what they call the people. They said that you have killed the people of the Lord. They're referring to the rebels as the people of the Lord. In fact, the word there is the people of Yahweh. They don't even use the generic. They use God's holy name. They say, the people of Yahweh you've killed. This, of course, makes us think of Isaiah 5. Isaiah 5, there are a couple of verses here that it made me think of, at least. Isaiah 5.14. It says, therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure. Their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he who is jubilant shall descend into it. And then down in verse 20, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I can't help but think that Isaiah must have thought about this incident when he's writing this, when he's hearing what the Lord has to say about that, thinking of about these people going down into Sheol. It had opened its mouth beyond measure. And yet, the next day, they're calling what is good, evil, and what is evil, good. No, this is quite stunning. I still think it's to blame Moses for this. Something else. Well, now, this also was not just a small group of malcontents, okay? This, it says, it's all the congregation. That is stunning. You have to think, what in the world are they doing? Again, the complete irrationality of sin, the foolishness. I think that this is yet another in a long line of proofs throughout the passages that we've studied here in Exodus, Leviticus, and now here in Numbers, that it is not an intellectual problem. It is definitely not. I oftentimes use the example of the rebellion of Israel standing there with the pillar of fire and yet still not believing as an example to the unbeliever today when you present the gospel and say, you would not believe even if a pillar of fire was standing. in front of you. Do you know how I know? Because I can read in the pages of scripture of that happening over and over again. And so here, again, we have the earth opening up and swallowing people, and yet they still don't believe. Well, now, in the middle of all of this, when they're coming there, all of a sudden everyone's attention is drawn to the tabernacle. Now, whether there was some sort of a sound or perhaps there was an expectation of an answer, we're not told, but they all turn, the whole congregation, all turn towards the tabernacle, and as soon as they turn, the glory of the Lord begins to shine from the cloud. Now, in previous circumstances, this was a good thing. Go back to Exodus, the end there, Exodus 40 verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. This was God approving of the building of the tabernacle and was now going to meet with his people. This was a good thing, yet it's a physical manifestation of God's presence Well, here, just like the day before, though, it's a terrifying thing. You can almost feel, as we're reading these things, looking at this narrative, the impending judgment, anticipating God's wrath building as these people stand before him in defiance. This buildup of the glory is starting to shine, You're expecting what is going to come of this. Moses and Aaron sense this. They know what is about to come. And what do they do? They immediately run to the tabernacle. They run and they throw themselves down before the Lord. They fall on their faces. This has to be the third or fourth time, I couldn't find all of the references for this, but a number of times that Moses or Moses and Aaron have fallen on their face before the Lord to plead for the people. This seems to be a reoccurring occurrence, and you have to ask, well, how many times is Moses going to do this before he just gives up on the people, he does it over and over again. And he's just done this the day before. And here, the same people are ready to do him in. Look back at our passage from last time at number 16, 20 to 22, and the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume them in a moment." Then they fell on their faces and said, Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin and you be angry with all the congregation? So again, them falling down to make intercession for the people. This is an incredible picture of the gospel that we see laying out here, right? That the Lord's wrath is kindled and yet somebody comes to stand in the place of, to stand in between. A plague begins to go out, it says, among the people to destroy them. And Moses sends Aaron out with a censer to do what? To make atonement for them, it says. That is an incredibly beautiful gospel picture there. The word there for atonement is kephar. And we've studied this before. We've looked at this before as in propitiation, right? Now, we've made a distinction in the past between atonement and propitiation. Here in the New King James, it's rendered as as the atonement, but it's better as propitiation. So if you want to scribble that in your notes, it's better to be done there. And in The simplest distinction for us to try to always remember, atonement is something that is to mend a broken relationship. Remember, I've made the point before that the modern church likes to talk about atonement and not propitiation. because the atonement, it talks about fixing a broken relationship, right? Now, it's to appease an offended party, and that is absolutely incredibly important for salvation, right? In the whole system that's set up, propitiation is just as important, but different. It's the thing that actually turns away the wrath of God, right? It covers the sinner from judgment. Remember how the mercy seat on the top of the ark, the word for mercy seat is the same word, propitiation. And so whenever you see propitiation, especially in the New Testament, you can read into that mercy seat. You can just read in that whole idea, the covering, something that covers the sinner. When we look at the Ark, we've made mention of this before, that the mercy seat actually covers the three things that are in the Ark, the three things that signify man's rebellion, right? You have the law, which man has broken. Then you have the jar of manna, which is man's rejection of God's provision, or at least our lack of gratitude for God's provision. And then as we're going to see in our next passage, Aaron's rod, which is a symbol of authority that man has spurned. And so the mercy seat covers that. The blood that's spread out on the mercy seat is what, when God looks down and looks at the ark and sees, and instead of seeing what man has done, he sees the blood that's spread out on there. And Jesus Christ is our mercy seat, right? And so we have that covering. All of these things, beautiful pictures of the gospel doing there. So it's very important to make that distinction between atonement and propitiation. Interestingly, the same word for propitiation is used back in Genesis 6. I don't remember if I made this point when we've studied these things before, but Genesis 6, go back there to verses 13 and 14. God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood, make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch. Now, it was the pitch that was pitched all over the ark that covered those inside the ark. Right? It's the same word there for cover it, right? With pitch. To pitch with pitch is that same word for appreciate, right? And what does it do? It covers those who are in the ark from the floodwaters of judgment. Isn't that an incredibly beautiful picture there? Covering them from the wrath of God. And that's, I think that the Lord has used these same words throughout scripture to remind the people of those things. These pictures are, these are not just arbitrary. When we talk about the reason why the story of Noah and the ark is so important and is not something we can give up on, it is not a myth, it is not something that happened, just a local flood. No, this was a judgment on all flesh, on all the earth, there's a gospel message there. You give that up and you lessen the gospel. You take away from the picture that the Lord has been building all along. It goes all the way back to the garden. We can't give up on the first chapters of Genesis because right there is the very gospel presented. The idea of being the covering from that God makes that man tries to cover himself, yet God is the one who has to kill the animal and cover them. of their nakedness. That's the same sort of picture all along here. And so we have that here as well. Now, so what do we have? We have Aaron making that propitiation, right? Standing between the living and the dead. I think that's a That is a very significant statement there. Standing between the living and the dead. These people were rebelling against the very man who was saving them, who was in the act of saving them. they are rebelling against and wanting to do in. What a perfect picture of Christ, right there. The one who stands between God and man, between the living and the dead, right, is the one that we've all rebelled against, right. And the one that when he came, all of the people rose up and crucified, the very ones that he was saving. he were the ones that were crucifying him. So that's, again, I think, even in the middle of this terrible, terrible rebellion, we see a beautiful picture of what was to come. Well, 14,700 people are destroyed that day. We go through these judgments again and again, and they're necessary judgments. The people deserve it all day long, every day. And you think that over and over, 17,000 here, 14,700 here, this many here, this many there. It's a wonder there was anybody left at the end of all of these judgments. But the Lord preserved the remnant, right? It's only his mercy that did that. He, again, should have wiped them all out. He says several times he wants to. And yet he is merciful. He turns from judgment. Any thoughts on this end of this chapter? This brings us to chapter 17. Go ahead and read this. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father's house. All their leaders according to their father's houses. Twelve rods. Write each man's name on his rod, and you shall write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi. for there shall be one rod for the head of each father's house. Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the testimony, where I will meet with you, and it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel which they make against you." So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece. For each leader, according to their father's houses, twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. And Moses placed the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. Now it came to pass on the next day, Then Moses went into the tabernacle of witness. And behold, the rod of Aaron of the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms, and yielded ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his rod. And the Lord said to Moses, bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels. that you may put their complaints away from me, lest they die.' Thus did Moses, just as the Lord had commanded him, so he did. So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Surely we die, we perish, we all perish. Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord must die. Shall we all utterly die? Well, I was given the longest chapter here in Numbers, Numbers 7, with 89 verses, and I think it's appropriate that I'm also given the shortest here, with only 13 verses. And you really, if you look at this, it really could be tacked onto the end of chapter 16. So it makes, it's really the culmination of the narrative. So I think it's appropriate to combine these two and look at them together. You see the people rebel, God judges them, right? Then they rebel again, and specifically rejecting God's appointed authority over them. And then judgment comes again. Then God gives his people a sign of his will, the sign of who it is that the Lord has chosen, and the judgment is passed over. So, again, it finishes the narrative of this whole section. Well, so, each of these leaders, each of the leaders of the twelve tribes, then, are supposed to bring their staffs. A rod from each father's house, it says. We're not given a lot of detail on this, but I think it's safe to assume that a staff seems to have been perhaps passed down from father to son, maybe over many generations, as a sort of symbol of that house's authority. Perhaps the father gave the eldest son his staff, and that just and that marked the leader of that household would always have this staff that gets passed down. Aaron's staff is a symbol of authority. It goes all the way back to when they were still in Egypt, right? When they were in Egypt, whose staff was it that was thrown down before Pharaoh turned into a serpent? That was Aaron's, and whose staff then ate up all of the magician's staffs? Aaron's. So again, a picture of the authority that God had determined there. So here, what do they do? They bring these rods. They represent the leadership of each tribe. and their names are written on them. I find that kind of just an interesting little side note that the mentioning of writing, oftentimes modern historians put writing much later, and they said, oh, Moses couldn't have written all of this at this time. There was no writing at this time. There was just hieroglyphs and cuneiform, but actual textual writing didn't emerge until much later. Well, no, here we have people writing their names on things. So, obviously, writing existed at this time. So, writing at that time, referencing writing at that time, sort of. self-authenticates, you might say. No, but that's interesting. And then these staffs that have their names on them, then they're placed into the tabernacle. Now, that at first might just seem to be an obvious sort of small little detail, nothing really important, but think about the significance of this for a moment, right? The Lord says here, He says, I'm going to rid myself of the complaints of the children of Israel. Well, who's the only people that are allowed into the tabernacle? The priests. The priests are the only ones allowed into the tabernacle. And when they go into the tabernacle, what are they there for? They are the representatives of the people. And it's not all of the Levites that get to go in, and it's not all the priests all at once. It's one at a time. It's a very select moment that is happening, a very sober and a very important moment there. Well, now these staffs are all in there representing the people. I think it's kind of a very interesting picture there, right? All of those staffs are in there all alone in the presence of God, right? Representing themselves, right? Representing God who had just destroyed about 15,000 people, right? They're still burying the dead, and now this happens. These staffs that represent the people are now alone with no representatives for them in the tabernacle. There's no priest in there, there's just the staffs sitting there laid before the presence of the Lord. And they know the presence is there, they see the shining, the Shekinah glory. This is significant, very significant. Yes. Well, it doesn't say, I'm assuming Aaron is. Yeah, I think Aaron, I mean, in the narrative, there's two actors that are doing things, Aaron and Moses. So, one of the two. Oh, okay. Is that what, yeah. Okay, well then, yeah, then Moses does. Yeah. No, Moses does. Moses comes and goes. No, I think even Moses is allowed to do that. I mean, he's of the tribe of Levi as well, so, you know, I don't see anything in anywhere that we've studied so far that would preclude Moses from being able to go in. In fact, he's probably the only one. Yeah. So we have them staying there, burying their dead while this is happening, right? And notice the contrast. Death that we've seen is the result of the judgment that came. But then God's confirmation the proof that he's going to offer as to who it is that the Lord chooses to lead the people and to be the representatives, right? He uses resurrection, right? So death comes from the judgment, but then his offer is one that shows resurrection, right? These rods that are in there, they were long dead sticks, right? They were probably picked up in the desert years ago. Who knows how long Aaron had his staff, but they're just these dead you know, old sticks, right? It's very fascinating that the word for staff here, or for rod, is matah. There's a number of different words that pop up that can be used for this. But they use matah here, and it actually can mean tribe. Sometimes it's used to denote a branch that grows out of a bloodline, right? So I think it's fitting that they're used as symbols of the people or symbols of the tribe. You gotta use anything else, no? They chose the staff right there. It's also interesting that when the word is used as tribe in scripture, it's often related to a moment of judgment. Just look at a couple, two passages here where we find that Leviticus 24 Leviticus 24 10 and 11 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel. And the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. And the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed. And so they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shilemeth, the daughter of Debre, of the tribe of Dan. Then they put him in custody, that the mind of the Lord may be shown to them." Well, this man, of course, is taken out into the camp and stoned, but here it brings up his mother's name, and that she was of the tribe of Dan. That word there, tribe, is the same word used over here. Again, like with branch or staff, tribe is also, there's several different words that can be used for it, but here it's used that way. I kind of thought The several times I find this it's almost like when you get in trouble and your mother uses your first middle and last name So the Lord brings up. Yes, you're of that tribe I'm gonna remind you of these things. I just thought it was kind of interesting or go to Joshua 7. It's another passage. Joshua 7 verse 1, But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things. So the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel. Again, another time where the Lord brings up what tribe he's from. that that implicates the rest of the tribe, but again, used almost, I think, in that same way that a parent would when saying, Matthew Lawrence Olney, get over here. Well, here we have a matter that's literally being laid before the Lord, right? This does make us think of another time that a branch or rod is talked about in scripture, Isaiah 11. This is what I thought of. Isaiah 11.1. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. Well, there are four different words here that are used to describe the idea of branch, or root, or rod, or stick. They're none of the same ones that are used in our passage. All of them actually very interesting. I would suggest doing a word study on each one. It's fascinating. For instance, the word branch, when it says there, is actually a word that refers to a guard, to set up a guard. I found that very fascinating. But again, just the fact that the idea of this, of a branch being a representative of people, I find that to be fascinating. And we see that throughout scripture in several different forms. All right, well, now they have to wait, right? The people have to wait. I imagine that these people, these rebels, hadn't slept the night before, right? They probably stayed up all night, all outraged, telling each other, yeah, we're gonna get up, we're gonna go first thing in the morning, go talk to that Moses, get rid of him, look at what he's done, staying up all night, couldn't even sleep, couldn't wait until the first light comes out and they come storming up to the tent. And now, they're not going to sleep this night either. But instead, for a completely different reason, they're going to wait for the judgment from the Lord. They've just seen thousands of their fellow rebels drop dead, and now their lives hang in the balance. Well, the next morning does come, and Aaron's old, dead, dried-up staff had come to life. It had blossomed and something that struck out to me. read these texts many, many times, and I hadn't really put any thought to this, but it actually produced ripe almonds. Not only had it budded and blossomed, had all flowers, actually, ripe almonds came out of it. There was no explanation for this. You could see a bud coming out of an old stick, maybe, and just be like, oh, well, that stick must have had some old life left in it, right? Well, then how do you explain the flowering? How do you explain ripe almonds? There is no explanation. This is an utterly supernatural event. Utterly. Now, I think that it is, again, another beautiful gospel picture. Judgment of God as to whom he chooses is pictured here as a coming to life. right, are coming to life from the dead. I think we think about that, those of us who have been chosen. And as the rest of scripture says, as a royal priesthood, right? We were just as dead as that old stick, weren't we? Just as dead. Just as dead, just an old stick in the desert. That's all we were. And then now we are brought to life. And what happens? We bud, blossom, and pour forth ripe fruit, or at least we ought to, right? I think that's a wonderful thing. It's amazing. As we study through these things, I think so many people, when they don't look at these passages as closely as we have, miss so much in them. There's so much gospel in this, more than I had thought before we started all of these studies, for sure. for sure. Well, the almond is significant, right? Remember, the almonds are on the candlestick, on the menorah, right? That was something that was putting there. And what that did was represented the light of God, right? That's what the candlestick represented that God always sees that there's nothing hidden, no darkness can hide anything from him. And I think we made a mention when we were studying that, that the almond is sort of a symbol of the eye, right? It's in the shape of an eye, and so perhaps that was the symbolism there. The word actually for almond is shakid. it actually can mean wakeful or watching, something that wakes up and an eye sees something. So I think that very, very significant, and I think they signify that God is watching, right, and that there will be a time of reckoning for every deed. If you go over to Jeremiah, we get this picture again, Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah 1 11 and 12. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, Jeremiah, what do you see? And I said, I see a branch of an almond tree. Then the Lord said to me, you have seen well, for I am ready to perform my word. So again, there in Jeremiah, it's pointing to the fact that God is going to act on his word. He made promises for judgment coming, and he's going to take action on those things. And he also made promises of deliverance, and he's going to act on that as well. So I think the almond is a significant thing in that way, that it shows both God's judgment and his salvation. And we see that again on Aaron's rod. And I think the people recognize this immediately, right? You don't have to, well, you wonder why they didn't see this before, but the Lord now gives them understanding. They see exactly what's happening now. They truly understand of just where they stand now, right? Both figuratively and literally. They are standing in the presence of God, who is a consuming fire, who sees all, and from whom judgment comes and also salvation. Look at their response. They panic. They say, surely we die. We perish. We all perish. That's the only thing that they could say. We all perish. Right? They surmise that even those who just come near the tabernacle are going to die. That's a radically different position that they're taking now as to just a very short time before when they were staying there telling Moses that they were going to take over. Now they're crying out to Moses and asking, are we all going to die now? What a contrast. They see life from the dead, right? That's what they see. They see a resurrected dead thing come to life, right? And what do they see in contrast to that? All they see is their own sin and their own death, right? And again, absolutely amazing there. Well, The rod's then placed in the tabernacle as a sign. Eventually, it's laid in the ark itself, right, as we talked about before, along with the law and a portion of the manna. All just incredible pictures that we see here. Any thoughts? of the almond trees, the first of the trees to come into blossom at the end of January, or the beginning of January. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. It's neat that it comes. So the ever-watching eye of the Lord. because the underlying thing here is a resistance to leadership in general. I can be the only leader. So whatever, and I will just add a little bit, it also brings to my memory, 50 years ago when we lived in San Francisco and we went for a weekend to Yosemite And I can still remember driving from the ocean to Yosemite. Suddenly, there are these fields of almond trees. This was early February. Never have I seen anything more beautiful. It still sticks in my mind. There's lots of scenery in California, at least there used to be. But there's nothing more lovely than to see You know, the shaft has a symbol of authority. It's everywhere. You know, like every monarch has a scepter. Yes. And the symbol of the Roman Empire was a bundle of sticks out of which a tax head came, which symbolized Roman authority over all the other nations that had conquered the states. And it wrapped up in an iron band. And they carried that around in processions. Hmm. Yeah. Well, we have Rod and I staff. They comfort me in the Psalms. Interesting. All right. Well, if there's no other comments, let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word and for the incredible truths in here. Lord, that you show us that you are the sovereign over all things. Lord, that you are the one that chooses. Lord, that it is not our choice, Lord, but rather yours. Help us to understand these things, to humble ourselves before that, Lord, and to live our lives in such a manner. Lord, now as we go to worship you with our lisping tongues, Lord, may our praises be a sweet aroma before you. Lord, and as always, we ask that Calvin's words would also be in accordance with yours. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.