Numbers 17:1-7—1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and get from them a rod from each father's house, all their leaders according to their fathers' houses—twelve rods. Write each man's name on his rod. 3 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. 4 Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you. 5 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." 6 So Moses spoke to the children of Israel, and each of their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers' houses, twelve rods; and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. 7 And Moses placed the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.
Numbers 17 could be considered a continuation of Numbers 16, and in fact Numbers 16-18 could be considered as one unit. Here we see God finally putting to rest any question about who is the High Priest. Not only by the negative sign of destroying Korah and company, but by a positive sign that Aaron was High Priest. They were to gather twelve rods, one from each family, and gather them together inside the Tabernacle so God could show whom He had called as High Priest. He had shown, in Numbers 16, was not High Priest, now He is going to show who was High Priest. And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom.
Numbers 16:8-11—8 Now it came to pass on the next day that 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. 9 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. 10 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." 11 Thus did Moses; just as the LORD had commanded him, so he did. Eventually, Aaron’s rod was to be placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, along with the Two Tablets of the Law and a pot of manna. This was a picture of the Christ to come. The Roman Catholics think of Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant because she bore the one who was High Priest, Prophet and King. And they are sadly mistaken. Was Mary a blessed woman? Yes, for God chose her to bear His Son, the One who would bring salvation. But Mary is not the new Ark of the Covenant; that title belongs to Jesus. What was held in the Ark of the Covenant? Three things: The ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant (Hebrews 9:4).
The two tablets of the Law. Christ lived under that Law, kept that Law, and was the fulfillment of that Law. Matthew 5:17—“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.” He did not come to open up the floodgates of sin; He did not come to make every device of a man’s heart acceptable to God. He came to live under the Law, to carry it within Himself, and to fulfill every word which was written about Him. And He is the fulfillment of that Law for all those who believe in Him. The God’s Word Translation (not a literal word-for-word translation, but a thought-for-though translation) renders Romans 10:4—Christ is the fulfillment of Moses’ Teachings so that everyone who has faith may receive God’s approval. That is essentially what this verse is saying, that Christ has fulfilled the Law in our place, and we receive the fulfillment of that Law by faith in Him. What could we possibly do to earn such a reward? There are not enough good works to do in the entire world to merit any kind of favor from God! We are saved by faith alone, in Christ alone. Titus 3:5—Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. The Law was against us, there was nothing we could do against that Law, and it condemned us. And Christ, who is our life, took upon Himself the burden of our sins, that we may be found approved of by God, apart from the works of the Law or any “good works”, for that matter. Romans 8:2-4—2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. “The Law was weak? How?” Because of the flesh. The Law only prescribed sacrifices that were to be carried out after the person sinned, it could not prevent them from sinning. Just like laws against murder and robbery cannot prevent people from committing these crimes, but only prescribes a penalty to be served after the crime has been committed. God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh. He condemned His Son to die in order to take away the penalty we owed because of our sins. So that that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who…walk... according to the Spirit.
Mary, blessed as she was, contributes nothing to our salvation. Yes, she bore the One who would save us from the wrath of God, but there is nothing about her herself that is in any way involved with our salvation. We don’t pray to her, we pray to God. We do not look to her for our salvation, we look to Christ. She has passed, she was not “assumed to Heaven” as the Romanists say. She died just like anyone, having fulfilled her role in bringing forth the body of our Lord.
Aaron’s budding rod. What we see here in our text in Numbers 17. Just as God chose Aaron to be the High Priest of His people Israel, so He sent His son to be the High Priest of our confession (Hebrews 3:1). We will see more of Aaron’s and the priests’ responsibilities in Numbers 18. But let us focus on our Great High Priest. We see in Hebrews 4:15 why He came in the flesh. Hebrews 4:15—For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Was Christ tempted with sin? Absolutely. Was Christ tempted by sin? Absolutely not. “What’s the difference?” you ask. If your friend tries to get you to run to iniquity, he may dangle some hope before you that you will somehow benefit from it. But in Christ, you know that what they are doing is wrong, and will only turn out to your hurt. He is tempting you with sin, but you are not tempted by it. Take Aaron, the High Priest of our passage in Numbers. Was he tempted to sin? Yes. Did he sin? Yes. When the people did not know Moses’ fate when he was on Mount Sinai, they prodded Aaron into making a golden calf that they could worship. And what did Aaron do? Did he rebuke them, and let them know that only YHVH is God? No. He took their gold, and as he told Moses, he “cast it into the fire, and this calf came out!” (Exodus 32:24). “Can you believe it? Out of that molten mass of gold, this calf just *POOF* appeared!” No, it didn’t just appear. It was fashioned by the hand of Aaron, a man who should have known better. But our great High Priest knows better! What was His goal while on the earth? To glorify God. John 17:1— “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You”. He did not come to glorify Himself, but to glorify the One who sent Him.
Hebrews 5:4—And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was. Aaron was the one chosen by God to offer up sacrifices for the sins of the people that the other priests could not. And making his rod to bud was a work of God that no man could work. Could a man make not only blossoms but full, ripe almonds grow on a rod that was cut off from the tree? And overnight, no less? This is the work of a God who creates. Just as at creation He did not create eggs, but birds; He did not create fish eggs, but fully formed fish; He did not create calves but fully grown cattle, and He did not create a baby, but an adult Adam from the earth. And here, He caused ripe almonds to grow from a stick taken from a tree. And He showed the people that they do not decide who will be High Priest, but God calls the High Priest.
The pot of manna. When the people were in the wilderness, and cried out because they had nothing to eat, God caused manna to come down at sunset. The people were to gather for themselves one omer, that nothing be left for the morning, and they were not to gather on the Sabbath. And what happened? Exodus 16:18—So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Each person had exactly what they needed; no one had any more, and no one had any less. This was another sign Christ explained to the people. In John 6, a multitude of people were gathered to hear Him, and it was near twilight. There was not enough food to satisfy the people, so what did Jesus do? He had the people sit down, He took the 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread, then He blessed it and broke it, and fed the thousands that had gathered. The people came back the next day—to hear more of Jesus’ teachings? John 6:26—“Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” They wanted another free meal. But Christ answered them well (as always). He let them know that He understood what was in their hearts, and that He did not come to simply give them free food, but to give them food that would never perish. John 6:49-50—49 “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.” Our lives are about more than eating and drinking, but about glorifying God and being in His presence for eternity. What eternal good was the manna to the people? They ate it, and what happened the next day? They ate it again. They had to eat it every day in order to survive their life on Earth. But what happened to them eventually? They “ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead”. It could only sustain them while they were living on this rock; it could not give them eternal life.
But Jesus taught them something better. He said “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). This must have been a hard saying for the people to understand. “Live forever? How can someone live forever and not die?” But He was not talking about physical death, everyone will experience that. He was talking about spiritual life; eternal life lived in the presence of God. And it is the spiritual bread that Christ gives us. John 6:52—The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" Jesus answered them, but did so in the way He always answered those who questioned Him with ulterior motives (Proverbs 26:4-5). He did not give them a direct answer, but rather a parable. Was He saying you had to eat His literal flesh and drink His literal blood? Of course not, and it is foolishness to think this is what He was saying! This was a parable, a truth hidden beneath a story parallel to what He was teaching. For if He was saying that the people needed to drink His literal blood, then the Jerusalem Council was lying (Acts 15:29). No, He was teaching them something hard to understand for a reason: those who believed Him would understand, but those who did not believe would not understand. Hebrews 6:4 speaks of those who have tasted the heavenly gift. Did they eat this gift? No. But the Writer uses this metaphor to describe those who have had some experience with religion, even salvation, but go looking for something else to do what only Jesus could do. He is the true Manna, He is the One who can give us eternal food and drink, He is the only One who can sustain us forever at the table in New Jerusalem. From the hymn “The Marriage Supper” by Carrie Breck:
Oh, the bride shall shine in bright array/With her tears all forever wiped away–
There will be a great rejoicing on that day/At the great marriage supper of the Lamb
From all sin forevermore released/They will come from the west and from the east,
For all nations will be gathered at the feast/Of the great marriage supper of the Lamb
We shall praise him by the crystal tide/When the Lamb that was slain is glorified
And the ransomed church of God shall be the bride/At the great marriage supper of the Lamb.
That is when we will feast with our Lord who ransomed us, who gave His life for us, and who gives us meat to eat and wine to drink at the marriage supper of the Lamb!
Numbers 17:12-13—12 So the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! 13 Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD must die. Shall we all utterly die?" What was one of the first lies ever told? “Thou shalt not surely die!” (Genesis 3:4). Here, the people put forth a lie that was the opposite of this, “we shall surely die!” This was an echo of when they were at the base of Mount Sinai, when God said “Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 19:12). They were under the impression that if they even went near the Tabernacle, God would cut them down. This was not the case. They could not go into the Tabernacle, and certainly not the Holy of Holies, but as long as they stayed outside the tent, God would not strike them down. It is also an echo of Eve’s argument to the serpent. Genesis 3:3—“But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” Did God tell her she could not touch the fruit? No. Did God tell the people they could not come near the Tabernacle lest they die? No. Perhaps they were afraid because of the punishments God had inflicted upon them because of their various rebellions. Now, they were afraid to even put God to the test, lest they incur His wrath. Was it necessarily a bad thing for them to stay as far away from the Tabernacle as they could? No. But it could have prevented them from bringing the offerings they needed to in order to stay God’s wrath.
It’s not a bad thing to set up boundaries and fences against sin. Will God be angry if we stay farther away from sin than may be necessary? No. No one has ever been condemned to Hell for being too far away from sin! And sometimes, we need to set those fences even further back from sin than may be necessary. Jesus even warned us we may need to cut off our hand or gouge out our eyes to keep us from sin (Matthew 5:30, 18:8; Mark 9:43). Is this going too far? Is it too much to mutilate ourselves to keep us from sin? Well, as RC Sproul once said, “What’s wrong with you people?” Jesus said “it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell” (Matthew 5:30). If you are in Christ, and destined for an eternity in the presence of the Father and the Lamb, then go maimed and blind, rather than going into eternal destruction with all your limbs and both eyes. Now, did Jesus mean we should maim and blind ourselves to keep us from sin? No. He was telling us to cut away anything that may lead us to sin. If one of our temptations is drink, and our route to and from work takes us by a bar, find a different route. If we are tempted by someone we work with, maybe we need to find a different job. There is always a way to avoid sin. 1st Corinthians 10:13—No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Stay close to God, do not fear to call on Christ. Do not avoid drawing near to the Tabernacle, in fact run to it! Run to the One who will save you from your sins. Run to the One who can give you eternal food to eat and eternal drink to drink. Run to the One Whose arms are open wide to accept any who call on His name. From “Untitled Hymn” by Chris Rice:
Weak and wounded sinner/Lost and left to die
Oh, raise your head for Love is passing by
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus
Come to Jesus and live
Now your burden's lifted/And carried far away
And precious blood has washed away the stain
So, sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus
Sing to Jesus and live
And like a newborn baby/Don't be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk sometimes we fall
So, fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus
Fall on Jesus and live
Come to Jesus, sing to Jesus, fall on Jesus, cry to Jesus, dance for Jesus, fly to Jesus—and live!
Father, may we never be afraid to run to the arms of our great High Priest for forgiveness of our sins. May we always cling to the One who tabernacled among us, who ever lives to make intercession for us. Thank you for this eternally wonderful gift, that we may taste of His glory and be saved from Your wrath. Help us to avoid the pitfalls of our flesh, that we may ever live to glorify You!
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
