Jesus, Our Faithful Rock and Korah, Rock-Hearted Rebel

Third Sunday in Lent

March 3, 2013

Jesus, Our Faithful Rock and

Korah, Rock-Hearted Rebel

Numbers 16:1-3

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

For the last two months we've been discussing Moses and Egypt and the Ten Plagues during our Sunday Bible study. Today we see how the hearts of Hebrews were stubborn—they didn't trust God's promises. And we wonder how they cannot grasp what's so obvious, that you should trust God's promises because He always keeps them.

The answer to this puzzle is that miracles and glory don't create trust in God. This is the key truth that you heard last Wednesday night. Miracles, great and small, can create awe and wonder for a short time, but they can't create faith.

Korah had seen all the miracles the Lord had done to set them free from Egypt. But his words reveal his unbelief; he did not trust God. He showed his unbelief by rejecting Moses as his shepherd and spiritual leader. He showed his unbelief by wanting to go back to Egypt and reject life in the Promised Land. God had made it clear time and again that Moses was His man and that He would protect them in the Promised Land. But Korah wasn't having it. He didn't want Moses as his shepherd and pastor and prophet—he wanted to be in charge.

Now Korah … and Dathan and Abiram … [and] On … took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?” (Numbers 16:1-3 ESV)

They falsely accused Moses and Aaron of abusing their power, power that Korah claimed didn't belong to them. If Korah were rebelling against God today, he'd probably say, “The Church is a democracy. Everyone of us is important and we all deserve a vote as to what we believe and what we do. We'll decide together which of God's promises we'll take seriously.”

As all good liars do, the Devil got Korah to blend truth with fiction. Everyone of us is precious to Jesus, our Good Shepherd, every last sheep and little lamb. But the Church is not a democracy when it comes to the promises of Jesus. We don't get to vote on which parts of Scripture we can get excited about and which parts to ignore.

A few cases to this point. Like the rebel Korah, I find it offensive that God had the earth swallow up his kids. I find it offensive that little Matthew Smith was born with a bad heart and died. I find it offensive that moms and dads suffer the loss of little ones in the womb. Sometimes God seems like the enemy.

[T]he ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. All Israel who were around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth may swallow us up!” Fire also came forth from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who were offering the incense. (Numbers 16:31-35 NASB)

To the people of Israel who witnessed whole families going down together into the earth, to see 250 outwardly good men burned alive, the Lord must have seemed like their enemy.

But He is not our enemy! We've seen what Korah brought on himself with his rejection of God by rejecting His called shepherd. Korah's destruction was Korah's fault entirely. Moses begged him to repent, but Korah said in effect, “I'm doing it my way,” and this attitude destroyed him.

On the other hand, Jesus said, “I'm doing it My way,” when Peter tried to get Jesus to stop marching toward His death.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:31-34 ESV)

Jesus is not our enemy! He endured hell to conquer our true enemies: selfish Me, the lying Devil, and the Death itself. And this is the essence of bearing our crosses. When the evidence screams that He is our enemy, we trust Jesus' promises that He is our friend. And the best way to bear this cross is to keep on listening to Jesus' prophets preach the good news that He is your friend on the cross.

Korah wanted a democratic church were everyone is singing Sinatra: “I'll do it my way!” My selfish Me agrees! But when you go it alone and do it your way, you're doomed just like Korah.

Jesus' Church isn't democratic. He did it God's way and used Himself as the Way to pay for our constant sin and rebellion. And His way worked!

St. Paul proclaimed Jesus' victory.

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NIV 1984)

In the name of the Father

and of the + Son and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen.