Have you noticed some that some of the history of Israel seems to repeat itself? One storyline goes like this:

• The Israelites rebelled against God and blamed Moses and Aaron for whatever they were unhappy about.
• Moses and Aaron didn’t reply or defend themselves; they fell on their faces before God.
• The glory of the Lord appeared.
• God took action to discipline the rebels.

What does “the glory of the Lord appeared” mean? How would that look?

Describing God’s glory is like trying to define beauty. It’s hard to explain, but when God’s glory is in front of us, we recognize what we are looking at because it’s dazzling.

Scripture teaches us that God’s glory can’t be separated from his holiness. An 18^th century German theologian said this about God’s holiness and glory:

 “Holiness is hidden glory; and glory is holiness shining forth.”

 We learned about holiness when we studied the tabernacle. Only Aaron and his sons were allowed to touch the holy things inside the tent, and Aaron could only go into the Holy of Holies once a year, after making atonement for his sins and the sins of the nation.

If sinful people trespassed in God’s holy places, they were subject to death, because God’s glory was present in the holiness of the tabernacle. When God’s glory appeared it could consume anything that had not been sanctified through atonement offerings. Deliberately practicing disobedience was a dangerous state to be in.

Korah’s Rebellion

 The Bible is very clear about the sin of the Kohathite priest Korah, who led a rebellion in the camp. It says he and two Reubenite friends “became insolent and rose up against Moses.” (Numbers 16:1-2) “Insolent” meant they showed an arrogant lack of respect. They conspired together and recruited 250 other disgruntled leaders, and went as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron. They said,

“You have gone to far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?” Numbers 16:3

When he heard this, Moses fell facedown. He apparently listened to God down there on the ground and when he spoke he had clear directions from the Lord. He told the rebellious leaders to come back in the morning and bring their holy censers with them. Then God would reveal the man he had chosen to lead the assembly.

“The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!” Numbers 16:6

The Reason for the Rebellion

The Reubenite leaders of the insurrection, Dathan and Abiram, refused to meet Moses face to face when he sent for them. They sent word back that Moses was responsible for keeping Israel out of the Promised Land. They believed he had denied them their inheritance in Canaan and was forcing them back into the wilderness. They overlooked the fact that their own disobedience was the cause of this disaster.

Moses became very angry at their accusations and asked God not to accept their offerings if they ever came to repent of this sin . . . but Korah, Dathan and Abiram had no intention of repenting. They didn’t fear God because they no longer respected his man Moses.

Holy Wrath and Intercession

Korah brought his followers to confront Moses at the tabernacle the next morning and the glory of the Lord suddenly appeared to the entire assembly. God said to Moses and Aaron,“Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” Numbers 16:21

This was the third time God decided to do away with the Israelites, and he got the same response from Moses and Aaron as he had the first two times; they immediately began to intercede for Israel.

“Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, ‘O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?’” Numbers 16:22

God relented and spared the assembly, but warned everyone who feared God to move away from Korah, Dathan and Abiram as they stood at the entrance of their tents with their families.

God Acts

What happened next to Korah, Dathan and Abiram was an act of God. They had sinned against him not Moses when they rejected his discipline and led others to do the same. It was God who decided their fate.

The earth shook and opened up beneath the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. They and their families “went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.” Numbers 16:33

When it was over, there was no trace left of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. They had tried to separate Israel from God, but instead he separated them from the community when the earth swallowed them up.

But there were still 250 Levites in the camp carrying incense lamps and planning to take over the priesthood. Fire came out from God and consumed them instantly. All that was left among the charred remains were the holy censers.

Eleazar was God’s supervisor over the holy things in the tabernacle, so God told him to collect the censers and hammer them into sheets of metal to overlay the altar.

Intercession and Intervention

 The day following this display of God’s holiness and wrath against sin, the Israelites came back to accuse Moses again. This time they said, “You have killed the Lord’s people” (Numbers 16:41), as if Moses made the earth swallow up people or forced fire from God to consume the 250 Levites. The people chose to accuse Moses for their suffering because they were afraid to face their holy God.

They punished the servant of God instead of facing their sin, but God didn’t let them get away with it. He sent a fast-moving plague that killed 14,700 people before Moses could send Aaron to intercede for them. Aaron took his holy censor with coals from the altar as atonement for their sin and stood between the people and God until the plague stopped.

The Leader of God’s Choice

 Moses had told Israel that God would choose his own man to lead the assembly and the next day God did that. He had the leaders of the twelve tribes bring wooden staffs with their names on them. They placed them all in front of the Ark of the Covenant and learned that the staff that sprouted overnight would belong the man God had chosen.

The next morning there were eleven pieces of deadwood in front of the Ark, but Aaron’s staff had sprouted, flowered, and produced almonds overnight. After each of the tribal leaders claimed his staff, there was no question that God had selected Aaron. His staff remained in front of the Ark as a reminder to Israel not to dispute with God.

When the Israelite assembly learned about the miracle of Aaron’s staff, they connected it to God’s holiness and power and they were suddenly concerned about their sinful condition.

“The Israelites said to Moses, ‘We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?’” Numbers 17:12-13

The people were not all going to die simply by coming near the tabernacle, but they finally understood that if they didn’t respect God’s holiness, it could consume them.

Providing for the Priests

 Now that God had clarified who his priests were, he gave instructions about how to support them. Their needs would be met through the offerings people brought to the Lord and there should be enough food and drink everyday from the priests’ portions of the sacrifices.

Their salaries came from the tithes the Israelites gave from their wealth and incomes. God asked the priests to tithe back to him one tenth of the money they received.

“You must present as the Lord’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you . . . By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.” Numbers 18:29, 32

The priests gave back to God just like everyone else.

Seeing God’s Glory

 When Christians gather for worship we like to pray, “Show us your glory, Lord!”

The approach to the tabernacle was always through the altar of confession and atonement for sin. Christ has atoned for our sins, but we must acknowledge our sins and ask for forgiveness if we want to be right with God. Then, perhaps, God will show us his glory!

But our first prayer should be “Forgive us our sins, Lord,” because when God’s glory comes his holiness also surrounds us. We need to confess our sins and prepare our hearts if we want to experience God’s presence.