Despite Rebellion - Numbers 16

Next week will likely conclude this message series - Moving Forward. Next week we’ll take a sampling from the lessons we’ve learned over this series. If you’ve had something in particular stand out to you in this series, please send me a message. I’d love to hear how God has spoken to you through this message series.

Today, we are going to read an account of some major rebellion and the results of that. This passage should serve us all as a warning to those who would chose to rebel. There are always consequences to rebellion and the consequences in this passage are dire.

We are going to read most of Numbers 16…let’s do that now.

Numbers 16:1–35 NIV

1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too 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?” 4 When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5 Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the Lord will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6 You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers 7 and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the Lord. The man the Lord chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!” 8 Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9 Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10 He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too. 11 It is against the Lord that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?” 12 Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! 13 Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! 14 Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves? No, we will not come!” 15 Then Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.” 16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the Lord tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. 17 Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the Lord. You and Aaron are to present your censers also.” 18 So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the Lord appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” 22 But 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?” 23 Then the Lord said to Moses, 24 “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ” 25 Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents. 28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.” 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33 They 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. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.

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Rebellion generally doesn’t happen overnight. There are signs and stages of rebellion and we are going to examine some of those today. I also want to say that rebellion is not always something that happens publically like this event we just read, sometimes the rebellion is a personal one, but the seeds and decision making is very similar. Also, whether the rebellion is public and includes multiple people, or if it is personal, the consequences are similar.

Let’s first start with some of the seeds of rebellion. These seeds are planted in our hearts...

Seeds of Rebellion: Pride

This seed plants thoughts such as these:

I deserve/am owed

I am better than ____

Korah in our passage questioned Moses on all of these. He thought he deserved to be able to go and speak to God directly and hear from him. He thought so little of Moses that he didn’t think he should be the one leading.

The common denominator in each of those is ‘I’. When we look at ourselves and esteem ourselves, we open our hearts to plant this seed of pride. When we compare ourselves others, we are looking in the wrong direction. We’ll see what others have that we ‘deserve’. We’ll see what someone else has received and think we are owed the same thing - it’s not fair. Or we see the flaws of the other and elevate ourselves above them, thinking we are better. We’ve allowed pride to take root in our heart…pride that will eventually lead to rebellion.

Pride is turning our back to God

We don’t want to seek his way. We make excuses and reasons why something feels right or true. We lean on our own understanding. We boast about ourselves and call ourselves better than. We demand respect from others. We demand honor and recognition.

The opposite of Pride is humility...

Humility is turning our face to God

We seek his way. We recognize the shame in our sin and our need for a savior. We find our holiness and worth in Jesus. We boast in the Gospel, in the blood of Jesus, in the Cross. We seek forgiveness rather than respect. We defer honor to God and others.

In our story, Korah stands with his 250 supporters and demands things for himself. Verse 4 in our passage says that Moses fell facedown. Moses’ reaction was one of humility, not pride. Korah’s actions are full of pride and self.

The best way to prevent rebellion in yourself to to turn our face or our attention to God. When we behold the God’s goodness, God’s holiness, God’s might, God’s grace and mercy and His love for us, we prevent pride from taking root and being a seed of rebellion.

The other...

Seeds of Rebellion: Hurts and Offense

Tell me if you’ve ever heard any of these statements:

When I was younger so-and-so at that church over there hurt me, so I’ll never go to church again.

I was hurt by my friend, so I’ll never trust again.

I was offended when so-and-so leader didn’t give me what I wanted, so I am going to make things very difficult for that leader.

Being hurt and offended can be a very dangerous place to be. I believe, next to pride, hurts and offense are the greatest tools of the enemy.

Here is what has happened in me at times…I am hurt by someone. It doesn’t really matter if the person hurt me intentionally or not…I’m hurt. I then play around with that hurt. I hold it in my thoughts and begin to look for other times that person has hurt me and of course I’m going to find them. We will always find what we are looking for.

Then I add those hurts onto the ones I’ve already got lined up and before long I’ve been able to convince myself that either the other person is horrible or that something is wrong with me.

Then, because I am so offended, hurt and worked up, I begin to look around for someone else who might also be hurt and offended. I might even be super spiritual about it and say something like “pray for me, I’m pretty hurt by so-and-so.”

Of course, that person doesn’t just pray, they spilled their guts about how they are also offended or hurt by so-and-so.

It doesn’t stop there...Before you know it, Your name is Korah and you’ve got 250 other leaders standing beside you in full on rebellion.

How do we guard against hurt and offense taking root? We can’t avoid being hurt or offended. It’s going to happen.

It would be nice if would could just change everyone around us so they wouldn’t hurt or offend, but that is not a reasonable expectation.

I know there are many different types of hurt and offenses that happen and many different ways in which we ultimately have to process them.

Let me ask a question…What is the benefit of hanging onto a hurt or offense? What are you or will you get out of it? What would life be like if you released that hurt or offense?

I believe the only way to prevent the seeds of hurt and offense to take root and grow into rebellion is to forgive.

The seeds of hurt and offense are neutralized by forgiveness

We offer forgiveness even if the other person isn’t sorry. We offer forgiveness even if the other person doesn’t even know they’ve hurt or offended you.

Forgiveness is something that happens inside of us. I’ve heard it said this way: Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

We can’t change anyone else. We can only lead the change within ourselves. By replacing the hurt and offense in our heart with forgiveness, we chose a healthier path forward for ourselves.

Hurts and offenses that ferment in our hearts as unforgiveness are what eventually results in rebellion.

Maybe you see see these seeds of rebellion being planted or even nurtured in you right now. Perhaps they’ve already grown and you are in the midst of all out rebellion.

I want to say this to you today: It is impossible to move forward while in rebellion. Rebellion within the nation of Israel caused their delay in getting into the promise land. The entire adult population who exited Egypt did not get to see the promise land because of their rebellion. A new generation had to rise up in order to enter.

If you read further in Numbers 16, you’ll see where others in the assembly continued the rebellion of Korah and his friends. God begins to bring a plague on those people and then Moses and Aaron intervene and ask for God’s forgiveness.

Rebellion Requires seeking forgiveness

The first step in dealing with our own rebellion is to seek the forgiveness of the ones we’ve rebelled against. Here is what Romans has to say about rebellion:

Romans 13:1–7 NIV

1 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. 7 Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

We might be rebelling against a person who has some authority over us - could be our parents, a boss or someone else, but ultimately we are rebelling against God who has established that authority over us.

What would it look like to give that person respect and honor? Doesn’t mean we have to agree with everything they are about, but it does mean we honor and respect those in authority over us.

Rebellion is ended by honor and respect

If the first step is to seek forgiveness for our rebellion, the next step is to honor and respect the authority over you.

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