La vara de Aarón / Aaron's Staff
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Introduction
Introduction
We live in a society that prizes being independent. We live in a society where people prize doing what is right in their own eyes.
We see it in the way that young people treat their parents. They act as if their parents had no authority over them.
We see it in the way employees act when their supervisors are not around.
We even see it in our country where people hate those in government simply because they have a different view/perspective from them.
We see it in how many people leave the church thinking they can be close to God without being part of any organized religion/church.
In our journey through the Bible this year we read about a remarkable story where God performed a miracle to teach the people a very important lesson. Today, we will consider:
The problem
The miracle
The people’s reaction
I. The problem
I. The problem
I. El problema
I. El problema
The people of Israel have been wandering in the dessert in their journey from Egypt to Israel.
They will be wandering for 40 years.
During this journey one could imagine the people’s complaints.
The people complained about not having bread and God provided “mana” from heaven. Every morning they would go out and gather up mana which they would grind and make flour to bake bread.
The people complained about not having meat and God provided quails.
The people complained about not having water and God commanded Moses to strike the rock which gave them water.
However, they had a recurring complaint against those who were leading them in their journey: Moses and Aaron.
They complained that God not only limited himself to speaking with Moses but would also speak to each of the Israelites. After all, they too were the chosen people of God.
They complained that only Aaron and his sons were offering incense before the presence of the Lord. They too were the people of God.
In this complaint they were essentially telling God that they did not agree with God’s chosen leadership.
In their last rebellion, when all the people thought they could also offer incense before the Lord, God had sent his judgement upon the people and taken the lives of 14,700 (plus 250, total of 14,950), .
God is now determined to put an end to the people’s complaints and continuous rebellion.
God has chosen this people to be his inheritance, his royal priesthood, his servants.
Yet, they were acting as if they were the Lord, as if they were to be obeyed.
II. The miracle
II. The miracle
II. El milagro
II. El milagro
God commands Moses:
The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron’s name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe. Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the ark of the covenant law, where I meet with you.
Num 17:
El Señor le ordenó a Moisés: «Diles a los israelitas que traigan doce varas, una por cada familia patriarcal, es decir, una por cada uno de los jefes de las familias patriarcales. Escribe el nombre de cada uno de ellos sobre su propia vara. Sobre la vara de Leví escribe el nombre de Aarón, pues cada jefe de familia patriarcal debe tener su vara. Colócalas frente al arca del pacto, en la Tienda donde me reúno con ustedes.
There were 12 tribes in Israel. Each of the tribal leaders was to bring a staff and write his name upon the staff.
Aaron was from the tribe of Levi. For this reason, Moses was to write Aaron’s name upon Levi’s staff.
Moses was to put each staff before the presence of the Lord.
God himself chose the sign. He did not leave it up to the people to determine who was the true leader.
God did not leave it up to the people to democratically elect how they were to be lead.
God did not leave it up to the people to determine how they were to approach God.
He is God and commands those who call themselves his people.
God has never and will never start to survey the people to understand their preferences or opinions in how he is to be approached/worshipped.
We see 12 staffs before the presence of the Lord. God is about to perform a miracle:
The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”
Num 17:
La vara que retoñe será la de mi elegido. De ese modo me quitaré de encima las constantes quejas que los israelitas levantan contra ustedes.»
God will make the staff belonging to his chosen one to sprout.
We are to understand that these are the ordinary staffs that each of the leaders would use as a sign of authority. They were not necessarily for the purpose of walking but rather a symbol of authority for they were the leaders of the people of God.
Essentially, these staffs were dry/dead staffs. There was no life in them, but God with his power would make one of them sprout to demonstrate who he had chosen.
Moses goes into the Lord’s house and is the first one to see the miracle God has performed:
The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.
Num 17:
Al día siguiente, Moisés entró en la Tienda del pacto y, al fijarse en la vara que representaba a la familia de Leví, vio que la vara de Aarón no sólo había retoñado, sino que también tenía botones, flores y almendras.
God has truly performed a wondrous miracle. One of the staffs has budded, it has actual almond blossoms, and ripe almonds.
It is possible for a living branch to bud or produce a blossom overnight, but to have ripe almonds - this is impossible. God was demonstrating his power in this miraculous sign.
Moses looks for the name on the staff and notices it belongs to the tribe of Levi - Aaron is God’s chosen priest. There is no question about it. God has spoken.
Moses shows the people of God the evidence.
Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff.
Sacó entonces de la presencia del Señor todas las varas, y las puso delante de los israelitas, para que por sí mismos vieran lo que había ocurrido, y cada jefe tomó su propia vara.
Num 17:9
Aaron saw his staff and was reassured that he was God’s chosen priest.
The other leaders saw their staffs and understood they were not chosen by God to be a priest in Israel.
Moses was to take Aaron’s staff and put in inside the ark of the covenant as a perpetual reminder of God’s will.
The Lord said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.”
El Señor le dijo a Moisés: «Vuelve a colocar la vara de Aarón frente al arca del pacto, para que sirva de advertencia a los rebeldes. Así terminarás con las quejas en contra mía, y evitarás que mueran los israelitas.»
God had called his people out of Egypt so that they could worship him freely.
However, somewhere along the way the people started to grumble and act according to their will and not according to God’s will.
It is as if the honeymoon period was over and now they were starting to see what they perceived as being negative.
They started to see faults in their leaders.
They started to see fault in what God was providing to them for food and sustenance.
God understands our sinful nature and our propensity to forget. For this reason he commands Moses to safeguard Aaron’s staff inside the ark of the covenant.
We should not see the Israelites condition as being unique to them.
Let us look at ourselves; how many times have we forgotten what God commands from his people? How many times have we strayed away from God’s will? How many times have we ignored what God has clearly revealed in his word?
It is a constant battle for the believer to be mindful of God’s will because our natural inclination is to rebel or forget what God commands his people.
God was clearly demonstrating his will as to how his people were to approach him.
God was saying that it was through the ministry of the levitical priests that he was to be approached.
The priests were to offer the sacrifices on behalf of the people.
The priests were to offer incense before the presence of God.
The priests were to preside over the worship of God.
Why? Because that is how God prescribed his worship. That is how God determined that he would be worshipped. God is God and he owes us no explanation for his actions.
This is a difficult concept for many people to grasp. God is the sovereign over the universe and does as he pleases.
God is the only truly independent being for he acts according to his will.
III. The people’s reaction
III. The people’s reaction
III. La reacción del pueblo
III. La reacción del pueblo
When the leader’s of Israel saw that God had chosen Aaron and his sons; to be his priests forever the Bible says:
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?”
Entonces los israelitas le dijeron a Moisés: «¡Estamos perdidos, totalmente perdidos! ¡Vamos a morir! Todo el que se acerca al santuario del Señor muere, ¡así que todos moriremos!»
The people of God were petrified. They felt as if this was a death sentence for them.
They knew God was to be feared, that God was to be treated with utmost respect. After all, in chapter 16 God had taken the lives of almost 15,000 people because they dared to come before God in a way that he had not commanded.
To a certain degree their reaction was 100% appropriate.
They were to treat God with fear and trembling.
They were to treat God and see him as he is - an all powerful God, a holy God, a great God who should be feared by all the inhabitants of the earth.
When we have a Biblical concept of God we come before his presence with fear and trembling. We come together with the people of God, on the Lord’s Day, knowing that God has commanded a day of worship (out of the 7 days of the week).
When we have a Biblical concept of God we dare not neglect the gathering together with God’s people for we know that it is God who has commanded it.
However, their reaction was also going beyond God’s intent.
The people started to despair thinking that they could/would never approach God.
They feared that if they dared approach God he would take their lives.
God was not pronouncing a death sentence upon his people; rather he was revealing to them that if they were to come close to God they were to come to him in the way that he had revealed.
The people were to come to God through the medication of the levitical priesthood.
It was the priests that would come to God on behalf of the people.
It was through the priests that God would reveal himself to his people.
God has chosen Aaron through this marvelous miracle to demonstrate how his people were to approach God. In the same way, God has chosen the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way through whom we may approach God.
God demonstrated his election of the Lord Jesus Christ through the miracle of the virgin birth.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Por eso, el Señor mismo les dará una señal: La doncella concebirá y dará a luz un hijo, y lo llamará Emanuel.
God demonstrated his election of the Lord Jesus Christ through the visible manifestation of the Trinity when Jesus was baptized.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Tan pronto como Jesús fue bautizado, subió del agua. En ese momento se abrió el cielo, y él vio al Espíritu de Dios bajar como una paloma y posarse sobre él. Y una voz del cielo decía: «Éste es mi Hijo amado; estoy muy complacido con él.»
Mat 3:17
And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
God demonstrated his election of the Lord Jesus Christ through the miracle of the resurrection.
God raised Jesus from the dead to demonstrate he was the only begotten son of God and our messiah.
God raised Jesus from the dead to demonstrate Jesus accomplished his work of redemption.
We can pretend to approach God by other means; other than what he has revealed but it will be utterly useless.
We can worship God in our own way.
We can believe in whatever religion we thinks suits us best.
We can have many sincere beliefs about what God will or will not do at the end of our lives.
But…all of this is useless because although we can be sincere in these beliefs; we can be sincerely wrong!
God has offered salvation exclusively in the person of Jesus Christ.
We most come to Jesus if we are to experience forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
We dare not leave this life without coming to Jesus; for if we do, we shall surely perish for all of eternity.