Rebellion!

"You have gone too far! Everyone in the entire community is holy, and the Lord is among them.  Why then do you exalt yourself above the Lord's assembly" Numbers 16:3b CSB

When Moses and Aaron heard these words from Korah, a Levite who wasn't happy with his limited role in the function of the tabernacle, they fell face down.  Korah was leading a rebelling again Moses and against God's established order.  Seeing Moses and Aaron fall on their faces should have been an indication this wasn't a good thing to do. 

The next day Moses has the 250 men in rebellion stand before the tent of meeting with firepans containing incense to be an offering to the Lord.  He did this to prove to the people who God accepts as leaders.  God tells Moses and Aaron to step away from all the people because he is going to consume them instantly. (Num. 16:21) But Moses intercedes for the people and request that only the leaders and those who joined them in the rebellion be punished. God tells Moses to have the people move away from the tents and all the belongings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 

In front of the people Moses says if these men die naturally then you know I am not sent by God.  But if the ground opens up and swallows them and all that they own including their families, you will know these men are guilty of despising the Lord. (Num. 16:30) As the last word left Moses' mouth the ground opened up and swallowed them and their household!  (Num. 16:31) At the same time the 250 men who joined the rebelled and were standing in front of the tent of meeting, were instantly consumed by fire. 

Reading this story is shocking and at the same time invokes a sense of awe of a holy God.  God doesn't allow for sin to go unpunished. Those who rebel against him and his leaders are quickly removed without mercy.  God is teaching his people unyielding obedience. Reading this I realize I wouldn't stand a chance in the desert. I would have been one of those who died in the widerness. 

Which makes me extremely thankful for Jesus Christ.  Isaiah 53:12 says, "Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he was willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of the many and interceded for the rebels." 

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus paid the price of my rebellion.  Jesus died for my sin and God poured out his wrath upon him satisfying his righteousness. Christ paid it all and I am forgiven.  I can stand before a holy and righteous God justified by faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.  The rebellion of my heart has been vanquished and I now live in peace with God.