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Daniel of Doulogos Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
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Wednesday, May 30, 2012
What we learned from Aaron


So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. - Numbers 16:47-48 [ESV]
You remember what happened next right?  A plague went out and people began to die.  This is where the above passage comes into play.

It is easy to miss the gravity of what was happening when we read all about it in the space of so few verses, so I want you to consider the scene - starting on one side of the camp, people began to die.  There would have been screaming from those next to them, whom themselves died, only to cause more hysteria in those who were adjacent to them, etc.  A wall of death, as it were, was sweeping across from one end of the congregation, and heading to the other - and Moses hearing and seeing that the wrath of God had already gone out - charged Aaron to put himself before the plague, and make an offering to appease God's wrath.

You might imagine Aaron jogging out there, like a man who had a job to do - with no more thought to what he was doing that an obedient lap-dog fetching his master's stick.  But Aaron was running into a scene of unprecedented horror - while everyone was fleeing to the left, he was pressing his way to the right - while they ran away from death, he pressed on towards it.

There is no indication in scripture that Aaron considered himself as immune to God's wrath.  While some may suppose Aaron stoically jogged out there, utterly impervious to God's wrath -simply performing a necessary rite whereby an expected outcome would be received for the wages paid (a morbid business transaction, but certainly nothing that put him in any danger); we ought instead to allow that Aaron had no assurance that God's wrath would stop with him.  We ought to see something self-sacrificing in Aaron's effort, for we have no reason to imagine anything less.  When he charged forward into certain death to make an offering to set aside God's wrath - I see in this yet another picture of Christ's love, for He too set Himself in the path of God's wrath to save God's people.

Christ's love is real, and it shows itself throughout the scriptures.  We love Him, because He first loved us.
posted by Daniel @ 12:49 PM  
4 Comments:
  • At 7:15 AM, May 31, 2012, Blogger Daniel said…

    must. fight. annoyance. with. new. blogger...

     
  • At 7:17 AM, May 31, 2012, Blogger Daniel said…

    Thankfully, my readership is rather reduced at the moment, so I don't have to be all that concerned that the recent edit fail on this one post was up since yesterday.

    Well, it's fixed now.

    In your face blogger!

     
  • At 10:13 AM, May 31, 2012, Blogger Jim said…

    I'm still hanging in there...I always enjoy reading What the Lord is giving you from His Word.

     
  • At 7:31 PM, May 31, 2012, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Speaking of editing, in case you're interested:

    "Their would have been screaming from those next to them, whom themselves died, ..."

    should read:

    "There would have been... , who themselves died,..."

    Not to be picky but just thought you'd want to know.

    I appreciate your take on this particular text since I likely would have read right over that type/shadow of Christ in Aaron's self-sacrificial action.

     
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