According to the people of the modern world today; we have just turned the page on yet another civil year.
Have you looked around your environment and wondered if there are any godly leaders left whom you can admire and respect and follow?
IT IS WISE TO ACCEPT GODLY LEADERSHIP
If God has picked a leader and put him into office despite the chaotic shouts and demands of certain rebellious people; it would be wise to accept this leadership and not rebel.
Why do I say this?
For one thing; I’ve read the book of Numbers.
Chapter 16 holds some valuable clues for those of us today to follow. The words here show us that God often chooses leaders that we may not totally agree with or understand their actions; still they act for God and anything that is of God is always in the best interest of humanity.
THE REBELLIOUS WILL ALWAYS COME FORTH
Many men today do not accept God’s leaders. They turn against them and shout out their rebelliousness to the world. Every human being has flaws, even God-chosen leaders. No one is ever perfect (except for Jesus) and we should never expect someone to be perfect simply because they are in leadership. Yet; someone will always be there to point out the flaws of leaders; even those chosen carefully by God.
They even try to solicit others by criticizing the one in charge and they like to form large groups who will support their wrongful rebelliousness.
EVENTUALLY GOD HANDLES ALL REBELS
God has a way of handling such things.
He waits patiently on us to see the truth and change; but when this doesn’t happen; God defends his loyal and true leaders. If you can’t grasp that from these stories of Moses, look at Daniel, David and Esther.
Another story to prove the point is today’s scripture passage taken from Numbers, Chapter 16. Here is yet another story that contains a jaw-dropping incident of God’s defense of His chosen leaders which occurred back in the days of the wilderness tabernacle while the people were still under the godly leadership of Moses.
A MAN NAMED KORAH
A man named Korah took some other men with him and they rose up against Moses. These were 250 Israelite men who were well-known members of the community and respected leaders. They were on the council for the nation.
They criticized the leadership of Moses and Aaron by saying that the whole camp had been made holy and NOW Moses and Aaron were no higher or better than all the others with them. They accused Moses of “going too far” with his leadership demands.
In other words, they failed to acknowledge that God had called Moses and Aaron out to lead the whole nation and they didn’t want to acknowledge that they had the right to rule over them.
I wonder; does any of this sound a bit familiar?
Surely nothing like this would go on in today’s governments?
Or would it?
GOD ALWAYS REVEALS THE TRUTH
When they confronted Moses about this he fell on his face in prayer, then he addressed the men who accused him.
Moses told Korah and his followers that the Lord would show who belongs to him and who is holy and he will have that person to come near.
Moses instructed the men of Korah to bring their incense and sensors and burn them before the LORD on the next day and God would show them which group had “gone too far.”
BAD LEADERS OFTEN OVERSTEP THEIR BOUNDARIES
Moses also pointed out to the men with Korah that God had already separated Korah and his men out from the rest of the Israelites and brought them near in order that they might be used to do some of the work of the tabernacle and to help minister to the people of the community. That was the job that they were appointed to do; that and no other.
But now they were also trying to be the a part of the priesthood; which God had not appointed them to do.
They even wanted to make themselves function in the same office as the high priest. They wanted to bring Moses and Aaron down to their level so that they all would have equal power among the people.
Moses pointed out to them that this was rebellion against what God had already established.
He also pointed out their arrogance by saying “Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?”
Then Moses specifically requested to speak to Dathan and Abiram who were the sons of Eliab; but they would not even consent to come to the meeting.
GOOD LEADERSHIP DEMANDS FAIR AND HONEST COMMUNICATION
These men protested that they had been right at the land of milk and honey and Moses had brought them back out into the wilderness again.
Could it be that they had forgotten their part in this decision so soon?
This was such a falsehood; as Moses had sent these very men out to check the land they were about to enter and they had brought back fearful reports instead of encouraging the people to go ahead at the time that God had appointed. It was THEIR fault that the people were not yet living in the Promise Land.
GOOD LEADERSHIP DOES NOT TWIST THE TRUTH TO FIT THEIR MOOD OR CURRENT SITUATION
Now these men rebelled against the fact that Moses had done what God had commanded and turned back toward the wilderness, even though this was how Moses had persuaded God to spare their lives after they had not followed God’s commands. Originally, God had wanted to destroy them.
The men now clearly resented and disrespected the leadership of Moses and Aaron, even though it was their prayers that had saved them.
They threw up the fact that Moses had not been able to bring the people into the promised land. They even accused Moses of treating the people like slaves again.
A GOOD LEADER CAN ALWAYS STAND IN HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
This made Moses extremely angry.
He asked God not to accept the offering of these men in the coming day.
Moses also reminded God of the fact that he had never taken anything from these men and that he had never wronged them in any way.
Then Moses waited on Korah and his men to appear before the LORD for their answer.
THE RIGHTEOUS SERVANTS OF GOD WILL PREVAIL
So the next day the 250 men stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. They all had censers and were burning incense upon them.
The Glory of The LORD appeared before all of them.
The first words out of the mouth of God were to Moses and Aaron.
God told them to separate themselves from the assembly so that he could put an end to the rest of the group at once.
It would now seem that the leaders they thought were so wrong were the only reason God had for not wiping the whole bunch off the map.
GOOD LEADERS DISPLAY COMPASSION AND LOVE FOR OTHERS; EVEN THEIR ENEMIES
But Moses and Aaron bravely fell before God and asked him to have mercy on the group and simply punish the one man causing all of the trouble.
So then God told Moses and Aaron to tell the assembly to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Moses went to these men and all of the elders followed him.
Then Moses warned the assembly to move back from their tents and not to touch anything that belonged to them so that they would not be associated with their sins.
So the elders and the assembly moved away.
Then Dathan and Abiram came out of their tents and were standing in front of them with their wives, children and little ones.
THIS IS HOW YOU WILL KNOW
Moses spoke to them and 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: If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me. 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.”(Numbers 16: 28-30)
No sooner than Moses had spoken the words, the ground under the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their families and all that were associated with them, including every item that they owned.
Those who saw this and heard their cries as they were basically buried alive ran away thinking that the earth would swallow them too.
THE CONSUMING FIRE OF GOD
Then a fire came out from the LORD that consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense.
God then told Moses to get Eleazar the Son of Aaron to remove the censers from their charred remains and to scatter the coals a far distance away.
The censors were holy – the unholy men who used them had done so at the cost of their lives.
It very much displeases God when men who are unholy disrespect the things that He has made holy.
A SIGN IS GIVEN TO HELP THE PEOPLE TO REMEMBER
Eleazar was told to hammer the censers down into sheets to overlay the altar so that they could always be a sign before the Israelites.
This would always be a reminder that no one other than the sons of Aaron (his descendants) should come to burn incense before the LORD, or else that person would suffer like Korah and his followers.
You would think after all of this that the people would be satisfied and believe that the leadership of Moses and Aaron was from God; but later we will hear of what happened on the very next day.
As I have studied the ancient leadership from God, it becomes clear to me that people of today have not learned wisdom and are no different.
There are still signs all around us. We should be heeding them and paying attention. We should watch and wait and pray for our leaders.
God always keeps his promises.