This morning I read about the people who rebelled against Moses in Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16). This was after the people rejected God about the promised land, and then God, in turn didn’t allow them to enter it after they thought they could enter in without God’s support. God then cursed all of that generation but the two spies (Joshua and Caleb) who gave a good report on God’s strength and goodness. Korah, a Levite, and 250 elders of Israel, declared themselves as Holy, and tried to usurp Aaron and Moses’ leadership from among the people, and God destroyed them with Holy fire, and swallowed up two of the leaders along with everything that belonged to them from among the people. And, after all of that, the people still rebelled against Moses and Aaron.
What is amazing is that, in the age of Grace, we still rebel against God. We still declare ourselves Holy, and we still don’t get it! Just as the people of Israel had God’s presence among them, in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle and as a pillar of Cloud and Fire, we who have the Holy Spirit among us still want to make names for ourselves, rejecting God’s rules for our own, and seeking to enter God’s Kingdom on our terms.
Jesus made God’s terms clear when He said “I am the way, the Truth and the Life, no one can come to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). The New Testament Authors constantly tell us how all of the Old Testament, and even our lives in Christ now, are shadows of things to come, all pointing to the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. There is no other way. We can’t enter the promised land on our own, and Jesus is the narrow path we must tread if we desire Eternity. Choose wisely.
John 14
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
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