Word of Salvation – May 2011

 

Text: Numbers 17 – CHRIST: THE ALMOND BRANCH – by John Westendorp

(Sermon 17 in a series on Numbers)

 Scripture reading: Numbers 17.

Singing: Book of Worship 146 / 431 / 182 & In Christ alone

 

Intro: Complaining is a common human pastime. Nobody particularly likes grumbling… and yet we all do it.

 

There was once an order of monks in which members took vows of silence.
Only after a year were they permitted to speak to the abbot of the monastery.
One monk, when given that opportunity said: “My cell is too cold.”
A year later when he was again allowed to speak, he said, “The food is terrible.”
The third year when he spoke he said, “The bed is too hard.”
On the fourth occasion, a year later he said to the abbot, “I quit!”
The abbot replied, “I’m not surprised, you’ve done nothing but complain since you came here.”

 

Complaining and grumbling needs to be dealt with.
If we don’t it tends to become a characteristic of our life. Grumbling is addictive.
C.S. Lewis, in ‘The Great Divorce’, pictures some tourists from hell visiting the fringes of heaven.
One of the personalities he describes is a woman who has faded away to a mere grumble.
He makes the point that when we first grumble about something we stop ourselves.
We repent of it and get ourselves out of our black mood.
But if we persist we find that grumbling tends to take over our life.
He says, “The grumble goes on forever like a machine.”

I think Lewis was talking about a lady I once knew.
I learnt never to ask her, “How are you?” Because all you got was a long litany of grumbles.
Not surprisingly people avoided her and she became a lonely and bitter old lady.

 

We need to deal with our grumbling lest it becomes an all-consuming issue.
Besides… as Mark Twain once said: “If you grumble about your problems
80 percent of people don’t care and the other 20 percent will think you deserve them.”

 

A] THE CONTEXT OF ISRAEL’S GRUMBLING.

 

1. Numbers 17 occurs in the context of Israel’s constant grumblings.

They grumbled when Pharaoh pursued them at the Red Sea.

They grumbled because of a lack of water at Marah.

Later they grumbled because they didn’t have meat.

Ten times they had already grumbled against Moses and Aaron and against God.

 

Then in numbers 16 we have grumbling on steroids.
There the complaining turns into outright rebellion against Moses and Aaron.
There was opposition to their leadership.
Moses and Aaron are accused of self-promotion and of doing it for their own glory.

 

That chapter is the lowest point in the story of Israel’s wilderness journey.
And the results are horrific.
The 250 leaders of the people who joined the rebellion are incinerated.
And the earth opens up and swallows Korah, Dathan and Abiram.

 

But the really staggering thing is that even this did not end the grumbling.
In Israel grumbling had become a chronic problem.
It had become like what C.S. Lewis described: a grumble that goes on forever like a machine.

Incredibly the people then grumble that Moses and Aaron have killed off those who died.
And result is that God punishes them with a plague in which another 14,700 die.

 

2. What God now does in Numbers 17 is deal in a more permanent way with this grumbling problem.

God again acts… but now not in judgment against a specific instance of grumbling.
Rather God is taking some precautions to prevent future grumbling.
God does not want His people to fade away into a mere grumble.

 

You may wonder why God deals so strongly with grumbling.

Let me give you three reasons why we need to deal with that complaining spirit.

 

First it clearly undermines the leadership of the church and the nation.
Repeatedly it is Moses’ leadership that is under fire or the leadership of both Moses and Aaron.
It gets to the point where Moses is greatly discouraged by it.
In Numbers 11 Moses gets so overwhelmed by the murmurings that he asks that he might die.

When there is complaining amongst God’s people it does nothing to encourage the leadership.
To the contrary; it is most depressing and discouraging to have to put up with grumbling.

 

Secondly, and more importantly grumbling is an assault on the character and being of God.
Moses tells Israel again and again that the people are really grumbling against God.
They murmur against God’s provision for them… they grumble about His ways with them.
Moses and Aaron are merely those through whom God guides and leads. God is attacked.

The Westminster Shorter Cat. says that our chief purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
But when you complain you rob God of the glory that is due to Him.

 

Thirdly, grumbling also deprives God’s people of joy and blessing in life.
Nothing is clearer from the previous chapter of Numbers.
Instead of blessing Numbers 16 is full of God’s judgment.
John Piper has said that we are most satisfied when God is most glorified.

That lady I mentioned earlier, the chronic grumbler, missed out on so much joy of living.
Grumbling is like shooting yourself in the foot. You rob yourself of being satisfied in God.

 

3. All of that helps us to understand why God deals so sternly with complaining Israel.

It puts the horrors of Numbers 16 into perspective,

It also helps us to understand why God now, in Numbers 17, takes this further precaution against it.

 

Actually there is one additional point we must remember from Numbers 16 to understand Numbers 17.
There was a deeper issue in Korah’s case of grumbling.
His complaining was especially an attack on the priesthood and the whole sacrificial system.
He argued as if we human beings do not need a mediator between God and us.
As if any of us can waltz willy-nilly into God’s presence in any way we please.
As if we can totally ignore that a go-between is needed.
That’s why Numbers 17 now zeroes in especially on Aaron the High Priest.

This especially shows us the seriousness of the sin of grumbling and complaining.
Let me put it to you this way:
Grumbling is a serious sin because it is an assault on God and His glory.
But now what if the grumbling is against the very means of our forgiveness.
What hope is there then of avoiding a sure and certain judgment?

 

That’s especially why God wants to deal with this once for all… to halt all future grumbling.
God’s purpose for what He is about to do is repeated twice in this chapter.
Look how clearly that is spelled out:
Verse 5: I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.
Verse 10: This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.

 

B] THE MIRACLE OF THE ALMOND ROD.

 

1. God tells Moses that a very simple and practical test is about to be carried out.

One leader from each tribe is to present Moses with a staff… a rod.
Some of us may be wondering why this test involves a staff.
It’s because the staff is a symbol of leadership.
It’s like the sceptre carried by a king… perhaps they had a special shape to highlight that.

 

These twelve rods – one for each tribe of Israel – are to have the name of the leader inscribed on them.
There is to be no confusion as to which staff belongs to which leader.
These rods are then placed overnight in the Tabernacle… the Tent of Meeting.
In other words: each staff is brought into the very presence of the Lord God.

 

Significantly it is Aaron’s name that is on the rod of the tribe of Levi.
In some ways that’s quite surprising.
Ask yourself: Who is the most significant leader in the tribe of Levi at this time?
We would be inclined to say: Not Aaron! Moses is!
Moses, the Levite, the brother of Aaron, is clearly the great leader.
But Aaron gets to have his name on the staff that belongs to the tribe of Levi.

 

The point is that the issue here is not just the leadership. The issue is especially the priesthood.

So this special test will serve a double purpose.

It addresses both the issue of the leadership and who it is who has right of access to God’s presence.

 

God says through Moses that the man God chooses, his tribal staff will sprout.
The other eleven – no matter how nice the rods – would just remain dead sticks.
Only one of the twelve would be singled out to come alive.
In this way God addresses the chronic grumbling of the Israelite people.

 

2. Numbers 17 is one of those chapters of the Bible where a miracle takes place.

On the night before, twelve dead sticks of wood are placed in the Tabernacle.
In the morning one of those twelve – Aaron’s staff has miraculously sprouted to life.
You can imagine the awe as the twelve leaders of Israel gather around to have a look.
What the night before was a dead piece of wood is now amazingly alive.

 

In fact – it is not just alive. Look at how Aaron’s staff is described in our text.
It had not only sprouted leaves.
It had also budded and there were also a goodly number of flowers.
More than that… there was ripe fruit on that staff of Aaron as well.

Nothing made clearer that this was a direct and miraculous intervention of God.
Branches of fruit trees don’t normally have buds and flowers and fruit at the same time.
The order is first the buds… they open into flowers… and then develop into fruit.
Here buds, flowers and fruit are all there together in an amazing display of productivity.

 

God calls Moses to place this living staff of Aaron back into the tabernacle as a witness.
It was placed in front of the Ark of the Covenant as a sign to the rebellious.
So presumably the buds and the flowers did not fade nor did the fruit perish.
So at the slightest hint of another rebellion in Israel that staff could be brought out.

Not only did it have the name of Israel’s High priest carved in it.
But it carried buds and flowers and fruit as a sign of God’s special intervention.
God shows His people who His chosen person is.
Not just as a leader of the nation but as the one who has right of access to God.
This is God’s chosen intermediary.

 

3. Let me just show you in yet another way that this is not just about leadership.

All of this is especially about the reality that human beings need a Mediator to be able to approach God.

This is not just about Aaron as a leader… it’s specifically about Aaron as their High Priest.

 

This budding of the rod is both preceded and followed by two very meaningful events.
Think of how Numbers 16 ends with that terrible plague and Israelites dying by the hundreds.
In the middle of that mayhem Aaron takes a censer with burning incense.
And he stands there between the living and dead holding up this offering to God.
Only then is the plague stopped.

It’s a powerful picture of the High Priestly work of Aaron.
He stands between the living and dead and that makes all the difference in the world.
He is God’s intermediary… God’s go-between.

 

Now compare that with what happens at the end of this chapter.
Moses shows the people the eleven rods of the eleven leaders from the eleven tribes.
And they then see that amazing dead staff that has come to life, with its buds, flowers and fruit.
And what is their response? They cry out to Moses: We will die! We are lost. We are all lost.
And then significantly they add:
Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all going to die?

 

When we studied Numbers 16 I pointed out that it highlights that our God is not to be messed with.
Well, that was an understatement. Scripture says that our God is a consuming fire.
So will all the people die? No!
But only as they learn the lesson of the sprouting and flowering staff of Aaron.
We may come to God. But only on His terms.
Only through the Mediator God has chosen. Only through His appointed High Priest.

 

C] PICTURE OF CHRIST’S SAVING WORK.

 

1. That makes the imagery of this miraculous story all the more meaningful.

I want you to ask yourself why God chose to turn Aaron’s staff into an almond branch.
Why not into a gum tree branch with gum buds and gum flowers and gumnuts..?
You say: Because you can’t eat gumnuts? Okay!
But why then not an apple tree… or a luscious peach? Why an almond branch?

 

Where else in the Bible do we read of almond branches? In two places.
You’ll find one of the most telling places by turning a moment to the first chapter of Jeremiah.
There the young Jeremiah has his first prophetic vision.
Let me read with you from Jeremiah 1:11-12.
The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
“I see the branch of an almond tree,” I replied.
The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.”

 

There is here a play on the word ‘almond tree’. In Hebrew it sounds like the Hebrew word for watching.
So too in the high priesthood of Aaron God is watching over His people.
His purpose is not to destroy them… His purpose is to love them and care for them.
It’s a lovely imagery that the NT picks up on when it speaks of elders as overseers (bishops).
And especially that Jesus is the overseer… the bishop of our souls. He watches over us.

 

The other place we meet an almond tree is in the instructions for the lampstand in Exodus 25:31-40.
This wonderful golden candelabra with seven branches was really a stylised almond tree.
The cups were shaped like almond flowers and almond buds were to be under the branches.
Now not only God watching over His people from the Tabernacle but also giving them light.
Again… wonderful imagery that is fulfilled in Jesus who is the light of life.

 

2. So today we have a Bible text in which we see Jesus Christ so very clearly.

He is the one through whom God is watching over you… He is your great High Priest.

I came across another interpretation of that the stylised almond tree – that lampstand.
It was suggested that it represented the Tree of Life and that Christ is our Tree of Life.

 

But I want to show you yet another way in which Aaron’s staff is such an appropriate picture of Jesus.
That staff had once been a living branch of a tree.
But it had been cut off and it had died. Yet now that dead stick has come wonderfully alive.

 

In a vivid way that pictures for us the work of Christ.
Jesus Christ (who in Isaiah is called a branch) was cut off from the land of the living. He died!
But He (who is also called ‘the rod of Jesse’) is now gloriously alive.

This staff therefore points us especially to Jesus… to His death and resurrection.
The coming to life of Aaron’s staff marked Aaron as God’s chosen leader and High Priest.
The coming to life again of the dead Jesus, marks Jesus as God’s great leader and High Priest.

 

Paul puts it this way (Rom.1:4) Christ is declared Lord/Leader by virtue of His resurrection from the dead.

 

That means today that your only intermediary with God is Jesus Christ,
He is the only mediator with God and without Him we die.
Israel felt they were all doomed… no one can approach God.
But praise God… Aaron’s dead staff has come to life and blossomed.
Jesus Christ who died for us has come alive again and He is now our leader and Priest.

 

3. That makes it possible for us to take all this imagery just one step further.

I find it meaningful that Aaron’s staff sprouted, budded, blossomed, fruited.

All of that pictures something of the fullness of Christ who is both our staff and our lampstand (light).

 

First there is the sprouting. In other words, the sign that life has returned to that dead branch.
Jesus is alive.
And the wonderful blessing is that we who believe in Him are made alive with Him.
Without Jesus Christ we are like those dead sticks.
But when we come to trust in Him we also come to share in His new life.

 

Secondly there are the buds that speak to us of promise and potential.
In fact, there is something else that is special about the almond tree.
It is the first of the fruit trees to flower in the Spring… it marked the coming of Spring.
So too Jesus’ new life is the promise of things to come.
It marks the start of God’s new season of life and growth that will climax in glory.

 

Thirdly there are the flowers that not only speak to us of potential but also of beauty.
If you’ve ever seen a flowering almond tree in full blossom in early spring it’s a glorious sight.
The white flowers are a picture purity and splendour.
So too there is the glory and the beauty of the risen Christ.
And all the glory and splendour that He brings about for God’s people and God’s world.

 

And then finally there are the ripe almonds.
That speaks to us of productivity and of a harvest… the great harvest at the end of the ages.
All these blessings were for Israel… but only as they approached God through Aaron.
All these blessings are still for us today.
But only if you come to God thru His appointed mediator, Jesus our great High Priest.
And it’s as we come to God through Him that our grumblings cease.
Because only then do we know ourselves to be safe and secure for time and for eternity.

Amen.