God's Grace in Restoration

In Leviticus 8 the account of the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood is recorded.

They were set apart. Special garments were placed on Aaron as high priest. Anointed with oil. Animal sacrifices. Blood on the altar. Blood on the right ear lobes, right thumbs and right big toes.

All this was to signify the importance and uniqueness of this ministry.

It's a familiar account.

But this is the same Aaron, who, less than a few months earlier at the foot of the same mountain where this ordination was taking place, made the golden calf (Exodus 32).

He called the people to give him their gold. He fashioned it into a calf and said, "Here are your gods that brought you out of Egypt!"

And now he's being set apart as THE high priest over all of Israel? The primary connection between God and His people was leading them in idolatry a few months earlier?

Really?

What was God thinking? Didn't Aaron need to go through some kind of ministry rehab?

Start him back down at the bottom of the totem pole until he proved himself faithful in small tasks?

I suppose by now, some of you have started to think of a New Testament parallel.

Peter denied that he knew Christ in the hours before the crucifixion.

Not once. But three times.

After the resurrection and before the ascension of Christ, Jesus came to Peter and commanded him, "Feed My sheep."

Not once. But three times.

And we see in Acts, which continues the account less than two months after the crucifixion, that Peter is the leader in the church. 

He's the one who stands up and explains what is happening on the day of Pentecost. 

He's the one who preaches and gets thrown in jail. 

He's the one who heals a lame man. 

He's the one who stands before the Jews and says, "We must obey God rather than man."

Aren't those two men, Aaron and Peter, amazing accounts of God's grace at restoring to ministry?

They still made mistakes after getting back into the saddle. But God didn't leave them on the bleachers because of their horrific sins.

He picked them up and used them for His glory.

And He can do the same with those of us who have fallen. 

"Fallen" is not the end of the story.

Humble before Man and God

In Numbers 16, Korah led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron. He stirred up 250 leaders to challenge their authority.

"We are all holy. What gives you the right to rule over us?" was their argument.

Moses and Aaron responded by falling on their faces before these men.

They humbled themselves.

They plead with these men to remember the position of service that God had given them in the tabernacle. And then they challenged them to a duel.

"Come in the morning with your censers and we'll let God decide," was the challenge.

The next day, God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the people. He would wipe them out for their rebellion.

Moses and Aaron responded by falling on their faces before God.

They humbled themselves.

They plead for mercy, asking God to punish those who were guilty, not all the people.

Korah came before the tabernacle. Moses said to the people that if these men died natural causes, then they were innocent. But if the earth swallowed them up, then they were guilty.

The earth swallowed them up.

Some of the accusers challenged the authority even further by refusing to come to the duel.

They were burned by fire from the tabernacle.

The next day, the people came back to Moses and Aaron and grumbled, "You have killed the people of the LORD."

Again, God told Moses and Aaron to separate from the people and He would just kill them all.

Again, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces, pleading for mercy.

Moses sent Aaron out into the camp with the censer to appease God and stop the plague that had already started.

About 15,000 people died in those two days.

Moses and Aaron illustrated humble leadership.

They put the honor of God and the benefit of the people before their own power.

They could have stepped aside and said, "Okay, God. We're tired of them, too. Let's move on without this dead weight."

But they remembered God's promise to bring this people to the promised land. They remembered the glory that God had revealed in Egypt and how that glory would be diminished if the people died.

They remembered that they were servants of God, not partners. They were to do His will, not their own.

How are we leading in the realms where God has placed us?

Even Leaders Fail

Again the children of Israel complain. And it's not surprising. They didn't have any water.

So who was to blame?

Moses and Aaron, of course.

Interestingly, they didn't get to their complaint until the end of their rant.

"Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here both we and our cattle?And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink" (Numbers 20:3-5).

They wished they had died already in one of the other judgments.

They had forgotten that they were following the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire - God's direct leading.

They had forgotten that God had worked the 10 plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea.

They had forgotten that they had made a choice to rebel against God at Kadesh-Barnea.

They had forgotten that God was judging them and they were all going to die.

And they blamed it all on Moses and Aaron.

Moses and Aaron go to the tent of meeting and fell on their faces before God. God's glory appeared and gave Moses instructions to go to a rock and command water to come out of it.

Moses gets up. Picks up his staff and heads to the rock, calling the whole nation together.

"Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" (v 10).

Moses was putting the responsibility in the same place as the people had done: on himself and Aaron.

Then rather than speak to the rock as God commanded, he struck it with his staff.

Water came out. Not just a trickle. It must have been a mighty river because it was enough for all the people and their livestock.

God provided. But Moses and Aaron were disobedient.

"Because you did not believe in Me, to uphold Me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them" (v 12).

Moses, the humble leader, was disobedient. His disobedience cost him entrance into the Promised Land.

For leaders, which we all are in some way, this serves as a warning. We are not immune from lack of belief which leads to disobedience.

For followers, which we also all are in some way, this serves as a warning. We are to follow our leaders as they follow Christ. Don't follow them if they are headed away from Christ. Don't put the leaders up on pedestal that they can do no wrong.

God is gracious in spite of our sins. Even though Moses and Aaron acted in unbelief, God provided the needs for His children.