Plagues

COMMENTS

Our local Community Bible Study class is studying Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers this year—at least we were before the Covid-19 outbreak.  Exactly one week to the day before Arkansas had its first case, we studied a chapter in Numbers that was eerily similar to what we were about to experience.

NOTES

Let me fill you in.  In Numbers 16, a man named Korah led a rebellion against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  If you’ve ever heard about a story in the Bible where the ground opened up and swallowed a bunch of people and a bunch more got burned to a crisp, this is that story.  The Lord made it very clear that Moses and Aaron were HIS chosen leaders.  The Israelites stood right there and watched as all of this happened.  They didn’t just “hear” about it; they WATCHED it happen!

I stress that point because THE VERY NEXT DAY, “the whole Israelite community” came to Moses and Aaron complaining that they (Moses and Aaron) had unjustly murdered the rebels.  (Like they had the power to open up the ground!  Really?)  Now, God and Moses had a very close relationship; and God frequently told Moses what he was about to do, and Moses would intercede for the people when God was ready to just wipe them all out.  I find it very interesting that Moses didn’t do that here—God didn’t give him time.  The people had gone too far.  God immediately sent a plague that swept through the community.  Even as God was sending the plague, Moses was acting.  He told Aaron:

“Take your censer and put incense in it, along with fire from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them.  Wrath has come out from the Lord; the plague has started.”

Aaron, of course, did exactly that.  He “ran into the assembly…stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.”  But not before 14,700 people died.

Now, I’m not saying that God told me that He sent this plague (Covid-19).  He didn’t tell me that, and I don’t know.  But whether it’s a judgment from God or a devastation from Satan, I believe there are elements in this story that we need to observe and apply.

We have rebelled against God.  The entire world is in rebellion.  We don’t like being told how to live our lives.  We don’t like not getting our own way.  We don’t like being told we’re selfish.  Many don’t like being told there is only one way to God.  Etc., etc.  Whether this virus is a judgment, an attack, or a natural result of our fallen world, we are defying the Lord God Almighty, and we need to repent.

As Believers, we are priests.  Aaron was God’s priest to the Israelites.  But guess what?  If you’re a Jesus-follower, you are also a priest—a priest in this current age.  Speaking to Christians, Peter proclaimed:

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”  (1 Peter 2:9)

The incense is the prayers of the saints.  Moses told Aaron to put incense in his censer.  In Revelation 5:8, we are told what our incense is:

“And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb.  Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

If you are a Christian, you are a saint.  Who says?  God says.  He tells us so in Acts 9:13, Acts 26:10, Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2, Ephesians 4:12, Philippians 4:21, 1 Peter 1:15-16, and many other verses.  In fact, according to compellingtruth.org, “saints” is used 67 times in the New Testament, always as a reference to all believers.  So, your prayers are the prayers of a saint.

CONCLUSION

We currently find ourselves in a situation that is at least comparable to the one Moses and Aaron faced centuries ago.  A plague is running rampant through a rebellious people.  I submit that, as God’s “royal priesthood”, it is our responsibility to figuratively “run into the assembly” with our incense of intercessory prayers and to stand “between the living and the dead” and the critically ill.  Perhaps God, in His mercy, will stop the plague. 

Praying for you and yours…

Brenda Edge