Christ in all the scriptures The gainsaying of Korah

 Christ in all the scriptures

The gainsaying of Korah  Numbers 16

"They have perished in the gainsaying of Korah"  Jude 11

The audacious rebellion of Korah is etched eternally in the woes of holy scripture as a warning to every believer and to the entire world.  Man's open rebellion will be crushed by the unmitigated wrath of Almighty God.  There will be no exceptions.   A cursory reading of this chapter brings solemnity to the soul, yet its content is reality.  Reality about the unfettered sin in the heart of man; reality about the unmitigated wrath of God against human sin, particularly against rebellion.  We will first tabulate both of these realities in the chapter, then consider what this says about future judgment in the hands of Christ.  

The rebellion of man   Korah, who was at the heart of this rebellion, was of the favoured tribe of Levi, and a cousin to both Moses and Aaron-refer Exodus 6v16-21.  This rebellion in the camp of Israel was fomented by a man who was born into privilege of the highest order.  Jesus warned the people of His day, that, in a time of departure, "A man's foes shall be they of his own household"-Matthew 10v36.  The challenge was against the leadership of Moses, and the priesthood of Aaron.  Great privilege does not always result in good attitude.  Korah, along with Dathan, Abiram, and On, spread unrest and defiance among 250 prominent men in the congregation.  This unholy alliance would not be the only one in the history of Israel.  Using holy sounding words to cover their evil, (v3) they questioned the authority of Moses and Aaron.  Amid every rebellion there is always a spurious religious reason for the uprising.  Here is a summary of their delusion:

"Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord"?-16v3.

"Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness (these are the same people who refused to enter the land), except thou make thyself a prince over us"? 16v13.

Following the death of Korah and all his rebels, the congregation murmured, "But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord"-16v41.

The rebellion spread to the whole camp.  One man can be a force for evil!

The wrath of God   Challenge to the authority of divinely appointed leadership is a challenge to the Almighty Himself!  When feeble man challenges the omnipotence of God there is only one outcome, and the chapter bears this out in no uncertain terms.  The fallacy of equality (an error which pervades modern society today), and the perversion of historical facts (also a delusion today), brought the visible presence of God down among them.

"And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods...and they perished from among the congregation"-16v32-33.

"And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense"-16v35.

"And it came to pass when the congregation was gathered against Moses, and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and behold the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared"-16v42.

"...there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun...now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah"-16v46-50.   

A challenge to the authority of God is an invitation to judgment.  Almost 15,000 perished in the rebellion, from among His own people.  This is a warning to all generations that an Almighty God has at His disposal the elements of creation to crush any rebellion.  The Lord is wonderful in mercy, He is fearful in wrath.

How do we relate all this to our subject, "Christ in all, the scriptures"?  We all love the thought of "Gentle Jesus. meek and mild"; the record of the babe of Bethlehem is the greatest story ever told; we respond readily to the mercy and grace and the love of God in Christ and these are major themes in which we rejoice, and so we should.  In the rebellious world in which we live, where the authority of God is being challenged, and the perversion of God's truth is spreading like a cancer, we need to be reminded of the wrath of God, a subject that has all but disappeared from our thinking, even from church platforms where it should be preached.  At His first advent Jesus came in meekness and humility as the world's Saviour.   At His second advent (which must be very soon) He is coming in judgment.  He is coming to put down all rebellion, for everything that is contrary to the word of God is simply rebellion, man's thoughts against God's.  He is coming to make war-Revelation 19v11, "In righteousness He doth judge and make war".  This is an aspect we hear very little of today, and it needs to be told.  He is coming to silence every gainsayer; He is coming to put down every rebel.  Beginning with the godless rebel who will rule the world at that time, the beast with his arch propagandist, the false prophet; then the old devil who deceived the world will be chained and silenced; also the people who followed them, with all the buildings on earth wherein the deception was promoted, will be brought down.   The God of heaven, who has committed all judgment to the Son (John 5v22 and 27), will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained (Christ) Acts 17v31.  He came to be our Saviour, praise God!  But all rebellion will be put down, every rebel will be banished forever.  The One who died to save us, will wield the sword of Divine justice.  "Out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall rule them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God"-Revelation 19v15.  This is why a chapter like Numbers 16 has been included in holy writ.  If God did that to His own people back then, what will He do to the godless rebellious people of today?

There is a notable sequel to this dramatic incident.  The Spirit of God is not finished with the family of Korah.  It seems his sons had stood apart from this rebellion.  Numbers 26v11 tells us that in the heat of the rebellion, when the wrath of God fell, "the sons of Korah died not". They had not been part of the uprising and they were spared.  They lived to be endowed with talents that found them involved in the musical and poetic productions of the Levites, which in the course of time became their occupation in the settled conditions of the land.  They were contributors to, or recipients of, a number of beautiful Psalms involving personal devotion to God, absolute trust in God, and themes of worship and community.  These are found in Psalms 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 84, 85, 87, and 88.  Twelve Psalms in all attributed to the sons of Korah!  The father had created a monstrous rebellion, but the sons lived to serve the Lord and His people.  The heart warming conclusion to this treachery is as follows:

Family legacies do not determine everything, we are not defined by the failure of our fathers: God can redeem anything and anyone-examples in scripture are numerous.  Korah's sons lived to produce works that magnified the Lord.  Korah held a high position as a prominent son of Levi, but abused it.  His sons received endowments from above which they used for the Lord.  The fruits of their lives are recorded for us today in the above mentioned Psalms.