Aaron the Priest

Thank you, Mr. McCready. Good afternoon to all of you. I feel like I should apologize that I'm not Mr. Dean. I know a lot of times I'd rather listen to him than me, but...

And I want to say, I know it's common, I've been on the other side of having the ABC choir come to visit, pastoring in Portsmouth for the last several years, and we're always very thankful and very appreciative, but I'd like to say what I think many of the students would say if they were standing here right now is, thank you to you for hosting. And I'm pretty confident it's accurate to say that because I saw that look in their faces. And I remember being in the choir myself when I was an ambassador student, and when you do it right, when the song comes out right, it makes you feel so good, but it's much better to do it in front of an audience than in rehearsal. So I saw that look on several faces, so I think they know they did it, they really hit it today, and thanks to you for letting us be here. I'm just along for the ride, but it's a good opportunity for me as well. It's interesting, I thought I mentioned, I could also say welcome to spring. Today is the first full day of spring, and had an interesting thought as we were driving our way up here.

We circled around 275, and we went on past the I-71 route, and I commented how long it normally takes to get from our new home to the Great Wolf Lodge, where the Winter Family Weekend will be held. And Connor, our son, heard us say that, and he said, I think from now on, or starting now, the Winter Family Weekend should be the Spring Family Weekend.

He doesn't want to wait until next winter. So, oh, nope, I just think there was one other thing I wanted to say that I didn't write down. Again, Sue and Connor and I are welcome, we're very happy to be here. Normally, I come in with even a lot more young adults.

I won't be in this position for summer camp since Len Martin's taken over directing the camp. But I wanted to mention we're happy to come early and get to visit. We won't be able to stay as long as we would like afterwards, because actually I have to go part way back towards Portsmouth. We actually have the pleasure and honor to do a couple of baptisms there later this evening. So, I'm sure all of you will be happy enough that you won't mind me leaving knowing the good reason for it. So, to get into the message, I would like you, if you will, to, in your imagination, picture with me an unusual event that happened thousands of years ago in the Middle East. It begins with three old men hiking up to the top of a rather prominent hill. And from the top of that hill, of course, they'll be able to see a broad plane stretched out below them. Now, there are normal-looking men dressed in ordinary clothing of working-class people, either some sort of tunic or robe, which, of course, they would hitch between their legs and tie up. You see that phrase in the Old King James saying, girding up your loins. They're doing that so they can walk freely.

And when they get to the top on that plane below them, they see hundreds of young men advancing forward in loosely organized ranks. It looks sort of military, but it's obvious that these are no experienced or trained soldiers. And they're also wearing ordinary clothes rather than uniforms. And they're armed with an odd assortment of whatever they could find, most of them clubs, some spears here and there, and once in a great while you might see a young man carrying a sword. But moving towards them from the other side of the plane is a somewhat more organized army, men marching in ranks, almost all of them carrying spears.

And when the leading edge of each group meets, vicious fighting breaks out. Meanwhile, up on the hill, the old men are watching this, and one in the center begins audibly praying, and he raises up his arm holding a staff, asking God to give the unorganized young men victory. And as he does, that odd assortment of men start gaining the upper hand, and the others push back. But as that old man's arms get tired, which happens fairly quickly if you've tried that, he lowers them down, and it seems to go the other way. The organized, prepared army starts pushing them back. Starts pushing back the other army. And so it goes through much of the day. Commanders on each side are sending groups of men and orchestrating this move as they send men in there and withdraw others, and they try to work around each other.

So they're paying very little attention, once again, to those old men. You see those little figures up on the hill. But if they had been paying attention, they would have noticed something fairly unusual. Whenever that old man had his arms up in the air praying, that loosely organized ill-equipped group was gaining the upper hand and winning. But when he'd let them down, it would quickly reverse, and they'd be pushed back. Well, realizing that this was happening, the two other men who were with him said, we've got to make sure he can keep those arms up. So they propped a stone up behind him, and each one took one of his arms and held it up there. Kept him up there until about sundown. And of course, so it was, by the end of the day, the Israelite army won a great battle against the Amalekites. Now, I'm sure many of you, as I began describing this, realized, I've read that before. It's in the book of Exodus. It's a pretty well-known story of an unusual event that occurred as the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt on their way towards the Promised Land. And of course, that man who was holding that staff aloft and praying was Moses. God doesn't normally intervene in wars that way, but apparently he wanted to teach a lesson by giving Israel the victory only as long as Moses' arms were above his head while he prayed. Now, one lesson, and there might be many that could be involved, but I think one of the lessons God wanted Israel then and us now to learn was the importance of cooperation, the importance of each person doing his job and being willing to support someone else in his or her job. That lesson could not have been lost on the two men whose role that day was to hold up another man's arms. One of those men was named Her. Somebody whose name appears in the Bible, and we don't know a whole lot about him. Josephus says that he was actually Moses' brother-in-law, married to Miriam. And the Scripture doesn't confirm or give us any reason to not believe that. But the man on the other side is someone we know a fair bit about. It was Moses' brother, Aaron. Aaron had one of the most interesting and unusual experiences of anybody we read about in Scripture. And I think if we look at his life, we'll find a number of valuable lessons for a Christian to learn. And so, I do want today to focus on the life of Aaron the High Priest. Now, this might not sound like a pre-passover sermon. And to be honest, when the thought first came to me to do a sermon on this subject, I didn't intend it that way. But as I worked on it and developed it, I said, boy, there are some important lessons that are useful as we're preparing for the Passover and examining ourselves. So as we come to those, I hope it'll be clear why, as I actually started working on this some time ago, and when I got done, I said, I'm going to save this for the Passover season. Every now and then you have a sermon that strikes you that way. But first, let's back up and look at Aaron when we first meet him.

I referred to him as the High Priest, when he wasn't always a High Priest. As a matter of fact, you might not think of it this way, but for most of his life, he was not a High Priest. During the incident I just described, when he and her were holding up Moses' arms, Aaron wasn't a Priest of any sort, High or otherwise. For a long time, nearly 84 years, before taking on the role of being the High Priest of Israel, he was Aaron the Levite.

That's what he's called the first time we see him named in the Bible. If you'll join me there in Exodus 4 and verse 14. Exodus 4 and verse 14. Now, I'm breaking into a story here and I'll catch us up a little bit on what happened beforehand. Exodus 4 and verse 14. We see God has been speaking to Moses, who we know is Aaron's brother. At this point – and as I said, we'll back up and find out why it's this way – but the anger of the Eternal was kindled against Moses. He said, isn't Aaron the Levite your brother?

I know he can speak well. And look, he's coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he'll be glad in his heart. This was near the end of the unusual conversation that God had with Moses in the episode we call the burning bush. Moses was out tending the sheep. There's a bush on fire. It doesn't seem to be going out. They're burning up.

So he stops to look, and then God starts speaking to him. Let's him know he's got a job for him to do. Moses, you need to go talk to Pharaoh. Moses wasn't so keen on going to talk to Pharaoh. He started making up just about every excuse he could think of. They're not going to believe me. I'm not special. At one point, I'm slow of tongue. God says, well, who made man's mouth? I can fix that. Finally, towards the end, Moses pretty much said, will you please send someone else? By that time, God was pretty fed up. But interestingly, I'd say he wasn't surprised. He'd been watching Moses for a while, because if you read through the narrative, it seems that by the time that happened, God had already recruited Aaron. Notice when God's speaking to Moses, he said, Aaron is coming to meet you. Aaron was already en route. And if you look ahead at chapter 27 of this verse, it appears later, but it seems this had probably happened earlier. The eternal said to Aaron, Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and met him on the mountain of God and kissed him. After the long conversation with Moses that I didn't read but summarized, it makes me think, hmm, no burning bush, no rod turning into a snake, no argument, just go meet Moses. And he does. No? Aaron, it seems, didn't make any excuses. It just said he went, and when he met him, he kissed him. Now, I don't think, you know, brothers don't greet each other that way nowadays. We generally shake hands, maybe have a hug. But we do see that Aaron was glad to see Moses. The story goes on to say, of course, they gathered the elders of Israel, and Aaron spoke all the words that the eternal had told Moses. And Moses did signs in front of the people. And we know the story. Of course, it's something we study into this time of year. As I was preparing this, though, I couldn't help. You might have noticed I've got a young son, and so I've become well acquainted with veggie tales. There is a veggie tales version of this story called Mo and the Big Exit. And I like it. Mo, which is short for Moses, at one point says, okay, you do the talking, I do the thing with the stick, and God does all the rest. That is sort of how it worked.

There's no record of Aaron ever hesitating or ever resisting the role that he was assigned.

He worked with his brother, Moses, and to a large degree he worked for his brother.

I glanced at the concordance and I didn't count up all the incidences, but I noticed the phrase Moses and Aaron, listing them together, appears in the Bible more than a hundred times. So they came as a unit. Now, of course, each of them is named separately as well. And not having the exact count, it looked like Moses was named on his own almost twice as often as Aaron was named on his own. You know, Moses had greater prominence. Now, I know, it's not unusual for a younger brother to look up to his older brother to want to be like him, but Aaron was not the younger brother. And looking a page ahead or two in Exodus 7 and verse 7, this tells us when they went to see Pharaoh, Moses was 80 years old.

Aaron was 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh. Now, it's not the most difficult thing ever for a young, an older brother to play second fiddle to his younger sibling, but it's not that easy either. And I think Aaron deserves some credit for not letting his ego get in the way all that time. You know, he did the job that God gave him, even if it consisted of holding Moses' arm up in the air.

It's interesting when we look back to the beginning of this relationship, just what a difference three years made. We won't turn there, but in the first chapter of Exodus, of course, we remember that, you know, the Pharaoh and that generation that knew Joseph, who had saved Egypt, you know, they died, the Israelites start procreating like crazy, and lots and lots of them, the Egyptians said, they're going to overrun us if we're not careful. So at one point, Pharaoh ordered that all the male children have to be killed, you know, that the women can be saved alive.

And of course, that sets up the story of Moses' parents hiding him for three months. And then, of course, they didn't want to kill him, so they build this little basket, an ark, it says in the Old King James version, and they dabble with pitch, and float it out there in the Nile River, right where Pharaoh's daughter confined him. Of course, she does, and she takes him in, and Moses was raised in the palace.

I find it interesting. Now, Aaron is three years older, so apparently that decree that all the male babies had to be killed must have been made sometime between when Aaron was born and when Moses was born. There's no record that Aaron had to be hidden of him floating in a basket.

And then you think, what a difference three years could make. You know, we don't know a whole lot about Moses during his first 40 years. Later on in Acts 7, when Stephen is giving a sermon, he says that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He was mighty in word and deed. I know Josephus gives accounts of him leading successful military battles and things like that. He was living in the royal palace, a dream life of glamour and wealth. I wonder if Aaron ever looked on and said, huh, I wish I'd almost been killed and floated in a basket out in the river.

No, it's possible. But then again, we don't see any indication of that. If Aaron ever did think that way, we can give him credit he did not let jealousy define who he was. He learned to cope and live a different life. And I've mentioned a couple times the fact that Moses and Aaron knew each other when God brought them together, you know, at about 80 years of old, makes us think they must have somehow built and maintained some type of relationship before then. I'm verging into speculation, but it makes me wonder, at the time when Moses was growing up in the palace and being taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, did Aaron and Miriam come to visit sometimes?

Maybe. I wonder, did they get an education along with Moses? I wonder that partly because if God was planning ahead who was going to be his high priest already, it would make sense he'd like for his priest to know how to read and write, how to add, subtract, multiply. Still, even if that was the case, if Aaron and Miriam had some special privileges, and by the way, if Aaron's three years older, Miriam must be the oldest of all the three, right?

Because, you know, if the three-year-old wasn't the one watching and then goes talk to Pharaoh's daughter and says, hey, I can get you a nursemaid from the Egyptians, not the Egyptians, the Israelites. So Miriam is oldest, then Aaron, then Moses. But whatever privileges Miriam and Aaron had, when Moses killed that guy and had to run for his life, I imagine they were out. No more privileges if they did have any. From then on, Aaron is Aaron the Levite, and there are a lot of other Levites around.

There's one place in Scripture where we do see perhaps a hint of some sibling rivalry. I want to go to Numbers 12. It's an important incident that we do want to address. Numbers 12. It says that Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he'd married. Four, he'd married an Ethiopian woman. Now, we don't know the background there. If you look back in the story, he had married Zipporah at first, who was called a Midianite.

My guess is that sometime in their 80s, Zipporah's life had come to its natural end, and Moses was lonely, so he married again. But Aaron and Miriam didn't particularly like his choice. He'd married her, and they said, Has the Eternal indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?

No, and the Eternal heard it. Now, the man Moses was very humble. More than all the men who were on the face of the earth. Apparently, for all the works that God had done through Moses, Moses still wasn't going to stand up to his older brother and sister. He was very humble. So God took a hand. 13. Suddenly the Eternal said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting. So the three came out. And the Eternal came down in the pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam. They went forward, probably looking down at their shoes when they did, and he said, Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Eternal make myself known to him in a vision. I speak in a dream. Interestingly, he says him, but it's worth noting back in Exodus 15 verse 20. I'm not going to turn there, but it says that Miriam was a prophetess.

A prophetess? So somehow, at some time, God most have had some communication with Miriam. And maybe as he's saying this, she's thinking, yeah, every now and then I get a vision or a dream, dark saying. We know Aaron is going to be a priest by this point. But he says, Not so with my servant, Moses. He's faithful in all my house. I speak to him face to face, even plainly, not in dark sayings. He sees the form of the Lord. Why, then, were you not afraid to speak against my servant, Moses? And of course, then the anger of the Eternal was aroused and he departed. The cloud departed from above the tabernacle, and suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, and there she was a leper. He probably jumped back a step. So Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my Lord! Now, that's the small letters L-O-R-D. That's sort of Aaron saying, My boss, sir, please, you know, don't lay the sin on us, which we've done foolishly, which we've sinned.

Please don't let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half-consumedly coming out of his mother's womb.

So he pleads with Moses to have mercy, and God, or Moses does, pray and ask God to forgive her.

God says, Well, let's follow protocol here. Let her stay out of the camp for seven days, then she can come back. I've sometimes wondered, I pointed out that Miriam was the the oldest sibling. The fact that Miriam got the leprosy and Aaron didn't has made me wonder if perhaps she's the one that started the whole thing.

Maybe Moses didn't stand up to both of them, and maybe Aaron didn't want to stand up to Miriam.

Perhaps he was just going along. Well, if so, there's a lesson for us. Just going along with something that shouldn't be done, even if you didn't start it. Boy, that can get you in big trouble. We're going to come back to that lesson a little bit later on, because it's very important and a very important event in Aaron's life. But I want to focus on the fact that before he ever became high priest, Aaron was Moses's brother. And for the most part, he seemed to be happy with that. He spoke for Moses, and in doing so, recognized that he was speaking for God.

Now, this is important just so we know this relationship that they had. We want to remember one of the things we have in common with Aaron. God has called each of us to be priests in his kingdom. It says that in Revelation 20. If you want to keep a finger here in numbers, we're going to come back. But Revelation 20 in verse 6 makes it very clear.

This scripture is describing a group of people that we all very much want to be a part of.

Revelation 20 in verse 6 says, "...blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection.

Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Okay, so we look forward to being priests, but like Aaron, before we're ever priests, we're someone's brother. And we want to develop a good relationship with our brother. In this case, it is an older brother, Jesus Christ. We're brethren of each other, of course, but if you... I'm going to stop back in Romans chapter 8, just to remind us of this. In Romans 8 verse 14, as it were, it tells us, "...as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." You have God's Spirit, you're his son, and of course, anyone who has the same father are siblings. In verse 17, it says, "...if we're children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together." Jesus is our older brother. Not that that's news. I'm sure that's something you've known a long time. But as I said, just like Aaron, long before we take on the role of being a priest, we fill the role of being brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ. And learning that role means recognizing who and what we are and what we're not. We need to make sure we know our proper role.

Now, I want to move on, but before I completely leave this thought of Aaron's earlier life, I want to think again of Aaron's earlier career. That career that was preparing him to be high priest. Oh, wait. What was Aaron's earlier career? Well, he wasn't in the palace being raised by Pharaoh's daughter. As far as I know, Aaron was out with the rest of the Israelites making mud bricks. Back when they still got straw, so it was considered an easier job, but they had those task masters. The reason I want to point that out, you know, Aaron didn't have this extensive, long training to be high priest. He was an ordinary, common working man. What made Aaron fit to be high priest is that God chose him to be high priest. It wasn't Moses' choice, by the way.

If you want to make a note of this, we'll pass it by earlier, but Psalm 105 and verse 26, it specifically says of God that he sent Moses the servant and Aaron whom he, God, chose.

God chose Aaron to be a high priest. Moses didn't make that choice.

My guess is that God didn't choose Aaron because of his experience and his expertise.

Maybe it was somewhat because of his character traits, maybe even somewhat genetic traits.

And sometimes I wonder, God was thinking, well, someone's got to be high priest. Well, Aaron's here. Let's use him. I'd like to think God can make anyone that he wanted qualified.

And that's very important for us. As I said, as we look and we tend to examine ourselves and think, how am I doing? What's my relationship with God? Do we have very much experience training to be high priest? How much experience do you have as a high priest? And I look and say, yeah, me neither.

I mean, the most I'm doing, I'm studying God's word and trying to learn, but we can look back in ancient history and see that that's not what matters. What matters is God's choice and then following his direction when the time comes. God didn't call any of us because of how good we were, because of how talented we are. What we need to focus on is learning and living his way of life.

And as I said, let's remember that as we examine ourselves, because if you're like me, examine yourself and say, boy, I fall short. You know, should I even be showing up at the Passover?

Well, my answer to that is, well, yes, you should.

And I think that'll become more clear as we look at a next part of Aaron's life.

I mentioned earlier, Aaron did seem to get in trouble, and partly by going along with what Miriam wanted to do. That going along with the crowd might have been a major factor in contributing to what was probably the worst moment in Aaron's life. He wasn't yet a priest when this happened, though Scripture shows that God already had that planned. We're going to go back to Exodus chapter 24. We know, well, it's evident in Scripture that Moses trusted Aaron.

Moses was willing to give Aaron responsibility. As I said, we don't know that it was Moses' idea for Aaron to be made a priest, but Moses did think Aaron could be left in charge. Because here, we're picking up shortly after God gave the Ten Commandments in person. I'm always amused when I think of this, because God came down on Mount Sinai and thunder and lightning and power and fire, and he spoke the Ten Commandments, and the Israelites were shaking in their shoes and said to Moses, please don't have God talk to us anymore, lest we all die. Moses wants you. You go talk to God, and then come back and tell us what he said. And I think God wasn't surprised by that.

So he did. He had Moses come up, and he gave him a lot of statutes and judgments, how to run a country. And he came back and said, look, God wants you to be a special people, and if you'll do that, if you'll obey his law, he'll make you his own. So actually, let's go back to Exodus 24 in verse 3.

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Eternal and all the judgments, and the people answered with one voice and said, all the words which the Eternal has said will do.

Moses wrote all the words and wrote them in a book. In verse 7, he says, he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and again they said, all that the Eternal has said will do. Moses had sacrificed some animals. He took the blood and sprinkled half of it on the altar, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the people, which is kind of icky to think about.

But this was a very special covenant that the whole nation was joining in, and later God likens it to a marriage covenant. Several times we see in the prophets that he referred to Israel as his wife, his bride. Here is where they got married. Now, he's not done giving instructions, so he wants Moses to come up and learn some more. If we look at verse 14...

Actually, I want to start in verse 12. The Eternal said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I'm going to give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I've written that you may teach them. So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, I imagine Moses is starting to go up, and he turns back to the elders and says, I lost my place. Moses didn't lose his place. He knew what he was going to say. He says, Wait here for us till we come back.

And indeed, Aaron and her are with you. If anyone has a difficulty, let him go to them.

Sort of Moses, oh wait, Aaron and her are in charge while I'm gone. If you have a problem, go check with them. So he thinks a lot of Aaron and her, and then he goes up.

And what follows is chapter after chapter of a lot of detailed instruction. You know, this is how to make an Ark of the Covenant, and this is how to build this tabernacle, and here's various ceremonies. By the way, I'm turning forward towards chapter 32, but at the beginning of chapter 28, it says, Now take Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me as priest. Once again, it wasn't Moses telling God, Hey, Aaron needs a job. How about you make him priest? You know, God told Moses, Take your brother and he's going to be the priest. But during all this time, Moses is up there 40 days and 40 nights, and the people of Israel aren't known for being patient. And we see that in chapter 32. When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come make us gods to go before us. For as for this, Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what's become of him.

And Aaron said, I'd like to think he hesitated. Maybe he's trying to buy time. Tell you what, break off the golden earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. I've heard some people suggest that maybe Aaron was delaying. He said, Moses has got to show up any day now. They're not going to want to bring me all that gold, so maybe this will take long enough and Moses will come back. That's that speculation. I don't know if that's the case. If it was, then he was surprised. As if all the people broke off the golden earrings, they brought him to Aaron. Now what do I do with this? Well, he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a golden calf. Then they said, this is your God, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

I'll give Aaron a little credit here. I mean, Aaron did the wrong thing.

When they came and said, come make us gods, he should have said, wait a minute, God is up there on the mountain. Do you see the cloud, the fire, the thunder? You know, I can't make you a god. But I'll give Aaron credit that notice it says, they said, this is your God. It doesn't say that Aaron said it. Now, Aaron reacted wrongly, but we can give him credit for not being the instigator. But as I said, even if you don't start things, if you go along with the crowd, if the crowd's going the wrong place, boy, is it bad news. And a wow was going along really the worst thing you could do here. In verse 5, when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. Aaron made a proclamation and said, tomorrow is a feast to the eternal. Here again, I'll give him a little credit. He didn't say, let's have a feast to this golden calf. He said, make it a feast to the eternal.

Well, and by the way, I'll also mention, Aaron would have a different version of what happened.

If we turn ahead to verse 21, after Moses comes down, Moses said to Aaron, what does people do to you that you've brought this sin upon him? And Aaron said, don't let the anger of my Lord become hot. You know these people. They're set to do evil.

They said, make us gods that will go before us. This Moses, we don't know what's become of him.

So I said, well, whoever has any gold, break it off. They gave it to me and I cast it in the fire.

And out came this calf. That sounds a little disingenuous. I mean, it does say in the earlier version that he used some type of an engraving tool. But, you know, if we give him credit, perhaps he just fiddled around a little bit. I've heard some ministers speculate this.

And even perhaps that there was evil spirits involved that Aaron was trying to delay.

Because it says when this calf came out, as they said back in earlier in verse 5, says when Aaron saw it, he built an altar. Maybe he's like, whoa, you know, what happened there?

Well, still wrong thing to do. Had a lesson for us. How often do we get caught up in circumstances?

One thing led to another, and here was this calf. I don't know how it happened.

Important lesson, if we're not in control of events, they'll take control of us.

And as I said, and to be honest, I've been purposely trying to put the best light on Aaron possible. But even in the best light possible, he comes out looking bad. There is no excuse for this. You know, Aaron could have avoided what happened, and he should have reacted very differently. And we know when Moses showed up, boy, did he react differently.

Aaron should have prevented this happening when Moses came, smashed the tablets, took that idol, ground it into powder, put it on the water and said, drink it. You guys want an altar?

Or you guys want an idol? You're going to eat your idol. And that's what he made him do. Then he organized a group of armed men to go out and start working punishment. You know, some people died for what they did. And there's a question among scholars. What was the difference?

Why did some die and some didn't? We do know it says there in verse 6, they rose early the next morning and offered burnt offerings, peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. I've heard some people speculate that some type of drunken orgy ensued, and the people that were involved in that were killed. Others say, well, not necessarily that, but maybe there's a group of people who weren't repentant. And so the Levites, when they organized, killed the people who refused to repent. There's some bit of guesswork, but it leaves us with an important question. Why wasn't Aaron among those who were killed for such a great sin? Even if he was trying to delay or put things off, he was in a position of responsibility. Why wasn't he killed?

It does seem that he was repentant. As a matter of fact, keep your finger here and let's turn to Deuteronomy, because not only was he repentant, Deuteronomy chapter 9, we'll see Moses is describing what happened to the later generation. Remember, after that golden calf incident, they'll wander for 40 years, and everyone over 20 years old will die before they reach the promised land. So now Moses is catching up the kids on what happened. Of course, they're not kids anymore. They're getting up there and they're older now. But in Deuteronomy 9 and verse 19, Moses says, I was afraid of the anger and the hot displeasure with which the Eternal was angry with you to destroy you. But the Eternal listened to me at that time, and the Eternal was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him. So I prayed for Aaron at the same time. One of the reasons Aaron wasn't killed was because someone stepped in and took his part and asked God to forgive him.

Now, if you turn back to Deuteronomy, Exodus 32, let's see what Moses did. Exodus 32 and verse 30.

It came to pass the next day that Moses said to the people, you have committed a great sin.

So now I'll go up to the Eternal. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.

Now, I want to say, when Moses said atonement, he meant that word very literally. Atonement means making a payment, making things right, atoning. So Moses returned to the Eternal and said, Oh, these people have committed a great sin, have made for themselves a god of gold, yet now, if you will, forgive their sin. But if not, I pray, flop me out of your book that you've written. Moses said, take my life instead. And if he understood the book of life, it seems he might have been saying, look, I'll give up eternal life. I'm willing to step in and pay that price for them. The Eternal said to Moses, now, whoever sinned against me, I'll blot his name out of my book. Basically, God was telling Moses, you can't pay for another person's sin. No human being can.

We now more fully understand that only Jesus Christ could do that. Only Jesus Christ could pay for other people's sins. Partly, of course, because he had no sin of his own, he had never earned the death penalty. And he was the Creator. He could take responsibility for the sins of his creation. And he could and he did. Of course, this whole episode happens after the Passover, but we're continually reminded of that great salvation that Christ worked in paying for our sins. Moses couldn't do it. We can't do it for each other. Only Jesus Christ could. As I said, these are vital lessons as part of God's plan. They're vital to our consideration of Passover.

But let's turn back, of course, to Aaron's life. We've seen here, Aaron did sin. Aaron earned the death penalty. And everybody knew it. It wasn't in a corner some night and one or two people knew it. Everybody knew that Aaron had led the people of Israel in building an idol. Yet God did pardon him rather than kill him. And not only did God spare Aaron's life, he went on to still put him in the position of high priest, just as he'd planned.

That matters because, remember that scripture in Revelation?

He's going to still put us in the position of priests, even though he knows we've sinned.

I'm going to turn ahead to Leviticus chapter 8, just to remind you, because think of that sin, that golden idol. And this isn't much later than that. In Leviticus chapter 8, the Eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, the anointing oil, a bowl as a sin offering, and rams the basket of unleavened bread, and gather all the congregation together at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. So Moses did that. We look down to verse 6. Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water, and he put the tunic on. Imagine Aaron's going through this elaborate ceremony with all the people watching. And I imagine he was thinking, all these same people watched me out there in front of that idol. What a lesson not in the fact that there's no penalty for sin, but in God's forgiveness. And all the people had to understand that God really did forgive, that there was a price to be paid, but Jesus Christ would pay that. It's down in verse 14.

It says that they brought the bowl for the sin offering. Aaron and his sons laid their hands on it for a sin offering. Moses killed it. And I'm looking for the place where it says they poured the oil on his head.

Oh, um, well, I'm not going to look for it. It's not something we have to read, although I always like it.

I still laugh when I became, you know, the first time I was a kid who was anointed for being sick, I remember reading about oil poured. I remember going to a closet, and I thought the minister was going to pour out a flask of oil and pour it on me. I was very grateful that it was just a dab of oil.

But in any case, you know, Aaron had to learn what God would later inspire Isaiah to write.

In Isaiah 43 and verse 25, this is an important lesson that I believe Aaron fully understood long before Isaiah put pen to paper, and that we have to understand now. Isaiah 43 and verse 25, this is God speaking in first person. He says, I, even I am he who blots out your transgression, for my own sake, not because you deserve it or earn it, God says, but I want to do this, and I will not remember your sins. I will not remember your sins. This doesn't mean that God has a case of amnesia, and he's not capable of knowing what we've done, but he can control what he thinks about, and he chooses not to bring that to mind. That's real forgiveness. And when Aaron would come to the altar every day for the rest of his life, he needed to understand that, because he knew that he'd sinned and he knew that God knew. But as Aaron came there, he'd have to sprinkle incense on the pan and let it waft up. God wasn't looking and saying, oh, here comes that guy, Mr. Golden Calf. God wasn't thinking that about Aaron. God had put his sin away.

Aaron repented. God forgave him. And it was done. That was true for Aaron. It's true for us.

It's important for us to remember, because we've sinned. I hope nobody here has got a golden calf back at home that they're not telling anyone. You know, most of us haven't sinned as publicly as Aaron, but we know that God knows what we've done. We've all deserved to have our name blotted out of that book. But because of God's mercy and because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we can live. And God doesn't grant that forgiveness grudgingly. He's not going to look at me and say, oh, here's that guy. Yeah, I suppose I'll let him in. I wish I didn't have to.

He'll forgive each of us as thoroughly as he did Aaron. He'll make us priests in his kingdom for his sake, not for ours. Now, of course, he doesn't do it against our own will.

We do have to repent. We don't believe that, okay, God loves to forgive sin, so I'm going to sin all the more so he can enjoy forgiving me more. It doesn't work that way. We do have to acknowledge our sin and repent. And that means turn away. Stop doing that. Change our life. But when we do, we need to remember God's not forgiving grudgingly. He's not going to dredge it back up later. He'll forgive us the way he forgave Aaron. And with that in mind, I'll harken if you want to write it down and look later. In Hebrews 4, verse 16, is where it says, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. I think that it's interesting because Aaron came once a year into the Holy of Holies, and that was on the day of Atonement. Now, we're getting ready for Passover, not the day of Atonement. But for some reason, that once a year thing of a special time you come to God makes me think of Passover. And I think we want to come boldly before God's throne, knowing that Jesus Christ's sin, or His blood, covers our sins. Jesus Christ didn't have sins.

Don't anybody think? That's why I hate when I'm recorded in class. You never know what will come out of your mouth. But we can come boldly to God's throne, as Aaron did. Now, I want to move on.

Of course, Aaron's life didn't end there. I think knowing God's mercy might have helped Aaron to be selfless and concerned with others, and that might have helped him when he did one of the bravest things in his life. We looked at probably his worst moment. I think one of his best came shortly after what we commonly call Korah's Rebellion. It's found in Numbers 16, if you'd like to turn there. I'm not going to read through all the account of the rebellion, but as it was, you know, there were some leading men who thought that Moses and Aaron had taken a bit too much upon themselves.

As a matter of fact, that was their wording. They said, God has worked through all of us. We're all holy.

So, you know, they said, oh, you guys are setting yourself up as kings. But God decided to set them straight. God showed dramatically that he had chosen Moses and Aaron, and he said, when you speak against them, you're speaking against me. Actually, if you'll read there in Numbers 16, verse 11, Moses says, therefore, gather you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. What's Aaron that you complain against him? You know, it's not. Aaron is just some guy, just as we're all people, but we belong to God. And he's saying, Aaron belongs to God. And we'll skip ahead, but Dathan in a fire room died by having the earth open up, swallow them in, and close again. And then all those Levites who thought, being a Levite's not good enough. I want to be a priest. So God said, you want to see if you're a priest? All of you get a censor and offer incense, and fire went out, and he basically took their lives. But then the people of Israel started getting upset. God's killing people. How dare you? You know, so they got up, you know, they started saying, you're killing the people of God. And that's when God got angry. And that makes me think, boy, he's opened up the earth and swallowing people. He's sending fire, and he's not angry yet. But he would get angry. As we see, if we go to verse 46, number 16, starting in verse 46. Actually, if you want to see him getting angry, um, verse 45, he said, get away from this congregation. I'm going to consume them in a moment. They fell on their faces. And I often say it's not because they were clumsy. They were prostrating themselves in prayer. Moses said to Aaron, get a censor, put fire in it from the altar, and put incense on it. Quickly, take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them.

For wrath has gone out from the eternal. The plague has begun. God was sent a plague with, people were starting to die. And a lot of them died very quickly. So Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and he ran. He didn't take his time. He ran to the midst of the congregation. And he stood, yep, I lost my place. He ran to the midst of the assembly, and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense, he made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living. So the plague was stopped. 14,000 people died in that plague.

And for all we know, it might have only been a few minutes. But Aaron stood between the dead and the living. When he ran in there, he didn't know that God was going to listen. He didn't know but what he might fall down dead, too. But he was willing to take that chance. And if you don't think of this as something brave and selfless, I thought, remember, it's only been, what, six to eight months ago that we were hearing all this news about the Ebola plague in Africa? When you saw all those news reports and heard them, did you ever think, boy, I'm glad I'm not there?

I did. I didn't have any great desire to go running into the middle of that. Now, it's not the same thing. But I think Aaron running into the middle of the people dying in that plague reminded me of the firefighters when the World Trade Center was hit by those airplanes back on 9-11. You hear the image of people fleeing to get out of that building, but the firefighters charged in to try to save people's lives. Aaron charged in to save people's lives. He stood between the dead and the living.

I'm reminded of one of my favorite scriptures. I'm going to turn to Ezekiel 22 and verse 30.

Ezekiel 22 and verse 30.

It's not about the same incident, but it reflects what I hope is the attitude we would have in such a circumstance. It says, So I sought a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land that I should not destroy it. So, in other words, there's a need for someone to stand between the dead and the living. This is there. I found no one.

At any given time, we might be the one who sees the gap, who needs to stand in it. You know, it could be a job that needs done, a person who needs help. Will you stand in the gap?

It doesn't have to be a life-threatening incident. Most of the times, it won't be.

I said this is one of my favorite scriptures. I think it's because back when I was an ambassador student, Dr. Ward regularly challenged us as students and said, You need to be prepared to stand in the gap. And so, I took that as a personal challenge, and I do my best to pass that challenge on to the students now. And I know they've heard me say it before. Some of them are nodding, some of them were asleep when I said it before, so they'll hear it now. No, I don't think any of them were asleep. I usually talk too fast to fall asleep in my class. Okay. But, you know, we don't offer literal incense. One of the things we do, though, in the Bible, it refers to our prayers as being like incense. Do we rush in on our knees? Now, here I'm speaking theoretically, you know, because you don't rush on your knees. That's a good way to wear out your pants. But are we quick to go in prayer for others, to stand in the gap that way? You don't have to be perfect.

You don't have to have a perfect record to do that. Look at Aaron. He still remembered that sin that he'd committed, but he also knew God's forgiveness, and so he was bold to ask for forgiveness for others. That's important to remember. Remember Moses prayed for Aaron, and God heard. Then Aaron prayed for others, hoping and trusting that God would hear. People have prayed for each one of us here. Other people, maybe we never even knew. So we want to pray for others, as Aaron did. Now, I would like to stop at what I think is the bright moment of Aaron's life.

There is one more incident that I think we can learn some lessons from. It's moving ahead to chapter 20 of Numbers. I say, moving ahead, I'm open to Ezekiel, so I'm going to have to turn back.

Numbers 20. Now, this is getting near the end of the wandering in the wilderness.

If we understand our chronology, this is not long before they were going to move around Edom and Moab, and Joshua would lead them across the Jordan River. But before that, there's another test.

Numbers 20 in verse 2, there camped there, and there was no water for the congregation. So they gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, if only we died with our brethren and died before the eternal. Why have you brought up this assembly of the eternal into the wilderness that we and our animals might die here? Why didn't you, why did you make us come out of Egypt? It goes on and on. Now, Moses and Aaron did the right thing at first. In chapter, verse 6, it says, they went up from the presence to the door of the tabernacle, and they fell on their faces again. Once again, not clumsy, but going down, down, down in prayer.

The glory of the eternal appeared to them. The eternal said, okay, they're upset, they need water, let's provide them some water. In verse 8, take the rod, you and your brother Aaron, gather the congregation together, speak to the rock before their eyes, and it'll yield its water, and thus you'll bring water for them out of the rock and give drink to the congregation and their animals. Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded, and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, I stopped there, I didn't realize until I was working on the sermon, who is he? Now, Moses has the rod, but Aaron has traditionally been the spokesman. We'll see that Aaron strikes, for some reason I see the two of them together, so I picture Aaron being the one that says these words. I'm not certain, but imagine if it is Aaron saying, here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? And as he says that, Moses lifted up his hand and strikes the rock. Aaron spoke to the people he was supposed to speak to the rock.

And if you remember the old Bible stories that Basil Wolverton wrote, I love his version. He says, he struck it, and they waited. There was this uncomfortable pause. I imagine looking at each other, and maybe Aaron's, maybe you better hit it again, strikes it again a second time, and there's a rumble, and the water comes out. God is merciful. He sees their weakness, but he's not going to just let this pass. They directly disobeyed what he told them to do.

And down in verse 12, the eternal spoke to Moses and Aaron and said, because you didn't believe me. Now, I'm sure they believed God could bring water out of the rock.

They were upset with the people, but they didn't believe him enough to do it just the way he said.

And you didn't hallow me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, you won't bring this assembly into the land which I've given them. This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel had contended with the eternal, and he was hallowed among them. The children of Israel fortunately didn't know the difference. This is one time when the sin wasn't well known.

Now, we often focus on Moses for this, because he said, God says, because you did this, you're not going across the river. Joshua was going to lead the people, and Eliezer was going to be the high priest. And we think of Moses and say, what a shame! All that Moses went through, leading the people, God working miracles, and because of a moment of losing his temper and vanity, he wouldn't get to finish the job. Though, God did let Moses see the promised land by a special miracle. But I think, boy, those same emotions must have applied to Aaron. I would guess that Aaron was thinking, oh, I'd love to go over there. We've been waiting for this moment. But he didn't get to go.

Regardless of the things he'd learned and all of his growth and overcoming, Aaron and Moses both temporarily faltered, lost sight of the source of their blessings.

Here, a big lesson for us is, you're not there till you're there. Continue to obey God to the end.

And was it Matthew 24 13, he that shall endure to the end shall be saved. Every time I say that, I didn't write it down. Is it 24 13 or 24 14? I want to say 13. That's a memory scripture, but it's a long time since I memorized it. I'll cite them both. But he that shall endure to the end. Aaron faltered. Now, I want to believe it's 13. Thank you. So I said it right the first time.

If I did not said anything, you just said, boy, he's got a great memory.

I want to believe that Aaron did learn his lesson. And everything we see in scripture indicates that he repented. He and Moses both. They learned a lesson. And there's another important point for us. We need to obey to the end. We need to continue repenting to the end.

Until we are perfect, which I believe will happen when we're given spirit bodies, we'll probably have occasion to need to repent. Think of that as you're looking at your life before Passover. And especially those who are older, you might think, I've been in the church this long. Why? Why aren't I doing better? Well, you have to keep enduring and keep repenting to the end. But you still go and keep the Passover. Remember the Apostle Paul said, let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the wine. Don't examine yourself and say, well, I'm not perfect yet, so I can't go keep the Passover. No, we keep the Passover. We do so with the understanding that we need God's mercy. But also, as I said, that lesson of Aaron and that golden calf should ring true. God's mercy is real and it's very great.

Afterwards, Aaron would soon end his service to God's people. In verse 22 of Numbers 20, from now the children of Israel and the whole congregation journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. And the eternal spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron will be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I've given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. And of course, strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son, for Aaron shall be gathered to his people to die there.

So Moses did, just as the eternal commanded, they went up Mount Hor and the sight of all the congregation. Three old men climbing up a hill. It reminds me of where this sermon started.

Two of those three men are the same. It's interesting. It occurred to me, I was saying early on, they're old men. They're in their 80s. Now they're in their 120s, except for Eleazar.

I said Aaron didn't get to be high priest till he was 83, 84 years old. I'm guessing Eleazar is probably at least in his 90s, if not 100, and he's going to start a new job. But the congregation saw them, and of course, when they, I imagine they went to a private place where Aaron stripped, Aaron, Moses stripped Aaron of his garments. I don't think he stripped him down to the skin.

He took off the priestly robes, put them on Eleazar, his son, and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. Three of them went up. They lost sight of them, and two came down. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron 30 days. This is another sign that Aaron was repentant. He was in God's good graces at that point. The whole nation mourned him 30 days.

And as I said, one of God's most notable and visible servants ended his life here in his service.

Now, I wonder if some of those who watched Aaron, Moses, and Eleazar hike up that hill were young enough to have remembered seeing them go to Pharaoh. I mean, young enough because they wouldn't have been in the group that would have died in the wilderness. But they might have remembered seeing Aaron and Moses walking down to the palace and seeing Aaron was one of those people that stood and did God's will, you know, back when he was only 83 years old.

If so, then they would have remembered Aaron again out in front of the people during the incident of the golden calf when they foolishly made it and worshiped it.

If they remembered that, Aaron's been out in front. They would have remembered and understood that God was very merciful to Aaron. They would have seen that example of repenting and of God putting sin completely away, forgiving completely. What an example for all to follow.

And then for 40 years after that point, Aaron served his people. He was out front, sometimes perhaps thanklessly. You know, they weren't very happy when they didn't have food or they didn't have water. But he risked his life. He ran and stood between the dead and the living.

And if those who were watching them walk up that hill were thinking of all those years that he was out in front of them, they would have thought, well, that little that incident at Maribah was a brief lapse. And he's repented of that. And God has put that away as well. And that, though, is still there and was a powerful example. An example showing that we need to honor and obey God in every instance. We should never turn away from this way of life, not even even for a moment. And we should understand, of course, that as we do that, if we falter, God's mercy and forgiveness is always there.

If any of us live a life as long as they are in the priest, I hope that we'll accomplish even a fraction as much.