Num 17:10, But the Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they should not die." 
	In this passage, we find the very mercy and grace of God evidenced for the sake of His people. We see that He wanted to establish the lineage of Aaron as the priestly heritage that would insure that the Aaronic Priesthood continued until the time that Jesus would replace it with Himself. This was important on two fronts.
	The first was that Aaron was now an old man, and his right to the position of High Priest had been challenged by the rebellion of Korah. The Lord wanted to make it abundantly evident and clear to all the people that Aaron had been chosen by God as His representative line. It was to be absolutely manifest to every man woman and child that Aaron and his lineage alone would be allowed into the Holy of Holies to serve as the intermediates between God and the people. No more could the people rise up against Aaron or his lineage and demand to replace them in their service before God.
	The second import of this morning’s reading is that God was making it very evident to all that He was the One Who was guarding His people from making a deadly decision that would cost them their lives. If they were to force the issue and try to come into His presence on their own basis of seeming holiness, they would all suffer the consequences as did the 250 rebels when they brought their unholiness before God by lighting incense in the holy censures before Him. He burned them up with the fire from heaven that showed that they were not able to come before Him, despite the fact that they were honorable men, men of stature in their tribes and leaders of the nation. What they were before mankind meant nothing when they were audacious and prideful enough to think that God would consider them as more than the rebellious rabble that they were.
	The Lord made it very clear to the whole nation that only the Aaronic priesthood would be able to come into His direct presence in the tent of meeting and in the temple service that would later be set up in Jerusalem. This was in order to protect anyone who might have other ideas and concepts of who could come into the presence of God. This was the mercy and the grace of God for the people, just as was evidenced in the manner in which the Tent of Meeting was guarded on all sides by the placement of the tribe of the Levites as we discussed. They were that physical barrier of safe keeping around the place of holiness so that no one would accidentally approach the holy place and be struck down in their sinful condition.  
	The placement of the budded rod would be a reminder to the Aaronic priesthood of their being chosen for this service. If ever they were again challenged, that rod would be the visual means of showing the people that God had chosen them. This too was a wonderful expression of the grace of God so that the people would be reminded over and over again, from generation to generation of what the Lord had put into place for their sakes. 
Remember that this entire setting up of the Levitical order and the Aaronic Priesthood was so that the nation, as a whole, would have some means of finding forgiveness before the Lord for the sins that would surely plague them. God was making a way of salvation available to the people through the necessary means of the sacrifices and the offerings and the holy service of the priests on their behalf. God didn’t need the priests; the people did in order to be able to come unto God and to be His nation. 
God was very specifically merciful in the methodology of setting up those reminders to His people. He knew that they would need to have something that would serve to jog their memories over and over again as to what He had done. Later generations would be very apt to forget the goodness and the grace and the mercy of God to their forefathers, so God made the provision for their remembrance and their safety.
We see this expressed back in Ex 16, verses 32+33 when God commanded Moses to include a jar of manna in the Ark of the Covenant in order to remind each succeeding generation of the way in which He provided for the people whom He released from the slavery of Egypt. Ex 16:32+33, Then Moses said, "This is what the Lord has commanded, 'Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'" And Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations." 
	Then, in another manner of reminder for the safekeeping of the memories of the people, as we read last week in Num 16:38-40, the holy censures that were misused by the rebels were to be pounded out. They were then plated on the altar in order to bring to the forefront of each generation the cost of the rebellion against the holiness of God. 
Num 16:38-40, As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered sheets for a plating of the altar, since they did present them before the Lord and they are holy; and they shall be for a sign to the sons of Israel." So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers which the men who were burned had offered; and they hammered them out as a plating for the altar, as a reminder to the sons of Israel that no layman who is not of the descendants of Aaron should come near to burn incense before the Lord; that he might not become like Korah and his company—just as the Lord had spoken to him through Moses. 
    	Again, this was in order to bring to mind the fact that God is holy and that He can only be approached by those whom He has so chosen and who have prepared themselves according to His ordinances of holiness. This would make it very clear and evident to the generations who heard of the rebellion and were taught of the significance of the plating of the altar. It would be a continuous reminder that God needed to be treated with deference and honor in the manner in which all came before Him for their protection and their consideration and estimation of the Lord God Almighty. It would serve to reinforce on a most regular basis the fact that God’s graciousness was covering them in that He was reminding them again and again for their own safekeeping. He is a gracious and merciful God Who did not want them to suffer the dire consequences of their audacity.
	As well, this continual provision of God to set reminders before His people is reaffirmed in Deut 31:19-26, when Moses was commanded to place the writing of the law beside the Ark as a perpetual reminder to the generations that followed of what needed to be done. This was in order to remember the Grace and the Mercy and the Holiness of the Lord Their God. Please turn to it so we can read it together.
	Deut 31:19-26, Now therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, in order that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore." So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel. Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you." And it came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, "Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. 
    	Notice that God knew what His people would do once they were satisfied and prosperous. They would forget Who He was and what He had done for them and they would turn their hearts to other gods and would break their covenant bond with God. That would ultimately lead to their downfall and imprisonment again in slavery. Therefore God made a record available to them through the writing of His servant, Moses, in order to remind them of what had been done for them by the Lord God Jehovah. This would be the perpetual witness for them as to the goodness and the grace and the mercy that was theirs as they obeyed and worshipped the Only True and Living Lord God Almighty. 
	The Prophet Isaiah was also the voice of the Lord detailing how the people had revolted against God and forgotten Who He was, as in Isa 1:2-4. This was as a means of shocking them into the realization that they had forgotten and turned away from remembering the goodness and the graciousness of God. 
Isa 1:2-4, Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, "Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me. "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master's manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand." Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 
	Lest we take within our hearts the attitude of judgment and condemnation of the Children of Israel, let us read, in Eph 2:1-16, who we were and what God did for us in spite of our condition of enmity against Him. This is the most decisive and clearest witness to us of the grace and the mercy and the lovingkindness of the Lord God Jehovah. 
Eph 2:1-16, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Therefore remember, that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands — remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 
    	The call is even there for us to remember who we were and who we are now in Jesus Christ. God still puts before us the Supreme example along with those emblems of His sacrifice which call to mind and declare over and over again His gracious work on our behalf.
	As we are so encouraged in Eph 5:1-14, if you would read along with me, we are to know what is now the immediate truth of our life on this earth. We are to hold firmly to the fact that we belong to God and are to walk in complete accordance with that reality.
	Eph 5:1-14, Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you." 
	As the Writer to the Hebrews, in Heb 9:3+4, points out, the Children of Israel had the physical reminders of Who God was and what He had done for them. Heb 9:3+4, And behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. 
	Those physical emblems did not cause them to remember God and His gracious and merciful actions on their behalf. They still turned away from Him and elevated themselves as having some aspect of superiority over all others. 
To us, and in our hearts, please allow the Holy Spirit, through His Living Word, to remind us of the fact that we, as human beings, are prone to falling into sin and disobedience unless we keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the Light of our lives and He is the continuous example and expression of the Being and the Essence and Holiness of the Lord God Almighty. He shines forth as the true beacon of light and life everlasting. So be it!    
	But the Lord said to Moses, "Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they should not die." Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Ps 115:1. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth. Amen.