Three locations in Numbers 20

Numbers chapter 20. In real estate the expression is often used, location is everything. Location, location, location.

And that's what we're going to notice in this section here in chapter 20. It is a watershed chapter. The one generation is coming to an end.

Like bookends, we're going to read about the death of Miriam. We're going to read about the death of Aaron. Later on Moses is going to die in Deuteronomy.

And they are on the threshold of the land of Canaan. I want to notice three locations in this chapter and the relevance of them. In the desert, on the rocks, and on the mountain.

Those three locations. Verse 1, then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin. In the first month, the first month.

So in a way this is kind of a new beginning here. And so like similar to Exodus 12 where we read about this shall be the beginning of months to you, this is going to become the first month to them in a real way because it's going to designate to us a new beginning, as it were, with a new generation. It says, and the people abode in Kadesh.

And Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people chode with Moses and spake saying, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord.

Now that could be a general statement of the fact of Numbers 13 and the people dying in the wilderness. It could also likely be more designated in relation to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. That's likely what it is here.

And so the people are going back and they say, we should have died there. And they're complaining once again and it says, would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord. And why have ye brought up, notice this, they're referring to themselves here.

Why have he brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness? That is so hypocritical. They're claiming the congregation of the Lord and yet they're resisting him. That we and our cattle should die there.

And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt? The force of that is actually, why did you force us to leave Egypt? That's what they're saying. Why did you force us to leave Egypt and to bring us onto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates. Now the idea there is seed.

The seed is going to be for planting. Planting that's going to produce the fig and the vines. And then he brings about pomegranates too in terms of fruitfulness.

Now think about that. Where are they? They're in the wilderness. Do you really want to plant seed in the wilderness? Was the fig and the vine for the wilderness? No, it was for Canaan.

And the pomegranates would remind them of the garments of the high priest, right? Associated with the tabernacle and the movements of the high priest. And so as they're saying these things, they have really no relevance to the wilderness. But they're still complaining.

It says, neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces. In the narrative, the Exodus narrative, you will read that expression five times.

Where Moses and Aaron, they will fall, or at least Moses will, five times upon his face. And the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes.

And it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him.

That would tell us that this is not necessarily Moses' rod, but this is likely Aaron's rod that budded. He took it from before the Lord. And if you'll remember, that earlier there was the proof of who is the rightful priest.

There was question as to who the true priest is. There was question as to that all the people should be holy, and all the people should take upon that themselves. And so they were, remember each tribe had rods, and it was Aaron's rod.

They were cut down, and Aaron's rod budded, and there was almonds, and there was fruitfulness out of it, and it was designated by God miraculously a little picture of, what would that be a picture of? You cut off a rod, you cut it off its source of life, and then it brings forth life. It's obviously a picture of resurrection. And so that's the designate, it's the picture there.

And so the true priest designated a link with resurrection life, and so he says, you bring the rod from before the Lord, and then it says significantly, as he commanded them. Notice these particular phrases. Moses and Aaron gathered together, gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, now here's where the story deviates.

Here now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice. The water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And here it is again, and the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, because you believe me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

This is the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them. Now we're going to skip over this middle section, where there is a little discourse with Edom, who is of course a relative, where remember Esau, and Edom produces, Esau produces that, but we're going to skip over the, let's go down to verse 22. And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto Mount Hor.

And the Lord spake unto Moses, here it is again, the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people. I love that expression, gathered unto his people. It's not just that he's going to die, it's not just that he's going to be buried, it's not just that his body is going to be put in the ground, but it is a clear statement of the reality of life after death.

He is gathered unto his people. And then it says here, for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eliezer his son, bring them up unto Mount Hor, strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eliezer his son.

And Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded. I like that.

Did you notice that? Verse 9, it says, and Moses did as the Lord commanded him. But he didn't, did he? But here it says, and Moses did as the Lord commanded him. And they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

So they go up, everyone sees them, and then they disappear on the top of the mountain. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eliezer his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mount, and Moses and Eliezer came down from the mount.

And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. In the desert, on the rocks, and I put plural, and I'll tell you why in a minute, and on the mount. History is going to repeat itself.

It often does. And the problem is that we don't learn from it, and it's our failure, our loss. And so in these first two events, history is going to repeat itself.

We have here, they're in the desert. How many times do we read that the people complained, that they murmured? And so now they have been here for forty years, they're at the end now, and all because of unbelief. There's a generation that resisted and refused God, and subsequently that generation suffers for it, and now there's a new generation coming, they're delayed from going into the land.

So in a real way, they have suffered the effects of a previous generation. Miriam and Aaron both die. Miriam dies within sight of the land.

You would assume there was mourning, the narrative is silent on it. It doesn't say. What I think is interesting, it's just a brief, terse statement of her death and burial.

If we turn back the pages, back to Exodus, she's singing. She's singing with the women. And as you keep reading the narrative, you're going to see later on that now, later on she'll be gossiping.

And now here she dies, within sight of the land. So close! But she dies. History is going to repeat itself.

Go back to Exodus chapter 17, and so you're going to see that they were brought back to Meribah, right? In Exodus 17. And the water, again, they're crying out for water. And you read that in that account, that Moses goes and he strikes the rock.

I think, if you're not familiar with the account, you should be. And really what it spoke of, simply, and I'll just give you the Coles notes on it, basically what it is, is that the rock spoke of Christ. We know that from 1 Corinthians chapter 10.

The rock that was smitten speaks of Christ crucified. The death of the Lord Jesus. And here, just to fast forward a little bit, he's told to speak to the rock because Christ is only going to die once.

He'll not have to suffer again. But he doesn't do that. But let me back up.

I don't want to get ahead of myself. I want you to think of this. History is going to repeat itself.

What I have been impressed with, in this account and in other accounts in our Bibles, and in everyday accounts in our lives, how many times does history repeat itself? How many times do we fail, have I failed, do we fail, do assemblies fail, to get the lesson? I have witnessed in my day, and I'm not, I know some people get up there and they're the oldest person, I'm old but I'm not that old. At least I don't feel it. But in my days, I have seen this happen, and I'm sure you have too.

Assemblies that seem to repeat the cycle. And something happens and they're brought to, again, a circumstance, a situation. And God opens a door for something and history repeats itself.

And they make the same mistake again and again and again. And here we are again, Numbers chapter 20, and history is going to repeat itself. And with the divine record, with the experience personally and with others in life, it happens.

It's a test. It's a test. God had given them water.

God had given them food. You know what's interesting? If you go back just one chapter, and I would encourage all the believers here, context is so important. The setting of passages is so important.

So if you were to turn back just one page, you have that unique teaching of the red heifer. And it was for cleansing of defilement. They were to take the ashes of that red heifer.

And there was an association with running water. Running water for cleansing. Isn't it interesting? The people are saying here, what don't they have? No water.

No water. But the chapter right before it, for the usage of the red heifer, they needed water. Had anything changed in between? No complaint there.

They don't seem to be worried about the situation there, is it? You see, what they are concerned about is their own needs. It's all personal. It's not spiritual.

It's not what God is saying. It's not what God is requiring. It's what we want, what we feel we need.

How often that happens to us? Dead bodies would have defiled. You touch a dead body, you're defiled. Running water was needed.

But they weren't complaining about that. Can I ask everyone here, does the spiritual, the spiritual reality and needs in your assembly, and I say that, please don't make me an offender for a word, in the assembly which you are in fellowship at, does that grieve you more than your own personal needs? The spiritual needs in your own life, in my own life, does that grieve me more than just some basic physical needs that I might have now and then? Does it grieve us? No water. Had God been faithful to them? Absolutely.

They're complaining about no food here, but the manna was still coming. The manna hadn't stopped. In fact, it's interesting, you can trace, again, going in the context, you can go back to just the previous chapters, and when did all of their basic problems start? When they started despising the manna.

The manna speaks of the word of God. You have the living word and the written word brought together, feeding upon, we've been hearing earlier, feeding upon Christ. How do you feed upon Christ? Through his word.

And when they started despising the manna, that's when their problems kicked in. That's when there was one after another. And so God is testing them here.

So let me ask you, as I move through this, in times of personal challenges and tests, what we do, how we react is pivotal. It's pivotal. When assemblies are tested, leadership is tested, assembly fellowships are tested by situations, circumstances, sometimes internal, sometimes external.

When they are tested, how do we respond? Is it a matter of what we want? Is it a matter of personal need? Is it a matter of personal effect? Or is it a matter of how does this affect the testimony? Is this what the heart of God, according to the word of God, wants? Is this consistent with his character? Is this consistent with grace? Is this consistent with what God would want? If Christ were here, we've been hearing about him being in control, him being head. Is this consistent with what the Lord Jesus would do if he were here right now? It says they chode. I think it's interesting here.

It says they chode. Where is that verse? Verse 3, and the people chode with Moses. We would say you chide with someone.

The Hebrew word is interesting. It can mean to plead, to strive, but I think there's an interesting aspect of it that several times in the word of God, it literally has the thought of conducting a legal suit, a legal suit. You know what this is tantamount to saying? The people were taking God to court and suing him, and they said, we have our rights.

Our rights have been violated, and we are suing you. We are taking you to court. Well, had they forgotten as they chide with God here in Numbers 20, had they forgotten that God brought them right to the verge of the land in just seven chapters earlier, and they said no? They were the ones God said go in.

They said no. It's history repeating itself again. And what I think is interesting is they use the very words, you have brought.

They're charging Moses, who had put up with so much, and they're saying, you have brought the congregation of the Lord. Nice words. Sounds right.

But it's so hypocritical. If they were really the congregation of the Lord, if they had acknowledged that, not that they weren't, but if they had really acknowledged that, they would have gone in. They would have obeyed.

They wouldn't have complained. And so, I mean, how else are they going to get to Canaan? How else are they going to enter into the inheritance? How else are they going to enter in if they don't go through the wilderness? And yet they're complaining. It's a test.

Why so often are we content not to go in for what God has for us? Listen, Canaan does not picture heaven. Please, don't think of Canaan as heaven. There was fighting in Canaan.

No fighting in heaven. Thank God for that. Enough fighting here.

Enough fighting here for all of us. Canaan is a picture of the blessings of a higher level of spiritual living. It's living on a higher plane.

It's living in the heavenlies, enjoying those things that God has for us in the inheritance of the possession spiritually. Now it does have to be fought for. And God is bringing them, but He's going to test them.

He's preparing them. And as He's preparing them, He's giving them. He's giving them water from a rock.

He's giving them the manna. He's giving them clothing that will never wear out. He's giving them His own presence, a cloud, a pillar.

He's giving them all these things. And as He's giving them these things, He's testing them, preparing them. You know, we were having a little Bible study just a couple days ago.

And I was thinking of this as these people were moving. There are three areas of motivation for us. I think it was Brother Travis brought out one of the great motivators is gratitude, perhaps the greatest motivator of us, gratitude.

The more you appreciate someone, the more you will do for that person. How much gratitude did these people have for God? It seems very little. There was resentment.

There was bitterness. Why did you bring us out? How's your gratitude level? How's mine? Not only gratitude, but even when it comes to even fear, fear is a great motivator. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

I think that's one of the things that is being lost among us, the fear of the Lord, reverence, a regard that this is what God says. This is what God has done for us. And my response should be that I have this holy reverential fear of God in my gratitude.

And I think another thing is purpose. They had lost sight of their purpose. God had brought them, well what does he say? He had brought them out so he could bring them in.

That's the purpose. If you and I lose sight of our purpose, that we're not just passing through, but there are lessons to be learned. There are testimonies to be lived.

There is witness to be given. There are things to be learned here. And if we lose sight of that, young person, don't lose sight of that.

Where you are, what you are, who you are, in the midst of that school system, in the midst of that factory, that company, that family, that assembly, wherever it is that you may find yourself, in that wilderness as you're moving on, do not lose sight of your purpose here. They lost that. And they say, there's no seed here.

There's no fig and vine. You know what they wanted? They wanted the blessings of Canaan without the fighting and the wilderness experience of today. Can I put it this way? They wanted to be on the glory train without making the necessary stops.

And the tests that you and I go through and how we come through them are preparatory and will give us an appreciation as we learn God experientially in our lives. I want to move on quickly. I'll just pass this on for you young students especially.

When it comes to this water that they were given water, Moses does, he does strike the rock. He does go against what God says. And yet God in grace still, he doesn't hold it against the people.

He meets their needs. Even though Moses did not do as the Lord commanded him, God still met their need. The water was given.

As you go through the Egypt to Canaan experience, you'll notice as you read about water there, as you look through it, that there are eight different specific references to water from the Nile River to the Jordan River. And in between there, there are sandwiched six other references to water. When you come to the New Testament, water is associated with the truth of the Spirit of God.

When you come to the New Testament, there are eight specific associations of the Holy Spirit in our New Testament, from grieving to quenching and so on, leading, indwelling. Eight on the journey. Old Testament, eight in the New Testament.

I'll give you that to search out on yourself. Location number two. History is going to repeat itself again as well.

On the rocks. At this juncture it says, the Lord speaks. Three times he's going to say.

Verse seven, verse twelve, verse twenty-three. As the Lord commanded him. You know, there are little nuances, little – please, I beg of you, if you really want to enjoy your Bible, read it carefully.

You will get lessons. You will get things. Don't rush through it.

You'll notice it says that as the Lord commanded. Now that was stated prior to Moses smiting the rock here twice. But it's also said, in fact it's said twenty-two times in the Exodus narrative.

That expression is used twenty-two times. But what I think is very interesting is this. After this account, after God says to Moses and Aaron, you can't go in because you did not keep my word.

You can't go into Canaan. The very thing that they lived for and wanted and longed for, God said no. And you know what you read ten times more after that? As the Lord commanded.

He did as the Lord commanded him. You know what he didn't say? What's the use? I'm not going to go in. What's the point now? No, he wasn't bitter.

He still recognized the goodness of God, the sovereignty of God, the rightness of God. And there was an acknowledgment of his wrongness. No bitterness, no opposition, no persecution, no debate.

While the congregation, while these people who were complaining was taking God to court, Moses was throwing himself on the mercy of the court. And ten times, and ten is the number of responsibility in our Bibles, it says he did as the Lord commanded him. Brethren, let me just say this.

We were hearing a little bit about failure this morning. Don't let failure be final. Don't let failure be final.

Moses, in this massive, colossal restriction, didn't throw in the towel. He kept leading them. He kept guiding them.

And he kept doing as the Lord commanded him. What a lesson for us. Something else I will just say too, that there were precise commands that were given here.

God is going to tell Moses and Aaron, he said, now you take the rod, and we already associated that rod with the rod that budded, picture of resurrection, and the true priest. That's going to massively be seen in this account here. Don't miss these points.

But there were precise commands given. Take the rod, and speak to the rock. Now think about that.

What's the point? I mean, you could understand taking a rod and then having to hit the rock, right? Having to do something with this rod. He didn't do anything with the rod. He just had to hold it.

He just had to bring it, he had to stand in front of the rock, and he had to speak to the rock. That's it. But it was precise.

It was doing exactly what God told him to do. That's what God wanted. God's word is precise.

Can I say this? When you see something in the word of God, according to the Lord Jesus, every jot and tittle is there for a reason. Everything there is there for a reason. I hope and pray that none of us, as we've been hearing, are casual about the precise directives of God.

When God tells us to do something, whether it's in our lives personally, whether it's in the assembly gathering, whether it is in a family setting, whatever it might be, God is precise and expects those things to be carried out precisely, not casually. That's what he expected from Moses. He tells him to go before the rock now.

That's interesting too. I said on the rocks, not on the rocks as in shipwreck, but on the rocks because there's two. History is going to repeat itself.

If you go back again to chapter 17, you will see that Moses was told to smite the rock. Here, he's told to speak to the rock. What is very interesting is this.

I am so thankful for people who are able to study and read Hebrew and the Greek. It opens up doors. Use those tools.

The word for rock in chapter 17 and the word for rock are two different words here. The word for rock in chapter 17 where Moses was told to smite the rock, it's a picture of Christ and his death, the smitten Christ, Isaiah 53. That word for rock is a low-lying rock, a flat rock.

The word here is a different word. The word here carries the idea of a crag, a cliff, a stronghold. It's a higher rock, an elevated rock.

It's a picture of Christ in resurrection, Christ in his elevation. You do not strike that rock. You speak to it.

And what Moses did in striking the rock, call it anger, frustration, maybe even a similarity to what had happened earlier in Exodus, maybe had contributed to him striking the rock. Maybe he assumed that what he did prior is going to work again. You know, sometimes we do that.

You know what that does? It can take away exercise. If we assume without exercise, sometimes God surprises us. So he comes and he's supposed to speak.

Now he speaks, it says, before all eyes. Speak, not smite. One thing it tells us about is, it tells us that Moses spoiled, can I put it that way, he spoiled the type.

He spoiled the type. The picture, this is typical teaching here. One thing that touched my heart here is this.

God in kindness and grace and mercy, he still gives the water to the people from this rock. 1 Corinthians tells us, and that rock was Christ. You know what I think is touching? Here are a people that have complained and were in disobedience and Moses himself is in disobedience and yet God still gives them water to a thirsty people from that rock.

Come with me to Calvary's cross. And here is the rock. And he says, I thirst.

And they don't give him water. They don't give him water. Tremendous.

What our God loves us and pities us and cares for us. I want to take you now just quickly up on the mountain. Three men go up, two men come down.

Moses, Eleazar, Aaron go up. The people are all watching. It's going to be a public witness in the mouth of two or three witnesses.

Let every word be established. Three men go up, two men come down. This is going to happen now not in the desert.

It's not going to happen before the rock. It's going to happen in the heights, on the mountain. They're going to go up.

In the desert, people were totally off and they complained. At the rock, God indicated what to do and Moses still failed. Here on the mountain, God is going to ensure that all is going to be done right.

In the desert, it's going to be... I want you to notice the historical context. Both Moses and Aaron are going to die. Miriam's already dead before they go into the Promised Land.

They can't go in. They've rebelled. Both of these men, it's interesting, die on a mountain.

Both Moses and Aaron. Moses on Nebo. Aaron here on Mount Hor.

Neither of them can enter the land. For both of them, we were hearing about 70 days and 7 days of mourning by our brother William. Here is 30 days of mourning.

Both of them are characterized by 30 days of mourning. Both of them are associated with a transfer of leadership in some ways. That's the historical aspect.

It says when they go up, it says Moses is going to strip him, strip Aaron of his garments. These are not now the linen garments that are on the Day of Atonement. These are the garments of glory and beauty.

And as Aaron is standing there, can you picture it? Eleazar is standing there. Picture a father, a son, a brother, and they're standing alone on the mountain in the presence of God. We were hearing about taking things seriously.

Can you picture? Eleazar has earlier witnessed the death of his two brothers, Nadab and Abihu. They offered strange fire. Now this man is standing here.

The priesthood is going to be transferred to him. He is going to become the new high priest. He is going to literally watch his father die.

He's not diseased. It wasn't a slow death. It was sudden.

And Moses is taking the garments off. He's stripping him. There are two ideas of this word stripped in the Old Testament.

One carries the thought to strip off from one's self. The other obviously is to be stripped by someone else. But in no case, in no case does this stripping happen with the permission or the good of the person involved.

It was always a matter of degradation or punishment that was in view when a person was stripped. And Aaron cannot go in because he is disobeyed. Now you would have thought Aaron was the one who fashioned the golden calf a while ago.

But it wasn't because of that. Because what God is going to do is he's going to take the occasion of what has happened and he is going to use it further for his glory. Aaron is going to be stripped.

And this word stripped was involved, I can just give you a few locations if you want to look them up. You remember Joseph's brethren, they stripped him of his coat. In 1 Chronicles 10 verse 9 it says that the Philistines stripped Saul of his armor.

In Hosea chapter 2 verse 3 it says that God is going, he threatens to strip his people Israel naked for their whoredoms, their harlotry. In Job 19 verse 9 it says that Job was stripped of his glory by God. And interestingly it is literally the same word that is used in the book of Leviticus chapter 1 in relation to the burnt offering when they flayed the offering.

I'm using all of these occasions because I want you to stand together with me on Mount Horus top. I want you to get the that are being made and I want them to be made upon us. Typical teaching, Aaron's death is a judgment and in a sense every death is a judgment, every death.

It's an exposure of Satan's lie, thou shalt not surely die. But I think in this case it's different, there's more. Priestly garments are involved, an exchange is involved, a trade is involved, a sacrifice is involved, a transfer is involved.

You know it's interesting, two times the garments of the Lord Jesus were removed, two times. Once in the upper room in John 13 we read that he laid aside his garments. He girded himself with a towel, he stooped down.

And it says after that he took his garments again. It's almost, I like to just think of it as a little picture of the incarnation. He veiled his glory, came into the world as that bond servant, stooping down, he's washing the feet of the disciples, he lays aside his garments.

But there's another time and it's in Matthew 27 and it's after his death, at his death rather, just prior to it, they stripped him, it says. Eliezer enters into the high priest's office on the death of Aaron. Now there are similarities with Christ and his entrance into his high priestly ministry.

You see, the book of Hebrews tells us that it is evident that our Lord sprang from the tribe of Judah. So when he was here on earth he was not a priest. Now that is not to say that he didn't carry out priestly activity, but he was not a priest.

But upon ascension, he passes through the heavens and the lack of the Levitical system and its priesthood gives way to one who remains in an unchangeable priesthood as he enters into heaven itself, after the order of Melchizedek. We have typical teaching here. Don't make me miss this.

Do you know what we mean, for the sake of younger ones, do you know what we mean by typical teaching? We don't mean that, oh, it's typical, just typical, right? We don't know, we don't mean that. We mean that it's a type, it's a picture of something. And so what you have here is Moses represents the law.

Moses is unable to bring them in. We read that Aaron, that priesthood, is unable to bring them in, can't bring them into blessing. There must of necessity be a change of priesthood.

Joshua is the one. What does his name mean? Jehovah the Savior. He's the one who brings them in.

What a picture. Don't miss these. It gives you food for worship, food for appreciation.

It gives you a sense of design and perfection of the Word of God from beginning to end. And so as they stand there on the mount, I want you to think of the similarities with Christ. First of all, and his entrance into his high priestly ministry and Aaron and Eliezer.

Aaron's death was announced. God said this was going to happen, it was announced. So was the Lord Jesus.

Two men are with him when he dies, Moses and Eliezer. Two men are with the Lord Jesus when he dies, two thieves. Two men knew the plans for his impending death, and one of them is this man later on, Moses.

Because you remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, they speak of his exodus, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. We read that they stripped Christ. Aaron is stripped here.

We do not read of Aaron protesting, and we read of the Lord Jesus, I gave my back to the smiters. No protest. Submitting to the will of God.

It says they mourn for Aaron. The Lord Jesus tells the people at the cross, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. And it says, and the people smoked their breasts and returned.

And finally, Aaron dies suddenly. And the Lord Jesus, it says, they marveled that he was dead already. There are significant links typically here too as well.

They go up in the sight of all to see. They disappear, not seen, and then they come down, and when they come down, there's a new priesthood. It says, and all Israel mourned.

Can I take you ahead? He's gone in. He's coming out now. And when he comes out, we read this, then they shall mourn for him, as one mourned for an only son.

The nation of Israel is going to mourn. I almost wonder if this is the background as well. Behind the verse that we love to preach the gospel from, Hebrews 9 and 27, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment.

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time, apart from sin unto salvation. Now what is the setting, the context of that verse? It is the men, it is appointed unto men once to die, but some men have died twice. So what does that mean? I see a few now maybe who are kind of sleeping.

Now you're looking. Okay. It's the men of the Levitical system.

Those are the men. And the appointment was as long as they lived. And once they died, their appointment was done.

It is appointed unto the men of the Levitical system once to die. After this, the judgment. What judgment? What judgment was rendered when a high priest died? Well, the cities of refuge could have been emptied.

The manslayer would go free. The person was free from judgment at that time upon the death of the high priest. And they waited as well.

There was a time in which they waited for the high priest to come out too. Wasn't that on the Day of Atonement? What will be the fulfillment of that Day of Atonement when Israel will see him? They'll recognize him. They'll mourn.

They'll realize he's coming out. And they'll say, Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time apart from sin unto salvation. A transfer of the high priest from Aaron, Eliezer.

What does Eliezer mean? God is my helper. I'll just end with some practical notes. How sobering this was.

Nadab and Abihu die. Eliezer saw that. What was the association there? Fire.

Strange fire. Here, what was the association now? Water. Water.

And it's Aaron now, and he can't go in. They've rebelled because of the water of the rock. Moses, Aaron, and Eliezer.

They're all going to die. You'll notice it says he stripped them first. He didn't die first.

He strips them first. You know why? Because to have Aaron have died first and then to strip him, they would have become ceremonially defiled. They take the clothing off first.

Can you imagine how embarrassing that would have been for Eliezer to watch his father to be stripped? For that which he had done all his life now is taken away. But can you also imagine how soberly, how heavily the responsibility now of what he had taken upon him to do would be impressed upon him? And I would dare say that Eliezer was one of the best high priests that the nation ever had. One of the best.

Brethren, we are going forward in virtue of a man that has died. Christ. Not because of his own sin.

Because of ours. Aaron died there because of his own sin. Eliezer took the reality of that.

He was a man marked by a death. We are marked by a death. The death of a Savior who died for us.

Let us go forth down the mountain and live in the reality and responsibility and witness of that death.