Title: God's Retribution (Numbers 25:10-13)
Contents
Title: God's Retribution / Scripture Numbers 25:10-13 / Space Daebok Church
*** Introduction
This evening I would like to think about God's retribution for man's deeds. People who do not have deep faith in God often say that God requires too much of man. But in reality, God requires very little. This is required because, for the most part, man has deviated himself from the right course through ignorance, disobedience, and rebellion. On the other hand, will man's demands on God be few? In any case, let us consider this evening not God's request, but God's recompense for people's deeds.
The character in this sermon is a man named Phinehas who benefited from his anger. Phinehas was the grandson of Aaron, the high priest, and the son of Eleazar. He succeeded his father as a high priest, and in his last years, he served the ark of the covenant of God at Bethel. Phinehas was promised great blessings from God's eyes to his descendants, because he was angry at the most appropriate time.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say it is good to be angry. On the contrary, to harbor anger is to sin, so in Ephesians 4:26 it says, “Be angry and do not sin, and do not let the sun go down on your anger.” In addition, in Proverbs 29:22, “An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man transgresses a lot.” In James 1:20, “Man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.” ” he said.
On the contrary, in the Bible, there are many people who failed because they did not get angry. Nevertheless, the Bible gives us a glimpse of the need for the right anger at the right time. In particular, in the case of Phinehas, who appears at this time, he is a person who has benefited greatly from his anger. Also, when Jesus saw the temple defiled by the merchants, He became angry and overturned their tables and drove the merchants out of the temple with a whip.
Then, what kind of anger is approved by God and what is hated?
1. The anger that refreshed the heart of God
40 years have passed since the Israelites had been living in the wilderness. They arrived in the land of Moab, east of the Jordan, overlooking the land of Canaan. However, the people, who had been weary from their long life in the wilderness, fell into fornication with Moabites. Because of this, God became angry and disciplined the Israelites with a plague. Despite continued discipline, Israel did not cease to sin.
Initially, while secretly, I enjoyed the increasingly bold haejyeoseo now openly immoral. Even though millions of people were dying from the plague, they were getting more and more without fear of sin. I was afraid because of the wrath of God, and at the same time, one of the chiefs of the tribe of Simeon brought the daughter of the chief of Midian to his tent and was committing fornication.
Phinehas, who watched this, couldn't contain his anger and ran into the tent with a spear, and stabbed the two men to death with a single spear. But, miraculously, the plague stopped at that moment (Numbers 25:6-8). Why?
Let's look at verse 11. “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the grandson of Aaron the priest, was jealous with my jealousy… ” he said. Phinehas was angry with the sin against God. God said he was jealous because of God's jealousy. Jesus was also whipped because of his zeal for the temple of God. In John 2:14-17, when Jesus drove out those who defiled the temple, the disciples saw it and remembered the words of the Bible. It says, “The zeal for the temple of the Lord will consume me.”
Sin doesn't come all at once. Like a drizzle, little by little, it stains people with sin. Therefore, believers must be firm, even for small sins. You should never be friendly. As Colossians 2:20-21 says, you must not hold on to, taste, or touch the works of sin in the flesh. Not only that, but going one step further, you must have a passion for God. God greatly praised Phinehas' actions, who had both of these, and promised great blessings.
2. God's recompense
God has given you a covenant of peace against the righteous wrath of Phinehas that has refreshed your heart. That covenant is the contents of verses 12-13 In summary, the eternal priesthood was given to the family of Phinehas from generation to generation. God accepted Phinehas's act of killing a criminal as a sin offering for Israel. That is, because Phinehas satisfied God's justice and removed the cause of sin. Thus, the “inflammation” that was imposed as a punishment ceased.
It is precisely this work, to satisfy God's justice and to take away sins, which is the duty of a priest. When the people come to the house of the Lord with a sacrifice, the priest places their hands on the head of the sacrifice and has them confess their sins. This act is to transfer the sins of the people to the beast. After that, the animal is slain in the people's place and is sacrificed to God. This is the removal of iniquity from God's people, and at the same time satisfying God's justice, God's law, in which sinners must be punished. This is the priest's mission.
However, Phinehas had the effect of offering a sin offering to God by directly punishing sinners. And his deeds were priestly duties. Therefore, God promised to give the office of priest to the generations of the Phinehas family.
Of course, because Phinehas is a descendant of Aaron, he has been a priest since birth. However, not all priesthood priests were recognized by God. However, this covenant is a promise to become a priestly family approved by God. This was a blessing he enjoyed in his day. As God had promised, he succeeded his father, Eleazar, and enjoyed the blessing of serving God as a priest in Israel for 20 years.
For those who pursue spiritual things like this, God grants not only spiritual blessings but also abundant and beautiful blessings on earth while they live in the world. These blessings were not limited to Phinehas's time. God has given him an eternal promise that his descendants will continue to serve as priests before God. As promised, God allowed Israel to continue to serve as a priest until AD 70, when Israel was destroyed by the Romans. God speaks in Deuteronomy 7:9. “Therefore, you know. But the LORD your God is God, the faithful God. To those who love him and keep his commandments, he keeps his covenant and shows mercy to a thousand generations.”
That's right. If we are passionate about God and determined against sin, God will reward us with more grace. So invest yourself in spiritual things. Material, talent, strength, all will be earned as much as you invest. See 2 Samuel 22:25-27. “Therefore the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, according to my purity in his sight. To the merciful you show your mercy, to the perfect you show your perfection, to the clean you show your purity, and to the wicked you show your disobedience.” People do not know exactly what is in their hearts, but God sees clearly. Therefore, he repays us according to what we do.
Would God not know how he is serving this small and difficult church and working hard for the Lord? He knows your service, your devotion, and your hard work, and you know your sincerity. And he always gives grace not only to our generation but also to our descendants. That's why Psalm 37:25 says, "From my youth until I am old, I have never seen the righteous forsaken, or their descendants begging for food."
Now let's move forward looking only at our Lord. I pray in the name of the Lord that I will do my best every moment every day and achieve a blessed life that hopes for the Lord's kingdom without shame.