WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.000 Good morning. It's good to see you all here. You know, when I was in high school, my friends and I had a question we would often ask each other, which is this, who died and made you king? 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:30.339 I don't know if you've ever asked that question yourself, a question of like, what makes you so special? Maybe you feel it in your friend group when you have a friend who always gets to choose what restaurant you end up eating at. 00:00:30.339 --> 00:00:41.679 Or maybe it's at work where one of your co-workers always takes the role of delegating responsibilities within the team, even though it's not really their job. 00:00:42.359 --> 00:00:48.480 Or maybe it's at church where you see someone else elevated to a role that you would hope to serve. 00:00:48.479 --> 00:01:03.439 How easy it is for us to ask the question, who died and made you king? At the heart of it is one of the classic seven deadly sins, that of the sin of envy. 00:01:04.060 --> 00:01:10.979 It's fascinating, actually. The president of Yale, who's a psychology professor, wrote a whole book on envy and jealousy. 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:21.600 So, if you want to go see what he wrote, you know, it's worth reading. He has a great definition of envy, which I found. 00:01:22.260 --> 00:01:29.320 It says this, envy is the flip side, that is the flip side of jealousy, which is a strong desire to keep what you already have. 00:01:29.700 --> 00:01:39.520 He says, in that situation, the other person has a characteristic or possession or relationship of value, and you would like it. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:45.739 So, you begrudge them or feel bad that they have it and you don't. 00:01:46.399 --> 00:01:54.199 It's a combination of longing for something that you would like and feeling bad that someone else has it. 00:01:55.280 --> 00:02:02.500 Two parts of envy, the longing and the feeling bad that someone else has it. 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:32.479 One part of envy, the longing and the feeling bad that someone else has it and you don't have it. 00:02:33.179 --> 00:02:38.060 We feel vulnerable and we envy. 00:02:39.979 --> 00:02:46.739 And though these longings for maybe actually, in principle, good longings, 00:02:47.079 --> 00:02:54.399 how often do our hearts twist those longings into the sin of envy? 00:02:55.859 --> 00:02:59.959 So, how does God meet us in those longings? 00:02:59.960 --> 00:03:07.760 well this brings us to numbers chapter 12 so as you know we are preaching through the book of 00:03:07.760 --> 00:03:12.719 numbers this summer and we are going to be looking at numbers chapter 12 i think it's around page 100 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:21.920 i forgot to look up the number 112 112 i am told uh numbers chapter 12 and remember that the book 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:29.480 of numbers is about the people of god and really it's about god going with his people on a journey 00:03:29.479 --> 00:03:37.199 through the wilderness on their way to the promised land right and we saw in the first 10 chapters that 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:43.280 that in the book of numbers that the god was preparing the people to leave where they were 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:48.239 at the foot of mount sinai where they had received the law and where god had revealed themselves to 00:03:48.239 --> 00:03:55.139 them in in a new and fuller way and then we see them in chapter 11 launch out and last week we saw 00:03:55.139 --> 00:04:01.959 that in their launching it turned badly almost immediately as pastor nick explored the complaining 00:04:01.959 --> 00:04:09.559 and grumbling spirit of israel and how we are like them prone to doubt that god can provide 00:04:09.559 --> 00:04:14.359 for us in good ways and then he reminded us of how christ 00:04:14.359 --> 00:04:21.060 is the one who reminds us that god will be faithful to provide for us 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:29.079 so now we come to chapter 12 and it's another chapter on this journey and what we see is envy 00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:37.680 comes into the camp and we will see it in our own hearts as well let me pray for us before we 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:43.720 continue so we bow your heads and pray lord we pray as we look at your word this morning that you 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:54.420 will help us lord help us uh to understand your word and to see how this uh narrative story from long ago 00:04:54.420 --> 00:05:02.080 is meaningful for us today lord i pray that we would not only understand it with our minds 00:05:02.080 --> 00:05:10.060 but lord embrace it with our hearts and with our will and that we would love you and see how you 00:05:10.060 --> 00:05:16.839 are a great savior to envious people like us lord i pray for your help that you will help me 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:25.720 to speak as i ought this morning and we pray this in jesus name amen amen so how does god meet us when 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:30.860 envy rises in our hearts we're going to work through the story we're going to work through it chronologically 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:38.259 so we'll read the first three chat three verses to start off um let me turn there as well and we can 00:05:38.259 --> 00:05:40.160 read god's word together 00:05:40.160 --> 00:05:45.259 numbers chapter 12 00:05:45.259 --> 00:05:52.120 um i'm actually going to go back i didn't tell lewis this so it's not in the slide i'm going to 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:56.780 read the last verse of the chapter before because it frames the narrative in terms of geographically 00:05:56.779 --> 00:06:04.739 where we are from kibroth hatava the people journeyed to hazeroth and they remained at hazeroth 00:06:04.739 --> 00:06:12.379 and now starting in verse 1 of chapter 12 miriam miriam and aaron spoke against moses because of the 00:06:12.379 --> 00:06:19.500 cushite woman whom he had married for he had married a cushite woman and they said has the lord 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:29.100 indeed spoken only through moses has he not spoken through us also and the lord heard it now the man 00:06:29.100 --> 00:06:36.579 moses was very meek more than all people who are on the face of the earth and oh and we'll stop there 00:06:36.579 --> 00:06:42.720 because the next part is really exciting and suddenly but we're going to stop there so this is the setup 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:51.680 right where we see that aaron and moses or aaron and miriam attack moses in a fit of envy now remember 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:57.920 these relationships if you're not familiar with the story miriam and aaron are moses's siblings they 00:06:57.920 --> 00:07:04.320 were with him from the very beginning miriam was there when moses was miraculously rescued from 00:07:04.320 --> 00:07:12.080 the the killing of the babies in egypt and and how uh part of how he ended up in growing up in the 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:20.000 pharaoh's court they were with moses when they were when the p when he returned to egypt and god used 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:28.479 him and with them alongside of him uh to deliver the people of god and aaron was raised up as a spokesman 00:07:28.479 --> 00:07:37.680 for moses in exodus 4 and the first high priest in chapter 28 of exodus miriam similarly had a 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:46.639 exalted role in this she was called a prophetess and in exodus 15 20 we see her leading the women 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:53.680 in praise to god for the deliverance that he had done so they were like numbers two and three in the 00:07:53.680 --> 00:08:00.160 leadership organizational structure of the people of israel in some ways they were significant people 00:08:00.160 --> 00:08:08.720 right and yet they spoke against moses why might this have happened well i wonder if this is 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:14.640 speculation but i wonder if it was partly because of what happened in chapter 11 if you remember last 00:08:14.640 --> 00:08:25.280 week after these problems uh moses appointed 72 elders and gave them some of his spirit to help rule 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:32.399 over the grumbling and complaining people to help provide leadership and service and you wonder if 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:36.399 aaron and miriam were like where do we fit in this 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:46.720 they were feeling insecure and so they spoke against him and they speak in envy how do they do this well 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:58.800 first interestingly in verse 1 they say well moses took that cushite woman to be a his wife now uh cush is a 00:08:58.800 --> 00:09:06.160 region that refers to the area the the of the headwaters of the nile so this would be modern day nubia 00:09:06.160 --> 00:09:13.759 southern sudan ethiopia it's somewhere in that area um and this is the only reference to this woman 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:20.639 unless it is possible that this is zipporah who you see in earlier but she was from midian and probably 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:26.879 not true it's pro this is you know we don't have a lot of information we just know that this was a 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:34.080 woman who was not of an israelite and moses had married her and it's interesting because the narrative 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:40.080 just says this isn't gossip this is true right they complained about this and in fact he did this so 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:46.160 it's not a question of fact but it's a question of meaning and it seems like miriam and aaron are 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:52.480 saying isn't being part of the people of god being a descendant of abraham isn't it being some of the 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:59.840 special people of god and now moses elevates this woman to be his wife who's from the outside how could 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:08.080 this be and so that so they level this kind of attack like it's moses really loyal to god in what 00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:16.879 he's doing it seems like that's the first the first wave of attack and then you see in verse two that 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:23.920 there's a second one right and it's similar as well like is moses really special in his role or not 00:10:24.560 --> 00:10:32.560 because they say well okay so moses is the spokesperson for god but what about us hasn't god spoken to us 00:10:32.559 --> 00:10:38.879 and through us to the people i'm the high priest i'm the prophetess don't we also have a high and it 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:47.359 seemed that what they wanted was a similar kind of recognition they wanted the status the honor the 00:10:47.359 --> 00:10:58.879 reputation the place that moses had among the people of god now what about you and me 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:10.080 when do we feel envy bubbling up in our hearts i think it is most often when we feel insecure 00:11:11.439 --> 00:11:19.840 we feel insecure in our status we're not sure what our place is so if you're in high school and you look 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:25.679 at the cool kids who swagger down the hall and everyone knows that they're like the ones who kind 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:35.599 of rule the school and you feel insecure and you envy what they have maybe it's in our careers where 00:11:35.599 --> 00:11:42.399 we look at the person who started next to us in the cubicle next door and they've risen faster than we 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:53.039 have through the ranks or been given positions and we envy it might be that when we feel insecure about 00:11:53.039 --> 00:12:00.319 our worth perhaps your friends are dating and you're not and you ask yourself a question what's wrong with me 00:12:03.199 --> 00:12:10.159 maybe again at church it's easy to think why haven't they asked me to do that role 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:22.399 i also think sometimes our insecurity can come when we feel insecure about our power or agency we don't 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:29.759 feel secure we don't feel safe when someone else has the money to pay for things that we don't and so 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:35.919 we envy that or when we feel trapped under leadership that has authority that we don't have 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:47.039 envy can come up in a lot of different places and as with miriam and aaron 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:57.199 aaron when we feel envy what we most often do is to attack to undermine to want to diminish others this 00:12:57.199 --> 00:13:04.399 is what speaking against meant as aaron and miriam thought about what they were doing they're saying 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:13.599 who is he why is he so great right we speak against them and we tear them down in order to elevate 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:21.200 ourselves so the first part of the story reveals to us the heart of envy and how it works how does 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:27.440 god respond well let's keep reading starting in verse four let's look again starting in verse four 00:13:30.560 --> 00:13:38.000 and suddenly the lord said to moses and aaron and miriam come out you three to the tent of meeting 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:44.480 and the three of them came out and the lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of 00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:53.600 the tent and called aaron and miriam and they both came forward and he said hear my words if there is a 00:13:53.600 --> 00:14:01.679 prophet among you i the lord make myself known to him in a vision i speak with him in a dream not so 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:10.959 with my servant moses he is faithful in all my house with him i speak mouth to mouth clearly and 00:14:10.959 --> 00:14:19.279 not in riddles and he beholds the form of the lord why then were you not afraid to speak against my 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:25.039 servant moses and the anger of the lord was kindled against them and he departed 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:37.439 so how does god respond to envy he confronts us by making us come face to face with him right this 00:14:37.439 --> 00:14:44.719 is literally what happened right god descends right there's the cloud that sits over the painting tent 00:14:44.719 --> 00:14:51.120 and and it says that god actually descended down uh and it must have been a fearsome sight for 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:55.919 particularly miriam and aaron who hadn't seen this in the same way that moses had seen it 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:02.480 as they're called to the tent of meeting in the center of the camp for god to call them to account 00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:10.639 right and he starts by clarifying listen if there are prophets among us this is how i reveal myself to 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:18.480 them and he's including miriam in that he's including uh uh aaron in that to some degree he's including 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:23.680 others he's saying if that happens i will reveal myself in dreams and and those sorts of things so 00:15:23.680 --> 00:15:28.800 it's not that i don't honor them and give them these revelations it's just it comes in a certain way 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:39.840 but with moses it's different verses six through eight is such a powerful defense of god's unique 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:48.320 calling and moses's unique status he calls him my servant he says he is faithful in all 00:15:48.320 --> 00:15:56.879 my house the questions of loyalty is moses serving himself or is he serving god god affirms no he is 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:03.600 serving me this is what he's doing he's been perfectly faithful then third he goes on he says 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:10.320 and if you want to know what the difference though i speak in dreams to others i speak to moses face to 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:16.000 face that's what mouth to mouth means it's it's like a diminutive of face to face um and so 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:24.879 i speak to him clearly not in riddles not in ways that need require interpretation or have questions 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:34.480 but i speak boldly and plainly to him and fourth he is able to see my form now it's interesting because 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:41.519 if you remember back in exodus 33 right moses wasn't allowed to see the face of god because no one could 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:46.079 see the face of god and live because we're all sinful people and without a mediator there's no way 00:16:46.079 --> 00:16:54.240 we can do this but but here moses god says but moses does have a unique way he sees my form in a way 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:01.360 that no one else does because i invite him into this unique role of me being my representative to come to 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:09.200 the tent of meeting and meet with me so this is what god is saying so moses says to them listen friends 00:17:10.080 --> 00:17:16.799 you do have a role here right i do have prophets in my midst among my people and i reveal my and i'm and 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:27.680 and they have their role but moses is special moses is unique right and part of what he does in the 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:35.920 midst of this particularly when he gets to the end is he reveals the deeper root of the envy because what 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:44.720 he's really saying to moses and or to miriam and aaron is you're speaking against him is a speaking 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:53.200 out against me because i am the one who is called moses i am the one who has given him this particular 00:17:53.200 --> 00:18:02.080 role i have sovereignly acted to do what i want to do through this man in a way that i'm not going to do it 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:08.480 it you have your roles and i've called you to those but he has his role and i've called him to that 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:15.039 and by speaking out against him you are rejecting me 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:24.399 me this is why he asked the question why were you not afraid to speak out against my servant moses 00:18:26.639 --> 00:18:33.920 because he's kind of saying why were you for not afraid to speak out against me your sovereign god 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:53.759 god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god god 00:18:53.759 --> 00:19:00.000 ten plagues on Egypt by the word of Moses. They saw God lead the people through the wilderness 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:05.359 in a pillar of cloud and fire. They saw God part the Red Sea and destroy the Egyptian army. 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:13.900 They saw God give water from a rock when Moses struck it on God's command. They saw God reveal 00:19:13.900 --> 00:19:20.200 himself to Moses first and then to the people through Moses in Mount Sinai, giving them the law. 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:31.279 They saw God lead them away toward the promised land. And it was this God that they were questioning 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:39.680 when they spoke against Moses in their envy. And they made the same mistake that we often do 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:47.440 with our envious hearts. We tend to say, well, envy is all about us and other people. We see it 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:53.880 merely on a horizontal plane, and we fall into this comparison trap, and we think, 00:19:53.880 --> 00:20:02.160 where do we fit with regard to other people? And we've excluded God completely from the picture. 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:15.560 And God comes down, and He calls us to reckon with Him. And friends, if Miriam and Aaron had seen God do 00:20:15.560 --> 00:20:27.960 all of those things, how much more have we seen God? Because God has rescued us from sin by sending 00:20:27.960 --> 00:20:36.700 His Son, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ, who was the very image of God, so that we might see God face to face, 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:46.360 came down and walked this earth, right, full of grace and truth, the glory of God manifested in the 00:20:46.360 --> 00:20:52.500 incarnate Son of God. And we have seen Him, and we have known Him. And He has come and loved us and laid down 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:59.400 His life to die for us in humility and in weakness so that we might be rescued and we might be saved. 00:21:01.140 --> 00:21:07.160 And now, as God's people, He has called us into His body with various parts and various roles and 00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:12.980 various things, and He's given all of us honor in the particularities of what they've been, but not the 00:21:12.980 --> 00:21:20.079 sameness. We have the sameness of worth, but we don't have the sameness of roles. 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:30.480 And God asks us a question in our world and in our lives. Are you going to question the role that I 00:21:30.480 --> 00:21:36.160 have given you, the place that I have given you, the resources that I have given you, 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:43.100 or will you allow envy to control your hearts? 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:53.380 And friends, this is true in lots of things, but it is particularly true as we see it here with regard 00:21:53.380 --> 00:22:00.360 to human authorities. This is one of the challenging discipleship things that this passage points us to 00:22:00.360 --> 00:22:06.040 because God has sovereignly instituted authority in our life in various ways. We have governments that 00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:12.500 we are called to submit to, even when they are ungodly. He has set roles in churches and in family and in 00:22:12.500 --> 00:22:20.399 society and workplaces, and we just chafe against it because in our human sinful hearts, we don't want 00:22:20.399 --> 00:22:26.639 anyone else to tell us what to do. And in our American spirit, in particular, we love our freedom. 00:22:26.639 --> 00:22:32.680 I can do whatever I want. And that's not the way God has established His kingdom. 00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:44.839 And our envy at that power that authorities have been given by God expresses itself in the spirit of 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:51.099 rebellion and stubborn resistance. Because we know where they're not perfect, so we say to them, 00:22:51.099 --> 00:22:52.759 who died and made you king? 00:22:56.879 --> 00:22:57.559 Well, 00:22:58.079 --> 00:23:04.579 there's a lot of nuance here because there are appropriate times, because human authorities are 00:23:04.579 --> 00:23:11.819 fallible, and they can be sinful. And there are times when we do stand up to unrighteousness. 00:23:12.879 --> 00:23:19.779 But we must be very careful to recognize God has still established this broad structure for our good 00:23:19.779 --> 00:23:28.179 and for a blessing. Let me speak really plainly for a minute about church leadership. And I just, 00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:32.960 you guys know this, I'm uncomfortable. I don't want to talk about this. But the passage leads us here, 00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:41.340 and I think it's worth saying. It's easy in our day and age to speak out against church leadership or to 00:23:41.340 --> 00:23:50.380 be wary of their, of the authority that church leadership has. It's easy for us to adopt a spirit 00:23:50.380 --> 00:23:58.860 of mistrust and of distance, of skepticism and doubt. And particularly because church leaders have 00:23:58.859 --> 00:24:04.299 shown themselves to be unfaithful, they have shown themselves to be sinful, and they have not always 00:24:04.299 --> 00:24:06.719 properly responded when they have fallen. 00:24:11.179 --> 00:24:16.659 For those of us who have a role of leadership in a church, we must look at Moses as an example. 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:23.219 He was humble. He was faithful. Have you noticed? Moses hasn't even spoken yet in our narrative. 00:24:23.220 --> 00:24:32.880 God is the one who intervened to defend him. So we as leadership need to have that. And we need to 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:39.819 admit and be willing to be, to be rightly confronted when we sin or when we have done something poorly. 00:24:40.200 --> 00:24:46.539 That's the right way for human authority, for church authority to be held with humility and with 00:24:46.539 --> 00:24:56.139 gentleness and with openness to healthy feedback. But for those who are in the church to recognize 00:24:56.139 --> 00:25:06.059 God has appointed leaders over us for a reason. And we need to respect that. And we need to recognize 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:11.200 that it's not them and whether we like them or not, or whether they do things the way we want them to 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:21.019 or not. But it's God who has put them there. And how do we honor what God has done rather than envy and rebel? 00:25:23.059 --> 00:25:31.640 Now, friends, I say all of this with a thankful heart because I don't perceive in Trinity that there is 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:39.220 bubbling and gurgling lots of discontent and envy and rancor and dissension among our church. 00:25:39.220 --> 00:25:48.079 And I'm very thankful for that. And I'm thankful for our eldership where we call each other out and keep 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:57.100 one another humble and seek to remember that we are called to be servants as we seek to be elders and 00:25:57.100 --> 00:26:07.960 shepherds of this congregation. But we need to recognize that this is a part of where envy can so easily come in 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:15.259 and destroy a church and how easily it can become a rot in God's people. 00:26:18.259 --> 00:26:25.799 How will God respond to such an affront of Miriam and Aaron? How will He deal with us 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:32.319 when envy does grip our hearts? Well, this is what the rest of the passage shows us. 00:26:32.319 --> 00:26:38.819 So, thirdly, let's look at verses 10 through 15, 10 through 16, and we'll read this together. 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:41.579 It says, 00:26:41.579 --> 00:26:51.740 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous like snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam, 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:56.099 and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, 00:26:56.319 --> 00:27:00.720 O my Lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 00:27:01.220 --> 00:27:08.179 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb. 00:27:08.180 --> 00:27:17.400 And Moses cried to the Lord, O God, please heal her, please. But the Lord said to Moses, 00:27:17.600 --> 00:27:23.279 If her father had but spit on her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:29.180 the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again. So Miriam was shut outside the 00:27:29.180 --> 00:27:35.080 camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. 00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:40.960 After that, the people set out from Hazaroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:50.519 Oh, friends, how does God respond to our envious hearts with justice and mercy? 00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:56.699 This is such a beautiful picture. Remember going back to verse 9 where it says, 00:27:56.859 --> 00:28:00.099 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. 00:28:00.099 --> 00:28:05.339 Now, if you went back and you looked at chapter 11, you would see when the anger of the Lord 00:28:05.339 --> 00:28:11.559 kindles against people, do you know what happens? Immediate severe judgment. In verse 1, 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:18.339 His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts 00:28:18.339 --> 00:28:24.259 of the camp. In chapter 11, verse 33, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, 00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:30.079 and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. And when you get here, you think, 00:28:30.460 --> 00:28:39.259 and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Miriam and Aaron, and bam! But that's not actually what 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:50.379 happens. Instead, God departs. Isn't it an interesting narrative move, right? Now, it's not that there 00:28:50.380 --> 00:28:58.680 isn't judgment because you go on, and the cloud moves away, and behold, Miriam is leprous, right? 00:28:59.540 --> 00:29:04.980 She is afflicted with a skin disease, probably not Hansen's disease, modern-day leprosy. It's 00:29:04.980 --> 00:29:09.540 probably just a skin disease, but we've heard all about skin diseases before. We didn't read it, 00:29:09.580 --> 00:29:14.280 but it's in chapter 5, where if you have skin diseases, it makes you richly unclean. You have 00:29:14.280 --> 00:29:19.420 to be put outside the camp, right? So there were consequences, and God did bring a judgment, 00:29:19.420 --> 00:29:24.259 but He didn't strike them dead. He didn't bring the fullness of His wrath. Instead, 00:29:24.660 --> 00:29:27.500 He restrained Himself in His judgment. 00:29:33.380 --> 00:29:40.900 And Miriam and Aaron respond immediately with repentance. Aaron sees this, and as a high priest, 00:29:40.960 --> 00:29:47.300 this would have been his role to see someone who was unclean or ritually unclean or to declare them 00:29:47.299 --> 00:29:54.220 unclean again. And He turns and He pleads to Moses, please heal her. Don't let this happen to your 00:29:54.220 --> 00:30:04.440 sister. And Moses finally speaks, and like the God that He serves, He does not show anger and 00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:09.299 cutting off Miriam and saying, if you're going to be like that, I'll have nothing to do with you. 00:30:09.299 --> 00:30:18.500 No, He turns to God and He pleads for her healing. He pleads for her forgiveness. 00:30:19.379 --> 00:30:27.980 Moses has said, we know we've sinned, or Aaron said, we know we have sinned. And Moses pleads to God 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:35.579 for their forgiveness. And notice this, God's response is twofold, right? Because one is, 00:30:35.579 --> 00:30:41.500 should she not bear the shame, right? He tells this little parable that's kind of weird, 00:30:41.500 --> 00:30:49.759 but it seems that there was maybe a pattern in that culture of if a father spits on a child, 00:30:49.899 --> 00:30:55.599 that would be a shameful thing, right? Where you're actually imparting shame on someone as a part of 00:30:55.599 --> 00:31:02.279 punishment or a part of discipline, right? And He's saying, shouldn't that then there be… there are 00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:08.539 consequences for that. Seven days, they should be ashamed because of it. But what you don't see is 00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:15.399 that what God did is He did instantly heal her. Because if you go back to chapter 5 of Numbers, 00:31:15.799 --> 00:31:23.079 someone who is afflicted with leprosy, once they have been healed and seen by the high priest as 00:31:23.079 --> 00:31:28.720 healed of leprosy, then they must stay out of the camp for seven days before they can be restored. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:39.480 So God instantly healed in response to Moses' plea. And yes, she did bear the consequences of being put 00:31:39.480 --> 00:31:48.600 outside the camp. The one who had complained about the inclusion of a woman from outside the camp at 00:31:48.600 --> 00:31:54.240 the beginning of the chapter was put outside the camp for a season. But do you see how it was repeated 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:59.859 twice? Because the Lord says, let her be shut out for seven days. After that, she may be brought in. 00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:07.700 And so the people then… so this is what happened. And the people waited at cost to themselves. 00:32:08.220 --> 00:32:13.680 Friends, if you've looked at a map, it is not more than a seven-day journey from where they are right 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:19.180 now to the edge of the promised land. They waited a whole week that they could have been spending 00:32:19.180 --> 00:32:26.400 getting to the brink of the promised land in order to honor Miriam and take her with them as a part of 00:32:26.400 --> 00:32:37.340 their camp, as an insider. And friends, this is the mercy of a heavenly father who disciplines and loves 00:32:37.339 --> 00:32:53.859 his children. This is what we see as Moses and then God responds to the envious hearts of Miriam and Aaron. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:06.240 So the message of this passage is, stop being envious, right? No. No, that's not it. I mean, yes, 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:13.839 it is. At one level, we should not be envious, and that is a good thing. But the fact is that envy is 00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:19.000 one of those things. In Galatians 5, we saw it. It's a part of the fruit of the flesh. It is a part of 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:27.180 our sinful nature. And it's not, don't be envious, but when we are envious, what do we do? This is what 00:33:27.180 --> 00:33:36.820 the gospel speaks to. This is why we read Hebrews chapter 3 earlier, because how much more greater is 00:33:36.820 --> 00:33:48.920 Christ than Moses? Just as Moses interceded for Miriam in her envious heart and brought forgiveness 00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:55.640 and freedom. How much more is Christ this? Remember what we read, therefore, holy brothers, you who 00:33:55.640 --> 00:34:01.039 share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was 00:34:01.039 --> 00:34:07.980 faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses was also faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has 00:34:07.980 --> 00:34:20.800 been counted worthy of more glory than Moses. The glory of the Son of God, who left heaven to come to earth 00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:29.980 so that we could see him face to face. The glory of the Son of God, who bore the envy of the religious 00:34:29.980 --> 00:34:42.039 leadership of the Jewish people in his day. The glory of Jesus who was faithful in his humility and obedience 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:53.240 even unto death, taking the form of a servant and dying on the cross for those who envied him. 00:34:53.239 --> 00:34:59.879 Consider the glory of the glory of the church. Consider the glory of Jesus who was put outside the camp of 00:34:59.879 --> 00:35:09.500 Jerusalem, crucified outside the city, so that those he died for, those who persecuted him, could be brought 00:35:09.500 --> 00:35:20.519 in to the people of God. Consider the glory of he now who is the head over his people, the church, 00:35:20.519 --> 00:35:25.719 who calls us with a heavenly calling to be a part of his body. 00:35:29.159 --> 00:35:36.599 Consider his glory as the resurrected Son of God, who's exalted to a place above all others, 00:35:38.059 --> 00:35:44.880 that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Christ is Lord. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:54.300 And friends, here's the amazing thing. We get caught up with him in that. When we feel insecure about our 00:35:54.300 --> 00:36:01.820 status, when we feel insecure about our power, when we feel insecure about our worth, 00:36:03.200 --> 00:36:13.579 the glory of Christ calls us to take those questions and to find their greatest fulfillment in him. 00:36:13.579 --> 00:36:23.420 Because in him we are caught up in his glory. And it does un-center us. It's not about us and how great we 00:36:23.420 --> 00:36:32.940 are. It's about how great he is. But it says he is that great. So we are welcomed in to the overflow of his glory 00:36:32.940 --> 00:36:48.079 in all eternity. And so when the worm of envy begins to eat, your heart turn to Christ and remember, 00:36:48.960 --> 00:37:00.460 who died? Made him king? He did. He died so that he might be our king. Let's pray. 00:37:00.460 --> 00:37:12.840 Lord, we thank you for this story. We thank you that you are a merciful God. Lord, forgive us for our 00:37:12.840 --> 00:37:20.500 envious, rebellious hearts. And Lord, help us to behold Christ in all of his greatness and glory. 00:37:20.500 --> 00:37:30.440 And Lord, in beholding that, Lord, will you free us from envy so that we might instead love 00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:37.260 and honor and respect and follow. 00:37:40.539 --> 00:37:43.880 Thank you, Lord. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.