Commentary on "Power Struggle"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 4: Tuesday, November 10, 2009

 

Overview

We are now concerned with the incident where fire came from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were carrying censers and intended on offering holy incense before God. Moses is instructed by God to have the censers of the men who had died by God’s holy fire made into protective plates to cover the altar. This would serve as a warning sign, a memorial, to the people that they could not approach God without their sins having been covered.

"As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they offered them before the Lord , and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the people of Israel." (Num. 16:38 ESV)

 

Observations

For the most part today’s lesson is a good one but the author neglected to apply the meaning of the plates covering the altar to our own lives. Nor did the lesson draw attention to the most relevant memorial that pertains to this present age.

We will begin by looking at what happened to the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu.

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord , which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord . Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord has said, 'Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'" And Aaron held his peace. (Lev. 10:1-3 ESV)

To go near God you must be sanctified, that is, your sins must be covered by the blood of the sacrifice. In Lev. 9:24 we learn that the fire on the altar that consumed the sacrifice came from God. In Num. 16:46 we learn that the fire Aaron lit his censer with came from the altar, the holy authorized fire that came from God. The lesson is simple. No sinner can approach God without being sanctified and covered by the blood of the sacrifice placed upon the altar lit by holy fire from God.

And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; "blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." (Rom. 4:5-8 ESV)

This quote, including the surrounding text, from the book of Romans gives us a deep and rich understanding of the meaning of the covering plates on the altar. Our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Even King David, who is being quoted in Romans, understood the need for our sins to be covered apart from any work of our own.

In the book of First Peter we find mentioned a present day Living Memorial:

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." (I Peter 2:4-6 ESV)

The “living stone rejected by men”, of course, is Jesus Christ. Christians, as living stones of this spiritual house, provide a witness and memorial to the world of the true “Cornerstone” of the Christian faith. We should consider the preceding verses to understand what our appearance to the world should be:

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation-- if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:1-3 ESV)

 

Summary

1. The altar in the courtyard of the tabernacle and the sacrifice of an innocent offering upon it, consumed by fire from a holy God, teaches us that the blood of Jesus Christ is the only possible approach to a holy God. The plates covering the altar portray the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ in our lives.
2. In our own time, Christians are “living stones” of a “spiritual house” whose “Cornerstone” is Jesus Christ. This “memorial”, which is the living church or Body of Christ, was made visible and manifested on the day of Pentecost as presented in Acts Chapter Two. This was not a certain denomination or any work or creed of human design. What Peter described is a “memorial” of God that had its birth nearly two thousand years ago, not a mere 150 years ago in the recent past.

 

GO TO DAY 5

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised November 2, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 7

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 7

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Week 7

Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings