Can unholy men serve God or proclaim him to others? There is an interesting answer to that in the book of Numbers.
If you’ve seen the movie the Ten Commandments, you may remember the rumble between Moses and Dathan. With high-tech special effects, the best Hollywood could achieve at the time, the ground opens up and swallows Dathan and his rebel band. God vindicates his servant Moses.
There is an interesting footnote to the story. Moses had challenged the associates of Korah, Dathan included, to meet him on a certain day. Each was to bring a censer to burn incense before the Lord. Korah had questioned the exclusive claim of Aaron as priest. Moses stated that this would be the test to see whom God had chosen as priests.
After the earth swallowed the “unfavored,” Moses does a curious thing. He tells Aaron’s son, Eleazar, to take up the fallen rebel censers and hammer the metal into a covering for the altar. Moses says, “For they offered them before the Lord, and they have become holy.
Even though they were not approved as priests, the act of offering incense before the Lord made the censers holy unto God. They were not to be rejected though the men themselves had been severely punished.
Is this not like the mega-church pastor who commits a moral failure? People ask, “But did he not do much that was good and fruitful? Didn’t he preach the gospel? Weren’t men saved through his ministry?” That work was indeed holy, but the man suffers his penalty. One bad action does not nullify what has been done in the name of the Lord.
Our God is bigger than our sin. He can make the wrath of men to praise Him. By the same token, we should not presume because we have offered sacrifices in His name that he will be pleased with those works. God looks to our hearts. We should be humble before Him, and come to him on His terms, namely through the one High Priest, Jesus Christ.
If you’ve seen the movie the Ten Commandments, you may remember the rumble between Moses and Dathan. With high-tech special effects, the best Hollywood could achieve at the time, the ground opens up and swallows Dathan and his rebel band. God vindicates his servant Moses.
There is an interesting footnote to the story. Moses had challenged the associates of Korah, Dathan included, to meet him on a certain day. Each was to bring a censer to burn incense before the Lord. Korah had questioned the exclusive claim of Aaron as priest. Moses stated that this would be the test to see whom God had chosen as priests.
After the earth swallowed the “unfavored,” Moses does a curious thing. He tells Aaron’s son, Eleazar, to take up the fallen rebel censers and hammer the metal into a covering for the altar. Moses says, “For they offered them before the Lord, and they have become holy.
Even though they were not approved as priests, the act of offering incense before the Lord made the censers holy unto God. They were not to be rejected though the men themselves had been severely punished.
Is this not like the mega-church pastor who commits a moral failure? People ask, “But did he not do much that was good and fruitful? Didn’t he preach the gospel? Weren’t men saved through his ministry?” That work was indeed holy, but the man suffers his penalty. One bad action does not nullify what has been done in the name of the Lord.
Our God is bigger than our sin. He can make the wrath of men to praise Him. By the same token, we should not presume because we have offered sacrifices in His name that he will be pleased with those works. God looks to our hearts. We should be humble before Him, and come to him on His terms, namely through the one High Priest, Jesus Christ.
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