THE LIFE OF FAITH AND THE GLORIOUS CHURCH - 2009
january 9th
"THE
LORD WILL SHOW WHO IS HIS, AND WHO IS HOLY"
...."and he spoke
to Korah and all his company, saying, 'Tomorrow morning the Lord will show who
is His, and who is holy, and will bring him near to Himself; even the one whom
He will choose, He will bring near to Himself. Do this: take censers for
yourselves, Korah and all your company, and put fire in them, and lay incense
upon them in the presence of the Lord tomorrow; and the man whom the Lord
chooses shall be the one who is holy. You have gone far enough, you sons of
Levi!' Then Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi, is it not
enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the
congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the service of the
tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to
them; and that He has brought you near, Korah, and all your brothers, sons of
Levi, with you? And are you seeking for the priesthood also? Therefore
you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord; but as for
Aaron, who is he that you grumble against him?" Then Moses sent a summons
to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; but they said, "He will not come
up. Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with
mild and honey to have us die in the wilderness, but you would also lord it
over us? Indeed, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and
honey, nor have you given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.
Would you put out the eyes of these men? He will not come up!" Then
Moses became very angry and said to the Lord, "Do not regard their
offering! I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I done harm to
any of them." And Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company be
present before the Lord tomorrow, both you and they along with Aaron. And each
of you take his firepan and put incense on it, and each of you bring his censer
before the Lord, two hundred and fifty firepans; also you and Aaron shall each
bring his firepan." So they each took his own censer and put fire on it,
and laid incense on it; and they stood at the doorway of the tent of meeting,
with Moses and Aaron. Thus Korah assembled all the congregation against them at
the doorway of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all
the congregation"....
Numbers 16: 5-19 NASB
In verse 5 we see immediately an important point as Moses spoke to Korah and
all his company saying:
Again Moses had a
revelation of the fact that "all" authority belongs to the Lord and,
therefore, he did not seek to justify himself. He stated clearly to his
"accusers" that God was his sole vindication. Only those who have
such assurance of the fact that they are in the centre of God's will would dare
call for God to judge "any" situation! First of all, Korah, and those
with him, had accused Moses of exalting himself in the assembly of God's people
[Numbers
16:2-3].
In Romans 2:1-2 we see clearly a spiritual principle that was in action in this
situation:
...."therefore you
are without excuse every man of you who passes judgement, for in that you judge
another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And
we know that the judgement of God rightly falls upon those who practice such
things"....
From this portion of
God's Word we can now understand clearly what was happening, and what was the
root motivation of Korah and his company's actions against Moses and Aaron. For
the very words that they spoke revealed the deepest intent of their heart: TO
EXALT THEMSELVES and, thus, they became jealous of the anointing upon Moses and
Aaron. This is why when we hear or see someone attributing negative [false]
comments against a brother or sister in the Lord - particularly those who have
been given a position of spiritual leadership, we can "know" that at
the "root" of it is an envy and/or jealousy, born of a fear of one
getting ahead of another in spiritual things, and in one's relationship to God.
If one takes it upon themselves to judge another with an "unrighteous
judgement", then the words that they speak "out of the abundance of
their heart" shall clearly betray their own position before God. For no
one who issues forth "unwholesome [unholy] words" [Ephesians 4:29] of unrighteous
judgement can ever be found walking in the love of God - or in obedience to His
will. Far from condemning those whom we know to be in this position of
"accuser of the brethren", we must pray diligently lest we ourselves
take offense at any ungodly action before us and, thus, fall short of perfect
obedience to the command to love one another.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RIGHTEOUS AND UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENT
The difference between
righteous judgement and unrighteous judgement [John 8:15-16; John 7:24] is that
"righteous judgement" is the pure [loving] judgement of God. It is a
word spoken in perfect accordance with the revealed knowledge of God's Word,
and the unction of the Holy Spirit. It is the "anointed" word itself
that convicts the heart of the hearer. "Unrighteous judgement" is a
word spoken - or an action taken - that has its origin in the "flesh"
and has, as its root motivation in the speaker, the desire to "exalt
themselves above" the one being spoken to or against. How "fine"
this line can be but how far apart is the fruit that is born! We, as believers,
have no right to take the judgement of others upon ourselves in a spirit of
self-righteousness. Our task is to be so empty of a "self-consciousness"
and a "sin-consciousness" [unrighteousness-consciousness] that we
become fit and pure vessels of God's love and, THEN, in "every" word
and deed, God's righteous and "necessary" judgement shall be
manifested, and He shall accomplish through us the precious work that He has
set out to accomplish in all those who cross our path. Let us not think for a
moment that the love of God and the judgement of God can be separated! For it
is the Father's Word [and the Spirit of Love] that convicts us of sin and
judges our "inordinate" [unrighteous] words and actions, and if we
will hearken to conviction when it comes, THEN it keeps us apart from [above]
the certain defilement, death and darkness that is the result of all
"sowing" to the flesh, and allows us to abide in the place wherein we
are righteously motivated at all times - first towards the Father and His Will
and, then, [as a spontaneous outflow] towards all those who cross our path.
Related
Scriptures: Matthew 12:34b-37; 1 John 3:23; Galatians 6:7-8; 2 Corinthians 7:1;
John 6:63; Romans 7:18; Matthew 6:33;
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