Run, Intercessor, Run!

Num 16:41 But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

42 And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation: and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.

43 And Moses and Aaron came before the tabernacle of the congregation.

44 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

46 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun.

47 And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.

49 Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah.

50 And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

Isa 59:16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor:

INTRODUCTION:  INTERCESSION

1 Tim 2:2:1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;

4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he urged-or strongly encouraged-his young friend to intercede for everyone. The emphasis was prayer for others. Paul was asking Timothy to pray not for himself but for those around him. This is the force behind the word intercession. Paul encouraged Timothy to pray for those in authority and included the reason why: “That we may lead a tranquil and quiet life” (1 Tim 2:2 NASB). The apostle knew that the gospel could be more easily spread in a peaceful environment, in particular, an environment where the governing officials were not hostile toward believers and their practices. Paul believed that intercession was part of the equation that could bring about such an atmosphere.

No doubt Paul also intended for Timothy to pray for the conversion of those in authority. He believed God wanted “all men to be saved” (2:4 NASB). Certainly, he was familiar with what the writer of Proverbs said concerning righteous leadership, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules, the people groan” (Prov 29:2).

The apostle Paul believed that through intercession, people could be changed. The term itself, however, implies that intercession does not bring about change. Intercession is the process that links those who need to be changed and the One who can bring about change.

The term intercession literally means “to come upon,” “to meet with,” “to come between.” When used in the context of prayer-as it is here-it takes on a special meaning. To intercede is to stand between God and someone. It is to represent another person’s concern to God. An intercessor is a go-between (Isa 59:16).

Our prayers are the link between God’s inexhaustible resources and people’s needs. When we intercede, we stand in the gap between the need and the satisfaction of that need.

Copyright 1999 (c) by Charles F. Stanley. All rights reserved.

In our text it is very important to understand the setting of this text the children of Israel desperately needed an Intercessor.

Korah’s Rebellion

The bible tells us that Korah and many famous from the congregation rose up against Moses over the position of spiritual authority.  All the congregation + 250 men who were wanna-be preachers.  Men who didn’t have any anointing, but they wanted the prestige.  All of these stood before Moses & Aaron and the Lord.  Well, because the Lord cannot stand rebellion, the bible says the next morning the earth opened up and swallowed all of Korah and his belongings, and those that stood with him.

The Lord was trying to show the people who was in charge.  Obviously that show of power wasn’t enough because the very next day the people wake up to tell Moses and Aaron that they are murderers of Gods’ people at the door of the tabernacle.  By this time God had enough, and a cloud began to appear of the tabernacle, and God in his fury spoke to Moses and said “Get away from these people, I’ve had enough I’m gonna consume them all”

We’ve all Sinned

The bible tells us that we have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God.  There is none righteous.  Our righteousness is as filthy rags.  We’ve too have been rebellious at times.  We too have been prideful.  We too, have made mistakes that frustrated grace.  All of us deserve to die.  Some of us don’t deserve any mercy whatsoever….but thank God that there was an intercessor.

Aaron – The Intercessor

Moses sensing that the people were fixing to be struck dead by the Lord, sent Aaron out with specific instructions.  He basically said Aaron you’re the high priest, your gonna have to intercede for these people.  Something is going to have to be done in order to satisfy the Lord.  Moses gave Aaron specific instructions….and then he told him to go quickly!!

TAKE A CENSER & FIRE

Moses told Aaron to take a censer.  CENSER  (Heb. mahta, a “firepan”; miqteret, “vessel for burning incense,” from qatar, “burn incense”). The vessel upon which the incense was burned in the sanctuary, and which was appointed to be set every morning on the altar of incense when the priest went in to trim the lamps and again when he lighted them in the evening (Ex 30:7-8). Yearly, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, bearing the censer, and threw upon the burning coals the incense, holding the censer in his hand while the incense burned (Lev 16:12-13).

(From The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)

The priest would take a burning coal from off the altar and put it in a censer or a “firepan”  Basically, a vessel containing the fire.  An instrument that was full of fire.  Burning fire.

So there’s 2 things you’ve got to have to make intercession: A VESSEL AND THE FIRE

Ps 104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:

Isa 64:2 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

AN INTERCESSOR CAN MAKE ALL HELL TREMBLE!!

FROM THE ALTAR

The scripture says that the FIRE came from off the altar.  Aaron had to go to the altar to get the fire.  Aaron had the knowledge of where to go when you need the FIRE.

YOU CANNOT BE AN INTERCESSOR WITHOUT AN EXPERIENCE AT THE ALTAR.  IT DON’T WORK….IT’S LIKE A COOK WITHOUT A KITCHEN.  A TEACHER WITHOUT CHALK.  A POLICEMAN WITHOUT A BADGE, JOCKEY WITHOUT A HORSE, A SAILOR WITH OUT A SHIP, A FARMER WITHOUT A PLOW, A PILOT WITH NO PLANE, A PLUMBER WITHOUT A WRENCH, A MECHANIC WITH NO TOOLS, A STOCK CAR DRIVER WITH NO TRACK, A PREACHER WITH  NO PULPIT.

WITHOUT A TRIP TO THE ALTAR THERE WILL BE NO FIRE.

FIRE BY SACRIFICE

The place where Aaron had to go to get the fire was called the Brazen Altar.  It was the place where the animals were sacrificed and burnt as offerings unto the Lord.

A REAL INTERCESSOR WILL SACRIFICE HIMSELF FOR OTHERS.  HE WILL PRAY WHEN NO ONE ELSE WILL….WORSHIP, DANCE, SACRIFICE…….GO OUT OF HIS WAY……TO GET THE FIRE.

INCENSE

The last but most important thing that Aaron had to do was not forget the incense.

INCENSE

INCENSE (Heb. usually qetoret, once applied to the “fat” of rams, the part always burned in sacrifice; once qitter, Jer 44:21, marg., both from the Hebrew, to “smoke”; sometimes lebona, Isa 43:23; 66:3; Jer 17:26; 41:5). Frankincense (Isa 60:6; Jer 6:20; NIV, “incense” in both passages), an aromatic compound that gives forth its perfume in burning. Its most general use in Scripture is that perfume that was burned upon the Jewish altar of incense (see Tabernacle). Among both the Hebrews and Egyptians we find no other trace of incense than in its sacerdotal use, but in Persian sculptures we see it burned before the king.

Material. The incense employed in the service of the Tabernacle was called “incense of the aromas” (Heb. qetoret sammim), the ingredients of which are given in Ex 30:34-35. These consisted of: (1) stacte (Heb. natap), i.e., “not the juice squeezed from the highly fragrant myrrh tree, but probably a species of gum storax resembling myrrh”; (2) onycha (Heb. shehelet, lit., a “scale”), the shell of the perfumed mollusk, blatta byzantina, found in the Mediterranean and Red seas and yielding a musky odor when burned; (3) galbanum (Heb. helbena, lit., “fat”), a gum that is obtained by making incisions in the bark of a shrub growing in Syria, Arabia, and Abyssinia; and (4) pure frankincense (Heb. lebona, lit., “white”), a pale yellow, semitransparent, pungent resin, which, when burned, is fragrant; it is grown in Arabia and Judea.

(From The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. Originally published by Moody Press of Chicago, Illinois. Copyright (c) 1988.)

THE TYPE REPRESENTED BY THE INSENSE IS PRAYER

WITHOUT THE INCENSE THERE WOULD BE ONLY SMOKE.  WITHOUT A PRAYER LIFE TO BACK UP YOUR HOLY GHOST YOUR JUST ALL SMOKE.

BUT INCENSE IS THE “AROMA” THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE….

2 Cor 2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

RUN, INTERCESSOR, RUN

Notice that Moses told Aaron to move quickly…..because people were dying.  So Aaron, forgot about how he would look and he took off running.

He ran to INTERCEDE.  Timing was everything.  The need was immediate.  Aaron there is no time to delay.  We need an intercessor.  So Run, Intercessor, Run.

BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

Aaron started running to the people. And he stood between the living and the dead.  The difference between life and death is intercession.  The difference between your situation being dead or alive is how fast you run.

What stands between a living and a dead church is INTERCESSORY PRAYER.  What stands between a living or dead marriage is AN INTERCESSOR.  WHAT STANDS BETWEEN HOPE AND HOPELESSNESS IS AN INTERCESSOR…. SO RUN INTERCESSOR RUN…..WE NEED YOU.

Aaron Could not Hold the Fire