Acts: Opposition to the Gospel: Korah's Rebellion, Final Thoughts

I did want to make two final points about Korah’s rebellion.

First, power in God’s economy is very different than the way of the world. Power and authority in God come from obedience (as in, “Wait for the promise of the Father . . . remain in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high and you shall then be my witnesses” in Acts 1) and from love (as in, “whoever has my commandments and keeps them is he who loves me” from John 14:21) . More specifically, God’s power is expressed in the cross—what the world viewed then, and now, as the antithesis of power. Being led like sheep to the slaughter does not resemble in anyway power and authority with which we are familiar.

The cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the supposed weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. Witness the resurrection. See generally, 1 Corinthians 1.

These are things to meditate on, so I am being brief. But Korah wanted man’s expression of power, largely because he could not see God, had no heart for God, despite the best evidence that God held it all over any Egyptian expression of it (through the plagues and overthrowing the army at the sea).

Jesus captured this attitude of heart in Matthew 23, and contrasted it with his:

They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues, the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed. But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

The way in the wilderness was foolishness to Korah (and there are not many takers today despite God commanding us to “in the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” See Isaiah 40:3) and Korah wanted to do away with the representatives of that way in the wilderness. Perhaps he thought he could gin God back up to huge and massive displays of power. Perhaps God does that in deliverance, but in sanctification or setting apart, God requires you to keep putting one foot in front of the other so that you can learn to trust Him.

But in all events Korah and his ilk are in opposition to God’s ways and they will mislead the people of God for their gain and position:

You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter . . . You hypocrites! You traverse land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Matthew 23:13-15.

The second point I want to make is this: the God of the Bible is all about redemption before and after Christ. The “God of the Old Testament” as people call him is given a bad rap, and is separated from the “God of the New Testament.” Really it should be put the other way around. Once you realize that Jesus was always and everywhere present in the Old Testament as Son with the Father and the Holy Spirit, your understanding of the things Jesus said and did while tabernacled among us will fall more into line with who the Son of Man is. He is no good, moral teacher. He is no mere prophet. And everyone who treats him casually or with indifference is in for a shock I am afraid when he comes again in the fullness of his might, which he had put off for our salvation.

Even in this story of consumption by fire, earth, and plague, we have this verse in Numbers 16:11, “And the children of Korah died not.” Ironic isn’t it. Korah wanted after it, and was struck down. But his children were given a place of worship in the Temple as the sons of Korah. They are found at Psalms 42, 44–49, 84, 85, 87 and 88.

Ironic that Korah sought a place, sought to be first; and God gave his sons one without rebellion, and He turned a tragic trainwreck of faith into glorious worship. He did not visit the sins of the father on the children.