480-1 THE SONG OF THE ALMOND TREE
APRIL 8, 1979
PASTOR HENRY F KULP
Numbers 17: 7, 8 And Moses laid up the rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.
This morning we want to start a series of two messages on the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. This is called the Easter season—this morning is Palm Sunday, and so I would like to direct your attention to what it means that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and then resurrected from the dead.
1/ The resurrection is absolutely necessary, and it has to be a physical resurrection. Not a spiritual, as some people would tell us. Jesus Christ came forth from the tomb in a physical body. A body of flesh and bones, one that could be seen, one that cold be felt.
2/ Let us look a an Old Testament Scripture—one of the most beautiful in the word of God. As we look into it, we shall see, life springing out of death; a rod, really a mere stick, breaking forth into life and bearing almonds. It tells the story of the power of God and sings of Jesus Christ as triumph over death.
3/ Here we are confronted with an incident that happened centuries ago, but it has a bearing on us today. The Old Testament is not set aside by us. We believe it with all our heart, soul and mind. It is God’s Word. But now this morning we want you to see how we use the Old Testament.
4/ As we look at this portion of Scripture we are on resurrection ground.
5/ The background of this passage reveals how the people of Israel were discontented with Moses and Aaron, who they thought were taking too much authority upon themselves Instead of being thankful to God for the gift of such leadership, they complained and rebellion was incited. At this point, Israel was turned back into the wilderness. They had come to the borders of the Promised Land and refused to enter, and the Lord turned them back. God said, you were forty days searching out the land and then refused to go in, and you will be turned back for forty years. Moses and Aaron were having trouble with this rebellion when people thought they took too much upon themselves. In Chapter 16 we have the vindication of Moses. In Chapter 17 we have the vindication of Aaron.
6/ Numbers 16: 28 - 35 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Moses said, If these men die a natural death, God has not spoken by me, but if the earth opens up and they are swallowed up and go down into Sheol, then you will know that God has spoken by me. The earth opened and they all went down into Sheol, and all Israel that was round about the, fled at the cry of them. For they said, Less the earth swallow us up also. Then there came fire up from the Lord, and consumed the (250) two-hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
7/ Numbers 16: 44 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Here we have another important lesson. After those men were destroyed the people came to Moses and said, You have destroyed the people of God. They blamed Moses for it and he had nothing to do with it, but anyway they blamed him for it. God was angry and sent a plaque among them and many were dying. And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Get you up from among this congregation that I may consume them as in a moment, and they fall upon their faces. That is three times in this chapter that they fell on their faces before God—that is the thing to do whenever you are in trouble. They fell on their faces.
8/ Verse 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.
Moses said to Aaron, take your censor and go put into the midst of the people. God is angry and the people are dying. Aaron was the high priest, He was the one to stand between God and the people. Verse 47 So the man Aaron, the high priest, stood between the dead and the living. God was the Living One, and the people were dying, and between God and the sinning people was the high priest. That was their safety and the plague was stopped.
9/ I wonder if you realize that between us and the Lake of Fire there is the Lord Jesus Christ only. Only Christ stands between Christ and the Lake of Fire. So Aaron is a picture of Jesus Christ.
10/ Now we come to the 17th Chapter and as I said, this is the vindication of Aaron. They brought their accusations against Moses and Aaron for the positions they held. Moses and Aaron had never been appointed by the nation, they had never held an elected position. They had never been elected by the people but God appointed them. This rebellion came up and they said you have taken it upon yourselves. Moses had not taken it upon himself. Aaron had not taken it upon himself. They only had Moses’ word for it that He was their leader, their deliverer, and that Aaron was the appointed high priest. Here God vindicates both .
11/ We could just stop at this point and say there is a wonderful day of vindication coming. There is a time coming when God is going to show who has been right and who has been wrong. Eternity will prove this fact. Certainly, like Moses and Aaron the world says, you are not of God. You Fundamentalists, you Bible-toting individuals, you certainly are wrong. Everybody is a child of God. We are all going to the same place, just using different roads, but there will be a day of vindication for the child of God, for members of the church the body of Christ.
12/ God told Moses what he was to do, and told him to take twelve leaders, twelve princes of the twelve tribes and Aaron was to represent the tribe of Levi. Aaron was not the had of the tribe but was to represent the tribe of Levi. They were to have eleven princes representing the other eleven tribes. And God said, let every man bring a rod, merely a dead stick. God didn’t tell them what kind to bring, but God said, let every man bring a rod. I suppose some polished them very beautifully. Every man was to bring a rod, a dead stick, and God said, write the name of the tribe on each rod. I am going to show whom I have chosen. Aaron was to represent the tribe of Levi.
13/ Numbers 17: 6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
The next day when Moses went into the tabernacle, he found the rod of Aaron—it budded and brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds. Life out of death—that is resurrection. The rod of Aaron was just as dead as the other eleven. God did it so they could not question what had been done. If there had been a few leaves, they could have said Moses stuck them on the rod—but God did not do it that way. There were buds on that rod, there were blossoms on that rod, there were almonds on that rod.—Fruit. The little rod showed six months of life, from the time it begins to bear leaves, until the fruit was ripe, and all of that was done in a night—that is the way God does things. There must be no question about it, for that was Aaron’s vindication, they knew now that God had chosen Aaron. And Aaron was God’s man.
14/ This is LIFE OUT OF DEATH. THAT IS THE STORY OF AARON’S ROD THAT BUDDED, BLOOMED AND BORE ALMONDS. The foundation of Christianity is life out of death. When the Lord Jesus Christ had risen from the grave, He stayed here upon this earth forty (40) days, showing Himself to His disciples, that they might know that He had risen from the dead. No one saw Jesus Christ rise, but hey did see Him alive on this earth.
15/ Acts 1: 21, 22 Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
Judas had betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and was gone, and there was a vacancy in the twelve (12), so they held a meeting and they said, we have to fill out the twelve (12). There must be twelve (12) apostles, and so they held a meeting. They said, we have to have one who traveled with us from the beginning. The twelve (12) disciples as they followed Jesus Christ were not alone. We read in a number of places that men traveled with them constantly. So we have to find a man who traveled with the twelve (12). From the baptism of John until that day that He was taken up from us, He ascended into Heaven, and so they choose one who traveled with them from the Baptism of John until the ascension, and Mathias was that one.
16/ As we said, there were no witnesses of the resurrection. When they came to the tomb to see Jesus, He was gone. We are told they went while it was yet dark and there was an angel sitting on a stone, and the angel said, “He is not here.” So Jesus Christ stayed here for forty (40) days out of the fifty (50) and He appeared to them. If a few men had seen Him arise, men would not believe them. They might have thought they had seen some vision. Jesus Christ did not let anyone see Him rise, but stayed here forty (40) days and appeared to them and said, “I am Jesus, feel my body, put your fingers in the prints of my hands, my feet and my side. I am Jesus.” He stayed forty (40) days, and that was better proof than seeing Him rise, because at the end of forty (40) days, they knew He was the One Who was their leader and was crucified and was risen from the dead. So we read in this Scripture they are to be witnesses of His resurrection, and that is what they preached to the nation Israel.
17/ Notice the last part of the 22nd Verse. Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.
One must be ordained to be a witness with us of His resurrection.
18/ Notice how Peter preached this in Acts 2: 22 - 24. Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
19/ Let us look at Paul and see what Paul has to say, Acts 17: 31. Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Paul is preaching in Athens. He was left there to wait for his workers to come, and when he saw so many gods being worshipped his heart was stirred and he began to preach, and when they heard him preach they took him to the market place and let him preach to all the philosophers gathered there. They had an altar to each of their false gods--every god they knew, but in case they might have left one out, they had an altar to the unknown God to be sure they had them all in. So Paul said, I am going to tell you who the unknown God is, and he began to preach. And he says, the One who is to run this world in judgment, the One Who is going to call the human race before Him and be their judge, is the One Who was raised from the dead. Who was that? Are there two? Are there more than one? The whole human race is to be judged by the One Who God raised from the dead, and Paul was a witness that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. He saw Him in His resurrected glory and was struck blind by that resurrected glory.
Romans 4: 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
While Jesus Christ was delivered for our offenses, we must never forget He was raised again for our justification. Just as the buds, the blossoms, and the almond nuts revealed that life had come to Aaron’s rod. So our Saviour was raised to bear fruit to the glory of God.
20/ Revelations 1: 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
John was permitted here to see the resurrected Lord, but he Lord was not just like what John saw in his life. When he saw Him he fell at his feet as if dead. He was not dead. No one can die at the feet of Jesus Christ for that is the place of life. Notice in this Scripture, He did not say, I am the resurrection, as He did in John—I am He that liveth and was dead. That is what you have pictured in the rod of Aaron. The rod of Aaron was dead and it came to life, it bore fruit. There can be no doubt that the stick was dead, now it was alive and bearing fruit. Jesus Christ did not say, Im the resurrected One, I am He that liveth and was dead and behold, I am alive. God says the dead. You want to see the fruit of His resurrection.
Ephesians 2: 1, 2 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
We, who were dead in trespasses and sin, through faith in Jesus Christ are now made alive.
21/ Numbers 17: 9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.
The rod was seen by the people. Nothing was hidden from their eyes, so with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ His victory over the grave was witnessed by many who behold Him with their own eyes. While I am not an authority on evidence, I am told by those who know that the evidence of Jesus Christ’s resurrection would pass in any court.
Acts 1: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
He was seen by over five hundred (500) individuals. People whose character could not be called into question. They were those who were willing to bear persecution for this truth. They were willing to bear that testimony and shed their own blood. If it had been a falsehood, I am confident none of the disciples would have been willing to die for Him. His resurrection was not a hidden affair, but an event, well established by many witnesses.
22/ Then we know THAT THE ARK WAS KEPT IN THE TABERNACLE. The tabernacle was the place where man met with God. It spoke of the presence of God in their midst. All those things concealed in the ark show forth our Saviour—the pot of manna, spoke of Him as our supply. The tablets of stone as Christ our righteousness, and the budding rod of Christ our life. The ark revealed the presence of God, and as we look high into the heavens with the eye of faith we see Jesus Christ there in God’s presence, fulfilling all the conditions of those items hidden in the ark.
23/ Numbers 17: 10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.
The same truth is revealed concerning the resurrection of Christ. It is a glowing assurance of eternal life for those who believe on Him, but also a gloomy assurance of judgment for those who reject Him. Those who reject the resurrection of Jesus Christ are sure to face the judgment of God. Just saying it is a spiritual resurrection will not help when you stand before Him.
480-1 / The Song of the Almond Tree / Pre-Easter / 4/8/1979
