A Priestly Transition

Been on a kick recently about looking at parts of the Bible that most people would pass over. Remember a few weeks ago we talked about the two verses in the Bible where Paul returned to the city he had just been stoned in. No one gets stoned today, but we see something very interesting tucked away in just a few verses in Numbers 20.

Background.

• Aaron, first priest.
• Exodus 32 - leading the children to promised land. Makes mistakes (golden calf)
• Leviticus 10 - first two sons die (Nadab / Elihu) offering strange fire (mini sermon there’s a right way to worship God. Not about Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Non-denominational, etc. None of that matters. But OBEDIENCE AND HEART do)
• Numbers 20:10-11 - Moses smites the rock instead of speaking to it at waters of Meribah (mini sermon there)
  • How many times do we want to smite instead of speak?
  • How many times do we fail to honor and obey God, recognizing His Holiness?
• Being his partner in leadership, Aaron is punished for Moses’ mistake. Neither he nor Moses will enter the promised land.

Here we come to the passage we’ll be discussing today. Read Num 20:23-29

v25

First thing of note this morning I want you to see is that Moses, Aaron, and Eleazar had to go up the mountain together. Moses has been up to the mountain ten times in the Bible, only two with Aaron.

• First time he is with Aaron and his two sons, Nadab and Elihu. (explain Ex 24:9-14 seeing God of Israel, paved work of sapphire stone, 70 elders, feast)
• Second time he’s with Aaron and Eleazar, Aaron’s third son, because the first two have died. Moses always got instruction from God in the mountain. Every time he went up into the mountain, God moved and God was in it.

v27

Says they went up “in the sight of all the congregation” People publicly saw the man God had chosen to lead them take the time and effort to seek God’s face in a very physical way. The hike. APPLICATION: How many of us are hiking up the mountain today? How much effort do you put into your walk with Christ? How much effort do you put in seeking God? Is it visible?

This is a personal question for all of us, but in the context of the scripture here it specifically targets those who God has called to lead.

• the men who lead their wives and children should be hiking up the mountain
• the stewards and the deacons who take care of the church should be hiking up the mountain
• the pastor who spends time each week in God’s word to give God’s message to God’s people should be hiking up the mountain. it should be a visible thing. at times it should be an arduous thing.
• There should be some exertion and some struggle.
• There should be some standing for what’s right even when it’s not popular.
• There should be some getting up and going even when we don’t feel like getting up and going.

God was very intentional of the symbolism of His men going up the mountain. It was a public thing. It was an arduous thing. It was a state of separation and isolation.

The idea here that was impressed on my heart is that the one listening to God was going to have more difficulty hearing from God if he was just sitting down among all the commoners, doing what all the commoners did, behaving as all the commoners behaved. He had to seek something higher.

Christians this morning, we have to seek something higher and it takes effort and determination on our part.

He had to go past doing the easy thing. He had to walk a narrower path and not the wide way. ARE WE DOING THAT TODAY CHURCH? Seeking God “in the sight of the congregation” could very well be

• broaching the subject of sin and salvation your extended family at Thanksgiving.
• It could be refusing to engage in watercooler gossip your office on a Monday.
• It could be standing your ground when your children want that first tablet or phone and you know it’ll do nothing but expose them to a world of filth
• It’s doing the hard and unpopular thing to glorify and seek after God.

If you’ve been a Christian living in a life of ease, this morning is the morning you reject that. To be at ease is to live a life of spiritual ineffectiveness and atrophy.

If I lay in a bed for years on end, will my legs work when I try to walk? NO! So what makes me think I can avoid the deeper spiritual things of God and have healthy spiritual walk? I can’t.

• When is the last time you spent time with the Lord looking at something in his Word, REALLY studying.
• When is the last time you spent time in alone with God, REALLY praying
• When is the last time you stood up for what was godly and right, even when it wasn’t popular.

Sometimes it has to be a public thing. Sometimes it has to be an arduous thing. You have to seek something higher

Think about Eleazar walking up that mountain behind his deddy. He was a young man.

• Eleazar knew the day was going to come SOON when his dad was going to die because he had lived through numbers 14:29-30

I’m sure he looked at his dad and thought, well, he’s over 20 years old and he’s not named Caleb or Joshua so…

There was an impending responsibility. It hadn’t arrived but it was quickly approaching.

• His older brothers were gone. They couldn’t fulfill the task.
• His dad would soon be gone. He would no longer be able to fulfill the task.

APPLICATION: DO you understand today that there is an impending responsibility? There is a specific responsibility each of us have coming due

Esther 4:14 shows us that God puts us each here for a time such as this.

There’s reason you weren’t here is 1726,1826,1926.

GOD WANTED YOU HERE IN 2026 because there is a responsibility for you to fulfill

And it’s nothing small. Just because you’re not called to be the next Paul or Billy Graham or CT Townsend doesn’t make your responsibility any less valuable

• Matthew 10:42 - cup of water in my name
• Matthew 25:14 - one many had 5 talents, 2 talents, and 1 talent. But all were judged according to as they were given

You have an impending responsibility.

Not your responsibility to be in church, not your responsibility to pray or read your Bible. Those are givens. I’m talking about God’s specific direction and purpose for YOUR life.

The responsibility for the spiritual well-being of Israel was going to fall to someone else. I’m sure Eleazar knew it was him at that point. He had been in training.

• He had been in the temple. Numbers 19 shows us Eleazar was responsible for the red heifer purification ritual.
• He had been involved, but there was always Aaron there to look to.

They get to the top and they all stare at each other. I feel sure there wasn’t a lot of talking happening.

Moses quietly began to strip Aaron of his priestly garments.

Think about garments today.

• Military camo fatigues and combat boots.
• Doctor’s white coats.
• Pilots with pressed suits and pilot caps with wings on their shirts. They symbolize specific purpose and status.

Looking back at Exodus 28:4, we know what was being transferred over probably. There was purpose and status to everything Aaron wore.

Gold, blue, purple and scarlet linens. The 2 onyx stones on the shoulders of the (ee-fod) ephod, each engraved with 6 of the tribes of Israel. This signified a priest bearing all twelve tribes on his shoulders before the Lord.

There was the breastplate with four rows of 3 stones. 12 stones for the 12 tribes of Israel. This signified the priest bearing the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord.

There was a tickling of the bells as Aaron took off his robe. These bells rang as he ministered alone in the Holy Place, so Those outside could know that he had not died.

There was a plate of pure gold on Aaron’s turban, engraved with the words, “Holy to the Lord”. Signified the high priest bearing the guilt from the things that the people of Israel brought as offerings.

This plate symbolically carried the imperfections of the offerings that the people bought. The offerings, even though they weren’t perfect, would be accepted by God because the priest acted as the mediator, bearing those imperfections.

And as Aaron is stripping all of these symbolic things off of him, he is putting them onto his son.

These priestly garments symbolized the holiness of God. The responsibility of the wearer to maintain that bridge between a sinful nation and a holy God.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because I want you to understand the weight of what happened with each article of clothing that was stripped from Aaron and put on Eleazar.

This was probably the hardest day of Eleazar’s life up until that point. Because as Moses began to strip the clothes from Aaron, it all came together. Realization hit. Transition was an order from father to son.

When Moses finished, there Aaron stood, his outward appearance a shell of his former self before his son Eleazar. All the outward things that had made Aaron known as “Aaron, the high priest” for so many years, were gone.

He no longer bore the tribes of Israel on his shoulders. No longer bore the judgment. He no longer was the mediator for the flock that God had called him to.

I don’t know if it was minutes or hours. I don’t know if all three of them sat there and reminisced and talked, or if immediately God took Aaron. But Moses and Eleazar watched Aaron die that day. Aaron’s time was done.

A transition for Aaron

Aaron taking off these garments symbolized the end of his time of impact.

• He been the priest since they came out of Egypt.
• This was his calling, purpose, and mission, and God was finally removing him from it. You and I only get so much time to impact.

We would all think it foolish if a man went and took his life’s savings and just threw it away into the wind on the street.

You have a TIME BANK. And right now you’re the richest you’ll ever be . But we take all the time we have in this life and we throw it away on useless things and we believe it to be normal!

Is that you today? I would challenge you to take the time that God has given you and use it to impact others for Him.

• To fulfill the responsibility he has for you.
• You never know when you’re out of time

A transition for Eleazar

• Transitioning to the head of the church for Israel.
• Transitioning to the head of spiritual authority for his family (he was the third oldest). Finally, just him and God. His main reference for spiritual things was gone. The main influence he had grown up under.

Have you embraced the transition? Are you ready to?

The sons of today are the fathers of tomorrow. The daughters of today are the mothers of tomorrow.

• Men have you undergone the transition to be the authority over the wives, sons, and daughters God entrusts you with?
  • Are you looking to strong, faithful, godly men to model your life after? As Eleazar did. Are you in God’s Word daily?
  • Or are you living in sin?

There are many boys who call themselves men today. You can’t be a man without commitment.

• You want all the benefits reserved for marriage without committing to your woman before God in marriage.
• You want all the benefits of being a father, yet you won’t commit to standing upon the truth of God’s Word in how you advise your children.
• You want the benefits of church, yet you won’t commit your time and work to it. An hour a week and three hymns doesn’t cut it.
• You want the benefits of having a godly demeanor, but you won’t commit to replacing your filthy language and bad habits.

God wants more of us.

The USA birth rate is at an all time low. The reasons given are “the state of the world and it’s wars” and financial difficulties. This is farcical. Remember back in the 1930-50s? Women had 11 children in two World Wars, coming out Great Depression, in a sharecropper shack. Tell me about wars and financial difficulties now. The real reason is that kids are no longer the point. There just another expense in a life full of expenses and wants.

• Women, are you being the support structure you are called to be? Are you rearing the next generation to fear and respect and love the Lord.
  • One day, the Lord will truly be all each of us has.If your kids don’t understand that now, they will be in a world of hurt when they are alone.

Satan has convinced the 21st century woman she has to be a man or get over on a man to make something of herself. And I’m not just talking about LGBTQ

• She has to climb corporate ladders OR
• She has to leverage her sensuality OR
• She has to insert herself in places she was never designed to be for equality.

A woman shouldn’t be on the frontlines of a battlefield. A woman shouldn’t be swinging hammers in 150 degrees in a steel mill.

I work with some women like that. They are so unhappy. They’re so insecure and each day is them “trying to be one of the boys”.

They think they don’t have that nurturing spirit, but it’s just been redirected towards animals and social causes.

There was a survey done in 2021 of child-free women. Millennial generation.

• In this survey, 70% of the women who have chosen not to have children view their dog or cat as their child.
• 43% said they wanted to focus on building a career
• 40% said they’d rather enjoy hobbies right now.
• 72% explicitly state that they prefer the company of their pet over the company of children.

We’ve got it backwards. We have a whole generation seemingly refusing to accept the transition to motherhood.

MEN AND WOMEN ITS TIME TO WAKE UP.

THERE IS A TRANSITION TO BE HAD IN EACH OF OUR LIVES.

Look back at Eleazar…

Eleazar was faithful before the Lord. We don’t hear of Eleazar building golden calves. We don’t hear of Eleazar offering false offerings.

We don’t see anywhere where he led the children of Israel astray. The Bible only speaks of Eleazar positively in his helping Joshua as the children of Israel were led into the promised land.

We also know that he was a good father.

The Bible says that his son Phinehas also served and loved the Lord all his days too. The Bible says that Phinehas ended up executing two people who were involved in the sin of Baal Peor, a sin that had led to a plague among the Israelites. Through Phineas’s swift and decisive action serving the Lord, the plague was stayed And God blessed Phineas.

Eleazar understood the transition when it happened to him and he prepared his son next.

Eleazar could have gotten bitter when God took his two brothers. He could have gotten angry when God took his earthly father. But he recognized in the grand scheme that God, his Heavenly Father, was his true love and his true desire. He lived that truth out through all of his days through all the transitions and he passed it on to the next generation.

Let’s do the same today.