10.3 The Budding of Aaron's Rod
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Let’s take a moment to set the stage. The rebellion of Israel upon which the writer of Hebrews placed the jeopardy of the New Covenant is recounted in Numbers 13 and 14. The rebellion was not over, however, for Korah’s rebellion, the most insidious pinpoint of human rebellion in Israel’s history, is portrayed in Numbers 16. Korah and those with him are dead, and all Israel is coming apart at the seams, descending into the looney bin in their fear and unbelief by the end of that chapter.
The story of the budding of Aaron’s rod is then found in Numbers 17. Read the whole chapter. By the end of that chapter, the children of Israel have completely lost their marbles, yet they are only calling forth the cross.
The Record. There is no clear mention in the Old Testament of Moses’ placing Aaron’s rod that budded or the golden pot of manna into the Ark of the Covenant. In fact, when Solomon brought that same Ark into the temple he had built, 490 years later, the testimony was this: Nothing was in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb (1 Kings 8:9).
Yet here is the testimony of the writer of Hebrews. And the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant (Hebrews 9:4). And I have placed them in this order, which I see as God’s order: Covenant – Resurrection Life – Hidden Manna.
The Larger Rebellion. We leave the mystery of the knowledge received by the writer of Hebrews and continue.
The setting of Aaron’s rod that budded, just after the rebellion of Korah, is a picture to us of God’s answer to the larger rebellion, that of the serpent and Adam – Did God indeed say? God, You are a liar. – Let God be a liar until every man makes His words true! You have heard it this way, spoken against every New Testament verse that is Christ alive in us. “That’s ‘positional truth.’ It’s not really true, until YOU make it your experience.”
This is the contention of the Covenant. This is where God has placed our hearts – His proving that Christ is faithful and true.
Thirteen Sticks of Wood. God instructs Moses to obtain the staffs of the head of every tribe of Israel, twelve staffs, plus Aaron’s staff, thirteen in all. Then God says, “Then you shall place them in the tabernacle of meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you.”
That means that Moses put all thirteen staffs, gnarled sticks of wood, into the Holiest of All, probably on the ground in front of the Ark with the pillar of Fire upon it. The next morning Moses goes back into the Holiest to retrieve all thirteen wood sticks. Twelve are unchanged. – And behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds (Numbers 17:8).
I Appointed You. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain (John 15:16).
Here is the picture God is giving us. The Fire that is God enters into the Box that carries the Covenant, our hearts, to consume into Himself our hearts freely given to Him as all that is our own story of Christ. Except that Fire takes on the form of Resurrection Life in this mighty Action. Aaron’s rod was dead, just like all the other sticks, a lifeless piece of wood. Yet here it is the next morning fully alive, bearing branch and leaf, blossom and full fruit.
In the Knowing of God. What is the real meaning of the budding of Aaron’s rod? All night long that rod lies there in the presence, in the KNOWING of God, inside the Holiest, in the light of the tip point of that pillar of Fire that is God Himself.
The difference between Aaron’s rod of wood and the other twelve rods regarding us is simple. The other rods boast in lying arrogance, “All that the Lord says we will do.” We, trembling before His Fire say, “Let it be to me according to Your Word.” We are not concerned here with the other rods, but only Aaron’s rod regarding us in this unbelievable Covenant God has written upon our very hearts.
All Night Long. We could bring in here all the New Testament verses regarding the Resurrection Life of Jesus in which we presently live and which is our only Salvation. Yet it is the picture God gives us that speaks the most to me regarding what all of these verses mean.
All night long, that rod lay there in the presence of God. For ten years, now, I have laid myself in the knowledge of all the fullness of God filling me full and enclothing me with rivers of Spirit. For ten years, now, I have called myself, my own heart, by all that is Christ, all through my writing and speaking. And I have done so in faith alone, because God says.
Sandwiched by God. Most nights, when I wake in the night, I look inside myself and I say in one way or another, “I am filled full with all that You are, my Father.”
And thus we see that the placement of Aaron’s rod in picture for us and the construction of the Ark speak the same thing. Me, my humanity, my person, lying there sandwiched by God, God in Person my insides and my outsides. Beholding in our own hearts the glory of Jesus, we are being transformed into God’s image in creation, Father revealed.
Please understand, none of this is because I am a “man of God,” or have “great faith” or any of that nonsense. This is just my own personal and private decision to believe that God speaks the truth, a decision as easy for you as it is for me.
Proof. And the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put their complaints away from Me…” (Numbers 17:10). (This might indicate the rod in the Ark.)
What God will have is PROOF that all accusation is false. That PROOF is what happens to us as we give our hearts to the Fire of the Almighty to consume in His presence by the same Energeia that raised Jesus from the dead.
Let me testify to you of the change that has taken place and is taking place inside of me. This change is permanent and mind-boggling and something I never ever expected or even thought about, nor have ever heard.
What Has Changed? I look first at myself. I am entirely the same person. I make entirely the same mistakes; I continue entirely as the Daniel Yordy everyone has always known. I, in my person, as God made me, am unchanged, for God made me His image, His expression entirely as He already wanted me. What, then, has changed? What has been transformed?
Take your hand and lay it horizontally across the bridge of your nose, just below, but in your eyesight. Then place your other hand horizontally across the top of your forehead, but still in sight of your eyes. Draw a box around these two placements. All of the mighty change in me is taking place inside that box.
My Perception. It is my seeing that has been transformed. Everything looks different now to me. It is everything else that is changing from outward appearance to real substance in my perception. And that change of perception includes my perception of you.
And this is why we lay down our lives for one another.
You see, in our study of the Kingdom, we looked at the story of Cain, and at the driving force of human psychosis, the fear of loss. But the fear of loss is a negative. The truth is, the one thing humans value the most is our nature of judging by outward appearance and entirely in accord with our own self-righteous pretending. We love above all things exalting ourselves against the offense of other humans.
All Costliness. You can strip everything away from a human, but the one thing he or she will not let go of until their dying breath is the speaking of accusation.
I cannot see you as Jesus Himself except I lay down all accusation from my heart and mouth, until I see with no consciousness of offense, until I see through eyes of fire. This sounds easy; that is, until you are thrust into the midst of the church and find yourself torn in two by a conflict between other believers in Jesus who will see one another only by the outward appearance of the flesh and who want to talk about “believing this” and “believing that,” all part of the original accusation.
And suddenly laying down your life becomes all costliness.
Seeing as God Sees. How can we do such a thing? Because He laid down His life for us.
I used the title “Through Eyes of Fire” for my book that is a study of John’s vision because it’s a phrase in Revelation Chapter One and because it sounds cool. Yes, I knew what it meant in that context, but now I see it far deeper inside this context of FIRE entering creation to transform everything and to snatch all who are hiding in death out into LIFE, this FIRE that is busy energeoing away inside of us.
To put it simply, God is causing me to see as He sees. That sounds passé, but I can tell you; it is a most extraordinary, even scary, transformation.
God Sees Christ. To SEE as God sees is to have the Father’s name written on our foreheads is to be sealed into incorruptibility before the storm hits is to see as God SEES. And God sees one thing only – Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-18a). – There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all (1 Corinthians 12:6). – The church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23). – For it is God who energeoes in you both to will and to perform for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
Jesus Alone. God’s people cannot offend me nor can they offend one another, for all are dead. If I am offended, it is JESUS alone who has offended me and Jesus ALONE whom I forgive. And when brethren are offended with one another, it is nothing short of a complete laying down of one’s own self, of casting off forever all desire to accuse, to insert Jesus into their seeing of one another. It is real, but desperately contrary to being human in this world.
This seeing as God sees is a huge topic, however, beyond the scope of this lesson, a topic we will develop further as we go. Let’s return to the Action that causes the change.
Our One Action. Placing ourselves into God filling us full and flowing out from us in all ways, God walking as one with us through all things, God taking full responsibility upon Himself for all of our “mistakes,” is our one action that makes this Covenant alive in us to become our own personal Manna.
Lay all night before the Lord. Lay all night before the Lord.
It is dark right now upon the universe; no one knows God. Place yourself utterly inside of God inside of you. Speak Christ alone. Speak Father filling you full. Allow any thought of separation no place in your mind or heart. Disregard all sight of your eyes and all judgment of the human. Abandon all accusation within and without.
Living Inside the Holiest. Now, let me be the testimony of Christ to you. I do not write out of any sufficiency in myself. God never “told” me to write, thus I have no claim to being sent of God. I write only because I want to, because I enjoy writing and because I want to know God.
Yet I can testify to whosoever will that through all I have written and recorded into audio and placed on my websites there is a path laid before you, a clear and simple testimony, that if you will ask God to fulfill His word in you, believing that you have already received all you have asked, and if you will then turn and speak all that Christ is as all that you are – you will find yourself living inside the Holiest of All.
Sharing Heart with God. Place yourself, and especially your HEART, in all of your seeing there INSIDE of a God who fills you full with all of His fulness.
Lay all night before and within His Fire.
And as you do so, every Word you have ever read or heard, every Word planted in your heart, whether you remember it or not makes no difference, it’s all Jesus alive and real. Every Word of the Covenant, lying inside of you inside that FIRE, will come ALIVE as Jesus Himself the only LIFE you are. And you will know a fellowship with your Father that you never knew. And you will walk seeing as God sees.
You will be sealed into all incorruptibility.
You will share heart with God.