ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Pulelulu Fepueli 18, 2026

NOMIPA 16-17; ‘AISEA 52:13-53:12

Jesus stands as the mediator between us and God. He takes God's judgment on himself, so that it will not fall on us. What amazing grace!

‘Oku tu’u ‘a Sisu ko e taukapo ‘i he vaha’a ‘o e tangata mo ‘Otua. ‘Oku ne tali ke hilifaki kiate Ia ‘a e fakamaau ‘a e ‘Otua, ke ‘oua na’a to mai kiate kitautolu. He toki kelesi fakaofo mo’oni!

Some moments in Old Testament history summarize the entire redemptive narrative for us in one story. We need to pray that God would give us eyes to see these examples of redeeming grace and to understand that they are always about Jesus. In Numbers 16 we find ourselves at a shocking and sad moment in the story of God and his people. In holy anger God metes out judgment against his rebellious and complaining people. God will not compromise his high and holy requirements in order to have communion with his people. He will not allow challengers to his authority, faithfulness, or loving provision. In this moment we are reminded again that the wages of sin is always the same: death.

But this is not just a sad passage of holy judgment; it is also a beautiful portrait of God's provision of redeeming grace. Though 14,700 Israelites died, a tool of intervening grace spared the nation from being entirely wiped out. Aaron was the tool of this grace. He literally ran and stood between the dead bodies and those who were alive, with his censer filled with incense, to make atonement for God's people. Priests were never to come near dead bodies for fear of contamination, which would make them unclean and unable to do their priestly duties. But Aaron, as a tool of atoning grace, stood between the living and the dead, rescuing God's people from God's deadly and righteous anger.

It should be impossible for us to look at Aaron here and not see Jesus. He is the greater Aaron, the Savior who comes to stand between the living and the dead. He not only makes atonement for the sins of his own; he is the atoning sacrifice. He not only is the Great High Priest; he is the Lamb of sacrifice. He not only stands between the living and the dead; he dies so that all who place their trust in him will live. Every act of atonement in the Old Testament is a finger pointing us to Jesus. The Old Testament is not simply a series of stories from which we can draw moral lessons. No, it is one story with many chapters. It is the story of the tragedy of sin and the progressive plan of God to provide a once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The story of Numbers 16 confronts us with the fact that God takes sin seriously, and we should too. If sin is not serious, then there is no need for a Savior, but, if it is, then all of humanity is in need of Christ's willingness to stand between the living and the dead and make atonement for sin. There is never a day when you and I are free from our need for his atoning grace.