“On the next day, Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.”
– Numbers 17:8
So, here’s the picture in Numbers 17:8. God wanted to make clear to his people that he had appointed Aaron and the Levites for his service, that he had chosen them for that task. He was blessing them for that task of representing God before them. God tells Moses, “Take a staff representing each tribe. Put it in the tent of the testimony, and then see what happens when you come back, and you get these staffs.”
Only in Christ can sinners find righteousness and life. Let us pray that every facet of our lives will be marked by total identification in Jesus.
This Verse Thanks Jesus for Being the Perfect High Priest
They come back, Moses comes back. He pulls out the staff, and yes, the one for Aaron and the House of Levi, the Levites, had blossomed in all these ways. A picture of God saying, “I am pleased with their service, with what they will do on behalf of the people.
When you get this kind of image in your mind, I just want you to think about it. We’ve talked about this at different points, because it’s a theme that comes up in all kinds of different places in the Bible. Jesus is our perfect high priest who, in the presence of God, blossoms, and bears fruit, and is pleasing to God.
How can you and I, in our lives, be pleasing to God? God, how can we bear fruit? How can we blossom, flourish, and experience the favor of God? Here’s how, by tying ourselves to Jesus, by hiding in Jesus, by running to Jesus, by trusting in Jesus. Lord Jesus is the way to life. Jesus is the way to fruit-bearing in our lives. Jesus is the way to favor from God. It’s all found in Jesus. The father is pleased in the son, and in all who trust in the son, and hide in the son, and follow the son, and obey the son. Everything depends on Jesus.
Numbers 17:8 Prays for Rest and Redemption in Jesus
We pray. Lord Jesus, we need you. We trust in you. Jesus, we rest in you. We want to obey you, follow you. Father, we know that you are pleased with the son, that his offering alone is acceptable before you, that his life given for our sins is the only way we can even come to you. We have no righteousness in ourselves. Our only righteousness is in Jesus. We have no hope in ourselves. Our only hope is in Jesus. When we stand before you one day, and the question is clear, why should we be in Heaven? We will say, “Nothing in our hands we bring. Simply to Jesus and the cross we cling.”
We need you, Jesus. We need your righteousness, your holiness, your redemption, your life in us, so we die to ourselves. Jesus, we have been crucified with you. We no longer live. You live in us. We pray. Help us to flourish in you. Help us to grow in you. Bear fruit through our lives. Help us to experience life to the full, like you came to give it to us in John 10:10.
Help us to flourish today through obedience to you, rest in you, trust in you. Total identification with you in every facet of our lives. Live in us. We pray. In your name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
