Standing in the gap

On Sunday we were looking at Numbers 16. It's a passage where Moses and Aaron repeatedly faced human opposition and three times they fell on their faces before God to intercede for the people - so that the whole of the nation would not be wiped out by God's judgement.

At the end of the chapter a plague breaks out in the camp and Aaron runs into the middle of the camp and stands in the gap between the living and the dead and makes atonement for the people. The plague stops but not until 14,700 people have died.

One of the roles of the High Priest was to stand in the gap between God and the people. To offer the sacrifices and to make atonement for the people. Atonement means restoring a broken relationship - in this case the gap between God and the people - the consequence of their sin.

In yesterday's post I mentioned that this is the sort of passage that we find hard because God's actions seem so out of proportion with what has come before. And yet this is only the case when we don't recognise the seriousness of sin, and we downplay certain characteristics and truths about God - e.g. God's holiness and judgement.

If you're anything like me you read these stories in the Old Testament and come to the conclusion that we wouldn't last three weeks before being wiped out by God's judgement. But we're not - instead we can know forgiveness, grace and atonement because Jesus stands in the gap for us. Jesus is the one who stepped in between God's judgement and the people.

In Aaron the High Priest we have a picture of Jesus - standing in the gap to save us from the consequences of God's judgement.