In Numbers 12:2 God heard the reviling words, and He took action in verse 4. But there is a parenthetical word in verse 3: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth.” This is what we find in a God-appointed deputy authority. Why did Moses not hear their reviling words? Perhaps Moses thought that he was indeed wrong and did not want to argue with them. God cannot make a stubborn person His authority. He cannot appoint a belligerent man to be His deputy authority. The authorities God establishes in the church are meek and inconspicuous. God does not appoint persons of great charisma to be His authority; He appoints those who are not only meek in a general way, but meek to the extent that their meekness exceeds that of all the men who are on the face of the earth. In other words, they are as meek as God is.
A deputy authority can never build up his own authority. The more a person tries to build up his own authority, the less he is qualified to be the authority. Authority is from God; hence, vindication must also be from God. We pray that we do not meet too many hardened persons. Do not get the wrong idea that a hard and capable person would make a good deputy authority. We should be very clear that only a person like Paul, whose bodily presence was weak, can be the authority. The Lord said that His kingdom was not of this world, and therefore His attendants did not need to struggle (John 18:36). God’s kingdom is not established through struggling. All authority earned through struggling is not authority from God.
Please remember that Moses was meek above all the men who were on the face of the earth. This is why he could be a deputy authority. If I ask you to list the traits of a deputy authority, I believe that nine out of ten of you would list such things as good and proper appearance, strong charisma, great power, or an imposing image. The human thought is that an authority should be capable, imposing, powerful, assertive, and eloquent. But such traits do not represent authority; rather, they represent the flesh. No other God-appointed authority in the Old Testament was as great as Moses, yet He was a most meek person. When he was in Egypt, he was quite fierce. He killed an Egyptian and rebuked two Hebrews. He dealt with others with his fleshly hands, but God did not use him as His authority then. Only after he had passed through God’s testing and dealing, becoming so meek that his meekness was above all the men who were on the face of the earth, did he become an authority. The less a person truly resembles an authority, the more he feels that he is an authority. The more a person thinks that he is an authority, the less it is likely that he is an authority.
Numbers 12:4 says, “And suddenly Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” Here the Lord spoke suddenly. Suddenly means something unexpected. Aaron and Miriam might have criticized Moses many times, but the Lord suddenly called them to the tent of meeting. Many people criticize easily and act against authority lightly. They speak against others loosely because they are living in their own tent; they are far away from the tent of meeting. When a man is in his own tent, it is easy for him to criticize. But once he enters the tent of meeting, everything becomes clear to him. All three came before the tent of meeting, and Jehovah said to Aaron and Miriam, “Hear My words” (v. 6a). They first questioned if it was fair that God only spoke to Moses, and now God summoned them to hear His words too. This shows that they had never learned to hear God’s word and had never known what it was like for God to speak. On that day Jehovah spoke to them for the first time. Indeed, God was speaking, but He spoke words of rebuke, not words of revelation. It was not for the manifestation of God’s glory, but for the judgment of their actions. He said, “Hear My words.” It was as if He were saying, “I did not say anything in the past, but let Me say something now.” This word may also mean, “You have been speaking for so long and so often. Now give Me a chance to speak. You who are so good at speaking, listen to Me today.” A talkative person cannot hear God’s word; only a meek person can hear His word. Moses was meek, not talkative. He could turn any way the Lord wanted him to turn; he could go forward or backward. But Aaron and Miriam were stubborn.
After this God said, “If there is a prophet among you...” (v. 6b), as if He did not know that there was a prophet among them. It sounded as if God had forgotten something. But God said that even if there were a prophet, God would at most speak to him in a vision or in a dream (v. 6c). But with Moses, God spoke mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in obscure words (v. 8). This was God’s vindication. God’s speaking to Moses came in the way of revelations and light; they were very clear. Moses did not vindicate himself. It was God who vindicated him. It is true that everyone who is sent in the name of the Lord to speak to God’s children has some degree of authority. But I do hope that you will not try to establish your own authority. I hope that you will not vindicate yourselves. Revelation was granted to Moses alone, not to Aaron or Miriam. Whoever speaks with God face to face is God’s appointed authority. The establishment of authority is based upon God’s choice; it is God’s business, and man cannot interfere in any way. Neither is the annulling of authority achieved through man’s reviling. God could appoint Moses, and He could also annul Moses. But whether it was appointment or annulling, it was God’s business; man had no right to question it. Man could not annul Moses’ authority with reviling words. A man’s worth before the Lord is not based on others’ evaluation of him nor his own evaluation of himself. A man’s worth before the Lord is based on revelation. Revelation is the standard of God’s measure and valuation. The establishment of authority is based on God’s revelation, and God evaluates a person based on revelation. As soon as a person is set aside by the Lord, he loses his revelation, and God no longer speaks to him. God said that Moses was His servant and that He spoke with him mouth to mouth. If God grants us revelation, everything will be fine. If He does not grant us revelation, nothing will work. Aaron and Miriam complained, and God seemed to ask, “How much revelation do you have? All My revelation is with Moses.”
In order to learn to be the authority, we have to consider what we are before the Lord. When we set out for our work, the test is not in Aaron’s or Miriam’s measuring, but in God’s measuring. If God grants us revelation, and we have a clear word from Him and face-to-face fellowship with Him, no one can annul us. But if the way upward is not clear and heaven is not open to us, nothing will avail even if all the doors on earth are open to us. If heaven is open to us, we will have God’s vindication. We will have the proof of being a son of God, that is, the proof of sonship. When the Lord was baptized, heaven opened (Matt. 3:16). Baptism is a symbol of death. When the Lord was crucified on the cross, He entered death and was placed in the tomb. When darkness is at its worst, when pain reaches its height, and when all doors are shut, heaven opens. Revelation is the basis of authority. We must learn to not fight for ourselves or speak for ourselves. We should not be like Aaron or Miriam, clamoring for authority. If after you leave here you fight for authority, it will prove that you are in the flesh and in darkness. It will also prove that you have not seen anything here on the mountain.
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