Do not consider the children of Israel in Numbers 16 as being separate from one another. We must look at them as a collective person, a corporate person, who includes Moses, Aaron, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Within us, there are both Moses and Aaron and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Both ambition and rebellion are in our being. Sometimes we cannot help laughing at ourselves, for we are so ambitious for God, yet we are so rebellious. I believe that everyone of us has experienced being ambitious and rebellious at the same time. Unless you have no heart for God, you have experienced this. As soon as you began to have a heart for God, you found that both ambition and rebellion were within you. The first rebellion is the rebellion of the soul, the mind, against your own spirit. The second rebellion is your rebellion against those who are over you or before you.
Although you may not admit it, this rebellion is in you. You may say, “Brother So-and-So, I love you and I submit myself to you.” But while you are saying with your lips that you submit to Brother So-and-So, deep within you are rebellious, saying to yourself, “Brother So-and-So, you have taken too much upon you. You are altogether too much! In some aspects you are not as qualified as I am. One day my qualifications will be vindicated by God.” This is the rebellion within you.
Thank God for ambition and, in a negative sense, thank God for rebellion. The rebellion in Numbers 16 brought in God’s judgment and vindication. Firstly, God judged the rebels. After judging the rebellious element, the Lord commanded that the brass censers of the rebellious ones be made into plates for the covering of the altar as a sign to the children of Israel (Num. 16:36-40). After this, God told Moses to have twelve rods laid before His testimony. This was not for judgment; it was for vindication. Out of this vindication, the budding rod came forth. God then told Moses to bring Aaron’s rod before the testimony “to be kept for a sign against the rebels” (Num. 17:10). Hence, there were two signs—the brass plates covering the altar, which came as a result of God’s judgment, and the budding rod before the testimony, which came through God’s vindication.
Ambition and rebellion are both within us. We all have them, for we are the real Israel. Among and within the Israelites there were both ambition and rebellion. Firstly, God judged and burned the rebellious element. This judgment was then followed by God’s vindication. As a result of this judgment and vindication, two signs came forth—one at the altar in the outer court and the other in the ark in the Holy of Holies. These signs indicate that our natural, rebellious nature must be judged and burned, and that resurrected ambition must be vindicated, and made to bud, blossom, and yield fruit. In this way we have the proper leadership.
In the ark in the Holy of Holies we experience Christ as the real leadership. Concerning the leadership, there are two aspects. The first is that the natural, rebellious element must be burned on the altar. The second is that in the Holy of Holies whatever has been regenerated into us and whatever belongs to the resurrected life must be enriched, strengthened, and made to bud, blossom, and bear almonds. Here is real leadership.
A leader among the Lord’s people is a serving one. Although you may not be an elder or the leader of a service group, you are still a serving one. In principle, you are the same as a leader in the Lord’s service. Every member of the church is a serving one. God’s building depends upon the serving ones. As a serving one, there is in you the rebellious element which must be judged and burned on the altar as a sign to the universe that your natural man has been dealt with. But there is also another element within you— the regenerated element, the life element which is Christ Himself as the resurrection life. When you get into the ark in the Holy of Holies and touch Christ as the resurrection life, this element will become your leadership. It will bud, blossom, and yield almonds for the nourishment of others.
Even the youngest brothers and sisters are serving ones. But their rebellious nature must also be burned, dealt with, and judged, and the resurrection life within them must bud, blossom, and yield almonds to feed others. Even within the youngest brothers and sisters are both ambition and rebellion. Even they have criticized the elders.
Praise the Lord for our proper ambition. Nevertheless, we must recognize that we also have the rebellious element. As long as these two things, the ambition and the rebellion, are fighting within us, the building can never go on. Thus, there is the need to judge the rebellion and to vindicate the ambition. The element of Christ within us must be vindicated, strengthened, enriched, uplifted, and made to bud, blossom, and yield almonds. The judgment is upon the rebellion, and the vindication is upon the ambition. We do have such a proper ambition. As we walk the path from the altar to the budding rod, the rebellion must be eliminated and the positive ambition must be released. Then we shall have the proper leadership and the proper service which are for the building up of God’s people. God’s building depends upon this budding rod, which can only be experienced within the ark in the Holy of Holies. For this, we must come forward to enter the Holy of Holies and enjoy the very Christ who is the unique ark of God’s testimony.