Korah challenged the priesthood of Aaron

Num 17:8  And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. 

In the earlier chapter, we read of Korah challenging the priesthood of Aaron (Numbers 19:1-10). The sedition was settled with God destroying the rebellion. Even after God destroyed the rebels against Moses and Aaron, there were still murmurings against Aaron’s right to the priesthood. To settle this issue once and for all, God established a test. All of the heads of the tribes were to submit a rod to Moses. The name of each chief of the tribe was to be written on each rod; twelve names for twelve rods, and then these were to be placed before the Ark of the Covenant. The rod that would bud would be the one that would indicate the one chosen to be the High Priest: “And it shall come to pass, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against you” (Numbers 17:5).

The next morning when they looked at the rods, only the rod of Aaron budded. It not only budded, but blossomed and brought forth almond fruits.

This is an eternal principle: God’s chosen ones are to bud, blossom, and bear fruits: “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit,” (John 15:16). Our Lord warns: “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:1-2).

Aaron’s rod was effectively, a wooden stick made from the branch of a tree. Likewise, Christians are the branches (John 15:5). Every Christian is a branch. God does not intend for His church or His children to be dead branches; He wants us to blossom and bear fruits.

When the Israelites saw Aaron’s branch, they took notice of it, because it was different from the other rods carried by everyone else. Theirs were just fruitless branches! But Aaron’s rod was full of life; it budded, blossomed, and yielded fruits.

The reason why many Christians are not growing today is because they are just dead branches. They once may have been alive, but somehow along the journey, they became dead. Many churches started out the same way and became dead. The church at Sardis was an example of a dead church: “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelations 3:1).

Dead trees don’t bear fruits. The wooden legs of a chair will not bud and bear fruits because it is a dead wood. Aaron’s rod was not just alive, but it had almonds growing on it. God is still looking at every branch and see whether the Christian is bearing fruits.

Have you ever seen ripe apples on a neighbour’s tree that you wanted to partake of? While in Perth, Australia, my family stayed with a sister whose neighbour has a lemon tree. I have never seen so many lemons in one single tree. There were hundreds of big yellow and juicy lemons on that tree. Our sister has an unlimited supply of fresh lemons which she can pluck out anytime; courtesy of her neighbour. We were able to taste the lemons from that tree while we were there.

Aaron’s rod budded and yielded fruits. How about us? Are our branches yielding fruits? God wants every Christian to bear not only fruit, but MUCH fruit: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8).

May the spiritual fruit in our lives be so tantalizing to those in the world that they would want to partake of it! God is glorified when Christians are bearing much fruits.

Jimmy Lau

Psa 119:97  Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.