Separation and Intercession

An Essay on Numbers in Type and Antitype

Yesterday1 I was speaking with a man named David who was promoting separation from the Seventh-day
Adventist denomination. He is one of perhaps a dozen that have appealed to me in the last few years to join
one or another movement. My general response to such movements is described in a paper I have written
regarding the Shepherd’s Rod2.

We have no reason to be surprised at the calls being made by David and others. In the prophetic history of
the Egypt-to-Canaan travels of Israel God foretold:

1. That such calls would come repeatedly

2. That such calls would be bolstered by legitimate evidence of truly wicked practices of the
congregation
3. That the glory of God would be involved in our response to those calls.
4. That we will be tested by those calls

The setting for the calls to separation from Israel was the aftermath of a God-ordained separation from
Egypt. In each case Moses received the call to “come out.” Why he heeded the first and refused the latter
invitations will be the subject of this brief essay.

When Moses left Egypt he led behind him a mixed multitude. On one hand there were the few and the
faithful that had preserved their spiritual heritage while in slavery. Then there were the pliable majority
who had wished for freedom while continuing to submit to evil pressures and influences.

Finally there were Egyptians and wayward Jews that left a doomed nation behind to escape its plagues and
benefit from association with the miracle-working sons of Amram.3 These reasoned that the same God that
would take his people out of Egypt in such a marvelous way would lead them swiftly and surely into a
luxurious land.

The latter class led the entire body into repeated scandals. Apostasies on a national scale litter the book of
Numbers.

The Intercession Stories

Three of these scandals are found in Numbers 13-14, 16, and 20. In the first Israel follows the counsel of
the faithless spies. In the second Korah, Dathan and Abiram, and afterwards the people at large, rebel
against the authority of Moses and Aaron. In the third the congregation wishes to return to Egypt and
provokes Moses to strike a rock representing Christ.

Key verses in these three stories are found in the chart on the next page. From these passages, and others, I
would propose the following:

1. The history of the Exodus was selectively recorded. Those portions only were written that
would parallel the history of the church in the last age. After mentioning five specific stories
from the wilderness wandering, with their lessons for today, Paul wrote “Now all these things
happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the
ends of the world are come.” I Cor. 10:11.

1
Written December 14, 2003
2
Available at www.canvassing.org/docs
3
Moses and Aaron were, at the same time, grandsons and great-grandsons of Levi. Jochebed was Levi’s
natural daughter and Amram his natural grandson by one of Joghebed’s brothers.
 2. God recorded repeatedly a pattern of history that would mimic church history at the end of
time.

3. That pattern could be summarized as a national event of rebellion followed by the singling out
of a few faithful as objects of popular wrath.

In the pattern this persecution is followed by a test designed to reveal the extent to which love
has endured in the hearts of the faithful. They are encouraged, apparently by God, to separate
from the wicked body and to form a new organization of the faithful.

But in the invitation to separate they hear a call to intercession. Rather than removing
themselves from those threatened with slaughter, they risk their own life to plead for that of
the wrong-doers.

The call to intercession is so subtle as to be noticed only by those that have drunk deeply at the wells of
Christ’s sacrificial compassion. It is found in the words “let me alone that I may.” These words virtually say
that the judgments are waiting for the departure of the innocent.

Those hoping to justify self are gratified by the separation call and leave the sin-bearer behind as they exit
his church. But those sharing Christ’s character “weep between the porch and the altar” for God to spare his
people.

In a different essay we explore the relation between this intercession and the latter rain. Here we want to
notice a few more details regarding our stories.

Aaron’s Revival

In two of them (Numbers 11 and 16) intercession brings an end to an already on-going judgment. The
sufferings of God’s rebellious people alert us to wake and actively intercede for them. The latter of these
two chapters is particularly interesting.

There Aaron, the same that led out in the apostasy of the golden calf because of his fear of the people, has
truly repented. Rather than saving his own skin at the expense of thousands of his people as he had done
before, in Numbers 16 he recklessly disregards his own safety and God’s call to get out of the camp of the
rebels. Instead, at the urging of Moses, he takes a censor and runs into the middle of the camp and stands
between the living and the dead, v. 48, and “the plague was stayed.”

This remarkable transformation on the part of Aaron is not allowed by many apparently faithful today.
When they see a leader fall as Aaron did, they judge him as ever unworthy of spiritual trust. They respect
not his position or his piety. His repentance is, to them, ever suspect of being a mere political maneuver.

Thank God that He allowed Aaron to change.

An Anomaly

One anomaly in the pattern is the story proceeding Aaron’s active intercession. In the prayers of Moses for
the people Moses ever urges powerful arguments. He pleads with God to forgive the people because of
God’s own character. He argues that he has forgiven them before and urges this fact as a reason he should
do it again. He presents God’s own reputation as depending on his treatment of the people.

But in the early part of Numbers 16 he urges a weaker argument. “Will you destroy all the church for the
sin of a few leaders?” In effect Moses separated the leaders of the people from the people themselves. God
accepted Moses’ position and directed that the church separate from the guilty leaders. Then the guilty were
destroyed.
In this scenario the rebels and Moses had something in common. The former had said “the whole church is
holy, every one of them.” The latter said by his intercession, “the common people are consecrated, unlike
the rebellious leaders.”

But Moses soon learned how ineffective his argument had been. The very body that had been spared by
Moses’ call to separate from Korah and company, the very next day, turned on their prayer warrior. They
accused him of murdering their dearly loved “people of the Lord.” This is how they styled the deceased
rebels.

We can not well argue in prayer for God to spare the church because of the faithfulness of the 7,000 that
have not bowed their knee to prevailing apostasies. It is not love for these that we are being tested on.

Moses’ prayers worked wonders in preserving the church of his time when those prayers were based on the
character and love of God.

Conclusions4

There is much to be gained from a study of the chapters discussed here. Why did God’s glory appear each
time? Why was the pattern so often repeated? What movements in the history of Adventism appeared as
legitimate calls to abandon the Seventh-day Adventist church for its wickedness?

From the brief data here we may learn to expect such calls to come again. We may be preparing our hearts
for these tests by engaging in earnest intercessory prayer even now. We may come close to our brethren,
even to the point of standing between the living and the dead.

No doubt some reading this will feel that this paper is the torch of false prophecy undermining God’s call to
save his faithful from the plagues that doom the Seventh-day Adventist church. If you are one of these, be
careful before you make your own conclusions.

Moses himself became frustrated with the church for which he prayed. After falling on his face and asking
grace for them in Exodus 32 and later in Numbers 11 and again in Numbers 14 and twice in 16, he finally
felt that he could take little more. After praying for the people again in Numbers 20 he became angry and
struck the rock.

And he didn’t enter Canaan.

It is only those whose love for the erring endures to the end that will be saved.

4
This paper is a companion paper to the studies titled “Laodicea” and “Intercession and the Latter Rain.”
Numbers 14
10 But all the congregation bade stone
[Caleb and Joshua] with stones.
10the glory of the LORD appeared in
the tabernacle of the congregation
11And the LORD said unto Moses,
How long will this people provoke
me? and how long will it be ere they
believe me, for all the signs which I
have shewed among them?
12 I will smite them with the
pestilence, and disinherit them, and
will make of thee a greater nation
and mightier than they.
19 Moses said “Pardon, I beseech
thee, the iniquity of this people
according unto the greatness of thy
mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this
people, from Egypt even until now.”
Exodus 32
1the people gathered themselves
together unto Aaron, and said unto
him, Up, make us gods
[Moses was speaking to God face to
face in the mountain—God’s glory
was seen by Moses before the end of
this story…in chapter 34. But most
relevantly, the entire mountain lit up
as on fire…the mountain being the
equivalent to a sanctuary, the
meeting place with God and the
location of the Ten Commandments.]
9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I
have seen this people, and, behold, it
is a stiffnecked people:
10 Now therefore let me alone, that
my wrath may wax hot against them,
and that I may consume them: and I
will make of thee a great nation.
11And Moses besought the LORD his 2 And the people cried unto Moses;
God, and said, LORD, why doth thy and when Moses prayed unto the
wrath wax hot against thy people, . . . LORD, the fire was quenched.
Turn from thy fierce wrath, and
repent of this evil against thy people.
Numbers 16 Numbers 16 Numbers 20
19 And Korah gathered all the 42 the congregation was gathered 2 there was no water [and] the
congregation against [Moses and against Moses and against Aaron congregation gathered themselves . .
Aaron.] . against Moses and . . . Aaron.
19the glory of the LORD appeared 42 they looked toward the tabernacle . 6the glory of the LORD appeared
unto all the congregation. . . and the glory of the LORD unto them.
appeared.
20 And the LORD spake unto Moses 44And the LORD spake unto Moses, [Moses and Aaron Interceded before
and unto Aaron, saying, saying, the glory appeared, and there was no
21 Separate yourselves from among 45 Get you up from among this invitation to separate.]
this congregation, that I may congregation, that I may consume
consume them in a moment. them as in a moment.
22 And they fell upon their faces, and 45And they fell upon their faces. 46 6 And Moses and Aaron went from
said, O God, the God of the spirits of And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a the presence of the assembly unto the
all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt censer, and put fire therein from off door of the tabernacle of the
thou be wroth with all the the altar, and put on incense, and go congregation, and they fell upon their
congregation? quickly unto the congregation, and faces:
make an atonement for them:
Number 11 Deuteronomy 9 The Pattern
1And when the people complained, it 16And I looked, and, behold, ye had
displeased the LORD: sinned against the LORD your God, Israel Rebels
and had made you a molten calf: ye
had turned aside quickly out of the
way which the LORD had
commanded you.
and the LORD heard it; and his anger 15 So I turned and came down from
was kindled; the mount, and the mount burned
with fire: and the two tables of the God’s Glory Appears
covenant were in my two hands.
and the fire of the LORD burnt 13 The LORD spake unto me, saying, God Convicts and Sentences the
among them, and consumed them I have seen this people, and, behold, People to Judgments
that were in the uttermost parts of the it is a stiffnecked people:
camp. 14 Let me alone, that I may destroy
them, and blot out their name from God Calls Moses to Separate and
under heaven: and I will make of Escape the Judgments
thee a nation mightier and greater
than they.
God Calls Moses to become the
18 And I fell down before the LORD,
Father of a Righteous Offshoot
as at the first, forty days and forty
nights: I did neither eat bread, nor
drink water, because of all your sins
Moses Refuses to Separate, and
which ye sinned, in doing wickedly
Rather Pleads and Intercedes for
in the sight of the LORD, to provoke
the Fallen Body
him to anger.
The History

"My soul is stirred within me. I shall trust in God with heart and soul. I shall proclaim the
messages that He has given me to proclaim. I testify in the Lord that our youth should not
be encouraged to go to Battle Creek to be made infidels. God will help us to see what can
be done to prevent this. We are now to work earnestly and intelligently to save our youth
from being taken captive by the enemy."(LLM, 70)

"Sister Magan worked with her husband, struggling and praying that he might be
sustained. And God did sustain them, as they walked in the light. From her small store of
money, Sister Magan gave five hundred dollars, to erect the Memorial Hall. She strove
untiringly to maintain a perfect home government, teaching and educating her children in
the fear of God. Twice she had to nurse her husband through an attack of fever.
But it seemed to her as though some of our brethren had not a heart of flesh. After the
General Conference in Oakland, a report was circulated that Sister White had turned
against Brother Magan. There was not a word of truth to this statement. But his poor
wife, who had toiled and sacrificed and prayed with him was informed that Sister White
had taken a stand against her husband. O why did any one ever say such a thing? Sister
White never turned against Brother Magan or against Brother Sutherland. But Sister
Magan was so weighted down with sorrow that she lost her reason."(PC, 84)

The very last deception of Satan will be to make of none effect the testimony of the Spirit
of God. "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). Satan will work
ingeniously, in different ways and through different agencies, to unsettle the confidence
of God's remnant people in the true testimony.—1SM 48 (1890).