Serving God in the Principle of the Budding Rod, through Death and Resurrection

This week in our deeper study of the book of Numbers we want to see and experience the major types concerning Christ in Numbers, and today in particular we want to see how Aaron’s budding rod typifies the resurrected Christ blossoming and bearing fruit to maturity.

Strictly speaking, in the book of Numbers there’s only one prophecy concerning Christ, but there are a few major types concerning Christ in this book, types which are specific to Numbers and are not found in any other book in the Bible.

A type is a person or thing that typifies Christ; there are many persons and things in the entire Bible which typify Christ, opening up the riches of Christ to us.

The budding rod of Aaron is very particular, something seen only in Numbers, and it is a type of Christ – not a dead Christ but the resurrected Christ, the budding Christ, a Christ who not only buds but also blossoms and bears fruit to maturity.

The story of the budding rod took place right after there was a big rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and God intervened to show who is the deputy authority which He ordained, and He did this by causing a dead, dry, leafless, and rootless stick (a rod) to bud, blossom, and bear ripe almonds over night.

Looking closer at the situation of rebellion against Moses and Aaron, some of the leaders of the Levites and in the people of Israel had ambition and pride – they desired to have Moses’ position and Aaron’s function.

It should not be so among us – we should treasure one another’s function and not covet it, neither should we despise our function or other’s function in the Body. We should treasure our function and the function of all the members in the Body of Christ.

Pride is the source of ambition; we need to beware of ambition and pride. Our heart needs to be purified from any form of subtle ambition, purpose, motive, and intention in the church life.

We should never hunt to be the first in the work of the Lord, and we should never consider that we are above others; rather, we should remain in fellowship with the saints and be blended together. Pride is an attribute of our fallen nature by birth.

Even with the apostle Paul, because of the greatness of the revelations he received, God let him have a thorn in his flesh from Satan, for He was worried that Paul would boast because of his revelations.

We should always remember that humility saves us from all kinds of destruction and it invites God’s grace; however, pride makes us a top fool. When there’s rivalry in the Lord’s work, this shows ambition and pride.

Caring for our own prestige is a sign of subtle pride; referring to our capacity, success, and virtues, are a careless form of pride. Thinking more highly of ourselves that we ought to is also a form of pride.

Christ in His humanity humbled Himself, giving us a good model of how to humble ourselves and stay away from pride.

We need to preach Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as slaves to the saints; if a brother has fallen because of some offense, we need to restore him in humility, and this will protect us from being tempted also.

May we be before the Lord concerning our being and the pride in our fallen nature, together with the ambition for position, and simply tell Him,

Lord Jesus, thank You for setting up a model for us of how to humble ourselves and stay away from pride. We give ourselves to You, Lord, to serve You and minister You to others, and to be slaves to the saints. Save us from pride and ambition. May we always remember that humility saves us from all kinds of destruction and it invites God’s grace, while pride makes us a top fool. Oh Lord, save us from ambition, pride, caring for our success and capacity, and thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think!

Seeing how Aaron’s Budding Rod Typifies the Resurrected Christ who Blossoms and Bears Fruit

In Num. 16-17 we see how Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, together with two hundred fifty leaders of God’s people, men well-known by others, rose up before Moses to challenge his authority and Aaron’s authority.

They assembled themselves against Moses and told him that he and Aaron take too much upon themselves, for the whole assembly is holy, so why would they exalt themselves above the congregation of Jehovah?

But Moses told them, Is it a small thing that the God of Israel has separated you from the assembly to bring you near to Him to do the service of the tabernacle of Jehovah and stand before the assembly to minister to them, that you covet the priesthood also?

So God intervened, and when the rebelling Levites took their censer and put fire on it, God came and judged them, consuming them.

Then God asked Eliezer the son of Aaron to take the censer out of the burning and scatter the fire about, and make out of the censers beaten plates for the covering of the altar.

When God’s people would come to the burnt offering altar, they see these bronze beaten plates as a result of God’s judgement.

When we come to the cross as the reality of the altar of burnt offering, we enjoy Christ as our burnt offering – He is our absoluteness before God, and we also appreciate God’s judgement on any ambition and any fleshly service and rebellion and pride.

After such an event, God told the people of Israel to take a rod for each of the twelve tribes, write the name of the tribes on them, and put them before the Ark of the Testimony over night, and the rod which would bud, that would be the rod of authority recognised by God.

The rods were before the testimony all night long, and the next morning the rod of Aaron had budded, blossomed, and even bore ripe almonds.

The rod of Aaron, a budding rod, is a type of Christ – not a dead Christ but the resurrected Christ, the budding Christ, the blossoming Christ, even the fruit-bearing Christ. And this rod is not for beating people or ruling over them with authority, but for feeding the people of God.

Such a Christ imparts life to others – He came that we may have life, He imparts His life into us, and through death and resurrection He regenerated us to make us His reproduction and continuation (see John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3).

Today the resurrected Christ as the reality of the budding rod of Aaron is still budding, and we are the fruit, the almonds, of His budding.

We need to ask the Lord to be our budding rod today – we need to let Him serve us, supply us, and nourish us. As we serve with the young ones or in the community, as we live our Christian life and church life, we need to be supplied by the resurrected Christ.

All our service needs to be in, through, and by the resurrected Christ, who is budding, bearing fruit, and blossoming to feed people with Himself as the resurrection life. Christ came to serve us; He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for us (Luke 22:26-27).

Even in the future, He will serve us – He will gird Himself and serve us with Himself as the resurrection life (Luke 12:37).

As the Lamb in the midst of the throne, He will shepherd us (Rev. 7:17); He is so meek and lowly that He comes down to our level to shepherd us, guide us to springs of water, and wipe away every tear from our eyes.

We need to enjoy Christ serving us and allow Him to supply us with Himself as the resurrection life.

Lord Jesus, thank You for passing through death and entering into resurrection to impart life into us and supply us with Yourself! Amen, Lord Jesus, we are Your continuation, Your increase, and Your reproduction! We come to You, Lord, to be supplied by You as the reality of the budding rod. We need Your supply of resurrection life. May we learn to let You serve us day by day. May we allow You to serve us with the resurrection life so that we may be the priests who serve God and minister God to His people.

Serving God in the Principle of the Budding Rod, through Death and Resurrection

The budding rod is such a wonderful type of the resurrected Christ who supplies us and feeds us with Christ Himself as the resurrection life.

However, the background of this type is quite negative; the root of rebellion among God’s people against God and His deputy authority was ambition, the struggle for power and for a higher position (Num. 16:3, 9-10).

The struggle for power and for a higher position is caused by ambition, and ambition undermines God’s plan and damages God’s people; throughout the centuries many problems among Christians have been caused by ambition (see Matt. 20:20-28; 3 John 9-11).

As God’s deputy authority, His delegated authority on earth, Moses referred the case to God as the highest authority for His speaking, His exposing, and His judging; in a struggle for power the only One who can judge and expose the real situation is God Himself (see Num. 16:4-5).

God judged the rebelling ones; Korah and the others went down to Sheol alive and directly (v. 33); they did not die first (cv. Rev. 19:20); this was something new that Jehovah brought about (Num. 16:29-30).

God’s judgement on the two hundred fifty men who rebelled with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram signifies the judgement of the cross on all of man’s service to God that is according to man’s opinions, by his flesh, and in rivalry with others.

We need to learn from this that we would serve God not according to our opinions, by our flesh, or in rivalry with others; we need to put all these things on the altar so that all our fleshly opinions, rivalry, and opinions would be burned away by Christ on the cross.

Since the rebellion of Korah and his company in Numbers 16 was related to the priesthood (vv. 3, 8-10), the budding of Aaron’s rod was a vindication indicating that Aaron was the one accepted by God as having authority in the God-given ministry of the priesthood (v. 5).

The principle of our service to God lies in the budding rod; our service to God has to be in resurrection and by the cross, by our enjoying and experiencing the resurrection life.

Resurrection is an eternal principle in our service to God; as servants of God, the priests of today, we are those who have died and resurrected, and our service is in resurrection and by enjoying the resurrection life.

All our service to the Lord has to pass through death and resurrection before it is acceptable to God; this shows that service is not from us or out of us, but from God and out of God.

Resurrection means that everything is out of God and not out of us; it means that we’re not able but God is the One who is able. If we still think we are able, that we can do something, and that we are useful to God in ourselves, we still don’t know resurrection.

If we really know resurrection, we give up hope in ourselves, for we realise we cannot make it; as long as our natural strength remains, the power of resurrection has no ground for manifestation.

What is impossible with man, is possible with God; what we can do in the realm of man is natural, but what God can do in us and through us, this is the realm of resurrection.

Paul was a pattern in this; he served God in the spirit in the gospel of His son, and even when he was burdened beyond his power so that he despaired even of living, having the response of death in himself, he put his trust not in himself but in God who raises the dead (see Rom. 1:9; 7:6; 2 Cor. 1:8-9).

Lord Jesus, we want to be the priests of today who serve You in the principle of the budding rod, through death and resurrection. May our service to God pass through death and resurrection so that it may be acceptable to God. Amen, Lord, may everything we do in our service to God be done out of God and through death and resurrection. May we know resurrection and live in resurrection, being supplied by the resurrected Christ with the resurrection life. Amen, Lord Jesus, our hope and source is not in ourselves but in God, the One who raises the dead and who can supply us with resurrection life!

Read this article / blog post in Romanian – puteți citi acest articol și în limba română la următorul link – Să Îl slujim pe Dumnezeu în principiul toiagului înmugurit, prin moarte și înviere.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” ch. 15, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 10, The Major Types and the Prophecy concerning Christ.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # When the resurrection life / Is made real in pow’r to me, / As the rod with sprouting buds, / I will then accepted be. (Hymns #769)
  # Not the gift we proudly lay / On His altar will He heed, / If our hearts have said Him, “Nay,” / When He whispered, “I have need.” / Thus we die, and dying live / In the heavenlies with the Lord; / Thus we serve, and pray, and give, / Christ Himself our great Reward. (Hymns #907)
  # Pray to labor with the Lord; / Self-ambition and self-will / We must ever cast away, / All His purpose to fulfill. / Pray to labor with the Lord; / Let the Lord initiate / All the plan and all the work; / Then thru us He’ll operate. (Hymns #786)