Canon

Trouble is stirring in the Israelite camp. There is dissent among the princes of the people, specifically a man named Korah. See, Korah is not satisfied with the leadership of Moses and Aaron, and he decides to openly rebel against their authority. “Now Korah (and Dathan and Abiram) took men: and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord? … Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.” (Numbers 16:1-3, 13-14)

Apparently, Korah didn’t think that Moses was doing so good a job of leading. However, Moses was anointed of God to lead, and Aaron as the High Priest. God comes up with the solution, to solve this rebellion once and for all: “… Take every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, … write thou every man’s name on his rod. And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi… and thou shalt lay them up in the Tabernacle… where I will meet with you, and it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel.” (Numbers 17:1-5)

“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.” (Numbers 17:8) Later, the rod of Aaron was placed within the Ark of the Covenant as a token against the rebels forevermore.

In our post-modern culture, everything is being challenged, even within the church. There have been questions asked, that no one seems to have a good answer for. “Why should we trust the Bible?” It is a legitimate question, but when you turn to most conservatives, you hear, “Don’t ask such things, just accept it.” That’s no answer at all. Then, turning to the emergent movement, they hear, “Yeah, you can’t really trust the Bible. It’s just a good book written by good men, but it’s not the word of God.” Thus, confidence in the Bible is greatly diminished within Christians today.

We need the basis of the Word of God – which it is – as Christians, but if we do not know why we believe it, then we have little basis for following it. The Bible is also known as the Canon of Scripture. Canon is not a military device, but it is the measure of truth. It is also known as a rod, specifically a measuring rod. Scripture is a measuring rod for our lives, and when our lives don’t line up with it, we submit to it, not vice versa. However, in John 1, Christ is described as the Word of God, made flesh among men. Interestingly, in Jeremiah 1, we read, “Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” The Word is Christ is the rod of Almonds.

There is a canon test in the Old Testament for any man that would claim to be the Messiah, and if they fail in a single point, the Jews were supposed to stone them as a false prophet. God, through the Hebrew culture He fashioned and through the prophets and men He worked in, set up an elaborate test that no man could ever pass.

However, when you put Jesus up to the test, you see that he not only blossoms, but he buds and bears many almonds.

There is prophecy after prophecy in regards to the Messiah, even some that were not thought to be prophecy, but to look at a few is enough to bolster anyone’s faith in Jesus.

Psalm 22 is an incredible prophetic text. Verse 1 says, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Sound familiar? Go on even farther, and you find, “But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.” Yet, the most incredible passage in this Psalm is verse 16: “… they pierced my hands and my feet.”

Was not our Lord crucified, with pierced hands and feet, surrounds by the mocking Pharisees, who called out to him, “If you are the Messiah, save yourself!” God didn’t miss crossing a single‘t’ or dotting a single ‘i’.

As Christ Himself said, “Search the scriptures; … they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). When you put Christ up to the measuring rod, there could not have been a more perfect match. He is the Word of God, and He is Canon. Anyone who denies it is a fool, for He is a token against all rebels, now and forevermore. Through that, He has divine right to your life. The reason most people don’t want to accept Him and the Word as canon, is because if it is true, then they must submit to it.

Submit yourself, your entirety, unto the Rightful King: Jesus.