Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.
God spoke these words to Moses and Aaron during the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with two hundred fifty princes, after Korah had gathered all the congregation against them and the divine glory appeared at the tabernacle. The command called for a decisive separation from the gathered congregation so that God might destroy it at once, because rebellion had spread through it and sudden judgment was near. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded with God not to be angry with all for the sin of some, and in mercy God gave those misled by sympathy time to withdraw and escape, for even then repentance could have stayed the threatened destruction. The history was written for instruction to those living near the close of time, to be read and studied as a warning not to follow its unbelief and to call for genuine repentance from all who repeat it. That repetition occurs whenever the same spirit of pride, envy, and self-exaltation rises against God's appointed workers and plain testimony, secretly gaining sympathy and sowing distrust until separation from evil becomes necessary lest the sympathizers be consumed with the rebels.
Setting and Wording
The command belongs to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rose up before Moses with two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous men of renown, and charged Moses and Aaron with taking too much upon themselves. These rulers had become dissatisfied with the trusted positions given them, forgetting who had placed them there, and sought to be commanders and to gain the priesthood also. Their accusation claimed authority belonging to the whole congregation.
God spoke the command to Moses and Aaron after Korah had gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle, when the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation. He spoke from the divine glory seen in the cloud above the tabernacle, commanding them to get up from among the congregation so He might consume the people in a moment. The warning concerned judgment on the assembled congregation gathered before God, with instant destruction near.
Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces and pleaded with God as the God of the spirits of all flesh not to be wroth with all the congregation for one man's sin. They pleaded that the whole congregation not suffer for one man's sin. In answer God told Moses to have the congregation get up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Moses then warned the people to depart from the tents of those wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in all their sins.
The threatened consuming was then executed when the Lord made a new thing and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them alive. The minister of wrath had still gone forth with plague doing its work of death. By Moses' direction Aaron hastened with a censer into the midst of the congregation to make atonement and stood between the dead and the living. As the smoke of the incense ascended with Moses' prayers going up to God the plague was stayed, but not until fourteen thousand lay dead as evidence of the guilt of murmuring and rebellion. That judgment sustained Aaron in the sacred office of high priest, and Aaron's intercession stayed the plague.
Those brethren died before the Lord and were destroyed by plague. Forty years later at Kadesh in the desert of Zin the thirsting congregation, finding no water, murmured against Moses and Aaron for lack of water. They wished they had died when those brethren died, meaning they wished they had been among that number destroyed by the plague in that rebellion.
Judgment Threatened and Delayed
God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the gathered congregation so that He might consume it in a moment, because rebellion had spread through it and instant destruction was near. The warning was spoken as Korah had gathered all the congregation against them, and Moses and Aaron at once fell on their faces and pleaded that the whole congregation not suffer for one man's sin. The command belongs to the account of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, whose work mixed with self will not endure while work done in God will stand, and their rebellion against Moses and Aaron was rebellion against the Lord for which Korah and those who perished with him justly suffered God's wrath.
The command to separate from the rebellious congregation and from the congregation of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram came before sudden judgment, requiring a decisive break before God consumed the rebels. Leading people to distrust and reject God's work brings disastrous results for those who follow, and those who draw away from the church to accuse fellow believers and use others' errors to promote their own ideas and methods show that separatist spirit and are to be watched. The whole congregation shared in guilt through sympathy with the rebels, yet God distinguished the leaders from those they had misled. God pitied the ignorance of those deceived or influenced by the instigators and in long-suffering mercy gave them opportunity to withdraw and escape judgment and gave the deceived people further time to repent.
The threatened judgment could still have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness, so though destruction was near there still remained opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness. The guilt of sin did not rest on Moses, so he did not fear or hasten away to leave the congregation to perish but lingered with a true shepherd's interest for the flock of his care, pleading that wrath would not utterly destroy the chosen people. By his intercession in the tabernacle the arm of vengeance was stayed so that a full end was not made of disobedient, rebellious Israel, though the minister of wrath still went forth in plague until Aaron at his brother's direction hastened with a censer into the midst of the congregation to make atonement and stood between the dead and the living, and as the smoke of the incense ascended with Moses' prayers the plague was stayed, but not until fourteen thousand lay dead as evidence of the guilt of murmuring and rebellion.
The verse means the faithful are to stand apart from a rebellious congregation that rejects light so they are not consumed with it in sudden judgment, and such separating honors God. It calls for a clear break with evil alongside a decided change of heart when evil workers threaten God's people and work, while the fate of Korah, Dathan and Abiram is left to destruction and whoever joins such rebellion and walks not in the light of the Lord but in sparks of their own kindling will fall into the ditch with their leaders and lie down in darkness. Even after the leaders were destroyed by their stubborn challenge, the survivors stubbornly opposed God's appointed leadership and wrongly accused Moses of killing the Lord's people.
Warning Written for Us
Numbers 16 records the rising of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram before Moses with 250 princes of the assembly, famous men of renown, and God's command to separate from that congregation for judgment. That whole chapter is to be presented before the people and read in full, and to be studied carefully and prayerfully, because it was written for instruction and admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come. It calls God's people to take heed and not follow their example of unbelief, and it requires genuine repentance from those who repeat their rebellious course. Their destruction stands as an example meant to admonish people in later times, and the account serves as a warning about rebellion and apostasy. Rebellion there works secretly in darkness by falsehood, enmity, evil-surmising and false representations to gain sympathy, after the pattern of Satan with the angels, and Christ came not to aid such rebellion but to put it down.
The whole history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in rebellion against Moses and Aaron and against Jehovah is recorded for a warning to God's people, especially those living near the close of time. It carries instruction appropriate for the present time to keep the whole flock from being fed errors that cause them to go astray. The account shows a genuine rebellion and apostasy that must be called rebellion by its right name and apostasy by its right name, and it is questioned whether it can ever be cured. Its experience with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled to pass into history for the admonition of those upon whom the ends of the world are come.
That faithful chronicling teaches the need to sink deep into truth to distinguish precious ore from base material, to distinguish the voice of the true Shepherd from a stranger and the false from the genuine, and to test by their fruits those who would undeceive the church. The chapter shows that work done from self will not endure, while work done in God will stand, and that work mixed with self will not endure. The rebellion is an example of disaffection that cannot ultimately destroy a work that is of God. Its setting warns that those who share its rebellious, selfish spirit face God's judgment, for concealed wrongdoing does not escape God, who repays people according to their works.
Nature of Rebellion
On a narrower stage the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram shows the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven, where pride and ambition prompted Lucifer to complain against the government of God and to seek the overthrow of the order established in heaven, and since his fall Satan seeks to put the same envy and discontent and the same ambition for position and honor into the minds of men. In Korah, Dathan, and Abiram he aroused the desire for self-exaltation and stirred envy, distrust, and rebellion, causing them to reject God as their leader by rejecting Moses and Aaron whom God had appointed. Rebellion works secretly in darkness by falsehood, enmity, evil-surmising, and false representations to gain sympathy, after the pattern of Satan with the angels, and Christ came not to aid such rebellion but to put it down.
Through moral infatuation their hearts were steeled against the Holy Spirit, and Satan deluded them with the idea that they opposed only a human leader, a man like themselves. But in rejecting God's chosen instrument they rejected Christ, their invisible leader, and insulted the Spirit of God, even though they believed they were serving God. They were deceived by Satan but by their own consent, because they placed themselves in his power by failing to implicitly trust and obey God. While their murmuring against Moses and Aaron blasphemed God, they were so deluded as to think themselves righteous and to regard those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.
The rebellion was against the Lord, and those who perished with Korah were acknowledged to have been sinners who justly suffered God's wrath. Their rebellion means separation from God so the heart is not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, revealing the attributes of Satan in beginning to oppress fellow men and sending forth an influence contrary to truth, justice, and righteousness. Leading people to distrust and reject God's work brings disastrous results for those who follow. God honors His chosen worker and warns against the self-exalting spirit that arises when others are honored with a part in the work, as when Aaron was made mouthpiece for Moses and then Aaron and Miriam thought they were equal to Moses and a very essential part of the whole, feeling credit should be given to them and Moses should not have all the honor.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power to be respected as the voice of God, for claiming great light and standing as especially exalted while not obeying all the light, mingling the work with men's devisings and selfishness, hurting God's servants, and sustaining men God cannot favor leaves leaders with no right to entrench themselves behind the sacredness of office. Their rebellion is an example of the danger of resisting God's work and becoming so self-deceived as to mistake light for darkness and truth for error.
Repeating the Rebellion Today
The same rebellion is repeated when persons are led to imitate Korah in insurrection by rising against plain testimony and reproof of wrongs, imagining that those bearing the burden of the work exalt themselves and that their counsels and reproofs are uncalled for. It is seen when testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco irritate those unwilling to sacrifice idols of appetite, leaving them unsettled between conviction and self-indulgence until appetite prevails, perverts the sense of sacred things, and fixes the refusal to deny self. That decision raises a wall of separation between the rebels and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The rebellious then find relief in warring against straight testimony, calling it untrue, saying the people are all right and reproof makes the trouble, and rallying all the disaffected and spiritually defective, the lame, halt, and blind, to scatter discord.
Refusing divine testimonies and laboring to make them of none effect repeats their sin, for such a course both deceives and deceives others, strengthens many others in unbelief, and spreads a swift tide of unbelief that could have been stopped by believing the word. Its course and its influence on other minds is charged in heaven's books and must be met in final accounts unless confessed beforehand to be blotted out when refreshing comes and Jesus is sent. To join their company means to strengthen the gainsayer, unsettle minds and faith in the testimonies, and sow impressions of unbelief that cannot be removed even if faith is later recovered. Such labor does Satan's work, as was done at Minneapolis, and fulfills the lack of faith questioned when it was asked if faith would be found at the coming.
That same rebellion was acted over at Minneapolis in firm self-complacency and unwillingness to accept heaven-sent light, in pride, prejudice, unsanctified independence, contempt for the word, mockery and disgust at the word, lightness, trifling, jesting and joking, and despising the messenger instead of heeding testimony. Satan blinds eyes and perverts judgment, and unless every soul repents they will walk in darkness, walk in sparks of their own kindling, lie down in sorrow, and have the candlestick removed. Yet the messenger is placed in proper position and sustained to stand at duty, and there is desire to bless and heal backsliding when pride is humbled and confessed. Some managers at the Battle Creek publishing house acted their part in that rebellion, and the institution was under reproof, especially since the Minneapolis meeting, as rebellion against divine order. Quite a number in New York who cling to a corrupt and rebellious leader take that same course like Dathan and Abiram, siding with a heart at war with the third angel's work and with the visions and being drawn into darkness with him.
Their rebellion and its consequences are repeated when people create confusion by twisting Scripture and divine warnings to support their own theories. The same spirit is manifested when workers oppress one another and when one institution desires to control all others, when men with weighty responsibilities have no living connection with God and do despite to the Holy Spirit, casting aside repeated warnings and venturing on in the same course. Speaking hasty, unadvised words, fostering self-esteem, bearing false witness against brethren, leavening minds with distrust, weakening faith in divine instrumentalities, and questioning men being taught and led repeats the rebellion and brings the same sudden destruction on those who persist. Their course was to first gain the sympathy and confidence of the people and then insinuate against appointed leaders, telling a deceptive story of having been abused and sowing seeds of doubt against those in whom the people should have confidence.
When fellow laborers unjustly charge, ridicule, and present in a false light those appointed to do the work, especially a long-accepted servant, it repeats their work, for such false witness, dissension-making, and turning of sympathy against servants is an offense that cuts off influence, misleads people to believe a lie, and endangers souls. Therefore the work must be openly met and not left silent: every charge must be carefully investigated, accusers called to bring proof and lift every unsubstantiated reproach, the people undeceived, and the servant cleared, for opposition to those appointed is an offense. Faithful dealing with wrongdoers guards the cause from stigma, while sympathizing with the wrongdoer and falsely charging the faithful reprover leaves rebellion uncured even after the wrongdoers are swallowed and the people flee in horror. That uncured disaffection brings further killing for sin, so one must not judge from human feeling when servants correct the erring, nor stand uncalled between offender and God, but hold peace and let the arrows fall where directed to pierce those with little sense of sin.
People who draw away from the church, accuse fellow believers, and use others' errors to promote their own ideas and methods show that separatist spirit and are to be watched. The experience is repeated when people needing conversion in thought and attitude oppose work being guided, and instead of changing to work successfully in Christ's lines, develop their traits, criticize, and find mistakes in appointed management, talking to make it appear mistakes exist where guidance has been present. People may repeat that history by siding with those who oppose God, so the lesson is to choose whom to serve and stand on the Lord's side. Their rebellion warns against people who receive Sabbath truth without sharing the labor that brought it and then rise up against and reproach those carrying the work.
Their rebellion warns against resisting evidence and rejecting the message sent and against resisting messengers and message, for defiant resistance to divine direction brings grave consequences and swift, sudden judgment. Accusing and condemning those carrying the work entrusted to them shows the danger of drawing away from appointed workers and dividing the community. The call to separate from what opposes divine service applies the image of consuming fire to the removal of selfishness, intemperance, lust, and other common traits, so that divine character rather than self may appear.
God spoke these words to Moses and Aaron during the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with two hundred fifty princes, after Korah had gathered all the congregation against them and the divine glory appeared at the tabernacle. The command called for a decisive separation from the gathered congregation so that God might destroy it at once, because rebellion had spread through it and sudden judgment was near. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded with God not to be angry with all for the sin of some, and in mercy God gave those misled by sympathy time to withdraw and escape, for even then repentance could have stayed the threatened destruction. The history was written for instruction to those living near the close of time, to be read and studied as a warning not to follow its unbelief and to call for genuine repentance from all who repeat it. That repetition occurs whenever the same spirit of pride, envy, and self-exaltation rises against God's appointed workers and plain testimony, secretly gaining sympathy and sowing distrust until separation from evil becomes necessary lest the sympathizers be consumed with the rebels.
Setting and Wording
The command belongs to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who rose up before Moses with two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous men of renown, and charged Moses and Aaron with taking too much upon themselves. These rulers had become dissatisfied with the trusted positions given them, forgetting who had placed them there, and sought to be commanders and to gain the priesthood also. Their accusation claimed authority belonging to the whole congregation.
God spoke the command to Moses and Aaron after Korah had gathered all the congregation against them unto the door of the tabernacle, when the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation. He spoke from the divine glory seen in the cloud above the tabernacle, commanding them to get up from among the congregation so He might consume the people in a moment. The warning concerned judgment on the assembled congregation gathered before God, with instant destruction near.
Moses and Aaron fell upon their faces and pleaded with God as the God of the spirits of all flesh not to be wroth with all the congregation for one man's sin. They pleaded that the whole congregation not suffer for one man's sin. In answer God told Moses to have the congregation get up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Moses then warned the people to depart from the tents of those wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, lest they be consumed in all their sins.
The threatened consuming was then executed when the Lord made a new thing and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them alive. The minister of wrath had still gone forth with plague doing its work of death. By Moses' direction Aaron hastened with a censer into the midst of the congregation to make atonement and stood between the dead and the living. As the smoke of the incense ascended with Moses' prayers going up to God the plague was stayed, but not until fourteen thousand lay dead as evidence of the guilt of murmuring and rebellion. That judgment sustained Aaron in the sacred office of high priest, and Aaron's intercession stayed the plague.
Those brethren died before the Lord and were destroyed by plague. Forty years later at Kadesh in the desert of Zin the thirsting congregation, finding no water, murmured against Moses and Aaron for lack of water. They wished they had died when those brethren died, meaning they wished they had been among that number destroyed by the plague in that rebellion.
Judgment Threatened and Delayed
God told Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the gathered congregation so that He might consume it in a moment, because rebellion had spread through it and instant destruction was near. The warning was spoken as Korah had gathered all the congregation against them, and Moses and Aaron at once fell on their faces and pleaded that the whole congregation not suffer for one man's sin. The command belongs to the account of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, whose work mixed with self will not endure while work done in God will stand, and their rebellion against Moses and Aaron was rebellion against the Lord for which Korah and those who perished with him justly suffered God's wrath.
The command to separate from the rebellious congregation and from the congregation of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram came before sudden judgment, requiring a decisive break before God consumed the rebels. Leading people to distrust and reject God's work brings disastrous results for those who follow, and those who draw away from the church to accuse fellow believers and use others' errors to promote their own ideas and methods show that separatist spirit and are to be watched. The whole congregation shared in guilt through sympathy with the rebels, yet God distinguished the leaders from those they had misled. God pitied the ignorance of those deceived or influenced by the instigators and in long-suffering mercy gave them opportunity to withdraw and escape judgment and gave the deceived people further time to repent.
The threatened judgment could still have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness, so though destruction was near there still remained opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness. The guilt of sin did not rest on Moses, so he did not fear or hasten away to leave the congregation to perish but lingered with a true shepherd's interest for the flock of his care, pleading that wrath would not utterly destroy the chosen people. By his intercession in the tabernacle the arm of vengeance was stayed so that a full end was not made of disobedient, rebellious Israel, though the minister of wrath still went forth in plague until Aaron at his brother's direction hastened with a censer into the midst of the congregation to make atonement and stood between the dead and the living, and as the smoke of the incense ascended with Moses' prayers the plague was stayed, but not until fourteen thousand lay dead as evidence of the guilt of murmuring and rebellion.
The verse means the faithful are to stand apart from a rebellious congregation that rejects light so they are not consumed with it in sudden judgment, and such separating honors God. It calls for a clear break with evil alongside a decided change of heart when evil workers threaten God's people and work, while the fate of Korah, Dathan and Abiram is left to destruction and whoever joins such rebellion and walks not in the light of the Lord but in sparks of their own kindling will fall into the ditch with their leaders and lie down in darkness. Even after the leaders were destroyed by their stubborn challenge, the survivors stubbornly opposed God's appointed leadership and wrongly accused Moses of killing the Lord's people.
Warning Written for Us
Numbers 16 records the rising of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram before Moses with 250 princes of the assembly, famous men of renown, and God's command to separate from that congregation for judgment. That whole chapter is to be presented before the people and read in full, and to be studied carefully and prayerfully, because it was written for instruction and admonition upon those on whom the ends of the world are come. It calls God's people to take heed and not follow their example of unbelief, and it requires genuine repentance from those who repeat their rebellious course. Their destruction stands as an example meant to admonish people in later times, and the account serves as a warning about rebellion and apostasy. Rebellion there works secretly in darkness by falsehood, enmity, evil-surmising and false representations to gain sympathy, after the pattern of Satan with the angels, and Christ came not to aid such rebellion but to put it down.
The whole history of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in rebellion against Moses and Aaron and against Jehovah is recorded for a warning to God's people, especially those living near the close of time. It carries instruction appropriate for the present time to keep the whole flock from being fed errors that cause them to go astray. The account shows a genuine rebellion and apostasy that must be called rebellion by its right name and apostasy by its right name, and it is questioned whether it can ever be cured. Its experience with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled to pass into history for the admonition of those upon whom the ends of the world are come.
That faithful chronicling teaches the need to sink deep into truth to distinguish precious ore from base material, to distinguish the voice of the true Shepherd from a stranger and the false from the genuine, and to test by their fruits those who would undeceive the church. The chapter shows that work done from self will not endure, while work done in God will stand, and that work mixed with self will not endure. The rebellion is an example of disaffection that cannot ultimately destroy a work that is of God. Its setting warns that those who share its rebellious, selfish spirit face God's judgment, for concealed wrongdoing does not escape God, who repays people according to their works.
Nature of Rebellion
On a narrower stage the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram shows the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven, where pride and ambition prompted Lucifer to complain against the government of God and to seek the overthrow of the order established in heaven, and since his fall Satan seeks to put the same envy and discontent and the same ambition for position and honor into the minds of men. In Korah, Dathan, and Abiram he aroused the desire for self-exaltation and stirred envy, distrust, and rebellion, causing them to reject God as their leader by rejecting Moses and Aaron whom God had appointed. Rebellion works secretly in darkness by falsehood, enmity, evil-surmising, and false representations to gain sympathy, after the pattern of Satan with the angels, and Christ came not to aid such rebellion but to put it down.
Through moral infatuation their hearts were steeled against the Holy Spirit, and Satan deluded them with the idea that they opposed only a human leader, a man like themselves. But in rejecting God's chosen instrument they rejected Christ, their invisible leader, and insulted the Spirit of God, even though they believed they were serving God. They were deceived by Satan but by their own consent, because they placed themselves in his power by failing to implicitly trust and obey God. While their murmuring against Moses and Aaron blasphemed God, they were so deluded as to think themselves righteous and to regard those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.
The rebellion was against the Lord, and those who perished with Korah were acknowledged to have been sinners who justly suffered God's wrath. Their rebellion means separation from God so the heart is not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, revealing the attributes of Satan in beginning to oppress fellow men and sending forth an influence contrary to truth, justice, and righteousness. Leading people to distrust and reject God's work brings disastrous results for those who follow. God honors His chosen worker and warns against the self-exalting spirit that arises when others are honored with a part in the work, as when Aaron was made mouthpiece for Moses and then Aaron and Miriam thought they were equal to Moses and a very essential part of the whole, feeling credit should be given to them and Moses should not have all the honor.
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power to be respected as the voice of God, for claiming great light and standing as especially exalted while not obeying all the light, mingling the work with men's devisings and selfishness, hurting God's servants, and sustaining men God cannot favor leaves leaders with no right to entrench themselves behind the sacredness of office. Their rebellion is an example of the danger of resisting God's work and becoming so self-deceived as to mistake light for darkness and truth for error.
Repeating the Rebellion Today
The same rebellion is repeated when persons are led to imitate Korah in insurrection by rising against plain testimony and reproof of wrongs, imagining that those bearing the burden of the work exalt themselves and that their counsels and reproofs are uncalled for. It is seen when testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco irritate those unwilling to sacrifice idols of appetite, leaving them unsettled between conviction and self-indulgence until appetite prevails, perverts the sense of sacred things, and fixes the refusal to deny self. That decision raises a wall of separation between the rebels and those cleansing themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The rebellious then find relief in warring against straight testimony, calling it untrue, saying the people are all right and reproof makes the trouble, and rallying all the disaffected and spiritually defective, the lame, halt, and blind, to scatter discord.
Refusing divine testimonies and laboring to make them of none effect repeats their sin, for such a course both deceives and deceives others, strengthens many others in unbelief, and spreads a swift tide of unbelief that could have been stopped by believing the word. Its course and its influence on other minds is charged in heaven's books and must be met in final accounts unless confessed beforehand to be blotted out when refreshing comes and Jesus is sent. To join their company means to strengthen the gainsayer, unsettle minds and faith in the testimonies, and sow impressions of unbelief that cannot be removed even if faith is later recovered. Such labor does Satan's work, as was done at Minneapolis, and fulfills the lack of faith questioned when it was asked if faith would be found at the coming.
That same rebellion was acted over at Minneapolis in firm self-complacency and unwillingness to accept heaven-sent light, in pride, prejudice, unsanctified independence, contempt for the word, mockery and disgust at the word, lightness, trifling, jesting and joking, and despising the messenger instead of heeding testimony. Satan blinds eyes and perverts judgment, and unless every soul repents they will walk in darkness, walk in sparks of their own kindling, lie down in sorrow, and have the candlestick removed. Yet the messenger is placed in proper position and sustained to stand at duty, and there is desire to bless and heal backsliding when pride is humbled and confessed. Some managers at the Battle Creek publishing house acted their part in that rebellion, and the institution was under reproof, especially since the Minneapolis meeting, as rebellion against divine order. Quite a number in New York who cling to a corrupt and rebellious leader take that same course like Dathan and Abiram, siding with a heart at war with the third angel's work and with the visions and being drawn into darkness with him.
Their rebellion and its consequences are repeated when people create confusion by twisting Scripture and divine warnings to support their own theories. The same spirit is manifested when workers oppress one another and when one institution desires to control all others, when men with weighty responsibilities have no living connection with God and do despite to the Holy Spirit, casting aside repeated warnings and venturing on in the same course. Speaking hasty, unadvised words, fostering self-esteem, bearing false witness against brethren, leavening minds with distrust, weakening faith in divine instrumentalities, and questioning men being taught and led repeats the rebellion and brings the same sudden destruction on those who persist. Their course was to first gain the sympathy and confidence of the people and then insinuate against appointed leaders, telling a deceptive story of having been abused and sowing seeds of doubt against those in whom the people should have confidence.
When fellow laborers unjustly charge, ridicule, and present in a false light those appointed to do the work, especially a long-accepted servant, it repeats their work, for such false witness, dissension-making, and turning of sympathy against servants is an offense that cuts off influence, misleads people to believe a lie, and endangers souls. Therefore the work must be openly met and not left silent: every charge must be carefully investigated, accusers called to bring proof and lift every unsubstantiated reproach, the people undeceived, and the servant cleared, for opposition to those appointed is an offense. Faithful dealing with wrongdoers guards the cause from stigma, while sympathizing with the wrongdoer and falsely charging the faithful reprover leaves rebellion uncured even after the wrongdoers are swallowed and the people flee in horror. That uncured disaffection brings further killing for sin, so one must not judge from human feeling when servants correct the erring, nor stand uncalled between offender and God, but hold peace and let the arrows fall where directed to pierce those with little sense of sin.
People who draw away from the church, accuse fellow believers, and use others' errors to promote their own ideas and methods show that separatist spirit and are to be watched. The experience is repeated when people needing conversion in thought and attitude oppose work being guided, and instead of changing to work successfully in Christ's lines, develop their traits, criticize, and find mistakes in appointed management, talking to make it appear mistakes exist where guidance has been present. People may repeat that history by siding with those who oppose God, so the lesson is to choose whom to serve and stand on the Lord's side. Their rebellion warns against people who receive Sabbath truth without sharing the labor that brought it and then rise up against and reproach those carrying the work.
Their rebellion warns against resisting evidence and rejecting the message sent and against resisting messengers and message, for defiant resistance to divine direction brings grave consequences and swift, sudden judgment. Accusing and condemning those carrying the work entrusted to them shows the danger of drawing away from appointed workers and dividing the community. The call to separate from what opposes divine service applies the image of consuming fire to the removal of selfishness, intemperance, lust, and other common traits, so that divine character rather than self may appear.