16:31Numbers 16:31

As Moses finished speaking all his words, the ground beneath the rebels split open as the beginning of God's visible judgment upon them.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+2 It swallowed Korah, Dathan and Abiram with their households, tents and all that belonged to them, so that they went down alive into the pit and the earth closed over them and they perished from the congregation.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+2 This fulfilling of Moses' test that the Lord would make a new thing proved that the Lord had sent Moses and that he had not acted from his own mind, a signal, miraculous interference that removed all uncertainty.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+4 Even as the ground split, forgiveness was still lingering and the judgment could have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness, but their stubborn persistence sealed their doom.PP 401.3+1 Their rebellion was not against man only but against God's appointed order and against Jehovah Himself, working out the same pride, envy and ambition for self-exaltation that led Satan's rebellion in heaven, and it stands chronicled as admonition for God's people in the last days not to follow their unbelief.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+4

The rebellion to which the splitting of the ground belongs was that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and it extended beyond two men to include two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown and influence.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+2 The recorded account of that rebellion was preserved as a warning for later generations.Ms 185, 1897, par. 4 As Moses finished speaking all his words, the ground beneath the rebels split open, marking the beginning of God's visible judgment on them.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+4 The sudden event confirmed the seriousness of their revolt and showed God acting decisively against those who resisted His authority.Lt 39, 1899, par. 23+1

The opening swallowed Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with their households, tents, and all that belonged to them, so that they went down alive into the pit, the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the congregation.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+3 Before the opening, the congregation was commanded to get up from about their tabernacles and to depart from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs lest they be consumed in their sins.3T 349.3–4 The two hundred and fifty princes who offered incense did not perish in this opening of the earth because they were not first in rebellion.3T 350.1 They were given the chance to see the end of the leaders and repent of envy, jealousy, and rebellion, but because they were not reconciled, the wrath of God then came upon them in fire from the cloud of glory and destroyed them also.3T 350.1

The ground opening and going down alive into the pit serves as a comparison for fiery eruptions that carry wicked cities into the earth as instruments of God's power and judgment.SG3 80.1–2 Nearly forty years later, when Israel came again to the wilderness proving place and the living stream from the rock ceased, the thirsty, impatient people murmured against Moses and Aaron and wished they had died when their brethren died in the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rather than die with their cattle in the wilderness.ST Sep 30, 1880+2 In their thirst they forgot the power of God that had brought them water out of the rock and said they wished they had been of that destroyed number.1SP 309.2–3+1

The splitting of the ground the instant Moses finished speaking fulfilled the test he had set, that if the Lord made a new thing and the earth opened her mouth to swallow the rebels with all that belonged to them so that they went down alive into the pit, it would prove the Lord had sent Moses to do all these works and that these men had provoked the Lord.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+4 It confirmed that Moses had not acted on his own authority or from his own mind, but by divine sending, and it marked the rebels' end as judgment for rebellion against the Lord.Ms 110, 1899, par. 16–21+4

The cleaving was a signal manifestation of God's power and vengeance, a special, irresistible interference from heaven and a miraculous sign that removed all uncertainty and proved Moses right and the rebels wrong.3T 355.1–356.2+3 It displayed that power against the leaders of the rebellion while warning the congregation to repent.3T 355.1–356.2+1 Even as the ground split, Jesus, the Angel who went before the Hebrews, was seeking to save them from destruction, with forgiveness still lingering and the nearness of judgment itself serving as an appeal to repent.PP 401.3+1 At that very moment the judgment could have been stayed if Korah and his company had repented and sought forgiveness and had responded to that interposition of God's providence, but their stubborn persistence sealed their doom.PP 401.3+1

The fleeing of the people was only from fear of destruction and did not cure rebellion, for they returned to their tents that night terrified but not repentant.PP 401.3 God showed mercy by making a distinction between the leaders in rebellion and those they had led, for while the whole congregation shared guilt by sympathizing to a greater or less degree, He did not destroy the whole people but granted the deceived space for repentance.3T 355.1–356.2+1

The judgment shows that work done in self rather than in God will not stand, while work done in God will endure.Lt 9, 1895, par. 7+1 It warns against substituting humanly chosen fire for the holy fire God provides.Lt 9, 1895, par. 7

The rebellion was directed against God's appointed order and authority, against Moses and Aaron and against Jehovah Himself.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+4 Though the rebels believed they were opposing only a human leader and serving God, in rejecting God's chosen instrument they rejected Christ their invisible leader, blasphemed God, and insulted the Spirit of God.PP 403.3+3 Their destruction when the ground split open beneath them showed that resisting the evidence of truth brought divine judgment.SG4 316.1+1

On a narrower stage it worked out the same spirit that led to Satan's rebellion in heaven.PP 403.3 Pride and ambition prompted Lucifer to complain of the government of God and to seek the overthrow of the order established in heaven, and since his fall Satan has worked to infuse the same envy, discontent, and ambition for position and honor into men.PP 403.3 He worked on Korah, Dathan, and Abiram to arouse desire for self-exaltation and to excite envy, distrust, and rebellion, causing them to reject God as their leader by rejecting the men of God's appointment.PP 403.3 Their rebellion came from moral infatuation that steels the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit, worked by Satan's wizard-like power upon all who do not implicitly trust and obey God.PP 403.3+1 They were deceived by Satan by their own consent because they placed themselves in his power, and were so deluded as to think themselves righteous and to regard those who faithfully reproved their sins as actuated by Satan.PP 403.3+1

Such rebellion is worked by satanic agencies though claimed as the Holy Spirit, and works secretly and in darkness by falsehoods, enmity, evil-surmisings and false representations to gain sympathy.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6 The rebels first gained the sympathy and confidence of the people and then used it to insinuate against God's appointed leadership, telling a deceptive story that they were abused men when the abuse was on their own side, and sowing seeds of doubt about those in whom God would have the people have confidence.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+1 They had separated from God so that their hearts were not under the subduing power of the Holy Spirit, and the attributes of Satan were revealed in them in oppressing their fellow men by an influence contrary to truth and justice and righteousness.Lt 57, 1895, par. 8 That same spirit is indulged when men entrusted with weighty responsibilities have no living connection with God and manifest a desire for one institution to control all others, doing despite to the Holy Spirit even though warnings have come from God again and again.Lt 57, 1895, par. 8

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram forfeited all right to claim sacred power and authority by claiming great light and special exaltation by God while not obeying the light, mingling their work with men's devisings and selfishness, hurting God's servants, and sustaining men whom God could not favor.Lt 194, 1898, par. 6 No man who does the same can entrench himself behind the sacredness of office and rightly represent his voice or the voice of the Conference as a power to be respected as the voice of God.Lt 194, 1898, par. 6 Their example is selfishness and fraud, seeking benefits and temporal advantages for themselves without bearing burdens or responsibilities, centering thoughts on themselves while professing religion.4T 511.3–512.1 Their fraudulent transactions may be concealed from the eyes of brethren generally, but God marks their course and will finally reward them according to their works.4T 511.3–512.1

Genuine rebellion is hardly ever curable and must be called by its right name as rebellion and apostasy.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+1 Those left by God to destruction for rejecting His spoken warning and turning others against His testimony, and those who join themselves with them and walk not in the light of the Lord but in the sparks of their own kindling, will fall into the ditch together and lie down in darkness.Lt 1, 1897, par. 5–7+1 The only escape from that end is to fall on the Rock and be broken, for Christ came not to aid that rebellion but to put it down.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+1 Opposing God's work and misleading the people brings disaster when the ground opens under the rebels.5T 290.3+1 The same point is reached when men in responsible positions pursue ambitious projects, have their pride hurt by straight reproof, and have little faith in God's messages.5T 290.3+1

The splitting of the ground beneath the leaders gave Israel clear evidence against the rebels and should have led the people to repent for abusing Moses.3T 353.2 The perishing men cried out as they went down, and the children of Israel heard and fled a great distance from them, knowing they were in a measure guilty for receiving the accusations against Moses and Aaron and fearing they would perish with them.3T 350.1

Even that miraculous judgment did not convince rebellious Israel that Moses and Aaron were right and they were wrong.SG4 37.1+2 The people's judgment had been so distorted by sympathy for those opposing Moses that they blamed Moses and Aaron and charged them with killing the people of the Lord.5T 66.2+4 They regarded the dead rebels as martyrs defending Israel and remained deceived.5T 66.2+1 Rejecting God's appointed counsel and stubbornly trusting one's own judgment is rebellion against God, and even a clear act of divine judgment may fail to persuade the hardened.TBC1882 47.3 Those led into rebellion by blind prejudice and by rejecting the testimonies God sends cannot see or hear aright, and it is as difficult to undeceive them as it was to convince rebellious Israel.SG4 37.1+1

The Hebrews were not cured of rebellion until 14,700 of those who had joined the rebels were slain.SG4 37.1+1 Then God in mercy performed a remarkable miracle upon the rod of Aaron to settle their minds forever in regard to the priesthood.SG4 37.1+1 Afterward, when Israel saw their rebellion in its true light they were terrified, acknowledged that Moses and Aaron were right, and confessed their own sin in rebelling against their authority.SG4 35.1+1 They confessed that Korah and those who perished with him justly suffered God's righteous wrath as sinners against the Lord and not by Moses' fault, and accepted that they were to die in the wilderness without entering the promised land.SG4 35.1+1 Their disaffection is an example of opposition that cannot defeat a work that is of God.Lt 3, 1883, par. 19–20

The splitting of the ground as Moses finished speaking belongs to the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram with two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown, and it means God judges open rebellion against His appointed order.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+2 That history with all its objectionable features was faithfully chronicled and preserved to pass into history for instruction and admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+2 It is to warn God's people in the last days to take heed and not follow their example of unbelief, and it is to be studied.Lt 156, 1897, par. 3–6+3 It exposes those who have knowledge of truth yet are separated from their great Leader, who cannot distinguish precious ore from base material or the voice of the true Shepherd from a stranger, and it warns against false prophets who will come with heresies to deceive if possible the very elect.Lt 1, 1897, par. 5–7

The record stands especially for those living on earth near the close of time, because Satan leads persons to imitate Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in raising insurrection among God's people.1SP 306.2+1 That imitation appears in rising in opposition to the plain testimony God would have His servants bear in rebuking wrongs, with the self-deceived thinking those burdened with God's work are exalted above the people and their counsels and reproofs uncalled for.1SP 306.2+1 It was seen when testimonies against hurtful indulgences such as tea, coffee, snuff, and tobacco irritated those unwilling to deny appetite and self, who then warred against straight testimonies, rallied the disaffected, the spiritually defective, the lame, the halt, and the blind, and sowed discord and scattering.1SP 306.2+1

That same rebellion is acted over when God's people reject heaven-sent light, as at Minneapolis.3MR 191.1–2 It is shown in firm self-complacency, unwillingness to accept and acknowledge light, pride, prejudice, unsanctified independence, contempt for the word of the Lord, mockery and disgust at His word, lightness, trifling, jesting and joking, and refusal to seek God and hearken to Him.3MR 191.1–2 Such a condition proves minds and hearts not actuated by God's Spirit but filled with backsliding and blinded by Satan with perverted judgment.3MR 191.1–2 To despise the human instrument is to despise God's messengers and message, while God places His messenger in position and sustains him with grace, power, and abiding presence.3MR 191.1–2 Unless each soul humbles pride, confesses wrong, repents, and is converted, there will be no clear light to discern the preciousness of truth, but walking in darkness with obscured sight, removal of the candlestick, walking in sparks of one's own kindling, and lying down in sorrow.3MR 191.1–2

The judgment warns against accusing and condemning those on whom God has placed responsibility for His work.RCNBP 11.1+2 It warns against separating from the church body, accusing fellow believers, using others' errors to advance self and one's ideas, and stirring dissension by false accusations that mislead others.Lt 118, 1890, par. 4–5+1 Such accusations are an offense to God and should be answered by requiring proof and carefully investigating every charge.7MR 332.1–2+1 It warns ministers and others against hasty, unadvised speech, self-esteem, false witness against brethren, and distrust that leavens other minds and weakens faith in God's instrumentalities.Ms 1, 1895, par. 53–55 Those who question and doubt the men God is teaching, guiding, and leading plant a seed of doubt hard to uproot, give Satan advantage to create distrust, envy, and evil-surmising, and by continuing will bring upon themselves a similar experience.Ms 1, 1895, par. 53–55

It warns against laboring to make God's testimonies of none effect by refusing messages from the Lord, being deceived and deceiving others and strengthening many who follow and quote them, whose influence must be met in the day of final accounts.Lt 59, 1890, par. 2–5+1 It warns against persisting in defiance of warnings, insisting on one's own judgment, and resisting God's messengers and the message He sends.14MR 108.3+1 It warns that people in confusion and opposition to truth may distort and misapply God's words and warnings to support their own theories.Ms 149, 1904, par. 10 It warns against opposing and rejecting truth until self-deceived so as to call light darkness and darkness light.Lt 59, 1890, par. 15–17+1 It warns against self-exaltation and demand for credit, as when Aaron and Miriam, honored with part in the work with Aaron made mouthpiece for Moses, thought themselves equal and essential and felt Moses should not have all the honor.Lt 7, 1894, par. 23–26

It warns against presuming to improve on God's plans through pride, selfishness, and grasping, requiring putting self aside, following sacred principles, and acting openly and faithfully.Ms 43a, 1901, par. 22 It warns against repeating rebellion while needing conversion by holding to lifelong experience, developing unconverted traits, refusing to harmonize and work in Christ's lines, criticizing and finding mistakes, and talking to make it appear mistakes were made when the Lord was guiding.Ms 180, 1898, par. 22 It warns those who reject God's warnings and oppress others that the same rebellious spirit brings judgment.14MR 116.2 It applies to those who cling to a corrupt leader who wears a mild, devoted, religious garb while inwardly full of corruption and rebellion, who are drawn into darkness by his influence, sympathize with him, and join a like rebellion at war with the work of the third angel and at war with the visions, despising them, for rebellion against God's appointed work brings destruction.7MR 113.2

Their experience warns that rebellion against God's order can bring severe judgment and a similar outcome could occur among God's people.Ms 115a, 1897, par. 24–25 It gives instruction appropriate for the present time to keep the whole flock from being fed with errors that cause straying.Lt 224, 1903, par. 1–2 It teaches that evil workers should be separated from the Lord's work and that a changed heart is necessary to distinguish holiness from sin.Lt 34, 1899, par. 42–44 It teaches that people who follow deceivers may show the same blindness as those who followed the rebels, so they must take their stand on the Lord's side.Lt 15, 1892, par. 32–34