Month: December 2022

Numbers 14:40, 44 And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised; for we have sinned….But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.

After Israel realized they had sinned in unbelief in regard to entering the Kingdom, they presumed to go up and take the land. This they attempted by themselves in their own strength. This they did without God: the ark and Moses did not go with them, indicating they acted on their own without God’s command or His presence. They were immediately chased back and defeated by the enemies. The lesson was clear: don’t presume to go it alone. They waited another 38 years before they went up under Joshua according to God’s Word, His command, His presence, and His timing. Then God was with them, and they were successful.

“These things were written for our learning.” The NT believer learns that Jesus is always with you, but He does not go with you when you presume to be good enough and strong enough by yourself. We go with God and not alone by our own reason or strength. We always fail. Jesus never fails. We do not try to be better, try to fix ourselves, or try to do good to right what we did wrong. We confess our sin and empty works, receive forgiveness, and desire to go with God when and where He leads. We don’t presume like a Pharisee, but beg mercy like a Publican. The choice is clear: trust in self or trust in God.

Numbers 14:36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even these men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.

Unbelief is death. The ten spies who could not believe God died by the plague. They caused the people to complain in unbelief; they disbelieved God’s Word and Promise; and they said bad things about the kingdom of God. The Lord God said, “Believe Me, Trust Me, Obey Me. I will give you what I promised. Surely, after all I’ve done, you could trust and obey.” God takes His Word seriously. The wages of sin is death.

Not only did they murmur in unbelief, but they made the congregation murmur in unbelief. “It would be better to drown in the sea than to cause one of these little ones to sin.” Leading others astray is worse than sinning yourself. That’s the issue with gossip.

We should beware of slandering (saying bad things about) God, His servant, His promise, His kingdom. We don’t realize we are sinful and placing ourselves in peril of eternal death. We may not take our sinful and unbelieving words seriously, but God does. Thank God for grace and forgiveness!

There are many ways in which we bring up an evil report about the kingdom of God. Yes, we have big enemies trying to keep us from entering the Kingdom and the Life, but our Lord Jesus overcomes definitively. Trust and enjoy!

Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

The Lord pardoned Israel according to Moses’ prayer, but the consequences remained: Israel would wander another 40 years and no one over 20 would see the Land. However, Joshua and Caleb would not die in the wilderness but they would enter the land. These were the only two, out of 12 spies, who believed God: we are able to possess the land because the Lord promised.

Caleb’s response to the miraculous signs and wonders and the great salvation of the Lord was to follow the Lord fully. He believed God 100% and trusted Him to keep His promises. He followed because he had another spirit with him. This other spirit is obviously the Holy Spirit, for his own human spirit is dead in sin and unbelief.

It is the Spirit of God in our spirit that creates such faith that believes God and follows Him fully through the Gospel. We believe and confess that our human spirit is dead to God and unable to believe. And we believe that the Spirit calls us by the gospel and makes us alive to God by granting faith. “The just live by faith.” “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Spirit.”

Therefore, we are ready and able to follow Him fully, even unto death, like Peter and the Apostles. We will note, however, that the outcome (Life and Kingdom) is not a reward for following, but it is a gift of grace. Caleb, Peter, and we, receive the gift by faith and live in it. We follow because we have it already by faith; we do not have it because we follow.

Numbers 14:17, 19 And now I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great. 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.

The people had rebelled against God and sinned by unbelief not believing God could give them the land as He had promised. As a result, they would wander 40 years and this generation would not see the Promised Land. The Lord was angry enough to smite them and make a greater nation out of Moses.

Moses, in pride, could have taken the Lord’s offer to make if him a great nation. Then what would have happened to the promise of a Messiah from the line of Judah? But Moses interceded and prayed for pardon for the people. (God meant for that to happen anyway, but He wanted an intercessor.) Moses responded to the Lord by asking God to use His power and mercy to pardon and forgive. God responded to Moses’ plea and forgave.

Today, all Christians are called to respond as intercessors and plea for pardon for self and others: “As we forgive those who trespass against us.” Yes, we plead for others, asking God to forgive them. This is one way in which believers in Jesus become salt and light. Whether we forgive or pray God to forgive, it’s the same thing: God forgives because of His mercy, which is the blood of Christ.

The outcome of the prayer that the Lord moved Moses to pray? The people were pardoned and restored as God’s people. However, the consequences remained in effect.

Numbers 14:11 And 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?

The human response of provoking God is a serious matter. How do we provoke God? God Himself defines it as not believing. He is longsuffering and has long patience, but eventually it wears thin, and righteous wrath takes over. Holiness demands just punishment. The punishment for sin is death and all its manifestations during a lifetime of misery.

The cause of sin is unbelief (“Yea, hath God said?”) Sin causes death (“The day you eat of it, you shall die”). Death causes mental and physical pain and suffering of all kinds, the little deaths we experience daily. God did more than enough signs to point the people to God and draw them to His Life. But they continued in disbelief, complaining and provoking.

In the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ God did way more than enough signs to point us to Jesus, to believe in Him, and so have eternal life. Instead, the human response is to resist, doubt, provoke, and disbelieve. The Word and the Spirit shows us our sin and leads to repentance; the Word and the Spirit shows us our Savior and leads us to faith and life. The love of God overcomes our resistance and unbelief through the Gospel. The newly created faith response receives the forgiveness, life and salvation of God.

Even genuine, born-again believers in Christ still entertain doubts from the devil, the world, and the flesh, thereby provoking the Lord. God is not always pleased with us (we grieve the Spirit), but He is always pleased with His Son and with those who believe Him. The Lord loves so much that we do not want to provoke Him with doubt, fear, and worry. And so we live, at times provoking Him with doubt and unbelief while He is ever and always faithful to us.

Numbers 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.

The faithless response of the children of Israel was to be afraid of the people of the land, after they heard the evil report of the scouting party. The fear that prevented them from entering was considered rebellion against the Lord, for it was caused by unbelief of God and His Word of Promise. When proper fear (faith) of God is in place, then fear of flesh and blood people is out of place.

The faith response is to believe God’s Promise and act on it. And since Jesus fulfilled the Promise of God for us, we can count on Him to be with us. “If God be for us who can be against us?” “Fear not those who kill the body;” instead fear God. And finally, we respond to the threats and darts of life’s enemy by putting on the armor Jesus gives us and using the shield of faith, and we remember: “we wrestle not against flesh and blood.” And we believe that Christ has already defeated our true spiritual enemies at the Cross and the Empty Tomb. Therefore, we will not fear. The Overcomer is with us.” Fear not!

Numbers 14:5-6 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes.

Upon hearing the unbelief and murmuring of the people, the four faithful believers repented. Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the posture of intercession and penitential prayer. Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes as an outward symbol of penitence.

The godly response to Bad News (the people’s rebellion) is to repent and intercede. Moses and Aaron prayed for the people. Joshua and Caleb repented for them. The people’s unbelieving heart and negative attitude was offensive to these spiritual leaders. They could have taken offense, gotten angry, and done who knows what. Instead, their faithful response was to repent for them, pray for them, and forgive them.

Israel was forgiven, but they still suffered the consequences: 40 years in the wilderness, and all those over 20 would die in the wilderness (except Joshua and Caleb). The sin of unbelief is forgiven, but the consequences remain.

Today, godly believers intercede for others, forgive trespassers, repent for the community, and pray for those who despitefully use them.

Numbers 14:1-2 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. and all the children murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would God we had died in this wilderness!

The people believed the evil report of the ten spies, and so they responded the way they always do: murmur and complain. A life lived by faith isn’t so easy when the going gets tough, things look bad, and prospects are dim. We are too easily prone to look at life according to what we see and feel. And so we find ourselves complaining instead of believing.

The enemies of life can look so bad, and the obstacles to happiness can look so big, that crying and complaining is the go-to response. For some, dying in this wilderness may seem like the best option. But when we look at life with the eyes of faith (Jesus’ point of view), we thank God for victory in every circumstance, we believe the promises of God for our good, turn the complaint into prayer, and in Christ we become optimistic about the future.

The Holy Spirit through the Gospel gives us the confidence and faith to trust Jesus, so that fear, doubt, worry, complaints, and murmurings against are minimized and regarded as harmful. The Good News needs to be reinforced continually, because there are many big impediments to entering the Kingdom and enjoying its life.

Numbers 13:30-32 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

Before Israel moved in to possess the land that God promised, 12 spies were sent up to reconnoiter and report back. They brought back two opposing opinions after witnessing the same things: the land is great, but it has some great cities and great people. However, Caleb and Joshua brought an optimistic report: we are well able; the other ten brought an evil report: we are not able. The one side responded with fear and trust in God; the other side responded with fear of men and trust in self. The report was called evil because it lacked faith.

Both knew the overwhelming dangers in attempting to possess the land. The believing response trusted that the Lord is able to do what we can’t, because He promised the Land. The unbelieving response could not trust the Lord to keep His promise; they knew their own weakness and the strength of the enemy.

Our response to the enemies of life and the obstacles to the Kingdom is to either trust God or trust self. When we believe in the faithful love of God we can be optimistic in Christ. When we only believe what we can see we are liable to be pessimistic. We are faced with “giant” enemies every day: sin, death, devil. But we have the greater One on our side. Therefore, we can be confidently optimistic. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” We enter the kingdom with the faith of Caleb.

This reaction was serious with the Lord: Israel was condemned to spend the next 38 years in the wilderness, a serious consequence for unbelief. We believe in the death and resurrection of Christ to lighten the burdens of living on earth.

Numbers 12:13 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.

God had afflicted Miriam with leprosy after she and Aaron spoke against Moses and rebelled against the authority of God. In spite being the offended one, Moses response was to forgive. He prayed the prayer of faith and asked the Lord to heal her of her God-afflicted leprosy. Moses could have held a grudge and said she deserved it, but instead, he loved her, forgave her, prayed for healing, and restored her. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on your faith, God healed her.

Jesus’ response to His crucifiers was, “Forgive them.” When Jesus healed the lame man He first said, “Your sins are forgiven.” Jesus forgives the soul and heals the body, whether we see a connection or not. Forgiveness is always our response to those who “trespass against us.” And we are always ready to pray for healing.

God forgives and God heals. Our response is to do the same. We pray, “Forgive us…as we forgive….” And we even pray for those who despitefully use us. And we are always ready to pray for healing. God healed Miriam in response, and restored her again to the community.