Human Response 204: Follow the Lord Fully

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.