SO CLOSE AND YET SO FAR

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them."

But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, "How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."

Moses said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power, You brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O Lord, are with these people and that You, O Lord, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If You put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about You will say, 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land He promised them on oath; so He slaughtered them in the desert.'"

"Now, may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as You have declared: 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love, and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' In accordance with Your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as You have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now."

The Lord replied, "I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw My glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed Me and tested Me ten times, not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated Me with contempt will ever see it. But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea."

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert, your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against Me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you, your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years, one year for each of the forty days you explored the land, you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against Me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die."

So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it, these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, survived."

When Moses reported this to all the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning, they went up toward the high hill country. "We have sinned," they said. "We will go up to the place the Lord promised."

But Moses said, "Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, He will not be with you and you will fall by the sword."

Nevertheless, in their presumption, they went up toward the high hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the Lord's covenant moved from the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

Numbers 14:5-45

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Throughout our prior study of the Israelite exodus, not just from the Book of Exodus but all the scriptures that have detailed it, we saw a God who is patient with His people but we also saw a God who has His limits. We’ve seen a God who is merciful and compassionate but we’ve also seen a God who is angered when His people disrespect or disobey Him, particularly if He had given them prior warning and forgave them in the past for a similar offense.

As we see in our scripture passage for today, God stays consistent with what we know about Him to this point and this is what makes the Israelites look so foolish in light of their actions. Likewise, it should make us as believers today feel more than a little foolish in our own right as we compare our personal lives and subsequent actions to those of the people of Israel.

Now in the lead in to our verses from Numbers, chapter 14, you’ll remember that the advance scouting party that Moses sent out by way of God’s command returned after forty days inside Canaan, the land promised to give His people. They then made a report to Moses and the Israelites, beginning by saying that the land had been found just as the Lord said, "flowing with milk and honey". You’ll recall that they also brought fruit back from the land to show the people first-hand.

It was a positive testimony and if they had left well enough alone there, everything would have been fine. But as we saw in yesterday’s message, ten of the twelve scouts began to talk about the people who already inhabited the land and how much danger they would present if the Israelites entered the country. Their words brought the Israelite joy crashing down, replaced by distress and fear, so much so that God’s people began to wonder if they wouldn’t just be better off by returning to Egypt under new leadership. Their actions showed a total lack of faith in God, the God who had done so much to get them that far.

Indeed, all through the journey from Egypt, God had tried to get Israel to change their ways so they might enter Canaan as a faithful, obedient people but unfortunately, even despite His best efforts, despite giving His people protection, provision and His constant presence, the people still didn’t get it. And as we see in our passage today, God wasn’t happy about it.

We read where Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb all sensed the urgency of the moment and this wasn’t the first time Moses had to intercede for his brothers and sisters but even his efforts were only slightly effective in convincing God to refrain from severely punishing His people.

The scriptures tell us that Moses and Aaron fell "facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there" while "Joshua…and Caleb…tore their clothes." In regard to the latter two, these signs of extreme repentance were followed by them saying:

"The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them."

They spoke these words to try and turn the Israelites away from their sinful attitudes but their efforts were to no avail. We know this because the "whole assembly talked about stoning them." It was their last chance and they blew it for we see what happened next as the Lord showed up to confront them.

We read where "the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites" and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

"How long will these people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they."

Obviously, we see where the Lord was fed up with His people and was ready to just start over through Moses. But as we have seen before, Moses stood up for the Israelites and tried to reason with God, saying:

“The Egyptians will hear about it! By Your power, You brought these people up from among them. And they will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that You, O Lord, are with these people and that You, O Lord, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stays over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. If You put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about You will say, 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land He promised them on oath; so He slaughtered them in the desert.'"

In other words, the people living in Canaan were well aware that Israel was not entering into their land alone. They had heard all about the God of Israel and knew that this powerful God had promised to give the land to His people. We see where Moses reasoned that destroying Israel before they entered the Promised Land would send the wrong message to the inhabitants of Canaan who would spin it as God being unable to bring the people into the land He promised.

This wasn’t all Moses had to say, for we read where he continued with the following appeal to the Lord:

"Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as You have declared: 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.' In accordance with Your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as You have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now."

Once again, here we find Moses interceding with God on behalf of the Israelites but he well knew that the final decision was up to the Lord who responded with this:

"I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of the men who saw My glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed Me and tested Me ten times, not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated Me with contempt will ever see it.”

“Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea"

"How long will this wicked community grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, 'As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against Me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun. As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. But you, your bodies will fall in this desert. Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. For forty years, one year for each of the forty days you explored the land, you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have Me against you. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against Me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die."

As we read God announcing His judgment, we see where he did listen to Moses and accepted his plea but still felt the need to impose a harsh penalty on Israel. So we read where the Lord didn’t wipe out everyone as He first wanted to do but devised a plan so that no one who had grumbled and complained against Him would ever enter Canaan.

In order to accomplish this, He commanded the Israelites to go back into the desert wilderness where they would remain for forty years, one year for each day that the men had scouted Canaan. During this forty year period, everyone in the current generation would die in the desert and their children would suffer hardship as shepherds before finally being allowed to enter the Promised Land after the forty years were up. And to show how serious He was about His unhappiness with what had happened, He began by punishing the ten men who started it all, the ones who provided a pessimistic report and outlook to the Israelites, stirring up fear and worry through their testimony. We read where these men were struck down with a plague that killed them.

We see where Moses ended up having to tell the people about what had happened to the men as well as their fate which led them to mourn bitterly. Collectively, they decided to go "toward the high hill country" and “the place the Lord promised" but there was a big problem with that for it wasn’t what God had told them to do. You’ll remember He ordered them to turn from Canaan and head back into the desert and so through their behavior, we see where the people of Israel still didn’t get it.

Can you imagine how much this must have frustrated God as well as Moses, their leader, who had gone to bat for them? In fact, we see where Moses says the following:

"Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? This will not succeed! Do not go up, because the Lord is not with you. You will be defeated by your enemies, for the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you there. Because you have turned away from the Lord, He will not be with you and you will fall by the sword."

Despite this warning, we read where the Israelites were determined to do what they wanted to do, going into Canaan anyways and the scriptures tell us that “the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah." The stubborn, sinful, disobedient people of God got just what they deserved, a solid beat down.

You know, the sad part of this story is that the Israelites were so close to the finish line, right on the edge of completing their journey and entering the land flowing with milk and honey. They were so close but as the old saying goes, so far because they couldn’t just trust in God to watch over them, protect them, and ultimately bless them through fulfilling His promise.

As I thought about this passage, I couldn’t help but think about my own life and how it too struggles sometimes against the sinful nature. Sometimes I can feel so close to where God wants me to be and yet so far away, relating to this lament of the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the Roman believers:

"We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

“So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.”

"What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:14-25

Perhaps you can share in these feelings yourself.

Thankfully, Paul leaves us with some good news for we’re all in the same boat. Yes, we’re all sinners and yes we are under constant attack by Satan whose chief goal is to destroy every good and perfect thing that God creates…including us.

If it all were to end there, we would be utterly hopeless.

But it doesn’t stop there, does it?

For we have a blessed assurance that comes from the same God of the Israelites in Old Testament times, an assurance given through His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, an assurance that comforts us with the truth that the Lord will rescue us from our bodies of death. 

What’s the blessed assurance?

We find it in John’s Gospel:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Brothers and sisters, we are saved because of Jesus and like Paul, we get to proclaim:

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Corinthians 15:55-57

Not just today but every day, let us give thanks be to God for although we might be so close and yet so far sometimes from being who He wants us to be, we know that a day is coming when we will be forever close and never ever again afar when the Lord calls us home, all because Jesus through whom we are victorious.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.