So Close-Yet So Far Away-Part 2

The speaker invites the audience to stand for the reading of Scripture. They are studying the story of the people of God in the wilderness, specifically in the book of Numbers. They focus on Numbers chapter 14, where the Israelites express doubt and fear about entering the promised land. Caleb and Joshua, however, have faith and try to convince the people that God will lead them to victory. The people, however, want to stone them. God appears and expresses anger towards the Israelites, threatening to strike them down with a plague. Moses pleads with God for mercy, reminding Him of His promises and reputation. God forgives the people, but declares that none of them, except Caleb and Joshua, will enter the promised land. The Israelites mourn and decide to go against Moses' warning and try to enter the land, but are defeated by their enemies. The speaker then mentions that they will also discuss Jesus in the wilderness. Well, I invite you to stand, please, for the reading of Scripture. We are continuing in our study of Jesus, of the people of God in the wilderness, and we are in Numbers, and we started with Numbers last week, and we're in Numbers chapter 14 this week, so it's the second part of a two-part mini-series within that larger series. Numbers chapter 14, and we're looking at the whole chapter, so it's a little bit longer of a text, but it's Numbers chapter 14, which is our text for today. And this is God's Word. And they said to each other, we should choose a leader and go back to Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell face down 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 that 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 that he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Since the Amalekites and the 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 has 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 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 all this to the Israelites, they mourned bitterly. Early the next morning they went up to the high hill country. We have sinned, they said. We will go up to the place the Lord has 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. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Please be seated. So close, and yet so far away. Here's how we'll study this text today. Verses 1-4, we read of the unbelieving multitude. In verses 5-9, we'll read of the faithful few. In verses 10-19, Moses makes his plea for mercy in the midst of judgment. In verses 20-35, we'll read of the wilderness journey extended. And then verses 36-35, we read of the condemned multitude. And then at the end, we'll take a few minutes, as we normally do, to consider Jesus in the wilderness. The people of Israel have been absent from their land for 430 years, and now God has delivered them from bondage in Egypt and has brought them back almost all the way back to their land. We might imagine the Israelites somewhere east of the Jordan River anticipating the next stage of their journey across the river and into the promised land. They are close. They are so very close. And at God's instruction, Moses, the servant of God, has led these people all this way. And now in preparation of all God's people entering Canaan, Moses has sent spies into the land. Twelve men, one representing each of the tribes of Israel. The book of Numbers chapter 13, we looked at that last week, and it says that these men were leaders of the Israelites. They were respected and trusted. These men crossed over into Canaan, and for 40 days they searched through the land, inspecting it all. And by all accounts, they have found Canaan to be a good land, a prosperous land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And this, as we know, is in accordance with the very promise of God. Over the generations, God has promised the gift of this very land to His people. God's covenant with His people, going back to Abraham, firmly established this gift for this people. And as we considered last Sunday, one of the spies, Caleb, spoke firmly about God's fulfillment of the promise. Caleb was passionate about God's gift to His people. Indeed, Caleb was certainly convinced about it. Let's think about Caleb for just a moment. Caleb has been given a high honor here by God. Caleb was called to serve as one of the spies, and then as we have seen, he is divinely inspired to speak before the people in an effort to remind them, to remind the people of the promise of God. As we recall from last Sunday, we read in the listing of the 12 spies, and we saw that Caleb was called as the representative of the tribe of Judah. But we also know that Caleb was not an Israelite, as he was not from the line of Jacob. Now, it's much later in the text, it's Numbers chapter 32 and verse 12, Caleb is described as Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. That's the way he's described in Numbers chapter 32. He's Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite. Back in Genesis, we learn that the Kenizzites were descendants of Kenaz, and Kenaz was an Edomite, the descendants of Enoch, not a descendant of Jacob, not a descendant of Israel. We recall that the Old Testament celebrates the faithfulness, does it not, of those like Ruth the Moabitess, or Uriah the Hittite, and here, Caleb the Kenizzite. Folks who come to God's people from outside of Israel, yet folks who are adopted into the family of God. And it's this Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite who proves to be the bold, proclaimed, the very Word of God. Of all the people that could stand before that day to remind everybody of God's promise, it was the one who was not originally an Israelite, but one who was adopted into the family who stood before them on that day. Caleb was adamant that the land of Canaan was ready for God's people to take possession of it. So the spies returned to the encampment, but as they do, we saw that something was amiss. Ten of the twelve men did not offer a faithful report. Instead, they offered a bad report. They offered an evil report. Evil because it was false. It misrepresented what the spies discovered, as it misrepresented the truth about Canaan. It was the opinion of these ten spies that the people of Israel were mistaken to believe that they could occupy the land. The cities of Canaan were fortified and secure, they claimed, and the land, they declared, was filled by giants, people whose opposition could not be overcome. It was the claim of these ten spies that Israel could not possess the promised land, despite the promise of God that they could do so. So today we pick up the story in the book of Numbers, chapter 14. Let's look at verses 1 through 4. We find the unbelieving multitude. They all experienced a sleepless night, all grumbling, all revealing the fear concerning a task which they are convinced they cannot accomplish, an inevitable conclusion that will certainly bring their demise. Look at verses 1 through 4 of our text. It says, Apparently they're up all night, they're calling and they're emailing each other, they're all saying mean things on social media to each other. We can imagine what they might be saying. I'm inventing a word here, untrusting in God. I know it's not exactly the word we usually use, but you know what I mean. The Israelites have been lied to and they have been led astray. And this last question posed by the Israelites displays an absolutely ridiculous view. Notice the last line in verse 3. Of course the answer is no, certainly not. Back in Egypt, slavery, hard labor, little food to eat would be their lot. And also now that God has called the people to holiness and has spelled out to them how true worship is to be practiced, the Israelites would now be subject to the pagan worship practices of the Egyptians, as they were before. And along with this, misery that would certainly be compounded by an Egyptian pharaoh who would be hell-bent on exacting punishment on this people, which for him represented an embarrassment and an utter defeat. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt? And the answer, of course, is no, certainly not. None of this is better. In fact, it's all terribly abhorrent. And though the Israelite people must know this all to be true, they still willingly pursue the darkest and most deadly path and were also to forsake the God-given leadership that had guided them up to this point. Notice verse 4. Of course, what's stated, what's implied in that statement, we should reject God, we should reject God's choice of Moses as our leader, and we should select a leader of our own. Of this scene, the psalmist, of course, would later recall Psalm 106, verse 24, Rejection of God is the people's determined and intended course of action. The people would not be bothered with a serious devotion. In the minds and the hearts of the people, faith and obedience are both unnecessary and impractical, so as to be now non-applicable. They are so near to the fulfillment of the promise of God, but their hearts are far from God. The unbelieving multitude, so close and yet so far away. We come to verses 5 through 9, and we find that there does remain the faithful few. We know of Moses, the leader of God's people. We know of Moses' brother Aaron, who served as the priest. We know of Caleb, the spy who testified to the favorable condition of the land of Canaan. We know of Joshua, another of the twelve spies, an assistant to Moses since his youth. And we notice here the audience, the faithful few, are addressing. Look at verse 5, it's the whole Israelite assembly. Verse 7, the entire Israelite assembly. There are messages going out, and not just to the assembly, and not just to the Israelite assembly, but to the entire assembly, the whole Israelite assembly. This message is for everyone, addressed to everyone. But the intended audience is not just the people. And we see this in these images of devotion. Verse 5, Moses and Aaron fell face down. Verse 6, Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes. You may recall the words of the King James Version. It says that Joshua and Caleb rent their clothes. Sometimes you will read the text where someone rent their clothes or rent them asunder. The tearing of one's clothing, particularly the garment worn over the chest, was a sign of the times that conveyed grief and sorrow and fear and exasperation. The message here, intended for the people, but it is also intended for God. The faithful few attempted here to interpose within this conflict. They seek to establish themselves, position themselves between God and the people. They desire that they might convince the people to repent and to trust God, and at the same time they might convince God to relent from begging judgment, that He would be merciful to His people. Notice verses 7-9, Joshua and Caleb's plea to the people. Look at the text. It says, the land we pass through and explore 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. The two spies, Joshua and Caleb, have made their impassioned plea to the people, and notice again the crux of their argument. The Lord is with us. The Lord is with us. God will enable His people to occupy the land. This is the promise of God for His people, communicated again by the faithful few to God's people. So we come to verses 10-19. How did the people receive the words of Caleb and Joshua? Notice verse 10. This is how they received the words of Caleb and Joshua. But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. That's how well Caleb and Joshua's words were received. The people are so unpersuaded to embrace the message, they're now even willing to contemplate killing the messengers. Did you notice the claim of these messengers, the faithful few? Joshua and Caleb said, the Lord is with us. Do not rebel against the Lord. In other words, their rejection of the message is not only a rejection of messengers, but as we have seen and we understand, it is a rejection of God. These people are rejecting the very God that has embraced them and has brought them to the very doorstep of Canaan. And is this not the status and the circumstance facing believers today? When we defend the gospel, when we argue for the cause of Christ, do we not find ourselves standing on holy ground? Yes, indeed we are, to be sure. But do we not also find ourselves on dangerous ground? Yes, we do. The Christian who declares the truth of God's word, the Christ follower who faithfully, publicly defends the gospel, stands in the firing line between the holy God and an obstinate people. It's the most vulnerable of positions. And even the most studied apologists and the most passionate evangelists is powerless, is as powerless as Caleb and Joshua were on that day, are they not? And even when the engagement is divine in origin, the present possibility is that no progress would be made. And the same may happen in our desire, in our attempt to share the gospel. This goes for you and me as well. Remember this truth from God's word, unless the Lord builds the house, those that labor, labor in vain. So I've got to tell you now about a scene that keeps repeating in my head. It's a line from one of my favorite movies. So remember that Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan are on board Gump's shrimping boat. And try as they might, the two are not catching any shrimp. They tried and tried and tried, and they can't catch any shrimp. And Lieutenant Dan says, Gump, where's this God of yours? And then hurricane winds immediately begin to blow, and this is followed by the movie by a voiceover with Gump replying, and just then God showed up. In similar fashion, when the Israelite people are saying, we should choose a leader and go back to Egypt, we notice the second half of verse 10, and it says this, Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. Just then God showed up. Verse 11 tells us that God asked two questions, but these are clearly rhetorical questions, are they not? God is here saying, I will no longer tolerate the contempt of these people. I will no longer endure their disbelief. Verse 12 discloses God's intended judgment. He says, I will strike the Israelites down with a plague, and I will destroy them. Now God has threatened this course of action before. Recall the worship of the golden calf. God determined to employ the same method of judgment. Remember this from Exodus chapter 32. I have seen these people, the Lord said to Moses, and they were stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. And it was only Moses' intercession at that moment that called God to relent, or encouraged God to relent of that decision. God has determined this course of action previously. He repeats this plan here. Now we know, we recall from our recent studies, that God has sent Moses in this particular office. He's the leader of the people. He's the intercessor here in this calling. Moses is the man of God, leading God's people through the wilderness. Scripture confirms that Moses remains as the intercessor before God, pleading on behalf of the people. And here the intercessor makes his plea again. Notice verses 17 through 19. Now may the Lord's strength be displayed, just as you have declared. The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love, 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 or 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. Moses, the intercessor between God and man, and we see here that his plea is for both grace and righteousness. Look at verse 18. You notice it in the text. Moses recalls the heart of God and his compassion for his people. It says the Lord is slow to anger. God, we know that you are slow to anger. You are abounding in love, and you are forgiving sin and rebellion. And at the same time, Moses also reiterates the call of God that his people would be a holy people. Notice the next sentence in verse 18. Yet we know that you do not leave the guilty unpunished. So Moses is pleading for mercy in the midst of judgment. Our text for today, we next come to verses 20 through 35. Here we see that God acts just as Moses has requested. Notice verse 20. The Lord replied, I have forgiven them as you have asked. God declared that he would destroy his rebellious and unbelieving people, but now, according to the text, he relents from issuing the most extreme of measures. But remember that Moses' plea was for mercy in the midst of judgment. So here's the rest of God's answer. Notice verses 21 through 23. There's more to the answer than just I've forgiven them. 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. Now God here does allow for some exceptions. Caleb and Joshua will be permitted to enter the promised land, as well as the young children of the people. But we notice in verse 28, God says, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. So you want to head back to Egypt? Okay, that's what we'll do. You're going to die in the desert? Fine, got it. Notice verse 34. 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. And with this, the present plan of occupation of Canaan is put on hold. And immediate possession of the promised land is hereby rescinded for this time. Here we read of the wilderness journey extended. The Israelites here are rerouted back to the wilderness to wander and to remain homeless as a people and a nation for the next forty years. They are so close, and yet they are so far away. Now ever since that time, people of faith and people who disbelieve have considered the question of whether God here was right to punish His people as He did. Was not His judgment and action inordinate, excessive, disproportional? All complaints that have come God's way, all criticisms that have been levied against Him. Of course, in response, we would point out that God, of course, is the sovereign God who rules and reigns over all things. And as He is holy, He has proved to be right in all His judgments. And because of His love for His people, He has continued to be about the business of making people into a holy people. So the task of making His people into holy people has continued. And so the evidence confirms that God here has acted perfectly appropriately, because He's acted in perfect alignment with His character and with His will, and we know that God will return the people to the promised land. Canaan is so close, and it's yet so far away. Reentry into the land remains a covenant promise of God, and God will keep His promise to His people. So we come to the last part of today's text, verses 36 through 45, and here we read of the condemned multitude. First, we read of the demise of the ten spies. Notice verses 36 and 37. 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. They died of a plague before the Lord. Recall the worship of the golden calf back at Exodus, and the three thousand who led God's people astray, and they faced God's immediate judgment. And so also here, the ten unfaithful spies, they were also judged by God, and God can carry out His judgment whenever He sees fit, because, of course, He's God. He's the judge. Judgment remains under the purview of God. God determines how judgment is dispensed, He determines when judgment is dispensed, and He determines upon whom judgment will fall. This all falls under the purview of the sovereign and a holy God. Second, we also read here the motivations of the people. So just a few minutes ago we saw where God had put the possession of Canaan on hold… …and was now redirecting His people back to the wilderness. But now God's people, they want to revisit the original plan. Look at verse 40. Early the next morning they went up to the high hill country. We have sinned, they said. Now we'll go up to the place the Lord has promised. And here Moses warns them now to not pursue that idea. Notice the next verse. Skip down to verses 44 and 45. It says, And beat them down all the way to Hormah. So the Israelites themselves raised an army and attempted to enter Canaan. But even before they could cross the Jordan River, the enemies advanced upon them… …and met them on the field of battle and pushed them back even further away from Canaan. How many Israelites died in this powerless attempt to push the issue, we do not know. These brave men engaged in what seemed to be the righteous thing to do. The words of God's promise on their lips as they engaged in the conflict. But Moses again is proven correct. Verse 41. Why are you disobeying the Lord's command? This will not succeed. So let's conclude our consideration of the text for today. Let's consider, as we normally do, Jesus in the wilderness. Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. How would we see Christ in this text? Well, let's consider, again, the ever-present conflict that appears throughout God's Word. And we see a little bit of it today. The story found in the pages of the Bible continues to present a tension, does it not? A tension between mercy and judgment. Whenever you read the Bible, you read and you sense and you feel that tension. The tension between mercy and judgment. And we saw this conflict in our text today. Let's examine it again. Numbers chapter 14, verse 18. Look what it says. It says, Mercy and judgment. God is the God of mercy, and God is the God of judgment. He will forgive sin, yet he will punish the guilty. That's the tension of that conflict. Moses intercedes on behalf of the people, and he asks God to forgive the sin of the people, and he goes again and indeed answers Moses' prayer. Yet, he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Someday, somewhere, a punishment is going to be carried out. And there's a little bit of that punishment by redirecting back into the wilderness, although they will be back in the Canaan at some time. Yet, that word is true. He does not leave the guilty unpunished. Now, this also becomes personal for each of us, for each and every child of God. Because we certainly see ourselves on both sides of this tension, of this conflict. We confess that we are relying on God's mercy, yet at the same time we confess that we are guilty of sin. And we are also deserving of judgment, are we not? And yes, God is a forgiving God, and so we are among those who enjoy his forgiveness. Yet, he does not leave the guilty unpunished. Someday, somewhere, a punishment, the measure of judgment, will have to be carried out. How does this conflict resolve? Well, in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, we read of the means by which this conflict is resolved, once and for all resolved. These are words written by the Apostle Paul, but this is the guarantee of God, and it's found in God's words. This is 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, and the text says, speaking of Jesus, the text says, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. God's word declares that Christ became sin for us. So, he actually took our sin upon himself, and not just symbolically, but he truly did. He truly went to the cross bearing sin, your sin and my sin. He went to the cross bearing sin, and he went to the cross to receive the punishment due for sin. Is that not fair? He didn't do anything wrong. He's innocent. He's spotless. He's sinless. Yet, when he bore the sin of the world upon himself, he then goes to the cross to receive the punishment due for sin. So, when Christ went to the cross, God the Father looked upon Christ, looked upon his sacrifice, and received Christ's sacrifice as the punishment for sin. Sometimes we sing the song, we sing the words, Upon the cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. So, Moses was right. God does not leave the guilty unpunished. The ultimate punishment for sin, for your sin and for my sin, was levied upon our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the cross. Let's bow our heads and pray, shall we? Heavenly Father, this gift of salvation is amazing and overwhelming, because we confess that we are a people always in need of God's mercy and grace, because we are a people guilty of sin, and we also were people deserving of judgment. And that drew us to the gift of salvation, which came to us through Christ. Christ has declared himself and has shown himself to be the sacrifice sufficient for sin, the payment made. He's the one who bore your wrath. He's the one who took your judgment upon himself. The one who knew no sin became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. Thank you, Father, for this most glorious gift, this truth available to us. Father, would this land in our hearts, and would it take root? We might grow in our faith and grow in our knowledge of you and grow in our obedience and grow in our understanding of the depth of our salvation. Salvation wasn't just something we said one time in a prayer. Our salvation, ongoing growth and maturity in faith and trust in Christ, as you fit us for glory, as you ready us for eternity. Father, for this we praise you and we give you glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.