Monday, September 12, 2022

Numbers 14:20

Numbers 14:20 says, And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:  God told Mosses that He had pardoned the people of Israel as Moses had asked Him to do.  Though we should pray for God to forgive others today, I don't believe our prayers alone will bring them forgiveness.  They must confess their sins and accept Jesus Christ a their Savior and Lord in order to be saved, and if they then stray from God's path, they must come to Him in repentance to be restored to a right relationship with God. Verse twenty-one adds, But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.  God said because of His forgiving the people of Israel instead of destroying them that the whole world should be filled with His glory, just as it should be because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of those who put their faith in Him.  Verse twenty-two continues, Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;  Verse twenty-three concludes, Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:   God then said that those who had continually tempted Him would not see the Promised Land.  Jesus Christ died to save everyone, but those who refuse to put their faith in Him will never see heaven, and those who choose to provoke God instead certainly never will.  Verse twenty-four declares, 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.  God said Caleb, who had a different spirit, one of faithfulness, would go into the Promised Land.  Caleb put his faith in God, just as we must put our faith in Jesus Christ, and he was rewarded by gaining access into the Holy Land, though it wasn't immediate, just as our going into heaven is not immediate when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse twenty-five states, (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.  God then told Moses to turn away from the Promised Land, which they stood on the border of, and head back into the wilderness.  Since the people didn't have faith in God to give them victory over their enemies, they never would get to enter the Promised Land, just as we will never get to heaven if we do not put our faith in Jesus Christ.  Verse twenty-six adds, And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,  Verse twenty-seven continues,  How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.  God spoke to Moses and Aaron and asked how long should He bear with this evil congregation who murmured against Him.  God may continue to ask us as Christians that question today concerning the return of Jesus Christ in judgment of the world.  Verse twenty-eight says, Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:  God told Moses and Aaron to tell the people there that as they had said when murmuring against Him that He would allow to happen.  By not being faithful to God they had lost their rights to enter the Promised Land, and if we do not accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we give up the right to enter heaven, God's everlasting Promised Land.  Verse twenty-nine adds, Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,  God said that all of those twenty years old and older would die in the wilderness.  They had said they would have been better off to have died there than to go by faith into the Promised Land where they said they would be killed by those who lived there, and God was going to grant their wish.  Just as God would not let unfaithful people enter the Promised Land then, He will not all those who refuse to put their faith in Jesus Christ, no matter how big the problems of this world seem,  to enter heaven.  Verse thirty states, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.  God said only Caleb and Joshua, the faithful spies, of those over twenty would be allowed to enter the Promised Land one day.  Verse thirty-one adds, But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.  God then told the people that the little ones, which would be those under twenty that the people had sai,d would be killed if they went into the Promised Land, would one day go in victorious.  As long as we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord,  we will one day go victorously into heaven.  Verse thirty-two continues, But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.  All those who had murmured against God would die in the wilderness.  Verse thirty-three says, And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.  God said the children of those who murmured against Him would wander in the wilderness with them for forty years till all those over twenty died.  We as followers of Christ will wander in the wilderness of this sinful world today until Jesus Christ returns or we are called home to glory when we die.  Verse thirty-four adds, After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.  It had taken them forty days to search the Promised Land after being delivered from Egypt and getting to the edge of the it, and God said that they would wander one year for each day that they had the spies had  led them to murmur in doubt.  Verse thirty-five continues, I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.  God said that as He had spoken, so it would occur.  We today need to realize and claim this truth as Christians.  Those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord will die in the wilderness of sin.

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