A Look Into the Promised Land
The People's Reaction

Numbers 14
:1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried;
    and the people wept that night.

All twelve leaders, spies, that scoped out the promised land for 40 days all saw the same thing. Joshua and Caleb saw the same thing as the other ten, but through believing eyes. The difference being that Joshua and Caleb looked at God's promises and saw that there were armies and difficulties, but God could bring them deliverance. Whereas, the other 10, all they could see were the problems, challenges and difficulties. It all depends on how they looked at it. Joshua and Caleb saw it in view of the promise of God.

:2 And all the children of Israel 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!

They were always wanting to be back where they were before, even though they complained about that too.

:3 And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land,
        to fall by the sword,
    that our wives and our children should be a prey:
    were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
:4 And they said one to another,
        Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces 
    before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
:6 And Joshua the son of Nun,
    and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
        which were of them that searched the land,
    rent their clothes
:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying,
        The land, which we passed through to search it,
        is an exceeding good land.
:8 If the Lord delight in us,
        then he will bring us into this land , and
        give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
:9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord,
    neither fear ye the people of the land;
        for they are bread for us:
        their defence is departed from them,
        and the Lord is with us :
    fear them not .
:10 But
    all the congregation bade stone them with stones.
    And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation
        before all the children of Israel.

They were not willing to believe God that this land was theirs. They murmured against Moses; Israel cried out "Let us select captains and return to Egypt." God's response:

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?

At this point Moses asks God to forgive them and not let them be destroyed because they are a testimony to the one true God that is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression.

:20 And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
:22 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;
:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their father,
    neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
:24 But my servant Caleb,
        because he had another spirit with him,
        and followed me fully,
    him will I bring into the land whereinto he went;
    and his seed shall possess it.

In their second year of wandering in the wilderness Israel had a chance to enter into the Promised Land. They chose NOT TO ENTER. Because of their disobedience and unbelief that generation wandered in the wilderness until they all died, but their children as well as Joshua and Caleb chose to believe God and entered into the Promised Land.

Numbers 14
:28 Say unto them,
        As truly as I live, saith the Lord,
        as ye have spoken in mine ears,
        so will I do to you:
:29 Your carcasses 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.,
            [that is 603,550 males 20 years old and upward, (Num. 1:46)]

God could not go beyond their believing. God is always trying to deliver His people. He is always sending prophets to help them out. But when they do not want to believe His Word He cannot deliver them, and they are going to die. He cannot go beyond their believing. So just as they confessed, they will die in the wilderness.

:30 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.
:31 But your little ones,
        which ye said should be prey,
    them will I bring in,
    and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
:32 But as for you,
        your carcasses,
    they shall fall in this wilderness.
:33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years,
    and bear your whoredoms,   [their false gods that they picked up in Egypt]
        until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness.
:34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land,
        [the number of days the spies were searching out Canaan]
        even forty days,
    each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities,
        even forty years,
    and ye shall know my breach of promise.

God wanted to bring them into the promised land right away, but they did not want to believe. He had to alter his plan and give it to their children.

:35 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.

Look at how God defines evil, as one who would not believe His Word, who would worship other gods, and would not act on what He said. Today that would not be politically correct to say those people are evil, it is a different viewpoint. If you are not for God you are against God.

: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,
:37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land,
        died by the plague before the Lord. [Consequences of their evil report]
:38 But Joshua the son of Nun,
    and Caleb the son of Jephunneh,
        which were of the men that went to search the land,
    lived still.
:39 And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel:
    and the people mourned greatly.
        [they are very regretful of their actions, the consequences are great]
:40 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.
:41 And Moses said,
        Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord?
        but it shall not prosper.
:42 Go not up,
        for the Lord is not among you;
    that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

Now they change their minds. The prospect of spending 38 more years hanging out in the desert doesn't appeal to them. Now they are willing to go. They did not believe anything else God had told them until now (the consequences are pretty extreme--they will die). Now some of them band together to go defeat the Amalekites and Canaanites. But Moses got revelation and told them not to go. It was not the Word of God that they are believing but it was their own opinion.

:43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you,
    and ye shall fall by the sword:
        because ye are turned away from the Lord,
    therefore the Lord will not be with you.

They turned away from the Lord, that was always the problem. They magnified the circumstances above God's ability to take care of them. God could not go beyond their believing. At this point God told them not to go because they did not believe that God will deliver them.

:44 But they presumed to go up unto the hill top:
    nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord,
    and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
    [they were not supposed to go anywhere without the ark, they went to fight without God]
:45 Then the Amalekites came down,
    and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill,
    and smote them,
    and discomfited them,
        even unto Hormah.

They did not do the will of God, they walked away from His protection. They go out by their sense-knowledge to fight and get defeated. They had had plenty of time to do it with God, but they were prideful and stubborn and refused, being more persuaded by the circumstances than God's Word.

To walk with God is a spiritual walk. It is not one that can be governed by your five senses. How can we walk with God and listen to Him? We live in a different administration than the Israelites. We live in the Grace Administration. God has given us spirit when we do Romans 10:9 & 10 .

Romans 10
:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
    and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
    thou shalt be saved.
:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
    and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

How can we believe?

:11 For the scripture saith,
    Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
    for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
    and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
    and how shall they hear without a preacher?
:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
    as it is written,
        How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,
        and bring glad tidings of good things!

In order to believe we must hear the Word. Not just once but continually.

Deuteronomy 6
:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
    and with all thy soul,
    and with all thy might.
:6 And these words,
        which I command thee this day,
    shall be in thine heart:
:7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children,
    and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house,
    and when thou walkest by the way,
    and when thou liest down,
    and when thou risest up.
:8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,
    and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
:9 And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house,
    and on thy gates.

They were to surround themselves with the Word of God. Frontlets are small boxes that can hold small pieces of paper that have scripture written on it. They hang on the forehead between the eyes. They are a constant reminder of God's Word. Surround yourself with God's Word. In our homes put up reminders, verses on the walls, leave notes for yourself, whatever it takes.

II Corinthians 10
:5 Casting down imaginations,
    and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
    and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Cast down the defeating, negative worldly thoughts that bombard us daily, that are contrary to God's Word. Turn our thoughts to God's Word and His promises. It comes down to a decision to confess the bondage, sin, sickness and death that Satan promotes or to confess life more abundantly (John 10:10), we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37), all our needs met (Philippians 4:19), being in health and prospering (III John 2), being anxious for nothing (Philippians 4:6), God taking care of us (Matthew 6:25 - 34), etc. Search out the Word and find these treasures and keep them in front of your eyes, hide them in your heart.