Fear, Faith, & False Repentance: An Enduring Warning

What is the difference between true repentance and false repentance? It is an important question. Jesus declared when He started His ministry “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel!” In 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about a “godly sorrow that leads to repentance.” But Paul also warns there is a “worldly sorrow which leads to death.”

The question is: are their any indicators that you are truly repenting? How can you discern whether your repentance is true or merely a worldly sorrow? Thankfully, Numbers 14 gives us a clear, memorable example of what false repentance looks like. We have already seen Israel’s fear and how it kept them from exercising faith in God’s promises. In the last post in this series, we saw God’s merciful yet just response to Israel’s lack of belief.

Today, I want to look at what Israel did after hearing God’s judgment. Israel’s response in Numbers 14 helps clarify what true repentance is and what it is not. Even though Israel was in a different circumstance than you would find yourself in today, this passage is instructive and vital to understand for Christians of all times.

Israel’s false repentance

Israel sorrowful again

When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.”

Numbers 14:39-40, HCSB

Moses reports God’s judgement on Israel’s sin. Israel had chosen to fear the people who lived in the land rather than believe in the God who freed them from Egypt. God declares His judgement and what happens? Israel is overcome with grief again! It is understandable reaction. God has just pronounced judgement for their sinful actions and it is pretty bad.

Israel would wander for 40 years in the wilderness and a whole generation would die because of their unbelief. Additionally, God had just struck down the spies who spread a false report about the land. Israel sees at once their error, and they respond emotionally as they did at the top of the chapter. Only this time, Israel is grieving not in response to a perceived threat of the nations, but grieving before the reality of God’s judgement.

Fear of man can be consuming until you come in contact with a God who is a “consuming fire.”

Israel even acknowledges they were wrong. They tell Moses they should enter the Land as God had promised. So Israel has sorrow, and Israel has an acknowledgement that what they did the day before was wrong. As a reader, you might think Israel is on the right track. After all, feeling sorry and admitting you were wrong would definitely pass as repentance in today’s culture.

If Israel felt sorrow for their sin and admitted they were wrong, does that mean they are truly repentant? What more could God want from them?

Israel try’s to fix things on their own

But look at verse 40 again. Israel feels sorry and admits they were wrong, but what do they do next? What is their plan? Go into that place that the Lord promised! To Israel it makes sense: they were wrong, they feel bad about it, but they are still right on the edge of the land!  Why not forget about yesterday and go take the land? God won’t mind right? They feel sorry after all!

The question you and I have to ask as readers is this: is this true repentance? Or does Israel have merely a superficial view of their sin? Thankfully, the text answers the question, because Moses responds to Israel’s plan. And it is Moses’ response that reveals what true repentance would look like for Israel in this situation.

Moses responds to Israel

Entering promised land without God is disobedience

But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies. The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following Him.”

Numbers 14:41-43, HCSB

Moses clarifies the problem with Israel’s plan: it is simply further disobedience. Rather than accepting the punishment and discipline of the Lord, Israel is trying a “quick fix.” Why? Because Israel does not like the consequences of their actions.

Notice: at no point in the passage does Israel cry out to the Lord. All we have in the text is that Israel is sad and doesn’t like the punishment God has declared. But Israel is missing the whole point. God wants their hearts to turn to obedience and by wanting to enter the land, Moses says they are not obeying the Lord!

Real repentance means accepting the Lord’s discipline and turning to Him in obedience. False repentance focuses on trying to fix consequences you don’t like

Entering promised land without God is doomed

Moses gives a further problem with Israel’s plan: if they try to enter the promised land against the will of the God that promised the land to them, Israel will be defeated. Why? Moses says “The Lord is not among you.”

Israel thinking they had the power in themselves to claim the promised land misses the point. It was never about Israel’s strength. God was going to enable Israel to defeat their enemies despite the nations weakness. Trying to take the land without God would be a disaster. Twice Moses repeats in verses 41-43 that God is not with Israel.

Moses then gives the reason God isn’t with Israel: since you have turned from following Him. Israel in all their weeping and confession of wrongdoing forgot the biggest piece of all: they had turned from following the Lord. They were disobedient and rebellious.

True repentance does not simply say “whoops God! Mistakes were made! Let’s get back on track.” Repentance means realizing dishonoring God was the fundamental problem.

Israel is in such a rush to get out of the consequences they forget to stop and think “is God with us still? Does He approve of this plan?” As a reader, you wish Israel would just stop here. That they would listen to Moses and seek God first. God had just declared Israel would not enter the land, yet Israel immediately says “Let’s enter the land!” Obedience and repentance in this passage would mean heeding Moses’ warning. But Israel still doesn’t get it.

The result of false repentance

Israel tries to claim God’s promise without God‘s presence

But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp. Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah.

Numbers 14:44-45, HCSB

You wish the story ended here with Israel listening to Moses, their mediator. That Israel would turn back, TRULY repent before the Lord.But that doesn’t happen. Instead, the text said they dared to go up on the ridge of the hill country. And Israel did this without the ark of the Lord or without Moses. This is not just a throwaway line. If you go back to Numbers 10, you will see that the ark of the covenant is related to God’s presence

They set out from the mountain of the Lord on a three-day journey with the ark of the Lord’s covenant traveling ahead of them for those three days to seek a resting place for them. ³⁴ Meanwhile, the cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out from the camp. Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say: Arise, Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered, and those who hate You flee from Your presence.

Numbers 10:33-35, HCSB emphasis added

Leaving the ark behind is equivalent to leaving the Lord behind. It is as if Israel said “alright, if God doesn’t want to help us out here, we are doing it ourselves.” Israel fails to remember the only claim they have on the promised land, is that their God promised it to them. That is it. But instead of seeking God, Israel continues their pattern of disobedience. They focus on what they want, rather than what God wants.

Israel is defeated soundly

What is the result? The text makes it clear Israel didn’t make it far at all: they were routed. What an illustration of what Paul ways in 2 Corinthians!

“For godly grief produces a repentance not to be regretted and leading to salvation, but worldly grief produces death”

In Numbers 14, the death is physical. Israel’s grief that they had in verse 39 did not produce repentance. It produced death. Therefore, Numbers 14 reveals Israel never truly repented but had merely a worldly grief.

To put it another way, this ending narrative shows the reverse side of Israel’s unbelief. At the beginning of Numbers 14, Israel didn’t trust God to give them the land. Then in desperation they attempt to take it on their own. At both the beginning and end of the chapter, you do not see Israel truly believing and seeking the Lord. Israel tried to gain God’s blessings apart from God. There is no true repentance because unbelief is still there. It has simply changed form.

Unbelief is like water: it can change forms and manifest itself in different ways, but at its most basic level, it is the same.

Application: false repentance vs true repentance

I will close this post with a helpful quote from Matthew Henry’s commentary:

It is folly to promise ourselves success in that which we undertake contrary to the mind of God

Matthew Henry, “Commentary on the Whole Bible”

Numbers 14 is an unparalleled picture of false repentance. Often times, you feel sorry for what you did, you might feel pained by the consequences and you want to quickly make it right as fast as possible. But don’t be deceived like Israel was:

Sorrow without obedience is not true repentance

The fundamental problem with your rebellion and unbelief is not what it does to you, but what it does to God. Therefore, if you want to truly repent, do not get merely upset with the consequences of your actions. See the ultimate issue: disobeying the Lord. Let that reality grieve you.

If you only focus on what your sin does to you, you won’t turn and change your fundamental behavior. You will just try to change your circumstances. True repentance means accepting Lord’s discipline and obeying rather than trying to fix the consequences of your sin.

Repentance is about turning from disobedience to obedience, not from consequences to no consequences

We live in a culture that thinks feeling sorry means repentance. Don’t be fooled. Heed the warning from Numbers 14. See how your sin grieves and dishonors God. Turn to the Lord in humility, accepting any consequences He gives. Commit to correcting the behaviors, thoughts, and/or heart attitudes that dishonor the Lord.

And most important of all: don’t try to correct yourself using your own strength. Don’t be like Israel leaving behind the Lord’s ark and leaving behind the Lord’s mediator (Moses) to try to take the land. Ask the Lord to empower you to correct your sinful behavior. Run to Christ, the better mediator, for “if anyone does sin, we have an advocate.”

May God empower you to flee false repentance and truly repent when you sin and “by the Spirit, put to death the deeds of the flesh.”

To read other posts in this ongoing series, visit this page. If you like this series, check out my other ongoing series “Happy?” where I show you what the Psalms have to say about finding true happiness.