Tag: Attributes of God

unexpected lessons from my son's birth
Unexpected Lessons From my Son’s Birth

Unexpected Lessons From my Son’s Birth

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The past week has been a whirlwind. I had to take a break from posting because my son was finally born. The past four days have changed me in too many ways to count. But I thought I would record some unexpected lessons from my son’s birth.

Sometimes the greatest pain proceeds the greatest joys

The first of the unexpected lessons I learned from my son’s birth came from watching my wife go through labor pains. I have always hated seeing my wife in pain, so watching her go through contraction after contraction was incredibly difficult. As the pain intensified, I kept asking myself “what can I do to help her as she goes through this pain?”

The answer came from a phrase a lady from our church shared with us: “You are working to meet your baby.” In other words, the pain my wife was going through was not futile or meaningless. It had a goal. A purpose. And that purpose was to meet our son.

It was watching my wife go through labor pains that helped me understand Hebrews 12:2. Jesus went through the suffering and shame of the cross for the joy set before Him. The joy of our salvation was purchased through the suffering of the Son of God.

looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2 ESV, emphasis added

Both my wife and I wanted to have a son. But because of the curse of sin, the only way to reach the joy of parenthood was through the pain of labor. God has built in an insightful lesson into the common grace of child birth. We as humans simply want the joy. Immediately. Without delay and without effort. Suffering and pain are especially undesirable for us.

But in this fallen world, most of the joys God has in store for us lead first through pain. That isn’t to say you should love the pain. Rather, like Christ, you should look past the pain to what lies ahead.

To persevere, you must keep the proper perspective.

And if your perspective is fixed on your circumstances or whatever pain you are feeling, you will never see the joy God has in store.

God promises sanctification, not quick relief from suffering

The second of the unexpected lessons I learned from my son’s birth came through the first two nights at the hospital. My wife had only gotten one hour of sleep within 24 hours, so I knew I needed to be the one to stay up with my son. Just for perspective, even in college I had never pulled a straight “all-nighter” and it has been a while since I went with less than 5 hours of sleep.

But as the Lord would have it, the first two nights after my son’s birth included back to back all-nighters. It was truly like living my worst nightmare. I would soothe our son, put him in the bassinet hoping against hope he would stay asleep. Then, I would crawl on the hard hospital couch, pull up my thin sheets only to hear a whimper. Then a cry. Next? A full out meltdown.

Each time I laid my son down more exhausted than the previous cycle, I would pray to God “Please Lord, let my son sleep!” The answer came within 20 minutes: God’s sovereign will declared that I would not be getting sleep. My patience was tested more in those first two nights than they have in the past two years at least.

Reflecting back on the hospital, I realized God never promised or “owed me” letting my son sleep through the night. God’s will for my life is for my sanctification, making me like Jesus in character and action. But all I wanted God to give me quick, instant relief. To make it all go away and make it all better.

But God did not give me relief those first couple nights. And that was a good thing. By forcing me to stay up all night and sacrifice myself for my son and wife, the Lord taught me endurance. He taught me what it means to rely on His strength.

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9a ESV emphasis added

I pleaded with the Lord a lot more than three times to let my son sleep. But instead of answering my request how I wanted it answered, God instead supplied the strength and mental focus I needed to stay up with my son. And in the end, my character is stronger now than it would have been if God has just given me instant relief.

Plans are great; God’s will is better

The final of the unexpected lessons I learned from my son’s birth is one I learned when the COVID pandemic completely changed my wife and my wedding plans. That lesson is one I constantly need to hear: I am not the master of my own fate. Or to put it in Biblical terms:

The heart of man plans his way,

    but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

My wife and I went into the labor process with a marvelous birth plan. We knew what we wanted, what we didn’t want, and pictured how it would go. Then, after 9 hours of labor, my wife needed an emergency C-section: the one thing we didn’t want to happen. Within 5 minutes, my wife was wheeled away and I was left with a written out birth plan that no longer meant anything.

God has a persistent and gracious habit of reminding you that He is Lord of our lives. Not us.

In the end, wife and child were happy and I could not have been more pleased with how the labor went. Sure it wasn’t “according to plan” or “how we envisioned it.” But as I have written before, our modern culture is obsessed with somehow finding the perfect path to reach our goals.

But God alone has all wisdom and foreknowledge. My wife and I enjoyed planning what we wanted in our labor, but in the end, we had no power to bring our plan to pass. God alone has that power. As Paul says in Romans, from God, through God, and to God is everything. That includes our son and how he entered the world.

Conclusion

I hope to return to writing more regularly in the weeks ahead. But honestly, I have appreciated the time to just experience the novelty and life changing experience of becoming a parent. God is already growing my character and perspective. These are only three of many lessons I have been reflecting on. One of the great blessings of knowing the God of the universe through Jesus Christ is being able to look back on experiences and say

  • God ordained that situation as part of His plan for my life
  • God has a purpose in letting me go through that circumstance
  • Therefore, I can look at everything I experience and ask “What is God teaching me?”

Whether you are married, single, child-less, or with a full quiver, don’t ever stop reflecting on what God is showing you in each season of life.

This post if part of an ongoing series of reflection pieces called “What I learned from…” Read other posts in this series here. If you found this post helpful, share and subscribe below. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get thought-provoking quotes and resource recommendations weekly.
Fear, Faith, & False Repentance: God Keeps His Promises

Fear, Faith, & False Repentance: God Keeps His Promises

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We have come to the last post in this series on Numbers 14. I have shown you Israel’s sinful fear, their lack of faith, and their false repentance after God confronts them. But Numbers 14 also gives us a positive picture of courageous faith, God’s merciful character, and Christ’s mediation. In this final post, I want to answer the simple question: Has God rejected Israel for their disobedience? Will God keep His promises to bring them into the land and bless them?

God will still keep His promise because He is faithful

Numbers 14 ends in a depressing place. Israel attempts to enter the land by their own strength against the advice of Moses. What happens? Complete defeat. The last verse in Numbers 14 has the Israelites routed by the Amalekites and the Canannites. At this point, you might say to yourself “Israel is hopeless! How is God going to stay with them? Will God continue to be faithful when Israel is unfaithful and disobedient every single step of the way?”

Numbers 15:1-2 comes with an answer:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you,

Numbers 15:-12, ESV emphasis added

Not if Israel comes into the land: when Israel enters it. At this point your mind should be blown. God is still going to give Israel the land He promised them. After all Israel’s rebellion, after their false repentance, after they tried to claim the land without him. What kind of God would respond in this way?

A promise-keeping God. It is who God is fundamentally.

After all that happened in Numbers 14, after all the sin Israel committed, God is still committed to keeping His promises. God is a promise-making, promise-keeping God. Even human rebellion cannot thwart God’s sovereign plans. Paul explains this truth in 2 Timothy:

If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:13, ESV

God cannot deny Himself. Even when His people are faithless. Why is God so faithful to you time and time again? Why is His covenant love, his steadfast love, so inexhaustible? It isn’t because Israel is great. It isn’t because you and I are great. 

God’s love is great because God Himself is great.

There is of course discipline when you sin. You saw that in Numbers 14. God does not let the guilty go unpunished. But He is rich in forgiveness, in faithful love. When you are tempted to believe God will give up on you or that He will not fulfill His promises in Christ because of your unfaithfulness, remind yourself it isn’t about you. It is about how great God is.

Numbers 14 and the Gospel of Jesus

In 2 Timothy Paul says Scripture can make one wise unto salvation in Jesus Christ. So how would someone reading Numbers 14 anticipate Christ? I would say there are at least two ways.

1. The New Covenant is necessary

Israel had the law, had a mediator, had God among them, but they still rebelled. Why? Because of unbelief. Even though Israel had the law:

  • They didn’t have the power in themselves to keep the law
  • The law didn’t produce faith in God
  • The law was still outside of them and it didn’t bear the fruit of trust in the Lord

And if you keep reading the Old Testament, this lack of fruit and faith continues. God sends prophets again and again to call out Israel for their unbelief and disobedience. The law does not fix either problem.

That is why the promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31 is so amazing. God says it won’t be like the covenant He made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt: God promises to put His law within His people, on their hearts.

In Numbers 14, Caleb and Joshua had faith in God’s promises and begged Israel to believe too. In Jeremiah 31 God says that won’t happen anymore:

  • “No longer will one teach his neighbor or his brother saying “know the Lord””
  • Why? “Because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest.”

Numbers 14 should cause you to ache for the New Covenant. And how is God going to bring about this new covenant? 

Matthew 26 gives us the answer: “Then Jesus took a cup and after giving thanks gave it to them and said “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood that establishes the New Covenant, it is shed for the forgiveness of sins.”

God is going to establish a New Covenant. But establishing it will be costly. The price: the blood of His own son, Jesus Christ. The New Covenant wasn’t free. If you are a believer and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, if you are set free from the curse of the law, and if you know the Lord, realize that all that came with a price.

Jesus had to bring it about. Through His blood alone.

2. Only those who believe enter God’s promised rest

Hebrews 3 and 4 looks back on Israel’s history, including Numbers 14. The author sees Numbers 14 as a warning for people who read it. The author of Hebrews saw that even though this generation of Israel was redeemed from Egypt and saw signs in the wilderness, they still rebelled. The result? God swore in His wrath, as we saw in Numbers 14, that Israel would not enter His rest. The promised rest in the promised land.

The author of Hebrews in 3:19 gives the same conclusion you saw in Numbers 14: Israel was unable to enter because unbelief. Then Hebrews turns to us and gives us a warning.

If you hear about the rest promised in Jesus Christ, the rest from having to earn your standing before God, do not harden your hearts. Don’t be like Israel who stood at the edge of the promised land yet did not enter because of unbelief.

You can hear the gospel a hundred times but if you never actually believe it, you won’t enter the rest Jesus promises.

Let me say it again because it is a crucial takeaway from Numbers 14: You can be as close to the promises of God as Israel was, but if you don’t believe them, they won’t do you any good. You can be around God’s promises, you can hear the gospel, you can even be an upstanding member in a Church but unless you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, you will perish outside of God’s promises.

Conclusion: Flee from unbelief, have faith in God’s promises

So, by way of summary, let me remind you the main point from this series: Israel did not enter the promised land because of their unbelief in God. And as I just explained above: you can be as close to God as to see His miracles, and yet still perish because of your lack of faith, your rebellion, and your false repentance.

I think Hebrews 4 gives us the best ending word: “So, let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.” Let us pray the Holy Spirit would work in our hearts so that you and I behave like Caleb. He was loyal to the Lord and His promises. Israel was fearful of men, but Caleb feared God. And in the end, Caleb, through his faith, ended up entering the promised land.

If you missed a post in this series, click here. If you want to listen to a sermon I preached on Numbers 14, click here. Subscribe and share below. Be sure to follow The Average Churchman on Instagram so you can get more content.
Fear, Faith, & False Repentance: Moses’ Mediation, God’s Mercy

Fear, Faith, & False Repentance: Moses’ Mediation, God’s Mercy

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We are coming to the end of this ongoing study on Numbers 14. Already I have shown you Israel’s sinful fear, God’s judgement on their unbelief, and Israel’s false repentance. Then, I showed you how Caleb’s courageous faith stood in stark contrast to Israel’s absence of faith. Now, I want to focus on Moses’ mediation.

You can glean a lot of truth from a narrative passage of Scripture just by observing how its characters relate to God. What do they do? What do they say? What do they not do or say? However, there is an even more important reason to study Moses’ mediation in Numbers 14: Moses illustrates what mediation looks like so you and I can better understand how Jesus mediates for His people.

So for this post, I want to give you one thing Moses did not do when mediating, and two things Moses did do.

“I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

Numbers 14:12-19, ESV emphasis added

Moses does not plead Israel’s merits

Explanation

Sometimes it is helpful to think about what something is not so you can more clearly see what something is.

In this case, think about what Moses did not say as he pleaded for God’s mercy on the Israel. Not once does Moses mention Israel positively. In fact, Moses hardly mentions Israel at all in his prayer to the Lord. There are a number of things Moses could have pleaded as he mediated on Israel’s behalf:

  • Could talked about the good things Israel has done in the past
  • Could have reminded God of the times Israel did have faith
  • Could have argued destroying the whole nation is not proportional to the sin

But Moses says none of these things. Why? Because Israel had no merit to plead. No rights, nothing they “deserved.” Israel was a nation helplessly enslaved and doomed apart from God’s gracious action. And now, they were rebelling against that same God.

No good thing Israel had done, no moment of faith could counter Israel’s sin and unbelief. Moses does not approach God on the basis of good things Israel had done because no good work could counteract their sin or merit God fulfilling His promises.

Application

When you think of Jesus mediating and interceding for you, what do you picture? Do you imagine He mentions you, your character, your merits, your personal holiness? It is so easy to imagine that you and I have “something to bring to the table” before God.

Let Numbers 14 humble you and remind you there is no good work you have ever done that merits you any blessing from God. Jesus did not need to die because you needed some minor improvements. You had no righteousness to bring before God.

And that is the amazing grace of the gospel. It is Christ’s merits, not yours, that matter. When you are tempted to look at your own works, character, or “goodness” and imagine that somehow these grant you right standing before God, remind yourself of Moses and Israel in Numbers 14. You have nothing to bring. But Christ has all you need.

Moses pleads God’s reputation among the nations

Explanation

If Moses does not approach God on the basis of Israel’s merit or past goodness, how does Moses address the Lord? The first way is by pleading God’s glory among the nations. Moses starts out by saying if God destroys Israel, the nations who have heard of His “fame” will think less of the Lord.

Here you see again that Israel’s purpose was to display God’s glory among the nations. It started with God’s original promise He gave to Abraham in Genesis 12: “In you all nations shall be blessed.” In Deuteronomy, Moses says one of the reasons God gave Israel the law is so that other nations would look and say “Wow! What a nation! Israel is wise and their laws are righteous and their God dwells among them!”

What made Israel special was not Israel. It was God choosing to display His glory through Israel. Need more evidence of this?

  • In 2 Samuel 7, David prays and says God saved Israel from Egypt to make a name for Himself.
  • In 1 Kings 8 when Solomon is dedicating the temple, he says nations will hear of God’s great name and come to the temple to worship
  • The Psalms are constantly calling the nations to praise the Lord, often right after recounting God’s redemptive work in Israel: Psalm 96:3 “Tell of God’s glory among the nations! His wonderful deeds among all the peoples!”
  • Ezekiel 39:7- God says “My holy name I will make known in the midst of my people Israel, and I will not let my holy named be profaned anymore. And nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy one of Israel”
  • And then in the New Testament: Romans 1 says “Through Jesus Christ our Lord we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who were called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

If you get nothing else from these verses, see that God seems primarily concerned with the nations knowing who He is and seeing His glory. And that is why Israel was originally redeemed out of Egypt and that is what Moses pleads here in Numbers 14.

It is not about Israel’s righteousness or worth. It is God’s glory, God’s promise, God’s plan for the world. God destroying Israel in Numbers 14 would not be the main tragedy. The tragedy would be other nations thinking less of God.

And that is Moses argument: since the Egyptians know about what the Lord has done for Israel and God’s promise to bring them into the land, if God destroys Israel know Egypt will think less of God. So Moses pleads “Don’t damage Your reputation among Egypt and among the nations!”

Application

Why does God do what He does? This is a vital question to answer for you to make any sense of your life. Thankfully, Scripture seems incredibly interested in giving you that answer: God’s glory in all things. God displaying His magnificence and worth through His chosen means.

And what is most astounding of all: God chooses to display His glory by showing mercy to sinful humans. By saving His helpless, fallen creation. By choosing and calling a people for Himself to “declare the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

Is this comforting to you? Do you value God’s glory above all things? I think passages like Numbers 14 humble us and remind us what really is most important in the universe.

In a world that tells you to think highly of yourself, God’s word reminds you that His glory and the display of that glory is the most important.

Moses pleads God’s character

Explanation

Moses doesn’t just plead God’s glory. He pleads God’s character as revealed in Exodus 34, particularly God’s “faithful love.” The word is “chesed” and it is an incredibly important Old Testament word. It signifies God’s loyal, covenant love. In fact, the word shows up around 250 times in the Old Testament and is often mentioned in the same context as God’s character and covenant.

This loyal love, this covenant love expresses itself in kindness and mercy towards the object of God’s love. This covenant love is one reason why God in the prophets often compares His relationship with Israel to that of a marriage relationship. It is the same idea: God has entered a covenant relationship with Israel and is committed to doing them good, even when they don’t deserve it.

“Chesed” is not a feeling of love, it is a commitment God has made. And Moses’ mediation is specifically in light of this love: “God’s power be magnified (i.e. displayed), pardon the people’s wrongdoing in accordance with Your faithful love.”

What is God’s response to Moses’ mediation? God heard Moses’ plea on behalf of the people and though Israel proved unfaithful, God remained faithful and gracious. Of course, we saw in a previous post that Israel’s punishment was still severe. But God did not destroy the nation.

God is merciful to Israel but not at the expense of justice. God isn’t just rich in faithful love; He also does not leave the guilty unpunished.

God is faithful to His covenant, but He will discipline His people when they disobey Him.

Application

Moses pleading God’s covenant love and covenant commitment should become the image you think of when you read about Jesus mediating on your behalf. Jesus does not plead your merits. He pleads the “New Covenant in His blood.” Why is this a comfort? Because you can stop worrying about God casting you aside.

The “perseverance of the saints” is a marvelous doctrine, but many people (including myself) struggle to live out on a day-by-day basis. We know we are saved by grace alone in Christ alone, but it is still so easy to fall back into a “merit-based” theology. Numbers 14 is a comfort because it reminds us:

  1. Pleading your merits before a thrice Holy God will condemn you every time. You have nothing in your hands to bring.
  2. Despite this, all who believe in Christ have entered into a covenant with God. It is a covenant based in God’s promises and for God’s glory.
  3. Because of this covenant, “who can bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” God will not destroy you, just like He didn’t destroy Israel in Numbers 14, because to do so would break His covenant.

When you are discouraged and feel like you have ruined any chance of God being merciful to you, think of Christ standing before the Father. What is He saying? He is pleading His blood, the blood that brought you into an eternal covenant with God. And until Christ’s blood loses its power to cover your sins, which it never will, then you are safe and secure in your salvation.

The New Covenant in Christ’s blood is what keeps you secure. Your good works can’t add to it’s power, nor can your worst sins nullify it’s effectiveness

Conclusion

One of my favorite hymns is “Before the Throne of God Above.” A verse from it is a fitting end to this post:

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within
Upward I look, and see Him there
who made an end to all my sin

Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Before the Throne of God Above

Moses’ mediation in Numbers 14 gives us a beautiful picture of Jesus’ mediation. It is not based on our merits or works. It is based on God’s covenant and commitment to His own glory. That is freeing truth. It shifts your perspective away from self and back to God.

If you missed any previous posts in this series, find them here. Subscribe and share below.
Faith, Fear, & False Repentance: God’s Judgment and Mercy

Faith, Fear, & False Repentance: God’s Judgment and Mercy

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Judgment and mercy. These are two things you might not expect to go together. But a Biblical view of God and His character holds these two words side by side. If you lose judgment, you end up with a God who does not ultimately care about sin. But if you lose mercy, you are left with an utterly hopeless view of life.

God’s response to Israel’s unbelief involves both judgment and mercy. Numbers 14 gives a clear look at the character of God and how He responds to His people’s sin. Through studying this passage, you see three truths about the Lord: God does not need anyone, God is merciful but there are still consequences for sin, and God more strictly judges those who spread falsehood about Him.

This post will look at each of these three truths so you can better understand how the judgment and mercy of God relate. Doing so will give you a bigger and more biblical view of God. Read through the last half of Numbers 14 before you continue reading if you need a refresher on the context.

God does not need anyone

In the last post in this series, I explained God’s response to Israel not wanting to enter the promised land. God declared Israel’s fundamental problem was unbelief. The Lord has brought them out of Egypt to the edge of the promised land, performing signs and wonders along the way. But here at the edge of the promised land, Israel crumbles due to sinful fear of the nations which already live in the land.

What is God’s response to this rebellion?

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Numbers 14:11-12, ESV

There is irony throughout this passage where God gives His judgment. Think of these verses this way: since Israel did not remember the plagues God hit Egypt, God would strike Israel with a plague. In other words, God is threatening to treat Israel just like His enemy in the book of Exodus. The Lord judged Egypt with plagues, now Israel will get judged in the same way.

How could God threaten this? Because Israel is behaving like God’s enemy right now. Their unbelief and rebellion is as worthy of judgment as Egypt’s wickedness was. But you might ask, “If God destroys Israel, He won’t be able to keep His promises! God is stuck!”

But the text before us gives a different answer: God could destroy Israel in judgment and still fulfill His promises.

God is not dependent on anyone to fulfill His promises. He is utterly and completely sovereign. The Lord choosing to use a person or a nation is simply a mercy and a privilege, not a right or a guarantee.

God could just as easily fulfill his promises with or without Israel. The Pentateuch is incredibly clear: what makes Israel important is God’s plan, God’s promise, God’s choice. I have written before on God choosing Israel. I think one of the more helpful verses to remember is Deuteronomy 7:7.

The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all the peoples. For you were the fewest of all the peoples.

Deuteronomy 7:7

God isn’t going to be manipulated. It is not as though God is thinking “Oh man, Israel really should be punished but drat, I made a promise to them! Guess they have me stuck!” No, God simply says “I could destroy this nation and still fulfill my promises!” It would not be a difficult thing for God.

We would all do well to remember the needy one is not God. It is us. We need God desperately, God does not depend on us at all.

God is merciful but there are still consequences for sin

If you continue to read Numbers 14, you see that God does not destroy Israel. In a future post I will look at Moses’ mediation and why God does not destroy Israel. Essentially what happens is God chooses to show Israel mercy. Israel does not get what their sin deserves because God is faithful.

20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. 21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, 22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.

Numbers 14:20-23, ESV

It is important to notice that God pardons Israel, but there are still consequences for their sin. Both judgment and mercy are present. God swears by himself that Israel will not enter the land in this generation. It is not a “easy” consequence. An entire generation will die in the wilderness. You might think this is too harsh, but this judgment is incredibly merciful.

To understand fully what God does with this judgment, however, you must notice three ironies.

The first irony: Israel didn’t want to enter God’s promised land, so God judges them by giving them what they want. The entire generation will not enter the promised land.

Israel said out of fear in verse 2 “If only we had died in the wilderness!” God gives them what they prefer as an act of judgment. The entire generation will die in the wilderness.

The second irony: the scouts had 40 days to enter the promised land. In judgment, God will give Israel 40 years, one year for each day, outside of the promised land.

The third irony: Israel says “our children will be plunder in this land.” Israel is terrified the nations will take their children. But God in judgment says He will give their children the land as plunder. The opposite of what Israel feared will happen.

Each of these ironies demonstrate how just God’s judgment is. God simply gives Israel exactly what they asked for.

The judgment of God isn’t always taking away something you want. Sometimes, God judges your sin by giving you exactly what you wanted.

God’s stricter judgment for those who spread falsehood

Finally, God deals with those who were not loyal to the Lord: the spies who spread the bad report. God’s judgment on these spies is particularly harsh. Numbers 14:38 says only Joshua and Caleb survived. God reserved the most immediate and intense judgment for those scouts who lead Israel astray.

Why did God put to death these scouts? The text leaves no question of their guilt: Numbers 14:36-37 says they incited the community to complain and they spread a negative report. The text repeats that the spies spread a negative report 2 times for emphasis. The spies were given a position of authority, but they used this authority to spread falsehoods about God. James 3 gives a similar warning to the Church.

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

James 3:1, ESV

God’s people receive both judgment and mercy in response to their sin. But God’s judgment is always just. This means the people who were most responsible for the rebellion, the spies, were judged more harshly. If you have a position of authority in the Church, use it to speak truths about God. Spreading lies or falsehoods about the gospel is inviting God’s judgment.

The question is: did Israel get it? After God’s judgment and mercy, did Israel truly repent in response? In the next post in the series, I will show how their response is one of the best examples of false repentance in Scripture. All of Numbers 14 serves as a sobering warning about how you and I relate to the Lord.

Click here to find other posts in this series. If you are enjoying this series, check out my other series “Happy?” where I go through the Psalms and examine what they teach us about true happiness.