Deuteronomy 1:2 "(They're eleven days’ journey from Horeb (Mount Sinai) by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea." Do you see how plain that is? You don’t have to be a seminary graduate to understand that. Eleven days from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh. Now verse 3.
Deuteronomy 1:3-5 "And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, Moses spake to the children of Israel, according to all that the LORD has given him in commandment to them; after he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei: on this side (east) Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, (or this Book of Deuteronomy which rehearses that which had been said before) saying," Now look what he says:
Deuteronomy 1:6 "The LORD our God spake to us in Horeb, (at Mount Sinai after they had received their instructions for the tabernacle) saying, you have dwelt long enough in this mount: turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and to all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, (which is up toward Mount Herman on my map) unto the great river, the river Euphrates."
See, we don’t want someone to say, "Well, where do you get it that the Euphrates River is the east boundary?" See, that’s what the Scriptures say over and over. It’s the Euphrates River that would be their boundary and then down to the Red Sea and over to the Sea of the Philistines. Now let’s just compare before we go any further here in Deuteronomy, to the Scripture back in Genesis chapter 15. We don’t want any to think, "Well Moses was just being real normal, and all of a sudden his ambition got the best of him, so he concocted the idea that they could have the whole Middle East." No, this is what God deeded to them here in Genesis 15, and let’s begin with verse 18.
Genesis 15:18 "In the same day (that God came down and fulfilled a title deed with Abraham) the LORD made a covenant with Abram, (Abraham) saying, to your seed (his offspring, his generations down the road) have I given this land, (we’re not talking about something spiritual, no, rather good old physical earth) from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the River Euphrates:"
Do you see how plain that is? There’s no argument about that. God has given them everything from the River of Egypt, and we don’t think it’s the Nile. We think there was another river east of the Nile that sort of disappeared over time - but whatever, it was the River of Egypt all along the Mediterranean, up to the River Euphrates, and back to the Red Sea. But we want all to see that this is what God Himself deeded to Abraham. Now come on back with us to Deuteronomy and verse 8.
Deuteronomy 1:8 "Behold, I have set the land before you: (the Promised Land God has prepared through the sweat and tears of the Canaanites) go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them."
Do you see that? Now we want all to see what Moses is showing, that when the children of Israel left Mount Sinai with everything set to go into and occupy the land, that they now had the Levitical priesthood set up and had the tabernacle built with all of the floor plan that followed up later in the temple. Everything was now ready for God’s covenanted (like a deed restricted subdivision) people to enter into a place of bliss, joy, and no bloodshed. As long as they were obedient, God would bless them, and my, it was as promised, the Promised Land, and everything was waiting for them. Now read on in verse 18.
Deuteronomy 1:18 "I commanded you at that time all the things which you should do." Remember they’re under the Levitical Law, the tutor of condemnation and Law says, "Do this and I’ll bless you, do that, and I’ll bless you." Don’t do this and don’t do that was the Law! And so Moses rehearses all that. The burden or yoke which NO Hebrew was able to carry. Now verse 19.
Deuteronomy 1:19 "And when we departed from Horeb, (Mount Sinai) we went through all that great, and terrible wilderness, which you saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadesh-barnea." Now we wish everybody could just be familiar with that term. "Kadesh-barnea" (which means: holy desert of wanderings) was the gateway to the Promised Land, and God brought them up there in that eleven day journey and set them there, and said, "Go in and take it, it’s ready for you. You won’t have to raise a sword, you won’t have to worry about losing a single young man, because I’ll drive them out with hornets."
Deuteronomy 1:20-21 "I said to you, You are come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God does give to us. Behold, the LORD our God has set the land before us: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of our father has said to us; fear not, neither be discouraged."
Now stop a moment and think. What did neither God or Moses tell the children of Israel? What did He not tell them? He didn’t say a word about sending in the twelve spies! Did He? No. God nor Moses hadn’t said a word about sending spies to see if they can do it. But rather He said, "Take my word for it, and go in and take the land. There won’t be one item of opposition, just go take it." But what does unbelief say? "Oh! but wait a minute, aren’t you even going to let us check it out, and see if we can make it? You see that’s unbelief, but that is exactly what Israel did, and that’s where God’s anger began.
Now God agreed to it, and condescended, and said, "Ok, if that will make it easier for you, I’ll let you pick one man out of each of the twelve tribes and you can send them in and spy out the land." That was the biggest mistake that Israel ever made! Why? Because the majority report came back 10 – 2 and said what? We can’t do it. When it comes to the things of the Spirit, the majority are usually wrong! You can just mark that up, because the majority is usually wrong. Just look at Christendom today, as for the majority of their people they have become a works religion, a religion of idolatry because of it and don’t tell me that makes them right. So the 12 spies go in and search out the land, and Moses says in verse 22:
Deuteronomy 1:22 "You came near to me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come." But what had God said? "It’s all yours!" But what did Israel say? "How?" Isn’t that ridiculous? But you see this is unbelief at work, and so the first step down into more unbelief, "Okay let’s spy out the land first, and then we’ll go and take it." No, you see unbelief is a downhill slide on a banana peel, and it is almost irrevocable, and this is a good example. Now let’s read on in verse 23, and here you are going to see one of Moses’ weak points. Moses should have been able to stand up to these people and say, "Now look, our God has said it’s ours for the taking, we’re not to put spies in there." But Moses condescended and agreed and said:
No comments:
Post a Comment