Num 13:1  And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

Num 13:2  Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.

Israel could have entered into the promised land but unbelief kept them out. Accepting an evil report kept them out. Giving in to fear and letting hopelessness overwhelm them kept them out. Not knowing the God they served for themselves hindered their faith. Though they had seen mighty miracles, when it came time for God to speak, they did not want to talk directly to him, they asked Moses to do it and be an intermediary. A go-between.

Today, our promised land is Jesus, in him, there is rest and abundant life. But only in him. Our promised land is not heaven. Because in heaven, there will be no wars, strivings, or battles. We can rest assured in peace that our Lord is faithful. But the only way to enter in is to completely submit ourselves into his hands, and let him have his way with our life, and trust him totally to do what is best, knowing he will. Faith is not knowing he can, but knowing he will.

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

Num 14:2  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!

Num 14:3  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?

Num 14:4  And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

Num 14:5  Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

Num 14:6  And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:

Israel could not believe they could overcome in God's strength. Even though they had seen the might and power of God firsthand. How quickly they forgot the misery they endured in Egypt, how they had cried out to God for deliverance. What did they have to go back to? How could they have found their way without the Spirit of the Lord to guide them? Without the pillar of Fire at night and the cloud by day to lead them? Without the manna being rained down daily to feed them? Without their God providing water from the rock? If they had made it back to the Red Sea, how would they have got across without their mighty God to part its waters? And if somehow they had went around it or managed to get across-what would have awaited them in Egypt? An angry people who'd lost their firstborn, their Pharaoh, and their Army, whose land had been destroyed by God, vengeance and destruction would have awaited Israel had they returned. So it is today with Christians who get discouraged and think they can go back to their old life and not have to fight a battle all the time. Such are weary, and seeking rest in the enemy's camp, instead of in Christ. Where they will be safe. How could you ever be safe if you retreat from the battle and go to the enemy's camp? He hates God, and all who belong to him, who've testified of him, and if you return back to him he'll wreak vengeance before he destroys you. There is nothing to go back to, people. Nothing, but death and destruction. Don't play into the enemy's hands.

(See "Saved, But Miserable" newsletter, Times Square Pulpit Series, David Wilkerson, May 2, 1994 for more on this).

v. 14:

God was tired of this people's refusal to trust him. After all the power and might they had shown him, it was amazing to him they could not believe him. They'd seen him destroy Egypt and part the Red Sea, give them water from a rock, but they whined and complained, and worried and fretted over the report of the 10 spies?

v. 20: see Neh. 9:16-17,19-21