After the Fall

Numbers 14:39-45

Whenever we resolve to do something, we give it everything that we have. Time and the cares of this life can often chip away at that resolve, causing us to fall back into the trap that we have promised ourselves time and again that we would avoid. The height of our resolve is commonly found just after our most recent failure. Like an alcoholic pledging to never drink again after a night of binging, we often put forth our best effort when our worst results are showing forth.

The children of Israel sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan to ascertain whether or not the nation was strong enough to conquer the land. For forty days the spies wandered before bringing back a mixed report. Two of the spies felt that the land held promising potential, with fruit more ripe and plentiful than they had ever seen. The other 10 spies looked beyond the potential rewards and saw a race of men so big that they themselves felt like grasshoppers in their presence (Numbers 13:33). The nation sided with the 10 spies and their evil report, going so far as to threaten to stone the other two.

God spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them that for every day the spies had spent in Canaan, the entire nation would spend a year wandering in the wilderness, until every one of them over the age of 20, save for the two spies Caleb and Joshua, were dead. When Moses shared this news with the congregation of Israel, “the people mourned greatly” (Numbers 14:39).

Early the next morning, the people awoke with great resolve. In spite of the fact that God told them what was going to happen to them for the next 40 years, Israel is now ready to take the land. Moses warns them that this will not work “for the LORD is not among you” (14:42). However they presume that they are able to do it on their own power, going up even without the Ark of the Covenant (verse 44).

The end result was, of course, absolute failure. The children of Israel were beaten by both the Amalekites and the Canaanites, starting years of discord between these nations. We know why they had resolve; they were embarrassed and frustrated, but why isn’t resolve enough?

When you walk with the Lord, there are going to be failures and they will always be on your part, never on His. Your instinct will be to pour yourself into effort and works to try and avoid a repeat of this failure on your part. You may amp up your prayer life or study the Bible more. You may attend church more often or put even larger amounts in the offering. While all of these are fine within themselves, if they are being done to achieve righteousness or right standing with God, then they are all in vain. You are already in right standing with God because of the finished work of Jesus at the cross.

How you deal with things after you fall into failure is as important as never falling again, and they are actually one in the same. Allow Christ to bring out His righteousness in you, and when you fail, simply get up, dust yourself off and move on in Jesus. Satan may tell you that you failed because you are not consecrated enough, but simply remind him that you did not receive salvation because you were good enough, but because Jesus is good enough. Go on today in victory because Christ was cursed so that you can be blessed (Galatians 3:13).

How Do You See Yourself?

Numbers 13:26-33

The twelve spies that reported back to Moses regarding the land of Canaan gave a mixed report. All twelve were awed by the fruits of the land (verse 23) and by the milk and honey (verse 27), but ten of the spies felt that the inhabitants of the land were far too strong, and the walls, much too fortified for Israel to take it.

Based upon what they could see, their fears were certainly justified. Inhabiting the land were giants, and their size and strength intimidated the spies into changing the way they viewed their own selves. With giants in their sights, they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” and this attitude caused the giants to view them that way as well (verse 33).

You may view yourself as hopeless and helpless in the face of the giants of life. If that be the case, then you should know that your enemy will exploit this area of your thinking and keep you from hope, strength, and goodness and will perpetuate defeat on a daily basis. The reason for this is that in those moments, we have taken our eyes off of the provision of Christ and put them on our own ability to do the right thing. What Jesus did at the cross was for us! This work was a finished work and His great love for us has made us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), and we have been made “the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). If this is who we are in Christ, then why would we view ourselves as anything less?

The ten spies that doubted spoke their own fate into existence, “Would God we had died in this wilderness!” and so they do (Numbers 14:2). How sad that they had forgotten of God’s remarkable power to deliver in the face of overwhelming odds. We are often not much different; forgetting where we came from when Jesus saved us to where we are now. Though life gets rough, we should be careful about speaking our defeat when our victory was paid for at such a high cost.

Caleb and Joshua view the giants of the land as “bread for us” (14:9), having learned that God was able to deliver the largest of foes into the hands of Israel. We are either bread for our enemy or they are bread for us. Each believer must decide and then live accordingly.

Make your own decision today, to face the often overwhelming cares of this life in light of the finished work of the cross. You can both dwell on the size of the giants and begin to fear, or think of the size of the grapes and begin to rejoice! Be the grasshopper that can’t win or the warrior that cannot lose, and not due to your strength, but because of your Savior. This world can be “bread for us” (Numbers 14:9)

Water From the Rock

Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8

While wandering through the wilderness of Sin (what a name!), Israel stops in Rephidim and murmurs against Moses that they are thirsty, “Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3). God’s response to this murmuring was to command Moses to take his rod and smite a rock, so that water could come out of it and Israel could drink. God provided this water in spite of their complaining for He was dealing with them by grace and favor, not based upon their performance.

The rock in the wilderness was a “spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). God’s command to smite the rock was to be used as a shadow of things to come, with Jesus being the Rock. At Calvary, Jesus was “smitten of God” (Isaiah 53:4) and “came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). While a rock in the wilderness brought forth only that which satiated the physical thirst of man, the Rock Jesus provides blood for our redemption and spiritual water for our daily thirst, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37, 38).

About 20 years later, while wandering through the wilderness of Zin (not Sin, but very similar), Israel stops in Kadesh and “chode with Moses, and spake, saying, ‘Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!’” (Numbers 20:3). Again, they are thirsty and they murmur against God. God’s response this time was to tell Moses to gather the assembly together and “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water” (verse 8). Now that Israel is under the Mosaic Covenant, they deserve to be killed for their murmuring, but God is willing to show them New Covenant mercy and grace.

Instead of speaking to the rock in front of their eyes as he was instructed to do, Moses “lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice” (Numbers 20:11). Notice that it took two hits to bring the water out, as if God was holding it back the first time to give Moses a chance to re-think things and do it right. Because of this moment of anger and frustration, Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land, “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel” (Numbers 20:12).

What was the big deal with smiting the rock? They got the water didn’t they? All things in the Old Testament are done as a shadow of the substance of the New Testament. There is an object lesson of the cross of Christ in this story that is important to see.

Jesus is the Rock, smitten for our sins. He needed to be smitten but once, and never again (Hebrews 10:12). Now that Jesus has paid for everything, we need but speak of Him and His loveliness. We need to speak of ourselves as His righteousness and see Him working in us. We do NOT need to put Him back on the cross every moment that we fail, for Jesus has already paid for our failures. He is alive, and so are we!

What you say of Jesus is always “before their eyes”. If you make God out to be mad and hard to please, then you fail to sanctify Him in the eyes of the people. God has already smote Jesus so that you and I can drink freely anytime that we need. May we cease to present God as slow to bless and quick to kill, and see our Jesus flowing with the blood for our sins and the water for our sanctification.

I See Nothing Wrong!

Numbers 23:18-21

Call me biased, but I see nothing wrong in my children. My son and my daughter make mistakes, no doubt, but I see nothing wrong with them, for they are mine and I love them unconditionally. There is no error that they could make, no wrong that they could perform, that would cause me to beat them, break their legs, rob their future, or destroy their dreams. I love them too much to cause them pain, for they are an extension of me. I may see problems in your kids, but not in mine!

God views every person on the face of the earth as a sheep. Many of the sheep have gone astray and are living on their own in the wilderness, and they need to come to the shepherd to find eternal life. The sheep that dwell with the Savior know His voice (John 10:27), and He refers to them as more than sheep. Those who are saved, He calls His friends (John 15:15).

When Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel as they passed through his land, Balaam jumped on the opportunity to make some easy money. After ascending a mountain to view an arm of Israel as it sat at camp in the valley, Balaam opened his mouth to curse God’s people, but a blessing came out instead (Numbers 23:11). When Balak moved him to another mountain in order to view Israel from a different vantage point, the result was much the same, with Balaam commenting, “I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it” (Numbers 23:20).

Though Balak had moved Balaam to a different mountain in order to see Israel in a different state (he would do it a third time as well in 23:27), each time God prompted a blessing instead of a curse. Remember, the people that Balaam wants to curse have done plenty to deserve it.

They murmured in the wilderness about having no water (Numbers 20) and then about having to eat manna (Numbers 21). They have been a complaining, miserable people since they left Egypt, yet look at how God views them in Numbers 23:21, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them”. No matter how bad they had lived, God did not see the sin in His people, for He had provided a way of escape through the brazen serpent of Numbers 22.

There is the shout of a king among God’s people when they learn that their heavenly Father is not mad at them, and that He sees no iniquity in His people. It is not that we are living without sinning; it is that God views His Son’s sacrifice over our sins. WE are the ones that dwell on our wrong-doing, while God is dwelling on Jesus’ finished work at the cross.

Just as I know that my children are not perfect in their every action, our heavenly Father knows that we are not perfect either. He no more demands that we be mistake free than we would demand such impossibility from our own children. It is not that God is soft on sin and failure, but it is rather that God was hard on sin and failure in the body of His Son at the cross. God cannot be just if He is hard on Jesus for your sin and then hard on you as well. The price has been paid in the blood of Jesus, so when God sees us, he sees us as His own. Praise God that when the Father sees you, He sees the Son!

Painting God in the Proper Light

Numbers 20:7-13

When a photographer shoots a photograph, they need proper lighting to bring the beauty out of the subject. The same is true for a portrait painter, who needs to see the subject in proper perspective in order to render a quality painting. When a preacher delivers a sermon on God, he is painting God in a particular light, and that light has a great effect on how the listeners perceive God in their daily lives.

If God is painted against a backdrop of judgment and darkness then He is an angry God, ready to dole out lightning bolts of fury against a sin-filled world. If He is painted against the light of the cross, where Jesus was judged for our sin then He is seen as a compassionate God, ready to dole out grace on a world that is perishing.

Moses had an opportunity to paint God in a wonderful light for the children of Israel as they thirsted in the desert of Zin. The people complained of the lack of food and water, prompting Moses to go before the Lord. God told him to “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes” (Numbers 20:8). God wanted this done before the eyes of the people so that they could see for themselves what God was about to do. In his anger, Moses replaces God as the sole provider, asking the Israelites, “Must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10) Moses has joined himself to God, saying “we” when he should have said, “Must God fetch you water?” By adding himself to the equation, he is removing the awesome power from what God is about to do.

The mistake is exacerbated when Moses lifts up his hand and smites the rock rather than speak to it. In the 17th chapter of Exodus, before the giving of the law at Sinai, Israel had been in a similar situation. They had complained of no water and God had instructed Moses to smite the rock, bringing forth water. Paul said that the rock in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), so the smiting is a type of Christ being smitten of God at the cross (Isaiah 53:4). Paul also states in Hebrews 10:12 that Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins, forever”, meaning that Jesus will not be smitten twice for our sins. If He is not smitten twice, then we are not smitten even once. Praise God!

God wanted Moses to speak to the rock so that He could show grace to His people, though they do not deserve it. Grace is never deserved and that is what makes it a free gift. By speaking to the rock and not smiting it, it is an example to them that God has never stopped providing for them by His smitten Rock. Jesus is our constant provision, and the believer only need speak His name for Him to provide water to their thirsty soul.

This mistake cost Moses entrance to the Promised Land. Being under law, he would bear the punishment for his failure. You and I are under grace, so Jesus has bore the punishment for us. We will not be denied our Promised Land due to our mistakes and failures, for where our sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

Paint God in the glorious light of the cross, showing the world that Jesus has been smitten for their sins. The God that you present is the God that they know, so show them the Rock that has already brought forth living water.

After the Fall

Numbers 14:39-45

Whenever we resolve to do something, we give it everything that we have. Time and the cares of this life can often chip away at that resolve, causing us to fall back into the trap that we have promised ourselves time and again that we would avoid. The height of our resolve is commonly found just after our most recent failure. Like an alcoholic pledging to never drink again after a night of binging, we often put forth our best effort when our worst results are showing forth.

The children of Israel sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan to ascertain whether or not the nation was strong enough to conquer the land. For forty days the spies wandered before bringing back a mixed report. Two of the spies felt that the land held promising potential, with fruit more ripe and plentiful than they had ever seen. The other 10 spies looked beyond the potential rewards and saw a race of men so big that they themselves felt like grasshoppers in their presence (Numbers 13:33). The nation sided with the 10 spies and their evil report, going so far as to threaten to stone the other two.

God spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them that for every day the spies had spent in Canaan, the entire nation would spend a year wandering in the wilderness, until every one of them over the age of 20, save for the two spies Caleb and Joshua, were dead. When Moses shared this news with the congregation of Israel, “the people mourned greatly” (Numbers 14:39).

Early the next morning, the people awoke with great resolve. In spite of the fact that God told them what was going to happen to them for the next 40 years, Israel is now ready to take the land. Moses warns them that this will not work “for the LORD is not among you” (14:42). However they presume that they are able to do it on their own power, going up even without the Ark of the Covenant (verse 44).

The end result was, of course, absolute failure. The children of Israel were beaten by both the Amalekites and the Canaanites, starting years of discord between these nations. We know why they had resolve; they were embarrassed and frustrated, but why isn’t resolve enough?

When you walk with the Lord, there are going to be failures and they will always be on your part, never on His. Your instinct will be to pour yourself into effort and works to try and avoid a repeat of this failure on your part. You may amp up your prayer life or study the Bible more. You may attend church more often or put even larger amounts in the offering. While all of these are fine within themselves, if they are being done to achieve righteousness or right standing with God, then they are all in vain. You are already in right standing with God because of the finished work of Jesus at the cross.

How you deal with things after you fall into failure is as important as never falling again, and they are actually one in the same. Allow Christ to bring out His righteousness in you, and when you fail, simply get up, dust yourself off and move on in Jesus. Satan may tell you that you failed because you are not consecrated enough, but simply remind him that you did not receive salvation because you were good enough, but because Jesus is good enough. Go on today in victory because Christ was cursed so that you can be blessed (Galatians 3:13).

How Do You See Yourself?

Numbers 13:26-33

The twelve spies that reported back to Moses regarding the land of Canaan gave a mixed report. All twelve were awed by the fruits of the land (verse 23) and by the milk and honey (verse 27), but ten of the spies felt that the inhabitants of the land were far too strong, and the walls, much too fortified for Israel to take it.

Based upon what they could see, their fears were certainly justified. Inhabiting the land were giants, and their size and strength intimidated the spies into changing the way they viewed their own selves. With giants in their sights, they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” and this attitude caused the giants to view them that way as well (verse 33).

You may view yourself as hopeless and helpless in the face of the giants of life. If that be the case, then you should know that your enemy will exploit this area of your thinking and keep you from hope, strength, and goodness and will perpetuate defeat on a daily basis. The reason for this is that in those moments, we have taken our eyes off of the provision of Christ and put them on our own ability to do the right thing. What Jesus did at the cross was for us! This work was a finished work and His great love for us has made us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), and we have been made “the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). If this is who we are in Christ, then why would we view ourselves as anything less?

The ten spies that doubted spoke their own fate into existence, “Would God we had died in this wilderness!” and so they do (Numbers 14:2). How sad that they had forgotten of God’s remarkable power to deliver in the face of overwhelming odds. We are often not much different; forgetting where we came from when Jesus saved us to where we are now. Though life gets rough, we should be careful about speaking our defeat when our victory was paid for at such a high cost.

Caleb and Joshua view the giants of the land as “bread for us” (14:9), having learned that God was able to deliver the largest of foes into the hands of Israel. We are either bread for our enemy or they are bread for us. Each believer must decide and then live accordingly.

Make your own decision today, to face the often overwhelming cares of this life in light of the finished work of the cross. You can both dwell on the size of the giants and begin to fear, or think of the size of the grapes and begin to rejoice! Be the grasshopper that can’t win or the warrior that cannot lose, and not due to your strength, but because of your Savior. This world can be “bread for us” (Numbers 14:9)

Water From the Rock

Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8

While wandering through the wilderness of Sin (what a name!), Israel stops in Rephidim and murmurs against Moses that they are thirsty, “Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?” (Exodus 17:3). God’s response to this murmuring was to command Moses to take his rod and smite a rock, so that water could come out of it and Israel could drink. God provided this water in spite of their complaining for He was dealing with them by grace and favor, not based upon their performance.

The rock in the wilderness was a “spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:4). God’s command to smite the rock was to be used as a shadow of things to come, with Jesus being the Rock. At Calvary, Jesus was “smitten of God” (Isaiah 53:4) and “came there out blood and water” (John 19:34). While a rock in the wilderness brought forth only that which satiated the physical thirst of man, the Rock Jesus provides blood for our redemption and spiritual water for our daily thirst, saying, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37, 38).

About 20 years later, while wandering through the wilderness of Zin (not Sin, but very similar), Israel stops in Kadesh and “chode with Moses, and spake, saying, ‘Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!’” (Numbers 20:3). Again, they are thirsty and they murmur against God. God’s response this time was to tell Moses to gather the assembly together and “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water” (verse 8). Now that Israel is under the Mosaic Covenant, they deserve to be killed for their murmuring, but God is willing to show them New Covenant mercy and grace.

Instead of speaking to the rock in front of their eyes as he was instructed to do, Moses “lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice” (Numbers 20:11). Notice that it took two hits to bring the water out, as if God was holding it back the first time to give Moses a chance to re-think things and do it right. Because of this moment of anger and frustration, Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land, “Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel” (Numbers 20:12).

What was the big deal with smiting the rock? They got the water didn’t they? All things in the Old Testament are done as a shadow of the substance of the New Testament. There is an object lesson of the cross of Christ in this story that is important to see.

Jesus is the Rock, smitten for our sins. He needed to be smitten but once, and never again (Hebrews 10:12). Now that Jesus has paid for everything, we need but speak of Him and His loveliness. We need to speak of ourselves as His righteousness and see Him working in us. We do NOT need to put Him back on the cross every moment that we fail, for Jesus has already paid for our failures. He is alive, and so are we!

What you say of Jesus is always “before their eyes”. If you make God out to be mad and hard to please, then you fail to sanctify Him in the eyes of the people. God has already smote Jesus so that you and I can drink freely anytime that we need. May we cease to present God as slow to bless and quick to kill, and see our Jesus flowing with the blood for our sins and the water for our sanctification.

I See Nothing Wrong!

Numbers 23:18-21

Call me biased, but I see nothing wrong in my children. My son and my daughter make mistakes, no doubt, but I see nothing wrong with them, for they are mine and I love them unconditionally. There is no error that they could make, no wrong that they could perform, that would cause me to beat them, break their legs, rob their future, or destroy their dreams. I love them too much to cause them pain, for they are an extension of me. I may see problems in your kids, but not in mine!

God views every person on the face of the earth as a sheep. Many of the sheep have gone astray and are living on their own in the wilderness, and they need to come to the shepherd to find eternal life. The sheep that dwell with the Savior know His voice (John 10:27), and He refers to them as more than sheep. Those who are saved, He calls His friends (John 15:15).

When Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse the children of Israel as they passed through his land, Balaam jumped on the opportunity to make some easy money. After ascending a mountain to view an arm of Israel as it sat at camp in the valley, Balaam opened his mouth to curse God’s people, but a blessing came out instead (Numbers 23:11). When Balak moved him to another mountain in order to view Israel from a different vantage point, the result was much the same, with Balaam commenting, “I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it” (Numbers 23:20).

Though Balak had moved Balaam to a different mountain in order to see Israel in a different state (he would do it a third time as well in 23:27), each time God prompted a blessing instead of a curse. Remember, the people that Balaam wants to curse have done plenty to deserve it.

They murmured in the wilderness about having no water (Numbers 20) and then about having to eat manna (Numbers 21). They have been a complaining, miserable people since they left Egypt, yet look at how God views them in Numbers 23:21, “He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them”. No matter how bad they had lived, God did not see the sin in His people, for He had provided a way of escape through the brazen serpent of Numbers 22.

There is the shout of a king among God’s people when they learn that their heavenly Father is not mad at them, and that He sees no iniquity in His people. It is not that we are living without sinning; it is that God views His Son’s sacrifice over our sins. WE are the ones that dwell on our wrong-doing, while God is dwelling on Jesus’ finished work at the cross.

Just as I know that my children are not perfect in their every action, our heavenly Father knows that we are not perfect either. He no more demands that we be mistake free than we would demand such impossibility from our own children. It is not that God is soft on sin and failure, but it is rather that God was hard on sin and failure in the body of His Son at the cross. God cannot be just if He is hard on Jesus for your sin and then hard on you as well. The price has been paid in the blood of Jesus, so when God sees us, he sees us as His own. Praise God that when the Father sees you, He sees the Son!

The Serpent of Brass

Numbers 21:5-9

Without a proper understanding of precisely what happened to Jesus at the cross, this story of the brazen serpent on the pole makes no sense. First, how could looking at anything affixed to a pole bring healing in the body? Second, and perhaps most important, why would God chose a snake as His symbol? Every Sunday school student knows that the snake first appears in the Garden of Eden and that he is a cursed creature.

To answer these questions, we must realize what happened in this story and why. The Israelites were complaining to Moses about the lack of water and their weariness with manna. They call it “light” in the King James Version, but the word is “worthless” in Hebrew. They are so sickened by God’s provision that they deem it as “worthless”.

In response, God sends “fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died” (Numbers 21:6). Remember, this incident occurs while the Israelites are under the Law, thus the Old Covenant must be honored. Though they are undeserving of any mercy, the Israelites beg Moses to ask the Lord to “take away the serpents from us”.

God instructs Moses to make a fiery serpent and place it upon a pole. Every person who has been bit can look upon it and they are promised life. Moses obeys, forming the serpent out of brass, and God honors His promise to heal all who gaze upon it. Jesus speaks of this incident in His conversation with Nicodemus when He says, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14, 15). Jesus places Himself in the position of the brazen serpent, stating that He will be lifted up, which happens at Calvary. He then substitutes the “looking upon the serpent” with “whosoever believeth”. Where the Israelites were simply told to look upon the snake and they would live, Jesus states that people will have to “believe in him”. This is the role of faith in your salvation, and it is the answer to the first question that we posed: How could looking at anything affixed to a pole bring healing in the body? Your faith in what Jesus did at Calvary brings healing and redemption from the poison of sin.

That leaves us with the second question: Why would God chose a snake as His symbol? The serpent is a symbol of sin having been judged, thus it is brass, which comes from being placed in the fire. Jesus was made to be sin for us at the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21), and He bore the curse of sin, just as a serpent is cursed (Galatians 3:13). By showing Israel a serpent of brass, God was saying that the curse of sin will be judged, and that this judgment would provide redemption for all who believed. Jesus fulfilled this to perfection, bearing the blow of death that was meant for us, so that we might have eternal life.

This incident came to a head when Jesus proclaimed, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Jesus never calls His Father, “God” except at this moment, for it is the first and last time that He has been separated from Him by our sins. God could not continue fellowship with Jesus in that moment, prompting Jesus to address Him as “God”, so that we could always address Him as “Father”.

Thank God for that serpent of brass, cursed for you and for me!

Painting God in the Proper Light

Numbers 20:7-13

When a photographer shoots a photograph, they need proper lighting to bring the beauty out of the subject. The same is true for a portrait painter, who needs to see the subject in proper perspective in order to render a quality painting. When a preacher delivers a sermon on God, he is painting God in a particular light, and that light has a great effect on how the listeners perceive God in their daily lives.

If God is painted against a backdrop of judgment and darkness then He is an angry God, ready to dole out lightning bolts of fury against a sin-filled world. If He is painted against the light of the cross, where Jesus was judged for our sin then He is seen as a compassionate God, ready to dole out grace on a world that is perishing.

Moses had an opportunity to paint God in a wonderful light for the children of Israel as they thirsted in the desert of Zin. The people complained of the lack of food and water, prompting Moses to go before the Lord. God told him to “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes” (Numbers 20:8). God wanted this done before the eyes of the people so that they could see for themselves what God was about to do. In his anger, Moses replaces God as the sole provider, asking the Israelites, “Must we fetch you water out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10) Moses has joined himself to God, saying “we” when he should have said, “Must God fetch you water?” By adding himself to the equation, he is removing the awesome power from what God is about to do.

The mistake is exacerbated when Moses lifts up his hand and smites the rock rather than speak to it. In the 17th chapter of Exodus, before the giving of the law at Sinai, Israel had been in a similar situation. They had complained of no water and God had instructed Moses to smite the rock, bringing forth water. Paul said that the rock in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4), so the smiting is a type of Christ being smitten of God at the cross (Isaiah 53:4). Paul also states in Hebrews 10:12 that Jesus “offered one sacrifice for sins, forever”, meaning that Jesus will not be smitten twice for our sins. If He is not smitten twice, then we are not smitten even once. Praise God!

God wanted Moses to speak to the rock so that He could show grace to His people, though they do not deserve it. Grace is never deserved and that is what makes it a free gift. By speaking to the rock and not smiting it, it is an example to them that God has never stopped providing for them by His smitten Rock. Jesus is our constant provision, and the believer only need speak His name for Him to provide water to their thirsty soul.

This mistake cost Moses entrance to the Promised Land. Being under law, he would bear the punishment for his failure. You and I are under grace, so Jesus has bore the punishment for us. We will not be denied our Promised Land due to our mistakes and failures, for where our sin abounds, grace does much more abound.

Paint God in the glorious light of the cross, showing the world that Jesus has been smitten for their sins. The God that you present is the God that they know, so show them the Rock that has already brought forth living water.

After the Fall

Numbers 14:39-45

Whenever we resolve to do something, we give it everything that we have. Time and the cares of this life can often chip away at that resolve, causing us to fall back into the trap that we have promised ourselves time and again that we would avoid. The height of our resolve is commonly found just after our most recent failure. Like an alcoholic pledging to never drink again after a night of binging, we often put forth our best effort when our worst results are showing forth.

The children of Israel sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan to ascertain whether or not the nation was strong enough to conquer the land. For forty days the spies wandered before bringing back a mixed report. Two of the spies felt that the land held promising potential, with fruit more ripe and plentiful than they had ever seen. The other 10 spies looked beyond the potential rewards and saw a race of men so big that they themselves felt like grasshoppers in their presence (Numbers 13:33). The nation sided with the 10 spies and their evil report, going so far as to threaten to stone the other two.

God spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them that for every day the spies had spent in Canaan, the entire nation would spend a year wandering in the wilderness, until every one of them over the age of 20, save for the two spies Caleb and Joshua, were dead. When Moses shared this news with the congregation of Israel, “the people mourned greatly” (Numbers 14:39).

Early the next morning, the people awoke with great resolve. In spite of the fact that God told them what was going to happen to them for the next 40 years, Israel is now ready to take the land. Moses warns them that this will not work “for the LORD is not among you” (14:42). However they presume that they are able to do it on their own power, going up even without the Ark of the Covenant (verse 44).

The end result was, of course, absolute failure. The children of Israel were beaten by both the Amalekites and the Canaanites, starting years of discord between these nations. We know why they had resolve; they were embarrassed and frustrated, but why isn’t resolve enough?

When you walk with the Lord, there are going to be failures and they will always be on your part, never on His. Your instinct will be to pour yourself into effort and works to try and avoid a repeat of this failure on your part. You may amp up your prayer life or study the Bible more. You may attend church more often or put even larger amounts in the offering. While all of these are fine within themselves, if they are being done to achieve righteousness or right standing with God, then they are all in vain. You are already in right standing with God because of the finished work of Jesus at the cross.

How you deal with things after you fall into failure is as important as never falling again, and they are actually one in the same. Allow Christ to bring out His righteousness in you, and when you fail, simply get up, dust yourself off and move on in Jesus. Satan may tell you that you failed because you are not consecrated enough, but simply remind him that you did not receive salvation because you were good enough, but because Jesus is good enough. Go on today in victory because Christ was cursed so that you can be blessed (Galatians 3:13).

How Do You See Yourself?

Numbers 13:26-33

The twelve spies that reported back to Moses regarding the land of Canaan gave a mixed report. All twelve were awed by the fruits of the land (verse 23) and by the milk and honey (verse 27), but ten of the spies felt that the inhabitants of the land were far too strong, and the walls, much too fortified for Israel to take the land.

Based upon what they could see, their fears were certainly justified. Inhabiting the land were giants, and their size and strength intimidated the spies into changing the way they viewed their own selves. With giants in their sights, they saw themselves as “grasshoppers” and this attitude caused the giants to view them that way as well (verse 33).

You may view yourself as hopeless and helpless in the face of the giants of life. If that be the case, then you should know that your enemy will exploit this area of your thinking and keep you from hope, strength, goodness and will perpetuate defeat on a daily basis. The reason for this is that in those moments, we take our eyes off of the provision of Christ and put them on our own ability to do the right thing. What Jesus did at the cross was for us! This work was a finished work and His great love for us has made us “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37). We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10), and we have been made “the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). If this is who we are in Christ, then why would we view ourselves as anything less?

Make a decision today, to face the often overwhelming cares of this life in light of the finished work of the cross. You can either dwell on the size of the giants and begin to fear, or think of the size of the grapes and begin to rejoice! Be the grasshopper that can’t win or the warrior that cannot lose, and not because of your strength, but because of your Savior. This world can be “bread for us” (Numbers 14:9)