Lesson 102 - Junior

Memory Verse

"Through God we shall do valiantly:  for he it is that shall tread down our enemies"  (Psalm 60:12).

Notes

Eyes Off the Lord

The Children of Israel had come to the very borders of the Land of Canaan, and then had let discouragement keep them from enjoying its blessings. After travelling on foot with all their flocks and herds and their little ones for over a year, they could now have taken possession of that good land with its abundance of fruit and milk and honey. But they had taken their eyes off the Lord, and they could not see the blessings.

No matter how faithfully we may have served God for a while, if we take our eyes off Jesus, fail to pray and read His Word in order that we may know what He wants us to do, we will never get to Heaven. Jesus went to Heaven to prepare a place for the people who love Him; and the joy we will have when we get there is greater than we can imagine. But though we get almost to the door of Heaven, and then let sin creep into our lives, we will never go in to enjoy the blessings that are prepared for us.

Spreading Evil Report

The spies who had seen all the good things of the Land of Canaan were afraid of the people who lived there, and they spread fear throughout the camp of Israel. God was so displeased with those wicked spies that He sent a plague, which killed them all. But the damage had already been done. The poison of their discontent and disobedience to God's command had already spread among the Israelites. The people wept because they were afraid of the giants. The strong men of Israel were such cowards that they cried! Think how serious the results were from the evil report of ten men. The great host of Israel became afraid.

And because of their fear, the Children of Israel were turned back into the wilderness to wander for 39 years more, and they never did enjoy Canaan. That good country that was practically in their grasp was lost to them forever. Their little children, who they had said would die in the wilderness, were the ones who finally inherited the land.

How careful we should be never to discourage any of God's children! Even a few words spoken thoughtlessly might weaken someone's faith; and would it not be terrible if we should cause him to miss Heaven?

Giants and Grasshoppers

Were the giants of Canaan really so terrifying? Should the Children of Israel have felt like grasshoppers in their sight? Caleb and Joshua did not think so. They had been spies, too, and had walked throughout the land and had seen all that the other ten spies saw. But they had looked through different eyes. They had the eye of faith, and they knew that God would win their battles. They believed in God; and they said, "We are well able" to take the land. They said that the defence of the Canaanites was gone, and "they are bread for us."

Joshua's Wisdom

Joshua was the military leader of the Israelites, and, he was such a faithful and wise man that he was later chosen to lead the people over Jordan. If there had been real danger, do you not think he would have recognised it? We know that Joshua and Caleb knew where their strength lay, for they said: "Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; ... the LORD is with us." They knew that if the Lord was on their side they could win any battle. But the people would not listen to the spies who brought the good report. They were discouraged and could think only evil thoughts.

Mutiny

God had had long patience with this disobedient people because Moses prayed for them. God had given them food to eat; their clothes had not worn out; and their enemies had fallen back before them. They had every reason to believe that God would fight this battle, too. But, instead, they forgot the miracles that had brought them from Egypt and had kept them alive unto that day, and they cried out: "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!" Can you imagine such ingratitude? And then they greatly dishonoured God and Moses by saying, "Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." They wanted another leader, one who would take them back to wicked Egypt.

Egypt, a Type of Sin

We learned that Egypt was a type of sin, and God had brought His people out of it. Now that discouragement had come, they wanted to go back. But what had they to go back to? They had been slaves of Pharaoh, and had worked hard under the lash of the taskmasters. In their bitterness they had cried unto the Lord, and He had delivered them. What would have been their fate if they had returned? The angry king would no doubt have punished them severely for running away, and he would certainly have made their burdens very heavy. But the Israelites never stopped to think about that.

Such is the fate of the man who forsakes the Christian walk and returns into sin. Satan is a hard taskmaster, and he will heap great burdens upon the sinner. And besides that, eternal punishment awaits the backslider if he does not again repent. In the hour of discouragement one may become weak and feel he cannot hold fast the faith; but in that time he must lean hard upon the Lord for strength, and realize that a worse fate awaits him if he gives up the Christian fight.

God would have destroyed the Israelites for this rebellion had not Moses and Aaron prayed hard for them again. They told God that all the nations round about were watching the march of the Israelites, and they knew that these were God's children. If He would now destroy them the heathen would say that the true God was no greater than the gods they worshiped; that He had not been able to bring them to the land He had promised. God listened to the pleading of Moses and Aaron, and promised that the judgment He would send would be mixed with mercy. He was true to His word that they could not enter Canaan, but He would give them forty years to repent.

Through those many years that the Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness they had many occasions to be sorry that they had disbelieved God. When they suffered great hardships they had only themselves to blame. Their sin had brought all this trouble upon them. They were enduring all those sufferings because they had not believed the Word of God. They did not believe the Lord when He said He would go before them and fight their battles.

The Apostle Paul tells us in Hebrews 3 that it was because of unbelief that they did not inherit the Promised Land. People today do not consider it a sin to disbelieve the Word of God. Even some Christians do not think it very serious if they do not believe some of the promises of God. But it is serious to doubt God. If the Children of Israel failed to enter Canaan because of unbelief, we can also miss Heaven on account of no greater sin than that we doubt part of the Word of God.

If people really believed that eternal punishment in a burning hell awaited them if they disobeyed God, do you think there would be very many sinners? Many people who are not Christians do not believe the Bible at all; but some who claim to believe it doubt that hell is really what the Bible says it is. They hope that after they die there may be some way out, or perhaps hell is not as bad as it is pictured. Satan's business is to turn men's thoughts from judgment until it is too late to repent. There is coming such a time for everyone when there will be no mercy for them, no matter how hard they try to escape punishment.

Israelites' Change of Mind

After Moses told the Israelites what God's judgment for them was, they were so horrified at the thought of having to wander in that wilderness for 39 more years that they decided they would rather take their chance at fighting the Canaanites. But their fate had been settled. God's judgment had been passed and His presence had departed from them. It was useless now for them to try to conquer the foes in their own strength. What a fate! God had departed from them!

Moses pled with the Children of Israel not to be so foolish as to try to fight in their own strength, but there was no stopping their rash move. They went up to war against the Amalekites and what a defeat! These same Amalekites that they had conquered so easily once before with God's help, now completely routed them, and sent them running back to Moses, who had stayed at the Tabernacle in the camp.

Questions

1. Which spies did the Israelites believe?

2. What effect did their report have on them?

3. What did they want to do?

4. What judgment did God send upon them?

5. What did the Israelites want to do after they heard the verdict?

6. Did Moses go with them?

7. What happened when the Israelites fought with the Amalekites?