A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me.... Then I
will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with
Abraham I will remember; I will remember the land” (vv. 40, 42).
PERSPECTIVE
God had led Israel out of the land of bondage and was now prepared to lead them into the
land of promise. Before they marched to Kadesh Barnea, He wanted them to know He would not
only bless them but discipline them severely if necessary should they violate His special
covenant with them. He was now ready to give them the land, the land He had promised to
Abraham. Sadly, they would very soon demonstrate they were not ready to possess it. But even
the rebellion of Israel could not cause God to forget His covenant, or forget the land.
Israel had experienced half a miracle but because of their failure to respond to God who
had so vividly revealed Himself to them, half a miracle would be all they would experience. God
had intended not only to bring that generation out of Egypt but into the Promised Land. But
between the experience of deliverance and that of rest, God called His people to holiness. Their
failure to respond eventually prevented their being able to experience God’s rest. Believers are
warned in the New Testament that the experiences of Israel in the Old Testament stand as an
example to us today. Sadly, many believers today are willing to settle for half a miracle. They
fail to realize God still calls those whom He has redeemed and delivered to holiness before they
can enjoy the rest He has for them.
TWENTY-FIVE
MOSES:
The Murmuring Multitude
(Numbers; Deuteronomy)
As Israel left Sinai, it was time to enter the Promised Land. The Book of Numbers tells of
her unbelief, how the nation refused to enter the land that God had promised to her. Because of
unbelief, God required that Israel travel by way of “the wilderness, to humble you, and test you,
to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut.
8:2). God did not require the wilderness experience that lasted forty years. In the ideal timing of
God, the period in the wilderness was nearing its conclusion and it was now time for Israel to
enter into her possession.
The people of Israel rebelled against God and would not follow His leading, so for thirtyeight
years they wandered about in the desert until an entire generation died off. Whereas the
Book of Leviticus covers the details of only a few weeks, the Book of Numbers describes the
period of an entire generation. Yet the depressing nature of that period is revealed in the Hebrew
title of Numbers, Bemidbar meaning “in the wilderness.” They were in the wilderness both
geographically and spiritually. A generation which was offered a land that flowed with milk and
honey, died in the wilderness because of their constant murmuring and natural tendency to rebel.
God offered to let Israel occupy Canaan, but “they could not enter in because of unbelief’
(Heb. 3:19). Spiritually, there is an application to the Christian life. “There remains therefore a
rest for the people of God” (4:9). It is possible for a believer to miss many spiritual blessings