Intervention – Intercession. Numbers 14:11-45 When the congregation of the children of Israel became violent and reached for stones to kill Caleb and Joshua, Moses and Aaron, the visible presence of God was revealed. Evidence of God's presence is a welcome sight for God's people when we are obedient to Him. It signifies fellowship with Him and the confidence that the covenant made with Him is firm and enduring. However, when God's people become rebellious and act in the energy of the flesh, evidence of God's presence can cause fear in the soul. Instead of experiencing covenant blessings, there is the reality of covenant curses. The glory of the Lord appears not only in moments of joy but also when His people sin against Him.
God was justly angry with His people for rejecting Him by not following His revealed will. Now, they were not only forgetting His promises but also rejecting Him personally and looking for a "captain" to lead them back into bondage in Egypt. After all He had done for them, despite the ten times they failed to trust and obey Him, they completely repudiated Him and His authority. At the Red Sea, when they complained at Marah, in the wilderness of Sin, when they hoarded manna, when they collected manna on the Sabbath, complained about the lack of water, made a gold calf, complained about hardship at Taberah, and about the absence of Egyptian food, now refusing to enter the promised land—these ten instances of failing to uphold their part of the covenant were too much for God to overlook.
It is possible for God's people to think that God is obligated to fulfill our expectations and demands without us meeting our essential responsibilities in a covenant. Some believe that religious ceremonies are all that define our relationship with God. When life becomes difficult, their supposed "faith in God" vanishes, and they turn on those who trust God despite the hardships and challenges they face. Faith truly works in trials, not just in times of ease. "The just shall live by faith."
God was ready to fulfill His promises to Abraham through the descendants of Moses. The danger of immediate extinction for those rebellious people was real. When He offered to wipe out the entire nation of Israel and make a nation from Moses' children, God was not making a trivial remark. Moses needed to understand what was in his own heart toward the Israelites. God knew there would be thirty-eight more years of pressure from Moses' leadership. He was aware of the kind of people they were, but despite their flaws, they still belonged to God—not to Moses. Their national story was just beginning, and it was clear to Moses that God had been with them despite their failures and shortcomings.
What a true act of meekness Moses showed when he interceded for the people of God! The surrounding nations would have quickly learned about the disaster if they had been destroyed. The reputation of God Himself was well known throughout the entire area at that time and would have been reduced to something like human actions. Moses cared about God's glory and the good of His people — not about making a name for himself — and the Lord responded to Moses' faith.
No matter what others say or do, we must remain faithful to God and ask Him to continue demonstrating His power and greatness through whatever means He chooses. The people of God today are in a period of training, and despite our faults and failures, we genuinely desire what God desires. When someone is willing to live for God and pray for others, they have risen to a higher level. From that vantage point, we can see things more clearly and look beyond apparent failures of the moment. On that higher ground, we have fellowship with God and are able to glorify Him personally.
Moses understood God's greatness, glory, and grace just as he understood other attributes of God, such as justice, holiness, and righteousness. He knew enough of God's divine nature to confidently appeal on behalf of the rebellious people. God must punish the guilty, or He would be unjust. The consequences of sin must be faced and addressed. God's longsuffering and the core of His love allow sinful people to live, but there are unavoidable consequences. The words "I have pardoned" serve as a beautiful testimony of God's grace, but His grace does not negate God's governance.
Judgment would be carried out because God "cannot clear the guilty." So those who rejected God's guidance and promises had to turn back and die - the result of unbelief, murmuring, and hardness of heart. Yet because of His grace, the next generation would claim the promises the previous faithless generation rejected. The nation survived, but instead of advancing and taking what could have been theirs, they died because they listened to explanations instead of obeying God's word. That principle still holds true.
We will enjoy those blessings if we believe in what God has promised. If we do not listen to the "learned words" of some man, what could have been ours will pass to others. Amidst all this unbelief and violence, Caleb and Joshua stood firm and "followed Me (God) fully." In their strength at midlife, they had to wait because of the failure of others. When they were old, that strength had not abated. Sometimes, we must stand against the world's temptations, the deception of the flesh, and the "wiles of the devil." The devil will seek to stop God's people from claiming all we have in Christ.
Not only witnessing but experiencing God's miracles of grace and power, and still responding as they did to the evil report of the ten men, reveals that the Israelites never trusted the Lord consistently. We may have seen demonstrations of God's mercy, grace, and power on our behalf, but without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Moses was a faithful intercessor for God’s people, and he responded in a way that surely delighted God’s heart. He humbly and with deep concern pleaded for their pardon. He had no room for bitterness, even though there was failure, and they were difficult to lead.
True faith doesn't selectively exercise itself. To scorn what God has provided is a dangerous act that results in a serious consequence. Some of God's own people today are "for this cause; many are weak and sickly, and many sleep." The spirit of unbelief spreads like a plague, infecting many. When faith claims promises and acts upon them, it becomes stronger and grows. God plants faith within us, and His Word builds and reinforces that faith.
The death of the spies led to a second act of disobedience by the Israelites. They had learned nothing from their previous failed attempt to obey, so once again, out of stubbornness and pride, they took matters into their own hands. They failed again when they tried to enter the land of promise through their own will. They didn't believe Moses when he told them that God had abandoned them and left them to their own ways until they died. Because the Lord was not with them, their enemies defeated and drove them away.
How grievous it is to the Lord when His people act as if He is not the guiding Force in our lives. How sad to see disobedient individuals trying to do God's work in their own strength and failing to achieve what God intended for them. How great is the loss when an entire generation of those professing to belong to the Lord turns back and spends their lives in the wilderness! May the new believers among us learn from the failures of the older generation and move forward in faith to claim what God has promised.