Understanding our New Testament position in Christ is revealed by spiritual insight and revelation found in the Old Testament. For instance…
Numbers 13:2,3 “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. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.”
Interestingly, these were not just a group of volunteers; they were specifically selected because of their position within the twelve tribes.
BTW…They spent 40 days in the promised land (they spent 40 years in the desert)
They were the leadership of the children, the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now jumping ahead to the outcome of their mission…
10 reported…
Numbers 13 32:33 “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
2 reported…
Numbers 14:6-9 “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.”
I know, we’ve all heard this story a million times but lets look at it from our position in Christ here, in the New Testament…
None of the people who believed and followed the report of the 10 spies ever entered the promised land. Only Joshua and Caleb and the next generation of Israelites entered in.
Think of the most precious promise given each of us today from God – our redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. Just as the 10 tribes of Judah could never enter the promise land, neither could the 10 commandments bring complete restoration before God.
You ask, “But what about the other two spies and the children of Israel?
First, before entering the land of Canaan a decision had to be made. There had to be confidence and faith that this new land belonged to them. The same is true in our own salvation. We must come to Christ.
We come to the realization that we cannot remain in our desert. We cannot gain the promise of heaven (our promised land) without first “crossing over”. God through His great love for us provided His Son as a final sacrifice on the cross, for all our sin.
Jesus gave us two finale commandments to take the place of the ten and to bring us into right standing before God (our promise land).
Matthew 22:36-39 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
As we walk in grace with Jesus, we fulfill the “it is finished” work of the Old Testament.
Numbers 13:2,3 “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. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.”
Interestingly, these were not just a group of volunteers; they were specifically selected because of their position within the twelve tribes.
BTW…They spent 40 days in the promised land (they spent 40 years in the desert)
They were the leadership of the children, the twelve tribes of Israel.
Now jumping ahead to the outcome of their mission…
10 reported…
Numbers 13 32:33 “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
2 reported…
Numbers 14:6-9 “And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.”
I know, we’ve all heard this story a million times but lets look at it from our position in Christ here, in the New Testament…
None of the people who believed and followed the report of the 10 spies ever entered the promised land. Only Joshua and Caleb and the next generation of Israelites entered in.
Think of the most precious promise given each of us today from God – our redemption through the blood of Jesus Christ. Just as the 10 tribes of Judah could never enter the promise land, neither could the 10 commandments bring complete restoration before God.
You ask, “But what about the other two spies and the children of Israel?
First, before entering the land of Canaan a decision had to be made. There had to be confidence and faith that this new land belonged to them. The same is true in our own salvation. We must come to Christ.
We come to the realization that we cannot remain in our desert. We cannot gain the promise of heaven (our promised land) without first “crossing over”. God through His great love for us provided His Son as a final sacrifice on the cross, for all our sin.
Jesus gave us two finale commandments to take the place of the ten and to bring us into right standing before God (our promise land).
Matthew 22:36-39 “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
As we walk in grace with Jesus, we fulfill the “it is finished” work of the Old Testament.
No comments:
Post a Comment