Perhaps the greatest lesson we can learn from ancient Israel is the law of consequence. I see this in the 40 years of their wanderings. After arriving at Mt Sinai in the third month following their departure from Egypt (Exodus 19:1-2), they remained there for almost a year where they received the Ten Commandments, made a covenant with Jehovah and built the tabernacle. It took just eleven days following their departure from Mt Sinai to arrive to Kadesh-barnea where they were on the verge of the promised land (Deuteronomy 1:2). It was within their grasp but their failure to have faith in obtaining the land (Numbers 13:26-33) resulted in one serious consequence…..so near, yet so far. After Moses pleaded with Jehovah to spare the congregation from destruction due to their murmuring against Him, the Lord showed mercy and decreed that all men 20 years of age and older, men of war who wouldn’t take possession of the land due to lack of faith, will never enter the promised land but He would allow the next generation to possess it (Numbers 14:26-35). It makes for heart wrenching reading. It cost ancient Israel 38 years of wandering to suffer the consequence of disobedience. They did not arrive at the promised land again until all the men 20 years and over who had come out of Egypt had died in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14). One might ask, surely in 38 years the Israelites would have become repentant enough for Jehovah to show mercy…..but consequences of sin always have to be suffered, and not just for punishment but for our subsequent growth. Setting the consequence aside, the mercy had already been given when the Israelites’ destruction had been averted and another promise made.
The greatest lesson that can be gleaned from all this is this: the Saviour will never go back on His word. When Moses, after 38 years of wanderings, stood on the east of river Jordan and viewed the promised land of Canaan from Pisgah with longing, he beseeched the Lord to allow him to enter the promised land despite being told he will never get there because of the incident of ‘the rock of Meribah’ (Numbers 20:2-13). The Lord refused and told him to ‘speak no more to Him of this matter’ (Deuteronomy 3:23-26). Once again, consequences have to be suffered, but more importantly, the Lord cannot go back on His word.
The God of Israel is a God of integrity who does not bend with the wind, is not wishy washy and is not changeable. If He was, we would not know where we stood from one moment to the next. We can therefore be assured that He will never go back on what He has decreed and He will never break His covenant with us, the House of Israel (Leviticus 26:44,45), the covenant which I am certain had roots in pre-existence and not just with Abraham in this life. This is a God we can trust and depend on for the salvation of our souls. This is a God who will never forsake us, a God of commitment who endured the cross to the end and given us this assurance: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee [O House of Israel];
Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands….” (Isaiah 49:15,16).
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