What does it say?
The people wanted to return to Egypt because they feared the report that they heard regarding the people in the land of Canaan. Caleb and Joshua who were of the twelve that spied out the land, pleaded with the people to fear the Lord but the people intended to stone them until the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting. The Lord questioned Moses, How long will the people spurn and not believe in the name of the Lord? Moses pleaded with the Lord to forgive the people and not destroy them. The Lord pardoned them per Moses’ request, but vowed that no one who has seen the signs and spurned the Lord will enter the promised land. The Lord sentenced the congregation to forty years of wondering in the desert and he vowed that no one, twenty years old and upward, except for Caleb and Joshua, will enter the promised land. The Lord destroyed the ten men who gave a bad report but spared Joshua and Caleb. After hearing the word of the Lord the congregation lamented; therefore, they decided to go up against the Amalekites and Canaanites without the Lord and were defeated.
What does it mean?
The prologue to the gospel according to John is one of my favorite text of Scripture because it explains the purpose for the Lord’s incarnation. As many as received Jesus, to them Jesus gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in Jesus’s name. (Jn 1:12) In the gospel of John are recored seven miracles and seven “I AM” statements. Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day.” (Jn 6:40) The Lord promises eternal life to all who believe in his name and do not spurn his word. In the old covenant, the promise was the land of Canaan but in the new covenant it is heaven on earth. Do you believe in the name of the Lord? If so, do not spurn the word of the Lord. Of all those who saw the miracles done by the Lord in the wilderness, only two men believed and would enter the promised land.
What shall I do?
I shall trust the Lord and not fear the dark forces of this world. The Lord is all knowing, all powerful and all good. There is nothing that he does not know, nothing that he cannot do and all of his promises are truth. I shall trust in Jesus Christ alone. He is the word of the Lord become flesh.
