The Lord commanded that Moses and Eleazar the priest take a census of the sons of Israel, men who were twenty years old and upward, by their fathers households, whoever is able to go to war. The sons of Israel numbered 601,730 able men. The inheritance in the land was given by lot and the larger tribes received a larger portion. The tribe of Levi numbered 23,000 but they were given no inheritance. This was a new census because none of the men (except Caleb and Joshua) remained who were numbered in the wilderness of Sinai.
The sons of Israel returned to the border about to enter into the promised land. None of the elders remained. They all died during the forty years of wondering in the wilderness. Of those who were twenty years old and upward, none remained but Caleb and Joshua. Even Moses would perish before they entered into the promised land. It is the children who would receive the inheritance of the Lord.
We who follow the Lord Jesus Christ are promised eternal life in the world to come. It will be heaven on earth and we will dwell in the presence of the Lord. We have already received our inheritance but not yet. It is an already not yet reality. We are between justification and glorification. We are being sanctified. The apostle Paul wrote:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (1 Cor 13:12)
The sons of Israel had not yet seen the promised land but they had heard about it. We have not seen the new world but we have heard about it and trust in the goodness of the Lord.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Heb 11:1)
