God's Judgment

Everybody talks about judgment. Nobody likes to be judged. We know that being judgmental is not loving. But we do want God to judge those who do evil. God pronounced long-term judgment on the unbelieving adults in the Israelite camp after they refused to take the Promised Land.  He also executed immediate judgment on the ten spies who gave a bad report.  These men fell dead before the Lord.  Only Joshua and Caleb survived. The long-term judgment pronounced on the adults in the community would take 40 years to reach completion. Anyone who saw God’s wonders in Egypt yet refused to enter the Promised Land that God was giving to them would not enjoy the blessings of rest and abundance.  

The whole community is mourning because of the deaths of the spies and for being shut out of The Promised Land. “But those that cried when nothing hurt them deserved to have something given them to cry for” (Matthew Henry). I love this quote; my mom always said, “If you don’t stop crying, I’ll give you something to cry about!” And we were like that, sometimes crying for no reason or crying over something that happened when we got in trouble, but it was our own fault.  Regret is not repentance.  Israel was just sad that things were not going their way. Sometimes we think God should change his mind about our consequences because of the distress we are experiencing. However, God knows the bigger picture and if He does not deal with us for our sin, we will not grow.  In the same way, God had to judge Israel for rejecting Him and His provision or the next generation would be the same. 

Psalm 106: 

24 Then they despised the pleasant land;     they did not believe his promise. 25 They grumbled in their tents     and did not obey the Lord. 26 So he swore to them with uplifted hand     that he would make them fall in the wilderness, 27 make their descendants fall among the nations     and scatter them throughout the lands. 

“Unbelief, or distrust of God, is a sin that is its own punishment. Those that do not trust God are continually vexing themselves.” (Matthew Henry) God said the whole wicked community had banded together against Him and now they would see what it feels like to have God against them. "God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble" the Bible says many times (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). It appears that the Israelites have a pride problem.  Most sin has its root in pride. The original sin of Satan was pride. Isaiah 14:14 records Lucifer’s sin of pride and “wanting to be like the Almighty.” When we let our pride get in the way of trusting God, He must correct us to return us to loving fellowship with our Father.  This is the entire reason that Jesus came to earth. A Holy God cannot tolerate sin; “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). 

From the day of the first sin by the first couple, there has been judgment in the Bible. Once mankind learned the difference between good and evil, there has been a propensity to rebel against good. If you think this is not true, you have not lived with a toddler. Rebellion is in the heart of man. God judged the whole earth when He destroyed it in the flood because every inclination of every heart was only evil all the time. (Genesis 6:5) But even in judgment, God always shows mercy.  In the flood, 8 were saved; in all of Israel’s judgments, God still preserved a remnant. We need to trust that a good God only wants what is best for us and that a lot of the evil in the world is due to sin that reigns in this world. 

Of course, not all of the pain, suffering, and difficult situations in our lives are a direct result of our sin. God is not in heaven looking down on us to punish us whenever we step out of line. This is a very distorted view of God. God's love and His justice are in balance. He does, however, allow free will. From the first decision in the garden of Eden to today's rebellions, humanity often chooses their own way rather than God's. It is a fallen world we live in and bad things also happen to good, godly people. God uses these circumstances to draw us close to Him, but the pain of His children also causes God grief (John 11:35).

In the case of Israel, the majority were against trusting God and convinced the whole community to cry out against God and His provision of a Promised Land full of giants.  There could have been godly people, other than Joshua, Caleb, Moses and Aaron who were willing to take a step of faith into Canaan.  However, Numbers 14:40 tell us, “Early the next morning they set out for the highest point in the hill country, saying, ‘Now we are ready to go up to the land the Lord promised. Surely, we have sinned!’” This may seem like a good thing, but it is not.  The people are not listening to God.  The way to make things right with God is according to His Word. He has already said they will not enter the Promised Land, but they are now taking matters into their own hands.  They have seen their error and want to fix it, but it is too late. If they had shown true repentance and come to God, they would never have run up the hill to take the land that next morning. 

Moses tried to stop the Israelites from taking over the Promised Land in their own power, but of course they did not listen. They were attacked by Amalekites and Canaanites and beaten as they fled.  Many died in this attack.  God’s sentence on them was already being carried out.  This is embarrassing to read. They were willing participants in their own demise. We all do things we regret; however, if we try to go back and re-do something in an effort to bypass repentance, God is going to stop us from such a self-centered course of action. 

Numbers 13 and 14 are very sad accounts.  They leave us feeling sorry for the Israelites, sorry for God and sorry for ourselves if the situations remind us of anything we have ever done. But the story never has to end there.  God is in the business of redemption, thankfully. When we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:9)

Jesus came on earth and became sin.  He did not just pay for our sins committed, He took on the heredity of sin for us so we might have the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)