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The Divine Struggle Continues
Finally it was done, and the Covenant was established. Scarcely were the righteous saved from the wrath of God. Thus began the same Divine struggle for centuries…
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Think about the contemplation of the Lord during The Great Pause. The Lord wanted to go with them, dwell in their midst, and with His own Person, overthrow the armies of the Promised Land. He wanted to go with them “in the way” to the Promised Land (Ex. 33:3), but He hesitated. He knew of what scarcity they would survive His holy wrath, if and when He, and not an Angel, did dwell in their midst so as to immediately behold and experience (in a special way) the grotesque manifestation of their sin. He wanted to go with them “in the way” as a gentle Shepherd, but He decided, “I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way” (Ex. 33:3). The Lord did leave them so that He did not consume, for a time, and for a short while He was wrestling in thought of what to do in this dangerous decision of great good, and, potentially, of great annihilation (Ex. 33:5).
The Covenant was reinstated – so what should we expect!? No more annihilation? No, my reader…a near annihilation of God’s people. I am astonished at it. I sigh to write about it. But we need to face it! In the days to come, many will not escape the wrath of God. Alongside God “in the way,” Moses summarized his (and Israel’s) experience in a psalm. Please read it carefully and consider whether or not you know this God. These things were written because God decided to dwell among them. Thus, at the opening of the psalm, Moses said, “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” It is one thing to dwell in some carnally special place that you like, or that is envied by men, but it is another thing for God to be your dwelling place.
The Covenant was reinstated – so what should we expect!? No more annihilation? No, my reader…a near annihilation of God’s people. I am astonished at it. I sigh to write about it. But we need to face it! In the days to come, many will not escape the wrath of God. Alongside God “in the way,” Moses summarized his (and Israel’s) experience in a psalm. Please read it carefully and consider whether or not you know this God. These things were written because God decided to dwell among them. Thus, at the opening of the psalm, Moses said, “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” It is one thing to dwell in some carnally special place that you like, or that is envied by men, but it is another thing for God to be your dwelling place.
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"A Prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth. For we are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knoweth the power of Thine anger? even according to Thy fear, so is Thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants. O satisfy us early with Thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it." (Psalm 90)
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- The Lord abode with them and chose them, that He might abide with them forever by the Covenant at Sinai. My reader, I want you to remember something. Before reaching Sinai but after the Red Sea crossing, while Israel traveled through the desert on the way there, Israel sinned and provoked God’s wrath three times, yet no one died (Ex. 15, 16, 17). I conjecture that it was because, at Sinai, God meant to teach His people the fear of Him, that He might be respected when dwelling among them. Do you remember what happened at Sinai?
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"And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was." (Exodus 20:18-21)
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Before the Covenant at Sinai, Israel provoked God three times and no one died. Now let us study what happened after the Covenant at Sinai and after the Great Pause. Israel provoked God again, three times, and lo, the wrath of God did break forth upon the people. Their near annihilation at “The Great Pause” should have been a deep lesson. They should have known better, but they reverted to their former ways as if God had not instructed them.
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“And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and His anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them” (Numbers 11:1-3).
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At the first temptation in Num. 11:1-3, Moses had no time to intercede before God’s “anger was kindled,” before “the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” It was not until “the people cried” in repentance, and then Moses interceded and “prayed,” that finally “the fire was quenched!” The place in which this happened is named in memory of this great burning fire…it was called Taberah, which being interpreted, means burning.
In the second provocation, “the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague,” and “there they buried the people that lusted” (Num. 11:33-35). The name of the place was called “Kibroth-hattaavah,” which means graves of lust. The third provocation was by Miriam and Aaron in Numbers 12, and in consequence, Miriam was struck with leprosy. The final provocation was called the day of provocation, and at this day, God reprobated all who are involved in the provocation. This was when spies were sent to spy out the Promised Land, and they returned to give an evil, unbelieving report (except for Caleb and Joshua). In turn, 600,000 men of war who were chosen to invade the Promised Land refused to obey God, and in consequence, the Lord said:
In the second provocation, “the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague,” and “there they buried the people that lusted” (Num. 11:33-35). The name of the place was called “Kibroth-hattaavah,” which means graves of lust. The third provocation was by Miriam and Aaron in Numbers 12, and in consequence, Miriam was struck with leprosy. The final provocation was called the day of provocation, and at this day, God reprobated all who are involved in the provocation. This was when spies were sent to spy out the Promised Land, and they returned to give an evil, unbelieving report (except for Caleb and Joshua). In turn, 600,000 men of war who were chosen to invade the Promised Land refused to obey God, and in consequence, the Lord said:
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"And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they." (Numbers 14:11-12)
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Again, like in Exodus 32:10, God sought to kill all of Israel! 600,000 men of war antagonized the justice of God to kill all of Israel, to altogether start again in another line. God said that He would “disinherit them.” Remember the cries of Moses at the fourth intercession that reinitiated the Covenant after “The Great Pause?” Moses pled, “Go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance” (Ex. 34:9). God took them for His inheritance, or possession, and did dwell among them, but here He sought annihilation of them, or to “disinherit them.” At the Great Pause, Moses cried this cry for forty days: “O Lord GOD, destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance” (Deut. 9:26), and yet God, because of repetitive provocations, could scarcely bear their existence any longer!
Moses interceded, and availed, but not for the 600,000 men of war! The Lord repented of a total annihilation, and instead He only reprobated the 600,000 men of war. He chose to kill them over the next forty years, until their “carcasses be wasted in the wilderness” (Num. 14:33), and so, for forty years, He used them as an example for their sons and daughters to behold – watching men die – because God chose them for the Covenant in their fathers’ stead. In grief, the Lord said, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against Me” (Num. 14:27). It is finished for them, and there is no more mercy; God says, “in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die” (Num. 14:35).
The merciful, loving, and saving Lord, Who delivered them from Egypt, could not continue along the way with the people to persevere them into the Promised Land, because their repeated sinfulness provoked God too far…into a will of wrath and destruction without any possibility of repentance or intercession. Israel didn’t know that this would be the last temptation they had left, that after this there would be no more mercy. All the former provocations were able to be pacified, unto the preservation of most of Israel, but now, 600,000 men of war, representing the male adults and family heads of all the Israelite family lines, which are the male adults of a whole generation (minus the Levites), and all of them are ordained to destruction without repentance. This generation, in their wanderings through the wilderness for the next forty years, experienced what Moses wrote about in Psalm 90, in which he said – “For we are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.” Whether it was murmurings or some other rebellion of some sort, the wrath of God became increasingly more fatal upon the people as time continued. The lives preserved by intercession were less and less. After many provocations…then the temptation within the heart of God to destroy them surmounted the forbearance to preserve them. They did “tempt Me,” God says, “now these ten times and have not hearkened to My voice” (Num. 14:22).
Moses interceded, and availed, but not for the 600,000 men of war! The Lord repented of a total annihilation, and instead He only reprobated the 600,000 men of war. He chose to kill them over the next forty years, until their “carcasses be wasted in the wilderness” (Num. 14:33), and so, for forty years, He used them as an example for their sons and daughters to behold – watching men die – because God chose them for the Covenant in their fathers’ stead. In grief, the Lord said, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against Me” (Num. 14:27). It is finished for them, and there is no more mercy; God says, “in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die” (Num. 14:35).
The merciful, loving, and saving Lord, Who delivered them from Egypt, could not continue along the way with the people to persevere them into the Promised Land, because their repeated sinfulness provoked God too far…into a will of wrath and destruction without any possibility of repentance or intercession. Israel didn’t know that this would be the last temptation they had left, that after this there would be no more mercy. All the former provocations were able to be pacified, unto the preservation of most of Israel, but now, 600,000 men of war, representing the male adults and family heads of all the Israelite family lines, which are the male adults of a whole generation (minus the Levites), and all of them are ordained to destruction without repentance. This generation, in their wanderings through the wilderness for the next forty years, experienced what Moses wrote about in Psalm 90, in which he said – “For we are consumed by Thine anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance. For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.” Whether it was murmurings or some other rebellion of some sort, the wrath of God became increasingly more fatal upon the people as time continued. The lives preserved by intercession were less and less. After many provocations…then the temptation within the heart of God to destroy them surmounted the forbearance to preserve them. They did “tempt Me,” God says, “now these ten times and have not hearkened to My voice” (Num. 14:22).
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Threat of TOTAL ANNIHILATION #1 -->
BREAKING FORTH OF WRATH --> Threat of TOTAL ANNIHILATION #2 --> |
Exodus 32:10, “…that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.”
Then the Sinai Covenant is Established, and… 1st Temptation) Numbers 11:1-3, the Taberah-burning. 2nd Temptation) Numbers 11:33-35, the Kibroth-hattaavah-graves of lust. 3rd Temptation) Numbers 12, Miriam struck with leprosy. 4th Temptation) Numbers 14:11-12, “I will smite them…disinherit them…will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.” |
In the three temptations after the Covenant’s establishment, Moses did intercede successfully, at least to preserve the generation from reprobation. God was still bringing most of them to heaven! In these three intercessions after Sinai, many people did die, but we don’t see all that God was wrestling over in His heart, or all that Moses prayed to God in those hours and days. In “The Great Pause,” we hear some of what God said, and some of what Moses interceded, and what God repented from…but in the subsequent three outbreaks of wrath, we can only imagine that the wrestle against wrath was like the former ones, or like wrestlings later chronicled in other centuries, such as Amos, for example, when he interceded before God in Amos 7:1-9.
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A Revelation of Destroying Wrath -->
(GIVE TO AMOS) |
1st) “then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech Thee, by whom shall Jacob rise? For he is small. The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD” – Amos 7:1-3
2nd) “Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech Thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? For he is mall. The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord God” – Amos 7:4-6 3rd) “Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in His hand. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword” – Amos 7:7-9 |
You see, there were three revelations of God’s wrath to Amos, and behold how Amos wrestled them, until, two were repented of so that the mind of God changed, but the third one was established. This is the same scenario of how it was for Moses after the Covenant was established in Israel. There were four temptations – Burning, graves of lust, and leprosy were the results – but had not Moses interceded, like Amos, one can only imagine how the people would have been totally annihilated! Instead, my reader, by the grace of God, they were only nearly annihilated, but this does not mean that God did not desire to totally annihilate them! Back in Exodus 32:10 at Sinai, at the overflow of wrath which began “The Great Pause,” do you remember how God wanted to totally destroy all of Israel and begin again with Moses? Well, in the wrestlings of the Almighty, one can only imagine this desire still rising in His heart – hotter and hotter in each subsequent temptation – until finally, at the fourth temptation in Numbers 14:11-13 – AGAIN – God speaks forth the commanded desire to totally annihilate Israel and start over with Moses! Both times God said to Moses, “I will make of thee a great nation,” or, “I will make of thee a greater nation" (Exodus 32:10, Num. 14:12). Before Sinai, but after the Red Sea crossing, Israel tempted God and went on without any physical manifestation of wrath; yet again, even then, one can only imagine what is happening in the unseen realm, in the heavenlies, how the Divine struggle wrestled and the fires raged! Their salvation from these first temptations was with scarcity, no doubt. As the wrath of God was continually resisted by the will of God which pressed for mercy, even so, their salvation continued. This means that they continued on in perseverance, but with each temptation which continued, the wrath of God began to break forth into increasingly hard causalities. What the people could not learn by faith, they were taught by stroke and lash. They did not learn to fear the wrath of God which Moses secretly wrestled against and afterward reported to them; yet now this unseen wrath was breaking forth upon them! “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
God will strike Israel to instruct Israel, if that’s what it takes. He will do this until He says, “Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isaiah 1:5). "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20:30), but if after many stripes the heart is not made better…If after many stripes the heart is not healed and made right, with faith-filled fear, then they have wandered out from underneath their only safe haven – the love of God. “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21); God says. KEEP YOURSELVES! The Godhead undergoes emotional trauma and lamentation as the will of God to destroy surmounts the love of God to forbear. Thus it was written: “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever” (Deut. 5:29)!
Now consider this, true Christian, you could have survived all of your provocations to God up to this point in your regenerated life – but unknowingly, will tomorrow be your tenth temptation that breaches the barrier of His lion-like, angry fire unto your quick annihilation!? The Israelites did not know they were walking into their tenth temptation. These things were accounted of in the heavenlies, as a secret. Israel was given clear commands, but they never laid them to heart in the fear of God. Oh, don’t make the same mistake my beloved brethren! This generation of saved men and women, God’s beloved Israel – they were “forgiven” – “from Egypt even until now” – Moses says, but behold how the day of their provocation came (Num. 14:19), how the longstanding forgiveness did run out! Israel was an adulterous woman, “she received not correction” (Zeph. 3:2); even so, the people were nearly annihilated. Then God repented, but lo, not of His wrath over the generation of male heads numbering 600,000 strong.
God will strike Israel to instruct Israel, if that’s what it takes. He will do this until He says, “Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isaiah 1:5). "The blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly” (Proverbs 20:30), but if after many stripes the heart is not made better…If after many stripes the heart is not healed and made right, with faith-filled fear, then they have wandered out from underneath their only safe haven – the love of God. “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21); God says. KEEP YOURSELVES! The Godhead undergoes emotional trauma and lamentation as the will of God to destroy surmounts the love of God to forbear. Thus it was written: “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever” (Deut. 5:29)!
Now consider this, true Christian, you could have survived all of your provocations to God up to this point in your regenerated life – but unknowingly, will tomorrow be your tenth temptation that breaches the barrier of His lion-like, angry fire unto your quick annihilation!? The Israelites did not know they were walking into their tenth temptation. These things were accounted of in the heavenlies, as a secret. Israel was given clear commands, but they never laid them to heart in the fear of God. Oh, don’t make the same mistake my beloved brethren! This generation of saved men and women, God’s beloved Israel – they were “forgiven” – “from Egypt even until now” – Moses says, but behold how the day of their provocation came (Num. 14:19), how the longstanding forgiveness did run out! Israel was an adulterous woman, “she received not correction” (Zeph. 3:2); even so, the people were nearly annihilated. Then God repented, but lo, not of His wrath over the generation of male heads numbering 600,000 strong.
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"Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach Thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more." (Job 34:31-32)
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This ought to have been the repentance of Israel after the first stripes of wrath. Yet now, this congregation goes into the wilderness to undergo, still more, further revelations of terror, and why? Because they will not keep the FEAR OF GOD in the midst of their heart (2 Cor. 5:9-11, Heb. 12:25-29, 12:15, 1 Peter 1:17, Luke 12:4-5).With difficulty and many casualties, the people came to understand – GOD IS HOLY.
Think of it! God warned of His intent to destroy all of Israel. Then Moses warned of it, and explained how difficult and scarce their salvation was, that God was moving after them, and that He had nearly executed an entire annihilation of them, had not Moses stood in the breach to turn away His wrath. When Moses stood before God upon Sinai, he cried – MERCY, PARDON, SALVATION! When Moses came down from the Sinai and stood before sinning saints, he commanded – REPENT, JUDGE SIN, HUMBLE YOURSELF, FEAR GOD, OBEY!
Moses wanted them to understand the scarcity of salvation, and with what difficulty was it secured! Then God exercises the people, but not with the report of Moses alone. Moses was angry when he came down from the Mount; that is one thing…but Moses’ weak face, trembling body, and honest reports didn’t make the people fear. Even so, God did increasingly show them what Moses was reporting to them - God’s burning WRATH. God is no longer licking up the sacrifices with the fire of His anger. The cry they should have heard from Moses, they now experience themselves, and they lift aloud the verity of it! God said – they will perish! Moses said – you nearly all perished! And now the people say – “WE ALL PERISH” (Num. 17:12)! Let these cries sink down into your ears, my reader: “Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the Tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying” (Num. 17:12-13). This is the result of their next temptation after the day of provocation. In Numbers 16, 250 princes of Israel murmured against Moses. They proudly made diverse accusations against him, and did infect Israel with an evil suspicion. They did gather “all the congregation against them unto the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation” (Num. 16:19). Though these 250 princes did sin, God was not only intent on killing these 250 men! God was intent on destroying all the congregation of Israel, instantly! This is THE THIRD TIME where God threatens TOTAL ANNIHILATION! The Lord said…
Think of it! God warned of His intent to destroy all of Israel. Then Moses warned of it, and explained how difficult and scarce their salvation was, that God was moving after them, and that He had nearly executed an entire annihilation of them, had not Moses stood in the breach to turn away His wrath. When Moses stood before God upon Sinai, he cried – MERCY, PARDON, SALVATION! When Moses came down from the Sinai and stood before sinning saints, he commanded – REPENT, JUDGE SIN, HUMBLE YOURSELF, FEAR GOD, OBEY!
Moses wanted them to understand the scarcity of salvation, and with what difficulty was it secured! Then God exercises the people, but not with the report of Moses alone. Moses was angry when he came down from the Mount; that is one thing…but Moses’ weak face, trembling body, and honest reports didn’t make the people fear. Even so, God did increasingly show them what Moses was reporting to them - God’s burning WRATH. God is no longer licking up the sacrifices with the fire of His anger. The cry they should have heard from Moses, they now experience themselves, and they lift aloud the verity of it! God said – they will perish! Moses said – you nearly all perished! And now the people say – “WE ALL PERISH” (Num. 17:12)! Let these cries sink down into your ears, my reader: “Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the Tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying” (Num. 17:12-13). This is the result of their next temptation after the day of provocation. In Numbers 16, 250 princes of Israel murmured against Moses. They proudly made diverse accusations against him, and did infect Israel with an evil suspicion. They did gather “all the congregation against them unto the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation” (Num. 16:19). Though these 250 princes did sin, God was not only intent on killing these 250 men! God was intent on destroying all the congregation of Israel, instantly! This is THE THIRD TIME where God threatens TOTAL ANNIHILATION! The Lord said…
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Threat of TOTAL ANNIHILATION #3 -->
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"Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?" (Numbers 16:21-22)
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As God called Lot out of Sodom and did forbear His wrath until Lot came out, so God commanded Moses and Aaron to flee from this congregation that they might escape an impending wrath which was intent on Israel’s entire annihilation – sudden genocide – as in a moment! The Lord changed His mind at the intercession of Moses, and He had mercy. Now again, He repented and did not destroy the entire congregation. I repeat: this is the third time God was provoked to an entire annihilation. Those who desired to escape the sins of these men (Korah & the 250 princes) were given the opportunity, and Moses said:
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“Depart, I pray you, from the tents of thse wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children” (Num. 16:26-27, 2 Cor. 6:17-7:1).
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Moses, by earnest entreaties under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, resisted the command and will of God to annihilate all of Israel. God said to Moses and Aaron – “Separate yourselves” – then God repented, but lo, then Moses sounded forth the message of salvation – “Depart, I pray you.” God said – “SEPARATE!” And then Moses said – “DEPART!” The same fearful calls are given to us in the New Testament, even to all that desire to escape the wrath of God – “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you” (2 Cor. 6:17). Those that came out from the rebellious, unclean company, they survived (at least for now), and the earth “opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation” (Num. 16:31-33). Those that are fearless and think all is well…they will suddenly fall into hell. When this happened, “all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense” (Num. 16:34-35).
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Threat of TOTAL ANNIHILATION #4 -->
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“Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment” (Num. 16:45).
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The next day (without 24 hours passing by), Israel murmured against the Lord, and said, “ye have killed the people of the LORD” (Num. 16:41). They were dissatisfied, dishonoring, and disagreeing with the holy justice of God. When this happened, the Lord endeavored to kill all of Israel again. God commanded Moses the same thing – “Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment” (Num. 16:45). This is the fourth time God righteously and genuinely intended to annihilate all of Israel, but this time the wrath of God had already “gone out from the LORD!” This means that the plague of total annihilation had already begun (Num. 16:46)! Again, the prophets wrestle for intercession, and yet there was none! Prayer did not avail and Moses knew they needed to do something else, something more…
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“And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that die about the matter of Korah” (Num. 16:47-49).
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The scarcity of salvation was here exemplified, even the sovereign choice of God, though it is cloaked with the appearance of chance. Men are dying by the thousands, and the prophets rush to be a conflict to the plague. Only the timely intercession of a chosen prophet could intercede, until, he was the separation between the dead and the living. Without this, justice having its full swing, all of Israel would have been consumed – “in a moment” (Num. 16:45).
Do you think God is trying to give us a message? He is determinate to teach us something of His severity, the difficulty of salvation, and it is in no uncertain terms. Also He would teach us the need for separateness, holiness, and obedience. He desires to leave us in a terrifying, holy,
admiration of this purpose in God – “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16). And, “If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:17). It was after this frightening scene took place, when all the people could see the very means of their perseverance before their eyes - an interceding body of a prophet – and how he scarcely kept back the killing, destroying, and annihilating justice of God! Who would stand in front of a stampede of thunder, but lo, prophets stand before God! What happened in the heavenlies before – now it lieth hard upon the people, and that which was a wrestle in secret, between God & prophet, now is displayed openly! Keep His holiness in the midst of your heart, and you will not need breathtaking stripes and awful emergencies to humble you into the dust. Stay in the dust, and God will lift you up with His love; otherwise He will strike you down with His wrath.
How could an Israelite forget this fear, now that it was learned by wrath-fires burning, Israelite men in the graves, leprosy, earth openings with human-swallowing power, and breaking forth clouds of fire? “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe” – but now the remnant that was alive did see the signs and wonders of His wrath. Now, finally…they believed what was formerly reported. Years went by, and tragically, they let it slip. God wants us to see the inescapable annihilation of all those who learn these lessons of saving faith and fear, and yet “let them slip” (Heb. 2:1). That is what the writer of Hebrews describes as their great demise. It was not that they never learned the way, but rather, what they did learn, they let slip. It was not that they never held the saving treasures of faith in their possession, that they never gripped the saving line of salvation fast, but that which they formerly held and gripped, they let slip. Mercy ran out because they sinned away their days of grace. “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Heb. 2:1-3). It would be a safeguard for us to understand, just this – what the writer of Hebrews is thinking about in this very warning! Look at the staggering truth! Hell is but a “slip” away!
How did Israel slip? Great lengths of time, coupled with the ever-consistent, faithful love from God (by Manna, provision, protection, and guidance), could contribute to the subtlety in which an Israelite would unknowingly become highminded and fearless. The fear of what was formerly experienced, though it was for a long time fervently remembered, yet now forgotten – and God will not remind Israel anymore through messages of reproof, but surprising and annihilating consummations arriving suddenly upon them. That which should have been unforgettable, we can forget, and if the reminders of God will not break your heart, you will be, from salvation, broken off. “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:19-22). “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
In Numbers 21, Israel was stricken with another plague of wrath, and another in Numbers 25. In Numbers 25, the children of Israel sinned again, this time in the matter of Baalpeor. The wrath of God broke forth upon the people! Then the Lord commanded Moses to “take the heads of the people” which had sinned, and “hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel,” but after this, the anger of God was still not turned away! Why? The intercession was still incomplete, because some mark of justice was compromised. Those which had sinned were hung up in execution, but while sin still progressed, the plague of wrath could not rest. Consider this graphic scene:
Do you think God is trying to give us a message? He is determinate to teach us something of His severity, the difficulty of salvation, and it is in no uncertain terms. Also He would teach us the need for separateness, holiness, and obedience. He desires to leave us in a terrifying, holy,
admiration of this purpose in God – “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (2 Cor. 6:16). And, “If any man defile the Temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the Temple of God is holy, which Temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:17). It was after this frightening scene took place, when all the people could see the very means of their perseverance before their eyes - an interceding body of a prophet – and how he scarcely kept back the killing, destroying, and annihilating justice of God! Who would stand in front of a stampede of thunder, but lo, prophets stand before God! What happened in the heavenlies before – now it lieth hard upon the people, and that which was a wrestle in secret, between God & prophet, now is displayed openly! Keep His holiness in the midst of your heart, and you will not need breathtaking stripes and awful emergencies to humble you into the dust. Stay in the dust, and God will lift you up with His love; otherwise He will strike you down with His wrath.
How could an Israelite forget this fear, now that it was learned by wrath-fires burning, Israelite men in the graves, leprosy, earth openings with human-swallowing power, and breaking forth clouds of fire? “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe” – but now the remnant that was alive did see the signs and wonders of His wrath. Now, finally…they believed what was formerly reported. Years went by, and tragically, they let it slip. God wants us to see the inescapable annihilation of all those who learn these lessons of saving faith and fear, and yet “let them slip” (Heb. 2:1). That is what the writer of Hebrews describes as their great demise. It was not that they never learned the way, but rather, what they did learn, they let slip. It was not that they never held the saving treasures of faith in their possession, that they never gripped the saving line of salvation fast, but that which they formerly held and gripped, they let slip. Mercy ran out because they sinned away their days of grace. “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him” (Heb. 2:1-3). It would be a safeguard for us to understand, just this – what the writer of Hebrews is thinking about in this very warning! Look at the staggering truth! Hell is but a “slip” away!
How did Israel slip? Great lengths of time, coupled with the ever-consistent, faithful love from God (by Manna, provision, protection, and guidance), could contribute to the subtlety in which an Israelite would unknowingly become highminded and fearless. The fear of what was formerly experienced, though it was for a long time fervently remembered, yet now forgotten – and God will not remind Israel anymore through messages of reproof, but surprising and annihilating consummations arriving suddenly upon them. That which should have been unforgettable, we can forget, and if the reminders of God will not break your heart, you will be, from salvation, broken off. “Because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off” (Rom. 11:19-22). “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12).
In Numbers 21, Israel was stricken with another plague of wrath, and another in Numbers 25. In Numbers 25, the children of Israel sinned again, this time in the matter of Baalpeor. The wrath of God broke forth upon the people! Then the Lord commanded Moses to “take the heads of the people” which had sinned, and “hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel,” but after this, the anger of God was still not turned away! Why? The intercession was still incomplete, because some mark of justice was compromised. Those which had sinned were hung up in execution, but while sin still progressed, the plague of wrath could not rest. Consider this graphic scene:
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"And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.”
[Why wasn’t the plague of wrath stayed after all of this?] “And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for My sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in My jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." (Numbers 25:1-13) |
Tearful intercession by prayer could not avail when intercessions of judgment were not perfectly complete. The plague was so fierce, the casualties so great, the congregation was “weeping before the door of the Tabernacle,” and hoping, that their groaning might win God’s pitiful eye. Nevertheless, Phinehas – the man of God – he saw the cause of the unbroken plague! God’s command was to slay every one that were joined unto Baalpeor, and behold, there was one man yet in the very deed! On account of this man’s sin, Israelite after Israelite was steadily slain by the anger of God. Because the sinner is still alive, alas, the burning justice does slaughter all! God is the determiner of justice, and on account of this one man, He is steadily and fiercely annihilating His people. If justice goes a hair unaccomplished, wrath may surmount its restraints. If you see wrath break forth, then look to God’s judgments – look carefully so as to see them completed. In them dwelleth hope, life, and favor – “For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil?” Just do exactly what He says. Will He be pleased with those men hanging up as a sacrifice to God, while at present, even now, the very sin that required their death is being committed!? “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” (Micah 6:7-8). We must love mercy, and yet, we must be merciless in the causes of justice. The wicked do wander from the word of the Lord being drawn about by inordinate loves, even “as a bird hasteth to the snare and knoweth not that it is for his life” (Prov. 7:23). Behold, the sinner went off in his mischief in the sight of all Israel, and Phinehas – HE “SAW IT!” “He rose up from among the congregation!” That is God’s call: rise and obey! He rose up from the congregation because the rest of them were mistaken and amiss. Moses and “all the congregation of the children of Israel” that were “weeping before the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation,” they were weeping instead of working – now- in the hour when God calleth for obedience! Do the difficult and keep judgment; don’t neglect the javelin of God’s holy justice. Be zealous for God. Phinehas rose up to kill; even so, it was that God might cease to kill. Had not Phinehas stood up and acted, the jealous wrath of God would have made a full end of Israel as the former times, even though all of Israel did not sin.
This generation of Israelites became like a “tale that is told” (Ps. 90). Their offspring, chosen to enter the Promised Land, underwent the training yoke of hard things, waiting and watching till God made an end of every one of their fathers…until they buried the last one…only then God took up the journey back to the good land. God sought to burn within them a persevering fear by actual events of fire and blood. Otherwise, He promised that such an annihilation would come upon Israel that “all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger” (Deut. 29:24)? What happened in the sight of the Israelites, God would rehearse again in the sight of “all nations,” that they all would come to know “the heat of this great anger!” Amazing! The Lord said He would smite the land with “plagues” and “sicknesses” (Deut. 29:22), “and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass growth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath” (Deut. 29:23). This did eventually happen, as it is written, “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9). Preceding this climactic annihilation, there was centuries of wrestling, intercession, and Divine struggle. There was much repenting in the conversation of the prophets with God, that is, until every curse pursued and overtook Israel in the end (Deut. 28:15).
The remnant that survived the experience of this cursed annihilation, comparable Sodom and Gomorrah, said, “Yet many years didst Thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by Thy spirit in Thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest Thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for Thy great mercies’ sake Thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for Thou art a gracious and merciful God” (Neh. 9:31). The greatness of God’s mercy was understood through the lens of holy justice, that it is the mercy of God that they did survive at all. It was mercy that some lived and not all died. Can you say this? Do you understand this to be the mercy of God to save you, to persevere you “in the way” to your Promised Land? It is written, “if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear” (1 Peter 4:18)!? Is this your understanding of God’s relationship with the righteous, chosen, covenanted, saved individuals?
Before I press you on the matter of election, namely, on the vital application these passages have on those who strive, as the scripture demandeth, “to make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 2:10), I want you to see this peculiar mark of righteous men – how they had a deep understanding of the scarcity of salvation. They were marked with a peculiar understanding of fear toward God, the one and only God, Who has a dangerous and overtly sensitive holiness, and a wrath that was scarcely escapable and severe. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).
There is a difficulty and scarcity for the righteous to be saved because they are so near in proximity to so holy a Lord of glory, and yet, they are so prone to deserve damnation by repeated, rebellious wanderings. The generation after the Exodus generation that Joshua led into the Promised Land, was faithful. Nevertheless they too had to learn the severity of God’s wrath. LESSON #1 for this generation was at CITY CONQUEST #1 – Jericho. Have you ever heard of Achan? At the conquest of the first city in the Promised Land, Achan sinned. On account of his sin – his sin alone! – all of Israel was troubled and rendered powerless before their enemies. One man’s sin did this! When they went to war 36 men died, and then God warned Joshua, saying, Israel was “accursed!” Let that stagger you! God said to His beloved servant Joshua, “Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you” (Josh. 7:12). God said, destroy him or I will destroy you. Joshua’s walk with God, the state of Israel as a nation, their ability to defeat their enemies, and with thirty six men already dead, Joshua knew the judgment of God was severe.
This generation of Israelites became like a “tale that is told” (Ps. 90). Their offspring, chosen to enter the Promised Land, underwent the training yoke of hard things, waiting and watching till God made an end of every one of their fathers…until they buried the last one…only then God took up the journey back to the good land. God sought to burn within them a persevering fear by actual events of fire and blood. Otherwise, He promised that such an annihilation would come upon Israel that “all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger” (Deut. 29:24)? What happened in the sight of the Israelites, God would rehearse again in the sight of “all nations,” that they all would come to know “the heat of this great anger!” Amazing! The Lord said He would smite the land with “plagues” and “sicknesses” (Deut. 29:22), “and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass growth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger, and in His wrath” (Deut. 29:23). This did eventually happen, as it is written, “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:9). Preceding this climactic annihilation, there was centuries of wrestling, intercession, and Divine struggle. There was much repenting in the conversation of the prophets with God, that is, until every curse pursued and overtook Israel in the end (Deut. 28:15).
The remnant that survived the experience of this cursed annihilation, comparable Sodom and Gomorrah, said, “Yet many years didst Thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by Thy spirit in Thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest Thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. Nevertheless for Thy great mercies’ sake Thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for Thou art a gracious and merciful God” (Neh. 9:31). The greatness of God’s mercy was understood through the lens of holy justice, that it is the mercy of God that they did survive at all. It was mercy that some lived and not all died. Can you say this? Do you understand this to be the mercy of God to save you, to persevere you “in the way” to your Promised Land? It is written, “if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear” (1 Peter 4:18)!? Is this your understanding of God’s relationship with the righteous, chosen, covenanted, saved individuals?
Before I press you on the matter of election, namely, on the vital application these passages have on those who strive, as the scripture demandeth, “to make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 2:10), I want you to see this peculiar mark of righteous men – how they had a deep understanding of the scarcity of salvation. They were marked with a peculiar understanding of fear toward God, the one and only God, Who has a dangerous and overtly sensitive holiness, and a wrath that was scarcely escapable and severe. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).
There is a difficulty and scarcity for the righteous to be saved because they are so near in proximity to so holy a Lord of glory, and yet, they are so prone to deserve damnation by repeated, rebellious wanderings. The generation after the Exodus generation that Joshua led into the Promised Land, was faithful. Nevertheless they too had to learn the severity of God’s wrath. LESSON #1 for this generation was at CITY CONQUEST #1 – Jericho. Have you ever heard of Achan? At the conquest of the first city in the Promised Land, Achan sinned. On account of his sin – his sin alone! – all of Israel was troubled and rendered powerless before their enemies. One man’s sin did this! When they went to war 36 men died, and then God warned Joshua, saying, Israel was “accursed!” Let that stagger you! God said to His beloved servant Joshua, “Neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you” (Josh. 7:12). God said, destroy him or I will destroy you. Joshua’s walk with God, the state of Israel as a nation, their ability to defeat their enemies, and with thirty six men already dead, Joshua knew the judgment of God was severe.
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“And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day” (Joshua 7:24-26).
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On account of one man’s sin, all of Israel suffered under the wrath of God. Think of the emotional pain as a consequence of this public execution! Many soldiers who have seen the gore of war are haunted by its scenes of battle, whether awake or asleep. The cries of their fallen comrades do restlessly echo in the annals of their mind. For the Israelite, there was a very different cause, but a similar memory with a gruesome end. The common Israelite remembered the cries of Achan, his wife, and children, as they lifted their voices for mercy when they were stoned to death. Think of the gripping emotion in their cries as if they were pleading with you – looking right at you – begging mercy with their eyes. Think of the after-effect of this on the whole Israelite nation. Some men are driven to mad fury by jealousy over their wives. Some parents have murderous rage against kidnappers and sexual assaulters. With how much hatred, then, would the Israelite be angered with idols? To what extent would he go to see them all destroyed!? With what satisfaction would Israel make sure the destruction of all idols!
This understanding of the holiness of God is deeply in the mind of this generation heretofore. They learned to FEAR! This generation was not gripping the truth of salvation loosely, as one ready to slip. In a later time, in Joshua 22, when an altar was made as a witness and not for idolatry, ten tribes of Israel thought it was made for idolatry. Idolatry being committed within Israel was a serious crime, and knowing the God of Israel, all of Israel would be in grave danger because of it. It would be understood that either the idolaters would die or they would all die. Because of this, these ten tribes rallied together to “go up to war against” these two tribes which were suspected of idolatry. The ten tribes were willing to kill off the entire tribe if they did not repent. If Israel let judgment slip, they would slip into hell – THEY KNEW IT! Prepared for war and an immediate strike, the whole congregation pleads with these two tribes concerning their suspected rebellion. Take note: the knowledge of the Holy is pouring forth from the abundance of their heart.
This understanding of the holiness of God is deeply in the mind of this generation heretofore. They learned to FEAR! This generation was not gripping the truth of salvation loosely, as one ready to slip. In a later time, in Joshua 22, when an altar was made as a witness and not for idolatry, ten tribes of Israel thought it was made for idolatry. Idolatry being committed within Israel was a serious crime, and knowing the God of Israel, all of Israel would be in grave danger because of it. It would be understood that either the idolaters would die or they would all die. Because of this, these ten tribes rallied together to “go up to war against” these two tribes which were suspected of idolatry. The ten tribes were willing to kill off the entire tribe if they did not repent. If Israel let judgment slip, they would slip into hell – THEY KNEW IT! Prepared for war and an immediate strike, the whole congregation pleads with these two tribes concerning their suspected rebellion. Take note: the knowledge of the Holy is pouring forth from the abundance of their heart.
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"Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the LORD, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the LORD? Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD, But that ye must turn away this day from following the LORD? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel. Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the LORD’S tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our God. Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity." (Joshua 22:16-20)
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These ten tribes spoke of two instances where the wrath of God broke out into the whole congregation – at the matter of Peor and Achan. Though a plague broke forth upon Israel because of the matter of Peor, the people were still not completely cleansed, even by this time. After the matter of Achan, they saw that “wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel… and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.” These men were terrified for their own lives! They were moved and standing forth to the duty of intercession by judgment, in a moment! My reader, hear them speak! “It will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel”! Even David walked with God with this fearful manner of God’s holiness in mind. When he sinned in numbering the people (Numbers 21), look what he says:
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“And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and He repented Him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on Thy people, that they should be plagued” (1 Chron. 21:15-17).
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God was intent on “three days” of destruction instead of a complete annihilation (1 Chron. 21:12), but the principle of God’s repentance still stands. “Seventy thousand men” died, and lo, the angel was ready to destroy Jerusalem, but then…“the LORD repented Him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand” (2 Sam. 24:15-16). How is it that God’s people will perish, if they do perish, under a total annihilation? It is when God does not repent of the just will of entire annihilation in certain instances of His kindled anger. If Israel is saved, it will be because God “repented Him of the evil” that He thought to do, or on another occasion, was doing in Israel. Salvation comes by the lovingkindness of God wrestling against the just anger of God, until every stirring of annihilation is stayed, in some measure, as to preserve and persevere salvation. In this manner, the righteous are scarcely saved. However, my dear reader, what will happen if God is minded toward annihilation, and yet He says, “I am weary with repenting” (Jer. 15:9)?! What if God intends to execute His just wrath upon His people, and, though He repented nine times before and persevered Israel’s salvation – what if He is weary of repenting from total annihilation? What if His weariness can only be comforted by annihilation?
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LEARN TO FEAR GOD
Because of David – this one man’s sins – God was wroth with the whole congregation! This is why David says, “as for these sheep, what have they done?” Does this amaze you?
Moses & Aaron ➔ “shall one man sin, and wilt Thou be wroth with all the congregation?" – Numbers 16:22 The Surviving Israelites ➔ “Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish…shall we be consumed with dying” – Numbers 17:13 2 ½ Tribes ➔ “and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the LORD, that to morrow He will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.” – Josh. 22:16-20 One Man ➔ “behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought until his brethren a Midianitish woman…And…Phinehas…went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through…” – Num. 25:1-13 One Man ➔ Achan... “And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? The LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones” – Joshua 7:25 One Man ➔ David… “Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on Thy people, that they should be plagued” (1 Chron. 21:15-17). Do you know the fear of God like as Moses warned, “if ye turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people” (Num. 32:14-15)… “be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23)? |