“Failing to Reach the Promised Land (Numbers 20), Will DuVal | 4/13/25
Numbers 20 | 4/13/25 | Will DuVal
Week before last with the SECOND round of storms, a group of us guys were trying to get out to Jason Whitt’s house way out in the boonies of Wildwood, but with all the flooding Jason had to text us to tell us to make sure we came via Highway 100 and not via Wildhorse Creek Road or St. Albans road or any of the OTHER routes you can USUALLY take, because they were all likely WASHED OUT. Sometimes there is only ONE way to reach your intended destination.
We talked about this LAST Sunday when it comes to HEAVEN: many people - perhaps even MOST people - today believe that there are LOTS of different “roads” you can take to get to heaven. “You may choose Christianity, I may choose Buddhism, or Islam, or Secular Humanism, but eventually, they all lead to the same PLACE, to HEAVEN. It’s UNIVERSALISM: the idea that it really doesn’t matter who or what you believe, because ALL belief systems will ultimately lead - UNIVERSALLY lead - to GOD, Heaven, the PROMISED LAND.
But as we pointed out LAST week, belief in JESUS is fundamentally incompatible with universalism, because Jesus himself declared ““I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6); I’m not “A way… A truth…”; I am THE way, the ONLY road that leads to God the Father.”
And this morning, in Numbers ch20, God’s OLD Testament people - the Israelites - are going to put this exclusivity of admittance to Heaven on display for us. Israel is still trying to make their way into the not-just-PROVERBIAL, but quite LITERAL “Promised Land” of Canaan (which SERVES as a picture and metaphor of HEAVEN for us) and we’re gonna see them try just about every other ROAD that they can THINK of to GET them there… and still FAIL to reach it.
And recalling these very chapters, the NEW Testament - 1 Corinthians 10 - tells us, “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not [make the same mistakes]” (v6). Hebrews 3-4 warns, “who were those who heard [God’s voice] and yet rebelled? …Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? … Therefore, while the promise of entering [God’s] rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” (3:16-4:1)
We want to LEARN from the example of this faith-less generation of Israelites, lest we TOO “rebel… sin… FALL…” here in the wilderness and FAIL to reach the eternal REST that God offers us in the life to come, the PROMISED Land.
So I invite you to stand with me… (SCRIPTURE: Num 20)
“And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And Miriam DIED there and was buried there.
2 Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.
10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall NOT bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 These are the waters of Meribah, [“Quarreling”] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: 15 how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. 16 And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King's Highway. [They’re gonna take Exit 36A, here off 64…] We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” 18 But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” 19 And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” 20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.
22 And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. 23 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, 24 “Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. 26 And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” 27 Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28 And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. 29 And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.” [This is the word of God…]
Four different DEAD ENDS we discover here for those trying to reach the Promised Land:
#1- And we’ll spend the MAJORITY of our time in vv1-13, because frankly, it is the most significant of the three sections of text here, and the FIRST lesson it teaches us is that 1) We FAIL to reach the Promised Land through REBELLION. (vv1-13)
-
And let’s be crystal clear up front: rebellion isn’t always outright HATRED or HOSTILITY towards God; rebellion is really just trying to do it YOUR way instead of God’s way. Like MOSES here. Moses didn’t HATE God; very few people HATE God. But LOADS of people are living in REBELLION against Him. Rebellion is taking matters into your own hands, instead of putting them in the LORD’S hands. Rebellion is SHEILA-ism! “Following your OWN heart”... not GOD’S.
And we are reminded - or informed - of THREE different rebellions in these first 13 verses:
The first is Miriam’s, Moses’s sister, who dies here in verse one. On the whole, Miriam is a “pretty good person”. Let that be a WARNING to those of you who were planning on answering that way, when God ASKS you at the pearly gates - “Why should I let you in?”; “Well, I’m a “pretty good PERSON”...”
**EHHH!! Sorry; being a “pretty good person” ain’t good ENOUGH! How “GOOD” do you imagine is good enough for admittance to HEAVEN?! Jesus told us in Matthew 5:48, “You must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
But MIRIAM was a “pretty good person”; I mean, good enough that our assistant PASTOR named his DAUGHTER after her! You don’t meet a lot of “Korah”s or “Dathan”s or “Abiram”s these days; but you WILL meet some Miriams. For good REASON: Miriam was the one, remember, who watched over baby Moses while he was hidden in the bushel basket amongst the reeds until Pharaoh’s daughter found him, and then Miriam suggested that their own mother, Jochebed, serve as Moses’ nursemaid. Later, Miriam led Israel in worship in Exodus 15 after they were delivered from Egypt. And she no doubt served as a source of comfort and companionship to her brothers Moses and Aaron throughout their 40 years together in the wilderness.
BUT, Miriam still came up SHORT. Why does she die here, just before Israel makes it into the Promised Land? Why is she excluded from HERSELF entering in?
Because like ALL of this “old generation” of Israelites, Miriam REBELLED against the Lord. But in HER case it was PERSONAL. Back in chapter 12, Miriam launched the very FIRST of Israel’s EIGHT rebellions recorded in this book, when she got envious of Moses’s status as God’s chosen leader. She was the FIRST to try and “take matters into her own hands”, and now she pays the price: “the wages of sin is… DEATH” (Rom 6:23a).
The second rebellion is that of the CONGREGATION, in vv2-5. Who once again get THIRSTY… and so once again they “ASSEMBLE” in OPPOSITION to Moses… and who once again “QUARREL” with him and QUESTION him: “Why’d you bring us all OUT here…” and they ACCUSE him “...you’re trying to KILL us!”... and yet ironically they once again INSIST that they would have actually PREFERRED death: “Would that we had perished with our BROTHERS before the Lord” - they actually envy Korah & Dathan & Abiram: “At least THEY died QUICKLY! Not wasting AWAY out here like US…”
Did you COUNT how many “once again”s I just mentioned? This story is almost IDENTICAL to the FIRST time Israel grumbled for water… RIGHT HERE, at MERIBAH, back in Exodus ch17! We won’t re-READ it, but it is NEARLY identical… for TWO REASONS: first, so that the crucial point of divergence between the two stories stands out all the more glaringly - the first time at Meribah, God told Moses to STRIKE the rock; THIS time he instructs Moses to… WHAT? “SPEAK to the rock”. We’ll come back to that…
But SECONDLY, this mirror incident also shows us just how LITTLE Israel has learned, even after 40 long years of God’s loving leading. They are STILL complaining, STILL blaming, STILL doubting God’s provision, still REBELLING. It’s almost COMICAL! We equal parts wanna LAUGH and YELL at them: “Have you learned NOTHING?!”
But before we DO so - and speaking of MIRRORS - we need to turn it around on OURSELVES, don’t we? How often might GOD look down on YOUR life, on MY decision making, and ask US: “Have you learned NOTHING?!”
“After DECADES of following me when have I EVER failed you? Failed to come through and PROVIDE for you?” And yet how often do WE grumble about our circumstances in life, and we’re not even dying of THIRST out in the DESERT! Listen: I grumble when Schnucks runs out of my preferred flavor of La Croix - “Would that I had PERISHED!... without my blackberry lemonade”; I’m a FIRST-world grumbler!
Not to even MENTION the REAL occasions for doubt and worry we face: “God, why have you brought me OUT into THIS wilderness?” This diagnosis, this divorce, this depression, this debt… God, why’d you BRING me to THIS “evil place”?! How COULD you!”
And no matter how many times God has proven Himself to be FAITHFUL in the past, we are a FORGETFUL people, aren’t we? Like Israel. And forgetful people become FAITH-LESS people.
Don’t miss the sad IRONY of their stated DESIRES in v5 either: “this evil place… is no place for figs or vines or pomegranates” → Notice anything about the foods they beg for here? They’re the very same fruits that the 12 spies carried BACK with them from the Promised Land, back in ch13(v23)! In other words: Israel could be enjoying all the grapes and pomegranates they WANT right now… IF they had just trusted God and obeyed when he told them to go in and TAKE the land seven CHAPTERS ago. THEY are the reason that they’re suffering right now instead!
But again, how often is that US?
You complain about your adult child still living in your basement - his “failure to launch”, his direction-less-ness - ignoring the fact that YOU were the controlling parent who never let him learn to make a single decision for himself.
You complain that your wife’s never “in the mood”, when YOU never ask her about her day and take the time to actually LISTEN and CARE.
You complain that your parents don’t respect you and treat you like an adult, but you’ve never had the courage to stand UP to them and ACT like you deserved anything different.
Perhaps YOUR spending habits got you into financial trouble… YOUR eating habits got you into health troubles…
Aren’t we so OFTEN the very REASON for our own SUFFERING?
But now we come to vv6-13 and the third and most egregious of the rebellions: MOSES’s. And Aaron’s; Aaron is implicated too. But clearly the lion’s share of the blame here lies with MOSES. Not initially; they start off great - as they have so many times before, in response to the peoples’ grumblings, where do Moses and Aaron TURN? V6: “to the tent of meeting”; they take it to GOD. “Cast all your cares on HIM, because He cares for YOU” (1 Pet 5:7). They “fell on their FACES” before the Lord. “And the glory of the Lord appeared to them” and God SPOKE to Moses: “Take the staff…”, and v9: “Moses took [it]... as God commanded him.” So far so good.
But then we come to v10. They GATHERED the people, and Moses SAID to them: “Listen up, REBELS: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”. Now we haven’t even GOTTEN to v11 and the STRIKING of the rock yet; but what’s the problem with Moses’s little speech here in v10?
THREE problems actually:
First - Did God TELL Moses to address the assembly? No. Moses oversteps.
Second - look at HOW he addresses them: “You REBELS”! That’s not very NICE, is it? I mean, it’s not WRONG… but it’s also not NICE. God called Moses to INTERCEDE on behalf of the people; not to IMPLICATE them. To BLESS them, not BLAME them. God doesn’t need Moses’ help JUDGING and SCOLDING Israel; God has PROVEN over the past… 16 or so rebellions at this point… that He is quite CAPABLE of PUNISHING his OWN children, thank you very much, Moses. The sad irony is that in calling them REBELS, Moses became exactly what he was accusing ISRAEL of being (Duguid, 254).
But THIRD problem with his speech, and worst of ALL, “Not only did Moses set himself up as the people’s JUDGE, he also set himself (and Aaron) up as their DELIVERERs” (Duguid, 253); he asks them, “Shall WE bring water for you…” - Now, MAYBE Moses means “me and God”. But he’s STANDING there beside AARON; GOD’S still back at the TENT. And even if he MEANT “me and God”, the Lord no more needs Moses’ help bringing WATER than He does bringing JUDGMENT. Moses is trying to take the CREDIT for GOD’s provision for HIS people.
And that’s the DEEPER sin that Moses is guilty of in v11, now, as he “strikes the rock”. We might read this story and think, “WOW, God; seems a little HARSH! Poor Moses has been LEADING these stiff-necked people for you for 40 years now, and he may have COMPLAINED about it once or twice, but for the most part, Moses has been obedient and faithful to YOU, and PATIENT and MERCIFUL toward his fellow Israelites, sticking HIS OWN neck out to SAVE their stiff ones on MULTIPLE occasions now. But he finally LOSES his patience and in a moment of anger, he HITS a rock, and for THAT, Moses isn’t allowed into the PROMISED Land?! For… his ANGER? His disobedience? Seems HARSH!”
But there are two things I believe God would have us recognize about the situation:
First of all, God would be perfectly JUSTIFIED in punishing Moses even if a little anger WAS his only sin. “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in just one point has become guilty of ALL of it”, the Bible says (Jas 2:10). ALL sin, even the SMALLEST sin, is rebellion against a perfectly HOLY, Righteous, JUST God. Who does not - CAN not - simply turn a blind eye to sin.
But SECOND, we need to understand that Moses’ sin here runs much DEEPER than a mere temper tantrum. And the text offers us FOUR HINTS to that effect:
The first is the most explicit: if we jump down to v12, God flat-out tells Moses & Aaron, “Because you did not… WHAT?? Be “slow to anger”? Be “merciful towards my people”? NO: “Because you did not believe in me” - according to God, Moses isn’t just guilty of ANGER, but APOSTASY! He says, “You didn’t ‘uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people’” - what does God mean?
Remember: “HOLY” literally means “set apart”; “one of these things is NOT like the other”. But MOSES just identified himself WITH God: “Shall WE bring you water…”; “Y’all REBELS are down here; me and GOD are up HERE…”. Moses has forgotten that he TOO is a sinner in need of a Savior; that he is INFINITELY more like the REBELS than he is like GOD. All the leadership has finally gone to his head, and he’s gotten WAY too big for his britches. That’s why God says, “Because you did not believe in me” - “Moses, you really thought I NEEDED you?! That I couldn’t pull this job off on my OWN?! I split the SEA in two, but I couldn’t split a ROCK, unless YOU were there to help?!”
Moses isn’t just ANGRY; he’s ARROGANT, PRIDEful, pretentious, pompous.
The SECOND hint is FAR more SUBTLE, but look back with me at the wording of v11a: “And Moses lifted up his hand”. Did you know the HEBREW there is almost identical to ch15, where God warned against sin with “a HIGH HAND” (v30); defiant, bold-faced rebellion against God.
The THIRD clue concerning Moses’ DEEPER sin here is even more subtle - it’s even a bit SPECULATIVE. I can’t PROVE it. But look even MORE closely back at vv8 & 9 now: which staff did God tell Moses to use? Initially, he just says, “Take THE staff”, but let’s remember the CONTEXT, LAST week’s sermon: the last staff we heard about was AARON’s, the one that miraculously BUDDED as PROOF that Aaron was God’s chosen high priest. V9 seems to CONFIRM that’s the one God meant: “Moses took the staff from before the Lord”; it was kept inside the ark of the covenant, inside the Holy of Holies, with GOD, to be taken out when Israel NEEDED these kinds of REMINDERS of God’s HOLINESS and PROVISION.
But NOW look closely at v11: what did Moses hit the ROCK with? “with his staff”. Not “THE” staff. Not AARON’s staff. “HIS staff”. It’s SUBTLE, but to ME, the Hebrew here is CLEAR: God said, “Take AARON’s staff and SPEAK”; but MOSES takes his OWN staff and STRIKES.” Because HE WANTED THE GLORY. So Moses took matters into his OWN hands, quite LITERALLY.
And that’s the fourth and final, and most BLATANT of Moses’s missteps here: God said, “SPEAK”; but instead Moses STRIKES. What’s the DIFFERENCE? The difference lies in the perception of POWER. If MOSES hits the rock and it splits, who’s got the power? But if Moses merely SPEAKS and the water starts GUSHING, who’s got the power? There is NO mistaking it then: GOD is the miraculous Provider for his people.
But there’s MORE than that going on here; we see a MOTIF emerging, the “Moses’s MISTAKE” motif: The wider congregation wasn’t the ONLY one here who failed to learn from the past. You remember what Moses was DOING the first time we MET him, as an ADULT? Back in Exodus ch2: he STRUCK (and KILLED) an Egyptian who was abusing his Hebrew slave, but the NEXT day Moses got accused by two fighting Israelites of trying to set himself up as “JUDGE over us” (Ex 2:11-14). Commentator Iain Duguid notes (253): “As a youth in Egypt, Moses had tried to judge and deliver his people in his own strength… Now, many years later, Moses had reverted once again back to that old pattern.”
And don’t we do the SAME? All too often, we revert back, resort back, to old sinful patterns, unhelpful ways of dealing with our stress and problems, unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Maybe it’s ANGER and JUDGMENT, like Moses.
Or WORRY and CONTROL.
Or ACHIEVEMENT and AVOIDANCE.
Or LUST and NUMBING.
Or GOSSIP and DEFLECTION.
What are the misstep motifs in YOUR life? Only GOD can break the cycle; surrender it to HIM.
But there’s even more than THAT going on here: why NOT hit the rock? I mean, God told Moses to hit it the FIRST time they came to Meribah and complained, in Exodus 17: “Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? …And the Lord said to Moses, “take in your hand the staff… and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it” (vv4-6)
Let’s be honest: it’s a WEIRD story… until the NT EXPLAINS it for us. Jesus said, “ALL the Scriptures point to me” (Jn 5:39), but in the case of the ROCK at MERIBAH, 1 Corinthians 10:4 is CLEAR: “they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
This rock was a TYPE, a PREFIGURING of CHRIST. Who would be STRUCK, and SPLIT OPEN, in order to pour out LIFE to his people. But Jesus was ONLY struck - he only DIED… ONCE. So by taking matters into his own hands here, and disobeying God’s command to “SPEAK” by instead “STRIKING”... not ONCE, but TWICE, Moses not only tried to steal God’s glory, he also obscured the picture of the GOSPEL God wants to show us here.
AND YET… did God withhold the water? From the rebellious, grumbling people? From their rebellious, self-important LEADER, MOSES? No, “water came out abundantly” and ALL the people DRANK, AND their livestock!
Truly, King David was right in Psalm 103:10 to worship the Lord who “does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” (Ps 103:10)
There’s a WORD for that in the Bible. But it’s point #5, and I don’t wanna spoil it. 🙂
But there’s ANOTHER point I think we can glean here before we move on from Moses’ rebellion, or more specifically, from its consequences. And that is simply this:
#2- We fail to reach the Promised Land through THE LAW. (v12)
In Scripture, “MOSES” is SYNONYMOUS with THE LAW. The first 5 books of the Bible, the Torah - or “LAW” - were written by… you guessed it: MOSES. Sometimes the NEW Testament will even reference him interchangeably with it, like Jesus’s famous sermon on the Road to Emmaus: “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to [his disciples] in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Lk 24:27). His sermon covered “MOSES”, i.e., the first 5 books of the LAW, as WELL as “all the Prophets”, i.e., the REST of the OT.
What’s the point? The point is, had MOSES reached the Promised Land, we might be tempted to think that the LAW could get US into heaven. It’s all a PICTURE, a prefiguring. It LITERALLY happened - Moses actually died - but he DIED… as a SYMBOL, a MESSAGE, an “EXAMPLE”, 1 Corinthians 10:6 said, for US. And we need to hear that message loud and clear:
“By works of the law NO human being will be justified in [God’s] sight, since through the law comes [only the] knowledge of sin.” (Rom 3:20) The Law was a MIRROR, to show us our SIN, and thus our NEED for a SAVIOR.
But when it comes to actually getting us into the Promised Land, Galatians 3 rightly warns us that “all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” [Like Jesus said: “You must be PERFECT”] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law…” (vv10-11)
Well how DO we get in then? First we still need to expose two additional dead ends:
#3- We fail to reach the Promised Land through FAMILY. (vv14-21)
What is Moses’ RESPONSE to being informed by God here that he is now banned from Canaan as well? He responds the same way ISRAEL did back in ch14, when God banished them - the old generation anyway - from entering for their faithlessness and disobedience. God told them to go take the land, they listened to the fearful SPIES instead, so God said, “Okay, nevermind, go DIE in the wilderness then.” And what’d they do? They tried to change their minds: “J/K, God; we’ll go…” and they TRIED to go, WITHOUT God. In their OWN strength. Remember how that went for them?
But watch what MOSES does now, as soon as HE hears the bad news that HE’s not going in either: v14, “Moses sent messengers… to the king of Edom”; the Edomites were descendants of ESAU, the brother of JACOB, aka ISRAEL. Hence, Moses’ HEADER on his LETTER: ““Thus says your brother Israel…”. And what is Moses REQUESTING from their “brother”, Edom? V17: “Please let us pass through your land.”
God didn’t TELL Moses to send this letter; what’s he DOING? Duguid explains: Moses “refuses to accept the Lord’s judgment and attempts to force his own way into the land” instead” (256).
Thinking maybe he can find a SHORTCUT through FAMILY land.
But FAMILY can’t get you in either. It GRIEVES me - TERRIFIES me! - to think how many people are in church every Sunday - even THIS church; I am CONFIDENT we’ve got a handful of you - who are ONLY here because your SPOUSE drags you; if she died tomorrow, we’d never see or hear from you again. Who are only here because you were RAISED in the Church, and that’s all you’ve ever KNOWN. It’s COMFORTABLE to you; being around Christians FEELS like “family” to you. And yet it is quite possible to feel “at home” at church WITHOUT a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus Christ. And heaven forbid - but to be frank, I fear it will not be an uncommon occurrence - that many of the people who look and talk and act the part, and are the most comfortable within the family of faith, will discover they never TRULY BELONGED to it, and they will therefore hear Jesus utter the seven most dreaded words imaginable: “I never KNEW you; depart from me” (Mt 7:23).
There are NO SHORTCUTS into the Kingdom. The quickest membership interviews are the ones where someone starts their testimony with: “I was BORN a Christian…”
EHHHH!! No you weren’t; you were BORN a SINNER, “by NATURE a child of WRATH” (Eph 2:3), a REBEL against God; to be “born again” you had to be “made alive together with Christ… even when [you] were dead in your trespasses” (2:5). You were BORN - we were ALL born; every person on the PLANET is born - spiritually DEAD, and can only be REGENERATED by their faith in Jesus Christ.
And by the way, “FAITH” is not a one-time decision; it is a life-long COMMITMENT. It’s a RELATIONSHIP with Christ. There simply are no SHORTCUTS. Getting emotional at youth camp that one time 30 years ago is a SHORTCUT. Your parents baptizing you as a baby, for some of you, is a shortcut. Church membership, for some, is a shortcut. They’re not BAD things. They just can’t get you into the PROMISED Land.
“The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life,” Jesus said, “and those who find it are few” (Mt 7:14). Have YOU found it? Have you FOUND the GATE… do you know the WAY?
““I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6).
““Truly, truly, I say to you,” declared Jesus… “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in… and find pasture.” (Jn 10:7-9) Eternal REST.
Is HE your family? Is JESUS your elder brother, by adoption? He’s the ONLY way in.
Not through SERVICE, #4 (vv22-29). Your service to GOD can’t get you into the Promised Land. Aaron learned that the HARD way here. So did Moses, but Aaron, whose death is recounted for us here in vv22-29, really uniquely represented a life of service unto God. Remember, God called and consecrated the LEVITES unto himself, but then even amongst them, AARON’S family was the special PRIESTLY line, who ALONE were able to serve God inside the tent of meeting. And AARON alone, as HIGH priest, was permitted inside the HOLY of holies once a year, on the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement, when Aaron would make atonement - make payment, forgiveness - for the entire nation of Israel - for any sins they had committed that year but FAILED to offer a sin or guilt sacrifice to cover. So Aaron was charged by God with almost single-handedly keeping Israel in God’s good graces, in right relationship with him. If ANYONE had an important job in the Bible, it was AARON. There’s a REASON he is yet ANOTHER PICTURE of CHRIST: “every high priest… is appointed to act [SERVE] on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins… just as Aaron was. SO ALSO CHRIST… was appointed” (Heb 5:1-5). “Serving on behalf of MEN in relation to GOD” - being their GO-between with GOD: what could be more IMPORTANT?!
And yet Aaron is STRIPPED of his special priestly garments in v26, and he DIES short of the Promised Land. Because YOUR service to GOD can’t get you into heaven; but good news: Christ’s service to YOU can! Jesus “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mk 10:45) Let HIM serve YOU, as YOUR ransom, YOUR sacrifice, YOUR priestly intercessor, and you will be SAVED.
I wonder: who ARE you, really, underneath all your “garments”? When all of the outward, visible performance that you do for the Lord is all stripped away, what’s left? WHO is left? Cuz Jesus says, “THAT’s the person I came to SAVE. Not the healthy, but the SICK. Not the put-together person who’s great at serving me, but the BROKEN person who knows just how desperately she MUST be served BY me; Jesus says, “I LOVE serving - SAVING!- people like THAT”.
The proud will be humbled, but the HUMBLE will be EXALTED.
Because LASTLY, #5 - We can only reach the Promised Land through GRACE!
Where’s the GRACE in this passage? I see DEATH, rebellion, rebellion, the PROMISE of death for Moses, Israel’s rejection, and more DEATH - Aaron’s! So where’s the GRACE?!
Well, Moses, Miriam and Aaron may die, but we know God will raise up Joshua, Caleb and Eleazar in their place, to lead his people.
The OLD generation of Israelites may fail to reach the Promised Land for their rebellion, but God’s gonna raise up and bring in their OFFSPRING… DESPITE their OWN rebellion - Israel never STOPPED rebelling. And yet, God KEEPS His word, because He is GRACIOUS.
But let me LEAVE you with the 2 most POTENT pictures of GRACE here.
First, and I’m gonna WARN you- this is a TRICK question: “True or False: Moses never got to enter the Promised Land?”
FALSE. In Matthew 17, Jesus took Peter, James & John with him up Mount Tabor and “he was TRANSFIGURED before them” - he let them SEE him in all his GLORY; well, I don’t know about “SEE”, because Jesus was BLINDINGLY BRILLIANT. But once they regained their sight, you remember who the disciples saw STANDING there, TALKING to Jesus on the mountain? “Moses & Elijah”, the Law & the Prophets. Moses got in after ALL. But NO ONE gets in without JESUS.
But in closing, the most POWERFUL proof of God’s grace here, is the ROCK. Who despite Israel’s - and MOSES’s - faithlessness nevertheless poured out ABUNDANT LIFE for God’s people, when it was STRUCK. “And the Rock WAS Christ.”
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.”
Let’s pray.