Teaching Points
1. Read Numbers 13:26-14:2. What lesson can we learn from this account about living by faith and not by sight?
ANSWER:
- Nu 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
OBSERVATION:
- Originally, it was the people—not God—who wanted to go and search out the land: De 1:22 And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.
- Read Numbers 13:2, 16-21. God agreed with the people’s suggestion; however, based upon the whole of chapter 13, God put more emphasis on the land and not on the people.
- Yet in Numbers 13:26-14:2 it is obvious the people enlarged upon the difficulties and dangers of their conquest—they focused much more on what they saw.
- “What we see, and how we interpret what we see, can have very direct personal consequences. Our interpretations of ‘facts’ form the building blocks of our daily decisions, and these ‘facts’ so often interact with our emotions. The idea that we can believe whatever we like without those beliefs affecting who we are and what we do is a myth.” SSL 15
- God’s way was clear: Just go and possess the land, but if you want to send spies, then go ahead, but My directions are to focus more on the land.
- Man’s way was also clear: We will give more attention to that which God had not emphasized.
- It is obvious that ten of the spies, along with the rest of the congregation, walked by sight and not by faith.
- Walking by sight meant that they depended on their own calculations and judgment apart from God’s word. They put their own reasoning powers above the word of God.
- But Caleb said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.”
- Caleb exercised faith—strong faith—in the midst of the bad reports from the other spies.
- So in order for Caleb to exercise faith, he had to go against speak out against what the people were emphasizing.
- In order for Caleb to speak out like this, he had to go against the facts about the people of the land, as well as go against the pressure of the other spies.
- Basically, Caleb went against what he could see and hear. This is faith—he denied his natural senses and did not put his trust in them over God’s word.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
- Why is it so easy to live by sight and not by faith?
- Notice that Caleb did not rebuke the people for their faithlessness or sin, he just spoke out courageously to trust and obey God—why do you think he did it that way?
APPLICATION QUESTION:
- How do you respond to the “plain old facts” that seem to go against God’s word? Do you go against the facts or do you go against God’s word?
- How do you respond to others’ complaints? Do you complain about their complaints? Or do you, like Caleb, stand tall and speak positive?
- Are people blessed by your courage, or do people avoid you because of your courage?
2. Read Numbers 14:1–10, 20–24. What do we see here as an end result of rejecting God’s Word and thus coming to a faulty interpretation of the “facts”?
ANSWER:
- Nu 14:2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! Nu 14:3 And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
- Nu 14:10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
- Nu 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Nu 14:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
OBSERVATION:
- Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
- After complaining against Moses, Aaron, and God, and then attempting to stone Joshua and Caleb—the end result is that they will not enter into the Promised Land.
- Perhaps the worst part of it all was when they said, “Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.”
- Now Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb have to suffer the consequences of the rebellion of the people.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
- The people acknowledged their sin in verse 40. Why didn’t God accept their confession and allow them to come into the land of Canaan?
APPLICATION QUESTION:
- How do you react when everyone is at fault but you? Do you point out their fault with an attitude of “I told you so”?
- Do you sometimes break away from those at fault to join a new movement or church?
- How can you be more like Caleb in these situations?
3. Read Joshua 14. What request does Caleb make, and why do you think he made it? What does this tell us about him and his faith?
ANSWER:
- Jos 14:12 Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.
OBSERVATION:
- Notice that Caleb wants to secure the land where the Anakims dwell. What do we know about these people from the Bible?
- Nu 13:22 And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) …. Nu 13:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. … Nu 13:33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
- De 1:28 Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there.
- De 2:10 The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; De 2:11 Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims. … De 2:21 A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
- De 9:2 A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
- It is pretty clear from these verses that the Anakims were a very tall, great, strong, and gigantic people.
- I see a very important point that Caleb is making here. Caleb’s voice was the one that said in the midst of the evil reports from the unbelieving spies, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Nu 13:30). Now, continuing in the strength of God, he chooses to take possession of the place that all the other spies thought unable to overcome. What consistency in his faith!
SOP:
- [Caleb] therefore presented a request that Hebron he given him for a possession. Here had been for many years the home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and here, in the cave of Machpelah, they were buried. Hebron was the seat of the dreaded Anakim, whose formidable appearance had so terrified the spies, and through them destroyed the courage of all Israel. This, above all others, was the place which Caleb, trusting in the strength of God, chose for his inheritance. {PP 511.4}
- Caleb's faith now was just what it was when his testimony had contradicted the evil report of the spies. He had believed God's promise that He would put His people in possession of Canaan, and in this he had followed the Lord fully. … He did not ask for himself a land already conquered, but the place which above all others the spies had thought it impossible to subdue. By the help of God he would wrest his stronghold from the very giants whose power had staggered the faith of Israel. It was no desire for honor or aggrandizement that prompted Caleb's request. The brave old warrior was desirous of giving to the people an example that would honor God, and encourage the tribes fully to subdue the land which their fathers had deemed unconquerable. {PP 512.2}
CONCLUSION:
- The word of God doesn’t become outdated or old over time. It still has the same power to accomplish what it says as when it was first spoken from the mouth of God long ago. We saw Caleb’s faith in Numbers 13, and his faith in God’s power didn’t change 45 years later at the division of Canaan in Joshua 14. In order for Caleb to do this, he had to make constant decisions to go against what he could see and hear. He had to deny his natural senses. Therefore, if we would exercise a similar faith to enter into the Heavenly Canaan, we also need to deny ourselves by the power of God.
APPLICATION QUESTION:
- Ask yourself this question. How has the passing of time affected your commitment to God? Has it grown deeper or has it become shallow? Has it grown at all?
- What can you do this week that would give you a deeper experience with God?
No comments:
Post a Comment