By a series of 10 plagues God has broken Egypt's grip over Israel. If that was not enough, God destroys a large contingency of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. God has led Israel to the base of Mt. Sinai where He has given her His law, created the Israelites to be His people, and has designed for them a tabernacle so that He can meet with them and communicate with them. All is now ready for Israel to enter into her inheritance; it is time for Israel to drive out the Canaanites and possess the Promised Land. As a result Moses leads Israel to the southern tip of the Promised Land, to a place called Kadesh Barnea. From there Moses will launch his attack upon the Canaanite cities and armies.

Before looking at the conquest of Israel, we need to qualify what we mean by Moses leading the people. How did Moses know where to go? Simple. From the beginning of their journey out of Egypt, God would lead the Israelites by means of a pillar of fire by night which became a cloud by day. After Moses and the Israelites had constructed the tabernacle, the cloud would rest upon the tabernacle. This cloud represented God's presence and was called the Shekinah Glory. Whenever the cloud lifted up off the tabernacle and rose to the sky, the Israelites knew that it was time to break camp. God was leading them to another site. Whenever the cloud or pillar of fire stopped, the people knew that God wanted them to stop and make camp. For all practical purposes then it was not Moses who led the Israelites; God Himself was leading them by means of the pillar/cloud.

The pillar/cloud provided another vital service for the Israelites. The cloud shaded the Israelites from the desert sun and also provided warmth for the people during the cold nights out in the desert. God's provision was proving very sufficient for the Israelites indeed.

THE EXODUS/NUMBERS ACCOUNT

The People Grumble and Complain (Ex. 15:22-16:50)

God has already demonstrated His love and power among His people the Israelites. He has destroyed the world's super power by the means of 10 miracles, culminating in the overthrow of the Egyptian army at the Red Sea. Even though God did all these miracles on Israel's behalf, we saw earlier that given half a chance Israel was going to murmur and complain. For example, after Moses had told the Israelites that God was going to deliver them, they began to complain whenever Pharaoh came down on them and started making them provide their own straw when making bricks. The slightest attack on their comfort brought forth a flood of complaints and grumblings.

Below is a list of occasions in which Israel complained:

SCRIPTURE	CAUSE OF GRUMBLING
Ex. 15:22-27	Bitter waters at Marah
Ex. 16:2-7	Lack of food
Ex. 16:8-13	.
Ex. 17:2	.
Ex. 32:1-10	.
Numbers 11:1-9	.
Num. 12:1-9	.
Num. 13:25-14:4	.
Num. 16:1-7	.
Num. 16:41-50	.

Grumblng is a serious issue because it implies one of several things about you: (1) you don't believe God is big enough to take care of your situation and (2) you think God doesn't care. God does not take either one of these attacks lightly. I remember when I was in Austin after I graduated from UT. I volunteered to help with a youth ministry in a small church in north Austin. I had to find a job which paid enough to take care of my expenses without taking up too much of my time. It took me a while to find this job. Since God had called me to stay in Austin, I felt that He and not my parents was responsible to care for me financially. For several months it was pretty tight until I got the job. One day when I was low on cash, my roommate made some shrimp jumbo. It tasted great the first day. The second day it wasn't bad either. By the 4th day the gumbo was getting stuck in my throat. I could barely swallow it. I was getting pretty ticked off, until I remembered about the Israelites complaining in the wilderness and about the way God responded. I got really grateful very quickly.

The Disaster at Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13:1-14:45)

Sending Out the Spies (13:1-24)

The Israelites have been delivered from Egypt. They had received God's Law at Mt. Sinai. They have received a new identity as being the people of God. Now it was time for this new nation to claim land for its own. From a human standpoint, if a people is to survive as a nation, then it must be attached to land. Moreover, God had promised the land between the Nile and Euphrates Rivers to Abraham's descendants. God was now going to make good on that promise to Abraham.

The Israelites arrive at Kadesh Barnea, located at the southern tip of Canaan. Apparently Moses' plan is to attack Canaan from the south and work his way north. Although this strategy meant that the Canaanites would always be able to communicate with each other and protect supply lines, by attacking from this direction the rear of the Israelite army would always be protected.

Like any good general Moses wants to get a report of the land he is about to attack. He wants to know about their fortifications (walled cities) and the land, about whether or not the land would be able to support his army while they are fighting. Moreover, he wants to know about water supply. An army of 600,000 men will need ample supplies.

In order to gain this information, Moses selects one representative from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to serve as spies on a reconnaissance mission. The 2 most notable representatives turn out to be Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim and Caleb from the tribe of Judah. While Moses and the rest of the people wait, the 12 spies fan out through Canaan, gathering information for Moses and the people.

The Report of the Spies and the People's Response (13:25-14:4)

It is so easy to be a Monday-morning quarterback. Hindsight always provides 20/20 vision. The spies have been gone for 40 days. When they return, Moses makes the disastrous decision to let the spies report their findings in public, BEFORE THE ENTIRE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL. The report is bitter/sweet. The land is indeed flowing with milk and honey as Moses had promised. Moreover, they brought back an example of the abundance of the land, a huge cluster of grapes which was so large that it had to be carried on a pole by 2 men.

Although the land is indeed rich and abundant, its inhabitants are mammoth and its cities impregnable. In the opinion of 10 of the spies to attack the land would be nothing short of suicide. These ten spies urge the people to reject the plan to attack Canaan. The only 2 spies who urge the Israelites to invade are Caleb and Joshua. True to their past responses the Israelites reject God's plan and accept the advice of the ten spies. In fact they decide to choose for themselves a leader who will lead them BACK TO EGYPT! Better to be a slave in Egypt and eat meat than to go with God and risk death, even if going with God might mean conquering a land overflowing with milk and honey.

This is where most of us go wrong. We shrink back in fear when Jesus calls us out to the great journey He has for our lives. We would rather be enslaved and enjoy the few comforts slavery affords us than to follow Jesus on the journey which ends in Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey.

God's Response (14:5-45)

God has had it. Had He not 10 times shown Himself powerful on their behalf? Ten plagues He had executed on their behalf: the Nile River turned to blood, frogs, insects, death of Egyptian cattle, boils, hail, locusts, darkness, death of Egyptian first born, destruction at the Red Sea. Were not His past deeds on their behalf guarantees that He would again act on their behalf? And yet how had they repaid Him? By rejecting HIM 10 times. There was a limit to God's patience and the people had reached it. They were not going to enter the Promised Land.

The people decide that they will go ahead and invade the Promised Land. After all had not God promised to give it to them? Weren't they just doing His will? God's will had not changed. He WAS going to give the land to the Israelites; it's just that He was not going to give it to THIS set of Israelites. The next generation of Israelites was going to inherit the Promised Land. The present generation was going to inherit nothing more than death in the desert. With the exception of Joshua and Caleb who had trusted the Lord, every person 20 years of age and older would perish in the wilderness (14:29-30).

They've missed their opportunity. Your opportunity--your children.... Refusing to accept God's judgment, a group of the Israelites launched an invasion of Canaan. The result was that they were beaten back. God was no longer going to help them defeat the Canaanites. Now begins one of the greatest tragedies in the Bible. For the next 40 years Moses' ministry is to lead the Israelites until all those 20 years of age and older have either been killed off or died from natural causes. A new generation will emerge in the meantime, one without a slave mentality but one which is ready to follow the Lord's leadership, but it will take 40 years for that new generation to emerge. (God says that they will wander around in the wilderness for FORTY YEARS, one year for every day the spies surveyed the land of Canaan.)

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE APOSTLES

What went wrong? Why at the last moment, right as the Promised Land was within their grasp, did the Israelites fail to take hold of the destiny God had promised them? According to Heb. 4:2-3 what went wrong?

What do you mean by the word "faith?"

Too many people misunderstand what the Bible means by the word "faith." It means I trust God enough that I will obey Him. Obedience and faith are NOT the same thing; however, the only faith the Bible acknowledges and accepts is that faith which trusts God enough actually to obey Him.

Some think that faith means I can come up with big things to do and expect God to make sure they get done. A lady once shared with me her vision for the church we were attending. When I expressed my concerns about her vision, she wheeled around and lectured me that MY problem was that I did not have enough faith. I then informed her that whereas I was ready to have faith in God's vision, I was not sure that her vision and God's vision were one and the same. I am not to come up with big ideas for me to implement with God's power. I am to discover His vision and trust Him to give me the strength to implement and realize that vision. That's the only faith the Bible promises to reward.

The essence of discipleship is not me dreaming up big ideas for God to use me to accomplish, which most of the times benefits me. The essence of discipleship is following Jesus. Jesus says: "FOLLOW ME, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matt. 4:19). When Jesus went a certain direction, Andrew and John FOLLOWED Jesus (John 1:......). Jesus claims: "If anyone wants to COME AFTER Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and FOLLOW Me" (Luke 9:23).

After rejecting God's instructions, the Israelites made the terrible mistake of trying to implement a vision which God said was no longer His. After they refused to follow Him into the Promised Land and after God said He would kill every adult 20 years of age and older, they changed their minds and said that NOW they would implement that vision. God said: "Stop! It's too late." But NO000000. They were going to be spiritual and attack the Canaanites like God had originally wanted them to do. The result was disaster. Those who implemented this BIG vision were annihilated.

How does this relate to us? Jesus has a Promised Land here on earth awaiting you and me. The Promised Land in the OT represents the abundant Christian life Jesus has for us (Heb. 4).

I am elated that Disney Pictures has elected to film The Chonicles of Narnia. Many will dismiss it as being nothing more than a fantasy for children. It is not though. It chronicles the adventures that children have with Jesus. Just as a wardrobe allowed the children to enter the land of Narnia where they meet Jesus, so you and I too have wardrobes in our lives which open up this life of adventure for us.

The other day I was looking back at the 28 years of ministry the Lord has blessed me with. He took me to FBC Lancaster and there enjoyed not only a successful children's ministry but also a successful music ministry. Worship became exciting. Sunday night services went from about 100 people to a packed house of over 400, every Sunday night. Later as a youth minister I saw a youth group grow from 60 to 120 in SS, 8 to 100 on Wednesday nights, and 25 to 80 every Sunday night.

It's been a trip here in Corsicana too. When Nancy and I first joined the church, I swore I would not do anything in the youth ministry; so they asked me to serve in the college area, which is super youth. Through Loran Harrels I got connected with several of the international students here at Navarro College. I took them to Graceland in Memphis, to NASA in Houston, etc., on the condition they would come to SS. Nanette and Bob Cole gave money so that they could have Bibles. We gave one of the Bibles to Ellen Han, a student from Taiwan. A few years later I got a note from her saying that she was now using her Bible because she had just become a Christian and had wanted me to know about it. She was giving her Bible to someone else who needed it more than her, someone not a Christian. On the trip to Graceland I did not know the impact that was being made on Ellen and the others. Guys, this can happen to any of us; all we have to do is open up our hearts and lives to what God is doing and wanting to do.

We are all going to be faced with Kadesh-Barneas in our lives. We are all given opportunities for the adventures Jesus wants to take us on. We've just got to decide to follow Jesus. In the Chronicles of Narnia the children are faced with the decision of either staying in Narnia and fighting or else returning home where it is safe. They probably would have been OK if they had gone home; however, they would have missed out on the adventure God had for them. They would not have seen the liberation of Narnia; they would not have met Aslan; and they definitely would not have seen Aslan kill the White Witch. I don't know about you, but I don't want to miss out on what God has for me.

One thing you need to be very careful about. The Israelites probably thought that if they did not go forward and enter the Promised Land, then they would just go back to the desert and things remain normal. That is precisely what does NOT happen. We either progress or regress. There are a lot of Christians who did not move forward in their relationship with Jesus and as a result have died out in the wilderness. It's either life in the Promised Land or death out in the wilderness. There's no third option.

Just as the Jews had to exercise faith in order to enter that Promised Land, so we too though must exercise faith if we are going to embark on the journey and adventures Jesus has for us (Heb. 4:1-5).

"But," you might say, " the Israelites had the pillar of fire by night and cloud by day to lead them. We don't have that! I don't have anything to lead me!" Oh, but you do; you have something better, someONE better than the pillar of fire. You have Jesus. It is by no means an accident that it was during the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus stood up and claimed: "I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12).

The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Each night during the festival the Jews would light huge candelabras in the Temple courtyard. The candelabras gave out so much light it was said they lighted all the streets of Jerusalem. The men would then dance throughout the night in joyous celebration of God's provision during the wilderness wanderings. Many think that it is at this point during the festival that Jesus claims that He is the light of the world, that as that pillar of fire/cloud led God's people through the wilderness, so He will lead His people through the wilderness to the Promised Land. All we have to do is follow Him.

One of our main problems is that we don't believe God has an adventure for you and me. The reason we feel that way is that we have forgotten who we are. It is by no means a coincident that at the end of The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia that Aragorn and the 4 children are enthroned over Middle Earth and Narnia. C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were 2 of the greatest Christian thinkers in the 20th century. They have properly processed the major themes of the Bible. One of the reasons Christians don't appreciate Lewis and Tolkien as much as they should is that they don't really understand the Bible like they should. Lewis and Tolkien are saying that we are lords over Narnia and over Middle Earth. Sounds silly? How about princes and princes of the courts of heaven? The goal of God's working in history is not only the enthronement of Jesus but also the enthronement of His other sons and daughters. Because of who our Father is, we are very important. The very last description God gives of heaven is that His sons and daughters will reign with Him (Rev. 22:5), not that we are going to be slaves in heaven, but that we are going to reign with Him since we are His sons and daughters.