Numbers 14:26-29(NKJV) 26And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 27“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. 28Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: 29The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
As we have been studying Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Canaan, we have found that it parallels our own journey as Christians. Their deliverance from Egypt can be likened to our deliverance from sin at the new birth. When they crossed the Red Sea it can be likened to the absolute defeat of Satan by Jesus in His resurrection.
After the incident at the Red Sea there was no power that could force Israel back into bondage. In our Christian experience, we fight against a defeated foe. In Matthew 28:18 Jesus declared that all power and authority were given unto him in heaven and in earth. Once Jesus was raised from the dead there was no power left that could force a Christian back into bondage. However, in the case of Israel, we see that they continually tried to go back of their own accord. Unfortunately we do the same.
Too often we allow the enemy to deceive us or tempt us into stepping out from under the authority of Jesus. When we do that we find that we have willing walked back into the bondage of sin, weakness or emotional distress. In the case of Israel, the generation that was susceptible to this temptation had to die off. The second generation did go into the Promised Land because they trusted God and did not give in to the deception of the enemy.
We do not have to die physically. However there is a death we must face. Look at what Paul says in Galatians.
Galatians 2:20(NKJV) 20I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Paul understood that it is not a physical generation that must die in order for us to stay free from bondage. It is the flesh that must die. Paul was not put on a physical cross. He chose to deny his flesh and yield to the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in his life. When there is a conflict between the Word of God or the Holy Spirit and my flesh, I must allow the Word and the Spirit to win. If I do not I cannot find my way to the land of my destiny.
What died with the first generation of Israelites? The bible tells us in Hebrews 3 and 4 that they could not go into Canaan because of their unbelief. They did not mix what they heard concerning the promise of God with faith. One thing that must die in us if we are going to enter our land of destiny is unbelief.
They also were a rebellious and stiff necked or stubborn people. They would not yield to their leaders or to the moving of the Holy Spirit. Whenever God or His representatives asked them to do something that went against what they wanted, they would talk about going back to Egypt, to bondage, rather than obeying. They would seek to stone their leaders instead of trusting them to hear from God. So rebellion and stubborn resistance to God must die in our lives if we are going to enter our promised land.
We see as we follow the first generation that they sinned repeatedly. They sinned when Moses was on the mountain getting the commandments. They sinned when they intermarried with the Moabites in Numbers 25. Over and over we see that sin dominated them. This is not the case with the second generation. So we must put away sin if we are going to enter the Promised Land God has for us.
The second generation submitted to the Godly principle of circumcision. The first generation had neglected to circumcise their children. They were not concerned about walking according to God’s ways. The second generation corrected this pattern. If we are going to walk in the promises of God we must be willing to walk according to the principles of God. If we do not allow this “death” to occur we will never fully find the life God wants for us to live.
In order for the people of Israel to maintain a relationship with God, He gave them the law at Sinai. If you study Leviticus you will find that almost every activity of life was covered in the law. Every sin had a corresponding sacrifice that had to be done if the sinner was to be clean. They were given an outward way to “die to the flesh” and stay on the path God had for them. However this outward law had very limited effectiveness.
In Jeremiah, God promises that there would be something better for his people in the future.
Jeremiah 31:33-34(NKJV) 33But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
Israel could only keep the law outwardly. They failed miserably. It does not take much study to come to the conclusion that Israel could not keep the law. Even with all of the control it placed on the flesh, they still were dominated by sin to the point that they ended up taken from the Promised Land into Babylonian captivity.
The message of Paul’s letters in the New Testament is that the law does not have the power to keep us from sinning. However Paul is just as adamant that Christians cannot live in sin and do the will of God. No New Testament writer is more vocal about the need to live righteously than Paul. If we are not to walk in sin, but keeping the law alone will not keep us from sin, what are we to do?
The answer is in this promise from Jeremiah. We have been given a covenant in Jesus that writes the Law of God on our hearts and minds. It is not a question of not doing things outwardly. It is rather a question of allowing what has been written on our hearts to dominate our outward life.
This week we will look at this idea more closely. Today, take some time to meditate on Jeremiah 31:33-34. This is the New Covenant in Jesus Christ. This is what happened to you when you were born again. God wrote his laws on your heart. You can live free from sin and rebellion because of the power of this New Covenant of the heart.
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