“Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.” (Psalm 95:11)
When Joshua and Caleb came back with the other spies, they were prepared to go right back into the land promised by the Lord to receive what He had promised the people. This was not a dry and thirsty land, this was not a land of want and famine, everything the people had ever dreamed of was waiting for them, all they had to do was trust and obey.
But it was personal fear the people followed instead.
Nothing changes my friends, the promises to us are just as real as those clusters of grapes they brought back as proof of what they saw. These were not weak-kneed men sent to spy out the land, these were not men forced to go, they were invigorated, they left with assurance and came back in fear. But I do not suppose they had any problem eating those grapes when they came back to the people.
“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:14)
They saw the gate, they saw the promises, they even partook of some of them, but they did not enter into the rest of the Lord.
Forty years is a long time to be angry my friends, to know what awaits you and have to wait for it, to know that those around you were only professing their faith with their lips.
“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt. 24:12)
If you are standing on the Rock that is Jesus Christ today, you are watching as many who profess to know the Lord Jesus Christ are in fear of the giants, they have little difficulty partaking of the Almighty’s blessings, but they have no desire to stand in these evil days against the unrighteousness, they fear to face the giants of this present time.
With nothing but a sling and a stone, with the full assurance that if they walked into the fire the Lord would still be with them, with the knowledge that three hundred could defeat thousands, that as long as he holds his arms up, the battle would be won.
Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has no problem facing death. Faith in the promises of the Sovereign Lord of all creation does not run from the giant, it runs towards them, standing for the Lord was never meant to be easy my friends, it is meant to show you where your faith truly rests, to reveal to you if you trust in Him who has promised or if your words were only that all along, just words.
“For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:14)
Two out of how many hundreds of thousands, perhaps a million or more, that is a very low percentage. How many today are all talk and no action, how many peoples faith goes no further than their lips, how many hearts are actually far from Him, how many live in fear of their lives while singing songs of praise on Sunday morning?
But I will bet they had no problem eating those grapes.
“For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.” (Heb. 12:17)
They walked for forty years, with nothing to look forward to but death.
Who are you honestly following and why? If He leads you into the fire, will you follow? Or will you fear so much that your life, the continuation of it, will be more important to you than His will?
There was no reprieve, there was no second chance, they received the reward of their labors, a few grapes, and that was it. If you are not on the Rock, you are on sinking sand, there is no place else to stand.
Where will you stand when the giants arrive?