[2] BECAUSE YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE- DEUT.1

By Edward O'Hara

From Deut.1 we see how God established Israel as the people for His name sake. Moses explains that 1st in Horeb, which means desolate, He sets them up with wise men over their number because they had become too many for Moses alone to judge over. In vs.10 Moses says they had become as "the stars of heaven in multitude".

So judges were set among the people to hear them and decide what should be done in matters that were troubling them. Only if a matter was too hard for the judge to decide was it then to be taken to Moses for adjudication.

Then God said it is time that they left that place to go into the land God had promised to their father's to possess it. So they passed through "the great and terrible wilderness" to the place called kadesh-Barnea, which means place of sanctuary, and were commanded by God to take it and to possess it.

God told them not to be afraid or discouraged. Because He would go before them and give it into their hands. But, the people came to Moses and said that men should be sent into the city first to discover what we are getting into when we go to take the land. And it pleased Moses to send them.

But, when they went, even though they found much good fruit there, they were afraid of the sons of the Anakim that were there. Numbers33 tells us they were afraid because they felt as "grasshoppers in their sight".

So because the walls of the city were very high. And because they were afraid of the sons of the Anakim. They refused to go to possess the land as God had instructed them to. Even going so far as to say to Moses that they believed that it was "Because the Lord hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us."

This shows us that they did not know God. Which is why they did not believe Him. Because if they knew God they would have known He could always be trusted to protect them when they did what He instructed them to do. But remember, this is Old Covenant. God's covenant with them was "If you will, then I will". A conditional covenant. Unlike the New Covenant in which the only condition is that we believe in Jesus, theirs was a conditional covenant based on behavior + believing as we see Jesus telling the rich young ruler in the gospel account.

Then to help them deal with their fear Moses reminded them all of God's protection, guidance, and deliverance in the wilderness saying, "Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes;And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place."

But, they still refused to believe God. And when Moses told them that God heard what they said. And that God determined that those who did not believe, but rebelled against His instructions, would not be allowed to go into the land God had promised to their fathers. They changed their minds and decided they would go up.

But, God said that their children would be allowed to go into the promised land. He said that the children that these unbelieving Israelites had thought would be prey for their enemies if they obeyed God to go take the land, because they had no knowledge of good and evil, would be allowed to go in and possess it, while the parents would not.

This is one reason why God did not punish Adam and Eve for their sin in the garden. Because they too had no knowledge of good and evil. Gen.3:22 tells us that they didn't receive that knowledge until after they ate the fruit.

And here again in Deut.1 we see that without this knowledge God does not hold men accountable for their sin. Because a knowledge of good and evil accompanied by guidance from the law, or in the case of the New Covenant believer from the Holy Spirit, is a necessary component for understanding instructions regarding good and evil.

Now like I said, when Israel realized that God was angry at them for their unbelief they changed their minds and decided they would go ahead now and take the land from the Amorites as God had told them to do. But, before they did God told them not to go to take the land. And He said He would not go with them if they tried to.

But, here again they missed it. Because again Israel would not believe God. Here they were trying to show, albeit in their own strength, that they now would believed God to do what He had said before. But, instead they were again refusing to believe God because now He told them not to.

Well, the results were just as God said. When they went up to take the land they had their hats handed to them by the Amorites. They were soundly defeated. Moses tells them "the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir(which means rough) even unto Hormah(which means devoted)."

God would have many such dealings with His people Israel over the coming years. Some ending with victory, some with defeat. And always dependent upon whether Israel was in faith toward God and believing what He would tell them.

The lesson we learn from all this is that we too must always believe what God tells us. Never faltering from His spoken word to us whether through the scriptures or by the Holy Spirit, by allowing things like the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, or desires for other things to get in our way and choke the word making it unfruitful.

But, how can we trust someone we do not know? That's a fair question. The answer is the same as Moses told the children of Israel when he tried to get them to trust God. By remembering when we hear Him preached all the times when God delivered us from the troubles we more than likely got ourselves into even though we did not know Him. 

Everyone has memories of near misses and dire situations they wondered how they ever got through or out of. These were the times God protected us with His angels sent to minister to those who will receive salvation(Heb.14). He was keeping us till He could get one of His children to us to bring us His message of eternal life.

These events in our lives show us how much God loves us. And when we know He loves us we also know we can trust Him to continue to deliver us out of the hands of him that would oppress us. Death and satan who comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.

But, Jesus came so that you would have life. And that life more abundantly. So if you have never trusted in Him His ever present hand in past events is proof that you have every reason to do so. If not then it will be for you as it was for unbelieving Israel. And in this time of great political and economic upheaval that is a very scary place to be.

But, God wants you not to be afraid. He wants you to have the confidence that only comes from knowing Him so that you will know what to do, and be able to stand for what is right, in the face of all this evil. He does not want you to fall prey to the deceptions that are coming and are here now as Israel imagined their own children would be.

So like Israel when they were victorious when they were following His instructions. Hear the voice of the Holy Spirit who is calling you now. Trust in Him and He will see you through to the victory side. The promised land. And fear will have no place in your heart because you will believe God when He says in 1John4:4 that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.

Because unlike the children who had no knowledge of good and evil you have been equipped with that knowledge. And unlike those before Moses who had no guiding principles. You will have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead you in all truth to keep you from the strong delusion that is coming upon the whole earth.

Confess that Jesus is Lord. And believe in your heart that He has raised from the dead for you. And you will have eternal life and the guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit to keep you from deception. From the strong delusion that comes to damn all those who love not the truth and take pleasure in unrighteousness, which is unbelief.

Do this, and I will see you there or in the air!

This message can also be heard at: Rumble