Sabotage Message
Sabotage & Rebellion
Good Morning,
When I asked God what we would be studying this morning, He gave me a theme and then led me to the passage.
The theme is sabotage. And the passage is a very familiar one – Spies in the Promised Land. I never put the two together before. It amazes me how many time you can read a passage of Scripture and learn something new every time.
Turn to Numbers 13
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country.
Who is them? If you look at the verses before these, you will see the names – one representative from each tribe.
This is what Moses told them to do.
18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
Now before we go any further, flip over to Deut 1:20-23. In Num 13 the action is happening right now. In Deut 1, Moses is an old man, looking back on his life and retelling the same story. Have we seen that type of literature before? In Ecclesiastes, Solomon looked back on his life.
When Moses tells the story this time he lets us in on a secret, look for a new piece of information.
Deut 1:20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. 21 See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
23 The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.
So what was different? What did we learn in Deut 1? The people wanted spies sent out. God didn’t command this, he allowed it. Why? To reveal to the people what their hearts were really like. God already told them many times what Canaan was like, what nations were there, and how He would defeat their enemies and gain their inheritance.
Back to Numbers 13:
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where the descendants of Anak,
lived. 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs.
Rabbit trail: Grapes grown in Eshcol range from the size of a man’s thumb to about the size of a prune. One cluster would weigh about ten to twelve pounds. Grapes in Egypt (what they were used to seeing) on the other hand would be scrawny by comparison.
25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
The mission of the spies was clear: 1. to determine the nature of the land itself and 2. access the strengths and weaknesses of its inhabitants. They were on a scouting mission. They were supposed to bring back information that the armies could use to form strategies. They were not asked to reach a conclusion.
Generals don’t ask privates what to do. Who takes orders from Privates? No one. Who takes orders from Sergeants? How about Lieutenants? Captains? Chiefs? So who can tell a general what to do? What rank do you think Moses & would hold if we ranked them in this system?
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
OK, so there were people in the land. God told them they would take possession. Caleb was urging them to go get it.
31 But
When you see this word, I want you to associate it with unbelief.
31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”
They had “spied out” their inheritance and even tasted some of the fruits of His blessing; BUT their unbelief led them to sabotage God’s plan for their destiny.
sab•o•tage
1 : destruction of an employer’s property (as tools or materials) or the hindering of manufacturing by discontented workers
2 : destructive or obstructive action carried on by a civilian or enemy agent to hinder a nation’s war effort
3 a : an act or process tending to hamper or hurt
b : deliberate subversion
Let’s see how the unbelief of a small group of individuals sabotaged the lives of millions.
32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”
They saw the giants. They didn’t see God. Instead of reporting the blessings of the land, the ten spies emphasized the difficulties. They gave an “evil report”. They sabotaged hope. They said, “its there, but we can’t have it.” Nay-sayers, there’s always someone ready to tell you:
· you can’t do it.
· you can’t have it.
· God told you what? Oh yeah, I’m sure.
14 That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 ALL the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”
When I read that I thought about the magnitude of the spies influence. Someone says something and gets a few of his friends to agree with him, and a million people abandon their faith in God and give up their inheritance.
Imagine this: you were a slave in Egypt.
· God brings you out of bondage after a series of plagues on your oppressors.
· He compels your masters to send you away with gold and fine linens.
· He parts the Red Sea for you.
· He feeds you every day with manna.
· He brings you to the threshold of your new home.
And you’re ready to chuck it all because a group of guys said, “you can’t have it”.
4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
Here’s a “which came first” question? Sabotage or rebellion? Did rebellion cause the spies to sabotage the conquest of Canaan? Or did sabotage lead to rebellion? Because removing God’s appointed leader is rebellion.
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes
Jews tear their clothes as a sign of grief. By suggesting that they choose another leader, not only were they propsing mutiny but blaspheming God.
7 [Joshua & Caleb] said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against
the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.
Its interesting to me that God didn’t show up until the Israelites talked about stoning Moses, Aaron, Joshua & Caleb. You would think He might have zapped the spies for their “evil report”. After all, this was the Promised Land and these 10 men are sabotaging the future of the nation.
11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them?
How did the spies treat God with contempt? They called Him a liar. They said the giants in the land were bigger than God was. Sure it was a land of milk & honey, but they would never get to enjoy it. God lied to them when He took them out of Egypt.
12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
13 Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear about it!
15 If you put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this report about you will say, 16 ‘The Lord was not able to bring these people into the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.’
19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
Why do you think Moses did that? God was willing to wipe out:
· everyone who ever said a bad thing about him?
· everyone who questioned is authority?
· everyone who ever looked at him funny?
God was willing to destroy the entire nation and make a new nation through Moses’ family. I believe Moses rejected this offer because Moses realized that his descendants would not be any different from the nation he was now leading? We know that we can’t force our children or grandchildren to serve the Lord. The choice and responsibility ultimately belongs to them.
20 The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.
Forgiveness restores our relationship with God. But forgiveness does not mean we avoid the consequences of our actions. The person who robs a bank can’t just say, “Sorry,” or “I was converted and now I’m right with God” and expect to get off scot-free. He still must stand trial and serve time in jail. Forgiveness or no, there is a price to pay for wrongdoing.
21 Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, 22 not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I performed in Egypt and in the desert but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— 23 not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.
We know that everything in the Old Testament is a shadow of what is to come in the New Testament. I believe that verse 23 is a shadow of John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God wants to forgive all of mankind, but unless they come to Him, in repentance, they will not inherit eternal life.
Back to Numbers 14, jump down to
30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected.
Now this shows the depth of their despair. They were so greatly influence by the words of the spies, that the Israelites even cursed their children. I’m sure they did this unknowingly. We say things all the time, without thinking. People say:
· ”you’re driving me crazy.”
· “You make me sick.”
· “You’re getting on my nerves.”
· We even tell our dogs “bad dog” when they chew our slipper.
Talk about not thinking before you speak, Look back at verse 2:
“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert!”
I don’t have to tell you words have power. They sealed their own fate. We need to keep our tongues bridled and think before we speak.
32 But you—your bodies will fall in this desert. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’
So if that’s the fruit for following someone in rebellion, for turning a deaf ear to the word of God, you can imagine what fate awaited the saboteurs.
36 So the men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and made the whole community grumble against him by spreading a bad report about it— 37 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord.
Can you think of a New Testament verse that these 2 verses foreshadow? What is the greatest sin in the Kingdom of Heaven?
Matt 18: 5 “And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
The judgment had to be this harsh because the spies were leaders. Their influence was so great that they turned the hearts of the people away from God so much so that they were willing to forego their inheritance and return to slavery.
38 Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.
Only Caleb and Joshua were excluded from this judgment because of their faith and faithfulness. I cannot emphasize too much that God honors faith and judges unbelief. Faith leads to obedience and glorifies God; unbelief leads to rebellion and death. We have the Word of God filled with His promises and assurances. Just like Pastor is always telling us -- There is no reason why any of us should wander in unbelief when we can be walking in victory and enjoying the spiritual riches we have in Christ.
