Type and Antitype by L. D. Santee

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Dec 27, 1906

Type and Antitype

By L. D. Santee

Wandering in the Wilderness

L. D. SANTEE

The book of Deuteronomy is a rehearsal of the forty years’ wanderings of Israel in the wilderness. To the thoughtful reader of the Bible, it is a record of remarkable interest. Indeed, we can never exhaust its treasures of instruction, and its lessons of experience. The second verse of the book is worthy of much more attention than it generally gets. It is given in parenthesis, and reads as follows: “(There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.)” From Horeb, which is but another name for Sinai, or else another peak of the same mountain, to Kadesh-barnea, which was close to the border of the promised land, there was a distance of eleven days’ journey for the host of Israel.

They remained at Sinai nearly one year, receiving the law, constructing the tabernacle, and organizing the camp of Israel. Then, in the second year (Numbers 10), the pillar of cloud removing, they followed its guidance to Kadesh-barnea.

There were some hindrances and much that was evil in their conduct by the way, yet eleven marching days brought them to the land which God had promised. That they were not fit for it, had been made painfully apparent. Had they entered the land in their present condition, God would have had to drive them out as he did the nations before them. So it was proper at this point that they should be tested, subjected to a trial that would show how they had profited by the wonderful dealings of God with them, that would, in a word, show just what they were. The report of the spies, at this point in their history furnished just the trials they needed. Numbers 13, 14. So upon the very border of the land of promise, the people, almost as one man, broke out in bitter rebellion against God. They bade to stone Moses, and rebelled against his leading. They broke out in such rebellion that with a solemn oath the Lord swore that they should never set their feet upon the soil of that good land. The spies who visited it, had spent forty days in examining it, and God fixed the period of their wanderings in the wilderness at forty years, each day of the spies’ examination of the land being answered by a year of wandering in the desert.

What a terrible sentence to be pronounced upon a people just ready, as they supposed, to enter the land! They must wander forty years; but that was not the worst of it, for when that time should expire, it was not the purpose of God that they should enter the land. On the contrary, all that host of men and women, with almost the smallest possible exception, knew that they should die before that period expired; and they did die. The second numbering of Israel attested the fact that not one of the vast host of rebellious men and women remained alive. Num. 26: 63-65. And now, at the end of their forty years’ sojourn, Moses rehearses their long and weary wandering in the wilderness.

How much time had they spent from Sinai to the promised land?—About thirty-nine years. How far was it actually from the one point to the other?—Only eleven days. No wonder that Moses could not enter upon this forty years of needless wandering without pausing to tell his hearers that it was a distance of eleven days’ march. Had every day been a day of overcoming, every night would have seen their tents pitched a day’s march nearer the land of promise. But they went on day after day, yielding to the power of Satan instead of resisting it, and instead of a brief journey to the land of promise, they (with two exceptions) never crossed the Jordan at all, but found their graves in the wilderness. God was not pleased with this failure. It was his wish to lead his people into the home land, instead of giving his “rest” to their children. The Holy Ghost was there with them, but they hardened their hearts against its pleadings. “Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness.” Heb. 3: 7, 8. In the last verse of the chapter is given the cause of their failure: ‘So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.’

Now I come to a startling proposition. “All these things happened unto them for ensamples [“type,” margin]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10: 11. With their history written out before us, are we going to fail as they did? In an experience of forty years, how many find that they are nearer Egypt than Canaan? How many, like Israel of old, have spent as much time in traveling from the promised land as toward it? What a miserable deception to call that Christian experience! Christian experience is nothing more nor less than forming an acquaintance with Christ that every day becomes more intimate and precious. It is “following on to know the Lord;” it is adding grace to grace; it is “walking with God;” it is resisting the devil; it is humbling ourselves before God; it is overcoming temptation; it is keeping our face toward Canaan all the time; it is bearing the cross of Christ; it is denying self; it is dying daily; it is not living ourselves, but having Christ live in us.

An experience of this kind is worth more than forty years in the wilderness. It is easy to know where we are; Canaan is before us, and just ahead is the swelling of the Jordan. The “pillar of fire” is leading; the judgments of God are in the earth; the investigative judgment is closing. Are you keeping step

with the armies of the Lord? The search-light of prophecy shows us where we are, beyond a doubt. Signs on every side tell us that it is the beginning of the end. Inspiration calls to us with no uncertain voice: “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Rom. 13:11. And again: “But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.” 1 Peter 4:7.

Are we gaining ground day by day? If not, it may be set down as a certainty that we shall never enter the kingdom.

We have reached Kadesh-barnea. Which way are we going?

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