NUMBERS 14:39 by J. E. Green

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 10, 1893

By J. E. Green

BY J. E. GREEN.

“And Moses told these sayings unto the children of Israel; and the people mourned greatly.”

THE “sayings” that Moses told unto the children of Israel were the threatenings that the Lord made when the people murmured against him as they listened to the evil report of the ten spies concerning the land of Canaan. See Num. 14:26–37. The people had murmured and rebelled again and again, notwithstanding God had manifested such love, and patience, and care for them all their tedious journey thus far. And now when they were on the verge of the promised land, they must murmur and rebel again. This was once too often, and now the decree was passed that for forty years they must wander in the desert, until all that generation should lie down in death, and then their children should go up and possess the land.

What disappointment, regret, and remorse must have seized them as they beheld the promised inheritance fade from their view, and they realized that it never could be theirs to enjoy the beauties and riches of that land, which had for so many generations been the hope of their people—the land that was promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; but in the desert must they wander until they should close their eyes in death! After passing a weary, sleepless night, they rose early, as one man, and came to Moses with confession, saying, “We have sinned, but we are now ready and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised.” Moses said, “Go not up, for the Lord is not among you.” Nevertheless, they presumed to go up unto the hilltop, and as a result the Amalekites and Canaanites came down and discomfited them, for Moses and the ark of God had tarried in the camp.

This incident reminds one of a time long before, when Noah for many years labored to prepare a place of refuge from the gathering storm of God’s wrath, meanwhile pleading with men to flee from the wrath to come. But they laughed him to scorn, until the rain began to fall, and then no doubt many clustered around the ark confessing their sins and pleading to be taken in. But alas! it was too late; an angel had shut the door, and no man might open it. I turn my eyes forward now, and I see another day coming,—“a day of darkness and of gloominess; a day of clouds and of thick darkness;” a day when “the heavens shall depart as a scroll, and every mountain and every island shall be moved out of their places;” a day when mercy will plead no longer, for Christ will have risen up and closed to the door and no man can open it.

At that day many will come with pleadings to be sheltered from the wrath of a long-suffering God; but, alas, it will be too late! Oh, how bitter will be the cry that will go up then, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,

and I am not saved! How many gracious calls have I refused to listen to! how many times God sent his warning messages to me, but I closed my ears to them! how many times have I heard the still, soft, pleading tones of my Saviour's gentle voice, but I laughed him to scorn! Now it is too late; never shall I hear them more.” Then will go up one long, pleading, agonizing cry, “Lord, Lord, open unto us; we are ready now to do thy bidding and to go up and possess the land.” But the answer then will be, “Depart; you have made your choice, and now there is no more opportunity given for any to enter.”

Oh, the agony of such a time as that! But is there not a brighter picture with which to close the scene? Yes, praise the Lord, there is. As faithful Noah, and Caleb, and Joshua stood firm and true amid the surrounding rebellion, so God will have a tried people who will come up in that day clad in the garments of salvation, a little handful of people who will have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and have come up through great tribulation. And now their labors, their cares, their sorrows, their agonizing pleadings, are all past, and they stand calm and unmoved amid the surrounding destruction; joy lights up every countenance, and praise bursts forth from every lip, “unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.”

Reader, you and I may share in that song, and the time is near.

Hebron, Wisconsin.

NUMBERS 14:39.