In this message we will first continue to consider the failure of the children of Israel in not believing in God (vv. 11-38). Then we will see that they also failed by transgressing the word of God (vv. 39-45). Concerning these matters, I have some serious things to say.
Because of their failure at Kadesh, God abhorred the people of Israel (14:11-38). God had brought the children of Israel to the border of the good land, and they could have easily crossed the border and entered into the land. But God knew their heart, and He put them to the test. He gave the word to send out the twelve spies to spy out the land (13:1-2). According to Deuteronomy 8:2, God did this purposely in order to test them. This test exposed them to the uttermost.
Our faith may be very weak and small, nearly nonexistent. Since this may be our situation, we should learn to humble ourselves before God, confessing the weakness of our faith and asking Him to forgive us. This is the spirit we should have before God. But as indicated by what they said, the children of Israel did not care for God but only for themselves. Their feeling was centered not on God but on themselves.
Today, thirty-five hundred years later, we can realize from reading the biblical record that although God's bringing of the people into the good land was apparently for the people, it was actually to accomplish, to carry out, God's eternal plan, which is altogether centered on the all-inclusive Christ. This is on the positive side.
On the negative side, God still has an enemy, Satan. Apparently, it is man who occupies and usurps the earth; actually, the usurper is not man but Satan. This is the reason that in Matthew 6:10 the Lord Jesus told us to pray that the Father's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. This indicates that God's will has not yet been accomplished on earth. Concerning God's will being done, there is no problem in the heavens, but there is a problem on earth. Therefore, we need to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven.