2010 – Feb. 13 – Disinherited Children

Study from Numbers 26; Passage for Reflection: Numbers 26: 65 … NIV For the LORD had said of them [Moses and Aaron after the first census], “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” So there was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

My Journal for Today: Here we are, coming out of 40 years of wandering in the wilderness; and God is about to activate His covenant to His children, … giving them entrance into the “Promised Land.” And as we know, from Biblical accounting and historical study, two men [and their families] from the original census of Israel will be benefactors of God’s covenant; and they are Caleb and Joshua, … the two who came back with reports based on faith and promise when Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan over a generation earlier.

So, God is about to begin the process of turning His Promised Land over to His Children; but note that those who will receive the bounty of that promise are those who come from the “Children of faith” and those who remained obedient to God from the beginning to the end of the covenant. Even Moses and Aaron would not physically step into the promised land because of acts of disobedience, which disinherited them from receiving the initial benefits of God’s ultimate covenant.

So, what do we learn from the Book of Numbers and this accounting of God’s people in Chapter 26. Well, God speaks loudly to this humble follower of God’s Son, Jesus, that it is the living out my faith in Christ’s New Covenant act of atonement which will bring me into His eternal Kingdom. I have no doubt that I will be an inheritor of God’s promise because all of His promises of atonement have been fulfilled by God’s Son, Jesus, on the cross and through His resurrection, ascension, and His being re-established on God’s throne of grace. Therein lies my faith; and therein lies the hope of my salvation.

Oh how patient, loving, and merciful God has been in providing me – or you – with a way to eternal inheritance in glory; and Moses will be there as well. He may not have been able to physically walk into the “promised land” with God’s children from the original census of Israel or even from the second census; but God has provided a way that His faith will justify him, … just as it did for Abraham and others of faith in the original covenant God made with His children. Faith, and the humble obedience which marks that faith, is the key which opens God’s gates into glory.

I pray that anyone who reads this has lain their faith in the Lordship and saving grace offered by God through His atoning blood shed by the Lamb of Gold on the cross, … having faith – the faith of Caleb, Joshua, or even one who had sinned, like Moses – that God will provide a way for all who believe in His saving grace to be saved and be given entry into God’s eternal Promised Land.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, You have provided THE way; and that way comes through faith in Your redeeming plan of salvation, which was completed by my Savior and Lord, Jesus, on the cross at Calvary. Amen