But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!” But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” [Numbers 13.30-31]
Genuine 1st Commandment faith in God alone makes the difference in how we see every situation in life. At least, it should.
If we do not see every life situation as Caleb did, we fall into 2nd Commandment violation - idolatry.
If we do not see every life situation as Caleb did, and violate the 2nd Commandment, we attempt to excuse our sin of idolatry by misusing God's name - defending our idols as "gifts from God" in open verbal violation of the 3rd Commandment.
In summary, if we do not see every life situation as Caleb did, we disregard every single one of the "Godward" Commandments (the first three).
Now, what gave Caleb the audacity to see the Promised Land situation the way he did? Had he not seen what the others saw? He indeed saw what they saw, but not how they saw it because his response actually acknowledged the obstacles and he still said “We can certainly conquer it!”
Ready for this? The giants Caleb saw and the giants the others saw were different giants...
Caleb simply saw the giants and fortitude of Canaan through the eyes of undeserved grace based on other previous physical obstacles (like the Red Sea) that presented no deterrent to God - and, therefore His people - whatsoever. The others saw the giants through the eyes of condemnation, knowing they had just failed miserably in their ingratitude for manna and their impatience and lust for meat. No doubt, they knew God could conquer Canaan, but doubted that He would.
Consequently, if we do not see every life situation as Caleb did, we, violating the first three Commandments unchecked, inadvertently digress to violate the 4th Commandment by underestimating the complete spiritual rest - the complete spiritual reset that is the Sabbath, that is Jesus Christ.
The story of Caleb here is the story of undeserved grace foretold by Caleb's understanding of God's character that conquers not only the obstacles of life but also the obstacle of living in sin and its condemnation. Caleb saw Jesus in God's promises and acted accordingly.
Condemnation does not cause us to doubt God's power to do mighty miracles, but to doubt God's power to completely forgive. We don't so much have a problem today knowing God can do miracles on our behalf but that God will do miracles on our behalf. We overwhelmingly misunderstand the Sabbath Rest - the complete reset - that is Jesus Christ.
God's people totally underestimate the effect of genuine "belief" that follows genuine "repentance." If we "run this up the flagpole" of the Ten Commandments, we see that failure to see Jesus in the Sabbath (violating the 4th Commandment) is the result of misusing God's name justifying our idolatry (violating the 3rd Commandment) which is the result of actually embracing idols (violating the 2nd Commandment) which is the result of not trusting and serving God alone (violating the 1st Commandment).
As seen in the Israelite scouting party failure, a lax attitude regarding the 1st Commandment set Israel up to digress into violation of the 2nd Commandment (idolatry), starting with the idolatry of self-condemnation... the first idol that stands between us and God's undeserved grace leading us to all manner of idolatry following - doubting God's miraculous power on our behalf, leading us to make remedies for ourselves, and consequently (albeit mistakenly) consoling ourselves that our man-made remedies are God's doing.
Knowing our digression described above, God strategically placed the 4th Commandment right where it needed to be to show us Jesus. The 4th Commandment takes us back to the 1st Commandment, but in the person of Jesus Christ Who, in 1st Commandment singularity of commitment, said:
If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]
And,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]
It is not surprising that Jesus would say this because:
...this is how [1st Commandment] God loved the world: He gave his one and only [4th Commandment] Son, so that everyone who believes in him [observes 4th Commandment God as 1st Commandment God] will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge [condemn as per 2nd or 3rd Commandment warnings] the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment [2nd or 3rd Commandment condemnation] against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him [in violation of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Commandments] has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. [John 3.16-18 with explanation in []'s]
The 1st Commandment is where is all starts. The 1st Commandment makes the difference.
Jesus, Whom the 4th Commandment foreshadows, is how we fulfill the 1st Commandment.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. [Romans 8.1-4]
It is only when we comprehend this that we can believe what the apostle Paul went on to write in Romans 8 and what Caleb believed long before Paul even wrote it.
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8.31-39]
Caleb did not lament, "If only we a nuclear bomb..." Instead, Caleb's faith was firmly in the unmistakable, indisputable power of God - for forgiveness, and therefore, for victory.
Father, may every person who reads this article today "see" Jesus all through it. May we all trust Jesus alone in repentance for our idolatry. May we intentionally and methodically rid our lives of idols and every self-motivated thought so that we might fulfill Your 1st Commandment as we give up our own way, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. So be it.
No comments:
Post a Comment