Numbers 13

The promise of the Lord was clear. He was giving a land to the descendants of Jacob. The time had come for them to see that land. God commanded Moses to send representatives from the tribes of Israel into the land so that they could report back to the rest of the people.

The assignment He gave was specific. They were not sent out as military strategists who were supposed to assess the feasibility of Israel dispossessing the Canaanites from the land. They were simply to report what they saw. Were the people strong or weak? Were they few or many? Was the land good or bad? These were the sort of questions they were to answer. They were also told to be of good courage and to bring some of the fruit of the land for the people to see. After forty days these appointed representatives reported their findings to the people and showed them the fruit of the land.

All the men had seen the same land, yet only two of them saw that land with the eyes of faith, Caleb and Joshua. They knew that the land was Israel's, given to them by God. The others urged fear and faithlessness and even spread a false report about the land to the people, saying that it was a land that devoured its inhabitants. They claimed that “all the people” were of great height. When they looked back to themselves all they could imagine was certain defeat.

“We seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Generations later, long after Israel had first taken the land, a true giant of the Philistines, Goliath, would defy the people of the living God. Young David was able to see this brute with the eyes of faith. Others murmured the chilling assessment of sure defeat. David knew the power of the God of Israel working through His appointed servant.

Centuries after David, a descendant of this chosen king would stand up to powerful adversaries and proclaim the Word of God with perfect faith. He was able to see more than the formidable opposition that gathered against Him. He insisted that in His father's house were many rooms, and that in His death, resurrection, and ascension, He was going to prepare a place for them. He knew that He came from the ultimate promised land, and that after men had rejected, dishonored, and killed Him, they would not be able to prevent Him returning to the place from which He had come.

This Jesus, through His own blood and righteousness, has accomplished a stunning conquest over sin and death. He has led the way into heaven, a land of glory. His report to us is good. His instruction for us is to see the gift of God with the eyes of faith, and to take the land by the strength that God supplies. In His power we go forth to certain victory. We will not succumb to evil and fear. We will take the land that God has promised.