Grapes, Great Cities, Giants and Grasshoppers
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them. And Moses by the commandment of the LORD sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.” —Numbers 13:1-3
“And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” —Numbers 13:26-33
“And when we departed from Horeb, we went through all that great and terrible wilderness, which ye saw by the way of the mountain of the Amorites, as the LORD our God commanded us; and we came to Kadeshbarnea. And I said unto you, Ye are come unto the mountain of the Amorites, which the LORD our God doth give unto us. Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come.” —Deuteronomy 1:19-22
The Children of Israel were being led by God to the promised land. They were delivered by God out of Egypt for this purpose; God had given them the law of God on Mount Sinai for this purpose; they were granted miracle after miracle for this express purpose: the promised land. Actually, the entirety of who, what, when, and where was wrapped up in God’s promise to Abraham of the inheritance of a land for a people—Israel—that would become a great nation with a great capital, Jerusalem, D.C. (David’s Capital), a city where God said in II Chronicles 6:6: “But I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel.” In the promised land, Israel was to become the only nation in the world to worship the one true God.
This land was their inheritance, and in the possession of the land they would find everything they needed to sustain and prosper them. It was a portrayal, picture, and type of our spiritual inheritance available to us because of Calvary—that is the promise of the new covenant—a promise to any and all who will believe and, by faith, take the land in spite of the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amonites, Canaanites, and giants (the children of Anak). Satan opposes, but God, through His Son and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, has promised us the land, and faith is the weapon of conquest.
Deuteronomy 1:19-22 tells us the people knew the Lord had said, “Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged” (Deut. 1:21). But the people said, “We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land” (Deut. 1:22). This very act of searching out the land was a sign of doubt, fear, rebellion, and sin against the word of the Lord. Listen to me; hear the words I write; don’t just read over them: The greatest thing you can do is to believe God. Mark 9:23 says, “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” By the leaders of Israel demanding to search out the land, they were saying in effect, “We can’t take the land.”
In this whole scenario, we have before us three reports and, of the three, only one matters and that is God’s report. Let’s look at each one.
God’s Report
God’s report said, “I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: Unto a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 33:2-3).
Deuteronomy 26:9 says, “And He hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.”
Numbers 13:23 says that one cluster of grapes were so big that it had to be carried between two men as well as the pomegranates and figs. God’s report was a report of protection and plenty. But they said, “We can’t do it.”
The Majority Report
Upon their return, the majority of the spies said this:
• We saw strong-walled cities, giants, the Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amonites, and Canaanites.
• We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.
• We are in our own sight as grasshoppers.
This is the language of unbelief, doubt, rebellion, and sin. This was walking by sight, not by faith.
The Minority Report
Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num. 13:30).
True faith does not deny the existence of obstacles before us, rather it proclaims the power of God. Faith and truth are never popular to the majority, but people of faith will never let the majority of doubt stop them. Refuse to hear the doubt and unbelief of others. Hold on to God’s promises, walk by faith, watch the Lord give you the giant-walled cities, and watch the giants fall before your eyes. Go forth and eat of the grapes and dwell in the land of milk and honey.
Share this Post
0 Comments
No one has commented on this article yet. Leave your comment below!
Leave Your Comment
