Deuteronomy 1:24-25 (ESV)
And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. [25] And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ''It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.''
Here Moses speaks nothing about the evil report the 10 spies brought, and speaks only about the good report that Joshua and Caleb brought. To Moses' eyes only Joshua and Caleb were worthy to be called spies. These two were the only faithful witnesses. Moses is so angry at these wicked, cowardly, unfaithful spies, that they are non-existent to him. Moses has deleted them from his mind, and the memory of what they did.
Likewise are evil men are as dead to God. It is fitting, since they consider God as dead and think of Him non-existent. Just as they do not consider the work of God, God takes no notice of their vain works. Memories of sinners are wiped out from God's mind. They are like a bad dream to God:
Psalm 34:16 (ESV)
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Psalm 73:20 (ESV)
Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
If wicked man's works are remembered, it will be remembered for their shame, like these 10 spies who were recorded forever as unbelieving cowards who caused Israel to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Like Joshua and Caleb, only the works of those who live by faith will be remembered before God:
Psalm 112:6 (ESV)
For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.
We remember Mary, who poured out expensive ointment upon Jesus' feet, whose work Christ ordained to be remembered forever because of her sacrificial love and faith for Christ:
Matthew 26:13 (ESV)
Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her."
Another reason why Moses mentions only Joshua and Caleb is to emphasize that Israel's sin is not necessarily that they listened to the lies of the evil spies, but that they rejected the faithful witness of the true spies. Before a person believes a lie the person must first reject the truth that had been presented to them. When Adam and Eve sinned, their problem was not only that they listened to the devil, but that they first rejected the commandment and the word of the Lord.
As Paul says:
Romans 1:18-20 (ESV)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. [19] For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
What Paul is saying is that every human being in the world has been given enough knowledge about God to reject Him and to suppress the truth about Him. God has shown all humans through His creation His glory, His existence and His Godhood. But all mankind has suppressed the truth about God by their unrighteousness, and have exchanged the truth about God to a lie:
Romans 1:25 (ESV)
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
So it is for the rejection of the true witness that man has received from God that all mankind is subjected under the wrath of God which is coming upon the earth. And God has not only left it to nature to witness the truth about Him, but through His prophets, through the nation of Israel, and ultimately through Jesus Christ His Son, who is the True and Faithful witness from Heaven. He alone is the true messenger from Heaven:
John 3:11-13 (ESV)
Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. [12] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? [13] No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
Jesus Christ is like Joshua and Caleb in that He brought to us the fruits of the Kingdom of Heaven, in all the miracles He did and the heavenly compassion He showed towards man. When Christ came to the land of Judah people had a taste of what heaven was like:
Luke 17:21 (ESV)
nor will they say, ''Look, here it is!'' or ''There!'' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you."
Jesus Christ gave us a word of the Kingdom of God, and gave witness of it, saying it is an "exceedingly good" kingdom the God is giving to us:
Matthew 13:44-46 (ESV)
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. [45] "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, [46] who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Jesus encouraged us, like Joshua and Caleb, did, that we can take the Kingdom by force, and that God delights to give us the Kingdom:
Matthew 11:12 (ESV)
From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.
Luke 12:32 (ESV)
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
But men rejected the testimony that Christ the Witness gave about that good Kingdom He came from. He was the King of that land, and came to make peace with the inhabitants His enemy kingdom, but people rejected His offer. They despised His message, and as they did to Joshua and Caleb, picked up stones to stone Him. And at the end they indeed killed Him. They crucified the Lord of Glory. They again suppressed the truth with their unrighteousness, and exchanged the final Truth that God had offered them with a lie, that they may be gods.
Now let us think: if God so was angry at this first generation for rejecting the testimony of these human spies who was sent from among them, and made them to wander in the desert for forty years, and made them die and never see the land they refused; is it then not fitting that God, who sent His only begotten Son as the only and final witness of Heaven, subject those who have rejected His testimony to an eternity of wanderings in Hell, and make them to never see the Kingdom of Heaven? As it is written:
John 3:18 (ESV)
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Also, if Israel had trouble believing in Joshua and Caleb, human witnesses who were chosen and sent from among them and who returned to give witness, how could they believe in Jesus Christ, whose origin is not from them, but who came from above? It is as written:
John 5:46-47 (ESV)
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. [47] But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
The human prophets of the Old Testament do prepare a way in our hearts to believe in Son of God the Prophet from heaven. If we do not believe in the writings of Moses, and of the prophets, it is impossible that we can believe in Jesus. If we cannot believe that which is familiar to us, Moses and the prophets being humans with like passions as we are, how can then we believe in Jesus Christ who is not like us? This is why Jesus said in the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man:
Luke 16:29-31 (ESV)
But Abraham said, ''They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.'' [30] And he said, ''No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'' [31] He said to him, ''If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.''"
The Law prepares a heart to Jesus Christ. Thus when we speak with those who adamantly refuse to believe in Christ, we have to begin with something more familiar, namely those from human witnesses. But if they reject Moses and the Prophets, how can the Gospel be believed on, since it is too wonderful for them? For example, if a person does not believe that God created the heavens and the earth, how can they see the wonderful beauty of the fact that the Creator became one of His creatures? The Law is the schoolmaster to bring people to Christ. Gospel is that pearl that can't be given to the swine.
We also remember here that Jesus Christ is only witness that came back from the dead, to give witness of what will also happen to us. Jesus was really dead, and really did rise again from the dead. It was not like Lazarus and countless other people He rose from the dead only temporarily, to be dead again soon. No. He rose again from the dead, defeating death, and never to die ever again. He is the only one who went into the belly of death, and came back from there. Like Jonah, who was in the belly of the fish, and like Daniel who was in the den of the lion, Christ was in death, but God rose Him again from there, like Joseph from the pit, and lifted Him up, living forever, as the Lord of Lords and the Name above all names.
We remember what David said of his baby:
2 Samuel 12:23 (ESV)
But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me."
But Christ DID return from the dead on the third day. He indeed came back from there to here, having defeated the devil through death, repossessing in His hand the keys of death and Hades:
Revelation 1:17-18 (ESV)
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, [18] and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Jesus Christ came back from the dead in order to bear witness to us that we will all rise from the dead like He did, either to eternal life or eternal death:
John 5:28-29 (ESV)
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice [29] and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Jesus Christ, by raising Christ again from the dead, showed how those who have believed in Him will likewise be saved:
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 (ESV)
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [23] But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
But if we reject this testimony of the resurrection, we will naturally live in comfort and sin, as though there is no eternity:
1 Corinthians 15:32 (ESV)
What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
But the fearful thing is that just as Christ rose again from the dead, we will all likewise rise again from the dead. We will all really die, and we will rise again, not temporally, but permanently, either to spend forever in joyful communion with Christ, or in the continuous torment and pain of Hell, having both body and hell perish for an eternity.
Jesus Christ is the firstfruits that God took and brought back from the dead as the evidence of our resurrection and of the Kingdom of God to come. If we have then scorned this firstfruits of Christ's resurrection, and did not believe in God's very witness, how then can we be saved? This is why belief in the resurrection of Christ is central to our salvation:
Romans 10:9 (ESV)
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
If we don't believe that Christ rose from the dead, we don't believe that there is a resurrection, nor that there is a Kingdom of God. We don't believe in Christ's testimony about the Father and of Heaven and Hell. We don't believe in the Father's testimony of the Son. But if we do believe that Christ rose from the dead, then we will live lives that reflect that, one that is filled with the hope of our own resurrection, of the assurance of our salvation from God's wrath, of our right standing with God through Christ's life. Let us ask ourselves, do we fully believed and are convinced of Christ's resurrection and the witness that it gives of us? Does Christ's resurrection mean everything to us? As Paul said, if Christ is dead, we are still in our sins, because that means we have no mediator nor intercessor between us and God. God's wrath would surely consume us if Christ is still dead, for we are hateful to God on our own. It is only because of Christ we are accepted in His eyes. Let us ask God for mercy, that we may always believe that God raised Christ from the dead. His life alone is our life. Let us believe in Christ's testimony of the Kingdom of God, and live in a godly and righteous way that reflects this faith, and press on towards the goal of eternal life:
John 14:19 (ESV)
Because I live, you also will live.
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