Testimony for the Church — No. 27

The Twelve Spies.

The Lord commanded Moses to send men to search the land of Canaan, which he would give unto the children of Israel. A ruler of each tribe was to be selected for this purpose. They went, and after forty days returned from their search, and came before Moses and Aaron, and all the congregation of Israel, and showed them the fruit of the land. All agreed that it was a good land, and they exhibited the rich fruit which they had brought as evidence. One cluster of grapes was so large that two men earned it between them on a staff. They also brought of the figs, and the pomegranates, which grew there in abundance. After they had spoken of the fertility of the land, all but two spoke very discouragingly of their being able to possess it. They said that the people were very strong that dwelt in the land, and the cities were surrounded with great and high walls, and, more than all this, they saw the children of the giant Anak there. They then described how the people were situated around Canaan, and the impossibility of their ever being able to possess it. T27 9.1

As the people listened to this report, they gave vent to their disappointment with bitter reproaches and wailing. They did not wait, and reflect, and reason that God, who had brought them out thus far, would certainly give them the land. They left God out of the question. They acted as though in the taking of the city of Jericho, the key to the land of Canaan, they must depend solely on the power of arms. God had declared that he would give them the country, and they should have fully trusted him to fulfill his word. But their unsubdued hearts were not in harmony with his plans. They did not reflect how wonderfully he had wrought in their behalf, bringing them out of their Egyptian bondage, cutting a path for them through the waters of the sea, and destroying the pursuing host of Pharaoh. T27 9.2

In their unbelief they were limiting the work of God, and distrusting the hand that had hitherto safely guided them. In this instance they repeated their former error of murmuring against Moses and Aaron. “This then, is the end of all our high hopes,” said they “This is the land we have traveled all the way from Egypt to possess.” They blamed their leaders with bringing trouble upon Israel, and again charged them with deceiving and leading their people astray. Moses and Aaron lay prostrate before God, their faces in the dust. T27 10.1

Caleb and Joshua, the two who, of all the twelve spies, trusted in the word of God rent their clothes in distress, when they perceived that these unfavorable reports had discouraged the whole camp. They endeavored to reason with them, but the congregation were filled with madness and disappointment, and refused to listen to these two men Finally Caleb urged his way to the front, and his clear, ringing voice was heard above all the clamor of the multitude. He opposed the cowardly views of his fellow-spies, which had weakened the faith and courage of all Israel. T27 10.2

He commanded the attention of the people, and they hushed their complaints for a moment to listen to him. He spoke of the land he had visited. Said he, “Let us go up at once; for we are well able to overcome it.” But as he spoke, the unfaithful spies interrupted him, crying, “We be not able to go up against this people, for they are stronger than we!” T27 11.1

These men, starting upon a wrong course, set their hearts against God, against Moses and Aaron, and against Caleb and Joshua. Every step they advanced in this wrong direction made them firmer in their design to discourage every attempt to possess the land of Canaan. They distorted the truth in order to carry their baneful influence. They represented the climate as being unhealthful, and all the people of giant stature. Said they, “And there we saw the giants, the sons of the giants, the sons of Anak, which came of the giants, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” T27 11.2

This was not only an evil, but a lying report. It was contradictory; for if the land was unhealthy and “had eaten up the inhabitants,” how was it that they attained to such massive proportions. When men in responsible positions yield their hearts to unbelief, there are no bounds to the advance they will make in evil. Few realize, when they start upon this dangerous course, the length that Satan will lead them. T27 11.3

The evil report had a terrible effect upon the people. They reproached Moses and Aaron bitterly. Some groaned and wailed saying, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or, Would God we had died in the wilderness!” Then their feelings rose against the Lord, they wept and mourned saying, “Wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another: Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” T27 12.1

Thus they manifested their disrespect for God and for the leaders he had appointed to conduct them. They did not ask the Lord what they should do, but said, “Let us make a captain.” They took matters in their own hands, feeling themselves competent to manage their affairs without divine aid. They not only accused Moses of deception, but also God, in promising a land which they were not able to possess. They actually went so far as to appoint one of their number as a captain, to lead them back to the land of their suffering and bondage, from which God had delivered them with his strong arm of omnipotence. T27 12.2

Moses and Aaron still remained prostrate before God in the presence of all the assembly, silently imploring divine mercy for rebellious Israel. Their distress was too deep for words. Again Caleb and Joshua press to the front, and the voice of Caleb once more rises in sorrowful earnestness above the complaints of the congregation. T27 12.3

“The land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land that floweth with milk and honey; only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us. Their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not.” T27 13.1

The Canaanites had filled up the measure of their iniquity, and the Lord would no longer bear with them. His defense being removed from them, they would fall an easy prey to the Hebrews. They were not prepared for battle, for they felt so strong that they deceived themselves with the idea that no army was formidable enough to prevail against them. Caleb reminded the people that by the covenant of God the land was insured to Israel. But their hearts were filled with madness and they would hear no more. If only the two men had brought the evil report, and all the ten had encouraged them to possess the land in the name of the Lord, they would still have taken the advice of the two in preference to the ten, because of their wicked unbelief. T27 13.2

But there were only two advocating the right, while ten were in open rebellion against their leaders and against God. The greatest excitement now raged among the people, their worst passions were aroused, and they refused to listen to reason. The ten unfaithful spies join them in their denunciations of Caleb and Joshua, and the cry is raised to stone them. The insane mob seize missiles with which to slay those faithful men. They rush forward with yells of madness, when, Lo! the stones drop from their hands, a hush falls upon them, and they shake with terror. God has interposed to check their rash design. The glory of his presence, like a flame of light, illuminates the tabernacle. All the congregation behold the signal of the Lord. T27 14.1

A mightier one than they, had revealed himself, and not one dared continue his resistance. Every murmurer was silenced. The spies who had brought the evil report, crouched terror-stricken and with bated breath. Moses now arose from his humiliating position and entered the tabernacle, to commune with God. Then the Lord proposed to immediately destroy this rebellious people. He desired to make of Moses a greater nation than Israel; but the meek leader of his people would not consent to this proposition. “And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land, for they have heard that thou, Lord, art among this people, that thou, Lord, art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by daytime in a pillar of cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now, if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.” T27 14.2

Moses again refuses to have Israel destroyed, and himself made a mightier nation than was Israel. This favored servant of God manifests his love for Israel, and shows his zeal for the glory of his Master, and the honor of his people. Thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now, thou hast been long-suffering and merciful hitherto toward this ungrateful nation; and however unworthy they may be, thy mercy is the same. He pleads, Wilt thou not, therefore, spare them this once, and add this one more instance of divine patience to the many thou hast already given? T27 15.1

Moses prevailed with God to spare the people; but because of their arrogance and unbelief, the Lord could not go with them to work in a miraculous manner in their behalf. Therefore, in his divine mercy, he bade them adopt the safest course, and turn back into the wilderness, towards the Red Sea. He also decreed that, as a punishment for their rebellion, all the adults who left Egypt, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, should be forever excluded from Canaan. They had utterly failed to keep their promise of obedience to God, and this released him from the covenant that they had so repeatedly violated. He promised that their children should possess the goodly land, but their own bodies should be buried in the wilderness. And the ten unfaithful spies, whose evil report had caused Israel to murmur and rebel, were destroyed by the power of God, before the eyes of the people. T27 15.2

When Moses made known to Israel the will of God concerning them, they seemed to sincerely repent of their sinful conduct. But the Lord knew that their sorrow was because of the result of their evil course, rather than a deep sense of their ingratitude and disobedience. But their repentance came too late; the just anger of God was awakened, and their doom was pronounced from which there was no reprieve. When they found that the Lord would not relent in his decree, their self-will again arose, and they declared that they would not return into the wilderness. T27 16.1

In commanding them to retire from the land of their enemies, God tested their apparent submission and found it was not real. They knew that they had deeply sinned in allowing their rash feelings to control them, and seeking to slay the spies who had urged them to obey God. But they were only terrified to find that they had made a fearful mistake, the consequences of which would prove disastrous to themselves. Their hearts were unchanged, and they only needed an excuse to occasion a similar outbreak. This presented itself when Moses, by the authority of God, commanded them to go back into the wilderness. T27 16.2

They had rebelled against his commands, when he bade them go up and take the land he had promised them, and now, that he directed them to retreat from it, they were equally insubordinate, and declared they would go to battle with their enemies. They arrayed themselves in their warriors’ dress and armor, and presented themselves before Moses, prepared for conflict, in their own estimation, but sadly deficient in the sight of God and his sorrowful servant. They refused to listen to the solemn warnings of their leaders that disaster and death would be the consequence of their audacity. T27 17.1

When God directed them to go up and take Jericho, he promised to go with them. The ark containing his law was to be a symbol of himself. Moses and Aaron, God's appointed leaders, were to conduct the expedition under his watchful direction. With such supervision, no harm could have come to them. But now, contrary to the command of God, and the solemn prohibition of their leaders, without the ark of God and without Moses, they march out to meet the armies of the enemy. T27 17.2

During the time consumed by the Israelites in their wicked insubordination, the Amalekites and Canaanites had prepared for battle. The Israelites presumptuously challenged the foe that had not dared to attack them. But just as they had fairly entered the enemy's territory, the Amalekites and Canaanites met them in force and fiercely repulsed them, driving them back with great loss. The field of carnage was red with the blood of the Hebrews, and their dead bodies strewed the ground. They were utterly routed and defeated. Destruction and death was the result of their rebellious experiment. T27 18.1

But the faith of Caleb and Joshua was richly rewarded. According to his word, God brought these faithful two into the land he had promised to them. The cowards and rebels perished in the wilderness, but the righteous spies did eat of the grapes of Eshcol.^* T27 18.2

The history of the twelve spies’ report has an application to us as a people. The scenes of cowardly complaining and drawing back from action when here are risks to encounter, are re-enacted among us today. The same unwillingness is manifested to heed faithful reports and true counsel, as in the days of Caleb and Joshua. The servants of God, who bear the burden of his cause, practicing strict self-denial and suffering privation for the sake of helping his people, are seldom better appreciated now than then. T27 18.3

Ancient Israel was repeatedly tested and found wanting. Few received the faithful warnings given them of God. Darkness and unbelief does not decrease as we near the time of the second advent of Christ. Truth becomes less and less palatable to the carnal minded; their hearts are slow to believe, and tardy to repent. The servants of God might well become discouraged, were it not for the continual evidences their Master gives them of his wisdom and assistance. Long has the Lord borne with his people. He has forgiven their wanderings, and waited for them to give him room in their hearts; but false ideas, jealousy and distrust have crowded him out. T27 18.4

Few who are professedly of Israel, and whose minds have been enlightened by the revelations of divine wisdom, dare to come boldly forward, as did Caleb, and stand firmly for God and the right. Because those whom the Lord has chosen to conduct his work, will not be swerved from the course of integrity, to gratify the selfish and unconsecrated, they become the target for hatred and malicious falsehood. Satan is wide awake and working warily in these last days. God calls for men of spiritual nerve and stamina to resist his artifices. T27 19.1

Thorough conversion is necessary among those who profess to believe the truth, in order for them to follow Jesus, and obey the will of God. Not a submission born of circumstances as was that of the terrified Israelites, when the power of the Infinite was revealed to them, but a deep and heart-felt repentance and renunciation of sin. Those who are but half-converted, are as a tree whose boughs hang upon the side of truth, but whose roots, firmly bedded in the earth, strike out into the barren soil of the world. Jesus looks in vain for fruit upon its branches, he finds nothing but leaves. T27 19.2

Thousands would accept the truth, if they could do so without denying self; but this class would never build up the cause of God. These would never march out valiantly against the enemy, which is the world, the love of self and the lusts of the flesh, trusting their divine Leader to give them the victory. The church needs faithful Calebs and Joshuas, who are ready to accept eternal life on God's simple conditions of obedience. Our churches are suffering for laborers. The world is our field. Missionaries are wanted in cities and villages that are more certainly bound by idolatry than the pagans of the East, who have never seen the light of truth. The true missionary spirit has deserted the churches that make so exalted a profession; their hearts are no longer aglow with love for souls, and a desire to lead them into the fold of Christ. We want earnest workers. Are there none to respond to the cry that goes up from every quarter: “Come over and help us?” T27 20.1

Can those who profess to be the repositories of God's law, and who look for the soon coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven, stand acquitted of the blood of souls, if they turn a deaf ear to the crying needs of the people who walk in shadows? There are books to prepare and to distribute, there are lessons to give, there are self-sacrificing duties to perform! Who will come to the rescue? Who will, for Christ's sake, deny self and spread the light to those who sit in darkness? T27 20.2

* * * * *