THE ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ REPORT – Numbers 13-14
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 8, 2017 under 2017 |
Preached Sunday, October 8, 2017 from Numbers 13-14
Theme: We fail to report the whole truth about our challenges in life when we omit the fact of God’s promised help in them.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
This morning, I ask you to turn with me to the Old Testament book of Numbers; and specifically to the story we find in Chapters 13-14. It’s a story about Moses and the people of Israel on their way to the promised land—a story of a very important crisis moment in their history; and one that presents a very important spiritual lesson to to us as followers of Jesus.
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At this point of that Old Testament story, God had powerfully delivered the people of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. He had displayed His power to them by bringing them through the Red Sea. He had brought them out into the wilderness, had appeared to them on Mount Sinai, had given them His good law, had empowered them to build the tabernacle, had established and instituted the priesthood through Aaron, had organized the armies of Israel into camps, and had sent them off on the march to the land that He had promised to give to them as the descendants of Abraham—a prosperous land that flowed with ‘milk and honey’. They had been given a front-row seat to the awesome power of God on display; and had been made to know that He had pledged Himself to be their mighty Defender and Helper.
And now, having made their march across the wilderness, the nation of Israel had finally come to the threshold of the land that God was giving them. There in Kadesh Barnea, as they encamped in the Wilderness of Paran, Moses told them that God had set the land before them; and that they were to arise and take possession of it—just as God had promised it to them.
It’s in that context that Numbers 13:1-2 says,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:1-2).
Elsewhere in Scripture, we’re told that this was in response to a request of the people. They had wanted to spy out the land first, before going in to take possession of it. God conceded to their request; and as verse 3 tells us,
So Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel (v. 3).
The Bible goes on to give us a list of the names of these twelve men from each of the twelve tribes. They were outstanding and capable men. And the names of two of them are particularly recognizable to us. One was Caleb of the tribe of Judah; and the other was Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim. The exploits of both of those two great men of faith are told to us later in the Book of Joshua.
And so, with the promised land set before them, and with these twelve select men made ready, we’re told,
Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land” (vv. 13-20).
Now; I suspect that you’ll agree with me that this spying expedition wasn’t really necessary. God had already told them that the land was good. And it didn’t matter at all whether the inhabitants of the land were weak or strong, or few or many, or rich or poor, or whether the cities they had built for themselves were well fortified. God had already promised that He was giving the land to the people of Israel; and that’s really all that was important. But these twelve spies were sent anyway. They were on their mission for forty days; and we can just imagine how the people of Israel would have waited for them with anticipation—straining every day, perhaps, to gaze up toward the northern foothills to see if they were returning. What would they bring back to show the people of Israel? What would their report be when they returned?
And what a return it was! They came back hauling clusters of grapes so large that they had to be carried by two men using a pole—along with pomegranates and figs. What a show-and-tell they were able to present of the fruitfulness of the land! As verses 26-27 tell us;
Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit” (vv. 26-27).
And that should have been the end of the matter. It should have been time to rise up and begin to take possession of what God had given them. But then the spies uttered the sad word that begins verse 28. Look at it. It’s the word that, in the Bible I’m using, is translated “Nevertheless”. In the New International Version, it’s translated “But”. In the English Standard Version, it’s translated “However”. It’s a word that is used to bring attention to the perceived obstacles that they thought stood in the way of taking the land that God was giving them. The returning spies said,
“Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan” (vv. 28-29).
Now, everything that they had said up to this point was true. It was true that the land was good and fruitful, and it was also true that it was occupied by strong and fierce people. In fact, the descendants of Anak were there—who were a race of very large and threatening ‘giant’ people. But what they had said in their “Nevertheless” had constituted only half of the truth. The other half of the truth was that God—the mighty God who had delivered them from bondage in Egypt—was with the people of Israel. He had promised that land to them; and He was able to help them so that they could take full possession of it.
That’s when we hear from Caleb—a mighty man of faith. He firmly believed the whole truth of the situation, and not just half of it. Verse 30 tells us;
Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it” (v. 30).
I think Caleb would have put the “Nevertheless” in a different place than the others did. I think he would have put it at the end of his description of the obstacles. I think he would have said, “It’s true that there are obstacles. Nevertheless, in spite of these obstacles, our God is mightier than anything that might stand in our way; and He will give this land to us!” The promised help of God in the challenge they faced would have filled out the full truth of the situation. And what’s more, we learn later that Caleb was not alone in his confidence in that full truth. Joshua also declared that God would help them.
But the remaining ten of the twelve spies didn’t embrace that full truth. They held on tightly to only half of it. In fact, they held on to a ‘half-the-truth’ report so firmly that they lost perspective. Their viewpoint began to become distorted. As verses 31-33 shows us
But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (vv. 31-33).
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Now, dear brothers and sisters in Christ; I ask that we stop for a moment and consider our own experience in the light of this story. I believe it highlights a spiritual lesson for us—a lesson that is one of the most important and practical ones we can learn.
The reason why so many professing Christians live perpetually defeated lives—the reason why so many of those who profess to believe on Jesus seem to struggle over and over with the same old sinful habits and destructive and addictive behaviors, and never seem to be free from them or to gain victory over them—the reason why so many of them are discouraged and disheartened and bitter, even though they have all the promises of God in Scripture and have every spiritual blessing in Christ available to them as their all-sufficient resource—is because they do exactly what we find the people of Israel doing at this point in their history. They embrace a ‘half-the-truth’ report. They only believe half of the truth about their situations and trials and challenges in life; and they refuse to embrace the other half regarding God’s mighty presence and scriptural promises.
When we are faced with a difficult challenge in life, we are certainly being truthful about those challenges when we admit the difficulties inherent in them. To do otherwise is to be dishonest about them. But if we stop there, and do not go on to also embrace all the promises God has made to us in His word regarding Himself in the light of those challenges, and do not confess His very real presence and power to help us to do all that He commands us to do, then we’ve only embraced half of the truth.
And I need to go on and say this: The constant, continual, perpetual defeatism and bitterness and pessimism that characterizes so many people who profess to be Christians (and all because they will only embrace half the truth of their situation and not the full truth with regard to the all-sufficient help provided to them through Christ) is something that results in a horrible representation of the Christian faith to the unbelieving world. The devil uses it to turn unbelievers away from the gospel. And the tragic thing is that it’s never because the promises of God will not work, or because the Christian faith is not true, or because our God is not able to help those who trust Him It’s always because those who profess to be followers of Jesus choose to embrace only half of the truth of their situation, and not the whole truth of the all-sufficient help God promises to give us in His word.
Now; the people of Israel were only embracing half the truth of their situation. They were believing the ‘half-the-truth’ report that they were hearing from the ten spies; and it was bringing them down into utter bitterness and discouragement and defeat. In fact, because of their distorted view, they began to say horribly ungodly things in rebellion against God’s good plan for them. Chapter 14 begins by telling us;
So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt” (14:1-4).
And by the way; what would have happened if they had done that? Wouldn’t all of the unbelieving nations around them conclude that the God who had made promises to them was not able to keep those promises? Wouldn’t it bring shame and dishonor to the name of the God of Israel in the sight of all the other nations of the world?
Joshua and Caleb sought to free the people from this destructive ‘half-the-truth’ report; and to bring the whole truth to bear upon their situation. We’re told;
But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them” (vv. 6-9).
But it was to no avail. The people had become too hardened in their rebellion. They even threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb to death with stones—and possibly even Moses and Aaron along with them. And that’s when God—who had been their all the time—had finally had enough. We’re told that the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the people; and Moses had to plead with Him not to destroy the entire nation.
God heard Moses’ plea and had mercy upon the rebellious people of Israel. He didn’t destroy them. But because of their unbelief—because they had refused to embrace the whole truth of their situation, and did not honor the fact that God was powerful and abundantly able to help them do what He was calling them to do—they had lost a great opportunity. We’re told;
And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection. I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die’” (vv. 26-35).
After that, the ten spies who brought a bad report—each one—died by a plague before the Lord. Many of the people changed their mind and tried to go in and conquer the land; but the Lord was no longer with them, and they were defeated. They ended up wandering in the desert for another thirty-eight years—forty years of wandering in total—until that entire generation died out. And then, it would be their children—led by Joshua and joined by Caleb—who would go in and take the land that their parents had rejected.
What lesson this teaches us! What an illustration of how we fail to report the whole truth about our trials and tests and challenges in life when we only look at the difficulties and omit the fact of God’s promised help! What a testimony this is to the destructive power of a ‘half-the-truth’ report!
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Now; several principles suggest themselves to us from this story. They have application to every time that you or I face a challenge in life that is greater than our own capabilities. And so, I ask that we go back over the story again and consider a few of them. First, let’s note that …
1. EVEN THE BEST OF US CAN BE TEMPTED TO GIVE A ‘HALF-THE TRUTH’ REPORT.
I say this because we’re told—at the very beginning of Chapter 13—that the men who gave this bad report were great leaders of the people—the cream of the crop. Verse 2 says that God told Moses to send one man from each of the tribes; “every one a leader among them.” Verse three says that “all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel”. So; lets never dare to think any one of us are immune to this spiritual failure. All of us have the potential of only embracing half the truth of our trials and challenges—and not the whole truth of God’s presence and power in those challenges—if we do not keep careful guard over the attitude of our hearts.
Also consider how it is that such a ‘half-the-truth’ report takes root in us in the first place. Notice how this story shows us that …
2. AN EXCLUSIVE FOCUS ON OUR CIRCUMSTANCES ALONE IS WHAT CAUSES A ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ VIEWPOINT TO DEVELOPE.
As I said earlier, the things that the spies reported—that is, with respect to the things that they saw with their eyes—were all true. But the problem was that they only focused on those things that they saw, and not on the unseen realities of their situation; and thus they only embraced half the truth. They said,
“We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan” (13:28-29).
They said nothing in their report of the power or promises of God. And because all of us have the potential of falling as the ten spies did, we need to discipline ourselves to look not only at the truth of our circumstances that we can see, but also—with the eyes of faith—at the mighty power and promises of God that we cannot see. We need to, as it were, follow-up our “Nevertheless” with the affirmation that “the Lord is with us … do not fear!”
We also need to remember that …
3. HOLDING ON TO A ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ REPORT CAN FREEZE US INTO IMMOBILITY.
Because they only focused on what they saw—and only on their own powers to deal with those things—they ceased to go forward. God had brought them all the way out of Egypt and all the way to the threshold of the promised land … and then they stopped and went no further. The ten spies declared, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we” (13:31). And because they were only depending on their own power, and because they had reached the end of their own resources, they didn’t even try to go forward and take the land.
How many professing Christians stop short of doing what God wants them to do because they only focused on what they could do? How many professing Christians rob themselves of the opportunity of God’s blessings, and live instead in perpetual defeat and discouragement and bitterness—never making progress in the Christian life—because they only focus on what they can see and not on what God promised in His word? How many times have you and I done that?
And such an immobility in fear spreads. Note how this story shows us that …
4. A ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ REPORT CAN LEAD TO THE DISCOURAGEMENT AND LOSS OF OTHERS.
These spies didn’t keep their bad report to themselves. We’re told that they gave that bad report to the children of Israel, saying,
“The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight” (13:32-33).
Soon, the whole congregation was weeping in bitterness. They became willing to turn around and return to bondage in Egypt. Our failure to embrace the whole truth doesn’t just affect ourselves. It also drags others down into despair and defeat along with us.
This is particularly grievous; because as this passage shows us …
5. A ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ REPORT IS NEVER THE FULL TRUTH OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCE.
The full truth was given by Joshua and Caleb. They never denied the reality of the challenges that faced them; but they also went on to affirm, “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey’” (14:6-8). If God exists and has already spoken about the challenges we face, and if we have His promises on the matter clearly spelled out to us in His word, and if He stands fully behind everything He said and every promise He made, then that’s always the full truth of our situation.
Now; to knowingly treat things otherwise, and to not go forward because of it, is a serious and sinful thing to do. Note how this passage also shows us that …
6. STUBBORNLY CLINGING TO A ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ REPORT AMOUNTS TO REBELLION AGAINST GOD.
That’s how Joshua and Caleb put the matter. They didn’t sugar-coat this sin. They went on to plead with the people and say,
“Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them” (v. 9).
Think of that! It wasn’t just ignorance. It wasn’t just being mistaken about the situation. It wasn’t just ‘acting sensibly’. It was an act of open rebellion against God! When we encounter a challenge or a trial or a test in life, and God has clearly told us in Scripture what it is that He wants us to do, and when He has clearly pledged His help in it if we will obey Him, and we then refuse to do it because we’re only willing to look at half the truth about our situation, then we need to call it what it is—the sin of rebellion against Him!
And that’s why, in the end, this story shows us that …
7. A ‘HALF-THE-TRUTH’ REPORT RESULTS IN A LOST OPPORTUNITY FOR GOD’S FULL BLESSING.
In 14:11, God says to Moses, “How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?” And as the rest of the story shows us, they lost the opportunity and could not get it back. They were not permitted to enter the land. God still kept His promises; but instead of going to that first generation, the blessing of taking possession of the promised land went to their children.
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Now; I praise God for His amazing grace; don’t you? Where we have failed in the past, our gracious God forgives. He gives us a second chance; and indeed, a third, and a fourth.
But it’s time to learn the lesson. It’s time to embrace the whole truth with regard to the challenges and trials and tests of life—and not just half of it. Let’s keep the truth of His promises in the Bible ever in our view. Let’s remember that we’re utterly dependent upon Him to do all He says He will do; and that in all circumstances, He is our sufficiency. Let’s remember what our Savior Jesus said:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:1-6).
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