God's Glory Revealed In Judgment

Minister:
Date: PM
Text: Numbers 14:11-23, 26-45
Psalters: 17, 206, 253, 280
  1. Moses’ mediation.
    1. God threatens to dis-inherit Israel and replace them with Moses’s descendants (11,12).
    2. Moses’ mediator-heart responds immediately: God cannot reject Israel.
      1. God’s glory is at stake: Israel must be saved for God’s own name’s sake.
      2. God had promised the Messiah through Judah, not through Levi (and Moses).
      3. And Moses pleads that God show His power to save by forgiving (17-19).
  2. God answers (20-23) and then enlarges his answer (26-38).
    1. He has pardoned, yet He will be glorified.
      1. Pardon is given so the nation as a whole is preserved. God heard Moses’ plea.
      2. But God’s glory will also be revealed in His severe judgment.
      3. Surely the present generation would not see Canaan (23).
    2. All this reveals God’s glory (the radiation of His virtues).
      1. His glory would be seen in His terrible judgment on the ten spies.
      2. And God’s glory is seen in that He forgives the remnant, who of themselves are really not any better.
  3. This had an effect on the people: “mourned greatly” (39).
    1. They now declared themselves willing to enter Canaan, admitted that they had sinned (40).
      1. They try to reverse God’s judgment, and now try to reverse it.
      2. True repentance is evidenced in humility, in sorrow for offending God, in admitting the justness of the punishment.
      3. Even when they are warned (41-43), they persist in their rebellion.
    2. Application.