The Anger of the Lord at the People's Unbelief
“And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
“And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shown amongst them?
“I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them t and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
“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 day time 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.
“And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
“The Lord is long suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
o3” Pardon, I bepeech thee, the iniquity of this people, according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.
“And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word; but as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
^’ Because all those men, which have seen my glory and my miracle which I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
“Surely they shall not see the land, which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me, see it;
“But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully; him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. “(Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To-morrow turn you, and get you in the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
“How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which jnuvmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
“Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
“Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upwards, which have murmured against me.
“Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.
“But your little ones, which you said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
“But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
“And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoretloms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land.
even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years; and ye shall know the altering of my pui-pose.
“I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me; in this “Wilderness they shall be consumed, -and there they shall die.
“And the men which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him. by bringing up a slander upon the land,
“Even those men, that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.
‘•’ But Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
“And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel; and the people mourned greatly.”
We lately witnessed rebellion rising; to its height in the camp of the Israelites — the two worthy men Joshua and Caleb, in danger of being stoned — and the people on the point of choosing a captain to lead them back to Egypt. The Lord now intervenes. His glory appears. He desires the consent of Moses to destroy the people. Moses supplicates forgiveness for them. The Lord grants his petition, but swears at the same time, that none of all those who had come up out of Egypt should enter the land of Canaan. They should all die in the wilderness, and their children only should arrive there. Instead of marching into the promised land which lay immediately before them, they were compelled to return to the Red Sea. Forty years were they to wander in the wilderness, consequently still about thirty- eight years. The ten spies soon perished; the remaining six hundred thousand were destined gradually to follow
o4 them, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. This was the immutable decision. The Lord sware it, and it stood fast.
But what was the peculiar caus.e of the Lord’s hot displeasure, which induced him to swear an immutable oath, that they should not enter the promised land? Were the difficulties too great, the Canaanites too strong, the cities too firm? No. Had they committed such an offence with their golden calf, that the Lord even now remembered it against them? Nor was this the cause; for that ofience had been forgiven. Was it their frequent murmurings, or other sins, that now received their punishment, or what was the cause of such severe measures being adopted respecting them? The Apostle points out the reason, when he says, in Heb. iii. 17, &c., ‘* But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness, and to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear,” adds he,” lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us is the gospel preached as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we, who believe, do enter into rest.’^ Which was it therefore of all the sins they had committed, which excluded them from Canaan, and excludes every one from the bliss of heaven? None that is committed against any one of the ten commands; for from this there is a deliverance; but that which is committed against the gospel, which proclaims and offers this deliverance to us, out of which there is none to be found. And by what do men sin against the gospel? By unbelief.
I wish to treat of this unbelief in a scriptural mannier, to show in what it consists, and how it manifests itself, both where it reigns and where it makes occasional attacks. May the Lord afford the necessary aid! We are all extremely interested in this subject, because it is unbelief that damns, even as it is faith that saves. Hast thou faith, thou shalt be saved; but if unbelief reigns in thee, thou wilt assuredly perish.
Let me first make a few remarks respecting faith. It is of supreme importance, because the whole of salvation is connected with it. The justification, in virtue of which the sinner is absolved at the divine tribunal, depends solely upon faith. Were I to quote every passage of Scripture to prove this position, I should occupy the half of this discourse. Let Gal. ii. 16, suffice: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ.”
Purification of heart is also produced by faith, even as Peter says, (Acts xv. 9,) “God purified their hearts by faith,” and Christ himself says plainly, (chap. xxvi. 18,) “They are sanctified by faith, that is in me.”
Peter ascribes preservation also to faith, when he says, ‘* Being kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.’^
John ascribes to it the entire conquest over the world, when he declares that “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
But we have no need to enter further into detail; since Christ himself, when leaving this world and ascending- to heaven, comprebends every thing in the brief expression, “He that believeth shall be saved.”
Let us now listen to some of the sentiments of Scripture on unbelief. Like faith it is the only thing at which Christ wondered. “He that believeth not is condemned already,” says Christ; and John the Baptist adds, “The wrath of God abideth on him.” “The devil works in the children of disobedience, and blindeth the minds of them that believe not,” says Paul. John declares, that “whosoever believeth not, maketh God a liar,” and thus commits the most heinous sin. He departs from the living God, is not justified, nor sanctified, nor preserved; and can do nothing but sin. Thus all is comprehended in the words of Christ, when he declares, “He that believeth not shall be damned.”
Thus it is evident, that salvation and damnation are connected with nothing but faith and unbelief, and this concerns us all in the highest degree; for we are individually either believers or unbelievers; unless we make a third class, consisting of such as are under the preparation of grace, and stand in the posture of the man who exclaimed, “Lord, I believe! help thou my unbelief!” But by nature we are all sick of the disease of unbelief; for “God hath concluded all in unbelief.” (Rom. xi. 32.) Faith is our supreme duty; unbelief our most heinous crime.
Let us then ascertain more minutely the nature and properties of unbelief. What is it? How does it manifest itself? It is the opposite of faith. If faith consists in a readiness to receive Christ solelv and wholly as the only and perfect source of life and righteousness, unbelief consists in the non-existence and absence of this readiness. If faith regards as true what God has revealed in his word, unbelief regards it as false. If faith is a heartfelt confidence, unbelief is mistrust. But as the Christian finds within him in this life, an old and new man; so faith and unbelief reside within him, eind sometimes one and sometimes the other, has the upper-hand. Let us therefore consider unbelief, both in its dominion and its occasional attacks.
It shows itself in its complete supremacy in those who deny even the existence of God, and the immortality of the soul; who do not revere the Word of God as a divine revelation, but entirely depart from it in sentiment, nay, even cherish and defend opinions inimical to it, and assail, contest, and even mock and ridicule the doctrines it contains, whilst persecuting those that believe them. There are multitudes of such characters at present in the christian world, and this theoretic infidelity has extended itself even to the very lowest class- of the people, after having commenced with the higher and more polished ranks in life. Of such individuals there is never any want. David spoke of old, of the fools that say in their heart, “there is no God.” Formerly they said it only in their heart; but now they openly maintain it. True it is, especially in the present day, that not many wise or noble are chosen, and that the time is come, when men will no longer hear sound doctrine; and it is no rare occurrence for whole congregations to oppose the choice of a truly pious preacher or parochial schoolmaster, and refuse to have such a one. Many efforts are made and artifices used to bring up an evil report of the land of Canaan; and for two that speak in favour of it there are ten that gainsay them. God however, in his mercy, has of later years raised up many, and enlightened them with the light of truth; so that the gospel is again abundantly preached. Unbelief, therefore, in its complete manifestation, denies God the Father and his creation, God the Son and the redemption wrought out by him, and God the Holy Ghost and his sanctifying influences, the divine attributes, the divine promises, as well as the word in which they are recorded, the fall of Adam, and consequently also the necessity of repentance, regeneration, justification, and sanctification, and even of future blessedness and perdition. They are true children of the devil, the father of lies, and are consequently full of lies.
But it does not develope itself in this manner in those who receive truth as such for their basis, are perhaps zealous for it, and possess a circumstantial knowledge of it; or else know as little of the truth as of error which is opposed to it; but on whose heart and conscience the truth makes no suitable and abiding impression; they have no love to it, and even rather avoid it. The consideration of the righteousness and holiness of God neither rouses nor alarms them; nor does the contemplation of his mercy and his grace affect and humble them; they do not feel moved and impelled to renounce sin, and desire the divine favour as their greatest treasure. They continue in an unsusceptible and morbid state. They may indeed be occasionally terrified and roused, like Felix at the preaching of Paul; but the most of them come very rarely to hear the word, although ‘• faith cometh by hearing;” or even if they are present, they do not listen, understand, or take it to heart. The number of these practical infidels is, alas! very great, and the word does not profit them, because they do not mix faith with it.
Unbelief very prominently manifests itself in refusing; to come to Christ; for the non-reception of Christ is the essence and substance of unbelief. It desires neither him nor his grace. It does not hunger and thirst after righteousness. It does not have recourse to him, much less does it trust in him and expect salvation solely and wholly from him. From what, therefore, ought every one to seek to be delivered? From this very sin. He that is free from it, finds, in every other respect, a beaten path; but he in whom it rules, or in the degree in which it exists in any one, finds his soul closed against God and all the influences of his light, and open to Satan, securing the dominion of sin, and bringing with it nothing but torment.
But from whence does unbelief proceed? Alas! we bring it into the world with us, and thus ail are unbelievers, and become believers only through regeneration. This is a part of our unhappy inheritance left us by the first Adam. He suffered himself to be seduced into unbelief, and thus we have all inherited it from him. Hence no one is at liberty to deem himself free from unbelief, unless delivered from it by regeneration.
But regeneration does not free us from it, so entirely as to exonerate us from all further attacks from it. It is then, first, that the individual sees and feels its power, and how deeply it is rooted in him. Hence he is obliged to enter upon the fight of faith, and to make it his chief concern to become strong and complete in faith.
The children of Israel present us, in this part of their history, with a warning example, respecting which the
Apostle says, “Let us beware that we do not fall after the same example of unbelief.” But Joshua and Caleb furnished a better example, whose faith we ought to follow. The Israelites did not believe they should be able to enter into the land of Canaan, although God had promised it them, and engaged to conduct them thither. The preaching of faith made no impression upon their minds, but much more the discourse of unbelief. The inhabitants of Canaan seemed to them to be much too powerful, and entirely invincible, and they made no account of God, his power, faithfulness and promises. They had no confidence in him, save merely what was visible, and then they easily comprehended what the ten said to them, because it harmonised with their natural mode of thinking; whilst the statements of Joshua and Caleb were repulsive to them and groundless. The conduct of these two men manifested great faith. They by no means denied the difficulties of the undertaking, and that their own strength was insufficient for the work. But faith calculates quite differently to unbelief. The latter stops short at what it sees; but faith takes God into account, his promises, power, faithfulness, and grace, and thus possesses a courage, founded on that which is invisible. With God it expects to do exploits. Their ability to this they sought not in themselves, but in God. And thus the believer acts in every case. ‘If asked whether he can overcome the wicked one, however terrible and powerful he may be? Faith answers, “I am able.” Canst thou stand in the judgment, seeing that thy sins exceed the sand on the sea shore; and since thou art still continually inclined to all that is evil, canst thou, in spite of every temptation and danger, persevere to the end and come off more than conqueror? Canst thou crucify and slay thy corrupt nature, lay aside the sin that most easily besets thee, and thus perfect holiness in the fear of God? Faith will answer, “I am well able, since in the Lord I have righteousness and strength;” for faith places its confidence entirely in him and not in itself, and hopes to the end for the grace which shall be revealed at the manifestation of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Unbelief acts very differently, and regards such a line of conduct as absurd, foolish, and fanatical. It either despairs in the hour of distress, because it has no hold nor support from the invisible world: or else it Iiopes in visible aid, trusts in man, and makes flesh its arm. Its own wisdom is to help it through, and if the brittle ice breaks under its feet, nothing is left but terror, helplessness, and despondency, unless God graciously suffers every thing thus to fall from the individual’s hands, in order by this means to teach him, to found the edifice of his hopes on the true foundation. His works and supposed righteousness have hitherto been the ground of his consolation. He is himself his god, as far as it goes. The children of Israel did not place confidence in God that he could bring them to Canaan, and yet they trusted in themselves to be able, without him, to find their way back to Egypt through the wilderness. What absurdity, what presumption!
Unbelief, the want of confidence in God, was therefore the only reason why they did not enter the land, but were obliged to return from its borders to the Red Sea, as if they were really going back again to Egypt. Unbelief wa;* the cause, why God was thus angry with them, and why he would have destroyed them all at once, had not Moses interceded for them. It was the cause why they obtained only, after the lapse of forty years, that which they might have possessed at the time. 0 destructive unbelief!
The Apostle, in Hebrews iv. places us on the” same footing with the Israelites, when he says “It is preached unto us, as well as unto them.” What is thus preached? The promise of entering into his rest. The gospel of Christ, the glad tidings of the grace of God are preached to us. We are continually told, that “it is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accep* tation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” We are informed that no sins are too heinous to be forgiven; no wretchedness so profound, frorti which Jesus Christ cannot deliver us; that no one is so bad, as to be unable to attain it, and none so good as not to need it. It is therefore said also to us, “Take heed, lest any of you fall after the same example of unbelief,” but believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, justified, purified, strengthened, and beatified. We do not, however, intend by this a mere outward confession of belief; but a living self and world -denying heartfelt faith. The first step to which is the consciousness of that unbelief, in which we are all so deeply plunged, shut up, and buried by nature. O how unable you will feel yourselves to believe, when you seriously desire true faith; how many hindrances will you meet with, and how often will you be compelled to exclaim, “Lord, help my unbelief.” Strengthen niy faith I What a fight of faith you will then probably have to endure! But fight for it nevertheless. Struggle for it, until, with the man born blind, you can fall down, worship, and say, “I believe I” O how happy will you then be “for we, who believe, do enter into rest.” “He that believeth hath eternal life, but he that believeth not, shall not see life; for without faith, it is impossible to please God.” Believe, therefore that you may be justified and become heirs of eternal life. Amen.