Pardoned – Numbers 14:20-22

The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory, none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me, will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have despised Me will see it.

Here we see the mediated forgiveness of God out of His love for Moses and Moses’ intercession alongside the consequences associated with the Israelites’ lack of trust in Yahweh. They are pardoned; yet, they will not enter into the promised land. Those who see His glory and despise it will pay the consequences for their disdain and lack of faith. God graciously forgives but consequences always follow sin and our lack of trust.

This is a painful reality for a man of fear and intermittent faithlessness, such as myself. Christ has intervened on my behalf. He is my Righteousness, Sanctification and Hope. His Faithfulness has saved me, is saving me and will save me in the end; yet, I wonder how often the problems and pain I encounter are due to the consequences of my lack of trust in Father God’s glorious provision, protection, promise and redemption? How does one grasp the significance of Who God is and the powerful significance of His glory? Even those who physically saw His glory, stood in the presence of it and regularly saw its effects – doubted, feared and cowered. We are such ungrateful, fearful people, Lord.

Have mercy on me. Have mercy on us. We will trust You. We will endure to the end. We will seek to comprehend just how deeply you love your children – how high, wide, deep and long the love of Christ is. O that we might truly grasp this love that surpasses knowledge. Not our piddly love for you Father but Your eternal love for us and for all You have created. It is an unfathomable love that brings salvation to the lost, hope to the hopeless and ultimately life to the dead.