The Certainty of the Fulfilment of God's Threatened Judgments and Promised Mercies
Numbers 26:63-65
These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest…


I. We are here furnished with A CONFIRMATION OF THE FACT THAT GOD WILL FULFIL HIS THREATENINGS AGAINST SINNERS.

1. We may conceive them to have counted upon their numerical strength. This has often been appealed to as a security against the punishment of crime. Nor can it be denied that, according as iniquity abounds in a community, it is the more rarely visited with its merited penalty. It is found, in such circumstances, not to be convenient to institute inquiry; and vice, with the colouring which the spirit of the age may have given to it, assumes not unfrequently the name of virtue. But it is far otherwise with Him whose power, holiness, and justice are infinite.

2. It is not improbable that, as a ground of security against threatened judgment, the Israelites in the wilderness counted on their privileges. On this principle many a sinner reasons to his own destruction; forgetting that the higher his privileges, the greater the punishment they involve, if unimproved. The execution of the sentence of death upon the Israelites was the more solemn, because executed amidst the enjoyment of the means of grace. They died, the monuments of Divine wrath — while on every side they were surrounded with privileges. They died, in that camp, which was the camp of the living God. They died, within sight of the Lord's tabernacle, and of the ark of the Lord's covenant. They died, while the manna from heaven was falling around them, and the stream from the smitten rock flowing before their eyes. They died, while the glory of the Lord was in their view — while the pillar in which the Lord Himself dwelt was over their head — while, as a cloud to refresh them, it was over them by day; and as a fire to give them light, was over them by night. These their privileges did not preserve them; and neither will yours preserve you.

3. The Israelites in the wilderness may have been tempted to infer that the Lord would not execute His threatened vengeance against them, because all were not at one and the same time visited with punishment. To some of them a respite of nearly forty years was granted. But, when apparently within reach of the Land of Promise — when its hills and mountains were in view before their eyes — when they had only to march forward one other stage and to cross the Jordan, in order to obtain possession of it — the last of the doomed generation died, and their burial there made it manifest that God's threatenings are sure.

II. But in our text we are furnished with an impressive illustration of the fact, that as God will fulfil His threatenings against sinners, so ALSO HIS PROMISES IN FAVOUR OF HIS OWN PEOPLE.

1. This, in the case of Caleb and Joshua, was made manifest, notwithstanding the crowd of the ungodly with which they were mingled. But, "the Lord knoweth them that are His." He loves them, as His chosen, with an everlasting love. They are "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of their inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession." Wherever thy lot may be cast, it is His sun that shines upon thy head; it is His stars that give thee light; it is His air that thou breathest; it is His food with which thou art supplied. "Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without Him; and the hairs of thy head are all numbered."

2. in the case of Caleb and Joshua, we are furnished with a confirmation of the truth of God's gracious promises to His people notwithstanding the dangers to which they are exposed.

3. In the instance referred to in our text we behold the fulfilment of God's gracious promises to His people, in opposition to every sentiment of distrust arising from the length and intricacy of their path.

(T. Doig, M. A.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho.

WEB: These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.




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