numbers class 05 the crisis of kadesh

Study of Numbers

Class 5

The crisis of faith in Kadesh Barnea

Study of Numbers – Chapters 13 and 14The crisis of faith in Kadesh Barnea

Egypt tipifies the world with it’s slavery, but Canaan tipifies the abundance of the Christian life.

Between Egypt and Canaan lies the desert. The desert tipifies the Christian life lived in the flesh, according to self effort.

We all pass through the desert and have to face the crisis of entering Canaan; the crisis of faith and dependence, the crisis of Kadesh-Barnea.


In Kadesh-Barnea, Moses sent twelve spies to spy out the land and bring back a report. All of them testified that in fact the land was good, and flowed with milk and honey.

However they suggested some problems: the people who live there were powerful and they lived in fortified cities. Instead of looking at the inheritance that God was giving them, the spies focused on the enemy and on themselves.


We are what we say we are and what we perceive ourselves to be. If we see ourselves as weak, then we are weak; if we see ourselves as grasshoppers, that is what we will be.

The spies looked at themselves and not to God and to who they were in God. Their report dishonored God.


In 14:36, we read that the 10 spies who did not believe God’s Word were struck with a plague before the Lord. They died because they lead the people in unbelief.

We as leaders must be very careful not to lead the people in dismay because of our words. We must be like Joshua and Caleb who spoke words of faith, challenging the people to submit to God and conquer the land.


If we read the whole story, we will see that Caleb entered Canaan, defeated the Anakim and took possession of the land. In Joshua 15:14, we read that Caleb saw the Giants, but did not fear them. The others however died in the desert because they saw themselves as grasshoppers.

Why couldn’t the people enter the land? Simply because they had a grasshopper complex.


1. The grasshopper complex a. Unbelief

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." Numbers 13:31

The great problem of those who remained in the desert is that they doubted God’s Word.


God said that they were strong, but they insisted on looking at their weakness. God says that Christ already bore their infirmities, but they insist on looking at the sickness. God said that they were already freed from sin, but they insist on trying to overcome sin in their own strength.

They don’t believe in God’s promises therefore they live in defeat.


These people are not defeated by the giant of circumstances, but by the giant of doubt and unbelief.

The 10 spies succeeded in contaminating all the people with their unbelief, in such a way that all of them were poisoned in rebellion against the Lord. They wandered in the desert for 40 years because they listened to the wrong people.


b. They looked at themselves The second problem was that they looked at the problem

and not to God. All those who walk in the flesh are introspective, they look at themselves too much.

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." Numbers 13:31


These men doubted God’s word and God’s power and only saw obstacles. They took their eyes off the Lord and look at themselves and their circumstances. They acted just as Peter who instead of looking to the Lord began to look at the waves and the wind (Matthew 14:30).


They perceived that the cities were great and fortified and that their inhabitants were stronger than them, however they were not greater than the Lord. The Lord would fight for them and give them the victory.

When you face problems, look not to yourself nor to the problem, but to God. We must look to what God is, what he has and what he can do.


c. They spoke evil of the land 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 Numbers 13:32


We commit a grave mistake when we diminish or despise our birthright as Esau did. It’s terrible when we conclude that our inheritance in the Lord is nothing. This is what the 10 spies did: they despised the inheritance of the Lord.

When the people are contaminated with the virus of unbelief they speak evil of God’s promises. They make little of God’s blessings and begin to declare defeat.


d. They were ignorant of their identity 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." Numbers 13:33

We all know the story of the people of Israel. How they were enslaved in Egypt and how the Lord freed them and lead them to the desert.


The Lord wanted to change their identity. God did not want cleansed Egyptians nor freed ex-slaves, he wanted them to be his holy people full of his heavenly nature.

But instead of this they declared themselves grasshoppers compared to the Giants and for this reason they were unable to enter the land because grasshoppers cannot enter into the inheritance.


They failed to receive their inheritance because they failed to recognize who they were. They still had the mentality of slaves therefore they saw themselves as grasshoppers. Those spies were princes, but they saw themselves as insects under the boots of the giants.

They felt despised before the giants and the circumstances that in their unbelief, they saw in the land.


Who said that the enemy’s saw them as grasshoppers? In their unbeliefthey gave place to the lies of the devil.

The great problem of God’s people is not knowing who they are. If I don’t know who I am, I will easily fall before the threats of the enemy, but if I am aware of my strength, my weapons and the power that is within me, I will fill myself with courage and destroy my enemies.


Many Christians miss God’s best because they know neither who they are nor what they can do in Christ.

The spies were still slaves, they had the mentality and the self-esteem of a slave.

When you face problems, look neither to yourself nor to the problem, look to God. Look to who God is; To what God has; To what God does.


e. They claimed defeat The power of life and death is in the tongue. We will

have what we speak. Words are seeds. Spoken words are spoken seeds, and repeated words are watered seeds.

They confessed that the people of the land were stronger than them, they claimed that it was impossible to conquer the land. They also said that they were like grasshoppers.


We must learn to confess only what God says that we are, what God says that we can do and what God says that we have.

The truth is not what I see, nor what I feel, nor what others say about me. The truth is what God says.


It is sad to be saved from Egypt and live a miserable life in the desert. Many Christians today have in fact left Egypt but they have never experienced God’s abundance in Canaan.

God repudiates unbelief. The people did not fail to enter into the land because of their murmuring, but because of their unbelief. If the Lord said it, we must believe it.


2. The consequences of the grasshopper complex The attitude of the 10 spies deeply influenced the

people. The same occurs today when unbelieving leaders speak among the people. Remember that because of the sin of the leaders, the whole nation suffered.


a. Desperation Unbelief always removes all hope. In Numbers 14:1 we

read that the people cried all night long (Numbers 14:1). Their cry was not one of brokenness, but of unbelief and

desperation, the cry of those who are unable to see any solution.


b. Ingratitude and murmuring All murmuring is related to ingratitude. We begin to

complain when we forget everything that we have received. In Numbers 14:2 we read that all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron (Numbers 14:2).


In that moment they had forgotten the terrible life that they had in Egypt as slaves and even said, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt!” (Numbers 14:2).

It’s hard to believe that within 15 days they could have been in Canaan, but instead they wandered through the desert for 40 years.


c. Desire to return to Egypt The people said: “Would it not be better for us to return

to Egypt?” (Numbers 14:3). The people forgot God’s benefits and the beatings of the taskmasters of Egypt.

The natural result of unbelief is a return to the world. If we mistrust God’s faithfulness, the only thing left is to return to Egypt.


d. Rebellion “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt” (Numbers

14:4). Contaminated by the spies the people wanted other leaders to lead them back to Egypt. All rebellion against God is revealed in rebellion against leaders.


Unbelief is at the root of every sin, principally the sin of rebellion. If we doubt God’s Word then there is no reason to submit to him.

Obedience is the result of faith. When people refuse to change normally they seek to

change their leaders or their church.


e. God’s discipline They failed to obey God’s voice (Numbers 14:22) and

ended up despising his purposes (Numbers 14:23). So God changed the direction of their pilgrimage (Numbers 14:25). They had to wander through the desert for one year for each day that they spied out the land (Numbers 14:34).


That generation would fail to enter the land of Canaan (Numbers 14:29,31). God’s sentence against them is that they would not have that which they had despised. He gave them what they called for: death in the desert.

Joshua and Caleb entered the promised land (Numbers 14:24, 25). They trusted God, and God honored them. God wants us to live in the promise land and not in the desert. We are princes and not grasshoppers.


3. How to overcome the grasshopper complex Evidently we have to follow the path of Joshua and

Caleb. They dared to believe in God’s promises, they saw the Giants not as unbeatable enemies but as bread to be devoured.

The 10 spies felt too small and saw themselves as grasshoppers. Joshua and Caleb saw themselves as unbeatable.

But there is even more that we can see in their attitude.


a. Brokenness before God Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and Joshua and

Caleb rent their clothing (Numbers 14:5, 6). To fall on one’s face and rip one’s clothing are biblical

signs of brokenness and humiliation before God.


b. Stand on the promise of God “The land we passed through to spy out is an

exceedingly good land” (Numbers 14:7). We must not be influenced by the commentariese, criticisms and epidemic of unbelief. On the contrary, we must stand on God’s Word placing all of our confidence on it.


c. Follow God’s will “If the Lord delights in us...” (Numbers 14:8). God is

pleased with those who believe and do his will. When God is pleased with his people he makes them unbeatable.

“ ... The Lord is with us. Do not fear them” (Numbers 14:9). Our victory does not proceed from our strength, but from God’s power within us. “only do not rebel against the Lord” (Numbers 14:9).

numbers class 05 the crisis of kadesh

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