God had told Moses in Exodus chapter 17 to strike the rock in Horeb (that is, Mount Sinai) to draw water for the people.  This must have been a huge boulder since there were a few million Israelites who needed water.  Moses struck the rock and the thirsty people drank.

In Numbers 20, God only told Moses to speak to the rock so water would come out for the people.  God didn’t tell Moses to strike it this time.  This was almost 40 years after the event in Exodus chapter 17, but perhaps this was the same rock since God sentenced Israel to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  They were wandering in circles during that time.  Whether this was the same rock as before or not, the lesson is still clear enough either way.  On the latter occasion in Numbers chapter 20, Moses struck the rock anyways out of frustrated anger towards the people.  The rock flowed with water for the people anyways- possibly for no other reason than that it was an act of God’s temporary mercy to preserve Israel.  Though we don’t know how much Moses knew, his striking the rock on the second occasion violates the principle that Jesus would only need to be struck and die once to offer us spiritual life.  

Numbers 20:7-12 says: “And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.  And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him.  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote (struck) the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.  And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

We see right there why Moses could not enter the Promised Land.  

Moses being forbidden to enter the Promised Land is at least a strong lesson that God is to really be feared.  We should really fear not keeping His Word.  We should really fear sinning against Him.  Everything we do matters and sin has consequences- even when we really repent afterwards and obtain His forgiveness.  I think that Moses being forbidden to enter the Promised Land over a misdeed that wasn’t more than not following specific instructions in a matter that was otherwise not black and white morally, drives the point home that God is really to be feared just as much as God’s severity in killing the wicked suddenly does (and He has been known to do that occasionally).

Moses did beg repeatedly God to let him into the Promised Land.  God even told Moses not to speak to Him anymore about it.  The following passage is from Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy means repeated law.  It is Moses summing up God’s Law and His dealings with Israel, and dealings with himself as Israel’s leader, just before he dies (the book ends with Moses dying).

Deuteronomy 3:23-28: “And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might?  I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.  But the Lord was wroth (angry) with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter.  Get thee up into the top of Pisgah (a mountain), and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.  But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.”

You just have to read Numbers chapters 13 and 14 (quoted from in the recent study “Moses Wasn’t a Zionist”) to know why Israel was in the wilderness 40 years and it took them so long to get to the Promised Land.  The adult Israelites who came up out of Egypt were unbelieving since they rebelled against the commandment of the Lord to go into the land after the spies returned who had been sent into the land to bring a report about its resources, its people, and its defenses.  The people generally feared the report they heard of giants in the land, and didn’t regard God being with them and commanding them to go, as sufficient reason to go in to take the good land- despite the giants there.

This is again another lesson, given from another angle, that God is to be feared and is not to be treated with contempt.  We have to behold His severity as well as His goodness.  We can’t even properly understand His goodness without receiving the logic regarding a proper understanding of the righteousness of His severity, and without having a very high estimation of that severity.  We are told in Romans 11:22 to behold the goodness and severity of God.

Look at God’s chastening of King David for his sin with Bathsheba- and that was done even after David repented.  

Look at Jesus in John chapter 21 questioning Peter three times whether he loved Him after Peter had denied him three times- and then telling Peter to feed his sheep- with the guarantee that being faithful in following Him was going to lead to crucifixion for Peter- the very thing he likely feared most when he had denied Jesus before.  And that was after Peter had truly repented of denying Jesus.

Look at the Apostle Paul, the pattern to those who should believe on Jesus Christ to life everlasting (1 Timothy 1:16).  Paul had been a blasphemer of Christ and a persecutor of His people.  And now that he had repented and was running on the narrow way to eternal life, he had to faithfully endure many persecutions- most of which came from the Christ rejecting Jews whose side he had been on before.  These persecutions were no less brutal than the persecutions of the Christians which he had been involved in measuring out before.

Look at Jesus saying that one who abides in Him and brings forth righteous fruit will be purged in order that they may bring forth more fruit (rather than Him just leaving them alone and taking His chastening hand off of them).

John 15:1-2: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman (or, the farmer).  Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

Until one recognizes themselves to be an enemy of God’s righteous Government who is fit to receive eternal condemnation, and turns from that enmity to seek God’s mercy through the blood which Jesus Christ shed on the cross, they are not Christ’s true disciple on the narrow way to eternal life.  That narrow way is Christ’s school of righteousness in which the Lord deals in depth with the fallen nature of an individual- with the goal of restoring them to His image through the Holy Spirit (which is given to those who obey the Gospel of Christ and are thereby reconciled to God through His blood- Acts 5:32).  

Hebrews 12:6-11: “For whom the Lord loveth (we’ll see that means whom He has received as His Son) he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all (all of God’s children) are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons.  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

He seeks pure, refined products consistent with His righteous Government and His holiness.  To remove Christ’s work of redemption on the cross and the sending of His Holy Spirit from this goal is to preach another gospel than the one the Bible declares to be the only Gospel.  

The true God will not cease dealing with any man’s fallen nature.  Repenting and beginning to walk obediently to Christ is the starting line of the Christian life (Biblical baptism is intended to signify and mark this starting line).  Being born in Jesus Christ is the beginning point; not the finish line.  Those who start must continue to cooperate with Him through the purging- or they will be cast off.

Romans 11:20b-22: “Be not high minded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches (that’s referring to unbelieving Jews who do not heed His Word), take heed lest he also spare not thee (this was written to authentically born-again Christians).  Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”

It should be no surprise that what the Bible actually says is the very opposite of what popular Christianity believes.

Picking up again in John chapter 15, John 15:3-6: “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.  Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.  If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Those who do not abide in Him, and continue to abide in Him until the end, will be found without a wedding garment on Judgment Day and sent to hell with the blatant unbelievers.  

Matthew 22:1-14 is a rebuke both to blatant unbelievers in Christ, especially Christ rejecting Jews, as well as to disobedient professing Christians.

Matthew 22:1-14: “And Jesus answered and spoke unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew (killed) them.  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth (angry): and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city (and Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans 40 years later- the modern rebuild is under the same sentence).  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither (here) not having a wedding garment?  And he was speechless.  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The typical belief among professing Christians now is that the wedding garment signifies the personal righteousness of Jesus Christ applied to the one who assents to a handful of general statements.  Yet that is a lie which contributes to multitudes being cast into hell who profess, often even profess enthusiastically, belief in Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:25-27: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word (this sums up the whole purging process which Jesus spoke of in John chapter 15- it often hurts because the Word often wounds and/or makes unpleasant demands- in short, it gives a very real, practical death sentence upon man’s carnality- look at how the passage continues), That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

Revelation 19:5-9: “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.  And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready (by the prayer to ‘accept Jesus’?  Is that how they were made ready?  No.  Keep reading).  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints (yes, many of you have been lied to big time).  And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.  And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”

Consider also the implications of this interaction as Jesus was led out to be crucified.  

Luke 23:26-31: “And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.  And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.  But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.  For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.  Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.  For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?”

Jesus’ death for sin did not relieve the guilt and impending judgment of guilty Jerusalem so long as it remained at enmity with Him (and that could be no less the case now with an even more guilty modern Jerusalem).  His death will not take away the guilt and eternal judgment of those who are at enmity with His righteous Government on Judgment Day either.  Those who live after the flesh shall face the second death in the eternal lake of fire.

Matthew 12:40-41: “For as Jonas (Jonah) was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented (and of course brought forth works worthy of repentance- read the Book of Jonah) at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.”

2 Thessalonians 1:7b–9: “… the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power…”

Revelation 21:7-8: “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.  But the fearful (the cowardly in regard to righteousness and enduring Christ’s purging work in them), and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Revelation 21:27: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

The following Scriptures summarize these things well.

Psalm 99: “The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved.  The Lord is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people.  Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.  The king’s strength also loveth judgment; thou dost establish equity, thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.  Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.  Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.  He spoke unto them in the cloudy pillar: they kept his testimonies, and the ordinance that he gave them.  Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God: thou wast a God that forgavest them, though thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.  Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.”

1 Peter 4:17-19: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”

Some teach that Moses not entering the Promised Land is a picture of the Law being unable to save us.  If they mean that in the sense of the Law of Moses being unable to provide redemption from sin and purchase our justification before God, they have a point.  Yet they might actually be trying to say that one believing in Christ has had the obligation of the righteous standards of God’s Law upon them taken away.  If that is what they mean, nothing could be further from the truth.  

Remember that Israel had to follow Joshua into the Promised Land.  Joshua was commanded to side with the Lord by heeding the Law continuously and making it binding upon the people.  If you listen to the Dispensationalists and other lawless false gospel preachers, you would think that Joshua gave Israel a license to be immoral like the Canaanites.

Joshua 1:6-8: “Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.  Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

Romans 3:31: “Do we then make void the law through faith?  God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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