Would God Have Left Israel in the Wilderness More Than 40 Years if it Continued to Rebel?

Would the Israelites have ever been brought into Canaan if they continued to rebel against God in the wilderness? The answer is based upon principles that give answers to questions which are heavily debated today.

Canaan is the land which God promised to Israel. This land was promised conditionally rather than unconditionally. After being delivered from Egypt, and traveling through the wilderness for two years, Israel provoked God by refusing to enter Canaan when He commanded them to go in and take it. This refusal was due to the people heeding 10 of the 12 men who were sent to spy out the land. These men discouraged Israel from going to take the land. This discouragement was due to the obstacles in the land which they saw with their eyes. God sentenced Israel to 40 years of wandering in the wilderness for this (they had done two already and were sentenced to an additional 38). The Israelites should have rather given heed to the 2 spies (Joshua and Caleb) who exhorted Israel to go right in and take the land due to their faith in God’s promise.

Reading Numbers 14:26-38: “And the Lord spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur 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 upward 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 ye 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 whoredoms, 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 my breach of promise. 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.”

Look at what just happened. The land was not promised to Israel unconditionally. Though the Israelites were right near the border of Canaan at this point, note that they did not have a right to take the land just because they had a chance to. They had now been sentenced to 40 years in the wilderness. After this sentence was handed down, Israel trying to enter the land before the sentence was served was no longer exercising faith in the Lord like it would have been had they given heed to Joshua and Caleb instead of the 10 unbelieving spies. However, Israel did try to take the land immediately after the sentence had been handed down. This was actually rebellion against the Lord.

Continuing in Numbers 14:39-45: “And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.”

There is no doubt that the generation of full grown adults which came out of Egypt, besides Joshua and Caleb, had to die out before Israel could enter Canaan. God had also said that the children of Israel would not come into the land until Israel as a collective entity had served its sentence of 40 years in the wilderness.

But was this a guarantee that the next generation of Israelites would make it into Canaan after the 40 years in the wilderness had expired? Was the 40 year sentence a definite, fixed amount of time for Israel to remain in the wilderness that could not be changed or was it simply a minimum sentence which might be increased if Israel was still rebellious after the 40 years had expired?

Note that the generation of Israel which had been led out of Egypt had indeed been given a promise that they would personally inherit Canaan.

Exodus 3:13-17: “And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt: And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Nevertheless, as has been already seen, that generation was barred from inheriting that land flowing with milk and honey. This was not because God was at fault. It was rather because His promise had conditions which Israel did not meet. The promise was never unconditional. It has already been shown from Numbers chapter 14 why the generation that came out of Egypt did not inherit Canaan.

Some foolishly say that you can’t exactly compare the Israelites which came out of Egypt failing to reach the Promised Land to a real Christian falling away from Christ and failing to inherit salvation. Yet you surely can rightfully make this comparison. The writer of Hebrews did so in Hebrews chapter 3. The same direct comparison is also made in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12. The Bible actually tells Christians to look to Israel as proof that they do not have unconditional eternal security. Remember this when people quote Ephesians 2:8-9 and other Scriptures out of context to try to say that faith does not require turning from sin and walking in submission to God’s Word. Remember this when people quote Ephesians 2:8-9 and other Scriptures out of context to try to say that the Christian has unconditional security and could never fall from grace. Exercising an acceptable, living faith in the true God cannot be separated from obedience to what He commands. And contrary to what multitudes teach, it is not the Lord’s job to cause people to exercise faith in Him and walk by faith in Him.

God’s grace demands repentance from sin.

Matthew 4:12-17: “Now when Jesus had heard that John (John the Baptist) was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

It is also possible for one who has obtained God’s grace to forsake it through returning to the practice of sin.

Ezekiel 18:26-32: “When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.”

God’s grace can be received in vain.

2 Corinthians 6:1: “We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”

God’s grace can even be received in vain by born-again Christians who had been under His grace. This is because grace contains demands (see Titus 2:11-14) which must be kept up with (through obedient faith in Christ).

Hebrews 12:14-17: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

On a personal basis, there was no guarantee that any individual Israelite of the next generation was going to inherit Canaan after the 40 years in the wilderness were completed- just as there was no guarantee that any Israelite of the previous generation would inherit Canaan. Both generations had been specifically promised Canaan. Those were obviously conditional promises. The Israelites were supposed to understand this and meet the conditions for obtaining the promises. We are expected to do the same now in order to be partakers of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

Look at what the Lord did to root out many among Israel who did not learn this lesson around the time Israel’s 40 year sentence in the wilderness expired.

Numbers 25:1-9: “And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel (my note- Phinehas, whom we’re about to read about, was obviously one of these judges), Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.”

Note also the following interaction which Moses had with certain men of Israel. The Israelites were near the border of Canaan at this point and they had a chance of entering there with God’s blessing. What is about to be read shows that this was by no means guaranteed to actually happen.

Numbers 32:1-23: “Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle; The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and Nebo, and Beon, Even the country which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: Wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadeshbarnea to see the land. For when they went up unto the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. And the Lord’s anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the Lord. And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people. And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: But we ourselves will go ready armed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward. And Moses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, And will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, And the land be subdued before the Lord: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.”

Israel’s 40 years in the wilderness had been served at this point. Yet they were not guaranteed Canaan simply because the 40 years were over.

Note again what Moses told the children of Rueben and Gad in Numbers 32:15: “For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people.”

40 years in the wilderness was a minimum set after Israel had given heed to the 10 unbelieving spies instead of the 2 faithful ones. Moses’ words to the children of Gad and the children of Rueben demonstrate that Israel could have been left in the wilderness even longer if it continued to rebel against the Lord.

Very shortly afterwards chronologically, we read in Deuteronomy 4:1-5: “Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought (any) from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.”

The generation of Israel that Moses was addressing in the preceding verses, which came into Canaan under Joshua’s leadership, is a bright spot in Israel’s history. The generation that arose, after Joshua and the elders of Israel who had served alongside him died off, was a very different generation. That generation was rather like the generation which came out of Egypt that died in the wilderness. Sadly, faithful generations were the exception rather than the normal in Israel’s history. Yet note that, contrary to what many teach, failure was not inevitable. People can render obedience to God which He regards as acceptable.

Judges 2:7-15: “And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim: And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.”

And even though Moses followed the Lord until the end and died in faith, he did not enter the Promised Land himself. Moses surely repented of his sin in the heat of the moment which prevented him from entering Canaan. The incident which led to him being barred from the Promised Land is recorded in Numbers 20:7-12. This is another strong lesson that God really should be feared. We should really fear sinning against Him. Everything one does matters and sin has consequences- even if the guilty one really repents towards Him afterwards and obtains His forgiveness. 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 not otherwise black and white morally, communicates that God really ought to be feared like Him killing the wicked suddenly also communicates that He ought to be feared.

Dealing with sin in the way that the faithful men of God in the Bible did is impossible unless sin among God’s people is considered to be utterly unacceptable. This is not really the mindset in most churches. The Biblical mindset, and actions in accordance with it, are utterly inconsistent with holding the view of unconditional security which is the norm among the churches today. Having the right mindset then necessitates rejecting unconditional eternal security doctrine.

Many use the Corinthian Christians to defend unconditional security. These totally neglect how the Apostle Paul had no toleration for the sin among the Corinthians. He rather told them to look to Israel as proof that they do not have unconditional security in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 and utterly insisted that they put away their sin in repentance.

2 Corinthians 12:20-21: “For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults: And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.”

Moses did beg repeatedly God to let him into the Promised Land. God even told Moses not to speak to Him about it anymore in Deuteronomy 3:26.

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.”

We also see in these things how utterly ridiculous the Calvinistic concepts of Irresistible Grace and (guaranteed) Perseverance of the Saints are. The Promised Land was truly promised to the Israelites who failed to reach it. Their failure to enter it was their fault rather than God’s. God did not fail; they did. Joshua and Caleb had to be diligent and steadfast in heeding the Lord in order to obtain entrance into the Promised Land. They still did not earn it as if their entrance was a debt which God owed to them. Joshua and Caleb’s diligence and steadfastness in heeding the Lord actually epitomize the type of faith which causes one to be a partaker of God’s true grace. Remember that when you hear Ephesians 2:8-9.

The people being blamed in the following Scriptures were not in God’s grace. The Lord’s blame of these people demonstrates that the lacking element which had to be supplied in order for them to obtain His grace was something that they were responsible for. God was not the one responsible to supply the obedient faith which those rebuked in the following verses needed in order to obtain His grace.

Jeremiah 2:19: “Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.”

Isaiah 5:1-7: “Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt (between) me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.”

Luke 13:34: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”

With the title question having been addressed, look also at what God warned Israel through Moses. What is stated in the following verses proves that Israel did not have an unconditional right to remain in the land after they had entered it.

Leviticus 18:24-30: “Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things (my note- read the whole chapter to understand what is meant here): for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 4:25-26: “When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.”

Deuteronomy 28:20-21: “The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. The Lord shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.”

The preceding warnings applied when the Israelites had entered the land by God’s appointment. How much more if they were to get into the land otherwise? Even though God had said that the generation of unbelieving Israelites who came out of Egypt would not enter Canaan, He never guaranteed that future generations of disobedient Israelites would not take back the land through illegal entry after being kicked out of it for rejecting their Messiah. Theoretically, if that were to happen, it would not remove His wrath from them. It could only actually make things worse for them. And at this point, this is not a merely theoretical situation either. Israel and Jerusalem are in great trouble with Him now.