Between Passover and Promised Land (part 3)

There are perhaps many more lessons we could draw from this chapter, but we will content ourselves with one more. Numbers 33 teaches us, as we toil in the here-and-now, that Passover inevitably leads to the Promised Land. We must never forget this. We must never forget that the present is only a prelude to something much better and brighter. Though it is important how we live out each day, we must beware of becoming stuck in the mud of the present. The present does not give meaning to the future of the believer; it is quite the opposite. We therefore need to have the view that the apostle Peter advises, when he writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-5).

Now, I know that many of the Israelites who were in the wilderness perished and were not saved. The book of Hebrews makes that clear (cf. Heb. 3-4). And we should never think that just because someone calls himself/herself a Christian, that they are automatically guaranteed entrance into heaven. There is such a thing as a false believer. And we should beware from the story of Israel’s sin of becoming presumptuous of God’s mercy. But that does not change the fact that, just as Israel as a nation made it from Egypt to Canaan, even so every true elect child of God will make it to heaven. Those who have been pardoned by the blood of Christ will not be lost. Did not our Lord say, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (Jn. 10:27-28)? Did not the apostle Paul say that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35-39)? I love the way it is put by our Lord in Mat. 24:24 concerning the deceivers who will show “great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” – the point being, that it is not possible.

Therefore, let all who cling to Christ in faith and repentance rejoice in hope (Rom. 12:12), for that is something that no man or devil in hell can take away. And let that hope shed light on your path now. Do not be discouraged, for Christ is leading you from Egypt to Canaan, from the Passover to the Promised Land. You live between two great redemptive events and you should live in the reality of those events. And let all who are yet outside of Christ come to him. If he becomes your Passover, he becomes the door to heaven and eternal glory. Our sins are forgiven that we might have eternal fellowship with God. Let all who will, come!