Psalm 78, verse 12. Here's another one of these passages where the psalmist, in this case it's Asaph, by the way, is recounting the history of God working in, for, and through the people of Israel. He wrought wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand up like a heap, and then He led them with the cloud by day, and all the night with the light of fire. He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams also from the rock and caused waters to run down like rivers. Yet they still continued to sin against Him. to rebel against the Most High in the desert. And in their heart they put God to the test by asking food according to their desire. So, the psalmist here has just covered a great deal of the reading that we have in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. And, you know, tonight we're going to see people who are treated very specially by God and who grumble against Him repeatedly, complain against Him, disbelieve Him. Father, we take great assurance in knowing this is your world, that you rule and reign over it and all things, that you are the creator and sustainer of all that we see. And Lord, we are grateful that you have blessed us by revealing yourself to us in your Word, through your Son, that you've given us this Word and opened our hearts to receive it, to know it, to believe it, and to trust in it. And Lord, as we come to your word tonight, let your spirit be our teacher. Let this word come to us in power and let us be transformed by it. In Christ's name we ask it. Amen. Well, tonight we continue in our study of God's carrying out of his eternal plan and purpose. The covenant of redemption among the Godhead. And we've seen over the recent weeks God had created not only the world, but he created man. And he gave Adam, the first man, our first ancestor, a garden paradise and one command. Do not eat from one tree in a garden full of trees. Adam would not submit to God's authority. He ate from the tree. And God then said to the serpent who had led Adam and Eve to sin, I'll put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now this was a declaration by God. Some call it a promise. that He would send a Savior, one who would be a man, a seed of the woman. And this was all part of God's eternal plan and purpose. God knew that the man He would create would rebel against Him, would sin against Him, and would be unable to atone for his sin. That someone else, a substitutionary offering, would have to do it. And in that covenant of redemption, the Son of God agreed to become a man, come into this world, and die to atone for those sins of a people given Him by His Father in this covenant of redemption, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. And Jesus speaks of those given Him by His Father in John chapter 6, in John chapter 10, in John chapter 17. So, after the fall of Adam, we have this God saying, I'm going to do something about this. I'm going to send a Savior. But the whole world turned to wickedness. And, of course, God sent a flood and destroyed all flesh except for Noah and his family of eight. And God continued to carry out His eternal plan. Saved eight people from whom the Savior would be born. And God called Abram, and He promised him and his wife, a barren couple, two things. What were they? Land of Canaan and, I'm sorry, one other thing, many descendants. So the third promise was that that seed of the woman would be one of his descendants. So he has promised Abraham, you will have many, many descendants. Through one of them, this Savior is going to be born. And he promised that he would give this land of Canaan, which was inhabited by seven nations, wicked nations who worshipped false gods, he would give them this land. Now this covenant that he made with Abram was going to be developed in the covenant with Moses that we're going to look at tonight. But we see chapter 17 of Genesis, verse 7, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you and I'll give you all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. That's the covenant God made. But this was not an unconditional covenant. Now we're going to see throughout Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, that God put conditions on this, quote, everlasting possession, and on their possession of this land of Canaan. So we have two signs here. We have a covenant with Abram that's going to be fleshed out. It's going to take shape in the covenant with Moses. But each has its own sign. Sign of the covenant with Abram was what? Circumcision. The covenant with Moses, the covenant of Mount Sinai, it was a new sign. What was it? Anybody know from your reading? It was the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the sign. And again, every seventh day, these signs that God gives evoke remembrance of His covenant promises. So God gave Adam this covenant, and He repeats it to his son Isaac and to his son Jacob. And of course, in both cases, neither was the firstborn. But nonetheless, God chose whom He chose. And Jacob, in fact, how did he get this birthright and the blessing? He stole it from his brother Esau. So Jacob had the twelve sons, as we've seen. And they went down to Egypt. There was a famine. Joseph had been sold into bondage down there. Joseph had risen to prominence. This famine comes, which Joseph had predicted was going to come by interpreting dreams. And Jacob's family ends up all going down to Egypt. How many went down there? Seventy. How many descendants did God tell Abram he would have? As many as the stars of the sky. But it's only 70. And they go down and they end up in slavery for how long? 430 years actually, but the prophecy of God was it would be over 400 years. And after the 430 years, here's God still working out His plan, because where's the Messiah going to come from? He's going to come from the sons of Jacob. One of the sons of Jacob in particular. Which one? Judah, that's right. So, we then saw God called Moses to lead the sons of Jacob out of slavery in Egypt. And remember, Pharaoh resisted. God says, let them go three days into the wilderness to worship me. And Pharaoh's now, finally God unleashes ten judgment plagues on the people of Egypt. Pharaoh says, well okay, and then he changes his mind and he hardens his heart. The final plague was what? killing of all the firstborn of Egypt. Finally, Pharaoh relents. In fact, he forces them to get out. The people of Egypt are forcing them to get out. They give them all their articles of gold and silver. And so God, the night that he sent the angel to kill all the firstborn of Egypt, instituted this Passover, a meal. What was the purpose of the Passover? remembrance. Again it's remembrance. You see how God keeps the promise alive, keeps his eternal plan in the minds of his people. So Pharaoh lets them go and then after a while he has a change of heart and so they decide to start chasing them and they get to the Red Sea and what do the sons of Jacob do? Oh, now we're stuck. God can't do anything about this. Well, Moses puts the staff out over the Red Sea. It parts. They go through. They get across to the other side. The Egyptian army follows them. What happens again? Moses puts that staff out there and the walls of the Red Sea fall on them and destroy them all. And, you know, as they get there, in Exodus 14.10, it's 14.11 I want to get to, but I will read 14.10 while you're turning. As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became frightened. So the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Now these are the people he's delivering from slavery. 400 years of slavery. They said to Moses, is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? We're going to see a lot more of this during their time in the wilderness. How long, by the way, was the trip in the wilderness to the land of Canaan? Less than a year? How much less than a year? Eleven days. You understand, this 40-year trip was an 11-day trip. Why did it take 40 years? Because, yes, they just would not listen to God. They grumbled against God. They didn't even trust God, as we're going to see, when they sent spies into the land to look it over. But let's not jump ahead of ourselves here. So, they say it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. So, Moses stretches out his hand, and God's working out his plan, even with such miracles as this. And they cross the sea, and Moses in Exodus 15 sings a hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God. Now, God has already been very good to the sons of Jacob, but we're going to look tonight at how they treated God. After three days' journey, they had no water. What did they do? They grumbled. We're going to see this word grumbled and complained over and over again. They grumbled. They found only bitter water. But what happened? God sweetened the water for them. It was fine. And then he led them to a place of plentiful water. Now, Exodus 16. They grumbled again. Exodus 16, 2 and 3. Here they are grumbling again. What are we going to eat? Did they trust God to provide for them? Doesn't look like it. God gave them manna from heaven, six days per week. And how long did they eat this manna from heaven? Forty years. See, Ron did his reading. Forty years they ate this manna. Now what were the instructions on the manna? How many days would they be given manna? And why only six days? The seventh was a day of rest, so would they eat on the seventh day? So on the sixth day he would provide enough for the sixth day and the seventh day so they could rest. What's that rest called? Sabbath. Now, they're still in the early days, having crossed the Red Sea, and the sons of Jacob were attacked by some Amalekites. Who won that battle? God won the battle. God gave them victory. And so, now he's given them water miraculously, he's given them food miraculously, he's given them a military victory miraculously, and I don't know where they got their weapons. I don't have a theory on that, other than maybe they didn't need weapons. After all, the angel of the Lord oftentimes would intervene and handle these military matters. So, the third month they come into the Sinai wilderness. And God called Moses to himself. And he sets forth now the conditions of the covenant that he's about to make with the sons of Jacob. So, God promised Abram many descendants. How many came out of Egypt, by the way? Two million. Is two million... Can we regard that as as many as the stars of the sky? How many stars can you count? Can you count two million? Well, you see, he's already fulfilled the promise. We're going to read this. The descendants were as many as the stars of the sky. We had no water again. We have the Lord then providing guidance and protection for them. How did he do that? How did he provide guidance for them? That's right, pillar of cloud in the day, pillar of fire at night. And again they grumbled. Again the Lord provided water, this time from a rock. So they fight the Amalekites, they win that. Now, back to my question, God promised Abram he would give them, he would have many descendants, and I think we can fairly say he's got many descendants by this point, and he promised them he would give them the land of Canaan. Now it's in his dealings with Moses that he actually gives them the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession. And I keep putting that in quotes because there will be conditions for this to be actually everlasting. And they're going to fail those conditions. And he also promised he will be their God. They will be his own special possession. Now, you've all read this. Did that come to pass? Was he their God? Yes. Did they become His own special possession above all the other nations of the earth? Absolutely. But there were conditions on these promises. What's the condition? As simply put as we can put it. They must obey Him. They must obey Him. If you obey me, you can keep all of these. You can have the grapes and figs in season. You can have the rains come when we need them. I'll give you protection from the wild beasts. I'll give you protection from your enemies. You'll have peace in the land. You'll have all of the food and drink that you need. They have to obey Him. And if they didn't obey Him, then what? They would lose the land. Now I know everybody's, we've got people looking for them to get back to this land. Some people think they're in the land, but the geopolitical nation that's there now is not these people. This is not the theocracy of the Old Testament that we have today. So turn to 19.5 in Exodus, and here's how God says it. And you know, you'd think this would inspire people to obedience, but people, and we're good evidence of this, aren't necessarily always obedient to God. Now then, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. By the way, have we ever read words like this in the New Testament? Where? In Peter's writings. And what does, who does Peter apply these words to? To the Christian church. All right, so, if you'll obey my voice and keep my covenant. The sons of Jacob, did they agree to the terms of the covenant? Now they don't have the terms yet, but did they already agree? Well, look at 19.7. Moses come, called the elders of the people, set before them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do! Moses brought back the words of the people of the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe in you forever. So you might remember we read in Hebrews how the Lord thundered. The best description I think we can get of what happened as the Lord gave him the law was a volcano. And lava running down, and smoke rising up, and fire, and thunder, and lightning, and all of these things. And by the way, the people were terrified at this. "'I'll come to you in the thick clouds so the people may hear when I speak with you.'" So Moses is going up the mountain. People are going to stay down, but they're going to hear. Moses tells these words to the people. God called Moses and he tells him to have the people consecrate themselves, wash their garments, and after three days he would come and meet them. So here they are. He's given them the water. They grumble when they leave. They grumble before they get across the Red Sea. They grumble for no water. They grumble for no food. They grumble again about the water. They win the victory against the Amalekites. They say whatever the Lord says we'll do. And so, now they're told, now you've got to wash your garments and we're going to wait three days now before I give this covenant to you. To try to imagine what was going through their minds is almost impossible for us. The third day comes, it's morning. There were thunder and lightning flashes. This is 1916. A thick cloud upon the mountain, Mount Sinai, and a very loud trumpet sound so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Now, where did the trumpet sound come from? Where do those trumpet sounds come from in Revelation? Yes, these are heavenly trumpet sounds. And there wasn't somebody there, a trumpeteer. These were trumpet sounds from heaven. You know, these people had witnessed an awful lot of miracles to this point. When you think about it, miracles were just kind of a daily thing for them, the way this was going. So Moses brings the people out of the camp to meet God. They come to the foot of the mountain. And verse 18, Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. The whole mountain quaked violently. Now, whatever God says here, now if they're going to hear a voice from heaven, you got all of this going on, do you suppose you would be inclined to listen to this voice and do what he says? We've got a mountain that's quaking. We've got thunder, lightning, trumpets coming out of heaven, smoke like out of a furnace. The trumpet sound grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, the top of the mountain. The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. So that's the background here, as they've come out of bondage, and this is now their circumstance. Well then, God wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, what some today would call the moral law. I think most today would call that the moral law. It sets forth the requirements of righteousness. This is what they're to obey. He gave them ordinances by which they were to govern their affairs between and among themselves, civil laws, dietary laws, all that sort of thing. He gave them laws to deal with when they caused injuries to one another or property rights. He gave them a law for a land Sabbath. The land was to lie fallow every what? every seven years. And he gave them a law of sacrifices by which to atone for their sins against the moral law. So if they broke the law that he gave them, he gave them a way to remain in the land of Canaan, to remain among the people who were in this Mosaic covenant. By the way, this covenant of Mount Sinai that God's making here, goes by several names. The Mosaic Covenant, the Mount Sinai Covenant, the Sinai Covenant, the Old Covenant. It's called the Old Covenant in Hebrews. It's called the Old Covenant by Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 3. So, whenever we use this term, Old Covenant, we're talking about this covenant. Now, it may be that it's fair to say that this is an addendum to what God had spoken concerning the promise of the land. Because now they're getting the land in this covenant. I'm going to give you this land forever if you obey me. You obey me, you got it forever. When we get to King David, he's going to establish a kingdom. So, when we hear those terms, they're all interchangeable. Mosaic covenant, Sinai covenant, Old Covenant. And God began this giving of the law in chapter 20, verse 2, by saying what? What do you suppose He said to them? I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. He gave them three mandatory feasts to be observed by the males every year, Passover and unleavened bread, which came to be one feast, eight days, the harvest of first fruits, or Pentecost, and the fall feast of ingathering, or what came to be known as the Feast of Tabernacles. And God warned them, when you go into this land I'm going to give you. Now remember, this wasn't a long journey, but it was going to take a lot longer because of their disobedience. When you go into this land, don't worship or serve the false gods of the Canaanites. And he told them, he gave them two commands to keep them from being drawn into the worship of false gods. What were they? Don't intermarry with them. Don't eat with them. He gave them their own special diet. You're not allowed to eat all this. You've got a whole list of foods you could eat, a whole list of foods you can't. And some of those foods were called unclean because they weren't supposed to eat them. But the whole point was to keep them separate. Why would he want to keep the sons of Jacob separate? This people is providing the line of Christ. the Messiah, that seed of the woman, that descendant of Abraham's coming from these people. So, now Moses writes down the words of the civil ordinances. God wrote the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, Moses wrote down the rest, and he read it to the people. And in chapter 24, verse 7, We read that. It says Moses took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And what did the people say? We'll do it. All that the Lord has spoken we will do and we will be obedient. This covenant, would you call it conditional or unconditional? Are they getting these blessings unconditionally no matter what? Absolutely not. These blessings are conditioned on their obedience to God. God again called Moses, comes up to him. I'm going to give you the stone tablets. We're still in chapter 24. Moses goes up with Joshua. Joshua doesn't go the whole way up. The clouds covering the mountain. The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai in verse 16. The cloud covered it for six days. The seventh day, he calls Moses from the midst of the cloud. To the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on a mountaintop. Moses entered into the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain, and he was up there forty days and forty nights. So there, in Exodus 25-21, God's giving Moses specific instructions in large part for the construction of a tabernacle where he would come and meet with them. And we're not going to go through the building of the tabernacle or the materials needed, but he was very, what? How would we describe the instructions that God gave Moses for the building of this tabernacle and the articles therein? Very specific, very precise. He not only gave him the dimensions of every article there, he gave him the materials. Sometimes when it came to things like curtains, he got, you know, one color of this and this kind of fabric. Very precise. And he built this tabernacle. Now, where did God get the pattern that he gave Moses for this tabernacle? Turn to Hebrews chapter 8, verse 4. Now the writer's talking about getting to Christ, entering into the heavenly tabernacle, but speaking of Moses and this tabernacle, first he's talking about Christ. In Hebrews 8, 4, now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all. Why wouldn't he be a priest at all? Why would Christ not be a priest on earth? I'm sorry? He was not from the tribe of Levi. He wasn't a descendant of Aaron. He's from the tribe of Judah. You had to be a Levite to be a priest. But he's our priest. He's our high priest. This is a better priesthood. He would not be a priest at all since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law. who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle for sea, he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain. So, we're going to find out that this pattern was a heavenly pattern. This was a copy of the heavenly things. And then Christ had entered into the real thing. So, this thing is a copy of the heavenly things and it also becomes the type of the heavenly tabernacle. All right, so, see that you make them after the patterns. And eventually they start building this tabernacle. Constructing it. And then God gave them a sign of His covenant. Circumcision had been the sign of the covenant with Abram. Many descendants in the land of Canaan. Now this covenant, here's all my laws. Here's what you do if you disobey them. Here's what you do to atone for your sins and remain part of this covenant community. Remain in the land of Canaan. He gave them the sign of the Sabbath. And the Sabbath, of course, was included in the Ten Commandments as the fourth commandment. The sign of the covenant of Mount Sinai, the Sabbath. And you wonder why there is still such intense debate over the vitality of a Sabbath for Christians today. Listen to the words that God spoke here to the sons of Jacob. Now, He's giving them this Sabbath. Genesis 2, 3, He blessed the seventh day and set it aside and blessed it. Day of rest. He didn't talk about worship there, by the way. He said it's a Sabbath to the Lord, which we take to be worship. But Exodus 31, here's the command. Verse 12 and 13. But as for you, you speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You shall surely observe my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. And then down to verse 17, it's a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth. But on the seventh day he ceased from his labor and was refreshed. So the pattern of creation is what's at work here in the Sabbath, both in the creation ordinance in Genesis 2-3, and in this particular Sabbath he gives to the sons of Jacob. Now again, this is another forever But this whole covenant rests on their obedience. 3118, when he had finished speaking with him at Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God. So, as Moses remained on the mountain, what happened? And who's guiding them through the building of this calf? Aaron, Moses' brother, the father of the priesthood, for which the people bowed down and worshipped. This calf brought us out of Egypt. After all they'd seen. Exodus 32, 9, the Lord said to Moses, I've seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then, let me alone, that my anger may burn against them, that I may destroy them and make you a great nation. Is that what God did? Why couldn't God do that? What did Moses say to him? He interceded for the people. He said, Lord, if you kill all these people, the Egyptians are going to say, see, he couldn't bring them into the land of Canaan. He's not as great as our gods. But here's the thing, God had made a covenant promise to Abraham that he would give his descendants this land. When he made the promise with Abraham, were these conditions on it? That he would bring them into the land? No. No, no. He promised to bring them into the land. Now with Moses, he promises they can stay in the land under these conditions. So that's what's at work here. Now here's what Moses says. Look at Exodus 32. Let's start at 32.12. He's saying, why should the Egyptians speak, saying, with evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth. Turn from your burning anger and change your mind about doing harm to your people. Now, folks, this was God's eternal purpose and plan all along. But look what Moses says in verse 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Why are they significant? Why is he saying that? That's who he made the covenant with. I think all three of you were saying that at once. He made the covenant with those three. Remember that. Your servants to whom you swore by yourself and said, I'll multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and all this land of which I've spoken I'll give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented. Moses comes down and what's he see? Just imagine Moses here. He's kind of taken in all that God's been doing. He's been talking to God face to face is how they describe it in scripture. And he sees this. He sees these people after all they've seen have already just turned to worship some piece of metal. Tells him, you've committed a great sin. I'm going to go up to the Lord, maybe I can make atonement for you. And remember something, atonement for them wasn't an atonement like we have in Christ. It was an atonement such that covered their sin and allowed them to stay within the sons of Jacob, within that community, in this covenant. So Moses asked God, will you forgive their sin? If not, please blot me out of your book which you have written. Now that's verse 32. How did Moses know that God had written a book in which his name was written? I don't expect anybody has the answer. I don't have the answer. I expect God revealed it to him. God did speak to him face to face after all. The Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, I'll blot him out of my book. Well, again, we know it's like what John said and what we saw in the gospel on Sunday. They were never really of us. And that's the same situation here. They never were really part of God's people. But go now, lead the people where I told you. My angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin. So he's just holding off his punishment. Then the Lord smote the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made. So God renews His covenant with the sons of Jacob. He instructs Moses to write the words of the Ten Commandments on, get some new stone tablets. He renews the Sabbath and they build the tabernacle and they make the priestly garments. So we've got special garments for the priests to wear. Do you know of any religions who've kind of followed this idea of special priestly garments? Well, there are many in the world today. So, how are we doing on time here? So, Leviticus Leviticus 1 through 7, God gives the law regarding sacrifices, animal and grain sacrifices to the Lord. And you can read that at your convenience. And there are very specific instructions. Again, there's a daily offering. When you read a burnt offering, There's a daily offering that's given morning and evening to the Lord. You bring an unblemished bull and you offer it to the Lord. This is purely an act of worship. But there are also peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings and sin offerings and guilt offerings that are part of this. And we're not going to cover all that tonight. Leviticus 8 through 10, we get laws regarding the priesthood of Aaron. laws regarding clean and unclean animals, laws regarding sexual sin. I mean, we hear a lot about Leviticus chapter 18 these days and these sins there that God has clearly forbidden. Again, the atonement was such that it would allow them to stay in the land and among the people of God, the earthly people of God. Now, Exodus 29, 46, and you don't have to turn there, but regarding these daily offerings which God commanded of them, it was that they may know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. That's why He gave them the sacrifices. That they may know that I'm the Lord who brought them out of Egypt. In Leviticus 25, 38, he repeats it, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan to be your God. Now, in Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 28, God sets forth the conditions The blessings that they will have if they obey Him. And again, it's the same blessings we've looked at. You'll have bounteous crops. You won't have to do anything. They're already there, by the way. The cities are already built. The whole place is already in turnkey situation. You just move in and there it is. The trees are planted. There's nothing missing. Peace in the land, protection from enemies, protection from wild beasts, no famine, no hardship, and life would be one of restfulness. And if you don't, in Leviticus 26, he lists all of the horrors that will come upon them, including being cut off and thrown out of the land. This whole promise, this whole forever promise, was conditioned on their obedience to him. And, you know, he goes back and forth, if you do not obey me, Leviticus 26.14, if you reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, and so break my covenant. These are key words. That is to break his covenant, Leviticus 26.15. I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption, and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away. You'll be struck down before your enemies, and those who hate you will rule over you." So that's the flavor of Leviticus 26. I have a friend who for his doctoral thesis spent the entire 300 pages on Leviticus 26. Pestilence will come, swords will come against you. And look at Leviticus 26, 25 if you're there. He says, if by these things you've still not turned to me after I've punished you, and you still act with hostility against me, then I will strike you seven times for your sins. And verse 25, I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant. When you gather into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you'll be delivered into enemy hands. When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so you will eat and not be satisfied." Where do we see these kind of plagues elsewhere in the Bible? You ever read the seven seals in chapter 6 of the book of Revelation? Here they are again. The sword, pestilence, and famine. Horses were portrayed. It's obviously symbolic there. It wasn't here. This was real. So, we have to read the promise of everlasting possession in light of these conditions. All right, so, turn to Numbers 10.33. Numbers 10.33, Thus they set out from the mount of the Lord three days' journey. The Ark of the Covenant. Now they already built everything for the tabernacle. And remember it had poles and rings in it, so they never touched it. They put the poles through the rings to carry it and transport it. They had a special way of packing it up. Only the Levites were allowed near it to do the packing of it. No one was allowed to touch anything. They had to go and take a bath before they could do any of the packing. And so they set out three days' journey with the Ark of the Covenant, journeying in front of them for three days to seek out a resting place. The cloud of the Lord was over them by day when they set out for the camp. In chapter 11, The people became like those who complain. When the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled. A fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some on the outskirts of the camp. And then Moses prayed for them and fire died out. Look at verse 4. The rabble who were among them had greedy desires. The sons of Israel wept again. Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt. Cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlic. But now our appetite is gone. There's nothing at all to look at except this manna. Well, Moses heard the people weeping. The anger of the Lord was kindled again. Moses is displeased. And Moses goes to the Lord and says, Why? Why? Why have you done this to your servant? Haven't I found favor in your sight? If this is the way it's going to be, why don't you just kill me now? Where am I supposed to get meat to give all these people? And of course the Lord rains quail all over the land and they eat so much that they get sick of it and then the Lord strikes down quite a few of them. Anger of the Lord was kindled against them. He struck the people with a very severe plague. Numbers 11.33. Now they come finally to the Kadesh, Barnea, Moses sent spies into the land, chapters 13 and 14 of Numbers. So he sends spies into the land, one from each of the twelve tribes. Two were named Caleb and Joshua. Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, Joshua was of the half-tribe of Manasseh. They go in to conquer the land. And we're going to go in, spy it out, because the Lord's told us He'll conquer these people for us. We don't have to worry. So we better go in and check it out again. What happened? They came back and they said what? Okay, we're ready to go? Can't do it. Why not? There are giants in there. We've got no chance against these people. What about the food they found in there? The food was great. This place is a land flowing with milk and honey. It's too bad that we just don't have the power to overtake these people. It's too bad we can't go in. Because this is really a great place. It's everything the Lord said. These are giants. And so, of course, we know what happened. The Lord said, look, not one of these people is going in. And by the way, Moses, you're not going in either. You know, we're told that Moses didn't get to go in because he broke faith with the Lord back when he yelled at the water instead of just striking it with the rod once. Shall I bring out water from you? But we also read that Moses is saying, it's because of you people that I'm not going in. Well, look at Deuteronomy chapter 1, verse 2. They're across the Jordan in the wilderness. Verse 3, or verse 2, it is 11 days journey from Horeb by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea. Now Kadesh Barnea is looking out over this, excuse me, you just got to go up over the mountain and go in. It's 11 days. In the 40th year, on the first day of the 11th month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel according to all that the Lord had commanded him. He had them wander for another 38 years in the wilderness before he allowed them to go in. Why? Why didn't he let them go in? And they wouldn't go in. They would not go in. Why didn't they go in? I'm sorry? They didn't believe God. They didn't trust God. Abraham believed God, and God counted it to him as righteousness. They didn't. And so none of that generation went in. Deuteronomy 126, you were not willing to go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, because the Lord hates us. He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us. 132. You did not trust the Lord your God. 134. The Lord heard the sound of your words. He was angry and took an oath, saying, Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He shall see it. And to him and to his sons I will give this land on which he has set foot, because he has followed the Lord fully." And 137, there's Moses. The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, not even you shall enter there. Joshua, son of Nun, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he will cause Israel to inherit it. Well, we'll stop there for tonight. They're not in yet. They're across the Jordan River. And when we pick up next week, they're going to enter the land. And when they enter the land, it's pursuant to this covenant. If you obey me, you'll be there forever. Well, Father, thank you. Thank you so much for this word. Thank you for teaching us of the need to believe you. Thank you for sending your son. Thank you that your plan did not get disrupted, that you preserved one man of the tribe of Judah from whom the seed of the woman would be born, and that your plan goes forward. and that Your plan is going forward even today as You've called us to be Your people, a people for Your own special possession in Christ. And in His name we pray.