Kingdoms

The title of this week's Sabbath reading is Sh'lach L'cha, or "send for yourself". The LORD commanded Moses to send the leaders of each tribe of the children of Israel ahead into the promised land from their current camp in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh (Numbers 13 and 14). They were to spy out the land and bring back a report of what they found. The spies who were being sent from each tribe were called "leaders" (nasi/nasa - prince, chief, governor, captain, ruler/to lift, to bear up, support, sustain, forgive, to be exalted)) and "heads" (ros - chief, top of a mountain, principal, choicest, best, highest, supreme) by the LORD. These heads of the tribes that would be sent to spy, or search out the land, were not "errand boys", but the most respected men of the children of Israel. These leaders would be leaving from the current camp and setting of the tabernacle in Paran at Kadesh (Num. 13:26) to go to Canaan (Num. 13:2), the new land. If we look at the meanings of these two places, we might see the beginning of an attitude problem. Paran (pa'ar) at Kadesh, their current location, means "glorify, beautify, adorn, proud, honored" at "holy, sanctuary, sanctify, dedicate, purify". Canaan (kana) means the opposite: "traffickers, merchants, depressed, bring low, bring down, brought into subjection, humble oneself, to bend the knee". The best and the brightest were being commanded to leave their place of exaltation and sanctity, and travel to a place of subjection and humiliation. The season in which they were to make this journey was the season of the Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles because it was "the season of the first ripe grapes" (v. 20). The Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles is a most joyous feast celebrating the sweetest of the harvests - the harvest of grapes, figs, pomegranates and dates, very soon followed by the harvest of ripe olives. This is what the leaders of the tribes found in the promised land of Canaan also: "Then they came to the Valley (nahal - valley, stream, flood, torrent; inheritance, possession, to bequeath) of Eschol ("cluster of grapes"), and there cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes; they carried it between two of them on a pole. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs." (v. 23). Again, we see the Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles represented in these ripened fruits. This timing, and the evidence of abundant harvest shouldn't have been difficult for these exalted men to figure out! However, after forty days, when they returned to camp after spying out the land, they reported to the people the giant descendants of the corrupted Anakim, the strong, fortified cities, and the violent tribes of Canaan that they had seen: the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites and the Amorites (v. 27-29). These four tribes of Canaan represented evil activity. Amalekites, according to the Jewish writings from the Midrash, were sorcerers. The Hittites were descendants of Heth, son of Canaan. Heth means "terror, break in pieces, be afraid, be discouraged, break by violence, cause confusion and fear". Jebusites inhabited a territory that included what would later be called Jerusalem. The word Jebusites includes the meaning "threshing place, trodden down, polluted, loath, desecrate, trample". Finally, the Amorites, the most powerful of the tribes in Canaan, included the meaning "publicity, renown, to boast, act proudly, avow, challenge, speak, command". Their mouths were used for threats and curses. These tribes sound like the same evil that is currently occupying my land. Although Caleb, the leader of the tribe of Judah, tried to assure the children of Israel that they should go at once and take possession, "for we are well able to overcome it", ten of the twelve respected leaders who had spied out the new land gave this report: "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we...the land is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature...we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight." (v. 30-33). The children of Israel cried and wept, complained against Moses, and refused to go into the land because of what had been reported to them. They even wanted to select a new leader to take them back to Egypt! (Num. 14:1-4). Another of the leaders who had spied out the land, Joshua, tried to intervene saying: "The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land which flows with milk and honey...do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them." (v. 7-9). Joshua discerned that their defence or covering had withdrawn from these tribes who practiced evil. He called them "our bread". Bread has an interesting meaning. It is the Hebrew word and root lehem/laham and means "bread, food, meat, feast, provision/make war, overcome, devoured, prevail, do battle". Jesus called Himself "the Bread which came down from heaven", and "the Bread of life" (Jn. 6:32-41). Not only is He our Bread of spiritual and natural nutrition, but from the Hebrew meaning of the word, He also is the Bread of prevailing in battles on our behalf. In this case with the words of Joshua, however, the congregation picked up stones to stone them. The glory of the LORD then appeared in the tabernacle, and the LORD was prepared to destroy the Israelites who were ready to stone His faithful servants who spoke the truth. Moses had to greatly intercede before the LORD in order to spare the people (v. 10-19). The LORD then said to Moses: "But truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD..." (v. 21). The plan of the LORD for this Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles in Numbers had been to fill the earth with His glory by overthrowing the evil powers ruling the promised land. God's people had refused to participate. However, God swore that He would do so. That was and is His purpose. This Feast of Tabernacles of this Sabbath's reading portion was about the dispossession of the kingdoms and powers of darkness, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God. When I spy out the land in which God has placed me as a physical and spiritual inheritance, am I seeing the fulfillment of the Feast of Ingathering/Tabernacles of grapes, pomegranates, figs, dates, and olives (oil of the Holy Spirit), the harvesting of souls for His Kingdom, and the dispossession of the kingdoms of darkness, or am I seeing and reporting the strength and evil of the enemy? The new covenant speaks to this replacement of kingdoms, and it wasn't by violent revolution against governments or people. The Lord Jesus spoke about this great change that was at hand ("Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand", Mt. 4:17), and taught His disciples how to bring about this replacement of kingdoms saying: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen" (Mt. 6:9-13). Do we view the Lord's Prayer as an outline and tool to dispossess the giants, the fortified cities, and kingdoms of darkness from the land? If not, perhaps we should be taking another look at it. Paul also spoke about the dispossession of the evil kingdoms, not by natural weapons, which are completely ineffective, but by our spiritual weapons, which are mighty through God. One version of the scripture says: "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds." (2 Cor. 10:4). Daniel prophesied that one of the greatest kingdoms of darkness to come that "shall devour the whole earth", will be dispossessed: "But the court (din - judgment, justice, penalty) shall be seated, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it forever. Then the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." (Dan. 7:22-27). As the LORD guaranteed Moses: "All the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. "The Book of Revelation reports the triumph of the Kingdom of God: "Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Rev. 11:15). According to the scriptures, just some of the spiritual weapons we have with which to participate in this miraculous change of power are: forgiving and seeking God for and treasuring our forgiveness Mt. 6:12), our obedience (2 Cor. 10:4-6), and our salvation (Lk. 10:18-20). The remaining portions of this Sabbath's readings deal with Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, finally, forty years later, under the leadership of Joshua (Josh. 2:1-24), and the distribution of the land by allotments to the tribes of Israel (Josh. 14:6-15). The LORD also made this promise to His Son in the Psalms: "Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me and I will give You the nations (heathen) for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession." (Ps. 2:6-8). I have to ask myself what I see and believe when I look at the land of my inheritance and possession through Christ? I will bear in mind that the kingdoms of evil ended up having an additional forty years of power in the land of covenant promise, because the Israelites did not obey the voice and the appointed time of the LORD. I want to be instead an obedient participant in the glorious deliverance and harvest work of the Lord in this time before His return. If you would like to know more about the Kingdom of God, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, through Your Son, Jesus, the Messiah, You have given us an inheritance in heaven, a harvest or ingathering for Your Kingdom, and a possession here on the earth. Through Your Word, and by Your Holy Spirit, teach me to see, believe, pray, speak and live, not according to the kingdoms of this world, but according to the Kingdom of God. Show me Your fields white with the harvest of souls in this time. Use me in a way that establishes Your Kingdom, and disposseses the kingdoms of darkness from the land. You have won the victory, as Jesus said, "...I have overcome the world" (Jn. 16:33). We ask these things, and bless and honor You in Jesus' holy name. AMEN."