The Israelites' Journey to Possessing the Promised Land

This chapter discusses how the Israelites began their journey to possess the land. Before entering Canaan to possess the land, God gave them a small exercise to let them know what it means to possess the land, which was very unacceptable. Originally, these places were inhabited, and if you want to possess the land, would they let you live there? They would not even let you pass through. The Israelites wanted to pass through the land of the Edomites, but they did not agree, and they lined up their troops, clearly intending to fight. The Israelites could only go around, which was the rule. It is impossible for the army of one country to pass through another country. Not to mention possessing their land, even passing through their territory is difficult. Without winning through battle, one cannot possess the land.

The previous chapters record that the Israelites fell in the wilderness because they were afraid of battle. In the wilderness for forty years, thirty-eight and a half years were superfluous. This was all because the Israelites were afraid of battle, a lesson God gave them. In these thirty-eight years, groups of people died. Only when those who could fight but were unwilling to fight were all dead could they enter Canaan. God's law is very serious.

Do not think that this world is fair. Christians should not be like Santa Claus, getting nothing and inevitably being beaten. Do not think that if you do not fight the devil, the devil will not fight you.

People often say that was the God of the Old Testament, and the God of the New Testament is different. We must know that the Old Testament and the New Testament are the same God! Today, when we see those unreasonable things in the church, it is because God's promise has not been fulfilled in that person's life. Do not be surprised, God's promises are faithful, and the rules He has established will never change.

Reading the Old Testament or the New Testament is no different, it is all God's Word. If we abstract the Old Testament and the New Testament to form a theological system, God's promises are established in heaven, and you cannot obtain the Promised Land without fighting. If we want to be New Testament Christians, unwilling to fight, feeling that fighting is too tiring, and just talking about love is so much better. This kind of love will let God's promises slip through our fingers, and we will encounter many inexplicable things, knowing that we have not done it right.

The Bible is written in black and white, and in Numbers chapter 21, the Israelites finally obtained a piece of land, which was obtained through battle. China's transformation from the sick man of East Asia to a world power was also achieved through fighting. The Eight-Nation Alliance, the Opium War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Lugouqiao Incident, who did they provoke? The famous Zhang Zuolin was inexplicably eliminated. So we should not have the illusion that we can win without fighting. To establish the Kingdom of God, if you do not fight, the devil will come and fight you. Peace is impossible. Without fighting, it is difficult to defend one's own property. If you want the Kingdom of God to come, you need to fight.

To Obtain the Promised Land, You Must Fight

When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive. Then Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called Hormah. (Numbers 21:1-3)

Some people read this and say: God, how could you do this? Isn't what the Israelites did harmful and unreasonable? They had to destroy others. God really listened to the Israelites. Many people find it difficult to understand God after reading this passage. In Genesis, Sodom and Gomorrah were burned with fire, and only Lot and his two daughters were rescued. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back.

Some people will say: Is this our God? I think our God is Santa Claus. Our God has a characteristic, not because you did well, He gives you this land; but because the people of that land are too evil, I let you come to destroy them, and then give you that land. The Canaanites are God's enemies, and God wants to destroy them. So, everyone must know that if you become God's enemy, it will be troublesome.

Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.” (Numbers 21:2) The Lord God promised. Do not think that the Old Testament and the New Testament are two gods, they are one God, our God has never changed. To obtain the promise, you must fight. The Israelites were forced to fight. The king of Arad fought against them and took some of them captive. The Israelites were stimulated, otherwise they would still be fantasizing that if you don't hit me, I won't hit you, can you possess the land? The relationship between countries is like this, and so is the business world.

If You Don't Fight, You Will Be Beaten

If you are a Christian who is forced to fight, you must ponder God's will. I dare not say that everything I say is correct, but I think: if the twelve spies, including Caleb and Joshua, had been sent earlier, crossed the Jordan River, captured Jericho, and entered Canaan, and obtained this land, then there would be no stories later. These stories were actually not in God's plan. The Israelites were still wondering, not knowing what they had done wrong to deserve such punishment. If you do not walk in God's will, you will not receive blessings.

Numbers records the people who died in the wilderness without receiving the promise. It records how they died, how God was angry, and how He struck them down. These people who fell in the wilderness were because they did not have the mentality to fight. I dare to prophesy greatly: if there are no Christians who dare to fight, it is too difficult to obtain God's promise. Fighting is not fighting against heaven, against people, or against the earth, but fighting against the devil, fighting against the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.

Someone once wrote a book, in which there was a very interesting passage. This person was Mother Penn-Lewis, she led many disciples, one of whom was called Rong Jiaoshi. Rong Jiaoshi went to Taiwan and recruited many disciples, one of whom was very famous, called Jiang Xiuqin. This Rong Jiaoshi wrote a book with his other disciples called Spiritual Warfare. I thought the name was good, so I bought it back to read. As a result, I was very shocked to see a sentence written inside: How are you worthy to fight the devil? The devil is the most beautiful angel created by God, only Jesus Christ is worthy to fight the devil.

How does this sentence sound so awkward? We are not taught this way in Paul's letters. Paul tells us to fight against the dark forces in the heavenly realms. But this book says that we are not worthy to fight the devil? After hearing this, I don't know if they are standing on God's side or the devil's side. What is this? This world is full of theological concepts that are unwilling to fight, but Numbers clearly shows us that if you don't fight, you will be beaten, beaten by the devil.

At the beginning, the Israelites were forced to fight, and they actually won. They said that if you put this people in my hand, I will devote them to destruction, and God promised. We should not look at these things with human moral concepts, but with God's will, so that we can understand these things. God really wanted the Israelites to kill them, why? You have troubles, and I also have troubles. Can't figure it out? Why just destroy them like this? But why are people destroyed? It is actually because they do not carefully observe and follow God's Word. Everyone must know that God's laws are established in heaven. Carefully observing and following will receive blessings, and not carefully observing and following will surely receive curses. Whether you are a Christian or a non-Christian, it is the same.

The Canaanites were full of evil, this is what the Bible says. But the Israelites, whether out of kindness or fear of battle, all fell in the wilderness. This time, they were forced to fight, and God promised them, and they also obtained the land of Hormah. They continued to move forward. The previous chapters said that the Edomites did not allow the Israelites to pass through, so they had to go around. For example, we are doing renovations, and after finishing, we did it wrong and have to redo it. We are very annoyed.

The Israelites had to go around from Edom, the road was difficult to walk, and they were very upset. But we must clearly know that this was all caused by the Israelites themselves. Don't think you are qualified to be annoyed and complain about God and Moses. We must learn a lesson from this: if we do not walk in God's will, we will fall into this situation. Wandering around in the wilderness, the days of not winning are really very uncomfortable. If you are God's chosen people, and you don't like to fight, you will really encounter a lot of trouble.

This is my explanation of Numbers, you may not agree with my theological concepts. It doesn't matter! You can insist on your understanding, but you can learn through some observations. Don't think that everything we think is right. We must strive to be a people who please God. I have observed that the living conditions of Christians, including some pastors, have many similarities: such as poor health, financial difficulties, and the whole family is in chaos. I was thinking that you may be Job, but there are really not many people like Job in the Bible. Even Job later said: I had only heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Do you understand?

Job saw God after this incident, but don't forget another thing. Did you think that Job was always sitting in the ashes with sores all over his body, and then died? No. After Job entered God's will later in the Book of Job, do you know what happened? Job's illness was completely healed. Don't think that the illness was not healed. If Job died in the ashes and became a dried corpse, and did not get double the camels, cattle, and sheep, then we would think that believing in the Lord should be like that, but the fact is not like that. Because we have to read the Book of Job to the end to know that Job was really pleasing to God, and as a result, God blessed him double. You say if God does not value him, our God is not one who is unconcerned with worldly matters, why did he double him?

So we should not read the Bible according to our own ideas. We must read it completely into God's will. You say didn't the Israelites bring it on themselves? If we encounter this situation, we are upset and the road is difficult to walk. Actually, we didn't walk the right path before, right? Today, no matter what, we must be determined to live in God's will and fight. Are you afraid of death? Not afraid, even if we have to die, we will not cherish our lives, and we must have a winning mentality whether we live or die. If you are not ruthless to the devil, you really cannot enter God's will. How can you fight if you are like that Santa Claus? If it were me, I would choose to be strong and courageous, and fight the devil to the end.

These Israelites were very upset, not blaming themselves, but blaming God and Moses. At this time, they still don't know to reflect on themselves, because we didn't want to fight in the past, and as a result, we have fallen to this point. I didn't expect that fighting the Canaanites would also get their land. If I had known this, we should have stood up and fought 38 years ago, and not stoned Joshua and Caleb to death. If we had killed the giants in Canaan, we would have had a good life in Canaan long ago. So we must repent properly before God, why did we take the wrong path? No matter what, we must rise up and fight, this land was originally promised to me. But the Israelites didn't think so, they complained about God and Moses: Why did you bring us out? Why did you make us die in the wilderness, why did you lead me out of Egypt? There is no food or water here, and we eat manna all day long, which has no taste. Who are you blaming? The promise God gave you is something you didn't fight for.

Today, we must know what we are doing is entering into God's will. Some brothers and sisters are really working hard to serve God, but they got cancer. But I have not found in the entire Bible that serving God so wholeheartedly would result in this way. Later I found out that many people are unwilling to fight, and have never cast out demons in their lives. They hold the authority of God in their hands, but they dare not do anything to the devil, and they have become prisoners of the devil. Just like what Rick Joyner wrote in his book, they thought they were in God's army, but they were in the devil's army of prisoners. It's no wonder that life is good! It's really not good at all, don't be this kind of person, what will be the result? Can you have a good life with ghosts?

The End of Complaining is Death

They resented God, disobeyed His will, suffered for their sins, and then blamed Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. These men didn't need to accompany you on this journey of over 38 years. Did you think it was fun for them? Moses, Joshua, and Caleb had the most reason to complain, yet they had to walk with these people. Wouldn't they be annoyed in their hearts?

Once, I was walking in a large industrial area, carrying a bag under the hot sun, and I felt very irritable. I kept walking, but there wasn't a taxi in sight. Eventually, I walked into a shop, and the people there were surprised and asked, How did you get here? I said I walked. I was almost exploding with frustration; my head felt as big as a football. I was so irritated after just one day of walking like that. The Israelites walked like that every day, today and tomorrow and the day after. It's hard not to complain when you're so tired. I sympathize with these Israelites, but who's to blame? Isn't it their fault for choosing the wrong path in the first place?

As soon as the Israelites complained against God, problems arose. Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. (Numbers 21:6) Didn't they bring these snakes upon themselves by complaining against God? Life was truly hard! The snakes bit them, and many Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us. (Numbers 21:7)

Moses prayed for the people, and God told him to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who was bitten could look at the bronze snake and live. They had to wait until many people died before they prayed! This is being passive! The most fatal thing for us Christians is to be passive. Didn't the Israelites know the consequences when they complained against God and Moses? Surely they did. Over the years, they had seen people die one after another because of their grumbling. Yet they forgot and complained again, Why did we ever leave Egypt? That place was good. Are you going to make us die in the wilderness? Again, many died due to their complaining voices.

We should know that many are called, but few are chosen! (Matthew 22:14) How does God choose? God chooses based on whether people are victorious in battle. So, no matter what, we must have a victorious mindset. Don't dwell on this difficulty or that difficulty; believe that God is in control and rely on Him to overcome. Those who die in this stage are the complainers. Who do you think the fiery serpents bite? The Lord God sent these fiery serpents among the people, specifically targeting those who could be destroyed. In fact, the rules of nature are similar. The lion, king of the jungle, sees a herd of cows and chases the weak one, never the leader. Why couldn't the Israelites have a victorious mindset? Is it really that hard to have a victorious mindset!

Looking back on the paths we have walked, there are paths of victory and paths of complaining. If you observe, you will find that those who complain, grumble, rebel, don't want to fight, want a comfortable life, shrink back when faced with difficulties, and complain when faced with difficulties, are all swept into the trash. The devil's job is to clean up the trash among God's people; those he can grab, he grabs. So be it if they are grabbed, as if I'm gloating. I'm not gloating. I really can't do anything for you; a victorious mindset is a choice you must make yourself. Can you be a victorious person? Can you be strong? Can you tidy up the faith within you? Can you do according to God's word?

God's will and principles of operation are clearly laid out in the Bible. Arise and fight, enter the promised land, and live a good life in that land flowing with milk and honey, manifesting the glory of God. I'm talking about the Old Testament; don't argue with me or give me a bunch of examples. If you have that bad habit of discerning good and evil, I guess you're thinking, This Pastor Liu is a bit arrogant. Is everyone else wrong and only you right? I won't talk about right and wrong for now; I just want to tell you that in Numbers chapter 21, this is how God's word is recorded. I guess when Moses wrote this book, he revealed the underlying philosophy that I am sharing.

The Israelites set out and went to Beer, where they found a well. This was the well about which the Lord had said to Moses, Gather the people together and I will give them water to drink. When they came to Beer, the Israelites remembered the past. They never overcame their lessons in drinking water; they didn't overcome them until the very end. Now they saw the well where they used to drink water. Shouldn't they reflect and list out the things they failed to overcome in the past? Don't always think you're Lot. I used to think I was Lot, but after a few years, I realized I wasn't Lot at all, but because I didn't carefully keep and follow God's word. You must remember two things: one is to carefully keep and follow, and the other is not to carefully keep and follow. Those who carefully keep and follow will definitely have good results, and those who don't carefully keep and follow will definitely have consequences.

Have a Victorious Mindset

Are the blessings and curses in the Bible written for those who don't know God and have never read the Bible? No, they are written for the Israelites. Israelites, listen, carefully keep and follow and you will be blessed; if you do not carefully keep and follow, you will be cursed. Moses shouted this until his throat was hoarse, testifying to the Israelites with all his might. Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Is God's will so difficult to receive? Don't use human moral concepts to measure God; you are not God, God is God. We are not living according to our own ideas, but according to God's word. I talk on and on, have you listened? Some people like to carefully keep and follow God's word; do these people need deliverance? It doesn't seem so.

When have you ever seen someone say, Jesus, I cast out demons for you? Jesus doesn't need it because the devil has nothing in Him. We should imitate Jesus Christ, strictly follow God's word, which is the best deliverance. I carefully observe some people among us who come for deliverance today and go back tomorrow. The day after tomorrow they come again for deliverance, go back the day after that, and then come back again in two days. What's going on? I've slowly summed it up: the reason they are like this is because they don't obey God's word from their hearts. Although I am willing to spend time praying for your deliverance, if you continue like this, it's not a solution to the problem. God doesn't let you compete, but you insist on competing; God doesn't let you be jealous, but you have to be jealous. If you are not uncomfortable, who will be! What to do if you can't overcome? Deliverance cannot solve people's fundamental problems.

Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and said to him, “Let us pass through your country to our own place.” Sihon, however, would not let Israel pass through. He mustered all his men and marched out to meet Israel at Jahaz, and fought with them. Then Israel struck him down with the sword and took his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the border of the Ammonites; for the border of the Ammonites was fortified. Israel captured all these cities and settled in all the cities of the Amorites: in Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements. (Numbers 21:21-25)

Then Moses sent spies to Jazer, and Israel captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there. They turned and went up along the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei. The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him, his whole army, and his land into your hands. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors, and they took possession of his land. (Numbers 21:32-35)

If we are womanly-hearted and do not have a strong heart, we cannot defeat the devil. If we have not become disciples of Jesus Christ, have not put down everything with courage, and have a compromising heart, you will not be able to walk this path. I may be asking for too much, but God's standards have never been lowered. I lower the standards to fool you, saying that this is okay and that is okay. Loving your wife and loving Jesus are the same, it doesn't matter, balance your family and ministry well. These are not God's words. I fooled you, but I cannot fool God. After I fool you, God will discipline me. Everyone must not think that they can get the promised land with a compromising heart. No matter what, do according to God's word. We are saved to be free, but we turn around and care about this and that every day, being controlled by these worldly things, and then comfort ourselves, saying that people are weak, which is not okay.

Conclusion

Don't say that people are inevitably weak. Will God forgive your weakness? The Israelites fell in the wilderness for not fighting. Even if we are forced to fight, God will let us inherit the promised land. Today I encourage everyone: start to be strong, stand in the land you occupy, open your spiritual eyes and look east, west, north, and south. Everything you see is yours. But what you see, you must take back from the devil's hand. If you don't take it back, you will not be able to inherit the promise. Don't choose to fall in the wilderness, don't choose to complain, and learn from past failures. Today, start to have a victorious mindset, fight victoriously for our God in this era, attack the devil and the enemy, and completely release those who are under the devil's control.

I tell you: all the earth will see the glory of God! This glory is not because you and I are Santa Claus, but because you and I are all mighty warriors of the Lord God, who can attack the devil and the enemy in this last age. Everywhere we stand, the devil will tremble, and everywhere we preach the word of God, we will see the glory of God. The mighty gospel of God will be restored to the original appearance of Jesus Christ. Every one of our brothers and sisters must serve like Jesus, and everyone must defeat the devil like Jesus, so that people can be free. Whatever those things are, they must be completely trampled on, and see the glory of God, until Jesus comes again! May God bless you all!