“REWARDS OF OBSTANANCE!” 

Numbers 14:33 KJVS 

And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses are wasted in the wilderness. 

OPENING COMMENT by Robert 

I believe many do not realize what their non-observance of the warnings about the festivals and ceremonies they observe and abide in annually. Possibly not being aware of how these actions appear in the eyes of God as in their minds, they believe these actions are right.   

We see in Numbers 14: 11. And the LORD said unto Moses, how long will this people provoke me? And how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs I have shown. 

Moses was able to sway the Lord from destroying this group. Still, The prayer of his petition is, in a word, Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of these people (Numbers 14:19), that is, “Do not bring upon them the ruin they deserve” This was Christ’s prayer for those that crucified him, Father forgive them. The pardon of national sin, as such, consists in the turning away of the national punishment, and that is it for which Moses is here so earnest. God would teach us that he will not be a loser by the ruin of sinners. He showed him the great evil of the people’s sin, Numbers 14:11. 

Two things God justly complains of to Moses: 

(1) Their sin. They provoke me, or (as the word signifies) they reject, reproach, despise me, for they will not believe me. This was the bitter root that bore the gall and wormwood. It was their unbelief that made this a day of provocation in the wilderness, Hebrews 3:8.  

Note, Distrust of God, of his power and promise, is itself a very great provocation, and at the bottom of many other provocations. Unbelief is a great sin (1 John 5:10) and a root sin, Hebrews 3:12  

(2) Their continuance in it: How long will they do so? Note, The God of heaven keeps an account of how long sinners persist in their provocations, and the longer they persist, the more he is displeased. 

We hear from Paul what those caught up in Luxury Sins should be considering in Hebrews 3:7-19:  

1. What he counsels them to do to give speedy and present attention to the call of Christ “Hear his voice, assent to, approve of, and consider, what God in Christ speaks unto you apply it to yourselves with suitable affections and endeavours, and set about it this very day, for tomorrow it may be too late.”  

1. What he cautions them against–hardening their hearts, turning a deaf ear to the calls and counsels of Christ: “When he tells you of the evil of sin, the excellency of holiness, the necessity of receiving him by faith as your Saviour, do not shut your ear and heart against such a voice as this” Observe, the hardening of our hearts is the spring of all our other sins. 

CLOSING COMMENT by Robert 

This is a serious question for those in the desert of profaneness and subordination, will you recognize you’ve been identified and need to hear and honour the Trumpet. If you in your mind believe you’re right in how you are worshipping the Lord and are not listening or considering the warnings presently being presented by the Holy Spirit and the Lord.  Remember, dark clouds are moving in, one containing our Lord’s judgments and the present sounding of the Watchman’s Trumpet. Repentance is on our Lord’s table. 

Let’s suggest that you are in error and need to repent before permanently remaining in the desert and standing outside, knocking on the door to let you in and finding you are being rejected.

The following suggestions by King David would pass you by as your rewards of obstinance as enmity cannot be in Yeshua’s presence.

Know your walk, know the condition of your heart, know if your presence is welcome before the throne of God. Step out of your belief all is right and search for the truth within, stop Coping and start Dealing with yourself in truth, not with rationalizations and justifications. David shows how to deal with Yeshua 365 days, honouring our Lord, not just one day out of the year. 

King David in Psalms 95 brings forward How God is to be praised: 

1. With holy joy and delight in him. The praising song must be a joyful noise, Psalms 95:1 and again Psalms 95:2. Spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thankful praise. It is the will of God (such is the condescension of his grace) that when we give glory to him as a being infinitely perfect and blessed, we should, at the same time, rejoice in him as our Father and King, and a God in covenant with us. 
2. With humble reverence, and holy awe of him (Psalms 95:6): “Let us worship, and bow down, and kneel before him, as becomes those who know what an infinite distance there is between God and us, how much we are in danger of his wrath and in need of his mercy” Though bodily exercise, alone, profits little, yet certainly it is our duty to glorify God with our bodies by the outward expressions of reverence, seriousness, and humility, in the duties of religious worship.
3. We must praise God with our voice; we must speak forth, sing forth, his praises out of the abundance of a heart filled with love, and joy, and thankfulness – Sing to the Lord; make a noise, a joyful noise to him, with psalms – as those who are ourselves much affected with his greatness and goodness, are forward to own ourselves so, are desirous to be more and more affected therewith, and would willingly be instrumental to kindle and inflame the same pious and devout affection in others also. 
4. We must praise God in concert, in the solemn assemblies: “Come, let us sing; let us join in singing to the Lord; not others without me, nor I alone, but others with me. Let us come together before his presence, in the courts of his house, where his people want to attend him and to expect his manifestations of himself.”

Whenever we come into God’s presence, we must come with thanksgiving that we are admitted to such a favour; and, whenever we have thanks to give, we must come before God’s presence, set ourselves before him, and present ourselves to him in the ordinances which he has appointed. 

So, the reality of this whole article is that God knows what’s in our hearts and those who harbour. Luxury sins would not fulfill any of the four steps identified by David, as there can be no enmity before the Lord. Their reward for obstinance would be being placed in the desert.