Numbers 14 … Consider the Greatness of His Lovingkindness

Originally posted: 06/06/2019

“Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now,” (14:19).

After all they had seen; after all they had experienced through the signs and wonders of His mighty hand displayed through the ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna and quail, water from a rock, His leading by a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night; after all the times He had proven His almighty power and faithfulness, the people spurned the LORD by their unbelief.

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? ¹² I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they,” (14:11-12).

Is it any wonder the LORD was furious? There is nothing whatsoever perplexing about His anger; this makes perfect sense within my human scope of understanding.

What is beyond my ability to fathom however, is the Greatness of His Lovingkindness.

Consider the Greatness of His Lovingkindness

“But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now,” (14:17-19).

• The Greatness of His Lovingkindness is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness.
  • “The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness…”

• The Greatness of His Lovingkindness forgives iniquity and transgression.
  • “…forgiving iniquity and transgression;”
    

• The Greatness of His Lovingkindness is just and righteous in His judgment of sin.
  • “…but He will by no means clear the guilty…”
    

• The Greatness of His Lovingkindness emboldens Moses to intercede on behalf of the nation.
  • “Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
    

How do we respond to the Greatness of His Lovingkindness?

We live in alarming times fraught with uncertainty; and we too stand at the edge of the Promised Land, His Promised return. By His grace and His Word, He has allowed us to spy out our inheritance by faith. When we are tempted to listen to the voice of the enemy pointing out the looming giants, we must intentionally bring to our remembrance the Greatness of His Lovingkindness.

• When the voice of the enemy reminds us how often we blow it, when we are tempted to cower in fear and run from His Presence, we must remember the Greatness of His Lovingkindness. He is slow to anger and it is His love, not ours, which enables us to stand before Him with confidence.
  • We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love, (1 John 4:16-18).

• When the voice of the enemy reminds us of the darkness of our sin, we must remind ourselves of the Greatness of His Lovingkindness as revealed in His beloved Son, Who rescued us from darkness.
  • For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, (Colossians 1:13-14).

• When the voice of the enemy deceptively rises to convince us the Greatness of His Lovingkindness would never send anyone to hell, we must remind ourselves God’s perfect and holy righteousness must judge those who are guilty, those whose sin has not been judged in the redeeming work of Christ.
  • Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. ¹³ And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. ¹⁵ And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire, (Revelation 20:11-15).

• When the voice of the enemy tempts us to neglect to pray for our lost and dying world, and to relax in our comfort rather than boldly proclaim His truth, we must:
  • … remind ourselves of God’s desire for all to come to the knowledge of His truth.
    • First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, ² for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. ³ This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
  • … remind ourselves Jesus is our great high priest, Who understands our weaknesses and has granted us access to His throne of grace on behalf of ourselves and others.
    • Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:14-16).
  • … remind ourselves to rely on His Holy Spirit Who will intercede for us and lead us in our prayers for ourselves and the lost, according to the will of God.
    • In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; ²⁷ and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God, (Romans 8:26).
  • … remind ourselves of God’s commission to speak His truth with boldness so that men’s eyes would be opened and turn from darkness to light.
    • And the Lord said, “I am Jesus…for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness… ¹⁸ to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me,” (Acts 26:15-18).

Moses was God’s faithful, humble and obedient servant, a bold intercessor who intimately knew the true character of his God. Because Moses had committed to listen, believe, and follow God, he grew to fully understand the Greatness of His Lovingkindness.

…He is intimate with the upright, (Proverbs 3:32).

Oh, that we would walk in God’s desire for us: to purposely seek Him in His Holy Word, respond in faith, humility, and obedience, and grow to intimately know Him and the Greatness of His Lovingkindness.

…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen, (2 Peter 3:18).

Let’s Grow Together!