The Sin of Moses and Aaron
SABBATH AFTERNOON
Read for This Week's Study:
Numbers 20, 21; John 3:14, 15; James 4:4–15.
Memory Text:
"Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan" (Deuteronomy 3:27).
After years of wandering in the wilderness, Israel finally reached Kadesh-Barnea, on the southern border of the Promised Land. After all that they had gone through, all the hard lessons the Lord had sought to teach them, all the powerful judgments issued upon those who openly rebelled, one would have thought that these people, once and for all, finally would have been ready for the Lord to use them to their fullest potential. As we know, that wasn’t quite how it happened.This week we’ll study what is a perennial theme all through the Bible: the mercy and grace of God in contrast to the faithlessness, sin, and ingratitude of His people. From Adam and Eve in Eden to the Laodicean church today (Rev. 3:14–18), again and again we see God’s mercy and grace in dealing with those who more often than not failed to claim the promises of victory, faith, and holiness that He offers. At the same time, we can see His willingness to forgive those who stumble and fall, even those who should have known better, such as the great Moses himself, who, in a moment of weakness, impatience, and maybe even a little hubris, lost sight of the God who had done so much for him. Thus, if even Moses can fall, what about the rest of us?
What a powerful symbol of the gospel.
*Study this week's lesson to prepare for Sabbath, November 28.
No comments:
Post a Comment