Our Destiny is Jesus

Fresh out of Egypt and making preparations to enter Canaan, God instructs Moses to select twelve spies to scout out the land originally promised to their ancestral father,  Abraham.  One spy was selected from each of Israel's tribes and their mission was to assess this Promised Land with respect to its fruitfulness and the strength of its current occupiers.  Forty days later when the spies return, they affirm it to be a land flowing with milk and honey, not to mention really large grapes.  They also report that the land is full of mighty strongholds and tested warriors who happen to be giants.  While Joshua and Caleb view the challenges before Israel in terms of God's promises, power, and provision, the other ten spies see Israel as grasshoppers compared to their enemies and fully expect their nation's annihilation should they proceed with the invasion.  The ten stir up the rest of Israel and weeping and rebellion ensues throughout the camps of God's people.  God becomes terribly angry and despite Moses' intercession, the One who delivered them from Egypt, sentences His people to wander in the wilderness for forty years.  It's one of the saddest days in Israel's storied history.  While given a different mission, God's people born in Christ have been given a mandate to preach the Gospel, to make disciples of all nations, to teach all that Jesus commanded, and to baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Great Commandment is not the great suggestion.  The Body of Christ is never better than when it is going and sending and proclaiming the Message of the Cross.  And it is never worse than when it conjures up alternative missions and wanders aimlessly astray of what it has been called to do.

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