I Am Not With Them

(23) And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. (26) And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. (27) And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

I. I am one of those that sees God’s Word differently, especially when it comes to the Old Testament. I love to see beyond the words on the pages and see a bigger picture. There’s a research and hacking term called “data mining”. Data mining is the process of sorting through large data sets to identify patterns and establish relationships to solve problems through data analysis or in the case of programming finding lines of code that were either discarded or stored away for a future reveal (Fortnite example). You could say that when it comes to scripture I am “revelatory mining” God’s word to find those deeper hidden nuggets.

A. When you do a little “revelatory mining” of my text, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. That had to be a large cluster of grapes, because the grapes I buy I can carry in my hand without the assistants of someone else and I don’t need a pole to get them out of the grocery store but the bigger question is who were the two men that carried the grapes?

1. You know the story they come back and tell the people that the land surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it, everyone is excited until they throw a “but” in there, Nevertheless (KJV for “but”) the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled. Now everyone is doubting and sowing it among themselves. Except Caleb speaks up and says, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” I believe the reason why Caleb made such a bold proclamation is because he and Joshua were the ones that carried the grapes.

2. How did I come to that conclusion, well the sad ending to this chapter in the history of Israel is that the people chose to listen to the ten spies that said they were in their own sight as grasshoppers. And they suffered the consequences for it. They had to wander in the desert for 40 years, only wondering what it could have been like to have obeyed God and enjoy the land He promised them. Those who were over 20 years of age at the time would not live to enter the Promised Land 40 years later. Only Joshua and Caleb were exceptions to this punishment.

B. It really bothers me that those ten spies said they were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. They never spoke to a giant, the giants didn’t even know they were there; yet they saw themselves as grasshoppers and assumed that the giants would see them the same way; but why?

1. Why a grasshopper, there are much smaller insects they could have used to compare themselves too. They could have said they were like ants or flies but instead they said grasshoppers. I don’t believe this was a size issue but an attitude issue they were having. They didn’t call themselves locust, which are aggressive and work together, they called themselves grasshoppers the timid solitary cousin to the locust, which is known for its distinct green color which it uses to blend in with its surrenders and hide itself from its enemies; that is a prophetic word to the church at large because we are just trying to blend in and stay to ourselves until Jesus comes.

2. The Children of Israel got lazy they wanted everything without having to walk and exercise faith. They complained, got upset with their leadership, and forgot about what God had done from them. They wanted God to do it all for them so they wouldn’t have to do a thing, they saw their promise the one described as a “land of milk and honey” a land of abundance as work and decided that it wasn’t worth it. Somewhere along the way church has decided that God’s promises were not worth the fight that souls were not worth fighting for. Jesus called this church generation the “lukewarm” church; they can take it or leave it, don’t want to commit.