Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. (Hebrews 4:1-2)
Abraham
God had called Moses to lead his people out of Egypt with “a mighty hand” (Exodus 3:19-20). The Lord would display his power with miracles, and he would fight against the Egyptians with signs and wonders. But to talk about Moses, we should first learn about Abraham. As I pointed out in several other places, the primary basis for miracles is existing revelation, even ancient revelation, and not new revelation. New revelation might be an additional reason to perform miracles, but it is a secondary and temporary reason. Ancient revelation is the primary and ongoing basis for miracles.
God initiated his rescue mission and performed miracles on the basis of his covenant with Abraham (Exodus 2:24). Since he did it on the basis of an existing revelation, he would have performed miracles even if he had no new revelation to add to the existing one. He would have performed the miracles to keep his word to Abraham, and not to authenticate new information. He sent Jesus to perform miracles and to make atonement also on the basis of his covenant with Abraham (Luke 1:73). Jesus said that he healed a woman on the basis that she was an heir of Abraham (Luke 13:16). In fact, he placed his entire ministry of miracles on this basis (Matthew 15:24, 26).
There were some individuals who stood outside of the covenant, but they received their miracles by their faith anyway (Matthew 15:27-28), because faith always has direct access to God. By faith, one can disregard his place in redemptive history and take from God whatever he wants. For faith, it is always the right time, because God accepts faith at any point in the unfolding of his plan. If we must speak in terms of the covenant, then the Bible also shows that the children of faith are in fact the true children of Abraham. They are the true heirs of the covenant (Galatians 3:7, 14). For this reason, Jesus said that those who appeared to be outsiders could turn out to be accepted, but those who appeared to be insiders could end up being cast out (Matthew 8:11-12).
The terms of the covenant have never changed. Those who have faith are the true heirs of Abraham, and God will still perform miracles to keep his word. Thus in the same context, the Bible says that God gives the Spirit and work miracles among those who have faith (Galatians 3:2, 5). This is directly associated with the ancient revelation to Abraham (Galatians 3:7, 14), and not to new revelation from Jesus or the apostles. The miracles did not happen just because there was new revelation, so the miracles would not stop just because the new revelation has been completed. The only way the miracles would cease is if God stops keeping his word to Abraham, that is, if God breaks his covenant. This is the blasphemy of cessationism.
Moreover, the fulfillment of this covenant does not apply only in a general or corporate sense to the children of Abraham, but it should be fulfilled to specific individuals, so that each person who has faith should expect to receive the blessings promised. Jesus healed an individual woman, stating that she had a right to it because she was a daughter of Abraham (Luke 13:16). Paul made a point of applying the covenant to individuals in order to address what appeared to be a lack of fulfillment on the corporate level (Romans 9). Christians would not think that God is keeping his word if people who have faith are generally being saved, that only some of them are saved, but not every individual who has faith is saved. They would insist that every individual who has faith is saved under the terms of the covenant, and if an individual is not saved, he does not have faith. Healing and various kinds of miracles are also included in the covenant under the same terms, so it is unacceptable to settle for a general fulfillment. There must be an emphasis on individuals.
Although God’s purposes and benefits seem so closely related to Abraham, this is not because Abraham was someone great in himself. God sovereignly chose Abraham so that the divine promises could be installed on the earth. During the covenant ceremony, God put Abraham to sleep and walked between the pieces of animals by himself (Genesis 15:12, 17). Imagine a marriage ceremony in which you walk down the aisle by yourself, and you swear love, companionship, faithfulness, and protection to your partner, forever. There is no exchange of vows, but only a promise from you to the other person. Of course, if it is a genuine marriage, it would be a covenant and your partner would have to keep it. But in the ratification of the covenant, you assume the entire responsibility of the marriage on your own shoulders.
God made a covenant with Abraham, but performed the ceremony by himself. Abraham did not walk between the animals that were cut into pieces to symbolize the curse that would fall on the one who would break the covenant. God made the promises. God assumed the curse. Abraham was asleep. Was there even a curse on Abraham’s end of the covenant? And by faith in Jesus Christ, we are joined to this covenant. Of course, God expected Abraham to keep the covenant (Genesis 17:9), and those who refuse to participate would be removed (Genesis 17:14). Still, the making of the covenant itself was one-sided. It was as if God was giving a covenant to Abraham more than making a covenant with him. The curse of the law came 430 years later under Moses (Galatians 3:17). It was an addition, not a substitute. After that, Jesus would absorb the full force of that curse. There is no curse in Christ (Galatians 3:13, Romans 8:1-2).
God even prepared his own sacrifice. Abraham was not required to sacrifice his son to God in order for God to sacrifice his Son for humanity. It was enough that Abraham was willing to do it, that he did not regard anything as more important than his covenant friend. God was the one who gave Isaac to him in the first place. Everything he had came from God, including his spiritual standing. God wanted Abraham to walk with him, but they did not split the bill. God paid for everything. So it was never really about Abraham, but about God and what he would do by Jesus Christ. Thus John the Baptist said that God could make children of Abraham out of rocks if he wanted (Matthew 3:9). No one ever made a sacrifice that could appease God. He made a sacrifice by Jesus Christ to appease himself and for our benefit.
Moses
God appeared to Moses and sent him to confront Pharaoh. Although Pharaoh resisted, God was in control. It was time for God to astound all nations by wrecking the world’s superpower — without swords or soldiers, but with words and wonders only. He wanted to remind humanity that he was not like all the idols they worshiped. He was the only God, “majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders” (Exodus 15:11). This would also prepare the way for his people as they moved toward Canaan. Do Christians think that God wants something different today (Acts 5:5, 19:17)?
Pharaoh would have surrendered too easily. But he resisted, because over and over again, God hardened his heart even when he was about to give up (Exodus 8:15, 8:32, 9:12, 9:34, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:8; Romans 9:17). He explained to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD” (Exodus 10:1-2). God pinned down Pharaoh and kept beating him in the face, and did not allow him to surrender. He had a list of plagues to run through, and he refused to be interrupted.
God did it all by himself. The people of Israel did not fight Egypt. They were passive. Even Moses did not have to take up the sword. He only relayed God’s messages, and when God instructed him, he would point his staff over here, or over there, or stick it into the river, and so on. Moses did not fight. Israel did not fight. The significance will become more clear later.
The plagues culminated in the Passover. A standard formulation of the doctrine of election is that God “passes over” the reprobates to save the chosen ones. This is the opposite of what happened in Egypt. God did not pass over the Egyptians to save the Israelites, but he passed over the Israelites to kill the Egyptians. Paul wrote that God formed the saved and the damned “out of the same lump” (Romans 9:21). God decides to which group each person belongs. Both election and reprobation are active.
Then Israel left Egypt. They were liberated from slavery. They were free men and women. They followed Moses, who eventually had seventy elders to assist him (Numbers 11:16-17). At this point, they entered survival mode. God took care of their basic needs. He gave them more than enough, but not an overflowing abundance. It was waiting for them on the other side of Jordan.
Israel
From the Desert of Paran, Moses sent out men to explore the land of Canaan (Numbers 13). It was a reconnaissance mission in the land they were supposed to seize from existing inhabitants. From each tribe was sent one of its leaders. They returned after forty days to offer their report.
They announced, “It does flow with milk and honey!” It was excellent real estate. However, they added, the people there were very strong, and the cities were fortified. Caleb saw what was happening, and so he silenced the people and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” But the other leaders retorted, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” They judged the situation according to how things looked to them and how they looked to others. They walked by sight. The Bible says that they spread “a bad report” among the Israelites. They were afraid and did not want to invade the land.
The people were convinced by the bad report, and they rebelled against Moses (Numbers 14). They said that God brought them out there only to let them die by the sword, and that they would have been better off if they had stayed in Egypt. Joshua and Caleb made another appeal to the people: “Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” The people hardened their hearts in unbelief, and they talked about stoning them.
Here were the two sides. They had the same divine promises, and faced the same circumstances. One side walked by sight and gave a bad report. Even though God promised the land to them, because they saw the strong warriors and fortified cities, they said, “No, we cannot take it.” The other side walked by faith and gave a good report. Since God promised the land to them, even though they saw the same strong warriors and fortified cities, they said, “Yes, we can take it.” Faith always has a good report, because faith does not walk by sight. Faith always speaks and behaves according to the promises of God, and from the viewpoint of power and victory. Faith always has a shout of triumph.
Then God appeared and announced his verdict: “In this desert your bodies will fall — every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.” God left them to rot in the desert. He made them wander around for forty years until that whole generation died — except Caleb and Joshua. This is why we must stress individual spirituality. The faith of one in a million will not only allow that one man to enjoy God’s blessings in a world of unbelief, but even if the current generation is lost, this faith would translate into guidance for the next generation. In the other ten leaders, they had corporate spirituality, and it ruined the whole nation for forty years. Corporate spirituality is worse than useless if the people are spreading “bad report” all over the place. What good is it, if people come together, only so that God would leave them to die in their unbelief? Corporate spirituality serves its intended purpose only if it combines individuals who are driven by an indomitable faith.
The people panicked and said that they would go take the land. It was a worldly sorrow that led to death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Moses warned that God no longer supported them, but they went anyway. After rejecting the promises of God, they tried to take the same benefits by their own strength, and they were defeated (Numbers 14:39-45). This is a picture of the church. Christians have repudiated the promises of God and the power of the Spirit that would have given them victory. When their unbelief erodes their lives and societies, they try to gain the same benefits by their own strength. They resort to their politics, economics, and all kinds of efforts and schemes. And they get slaughtered. They call it the cultural mandate, but it is their substitute for the Great Commission, the supernatural program that they have rejected (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:46, John 14:12-14, Acts 1:8).
Joshua
We should not complain that it has taken us so long to reach Jordan. Joshua had to wait forty years. By now, Joshua had become the leader of Israel, and Caleb was one of the generals.
The nature of Joshua’s mandate was different from the one Moses received. It was a second stage of Israel’s experience distinct from and subsequent to their liberation from slavery. It was intended to be taken soon after their exodus, but it was delayed because of their unbelief. At the time of liberation, God did all the fighting. The people were passive. At this time of possession, they would fight to seize what God had promised. Now there would be full participation from the people. They would be God’s fellow workers (1 Corinthians 3:9). Their victory was guaranteed, but they would have to fight. The land already belonged to them, but they would have to take it.
The first stage was liberation from their masters in Egypt. The second stage was eviction of their enemies from Canaan. They would not be escaping, but they would be attacking. Under Joshua’s leadership, the people would have to fight. It was not to liberate their friends, but to exterminate their enemies. They would not be fighting for survival, but for prosperity. In fact, this was the reason they were taken out of Egypt in the first place (Exodus 3:8). Freedom was never the final end. They would take possession of God’s promises, of the “milk and honey.”
The Christian experience mirrors Israel’s history. If crossing the Red Sea was like baptism into Christ for freedom (1 Corinthians 10:2), then the distinct and subsequent experience of crossing the Jordan could be taken as baptism with the Holy Spirit for power (Acts 8:14-16, 19:1-2). Centuries later, John the Baptist announced at the Jordan, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 3:11, Acts 1:8). This is no longer about salvation in terms of the forgiveness of sin. The blood of the lamb was applied back in Egypt. And it is no longer about maintaining a self-sufficient life, or the sanctification of the individual. They lived in this sufficient condition for forty years in the wilderness. Salvation in this sense was never intended as the final end.
Thus in Peter’s first recorded sermon, or the first apostolic manifesto, he made believing in Christ itself as only a necessary step to receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). And to him the Holy Spirit referred to miraculous and prophetic powers for full participation from God’s people: “I will pour out my Spirit on all people” (Acts 2:16-18, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8). All of God’s people would have the Spirit (Numbers 11:29). All of God’s people would have the power to speak and the power to act. This is not an ethical power, but a missional power.
Jesus
The gospel that was preached by Jesus and the apostles was the same gospel that was preached to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and Israel (Galatians 3:8, Hebrews 4:2, Luke 24:27, 1 Peter 1:10-12). And we have received the same gospel.
First, Jesus announced the message with mighty signs and wonders (Acts 2:22), as when Moses confronted Pharaoh. Then, he poured out his blood as our true Passover, and sacrificed himself to save his people (1 Corinthians 5:7). He said that those who would not believe were already condemned (John 3:18). Thus God passes over only those who have applied the blood, as in the time of Moses. And as in the Exodus, God was the only one who worked. His people were passive, and contributed nothing to save themselves. Jesus fought for them, and they did not have to fight. After this, the stage of liberation was complete. His people were no longer slaves, but free men and women.
Nevertheless, before he returned to the Father, Jesus said that there would be another stage in the Christian experience. When Moses departed, Joshua became the leader. Likewise, when Jesus ascended, he would send “another Comforter” to lead his people (John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7). He said that when the Spirit of God arrived, they would receive power, and they would become his witnesses to all nations (Acts 1:8). He said that his people would be full of the Spirit of God to receive insight and power (John 14:16-17, 16:13-15, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8). He said that anyone who would have faith in him could perform the same works that he did, and even greater works (John 14:12). Thus this next stage would be the stage of mission, the stage of possession of God’s promises, the stage of eviction of our enemies (Matthew 28:18-20). As in the time of Joshua, it would be a time of conquest. There would be full participation from God’s people (Acts 2:17-18, 1 Corinthians 12:14-25, 14:26).
Paul described the Christian life as a time of warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4). We are not fighting to attain salvation. Christ has liberated us from Egypt. We are free men and women. We are no longer slaves to sin. And God’s wrath has passed over us a long time ago. Glory to God! We fight, but we fight as free men and women today. It is not a fight of liberation. Christ fought and achieved that for us all by himself. This is a fight of eviction, a fight to expel the enemy and seize the land, to possess what God has promised us. And these are promises that apply after we have been liberated from sin.
Paul wrote that we do not war as the world does, but we employ weapons with divine power to demolish strongholds. Certainly, we will never use violence to spread the gospel. We wish to capture the hearts of men for Christ, and violence can only coerce the flesh, but it cannot change the heart. We do not war as the world does. We will use the spiritual weapons of prayer and persuasion, of words and wonders. This is to destroy the strongholds of Satan and to establish the kingdom of God in the hearts of men (Acts 4:29-31, 8:5-8, 19:17-20).
Today
The Letter to the Hebrews was written to Christians, or those who called themselves Christians. The writer does not call the people to come out of Egypt. Supposedly, they have done that some time ago (Hebrews 5:12). He is calling them to press forward in faith.
He wants to apply the Joshua scenario to Christians. In order to do that, he refers to Psalm 95, where the Holy Spirit says, “Today…do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” The Psalm alludes to several incidents, but they culminate in the Paran uprising, because the writer says he has in mind those whom God swore would never enter into his rest (Hebrews 3:18), which happened when the people believed the bad report from their leaders (Numbers 14:28-30). Then, he indicates that this period when he exhorts us to “encourage one another daily” is the period called “Today” (Hebrews 3:13). Therefore, the Paran incident applies to Christians, and to Christians in this life. Here it is not used to call people to believe in Jesus, or to refer to heaven, but it is talking about a life of promise that Christians enter into in this life, after conversion and before heaven.
What lessons can we derive from Paran?
First, Paran reminds us that there are two kinds of suffering. There is a kind of suffering that comes from having faith. Jesus said that the world hates Christians, because it first hated him. God has chosen us out of the world, and those who hate God will also hate those who belong to him. So they will want to give believers a hard time (John 15:18-19).
The Bible has some good things to say about those who face this kind of suffering with faith and gladness. Jesus said, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:11-12). Likewise, Peter wrote, “If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14). What a marvelous thing it is to have the Spirit of glory rest on you! There must be nothing like it. Thus when we remind Christians about the precious promises that we possess in Jesus Christ, we do not deny that there is a legitimate type of suffering that they might face. This kind of suffering comes not because they have done something wrong, but because they have done something right.
What we condemn is the dishonest theology that assigns too many instances of suffering to this category. This is the kind of suffering that most people would like to think they are experiencing. It makes them feel better about themselves and excuses their inaction and defeat. However, for people in many parts of the world, this kind of suffering is rather rare, and often very mild when it occurs. Even when it happens, we must not think that we are helpless: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). When someone faces this kind of suffering, he must respond with faith and power, not self-pity.
Then there is the kind of suffering that comes from lacking faith. Although Christians often wish to think that they suffer for their faith, many of them suffer only because they have no faith. Those who preach a gospel of suffering almost always glorify the kind of suffering that comes from having no faith and taking no action. They have in mind the ordinary circumstances of life that God teaches us to overcome by faith. The people of Israel did not suffer in the wilderness because they had faith. They experienced suffering, and prolonged their suffering, because they had no faith in the promise of God and did not fight for the blessing that belonged to them. Only Joshua and Caleb had faith, and they were the only two in that generation who entered the land God promised them.
The Israelites suffered not because of persecution, because they did not even face their enemies. They never went in to take the land. The problems that they encountered came from their environment and their own hearts, just like the problems that most Christians face today. As much as the world hates to “blame the victim,” God always blames the victim if the man is a victim of his own unbelief. The person suffers not because there is no promise for his deliverance, and not because the promise is not for this life. There are so many promises that it seems no one knows them all, and these promises are for “Today.” And today means today – this life, right now (Hebrews 3:13).
When Christians assign spiritual value to suffering that is unnecessary and worthless, they insult the Christians who are suffering from genuine persecution. Their theology is a self-righteous recasting of the narrative of their lives, making themselves into long-suffering heroes instead of unbelieving losers. We could have compassion on people with all kinds of suffering, but compassion toward most kinds of suffering often translates into harsh rebuke of their doubts and excuses, and the appropriate teaching for them to overcome the situation. Indulging in other people’s self-righteous dejection is unproductive, and makes one complicit in their rebellion.
The self-serving exploitation of the doctrine of divine sovereignty has become the bane of Christian theology. This is when Christians wander around the wilderness assigning every problem they face to the sovereignty of God. Those who do this are not qualified to handle the doctrine, and most Christians who are obsessed with the doctrine abuse it like this constantly. Theologians usually inflict more damage than edification when they teach it. The sovereignty of God does not mean the capriciousness of God. Capriciousness is childish, dishonest, unpredictable. God is not these things. His sovereignty is consistent with his faithfulness, compassion, and other attributes. He keeps his promises, not because we force him to, but because he always decides to. When he keeps his word, he is being true to himself. It is in his own nature. This is divine sovereignty.
Faith matters. The mouth speaks what flows out of the heart (Matthew 12:34). If a person keeps talking about his struggles, his sicknesses, his sufferings, if he insists that he suffers because of the will of God, who is afflicting him with this or that, and if he keeps refusing to receive deliverance by faith in the divine promises, or even denying that these promises belong to sound doctrine, then he will have what he says. “As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you” (Numbers 14:28, 34).
For this reason, doctrines of unbelief such as the false application of divine sovereignty and the cessation of miracles and powers correspond to the experience of those who affirm them. Just as they have rejected God, God has rejected them. God will make them wander around the wilderness of life until all of them rot and die in their unbelief. They say this is what life is like in God? They say there are no miracles, healing, prosperity, deliverance and victory? God will make sure they never get any of it. Their punishment is that their doctrine will become true — for them. This is the least that they deserve for stepping on the blood of Christ over and over again.
Second, Paran unmasks the people who have been holding back the church. They are the leaders who spread unbelief and the people who believe them. They are people who preach a bad report, a theology of unbelief, of tradition and ceremony, and of the cessation of miracles, healing, prophecy, and the power of faith. As Stephen said, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 7:51).
Most Christian theologians, preachers, and believers are like the people at Paran. They do not experience miracles and blessings not because God does not give miracles and blessings, but because they say that God does not give these to them, and God is only giving them what they say. Out of spite? Exactly. He said, “Since you say that I am doing all these things to you, now you will really see what it is like to have me against you” (Numbers 14:34). They are going through the motions as worshipers, flaunting their piety and humility, even teaching others how to live like them, when all this time God is letting them rot and die out of spite for the things that they have said about him. What a miserable life.
This is why I say that there is no future in a tradition or heritage that embraces unbelief. It might continue to exist, but everything about it has become vanity. The Paran generation lived for another forty years, but they were walking corpses. For this reason, Christians should cut themselves off from a tradition or heritage like this. Even then, they might not be entirely unaffected. God told the people that they would wander for forty years, and their children would be delayed from entering the land because of them. He said, “They will suffer for your unfaithfulness” (Numbers 14:33). Joshua and Caleb were the only ones from the older generation allowed to enter the land, and even they were delayed by this. The people were held back as a group because of the unbelief of the leaders and those who followed them.
Faith can still win in a situation like this. Recall an earlier comment on individual spirituality. God’s promises have two dimensions — individual and corporate. And God’s promises have two applications — personal and missional.
Let us take healing as an example. Why do I face skepticism even among Christians when I preach that God will grant healing to those who have faith? It is because other people have been spreading unbelief. This places against the ministry a resistance that never should have existed. Without this, I could convey the same message with less effort and still obtain a better reception. The audience also suffers. If they have not been indoctrinated with unbelief, they would receive the basics immediately, and we could move on to discuss the matter on a deeper level or to cover additional topics. I can overcome unbelief in people, and have done it, but it takes more work, an extra effort that should not be necessary. Now imagine this situation not only with healing, but with everything the Bible teaches — everything. Thus unbelief in the population might impede corporate and missional progress.
On the other hand, one can remain immune to the effects of corporate unbelief on his own individual progress and personal welfare. Using the same example, even if Christians in general are full of unbelief when it comes to healing, anyone who has faith can still receive from God directly. We see this in Joshua and Caleb. Although they were held back for forty years in the corporate and missional sense because of other people’s unbelief, they still benefited from their faith on the individual and personal level. They outlived everyone else in their generation. More than that, they remained so strong that they were able to lead in both the planning and fighting aspects of the military campaigns. It was a testimony to the healing and renewing power of God in the mind and body (Joshua 1:6, 14:10-11). Even if other people have no faith, I can still receive from God by faith. Keep fighting for what belongs to you. Do not allow corporate disobedience to hold you back from your individual development. Refuse the kind of suffering that comes from a lack of faith. Refuse to take it. Glorify God by entering into his promises.
Who are those that have been holding back the church? Liberals? Fanatics? Anti-intellectuals? They may have done some damage, but the Christian critics of faith are far worse. They are those who want to “stone” people like Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:10). They have no faith to take what God has promised, and they attack those who speak in faith and spread a good report. The worst culprits are the theologians, preachers, and apologists of unbelief, and the people who follow them. God’s verdict is that he will make them live what they say. He will leave them to rot and die.
Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Disown the messengers of unbelief. Cut them off! Cut them out of your life before God cuts you off along with them, to let you rot and die in your own cesspool of unbelief, false piety, and religious hypocrisy. “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11). They offered a negative report, and God saw to it that they experienced what they said. Joshua and Caleb offered a positive report, a report of faith, and God saw to it that they also experienced what they said. Thus we can have success in life and ministry even when no one else does, if we will only have faith in God.