Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size.” Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!” 

        Numbers 13:30-32,14:1-2

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

        Hebrews 4:1-2

Let’s begin with a solid, biblical understanding of what it means to “have faith” or “to believe” God. Both “faith” and “believe” come from the same root word in the original language of the New Testament (Greek). One is a noun while the other is a verb. “Faith” is the noun while “to believe” is the verb. At the root of both of these words is “to trust.” The Amplified Bible (AMP) gives us a more extended understanding of what these words intend. To “have faith” in Jesus or “to believe” is essentially three things: (1) a personal trust in Jesus, (2) a confident surrender of our lives to Him, and (3) a firm reliance on Him for everything. So to have “faith” or “to believe,” as the scripture intends for us to understand it, cannot happen until we have been born again (John 3:3). Until we are spiritually transformed by receiving salvation by faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross and have received the Spirit of God within us, we cannot say that we have “faith” or truly “believe.” Religious motion or merely intellectually assenting to a series of doctrinal statements is not a viable substitute for truly believing with one’s heart and those things are entirely incapable of saving the souls of mankind. Only when we surrender our lives to Jesus Christ can we truly say that we have “faith” and “believe” God. 

So let’s look at this fairly lengthy passage out of Numbers. It’s pretty easy to  summarize what was going on during this time in the history of Israel. If you thought that God led the people out of Egypt so that they could wander around for forty (40) years before taking them to the land that he had promised, you would be mistaken. Actually, God rescued the people out of Egypt and led them straight to the land He desired to give to them. God told them to send in twelve (12) spies to look at the land. They did and the spies came back with a mixed report. Only two men (Joshua and Caleb) came back with a favorable report, one full of faith and trust in God while the other ten (10) men came back with a less than favorable report, one filled with doubt, fear, and unbelief. And which one spread through the minds and hearts of the people? The bad report of course. 

We live in a world that emphasizes the negative. Unfortunately, many believe that the solution to this is just bringing a more positive vibe to the situation and all will be well. But the battle that we see in our world today is not positivity vs negativity rather our battle is good vs evil. If we don’t acknowledge God, the fact that we have a spiritual enemy, and the reality that we are in the middle of spiritual warfare (whether we like it or not), we will fall for the false assumption that we simply need to be more “positive.” 

And so was true with the people of Israel. And why were these ten (10) men so disturbed at what they found? They saw people groups that intimidated them. They didn’t believe that they could survive battling these people. And in their own strength they wouldn’t be able to but God had made a promise that the land was theirs. The reality overrode the promise that God would go before them and hem them in from behind. So why were Joshua and Caleb so optimistic? Did they not see the people groups that the other spies saw? Yes, they saw them. But they believed God and His promises more than the reality of the situation facing them. 

Here is where we need to connect this to our own lives. Are you believing God and His promises for your life or are you allowing the present, world environment to bring you to defeat, despair, and even depression? Truly giving our lives to Christ means that we have the very presence of God living within us (Acts 2:38), that all of the promises from God’s Word are ours (10:10), and that we have all of the spiritual resources of heaven at our disposal (Ephesians 1:19). Do we live like that or do we allow the world to dictate what we believe? For the people of Israel, they allowed the bad report to move them into a mode of unbelief, fear, and doubt. They didn’t go in and possess the land, not because God didn’t want them to rather because they allowed unbelief, fear, and doubt to rule the day. And the consequences? An entire generation of people would literally die in the wilderness and miss out on God’s best…all because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:16-19). 

But before we move to the New Testament, look at the outcome that unbelief brought about in their lives. More than just missing out on the Promised Land, look at their daily existence: (1) “then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried,” (2) “the people wept that night,” (3) “all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron,” and (4) “the whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!’ ‘Or would that we had died in this wilderness!’” Crying, weeping, grumbling at the leadership, and saying, basically, why did we come this far? Why not just let us die in Egypt or in the wilderness?

Unbelief never brings about a positive outcome in anyone’s life. One may believe that he/she is doing pretty well (that conclusion is usually based on income) while all the while they are really empty, without purpose, and searching for a greater, deeper meaning to life. We were made for a relationship with Almighty God through faith in Jesus Christ, and by the power of His presence living within us every moment of everyday. Anything short of that is simply “unbelief.” 

So what does the New Testament say about all of this? Well, this is one of those passages in which we have a direct connection between the old and the new. Our passage in Hebrews is speaking directly about the people of Israel in that time period found in the book of Numbers. And what does Hebrews say? The people are described as those who provoked God. The Bible says that God was angry with them because of their unbelief. It says that they sinned and died because of their unbelief. Furthermore, they were disobedient. All of this was true but it is the last verse in Hebrews 3 that sums it up best, “So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). 

So now look at Hebrews 4:1-2, given the context that we now have:

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.

  Hebrews 4:1

Why should we fear? That God has made us a promise of salvation (entering His rest) but the fear is not that there is something wrong with the promise rather that any of us “has come short of it.” And how do we come short of it? Look at the next verse:

For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

        Hebrews 4:2

The good news mentioned here is the gospel. Just like God had made good plans for the people of Israel, He has good plans for us through the gospel. And having the gospel preached is marvelous but it’s not enough. Just like the people heard from God concerning their future (and it was a good message), we hear of God’s amazing grace and willingness to save all who repent and run to the cross but this good message has to be “united by faith in those who hear.” Salvation doesn’t come from hearing the gospel alone rather salvation comes from hearing the gospel and responding to it. The good news has to be received. The people of Israel didn’t profit from God’s promise. Why? Was there something wrong with God’s promise? No, there is never anything wrong with the promises of God found in His word rather the problem comes from not believing them and applying them to your life. The people of Israel didn’t profit from the promises of God simply because they didn’t believe Him. And the same is true for us under the new covenant. We either miss out on salvation because of unbelief or we receive the gospel and are saved. Yet, even after our conversion, we can still miss out on God’s best because we don’t believe His promises for us as Christians. One kind of unbelief (lacking saving faith) leads to spiritual death. The other kind of unbelief (lacking living faith) leads to missing out on God’s best and living a life beneath what you should be enjoying through God’s presence, provision, and protection. “Falling short” of the gospel and the promises of God is hearing them yet not receiving them and acting on them (Matthew 7: 24-27, Romans 10:14-15, James 1:22-24). 

So where do you stand? Let’s consider both kinds of unbelief. Have you received salvation through faith in what Christ has done for you one the cross? If not, why not call on Him today? Secondly, are you a Christian but living far short of “abundantly beyond” (Ephesians 3:20) simply because you don’t believe that these promises are meant for you? Why not claim them today and pray them over your life? Unbelief either causes the masses to miss out on eternal salvation or causes Christians to miss out on an abundant life (John 10:10). But the remedy is simple…the remedy for unbelief is sincere “faith” and “believing” God, in the truest sense of the words!