The earth will be filled with God's glory

The provocation was very great. They wanted to return to Egypt from which God had delivered them. He had delivered them from bondage, parted the sea, fed them with bread from heaven, led them through the wilderness, and yet they could not trust His power to prevail over a few giants! They doubted His power. At Horeb they had made a calf, because they said it had brought them out of the land of Egypt, Exod. 32:4. They now wanted a captain to lead them back into Egypt. What is more they wanted to stone Joshua and Caleb who had told the truth. Truth is never popular, yet how important to maintain it in regard to the proper position and inheritance of the saints.

The Lord’s anger was aroused, and He threatened to disinherit them and to make of Moses a great nation instead. Moses wanted no glory for himself, but he was jealous for God’s Name and glory. He could not bear the thought of the lustre of that glory being tarnished in the eyes of the nations around, vv. 15, 16.

Moses pleaded first of all that the Egyptians would hear of it. The ‘Egyptians’ are always around us watching and listening, always only too ready to pick up something by which they might attempt to discredit the Eternal. We must be careful not to allow them opportunity. Moses’ second plea was that God would reveal the greatness of His power in His ability to pardon and forgive, v. 18. His third plea was that God’s mercy knew no end, v. 19.

The Lord’s response was ‘I have pardoned … all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord’. Israel shall bask in the full pardon of their God, and all the earth shall bask in the bright sunshine of His glory. When will this be? Isaiah quotes this verse as having its fulfilment in the righteous reign of Christ when righteousness and justice will be perfectly dispensed, when the Son of Jesse will be sought by the Gentiles, and ‘his rest shall be glory’, Isa. 11:10 margin. Psalm 72:19 also refers to the reign of that King whose name shall endure for ever, whom all nations shall call blessed, v. 17.

Osborne, B. (2004). February 3rd: An Earth Filled with Glory (Numbers 14:20, 21). In J. Bennett (Ed.), Day by Day: Bible Promises (p. 52). West Glamorgan, UK: Precious Seed.

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