Num. 13:1-15:41
Josh. 2:1-24

The portion of Scripture I will cover in this post comes from the parsha reading Shlach L’kha (Send on Your Behalf), which was read this year according to schedule on June 13, 2026. The Torah portion covers the first spying out of the land of Canaan, the bad report, the sentence to wander 40 years in the wilderness, the humiliating defeat by the Canaanites and Amelekites, more instructions for offerings, and the command to wear tzitzit. The Haftarah portion covers the second spy mission that Joshua commissioned. Like always, I’m going to break these portions of text down and find the Messiah in each one of them.

God in the Immediate

For forty days, twelve spies were sent into the land of Canaan from the wilderness to spy out the land and bring back a report with the intent to inform the Israelites of what to expect when they entered the land to take it. What they saw was a people and a land too great for them to overpower and possess on their own, and that was true. What they didn’t take into account was remembering that God was the One Who led them there through the wilderness during which time they had been learning to be dependent upon him. The wilderness offered them no food or water, so God gave manna from heaven and water from a rock. Somehow, they forgot about His miraculous provision in this situation again. But Caleb, the spy representing Judah, “had a different Spirit in him and has fully followed me [God]” (Num. 14:24, CJB). I presume the CJB capitalizes Spirit with the understanding that it is talking about the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit was in Caleb, which allowed him to fully follow God. Since the Spirit in Caleb was different than the spirit of the spies who gave the bad report, we can infer that ten of the spies did not have the Holy Spirit in them and therefore they did not fully follow God. Ten of the spies looked at what they could see, but Caleb understood the situation differently through the Spirit. Numbers says “Kalev silenced the people around Moshe and said, ‘We ought to go up immediately and take possession of it; there is no question that we can conquer it’” (Num. 13:30, CJB). Caleb was ready for things to happen immediately and with certainty.

In the gospels, tons of things happen during Jesus’ ministry “immediately.” “Immediately” a leper is healed, a blind man receives sight, and a woman who could not stand up straight was made upright by Jesus’ touch (Mt. 8:3, 20:34; Lk. 13:14, ESV). “Immediately,” a paralyzed man stood up and walked home at Jesus’ word (Mk. 2:12). “Immediately,” a woman with a discharge of blood stopped bleeding when she touched Jesus’ tzitzit (garment fringe) (Mk. 5:29). Peter’s mother-in-law is cured of her fever at Jesus’ rebuke and she “immediately” rises to serve Him (Lk. 4:39). When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the stormy water in the middle of the sea of Galilee and then took Him into their boat, they were “immediately” at their destination on the other side (Jn. 6:21). All these things would be impossible by common sense, but with Jesus, they really happened, and they happened immediately. Caleb had the same confidence in God’s power that Israel could “immediately” take Canaan.

When the disciples received the Holy Spirit, the impossible was done “immediately” through them as well. When Peter, with the power of the Spirit, reached out to lift up a man lame from birth, the man was “immediately” healed, and with the authority of God Peter made a paralyzed man able to walk home carrying his bed with just a word (Acts 3:7, 9:34). When Ananias laid his hands on blinded Saul, the scales on his eyes “immediately” fell off and his sight was restored (Acts 9:18). This same Pharisee, Saul, who was on his way to persecute believers in Damascus, “immediately” began proclaiming Jesus is the Son of God in the synagogue (Acts 9:20). Things happened immediately and certainly because the disciples carried the same Spirit that was in Caleb.

This same power of God also brought judgement on enemies “immediately.” Ananias (a different Ananias) and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and “immediately” dropped down dead (Acts 5:10). Herod, the grandson of Herod the Great, was “immediately” struck down by God because he took glory from people that only belonged to God (Acts 12:23). At Peter’s rebuke, “Elymas the magician” was “immediately” blinded for opposing the apostles and “seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith” (Acts 13:8). So just as the Spirit of God brought healing and deliverance during the days of the apostles, He also immediately brought judgment on His enemies. This was the same Spirit in Caleb, because Caleb was certain judgment would immediately fall on the Canaanites (the Israelites’ victory would also be the Canaanites’ judgement).

Caleb was so confident in God’s immediate deliverance, he said, “there is no question that we can conquer it.” He knew there was no if because God would be with them. Jesus taught people to have that same confidence in Him. When a father sought healing for his demon-possessed son, he asked Jesus, “if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us” (Mk. 9:22, emphasis mine). I love Jesus’ response. He exclaims, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes” (vs. 23). Just like there was no if with Caleb and God, there was no if with Jesus.

With the same Spirit that was in Caleb that gave Him confidence in God’s immediate certain power, God worked in Jesus’ ministry and through the Apostles to bring immediate deliverance and judgment.

Conversely, the rest of the Israelites in the wilderness held God in contempt by disbelieving Him, and so God would not be with them when they changed their minds and tried to take Canaan on their own.

⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? ⁴² Do not go up, for the Lord is not among you, lest you be struck down before your enemies. ⁴³ For there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴ But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed out of the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah (Num. 14:41-45).

Moses specifically says they lost because the Lord was not with them. Moses and Joshua had the job to get the Israelites into the land God promised to Abraham, but they couldn’t do it if God was not with them. Jesus had the job to save us from our sins. As Jesus taught the disciples about how hard it is for a rich man to enter heaven, the disciples “were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God’” (Mk. 10:26-27). But God didn’t leave us in an impossible situation. When we follow Him, He is with us, and when He is with us, the impossible becomes possible. In fact, Jesus’ last promise to the disciples was, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt. 28:20). Since His presence makes all things possible, then that means all things are possible to believers at all times until Jesus ushers in the new age in which He rules the earth. Do not mistake this for name it and claim it doctrine. We have to be in God’s Spirit like Caleb was. We have to be in God’s will like the apostles were. If we are walking with God through the Spirit in His will, then of course things will happen. But if we aren’t trusting in God, it won’t happen. James the brother of Jesus says, “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 2:3). God’s name is not a talisman. He is our Master and we serve Him. We can serve Him with certainty that He will be with us, just like Caleb.

40 Days in the Promised Land, 40 Days in the Wilderness

Since the spy’s report was not received well by Israel, God gave a fitting punishment:

³⁴ “According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure” (Num. 14:34).

They were sentenced to wandering in the desert for forty years until all the men at least twenty-years-old in the first census died. God gave the people the chance to trust in Him by faith. After all, He led them this far faithfully. But they decided not to. Instead, “all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron” to the point that “all the congregation said to stone them with stones” (Num. 14:1-2, 10). God intervened and saved Moses and Aaron, and Moses intervened and saved Israel from God’s wrath. God forgave at Moses’ request, but they were to bear consequences for their rejection: forty years of wandering in circles for forty days of reconnaissance in Canaan. If they did not reject God, I would suggest that they could have gone right in and begun taking the land. But they didn’t.

Reading this story this time, I felt reminded of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He was baptized, God the Father declared His favor on Him as His Son, and then He disappeared from the sight of people for a while.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry” (Mt. 4:1-2).

There is an intriguing parallel between the calling and pattern of Israel and the calling and pattern of Jesus. Israel was baptized in the Red Sea and the cloud (1 Cor. 10:2). Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River and with the Holy Spirit (Lk. 3:22, 4:14). Israel was declared as God’s firstborn son (Ex. 4:22-23). Jesus was declared as God’s beloved Son (Lk. 3:22). Israel was called out and sent into the wilderness and disappeared from the sight of other nations for a while. Jesus was called out and sent into the wilderness and disappeared from the sight of people for a while. God prepared Israel in the wilderness to take the Promised Land. The Holy Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness to usher in the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 4:17). Those are the similarities. Then the differences begin to appear.

The spies were sent from the wilderness into the Promised Land for forty days. Jesus was sent from the Promised Land into the wilderness for forty days. Jesus came out of those forty days in the power of the Spirit and ready to preach about the kingdom of heaven. The Israelites came out of those forty days discouraged and already defeated in their minds before they even fought a battle. They were not ready, so they did not go in. Jesus was ready, and so He went right into a whirlwind three years of ministry.

Next, I want to compare and contrast the three stops between Sinai and Israel’s spy mission to Jesus’ three temptations in the wilderness. The Israelites made three stops named after judgments God enacted on Israel based upon the sins they committed at each one. Jesus was tempted by Satan three times with types of sins that can be directly correlated to the types of sins Israel did commited. Let’s look at the first stop, Tav’erah.

Tav’erah means burning, and it was named so because God sent fire on the outskirts of the camp for “the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes” (Num. 11:3). They wanted an easier life. They were tired of walking day in and day out. They were tired of not knowing where they were going or how long it would take to get there. They were tired of setting up camp and breaking down again. They wanted an easier road.

When Jesus came, He knew it was going to be a hard road. He had to save the world from sin. But Satan appealed to His flesh with the temptation to take the easy road and seemingly get the same thing: the world.

the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
    and him only shall you serve’” (Mt. 4:8-10).

Jesus resisted the temptation for an easier life. The Israelites complained about their misfortune and longed for an easier life. He did not serve His body’s desires. And the easy road never gets you to your true destination. Sure, it would have looked like Jesus got the world, but He would not have saved the world from sin, and He Himself would have sinned by breaking the first commandment. Fulfilling God’s call sometimes means taking the hard road. The Israelites failed. Jesus stayed the path.

Next, let’s look at the stopping point named Kivrot-Ha Ta’avah (“graves of greed”), named so because the Israelites died in their greed. They complained, “But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at” (Num. 11:6). They were greedy for more than what God provided them with, and their greed led them to their death. God granted them their craving, and it killed them. Conversely, Jesus had nothing to eat in the wilderness (He even said later that He is the manna from heaven), and Satan tempted Him with greed for more than what He had by turning the stones into bread. Jesus refused the temptation. He was not greedy. He was full of God’s Word so He didn’t give in to the temptation. When I’m full, I don’t desire junk food. Jesus was full of God’s Word, so He didn’t desire spiritual junk. The Israelites filled their bellies with the manna but they didn’t fill their hearts with His commands. Israel gave into greed. Jesus refused to be greedy.

³ And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Mt. 4:3-4).

Lastly, they stopped at Hatzerot (“courts” or “villages”), where Miriam was cast out of the “court” or “village” of Israel for her pride: “And they [Aaron and Miriam] said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?’” (Num. 12:2). She was cast out because God made her leprous for her bad talk. You might be wondering why Aaron wasn’t punished with leprosy too since He was asking the same question. The Hebrew subject verb agreement tells us that Miriam is the one who initiated the pride, and Aaron joined in. In contrast, Satan tempts Jesus with the same type of sin:

“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’” (Mt. 4:6-7).

You can almost hear Satan asking Jesus the same question of Miriam and Aaron: “Are you not equal with God also?” Didn’t Jesus deserve to be treated better after all? Yes, but

though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:6-8).

Miriam and Aaron counted equality with Moses a thing to be grasped, and they grasped for it and Miriam received humiliation. She was leprous and cast out of the camp for a week. Jesus did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped though He was equal with God, and He was highly exalted and the Name Above every name was bestowed on Him, that is, God’s Name (Phil 2:9).

The three tests of Israel in the wilderness between Sinai and the spy mission, as well as Jesus’ three tests in the wilderness between His baptism and the beginning of His ministry, are examples to us. I was reminded of the following passage that correlates with these events and outcomes.

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 Jn. 2:15-17).

Israel complained about their hardships. Their desire of the flesh caused them to complain. Israel was discontent with “nothing at all but this manna to look at.” (Num. 11:6). The desire of their eyes ruled their minds. They wanted to look at some meat. And lastly, in as much as a contrast to Moses (the most humble man on earth)(Num. 12:3), Miriam and Aaron sought to be treated equally with Moses. The pride of life blinded their understanding of God’s will. None of this behavior was from God, of course, but from the world, the old nature. Both the mixed crowd and the Israelites longed for the old life in Egypt, that is, the gratification of the old nature, the one that was a slave to Egypt (allegorically the slavery to sin). Since this sort of worldliness “is passing away,” the Israelites who despised God likewise passed away in the wilderness. If we choose worldliness, we will pass away with it. If we choose the will of God, we will live forever as God is eternal life. Jesus chose the right, making all the choices Israel should have made, and consequently began ushering in the kingdom of heaven, which is eternal.

In every point that Israel failed, Jesus did not fail, and He took on the wilderness without provision that we might be brought into the Promised Land and sustained by God’s provision. Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness (Mt. 3:15) that we failed at. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness, and this truth is exhibited perfectly in the failures of Israel and the obedience of Jesus in the wilderness. I am amazed at God in all the details.

Not If, but When

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you…” (Num. 15:1).

I think it’s incredibly noteworthy that immediately after the Lord sentenced Israel to wander 40 years and they rebelled again even after that and were defeated by the Canaanites, that God begins His next instructions for them with, “When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you…” Wow. What grace. Even after all that, God knew it was not a matter of if, but when. God had his plan and it was going to happen. God would be true to His promise to Abraham. God would send a Savior for the world through His offspring. It would just be delayed now by several decades. It was never a matter of if. If is not in God’s vocabulary when it comes to fulfilling His promises.

This is such a testament to God’s grace and huge evidence against replacement theology. Israel was rebellious from the beginning, but God did not destroy them. They were rebellious after the days of Joshua, but God did not leave them. They were rebellious during the era of the kings, but God never forsook them. They were disobedient even after the exile, but God still sent His Savior through them. Believers today exist because of God’s unfailing love and faithfulness to Israel for millennia. How can we possibly say, now that Messiah finally came, that He would throw them out with the trash for acting the same way they always had? They had been rejecting God from the days of Moses, but God never rejected them. Why would God reject them in the generation of the Messiah, the full embodiment of His grace? I mean, think about it! Here is what Paul says about God’s faithfulness to the faithless Israelites:

³ What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴ By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar (Rom. 3:3).

Though only some were unfaithful, God would be just as faithful to them even if every last one of them was unfaithful. That is what Paul is saying. God’s grace is that radical. That kind of grace does not replace them when He finally fulfills His promise of the Messiah. No way. Again, Paul writes to Timothy, who was half Jew and half Roman, symbolically representative of the young Jew-Gentile Church,

¹³ if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13).

He cannot deny Himself. When He described Himself to Moses, the first quality He chose to express was His mercy, grace, slowness to anger, and His abundant steadfast love and faithfulness, His unconditional love (Ex. 34:6). Did you get that, unconditional love. That is love without conditions, including the condition of faithfulness on our part. There are clearly consequences for our sin. Israel’s consequence was a forty-year time out. But God forgave because of His unconditional love.

Let me put it another way. If God loves the Church unconditionally, why would He treat His firstborn, Israel, differently? Is the Church perfect? No! It has contained murderers, liars, deceivers, men greedy for selfish gain, adulterers, idolaters, gluttons, and drunkards from the very beginning and all the way through history. A quick study of church history easily tells you that. False teachers and false doctrines abound this very day. Hypocrites sit in every church. But does God reject the Church for its unfaithfulness? Of course not. I’m not saying people who live in sin are saved. What I am saying is God is faithful to the capital C Church. Many in Israel perished too, but He always has been and always will be faithful to Israel. He named Himself the God of Israel!

No matter how much Israel messes up, just like we see in Numbers 15:1, it’s not an issue of if, but when. God will continue to deliver them, even and especially on the last day. For more information on that, check out Ezekiel and Zechariah.

There will rise up a generation upon which the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon as is promised in Jeremiah 31. Until then, there is a partial hardening on Israel (Rom. 11:25). Let’s consider the haftarah portion from Joshua in this light.

During the first spy mission, twelve were sent by name, and only two brought back a good report. For the second spy mission, two unnamed men were sent, and brought back a good report. For the first mission, the Israelites melted with fear at the thought of attacking the Canaanites and giants. For the second mission, the Canaanites melted with fear. Rahab said,

“as soon as we heard it [the Red Sea exodus and God’s victory in battle], our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” (Josh 2:11).

This same mighty God who was with the next generation will be with Israel in a coming generation. Just as the generation that rejected God in the wilderness delayed the conquest of Canaan, there is a partial hardening on the descendants of Israel to this today (Rom. 11:25). Just as their children rose up forty years later and took the place they should have themselves taken, a generation of Israel’s descendants will rise up and put their faith in the object of their faith, Messiah, and will “look on me, on him whom they have pierced” (Zech. 12:10). Just like God told them in the wilderness, it’s not a matter of if, but when.

The Same Instructions, the Same Savior

¹⁵ “For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the Lord. ¹⁶ One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you” (Num. 15:15-16).

Many people think they can get to heaven by different ways. Just be a good Jew, Christian, Muslim, Hindi, Buddhist, or whatever, and you’re fine. You have your rules, and I have mine. But that is not what the Bible says. The Bible is specific about the exclusivity of the gospel. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6). That might sound like Jesus was starting a new religion, but His own words would dismiss that: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Mt. 5:17). Even Maimonides says “it was not the intention of this person [Jesus the Nazarene] to establish a new faith” (Iggerot HaRambam). When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, there was one entrance back on the east side, and it was blocked by an angel with a flaming sword. When God instructed Moses concerning the tabernacle, there was one entrance to the holy place and holy of holies, facing east, and on it were embroidered cherubim, symbolically guarding the way to God. But When Jesus died, that curtain was ripped from the top down, because He was the way back to the Father. God did not change the rules when Jesus came. There was no magical bait and switch with the Torah and the gospel. Isaiah says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (40:8). Rememeber, Jesus said He came to fulfill Torah, not abolish it (Mt. 5:17). Jesus says the fulfillment of all Torah won’t be completed “until heaven and earth pass away” (vs. 18). Well, heaven and earth are still here, so that means Torah is still here. Jesus will not fulfill all of the Torah until heaven and earth pass away. That’s when He makes the new heaven and new earth after Satan and all whose names are not written in the book of Life are defeated (Rev. 21:1). But He did fulfill much of the Torah with His first coming. Particularly in this portion, He fulfilled the requirements for a vow offering and a sin offering for Jew and Gentile (sojourner), and we offer ourselves unto Him as living sacrifices the same way, and we have the same object of our faith (Jesus), whether Jew or Gentile (Rom. 12:1).

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷ Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. ³¹ Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law (Rom. 3:21-31).

According to Paul, the same way to acceptance and forgiveness for Jews and Gentiles is through Jesus, who was the sacrifice for them both, the same statute, or rule. He does not abolish the law. He does not nullify the Torah. The Torah bears witness to Him. He is apart from the Torah because He is greater than the Torah. He is the fulfillment of what the Torah foreshadowed.

What does it mean that God “in his divine forbearance…had passed over former sins”? God passed over former sins until Jesus came to actually take away sin. The sacrificial system was a foreshadowing of what was actually going to be real, the “substance” as Paul called it (Col. 2:17). It was through the faith of the worshippers that God accepted them, not the sacrifice itself. The author of Hebrews makes it clear,

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins (Heb. 10:4).

Whether before or after the Messiah’s atoning work, whether Jew or Gentile, the faith of people in obeying God and trusting Him saved. The Lord Himself acknowledges this through Isiah:

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
    says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
    and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
    or of lambs, or of goats” (Is. 1:11).

It wasn’t the motions that mattered to God. It was the faith. Because these Jews did not put their faith in the greater object which the sacrifices foreshadowed, they were not accepted. That’s because the blood on animals itself never took away sins.

Acceptable obedience was through Messiah. Effective trust was in Messiah. The burnt offering and the sin offering were Messiah, and the same offering, Messiah, is for the Jew and Gentile sojourning with the Jews.

Now as I’ve already written about in my earlier post, The Sin Offering and the Guilt Offering He Called for, there was no sacrifice for intentional sins. Numbers chapter 15 reinforces that:

³⁰ “But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹ Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him” (Num. 15:30).

The New Testament continues the same understanding about intentional sins and their implications. The Apostle John says,

⁴ Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. ⁵ You know that he [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶ No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. ⁷ Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸ Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹ No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother (1 Jn. 3:4-10).

Jesus is not the sacrifice for people who keep on sinning, because they never saw or knew Him, John says. Well, in the temple system, you couldn’t offer a sacrifice you never saw nor knew. As there was no sacrifice for intentional sins in temple times, Jesus cannot be the sacrifice for people who consciously keep living in sin. People who say they are Christians and are obviously living in rebellion to what the Bible is explicitly clear about, are not saved. The Apostle John makes that clear. The Church doesn’t get off the hook with grace where the Jews have to sick to the rule. No, according to Numbers, the same rule is for both, “forever” (Num. 15:15). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Forever means forever.

The person who sinned intentionally was to be cut off. Now being cut off meant to deliver them over to God’s judgement. They were exiled from the community and left to God’s judgment. The same rule in the Torah is recorded as being applied in the Church too. Maybe that’s a shocker to you, or maybe this is like common sense to you. I don’t know, but one example comes from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, in which he is addressing the issue of a man in the church who was sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Cor. 5:1). Such a union is clearly forbidden in the Torah. Paul says to cut him off.

you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Cor. 5:5).

He was saying to basically kick him out of the church and hopefully he would come around to his senses and be saved after dealing with the consequences of his sin. Again, as far as I can tell, the same rule applies to the Jew as well as to the Gentile in matters of faith, worship, and consequences for intentional sin.

Messiah is our one sacrifice for sin. We offer ourselves as sacrifices in worship to God the same way the burnt offering was given that we may be pleasing and acceptable to God. The burnt offering was not an expiatory sacrifice. We cannot expect to be forgiveness if we don’t first repent. Once the burnt offering was given, then a worshipper could draw near and offer the sin offering. Likewise, once we repent, we put our faith in the sacrifice of Jesus’ blood on our behalf, and we are forgiven. It’s the same for Jew and Gentile, the same rule, forever.

The Tzitzit

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. ³⁹ And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. ⁴⁰ So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God” (Num. 15:37-41).

This time as I read, I am capturing the context of the different mitzvot (commandments), which incorporates a fuller meaning to them. The tzitzit were commanded after Israel messed up so badly, detesting God’s will to take the land of Canaan with His blessing, then again rejecting His authority by trying to attack it without Him. God gave them a physical visual manipulative to help them “remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.” It should have been humbling to do this after messing up do badly. It was a sign of submission and humility. But by the time of Jesus, the purpose of this physical symbol has been lost. Jesus said the Scribes and Pharasees who “sit on Moses’ seat” (Mt. 23:1)

“do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues  and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others…Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Mt. 23:5-7, 11).

Just like how the sacrifices became detestable to God in Isaiah’s day, the tzitzit lost their acceptability to God because the people lost the object of their faith, a humble, submissive faith. Moses was meek, and though they sat in Moses’ seat, they were clearly not.

Jesus wore tzitzit too, but His were different. They weren’t different visibly than the others (except maybe not as long as the Pharisees’!). His were different in the sense that they were not worn with pride. Jesus was humble. He also submitted Himself to God the Father and obeyed the Torah perfectly, the object lesson of the tzitzit. And by His humble submission (which is what they were for), we see the powerful effect of His righteous humility in this story:

²⁰ And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, ²¹ for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” ²² Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well (Mt. 9:20-22).

Jesus had tzitzit on the fringe of His garment. The woman grabbed onto Jesus’ tzitzit and was healed. And it wasn’t just her, but elsewhere in His ministry, the whole town of Gennesaret. They “implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well” (Mt. 14:36). When they reached for the fringe of His garment, they reached for His tzitzit. Tzitzit were a symbol of Torah obedience. These folks were reaching to His obedience of Torah, His righteousness, which was displayed through humility and submission (which is what the tzitzit is for). He obeyed the Torah perfectly, and when they relied on His righteousness, they were healed. We likewise have to rely on the Messiah’s righteousness (not our own) for healing. The Pharisees and Scribes made it a symbol of pride and self-glory, but in Jesus, His tzitzit has the power to save through His perfect righteousness and His humility.

Conclusion

My prayer for you is that you put your faith in the one common Messiah like Caleb put his faith in the Lord to see His mighty working with immediacy and certainty, that you put your faith in His humble righteousness where we all have failed, and know that He will accomplish all things in His own time, because it’s not a matter of if, but when. Until next time, God bless.

His wrath is like an all-consuming fire
Upon complaining spirits in hardships.
The soul with incorporeal desire
To potent imperceptible truth grips.
The one who is himself consumed by greed
Is unlike those with well-defended flanks.
The former, a wilted, withering weed,
The latter, firm founded fortress of thanks.
The heart covered from head to toe with pride
Is leprous and detestable to Him,
But to the one who is humble inside
He regards when He looks below the skin.
Only One has such righteousness complete
In Whom I trust and cling to His tzitzit.

Sources

The Bible. English Standard Version. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.The

Bible. Complete Jewish Bible. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.

Iggeret Teiman. Sefaria.org. Accessed 30 Jun. 2026.