Lessons in the Ladder Days

Candace Long: I'm Candace Long with Lessons in the Ladder Days, offering biblical commentary to make sense of the times that we're living in. As I write this, we're in the month of Av in the heat of summer, and it contains the most dangerous day in the entire year, the ninth of Av. Why this time became so dangerous is actually rooted in the Torah readings assigned to this season from the book of Bamidbar, which we know as the book of Numbers.

The Jews call it Bamidbar, which is Hebrew for "the wilderness." As you know, this book recounts the journey of God's people from the Exodus in Egypt all the way through the wilderness to the Promised Land, lasting 40 years. The Bible teaches that this journey is a tavnit—in other words, a picture that we're to learn from. It is meant to instruct us in how to walk this journey. Hebrews 3 and 4 tell us that this Promised Land is a metaphorical picture for the kingdom.

The book of Numbers is important to teach us how to make it through this mess we're living in and get to the kingdom safely without being disqualified. Now, you might be interested to know that the reason non-Jews call the book Numbers is because God had the people counted so many times throughout the book. The sages teach us that the reason God kept counting them was to see who among his children survived the judgments and discipline that their rebellion provoked. He intimately cares about his people.

Studying Numbers for weeks and weeks now has been sobering for me because the reality is that very few who began the journey actually lived to see that day. I have been increasingly burdened by the flippant attitudes I see in many Christians who have one foot in church and the other foot firmly planted in the ways of the world, living however they want to, holding onto the belief that says "once saved, always saved."

The more I study, the more I am convinced that many so-called believers will not be taken at the resurrection. Instead, they will have to go through the worst seven years the Earth has ever known. I don't want that to happen to you. By the end of our time together today, I want you to know beyond the shadow of a doubt the answer to today's topic: Who will be taken and who will be left behind?

Let's review the transition that takes place when this journey of life ends and the kingdom begins. God gave us the picture, the tavnit; it's called the seven-day plan of God. You can learn more about it in the episode "How Close Are We to the Kingdom?" In a nutshell, here it is: God has given one week of life on Earth, seven days. Six days for man, one day for himself. Each day is 1,000 years long.

So, there are 6,000 years for man, and after that, God's 1,000-year day. That is the Messianic Kingdom. I believe we are just a few years away from that day. Jewish doctrine teaches that on Rosh Hashanah, the first of Tishrei in the year 6001—the exact day when 6,000 years have been completed—that's when the kingdom officially begins. Leading up to this day, the world is in crisis.

Suddenly, in an instant, on that day, two things happen. Number one, the Messiah comes to the clouds and instantly removes his family, his bride. The Jews call this moment the resurrection. Number two, at this exact same time, the wrath of God pours out on Earth and the seven-year birth pangs begin. Christians call this the Tribulation. God has been preparing us for this day for almost 6,000 years.

The Torah reading I'm going to focus on today is Numbers 13 through 15. It is very relevant to our discussion. This was when Moses sent out 12 men to check out the land. The translators refer to them as spies, but they were actually reconnaissance leaders sent out to examine how wonderful the land was that God had been telling them about ever since they left Egypt.

Who were these spies? Moses was told to send forth one man each from the 12 tribes. The Mishnah teaches that Moses chose the most respected leaders in each tribe, such as Joshua and Caleb. God wanted all the tribes represented by the most distinguished, character-driven leaders who would be able to resist any inclination to misinterpret the information they gleaned from their mission.

The Torah refers to them as distinguished men. These were great men of the highest caliber. This alone speaks volumes of the influence that God has given many of you listening to this teaching. If you are highly regarded as a leader, your choices right now have eternal consequences as to the influence you have with others around you who observe everything you do and say.

These 12 men were given a task: go look at everything about the land. Walk up and down it, examine it, make note of the wonderful things that God provided, and then come back and give your report to Moses. What these distinguished leaders ended up doing on this fateful trip was they became so overwhelmed by the strength of the enemy compared to their own apparent smallness that rather than coming back and giving their report to Moses as they had been instructed to do, they went straight to the people, to all their buddies, and began badmouthing the whole plan.

This episode happened right after the nation witnessed Miriam's punishment for doing Lashon Hara, which is the sin that God especially hates. It's badmouthing or spewing forth an evil tongue against Moses, for which God struck her with leprosy and removed her from the camp for seven days. They did not learn that lesson, and they fell into the sin of Lashon Hara themselves, speaking evil of the land that God had prepared for them. God was livid.

He sentenced them to the wilderness for 40 years, saying not one of that generation, except Joshua and Caleb, would enter the land. This tragedy had far-reaching consequences. The sages write that God established this night as a night of weeping throughout the generations. That night, by the way, was Tisha B'Av, the ninth of Av, the most terrible day in all of Jewish history when both temples were destroyed.

I want you to see that the ground was laid here at the time of this bad report by the spies as an open door to destruction by the enemy. I want to say something to those of you who are listening and who are considered leaders in your community. We have a very narrow window to overturn the direction our country is going. If God has given you influence, it's important that you examine the landscape correctly.

The prospects may look daunting in how to defeat or challenge or confront dangerous directions in our country, our states, or our national government. Be careful that you don't fall into the same trap the spies fell into, being scared off by the apparent size and strength of the people in power now. I want to note for you that according to these verses in the Torah, these spies were not being asked to fight the scary people they saw.

God simply asked them to examine what was going on and bring the report back to Moses. In this case for you, bring your report of what you see happening back to God. He is the commander. By all means, don't badmouth the vision of doing something great for God and deflating the hopes of people who may be following you. If God has given you an open door to lead, do not shrink back in this hour.

There's another important lesson to take note of here about the way that God dispenses discipline and punishment. He told them in Numbers 14, "According to the number of days in which you spied out the land, 40 days, for every day a year you shall bear your iniquity, 40 years, and you shall know my displeasure." The rabbis teach that this is one of many examples showing that God's discipline adheres to what's called measure for measure.

In other words, there is a definite fairness and justice to God's discipline, meaning that it fits the offense. 40 days equals 40 years. Let me draw a few lessons from this account. Number one, because God has stated clearly throughout his word that he will pour out his wrath for seven years during the Day of the Lord, this suggests that he will give us seven years to take a tour of our land, so to speak.

He will give us different ways to learn about his kingdom and an opportunity to make our decisions whether to choose it for ourselves, to work for the kingdom, to sacrifice for it, to uphold kingdom principles that he sets up for us, and walk in the ways of the Lord. During this seven-year period that I present to you for consideration, I believe we will each be tested and judged by what comes out of our mouths relative to the kingdom.

If we dismiss the ways of God and put off making the right choices because we want to get ahead now, thinking we still have plenty of time before the end—God's not coming right now, you might say—I see this seven-year period as what we are living in now: a time of kingdom inspection. God is waiting to hear our report, what comes out of our mouths.

Jesus said the Gentiles seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. My heart was broken one day when I heard that a close ministry friend moved in with her boyfriend. I went to see her, and I begged her to go on and get married, but to separate from him until the wedding out of regard and respect for the Lord and to protect a good legacy that she could be leaving to her children and grandchildren by doing this.

She laughed in my face and accused me of being legalistic. She chose to live according to the way of the world rather than uphold God's views on the sanctity of marriage. Now, I cannot judge what God will do in her situation, but I believe she put her eternal standing with God in a dangerous place. Let's return to the passage in Numbers. You will read later on that the spies were so heartbroken at being prevented from entering the land that they admitted before God, "We have sinned."

The rabbinical commentators wrote that though God is always ready to forgive those who repent, they said it was motivated not so much by sincere remorse as by regret that they had missed their chance to enter the land then. I also need to add that this inability to enter did not sentence them to eternal damnation. Rather, they had a waiting period of 40 years.

This waiting period relates to the doctrine surrounding Rosh Hashanah at the beginning of the Day of the Lord. This concerns the way that God deals with three types of people at the time of judgment. The first group is the righteous, who go immediately into the kingdom at the resurrection. The second group is the wicked, who are unredeemable and will never enter his rest.

The third group is referred to as the average, who are sentenced to live through the seven years of the birth pangs and given that time to repent. At the end of those seven years, on Yom Kippur in the year 6008, Messiah physically comes to Earth to establish his kingdom. If the average have not repented by that time, the books are sealed, the gates are closed, and they will be denied entrance into the kingdom.

God always gives us adequate time to search out the land. The Hebrew word for search out is the Hebrew word "tur," T-U-W-R, tur, which means to meander about and examine to see how the land is. This is a key lesson, for there is a difference between passively examining something and making a commitment, signing a contract, and preparing to move.

I believe we are all in this seven-year kingdom inspection period. A lot of people have one foot in the church door just to be safe, but the all-in covenant and commitment is not there. They're not paying a price to reserve their place in the kingdom. Just as God sentenced his own people to 40 years in the wilderness, so he will sentence again those who fail to embrace their glimpses of the kingdom when they had seven years to do so.

They will still be able to repent, they won't necessarily lose their salvation, but they will have to live through the most difficult seven years on Earth. We are that close to the kingdom. I want each of you to consider carefully what is your confession about it. Is the kingdom what you want for your future? Because Jesus knew the kingdom so intimately, he was able to endure the worst oppression and physical death imaginable because of the joy that was set before him. He knew the kingdom; that was his home before eternity began.

If you don't have that joy, that longing to choose God's kingdom above all else, that's where I encourage you to be honest with God. Tell him how you feel, that you want to be his, that you want to choose him and not be left behind. He will take you where you are and grow that kingdom seed inside of you. He wants you with him.

But understand that during this kingdom inspection period, the decision of your heart will be evidenced by what you do. Your actions will show your heart. Parents will call a family meeting and set new rules for the house. You might say to them, "We are making a commitment to follow the Lord and his ways in this home from now on, so things will be different."

Then, lay out for your children what will change and the new standards of behavior that your family will be known by. God gives that freedom to you to set for your family. But be prepared, because this is when the testing will spread throughout the home to the children. If they refuse to live according to the new set of expectations, clearly spell out the consequences and be prepared to follow through. We are too close to the Day of the Lord to be messing around.

We have to be as firm with our families as God is with us. Many years ago, my neighbors, who were committed Christians, had some problems with their only son, whom they adored. When Josh—not his real name—became a teenager, he went wild: drugs, petty thefts, sneaking out, and partying with friends. He spent time in jail and generally made life miserable for his parents.

One day, I saw his mom in the yard, and I went over to visit. We'd been having some problems with one of our sons at the time, so I was seeking a little wisdom from her. I asked, "I know you had some problems with Josh. How did you deal with him?" She said it was the hardest thing they've ever done, but they finally told him he was not welcome to live at home any longer. He's been gone now for over a year.

I asked, "What if he came to you now, knocked on your door, and said, 'I've learned my lesson. I'm broke and I don't have anywhere else to go. Can I come home?' What would you and your husband do?" Her reply was this: "We went to therapists and Christian counselors seeking wisdom, and we realized we never set the boundaries for him. So at this stage in life, if he would ask to come back home, we'd say, 'We're sorry you're going through a hard time, but we have every confidence that you will know what to do. We would offer advice where we could, but basically say you made a choice long ago to leave our home. You won't be able to come back.'"

This kind of parental love is what's needed now. For that child to have any chance to grow up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, he or she has to learn there are consequences for rebellion. Another friend shared her concern about one of her children. She and her husband had been very diligent to raise them with godly standards, but one of them was in a very worldly relationship, and she was concerned for her daughter's eternal future.

I said there is a difference between inhabiting the kingdom and inheriting the kingdom. Jesus is coming at the resurrection for his family, for those who are meant to inherit the kingdom. The laws of inheritance are very pertinent to this discussion, and where are they found? In the book of Numbers.

The kingdom is genealogically measured. You have to be recognized and DNA tested to be considered part of the family of Israel in order to take ownership of that part of God's kingdom that is given to you. Now, I'm speaking metaphorically here. God knows who are his. He knows the Gentile believers who have chosen to be grafted into our Jewish heritage.

In these laws of inheritance, God was very exact concerning who the land—the kingdom—belongs to. Those who call themselves Jews but are in name only have no eternal inheritance; they are pretenders and squatters if they are not related in DNA to the patriarchs. They are not part of God's family, those whom he set apart.

Psalm 4 says, "Know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself." This is the group that he is coming for at the resurrection—those who share his DNA. They are like him, who want to be with him. Jesus said we will know them by their fruits. What does that fruit look like? It is the fruit of being set apart by God. It is a very visible behavioral pattern of walking in his ways.

Walk wisely, my friends, during this seven-year kingdom inspection period. If there ever was a time to draw closer in your relationship to the Lord and your personal commitment to live out your life under his leadership and direction, now is that time. Remember what Jesus told us: "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few."

You would not be listening to me now if you were not being called to walk the narrow path. May the Father encourage you in your journey. If you'd like to share this episode with others, you'll find it on my podcast page at candacelong.com/podcasts. Please take a look at the resources in my online store to prepare you to walk wisely in this day. I want to thank you for being with me, and I hope you join me again next time for Lessons in the Ladder Days. God bless.