Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (13 page)

trusting the Lord.

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Moses led the Israelites through the Sinai Desert

to Mount Sinai, the same mountain on which

the Lord spoke to Moses through the burning bush.

Moses told the people the Lord was going to speak

with them from the mountain and they must get ready.

So everyone had to wash and then gather together at

the bottom of the mountain. No one was allowed to

go up the mountain, or they would die.

When they were clean Moses brought them

together at the foot of the mountain, and thick clouds

and smoke came down. Suddenly they heard a loud

sound of a trumpet, and thunder shook the ground.

Mount Sinai became covered with smoke, and the

whole mountain was shaking with the power of

God. The people were afraid. They told Moses to

speak to the Lord for them, as they were too afraid

to speak with Him themselves. So Moses went up

the mountain to speak with the Lord, and there the

Lord told him the Ten Commandments. Then Moses

went down the mountain and told the people the Ten

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Commandments which the Lord had given him. The

people were afraid of God, but Moses told them the

Lord was only testing them so the fear of God would

keep them away from sin.

Now God’s commandments and laws were given

to the people of Israel so they would know what God

was like and what He wasn’t like. Also the command-

ments were given to them to teach them about being

fair and doing what was right. But most important to

show them those things that were sin, and Satan just

loves those things.

First God gave them the Ten Commandments.

They are things like don’t murder other people, obey

your mum and dad, don’t worship Satan, don’t steal

things, don’t be jealous of what other people have

and, most important, do love the Lord with all your

heart. The Lord also gave them hundreds of rules

about when someone accidentally hurts someone and

about everything else you could think of. Moses wrote

down all the commandments and laws of God.

Also, the laws were given to show us God is a

holy God. You see, the Lord is kind and loving, but

also He is holy. That means there is no darkness or

sin in God at all. God is perfect, and God’s laws show

us what a person would have to do to be perfect. The

problem is that no person can be perfect. We can try

to be good and kind, and we try to share with our

brothers and sisters and friends; but all the time we

get bad ideas and do selfish things. Sometimes we

think too much about what we look like. Sometimes

we see some cool thing someone else has and we

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want it for ourselves. And sometimes we argue or

fight or say things that are not exactly true.

But after the Israelites heard all the laws Moses

told them they said, “We will do everything the Lord

has commanded.” After they said that they made a

covenant with God. Now a covenant is when you

make a promise with someone and shake hands or

promise to do what you said, and sometimes we say,

“Cross my heart and hope to die.” We sometimes call

it a deal or a contract, but in the Bible it is called a

covenant. Back then when a man made a promise he

would sometimes cut his hand a little bit and promise

on his own blood. The blood in us is like our life, and

if we have no blood we die; so promising on blood is

like promising on our life. If we break our promise,

like old Pharaoh did, then we will lose our life.

God and the Israelites made a covenant and made

the promise with blood. They didn’t use a person’s

blood but an animal’s blood, and Moses splashed a

little bit of blood on everyone. Now they had a cove-

nant with the Lord, and they promised to keep all of

His laws completely. The problem was that they broke

the covenant because everyone sins sometimes, even

when they are trying very hard to be good. Ever since

Adam and Eve sinned, we all have this part in us

that tries to do things we know are wrong, and these

Israelites were just the same. But these people made

a blood covenant, and that meant they had promised

on their own lives, so God also had to teach them

about forgiveness.

They knew that when the covenant was broken

they should die for not keeping their promise, but

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the Lord taught them about forgiveness. Just as the

covenant was made with blood, so forgiveness was

given through blood. When we die we lose our life,

so God taught them that a life must be given to pay

for their sins. But not a human life—only an animal’s

life. It is as though the life, which dies, gives us back

the life lost because of sin.

The Lord told them to bring a lamb. Yes, another

lamb, perfect in every way, just like at Passover. They

would bring this lamb in front of other people and

put their hand on top of its head, and then the man

chosen for this job, a priest, would kill the lamb. As

the blood came out the person had to keep holding

the lamb’s head as if it were his own blood coming

out—as if his own life were dying for his sins.

Once the lamb died the person could let go of its

head, and the person’s sins were forgiven because a

life was given for their sins. A life for a life and a

death for sin; if you remember, sin brings death. I am

sure that by now you can think into the future and

guess what God was teaching these people about. Am

I right? Jesus would be the “Lamb of God,” and He

would come to earth and live as a man; then He would

give His perfect life to pay for our sins. The problem

with the normal lamb is that a lamb is not the same

as a person; so for perfect forgiveness we needed a

perfect person to die for us. Jesus would be the only

perfect person. If we hold onto Him in faith, like in

our minds, then His blood pays for our sins and God

makes us perfect. Wow! What an amazing plan!

Of course Satan didn’t realise this. He was a bit

confused about this sacrifice-for-sin stuff. But he

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hadn’t forgotten about his head getting crushed, and

of course he was now ready to give the Israelites

their BIG surprise. God had promised them the land

of Canaan, the Promised Land as it is sometimes

called, but Satan was going to use his servants to stop

God’s promise from coming true. If he could stop

the promise, then he might be able to stop this child

from being born. He really, really wanted to stop that

from happening, Just Because he didn’t want some

kid crushing his head. Ouch!

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The Lord led the people to the banks of the Jordan

River, and this was the border of the Promised

Land. Moses chose twelve men and told them to go

into the land and see what it was like. Those guys

dressed up so they looked like some of the other

people in the land, and they crossed over the Jordan.

Moses told them exactly where to go and what to do.

He told them to check out the people and their cities

and see if the land had good food and water.

They set off and explored the land for forty days

and nights. They saw that the land was very beau-

tiful, and they saw that some of the cities had big

walls around them to stop an army from getting in.

They also found that the fruit was amazing and the

grapes were big and delicious. Everything they saw

was just like a promised land should be, except for

one thing. Throughout the land there were great big

giants.

Yep, they found Satan’s BIG surprise waiting for

them. The Nephilim were back, and there were lots

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of them. They were BIG and POWERFUL. Most

of them were more than nine feet tall. That’s more

than three meters, and it’s BIG. They were the rulers

of Canaan, and they had been there for about four

hundred years. When the spies returned to the people

they said that compared to the Nephilim they felt like

little grasshoppers.

They told the people they had no chance to beat

those giants in a fight. They made the people very

afraid. But there were two spies who were different.

Their names were Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and

Caleb told the people that if God was with them,

then they could win and take back the land which

was given to Abraham.

But the people complained. “It would have been

better for us to have stayed as slaves in Egypt. God

has brought us all this way just so we can die from

a giant’s sword. The giants and their armies will

kill all of our men and take the women and children

and make them slaves. We should go back to Egypt.

We should choose a new leader to take us back to

Egypt.”

But Joshua and Caleb stood up and shouted to

the people, “The land we saw is amazingly good! If

the Lord is pleased with us and if He has given this

land to us, then who can stand against us? We saw

the miracles in Egypt, we saw what the Lord did to

Pharaoh, we saw how the Lord brought us through

the Red Sea, and we saw how He destroyed Pharaoh’s

army by drowning them. Now is the time to trust the

Lord and not fear. He will protect us, He will destroy

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these evil creatures, and He will give us back the land

He gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

It was a very good speech, but the people didn’t

listen. They were too afraid, and they didn’t want to

trust the Lord. The people were standing there and

talking about how they were going to kill Moses,

Aaron, Joshua and Caleb; but then the pillar of fire of

the Lord appeared above them, and they had some-

thing else to think about.

Then the Lord spoke, and He spoke in anger and

sadness. “How long will these people treat Me this

way? How long will they refuse to believe in Me,

even when I do so many miracles before them? I will

destroy these unbelievers and start a new nation with

the faithful ones, a nation greater and more faithful

than these.”

Now the people were
really
listening. But Moses

spoke to the Lord to try to change His mind. “If you

destroy these people, Lord, the Egyptians will hear

all about it. The Egyptians already know what You

have done and how You are with these people every

day. But if You kill them all at the same time then

the Egyptians will say the Lord was not able to bring

these people into the land He promised them.”

And Moses continued to speak. “So, Lord, I

ask You to show Your strength. I ask You to show

these people You are slow to get angry, You are full

of love and You forgive the sins of these rebellious,

bad people who refuse to trust You, just as You have

forgiven them from the day You started bringing

them out of Egypt.”

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And the Lord listened to Moses. “I have already

forgiven them as you asked. But I promise that not

one of the people who have seen My miracles I

performed in Egypt and on the way here shall ever

enter into the land I promised them, except those

under twenty years old. Only Joshua and Caleb will

enter the land because they love Me and trust Me

with all of their hearts. The others will live their lives

in this desert until every one of them has died. And as

for your children you said would be taken as slaves,

I will give them the land you could have had. I will

take care of them as I promised to take care of you,

but you made your choice and refused to trust Me.”

That was very fair.

Sometimes people say the Promised Land was

like a way to teach us about heaven, and I think this

is true. All of our lives the Lord tries to get us to

love and trust Him just as He did with the Israelites.

If we continue to love and trust Him, then when we

die it is like coming to the river to cross into the

Promised Land, into paradise. God takes those who

love and trust Him into paradise, and the others are

not allowed to enter. Trusting God is having faith in

Him; it is believing He never tells lies and everything

He says is true.

So the Lord led the people away from Canaan

and into the desert. Satan thought he had won a great

victory, but he was wrong. God was using this situa-

tion to teach millions of people who would one day

read the Bible that they must trust the Lord or never

enter heaven. And what is more, the children of the

untrusting Israelites would return to this place later

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and take the land. But those who refused to believe

the Lord would all die in the desert, Just Because