In this episode God told Moses to send spies to search out the land of Canaan. When the men returned to the camp, they presented the fruit of the land and gave their report.

They started their report on a positive note. They said, the land was a good land, a land that flowed with milk and honey.

But after that positive statement, everything else they said was negative. They said, they weren’t able to go up against the people because they were stronger than they were. The giants were there and so were the Amorites, Hittites, Amalekites, Jebusites and the Canaanites.

And many of the cities were walled like Jericho. "The walls of Jericho were said to be made of thick mud bricks, about 20 feet high and 6 feet thick, upon a mound that was 40 feet high. So from the ground the city appeared to be about 70 feet high."

In light of the obstacles, they believed there was no way they could possess the land. Yet, one of the spies named Caleb spoke up, He was ready to go possess the land, immediately. He did not regard the gigantic sons of Anak because His eyes were on the fruit of the land and the promises God gave them, that He would go before them and drive out their enemies.

He thought about how God made Pharaoh let them go, when he really didn’t want to. He thought about how God rained down fiery hail from heaven, upon the Egyptians. He thought about how God drowned Pharaoh’s army in the red sea.

But in the eyes of the other spies, God had done those acts. They had nothing to do with what happened in Egypt. God had done it all. He weakened Pharaoh and made him let them go. All they had to do was pack up their belongings and leave Egypt. God defeated the Egyptian army, they didn’t have to fight against them, they didn’t have to draw the sword, all they had to do was walk through the Red Sea until they reached the other side.

This time things were different, now they were required to do something. And they believed they couldn’t do it, because they were like grasshoppers compared to the men in the cities and the walls they lived behind.

Because of their report, the other 599,988 fighting men became afraid, and did not want to bother fighting for the land. Their fear of death and lack of faith in God would keep them from inheriting the promised land. The entire nation will suffer because of their evil report.

The 12 spies minus 2, were unlike the 12 men chosen to search out the promised land called the Kingdom of God. And in their searching they found Jesus the Christ, the first fruit of God’s Kingdom.

They found the Kingdom of God was a good land, a large land, worthy of fighting for. They gave a good report about it but many of the children of Israel, did not want to possess the new promised land, although they saw the fruit called God’s Son and all the miracles He performed in their midst.

Unlike the spies, the men Christ chose, fought for the Kingdom of God. They were not afraid to die. By faith Christ’s disciples fought against the kingdom of darkness and the giants of false doctrine.

The disciples wrote reports about the Kingdom of God and the fruit they saw and held. Their report is still read in the Bible and proclaimed around the world, every day.

Will we believe their report? John wrote several reports about Christ and the Kingdom of God.

Once he was taken to heaven and was told to write down what he saw and heard. On that occasion, He was told to write letters to the 7 churches that existed during his time but were also types and shadows of 7 types of churches that will exist throughout church history, until Christ returns.

He told his readers that the report, they were about to read was based on what he saw and heard, and things Jesus personally, told him to write, prophecies about things that would surely come to pass.

Here's the text:

Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Revelation 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand

Revelaiton 1:4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.