Kadesh By Andy Sanders

Kadesh

Andy Sanders

Kadesh was an Oasis in the wilderness, located south-west of Jerusalem and just due east of Egypt. This city played an important role in the lives of the Israelites. In Numbers Chapter 13 & 14, the Israelites arrived at Kadesh after spying out their PROMISED inheritance, the Promised Land. Sadly to say…the reports were not good. The majority of the spies (Not Caleb) said the land was filled with giants and that they would get swallowed up if they entered there. Once this report went out (Numbers Chapter 14) the people rebelled and complained. The group of Israelites got so rebellious at Kadesh that they actually went forward without the approval of their leadership and the presence of God. (Numbers 14: 44). The result of the Israelites going forward without the proper spiritual covering was utter failure.

Numbers 14: 45,’ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in those hills came down and attached them and chased them as far as Hormah.”’

When you call yourself forth, utter failure is waiting in your own horizon. The deliberate act of moving forward without the presence of God and your spiritual authority will ALWAYS kill the life from within you. Not only will it kill you spiritually, it will put into a direction that you should not be in. Some problems that Christians get into have nothing to do with God being mean to His children, it has all to do with His children doing the exact opposite of what God has told them to do. You know what happens when we play with fire? We will get burned! You know what happens when we play with God’s authority? We will be punished!

Some other important things to note about Kadesh are the fact that Miriam died at this town (Numbers 20: 1). Aaron also died there. (Numbers 20: 22-29 – Mount Hor) Neither Miriam nor Aaron could enter the Promised Land. (Their actions in Numbers Chapter twelve is worth reading again.) It is because of their actions in Kadesh that they were excluded from the future of God’s ultimate plans. Kadesh stood as a reminder to be obedient to God’s way and trust Him in the divine plan, exactly the way He wanted it done and not the way the Israelites wanted to do it.

Does this sometimes sound familiar? God often tells us what to do and how to do it, and if we are not careful, we can become just like the Israelites: unfaithful! How? By going where God told us to go, yet not doing the work exactly the way He asked. Then we wander why it did not work out. If you do not learn it the first time, you will keep getting opportunities to learn the lesson until you get it right.

When the Israelites chose to rebel and not go into the Promised Land, it opened them up to thirty seven more boring years of wandering in the wilderness. The entire generation of people had to be removed from this group because God knew that regardless of where this group was, whether in the promised Land or in the wilderness, they would spiritually kill out the up-and-coming generation.

It does not matter where you are or what position you are in, faithlessness, doubt, and hopelessness will spiritually KILL your “promised lands” in life. How many churches are out there right now just wandering from one dead beaten path to the next, literarily just moving in a big circle each year or so? Too many! Why? It is not because God is not able to take them anywhere, but because the people are attempting to move out under their own authority and not Gods. This…my friends…will always lead right into a major pruning time for that particular body.

Had this group listened to Caleb, they would have been in the promised land within the first three years. Had this have happened, they would not have had to walk through Numbers Chapters 15-21: 35. This entire section in the book of numbers was nothing but the wilderness journey of the Israelites. God has not called His children to wander. I believe the days ahead are going to be very crucial times for the body of Christ. The hour is getting late and the time is drawing near for the Bride to be united with the Lord. There is no better time right now than for the redemption of lost time to be taken serious. Too much time has been spent within the Lord’s kingdom out in the wilderness, instead of in the Promised Land.

My advice to anyone that is currently in the wilderness is to get out as quickly and as best you can. My wife and I just crossed out of the wilderness this past year. It has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. God has literally placed us to minister in over thirty churches already and now currently we are in the Grand Bahamas as I type this. What was great back in the wilderness times of our lives is nothing compared to what He has done just in the “first fruits” of our Promised Land adventure. Above all of that, we have seen God do things that have totally given us a brand new perspective of who He really is. We have also been given the great honor to meet so many hungry and loving people, willing to serve God will ALL their hearts.

Numbers 20: 9-15 (Please read this passage)

The people start complaining because they were out in the wilderness now for close to 37 years. They had left Kadesh in turmoil when they chose not to go into the Promised Land, by virtue of listening to the spies speak negative words. The people got mad and complained. Now…after 37 years, they are right back in Kadesh again and are mad because there is no water to drink. Moses gets angry and he cracks the rock with a staff two times instead of speaking to the rock. It is here that Moses’ opportunity to go into the wilderness was lost. Too many folks forfeit their tickets into the divine destiny of their lives because they do quick-tempered things at the last minute.

Numbers 27: 14,”for you both rebelled against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the people of Israel rebelled, you failed to demonstrate my holiness to them at the waters.” (These are the waters of Meribah – “bitter waters”- at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

Once again, Moses is reminded of Kadesh. This time, he is very old and his time is drawing near. He places Joshua in authority, just after he is told that he will not see the Promised Land. How sobering this must have felt for Moses to be reminded of the waters that he ushered forth by hitting the rock with his staff, next to his brother Aaron close to 37 years ago. Now Aaron & Miriam are both dead, and Moses is told that he is not going to be able to go into the Promised Lands, but he would be able to see it from a distance. I wonder what thoughts went through his mind in that moment.

Deuteronomy 34: 5,”So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Lord had said.”

God never intended for the Israelites to spend forty years out in the wilderness. The Promised Land was theirs for the taking and they could have gone after it within the first three years. You see, it isn’t that God does not want to give us advancement; it is that we normally don’t take seriously what He is really releasing to us. That is why there are so many wandering Christians filling our churches today. God said to go this way and do this. We went that way but did not bother doing the assignment exactly the way He told us. God is concerned about every detail. Look back recently in your life. When was the last time the Lord told you to do something specific? Have you accomplished it? Are you still doing the work EXACTLY the way He told you?

Deuteronomy 34: 10,”There has never been another prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

Be found headed towards the Promised Land, the place of fulfillment in your life. The destiny that God has ordained for you to fulfill. May Lord bless you and keep you safe.

God Bless,

Rev. Andy & Cathy Sanders