In the sorrowful history of Israel in the wilderness, it is truly refreshing to find one like Caleb. While not one of the great public figures, as Moses, Aaron or Joshua, he was one of the heads of the children of Israel, of the honored tribe of Judah. He trod the wilderness with his brethren, but assuredly with lighter heart and firmer step than they. In this respect he very blessedly illustrates what the earnest of the Spirit is, and at the same time is a type of that class of “unknown” and “yet well known” Christians who, without murmuring and strife, are steadily wending their way to that rest of which the Lord Himself has spoken. Historically, Caleb presents to us a feature which we do not find even in Moses himself. He had known Egypt for the first forty years of his life; he had trodden Canaan forty days; he had gone through the wilderness, had passed over Jordan into the possession of Canaan, and was still full of manly vigor and courage. He was one of those who, through faith, had obtained promises and was not satisfied until he was in actual possession.
We may well ask what kept Caleb and Joshua from being worn out by the trials of the wilderness — trials which had worn out all their generation? The answer is found in Caleb’s own words: “Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children’s forever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God” (Josh. 14:7-97Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. 8Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt: but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. (Joshua 14:7‑9)).
Where Your Treasure Is
Caleb owned that it was a pleasant land which the Lord gave to the children of Israel, and his heart was set upon it. He could discern the difference between Egypt and Canaan — between the land which was cultivated with all the appliance of human skill and the “land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven” (Num. 11:1111And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? (Numbers 11:11)). His treasure was in the land, and his heart was there. Others esteemed Egypt preferable to the wilderness when their hearts were discouraged from going up to possess Canaan on account of the difficulties in the way; Caleb esteemed Canaan, with all the difficulty of entering into it, as far more precious than Egypt. He had tasted the fruit of Canaan; his eyes had beheld it, and his own feet had trodden it. It was this which made him tread the wilderness with such elastic steps. Besides this, he had the sure word of the Lord’s promise to support him. He knew the certain end unto which his wanderings must lead. As his contemporaries wasted away, how solemn must have been the admonition to his soul against the sin of unbelief; how forcibly must the rapid passing away of that evil generation have been!
Well indeed Peter says, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). If the Spirit of God shows to us the things which are freely given to us of God, He does not show them as in the distant future, but, being Himself the earnest of the inheritance, He now glorifies Jesus, taking of His things and showing them unto us, so that we can taste and handle our own blessings. We are also solemnly warned as to the evil of unbelief, in clinging to objects that are soon to pass away.
Where the Lord Was
It is not presumption to answer to the testimony of God to our own souls, so that Caleb could say, “I wholly followed the Lord my God.” Caleb had searched the land, following the Lord his God there, and no enemy could set upon him. He had seen that the land “was exceeding good,” and he reckoned on the good pleasure of the Lord in His people. “If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us.” The soul of Caleb rested entirely on the grace and power of God which had caused Israel to triumph at the Red Sea and had kept the spies in searching the land. The same grace and power could alone lead them into possession of the land. On this, and this alone, he reckoned. Only let his soul recognize where the Lord was, and he could see victory.
Where the Lord was, there was both grace and power. Caleb also had to learn that same grace and power for forty years in the wilderness and which eventually put him in actual possession of the very part of the land which he had trodden with his feet. He fully followed the Lord through the wilderness, and he knew Him there as his guardian and guide whom he had known as a mighty deliverer out of Egypt and who had introduced him into Canaan and enabled him to see and search the land and know its fruits.
The Earnest of the Spirit
If Caleb needed to have his heart occupied with Canaan to cheer his spirit in the wilderness, we not only need the earnest of the Spirit for the same purpose, but also to keep us from the seductive power of the spirit of the world. And this He does by showing to us the things freely given to us of God — heavenly things that have not even been conceived by man’s heart. As the earnest, He leads the soul to long to see Christ as He is and to be like Him, and thus, too, He leads in the path of fully following the Lord. To be ever with the Lord is the blessing in prospect, but to have Him always with us now is the consequent earnest. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:2020Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:20)). “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:1818I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. (John 14:18)). How this is made good by the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, the other Comforter!
“As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.” All the weary round of forty years of toil in the wilderness had not impaired the strength of Caleb. “If so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, even as the Lord said,” says Caleb. There is no doubt or uncertainty in this “if so be.” It was only reckoning on the Lord’s faithfulness to His promise and on His ability to perform it, at the same time implying that this was his only ground of confidence. But with what confirmed confidence could he reckon on the Lord’s being with him, whose presence had been with him when he searched the land and whose presence had been with him while traversing the wilderness! And is it not so with the believer now? Quickened by the Spirit when dead in trespasses and sins, he has known the same Spirit as revealing Jesus to his soul as the salvation of God. He knows the same Spirit as the abiding Comforter, glorifying Jesus, taking of His things and showing them unto the soul. He knows, by the presence of the same Comforter, that God has called him unto His own kingdom and glory, and that same Spirit now shows to the soul what is the hope of God’s calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
Christian Truth, adapted