A Bad Report and Its Effects
David W Palmer
(Numbers 14:1–3 NLT) Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. {2} Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. {3} “Why is the LORD taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”
Following the evil report of the more than 80% of the prophets, we see a litany of devastating and negative consequences:
This outrageous display of fear-driven, unbelieving demonic prophesying was an irresponsible dereliction of spiritual duty, and it was a complete rejection of God, his love, and his blessing. This was tantamount to the unforgivable sin:
(Hebrews 6:4–6 NKJV) For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, {5} and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, {6} if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
As a result of the fearful, unbelieving report spread by the 10 faithless prophets, a whole generation completely lost their inheritance in God:
(Hebrews 3:16–19 NLT) And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? {17} And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? {18} And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? {19} So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.
Who were the 10 people who provoked this travesty with their preaching? They were the more than 80% of the gifted, recognized, honored leaders of the tribes of Israel. They were acknowledged by their people, recognized and empowered by Moses. And they were privileged by God to see the future he had for them. With God’s gift, the people’s empowering, and with having been shown by God the destiny of his people, they were then given a legitimate platform from which to report what God had shown them. In other words, they were genuine prophetic ministers and preachers.
The twelve spies represent the true prophetic gifts of today—called, gifted, recognized, honored, and released into their ministries. God gave them all the privilege of seeing the future, and knowing his intention for his people. However, less than 20% of them actually returned from their vision of the future and proclaimed it in the spirit that God intended—fearless love and faith.
