The Full Forty

Psalms 95:10 KJV

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

God doesn't hold grudges as we think of them. But God is not our equal as we think of fellow men.

Here is Israel as an Old Testament object lesson; one that is reiterated in the New Testament, demonstrating that time does not erase from the memory of God, the grievousness of sin nor does it somehow assuage His judgment against that sin. When Israel rebelled against God and refused to enter the Promised Land, God pronounced that the whole generation would die in the wilderness before Israel would be offered another opportunity to enter.

Forty years is a life time of experience for mankind.

• There were further sins
• There were also some shows of faith

But God never changed His position nor softened His judgment regarding Israel and the Promised Land.

• They did indeed wander those forty years
• The generation did indeed die in the wilderness

Only two members of the original generation entered the Promised Land: Joshua and Caleb. Even Moses and Aaron eventually died in the wilderness.

God is gracious and full of mercy. He is quick to save any who call upon Christ as Saviour. But He is unchanging and immutable when it comes to His pronounced judgment. His judgment of the lost in hell and the Lake of Fire

• Will happen
• Exactly as it is described
• For as long as God's Word says

Prudence says to come quickly for mercy and grace to help.