Year 4, Day 129: Numbers 14

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Identity, Authority

• Identity: Our true identity comes from the Father.  Only when our identity comes from God can we be obedient in ways that satisfy our person to our core.
• Authority: Our calling.  This comes from God as king.  Because He calls us as His representatives, He gives us authority to go and do His will.

Identity comes from the Father.  Authority comes from the King.  If the King and the Father are one, then identity and authority should actually be two different sides of the exact same coin.  I’m not saying that identity and authority are the same thing.  Rather, what I am saying is that if the Father has created us with a particular identity then the King will give us the authority to live into that identity.  These concepts inherently go hand in hand with one another.

We see this twice in this chapter.  In a negative example, we see that the people rebel.  As punishment, God tells the people that they will wander through the wilderness and not take possession of the Promised Land.  God removes that from their identity.  Instead, the identity of this generation will be the generation that wandered through the wilderness.  God has given them the authority and power to survive in the wilderness until the next generation takes over.  But what God has not given them is the authority to take the Promised Land.  So when they go into the land, they discover they do not have the authority to do what God has not given them as a part of their identity.  They fail in taking the Promised Land because it is no longer their identity.

In a positive example, we see Joshua and Caleb.  They do live out of their identity and speak to God’s ability to fight for them.  Thus, it is still a part of God’s identity for them to enter into the Promised Land.  We know that Joshua will rise up in power and be the leaders of the people when that time is right.  Caleb will also be there beside Joshua.  Why do Joshua and Caleb have the authority to rise in power and lead the next generation into the Promised Land?  They have the authority from the King because the Father has rewarded them with that as a continued part of their identity.

When God gives us identity, we also have the authority to act in our identity.

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