It is of the utmost importance to note here that it was unbelief that kept Israel out of Canaan on the occasion now before us. The inspired commentary in Hebrews iii. places this beyond all question. “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” It might perhaps be said that the time was not come for Israel’s entrance upon the land Of Canaan. The iniquity of the Amorites had not yet reached its culminating point. But this is not the reason why Israel refused to enter the land. They knew nothing and thought nothing about the iniquity of the Amorites. Scripture is as plain as possible: “They could not enter in,” not because of the iniquity of the Amorites—not because the time was not come, but simply “because of unbelief.” They ought to have entered. They were responsible to do so, and they were judged for not doing so. The way was open. The judgment of faith, as uttered by faithful Caleb, was clear and unhesitating—“Let us go up _at once_, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” They were as well able at that moment as they could ever be at any moment, inasmuch as the One who had given them the land was the spring of their ability to enter upon it and possess it. It is well to see this, and to ponder it deeply. There is a certain style of speaking of the counsels, purposes, and decrees of God—of the enactments of His moral government, and of the times and seasons which He has put in His own power—which goes far to sweep away the very foundations of human responsibility. This must be carefully guarded against. We must ever bear in mind that man’s responsibility rests on what is _revealed_, not on what is _secret_. Israel was responsible to go up at once and take possession of the land, and they were judged for not doing so. Their carcasses fell in the wilderness, because they had not faith to enter the land. And does not this convey a solemn lesson to us? Most surely. How is it that we, as Christians, so fail in making good, practically, our heavenly position? We are delivered from judgment by the _blood_ of the Lamb; we are delivered from this present world by the _death_ of Christ; but we do not, in spirit and by faith, cross the Jordan, and take possession of our heavenly inheritance. It is generally believed that Jordan is a type of death, as the end of our natural life in this world. This, in one sense, is true; but how was it that when Israel did at length cross the Jordan they had to begin to fight? Assuredly we shall not have any fighting when we actually get to heaven. The spirits of those who have departed in the faith of Christ are not fighting in heaven. They are not in conflict in any shape or form. They are at rest. They are waiting for the morning of the resurrection; but they wait in rest, not in conflict.