The Children of Israel displayed their faith in God’s salvation by leaving Egypt. Passing through the Red Sea, they were saved from bondage—an allegory of deliverance from the bondage of the Devil. However, during their journey to the land promised them, the majority of them perished in the wilderness.

And wherefore were they destroyed? —by failing to trust in the Lord, fully follow Him, and obey all of His commandments, as written:

“But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them who had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Being initially saved from Egypt by faith after passing through the Red Sea, the Children of Israel failed to believe the Lord when tested in the wilderness of Sin. They had received salvation, but they hardened their hearts when they faced suffering.

They became angry with God and complained when they were required to pay a price to inherit the kingdom promised them. They refused to rest on the promise that the Lord would bring them through the wilderness to the land. Offended by their sufferings and trials, they murmured against God and fell into various lusts and temptations that ended with their destruction. They were not allowed to enter the Promised Land, and the promise was passed on to their children.

Salvation begins at the Red Sea (the blood of Jesus). It then leads through the perils and temptations in the wilderness until passing over Jordan when the promised land is fully attained. Jesus himself was tempted in the wilderness and overcame, which was necessary for his resurrection and our salvation. When people are saved, they are given promises, some of which are rewards fully realized after the journey to obtain them. There are battles to fight to win them, with the promise that God will go before you to give you the victory. Just as Israel was commanded to fight, we must also fight to drive out the seven nations greater than ourselves.

We must sanctify ourselves unto holiness by fighting for perfection every day until the perfect day—and greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world. We must perfect our faith, not rest on it, as we have not yet entered his rest.

The teaching of “faith alone” appears once in the Bible in James 2:24. James writes, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.”

True faith is never alone; it is accompanied by action, and without action, faith is dead.

Devils believe in God; they also believe in salvation. Devils see souls delivered from their hands as they pass through the Red Sea, but they cannot pursue them through Jesus’ blood. However, devils did not believe every word of God from the beginning, or they would not have resisted unto damnation.

Only by faith in every word of God does man live, not by the initial saving of the soul without the faith to follow every word of God once you are saved. Those who draw back perish in the wilderness of temptation and are lost.

Jesus said, “He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”

Only if we endure to the end are we accepted into heaven. “Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” (Hebrews 3:6)

“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” (Hebrews 3:14).

“Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” (Hebrews 4:11). There is no “once saved, always saved” without continuance in the faith until the end.