What was God's controversy with Israel at Kadesh Barnea?
God’s controversy with Israel at Kadesh Barnea was their unbelief. The land was before them, but they could not take God at His word that they could take it. This unbelief—not the earlier golden-calf idolatry—was the issue that brought His wrath.
Les teaches that when Israel came to Kadesh Barnea, the land was in front of them, and it was not the unbelief they practiced around the golden calf that brought in the wrath of God; that was easy for Him to forgive. Rather, His controversy was their unbelief that they could not take the land God said they could. It was nothing else but the fact that they could not take Him at His word. Les also compares this to millions of good people who will come before the great white throne; their sin is unbelief, because they cannot believe what God said concerning the work of the cross.