Passover to Tabernacles - Part Five Nov 28, 2021 by: John Herbert | Series: Passover to Tabernacles Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T002_20211128.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Ex17:6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” We shall continue to look at Moses striking the Rock. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday November 28th 2021 Passover to Tabernacles Part 5 1). Ex 17:4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” We had seen last time that Moses striking the Rock in Horeb provides another facet to the striking of the Passover lambs while in Egypt. That which came from the struck Rock, water, can be understood in a parallel sense to the flesh of the lambs that was to be eaten following their striking on the night of Passover. a). The flesh of the lambs in Exodus Chapter 12, the water from the Rock in Exodus Chapter 17 and that which came between the two in Exodus Chapter 16, the manna, put together, provide the complete picture of God’s provision for His eternally saved people to make their journey from the land of their birth to the land of their calling. And all three picture the same thing. b). And although this was a physical provision for the first generation of Israel, 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, makes it quite clear that what God provided was not merely physical but spiritual as well – 1 Co10:3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. To understand what is pictured through the flesh of the lambs and the manna we can look to – De 8:2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. And that which the Lord had spoken to them, through which they could have had life, was the same Word spoken to them to test them whether they ‘would keep His commandments or not’. It was the Law given at Sinai within the context of the purpose for Israel’s creation and the reason for Israel’s calling; to rule at the head of the nations and be God’s witnesses to the ends of the earth - Ex 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ The flesh of the lambs then, and the manna, both picture God’s Word. And that pictured through the water that came from the Rock, is also a picture of the same Word of God but through the association water has with washing it takes us to that which God had said concerning the priestly ministry in the Tabernacle and the sacrifices for sin that find their fulfillment in the Day of Atonement. That aspect of God’s Word then that would provide cleansing for those who had already appropriated the blood of the Passover lambs. And this was exemplified in the washing of the hands and feet of the priests at the bronze laver at the door to the Tabernacle before entering the holy place. c). We will also note, that although this first generation of Israel both ‘ate and drank’ God’s spiritual provision for them, this action on their part of itself, was not enough to guarantee receiving their inheritance– 1 Co 10:5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. That which God had spoken to them, to provide for their spiritual progress, their cleansing, and life in the land of their inheritance, was not accompanied by faithful obedience to that Word on their part. And we can understand this by looking at a familiar verse from James – Jas 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. The first generation of Israel can be characterized as those who were hearers of the Word only, and not doers. And the consequence of this we have just read in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, ‘their bodies were scattered in the wilderness’. Delivered from Egypt by the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs that God had provided, but woefully short of realizing their promised inheritance in the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Heb 3:17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And again from 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 we have seen that ‘with most of them’, all except Joshua and Caleb, ‘God was not well pleased’. And once more from Hebrews we can see that unbelief was at the heart of God’s displeasure – Heb 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And as we had seen last time, the flesh of the Passover lambs eaten each year throughout the wilderness journey, along with the manna and the water from the struck Rock, all find their antitype in the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ - Jn 6: 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal [age lasting] life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” [will have life for the age] Jesus is, according to John’s Gospel, ‘the Word made flesh’, and in this it is easy to see that to eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is to be continually filled with the spiritually discerned written Word of God that is alive – Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful………… Mt 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” The Lord’s flesh and ‘the living bread which came down from heaven’ are one and the same; the Lord is ‘the Bread of life’. To ‘eat’ one is to eat the other, to continually take in the Word of God – Jn 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. And back to James – Jas 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. The Word of God that we are to receive with meekness is the pure unadulterated, unleavened Word, the Word of sincerity and truth, which we have already seen through the foundational type found at the first Passover in Egypt – Ex 12:8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. And the Word of God pictured through the water from the Rock, can be found in the antitype in – Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And we can also see this which the Lord said to His disciples in – Jn 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. This washing of water by the Word that brings cleansing for the sins of the saved is the very thing that the Lord taught on the night of the last supper. A teaching that takes us back to the priestly ministry in the Tabernacle that provides the type and forward to the Lord’s High Priestly ministry, following His resurrection and ascension, in the Heavenly Tabernacle that is the antitype – Jn 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” That which God has given us through the written Word teaches us that we must go to our High Priest to receive cleansing for our sin. And as we do this, so the written Word made flesh Himself cleanses us from our sin. And He does this through His blood upon the Mercy Seat – 1 Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. And if we look at the end of v10, ‘His word is not in us’, we will realize that we can only have the Word of God in us if we eat His flesh and drink His blood. Christ’s flesh and His blood both picture His Word, just as we saw with the flesh of the lambs, the manna, and the water from the Rock, with His blood taking us to that part of the Word that provides cleansing for our sin – Jn 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. The water speaks of the washing of water by the Word, our cleansing from sin, and the only way our sin can be cleansed is through the blood of Christ Heb 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. [from sin] And it is the same blood that the Lord shed as Israel’s Passover Lamb that is on the Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Tabernacle for the cleansing of our sin. And it is because of Christ’s death as Israel’s Passover Lamb that we are now able to eat the flesh of the Lamb and drink His blood. d). One last thing to keep in mind about the verses we have read from John’s Gospel. Let’s remember that this Gospel was written during the time of the re-offer of the heavenly Kingdom by the one new man in Christ, to that same generation of eternally save Jews alive at the Lord’s first advent. A gospel built around eight signs all of which pointed to Christ and His Kingdom. And John’s Gospel is the only place that Jesus’ statement about eating His flesh and drinking His blood is recorded. Through this statement though, John’s Jewish audience were to have made the connection with the Passover in Egypt and all that followed from it. And as John began His Gospel in the same way that Moses began Genesis, it is easy to see that the nation was being offered the opportunity to bring to completion God’s purpose for them that was not completed in Moses’ day Jn 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. And because of what is recorded in John’s Gospel, along with so much else in Scripture, it is clear that Israel cannot fulfill her purpose before the blood of the Lamb has been applied with the eating and drinking that is to follow. All of which will take us to the end of the Tribulation and the seventy-five days that will follow. Days that we will look at later in this series. 2). Now, to return to the striking of the Rock. Striking the Rock, which was Christ, seen in Exodus Chapter 17, is one of two recorded occasions when the Rock was struck. The first in Exodus took place at the beginning of the wilderness journey and the second recorded in Numbers took place close to the end of the forty years. a). If we read the verses from Numbers, we will see something different from that recorded in Exodus – Nu 20:1 Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. 2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD as He commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the LORD, and He was hallowed among them. The complaining of the children of Israel remained the same as we had seen in Exodus, and God’s promise to provide water from the Rock remained the same also, but we will see from v8 that Moses was commanded to speak to the Rock NOT strike it as he had been commanded in Exodus. b). And we can see that because of Moses’ act of disobedience in striking the Rock twice rather than speaking to the Rock, he was not allowed to enter the land which God had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. c). And yet we also see, that despite Moses’ disobedience, water still came from the Rock, and according to v11, the ‘water came out abundantly’. d). The Scriptures have established that the Rock struck in Exodus and Numbers was Christ. This we have seen from 1 Corinthians Chapter 10. And as the striking of the Rock in Exodus provides a picture of Christ being struck at Calvary, then Moses striking the Rock twice in Numbers must also picture Christ being struck at Calvary. e). So, we would need to ask the questions, ‘Why has God deemed it necessary to picture Christ’s crucifixion through the same action of striking the Rock, once in obedience and once in disobedience?’ And ‘What do these two teach about Christ’s crucifixion and what would follow?’ f). The answers to our questions are not difficult to find, providing we understand exactly what took place at Golgotha two thousand years ago. 3). When we think of the Lord’s first advent we inevitably think about His suffering and crucifixion as the sacrificial Lamb, but this was not the way that Jesus presented Himself to the nation of Israel at all - 2 Sa 7:12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. We will remember these words that God spoke to David concerning David’s ‘Son’, whose throne and Kingdom would be established forever, a Son far beyond Solomon in time – 2 Sa 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD; and You have also spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come. [the idea of in the future] And if we go to the genealogy that begins Matthew’s Gospel the connection is made clear – Mt 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Jesus is the ‘Son’ of David promised to him in 2 Samuel Chapter 7 and His regal status is clearly stated in Matthew Chapter 2 – Mt 2:2….. “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? And the Lord’s regal status is shown again in – Jn 1:11 He came to His own, [His own things, the throne and Kingdom of David] and His own [people] did not receive Him. And the message that was from the beginning, beginning with John the Baptist a message of a King and His Kingdom, not a message of a sacrificial Lamb – Mt 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And even on the day of His death, the Lord’s regal status was again made clear – Mt 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”……………. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Israel’s religious leaders knew very well that Jesus had come as their King, and this is seen in the parable He gave of the vinedressers, which appears in all three synoptic Gospels – Mr 12:6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. It was Christ the King whom the Jews killed at Passover, showing their complete rejection of His regality by pledging allegiance to a pagan king who perceived himself as deity – Jn 19:14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” And for this action of killing their King there were serious consequences for the Jewish people, which are still seen today – Mt 27:25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” So, what does this have to do with striking the Rock as recorded in Numbers Chapter 20? Well, it’s all about the Rock. a). Although both words translated ‘Rock’ in Exodus and Numbers mean, Rock, they are two different words, with the word for Rock in Numbers having the idea of height and elevation. And in the idea of height and elevation we find Christ the King, who did not come to the Jewish people to be struck, but to be spoken to. b). And the words that should have been spoken to their King, to the elevated Rock, were the words of national repentance, ‘repent for the Kingdom of the heavens is at hand’. We will need to come back to this next time if we remain and the Lord is willing. And we have prayed. Passover to Tabernacles - Part Five Nov 28, 2021 Speaker: John Herbert Series: Passover to Tabernacles Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T002_20211128.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Ex17:6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” We shall continue to look at Moses striking the Rock. The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday November 28th 2021 Passover to Tabernacles Part 5 1). Ex 17:4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?” We had seen last time that Moses striking the Rock in Horeb provides another facet to the striking of the Passover lambs while in Egypt. That which came from the struck Rock, water, can be understood in a parallel sense to the flesh of the lambs that was to be eaten following their striking on the night of Passover. a). The flesh of the lambs in Exodus Chapter 12, the water from the Rock in Exodus Chapter 17 and that which came between the two in Exodus Chapter 16, the manna, put together, provide the complete picture of God’s provision for His eternally saved people to make their journey from the land of their birth to the land of their calling. And all three picture the same thing. b). And although this was a physical provision for the first generation of Israel, 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, makes it quite clear that what God provided was not merely physical but spiritual as well – 1 Co10:3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. To understand what is pictured through the flesh of the lambs and the manna we can look to – De 8:2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. And that which the Lord had spoken to them, through which they could have had life, was the same Word spoken to them to test them whether they ‘would keep His commandments or not’. It was the Law given at Sinai within the context of the purpose for Israel’s creation and the reason for Israel’s calling; to rule at the head of the nations and be God’s witnesses to the ends of the earth - Ex 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ The flesh of the lambs then, and the manna, both picture God’s Word. And that pictured through the water that came from the Rock, is also a picture of the same Word of God but through the association water has with washing it takes us to that which God had said concerning the priestly ministry in the Tabernacle and the sacrifices for sin that find their fulfillment in the Day of Atonement. That aspect of God’s Word then that would provide cleansing for those who had already appropriated the blood of the Passover lambs. And this was exemplified in the washing of the hands and feet of the priests at the bronze laver at the door to the Tabernacle before entering the holy place. c). We will also note, that although this first generation of Israel both ‘ate and drank’ God’s spiritual provision for them, this action on their part of itself, was not enough to guarantee receiving their inheritance– 1 Co 10:5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. That which God had spoken to them, to provide for their spiritual progress, their cleansing, and life in the land of their inheritance, was not accompanied by faithful obedience to that Word on their part. And we can understand this by looking at a familiar verse from James – Jas 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. The first generation of Israel can be characterized as those who were hearers of the Word only, and not doers. And the consequence of this we have just read in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10, ‘their bodies were scattered in the wilderness’. Delivered from Egypt by the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs that God had provided, but woefully short of realizing their promised inheritance in the land covenanted to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – Heb 3:17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. And again from 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 we have seen that ‘with most of them’, all except Joshua and Caleb, ‘God was not well pleased’. And once more from Hebrews we can see that unbelief was at the heart of God’s displeasure – Heb 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. And as we had seen last time, the flesh of the Passover lambs eaten each year throughout the wilderness journey, along with the manna and the water from the struck Rock, all find their antitype in the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ - Jn 6: 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal [age lasting] life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.” [will have life for the age] Jesus is, according to John’s Gospel, ‘the Word made flesh’, and in this it is easy to see that to eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is to be continually filled with the spiritually discerned written Word of God that is alive – Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful………… Mt 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” The Lord’s flesh and ‘the living bread which came down from heaven’ are one and the same; the Lord is ‘the Bread of life’. To ‘eat’ one is to eat the other, to continually take in the Word of God – Jn 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. And back to James – Jas 1:21 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. The Word of God that we are to receive with meekness is the pure unadulterated, unleavened Word, the Word of sincerity and truth, which we have already seen through the foundational type found at the first Passover in Egypt – Ex 12:8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. And the Word of God pictured through the water from the Rock, can be found in the antitype in – Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. And we can also see this which the Lord said to His disciples in – Jn 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. This washing of water by the Word that brings cleansing for the sins of the saved is the very thing that the Lord taught on the night of the last supper. A teaching that takes us back to the priestly ministry in the Tabernacle that provides the type and forward to the Lord’s High Priestly ministry, following His resurrection and ascension, in the Heavenly Tabernacle that is the antitype – Jn 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” That which God has given us through the written Word teaches us that we must go to our High Priest to receive cleansing for our sin. And as we do this, so the written Word made flesh Himself cleanses us from our sin. And He does this through His blood upon the Mercy Seat – 1 Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. And if we look at the end of v10, ‘His word is not in us’, we will realize that we can only have the Word of God in us if we eat His flesh and drink His blood. Christ’s flesh and His blood both picture His Word, just as we saw with the flesh of the lambs, the manna, and the water from the Rock, with His blood taking us to that part of the Word that provides cleansing for our sin – Jn 19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. The water speaks of the washing of water by the Word, our cleansing from sin, and the only way our sin can be cleansed is through the blood of Christ Heb 9:22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. [from sin] And it is the same blood that the Lord shed as Israel’s Passover Lamb that is on the Mercy Seat in the Heavenly Tabernacle for the cleansing of our sin. And it is because of Christ’s death as Israel’s Passover Lamb that we are now able to eat the flesh of the Lamb and drink His blood. d). One last thing to keep in mind about the verses we have read from John’s Gospel. Let’s remember that this Gospel was written during the time of the re-offer of the heavenly Kingdom by the one new man in Christ, to that same generation of eternally save Jews alive at the Lord’s first advent. A gospel built around eight signs all of which pointed to Christ and His Kingdom. And John’s Gospel is the only place that Jesus’ statement about eating His flesh and drinking His blood is recorded. Through this statement though, John’s Jewish audience were to have made the connection with the Passover in Egypt and all that followed from it. And as John began His Gospel in the same way that Moses began Genesis, it is easy to see that the nation was being offered the opportunity to bring to completion God’s purpose for them that was not completed in Moses’ day Jn 20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. And because of what is recorded in John’s Gospel, along with so much else in Scripture, it is clear that Israel cannot fulfill her purpose before the blood of the Lamb has been applied with the eating and drinking that is to follow. All of which will take us to the end of the Tribulation and the seventy-five days that will follow. Days that we will look at later in this series. 2). Now, to return to the striking of the Rock. Striking the Rock, which was Christ, seen in Exodus Chapter 17, is one of two recorded occasions when the Rock was struck. The first in Exodus took place at the beginning of the wilderness journey and the second recorded in Numbers took place close to the end of the forty years. a). If we read the verses from Numbers, we will see something different from that recorded in Exodus – Nu 20:1 Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. 2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the LORD as He commanded him. 10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 12 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” 13 This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the LORD, and He was hallowed among them. The complaining of the children of Israel remained the same as we had seen in Exodus, and God’s promise to provide water from the Rock remained the same also, but we will see from v8 that Moses was commanded to speak to the Rock NOT strike it as he had been commanded in Exodus. b). And we can see that because of Moses’ act of disobedience in striking the Rock twice rather than speaking to the Rock, he was not allowed to enter the land which God had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. c). And yet we also see, that despite Moses’ disobedience, water still came from the Rock, and according to v11, the ‘water came out abundantly’. d). The Scriptures have established that the Rock struck in Exodus and Numbers was Christ. This we have seen from 1 Corinthians Chapter 10. And as the striking of the Rock in Exodus provides a picture of Christ being struck at Calvary, then Moses striking the Rock twice in Numbers must also picture Christ being struck at Calvary. e). So, we would need to ask the questions, ‘Why has God deemed it necessary to picture Christ’s crucifixion through the same action of striking the Rock, once in obedience and once in disobedience?’ And ‘What do these two teach about Christ’s crucifixion and what would follow?’ f). The answers to our questions are not difficult to find, providing we understand exactly what took place at Golgotha two thousand years ago. 3). When we think of the Lord’s first advent we inevitably think about His suffering and crucifixion as the sacrificial Lamb, but this was not the way that Jesus presented Himself to the nation of Israel at all - 2 Sa 7:12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. We will remember these words that God spoke to David concerning David’s ‘Son’, whose throne and Kingdom would be established forever, a Son far beyond Solomon in time – 2 Sa 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 19 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD; and You have also spoken of Your servant's house for a great while to come. [the idea of in the future] And if we go to the genealogy that begins Matthew’s Gospel the connection is made clear – Mt 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Jesus is the ‘Son’ of David promised to him in 2 Samuel Chapter 7 and His regal status is clearly stated in Matthew Chapter 2 – Mt 2:2….. “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? And the Lord’s regal status is shown again in – Jn 1:11 He came to His own, [His own things, the throne and Kingdom of David] and His own [people] did not receive Him. And the message that was from the beginning, beginning with John the Baptist a message of a King and His Kingdom, not a message of a sacrificial Lamb – Mt 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” And even on the day of His death, the Lord’s regal status was again made clear – Mt 27:11 Now Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”……………. 37 And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Israel’s religious leaders knew very well that Jesus had come as their King, and this is seen in the parable He gave of the vinedressers, which appears in all three synoptic Gospels – Mr 12:6 Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard. It was Christ the King whom the Jews killed at Passover, showing their complete rejection of His regality by pledging allegiance to a pagan king who perceived himself as deity – Jn 19:14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” And for this action of killing their King there were serious consequences for the Jewish people, which are still seen today – Mt 27:25 And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.” So, what does this have to do with striking the Rock as recorded in Numbers Chapter 20? Well, it’s all about the Rock. a). Although both words translated ‘Rock’ in Exodus and Numbers mean, Rock, they are two different words, with the word for Rock in Numbers having the idea of height and elevation. And in the idea of height and elevation we find Christ the King, who did not come to the Jewish people to be struck, but to be spoken to. b). And the words that should have been spoken to their King, to the elevated Rock, were the words of national repentance, ‘repent for the Kingdom of the heavens is at hand’. We will need to come back to this next time if we remain and the Lord is willing. And we have prayed.