to Numbers chapter 20, and I'll read the first 13 verses. This is the word of God. And the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadish, and Miriam died there and was buried there. Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying, if we only had died when our brethren died before the Lord. And of course, they're talking about 38 years before in number 16 and 17. Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness that we and our animals should die here? 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. 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. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, take the rod, you and your brother Aaron together, or 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. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. and he said to them, here now, you rebels, must we bring water for you out of this rock? 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. 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. This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and he was hallowed among them. Thus ends our reading. Let's ask God's blessing on his word. Father, again, having read your holy, infallible, and inspired word, a word that has such sweetness, such power, But Lord, again, it's a word that without your Holy Spirit we cannot see it, we cannot understand it. Father, be with me, be with my mouth, bring forth a meditation that is pleasing to you. And Father, we pray too that you be with each one here present, each one listening. that you would strengthen them and encourage them through the word, and that for those, again, for those that do not yet know you as Lord and Savior, have mercy, oh Lord, and open their hearts and turn them, that they might know the Lord of life, our Lord Jesus Christ. All these things we ask in his name alone, amen. This evening we are continuing our study of the Lord's Prayer that we began a couple of weeks ago. And we're looking at the first petition that Jesus told us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Christians ought to pray this petition, this request, first. This is the first request, and I sense to me that that means that it's the most important request That's on the list, right? You usually would put the most important thing first. So our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. This is the first request that we bring to the Lord. So why? And I think there's at least a couple of reasons. For one thing, because it's a statement of purpose. It is a word which is given to remind us of who we are and why we exist. As redeemed sons and daughters of the most high God in Christ Jesus, we now live to glorify, to exalt, and to lift up the name of God. Jesus knew exactly what he was doing when he gave this petition first. Our Lord is reminding us that our whole existence now as saved sons and daughters of the Most High God is to glorify the name of God. By petitioning God to let your name be made holy or sanctified, we ourselves are reminded that this is why the Lord has redeemed us. When Christians pray this petition, we are reminded that the hallowing of the name begins in and with us. So when we pray, we first look at ourselves. We don't look out, we look in. So when we pray, let your name be hallowed, that prayer has to start in our own heart. May I hallow your name. It begins in and with us. Yes, we are praying that the whole world would turn and praise and exalt and glorify the God of gods and the king of kings. But before we can look out to see the name of God hallowed, we first have to see it hallowed in ourselves. Father, even as I petition that you let your name be made holy in this world, I ask that this petition would be fulfilled in my own heart and life. Which brings us to the second point. Praying this petition is also designed to make us ask, what does it mean to hallow the name of the Lord? When we ask or petition God to let his name be hallowed, and even as we ask God that his name would be hallowed in and by us, he's teaching us in his word and through his spirit what it means. So when we study Numbers 20, now turning to our text, we see that Moses, the servant of God and the giver of God's law, was judged by God for not hallowing the name of God. And so, how did Moses fail to hallow the name of God? But yet, at the same time, the name of God was hallowed. Right? That's the mystery that we talked about last week. There's something very mysterious happening here. In verse 12, the Lord says, But in verse 13 it says, this was the water of Meribah because the children of Israel contended with the Lord. So notice something. The Lord himself is testifying right there that when earlier they're contending, it says, the text says that they were contending against Moses and Aaron. But the Lord says at the end, no, they're contending with me. They're arguing with me. They're fighting against me. And so there's something amazing that's happening here, because if you go 38 years before, to number 16 and number 17, what you see is that when the people of Israel did that, a bunch of people ended up dead. The wrath of God went out and started to destroy people. Because these people are rebels against God and against His anointed leaders. But yet, that does not happen here. Nobody dies here. Nobody's killed here. There's no blood shed. and yet the name of God is hallowed. So that's the mystery that we're trying to figure out and trying to understand. So in Numbers 20, God clearly revealed to Moses what he wanted him to do, but Moses didn't believe. So Moses disobeyed and struck the rock and yelled at the people. Excuse me. And in the infinite graciousness of God, the rock still yielded its water, but Moses' disobedience sent the wrong message to the people of God. And so this is the question I'm about to ask. This is the heart of the whole thing. What was the message that the Lord wanted his people to receive from him through the flowering rod of Aaron and speaking to the rock, which would then bring forth its water? So, the intended message of Aaron's rod and speaking to the rock. So first of all, the flowering rod of Aaron. What does the flowering rod of Aaron speak? What is the message that it speaks to the children of Israel? And I've given you a handout, and we talked about it last week, and the answer, of course, is found there. Numbers chapter 17 right because you know, the question is what rod is it because he ends up hitting it with his rod And so in verses eight and nine, it says, take the rod. So which rod is that? Is that his rod or what rod is that? And it's in number 17 that we find out, no, the rod that is before the Lord, and if you look at verse nine of our text, so Moses took the rod from before the Lord. His rod was not in before the Lord. He held it in his hand. The guy's 120 years old. He's got a staff, right? He's using that every day. It's not in the holy place. It's not before the Ark of the Covenant. But what rod is in the holy place? What rod is before the Lord? And of course, that's the flowering rod that we find in number 17. And this is a sign for just such an occasion. And the Lord said to Moses, number 17, verse 10, the Lord said to Moses, bring Aaron's rod back before the testimony. And the testimony, brothers and sisters, is just another way to speak of the law of God. And remember, the law of God was placed in the Ark of the Covenant, the two tables of the law. And again and again, it's referred to as the testimony. So the rod is placed before the Ark, which has the testimony or the law of God. So Aaron's rod, which must have still been alive, right? If he would have just picked up a stick and said, here's Aaron's rod. No, that rod must have looked exactly like it did 38 years beforehand. And by the way, I mentioned that in prayer a little bit, that's a very powerful thing. You take a dead stick, and not only does he put life back in it, there doesn't seem to be any leaves on it, but there's buds, and there's flowers, and there's fully ripe fruit. Right? And usually there's a time difference there, right? First you would get the buds, then you would get the flowers, and then you would get fruit, and then you would get ripe fruit. But you would not have all of them at one time, in the same time, in the same place, on this one rod. And that's exactly what happens. It's like the past, the present, and the future. There's something beautiful and powerful about that thing that God did. So, But what it is, is that Aaron's rod, which must have still been alive when Moses displayed it, was likely to be a living reminder of the horrible judgment that God had imposed upon the Israelites 38 years before. Aaron's rod was a sign of God's holy wrath and judgment against sin. The Word of God reveals that God's justice and judgment are very much a part of His glory. Now this is a very important thing, brothers and sisters, that if you go back to number 16, what it says is that the cloud came down and the glory of God appeared to everyone. If you notice our text, the glory of God appears to Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron are actually supposed to reveal this glory to the congregation. But back then, the glory that God displayed before all of them, they saw his glory, they saw the light, and then came death. How is God's justice against sin? How is God's judgment against sin part of his glory? And this is one of the things that I was trying to figure out how to say this very tightly. And I don't think I've succeeded. But I'll just say what I've got in my mind. We live in a country and a nation right now that one of the terrible things about our nation is we have forgotten what justice really means. We live in a nation where everybody seems to be quite safe most of the time. And unfortunately, we think that just is automatic. We just think that everybody has that. But I promise you, brothers and sisters, you go around the world, in most nations of the world, they do not have what we have here. What we have here was built on the word of God. Our whole justice system was designed and built on the word of God. It was built on the law of God. The justice of God represents blessing to those who obey the law and uphold the law. And it also represents wrath or judgment against those who break the law. And if you understand what the law is all about, usually it's about someone stepping into someone else's space. Someone else is taking something. Someone else is taking your life. Someone else is beating you up. Someone else is taking what belongs to you. And so when the law and the justice system are upright and righteous, it protects most of the people most of the time, which is what we have in this country. And it will not continue. You can't have a people that are ignorant of how justice works and justice will just keep continuing. It won't work that way. But justice and the condemnation of evil, according to the law, brothers and sisters, that is glorious. That is a beautiful thing. That is a good thing. It is a needful thing. But with the Israelites, they don't understand that the wrath of God against sin ends up hitting anyone who's ever sinned. So on one hand, we have the glory of God, which speaks, or the justice of God, and even the judgment of God against sin, which speaks to his glory. But is that what we were seeing and what God wants to see in Numbers chapter 20? I don't believe so. Right? So, why would you display this rod, this flowering rod? Because it would remind them It would remind that whole congregation, the last time we saw that rod, we were burying 15,000 people. The last time we saw that rod, there were dead people and crying families everywhere. The last time we saw that rod, it was a horrible, horrible day. And so that rod would have been a picture of God's wrath and fury against sin, and that was supposed to, the whole idea is that they would see that flowering rod and they would take a step back. The message of the sign of the flowering rod of Aaron was not just about reminding them about God's wrath, but that God wants to save and not to destroy. When the Lord chose Aaron's rod, he was also choosing Aaron before all of Israel to stand between Israel's holy God and a sinful people. And he was reminding them that God would make a pathway of holiness to all his people. But even more than that, when you see the sign, and all of a sudden you remember how bad it was, and then you stop from going any further. You've already broken the law, you've already rebelled. God has every right to destroy you where you stand, but God doesn't want to destroy. He wants to save. And so that's one part of the message right there. What then was the message or the sign of Moses speaking to the rock? If Moses had displayed the flowering rod of Aaron and then spoken to the rock, what was the combined message between the two? And I believe that's exactly what it is. What is more dead and more inanimate than a branch removed from a living tree? A rod was once a part of a living tree. It once had life in it. but no longer. So God brings that rod back to life, and not just back to life a little, but a lot, in a way that it never actually had life when it was actually planted into the tree, which planted into the earth from which it received its water and nutrients. Somehow God made this thing bring forth buds and flowers and fruit all at the same time without being connected to anything but him. So what's more dead, more inanimate than a dead stick? Would it not be a rock? A rock is the most inanimate thing that you can think of. A rock doesn't exhibit any signs of life. There are no leaves, there's no flowers, there's no buds, there's no fruit ever with a rock. A rock does not have ears. It cannot hear you. It does not have a mouth. It cannot speak back to you. Yet this rock had the power to respond to the word of God's anointed and to give its water. And this is a clue, by the way, brothers and sisters, there's a clue. Last week we were looking at the fact that there's three water stories and this is the third. But the second one we find in Exodus chapter 17. In the second water incident, the Lord had commanded Moses to hit the rock and water will come out of it. It was as if, and that's what it says. the Lord had commanded, hit the rock, water will come out of it. That's the way it's written. And it's as if Moses was forcing the rock to do his will. He's hitting it, and the response to being hit is to give its water. And you hit the rock, water will come out. But here, in Numbers chapter 20, the language is different. Moses was to speak to the rock as if the rock could actually hear him. And this was probably part of his problem, right? I mean, if you're instructed to go talk to a rock, I mean, that's hard enough when you're by yourself. But now you got a million people out there watching you talk to a rock. I mean, that's a big leap, right? I mean, Moses has done, he always did what God said until this moment here. Moses was to speak to the rock as if the rock could actually hear him, and then our text says, the rock will yield. And the word there in the Hebrew is natan, and it's a very simple word. It means to give. The rock will give its water. Not water will come out of it. The rock, speak to the rock, and the rock will give its water. Now when you put these two ideas together about this rock being spoken to and bringing forth and giving its water and the flowering rod, I believe that there's a deep, deep message here. It speaks of how God wants to be known by his people. The message of the law is do this and live. Disobey and you die. Even at the second water incident, when the Lord commanded Moses to hit the rock, there's that law-like element. That when it comes to sinners, the law represents this relentless force that brings forth obedience through the threats of judgment. Right? And remember where that happened. That happened at Horeb. And Horeb is an alternate name for Mount Sinai. Sinai means bush. a common little thing, which is where Moses first saw the fire in the bush. He saw it by this mountain. But it's also called malhorab, which means sword. And I believe that speaks of the law. The law is almost like a, it's like a one-edged sword, right? The law, brothers and sisters, is good. So I'll just keep going with what I'm reading before I get lost. So when it comes to sinners, the law represents this relentless force that brings forth obedience to the threats of judgment. On the other hand, a dead stick that is given life apart from the earth or a rock that hears a soft voice speaking to it, that is a force of life greater than the law. So the law was excellent. But it's got a problem. There's a limitation to the law of God. The law is good. It really is. The law of God, the more you study it, the more you see how good it really is. But the problem is is that the law says essentially two things. Love God and love your neighbor. But the law cannot give you what you need to do that. That's the limitation of the law. The law is good. And the law speaks to us a lot about God's character and what is right and what is good. But the law is unable to give you what you need to actually obey that law. Under the law, a dead stick remains a dead stick. And a rock can't hear or obey. Aaron's rod and the rock hearing the voice of God's anointed and giving its water, that speaks of a higher power than the law. A power that can bring forth the desire the law commands, right? There's a force greater than the law, something that can give life, that can take a dead stick, because as a dead stick, I can't obey the law of God. As a dead stick, I'm never gonna be righteous before God. That's a fact. I need something more, and so do you. So, the law commands me to love God and to do what's good, to love my neighbor, and it punishes me if I fail. But it has no ability to give me a heart of love. The message of the flowering rod and talking to the rock together spoke of God's availability, his love, and his grace. The dead branch has no power in itself to bring forth life, but God spoke life into that dead branch and it brought forth buds, flowers, and fruit. He spoke to Moses and said, speak to the rock and it will yield, it will give you its water. The Lord was preparing his people to enter into the holy land. He didn't want a broken people who only did what he commanded because he would destroy them if they didn't obey. He wanted a people who understood that their God was a Father who loved them and would speak peace, mercy, compassion, and grace to them. He wanted a people who understood that, not only the greatness of his power, but the sweetness of his love. And I believe that's exactly what the message of speaking to the rock and the flowering rod of Aaron was supposed to convey. But of course, that brings us to the big question. So Moses didn't do that. And so we only saw the wrath of God, or the judgment of God, and the justice of God, and we're reminded of that, but we're not really, we don't see the grace of God, the mercy of God, the goodness of God. And that's what God is saying to Moses when he says, you did not hallow me. You did not glorify me. You didn't, you know, if you showed them all of me, I am glorified. I am hallowed. If they see my grace, my mercy, and my love that transcends the law, then they see me, and I am glorified. But it says in verse 13, it says, so you did not hallow me, therefore, this is the punishment. In verse 13, this was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and he was hallowed among them. And this is the mystery, how did he become hallowed? And brothers and sisters, to understand that, we look at these last three texts out of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 1.37, the Lord was also very angry with me for your sakes. Even you shall not go in there. Speaking about the land of promise. Deuteronomy 3, 23 through 26. Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, O Lord God, you have shown your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what God is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like your works and your great deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains and Lebanon. But the Lord was angry with me on your account and would not listen to me. Deuteronomy 4 21 and 22 furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes and Swore that I would not pass over the Jordan that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God has given you so three times In Deuteronomy Moses speaks of the Lord swearing that he could not enter the land of promise why? For your sakes on your account now most ancient and modern, both Jewish and Christian theologians and commentators, they believe that Moses is kind of doing the Adam thing here, right? Because the Adam, when he falls and God comes and confronts him, Adam goes, she did it, right? It's not me, it's about you. You guys, you guys made me so angry, you guys made me so upset, and now God was angry because of what you guys did. I think he's blamed, and they wanna say that he's blaming the children of Israel for pushing him to sin against God. I am absolutely certain that is not the case. Very simply, God took the most holy and righteous men in Israel and made them the sign. Since you messed up my sign, which was to speak to the rock while showing the flowering rod, I'm gonna make you the sign. Moses and Aaron were the most righteous and upright men in Israel. And you can read in verses 22 through 29 of the chapter that it says that Aaron shall be gathered, verse 24, he shall be gathered to his people for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel because you rebelled against my word. And so he has to die and then Moses will die. Moses and Aaron took all the wrath of God against the sin of Israel on their shoulders That's why there's no punishment That's why there's no death here Because what God is going to do is they are gonna pay the cost of the sin of Israel so that Israel can enter into the land Moses and Aaron took all the wrath They would not be allowed to enter the land of promise. The full weight of God's wrath would fall on them so that God's people could enter the land of promise. This is why he says it's for your sakes. God was angry for your sakes, on your account. He's not trying to pass the blame off. He's saying that your sin is now fully on me. And brothers and sisters, the cross is the ultimate Halloween. of the name of God. How is the name of God hallowed, glorified, or exalted and made holy in the eyes of the world? The cross, first of all, speaks of justice. It speaks of God's justice and wrath, and that sin and wrongdoing will be punished, and the full payment will be made. The cruel death of Jesus on the cross speaks of that truth of justice to the whole world. The wages of sin is death. But the cross also speaks this other message of love, grace, and mercy. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And already back in the Old Testament, we're beginning to see that picture getting fleshed out. Moses is not being allowed to enter. He will die on this side, and I think that's a very powerful thing. Because what it's saying, there's nobody that represents the law of God more than Moses. He is the law giver. And God is making a statement. You cannot enter the kingdom of God by the law. You cannot enter the kingdom of God, and that's what Israel represents. That's what the land of promise represents. It represents the holy land of God. His rest, he calls it, which is what we now know as the new heavens and the new earth, is his rest. They shall not enter into my rest. He speaks about that generation before. And you're not gonna enter in by the law. You're not gonna enter in by the obedience of the law. You're gonna enter in by grace. Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And Moses represents that part of Christ that takes on the full wrath of God. He becomes sin for us. Like we read in 2 Corinthians 5 21, for he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And brothers and sisters, this is how we hallow the name of God, is that we live that truth out in our lives. That we are filled with thanksgiving, that we are filled with the joy of salvation by grace in Christ. That we know that we don't enter the kingdom of God because we're better than our neighbor. We know that we don't enter the kingdom of God because we're more moral, because we're more obedient to the law. We enter the kingdom of God by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. That's the message that the world needs to hear. That's a message that upholds the justice of God, but overwhelms us with the love of God, amen. Father, once again, we come before you this evening hour and we thank you that even in this Old Testament, the oldest books in the entire word, that already pictures are being drawn. So that when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, he knows and as he studies and reads and the full measure of the Holy Spirit is given to him, he sees all these things. He sees that there's a cost that has to be paid so that sinners can enter into the presence of God. Father, we are so thankful that you so loved the world, that you gave your one and only Son, that whosoever should believe should not perish, but have everlasting life. Father, we thank you for your law. We thank you for your truth. And more than anything, we thank you for your love to us in Jesus Christ. Father, bless this congregation. Be with all here present. Uphold them, encourage them, strengthen them. And again, one more time, we beg you in the name of our Lord Jesus. Have mercy on Jedediah. And Lord, lay your life-giving, healing hands upon him. All these things we ask in Jesus' name alone, amen.