All right, go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 10. Good to see all of you. Yeah, up probably a little bit. Can, can you hear me okay? Oh, you can? Oh, very good. All right, sounds like it's good. It's hard to tell up here how it sounds back there, so. All right, good to see all of you. Let me go ahead and open us in prayer. Father, thank You for this time this morning. We see the Bible as one book that is a revelation of Your Son, so we would be drawn to Him and grow in our faith and affection for Him. So pray this morning as we continue talking about types of Him as revealed in the Old Testament. especially in the wilderness, and probably continue this a couple more weeks, that you would bless our time, Lord, and help Christ to really come into focus for us, give us understanding of the wonderful truths you've contained here, bless our discussion, and we thank you for this time, Lord, and we pray you can be pleased with it. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, amen. All right, 1 Corinthians 10. So last week, just to give you an update to briefly review, we looked at Exodus 17, where Moses saw that the children of Israel cried out because there was no water. Nothing wrong with them asking for water. God wants to meet our basic necessities. I mean, he cared so much for the children of Israel that he delivered them from the persecution they were experiencing in Egypt in an unbelievably dramatic way. And then brings them out into the wilderness. They accuse God of wanting to murder them. So again, nothing wrong with wanting water, but definitely wrong the way that they went about it. And they complained, and God very graciously, at this moment, we'll see there were other times he didn't respond as mercifully, where apparently his long-suffering nature or patience had come to an end. He punished them and stabbed. But this time he's very gracious toward them. And he tells Moses to go to this rock and to strike this rock. And then water, this rock will produce water for the Israelites. And so that's in Exodus 17. And then we fast forward, you know, in Numbers 13 to 14, the situation with the 12 spies takes place. And that old generation from Exodus 17. was to die because of their faithlessness, God would not bring them into the promised land. And so then we went from Exodus 17 to Numbers 20, an account that bears many similarities to Exodus 17, but they are two separate accounts separated by approximately 40 years. In Numbers 20, we're seeing the new generation, or you could say we're seeing the children of the parents who rebelled in Exodus 17, or we're seeing the children of the new generation that God is going to bring into the land. And very sadly, the new generation in Numbers 20 looks just like their parents, or looks just like the old generation in Exodus 17. And God, when they cry out for water, or I don't know if I'd say that's almost an understatement, That's softening what they did. They complained again, and again accused God and Moses of trying to murder them. And so they complain, and then this time, who remembers from last week, what did God tell Moses to do? Real important distinction. So the type is established. Yeah, he tells Moses to speak to the rock instead of striking the rock. And Moses actually kind of does the opposite. Instead of speaking to the rock, he speaks to or really chastises the people, and then he chooses to strike the rock instead of speaking to it. And then he had also, he had misrepresented God because, and I hope I made this clear last week, Moses was like a priest or a prophet in terms of being a very intercessory figure where people saw God through him. You guys see God, or you should, through the pages of Scripture. You should come to know God through what's revealed in Scripture. But apart from that revelation that we're given, individuals in the Old Testament where God was revealed to them through the figures that represented Him, such as the priests and then Moses. And so Moses misrepresented God. He made God look very angry at the people. And then when he struck the rock, we'll see that he misrepresented Christ as well, who's only to be struck once for our sins. And so we're in 1 Corinthians 10, because this is where I'm reflecting on something. I read something in the past, maybe two weeks ago, that I've been considering that contrasted types and illustrations. Types and illustrations. And I'd never really done that before. I thought, I kind of thought types, shadows, illustrations, very synonymously, no real distinction between them. But this individual was contrasting in his writing that a type and shadow is something that is identified by the New Testament. So, for example, hold on to that for a second and look with me at 1 Corinthians 10. Let's read the first four verses so you can see the type here. 1 Corinthians 10, verse 1. For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, And that rock was Christ. So that rock that Moses had struck once and then struck twice. So he struck it twice. He struck the rock once and then the second time the number is 20. He struck it for the second time and he struck it two times that time. And we're told here that that rock was Christ. So in this author's estimation, the gentleman I was reading, he would identify this as a type because it has New Testament identification of a type. So for example, in John 3, when Jesus says that just as the bronze serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, which is what we'll look at in our next type. So must the Son of Man be lifted up? That would be a type. When Jesus said, for example, that a greater than Solomon is here, now there's a type established between Jesus and Solomon, between Jesus' wisdom and Solomon's wisdom. The greatness of Christ's future kingdom with the greatness of Solomon's kingdom. What are some other types that are identified for us in the New Testament? Jesus said, I am the, we're talking about the way, even in these verses, there is indirectly another type identified that Jesus definitely clarified in the Gospels. What is another type you can see in these verses? The what? The manna, is that too vague? The manna, right? Jesus said, I am the true bread from heaven. Moses gave you the manna, but I'm the true bread from heaven, the manna that feeds physically, I feed eternally, or provides eternal life. And so we see the manna as another type because it's identified by the New Testament. Do any others come to mind? The veil in the temple that was torn. Hebrews says that just as the veil in the temple was torn, giving us access to God, so too was Christ's body, and I'm not inferring this, I mean this is what the verse says, torn on the cross to give access as the one way to God. So the veil would be another type of Christ. the Passover, a type of Christ. First Corinthians 5 says, Christ, our Passover lamb, was crucified for us. Well, one of… what I've previously said, one of the… one of the strongest types of Christ, Joseph, this author would say that Joseph is not a type of Christ because there is not a verse in the New Testament that identifies Joseph as a type. Instead, Joseph would simply be an illustration. So, you can look and you can say that there are ways in which Joseph illustrates Christ. I just thought that was interesting. I'll have to reflect on that more. If any of you have any thoughts, you can share that with me. I hadn't thought that it's not necessarily a type just because it doesn't have that New Testament support for it. Any thoughts on that before we start looking at this in detail? Dan? Very good. Yes. Yes, very good. Yes, very good. And we're going to move to that because I think that Dan mentioned, if you couldn't hear that, John 3 speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. And then in John 7, at the end, on the last day of the great feast, Jesus says that waters of, you know, or rivers of living water will flow from him. He tells the Samaritan woman at the well. that he could provide water in which she would never thirst again. She says, give me that water. And so I believe that looks back to Christ being the rock that provides water, not physically, but spiritually, so that we wouldn't thirst again. And that's the reality of it. For all of us who have come to Christ, you have had other longings in your life, but once you have tasted of Christ, you have not longed any more spiritually for anything else. I suspect if you are in Christ, if you are born again, you have never woken up since coming to Christ and wondered what else was out there or thought you weren't satisfied spiritually. There have been other ways in your life you have desired things or not felt satisfied. Perhaps if you're unmarried, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be married. If you have children or want another child or haven't had a child, there's nothing wrong with these desires we have. They're not at all sinful. But spiritually speaking, I don't think any of us have ever said, you know, I'm not satisfied in Christ. He has satisfied our spiritual hunger and thirst, which is what's in view there. in John 6 as well, when he says, he's the bread from heaven, eat from him, eat of him, and then you will no longer hunger. He doesn't mean no longer hunger physically, he means no longer hunger spiritually. Okay, any thoughts or observations before we continue? So we're kind of, we kind of made it about halfway through these verses. One thing I just want you to notice, let me draw your attention to it, in 1 Corinthians 10, It's talking about them being under the cloud. You remember the cloud that followed them along with the fire at night? More than likely, this cloud would have protected them from the heat during the day. The fire would have probably kept them warm at night. And this pillar, the cloud and the fire, also showed them where to go while they moved around for those 40 years. We're not really told how often they moved around or how long they got to stay in one location. But they at least knew when they were supposed to move by the movement of this cloud and this fire. And here, this cloud, it represents the glory of God, and there's a strong association with Christ, which we started talking about last week. Where did Israel first encounter the Shekinah glory or the glory cloud or the cloud that represented the glory of God? Where did they first encounter that cloud? Pastor Nathan? Was it there? If that's true... Okay, you take a look and tell me. I was going to say Sinai. You take a look and tell me. I could be wrong. I was going to say Sinai. They reached Sinai. Always been to me a fairly interesting moment because after God had so graciously delivered Israel from Egypt and gotten them to Sinai, you would expect Sinai to be what? Kind of all flowers and sunshine, birds chirping, and instead it was what? Thundering lightning, the people were terrified, and they said, they actually said, Moses, you speak to us, we don't want to hear from God anymore because we're so terrified of Him. You'd think that God's delivered powerfully, you know, by His strong arm, Israel, from Egypt to get them to Sinai, but then when Israel gets to Sinai, what does God say to the Israelites? Don't do what? Don't come any closer. Do not touch the mountain. If you do, you'll die. And so you see this tension in the Old Testament where God is bringing people to himself, but only so far. He can't bring them any closer because sin has not been removed. And so the Old Testament largely about separation, New Testament largely about reconciliation. They're brought to Sinai. That's where, I could be wrong, but I believe they first see the glory. Did you have something, Alden? Oh, very good. OK, great. Well, then they first encountered the glory cloud of God. When they made it out of Egypt, he brings them to Sinai. The cloud occupies Sinai until what moment? They construct the tabernacle. The glory cloud of God comes down from the mountain, occupies the tabernacle. They can't go into it or even near it because it's so bright. And then the cloud later moves from the tabernacle to the temple. And this glory of God finds itself incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ. And so we see just another way in which Christ was with Israel in the wilderness through this cloud that was the glory of God that was then became a person in Jesus Christ. Let's say, pick up… John 114 is probably the clearest verse. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, when I say that, that Christ was the incarnation of the glory of God, what is a little, I don't want to say troubling or sort of nags you about that a little bit? That when you look at Christ, what? You don't really see that. He didn't look any different than any other man. In fact, according to Isaiah 53, one of the reasons that all of us should dislike pictures of Christ, he was not handsome with blonde hair and blue eyes or anything like that. He was a Middle Eastern man. And if you did want to faithfully represent Christ, you could not make him look attractive. Because according to Isaiah 53, we can't say he was ugly, but we can definitely say that he was not attractive physically. He was, you know, people were drawn to Him through what He offered them. His humility, His kindness, and His love, and not His good looks. He succeeded oppositely of the way the world says to succeed. The world says to succeed through your good looks. Christ succeeded without being good looking. So that glory is there, but the glory was what during Christ's earthly coming? It was what? What would we say? It was veiled or it was hidden, right? At what point was that veil, I mean, when we talk of the kenosis of Christ emptying himself, one of the things that he emptied himself of was the glory. It was not shown. You could look at Christ and not be blinded like when the cloud was on Sinai or in the tabernacle or temple. But what was the moment during Christ's earthly ministry when he allowed that glory to come forth and reveal to the world the inner reality of him? The transfiguration, right? The transfiguration was that moment when you actually got to see that glory come forth. And sure enough, what's interesting is those people who were present couldn't look on it any more than the people who were at the temple or the tabernacle couldn't look on the glory there. Okay. Isaiah 53 too, he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him. But it was revealed at the Transfiguration, Luke 9, 32, Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. We don't see Christ's glory physically in the Gospels, but he does want us to see it in the future. He prayed, John 17, 24, I desire that they also, in his high priestly prayer in John 17, only hours before his crucifixion, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world." So we will see Christ in all his glory. We all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, 2 Corinthians 3.18. Now let's move on from that in verse 2. It says, What does the word baptize mean? Immersed, yeah, immersed. So our, you hear baptized and our minds kind of go to water, but the word does mean immersed. That's how it's being used here because we don't even, this is a, these are dry verses. We don't even see water in these verses. I'll explain the baptism with the Red Sea in just a moment. So think about how people are immersed in their thoughts or they are immersed in their work. Sometimes when Scripture uses the word baptized, it's communicating immersion but with something or someone else. For example, the Greek word in Matthew 3.11 in Acts 1.5 refers to people being baptized or immersed or having unity with the Holy Spirit. Mark 10.39 is about being baptized or immersed in trials, and we say that. We say they're experiencing a baptism by fire. We mean that they are immersed in suffering. First Corinthians 10.2, Israel was baptized into Moses in the sea. This figuratively took place when Israel crossed the Red Sea. And it kind of seems odd to compare crossing the Red Sea with baptism because the Israelites stayed dry. But again, it's not physical water baptism, it's spiritual baptism. Because notice it doesn't say they were baptized into the sea, it says they were baptized into Moses, their spiritual immersion and unity with him in the wilderness. Paul uses the same words in Romans 6-3 and Galatians 3-27 to say we were baptized into Christ. When we talk about being baptized into Christ, We're not talking about what you see on some Sundays after service. We're talking about what has taken place spiritually when we come, when we repent and put our faith in Christ. And then we are, that's the language of being in Christ, being immersed in Him. So much so that what has taken place with us spiritually would then be portrayed through physical water baptism. But when people are immersed in that water, it resembles how they'd already been spiritually immersed in Christ. Any thoughts or questions? Okay, what's kind of beautiful about these verses, and I almost thought I could have talked about these for communion in the last two weeks, is we see the other ordinance. So we see baptism in these verses, and we also see communion in these verses. Looking forward to Christ, because notice, who sees the words in these verses that look forward to communion? Who sees the words that look forward to communion? What? Someone say it? All ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink. So the idea, the idea isn't that Christ nourished Israel physically in the wilderness. The idea is that he nourished and satisfied Israel spiritually in the wilderness. He wasn't physically in the manna or the water. Instead, he was spiritually nourishing them while they traveled and headed toward the promised land. And Jesus similarly is our spiritual food. He says, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. Next, notice the word rock there, which is kind of what we've been building to. It's a Greek word, lithos, for a small rock formation. But the word in 1 Corinthians 10, 4 is petra, which refers to a massive rock formation conveying this very strong foundation that Christ provides. Jesus, along with many other New Testament verses, use this metaphor of Christ being a rock. So I guess I would say like this, when we first see Christ in the Old Testament in the wilderness being this rock, for Israel, it's prefiguring or foreshadowing the wonderful New Testament truth or reality that Christ is going to be a strong rock or foundation for the church. So it would be very appropriate to say that just like Christ was a rock for Israel in the wilderness, He is a rock or strong foundation for us or for the church in the New Testament. A few examples, the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Again, that's Petra, the word from 1 Corinthians 10. The rain fell, the floods came, winds blew, beat on that house, it didn't fall because it had been founded on the rock, Petra. Matthew 16, 18. And Ephesians 2.20, he's the spiritual rock for the church, that I will build my church, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. Probably thinking back to Jesus' statement to him when Peter tried to make this great confession of faith in Christ, I believe Peter probably had that in view when he wrote these two verses, and consider the very strong language or imagery in these verses associated with Peter being the strong rocker, or Christ being the strong rocker foundation for the church. 1 Peter 2, 6 and 7. For it stands in scripture, behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, a chief cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." Three different Old Testament verses, Peter quotes there to identify Christ as that rock for the church. David said, Psalm 95 1, O come let us sing to the Lord, listen to this, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Just think about that. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock. You don't make a joyful noise to a rock, right? If someone went out and spoke to a rock, you'd think they were crazy. You wouldn't think that they were spiritual. It only makes sense if you understand that the rock that you make a joyful noise to, or David's implying we would worship, is in fact Christ, our salvation. And then it would make sense to worship that rock or make a joyful noise to that rock. Okay, go ahead and turn to John 4, please. So I'm going to consider as we start to look at this, these verses and then the complimentary passage in John 7. And I would say the same if we were to look in John 6 at the bread from heaven. is kind of this dual nature of physical food and water. If I said, how beneficial is food or how beneficial is water, you could raise your hand and say, well, it's really beneficial because we can't live without it. But then I can kind of push back against that, and I can say, well, really, how beneficial is it? Because you have food and water throughout your life, but then you still end up what? dying, we get sick, I'm not feeling particularly, you know, good today. And so we see these weaknesses, we see our frailty, despite all the water or food that we might consume. And so in that sense, we see the value or importance of physical water or food, but we also recognize the weakness of it, that it only keeps us alive for a certain length of time, we can be weak still while consuming it. The spiritual food or water that Christ offers that would give us eternal life is of infinitely greater value or importance. And I mention that because that's what Christ is communicating to the Samaritan woman at the well here. We won't look at John 6, but that's what he's communicating to the individuals that followed him after Jesus multiplied the bread. to the thousands on the hillside that day, they go and tell their friends, who tell their friends, and then all these people come to follow Christ. By the time you reach John 6, I'm guessing we're looking at, I mean, if you had, you know, 3,000 and 5,000 people at the earlier miracle, then you've got probably 10,000, 20,000 people following in John 6. And Jesus knows they just want their physical appetite satisfied. And so he's trying to help them see that what they should crave even more is not physical food, but the spiritual food, or him, that would provide them not with temporary earthly life, but with eternal life. So that's kind of what's in view here, is that this makes sense. Let's start at John 4, verse 6. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. And Jesus said to her, give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. And this was a very odd request from Jesus. She recognized the strangeness and she said to him, verse 9, how is it that you, a Jew, would ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. The Jews despise the Samaritans. Even the fact that they pass through Samaria, although it's sort of vaguely revealed here through the words, women's to Jesus, was a very, very bizarre way to travel. I mean when Jews went from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north, Samaria, well, okay, maybe you don't know this. Let me just make this real clear. So you've got Galilee in the north, generally far from Judea and Jerusalem in the south, where there were educated people, the priests were, the temple were there, so kind of people in Galilee, Jews in Galilee were viewed as being, I don't know, maybe like a modern-day version of Hicks, you know, or perhaps not educated or something, because they were so far removed from the educated people in the south. And then in the south you have Judea, Jerusalem, the temple, and in the middle of Samaria. And so when Jews would travel from Judea in the south to Samaria in the north, or I mean from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north, they always walked around Samaria. They didn't even want to—the idea is they didn't want to get any of it on their shoes, you know. So the Samaritans are so filthy and despicable, we won't even go near them. We'll go longer. We'll spend hours, extra time walking just to avoid having to, you know, even approach those filthy, despicable people. Well, Jesus decides to walk through Samaria, And not only that, he stops and he starts talking to this woman and he even asks her for a favor for her to give him some water. In verse 10, Jesus says to her, and who it is that is saying to you, give me water, you would have asked him or you would have asked me, he's speaking in the third person but he's talking about himself, and he or I would have given you living water. This sounds very attractive to this woman. I don't think we really appreciate how much access we have to water. You go to your faucet in your house or you turn on your shower, You don't have to walk out to a well with lots of buckets and cart the water back and forth. And so when Jesus makes this offer to this woman, sounds extraordinary to her. And so she says, verse 11, Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob?" She knew that he couldn't really get any of this physical water from the well for her. He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock. And Jesus said to her, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life." And the woman just says, this sounds amazing. Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water again. And so what Jesus kind of does, what's interesting if you picture this dialogue between himself and this woman, and there's the well there, is Jesus kind of says this to her. They're talking, and it's like he says, this well that's right there could be inside you. This well that has water could be a well inside of you to eternally satisfy you so you will not thirst again. It'll be water that's springing up inside of you. And so I believe that this pretty strongly looks back to Exodus 17 and Numbers 21. Any thoughts or anything? All right, turn to the right to John 7. So, let me just briefly kind of explain the Feast of Tabernacles because that's the feast that's being celebrated when we reach these verses in John 7. So, you know that the different feasts look back to different events in Israel's history. Obviously, the Feast of Passover looked back to Israel's deliverance from Egypt. Well, the Feast of Tabernacles looked or the Feast of Booths looked back to Israel's time in the wilderness. And they would celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles or really celebrate God's provision for the nation of Israel in the Feast of Tabernacles by living in tents or booths to resemble Israel's time in the wilderness when they were camping or they were moving around. And so they have these seven days that they live in these tents. And during the first six days, the priest would go to the pool of Siloam, he'd gather water into a golden pitcher, and then he would travel back to the temple from there with the water. And this recalled the miraculous water that was produced from the rock. So when the priest was doing this, the people's minds understood that this was celebrating the miracle of the rocks, of the rock in the wilderness. And so kind of have that in mind. Understand that's what they're thinking about. That's what's on the Israelites' minds while they're watching this take place, how God provided for them physically in the wilderness. So they're recalling the miraculous water produced from the rock, and there's a procession that came to the water gate on the south side of the inner temple court, and there were three trumpet blasts to mark the joy of the occasion, and then the people would recite Isaiah 12, 3, So they probably didn't have any idea how much this looked forward to Christ. So 1 Corinthians 10 4 hasn't been written yet. So the Jews that are observing this or celebrating this feast probably have not made the connection between the rock in the wilderness and Christ. They don't have the type established by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 or they don't have other verses you know, that we do Hebrews 10, behold the volume of the book is written of me, so that they would know that most of what is recorded in the Old Testament is prefiguring or foreshadowing Christ in some way or another. So they're celebrating this feast, and they see Jesus very far removed from it. They don't see the association. Well, Christ is about to make the association very clear between himself as the rock and this feast that they're celebrating. At the temple, while the people looked on, the priests, they'd march around the altar with the water container. The temple choir would sing the Hallel, which is Psalms 113 to 118. The water was offered to God at the time of the morning sacrifice. And then on the eighth and the last day of the feast, the water will be poured out, symbolizing the way that the water ceased when Israel left the wilderness and entered the promised land. And that's one of the other ways that the miraculousness of the of God's provision was evident because it seems this rock that followed them and continued to provide water for them throughout the wilderness stopped providing for them once they entered the promised land. And what else stopped once they entered the promised land? What else stopped? Huh? Yeah, the manna. There was no more manna. I could be wrong about this, but I suspect that at this point their sandals also started wearing out. Do you remember one of the other miraculous ways God provided in the wilderness? It was it seems that their clothes lasted longer. I guess without having, you know, cities to build or any sort of infrastructure where you can buy and sell clothing and so forth, God graciously allowed their clothes to not wear out. Well, once they entered the Promised Land, I bet their clothes started wearing out. And that was one of the other miracles that probably ceased. So on the eighth day, they pour this water out, looking back to the water ceasing. And then take a look at John 7. I need to turn there myself. Verse 37. All of the Jews are thinking about the rock in the wilderness. And then verse 37. On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and he cried out. And he says, if anyone drinks, let him come to me and drink, identifying himself as that rock. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. And the mention of the spirit in verse 39 simply reveals to us that we're talking spiritually, not physically. The mention of the Holy Spirit coming, regenerating us, bringing us to life spiritually, shows that what Jesus has in view here is not physical, but is instead spiritual. Any questions or thoughts? It seems like there's been a further misery over it, and we've seen the incredible thing of water coming out of the rock. That would have been amazing, but that was the first day of a lifetime of preaching. And so, Jesus thought, well, you know, it's incredible, our first dream of coming into Christ. Well said. So you're talking about the… you're contrasting their first drink with our… when we are born again or our first drink or spiritual satisfaction in Christ. Yeah, well said. Yep. Something we don't forget that remains with us. Yep. Anyone else? All right, let's kind of break down some of the typology here. Go ahead and turn back to Exodus 17. Now I could be wrong, I will say this somewhat loosely, but I believe we see some substitutionary atonement in Exodus 17. Let me say that one more time. I could be wrong, but I do believe we see some substitutionary atonement in Exodus 17. I said earlier that the people were sinning, sinning greatly in the way they complained against God. God would have been just in punishing them for their outburst, but instead there's no, at least in this account, record of God punishing Israel for their sin. There was with the twelve spies, there was with the bronze serpent, but this is one time when God was still being very gracious to them. And instead of, let me say it like this. Instead of the Israelites being struck for their sin, who chose to be struck here for sin? Look at in Exodus 17. Let me find the verse. Look at verse 6 with me. God says, behold, I will stand before you there on the rock. So that almost has God standing as the rock, or being the rock, or at least standing with the rock that is struck. And you shall strike the rock. and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink." And so it seems as though God chooses to be struck in the place of the sinner and that produces life-giving water in their stead or in their place. I think it's a nice picture of substitutionary atonement. Any thoughts? Okay, one of the clearest things we know about Christ, just a few verses, the New Testament makes this abundantly clear, especially the book of Hebrews. I believe Hebrews really stresses this because under the law, sacrifices had to be offered multiple times. So the author of Hebrews wanting to be clear that Christ would only be struck once. Here's just a few verses. 1 Peter 3.18, Christ suffered once for sin, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, having been offered once to bear the sins of many. Every priest stands daily to his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. That's 1 Peter 3, 18, Hebrews 9, 28, and then Hebrews 10, 11 to 12. So in contrast to those Old Testament sacrifices repeatedly offered, Christ is struck once, and this rock was struck once to foreshadow or prefigure Christ being struck once for our sins. And so what did Moses do when he struck the rock the second time and struck it twice? What did he do? He ruined what? Yeah, he ruined a beautiful type of Christ, and God, and he had to pay for it dearly. So, Numbers 20, verse 8, it said, Probably what's in view here, kind of take your minds to the woman at the well in John 4. Listen, Jesus said to her, that he would give this life-giving water, but he says, you would ask me for it. You would say to me, give me this water. You would have asked him and he would have given you living water. So it's interesting to me that even though Jesus had this life-giving water for the Samaritan woman at the well, what did she still have to do? She still had to speak to him, right? She still had to ask for it. I don't see God, it's an interesting, you know, Romans 10, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, God is waiting for this. There is a confession from us. There is a repentance. There is a turning to Christ. There is a request that Christ would save us from our sins. You've heard me say probably many times I'm not the biggest fan. I can't think of an instance of inviting people to walk down the aisle, inviting them to recite a prayer. I'm happy to speak with people. I'm happy to pray with people. I'm happy to tell people that Christ is available to save them because we do serve a saving and merciful God. We do serve a God that saves, inviting people to look to that mercy. But I always insert the word if. I don't tell people, you know, if you say these words, then you'll be saved. What I would say is, if you repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ, you'll be saved. And even the word if there allows people to recognize that I didn't just guarantee them of anything, But that if they do, then I'm communicating, I believe, what the Bible says. And what we see here is people must call out to God. There must be this request, this confession, this asking on the person's behalf, if you would ask for this. And that's what I see in Numbers 20, that they had to speak to the rock. They had to, before it was going to produce that life-giving water. Any thoughts or anything before we move on? Jake, nice and loudly. like where you ended those verses about the woman in the well the next question was Jesus told her go bring your husband back and so he like gives her this opportunity to be truthful about her sin Very good. Well said, brother. Well said. Yeah, Jake pointed out that Jesus, which is, if you're familiar with Kirk Cameron, Ray Comfort, The Way of the Master, that people only desire Christ when they recognize they need a Savior, or they only desire to be saved when they learn they need to be saved, or they recognize They only desire to be forgiven for their sin when they recognize that they are a sinner. And so what Christ does, which we see Him do in other instances in the Gospels, is help people recognize their sinfulness because without that recognition, they will have no desire for what He offers. And so He tells this woman, obviously knowing that she has been a serial adulterer or serial fornicator, probably I would say serial adulterer. She's been a serial adulterer that she needs to be forgiven for the sin that she's committed. And so he leads her to that point where she's willing to confess him. And then it seems like, you know, I don't know if this is exactly what's happening. She leaves the bucket there showing she'd even given up the thought of the physical water because she wanted the spiritual water so much more. And when this woman, this is beautiful, but when this woman left that well and she went back to her town, what did she bring with her basically? the gospel. And this is why, as in Acts 1.8, that the gospel, the spread of the gospel, which we see Acts really recording for us, that it's going to be moved in those concentric circles, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth, we see the gospel going out in that trajectory. And this woman, of all people, the serial adulterer, is the one that God used to take the gospel to the Samaritans. And there were many Samaritans who came to faith in Christ, who pressed into the kingdom of God before the Jews, who we would most expect to receive the gospel from Christ. Any other thoughts before we start talking about some application? Okay, are you guys in Exodus 17 still? Verse 1. The congregation of the people of Israel, they moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages, and then notice this. According to the commandment of the Lord, and they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. All right, now give me your attention. This is what I see here. If the people had been moving of their own volition, let's just say they stopped following the cloud, they stopped following the pillar of fire, they're just going where they want to go, and they end up someplace without water, what would you say to them? You'd say, well, huh? Yeah, this is what you did. You didn't want to follow the Lord, and so you get to be stuck someplace and suffer without any water. This is your fault. If you'd been obedient, you wouldn't be suffering right now. And so one of the things that kind of sticks out to me in this account is the words, according to the commandment of the Lord, means that they were right where God wanted them, or right where they were supposed to be, and they were still suffering. And it's just a good thing for us to keep in mind, because I think we tend to think that when we suffer, that if we had just done this instead, or had just gone here, or had not gone there, or made this decision instead of that decision, then we wouldn't be suffering. You know, then we wouldn't be without water. But that's not true. Israel was right in God's will, they were right where God wanted them to be, and they still found themselves without water. And that can very often be the case with us, that God entered, and we see. Let me see, where's the verse? He wanted to, okay, God was trying to test them. That's what's happening. Because you can say, well, why would God so graciously deliver Israel and provide for them, but then bring them to this point where they don't have water? Well, what do we know God didn't want to do with them right here? That they, I don't know if they legitimately thought he did want to do with them, but what do we know God didn't want to do with them right here? He didn't want to kill them. So if he didn't want to kill them, what did he want to do? He wanted to test them. He wanted to see how they were going to respond to not having water, and they didn't respond very well. They failed this test. But it just shows that sometimes we can be right in the middle of God's will and still suffer. Any thoughts? Okay. Look at verse, in Exodus 17, 5. The Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel and taking in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile. Actually, maybe look at the previous verse, too. Or no, that's good, that's good. In verse 4, Moses says, basically, these people want to kill me. And I just think it's interesting, Moses was afraid that the people were going to revolt, but God still said, you need to press on and go before them. You can't give up. You know, you can't quit on them. You can't run away just because you're really discouraged or you're frustrated. And they really ministered to me. If you've ever been in a position of leadership, then you've probably experienced very discouraging or difficult times. And you don't want to go before the people. You don't want to continue to lead. You don't want to stand up. You don't want to do what God wants you to do. But just Moses is a good example that God says, hey, press on. Go forward. You need to do these things. You can't quit. I know you're either scared or tired or exhausted or any number of things Moses was feeling at this moment, but God said, you still need to go before these people and you need to do the things that I want you to do. And I just think that's probably what God would say to us when we're in leaders. And you don't even necessarily, I would say if you're a mother, or you're a father, you're in a leadership position over your children, and there are those times that you don't want to be a mother anymore, right? There are those times you wake up and you don't want to be a father anymore. There are those times you don't want to be a husband anymore. Maybe you don't want to be a wife anymore. And you would say, I just, I want to quit. I want to throw in the towel. I'm tired of this. It's exhausting. You know, I've got all these kids. I've got this home. I've got this job. I have all these responsibilities. It's crushing me. You know, I don't want to do this anymore. And God would say something similar to us that he said to Moses here, which is you need to press on, you need to go fulfill your responsibilities and do the things that God wants you to do. Any other thoughts? Okay, look at verse 7 for another application I saw. I just decided to put all the application at the end after so that the typology wasn't too interrupted. So that's how we're looking at all the lessons I saw consecutively here. Verse 7. He called the name of the place Massa and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel and because they tested the Lord by saying, is the Lord among us or not? Is the Lord among us or not? What do you guys think about Israel saying this right here? What do you think about Israel saying this and why it's a fairly absurd criticism or question, but I think it was a criticism. Pastor Nathan? I guess I kind of look at this and I see two times or three that come to mind where they could have reasonably asked this. They could have reasonably wondered if God was with them or not. And one of those times would be when they were in Egypt. And they've been there for at least over four centuries. I think 430 years is how long they were there. You know, right around maybe the 1st century or 2nd or 3rd or 4th century mark, you start reasonably wondering what? You know, is God, where is He? Is He done with us? Is He among us or not? Why are we suffering this when He told our great-grandfather Abraham and then his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, that we would be brought into this land, and yet here we are suffering far from that land. God's hand seems heavy on us. Is he among us or not? That'd be one time. Another time, if you've never heard this before, but the New Testaments, I mean, because they're back-to-back, you know, you read the last verse in Malachi and then you get to Matthew 1.1. But there's actually four centuries between the Testaments. It's called the intertestamental period. I took a class on it in seminary. I didn't find all of my seminary classes to be very enjoyable or profitable, but that was one class that I found to be very beneficial, very enjoyable. There is a reason that there are no books from the… there are… books like the Maccabees that discuss the history between the two testaments, but they're apocryphal books or they're not considered inspired and they're not in our Bibles. So I'm not encouraging, you know, we have all we need to be equipped for life and ministry and all things God wants for us. I'm not saying that you have any responsibility to go learn about the intertestamental period, but I am saying if you did want to read about it, learn about it, you might find it to be very interesting and see some accounts of God continuing to provide and deal with his people. But It did seem like God was silent until who? Who's this individual that launches onto the pages of the New Testament, even though he's largely an Old Testament prophet, because he's paving the way for Christ? Until John the Baptist shows up, it's almost like still an Old Testament season, but until John was there, there hadn't been a prophet for four centuries. You've got Malachi, and then you've got four centuries of silence until John speaks. And so that was a time that people might have said, well, is the Lord among us or not? Because he looked quiet for those four centuries. Perhaps another time was the days of the judges. It was a dark time. It says the word of the Lord was rare. There was not a teaching priest or prophet. And until Samuel, God had not been speaking. The people had turned from God. Eli's eyes were darkening. It's a picture of him not seeing spiritually as well. And so God wasn't… he had seemed to have been silent for some time until the word… it says the word of the Lord was rare until Samuel, the prophet and last… first prophet and last judge delivers the word to the people again. And I think that's another time that the people could have said, is the Lord among us? But I just look at him saying it here and it really is frustrating. It's like, are you kidding me? How could you say that after all God has done for you over these last, you know, about I guess two years from the time he started delivering them with the plagues and seeing them on Sinai, part in the Red Sea, you know, Exodus 16 was the manna. So the previous chapter, God was bringing manna from heaven, and here's Israel saying, is God among us or not? And it's just really, really pretty petty. And so one reason I think, one thing we can learn, Pastor Nathan highlighted it, that they weren't looking for God's spiritual provision. They were looking for, if I understood, you correct me if I'm wrong, they wanted God's physical provision. When they didn't get that, they just thought, well, God's not with us, which isn't true. He was just testing them. He was still clearly providing for them spiritually. And I think the other issue, which is what encouraged me, is when we're not feeling God's—I don't like to say the word feel, but I don't know another word to use—when we're not feeling God's presence in our life, for lack of a better way to say it, or God doesn't feel as close to us or seem as close to us as He has other times in our Christian lives. We have our mountains and our valleys, You know, and it's almost like that account in Kings where they think God is just the king of the hills, or just the God of the valleys, or just the God of the hills. And we need to remember, no, He's the God of the hills, you know, the mountains and the valleys in our lives, and to be reminded of that. And it seems like the Israelites thought God wasn't with them whenever they were in a valley. If He wasn't doing what they wanted, well, then He must not be there for us, and He must not really have desired fellowship with us any longer. And so just to kind of, what can we do in learning and looking at this account with Israel? What can we do to remember God is with us when it seems like He's not? What can we do? We can look back on what? He has his past provision, his past work in our lives, the past ways that he has ministered to us and dealt with us. There are some interesting times when God withdrew from people like Hezekiah. Before, I believe it's before the messengers from Babylon came, it seems like God withdrew from Hezekiah to test him. And I would kind of look and say, wow, that was an interesting time for God to pull away from him because he was about to face a severe test. But God wanted, but that's how he would be tested. He wouldn't be able to have, recognize God's presence as close to him. And he did, he did end up failing that test, Hezekiah did. But there are times when God just wants to test us, and I think we need to remember his past provision so that we would pass those current tests. Any thoughts? Okay, look at Turn to Numbers 20 for another application. Numbers 20, look at verse 5. The people said, this is the new generation, why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place, referring to the wilderness? It is not a place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there's no water to drink. And the reason I think this is a really foolish criticism is the wilderness wasn't supposed to be these things. What was supposed to be this for them? What they said they wanted right here, where were they supposed to get that? The promised land. And so it's almost like we can't expect the wilderness to be the promised land. I mean, if the wilderness was the promised land, you wouldn't press into the promised land. You wouldn't look for the rest you have in Christ. You wouldn't detest another lap around Sinai. You wouldn't detest another year. in the wilderness. You would want to press—you only want to press into the promised land because the rest and the peace we have in Christ is better than being in the wilderness. And so it's just a pretty foolish criticism to bring against God something that was never supposed to be the case for them. The wilderness was never supposed to have grapes, you know, that are so big that you hang them on a stick and walk around. I mean, God was nice enough to give them the bread from heaven, which they even criticized that, as we'll see. But The wildernesses we go through in the Christian life, they're dry and they're stale, spiritually speaking. They're not intended to be pleasant. They're times of learning. One of the interesting things in the book of Numbers, you don't have to turn there, but if you look at Israel's growth, In Exodus, in Egypt, it's exponential. I mean, they grew so exponentially that Pharaoh became afraid of them. They leave Egypt, millions of people, probably three to four million people, and you'd expect this growth to continue. But when God has Moses number the people, at the beginning of the book of Numbers, it's called Numbers because God numbers the people twice as bookends on their time in the wilderness. So God numbers them, has them numbered once at the beginning of Numbers, when they first enter the wilderness, and then Moses numbers them again before they leave the wilderness and go to the promised land. And when you compare those two numbers, they're almost identical. There's no change. And which is fairly shocking considering the exponential growth of the nation of Israel up to that point. But I think, I just think the lesson for us is that wilderness is not a time of growth. You're not growing spiritually in the wilderness. There's a lesson God wants you to learn, and until you learn it, you don't get to get out. You just kind of have to keep wandering around, and it's only after we've learned whatever—past whatever test God has for us that we're able to leave the wilderness. And I felt like that in the Christian life. I felt like I'm having to take this test again. I'm having to go through this again. I've already dealt with this, but I apparently didn't deal with it well enough, and so now I'm having to, you know, face the same situation and learn whatever lesson God has for me that I haven't learned yet. But the wilderness isn't supposed to be pleasant and it's not a time of growth in our lives. It's one where we're being tested to see if we can pass it and then the growth can begin after we pass that test. Any thoughts or anything? Okay. One more application and then we will close. Actually, I want you to raise your hands. So, I'll give you a moment to think about the answer to this. Do you think God was too harsh with Moses? Think about your answer to that. Do you think God was too harsh with Moses? Raise your hand if you think yes. Oh, you guys don't want to look like you're criticizing God, do you? Raise your hand if it's no. Okay. Okay. Well, let's pretend you guys aren't so spiritual for a moment. To me, I can look and say, wow, I mean, he struck a rock and now he can't go into the promised land. He's desired to see these people saved for 40 years. And he didn't commit adultery. He didn't commit murder. He didn't, you know, he wasn't aching, stealing of the accursed things. And so it just, it looks, it can look pretty severe. But you're right, it wasn't severe because much had been given to Moses. You know, Luke 12, 48, of whom much is given, much is required. You occupy that high a position of leadership, and God has considerable expectations for you, and you don't get the same grace or mercy that other people receive. I mean, that's the same in the church today. If you're a pastor or elder, that's the same. I would say for home fellowship leaders, they have higher accountability than those who are just part of the home fellowships. And so Moses had very, very high accountability. People who have been given much must be careful. And so God said that he could not enter, and he serves as a very sobering example of the consequences of sinning when you have very high accountability or when you're in such a position of leadership. And so my heart kind of breaks for Moses whenever I read about it, and just knowing that he kept asking God. Moses kept saying, please let me do this, Lord. until God finally told him not to ask about it, which shows how heartbreaking it was for Moses not to be able to go into the promised land. Some people see Moses going into the promised land when he shows up where? Some people see Moses actually getting to make it into the promised land when he shows up where? at the transfiguration. Yeah, with Elijah. The law and the prophets there testifying of Christ. Moses representing the law. But some people see, well, he's in the promised land there. He did have that wonderful experience. So, all right, we'll go ahead and stop there. I'll take any questions before we close or observations. All right. Father, we thank you for this time and we thank you for this wonderful type of Christ, the lessons we can learn from it. Thank you for your word and help us to just be satisfied, our spiritual hunger and thirst, through reading it and speak to us through it. Be with Pastor Nathan now as he preaches during the service. Go with us. Continue to keep our hearts prepared for worship. We look forward to this time with you, Lord. We thank you for everyone who's here. Help us to take these truths with us, Lord. Plant them deep in our hearts. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.