THROUGH THE BIBLE - Exodus 1..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephdim. But there was no water for the people to drink.

Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried to the Lord, What shall I do with these people?

They are almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Herob, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah 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?

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed.

And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hand grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it while Aaron and her held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun, and Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this as a memorial in a book, and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven, or heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is my banner, saying, A hand upon the throne of the Lord.

The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Once again, we were journeying with the people of Israel, and they're on the move again. And in particular, in this chapter before us, we could say that it's divided into two sections.

And in both sections, we find that the people encounter trouble, at least the people of Israel encounter trouble. From verses one through seven, we see that that trouble is from within the camp, from within the people grumbling and moaning and complaining. And from 8 through 16, we see that that trouble is from the outside of the camp. And so, by God's grace, this afternoon, I want to spend most of our time in the first seven verses of this chapter. However, we'll begin, which is quite rather oddly, with the last portion of the chapter.

First, I'll give a quick summary, and then we'll come back and we'll spend whatever time we have left together in verses 1, through 7. So we're told in verse 8, we're told that Amalek comes and fought with the people of Israel where they had made camp. Now who's this Amalek? We know by the name that he's people of the Amalekites, and we know that Amalek himself was the grandson of whom? Of Esau.

And Esau was the brother of Jacob. So this is a greatly evil thing that's going on now. Because the people of the Amalekites, or Amalek's people, are coming and they're declaring war with the people of Israel. The people of his own brother, a great evil, that have no fear of God in their eyes. We're told in Deuteronomy chapter 25.

Also, we're told there, not so much here, we don't get a lot of details here, but we're told there in Deuteronomy 25, we're told that this people have come up from behind and they attack the more vulnerable, those who are staggering, the older, and the children, something fairly evil, and they do much harm to the people of Israel. But see, the people of Israel are confronted here. For the very first time, they have to declare or engage in war with another people group since they left Egypt. Now, they were confronted before, we remember this, when the Egyptians came and confronted them, where they were cornered between the Red Sea and the Egyptians. But in that moment, it was God who did battle for the people.

It was the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire that held back the Egyptians. And if you remember back then, Moses told the people, not to do a thing, just wait and watch the deliverance of the Lord. All they needed to do is watch how Yahweh fought their battle. And all they needed to do is once that sea was parted, is to walk on dry land to the other side. And then the Lord collapsed the sea onto the army of Pharaoh and destroyed them all where the bodies were floating ashore.

We remember, we remember the story. But in this case, the people of Israel need to take up arms. and they need to battle. They need to know that the journey is not going to be easy. The conquest certainly is not going to be easy.

There will be casualties to this war, but the Lord is on their side. So what we have is we have Moses telling Joshua, we need to declare war on these people. We need to engage with these. We can't allow them to continue to hurt us in this way. You take some of your men, go into battle with swords and on tomorrow, I will go up to the hill where you can all see me and I'll take the staff or the rod of God with me.

and I will raise my hands before the Lord." So what does that mean? There are so many interpretations as to what that means, but the fact of the matter is this, that that staff, that rod of God that he takes up with him is a symbol of the power of God. So much has been done by God's power through that staff. Now, the staff is not magical in any sense, but it's a symbol of who it is that is with him, and that is Yahweh is with him.

And his posture as he is on top of that hill raising his hand is a posture of prayer and supplication before the Lord. And all the army men, all the men of Israel who are declaring and fighting this battle with these Amalekites are to look to Moses and see that he's supplicating before the Lord. And his posture is showing that it is by the strength of God. It's by the power of God that we will receive victory. It's not by our own strength or by our own power, because if we were going to engage with the people who are war-trained and war-ready and we are not, we cannot be victors.

We must trust the Lord and the Lord only. He is our strength. He is our shield. He is the one who controls the outcome of this battle, and we are to trust in Him and in Him alone. And as His arms were raised in this way, the people of Israel prevailed, and we're told as He grew tired and His arms were dropped down, the people of Amalek, the Amalekites, were getting the headway in the battle.

Beloved, what an object lesson it was for the people of Israel. to see this before their very eyes and to be reminded once again in whom they ought to hope, in whom they ought to trust. And it is an object lesson for us here today in the 21st century also, no matter who our enemy is, beloved. Whether it is the world and the flesh, whether it's world or the flesh, or the devil, if we appeal to our own strength, if we appeal to our own ability, our own wisdom, our own knows, know-hows, then we will find ourselves nothing but defeated because we don't have the strength on our own to take on the enemy. But victory can come through the Lord, through Yahweh, through trusting in Him alone, acknowledging that He is our strength.

If we can only say with our mouths and believe in our hearts, as the psalmist says, the Lord is my strength and my shield. In Him my heart trusts. I am helped. And again he says, O grant us help against our foe, against our enemy. For vain is the salvation of man.

With God we shall do valiantly. It is He who will tread down our foes. It is the Lord who will tread down our enemies. And beloved, has Jesus not already tread down all our enemies? The Amalekites will continue to be.

The Israelites, they did receive victory. They overwhelmed them at this point. But we know that the Amalekites will continue to be a thorn in the side of the Israelites for about 1,000 years from now. Saul will confront them. Samuel will confront their king.

David and even Esther about 1,000 years from now. But the promise that God makes in this chapter towards the end is they will be blotted out. from the heavens, from under the heavens. And this takes place about a thousand years from now. They don't know that.

We do, because we have hindsight. We can read back into history. But either way, when they were confronted, they had two options. Either they were to trust in the Lord, or they were to trust in their own ability. Now, as I said earlier, I really want to spend a little bit more time in the first seven verses.

of this chapter. And I want us to see that when the chapter opens up for us, we find the people walking in or in the wilderness. They're journeying again, and they're told to stay at a place called Rephidim. But it's interesting here that it's not an endless wandering, but rather it is the Lord. It is Yahweh who has directed these people to this place.

We're told that in verse 1. But it's interesting to me how Yahweh, our Lord, directs these two million plus people in the middle of the wilderness to a place devoid of the essential resource for human life. There's no water here. And this is His intention. God is not making mistakes.

This is what He wants. He wants to send these people to a place where there is no water, because this is another test for the people of Israel. In chapter 16, we're told that there was a test, because they grew hungry then, and now they grow thirsty, and we have another test before us. The question is, in these desperate times, to whom will the people turn? Will these people learn to trust in the all-sufficient Lord, the creator of the heavens and the earth, or will they fail this test?

Well, we've read the chapter, so we know the verdict. They fail the test. Because we're told in verse 2 that the people begin to complain. They quarrel. They grumble.

And if this complaining sounds really familiar to our ears, it's because it is familiar to our ears. Back in chapter 14, they were also complaining. When they had their backs against the Red Sea and the Egyptians coming, they complained to Moses and said, why did you bring us out here? to kill us and our families. It would have been better to stay in Egypt.

In chapter 15 they complain, Moses we're thirsty. In chapter 16 they complain again, Moses we're hungry. Why have you brought us out here to die of starvation in the wilderness? And again here in chapter 17 we see a people who are groaning and complaining because of the circumstances they're confronted with. And the fierceness of their complaints is growing stronger and stronger because from the words of Moses, they're prepared now to stone him.

This is his response to God. How fickle, how fickle is the human nature, beloved? How fickle are we humans? We have to add ourselves in the group and not just simply look back and point the finger, which is easy to do. This is the case for the Israelites.

We see before them that the miraculous goodness of God in providing their every need. Every time they grumbled, their grumbling was completely misplaced because the Lord not only freed them, from bondage in Egypt, but he provided for them every single step of the way. However, this is the nature of an unbelieving heart. You see, rather than look back and be reminded of God's goodness and his provision, it is so natural to forget what he has done and to be more concentrating in what is immediately before us. Beloved, have the people already forgotten the parting of the Red Sea?

Have they already forgotten only a few days earlier how the Lord had provided water, not for one or two or a thousand, but the whole majority, all of them, the two plus million people where the water flowed from the tree or the log, as it says in the ESV, that provided water for all. and their thirsts were quenched. Have they forgotten that took place only two days earlier? If we give them that much and say, okay, but have they also forgotten what they did this morning? In the very morning they would have gone out and collected the manna and ate the manna.

This is supernatural provision from God because the Bible says that He provided for the manna for 48 years in the wilderness. Have they even forgotten what happened even this morning? This is the condition, unfortunately, that we find ourselves in. So often we find ourselves in situations where we're confronted with needs. We're confronted with maybe a mini dilemma, or we call it a catastrophe in our life, or a need, or whatever.

But then we find ourselves concentrating so much that we are blinded to the goodness of God. We're blinded to His provision, His goodness. and his faithfulness towards us. But there's something far more serious here than just thirst. There's something far more serious than simply complaining because they're thirsty.

And we get some insight in verse 7 as to the nature of this complaint. You see, these people at the heart of their complaint is unbelief. Because they're questioning if God is even there. Hear what they say in verse 7. Is the Lord among us or not?

How can they be questioning if the Lord's among them? Lord, are you there? Lord, are you actually with us or not? How can they not know? The end or the last verse of chapter 13 tells us that the cloud in the day and the pillar of fire in the night did not depart from among the people of Israel.

It was there. Is the unbelief so blinding that they don't even see the obvious presence or the obvious manifest presence of the Lord that is before them? This is incredible. And I cry out, Lord, God, are you even there? Can you even see what I'm going through?

Can you even understand the difficulties that we are entering into? God, are you even there? So what does Moses do? What can he do? There's nothing a man of God can do at this point other than to come before God and cry out to him.

There's nothing that he can do. See, Moses has matured in his faith. And if you realize when he does come before the Lord, he doesn't come and ask for water. He doesn't come to Yahweh and say, where's the water? The people are thirsty.

That's not what he says. He's grown in his understanding. He knows that if Yahweh has promised to his covenantal people that he'll deliver them and he'll give them a land and make them a nation, then he knows that he will indeed do these things. Moses knows God will provide. He's more concerned at this point, concerned for the people's spiritual condition than he is their physical condition.

So he says, what shall I do with these people? And I want us to look at the response of God in verse 5. And the Lord said to Moses, pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel and taking your hand the staff which you struck the Nile and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock of Horeb and you shall strike the rock and water shall come out of it and the people will drink. And Moses did it in the sight of the elders.

Beloved, there is so much. in these few verses. For starters, Moses is instructed to take the staff, but then the Lord says, the staff you struck the Nile. You see, Moses did a lot with that staff. He parted the Red Sea, which is really a symbol of the deliverance of people, the rescue of the people.

But the Lord says, the staff that you struck the Nile, because when you did strike the Nile, the water, the fresh water, the water supply for the Egyptians had turned into blood. So the very water, which was the life, the physical life for these Egyptians, was cut off by Yahweh. The Egyptians had a pagan heart, and they would worship the God of the Nile. They credited the God of the Nile with the life-giving water that flowed through the Nile. But God said, that stops.

And through the instrument of Moses, when he struck that water, it was not only showing that Yahweh has power over all the gods of Egypt, in particular, the god of the Nile, but it was also judgment upon the people of Egypt because of their idolatrous hearts. because they're unbelief. They have no faith in the only true living God. And that staff in Moses' hand acted as an instrument of judgment back then. And I believe he's doing the same here.

You see, another thing that would support that would be the fact that Moses is told not to go alone. Moses is told to take some elders from among the camp and take them with him to the Mount of God, to Horeb, which is Sinai. Why is it that he has to take these elders with him? Beloved, he's taking witnesses with him. Because what we have before us here is somewhat a courtroom situation.

But here's the twist. It's not the people's unbelief that is being judged. It's not the people's unbelief that is being punished in this situation. They deserve the punishment. They're guilty of sin.

We are guilty of sin. We have broken God's law, and the soul that sins shall die. The Bible says that, and the wages of sin is death. We understand this, but what's happening here is that a substitution is taking place. And I want us to see it.

Something is happening here that's foreshadowing something that's so glorious to come in our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because in this courtroom, with these witnesses, with Moses, Moses is instructed to strike the rock. And the recipient of that striking is God Himself. Because if we look here in verse 6, Behold, this is the Lord speaking, I will stand before you there on the rock of Horeb, and you shall strike the rock. Moses is striking the rock where God is standing.

And Beloved, if that's not clear enough, in 1 Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul tells us that that rock, speaking about this instance specifically, is our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ himself. Beloved, the judgment that fell that day is falling upon God Himself. This is incredible. Yahweh stands as the rock and He receives the judgment of His people. And rather than Him judge His people and punish them, rather than them being smitten by God, that judgment falls upon a substitute The Christ, the rock, does it not remind you of Isaiah 53?

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet He is thinking stricken. It is smitten by God and afflicted. That rock was punished in our behalf. And the result was the blessing of life-giving water. In this passage, in Exodus 17, it is a picture.

It's a foreshadowing. It is a type. And the people here were nourished physically with physical water. But the rock on Mount Horeb foreshadowed, as I said earlier, Jesus Christ, who in a judicial act was smitten by God, not so that we could enjoy the physical water, but the spiritual living water. Just as our Lord said to the Samaritan woman in the well in John chapter 4, if you remember, he says, the water I give becomes in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life.

unlike the Israelites in the wilderness, beloved, who in chapter 15 and again in chapter 17 complain of thirst. Those who receive of this living water, those who receive from the rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ, they will forevermore be satisfied, never to thirst again. And how do we receive this water? By believing in Him. By recognizing our need for that water.

Recognizing our need for the life that only He can give. And He can give that life because He bore our penalty in our place.