Exodus 17, on page 69, and we will read together the first seven verses. Let's give our attention this morning to the living and the powerful Word of God.
"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 Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore, the people quarreled with Moses and said, give us water to drink. 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 this people? They're 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 Horeb, 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?
And there ends the reading of God's Word.
Well, what a privilege to come to the table of our Lord this morning and commune and to receive the body and the blood of Christ. I want us to think about, as we do that and anticipate coming, what that declares to us this morning. What it declares to us, because it's easy to forget the great message that is here given to us in the celebration. Think about that: the celebration of the Lord's Supper. It declares to us that the Lord has made a provision for us in the wilderness. That's the wonderful thing about Psalm 23 is i was praying that he gives us and spreads a table before our enemies in the wilderness for us to commune and to celebrate. It's a great provision for us in our weariness and in our struggle against sin.
Understand that the supper gives us great blessing. The word and the sacrament in help to us And encouragement to us in our struggle against sin and i particularly want to think about this morning how the Lord provides how the lord provides this in moments of great weakness for us. See, that's it. would be fascinating to survey the congregation and see what what moment are you in right now? And you know, there seems to be moments of strength, but moments of real weakness and struggle and disappointment and discouragement and failure and frustration, and often with the Lord's ways. And often with the Lord's ways: Why is He doing things this way? Why does He do things the way that He does?
As Dr. Godfrey has pointed out numerous times, sometimes we feel that, of course, we were in charge, and that would never be a good thing. But we might do things differently. Why does the Lord do what he does?
Exodus 17 is very special. What we know about Israel in the wilderness is that really a giant mirror is put up for us. That was the intention of studying Israel, that it would stop the mouth of the whole world, Paul says in Romans 1.
The key sin of Israel in the wilderness was what? Well, there are a lot of them. You could say it was idolatry. But one of the key sins was complaining. Jesus picks it up in John 6 when it had to do with the provision of bread and his body and blood all around the sin of Israel's complaining and the provision for that. All of that, John is taking and looking back at Exodus and Genesis, There's especially Exodus, and Israel's struggle in the wilderness and they're complaining.
And we have a crucial event before us that teaches us really the whole gospel story. It's not, this is what I love about the way that we understand the scriptures. We don't chop it off as if there's no continuity in the message. God was always proclaiming the gospel to Israel. What did they do with that gospel was always the question. And showing us, in the midst of this, what Israel deserved from the Lord and instead what God would do for them, seeing the covenant of grace woven all the way through the tapestry of Israel's history.
Instead of God striking them down for all this rebellion, in something else He provides right in front of their eyes. He gives them gracious provision. And this is what I want to remind you of as you come to the table of the Lord today: I want you to think about what the Lord is actually doing for you and in whatever station of life, whatever thing that may be coming upon you, to remember what the scriptures reverberate with over and over and over again: is God's covenant faithfulness to His people, to them and to their children.
One of the, in verse 1, if you look at chapter 17, we read, "Then all the congregation of Israel set out. 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 that camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink."
Rephidim means a station or a place of rest. It's directly playing off the event that just happened where they were called to rest in the previous section on the Sabbath. There was a test of the Sabbath. So we see all of these major things that are emphasized in the Old Covenant and the New Covenant of the importance of the people of God: rest, Sabbath, and provision here captured in Israel's wilderness wanderings.
And at this point, Israel's had enough of it. It didn't take long. What we read is that they come to Rephidim, and there was no water to drink. And if you have remembered, this was like 10 years ago, I think we studied Exodus. Of course you remember those sermons, right? Everything that I said. I don't even remember it, so—
In those sermons, you'll remember that a lot of this is deja vu. If you look back at the end of chapter 15, the very thing happened before. You'll notice there, at the end of chapter 15, that they went three days, this is verse 22 of chapter 15, in the wilderness and found no water. This is deja vu. This is the same thing again, and they complained against God, or against Moses, first off. And the Lord made the waters sweet, didn't He? He turned the waters and He made them sweet, from bitter to sweet for them.
But things are moving. Not only are they complaining, but this scene sort of capstones all the complaining by saying now they contended with God. They contended with Moses. And this is moving. It's progressing in frustration. And at times I think this captures life. It just seems to be one thing after another. And it seems that we often go through the same things. And at times we feel, "I can't do it."
There have been numerous circumstances so hard for people that two things happen in the midst of these kind of things. Number one, which is the perennial sin: We forget. We forget all that God has done for us in the past. It's almost as if it's blacked out. And all that is in front of us with the same problem, the same thing now tends to exacerbate all the frustration.
Well, they've reached a breaking point already in their wilderness, and they haven't even received the law at this point yet. Therefore, the people contended with Moses and said, "Now notice this: Give us water to drink." That is a demand; that is a command.
The word for "contend" here is fascinating. They quarreled with Moses. They've been complaining and they quarreled with Moses. And you've noticed the progression out at the end of the rope in the wilderness trials, and now they're making demands: "We are not putting up with this." And you remember at one point they said, "Listen, it would be better to go back to Egypt with the big pots of meat. At least we ate there to the full. They come out here and have to go through this."
And you understand that the New Testament presents wilderness life. It grabs this what we call motif. It grabs this theme. Jesus, out of Israel, I've called my son. He goes out into the wilderness to be tested 40 days. All this is recapitulated. And we see, in even in the book of Revelation, that once the Son of Man was caught up on the throne and reigned, Revelation 12, the woman, the church, goes out of the wilderness for the set time prepared by God for her to be tested. It's the same thing.
Well, now they're making demands: "You give us. You give us water now."
Moses says in verse 3, "Why are you contending with me?" They contended and they complained. In verse 3, they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us up, here it is, out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock now with thirst?"
You know, that is just, I think we're meant to be stunned by that. Maybe we shouldn't be when you understand human nature, but how could you say that? How could you just say that? That's like a marriage, and in that marriage you have a good spouse, and that spouse has always loved, and that spouse has always been there, and that spouse has always cared, and that spouse has always encouraged, and the other spouse at some point says, "You don't satisfy me. I'm out of here." What in the world? And that happens. And then you stop and you say, "We do this to God." And we don't even realize it.
Here's the climax of the charge in verse 7: "Is the Lord with us or not?" That's the first time they've lashed out against him in their wilderness journey. So now they've moved from Moses to him. It never really was at Moses. It was always at God, but now they've gotten bold enough to lash out at God.
And people do this. They question God or they get angry at God. And I have to say, we never have a right to be angry at God. Ever.
The Psalms say it this way, 106: "He rebuked the Red Sea also and dried it up. So he led them through the depths as through the wilderness. He saved them from the hand of him who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their enemies. There was not one of them left. Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. Then they soon forgot his works. So they did not wait for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness. And here we go, tested God in the desert. And he gave them their request and sent leanness into their soul."
This is a crucial point. He overturned Egypt, creation itself for them. He killed the Passover lamb for them. He passed the angel of death passed over them and did not destroy them. He parted the Red Sea for them. He destroyed the Egyptians for them. He brought them out. He's cared for them. He's loved them. Whenever they thirsted, he provided for them. He dropped bread from heaven on them in the last chapter. And just within a few days, it's all forgotten.
Did he not want to give them drink? Did they think it was too hard for him? Had the complaining spirit overcome them to the point that they had already forgotten everything he had ever done for them?
How important is it that we think about how faithful the Lord has been to us in the past? Has he not done wonderful things for us in this deliverance that he's brought to us? I mean, what a message we get to proclaim when we celebrate the cross: that in history, God delivered up his son for you when you didn't even ask for it. You didn't even exist. You were yet a sinner. And He loved you. And then He's fed you, and He's cared for you, and He's heard your prayers.
"Bless my soul and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. Forget not His benefits, who forgives your iniquity, who heals your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles."
You know, that's a life you enjoy. But then we're tested. What are we like to him? We have a Sabbath day of rest to worship and enjoy him. We're the bride of Christ. Can you imagine? um A spouse saying, "I would like a couple hours with you a week to enjoy one another and talk," and the other spouse saying, "That's legalistic." What? You've got to be kidding me. You say that?
When I'm discouraged and I'm tested, how easy it is to think God doesn't care. And I've forgotten everything he's ever done for me. And it's been a lot. And every time when we've been cheered up and encouraged by the gospel, all those times where we've been fed and we've praised the Lord, evidenced of his care for us in his word, they get here and they say, "Is the Lord among us or not?"
Now, that may be one of the worst things Israel's done. It may not seem like a great charge, but you have to understand what's being said. It's the whole promise of the covenant of grace: "I will be your, you will be my people. I will be your God. I will dwell among my people. I will not forsake them." That he would ever bring them out of the land and leave them would have been a failure to the covenant of grace, a promise to Abraham: "I will go with you." That happens here in Exodus. And this is a charge being made.
Moses realizes this in verse 7. He says, "Why do you tempt the Lord?" And in the end of verse 7, that they tempted the Lord saying, "Hey—" They're testing him here.
It's fascinating. I want you to look at verse 7 carefully. He called the name of the place Massa and Meribah. Meribah means to argue. Massa means to tempt. But it's actually the very word for covenant lawsuit.
So they are arguing and prosecuting God: "You have failed the covenant."
Who is tempting and who is testing who here? They charge God with being unfaithful to his promises. Right there, they level a covenant. This is a really interesting moment because of all the covenant lawsuits that were leveled by the prophets against the people, this is the people now leveling one against God: "Is he faithful? Has he failed?"
They found these covenant lawsuits in archaeological digs, the ancient suzerain vassal treaties, where the terms of the covenant were between the suzerain and the vassals. A court would be established, so you'd have a scene of judgment. The plaintiff then would bring the lawsuit, would make the speech and bring the charges. Judges would be appointed; accusations made. The defendant would respond, and then a judgment would be rendered.
And Israel now has laid a charge. Israel has laid a charge: "Is the Lord here among us or not?" They're claiming he's not among them. The Lord has not fulfilled his promise. That's what they're saying.
Moses says, "Okay, you've initiated a trial."
So think about the scene here. The charge is raised: Yahweh is not fulfilling the terms. He is not among us. He just wants to kill us. So what happens? Moses comes to the Lord and he says, "What do I do? I don't even know what to do with these people. They're almost ready to stone me."
So what does the Lord say? "Go on before the people. Notice this here, verse 5: And the Lord said, 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.
The Nile that was struck, the water was turned to what? Blood. So we have a scene here because God then next says, "I will appear on the rock at Horeb."
We have a scene, a judgment scene. A court is convened; a jury is formed, the witnesses, the elders Moses, you take the elders and the rod, you go to Horeb.
Where was Horeb? Horeb was the place where the angel of the Lord, the burning bush, appeared in the bush, the place where there was holy ground, where Moses' shoe was removed, remember? This is kind of a scary moment. They've initiated the charge.
There's a massive rock at Horeb, and that rock, they say, overlooked the back end of Sinai, so that you had the wilderness out there. And so you could imagine what's happened here is two million Israelites have gathered up against this rock.
Did you notice verse 6? "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb." Crucial moment. Their sin and the charge demanded a judgment to be rendered. If they were found guilty, they would be judged. We expect him to turn them into a sea of blood.
The elders stand there. The rod is lifted. Look carefully at verse 6: "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock."
I don't know how the Lord descended that day. No one could see God's glory and live. But when you put together 1 Corinthians that looks at this scene, here's the commentary: "For they drank of that spiritual rock, and that rock was Christ."
The court is in session. Christ comes out and stands on the rock. He's identified with the rock. He is the rock.
And what is said to Moses? "Strike the rock."
Moses slams the rod against the rock. Now when he did that at the Nile, the water became blood. Now he slams the rod against the rock. And after all this complaining and all this contending, he visualized the covenant of grace for them: that he would take the rod of judgment for them.
Beloved, this is the Christian gospel. The summary of the law is that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor is yourself. Moses, with the rod, which is the scepter of God's judgment, throne, rod, judging, he strikes Christ. He takes the blow. Immediately, we read, when the rock was struck, water gushes out into the whole valley so that they can drink. That's an amazing provision. Two million people to drink water!
Psalm 105: "Listen. Psalm 105: He opened the rock. This is a big deal. Water gushed out. It ran in the dry places like a river. And here's the application: he remembered his holy promise and Abraham his servant that's the covenant of grace.
They were all wrong in the charge. Number one: they had broke the covenant, but he declared that he would come among them and take those sins so that he would fulfill what was promised to Abraham in the covenant of grace. God, this is the announcement to the ends of the earth today as we come to the supper. God in the gospel of his son, has announced to the world that in our place, he put him on trial. A trial happened. Witnesses, And they were false witnesses, erected. and we said, "It's him who is the blasphemer."
Peter's message was, "You took the Lord of glory and crucified him. You stripped him. You beat him. You mocked him. We watched him as a criminal, and then we released the truly guilty."
And at that hour, a rod was raised, and God struck his son for you. That rock who is Christ. Remember, John said as soon as he was struck, water came out. He's thinking Exodus.
And this is the message today: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken." Where do you think that comes from? "Stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He was pierced for our transgressions. Upon him and crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
And what a message that's then given to us. We drink the same spiritual drink that Israel drank in the wilderness. What did Jesus say? Can you imagine the significance? One day in Israel, when he lifts up his hands and he says, "Whoever drinks of the water that I give him shall never thirst. You're thirsty. But the water that I give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to everlasting life."
What do you think you deserve? Who is the guilty? Has he ever been unfaithful? Has he ever not done what he said he would do for us and our children? We have to trust him when things get hard.
Instead of wrath, today he just does what? He spreads a table for you of his body and blood to declare true spiritual food and drink for your soul. Instead of wrath, steadfast love.
Do you believe that? Do you receive it by faith? Do you rest in him? Then come.
If you can hear this, still say, "No, I don't believe him. I think he's a liar. I think he doesn't fulfill his word." Stay far away. But if you believe and you trust the provision of his son, and you believe that he loves you, and his steadfast love endures forever and does not change, and he's always proven it faithful, and he gave his son for you to die in 8030 in the month of Nisan, and he said, "It's finished," and he took that judgment, and now you receive that by faith, then come and taste and see that he's good. He'll satisfy you.
This is the message that comes from Exodus 17 of this gospel that is proclaimed all throughout the scripture. Receive it. Believe him.
Let's pray. Gracious Lord, thank you for such a provision. Feed us now with the body and blood of Christ, that we might have confidence, that we might believe that you care for us, and that as you try and test us, you are, O Lord, proving yourself faithful. Grant us faith to believe all that you've spoken in your wondrous word, to know that man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of our God. Thank you for living water. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Thank you.