Christ The Living Waters From The Rock

Christ the Living Waters

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020414PM

John 7:37-38

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles back to where we were this morning, chapter 4 of the Gospel by John. And as you turn there, we’re looking at a very special topic this evening, and that is the rock, and the water, and the Feast of Tabernacles. And looking in our strategic grasp of the Bible for that common thread, which I shared with you last week, ties every portion of God’s Word together. And that thread, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, I have a question for you tonight, and that is, what do these verses we’re going to look at have in common? The first one, look in John chapter 4 and verses 10 and 14. Follow along in your Bibles, and note those words that I’ve highlighted for you. It says in verse 10, Jesus answered and said to her, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, give me a drink, you would’ve asked Him, and He would’ve given you living water. And then in verse 14, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain. A fountain of water. A fountain of water springing up. A fountain of water springing up to everlasting life. So, that’s the first verse.

The second verse later on in the book, chapter 7 verse 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast. Now, I hope that you’ll never be a peaceful, well-adjusted Bible reader. I hope that whenever you see something like the feast, that you will not just keep reading. You have to say, what feast? And why on Earth would the Holy Spirit preserve forever and record in Heaven this event happened at the feast and not just the feast, the seventh day of the feast, which is the great, megále, the big day, the big moment? So, I hope that you take the time to look these things up. And by the way, there are [879] verses in the Gospel by John and 660 of them surround feasts. It’s a big deal to John, and it should be a big deal to us. Jesus stood at that great day of the feast and cried out, saying, if anyone thirsts—so He picked this climactic moment—if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me. He tells how this occurs. It’s a faith received and a faith generated operation. It’s operative by faith. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers. Remember, I talked to you this morning about the growing work of the Spirit of God in our lives. Starts out in artesian, goes here to a river, and by the time we see the fullness, as Ezekiel talks about in 47, it’s just so big it swallows us up. So, out of him will flow rivers of water. And then look what 39a says: this He spoke concerning the Holy Spirit, the Spirit.

Okay, third verse, 1 Corinthians 10:4, and all drank. And by the way, this is Paul telling about the value of the Old Testament. He said the Old Testament is our examples. And 1 Corinthians 10, whenever you’re confronted with, should we give equal time to the Old Testament? Paul certainly thought so. He said it’s the picture book. It’s like the explanation of the New in pictures, but he’s talking about the Old Testament stories about Israel. And he says, they—that’s Israel—all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. Now we have the ultimate linkage of this idea of water, rivers of water, wells of water, fountains, and springs, and drinking, and believing, and a Rock in Christ.

Okay, now let’s keep putting this together. Is there a common denominator between them? Number one, Jesus offered a supernaturally received water. It’s supernatural water. Secondly, Jesus explained it, amplified it, and by the way, took it from being just a one-on-one encounter with the bad Samaritan to being an offering to the entire nation of Israel. And all of the pilgrims, three times a year the Israelites were to come up to Jerusalem. Three times a year they were to appear before God. This was probably the most joyous of all of them, the feast that He’s at, and so Jesus explains it at a feast. Thirdly, water that flows from inside, as it says in John 7:39a, is the Spirit of God. And we’re going to see next Sunday morning that probably the reason why so many people have trouble worshiping God, they have to get into the… You ever hear the people say, I can’t worship till it’s the right setting, or it’s the right music, or they feel right. They don’t really understand what worship is. Worship has nothing to do with whether or not the orchestra hit all the right notes, or whether or not the singer sang your favorite song, or whether it’s from your generation or their generation; that has nothing to do with worship. Worship flows from inside, from the Spirit of God. And the reason today the Church is so un-worshipful at times is that the Spirit of God is grieved, quenched, or not present. And we’re going to examine what Jesus said about true spiritual worship and salvation, but water that flows from inside, this supernatural water, He talks about at this feast is the Spirit.

Now, number four, water from a smitten rock. That’s the 1 Corinthians 10. It says the Rock that followed them, that Moses struck with the rod, was Jesus Christ. And so, it’s a smitten Rock, and that Rock is Christ. Now, here’s what ties it all together, number five, Jesus coming, being smitten, the Holy Spirit poured out—listen to this—is the prophetic theme of number seven, the last of the feasts of Israel, the last of the feasts of the Lord, which is called the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, listen to this. Jesus’ coming, His coming is tied up with the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus being smitten. What did they celebrate at the Feast of Tabernacles? They celebrated, chapter 17, Moses hitting the rock and the water coming out. So, this whole concept of the smitten Rock, the coming Rock, the Holy Spirit poured out, all that is what’s celebrated at the feast, chapter 7 of John’s Gospel, that Jesus introduced Himself at.

Let’s ask another question. If it comes up here, Christ in all the Scriptures, do we see the thread? Luke 24 is our theme. And I repeat this, He said to them, to these two disciples, which portray us often in our perambulating around this book. We don’t understand it, and so we revert back to our favorite parts instead of asking God to increase our understanding and open our eyes and to clear out our minds from all the stuff that distracts us. We just fall back and punt. We just do our favorite parts instead of going on and exercising ourself. But He said, you’re foolish and slow of heart not to believe all the prophets have spoken! Shouldn’t Christ have suffered these things and enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and the prophets, He showed them this strand. He expounded them all the Scripture, in all parts of it, what concerned Him.

Next, this Scripture reminds us of our study of Exodus. And what we’ve seen is this: Christ is in Exodus. He is in all of the events in the first 18 chapters. Let’s look at them one at a time just to remember and put them into the past tense.

On the next slide, and I’ll flip through them all real quick because everybody’s getting used to these. We saw Him already several weeks ago as the Voice in the burning bush. He identifies Himself as that in John 8:50. Secondly, we saw Him as the Passover Lamb of God. And by the way, these all tie together with His I Am verses. He declares in John that He, in chapter 10, is the Good Shepherd, and that’s what the Passover does. He gives Himself for those He loves. Thirdly, we saw Him as the unleavened Bread of communion. When Jesus held up that unleavened bread, He says, I’m the Bread. And you have to eat of Me, the personal partaking. Fourthly, we saw Him as the Rock in the wilderness that led them, and that’s 1 Corinthians 10:4.

Now we see tonight they drank from it, but also, He led them. So, the rock is a metaphor, by the way, all the way through the Scriptures starting in Deuteronomy 32. He is the Rock. His way is perfect. The LORD is my Rock and my Fortress, in the Psalms and all those, the LORD is identified as a Rock. And so, that’s a general term for encompassing the LORD Himself guiding them. But specifically, Paul said that the Lord Jesus led them in the cloud by day, led them by the fire by night, and was the Rock the water came out of, which is such a beautiful picture. He was the Rock in the wilderness.

Next, we saw Him in the Red Sea crossing, and remember Jesus said the great I Am statement, I’m the Resurrection and the Life. Do you remember? That the Red Sea crossing, they celebrate at Firstfruits when they think about the children of Israel going down into the Red Sea, through the depths of the Red Sea. And up on the other side, when they got on the land in the wilderness, they were raised, as it were, from being buried in that sea. And so, He is a picture of the Firstfruits, those that come out.

Let’s continue because the Exodus sequence reminds us of His great I Am the Vine. And what I pointed out to you, just briefly, and I hope you take time at least to mark these in your Bible because next time you read through the Bible, when you get to Exodus 15, 16, 17, and 18, at least it’ll be something. And here’s what they are. Our life is a struggle, it was a wilderness, it wasn’t easy. And I’ll tell you the Christian life is not easy. In fact, the more you know about the Lord, the harder it is to live the Christian life because you want to please Him in all that you do, and you want to purge yourself from all filthiness of flesh, and so it’s a struggle, but Christ is our hope. As we looked through that whole idea at Marah of the bitter water and how Christ’s cross sweetens our life, just as the cast in piece of wood cleaned that bitter water.

Thirdly, we saw at the oasis of Elim the palm trees, and I told you the whole story about the palm trees being fruitful, and Christ makes us fruitful. And then in the wilderness of Sin, the manna and quail in chapter 16, all those verses talks about how Christ wants to satisfy us. Remember I told you last week? The manna came right where they were, and Jesus wants to meet right with us. He happens to be right on the other side of this book every time you open it and then walks with us the rest of the time.

Then the chapter 17 smiting of the Rock, number five, Christ died once for our sins. Now, we’re not going to cover that so much tonight until we get to Numbers chapter 20 because the big deal was Moses struck the rock, what? The second time, and that was bad. We are His soldiers. That was the whole Amalek battle scene. And finally with Jethro, His Word is our guide.

We need to go on from here to the next one because we saw Him in the manna as the I am the Bread which came down, He said in John 6:41. He identified directly with the manna. He says, I am that Bread that came down. He said, that was a picture of Me.

And then tonight do you see Him in the water from the Rock? And I want to spend the rest of our time tonight tying this whole thing together, so let’s begin by looking at the whole idea of the Feast of the Tabernacles and its context. The next slide shows us the wilderness experience in Exodus. So, turn back with me to Exodus chapter 14, and I want to set the scene for why the Israelites celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. Feast of Tabernacles is the final fall festival. Israel, and I’m going to show you this tonight, has seven festivals. And the reason I’m going to show this to you tonight is after I’ve talked about this so many times, last week when I got done, someone came right up to me with their pen in hand and their paper open. They said, did you mention that something to do with Jesus parallels the feasts? And I know them well enough that they have been in all the services. So, I said, I see why Peter just before he was crucified said, I’m going to spend the rest of my life repeating because it’s part of our need to keep having this underlined in our minds.

So, chapter 14 is the great crossing of the children of Israel out of Egypt, through the sea, and up into the Promised Land. So that’s, or on their way to the Promised Land, is the crossing. The next event is in chapter 15, and this is fascinating. For those of you that love music, this is the first mention of a song being sung on Earth. Now, Job tells us the first song recorded in the Bible was the angels singing at the creation of the world. When God was creating, the angels were singing, but this is the first time a song is mentioned being sung on Earth. Now, I’m sure there was lots of music before that, but this is the first recorded one, so it’s very significant, and they were singing all through chapter 15. Thirdly, the next event is their first test. Look at 15:22 to 24 to get the concept of what’s going on. The first time the Israelites were tested: so Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; and then they went out of the Wilderness of Shur, into the Wilderness of Shur, and went three days into the wilderness and found no water. Verse 23, and when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of the place was called Marah. And the people complained. This is the beginning of the grumblings. In fact, by the time you get to the book of Numbers, Numbers could be renamed the book of grumblings and murmurings because they’re just, they’re getting closer together and more and more. But they started complaining, and they said, what shall we drink? And we already covered what happened there, that the big test was what do we drink? Now, there’s a lesson here. What’s the lesson? Jesus was asking them to do something. He said, now I want you to think about this. The first real test the children of Israel had when they came out of Egypt was God wanted them to change their orientation.

If you know anything about Egypt, Egypt is astride both banks of the Nile is the empire of Egypt. It’s on both sides of the river. But the nation of Egypt was a narrow, hugging the banks of the Nile River, civilization; the people lived within sight of the water, and their whole life was centered around the Nile. And if you know the Nile is one of the few rivers in the world that flows from south to north; it’s a rarity, and it’s one of the longest rivers in the world. And so, the people were constantly looking down the river. They were looking down the river for the annual flooding, and when the annual flooding came, all the sediments came up from the alluvial and the sedimentary deposits on the bottom, and they spilled up and washed over into the shores and the sands of the desert, fertilizing and putting a rich layer of farming soil up. And they would plant their crops after that annual flood, and that’s how they lived. And so, every year they’d look down the Nile; they’d look for the flooding. They’d look for the mighty Nile to provide for them, and that’s why their worship centered on the Nile River. So, that’s how, for 400 years, the Israelites had lived learning to look down. They looked down the Nile, they looked down for the water to overflow, they looked down for the soil to come up to give them good crops. They looked down the Nile for everything that kept them alive: the water, they drank the Nile water. They would let it, of course, dig wells close to the water and let the stuff filter through, but they drank the Nile. They irrigated with the Nile. They used it for their animals. They used it for their crops. It was everything to them, so they looked down.

What did God want them to do? He wanted to change their whole orientation, and so God reorients them and He says, I want you to learn to look up. What did they look up for? Three things. Let’s learn that tonight and think about it. They had always looked down, but from this time up, they were to look up for food. Where did manna come from? Manna came down from Heaven, so God wanted them to not think about the river and looking down at the Earth and figuring out how they could get their stuff by their own means. They wanted to look down, and God wanted to reorient them to look up and to see Him as the source of their food. Boy, there’s something to think about. Isn’t it fascinating that the Lord said we should, as His disciples, every day thank Him for our daily bread? Why? It’s part of that reorienting. He wants us not to be able to look down at the balance statement of our accounts and say, hey man, I’m rich and increased of good and have need of nothing, and I can last for years. I’ve got my barns full. He says, even if that might be true by His blessings, He wants us every day to reorient and look up. See, that pleases Him for us to look up for our food.

Secondly, the second thing they had to look up for was for guidance. They had always followed the Nile. They just looked down and followed the bank. And you know what? If you wanted to go to the southern kingdom, you went down that side of the bank. If you want to go north, you went up this side of the bank, but you just followed the river. You never had to look up. You didn’t have to look at the sun for orientation. You didn’t have to look at your compass. You followed the river; you looked down. Everything was based on the here and now. God says no. You going to follow me? He put a cloud up in the sky. They wanted to know which way to go. They couldn’t look down. They had to look up. They had to see where the cloud was headed. And you know what? When the cloud hovered over the Tabernacle, whether it was a day, a week, a month, or a year, it says in God’s Word, they stayed put. Why? Because God says, I want you to look up to Me for guidance. I don’t want you looking down. I don’t want you planning stuff based solely on this world. He says, I want you to plan everything based solely above, the upward look, for guidance. That’s what He wanted them to learn. Things haven’t changed. God says, I want you to look up. I want you in all your ways to acknowledge Me, and if you’ll acknowledge Me, I’ll direct your paths, but not if you’re looking down. If you’re looking down, you’re oriented incorrectly. You’re thinking of this world. You are, as Revelation calls, an Earth dweller. And God says, My people are not Earth dwellers. My people have their citizenship in, what? Heaven. From whence also? Toward Heaven they look.

Third thing, not only for food and not only for guidance, but now He wanted them to look up for water. It’s very interesting the way that this whole scene of chapter 17—and let’s look there now, turn to chapter 17 with me—the whole way is postured. Let’s read it. Exodus 17, all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Now, was that an accident? No, God brings us into waterless and foodless times so that we will orient ourselves to look which way? Up. What’s the normal thing we look at? As soon as you get the notice about your job, as soon as you get the notice about your health, as soon as you get the notice about something going wrong in the world, where do we look? We look down. We go, do I have enough money for that? Oh, is my insurance going to cover it? And oh boy, am I going to be able? We just look down, and God says, I want you to look up first. And so, He’s getting them to one of those points where they’re going to choose where to look.

Now, look at verse two. The people contended with Moses—they’re looking down—give us water that we may drink. So Moses said to them, why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, why is it you have brought us out from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, what shall I do with this people? They’re almost ready to stone me! And the LORD said to Moses, go before the people, take with you some of the elders of Israel. And take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and the water will come out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. You know what? This was a large outcropping of rock, and Moses went up. Now, you got to understand that we have 600,000 families here, and most of the, if you look at any of the Renaissance or that period drawings, it shows Moses down here standing and there’s this little tiny trickle coming out like this, at the bottom of a rock, and all the people are down on their hands and knees trying to get to it. The picture here is when it talks about water out of the rock, it talks about a flowing, it’s like a waterfall kind of thing. So, Moses took his rod and struck the rock, and the water began to cascade, obviously, out from the rock and went down. Of course, it did run along. In fact, there’s archeologists now say they found the spot in Saudi Arabia. Fascinating idea, which is makes it even more interesting that the whole Muslim conflict. But the net effect of this was that they had to look up to God who made water come out from a rock, not up from the ground. It doesn’t say it came bubbling up crude, like Jed Clampett’s oil. It came out from the rock and spilled down to them. And so, God says, I want you with everything you need—you need food and water, and you need to know where to go or you’re going to get lost—and He says, I want in all those things for you to look up. That’s the lesson. Remember, in the Feast of Tabernacles, they were memorializing three events: the guidance by the fiery evening cloud of fire and by the daytime cloud that led them in, shaded them; the food that came; and also the water.

Let’s continue as we learn more about this. This event, this feast, we’re going to look at the Feast of Tabernacles, which commemorates the water from the rock, the pillar of fire, the pillar of cloud. This event is part of the feast of the Lord, and the feast of the Lord, which I’m going to give you all at once tonight, is God’s timetable for the future as well as a revelation of Jesus Christ.

In quick succession, let me show you what I mean by that. God’s calendar of sevens is the first thing; God works in base seven. There’s a week of days which ends with what we call the Sabbath or the Shabbat. There’s also a week of weeks, which is the whole idea of the seven months, which ends with the Shavuot, which is the whole celebration of the seventh week of weeks, the forty-ninth week. Continuing, we have a week of months, which is their seven months in their religious year, starting with the first month, ending with the seventh month, where they have all their festivals. Fourthly, there is a week of years, which is called the Sabbatical Year. You work for six years, and you rest the seventh year. Then there is a seven weeks of years plus one, which is a Jubilee Year. So basically, what this says is you rested every seventh day, you rested every seventh month, you rested every seventh year, and you rested every seven-times-seventh year. And then after that 49, you got a second year of wow. Can you imagine that getting two years of vacation? But you know what God said if you did all this, I will bless you so much. You don’t even need to go out and gather your crops or anything for those two years. You’ll have so much. So, that’s God’s calendar, and they called that last one the Jubilee Year.

Continuing, God’s calendar also has in it these feasts, and let me list off to you what the feasts are. Oh, and by the way, on the great year, the forty-ninth and fiftieth year, all their land goes back to its owners, all the slaves would go free, everyone’s debts were forgiven. And by the way, if you owned a house inside of a walled town, that immediately reverted back to you and you never lost that home in a, even if you mortgaged it in the forty-eighth-and-three-quarter year, you got the mortgage paid off. They just had a wonderful system, basically so no one was ever in debt. And what horrible effects debt has on America. It makes people make all their decisions for finances instead of for God’s will. And so, God had a way. Interesting point, in Acts 3:21, this Jubilee Year is called the time of restitution of all things, and that is going to figure into what I’m going to show you prophetically.

But let’s keep going with the feasts of Israel. There are seven. There are three in the springtime, and those first three which we have just celebrated are the Feast of Passover. The spring feasts: Feast of Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Feast of Firstfruits. This, all those three occur in the first month. We just went bang, bang, bang, right through them. Passover was our Seder. The day or evening after began Unleavened Bread, and then the first day of the week after the Sabbath, after Passover began the Firstfruits. So, those three feasts are just bang, bang, bang, and they’re always in the spring. Then in the fall, there are three more feasts, and those feasts are in the seventh month. Remember, I talked to you about that whole seventh month was a month off for everybody. They had a time of festivities in the fall after harvest which was the Feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur, and the one we’re going to look at tonight, the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, look what falls right in the middle between them. The next feast is exactly in the middle. It’s called the Feast of Weeks, or we know it as Pentecost.

Let’s examine the implications of these feasts. First of all, Passover. What is Passover all about? Passover has to do, first of all, with a lamb being examined. Specifically on the calendar it says it has to be examined on the tenth day of Nisan, which happens to be Palm Sunday in our reckoning. That’s when Jesus went in as the Lamb to be examined. Then there is to be an offering of that Passover lamb between the evenings, which means between the evening that starts the fourteenth and the evening that ends the fourteenth. By the way, I already told you this, but when did the death angel strike Egypt? On Friday the thirteenth, that’s where it came from in our calendar. This whole superstitious black cat, don’t walk under the ladder, Friday the thirteenth stuff has to do with the fact that the Friday before Passover on the Gentile calendar would’ve been the thirteenth of Nisan, which is a Friday night before the Sabbath Saturday, which is Friday the thirteenth. Well, Passover continues with the idea that this lamb could not have a bone broken.

And let’s look at this feast. The first three points are all part of the Jewish feast, but this feast has already been fulfilled. Christ was crucified at Passover as John 1:29 says, He was our Lamb of God. As 1 Corinthians 5:7 says, Christ is our Passover. So, the first of these seven feasts, number one is Passover, fulfilled by Christ to the day. Second feast, Unleavened Bread. What characterizes it? The Chag HaMatzot, which speaks of the leaven and the unleavened nature. No leaven in the bread, and so leaven was always a symbol of sin, so that’s a big part. Sin, or leaven, has to be put out. Then there’s this curious and very colorful part of the feast, of the Seder, which involves the unleavened bread, matzo, three of them, taking the middle one out, breaking it, wrapping the middle piece, hiding it, and at the end, raising it up. So, that’s very interesting and very beautiful picture. There are the cups, which we already celebrated, the bringing out, delivering them the blessing and taking them out. But then look at this. This feast is already fulfilled because Christ was buried exactly at the start between the evenings. Remember, Unleavened Bread began at the end of the Passover, and so before Passover ended and before the Unleavened Bread Feast started. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had to get Christ in the ground. They had to get Him wrapped up and stuck in just like the bread. The middle matzo piece was wrapped up and hidden, they had to do, and so this is already fulfilled. Christ was buried at the time of Unleavened Bread.

Third feast, the Feast of Firstfruits. Remember, these are all in the same month. They’re all just a few days apart. This is what it says in Leviticus: the Feast of Firstfruits is the morrow—this is old King James—after the Sabbath after the Passover. What is the day after Sabbath after Passover? Passover was Thursday night; Sabbath is Saturday. What’s the day after Saturday? Sunday! So, the morning of the ultimate Firstfruits was Sunday morning. This is from Leviticus 23. This is from three thousand years ago. Three thousand years ago, God wrote down in His chronicle of His feasts that Firstfruits could only be celebrated on a Sunday. What happened on Sunday? The ultimate morning Christ rose again. Remember, I shared with you back in our Genesis series, when did the flood of Noah end? Same day, the day that starts Firstfruits. That was when mankind got to start over again and come out of the ark of safety. And that’s exactly the same day in the Jewish calendar that Jesus Christ came out of the grave. So, already fulfilled; Christ arose on Firstfruits.

Let’s look at the next feast, the Feast of Pentecost or Shavuot. That’s counting of the Omer, the 49 days, the seven sevens. It involves the use of leavened bread. Now remember, the first three no leaven, the last three no leaven. Leaven’s a picture of sin. But now all of a sudden, in the middle feast God says, I want you to have two loaves. I want you to have a leavened loaf, and I want you to have an unleavened loaf, and I want them to be beside each other. What’s that? That was God showing a picture of what the Jewish people thought were the leavened pagans—that’s us Gentiles—next to the unleavened Jewish people. Fascinating. This one has also already been fulfilled. The very Sunday of the birth of the Church in Acts 2 was the Feast of Pentecost. God’s right on track: Passover on schedule, Unleavened Bread right on schedule, Firstfruits right on schedule, Pentecost right on schedule. All four fulfilled exactly to the day.

What’s the next one? It’s called the Feast of Trumpets. It’s coincidental with Rosh Hashanah. This is their new year. The Tekiah Gedolah is the great blowing of the ram’s horn and the calling followed by the Yomim Noraim, the Days of Affliction. The people go around wearing black, and they mourn, and they call out to God for Him to not keep them bad words written about them in His record book. Could this be possibly Paul’s last trump? Remember, in Revelation the seventh trump sounds the beginning of the great and horrific part of the Tribulation, but this could be possibly the last trump. What do I mean by that? Perhaps it’s fulfilled at Christ’s return. Now, I don’t mean that you have to get a calendar out and say, oh, He can only come this year between October whatever and October whatever. It doesn’t say that in the Bible, but it’s very interesting that the first four have been fulfilled.

Let’s look at the next one. See if it fits with a prophetic overview. This is a day of national repentance, Yom Kippur. Do you remember 1973 when Israel was almost plowed into the Sea by Syria and Egypt all attacking at the same time and trying to drive them in, and the US came to their rescue and we shipped in, President Nixon gave them 121,000 tons of armament to win that war? And we threatened the Soviet Union with atomic weapons that they not overrun Israel? Very interesting, America was quite involved. That day surprised Israel because it’s their day of national repentance, which is portrayed in Zechariah 12 and 14. When Israel is repentant and crying out to the Lord to deliver them is when the Second Coming occurs. Read Zechariah. You want to know when the Second Coming is? We know exactly when it is. It is when Israel calls for their Redeemer to come rescue them, and when they cry out to Him, mourning for Him as for an only son, He comes at that instant before they’re annihilated. What else goes on in Yom Kippur? The high priest enters the holy of holies. The scapegoat sent off, the one slain, the other sent off into the wilderness with the sin. Perhaps fulfilled at Christ’s Second Coming to a mourning remnant. Not saying it’s going to, but it’s just fascinating that there’s a parallelism.

Here’s the last one we’re going to conclude with tonight. Sukkot, the Feast of Booths you might have heard, or Tabernacles, it’s celebrating three events. Number one, it celebrates what we already talked about, the water and light in the wilderness. But for a second, turn with me back to John chapter 1 verse 14. I want to show you something. This is curious, and it really doesn’t matter. There’s no doctrine attached here, but I think that it’s amazing if the Apostle John under the inspiration of God’s Spirit is charting all the feasts, and he basically does, he charts all seven of them. It’s interesting that he uses the words for the feasts; he uses the metaphors for the feast. But in chapter 1 verse 14, as he’s introducing the book of this infinite, eternal One whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. Christ did not begin in Bethlehem. He just arrived there incarnated God the Son in human flesh. But look what it says in John 1:14, and the Word became flesh. And it’s interesting, the word, dwelt, means lived in a tent, which in Hebrew, shakan, means tabernacled among us. So, from John’s perspective, Jesus Christ coming to Earth was Him tabernacling.

Now, I was just sharing this with my family, and we were talking it over at one of the meals. And they said wait a minute; I thought it was the census that made them come to Bethlehem. Yes, but any wise political ruler would not have picked an obtuse day to make people travel or he wouldn’t have got a big turnout. It’s most likely because Tabernacles is after harvest and it’s after all the crops are in, after all of your annual earnings are in hand that you would call for a census and a taxation. You don’t get blood out of a turnip. You don’t tax people who have no money. You wait till after the harvest. And you wouldn’t be traveling during the rainy season, which would be a very great hardship in Israel because it gets all miry, and you have to stay home, and it’s, there aren’t a lot of inns. So, the ultimate time to make people go back to their ancestral homes would be during the time they would already travel. Three times a year they traveled, and one of those three was Tabernacles. And that’s most likely when Jesus Christ was born, during the Feast of Tabernacles. It would fit.

Also, Christ’s Transfiguration was most likely during this time period because Matthew 17, what’s the first thing that came to Peter’s mind? When Peter looked up and saw Jesus there and Moses and Elijah, he said, hey, let’s make some booths. And he uses the exact word booths that’s used for this feast. So, the Feast of Tabernacles celebrates a lot of events in Christ’s life, but what else is there prophetically about it? Perhaps this is filled in the Millennial period and going into Heaven. Why? Because if you know anything about the Feast of Tabernacles, it’s the most joyful time in Israel’s life. It’s the time when they dance in the street. It’s the time when they’re happiest. In fact, even the Talmud says that it is the highest delight to see the celebration of God’s people in the Temple courtyard during this feast. And so, that would be, if anything, a picture that Jesus gave of Heaven: feasting, rejoicing, coming together, and all sitting down at this big table, which is what the whole Feast of Tabernacles was all about. Interesting how they all fit together. Perhaps this last one’s fulfilled by the Millennial reign of Christ folding into Heaven.

Now, let’s go to the big event of this. We’re looking at the rock smitten, and that’s where he came from in Exodus 17. We’re looking at the water coming out of it, which was celebrated, and the Feast of Tabernacles. What’s going on? Let me share this with you. The water from the rock, the tabernacling of Christ among us is when Jesus picked to reveal this great event that we were looking at this morning, we’re going to look at tonight. The Word became flesh and dwelt—that is, tabernacled—among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What is this showing? It’s showing us the water from the rock.

Let’s look at the events from the feast and what happened. Jesus and His disciples went there. Let me tell you a little bit about what it would’ve been like. They would’ve come into the Temple area, and Jesus Christ is coming to the festival in Jerusalem because He was obedient, called Sukkot or Tabernacles, and He came not just as a spectator. Jesus and His disciples were there, but they weren’t just there. Jesus and His disciples, I believe secondly, also participated in the events of this great feast. Jesus and His disciples would have followed the events of this feast. What were the events of the feast? Probably His disciples marched around the altar. Now you say, what’s going on there? To celebrate the water from the rock, there would be this priest that would walk down to the pool of Siloam, he would fill this golden vessel with water, he would walk back up and come into the Temple courtyard, and they would use that water every day to wash the blood off of the altar. Showing the cleansing, the sacrifice the acceptance of God, of the sacrifice.

So, that was all part, and then it would climax. And I want you to turn with me to chapter 12 of Isaiah because I want to show you this stunning climax, and it is fascinating to me what Jesus did, and I’ve studied this all my life. Never realized until I got into the Jewish customs of this feast how beautiful what Christ did in John 7 was. Jesus, at the climactic moment of the feast, identified Himself as the fulfillment of that feast. How did He do it? Look at chapter 12 verse 3. This is a special verse for me because all my years at the university in South Carolina over the drinking fountain, this is what they had. And every day when I’d go to the drinking fountain, I’d look at Isaiah 12:3, they put that verse card. Therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. It was right over the drinking fountain. So, you know how you have to turn your head like this to drink, and so you’re looking right at that verse. And so, for eight years I looked at this verse. Never caught any implications.

Now, let me show you what I mean. Isaiah 12:3, therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Let’s just do a little word study. What is the Hebrew word for salvation? I put it up there for you. The Hebrew word is Yeshua. Okay? The English form of Yeshua is Jesus. Now, keep going the next slide. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of Yeshua. Now, if you were having that translated, if you were at a United Nations meeting and someone translated that into English, they would say, therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of Jesus. Because the Hebrew word for salvation is Yeshua, and the Hebrew translated into English meaning of Yeshua is Jesus.

Now, you say, what’s the big deal about that? What does that verse have to do? Let me read to you the unforgettable moment. Listen to this. The priests would come on the sixth day. In the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and the sixth day, the priest in his joyful procession. Remember I told you that they, in this seven-day feast, the highlight of every day was the priest would walk down with all these people following him. He would get his water out of the pool of Siloam. He’d walk back and all the people would be waving palm branches behind him; we’re talking about tens of thousands of people. They really got into it. It’s kind of like a… We don’t get a lot of cultural stuff here. If you lived in the East Coast, you see the Italians, they have their deals, and the Portuguese have their deals. We don’t really get into, we get into sports, not into cultural and ethnic holidays. The Jews get into them. Everybody brought their palm branch, and they’d all be shaking it and doing all this stuff. And this priest would bring the water, and he’d come up to the altar, and he’d stand on this platform, and he’d dump it out, and the water would come, and the people would be shaking their branches. And while they shook them, the 24 Levites, one from each course, would begin everyone in the crowd chanting Isaiah 12:3. And so, for six days, all of the thousands of people had stood around this altar while he dumped the water out and said, therefore with joy shall you draw water from the wells of Yeshua. And they say it once, but on the great day. Chapter 7 of John’s Gospel verse 37, 38, and 39, on the seventh day, the great day of the feast. They didn’t do it once, they didn’t do it twice, they didn’t do it three times. They marched around that altar seven times and all seven times they kept saying, therefore with joy shall you draw water from the wells of Yeshua. And at that exact moment, first time, second time. I can just imagine Jesus walking with His disciples waving their palm branches around that altar and that water up there poised ready to come. And on the seventh time, all the people climatically said, therefore with joy will you draw water from the wells of Jesus. And then everybody had to get totally deathly silent because the big deal was to hear the sound of the water from the rock. Remember, this is reenacting that great moment when Moses hit the rock and the water spurted out, and it crashed, and cascaded, and flowed down through the desert. So, they all wanted to hear that sound. And so, all their life, the kids have been taught after the seventh therefore with joy shall you draw water out of the wells of Jesus. Jesus stepped forward calmly. Everyone’s deathly quiet, and Jesus yells out at the top of His voice, if anyone’s thirsting for water, let them come to Me. And if you come to Me out of you will flow, not just one pitcher, but a river of living water. And He smiled at all of them. They’ve been calling for Him seven times to say something. This feast was all about Him. This feast was talking about salvation and supernatural wells of water through the Holy Spirit. And that’s why Jesus so powerfully spoke at that feast.

What does all this come down to? The Rock of the Old Testament that was smitten was Christ. The Water that came out of that rock was the Holy Spirit, and the Feast of the Tabernacles was a revelation of our Savior who came, most likely at the Feast of Tabernacles, who was transfigured in Matthew 17 at the Feast of Tabernacles, and who perhaps will usher us into all the promises of a renewed Earth—His people there and us ruling with Him and reigning over this Earth—at the Feast of Tabernacles. But what’s the real lesson? Jesus said, and now I want you to go back, to close, to John chapter 7 with me. And I want you, every time you read this verse for the rest of your life, I hope you think of Jesus like all the devout Jewish men attending the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem. On that last day, Jesus and His disciples as they had sung Psalms with the priest, as they had followed the golden water pitcher, as they had walked seven times around the altar, as they chanted together seven times, draw water from the wells of Yeshua, as that water began to be poured over the altar and it was completely silent in the midst of all that. In a commanding voice in John chapter 7 and verse 37, Jesus said, if anyone thirsts, let them come to Me. And if you come to Me, He said, I’ll give you water that won’t last for a day. I’ll give you light that won’t burn out. By the way, they also celebrated the cloud of fire and had torches. He says, I’ll give you light that’ll never go out. I’ll give you water that it will never run dry. And verse 37, if you drink of Me, not just taste Me, if you drink of Me. He who believes in Me, verse 38, as the Scripture has said, Isaiah 44 verse 3 by the way, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Hundreds in the Temple heard Him that day. I wonder how many believed Him. I wonder how many of us believe Him. Do you live like every day you have a river of the water of life that fills you to overflowing with joy? And do people taste of Jesus Christ just by coming in contact with your life tonight, tomorrow, and throughout this week? I hope so.

Let’s all stand with our hearts bowed before the Lord, and let’s ask Him to make us a Feast of Tabernacles for His glory in this world today. Father, I thank You that Jesus came and tabernacled among us. I thank You that He was transfigured, pulling back the veil of His flesh and showing His infinite, eternal Godhead glory radiating out from Him. And I thank You that at this great day of the feast, Isaiah 12:3 became immortalized in the hearts of His disciples. As Jesus said, those Scriptures speak of Me. That’s Me. I’m the well of Yeshua. I am the well of salvation, and whoever drinks of Me, by faith believing in Me shall never perish, shall never see death, shall never die, shall never hunger, shall never thirst, but rather will have a river of living water flowing out of them. I pray we would have your Spirit welling up within us and that You, Holy Spirit, would not be grieved in our lives. You would not be quenched by our willfulness and our fleshliness, but rather, in purity and yielded-ness, in consecration and obedience, we would flow like rivers through Tulsa and Broken Arrow and the outlying communities. And as we crisscross the country and around the tables of our homes, I pray that living water would flow in the name of You, Lord Jesus, our salvation, we pray, amen. God bless you as you go.

Christ the Living Waters from the Rock – WOMAN AT THE WELL

John 4:10, 14

Jesus answered and said to her,  “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

JESUS AT A FEAST

John 7:37-38

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”

PAUL ON WATER FROM A ROCK

1 Corinthians 10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

CHRIST IN EXODUS:

Exodus 33:17 He is the One greater than the deliverer, Moses – He is Christ in ALL the Scriptures! In Exodus we find Christ:

• The Voice in the Burning Bush (3.1-6)
• The Passover Lamb of God (12.1-28)
• The Unleavened Bread (13.3-10)
• The Rock/Pillar of Cloud and Fire leading them (13.21-22)
• The Red Sea Crossing (14.1-31)
• The Manna from Heaven (16.1-36)
• The Source of Living Water (17.1-7)

We can see Pictures of Christ in every section of Exodus.

Pictures of Christ: The Burning Bush (3:1-6)

Pictures of Christ: The Passover (12:1-28)

PICTURES OF CHRIST: THE UNLEAVENED BREAD (13:3-10)

PICTURES OF CHRIST: THE ROCK THAT LED THEM (13.21-22)

PICTURES OF CHRIST: THE CROSSING OF THE RED SEA (14.1-31)

PICTURES OF CHRISTIAN LIFE IN THE SEQUENCE OF Exodus 15-18

Exodus 15-18 records Seven EXPERIENCES the Israelites had that correspond [1] to our Christian experience.

• THIS LIFE IS A STRUGGLE: The Wilderness of Shur  was the spot of the Song of the Redeemed (15:1-22) this reminds us that we aren’t promised a bed of roses after our salvation/redemption.
• CHRIST IS OUR HOPE: At Marah, the Bitter Water was Sweetened by a Tree (15:23-26) which reminds us that Christ’s cross sweetens the bitter experiences of life with the hope of His presence, His Peace, and His Plan.
• CHRIST MAKES US FRUITFUL: The Oasis at Elim (15:27) with 12 wells and 70 palms reminds us of the promises He gives of a Fruitful Christian life.
• CHRIST SATISFIES US: In the Wilderness of Sin they were provided Manna and Quail (16.1-36) which reminds us that Christ is the Bread of Life who provides all we need.
• CHRIST DIED ONCE FOR OUR SINS: The Smitten Rock of Rephadim (17.1-7) reminds us that “that Rock Was Christ” and He was only to be smitten once.
• WE ARE HIS SOLDIERS: The fight with Amalek is a picture of our war with the Flesh (17:8-16) and the victory is the Lord’s and comes by prayer and His weapons. (Deut. 25:17-18);
• HIS WORD IS OUR GUIDE: In the scene with Jethro, Priest of Midian (18) we see the value of God’s Wisdom revealed over the emptiness of the wisdom of this world. We now have that wisdom in His Word.

PICTURES OF CHRIST: THE MANNA (16:1-36)

Pictures of Christ: The Water from the Rock (17:1-7)

To understand the fullness of the water from the Rock it is often helpful to see the Jewish celebration attached to it. Since Jesus attended and participated in these celebrations it is even more imperative to know and understand why.

The first[2] real test for the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt was this very point. God had opened the waters of the Red Sea to let them out of Egypt. He then closed the same waters behind them to keep them from ever getting back into Egypt. They then sang the first song in the Bible, as they stood on the wilderness shore of the sea. Then they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. …And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? (Exodus 15:22,24) In Egypt they could always look down to the Nile. That river, the longest in the world, had provided everything that they ever needed. The ancients used to say, and rightly so, “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” But now, a mighty change ensues. These people, redeemed by blood and by power, find themselves in “the waste howling wilderness.”(Deut. 32:10)

Up until now, they had always looked down. From this time on, they were to look up.

• Their food now came from above.
• Their guidance now came from above.
• Their water would now come from above out of a Rock.
• The desert would provide nothing. All that they were to need for the journey would be met out of a gracious God’s fullness.

In answer to their question, “What shall we drink?” God gave them water from a most unlikely source – a flinty rock! And the New Testament teaches that “they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” (I Cor. 10:4)

The Water from the Rock in Exodus 17 is celebrated by the Jews at Tabernacles. This re-enactment of the Water from the Rock in Exodus 17 is known as Simcha Bet Ha-sho-evah (the Rejoicing of the House of Drawing Water).

• This special ritual prophetically illustrates the time when the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon Israel.
• It also illustrates the truth that Jesus Christ, the Giver of living water, probably was came to earth at Sukkot. So the Feast of Tabernacles “the Word became flesh and TABERNACLED among us” takes on a whole new meaning! John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
• Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. ..Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:10, 13-14 NKJV).

We have seen[3] Christ’s ministry on the cross was vividly portrayed by the rituals surrounding Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First fruits. There’s one other image we need to get from the Temple celebrations. It is the one which commemorates the drawing of water from the rock at Horeb (Ex. 17:1-7). On the morning of the first day of the festival called Sukkot or Tabernacles, and every day thereafter, a priest carried a large golden ewer from the Temple mount down to the spring of Siloam. As he walked he was surrounded by jubilant worshipers who followed him as he drew water from the pool of Siloam.

The route back to the Temple led through the water gate, and into the inner court. There in that grand courtyard of Herod’s gigantic Temple, a huge cheering crowd always waited near the altar. As the water bearing priest approached the altar, the ceremonial silver trumpets were sounded.

NOW COMES THE BIG EVENT!

Then would come the priests chanting the words of Isaiah:

“Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (12:3 NKJV).

Now here is the unforgettable significance of this moment.  In Isaiah 12:3 the word for “salvation” in Hebrew is Yeshua. This is exactly the same word in Hebrew we translate as “Jesus.” With that in mind think again of the scene. On the first through the sixth days, the priest and his joyful processional circled the altar once, but on the seventh day, they circled the altar seven times! All those times a whole group of priests are loudly affirming that with joy all were to draw water from the wells of JESUS!

The highlight of the ceremony occurred when the priest stood and poured the water on the altar. While the water washed away the blood of the morning’s sacrifices, a long line of priests, all bearing willow branches, sang psalms of praise. The Talmud[4] describes the ceremony in detail, including a portrait of venerable sages juggling lighted torches and performing somersaults as part of the celebration. The experience[5] was one of intense and total joy, so much so that the Talmud says whoever has not been in Jerusalem for this ceremony has not experienced real joy!

Now get the scene in your hearts with me:

• Like all devout Jewish men, Jesus attended the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
• On the last day of one Sukkot festival, He stood and cried out to the crowd: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37-38 NKJV). The apostle John goes on to explain that Jesus spoke about the Holy Spirit, which had not yet been given.
• Can’t you just see it? Jesus and His disciples had just attended the glorious celebration inside the Temple. They had sung psalms with the priests, had perhaps followed the golden ewer of water seven times around the altar as they chanted Isaiah 12:3 “draw water from the wells of YESHUA (Jesus)”.
• Then Jesus and His disciples watched the liquid stream over the altar, cleaning away the blood of goats and rams from the morning sacrifices. As the rustlings of a thousand palms filled the air, foreshadowing the palms that would be lifted to hail Him when He would enter Jerusalem to die at Passover.
• In the midst of all that, Jesus spoke in a commanding voice and explained the ritual the Jews had just witnessed. “If any thirst LET THEM COME TO ME! He was the Light of the World, the Living Water, the Word made flesh to dwell among them. He would soon be the Passover Lamb, the Bread Without Leaven, the First fruits. As our sinless High Priest, He would atone for sin once and for all.
• For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring. -Isaiah 44:3 NKJV
• Hundreds in the Temple that day heard Him …but only those with understanding believed. Do you?

APPENDIX: KEY INSIGHTS ON THE ROCK OF EXODUS 17

• The “Rock” is one of the titles[6] of Jehovah, found frequently on the pages of the O.T. In his “song,” Moses laments that Israel forsook God and “lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation” (Deut. 32:15). In his song, we also hear the sweet singer of Israel saying, “The Lord is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer” (2 Sam. 22:2). The Psalmist bids us make a “joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation” (95:1). While the prophet Isaiah tells us “And a Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a Great Rock in a weary land” (32:2). In the N.T. we get that memorable and precious word, “Upon this Rock (pointing to Himself, not referring to Peter’s confession) I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18).
• The first thing that impresses one when we see a rock is its strength and stability, a characteristic noted in Scripture in the question of Bildad to Job, “Shall the rock be removed out of his place?” (Job. 18:4). This is a most comforting thought to the believer. The Rock upon which he is built cannot be shaken: the floods may come, and the winds may beat upon it, but it will “stand” (Matthew 7:25).
• Another prominent characteristic of rocks is their durability. They outlast the storms of time. Waters will not wash them away, nor winds remove them, from their foundations. Many a vessel has been dashed to pieces on a rock, but the rock stands unchanged; and it is a deeply solemn thought that those who are not built upon The Rock, will be shattered by it—”And whosoever shall fall on this Stone shall be broken,” said Christ, pointing to Himself, “but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:24).
• A third feature that may be mentioned about a rock is its elevation. It towers high above man and is a landmark throughout that part of the country where it is situated. Some rocks are so high and so steep that they cannot be scaled. Each of these characteristics find their application to and realization in the Lord Jesus. He is the strong and powerful One—”The mighty God” (Isa. 9:6). He is the durable One—”the Same yesterday and today and forever.” He is the elevated One, exalted to the Throne of Heaven, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
• The first thing to be noted here in our type is that the rock was to be smitten. This, of course, speaks of the death of the Lord Jesus. It is striking to note the order of the typical teaching of Exodus 16 and 17. In the former we have that which speaks of the incarnation of Christ; in the latter, that which foreshadowed the crucifixion of Christ. Exodus 17 is supplementary to chapter 16. Christ must descend from Heaven to earth (as the manna did) if He was to become the Bread of life to His people; but He must be smitten by Divine judgment if He was to be the Water of life to them! Here is another reason for the opening “And.”
• There are three details here which enable us to fix the interpretation of the smiting of the rock as a type of the death of the Lord Jesus. First, it was to be smitten by the rod of Moses. The “rod” in the hand of Moses had been the symbol of judgment. The first reference to it definitely determines that. When he cast it on to the ground it became a “serpent” (4:3)—reminder of the curse. With his rod the waters of the Nile were smitten and turned into blood (7:17), and so on. Second, only the “elders of Israel” witnessed the smiting of the rock. This emphasizes the governmental character of what was here foreshadowed. Third, Jehovah Himself stood upon the rock while it was smitten. “Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb” (v. 6)—marvelous line in the picture was this. Putting these things together what spiritual eye can fail to see here a portrayal of our Substitute being smitten by the rod of Divine justice, held in the hand of the Governor of the Universe. Doubtless that word in Isaiah 53:4, 5 looks back to this very type—”Smitten of God . . . by His stripes we are healed.” How solemn to behold that it was the people’s sin which led to the smiting of the rock!
• Out from the smitten rock flowed the water. Beautiful type was this of the Holy Spirit—gift of the crucified, now glorified, Savior. May not this be one reason why the Holy Spirit is said to be “poured out” (Acts 2:18)?—speaking in the language of this very type. The gift of the Holy Spirit was consequent upon the crucifixion and exaltation of the Lord Jesus. This is clear from His own words from John 7:37, 38: “Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” Now mark the interpretation which is given us in the very next verse: “But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.”
• The Holy Spirit has given us a supplementary word through the Psalmist which enhances the beauty of the picture found in Exodus 17. There we are told, “He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river. For He remembered His holy promise (to) Abraham His servant” (105:41, 42). It was because of His covenant to Abraham that God gave the water to Israel. So, too. we read of God promising to give eternal life to His elect “before the world began” (Titus 1:1, 2), and this, on the basis of “the everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13: 20).
• 1 Corinthians 10, also supplements Exodus 17. In the historical narrative we read of Moses striking the rock in the presence of “the elders” of Israel, but nothing is there said about the people drinking of the streams of water that flowed from it. But in 1 Corinthians 10:4, we are told, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink.” This is an important word. It affirms, in type, that all of God’s people have received the Holy Spirit. There are some who deny this. There are those who teach that receiving the Holy Spirit is a second work of grace. This is a serious error. Just as all the children of Israel (God’s covenant people) drank of the water from the smitten rock. so in the anti-type, all of God’s children are made partakers of the Holy Spirit, gift of the ascended Christ—”And because ye are sons, God had sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:6). There is no such thing as a believer in Christ who has not received the Holy Spirit: “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of Him” (Rom. 8:9).

10. Much of the blessedness of our type will pass unappreciated unless we note carefully the occasion when the stream of living water gushed from the smitten rock. It was not when Israel were bowed in worship before the Lord. it was not when they were praising Him for all His abundant mercies toward them. No such happy scene do the opening verses of Exodus 17 present to our view. The very reverse is what is there described. Israel were murmuring (v. 3); they were almost ready to stone God’s servant (v. 4); they were filled with unbelief, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” (v. 7). The giving of the water, then, was God acting according to His marvelous grace. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But, be it well noted, it was grace acting on a righteous basis. Not till the rock was smitten did the waters flow forth. And not till the Savior had been bruised by God was the Gospel of His grace sent forth to “every creature.” What, my reader, is the response of your heart to this amazing and rich mercy of God? Surely you say, out of deepest gratitude, “thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift” (2 Cor. 9:15).
11. This chapter would not be complete were we to close without a brief word upon Numbers 20, where we again find Moses smiting the rock. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron, thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth His water, and thou shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink” (vv. 7, 8).
12. What is recorded in Numbers 20 occurred forty years later than what has been before us in Exodus 17. Almost everything here is in sharp contrast. The rock in Exodus 17 foreshadowed Christ on the cross; the rock in Numbers 20 pictured Him on high. The Hebrew word for “rock” is not the same. The word used here in Numbers 20 means an elevated rock, pointing plainly to the Savior in His exaltation. Next, we notice that Moses was not now bidden to “strike” the rock, but simply to speak to it. In Exodus 17 the rock was smitten before the “elders” of Israel; here Moses was bidden to “gather the assembly together.” And while Jehovah bade him take a rod, it was not the rod used in Exodus 17. On the former occasion Moses was to use his own rod—”Thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river.” That was the rod of judgment. But here he was to take “The rod” (Num. 20:8), namely, the rod of Aaron. This is clear from verse 9, “And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as He commanded him” if we compare it with Numbers 17:10—”And the Lord saith unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony (viz., the Ark in the Holy of Holies), to he kept for a token against the rebels.” This, then, was the priestly rod. Mark also how this aspect of truth was further emphasized in the type by the Lord bidding Moses, on this second occasion, to take Aaron along with him—Aaron is not referred to at the first smiting of the rock!
13. The interpretation of the typical meaning of Numbers 20:8 is therefore abundantly clear. The rock must not be smitten a second time, for that would spoil the type. “Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God” (Rom. 6:9, 10). “But now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself… So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:26, 28). Streams of spiritual refreshment flow to us on the ground of accomplished redemption and in connection with Christ’s priestly ministry.
14. How solemn the sequel here. The servant of the Lord failed—there has been but one perfect “Servant” (Isa. 42:1). The meekest man upon earth became angry at the repeated murmurings of Israel. He addressed the covenant people of God as “Ye rebels.” He asked them. “Must we fetch you water out of the rock?” He “smote the rock twice”—indicating the heat of his temper. And because of this God suffered him not to lead Israel into Canaan. He is very jealous of the types—more than one man was slain because his conduct marred them.
15. It is striking to note that though Moses smote the rock instead of speaking to it. nevertheless, the refreshing waters gushed forth from it. How this should warn us against the conclusion that a man’s methods must be right if the Lord is pleased to use him. Many there are who imagine that the methods used in service must be pleasing to God if His blessing attends them. But this incident shows plainly that it is not safe to argue thus. Moses’ methods were wrong; notwithstanding, God gave the blessing! But how this incident also manifests, once more, the wondrous grace of God. In spite of (not because of) Israel’s murmuring, and in spite of Moses’ failure, water was given to them, their every need was supplied. Truly, our God is the “God of all grace.” May the realization of this draw out our hearts in adoring worship, and may our lives rebound more and more unto His glory.

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