The Wilderness
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Wilderness: This life we live in right now.
Through the wilderness they:
Ate spiritual food (manna), drank spiritual drink - allusion to Passover. Spiritual because the Holy Spirit provided it.
Because they were drinking from the rock - Moses struck the rock the first time and was only supposed to speak to it the second time.
The striking is foreshadowing of the crucifixion and out of Christ’s body a river of blood flowed that covers out sin. Coming to Christ, through His blood we find that Jesus is the living water of life.
An agent of life and blessing.
There is a strange allusion to the rock though that followed them, which Paul says was Christ.
Did an actual physical rock roll behind or in front of them? In using the term spiritual again, It would seem that Paul is taking the actual event and pressing it forward as foreshadowing again to Jesus Christ. The rock that gives life giving water (Jesus Christ) was walking with them through the desert continuing to give them life giving water.
Rock is an OT title for Yahweh - emphasizing strength and force / foundation and security / the one who upholds all things
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
It is also used of the Messianic Kingdom that strikes the statue in Daniel.
Not surprising since the whole tabernacle set up was a picture of Jesus Christ. The Son of God Himself was the tabernacle and when He came to earth John says it this way:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Tabernacle:
Gate - Jesus is the door
High Priest - Jesus is our high priest
Bronze Altar - Jesus is our sacrificial lamb / Jesus is our Good Shepherd
Wash Basin - Jesus is our sanctification
Table of Showbread - Jesus is the bread of Life
Pitcher of Wine - Jesus is the Vine
Candelabra - Jesus is the Light of the world
Altar of Incense - Jesus is our intercessor.
Veil - Jesus is our mediator.
Ark - Jesus is our atonement
contents - Jesus is the way (10 commandments) and the truth (authority) and the life (manna).
This leads to the understanding that Communion is now a spiritual meal in reminder of what Christ has done and His presence with us through the wilderness.
This meal should be taken together as a spiritual family.
Thus the importance of being a part of a church family.
The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.
God Redeemed Them - bought them out of slavery and brought them out of slavery.
God Led Them and His Presence was with them. The Cloud was a symbol of God’s presence and protection. They had come under the protection of God. This is a reference to the Shekinah Glory of God. It is referenced as falling upon the Holy of Holies at the dedication of the temple and the presence of God being so heavy that the Levites fell to their knees and could not carry on their service. It is the cloud that hovered over the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle during the wilderness journey.
The purpose of the Wilderness? To let the old self die and the new self purified so it can enter into the Promised Land