Testing In The Wilderness
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State: Context of this event
They had just experienced the:
-plagues upon Egypt
-Crossing of the Red Sea
Done at night
God gave light to the Israelites to go through the water
Just before daybreak the Lord broke the Egyptian chariots and then allowed the sea to come in over them.
State: Miriam did her dance and sang her song
11 “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord— glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders? 12 You raised your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies. 13 “With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home.
State: Then they start on their journey towrads the land of milk and honey Moses told them about.
22 Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. 23 When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”). 24 Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. 25 So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink. It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. 26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.” 27 After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.
State: There are some things to notice here:
They were being lead by the Cloud
21 The Lord went ahead of them. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night.
State: It was God who lead them to this place, not Moses
Why would God bring them this way?
State: God was about to fulfill the promise he had made to:
Abraham / Issac & Jacob / Adam & Eve
starting 2500 years prior with his curse of Satan.
God said to Satan and Adam and Eve
15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
The God started the process of establishing this promise by choosing a people he would work through to do it....
God said to Abraham roughly 2000 years later
2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
God promised a nation (people group) would come from Abraham
A nation needs land
God says to Abraham’s son Issac when he was in Canaan.
3 Live here as a foreigner in this land, and I will be with you and bless you. I hereby confirm that I will give all these lands to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father.
God confirms to Jacob that he will inherit both a land and a people
God says to Issac’s son Jacob
13 At the top of the stairway stood the Lord, and he said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham, and the God of your father, Isaac. The ground you are lying on belongs to you. I am giving it to you and your descendants. 14 Your descendants will be as numerous as the dust of the earth! They will spread out in all directions—to the west and the east, to the north and the south. And all the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants. 15 What’s more, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go. One day I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have finished giving you everything I have promised you.”
Jacob’s bones would be brought back to the land his decendents would inherit.
And God finally tells all Israel 215 years later that they are the nation he promised over all the centuries
6 “Therefore, say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt. I will redeem you with a powerful arm and great acts of judgment. 7 I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.
State: What was the purpose of God creating this nation from Israel?
6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.’ This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.”
State: Israel was on their way to becoming a Kingdom of priests and to being Holy
Holy definition:
-Having the characteristics of moral or ritual purity
-Being singled out
State: Holiness does not come naturally to us…our hearts are wicked
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
God knows already how bad it is…but....God wants us to know it
Moses reminds them of why these testings happened, many years later saying....
2 Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. 3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell. 5 Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for your own good.
God’s tests are always redemptive
He is trying to redeem a sinful part of us and make it holy (reflecting him..having his attributes)
Hezekiah’s heart Revealed
God wanted Hezekiah to know what was in his heart.....so it could be holy
31 However, when ambassadors arrived from Babylon to ask about the remarkable events that had taken place in the land, God withdrew from Hezekiah in order to test him and to see what was really in his heart.
God sent a prophet to tell Hezekiah of his sin
Hezekiah repented of his pride (relying on his wealth/pride)
God knew what was in Hezekiah’s heart…he wanted Hezekiah to know it so he could repent
Jesus did the same heart reveal with the rich young ruler
Jesus knew what was in the man’s heart and wanted to reveal it to him
Not to destroy him…but to show him what needed to be dealt in order to be truly holy
(your issue may not be money)
I think that person probably had a long night of thought
State:
The single most important part of our relationship with God is our holiness
14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
Living a holy life means:
Becoming more personally dedicated to God
More devoted, morally pure
State:
The beautiful thing about the new covenant that God has with us is that whatever is revealed in that process is forgiven by the cross of Jesus Christ.