Water & the Nourishment of God’s People- Exodus 17

INTRODUCTION

One of the blessings of history is that it allows us to learn from others’ mistakes. For example, In the 1800s, doctors did not wash their hands prior to performing surgeries or deliver babies. As one would expect, mortality rates for both were exponentially higher than they are today.

One surgeon suggested that all surgeons begin washing their hands prior to performing the surgeries, and at first his theory was rejected. Eventually, however, Joseph Lister’s suggestions were followed and a great deal more people survived the surgeries. (https://www.history.com/news/hand-washing-disease-infection)

We learn from their mistakes (and unfortunately, those lost lives) that washing hands is a generally good idea, but especially prior to births and surgeries. We can look back in medical history and learn from their mistakes.

Biblical history is even more spectacular. For one, it is divine. God Himself has recored the events about particular people with specific words and for a peculiar purpose: our instruction.

That is, the events of which we will read about this morning are divinely given to us by God for our learning. Please do not miss this. We are privileged to learn from the mistakes of Israel. And lest we think we are better than them, Paul specifically says, “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

We all have before us a remarkable warning found in this chapter discussing Water and the Nourishment of God’s People. Water nourishes our bodies, without we would die. Christ, in an even greater way, nourishes our bodies and souls, without Him we would die.

We must be nourished by Christ while heeding the warning of Israel.

I. The Nourishing Water of Christ- 17:1-7, 1 Cor. 10:1-5

The people are continuing their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. Many of you have Bibles with maps in the back of them and can see how this journey progressed, but they moved first to Elim, then to the wilderness of Sin, and now they are camped at Rephidim. This is about 60 miles (traveled on foot, about the distance from here to Lake Lure). They are in the desert, and you can imagine they are thirsty, really thirsty.

In fact, it appears they were on the verge of death by dehydration. I say this because, according to our passage, the people were ready to stone Moses. They would take large rocks (like this one) and hurl them at the individual until they died. So I think it is safe to say their situation was dire.

They have traveled a great distance with a large amount of people and animals. Humanly speaking, what Moses did in leading them out of Egypt was completely insane. But they were not alone, and Israel should have known better, for they saw and heard of the miraculous deliverance from bondage. The Lord was with them, providing for their physical needs in wondrous ways.

They had a need for water, and instead of turning to the Lord for this need, they quarrelled. They made a case against Moses, and as Moses relates, it was really a case against God.

Now, before we are too harsh on Israel, let us remember just how often we do this. I use the weather as an example because every one of us is guilty of this. “It’s too hot.” “It’s too cold.” “It’s raining too much!” “It’s not raining enough!” We grumble and quarrel just as much if not more than Israel.

They had a need: water. We have a greater need: Christ. You see, God has wonderfully provided physical needs to remind us of a greater, spiritual need. We need food, God’s Word is our bread. We need water, Christ is our hydration. Is this not what Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:13–14 “Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.””

[Worship in Spirit and Truth-Charnock Conference]

ISAIAH 53–Christ is the Rock

That is the connection Paul makes for us in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Our greatest needs are not physical in nature, though we certainly have plenty of them. Our greatest need is Jesus Christ. Let Christ be the bread you eat, the water you drink, the air you breath, the sleep that refreshes your body.

Listen, let this physical life remind you of the spiritual, let those pains of hunger and thirst lead you, as Christ says, to hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matt. 5:6). We must be nourished by Christ, it is not an option. To neglect the water of Christ (i.e., Christ himself) is to welcome death. But we also must be aware of the depriving work of the enemy.

II. The Depriving Work of the Enemy- 17:8-16, Eph. 6:11-13

Briefly, we must always keep in the back of our minds the war waging between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent (cf. Gen. 3:15). The seed of the woman is being brought by the people of Israel, and now the seed of the serpent, the Amalekites, are fighting against the seed of the woman.

The Amalekites begin to attack Israel, and an epic battle ensues. They get organized under the leadership of Joshua and Moses goes to the top of the hill. We are not sure what Moses was doing precisely, but it seems that Moses was praying or calling upon God in some fashion. As long as Moses had his hands in the air, Israel was winning. The minute his hands fell, the Amalekites would succeed.

What is going on? Well, Moses is a type for Christ. That is, Moses, a real person, functioned as a shadow (as Paul tells us in Col. 2:17) of the things that were coming. It pointed to something greater, or someone greater, I should say. It reminds us how we must fall at the feet of Jesus for our battles. We fight a war, not with physical things or people, but with the spiritual realms and demons of wickedness. We are hopeless against such a foe. What are we to do? Pray! Listen to William McEwen’s words,

“When the militant church is fighting in the valley of this world, as an Amalek shall never be wanting from generation to generation, their victory depends not so much on their own prowess and skill as on the lifting up the hands of our great Intercessor, who, like Moses, appears in the presence of God upon a high mountain and eminent, even far above all heavens. . . . The hands of Moses could not long endure to be stretched out; they were heavy and weak and behoved to be strengthened and supported. But Jesus Christ, He faints not, neither is weary, though His hands be stretched out still: therefore shall ye prevail who fight under His banner, and have reason to say, ‘Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 15:57).”

Just as we need the water of Christ to live, so too we need to the power of Christ to fight! While Christ nourishes, the enemy deprives. The enemy wants us to starve, to thirst, to be tired. But we must move on to our third and final point of consideration this morning. We must be nourished by Christ while heeding the warning of Israel.

III. The Written Examples for Our Endurance- 1 Cor. 10:6-13

The Christian life is a life of endurance. We are, as the Scriptures teach and the London Confession summarizes, in a perpetual war from the moment of new birth until the day we leave this life. We need endurance. It reminds me of the 1980 US hockey team. Coach Herb Brooks would tell his team, “Legs feed the wolf.” What he meant was that his team needed endurance. They needed the ability to play 60 minutes of hockey in order to win.

Well, in a spiritual way, legs feed the wolf. We need endurance. But our endurance does not depend upon our own strength, thank the Lord. We depend upon the power of an omnipotent God. But these events provide us with some incentives.

Some incentives in the Bible are positive: blessings, new life in Christ, etc. And other incentives are negative: death, depression, etc. Paul tells us that these negative incentives are meant to point us away from sin and to our Savior. There are a few points that I want to draw out before we end our time this morning.

Prideful attitudes will result in our downfall- 10:12

Temptations are common and, though personally-unique, are not like snowflakes- 10:13a; James 1:14

God is more powerful than any temptation and will always provide a way to escape- 10:13b

We must be nourished by Christ while heeding the warning of Israel. Are you nourished this morning? Perhaps you are thirsty, and maybe you do not even know it. Flee to the waters of Christ! Find refreshment and life in Christ.

Salvation