Address—Bruce Anstey
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Turn to Hebrews Chapter 7.
Hebrew 7 verse 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make intercession for them. And I understand that saved to the uttermost could be translated to save them completely, so it could read. Wherefore he is able also to save them completely that come unto God by him. I'd like to speak a little bit about that this this morning.
And that is how that God is interested in saving us completely. And that might just sound a little unusual if you have only one idea of what salvation is. But in the Bible, the word salvation is a very broad word with many applications. And if you know the Lord Jesus as your savior, and we trust that every person here knows him in that way, we surely have the salvation from the penalty of our sins, and we rejoice at that fact.
But as we find from this verse that God is not interested only in saving us from the penalty of our sins. He wants to save us completely. He wants to save our lives. Now you may ask the question, what would he want to save our lives for or from? Well, he's going to save our lives from the sorrows, the difficulties, the troubles that we can get ourselves into if we try to pilot our own life.
Through this world. And what he's going to save our lives for is for his glory and for his praise. And since we have been saved, that is from the penalty of our sins. He wants to use our lives for his glory. And this requires the salvation of our life in a practical sense. And so the Lord wants to save us completely, you know, there's such a thing as having a saved soul, but a lost life, we've often been reminded.
Lot is the example. He was a righteous man and his soul has been saved.
He's in the heavens this very moment with the Lord departed to be with Christ.
But it's often been said that he has had, as we look from the record in scripture at least, save soul but a lost life. He lived his life for the interests of this world only, it seems. And there was very little that you could see that was for the glory of God. You don't want to have your life follow the example of dear lot. You want your life to be used and poured out for the glory of God. It's the happy life as we've already spoken of in previous times.
But it is also the safe path, because we can bring a lot of trouble and sorrow into our lives if we don't let the Lord have His rightful place. And so I'd like to speak to you a little bit about Israel's baby steps, the first steps out of Egypt. And I just like to read now in the 8th chapter of Hebrews one verse.
Are one part of a verse. Verse 9 and I made their fathers in that day.
When I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt and now turn over to Exodus 19.
19th chapter of Exodus.
And verse 4.
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on Eagles wings, and brought you unto myself.
As I said, I'd like to look into the history of Israel from Egypt to Canaan. At least, I'd like to look at the first leg of that journey. It's very instructive and very interesting. And if you don't know, you should get well acquainted with this journey because there is much New Testament truth that is built on these types. Or at least these types illustrate New Testament truth that are found in Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan, and the first leg of the journey takes him out of Egypt.
To the mountain and it has often been called on Eagles wings. That's been the title that has been used sometimes to describe this first leg of the journey. I understand if you look through the book of Exodus, counting their various encampments that they made along the way, there are some 7 encampments from Egypt to Canaan and they could be entitled, as I said on Eagle's Wings, it's the time when they were first.
Redeemed, and the Lord took special interest in undertaking for them to carry them on those first steps of the journey to bring them to himself. As it says here now, it's called on Eagles wings because it's a figure taken from how an eagle looks after its young when they're just learning the first steps of flying. You could read elsewhere, I think it's in Deuteronomy where you find that an eagle stirs up her nest.
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And what happens is she with her powerful wings will stand on the edge of the nest and blow off the nice feathery down, so that those little birds in there get a little uncomfortable and they start to get notions that they should try to get out and start flying. Of course it's not as as most birds they are not able to fly immediately. They have to learn to fly. And So what happens is that their little birds get up on the edge of the nest and they jump off because the nest is usually put in a very high place, the cliffs and rocks and so on.
And when the little birds jump off, they begin to sink in the more than fly, and the mother swoops down and catches underneath them and they land on her wings and she takes them back up there and they try it again until they get the the idea as to how to fly and the Lord picks up on this little.
Remarkable care and nature, and it uses it as a figure to illustrate how that he is interested in caring for us in our first steps in our Christian life. And so as we're addressing young people here predominantly at Lassen Pines, young new converts predominantly.
That the first steps in the Christian pathway are very, very important. And the Lord takes special interest in it. And He wants to help you. And where is it that He's leading us to? Where was he taking them? I think it's beautiful to see here. I brought you unto myself. That's what he really wants, is to bring you closer to himself. That you would learn less upon other things, on self-confidence and lean hard upon himself.
And so the Lord took special interest with Israel, and he takes special interests with us. Let's turn back now to Chapter 12. And I want to go over each of those seven encampments that I mentioned. And I like to just bring out the salient point that's connected with each because it's so remarkable to me to see that there is a lesson connected with each one of them.
Chapter 12, verse seven. And they shall take the blood and put it or strike it upon the two side posts on the upper door post of the house, wherein they shall eat it, And they shall eat the flesh that in that night rose with fire, with unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs, shall they eat it, not eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire his head with his legs.
And with the pertinence thereof, and there shall let nothing of it remain until the morning.
And that which remaineth of it until the morning, ye shall burn with fire.
I'll just stop reading right there. You know the story. We've had it in the Gospel meaning earlier this week, and that is the Passover lamb. And the great thing here, the great exercise of course here was that the children of Israel, as you know, were to get themselves under the shelter of the lamb. That blood was shed, and I think it was pointed out that it would do them no good to shed the blood of the lamb.
To catch it in a basin and not strike it on the doorposts and the lentils. And there's a difference you'll find in the chapter between the blood shed and the blood sprinkled. Bloodshed brings before us the idea of provision. And God has made a tremendous provision for us in the death of his Son. The blood has been shed there, and it has power to cleanse every Sinner that comes unto God for salvation. But blood sprinkled brings before us the thought of appropriation.
OK, and you can just see how that if some Israelite decided to kill the lamb, catch the blood in the basin there the blood was shed but never took the time to put it over the doorpost. Why? When the destroying Angel when the Lord came through in judgment, what would happen would be they would have the death into that House of course. And so there are many people that know about the salvation, they know about the work of God, they know about Christ's death on the cross.
But they have they, but they have never appropriated it in faith to themselves. And so we have the blood sprinkled as well. I think that's down.
In verse 22, it was to be caught in the basin, but it was also to be.
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Sprinkled on the doorpost of the house, this is something that I trust every young person has come to in their souls. Here I like to think that I'm looking into the faces of ones who know the Lord already as as a savior.
But now there was something more that they were to be engaged in there, and I've read the verses connected with it. So let's read, Let's look at that verses 8 through 10. They were to eat the roast lamb.
They were to eat the roast lamb.
Now let me ask this question, a question I've asked to young people's groups before, and I've never really got an answer in talking to young people as to why, and so let me ask it to you this morning.
Why was it necessary that they should eat the roast lamb?
Was it going to make them any more safe from the judgment coming?
The Lord said when I see the blood on the door, I will Passover you. He didn't say when I see you eating the roast lamb that I'll pass over you, but yet he gives a specific instructions that they should eat the roast lamb. What for? What was it for?
It wasn't going to make them anymore safe.
Well, I believe the answer to that is.
Because the Lord had intentions for them to make a journey, and they were about to receive their marching orders to leave Egypt altogether. And the Lord knew that they were going to need strength for the journey. And so the answer to that question is the eating of the roast lamb was to give them strength for the journey. It was not to make them more safer or anything like that, but it was to give them strength.
For the journey now let me ask the question, what does it typify for us?
Eating the roast lamb well, it means to meditate on Christ's suffering.
He is the one who has shed his blood. That's true. But he's also the one that has undergone the fire of God's judgment. See, fire in Scripture always is the figure of judgment, and so he has undergone the judgment of God for our sins. And God would have us to feed upon his sufferings and death for us. And there they will get strength for the journey. Now it says here they were to eat the head and the legs and the pertinence thereof.
And this is different aspects of Christ.
As he is presented in the Word of God.
The legs of the animal would bring before us the thought of his walk.
And where we would feed upon the walk of this blessed Savior, of course, would be predominantly in the Gospels.
And then it says the pertinence thereof. And I understand that could be translated the inwards thereof, that is, the inner parts of the animal there. We would take that in by reading the poetry section of our Bibles Psalms.
And other passages like that where we get the feelings, the inward feelings of our Blessed Lord as He went through such an ordeal, the head.
Well, that might bring before us Christ as he's found in the Epistles. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but we see him on the other side of death as the head of the church in the 21 Epistles. And so we have Christ presented to us in various parts of the scripture, and I believe that these things here really bring that before us. But getting back now to eating the roast lamb to provide strength for the journey, it is so essential that we as believers take up with not just getting under the shelter of the blood, but.
Feeding on the roast lamb. Feeding on the roast lamb. And I have noticed.
That those who don't take as much importance or put as much importance on taking time to feed on Christ in this way have difficulty when the journey when the journey is in process and the first leg of the journey was to take steps away from Egypt. And I have noticed that those who have difficulty making steps away from Egypt are very often correlated with the fact that they don't or they haven't spent much time.
In the feeding on the roast lamb. And so they're correlated. Now let's look down in verse 37.
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The children of Israel journeyed from Ramses to Succoth, about 600,000 men beside children. And so this begins the journey.
Striking and very interesting to see that the journey was away from Ramses, where they were living.
Now, Ramses is a word that means evil is the standard. That's what that word means. Evil is a standard. When they lived in Egypt, they.
That was the standard of things there.
But now the first, the next exercise for the children of Israel was to make steps away from.
The standards of evil that characterized Egypt, and so it is with us too as believers. The first exercises that we want to be engaged with is firstly to be feeding on the roast lamb and then to be making steps away from the the the standards of this world which are far below God's standards and they are intrinsically, essentially evil.
Now I suppose I should have mentioned also back in the chapter, that another thing that they were to be engaged in in that very first day, and that was to begin the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, to begin the feast of the Unleavened Bread. And that, as we've had pointed out to us, is that that the feast or that exercise that were to be carrying on with as being believers that are separated from evil.
Now the reason why we say that is because evil I mean.
Scripture as a type and that is leaven. Leaven is used to typify evil throughout the scripture.
And so we find that they were to have a feast, but it was to have no leaven in it. And verse 39 makes it very plain that when they made these steps away from Egypt that they left their leaven behind.
Verse 39 says that they makes it very plain they left their leaven behind in Egypt. And so when a person gets saved, it's God's intention that they don't bring the evil practices, things that they've been carrying along with before they were converted with them.
God's intention at the very moment that we come under the shelter of the blood of Christ that we take up was seeking to live a holy life without sin. And that's what the seven day feast represents. 7 is the number of completeness we've mentioned and it really brings before us the complete pathway of the child of God moving right along, we come to Sokka now and Sokka brings before us. It means booths or tents and the reason why we.
Say that is because this is the very place where the children of Israel.
Had to take up with living in a tent. They had lived in houses in Egypt.
And their houses were left behind with blood on the door.
And but now we find that they had to live in a tent from here on. They were going to be making a journey from Egypt to Canaan, and the Lord was going to undertake for them marvelously along the way. And they were going to have to live in a tent. Now what does that speak to us? Well, a tent in Scripture brings before us the idea of a Pilgrim character of life.
And so there is a new lifestyle that is to be adopted now to these new converts, and that is a life of Pilgrim.
Experiences. And so the idea of a Pilgrim is one who is on a journey, one who is not home.
One who's heading toward his home. One who is not settling down in this world but is just passing through. And so it is with us, as pilgrims were not to be seeking to make our mark in this world or to establish anything of importance for ourselves. As far as making a name for ourselves or anything like that, we are to take up with the Pilgrim character of the Christian life.
Chapter 13 And verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the first born whatsoever openeth the womb.
Among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast, it is mine.
So we find that saketh there was the claims of God.
Pressed upon them.
The claims of God on them here, I think this is very striking. The Lord had redeemed them and he had provided a substitute in the Lamb, and now he makes a claim over them.
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And he would desire that they would surrender their first born to His cause. And this brings before us the idea of acknowledging the claims of the Lord over us in redemption. This comes at the very beginning of the pathway.
Separation to God and the surrender to the claims of the Lord in our life. This is really what we speak of as Lordship. Now you might just wonder what what do we mean by Lordship? It simply means to give the Lord His rightful place in our life. You've heard that many, many times. But I'm going to define that even more. So you get it really clear, because sometimes we have these cliches that we just rip out of our our mouths, and sometimes young people don't get ahead a hold of it.
Digressing just for a moment here, I just thought of another one. Be occupied with the Lord. I heard that all my life until I really sat down and tried to figure out what that means. I hope there's no one here doesn't really know what that that that means. And.
When we talk about being occupied with the Lord, that simply means to be taken up with the things that belong to the Lord, his interests, and the sphere of those things that belong to Christ. It does not mean, as I had thought, to sit on a chair and look up and just sort of contemplatively meditatively. Just be occupied with the Lord as he's sitting there at the right hand of God and just meditate on it, because you can't be occupied with the Lord all day long in that sense.
You have to get about your job. You have to get about your work and school and whatever else that you have to do. There are responsibilities, and I could never really understand that because we just simply can't occupy ourselves with Christ all day long in that sense. But an understanding what it really means is to be busy in the things of the Lord. To be occupied with His things, whether it's the scriptures, or to encourage his people, is to be occupied with Christ. And so it's much broader than just personal meditation.
Now what was I saying about definition of what I had here?
The claims of the Lord, the Lordship of Christ. What that means, to put it in words that we might understand, it means to tell the Lord that he's the only one that has a right to tell you what to do. It's as much as to say, Lord Jesus, you've paid a tremendous price for me, and I see it now as I see thee dying on the cross. For me. I don't belong to myself anymore, and I'm giving up my rights to paddle to to to order my life.
And I put my life in thy hand. And you're the only one that's got a right to tell me what to do. I want to do only what you would have me to do. That's really what acknowledging the Lordship of Christ is. And every day we're tested as to how much of the Lord we want in our lives, we come to a fork in the road every day of our lives. We can do our own will. We can use our day for our own selfish interests where we can use our day for the Lord.
Of Christ under the lordship of Christ.
OK, so we have here at Sukkoth the claims of the Lord being pressed home to the children of Israel. And then in the next encampment we have is in verse 20. And they took their journey from Saketh and encamped in Ethan at the edge of the wilderness, and the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way.
And by the night in the pillar of fire, to give them light, and to go by day and night. And he took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people.
And so here at Ethan, we find another great provision that the Lord has made for them in the path, and that is divine Guidance. It appears that this is where the cloud meets them. They come to the edge of the wilderness. It's a trackless wild as we sing sometimes.
And they were not experienced in the wilderness and knew not the way through. And now we find that the Lord makes this tremendous provision for them, and the cloud meets them, And the cloud brings before us the presence of the Lord. And when the cloud moved, they were to move after it. We learned from Numbers, Chapter 9. And they were responsible to keep their eye looking up to that cloud, and to follow the cloud as it moved. This brings before us divine guidance, being known by keeping ourselves in the presence of the Lord.
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Moses valued the presence of the Lord so much he said to the Lord in Exodus chapter 33. I believe it is He said, Lord, if thy presence going on up, carry us not up. Hence what he was saying to the Lord, there was Lord, If your presence is not going to go with us, don't take us. We value thy presence so much that we don't want to go anywhere where thy presence is not going to be found and known and enjoyed. And that should be the exercise of every one of us.
That we want to keep in the company of our blessed Lord in that way. And so we need this lesson too, and that is to learn to follow the Lord.
And so we had we've got three points here. We've got the from Ramses to Suck It now to to Ethan and Chapter 14. We have now the Lord showing himself in another way.
Verse two speak unto the children of Israel that they turn.
And then camp before Pai Hey, Hayroth. And so we find here at Pai, hey, Hayroth, which means the gate of Liberty.
They are going to learn the Lord in another way, and I might add too, as I.
Speak of these various encampments and the lessons that are associated with them, that the Lord brought them through various circumstances in the Way.
To show himself to them that he was far more than just a merciful judge.
In passing over them in judgment, he wants to show you as well that he's more than a savior in your Christian life.
He isn't all the way home, Savior. He's one that wants to save us completely, as I read there in Hebrews Chapter 7, and he has provided for every bit of it. But we're not going to know him in those ways unless we have the circumstances in our lives where we're going to be cast upon him and where he can show himself in these ways. And so we find that there is a situation that arises. Now we know what happens. Pharaoh's armies come after them.
Now I'm going to read verses 10 and 11. And when Pharaoh drew nigh the children of Israel.
Lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them, and they were sore afraid. And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, And they said unto Moses, Because there are no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? And so we find the situation of the children of Israel. Here is such at this point in the journey.
That they were safe from the judgment of God, but they were not delivered from the enemy. And this brings before us a condition of a soul that is not known. Deliverance and slack. The way Mr. Wolston puts it, these verses 10 and 11 really are the language of an undelivered soul.
And their their lack of deliverance really comes from having their eyes on the enemy and their eyes on themselves. You'll notice all the references to themselves in those verses that I mentioned. And it leads them to an awful state of dismay. And what we find in this chapter is that the Lord brings them through the sea, and he puts an end to that enemy before their eyes. And as you have in the last two verses of the chapter, the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw.
The Egyptians dead upon the seashore, and Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians, And the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. And then it says, then saying, Moses and the children of Israel. This is the first song that we find in the journey. There was safety under their blood in chapter 12. But we do not read that there was a song. We do not read that there was joy.
And we do not read that there was peace.
But now we have all those things here illustrated, brings before us the deliverance of the Lord, and so we find them singing and rejoicing.
Now let's just summarize what we've had so far at Ramseys. They apprehend God as a God of mercy, the mercy of God. Then it sucketh. They learn of the claims of God.
At Ethan, the guidance of God. And at Π, hey, Hayroth, the power of God for deliverance. But you know, the Lord wanted to show them that he was much more than that for them. And you may be saying that's very well and good to know that the Lord is a merciful God, and he is a great deliverer and has saved my soul. But there are very difficult circumstances in the pathway.
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Can he meet that? Can he be a help to me in the everyday practical circumstances of my life?
Yes, indeed he can, and in these lessons I should have mentioned it at the beginning, perhaps.
That you find in these these seven encampments that take us to the mountain, you find that the Lord is showing them that He is all sufficient for the pathway. Now we've said many times that there are two great lessons in the wilderness. The 1St is to know our own insufficiency, and the 2nd is to learn the Lord's all sufficiency, to learn what is in our hearts and not trust ourselves as a result.
And to learn what is in his heart and therefore trust him implicitly.
That's the two great lessons of the wilderness. It's often been said, and I see here in these first seven encampments, that the Lord showing himself to be all that they need to showing them.
His all sufficiency. Then when the law comes in after chapter 19 and you get into the book of numbers, where you get the next leg of the journey where they wander for 38 years. There we got them learning that second lesson, so to speak, and that is to learn what is in their own hearts.
That's where you get all those murmurings, and that's where you get the temptations. And so on the day of provocation. And so you have illustrated in the book of numbers predominantly the lessons of learning what we are in ourselves. And those are very humbling lessons indeed. Now I realize really in the ways of God, we learned them both at the same time, but scripture separates them so we understand them better, just like we have. What is in Exodus 12 and what is Exodus 14? That all is one word.
If you look at any of the those who have written on this and have given us.
Wonderful teaching. They'll tell you that it's one work, but God separates them so we can understand the two parts of it. And so that's always the way of God. And so we learn the Lord in these two ways, or at least we learn these two great lessons but ourselves and about the Lord, one is a bitter, humbling experience predominantly, and the other is a blessed experience. And so, as I say, the Lord is going to show himself to be all that they need.
And the Lord wants to show you and me the very same thing that He is all that we need for the pathway. Now let's read verse 22, Chapter 15, verse 22. A new circumstance is going to arise. So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and they went out into the wilderness of Sur.
And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Mara, they could not drink the waters of Mara, for they were bitter or salty. Therefore the name of it was called Mara. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord, And the Lord showed him a tree, which when it was cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. And there he made for them a statue and an ordinance. And he proved them well. The children of Israel were singing with the hearts full.
Of praise to the Lord at the Red Sea. And they rejoiced, and they were singing with real purpose and with meaning.
They, if you read the song over, they really make some promises to the Lord that they're going to follow him and they're going to make the Lord everything in their life. And they're so happy. And it reminds me of the singing that we see here. You young people have been stirred up, I know, by what you've heard and being together, and perhaps you're singing with full hearts, like we see the children of Israel hear them, but now the singing dies down and it's time that they move on in the journey.
And we find that Moses gives direction, that it's time to set the camp forward.
And he brings them out into the wilderness, and they're now going to begin to cross that wilderness on the other side of the sea. And they go one day.
And as they travel that day, they find that there's no water for them to drink. They must have wondered, I wonder, how we're going to make it through without any water.
But they perhaps encouraged themselves and said, well, we don't need to get too troubled with this. The Lord is going to look after us. We know he's a great God and he's going to undertake for us and and.
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He'll provide water. So the next day they go on and they find again no water. And surely they must have been wondering what was going to happen because they were getting mighty thirsty.
And maybe they cheered themselves up and said.
We know the Lord is going to look after us. Tomorrow is going to be a better day. I just know it. The Lord is such a great God. He looked after us and saw they journey another day and they find again the same thing, no water. And now their faith is being tested us to trusting the Lord in the wilderness.
And they begin to wonder, why would the Lord ever lead us in such a path? But the Lord had something He was doing far deeper.
He was creating a circumstance that he was going to show them how he is.
Such a great God that he is, and we were singing that.
Beautiful hymn at the beginning, and it tells us in the desert God will teach thee what the God that thou hast found. Patient, gracious, powerful, holy, all his grace shall there abound. And so it's in the wilderness that we have the place of education for us, and the Lord is going to teach us more about himself.
Then what we have learned thus far as being just a Redeemer. And so on the third day they are pretty down and they thought well.
I don't understand. And then at the end of the day, after traveling, they spied some water. They said, see, I know, I knew the Lord was going to come in for us there. He's provided water. So they run to the water and they begin to drink and they find out it's bitter water and they can't take it any longer.
And they begin to murmur and complain against the very God that had redeemed them.
What a disappointment, and what this brings before us is that there's going to be disappointments in our Christian life. There are going to be times of sorrow. There's going to be times when we are going to be very, very tried in this way.
But the Lord allowed this to happen because he wanted to show them that he was the God of all comfort. And the only way you're ever going to learn him as the God of all comfort is that you get into a situation where you've been faced with a disappointment in your life. Now I just think it's so wonderful to see here how the Lord comes in and meets this. They cry to at least Moses cries to the Lord, and the Lord shows him a tree. And the tree here, of course, is the cross of Christ. It typifies Christ.
And his work on the cross. But now it doesn't bring before us Christ on the Cross as far as his death is concerned, as we've had already. This is another different aspect of Christ on the cross. And this really brings out Christo's love and the love of God for us.
So so we find here that the cross is brought in.
And there is The tree is brought in. The tree is cast into the waters. And when the tree touches the waters, there's a miracle that takes place. And the waters become sweet and they can drink. And so the Lord comes in and shows them that He can meet their need in their times of disappointment.
Now how we're to understand this is that when we come into times, and we surely will, where we are going to be tested and we may come into a very deep disappointment in our Christian life. What we need to do is to let the Lord show us the cross. We need to turn back to the place of the cross and there see the love of God displayed in such a way that we get strength for the situation.
And what we need to understand is that when we look at the cross and we see that he's paid such a price for us and his love is so great there, and then we take that and we apply it to our present circumstance, we can say, well, if he loved me that much, I know he's going to look after me in this situation where I am right now. I can't understand why he would allow it to happen to me. But I know he's a God that loves me so infinitely. And you just take that and apply it to the situation that you're in and he'll make those waters sweet.
He'll make those waters sweet, I assure you young people. And you know the Lord will prove you in that way. And He'll show you that he is more than just a savior. The one that we're presenting to you this morning is more than just the Savior. He wants to be your companion, your comforter, your friend, the one that can help you in times of disappointment. He's a real God that is interested in real circumstances of our Christian life.
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You know, it's very well to read about them in Bible meetings and to sing about him and to all that kind of thing. But there are very difficult situations that we pass through as Christians in this world. And I want to tell you that he is a God that is equal to it and greater, and he's a practical God and is interested in helping you even in times like that. And isn't it beautiful to see how that the cross of Christ is the answer to the situation? Let me say it again, you need to go back to the cross in times of disappointment and just think.
About how much he loves you, there's the demonstration of it. Now take that and apply it to your situation, just as the tree was to be put into the waters, and he'll make it sweet and you'll be able to take the situation and say, as the Lord Jesus did when he met, a disappointment in his life and ministry.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Yes, everything that comes to pass in your life, God has ordered it, and He knows the very best, and He's testing you to see whether you let go and just let him have his way. You know, some of us as we look back in our lives, when we see some disappointments, and we don't understand why the Lord has allowed it to come to pass. But then, as the years go by, we look back. We think I'm ever glad the Lord allowed that to happen, because I would have made a mess of my life. I would have made a wrong step, although I was so upset at the time.
Now I look back at it. I just see how marvelous His wisdom was and how great His love is. And so the Lord is more than a savior.
Wonderful. Now we find in verse 27 they make a journey to Elam. There were 12 wells of water and three score palm trees and they encamped by the waters. And so we find here. Now the Lord shows himself to be the God of encouragement. If Mara brings before us the comfort of God, Elam brings before us the encouragement of God. Now there is encouragement. They didn't even need to get into a situation where they had to cry out to him for and wait for three days.
They just come across this incredible Oasis and there's water everywhere and shade as well.
And so the Lord is just wants to refresh us and to remind us that He knows the way through the wilderness, and He will encourage us. And we need encouragement, don't we? And so we have the comfort of God and Mara. We have the encouragement of God and Elam. Now we step to the next chapter.
We have the Wilderness of Sin, chapter 16 verse one, and they took their journey from Elam and all the congregation of the children of Israel, Cain through the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai on the 15th day. And we know what happened. There was the need for food. They had been eating the unleavened bread along the way and.
But now they needed something more to sustain them, and so they're tested again as to needing food. And this is the chapter that brings before us the manna. The Lord rained down this heavenly food, this manna that was a provision for them that carried them throughout the 40 years.
And so we find here the Lord bringing in the bread of God for the sustenance from God.
To sustain them. And we have said already that the manna brings before us type of Christ in the word of God to feed our souls. I'm going to pass over this real quickly, but I'll just give you a sevenfold description of Christ as the manna. Everything to do with this manner typifies Christ. First of all it was it rained down from heaven, came down from heaven.
This brings before us the humiliation of Christ coming down from God the Father. Secondly, it was round.
That brings before us the eternality of his person, something that's round his has no beginning or no ending. Thirdly, it was small that brings before us that he was insignificant in the eyes of men. They looked at him and thought he was a Carpenter, a carpenter's son, nothing more. It was white. That brings before us his moral purity as a person. He was that holy thing that should be born unto Mary.
Fifthly, it was as coriander seed.
And the idea of seed in scripture is that which has life in it. Every seed that you find that it's been something happened to it has life in it. And so the Lord Jesus was the life of men in him was life. He was a source of life. We read from John's Gospel chapter one and then into to the taste it was sweet as wafers and honey we read and so we know that the meditation of our Lord Jesus as sweet and when taken in and enjoyed and then last but not least.
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When it came down, it laid on the dew. It never came and touched the dirt.
On the wilderness floor it landed on the dew, and so it was separated from the dirt. And that reminds us of what you have in Hebrews 7. But tells us that he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. He was a man that was separate, but yet he reached them and touched them. And so we have the sevenfold description of Christ. The manna can't say anything more about it. We need to close in a minute here. We'll turn on now to Refinim, which is the last of these.
That I'd like to speak about chapter 17. There they come to refer him. And we know what happened at referendum. They needed water. The Lord told Moses to strike the rock. And here we have another type of the death of Christ. Which by the way, you'll find seven types of the death of Christ in the wilderness gathered the fragments. Let nothing be lost. The Passover is won. The Red Sea is another. The tree at Mars. The third, the 4th is the.
The smitten rock. Here the 5th would be the red heifer, numbers 19, the 6th is the serpent on the pole in numbers 21, and the 7th is of course Jordan. The crossing of Jordan, types of the death of Christ through the wilderness, precious meditation. But here we find it referendum another situation and that is Amalek comes against them. They have had the rock smitten.
And out of the rock flows this water and it comes forth with with rushing water. And that's a type for us of the Spirit of God being given by the way running water, springing water is always the type of the Spirit of God. And so as soon as the the water was given, we find that Amalek comes and we learn from Galatians 5 that there is a conflict between the flesh and the and the Spirit. And we find that the flesh here typifies an Amalek Satan's operations on the.
On the flesh come to thwart the children of Israel and God allows them to break the power of Amalek. Verse 13.
So that they're able to carry on in their journey. And so we have here now another provision by the Lord.
And that is the spirit of God and the high Priest of God. I say high priest because you have Moses.
And Aaron, they're up on high on a mountain, and his hands are uplifted and his walls are all lifted. They had won the battle down below, you know, Crisis on high, helping us down below here.
I don't have any more time to go, but we have now looked at these various encampments. It brings before us how that God has shown himself to the children of Israel to be more than just a a judge. He is everything. And so let's learn him in these ways and let him lead us in our Christian path. I'm going to pray now and ask God his blessing.