Sermon(Ex 17:1-7): Water gushed forth from the rock

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50026355946

 

 

 

Scripture reading: Ex 17:1-7

 

>> 1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people found fault with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you find fault with me? Why do you put the Lord to the proof?" 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses, and said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 And the Lord said to Moses, "Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the rod with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the faultfinding of the children of Israel, and because they put the Lord to the proof by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?" <<

 

Korea is a very blessed land. If you dig a well anywhere in the country, water will spring. It rains and snows moderately all four seasons, so that the mountains and fields and rivers of the country are very beautiful. Brethren, be deeply aware of how blessed it is to live without worrying about water shortage and thank God for giving us such a beautiful land. Today's Bible text tells the story of Israel when they, under Moses' leadership, made an exodus from Egypt and went into the wilderness. God divided the Red Sea, and gave them manna and quails for food. This was the situation before they contracted a covenant with God on Mount Sinai. Israelites had hurried out of Egypt and managed to endure the wilderness life so far. But they met a severe problem when they pitched tents at Rephidim. There was no water. It must be a serious situation for millions of people to have no water in the desert. People complain to Moses. "Have you led us from Egypt to kill all our families? (v. 3)"

 

According to the verse 1, it was God who led them to Rephidim, where there was no water. Oh, no! Why should the almighty God take them to such a barren land, that is to say the worst land? It is natural for God to lead them to a place without water. Because a place that could provide millions of people with sufficient water was a fertile land which the Canaanites had occupied already. The land that can give Israelites much water is the land of Canaan where they haven't entered yet. God had a plan to lead Israelites to a quiet place where there were no men, and to meet them and to contract a covenant with them, and then, to lead them into the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey. So the place where they arrived was a place without men and therefore without water.

 

We often judge with our narrow sight what God does and blame him. Brethren, do not plague the servant of God and complain to God for the barren land in front of you and for the thirst you are suffering. The waterless wilderness where no men live is a good place for God to meet believers. To blame Moses for lack of water and even to threaten Moses is nothing but to rebel against God who appointed him as leader of them. This is but the evidence that they do not trust God's faithfulness. In short, they are without faith. Brethren, when we have faith, God is pleased. Faith is total trust.

 

The wilderness is where we meet God. only Israel has directly seen God who came down from heaven. Therefore the wilderness is a place where Israelites can enjoy the privilege. Brethren, have you entered the path in the wilderness in your life's journey now? Rejoice and expect! Soon you will have a chance to meet God. God has brought you into the wilderness to meet you personally. But how sorry and disappointing to God it is if you blame the God who led you there and abandon your faith! on the contrary, when you enter the wilderness by the guidance of God, how much pleasure will you give to God if you give thanks to God then? "Thank God in all circumstances!" This is the will of God.

 

Then what happened in the wilderness? Did God let Israelites starve to death after he brought them from Egypt into the wilderness? Did he make them die of thirst? When God leads people into the wilderness, they think, 'We'll surely die for there is no water,' and sink into despair, and even make a protest against a man who is not to be blamed, because they have suffered much suffering and many failures so far in their life. Brethren, God is different from man. Brethren, do not be pessimistic about today's life with your God based on the bygone days when you suffered and failed alone. God pitied Israel who, wanting to get out of slavery in Egypt, cried out to God, so he liberated them from Egypt. He divided the Red Sea and made a way so that all Israelites could escape completely from Egypt, but he drowned the army of Egypt in the Red Sea. And the rest of the Egyptian soldiers could pursue Israelites no more because of the water of the Red Sea. If God had led Israel by an overland route to other places, the other soldiers of the rear area of Egypt could have attacked Israelites anytime. But God let Israelites go by a temporary road in the Red Sea, and brought back the water, so that the other Egyptian army gave up chasing them. Israelites could live in the wilderness for forty years because they had crossed the Red Sea. If they hadn't, the Egyptian troops could attack them at any time during the 40 years of the wilderness. When Israelites, who had crossed the Red Sea, cried, "We are hungry," God sent them manna from heaven; when they say, "We want to eat meat," he gave them quails. With these experiences, the Israelites must have faith in God, but they still complained that they were thirsty and had no water. They complained so because they had not yet seen God work a miracle to let the water gush out from the earth. Brethren, if you need God's help that you have not experienced yet, please pray to him with gratitude instead of complaint. Will the omnipotent God not answer the prayer of the new hope (and expectation)? God did a miracle for Israelites who cried for water, through Moses' staff, so that a great amount of water sprang from the rock.

 

There was a rock in front of Moses. God was standing on the rock. God told Moses to strike the rock with his staff. Moses struck it. Then the rock burst and split, and the spring water poured out of the crack. The water sprang so much that about 2 million Israelites and their cattle could be satisfied. My brethren, there is the water of life where there is God. What did Moses do? What he did was to point to the place where God is with his staff. Brethren, all thirst in our life is quenched only by God. Do you have a thirst for truth? God is the truth. His word is the truth. His doing is the truth. His judgment is truth. His participation in history is the truth. Do you have a thirst for wealth because you are poor? God, the Owner of the whole world, can allay the thirst. Do you have a thirst for health due to the sickness? God who made you and loves you will quickly relieve the thirst for the health. Do you have a thirst for true love? God's love will satisfy your thirst. Do you have a thirst for eternal life? God, the eternal living Creator, will thoroughly quench your thirst. We are all standing before the rock. We can not pioneer and overcome the world to make a successful life ourselves. The world is an immovable big rock to us. I can not overcome and defeat the world. I can't overcome the illness, poverty and death! But God stands on the rock that can not be overcome by men. He is standing on the rock, not the rock on him. The rock is just God's footstool. He who believes in him (God) can now strike the rock with faith and bring out the water of life.

 

Jesus said, "If you can! All things are possible to him who believes. (Mk 9:23)” “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if you ask anything in my name, I will do it. (Jn 14:13-14)” Therefore, in the age of gospel, Jesus' name plays the same role as Moses' staff, with which he stroke the rock and made water gush forth in the wilderness. Jesus continues to say, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Mt 7:7-8)” Quench all kinds of thirst in your life by praying to God in Jesus' name. God takes delight in loving you, helping you, and blessing you. If we, firmly believing God is good, pray in Jesus' name, we can gain the whole world.

 

Could God give us only worldly blessings? God gives himself to us. “I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (1 Cor 10:1-5)” Here Paul affirms that Christ is the rock which poured out water in the wilderness. That is, the rock that gave water to allay the thirst of all people is the Christ in the New Testament. Yea, my brethren! Jesus says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Mt 11:28)" Anyone who comes to Jesus can have a rest. Everyone who comes to Jesus gains peace. True satisfaction is with him who has met Jesus. The peace Jesus gives is the absolute peace that the world can not give. We have no peace when there is a thirst in the world like the wilderness, however, we suffer thirst no more but have only peace if Jesus Christ who is the Rock giving water is our Lord. The Holy Spirit is the God in me. “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (Jn 7:37-39)” He who believes in Jesus receives the Holy Spirit as gift. He who has received the Holy Spirit reveals the full grace of the Holy Spirit in himself. Not only can he quench all his own thirst by the power of the Holy Spirit, but he also lives by the power of the Holy Spirit in order to benefit others. In other words, he lives as a little Jesus, that is a true disciple of Jesus. Jesus' disciples live a life of giving satisfaction to others. They live a life of quenching others' thirst. We do not believe in Jesus in order that we only may eat and live well. Jesus is the great Rock that relieves the thirst of all human beings, while we, his disciples, are the little rocks that relieve the thirst of our neighbors. only those who are filled with the Holy Spirit can quench the thirst of others by the power of the gospel.

 

My beloved brethren, in the age of the gospel, the path of the saints through the wilderness is the period when they can meet Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit and his power. God leads your way. The path through the wilderness is never where God's concern and love for you vanishes. The road in the wilderness is the way to go with God and the way to be close to God. The road of wilderness is the way to experience the miracle and the way for my faith to grow rapidly. My pride and stubbornness die there. He who has no faith says, "I don't know if God is here or not. so I am frustrated!" “They put the Lord to the proof by saying, "Is the Lord among us or not? (Ex 17:7)” Brethren, be a man of great faith! If you have a living faith, this year will be the year when water of life will gush forth in all the ways of wilderness that you go.

 

May God of Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit bless all of you abundantly! Amen!

 

Chong Tack Kim

 

                                       - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -