Between a Rock and a Hard Place

One of my abiding joys is to study the Old Testament. I have found the pictures of the Old Testament to be so rich with fullness of meaning over the last couple of years. One of these pictures is the water from the rock in the Exodus. It's hard to squeeze water from a rock. Have you ever tried it? I doubt any of us have had much success from it. But it happened in a desert somewhere between Egypt and Israel, not once but twice! It was enough to give a couple of million Jews a drink in the desert and it has huge implications for us. I'm talking about Exodus 17 and the waters are deep here. No pun intended. Drink deeply from these truths.

Highlight:

'The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ' Exodus 17:5-6

Explain:

If you grew up in church, like I did, this is one of those Old Testament stories with which you are likely familiar. The children of Israel have been miraculously delivered from the land of Egypt with majestic power and then delivered again, once and for all, from the hands of Pharoah at the Red Sea. They have begun the journey back home to the land they had been promised and have witnessed the incredible provision from the hand of God by watching manna fall from the sky. H.B. Charles said that “God would scoop bread up off of heaven’s table and scatter it on the path of these Israelites.” This would be a constant reminder to them of their daily dependence on God. God wouldn’t give them more than a day’s worth so that as they gathered it every morning, they were reminded every day, that they needed God’s provision in their lives.

Then to add to the picture, He gave them extra on one day

and none on the next day calling it a Sabbath. The people were told to rest on that day. This would be. A decision that would force them to acknowledge this daily dependence inherently. They would have to gather for two days and then trust God that He sent them enough. It is not in our nature to remember and depend and trust, we are often stubborn and independence and God has to sit us in our tents and remind us that we are dependent on Him for daily provision on this journey back to our homeland.

When we come to Exodus 17 we are given another beautiful picture of the gospel. The people come to Moses and complain, “Give us water to drink?!” As if Moses could give them water in the desert and yet this is what they do. They even grumble as if Moses wondering if he led them out here to die of thirst. Moses carries their exasperation to God and God asks Him to do something incredible. He asks him to gather the elders of Israel together and to take the staff (which was representative of God’s power). God then tells them He is going to stand before them on the rock. How God, in all of His power and majesty could stand before them on the rock is beyond me, but that’s what it says. Then God commands Moses to strike the rock and from it will come forth living water.

But in striking the rock, symbolically He was actually striking God! This was precisely the image that God meant to show them. To gather the elders of Israel was a symbolic reference to a jury trial. When the elders were gathered a decision of judgment was to be made. It was almost as if God was saying. Look you’ve made an accusation against me, so let’s get the judges of the nation to come and witness this execution. God was placed in the box as the guilty party and was struck with punishment. When the rock was struck the water came bursting forth. All the provision for the people came from the rock being struck, came from the execution of God in the box.

Paul underscores this for us in 1 Corinthians 10 where He writes, "'They all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. ' 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 What was happening in Exodus 16 was meant to be a picture of what would happen hundreds of years later when the real rock was struck that is Christ and from it came the water of life that quenches the thirsty soul.

When Jesus was in Jerusalem for the festival of shelters in John 7. The people were celebrating how God had provided for them in the desert during the Exodus. On the last day of the festival of shelters where all of Jerusalem would pause to remember the provision of God, the people would gather and at a certain time they would blow a horn and the priests would pour water down a rock as a symbol to remind them and all the people would celebrate. It was at that moment that Jesus stepped forward in John 7 to declare, "'On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ' John 7:37

Jesus gives us life giving water in the midst of the desert as a result of His execution. No wonder one of the most prominent Puritan pastors of the 1700’s Augustus Toplady when He wrote,

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

let me hide myself in thee;

let the water and the blood,

from thy wounded side which flowed,

be of sin the double cure;

save from wrath and make me pure.”

Apply:

For applying this text and it’s imagery, we look again to Paul for help in 1 Corinthians 10. He gives us several warnings in light of this knowledge.

1. Live in such a way that you recognize that the Provision you receive is not to be wasted in partying. We are stewards of the provision that God has given us and we must understand that the quenching of our thirst in the midst of this journey towards our homeland is not to be used selfishly. We are stewards of it.

2. We are not to test Christ, He was struck once for our sins and He doesn’t deserve to be put back in the box to be judged again. This is why the second time this happen God instructs Moses to speak to the rock instead of strike it. Striking it again means that God must again be executed for our provision, but Jesus was sacrificed ONCE FOR ALL the book of Hebrews tells us. Moses doesn’t listen and strikes it again and it is for this that He is barred from the Promised land. God’s provision for us is perfect, to lay charge again to God regarding His provision for us by our complaining means that we intend to drag God back into the box and judge Him all over again. We must guard against this. Christ has already been unjustly accused in the presence of many witnesses and has already been executed publicly and the water that comes from His execution is efficacious for all. There is enough for anyone who places their trust in Him.

3. Further we should complain against Him. Don’t complain saying God hasn’t provided for you. Our God has provided every step of the way with manna and quail and water to spare.

Respond:

Jesus thank You for this glorious picture that means so much. Thank You for Your sacrifice and Your execution after being unjustly accused and publicly sentenced. Thank You for the water of life that flows from the Rock that was cleft for me. Thank You for the provision that it provides me in the desert on my way to the land of promise. Help me to rest in it. Guard me from complaint and judgment again. Thank You for being the Rock that provides.