Transcript

If you travel up I-395 through Washington, D.C., and cross over the Potomac, you will likely cross the Arland D. Williams, Jr., Memorial Bridge. Who was Arland D. Williams, Jr.?

On January 13, 1982, he gave hope to five individuals at the cost of his own life. On that cold January day, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the icy Potomac. Ice on the wings prevented the plane from a successful take-off.

Almost all of the passengers perished. Five different times, a helicopter dropped a rope to save Williams. Five times, Williams passed the rope to other passengers in worse shape than he was.

When the rope was extended to Williams the sixth time, he could not take hold, and succumbed to the frigid waters.

His heroism was not rash. Aware that his own strength was fading, he deliberately handed hope to someone else over the space of several minutes. (David Slagle)

The Lord Jesus Christ made a willing and conscious decision to give His life for us so that we might live. That Christ would be a sacrifice for us and our sins was His destiny from eternity past. Christ willingly came into the world to save sinners by His substitutionary death on the Cross.

Under grace we need only take the lifeline handed to us by His sacrificial payment for sin. Just trusting that Christ died for our sins and rose again, we are saved by God’s grace through faith.

It’s important to note as we look at the Cross in Prophecy that those living before the cross, did not understand the Cross as we understand the Cross.

We have the benefit of living after the Cross and through the completed revelation of God’s Word and especially the revelation given to Paul for this dispensation, we can clearly see Cross and all that was accomplished there. It helps us also to clearly see the foreshadows of the Cross in the past under prophecy.

But for those living prior to the Cross, and prior to this dispensation of grace, they did not understand that God’s Son would come to the earth from heaven, take on flesh, die the death of the Cross in payment for their sins and then rise from the dead three days later.

Even the prophets who wrote of the sufferings of the Messiah did not understand it.

1 Peter 1:10-11 reads: “Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

“Searching WHAT, or WHAT MANNER OF TIME the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.”

The prophets did not know or understand what manner of time or even what the sufferings of Christ meant when they prophesied of it.

When you go into the time period of the Gospels you clearly see that they did not understand the Cross. Christ repeatedly told His disciples that He would be delivered to the Gentiles, and that He would die and rise again.

Luke 18:31-34 records an instance of this: “Then He [Christ] took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the PROPHETS concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.

“For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death: and the third day He shall rise again.

“And THEY UNDERSTOOD NONE OF THESE THINGS: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.”

Under prophecy and the law, those living at that time did not place their faith in Christ that He died for them and rose again to be saved from their sins like we do under grace.

They were saved on the BASIS of the shed blood of Christ at the Cross, but not by their FAITH IN the shed blood of Christ.

They were saved by simply believing what God required them to believe to be saved under the dispensation in which they lived. For example, when God revealed and commanded them to keep the law and bring an animal sacrifice as atonement for their sins, when a person did this by faith, they were saved.

They just did what God required by faith and were saved, having absolutely no idea that those animal sacrifices foreshadowed the Cross of Christ.

Later under the prophetic program, when John the Baptist came on the scene and began preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, they were required to be water baptized in addition to keeping the law. They were also required to trust in Christ’s name to be saved, that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah and the very Son of God.

Those who responded to these revelations from God about salvation and who did them by faith in God were saved. The merits of the Cross were then imputed to them because Christ was going to come and die on the Cross.

The shed blood of Christ was the basis for how and why God forgave anyone in all history of their sins and gave them His righteousness. But under prophecy they did not place their faith in the Cross like we do today to be saved under grace.

Exodus 17:1-3: “And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

“Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

“And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?”

In Exodus 17, we are jumping into the middle of Israel’s journey from Egypt to Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Law.

As they traveled, the Lord knew that the children of Israel needed His direction and provision in the wilderness. Thus, God led them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire (Ex. 13:21,22).

Previous to Exodus 17, the Lord had led them into the wilderness of Shur to a place called Marah, where there wasn’t any drinkable water. But God miraculously provided for His people, by making the bitter waters sweet.

Next, the Lord led them into the wilderness of Sin, where the Israelites complained about a lack of food. But God miraculously provided for His people again, and gave them an abundance of quail, and also bread from heaven, or manna.

Following this, we find them being led and having journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, to Rephidim where they had pitched camp.

Here once again, “there was no water for the people to drink” and the children of Israel were not happy about it and they tell Moses to give them water to drink.

God had led them into this place and He knew there was no water there.

Instead of trusting the Lord, and remembering how He had provided for them before, the people blamed Moses and chided and murmured against him for bringing them to another waterless site.

They accused Moses of bringing them out of Egypt to kill them with thirst in the wilderness. Instead of crying out to God for help, they murmured and complained to Moses.

A certain monastery enforced a vow of silence. Each monk could utter only 2 words every 5 years, and those 2 words had to be spoken in front of the head of the monastery. One of the monks, when given his first opportunity to speak, said, “Bad food.”

Five years later, his two words were, “Hard bed.” When given his third opportunity to speak five years later, he said, “I quit.” The head of the monastery responded, “Well you might as well quit. All you’ve done since you got here is complain!”

All Israel was doing was complaining too since they left Egypt. It’s true that they were thirsty, but in their spirit of murmuring and contention, Moses tells them that they were actually tempting or testing the Lord.

In their complaining and challenging Moses, verse 7 teaches what they were also saying: “they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?” The Lord was the true target of their complaining and anger.

They were guilty of unbelief and ingratitude, and they were testing the Lord and His longsuffering. They were doubting and questioning God’s ability, His care, and goodness.

It’s been said, “God had resources they knew nothing about, solutions outside their reality, provisions outside their possibility. They saw the scorched earth; God saw heaven’s breadbasket. They saw dry land; God saw a covey of quail behind every bush. They saw problems; God saw provision. Anxiety fades as our memory of God’s goodness doesn’t.”

The problem is with passages such as this is that we can’t be too hard on the Israelites, because each of us at one time or another probably have done the same thing, wondering if the Lord really cares and is there, and we forget or doubt His goodness. And we too often grumble and murmur in life and are guilty of ingratitude.

God’s response to the Israelites though is reassuring. In the past, when the people murmured when they were hungry, God said to Moses, “I will give them bread from heaven.” No word against the people.

Here, when the people grumbled when they were thirsty, God gives them water. No word against the people. God was patient, merciful and kind. We can be and should be glad that He is patient and merciful with us in our daily walk too.

Exodus 17:4-6: “And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

“Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”

The people had accused Moses of leading them out Egypt just to die with thirst in the wilderness, and then next they were so upset they were about to kill him instead!

It’s at this point, that you would expect Moses to go to the elders in Israel and say, “You know, I suddenly feel called to another ministry and I’m handing in my resignation.”

No, Moses goes to the Lord in his discouragement like all of us should do. He asks the Lord, “What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.”

The Lord gives Moses instruction for what to do. He tells him to stand before the people.

But he wasn’t to stand alone. He told him to take with him the elders of Israel. And along with the elders he should take the rod, “wherewith thou smotest the river,” that is the River Nile in turning it to blood (Ex. 7:19-21).

That rod was a rod of judgment. It brought both death and deliverance. When that rod smote the Nile River and it turned to blood, all the fish died and the river stank and caused Egypt to stink from the smell of death.

The Lord told Moses to raise that rod at the Red Sea to divide it so that the children of Israel could cross through it and be delivered (Ex. 14:16).

After Israel crossed, the Lord told Moses to stretch forth his hands so that the waters would return and cover the pursuing Egyptian army (Ex. 14:21-28).

Moses, Israel’s elders, and that rod together symbolized authority and power before the people of Israel.

In verse 6, Moses is told by the Lord that He would stand before Him upon the rock in Horeb. This is the Lord Jesus Christ who is talking to Moses. It is the pre-incarnate Lord that stood upon that rock. And that is significant.

Next, the Lord tells Moses that he should smite, not the complaining people, but the rock and that water for the people to drink would then come out of it.

This required faith on Moses’s part. Because, of course, a rock is the last place a person would go to find water. It’s said that you can’t squeeze blood from a turnip. And you sure don’t expect to find water to come out of a rock. (Hard water?).

But Moses, by faith, did as the Lord instructed. He went before the people. He brought the elders and the rod with him. He went to the rock in Horeb.

He took that rod and he smote it. And when he did, water came gushing forth. The water flowed and quenched the thirst of the people. And in this, you have a beautiful picture of the Cross in prophecy.

That Rock was a picture of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:4 reads, “And [Israel] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”

In the Old Testament, Jehovah God is referred to as “the Rock.” In 2 Samuel 22:2, David said, “The LORD [or Jehovah] is my ROCK, and my fortress, and my deliverer.”

Psalm 95:1 reads, “O come, let us sing unto the LORD [or Jehovah]: let us make a joyful noise to the ROCK of our salvation.” And there are other examples in the O.T.

The Rock is Jehovah. 1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that “that Rock was Christ.” So we learn that Christ is Jehovah God.

A Rock is known for its stability and durability. Christ is our Rock. He is the Rock of our salvation. He gives us true stability in life. You could say that a rock is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is unchanging. And that, of course, is true of Christ.

Christ stood upon that Rock that Moses smote. He symbolically identified Himself with it. Moses struck the Rock on which God the Son stood and identified Himself with.

An act of violence was required to bring water from the Rock. A rod of judgment and deliverance hit that Rock. The Rock bore the judgment. And life-giving water came forth.

The people were guilty. The Rock was not. The people deserved for the rod to smite them. Instead the Rod of judgment smote a Substitute.

The smitten rock is a picture of the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The smitten rock points to the smitten Christ who paid the penalty for all our sin.

At the Cross, the Rod of God’s judgment struck the Savior, He was not guilty. He bore the judgment of guilty sinners.

Moses smote the Rock. Christ was smitten of God upon the Cross, where He died for the sins of the world. Isaiah 53:4 reads: “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, SMITTEN OF GOD, and afflicted.”

From this Rock, Jesus Christ, which was struck and smitten on our behalf at the Cross, flows a life-giving stream of living water and life everlasting.

In this account we see a gracious God meeting the needs of an undeserving people. That is exactly what God did for us at the Cross: by His grace He met the need of an undeserving people, which is all of us, because we are all sinners. God’s judgment struck Christ at the Cross, and by the Cross we find deliverance from all our sins and everlasting life.

It’s been said well, “Jesus, the Rock of ages, was smitten for us; and because Jesus was smitten for us, out of His riven side, came forth water.” (Adrian Rogers).

In His earthly ministry to Israel the Lord taught: “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

The Lord tells us through Paul today, that having been spiritually baptized into the Body of Christ, we “have been all made to drink into one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13).

And the Lord gave the following invitation for salvation in Rev. 21:6 to those in the Trib and Kingdom: “And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

Salvation and life eternal is beautifully portrayed by the Lord as His giving life-giving water freely to those who are in need and who thirst. Our spiritual need, our spiritual thirst is fully satisfied by Christ. The Bible also teaches that those who do not receive the provision of God’s salvation by faith during their lifetimes will thirst eternally.

The water of life, and a well of water springing up into everlasting life is available to all through the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith alone in the Cross of Christ and His resurrection is what gives us eternal life in Christ under grace, just trusting that Christ died for your sins personally and rose again the third day.

Numbers 20:7-11: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock…

“And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

“And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.”

Later during Israel’s 40-year wandering in the wilderness, the people were again in need of water to drink and again they murmured and complained to Moses.

This time when Moses went to the Lord, He told Moses only to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses’s anger got the better of him. And out of his frustration with the children of Israel when he stood before them, he called them rebels, and then “lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly…” (Num. 20:11).

Notice too that Moses stated, “Must WE fetch you water out of this rock?” Moses had nothing to do with water coming out of that rock. He spoke out of pride.

Most importantly, however, is that the Lord instructed Moses only to speak to the rock to preserve the picture created in Exodus 17.

When the Lord instructed Moses to strike the rock in Exodus 17, it was a picture of Christ the Redeemer being stricken at Calvary.

It illustrated the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ at the Cross to bring forth, in perpetuity, the water of life eternal. Thus, it was a serious spiritual matter when Moses struck the rock a second time, rather than believing God and just speaking to it.

When Moses struck the rock a second time, he distorted the picture of truth God created in Exodus 17 of the once-for-all sacrifice of His Son. As a result, the Lord did not permit Moses to enter the Promised Land. He was only allowed to view it from Mount Nebo.

Moses acted in self-will and misrepresented God to the people, and for that he was sorely punished. It’s still a very serious matter today to misrepresent God when we share His Word and His message of salvation.

It is vitally important to rightly divide the Word of truth, to ensure that we hold out God’s message for the world today and the pure gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone.

The rock was only to be smitten ONE TIME by Moses in the wilderness and the Rock was only smitten ONE TIME at the Cross. And that Rock, Christ, will never be struck again.

The sacrifice at Calvary was never to be repeated, and it never needs to be. Christ’s sacrifice was all-sufficient and perfect.

As Hebrews 10 says, “By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ ONCE for all…this Man, after He had offered ONE sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God…For by ONE offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

Everything for us is in Christ and flows from His Cross. The grace of God in our salvation has power, power to save us and power to transform our lives, if we allow it.

We should be continually thankful for the Lord willingly being smitten for our sins. Gratitude for the grace of God in our salvation can and should lead us to turn our lives over to Him, and allow Him to guide and direct them by His Word.

As we do so, our lives will be transformed by grace.