In the Winter of 1999, just before I graduated from college, I went on a short-term field research class with Biola to Baja and stayed, for most of our trip, in a small fishing village on the sea of Cortez, called Bahia de Los Angeles. Behind the field station, there was a mountain that rose several thousand feet into the desert sky. We called it "Mike's Mountain," in honor of an old hermit who once lived there and was friendly to our professor. It was once the tradition for the men on this trip to hike up with Mike and enjoy the views of the Sea of Cortez from his cave. It was called "Hike with Mike." Mike had died before the year I went, so the traditional hike had come to be known as "Hike Like Mike."
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| "Mike's Mountain" rising up over the Sea of Cortez |
I was not a complete stranger to hiking when I went, but I was not ready for that steep trail that rose four thousand feet in six miles. I didn't bring anywhere enough water for the journey. When I reached Mike's cave, I realized that I was in real trouble. My bottle was almost completely empty, and I still had to get home. My canteen was empty completely when I was still a long ways from camp, and the cramps set in. My hiking buddy poured some of his precious water into my bottle, but it wasn't enough. My head was pounding. Every step was torture. I'm not one to swear, but I think every few steps came with a curse out of my mouth for the last mile's hike back to camp. When I got there, I laid down in the shade and guzzled nearly a gallon of water, sweating profusely, and kicking myself for my lack of planning.
In Exodus 17, the people of Israel are having a "Mike's Mountain" experience of their own. Once again, they are away from natural resources, and they again cry out against Moses and Aaron. This time, they aren't hungry. They're thirsty. The Bible tells us that they are hiking through "Rephidim," which doesn't mean anything to those of us not native to that land, but it's very inhospitable. This is Rephidim, in what is today known as "Wadi Reyfayid."
There's not a lot of water here. In fact, there's not much of anything here. God is providing for their food, but they have run out of water, and they're thirsty. In fact, they're in pain, and they're angry. Their uproar against Moses is to such a level of hostility that he is in fear of his life. When he turns to God for relief, he confesses, "They are almost ready to stone me!" (Ex 17:4). 
God instructs Moses to gather the elders of the people and go ahead of the multitude to meet the presence of the Lord at "the rock at Horeb." There, he is to strike the rock with the staff that God has used many times to perform miracles thus far, and water will spring from the rock. So Moses obeys. Just a short walk (but agonizing if you're dehydrated, I'm sure) from the camp at Rephidim is a rock that multiple "experts" claim to be the rock Moses struck, and it looks the part.
It's easy to imagine water flowing down from this imposing rock, and the people of Israel leaning down to drink as it pooled at their feet. In fact, one artist has helped us with the image.
The miracle is repeated again later in the story of the exodus, in Numbers 20. This happens in a different location with similar limitations in natural resources. Again, the people cry out to God, and again, Moses brings the problem to the Lord, who tells him to go to a rock, with the staff in his hand, and speak to it, commanding it to yield water. God promises that it will.
Moses almost obeys. He takes the staff from before the presence of the Lord, gathers the congregation, and approaches a rock. He fails in one detail, though. He does not speak to the rock. He strikes it. Twice. We get the sense that Moses is angry at the people, and it felt a lot better to whack the rock twice than to ask it to produce water.
No big deal, though, right? The water came out. People drank. Cattle were saved, and everyone goes home happy--especially Moses, who feels a lot better after bashing the rock twice with his miracle-working staff. Actually, there's a big problem here. God had a definite picture in mind that He wanted played out before the eyes of His people, and Moses ruined the picture with his anger. God pulls Moses aside (we might say that He 'brought Moses behind the barn') and conveys a sentence on Moses for his disobedience.
"Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them" (Num 20:12). Wait. Really? You worked through me to do the 10 plagues, cross the red sea, give the law, and set up government, but whacking a rock with a stick disqualifies me from finishing the Exodus? What's going on here? The Apostle Paul, writing thousands of years later, explains in 1 Cor 10:1-5:
"For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, 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 spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness."
The rock was Christ. How does that help us understand why Moses wasn't allowed into the promised land? Jesus was struck once for our provision. The flood that poured forth from his body does so much more than satisfy our thirst. His blood does not only restore our physical strength. It regenerates our souls! Jesus said so himself, In John 4:13-14, when speaking of the offering of his life to the woman at the well:
"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.'”
Jesus was struck once. He died once, and that was sufficient to provide atonement for all who would come to Him. See Romans 6:10: "For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." He is not crucified again for the continued forgiveness of our sin. He has been crucified once, and that is sufficient. Now, those of us who live after His death do not need to wait for him to come and die again for our sins, as if salvation is dispersed in batches. The riches of Christ's forgiveness are accomplished and are waiting to be dispensed liberally on all who call upon Him--all who will speak to Him.
Moses was to paint the picture of the striking of Christ and the flow of grace the first time and then to paint the picture of the church speaking to Him in confession of sin and receiving the grace that was in store for them, as we are promised in 1Jn 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Instead, Moses fell into a rut that felt good in the context of his anger and struck the rock a second time, ruining God's picture that He had meant to paint for our benefit. It is as if he would strike Christ a second time--crucify Him again. We are warned in scripture that this is a bad idea:
"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Heb 6:4-6)
You see, God has invited us into a relationship with Him, and he provides all that we need to live and grow in the journey of faith with Him. He provides spiritual food (as we saw last week) and spiritual drink, but in both cases He demands that we do it His way. "Come and See," He calls to us, but do not think that you can enjoy the benefits of life while you live according to your own plan.
God invites.
God provides.
God makes the rules.
Jesus has died once for all.
"But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed" (Isa 53:5).
He has worked salvation once. You cannot work it any other way.
All that is left for you is to speak to the rock and be saved.
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9).
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Awesome words! Awesome thoughts! Awesome God! Thanks for taking me on this journey back to Horeb. - Dad
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