1Cor. 10:1-12
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
The Old Testament is filled with symbolism that points to the coming Christ and God's ultimate plan of redemption. It isn't a stretch or far fetched in any sense to look at the Exodus to finally crossing the River Jordan and entering the Promised Land and compare it to what God has done for us through Christ Jesus.
1. Egypt and Pharoah = Bondage to Satan
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. Eph. 2:1,2
The children of Israel were in slavery in Egypt under a cruel taskmaster by the name of Pharoah. He was only interested in keeping them in bondage and using them for his purposes. He even ordered all the male children killed.
Today we are in bondage and slavery to sin and Satan who only wants to kill, steal, and destroy. This is all mankind's condition we are born into. Isn't it interesting that when redemption comes, infants are killed. (Herod, Pharoah).
2. Moses/Passover Lamb = Christ our deliverer
and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.” Rom.11:26,27
For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1Cor.5:7
In the midst of this captivity to Satan and sin, God sent us a deliverer like Moses(Deut.18:15). This was Jesus. John said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world". Moses sent 9 plagues which decimated Egypt and showed God's power over the many gods of Egypt. Yet the 10th plague which delivered them was the passover of the death angel. Just like the blood of the lamb saved their lives, so the blood of Christ delivers us from the law of sin and death. Like Jesus, the lamb had to be a male, in the prime of life, spotless, killed in late afternoon and not a bone broken.
3. Blood on the doorposts = The Cross
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1Pet.2:24
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Col. 1:20
The Israelites had to apply the blood of the lamb on the doorposts to be saved just as Christ's blood on the cross saves us if we apply it. It isn't enough to know what to do, or that He died, but to have faith and personally apply it. The blood was seen from the outside to everyone that looked just as we need to publically confess Christ by word and deed. And unfortunately there was no other way to save a life than the blood of the Lamb.
4. Crossing under the Red Sea = Baptism
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 1Cor. 10:2
and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1Pet 3:21
The Israelites, like us, were delivered from bondage by the last plague and their faith in the blood of the lamb personally applied. They then passed through the Red Sea literally under the water as God held it up on each side. This symbolizes baptism which doesn't save us but says to the world we have left Egypt and followed God. The Egyptians trusted the water and died. The Israelites trusted God and lived.
5. Amelakites = Flesh
But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Mark 4:17-19
As soon as the Israelites were delivered their first foe was the Amelakites. They are children of Esau who traded in his birthright, the promises of God and the future, for the here and now - to feed the flesh. They picked off the weak and the stragglers(Deut.25:17-19). Moses defeated them by raising his arms to Heaven. When his arms got tired, he rested them on the rock and Aaron and Hur held them up(Ex..17:8-14). This is very symbolic of what happens when we get saved. The flesh battles against complete surrender. It attacks us when we are weak and alone especially. How do we defeat it. 1)Worship. Raise your head to the sky and praise the Lord. Pray, go to Church, listen to praise and worship and sing along. 2) Resting on the rock. Getting in the Word. Fellowship with God 3) Fellowship. Get with fellow believers who can build you up and hold you accountable.
6. Manna = Jesus our Bread of Life
Your ancestors ate the manan in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which people may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:49-51
Just as the Israelites in the safety behind the blood on their doorposts fed on the sacrificed lamb, so we now too, once we are saved, feed on Christ. He is all we need. Our Bread of Life. We take him in daily as we feed on His word and we get our strength from Him. Like Manna, those who want a lot gathered much. Those who didn't want much gathered little. We can have as much of Him as we want. We do need to feed on Him daily.
7. Water from the rock = Our Rock, Jesus, was struck so He could give the Holy Spirit
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 1Cor. 10:4
“‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” Matt. 21:42,43
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?”
13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but those who drink the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:10-13
Christ was crucified and his blood like the passover lamb cleansed us from our sin. He rose from the dead to give us victory over death and ascended into heaven to intercede for us and to send us the Holy Spirit who is Christ's life welling up inside all believers. Without this we would not be "born again".It always made me wonder why striking the rock when God told Moses to speak to it was such a heinous sin that Moses was disqualified from going to the promised land. Then I realized how important this symbolism is to God.
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace. Heb.6:4-6
Christ can only be struck once. He only could die for sins once. Moses' sin violated a divine principle of the redemptive plan and thus was extremely serious.
8. Mt. Sinai = Presence of God
You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:39,40
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3
They will know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of Egypt so that I might dwell among them. Ex.29:46
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deut 30:19-21
We as Christians often get confused - why is it God saved us? So that we can go to Heaven? No, that is great but the real reason He redeemed us is in order that we can know Him and be in a relationship with Him. This was revealed in "the Exodus". God didn't deliver them to the promised land - no, He delivered them to take them to His presence at Mt. Sinai. There they learned how to be in a right relationship with Him while He gave blueprints on how He could live among them. They actually spent the next year there.
9. The Wilderness = Missing out on God's best 10. Canaan - The abundant life here and in Heaven
Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Heb. 3:16,17,19
God had something amazing planned for the Israelites and most of them missed out because of unbelief. We too are offered the amazing life of following Christ with all we have in radical abandonment of our selves. Yet we go in and out of that surrender and at times get glimpses of the beautiful life of total commitment and then fall back into the wilderness where we are missing out on God's best for us basically due to our unbelief. This seems to be the battle we will continue to fight until we truly cross "the River Jordan" in death once and for all and finally lose our sin nature.
