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The First Water from the Rock
The Bible teaches in Exodus 17:1-2 that as soon as the Israelites finished eating the manna and quail and after drinking the sweet water in Marah, they were thirsty again. This time, God gave them real water not sweet water; God gave them water from the rock. The water from the rock was designed by God to make the Israelites not to thirst again for a long time. That is why Jesus said “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” John 6:35.
Jesus was just repeating what God said to the Israelites in Exod. 15:26 “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.” God said to Moses “Strike the rock and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Exod. 17:6.
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the only thing that grants us entry into the Promised Land which is the kingdom of God; it also guarantees us eternal life with Jesus Christ. The water from the rock is what Jesus was talking about in John 6:53-54 when he said “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
When Jesus discovered that his friend Lazarus was dead, he decided to go back to Judea but his disciples out of fear, said to him “But Rabbi,” a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?” John 11:8. And Thomas said, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” John 11:16. The disciples were very convinced that Jesus will be killed if he goes back to Judea. In Exodus 17:1-9, when the Israelites cried to God for water to drink; God instructed Moses to strike the rock for water to come out for the Israelites to drink and Moses obeyed God’s command. “Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink. So, Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.” Exod. 17:5-6.
But in Numbers 20:1-15, when the Israelites cried again to God for water to drink, Moses disobeyed God’s command. “Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, ‘If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord.’” Num. 20:2-3. When Moses consulted God with this problem, the Lord said to Moses “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” Num. 20:8. In John 20:22, Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit to his disciples by speaking the words,. “And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’”.
Because this water symbolizes the Holy Spirit, the Israelites did not thirst again for water during the rest of their journey to the Promised Land. In Exodus 17, the staff striking the rock for water to come out is an indication of the death of Jesus on the cross which gives us his blood to drink as living water. But holding the staff and speaking to the rock for water to come out as God commanded Moses symbolizes the coming of the Holy Spirit. It takes two things for the Holy Spirit to come to us:
The staff which symbolizes Jesus Christ on the cross.
The word of God which raised Jesus from the dead.
By holding the staff before speaking to the rock for water to come out, God is telling us that:
When the staff struck the rock in Exodus 17, God Himself bruised His son for our sins.
The only way for us to receive the Holy Spirit is by holding or embracing the staff which is the cross where Jesus left all our sins.
Although the second water from the rock was designed by God to occur without the staff striking the rock, it was still done by using the staff. God knew what the staff stood for and that is why He told Moses to take the staff with him. God designed the staff in such a unique fashion that each successive action compensates or counteracts the previous action. When the staff strikes the rock, water comes out and that indicates the death of Jesus Christ on the cross but by holding the staff and speaking to the rock, water comes out and that indicates life through the Holy Spirit (the opposite of death). This life is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that gave birth to the Holy Spirit.
What Moses did not understand was why God told him to speak to the rock instead of striking the rock again for water to come out as he did earlier. It was not the intention of Moses to disobey God; he was only thinking from the natural perspective of the human mind. When Moses struck the rock twice, he was actually trying to crucify Jesus on the cross two more times. God designed His son to die on the cross only once for the sins of the world. Even though Moses disobeyed a direct order, God still allowed water to come out of the rock for the people to drink. The question is, why?
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Spiritual Lesson #6
When God directs us to do something, it is very important that we do it exactly the way He wants it done even if it doesn’t make sense to the human mind.
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If the mission of Jesus here on earth was to retrace the steps of Moses and Joshua, therefore the Bible obviously holds the mystery of how Jesus handled this disobedience that Moses showed towards God. After Jesus told his disciples that Lazarus was dead, he also said “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” John 11:4. Jesus was basically saying that the sickness will end in life instead of death. The resurrection of Jesus is what glorifies God and the ascension of Jesus to Heaven is what glorifies Jesus. When Moses struck the rock somebody had to die because the staff was designed to cause death when it strikes the rock. We know that Jesus cannot die more than once on the cross and for that simple reason, Lazarus had to die because he was very close to Jesus Christ just like Jesus was very close to the Father. The Bible described Lazarus as Jesus’ best friend. When Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead, he spoke only the words to demonstrate what Moses failed to do or should have done in Numbers Chapter 20.
Jesus waited for four days after the death of Lazarus before raising him to life because the number 4 is God’s divine number to bring a failed process to an end. Some examples are the 40 days and 40 nights of flood with Noah and the fasting of Jesus Christ before he started his ministry. Moses was also on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights to receive the Ten Commandments. Jesus had to wait for four days before raising Lazarus back to life as a symbolic gesture that destroys the failed disobedience process of Moses. When Jesus arrived at Lazarus’ home, he said to Martha, the sister of Lazarus, “Your brother will rise again.” John 11:23. And Martha replied by saying “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” John 11:24. Martha simply didn’t get it. She did not understand what Jesus was talking about. Jesus was talking about the present while she was talking about the future.
Jesus even went further to help Martha understand what he was trying to say to her but she still didn’t get it. Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26. Martha’s response to this question still revealed that she was completely clueless of what Jesus was talking about. She responded by saying “Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God, who was to come into the world.” John 11:27. Unfortunately, this was not the response Jesus was looking for. Jesus expected Martha to just say “Yes I believe that you are capable of bringing my brother back to life right here and right now before this crowd”. How many times have we heard people say something like “I believe in Jesus Christ” but their actions at the same time is saying the exact opposite of the words that just came out of their mouth? If Martha really believed, then why was she still weeping before Jesus?
As the conversation continued, Martha demonstrated her complete lack of faith in Jesus Christ. “When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” John 11:33; and “Jesus wept.” John 11:35. Martha was weeping because she did not believe that Jesus is the resurrection and Jesus wept because Martha did not believe. Some Bible scholars believe that Jesus wept because of Lazarus. There is no truth in this conclusion because Jesus of all people knew that Lazarus will live again:
If Jesus wept because Lazarus was dead, then he would have wept four days earlier when he received the news of his death.
If Jesus wept because Lazarus was dead, then he would have started weeping the moment he walked into the house to meet the two sisters.
If Jesus wept because Lazarus was dead, then he would have even wept more when his cousin John the Baptist was beheaded. How can the author of life weep because somebody is dead? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Jesus had so much love for Lazarus and his sisters and he wanted to prepare them at all cost to inherit the kingdom of God like every other believer. Jesus did not want them to inherit the kingdom of God by cutting corners because the rules are the same for everybody. Jesus did not come to change the rules. Just because Jesus had dinner with you doesn’t guarantee you a free ticket to Paradise in Heaven; you have to earn it just like everyone else because Jesus is an impartial judge. Also, just because he is using me to write these books on his behalf does not necessarily guarantee me and my household a free ticket to God’s Paradise. We all have to earn it like everyone else. It was very painful for Jesus when Martha demonstrated her complete unbelief in the power of Jesus as the son of God.
When Jesus wept, it also shows us the kind of pain God went through when Moses disobeyed Him. Moses did not believe that water will actually come out of the rock just by speaking to the rock. Experience tells us that it is always very painful when a loved one disobeys a direct command that enriches their life and when a loved one shows a complete lack of confidence in us. Jesus spoke to the cave (the rock) where Lazarus was buried. “Lazarus, come out.” John 11:43. This is exactly what Moses was supposed to say, three words “Water come out.” The closest person to Moses was Aaron his brother and the closest person to God is Jesus Christ His only son.
When Moses doubted God and struck the rock with his staff for water to come out, because the act of striking the rock with the staff is an act reserved only for the death of Jesus Christ, somebody had to die. The fact that Moses already struck the rock once in Exodus 17 for the death of Jesus Christ, this time around when he disobeyed God and struck the rock again in Numbers 20:8, God killed his brother Aaron. “The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.” Num. 20:24.
The resurrection of Lazarus symbolizes the water that came out of the rock. The remarkable thing is that whenever God promised to kill the Israelites because they grumbled or disobeyed Him, Moses always intervened and begged God to spare the lives of the people; in most cases God usually listens to the plea from Moses. But when God promised to kill Aaron, Moses made no attempts to plead to God for his brother’s life. The reason is because at this point, Moses came to realize the gravity of the consequences of his actions. Moses knew that there was no way out of it. What Moses initiated must be completed by God. That also explains why when Jesus arrived at Martha’s house the people who were gathered there said “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” John 11:37. These people were just wondering why Jesus couldn’t prevent Lazarus from dying because they knew all the other miracles that Jesus had performed.
Just like Moses was capable of pleading to God to spare the life of his brother Aaron but chose not to, Jesus was also capable of stopping Lazarus from dying even if he was miles away from Judea. The reason Moses did nothing was because God designed the staff in such a way that when a process starts, it is practically unstoppable. Once an action has been initiated with the staff, nothing on earth can stop it. We know that the anointing of Jesus at Bethany, in the house of Lazarus was to mark the death of Moses and the rise of Joshua. From the moment Jesus was anointed, he did not perform any more miracles until he died on the cross. The reason is that miracles are designed for man – for the flesh. Raising Lazarus from the dead was Jesus’ last miracle just as the second water from the rock was Moses’ last miracle.
We also know that when Jesus went to raise Lazarus from the dead, he wept and before weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. John 11:33-35. The only other time Jesus was once again troubled in spirit was when the second spirit in him – the spirit of God was preparing him to get ready for the cross. This spirit is not physical; it is supernatural. “He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.” John 13:18. Jesus was referring to his betrayal by Judas Iscariot. “After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” John 13:21.
God bless you; Jesus loves you! #WaterFromTheRock #Moses #TheStaffOfMoses
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