Moses and the Waters of Marah--A Lesson For US

When the children of Israel left Egypt, led by Moses, the first major event one reads about in the book of Exodus after the Red Sea crossing is found in Exodus 15:22-26, the crisis at the waters of Marah. I say crisis for that was how the children of Israel perceived it. They had been traveling three days in the wilderness and had found no water to drink during that time.

Was that a crisis? It was when you consider how much water was required for this exodus. In Ex. 12:37-38 we get some idea of the numbers. It reads as follows: "And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds." (ESV) There may have been over 2 million men, women, and children needing water, as well as all the flocks and herds of livestock. You do not carry that kind of water in canteens.

After this three-day journey without finding water, they come to Marah, a place that has water, but water so bitter it cannot be used for drinking. In fact, according to the notes in the NET Bible, the Hebrew word "Marah" means bitter. The Bible says, "The people complained against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'" (Ex. 15:24 NKJV) One has to understand Moses was only God's representative; thus, to complain against Moses was to complain against God (see Ex. 16:8). Moses individually had no power to provide them with water; they knew that, so the complaint was against God.

This manifested a lack of faith in God. How? Back in Ex. 3:16-17 before the plagues, before Moses ever entered Egypt after his personal exile, God told Moses at the burning bush incident to, "Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, 'The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, 'I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.' ' " (NKJV)

After entering Egypt, Moses did this according to Ex. 4:29-30 with Aaron being his spokesman. He was also directed to perform miracles before the elders as you read about in Ex. 4:1-9, and according to Ex. 4:30 he did so, as signs of confirmation that it was God who was behind this affair. Afterwards, we know of the plagues that hit Egypt which were further confirmation that God was intent on bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt into "a land flowing with milk and honey." Add to these miracles the Red Sea encounter where the waters were parted for the children of Israel but collapsed on the Egyptians and the children of Israel should have seen God's determination to hold fast to his promise to them.

Why then would the children of Israel believe that God would allow them to perish for want of water at Marah after seeing all he had already done on their behalf? Did they not believe God? Did they not trust him after all they had both heard and seen? According to the footnotes in the NET Bible the Hebrew word translated "complained" or "murmured" or "grumbled," depending on your translation, "is a much stronger word than 'to grumble' or 'to complain.' It is used almost exclusively in the wilderness wandering stories, to describe the rebellion of the Israelites against God … They were not merely complaining--they were questioning God's abilities and motives. The action is something like a parliamentary vote of no confidence."

That they needed water there was no doubt. That they were in want there is no doubt. What should they have done rather than rebel? Well, I can think of several things--trust in God for deliverance, pray to him, ask Moses not in a complaining or murmuring way but in a supplicating way to intervene with God on their behalf. God had told them he would bring them into a land flowing with milk and honey. If they believed in the goodness of God, that he would not lie to them, then surely they should have seen he was not about to let them die of thirst. But, the Psalmist had this to say about them, "They did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation." (Psalms 78:22 NKJV) That was said of them at a later date in their history but was true of them basically from the beginning as their first rebellion, based on a lack of faith, was at the Red Sea (Psalms 106:7).

A lesson for all Christians in this is the need to trust in God in our own personal crises. If we are faithful God is on our side and if we will trust and obey and be patient he will work things out for us. This does not mean he will allow us to live eternally upon the earth. It is appointed for man once to die (Heb. 9:27 NKJV). Nor does it mean we will be blessed in the ways we might like--say fame, fortune, and prestige--but it does mean he will see us through our life’s struggles and help us through the valley of the shadow of death (Psa. 23:4).

However, that is not the main lesson I want to get from this Old Testament story. God did come to the rescue of the children of Israel and provide water, but how did he do it? The Bible says he told Moses to cast a tree he showed him into the bitter waters at Marah which having done so the waters were made fit to drink (Ex. 15:25 NKJV). However, it is my understanding that the Hebrew word denotes "wood" and not necessarily a tree, although either is possible; thus, the English Standard Version translates the word as a "log" rather than a tree while other translations say "a piece of wood." (CEV, GNB, NLT)

I want to ask the reader some questions to get to the main point of this article. What power was there in that tree or piece of wood to transform a body of water from bitter to pure sufficient to quench the thirst of perhaps as many as 2 million people with all their livestock? Not one bit of power--none at all. However, what would have happened had Moses not thrown the tree or wood into the water? Would the water have become drinkable had he not?

What power was there in the rod Moses had in his hand to part the Red Sea? God told him, "Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it." (Ex. 14:16 NKJV) None! But what if he had not done it?

What power was there in the rod Moses used to strike the rock, in a later incident where water was needed, to bring forth water out of the rock to provide for the people's thirst? (see Ex. 17:5-6) None! But what if he had not done it?

What power was there in the fiery serpent that God told Moses to make and put on a pole (he made it out of bronze) to heal those who had been bitten by poisonous serpents to save them from death if they would look at it? (see Numbers 21:8-9) None! You surely do not believe your doctor would treat you that way if bitten by a poison scorpion or rattlesnake do you? But, what about those who did not look at Moses' bronze serpent?

What power was there inherent in marching around the walls of Jericho, blowing trumpets, blowing a ram's horn, and shouting to get the walls of the city to fall down? (Joshua 6:2-5) None! But, what if they had not done it?

What power was there in the water of the Jordan River to cleanse Naaman of his leprosy? (2 Kings 5) None! Could all lepers have been cleansed of leprosy by doing what Naaman did? Was the power in the water? What if Naaman had not gone and washed 7 times as directed? (We know, don't we, for until he did so, having refused for a time, he remained leprous and was not cleansed.)

In John 9, Jesus meets a man blind from birth. The Bible says, "He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And he said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam' (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing." (John 9:6-7 NKJV) What power was there in the water of the pool of Siloam to cure blindness? None at all! But what if he had not gone to the pool of Siloam?

Are you seeing a pattern? The God that spoke the universe into existence and who needs but speak and it is done does not need rods, or bronze serpents, special water treatments, or marching, or horn blowing, or anything else to achieve the end he desires. All he needs to do is speak and it is done but sometimes he chooses to work by means of agency. When he chooses to do so it becomes a matter of faith on our part--faith to believe and do or faithlessness to disbelieve and not do.

Naaman was a person who had a hard time believing and doing. He just could not see the sense in it or the reason for it. Be that as it may, he was not healed until he believed enough to obey.

Let me drive the point home. It does not matter in the least whether you or I see a reason in a command God gives. Sometimes he gives commands just to test our obedience (Abraham being a case in point with the sacrifice of his son Isaac). Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, said to the Corinthians, "For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things." (2 Cor. 2:9 NKJV)

Many, many people who consider themselves to be Christians (the reality is they are not) cannot bring themselves to be baptized. Is it a command of God? They know it is (Mark 16:16, John 3:5, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Gal. 3:27, 1 Peter 3:21, Rom. 6:3-4, etc.) but they cannot believe it is necessary for they cannot see any reason behind it. How often has one heard the phrase that "the water does not have anything to do with salvation?" It does if God says to be baptized. It fits into the same category of things we have discussed here.

I have asked the question before and never received an answer but I will ask it again. If Jesus (God) wanted you to know baptism was for the remission of your sins how would he have had to phrase it to get the message across to you, if you do not believe that to be the case? He actually said that exact thing, speaking through Peter via the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:38, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (NKJV) Then, in Acts 22:16, the Holy Spirit spoke of being baptized to wash away sins. Peter states it again as if we could not understand him in Acts 2:38 when he says, "there is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism." (1 Peter 3:21 NKJV) Jesus himself said, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God" (John 3:5 NKJV) and he said the man that would be saved would be the man that "believes and is baptized." (Mark 16:16)

People all over the world are convinced Jesus was in error when he said "he who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16 NKJV) believing the truth to be "he who believes and is baptized or not baptized, either way, will be saved." That is adding to the word of God and is just as dangerous as if a man were to say, "he who believes and is not baptized will be saved." Add to God's word or contradict it, either one, and face God in the judgment.

The lesson we need to learn from the event at the waters of Marah is that if God decides to use agency or means to save us, then so be it. We must either conform and throw that log or tree into the water, or forget about receiving the blessing. We either believe and obey, or disbelieve and do not obey and forfeit the blessing. The spiritual application is valid until the earth no longer exists. One must respect whatever agency or means God so desires to use to bring blessings and salvation to man. To fail to respect that is to show a lack of faith in God despite all protests to the contrary.

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Mt. Sinai and The Day of Judgment

What do the children of Israel coming to Mt. Sinai have to do with the Day of Judgment?  More than you might think.  The children of Israel reached Mt. Sinai in the third month after they left Egypt (Ex. 19:1-2).  They had had by this time many experiences and had seen God working actively on their behalf in miracle after miracle.  They had seen the plagues in Egypt many of which they were spared.  They had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, they had been provided with drinking water miraculously on two separate occasions (Ex. 15:22-25, Ex. 17:1-7), they had been fed with manna and quail (Ex. 16), and they had been able to defeat those who attacked them with God's help (Ex. 17:8-13).  There was also the cloud that accompanied them by day and the pillar of fire that accompanied them by night.  Evidence of God's presence with them and of his care for them was everywhere to be seen.

At Mt. Sinai, the Lord spoke to Moses from the mountain (Ex. 19:3) with a message for the children of Israel.  They were to be reminded of what they had seen the Lord do to the Egyptians and "how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to myself." (Ex. 19:4 NASB)  These things they were fully aware of.  The Lord is prepared to make a covenant with them making them his special people if they will only agree to obey him keeping his covenant (Ex. 19:5-6).  Moses goes back to the elders of the children of Israel, meets with them, and "all the people" (Ex. 19:8 NASB) agree to do whatever the Lord says.

Here is where we begin to get to what I want to talk about.  Moses returns with the words of the people to the Lord.  The Lord then says to Moses, "Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever." (Ex. 19:9 NASB)  All Bible students are well aware this will be the time when God descends on Mt. Sinai in sight of the people though he will be hidden in a cloud.  "On the third day (after preparations for the event are made--DS) the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." (Ex. 19:11 NASB)  It will be the time when the Lord delivers the Ten Commandments.

A question is in order here.  Why was one of the purposes of this event "so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you (Moses--DS) forever"? (Ex. 19:9 NASB)  The answer to this question is simple enough.  Moses was God's lawgiver, "For the law was given through Moses" (John 1:17 NASB).  He was God's man, the man who acted as a mediator between God and God's children, the children of Israel.  When Moses spoke to the children of Israel they were to listen for he spoke to them on God's behalf.  This event was to make it crystal clear to all of God's relationship with Moses so that the children of Israel would know with certainty that to disobey a command Moses gave was to disobey God himself.

However, there was also another reason God wanted the people to hear him.  He says, "so that the people may hear when I speak with you." (Ex. 19:9 NASB)  They had seen God in action in his miracles but they had not yet heard his voice.  He wanted them to hear him.  Why?  Was it just more confirmation to the people that Moses was God's man as God talked directly to him?  There was that in it but might there have been more?  Yes!  It was to learn to fear God.

Can you imagine what it must have been like to hear the voice of God?  What kind of an effect would that have on a man or woman?  If you were to hear a voice from heaven right now, a loud speaking voice from the heavens (not a quiet inner speaking to the mind or spirit), what kind of an effect would it have on you?  Our first and immediate reaction, one we would be incapable of not having, would be to strike us with terror down to our toes.  The children of Israel had been told what was coming, what was going to happen, and were in expectation but even so, it terrified them.  Fear can change a man and we want to pursue that thought a little bit.

On the third day, as God had said, he descended on the mountain called Mt. Sinai in the presence of the people who were at the base of the mountain although far enough back, according to God's commandment, not to be touching it.  "So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled." (Ex. 19:16 NASB)  

"Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire.  Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.  And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice." (Ex. 19:18-19 NKJV)  The NASB says, "God answered him with thunder."  However, while the original language can be technically translated either way the NKJV is correct, it should be voice rather than thunder.

How do I know?  Deut. 4:10-13, "Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, 'Assemble the people to me, that I may let them hear my words so they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'  You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.  Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form--only a voice.  So he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and he wrote them on two tablets of stone." (NASB)  They heard words, the words of God spoken by God, not thunder.  We find further confirmation of this in Ex. 20:22, the very words of God himself directly speaking on the subject.    

On the day God descended on Mt. Sinai (called Horeb in Deut. 4:10) the New International Version says the people "trembled with fear." (Ex. 20:18 NIV)  While that is not a literal translation, the literal is "they trembled" (NASB), it is the exact meaning of the literal.  They trembled due to what they were seeing and hearing.

On that third day when God came down on top of Mt. Sinai Moses went up.  God then instructed him to go back down, warn the people again to stay their distance, and to get Aaron and bring him back up to the top of the mountain with him (with Moses), see Ex. 19:20-24.  This he did.

However, having heard God speak terrified the children of Israel to the extent that they begged Moses, "Let not God speak to us, or we will die." (Ex. 20:19 NASB)  Moses responded, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin." (Ex. 20:20 NASB)

So what are the lessons in this account for us?  I have not been telling a story just to repeat a story.  There are important lessons here for you and me today.  Here are some of them.

(1) One should fear God.  Fear is a motivating factor from God himself.  Its purpose is to keep us from sinning.  Many today say we should have no fear of God.   But the Bible says we are to perfect holiness "in the fear of God." (2 Cor. 7:1 NASB)  Of those listed by Paul in Rom. 3 as being "under sin" (ver. 9) one of the condemning factors is, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Rom. 3:18 NASB)  Paul speaks of a factor that motivates him to preach to sinful men.  He says, "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." (2 Cor. 5:11 NASB)  He does not want men to experience condemnation and knows there is a reason to fear such an end.

Yes, I know perfect love casts out fear and the one who fears is not perfected in love (1 John 4:18).  I am sure Paul did not fear God as in trembling fear but the fear of the Lord is one of the things that keeps us from sin (Ex. 20:20) and keeps us walking in faithful obedience so that we can develop that perfect love which in our spiritual maturity destroys fear.  That day comes when we can say as Paul did, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." (2 Tim. 4:7 NKJV)  We never know when we are about to finish the race but we can know before death that we have fought the good fight and have kept the faith and thus have the assurance of salvation.  We need not fear God as long as we are walking in the light but the fear of God ought to keep us walking in that light.

(2) Another lesson we can learn from this account is that fear itself will not keep us on the straight and narrow road of righteousness over the long haul.  All who know the Bible know the rest of the story that is not being covered in this article.  I refer to the golden calf, an idol, which will be made before Moses returns from being on the mountain with God for forty days.  We have here a people who have experienced the real God who speaks and works miracles and who is full of wonder and awe, capable of striking terror into people in an instant, and before Moses can come down off this smoking mountain where God is the people are already into idol worship.

This is at a time when Moses is receiving the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.  It is at the time when "the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai … and to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top." (Ex. 24:16-17 NASB)  But, did it matter?  What effect did this wondrous sight have on the children of Israel? 

People will worship their idols and soon forget God.  This is still true today.  Give a man a little terror in his life and he suddenly comes to God but it often only lasts as long as he remains terrified.  As soon as the terror abates he is back to his worship of money, or entertainment, or whatever it is he worships.  That said there are two types of men--wise men and foolish men.  Wise men learn a lesson from terror and it remains with them.  Wise men can learn from what has happened to others.  Foolish men can only learn when the stripes are laid directly on their own backs. 

(3) The final lesson in this article pertains to the terror of the Lord itself.  The children of Israel were terrified of God when directly in his presence at the foot of the mountain.  Now I want to ask one thing.  Do you think it will be any different on the Day of Judgment?  I have no idea why people have no fear of facing God in judgment, people who live their lives here in disobedience.  Do they think they are going to be standing before God as equals on that day? 

When the Day of Judgment comes it will be as it was on that morning at Mt. Sinai.  There will be no doubt about God's existence.  There will be no doubt about whether or not there is going to be a Day of Judgment.  There will be no doubt about where you are heading very, very shortly if you have never obeyed the gospel.  There will be stark terror in the hearts of all the disobedient.  There will be knees too weak to stand on.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:42).  "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:31 NKJV)  "And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:15 NKJV)

It is easy to walk with a swagger through life and tell yourself and others you can handle anything, that you do not need help from anyone and that you are not afraid of God.  Well, maybe you are not afraid.  Maybe you are not wise enough to be afraid but God will make you afraid in the Day of Judgment.  It is just so foolish and unnecessary that people will throw their lives away and for what?  It was for a golden calf in Moses' time and often for nothing more than foolish pride and arrogance and the pleasing of self in our own time.

Everyone needs to count the cost now of disobedience to God.  "God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." (Gal. 6:7 NKJV)  Will your heart fail you for fear on the Day of Judgment?  It doesn't have to be that way but it is indeed "a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Heb. 10:31 NKJV)  If you are unfaithful and disobedient we will see how strong and tough you are on that day and you will see for yourself.  On that day we will all know who we are and what our place is.

That will be the day when "the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power." (2 Thess. 1:7-9 NKJV)  Yes, like at Mt. Sinai men on the Day of Judgment will know God is God and that man is not the boss.

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Never Give Up

When we learn the truth of the gospel message, come to believe it, and then sincerely obey it we sometimes expect more of ourselves than is humanly possible to deliver.  When we first come out of the water of our baptism we are determined that we will not sin, we will live sin-free.  This attitude is to be highly commended but is also unrealistic.  

Many who obey the gospel do so when young and thus their expectations about life are not in accord with reality.  They have little idea of what it will be like to live as an adult in the real world with the pressures that people face daily.  When they are confronted with them, when they are no longer sheltered but must face them head-on, they begin to stumble here and there on occasion.  Discouragement settles in for the one who was sincere in his or her gospel obedience. 

The thinking becomes I have sinned, and then I did it again either in the same way or another way, and then again, and the first thing you know it seems like you are trapped in a body that not only insists on sinning but has power over one’s own will.  We become discouraged and cease feeling good about ourselves.  We think I am not good enough; I cannot live the Christian life; I am just not a strong enough person.  

The truth is that almost all of us at one point in time or another have felt that way.  What do we do when that happens?  Too many just gradually give in to those kinds of feelings and give up.  But, is the situation hopeless?  Does it have to be that way?  I would like to take a look into the lives of some of God’s people who seemingly had the same problems I speak of here and see what they did that was sinful, what led them to do it, and how they handled it in the hope that it will help all of us. 

There is no doubt that Moses was a great man of God.  He spoke with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration before Christ’s suffering thus we know he was a saved man.  The Hebrew writer says of Moses, “And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant.” (Heb. 3:5 NKJV)  Yet, we know God would not allow Moses to enter the Promised Land because of his sin.  What was that sin? 

While the children of Israel were traveling through the wilderness after having come out of the land of Egypt they came to a place later called Massah and Meribah, a place where there was no water and a place in which the people grew thirsty and began to complain to Moses.  Moses went to God concerning the matter and God directed him to go to the rock there and speak to the rock and strike it with his rod and water would come forth.  Moses did this but failed to give God the glory instead saying before striking the rock, “Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10 NKJV)  We infer from this that he was speaking of himself and his brother Aaron who was with him.  God was left out of the picture and not given the glory.  For this Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.  (See the accounts of this in Exodus 17:1-7, Numbers 20:2-13, Numbers 20:24, Numbers 27:12-14, and Deut. 32:48-52.) 

Moses was such a great man of God that God spoke to him face to face.  “So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Exodus 33:11 NKJV - see also Num. 12:8 and Deut. 34:10).  Please note that this is said of Moses 16 chapters after the events concerning the water at the rock, after Moses’ sin.  So, what was it that would cause such a great man of God to sin the way he earlier had? 

The answer is the very same thing that gets to us as Christians today--pressure on the job, stress in our lives.  Moses in Exodus 17:2 says to the people who were complaining, “Why do you contend with me?” (NKJV)  The very next verse, verse 3, says, “the people complained against Moses,” and it gets so bad that in verse 4 Moses says to God, “What shall I do with this people?  They are almost ready to stone me!” (NKJV)  That is pressure on the job.  When Moses says they are almost ready to stone me we should not think that he is speaking figuratively but stoning was a real possibility if things did not soon get better.  

The Psalmist says with regards to this event, (Psalms 106:32-33 ESV), “They angered him (God--DS) at the waters of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account, for they made his spirit bitter, and he spoke rashly with his lips.”  Moses grew angry and bitter at the people and spoke rashly out of passion rather than calmly with forethought and failed to give God the glory.  When we speak in the heat of passion there is seldom any good that can come out of it. 

I have used Moses as an example for us today for how often it is that Christians find themselves in very high-stress situations, under all kinds of pressure, and the result is that we too end up like Moses and sin under stress.  What kinds of sin?  A whole host of sins could be mentioned, here are a few.  We begin to put God on the back burner and give him second place in our lives feeling that there is not enough time to do everything.  Attendance at worship services begins to lag, Bible reading ceases, prayer time diminishes, there is no time for good works, and we begin doing whatever it is that is required of us to stay in good standing in our job even if it means sacrificing our Christian life.  It is easy to eventually end up as a Christian dropout. 

This can happen and it does happen all of the time--the more professional your job, the more responsibility you have, the more of an executive position you hold the tougher it becomes.  Expectations are so great and the kinds of people we often work with are far from having Christian character, just the opposite, and it makes it very difficult to survive as a Christian.  With all the attempts to get the most out of the least, it seems everyone is under pressure on the job no matter what position they hold--blue collar or white collar. 

I want to say there are no easy answers to these kinds of situations that we find ourselves in.  I heard one preacher say words to the effect that we can quit our job.  Yes, and then what?  Will the next job be any better?  This is America in the twenty-first century.  If there are any stress-free jobs in our country today I do not know where or what they are.  We cannot herd sheep.  What can we do then? 

We can hang in there.  We can fight the battle as best we can.  We can pray to God for help.  We can do our best.  We can trust God’s grace.  We can follow Moses’ example and not give up.  When God told him of his sin and told him he would not be allowed into the Promised Land he could have given up.  He could have said I have the toughest job in the world leading these people that are continually giving me a hard time and they are bringing me down with them and I quit, I give up. Despite my best efforts, I cannot live faithfully and please God. 

Had Moses done this what then?  Where would he be today?  Would he have met with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration?  Would he have been called a faithful man in the book of Hebrews as is the case?  What did Moses do? 

He did not quit.  He accepted his sin for what it was and went on with life.  He continued to trust in God as his hope and salvation.  This is exactly what we need to do today.  Remember Moses when things get tough in your life and follow his example. 

Another man I would like to deal with is David.  You know the story of David, a man the Bible says was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14).  And yet, as great a man of God as David was, his sin with Bathsheba is perhaps the best-known case of adultery that ever occurred.  And one can add murder to his list of sins for having Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed.  The account of this affair can be found in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. 

David was a man who had always done God’s will.  If he had lived in the Christian era we would say there was a man who was so strong in the faith that it is impossible to live up to the example he set.  We might well say of him, if he lived near us in our own time, that he is the best Christian man I have ever met.  Of course, David was not a Christian as he lived under the Law of Moses but I say this to emphasize what a man of God he truly was, a super role model in so many ways. 

Yet, he fell mightily.  He lusted with his eyes and heart after Bathsheba, committed adultery with her, and then had her husband Uriah killed to cover his tracks and hide his sin when he discovered Bathsheba was with child, his child.  All this sin began when, because of outside stimulus, his heart ceased to be pure. 

Yet, despite his sin, as horrible as it was, the Bible speaks highly of him.  Here is what it says in comments that are being made about Abijam, a king who came later down the road after David.  “His heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.  Nevertheless, for David’s sake, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, by setting up his son after him and by establishing Jerusalem; because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” (1 Kings 15:3-5 NKJV)   

When David’s life on earth ended he was found in God’s favor.  The words just quoted above came, obviously, after David’s death.  

What can we learn from what happened to David?  I start with this.  Don’t be deceived, there is no one no matter how spiritual they may appear and may be who is not capable of sin, even grievous sin.  We sometimes tend to think others are strong and not tempted like me.  Don’t be overly sure of that.  No one is struggling like me.  Don’t be sure of that.  No one has to fight temptation like me.  Don’t be sure of that.  It is said that David was around 50 years old at the time of this sin.  It is not just the young who struggle to be faithful. 

Secondly, David’s sin came about as a result of factors external to himself.  He saw, he was tempted, and he lusted.  How many of our sins begin with factors external to us?  We see this or that, we hear this or that, it creates desire within our hearts, and we give in to temptation.  We may not see a naked lady bathing but every day we are exposed to things from the outside that cause lust in our hearts whether it be sexual lust, as was the case with David, or the desire for possessions, or the desire to have position and authority and be praised and honored as we see other men and women being praised and honored, or maybe just the desire to fit in and be accepted as one of the guys.  What we see and hear affects us. 

It is a battle all of us fight.  Paul said in 1 Cor. 10:13 “no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man” (NKJV) which tells us not to kid ourselves.  We are not alone in being tempted by the things of this world.  But Paul goes on and says, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10:13 NKJV)  

But you may be saying to yourself as you examine your life that I failed.  I did not take the way of escape.  Well, you have joined vast multitudes of God’s people that have had to confess the same thing at various times in their lives including David, the great man of God.  The point is that it is not hopeless. 

We all believe we are going to see David in heaven.  Why?  The answer is he repented and he did not give up.  It would be easy for a man who has committed adultery and murder to go into the depths of despair so deep as to never come out again.  Imagine the shame, the self-loathing, and the inability to look at one’s self in the mirror--the never-ending regret and sorrow. 

What is the lesson?  Never give up; there is always good reason for hope.  God will forgive you no matter how atrocious your sins may be.  The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  Jesus did not come to earth to die on the cross just so men could die in sin.  I remind the reader that both Moses and David were men of God at the time of their sins.  God forgave them.  He will forgive you and me if we repent and do not give up.  Nothing most people have done will compare with what David did.  You have never murdered, have you?  God forgave him.  God will forgive you. 

The 51st Psalm was written by David as a result of this sin he had committed and after Nathan had confronted him and David had repented.  First, he asks for forgiveness and acknowledges his transgressions but then he says in verse 10, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (NKJV)  Do you think God was capable of doing that with David?  Do you think he is capable of doing that with you or me when we get caught up in sin?  Remember David is speaking or writing but doing so by inspiration of the Holy Spirit who led him to utter these words.  God is able and willing if we like David will repent. 

Then note verses 16 and 17 where David says, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart - These, O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17 NKJV)  When a man or woman truly from the depths of their heart repents God will forgive them and we are talking here about the children of God.  Remember how the father received back the prodigal son in the New Testament?  The message is God wants us back. 

In closing, I want to touch on a few passages in the New Testament.  The church at Corinth was full of sinning Christians.  The book of First Corinthians was written with a view of getting the brethren to repent.  Just about every sin you can think of was going on in the church there.  This included even a man who had his father’s wife sexually.  

Paul wrote the brethren back sometime later giving us the book of Second Corinthians.  In that book, he makes it clear that even this man was forgiven as he had repented.  He says to the brethren, “You ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.  Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.” (2 Cor. 2:7-8 NKJV) 

In 2 Cor. 2:10-11 Paul says concerning this man and this situation, “Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.  For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devises.” (NKJV) 

Barnes in his commentary on this passage says, “And the idea is, that they should at once re-admit the penitent offender to their communion, lest if they did not do it, Satan would take advantage of it to do injury to him and them.  It is a reason given by Paul why they should lose no time in restoring him to the church.” 

Concerning the sins of the brethren at Corinth besides this man’s sin Paul says in 2 Cor. 7:9-10, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance.  For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing.  For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (NKJV) 

Remember we are talking to and about Christians here.  Their repentance led to their salvation.  They suffered loss in nothing for they repented and God received them again. 

Still, there were some at Corinth that had not repented in contrast to those who had.  Paul writes in 2 Cor. 12:21 that he fears when he comes to them again that there will be some that “have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication, and lewdness which they have practiced.” (NKJV)  Yes, Christians can become involved in anything as did David but if we will repent God will forgive.  Paul’s lament here is that he fears some have not repented. 

The very last passage I want to touch on is found in Hebrews 10:35-36.  It seems the brethren were growing weary and about to give up and drift away.  They are admonished, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” (NKJV) 

The message--don’t give up.  No matter how weak you may be at times, no matter how many sins you may commit as a Christian, no matter how bad they may be don’t give up.  It is never hopeless until we give up.  We are all in the same boat together.  John says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 NKJV)  Sin hits us all even as Christians.  The other guy may just do a better job hiding his.  Quitters never win and never can.  Only when we quit is it over.  Jesus came into the world to save us, not condemn us.  Let us do as David did, repent, and then get up and get going again.  You have the road of salvation to travel so get up and get going again. 

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Disrespect for the Word of God is Disrespect for Jesus

There is little respect for the word of God in America today.  It is now common to hear the term post-Christian used to describe our society and the West in general.  Of course, if we are post-Christian it necessarily follows we have also become post-scriptural, people who no longer value the things of scripture, believe them, or abide in them. 

The liberal secularists and progressives in America who have come to dominate much of the media, politics, academia, and the sports and entertainment industries see this as a positive thing.  We are growing up, outgrowing silly myths and superstitions, becoming at last mature adults able to deal with reality—God is a myth. 

With such a mindset obedience or disobedience to the word of God as found in the Christian scriptures means nothing.  The scriptures are not to be taken seriously.  At best they teach good life lessons on how to order your own personal life but if you follow them too meticulously they will lead you into intolerance and judgment.  You will become a despicable bigoted person for after all not everything the Bible calls sin is actually sin.  Modern man is a better judge of sin than the scriptures. 

Accordingly, modern man has, so he thinks, refuted outdated ideas like there being any sin in adultery (as scripture defines it), fornication, abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage, attempting to change one's sex, etc.  Since discarding scripture is now in vogue one must ask what we have in place of it to guide us through life?  The answer is nothing other than whatever the latest fashion is.  Our values and ethics change it seems like the passing seasons of the year.  Anyone now living who can remember just fifty years ago can tell you we are no longer the same people we were then.  

In modern thought what one needs to do is embrace everyone in whatever lifestyle they engage in, meaning you remain uncritical of it and accepting, and it will be okay with you.  Be a good person as judged by society’s standards and it will go well with you in whatever life is to come--if there is a life to come—which, by the way, we don’t believe.  But even if there is a God he thinks the same way we do so don’t worry, it will go well with you.  So we think, so we live our lives. 

Did Jesus teach any of this?  No he did not, none of it.  First of all he never believed nor taught it was going to go well with the majority of society based on being a good person in society.  “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matt. 7:14 NKJV)  The few is not the many.  Do not be misled by those who seem to be teaching or implying that all is going to go well with the mass of humanity, those judged good by society’s standards; unless Jesus is a liar that will not be the case.  A good Roman citizen in the first or second century was still lost unless he/she was also a Christian.  The same can be said of citizens in all societies since then. 

Secondly, Jesus never had the attitude that one could be indifferent about scripture; one cannot be indifferent about doing God’s will.  "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matt 7:21 NKJV)  If doing the will of the Father is necessary, as Jesus says, the will of the Father must be discerned.  That necessarily implies that God’s word is of utmost importance as it is the vehicle by which God’s will is made known to man.  

Did Jesus respect scripture?  If he did how can we say we respect him while disrespecting what he honors?  In John 5:45-47 Jesus rebukes the Jews he is speaking to for not believing the writings of Moses, “if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:47 NKJV)  Earlier in John 5:39 he says the scriptures are “they which testify of me.”  In John 10:35 he says, “The scripture cannot be broken.” (NKJV) 

In just these three passages alone from the book of John we see Jesus’ respect for Moses’ writings and the trustworthiness of scripture as it relates to the testimony of and about himself as well as the fact that scripture is rock solid; it cannot be broken.  This is Jesus’ view of scripture.  

One is reminded of Jesus' comments about creation in the book of Matthew when he said, "Have you not read (read what?—scripture—DS) that he who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?” (Matt. 19:4-5 NKJV)  Jesus quotes Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:24, Moses’ writings, and in doing so is telling us he respects what was written and with the direct implication that we should too.  Jesus destroys any thoughts about the evolution of man from lower life forms in this passage and establishes marriage as being between a man and a woman by accepting what Moses wrote. 

Moses’ writings are reliable but our culture does not want to accept them or what Jesus said about them for if Moses’ writings are true it means that marriage is between a man and a woman and our culture is no longer willing to accept that kind of a restriction on God’s institution.  God institutes marriage but he has no right, as we see it, to be exclusive about it.  It is his institution but we are determined to grasp it from him and rule it ourselves.  God has no right in the matter. 

We will not respect the scripture.  Jesus did but we won’t and many of us want nothing to do with a Jesus who will not endorse and celebrate gay marriages.  God has no right to regulate sin.  Thank you but we can very well do that on our own (we think).  If we don’t want it to be sin we will not allow it to be.  We have that much power?  Wow!  Impressive! 

Jesus also spoke of Noah, the flood, and the ark as historical fact (Luke 17:27), of Moses and the burning bush (Mark 12:26, Luke 20:37), of Jonah being in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights (Matt. 12:40), of Sodom and Gomorrah (Mark 6:11, Luke 17:29), of Daniel’s “abomination of desolation” (Mark 13:14), and of David saying "have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry?” (Luke 6:3 NKJV) 

Jesus endorsed the scriptures as authentic, historical, and reliable.  To cast aspersion upon the scriptures is to reflect upon the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus, to make him out a fool for accepting things we will not accept.  Our society is no longer willing to believe and laughs at divine creation, a worldwide flood, Jonah (a fish story), Sodom and Gomorrah, homosexuality as a sin, etc. 

Let me drive a point home here.  We sometimes make a distinction between what we believe (believe in the sense of having a strong opinion) and what we know.  We say we do not believe a thing—we know it.  So the question arises did Jesus believe the things he spoke of, that is just have a strong opinion, or did he know them? 

If he just believed them like you and I believe things when we speak that way then he was just a man and could not be God and man’s savior.  If on the other hand he knew as fact the things of which he spoke then we enter into the realm of his being more than just a man.  He spoke as one who knew.  So where do we stand?  What do we believe about Jesus?  Did he speak as a man or as God?  Will we believe Jesus?  If so it forces us to believe the scriptures.  When we doubt the scriptures we doubt Jesus and doubt is not faith. 

Jesus spoke of Old Testament scripture as the New Testament scriptures had not yet been written.  How important is not just Old Testament scripture but also New Testament scripture? 

Jesus said, “He who rejects me, and does not receive my words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that his command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak." (John 12:48-50 NKJV) 

Jesus spoke the word of God (John 12:48-50, 14:10, 24, 17:8,14) but lest we think that means we need only a red letter edition of the New Testament where we can pick Jesus’ words out by the red print and can ignore the rest of the New Testament we need to read further.  Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles.  “I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper…even the Spirit of truth…he dwells with you and will be in you…I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18 NKJV)  As Jesus and the Father are one so are Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles it was the same as if Jesus had come back to them in person.  This is clarified in Jesus’ own words in John 16:12-14, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  However, when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak; and he will tell you things to come.  He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:12-14 NKJV)  Jesus still has many things to say.  When is he going to say them and how?  He will say them through the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit is sent to the apostles (and granted as a spiritual gift to others in the scriptures after Pentecost). 

The apostle Peter spoke of Paul’s writings as being twisted by some to their destruction comparing Paul’s writings to “the rest of the scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:14-16 NKJV) 

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” (2 Tim. 3:16 NKJV)  Jesus is God (John 1:1, 1 Tim. 3:16, Heb. 1:8, Acts 20:28).  Jesus is the one of whom John proclaimed, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 NKJV)  To disrespect scripture, to belittle passages, make light of scriptural teaching, etc., is showing disrespect for the author of those scriptures, the one who said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matt. 4:4 NKJV) 

This Jesus is the one Peter was referring to in Acts 3 when he quoted Moses saying, “For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.  Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you.  And it shall come to pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’” (Acts 3:22-23 NKJV)  Jesus is a prophet, priest, and king but above all he is a part of the Godhead.  We can hear him or we can be “utterly destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23 NKJV)     

Jesus says many times, “if you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15 NKJV) or words to that end (see John 14:21, 23, 24, John 15:10, 14).  He is “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.” (Heb. 5:9 NKJV)  How does one obey Jesus while disrespecting the scriptures that teach us his commandments that we are to obey?  “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” (1 John 5:3 NKJV)  Disrespecting the word of God is not an ingredient in the love of God and it certainly does not show respect for Jesus. 

America is truly becoming an anti-Christian nation or should one say an anti-Christ nation?  The America we once knew where God-haters and Bible haters were rare is disappearing and I think most Americans know that and would no longer disagree about it.  We are becoming Europe but we saved Europe twice from themselves last century.  Who will save us from ourselves when we have to reap what we are now sowing?

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