Through the Bible with Les Feldick, Book 8

LESSON ONE * PART I

RED SEA EXPERIENCE: A PICTURE OF OUR SALVATION

A lady called from Colorado the other day, and said how much she was enjoying the programs. She explained that what she really likes about our teaching is that we don't go by what men say, but rather what The Book says. I have always tried to take that approach, even if people don't agree with me. I just want to get them into The Book, and let them see what the Book really says. Many times we say things they don't agree with, but at least it makes them get into The Book and see why they don't agree; and many times it brings them around to our point of view. We don't hue to any denominational line, we just teach the Word as the Spirit has led us to teach it. We trust you will be blessed by it.

Let's go back to Chapter 10 of Exodus for a few moments, because the last time we taught, we had gotten to the place where Pharaoh was obstinately refusing to let the children of Israel go, and so, consequently, God was bringing in plagues. I would like to make one comment about the plagues. Always remember, if you don't have any problems with the plagues in Egypt, then you shouldn't have any problems with the Book of Revelation. Many of the things that took place back in Egypt under the plagues will repeat themselves in the Tribulation, only it will be on a worldwide scale.

I also want to remind you that so many writers (secular and theological people alike) will try to associate these plagues and other events in the Book of Exodus with natural phenomena saying these things just happened to happened. For example, I was reading one explanation the other night. This writer said it was not unusual for waves of locust to come into that part of the world. And that's true, but when God sent a plague on Pharaoh, it wasn't just a chance happening or phenomena; it was a miraculous act of God. Another example is the parting of the Red Sea. The skeptics will say they crossed at the shallow end of the Red Sea, and it was only 18 inches deep. Along with this, a tidal wave could have come in from the Mediterranean, and that could explain how the Egyptians drowned. Well you see, that's all just hogwash. All of these events were the miraculous, powerful working of an Almighty God. And this is the only way we can explain it.

As Pharaoh is now coming under the pressure of all these plagues, he's trying to do some compromising with Moses (and I don't think we covered them in our last lesson, so I'll just touch on them.) He offers several compromises. First, he said if you want to leave, go ahead but don't go very far. What did he imply there? Well, don't go so far that I lose control of you. Go for a day or two, worship and come right back. Now, that's exactly how Satan deals with the lost person. The lost person may start getting an appetite, and the Holy Spirit may be wooing him, and bringing him under conviction. But what's the first thing the old devil says? "Well, you can get a little religious, but don't get carried away with it. Go ahead and go to church Sunday morning but forget about it the rest of the week." See, that's Satan's ploy, even today.

Then secondly, Pharaoh comes back and says, now how many of you are going to go? I'll let your men go, but I want to keep your children. And isn't that again exactly how Satan works today? Oh you know every parent loves to see their kids get the best of everything. We want to see them successful, and in our day and time in the materialistic world we live in, all we are doing is getting into a compromise with Satan, "Well I guess you can have my kids, for after all they've got to make it in this world. They need to do what everyone else is doing." But that's not the Lord's idea, nor His approach whatsoever. And then finally, Pharaoh comes to the place that he is so put out with Moses and Aaron. So now, look at the Scripture with me. He says in Exodus 10:28:

Exodus 10:28

"And Pharaoh said unto him, `Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.'"

And Moses's response is almost enough to bring a smile to your face. Moses knew because God had told him at the very beginning, that the last plague was going to be super special. And this, of course, would be the plague of taking the life of all the first born. When Pharaoh makes this statement now, Moses just comes right back in verse 29 and says:

Exodus 10:29a

"And Moses said, `Thou hast spoken well,...'" (Pharaoh, you have just said a mouthful. I will see your face again no more.) When we get into Chapter 1, God encourages Moses by telling him:

Exodus 11:1a

"And the LORD said unto Moses, `Yet will I bring one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go...'"

And we know that's exactly what happened. Then in verse 5, Moses said:

Exodus 11:5-7

"And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.

(even the livestock - imagine what that would do to a society or an economy.) And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor shall be like it any more. But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast: that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a (what's the word?) difference..."

You know, it is interesting that throughout Scripture we get tidbits of information of how God is in control of wildlife, or the animal kingdom. Here he is going to make sure that even an Egyptian dog won't bark, when Israel gets to move out. Then in the New Testament, when Peter was concerned about tax money, what did Jesus tell him to do? "Go down to the sea shore and there will be a fish with enough money in it's mouth for your taxes and mine both." What does that tell you? He is totally in control.

Many times I repeat myself, but I do it for a purpose. Some of these things don't sink in until they are just hammered into us. Now, all through Israel's history, beginning with Abraham, God is constantly reminding them they are not like everyone else on earth, but they are different. They are his Covenant people and they were never to intermarry with anyone but those of the nation of Israel. They were to have no real social contact with the pagan people around them. But socially they were to remain a separated people. I always like to emphasize, and this shocks people, never did God instruct the Jew to go out and proselyte the Gentiles. Did you know that? They were never instructed to go out and win the Gentiles even to their religion. And I know this is kind of hard to accept, because we are of the opinion that God wanted those people. Of course he did. He didn't want them by the Jews proselytizing per se, or evangelizing, because he was dealing strictly with this Covenant nation of people, whom he is going to set aside, and make them different.

I'm saying all of this to get you ready for the day we get to the New Testament. And when the apostle Paul begins going to the Gentiles, how did the Jews feel about it? Well it upset them. Who in the world has the right to go to those pagan Gentiles? We don't want to be too hard on these Jews because of that. After all, for almost 2000 years, God has been telling them, and proving to them that they were different, and it took them a long time to get that out of their system. And that's why, of course, Paul and Peter in the Book of Galatians, Chapter 2, have the confrontation that they had. See, Peter just couldn't get that out of his system, that he could go in and sit down and maybe have a ham sandwich with those Gentiles believers in Antioch. So when his fellow Jews came up from Jerusalem, Paul says what about Peter? "Hey, you withdrew." Peter went right back to that old mentality that after all Jews could not fellowship with Gentiles. But that's the beauty of the Church. Now, in the Church Age, Paul especially emphasizes that there is now no difference. See? And it all has to be brought back to the Old Testament, where now God says here in Exodus there is a difference. And let's not forget that as we study Israel. Now, Moses continues:

Exodus 11:8-10

"And all these thy servants shall come down unto me and bow down themselves unto me, saying, `Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee:' and after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in a great anger. And the LORD said unto Moses, `Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you; that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.' And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land."

We are going to let go of Pharaoh for a little while, and we are going to come into Chapter 12, which again is a benchmark chapter, I think. Much like Genesis 12, because here we have the introduction of Passover. Now, we have just come through the Passover season, and if you have been reading your daily paper, and in other news media, then you know that the Jews, at least the Orthodox Jews have been making a big to-do over Passover. They are still practicing it, they still cleanse their house of leaven from top to bottom. And it all goes back to this institution of Exodus Chapter 12. Now, let's look at it:

Exodus 12:1,2

"And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, `This month (it's the month we call April) shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.'"

In other words the Jewish calendar is now set up in such a way that April is the first month of their religious year. I don't like to use the word religious, but this time it fits. Now, verse 3 and 4, and the LORD is still speaking:

Exodus 12:3,4

"Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying `In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.'"

In other words, there is never to be a shortfall. There is always supposed to be enough. He doesn't say so much about the amount left over, because he tells how to deal with that. But they had to make sure that there was not a shortage, and of course the lesson is coming in just a moment. Now, continuing on with verse 5, The Lord is still speaking:

Exodus 12:5,6a

"Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats. And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month:..."

What you have here is the beautiful illustration of Whom? The Lord Jesus. He too was, according to our Bible, without spot, without blemish, without sin. But in order to prove that he was spotless and sinless, how long did he minister? - three years. And so, as this lamb was kept for three days to be completely observed, the household would look for any blemish or sign of poor health, or anything that might be wrong with it. If at the end of those three days the lamb was whole, then they could kill it for the Passover sacrifice. And it was the same way with Christ. He spent that three years up and down the land of Israel. He was under complete scrutiny of the religious authorities, more or less, and by the ordinary man in the street, He wasn't hidden from anyone. And yet no one could ever point a finger at Him, and accuse Him of a wrong doing. He was without spot, without blemish; He was blameless. Now, after they had proved the lamb:

Exodus 12:7-9a

"And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire,.... (here again comes that beautiful illustration of what his death on the Cross really amounted too.) Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire;...."

Now, the fire here, as I see it, was indicative of judgment. That just as sure as Christ went through the fires of judgment as He hung there on that Cross in order to bring about our salvation, this Passover lamb was also roasted with fire. It was not to be prepared any other way. You remember that even as we go on into Israel's religious experience, what happened to all of their sacrifices that were offered upon that brazen altar? They were burned with fire. It was the place where sin was being judged. We are living in a day and time, where we hardly ever hear about sin anymore. We don't even know what sin is. It's to the place where every man does whatever he thinks is right in his own eyes. I was telling someone the other day that I'm always reminded of that last verse in the Book of Judges. Let's look at it, because it's so appropriate for the day we are living in. The Book of Judges is the account of Israel's rise and fall. Over and over again, she would go down in rebellion and sin, and God would raise up a judge, and bring them out, and they would be spiritual for a while and then the process would start all over again. But as the Book ends:

Judges 21:25

"In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

Do you know what it was? It was almost anarchy. It was a spiritual famine and Israel was destitute. There was nothing to guide them. We are quickly getting there within our own society fabric. I have to feel that this is the problem of so much of our inner cities. These kids are being raised with no direction or restraint. And consequently their attitude is, "I can do what ever I want to do. And no one is going to make me account for it." This is going to lead us to more and more trouble as I see the whole picture. Let's come back to Exodus once again. The children of Israel were to roast the lamb with fire, and stand at the table as they were eating, and they were to have all their clothes on. And the LORD said:

Exodus 12:11

"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S Passover."

Again, let's get a brief picture of the Jews now. They are in Egypt, in their little huts of one sort or another, because they had a door. They were to apply the blood to the two side posts and the upper door post. I'm convinced that no Jew in Egypt understood what was going on here. But I am just as convinced that God already had the final picture in mind, and that was he was drawing an outline of the Cross. He doesn't say just put the blood on the door. But the instruction was on each side post and at the door top.

Exodus 12:12

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD."

Every one of the plagues were directed at the gods of Egypt. In other words, God just proved that their pagan worship had nothing to do with Him whatsoever. He destroyed them at will. I've stressed it ever since we started our study back in Genesis, that ever since the Tower of Babel the whole human race until Abraham was saturated in paganism, in polytheism (that's the worship of many gods) and so when Israel comes on the scene as His separated, different, Covenant people they are the only people on earth who did not worship many gods. I know that is hard to swallow, but its the truth of history, all of these people of the world are steeped in paganism.

And so Israel is that little group alone that has the knowledge of the one true God. And I know we say, `Why didn't God send the Jews out into those pagans and enlighten them?' Well He wanted to in time. But again He's going to instruct them first. He's going to prepare them, and until they are ready, He won't give them that permission. There were exceptions of course, He sent Jonah up to Nineveh, that Gentile city. And He responded to Naaman the Syrian General, but other than that, He has nothing to do with these pagan non-Jewish people. Because he's dealing only with the House of Israel. On the night of the Passover, the death angel is passing throughout Egypt and is killing the firstborn of man and beast, but verse 13 God says to the Nation of Israel:

Exodus 12:13

"And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you,...."

If you don't mind marking in your Bible, underline "When I see the blood" because that's the crucial point. He doesn't say, "If you behave yourselves." He doesn't say, "Now if you have been living relatively sinless." He doesn't say, "If you will worship me in a particular way." He says only one thing, and what is it? "...when I see the blood...." Now, if you can picture in your mind for just a little bit, the gross darkness that has come upon the land of Egypt. And yet up there in Goshen every Jewish family has put the blood on the door posts as instructed.

And as the Scripture said they would, they could hear the weeping, and wailing, and the mourning, throughout the communities of Egypt. And yet, every Jew who was behind that door with the blood applied was safe. They had nothing to worry about; they were absolutely secure. Not because of anything but the blood on the door. If they had scoffed and said, "What difference would three spots of blood on my house door make?" Well, they too would have lost their firstborn. But evidently no Jews were lost, at least the Scriptures doesn't say they were. So every family must have had the blood on the door.

In the next lesson we will be going into the New Testament, and see that you and I as well, if we are under the blood, are safe and secure. But always remember, that doesn't give us license to sin willfully. But if we are under the blood we are just as safe as those Jews were behind their door. Like I said, we will be going to the New Testament, and we are going to see how this whole Exodus from Egypt was God's redemption of the nation. And it was based first upon a person, which was Moses. It was upon the blood, the Passover lamb. and thirdly, the power of his word. So the power of God is going to be exercised when the children of Israel stand before the Red Sea. Then what happens is the power of God moves in and the Red Sea opens up and Israel goes across on dry ground.

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LESSON ONE * PART II

RED SEA EXPERIENCE: A PICTURE OF OUR SALVATION

Let's turn to Exodus 12 for a moment. Remember in the last lesson we taught how the blood was applied to the door posts of the children of Israel's homes, and as they were preparing to leave; they were to ask the Egyptians for whatever they would give them for their journey. And, of course, God had this all set up Sovereignly. You want to remember they had been slaves now for many, many years. So God is seeing to it they get their back wages. He's going to cause the Egyptians to literally give everything they have to these parting Israelites. In Exodus 12:22 we have the specific instructions on how to apply the blood. As it had to be done in a particular way.

Exodus 12:22

"And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning."

Now, hyssop was a little bush or weed that grew everywhere in Goshen. I always liken it to the ragweed here in our part of the world. They were to take this little weed, dip it into the basin of lamb's blood, and apply the blood to those three places on the door and lintel. I liken the hyssop here to the work of the Holy Spirit. Now, I could be wrong, but I think we have a good application, that as hyssop was everywhere, not a single Israelite could say, "I didn't have a chance to find a little bush of hyssop, so I couldn't do it that way." Neither can anyone say, "Well, the Holy Spirit never worked in my life." The Holy Spirit is Omnipresent and works on every human being. I am firmly convinced that every person who has ever lived has been given the opportunity by the Holy Spirit. I'm sure some folks will say, "Well, where do you get that?" Turn with me to the Book of Titus. Hopefully, when I make a statement I can back it up with Scripture. If I can't, then it's just so much hot air, and means nothing. Here Paul writes to Titus:

Titus 2:11

"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath (past tense - it's already been done) appeared to (how many?) all men,"

The Scripture doesn't lie. The grace of God, through the working of the Holy Spirit, has appeared to, I think, every human being in one way or another. Now, Romans Chapter 1 tells us, one way God does speak even to pagans and those who have never heard the literal Word of God is through the effect of nature. They should be able to look into the very stars of heaven and realize that there is a Creator God to deal with. And that's what the Scripture says. All of Scripture is constantly referring to the fact that even though all have sinned, the way back to God has been made available to every human being. Go back with me to John's Gospel. Let's look at the 10th Chapter of John's Gospel - the great Good Shepherd Chapter. Jesus is speaking here of course during his earthly ministry, and He makes a perfect application of what I'm just speaking about - that no one has been shut out of God's plan of salvation. And He uses it here in the area of a sheep fold and the sheep.

John 10: 1-3

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber (in other words he's saying you can't just pick and choose. There is only one way.). But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter (or the door keeper) openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out." Then to verse 5:

John 10:5

"And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." Now, verse 9 - this is Jesus speaking:

John 10:9

"I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,..."

He is the door! Over the past 20 years plus that I have been teaching, I ask my classes this question over and over. Where is the door to the sheepfold? Now, even though you have never been to the Middle East or not in an area where you have any knowledge of sheep, I think anyone can pretty well picture a place of safety for the sheep at night, which they call the fold. So, where was the door to the sheepfold? On ground level. It wasn't a hundred feet up in the air, or down in some cave, or across some raging river. The door to the sheepfold was ground level. Now what's the analogy? Salvation is also always right at ground level. We don't have to climb a high mountain, nor pay a million dollars, or shape up, or any of these things so many people have assumed is associated with God's salvation. And the Holy Spirit has been doing His work, is doing His work, in order to bring us to the place that we walk through that door by faith. Let's go back to the Book of Exodus Chapter 12 again. After they applied the blood, the death angel passed through Egypt, and all the firstborn of both man and beast are now lying dead. Now verse 35:

Exodus 12:35

"And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians (in the King James the word is "borrowed" and that is unfortunate, because when you borrow, what are you supposed to do? Give it back, and God never intended that. So, the word "borrowed" should be "asked," and is in many translations) jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:" In verse 36, see how the Lord is instrumental in all of this:

Exodus 12:36

"And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they (and again the word should be "gave") lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians."

Don't lose sight of the fact that, by the time we get to Chapter 25 of the Book of Exodus, God is going to give instructions to Moses and Aaron to now build the tabernacle. And where are they going to get all the required silver, gold, and linen? Well, from the Israelites, who got it from the Egyptians. See, God isn't just spoiling Egypt to pad the pockets of the Israelites. He is looking forward to using those items Himself in the building of the tabernacle. So keep all that in mind.

Exodus 12:37

"And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses (that is up there in the Delta area of Egypt in Goshen) to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children."

And the women, of course. Remember in one of our recent lessons, I used the figure that there were between three to seven million people that left Egypt. You know the Lord always gives me comfort, as shortly after that I was reading an article in the Jerusalem Post and the Rabbi used almost the identical figures, only he used three to five million. And then the other day a lady sent me a National Geographic from 1976, that was dealing with Moses and the Exodus and close to the same figure was used in that article. I think it was two and one half million. All of these figures are based on this six hundred thousand on foot. But in the very next verse, what also went out with them?

Exodus 12:38

"And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle."

I bet most of you wonder, `Who was this mixed multitude?" Well, they were the hangers-on. Probably a lot of them were Egyptians and foreigners who had been laboring in Egypt with the Jews, but always remember they were not Jews themselves. They probably saw a good thing and decided to go along with them. They infiltrate into the spiritual realm, and become almost like a parasite. And as they get out into the wilderness experience and they began to murmur, this mixed multitude is the first ones to complain. Someone the other day was saying, "So many of the churches today have got problems; so many are splitting." I told him that all goes back to the mixed multitude of Exodus. And he said "Mixed multitude, what are you talking about?" Well, I said the mixed multitude were not true Israelites.

I think most of our problems in our churches today (the ones that are constantly murmuring and complaining) usually come from the unsaved element in the church. They have no real spiritual concerns, or knowledge. But you see they can pick and destroy, simply because the very good of the local Body is not so much in their hearts, as maybe a little finer furniture, more beautiful music, a bigger organ. And it is amazing how many churches have been literally broken over these secular things. They really don't mean that much. I can remember years ago, a lady from a different denomination than ours was complaining to my wife at work one day that they were having church problems and were about to split. And do you know what the problem was over? The color of the upholstery of their pews. They were arguing over the colors gold and blue. But you see, that's a mixed multitude working. Now, verse 39:

Exodus 12:39

"And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough...."

Leaven in Scripture always speaks of what? Evil or sin - but I prefer the word evil. Leaven is yeast, and when you put yeast in bread dough it is going to affect the whole lump. That's the teaching in Scripture. When leaven comes in, evil, unless it is rooted out, will sooner or later affect the whole. Leaven here, speaking of evil, was to be left out of their bread dough, as they make this exodus out of Egypt. They were to take unleavened bread, because the picture in type of course is, that they are to be a separated people. Separated unto God, no longer wrapped up in the paganism of their Egyptian masters.

Exodus 12:40

"Now the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years."

Remember that 430 years as we have taught it, was from the time Abram, (and his name was still Abram) had left Haran, and had come down into the land of Canaan, and sojourned up and down the land. From that point until Jacob goes to Egypt is 215 years. And from the time that Jacob gets to Goshen till the exodus is another 215 years right to the same day it came to pass.

Exodus 12:41

"And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt."

I'm saying this so will you understand that the Word of God is so true and accurate. God is in such complete control of time, and events, that he doesn't miss 430 year's by 24 hours. But the exact day of the 430th year ending, Israel moved out of Egypt. Now, I want to come on over to Chapter 13. God now institutes the setting aside of the firstborn. That was always indicative of a family relationship throughout the Tribes of Israel. After He established that, we read now read in verse 17:

Exodus 13:17

"And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, (that's after the night of the Passover) that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines,...."

Which, of course, would be the short route. God didn't let them take that route, so I know they didn't cross the Red Sea at the shallow point. But they come out of Goshen and go down the shore of the Red Sea, and somewhere along the deeper part of it they are going to be locked in with mountains on one side of them, populated areas on another side, and coming in from the rear will be Pharaoh's army - so picture that in your mind. The Red Sea in front of them. Forbidding mountains on one side; population on the other; and the Egyptian army to the rear.

Exodus 13:18

"But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt."

Now, at the top end of this body of water where it's eighteen inches deep, the reeds there are not wilderness. That's a populated area. The wilderness doesn't approach until further down the Red Sea, so I'm convinced they had to have crossed where it was deep. Of course it would not have been much of a miracle if they would have just had to cross eighteen inches of water.

What do you think the word "harnessed" is in there for? Well, stop and think. For three to seven million people to move completely out of an area of the nation, and to be encamped down here at the Red Sea, and ready to go through as the water parts, do you think that was a common experience? For years this had bothered me. How in the world did that many people move that far in such a short period of time? And how did they get through that Red Sea in such a short period of time - plus all their livestock? Remember cattle and sheep move very slowly. The only conclusion I can come to, and of course I can't prove it from Scripture, except there are some verses that indicate it. It's in Exodus 19. Let's look at it. I want to impress upon anyone that I teach, that the God of Israel is a God that is constantly performing the miraculous. Not the miraculous as we think of miracles today. I mean real miraculous events - and this had to be one.

Exodus 19:4

"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians (in other words, drown them in the Red Sea), and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself."

Now, we know they didn't fly, they walked. But I have to think somehow or other, God moved that whole group of people and animals speedily without them even realizing it. Again, I think during the tribulation, the 144,000 are going to experience that same kind of travel. They will be able to go from place to place with utmost speed, and not even realize they are doing it. So I have to think that something hastened their travel here. Now, back to Chapter 13:

Exodus 13:19

"And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, `God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.'"

Now, all of this should tell us something. And again so many of the writers and historians always try to leave the miraculous and supernatural out of it, don't they? And they wonder how all of this came to be. Some of these people (not all) had known by faith, that these things would happen to God's Covenant People. Joseph knew that the time was coming, when God would take them back to Palestine. We know that Moses' parents had faith, when they saw he was a proper child and that God was still in their midst. Even now, as Moses and Aaron are preparing to move the children of Israel out of Egypt, where do they know they are going? Palestine. So they take Joseph's bones with them.

Exodus 13:20,21

"And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."

Again this same article that I had read by this historian, was making the conjecture that there was probably a volcano at the time. And that the dust provided the cloud by day, and that the volcano fire was the fire by night. Ridiculous! This was a supernatural cloud, which was the very presence of Jehovah. A cloud by day that gave them shade from that Middle East sun. And then it became a pillar of fire by night by which it gave them light to carry on their activities. The Scripture makes it so plain. Who was that cloud? It was God the Son, Jehovah, in His Old Testament personality. Don't ever take anything away from that.

Later on in the Book when the Tabernacle is completed, what happens to the cloud? Well, it set right over the Holy of Holies. And it becomes the guiding light of Israel. When it becomes time for them to move and camp some place else, what happens? The cloud lifts up and moves. When it stopped, they were to set up the Tabernacle, so that the Holy of Holies was under the cloud. It was the absolute presence of God. This is what amazes me. How could those Jews, seeing that cloud every day and that fire each night, still be that disobedient and prone to sin.

Let's bring it up to our own present time. Are we any different? We are no different, we've got just as much evidence of the power of God and His holiness. Just as much evidence of His dislike of sin. But does it scare us? Not really. So we have become just about as blase about a lot of these things as the Israelites were in spite of everything that God was doing in their very midst. If you believe these things literally, you will never get into trouble. Don't ever try to explain them away. After all, what does God say? Without faith it is impossible to please him.

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LESSON ONE * PART III

RED SEA EXPERIENCE: A PICTURE OF OUR SALVATION

Let's begin with Exodus 14. In our last lesson, we left the children of Israel down on the shores of the Red Sea completely surrounded by the Egyptians coming in behind them with the chariots. And everything seems hopeless doesn't it? Put yourself in their shoes. No wonder they were "scared stiff" as we would say.

Exodus 14:13

"And Moses said unto the people, `Fear ye not (what's the next two words?), stand still,...."

Can you imagine what those people must have thought under those circumstances. And to have their leader to tell them to stand still. Every time I read this verse, I normally don't ascribe much to humor, because I'm not a comedian, but I always think of a story, and I'm sure most of you have heard it. It's about the little fellow who came home from Sunday School, and his biblically ignorant dad said, "Well, son what did you learn today?" The lad replied, "Well, we learned about Moses crossing the Red Sea, and how they came upon the sea and the Egyptian army was right behind them. They engineered some pontoon bridges, and they all went across and just when the Egyptians came up after them, they pushed the plunger and blew up all the bridges with the Egyptians on them." The dad said, "Wait a minute. Is that what they taught you in Sunday School?" The lad said "no, but if I told you what they told me you wouldn't believe it anyway."

Well, that is exactly the way the world takes these things. They want to somehow rationalize it, how it could have happened naturally by ordinary events. But listen, these things are not ordinary events. This is the miracle, working power of God. Now, I put on the board during our break time that the Book of Exodus, as we first introduced it, is the Book of Redemption. Israel of course is God's Covenant People. But by virtue of the sins of the brothers, when they sold Joseph into Egypt, spiritually what happened between Israel and God? They were separated. He lost them. And they end up in Egypt in slavery, without an altar, sacrifice, or worship and they had been totally alienated. So what was God going to do? He has to buy them back. He must redeem them.

So, this is the whole process then of the Exodus - a redemption, whereby God is going to do the redeeming. Israel is in a position where she can nothing. They have no armed forces, economic , or political clout. They are helpless. Now, throughout the Book of Exodus we find that redemption is going to require a purchase, in the person of Moses, of course. Now, Moses had to be proven, as the legitimate leader and deliverer by virtue of what? He performed the Signs. The rod became a serpent, his hand became leprous. All those signs were to prove to the Jew that Moses was indeed God's man for the job. The person as far as we are concerned in our redemption process was the Lord Jesus, who in His earthly ministry also performed signs and miracles to prove who He really was. So He validated His claim, in that He was indeed the Redeemer of Israel. Secondly, all the way through the Book of Exodus, we saw that God required blood of the lamb. It had to be placed on the door post or they would have never survived. Bring it into the New Testament and our Lamb is Who? - Christ, and the New Testament substantiates that. Let's go to I Corinthians Chapter 5. Paul now writes:

I Corinthians 5:7

"Purge out therefore the old leaven (remember it refers to evil and sin.), that ye may be a new lump, as ye (believers) are unleavened (our sin problem has been removed by virtue of our forgiveness, and our salvation. We are now to be an unleavened people.). For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:"

He was our Passover lamb. Now, if you will return to Exodus again, we will come to the third step in these next few verses. God is going to bring about their redemption, by exercising His power. Israel is not going to be able to build a pontoon bridge, they are going to have to wait on the power of God. For us the power of our salvation, is epitomized, or brought to it's crescendo, at the resurrection. It's the power of the resurrection of Christ - that makes our salvation possible. Otherwise the Scripture says we are yet dead in our sins.

Now, let's look at verse 13 once again, it almost seems like a ridiculous answer to their dilemma. And again I want to emphasize there is no hope, and the enemy is closing in on them. Now Moses tells them to stand still, because there is nothing they can do. And only God can provide the answer. So what does he do? He opens the Red Sea. Now, let's read on:

Exodus 14:13

"And Moses said unto the people, `Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.'"

In other words God is not only going to let Israel escape, but He is going to destroy their enemies. Now how does that apply to us? Let's go back to the New Testament starting with I Corinthians:

I Corinthians 1:18

"For the preaching of the cross...."

I think I've mentioned it before, but it bears saying again. Have you ever realized that Paul never mentions Bethlehem. He never mentions the birth of Christ, or his earthly ministry, or miracles. Why? Because Paul only has one message, and that is the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Christ. That's the Gospel; and the very core of his whole message throughout all of his Epistles. And here he is referring to it again. For the preaching of the Cross... Do you see that? Not the preaching of Christ and His miracles.

I had an interesting conversation with a lady who called from our Denver audience. She had expressed how she enjoyed the program, and in the closing of our conversation, she made a statement like this: "After all, you have to go by what Jesus said." I said, "Now, hold it just a minute. Be careful how you say that. You've got to realize that what Jesus said in His earthly ministry, He said to the Jew under the Law." I could tell by the little stoppage in her voice that I had set her to thinking. When you go to the Epistles of Paul, he is revealing to us the very words of the same Jesus, but now from His glorified, ascended position as the resurrected Lord and Savior. Now that makes a big difference.

This is why Paul never refers back to Christ's earthly ministry, but only to the resurrected Christ, where the power of God was made so evident so far as we are concerned. So he says, "the preaching of the cross is to them that perish (in other words, to those that just simply reject it and ridicule it and scorn it - because it's to them) foolishness." My, you know how many people try to say, "What has something that took place 2,000 years ago got to do with me today? Well, it's got everything to do with us today because it's the eternal God who was on that Cross. Now, let's go on:

I Corinthians 1:18

"...but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."

I want you to underline that word "power." It's the power of God. Just as sure as God opened the Red Sea by His power, God also exercises His power, not only in resurrecting Christ from the dead, but bringing us out of our deadness in sin and slavery to it. Then come on down to verse 24:

I Corinthians 1:24

"But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God."

So we have to rely upon that power. I'd like to have you come back to Ephesians. I said I'd try to keep it in order, so let's go from Corinthians, through Galatians and into Ephesians, Chapter 1. We're going to see almost all three aspects of these three steps in the redemption of Israel, right here in Ephesians Chapter 1. Paul again is writing to the Gentile believers in the area in which he had ministered throughout the book of Acts there in the western end of Asia Minor, what we know today as Turkey. And so to the Ephesians he writes in Chapter 1, verse 7:

Ephesians 1:7

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;"

When he says, "in whom," Who is he referring to? - Christ. And that redemption spoken of here says that we have been bought back through His blood. I know a lot of people are repelled by that. I can't help that. And as I said in earlier lessons, you have to understand that God in His Sovereign way of doing things, decided that it would be through the shed blood that He would be able to forgive sin and NO OTHER WAY. We just have to take that by faith. I have a personal idea why He chose the blood. Life is in the blood and you cannot have new life until death takes place, and life again comes out of that death of a previous life. That's what the death, burial and resurrection is all about.

So God has mandated that there can be no salvation, no forgiveness, without the shedding of blood. So here it is. We have redemption through His blood and not only are we redeemed, but what else? We are forgiven. "The forgiveness of sins according to..." (what we deserve? No, that's not what it says.) "...according to His grace." His unmerited favor. We don't deserve it. None of us deserve it, but it's by His grace that He has seen fit to do it.

Ephesians 1:12

"That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ."

How many people are merely saved as a fire escape? I'm afraid too many times this is especially true when we have children saved. They just don't want to go to hell. They want to go to Heaven. Well, there's nothing wrong with that, of course. But listen, we're not just saved to escape hell. We're not saved just to go to Heaven. We're saved for what? To be to the praise of His glory in this life. Right now! This is why God has paid the price of our redemption, so that we can be to the praise of His glory, those of us who first trusted in Christ. We believed. It doesn't say, "To you who are baptized and join a church." It doesn't say, "To you who have done good works." It says, "To those who have praised Him and have brought Him glory." Now let's go on:

Ephesians 1:13

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,"

Watch the sequence here. He said, "...after that ye heard the word of truth..." How many times have I heard someone say, "Well, I have always been a Christian." Have you ever heard that? Does that fit this? Were you a Christian before you heard the Word of Truth? Impossible! And so it always scares me when I hear this. I've had real close friends use that expression. Listen, was Israel always free? No! Israel had to come to the place where she recognized there is nothing she can do. She's doomed. Until what? The power of God enters in, and that's her escape. Now, it's the same way with our salvation today, tonight or whenever. Every last one of us were separated from God. We were in the bondage of sin and we had to come to that place where the power of God enters in. Now, a verse just came to mind. I'm not through with Ephesians, but hold your finger there and we'll come back to it. Turn with me a minute to Colossians, where the power of God is the only thing that can do it:

Colossians 1:11-13

"Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet (who has prepared us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who (God) hath (speaking in the past tense) delivered us from the power of darkness (out of slavery), and hath (past tense again) translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:"

Israel was in the darkness of slavery back there in Egypt, but what brought them out? The power of God! When he uses the word "hath," which is past tense, it's not speaking of something we're working toward, nor hoping for; it's something that we have right now. It just opened my eyes when someone asked me years ago, why heaven isn't taught in the Old Testament. Why, the Jew had no concept of dying and going to heaven. Well, my answer to that of course, was that Israel was an earthly people with earthly promises, but we in the Age of Grace, are a heavenly people with heavenly promises. And so here we have it. Even though we're here on the earth tonight, yet, where is our citizenship? It's in heaven! We are already a heavenly people by the power of God. I don't want to get away from that word. Now, let's go back to Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:13

In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,"

I'm emphasizing that because I've had so many people come up after I taught this little verse, and say this is the first time I have seen the order. There was no way I could have been saved as an infant. There is no way I could have been saved by something someone else did for me. I had to hear the Word the Truth. So remember neither could Israel move out of that slave experience except for the power of God. Now they are going to, by faith, walk through. We know that. But yet, God exerts his power while they could do nothing. And that is where you and I are. But we have to come to the place where we recognize our hopelessness. There is nothing you and I can do to get us out of that hopeless state of being lost in sin.

We want take time to look at the Gospel of your salvation but it is in I Corinthians 15:1-4 where Paul says that by his (Paul's) Gospel "you are saved," and that Gospel is, If you BELIEVE that Christ was crucified for our sins, He was buried, And He rose from the dead. That's the Gospel. Now, implied of course in His death, is the shed blood; we can't leave that out. But the Gospel is that body of truth, which I usually like to concentrate by saying the finished work of the Cross. The finished work of the Cross - that's what opens our Red Sea that is out in front of us. That's the work of the Cross that takes us away from the power of Satan. "After that you believed," the rest of the verse says.

Again, I always like to point out the things that are not there. How many people would like to put it this way: in whom you also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, and were baptized, and joined the church and so on and so forth. Isn't that right? But it isn't in there. The Bible is so plain that our salvation comes by BELIEVING plus NOTHING! Because Christ has done it all. I told one of my classes the other night, and I shook up one lady for sure. She said, "Now Les, I've been baptized in such and such a way, but I just wanted to get to heaven." Well that's noble. Listen, you don't get to heaven by being baptized. You get to heaven by Trusting and Believing the Gospel. All of these other things of course will follow in their rightful place. Do you see how plain it is? In whom also after that ye believed. And then what did God do? He sealed us, with that Holy Spirit of Promise. Then Paul goes on throughout all of his Epistles, that the moment we believe the Gospel we were saved, born again, and the Holy Spirit then indwells us, He empowers us, and He keeps us. Let's look at just a few more verses. Again I want to take you back to the hopelessness of Israel. And the hopelessness of a lost person, figuratively speaking, as we are encamped on the shores of the Red Sea. Remember, all seems hopeless:

Ephesians 2:1

"And you (Paul says as he writes to believers) hath he quickened (are made alive), who were dead (we were on the other side of the Red Sea) in trespasses and sins. Now, look at verse 2 and 3. Isn't that the exact picture of Israel in Egypt, and of you and I before we were saved?

Ephesians 2:2,3

"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, (who's that? Satan) the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we (what's the next word?) all (none of us escaped this, we are all here) had our conversation (or manner of living) in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

That's where we were. But, oh, look at those next two words. What are they? "But God..." Oh, don't lose that. Paul doesn't say, "But you," or "But I," But What? "But God." Come right back to the Red Sea again. Here was Israel. "Stand still," Moses says, "and see the salvation of God." What's he saying? Oh, it looks hopeless, there is nothing we can do. But God. And what's God going to do? Open the Red Sea. And that's exactly what He has done for us, and we walk through on dry ground. Not by anything we have done, or deserve, but all because of what Christ has done for us, and through us.

Ephesians 2:4,5

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead (we were helpless, and hopeless) in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace are you saved;)," Let's close with two choice verses most of you know.

Ephesians 2:8

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; (plus anything else? NO) and that not of yourselves: it is the (what's the next word?) gift (do you work for a gift? No, a gift is something that someone extends to you for really no reason. And there is nothing you can do to merit it.) of God:"

Ephesians 2:9

"Not of works (there was nothing Israel could do, and that's where God wants us. To only trust the finished work of Christ on the Cross. That is what makes our escape possible.), lest any man should boast."

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LESSON ONE * PART IV

RED SEA EXPERIENCE: A PICTURE OF OUR SALVATION

Now, let's pick up again in the Book of Exodus Chapter 14. As God has opened the Red Sea, by virtue of Moses stretching his rod over the waters, the water has opened up and the children of Israel walk through on dry land. Now, let's come in at verse 26.

Exodus 14:26-28

"And the LORD said unto Moses, `Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen,' And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them."

Now, the Scripture does not indicate whether Pharaoh himself led his armies, I rather doubt it. If history is correct, Rameses the 2d was the Pharaoh at this time. Then he certainly didn't lead his army, because historians have found what they believe is one of the mummified Pharaohs that was indeed Rameses the 2d. But whatever, the Scripture leaves us unaware of whether Pharaoh himself was drowned. God completely destroyed the whole army. And in verse 29, it makes it clear once again:

Exodus 14:29

"But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left."

Again I have to discredit the movie, The Ten Commandments, because you could never run three to seven million people, with all their livestock, through that narrow channel as they showed it in the movie. And I know they did quite well, with the technology they had, but I'm again convinced, that not only did God move this whole multitude miraculously faster than the three-mile-an hour walk, but He also must have opened the Red Sea, an amazing amount of distance wide also. He would have had to. But regardless of how He did it, how much he did, we know He did it. The Scripture says so and we believe it. The picture again, as hopefully we brought out in our last lesson, was a picture of our own salvation. It is actually indicative of the burial of Christ. And coming out on the other side is resurrection. Let's look at a verse in Romans Chapter 6. As most of you know, I don't teach from a written format, or notes, and as these things come to mind, and as the Spirit directs, I have to stop and check them out. But you see here that Paul makes it so plain, that we too have to be identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Even as Israel was separated from Egypt, and went through that typical burial of the Red Sea, and though they didn't get wet, in type it was their burial. Their death to Egypt. And they came out on the other side, even as Christ came out from the grave.

Romans 6:4

"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: (many people will disagree, but I'm convinced this is not a water baptism. Water baptism cannot do what Paul is talking about here.) that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

No baptism can give new life. Only the power of God can do that. So I am convinced, maybe contrary to the way I was taught in my earlier years, that this is Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Paul speaks of this in I Corinthians Chapter 12. I hadn't intended to do this but I feel the Spirit is leading this way for a reason, so let's look at this verse. In Chapter 12 is what I consider the only valid baptism for us in this Age of Grace. And it's a baptism that human hands cannot touch; it's a baptism that a lost person can have no part in. In water baptism, we can never be sure of a person's salvation.

I was brought up in a congregation where candidates for baptism were examined very thoroughly, yet I've come to the conclusion in my later years that there is no way a group of men, or pastors, can truly determine a person's salvation. We can hear their testimony and come to some human conclusions, but we can never look on the heart. That is something that only God Himself can do.

I've told my class that I don't think it will actually happen this way, but if it were, and we get to glory, we are suddenly going to realize that a lot of people are there we didn't think would be. And there are going to be a lot of people not there that we thought should be. We probably won't have that kind of knowledge, but just hypothetically if that were the case, we would be surprised and disappointed. But we can't look on the heart, only the outward veneer to reach a conclusion. But that's not the heart. This is where the Scripture says also "Judge not!" Consequently this is the baptism that Paul refers to here in verse 12:

I Corinthians 12:12,13

"For as the body (that is this human body. In other words from head to toe, we are controlled by one central nervous system, one mind, one brain) is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body (ten fingers and toes if we are normal): so also is Christ."

And here Paul is referring to the Body of Christ. Now, verse 13, and this may shock some people, but again I'm not changing or twisting the wording, we are going to leave it exactly where it sits.

I Corinthians 12:13

"For by one Spirit (notice that Spirit is capitalized, so it is in reference to the Holy Spirit.) are we (and remember Paul always writes to believers. What's the next word?) all (not just a favorite few, or a special elite, but how many? All But of course that's according to God's determination of who is a believer, whether weak or strong, spiritual or carnal) baptized into one body," So reading the verse again: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."

Let me qualify the Body of Christ, which of course came on the scene in the New Testament, I think after Pentecost. Some people disagree with me, and that's fine. But you search the Scriptures until you are sure you can prove me wrong. But I'm convinced that the Body of Christ didn't necessarily begin at Pentecost, because Pentecost was strictly a Jewish holiday, with a Jewish message. When the Gospel of Grace begins to go out to both Jew and Gentile, especially at the church in Antioch, in Acts Chapter 11, where it says that the believers at Antioch were the first to be called Christians; this was about 10 years after Pentecost.

That's where they were first called Christians. Not the Jewish believers in Jerusalem in those previous years. But when Gentiles started coming in by faith in the Gospel of the grace of God, they were now called Christians as the Scriptures says, so that's where I feel the Body of Christ began when Paul begins to preach this message of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. And by faith and faith alone without the Law. And as men and women began to believe that, then the Holy Spirit baptized, or placed them, into the Body of Christ, the Church. Now, I asked my class the other night, as I have over the years, as I don't care what denomination you are a part of it doesn't make any difference, the question is still valid: is every member on your church roll a genuine born again Christian? No. Remember we are not to judge, but we know for a fact that they are not all true believers. What about the unbeliever? Are they members of the Body of Christ? No, they can't be. They are unsaved. Only the saved go into the Body of Christ. So this is where I get the premise, that the only baptism that really counts for eternity is this one. The one that places the true believer into the Body of Christ. Let's also look quickly at Ephesians 4. Again, Paul writing to believers says:

Ephesians 4:4,5

"There is one body, (The Body of Christ) and one Spirit, (The Holy Spirit) even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism," How many? ONE. Do you see that?

So you can have your name on as many church rolls as you wish. But unless you are in the Body of Christ you are doomed. The Scripture makes it so plain. But if you are a child of God, you are in the Body of Christ by virtue of the placing it there by the Holy Spirit, as Paul makes it so plain. And then as members of the Body of Christ, we all maintain our individuality, we all have unique place in that Body, and yet we are all what? ONE. That's also why, when you walk into a room full of fellow believers, are you a stranger very long? No. I've experienced it and I know you have. I've had people from far off states come into my class, and on the way out they will say, "The minute I stepped into this room I felt at home" And that is as it should be, because when you are with fellow believers there is that oneness that any other group can never experience. Now, let's go back to Romans Chapter 6, and we'll begin with verse 5.

Romans 6:5

"For if we have been planted...."

Do you see that? The analogy is of course, the planting of a seed. If you were to plant a kernel of wheat, and everything being appropriate, what is the first thing that seed does? It dies. And when it dies, what else happens? New life. Now the whole system of nature, and we have alluded to this many times over the past couple of years in this teaching: the whole sphere of spring time is a picture of, death, burial, and resurrection. Everything that produces a seed in the fall, and that seed falls someplace, it will die, and when everything is right, it will spring up into new life, and reproduce again. It is the same way in the spirit. We must die. Do you remember the very first command that God gave to Adam and Eve concerning the tree? "The day that thou eatest thereof, thou shall surely die." There was no escaping. Then Ezekiel comes along many years later, and he puts it in a little different language, but it is still the same law. He says "The soul that sinneth, shall surely die."

So, you see the human race is faced with no alternative, but that we must die because we are born in sin. And yet there is a loophole, and what's that loophole? We can die in the person of Christ on the Cross, by identification, by faith, and by trust. When Christ died, I died. And this is what Paul is saying here in verse 5, "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death (If we can honestly believe that he died my death), we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:" That is our blessed hope. We won't live and die like a dog. And we don't have to live and die with a prospect of an eternal doom. We can live and die with the prospect that the best is yet to come. The greatest thing that can happen to a believer is to die. In Psalm 116: 15 He tells us "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints."

We don't like to face death, for a multitude of reasons. We don't like to leave our loved ones, and there are many more reasons, but in reality, death of a saint is what? It's glorious. It's on to something far better. But for those who have not experienced this identification, death is something indeed to be feared. Death is a horrible experience, because it's not going to something better, but something worse.

Romans 6:6

"Knowing this, that our old man (we taught the Book of Romans in this class, but someday we'll get there again. But when Paul speaks of the old man, or the old nature, then he is talking about the old Adam that we are born with. Remember, last lesson we taught in Ephesians Chapter 2, that we who were dead in trespasses and sins, have now been made alive. Well, how were we dead in trespasses and sins? In the old Adam that we are born with. Now, back to verse 6) is crucified with him (what does crucifixion do? It kills, doesn't it. And when we are crucified with Christ, then God, in so many words kills the old Adam. He puts him out of commission.), that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin."

Romans 6:7

"For he that is dead is freed from sin."

Several years ago I had some judges in my classes, and it was always interesting to bring up an analogy of this. What if they had in their court room, someone who is about to be convicted of a hideous crime, and all the evidence was against him. And they were about ready to turn it over to a jury, and he looks guilty for sure. But just before it happens the old boy dies. I then asked one of the judges, "Now what happens?" The case is closed, it's over. You can't try a dead man. You can't do any kind of business with a dead person. This is the analogy that Paul is driving. If our old Adam is dead, can you any longer deal with him? No. That's the whole idea. He is dead. In other words, those of us who have let old Adam be crucified, we are now dead to the desires of that old Adam. Again, that's the power of God. You don't work for something like that. This is all part of His saving salvation.

Romans 6:8

"Now if we be dead with Christ (that is by identification with the crucifixion), we believe that we shall also live with him:"

And that is why the resurrection is fundamental to our faith. I've had several people tell me that they have had a Sunday School teacher or preacher, who could certainly preach about Christ's earthly ministry and about his crucifixion, but they had trouble with His resurrection. What about those people? According to Scripture, if they can't believe all of it, then they are lost. We have to believe that Christ rose physically, spiritually, literally, from the dead. And He is alive evermore.

Romans 6:10

"For in that he died, he died unto sin once:...."

In other words, to rid of that old Adam; How many times? One. The Book of Hebrews tells us over and over, that this Christ died once, and that it satisfies all eternity. Now let's turn back to Exodus. We find now as the Egyptians are floating up on the sea shore, the Israelites look back at the view, and I don't want this to sound morbid, but what's the first few words in Chapter 15.

Exodus 15:1

"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD,...."

Now, this is the song of Moses. And we won't take time to read through it, but I would like for you to read it in your spare time, because I think it is rather important. When you get to the Book of Revelation, and we get into the eternal state, we will sing the song of Moses. The song of redemption, that the battles are over, and we have now attained that to which God has been bringing us all along. Now verse 22:

Exodus 15:22

"So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur (Moses is leading that multitude down toward Mount Sinai); and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water."

Now, that is a dilemma, isn't it? That many million people, and livestock, and to have no water.

Exodus 15:23

"And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter:...."

It was totally undrinkable. The first thing I like to point out to new believers, whether they be young or old, is in just a little while after they have had their salvation experience, they will run into a bitter experience. It is just the way God works. We are never saved to walk a rose petal pathway. We will have trials and difficulties just like Israel did. Israel comes now down into that forbidding desert, and God doesn't just give them a basket of roses. They are going to go through some very trying times. And here is the first one. They are thirsty, and their livestock are bellowing for water. And when they do find some, it's a bitter disappointment; it's not fit to drink. Now read on:

Exodus 15:24,25

"And the people murmured against Moses, saying, `What shall we drink?' And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet:..."

An article that I had read on this said Moses found a branch out there in the desert, and threw it into the water, and through some chemical reaction the water became fit to drink. They lose the whole thought. The tree throughout all Scripture, points to only one tree. What is it? The Cross. There is a reason why the Cross is referred to as a tree. It's because back in the Book of Deuteronomy it says "cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." And so the Cross was the place of curse. It was where God literally poured out his wrath upon our Passover Lamb. When they come to the place of a bitter experience, there is only one remedy. And what is it? The Cross. This is what God wants us to do, whether we have been a Christian for years, or new believers. When a trial or tribulation comes, where do we go? The foot of the Cross. That is where everything begins and ends for us today. If we try to bypass the Cross, we are just as hopeless as these Jews were in Egypt.

And also in our experience, if we can just learn, that when tribulations and disappointments, and sorrows come, we should just race to the foot of the Cross, because that is where everything has been satisfied. Now after that bitter experience made sweet, Moses again leads them, with the cloud, and pillar of fire, and he brings them now to an oasis. And here is a question I can't answer, and I guess every class has asked it. What is involved here in the twelve wells of water, and the seventy palm trees? I'm sure there is something involved, but whatever, I think it epitomized a place of rest and a satisfaction of their thirst.

Exodus 15:27

"And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters."

I think that most believers are aware of the expression, "a mountain top experience." Something that has just thrilled you. But you don't accomplish much on a mountain top do you? It's a beautiful place, you can see the view. But where does the work have to be done? Down in the valley. So in the Christian experience, you may have a mountain top experience, but don't try to stay there. You must get down to the dirt and grime in the valley, where you will have the trials, tribulations, and disappointments.

_______

LESSON TWO * PART I

MANNA: GOD'S SAME GRACE SAVES US AND KEEPS US

We will be studying in Exodus Chapter 16, but before we start this lesson, I would like to share with you a letter, we received yesterday, from a wheat farming family in Montana, next to the Canadian border, and I'm just going to read you her closing statement. This is so typical of letters we are receiving from the television audience, as well as those who are getting the Video Tapes. She simply closes her letter by saying " I can't begin to tell you what your teachings have done for me. I have grown more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 46 years of my life. Thank you, Sincerely." We don't read these letters for compliments, but I tell you it sure helps to know that something is being accomplished for the Lord in what we are doing. So now let's get back into the Book. In our last lesson, we left off with the children of Israel at Elim. I think my closing remarks were that you can't just stay on the mountain top. All the hard work is down in the valley. Even though this was almost a mountain top experience for the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, and had come to this beautiful oasis, yet they have to move on. They will be moving on down through the Sinai now, and soon will be arriving at Mt. Sinai, and there receive the Law.

Exodus 16:1

"And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month...."

You want to remember they left Egypt in April, and so now this is May. Also remember that in that area of the world it is getting hot. They will again be needing water. We are talking about a few million people, and livestock, so it takes lots of water.

Exodus 16:3

"And the children of Israel said unto them (Moses and Aaron), `Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt (they are already getting squeamish about where Moses is taking them), when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full;....'"

Isn't it amazing how short memory can be? They didn't have it that good in Egypt. They were slaves, and under bondage. It almost sounds like they ate at the steak house every night, but that wasn't the case.

Exodus 16:4

"Then said the LORD unto Moses, `Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove (or test) them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.'"

We won't take the time to read all of these verses, as it has taken us two years now to get just this far. But most of you know a lot of these verses by heart. So let's skip down to verse 14, and the appearance of the manna. Most of you know that Israel lived on manna for 40 years. They learned to cook it several different ways in order just to stomach that same food day in and day out. The whole idea with manna, is that this is the very bread of God. Remember in John's Gospel, Jesus spoke of himself as the Bread of Life. Back here in Exodus, manna is going to sustain the House of Israel as they have come out of Egypt, and all through their 40 years of wilderness journey.

Now, also in this account between verse 14 and 22, God institutes a law that on the sixth day they shall gather how much manna? A double portion. Because He is going to institute the Sabbath before he gives the Law. And I think this is rather interesting: Back in Chapter one of Genesis, where we have the recreation as I call it, God brought everything on the scene in six days and on the seventh day he rested. That wasn't because God was all tired out at the end of that six days, but he was setting something up that would be for man's own good. I think it still carries on even unto our own economy, that God still knows what is best for us, and that is, that we need one day out of seven for rest.

Exodus 16:16

"This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, `Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents.'"

Exodus 16:22-26

"And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, `This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest, of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe (Or cook) that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.' And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein." And Moses said, `Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.'"

This is set up before the Ten Commandments are given. Now, there is a lot of confusion today about the Sabbath. I have instructed my classes over the years, don't ever call Sunday the Sabbath. Sunday is not the seventh day, it is the first day of the week. We know beginning back here, God is dealing with Israel, and He does set up the seventh day as the day of rest and worship. It will be incorporated into the Ten Commandments, but we always have to remember that the very high point of God's dealing with man, centers in not only Christ's death, and burial, but in His resurrection. This is what sets us apart. We have become believers after His resurrection.

This is the message that Paul is given on Mt. Sinai, as I pointed out before. Just as sure as God gave the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and took it down to the children of Israel, I feel God took Saul of Tarsus from Damascus, down to Sinai and we know according to Galatians that he spent three years down there by himself. So he got three years of private, personal, seminary experience, as the LORD revealed to him the doctrines of Grace. And Paul doesn't stay on Mt. Sinai; he takes it down and spreads it to the Gentiles. What separates all of this is the resurrection. We are on resurrection ground, and not on the legal ground of the Mosaic system.

Let's turn to Acts 20. Now, the Sabbath is a controversy with so many people and groups. There is one group that shouts from the house tops that the reason America is having problems is, we have forgotten about the Sabbath. We have lot's of problems, and a lot of it is spiritual, but not because we don't keep the Sabbath. Remember, Paul never instructs us to keep the Sabbath, because now it is the first day of the week, because it was on the first day of the week that Christ rose from the dead. So, here in Chapter 20, Paul is out ministering to the Gentiles. Let's go to verse 6:

Acts 20:6,7

"And we sailed away from Philippi (Philippi was in Northern Greece.) after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples" (not the Twelve, but the believers who heard Paul preaching the message of Grace, and believed.) came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them,...."

It is interesting that we also have the same connotation in I Corinthians Chapter 16. I'm touching on this because so many people either call or asked, "Are you sure we are not supposed to keep the Seventh day Sabbath." Yes I'm sure, because that was under the Law, and it's also interesting that out of all the Ten Commandments that Paul refers to throughout his letters, the only one he makes no mention of is the Sabbath. In other words Paul will say, since the Law is fulfilled with love, therefore we don't steal, therefore we don't commit adultery, therefore we don't bear false witness, and he goes on down the Law through his Epistles, like in Ephesians, where he talks about honoring thy father and mother. So Paul makes a reference to nine of the Ten Commandants, but the tenth one is glaringly absent. And that is the one concerning the Sabbath day. That separates us from the legal system. Remember he's writing to Gentile believers.

I Corinthians 16:1

"Now concerning the collection for the saints,...."

Remember, Paul was instructed by Peter and James back in Acts 15, when they finally agreed to let Paul go to the Gentiles without making legalists out of them, or Judaising them, but to be sure to remember the poor here in Jerusalem. And you remember why they were poor don't you? In the early part of Acts the Jewish believers had houses and land, but they sold them and they put all the money into a common kitty, and everyone lived on it. If you have a common kitty, and let everyone use out of it, you will finally run out. We can see this happening even here in America, with the entitlement programs.

So those Jewish believers lived well for a while, but they ran out of money. And these are the poor that Peter and James are referring to in Acts 15. If the Jewish believers had accepted the Kingdom that was offered to them they would not have gotten into that predicament. But they rejected the Kingdom. The Kingdom did not come in and they found themselves destitute. But God in his sovereignty continued to watch over them by laying upon the hearts of the Gentiles of Paul's Gospel to give offerings for the poor saints at Jerusalem. So this is the background for these next 2 verses.

I Corinthians 16:1,2

"Now concerning the collection for the saints (those Jerusalem believers) as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week (do you see that? Now a lot of people have even told me, "Well, Sunday was elevated as part of the pagan background." I can't help it if the pagans named the first day of the week, but our whole idea of the first day of the week is not necessarily the name of the day. It was the day of the resurrection. Always remember that) let every one of you lay by him in store (not ten percent of your income, although that is the guideline. I don't want people to misinterpret me. But beginning way back in Genesis in Chapter 14, Abraham gave to Melchizedek ten percent so that became a guideline. The only thing I maintain is, don't mandate that someone give ten percent or else. If you do, then you are putting them back under the Law. And Paul never says that. He says, "But when you give, give as God has prospered you." You are not under a mandate to give, but rather with your own free conscience as it is led by the Holy Spirit to give as God has prospered you.), as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."

I guess Paul felt like I do on this matter. There is nothing I hate worse than to have to ask for money. And that is why we won't do it on this program. I just detest it, and I think Paul did also, for he says to have all that done before I get there. So reading verse 2 again in it's entirety: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come."

There is another Scripture reference with this day of the week. Turn with me to Romans Chapter 14. And here again, I'm not taking anything away from our Sunday services, but on the other hand, I always remember the old evangelist John R. Rice, and he use to almost deplore the Sunday morning worship hour. And what he was deploring was the fact that it had just become a ritual. It was that one hour a week, when people thought that they were fulfilling their obligation to God. I like what Paul says here:

Romans 14:5

"One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike." (now, if you have a translation, like a King James, the word is alike, but it is in italic isn't it? So that has been added by the translators to clarify. But it is clearer if it is left out. Let's read it without the italic.) "One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day."

Do you know what that means? Do you just become a Sunday Christian? Do you just become aware of worship and praise once a week? When should we? All seven of them. Every day of the week, you and I in this Age of Grace who realize what God has done on our behalf, and we are unworthy of any of it, then is it too much to expect that every day becomes a day of praise and worship? That doesn't mean we have to go to a formal service, or have your church doors open seven days a week, but it does mean that your Christian walk should just not depend on that one day a week service for worship. But when it comes to the formal assembling of God's people, on what day does Paul refer too? The first day. Now I hope that may have helped a little bit.

I just had another thought, and it never dawned on me until just the other day. How many of you have heard the expression, "Have you ever prayed the sinner's prayer?" Could you sit down with someone and help them pray the sinner's prayer? What was the sinner's prayer? God be merciful to me a sinner. Think a moment, and this may shock some of you (The Book shocks me almost every day). Do you realize that after all that Christ has done it is a finished transaction, and do you realize we don't have to ask or beg for mercy, for it has already been done? We are actually amiss to say to God, be merciful to me. He's already been merciful when he suffered, died, and was victorious by rising from the dead. He now offers salvation, not to someone who can crawl through all kinds of human sufferings, to approach God.

I can remember years ago, hearing an elderly lady in our church talking about some poor lost individual, and I can still here her as she said, "Oh, if only that poor man could pray through." Pray through what? What was he supposed to pray through to somehow approach God. There is nothing to pray through. It has all been done. Remember where the Shepherd has the door to the sheepfold? At ground level, right in front of us.

And so His mercy has already been accomplished, and we don't have to beg for it. And the same thing comes into this area of forgiveness. Do you and I have to beg for forgiveness? No, our sins have already been forgiven. Come with me to Colossians for a moment. So many of these things we read before the Cross, we try to insert after the Cross and it won't work. Leave them where they are. The title of a song just came to mind, "And the Cross Makes the Difference." And it does make a difference. Here again, Paul writes to us believers:

Colossians 2:13

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, (remember we are still dealing with that old Adam at that time) he hath (past tense) quickened together with him, having (past tense) forgiven you all trespasses;" Isn't that great. He has forgiven all our sins.

LESSON TWO * PART II

MANNA: GOD'S SAME GRACE SAVES US AND KEEPS US

Let's go back to the Book of Exodus, Chapter 17. We come out of Chapter 16, where the children of Israel have been given the manna. If you can picture the Sinai Peninsula, and as the Israelites are making their way down that Peninsula toward Mt. Sinai, where most Bible Scholars feel was at the southern end of the Peninsula. They have been hungry and murmured, and God gave them the manna. Now they are thirsty again.

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 (or argue) 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?'"

Now, that must have been quite a group of people for Moses to put up with. In fact, at one point he said "God these are not my people, they are yours." But you see Moses was only human, and I can see where he got exasperated.

Exodus 17:4,5

"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.'" Now, here is one of the most glorious verses in Scripture:

Exodus 17:6

"Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb (Horeb and Mt. Sinai are one and the same. Also underline the word rock if you don't mind marking in your Bible.); and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink...."

Of course, God was also aware of the fact that not only were the people thirsty, but also their livestock. So He supplied all of this water, and I believe it was like a river that flowed down that desert floor, and they all had plenty to drink. We have to identify the term rock. So come back to the New Testament to I Corinthians Chapter 10. Remember that all through Scripture, when the word rock is used in any symbolic setting, it will only refer to One Person and that person is Jesus The Christ. He is always the Rock. In another place He is called a stone of stumbling. We need to start in verse 1 to pick up the flow. Paul is writing to the believers at Corinth.

I Corinthians 10:1-4

"Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud (the cloud that symbolized the very presence of Jehovah, by day, and that fire by night.), and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; (Manna) And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock (notice that the word rock here is capitalized.) that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."

Now, there is another one in Matthew. It is a verse that, I think, is twisted all out of context, in order to make it say something that it doesn't say. Again, simply because people do not maintain a Biblical rule of order. And that is when a word is used a particular way it is not used out of that context. Matthew Chapter 16, and most of you are so very familiar with it. I use it quite often to point out Peter's confession - what was his mode of salvation, and that is verse 16, where he comes to the conclusion:

Matthew 16:16,17

"And Simon Peter answered and said, `Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus answered and said unto him, `Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.'"

And again, we cannot comprehend spiritual truths unless God opens our understanding. That is just part of it. And that doesn't take away our free will, or make us bound to a decision by God, that we will go to hell or Heaven. Nevertheless, before we can comprehend spiritual truths, God must open our understanding, even as Jesus said that God did here with Peter. Now verse 18, this is the verse I want you to see:

Matthew 16:18

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

There is a perfect example of using the term symbolically, Who is this Rock? Peter or Christ? Well Christ is, all the way through Scripture. How could the Scriptures suddenly make Peter the Rock? Well it doesn't. The Rock referred to here upon which He will (future tense) build His Church is the only Rock in Scripture and that is Christ Himself. Now, let's go back to Exodus 17, where this rock has been smitten.

There is also a great lesson in that as well, for you and I on this side of the work of the Cross. Remember, I'm talking about His death, burial, and resurrection. Why, or how, do you and I appropriate that finished work? Only by faith. But in order for us to appropriate these things by faith, what had to happen to Christ first? He had to suffer, and die. And according to the Old Testament, He was smitten. He was smitten for offenses. Keep that word in your mind when we get into the Book of Numbers (and you are all aware of the account), where the children of Israel are complaining again because of no water, and Moses is at the end of his patience. He takes his rod and contrary to God's instruction, instead of speaking to the rock, he strikes it. And you don't strike Christ twice, He has been smitten. The word in the Book of Hebrews over and over is "once." He went to the Cross once, and He does not go again, and again, and again.

So we should always remember some of these basic truths of Scripture. After He has been smitten and has arisen from the dead victorious over sin and death, we don't appropriate any thing more by another crucifixion, but now we appropriate it how? By fellowship, speaking, communication. That is why God has given us the power of prayer, that we can now speak with him, we can praise, and partition Him.

So, back to Exodus. Moses strikes the rock and out comes all this water. Then verse 8 will start out "Then came Amalek." Now, you have all heard about the Amalekites, and who were the Amalekites? Amalek was the grandson of Esau. And the Amalekites became the continuous enemy of the Nation of Israel. Why do you suppose the Amalekites began to do battle with the Israelites at this point in time? Remember the setting: they are out there in the desert, there is very little water and it is a tremendous commodity. And the Amalekites see this abundance of water flowing out, as a result of Moses smiting the rock.

Now, it becomes warfare over what God has provided. And then, you bring this into your own everyday experience, Many of these things, like the Apostle Paul says, are written for our learning. Not for our doctrine so much, but our learning just practical experience. Just as soon as a person comes into that right relationship with God, and becomes a child of God, and we partake of that living water, what does the old flesh do? It begins to war. And the flesh wars against that new nature. The Amalekites are a picture of that, I think. They are a picture of the flesh warring against the Spirit. Here with Moses, we are not dealing with Grace, we are still with God dealing with Israel, and very soon into Law. Back here God would help them with their physical battles, but in our economy, how do we fight our battles? Spiritually. We don't fight them with guns and swords, but in the realm of the Spirit. Now verse 8:

Exodus 17:8-10a,11-15

"Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, `Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.' So Joshua did... And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. You all know the story.

But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, `Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:" I have just thought of a verse so let's turn to Zechariah Chapter 14:

Zechariah 14:1

"Behold, the day of the LORD cometh (remember this is prophecy about the battle of Armageddon), and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee."

Zechariah 14:2

"For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle (Do you have the picture? Lately in the news the world is just funneling arms and rockets and warfare material into the Middle East. And I don't think they know why, except it makes for good economics. I think we see the same thing in our beloved America, How much of our economy rests on defense contracts? There is only one area of the world with the money to buy it all and that is the Middle East with all their oil money. So it is just a constant flow from all the nations of the world selling this war material to the Middle East. However, there is more to it than economics. The Sovereign God is still in control. But the day is coming when all the nations of the world will be gathered there for this last and final battle) and the city (Jerusalem) shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city."

Zechariah 14:3

"Then shall the LORD (the LORD is Jehovah in the Old Testament but in the New Testament it is Christ) go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle."

This is simply a reference of how many times in Israel's history did God literally fight their battles. Now let's come back to Exodus, as this is what made me think of Zechariah. Who really fought the battle against Amalek? - God did. God was in complete control using the Israelites. And this is why Moses in verse 15 built an altar and called it Jehovah-nissi: God is our Banner. In Chapter 18 all I would like to point out is this concept of first the natural and then the spiritual, and we see this all through Scripture. Here is another good example. Moses' father-in-law Jethro, now comes on the scene, and he sees this multitude of Israelites and he see them besieging poor old Moses with one problem after another. and you read it in your own spare time. But Jethro tells Moses, "There is no way one man can do all of this alone. You must set up a system of dealing with their problems."

Exodus 18:14-21

"And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, `What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? (that is with their problems) And Moses said unto his father in law, `Because the people come unto me to inquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.' And Moses' father in law said unto him, `The thing that thou doest is not good. 18 Thou wilt surely wear away,....'"

We would probably say today "Moses this is going to kill you." Jethro, this Midianite Priest (I hesitate to call him a pagan, but I don' t believe he is a believer in the God of Abraham, although he is a relative of Abraham) says.

Exodus 18:19

"Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel,...."

(I want to tell you how to do this). But has God had anything to do with this? Now watch and see if you can find any place in the chapter that said "And the LORD said." He is out of the picture completely. This is only a man speaking in the energy of the flesh, although it sounds very logical. There is nothing basically wrong with what Jethro is advising.

Exodus 18:20,21

"And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, (Sounds good doesn't it?) men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and ruler of tens:"

When they came out of Egypt they already had organization. They have a good system in place by tribes. But everything that old Jethro says just sounds so good. So verse 24:

Exodus 18:24

"So Moses (What is the next word?) hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said."

This spiritual man Moses, who has such a close relationship with God, listens to this man; I guess I can call him pagan, and hope I am not wrong. Remember, God hasn't said a word about it. This is all in the energy of the flesh. This is the natural. Now, let's see the spiritual. Turn with me to Numbers Chapter 11:

Numbers 11:14,15

"I am not able to bear all this people alone (this is in spite of the advice he got from Jethro), because it is too heavy for me. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness."

Old Moses had just about come to the end of his rope, hadn't he? Now, here in verse 16 and 17 is the spiritual remedy:

Numbers 11:16

"And the LORD said unto Moses, `Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel (Remember, 7 is the number of God), whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle (By now the Priesthood has been established and the tabernacle is in the midst of the camp) of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.'"

Numbers 11:17

"And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, (now, all of that power for leadership that Moses had, God is going to take some of it from him) and will put it upon them (the seventy); and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone."

Now, do you see the difference? God has said he would come down and empower these 70 men, that they will have the same quality of spiritual leadership that Moses had from the beginning. None of that was indicated back there when Jethro came on the scene.

Exodus 18:27

"And Moses let his father in law depart (He had given his advice; Moses took it for what it was worth, and it's not long after that that God proposed His own solution); and he went his way into his own land."

Now, as we come into Chapter 19, it is the month of June. Israel is gathered around Mt. Sinai, and God is getting ready to give them the Law and then the Tabernacle.

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LESSON TWO * PART III

MANNA: GOD'S SAME GRACE SAVES US AND KEEPS US

Let's turn now to Exodus Chapter 19.

Exodus 19:1-4

"In the third month (June), when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount (the mountain of God). And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, `Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians (drowning them in the Red Sea), and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.'"

It's going to be a long time before we get to the Book of Revelation at the rate we are going. So I'm going to take the time here to jump all the way to Revelation, because you have the same identical word used. And the reason I like to tie them together is because it will be a like circumstance for a group of Jews, who at the last half of the tribulation period, will be fleeing away from Jerusalem, to a place God will lead them. It will probably be to the mountains of Moab southeast of Jerusalem, that He has this place for them. We pick this up in Revelation Chapter 12.

Revelation 12:6

"And the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they (The Godhead) should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days."

That is 3 ¹/2 years. Now who are these Jews that are going to be fleeing from Jerusalem? For this we need to go back to Matthew 24. I hadn't intended to teach this, I thought I was going to stay in Exodus, but I always feel that the Holy Spirit has a reason for doing some things and this may be one of them. Of course, the setting for Matthew 24 is Jesus alone with the twelve disciples. And they have asked Him in the earlier verses in this Chapter, "What are the signs of thy coming? What can Israel look for at the appearance of their Messiah?" Jesus is speaking here:

Matthew 24:15

"When ye (now, He is talking to the twelve and the Nation of Israel, whom they represent. There is no Gentile language in here whatsoever.) therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)"

We want take time to go back to Daniel, but you remember that Daniel said in the middle of the week, or 7 years, the anti-christ will move down into Jerusalem. I think probably from Western Europe. He will move into the Temple in Jerusalem and defile it, probably like Antiochus the Syrian did back in the Old Testament. He will probably offer a hog on the altar at the Temple in Jerusalem, which we know will be rebuilt. And if you have been watching your news, you know that every Jew in the world is waiting for the Temple to be rebuilt. And according to Daniel, will then turn on the children of Israel, and bring in that terrible last 3 1/2 years of tribulation. Then Jesus says when you see the Temple defiled by the anti-christ:

Matthew 24:16,17

"Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:"

I always like to point out the different classes or category of people here that Jesus is referring to. In the Middle East economy, you will find that most of the better homes have their patio on the house tops. So here you have probably retired people, and they are not to come down to take anything out of their house.

Matthew 24:18

"Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes,"

Here is another category of people, and these are the working class. These are the younger people, the ones that are doing it by the sweat of the brow.

Matthew 24:19,20

"And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!" And here is still another category as this involves mothers with little ones, and expecting mothers. "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:"

The winters in Israel can be adverse and miserable, and also Israel is going back under the Law, so the sabbath comes into play again. It is interesting to read the accounts in the Jerusalem Post. There is a law before the Jerusalem Parliament, and has been for several months, that will actually re-establish the Sabbath in every category in Israel. And there is a lot of controversy between the secular Jews and the religious Jews, as the religious Jews have almost mandated this to be. So everything is getting set in the Nation of Israel even as we speak. We think it won't be too long before they have the Temple and will start Temple worship again, and re-establish the Sabbath day. This will shut down all of their movies and night clubs and places of entertainment and business. And even in Jesus' day they could only walk a short distance.

This is what Jesus is making reference to. Because they will be required to go many many miles, they had better pray that it won't happen on the Sabbath. It will be just like leaving Egypt the night of the Passover. There was something about that exodus out of Egypt that had to be miraculous. They walked, but on the other hand God must have miraculously hurried them along, to have been able to go from Goshen down to the Red Sea in a very short period of time. And I think you will have the very same thing happen here, at the mid-point of the tribulation. These Jews are suddenly going to realize that the one they thought they could trust, the one they had signed that treaty 3 ¹/2 years earlier, turns out to be their mortal enemy. So this mixed escaping remnant, a complete cross-section of the Jewish society, will gather and make their flight out of Jerusalem on foot, heading for the mountains Southeast of Jerusalem.

Matthew 24:21

"For then (beginning with this event) shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

This last 3 ¹/2 years is going to be the most awful time in all of human history. We cannot even imagine what it will be like. But this escaping group of Jews are the ones referred to in Chapter 12 of Revelation. They are going to their place in the wilderness, where the Godhead is going to protect and feed them.

Revelation 12:13

"And when the dragon (and of course the dragon in Scripture is always in reference to Satan who has been cast out of heaven earlier in this Chapter.) saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman (Israel) which brought forth the man child (Christ),"

And so he just turns on the Jew, that he had earlier given permission to have the Temple worship, and had been more or less benevolent to them. Now he turns in hatred on them. Now, here is the identical word from Exodus.

Revelation 12:14

"And to the woman (this escaping remnant of Jews) were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place (in other words a designated place by a Sovereign God), where she is nourished (taken care of, even as God took care of them in the wilderness with the manna, water, and etc.) for a time, and times, and half a time (3 ¹/2 years), from the face of the serpent."

So they will be providentially protected by God for that last 3 1/2 years. And the reason I like to connect Exodus and Revelation is that just as surely as Israel was isolated in Goshen from the plagues, so will Israel be isolated from all the calamities of the tribulation. But wherever this group of Jews is being protected they will be completely insulated from it. And God will feed them, and protect them. Remember at the mid-point of the tribulation so many things happen. The only way I can teach Revelation is to delineate all the events at the beginning, and at the mid-point, and then all the events at the end. Then fill in the details.

So at the mid-point of the tribulation the anti-christ comes to Jerusalem (probably from Europe) but at the same moment Satan is cast out of heaven, and he indwells the anti-christ. Now, this has happened before and a good example is Judas - when Satan entered in and literally took over the man Judas, and used him. So Satan will also indwell the anti-christ and will control him. When Satan, in the man anti-christ, sees this escaping group of Jews, probably quite a few thousand of them, what does he do? - Just like Pharaoh did when he sent an army after them from Egypt. Then verse 15:

Revelation 12:15

"And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, (these escaping Israelites) that he might cause her to be carried away (or destroyed) of the flood."

Always remember that Revelation is speaking in symbolic language, and just as sure as Pharaoh saw Israel escaping and sent an army after them, the anti-christ will do the same thing. But God intervenes, even as he did at the Red Sea by drowning all the Egyptians. What does he do here?

Revelation 12:16

"And the earth helped the woman (under the control of the Sovereign God), and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood (or armed force) which the dragon cast out of his mouth."

What happened? Just before that Battalion or Regiment of armed forces got to the escaping Jews, the earth opens up in a deep crevice and just literally swallows them up. You may think that is just too hard to believe. Is it? That is no harder than believing that God opened the Red Sea and drowned them. Remember the Scriptures says "with God all things are possible." So as these Jews are escaping, they will go out as if they have wings like a eagle. Remember that what God said happened in Egypt. And how did they leave Egypt? They walked. It was so miraculous the way God did it that it seemed like they took wings and flew. And so it will be that way again, by a miraculous, Sovereign God. Now, let's come back again to Exodus Chapter 19. to continue our study. Now, for another real interesting 2 or 3 verses:

Exodus 19:5

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:" Let's break that verse down.

"Now therefore, if (means conditional. Israel is going to be left with a free will.) ye will obey (faith and obedience are almost synonymous) my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, (there will be more than one Covenant, but that all boils down to be under that one master covenant, which was the one God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And that is, Israel would become a great nation of people, they would dwell in their own land, and one day God would be their King, and government. This was the Covenant they were to be aware of, and be obedient in preparing for the fulfillment of it.) then ye (the nation. Always remember that God deals with the Jew on two levels. One is national, and the other is personal. Never lose sight of that. When He makes a national Covenant with Israel it involves the whole nation. But a nation is still made up of individuals, so He will deal with the Jew individually of course. When the LORD says in Isaiah, and Paul repeats it in Romans Chapter 11, that the Nation of Israel shall be blinded, that is a national thing. And they have been blinded, and are still blind. But an individual Jew can still be saved today.) shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:"

Now, if you went back into the root of the word treasure, it boils down to not just an ordinary treasure, not just a treasure worth a few thousand or a few million, but it is a treasure of intrinsic value. You can't put a value on it. It is beyond comprehension. That is what the Nation of Israel will be in God's economy. And He says you will be that above all people. How can God designate one nation to be above all others? Because He is Sovereign. What does the rest of the verse say? Because "all the earth is mine." There is a verse in Deuteronomy we need to look at. This is written by Moses, but Who is speaking it? God Himself. The Sovereign Almighty God.

Deuteronomy 32:8

"When the most High (remember that's another term for Deity we studied in Genesis) divided to the nations their inheritance (God designated where their borders would be and how large their population would be and how they would be blessed one way or another), when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people (all these nations) according to the number of the children of Israel."

Isn't that amazing? Some people may accuse me of making too much of the Nation of Israel. How can you? You can't make too much of them. This whole world revolves around God and His chosen people Israel. And I know they are out there today in a blindness, and dispersion, but they are still in the news, three times a day, seven days a week, Why? Because they are the very vortex of all of God's dealing with the nations. Oh, if only our politicians could recognize it. They can not stab Israel in the back and get away with it. They can't ignore them and hope they go away. Jerusalem from day one, God said would be a stone of stumbling. And isn't that exactly what it is? The world today is in constant turmoil, because they don't know what to do with Jerusalem. And the reason they don't know what to do with Jerusalem is that they don't know the Book. So now back to Exodus 19 again:

Exodus 19:6

"And ye (the Nation) shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,...."

Those of you who have been with me a long time know that the kingdom, is the kingdom, is the kingdom. What kingdom? That kingdom that is coming on earth, which Christ will one day rule, not just the Nation of Israel. Although they will be the apple of His eye, and will be the greatest nation on earth, when that kingdom comes in. But it's the only kingdom that the Scripture is looking forward to. Granted, you and I as Grace Age Believers, are already members of the kingdom. And it is now in heaven. But where is that kingdom coming to? Back on the earth. So always remember that the kingdom is the kingdom is the kingdom unless the text designates something else. We will be going to the Book of Acts in the next lesson and pick this up there.

LESSON TWO * PART IV

MANNA: GOD'S SAME GRACE SAVES US AND KEEPS US

Picking up from our last lesson, we were discussing in Exodus 19:6 that God had promised the Nation of Israel that they were to be a Nation of priests. Now, what is a priest? A go-between. Between man and God. For Israel to become that kingdom of priests (go- between) naturally they are not going to be a go-between themselves and God, for they have God. So who are they going to have to be the go-between for? The Gentiles. A lot of people can't understand this coming out of the Old Testament, that the whole purpose of setting aside the Nation of Israel was to be the vehicle to bring these pagan Gentiles to a knowledge of Israel's Messiah. Now keep that concept in your mind as you come all the way through the Old Testament. God is preparing the Nation of Israel to funnel back into the main river of humanity, and bring the Gentiles to a knowledge of their King and God.

Turn to Acts 2, and here Peter is preaching that Pentecost sermon, but to whom is he preaching? Jews only. Remember he is still on Covenant grounds. He is still referring, in Chapter 3, to the fact that you are the children of the Covenant, which God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, we as Gentiles are not under those Covenant promises. That was strictly Jew only. Here, Peter, preaching on Covenant grounds says:

Acts 2:22

"Ye men of Israel,...."

Now, I don't claim to be an English major, but I can read English, and I don't see any mention of Gentiles here. He only says "Ye men of Israel,...." and that's all. And then from verse 25-30 he goes back to the Old Testament and quotes David. David meant everything to a Jew. Did he mean anything to the Romans or Greeks? No. So you see this was all Jewish oriented. Now come down to verse 36:

Acts 2:36

"Therefore let all the house of Israel,...." (plus all of you Gentiles? No, it doesn't say that.)

Acts 2:38

"Then Peter said unto them (the House of Israel), Repent, and be baptized every one of you...."

And that wasn't anything different than what John the Baptist preached way back in Matthew. Jesus and the Twelve preached it, and Peter is still preaching, "Repent and be baptized." How many? "...every one of you...."

Do you know what that means? Every person in Israel, would have to repent and be baptized, and then they would have become a nation of Priests. In Chapter 3, Peter is still preaching to the same kind of a crowd, his language is identical, and here Peter and John go up to the Temple in verse 1. And as soon as you see the word Temple that should tell you they are still under the Jewish Law, as the Temple is still operating. God hasn't told them to shut it down. Titus hasn't come and destroyed it. And so Peter and John go up to the Temple.

Acts 3:1

"Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour."

And of course they heal the lame man. When they healed the lame man it was an extension of the healing powers of Jesus that the Twelve practice. Jesus told them they would have this power.

Acts 3:11

"And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly wondering." What are they wondering? How was this man healed. Now Peter says to that Jewish crowd:

Acts 3:12