From the principle in 1 Corinthians 15:44-46, Paul reveals through Holy Spirit that the physical or natural is first, then the spiritual.
These happened physically, first:
The entrance of sin and death and its connection to Father’s ancient enemy through the disobedience of mankind broke the flow of life and connection to water. Israel lived in slavery to Egypt, indicative of the world and its corrupt systems which demand allegiance/worship to the “godhood” of state with a human representative. In Egypt’s case, the representative of that “godhood” was Pharaoh. Israel then journeyed through the desert where they felt their needs and Father supernaturally provided – and this included the supernatural release of water that flowed as rivers from a rock. They entered the Promised Land where their physical rainfall, and thus their economy, depended on keeping Him in the first place of their hearts with obedience and trust and keeping idolatry out of their hearts and their government.
Israel is never replaced. Israel is forever! By Father’s plan and choice, Israel walked out physically first (and yet Jesus was there with them too!) what everyone in Jesus walks out spiritually.
They were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4).
Now comes the spiritual.
It is important to stop here and note that Jesus suffered in our shoes and He personally understands the vulnerability, pain, and affliction of the human experience (ref., Hebrews 2:10-11, 14, 16-18). From that place of personal connection to us and to Father God, He died in our place and lives to offer intercession from love, mercy, and compassion on our behalf (ref., Romans 5:6-8; Hebrews 7:25).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” (NASB, Hebrews 13:8).
Jesus personally knows what it is like to live on earth in dryness of spirit and body from lack of water. Water is both a physical substance and a prophetic symbol of Holy Spirit.
“He [Jesus] grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground,” (NASB, Isaiah 53:2).
It was at His baptism, when he was about thirty years old, that Jesus received Holy Spirit (ref., Luke 3:23). Heralding from Father’s throne in Heaven with its River of Life flowing and existing in the Life and Spirit which is Father, Jesus descended to His earthly existence, which was, in comparison, a desert place, without Holy Spirit’s presence until His baptism (ref., Revelation 22:1, John 1:1-4, John 4:24, John 1:14, Isaiah 53:2).
“After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (NASB, Matthew 3:16-17).
Without water, the body goes into dehydration which literally dries up its life and, without intervention, can end in death. Water sustains and nourishes life. By Father’s will that He become a faithful high priest, having walked in our shoes, Jesus has personally experienced all of this spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically – for us and with us (ref., Hebrews 2:17).
Father provided by supernatural means to meet Israel’s needs in the journey out of slavery, through the desert, and into the Promised Land. In these supernatural provisions, He gave prophetic insights into the Eternal Gospel story. The miracles provided for their current physical needs and carried future meaning as well. As Paul noted, first there is the physical, then the spiritual (ref., 1 Corinthians 15:44-46).
The first water crisis after The Exodus from Egypt happened at Marah. There, Israel discovered that the water was bitter and undrinkable which is why it was named Marah which means “bitter.” When Moses cried out to Father on their behalf, he was shown a tree which he threw into the waters. In a moment, the water supernaturally transformed into sweet, drinkable water (ref., Exodus 15:22-26). Father gave a promise of healing based on listening and obeying Him. Here, Father prophetically pointed to the tree, the cross on which Jesus suffered. Jesus tasted the bitter cup of Father’s judgment and death on our behalf (ref., Matthew 26:42; Hebrews 2:9). Jesus’ work on the cross transforms the bitter water of our earth existence without Him into sweet, life-sustaining water (ref., John 10:10). Through Jesus’ work on the cross and by our faith through His grace, healing comes into our beings, “the punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed (NASB, Isaiah 53:5b).
The second water crisis happened at Rephidim. Moses cried out to the Father, and Father instructed him to take the elders of Israel and his staff and go. Father met Moses and the elders, and stood on the rock at Horeb which Moses was instructed to strike. Moses named that place where water was provided Massah meaning “test” and Meribah meaning “contention.” There, in plain view of the elders (leadership) of Israel, water supernaturally flowed from the rock. Here, Father pointed to what would be prophesied by Zechariah and fulfilled by Jesus, “You will all fall away because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered’” (NASB, ref., Zechariah 13:7; Matthew 26:31; March 14:27). Jesus, our beloved Good Shepherd, humbled Himself under the Father, and began releasing His blood as perspiration (water) in the Garden of Gethsemane (ref., Luke 22:44). He is the Good Shepherd who was struck and gave His life for the sheep and gathers all the children of God who have been scattered (ref., John 10:11; 11:52).
The third water crisis happened in Kadesh, as Israel neared the end of their forty-year sentence to wilderness wanderings and approached their re-directed entrance to the Promised Land. All these years, Israel experienced supernatural water supply from a rock.
“They were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (NASB, 1 Corinthians 10:4).
At the juncture when Miriam died and the water stopped, Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the Father at the Tabernacle. Father told Moses to take his staff and Aaron and assemble the people. Father instructed Moses to speak to the rock in front of the people and it would yield its water. Instead, Moses reacted to the people and struck the rock twice. The rock did yield its water, but Moses and Aaron lost the grand finale of their calling – leading Israel to enter the Promised Land. Those waters were named Meribah meaning “contention” (ref., Numbers 20:1-13). The Father intended for Moses and Aaron to believe and then to act. In relationship with Father and through their action, they were invited to mark the eternal record, showcasing Father as holy and pure in front of the people. Internal broken places in Moses and Aaron, combined with the pressure of the public combined to forfeit the eternal honor they’d been invited into with Father. Father called it the lack of “aman” in the Hebrew which means “to stand firm, to trust, to be certain, to believe in” (Strong’s H539, blueletterbible.org). What they lost was greater than finishing their physical calling. In His faithfulness, Father showcased Himself as holy and pure before the people, as He overrode Moses and Aaron’s failure, and provided water for the people.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Hope Streams
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