Exodus 17:8-19:25 – Slavery to Sinai: Promise realized and purpose proclaimed

Today is week number eight in our series through the first 20 chapters of Exodus.  The nation of Israel has had quite a journey so far in the book of Exodus. A small group of 70 people traveled to Egypt to escape a famine.  While in Egypt they multiplied and great exceedingly strong until they filled the land.

Out of fear, the Egyptians enslaved God’s people and for 400 years Israel was in bondage to the Egyptians.  After a total of 430 years in Egypt, God delivered the nation of Israel out of their slavery after bringing a series of 10 devastating plagues upon Egypt.

God’s powerful presence led Israel with a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night right to the edge of the Red Sea where they would be trapped by Pharaoh and his Army who had decided it wasn’t such a good thing to let their slaves go free.

God then parted the Red Sea so that Israel could walk across on dry ground to the other side before killing Pharaoh and his entire army with the same water he had held back for his people.

After journeying into the wilderness, God turned bitter water into sweet, drinkable water.  He provided quail for the people to eat, bread from heaven, and water from a Rock.

It’s been quite the road trip for the Israelites!

Lord willing, we will wrap up in chapter 20 next Sunday as we look at the 10 commands. What they are, why they were given, and what they mean for us as Christians today.  Do we follow them? Are we bound by them or are they just a suggestion?  That’s next Sunday.

Today, however, we will finally see Moses and the people of Israel arrive at Mt. Sinai in Exodus chapter 19 where we will see a promised realized and a purpose proclaimed.

Take your Bible and turn with me to Exodus 19.

This week’s reading also included the end of Exodus chapter 17, where Joshua led the Israelites in battle against Amalek.   Moses went to the top of a hill and held the staff of God in his hand.  As long as he kept his hands in the air the Israelites were winning, but when he grew tired and lowered his hands the Israelites were losing.  So Aaron and Hur provided a rock for Moses to sit on, and then they stood on either side of him holding his hands in the air until Joshua and the Israelites defeated Amalek…

After the victory Moses built an altar and named it “The LORD is My Banner” Yahweh Nissi - Moses wanted to stress that God is our means of victory and fights for his people.

Moses knew that it was the Lord that had given them victory.  It is always the Lord that gives victory!  Moses had earlier reminded the people of Israel before they crossed the Red Sea “The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

In chapter 18, Moses was reunited with his family, including his father-in-law Jethro.  Moses told Jethro about all that God had done to rescue and redeem Israel from Egypt and Jethro rejoiced and praised the LORD!

We pick up the narrative in Exodus 19.

Exodus 19:1-25 - On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they pcame into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They set out from qRephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before rthe mountain, 3 while sMoses went up to God. tThe LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 u‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how vI bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be wmy treasured possession among all peoples, for xall the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a ykingdom of priests and za holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” 7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 aAll the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you bin a thick cloud, that cthe people may hear when I speak with you, and may also dbelieve you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, 10 the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and econsecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them fwash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day gthe LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. hWhoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot;1 whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When ithe trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” 14 So Moses jwent down from the mountain to the people and econsecrated the people; fand they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the kthird day; ldo not go near a woman.” 16 On the morning of the kthird day there were mthunders and lightnings and na thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud otrumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp ptrembled. 17 Then qMoses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now rMount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and sthe whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the osound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and tGod answered him in thunder. 20 The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD uto look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near to the LORD vconsecrate themselves, lest the LORD wbreak out against them.” 23 And Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, x‘Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.’” 24 And the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people ybreak through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

Verse one of chapter 19 tells us exactly three months after Israel had left Egypt they came to “the mountain” in the wilderness of Sinai. The same mountain referred to as Horeb and the mountain of God back in chapter three verse one.  The same mountain where God had first revealed himself to Moses in fiery holiness from the burning bush.

This was the mountain where God had issued the call to Moses to return to Egypt after spending 40 years tending someone else’s sheep so that Moses would lead Israel out of slavery.

Moses was thrilled that God had come to rescue his people. He was ecstatic that God came down to bring his people to the land flowing with milk and honey, but Moses was not on board with being God’s chosen instrument of deliverance.

So God gave Moses a sign to prove that what he was saying was true, but there was a catch. Moses wouldn’t get the sign until after it had already happened.  Some signs are given to stimulate faith and others are given in response to faith, like this one.

Here was the sign back in Exodus 3:12 ““He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

This is exactly what we read happening 16 chapters later in Exodus 19!  God said he would deliver Israel out of Egypt and he did.  He said that Israel would serve God on this mountain and here they are.

Which shows us the first of three truths from Exodus 19:

I. God keeps His promises (1-3)

One of the grand themes of Exodus is that God is the covenant keeping, faithful God, who always keeps his promises to His people!

Back in week one, we looked at God’s covenant with Abraham back in Genesis 15, a covenant promises of land, descendants, and blessing, and key to the covenant promise was this declaration by the LORD in Genesis 15:13-14 “Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”

After 400 years in slavery that is exactly what happened. God brought judgment on Egypt and Israel left the land with their pockets and bags filled with Egyptian silver and gold.

Generation after generation of Israelites would reflect upon and remember the power of God at work in Exodus to bring about his covenant promises.  The Psalmists celebrated a recount the miraculous work of God.

The prophets preached of a new exodus that would be signaled by a voice crying in the wilderness “prepare the way of the Lord.”

God’s entire plan of redemption, all of Scripture, is shaped in the pattern of Exodus

Now, at the base of Sinai, Moses had experienced God’s sovereign, covenant keeping power first-hand in a very personal way.

God had given Moses a promised sign and God had made good on his promise. Moses would forever be a changed man because he knew he could trust God, who always keeps his promises.

So what promises has God given us today?  Promises that we can have 100% certainty in him fulfilling in our lives?

First and foremost, God has promised salvation to all who believe in His Son Jesus (Romans 1:16-17; Acts 2:21).  Just as with Moses, experiencing this promise requires faith.  But there is no greater blessing, no greater promise, than the free gift of eternal life.

If you have not believed in Jesus, trust in him today.

Philippians 1:6 also tells us that God has promised to finish the good work of salvation that he started in us.  God promises peace when we pray and comfort in our trials; he promises to supply all our needs (not wants).  God promises every spiritual blessing in Christ, Ephesians 1:3.

And brothers and sisters, we can be confident in those promises because God keeps his promises!

On to the second truth of Exodus 19 found in verses four through six.

Here we see that-

II. God saves his people for a specific purpose (4-6)

There are really two parts to this statement. First,

(1) God saves his people

Just as Moses recounted all the miraculous works of God to his father-in-law Jethro, so too, the LORD tells Moses to remind Israel of all he had done for them.

When they were back in Egypt, they witnessed the destruction of the 10 plagues God brought upon the Egyptians even while sparing them from the judgment.  It was God who parted the sea!  God killed the Egyptian army!  God provided bread from heaven and water from a rock!

In the middle of verse four the LORD said “I bore you on eagles’ wings.”  It’s a picture of a mother eagle who pushes their baby out of the nest and then lifts them up on her wings to teach them how to fly!

What a beautiful picture of God’s gracious love for his people.  Even when Israel was grumbling in the wilderness over lack of food or water, God swooped down to rescue them.

Finally at the end of verse four, the Lord makes things very personal as he says, I “brought you to myself.”

God chose to save Israel because he chose to make a covenant with Abraham and his decedents so that he might display his glory among the nations.  Here is what God said in Deuteronomy 7:7-8:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

God didn’t choose to save Israel because he foresaw something good in them, either faith or works. If that was the basis for God’s choosing then it wouldn’t be grace!

God chooses people for Himself (that’s what election is) based simply on His loving nature and not on anything that the people themselves have done (that’s grace).

Whether it’s in the Old Testament under the old covenant or the New Testament under the new covenant, salvation is always by grace through faith.

Jesus said to those of us who believe in Him in John 15:19 “you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world”

Just as God made provision to save his people through the blood of the Passover lamb, he has now provided the Passover lamb once for all through the blood of his own Son, that he might bring us to God!

God saves his people.  Now the second part of that statement-

(2) for a specific purpose

We see this in verses of five and six of Exodus 19.

God’s purpose for Israel was three-fold: they were too be his treasured possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

In the New Testament, the apostle Peter quoted this purpose for Israel and applied it to the church today, which consists of both Jews and Gentiles.  He said of Christians today:

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

We are chosen by God just as Israel was chosen in the Old Testament and we have the same three fold purposes - to be a people for his own possession, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.

Let’s look at each of these three statements.  Why they are so important for God’s people?

(1) God saved us as his treasured possession!  

If you are a Christian today, meaning you’ve trusted by grace through faith in Jesus, you are the special treasured possession of the King of kings and Lord of lords!

The end of Exodus 19:5 says God owns the entire earth and that especially means those whom he has chosen to be his own!

God saved Israel to make them his treasured possession. They were freed from slavery in Egypt to be servants of the Living God.

Likewise, we, as Christians today, are not our own for we have been bought with a price! (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

When God saves you from your sin it means that no matter how worthless you may feel, God values you! No matter how unlovable you think you are, you are loved by God!  No matter how broken you think your life has become, God has restored you and treasures you!

(2) God saved us to be a kingdom of priests

The role of the priest is to be the go between, the mediator between God and the people!

Every Christian now has access to the presence of God because we are all priests of God!  One of the keys of the protestant Reformation that began almost 500 years ago was that there is no special class of priest now, all who believe in Jesus are priests and serve to direct others to God!

Revelation 1:5b-6 “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory.”

Again, what a privilege to know that we have access to the presence of God through the work of the great high priest, Jesus, who is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven on our behalf!

What a comfort to know that we can pray to God, anywhere, anytime, and he hears us!

Third-

(3) God saved us to be a holy nation

We were first introduced to the holiness of God back in Exodus chapter 3. Holiness is a glorious perfection belonging only to the nature of God.  The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.”  God is unlike any other being for he alone is complete and infinitely perfect in and of himself.

He is void of evil and sin and he is right and true in all that he does!  So too, if God’s people are to represent him before other nations then we must be like him!

The Israelites were to distinguish themselves from the other nations around them by living differently in obedience to God’s commands of the Old Testament.  That will be our focus next Sunday in Exodus 20, Lord willing.

As the church, we are in the world, but not of the world, because God’s word of truth sets us apart (John 17:14-17).

We live as salt and light, distinctively different from the world around us, by obeying the commands of God given to us in the New Testament to be holy as he is holy.

When you fail to live a holy life that God has called you to live you derail and even disqualify yourself from effective ministry.  Here’s what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth regarding his own fight and desire to live a holy life:

1 Corinthians 9:27 “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Living a holy life takes work, it is hard!  In fact, apart form the work of God, it is impossible. The Israelites learned that the hard way.

In Exodus, God chose the nation of Israel to be His holy people, set apart from among all other nations on the earth.  The way that they would be clearly distinguished from among the nations was by obeying the commands of God.  They would look differently, they would act differently, and they would worship differently.  Through their obedience other nations would be drawn to know the One, True God.

If Israel failed to obey, then they would no longer distinguish themselves from the other nations of the earth.  They would no longer point other nations to God.

Which is why God added the stipulation to this covenant promise at the beginning of Exodus 19:5 “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant.” Only then would they be able to fulfill the three-fold purpose.

Unfortunately, Israel failed. They couldn’t fulfill the law.  They couldn’t be holy. God would have to do it for them.  He would have to give them a new heart.

This is what Romans chapter eight is all about. Here are just two verses from that chapter that make it explicitly clear why Israel failed and how Jesus has now done for us what we could never do.

Romans 8:3-4 “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Jesus secured for us what we could not do!  He fulfilled the law!

Brother’s and sisters in Christ, you are now, because of the work of Christ, a chosen race, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession!  You who were once lost and without hope, you are God’s people.  Purchased with the shed blood of Jesus, for a specific purpose as we read earlier in 1 Peter 2:9 That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light!

You are not your own.  You have been purchased by God to live a holy life and proclaim the excellencies of God, made known through Jesus Christ!

PRAISE BE TO GOD!!!

On to the third truth found in verse seven through the end of the chapter, where Moses goes back to the people and tells them all that the Lord had commanded them to do.

And in verse eight we read that “All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

They thought they could do it. They had good intentions. But they would quickly prove Romans 8 to be true, the people could not obey God’s law.

And then the end of verse eight says that Moses reported the words of the people back to the Lord.

Obviously, the Lord knew what the people said?  So why this exchange here? To show us the third truth-

III. God establishes a mediator between himself and his people (7-25)

Through the intermediary work of Moses, as his chosen servant, God established a pattern whereby his chosen servant would provide the way for his people to come to Him!

Back in the end of verse two and into verse three, the people camped before the mountain “while Moses went up to God”

In verse seven, he went down and spoke to the people and reported back to God what they said.  Up to God… down to the people… back up to God… back down to the people.

Moses was the go-between. Why was it necessary?

Look down to verse 23.

The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai to the very presence of God because they were not holy.

Psalm 24:3-4 “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.”

Friend, you may think if you live a good enough life or do enough good things, you can ascend the hill of the Lord and enter into his rest.  You cannot!  You can never do anything to purify your hands or your heart.

Yet, in his mercy, the Lord has made a way for his people to come to him through a mediator. And how were the people supposed to believe and trust in the mediator?!
Look back up at verse nine, “And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”

God would speak from the thick cloud as the lightning was flashing and the mountain was trembling.

The voice of God would be heard by the people so that they would believe.  But notice!  Not believe in God, but believe in you, Moses, so that they would believe in Moses as the Lord’s Servant.

But Moses ultimately points us to a servant even greater than himself. In Deuteronomy 18-

Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen”

In the New Testament, we are introduced to this prophet like Moses in almost the exact same image of Exodus 19.

We looked at Luke 8 two weeks ago because it records for us the transfiguration of Jesus.  When Jesus allowed Peter, James, and John to see a preview of His glory.

In Luke 9:31 we saw how Moses and Elijah spoke of Jesus’ exodus, which Jesus was about to accomplish through His substitutionary death as the lamb of God and his resurrection unto life.  

Jesus would accomplish a new Exodus was through his death, burial, and resurrection in Jerusalem by taking sinners who are trapped against the sea of sin and bringing them safely to the new life on the other side.

But there is yet another, stronger connection to Exodus and Moses just a few verses later in verses 33-35

Luke 9:33-35 “And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

God the Father’s voice boomed from the cloud so that those who heard would believe in the Lord’s Servant, Jesus, and would listen to him just as Moses admonished the people of the one who would come and you shall listen to him.

Isn’t God’s perfect plan glorious!?  When we see such clear, unmistakable connections between the Old and New Testament, it’s like we begin to see a few more brush strokes on God’s amazing portrait of redemption.

He is showing us this canvas of His work. To save His people. For His glory.  Yet just when we feel as though we can finally catch a glimpse, it escapes us almost as quickly as it came because it’s beyond our comprehension.  We can just see the fringe and we praise God.  We rejoice that he has done this great work to save his people from our sins.

As we turn to the book of Hebrews 3, there is a picture that apart from whats taking place in Exodus 19, it is a very confusing passage.  But now we can see the fringe in Hebrews 3 of what in the world the writer of Hebrews is even talking about.

Hebrews 3:1-6 “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

Jesus, as God’s Son and chosen servant has come to rescue and redeem his people.

May we hold fast to our confidence and boast all the more, not in ourselves, but in Christ, who is our hope!



Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© Geist Community Church
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Exodus 15:22-17:7 – A Grumbling People and a Gracious God

Some of you are familiar with the writing of C.S. Lewis and you may have heard me speak before of the analogy he used of a sunbeam. When we look at the beam we see all the things which it illuminates.  The dirt we’ve failed to clean off the window glass is glaringly obvious.  The finger prints on the kitchen counter are now visible.  The particles of fine dust floating through the air suddenly make us wonder how we can breathe such air.

But when we look along the beam and follow it to its source we find the sun.

Lewis concludes: “Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.” (Meditation in a Toolshed)

The same can be said of Exodus and all the details it exposes of God rescuing and redeeming his children from slavery in Egypt.  Looking at Exodus is “looking at the beam” but when we “look along the beam” we see who Exodus is ultimately pointing us toward.

Today we are going to do both.  We are going to look at the beam and all the details revealed in the book of Exodus and we are going to look along the beam and see how those details point us to Jesus.

All through the book of Exodus we see a storyline that points us to Jesus. Last week we saw the connection Jesus made to Exodus in John chapter five when he was speaking to a group of Jews who were seeking to kill him and he said, John 5:46-47 “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

If you do not believe that Exodus is important today, if you do not believe in the truth of Exodus, you cannot believe in Jesus!  Because Moses wrote Exodus to point us along the beam to Jesus!

Take your bible and turn with me to Exodus 16.

We are now in week seven of our nine-week study working our way through the first 20 chapters of Exodus.

Here in Exodus 16, God has delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt after protecting them from His divine wrath in the 10 plagues he delivered upon the Egyptians.

Now the people of Israel have another problem.  They are journeying through the wilderness and they are hungry.  The amount of food needed to feed the large group of between two and four million people would have been staggering!

What would they do?  What would God do and how would the people respond?

Look at Exodus 16 with me.

Exodus 16:1-21 - They kset out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, m“Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, nwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may ptest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, qit will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, r“At evening syou shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the tglory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For uwhat are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the LORD has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—vwhat are we? Your grumbling is not wagainst us but against the LORD.” 9 Then Moses xsaid to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, y‘Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the tglory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD said to Moses, 12 “I zhave heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At atwilight you shall eat meat, and bin the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’” 13 In the evening cquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ddew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, e“What is it?”1 For they fdid not know what it was. And Moses said to them, g“It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. 16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an homer,2 according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, iwhoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and jit bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

Chapter 16 begins with a chronological marker to let us know how long the people have been on the road out of Egypt.  Exactly one month had passed since Israel left Egypt having witnessed the Lord’s power through the 10 plagues upon the Egyptians.

And a lot happened in that month!  Not the least of which was the crossing of the Red Sea where the people had walked across on dry ground while a wall of water was on either side of them.  God himself had led his people day and night by revealing himself in a pillar of cloud and fire.

Most recently, at the end of chapter 15 when they had traveled three days away from the Red Sea and they had no water to drink, the Lord miraculously turned a bitter, undrinkable water source into sweet, clean water for them to drink.

No matter what God’s people faced, no matter how great the obstacle, surely God had proven himself to be trustworthy, to be the source of all the Israel needed.

Surely the people would respond to the burning hunger within their stomachs with unshakable, unwavering trust in the Lord, no matter what happens.

At least that’s what one would expect.

Instead we see the people of Israel grumbling again and again and again.

Eight times in this one chapter the word grumble is used to describe the response of the people to their hunger!

Verse two says they grumbled against Moses and Aaron but down in verses seven and either, it plainly says their grumbling was really against the Lord!

Our first point —

I. The natural tendency of people is to grumble against God! 

Verse two says the “whole congregation” grumbled against Moses and Aaron, their God-appointed leaders.

Grumbling spreads like gangrene among God’s people!  Someone shares a gripe about something and pretty soon it begins to snowball and work its way through the whole assembly – whether it’s true or not!

Sure the people were hungry but look at how absurd their claim was in verse three, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt”  They actually claimed that it would have been better for them to die in the plagues back in Egypt rather than out in the wilderness.

Why? Because at least, back in Egypt, they supposedly sat by “the meat pots and ate bread to the full”

Talk about putting on the rose-colored glasses!  Back in Exodus chapter two the people were groaning because of their slavery and crying out to God for rescue!  That doesn’t exactly sound like sitting around the buffet table enjoying all you can eat.

Not only is there this immense exaggeration but there was a flat-out lie at the end of verse three where they accused Moses and Aaron of bringing them out to the wilderness so they could starve them to death.

Are you kidding me?

Do the Israelites have a memory problem or something?  After all God had just done for them?!

But before we are too hard on Israel, let’s all take a quick look in the mirror.  How many times have we experienced the incredible faithfulness of God in our lives, yet we quickly forget and turn from trusting in him when the circumstances of our life change.  

The natural tendency of people is to grumble against God for two main reasons.

(1) We often focus on circumstances

This seems like it’s the broken record of Exodus.

Just last week in chapter 14, we saw how the nation of Israel was backed up against the Red Sea by the Egyptian army and they went on a bitter rant against Moses because they allowed their circumstances to derail their focus on the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Here in chapter 16 it’s the same exact thing.

The Israelites again take a look around and evaluate their circumstances from their limited perspective.  They still have not learned that God is above their circumstances.  He is the one that determines the circumstances in this world.

And as we are about to see, God has, again, brought Israel to an impossible situation from man’s limited perspective so that he might show his power and reveal his glory.

Just as God led Israel to the Red Sea where they would be trapped by the Egyptian army, he has now led them into the wilderness to that they would be surrounded by hunger.  It was another divine setup.

The problem of the Israelites was that they focused on their circumstances from their perspective and far too often, that’s our problem as well.

Stop and replay the last few days or even the last few weeks of your life, if you can remember that far back.  When were you tempted to complain?  When did you fall into the trap of grumbling because you looked around at the circumstances of your life and you just had to let someone know how much you really didn’t like what you saw?

We must look up rather than look around. We must look to our Savior rather than our circumstances.  

It does not come easy because the natural tendency of people is to grumble against God when we focus on circumstances around us.

The second reason we tend grumble against God

B. Our hearts are hard

If you carried a cup of coffee into this room today and as you were making your way to your seat someone bumped into you and knocked that cup of coffee to the ground, what spilled out of that cup?  Well unless it was one of those really cool, spill-proof mugs, there’s a pretty good chance that coffee just went all over the floor.

The same is true of our lives.  If we have a heart that is filled with grumbling, disputing, discontent thoughts, when the various circumstances of life bump into our lives what spills to the service???   Grumbling – disputing – discontentment.

Sometimes we can get bumped and nothing comes out because it was just a little bump but what’s really down in our hearts can often only be revealed when something bumps into our lives so hard that we get knocked to the ground.

When you grumble about your circumstances, or your thinking deep down inside, “GOD, THIS ISN’T FAIR” really what you’re saying is that you know better than God.

Grumbling reveals a hard heart.  Only the most callous heart could make such a ridiculous statement like the one the Israelites made back up in verse three  “Oh that we would have died back in Egypt where we sat by the meat pots and ate all day long.  They were blinded to the truth by their own hard hearts.  

This group of Israelites had witnessed some of the grandest examples of God’s power that anyone has ever seen! From the 10 plagues, to the pillar of cloud and fire that led their way through the wilderness, to the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of the entire Egyptian army!  They had seen it all first hand.

Yet they grumbled, again and again and again, which just shows that unless God grants a new heart, they could do nothing but grumble. They had just walked on the dry ground of the Red Sea with walls of water on either side!  If that didn’t do it.  Nothing will!

They had eyes but they couldn’t see.  Ears but they couldn’t hear.

Perhaps the only thing more shocking than the grumbling of the people is the response of the Lord beginning in verse four of chapter 16.

Verse four - “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you… That I may test them..”

Rather than punish Israel for their failure to trust Him, he rains down bread from heaven!

Here we see our second point….

II. God graciously provides for his people

The emphasis upon God’s gracious, sufficient provision for these needy, grumbling people is unmistakable!

This is one of the clearest pictures of God’s grace in the Old Testament!

Listen to the descriptions of the Lord’s work and his promises in chapter 16.  In verse four, God said he would rain bread from heaven on them.  In verse eight, he would given them “bread to the full.”  In verse 12, “you shall be filled.”  Verse 16, they were to gather as much as they could eat.   Verse 18, everyone, indeed, gathered as much as they could eat and whoever gathered little had no lack and whoever gather much had nothing left over.

Every time the people went out and gathered they had exactly as much as they needed!  Amazing!

We read more about this “bread from heaven” beginning down in verse 31 of chapter 16.

Exodus 16:31-36 - 31 Now the house of Israel called its name pmanna. It was qlike coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a rjar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before sthe testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel tate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till uthey came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is vthe tenth part of an ephah.)3

So the first way we see God graciously provide for his people

(1) With manna from heaven 

This bread from heaven was like nothing the Israelites had ever seen before.  Verse 15 makes that clear as they all looked at it and said to one another “What is it?”  In Hebrew, that question is “man hu” which may be why they call it “manna” down in verse 31.

In verses 32-33, we read that the people were to keep a portion of the manna, which was put in a jar and eventually placed before the Ark of the Testimony, after it was built, as a continual reminder for the people of God’s gracious provision!

This was no simple bread!  This was life-giving, divine bread that nutritionally sustained the Israelites for 40 years!  For six days in a row, every morning, there it was on the ground.  If they kept any of the bread from the first five days to try and save it for the next day, it would be covered in worms and smell.  But on the sixth day they could gather enough for two days and on the seventh day it would be fine, no worms and no smell!

Friends, God is not bound by our human paradigms or constraints.  He can do whatever he wants.  So to borrow from another one of C.S. Lewis’ images, we might say “he is not a tame lion.”

God provided just what the people needed, when they needed it, so that they might learn to depend on him and so that we might recognize him as the giver of life!

This is the first of many different ways Scripture uses bread or manna to refer to God’s provision for his people.

It’s important to note that Moses tells us the manna tasted like wafers made with honey.  As the Israelites wandered around the wilderness for 40 years this manna was a sweet preview and constant reminder of the Promised Land that flowed with honey!

King David would later write in Psalm 19:10 that God’s Word is “sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.”

The manna, then, is representative of the life giving Word of God that breathes life into lifeless bodies and sustains, moment by moment, those who eat of it.

How can we make such a connection?  Because Moses does it for us.

Deuteronomy 8:3 “And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

Don’t jump past the fact that Moses says it was God that let them hunger!  Why? So he could feed them manna that he might make them know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord!

The very passage that Jesus would quote after fasting 40 days in the wilderness to combat the temptation of Satan to turn the stones into bread.

But the connection to Jesus goes far beyond that quotation from Deuteronomy 8!  We’ve been doing a lot of looking at the sunbeam, now it’s time to look along the beam.

Exodus 16 has a number of connections to the gospel of John chapter six so hold your spot there in Exodus 16 and turn to John 6.

I’m going to try and not spend a lot of time here because, Lord willing, we’ll be studying John’s gospel most of next year as a church, but we can’t look past these direct references to Exodus 16 that are found in John 6.

While your turning let me quickly point out a couple of things that we already heard when John 6 was read earlier in the service.  It’s the feeding of the 5,000 with just five barley loaves and a couple of fish.  But before the miracle took place, Jesus asked Philip, one of his disciples, where they would buy bread for the people to eat in order to test him.

Just as the Lord said of the Israelites back in Exodus 16 and his provision of manna, “that I may test them.”

Jesus then multiplied the small amount of food until it says the 5,000 (just counting the men) “had eaten their fill” just like with the manna!

The people recognized this display of his power, so John’s gospel tells us they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him King.  Yet, amazingly Mark’s Gospel says the disciples “did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.” (Mark 6:52)

Jesus slipped away and did a little midnight stroll across the water to the other side of the sea.

The next day, the people found him and here’s what we read in John 6:25–51.

25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”

Jesus, who knew even the intentions of their heart, knew that they only came and found him because they wanted more bread. They saw Jesus as a get-rich-quick genie-in-the-bottle.

 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

Are you kidding me?  They wanted a sign, as if what he just did wasn’t good enough?  Jesus then corrected some of their theology.

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

God provided manna for the people of Israel to eat during their 40 years wondering around the wilderness.  It was merely the sunbeam pointing to the Son.

Verse 35 is one of several “I AM” statements in John’s Gospel.  Jesus is saying he is the divine, life-giving bread.   He is the sweet Word OF God in the flesh!  And whoever eats of him will never hunger again!

No mere man could make such an amazing claim! He will satisfy all who come to him and believe on him!

We live in a world where people are seeking after the secret of satisfaction and happiness.  They are searching for identity in themselves and when they come up empty they conclude that they need to change their identity and identify as someone who they are not.  It’s all symptomatic of the hunger in the human heart which none but Christ can satisfy.

You who continue to run to alcohol or drugs or food, it will never satisfy.   You who seek to satisfy the hunger of your heart through romance or sex, it is a mirage.  

The emptiness you feel in your life can only be filled by Jesus.  Believe in Him. Trust in him and you will be filled to the brim with joy, with completeness, with hope, with an inexpressible and glorious joy!

If you do not believe, just like the Israelites, this is how you will respond — Look at verse 41 of John 6.

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.”

The Jews responded by grumbling, just like their ancestors, despite all they had seen with their own eyes.

They had eyes but they couldn’t see.  Ears but they couldn’t hear.

If you see who Jesus is and believe in him today, it is only because the Lord has given you a new heart!

Notice there in that key verse 35 of John 6, Jesus not only referred to himself as the bread of life that cures the hunger of our soul but he said that whoever believes in him should not thirst!

Why the sudden shift from hunger to thirst?

Flip back to Exodus now. Exodus chapter 17.

Exodus 17:1-7 - wAll the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 xTherefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ytest the LORD?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and zthe people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ato stone me.” 5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with bwhich you struck the Nile, and go. 6 cBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place dMassah1 and eMeribah,2 because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the LORD by saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

The second way God graciously provide for his people

(2) With life-giving water 

Notice the same pattern again.  The Lord moved them on to a new region and this time they still had the manna, but they had no water!

And the people responded by quarreling with Moses which is actually a stronger word than grumble.

Yet again, the Lord graciously provides for them.  He commanded Moses to strike a rock and water would flow from the rock.

Then they named the place Massah and Meribah, which mean testing and quarreling.

Two names that are incredibly significant because they provide a reminder of what God did and how the people responded by providing water from the Rock.
The Psalmist in Psalm 95 says this:

Psalm 95:7b-9 “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.”

There we see a direct connection between hard hearts and the grumbling of the people!

The writer to the Hebrews quotes this passage in Psalm 95 and then we read this exhortation in Hebrews 3:12-13 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

The example of the Israelites is a warning for us all. Take care brothers, guard against evil, guard against the continual assault of our sinful hearts that would lead us way from the living God!

We are to exhort one another every day so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Brothers and sisters, we need one another in the church!  Without the body of the church watching out, we are lost!  That’s why it is so important that when someone leaves our body we ought to do everything we can do to guide them to another local assembly that they might not fall prey to the deceitfulness of sin.

The apostle Paul makes this connection to Christ even stronger. Now we move from looking at the beam to looking along the beam. First Corinthians 10.

1 Corinthians 10:1-6 “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.”

Jesus is the Rock!  He provides the living water that satisfies our thirst.

As Jesus himself said to the woman at the well in John 4 “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14)

These wonderful, life-giving truths are meant to awe us.  They are meant to blow every circuit in our brains. If I had time, I was going to put the little emoji of the head with the top coming off….  We ought be wowed by God’s perfect, powerful, and progressive plan revealed in Jesus so that God is glorified!

But what has Hebrews 3, 1 Corinthians 10, and so many other passages directed us to?

We ought be moved toward holy living “that we might not desire evil” as the Israelites did.

What does it look like today? We must help one another because we are all going to stumble, whether it be bitterness or grumbling because of circumstances, slander, hatred, a desire for revenge, anger. We must all continually fight to put those things behind us while striving for tender-heartedness, trust and forgiveness, as God in Christ forgave you.

And for those who have believed in Jesus and been given the gift of eternal life, we still have more to see. We still have more bread to eat and more water to drink, for all eternity!

In view of this wonderful reality, here’s what the apostle Peter urged his fellow Christians in 2 Peter 1:10-11

2 Peter 1:10-11 “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

God has graciously, richly, provided for us entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior and oh what a wonderful “welcome home” it will be.

We see a glimpse of this welcome home celebration in the book of Revelation where we see the ultimate fulfillment of these two provisions of God set forth in Exodus.

Revelation 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna”

God the father continues to rain down bread from heaven through his Word and by his Spirit but someday, we will experience in all his fullness, the life-giving presence of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Then, in Revelation 22:1-2a there is “the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city.”

For all eternity we will be refreshed by the living giving water that flows from the eternal, immovable, unchanging Rock.







Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© Geist Community Church
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