Christ in Deuteronomy: Our Refuge

The book of Deuteronomy is the fifth and final book classified as “Law” in the Bible.  Its name means “second law” or “second law-giving.”  We first saw the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 20:2-17, and they are repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6-21.  The theme of this book can be summed up in one word – obedience.  The first four chapters repeat the story of forty years of wandering in the desert, just as we read in Leviticus and Numbers.  I am convinced that the story of wandering is repeated once more to drive home to us the importance of obedience and faith in the leadership of God in our lives, even today, just as it was of supreme importance to the children of Israel as they left Egypt and travelled to the Promised Land.  Chapters 5 – 28 elaborate on the laws given in the Ten Commandments.  Here the children of Israel were given the promise of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.  Chapters 29 and 30 relate the everlasting covenant God made with His people before they entered the Promised Land:

Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may deal wisely and prosper in all that you do… That you may enter into the covenant of the Lord your God, and into His oath which He makes with you today, that He may establish you this day as a people for Himself, and that He may be to you a God as He said to you and as He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  It is not with you only that I make this sworn covenant but with future Israelites who do not stand here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with those who are here with us this day.  (Deuteronomy 29:9, 12-15, The Amplified Bible) 

Chapter 31 tells about Moses appointing Joshua to be his successor, and Chapter 32 is the farewell song of Moses.  The final blessing of all the tribes of Israel is given in Chapters 33 and 34.  The events of this book took place some 1400 – 1500 years before Jesus was born, so around 3400 – 3500 years ago, and yet some of those blessings were not fulfilled until the re-establishment of Israel as a nation in 1947!  God is still fulfilling His prophecies, and it is with great excitement and anticipation that we are able to see events happening today and every day that confirm what He taught us through Moses and the books of the law so many centuries ago.

Deuteronomy was an important book to Jesus.  He quoted from it three times when He was tempted in the wilderness before He began His earthly ministry.  Matthew 4:1-11 (New King James Version) says:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Deuteronomy 8:3) Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” (Deuteronomy 6:16)  Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” (Deuteronomy 6:13) Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

The book of Deuteronomy contains a lot of instructions that applied specifically to the Jewish people in that day.  Those instructions confront customs that were common to those people at that time, so as we read the book, we must be careful to understand that some of those customs are foreign to us today.  As with any part of the Bible, to understand it completely, we must take into consideration the person who wrote it, who it was written for, and the context in which it was written.  But we SHOULD apply the lessons that are taught there to our own lives today.  For example, Deuteronomy 6:7-8 instructs the people to write the Ten Commandments on the doorposts of their homes and to wear them on their foreheads and hands.  For many years, Jewish people did just that, and some still do.  But the lesson being taught was that we should memorize scripture (wear it on our foreheads), apply it to all we do (wear it on our hands), and build our homes and families on the laws of God (write it on the doorposts of our homes).

Another example of that is found in Deuteronomy 4:41 and 19:2-10.  It was an accepted custom in that time and in that culture that if someone was killed, whether it was murder, manslaughter, or an accident, the family of the victim would take revenge for that killing by, in turn, killing the one responsible for the death of their family member.  But God instructed that certain cities be set up as cities of refuge where one who was guilty of manslaughter or any other accidental killing could go and be safe.  The gates to these cities were always open, and Jewish tradition says that signs with the word “Refuge” on them were posted along the roads leading to them.  The offender faced consequences for his deed since he had to leave his home, family, and any wealth he may have had, but at least his life would be spared.  His accusers could stand at the gate and yell at him, try to throw stones at him, and make his life miserable, but they could not enter the city of refuge.  The offender would be tried for his crime by the judges inside the city of refuge, but he would not be turned over to his accusers.  He was allowed to live in a city of refuge until the high priest died.  Then he would be turned back over to the offended family.  These cities of refuge are a picture of what Jesus Christ does for us!  He is our Refuge!  We have all sinned and deserve to be punished, but even though we still face the consequences of our sin, His arms are always open to us and He will not condemn us because of our sin. Our enemy, Satan, the Accuser, is always on our heels, trying to make us miserable through guilt and shame, but Jesus is our Hiding Place.  A sinner who runs to Jesus, believing in Him and trusting Him will have his sin guilt covered, forgiven by the shed blood of Jesus who died for all our sins.  He is our High Priest who saves us forever, because He will never die, and He will never forsake us.

Christ is also pictured in Moses.  Deuteronomy 18:15 (New King James Version) says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear.”  That Prophet is Jesus.  Consider these facts about Moses and Jesus (www.thebookwurm.com/ref-deu.htm):

They were both godly children (Exodus 2:2, Hebrews 11:23, Luke 2:52)
They both refused an earthly kingdom (Hebrews 11:26a, Matthew 4:8-10)
They were both objects of a king’s wrath (Hebrews 11:27, Acts 4:27)
They both acted for the joy of the reward (Hebrews 11:24-26b, Hebrews 12:2)
They were both called out of Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15)
They were both rejected by their brothers (Exodus 2:14, John 1:11)
They both made the sea obey them (Exodus 14:15, 16, 21; Mark 4:39-41)
They both had people who wanted to stone them (Numbers 14:8-10, John 10:31-33)
They both delivered a parting blessing to Israel (Deuteronomy 33:26-29, Matthew 23:37-39)
They are associated in the song of eternity (Revelation 15:3)

Do you know the Prophet, and do you hear His words?  Do you run to Him, Our Refuge?   He speaks to us, and He stands with His arms open wide, ready to redeem us, ready to defeat our accuser.  I hope you will apply Deuteronomy 10:12 (New King James Version) to your life, “And now, (insert your name here), what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”  I hope you will join me in my prayer of praise this week and apply it to your own life.  It is adapted from Moses’ final blessing of Israel, Deuteronomy 33:26-27 (Amplified Bible): 

There is none like God, (dear friend), Who rides through the heavens to your help and in His majestic glory through the skies. The eternal God is your refuge and dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms; He drove the enemy before you and thrust them out, saying, Destroy!

Christ in Numbers: The Great Physician, Our Guide, Our High Priest

The more I read the Bible, the more I understand that it could not have been written by human hands.  It MUST be entirely the word and work of our powerful God.  Just as Leviticus is a book of the law, so is Numbers.  It was so named because it includes the census of the Jewish people, first as they left their bondage in Egypt, and again 40 years later just before they crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.  In Hebrew, the book is called “Bemidhbar,” translated “in the wilderness.”  I like the Hebrew name because it more accurately describes the entirety of the book, since the two numberings of the people is only a very small portion of the book. 

This book has several themes, but one of its primary emphases is on obedience and blessings versus disobedience and punishment.  I can imagine Moses crying, “You can take the people out of Egypt, but you can’t take Egypt out of the people!”  They had no sooner escaped the oppression of slavery when they began longing to go back:

So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor.  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor.  (Exodus 1:13-14, New King James Version)

And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”  So they said to one another, “Let us select a leader and return to Egypt.” (Numbers 14:2-4, New King James Version)

Another important theme from Numbers is that of God’s presence among the people.  One of the first things He instructed Moses to do when they escaped Egypt was to erect the tabernacle, the tent that was the house of God.  Once Moses took the first census of all the people, he followed God’s instruction and situated all the people, according to their tribes, on the four sides of the tabernacle.  The tabernacle was situated in the middle of all the people as they wandered through the wilderness for 40 years, just as today, God’s plan is that He be at the center of our lives.

As we read the book of Numbers, it’s easy to get bogged down in all the names of the people, the tribes, and the details of the long, arduous journey in the wilderness.  But if we read carefully and prayerfully, we can see how all the details of this book point to Jesus Christ, even though these events took place around 1400 years before His birth!  For example:

• When the people grumbled again, after being fed with manna, longing to go back to Egypt, God punished them by sending a plague of “fiery serpents” that bit and killed many of the people.  They realized that they had sinned against God by not trusting His servant, Moses, and asked him to plead with God on their behalf.  When he did, God instructed him to make a bronze replica of the serpent, place it on a wooden pole, and lift it high so the people could see it.  When the people looked at the bronze serpent in repentance and in faith, they were healed.  The symbolism here is that Jesus became sin for us; he was placed on a wooden cross which was raised up for people to see.  When we look to Him in repentance and in faith, we are “healed” of our sin.  Jesus said, “‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ This he said, signifying what death he should die. ‘I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.’” (John 12:32-33, 46, New King James Version)
• God instructed Moses to position all the people in camps, according to their tribes, on the four sides of the tabernacle, three tribes on each side.  He appointed one tribe on each side to be the leader of that group.  Each of those “leader tribes” carried a standard, or a banner.  The tribes on the east were led by Judah, whose standard was the lion.  The tribes on the south were led by Reuben, whose standard was a man.  The tribes on the west were led by Ephraim, whose standard was the ox.  The tribes on the north were led by Dan, whose standard was the eagle.  (In actuality, there were 13 tribes, not just 12.  The tribes were all descendants of the sons of Abraham, but the descendants of Joseph were divided into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasseh, Abraham’s grandsons.)  The tribe of Levi (the priestly tribe) was encamped around the tabernacle, in the center of all the other tribes.  When we are introduced to Jesus, it is very interesting to see some of the names He was given – The Lion of Judah, The Son of Man,  The Suffering Servant (an ox was a symbol of service), and  The Son of God (the eagle was a symbol for God).  And the four gospels each present Jesus with a different emphasis:  Matthew, who was from the priestly tribe of Levi, emphasizes Jesus as the Messiah, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; Mark, Peter’s assistant, emphasizes Jesus as the obedient Servant of God; Luke, a Gentile doctor, emphasizes Jesus as the Son of Man, including His genealogy beginning with Adam, through Abraham to David, and up to Heli, the father of Mary and the father-in-law of Joseph; and finally John emphasized Jesus as the Son of God, stressing his oneness with God the Father, and His miracles, and His seven “I am” statements.  It’s also very interesting to imagine how the arrangement of all these people might have looked from above – the tabernacle in the center and three tribes on each of the four sides.  Might it have looked like a cross?
• After all Moses and Aaron had done to lead the people out of captivity in Egypt, to intercede on their behalf to God, and after God showing Himself through miracles that He allowed Moses to perform, the people were still not happy.  They resented Moses and Aaron and wanted to replace Aaron as high priest.  So, after God had killed the most outspoken of the dissenters by swallowing them up in a sinkhole, and after sending a plague on all those who still dissented, God gave Moses instructions on how to demonstrate to all the people that Aaron was, indeed, to be their high priest.  The prince of each tribe, including Aaron, was to bring a staff (a rod or walking stick), write his name on it, and lay all the staffs in the tabernacle.  God said that He would cause the staff belonging to His chosen leader to sprout buds and bloom.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel, and get from them staffs, one for each fathers' house, from all their chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff, and write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each fathers' house. Then you shall deposit them in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. Thus I will make to cease from me the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against you.” (Numbers 17:1-5, English Standard Version)

So Moses did as God instructed, and sure enough, the next day only Aaron’s staff had budded and blossomed.  All the other staffs were dead, showing no sign of life at all. 

On the next day Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds. Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the people of Israel. And they looked, and each man took his staff. And the Lord said to Moses, “Put back the staff of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebels, that you may make an end of their grumblings against me, lest they die.” (Numbers 17:8-10)

We can see Jesus in Aaron’s staff.  There have been, and will continue to be, false prophets and false religions that attempt to usurp the place of Jesus.  But all the leaders of those so-called religions are dead and in their graves.  Only Jesus Christ conquered death and continues to live today.  Just like Aaron’s staff, He continues to grow and produce fruit in the lives of those who love Him and place their trust and faith in Him.  If we place our trust in our own intellect, our heritage, or our own good works, we are being just like the people who grumbled against Aaron.  We are trying to be our own god.

And the angel answered and said unto the women, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.  He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” (Matthew 28:5-6a, King James Version)

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16, King James Version)

These are only three of the many illustrations of Jesus Christ in the book of Numbers.  As we study God’s word, isn’t it amazing to see how He speaks to us on each and every page?  Are you as fascinated as I am with the intricacy with which God’s Word is written?

My prayer for you and for myself this week is probably one of the most well-known prayers of the Bible.  It is found in Numbers 6:24-26 (King James Version):  “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.”

Christ in Leviticus: Our High Priest, The Lamb of God

The third book in the Bible, Leviticus, was given to the Jewish people, primarily the priests.  It was given to Moses upon completion of the building and furnishing of the tabernacle as recorded in Exodus.  In this book, God instructed the priests (the descendants of Levi) about the sacrifices and offerings (chapters 1-7), the high priest and the tabernacle ( chapters 8-10), regulations about life (chapters 11-15), the Day of Atonement (chapter 16), living holy lives (chapters 17-22), and the Passover, other festivals, and other regulations (chapters 23-27).  The overall theme of the book is God’s holiness and the total incapability of humanity to achieve holiness without the mercy and grace of God.

At first glance, and especially to those who are new to studying the Bible, this book can seem very technical and irrelevant to our lives.  Even to the modern day Jewish people, a lot of this book may seem out-dated.  After all, the old sacrificial system outlined here has not been used in over 2,000 years.  The graphic descriptions of how the animal sacrifices were to be prepared can be very repulsive.  I believe they were intended to be.  They indicate how repulsive our sins are to Holy God and how seriously He takes our sin.

The more you learn about Jesus, the more you will see that the sacrifices, offerings, regulations, festivals, and priestly duties outlined in Leviticus all point to Him, our Great High Priest, the only sacrifice that can take away our sin.  And by contrast, we can see that the animal sacrifices that had to be repeated year, after year, after year were inadequate; but the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us, once and for all, was and is the only sacrifice that is capable of cleansing us from all our guilt and shame, forever, and ever, and ever.  It is the only sacrifice that assures us an eternal relationship with Holy God.

It would take an entire book to thoroughly describe all the symbols and illustrations, or types, of Jesus Christ that are given in the book of Leviticus.  So I will try to touch on only a few high points here, following the six chapter divisions mentioned above:

• Christ illustrated in the sacrifices and offerings:

“He (Jesus Christ) has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.” (Hebrews 9:26b – 28a, New King James Version)

"First he said, ‘You neither want nor are you pleased with sacrifices and offerings or with animals burned on the altar and the sacrifices to take away sins.’ He said this even though all these sacrifices are offered according to the Law. Then he said, ‘Here I am, O God, to do your will.’ So God does away with all the old sacrifices and puts the sacrifice of Christ in their place.  Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that he made of his own body once and for all.”  (Hebrews 10:8 – 10, Good News Translation)

•  Christ illustrated in the high priest and the tabernacle:

“But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.  Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”  (Hebrews 9:11-12, New King James Version)

“We have, then, my friends, complete freedom to go into the Most Holy Place by means of the death of Jesus. He opened for us a new way, a living way, through the curtain—that is, through his own body. We have a great priest in charge of the house of God.”  (Hebrews 10:19-21, Good News Translation)

• Christ fulfilling the regulations of life:
  
  “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”  (Romans 8:1-2, New King James Version)
  
  “Yet we know that a person is put right with God only through faith in Jesus Christ, never by doing what the Law requires. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be put right with God through our faith in Christ, and not by doing what the Law requires. For no one is put right with God by doing what the Law requires. (Galatians 2:16, Good News Translation)
  
• Christ becoming the Day of Atonement:"But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, to purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons].” (Galatians 4:4-5, Amplified Bible)
  
  “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all.” (1 Timothy 2:5-6, New King James Version)
• Christ enabling us to live holy lives:
  
  “So that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. I refuse to reject the grace of God. But if a person is put right with God through the Law, it means that Christ died for nothing!”  (Galatians 2:20-21, Good News Translation)
  
  “For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”  (Hebrews 9:13-14, English Standard Version)
  
• Christ in Passover, other festivals, and other regulations:

“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.^”  (1 Corinthians 5:7, New King James Version) (Note – in the Bible, leaven is often a symbol of sin)

“But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (died).” (1 Corinthians 15:20, New King James Version

I must admit:  I have probably spent more time in the book of Leviticus this week than I have ever spent there.  It has been very inspiring to me, though, because I see Jesus on every single page, even though it was written around 1400 years before His birth!  Leviticus tells us about the holiness of God, mentioned 152 times, more than any other book of the Bible.  God was telling us that we who love Him are meant to be holy, just as He is holy, set apart, different from the rest of the world.  Leviticus shows us that we must deal with our sin through offerings and sacrifices, and that these sacrifices were to be perfect, spotless, and without any defects – a picture or symbol of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God who was our perfect sacrifice, once and for all.  And finally, Leviticus shows us how to worship Him and how to have a relationship with Him, giving every part of our lives to Him.  That is why God gave His people such detailed rules for their everyday lives.  Some of those rules were about hygiene and diet, meant to protect their health and well being, long before we had the science that now shows the reasons behind those rules.  Leviticus shows us that true worship begins with accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sin.  It shows us that true worship is both vertical (toward God and our relationship with Him) and horizontal (because of our love of God and because of his love for us, true worship affects how we relate to our fellow man).

Leviticus 19:1-2 (New King James Version) says:  “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”’”  So my prayer for you and for me this week comes from Romans 12:1-2 (New Living Translation):

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Christ in Exodus: The Bread of Heaven

The book of Exodus is so rich in illustrations, or types, of Jesus Christ, it was hard for me to decide which one to write about today.  But as I have said so many times, God uses our everyday circumstances to show Himself to us and to speak to us.  We can hear and see His direction if we choose to open our hearts to Him and listen.  Last week while I was babysitting, my grandsons asked me to read to them from chapter 16 of Exodus.  Just a coincidence?  I don’t think so!  I won’t re-print the entire chapter here, but I will ask you to read it for yourself when you can.

The story told in chapter 16 takes place just after Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21), through the Red Sea on dry land (Exodus 14:22), into the wilderness (Exodus 15:22).  They had grumbled to Moses because there was no fresh water to drink, but God miraculously cleansed the bitter waters of Marah so that they would have plenty of sweet water (Exodus 15:24-25).  So after seeing all these things that God had done for them, when we get to chapter 16, instead of seeing a grateful, thankful people, we again see grumbling and a lack of faith.  This story takes place only six weeks after they left Egypt.  They had so little faith that they were ready to turn back to the slavery that they had so recently escaped.  Are we sometimes like that?  Do we take for granted all that God does to provide for us?  Do we forget to thank Him for what He has already done and trust Him for what He will do today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next?  Or do we grumble, as though He has no idea about what we need?

God knew that the Israelites could not possibly bring with them out of Egypt enough food to sustain them until they arrived at the Promised Land. He was not surprised when the bread that they had brought with them out of Egypt had been used up.  He had a plan all along.  But His plan was not JUST to feed them physically, but also to test their faith.  “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.’” (Exodus 16:4, English Standard Version).  The people were told to gather each day enough of this bread (manna) to satisfy their needs for that day.  But on the sixth day they should gather two days portion, so that on the seventh day they would have plenty of bread without having to gather it that day.  They were commanded to honor the Sabbath by not working on that day. 

So here we have the illustration of Christ as The Bread of Heaven.  In John, chapter 6, we read the story of how Jesus fed the 5,000, miraculously multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish, and still having 12 baskets full of leftovers!  This miracle came on the heels of Jesus healing so many people that multitudes of people were following Him.  He and His disciples had tried to escape the throngs of people by going into the outlying areas where they thought they could get some rest, but the people continued to follow Him, even though they had not brought anything to eat.  Just like the people in Exodus, they were following, but unlike them, they had faith in the One who led them.  They had seen His miracles and expected to see more.

But the religious leaders of the day were unconvinced, even knowing the many prophecies that told them about Jesus, even after seeing all the wonderful miracles He had done.  They were more concerned about their traditions and about their powerful positions.  They did not make the correlation between what they were taught by their history and what was being fulfilled right in front of their eyes!  

Jesus addressed their unbelief when used this illustration in John 6:32, 48-51 (English Standard Version) where it is written, “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 . . . I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the Bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever. And the Bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’”

The people following Moses were told to observe the Sabbath, not to work gathering bread that day.  We are told in Genesis that God established the Sabbath because his work of creation was finished, completed on the sixth day.  God did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired, but His work came to rest, it ended, it was complete.  In the same way, and for the same reason, Jesus said on the cross, “‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30, English Standard Version).  When we “honor the Sabbath and keep it holy,” we are acknowledging that Christ has completed the work of salvation.  There is nothing more to be done.  We cannot add anything to what Christ did for us on the cross.  When He gave up His flesh for us, He took the punishment for our sins so that we could eat the Bread of Life and live eternally in harmony with Him.

Are you living in expectation of God’s miracles in your life, or do you grumble, forgetting what He has already done for you.  Do you feast on the Bread of Heaven, trusting Him and His work on the cross to cleanse you from all your sins, or are you trusting in your own rituals, traditions, or intellect like the religious leaders that Jesus reprimanded?

I hope that this week you will join me in this prayer of praise and thanksgiving, a praise that Moses and the people of Israel sang to God after he brought them through the Red Sea.  It is found in Exodus 15:2 (Amplified Bible):  “The Lord is my Strength and my Song, and He has become my Salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”