Deliverance and blessing are part of the Christian life. These next two chapters display how it first worked for Israel. The Song of Moses is one of hope and deliverance – points to our deliverance in Christ. Water, quail and bread – what more could you want?!...
Exodus 15: The Song of Moses
1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 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.
3 The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.
4 "Pharaoh's chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.'
10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
13 "You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The LORD will reign forever and ever."
19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
21 And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."
Bitter Water Made Sweet
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25 And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
26 saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, your healer."
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Exodus 16: Bread from Heaven
1 They set 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 grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,
3 and the people of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when 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 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.
5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily."
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, "At evening you 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 glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. For what 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---what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the LORD."
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, '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 glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
11 And the LORD said to Moses,
12 "I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"
13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew 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, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "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 omer, 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, whoever 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 it 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.
22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,
23 he said to them, "This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.'"
24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
25 Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.
26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none."
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
28 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like 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 jar, 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 the testimony to be kept.
35 The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
36 (An omer is the tenth part of an ephah.)
Things to think about…
Look at the Song of Moses in Ex 15. It exalts and praises deliverance, but at the expense and death of Egypt. It says that God is a man of war, Ex 15:3. Let’s get rid of an insipid unbiblical view that God is always meek and gentle – not true. The God we serve is also a God of wrath. Yes He is a God of mercy, compassion and grace, but let’s never lose sight of the fact that He is also described as a consuming fire, Heb 12:29, that deals decisively with sin.
The Song of Moses also says that “pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away”, Ex 16:14, 15. How sad that the children of Israel would not seize on this opportunity and see God’s hand of deliverance and abundance by entering the Promised Land straight away. One wonders what signs the Lord would have done after parting the Red Sea if they had trusted in the Lord. But what of us today? We have the deliverance of Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit. Why would we doubt when He has delivered to us so great a salvation.
What do we see after the glory and grace of the Red Sea deliverance?…grumbling, only three days after this mighty display of God’s love and power, Ex 15:22-24. We are a bad ad when we complain about our work, home life, spouse, car, house, church etc, etc. We are actually saying ‘God, what you have for me is not adequate’ and we deny His love, grace and provision over our lives. We are called to be content in all things, Phil 4:11. And do everything without complaining or arguing, Phil 2:14. Repent if you have complained in this last week regarding a fault with the Lord’s provision for you.
Water is being provided, Manna in the morning and quail at night. Seems like a balanced diet to me. But what do we see? People are told not to store up the manna overnight or gather on the seventh day. Both of these things are ignored and the Lord begins to grow angry with His people. How do you discern the difference between a godly storing up and saving as opposed to building bigger barns and trusting in provisions rather than the Provider?
An Omer – a big jar of manna was kept so that when they entered the promised land the children of Israel could observe the miraculous provision that was given to them for 40 years, Ex 16:33. I wonder what happened to this jar. We must also tell and show the mighty acts of the Lord to the next generation. If our witness is weak, our children and subsequent generations will not embrace the God of their fathers. Show Christ to your kids! Christ of course tells the NT disciples that He is the Manna and He is the Water that was given in the wilderness in John 6. They were told to eat His body and drink His blood. This repulsed most of Christ’s followers at that time and many followed Him no more. Sadly it is still tru today in modern Israel that many Jews still find Yeshua offensive. Pray that their eyes hearts and minds may be opened.
Vision Point for Cell groups
CBC's Vision "To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission".
Cell group’s on break for 2 weeks.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for our “Beirut Blessing” fund. Will be sent off this week. $1200 raised.
2. Lockdowns in Vic and easing and travel bubbles with NSW for QLD.
4. Continue to pray for our government for wisdom and economic management.
6. Sunday’s messages. The message this week – “Fed with bread and water” Exod 16, 17. Pr Jay.
7. Church finances to meet our expenses and to put a roof over our café.
8. Our City and Country – Pray for revival over our city and the leadership of our country even through these challenging times.
Praise Points.
1. New visitors and worship on Sunday. Thank you boys.
2. Finances continue to be maintained.
3. Wonderful spirit of joy in our church. Thank you Jesus.
4. Donations to Café roof ($5,175) and Blessing Beirut ($1200). Thank you!
5. Unity, peace and grace at CBC.
6. Praise God for all those who serve at CBC.
Announcements
1. Prayer meetings on break for 2 weeks. Please continue to pray for CBC however.
2. One service at 9:30am Every Sunday morning. This service will also be live streamed on YouTube. No kisses, hand-shakes or hugs are allowed. Hand sanitizer is to be used, tables will be wiped and chairs arranged for appropriate distancing. Families can of course sit together. CBC is allowed up to 50 people inside, then we have an overflow in the cafe.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
