Israel's Classical Education

I have long been a fan of classical education, a proponent of classical education, and even an exponent of classical education. The whole idea of learning through the trivium, if you will, the grammar phase and the logic phase and the rhetoric phase. I have grown and deepened in my understanding and appreciation for classical education in a historical sense. I've also grown in my appreciation for it even as I consider other things that I have to learn and come to understand. I've often thought to myself, what would I do if, at this point in my life I had to go and learn how to do something else, and I would go through the same thing. I would go through the trivium. I would go through a grammar phase where I would have to learn the basic lingo of whatever that field is. I'd have to have a new glossary of terms, and I'd have to memorize rules, regulations, policies, procedures. And then after that grammar phase, I'd go to the logic phase, where I would begin to apply those things, and eventually, through time and effort and work, get to the rhetoric phase, where I would then be able to adapt and to improvise regardless of what we do. We go through this same kind of process. When we learn how to read. We start in that grammar phase where there is root memorization, and we don't understand the memorization. We just memorize it. We don't know what it's for, we just memorize it. We don't like memorize it, but we memorize it. And the grammar phase, we're learning the rules of grammar. We don't like the rules of grammar, but we learn the rules of grammar. We can't stand the rules of grammar, especially when we find that there are certain things that break the rules of grammar. Why has a W but one doesn't have a what W? That ain't right? Amen, somebody? But we learn the rules of grammar, and then we begin to apply them, and we get to the logic phase. And now, all of a sudden, in the logic phase, we can read complex materials, and we can actually read words that we've never seen before, because in the grammar phase, we learn the rules that we can apply to any word that we ever come across. Then we get to the rhetoric phase, and now we cannot only read, but we can write and make arguments in mathematics, we start off in the grammar phase and we're learning our multiplication tables, and we get sick and tired of learning our multiplication tables over and over and over for again enough already, I know these already. And then eventually we get from the grammar phase to the logic phase, and now we're actually using it and we're getting to do things like arithmetic an algebra, and it's amazing. But eventually, if we stick with it, we can get to the rhetoric phase, and now we can do things calculus maybe. And then when it comes to our faith, many of us in this room have just now been introduced to this same approach as it relates to discipling our children. We start them off in the grammar phase, and in the grammar phase we catechize them and they learn the Catechism, and it's rope memorization. They have no idea what most of it means, but they just learn it. It's been amazing every time we start back over with the Catechism for boys and girls. I love the way the room sounds, because you know, when we're doing whatever it is that we're reading, whatever it is that we're going through in that time of the service, usually hear a bunch of adult voices, but there are certain small voices that can't read yet, that can't quite get in on it. But when we do the Catechism for boys and girls, there're kids who can't read yet, but they know the answers to the questions for the Catechism of Boys and Girls. So there's a whole nother layer of sound that comes in to our responsive reading time because these children are being taught that in the grammar phase, they don't know what it means, but eventually they will and they'll get to the logic phase. And in the logic phase they'll be able to read scripture and understand and make connections theological connections to the texts that they are reading. And eventually you stick with it and you get to the rhetoric phase, and now you can actually synthesize texts and make theological arguments as you grow through this process. The same could be said for redemptive history as a whole. And what we're looking at here as we march through Exodus is Israel in the grammar phase of their development. You see, it's not that the Christian and the Jew the new Covenant believer and the old Covenant believer have completely different faiths. It's not that we worship different gods. It is that God has revealed himself progressively throughout history, and early on there was much less of an understanding of God's redemptive plan than there is today. And what we see in Exodus as we look at our texts in Exodus chapter sixteen, is we see Israel in the very early phases of their development, the grammar phase, if you will. And eventually there's another phase that comes, and I would say that that second phase that comes is when Christ arrives on the scene. There is no New Testament, yet we're still in that same phase of understanding, now coming out of it to the phase where Christ is the realization of all of these basic fundamental things that have been taught. And then we move from that phase into the rhetoric phase, if you will, which is where we would be today. And it's unfortunate that many cannot see that, and because of it, there are a lot of people who've never worked through Exodus six team. Because you see an Exodus, if you're a Christian that sees a hardline division and distinction between Israel and the Church. You may see some value in looking at the first parts of Exodus and seeing the story of the baby in the basket. You may see some value looking at the plagues and Exodus and their deliverance at the Red Sea. You may even see some value in going to Exodus twenty and looking at the Decalogue, although there are many who wouldn't see value in that either. We'll talk about that more when we get there. But there's very little value in a text like the text that we're looking at today unless you understand this connection of redemptive history. There is an election inexorable link between us and the people, places, promises, and events of Exodus sixteen. In fact, until we recognize this, we will fail to see and appreciate the full scope and magnitude of our own redemption because we won't fully understand how God achieved it. We also won't understand certain things in the New Testament, like, for example, when Paul writes in Galatians three twenty three to twenty nine, Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming Faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And that next line, and you are Christ's. If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offsprings airs according to promise. Paul says, if we belong to Christ, then we belong to the people of Exodus sixteen. If we belong to Christ, we are heirs of Abraham, not just as much as people who are part of Abraham's ethnicity, but more than people who are part of his ethnicity but don't share his faith. So when we look at Exodus sixteen, it's important that we realize we're not reading someone else's story. We're reading our own story. What I want to help us see today is the thread that connects us. I want us to see how Christ and his redemptive work point us back to Israel and their redemption. I want us to see how Moses and his mediatorial work point us forward to Christ. In essence, I want us to see how Jesus is the greater Moses, and how Moses is in fact a type of Christ. I want us to get an idea of what would have gone through the minds of Matthew's first readers as he unfolded Israel's redemptive history as he had come to see it in the life of the Messiah. And I want you to see that you and I are weak, frail, and needy as Israel was in the desert, and that in our weakness, and in our frailty, and in our need, God has patiently, gently and lovingly redeemed us in spite of us, and not because of us. Amen. With that in mind, joined me here in Exodus chapter sixteen, beginning at verse four. We'll read the text first and then come back through it. I want you to sort of get a sense of it. And what I want to do is read beyond our particular text, and you'll see why. Verse four. 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. On the sixth day, when you prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. 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. 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? Hold on to that phrase, by the way, those two those friend you grumble against the Lord? What are we that you grumble against us? Next verse 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. There it is again that you grumble against him. What are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Notice the same pattern. I think Moses a little bit tired, y'all, just a little bit. Next verse, 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. 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. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them. At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you should be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. In fact, we won't read on. We'll stop there. There are a number of things that we find here that relate to Israel's story, end to ours, and to the astute reader of the New Testament. You recognized a number of themes here, and I want to bring those themes out in order to help you grasp this concept of redemptive history, also in order to prepare us as we move toward a fuller discussion of covenant theology and Baptist covenant theology in particular. We talk about this all the time, but we're going to explain that in a more careful fashion as we get here, because there are so many of us who sort of take these things for granted and don't really understand what is meant when we talk about covenant theology. There are so many of us who are still mired in other approaches to reading the text and other approaches to looking at redemptive history, so much so that we neglect some of these very truths and would look at a text like this and not really see its value to us as new covenant believers. But it's valuable in that it gives us four truths that are divided into two halves, and both of them are the essence of our relationship with God, just like they're the essence of Israel's relationship with God. In the first half, we see the God who speaks, and in the second half we see the God who is there, the God who speaks, and the God who is there, And this is our God. This is how we know God. This is the only way that we can know God, the God who speaks. If God doesn't reveal himself, then we don't know him. If God doesn't reveal himself, then we're like all the other religions out there, trying to find a way to explain the world in which we live and to explain the one who is in control of the world in which we live. Unless God speaks, then we're like people who offer sacrifices to the volcano so that it will be appeased and not irrupt anymore. Unless God speaks, We're like the ones who sacrifice their children so that the drought will end and the rain will come, or like the ones who gather around a fire and do a rain dance so that the rain will come. Because we do not understand who God is unless God speaks. Unless God speaks, we will find individuals that we believe to be gods, and we will worship them. Unless God speaks, we will worship hundreds, if not thousands, of gods. Unless God speaks. We have no way to know how it is to worship God rightly unless God. How then, does he speak to things in precept and through his profits. Look at verses four and five. 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. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily. Now we'll see this on next week even more clearly. But this is an allusion to the Fourth Commandment. Ironically enough, this is very important because one of the things that distinguishes Covenant theology is the understanding of the appropriateness and the perpetuity of the moral law, specifically in the form of the Ten Commandments, and all ten of the Commandments, and the one commandment that tends to separate Reformed Christians from other Christians is the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Commandment, because those who are not in the Reformed camp tend to make the argument that the other commandments are only appropriate to the degree that they've been mentioned in the New Testament, and if they haven't been mentioned expressly and explicitly in the New Testament, then they're not really applicable. There are others who would make a little bit more sophisticated argument and basically say that, well, because this is the Ten Commandments are expressly part of the Mosaic Covenant, and as New Covenant believers were not bound to the Mosaic Covenant, were also not bound to the Ten Commandments. And regardless of which one of those positions people take, what it allultimately results in as a nine commandment position. Whether the Ten Commandment doesn't matter. But there's a problem there. There's two problems there, and you just see one of them here in Exodus sixteen. In Exodus sixteen, it is clear that we have the concept of sabbath before the giving of the Decalogue. The concept of the sabbath is here in Exodus sixteen. We'll say more about it on next week. It's here in Exodus sixteen. Not only is it here in Exodus sixteen, but even in Exodus chapter twenty. The reference point is Genesis two, so that it's a creation ordinance which transcends the Mosaic Covenant. But again more on that next week, and then more particularly when we get to the Decalogue itself. The point here is that God is making reference to his law, and particularly here he's making reference to the fourth Commandment. So he's going to give them bread from heaven. But when he gives them his bread from heaven, it's going to be connected to his law, and he's going to test them. By the way this testing of them, it's not as though God doesn't know that they're sinners. God knows that they're sinners. The testing here, the words, the way that they're used here, God is disciplining his people he is teaching his people, he is preparing his people for his law. The only way that they would get this right is if somehow obedience to the law were inherent to them as Israelites. And we know that's not true. Amen. So the testing here is not to see whether or not they have a predisposition to the keeping of this law. But the testing here is about a training of the people and prepare barring his people for this, because this is what's going to set them apart. Remember as well, that they did not observe the Sabbath in Egypt. Pharaoh wasn't given days off. Y'all, heymen, Pharaoh did not have this one day in seven precept. Pharaoh did not live by this precept, which means that Israel for hundreds of years did not live by this precept. They don't know how to do it. You have been around somebody who just can't rest. If your answer is no, then you're probably that person. But there are people for whom the world is just not okay. If they're not doing something, there's like another thing on the list that's not done. And we got to get to that other thing on the list that's not done. Because the world is not okay. Hey, it's almost as though you look at them and their attitude is such that they believe that if they don't do the next thing on the list right now, they'll explode. They'll never say that, but that's their attitude. And for those people, not even the Lord's Day can be a day of rest. And ultimately, what that is is the belief that it's not going to be okay. If I give God his time, it's not going to be all right because I don't believe that God is capable of holding the universe together. If I take my hands off the wheel, you can't say amen. You ought to say ouch. But this is the precept. And so He's going to train his people with this precept. But this precept is designed to teach them something. And so we have mo who is the teacher and the giver of these precepts. God is going to give these precepts through Moses. And here in the grammar phase, if you will, all Israel is going to have is this rule, not understanding its fullness. But Jesus brings a more sure word. They have these precepts, they have these rules. But listen to what we have in two Peter one nineteen, for example. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to what you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns of the morning star arises in your hearts. We have a more sure word. They have these precepts, but that's all they have is these precepts. We've got something more. These precepts were pointing to something. They were pointing to Christ. Christ comes, and we see what these precepts were all about. Hebrews one, one and two ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. We don't just have the precepts of God. We have the one to whom the precepts pointed. We don't just have the precepts of God. We have the one who actually achieved obedience to the precepts of God. You see, Israel had the precepts of God, but they couldn't keep the precepts of God. Not even Moses could keep the precepts of God. He could tell the people what the precepts were, but he failed at keeping the precepts himself. So all they haw is this law that is perpetually broken. But it's not until Christ comes that we see the law actually obeyed. So he is the giver of the law and the keeper of the law. So he's the greater Moses. But beyond that, he is the precept Listen to what John says in John one one through five. In the beginning was the Word, and the word was God, and the excuse me, Guinea's word. And the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that has been made. And him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome Itz. So Israel has the precepts of God. Amen. They had these rules, what do these rules? Do? These rules train them? And these rules show them that they can't keep the rules because it's all they are. But eventually Christ comes. And when Christ comes, we see what these precepts pointed to. We have something more sure, we have something more firm. We have Christ, and Christ is the only one who has kept these laws. Which is amazing because now we see that not only is Christ the greater Moses, but he's also the true Israel because Israel is to keep these precepts. But before Christ comes, Israel cannot keep these precepts. It is only in the person and work of Christ that Israel actually keeps the law, that Israel actually keeps the precepts. And beyond that, He is the Word of God. And beyond that also when we come to Christ. Now we have kept the precepts of God's word as well, because we are found in Christ, so that we too are part of true Israel because we're found in Christ. This is the marvel of the God who speaks through his precepts. And eventually we have the written Word, which is the record of all that I've just said. But God doesn't just speak through his precepts. He also speaks through his prophets. Look at verses six through nine of Exodus sixteen, Moses and Aaron said, here's the first 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. So you're going to know. In the morning you shall see the glory of God. You're going to see because he has heard you're grumbling. He's heard you're grumbling. He's heard your grumbling against the Lord. Moses want to make this real clear. You're grumbling against the Lord because he has heard your grumblings against the Lord. For what are we that you grumble against us? And Moses said, first, as Moses and Aaron said. And Moses said, when the Lord gives you in the evening meet to eat in the morning, bread to the fall. Because the Lord has heard your grumblings, that you grumble against him, what are we Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, come near before the Lord. He has heard your grumblings. Moses is fed up with the grumblings of the people. Moses was the prototypical prophet of God, and yet, as the prototypical prophet of God, even Moses has to remind the people I am the prophet of God. I'm not God, or as I like to say it, I don't write the mail, I deliver it. Amen. And this is a normal and natural tendency on behalf of the people. And it occurs again and again and again. The people are dissatisfied with God, but they come to Moses because Moses is the mediator between them and God. And Moses gets fed up with hearing the grumblings of the people, and he goes back to God with the grumbling of the people, and he says, God, they're grumbling again. What are you going to do about it? And then he comes back to the people and says, God has heard your grumbling, and here's what God's going to do about it. This prophet who is immediated. And yet even Moses announced the coming of another prophet. Moses announced the coming of a greater prophet, of a greater Moses. Deuteronomy eighteen fifteen through nineteen. 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, just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me hear again the voice of the Lord, my God, or see this great fire anymore lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command. And whoever will not listen to my words, that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. Does this not sound familiar? How can anyone who's ever read Jesus' words in the New Testament not realize that he was screaming to the people, I am the prophet of Deuteronomy eighteen. Jesus takes his place as this prophet of prophets in the Sermon on the mount when he says, time and time again, you have heard it said, But I say unto you. And when he does this, he's going to the Decalogue. He's going to the ten Commandments. So when Jesus says, you have heard it said, and then refers to one of the ten commandments, to whom is he referring, he's referring to Moses. He's come up onto a mountain and he's saying to the people, you've heard it said, commandment. But I say to you deeper understanding of commandment. He is announcing that he is the greater prophet to whom Moses pointed in Deuteronomy eighteen. Israel couldn't understand this in Exodus sixteen, but we can understand this today, and as we read Jesus' words, this is incredibly important. Not only that, but when Jesus does the miracles that he does, none of his miracles are wasted. You see, Moses is the great prophet of God's law. Elijah is the great prophet of God's miracles. Jesus goes on the mountain and he gives the law of Moses again and gives us a greater understanding of it. You've heard it said don't murder, and you think you're okay because you haven't killed anybody. But I say to you, if you hate your brother in your heart, you're already guilty. So he's the greater Moses who is giving us greater significance to what Moses taught. But he's also the greater Elijah, and that Elijah performed these miraculous feats, and Jesus comes and performs these exact same miracles, so that he announces himself as the ultimate prophet of God on both accounts, in both word and indeed, he's the greater Moses, and he's the greater Elijah. He's the one to whom Moses pointed, and he's the one to whom Elijah pointed. He is the God who speaks. He doesn't represent the God who speaks. He is the God who speaks. But then, remember we said there was another phase. So he had this phase in Moses's time where Moses is communicating these things to Israel and God is just shaping Israel. At this point of redemptive history, they don't understand the full picture. But later on Jesus comes, and now this picture is manifested. And then after that what comes. He sends the comforter, the Holy Spirit. And one of the first things that the Comforter does is that he gives utterance to the people of God on the day of Pentecost, so that the church explodes and he raises up these apostles, who then record what it is that they have received from Christ. So that now we've gone beyond one people wandering in the desert having one prophet who is telling them the word of God, to Jesus, who is the personification and manifestation of this truth and of this word, who accomplishes everything that this word was designed to accomplish to now, exploding that throughout the world, as the scriptures are given and as the Church is planted throughout the known world, it's above and beyond. But again in Exodus sixteen, they have no inclination of this. But does this mean that they're completely divorced from it? Absolutely not. He is still the God who speaks, except now he's the God who has spoken through his precept and through his prophets, and we have his word. In addition to this idea of the God who speaks, we also have the idea of the God who is there verse ten. And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness and behold. Notice it begins with behold in verse four. Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, look watch That word is used here in Exodus over and over again when God is about to do something miraculous. Behold, watch what I'm about to do. And you always behold, so that you can see who God is. Egypt needed to behold why so they can know that I'm the Lord. Israel needs to behold? Why so that they can know that I'm the Lord. So Moses, behold, behold, watch what I'm about to do. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, not in a cloud, not with a cloud, but in the cloud. In other words, this is a theophany. This is God appearing in the cloud. It guided the people, it guarded the people, It comforted the people, and it identified the people. Does this sound like any other way that we see God. Perhaps in the person of the Holy Spirit, the true glory of God. Moses announced God's presence, and he showed people this cloud. However, Jesus is the presence of God. John ten twenty five to thirty. Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name. Bear witnessed about me. But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I am the Father are one. He is the glory of God. In John one, we see that we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus is the Chicaina glory of God. This cloud is a mere foreshadowing of the presence of God among his people and the glory of God among his people. We've beheld his glory, the glory of the only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We beheld the glory of God. He is the image of the invisible God, not a cloud but a man. And John fourteen one of my favorite passages of scripture, the whole Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me in my father's house. Many imagines. If it weren't so, I would have told you, I'll go to prepare a place for you so that where I am he may be also, and that you know, I'll receive you to myself. So it's just wonderful. And then there's Thomas and he speaks up and we just go, oh, come on now. And if that wouldn't bad enough, then Philip chimes in, and here's where Philip chimes in in verse eight. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus, all this is awesome. But if you could you, if you get to show us God, I think that would do it. Right there, Jesus said to him. I know we can't see his face, we can't see his body language, but he had to be given him one of these. Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father? How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, But the Father, who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves, echoing what we found even here, echoing what we find in Deuteronomy eighteen. Jesus is presence of God. And there are people who are trying to figure this out. Jesus is presence of God. And then even when he leaves, he says, I'm not leaving you without a comforter and he leaves the person of the Holy Spirit, which means wandering around in the desert Grammar phase. There's the cloud. God is present with his people. All right, amen, we believe this. We get that God's presence present with his people. Then Jesus comes the presence of God among his own by the way, came to his own, and his own didn't receive him present with his people. But then in the next phase we have the spirit of God poured out so that we don't have to all be in the same place at the same time to see the cloud. He is Christ in us, the Hope of glory, hallelujah. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. The same power that raised Christ from dead now present in us. The same power that was seen in the cloud now present in us. When we are born again. It is this same power that awakens us from our slumber and our sleep, nay, our death. It is this power that makes us alive in Christ. It amazes me that so many people are so gullible and susceptible to many of these sort of Hebraic roots type movements. I saw a gentleman not long ago. I've known him for years, and I saw him, and he was wearing tats on his clothes and a yamacker on his head. What what are you doing? He's been sucked into one of these Hebrew roots movements. How do you do that? How do you come to know Jesus Christ, who was the fulfillment of all of this? How do you come to be filled with the very presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit. How do you come to see how Jesus has shown us the reality that was only seen in a very dim form back here and decide that you want to run back there as opposed to going on with God? How do you do that? It's like a married man deciding he wants to go back to kissing through a veil. I want to go back to courtship. No, you can have that. It was good when it was time for that, but that time is over. Amen. And yet in droves you see this. I go to homeschool conferences, and at homeschool conferences, I'm looking out and there are people in increasing numbers who are coming there in full on Hebrew garb, as though going back to the grammar phase is better. You know that there are Messianic churches, right, But here's what you might not know. And a lot of these Messianic churches ninety percent of the members are not Jews, They're gentiles. What is this? What is this? Why would we have the fulfillment and the reality of what Israel could only imagine and then go backwards? Why would a full grown man go back to his childhood again? But not only the presence of God, but also the provision of God. God is there in his presence and in his provision Verses eleven and twelve. And the Lord said to Moses, I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them. At twilight you should eat meat, and in the morning you should be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. The irony of this statement, of course, is that it's not the first time that it was made. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. This statement has been made a number of times throughout exis. Then you'll know. Then you'll know. Then you'll know, by the way, it's not the last time I'm either. It's going to be made again and again and again. Then you'll know. Then you'll know, Then you'll know. In other words, God is not saying through this statement, Okay, I'm going to do this one last thing, and then after this one last thing, all your questions are going to be answered. No, no, he's saying, I'm going to show you again who I am. I'm going to remind you again who I am. You ever wonder why we go to church one day and seven and not once a quarter, because we need to be reminded more often than that. Amen, we need to be reminded more often than that. This is a gracious kindness of both Israel's God and ours. Because it's interesting that phrase. It almost doesn't work. The Lord God said to Moses, I've heard the grumbling of the people of is Real say to them, seems like what comes what ought to come after that is something like this. I've heard the grumbling of the people of Israel say to them, I'm about to wear them out for doubting me again. Right, No, no, say to them, I'm going to show them again. Their groaning was evidence of their lack of faith, and yet God was kind. Their groaning was ultimately sin and ingratitude, and yet God was kind. He could have wiped him out, but he didn't. Instead, he graciously reminded them again, this is who I am and saints, if you believe that that was just then and not now, then you're not being honest with yourself, because there are days when you too grumble and complain. God delivers you from one thing, and no sooner than you've been delivered from the one thing, do you turn around and grumble at the very God who delivered you. Yeah, well, he delivered me out of this only to put me into that because he doesn't really love me. If he really loved me, then he would have delivered me from that and I wouldn't have experienced anything else again. But then he delivered me from that, and now this is going on with my life. And everybody knows that if God really loves a Christian that they don't get sick, and they don't get hungry, and they don't get tired, and nobody mistreats them. We know better, and yet we grumble we know better, and yet when the diagnosis is frightening, our immediate knee jerk reaction is often why me? We know better? And yet when somebody hurts us, we immediately want to ask where was God? We know better? And yet when the bottom falls out, of our plans. Immediately we want to say, God must be mad at me because we don't think it through to its logical conclusion, which Israel is not thinking through to its logical conclusion. Because here's the logical conclusion, and this is an example of this logical conclusion. Is Abraham. Abraham's going up the hill and they got their stuff, and he's going to sacrifice his son. Do you know what the Bible tells us and Hebrews, Abraham just figured God could raise the dead. He was just assuming that God telling him to go up here and do this. After God promising this sun and promising you know, an offspring like the sands of the sea. Okay, God must also want to teach me that he can raise the dead. That's the only thing that makes not I can't believe God promised me this offspring. He promised me offspring like the sand of the sea. Now he wants me to kill my only son so that I can't get what he promised me. That makes no sense. So for Israel, what makes sense. God brought us out of Egypt, and he brought us to the desert. He must have a way to feed people in the desert. That's right. I mean, if you know who God is, that's the only thing that makes sense. God knows how to get food and water out of the desert. Look at God, this is gonna be awesome, y'all. That's what makes sense if you understand that God is your redeemer. Here's what doesn't make sense. You know what, God brought us out here in the desert, and he doesn't even know how to feed us. We're gonna die. But just because it doesn't make sense doesn't mean that we don't think it. Jesus taught the same thing to his people Matthew six, beginning of verse twenty five. Therefore, I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, nor about your body what will you will put on. By the way, this is all desert language. This is all Israel in the desert language right here, because not only think about it, you're in the desert. You have to eat, you have to drink, and clothes wear out. Amen, look at the birds of the air. They neither sow, nor reap, nor gather in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value? Than they. And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? I don't know about you. I need to be reminded of that. I need to be reminded of that. Worrying doesn't fix things. I need to be reminded of that. Going over this over and over and over again, the doctor said he's going to call you back with your results. Right, Worrying between the time he told you he was going to call you back and the time he calls you back is not going to make the paper change that he's reading from. Might make you sicker, but it's not going to make the paper change that he's said that he's reading from. And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow? They neither toil nor spit in Yet, I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so closed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, oh you of little faith. Therefore, do not be anxious saying what shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For gentiles, seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient, for the day is its own trouble. The only time God gave them more bread than they need it for the day was when he gave it to him on the day before the sapbath. That was the only time other than that, it was us enough for the day. When Jesus teaches us to pray, he teaches us give us this day our daily bread. God sends bread through Moses, but Jesus says he is the bread that God sends. Jesus is the one who says I am the Bread of life John six thirty two to forty. Jesus then said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from Heaven. Again, again, you cannot read and understand the New Testament without reading and understanding the Old Testament. But my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. In other words, Jesus is saying he's the manna. So if you think that I'm just making something up by preaching about Jesus when I'm talking about Exodus chapter sixteen, think again, because that's what Jesus did. They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always. 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. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me I will never cast out, for I have come down from heaven. There he is the man again. Not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but that everyone who looks on the sun and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Why would you run back to Exodus sixteen when you have the words of Jesus in John six that clearly state to us that the real bread from heaven is Jesus. Why would you do anything but flee to Christ, run to Christ for salvation. Why would you do anything but turn from your sin, and turn from your self reliance and turn to Jesus Christ as your only hope. This, this is our logical response, not to somehow go wandering around outside to see if we can get some manna to fall down from heaven when the true bread has already come. Oh, sinner man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God himself. And Jesus is the word of God. Jesus is God. Believe him, trust him, cling to him, be fed by him, rejoice in him. See him as the provision that God has made for his people. Not that this makes us in any way superior to Israel. We're not superior to Israel. We are part of them. Amen. We just happen to be on the other end of redemptive history so that we have a clearer view of what God was doing. Then praise God for the manner from heaven that allowed Israel to survive, But praise God that the reason Israel needed to survive was so that through them God could send the true manner in the person of his son, who is the bread of life. Receive him. Let's pray, Oh God, how we thank you, How we rejoice in Christ, who is Word of God and presence of God, the God who speaks, and the God who is there. How we thank you for Jesus, who gives us the precept as our prophet, who has kept the precept. We thank you for Jesus, the God who is there and his presence and his provision. Thank you for the person of the Holy Spirit God with us, God in us. Thank you that we do not have to be in a particular place to see a particular cloud, but that you walk with us and more significantly in us as your people. Grant by your grace that we might rejoice in this truth, use it to shape us as your own. We pray. We ask this in Christ's name for his sake. Amen.