God proving that he is holy

Text Numbers 20:1-13 Time 14/10/12 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

In Numbers 20 we return to the story of Israel's wandering through the desert. We are nearing the end of the journey by this point and the first thing we are told concerns the death of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. We then have yet another case of complaining and rebellion among the Israelites, a rebellion that is followed by an act of mercy from God through his servants Moses and Aaron. On this occasion, however, there is an extra element in that Moses and Aaron only obey God in part and so also are guilty of rebellion and are deserving of judgement, which is what they get.

The story may ring a bell in your mind in that it is very similar to what we find back in Exodus 17. In Exodus 17:1-7 we read that

The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, travelling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarrelled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. Moses replied, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test? But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst? Then Moses cried out to the Lord, What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me. The Lord answered Moses, Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink. So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarrelled and because they tested the Lord saying, Is the Lord among us or not?

It sounds in many ways like the same incident repeated, except that in this latter case Moses is told only to speak to the rock but instead of doing that he once again strikes it twice over. It is also clear that the incident in Exodus is from early on in the journey while the one in Numbers 20 is from a much later period. The first incident happens at Meribah Rephidim and the second at Meribah Kadesh. The first incident involves one generation then and the second involves another, their children. In fact it has been suggested that the two incidents are like bookends – one at the beginning of the wanderings in the wilderness and the second near the end. As we know, history repeats itself. One reason for that, it has been said, is that no-one is listening. We must listen to the lessons found here.

As for what lessons the repeated incident has to teach us, Moses himself tells us when he rounds off the incident in verse 13

These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD and where he showed himself holy among them.

The earlier name of this Meribah (struggle) was Kadesh, which sounds a little like the Hebrew word for holy so there is a little word play here.

The idea of God's holiness is not simply that of his being morally perfect but includes the idea of his being entirely other, his being distinct and separate. We can sum up best by saying that it refers to his Godness, all that makes him God.

So how was God's holiness shown at this time? It was shown in the way it is so often shown. On the one hand, it was seen in his severity and judgement towards Miriam and to her brothers Moses and Aaron and, on the other, in his mercy and faithfulness in providing water in the desert for his people. Let's consider then God proving himself holy.

1. Consider God showing himself holy in his judgements

1. Consider God's holy judgement on Miriam

The chapter begins with this statement that In the first month that is of the fortieth year in the desert the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. (This could be Kadesh Barnea near the border but is much more likely to be another Kadesh). There Miriam died and was buried. Although there are many good things to be said about Miriam who was a prophetess, the last we heard of her in Numbers was in Chapter 12 when she, with Aaron, was in rebellion against Moses and was struck with leprosy. That incident no doubt cured her of her rebellion but she was still a guilty sinner and she died and was buried there in the desert along with the others of her rebellious generation. There is no mention of mourning for her and that underlines her rebelliousness. God had said that all that generation would die in the desert, all except Joshua and Caleb, and so it was – even Miriam died there. It was judgement from him.

Whenever we are confronted by death we should remember that it is a judgement. When God created this world it was not intended that there should be death in it. Death came in when sin came in and although the death of a believer is not the same as that of an unbeliever there is an element of judgement in both cases. $ Sometimes you see as a gravestone a broken stone column. It is usually for a person who dies young – cut off in his prime. I have heard such stones criticised because there is a completeness under God to every life no matter how short. However, there is a sense in which such a symbol is appropriate in every case. Death is not the obvious end to any life. That is how it is however now that man is fallen.

2. Consider God's holy judgement on Moses and Aaron

Like a bookend to the passage we read that not only did Miriam die in the desert But (12) the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them. They too are going to die. They too come under God's judgement. Not only are they part of that condemned generation but they are disobedient here at Meribah Kadesh and fail to trust in God enough to honour him as holy in the sight of the Israelites and so they are guilty and deserving of God's punishment. What exactly they did wrong is debated. Although they were not told to strike the rock they were told to take a rod. Was the sin in striking twice or in losing patience with the people? The main thing, as always, seems to be a lack of faith. You did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites is the charge.

Judgement is part of the holiness of God. As Habakkuk says to God (1:13) Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Because God is perfectly holy, he cannot allow sin into his holy presence. This is why he pours out his wrath in temporal judgements such as death and burial. A W Pink defines God's wrath as “the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin”. In Romans 1:18 Paul speaks of God's wrath being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. This is one obvious way that God's holiness is seen and it is a reminder to us that a holy God expects faith and obedience and where that faith and obedience is missing then we can expect his wrath to be expressed in different ways. Some of these ways are temporal – death and sometimes disease and disaster (although the link between these is not always a simple one) but there is also such a thing as eternal punishment - the wrath of hell. We must face up to that fact and see that Jesus Christ alone can turn away the wrath of God. He alone can save us from God's judgements.

We will say more about that but for now consider then the holy wrath of God. How holy is God in his judgements.

2. Consider God showing himself holy in his faithful mercy

We see God's holiness expressed in wrath and judgement then but, despite the sin of the people, the thrust of the passage focuses largely on God's holiness shown in his mercy, his turning away his wrath from the people. There are three things to consider.

1. Consider the problem the people had and their wrong response to it

We are told in verses 2-5

Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarrelled with Moses and said, If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD! Why did you bring the LORD's community into this desert, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!

Now sadly, this is typical of the people in the desert. This is how their fathers were and this is how they are too. Forty years almost have passed but there is no change. It is the same grumbling, complaining and ungrateful spirit we see throughout. Instead of comforting Moses on the death of his sister, they complain and grumble.

Paul warns us against such a spirit by pointing to the way God's wrath often broke out against the people for such sins. God was not pleased with most of them he says in 1 Corinthians 10 their bodies were scattered in the desert. He goes on Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were he says ... We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did … We should not test Christ, as some of them did ... And do not grumble, as some of them did he adds. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.

This raises the question of how we react to troubles. We live in a world that is fallen and so we must expect to face troubles. We may not be in a desert or wilderness. We may not be like the estimated one billion in the world today who do not have access to safe drinking water. Nevertheless we will face troubles. There will be things that we find difficult or discouraging – illness, disappointment, frustrations and difficulties of various sorts. Now it is very important that we teach ourselves how to react in the right way to such things. First, it is good to see how we tend to react. Some people tend to panic or to crumble whenever they are put under pressure. Some are okay unless they are tired. When we see where we are likely to react in the wrong way we need to seek God's face and ask his help to turn from such sinful reactions. Whenever we fail in such areas we need to repent from our sins.

Always our message is a message or repentance. Repent we say. Turn from your sins. Leave your sins behind. Turn from them. What judgements await you otherwise from a holy God. Yes, he is merciful but we ought not to test his mercy as the Israelites did.

2. Consider the leaders and their right response to the people's complaints

When Moses and Aaron heard the people complaining they reacted in exactly the right way. We are told in verse 6 that they went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell face down, before God. We are told that the glory of the LORD appeared to them. God was present before them in a visible way as he often did in those days. He then spoke to Moses and said (8) Take the staff, this may well be the one that budded and blossomed and that had been placed in the tent of meeting or tabernacle. Moses and Aaron were then to gather the assembly together. Hey were then told to Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.

At this point Moses and Aaron are a great example then. In trouble, they pray to God and they are given a solution to the problem. We also must learn to pray whenever we are facing trouble of any sort. We ought always to bring it to the Lord in prayer

 

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? 
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer. 
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? 
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? 
Precious Saviour, still our refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer. 
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer! 
In his arms he'll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there.

3. Consider the holy mercy that provided for the need of the Israelites in the desert

So what was the result of this prayer of an Old Testament saint? We read how Moses took the staff from the LORD's presence, just as he commanded him. He and Aaron then gathered the assembly together in front of the rock. Now Moses as we have said should only have spoken to the rock but in his temper he said Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock? and then, as before, raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. The result was that Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

Now interestingly in the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 10 Paul says that these people, rebels as they were, were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Further, They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. What he means is that there is a message in this story, a message that goes deeper than the simple truth that God can provide for his people. When he says that the rock accompanied them he is not necessarily following the rabbinic idea that a rock followed them. Rather, it is a poetic way of saying that just as there was a rock gushing water at Rephidim and at Kadesh so Christ was with them all the way.

Now if Christ is the rock, what does Moses do to the rock? He strikes it with a rod. And what happened when he struck it? Water came gushing out.

So let's think about this. When was Christ struck with a rod? When was he punished? We know that at the end of his life he was not only whipped or flagellated but crucified. The rod of punishment came down on him at the Golgotha. And what was the result of that striking of Jesus? Not only was he speared in the side so that blood and water flowed out but he went on to give the Holy Spirit, poured out on the Day of Pentecost. Here then we see a very clear shadowing forth of what Jesus was going to do in the future. He was going to come under the rod, indeed the wrath of man was going to afflict him. Yet by means of this death he was going to make atonement for his people and the way was going to be opened up so that the Spirit would be poured out on his people and all the blessings of the new covenant would begin to flow to them. There is no greater manifestation of the holiness of God as seen in his mercy than in this. It means that we need never thirst again – not physically but spiritually – because of what Christ has done by dying on the cross as he did. This is why he is able to say to the woman in John 4 whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

If you are an unbeliever do you see how this story so simply illustrates what God has done in Christ. Christ the rock has been struck and water flows out to quench the thirst of your soul. The Holy God has shown great mercy and is willing to save all who look to Christ. We who are believers also ought to be struck by God's holy mercy God. How gracious, how kind he is in Christ.

We do not speak so often perhaps of the holiness of God in his patient mercy but that is an aspect of it too. In 1 Chronicle 20:21 we read that

After consulting the people, King Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendour of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: … saying what? Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.

In Isaiah 57:15, 16 we read that

this is what the high and lofty One says – he who lives forever, whose name is holy: not only I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me - the breath of man that I have created.

Similarly in Hosea 11:9 God says

I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.

Why?

For I am God, and not man - the Holy One among you.

That is why he says I will not come in wrath.

Paul asks in Romans 2:4
Do you show contempt for the riches of God's kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?
He says
Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgement will be revealed.
Don't make that mistake! Seek the kindness, grace and mercy of a holy and forgiving God.

Conclusion

Consider then the holiness of God then, his Godness. Or as Paul puts it in Romans 11:22

Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness.

God is a kind God but he is also stern in some ways.

We see his sternness here in the death of Miriam and his judgement on Moses and Aaron. We see it on the cross when his rod came down on his Son as it were and he suffered that stroke that ended his life and brought him under God's wrath. He is a holy God and justice demands that his wrath be poured out on sin.

But we see also his kindness here in Numbers. The people are thirsty but once again he provides for them. Water gushes out of that rock. And so by Christ's death blessing comes to all his people. His blessings are poured out upon them. He is a holy God. He demands our worship and though we are inadequate to serve him as we should yet through Christ and his abundant mercy we can.