Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Psalm 114: God's Great Outpouring

1When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
2Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
3The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
4The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
5What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
6Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
7Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
8Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
 
The Psalm for the year 2014 is Psalm 114, a song which recounts the glory of God our Father, who took everyone of us out of sin and death, and brought us into the Promised Land of His Son.
 
In this verse, the psalmist references the crossing of the Red Sea and the River Jordan, both of which speak of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and our death and resurrection with Him.
 
The verse repeats with boasting grandeur how the mountains and hills jumped away because of all that he LORD did. Every obstacle fled from the Israelites, and they will flee from us, too.
 
The last post focused on verse 7, the number of perfection, and the number of rest. God is a God of grace, blessing men and women because of His goodness, not theirs. He is the God of Jacob, who despite his lying, cheating, and fearful manipulations, received blessing upon blessing from the God of His Father Abraham and Isaac.
 
Now we look at the final verse, the eighth, and eight speaks of new beginnings.
 
This year will be one of new beginnings, in which we witness God take our hard, difficult, insurmountable troubles, and bring forth His Living Water.
 
The rock and the flint refer to the two accounts during the Israelites' wanderings.
 
About the rock, the first time that Moses struck the rock, a larger boulder on the ground, Moses followed the LORD's instructions perfectly.
 
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?" (Exodus 17: 5-7)
 
Pastor Joseph Prince shared a very power teaching in the accounts of Moses' striking a rock to bring forth fresh water. The first time that Moses hit a rock, he stood with the elders of Israel, and the LORD declared that he would stand and take the hit along with the rock.
 
This reading is fully established by Scripture:
 
"And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10: 4)
 
Christ our Rock was hit for us, that we would not suffer the punishment of the Law, for He fulfilled and annulled those ordinances against us (Colossians 2: 13-15). Jesus promised that all of us who believe on Him would receive rivers of living water flowing out of our bellies, a miracle of cleansing and power:
 
"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7: 38-39)
 
About the flint, this rock is actually a high cliff, which speaks of the risen Christ. Instead of the elders, Moses brought with him Aaron, the picture of Jesus as our serving High Priest. Because Jesus was already struck once, our ministry, our lives, and our faith as we approach God's throne of grace should never be with an attitude of hitting Christ again, as though He did not finish the job, nor should we minister to the Body of Christ with law or reproach or condemnation, but the grace of God, which teaches us to reject ungodliness and live holy lives (Titus 2: 11-14)
 
Moses disobeyed God because of his wrath, a demonstration that the law works wrath, when only grace produces obedience:
 
"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. 10And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also." (Numbers 20: 7-11)
 
Instead of fighting and hitting against our troubles, let us speak forth our faith in Christ and all that He has done, proclaiming that because Jesus gave us Himself, we can also trust that He will freely give us all things, too (Romans 8 32). And that verse in Romans, "freely", means "give graciously".
 
As we grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord and all His goodness, let us cease from our efforts to coax or cajole God to bless us, but rather let us give forth the sacrifice of praise for all that He has done and continues to do for us.
 
While Moses was punished for striking the flint in Numbers, Psalm 114 does not record the wrongdoing which Moses perpetrated, but only the water which God freely gave from the flint. Furthermore, when Jesus was transfigured above Moses and Elijah, we find that Moses finally has crossed the Jordan and entered the Promised Land, to see the Promised Man, Jesus!
 
In 2014, expect to receive more of God's outpouring in your live. Pray in the spirit, keep yourself in the love of God, and watch as Christ in you, your hope of glory, breaks forth life in your midst to bless you and many others!

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