Wilderness University

They doubted God’s presence (17:7). They doubted if God was with them as He had promised. We do this when we think God has abandoned us in our wilderness. Yet God always remains faithful.

None of these accusations were true. Israel’s great problem was that they refused to remember who God is and what He had done (see Pss 95:9; 106:13). One obvious remedy to our own discontent and unbelief is to remember what God has done for us in Christ.

Then see what God did (Exod 17:4-6). After Moses prayed, God provided water from the rock. God appeared at Horeb where He first met with Moses in the burning bush. Notice the scene described in Psalm 105:41: “He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a stream in the desert.” The text does not say how God appeared specifically, but God appeared and the people were saved through the miraculous provision of water when Moses struck the rock with his staff. This miracle demonstrated that God did not bring them out to the wilderness to kill them and that He was indeed with them.

Later, Moses was told to speak to a rock, but he instead struck it twice. God was so angry that Moses was prohibited from entering the promised land because of this failure (Num 20:10-12).

We can see three connections between Christ’s wilderness experience and the Israelites’ wilderness experience.

We desperately needed Jesus because no one could pass the test. We get a picture of Jesus succeeding where Israel failed in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. After Jesus went through the waters of Jordan, He was tested for 40 days in the wilderness, corresponding to Israel’s 40 years of testing in the wilderness. His first temptation or test concerned bread. The tempter said, “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” (Matt 4:3). What did Jesus quote? He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3: “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” He went on to quote Deuteronomy 6:16 and 6:13 (Matt 4:7, 10). Thus Jesus identified with Israel’s wilderness experience, but instead of failing, He did not yield to temptation but triumphed obediently and victoriously.

Often what we think Jesus was doing in the wilderness for 40 days was showing us why we should do Bible memorization. Bible memorization is valuable, but more was happening there. The authors are showing us that there is a truer and better Israel who passed the test in the wilderness triumphantly. And He went on to pass every test, fulfilling God’s law perfectly. Unlike Israel and us, Jesus did not yield to temptation and He did not grumble in His obedience. He lived the life we could not live.

After Jesus did the miracle of bread in John 6, everyone wanted to follow Him. But Jesus knew their hearts. He said, “Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal of approval on Him” (v. 27).

The people did not fully understand, and they said, “What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?” (v. 30). Then they brought up manna: “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat” (v. 31). Jesus had actually already given them a sign. He had fed the multitude. He was the true and better Moses. But what was most important to Jesus was spiritual life. So He turned the discussion:

Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the real bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

102Then they said, “Sir, give us this bread always!”

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to Me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in Me will ever be thirsty again. But as I told you, you’ve seen Me, and yet you do not believe.” (John 6:32-36)

Jesus said He could do more than supply bread. We need Him more than bread. He was saying, “I am the bread of life, and without Me you cannot live forever.”

Notice what they did in verses 41-42. They did exactly as the Israelites: they grumbled.

Therefore the Jews started complaining about Him because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Isn’t this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

They wanted salvation on their own terms. God has given us salvation in Christ, the bread of life, and people still grumble at the thought of a crucified Savior or at the idea that there’s only one way. They should instead fall on their knees and say, “Yes, I will take Christ and live forever.” Jesus went on to say that some would come to Him (v. 37). He said that those who came would come by faith and they would “eat His flesh,” meaning they would receive Him by faith.

No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets: And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father comes to Me—not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God. He has seen the Father. I assure you: Anyone who believes has eternal life. 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 anyone 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. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh. (John 6:44-51)

Notice how He said that they ate and they died, but if you take Christ, you never die!

At that, the Jews argued among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

103So Jesus said to them, “I assure you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna your fathers ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:52-58)

Obviously, Jesus was not speaking about literally eating Him. He was speaking about believing in Him (notice the repetition of “believe”). Believe in Him and find satisfaction for your soul, and live forever. The religious leaders were looking for a list of things to do to have this bread. They had their pad and paper. Jesus said you simply need to believe.

In 1 Corinthians 10 Paul said that the rock was Christ. I take this to mean that the rock was a type or foreshadowing of Christ. Moses struck the rock instead of the striking the people, and water flowed to save people. Jesus, the rock, was struck for our salvation. Instead of striking us, God struck the Son.

Moses is told not to strike the rock again. The second time he is told to speak to the rock. Like this rock, Jesus was struck only one time! After that, He is to be spoken to. Like the rock, when He was struck water flowed from His side (John 19:34). He died the death we deserved to die. Now, by believing in Jesus, we drink from the water of life for eternal life (John 7:37-38). So Jesus gave us the water we desperately needed, and that water could only come through striking. One time. You do not strike the rock after that. Think back to what Isaiah said:

Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses,

and He carried our pains;

but we in turn regarded Him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced because of our transgressions,

crushed because of our iniquities;

punishment for our peace was on Him,

104and we are healed by His wounds.

We all went astray like sheep;

we all have turned to our own way;

and the Lord has punished Him

for the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:4-6)

He was wounded, struck, pierced, crushed for our iniquity. He refrained from opening His mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter. He submitted to God’s will. He did not grumble. He took our judgment that we may know God’s salvation. Praise the Rock!

How should we respond to the wilderness story? First, trust in God’s providence for your daily needs. Israel’s wilderness experience shows us that God is with His people and God provides for His people. Will you trust Him, or grumble and worry? Second, trust in God’s Son for your deepest needs. Trust in the One who lived the life you could not live. He passed the test we could not pass. Trust in the One who is the bread you cannot live without. Receive Him and live. Trust in the One who was struck for your salvation. Drink and live.