Let us turn again to God's Word.
I'm turning now to the New Testament in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And I'll
read the first four verses. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant that all our fathers were under the
clouds and all passed through the sea. and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And did all eat the
same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink. For they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ." I want to end with the Lord's help
to consider these four verses for a while this morning. and
to address the subject really of gospel types. That's what
we have really in this passage as we see from what follows in
verse 6. Now these things were our examples,
or as the margin says, our figures. And then again in verse in verse 11, that all these things
happened unto them for ensamples. And again we have an alternative
reading in the margin, where we have the word types, all these
things happened unto them for types, and they are written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. We read then of examples, or
ensamples, it's really the same word, but then we have the alternative
readings in the margin of figures and types. Now, it's the same
word that is used in both verse 6 and verse 11, and it is the
word from which we have our English word type. So the alternative
reading there in verse 11 gives us the very literal sense of
the particular words. All these things were our types. All these things happened unto
them for our types. And so in these opening verses
we have gospel types. Moreover brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and he'd all eat the
same spiritual meat and he'd all drink the same spiritual
drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them and that rock was Christ. What we have here really belongs
very much to us as we see in verse 11 the ends of the worlds
Therefore, our admonition, it says, written for our admonition
upon whom the ends of the world are come. And we know that the
ends of the world is simply a reference to the gospel day, to the last
days, this period in which we are favored to be living our
lives, the days of the gospel, the day of grace. We think of
the language that we have in the second epistle to the Corinthians,
and there in chapter 6. I have heard thee in a time accepted
in the day of salvation have I succored thee. Behold, now
is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Thank God for his word and that
this word in its entirety from Genesis through to Revelation
belongs to us. who are blessed to live in such
a gospel day. Now, this church at Corinth was
of course principally a Gentile church. There would be some converted
Jews in that church, doubtless, but principally it was made up
of of Gentiles. It was the fruit of the ministry
of Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles. And yet, as
he writes to them here in these opening verses, addressing them
as brethren, he was a Jew himself, he was a Pharisee, he was the
son of a Pharisee, he was of the tribe of Benjamin, he had
all the right pedigree, but he speaks to these in the church
at Corinth as his brethren. And when he speaks of the history
of the children of Israel, he speaks of those people as their
fathers. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant out of all our fathers. O God, as
a people who are his true people, that is, the spiritual Israel
of God, we know they are not all Israel, they are not of Israel, And He is not a Jew which is
one outwardly, but He is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. That inward circumcision
of the heart, that work of regeneration in the soul of the sinner. And
so as we come to consider these verses I want to address the
subject of gospel types and how what we have in the Old Testament
really applies to us and belongs very much to us. First of all
to say that the children of Israel themselves were atypical people. They're a type of the true spiritual
Israel of God. And so, we have these words,
examples, examples, figures, types. And it has been well observed
that what we might term the sacraments of the Jews are types of ours. The sacraments of the Jews are
types of ours. And what do we have here? Well,
we certainly have some reference to what we would call the ordinance
of baptism. that all our fathers, it says,
were under the cloud and all passed through the sea and were
all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And we read, of course, that
portion in Exodus 14 concerning their experience when they came
out of the bondage which was Egypt a wonderful type really
of the believers deliverance from the world and God then brings
them to the Red Sea and they must pass through the Red Sea
and that sea was a wall to them on the right hand and on the
left there was also the cloud above them they entered it says
into the sea And Gill simply remarks in commenting
on that incident, they were as persons immersed in and covered
with water. It was all about them. And that's
what we have here, of course, in the text. They were under
the clouds. They passed through the sea.
They were all baptized unto Moses. in the cloud and in the sea. It is a remarkable figure of
the baptism of the believer and that mode of baptism. The believer,
of course, upon profession of faith is immersed in the waters. And it doesn't just represent
the idea of cleansing and washing away of sins, it also sets before
us the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As
Paul says here in Romans chapter 6, we are buried with him by
baptism into death, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. Well, these people, they had
been redeemed out of the bondage that was Egypt's, God had delivered
them, and God had gone before them, and God had made a way,
and there we see them, as it were, passing through the waters
of baptism. And it is, therefore, clearly
a type of what we would know under the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But then also here, besides the
ordinance of baptism, we also have some reference to the ordinance
of the Lord's Supper, because it says they did all eat the
same spiritual meat. And the reference really is to
that manner with which the Lord God fed them. Of course there's
some reference to the Paschal Lamb, the Passover lamb that
they were to eat, as God visited his final judgments upon the
Egyptians, but there's also some reference to the way in which
God fed them throughout all their wilderness wanderings. And it's
in Exodus chapter 16, that we read something of the detail
concerning that remarkable provision that God made. They couldn't
sow, they couldn't reap, and so God himself would feed them. And we have the detail there
in the 16th chapter, as I said, and verse 14. We read, when the
dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness
there lay a small round thing, as small as the whole frost on
the ground. And when the children of Israel
saw it, they said one to another, it is manna. Literally, what
is it? It is manna. for they wist not
what it was. And Moses said unto them, This
is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. And it is that that is spoken
of here in verse 3 of our text. They did all eat the same spiritual
meat. The psalmist says, Man did eat
angels' food. always described there in Psalm
78, 25 as angels' food, it's spiritual meat. It's that that
God himself sent directly from heaven. And as there was spiritual
meat, meat simply to be understood in terms of the food that they
were eating, so in verse 4 it says they did all drink the same
spiritual drink. for they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." What a
remarkable provision it is that the Lord God makes. And these
things of course fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the ordinance of the
Lord's Supper. And there in the Lord's Supper
there is broken bread, and Christ himself is the bread of life,
and there is the cup. And there we partake of that
that speaks of the precious blood that was shed for sinners. Now
it's interesting that whilst we have the record in the Synoptic
Gospels of the Lord's institution of that Holy Supper, as I'm sure
you're well aware, There's no record to be found in John's
Gospel. John doesn't record the way in
which the Lord at his last Passover with the disciples instituted
what we now observe as that Holy Supper of the Lord. But we have
those remarkable words of the sixth chapter of John. in which
Christ is speaking of himself as that bread of life. And he makes reference, he makes
reference there to the manna. In verse 49 of John 6, your fathers
did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread
which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and
not die. I am the living bread. which came down from heaven.
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the
bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for
the life of the world." And then again he says at verse 33, except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso
eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat
indeed, and my blood is eat, is eat, and my blood is drink
indeed. These things then, that occurred
in the Old Testament, the provision of that manna there in the wilderness,
and that that God provided from the rock, that drink, all points
forward to the Lord Jesus Christ and
the day of the Gospel. Even Christ, our Passover, is
sacrificed for us says the Apostle here in chapter 5 verse 7 Christ
is that one then who has made provision for his people and
it was of course as we said there as he came to observe his final
Passover with the disciples and how he He desired that occasion. All with desire I have desired
to eat this Passover with you, He says, before I suffer. And
on that very occasion He takes the bread and He takes the cup.
And He instructs them that all these things are to be kept and
done in remembrance of Him. Here then we have Gospel types. And these figures being taken
from what happened to the children of Israel at the time of their
deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. They're passing through
the Red Sea. And that provision that God made
in the manna and in the water that flowed from the rock. But also, Here we have a type of the spiritual
experience of the people of God. We're not to be ignorant of the
substance that lies behind the sign. He says, I would not that
ye should be ignorant ere that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud, and in the sea. It was a bitter experience that
they were passing through. It was a fearful experience.
And none of them could escape that experience. This was the
only way whereby they would be able to escape the pursuing armies
of Pharaoh. All of them. Three times we read
here in verses 1 and 2 All our fathers, all passed through the
sea, all were baptized unto Moses. There's no exception. They must
know this bitter experience. And all God's people must know
something of trial, of trouble, of chastenings, When Paul speaks of those chastenings
in Hebrews 12, he says, we're of all our partakers. All the experiences of the children
of Israel that are recorded there in the book of Exodus and what
follows, in Numbers and then into Deuteronomy, they're all typical experiences,
all their wilderness wanderings. And what does God say to His
people? That promise that we have in
Isaiah 43, when thou passest through the waters I will be
with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee.
God will preserve His people in the midst of all their trials
and all their difficulties. And when we think in particular
of baptism, and the Lord's own spiritual baptism. Does it not
remind us of the path of tribulation and trouble that God's children
have to continually walk in? All Christ says to his disciples
on one occasion, I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am
I straightened until it be accomplished? He's not referring to that baptism
that he received of John the Baptist at the beginning of his
public ministry. He did submit to that, he must
fulfill all righteousness. He was baptized of John there
in the river Jordan. But subsequently there in Luke
12.50 he is speaking of a baptizing that he would experience at the
end a baptism of sufferings. Gadsby
says, for us Jesus was baptized in tremendous agonies, mighty
vengeance like a flood overwhelmed the Lamb of God. And then Gadsby
continues, although this verse is omitted in the hymn book Strangeland,
you won't find this in 658 this was baptism indeed well might
mountain shake with dread surely sprinkling there can show such
a scene of matchless well i find it strange really that in that
lovely hymn 658 for some reason that verse i just read is omitted. And yet, Gatsby brings out the
truth that Christ's sufferings were really a baptism of sufferings. And of course, what Gatsby is
writing there isn't fanciful, but it is clearly rooted here
in the Word of God, and it's to be discerned in the language
of the psalmist. in Psalm 69, which is a Messianic
psalm. Clearly Psalm 69 speaks of the
Lord Jesus. Verse 21, they gave me also gall
for my meat, it says. And in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink. And we can think of the language
that we have there in Matthew chapter Matthew 27 and verse 34 there
is a specific reference to them giving him vinegar mingled with
gall that the scripture might be fulfilled and he refuses that
but really Psalm 69 speaks of a baptism of sufferings
in the opening verses of that psalm. Save me, O God, for the
waters are coming in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where
there is no standing. I am coming to deep waters, where
the floods overflow me. I am weary, and my crying, my
throat is dried, mine eyes fail. while I wait for my God, and
think of all the sufferings that the Lord had to endure, and the
awful cry that he utters, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? How he is sinking there, how
he is sinking in the deep waters, how he's being overwhelmed really. by the floods that are overflowing
his soul in the midst of all those sufferings and remember
that he is that one who is clearly the head of his body, the church
and in some measure his people must also walk in those same
footsteps of the Lord Jesus when the mother of James and John
comes to the Lord and makes a request. How does the Lord respond? We're told how the mother of
Zebedee's children, that's James and John, with her sons worshipping
him, deciding a certain thing of him. And he said, what will
that? And she says, Grant that these
my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand and the other
on the left, in thy kingdom. And Jesus answered and said,
Ye know not what ye ask? Are ye able to drink of the cup
that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall
drink indeed of my cup, and be baptised with the baptism that
I am baptised with. But to sit on my right hand and
on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them
for whom it is prepared of my Father. So they must, you see. If they are true followers of
the Lord, they must indeed drink of the cup that He would drink
of, and they must be baptized with the baptism that He was
baptized with. That is the believer's portion.
That is the believer's portion. Or to know the Lord Jesus Christ. And to know Him in all those
bitter experiences. the power of his resurrection,
the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death. That was what the Apostle desired,
that he might truly know Christ in his soul's experience. And
isn't that what he is writing of here? Brethren, I would not
that you should be ignorant, o that all our fathers were under
the clouds, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized
unto Moses in the cloud and in the sun what bitter experiences
they had to pass through and what fierce how they were so
fearful there feeling themselves to be enclosed as it were in
the wilderness with the armies of Pharaoh pursuing them and
their lot is to be the believers lot and there's no avoiding these
things It says in verse 9, neither let
us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed
of serpents. How can we tempt Christ when
we try to avoid the cross? We cannot avoid the cross if
we are followers of Him who is the crucified. If any man will
come after me, Christ says, let him deny himself and let him
take up his cross and let him follow me. Oh, there's not just
these gospel types in terms of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
There's a path to walking. There are those spiritual experiences
that will ever be the lot of those who are true followers
of Christ Jesus. But He is that One who is spoken
of here as the Rock. And this is where God's people
find their true comfort. They did all drink, it says in
verse 4, the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. So turning
as it were from the children of Israel as a typical people,
a type of the true spiritual Israel of God, Let us consider
Christ as the rock for a little while before we come to a conclusion. Christ himself is the rock, that
spiritual rock it says, and that rock was Christ. What does he set before us? Two
things. When we think of this rock we
see the Lord's gracious provision. What did the Lord provide for
them? He gave them water from the rock. They come to Rephidim and they're in need. They're in need of water. There's
no water. But the Lord will make a provision
for them in a remarkable fashion. In Exodus 17, all the congregation
of the children of Israel journeyed, it says, from the wilderness
of sin. After their journeys, they accorded the commandment
of the Lord and pitched in Rephidim. And there was no water for the
people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide
with Moses and said, Give us water that we may drink. And
Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? Wherefore do ye
tempt the Lord. And the people thirsted there
for water. And the people murmured against
Moses, and said, Wherefore is it that thou hast brought us
up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with
thirst? And they even speak of stoning
Moses. And Moses cries unto the Lord,
And the Lord gives him instruction in verse 5 of that 17th chapter,
Go on before the Lord, take with thee of the elders of Israel
and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand
and go. Behold, 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. So he's to stand upon the rock
in Horeb, and he's to smite the rock, and the waters flow out. Psalm 105, verse 41. He opened the rock, it says,
and the waters gushed out. They ran in the dry places like
a river. And not only in Psalm 105, but
also in Psalm 78, verses 15 and 16. It's a great miracle that
the Lord performs and how the Psalmist rejoices in it, in those
two Psalms. And we're told quite clearly
that spiritual rock was Christ, here in our text. That spiritual
rock that followed them, that rock was Christ. Now, we're not to imagine that
the rock did literally follow them, but Christ was with them. Through all their wilderness
wanderings, Christ was with them there in the cloudy, fiery pillar. Oh, remember how that pillar
would go before them There's a cloud in the daytime and there's
a fiery pillar at night time. The end of Exodus 13 as they
begin to take their journeys. They're on the edge of the wilderness.
The Lord went before them, it says. The Lord went before them.
By day in a pillar of a cloud to lead them the way and by night
in a pillar of fire to give them light to go by day and night.
He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar
of fire by night from before the people." And in the chapter
that we read, Exodus 14, we see when the armies of the Pharaoh
are pursuing them at the Red Sea, God in that pillar comes
between Israel and the Egyptians. And it's light. to the children of Israel, but
its darkness to the Egyptians. There in verse 20 of chapter
14, it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp
of Israel. It was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave
light by night to these, so that the one came not near the other
all the night. And who is it? It is the Lord.
The Lord went before them. But interestingly, there in Exodus
23, we see that it is actually the angel of the Lord who is
in that cloudy, fiery pillar. Exodus 23 verse 20, God says,
Behold, I send an angel before to keep thee in the way, and
to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware
of him, and obey his voice. Provoke him not, for he will
not pardon your transgressions. For my name is in him." An angel. And yet God says concerning
the angel, My name is in him. And they are to be careful, they
are to obey His voice. For should they transgress, He
will not pardon your transgressions. Now who can forgive sins but
God only? This angel is the angel of the
Lord, this is the Lord Jesus Christ. God says concerning this
angel, My name is in Him. He is one with God the Father,
one with God the Holy Spirit. And how they are to be afraid
of Him. Verse 20 says, Behold I send an angel before thee. Verse 27, I will send my fear
before thee. All thou to fear Him. It is the
Lord then who is constantly going before them. It is the Lord who
makes every provision for them throughout all their wilderness
wanderings. They're not alone. They're not
alone, as the Lord is with them as they go through the Red Sea,
so the Lord is continually with them throughout all those 40
years of wilderness wanderings. And the Lord makes every provision
for His people. They did all drink the same spiritual
drink. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, that went with them. And that rock
was Christ. But also, the rock speaks in some measure of
the way in which the Lord God fed His people and ever feeds
His people. there's a punishment of sin to
be seen in type and in sign. There in that sixth verse of
Exodus 17 we see how Moses must take the rod that he used there
at the Red Sea and God says, I will stand before thee there
upon the rock in Horeb. That was the mountain range of
which Sinai was a part, the place where God had first given the
Ten Commandments. I will stand before thee there
upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there
shall come waters out of it that the people may drink." Oh, it's Christ. who is seen
there as that One who will bear the punishment of the sins of
His people. He will answer for them before
the Holy Lord of God. He will be smitten and His people
go free and His people know every provision of His grace in the
Gospel. There's another incident later,
isn't there, in Numbers chapter 20. We read again, of God's providing
waters from the rock. And it's a most striking incident
because it's as a result of what Moses did on that occasion that
he's not allowed to enter into the land of promise. In Numbers
chapter 20, verse 7, the Lord speaks unto Moses, And gather thou the assembly
together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the
rock before their eyes. And he 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 beast drink. And Moses took the rods from
before the Lord as he commanded. But what does Moses do? God had
given him quite specific instruction there that he was to speak. He was to simply speak onto the
rock. But Moses does more than that.
He gathers the congregation before the rock, verse 10, and says,
Here 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. And the Lord
spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believe me not, to sanctify
me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall
not bring these people into the land which I have given them. That was the great offense. What
was the offense? Well, the rock had been smitten. Back in Exodus 17, there was
no need to smite that rock again. No need at all. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
One who has come and has suffered. He has offered one sacrifice
for sins forever. It's a wonderful type that we
have there in those incidents recorded first in Exodus 17 and
then again in Numbers chapter 20. That was the offense of Moses. He smites the rock again twice. And all he needed to do was simply
to speak to the rock. That rock, you see, is Christ,
as it says here. And there in Deuteronomy 32,
at the end, what does Moses say concerning the rock? He is the
rock of salvation. Deuteronomy 32, 15. Several times
there in his song, right at the end of his writings, Deuteronomy,
the last of the five books of Moses, several times he speaks
of that rock, but he declares that it is indeed the rock of
salvation for which the Lord Jesus Christ and He has made
that great sin atoning sacrifice and how do we come to partake
of all the blessings and all the all the favours of that great
salvation simply by addressing the Lord pleading with the Lord
praying to the Lord that He would come and grant to us all that
spiritual refreshment, that spiritual food and drink that we stand
constantly in need of. We have here then these types
and these signs set before us in this portion concerning the
ordinances of the Gospel, baptism, the Lord's Supper, and also the experiences of the
people of God, but principally we see the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Moreover, brethren, I would not
that ye should be ignorant, now that all our fathers were under
the cloud, all passed through the sea, were all baptized unto
Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all drink the same
spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. For
they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, And
that rock was Christ. We have the signs, but all that
we might know what it is to partake of the substance. All those things
were simply a foreshadowing as it were, but the body we're told
is of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the one that we must
look to, this is the one that we must come to. The psalmist
says, lead me to the rock that is higher than I, or to be those
who are led to that, to be established upon that rock, the rock of salvation
even our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Well the Lord be pleased to bless
his word to us.