Isaiah 55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9.
A). SEEK THE LORD.
Isaiah 55:1-9.
The Bible is full of wonderful gracious invitations. Isaiah 55 begins with a call to the thirsty to come to the waters. This is in order to quench, not a physical thirst, but a spiritual thirst.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
Those who seek to be made righteous through the Lord Jesus Christ are granted the thirst-quenching experience of eternal life in Him.
Jesus said to the woman at the well, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14).
If faith awakens a sense of need in our souls, it is to Jesus that we must go to satisfy that need. Then we will receive the Holy Spirit, and not only quench our own thirst and find our rest in Him, but we will become channels of His blessing to other needy souls.
As water was symbolically poured out at the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood in the Temple and called out, “If anyone thirsts, let Him come to me and drink” (John 7:37).
What do we need to purchase this water of salvation?
Nothing at all! It is a free gift of the true and living God.
All the spiritual refreshment we need, symbolised by water and wine and milk, is ours without money and without price. We just need to ask God for the forgiveness of our sins through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It costs us nothing, because Jesus paid the full price of the penalty for our sins when He gave His life in our place on the Cross at Calvary. There He knew pain and suffering, and even cried out in His own anguish, “I thirst” (John 19:28).
It is in the nature of man to make heavy work of his religion. We seek to establish our own righteousness, by trying to abstain from the evil that so naturally arises in our hearts. We seek to cancel out our own sins by doing good deeds. All this is to spend money for what is not bread, and our wages for what does not satisfy.
The prophet Isaiah cries out elsewhere:
“I will declare your righteousness and your works, for they will not profit you” (Isaiah 57:12).
The same prophet warns us:
“We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).
We are encouraged to eat of the true spiritual food, which is to partake of the benefits of the salvation found only in Jesus. Then we shall have an abundance of all that is good for eternal, never-dying souls.
What are we to do?
We are to listen, and to hear what the Lord is saying to us. With our physical ears we listen to the Gospel in the reading and preaching of God’s Holy Bible. Blessed is the man who listens to wisdom, and who hears the quiet words of the wise. Blessed are those privileged to hear the words of Jesus, and His call to their heart.
We are to come to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of our sins, and accepting the free gift of His love. He makes a covenant with those who come to Him, granting spiritual and eternal life.
The prophets taught that the only sure way of salvation was through a certain descendant of Israel’s King David. That descendant is our Lord Jesus Christ who came to call Israel to repentance, and to provide for the salvation of all nations upon the earth. People from every land flock to Him as the only Saviour of sinners, and thus does He glorify God the Father.
We are exhorted to seek the LORD, while He may be found. If we seek Him with all our heart, and all our soul, we will find Him. Then He will rain righteousness upon us, making us righteous through the Lord Jesus Christ. He will bring life to the barren land of our hearts. He will protect us in the day of His anger against a world that has refused Him.
If we seek the LORD, we will certainly be satisfied. He is not far from any one of us.
When should we seek Him?
We should seek Him while He may be found. We should seek the Creator in the days of our youth, before we become so set in our ways that it becomes difficult to hear Him. We should seek Him in the ripeness of our years, while there is still breath in our mouths to call out for His mercy upon our souls.
We should call upon Him while he is near, while the call of the Gospel is still ringing in our ears. Now is the set time for the LORD to favour His people: so do not leave until tomorrow what you must do today.
We should pray to Him in an acceptable time. We should seek His salvation right at this present moment, while He is near to help. The Apostle Paul says: “Now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). As we hear His voice today, we must not harden our hearts nor provoke Him, but respond positively to the call of the Gospel.
We are instructed to forsake sin.
If we try and cover over our sins, and pretend they are not there, we will fail. If we confess our sins, God will have mercy and forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We are no longer to walk in the way of wickedness, nor to entertain unrighteous thoughts. We are to turn to our merciful LORD, to the true God, who abundantly pardons the sins of His people out of the infinite riches of His grace.
His thoughts are not our thoughts: nor are our ways His ways. His ways are unsearchable: they are past finding out. We must surrender the evil imagination and the evil way, and follow after the way of Christ, with a pure heart and a pure mind.
Jesus says:
“Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30).
B). FOLLOWING HARD AFTER GOD.
Psalm 63:1-8.
As we enter into Psalm 63, there is both an intimacy with God, and a yearning after God. It was as if David was saying, ‘I know thee, but would know thee more.’ The Psalmist is not just on the fringes of faith, like the boy’s father in Mark 9:24 - ‘Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief’ - but is yearning after a renewed experience of a relationship which already exists: “You are my God” (Psalm 63:1).
This is a day in the life of the believer: “Early” will I seek You (Psalm 63:1) all the way through to “the night watches” (Psalm 63:6). God is not limited in time or space, so we look for Him wherever, in whatsoever situation we are: in the “dry and thirsty land” (Psalm 63:1) as well as “in the sanctuary” (Psalm 63:2).
The intensity of the Psalmist’s desire is compared to his thirst in a place of no water (Psalm 63:1) - but finds its relief in a feast of good things (literally “as marrow and fat” Psalm 63:5). His very flesh longs for God (Psalm 63:1), and he anticipates a bodily response: lips praising God (Psalm 63:3), the lifting of hands in worship (Psalm 63:4), and the mouth singing praise with joyful lips (Psalm 63:5).
At the heart of this whole expected experience is the covenant love of God: “Thy loving kindness better than life” (Psalm 63:3). This is not our love for God, but that which precedes it: His love for us (cf. John 3:16; Ephesians 5:2; 1 John 4:19). We “bless” Him (Psalm 63:4) because He first blessed us (cf. Ephesians 1:3).
According to the superscription of this Psalm, David composed it in the wilderness of Judah. This would most likely fit in with the time of his son Absalom’s rebellion, when King David fled Jerusalem. We can imagine him remembering his God as he lay wakeful on his wilderness bed (Psalm 63:6).
The Psalmist would remember how the LORD had been his help hitherto (Psalm 63:7), for example when he had been on the run from King Saul. David would remember how God had been his Shepherd when he was a shepherd boy (Psalm 23:1). The King knew well how to rejoice “under the shadow of His wings” (Psalm 63:7), even in the midst of afflictions (cf. Philippians 4:12-13).
Our following after God should be like this: a clinging to Him, a cleaving to Him even as Ruth to Naomi (Ruth 1:14). This is what it is to “follow hard after” Him (Psalm 63:8). When we do so, we find His “right hand upholds” us (Psalm 63:8).
C). BAPTISM AND COMMUNION IN THE WILDERNESS.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13.
1. The continuity of Israel and the Church.
The Apostle Paul, a ‘Hebrew of the Hebrews’ (Philippians 3:5), refers to the Gentile and Jewish Christians at Corinth as “brethren” (1 Corinthians 10:1) - thereby indicating the solidarity of all true Christians. Furthermore, he refers to all “our” fathers (1 Corinthians 10:1), thus demonstrating the continuity of Israel and the New Testament community of believers. [The Church is ‘grafted in’ to old Israel (Romans 11:17-18) - but God still has a plan and purpose for the nation of Israel (Romans 11:23-24).]
2. Baptism.
The fathers were all “under the cloud” - the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit - and all passed (dry-shod) “through the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:1). Thus they were all “baptised into Moses” (1 Corinthians 10:2): but they failed to follow through on their commitment. Baptism is not an end in itself, and those who are baptised ‘into Jesus Christ’ are thereby indicating their willingness to follow Him wherever He will lead (Romans 6:3-4).
3. Communion.
The “food” that the fathers all ate (1 Corinthians 10:3), and the “drink” that they all drank (1 Corinthians 10:4) - was at the same time both natural [real physical bread, real physical water], and something beyond the natural [manna from heaven, water from the “Rock” (1 Corinthians 10:4).]
In a similar way, the unleavened bread of the Communion is still bread, and the fruit of the vine is still wine: but for the Christian participation in this simple and symbolic meal goes beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary, beyond the physical to the spiritual, beyond the natural to the supernatural.
4. Jesus is the Rock.
The wilderness may be hard, but Jesus is the “Rock” from whom we receive nourishment for the journey (1 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus is the ‘Rock’ at the beginning of the journey (Exodus 17:6). Jesus is the ‘Rock’ towards journey’s end - where even Moses failed (Numbers 20:8-12).
5. Overthrown in the wilderness.
Of those who left Egypt under Moses, only two entered the promised Land: the rest fell in the wilderness (1 Corinthians 10:5). We may well be baptised Christians, and partake of Communion regularly: but with some of us, too, the Lord might be displeased.
Five specific sins are mentioned:
“lusting after evil things” (1 Corinthians 10:6);
“idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:7; 1 Corinthians 10:14);
“immorality” (1 Corinthians 10:8);
“tempting Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:9);
“murmuring against the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:10).
6. Take heed.
These things are recorded as a warning to us, “upon whom the end of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11). In other words, the Lord had us in mind when he ‘spoke through the prophets’ (1 Peter 1:12).
The exodus is a ‘type’ of our salvation, and the wilderness wanderings serve to warn us against presumptuousness. “Let the man who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
7. Pass the test.
We are not alone in our temptations - they are common to mankind (1 Corinthians 10:13). The difference is this: that the man Christ Jesus has overcome them all on our behalf. The One who made our ‘exodus’ possible also provides the “way of escape” in the day to day trials of life.
D). AN OMINOUS NOTE.
Luke 13:1-9.
There has been an ominous note ringing in the Gospel of Luke ever since Jesus set His face like a flint, determined to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). This was the turning point of Luke’s Gospel, and has implications both for Jesus Himself (Luke 13:33), and for those to whom He has been preaching (e.g. Luke 10:13-15). If those who have the privilege of hearing the Gospel will not repent, then they will reap the consequences (cf. Luke 13:34-35).
Jesus had been calling for watchfulness (Luke 12:35-36), and upbraided the people for their inability to read the signs of the times (Luke 12:54-56). It was just at this point that some people approached Jesus with the latest gossip: the murder by Pilate of some Galilean pilgrims, whose blood he mingled with their sacrifices (Luke 13:1). This particular atrocity is not recorded elsewhere, but the picture it paints of the ruthlessness of Pontius Pilate is in perfect keeping with other contemporary accounts of Pilate’s tenure as Governor of Judea.
There was an opinion current in those days - as there is now, and as there was in the days of Job - that suffering is meted out in direct proportion to how much a person must have deserved it (cf. John 9:2). This is not necessarily true: we only need to watch the news to know that even the distribution of suffering is unequal. Jesus would not dignify the implication with an answer, but rather used the opportunity to drive home the need for repentance (Luke 13:2-3).
It appears that the old city walls in Jerusalem took a turn just south of the Temple, near the pool of Siloam. With Herod’s building works still going on, this would have been a strategic point to build a tower. Jesus drew attention to a tragic building accident which occurred there, and reiterated His urgent call to repentance (Luke 13:4-5).
Our life is just a vapour (James 4:14), and none of us knows when we might suddenly be snatched away. The twin graces of faith and repentance are not only the door into the Christian life, but also an on-going duty. An unrepentant Jerusalem, along with its priests and Temple, would yet suffer the full force of Roman ire: and not one stone would be left on top of another (Luke 21:6).
Jesus reinforced His teaching on the need for repentance with a parable, giving us the God’s-eye view (Luke 13:6). An unproductive fig tree in a vineyard is nothing better than an encumbrance on the land, drawing essential nutrients out of the soil but giving nothing back. The cry that goes out against the fig tree - “Cut it down” (Luke 13:7) - stands as a solemn warning against those who still refuse to repent.
Yet the Lord delights in mercy (Micah 7:18). Indeed, it is of the LORD’s mercies that we have not already been consumed (Lamentations 3:22). Not only do we have a Mediator with God, but also One who will get right down beside us to help us on the path to true repentance and amendment of life (Luke 13:8).
This parable was acted out for real at a later stage in Jesus’ ministry, when He cursed a fig tree on His journey out of Bethany towards Jerusalem that last fateful week (Matthew 21:19). Jesus’ time had come, yet the tree still showed no signs of bearing fruit. For that one, it was too late!
Thus we have been warned.
‘Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall’ (1 Corinthians 10:12).
‘Let us bring forth fruits worthy of repentance” (Luke 3:8).
Let us not presume upon the day of grace: because it, too, must come to an end (Luke 13:9).
