Water From The Rock
- The human body is 2/3 water.
- By the time you are 70-years-old, you will have required 1½ million gallons of water.
- Studies show that increasing water consumption can decrease fat deposits. Water is a natural appetite suppressant.
- The body absorbs cold water faster than hot water
- “ABC Science Online Thirst makes you feel more pain”
Australian pain expert Dr Michael Farrell study claims Going without a drink can make you more sensitive to pain
- If you loose 2% of your body’s water supply, your energy will decrease by 20%. A 10% decrease in water, you will be unable to walk, and a 20% decrease – you’re dead.
- The need for water began their journey - Ex. 17:1-7
- The need for water ends their journey - Num 20:1-13
- Almost identical in comparison
- Other references to note
I Cor. 10:4 - Paul - It followed them
Jn 4:10-14 - Christ the source of living water
A Rock speaks of Shelter, Safety, Durability, Strength.
I. A Desperate Need.
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1. Empty Outside.
"There was no water" (v. 1).
- World can’t supply the needs of the soul.
- Separated from the Cross of Christ, our life is barren and empty
2. Empty Inside.
"The people thirsted" (v. 2-3).
- Out of resources
- Out of Ideas
- Desperation sets in
- The blame game begins
- Forgetful of salvation
- Begins with v.2 “chide” - to have words of opposition
- Ends with v. 3 “mummer”
Relentless Blame and howling
- Our frustrated emptiness has finds nowhere to be filled but in the Lord
II. An Amazing Supply.
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"There shall come out water" (v. 6).
1. It Came from an Unrecognized Source .
- Water from dust – unheard of
- Worldly wisdom could not by
- Desperation needs turn to the Lord
- Life from a virgin unheard of
- Life from the crucified one impossible
- Isa. 55. 8 My ways are not as your ways, saith the Lord
2. It Came from a God-Possessed Source.
"I will stand upon the rock" (v. 6).
- The rock in Horeb of itself could do nothing, but God in the rock could do anything.
- The rock represents the human nature of the Lord Jesus
- God on the rock, His divine power and Godhead.
- The source of our salvation is in God, the channel of communication is Jesus. He is ’ ’both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2. 36).
III. Right Methods.
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1. Strike
"Thou shalt smite the rock" (v. 6).
- This thought does not come from man - Salvation by smiting the anointed of God.
- (Isa. 53. 5)."But He was wounded for our transgressions, with His stripes we are healed"
2. Strike With a Rod.
- v. 5 "Thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand’’
- Ex. 7:17 Rod of judgment that turned the river into blood,
- Ex. 14:15 - Sign of God’s authority and power over the Red Sea
- Isa. 53. 10 "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; HE hath put Him to grief"
IV. Blessings Received
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1. It Was Abundant .
- Ps 78:20 "The waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed"
1 Cor 10:4 - "They did all drink the same spiritual drink."
- When Christ, our Rock, was smitten, "forthwith came there out blood and water," emblems of a full salvation, atonement, and cleansing.
- Redemption through His blood
- Cleansing through the washing of the Word.
- Rev. 22. 17 "Whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely"
2. It Was Free
- Isa. 55.1 "Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye"
- Life giving
- Life Satisfying
Susanna Petroysan heard her daughter’s pleas, but there was nothing she could do. She and four-year-old Gayaney were trapped beneath tons of collapsed concrete and steel. Beside them in the darkness lay the body of Susanna’s sister-in-law, Karine, one of the fifty-five thousand victims of the worst earthquake in the history of Armenia.
Calamity never knocks before it enters, and this time, it had torn down the door.
Susanna had gone to Karine’s house to try on a dress. It was December 7,1988, at 11:30 A.M. The quake hit at 11:41. She had just removed the dress and was clad in stockings and a slip when the fifth-floor apartment began to shake. Susanna grabbed her daughter but had taken only a few steps before the floor opened up and they tumbled in. Susanna, Gayaney, and Karine fell into the basement with the nine-story apartment house crumbling around them.
"Mommy, I need a drink. Please give me something."
There was nothing for Susanna to give.
She was trapped flat on her back. A concrete panel eighteen inches above her head and a crumpled water pipe above her shoulders kept her from standing. Feeling around in the darkness, she found a twenty-four-once jar of blackberry jam that had fallen into the basement. She gave the entire jar to her daughter to eat. It was gone by the second day.
"Mommy, I’m so thirsty."
Susanna knew she would die, but she wanted her daughter to live. She found a dress, perhaps the one she had come to try on, and made a bed for Gayaney. Though it was bitter cold, she took off her stockings and wrapped them around the child to keep her warm.
The two were trapped for eight days.
Because of the darkness, Susanna lost track of time. Because of the cold, she lost the feeling in her fingers and toes. Because of her inability to move, she lost hope. "I was just waiting for death."
She began to hallucinate. Her thoughts wandered. A merciful sleep occasionally freed her from the horror of her entombment, but the sleep would be brief. Something always awakened her: the cold, the hunger, or most often the voice of her daughter.
"Mommy, I’m thirsty."
At some point in that eternal night, Susanna had an idea. She remembered a television program about an explorer in the Arctic who was dying of thirst. His comrade slashed open his hand and gave his friend his blood.
Her groping fingers, numb from the cold, found a piece of shattered glass. She sliced open her left index finger and gave it to her daughter to suck.
The drops of blood weren’t enough. "Please Mommy, some more. Cut another finger." Susanna has no idea how many times she cut herself. She only knows that if she hadn’t, Gayaney would have died. Her blood was her daughter’s only hope.
Beneath the rubble of a fallen world, Jesus pierced His hands. In the wreckage of a collapsed humanity, He ripped open His side. His children were trapped, so He gave His blood.
It was all He had, His friends were gone. His strength was waning. His possessions had been gambled away at His feet. Even His Father had turned His head. His blood was all He had. But His blood was all it took.
