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HopeLives365

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

Mark Finley

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

02 The Burning Bush

03 Rough Start

04 The Plagues

05 Passover

07 The Bread and Water of Life

08 Covenant at Sinai


Welcome back. We're journeying through the book of Exodus. We're on lesson number 7. This is an incredibly exciting lesson, a lesson with deep meaning and great spiritual lessons. So let's jump right in.

The title of our lesson this week is The Bread and Water of Life. It really can be summarized this way. God is teaching Israel deeper lessons of trust. Throughout this lesson this week, we find that God desires to help his people grow, but they have to learn discipline, they have to learn self-control, they have to learn sacrifice, unselfishness, and especially trust in the Lord and obedience. After Israel is led out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, Miriam, of course, leads them in that great song of victory, that great song of rejoicing.

Then, shortly thereafter, in their wilderness journey, they are anxious to find water. If you're in the desert, you're certainly anxious to find water. And so they come upon these wells, this particular well, but the water is bitter. Sunday's lesson is titled, Bitter Waters. We read about it in Exodus, the 15th chapter, verse 22.

Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, then they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went 3 days in the wilderness and found no water. Now, if I go a few hours without water, I'm thirsty, but here they go 3 days in the desert, no water. Their throats are parched, their tongues are swollen, their lips are cracked. They are just longing for water. The desert sun is beating down upon them.

The Bible says, now, verse 23, they came to Marah, and they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore, the name was called Marah. So they find water. Can you imagine their excitement when they saw the wells? Can you imagine their excitement when they saw the water, but yet the water is bitter.

So the scripture says, the people murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink? Rather than trusting God, they complain. Rather than looking back at the miracles that God worked, the plagues that were poured out on the Egyptians, the ability to go through the Red Sea and have that open miraculously by God, that experience, the singing of the song of victory with Miriam on the other side of the sea, they forgot about all that. They forgot about how God led them. You know, it is written, we have nothing to fear for the future lest we do what?

Forget God's leading in our past history. So there is the tendency to forget when we're in trials, when we're in difficulties or in challenges. There's the tendency to forget how God has led us in the past. But they cry out in verse to the Lord, and the Lord showed him Moses a tree. And when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There he made a statue in an ordinance for them, and there he tested them." God says to Moses, go over there, get those branches, cut down that tree, throw it into the pool, and it will become sweet. What a lesson for the story of redemption, the story of the cross. All of us live in bitter waters, the bitter water of rebellion against God, the bitter water of sin. We live in those troubled pools with the bitter waters. But Jesus, the divine Son of God, hung on a tree, died the death we should have died, after living the life we should have lived, bore the sin and guilt of humanity, and Christ, the 1 who hung on the tree, makes the bitter waters of life sweet." Romans 8, verse 1 says, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Here they're grumbling, but God promises still that he would be faithful. In the last paragraph of Sunday's lesson I read, and yet even after their grumbling God promised that he would not bring upon the Israelites any of the diseases that came upon the Egyptians. He had made the water sweet, he made provision for them, and he promised in verse 26 to protect them. Look, Exodus 15 verse 26 he says, if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what's right in his sight and give ear to his commandments and I'll keep all his statutes I will put none of the diseases on you which I brought on the Egyptians for I am the Lord who heals you the Christ of the cross is the God is the Christ of healing And he says that as we come to him, he heals us of the bitterness of sin. He heals us of our rebellion.

He heals us of our disobedience. He gives to us the gospel of his grace. And 1 day he will heal us through all eternity of every physical ailment, because Revelation 21 verse 4 says, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more sickness or suffering or heartache or death. Here, last paragraph under Sunday's lesson, and yet even after their grumbling, God promised that he would not bring upon the Israelites any of the diseases that had plagued the Egyptians.

He would protect them. They could experience this promise only on the condition that they stayed faithful to him. God's appeal in Sunday's lesson is an appeal for faithfulness, and it's appeal for obedience, and it's appeal to you and me to be faithful to God. We come to Monday's lesson, quail and manna. What do you choose?

You choose the quail, the flesh pots of Egypt, or you choose the manna that God can provide. We find this in Exodus 16, verse 1 to 36. So they journey on. They come to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai. The whole congregation's murmuring against Moses.

They're murmuring against Aaron. They don't learn the lesson of trust, the lesson of faithfulness. Often when we go through trials and difficulties and challenges, we say, God, where are you? They want to go back, according to verse 3, to the pots of meat and the flesh pots of Egypt. But God says, I'll rain bread down from heaven upon you, and the people shall go out and gather a quota, a certain quota every day, that I may test them whether they'll walk in my law or not.

Now you remember there were 3 miracles that were performed with the falling of the manna. First miracle, manna fell from heaven. That's quite a miracle, isn't it? And it fell for 5 days. That's the first miracle.

Second miracle is twice as much fell on Friday. If they would keep any over for many of the other days, it would spoil and stink. But on Friday, twice as much fell. Third miracle, that if they kept it over, it wouldn't stink for the Sabbath, and none fell on Sabbath. So the people would go out and gather twice as much on Friday, and they would preserve it for the next day.

So a triple miracle. Incidentally, there are those who believe that the Sabbath was given for the Jew. Certainly not true at all. Sabbath was given at creation. God set the Sabbath aside where Genesis 2, verse 1 to 3 says that he rested upon the Sabbath, he sanctified the Sabbath, and he hallowed the Sabbath.

So he made it holy. God set the Sabbath aside as a very special, special day. And That was at least Hundreds of years centuries before the existence the Jewish race the Jewish race didn't exist till Abraham Isaac Jacob 12 sons of Jacob become the 12 tribes of Israel much much after creation So Sabbath is given at creation But then you come to Exodus chapter 16, the Sabbath is certainly in existence, and you don't get the 10 Commandments until Exodus chapter 20. So the Sabbath is that golden chain from Eden at the time of creation to Eden again when God creates the new heaven and the new earth. But this show, the following of manna shows how much God cares for his people.

It shows clearly Exodus chapter 16. God says, verse 4, "'Behold, I'll rain bread from heaven for you, "'and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota.'" Go down to verse 6. "'And Moses and Aaron said to all the children, at evening you'll know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your murmurings against the Lord. But what are we that we murmur against the Lord. In the morning you'll see the glory of the Lord.

The manna falls, it reveals the glory of the Lord. What is the glory of God? It's his character. And what is his character? It is his loving care for his people.

What is his character? It is his nature of love. And the nature of a loving God would not allow Israel to starve in the desert. So he revealed his glory by revealing his character of letting the manna fall from heaven. Now the purpose of that is clearly seen here in Scripture.

It says, verse 10, now it came to pass, this Exodus 16.10, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." So the whole manna experience revealed the glory of God. Also it revealed heaven's diet in comparison to the Egyptian diet. Remember God said, none of the diseases I'll put upon you if you're faithful to me, if you're obedient to me. They wanted to go back to the flesh pots of Egypt, a diet which would prematurely predispose them to sickness, suffering, and death, to heart disease and cancer, which the Egyptians had in the later dynasties. So God then told them, be faithful to me, choose heaven's diet.

Where was a part of that manna placed when Israel built the sanctuary and they had the Ark of the Covenant. What was put in the Ark of the Covenant? The 10 Commandment law, Aaron's rod that budded, and a pot of manna. Why Aaron's rod that budded? To show that God's people were to respect divine authority.

Why the 10 commandments? To show that obedience to God was manifest in faithfulness in keeping the commandments of God. Why the pot of manna? To show that God could provide every 1 of our needs with the heavenly diet and we didn't need the diet of Egypt. So for an end time people called Seventh-day Adventists who are looking to the sanctuary, We see the call in the rod of Aaron in the sanctuary above, this symbolic illustration.

We see the call to be faithful to God and to respect the cherished leadership that God has chosen for his church. We see the call to be faithful to the 10 Commandment law, including the Bible Sabbath. And we see the call to healthful living. We see the call in the pot of manna that God would protect us, that God would care for us. We go to Tuesday's lesson, Water from the Rock.

Now we come to Exodus 17. We look at verse 1 there, and Moses, again, is leading the children of Israel. They had short memories, didn't they? They forget that God sweetened the waters at Marah. They forget that God rained down manna from heaven for them.

How could they forget that? He was doing it throughout all their 40-year time in the wilderness. They saw it every morning fall and they would go out to gather it. Then they saw twice as much fall on Friday, the preparation day. They saw that it didn't spoil on the Sabbath.

And so how is it that they forgot? Because we have short memories. And often when we come to trials, we forget how God has led us in the past, but in Exodus chapter 17, they come to the rock. God tells Moses, you go to the rock, Moses, and you shall strike the rock. Look what he says in verse 6.

Now, verse 6 is interesting. Behold, I'll stand before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it that the people may drink." The water didn't flow out of it simply because Moses struck the rock. He did strike the rock, but that's not predominantly why water came out of it. Why did water come out of the rock? Because the scripture says in verse 6, I will stand before you there on the rock.

It is because God stood before Moses. When God stands by our side, miracles happen. When God stands by our side, the sweet waters of life flow. When God stands by our side, the water From the sanctuary above, the life and love of God flows into our lives. And when God stands by our side, our deepest thirst is quenched.

Our longings for meaning and purpose in life are fulfilled. Our longing for life itself. Water is always a symbol of life in the Bible. God stands by our side, and the river of water of life flows into our heart, and we find new joy, new purpose, new meaning in life. Look here in the third paragraph under the question, Exodus 17, 1-7, what lesson should the people have learned from this incident?

Certainly that God cares for us and God is able, God is able, God is able to provide our needs. But third paragraph down says, water is a symbol of life. Because without water, there is no life. Every cell in our body needs water. We are 60% water ourselves.

Even our bones are composed partly of water. Thus providing water in the wilderness for the Israelites was a sign for the Israelites that God cared for their needs and that they could trust him. But again, they had to obey. Water gushing out of the rock, the life of God flowing into our lives. Then you have in Wednesday's lesson, Jethro, the story of Exodus 18, 1 to 27.

I've written in my lesson this, when doing good is not good, when doing good is not good, Moses was doing good. He was taking all of the needs, all the problems of the people. Sometimes the other people's problems can overwhelm you. Sometimes when you keep listening to people's overwhelming problems, you can be physically, mentally, and spiritually drained. Jethro, a wise man, came to counsel Moses.

You find it in Exodus, the 18th chapter. And he was concerned about Moses' well-being. He was concerned about the fact that Moses was carrying too heavy a load. Are you carrying a heavy load with your family and at work and in the church? Maybe you feel bowed down and weighted down with all the different responsibilities.

Here Moses was wise enough, Moses was smart enough, Moses was guided by the Holy Spirit enough to take the counsel of Jethro. He didn't say, Jethro, I don't need it. And Jethro said, verse 21, Exodus 18, moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth hating covetousness, and place them over to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rulers of tens, and let them judge the people. Then it will be that every great matter shall be brought to you." So Jethro had a plan of the divisions of responsibility. Moses was doing good, but it was not good.

It was gonna exhaust him. It was going to wear him out. And Jethro said, look, let's divide responsibility. Rules of thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens. Moses did it and he took the big problems on.

Maybe in your life, you're trying to take on too much. And maybe God is speaking to you through this Sabbath school lesson to trust other people, to have a division of responsibility. Here in the paragraph, Moses responds positively to Jethro. And Jethro says in Exodus 18, 10 and 11, blessed be the Lord who's delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.

What we see here is this, God's desire to have Jethro give Moses counsel so that the glory of God could be revealed. We see here that Jethro reflects back on how God miraculously led the children of Israel, affirming that God would still lead them in this division of responsibility. We come to Thursday's lesson, the bread and water of life. And you remember in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 11, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11. Why did God give us all of these Old Testament lessons and stories, lessons about faithfulness, lessons about obedience?

1 Corinthians 10.11. Now all these things happened to them, that's Israel, as examples and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. All these things that happened to Israel happened for examples. The water that flowed from the rock is an example to us that Jesus is the water of life. Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well in John chapter 4?

If you drink of this water, you shall thirst again. But the water that I have for you, you shall never thirst again. Jesus was saying to that woman, I can satisfy your deepest needs with the water of life. Maybe you feel something missing in your life. Maybe you feel something emptiness in your life.

Jesus is still the water of life. Then we have the symbolism of the bread of life. Remember what Jesus said in John chapter 8, as manna fell in the wilderness. So God provided you bread, but Jesus said, I am the bread of life. I am the bread of life.

He that comes to me is going to hunger no more. They're going to thirst no more. Maybe there's something deep down inside of you, an emptiness, a hunger of the soul to know God. And Jesus says, I will quench your raging thirst for God. I will fulfill your every need.

I will, for you, be the 1 that satisfies the deepest hunger of your life. Open your heart to God and ask him to fill you up to overflowing so that when you go to Sabbath school, you can share from the overflow of your own experience. But when you go to Sabbath school and teach, you can be a blessing to others because the bread of life has nourished and nurtured your soul and the water of life has quenched your inner thirst. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this amazing lesson today.

We do pray that the Holy Spirit would fill our hearts, break for us the bread of life, nourish our souls, may from the sanctuary above the water of life flow into our hearts and quench our thirst to know you more. And draw us closer to you each day we pray in Christ's name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audioverse.org

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Series

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

07 The Bread and Water of Life

Parent Series

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Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

22m

02 The Burning Bush

22m

03 Rough Start

24m

04 The Plagues

25m

05 Passover

25m

07 The Bread and Water of Life

22m

08 Covenant at Sinai

27m

Sound Doctrine