This year, part of the Passover and leading up to Passover, I was really struck by the
thoughts of the rehearsal of the Holy Day plan that outlines God's plan of bringing many
sons to glory.
And I thought about the many different analogies that we have in our society or the parallels
that we have in our society that we have a lot of interest in racing of all different
types.
You know, there's automobile racing, there's horse racing, there's track and field events
and things like that.
I started to think about the Holy Day plan of God as we begin to keep the feast days
again and we go through the meaning and the significance of each one of them and we're
reminded as to how God is bringing about this plan of achieving or of accomplishing bringing
many sons to glory.
And I thought of the oval track analogy and here we are, we've just left the finish line
in that sense on our way around to make another lap that will take us a little over seven
months to go through the keeping of the Holy Days.
If you would, let's turn by way of introduction to Leviticus 23 and verse 15.
You should count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought
the sheaf of the wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be complete and we're told to count
fifty.
You know, so here we are where if we count and there's naturally with three Sabbaths
during the days of unleavened bread, there's different opinions about which one you count
from.
I think the majority view is from the, did you count from the morrow after the weekly
Sabbath?
So we start on the Sunday.
That was day one.
We are in day two looking to count to fifty and we will come to the Pentecost.
During that fifty day period of time, we have one stretch of forty days.
The number forty and the multiple of two of forty of eighty historically has been a time
of trial or a time of trouble for Israel, both I think physically and spiritually.
And so we see that, that journey that we go through in this lap, that we've got, you
know, this forty, now forty nine days to go until we reach Pentecost.
This afternoon, I'd like to look at one aspect of the fifty days between the days of unleavened
bread and Pentecost in the form of two questions that I'd like to share with you.
What direction and how will we travel in our personal exodus, our journey out of sin?
What direction are we going to travel?
How are we going to go about that travel?
And this afternoon, the time that I have, I'd like to take a look at three journeys,
two in the Old Testament, one in the New Testament, through this same period of time and to see
what we can learn and then we'll conclude with some of the apostles' appalls, words
about, you know, the conclusion of the matter with these journeys.
I have a lot of scriptural excerpts this afternoon.
So if you would, please don't feel obligated necessarily if you're a no-taker to write
these down.
You can find these and there's some that I've, you know, skipped for the sake of time.
But I want to read excerpts to try to highlight and to characterize or to typify, you know,
what happened during these journeys?
You know, what was going on?
What was the nature of the tone?
What was the behavior?
What was the conduct?
You know, what were the good and the bad that took place in these journeys?
Let's start in Exodus 12 and I'm going to start in 1231 and again, I'm going to read
a lot of scriptures.
I'm going to excerpt some of these, but if you would, try to follow or if you can follow
the tone of what the people are doing here, what's going on with this group of people?
Exodus 1231, you recognize Exodus 12 and that's where we're introduced to the Passover
in 31 and Moses or then he called, he being Pharaoh, called for Moses and Aaron by night
and said, rise, get out of here, get, go out from among my people, both you and the children
of Israel, go serve the Lord your God, as you've said.
So the first thing, I mean, in this part, Pharaoh is saying, you know, I'm done, you
know, after these 10 plagues, this is it, you know, you people get, get out of here.
Now, continuing in 38, a mixed multitude went up with them also and flocks and herds and
a great deal of livestock and it says 600,000 men not counting the women and the children
and you know, a lot of people that all are initiating this tremendous, you know, migration
out of physical Egypt, you know, they're finally, they've got an opportunity, they're
going to leave 39 and they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought
out of Egypt for is not leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait
nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
I think there's the expectation that, you know, we're not necessarily, we're not prepared
to leave but Pharaoh is saying at this point, you know, I'm not resisting anymore, get out
of here and so, you know, the plans start to take place or the preparations start to
take place to get out of Egypt very quickly.
Down in 41 it makes an interesting statement and it came to pass at the end of 430 years.
On that very same day, very same day, it came to pass that all of the armies of the Lord
went out from the land of Egypt, 430 years of slavery, 42, this we just kept this, you
know, just a few days ago, it is the night of solemn observance, you know, that's the
way I used to read that, it's the night to be much remembered, it's the night of solemn
observance.
This year I was struck by the rest of that initial clause, it's the night of solemn observance
to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout
their generations.
That we have the institution of this custom from then to, you know, here we are in 2014,
we're observing that as we're commanded to do.
Lots of things happening real quickly now in this particular Exodus over in chapter
13 beginning in verse 17.
And we have an interesting inset here about, you know, the plan, God's plan in this Exodus,
13, reading from 17 down to 22.
Then it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God did not lead them out
by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.
If you look at a map of this part of the Middle East, if you look at Egypt and northeasterly,
it's not very far into, you know, the promised land, it's a short, straight shot where you
could go right up the coast and there you'd be, but God chose not to do that.
For God said, less perhaps, continuing in 17, the people change their minds when they see
war and return to Egypt.
You're thinking, how would you want to return to Egypt after 430 years of slavery?
You know, there are other places we read about the rigors that those people endured, you
know, and the things that they were subjected to as slaves, you know, having no free will
at all.
And we see that, you know, that God didn't lead them out in the most direct way to the
promised land.
So God led the people round by the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea and the children
of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.
Talk about a tremendous troop movement.
I mean, if we're dealing with two or three million people, you think of all of the logistics
that it takes to move that many people.
It used to be said in military history for a division and that, depending on which military
you're talking about, in the United States, the division is right now about 15,000 people.
The Russians, it's about 10,000, but somewhere in that range, 10,000 to 15,000 people.
If you want to change the direction of a division, you don't just stop and do an about face and
take off the other direction.
You know, it's said that it takes maybe three days for a division to change direction and
to start deploying in another manner or another direction.
And then you multiply that by order of magnitude and then some, and you've got 600,000 men
that you're moving with their wives and with their children and all of these animals.
Tremendous movement of people.
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him as Joseph had requested, and they took their
journey from Succov and camped in Ethan at the edge of the wilderness, and the Lord went
before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light so as to go by day and night.
And he did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from
before the people.
And we heard yesterday in the presentation from Dr. Levy, you know, the sermon on, you
know, that he gave on, you know, the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
So here we have, we've got movement, you know, people are leaving.
You know, one of the things that strikes me about the Exodus, the first Exodus, to me
there's a whole lot of, are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
We'll run into a few of these along the way.
Over in chapter 14 and 11 to 15, then they said to Moses, and here we go, because there
were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?
Why have you dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt?
And we're just talking, you know, this is a matter of the day or so.
And you know, already there's dissent, there's frustration, we're hemmed in, the Egyptian
army is bearing down on us, we're all going to be killed.
You know, this was just a charade, you know, it's not really going to happen, we're really
not going to be able to extricate ourselves from Egypt.
You know, you brought us out here to die, you know, already we're upset.
And continuing in 12, is this not the word that we told you, and this is an amazing thing
to me, didn't we tell you this?
Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians.
I like slavery.
I'm thinking, are you kidding me?
Are you kidding me?
What was going on in the night to be much observed to the Lord?
I would imagine people were, that was a thrilling moment for them to realize, we're free for
the first time in 430 years in the generations going back to, you know, the enslavement.
And for that to be said, let us alone, we want to stay with the Egyptians, that we can
serve them.
You think, what about the straw and all of those other things and the rigors that they
had to endure?
You know, already that's been forgotten, or that's been glossed over.
The rest of 12, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we
should die in the wilderness.
Moses is having to deal with that, and he says, do not be afraid, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today.
For the Egyptians whom you see today, you'll see them no more again forever.
And then we have the role of the cloud in there too, and the separation that took place
with the Egyptian army, which at that time was the most powerful army on the face of
the earth.
So you can imagine if you picture yourself, and you have the first third and fourth divisions
of the United States army with about 45,000 people, and, you know, augmented, you know,
units, and they're bearing down on you, and you think, we're going to die, you know, and
that's what these people were thinking, that the Egyptian army, you know, has conquered
basically wherever it would, and we're hemmed in on three sides, and we've got the water
in front of us, and here they come, we're dead, we've had it.
We really kind of like that slavery, you know, and then we see, you know, by comparison,
we're now, we're saying, I wish we'd have stayed.
Let's go over to 15, read verse 19.
We have, you know, how God dealt with the, you know, as Dr. Levi read, you know, and
talked a little bit about the, you know, God intervening and, you know, working, you know,
having something to do with those chariot wheels, and then the conclusion of the matter is the
19, for 15, 19.
For the horses, the Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and
the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the children of Israel went
on dry land in the midst of the sea.
Fantastic miracle, that here the prime army in the world at that time is bearing down
on you.
There's some kind of separation, you know, we don't see where they are, Moses, you know,
with God's power, you know, causes the Red Sea to be divided, 600,000 men with all of
their, you know, women, children, and kutriments, and all of their baggage and all of their stock
go through on dry land, you know, and a tremendous miracle that takes place right there.
But already we've seen the seeds of some of the contention, and we look at this journey,
we see the nature of it, that we've got fantastic miracles that, you know, that are happening,
and then we've got grumbling right out of the gate, we've got problems here right out
of the gate.
Okay, so the Egyptian army's been destroyed, we're on the other side, now then we'll take
a look at the next instance here in 22 to 27.
So we move a little ways in 22, so Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea and then they went
out into the wilderness of shore, then went three days into the wilderness, found no water.
And when they came to Mara, they could not drink the waters of Mara, for they were bitter,
therefore the name is called Mara.
24, and the people complained against Moses saying, what shall we drink?
Alternate Hebrew translation says, where's my Avion?
No, it's a joke.
Where's my, I want some water here.
You know, I can't drink this bitter stuff, no telling what was in that water.
And then, you know, looking at verses 25, when God tells Moses, the show's Moses, you
know, take this tree and throw it in there and the waters are sweet.
You think, well, is this the first water treatment plant in history or what?
But don't know, but it, whatever Moses did, what he was told, the water is sweetened.
Okay, we're satisfied a little bit.
Three days out, we're going to die a thirst out here, we can't drink this bitter stuff.
You know, it just, I'm not happy.
I'm not happy at all.
26, if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what's right in his sight,
give ear to his commandments and keep all the statues, I will put none of these diseases
on you, which I have brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.
They came to Elim or Elim, ever how that's pronounced, where there were 12 wells of water
and 70 palm trees.
So we've got, now we've, we're okay, we've got water, got water.
Now then let's look at, let's jump over to, or let's look at 16, 1-4.
After they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came
to the wilderness of Then, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the 15th day of the second
month, for a month out, for a month out, been traveling, been walking for one month, after
they departed from the land of Egypt, then the whole congregation of the children of
Israel complained against Moses and Aaron and the wilderness.
Already we're back to, the tone here is, we're upset.
The children of Israel said to them, oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the
land of Egypt.
We'll be sat by the pots of meat, and we'll be ate bread to the full.
I'm thinking, are you kidding me?
You think the Egyptians are feeding these people, you know, the best of food?
There's no telling what they were eating.
But in their memory or their minds, now the filter that they're looking at through this,
you know, it sounds pretty good.
It sounds like they were having, you know, steak and baked potatoes here, but I doubt
if that's the way it was.
I doubt if that's the way it was.
For you brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
You're bringing us out here to starve us all to death.
Quite an accusation.
The Lord said to Moses, behold, I'll rain bread from heaven for you, and the people
shall go out and gather a certain quote every day that I may test them, whether they walk
in my law or not.
So we have the rest of this section that goes through, you know, the instructions that they
received for manna.
They didn't follow those instructions.
That was the cause for some aggravation to both the Lord and to Moses.
But that was the nature of the people that were there.
Let's go to 17, read 1 to 7.
My Bible says water from the rock.
That's the title on this.
That all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the
wilderness of sand according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Refideam.
But there was no water for the people to drink.
I could have probably dealt with the bitter water a little better, but now we don't have
anything at all.
Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, give us water that we may drink.
So Moses said, why do you contend with me?
Why do you tempt the Lord?
And the people thirsted for water, and the people complained against Moses and said,
why is it that you brought us up out of Egypt to kill us?
And our children and our livestock were thirst.
And just whenever things didn't go well, there's the accusatory tone of the people
back to Moses.
And that would have really, really gotten old.
And we see in the dialogue that takes place in different places between the Lord and Moses.
I'll remind you of Exodus 33.11.
I think it is.
It says, God dealt with Moses, or spoke to Moses face to face, and he dealt with Moses
as a man deals with his friends.
But even friends sometimes have spats.
And so we're going to read some of the dialogue that took place at different points in time
when God's frustrated and Moses is saying, don't wipe a mountain and start over with
me, but because of all of the things that the nations will say, all of that.
So he's supplicating God not to wipe a mountain and start over.
And then there's other times when Moses is very upset and there's the dialogue back and
forth with God.
But I was struck when looking through some of this, how God and the relationship that
God and Moses had there in terms of how they addressed each other and just the different
things that they would say going back and forth to each other.
Let's continue.
So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, what shall I do with this people?
They're almost ready to stone me.
They're looking for rocks.
The Lord said to Moses, go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel
and take in your hand the rod which you struck the river with.
And so he gives them the instructions there.
And Moses follows those, but he makes a mistake.
And God doesn't remonstrate him at that point, but God doesn't overlook that either.
And so later, God says, you're not going to go into the Promised Land because you didn't
follow my instructions.
You didn't honor me in front of the people.
But God still backed Moses up here.
It wasn't that when Moses struck the rock and said what he did, which it was speaking
that he shouldn't, said some things that he shouldn't, but God still caused the water
to come out of those rocks.
And seven, I think, is a really good conclusion of this section.
So he called the name of the place Masah and Meraba because the contention of the children
of Israel, because they attempted the Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not?
You think, how in the world could you say that?
Because you've been a slave for 430 years and you've had incredible miracles take place
to extricate you out of that society.
And you get out in the desert, you start having a few problems, and what do you start doing?
You start blaming Moses, start accusing Moses of trying to kill us all, and you start questioning
whether God is really with you or not.
That's the tone of this journey.
We're going to continue with that.
Let's turn over to 19.
What here is, in 191, in the third month, after the children of Israel had gone out
of the land of Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.
So they're in the region of where Mount Sinai is.
We're going to skip forward past the giving of the law and all of the instructions to
the priests and how the tabernacle was to be created and everything.
We're going to jump over to Exodus 32 and read about an incident here, the golden camp.
32.1.
Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people
gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us,
for as this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don't know
what's become of him.
We're tired of waiting.
He's been up there for a while.
We don't know what's going on on board.
Let's go back.
Make us some gods and let's go back.
Aaron said to them in two, break off the golden earrings that are out of your ears.
Bring those things to me in verse three.
They did so.
We'll get down here.
We're going to jump over now to 21.24.
We got all of the activity that's taken place and Aaron is in kind of the role of stop gap
and he doesn't really assert himself in his role to try to get this under control or get
this under hand here.
He has the catastrophe on his hands here that he winds up being in a ringleader role here.
When we look at 21.24, then we see some things here.
Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you that you've brought so great a stand
upon them?
What were you thinking, Aaron?
Aaron said, Do not let the anger of my Lord become hot.
You know the people that they're set on evil.
Kind of a little bit of, not my fault, I'm just kind of pointing over here to somebody
else.
Spread the blame around a little bit here.
For they said to me, Make us gods, it'll go before us.
For as this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what's
happened to him.
24, and I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.
So they gave it to me, I put it in the fire, and wow, look what popped out of that fire.
Don't read anything about any moles or any pouring or how they melted that gold down.
We just put it in the fire and presto change show.
Here comes this golden cap, amazing, amazing how that took place.
So this is some of what they were having to deal with.
Now you've got a great sin that's taken place.
What we're going to do now is going to jump over to Exodus 32, or no, we're not going
to jump over, that's where we are.
Numbers 13, sorry.
Numbers 13, we're going to come back to Exodus, but I want to read Numbers 13 here.
Numbers 13, we're going to read verses 30, no we're not, I'm in the wrong place.
That's Exodus, I'm sorry, I've got an error in my notes here.
Okay I have an error here in my notes, but I wanted to cover that the spies were sent
out to Canaan.
I don't know where that is right off here, let me see if I can pull that one.
Numbers 13, right, Numbers 13, okay I just turned the page.
So the spies are sent out into the Promised Land to see how things are going to go.
They're ready to cross the Jordan, they're in position where they're going to go into
the Promised Land.
The spies are sent out, they come back and we've got some dissenting reports here.
Verse 30.
And Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once to take possession
for we're well able to overcome it.
But the man who had gone up with him said, we're not able to go up against these people
because they're stronger than we are.
They gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out saying
the land through which we have gone as spies is the land that devours its inhabitants.
And all people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
We're going to be fighting some big guys, they're giants here.
There we saw the giants, the descendants of Anak came from the giants and we were like
grasshoppers in their sight and so we were in their sight.
We can't do this.
What happened to God that brought them to this point?
There's no recognition that God's the one that's going to make this happen.
And the spies really caused some issues there continuing in Numbers 14.
All the congregation lifted up their voices and cried and the people wept that night.
All the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation
said to them, if only we died in the land of Egypt, if only we had died in this wilderness,
why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by this sword that our wives and children
should become victims?
Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?
So they said to one another, let us select a leader and let's go back to Egypt.
Every time something happened or every time they encountered an obstacle, there's the
accusations toward Moses that you brought us out here to kill us and now we're ready
to enter the promised land, but we can't do it.
It's going to be too hard for us.
There's giants there.
Let's turn them around.
Let's go back to Egypt.
Let's look at 26 to 28 here.
And here in my Bible there's a little section heading that says, Death Sentence on the Rebels.
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, how long shall I bear with this evil congregation
who complain against me?
I've heard their complaints with the children of Israel make against me.
Say to them, as I live, says the Lord, just as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will
do to you.
The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness.
All of you who were numbered according to your number from 20 years old and above, except
for Caleb, the son of Jefunah, and Joshua, the son of Nun.
So everybody that's been complaining that it's 20 years old and older, we're going
to stay out here until every one of you guys have died.
Had it with the complaining, but you're 31, but you're little ones whom you said would
be victims.
I'll bring them in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
When bad happens, we want to go back, and now they're going to wander the land for 40
years.
Now then let's read the last section of that chapter, because there's a remarkable change
apart here.
Then Moses told these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned greatly.
A lot of crying going on.
They rose up early in the morning, went up to the top of the mountain and said, here
we are.
And we'll go up to the place where the Lord's promise for we've sinned.
We're ready now.
Now that you've brought this up, we've had a change of heart.
We want to cross the river.
We want to take possession of the land.
41, and Moses says, why do you transgress the command of the Lord for this will not
succeed?
Do not go up lest you be defeated.
They did, and they were defeated.
They're basically, they're run off, so they're not able to go into the promised land.
So the nature of this journey is one of doubting God, it's one of contention and accusations
toward Moses, and every time that there's any kind of a difficulty, there's blame toward
Moses, and let's either appoint us a leader, let's get somebody to make us some gods, and
let's get back to Egypt where we came from.
An amazing, an amazing characteristic for that journey.
So what was their exodus like?
What was their, their, what direction did they go?
Well, everybody that was 20 years old and older wandered in the wilderness for 40 years
until they all died.
So that behavior cost that whole generation its life.
Take a look at the second journey, or the second journey, and we're going to focus
on Jericho.
Let's turn over to Deuteronomy 31, and read the first three verses there, Deuteronomy
31 and verses one to three.
Then Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel, and he said to them, I'm 120 years
old today.
I can no longer go out and come in.
Also the Lord has said to me, you'll not cross over this Jordan.
So Moses is basically at the end of his, his tenure, you know, he's coming to the end of
his life.
Verse three, Lord your God himself crosses over before you.
He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them.
Joshua himself crosses over before you, just as the Lord had said.
You know, it was an interesting comment that Dr. Levy made in the presentation about, and
I was struck by his comment about how that, that God avoided any kind of concerns over
leadership transition here, that, you know, there is an orderly transition from Moses
to Joshua.
There's no doubt about whether it's Caleb or Joshua.
It's obvious that it's, the succession is going to be from Moses to Joshua.
Let's go to 32 and read 48 to 52.
Deuteronomy 32, reading the mech serfs from 48 to 52.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day thing.
Go up this mountain of the Abram, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from
Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as the possession.
And die on the mountain, which you ascend and be gathered to your people, as Aaron,
your brother died on Mount Horror and was gathered to his people.
Because you transgressed against me among the people of Israel at the waters of Meribach,
Kadesh, and the wilderness of sin, because you did not hallow me in the midst of the
children of Israel, yet you shall see the land before you, though you shall not go there
into the land which I am giving to the children of Israel.
Even at that point, there's still the friendly relationship, because God could have said,
you send, you're not even going to see it.
But he told him, and he kept his word, that Moses, because of what you did, you're not
going to be permitted to cross the Jordan, but I am going to show it to you.
I'm going to show you what it looks like.
Let's turn over to Deuteronomy 34, and this is a little chapter here, but I was really
struck by the tone of this, and Moses is up on this mountain, Moses went up in verse 1
from Plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, and the Lord showed him all of the land of Gilead
as far as Dan.
I mean, so we've got in one sense kind of a visual tour of here's where it's going
to go.
You're not going to go there, you're going to go to sleep, you're going to rest until
the resurrection, but all these people that you've led to this point, they're going to
cross, and here's what they're going to do, here's what they're going to see, and he
shows them all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manathem, the land of Judah as far as
the western sea, goes on through that.
God said to him in four, this is the land of which I swore to give Abraham Isaac and
Jacob.
Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word
of the Lord, and he, that it's God, buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, and no
one knows his grave to this day.
Okay, so that is the conclusion of Moses' influence in a leadership role there, and
Moses is dead.
Second birth of the first chapter of Joshua, now we have the succession taking place, and
now the Lord speaking to Joshua, Moses, my servant, is dead.
Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all the people to the land which I'm
giving them, the children of Israel.
Got the section in Joshua too where they send a couple of spies to scout out Jericho.
They go to the house of Rahab, the harlot.
They are basically, they're caught except for her intersection.
She led them down by the wall.
They work out an arrangement where they promise on penalty of their own lives to take care
of everybody that she has in her house on that wall when they take the city.
And so they basically get ready.
They cross the Jordan in chapter 3, and let's look at chapter 4 and verse 19.
Now the people came up from the Jordan on the 10th day of the first month, and they camped
in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
Now we got 40 some odd years that have taken pass, but we're back to the same season of
the year, first month, 10th day of that month, and now we're ready for the second attempt
to cross the Jordan, and this one, they do so.
They cross the Jordan at the same time of the year, 40 years later.
And then we continue.
In chapter 6, we've got the instructions that were given that Joshua gave about, here's
the order, and here's what's to be done with the priests, and people are going to march
around the city once a day for the first six days, not supposed to say anything.
There's only the playing of the trumpets.
On the seventh day, we're going to march around seven times, and the priests are going to blow
the trumpets.
You're going to shout, and the walls fall down, and they advance, and they take the city of
Jericho.
So here's their first conquest.
They crossed the Jordan.
They're in the promised land.
They see their first objective, and God is with them, because those walls fell outward,
which is not the way walls would fall in that kind of a situation.
And everybody basically assaults that city.
They honor their promise to Rahab, but they take the city.
Things are going really well.
That's about to change over in chapter 7.
So then we see they were given some specific instructions about what they were supposed
to, how they were supposed to deal with the people and with the things that were in Jericho.
Let's look at 7-1.
But the people of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things for Achan, the
son of Carmiah, the son of, and it goes on through the lineage, took of the accursed
things so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.
So we go through this, you know, how that, you know, their plan is, A.I. is just a little
place.
We found a real big city and we're coming off of a very significant victory here.
So let's just, we just need a couple of 3,000 people, we'll go up and take A.I. and kind
of be right back.
Well, it didn't work out that way for them.
They were smitten by the men of A.I. and some people lost their lives that you find out
later.
Oh, if Achan hadn't done what he did, you know, those, and the memory serves at 36, people
lost their lives because of his sin.
And then we've got the selection and the choice and we see the punishment that comes down
upon Achan and his household.
So even in this second journey, what's the tone of that?
It's hard to imagine that those instructions, you know, were misunderstood.
I mean, here's somebody that it looks to me and when you look at that, they say, you know,
I saw this and I coveted this, I wanted this stuff, you know, I got some, there's a wedge
of gold, there's some silver, there's this beautiful Babylonian garment here and, you
know, I just took this stuff and it's, you know, it's in my tent under, you know, in
the middle of my tent under some things.
And then the result of that cost, you know, these individuals their lives.
We see that, you know, that there's this undertone here in this journey that, you know, we don't
really fully obey God, you know, we don't fully get the picture, you know, we're not
fully on board with what's going on.
At least we're not screaming at Moses about taking us back to Egypt, but we didn't leave
all of that other stuff behind, you know, we've, Joshua's got, you know, the problems
with, you know, with people not doing what God commanded them and they're dealing with
the fallout from that, okay?
Let's go to our third and final journey and this one will begin in Acts 1, the New Testament
journey.
Most of us probably or most of us have read parts or all of the sections of the Gospel
about the life of Jesus Christ and his ministry, his death by crucifixion, you know, the things
that he endured, his resurrection, and the things that, you know, the things with the
Apostle Peter there at the end of the Gospel of John and where he comes back to Peter.
You know, it's a Simon, do you love me?
And he repeats that.
And you know that those words had to have burned into Peter because that denial was still
very fresh on his mind.
And I was struck by something that, I think it was Mr. Kylo said when he was here and
giving a sermon that said, only in the Gospel of Luke does it mention that Jesus Christ
looked at Simon when that denial took place, you know, the others, you know, mentioned
the denial, but it doesn't have that, it doesn't relate that same information, but you know
the Apostle Peter never forgot that.
And you know that Jesus Christ, I mean that wasn't a smirk or I doubt if that was any
kind of, there's no record of the facial features that Jesus Christ exhibited at that
point.
But I don't think that was out of condemnation, but that was out of knowledge because he told
Peter, you're going to deny me three times, Peter said there's no way that's going to
happen.
Not very much time passes and Peter did exactly what Jesus Christ had predicted he would and
that Jesus just looked at it as it says in Luke, I doubt if Simon Peter ever forgot that.
Okay, so let's begin in Acts 1 and read verse 3.
Let's back up just a little bit, in 2, until the day in which he, that is Jesus Christ,
was taken up after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the Apostles whom
he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible
proofs being seen by them during forty days.
So here in this forty day period of time between the time that Jesus Christ was crucified
and that he was resurrected, that he appeared to, you know, to people here many times, many
times.
So we had a ten day period of time between when he ascends and the Pentecost that, you
know, that there's no more, there's no more appearances.
Verse 4, and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem, that is Jesus Christ given these instructions, but to wait for the promise of
the Father which he said, you've heard from me, for John truly baptized with water, but
you should be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.
And then he is taken up and he ascends to heaven, and there they are waiting.
In 115, then we've got the events there of the replacement of Judas the Scarlet by Matthias,
so that we've round out that there are twelve apostles again, and then we come to the conclusion
of this journey, or this aspect of this journey, and that's Acts 2 verses 1 to 4.
When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
I don't know about you, but sometimes I think, is this the last time that there's been unity
in the Church of God, that there hasn't been division or dissension, you know, at different
times in our church history, you know, I think we can all look back at that and see that
it appears that we have had greater accord, at least in my limited experience in the Church
of God, we've had greater accord at different times.
I'm very thankful for the accord that we have at the present time.
I regret that we are still separated from, you know, from many of the brethren that are
in the Church of God, but this really resonates with me, that they were all with one accord
in one place.
Continuing in verse 2, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as if a rushing mighty
wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and we have the description there
of the Holy Spirit, what appeared that was perceptible by, you know, physical eyesight,
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in tongues.
We have the conclusion of this journey, people that did what they were told, and we see the
foundation and the launch of the New Testament Church of God.
You've seen these three journeys between the days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost.
How does this relevant to us in 2014?
How does this relevant?
I think the Apostle Paul answers that question, and this is one that if you are taking notes,
I would say this is the conclusion of the matter, and this is 1 Corinthians 10, we read
verses 1 to 13.
I think the Apostle Paul answers, you know, the questions that we may have about, you
know, how are we going to travel our journey in this 50-day period of time?
What's going to be the nature and the tone of our journey between the days of Unleavened
Bread and Pentecost?
1 Corinthians 10, beginning in verse 1, words of the Apostle Paul, Moreover, brethren, I
do not want you to be unaware that all of our fathers were under the cloud, all passed
through the sea.
He's referring back to that first journey.
All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, you know.
Many of you will remember that some of Mr. Basil Wilberton's art and the Bible story,
and there's one of those that to this day, I can still remember that you have these walls,
these huge rows, walls of water here in the dry land, and here's part of a fish that's
sticking out into the, you know, out of this wall, you know, whether that happened or not
or could have happened, I don't know, but it was the captivating thought, you know,
that you see these people walking through and being able to look at the walls of water
that were on either side of them, and in that sense, they were under the water.
They were baptized, you know, according to what the Apostle Paul says, they were baptized
into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
All were baptized, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink,
for they drank of that spiritual rock, capital R, that followed them, and that rock was Christ.
But with most of them, God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness,
and we see the reference there of what happened to those Israelites in that first journey,
that a whole generation of 20 and above died in the wilderness because of their dismalase.
Continuing in verse 6, now these things became our examples.
How's it relevant to us?
These are examples for us today, for examples to the Corinthians almost 2000 years ago,
and examples for us today in 2014, to the extent that we should not lust after evil
things as they also musted.
There's an example, and I've made some kind of a mistake in my notes, but I was really
struck by the manna, the providing of the manna and the quail, and God said, you want quail?
Okay, we can have quail.
There's a reference in there that says, some people went out and gathered 10 omers of quail.
I thought, what in the world is an omar?
The Scofield Reference Bible says, that's 86 gallons is the size of that container.
That's a lot of quail, 10 omers of quail, and there's another place that's very graphic
that says, you're going to have quail until that stuff's coming out of your nose.
You're going to be sick of quail.
You griped, here it is, have at it, but just the contention, and God provides them something
miraculously, and just in a very short period of time, there's disdain.
I don't like this.
I'm tired of manna.
I've used all 24 manna recipes that are being circulated.
I want something else, and the same thing with quail.
How many different ways can you fix quail?
You want them, you've complained, you griped about it, here you have them.
You got them for a month.
I was struck by that, 10 omers, and if that reference is accurate, 86 gallons.
That's a lot of quail, a lot of quail.
Then also the example, that Aiken, Aiken sin cost the people to die, simply because he
lost it after what he saw, and he was overcome by that, or permitted himself to be, and he
took what he shouldn't have, and people died because of that, continuing in seven.
Do not become idolaters, as were some of them, as it is written.
The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
They weren't playing Monopoly, that hadn't been invented for another several thousand
years.
I mean, there's a condemnation, nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them
did, and in one day, 23,000 fell.
That was the result of their conduct, and here, this is taking place not very long after
God has done one miracle after another, to get them out of Egypt, they go through the
Red Sea, the Egyptian army is destroyed, they saw them no more, water is provided a couple
of times when they've got difficulties, food is provided, the quail is provided, the man
in the quail, and yet, they're constantly aggravating, constantly aggravated.
In verse nine, nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed
by serpents.
That's in reference to one of the things that happened that I did not cover, but you
recognized that, that was the response that God sent serpents among them, and people were
bitten by these serpents, and they died, unless they could see what was put up, and if they
looked to this symbol, then their lives could be spared.
Verse 10, we get into this section of nor, as I call it, it's going back up to eight,
nor let us commit a sexual immorality, nor let us tempt Christ, nor complain, as some
of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
Verse 11, now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for
our admonition upon who the ends of the ages have come.
Therefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.
I think that's a memory burst for many of us, very sobering, because you think, you know,
things are going on pretty well right now, you might think, and others of us here in
this congregation, we know exactly what our journey over the next 50 days is going to
face.
There are health issues right now, there are employment issues, some individuals here
in this congregation right now know exactly some of the battles that they're likely to
face in the ensuing days.
Some of the rest of us may not, but we're all warned here in 12, therefore, let him
who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.
13, no temptation is overtaken you except such as is common demand, but God is faithful
who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able.
That's very, very encouraging words.
So with the temptation, he will make a way of escape, make the way of escape that you
may be able to bear it.
So we have the comfort and the assurance from God by the words of the inspiration of the
Apostle Paul, that God is always going to be with us, and that's one of the things that
the Israelites seem to forget just very quickly.
Then at one point they said, we don't think God's out here with us, and you're thinking,
how can you say that?
How can you say that when you look back, if you would, if you just take a second and look
back in that journey, all of the miraculous things that took place, and then you just
haul off and make a statement like that saying, I don't think God's with us.
So we hear from the Apostle Paul, the admonition, referring back to these two journeys.
Let us all be careful, and let those of us who think we may stand be careful.
Take heed lest we fall.
Begin, what direction and how we travel between now and Pentecost.
