Accusing God in the Wilderness
Pastor Tan Thai · Aug 16, 2020
This sermon contrasts Jesus Christ's victory over temptation in the wilderness with Israel's repeated failure to trust God, culminating in their accusation against Moses and God at Rephidim in Exodus 17. The central focus is God's astonishing response: instead of judging the rebellious people, He stood in the place of judgment and received the punishment Himself. The rock struck at Horeb is a prophetic foreshadowing of Christ, who suffers to give living water to humanity.
The sermon opens by reviewing the previous week's message on Jesus Christ's temptation in the wilderness, where He refused to turn stones into bread, refused to test God, and refused to receive the glory of the world. A central contrast is established from the outset: while Jesus Christ triumphed over every temptation, the Israelites redeemed from slavery repeatedly failed in the wilderness by accusing God and Moses.
The historical context is presented in detail: after 430 years of slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel were delivered by God through Moses. Within only three months of leaving the land of slavery, they complained four times — at the Red Sea, at Marah over bitter water, in the wilderness of Sin over lack of food, and finally at Rephidim over no water. Despite witnessing with their own eyes ten plagues, the parting of the Red Sea, bitter water turned sweet, and manna from heaven, they still refused to trust God and only knew to accuse Him when difficulties arose. The sermon also surveys six common perspectives on suffering — stoicism, dualism, existentialism, karma, political blame-shifting, and the view of Job's friends — to highlight the distinctive biblical answer.
The central section focuses on Exodus 17:1-7, where the people contend with Moses using legal language — as if bringing charges in a court — accusing him and God of intentionally killing them. Moses understood that the people were not merely judging him but putting God Himself on trial. When a court should rightly have been convened to judge the rebellious people, God's response was completely unexpected: He told Moses that He would stand on the rock at Horeb — the only instance in all of Scripture where God is described as standing before human beings like a defendant before a court — and Moses was to strike that rock. Instead of punishing the rebellious people, God took the punishment upon Himself so that water would flow out for the people to drink.
The theological message is connected to the New Testament through Paul's explanation in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, which confirms that the rock was Christ Himself. This is a prophetic foreshadowing of Jesus Christ's suffering on the cross — He who had no sin stood to be judged in place of rebellious humanity in order to give living water, just as He promised the Samaritan woman in John 4:13-14. The sermon closes with an invitation to trust and receive Jesus Christ as the true source of living water — not material goods, not safety from every danger, nor the glory of this world.