PENTECOST – 1995

Day 49 – To Pentecost

Fred Coulter – June 3, 1995

This is the day before the day of Pentecost.  And there are so many things concerning Pentecost and the Old Testament and New Testament that I’ve decided to do Day 49 and Day 50.  What I’m going to do on this Sabbath is I’m going to review all the things in the Old Testament leading up to Pentecost, and what the Old Testament Pentecost pictures.  Then tomorrow we will go into the New Testament Pentecost and what that pictures and the full meaning of it.  Many times in the past I’ve tried to squeeze it all into one day and I just get so rushed in the end that I’m not able to really finish and make it complete, so this year I’m going to split it up, Day 49 and Day 50.

Let’s begin by turning to Deuteronomy 11.  And in Deuteronomy 11 we’re going to learn something very important because there are people now who used to be ministers of God, who are teaching and saying that all the holy days of God came from paganism.  So therefore since they all came from paganism it’s perfectly alright to observe some of the pagan holy days, or holidays, that the pagans have, because after all if you do it in your heart for a good purpose and do it for God, then that’s fine.  Let’s see what God says.

Let’s come to Deuteronomy 11:13.  “And it shall come to pass, if…” Now I want you to notice and I want you to circle all the “ifs” that we’re going to come to, because every covenant is conditional.  Every covenant requires performance.  Every covenant of God requires a performance.  “…If ye shall hearken diligently unto My commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God…” So even in the Old covenant God was concerned that people love Him.  God wanted to have a personal relationship with all of Israel.  “…To love the LORD your God, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul…” And that’s what God wants from every one of us, that we truly, truly, truly love Him and serve Him with all our heart, and all our soul.

Now let’s come down to verse 16, “Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them…” Now we’re seeing that happen to the people of God today.  Their hearts are being deceived.  They are deceiving themselves, they’re letting other’s deceive them, and they are serving other gods.  How are they serving other gods?  By doing that which God said not to do.  By following those things which God said not to follow.  And by changing the very nature of God.  You think about it for a minute.  If you change the nature of God, you have the wrong god.

Let’s continue on.  Let’s go to verse 18.  “Therefore shall ye lay up these My words in your heart…” That’s what God wants in the New covenant too, that all these words, all the laws and truths and scriptures of God be in our heart.  “…And in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.”  Now we have the same thing in the New covenant to be written in our heart and in our mind.  “And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days maybe multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth”(vs. 18-21).

Now verse 22, again He repeats it.  How many times do we see this?  He says, “For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave unto Him…” Then God said that He would drive out all the enemy.

Now let’s come down here to verse 26.  “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if…”  Notice again the “if”.  We had verse 13, we had verse 22, and now we’ve got verse 27.  “…If ye obey the commandments of the LORD you God, which I command you this day [there’s going to be a blessing]: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods [and to serve them], which ye have not known” (vs. 26-28).

Now let’s just turn the page and come to chapter 12, because we find some very important and most particularly profound things. First of all we’re going to see that none of these commandments of God came from paganism.  Now it may be that the pagans counterfeited what God had.  But God does not need to go to the pagans to originate His holy days.  That is only a very deceitful presentation by deceitful men trying to deceive you into thinking that you can throw away the words and the commandments of God and everything’s going to be wonderful and fine.  And that you can just do what you want.

I was talking to a person here recently, and she said that someone came along and tried to tell them that the laws of God were all done away.  I said, “Well now let’s think of this for a minute.”  Let’s just think about it for a minute.  Is God lawgiver?  Yes He is.  How does He uphold the whole universe?  By the very word of His power.  Now if all these laws are done away then we need to come to the ultimate conclusion that God does not exist.  Because if there are no laws then there is no lawgiver.  Now let’s see how this applies here in relationship to people coming along and telling you that you can do something other than God has commanded that you should do.

Now let’s pick it up here in verse 28, “Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.”  Now are we to do the things that please God?  Are we to do the things that please God in that way?  Here now just hold your place here and let’s go to 1 John 3 for just a minute and let’s see something that’s very important for us to understand.  1 John 3:22, this is also New Testament doctrine.  What you’re reading about in the Old Covenant is the same thing that’s in the New Covenant only now God expects us to do it in the spirit.  So here’s what we have here.  “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.”  In other words, good and right.

Now let’s go back to Deuteronomy 12 again.  So we have exactly the same situation here in the covenant that was given to Israel, “If you will do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.”  Now verse 29, “when the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land…” Now let’s just apply that to us and to the Church today.  When God calls you out of the world, gives you His Holy Spirit and places you in His Church, then you are not to do this.  Verse 30, “Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following [after] them, after they be destroyed from before thee…” After you’ve once destroyed all of your past religious habits and idols, and have left them, God is saying, “Now don’t go back.”  Don’t go back and say, “Well let’s see what we can resurrect out of this and use it for ourselves.”  He says, “…that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.”  Because you see, you’re breaking the first commandment, “You shall have not other gods before Me.”

“Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which He hateth…”  And God of the pagan feast days of Israel, and of Judah, He says, “Your feast days My soul hates.”  So people want to go back and do that which God hates. Except that which God has not even, how shall we put it…God has long ago rejected it, and we will see that without a doubt that you cannot come along and cause God to accept you by doing things that the pagans have done to their gods and say, “Oh this is wonderful and nice.”

“Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which He hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it” (vs. 31-32).

Now chapter 13.  “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder…” And we’ve had this happen haven’t we?  Ministers and prophets coming along telling us this and that and the other thing to take us away from God.  And He says, “And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them…” (Deut. 13:1-2).  We have exactly the same thing taking place in the Churches of God today.  Strange and pagan doctrines are being brought into the Church as a way and means of worshiping and serving the true God.  But God says you shall not do that.

Verse 3, “Thou shall not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you…” That’s why all these things are happening.  That’s why every one of these things are taking place because God is going to prove you.  God is going to test you.  God is going to test me, and every one that bears the name of God whether, “…to prove you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”  And that is the whole central core of everything that we do brethren.  Clear as a bell.

“Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him.  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death…” (vs. 5).  Now today we do not have the administration of the death penalty because we are a church, but we are to leave anyone who does that.  Or have circumstances in such a way that they are forced to leave.

Now let’s come clear back to Genesis 4 and we are going to see the first time that a pagan ritual was offered to God, and we’re going to see what happened.  Let’s go back to Genesis 4.  Now there was a proper worship, there was a proper service, there was a proper offering, and then there was an improper one, which we can say was a pagan one.  Let’s pick it up here in verse 4.  “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof.  And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.”  Why?  Because he did everything according to the commandments of God.

This teaches us several things here.  First of all, there had to be the law of firstlings.  There had to be the laws of offerings.  And there had to be pretty much the same laws here as there was given to Israel 3000 years later.  Now some people think that God went 3000 years without having any laws, or any commandments whatsoever.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Do you think that God, Who is lawgiver would go 3000 years, or half of the history of humanity without having any commandments or laws?  How is God going to convict someone of sin?  What is sin?  Sin is the transgression of the law.  And by the law is the knowledge of sin.  And without law there is no sin, so there had to be law.

Let’s continue on here in verse 5.  “But unto Cain and to his offering He had not respect.  And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.”  Now why did God not accept his offering?  Well, Cain brought an offering of the ground.  It says back there in verse 3, “of the fruit of the ground.”  Well now the Feast of Pentecost pictures an offering of the fruit of the ground, does it not?  Yes it does.  It pictures the firstfruits of the harvest, correct?  Yes.  So this was a harvest of the ground, which Cain brought, which God did not accept.  Why?  Because this was one of the very first pagan offerings ever offered.  Offered to God and Cain got all mad because God didn’t accept his way.  Now you can read about the way of Cain in the book of Jude.

“And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?  and why is thy countenance fallen?  If thou doest well…”  Now didn’t we just read that in Deuteronomy 12, that if you do what is right and what is good…  Didn’t we just read that in 1 John 3:22 that if we do the things that are pleasing in His sight and keep His commandments… Yes.  So it’s the same lesson here.  “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?  and if thou doest not well [that is you are sinning, you are transgressing], sin lieth at the door.”  He’s trying to do this with sin.  He’s bringing this to the door of God, but it is sin.  God says He will not accept it.  He will not accept sin.  He will not accept the foreign offering.  He will not accept something of the devising of our own hearts.  And God continues to telling Cain, “And unto thee shall be [its] his desire, and thou shall rule over [it] him” (vs. 6-7).

Now Cain did not overcome it.  He got more angry with Abel and finally rose up and killed him because God had respect unto Abel and not unto Cain, rather than look to himself and repent and change and come back to God and do what was right.  Cain said, “I’ll get rid of the problem”, and he killed his brother Abel.  That’s what a lot of people are trying to do right now.  They’re trying to kill the people of God to enforce their paganization upon them.

Now let’s go to Jeremiah 7 and let’s see where the people of Israel tried to do this again.  To do the pagan things in the name of God unto God and say this is wonderful.  Let’s go to Jeremiah 7 and we’ll see how this comes right along here, and how it fit in with the Israelites of old.  How it fits in with today’s situation and what is happening.  Let’s pick it up here in Jeremiah 7:1, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Stand in the gate of the LORD’S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD” (Jer. 7:1-2).  So they’re coming in to worship the LORD.  They’re coming in to the temple.  The temple that Solomon build.  The temple where God said He would put His name.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.”  Now you see, when you look abroad…  And I want you to apply this to the Church of God in its various branches, as you look and see what is happening to the Churches.  We’re going to see that the same things:  the wrong practices, the idolatry, the idolatry of men, the idolatry of ideas, the idolatry of false government, and every thing that is listed here against Israel in the letter was broken in the spirit and the letter by the Churches of God.  So as I read this I want you to think about it as we go through.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.  Trust ye not in lying words [you trust in lying words]…” Have you been lied to?  Has your Church told you falsehoods?  Are they trusting in lies?  “…Saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these” (vs. 4).  In other words if we do it in the Church of God it’s all right.  As long as the leadership says it’s ok, it’s ok.  As long as we find something in the Bible where we can justify it.  And of course they leverage and misapply the scriptures to their own destruction.  And yes everybody does it in the name of the LORD, trusting that God will accept it.

But God says, verse 5, “For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doing; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.  He continues on and says, “Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit” (vs. 5-8).  Now we need to understand something that’s really true brethren.  No lie is of the truth.  We learned that in going through 1 John.  No lie ever comes out of the truth.  Now then, does the truth need lies to support it?  Let’s put it another way.  Can lies reinforce and made more valid, the truth, when you mix them together?  No, the lies tear it down.  You need the truth unmixed.   “…Ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.”  If you believe in doctrines and teachings which are not from God, they are not going to profit.  No way.

“Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; and come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?” (vs. 9-10).  Now just to give you an example.  In one of the congregations, which was assembled in the name of God, the minister got up and said, “Guess what, I’ve got wonderful news for you.  All the laws concerning unclean meats no longer apply.  That was all done away with the Old Testament.”  So what happened?  Some people got up from that congregation and said, “Yea, we’re delivered to do evil.”  They trusted in lying words.  They went out and they got all the shrimp and all the lobster and filled their freezer full of unclean food, glutted themselves on it, and sure enough guess what happened?  They got sick.  There’s a reason why God says don’t eat those things.  There’s a reason why God says keep the Sabbath.  There’s a reason why God says keep the holy days.  Because they are to teach us.  They are to help us draw close to God.  So they trusted in lying words, saying, “…We are delivered to do all these abominations.”

“Is this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?  Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD” (vs. 11).  That’s why it’s all being scattered everywhere.  God has seen it.  And if you want your own way, go have it, God says.  He doesn’t want you to, but you have to choose.  That’s what we read.  “Send you a blessing this day if you choose to do what is right, and a cursing this day if you choose to do that which is wrong.”

Now verse 12.  “But go ye now unto My place which was in Shiloh…”  Now Shiloh was where they first set up the tabernacle and they had… Remember the account of Samuel and Eli, and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas.  “…which I set My name at the first…” (vs. 12-13).  And what He did, He scraped the earth, destroyed that place.  He said , “I want you to learn a lesson.   You don’t believe My word, what I have said against this temple.  You can’t come to this temple, which Solomon built, where I said I would put My name, and because the physical building is here, trust that I’m going to be here.  Because if you come into this house and dishonor Me, I’m going to take away the house.”  Now you just apply that to the Churches of God today.

“[You go see what I did to Shiloh where I put] My name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel.  And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; therefore I will do unto this house, which is called by My name, wherein ye trust…” See you’re trusting in the wrong thing.  If you’re trusting in a corporation, if you’re trusting in a building, if you’re trusting in a man, if you’re trusting in the name, if you’re trusting in a house you’re not trusting in God.  “…Wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.  And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim” (vs. 13-15).

Now they got so bad that God said to Jeremiah, “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me: for I will not hear thee” (vs. 16).  So there comes a time when it’s too late to turn back.  And it happened to them.  Now let’s hope it doesn’t happen to very many people in the Church of God.  But it’s going to happen to cleanse and to purge because they say, “Well none of the holy days are to be kept.  And all the holy days came from paganism.”  Not so.

Let’s go back to Leviticus 23 where all the holy days are listed because as we’re coming up to the time of Pentecost we need to review all these scriptures again. Leviticus 23, and we’re going to see that Pentecost is intrinsically tied to the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and show one continuity right on down to the day of Pentecost.  Now here in Leviticus 23, we find all the listing of all the holy days of God.  These are from God.  Now let’s read it beginning in verse 1.  Now it’s incredible how many times we are just ready to take the step beyond the very basic principles of God and really begin to understand the deeper things of God, there comes along some more trouble and some more difficulty, and we have to say “Whoa, time out.”  We gotta go back and teach the very basic things, which are the principles of Christ, which are the principles of the word of God.  So let’s hope we can really understand this.  And everyone you know, if you come into a situation like this, be sure and let them know.

These did not come from paganism.  Notice, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them…” (Lev. 23:1-2).  Now I want you to understand that all of these Amorites and these Moabites, and these Canaanites, they were really good and well intentioned people.  And they were sincere in their hearts, and they really didn’t understand what they were doing.  But they had all of their religious practices and they had their gods, and their baals, and their aales, and their elohims.  And I’m going to tell you what we’re going to do.  We’re going to go over here and we’re going to pick out the best that they have because I want the best of what they have for me.  That’s like saying let’s take the best of Satan and let’s use it to worship God.  Stupid.  That’s not what God said.

He said, “Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them Concerning the feasts of the LORD…”  Now God was telling them what He was going to do, which feasts were His.  He didn’t get them from the pagans.  “…Which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are My feasts” (vs. 2).  Just like Jesus Christ said, “I will build My Church.”  Christ is going to build it.  Now just like we need to let Christ build His Church, and build His Spirit in us, and His love in us, and His truth in us, what He’s going to do let’s also with the holy days of God, realize these are His feasts.  And let’s come to the point of learning to, not only keep, but to fulfill to the fullest extent every one of the feast days of God, beginning with the Sabbath.

So He says, “Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein:…”  Yet Church leaders come along today and say, “Well if you need to you can go work.  That’s all right.  God understands.”  You better believe He understands.  You read Matthew 6.  God says He’s able to provide regardless of the circumstances.   “…It is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.  These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons” (vs. 3-4). And that’s what we’re doing now.  This is the season of the Feast of Pentecost.

Notice it begins the fourteenth day of the first month at even, “…is the LORD’S passover.”  Fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD [your God]: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.  First day’s a holy convocation.  Do no servile work therein.  Offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.  The seventh day is a holy convocation, you shall do no servile work therein (vs.5-8, paraphrased).  So we’ve go the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Then another event occurs during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which we will show you in a little bit on a chart exactly how this is figured, exactly how this is calculated.  And as a matter of fact we’re going to go back and review the events leading up to the children of Israel receiving the Ten Commandments of God, which we will see was on the day of Pentecost.  That’s why this is tied in together.

Now verse 9, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it” (vs. 9-11).  Now that is the morrow after the Sabbath during the Passover / Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Now we just recently sent out three booklets covering that.  “God’s Command For The Wave Sheaf Offering”, To Count Pentecost, The Morrow After Which Sabbath?”, and “The True Meaning of Acts 2:1”.  So we’re not going to get into all the details of those except to say that in Joshua 5 you have the fulfillment of this.  And you need to read that whole booklet because that happened on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread when they waved that first wave sheaf when they crossed over Jordan into the Promised Land.

Now notice, He says here, “When ye be come into the land…”, so this was not to happen until they took possession of the land.  So they did not have the wave sheaf offering all during the time that they were wandering in the wilderness because they hadn’t come into the land.  I am sure that they were celebrating Pentecost in observance of the memorial of receiving of the Ten Commandments.  But they had no firstfruits harvest to offer with it.

Now let’s continue on and read here.  “And he shall wave it to be accepted for you.”  This is the firstfruits.  Now firstfruits here means the chief, the principle part, the very, very first of the harvest.  Now when we get to the New Testament, which we will cover tomorrow, we will see that that was Jesus Christ, Who ascended to heaven and was accepted of God the Father.  Then He gives us explicit instructions on what to do, how to count it.

Verse 15.  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow [the Hebrew m moh-ghorahth, which means “beginning with the day after”] the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering [meal offering, as it should read] unto the LORD” (vs. 15-16).

Then on that 50^th day what they were to do, “Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of ten tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven…” The only offering of God which is accepted by Him that specifically has leaven in it.  Every other meal offering, every other flour offering of God was to be unleavened.  Now the reason these are leavened is because, we will see, this reflects the harvest of the Church finally finished, finally done and God accepts us even with our human nature, because the leaven is a type of sin and God accepts us even with our human nature that we can change and grow and overcome.

Now the reason there are two loaves here is because one is for those who enter into the Kingdom of God from the Covenant with Israel and the Patriarchs, and the second loaf then is a prophecy of the coming Church of God.  Then He gives all of the other things that they were to do there with that.  And let’s come right on down here to verse 21. The priest would bring this, he would wave it and so forth.

Now verse 21, “And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day…”, the 50^th day.  Seven Sabbaths will be complete unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath, which then brings it again to the first day of the week.  “Ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.”

Now let’s go back and review how the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Passover are connected with Pentecost and the events leading up to it.  Let’s go back to Exodus 15 for just a minute.  Now we know the Passover they were in their houses.  God passed over, killed the firstborn of all the land of Egypt of man and beast, whether they be in the field or in the dungeon or in the house.  God executed His judgment against all the gods of Egypt.

Let’s go back to chapter 12 for just a minute and let’s understand why this is so important with the Passover in relationship to the fact that we should never bring anything of a pagan religion into the true worship of God.  Now there may be pagans out there doing what they want to do.  They may be even using the name of God but they are not worshiping God, because when God passed over and destroyed all the firstborn here’s what He said He did.  Exodus 12:12, “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment…” So God doesn’t want that brought in.

Then we know they departed on the day after the Passover.  They left with a high hand.  They came down to the Red Sea.  They accused God of bringing them out in the wilderness to kill them.  God miraculously saved them, opened the Red Sea.  They crossed to the other side.  They were all happy and all rejoicing because God fought for them, destroyed the Egyptians.  They were seen no more.  Then they started on their journey toward Mt. Sinai.

And let’s pick it up here in Exodus 15:22.  “So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.  And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah [which means bitterness].  And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”  Now you would think after all of those miracles that they would have said, “Well look, God killed all the firstborn, God brought all those plagues, God spared us, God brought us out.  He brought us through the Red Sea, parted the Red Sea so we could escape safely.  Now there’s no water here.  Why don’t we all just go to Moses and say, ‘Moses, why don’t you lead us in prayer and ask God to provide some water for us, to make the water sweet.’”  Don’t you think God would have done it just like that?  Yes He would have.  Because God brought them out because He loved them, because He wanted to teach them His ways, because He wanted to give them the things that were good for them.  So they murmured.  No they murmured and complained saying, “What shall we drink?”

“And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree [that is Moses did, cried unto the LORD], which when he had cast [it] into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them…” (vs. 25).  See all the way through God is going to test us, God is going to prove us.  That’s why we have trials and difficulties to come along.  That’s why all of these things are taking place right now in the Church of God.  God wants to know down deep in your heart do you love Him, are you going to follow Him, are you going to worship Him, are you going to obey Him and keep His commandments?

So here’s the statute, “And said, If [notice again, “if”, always conditional] thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee” (vs. 26).  So here the name of God is Jehovah Rophika [raphah], which means “the LORD your healer.”

Now we need to trust in God too.  Let’s also ask the question:  Are there a lot of diseases and difficulties taking place against the people of God because they are doing the same thing as the people here in murmuring, in complaining, in throwing away God’s ways and commandments and laws and statutes and all the things in the New Testament in addition to that?  Yes, yes.  Can we not come back to God and say, “God help us. God heal us.  God be with us.  God lead us?”  And if you’re kind of out there in the wilderness of, spiritual wilderness, as it were, if you don’t know where you’re going or where you’re headed, just stop, just ask God to lead you.  Just ask God to grant you His Spirit.  Just ask God to help you.  Just like the children of Israel were right here, they could have had it differently but they chose to murmur and complain, and so God had to intervene in the way He did.

Now let’s come to chapter 16 because now we’re leading on up to Mt. Sinai, and we’re coming to the time that we will understand concerning of the giving of the Ten Commandments.  Now this is a very key important chapter for many reasons.  Let’s see why.  Verse 1, “And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out to the land of Egypt.”  Now we’re going to see why this becomes very, very important.  We’re going to see why this is necessary and how this ties in with Pentecost, and how this ties in with the giving of the Ten Commandments.

Now let’s continue on here for just a bit, verse 2. “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:  And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh post, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger” (vs. 2-3).  And isn’t that the way people always do?  Don’t people always blame God for their problems when God had nothing to do with their problems what so ever?