Crossing the Desert: Manna, the Rock, and the Bronze Serpent

Introduction

We all go through desert seasons. Everything seems hard, dry, arid. There is no fresh air, no water. The landscape is monotonous, sand all around, and you feel like you are not moving forward. JM Botteron, at the Assemblée de Dieu de Toulouse Ouest, opens his message with this observation, from Exodus 16.

Israel has just experienced deliverance. God split the sea, the people crossed it on dry ground, the Egyptians were swallowed up. On the other side, the people raised a song to God, the song of Moses, the women danced, there was joy and fervor. But the desert that follows the Red Sea is going to bring to light the deep nature of the people: complaints, groaning and regrets about the past will come to the surface. "Human nature has not changed."

The preacher dwells on three interventions of God in this desert: the manna, the water from the struck rock and the bronze serpent. Each one reveals something about the human heart, and each one points to Jesus.

Outline of the Message

1. The Desert, a Trial of Faith

• The challenge is immense: it is estimated that about three million people are in the desert. They have to be fed and housed, and there is no food within reach.
• The people are hungry: it is a trial of faith. Trials are part of the Christian life, so don't be surprised by them. No one likes them, no one chooses them.
• Peter writes: the trial of your faith, more precious than perishable gold, tested by fire, will result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ appears (1 Peter 1:6-7). God allows the trial for our good, so that we may become more like Christ.
• When everything is going well, it is easy to say that God is faithful. Can you say it when everything is going wrong? "He is the same God." He is faithful in the desert as in the happy days.

2. Grumbling and Longing for Egypt

• First problem: the people grumble against Moses and Aaron (Exodus 16:2). The Hebrew term suggests muttering, a discussion held in secret.
• In Corinth too, people spoke ill of the apostle Paul: "his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is despised" (2 Corinthians 10:10). Yet Paul writes: do all things without grumbling or hesitation (Philippians 2:14). JM Botteron adds with humor: "like the Christians of Toulouse-Ouest." That is the standard of the Word of God.
• Second problem: the people long for the past. They remember the pots of meat and the bread of Egypt, and forget the slavery, the suffering and the humiliation. Egypt speaks of the domination of Satan, who takes prisoners.
• It is useful to look in the rearview mirror while driving, but not all the time: "otherwise, you will hit every pole." Whoever constantly longs for the past has no vision for moving forward.
• Remember where God pulled you from: you were dead in your sins, lost, with no citizenship in Israel. God showed you grace. By coming to Jesus, you discovered another bread: man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).
• The people had one foot in Egypt and one foot toward Canaan. You can't move forward like that. If you feed well on the bread of the Word, you will no longer want to go back to the bread of the world.

3. A Distorted View of God and of His Servants

• Third problem: the people have a poor image of God. "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 16:3), as if God wanted them to die. God did not want them to die in Egypt, he wanted them to live in Canaan.
• When our heart is far from God, we attribute bad intentions to him. The older son in the parable is the example: "Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends" (Luke 15:29). He sees his father as a harsh master. There is bitterness and jealousy in his heart.
• "If you see God in the right way, it will make worship and praise spring up from you. If you see God in the wrong way, it will make grumbling and reproach spring up from you." Your view of God is decisive. If it has become distorted, return to him so that he opens your eyes.
• Fourth problem: the people are wrong about Moses and Aaron. They accuse them of bringing them out of Egypt to make them die in the desert. Yet they had asked for nothing. God chose them, qualified them and placed them at the head of the people. Moses himself struggled with God before accepting. It is not right to criticize servants who did not ask for the role.

4. The Manna, Image of Jesus, the Bread of Life

• God responds to the problem: "Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you" (Exodus 16:4). For forty years, the people will be fed manna every day.
• Jesus identifies himself with the manna: "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died" (John 6:48-49). The bread from heaven fed them physically, but they died all the same. Whoever eats of the bread that comes down from heaven, Jesus, will not die: he has life in himself.
• Earthly food does not feed the soul. A Christian cannot be materialistic: if he remains attached to the things of the earth, he will be unhappy, held back by an earthly chain.
• JM Botteron confides that he holds dual citizenship, French and Swiss. "But I don't have an account in Switzerland," he smiles: he remains in solidarity with the French. His true citizenship is elsewhere: our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). "Do you have your passport to go to heaven?" If you have given your heart to Jesus, you have this heavenly passport.
• God had planned a double portion on the sixth day so that no one would go out on the seventh, the day of rest. Some went out anyway (Exodus 16:27). The preacher observes this throughout Scripture, starting with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17): every time God gives a command, someone disobeys. The human heart resists God, so we must watch over it.

5. The Struck Rock, Image of the Cross

• At Rephidim, there is no water. The people quarrel with Moses and grumble (Exodus 17:1-7). The place is called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites tested the LORD, saying: "Is the LORD among us, or not?"
• For forty years, between the exit from Egypt and the entry into Canaan, the grumbling is constant. Paul warns: do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things were written for our instruction (1 Corinthians 10:10-11).
• Words are "a real plague in the Church." Whoever does not deal with the problem of his tongue wounds others and wounds himself. Guard your ears and your heart, and do not enter into fellowship with Christians who grumble and criticize: they would drag you along after them.
• Moses is discouraged: "They are almost ready to stone me" (Exodus 17:4). Those who have responsibilities sometimes hear words of ingratitude, judgment, slander. The preacher prefers not to know what is said about him and to keep his heart in communion with God. Grumbling is a trap of Satan to destroy his work from the inside.
• When it is hard, remember who you are in Christ: "But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace toward me was not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:10). Those who put you down do not decide your life. Paul knew joys and discouragements, but he ran toward the goal (Philippians 3:14).
• God's solution comes: Moses strikes the rock and water gushes out. "That rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). Jesus says: if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37). The Messiah was struck for the sins of his people (Isaiah 53:8): the struck rock points to the cross.
• The rock was to be struck only once, because Christ died to sin once for all (Romans 6:10). In Numbers 20:1-13, God tells Moses to speak to the rock. Moses strikes it a second time. This disobedience deprives Moses and Aaron of entering Canaan: the work of the cross is unique, we do not go back over it.

6. The Bronze Serpent, Salvation Always Possible

• In Numbers 21:4-9, the people become impatient. They speak against God: there is no bread and no water, and "our soul loathes this miserable food." Three false claims: God gave bread every day, he had given water from the rock, and the "miserable food" is the manna, the bread of God.
• This is the attitude of the ungrateful believer: he no longer sees the manna, no longer sees the rock, he sees only the negative of the desert. After the Red Sea, the people had their hands raised. Now, they no longer praise and no longer pray. "If you complain and groan, it is because your heart has drifted away from God."
• God sends fiery serpents, but he also sends the solution: whoever looks at the bronze serpent is healed. The serpents are the image of sin. We have all been bitten, and without an antidote, this venom leads to death. Those who refused to look died.
• Jesus takes up the story before Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should have eternal life" (John 3:14-15). All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but Jesus died on the cross to save us.
• If all the people on earth turned to Jesus, they would be saved, because everything is accomplished at the cross. It is enough to believe. He who knew no sin, God made to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
• On the cross, Jesus cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He paid for our sin so that we would not have to pay for it. Then he said: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," and "It is finished." He took upon himself the wrath of God so that we might have the life of God.

7. An Appeal: Come to Jesus

• If you are hungry for something else, do not long for the bread of Egypt: the bread of this world will not feed your soul. Choose the bread of God, Jesus, the true spiritual manna.
• No water of this world will quench your thirst. Come to Jesus, the spring of living water.
• No one on earth can rid you of your sin. "Jesus breaks every chain. Jesus forgives every sin. Jesus gives new life."
• JM Botteron prays for those who are in the desert and no longer have fellowship with God: may the Lord convict them of sin and may they return to him.

Key Takeaways

• The desert tests your faith and reveals your heart, but God remains the same faithful God, in the desert as in the happy days.
• Grumbling, longing for Egypt and a distorted view of God are signs of a heart drifting away from him.
• The manna points to Jesus, the bread of life: whoever feeds on the Word no longer desires the bread of the world.
• The rock struck only once points to the unique work of the cross. Obeying God to the letter matters, even for his servants.
• Like the bronze serpent, Jesus lifted up on the cross saves whoever looks to him with faith. Salvation is always possible.

Personal Application

1. In your current desert, can you say that God is faithful, as you would if everything were going well?
2. Which "bread of Egypt" do you still long for, and what would make you move forward instead of looking in the rearview mirror?
3. Does your view of God make praise or reproach spring up from you?
4. How do you speak of your leaders and of your brothers and sisters: do your words build up or tear down?
5. Have you ever looked to Jesus lifted up on the cross to receive forgiveness and eternal life?

Verses Cited

• Exodus 16
• 1 Peter 1:6-7
• 2 Corinthians 10:10
• Philippians 2:14
• Matthew 4:4
• Luke 15:29
• John 6:48-51
• Philippians 3:20
• Genesis 2:17
• Exodus 17:1-7
• 1 Corinthians 10:4-11
• 1 Corinthians 15:10
• Philippians 3:14
• John 7:37
• Isaiah 53:8
• Romans 6:10
• Numbers 20:1-13
• Numbers 21:4-9
• John 3:14-15
• Romans 3:23
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Matthew 27:46
• Luke 23:46
• John 19:30

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the desert crossing reveal in Exodus 16?

For JM Botteron, the desert brings to light the deep nature of the people: grumbling, longing for Egypt, a distorted view of God and of his servants. Human nature has not changed, and the desert brings all of this to the surface. Yet God remains the same faithful God, in the desert as when everything is going well.

Why did Moses not enter Canaan?

In Numbers 20, God asks Moses to speak to the rock. Moses strikes it a second time with his staff. For JM Botteron, the rock struck only once points to the unique work of the cross, which we do not go back over. This disobedience deprived Moses and Aaron of entering Canaan.

What does the bronze serpent of Numbers 21 represent?

The serpents that bite the people are the image of sin, whose venom leads to death. Whoever looked at the bronze serpent was healed. Jesus takes up this story in John 3:14-15: the Son of Man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Salvation remains possible today for whoever looks to the cross with faith.