It’s ALL about Learning to Trust God

It’s ALL about Learning to Trust God

Lorraine Day, M.D.

Most people think that the Exodus is just a story about the deliverance of the Israelites (incorrectly referred to as “Jews”) from Egyptian slavery. But the story, though real, is also prophetic. It symbolically describes God delivering each individual from sin (symbolized by the word “Egypt” in the Bible), taking him or her through the wilderness (symbolizing our life), and leading each person into the Promised Land (becoming one with God, Jesus putting His character in us, and living with Christ forever).

Therefore, we must study the Exodus with great diligence and carefulness in order to glean all the lessons God wants us to learn from this 40-year event. In Bible times, a boy became a man at age 30.   That is why Jesus began His ministry at age 30. The Bible speaks of the average life expectancy as “three score and ten” or 70 years. So the 40 years in the wilderness represents the average length of the adult life of 2,000 years ago, as well as today.

Here are FIFTY lessons that can be learned from that journey. I’m sure there are many, many more. But the focus of virtually all the events of the Exodus is that we must learn to truly Trust God – for everything. In fact, the ONLY reason we are on this earth is to learn to Trust God with everything – including our own life, and the lives of our spouse, children, and the rest of our family and friends. It may take a lifetime to learn to Trust God since God is not in a hurry.

One fact that startles most Christians is that the Israelites had so little faith. God performed one miracle after another, and yet, within days or weeks, the Israelites were again murmuring and complaining that God, through Moses, had brought them into the wilderness to die.

Yet the majority of Christians today are guilty of the same problem. We think we have faith in God, but under careful scrutiny, we find that our “faith” is usually in “man” and not God. We trust: the “Church,” pastors, evangelists, doctors, counselors, support groups, etc.   That is where human beings turn when they have trouble – NOT to God. They actually trust “man” – and NOT God!

God is our Healer (when we follow HIS Health Plan), God is our Savior (when HE puts His life in us), God is our King (because His WILL is that “None should perish, but ALL will come to repentance” and He “watches over His Word, to perform it!”). Yet we trust doctors (who tell us they can heal us by using dangerous drugs or by cutting out organs), pastors (who we think will tell us the TRUTH about God’s Word, but do NOT know God), and the government (who promises to protect us from our enemies, to manage our economy, to make sure there are enough jobs, and to take care of us with government programs, such as Social Security) who lies to us at every turn.

“Man” will always fail us. Only God can accomplish all these things. Then WHY do the vast majority of Christians REALLY trust - and depend on “man” – instead of trusting and depending on God – exclusively?

Because they have a FORM of religion, WITHOUT any power! They do NOT know God. They only know ABOUT God!

The main thing we need to concentrate on is getting to KNOW God, up close and personal by spending time with Him every day in Bible study and prayer, becoming one with God – allowing Him to make every decision in our life. Only then will we be in perfect communion with Him. Only then will we learn to trust Him with our life and the lives of our loved ones.

Our job is to keep focused on what is important in life – becoming one with God - and not become distracted by the “cares of this world.”

A study of the events of the Exodus should help us do just that.

1. Fighting and Killing are NOT God’s ways: Forty years before the Exodus, Moses understood that God wanted him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, but Moses thought it would be by destroying the enemy. After all, Moses’ position in Pharaoh’s court was as Minister of Defense. Moses was a warrior. It seemed reasonable (to Moses) that Moses would use those skills to deliver the Israelites from their slave-masters, the Egyptians. Moses saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite and Moses killed the Egyptian.

But God had a different plan, a plan that did not require the Israelites to go to war against their enemies. God’s plan did not include the Israelites killing their enemies. God would do the fighting for Israel. So God said, in essence, to Moses, “You are not yet ready to lead my people out of captivity. Into the wilderness, you go, Moses. You need an attitude adjustment. You need to understand who I am, you need to understand My ways.” Fighting and killing are not God’s way.

Fighting and killing are NEVER God’s way. But they are almost always Man’s way. When God chooses not to forsake “man” when “man” falls back into his old fighting ways, God is often falsely accused of endorsing war!

Although they failed repeatedly, the Israelites would have to learn, eventually, to trust God for their safety – BEFORE they would be allowed to enter into the Promised Land.

2. Learn to Trust God. That is the whole purpose of life: Forty years later, when God finally called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses argued with God about his capability of speaking the Egyptian language. Moses had been in Midian, a long distance from Egypt, and felt that his inability to speak fluent Egyptian would be a hindrance to him. But God said, “I will tell you what to say – I will put the correct words in your mouth. ” But Moses, instead of trusting God at His word, kept arguing about his deficiency, until God finally told him that his brother, Aaron, would do the speaking for him. Apparently Aaron still lived in Egypt and was fluent in the language.

So, instead of trusting in God to do what He had promised to do – put the correct words in Moses’ mouth – Moses was given Aaron as his mouthpiece. But later on, Aaron became a great liability to Moses when Aaron made the golden calf for the Israelites, and when Aaron and Miriam wanted to be equal with Moses, and mutinied against Moses.

If Moses had just learned to trust God, He would not have had these troubles.

3. Satan can do miraculous signs and wonders. Don’t be fooled: Pharaoh’s “wise men,” who were sorcerers, were able to duplicate the first three plagues called forth by Moses, under God’s directions. Through this we learn that Satan can do signs and wonders, both then and now. In our present age, with miraculous “healings” and apparitions, we must “test the spirits” by studying God’s word, to see if the signs and wonders are of God or are of Satan.

We must learn to know God so well, and study His Word so diligently, that we know His voice, and know His ways. Otherwise, “even the very elect” will be deceived.

4. It may get worse before it gets better. Trust God! It is certain that while Moses was negotiating with Pharaoh for the release of the Israelites, the Israelites were praying for God to soften Pharaoh’s heart and let them go. But God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. The plight of the Israelites became a lot worse before it got better.

We must learn to trust God’s plans, to trust that God knows what He is doing, and that in the end, He knows what is best for us. We must learn trust, patience, and perseverance.

5. Obey God. Follow His Process in order to receive His Promise: God said that the Egyptians would lose their first-born sons in the last plague. God gave the Israelites a promise – that He would save their first-born sons, IF the Israelites followed God’s specific process – they were to put blood from a lamb on the doorpost of their homes.

Putting blood on the doorpost may have seemed quite useless in protecting their first-born sons, but the Israelites had to learn to trust God completely for the lives of their children, even though the “process” may have seemed strange.

God gives a “promise” – but He also gives the “process.” In order to have the “promise” fulfilled by God, we must follow HIS “process” and NOT our own.

6. Human “Self-Defense vs. God’s Protection. You can’t have it both ways. When the Israelites left Egypt, they left with NO weapons. They were given gold, silver and yard goods by the Egyptians, but NO weapons. It was God’s ideal plan to have it that way. God did not want the Israelites to wage war against their enemies. When they were at the entrance to the Red Sea, frightened and complaining about the advancing Egyptians, Moses told them to quit complaining, and to “Keep silent, and watch God fight for you.”

But the Israelites had so little trust in God that even when they had successfully crossed the Red Sea and the approaching Egyptians were drowned because they had no faith in God to keep the waters from tumbling down, the Israelites apparently picked up the Egyptians’ weapons that washed up on shore.

The Israelites trusted God so little – even after the triumph of walking through the Red Sea on dry land – that they decided they would defend themselves, instead of depending on God. They chose “self-defense” instead of the defense and protection provided by God. They chose to trust themselves – they trusted in “man” – instead of trusting in God.

7. God says, “Before you call, I will answer.” After the Israelites had gone into the wilderness, God asked them to build a sanctuary so “I can dwell among you.” God had weeks before, provided the gold, silver and yard goods, for the Israelites to build that sanctuary. “Before you call, I will answer,” says the Lord. Isaiah 65:24

8. God Delivers us from Sin: “I am the Lord thy God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage.” (Exodus 20:2). In the Bible, the word “Egypt” is symbolic for sin. God’s deliverance of the Egyptians from Egypt symbolizes God’s deliverance of us, His people – His children, from sin.

9. The Israelites were not a pure bloodline of any kind. They were just people. The Bible tells us that when the Israelites left Egypt, they were a “mixed multitude.” (Exodus 12:38) They consisted of no pure bloodline. They were called Israelites because they worshiped the same God as Jacob/Israel -who was given the Spiritual name of “Israel” - after Jacob learned that being a deceiver was wrong, and after he agreed to re-unite with his brother, Esau, whom he had defrauded of his birthright.

The group who left Egypt were called Israelites, because they worshiped the one true God, rather than worshiping the numerous gods of paganism. The Israelites were NOT “Jews.”

10. Faith opened the Red Sea: When the Israelites were finally allowed by Pharaoh to leave Egypt, they came to the Red Sea and had no boats. A mountain impeded their progress in another direction, and the Egyptian army was closing in. The Red Sea opened because of the faith of Moses. The Egyptians had no faith – so the Sea closed, and all the Egyptians were drowned.

11. The Israelites trusted themselves – NOT God: Before the Red Sea opened, the Israelites were whining and complaining that Moses brought them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness. Being frightened and unable to trust God to deliver them, and because they wanted to take their defense into their own hands (SELF-defense) rather than trusting God for their safety, the Israelites obviously picked up the weapons washed to the shores of the Red Sea from the drowned Egyptian soldiers. Why do we surmise that?   Because later we read that they had weapons to fight their enemies. But when the Israelites left Egypt, all they had were gold, silver, and yard goods. They had NO weapons.

12. How soon we forget God’s working in our life: The Israelites were constantly murmuring and complaining. God had brought them safely through the Red Sea, but soon after, when they had no water to drink, they complained again that Moses had brought them into the wilderness to die. Even after they witnessed one miracle after another, they still refused to trust God.

God performs miracles in our lives, but how soon we forget. We, too, tend to complain that, or at least behave as though, our problems are too large for the Lord.

13. The Forty Years in the wilderness represents the life of each person: It was God’s plan to take the Israelites through the wilderness - which represents our life on earth - where they had no availability of water, food, air conditioning for cooling, no heat to keep them warm, no place to buy clothes or shoes. They had to learn to trust God for EVERYTHING. There was nothing they could do for themselves.

The same is true for us. We must trust God for EVERYTHING – our food, water, cooling, warmth, clothes and shoes.

14. We must look up to God each day for our direction: Every day, the Israelites had to look up, to the cloud cover during the day or the pillar of fire by night, to see where the Lord wanted to take them.

We too, must look UP – to the Lord – every day, to see where the Lord wants to take us.

15. A vegan diet clears the mind so we can understand truth: God gave the Israelites Manna – a vegan diet – a vast dietary change from their previous diet of flesh food - BEFORE He gave them the Ten Commandments.

In order to understand God’s Word completely, our brain and our body must be cleansed, by a major change in diet. We must return to God’s ideal diet – fruits, grains and vegetables, in their original form – in order to understand Truth!

16. Pentecost rejected: The Israelites refused to have God run their lives personally. At Sinai, God wanted to speak to the Israelites directly – not just through Moses (a human being) and God wanted to put the Law in the heart of the Israelites. This was to be the outpouring of God’s spirit (breath of holiness) at Pentecost, but the Israelites refused. They were afraid of God. They wanted a human intermediary – Moses – to speak to God, and then Moses was to speak to them, because, “If God speaks to us, we will die.” The Israelites did not want God to put the law – the Ten Commandments - in their heart so they could actually keep them, God had to write the Ten Commandments on stone, a situation in which the Israelites would never be able to keep them. They did not want to deal with God directly, they wanted to deal with “man” just as Christians do today – in the churches – with “man” – pastors – telling them what to believe, rather than being led directly by God.

The same day and month that God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Sinai, was the day and month that Pentecost actually took place years later.

17. A Vegan diet brings Life and Health. Eating Flesh Food leads to death! The Israelites hated Manna – God’s ideal diet – a totally vegan diet. God gave a vegan diet to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God gave a vegan diet – manna – to the Israelites. And the diet in heaven and the new earth with also be a vegan diet because nothing will die.

But the Israelites complained and begged for Flesh food just as Christians today want to eat flesh food rather than God’s ideal diet. And they are paying the price with rampant disease and premature death.

18. God’s Wrath is - - giving us what we want and letting us reap the consequences. So God finally gave them what they wanted - flesh food – Quail, until it came out their nose, the Bible tells us.   And thousands died. THIS is God’s wrath (Romans 1:18, 24,26,28) – giving us what we want – even when He knows we will reap the consequences of our lust. But THAT is the way we learn.

19. No ONE will enter heaven or the New Earth - - until he or she has conquered their lust for flesh food: No one who ate the flesh food in the wilderness entered the Promised Land. They all died in the desert. This tells us that no one will enter heaven or the New Earth UNTIL they have conquered their lust for flesh food. Not only must our character be like the character of Jesus, but also, the animals would not be safe. Someone would want to eat them.

20. Don’t argue with God. Just DO what He says: When Moses was in the mount, the Israelites worshiped the Golden Calf, made for them by Aaron. When God initially called Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, Moses argued with God, saying that he could not longer speak Egyptian because he had been away from Egypt for 40 years. Even though God promised that he would put the correct words in Moses’ mouth, Moses continued to complain that he could not do it alone.

Finally, God agreed to allow Aaron to speak for Moses. But this was a terrible mistake on Moses’ part. Aaron, though he became a high priest, caused significant trouble for Moses, not only with the Golden Calf incident – the beginnings of secret occultism in the Israelite community – but Aaron and their sister Miriam, began a mutiny against Moses. This resulted in Miriam being cursed with leprosy.

21. The Ten Commandments can be kept ONLY if God has put them in your heart! God had to write the 10 Commandments on stone, because the Israelites did not want the Ten Commandments – the character of God - in their heart. But they were NEVER able to keep the commandments when were written on stone – and not in their heart. The entire Old Testament is a history of the Israelites wandering away from God – into paganism – and God raising up an individual prophet to warn them of their evil ways, and to direct them back to God.

This was such a constant pattern that God calls the time of the Israelites in the wilderness – the Rebellion.

22. SIN leads to Death: BECAUSE the Israelites would NOT allow God to put His law in their hearts (they wanted a human intermediary – Moses – rather than having God running their lives directly), God had to give them very specific – and often harsh - Civil laws as well, because without God in their heart, they would be unable to restrain themselves, and their culture would degenerate into chaos. They would have to be restrained by Civil Laws! – man ruling over man (which never works successfully) rather than God ruling over man.

Why was there so much death by stoning as a penalty for breaking the Civil Laws given by God?   The Exodus was not only a literal happening, but it represented God taking people out of Sin (Symbolized by Egypt) and taking them to the Promised Land (eventually – heaven and the New Earth). God was revealing to the Israelites – and to the rest of humanity through His Word – that SIN leads to Death.

The Israelites were in the wilderness for FORTY years – the average adult life of a human being of that – and this – era. Men were considered to come of age – become adults - at 30 years old. (That was when Jesus began His ministry.) The average life expectancy, according to the Bible was “three score and ten” – 70 years. So, forty years was the average adult life of a human being at that time, and God had to show in that short time that - - - Sin leads to Death!

23. Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap: “Eye for an Eye, a tooth for a tooth. . .” (Exodus 21:24,26) . . . “God will not be mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” Galatians 6:7 Everyone will reap exactly what he has sown. And since very few people have ever burned anyone to death, a literal burning hellfire would NOT be just judgment for the sins of the majority of people who have ever lived.

But, on the other hand, NO ONE will get away with anything. It is the “reaping what we have sown” that will eventually turn us back to the Lord.

24. God takes personal responsibility for Sin. That’s why Jesus died on the Cross. God’s civil laws reveal God’s character of Love.

And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein; The owner of the pit shall make [it] good, [and] give money unto the owner of them; and the dead [beast] shall be his. Exodus 21:33,34

God is telling us that in the Garden of Eden, God, Himself, “dug the pit” by putting Satan in the Garden of Eden, in Adam and Eve’s “front yard.” Adam and Eve – represented by the ox or ass – FELL IN to the “pit” by falling into SIN. The “owner” of the pit – who was God – was responsible – by His own rules. The “Owner” then, had to pay the price for the SIN – which was Jesus’ death on the Cross.

25. God makes the plans – NOT us. We just carry out the plans GOD makes. The Israelites had to look up to God everyday (the cloud during the day and the pillar of fire by night) to see where God was leading them.   They went out, not knowing where they were going, and had to learn to trust God each day. God did not tell them beforehand where he would lead them, just as He does not tell us before hand. We, like the Israelites, must learn to trust God every day for our directions.

God makes our plans – we do not. We just carry out the plans that GOD makes for us.

26. God does NOT endorse War! The Israelites took up arms many times, to fight their enemies, instead of letting God fight for them. It was God’s plan to drive out the enemies of the Israelites with hornets and bees (Exodus 23:28) – NOT with weapons - because the enemies of Israel were also God’s children and He loved them too.

But the Israelites were the ones who chose to fight to kill – NOT God. And because God chose not to forsake the Israelites, even though they were not doing HIS will, God is often wrongly accused of endorsing killing and war.

27. As we mature in Christ, our faith is tested even more. At the beginning of the Exodus, the Israelites had very little faith. God cut them a little “slack.”   When the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land, the sea opened up BEFORE the Israelites had to step in. However, at the end of the Forty Years, the Israelites were expected to have a lot more faith. When crossing the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land, the Israelites had to step into the Jordan River (and maybe as far as up to their neck) BEFORE the river opened!

28. Disease is a Spiritual Problem: There were NO doctors in the wilderness. Because the “Forty Year wilderness experience” symbolizes God bringing us OUT of sin and taking us, through the journey of our life, to the “Promised Land” (heaven and the New Earth), if God had endorsed doctors, why wouldn’t they be a part of the “wilderness” experience?

There certainly was plenty of disease in the “wilderness” but God is telling us, by the Israelites’ journey through the desert, that Disease is a Spiritual problem. It was always associated with the SIN of the specific individual who developed the disease, and was not “corporate” or “generic” in nature. (Christians often say, “I have cancer because there is sin in the world.”) Disease is a result of reaping the individual sins in our OWN life.

And the Disease was inspected by the priest – NOT a physician. Disease was – and is – a specific Spiritual problem of the one who has the disease, because he or she wants to live, eat, and handle stress their OWN way, rather than GOD’S way.

29. No one went “to church” in the wilderness. There was NO church in the wilderness. In fact, in the entire Bible – both Old and New Testament, there was NEVER a “church” approved by God in which people came in and sat down to hear a sermon, or anything else. God ordered the Israelites in the wilderness to build a tabernacle, a temporary sanctuary, but ONLY the priests were allowed to enter. The people were forbidden to enter the Sanctuary.

And when the permanent Temple was built in Jerusalem, the same rules applied. NO ONE, other than the priests, were allowed to go inside.

God NEVER wanted a “church” where a congregation would come to a building to worship. It was the pagans who built buildings to honor their many gods. But the worship of the true God of heaven was to be a personal relationship – one on one.

Jesus confirmed this when He was on earth. The disciples wanted to set up an organization, but Jesus responded, “The Unbelievers (mistranslated “Gentiles”) lord it over each other, but it shall not be that way among you.” (Matthew 20:25,26)

God NEVER wanted an organized church, neither in the wilderness nor in the last 2,000 years.

Christianity is NOT a religion. It is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – the same relationship that a father has with his children.

30. Sinners will NOT be burned up. The Israelites brought a lamb as a sacrifice for sin. The Israelite – the sinner - placed his hands on the head of the lamb, symbolically “transferring” his sin to the lamb, showing that the sin WAS separated from the sinner. Then the lamb which represented Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, was sacrificed and burned up on the alter - NOT the Israelite.

God is revealing to us that Jesus died for our sin, and the SINNER will NOT be burned up in a literal hellfire. The “Lamb” was slaughtered and burned on the alter – NOT the Sinner!

31. God is the Savior of ALL Mankind – Universal Restoration. The Achan Doctrine: During the battle of Jericho, a man named Achan took silver, gold, and a Babylonish garment from Jericho and buried them in the ground under his tent (Joshua 7:21). He stole that which was “devoted” to God. As a result, Israel lost the next battle against the city of Ai, and 36 men of Israel were killed. Joshua prayed to know why this disaster had befallen them, and God told him that there was sin in the camp. He investigated the matter and found that Achan had not given God all the “devoted” things. God had expressly charged the Israelites NOT to take “booty” from Jericho.

God has said that “All the gold is mine.” (Haggai 2:8) God refers to us as His “gold that He is refining in the fire” for salvation (Malachi 3:3). Achan’s evil act represents those who refuse to believe that God CAN and WILL save EVERYONE. They “hide the gold under their tent” by claiming that God is unable to save all His children. They refuse to acknowledge that “ALL the gold” belongs to God.

The Achan Doctrine is man’s idea that God is unable to fulfill His own promise – to be the “Savior of ALL mankind.” (1 Timothy 4:10)

32. Sin leads to death. But the judgment “turns us back to right-doing.” (Psalm 94:15) In the wilderness, the consequence of homosexuality, rape, disrespect to parents, stealing, rebelling against God, murder – was immediate literal death by stoning, to show us that now, when we commit any of those sins, it will lead to our Spiritual death and separation from Jesus. But that separation will not be permanent. Eventually, the consequences of our sin will be so severe that they will turn us back to the Lord.

33. Moses misrepresented God’s character. Joshua symbolized Jesus. When the Israelites complained of thirst – when no water was available in the desert, God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would spring from the rock to satisfy the Israelites’ thirst. The first time, Moses had struck the Rock – on the direct command of God, and water flowed freely from the Rock.   The Rock represented Jesus Christ who is the “Living Water.”

But the second time, Moses was NOT to strike the rock, but was told by

God to speak to the rock – NOT to strike it. But Moses, in his anger against the whining and complaining of the Israelites, struck the rock and said,

“Hear now, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly. . .” Numbers 20:10,11

Moses had struck the Rock instead of speaking to it. The Rock represented Christ who was to be “struck” (crucified) ONLY ONCE - for the sin of the world. Christ was not to die repeatedly, as occurred with the continuous animal sacrifices that looked forward to the One Perfect Sacrifice – Jesus Christ.

And Moses also misrepresented God’s character by striking the rock in anger. God’s anger – His wrath – is very different from human anger. God’s anger is defined in Romans 1:18,24,26,28 as “giving us up to our OWN decisions” which eventually will cause us to REAP what we have SOWN. Even though the Israelites were misbehaving, God still loved them – as He loves us, even when WE are misbehaving. God was still going to provide water for the Israelites, even though they were acting rebellious.

Because Moses sinned and misrepresented God and His character, Moses was NOT allowed to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. That job was given to Joshua who bore the same name as Jesus when He was on earth. The name Joshua in English, is Jesus in Greek, and Yeshua in Hebrew.

So Joshua, in the wilderness, who led the Israelites into the physical Promised Land, represented Jesus – who will lead US into the Spiritual “Promised Land” of heaven and the New Earth.

34. We must be led by God – Not by man – and NOT by churches. Moses – representing humanity - could not lead the Israelites into the Promised Land because of his sin. Joshua – representing Jesus (who was God in human form) – was the one chosen by God to do it.

We must be led by God – and NOT by “man” (pastors, churches and denominations) into the “Promised Land” of heaven and the New Earth.

35. God always turns the BAD into GOOD: Moses, because of his sin of striking the Rock and misrepresenting God and His character, was not allowed to go into the Promised land, but instead, he had to die in the wilderness. Moses’ disappointment was severe, but eventually God gave Moses something much better. After Moses’ death, he was buried by God. But some time later, God resurrected Moses (Jude, vs. 9) and took him to heaven. On the Mt. of transfiguration, Moses and Elijah are seen talking with the glorified Jesus.

Elijah represents the group who will be living when Jesus comes, and will be taken to heaven without seeing death. Moses represents those who will die in the Lord, and be resurrected and taken to heaven when Jesus comes.

36. God makes the Plans – down to the last detail. When God told Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness, God gave EVERY direction for the Sanctuary, down to the smallest detail. As in ALL things, GOD makes the Plans for us – ALL the Plans. We are NOT to make our own plans. Our job is to carry out the plans that GOD makes for us.

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10:23

37. Disease is the result of one’s OWN sin. In the wilderness, as it is now, disease was – and still is - directly related to one’s own sin. Miriam sinned and developed leprosy. When the Israelites begged for flesh food, God finally gave them what they wanted – enough flesh food to eat until it came out of their nostrils (Numbers 11:20). And thousands died – many with the flesh still between their teeth (Numbers 11:23). When the people murmured against Moses because they had no bread or water, “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.” (Numbers 21:6).

It was their OWN sin that lead to their OWN disease and their OWN death.

38. God only works through individuals – NOT organizations. God had been settling the disputes among the people through the wisdom He gave to Moses. However, Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, suggested that Moses’ job was too difficult and that he should appoint others to help him. This advice did not come from God – but from “man” – the father-in-law of Moses (Exodus 18). Without consulting God, Moses proceeded to follow Jethro’s direction and appointed these leaders. Moses began to form an organization at the direction of “man” - and not God.

39. How could Jacob be a “Jew” when his twin brother, Esau, was a “Gentile”? The Edomites were enemies of the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness. Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, was the original leader of the Edomites and is identified as a “Gentile” while Jacob is described as a “Jew.”

How could Esau be a “Gentile” when Jacob is considered to have been a “Jew” when they were twins? The word “Gentile” is a mistranslation of the word “nations” or heathen, or Unbeliever – meaning those who worshiped pagan gods rather than the God of the Bible.

The word “Jew” does not appear in the Bible. It is a mistranslation of the word Iudea (later written as Judean) and referred to those who worshiped the God of the Bible – a Believer.

Jacob was a Believer in the true God of the Bible, while Esau was an Unbeliever – a pagan. The two twin brothers were NOT of different ethnicity. Ethnicity had nothing to do with it. They were of different “Spiritual” persuasions!

40. The Israelites were NOT Jews. They were Christians! Who were the Israelites? Jacob had been a deceiver most of his life. He stole the birthright from his brother by deceiving both his brother and his father, Isaac. Finally, Jacob, after being deceived by his father-in-law, Laban, regarding the gift of a wife (Laban gave Jacob Leah rather than Rachel, who he loved), he reaped the deception that he had sown and decided to live his life differently.

Because Jacob’s heart was changed, the angel gave him a new name – Israel – to match his new character. Jacob’s genes did not change, but his character did. The name Israel was the spiritual name given to Jacob, because he became one with God.

The descendants of Jacob, now called Israel, also worshiped the true God and became known as Israelites, a name that denoted who they worshiped, and NOT any special ethnicity. Certainly, the Israelites were NOT “Jews” ethnically. In fact, there is no such thing as an ethnic “Jew.”

Jacob’s offspring, as noted above, were called “Israelites” because they were the offspring of “Israel” a man whose character had been changed by reaping what he had sown.

The Israelites were Christians because they were looking for the Messiah, Jesus Christ!

41. God’s ways are ALWAYS better than ours. When the Israelites were ready to cross the Jordan to enter the Promised Land – the Land of Canaan, God gave Joshua the battle plan to conquer Jericho, a battle plan that would seem nonsensical from a military point of view – march around the city for 7 days and blow the trumpets.

But God had made the plans and Joshua followed God’s plan, rather than making his own Battle plan. The assault was extremely successful, as it always is if we allow GOD to make all our plans and if we follow HIS lead.

42. Making our OWN plans always leads to disaster. The next city to conquer was Ai. But Joshua, not God, made the plans and it became a huge disaster.

Only when we follow God’s plans explicitly will we have continued success. And “success” is measured God’s way – not according to the world.

43. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with Unbelievers.” 2 Corinthians 6:14 God specifically forbid the Israelites to intermarry with the pagans living in the land of Canaan. But, once again, the Israelites turned their back on God and chose NOT to follow His directions. They intermarried with the pagan Canaanites and eventually wandered so far from God that they began worshiping pagan gods, and even sacrificed their children in the fire to the pagan god, Molech.

And the Israelites built “high places in the groves” for the specific purpose of worshiping pagan gods.

44. Jesus was NOT a Jew! Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute who had helped the Israelites who came to spy out the land before conquering it. For this act of kindness, she was saved in the conquest of Jericho and later married Salmon and became the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth

Neither Rahab nor Ruth were Israelites – and they were certainly not “Jews” yet they were both in the line of Christ. This is just one more reason that Jesus could not have been a “Jew.” (For more information, see “Who is the Church: who is Israel?” at www.goodnewsaboutgod.com)

45. The Israelites did NOT trust God. Nor do today’s Christians. Even though God provided everything for the Israelites during their journey through the forty years in the wilderness, they were continuously stubborn, constantly complaining, and always falling into apostasy. They had NO FAITH – even though they believed they were worshipers of the true God.

In the same way, “Christians” of today BELIEVE they trust God, but in fact, they trust in “man” – they trust in doctors, pastors, and the government for their respective “healing”, salvation, and safety.

Nothing has changed.

46. The Lord has a very “little flock.” The only two original Israelites who entered the Promised Land were Caleb and Joshua. All the others, including Moses, died in the wilderness. Caleb and Joshua were the only two of the twelve who spied out the Promised Land who really believed God.

There were over a million Israelites in the wilderness, but only TWO actually believed God. Truly, the Lord has a “little flock” (Luke 12:32)/

47. God – not us – is responsible for our salvation, and the salvation of everyone in the world. God brought the Israelites into the Promised Land because of who HE is, NOT because of who THEY were. God describes the Israelites as a stiff-necked, stubborn people, who were always wandering away from God.

It is the same today. “Christians” are a stubborn, stiff-necked people who have wandered FAR from God and His Bible truths. But after ALL have reaped what they have sown, God will save ALL – not because of who WE are – but because of who HE is!

48. The Seventh-day Sabbath – Saturday - IS the Lord’s Day! When God gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai (Exodus 20), He commanded us to keep the Seventh-day, Saturday, Sabbath because He is our Creator and He is worthy of our worship. He made the heaven, the earth, and all that in them is. The Seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of Creation.

In Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, the Ten Commandments are repeated, but here we are told to keep the Seventh-day, Saturday, Sabbath because God is our Redeemer.

“Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt (symbolic for sin) and that the Lord thy God brought you out through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.” Deuteronomy 5:15

So the Seventh-day Sabbath – Saturday – is a memorial of Creation AND Re-Creation (Redemption) because God eventually will make each person a “New Creature in Christ.”

The Israelites were warned NOT to worship the sun – the creation – rather than worshiping the Creator!

“And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.” Deuteronomy 4:19

Yet, practically the whole “Christian” world has turned its back on the Seventh-day Sabbath, and has chosen to worship the creation – the Sun god – on Sunday, rather than worshiping the Lord on His Holy Day – the Seventh-day Sabbath- - Saturday.

After all, Jesus, Himself, said, “ The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28)

The Seventh-day Sabbath – Saturday – IS the “Lord’s Day.”

49.The Seventh-day Sabbath – Saturday – was given to ALL Mankind. The

Seventh-day Sabbath – Saturday – was given to us by God – long before the Exodus - as the day for us to worship of Him. It was given by God, in the Garden of Eden, to Adam and Eve, the parents of all humanity. It was given to ALL the offspring of Adam and Eve – everyone on earth. The Sabbath was made for All mankind. (Mark 2:27)

Before God gave the Ten Commandments, in Exodus 20, the Israelites were told that the manna would fall on six days only, with a double portion falling on the sixth day - Friday. None would fall on the Seventh-day Sabbath. (Exodus, Chapter 16):   None of the Israelites asked, “Why?” They knew why. They had known about the Seventh-day Sabbath for all their lives, long before it was given in the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai.

50.God will provide ALL our needs. God brought the Israelites through the desert, for forty years, where there was no possibility of them caring for themselves. God provided their water miraculously from a rock, their food - manna that fell miraculously from heaven, a cloud cover by day so they would not be scorched by the desert sun, a pillar of fire that covered them by night to keep them warm, and their clothes and shoes never wore out – for forty long years.

We are living in the end times, a time when we will have to trust God to provide ALL our needs, just as He did with the Israelites. God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and He watches over His word to perform it. (Ezekiel 12:25)

He will NEVER leave us or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

Fifty Lessons from the Exodus for End Times!

It’s ALL about Learning to Trust God

Fifty Lessons from the Exodus
for End Times!