Awesome Hands – Part 142: “The descending river”

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Awesome Hands – part 142

“The descending river”

October 19, 2018

It’s no secret that we are sinning machines. What does often stay secret is just how much the Lord has planned for those He calls “His people” or “my people”, and how the start of those people are meant to bring in the rest of humanity verses the “nations of the world”. These groups are both internal spiritually and external to us physically.

This is a process that has been set in motion since the beginning of creation, and our study today is going to show an aspect of that truth by showing us ourselves in the Israelites by type and shadow.

Our verses for consideration today are found in two chapters of Deuteronomy. These are the next mentioning’s of the word “yad” or hand in Hebrew, and the timing of the Lord could not be more spot on for why these verses have come about right now.

Deu 8:17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

Deu 9:26  I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

There is a lot happening around these verses, so we are going to dive into the context of these verses and see what the Lord has prepared for us in these types and shadows of ourselves.

In our first verse example, we see an arrogant spirit dwelling in the hearts and minds of those who think they have power of themselves. Any wealth we gain, whether in the flesh or in the Spirit is all gifted to us by the Lord.

Here is the fuller story:

Deu 8:1  All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
Deu 8:2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Deu 8:4  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Deu 8:5  Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
Deu 8:6  Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
Deu 8:7  For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
Deu 8:8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;
Deu 8:9  A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.
Deu 8:10  When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.

There is a lot being said here, but I thought it was all important enough to include so that we can set the stage for what we are being told will happen to us when we have the heart and mindset that we see in verse 8:17:

Deu 8:17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

It was the Lord your God who led you “all the way” (Deut 8:2) including leading us to, into and through the wilderness.

This whole experience is for a purpose and we are told, as the children of God, that it is to “… humble thee, to prove thee and to know what was in your heart…. to see if we will keep the commandments of the Lord or not…. (Deut 8:2).

If we are paying attention here, then we will see a very profound statement being made, and it is later used to refute satan’s attempts to tempt Jesus by trying to use the Word of God against Jesus.

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

The “manna” in the wilderness experience, which we just read, was given and was caused by the Lord so that He can “humble, prove, chasten and show us what is in our heart”.

This manna is to show that we live by every word the proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, but it is important to ask ourselves how this “manna from heaven” can achieve “showing that we live by every word”.

The manna itself was proof that we not ONLY need physical sustenance, but we MUST have the Lord intervening in our lives if we are to survive the wilderness experience.

Manna is given during the wilderness experience, but we know from the New Testament that the Lord tells us He is the “bread from heaven” and that the Israelites here did not partake of that bread at that time.

Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Joh 6:34  Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

Now, why would the Pharisees tell Christ, by quoting scripture, that they were given bread from heaven to eat, if it weren’t true? Does scripture say this happened?

Well, it just so happens that the Pharisees WERE quoting scripture to Christ! This is very important to understand if we are going to get anything out of this study which applies to us. Quoting and knowing scripture is not enough, it is the application of it that matters.

Here is where and what the Pharisees quoted when they said boldly, “as it is written”:

Exo 16:4  Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.

Neh 9:13  Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
Neh 9:14  And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
Neh 9:15  And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

Listen closely to linkage that Jesus makes to “bread from heaven” and what He tells satan when satan tempts Jesus “in the wilderness”:

Luk 4:1  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
Luk 4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Luk 4:3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Is it possible that the religious leaders of the day, the Pharisees, simply were quoting scripture but had no idea, spiritually, what they were talking about? Well, that is abundantly apparent by Jesus Christ’s own admission.

Notice that it was when Moses was 40 days and nights, NOT eating or drinking, on the mount when the “stones” were crafted by God. “He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna” is saying more than is at first realized, just is Jesus’ response to this situation.

Not eating for 40 days and nights is not only speaking physically.

Moses was on the mount, which is the story where our next mentioning of the word yad is at in chapter 9 of Deuteronomy. To set the foundation of connecting these two stories together, I will read the first part of Deut since the actual verse with the word “hand” in it, is found later in verse 26.

Deu 9:1  Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
Deu 9:2  A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say, Who can stand before the children of Anak!
Deu 9:3  Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

As the people of God, we witness the fire of God, with Him BEING a consuming fire, bring down the “nations”, “cities” and “the great and tall Anakims.

“Understand therefore THIS DAY” what you are witnessing being attested to. When we see this happen, our heart and our understanding of these events had better be correct so that we have the proper remembrance of these events and the “day” in which they happen.

Deu 9:4  Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.
Deu 9:5  NOT FOR THY RIGHTEOUSNESS, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Deu 9:6  Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.
Deu 9:7  Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the LORD thy God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the LORD.

So, we must take heed to remember and DO NOT FORGET that we have provoked the Lord to wrath while in the wilderness, but we were NOT destroyed at that time.

Here is where we will start to see the connection between stone, bread and “bread from heaven”.

Continuing in verse 9:8 we read:

Deu 9:8  Also in Horeb ye provoked the LORD to wrath, so that the LORD was angry with you to have destroyed you.
Deu 9:9  When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:
Deu 9:10  And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the MIDST OF THE FIRE in the day of the assembly.
Deu 9:11  And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.
Deu 9:12  And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

A “molten image” implies fire was used. Indeed, the gold given to them while in Egypt, is what was melted and re-shaped to be something that became a god to them and they worshipped that god.

Even Aaron did so, and he was the provider of this image worship since he formed the golden calf. However, we know from all over scripture that the IMAGE of something is not THE something it is an image of. In other words, this golden calf was nothing even though it was being worshipped as a god.

If you bear with me a little while, I hope that something profound will happen with you. I hope that you will look at a mirror and see Christ looking back at you and not only your own reflection.

I want you all to examine yourselves against what I am about to present to you in the context of this study. I’d like you to hear and read what I am saying and writing, and then weigh yourselves against it, because it is vitally important that we understand what living by the Word of God means for us, and everyone else.

It is when talking about “manna from heaven”, bread which “your fathers DID NOT EAT”, that Jesus Christ gives us a foundational doctrine to LIVE BY.

Joh 6:48  I am that bread of life.
Joh 6:49  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
Joh 6:52  The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Joh 6:53  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54  Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:57  As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
Joh 6:58  This is that bread which CAME DOWN from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

It is after speaking these words, that we learn that FLESH PROFITS NOTHING, but it is the SPOKEN WORDS that are SPIRIT and LIFE.
Jesus just told us to EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON OF MAN and then we are told by Him that FLESH profits NOTHING!

Yet, we MUST eat HIS FLESH!

Joh 6:60  Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?

I’ve been hearing a lot lately about “dark” sayings and “hard sayings”. Here is one of those hard sayings that once heard, is either believed or those that hear it “go back and walk no more with Christ”.

Joh 6:61  When Jesus knew in himself that HIS DISCIPLES murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62  What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, THEY ARE SPIRIT, and THEY ARE LIFE.
Joh 6:64  But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65  And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

Now ask yourself what could offend so many that they turned their back on Christ? Here is the Son of man and the Son of God walking and talking with them, but He tells them something so hard for them to believe and accept that they walk no longer with Him over it.

So that it is easily brought into remembrance, here is what I said earlier:

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

The “manna” in the wilderness experience, which we just read, was given and was caused by the Lord so that He can “humble, prove, chasten and show us what is in our heart”.

Is this any different for Jesus Christ?

Let us let Him answer that so that we are not wondering.

Luk 4:1  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
Luk 4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
Luk 4:3  And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

It is obvious that the devil tempted Jesus with bread, but it is always assumed that this was simply just PHYSICAL BREAD. After all, the devil tells Jesus to prove who He is by TURNING STONE INTO LIFE! The devil uses different words “stone into bread” but that is what those things represent … something dead and something alive.

Jesus’ answer is profound. Jesus does not say we don’t live by bread. He says we don’t live by bread alone or only.

When you take this and combine it with “every word of God”, then you can see what we LIVE BY.

We have to have both PHYSICAL and SPIRITUAL in order to live. It is true that that one leads to death, but it is THROUGH DEATH that LIFE and “much fruit” happens.

Joh 12:23  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

It stands then, that we must follow Jesus on the Way that He is and the Way He showed us. Along that Way, He was LED into the WILDERNESS.

Now, do I need to be led by the Spirit into a PHYSICAL wilderness in order to be led into the wilderness to be tempted? Jesus was led into a physical wilderness, and He just said I need to follow Him.

So, do I need to do this physically or is there something else being said like was expounded upon in the example of Jesus Christ saying that the Pharisees didn’t eat manna from heaven?

Here it is again very briefly:

Joh 6:31  Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

There is bread which is physical bread and then there is true bread.  Both feed the belly, and both are needed, but one is one which we will gain LIFE ETERNAL BY, and that is the “EVERY WORD bread”.

Joh 6:48  I am that bread of life.
Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Jesus Christ is the bread of life which who is also called the Word of God. I do not have to live the same event for that event to be spiritually the same in my life. I do not need to be physically placed on a cross in order to follow Christ to the cross, just as I do not need to physically eat Jesus Christ’s flesh in order to eat His flesh.

Deu 8:17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

Indeed, flesh profits nothing, but the FLESH OF CHRIST PROFITS us LIFE! There is no contradiction.

Here is what happens when Moses prays for his brother Aaron and for the nation of Israel:

Deu 9:13  Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Deu 9:14  Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.
Deu 9:15  So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.
Deu 9:16  And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.
Deu 9:17  And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.

First, Moses sees their sin and brings the laws and judgments of God and casts them out of his hands and brakes them so that all can see. This shows us that Moses is telling the Israelites what they have done.

They have turned the time that they were not being directed by Moses into a time of creating a golden calf, and then they worshipped it.

Deu 9:18  And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
Deu 9:19  For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.
Deu 9:20  And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.
Deu 9:21  And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

I titled this talk “The descending river” based on this verse. The gold in the golden calf goes through the fire TWICE.

One time the fire is used to heat the gold so that it can be shapened into “a golden calf to be worshipped”, and the other time the fire is used so that it can take that same gold and BURN IT to be stamped, ground very small as dust and CAST into the RIVER that DESCENDS out of the mount.

When the gold of God is used improperly, it must be cast into the fire, stamped and ground very small as dust, and CAST into the WATERS which DESCEND from the mount of Fire.

As a result of these actions of the Israelites worshiping this golden calf, and having the first two tables of stone destroyed, a new set of stones is created and placed in the ark.

In other words, the judgments of God are now placed on the INSIDE of us, where the cup can be cleaned from the inside, since it is from OUT of our hearts that we are deceived.

I am going to end this study with asking everyone to always look inside and judge what you find there. It is not what is on the surface that matters, but what is on the inside.

The Israelites looked on the mount and saw the fire there and that Moses had not returned. They looked on the outside and FEARED, which led them to creating a false idol.

The things within us are what lead to sin, and we need to always be ready to judge everything we think and believe against the Word of God.


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