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Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

Mark Finley

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

02 The Burning Bush

03 Rough Start

04 The Plagues

05 Passover

07 The Bread and Water of Life

08 Covenant at Sinai

09 Living the Law

10 The Covenant and the Blueprint

11 Apostasy and Intercession

12 Please, Show Me Your Glory

13 The Tabernacle

We're journeying through the book of Exodus.

This is an incredibly exciting lesson, a lesson with deep meaning and great spiritual lessons.

The title of our lesson this week is The Bread and Water of Life.

God is teaching Israel deeper lessons of trust.

Throughout this lesson this week, we find that God desires to help his people grow, but they have to learn discipline, they have to learn self-control, they have to learn sacrifice, unselfishness, and especially trust in the Lord and obedience.

After Israel is led out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, Miriam, of course, leads them in that great song of victory, that great song of rejoicing.

Then, shortly thereafter, in their wilderness journey, they are anxious to find water.

If you're in the desert, you're certainly anxious to find water.

And so they come upon these wells, this particular well, but the water is bitter.

Sunday's lesson is titled, Bitter Waters.

We read about it in Exodus, the 15th chapter, verse 22.

Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, then they went out into the wilderness of Shur, and they went 3 days in the wilderness and found no water.

Now, if I go a few hours without water, I'm thirsty, but here they go 3 days in the desert, no water.

Their throats are parched, their tongues are swollen, their lips are cracked.

The desert sun is beating down upon them.

The Bible says, now, verse 23, they came to Marah, and they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.

Can you imagine their excitement when they saw the wells?

Can you imagine their excitement when they saw the water, but yet the water is bitter.

So the scripture says, the people murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink?

Rather than looking back at the miracles that God worked, the plagues that were poured out on the Egyptians, the ability to go through the Red Sea and have that open miraculously by God, that experience, the singing of the song of victory with Miriam on the other side of the sea, they forgot about all that.

You know, it is written, we have nothing to fear for the future lest we do what?

Forget God's leading in our past history.

So there is the tendency to forget when we're in trials, when we're in difficulties or in challenges.

There's the tendency to forget how God has led us in the past.

But they cry out in verse to the Lord, and the Lord showed him Moses a tree.

And when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.

There he made a statue in an ordinance for them, and there he tested them." God says to Moses, go over there, get those branches, cut down that tree, throw it into the pool, and it will become sweet.

What a lesson for the story of redemption, the story of the cross.

All of us live in bitter waters, the bitter water of rebellion against God, the bitter water of sin.

We live in those troubled pools with the bitter waters.

But Jesus, the divine Son of God, hung on a tree, died the death we should have died, after living the life we should have lived, bore the sin and guilt of humanity, and Christ, the 1 who hung on the tree, makes the bitter waters of life sweet." Romans 8, verse 1 says, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Here they're grumbling, but God promises still that he would be faithful.

In the last paragraph of Sunday's lesson I read, and yet even after their grumbling God promised that he would not bring upon the Israelites any of the diseases that came upon the Egyptians.

He had made the water sweet, he made provision for them, and he promised in verse 26 to protect them.

Look, Exodus 15 verse 26 he says, if you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what's right in his sight and give ear to his commandments and I'll keep all his statutes I will put none of the diseases on you which I brought on the Egyptians for I am the Lord who heals you the Christ of the cross is the God is the Christ of healing And he says that as we come to him, he heals us of the bitterness of sin.

And 1 day he will heal us through all eternity of every physical ailment, because Revelation 21 verse 4 says, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more sickness or suffering or heartache or death.

Here, last paragraph under Sunday's lesson, and yet even after their grumbling, God promised that he would not bring upon the Israelites any of the diseases that had plagued the Egyptians.

They could experience this promise only on the condition that they stayed faithful to him.

God's appeal in Sunday's lesson is an appeal for faithfulness, and it's appeal for obedience, and it's appeal to you and me to be faithful to God.

We come to Monday's lesson, quail and manna.

You choose the quail, the flesh pots of Egypt, or you choose the manna that God can provide.

We find this in Exodus 16, verse 1 to 36.

They come to the wilderness of sin, which is between Elam and Sinai.

The whole congregation's murmuring against Moses.

They don't learn the lesson of trust, the lesson of faithfulness.

Often when we go through trials and difficulties and challenges, we say, God, where are you?

They want to go back, according to verse 3, to the pots of meat and the flesh pots of Egypt.

But God says, I'll rain bread down from heaven upon you, and the people shall go out and gather a quota, a certain quota every day, that I may test them whether they'll walk in my law or not.

Now you remember there were 3 miracles that were performed with the falling of the manna.

Second miracle is twice as much fell on Friday.

If they would keep any over for many of the other days, it would spoil and stink.

Third miracle, that if they kept it over, it wouldn't stink for the Sabbath, and none fell on Sabbath.

So the people would go out and gather twice as much on Friday, and they would preserve it for the next day.

Incidentally, there are those who believe that the Sabbath was given for the Jew.

God set the Sabbath aside where Genesis 2, verse 1 to 3 says that he rested upon the Sabbath, he sanctified the Sabbath, and he hallowed the Sabbath.

God set the Sabbath aside as a very special, special day.

And That was at least Hundreds of years centuries before the existence the Jewish race the Jewish race didn't exist till Abraham Isaac Jacob 12 sons of Jacob become the 12 tribes of Israel much much after creation So Sabbath is given at creation But then you come to Exodus chapter 16, the Sabbath is certainly in existence, and you don't get the 10 Commandments until Exodus chapter 20.

So the Sabbath is that golden chain from Eden at the time of creation to Eden again when God creates the new heaven and the new earth.

But this show, the following of manna shows how much God cares for his people.

God says, verse 4, "'Behold, I'll rain bread from heaven for you, "'and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota.'" Go down to verse 6.

"'And Moses and Aaron said to all the children, at evening you'll know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for he hears your murmurings against the Lord.

But what are we that we murmur against the Lord.

In the morning you'll see the glory of the Lord.

The manna falls, it reveals the glory of the Lord.

And the nature of a loving God would not allow Israel to starve in the desert.

So he revealed his glory by revealing his character of letting the manna fall from heaven.

Now the purpose of that is clearly seen here in Scripture.

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Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

07 The Bread and Water of Life

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