Part One… Believing God at His Word, which grows our Faith, into Great Faith.

Part One

A little testimony… As I listened to a sermon, by a visiting speaker at my old church, the Holy Spirit burned within my heart. When it was finished, I knew I had to study the two events that the speaker was talking about. I noticed the speaker had made a mistake. I needed to search out the truth, to clarify the truth. While praying for the truth and seeking through the Word of God, God led me to a deeper understanding.

In this sermon the speaker had said that Moses was asked to strike the rock Once regarding the second time the Israelites ran out of water while wondering in the wilderness. However, the Scripture he gave did not say what he quoted. Although this mistake was not good, I still praised God for the mistake; simply because I had a desire to search and validate the truth of what I knew from the Scriptures. And by searching through the truth, the Lord took me deeper into the scriptures from what I had already known about this second event regarding the Children of Israel needing water. This is a good reason why we should not take any speakers word for what they say the scriptures say, as they are just as human as we are, and can make mistakes that can cause us to misunderstand the truth God would have us know.

If we study God’s Word daily, we will learn of the truth. And if we do not know much about the subject or not at all, of what any speaker is speaking about; we should study the subject with prayer, asking God for His leading to teach us His Word, with the Holy Spirits guidance, in Jesus Holy name. Always remember the verse in Jeremiah 33:3, were God said, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” 

The text that the speaker had given was Numbers 20:2,7-8, yet he got the instructions mixed up with the first time the Children of Israel needed water in Exodus 17:1-6. Yet he was clearly speaking regarding the second event.

With this Bible Study Gem, and the next to come, we will be studying these two events to see what we can learn from the second event in Numbers chapter 20 which came with two instructions from God. All the while remembering the first in Exodus 17, that we may be able to understand the importance of the second.         

The first event when the Children of Israel needed water in Exodus 17:1-6, it says, 1, And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. 2, Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? 3, And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4, And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5, And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 

The second event when the Children of Israel needed water in Numbers 20:2,7-8, it says, 2, And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. … 7, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 8, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

Here God tells Moses take “the rod”, … and “speak ye unto the rock before their eyes”; …

When studying these verses, I first looked at the instruction of “Speak” and when I asked God in Prayer why and what is the lesson in “speak” … God just said, “The Centurion”. So, I went to the scriptures in Matthew 8:5-13. … what a lesson indeed.

Matthew 8:5-13, reads, 5, And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6, And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7, And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8, The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. 9, For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. 10, When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11, And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12, But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 13, And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. 

The Strongs Concordance tells us that Marvelled means; to wonder; by implication to admire: – admire, have in admiration, marvel, wonder.

One of the lessons here in Matthew 8:5-13, is knowing the importance of the power of God, and that He only needs to speak, which gives great faith.

Linked with Numbers 20:8. Moses was to speak to the rock before the eyes of the Children of Israel, yet he did not. Then in verse 12 of Numbers 20, we are told, 12, And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. These words may sound harsh to us, yet God takes these issues very seriously, because He knows the full outcome when we do not obey Him.

In this verse God tells Moses and Aaron why they could not go into the promised land with the children of Israel, and it was, Because Moses and Aaron believed Not God at His Word.

Essentially by not listening to God, nor obeying Him, is not believing in Him. When we disobey the Word of God, it is another way of showing lack of faith and belief in His Word.

When we do this, we can, and will, take away the witness to sanctify God in the eyes of the children of Israel. For today, the children of Israel are the people who humbly give themselves to God and obey Him by keeping His Ten Commandments and living in the true Precepts of God’s Word. Those people who would be God’s, are those we failed to witness the full Precepts of the Word of God, if only we had Sanctify God before them. How much richer would heaven be when Jesus returns to take us home, because we obeyed God at His word? Isaiah 28:9, 10. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: …  Revelation 14:12, Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 

Now, going back to the Centurion, he knew and understood, and fully believed that Jesus only needed to speak, and his servant would be healed.

Note in verses 10-12 of Matthew 8, what Jesus said, after he marvelled at the Centurion’s faith, 10, When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 11, And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. 12, But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 8:10-12

In Numbers 20:8-13, the lesson and gift, that was not received was, Great Faith in God. God and Christ only need but speak the Word and it would be so. Just like at the beginning of this earth at creation, found in the first book of the Holy Bible in Genesis 1, God simply said, “Let there be … and it was so.” God is Holy, and Showing the Holiness of God, is sanctifying God before the eyes of those around us, for the word to sanctify, means to make or to pronounce Holy. Note Numbers 20:12 and compare the very same in Genesis 2:1-3. Strongs Concordance.

Another lesson here is that our pride can so easily get in our way, where we are no longer doing the will of God, as God told Moses, “and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.” Now Moses, as we see, by reading, shows his frustration by saying, “Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” Then he, instead of speaking, now strikes the rock twice. Because of this, the great lesson of faith, of speaking to the rock, God wanted the Children of Israel to learn, was then taken away and was not given.

We all need to learn James 1:19 and 20, which says, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

If Moses had but only obeyed God and spoke to the rock before their eyes, a greater faith would have grown in the hearts of the Children of Israel. Therefore, great faith had not been in all of Israel. Yet a humble Centurion’s faith in this lesson comes forth and Christ is marvelled, as verse10 of Matthew 8 tells us.

Why was Christ marvelled? because the humble Centurion understood the Authority and power Christ had within Him. The Centurion exercised this belief with great faith.

I believe the Centurion had all faith that Jesus was the blessed promise from the Seed of Abraham and possibly understood the lesson God had for the Children of Israel here in Numbers 20. The Centurion shows Great faith openly before the eyes of the Children of Israel, as Moses should have done in his time, when God had given Moses the instructions.

Moses and Aaron were not punished from the eternal promise of the heavenly promise land; just only from the earthly. Which is another complete study we may cover some day. Yet there is so much more to unpack from this Study Gem. Therefore, next week we will continue this study by going deeper still, to learn even more blessings from this account in Numbers 20 of “speak”.