Daniel Buxton

The Rock of God, by Daniel E. Buxton, M.D.

Topic: Blog

Transcript:

Daniel

The topic is the Rock of God. We’ll get right into it. This is from 1 Corinthians 2:13. It says, “These things we also speak not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” There’s a principle that the Holy Spirit gives in studying the word of God, where we compare scripture with scripture, one concept with another. We’re going to be doing a lot of that in this presentation.

Daniel

In Acts 17:11, it says that, “They received the word in all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” If there are any questions about this, if you want to study this more, Pastor Gordon, I’ve given a copy of the PowerPoint. Those of you that if you reach out to me, I can give you a copy and you can go over it yourself and see whether the things I’m saying are true.

Daniel

To begin with, we’re going to talk about Sinai as a sanctuary concept. Now, this is something Christians are often familiar with, the Israel going to Mount Sinai. But what was Sinai set up to be by God? Now, in Exodus 25:8, it says, “Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.” Now, that was the wilderness sanctuary.

Daniel

But before the wilderness sanctuary was constructed, God had already brought Israel to Him. They were at Mount Sinai, and God was there in his presence. Is it probable that God set up the same parameters to be close to sinful man even before the wilderness sanctuary was built? I believe that is the case.

Daniel

Before we get into the the pieces of this concept, let’s just review the sanctuary. We have in the courtyard, given in the bottom of this picture, the altar of sacrifice. The next article that you have after the altar of sacrifice is the laver. These are both in the courtyard. The courtyard had a perimeter with 60 pillars.

Daniel

Then you had the holy places. In the first compartment, the Holy Place, you had the candlestick; the seven-branch candlestick, you had the altar of incense, and the table of showbread. Then in the Most Holy Place, you had the Ark of the Covenant that had the 10 Commandments inside. You had the mercy seat on top. This is an apartment that God appeared above the Ark of the Covenant, and the high priests went in there only once a year on the Day of Atonement.

Daniel

In the pattern that I’m proposing, we’re going to start with the altar of sacrifice being a correlation with the experience of Israel at the passover. In the New Testament, it says of Jesus that he is our passover, correct? As Jesus being the passover or the passover lamb, that’s a correlate of the sacrifice.

Daniel

The blood that was put on the doorposts correlates with the blood of the cross. That 10th plague, having the blood, was the dividing line between those that were saved and those that were lost in Egypt, anybody could choose to participate in it, and it marks Israel’s Exodus out of Egypt.

Daniel

After they head out from Egypt, after the passover, what they have are four water experiences that they go through. The first one is the Red Sea. All Israel goes through the Red Sea. Paul says of that, that they were baptized into Moses, so there’s a baptism type there. But we don’t stop with just the Red Sea.

Daniel

There were also the waters of Marah that were bitter, that were miraculously made sweet. God, in that context, says, “I am the Lord who heals you.” Then you had the 12 wells of Elim, where there were 70 palm trees. Then after that, when they got up to Mount Sinai, there was the water from the rock. These, I propose, correlate with the laver of the sanctuary.

Daniel

Now, once I get up to Sinai itself, we have language that describes a border. I’m going to read from Psalm 78:54, it says, “And He brought them to His holy border.” This what?

Congregation

Mountain.

Daniel

The mountain. The mountain has a holy border, which His right hand had acquired. Exodus 19:12, it says, “You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain should surely be,” what?

Congregation

Put to death.

Daniel

“Put to death.” Now, in the wilderness sanctuary, were there areas that people could and could not go?

Congregation

Yes.

Daniel

If they violated those prohibitions, what happened to them? They were also killed. At least there’s no record of that actually happening that I know of, but that was what was written in terms of what would happen to them. In addition, leading up to… This is Exodus 19:15. Exodus 20 is where God gives the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.

Daniel

Moses, he tells the people, he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day and do not come near your wives.” Now, why does he say that? From a sanctuary perspective, there were instructions, rules, that were given in terms of what would make somebody ceremonially clean and unclean. If you were unclean, and that included recently engaging in intercourse, you could not come near the sanctuary.

Daniel

Moses is telling this in the same pattern that you would have in the sanctuary that, “You’re going to be coming close to the mountain. Don’t engage in something that would make you ceremonially clean.” That is right there at the mountain.

Daniel

Psalm 68:17, look at how this describes Sinai. “The chariots of God are 20,000.” The chariots is language for the cherubim. You have the angels, the cherubim that were there. “The chariots of God are 20,000, even thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the,” what?

Congregation

Holy Place.

Daniel

Holy place. In Psalm 68, Sinai itself is called a holy place. In the sanctuary, you had the holy and Most Holy Place.

Daniel

Exodus 15:17 says, “You will bring them,” and that’s speaking of Israel, “in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which you have made for your own dwelling,” the what?

Congregation

Sanctuary.

Daniel

“The sanctuary, o Lord, which your hands have established.” The mountain itself is called a sanctuary, just as the tent is a sanctuary, the wilderness tent that was built after this. We have elements of the presence of God and his angels. At Mount Sinai, Deuteronomy 33:2, it says, “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with 10,000 of saints.”

Daniel

I’m not going to read through all the verses, but saints in this context is referring to the angels that attend God. In the wilderness sanctuary, you had angels that were on the mercy seat. In the Solomon sanctuary, you had additional Cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant. There were angels that were put on the walls. There were angels that were put on the curtain.

Daniel

In the case of the wilderness sanctuary, the angels were symbolically written everywhere, drawn everywhere. In the case of Sinai, the angels were literally there, actually there. There’s evidence that the Father and the Son were there. I won’t go into the proofs in terms of the angel of the Lord, but if you study into that, the angel of the Lord is Jesus in the Old Testament.

Daniel

As an example, in Exodus 23, this is at Mount Sinai, God is speaking to Moses. He says, “Behold, I send an angel,” and that’s referring to Jesus, before you, to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.” It says, “Beware of him. Obey his voice. Do not provoke him for he will not pardon your transgressions for my name is in him.”

Daniel

If God is speaking about the angel of the Lord, that is Jesus, who has to be the one speaking to Moses here? It would have to be the Father. This is one example, there are others, but just one example that we have God there, in respect to the angel of the Lord; you’ve got Jesus there, you’ve got the angels there.

Daniel

Now let’s look at the holy places. At Mount Sinai, Exodus 24:4, it says, “Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and 12 pillars.” Exodus 20 is where the 10 Commandments are vocalized by God, given to Israel. But Exodus 24 is the chapter where he gives the actual 10 Commandments at Mount Sinai.

Daniel

In this context, Moses is building an altar at the foot of the mountain. I’m proposing that that altar is a symbolic correlate with the altar of incense that you have in the Holy Place. He also builds 12 pillars. When you compare the sanctuary, you find that there are pillars as an important component of the sanctuary.

Daniel

In the case of the wilderness sanctuary, there were 60 pillars around the perimeter of the courtyard. In the Solomon sanctuary, you had two gigantic pillars on either side of the vestibule at the entrance of the temple. So we’ve got pillars. Even at Mount Sinai, just like the other sanctuary, have pillars.

Daniel

How about the lampstand? The proposal for this is that the burning bush correlates with the lampstand. Some questions might be raised in your mind, so let’s look at first the lampstand and its construction.

Daniel

Exodus 25:33-34, this is describing the construction of the lampstand in the wilderness sanctuary. “Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower—and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. On the lampstand itself four bowls should be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower.”

Daniel

If you have a lampstand that’s made with branches and has almond blossom, what is it? It’s an almond tree. It’s an almond tree, and it has fire on it. So it’s a burning tree or a burning bush. In the case of the burning bush, those that are familiar with the text in which that happens, somebody will say, “Well, this happened at Horeb,” right?

Daniel

Let’s read there. This is Exodus 3. This is the experience where Moses sees the angel of the Lord, who is God, in the midst of the bush. “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

Daniel

Then Moses said, ‘I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.’ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off, for the place where you stand is,” what?

Congregation

Holy ground.

Daniel

“Is holy ground.” We’ve got this holy language here, and that’s obviously because of the presence of God. But moreover, I’m going to skip to verse 12. So Exodus 3, this is 1-6, in the same context. Now let’s read verse 12. God says to Moses, “I will certainly be with you. And this will be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on,” which mountain?

Congregation

This mountain.

Daniel

“This mountain.” Which mountain did God bring Israel to? We say Sinai. But here we find out that Horeb or the mountain of God is also Sinai. It’s all the same mountain. This isn’t particularly unusual. Sometimes place names in the Bible and names of people are different. For example, the father-in-law of Moses, his name was Jethro. But there are other names that you find in the Bible for Jethro, such as Heber, a title, such as the priest of Midian, he was called the Kenite and Reuel.

Daniel

This is an example of one person that’s got five different either titles or names. There are other examples in the Bible where place names or things have different descriptions or names of them, even though it’s talking about the same place or person.

Daniel

Acts 7:30, this is in the context of Stephen the martyr. He’s preaching to the leaders of Israel about to be martyred. He says, “When 40 years had passed and the angel of the Lord appeared to him,” that is Moses, “in a flame of fire in a bush in the wilderness of,” what?

Congregation

Mount Sinai.

Daniel

“Mount Sinai.” So he is affirming that the location of the burning bush is Mount Sinai. Back to what we were saying in terms of symbolic placeholders at Mount Sinai, the burning bush is at the same location of the mountain that you find where, for example, that altar that was built at the base of the mountain. Now you have the burning bush, even though chronologically it’s not in the same context, geographically it’s the same location.

Daniel

How about the table of showbread? This one’s a little softer, but Exodus 24 is again the context in which the 10 Commandments are given to Moses. “Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under His feet, as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in clarity. But the nobles of the children of Israel, He did not lay His hand. They saw God and they,” what? “Ate and drank.” This is in the mountain. The proposal is that this correlates just to the table of show bread, had food, had bread on it. Here they’re eating and drinking and being witnesses to what’s happening in Mount Sinai.

Daniel

How about then the Most Holy Place? In the sanctuary, how many times did the high priest go into the Most Holy Place? Once a year on the Day of Atonement. How many people went into the Most Holy Place? One person, and that was the high priest. The Most Holy Place is connected with the Day of Atonement. In the case of Mount Sinai, you have Moses alone goes to the top of the mountain, and he receives the 10th commandment. Here, Exodus 24:2, it says, “Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near.” He only goes to the top of the mountain.

Daniel

In addition, in the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary, the wilderness sanctuary, the 10 Commandments were in the Ark of the Covenant. In the case of Mount Sinai, the 10 Commandments are given. In essence, the Most Holy Place of the sanctuary of the mountain itself, where the 10 Commandments are given, those 10 Commandments are then put in the Most Holy Place of the mobile sanctuary.

Daniel

Also, it’s interesting the position of God. In the Most Holy Place, God was above the 10 Commandments, above the mercy seat, above the Ark of the Covenant. That’s where he would appear. Exodus 25:2, it says, “I will speak with you from above the mercy seat.” In Exodus 24, it has God described, “And under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone.” There’s a positioning here that is similar as well.

Daniel

In review, what we’ve covered is that the Passover experience correlates with the altar sacrifice. The four water experiences, including the Red Sea, the waters of Marah, the 12 walls of Elim, and the water from the rock are the labor experience. The mountain is called holy, just as the holy places had that title for the sanctuary.

Daniel

You had prohibitions in terms of where you could go in the sanctuary. Same thing applies in Sinai. You had pillars at Sinai, just as there were in the Tabernacle. There were uncleanness prohibitions being honored in the case of Sinai, as in the case of the Tabernacle.

Daniel

We have symbolic placeholders for the candlestick in the case of the burning bush, the altar of incense in the case of the altar at the foot of the mountain, the table of show bread with the 70 elders eating and drinking as witnesses. Then in the Most Holy Place, you have the 10 Commandments. In the case of Mount Sinai, you had the 10 Commandments given and God standing above the sapphire stone.

Daniel

Now that we have Mount Sinai established as a sanctuary type, there are some things that are useful in knowing this. We can start making comparisons with the things that are happening at Mount Sinai with other sanctuary, such as the wilderness sanctuary, Solomon’s temple, and the Ezekiel visions.

Daniel

For me, it’s also useful to understand some verses that I didn’t have a good explanation for, such as why is Moses instructed to put a perimeter around the mountain, why is he building an altar at the foot of the mountain. I don’t have all the answers, but at least this gives some explanation that the same parameters are being set up at Sinai as you have in other sanctuary types.

Daniel

For this discussion, it tells us that what’s happening at the top of the mountain is its Most Holy Place language. When we think of the Most Holy Place, we’re thinking of things that relate to the Day of Atonement, which is then also connected to the concept of God’s judgment, which is based on His law.

Daniel

The judgment description, for example, that we find in the Book of Daniel, chapter 7, you have the heavenly host around the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man there. Where is the Ancient of Days? What is he seated on in that context? On his throne. So you’ve got throne language that goes along with the idea of God’s judgment and the Day of Atonement and the Most Holy Place.

Daniel

Now we’re going to get into the Blue Stone itself. First, we look at Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10, there are descriptions of God’s throne. We’re not going to go into all of that. There are specific things I want to zero in on. For this part, we’re going to look at this description of God’s throne itself, and some colors that come out.

Daniel

Ezekiel 1:22 and 26, it says, “The likeness of the firmament above the heads of the living creatures was like the color of an awesome crystal stretched out over their heads.” Verse 26, it says, “And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a,” what?

Congregation

Sapphire stone.

Daniel

“Sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was the likeness with the appearance of a man high above it.”

Daniel

You’ve got this stone with a sapphire-like appearance, and God is above it. That’s where He’s positioned. We also have this language of a firmament. When you think of a firmament, that is language that also is connected with the heavens, the sky.

Daniel

For example, in Genesis, it says, “Thus God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so, and God called the firmament Heaven.” We’ve got different ways of communicating a certain appearance that is showing up here with the throne of God.

Daniel

Sapphire, we usually think of as blue. There are other examples. You have transparent sapphire. But for the most part, usually, when we think of a color with sapphire, it’s blue. When we think of the sky or the heavens, the color we usually think of also, blue.

Daniel

Here’s another one, Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declared the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Another example of the heavens being connected with the language of the firmament. We already reviewed the most holy place elements, so I will skip over that.

Daniel

Now we move to exodus 24. Exodus 24 is where the 10 Commandments are given. In verse 10, it says, “They saw the God of Israel,” and there was where? Under His feet. He’s above whatever He’s describing here.

Daniel

“Under His feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone,” and it was like the very what? And another word for heavens is what? Firmament. It’s using the same language that we had in Ezekiel 1, correct?

Daniel

Another interesting feature is, in the original, it doesn’t say a work of sapphire stone. It says has up here. The way this really should read is, “There were a paved work of the sapphire stone.” It’s definite article. It’s not just a rock. It’s the rock.

Daniel

That’s important because when we look in Exodus 24:12, two verses later, so the sapphire stone is highlighted, and then it says, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone.'” This is another situation where they’ve removed the definite article.

Daniel

It actually says, ha ebon, the stone, vaha torra and the law, vaha mitzvah and the commandment. Definite article, definite article, definite article. The sapphire and the stone. God is going to give him tablets, the 10 Commandments that come from the sapphire.

Daniel

If they’re coming from the sapphire, what is it that the 10 Commandments are cut from? They’re cut from the throne of God.

Daniel

In terms of blue, another correlate here we see in Numbers 15:38, it says, “Speak to the children of Israel and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a” what thread?

Congregation

Blue thread.

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“Blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you shall have the tassels, that you may look upon it and remember,” what?

Congregation

All the commandments.

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All the commandments of the Lord and do them. In their minds, when they saw the color blue, they thought that is the 10 Commandments. Why did they think that? Because they understood that the 10 Commandments were on blue stone.

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What is the significance of them coming from the throne? Psalm 45:6, it says, “Your throne, O God, is forever.” If the 10 Commandments come from the throne and the throne has eternal language, do we see the 10 Commandments as something that is changeable? No. When we speak of a throne, we’re talking about a place, a foundation of government. The 10 Commandments are also the foundation of God’s government.

Daniel

There are targums. There are a few targums out there. What is a targum? A targum is a translation from the Hebrew into Aramaic. There are a couple of examples where Jews did some translations into the Aramaic. You can access English translations of that Aramaic.

Daniel

In the case of Exodus 31:18, the Jewish translators added something that isn’t in the Masoretic text, but it’s informative because it tells something about their understanding of what was going on at the top of Mount Sinai.

Daniel

This is an English translation of the Aramaic from the Hebrew. Exodus 31:18, “And He gave to Mosheh,” which is Moses, “when He had finished to speak with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of sapphire,” stone from the what? “From the throne of glory, weighing 40 sein, inscribed by the finger of God.” They understood it wasn’t anything new. They understood that the 10 Commandments came from the throne of glory, which was also the sapphire-like stone.

Daniel

Now, I’m going to make a little bit of a diversion here to talk about New Covenant concepts, but you will see that this is important in this discussion once we get back to talking about the rock again. Because there’s something that God was doing with Israel, teaching them on a daily basis with their experience in the concept of the New Covenant.

Daniel

In this discussion, I’m going to bring out some symbols here. Luke 11:20, this is Jesus speaking to the leaders of Israel. They’re accusing him of casting out demons by bells above. He says, “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Daniel

Matthew 12:28 reads it differently. “But if I cast out demons by the,” what? “The Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” In one passage, the finger of God; another passage, it’s the Holy Spirit. This gives us an idea. The finger of God is symbolic of who? The work of the Holy Spirit. How could this be applied? I’ll give one example.

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When you had the woman caught in adultery, she’s brought before Jesus, what does He do? “He stooped down and He wrote on the ground” what? With His finger. Now it was literally His finger. But what happens next?

Daniel

It says, “Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last.” Now, John 16:7-8, speaking of the Holy Spirit as the helper, says He will what? Convict the world of sin. Who convicts of sin? The Holy Spirit.

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Why was He writing with His finger? He is making a declaration of what was about to commence. That is, the Holy Spirit is going to convict them of sin. Finger symbolizing the Holy Spirit.

Daniel

Give another example, except this is in the hand of God, and this is not nearly as well-known in the Christian Communion. I’ll give a number of examples of this. Ezekiel 8:3, speaking of God, it says, “He stretched out the form of a hand and took me by the lock of my hair and the what lifted me up?” The Spirit.

Daniel

Just as we did with the finger of God, let’s look at two passages. 1 Kings 18:46, this is where Elijah, subsequent this, he is running before the chariot of Ahab. A chariot with horses, he is in the power of the Spirit, running ahead of this king, giving him guidance down this Mount Carmel.

Daniel

It says, “Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah, and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” Notice it’s, in the case of Gideon, different context, but the language is very similar. Judges 6:34, “But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew the trumpet and the Abiezrites gathered behind him.” Here you’ve got the hand of the Lord upon Elijah, the Spirit of the Lord upon Gideon.

Daniel

Luke 1 speaks of the birth of John the Baptist, and it says in verse 15, “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.”

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Now, verse 66, says, “And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts saying, ‘What child will this be?’ And the hand of the Lord was with him.” Verse 80, “So the child grew and became strong in spirit and was in the desert till the day of his manifestation to Israel.” Another linking there with the Spirit and the hand.

Daniel

Here we had with the finger of God the idea of conviction of sin. Here’s Psalm 32. It says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” I’ll skip ahead. It says, “For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me.” The Psalmist says, “I acknowledged my sin to You and my iniquity, I have not hidden.” He’s being convicted of sin in this passage. What’s the language? The hand is heavy upon him.

Daniel

Some examples of this. We see in the Book of Acts in the New Testament scriptures, they’re praying and they’re laying on hands with people. They’re beginning a ministry to spread the gospel, and they lay hands on them.

Daniel

Why are they doing that? They’re asking for the Holy Spirit. Here are some direct connections. This is Acts 8:17. It says, “They laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.” Other examples. Laying hands on him, and he would be filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Spirit came upon them.

Daniel

What we have going on here is the same thing that we do anointing with oil. Usually, people understand that oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. For healing or a person’s ministry, as in the case with David and Saul and others, there was nothing magical about the oil, but the idea is that we understand that the oil symbolized the Holy Spirit. To anoint them was to petition the Holy Spirit to work in their ministry or to cause healing.

Daniel

To lay on the hands is to just do exactly the same thing, but with a different symbol, because the hand of the Lord symbolizes the Holy Spirit. Here are examples of people who had… They laid hands on him and he was healed. Several different examples of both Jesus and the apostles doing laying on of hands and people receiving healing. Just as in other cases, anointing of oil was done that way.

Daniel

Here in the Old Testament scriptures, in Leviticus 14, is the right for the cleansed leper. You had somebody who was healed of leprosy, which in the Old Testament scriptures only happened with, really, Naaman, and then briefly with Miriam. But then the Jesus comes, and it’s probably hundreds, thousands of people that are healed of leprosy.

Daniel

They did this right. They were supposed to do this particular right when somebody was healed of leprosy. At the end of it, it says, “The priest shall take a log of oil and pour it in the palm of his left hand. Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle the oil seven times before the Lord.” Finger of God with the oil.

Daniel

Then at the very end of this, he says, “He takes the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand, and he puts it on the head of him who is to be cleansed.” Hand of God, finger of God, oil. You have all three of those examples. What it was saying in these symbols is that who actually did the healing? The Holy Spirit.

Daniel

Another comparison, Psalm 51:12 says, “Uphold me by your generous spirit.” That’s the Psalmist speaking. Then in Isaiah, God says, “I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” There we go. A lot of evidence that the hand of God is speaking of the Holy Spirit.

Daniel

Now let’s go back to Sinai with all this. “When He had made an end of speaking with him on” this is Exodus 31:18, “Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” That’s one example.

Daniel

Let’s look at another example. Deuteronomy 33:2, “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with 10,000 of saints. From His right hand came a fiery law for them.”

Daniel

We have two different symbols communicating that of the persons of the Godhead, who actually wrote the 10 Commandments? Holy Spirit. Does that make sense? What is the significance of this?

Daniel

Let’s move into the concept of the New Covenant. The basic core important concept is that God will put His law where? In our hearts and in their minds, forehead and heart. Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Who does this?

Daniel

2 Corinthians 3:3, Paul says, “Clearly, you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God.” Not on what? “Not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” To paraphrase, he’s basically saying the same Holy Spirit that wrote the 10 Commandments is going to write it on your heart.

Daniel

A lot of examples that you have in the Bible of the Spirit working in us. Here, John 14:7, “The Spirit dwells in you and will be in you.” Here, the Holy Spirit, who is in you? This is 1 Corinthians 6:19.

Daniel

Romans 8:9-11, “The Spirit of God dwells in you. The Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.” Now, there’s different language that goes with these verses. Here, Romans 5:5, it says, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” We see the 10 Commandments. Now we see God’s love.

Daniel

Here in Galatians 4:6, “The Spirit of His son into your heart.” Here we see Jesus being written on our hearts. Ephesians 3:16-17, “Through His spirit that Christ may dwell in your hearts.” We have God’s law, God’s love, and Jesus. This mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. The concept of Christ being in us is synonymous with God’s law and God’s love being written in us.

Daniel

The sealing work of the Holy Spirit. We know that the Holy Spirit has a sealing work. If you look, especially at 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, it says, “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has sealed us”—how—”and given us the Spirit in our hearts.” The sealing work is equivalent to the New Covenant experience of the Holy Spirit writing in our hearts.

Daniel

Circumcision of the heart is speaking of the same thing. We have that both from the Old Testament, as in the case of Deuteronomy 36. In the case of Acts 7:51, it says, “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised of heart. You always resist the Holy Spirit.” To flip that around, being circumcised of the heart is to be receptive of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Daniel

Psalm 119:55, it says, “I remember your name in the night, O Lord, and I keep Your law.” This is one good passage that connects God’s name with His law.

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We have in Revelation, especially this idea where God says, “I will write on him the name of my God.” Revelation 14:1, it says, “The father’s name was written on their foreheads.” Revelation 22, “His name shall be on their foreheads.”

Daniel

Remember, the Holy Spirit writes on our hearts and on our minds. We read those verses. Here the languages of the name of God, which is His law being written on the forehead. It’s another way of expressing the same idea.

Daniel

I’m not going to go and read through all these, but there are a lot of Old Testament examples where we have the Holy Spirit working within us and the law within our hearts. Here is Psalm 51, “Creating me a clean heart. Do not take your spirit from me.”

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1 Kings 8, “He may incline our hearts to Himself to keep His commandments.” 1 Chronicles 29, “O Lord, give my son, Solomon, a loyal heart to keep Your commandments.” It’s not a New Testament concept alone. It’s also an Old Testament concept that God will work in us to change us.

Daniel

Galatians 4:20-28, it talks about the Old and New Covenant in language where you see it’s speaking of Abraham’s story, and there is both an Old Covenant and New Covenant concept there. In the post-crucifixion Christian world at Israel, you had Old and New Covenant language being applied to those that were rejecting Jesus and those that were joining the Christian church.

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Again, it’s communicating the idea that the New Covenant is not a New Testament thing. It’s present. Both Old and New Covenant concepts are present in both the Old and New Testament scriptures.

Daniel

To recap the New Covenant, we see it in Old and New Testament. The Holy Spirit writes in our hearts and our minds, God’s law, God’s love, His name, and Jesus.

Daniel

Let’s now get back to the water from the rock. Just as we talked about the symbol of the finger and the hand, let’s look at water. Isaiah 44:3, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty and floods on the dry ground. I will pour my spirit.” This is communicating the idea of water being a symbol of the Holy Spirit. John 7:38-39, “He who believes in me,” as the scripture has said, “Out of His heart will flow rivers of?”

Congregation

Living water.

Daniel

Living water. Especially, zero in, when you see the words living water, really, He’s talking about the Holy Spirit. It says, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive for the Holy Spirit, had was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Daniel

Another example, “For by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Greeks or Jews, whether slaves are free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit,” Titus 3:5-6, “Through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our savior.” Very clear, water is yet another symbol for the Holy Spirit.

Daniel

In Ezekiel 1, we already went to Ezekiel 1 to look at the description of the throne of God. Here are some verses that communicate something that is sometimes not understood about God’s throne, which is that it is mobile. I’ll just read some of this and understand that the context of these verses is the presence of God with His throne.

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“Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind coming out of the north and a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself, and brightness was all around it and radiating out of the midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Also from within it came the likeness of four living creatures, and this was their appearance: they had the likeness of a man. And each one went forward. They went wherever the Spirit wanted to go, and they did not turn when they went. When they moved, they went toward any one of the four directions.

Daniel

They did not turn aside when they went. As for their rims, they were so high, they were awesome, and their rims were full of eyes all around the four of them. When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. When the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Wherever the Spirit wanted to go, they went because there the Spirit went and the wheels were lifted up together with them for the Spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.” Then verse 26 gets back into the throne. Is the throne of God mobile or stationary?

Congregation

It’s mobile.

Daniel

It’s mobile. It moves. God is not stuck in one place. Deuteronomy 33:2, we’ve read this before, but we’re going to look at a different element of this verse. “The Lord came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir. He shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with 10,000 of saints. From His right hand came a fiery law for them.”

Daniel

This verse is giving us more details about what happens when God is giving the 10 commandments. What you get is, what God did is He went to Edom, which is Edom and Paran are to the north of Mount Sinai. What God is doing is making this massive, grand movement from those mountains across the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where He then gives the 10 commandments.

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Now, based on this language that we’ve read in other verses where you have God and the angels there, what else also did he have with Him? His throne. It doesn’t say that here, but we can infer that that is the case. Remember this movement from Paran, from Edom at the north toward Mount Sinai. That is the context in which the 10 commandments are given.

Daniel

In terms of the movement of God and water, we’ll read a few passages here. Psalm 77:16-20, “The water saw You, O God; the water saw You. They were afraid, the depths also trembled. The clouds poured out water. The skies sent out a sound. Your arrows also flashed about. The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea. Your path in the great waters and your footsteps were not known. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

Daniel

As God is moving, what do you have coming down? Water. Here’s another example. This is in the NKJV. Psalm 68:7-8, “Oh, God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth shook. The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God. Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.”

Daniel

This is how the Youngs literal translation reads in verse 8, “The earth hath shaken, yea the heavens have dropped before God, this Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.” “At Sinai,” NRSV, “The earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, the presence of the God, the God of Israel.”

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At Sanai, at the giving of the 10 commandments, what also was coming out? Water. Give another example. This is Judges 5:4-5. The prophetess Deborah is speaking here. This is when they had their victory over Sisera. The NKJV reads, it says, “Lord, when you went out from Seir,” now, Seir is the same place as Edom and Paran. “When you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom,” so that’s the same movement that he did at the giving of the 10 commandments. But he doesn’t talk about the 10 commandments here, so different details.

Daniel

“From the field of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens poured, the clouds also poured water; the mountains gushed before the Lord, this Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.” Here is the NASB, the most recent version of the NASB, the 2020. “The heavens also dripped, the clouds also dripped water. The mountains flowed with water at the presence of the Lord, this Sinai.” That word for flow, it’s nazal, as I recall. There are at least two verses where that word is used in the description of the water coming from The Rock.

Daniel

The question should be, why is there water coming from God at Mount Sinai, at the giving of the 10 commandments? Because clearly that’s the case, yes? Before we get to the striking of The Rock, I want to look at Exodus 24. It talks about the 70 elders being present. We had the sapphire stone that was under his feet, and the location is Mount Sinai, the mountain of God.

Daniel

This is at the giving of the 10 commandments. We have the 70 elders there. We’ve got the sapphire stone under God’s feet, and it’s at Mount Sinai. Now, we go back a few chapters, Exodus 17, Israel has come to Mount Sinai, and they’re lacking water, and they complain. “And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on before the people and take with you some of the,'” what? Some of the elders. At the 10 commandments, we had the elders present.

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“Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb.” Horeb is another name for what? Sinai. I could read this, “I will stand before you there on The Rock.” In this case, it’s hasur, different word for rock, but definite article. “Hasur be Horeb, in Horeb, and you shall strike the rock,” and what will come out of it?

Congregation

Water.

Daniel

Water. Moses did so in the sight of the elders. We’ve made connections that the sapphire stone that God was on in Mount Sinai was His throne, which also works with the idea that this is a most holy place context. Now in this passage, we have water coming from the rock. That would explain why all these other verses talk about Sinai having water coming out, gushing down. What happens immediately after Moses strikes the rock? This is Exodus 17 still, says, “Amalek came out and fought Israel in Rephidim.”

Daniel

Now, the Amalekites were relatives. They were relatives of Israel. They knew their experience. They knew that Israel was just out of slavery. They should have been coming to their relatives with bread and water, with aid and help and so forth. Instead, in this context, they come out to kill the weak and weary.

Daniel

That did not go well for them for doing that. They never repented of that. We know with God, if a people repents, that God will overturn what He declares. In the case of Amalekite, they did not. Moses is told to have the…Well, he has the rod of God in his hand, he’s holding it up. Joshua fights against the Amalekites. This is all in Exodus 17. They get defeated.

Daniel

After their defeat, Exodus 17 still, so we had Moses strikes the rock, Amalek is defeated, and then this passage. I’m reading in the NIV, ESVN, and Young’s literal because they’re one of the few translations that actually read the way it really is in the Hebrew.

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The place where I have bolded, you’ll see in the King James, others will say, “He has sworn.” It does not say, “He has sworn,” in this passage. I’ll read from the NIV. “Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. He said, ‘Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against Amalek from generation to generation.” Hands is actually not the case, it was a singular, but ESV gets closer, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

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Here’s the Young’s literal, “Because a hand is on the throne of Jah, war is to Jehovah with Amalek from generation to generation.” The word is Jah, for hand. Al, which is the same in Hebrew, upon, case, throne, Yah, which is the shortened version for Yahweh. What he’s saying is, he’s giving a historical landmark for why God is against Amalek. What they did, what kicked this off in terms of…

Daniel

God says, “He who is against Israel, I will be. He who blesses Israel, I will bless them. He who curses Israel, I will curse them.” What He’s saying is, what Amalek did when the hand was on the throne of God. Well, what is he talking about? The rock’s struck.

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You say, “Well, I thought it was with the rod.” That’s okay. I’ll give you an example of how the hand or the rod and the hand are equivalent. In the story where David numbers Israel, and there’s a plague that comes through Israel, and the angel of the Lord here, who actually is Jesus in this context, just before Jerusalem is destroyed, it says, “The angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it.” That’s in 2 Samuel 24:16.

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1st Chronicles 21:16, speaking of the same event and says, “Having in His hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem.” The hand with the sword is equivalent to just the hand. You can have Moses saying, “A hand on the throne of God,” and what he’s referring to is the event of the striking of the rock. The importance of that, it is yet another indication that The Rock in question is what? The throne. It’s the throne.

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In Revelation 22:1, it says, “He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the,” what? The throne of God. What kind of experience was Israel really having there? It’s powerful. Psalm 105:41, “And he opened the rock and water gushed out. It ran in the dry places like a,” trickle? Like a river. This is water to supply an entire nation and their livestock.

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Psalm 78:16 and 20, “He also brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to,” what? Okay, in this context, is it in the plain, if it’s running down? Why is it running down? Because it’s coming down Sinai.

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Deuteronomy 9:21, “Then I took your sin, the calf, which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it and ground it very small until it was a fine dust, and I threw its dust into the brook that,” what? Descended from the mountain. Why in the desert of Sinai is there a brook coming down the mountain? I’ve never seen a picture of any brook coming down any mountain in Sinai. There’s a reason. It’s because it’s coming miraculously from the rock.

Daniel

Going back to the idea of the throne being mobile, I’m just going to really emphasize this. Here, Ezekiel 10, here we have God’s presence over the threshold of the temple. In Ezekiel 1, God was in Chaldea at the Chebar. In Ezekiel 10, you have a description of God’s throne, but it’s at the temple in Jerusalem, so different locations. Ezekiel 43, you have God coming by way of the east, in contrast to Ezekiel 1, where He’s coming from the north. “It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision I saw by the River Chebar,” that’s Chaldea. God’s throne is mobile.

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Daniel 7:9, “And the ancient of days was seated, and His throne was a fiery flame, and it has wheels.” The Ark of the Covenant is described with language of a chariot around it. The Ark of the Covenant is linked to the concept of God’s throne. It says, “For the construction of the chariot, that is, the gold cherubim that spread their wings and overshadow the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

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What do you have going on here? God’s throne, how does it move? He has cherubim that move it. In the case of the Ark, how did it move? It was to be carried by Levites. It was so important that somebody ended up dying over them not following these rules. The carrying of the Ark by the Levites is a type of the carrying of God’s throne by His cherubim. Again, communicating the idea of mobility.

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Exodus 13:21-22, “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light and so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” God was going with them in the cloud, and He had with Him His angels, and what was below His feet? His mobile throne. Even though they didn’t see it, it was in the cloud.

Daniel

Here is yet another example in Numbers 4, where the Kohathites were to carry the Ark of the Covenant. When they are traveling from Sinai into the wilderness, was the wilderness a place that had a ready supply of water? The answer is no. John 6:31, “Our fathers ate manna in the desert, as it was written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

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Deuteronomy 8:15, “Who led you through the great and terrible wilderness in which were fiery serpents and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock;” In their 40 years, not just Sinai, God was giving them not just manna, but also water from the rock. Isaiah 48:21, “And they did not thirst when He led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them.”

Daniel

Nehemiah speaks of this, “For you did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day to lead them on the road, nor the pillar of fire by night to show them light and the way they should go. You also gave your good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. For 40 years, you sustain them in the wilderness.” We have not just manna, but also water miraculously, continuously being given to them for 40 years.

Daniel

Yet another example, because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert to give you drink to my people, my chosen. Now Paul speaks of this. I’m going to skip right to verse three. This is 1 Corinthians 10:3. He says, “All ate the same spiritual food.” Now, what was he speaking of when he said that?

Congregation

The manna.

Daniel

The manna. Was there a literal manna? Yes or no?

Congregation

Yes.

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Yes. Was there a spiritual meaning to it?

Congregation

Yes.

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Yes. What was the spiritual meaning? Who is the bread that came down from heaven?

Congregation

Jesus.

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Jesus. Very good. All drank the same spiritual drink. Was there literal water?

Congregation

Yes.

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Yes. Was there a spiritual meaning? What was that spiritual meaning?

Congregation

Holy Spirit.

Daniel

Holy Spirit. Right. If the bread is Jesus, the water is the Holy Spirit. “For they drank of that spiritual rock.” Now, was there a literal rock? If there was little bread and literal water, there was a literal rock. What was the spiritual meaning of that rock? Just as the bread is Jesus, the rock is…? The rock is spiritually Jesus. It symbolizes Jesus. But there was a literal rock, and what did that rock do?

Congregant

It followed them.

Daniel

It followed them. That rock followed them, and that rock was Christ. Does that all fit together? How was it that that rock was following them? We’ve discussed that. It was the mobile throne of God, from which comes the river of life that symbolizes the Holy Spirit. This is really important.

Daniel

At the end of the 40 years, Moses, they camp outside the borders of Edom. He sends a communication to the King of the Edomites, and he says the following. This is Numbers 20:17, “Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through your fields or vineyards.” Now, they didn’t need to pass through the fields or vineyards. Why? Because they had manna. “Nor will we drink water from your wells. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”

Daniel

Now, I’ve read this a lot of times through my life, and it didn’t sink in until with this study. This is huge. Think from a human perspective. We’re talking about the technology they had then. You have minimum two million people based on what you have in numbers, and then with the women and the children, and that’s not including the mixed multitude, minimum two million people. Probably much more.

Daniel

But you’ve got at least two million people, plus all their livestock. Moses tells the King of Edom, “We will go through your country and we will not touch any of the local water.” How are you going to do that by human means? How are you going to do that?

Congregation

[crosstalk 00:59:59]

Daniel

You got to have a lot of wineskins. They were able to do that because what? They had their own water supply. God was their water supply. At the end of the 40-year experience, I’m not going to go through all the details, but yet again, there is a water from the rock experience. In the context, it’s definite article again. God tells Moses, “Bring your rod, speak to the rock, and water will come out from it.” Unfortunately, in this context, the nation of Israel and Moses failed in the test. God provided them water anyway. This actually preceded that story with Edom.

Daniel

If you look through Numbers 33, it gives all of their encampments. You will see when you go through that that they never came back to Sinai. After the Sinai experience, their journeys led them all through the wilderness. They went to Edom and around near the Amalekites and then up to the Jordan near Jericho. They never returned to Sinai. This story is at Kadesh, which is not too far from Edom.

Daniel

We have a water from the rock situation. The rock, in this case it was when it shouldn’t have, but water came from it. It’s not at Sinai, it’s a different location, and it’s the rock. How is that possible? Except that the rock, it’s the same rock that went with them.

Daniel

This idea we have in a number of passages, and I’ll quickly go through some of these, Ezekiel 47 talks about a river that’s coming from the temple of God. “He brought me to back to the door of the temple, and there was a river flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar.”

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Twelve, “Along the bank of the river on this side and that; will grow all kinds of trees used for food, their leaves will not wither, their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary.” Why is there a river coming from the sanctuary?

Congregation

God’s throne is there.

Daniel

Yeah, God’s throne is there. That is why. Even though we don’t see the throne, and that’s the pattern that we see, the things that happen in the sanctuary, we know them, but we don’t necessarily see them. God is in the cloud, but we don’t necessarily see what’s in the cloud. Here’s another example, Joel 3:18. “And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine and the hills will flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall be flooded with water. A fountain shall flow from the house of the Lord, and water all the valley of Acacias.

Daniel

Zachariah 14:7-8. “It will be one day, which is known to the Lord—neither day or night, but at evening time, it shall happen that it will be light. And in that day, it shall be that living waters shall flow from Jerusalem.” Now, I believe that’s literal, but living water symbolizes what?

Congregation

The Holy Spirit.

Daniel

The Holy Spirit. Because Jesus, He says, “Out of his sight will flow rivers of living water, and that they spoke concerning the Spirit.”

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Revelation 7:17, “For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.” We read this before, but it bears reading again.

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Revelation 22:1, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

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Daniel 7:9-10. That river symbolizes literal water, but it symbolizes the Holy Spirit. “I watched till thrones were put in place in the Ancient of Days,” that’s God the Father, “Was seated.” In this context, I don’t have it here, but you have the Son of man, who’s Jesus, who’s before the Father. “His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire, a fiery,” what? Issued and came forth from before Him.

Daniel

All right. What does that fiery stream represent? It should be the Holy Spirit, yes? Did we have all three persons of the Godhead present in this example of God’s judgment? Yep. We’ve got the Ancient of Days, who’s the father, the Son of man, who’s Jesus, and the fiery stream represents the presence of the Holy Spirit. That goes with also, and we haven’t covered the verses, but the Holy Spirit also being connected with the symbol of fire. Just as in Pentecost, there were tongues of fire, and Paul, he says, “Don’t quench the Spirit,” and so forth.

Daniel

I’ll just give one example here. There are a number of verses that connect God with The Rock. In terms of the persons of God, Jesus is specifically connected to The Rock. This is just one example. Ephesians 2:20, “Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Himself being the chief cornerstone.” Here are some other verses that you could look up. When we have this striking of The Rock and Jesus is The Rock, and then the water comes out symbolizing the Holy Spirit.

Daniel

Here, John 19:34, “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” The blood being the merits of His sacrifice, and the water being the Holy Spirit. We’ve read this before. It says, “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water, but this He spoke concerning the Spirit.” What was happening there with the striking of the rock was a prophecy of the rock, who is Jesus, who would be struck and the Holy Spirit poured out.

Daniel

As Zachariah prophesies the same thing. It says, “They will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day, a fountain shall be open for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” This is speaking of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that come based on the death of Jesus on the cross.

Daniel

What Israel was experiencing, what they had from Sinai, all through 40 years, up to when they went into Canaan, Israel was drinking from a river of water, and they were washing with a river of water that was emblematic of the work of the Holy Spirit. To what? If you’re drinking something, you’re internalizing it, and symbolizing the Holy Spirit. This is coming from the throne of God, which represents Jesus, also represents His law.

Daniel

They were living out a daily experience of the New Covenant, where drinking the water symbolized the Holy Spirit that works inside and outside to change our hearts and to change us on the outside as well. That’s what they were experiencing right at Sinai out of Egypt.

Daniel

Jesus, He has an offer for us. He said to the Samaritan woman at the well, “Jesus answered her and said to her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” The basic thing is, from a symbolic perspective, can we drink from the river of life today?

Congregation

Yes.

Daniel

How many of you would like to drink from the river of life today?

Congregation

Yes, amen.

Daniel

Amen. Dear Father in heaven, I thank you for this awesome imagery, this awesome story that you have given. You provided the needs of Israel for 40 years. This goes way beyond just giving bread and fish in your ministry. For 40 years, you gave bread and water to Israel. You are the provider. There is no limit to the things that you can give. We pray that you pour out your Spirit on us, and you will lead us to the kingdom that we may not have just the Holy Spirit today, but in the future drink from that literal river of life that represents your Spirit, and that we may see God in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Congregation

Amen.

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