Although all true believers are saved from the judgment of God, like Israel was delivered from Pharaoh’s power and brought safely through the Red Sea, yet it is only as we are really following Christ that we practically find that we are pilgrims and strangers in this world. Let us then seriously ask ourselves two questions. First, am I in any sense a stranger in this world for Christ? Second, am I passing through it as a pilgrim or living in it as a citizen? We must have a home and enjoyment for our spirits somewhere, and the only way not to seek this now on earth is by truly having it as a present reality for our souls with Christ in heaven. The only way to be a stranger in the wilderness is to be even now at home in Canaan, in spirit, though as to our bodies we are still pressing on to our rest.
Communion with Christ in heaven alone gives the desire to follow Him on earth, while resurrection life in Him supplies the only power; hence, Paul prays that he “may know Him” and “the power of His resurrection” before he asks to know “the fellowship of His sufferings.”
Resources in God
The first thing that characterizes the wilderness is that all my resources are in God; my food comes from heaven, my water is given by God, my guide is the cloudy pillar; every detail of my life is ordered by God. All around is nothing but desert sand. These then are the two great lessons to be engraved on our souls as strangers here: There is nothing of this world that can help my spiritual life, and all my resources are in God. We will now briefly glance at seven things connected with the wilderness journey.
The Song of Deliverance
The first thing we notice is the song; at the start all is smooth, pleasant and joyful. What can be more delightful to the weary slave of Egypt than to stand on the wilderness shore of the Red Sea, and after seeing the destruction of all the power that held him captive, to raise his joyful heart to God in a song of praise? The first song in Scripture is the song of a delivered soul. He then turns around with his back to Egypt and his face to that glorious heavenly country which already by faith he counts his home, and he starts off in all the happy freshness of a newborn soul. Surely we all know what it is thus to begin our pilgrimage.
Bitter Water
The second thing that we observe is that Marah is reached, a place of bitter water — water which can only be sweetened by a certain tree. Did we not think we should find all smooth and pleasant when we first set out to follow Christ, and did we not very soon come across something very bitter and unpleasant and discover that, practically, to be crucified to this world, to be dead to it, is not a very pleasant thing? It was only when we cast in the wood of Christ’s cross and of His sorrows for us that the waters became sweet, and, according to 1 Peter 4, we rejoiced, inasmuch as so early in our journey we had been made partakers of Christ’s sufferings. Oh! the power of the cross of Christ! No Christian can live very long in this world without meeting Marah some way or other, but it is the Marahs which draw us near to Christ’s heart. It is the want of water here which makes us go for all our refreshment to the Rock, which is Christ.
Refreshment
The third thing in Exodus 15 is the spiritual refreshment Christ provides for true souls who have known what Marah means in the wilderness. In Elim we find an oasis in a desert. And what oasis does Christ provide for His pilgrims in this world? Truly that of Christian fellowship and communion; these are our Elims. What a happy, blessed time we have when a few of us who are really seeking to follow Christ can get together and draw fresh strength from the wells of the water of life. Many a one has called these happy Elims “foretastes of heaven,” as they have enjoyed the “sweet bonds that unite all the children of peace.”
Food
The fourth thing we notice is the food for the wilderness. In the deliverance from Egypt Christ is fed upon as the roast lamb, our Substitute and Saviour; in Canaan we get Him as the old corn of the land, our glorified and exalted Lord. It is worthy of observance that we never find the Israelites loathing either of these two foods. It is the manna, Christ in His humiliation and rejection, that is considered “light bread.” It is this “bread from heaven” that is the test for each of our hearts today, as to whether we have been so truly won by His love as to esteem a path of rejection with Him better than all the “leeks and cucumbers” of Egypt. This precious bread was gathered freshly every morning before the sun was up; so those who now spend “an hour with Jesus” before the bustle of daily life has begun find that the sweetest and most strengthening food is then gathered and stored.
Water From the Rock
The fifth point that we may observe is the refreshing stream that pours out of the rock in accordance with the well-known passage in John 7:3737In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. (John 7:37). Surely if in the manna we have a picture of the humbled Christ as our food, here we have the indwelling Spirit that is with us throughout our wilderness journey, one of the blessed results of the death and glorification of Christ (vs. 39). The rock is Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). The waters, doubtless, here as elsewhere, are typical of the Holy Spirit, who is the refreshment and source of power and blessing. He is here to testify of Christ but He can only testify to ready and listening ears. He is here to guide us into all truth, but only those who have willing feet and subject hearts. This water too, unlike that in Exodus 16, is not for our own refreshment alone, but is to run out from us, so that we ourselves, as filled with the Spirit, are to be as streams in the desert.
Warfare Against the Flesh
Sixth, we come to Amalek, a picture of the flesh energized by Satan, who is ever hanging about, ready to snap up any that are weak. We feel that it is quite impossible in the limits of a short paper to do more than just touch on this most important theme. It will be noticed that the victory in this case (Ex. 17) was obtained by two means: the intercession of Christ on high and the resistance in the power of the Spirit (Joshua) down here. Now both of these are necessary if we are to overcome our adversary. In Peter’s case, the intercession of Christ that his faith might not fail was fully answered, but on account of the want of his active resistance against the enemy, he failed. The resistance down here would be valueless were it not for the uplifted hands on high; at the same time, we are to resist the devil, and the Spirit in us lusts (or fights) against the flesh, that we may not do the things that we would. Christ will not fail in His part, blessed be His name, but how often do we fail in practically resisting the assaults of the enemy.
Cleansing From Defilement
The last, or seventh, thing we have to notice is the provision made in case of defilement in the wilderness journey. We refer to Numbers 19, which answers in type to 1 John 1:99That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9). This cleansing is by water, not by blood, but it is water which contains and brings home to our hearts the memorials of the death of Christ (the ashes of the heifer), teaching us that restoration to communion after getting astray is not by a fresh application of the blood of Christ, but a bringing home to our hearts by the Word of God (the water — see John 13) the power of the death of Christ, which we, in our self-will, had forgotten. It is thus that Christ Himself, in His perfect love, washes our feet when defiled with the wilderness journey.
Thus we find that Christ is with us in every step. We meet Him first in Egypt, in the blood of the lamb; next in the delivering power of the Red Sea; next in the power of His cross; then in His gracious provision for our refreshment; next as the Manna and then as the Rock; then as our great Intercessor up on high; last, in His wondrous love in following us when we go astray and restoring our souls by the washing of water by the Word. The end of all this will be to meet Him on the cloud, when all the journey will be over forever, and we shall praise forevermore the grace that has carried us on eagles’ wings and at last brought us to Himself.
Adapted from A. T. Schofield