The Cross Throughout the Scriptures - Part 7
7. The Bitter Waters of Marah Sweetened by the Tree. Exo 15
At the red sea, Exo 14, they had too much water; at Marah, Exo 15:23, they had the wrong kind of water.
Marah (bitter water) = a bitter disappointment for a people whose lips were dry with thirst and who were fainting in the desert.
If your life is governed by emotions, you will fail when the Lord brings in different tests for the purpose of spiritual advance.
The wilderness experience will make manifest the weakness of God’s people and their failure under pressure.
To magnify the power and the mercy of the One who brought us to the place of testing.
The wilderness not only gives us a revelation of ourselves, but it also makes manifest the ways of God.
They thought they found what they were looking for, but suddenly it became a source of bitterness to them.
Grumbled = luwn = to murmur, complain, be malcontent, express dissatisfaction.
It was his obedience to the Lord’s command.
Their entire history would find its deepest meaning at Calvary’s cross - cast into the bitter waters of life for the healing of the world.
Joh 5:39 “Search the Scriptures, it is these that bear witness of Me;”
The waters of Marah point to the doctrine of redemption.
Redemption views mankind as born into the slave market of sin through the imputation of Adam’s original sin at birth.
The coin of the realm for this purchase is called the “blood of Christ,” Eph 1:7; Col 1:14.
1Co 15:19 “If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most miserable.”
“First, there’s an advance in fullness and clearness of revelation; then a gradual spirit of declension, then conformity to the world, ending with amalgamation with the world;
then a gigantic civilization, brilliant but godless; then parallel development of evil and good; then an apostasy and finally a catastrophe.”
Gen 6:5 The wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:11-12 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
1Th 5:3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries 2002
7. The Bitter Waters of Marah Sweetened by the Tree, Exo 15.
7. The Bitter Waters of Marah Sweetened by the Tree, Exo 15.
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin
1. The Cross Appears, GEN 3:15.
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin
The Cross Throughout the Scriptures - Part 1 - Phi 2:8 In fact, although having being discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of spiritual death, even death on a cross. 1Co 1:18 “For the doctrine concerning the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Josephus described crucifixion as “the most wretched of deaths” - suicide was preferable to the cruel fate of being put on the cross. It originated several centuries before the Common Era and continued into the fourth century AD when the practice was discontinued by Constantine. The brazen serpent being lifted up on a pole, Num 21:9. People would watch Him as He was suffering publicly, Psa 22:7-8. His hands and feet would be pierced, Psa 22:16. Not one of His bones would be broken, Psa 34:20. They would offer the Lord Jesus Christ gall and vinegar, Psa 69:21. The prophecy of His crucifixion, Isa 53:12. The piercing of Jesus’ side, Zec 12:10. Death by crucifixion was invented by the Persians which is now Iran. Later it was adopted by the Phoenicians (Canaanites, a perverted people) and the Carthaginians (North Africa). Only one word can describe death by crucifixion: agony. “On the cross there are only two things, pain and eternity. They tell me I was only on the cross twenty-four hours, but I was on the cross longer than the world existed. If there is no time, then every moment is forever.” Mass executions in which thousands died, such as the crucifixion of 6,000 followers of Spartacus as part of a victory celebration in 71 BC, appear in literature. Alexander the Great had 2,000 survivors from the siege of Tyre crucified on the shores of the Mediterranean. During the times of Caligula, AD 37-41, Jews were tortured and crucified in the amphitheater to entertain the inhabitants of Alexandria. Many researchers have believed death occurred as the result of a ruptured heart - Joh 19:34 - the water and blood flowing out of the wound. Other scholars have regarded asphyxiation or suffocation as being the cause of death. If the victims are hanging with their hands extended over their heads, death can occur within an hour, or in minutes if the victim’s legs are nailed. For exhaling to occur in a normal manner two sets of muscles are needed - the diaphragm and the intercostalis muscles between the ribs. As a deterrent in the ancient world, many of its victims were crucified where the criminal event took place. It was common to have a procession through the streets of Jerusalem where the criminal, along with a statement of his crime, could be publicly displayed. Mar 15:20 And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, and put His garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. Mar 15:21 And they pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), to bear His cross. He carried the patibulum - the crossbeam. Around our Lord’s neck hung the titulus on which were inscribed the charges for which He was being executed. To add further humiliation to the process the victim was stripped completely naked. Once stripped, the victim would be thrown on his back upon the patibulum, the crossbeam. The long, square-headed spikes would inevitably pass through or close to the median nerve of the hands or the wrists so the nerve was severely damaged. The crossbeam would drop into place with such force that the victim’s shoulders would often be dislocated, increasing the suffering and torture. Isa 53:6 Rom 8:31 Heb 11 Heb 12 Psa 22:14 “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries 2002
2. The Foreshadowings of the Cross in Abel’s Lamb, Gen 4.
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin
The Cross Throughout the Scriptures - Part 2 The victim was given thirteen stripes on the left shoulder, thirteen stripes on the right shoulder, and thirteen stripes across the thighs. The Roman scourging was much more severe and was known as “halfway death.” This trained man used a whip called a flagellum, with a stubby wooden handle to which was attached a bundle of leather whips. At the tip of the whips, bits of bone or chain or lead weights shaped like small dumbbells were fastened. As each whip hit, the bits of bone, chain, or the dumbbells would dig in deeply into the flesh and even into the muscle. This veil has to do with the glory of the cross of Christ throughout the Scriptures. The cross was a shock to Satan - it was God’s masterpiece in the universe. “Calvary marked the greatest hour in the entire meritorious history of Deity.” Gal 6:14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. At the cross, God found a way to justify the ungodly, and yet remain just, Rom 3:26. The central theme of the Bible is the cross. At the cross, God found a way justify the ungodly, and yet not compromise with sin, Rom 3:26, Hab 1:13. Rom 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; Rom 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Rom 5 - At the cross, God declares the wicked, righteous, without a shadow of blame or unrighteousness falling upon His righteous character. At the cross He provided a forgiveness which satisfies all the demands of the Law and has power to transform the wicked into saints. 1. The Cross Appears. Gen 3:15 The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, Rev 13:8. Act 2:23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, 1Pe 1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world. Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries 2002
3. The Flood Is a Type of the Cross, Gen 6-8.
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin
The Cross Throughout the Scriptures - Part 3 John 19:1 Pilate took Jesus, and scourged Him. The victim was severely beaten about the back, shoulders, and sides of the chest until he was raw and bleeding profusely from thousands of small gashes. After this happened to our Lord and Savior, He was punched and beaten in the face, spit upon, had a crown of thorns forced upon His head and then mocked. Mar 15:19 And they kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting at Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. He was paraded through Jerusalem with a crossbeam tied to His back to face one of the cruelest and most humiliating forms of punishment in the ancient world, crucifixion. Only one word can describe death by crucifixion: agony. It was humiliating, tormenting, slow, and public. Psa 22:14 “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” “Calvary marked the greatest hour in the entire meritorious history of Deity.” Gal 6:14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. At the cross, the meritorious attributes of God come to their most majestic expression. Rom 5 - At the cross, God declares the wicked, righteous, without a shadow of blame or unrighteousness falling upon His righteous character. It is only when the believer discovers the glory of the cross that he first comes to see the Bible in its truest light. 1. The Cross Appears. Gen 3:15 The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, Rev 13:8. Act 2:23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. Eph 1:4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, 1Pe 1:20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. Ecc 12:7 then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Could it be that God’s original plan in the creation of man should fail? Was Satan to be permitted to lord it over man, having deceived him and having brought him under his bondage? Was there no hope of forgiveness and liberation for Adam’s race? Could a reconciliation be effected and man be brought back to God, freed from Satanic oppression? Would God forever be dishonored, His Fatherhood denied, and His purposes unfulfilled? Was it in God’s power to undo what the wicked one, under whose power the whole world lies in, had done? 1Jo 5:19. Was God to be frustrated eternally because man was made in His image and for the satisfaction of His heart but man sinned? 2Pe 3:8 Though the immediate result was rebellion and sin, the final outcome of it all would be restoration. The Lord God turned the curse into a blessing, Deu 23:5. What Satan meant for evil, God would turn into good, Gen 50:20. Rom 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 1Jo 3:8 The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Man could not be restored by a divine command. Man had chosen to follow the ways of Satan in the same way: to use his own free will against the will of God. Without freedom of choice, man would not be man, nor would he ever be able to satisfy the desires of God’s heart. Rev 12:9 Satan deceives the whole world; The mere exercise of divine authority and divine power could not fulfill the demands of the case. Man must learn to hate “self,” Satan’s agent within man as the governing principle of his life. He could undo the First Adam’s rebellion and sin by refusing Satan’s claims upon man, in the full and free exercise of His own free will, and shatter the alliance. The Seed of the woman, Christ our Lord, would bruise the serpent’s head. Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries 2002