Longing for More

Reflect

1 Corinthians 10:1-11 “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.

5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.

7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer.

11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

Leviticus 4:32-35 “ ‘If he brings a lamb as his sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish. 33 Then he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering, and kill it as a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering.

34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. 35 He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering.

Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Hebrews 4:1-11‘Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ”although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Psalm 95:8-11Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.

10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ 11 So I swore in My wrath‘They shall not enter My rest.

Discuss

What surprises you from the Bible verses?

What do they teach you about people?

What do they teach you about God?

Is there a command to obey?

Who do I need to share this message with?

Study Notes

“Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did” (1 Cor. 10:6, ESV).

The Old Testament is filled with examples, shadows, and rituals that, although often neglected by twenty-first-century people, have deep spiritual significance. The lessons taught are rich with meaning and understood correctly, will greatly enhance our spiritual lives and freedom.

The entire history of Israel is an example of our walk with God. As the Israelites were miraculously freed from Egyptian bondage, passed through the Red Sea, ate manna in the wilderness, and drank water from a rock on their journey, we, too, are on a spiritual journey.

Christ providentially frees us from sin’s slavery, leads us through the waters of baptism, nourishes us by the manna of His Word, and if that wasn’t enough, quenches our raging thirst in the desert of this world through His own life.

The goal of Israel’s deliverance and journey out of Egypt was twofold. Firstly their arrival in Canaan, the promise land and secondly, that they might be a witness and blessing to all nations revealing to them the freedom that God is willing to give.

Paul referred to the experience of the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land as an example for believers. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, he states, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (NKJV).

The examples of the Old Testament provide valuable insights for living.
One of those key insights comes from the Old Testament sanctuary service where a repentant sinner would symbolically transfer his sin to the innocent lamb, to become the sin bearer.

So, concerning Jesus, the Scriptures state, that He is the One “who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). As the repentant sinner brought a substitute that died in that person’s place, so every penitent person can come to Calvary and, looking at the crucified Son of God, say, He “loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

These were the key lessons the children learnt in the wilderness after being freed from Egyptian slavery.

Therefore, David exclaims in Psalm 32:1, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” The word “blessed” means “happy, contented, fulfilled, at peace, or at rest.”

When we come to Jesus and confess our sins, our hearts are at peace. So, the psalmist can joyfully exclaim, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12, NKJV). We no longer bear the burden, the guilt, the shame and condemnation of sin. It has been transferred to the Lamb (Jesus) who is our Living Priest bearing it through His blood to heaven’s sanctuary.

The story of the Sanctuary is more than just a history lesson in the practices of a small middle east nation. The Sanctuary not only provides us with a clear indication of the severity and consequences of sin, but also the solution to our sin problem, namely the sacrificial death of Jesus.

Lives that have been ravaged and chained by sin, now find freedom and eternal life in Jesus. This is the best news yet. By Christ’s death, we have been freed from the clutches of Satan’s dominance giving us a new life.

Paul states, “we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For He who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ having been raised form the dead, does no more.

Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:6-11

Are you carrying guilt and shame and you are not sure what to do? Do you feel trapped by your sin and the circumstances that it has caused?

Look no further than Jesus. Paul makes it clear that the “blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”

The example of the past illustrates that through Christ and His sacrifice, you are free. That is the greatest hope of the world.

So what would you like to do?

Take the next step and reach out to accept the freedom that Jesus offers to you and begin living the life you were designed to live.

 “Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.””

Isaiah 12.2 (NIV)

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FINDING FREEDOM IN REST