What The Bible Says.

Fortnightly bible study.

Episode 106 - 14/08/26

Led by Tim Clark

In this concluding part of our study on *Rebellion in the Wilderness* , we follow Israel through three more significant episodes that expose the danger of unbelief, disobedience and taking God’s provision for granted.

We begin with the twelve spies returning from Canaan. Although they had seen that the land was everything God had promised, fear overwhelmed faith. Ten spies saw enemies too powerful to defeat; Joshua and Caleb saw a God who was powerful enough to keep His word. Israel’s refusal to trust God ultimately cost that generation entrance into the Promised Land.

We then turn to *Moses at the rock* . After decades of faithfully leading a difficult and rebellious people, Moses allowed anger and frustration to shape his actions. Rather than speaking to the rock as God commanded, he struck it. What can this teach us about obedience, leadership, acting in our own strength, and the danger of assuming that what God used yesterday is necessarily what He is commanding us to do today?

The New Testament also gives the rock a remarkable significance: *“that Rock was Christ”* (1 Corinthians 10:4). We consider the connection between the rock struck in the wilderness, Christ crucified once for sin, and the living water that He gives.

Finally, we come to the **bronze serpent** in Numbers 21. Israel rebels once again, but this time something changes: the people recognise their sin. God provides a means of rescue, and centuries later Jesus Himself uses this event to explain His own death: *“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up”* (John 3:14).

These wilderness accounts are not simply ancient history. Paul tells us that *“these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition”* (1 Corinthians 10:11). Their unbelief, grumbling, self-will and idolatry remain warnings for believers today — and their need for God’s grace points us ultimately to Christ.

*Key Scriptures:* Numbers 13:25–33; Numbers 14:1–24, 39–45; Hebrews 3:16–19; Numbers 20:2–13; Numbers 27:12–14; Psalm 106:32–33; Exodus 17:5–6; 1 Corinthians 10:1–13; Numbers 21:4–9; John 3:14–16; 2 Kings 18:3–4.

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