Sat.’s Devo - The First Pentecost

Read: Ex. 16-19
If there is one word you can use to describe the children of Israel it is complainers. They complained about everything. Immature people complain against people, mature people take their requests to the Lord. The people complained against Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron took their problems to the Lord. God answered Moses and Aaron. God’s answer to their hunger for their body was spiritual food from heaven. That is always the answer. We complain about natural things, things we think we need and that will satisfy us, but the answer to all our needs and longings is found in eating the Word of God and devouring Jesus into our very being. He is the only thing that will satisfy. He is always there and is just what we need for the moment. We don’t have to worry about tomorrow. God used manna to teach the children of Israel this concept. God took that manna that wouldn’t last over night and preserved it two days on the Sabbath and for generations when laid before the Testimony. God Word endures forever even though we need it fresh everyday.
In Exodus 17 the people are thirsty and there is no water. Remember that they are at the wilderness of Sin because they will return here forty years later and have the same problem. They are actually right before the promised land. God commands Moses to strike the rock. 1 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that that Rock was spiritual: it was Christ. Jesus was struck on the cross for our sins and out of his side flowed blood and water. This water is the living water of the Holy Spirit. They were about to have a meeting with God where he would demonstrate his power which will be a type of what he will do millenniums later on this same feast found in Acts 1 and 2.
First, Moses has to divide his authority and give it out to the people he can trust as leaders. It is like Jesus giving his gifts to men in the Church (1 Co. 12:28).
Now it is time for God to come to his people and give them the law. It will have been 50 days since they applied the blood on their door posts making it Pentecost. The people are to cleanse their bodies and clothes for the third day. God appeared in a cloud of smoke like a furnace at the top of Mt. Sinai amidst thundering, lightning and the voice of an invisible trumpet. God spoke and called Moses and Aaron up to the mountain.
Lord, thank you for the times we live in. Thank you for sending us your son and your Holy Spirit.