SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about the staff of Moses.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and and in fact, the staff of Moses connects back to the larger story that we're talking about, which is returning to the garden.
SPEAKER_01: It's this idea that that when Adam and Eve uh ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they didn't just do something that God told them not to do.
SPEAKER_01: That's not the entire point of that story.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, uh we already know that Adam and Eve were human, they were fallible.
SPEAKER_01: They they had it, they had the ability to disobey God long before this.
SPEAKER_01: And it was the temptation that the serpent brought that caused them to choose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they had the ability to do that even before.
SPEAKER_01: It's entirely possible that they had made mistakes and that God had corrected them and that their relationship could stay the same because there was a difference between uh learning or growing or expanding in knowledge or being taught by God.
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference from that than what they did, which is what they did was they unplugged from the tree of life and they plugged themselves into their own knowledge and understanding.
SPEAKER_01: They made a choice that they would choose to live on their own, that they would make a choice for independence, to separate themselves from God, to unplug from Him and to live on their own knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: The temptation was you'll be like God.
SPEAKER_01: That's man's constant pursuit.
SPEAKER_01: The Tower of Babel is man's pursuit to rise to the level of God, to be at the level of God.
SPEAKER_01: That's our constant temptation, is that we want to choose what is right and wrong for ourselves and to continue to live that way.
SPEAKER_01: We want to choose our own knowledge.
SPEAKER_01: It'd be easy to say, well, it's not fair that that it was just Adam and Eve that made this mistake.
SPEAKER_01: But in reality, we all make that decision.
SPEAKER_01: We all start young as a child, baby, born, all everything that we need is provided for us by our parents.
SPEAKER_01: And so we don't, we're not self-sustaining in any way.
SPEAKER_01: We're not ashamed of nakedness or any of those things.
SPEAKER_01: But as we grow and become self-aware, we begin to serve our own selfish needs.
SPEAKER_01: And that is when that fundamental change takes place.
SPEAKER_01: I'm in the middle of it with teenagers, so that I understand that very well.
SPEAKER_01: That is the path or the movement that we make.
SPEAKER_01: And so we we we we make we all make this decision to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_01: God's mission for us is to return us to the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: So uh we're looking at this through this lens that the ancient fathers uh would would would remind us to read scripture through.
SPEAKER_01: And that is that you can read the the historia of the passage, uh, and that is the history, the historical elements of what took place, the story, the telling of what events took place.
SPEAKER_01: And then the other side of it is the theoria of it.
SPEAKER_01: The theoria is not the theory of scripture, it's to it's the things that can only be revealed by the Holy Spirit or through contemplation.
SPEAKER_01: So we're looking at the theoria of this, we're looking at what these things mean.
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean as we see that that that uh that that Moses carried the staff?
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_01: How does it connect to these things?
SPEAKER_01: So the title of the message today is The Salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Last week we talked about the curse.
SPEAKER_01: This week we're talking about the salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And salvation means to be rescued from danger.
SPEAKER_01: And so, as Adam and Eve chose the knowledge of good and evil, they were put into the desert, they were put into exile, just as the story of Exodus is the people, the God's people who were in exile, being restored by God.
SPEAKER_01: And so being rescued from danger is kind of this mission, this calling that God has on our lives.
SPEAKER_01: And so today we'll just focus on the element of the staff, but the staff is made of wood, it's from a tree, and so the the story elements will be attached to trees also.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you'll see how the staff in in many ways becomes a tree in one of the stories, and we'll see how all of these things connect, but it's all connected to the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the tree of life, and so uh all these stories, anytime you see the the story of a tree or the staff or the wood, uh it probably represents something.
SPEAKER_01: I was I wanted to go through all the times that you see the the word tree and all the times that it means something in scripture.
SPEAKER_01: And once I got to like triple digits of references in scripture, I was like, okay, we can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: But let me point out some of the important ones.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the staff is carried by the shepherd, and Jesus, the Bible says, is the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_01: The staff is made of wood, it represents the cross.
SPEAKER_01: The imagery of the tree is really closely aligned with the image of, or the image of the uh staff is closely aligned to the image of the tree.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is the tree of life, and how does he appear at first to Moses?
SPEAKER_01: We say the burning bush, but the word, the Hebrew word, is tree.
SPEAKER_01: It's the exact same word.
SPEAKER_01: All of the different elements of the tree were all all all could be stated as one word, as tree.
SPEAKER_01: That is how he appears to Moses, as a tree on fire.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus cursed a tree that did not bear fruit in the first part of his last week on earth.
SPEAKER_01: And a week later, he hangs from a tree.
SPEAKER_01: The Israelites come to a place in the wilderness where they need water, and God guides them to twelve springs of water representing the twelve disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And there there were seventy date palms, seventy is the number of the larger group of disciples, and and and those palm trees all signify that under the teaching of the apostles, we can find shade, we can rest in Him.
SPEAKER_01: It also reminds us that we, as the Apostles did, become trees.
SPEAKER_01: And as we become a tree, in that image, in this imagery of being a tree, we shine bright like the burning bush.
SPEAKER_01: We shine so that people are attracted or drawn to the light of God shining within us.
SPEAKER_01: This all signifies that the ones who cooperate in the mission of God will also become springs of living water and will also become trees where people rest in their shade and grow in their wisdom.
SPEAKER_01: Even in the story of Abraham, we see that he was in the trees when God first came to him and told him he would have a son.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, after his son Isaac was finally born, Abraham had just planted a tree, and that's when God calls him to go to the mount and to sacrifice his son.
SPEAKER_01: Just as Abraham plants a tree, and when he plants the tree, he says, I declare that God is the everlasting God.
SPEAKER_01: And God says, Let's test that.
SPEAKER_01: Let's see if you want to live out of your own knowledge of good and evil, or if you truly are eating from the tree of life, the eternal tree.
SPEAKER_01: And that's when he calls him to go and to make this sacrifice, which we know in the end that he doesn't have to make.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason is because God has provided that sacrificial lamb for us.
SPEAKER_01: But in that moment, as he plants a tree, God calls him to this test to see if he really is eating from the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: He affirms that Abraham has died to himself, and all of his own earthly desires are gone, and he is willing to obey the voice of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's the test of the tree of life versus the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
SPEAKER_01: And the staff and the tree are inseparable in all of these things.
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to look at several images where this is uh taking place.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to think back for just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Even the blind man that Jesus healed in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: You remember that he placed his hands on his eyes and he said, What do you see?
SPEAKER_01: And the man said, I see men like trees walking.
SPEAKER_01: And some might say, Well, Jesus messed up the first time.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't do it right.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what he was seeing.
SPEAKER_01: We know that he was seeing spiritual sight.
SPEAKER_01: Spiritual sight says that I see these men as trees, becoming the tree of life, being an extension of the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: If I had spiritual sight right now, I would see all of you as trees.
SPEAKER_01: Your branches would be touching each other, you'd have a hard time getting into the door here, you'd have a hard time sitting down.
SPEAKER_01: All the roots would be interconnected to each other, and outside of this space would be connected to the larger church at large.
SPEAKER_01: We would be connected.
SPEAKER_01: We'd be probably a lot nicer on social media because we would see how we're all connected and how God works through us.
SPEAKER_01: We would see how bright we shine with the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: That spiritual imagery is what we want.
SPEAKER_01: I want to just pause for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: Let's set our hearts to say, God, place your hands on my eyes and let me see your spiritual sight today.
SPEAKER_01: That today we would see exactly the imagery of the mighty and powerful, life-changing work that Christ has done.
SPEAKER_01: And all of that is done through the cross.
SPEAKER_01: So the first thing that we want to look at is that the staff brings living water.
SPEAKER_01: The staff brings living water.
SPEAKER_01: Now, next week I'm going to talk about water baptism.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll talk about water for the entire time.
SPEAKER_01: If you're afraid of like drowning or something, maybe that's not the best week for you, but uh we'll talk about water the whole time.
SPEAKER_01: And so we'll get into that a little bit more, but I just want to show you what the staff provides for us in the way of living water and how this story should come to life for us whenever we read through it.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna read kind of a large block of scripture, but just follow this story so that we can really understand it.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, the exercise for all of this series is to read all of these stories as if we as if we've never heard them before.
SPEAKER_01: So starting in Exodus chapter 17, starting in verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: It says, The whole Israelite community set out from the desert of sin.
SPEAKER_01: That's kind of interesting, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.
SPEAKER_01: They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
SPEAKER_01: So they quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink.
SPEAKER_01: Moses replied, Why do you quarrel with me?
SPEAKER_01: Why do you put the Lord to the test?
SPEAKER_01: What he's saying is, you're putting the Lord to the test in saying, I want to go my own way.
SPEAKER_01: I think I know better what I need, better than God does.
SPEAKER_01: But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses.
SPEAKER_01: They said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?
SPEAKER_01: They want to go back to their captor and live under slavery again, just so they can have a drink here in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: Then Moses cried out to the Lord, What am I to do with these people?
SPEAKER_01: They are almost ready to stone me.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord answered Moses and said, Go out in front of the people.
SPEAKER_01: Take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
SPEAKER_01: I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb, strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.
SPEAKER_01: All right, on its face, this is a really fun story for uh Sunday school.
SPEAKER_01: It makes sense.
SPEAKER_01: You're like, all right, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01: And you see Moses, and he takes the staff and he strikes the rock, and water comes out, and it meets the physical need of the people for that day.
SPEAKER_01: But in the theoria of this, we know that the staff represents the cross.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that the Bible says over and over that Jesus Christ is the rock.
SPEAKER_01: And so when we read this story, we should see and understand that as the cross struck Jesus, it allowed for living water to spring forth.
SPEAKER_01: It allowed for Jesus to be there at the well, telling that woman, if you knew who you were talking to, you would be asking for living water.
SPEAKER_01: As the cross struck Jesus, it struck him in our place, and the result of that was that living water came forth from him.
SPEAKER_01: To the unbeliever, Jesus may look moistureless and rock hard and unaccepting, uninviting.
SPEAKER_01: He may look like a set of rules or a law.
SPEAKER_01: He may look completely unattainable.
SPEAKER_01: But through the cross, through the rod of faith, through the acceptance of the cross, Jesus becomes the living water that we need so desperately.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a random story.
SPEAKER_01: These stories are supposed to speak a deeper message to us, a message that reminds us that Jesus paid the ultimate price.
SPEAKER_01: It was Jesus who was struck in our place so that we wouldn't have to be struck.
SPEAKER_01: And even the Israelites who wanted to go back to the curse and were sinning against God, he still holds up his end of the covenant and is struck in our place by the cross so that living water can come forth and give us what we need in order to receive life.
SPEAKER_01: Alright, let's take a look then at Exodus chapter 15.
SPEAKER_01: This is still in the story of the people living through the desert.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the point where they come to the waters of Mara.
SPEAKER_01: And it starts in verse 22.
SPEAKER_01: It says, Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_01: So they've just passed through the Red Sea.
SPEAKER_01: They're no longer under the rule of the Egyptians, and they went into the desert of Shur.
SPEAKER_01: For three days they travelled in the desert without finding water.
SPEAKER_01: When they came to Mara, they could not drink its water because it was bitter.
SPEAKER_01: Then it gives us a little note.
SPEAKER_01: That's why the place is called Mara.
SPEAKER_01: Mara meant bitter water.
SPEAKER_01: So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What are we to drink?
SPEAKER_01: And then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood.
SPEAKER_01: He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
SPEAKER_01: And there the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.
SPEAKER_01: He said, If you listen carefully to the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of these diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.
SPEAKER_01: And then they came to Elim, where they were where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
SPEAKER_01: It's important, I just explained just a moment ago that the twelve springs of water represent the twelve disciples that Jesus chose, and the seventy date palms represent the larger group of disciples or apostles that he chose.
SPEAKER_01: But the the the timing of this event is fascinating.
SPEAKER_01: So here they come to the water and it's bitter to drink.
SPEAKER_01: To unbelievers, Christianity seems bitter.
SPEAKER_01: It seems uh difficult or unattainable or or or even distasteful.
SPEAKER_01: And yet uh we see that once once the wood, the cross, is thrown into the water, it becomes drinkable again.
SPEAKER_01: And then when Jesus or when God responds to them, he he's not saying, hey, I just really want you guys to follow my rules.
SPEAKER_01: What he's saying is, if you'll stay in my will, I will continue to do this for you.
SPEAKER_01: And just stay in my will.
SPEAKER_01: And where does he lead them next?
SPEAKER_01: To an oasis, to a garden, right back from the desert into the garden, an amazing garden where they can rest under the shade.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine the desert that they had been walking through.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, if you'll just obey my voice, if you'll just do what I'm asking you to do, look at where I'll lead you, right back into the garden.
SPEAKER_01: You'll rest under the shade of the teaching.
SPEAKER_01: You'll drink of the living water that I have provided for you, and you'll live in the garden once more.
SPEAKER_01: He's not just a grumpy man that wants them to stick to the rules.
SPEAKER_01: He's guiding them into following him once again so that they also can live in the garden once more.
SPEAKER_01: We can be those trees, the date palms, through the power of Christ and the cross.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's in fact the leaves of the date palm tree that ends up getting laid on the road as Christ is entering his triumphal entry into Jerusalem so that he can carry out the mission that he was sent to earth to carry out.
SPEAKER_01: We can pave the way for Christ to enter into other people's lives, to bring his grace into other people's lives.
SPEAKER_01: We can be every part of the tree that ushers God into the next movement that he wants to accomplish.
SPEAKER_01: That is our calling.
SPEAKER_01: That is our mission, and all of these things are pointing to what God is teaching us about his garden.
SPEAKER_01: The second thing that we need to look at and remember is that the staff brings new life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, uh keep all of the imagery in your mind of the staff, of the tree, uh of Moses carrying around this staff.
SPEAKER_01: As we go through the next story, uh uh you you probably will be ahead of me, but this is the moment where a plague is moving through the land, and this is once the Israelites are out of the control of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: This is not a plague that was sent onto the Egyptians.
SPEAKER_01: This is a plague that the Israelites are experiencing.
SPEAKER_01: And and here, uh God tells Moses what to do.
SPEAKER_01: He tells him to send Aaron, and he sends him uh on, he sends Aaron on an errand to go do what God wants him to do.
SPEAKER_01: And so once he sends Mo uh Aaron on this errand, and and and Aaron goes and he does this thing that God tells him to do, uh, then the plague is gone.
SPEAKER_01: It's released.
SPEAKER_01: And and so just before the passage that I'm about to read, it says that uh that he stood, Aaron stood between the living and the dead.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be really important in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: So just try to remember this.
SPEAKER_01: Aaron stood between the living and the dead and became a mediator, and the plague was gone.
SPEAKER_01: All right, just so just remember that, just for a little bit, okay?
SPEAKER_01: In Numbers chapter 17, starting in verse 1, it says, The Lord said to Moses, Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes.
SPEAKER_01: There were twelve tribes of Judah.
SPEAKER_01: These there's twelve staffs to represent those tribes.
SPEAKER_01: Write the name of each man on his staff.
SPEAKER_01: On the staff of Levi, write Aaron's name, for there must be one staff for the head of each ancestral tribe.
SPEAKER_01: Place them in the tent of meeting in front of the Ark of the Covenant law, where I meet with you.
SPEAKER_01: The staff belong the staff that belongs to the man that I will choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.
SPEAKER_01: So Moses spoke to the Israelites and their leaders, gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron's staff was among them.
SPEAKER_01: Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant law.
SPEAKER_01: The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron's staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted, but had budded, blossomed, and produced almonds.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so uh they they need to decide who is going to be basically the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: And so they take the staffs of the twelve different tribes of Judah, they place it in this room, and over one night, this portion of a tree, this branch of a tree that is dead and has been cut off for years, is laying in a room, and in one night it sprouts not only new branches and not only buds its leaves, but produces the almond, produces fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh that happens just overnight.
SPEAKER_01: Just overnight, all of this dead uh material sprouts a shoot and ends up producing fruit.
SPEAKER_01: That should remind us of Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots, a branch will bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 11, chapter 1 is a prophecy.
SPEAKER_01: It's a prophecy about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It's a prophecy that says, just when you think that everything is dead and gone and all hope is lost, a new branch will sprout up.
SPEAKER_01: And it's from the stump of Jesse, that that line, that family lineage, that's the lineage that Jesus comes from.
SPEAKER_01: It's a prophecy that is fulfilled in Jesus, that he is a new branch sprouting forth, a new branch in the tree of life returning us to life.
SPEAKER_01: And in Isaiah 11, we see that this new branch will sprout up, but in this and in this example in Numbers, we get a great look at what really happened in the cross.
SPEAKER_01: You see, the dead stump, or the dead branch, the dead staff was placed in the room with other dead staffs.
SPEAKER_01: Just as Jesus was placed in the grave and sent where all the dead people resided.
SPEAKER_01: But one man sprouted new life from the grave.
SPEAKER_01: A new branch started, a new family tree, a new place that we could participate in to be a part of the movement of God to return us back to the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: And this new branch will bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: It won't be like the fig tree that Jesus cursed for not bearing fruit.
SPEAKER_01: It will bear fruit.
SPEAKER_01: And just when everyone thought all hope was lost, when Jesus was dead and buried in the grave, a new branch sprouts, a new beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so now we see that that more was happening in the staff of Aaron as they placed it in there.
SPEAKER_01: Christ is the staff that bears fruit.
SPEAKER_01: But but there, after he after this staff bears fruit, after it produces, it buds and it and it produces this almond.
SPEAKER_01: After that, the instruction in scripture is to take that staff, Aaron's staff, and to place it in the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is.
SPEAKER_01: That is the same as Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: After he was dead, after he was put into the grave and he sprouted new life.
SPEAKER_01: He is what we just participated in, in eating and receiving communion.
SPEAKER_01: That's the bread that Jesus said that we should receive through his body.
SPEAKER_01: And so there he is the manna, but also placed there in the Ark of the Covenant was the tablets of stone.
SPEAKER_01: And as we just learned, Jesus Christ is the rock, he is the stone.
SPEAKER_01: Everything in this story in Numbers is pointing to Jesus becoming our Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: And all of this was foretold thousands of years before his arrival.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now the third thing that I want to tell you is the thing that I've been dying to tell you this whole time.
SPEAKER_01: The other two things, if we're really honest, are the setup for the third thing.
SPEAKER_01: Because I've never seen this before, and it's probably the most exciting thing that I've ever seen in scripture because it it became so clear and so obvious.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it it's it it doesn't stand out right away, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So stay with me on this.
SPEAKER_01: The third thing that we need to look at is that the staff is a bridge, okay?
SPEAKER_01: You could just think of it as like a wooden bridge, but a bridge to what?
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's what we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_01: The the context for the passage that we're about to read is that we're now in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: We've left the story of Moses, and Jesus is choosing his disciples, and he's about to choose a disciple named Nathaniel, who only right around this time, when he's chosen, is he actually called Nathaniel, and then later in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: But most of the time, the name that you have seen in the list of disciples is Bartholomew, and that's Nathanael.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is gonna choose Nathaniel to be one of his disciples.
SPEAKER_01: And oh, it's so good.
SPEAKER_01: All right, just just stay with me.
SPEAKER_01: John chapter 1, starting in verse 47.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said of him, Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
SPEAKER_01: So Nathaniel asked, How do you know me?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus answered, I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.
SPEAKER_01: Then Nathanael declared, Rabbi, you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: You are the King of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said, You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: You will see greater things than that.
SPEAKER_01: And he then added, Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven open up, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
SPEAKER_01: So uh there's some there's some weird things here, honestly, if we want to be honest.
SPEAKER_01: Like uh, and that that when we see weird things, we should do more study.
SPEAKER_01: But the the thing that I that stood out to me that I thought was really weird is uh when Jesus sees Nathaniel, he said, Here's an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.
SPEAKER_01: And uh Nathaniel's like, that's true, I'm awesome.
SPEAKER_01: How how do you know me?
SPEAKER_01: And uh that's when Jesus was like, because I saw you under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: And Nathaniel's response is, Whoa, you really are God.
SPEAKER_01: That's not that special of a trick.
SPEAKER_01: Nathaniel's, he's a Jew.
SPEAKER_01: He's he's he's heard of all these stories, of a staff turning into a snake, of the of the Red Sea parting.
SPEAKER_01: He's heard all of these stories, and someone is like, Yeah, I saw you once, you're sitting under a fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Whoa, you Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Are you God?
SPEAKER_01: You're the Messiah?
SPEAKER_01: Yahweh, really?
SPEAKER_01: That convinced him.
SPEAKER_01: That was just enough.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, Rabbi, Rabbi, you are the son of God, you are the king.
SPEAKER_01: And and Jesus says, You believe me because I told you that you were under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: All right, well, here's something that we should understand is uh the very first thing that he says is very important.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Here comes Nathaniel, an Israelite.
SPEAKER_01: So he's gonna define him.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't greet any of the other disciples this way.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Here comes Naniel, Nathaniel, an Israelite.
SPEAKER_01: So he's already saying a lot of things in that.
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, This is a son of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: This is a man who worships the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: He's a son of Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: He's an Israelite.
SPEAKER_01: He defines him in that way, okay?
SPEAKER_01: And he says, in whom there is no deceit.
SPEAKER_01: Who is the Israelite that was known for being deceitful?
SPEAKER_01: Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob's name means deceitful.
SPEAKER_01: His very name means deceitful.
SPEAKER_01: And when he says you're an Israelite, he's saying you're a son of Jacob, of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob's name was changed to Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Israel, the word Israel literally means the ones who fight with God.
SPEAKER_01: That's exactly what we're talking about here.
SPEAKER_01: This battle between choosing everything on our own or living in the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: And so that's the exact battle that we're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: And God defines the Israelites as the ones who are fighting with me.
SPEAKER_01: Those are the Israelites.
SPEAKER_01: And so here he identifies him.
SPEAKER_01: You're an Israelite, you're a son of Jacob in whom there is no deceit.
SPEAKER_01: So he's drawing a contrast between Nathaniel and Jacob.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: That starts right from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
SPEAKER_01: Then he says, I saw you sitting under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: He's an Israelite.
SPEAKER_01: So immediately in his mind, he's thinking Micah 4, Zechariah 3, 1 Kings 4, and many other places where it says that the Israelites will sit in the shade of a fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: If they are holy and just and righteous, they will sit under the teaching of the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: They will sit in the shade of the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: The fig tree represents uh peace.
SPEAKER_01: The fig tree represents um uh protection, just as the staff represents these things as well.
SPEAKER_01: For the sheep, the staff represents protection from whatever would come against them, whatever predator would come against them.
SPEAKER_01: The staff represents peace and guidance, but it also represents authority.
SPEAKER_01: It is the shepherd who carries the staff.
SPEAKER_01: The fig tree, the the greatest representation of the fig tree means sitting under authority.
SPEAKER_01: And so what he was saying then is Nathaniel, I saw you, just like it says in Scripture, sitting under the fig tree, sitting under authority.
SPEAKER_01: There's no deceit in you.
SPEAKER_01: You sit under authority.
SPEAKER_01: It would be fine.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it the thing that's not clear here in this passage is it says that Philip went to go get uh Nathaniel.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, and so Philip goes and gets Nathaniel, and the assumption is always that Nathanael was sitting under a fig tree whenever Philip went and got him, and he brings him over, and Jesus says, I saw you under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: And then we would assume that there was some kind of obstacle, or maybe it was even a fig tree that was across town, but some way that Jesus could not have known that he was sitting under a fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's the case.
SPEAKER_01: I think spiritually what he said to him is, I was there with you every time you sat under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: I heard your prayers.
SPEAKER_01: I saw you sit under authority.
SPEAKER_01: I know you.
SPEAKER_01: I know when you sit under the fig tree, I know where you are, I know your prayers, and I have seen you under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: Not physically, spiritually.
SPEAKER_01: Spiritually, I've witnessed you under the fig tree.
SPEAKER_01: It's the only thing I can think of that would make Nathaniel say, You really are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: You've heard my prayers, you've been there, you are the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: But it gets even better than that.
SPEAKER_01: Because what he says right after that is uh Nathaniel says, That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: You really are the Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, You like that?
SPEAKER_01: You like that little part about the fig tree?
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: Can you guys put up verse 50?
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go to verse 50.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Guess what?
SPEAKER_01: You just believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree, but you're gonna see better things than that.
SPEAKER_01: What does he do?
SPEAKER_01: He goes back to the dream that Jacob had.
SPEAKER_01: You remember the dream that Jacob had, where Jacob saw a ladder and it extended from heaven to earth, and he said, I see the angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus changes it up.
SPEAKER_01: So here he's already contrasted Nathaniel to uh uh to Jacob, and then he added, Very truly I tell you, you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending, but not on the ladder.
SPEAKER_01: On what?
SPEAKER_01: On the Son of Man.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he said to Nathaniel You're the kind of person I want to start my new covenant agreement with.
SPEAKER_01: You're on my team.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob was full of deceit.
SPEAKER_01: He deceived his uh father, his brother, his uncle.
SPEAKER_01: He lived a life of deceit.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't see deceit in you.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, I see you sitting under authority.
SPEAKER_01: I see you sitting under the tree of life, and you're the kind of person I want to start my new covenant with.
SPEAKER_01: And you, you won't just dream about what I'm about to do.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see it with your very own eyes, because the Son of Man is here to become the ladder, to become the extension from heaven to earth, so that God can move his people in and out of this place, and you'll see heaven.
SPEAKER_01: You'll watch it happen.
SPEAKER_01: With spiritual eyes, we see the most amazing things in scripture and it comes to life.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know about you, but I want to be Nathaniel right now.
SPEAKER_01: I want to sit under the tree of life.
SPEAKER_01: I want to eat from the fruit of the tree of life, sit under its authority and under its shade.
SPEAKER_01: I want to drink water from living springs of water.
SPEAKER_01: I want to experience all of these things that the Israelites experience, where they were brought out of bondage and freedom, where I leave behind the things that ensnare me in sin, and I walk through the Red Sea through water baptism, and I step into my calling and I see God move.
SPEAKER_01: I want to stand under that kind of tree where I stop judging others, I stop living a life of watching the good and evil, and instead I eat from the tree of life, and I want to see souls ascending and descending from heaven to earth and see God's gracious, mighty, powerful movement, and it's all gonna happen, and we're gonna see it with our own eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Would you bow your heads with me and close your eyes, please?
SPEAKER_01: I was reading earlier this week, and there's an author named John Stott, and he summed up everything that we just talked about in one paragraph.
SPEAKER_01: And while your eyes are closed, I want you to just hear these words.
SPEAKER_01: It says, the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God.
SPEAKER_01: While the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.
SPEAKER_01: Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be.
SPEAKER_01: But God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be.
SPEAKER_01: Man claims prerogatives that belong to God alone.
SPEAKER_01: But God accepts penalties which belong to man alone.
SPEAKER_01: The power of Christ hanging from that tree.
SPEAKER_01: In the appearance of being defeated, of losing the battle, is God substituting himself for you so that you don't have to receive that punishment.
SPEAKER_01: We ought to stop trying to be God.
SPEAKER_01: It's our attempt to try to be God that force God to take our place as man.
SPEAKER_01: And the solution is to look to the cross to receive salvation.
SPEAKER_01: To accept the gift that he gave through his death and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: For some of us, we've received the salvation of God, but we keep trying to go back into slavery.
SPEAKER_01: Do as the Bible says, take up your cross daily, carry it with you, carry it as if it is a staff that you hold in your hand and allow the Spirit to lead and guide you into all truth.
SPEAKER_01: So, Lord, right now, today we surrender.
SPEAKER_01: We surrender all.
SPEAKER_01: God, we hold nothing back from you.
SPEAKER_01: We open every door to our heart.
SPEAKER_01: We leave nothing closed to you, God, no closed doors, no restricted access.
SPEAKER_01: God, we ask that you would come and that you would move in us and through us.
SPEAKER_01: And we receive your salvation today.
SPEAKER_01: And we pray all these things in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have a great week.