Scott LaPierre Ministries

Scott LaPierre Ministries


The Spiritual Rock that Followed Them Was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4)

July 22, 2021

First Corinthians 10:4 says, "The spiritual rock that followed them was Christ." What does this mean? Read on to learn about this beautiful type of Christ. This is Part I. Here is Part II.

Table of Contents* Complaining Instead of Asking (Exodus 17:1-7)* A New Generation Sounds Like the Old (Numbers 20:1-13)* A Heart-Breaking, but Necessary Judgment* The Spiritual Rock that Followed Them Was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)* God’s Glory in Christ

Throughout my life water has been so available to me that it never seemed that valuable. There was only one time it seemed to dramatically increase in significance. After my senior year of high school, during the summer, prior to going to college, I worked as a wilderness firefighter. This is when I learned I didn’t want to be a wilderness firefighter! When they trained us they couldn’t stress water’s importance strongly enough. They told it was more important than our tools, tent, food and even the other firefighters with us, because it was something we needed to stay alive. There was an unwritten rule that we could ask for help, borrow food and tools from people, but we could never ask people for any of their water.

We went to our first fire in Los Angeles. The temperature was over 100°. We were traveling up and down mountains wearing helmets and boots while carrying our backpacks and tools. It was hot and exhausting. That was the moment water seemed much more valuable. For years after that I never viewed water the same.

Let’s think about water’s value and what it’s like being in the wilderness without any to understand the Israelites’ situation when they were in the wilderness without any water:

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone him me.”Exodus 17:1-7

Complaining Instead of Asking (Exodus 17:1-7)

Exodus 12:37 says there were 600,000 men, which means there were anywhere from three to four million people. The need for water for a group this size would have been an immense problem. There was nothing wrong with the people asking for water but there was a problem in the way they asked—they “quarreled with Moses” and demanded: “Give us water to drink.” Although the Israelites probably thought they only contended with Moses, he responded that they tested God; they were like children trying their parents’ patience.

Despite Moses’s warning, they persisted, going so far as to bring the outrageous accusation that God was trying to murder them: “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” After everything Moses did for them—such as being used by to God deliver them from their bondage,