Through the enjoyment of the Passover and the baptism in the Red Sea, the children of Israel made their exodus from Egypt and entered into the wilderness. Having enjoyed the supply of the Passover lamb, the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs, they were strengthened to go out of Egypt, to cross the Red Sea, and to enter into the wilderness.
Then through the tree which caused the bitter waters to become sweet (Exo. 15:23-25), the twelve springs of water in Elim (Exo. 15:27), the manna from heaven (Exo. 16:14-15, 31, 32), and the living water out of the smitten rock (Exo. 17:6), God brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai. All these items signify that Christ is our life supply in every aspect. With this supply the Lord led the children of Israel to Mount Sinai.
Now we shall see two items of the life supply in the Lord’s caring for His redeemed people.
In Exodus 16 manna was sent from heaven to be food for God’s people. For forty years in the wilderness, they depended on manna for sustenance.
By giving His people manna to eat, God indicated that His intention was to change the nature of His people. He wanted to change their being, their very constitution. They had already undergone a change of location. Formerly, they were in Egypt. Now, they were with the Lord in the wilderness, a place of separation. However, it is not sufficient merely to have a change of location, for this is too outward and too objective. There must also be an inward, subjective change, a change of life and nature. Therefore, the way for God to produce such a change in His people is by changing their diet. By eating Egyptian food God’s people had been constituted with the element of Egypt. Although they had been brought out of Egypt into the wilderness of separation, they were still constituted with the element of Egypt. God’s intention was to change their element by changing their diet. God wanted to feed them with food from heaven in order to reconstitute them. His desire was to fill them, to satisfy them, to satiate them with food from heaven, and thereby to make them a heavenly people.
In Exodus 17 “all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin...and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink” (vv. 1-2). God commanded Moses, saying, “Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink” (v. 6). In chapter sixteen we have a clear picture of manna from heaven, and in chapter seventeen, the record of the living water flowing out of the smitten rock. This indicates that after we experience Christ as manna, we also need to experience Him as the living water.
In typology, Moses signifies the law, and the rod represents the power and authority of the law. The rock typifies Christ. The smiting of the rock by the rod signifies that Christ was smitten by the authority of God’s law. In the eyes of God, the Lord Jesus was put to death, not by the Jews, but by the law of God. During the first three hours of His crucifixion, Christ suffered under the hand of man. But during the last three hours, Christ suffered because He was smitten by the power of God’s law.
Furthermore, the water flowing out of the smitten rock typifies the Spirit. John 7:37-39 say, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were about to receive.” This clearly indicates that the flowing water signifies the Spirit.
Therefore, the significance of the smiting of the rock by the rod of Moses and the flowing out of the living water is that Christ is our rock. He is the rock of our salvation, refuge, strength, and rest. Having been smitten by the power of God’s righteous law, He was cleft, and living water came forth for us to drink. The living water is the Spirit as the ultimate issue of the Triune God. This water quenches our thirst and fully satisfies our being. This is the proper understanding of the picture portrayed in Exodus 17:1-6.