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A Sweet New Year

January 3, 2011

So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. Exodus 15:22-25 NKJV

A foreshadowing of the Cross—I’m convinced that this Old Testament passage reveals types and shadows of things to come. That this tree making the bitter waters sweet for the Israelites reinforces the power of what happened when Jesus was crucified on a tree. What happened on the Cross took the bitterness of life and made it sweet.

It is all resolved on the Cross. On the tree, salvation became available to humanity. Eternal separation from God was resolved when Jesus said, “It is finished” and died on the Cross (John 19:30).

Jesus is the Healer. What happened on the tree also addresses your physical condition and your mental outlook. The Greek word for “saved” also means “healed.” The one-two punch of redemption is that God pardons all your iniquities and heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:3).

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” Galatians 3:13

Cry out to God. We need to be like Moses who cried out to God about bitter waters. Sickness, mental oppression, financial lack, breakdown in relationships, and fatigue can be bitter for people. But when we cry out to the Lord, the tree – where Jesus died for you – gets thrown into the middle of it with splashing finality, and the bitterness is made sweet.

Happy New Year!
Pastor Jeff

Copyright © 2010 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.* Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”