“The Tree”
11/9/25
Exodus 15:22-25 NKJV “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter; for that reason it was named Marah. 24 So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” 25 Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.”
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In stories like this, the Old Testament contains all kinds of types and shadows that point to the coming Messiah, and also some lessons for us NT believers.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
“Now all these things happened to them (OT people) as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:11-12 NKJV)
So the good, bad, and ugly of what the OT people of Israel experienced serve as lessons for us today!
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For instance, think of the parallels between Israel’s wilderness experience and the church:
–They were delivered from bitter bondage in Egypt.
In Christ, we have been redeemed from the bitter bondage of sin.
–They were delivered from a harsh taskmaster, Pharaoh.
We Christians were delivered from a harsh taskmaster, Satan.
–They journeyed through a wilderness that was not their permanent home.
In Christ, we too are journeying through the wilderness of this world, and it is not our home!
–The wilderness they journeyed through was a place of danger, temptations, and trials.
Likewise, this world we journey through is a place of dangers, temptations, and trials.
–In the wilderness they learned to daily trust God to feed them with the manna.
We too live in daily dependence, as Jesus’s prayer taught, “Give us this day our daily bread!”
–Their ultimate destination was the Promised Land of Canaan.
Our ultimate destination is the promised land of heaven.
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So what can we learn from this story of bitter waters?
I. Crises happen
Even when following the Lord as they were, a crisis came.
Think about it—Over a million people had traveled three days into the wilderness without a drink.
Doctors say that, as a general rule of thumb, a person can survive without water for just about that long–3 days.
So this crisis in the wilderness had reached the 911 breakpoint.
Panic was setting in.
Children were sobbing, thirsty cattle were mooing, adults were growing faint.
The fear of dying of thirst swept through the vast congregation of Israelites like a wildfire.
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And at the height of the crisis they reached Marah where a spring of water was seen bubbling up from the ground.
At first they rejoiced–God has provided!!!
But as they plunged in and began to drink they quickly discovered that it was bitter and undrinkable.
It seemed like a cruel joke.
What they thought was God’s provision was instead a giant letdown.
Joy and relief gave way to bitter disappointment.
The Bible says, “Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick,”—Prov. 13:12 The Message
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This bitter spring is a perfect picture of what SPIRITUALLY thirsty people routinely experience in this fallen world of ours!
–Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has “planted eternity in the human heart.”
This means that in every human soul is a God-given awareness that there is “something more” than this world has to offer.
–It is a God-given thirst for God himself!
To quench this thirst people search for the refreshing springs of God’s Presence, to know and rest in Him…
But what they find instead inevitably turns out to be bitter water, because they search in all the wrong places!
Some go from relationship to relationship,
marriage to marriage,
thinking that this is somehow the key to happiness,
only to find the bitter waters of disappointment.
Still others turn to alcohol or drugs in search of happiness, or just to numb their inner pain–but they too bring only bitter results.
Still others turn to the false promises of:
various religions,
philosophies,
or self-help gurus in their search for peace and meaning,
only to find again the water is bitter.
They discover the world’s answers are, as Jeremiah put it–“broken wells that cannot hold water.”
They believe if they can just one day own THAT house,
with THAT car in the driveway,
with THAT spouse of their dreams,
with THAT job and career,
THEN they will live in happy bliss!
But no, materialism is a mirage, a false promise that ends in bitter water!
ILLUS: I read once of a former tennis star who reached the very top of the tennis world—yet one day came to the brink of ending his own life.
He later wrote, “I had won Wimbledon twice, once as the youngest player in history. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed. Yet…I had no inner peace.”
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FACT: Any solution to your deep spiritual thirst that doesn’t include Jesus Christ as Savior of your life will ultimately end in bitter water!
Jesus alone offers the pure waters of spiritual life!
He said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
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Now, tucked away in the story of the bitter waters contains the answer for the entire world!
Moses took the crisis to God: “Then Moses cried out to the Lord…”
And God answered with a very unexpected, even irrational sounding solution—“The Lord showed him a tree.”
Moses must have thought, “A tree? I don’t need a tree, I need water!”
But God said, “place the tree in the bitter water.”
So Moses obeyed, uprooted the tree, and threw it into the water.
The Bible says that then and there an astonishing miracle took place–“and the waters became sweet.”
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Think about that!–Their bitter trial was transformed into a thirst-quenching spring by obeying God and looking to a tree!
No doubt about it–this TREE is a picture, a foreshadowing of the CROSS of Christ!
God’s solution for their crisis was a veiled prophecy of how the human race’s deep thirst for peace and true fulfillment would one day be found…
Not in Buddha,
not in self-help programs,
not in mystical religions,
not in drugs,
not in endless relationships,
not at the bottom of a bottle,
but in a TREE!
The Cross of Christ.
The Cross where Jesus died for us.
THERE and ONLY THERE is where BITTER is turned to SWEET!
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NOW WATCH THIS: It says “THE LORD showed Moses a tree.”
Moses didn’t discover it on his own—God led him to it.
There was nothing medicinal or magical about the tree—it was simply the tree God chose!
It was an unlikely answer—nothing about it appealed to the eye had God not pointed it out.
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Likewise, the Cross does not at first make sense.
Paul wrote that, “the message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are perishing…”–1 Cor. 1:18
“I don’t need a tree,” people say.
“I need an answer, a solution that makes sense!”
But the TREE in the wilderness didn’t make sense to a thirsty Israel either!
And yet the answer to their crisis was a tree, and the answer for the woes of the world is the TREE Jesus died on! _______________
—As Moses went to the tree and placed it into the bitter waters and they were healed,
so when we go to the Cross of Christ and apply it to our own bitter waters they are sweetened!
It begins with the forgiveness we find at the Cross, and the bitter water of our sin is washed away.
And we soon discover as we journey on with the Lord that God sweetens our own bitter trials of life with His strength, peace, grace, and mercy.
–He gives peace in the middle of the storm.
–Comfort when your heart is broken.
–His Presence in times of loneliness.
–His promises when we’re losing hope.
As the Psalmist wrote, “He turned my sorrow into joy! He took away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy”—Ps. 30:11 LB
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So today I want us to take a moment and apply the Cross of Christ to our bitter waters.
If you need forgiveness, find it there.
Encouragement, provision, peace, fellowship with the Father–the shed blood of Jesus purchased it for you!