The Angel of the Lord

Exodus 3:1-6

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. (Exodus 3:2 ESV)

“And the angel of the Lord appeared to him...” This phrase introduces us to the deliverer God chose. God called a shepherd from watching sheep on the backside of the wilderness to go to Egypt and deliver His people from slavery and lead them to the Promised Land. God chose a shepherd of sheep to become a shepherd of people.

Our story today starts with Moses on the west, or backside, of the wilderness. This is on the Sinai Peninsula, the west side of which borders on Egypt.

God is not affected by geographical distance. He is omnipresent. This means He is everywhere all the time. But, Moses is human. Geographical distance influences him. The farther west he goes, the closer he gets to his suffering people. Moses is alone with his wooly companions. Sheep are good listeners, but their responses are a little hard to decipher. They tend to have a one-word answer, “Baa!” With such conversationalists for companions, Moses has many hours and days on end to think and let his mind wander. As he gets closer to Egypt, his mind wanders through the events of his past. He remembers the suffering of his people. He remembers the murder he committed and how he had to flee. We know he remembers these things because we just read what he wrote about them in Exodus chapter 2.

In 40 years, Moses’ thoughts of Egypt have become a habit. Like well-worn ruts, his memories slide from one to the next, until there is an interruption. A bush is burning. Flame and fire are coming out of a bush, but, wait, the bush is not being burned. The fire is not consuming it. So, Moses says to his sheep, “Excuse me a minute, but I have to go over and see this great sight. The bush is on fire, but the fire is not burning the bush! I have to figure out why.”

The sheep gave their typical answer, “Baa!”

Exodus 3:2 says, “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him...” The word in Hebrew that Moses used is simply the word for seeing. However, in the Hebrew, it is the first word in the sentence. So, the effect is one of suddenness.

I want to draw a parallel in our lives from this fact.

God comes to us when we are not expecting Him. His coming or appearing is often an interruption.

The rapture will be like that. It will come at a day and hour when we are not expecting it. The flood came like that. People were buying and selling and getting married until they were not. It was all interrupted. Jesus explained this to us. In Luke 17, Luke records the words of Jesus.

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:26-30 ESV)

We must be ready at all times because we do not know on what day or at what hour the Lord will come.

In the Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis repeats on several occasions that Aslan “is not a tame lion.” God is not predictable. He does not always appear in the same way, nor does He come on our schedule. However, He does come at just the right time and exactly suited for the need of the moment. Moses was carrying on his life as usual when suddenly God appeared. This is why it is essential for us to be about the Father’s business. We are stewards or caretakers of what He has given us. He will come at a time that we do not know, and we need to be taking care of what He has given us.

As Moses approaches the bush, Exodus 3:4 tells us, “God called to him.”

It is important that we note who is talking to Moses. Exodus 3:4 tells us that “Yahweh” saw that Moses turned aside and that “Elohim” called to him. Exodus 3:2 tells us that “the angel of the Lord” appeared to him. The word translated “angel” is the word “messenger.” So, some translations say, “the messenger of Jehovah appeared to him.” This is referring to Jesus before the manger, before He was born of the virgin. This will be important as we go through the book of Exodus as we realize who is leading the people through the wilderness. The Apostle Paul explains it this way:

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 ESV)

The same God who called Moses is the God who, by the Sea of Galilee, said to Peter, James and John, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19)

This is the same God who called Samuel in the middle of the night. When Samuel was still a boy, God came and stood beside his bed. This is what Samuel wrote about the experience.

The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, "Here I am!" and ran to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, "Samuel!" and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again." Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant hears." (1 Samuel 3:3-10 ESV)

Notice it says, “And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times.” This is none other than Jesus. Jesus was at the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1) Jesus is active in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures, and we see Him as the “Messenger of Jehovah” in Exodus 3.

Everyone’s experience is different, but God calls each of us. For Moses, it was a burning bush. For Samuel, it was by his bed in the middle of the night. For James and John, it was by the Sea of Galilee. For Paul, it was on the road to Damascus. Jesus says to each one of us:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 ESV)

God’s call is also individual. God called to Moses specifically for a specific purpose.

In Moses’ case, God’s call was for Moses to stop shepherding sheep and start shepherding God’s people.

When God got Moses’ attention, Exodus 3:4 says, “He said, ‘Take your sandals off your feet.’” And then, verse 6 says, “And he said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham...’” God appeared. God called. And, God said. Whatever God says is important. By His word, the world and everything it contains was created. By His word, the universe and everything in it continues.

The first thing God does is establish with Moses that He is Holy and cannot be approached by man in his sinful state. Sin must be dealt with if we are to have a relationship with God. The taking off of the shoes is symbolic for putting off the dirt of the world. In eastern cultures, it is still customary to take off one’s shoes upon entering a building or house to “put off” the dirt of the world or outdoors. We still approach God only by the washing of our sins by the blood of Christ. After establishing this necessary relationship, God next establishes who He is in relation to Moses and Moses’ people.

Moses was reminded of his people by his proximity to the border of Egypt, and God says that He is the God of those people. This takes me to a truth expressed in Psalm 23:1.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalms 23:1 ESV)

God tells Moses who He is, and this gives context for all of Moses’ life. Who God is gives the meaning and purpose of Moses’ life.

God calls Moses to be the shepherd of His people Israel, but God was and is their shepherd. Jesus spoke of being a shepherd in John 10, and He said:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. (John 10:11-12 ESV)

God chooses men and women to be His under-shepherds or hired hands. Moses was a good shepherd because as the Scriptures say:

Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. (Hebrews 3:5 ESV)

After Moses, many different shepherds were called, and some were faithful, and some were not. God chastised the shepherds of His people in Ezekiel 34:2.

Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? (Ezekiel 34:2 ESV)

The problem with these shepherds was they were not faithful to take care of the flock. People trust their leaders, and when that trust is betrayed, people suffer.

Exodus chapter 3 starts with Moses watching the flock of his father-in-law, and this is not a coincidence. Moses is not the owner of the sheep he is caring for. He is a hired hand or under-shepherd. Moses learned to be faithful when the profits and fruit of his labor belonged to someone else. Also, Moses watching the flock is significant because the picture or idea of shepherding runs throughout Scripture as how God cares for His people and how God’s people are cared for. Today we have people called “pastor,” which means “shepherd” and comes from the Latin word for shepherd. However, “pastors” are under-shepherds. We all are God’s people. It is required of pastors that they be faithful and feed God’s flock.

We are all stewards of what God has given. We are all His under-shepherds in one form or another. We all have families, jobs, relationships and responsibilities that have been entrusted to us. Who God is provides meaning and purpose to our lives. Who He is provides context to our lives.

Even today, God appears, calls and speaks.

Are we listening?

God Knew

Exodus 2:23-3:10

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. (Exodus 2:23 ESV)

“During those many days” means a long time.

Exodus 7:7 says:

Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. (Exodus 7:7 ESV)

We know then that Moses was 79 or 80 years old at the time we are picking up the story. Acts 7:23 tells us:

When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. (Acts 7:23 ESV)

When Moses visited his brothers, the children of Israel, he was 40 years old. At that time, he murdered an Egyptian and fled from the king of Egypt, who was trying to kill Moses because of the murder. He fled at 40 and returned at 80, so we know that the “many days” Exodus 2:23 is talking about was 40 years or approximately 14,610 days.

14,600 days of slavery for the Israelites. The king of Egypt died. He had ordered the killing of the Hebrew baby boys. He had ordered the increase of their labors and their sufferings. With his death, the suffering did not stop. The slavery and suffering of the Hebrews were institutionalized. It was part of the laws and culture. It was part of the habits of thought and practice in the land. And, the people groaned because of it.

This is not the exasperated groan of a teenager asked to take out the trash. This is the weakened sigh of the person about to die because they don’t have food. This is the sigh of a person too spent to make an actual groaning sound. The people of Israel were spent. They were on their last breath. The design of the king of Egypt had been to exterminate them, and it was about to be accomplished. In this state, the people of Israel cried out for help.

Our sufferings either drive us to the Lord or from the Lord. We are either growing closer to the Lord or further from the Lord. The suffering of the children of Israel caused them to seek the Lord.

Moses tells us:

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. (Exodus 2:24-25 ESV)

Please pay close attention to what this says. God heard. God remembered. God saw.

God heard their groaning. God is not unaware or insensitive to our suffering. The history of God’s people teaches us that God knows and understands. Not only did He listen to the groaning of the children of Israel, but, at the right time, He also sent His Son, who was tempted and suffered along with us. Hebrews 4:15 says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 ESV)

He can sympathize with our weaknesses. He has been tempted in every respect as we are. I have found that when I am angry and kicking at God, I tend to get further and further away from Him. But, He promises that He will save all who call on Him. Romans 10:13 says:

For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:13 ESV)

Please remember that statement, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Next, the text says God Remembered His covenant.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. (Exodus 2:24-25 ESV)

Here is another important thing to remember. Throughout the Bible, the Word of God, we see that God keeps His covenants. A covenant is a promise or an agreement, a guarantee or commitment. One way of saying this is that God is a covenant God. However, God uses the word “Faithful” to describe Himself. In Exodus 34, Moses describes his encounter with God on Mt. Sinai. He asked God to show Himself to him, and God showed Moses what God termed seeing Him from behind. At the same time, God gave a brief description of Himself. In Exodus 34:6, God says:

“Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.” (Exodus 34:6 NLT)

Verses like this along with the account of God’s dealings with Egypt and Israel form the foundation of our understanding of who God is and how He deals with us, His creatures.

The Egyptians were God’s creatures, just as the Israelites were God’s creatures. The Egyptians could see and understand that the Israelites were suffering, but they refused to have compassion or mercy on them. God’s compassion and mercy also extended to the Egyptians. However, God is also a God of love and justice, and judgment was necessary. God could not ignore the suffering of those who called on His name. Here is another Scriptural principle. This principle is summed up in 2 Peter 3:9.

The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. (2 Peter 3:9 NLT)

We must not think because we do not seem to see God’s judgment or justice that it will not come. We must not think that judgment is not necessary for our world and for our own lives. Each one of us must answer for the things we have done. This is why the death of Jesus Christ was necessary. HE TOOK THE JUDGMENT WE DESERVED. God made a covenant, a promise, with Eve in the garden to provide a Savior, and God is faithful to His covenants.

For the Egyptians, God remembering His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob meant that judgment was imminent. In other words, their time to repent and change their ways was running out. God also remembers the promise Jesus made to come again. Our time, this world’s time to repent and change our ways is running out.

Our text also says that God saw the people of Israel and God knew.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. (Exodus 2:24-25 ESV)

God saw. He understood.

There is an account of an incident that took place in the life of Hagar, Abraham’s concubine. When Hagar became pregnant, her mistress, Sarai, was jealous and mistreated her. Things were so bad for Hagar she ran away. God met with her on the way and told her that He would bless her and her son, and make him into a great nation. At that point, she called God “the God who sees,” in Hebrew “El-roi.”

For God “to see” means that He knows and understands.

This has profound implications for us, His creatures.

First, consider what 2 Chronicles 16:9 says:

The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. (2 Chronicles 16:9 NLT)

Just think of the greatness of being in the position of having God on your side! In Zechariah 2:8 it says:

For thus says the LORD of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” (Zechariah 2:8 NKJV)

God keeps a close eye on those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. Another favorite text on this subject is Psalms 139:15-16

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. (Psalms 139:15-16 NKJV)

God sees, and God knows. If God is on your side, what can overcome you? Do you need to fear anything?

As long as a person’s heart is fully committed to God, God’s favor is a fact of life. However, the second aspect of God seeing and knowing is the Egyptian side of the story.

God seeing and knowing did not work out so well for the Egyptians.

The Egyptians set themselves in opposition to God. God saw, and God knew.

We must realize that this is why not everyone is saved. God is not willing that any should perish, but sadly we are told in Scripture that many will perish. We love John 3:16 that tells us that God so loved the world. I love John 3:16 and have loved it since I started to understand words. But, we must read the verses that follow John 3:16 if we are to understand its full meeting. Here is what it says:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. (John 3:16-20 NKJV)

These verses clearly state that the one who does not believe is condemned already. And, just as importantly, they say that they hate the light because they do not want their deeds to be exposed.

The world is angry with God. The anger poured out by some atheists is one example of the world’s anger with God. The last verse, John 3:20, is enlightening as an explanation. “For everyone practicing evils hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” One reason the world is angry with God is the fact that He sees and knows.

God sees and knows, and in our hearts or consciences, we all know this and are convicted of our malice, envy, greed, lust and other sins. And, no matter what we try, we cannot escape the fact that God sees and knows.

These three facts lay the foundation for what is to come in Exodus, and they lay the foundation for our understanding of salvation.

1.       God hears

2.       God remembers

3.       God sees

These facts can be good or bad depending on which side you are on. Have you called on God for salvation, or have you set yourself in opposition to Him?

Please call on Him, today, while there is time.

Rejected!

Exodus 2:11-22

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. (Exodus 2:11 ESV)

Moses had grown up. The beautiful baby of Exodus 2:1 became a man. Acts 7 says:

Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.” (Acts 7:21-22 ESV)

Pharaoh’s daughter raised Moses as her son. She named him Moses because he was a descendant of the river. The Nile was sacred. His name signified that she considered Moses as a gift from the gods. He had the best education money could buy. He was a prince, groomed to be a ruler and a judge. Exodus 2:11-22 gives us two examples of his physical competence. First, he killed the Egyptian. If Moses was carrying a sword, he knew how to use it. If he was not carrying a sword, the murder would have been difficult for the untrained. Next, when he saw the shepherds preventing the ladies from watering their sheep, he was able to take control of the situation and rescue the ladies.

At the age of 40, Moses went to see the burdens of his people.

Pharaoh’s daughter had raised him as her son. His Hebrew birth was hidden, covered up and forgotten. However, Moses was nursed by his Hebrew mother. Seeds were planted in the toddler’s heart. Most likely seeds of truth and of the One True God.

God has promised that his word will not return to him void. Isaiah 55:11 says:

...so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11 ESV)

The word planted by Moses’ mother in the heart of her tiny son sprouted, grew and bore fruit in the 40-year-old Moses. Perhaps she told Moses about creation and God’s judgment at the flood. It is quite possible that she was the first source from which Moses learned the accounts that later became part of the Pentateuch. Just as in the parable that Jesus told of the seed planted in good soil, the seed planted in the heart of Moses produced fruit. Hebrews 11:24-26 tells us:

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26 ESV)

Moses was trained in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was mighty in word and deed among the Egyptians. However, the Holy Spirit moved in His heart, using the truth that he had been taught possibly up to the age of four. John 16 tells us that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. Moses’ Hebrew mother only had a short time with him as a baby, and then the Egyptians had over thirty years with him. The power that transformed Moses’ life was the power of God working through His word. God told His people “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6 ESV) The word of God implanted was strong enough to overcome the indoctrination of the Egyptians. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves. Faith is a gift of God. We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Hebrews 11:24 explains to us that it was faith that moved Moses to go and look on the suffering of his people.

Even though faith grew and bore fruit in Moses’ heart, he still had his Egyptian training to deal with. He had values, judgment and wisdom learned at the feet of Egypt’s best scholars. I am not speaking against education. Education is important, and without his training, Moses would not have left us the Pentateuch. The New Testament Apostle Paul would not have been who he was without his education, and he was very educated. And he said, “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” (1 Corinthians 2:13 ESV)  Moses’ training and education are not the explanation for why he was able to do what he did, and he would, in a sense, need 40 years to “get over” his education. Moses’ training and education did not serve to instill the morals he would later teach. We see this in his actions. Exodus 2:12 tells us:

He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exodus 2:12 ESV)

By looking this way and that, Moses signals that he is thinking about murder. By hiding the Egyptian in the sand, he tries to cover up what he did. Acts 7:25 tells us:

He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. (Acts 7:25 ESV)

Moses had arrived at the conclusion that God prepared him to be the deliverer of his people. He was trained as a ruler and a judge. He was mighty in word and deed. He was a natural fit for the position of deliverer. And so, he set out to accomplish the task, approaching it with his physical and mental training.

But, he was rejected.

Exodus 2:13-14 says:

When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, "Why do you strike your companion?" He answered, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" (Exodus 2:13-14 ESV)

Moses was a prince and a judge over them, but by his action, he made himself an enemy of Pharaoh. Moses’ authority and position were because he was part of Pharaoh’s house. The oppression of the Hebrews was the will of Pharaoh and was being carried out by the command of Pharaoh. By his action, Moses set himself against Pharaoh. The human thing to do and the thing that Pharaoh feared was a rebellion. Moses probably thought he could lead an insurrection as soon as his people realized what he was doing, but he was wrong. The Hebrews were not unified and they did not even begin to rally around him. He was rejected before he even started.

The next thing we read is:

When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. (Exodus 2:15 ESV)

When Moses thought his Hebrew brothers would understand that God had chosen him to be their deliverer, they rejected him. When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he rejected him. Moses was rejected by his own people and by his adopted people. He became a man without a home.

To avoid Pharaoh, he fled to the land of Midian. He happened to sit by a well and by chance saved the daughters of a priest named Reuel, and he ends up living with that priest and marrying one of his daughters. When Moses’ first son is born, he gives him the name “Gershom.” Gershom is made up of two Hebrew words, “Ger” which means “stranger,” and “shom” which means “there.” Moses, himself, writes about this name and says:

She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land." (Exodus 2:22 ESV)

God’s law, given through Moses, says, “You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20:13 ESV) Moses started out by murdering an Egyptian. Moses demonstrated a determination to deliver his people that came from his strength, training and qualifications. God did not bless his effort. Moses spent the next 40 years in the wilderness watching sheep.

In the wilderness watching sheep, Moses did not learn to be mightier in word and deed. He learned to care for wooly creatures just a little smarter than rocks but more prone than rocks to get themselves into trouble. He learned humility, the value of silence and time alone with God. He learned the Sinai wilderness and the voice of God. All these lessons were vital preparation for what He was called to do. The sheep needed food, water and safety, the same things people would need. For all the days of his life, Moses never ceased to meet with God. Exodus 33:7 and following tells how Moses had a tent called the tent of meeting where people would go to inquire of the Lord. Exodus 33: says:

When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. ... Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Exodus 33:9, 11 ESV

Moses was rejected, a stranger living in a strange land, and it was this that taught him his most valuable lesson.

As a man rejected by his people and by his country, Moses is a type of Christ. Isaiah 53 says of Jesus:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3 ESV)

In addition, Moses teaches us an essential lesson about salvation. Ephesians 2 says it like this:

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV

And Titus 3 says it like this:

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:4-5 ESV)

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done...”

Moses was raised up by God to be the deliverer of God’s people, but let me ask you a question. Did Moses part the Red Sea? No, of course not! Moses had nothing within himself whereby he could accomplish such a feat.

Did Moses cause the plagues? No, of course not! Moses had nothing within himself whereby he could accomplish such things.

The plagues, the parting of the Red Sea and the leading of the people were done by God. Moses did not tell God what to do. God told Moses what to do. The deliverance of God’s people from slavery was a work of God from start to finish. Moses’ part was to believe God.

As a stranger in a strange land, Moses learned not to put any confidence in the flesh. We also must learn the same lesson. If we put our confidence in the flesh, we are guaranteed to fail. We will all die and then what will become of what we have accomplished?

However, I am not talking about not having confidence. If we learn to believe God, obey God and listen to God, God cannot fail. We can be the most confident people on earth.

It took Moses 40 years on the backside of nowhere to learn that it is not by works of righteousness that we have done. Some people catch on early and learn fast, but some of us take a lifetime to learn.

If you have not received Christ as your Savior, you are guaranteed to fail, because you are depending on yourself. You may be brilliant like Moses, but trying in your own strength will find you rejected in the end.

If you are a believer, at times, we all need to be reminded of Paul’s words to the Galatians:

Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"? (Galatians 3:3-6 ESV)

Moses as a Baby

Exodus 2:1-10

The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. Exodus 2:2 ESV

This week we begin with a love story.

A man from the tribe of Levi meets a woman from the tribe of Levi. We are not given their names, yet. But, we do know that they met at the height of Pharaoh’s persecution of their nation. Pharaoh set taskmasters over the Israelites to afflict them with heavy burdens. The Egyptians feared the Israelites and tried to kill them with forced labor. When this did not work, Pharaoh resorted to trying to kill the Israelites by killing their babies. Pharaoh ordered the murder of the baby boys. First, he ordered his healthcare workers to kill the boys as they were born. This did not work. So, Pharaoh ordered that all the Hebrew baby boys be thrown into the Nile.

In this environment of persecution and oppression, our young couple started their lives together. Chapter one told us that in spite of all that Pharaoh did to cripple the Israelites, they continued to flourish, grow in number and gain in strength. The story has moved from a national trend to a couple and their children. We are told elsewhere (Exodus 6:20) that the young couple’s names were Amran and Jochebed. We also find out that they had two children before the birth of the beautiful baby in our story today.

We do not know what sparked the romance between Amran and Jochebed, but we have all been touched by their lives and the lives of their children.

Exodus 2:2 tells us that when her son was born, Jochebed saw that he was a fine child. Acts 7:20 says of this boy:

... he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, (Acts 7:20 ESV)

Ellicot’s Commentary says of this phrase “beautiful in God’s sight:”

Literally, fair to God. The adjective is found in the LXX. of Exodus 2:2, as applied to Moses. The special idiom for expressing pre-eminent excellence is itself essentially Hebrew, the highest goodness being thought of as that which approves itself as good to God;^[1]

What mother does not feel this way about her baby? I think this way about most babies.

Jochebed could not bring herself to throw her baby in the Nile. So, she hid him. Whatever the circumstances, after three months, she could hide him no longer. At this point, we find out that Amran and Jochebed were just ordinary people, probably on the poor side of average. God seems to delight in using ordinary people; for example, Mary and Joseph, or David, or Saul, or Peter, etc. We find out that Amran and Jochebed were just ordinary people by the materials they used and how the basket was made.

First, the basket was made from papyrus reeds or bulrushes. These reeds were readily available along the Nile and still grow there today. Second, she coated the basket with bitumen and pitch. Bitumen, or tar, is nasty sticky stuff. We use it for building roads and roofing houses. A common source for pitch is trees. A person does not need to be rich to gain access to these materials, and we know they were used in ancient Egypt. I am assuming that Jochebed made the basket, although I have no proof of that, but the text does say that she is the one who daubed the basket with bitumen and pitch.

Now comes the heart-wrenching part. She places her three-month-old baby in the basket and then places the basket among the papyrus along the banks of the Nile. She cannot stay and watch. She is supposed to have killed the baby. Perhaps she knows that this is the place the princess will come to bathe.

The Egyptians believed the waters of the Nile were good for health and would make them robust and fruitful. Moses was able to meet Pharaoh when he went to the river to bathe in the morning. Apparently, this was their regular practice.

So, the mother placed the basket with the baby in the reeds and left the baby’s older sister to watch what would happen. Sure enough, the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. She saw the basket and had her lady-in-waiting go and fetch the basket for her. When she opened the basket, she saw a beautiful baby boy, and he was crying. In spite of her father’s order, her heart was moved.

The baby’s sister saw her chance and asked, “Would you like me to go get a nurse from among the Hebrews to nurse that baby for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said, “Why yes, that would be nice.” So, the baby’s sister went and got the baby’s mother. Then Pharaoh’s daughter told her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.”

Imagine that! The mother who has just been forced to abandon her baby in the Nile is now getting paid to take care of her own baby, and that, by funds provided by the household of the man who ordered the baby’s death.

Protected by the princess and by her orders, the baby’s mother nursed him until Pharaoh’s daughter was ready to take him. The boy then became her son. The Egyptian form of his name means born, or drawn out, and is found in ancient Egyptian monuments to denote the “son of” or “descendent of.” She drew her boy, Moses, from the water, and implies that he was “born” by or from the water, a descendant of the river. It happens that the Hebrew word for “draw out” sounds the same, so the Hebrew name, Moses, fits in with the Princess’s explanation of where she got her baby.

She raised Moses as her son. Acts 7 tells us:

Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. (Acts 7:21-22 ESV)

The irony is amazing!

Pharaoh has been trying to kill the Israelites, and now the deliverer of the Israelites is being raised in and educated by his own household!

Pharaoh has set himself up in opposition to God and against God’s people. God’s people are threatened with extermination. Their suffering is great, and their bondage is quickly becoming unbearable. The irony of God using Pharaoh to raise the deliverer is more than God’s sense of humor. God is a God of justice. Psalms 37:14-15 says:

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. (Psalms 37:14-15 ESV)

In the book of Esther, a powerful man named Haman decided to use his position to kill the Jews. He hated a Jew named Mordecai because Mordecai would not bow before him. Haman also knew that Mordecai would not bow because of his allegiance to God. Mordecai set himself up against God and God’s people.

Pride and arrogance will do that. Believers, this is a side note, but the Bible warns us in many places and many ways against pride. Romans 12:3 says:

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3 ESV)

This is not a message about pride, but we should all take warning and ask God to deliver us from such a deadly peril.

Back to Haman and Mordecai - Haman decided to ask the king to let him hang Mordecai and had a very tall gallows built in his back yard in preparation. On the very morning that Haman went in to ask the king to let him hang Mordecai, the king ordered Haman to honor Mordecai before the whole nation. And then, that very night, Haman was hung on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. The irony is stunning, and God’s justice is vindicated.

God promised Eve that her seed would crush the serpent’s head.

The serpent deceived Cain and Cain killed his brother, Abel, and the serpent thought he had won. But then, Seth was born.

The serpent deceived the sons of Adam until only one righteous man was left. God destroyed the earth with a flood, and the serpent thought he had won. But, Noah was saved. So, the serpent deceived the sons of Noah, and they started building the Tower of Babel. The serpent thought He had won, but God raised up Abraham.

When a virgin, a descendant of Abraham, bore a child and named Him Jesus, the serpent excited a king named Herod to kill all the baby boys two years old and under. Surely, the serpent had won, but no. The baby escaped.

Thirty-three years later the serpent finally was able to kill the seed of the woman. He used the descendants of Abraham along with the descendants of the Tower of Babel, and they crucified the seed of the woman.

But, He rose again!

The irony is glorious. Every effort of the serpent to destroy the people and plan of God has been turned against him and has become the instrument of God’s justice and deliverance. The Cross upon which the serpent meant to have his final victory has become the symbol of his final defeat.

Oh, the serpent is still trying. Our televisions are pumping out the vilest smut ever and polluting the hearts and minds of our children. Many, many are being destroyed. Our government and media outlets are growing more and more corrupt. Our world is in chaos and is even now ripe for the one world government of the antichrist. Oh, it is coming, and the devil thinks he is winning. The battle is going to be terrible. The cost in human lives will be greater than anything seen up to this point in history. And, the irony will be astounding. More people will come to Jesus for salvation than ever before. The serpent and all his servants will be judged and locked up, and Jesus will return and set up His Kingdom. Every effort and every tool that the serpent has used against God and His people will be turned to His defeat.

Don’t you want to be on the side of a God who does this for His people?

I want to encourage you with a passage of Scripture. It is a long one, but I think you should memorize it. Psalms 31:1-13 says:

Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. (Psalms 37:1-13 ESV)

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^[1] https://biblehub.com/acts/7-20.htm

Who is Jesus?

John 18:33

Are you the King of the Jews? (John 18:33, ESV)

Pilate asked Jesus this question because Pilate was the Roman governor of the province of Judaea. Caesar was Pilate’s king, and part of Pilate’s job was to make sure that nothing threatened the rule of Caesar over the region.

Pilate asked, “Are you the King of the Jews,” and Jesus responded, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” (John 18:34 ESV) Of course, Pilate did not come up with this on his own. The chief priests and leaders of the Jewish nation had made this charge against Jesus. They wanted to kill Jesus, and to kill Him with the power of the state, they needed a legal reason. So their charge was, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2 ESV)

Do you see what they said? “We found this man misleading our nation...”

Many voices continue to say the same thing in different ways.

Some say the Bible is full of myths, and some say we cannot know what Jesus taught. Almost no serious scholar of ancient history agrees with such statements. The evidence for Jesus’ life and teaching is solid, and it is plentiful.

Some say Jesus is “misleading our nation” by denying what He taught or changing the meaning of what He said.

Let me try to give you an example.

I have heard an argument stated different ways, but with the same general premise. It goes something like this. “Jesus loves everybody. He taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Therefore, He forgives everybody and everybody will be saved in the end.”  Or, some will say, “Jesus loves me and wants me to be happy. And besides, I am not sure that what I am doing is so bad. You do not understand, but Jesus does.” With such reasoning, the clear teaching of Jesus is laid aside.

I admit, on the surface, this does not appear to be the same thing. It is not as direct as the Jewish leaders were. However, if the issue is pushed, many people reject what Jesus said because they think it misleads people. You will notice, I am equating changing what He said with rejecting what He said.

The statement that the chief priests and national leaders found misleading was Jesus saying He Himself is Christ, a king. That Jesus is Christ and King is correct. It is not misleading. For Jesus to have presented Himself as not the Christ and King would have been misleading.

At the end of his account of Jesus’ ministry, John says:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31 ESV)

From what is written in John’s Gospel, I want to take a look at a few of the things that Jesus said about Himself.

First, I want to look at John 6. In John 6, Jesus got into a conflict with followers and opponents alike over the issue of His kingdom.

It all started when He fed a crowd of over 5,000 men plus women and children. Starting with just five barley loaves and two small fish, Jesus thanked God for the food and began distributing it to the people. When everybody had eaten their fill, they gathered up twelve baskets of leftovers. John 6:14-15 tells us:

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. (John 6:14-15 ESV)

The crowd was ready to force Him to be their king.

How strange! When Pilate asked Jesus more about Him being a king John tells us they had the following exchange.

Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." (John 18:37 ESV)

Jesus basically tells Pilate that He is a King, but when the crowd wanted to make Him king, Jesus prevented them by slipping away. At that time, Jesus told them who He is. He said:

I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. (John 6:35 ESV)

In this statement, Jesus declares who He is. He says,  “I am the bread of life.”

With this statement, Jesus caused many of His disciples to stop following him. We see this in John 6:66.

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (John 6:66 ESV)

A lot of discussion took place before they deserted Jesus, but at the heart of the issue was this statement of Jesus that He is the bread of life. Jesus explained it like this:

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. (John 6:47-51 ESV)

He spoke as no one else could, and although He spoke the truth, they accused Him of misleading the nation. Jesus said, “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” This statement indicates the kind of King Jesus is. He gave His life for those He rules.

This statement takes us to another place where Jesus declares who He is. In John 10: He says:

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11 ESV)

After the incident with the bread and fish, conflict continued to grow between the Jewish leaders and Jesus. The dispute centered on who Jesus was/is. Jesus gave sight to a man who was born blind. The man never saw anything in his life until Jesus opened his eyes. This was an act of God. However, some of the Pharisees said:

"This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." (John 9:16 ESV)

In their minds, Jesus broke God’s command to keep the Sabbath day holy by healing the blind man on the Sabbath. They asked the blind man what he thought, and he said:

Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. (John 9:30-33 ESV)

For his clarity and insight, they excommunicated him. Jesus heard that they had kicked him out, so he found him and said:

"Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you." He said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him. Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." (John 9:35-39 ESV)

The Pharisees heard this and realized that Jesus was saying they were blind. They were supposed to be the shepherds of Israel, but they were blind to the truth. Jesus demonstrated who He was by feeding the vast crowd and by healing the blind man, but they were blind to the truth. These were just two of the many things Jesus did to demonstrate who He was. John says of Him:

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25 ESV)

The many things that Jesus did were to help them see. In telling them they were blind, Jesus was trying to help them see. The only thing that He did not do was force them to believe.

When the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leaders came to a head, Jesus prepared His disciples for what was about to happen. He told them He was going to be crucified, but He would rise from the dead on the third day. Jesus explained that He would go away, but they knew the way to where He was going. Jesus’ disciple, Thomas, dared to ask what Jesus meant, and Jesus said:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6 ESV)

Do you see what has happened here?

Three times Jesus has said, “I am.”

1.       I am the bread of life.

2.       I am the good shepherd.

3.       I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

These statements came after Jesus had given conclusive evidence of who He was. John records other “I am” statements Jesus made, all of them backed up by the works Jesus did. These three are representative of what Jesus said about Himself and are used to lead us to a conclusion.

We are each in a position like Pilate was.

Easter has put us in this position. We have to decide if the charges the Jews brought against Jesus are true or not.

I watched a debate between John Lennox and Peter Atkins. John Lennox said that the resurrection of Jesus was strong evidence for his Christian faith. Peter Atkins said that this was laughable and completely ridiculous because dead people do not rise from the dead. And, this is the point. The historical evidence and the testimony of the eyewitnesses all say that Jesus rose from the dead.

Jesus has done everything but force people to believe. And now, we have a choice to make. We can agree with the leaders of the Jewish people and say that this Jesus stuff is just misleading the people. Or, we can do like Pilate and see through the jealousy and lies of the Jewish people but crucify Jesus because to do otherwise would have meant losing his political position.

The tomb is empty. The promise of Jesus’ return is hard upon us. Jesus has said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

If we ignore Jesus’ statement, we crucify Him in our hearts and act like Jesus is still in the tomb. But this is the definition of insanity because it ignores or is out of touch with reality.

On the other hand, if we believe that God has raised Him from the dead, we do the work of God. Jesus said:

This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. (John 6:29 ESV)

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we proclaim that He is risen. We affirm our faith in Him who God has sent, and we do the work of God.

He is Not Here!

“When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?" And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—it was very large. And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you." And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. (Mark 16:1-8 ESV)

“When the Sabbath was past...” They had time to grieve. They had time to worry. The disciples were full of fear, expecting at any moment the soldiers would come for them. They had failed. When Jesus had asked for them to pray, they had slept. When the soldiers had come, they had fled. And Peter, he had denied he even knew Him. They spent a long Sabbath, mourning and lamenting all that had happened, a couple of sleepless, tormented nights.

Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices. These women had supported Jesus’ ministry from its early days. They were some of His most faithful followers. Now, in a final act of devotion, they came to the tomb to anoint His body.

“Very early on the first day of the week...” Even before the sun was up, these ladies were arriving at the site of the tomb. Why not? They couldn’t sleep.

“They were saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone?’” It was a huge stone. They were trying to figure out how they would overcome such an obstacle, but when they got there, the stone was rolled back. The women did not know what to think, but they entered the tomb. “And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.” Their trembling and astonishment started immediately as an electric shock of fright shot through their bodies. The young man said to them, “Do not be alarmed.” Yes, they needed reassurance and calming. He even knew what they were doing. He said, “You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.” Yes, He was crucified. That was their sorrow, their loss. They sought Him in the place of the dead, the graveyard. All their hopes had died with Him.

Let us pause and consider the darkness of the hour. Until we give up all hope of saving ourselves, until we buy spices and go to the tomb of our own righteousness, we can never experience the true glory of the resurrection.

The women went to the place of the dead to find the living Lord. So, the young man told them, “He is risen. He is not here.”

I love the early morning. I take my walks early in the morning. I avoid the heat of the day, and during certain times of the year get to see the first light of the sun as it begins to brighten the eastern sky. As the stars start to fade and the darkness flees, anticipation builds for the new day. The air is fresh and crisp, and the weariness and fatigue of yesterday have been washed away by a night of rest.

Resurrection life is not found in the new day.

Spring comes, and flowers bloom. Resurrection life is not found in the Spring.

The Easter bunny is a symbol of fertility. Resurrection life is not found in offspring or children.

The words, “He is not here” are posted over so many pursuits. The empty tomb is a reminder of where our life is found.

Resurrection life, eternal life, abundant life is found only in Jesus Christ. The tomb is empty. He is risen, and in Him we have life.