God is on the Move

God is on the Move Exodus 3:1-10 Review • Israel in Egypt: slavery, threats, and growth. • Moses is plucked from the Nile, adopted into Pharaoh’s family, and educated in the highest halls. • Moses’s disastrous visit: murder, rejection, and exile. • Moses in Midian: he marries Zipporah and has two sons, Gershom and Eliezer (see Exodus 18:3-4); he seems to embrace this new life where he and his father-in-law get along very well. Moses’s Situation 1. Moses the Peasant-Shepherd • Approximately 80 years young (see Exodus 7:7) • Keeping his father-in-law’s sheep • Break from the Egyptian Culture (see Genesis 43:32) 2. In God’s providence, Moses finds God in the humdrum details of finding pasture far away from home. Strange Sign (3:2-3) 1. The Angel of Yahweh • “Angel” is essentially a messenger from heaven • Bible commentators note that the phrase “Angel of the LORD” is probably best understood as “the Messenger, who is the LORD” • See Genesis 16:7-11; 22:15; and 1 Chronicles 21:12-30 2. Burning, but not Consumed • Fire will play a prominent role at the apex of this book: 24:17 • God conveys the point that He doesn’t need fuel to burn – He is and always has been; He’s utterly self-existent God Speaks (3:4-10) 1. God, who has thus far taken a seemingly passive role in the book so far, breaks in with a call and 3 declarations 2. God’s Declarations: • • • • Call #1: A Declaration of Friendship (3:4) Call #2: Kind Instruction (3:5) Call #3: Self-Identification (3:6) Call #4: Commission (3:7-10) a. I have seen/heard/know b. I have come down, I have determined to act forcefully c. I am sending you. Drilling Down 1. Let’s consider the seemingly odd choice of God to send a washed-up, never-was felon with a massive speech impediment and no leadership experience. 2. Let’s consider the heart of God – the Angel of the Lord is also the Man of Sorrows (“for I know their suffering” see Isaiah 53:3-4) 3. Let’s consider the unapologetic and unflinching commission of God. 4. Let’s consider the role of prayer: the cry of God’s people compelled action – see Isaiah 37:17s