Commission of Moses 1 (Exodus 3 pt. 2)
Notes
Transcript
last week we talked about how God heard the cries of the Hebrews who were slaving away in Egypt
those slaves were just slaving away, not really realizing of the deliverance that God had ahead for them
and how that we can learn from this situation so that we don’t give into hopelessness
though things may often seem hopeless, even for a long time, our deliverance could be right around the corner
Additionally, we saw God appearing to Moses via the burning bush
God tells Moses of the plan of deliverance that He has for the Hebrews
and this plan foreshadows God’s plan for humanity as a whole
God is a God of deliverance, providing us deliverance from sin, from death, from the perils of this world and the perils we put ourselves into
This is where we left off, when God told Moses He’d heard the Hebrews’ cries and fully intends on delivering His people, saying...
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
we see that God not only wants to deliver His people out of a terrible situation, but He wants to provide them with a GREAT situation on top of that
He promises us the same, not only are we saved from sin and the things of this world, we are ultimately promised a heavenly place with Him, with peace, happiness, and rest
God goes above and beyond for us, showing how much He loves us, though we certainly do not deserve it
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
We see God commissioning His prophet as He pretty much always does.
When a prophet is commissioned, we usually see the following - Vision -> statement of the mission -> the prophet obeying and fulfilling
interestingly, we even see this with Paul in the NT
Now, what God called Moses to do may have seemed like a herculean task. to go before Pharoah and somehow get the Hebrews freed.
Moses had exiled himself from egypt years ago, he no longer knows the current pharoah, and to somehow get him to let the hebrews go would under most circumstances seem hopeless
but God doesn’t ask Moses to do this huge task without being there for them, and without any hope
sometimes, the things that God asks us to do can feel hopeless, whether it is something being difficult for us personally, or for any other reason, we know that if we are doing what God wants us to do, THERE IS HOPE OF SUCCESS
So we can always know that when we are doing God’s work, it is never hopeless and we should never give up on it
and if we don’t do it, who will?
if moses wouldn’t have helped deliver the hebrews, who would have? and if we don’t go out and deliver the gospel to people, how will they be delivered?
Not only does God give Moses this big task, but we must remember he is 80 years old, with all the baggage that this comes with
even more, when he had killed the egyptian slave master while in Egypt, he was spurned by the people he was trying to help
So God gives Moses what seems like a big task, how does Moses respond?
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
We see Moses being hesitant when God asks this of him, as if he is not confident that he could accomplish the task that God is asking of him
sometimes it’s easy to get caught in certain ruts of thinking, “I could never do that.” “there’s no way I could ever accomplish such a thing” “I’m not smart enough” “I’m not this, that, or the other enough”
this kind of stuff holds us back when doing the work of God
what if Paul thought, “I could never spread the gospel across the whole of the Roman empire”? look how different things would have been
Moses almost didn’t take on his role here, think how different things would have been
We never want to hold ourselves back from the work of God, we may be able to accomplish great things, should we try, should we make a real college try
it doesn’t matter if we’re just ole country people, so were the disciples in their days
each and every one of us has the capacity to do something great for God in this world, we just have to be bold and take up the task
think of all the people in the Bible who hesitated first before doing what God asked of them. Moses does here, we saw Jeremiah hesitate, saying he was too young, we see Gideon hesitate, and more
but each of these would end up accomplishing something amazing.
So do not stop yourself from realizing your Godly potential, because if God is for us, who can be against us?
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
so what does God instantly say? “CERTAINLY, I will be with thee” CERTAINLY
we can always be confident that we will have God in our corner, He says He will always be with us, even to the end of the age
what a blessing it is to have God in our corner, we need not fear, we need not doubt, we can be completely bold in completing our mission in this world
to have the God who created us, who created everything, on our side is a priceless blessing that we can rest upon as our foundation
Could Moses have done all the great things he did without God being with him? no way!
think of all the great things that God accomplished through Moses in Egypt, speaking to the Pharoah, facing off with the Egyptian priests, successfully leading the Hebrews out, crossing the Red Sea...
Moses would have been lucky to even speak to the Pharoah once without God, much less everything else
God kept His promise of being with Moses and working through him, and He has promised to be with us and work through us
“token” = sign, God will give moses a sign that will confirm everything He says here, this authenticates the message, it further proves the truth of everything that God is saying
God did this with others like Gideon as well, even the miracles of Christ have this, the signs authenticate or further prove the message
with hindsight, we know that this would end up happening, the Hebrews would come back to that very mountain and enter into the covenant with God
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
Moses wants to know the correct name or thing to say to the Hebrews in order that they may listen to him and take him seriously.
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
There is much meaning of what God is saying here, of which we will talk about just some of it...
“The idea of the verb would certainly indicate that God is not bound by time, and while He is present (“I AM”) He will always be present, even in the cuture, and so “I AM” would embrace that as well.
“…that God attributes to himself alone divine glory, because He is self-existent and therefore eternal… Nor does He predicate of Himself anything common, or shared by others; but He claims for Himself eternity as peculiar to God alone, in order that He may be honored according to His dignity”
He’s saying, “I’m eternal, I’ve always existed and am uncreated, I am the things that only God could be”
the name carries with it the meaning that He is the one and only God over everything, which is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob which the Hebrews knew and worshipped
all of this will be completely reinforced and expanded upon by the next verse as well
So when Moses goes to Egypt and says this, the Hebrews will be on the same page.
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
God wants Moses to tell the Hebrews this as well, which will remind them of the covenant made with Abraham and the hope that will come along with it
It will be as a ray of light case into a world of darkness for them. they can know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel of their oppression and slavery
and for us it can be the same, we may end up in situations where we feel oppressed, enslaved, or overcome with some issue, but God can be our light at the end of the tunnel, our rope out of the pit, the hand that will lift us up out of the water, just as peter was lifted out of the water by Christ
God further tells Moses to say...
Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:
And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
we see that God says He had visited the Hebrews in their distress and saw what was going on with them
in their slavery, in their misery, in their most downtrodden moments, God was keeping an eye on them, He knew their pain
not only was God keeping His eye on them, He was bringing His plan into action
again, so many times we may be suffering, only for God to be working out a grand plan for us in the background
so in these times, even our lowest of times, it’s so important that we lean on God and not give up on Him, because often through our lowest lows, we end up reaching the highest hights
we must let God construct us, instead of letting ourselves self-destruct in the moment
in the Hebrews trusting of God, they would be delivered out of the lowest of lows, and the same can happen for us
And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.
And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
God here spells out exactly the plan that would come to fruition for the Hebrews, all it took was the obedience of those involved, Moses and the Hebrews
God would show His dominion over the powers of the world and the powers of evil, with God and His goodness prevailing, something that we can always trust in and believe in
that’s how this story will go, that’s how our lives can go should we believe, and that’s even how the world will end, God and His goodness WILL prevail
this goes hand in hand with God delivering us, and is a theme in the Bible that we can fully put our trust in, rest upon, and have peace because of