Moses: A Man Sent from God

Exodus   •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  1:11:42
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Moses’ problems are over. We now see him sent by God with a message to be delivered to Pharaoh. Only once does he remind the Lord that he is a person of no reputation. This time I do not believe it is a sign of weakness, but of meekness. Moses’ whole strength is the Lord, and this is exactly what the Lord wants. He has been working with Moses for 80 years to bring him to this place.
Just as it took the Lord a long time to teach this lesson to Moses, so it often takes us many years of the Lord dealing with us to bring us to the same realization. We must be patient with others who have not been as long as we have in the school of experience.

1. The Person of Moses, 6:14-27.

In this section of Scripture, we are given the genealogy of Moses and Aaron. This may seem out of place, but it is not in the movement of the book. Moses is a man sent from God to redeem Israel from their bondage. As a man he must be related to the nation of Israel. He is a kinsman in order to be a redeemer. The genealogy shows this relationship. But in order to be their savior and redeemer, he must be free from the bondage of the children of Israel. Moses comes to Pharaoh, not as a one slave among many, but in the name of the Sovereign of the universe. His message to Pharaoh is take heed to me or else. Moses says in effect: “If you believe me and my words, you will be saved, for I speak not of myself but the words of Him who sent me. If you do not believe and obey my words, you will suffer the consequences of God's judgment.”
Let us stop and remind ourselves of what Moses himself tells the nation. He is but a pre-picture of the Prophet that was to come -- The Lord Jesus Christ (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18) -- to whom the nation was to give heed.
Deuteronomy 18:15 NASB95
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.
Deuteronomy 18:18 NASB95
‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
Moses came to Israel the first time free from the slavery that bound his brethren. He came as their Redeemer, but they rejected him, betrayed him and he went into a far country, secured a gentile bride and now we sent by God as his servant back again into Egypt to redeem his brethren from bondage. He is related to them, but he is not one with them in their slavery.
So it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. Though He were rich, yet He became poor and made Himself a servant to redeem others from bondage. Even though He came to His own people, they rejected Him and betrayed Him to the Gentiles. He is gone now ‘into a far country’ where the Father is giving Him a Gentile Bride. Then in God's time He will come again the second time to His people as their Savior and Redeemer. He, as Moses, is free from the slavery and bondage of His people.
God's redemption can be accomplished by no one else but one who is free from bondage and slavery. Let us look at this for a minute, for if we understand this simple concept of salvation, we will understand the Lord's salvation of us.
When Adam was placed in the garden, he was a free man and as a free man he had the freedom to operate according to his own personal volition. He could obey God and so belonged to the Lord's Kingdom or he could obey Satan and thus belong to Satan's Kingdom. The principle in operation is simply this: to whomever a man gives allegiance, to his kingdom he belongs. If Adam obeyed God, he would continue to be the Lord’s free man with complete liberty and dominion over all the earth except the one tree in the midst of the garden. If on the other hand he obeyed Satan, he would become the subject or servant of Satan. He no longer would be free. He then would be a servant or slave of Satan. As a free man he could place himself into slavery; But once in slavery he could not take himself out. He could not make himself free, for he was a slave. Nothing he could avail for his freedom from bondage for all he did as Satan’s slave belonged to Satan and only contributed to his further bondage.
This is exactly what happened when Adam sinned. Adam and Eve went into slavery and bondage to Satan. Adam voluntarily entered as a free man into this state of slavery. All his children were born in slavery. It is impossible for one slave to free another slave.
Notice Psalm 49:6-7 in this connection.
Psalm 49:6–7 NASB95
Even those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—
If redemption is to be accomplished someone must be sent who is outside the slave market, pay the price of redemption, and free those who would receive by faith their redemption.
Let us illustrate this using a box and let that box represent the slave market. Now Adam was created free outside of this box. However, as a free man he, of his own volition, placed himself in slavery. All from that day to this very day who have been born of earthly parents have been born in slavery. They have been born slaves to sin and Satan. There is no exception: Buddha, Mohammed, Mary the mother of Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy, and so the list goes right on down to us.
For anyone born in the slave market to seek to redeem his brother his total folly. Someone must come from outside the slave market “sent by God” if we are to be redeemed. Such a one did come for Israel. His name was Moses. He was Israel savior, but not Israel’s alone but he was the savior of anyone in Egypt who would believe. Yet Moses in this true account is merely the picture of a Greater One who came sent by God to be the Savior of the world. He is the Second Man. As the Second Man He is free and uncontaminated by the fall Through the virgin birth, He was born outside the slave market. He had a human mother but no human father. He is free from bondage to sin and Satan. He said that the prince of this world finds nothing in Him.
Scripture not only identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as the Second Man (1 Cor. 15:47), being the only One from Adam to Christ who was born free, but he is also referred to as the Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). The difference is not without significance. There is not going to be a third Adam ever come who is born outside of the slave market. There is not another Savior if we miss this Savior. There will never be for all eternity, another chance to be redeemed if we miss this opportunity provided in “the Last Adam.”
1 Corinthians 15:47 NASB95
The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:45 NASB95
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
Moses came to Israel twice, but Moses was the nation's only savior. Just so Christ will come to Israel twice and appear the second time without sin unto salvation, but he is Israel’s only Savior and Redeemer. So it is that Christ may plead with us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit to accept Him as our Savior more than once, but there is not, and never will be, any other name whereby we must be saved. To reject Him in this life is to seal our eternal destiny. The only reason that we need a Savior is because there is something to be saved from. Jesus Christ is the way. Apart from him there is no salvation
Redemption, however, is not only by a divinely sent deliverer who is free from sin and slavery; It is also by blood and by power. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:7.
Ephesians 1:7 NASB95
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
There is no other means of redemption in God's program but blood redemption. So it is that Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:18-19.
1 Peter 1:18–19 NASB95
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
This was God's work for us on our behalf. It is pure grace.
But moreover, the Lord has delivered us (Colossians 1:13).
Colossians 1:13 NASB95
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
That is power. We have been rescued from this present evil age (Galatians 1:4) by the power of God.
Galatians 1:4 NASB95
who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
Thus, we are saved by a divinely sent Redeemer, by blood and by power. Beloved, if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36).
There is something else that we need to observe before we leave Exodus 6:14-27. This is the only genealogy in Exodus which is quite in contrast to the ten that are listed in Genesis. Moreover, this genealogy is for both Moses and Aaron. In the fulfillment of the Lord's true and final redemption in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is only one genealogy and one person. However, it takes two people here (Moses and Aaron) to convey the several offices that the Lord Jesus Christ will possess. He will be Israel’s deliverer and then reign as their King-priest. He will be a priest upon a throne.
Just as one sacrifice could not convey the many aspects of His perfect and eternal sacrifice for sin, so one man could never portray all that this infinite Person is to Israel and to us.
It is noteworthy also to make mention that Moses records in these verses the descendants of Aaron, but gives nothing about his own, indicating that in truth Moses is the author, for an impostor would have emphasized the progeny of the great lawgiver. While it is necessary for the genealogy of Aaron to continue because of the priesthood, to complete the type, Moses, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, ends his genealogy with himself. So it is that the genealogy of Christ as it is recorded ends with Him in Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3. Yet the Lord has given to Christ children (Compare Hebrews 2:13b; Isaiah 8:18). Had Moses recorded his descendants, this aspect of his being a type of Christ would have been broken just as much as when he struck the rock twice when he was told to merely speak to it. God's word is perfect in every detail.
Not only is Moses a type of the Lord Jesus Christ in being an Israelite yet being free from the bondage to sin and Satan, He is also a type of the Lord in the demonstration of his power. The words Moses spoke were not Moses’ words; neither were the miracles he performed done by his own power. Moses was merely the servant of the Lord delivering His message and manifesting His power.
So, the Lord Jesus Christ was the greater than Moses. His words were not His own and He repeatedly said so (John 8:38, 40, 42, 47; 12:47-50). Moreover, the Lord Jesus never performed any miracle by His own power but always at the will of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit. He was that Prophet that was to come like unto Moses.

2. The Preparation of Moses, 6:28-7:13.

God's will for anytime in our lives is known only through His word. We are to wait on the Lord and then obey His word.
A. The word of the Lord affirms Moses’ call, 6:28- 7:7.
6:28-29 -- “I am the Lord.” “I am the covenant keeping God of the Israelites. I am that I am, and I cannot be anything else. I cannot lie.” Moses is commanded to speak, and the New Testament book of Hebrews records that Moses was faithful (Hebrews 3:5).
6:30 -- Moses acknowledges that he is of no reputation. He has nothing with which to commend himself to Pharaoh. He has no ability in himself. The Lord alone is his strength and sufficiency.
Let us remind ourselves today also that “who is sufficient for these things” (2 Corinthians 2:16) that are ours to perform?
Certainly not us. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

1) Moses’ (and Aaron’s) relationship to Pharaoh, 7:1-3.

7:1 -- Notice carefully Moses’ position because in this position he is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given Moses the position of deity. Imagine! A mortal man is given a place of Elohim by YHWH (Jehovah) Himself as he goes before Pharaoh. He in no way is subject to Pharaoh, but Pharaoh is subject to him. He is not to go begging to Pharaoh, but to command him in the name of the Lord. He is the Lord's ambassador and is to conduct himself as such.
The reason for this is because the greater than Moses was in fact Deity who stood before the god of this age. It is this one who alone has defeated Satan. It was of this one that Michael the archangel made reference when he was contending with the devil and, being unable to bring against him a railing accusation, said, “The Lord rebuke you” in Jude 9. He is that Lord.
“and Aaron your brother shall be your Prophet.”
Once again it takes two human beings to represent the divine Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus was His own Prophet and He delivered His own message from the Father. Moses and Aaron represent different facets of His one person.
We need to keep in mind that in all the rest of the narrative, even though it is not expressed, Aaron is the speaker before Pharaoh in all transactions.
7:2 -- Moses is commanded to speak “all.” You will remember that the former encounter found only a partial declaration of the truth God had given for Moses and Aaron to proclaim. God tells them they are not to withhold anything out of fear or favor.
So it is today that the true servant of the Lord is to preach the word (2 Timothy 4:2) and shrink not to declare all the council of God (Acts 20:27). This is to be done although men will “turn away their ears from the truth” in the last days (2 Timothy 4:4). It is easy today to fill the pews if a man will tone down the message and hedge on the issues. Yet such a man is not a faithful servant of the Lord.
7:3 -- Here is God's prediction of what he will do. This word “harden” is used only twice in these chapters and it refers to that which is hard, difficult, obstinate. It is used again in Exodus 13:15:
Exodus 13:15 NASB95
‘It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
God purposely did this to multiply His signs and His wonders in the land of Egypt. This would result in the Egyptians, the Israelites and the whole world knowing who the Lord is. The whole world was evangelized because of the hard heartedness of one man.

2) Pharaoh’s unresponsiveness brings the knowledge of the Lord to all Egypt, 7:4-5.

7:4 -- Moses is told once again not to be discouraged but rather encouraged when Pharaoh says, “No.” Believer, we should be the most encouraged and joyous people on earth because of the signs of the times. The things which will discourage the average person should encourage us because we know that now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. He who shall come will come, and we are not children of the darkness that the day should overtake us as a thief.
The more they reject light, the more judgment they shall receive. Notice this also. These judgments upon Israel are but a pre-picture of the final conflict and the judgment upon the world system by the greater than Moses. Here in Egypt Israel is spared after the third plague. Though they are in Egypt they are protected from its effects. So, Israel in that future day will be protected by God (Revelation 12:14-16). They will be in the world but not affected by the judgments. But as Moses's wife was outside of Egypt completely unaffected, so the church, the bride of Christ, will not even be involved in this time. We are kept from the hour of trial (Revelation 3:10); Israel is kept through the hour of trial (Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21-22; etc.).
Jeremiah 30:7 NASB95
‘Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.
God uses this trial to refine Israel as a nation. That is why it is called the time of Jacob’s distress, or trouble. The same distinction is seen between Enoch and Noah. Enoch, as a type of the church, is taken away that he should not experience the coming judgment; Noah and his family are brought through the judgment that fell upon the earth.
7:5 -- In the future day the world shall know, God says, that I am the Lord, and He will gather Israel to the last man (Compare Isaiah 43:1-7; 20:34-37; 39:21-29 for examples).
Isaiah 43:1–7 NASB95
But now, thus says the Lord, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. “For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. “Since you are precious in My sight, Since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, And gather you from the west. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar And My daughters from the ends of the earth, Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”
God has promised to redeem Israel and He will keep His word. He will separate believers from unbelievers. If one follows the prince of this world, he must bear the consequences and will share in his judgments. If one follows the Lord, he will be freed, and he will share the blessings that the Lord will give.
Redemption is never man's work; it is God's work. He will stretch forth His hand over Egypt and redeem them with his arm. Redemption is the strong-arm work of God. Creation is merely his finger work.

3) The testimony of Moses and Aaron’s obedience, 7:6-7.

7:6 -- Moses looks back as he writes this book and says through the Holy Spirit, “We were faithful.” How wonderful it will be to have the Lord Jesus say of us, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” This is all the Lord is asking of us and when we have done this, we are still unprofitable servants.
Luke 17:10 NASB95
“So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”
7:7 -- It is not uncommon, as Egyptian records show, to have a man in service beyond 100 years of age. Moses will be in service until he is 120 and Aaron will be even older when he dies. Moses had become matured and seasoned by years of preparation. He is not a “young sprout” which is the Greek term for a novice.
Moses has stressed his genealogy and his age. At the close of his genealogy he writes:
Exodus 6:26–27 NASB95
It was the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their hosts.” They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the sons of Israel from Egypt; it was the same Moses and Aaron.
‘You cannot get us confused,’ Moses says, ‘with someone else. This is our genealogy. It belongs to us and to us alone. No one else by the name of Moses and Aaron have this genealogy nor were at this age when we first appeared before Pharaoh.’
Just so there is coming someday another Man--sent from God to the nation of Israel. He will identify Himself by His credentials. He will be related to the nation of Israel, and yet He will be free from its bondage. He will enter into a conflict with the prince of this world and will overcome Him with the sword of His mouth. When He comes, He will redeem his people.
But today, God is calling out a people for His name and preparing a bride for the Son. The invitation is to “whosoever will” to come and be saved. Will you come? If you miss His so great salvation, how shall you escape? There is no other Savior.
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