Drew’s Blog - Drew Boswell

“The Return” Exodus 4:18-26

“Into the Wilderness”

A Sermon Series in the Book of Exodus

“The Return”

Exodus 4:18-26

Introduction

“Everyone knows that you don’t eat bananas until they turn yellow. The internal transformation of the fruit inside the peel is what causes the yellowing effect indicating when the fruit is ripe (https://www.scienceabc.com/nature/bananas-change-colour-upon-ripening.html). Because we are God’s people, the work of Jesus changes our lives from the inside out. His grace transforms our hearts and minds, overflowing to our actions.”[1]This morning we will look at how our faith in Jesus should change us from the inside out.

Prayer

Freedom to Serve the Father (vv. 18-23)

18 Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”

In the first five verses of this section the phrase “went back, go back” is repeated. This is the account of Moses leaving Midian and going back to Egypt.

(v. 18) When Moses was forty-years-old Jethro brought him into his family, and he lived with until here where Moses is eighty-years-old. Moses has is grown man, he has a wife and two sons, who themselves could be almost forty years old. He can go and do whatever he wants, but out of respect and honor to his father-in-law he asks permission to go and do what God has told him to do. He wants Jethro’s support.

(v. 19) Again, God comes and speaks to Moses, “And the LORD said to Moses in Midian” He is told that those seeking his life were dead, so it was safer to return, and then God comes to Moses again and speaks to him, “do the miracles, remember pharaoh is not going to listen, and gives him the words to say (that He promised He would earlier). Moses has already been told, and here he is told again, that pharaoh’s heart will be hardened (v.22) “But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” In response to the pharaoh’s hard heart, Moses is to do “all the miracles that I have put in your power.”

Israel is described as God’s firstborn son, (v. 22) “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son” God’s people were described as firstborn sons, and the purpose of the firstborn son was to serve the father, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” By enslaving God’s people, pharaoh demanded that they serve him, and prevented them from serving their father.

This is what sin does to creation. We are made in the image of God, we are designed as God’s creation to serve Him, to have a relationship with Him – but sin enslaves us, it lures us to serve false gods – to live a life that is contrary to our calling and design. In sin, we give our lives in service to that sin. Salvation is a releasing from this enslavement to sin, and it frees us to serve our true heavenly Father and have a relationship with Him.

Also, notice the relationship – God will free his people from slavery, but God is not stealing Pharoah’s slaves to make them his slaves. God frees his people, but as sons – we become the family of God. Yes, the son serves the Father, but it is rooted in a relationship of love, not forced submission. Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” It is right for children to obey and serve their parents; it is right for the children of God to serve their heavenly father.

Our submission to God is voluntary, and together we join the mission of God – we go to what God is doing and willingly join in and seek to serve Him.[2] But these children and the father must be about the same business. In the case of God and His son, the son must follow the clear instructions of the father – the mission of salvation is too important.

We have already seen the God Moses encounters in the wilderness at the burning bush is a holy God. You cannot just enter into His presence, the unholy has to be made holy in order to get close to Him. Exodus 3:5 “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

God has come to Moses multiple times; he is talking with him regularly. But God does not change – He is always holy. We may be set free, we may join Him in mission, and we may become comfortable in His presence, but wisdom should always remind us – God is holy, and He does not change.

(v. 23) In verses 22-23 there are two first-born sons represented. God’s first-born son and Egypt’s first-born son. There is a distinct line between them. “On one side are grace and life. On the other side are judgement and death. There is no middle ground or third option.”[3]

Fear of the Lord In His Service (vv. 24-26)

24 At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

The family consists of Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their two sons. As the family is making their way from Midian to Egypt, they stop at an inn. While they are at the inn, something happens to Moses that the family comes to realize is a life threatening and is directly coming from the Lord. “However, the real question is not how God assaulted Moses but why?”[4]

Those that had wanted to kill Moses in Egypt are dead, but now God is his enemy? God had just given him another round of instructions for what to do when he had gathered the elders of Israel together (vv. 21-23). Moses was the one who God appeared to in the burning bush, and called to lead God’s people out of Egypt – why now, would God seek to kill him?

This passage has many challenges to interpretation – but there is one big idea that anyone seeking to understand what is going on here sees. Circumcision is important to God at this moment in history.

Genesis 17:9-14 helps us to understand what is happening, “And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Moses had not circumcised his son – he had not kept the covenant. So, Zipporah grabs a stone knife and circumcises the son Gershom, and then places the piece of skin at Moses’ feet. When Moses gives excuse after excuse God patiently gives answers and seeks to reassure Moses, “I will be with you.” But when Moses neglects to circumcise his son, that becomes a matter of life and death. By Moses not following the word of God given to Abraham he “shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Moses almost lost his life because he did not follow the Word of God.

God’s people are identified as His people by the following of His law.

We are Baptists, specifically Southern Baptists – we are described as being “people of the book.” God’s Word is sufficient for every endeavor we set our hand to do, and will not come back void, it will accomplish its’ purpose in our lives. Moses has incurred the wrath of God upon his life because he didn’t pay attention to what was required. What am I supposed to get from this passage? We have to pay attention as we enter into the presence of God (Moses removing his sandals at the burning bush), and we have to pay attention as we enter into service of God (Moses as he travels to Egypt). We ignore God’s Word to our peril.

Zipporah takes the bloody piece of skin and smears it across Moses’ foot. Later, God’s people will take blood from a lamb and smear it across their doorposts. These are blood signs that they are seeking to follow God’s commands (circumcision and lamb’s blood). Jesus’ blood would be smeared across an old rugged cross. What must God’s people do to be saved from the angel of death? What must Moses do to be saved from God’s wrath? Blood has to be shed in a way that God accepts.

“Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with his people. Within the covenant there is grace and life. Outside the covenant are judgement and death. Moses by not circumcising his son is acting like an Egyptian, rather than a member of God’s covenant people.”[5] These two groups go all the way through human history and on which side of the line you are standing on is eternally important – on one side will be eternal grace and life, and on the other will be eternal judgement and death.

____________

Deuteronomy 10:8 “At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.” The Levites were to carry the ark, there were rings on the side, and long poles slid through the rings, and it was lifted up and carried. Later the ark was stolen and David and his troops recovered the ark, and were celebrating it’s return. But, someone decided to just put the ark in a cart to get it back home.

2 Samuel 2:6 “And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.” God does not change, He is the I AM WHAT I AM, Being in the presence of God is dangerous. He has given us a means to be safe, but His Word have to be followed.

_____________

(v. 26) Moses’ wife says that Moses is “A bridegroom of blood,”— Moses was adopted into pharaoh’s household. He grew up in the Egyptian ways of education and training. Acts 7:22 “And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.”

When his eventual wife first met Moses after his fleeing to the desert, she referred to him as an Egyptian. When does Moses become a Hebrew, one of God’s people? He was more than likely circumcised on the eight day of his life – we are told that his parents were people of faith. But true circumcision is a matter of the heart.

Romans 2:28-29 “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” When did Moses give his heart given to the Lord?

There is a fundamental life lesson that Moses needs to learn before he leads God’s people. God has established a blood covenant with His people. “First, God showed Moses the wages of sin by placing him under the wrath of God. But then God’s deadly wrath was turned aside – or “propitiated,” by the blood of circumcision. Blood is mentioned specifically because of a sacrifice and thereby identified with it. It was not a full sacrifice, but it represented Gershom’s entire person, offered in Moses’ place. Moses was saved from God’s wrath by the shed blood of a substitute.”[6]

Hebrews 9:22 “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

God is wanting to show His people how to be saved. This salvation story goes all throughout all of the Bible, but it includes the Abrahamic covenant – which Moses apparently ignored and failed to keep. Every human being is a sinner who stands under the wrath of God. The only way to be saved from eternal death is for God’s wrath to be turned aside, which can only be done through an act of blood.

By Jesus dying in our place, he turned aside the wrath of God against us. For the Israelites their covenant sign was circumcision – this is an act done to associate themselves with God and with His covenant. But what about Christians? How do we (today) show our association with God?

Colossians 2:11 “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.” In the OT the covenant of association was circumcision and in the NT the covenant of association is baptism. But just like circumcision doesn’t make you a follower of God, getting wet in baptism doesn’t make you a Christian – it has always been and will always be a matter of the heart.

So, imagine a leader of the church standing up and teaching or leading in some area, but then you discover they have never been baptized. It’s the same as Moses going to lead the Israelites and never circumcising his son.

Moses’ life has to reflect the faith that he is leading the people to toward.

The sign that was given to Moses was that one day, in the future, God’s people will be on the mountain worshiping and serving God, the leader who will lead them back to that mountain was expected to worship and serve along with the people. Exodus 3:12 “He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Matthew 29:19-20 is the great commission – we are to share how a person can come to Know Jesus, and then we teach them how to live a life before God that is pleasing to Him, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” How are you going to teach a disciple how to live a life pleasing to God, if you yourself are not living that same life? How is Moses going to lead God’s covenant people, if he himself was not following the covenant?

James 1:25 “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” And then later in James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” Works don’t save us, but our faith in Christ should become a changed life. We are changed by the blood of Jesus Christ. Have you been washed in the blood, the soul cleansing blood of the lamb? Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?

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[1] https://illustrationideas.bible/inside-out-2/

[2] Hebrews 2:11-12 “For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

[3] Tim Chester, Exodus For You (India; The Good Book Company, 2021) 49.

[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 117.

[5] Chester, 49.

[6] Ryken, 119.

“Don’t Give Excuses to God’s Calling” Exodus 3:16-4:17

Introduction

At the burning bush God and Moses are discussing Moses leading the Hebrew people out of Egypt. At this command Moses gives five excuses. The first is, Excuse #1 “Someone Else Would Be Better at This Than Me” Who Am I? Moses asks God who he was to do such a difficult thing. God’s response was that it did not matter who he was because God was with him.

Then Moses asks who God was, and Excuse #2 “I Don’t Know God Well Enough” Who Is God? Then God reveals Himself as being the Great I Am. Then God gives Moses detailed information about what he wanted Moses to do.

A Message for the Israelites (vv. 16-17)

16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

A Message for the Egyptians (vv. 18-22)

18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness[1], that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

God tells them exactly how the Exodus would go, “The people will believe, the king will be hardened, the Egyptians will be plagued, the deliverance will occur, and finally the Egyptians will be despoiled!”[2]

In response to these messages Moses gives his third excuse:

Prayer

Excuse #3 – 3 “No One Will Believe Me”

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”

Every prophet is to say exactly the words that were given to him from God – not his interpretation of the burning bush, or his opinion about the words, but the very words themselves and what happened. Then those hearing the words have to determine if these are the words and actions of God or is this man a false prophet. 2 Peter 1:20 “knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

In verse 18 God said to Moses, “And they will listen to your voice,” but them Moses says to God, “yeah, but what if they won’t listen.” God has said something to be true, but then Moses says, yes but what if it isn’t true. In spite of this defiance, God gives Moses three signs that will show people that what Moses is saying is true. These are signs will comfort Moses, and give evidence to the elders and the Egyptians that Moses speaks for God.

Sign #1. Staff to Snake – Something ordinary can become something extraordinary.

2 The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— 5 “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

As a shepherd Moses would have the staff with him. Every shepherd would use a staff to guide the sheep, fight off wild animals, etc. Later in 4:20 Moses’ staff is called “the staff of God.” When it is Moses’ staff it is just a stick, that can be easily thrown down and replaced with another stick. But once God uses it, it becomes the staff of God that does amazing signs. Moses is struggling with self-doubt and he is saying, “who am I to go to the pharaoh?” If God can do this with a stick, imagine what He can do with you.

You are not less than a stick. Jesus says something similar in Luke 12:24 “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!”

Also, the serpent was a symbol of Egyptian power, “for the Egyptians worshiped the serpent as a source of wisdom and healing.”[3] God can pick up and drop down Egypt whenever he wants – God is more powerful than the gods of Egypt.

Also, the plagues are follow as Moses makes the request before pharaoh to let the people go free. Frogs, gnats, flies are all normal things that God uses in an extraordinary way. An ordinary man, an ordinary stick, an ordinary hand, and ordinary water – in the hands of God become something extraordinary.

Sign #2. Leprous Hand Restored

6 Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.

Later when the law is given, leprous skin was considered unclean. In Luke 17 when Jesus comes across a group of lepers, “When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed.” In order to be allowed back into society a priest had to look at confirm that the leprous skin was healed. These men cried out from a distance, they were outcasts and ceremonially unclean.

But this Exodus passage was before the law, the temple, priests, etc. But God was going to take an unclean people and restore them to health. They would be freed from slavery and oppression and given a special responsibility among the nations of the earth. God will restore them.

Moses had tried to be the leader on his own and had failed, he had run to the wilderness to live for forty years. He made a mistake, he was a murderer – now God will use him, he will be restored. The God of the Bible is the God of restoration.[4]

Sign #3. Water to Blood – The Source of Life

9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

The third sign for Moses was the first of the plagues to come (the Nile to blood). For the Egyptians the Nile was the source of life. God was showing He had power of life and death for the Egyptian people.

Also, it was the Nile that the blood of many Hebrew infants would have been shed and drowned on account of the Pharaoh’s command (Ex.1:11). This also would be a sign of judgement for the Egyptian people.

These three miracles or signs was to prove that Moses spoke for God. Later Jesus would also perform miracles in order to show that He was God.

Excuse #4 “I’m Not Good At What You Are Asking Me To Do”

10 But Moses said to the LORD, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

Moses in his fourth excuse is concerned that he lacks the ability to persuade people when he speaks, for “I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Moses is not saying that he has a speech impediment (such as stuttering), but that he is fearful that when the time comes he won’t be able to persuade with his ability to speak eloquently.

The words he will choose to say will be wrong in getting the pharaoh to do what God wants him to do. God has already told him exactly what to say earlier, (v. 16) “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them,” and then in (v. 18), “you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him . . .”

Moses’ focus is on himself, “I am not eloquent” and “I am slow of speech and of tongue,” God’s response to Moses is to try and get Moses to focus on Him instead. God responds by reminding Moses that it was God who made him the way he was, “Who has made man’s mouth?” and regardless of how God had made his mouth, “I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”

This is the second time where God has said, “I will be with you.” If God has called you to do something, he will be with you as you go to do it.

Matthew 25:14-15 is the parable of the talents. Jesus tells the story, “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.” Then later the man returns and asks his servants what they did with the money that he had given them, (v. 19) “Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.”

Two of the servants made even for money for the man, but one of the servants did nothing, His one coin was taken from him, “For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

This parable shows that it is not about how good you are at something, compared to someone else, but what you do with what you have been entrusted. God gave Moses a mouth, He gave him the words to say, and He promised to be with Him. God never tries to convince Moses that he is more talented than he thought he was, or that he was a better leader than he thought he was – those things don’t matter. God said I will be with you.

Excuse #5 “Just Send Someone Else.”

13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do. 16 He shall speak for you to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him. 17 And take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs.”

God has told Moses to go four times up to this point. “So now, go, I am sending you to Pharoah” (3:10); “Go and gather the elders of Israel” (3:16); “You and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt (3:18), and then again in 4:12 “Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to speak.” Go, go, go, go.

And to God’s repeated commands to go Moses offers excuse after excuse, and then finally the truth of Moses heart comes out, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” The real issue was that Moses just did not want to go. “Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses,”

There comes a moment in the dialogue between Moses and God, where the fifth question was too much. Moses was not trusting what God was saying. There is a moment where we can pray, and ask questions, and all the while God is saying, go, go, go, go – and we reply back, “yeah but what about this?” and “what about that?” There comes a time when we are not wanting answers, but we are giving excuses for disobedience, and this kindles God anger toward us.

In response to Moses’ feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, God says, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well.” – Why does God do this? Look at Moses’ excuses 1) “Someone else would be better at this than me” – God responds by saying, “I will be with you” and he gives Moses a sign of one worshiping on that same mountain. 2) “I don’t know God well enough” – God responds by telling Moses His name, I AM WHO I AM. 3) “No one will believe me” so God responds with three more signs, staff to snake, leprous hand, and water to blood 4) “I am not good at what you are asking me to do,” – God says, I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say.

All these things is God working through something, God’s power changing something. Then we move to Moses’ fifth excuse 5) “I don’t want to do this” – so God sends Aaron to stand beside Moses, but the relationship is described as “you will be as God to him.” This is about Moses’ giving God full control of his life and trusting God with everything.

When you limit what you allow God to fully control,

you lose the blessing that goes along with His control over that area of your life.

Moses is out in the desert, defeated, wounded, old and just wants to disappear. God says, no, you are going to speak for me. I will tell you what to say, I will be with you, but you will go and lead my people. Moses goes on to be one of the greatest leaders who has ever walked the planet. There is power in the word, yes, I will go. Moses goes, but not fully as God intended, it was an altered plan – changed by Moses’ untrusting heart. The plan goes forward but altered by man’s hardened heart.

God’s last words to Moses in this exchange “Moses don’t forget your staff.”

___________________

[1] Was God being dishonest? Only three days with the real intention of never returning. Ruse de guerre – a justifiable stratagem in time of war.

[2] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 93.

[3] Ryken, 97.

[4] Peter Enns, The NIV Application Commentary, Exodus (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Zondervan Publishing, 2000) 110.

“To Know Oneself and To Know God” Exodus 3

Drew Boswell Ministries

“To Know Oneself and To Know God” Exodus 3

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“To Know Oneself and To Know God” Exodus 3

“Into the Wilderness”

A Sermon Series in the Book of Exodus

“To Know Oneself and To Know God”

Exodus 3

Introduction

Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” At 40 years old, he rejected his Egyptian position, he tried to lead a rebellion and to judge over the Hebrew people for a brief time, but they said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” Moses kills a man and escapes; he is crushed because the people rejected him as their leader. Later he meets his eventual wife, who she calls “an Egyptian.” He names his son a name that comes from his feelings of lostness, “I am a stranger in a strange land.” He then lives forty more years as a shepherd in the wilderness. When we find Moses in the story he is man who doesn’t know who he is; he is lost. He is not really Egyptian, but he is not accepted as a Hebrew.

John Calvin once wrote, “Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.”[1] When Moses encounters God and is commissioned to lead the Israelites, he has to deal with these questions; who am I? and who is God? – the rest of his life flows from the answer that he gets to these questions.

Prayer

God Reveals Himself (vv. 1-6)

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God[2]. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire[3] out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

God did not go to Moses, but God brought Moses to where God was. God created a situation that piqued Moses’ curiosity, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned,” Moses is thinking, “how is it that the bush is on fire, continuing to burn, but the leaves, branches, are not being consumed?”

Later, God will tell Moses who He is, “I Am” The One that exists yet is not consumed. He doesn’t need anything or anyone – but before he tells him, he shows him. It is a “physical miracle that communicated spiritual truth.”[4] Moses would even use this moment in his life to describe God later in Deuteronomy 4:24 “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”

When Moses begins to approach the curiosity of the burning bush, God calls out to him, and says, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground,” “For a few brief moments in time and space, the bush was the temple of the living God, the place of his presence on earth.

This is the first time that we see this word “holy” used as it relates to God. God is revealing his holiness to mankind in a way that has never been revealed before. “Holiness means separation. Something holy is set apart. God here, while in the bush, is distinctly different than His creation. He is the eternal Creator, and everything else is His creation. In Hosea 11:9 God says, “for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst,” So, when a holy God comes into contact with Moses he warns him, “Do not come near,” It is dangerous for mankind to come into contact with the holy God.

So God gives Moses instructions for how he could enter into the presence of a holy God, “take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” – God chooses where he allows his presence to be confined – if He allowed it to the entire earth, then the entire earth would be consumed. So he limits His presence to this small spot in the desert and allows Moses to enter into that small circle. On the outside of the circle are a pair of castoff sandals and inside the circle is a murderous sinful humbled man in the presence of the holy consuming God.

Mankind typically takes two approaches to God’s holiness; one is the exaggerate man’s goodness (we are all good, mankind is essentially good, and if you are just a nice person, try hard, be a good citizen, etc. you can enter into God’s presence). The other is to downplay God’s holiness by lowering the standards of what He requires (sin is not really that bad, God is not really concerned about those sins, you lesson man’s condition of being a sinner, etc.)

The only way for mankind to enter in the presence

of a holy God is for mankind to become holy.

This is why Jesus is so important for humanity; Colossians 1:21 “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,”

Then God tells Moses, “I am the God of your father,” – It was by faith that Moses’ father (and mother) hid him in a basket and placed him among the bulrushes along the Nile, Hebrews 11:23 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” Before Moses’ father was Jacob, and before Jacob, was Isaac, and all the way back to Adam – He is the same God.

In response to God’s word, “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” If you want to know and understand God, then that knowledge and understanding begins with a fear of the Holy God. The closer we draw to God the more we realize how far away (or different) from God we truly are.

God Sends Those He Saves (vv. 7-10)

7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey[5], to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

When God tells them that He has heard their cry and that he is going to do something about it, notice that He is going “to deliver them out of” something (slavery and oppression from Egypt) and bring them to something “and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey,” They are being delivered from and God is taking them to Every follower of Christ “receives two callings: first to salvation, and then to service.”[6]

The plan to deliver His people from their slavery involved Moses going and talking with the pharaoh; he is the one God is sending to lead God’s people out of slavery, “I will send you.” As Jesus is ascending to heaven he gives this command to His followers, Matthew 28:18-19 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,”

Those who have been called to salvation, are always called to serve.

“The work of salvation is God’s work from beginning to end. God uses us – as he used Moses—to accomplish his saving purpose.”[7] Moses had already tried to do this earlier in his life. But he tried to do it all by himself. He failed so miserably that he had to leave the country. So now when the time has finally arrived (40 years later), Moses becomes filled with self-doubt and gives several excuses:

Excuse #1 “Someone Else Would Be Better at This Than Me”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

When God calls him from the burning Moses’ first response was, “Here I am.” He took his sandals off, indicating a desire to enter into the presence of God, He bowed his face to the ground – everything Moses did indicated he was ready to follow and serve the God of his father, and Jacob, and Isaac. His words and actions were the same as Isaiah when the prophet said, “here am I send me!” – but then God explains what He wants Moses to do, his response changes, “But Moses said to God . . .”

His first excuse for not doing what God commanded him to do was, “Who am I?” – Moses will not get a true understanding of who he is until he has this encounter with God. Moses asks, “who am I,” and then his next question is, “who are you?” – we can’t understand who we are without a relationship with God.

God has already said, “I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land,” God has said that He would be doing the delivering, but Moses would play a part, “I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt,” At this point Moses is remembering his first attempt (40 years earlier) to be the deliverer, and the people’s question, Ex. 2:14 “Who made you a prince and a judge over us?” Moses is thinking, “My last attempt was a failure, I have failed in the past to do the very thing you are asking me to do now.”

(v. 12) So God responds, “But (this time) I will be with you,” God did not try to convince Moses that he had what it took to do the job. “The exodus did not depend upon the competence of Moses but on the presence of God.”[8] Moses is not doing the saving, God is. Moses’ abilities have nothing to do with the deliverance of the people. God had promised to be with Moses, and with God “all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

God’s people follow His instructions and act in faith,

God provides His presence in the circumstance,

then the impossible becomes possible.

God also gave Moses a sign that “I (God) have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain,” – this sign would be just for Moses and it would encourage him in this calling upon his life, but it was in the future. There would be a day in the future when Moses would return to this same mountain and have God’s people with him. That sign would encourage him because leading them out of Egypt was just the beginning! He would still have a lot to do after they leave Egypt.

The goal of the Exodus was not simply to deliver them, but to have them gather and serve him, as His people. The people themselves would be called to deliverance, and then called to serve.

When God is talking to Abram (later Abraham) in Genesis 12:3-4 he gives him the way they are to serve, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” They would bless the world by receiving and then sharing God’s Word, in their weird ways the world would be drawn to them to meet the one true God, and there was the promise from God of a Savior who would come and save men from their sin.

Excuse #2 “I Don’t Know God Well Enough”

13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

His second excuse for not doing what God commanded him to do was, “Who are You?” Moses for God’s name. So, God describes Himself to Moses. First God says, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” I AM WHO I AM and I AM – Bible scholars don’t know what this means. I believe it is a reference to God being self-sufficient (like a fire that is not consumed). Later in Exodus 15:3b when Moses writes a song about the exodus he says, “the LORD is his name.”

But in these verses in Exodus “God uses variations of his name five times in these verses – once in v. 12 (“I will be with you,” or better, “It is I AM who is with you”) three times in verse 14 (“I AM”), and once in verse 15 (“The LORD”). His special name means something like, “He who is,” or “I am the One Who Is.” But we can determine that God is eternal, and unchanging. He says, “I was who I was” or “I will be who I will be.” “This is because he has no past or future but only an eternal present.”[9]

God gives another revelation of who He is when He says, “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This same God who is active in history, specifically the history of His people. He was present and caused creation, and He was there when he called out Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Everything owes its life to God – yet God is independent of the creation, separate from those He calls out.

Later God would give us another name to call Him. When Jesus was interacting with the religious leaders, they had said that Jesus was a demon, and so in John 8:56-59 Jesus is responding to their false accusations, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”4 58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” They were seeking to stone him for blasphemy; Jesus was claiming to be the same God that appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the same God who called himself, I AM.

John 8:24 “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” And then in v. 28 “So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he,” A Christian is a person who believes that Jesus is the Great I AM.

There are people who will come to church and learn all about God, but they do not know God. God came and took on human flesh, so that we can know Him. He walked amongst us, taught as no one had ever taught before and performed miracles to prove who He was – so that we could know Him. And if we know Him, we will trust him, and if we trust him, we will obey Him, and if we obey Him we will be blessed in all our ways. Do you know Him today?

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[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 4.

[2] Mt. Horeb was the place later in Exodus where God would give Moses the 10 commandments.

[3] The book of Exodus ends with God leading the people by a pillar of fire Ex. 40:38. He is the Holy One who is not consumed (I AM) who will lead His people wherever He desires for them to go.

[4] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 70.

[5] Milk is a reference to multiplying cattle, and honey is a reference to farming and agriculture. Göran Larsson, Bound for Freedom, The Book of Exodus in Jewish and Christian Traditions (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishers, 1999) 30.

[6] Ryken, 81.

[7] Ryken, 80.

[8] Ryken, 82.

[9] Ryken, 87.

Drew’s Top Ten For 2024

During the winter months there is the inevitable weather closing, seasonal slowdown, or the purposeful taking of time to reflect on the previous year. The following are my top ten items for a leader as they are beginning a new year. These are not in order of importance, only the order that they fell out of the sky and landed on my subconscious.

The time you spend quitting is time away from moving forward. Don’t quit.

Don’t listen to people who haven’t done anything. Be careful who you allow to influence you.

Trust yourself – your first instinct is probably right.

Surround yourself with people who will help you move the needle in the right direction. The team is important.

Your character is the most important determining factor of your long-term success. Guard rails are important.

Deal with the problem – stop putting it off.

It doesn’t have to be perfect – keep pushing forward. Do the best you can with what you have. Do something. Try.

Get organized – the more tasks you can handle the further your reach goes. Planning is important.

Take care of yourself, be disciplined in the right areas.

Set a goal that seems impossible. People who try hard things occasionally become people who have done hard things. What seems hard to other people becomes easier for you.