/
RSS Feed
“The Hearts of the People Must Be Right Before Moving Forward” Joshua 5:1-15
“God’s Covenant and Abraham’s Response” Genesis 15:1-21
The Gospel B.C.
“Discovering God’s Redemptive Plan”
“God’s Covenant and Abraham’s Response”
Genesis 15:1-21
Introduction
The sermon illustration I will never use again – the injured eagle in the chicken coop.
In Genesis 15 we find a man named Abram, who has just finished rescuing his nephew Lot from being kidnapped by several local kings that had war with eachother. And earlier in Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 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 in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” If you go and follow the Lord, He will use you to bless the world.
So now since Genesis chapter 12 and chapter 15 some time has passed, and God has approached Abram multiple times. “There were nine successive manifestations of God to Abram, of which this is the fifth.”[1] This is the first time Abram responds back.
God Promises Abram an Heir (vv. 1-6)
(After these things) the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision[2]: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” 2 But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
God has already promised to make him into a great nation, and now God tells Abram that God is his shield and his reward (which will be great). God is Abram’s protection, and his reward for following Him would be great. The word for reward is the payment to the victor for winning the war (the divided spoils of war).[3] In the battle God will protect him, and when it’s all over there will be a great reward. They would fight together.
The promise is a relationship with God,
the great reward is a continued relationship with God.
And with an heir this relationship could pass from one generation to the next.
The fear, to which God responds, “Fear not,” is that Abram will not have an offspring to inherit the reward from the Lord. How will he be a great nation, and how will his reward be great if it all stops with him? Abraham and Sarai don’t have any children.
In ancient times when a couple don’t have children, they would typically adopt a person to serve as their child to make sure they are taken care of in their old age, the see that they have a proper burial, and that person would then inherit their estate. It would seem that this adopted person was named Eliezer of Damascus.
4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
God says to Abram, very forcefully, “This man shall not be your heir,” – no, he was going to have a child from his and his wife’s own body. To impress upon him how many children he would have, and to what a great nation his offspring would become, he took him outside and had him look up at the stars, “So shall your offspring be.”
In God’s trying to show how vast the influence Abram’s offspring would be, and how wide of a sweep of God’s purpose for him, he gives Abram three visuals; 1) “The dust of the earth,” Genesis 13:16 2) “stars in the sky,” Gen. 15:4 & 3) “the sand of the seashore,” Gen. 22:17. All three can not be counted – the impact of those who are Abram’s offspring is so vast and so important that it cannot be measured.
(v. 6) “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” – In response to these promises, Abram puts his faith in God. “This is the first time that this word – aman – appears in the Bible, and it will be used only two more times in Genesis (42:20; 45:26).[4] Abram has already taken actions of faith but here it is highlighted.
In v. 1 and v. 4 both say, “the word of the Lord” came to Abram. This is the first time when this phrase is used, and it’s the first time that faith is defined as believing. Faith is believing the word of the Lord.
If God is talking about having many people be a great nation, why is there a mention of Abram’s righteousness? Abram up to this point has seemingly done nothing wrong. He was told to leave his homeland, so he left. He showed hospitality when God visits with him, and he fought bravely to rescue his nephew. He shows us that the best of men are still sinners – they still need to be made right before God (and they are not made right by their actions) if they are to have a relationship with Him.
Here we are introduced to the theological idea of justification – “the act of God by which he credits the righteousness of Christ to the believer and declares him just.”[5] How is Abram made righteous? God counted righteousness to him because he believed what God told him. Justification by faith alone. The plan of redemption for the world begins with a person being made right with God by faith alone.
Abram would go on to have a people that would come from his son Isaac, and there would also be many who would be considered children because they also had faith in God. Romans 4:13 “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Galatians 3:7 “Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.”
If justification (being made right with God) is by faith alone,
why was there a need for a bloodline?
Why the need for an eventual separate nation?
As part of the serpent’s curse in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:15 says “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” There are two races of people mentioned, the serpent’s offspring, and Adam & Eve’s offspring. These races would fight and ultimately Adam and Eve’s offspring will strike a death blow to the serpent’s offspring. There would be the race of people who live by faith in God, and the race of people who do not. Those that have faith in God will inherit a promised place where God is present with them.
One other thing before we move to v. 7. Abraham was 75 years old when God first made the promise that Abraham would be made into “a great nation.” Genesis 21:5 tells us that Abraham was 100 years old when Sarah gave birth to Isaac, which means Abraham had to wait 25 years! “Those who believe the promise and hope against barrenness nevertheless must live with the barrenness.”[6] We must wait for God to keep His promise.
God Seals the Covenant with Abram (vv. 7-21)
7 And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 8 But he said[7], “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
Here is another promise from God to Abram, that he will give him the land where he was standing (a promised land). He tells him the reason why he commanded him to leave his homeland of Ur was to give him this land to possess. Abram responds by asking for a guarantee that these things would take place. In ancient times this form of agreement, a guarantee, would often take the form of a covenant. So . . .
9 He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 11 And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
God commanded Abram to get a three-year-old heifer, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove, and pigeon. Everything except for the birds were cut in half – and each half was laid so that a path of carnage was made. And the detail was given that as the day was going on, birds of prey would come and pick at the carcasses, and Abram would drive them away.
A promise has been made by God, Abram is waiting for God’s timing and while he is waiting the birds of prey are trying to drag off the carcasses to eat them. He has to stand guard and be ready for when God appears.
Typically, both parties would make a promise, invoking their individual gods, that if we don’t keep part of the agreement, then may this (carnage) happen to me and then they would walk through the middle of the bodies as part of the covenant ceremony.[8]
12 As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
(v. 12) “a deep sleep fell on Abram,” – a deep sleep and the darkness thrown upon Abram, in other words God caused him to go to sleep. The covenant ceremony had begun, and Abram couldn’t move, he was asleep.
God then outlines for the father of this coming nation what was going to happen. God tells Abram of the eventual Egyptian slavery, how judgement would come upon Egypt, and when they leave this servitude, they will have great wealth. But he would not have to go through this time, “you shall go to your fathers in peace,”
Abram and Sarai had to wait 25 years for a child, His children would have to wait 400 years to receive the promised land. Faith involves waiting for God to do what He has promised.
17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
The covenant ceremony continues as the sun had gone and it was dark. In this type of ceremony each side would say what role they will play, rules they will follow, boundary lines they would agree to keep, etc. Promises have been made from God to Abram (a relationship where he would be a shield for him, a child from his and his wife’s own body, offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky, a promised land) – Abram has faith in what God has promised.
Now it is time for the two people making the covenant to walk through the carnage, agreeing that if I don’t keep my part, my promise, then may this happen to me. But God has caused Abram to sleep- he can’t walk through the path of blood.
(v. 17) “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” – Later God will lead his people in a pillar of smoke during the day, and pillar of fire at night (Exodus 13:17-14:29). Some commentators say the fire pot represents a purifying furnace, and the torch light, etc. It is difficult to say exactly what each means – but it clearly means that God went through the animals, that He was making a promise to Abram, and then following through the ceremony alone.
But why did God make Abram go to sleep, why not make him walk through the animals? Because God’s plan of redemption involves Him doing all the work, and ultimately salvation comes from Him alone. Our part is to have faith, God provides everything else for us to be made right before Him.
God’s plan for redemption is divinely one-sided.
God promises, God gives, God assures, Man receives.
Later God will gather His people at Mt. Siani and Moses would go up and receive the ten commandments. But as much as God’s people wanted to keep the commandments they could not. Humanity is not capable to keeping the law – we cannot do, in our own effort, what is required. God made Abram go to sleep because he could not keep a promise to God. So God in His grace, said “I will do what is needed to have a relationship with you.” His only requirement of His people is that they trust Him to keep His promises.
_______________________
[1] W.H. Griffith Thomas, Genesis, A Devotional Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan; WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971) 136.
[2] The word for vision (mahazeh) is only used here and in reference to Balaam (Num. 24:4,16).
[3] John E. Hartley, New International Biblical Commentary, Genesis (Peabody, Massachusetts; Hendrickson Publishers, 2000) 155.
[4] Victor P. Hamilton, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, The Book of Genesis Chapters 1-17 (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990) 423.
[5] Daniel L. Akin, General Editor, A Theology for the Church (Nashville, Tennessee; Broadman and Holman, 207) 746.
[6] Hartley, 157.
[7] In v. 2 and in v. 8 Abram responds back to God with a question, “But Abram said,” is not a sign of doubting God, but similar to the father in Mark 9:24 “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” He believes what God is saying, and is asking for more clarification.
[8] “This idea of self-imprecation is reflected in the prospective witness who swears under oath: ‘I promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.’ If I prevaricate on the witness stand, then I will have to contend with God.” Hamilton, 430.
“Preparations for the Covenant” Exodus 19
/
RSS Feed
“Preparations for the Covenant” Exodus 19
“Into the Wilderness”
A Sermon Series in the Book of Exodus
“Preparations for the Covenant”
Exodus 19
Introduction
In The Chronicles of Narnia, an allegory by C.S. Lewis, the author has two girls, Susan and Lucy, getting ready to meet Aslan the lion, who represents Christ. Two talking animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, prepare the children for the encounter. “Ooh,” said Susan, “I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie.” said Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knee’s knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then isn’t he safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you!”[1]
In chapter 20 God’s people are given the 10 commandments, and chapter 19 is a preparation for them to receive them. What Does God require for a people to be His people? What does it mean when we say that “we are children of God?” How are the people of God different than all the other peoples of the earth?
“Of all the tens of thousands of texts that survive from ancient Egypt, there has not been discovered a single legislative code. Documents like the Demotic Legal Code of Hermopolis West are not codified law but mere guidelines for how to live and act. The reality was that the pharaohs were the definers and executors of justice and law. They enacted new laws and changed old laws by their own prerogatives. It was the pharaoh was pronounced, “Thus says” (Ex. 5:10), and he could change or alter a law capriciously, which explains why there is no known codified law in ancient Egypt.”[2] God’s law on the other hand stands forever. It does not change. An eternal law from an eternal God.
Prayer
God’s People Are Commissioned to the World (vv. 1-6)
On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness. There Israel encamped before the mountain, 3 while Moses went up to God. The LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
God reminds His people that He was the one that brought them out of slavery from Egypt, “on eagles wings,” and he “brought them to himself.” He freed them from slavery, brought them out into the wilderness so that they could be with Him. He reveals that they are freed and now are going to have a role in this world. This role is described three ways, “a treasured possession, kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”
God wants to have a close relationship with His creation.
He wants to have a relationship with humanity, but it is conditional because God is holy (set apart), and humanity is sinful. So mankind cannot approach God unless God tells him how he can approach. God’s love is unconditional, but our relationship with Him is conditional. He has to tell us how to approach Him.
(v. 4) “I . . . brought you to myself” – everything else in the Bible relate to this verse. Everything God does, and all the stories that follow all point to this truth. God moves to bring His creation to Himself. The story of Exodus is a story of salvation, it is a precursor for the ultimate Savoir who was to come generations later, but salvation is not the end – there is something even greater, we have fellowship with God, He draws us near to Him.
But the condition of this relationship is that God’s people, “obey my voice and keep my covenant,” – “This is the first time that the Bible uses this exact phrase.”[3] He made the covenant with Abraham, Exodus 2:24 “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.” Ex. 6:4 “I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.” Now God is keeping His part of the covenant, in that He has brought them out of Egypt – but He also expects His people to keep their part of the covenant.
Define Covenant – karat berit “the stress is laid on the initiative of God by the use of the verbs ‘establish, grant, set down, command, law, statutes, commandments, judgements, , etc.’ God’s people are expected to obey God’s command, to keep His covenant, to remember it, to do it, and to walk in it. Her (Israel’s) history shows that she forgot the covenant, broke it, sinned against it, rejected it, transgressed it, and profaned it. Hence, she experienced the curses of the broken covenant in the form of natural calamities, war, sickness, exile, and death, whereas had she kept the covenant she might have enjoyed the blessings of the covenant instead.”[4]
“He made his covenant with Abraham, promising to give him a land and a people who would bless the whole world. He confirmed his covenant with Isaac and Jacob. Then, in order to make good on his promise (2:24; 6:4, 5), he brought his people out of Egypt. Exodus is the story of God remembering his covenant.”[5]
God Keeps His Promises – He Expects His People to Keep Theirs As Well
“if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, . . .”
In Christianity it’s important to understand the order of what God is saying First, they are saved (from the slavery of Egypt), redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then they are expected to obey and follow God. Salvation first, works then follow. God does not say to Moses, tell the people to “obey, then I will carry them out of Egypt on eagles wings.” The God of the Bible is a God of grace, and mercy – first. God saves us first, then He teaches us how to live in relationship with Him and others.
But isn’t this an if/then statement? If you will do this, then I will do this? Yes, but it is not a question of salvation, it is a question of relationship and intimacy – if we want to have a close relationship with God, then we have to approach Him and live a life before Him in a certain way. You can’t expect to be close to God while at the same time rebelling against Him. Even in the worst to their rebellion in the years to come, they never cease to be His people.
Why among all the people of the earth did God choose them? They have nothing, and have been slaves for over four hundred years. Deuteronomy 7:6-8a helps us understand, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, . . .” Why among all the people of the earth has God shown you love, and mercy, and allowed you to know His Son and experience the salvation, to enter into a right relationship with Him – why you? “because the LORD loves you.” – not because of what you have done, but because He chooses to love you. That’s it, that all. God’s grace.
This is why it is important to understand that God does not change – He is the same yesterday and today. He always keeps His promise, and He is always the God of grace and mercy. His promises still stand today, for those that put their faith in Him.
God’s People Are Expected to Keep the Covenant (vv. 7-15, 16-20)
7 So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” When Moses told the words of the people to the LORD, 10 the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments 11 and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. 13 No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.” 14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people; and they washed their garments. 15 And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”
In theology there are two words that help to explain what is going on in this passage. The first word is transcendent. This word describes God as being transcending, going beyond, separateness, holiness, greatness. God is different than His creation, He is majestic, terrifying, big, mighty. He speaks and everything came into existence. We approach a transcendent God with awe, fear and trembling because he is awesome.
The second word is immanence – this describes God as being close, his personal relationship with His creation. This was God coming to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, this is the God who had the children sit in His lap, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14). We approach an immanent God by hugging him, we cling to, we run to, He is personal in our lives. It’s the same God.
(v. 8) In response to the God they see on the mountain they respond in faith, “All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” – They are promising to keep the covenant.
Then God comes down to the mountain and He is covered with a thick cloud. The cloud reveals and conceals at the same time. His might, power, transcendence is shown, but his glory is hidden – otherwise the people would have been destroyed. Sinful man cannot enter into the presence of a holy God. God is dangerous. They had to set up barriers, limits to where the people could and could not go – the consequences for getting it wrong was death.
(vv. 16-20) “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. 19 And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. 20 The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. The closer God came to the people, the more terrifying the situation became (the earth shook, the trumpet grew louder and louder, there was thunder and lightning, and smoke covering the glory of the Lord.
Leviticus 10:1-2 is an example of sinful man approaching a transcendent God. Aaron, Moses’ brother had two sons who were also priests before the Lord, “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire (strange fire) before the LORD, which he had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.” Because they did not follow the prescribed way of carrying out their duties before the Lord, they were consumed and died.
“So here is the awesome dilemma the Israelites faced: They were being drawn into a close relationship with a holy God who was too dangerous for them even to approach! What could they do to be safe?”[6] You cannot break the covenant that God gives the people – to do so is deadly.
The people are given three days to prepare for God’s to arrival. 1) First, they were to clean and wash their clothes, “let them wash their garments.” Clothing throughout the Bible was a symbol of an inward condition.[7] If you were in mourning or repenting from sin, you would wear sackcloth and cover yourself with ashes. “Here it indicated Israel’s inward need for cleansing from sin before coming into the presence of God.”[8] They symbolically do this by washing and cleaning themselves.
2) Second, “set limits for the people all around,” – No one was allowed to approach the mountain, not even animals. If they did, they were to be killed.
3) Third, “do not go near a woman,” – They were to refrain from having sex as a form of fasting, so that they could completely focus on God’s covenant. It would only be for three days, and we see an example of this in the NT, 1 Corinthians 7:5 “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer;”
But even with all their self-effort (washing their clothes, setting boundaries in their lives, and fasting/denial they still had to be a mediator between God and the people, (v. 14) “So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people” We are not told what Moses did to consecrate them, but that there was a need for him to do it. He may have sacrificed an animal, or said a prayer, we don’t know, but the emphasis is on the need for a mediator. Moses is an example for the ultimate mediator who was yes to come, 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” Because God is holy and incredibly dangerous and we are sinful we need someone to go between us and God.
Simon Peter was fishing when Jesus ends up teaching from his boat. When Jesus was finished teaching he tells the fisherman to put their nets on one side of the boat. After having caught nothing all night, for they were washing their nets and getting ready to end their day, they catch so many fish their boat starts to sink. Look at the fisherman’s reaction to Jesus’ miracle. Luke 5:8 “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter had no place to go when His sin was exposed before His creator.
God is dangerous, yet he desires to draw close to His creation – He has desired to do this since the creation of the world. Yet we are sinful, and like Simon Peter we resist the presence of God in our lives. But God came and made a way for a dangerous holy God to be with His sinful creation. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us – He took our sin upon Himself, and paid the sin debt in full that we owed.
2 Corinthians 5: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” God died for His own creation. So now, by placing our faith in Jesus we can boldly enter into the presence of God (who has not changed), yet he changed us – He made us righteous by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Those who place their faith in Jesus, the ultimate mediator, can come before the awesome and terrifying God with confidence and find grace and help in our times of need.
Have you placed your faith in the God who wants to draw near to His creation, the God who has made a way for you to be with Him for all eternity? If He is calling you today, seize the moment to give Him your life and receive His grace. If you have already placed your faith in Jesus, how do you approach the throne of God in worship – are you filled with awe and do you fear Him? Is he transcendent in your life? How would you describe your walk with Him? If it is distant, is it because you are not following His ways, your fellowship with Him broken?
Originally we asked the question, “How are the people of God different than all the other peoples of the earth?” By grace, we have been made right with God, and are sent as His “nation of priests” to tell others the way of salvation.
_______________________________
[1] https://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/fear_of_god.htm
[2] John D. Currid, A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2016) 83.
[3] Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word, Exodus (Wheaton, Illinois; Crossway Publishing, 2015) 456.
[4] J. Arthur Thompson, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Volume One (Grand Rapids, Michigan; William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979) 793.
[5] Ryken, 457.
[6] Ryken, 467.
[7] For example, see Jonah 3:6-10.
[8] Ryken, 468.
“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?
_________________
[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.
