Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
May I begin with a question today? Have you ever received a message from God which seemed simply too good to be true and then life got more difficult for you?
Join me again today on a barren hillside in the area today known as Saudi Arabia. Moses is there with his flock of sheep, about the year 1450bc. A bush is on fire and Moses is standing there, bare foot, having taken off his sandals for this sacred, amazing encounter with God. I say he’s standing but considering what he is experiencing as the voice of God is speaking to Moses from that burning bush, perhaps Moses is kneeling by now or maybe laying prostrate, flat on his face.
Yesterday we looked at the remarkable message Moses was hearing from God that loved His people, the Hebrew slaves, and God had heard them crying out because of their misery in their bondage, and God was concerned.
But more than that, God was going to take action! He promised that He was coming down to earth to rescue them from their slavery and lead them to a bountiful land of promise. It was all breathtaking, but the last thing God said to Moses yesterday shook Moses to the souls of his feet: “Now go, I am sending YOU to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt!” (Ex. 3:10)
I’ve often wondered how long it took for Moses to recover his breath and collect his thoughts enough to respond to God after hearing that news! Of course, Moses had lots of questions, and God’s response was simple and powerfully assuring: “I will be with you…this is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.” (Ex. 3:12-14) “I AM” is the identifying name God gave to Himself when Moses asked. It is usually translated “LORD” as in the Old Testament or “JEHOVAH”. This name combines ALL the great attributes of God… His omnipotence, His omniscience, His omnipresence, His holiness, His Creative power, His love, His Grace, His Mercy, His eternal existence, His Sovereignty over all, and every other great characteristic of Almighty God.
Down through history NOTHING has been more assuring to a human being than to hear this promise from God: “I will be with you.” Have you ever received that God promise my friends, and how have you responded? Moses heard it multiple times in his lifetime, Joshua heard it and so have many, many others. In fact, it was one of the last things Jesus said to His disciples before He returned to heaven: “I will be with you always…” (Matt. 28:20) Now let’s for just a moment ponder the similarity between the rescue mission Moses is being commissioned by God to accomplish in freeing 1 million Hebrew slaves in Egypt AND the mission God sent His Son Jesus to accomplish on earth for every person living in inescapable sin bondage. Both Moses and Jesus knew they would be stepping into a hostile environment to accomplish their rescue missions. Both Moses and Jesus knew their missions would be impossible without God’s power at work to accomplish the mission. For Moses that is seen in the plagues, the Red Sea, and God’s empowerment of the people to have faith to believe God could do what He had promised. For Jesus it was the empowering Holy Spirit upon Him, the assurance He was always saying and doing what God the Father sent Him to do, and God enabling people to accept the truth and believe in Jesus to be their Savior.
As God continued the burning bush encounter with Moses God said: “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, has sent me to you… The elders of Israel will listen to you… But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.” (Ex. 3:15-19)
Both Jesus and Moses experienced the same reception. Some people welcomed their rescue message from God, many other people were skeptical, and many people simply outright refused to believe it and they rejected Moses and Jesus. As you think of the story of Jesus, can you see that? Do you also see the fulfillment of that last line: “…the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.” Can you see how the MIGHTY HAND of God is at work both in the deliverance of Hebrew slaves and all humanity in bondage to sin?
We remember all through the first 9 plagues; the Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and he refused to allow the Hebrew slaves to leave with Moses. But that final plague, the death of the firstborn all through Egypt, including the Pharaoh’s first-born son, that plague finally broke Pharaoh’s determination to hold those Hebrews in bondage and he released them. The same is true with Jesus. Satan and the religious leaders refused and rejected every work of Jesus until finally in His death and His resurrection, Satan’s power was broken and release from sin bondage, for ANY person who would trust in Jesus, was accomplished!
Moses finally left that burning bush hillside that day and headed back toward Egypt. It had been 40 years since he’d run out fearing for his life. We presume the Pharaoh now on the throne of Egypt was not the same Pharaoh who had run Moses out but was the son of that Pharaoh and probably well known to Moses since they had likely grown up together in the palace. We presume the daughter of Pharaoh who had raised Moses was also still alive, although we have no Biblical record of that.
You will recall Exodus 4 & 5 give us some of the story of Moses first meeting with the Hebrew slave elders and the first encounter with the Pharaoh. As God had predicted, the elders were delighted to hear the news Moses brought them, but the new Pharaoh’s response was this: “Who is the LORD that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will NOT let Israel go…” (Ex. 5:2)
You may also remember Pharaoh tightened his grip on his slaves that day by instructing the slave masters to no longer provide the slaves with straw, a major ingredient in making their bricks for the construction projects. They would have to find their own straw, but the daily quota of bricks would not be diminished, and they’d be punished if their production fell short. Life got much, much more difficult for the slaves that day!
Now look around your world my friends. Does the darkness of evil, the horrificness of moral failure, the decadence of our wicked world seem to be making life more and more difficult for those people who are trying to live God honoring lives? Just as Pharaoh tightened his grip on his slaves in the face of God’s plan to free them, so Satan has been tightening the grip of his kingdom of darkness as the power of Jesus has been delivering people all over the world from our bondage to sin & Satan! In response to Pharaoh’s harshness and Satan’s efforts to strengthen his dark kingdom grip, God sent this message through Moses to the discouraged slaves. My friends, listen closely and do you see this is very much the same message God offers you and me and our whole world today through Jesus our Savior: “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of bondage. I will free you from being slaves and I will redeem you with My outstretched arm and My mighty acts of judgement. I will take you as My own people and I will be your God…. I will bring you to the land I promised as your possession. I am the LORD.” (Exodus 6:6-8)
That is the message of Christmas isn’t it my friends? That is why Jesus came, that is why the angels filled the night sky near Bethlehem and announced, “Today a Savior has been born to you in the city of David, He is Christ the LORD… Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” (Luke 1:1,14)
So, today my friends, are you celebrating the power of God, unleashed through Jesus, in making it possible for you and me and any person to be delivered from our sin bondage? Let’s celebrate with this song…
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 5 & 6.
Choose below to read or listen.
Exodus 5
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Exodus 6
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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