Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you think of a daring rescue mission what picture comes to your mind? Perhaps a secret military mission of experts to find and rescue a valuable prisoner being held behind enemy lines? Or perhaps a carefully planned mission to rescue hostages being held by terrorists? So, what event in your estimation has been the greatest rescue mission of all time?
Will you join me again today on our 30-day journey toward Christmas 2022? This year I’m helping us see major events or prophetic statements made hundreds of years before that miraculous Bethlehem Christmas, which pointed forward to that great event which is celebrated around the world every December.
Yesterday I left you contemplating the great contrast of two young boys. First consider Moses, the boy born to Hebrew slaves who was miraculously raised in the Egyptian Pharaoh’s palace as royalty. The almost opposite experience is the Son of God, leaving the perfect royalty of heaven, to be born in the baby human body of Jesus, in an animal stable in Bethlehem, and then rushed in the middle of the night by his mother Mary and her husband Joseph, fleeing from Bethlehem to go and live as refugees in Egypt!
Now today let’s revisit Moses, at about age 80, to see how what is happening in his life is pointing to the day Jesus stepped forward to become the Savior of the world. We find the story in Exodus 3. The unrealistic upbringing of Moses in the palace came to an abrupt and frightening end when Prince Moses was out at the work site one day, watching Hebrew slaves being mistreated by some Egyptian slave masters. Moses confronted one of them and struck him down so powerfully the slavemaster died. (Ex. 2:11-15)
When Pharaoh heard of it, he stripped Moses of any royal rank and ran Moses out of Egypt. For the next several decades Moses lived as a shepherd, caring for the sheep and other grazing animals of a man named Jethro whom Moses had met as he ran for his life from Egypt. Jethro is referred to as “…a priest of Midian” (Ex. 2:16) and we presume this to mean he was a spiritual man who was a worshiper of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Thus Moses, for these next several years, received some tremendous spiritual training which prepared his heart for his life changing God encounter which I invite us to consider today in Exodus 3 because it is another significant event pointing forward to the purpose of Christmas.
Moses, tending a flock of sheep seeking pasture and water, ends up near the mountain later known as Horeb or Sinai. Suddenly a bush catches on fire but it is not consumed, and Moses is fascinated! Rather than running away, Moses approaches this phenomenon and suddenly he hears a voice calling His name. As he looks around Moses sees no one. Again, his name is called and this time the voice seems to be emanating from the burning bush. Fascinated, Moses responds “Here I am!” The voice responds with instruction: “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Ex. 3:5,6) As far as we know Moses was having his first authentic encounter with Almighty God. 
Moses had many times seen people approach the throne room of the Pharaoh with fear and respect, but in this moment the dusty hillside with a burning bush was far more awesome, far more sacred than any throne room Moses had ever seen in Egypt! The voice Moses heard identified itself as the voice of God, and specifically the God of his biological parents and evidently the God whom Jethro, the priest of Midian worshiped. By contrast, Moses had grown up immersed in Egyptian worship which worshiped the sun, the moon and manmade idols in the shape of animals like oxen. Egyptian worship sometimes included blood sacrifices followed by celebrations of drunkenness and orgies. As Moses removed his sandals, I presume he bowed low in reverence. How could it be this speaking bush was burning but not consumed? This voice knew his name, spoke in his language and claimed to be the God of his ancestors! What great power does this voice represent? The voice continued: “I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So, I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” (Ex. 3:7,8) I doubt any of us can begin to imagine what Moses was thinking or feeling emotionally as he listened to this burning bush voice say these words. God was speaking! God was calling the Hebrew slaves “My people”. I imagine Jethro had taught Moses a great deal about the unique story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the Hebrew people and God’s promises of a land and a nation which would be God’s people. I wonder what has been the most awe filled encounter you have had with God thus far in your life. Where and when did it happen? How did you sense the undeniable presence of Almighty, Creator God? What did God impress upon you and how did you respond?
Now watch this carefully my friends. Moses was having a doubly significant encounter with God. Moses was hearing God’s plan to rescue the Hebrew slaves from Egyptian bondage, but Moses was also hearing God’s great Redemption plan for the world which would require both Christmas and Easter! Oh, of course, Moses didn’t realize he was hearing a double message but now from the perspective of 2022 we can see it clearly, can’t we? Yes, God’s use of the term “My people” referred to the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, but it also refers to EVERY human being created in the image of God in our day. God made it clear He could hear and see the misery of His Hebrews in slavery in Egypt, but it’s also a strong statement from God that He sees and hears the misery of EVERY person all around the world who is living in slavery to Satan’s sin bondage. Neither the Hebrew slaves, nor you or I nor any other person can earn our way out or by our way out or fight our way out of our sin bondage! We, like those Hebrew slaves, need a Savior stronger than that which holds us in our inescapable bondage.
Do you see God’s remarkable statement to Moses: “So I have come down to rescue them”! That my friends, is the essence of Christmas, do you see it? For the Hebrew slaves, God would use Moses as His spokesman, but God Himself would unleash His power in the plagues and open the Red Sea and an angel of the LORD would go with the fleeing Hebrews to protect them from Pharaoh’s pursuing army.
For all humanity, God sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, to be our Savior, to unleash His power in the miracles, to proclaim God’s truth and explain God’s redemption plan. And then by His death and resurrection, Jesus defeated Satan, sin and death so we can be set free from our sin bondage and sin condemnation!
Do you also see God explained to Moses that He would not simply set His Hebrew people free from their slavery, but He had a plan to lead them out of Egypt where they had lived in bondage for so long and lead them TO a new land of great promise and bounty. Can you see how that picture points forward to God’s promise to every human being who trusts in Jesus for their salvation? We are not only set free from living in sin bondage here on earth, but we are assured that we will be rescued from living in this sin filled wicked world and brought to a perfect, sinless heaven where God resides, and we’ll have all eternity in paradise with Him! As Moses listened to this amazing proclamation and promise from God, the main question in the heart and mind of Moses of course was HOW all this could possibly happen and WHY this burning bush voice was telling all this great news to Moses? The next thing God said gave Moses his answer, frightening as it was: “So now go, I am sending YOU to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt!” (Exodus 3:10) That sounds amazingly like John 3:16: “God so loved the world that He SENT His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life.” That is why Jesus is called Emmanuel, God with us to save us from our sins! Now ponder the profound prophetic message Moses was receiving from God nearly 1500 years before Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem! Amazing, isn’t it? And here’s another great song to help us celebrate what Moses heard from God that day…
Today’s Scripture is Exodus 3:1-10.
Choose below to read or listen.
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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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