GOD IS KEEPING HIS PROMISES
FOR THE GLORY OF HIS OWN NAME
Exodus 3:1—22
INTRODUCTION
Has anyone in here ever said to a family member or close friend, “How come you never change?” “You always are late, leave your stuff laying around, pay no attention to me…” Are you ever surprised by the lack of change in another person’s behavior? I think it is safe to say that all of us have been annoyed by the lack of change we have encountered in the lives of others. I have discovered in my life that there is nothing easier to do than to explain to someone else how he or she can and should change his or her life. I have also discovered that there is nothing harder to do than to change my own life. Changing my thinking, my attitudes, my behavior is probably the most difficult thing in the world to do. Most of the time I’m not very motivated to change. I’m happy the way I am. It usually takes some sort of crisis in my life to get me “off the dime” and working at change.
Yet, as I read the Bible I am confronted with the fact that the Christian life is a life that is defined by change. Salvation is described in the language of change. When God saves a person his entire status is changed from condemnation to justification, from darkness to light, from sinner to saint, from death to life, from enemy of God to friend of God, from hell to heaven. Not only is our status changed but our actual experience is one of transformation. “For those whom he foreknew, he predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” “And we… are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory…” “…by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever, those who are being made holy.” “Be diligent in these matters. Give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress.” “ Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.” At our conversion our objective status is permanently and unchangeably altered but our subjective experience is in the process of change. We are “being made holy, being transformed into his likeness.”
In today’s passage we are encountering that process of change in its beginning stages. As we look at God’s saving work in the life of Moses and then through him, the people of Israel, we are going to be witnessing the ways in which God changes people. We will see how God not only changes their status—sheep herder to leader of a nation, slaves to free people—but also how he changes the nature of some of them. Moses, like us, doesn’t want to change. He resists God’s aim to change him. However, miraculously, he does change. Today we are not going to see the end result of the change that God accomplishes. We are going to examine the beginning stages of how God overcomes human resistance to being saved, to change. What we are going to see is the glory and greatness of God in his saving/transforming power. God’s greatness is seen in his changing his people by his power.
MAIN POINT
God displays his greatness in overcoming all resistance to his salvation by…
I. Raiding our ordinary lives with his extraordinary presence (vv. 1-6)
We are told in the NT that forty years have passed between Moses’ abortive attempt to free the Hebrew people from their slavery in Egypt and his encounter with God at Mt. Horeb. If you’ll remember, Moses, when he was forty years old and living in the lap of luxury as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, went out to see the condition of his fellow Hebrews. He saw their slavery, felt sympathy for their plight and when he observed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, in a fit of righteous rage, he murdered the Egyptian and buried the corpse in the sand. When Pharaoh discovered Moses’ sympathy for the Hebrew slaves he issued a death sentence for Moses. Moses, afraid for his life, fled Egypt and went to Midian. While in Midian, he rescues the seven shepherdess daughters of the priest of Midian and eventually marries one of those daughters, Zipporah. They have at least one child whom Moses names Gershom because that sounds like the Hebrew word for foreigner. His son’s name is a continual reminder that he is not living with his people and he is not living in his own country, the land of Canaan.
We find out in v. 1 that he has worked for his father-in-law, Jethro, as a shepherd for the past 40 years. Presumably, he has been concerned with the daily affairs of life as a nomadic shepherd. He has raised his family and is most likely a grandfather by this time. Moses, who at one time presumed he was going to deliver the people of Israel from their slavery has been living a very ordinary, mundane life in the wilderness of Midian as a nomadic shepherd. Moses, who grew into manhood enjoying all the benefits that being the son of royalty confers, has been living for forty years in obscurity and the hardscrabble existence of a nomadic shepherd. He is in this condition because he believed the promises of God. He believed it better to suffer hardship with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. However, the glory he expected to experience when he left the royal court behind to free the Hebrews did not materialize as he expected. So he has lived for forty years in the bitterness of a failed dream. There is no indication, other than his naming of his son that he has any interest in any other kind of life. He is just getting by. On a very ordinary day, in a very ordinary life, God shows up.
In Moses’ case, the way God showed up was somewhat remarkable. He noticed a desert bush on fire. Yet, as he watched it burn, it didn’t turn to ash or start any of the surrounding vegetation on fire. The bush kept burning but the fire did not consume it. Moses did not flee such a strange sight and he did not ignore it. He went towards it, talking to himself, “I will go over and see this strange sight, why the bush does not burn up.” We are told in v. 2 that this fire in the bush is none other than the angel of the Lord whom we have encountered in the book of Genesis on at least five occasions. We know, though Moses does not know, that God has shown up in this burning but not consumed bush. As Moses comes close to the bush, God speaks to him. He calls out his name twice, as he did to Abraham and to Jacob, at critical moments in their lives. Moses discovers that he is known by God. He replies by saying, “Here I am.” Then God commands him to not come any closer but to take off his sandals for he is standing on holy ground. God then identifies himself. He tells Moses that he is the God of his father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Immediately Moses knows with whom he is speaking. He knows that he is talking to the God who created the heavens and the earth and the God who chose Abraham and his descendants to be his people. He is terrified by the presence of God and hides his face like a child pulling the covers over its head in the night.
There comes a time in the ordinary life of every person whom God saves when that person knows that he or she is known by God. God confronts everyone who is changed with his holy, promise keeping presence. Everyone who is changed by God, whom God rescues, must at some time be confronted with his terrifyingly holy and personal presence. We are not simply dealing with ideas about God. We are dealing with God himself. Not just some god of our imagination or the imagination of some other human. If we are going to be truly changed we must encounter the only true and living God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Ordinarily the way that God impresses upon us that he knows us and that he is present and must be dealt with is through his people. The fire that does not consume the bush illustrates the fire of the Holy Spirit who has come to dwell in the people of God. This is what is about to happen to Moses and to the entire people of Israel. God is going to come to dwell with men and he is not going to consume them, which is the most astonishing miracle in the universe. That the holy God, who is a consuming fire, actually dwells within his people and they are not consumed is more amazing than anything in the entire universe.
We see this pictured in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes upon the 120 disciples gathered in the upper room. Tongues of fire rest upon the head of each one, representing God’s presence by his Spirit and then they go into the streets of Jerusalem declaring the works of God. The apostle Peter preaches the first Christian sermon and the people are cut to the heart as they encounter the presence of the living God in and through the people of God. How is it that fire can burn among us and not consume us? God is a consuming fire but he does not consume the church because Christ has cleansed us of our sins. The Holy Spirit burns in our midst and reveals the glory of God through our love for one another and our declaring the great works of God in the person of Jesus. God calls to each person here through his church, calling you by name, commanding you to take off your shoes for you are standing on holy ground. He breaks into our ordinary lives with his extraordinary presence through the fire of the Holy Spirit at work among his people.
God displays his glory in overcoming all resistance to his salvation by…
- Raiding our ordinary lives with his extraordinary presence
- And by…
II. Requiring human involvement (vv. 7-10)
Verses 7-9 are the kind of good news that people long to hear from God. He calls the people of Israel “my people.” He says that he has seen the misery they are experiencing in Egypt. He has heard them crying out because of their slave drivers. He is concerned about their suffering. Therefore, out of his love for his people he has come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians. He has come down to end their slavery, to remove them from their suffering. Not only is he going to end their misery but he is going to give to them an amazing future. He is going to give them their own country to dwell in. It is a land that is good, just like creation was good at the beginning. It is a spacious land and a land that gushes forth milk and honey. It is a land that holds seven nations right now but God is going to give it to just them. They alone, his chosen people will get to dwell in the land. Then God repeats his motivation for acting to rescue the Israelites: The cry of the Israelites has reached him and he has seen how the Egyptians are oppressing them.
The tenderness and compassion of God for his people is so clearly expressed in these verses. The great, holy Creator God has come near to tell of his compassion and to act in power to save his people. He will rescue them from their misery and he will take them into a place of safety and abundance. When humans think about salvation, this is what we long to hear: God rescuing out of misery and taking us into a place of abundance. God is saying the same thing to you today, if you will hear his voice. He has seen the misery you are in. He sees the chaos in your life caused by your sin and the sin of others. He has come down, in the person of Christ to rescue you from the misery of your slavery to sin.
However, there is this slight problem of v. 10. Verse 10 comes out of nowhere. God makes all of these amazing promises about what he is going to do and then he commands Moses to go and do what he just said he was going to do. The combination of vv. 7-9 with v. 10 reveals one of the most amazing and difficult to grasp facts about the work of God in the world. Most of us want a God who works in impossible to miss ways. We want a God who shows up in spectacular miracle. However, the God who exists, who is working to sustain his creation and save his people ordinarily works through the most ordinary of methods. He is going to deliver his people but he is going to do it through Moses.
God’s work of saving his people requires the involvement of Moses. I don’t know about you, but if I were God, I’d come up with a better plan. Even if you forget about who Moses is and what happened to him the last time he was in Egypt, it just doesn’t seem to make much sense to send a man to do what clearly requires divine power. Why doesn’t God just appear to Pharaoh in a pillar of fire and command him to let the Israelites go himself? Why doesn’t he send an army of angels to fight the Egyptian army and then other angels to lead the people? Why pick a man and then not just any man but this man to do this amazing feat? I think that the Scriptures give many reasons for why it is that God ordinarily accomplishes his saving work in the world through very ordinary people. He involves human beings in his work of salvation for a variety of reasons. Let me just point out two reasons why God requires human involvement.
The first reason goes back to the creation of the world. God made us in his image and likeness. Then he commanded us, as human beings to rule over the created order. God made us, as human beings, to be the physical representation of his glory and power in the world. It is who and what we are. We were made to show forth the greatness of God in our being and in our work in the created world. Therefore, God has always sought to include human beings in his work of caring for and redeeming the world that he has made. It is what he made us for.
Second, the world has been brought into the misery of sin by the disobedience of a man. The suffering that is in the world is here due to the sin of our parents, Adam and Eve. The curse of God rests upon the creation and upon the human race because of the sin of Adam and Eve and the sin of all their descendants. Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin so also the gift of righteousness comes through the suffering of the one man, Jesus Christ. Moses’, the forgotten shepherd, points us towards Jesus the forgotten Son of Man. Jesus, like Moses, is called out of obscurity to deliver his people from the slavery of sin. Only a man can reverse the curse. Humans can only be delivered from the power of sin and the devil through the suffering of another human. This is always the pattern of God’s saving work in the world. God delivers humans from sin through the suffering Christ and then through his suffering messengers. Paul says exactly the same thing in Colossians 1:24-25, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in the regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness…”
God’s saving power is powerfully revealed through the weakness of suffering human messengers. It is the suffering of Christ that has brought salvation to his people. It is suffering messengers who represent the suffering Christ. Moses is being called upon to join in the saving work of God. He must suffer the loss of all things that he knows and he must embrace a life of suffering if he is going to participate in the salvation of God. In short, Moses must change and change always hurts. We are going to see that Moses, like all of us, doesn’t want to change. Yet if God’s saving work is to go forward he must change. Now we begin to see how God works to change his messenger and prepare him for the life of suffering ahead of him.
God displays his glory in overcoming all resistance to his salvation by…
- Raiding our ordinary lives with his extraordinary presence
- Requiring human involvement
- And by…
III. Replacing self-consciousness with God-consciousness (vv. 11-12)
You can imagine Moses saying through vv. 7-9, “Go God. Amen. Preach it! Hallelujah! Praise you Jesus!” Until you get to v. 10. Then he goes, “Wait a minute, what do I have to do with this salvation? I thought you said you were going to rescue Israel. What do I have to do with it? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” Moses repeats the very question that was asked of him when he attempted to reconcile the two Israelites forty years ago in Egypt (2:14). I have no power and no authority. I cannot go and lead Israel out of Egypt. Who do you think I am, God? We find out that Moses’ view of God’s salvation has not changed in forty years. Back in Egypt, he presumed he was the Savior of Israel and he went out and began to “save” Israel by murdering one Egyptian at a time. He thought for sure that the Israelites would be delighted to have as their Savior one of their own who was also a prince of Egypt. His confidence was in his own ability. Now, his lack of confidence is in his own ability. He still views his power as the determinative factor in the work of salvation. It is what he does that will determine the success of the enterprise. The only difference between Moses at forty and Moses at eighty is that at forty he thought he was strong enough while now at eighty he doesn’t think that he is strong enough.
Notice God’s answer to his objection. The first thing he says is this, “Moses, it’s not about you, it’s about me. Just because I’m telling you to go and lead my people out doesn’t mean it depends upon your strength. It does not depend upon you. This saving work depends upon me. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because I’m involving you in the process that somehow it depends upon you. It doesn’t. The success of the work is in my hands. I am with you.” Then notice he gives to Moses a sign that he is going to be with him and give success to the enterprise. He tells Moses that the way he will know that God is with him is that after he goes to Pharaoh and leads the people out they will come and worship him at this mountain. What kind of a sign is that? He tells Moses that the way you will know that I am with you is after you have gone and done what I told you to do. He is requiring Moses to do what he is commanding him to do by faith. He is requiring him to trust him. When it is all over, then he will worship God for what God did. Moses must take God at his word and believe not only that God is going to do what he says but that the end result will be worth the suffering he will have to endure to get there. The motivation God gives to Moses in response to his assertion that he doesn’t have the power to go to Pharaoh is this: I have the power and you will get the joy of worshipping me for my power at the end. You see? God tells Moses that it’s not about you, it’s all about me. Stop thinking about yourself and begin thinking about me. Your power, whether you think of yourself as strong or weak, is not what matters. My power will accomplish what I have promised through you and then you will delight in me and so worship me at the end of it all. You get the help, I get the glory. That is how God has arranged the world that we live in. However, our part is to believe the promise and then act as though we believe the promise. This is how we change and enter into the saving work of God.
God displays his glory in overcoming all resistance to his salvation by…
- Raiding our ordinary lives with his extraordinary presence
- Requiring human involvement
- Replacing self-consciousness with God-consciousness
- And by…
IV. Revealing his nature and his plan (vv. 13-22)
Well, Moses is not yet convinced that he wants any part of this arrangement. He continues to resist. If his first question is “Who am I?”; then his second question is, “Who are you?” In essence, his question is how do I know that you are a God who can be trusted? Moses has enough sense to not phrase his question in such a belligerent manner. He puts the question in the mouth of the people of Israel. He says, “Suppose I do go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘the God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I tell them?” Moses and the people of Israel know that the actual name of God is Yahweh, or I AM. This is the name that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have used. The question, “what is his name?” has to do with God’s ability to act, not with what to call him. The Israelites are living in a pagan, polytheistic culture and there are many gods with different names and each name signifies particular power. The question here is, does the God of Israel have adequate power to do what he promises? What kind of God is he? Moses is challenging God’s ability to perform what he promises. He is saying something like this, “You are asking me to change my entire life and to risk everything. How do I know that you will come through on what you say? Who are you that I should do as you say?”
Look at how patiently and thoroughly God responds to Moses’ impudence. He gives two answers to Moses’ question. First, in v. 14, he reveals his name, which is also a revelation of his nature. He declares his eternal existence. He is the God who has always been and who will always be. He is the God who is always present, never distant or far away. He acts, as he pleases, not according to the demands and controls of anyone or anything else. When he acts, it is in accord with whom he is. He is not constrained by anyone or anything outside of himself. He is who he is and is under no obligation to Moses or anyone else to prove himself. He will be known on his terms, not mans. Moses and Israel must deal with a God whom they did not create and whom they cannot control. He is the one who has always been and who has always been whom he intends to be. He is free to be and act as he pleases. He is under no obligation to any being outside of himself. He needs no one and nothing else. Rather all existence depends upon him. He is unlike everything else in creation in that he is not dependent, whereas everything and everyone in creation is dependent upon him. He tells Moses to tell the sons of Israel that the God upon which all existence depends and who is sovereign and free and able to do anything he is pleased to do, is the God who sent him.
If that was the only thing God said to Moses, that would not be good news. He doesn’t need us for anything, how can we know that he will be pleased to do anything for us? The second thing he says is the good news we need to hear. This all-sufficient and self-sufficient God is the God of the Hebrews. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His name is not only the transcendent I AM but also the personal, promise-making God who delights to save his people.
Then as the promise making and promise keeping God of Israel he tells Moses exactly what Moses is going to do and what the Israelites and Pharaoh will do and then how he is going to act in the midst of and through all this human action. First Moses is to go to talk with the elders, the leaders of Israel and tell them that the God of their fathers has appeared to him and wants them to know that he is watching over them and has seen their misery in Egypt. Then he is to tell them that he is going to bring them up, out of their misery in Egypt to the land of Canaan, a land gushing with milk and honey. In v. 18 Yahweh tells Moses that the elders will listen to him. Then he and the elders are to go talk with Pharaoh and tell him that they want to go a three-day’s journey into the wilderness to worship the Lord. However, Pharaoh will not listen to them. He will only let them go when compelled by a mighty hand. Therefore, God is going to strike the Egyptians with all the wonders he will perform among them and then Pharaoh will let them go. In 21, God promises that he is going to cause the Egyptians to be favorably disposed to the Israelites when they leave so that they will not leave their slavery empty handed. In fact, they will plunder Egypt by their women asking for and receiving all the silver and gold that the Egyptians possess.
God has the entire program all arranged, all that awaits the fulfillment of his promise is Moses’ believing what he has just been told. The God who is talking to Moses is the only truly free being in the universe and he is using his freedom to act on behalf of the nation of Israel. He can do whatever he pleases and he is pleased to save Israel through Moses. He has come near to save his people and he is more than able to accomplish that salvation. He not only knows what is going to happen but is going to exercise his power to make sure that everything goes according to plan. The only question is, will Moses believe and so change? Will Moses believe that God is able to do what he has promised and that what God promises is worth leaving behind a life that he has lived for forty years?
It’s the same question facing each of us today. God is working out a great salvation. He has come near in the person of his son and invites each of us to leave behind our ordinary lives and join in his salvation life. Will we believe that he is able to do what he promises and that what he promises is worth giving up your entire life to obtain?
God displays his glory in overcoming all resistance to his salvation by…
- Raiding our ordinary lives with his extraordinary presence
- Requiring our involvement
- Replacing self-consciousness with God-consciousness
- Revealing his nature and his plan
© Copyright
2004 John Swanson.
You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute
this material in any format provided that:
(1) you credit the author,
(2) any modifications are clearly marked,
(3) you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction,
and
(4) you do not make more than 1,000 copies.
If you would like to post this material to the web, or if
your intended use is other than outlined above, please contact
River Hills Community Church, 2843 West Court Street,
Janesville, WI 53545. (608) 758-0943. mail@riverhillsonline.org
|