A Deliverer To Lead
Book of Exodus Chapters 3 and 4
We should understand that when God wants someone to step up and lead His people, He will make His will known to that person and even to those that need to be delivered or led to freedom.
We should also understand that when God selects us to do something then He will empower us to do that thing!
When Moses defended that Israelite to the death of that Egyptian, he thought no one had seen him.
God knew He was going to choose Moses, so this thing had to be made known.
God will not allow the sin of His leaders to remain hidden from the public!
This thing ended the first 40 years of Moses life as a prince in Pharaoh's court.
Moses went to the Midianites because they were in fact distant kin to the Israelites, and he felt he would be welcomed there and he was, and it was at this time he found himself a Gentile Bride.
Great typology can be seen in the life of Moses.
After learning much about the military and the ins and outs of government, Moses next spends 40 years as a Shepherd with his Gentile Bride.
We can see that God had His hand upon Moses all the days of His life.
We should also understand that we may never know the process God uses to select people for specific uses.
All Christians have been called by the Lord Jesus Christ as we learned from Matthew Chapter 28.
Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
We are told how we are to live after we are saved:
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
But God does call others for specific special purposes such as the Apostles, including the Apostle Paul, and here we see Moses, but there are many more.
Moses had lived the life of a prince until he became a murderer.
We should understand that YHWH, Jehovah, the I Am of the Bible, does not need anyone's help to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.
He allows His creation, the humans to serve for Heavenly rewards.
Moses would spend the next forty years leading a rebellious nation to become a legitimate nation called Israel.
God has had His hand upon Israel since that day.
*****Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
It is this Moses, who was called to be the Deliverer of Israel, and yet not a word was said to him until he was 80 years old.
Mount Horeb is actually a chain of mountains with Mount Sinai being called the Mount of God.
God had been watching Moses and placing him in certain positions to learn how to lead a nation.
God uses this method with most of those He calls.
It is a shame that what we get to choose as leaders here in America, they are most all career politicians who know nothing about how real people live.
They make laws that they excuse themselves from following.
It was refreshing to see a man such a Donald Trump come out to lead our nation for those years he did, and we need more like him, but the water of the political swamp is so deep it is hard to overcome.
Moses had been in God's training camp for 80 years and it was time to put him to work, but remember God will not force anyone to do what He ask of them.
We learn many things here of the workings of Jehovah God.
Moses married a gentile woman who had dark skin and there was nothing wrong with that.
The color of the skin is never mentioned in the Bible in a negative fashion.
The 613 commandments had not been given to Israel at this time.
We did see Jochebed and Amram the parents of Moses had married both descendants of Levi which would soon be a commandment of God for reasons that God will state for us as they lived in the Promised Land.
Moses had left the riches of Egypt to live the poor life and he was happy with his new life.
Moses had left a throne behind to walk as a shepherd.
Again we see the typology in the Scriptures as the Lord Jesus Christ left the wonders of Heaven to walk as the true Shepherd here upon Earth.
What does a shepherd do?
They see that the sheep have food and water.
They guide the sheep to safety.
They seek and save any lost sheep.
They protect the sheep even willing to give their life for the sheep.
They keep the sheep separated from the goats.
We should know that God's call does not come to any particular profession.
God seeks particular hearts, hearts that are willing to serve.
It takes a particular people to be servants of the Almighty God!
It takes people of great "faith" to succeed in the army of God!
*****Exo 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
It would be a great sight to see an object in flames and yet no burning was occurring.
This should bring to mind those three Jewish boys and Jesus, walking in the flames of that oven that belonged to Nebuchadnezzar.
It should also bring to mind that those in Hell will burn for eternity, but Hell's flames cannot consume them, but they will feel the pain of those flames.
As we read this passage, we should note that this Angel of the Lord is the Lord Himself.
In this verse it says, "the angel of the Lord".
When Moses observed this great thing, he knew that he needed to take a closer look.
If Moses had just passed on by, with no concern for this thing, God would have chosen someone else to lead the Children of Israel away from bondage to Egypt.
*****Exo 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Now if we read this verse carefully, we will begin to see that it was the Almighty God who was speaking from that burning bush.
What is the first thing we need to do when God calls out to us? We need to respond.
Moses was seeing a portion of the Shekinah Glory of God.
We will notice that once the Lord began speaking, He had much to say to Moses.
This message was urgent because the Lord called Moses’ name twice.
There are only ten places in the Bible where we see this double calling.
Where we see the title Lord written in all capital letters, we know that we are speaking of Jehovah the God of the Bible! (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit)
*****Exo 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
Moses was approaching a place of Holiness.
Moses was approaching the perfect God and our perfect God considers all His creation to be evil at this time.
Holiness belongs to God alone!
Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
It is from God's Holiness where we get God's "Goodness"!
Luk 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
This is also a place where the Muslim mock Jehovah by taking their shoes off to do a mocking prayer to Allah or the Prophet Mohammed.
The Muslim Allah and Jehovah are not the same God. Allah can mean multiple gods and it does.
There is only one God, and His name is Jehovah who to Israel is (Yahweh)!
We can only be made perfect by the "Grace" of God, Jehovah through the Lord Jesus Christ!
We begin to be "Holy" once we are a home for the Holy Spirit!
We cannot be servants of God unless we are called of God, realizing that we are filthy sinners and repent and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We cannot even repent until we are filled with the Holy Spirit, because we will not understand the Word of God.
Jehovah said let's be clear about this Moses!
*****Exo 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God.
We had better understand that when we are in the presence of God, we had better be respectful.
God is my friend, but He is not my chummy friend!
God is my Heavenly Father, but He is not just "the man upstairs"!
I must be respectful, humble, and reverent.
God has a sense of humor, but He can never be the center of my jokes!
God is my Heavenly Father, but He cannot be my grandfather. God does not have any grandchildren!
We make a serious mistake when we always seek the arm of God when we should be seeking the face of God.
Luk 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
Luk 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.
We serve the only God who can truly fulfill His promises!
God would say this same thing to us today. "I am the God of Abraham".
Rom_4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Rom_4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Those who have the "faith" as of Abraham are those who are saved by "Grace"!
We serve a God who knows all things that go on in this world!
*****Exo 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Exo 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Can you just imagine the prayers going up from God's people just in a place called Afghanistan today?
Add to that all Christians in North Korea, China, Iran and the many other places where good Christians are doing their best just to survive the cruelty of this world and their corrupt governments.
God hears their cries, and He will not hold back very much longer.
We should be calling out to God also! Maybe not just for ourselves but also for them!
God was deeply concerned about the suffering of these people and at this time a Deliverer could lead them to safety by the hand of God.
Note: This is the very first time in the Bible that Jehovah called these children of Israel, "His people".
Jehovah has been connected to Israel ever since that day!
So has the Christian, if you can see that all these things are written for those who love the true Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was God's intention to deliver Israel from bondage just as it is God's intention to deliver all those held by Satan in bondage.
We have to want to be delivered!
We must make our voices to be heard in Heaven!
Note: "I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians".
We should understand that God is able!
God is able to do everything He has said He would do!
God has the physical power to do as He wishes in this world that He has created by Jesus Christ!
Where would the nation of Israel dwell? In the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
These people were so wickedly evil and immoral that God decided they did not need to live.
Our world is approaching this type of wickedness today and God will do the same thing!
We will read further of this Promised Land and know that we also are promised a land much better that any land of this earth!
Since God had claimed these descendants of Abraham, He certainly would not allow them to be oppressed for very long.
Moses knew this Pharaoh very well for he had once called him grandfather.
In my words Jehovah said, "look Moses just be my voice and I will do all the work it will take to redeem my people"
How can we miss the typology of Jesus Christ here?
After making many excuses, Moses says when they ask me for your name, what should I tell them?
*****Exo 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Were these people ignorant of God?
We could ask this same question today and the answer is that yes, most people are ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the only sin that cannot be forgiven.
God did not come down to deliver these people because they were all believers.
God came down to deliver them because He made a promise to Abraham!
Many of them remembered Abraham, but they did not remember the Almighty God!
These people had lived in Egypt and understood the many gods of Egypt and to Moses, at this time he knew he needed a name to tell them.
God settles things really quick for Moses.
At this time Moses did not believe he would be accepted, nor did he believe some new god would be accepted.
We can just imagine the anger of Jehovah, but Jehovah does what Jehovah wants to do anytime Jehovah wants to do it!
We might ask ourselves just why would such a God as our God Jehovah want to deliver anyone on this earth?
What does this name "I Am" mean? Jehovah is saying, I am the true God who is beyond the reach of human intellect, and I cannot be contained by my own creation!
For our own benefit, why would we want a God who will not reveal Himself.
Jehovah says this is just who I Am!
Jehovah is independent of His creation.
Jehovah is absolute, He is complete in Himself.
Jehovah says "I Am" eternal and I can make you eternal also!
Jehovah says "I Am" unchangeable for there is no need for Me to change everything I do is perfect.
Jehovah says "I Am" life!
Jehovah is the One God who seeks to have a personal relationship with us, caring for us, and providing for us.
Moses continues with his excuses.
*****Exo 4:10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.
Excuses are said to be pleas that are offered to be free of guilt or to seek a pardon because of some fault we think we have.
Moses made every excuse he could think of to try to avoid what the Almighty God had told him to do.
The thing we must realize is that the Lord God Jehovah, will not ask us to do things that He will not equip us to do!
Excuses are in fact rebellion!
What did Moses mean?
I try to teach a Sunday School Class and I can relate to these words Moses used here, for I definitely am not an eloquent speaker.
I believe this is the reason the Holy Spirit works in me to prepare a lesson every week.
I am not at ease when I stand before any size group of people, but I know I do not stand alone.
Without God's help, I could not stand before my class every week.
Moses felt some of these same things and he was standing for a moment in the Throne Room of God.
I am not sure, but I believe Moses is the only man in the Bible that did not fall on his face in fear as they stood before God.
We must understand we should be very careful in the way we approach the Living God!
What God required was not a man who was an eloquent speaker.
God requires men who will speak the unchanging truth of the Word of God!
Remember God had already shown Moses how He had control over the human body by turning Moses's hand to a leprous hand.
Leprosy will spread all over the body eating away at the flesh.
Leprosy is a type of sin in the Bible and leprosy will eat away at the flesh until it causes death.
God had told Moses how He also had control over our environment.
So God said to Moses, "who made you"?
*****Exo 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?
If we cannot understand that Jehovah God is our Creator, we will never get very far with Him!
God has reasons for everything He does!
It is true all of our sicknesses come because of the curse which comes by sin!
Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Many things happen to our bodies because of this and many from other man-made remedies.
It is also true that God can heal anybody from any sickness or any deformity at any time if He so desires.
Ask Isaiah:
Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
Ask Jeremiah:
Jer 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
Ask Ezekiel:
Eze 33:22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.
Eze 3:26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
Eze 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.
One preacher said when we want to serve the Lord "just get out of His way".
Just agree that the Lord can do all things and then put Him to the test and agree to serve.
*****Exo 4:12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
If I can get out of the Lord's way on Sunday morning, then He will be my mouth and He will do the same for every teacher and preacher who preaches the truth of God.
When we make excuses, we are being irreverent and ungrateful to our Holy God!
You see the Lord offers opportunities!
Opportunities to build treasures in Heaven.
Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
God is always looking for those with a servant's heart.
God is always looking for those who are teachable.
God is always looking for those who make themselves available.
As Christians we are already filled with the Holy Spirit.
Moses did not have this option, but if Moses chose to obey, God the Holy Spirit would be with him all the days of his life.
We know how Moses chose and we know that Moses became one of the greatest characters in the Old Testament.
We know that by the power of God, Moses led the Children of Israel out of Bondage and took them on their journey to the Promised Land.
Exo 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exo 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
You see Moses had to have "faith"!
Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Before these things could be true, we see Moses beg Jehovah and the Lord relented and gave Aaron to be the spokesperson and Moses as a type of God.
Exo 4:13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
Exo 4:14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
Exo 4:15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.
Exo 4:16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.
God will have His way and it would pay for us to less like Moses when the Lord calls us to be His servant!
God looked into the heart of Moses and knew He had selected the right person!
It was Moses who had to believe God!
Amen
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