The Light Of The Cross In Exodus

The Light of His Countenance

2009-12-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

Exodus 32 through 34

The Prophetic Significance of the Golden Calf 32:1-33:6
God's way or my way?

Notice there is a reference to mutliple gods even though Aaron only made one statue! Is this because the statue is referring to something not seen, or for some other reason. In Hebrew, the word Elohim, used here, is grammatically plural, and the Hebrew pronoun for 'these' therefore must be plural to match it. However, the Hebrews could have understood that this was referring to only one deity.

ESV Exodus 32:5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD."

This shows that Aaron was encouraging the worship of the God who Moses represented. So what was going on here? It is likely that as the Tabernacle was the 'footstool' of God, so this Calf was meant to be seen as pedestal for God.

In the ancient near east, bulls and other animals were often used to show a deity riding on them. In some cases a deity was implied by showing the animal without the deity...showing just the 'pedestal' if you will. And so this may be what Aaron was implying, that Yahweh, the God who brought them out of Egypt, was to be represented by the riderless Golden Calf. And so they may have intended to worship Yahweh, but in an unauthorized manner. It is akin perhaps to the 'way of Cain' where Cain his own kind of offering to the Lord rather than what was required.

And so the lesson to be learned here is that God is not asking us to follow Him our own way...or to design our way to God. He has laid out the approach and we must walk to Him in that manner. It's the opposite of 'have it your way'. The message I see here is that we must approach God God's way. He required no graven images to be made, and Israel had already agreed to that! But they insisted on having something as close as possible. And without waiting for Moses to return from the mountain they sinned by making their own way. This is the danger failing to wait on the Lord.

This is the danger of reaching out to stabilize the ark of the covenant that resulted in Aaron's sons dying. This is the danger of Peter's error on the mount of transfiguration. Sometimes we are best off just being quiet and waiting for God's will, God's way, and God's timing.

So set your heart to wait on the Lord. Set your heart to move as He moves you. Yield your will to His will. It takes humility and trust to wait for the Lord. You must have confidence that He loves you and will interact with you! Wait on the Lord. He is your salvation and He is your path! He is the light of your path.

Aaron and Israel's action brought an end to the covenant with God. This is signified by Moses smashing the stone tablets! This was not a rash act of anger, but a termination of the contract in ancient near eastern style.

Application: When we say that we must develop our own way to come to God, in the New Covenant, we are saying that Christ's blood on the cross was not enough. We must do something to make up for the lack that His blood covered. That de facto statement of doubt about the power of the blood of the cross is a root problem with the way of Cain. The way of Cain, the way of Aaron, show a failure to do what God says. And in our case, we are called on to trust in the blood of the cross as enough for all of our needs!!

The Tent of Meeting 33:7 to 11 BECAUSE ISRAEL HAD ILLEGITIMATE WORSHIP, God met Moses outside the camp of Israel instead of among them!

Prophetically this shows the failure of the law of Moses to enable people to come to God right from the start. For God's ultimate purpose, "ESV Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb." cannot be fulfilled with peopl who cannot hold up their side of the covenant!

Already we see a need for a Savior who can impart righteousness or goodness into the lives of those He rescues.

ESV Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

This shows that God visited Moses more closely than He did with other people. And this closeness was unique.

Third we see Joshua's spirit. He loved God so much that He did not depart from the place where God met them!

How Joshua responded to God's Spirit shows us how we should respond to the Holy Spirit. We ought to long for fellowship with the Spirit!

ESV Philippians 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

The word participation here is koinonia in Greek...meaning fellowship or warm friendship.
Again we are pointed to a deep personal relationship with God by what these men did! And Christ has opened the way for us to enjoy the Holy Spirit's presence on our lives!
Take Him at his invitation. Pursue Him!

Moses and Glory

The Meaning Of New Stone Tablets

The covenant between Israel and God is renewed! This is what the second stone tablets signify. Note that God had Moses cut out the stone tablets, but God wrote
on the tablets according to Exo 34:1
ESV Exodus 34:1 The LORD said to Moses, "Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

The Prophetic Implications of Moses' Radiant Face
The Hebrew does not clearly say radiating from Moses face. It may simply mean the skin of his face.
The term horn and light are almost identical in Hebrew. And it may be that the skin of his face had become hardened like a 'horn'. Ancient near east deities have been found that show horns with light emanating from them.

The idea was that Moses was transformed by his encounter with God and that the appearance caused Israel to recoil.

Some ancient texts translated the passage here as radiating light rather than a hardened horn like skin. These translations predate the New Testament!

Irregardless of how that's to be interpreted, Paul's commentary on this passage brings a wonderful perspective into all of this!

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. 15 Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. 16 But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

(Psalms 18:28) For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

(Psalms 34:5) They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.

(Psalms 43:3) Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill And to Your tabernacle.

(Psalms 89:15) Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance.

(Psalms 112:4) Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

(Proverbs 4:18) But the path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.

ESV Numbers 6:24 The LORD bless you and keep you; 25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. 27 "So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them."

The prophetic implication that Paul draws out is that the new covenant has an eternal tranformation that endures forever.

Bless and be blessed!

Misty Edwards wrote and sang a song called "Light of Your face". Here she takes the powerful concept from the AARONIC BLESSING and turns it into a prayer song.

O Lord bless me and keep me cause Your face to shine on me
Lord be gracious lift the light of Your countenance give me peace

I live only to see your face so shine on me

let the light of Your face shine down on my heart and let me feel it

The hope of seeing God face to face is focused for us by Moses experiences. And so we have the transfiguration mount experience that Jesus experienced with Peter, James and John.

All of this is prophetic pointing to Christ's return, as John the apostle shows us in ESV 1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

So again faith and hope for Christ's physical return is linked to our daily walk with Christ. A better hope produces transformation in our lives. All of it rooted in the glory of Christ's atoning sacrifice and what it has opened for us! A superior way over Moses' covenant. An unfading glory. An eternal transformation!

Tabernacle of Moses Exodus 25 to 31

2009-12-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Nabu-god of wisdom in Babylon had a house "dwelling place" that was also a temple for worship. The idea was to give him food and care for his needs in exchange for his blessing of wisdom. Other ancient gods worshiped in ancient culture were like this as well. In contrast, the God of Israel had a temple constructed that demonstrated He has no needs.

Introduce the concept of sacred space here.

ESV Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. (Exo 25:8 ESV)
The purpose of the tabernacle was specified in Exo 25:8

The Tabernacle from the wilderness was replaced by the Temple during Solomon's reign.

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית הַמִקְדָּשׁ, Beit HaMikdash ; "House of the Holy"), refers to a series of structures located on theTemple Mount (Har HaBayit) in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples were built at this location, with a third Temple believed to be built in the future. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple (or the Temple Mount) acts as the figurative "footstool" of God's presence (Heb. "shechina").
According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple was built by King Solomon (reigned c 970-c 930 BCE).[1] It was the center of ancient Judaismaccording to Hebrew scripture.[2] As the sole place of Jewish sacrifice, the Temple replaced the local sanctuaries and crude altars in the hills.[3] ThisFirst Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE when they sacked the city. Construction of a new temple was begun in 537 BCE; after a hiatus, work resumed 520 BCE, with completion occurring in 516 BCE and dedication in 515. According to the Book of Ezra, rebuilding of the Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and ratified by Darius the Great. Five centuries later, this Second Temple was renovated by Herod the Great in about 20 BCE, also known as Herod's Temple. It was subsequently destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE (see The Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE). All of the outer walls still stand today, although the Temple itself has long since been destroyed, and for many years it was believed that the western wall of the complex was the only wall standing. (from Wikipedia-this article is accurate)

ESV Ezra 7:24 We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. (Ezr 7:24 ESV)

During Ezra the temple was restored. Notice how it was referred to the 'house of God'.

Except the Hebrew God did not require food to satisfy his needs. He explicitly says that He provides for Israel and does not want or need their sacrifices.

ESV 1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

The first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

The presence of God was removed from Israel symbolically by this act.

The second temple was built during Ezra's time.

During King Herod's days it was expanded and renovated 500 some years later.

The prophesy was that the Messiah would come to His temple.

ESV Malachi 3:1 "Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. (Mal 3:1 ESV)

The devil, who controls this world, offered Jesus all kingdoms IF at the temple pinnacle! ESV Matthew 4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple.

ESV Matthew 12:6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

Jesus speaking about the temple and His kingdom claims to supercede the Kingdom!

Jesus claimed that his body was the temple of God. The house of God. The dwelling place of God. Sacred space.
ESV Matthew 26:61 and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.'"
(Mat 12:6 ESV)

So the resurrection from the dead is the raising up of Jesus temple from destruction in three days!! It is not a figure of speach, but a reality because Jesus body was and is the very house of God. He is God in the flesh!

ESV 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

This means that we are the temple of God. The church corporate. This is why we should honor other churches. Those who divide the church are destroying God's temple! Read all of 1 Corinthians 3 to see the context is about divisiveness and denominationalism per se.

Individually you are called to holiness...separation from sexual immorality because you are the temple of God. ESV 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1Co 6:19 ESV)

Sacred space!!

ESV Ephesians 2:18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
(Eph 2:18 ESV)

There is a heavenly temple! Doesn't Hebrews teach us this?

ESV Revelation 3:12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
(Rev 3:12 ESV)

The future is a city of Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus Christ dwelling as a giant city in love and harmony. But what about the temple?

ESV Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (Rev 21:22 ESV)

Because the separation from God is no longer at all!

ESV Exodus 25:8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.

So what does all this mean?

It means you are the house of God. It means that we should respect one another as the house of God. It's not the church building, it's us!
So it affects how we see the scriptures. How we apply them.
ESV Matthew 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." (Mat 21:12 ESV)

This is now about our hearts being free from greed and filled with generosity, not so much about what happens in the church building, but what happens in our lives all day every day.

Everything we do now should be sacred, because we are a sacred space...the house of God!

The Gospel And The Law of Moses Exodus 19-24

2009-11-29T10:44:00.001-08:00

The Gospel & The Covenant of Moses 19:1-24:18

ESV Exodus 19:1 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." 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." 16 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. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near to the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them." 23 And Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, 'Set limits around the mountain and consecrate it.'" 24 And the LORD said to him, "Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them."

1) Eagles' wings metaphor

Exodus 19:4
4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' (Nesher here means Vulture or Eagle) wings and brought you to myself.

First, I believe we have a cultural influence on how Nesher is translated to be Eagle here rather than vulture.

Understanding Egypt, which is the direct contrast in this very verse, the Egyptians made a very big deal about vultures...especially their wings.

The Vulture's wing was wrapped around the Queen's headpiece (Cleopatra is an example). This points to protection over the leadership. If we understand this reference in light of the Egyptian perspective, God is claiming to be the protection over the leader of Israel.

Osirus, the god of the dead, was protected by Nekhbet, the vulture goddess. So we are now talking about the after life, not this life, but divine power over the after life by implication.
Yahweh is the one who oversees the judge of the all in the after-life, by implication.

I am not saying this validates Egyptian beliefs, but rather that it echoes against the Egyptian beliefs making a statement about Yahweh by implication.

The vulture wing was a major theme during the centuries the Israelites were working in Egypt, with a vulture goddess painting on the ceiling of Ramses II's temple and wings protecting all in the temple.

ESV Genesis 47:11 Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

ESV Exodus 12:37 And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.

Nekhbet was the protector of the Queen/King, and over the dead where souls were weighed and sent for punishment or for reward based on the weight of the heart. Nekhbet was the one who provided protection therefore into the eternal promised land for those who were better than they were bad.

Therefore, the implication of 'vulture's wings' again points even more spectacularly to this very point...that when a dead Egyptian entered the judgment, his heart was weighed...and Osirus, the god of judging the heart to determine one's final destination based on truth and justice, that god was protected by the wings of the vulture goddess who was above him in Egyptian beliefs and artistic renderings. So, the vulture goddess, Nekhbet, oversaw the passage of the just and the unjust into their respective places.

This is what I believe the primary allusion is to in this passage. Here we have Israel, has left Egypt...has been 'baptized into Moses' and is now safe from the task masters...and the God of heaven and earth is about to cut a covenant with them. This is a national contract between Israel and God...a contract that shows what they are expected to do and what God is going to do for them. In a sense then, the reminder of the destruction of Egypt's power, is caste against the gods and goddesses of Egypt, even to the gods and goddesses of the afterlife, even the vulture goddess! And so we have a summary statement that not only introduces God's claim over Israel, but it closes the chapter on His stunning triumph over all Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Given all these meanings and the importance of Nekhbet, the vulture goddess in ancient Egypt, it seems odd that the english translators favor eagles so much for this verse. Why is this verse regularly translated eagles' wings? I believe the translators may have been influenced by our western preference for the eagle over the vulture.

But in Egyptian context, I think it is another play against the Egyptian gods and goddesses who were destroyed by the God of Israel. It echoes the idea that the one who sent Moses, the God of Israel, is not just the God over all of the livestock and the land and the sources of water and sustenance, and even the heavens, but that He is able to protect you into the next life. He is the one who oversees and governs the judge of the afterlife. He is even stronger than the goddess Nekhbet, the one Egyptians wear on their helmets to show divine protection for the highest authorities. If context is king in interpreting the Bible, we must remember that the Israelites who heard this statement would have immediately known all the things I've shared, and much, much more, because of the prevailing presence of the vulture wing in ancient Egypt.

So from our perspective, thousands of years later, with the full revelation of the Bible...the story of redemption complete, the allusions made by implication are stunning! None of them are stated here, and to teach it as doctrine is an overstatement, however, these are the implications if Yahweh, the God of Israel,....carrying Israel out of Egypt on 'vultures' wings by overthrowing Nekhbet and protecting Israel all the way to their 'promised inheritance' which the Bible eventually shows is truly symbolic of the inheritance of eternal life that believers in Christ receive. And in a very real sense then the whole event becomes prophetic in pointing to the way to enter into eternity, is under the protection of the 'vultures' wings' that is the one who is the true protector of all who must give an account to the Judge of the dead.

ESV Acts 10:42 And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. (Act 10:42 ESV)
ESV 2 Timothy 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: (2Ti 4:1 ESV)
ESV 1 Peter 4:5 but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1Pe 4:5 ESV)

2) God brought Israel to 'myself'. It is a relationship between God and Israel, the nation, that God is desiring!
ESV Exodus 19:4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. (Exo 19:4 ESV)

To miss this point is to miss the entire focus of the Bible. The Bible is not about religious duty, it is about a bond of friendship between the people of God and God.
The rules in the law of Moses were designed to show people how beautiful God's holiness is so that they could approach Him in a relationship.

3) Contractual Conditions Exo 19:5
Israel is invited to enter into a national contract with God. The conditions are laid out clearly in advance. The
theme of a kingdom of priests and holy nation are laid out here by God.

When the apostle John sees Jesus at the beginning of the great apocalypse, he mentions Exodus 19:5 declaring it fulfilled...
ESV Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

This shows the relational theme started in the beginning of the Bible flows through to the very end! This is why I believe the Bible is authored by One being, and He is not simply a man. He is the God of the universe.

In the Revelation song, we see Exodus 19:5 fulfilled again via the worship directed to the Lamb. ESV Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."

Over time the conditions required of Israel will be shown to never ever have been fulfilled. But this is not a surprise to God. It was part of His design all along. It is what I call the 'black velvet effect'. He is preparing a contrast to help us see something much more clearly that is coming in the near future!

Peter comes out and says that we, the church, are that which God promised Israel if only they obeyed! But they never could obey. They were destined to fail.
ESV 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1Pe 2:9 ESV)

4) Faith is the key Exo 19:9
ESV Exodus 19:9 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,

The goal in the Old Testament was that God's people would approach Him by faith, not by rote or rituals. As He calls them to strict rules, He gives them a sign so they will believe. Once again this foreshadows the truth in the New Testament that the work of God is to believe in the one whom He has sent!!!
ESV John 6:29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

5) The Law of Moses Required Limits So People Couldn't Get Too Close To God Exo 19:12

This shows that through the Law of Moses no one can actually come freely to God. There is still a barrier. And as we will see, the commandments and the veil and all of these things are highlighted in the New Testament to show us that though the law was and is good, and is still in effect, no one could ever do them on their own.
The law of Moses highlighted the weakness of the people. This was to show the need for a savior. ESV Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 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.

But in Christ we can all come before God.

6) The Covenant Was Cut With Blood ESV Exodus 24:8 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, "Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words."

ESV Exodus 24:9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

There was meal associated with the covenant. Blood thrown and then a meal! Doesn't it foreshadow the coming agape meal, the passover Lamb's blood and body...our communion services!

Jesus ties to this experience when He promises to all in His kingdom: ESV Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

What was for a select very few in the Old Covenant is now for all in the New Covenant. Anyone who purifies their heart can approach God in the New Covenant.

The covenant was cut with Israel. It is now cut with the Church.

The law is still in effect. It is good. It is holy...it is perfect. BUT we died to the law when we died with Christ. Therefore we are no longer under the letter of the law. This is good because the law of Moses is the ministry of condemnation according to Paul!

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

The food we are to eat, the festivals and Sabbaths the law requires us to keep are now viewed as shadows. And we see the true shadow causer! It is Christ and Christ crucified and risen again! Through Christ we have full access to God by faith. This we could discuss for a long time. It is the theme of the Bible.

ESV Colossians 2:16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. (Col 2:16 ESV)

We are now no longer alive to the law of Moses, though it is still in effect, we have died, and through our resurrection in Christ we have a new life. This new life is under the law of the liberty and love of Jesus Christ. So all that is in the Old Testament that can be summed up in love feeds our meditations and our inspirations to walk with God through faith in Christ.

So we do not throw out the Old Testament. Instead we see a rich tapestry pointing directly to Jesus Christ! It is all His shadow! It points to Him.

And so as Israel cut a covenant with God, so the Church of Jesus Christ has cut a covenant with God through His own blood. And we are partakers of that covenant by faith!

And as God carried Israel out of Egypt with protective wings, so we will be carried out of the slavery of our old nature into the newness of life in Christ. Let us receive it all by faith in Christ, who is our blood covenant with God the Father!

Are Christians obligated to obey the law of Moses?

ESV Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. 16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's." 18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." 20 Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." 21 The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. 22 And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.'

ESV Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

ESV Ephesians 6:2 "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise),

ESV Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

We are no longer to circumcise, keep the sabbath, and follow the Jewish law. We died to the law.

The law of Moses is still in effect. It is still good. We can learn principles from it to show us how love works, and to meditate on the greatness and love of God. But our old nature, which was in legal relationship with the law is no longer bound. We have died in Christ.

So through the cross we are separated from the law of Moses. We now live a new life, free from the law of Moses.

ESV Romans 7:1 Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

So are we lawless then? No, we live by the law of life, love and liberty in Christ Jesus. So by this new law of love in Christ, we can digest and apply anything from the law of Moses as the Holy Spirit inspires us to do. This is exactly what Paul did. He applied some law commandments and laid aside others. He laid aside circumcision and Sabbath keeping, but applied honoring your father and your mother. He applied the temple principles to the congregation of the saints. Gospel preachers became recipients of tithes (1 Cor 9), the congregation became the 'temple' of the Holy Spirit, and our worship became living sacrifices of praise! And the promised land is eternal life in Christ Jesus, which all who trust in Christ are destined to receive.

Escape From Egypt

2009-11-15T10:42:00.001-08:00

Just my raw unedited notes if you want them!

Exodus 13
Key concepts for further study
1) Consecration: Be sanctified!
A debt for being redeemed...Israel could buy back their firstborn sons by sacrificing a lamb.
Regarding Jesus' birth...Luk 2:23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord")

Consecrate (Hebrew is QAHDOSH/Greek is Agiasmos meaning to sanctify or to set apart)
First use in the bible is ESV Genesis 2:3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Also used in ESV Exodus 3:5 Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

Because the firstborn points directly to Jesus Christ (Luke 2:23), we have the promise of sanctification through faith in Jesus Christ! So we can set ourselves
apart from the world...the Holy Spirit sets us apart from the world.

Sanctification is provided for us through the death of Christ on the cross. His shed blood sanctifies us!

ESV Hebrews 13:12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Hebrews 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. 15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

The reason the Old Testament sacrifices had any merit was because they pointed to the perfect and acceptable blood of Christ that was to come!

So the word of faith that is spoken by God enables us to believe in what Christ has done. And by this faith in His blood, we actually become right before God.

ESV John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

It has been done.

Also we see the ongoing need to continually wash one another with the Word! This enables an effective cleansing on a regular basis.

ESV Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Paul invites everyone to pray for this on an ongoing basis by his example prayer for the Thessalonians. Pray that God sanctifies us all completely! Pray for the sanctification of one another. Spirit, soul and body is a way to pray for the whole man!

ESV 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And the scriptures always come back to the responsibility of man...never ever presenting what God has done for us alone. The scriptures always come back to our part. We have been sanctified...we must wash one another with the Word....AND pray for the ongoing sanctification of one another....and then finally:

We must choose to be holy ourselves.

ESV Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. ESV 1 Peter 1:15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
ESV 1 Peter 1:16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Implied in this statement is the fact that God's nature affects us directly because He indwells us now by faith in Christ. So we can be holy because He is in us and He is holy.
The NT does NOT teach it's impossible to be holy. Holiness is simply God's perfected love flowing in us. Severing us from fleshly desires and enabling the glory of God to refresh others through us.

2) Firstborn (Coupled with 'First opens the womb' distinctive stand off)
Know your inheritance in Christ!

Abel was the first one to bring an offering to the Lord of the 'firstborn'.
ESV Genesis 4:4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
Although he did not know this, the reason why God favored his offering was in part because it pointed to the Lord's offering of Jesus, the firstborn
as an atoning sacrifice on the cross.
Firstborn
Israel, who was born second, is called the Lord's firstborn.
ESV Exodus 4:22 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.'"
Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
Jer 31:9 With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Firstborn can mean the first one born or it can mean the one who inherits all. For the firstborn in ancient cultures inherited all of the family wealth. It was not split up among all the children.

Col. 1;15 shows that Jesus is the inheritor of all creation. ESV "Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."
He is not created, but the inheritor of all creation.

We are a holy nation of firstborns...because Jesus Christ will share the inheritance with all who know Him!
The firstborn is the one who inherits...and so it has become a mark of all believers in Christ! Amazing!!

3) Leavened Bread/Unleavened Bread
Get rid of the leaven from your life!

Jesus spiritualizes the concept of leaven...calling it hypocrisy. "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luk 12:1 ESV)

Paul speaks of leaven as a bad thing...applying the passover lamb concept directly into character defects in believers today! Amazing!

ESV 1 Corinthians 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
ESV 1 Corinthians 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ESV 1 Corinthians 5:8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

He also applies the offensive label of 'leaven' to those who try to mix the law of Moses and following it who were from Jerusalem demanding the Galatians circumcise their boys and follow Moses' law as well as the gospel of Christ.

ESV Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. 7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is.

SKIP POINTS 4-8
4) Redeem (vs 15)
5) Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt
6) Bones of Joseph
7) Cloud by day/pillar of fire by night....what is a Theophany?
Ancient Near East deities with similar manifest claims are called 'Storm Deities'. Ps 18:9-12
The canaanite god baal had similar concepts and was a 'storm god'. 'he has thundered in the stormclouds...he has blazed his lightning bolts to the earth...
The idea of Yaweh riding on the clouds seems behind 14:24...fitting with Psalm 18...'dark clouds were under his feet.

9 He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.
10 He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky.
12 Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
(Psa 18:9-12 NIV)

8) v9 placing instructions on the hands....see Deut 6.8, 11.18, Pro 7:3;
Also Pro 6:21 (around the neck)

Exodus 14
Key concepts for further study
1) The Lord hardening Pharaoh's heart
2) Pharaoh chasing after Israel with his army
3) Why do you cry out to Me?
4) Fear the Lord
5) Divide the sea

NT Meaning of the red sea crossing....
Remember your Red Sea Crossing!!

ESV 1 Corinthians 10:1 For I want you to know, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,

ESV 1 Corinthians 10:2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,

Exodus never says they were baptized into Moses. But Paul does to draw a direct parallel to being baptized into Christ! So the crossing of the red sea is a shadow of water baptism in Jesus! Egypt becomes a symbol of the world and everything that we must get free from. Pharaoh's army becomes a symbol of the powers of darkness trying to enslave you and me. And the promised land becomes a prophetic sign post for our future!

And all of these things did not happen just for themselves, but for us too!!!! Amazing!!

What are the crucial lessons the great apostle Paul says we should learn from these things?

1) Do not desire evil.

ESV 1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. ESV

2) Shun idolatry

1 Corinthians 10:7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."

3) Run from sexual immorality (sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman)

8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.

4) Do not put Christ to the test.

9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,

5) Don't grumble
10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

6) Having a clear grasp of the age we live in, helps us to live well for God. So we should not say...'it will all pan out in the end' and punt on our beliefs of the end times. We should instead focus on the larger picture...that the ages are drawing to an end and we are bearers of the key for the entire world to escape 'Egypt'. This key is the gospel of Christ.

Exodus 15
Key concepts for further study
1) Songs of praise & worship
Be filled with praise & worship about these things!

By praise and worship, we bind the enemy and release the power of God. This is especially true when our song is a song of faith mixed with love and NOT a religious duty!

The unfolding revelation of the gospel message

2009-11-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

The Unfolding Revelation of the Gospel Message with a special focus on Exodus 12

A) Abraham took Isaac for a hike up Mt Moriah. Isaac was saved by a ram in a thicket!

ESV Genesis 22:1 After these things aGod tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."
2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to athe land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy1 will go over there and worship and come again to you."
6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and alaid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
8 Abraham said, a"God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and alaid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I."
12 He said, a"Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for bnow I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."
13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 So Abraham called the name of that place, a"The LORD will provide";1 as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided."2
15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven
16 and said, a"By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring aas the stars of heaven and bas the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess cthe gate of his1 enemies,
18 and ain your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, bbecause you have obeyed my voice."

In this way God presents the first clear glimpse of his plan. Revealing that He will ultimately give His only begotten son as an atoning sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.

B) Notice that in Exodus 12, without the blood of a lamb or goat on the door posts and lintel of their homes, Israel would also suffer the penalty of the angel of death, the destroyer, because everyone who is guilty of sin had no defense against this spirit of death. And so this points us to the fact that Israel could never survive the plagues of Egypt without the blood of a sacrifice. This also points to the blood of Jesus Christ flowing on the cross on calvary which was yet to come some 1,400 years later.

Exo 12
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs for yourselves aaccording to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
22 Take a bunch of ahyssop and bdip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch cthe lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. dNone of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23 aFor the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ythe lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and dwill not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.

Not only was this event a powerful deliverance for Israel, but it was marked by God as the core event for a major feast in the Mosaic law. And this once again deepened the memory of Israel that was designed by God to point directly to the coming Savior, Jesus Christ. Who is the atoning sacrifice who takes away the sin of the world.

Rich Nathan, a converted Jew, tells in his testimony how the rites of the Jewish Passover Seder came alive for him when he considered who Christ was and how he fulfilled so many details of the Seder rituals that Jews practice to this very day!

C) So Moses codified the Passover event into the Law of Moses.

Lev 23:4-8
4 "These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them.
5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover.
6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.
7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.
8 But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work."

The study of the symbolic meaning of these things in Leviticus is one of the reasons why a sermon series through Leviticus promises to be one of the finest studies in scripture you will ever take. The holy convocations of Israel point to Jesus. And this Feast of Unleavened Bread points directly to Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross.

It is also described in detail in Numbers 28:16-25 & Deuteronomy 16:1-8

D) John the Baptist came as a great prophet preparing the way for Jesus Christ. When he announced who Jesus was, he makes this incredibly stunning summary statement about Jesus Christ in John the Apostle's gospel.

John 1
25 They asked him, "Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"
26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,
27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."
28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.'
31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."
32 And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

So here we have a human being, John the apostle claims is God clothed in human flesh coming forward to be THE Lamb of God who takes away the sin not just of Israel, but of the world!
Such a dramatic interpretation of the Abraham/Isaac's Mount Moriah experience, and the night Pharaoh let Israel go from Egypt, and the holy convocations that Moses commanded Israel to keep in memory of their deliverance from Egypt.

E) And when Jesus Christ willingly went to the cross, his bewildered and doubting disciples abandoned him. Like a lonely lamb, Jesus was led to the cross to die for the sins of the world.
And with a clear vision, and for the joy set before him, he willingly embraced the pain of the cross until he cried out 'It is finished'. With the knowledge that he was destroying the sins of the world, Jesus Christ broke the power of sin, sickness, death, the hold of the law over us, and the power of the world over us. In one fell swoop he did it all. Bearing all of our sins on his body as he died on the cross. The earth shook, the veil split from top to bottom, and men of God from of old rose from the dead in Jerusalem as a sign that everything has now changed! This happened at the moment Jesus cried, "It is finished".

F) The Apostles Peter, John and Paul were not silent on this subject.

Peter commenting on Israel's passover night, sees that all of Israel were priests that night. The Levitical priesthood had not yet been established, and in the reach of
the covenant of Abraham, Israel all functioned as priests. And so Peter says to the church of Jesus Christ, that you all are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, knowing that we are in the covenant, not of Moses, but of Abraham. Not of the works of the law, but of faith.

1 Peter 2
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For it stands in Scripture: "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,"
8 and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

NIV 1 John 2:1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Romans 3:21-26 NIV
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--
26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the
present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

G) New Testament communion linking all these things together was established by Jesus on the night before He died.

Was it a coincidence that Jesus Christ was crucified while Israel was remembering the destroyer killing the firstborn of Egypt?

17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
18 He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' "
19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
20 When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.
21 And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."
22 They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?"
23 Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.
24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
25 Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you.
28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
30 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
(Mat 26:17-30 NIV)

Jesus identifies the symbols of communion with the blood of a new covenant that He is now cutting with the whole world. This bread and wine symbolize the new covenant, echoing the high priest Melchizedek's bread and wine with Abraham. This is a new covenant, a covenant of faith, with the emblem of the cross at it's center. The execution tool of the cross gruesomely delivering 'the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world' to His quietly endured fate. And communion is now established by Jesus so that His followers will remember
the cross as Israel remembers the exodus.

H) Proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
1 Cor 11
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

When we take communion, we should connect the dots in the timeline of the Bible. The unfolding revelation of the substitution of Christ. It is the central message of the Bible. It is what we are all called to proclaim. That is this...that through Jesus' death, we find life. It is the great paradox of the spiritual revelation of the gospel message.

1 Corinthians 1
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Romans 1
15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are at Rome.
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.
17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

ESV Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

So this message should enable us to
Lay aside every sin that tries to hold on to us
Run the race of faith with endurance
Look to Jesus, considering how he endured the cross as an inspiration for us to not grow weary.
Resist the power of sin even to the point that we would not compromise even if our blood is shed for our faith!

It also illuminates our vision of the future and when we think about it, inspires an all consuming and awesome worship experience!

Revelation 5
6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne.
8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth."
11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!"
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!"
14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped

So because Abraham & Isaac point to Jesus death on the cross...and because Israel was delivered from Egypt and because Moses instructed Israel to have holy convocations remembering this event, and because John the Baptist came claiming Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and because Christ cried out, "it is finished" when he died no the cross, and because Peter, John, Paul and all the apostles gave their lives preaching that Christ's death on the cross took away the sins of the world, and because Jesus Christ called His disciples to remember in the bread and wine of communion this new covenant of faith in the body and blood of Christ, therefore
grow in proclaiming the Lord's death until He returns.
Therefore know that you can lay aside every sin that tries to snare your soul.
Know that you can run till the end with the endurance of Christ.
Consider the cross...how Jesus endured it. We are commanded to consider this. Meditate on Christ's death...and how He did this...for inspiration and endurance in your life.
Therefore we can see that in eternity the Lamb of God will be known as the one who had been slain...and that this will inspire an overwhelming chorus of heavenly worship.
The Lamb who was slain ought to be part of the reason we come to church to give ourselves in abandoned worship, not thinking of what we will feel during worship so much as what He has done for us already in worship. Therefore all of our worship should be mixed with the revelation of a thankful heart!

So press on brothers and sisters with the revelation of the meditation in your heart that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of what happened between Pharaoh and Moses on the very first passover night. On that night thousands of years ago.

Confronting The Enemy Exodus 7:8 to 11:10

2009-11-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

Confronting the enemy
Exodus 7:8 to 11:10
by David Bielby

Introduction:

The sign that summarizes what's about to come.
Pharaoh's headpiece had a serpent on the front of it. The serpent was the symbol of his claim to divine power. Moses and Aaron initiate a power confrontation with Pharaoh that is designed to 1) Humiliate Pharaoh 2) Demonstrate God's power

Cobra djtcobra in a basket determinative djt - The cobra was sacred to Wadjet, the cobra goddess of Buto, who represented Lower Egypt and kingship. The cobra goddess Renenet was a fertility goddess who was sometimes depicted as nursing children and as protector of pharaoh. Another cobra goddess was Meretseger, 'she who loves silence', who could punish criminals with blindness or her venom.

Reasons for Moses being there? He was operating by faith. See Hebrews/Acts 7
God knew the pain of Israel's slavery (Exodus 2:23-25)
Israel cried out to God for deliverance! Exo 2:23-25
God remembered his covenant with Abraham (400 years previously).

Links to the Abrahamic covenant are detailed in Romans 4. We are the children of Abraham if we approach God by faith in Jesus Christ.
Abraham's example of worship in Genesis was to celebrate with bread and wine while he tithed to Melchizedek. Melchizedek is a High Priest of a different order. Aaron will become the first High Priest of the Aaronic order later in Exodus. But at this point, there is no Aaronic order yet established.

God is not doing these things because he is looking forward to establishing the law of Moses so much as because he is looking back at Abraham's faith in His promise to Abraham. That covenant of the promise is the same covenant that Paul preaches in Romans. It is solidified in Christ's death and resurrection.

So it's significant that Moses is operating because God remembered (and cared) about Israel's suffering...and that God remembered his covenant with Abraham. Moses' operation by faith is highlighted by the first Christian martyr, Stephen, as he recounts Moses story in Acts 7.

The first thing that happens is an Aaronic sign. Staff becomes a snake. Pharaoh's magicians do the same. Then in response Aaron's snake swallows the snakes of Pharaoh.

Term 'bala' for swallow here points to Exodus 15:12 where we have the sea swallowing Pharaoh's army. So we have the opening sign pointing also to the closing sign.

Snake (tannin) can also mean chaos. See Genesis 3:1 also...an allusion to God dealing a blow to the serpent. He is the God who brings order out of chaos and the God who will deal a death blow to the serpent who drew Adam and Eve into sin.

The confrontation: Pharaoh calls on magicians and magic arts. Aaron and Moses are not magicians and do not use magic arts. They deploy the actual power of God. This is a clear biblical difference. The actions may look the same to the untrained eye, but the method for accomplishing them is vastly different. So it is with those who minister today under the leading and filling of the Holy Spirit versus those who use tricks or spirits in the air they contact through mediums and other questionable methods.

Although some say the snakes were made to look like staffs by a technique of catalepsy may be what happened. We don't know and the bible doesn't tell us.
Egyptians to this day are able to catalepsy Egyptian Cobras by a nape of the neck pressure that causes the snake to stiffen like a rod.

Nebuchadnezzar learned the lesson of humility after having 7 years of suffering and glorified God in Daniel 4:37 saying...God is able to bring low those whose conduct is arrogant.
He was specifically referring to the rulers of kingdoms there...especially himself but it included Pharaoh as well. Revelation 13:11-14 predicts the power of a governmental spirit so strong that it could perform miraculous signs that deluded many people on the earth into worshipping it's false image erected for their worship and deception. This recalls the prophetic demonstration by Elijah in 1 Kings 18:38-39; 2 Kings 1:10-14.

The Bible on signs and wonders: Jesus was asked to demonstrate a sign. This harkens to Moses. Jesus refused.

FIRST PLAGUE: WATER TO BLOOD 7:14-25
1) Why this first? Parallel (chiastically) to Exodus 14-15 Red Sea swallowing the Egyptian army (which flowed with Egyptian blood) is a literary frame for the entire confrontation between Pharaoh and Moses.
2) The Nile was the place where Israelite boys were to be thrown by Pharaoh's command (Exodus 1)
So God has caused the Nile river to turn against Egypt...in other words...He is the God who has command of the great Nile river. BTW-The Nile was another 'god' to the ancient Egyptians.
3) The Nile was necessary to Egypt's prosperity and was therefore a direct hit to the economy of Egypt.

SECOND PLAGUE: FROGS 8:1-15
The frogs came from the Nile. Pharaoh attempted to use the Nile to kill Israelite boys. This is not just a nuisance, but indeed is a theological statement that God has turned the Nile against Egypt in retribution for their evil actions against Israel. Not only this, but the frog was the symbol of the Egyptian goddess of fertility. So the frog directly tied to the Egyptian belief that they would be blessed by the frog divine being with more and healthy children. But Moses challenges their worship and turns the Nile into a curse of frogs against Egypt instead. It is clearly a statement that the God of Moses and the God of Israel was ruling the Nile. Even though Pharaoh's magicians could duplication the Frogs coming up out of the Nile, note that Pharaoh asks Moses to remove the plight of the frogs. For they apparently could not do that!!

Frog frog determinative qrr - The frog goddess Heqet was often shown as a frog-headed woman or as a frog. Because the Egyptians saw that there were many frogs, all appearing from the Nile, they associated the frog with fertility and resurrection, and so Heqet was a goddess of childbirth. The four male primeval gods of the Ogdoad - Nun (water), Amen (invisibility), Heh (infinity) and Kek (darkness) - were all frog gods.

Psalm 78:45 (Show me Psalm 78)
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.

Psalm 105:30 (Show me Psalm 105)
Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.

Revelation 16:13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.

THIRD PLAGUE: GNATS 8:16 TO 19
NO INTRODUCTION: IT JUST HAPPENS. PHARAOH'S MAGICIANS CANNOT DO IT AND DECLARE IT IS THE FINGER OF GOD.

Exodus 31:18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Deuteronomy 9:10 And the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

Luke 11:20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Jesus and Beelzebul

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

BY THIS JESUS TIES HIS DEMONSTRATIONS OF POWER OF DEMONS DIRECTLY TO MOSES AND PHARAOH'S CONFRONTATION. SO NOW WE HAVE ANOTHE PARALLEL BETWEEN MOSES THE SAVIOR OF ISRAEL FROM EGYPT'S POWER AND JESUS THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD FROM THE POWER OF SIN.

NOT TIED TO ANY EGYPTIAN DEITY...GNATS COME FROM THE DUST...OR LOOK LIKE DUST. AND MAY RECALL...FROM THE DUST YOU CAME AND TO THE DUST YOU SHALL RETURN...SHOWING YAHWEH...ISRAEL'S GOD WAS OVER NOT JUST THE WATERS, BUT THE EARTH AS WELL.

FOURTH PLAGUE: FLIES 8:20-32
COMING OUT OF THE AIR...THEY DESTROY THE LAND.

FIFTH PLAGUE: ON LIVESTOCK 9:1-7
NOW THE FINGER OF GOD IS REPLACED WITH THE 'HAND OF GOD' DEMONSTRATING A DISTINCTION BETWEEN ISRAEL AND EGYPT.

Cattle mnnmnntcattle determinative mnmnt - Hathor, Isis, Nut and Bat were three goddesses who were often depicted as cows, with the horns of cows or with the ears of cows. Because of this, and because of the relationship of the pharaoh as a living god, the cow came to symbolize the mother of the pharaoh. The cow was also a solar icon, where Nut carried the sun across the sky on her back, when she was in cow form. The cow was linked to female fertility and to the mother of the pharaoh. Osiris was related to the bull - the Apis bull, after death, became Osiris-Apis. While it was still alive, the Apis bull was seen as the Ba of Ptah, mummified god of creation. The Mnevis bull was regarded as the Ba of Ra-Atum. The bull, therefor, was linked to masculinity and the pharaoh.

tHERE IS A WORDPLAY HERE WHERE MOSES COMMANDS PHARAOH TO SEND ISRAEL AWAY TO WORSHIP GOD, BUT INSTEAD PHARAOH SENDS PEOPLE TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER OR NOT GOD STRUCK EGYPT AS PHARAOH HAD BEEN WARNED BY MOSES!

SIXTH PLAGUE: BOILS 9:8-12
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT PHARAOH'S FRUSAL TO HEED THE SIGN IS ATTRRIBUTED TO YAHWEH'S HARDENING OF HIS HEART.
THE KILNS WERE THE PLACE THAT ISRAEL HAD BEEN MANUFACTURING BRICKS FOR PHARAOH'S CITIES. NOW WITHA TURN OF POETIC JUSTICE, GOD DEALS OUT ANOTHER 'MEASURE FOR MEASURE' ACT OF JUDGMENT ON PHARAOH AND EGYPT. THE JUDGEMENT IS JUST DESERVED.

MOSES AND AARON HAVE NOT LOST THEIR POWER AS THE MAGICIANS OF PHARAOH HAVE, BUT INSTEAD THEY ARE FAR FROM DONE.

THEY ARE MOVING CLOSER AND CLOSER TO THE POWER CENTER OF EGYPT.

SEVENTH PLAGUE: HAIL 9:13-35

The Seventh Plague: Hail

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me. 14 For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, [1] and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth. 15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. 17 You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go. 18 Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 Now therefore send, get your livestock and all that you have in the field into safe shelter, for every man and beast that is in the field and is not brought home will die when the hail falls on them.”’” 20 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses, 21 but whoever did not pay attention to the word of the Lord left his slaves and his livestock in the field.

22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every plant of the field, in the land of Egypt.” 23 Then Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. 24 There was hail and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy hail, such as had never been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 The hail struck down everything that was in the field in all the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And the hail struck down every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.

27 Then Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God's thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (The flax and the barley were struck down, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But the wheat and the emmer [2] were not struck down, for they are late in coming up.) 33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and stretched out his hands to the Lord, and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth. 34 But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35 So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses.

EXO 9:20 Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses,

THE FEAR OF THE WORD OF THE LORD SAVED SOME EGYPTIANS. THE FEAR OF THE LORD: AWE OF GOD'S GREATNESS, AS WELL AS HATRED OF EVIL.

PROVERBS 8:13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.

THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS ALSO THE AWE OF GOD.

THIS LEADS TO LIVES BEING SAVED.

TO AN ANCIENT HUMAN BEING LIVING IN EGYPT, THE IDEA THAT THE HEAVENS WOULD RAIN DOWN HAIL ON COMMAND AS JUDGMENT AGAINST EGYPT SHOWS THAT THE GOD OF THE HEBREWS RULES THE HEAVENS COMPLETELY! THIS IS FAR BEYOND RULING THE NILE RIVER OR THE DUST OR AIR THEY BREATH. IT IS THE HOME OF THE 'GODS' FROM AN EGYPTIAN POINT OF VIEW. SO THE GOD OF ISRAEL DEMONSTRATES POWER OVER ALL OTHER GODS THROUGH THIS SIGN. THIS IS THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY FOR PHARAOH TO SAVE HIMSELF...THROUGH A WORDPLAY...'IF YOU WON'T LET ISRAEL GO, THEN YOU TAKE YOUR LIVESTOCK TO SAFETY...' WORDPLAY IN HEBREW. THERE IS ANOTHER REFERENCE TO THE DESTRUCTION OF CREATION HERE...ALLUDING DIRECTLY TO GENESIS. GEN 1:11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants [1] yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

PHARAOH REPENTS WHILE THE JUDGMENT IS HAPPENING, BUT RELENTS IN HIS SOFTENING AS SOON AS THE JUDGMENT STOPS.

AGAIN THE EGYPTIAN GODS OVER THE CROPS ARE JUDGED HERE.

ISIS AND MIN
Isis is also known as the goddess of simplicity, protecter of the dead and goddess of children from whom all beginnings arose, and was the Lady of magic and natural events. In later myths, Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile River flooded every year because of her tears of sorrow for her dead husband, Osiris. This occurrence of his death and rebirth was relived each year through rituals. The worship of Isis eventually spread throughout the Greco-Roman world, continuing until the suppression of paganism in the Christian era.[3]

EIGHTH PLAGUE: LOCUSTS 10:1-20

THE LOCUSTS DEVOURING BOTANICAL LIFE IS AGAIN A REVERSAL OF THE CREATION ACCOUNT IN GENESIS.
PHARAOH QUICKLY REPENTS. MOSES PRAYS AND REMOVES THE LOCUSTS AND GOD HARDENS HIS HEART AGAIN.

NINTH PLAGUE: DARKNESS 10:21-29

PHARAOH ENDS UP CUTTING MOSES OFF FROM HIS PRESENCE FOREVER...THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DELIVER HIM IS NOW BANISHED FROM HIS PRESENCE.

NEW TESTAMENT SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PLAGUES

THEY APPEAR IN THE SEVEN BOWLS OF WRATH OF REVELATION 16.
REVELATION 8-9 USES THE 10 PLAGUES AS A RESOURCE FOR THE SEVEN TRUMPETS WHICH BRING PLAGUES.
THESE ARE ISSUED FROM THE TEMPLE IN HEAVEN AND ARE CALLED GOD'S WRATH.
AS ISRAEL WAS DELIVERED FROM EGYPT, SO THE CHURCH SHALL BE DELIVERED FROM THE ENEMY AT THE END OF THE AGE.

KEY LESSON OF THE STORY OF ISRAEL BEING REMEMBERD BY GOD AND SAVED BECAUSE OF THE COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM....
WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE ARE BEING CRUSHED AT THE END OF THE AGE, WE CAN KNOW THAT BECAUSE GOD DELIVERED ISRAEL FROM SLAVERY HE WILL ALSO DELIVER THE CHURCH FROM PERSECUTION AND DESTRUCTION AT THE END OF THE AGE.

LESSON: PHARAOH HARDENED HIS HEART AND GOD HARDENED HIS HEART. ISRAEL SIMILARLY HARDENED HER HEART IN THE WILDERNESS.

PSALM 95:8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,

PROVERBS 28:14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,
but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

ISAIAH 63:17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
Return for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.

MARK 6:48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night [1] he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

MARK 8

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. 12 And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” 13 And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

14 Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. 15 And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” [2] 16 And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. 17 And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18 Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” 20 “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” 21 And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

ISRAEL WAS HARDENED TO JESUS COMING
JOHN 12: 40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”

ROMANS 9:18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

ROMANS 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,

& 11:25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: [1] a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

LEARN TO GO OVER WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN YOUR HEART AND WITH YOUR

MOUTH AS A WAY OF TESTIFYING AND GLORIFYING AND THANKING GOD.

Tell of All His Wonderful Works

105:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;
make known his deeds among the peoples!
2 Sing to him, sing praises to him;
tell of all his wondrous works!
3 Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!
4 Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his presence continually!
5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
6 O offspring of Abraham, his servant,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

7 He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers his covenant forever,
the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9 the covenant that he made with Abraham,
his sworn promise to Isaac,
10 which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as your portion for an inheritance.”

12 When they were few in number,
of little account, and sojourners in it,
13 wandering from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another people,
14 he allowed no one to oppress them;
he rebuked kings on their account,
15 saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,
do my prophets no harm!”

16 When he summoned a famine on the land
and broke all supply [1] of bread,
17 he had sent a man ahead of them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were hurt with fetters;
his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19 until what he had said came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the peoples set him free;
21 he made him lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to bind [2] his princes at his pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.

23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 And the Lord made his people very fruitful
and made them stronger than their foes.
25 He turned their hearts to hate his people,
to deal craftily with his servants.

26 He sent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They performed his signs among them
and miracles in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
they did not rebel [3] against his words.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land swarmed with frogs,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
and gnats throughout their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain,
and fiery lightning bolts through their land.
33 He struck down their vines and fig trees,
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
young locusts without number,
35 which devoured all the vegetation in their land
and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of all their strength.

37 Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,
and there was none among his tribes who stumbled.
38 Egypt was glad when they departed,
for dread of them had fallen upon it.

39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40 They asked, and he brought quail,
and gave them bread from heaven in abundance.
41 He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
it flowed through the desert like a river.
42 For he remembered his holy promise,
and Abraham, his servant.

43 So he brought his people out with joy,
his chosen ones with singing.
44 And he gave them the lands of the nations,
and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil,
45 that they might keep his statutes
and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!

STEPHEN TIES MOSES TO JESUS CHRIST

Acts 7:30-37

30 “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’

We must follow Jesus, not like Israel followed Moses, but like we are exhorted in the NT.

Hebrews 3:8
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

Hebrews 3:13
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hebrews 3:15
As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Hebrews 4:7
again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

This means total surrender. No grumbling. Yielding to His authority in our lives. Willingness to go anywhere, do anything at any cost that Jesus calls us to do.

THE ROLE OF SIGNS AND WONDERS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

MARK 13:22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

REVELATION 13:11-14

Revelation 16:14 (Show me Revelation 16)
For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

Revelation 19:20 (Show me Revelation 19)
And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence[1] had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.
[1]Or on its behalf

John 14:12 (Show me John 14)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

MARK 16:17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.]]

Parable of the sower
ESV Mark 4:1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 "Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." 9 And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Preparations for Deliverance Exodus 4:18 to 7:7

2009-10-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

Preparations for Deliverance 4:18-7:7

Some key principles and some spiritual golden nuggets along the way.

Moses spent 40 years in Pharaoh's court thinking he was somebody, 40 years in the desert learning he was a nobody, and 40 years showing what God can do with a somebody who found out he was a nobody! (DL Moody)

ESV Acts 7:23 "When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.

ESV Exodus 7:7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

ESV Deuteronomy 34:7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.

Moses never actually entered the promised land. This becomes a theological point in Paul when we read that the law of Moses is unable to bring people into a condition of righteousness, whereas Abraham's covenant, a covenant by faith, did bring people into a right condition.

1) God personally cares about the pain and suffering of His people.

ESV Exodus 4:18 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.'" 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. 27 The LORD said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

We see that God is a personal God. This rejection of the idea that the Almighty is an impersonal God is a distinction between Christianity/Judaism and the great Eastern Religions.
God's concern for His people is personal. Knowledge of this concern triggers worship by Israel. So it is with us: When we catch a revelation of God's personal care for us in the middle of distressing situations, especially accompanied by signs and wonders and delivered by a prophet, it is so very encouraging! It rightly causes faith and worship to explode.

And the idea that God will deliver His people from their bondage causes worship.

These things point to the power of sin, the world and death. The grip of our old nature on us will be broken!

Other concepts here that are worth noting: Circumcision.

Authority: All authority is God's authority. A failure to recognize and rightly deal with authority is the difference between Pharaoh and Moses. Moses submitted to authority. Pharaoh recongized no authority except his own. Moses went to Jethro for permission to do what God had already spoken to him to do. He did NOT use the "God told me to do this" card in this text. Instead he left it so that Jethro was free to reject his request if he so chose. But Jethro affirmed what God had spoken to him.

The heart of a King is like water in the hands of the Lord. He directs it where-ever He chooses. We must trust that God can turn leaders hearts on our behalf.

Paul spiritualizes many concepts of the OT. Here is an example:

ESV Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh--

ESV 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,

Sovereignty vs Freewill
God hardens Pharaoh's heart! Many verses in this book say that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Others say that God hardened it. People who over-emphasize free-will tend to explain away the part that God hardened Pharaoh's heart while those who over-emphasize a narrow definition of Soveriegnty tend to over-emphasize God's hardening of Pharaoh. This debate extends into Romans 9 where the church has split over these doctrinal nuances for a few centuries now. However, the Bible bounces back and forth between these two ideas as if there is no tension at all between them. And Craig Keener probably has it right when he states flatly that the ancient view in scripture accomodates both the Sovereignty of God controlling things and the ability of man to choose and his personal responsibility for those choices.

Another concept here is the idea of the firstborn.

Israel was actually NOT Isaac's firstborn as we tend to think of it. In that he was the second child born. But Israel was the firstborn in this sense: He inherited the blessing of his father and grandfather...and his brother did not inherit it at all. So in this sense Christ Jesus is the firstborn! He inherits everything in the end.

The parallels again are matchless!!

ESV Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

ESV Romans 9:4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

ESV Jeremiah 31:9 With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

ESV 2 Corinthians 6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."

The Church of Jesus Christ has now become the sons and daughters of God!

2) Principle: When God speaks prophetically there is often a reaction from the kingdom of darkness that worsens the situation of God's people. This causes the prophetic voice to look like it completely missed God AND challenges everyone to question what's going on. We must learn from these things. How to respond to opposition.

5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'" 2 But Pharaoh said, "Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go." 3 Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword." 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens." 5 And Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!" 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 "You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, 'Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.' 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words." 10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, "Thus says Pharaoh, 'I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.'" 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, "Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw." 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, "Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?" 15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, "Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, 'Make bricks!' And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people." 17 But he said, "You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.' 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks." 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, "You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day." 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, "The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." 22 Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, "O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all."

Commenting on situations like this Jesus said:

ESV Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

ESV Acts 16:22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

It is right to ask God what's going on for clarity, but we should rejoice!!! Learn from Moses and Israel's footsteps!

3) God's strategy is to make Himself known. He is showing who He is. He ultimately is doing this so that everyone in the world will be able to come to Him.

6:1 But the LORD said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land." 2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'" 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. 10 So the LORD said to Moses, 11 "Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land." 12 But Moses said to the LORD, "Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?" 13 But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. 14 These are the heads of their fathers' houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. 15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. 20 Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father's sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. 21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23 Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites by their clans. 26 These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said: "Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts." 27 It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron. 28 On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the LORD said to Moses, "I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you." 30 But Moses said to the LORD, "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?"

4) Careful to speak all that God commands: Jesus says a similar thing to his disciples in Matthew 28:20. We are commanded to teach everything Jesus taught his disciples. And so in that sense Jesus takes the place of God speaking to Moses...Jesus speaks to his disciples and to us as well as God spoke to Moses. This raises the level of our expectation.

7:1 And the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them." 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

ESV Mark 16:16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

ESV John 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

The Calling of Moses Exodus 3 to 4:17

2009-10-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Exodus 3 The Calling of Moses

The Burning Bush

Before Moses was told who God was, He saw something about the nature of God.

ESV Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Maybe this doesn't fit exactly, because the bush was not being consumed. However, Moses does teach that God is a consuming fire.
Not just a fire....a consuming fire. It's an interesting and revelatory analogy. This is a key point perhaps in the bush not being consumed:
God doesn't need fuel. He is completely self-sufficient. However, the larger point here is that He was catching Moses' and about to call
him to rescue Israel. Why would he do this?

The simple answer is: Israel cried out to God.

ESV Exodus 2:23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel--and God knew.

Last week I challenged everyone to come together to cry out for the lost. When we call a church-wide prayer meeting for those who don't know Christ, we ought to identify with them as if we ourselves were lost. That's the kind of prayer in Christ's name that releases people from prison.

So because Israel cried out to God, God responded with compassion. But there is a deeper reason at work here. Hundreds of years before this, well over 400 years, God had a friendship with Abraham. And in that friendship God made a covenant with Abraham. Abraham received righteousness by trusting in God's promise. And so God's accounting gave the future, not yet, righteousness of Christ to Abraham. This covenant of faith and love preceded Moses. And so as Moses comes, he is already in an ancient line of blessings. Generation after generation received the blessing of father Abraham.

To a thousand generations

ESV Psalm 105:8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,

He didn't bring us this far to leave us.

Applied to us?

Abraham's history is our history. This means that Moses' history is our history. This means that Moses, the shadow depicting the coming Messiah, Jesus, is the shadow of our Savior. The savior of Israel is the shadow of the Savior of the World.

See Moses' history as your history. For you are a son of Abraham. He is your father! And Moses is the shadow of your Savior, Jesus.

So this history is not just history. It is part of your story. See the generations of faith that go back...not even 1,000 generations!

This should change the way you pray. Call on the blessings of your forefathers by faith to multiply into your life! I even suggest you can apply this prayer to your natural forefathers, if they knew Christ. And so in God, these blessings multiply. They are not passed by addition. This is inherent in the 1,000 generations idea. How many people will exist in 1,000 generations? Perhaps billions! So the blessing is not limited to one descendant. It is passed on in multiplied form. And so we can all share in the blessings of Abraham.

ESV Romans 4:18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." 23 But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

And also see

ESV Romans 5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

So the blessing of the covenant of faith, that Abraham was the father of, and that we receive when we trust in Christ, multiplies without diminishing into as many people as will come to Christ in faith. This is the power of God's work growing and growing. And so we can stand in our father Abraham's faith...and know that the very same God who sovereignly delivered Israel out of Egypt will sovereignly deliver us out of our desperate situations.

An embarrassingly weak story to illustrate this:
Watertown Faith Montgomery story

Was it the angel of the Lord or was it God in the bush? Many think it was Christ Himself, who is called the "Logos". This is because the angel of the Lord is an OT reference to the presence of the Lord. And the text actually switches from the angel of the Lord to God. Compare vs 2 to vs 4.

By the way, Moses was a reject. Israel had rejected him. And he was tending someone elses sheep on the other side of the desert. These tasks were considered 'unclean' by the ones who raised him in Egypt. He was not leading a 'respectable' life. It was more of a resigned life. But in our resignation and in the humiliation of rejection, no matter how much time has gone by, God is able to resurrect the most hopeless of situations. And this is an incredible example of this.

Stephen keys in on this as he is speaking his way into martyrdom in Acts 7. He discusses this very situation specifically to bring out the fact that Israel had previously rejected Moses.

ESV Acts 7:30 "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: 32 'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. 33 Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.' 35 "This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?'--this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

So even the natural man rejects the things of God. This is because they are supernaturally discerned.

ESV 1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

TAKE OFF YOUR SANDALS

The need for purity.
Moses goes on to illustrate for us the fact that not only is God a consuming fire (Deut 4), but God is holy.

ESV Exodus 15:11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

This is a key revelation in the book of Revelation. The creatures closest to the throne of God ascribe the highest of virtues to God continually: Holy!!

ESV Revelation 4:8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

Moses removing his sandals was an ancient tradition of showing respect. Also, meeting God on a mountain also was an ancient perspective of how spiritual things work. Ancients believed that the sky was a hard shell and that the mountains held it up. Few ancients would have accepted a God who was not encountered on a mountain. It was kind of expected that that's where spiritual things happened. This is because they believed mountains were physically closer to heaven. And so they were access points to God.

God is able to manifest Himself at the bottom of the ocean or in any valley on earth, but He chose to meet Moses in a way that ministered to the people of the day! Relevance is important to God. Creating unnecessary barriers to people coming to Him is not in His heart at all.

Holy here means saint. It means separated from sin and evil. It means pure. You can call it perfected love as John Wesley did.

2009-10-11T22:11:00.001-07:00

Moses is the shadow of Jesus. In the Bible, the shadow moved across history first. That was Moses. Then Jesus came and we can see how Moses gives us an outline of Jesus, not precisely, but roughly. The focus of the stage-lights in the Bible is on Jesus. Moses is his shadow. Although written in multiple languages by different men in different nations, the Bible is a literary masterpiece, and I believe all of it was inspired by the very same Holy Spirit.

A savior is born! Exodus 2

2009-10-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

Exodus 2: A savior is born

In this message I lay out a brief overview on how I will approach the book of Exodus. In essence, I believe that the book of Exodus portrays colorful shadows of what was to Moses and the people of God, the future coming Messiah and the new covenant of Christ that would be revealed many generations later. So I place greater weight on the New Testament use of Exodus than allusions throughout the Old Testament. Exodus 2 is used extensively in Acts 7. I did not get into Stephen's Martyrdom speech in this message. You will benefit if you look closely at that as well. In 30 to 40 minutes it's impossible to cover everything that blesses in this passage.

I identify four principles that apply to our lives as Christians in this passage.

They are: 1) Satanic power and it's very real effect.
2) God's power and it's ability to frustrate Satanic power.
3) The principle of faith (using primarily Hebrews 11:23ff interpretation of Exo 2)
4) The value of corporate prayer. Exo 2:24-25

Here is the introduction and raw notes. I trust this message will drive you closer to God.

ESV Colossians 2:14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

ESV Hebrews 8:5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."

ESV Hebrews 10:1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

ESV Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--

ESV Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. 5 For to which of the angels did God ever say, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"? Or again, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"? 6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him." 7 Of the angels he says, "He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire." 8 But of the Son he says, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. 9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions." 10 And, "You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end." 13 And to which of the angels has he ever said, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"? 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

ESV 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; 15 and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

ESV Exodus 2:1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" 8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the girl went and called the child's mother. 9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him. 10 When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

Chiasm's As Ancient Literary Beauty
The whole Bible can be seen as a giant Chiasm.
A Creation:
B Sin
C Bondage & Death
D A Savior is Born
E A People Are Delivered
E A People Cry Out For A Savior
D A New Savior is Born
C Bondage & Death Destroyed (The Cross)
B New Freedom From Sin (Romans & Epistles)
A New Creation (Revelation)

If this is true, then at the end of the story, at the end of the Bible, we should see a parallel to the birth of a Savior for Israel. Moses was born to save Israel. Satan tried to kill him at birth. He was miraculously saved from death. Chiasm's often reverse what happened in the first part of the story. Jesus is born to save the world from the bondage of sin and death. Satan tried to kill him when he was a baby. He was miraculously saved from death by fleeing to Egypt! This is the Lord giving a chiastic literary artistic touch to the Bible...because it clearly links Jesus' birth to Moses' birth. The glory of this is that it is historically true. These are not stories made up by the minds of men. These are real lives that were lived and real events that happened. In the Sovereignty of God He molded the lives involved to demonstrate the glory of what He was going to do through Jesus. Moses is but a mere shadow of Jesus.

ESV Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."

The death of children illustrates the very real power of Satan. Principle 1 in this text is that Satan has real power to kill.

ESV 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

The eye of the serpent watches for those whom God has called to try to cut their lives off before they can grow up. It is a satanic principle to destroy life in its infancy. This is why
abortion is so tied into demonic activity. And when you see massive abortion and massive
murder it may be a sign that the Lord has a servant of God coming in that community, nation
or generation!

A second principle flourishes here: Principle 2 is that when the power of Satan is unleashed to destroy, the Living God whom we serve is able to save the very one He has called.

ESV Psalm 91:7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

A third principle then is implied: When there is great loss, do not focus on the great loss only...yes grieve...but look for what the Lord is doing in the middle of it all. It is one secret to overcoming grief and finding the glory of God in all situations. Look for the Lord's hand even in the middle of the enemies flood of activity and you will not be overcome by despair, grief and sorrow.

Death is a satanic effort to frustrate the purpose of God. The serpent watches with a malicious eye to destroy any instrument that God is about to use for His glory.

Abel in Genesis 4 was cut off in the prime of his life.
Joseph was thrown into the hole of death, Pharaoh's prison, to rot and die (Gen 37). Yet Joseph
learned to find what God was doing in this horrible situation and he displayed forgiveness...a
mighty act of the Lord's saving power resulted in Israel being saved from famine and gave
Israel a safe place to become a nation for a few hundred years.
Christ's birth...the serpent tried to kill Christ at his birth.
Christ's death...the serpent eventually killed Christ on the cross...not knowing he was destroying
his own works eternally by doing so.

ESV Colossians 2:14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Moses came to prepare us to see our need for a Savior who can do it all for us. Moses could not do it all. Although he delivered Israel from Egypt, he became disqualified from entering the promised land. This is because by the law of Moses no one can become a good person. Your inner-being is not transformed from bad to good by the law of Moses. It is rather like a speed limit sign on the highway that tells you how fast you can go. But those speed limit signs have no transformative power. It is like the IRS code with Federal government. They can tell you what is right to do with your money, and how to file it, but they have no ability to change your heart and cause you to file your tax returns legally if you have trouble doing that.

The Key Principle is that Moses' parents trusted God to save Moses. This act of faith became a fabric of Moses' life as well. ESV Hebrews 11:23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

Taking Things Into Your Own Hands?

Moses operated by faith, but not in the Lord's timing. ESV Hebrews 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,

ESV Exodus 2:11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, "Why do you strike your companion?" 14 He answered, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid, and thought, "Surely the thing is known." 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.

Many say that Moses took things into his own hands. And that he had to learn the ways of the Lord in the backside of the wilderness before he could deliver Israel from bondage. Hebrews sees the Principle of Faith operating in Moses life through these things. He believed God would move through his simplest of acts...he believed that the power of Satan could not kill him and that the power of God would preserve Him. This is the principle of faith operating.

24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Faith here is marked not by a claim on financial prosperity, but a conscious rejection of earthly treasures in exchange for an invisible reward...the invisible coming Kingdom. By faith Moses crossed the desert, and by faith he did not fear Pharaoh's hot wrath. Moses illustrates for us how we are to live.

Exodus 2:15c And he sat down by a well. 16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. 17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, "How is it that you have come home so soon today?" 19 They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock." 20 He said to his daughters, "Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread." 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land." 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel--and God knew.

A fourth key principle: God hears the groans and cries of his people. God hears you when you cry to Him. God hears your spirit

1) Satan is at work to steal, kill, destroy.
2) God is unstoppable even while Satan is at his strongest point.
3) Faith is principly concerned with God's Kingdom, eternal things, not just earthly treasures, or tyrants who have the power to take peoples lives on earth. Faith brings an eternal victory that is greater than anything.
4) God sets the armies of heaven into action when His children cry out to him. So call on the Lord when you are hurting...call on the Lord and He will answer you!!! NEVER underestimate the cry of a child to move the Father's heart. And when His children collectively cry out....LOOK out.
Next time I call for prayer, come!! Nov 9th. Be there people!

Next time the enemy is robbing you...or you face death...cry out to God. He loves you and He will respond.

Ironic Warriors

2008-10-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ironic Warriors by David Bielby

As I heard one intercessor after another pray for America yesterday, I saw three angelic messengers praise dancing with hyssop branches in their hands. As I've been meditating on what I saw, scripture after scripture has been brought to my attention.

First was my study on hyssop. What does hyssop have to do with anything? What is it and why is it important?

Hyssop appears in the bible many times. It is interesting because our congregation is studying the first part of the Pentateuch right now. Many passages containing hyssop are in the Pentateuch. Second, hyssop has clear Christological implications. Look at Exodus 12:22. Hyssop is what the Israelites used to put lamb's blood on the door posts of their homes in Egypt, so that the angel of death would pass over their homes. It was the tool to apply the blood of the lamb. The entire passover event points to the one John the Baptist called, "The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world". Jesus Christ is the real passover lamb. His blood shed at calvary was the blood of the true and final passover. And God the Father set Jesus forward during the passover celebrations in Israel timing it to coincide with the first century AD rememberance of the first passover when Israel was still enslaved in Egypt.

When Jesus was actually dying on the cross, they lifted up a sponge full of sour wine to touch his lips. That sponge was lifted up by a hyssop branch. That was no accident. It points backwards to the first passover in Egypt. Hyssop means the blood of Christ applied to our lives protects us from the angel of death.

We receive eternal life through the power of the blood of Jesus. The blood of the cross is the only thing that spares us from what we deserve.

The best response to the blood of the cross is to praise God. When we praise Him, we demonstrate that we understand from our hearts the end result of the blood of Christ for us personally. His blood cleanses us from all sin. His blood redeems us. His blood gives us full victory over sin and death. It is the blood of Christ on the cross that makes us right with God. So through faith in the blood of Christ we have the victory.

Dance with praise because of what He has done for you. This is the sign that we have entered into the fulness of the gospel and it's powerful message. When we know the truth so much that it causes us to rejoice with real praise and worship from our hearts. It's this very kind of praise that our God inhabits. It's praise that brings down strongholds of doubt and intimidation from the enemy of our soul.

So rejoice. Let your feet jump for joy in the knowledge of the glory of Christ's gospel. Be an ironic warrior. Let the meaning of the hyssop branch be the sword in your hand. Let the cadence of the army of the Lord be a dance of praise.

Passages in OT for Hyssop
Exodus 12:22 First Passover in Egypt
Leviticus 14:4,6,49,51,52 Cleansing Lepers & Leprous Homes
Numbers 19:6, 18 Red Heifer Ceremony
1 Kings 4:33 Fame of Solomon's Wisdom
Psalms 51:7 Prayer For Cleansing

Passages in NT for Hyssop
John 19:29 Crucifixion of Jesus
Hebrews 9:19 Earthly and Heavenly Sanctuaries

Kingdom warfare is not like the wars of earthly battles. In Kingdom warfare we do not battle against physical beings, or against people. ESV Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

The weapons of the Kingdom are not like the weapons of earthly armies. Our weapons are spiritual.
ESV 2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

The strategies of the Kingdom are not like the strategies of earthly wars. Our strategies center on the power of the cross and our response to its revelation.
ESV Revelation 12:11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Hebrews 8 "A Better Covenant & Priesthood"

2007-08-20T05:59:00.001-07:00

Prayer meeting in Kansas City in 1992 where I heard Noel Alexander read Ezekiel 1 with great conviction. I saw the scene he read in an overwhelming experience, a vision, that imparted a firey desire in me to pray to Jesus. I saw a figure who was glowing white, like the figure of a man, on a throne far above the heavens. It was awesome. We will look at that passage in Ezekiel and it's parallel passage in Revelation a little this morning because it ties into the part of Hebrews we are studying today. Hebrews 8. But first, let's

rewind to the end of Hebrews 7.

23 ¶ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 ¶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

ESV Hebrews 8:1 ¶ Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

Such a High Priest

Throne of the Majesty

Ezekiel 1
22 ¶ Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads. 23 And under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another. And each creature had two wings covering its body. 24 And when they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of many waters, like the sound of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they let down their wings. 26 ¶ And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 ¶ Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

ESV Revelation 4:1 ¶ After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this." 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 ¶ and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal. And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" 9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

ESV Revelation 5:1 ¶ Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 5 And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." 6 ¶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, 10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." 11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!" 13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!" 14 And the four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Jesus is not just a priest...he is a High Priest. Jesus is not just a High Priest. IN the Levitical order a priest could not be a ruler and a ruler could not be a priest. Jesus is on the throne. Jesus is a ruler. He is a king. He is the Lord. He is the ruler of rulers. He is the King of all Kings. He is the Lord of all Lords. He is the High Priest/King of Kings. He combines both the rule and the ministry of heaven into one role.

2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.

a heavenly sanctuary!!

3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

Aaronic high priests offered their gifts and sacrifices in Jerusalem. They had to be Levites.

4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

Jesus was not a Levite, he was of Judah's tribe...a son of David.

Jesus was not operating under the Mosaic law as a Levite, but under the order of Melchizedek...the King of righteousness and peace.

Jesus was not chosen a high priest out of his tribal birth, but because of his purity, holiness, righteous life and eternal standing. God the Father gave Him the high priesthood by a direct oath, which is far more powerful than being born into the priesthood.

5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain."

Moses did this because there is a sanctuary in heaven which he was making a reflection of on the earth. The earthly temple reflects a true reality in heaven.
The earthly temple was temporary. The heavenly temple is eternal. Moses prescribed temporary high priests. Jesus, our High Priest in Melchizedek's order is eternal.

6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Christ's high priestly ministry is far superior to the Aaronic priesthood of Moses' law.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

Aaron's priesthood was in the law of Moses.
1 Tim 1:8 ¶ Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9 understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient,
The law was not imperfect. It was fine. The people had a corruption in their soul which kept them from obeying it fully. This corruption was proven by Israel and Judah's history.

Therefore God's original plan for redeeming mankind was to establish a second covenant after the first one demonstrated the sinfulness of all mankind. This second covenant was sealed by the very blood of God's perfect sacrifice lamb...Jesus Christ.

8 ¶ For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

THe second covenant is eternal, not temporary. The second covenant doesn't tell us what to do only, but it empowers us to obey.

9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

The first covenant had the laws written on stone tablets, deposited in the ark inside the holy of holies. The new covenant has the law inscribed on the hearts of every follower of Christ.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

The first covenant had a thick curtain separating the people from God's presence. The second covenant opened up the presence of God on the people so they could personally experience His presence.

11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

The first covenant required the people to flock to prophets and teachers because they could not understand the truth directly. The second covenant gives us the Holy Spirit who teaches everyone which way He should go. So we follow the law of the Spirit and we interact with Jesus Christ for our daily guidance.

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."

The first covenant brought judgment, death and despair because people never lived up to it. The second covenant brings mercy because of the permanence of forgiveness of sins.

13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

The first covenant is being replaced, not because it no longer exists, but as Paul taught, we are no longer alive to the law.

ESV Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

ESV Romans 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 ¶ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

ESV Romans 7:1 ¶ Or do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to those who know the law--that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. 4 ¶ Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. 7 ¶ What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet."

We are ministers of the Spirit, not the letter. We are ministers of life, not of death. We are ministers of the open access to God through Christ, not of separation from God by the veil.

ESV 2 Corinthians 3:6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 ¶ Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? 9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. 10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. 12 ¶ Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, 13 not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. 14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

Andrew Murray said, "a heavenly sanctuary and a heavenly High Priest ask for a heavenly Christian and a heavenly heart. And this is what the new covenant promises and what the Mediator of the new covenant gives indeed.

1 Peter 2
¶ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, (this cannot be a Levitical priesthood, but must be of the order of Melchizedek-whom Jesus is the high priest of) a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 ¶ Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.