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Ex 9:4, 16 But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die… 16 But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
GOD sent Moses to Pharaoh with a severe message of an impending hail storm of massive destruction. What is God’s purpose for the storm? One of the most difficult things for all of us to understand is that God does as he pleases. His main purpose is not to always please us. But his overall purpose is to glorify – lift up – his name to his creation. When the forces of nature storms through an area, it is impossible for some to feel it could be God at work. But it is. He controls every element through the heavens and earth. He is sovereign. Thus, the storms that ravage our nations and communities could be a demonstration of his power. We need to know God has the power to give life: Psalms 36:9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light. Or possibly the storm could be a forewarning to remind us of heaven-shaking events at the end of time. Here, God formed the storm to 1) judge Egypt, and to 2) demonstrate his power to Israel. This is the one significant reason for the plagues of the bloody Nile, gnats, frogs, locusts, darkness, flies and now the hail. God is showing both Egypt and Israel he is God alone. Egypt’s pagan religions worshiped the river, insects, the sky, etc. They believed gods were in each element of nature. This is Satan’s work and still exists in animism and other forms of nature worship. Both Egypt and Israel needed to know as Isaiah would later testify: Isaiah 45:14c “Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.” It is vital we know nature is not a god, nor a “mother” as we often say in our culture. God is LORD – the all-powerful God – who created the heavens and the earth. When we know in our hearts that God has that kind of power, we will have an appropriate fear of him. When we have that fear, we will come to know him. For “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his teachings have good understanding.” (Psalm 111:10) When you fear God’s power, you will understand and rejoice in his power over your life. He truly does have the power to transform your life from sin’s death into salvation’s life. LIFE Link: When you see God’s power in a storm, note the same power is available to you. Exodus 8: 22-23 “But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people dwell, so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth. 23 Thus I will put a division between my people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall happen.”
WHEN we treasure something, perhaps an heirloom, a special autographed picture, a favorite picture or even a special Bible, we tend to put those treasures in a place to keep them safe. We set them apart for safekeeping. Now, as he prepares to bring the fourth plague – waters turned to blood, frogs covering the land, gnats infesting the air - on Egypt, the Almighty God sets his people apart to protect them from the plague of flies to come. He tells Pharaoh, “I will put a division between my people and your people.” The LORD God wants all to know he is sovereign over all of his creation – mankind, the animals, the air and the water. His judgment is on those on oppose him. His protection is over his own treasured possessions, the Hebrew people. That is what God promised at Mt. Sinai after the Israelites left Egypt, “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.” (Exodus 19:5) When God called Abraham to be the father of the Hebrews, he set Abraham apart from the world. He set apart Joseph to preserve his people in Egypt. He set apart Moses to lead them. And throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament, the Bible records the people God set apart from the world, so they would proclaim God’s promises and protection for his people. That is our blessing today. God still calls people, sets us apart, to be his treasured possession. As he chose Israel to be his nation, he chooses the church today to be his Holy Land. You become a citizen of this Land when he sets you apart from the world to confess your sins and call on Jesus as your Lord. This setting apart is called sanctification. You are sanctified in Jesus’ blood to live under the authority and power of God’s gracious commands. He sanctities you daily as he guides you to a faithful life on the road to the eternal Holy Land. As you know this essential truth, your only response is to worship the LORD God. That was God’s ultimate reason for sanctifying and freeing his people from Egypt. Exodus 8:1b “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’” This worship was not a weekly event. It was to be a lifestyle. Truly worshiping God is to constantly have a mind to know he is your God, who calls you to be his own. To worship God is to live in gratitude and joy that you are set apart for eternal life. LIFE Link: Set apart some time each day to focus on God. Exodus 7:8-9 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”
LET’S imagine for a moment Aaron’s and Moses’ conversation on the way to Pharaoh’s court under God’s instructions here. Aaron might have said, “Moses, God changed this staff into a snake before you and before the elders. But can we trust God to do this miracle before Pharaoh. What if we point to the staff and stays a stick?” And Moses might have replied, “I have already doubted God several times, Aaron. I argued against doing this work, being here. I had no desire to come to Egypt, and I felt terribly unable to do this work. But the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the eternal God, has already shown me several times we can surely trust God to do what he says. Yes, I have seen God’s power over the natural world. I watched a bush burn, but the fire didn’t consume the bush. He made my hand leprous, and then he healed it. He threatened to destroy me and my sons if they were not circumcised. God is of his Word. What he says is true. We must obey all he says, even if it sounds impossible to us. Yes, we can be confident before Pharaoh. Let’s throw down that staff and watch God in action!” Moses had seen God at work, and he trusted God to do miracles again. In faith, Moses went to the highest power on earth, and he took the highest power of heaven with him. He went in the words of Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. God was forming a deep, daily, active faith in Moses. The LORD God abruptly called his servant from the desert sheep pastures to do impossible things. Moses would go in faith with Aaron that day to demonstrate God’s protecting power. They would learn that in faithful obedience they could always trust God, always hope in him to deliver them from evil. Faith empowered these two men that day. Faith must empower us today. Listen to God’s Word. Has he abruptly called you from sin into his presence? Are you feeling unable or unwilling to follow his instructions, his commands? Then know the miracle of his power to save you. Be sure to follow his commands, his directions and his miraculous life-giving power. LIFE Link: Faith is actively obeying God. Exodus 6:6-7 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.’”
GOD is forming a personal relationship with his people. With a message through Moses, he tells the enslaved Israelites that he will free them with his outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. He promises to bring heaven’s power into the world, into their lives to form them into a new life away from their bondage. He, the LORD (the Almighty Creator), will transform their lives as he welcomes them to personally be their God forever! Stop and think of God’s offer. When you view the history of mankind’s sins throughout Genesis, you will see how sin corrupted even Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Jacob’s sons tried to murder their brother. Strife, jealous and guilt displayed sin, not the holy God. That’s why God’s offer to Israel is so much more than we can grasp. The LORD God is extending his outstretched arm of redeeming power to Israel, so they will be saved from physical and spiritual oppression. Would you do that? Would you reach out to those who reject your thinking and oppose your actions? Would you invite such people into a personal, protection relationship with you? Yes, God gave this message to His people because of his gracious salvation promises to Adam and Abraham to save mankind. The Old Testament is a display of God’s outstretched arm pointing the way of promise to his people. His arm stretches to judge those who oppose him. And it stretches to redeem those who trust in his Word. One day, Jesus came to bring you into the eternal personal relationship with the Holy Trinity. He physical stretched his arms out on the cross, to break sin’s deadly hold on you. His outstretched arms are the gracious LORD God fulfilling his promises to Adam and Abraham. Those arms are his protective care forevermore as you call on his name. Today, the Holy Spirit continues to bring God’s message to mankind, “I will bring you out from under the yoke of sin. I will free you from being slaves to evil, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” God’s purpose has been and always will be constant to redeem you and to be your God. You can trust a constant God of such power, grace and love. LIFE Link: Be secure in Jesus’ outstretched arms. Exodus 5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.’”
NOTICE, God said, “Let my people go.” He declares to the highest authority on earth, “These are not your people. They are mine. They are to leave you to be devoted to me.” In the church’s history, there have been a number of statements of belief written to help define God, the Bible and true faith. One of those was written by two young priests in Heidelberg, Germany. It is called The Heidelberg Catechism. “Catechism” means a process of learning. The learning process here is a question and answer format. Each answer is supported with Bible verses to affirm the answers come from the Bible and not from any person or persons. The very first question in the catechism is this: “What is your only comfort in life and death?” The answer: “That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yes, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, from now on, to live unto him.” In essence, you have eternal assurance as God calls you, “My child.” In Egypt long ago, it was God’s will to save his people from Egypt’s bondage. Today, it is God’s will to free his people from Satan’s bondage through the blood of Jesus Christ. When you confess your sins and confess Jesus as Lord, you are God’s eternal possession. “If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:8) Following Moses, the Israelites would be born anew into a nation under God’s law and power. This ultimately would lead to Jesus’ gospel, so you would be born again into the kingdom of God. I pray you rejoice today and each day that “with body and soul, both in life and death” you are not your own, but you belong to the Lord God. LIFE Link: John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. Ex 3:4 & 6 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” …6 At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
CAUSING one to fear you isn’t a good way to build a relationship, is it? God has come to Moses to call him to be the Law Giver and Deliverer of Israel in Egypt. Wouldn’t it have been good for God to speak to Moses with softer, kinder words? Our LORD, though, gives two commands: “Come.” and “Take off your sandals.” Moses responds in fear. Why? It is because Moses recognizes God’s holiness – His perfection – and he knows he is unworthy to be in God’s perfect presence. One of the great challenges we have in understanding God is to know that Jesus is our friend (John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.) alongside such verses as Psalms 115:13 he will bless those who fear the Lord. How do “friend” and “fear” co-exist in our relationship with the Father, Son and Spirit? First, we must humbly know that we can only approach God on his terms. It is not possible for us to go to God in “our way”, casually concluding God will take us into his presence in any way we want him to take us. That self-righteous thinking is Satan’s first temptation in the Garden. This sin would condemn Pharaoh and has condemned people through the ages. We must fear God. We must obey his commands because he is the One who has our lives in His hand. He requires us to be holy to be with him. And in joy, we can know he has made this possible in Jesus Christ. Through our Savior’s sacrifice to redeem our self-righteousness, we will become righteous – true to God – when we confess the Savior as Thomas did in John 20:28 “My Lord and my God!” In the sacrifice and in the confession, we can now call Jesus, “Friend.” Fear God. There is only one right way to enter into his holiness. The Way is Jesus, the Son of God, who calls you to follow him in truth. Our Savior has made the way possible for us stand with him on God’s holy ground forever. Indeed, what a friend is Jesus. LIFE Link: Deuteronomy 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. |
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January 2025
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