November 10, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 1 Peter 1-3

Weekly Memory Verse: Galatians 2:20

Good Afternoon Brothers and Sisters,

Shelley is doing very well in the ICU recovery unit.  She is expected to be in there for at least two more days.  Thanks for your continued prayers.

Exodus 3:1-9 (NASB95)
¹ Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. ³ So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ⁹ “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.^[1]

A lot of songs have been written commemorating this event.  It is just too fantastic for us to pass up.  God called Moses out of a burning bush, using it as a object to draw Moses to speak with Him.  Have you ever wondered why?  We aren't given the answer in the text, so in order to figure out the reason there have been many conjectures on the subject.  I feel that the reason was simply to draw Moses away from his flock and to cause him to realize that something very different was going on.  God was on the move, and Moses was called. 

Exodus 13:21 (NASB95)
²¹ The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

Acts 2:3-4 (NASB95)
³ And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. ⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. ^[2]

Another place that a fire is mentioned in the Bible that does not consume is the Shekinah Glory of God where God led the people with a pillar of fire, and in Acts where God placed tongues of fire on the people to indicate they were His people.  He used fire as an indicator that He was present, just like He did later when He led Israel, and much later when he verified the mission of the believers at Pentecost.

God was waiting for him in the burning bush.  When Moses drew near, he was made aware of the fact that God had called him to something special.  Remember the scene, Moses had spent 40 years in the land of Egypt, then went to the backside of the desert to hide out due to an unjust act of passion where he had murdered a fellow Egyptian.  Another forty years had passed by, at this time Moses was an old man.  Many of us have discussed about how that Moses was schooled in Egypt under the finest of teachers, and should be a ready trained statesman.  The truth was that Moses was trained as a youth in the Land of Egypt, and many years had passed by where he did not use his training.  Can you imagine being called to an executive position after working in the fields for forty years after you received your degree?  Moses did not have any opportunity to use the knowledge that he had gained as a youth. 

God loves to pick out people who are seemingly weak and lacking in order to perform His great works.  He wants to make sure that everyone knows that God does not need help from man.  It is all about the story of how that God delivered the Jews, not Moses.  He was simply a washed out old man who was living in fear on the back side of the desert.

Exodus 3:10-22 (NASB95)
¹⁰ “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” ¹² And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” ¹³ Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” ¹⁵ God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. ¹⁶ “Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷ “So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ ¹⁸ “They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ ¹⁹ “But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. ²⁰ “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go. ²¹ “I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed. ²² “But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.”^[3]

God picked out Moses to carry the message for Him to Pharaoh.  At the response of who sent him, look at God's answer.  How can God identify Himself in a land where there is a god on every corner?  If He called His name God, then wouldn't it be confusing to the people?  His answer established that He is a God who is, and who is in the present.  No question about His existence, God exists now.  This was different from the stone gods that the Egyptians worshipped, or even the theoretical gods.  There was no evidence that the false gods existed.  God simply stated that no evidence was needed for Him to establish His existence.  He simply is, and He stood behind Moses.  He was a God who established His name forever, and who had a history with the Hebrews.  Jesus raised a lot of trouble when He insisted on referring to Himself as the "I am".  There are many, many references in the Gospels where Jesus stated simply that "I am", and did not bother to add any other words to the statement.  He claimed to be the "I am" of the Old Testament."  Remember, the "I am" exists forever, even today.

Imagine hearing those words at the age of 80, and trying to figure out what God wanted.  God gave Moses heavy words, and established that Moses would lead His people out of Egypt.  Moses reacted with shock, in verse 13 he started setting the stage for later objections, God was patient with him.

One of the interesting quirks in this passage is from verse 12, "you shall worship".  The Hebrew word for "worship" is the same as the word for "slave".  We think of worship as going through some sort of religious exercise, God looks at worship as our serving Him.  Look at these verses that use the same word:

Exodus 4:23 (NASB95)
²³ “So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

Exodus 7:16 (NASB95)
¹⁶ “You shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness. But behold, you have not listened until now.”

Exodus 8:1 (NASB95)
¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Exodus 8:20 (NASB95)
²⁰ Now the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he comes out to the water, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Exodus 9:1 (NASB95)
¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and speak to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Exodus 9:13 (NASB95)
¹³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Exodus 10:3 (NASB95)
³ Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

Exodus 10:7-8 (NASB95)
⁷ Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not realize that Egypt is destroyed?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God! Who are the ones that are going?”

Exodus 10:11 (NASB95)
¹¹ “Not so! Go now, the men among you, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desire.” So they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.

Exodus 10:24 (NASB95)
²⁴ Then Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, “Go, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be detained. Even your little ones may go with you.”

Exodus 10:26 (NASB95)
²⁶ “Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the Lord.” ^[4]

What do you see worship as? Is it a spiritual gyration, singing a song at church, going to service?  Or is worship according to these verses simply being a slave to God.  Remember, the Hebrew people knew what slavery was all about, God did not call them into a life of freedom, but a life as spiritual slaves.

God said that the Egyptians would not release them willingly, and that they would plunder the Egyptians when they left.  We will find out later that that prophecy was fulfilled.

I am going to close here, if you wish to add anything to the study be sure to write in.  I will post all responses.  I also hope to catch up on my mail today so please be patient with me.

Father, as we consider Your word today, inspire each one of us and enable us to understand Your word.  Teach us what true worship is all about.

In Him,

Joe Turner.