Moses Meets Pharoah for the First Time
Notes
Transcript
Last week, we talked about the concept of Moses picking up his cross and heading back for Egypt
How he was given a responsibility and duty by God, and accepted it
Moses did this in the face of what would seem like extreme opposition, but had God on his side
so what did he have to do? simply fully trust God
This was the responsibility of those delivering God’s message
but those listening had their responsibility as well
the responsibility to listen
the responsibility to react
they first and foremost BELIEVED Moses’s message
then they picked up their cross and acted on what they’d heard
finally, we talked about God’s shepherding
we said that God gives usa part to do: listening to Him
believing Him and doing our part
that God would do His part, which really is most of the work
Where we left off was Moses was on his way to Egypt with Aaron and his family
he’d already given up his slow, low key life in Midian
he was old
but he took up his cross, his responsibility, anyway
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
Moses somehow gets an audience with pharoah
with kings, every door is closed, hardest person to reach in the entire country
we said Moses is doing his part, but we see what God is doing here - breaking down every barrior to Pharoah
think of the barriers that God could break down for us if it be His will
we mentioned last week how God won’t ask us to do anything that we’d be unable to do
so all it takes is us doing things which we CAN do in the name of God
and God will take care of the rest, like He did for Moses and a litany of other biblical figures and people
Moses boldy delivers God’s message to Pharoah
if we think about it, as far as pharoah is concerned, Moses and his brothers are just some guys from Midian
but at the same time, Pharoah is a super powerful ruler, who thinks he holds all the power
yet Moses delivers the message, saying to let the Hebrews go so that they can worship God
Pharoah probably thinks this is laughable, “Why should I ever listen to these guys?”
we’ve talked about how Egypt is imagery of the world
so we could think of this as a similar situation as us, as God’s people, going out and speaking truth in the world
it may seem like we may have a big task as well, just as Moses did, facing a huge or possibly intimidating enemy
there is so much sin out there, people are so resistant, etc.
but great change can be made through any of us, but not because of us, but God working through us
we just have to let Him, we just have to give Him the chance to by taking up our cross
thinking about so many of the biblical figures who made the most difference what do we see? BOLDNESS
David vs goliath - similar situation to moses and pharoah here
Gideon
Abraham showed great boldness
Paul showed great boldness in his missions
Jeremiah
Joshua
Peter showed great boldness
many early Christians who gave their lives
many medieval Christians who gave their lives to stand up for what’s right during the inquisition
ofc the greatest example: JESUS CHRIST
We have every reason TO be bold, with God on our side
especially, when in many ways, maybe not every way, but many, we have in easier as an American in today’s world
some Scripture to encourage and embolden us
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
we bring up this verse once in a while but this is a very powerful verse, especially when it comes to boldness
there is absolutely no reason we should not be bold when we know that this verse is in the Bible
thinking of this verse, this means that if we’re doing God’s will and God’s will for our lives, we can take on the powers of the world
now of course, God has a will for each of our lives, so it may work out one way for one person and another way for someone else
but the facts are that:
God is in our corner, and at the end of the day, things will work out for the best for us
we will have made some sort of difference or impact on this world, which is ultimately why we are here, it’s our mission from God
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
since there are so many who have achieved such great things before us, surely we can too
ideally, we can become a great infleunce in this way ourself.
And many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
by us being bold and overcoming our obstacles, we ourselves can become an inspiration to others
ultimately, that is the goal, for us to be a mirror reflecting God
reflecting His love
reflecting His power
by us being bold, it shows the power that God has in bringing us through and overcoming the world
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Jesus tells us that a strong house must be built on a rock, something solid
now if we’re going to be strong people, bold people, out consistently facing the world and it’s problems and overcomign them, we must lean on something solid
and we have a God that is the MOST solid
the God of all comfort, a God of support for His people
the God who wants to mold and develop us
the God who wants to accomplish great things through us
Our boldness comes from being able to lean on God and His strength, not our own
so don’t have to worry about how strong we are or aren’t, we just do our part and worry about God’s boldness who will work through us
OPPOSITION FROM PHAROAH
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.
when we see the “LORD” in small caps in the Bible it’s the way our modern Bibles decided to translate God’s name in Hebrew, Yahweh
So Moses said, “Hey this is what Yahweh says…let my people go”
Pharoah was considered by the Egyptians to the human incarnation of one of their gods, horus
so whether Pharoah literally had never heard of the Lord or not, he dismissed Him nonetheless, likely leaning on his own position and power
So he dismisses God here, leaning on his own self and his own power
Pharoah, despite who he may have thought he was, was just a man at the end of the day, a man who rejected God
the path of man leads to death, the way of man leads to destruction one way or another unless corrected by God and Godliness
Pharoah, essentially, is building a house on a foundation of sand by doing this, a house that will at some point fail and crumble
These same things apply to the world and to believers who are falling away from God, just anyone who is straying from God
so it’s imperative to all of us that we always lean into God’s Words to us as much as we possibly can, there are only two ways to be going in this world: toward God or away from Him
And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.
And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
Pharoah tells the Hebrews to get back to their work
So many times we see the worlds reaction to the words and ideas of God
we saw how Jesus was treated in this world when He was here
as believers we’ve been told it always won’t be sunshine and rainbows for us either
there will be setbacks and hardships, it will be tough when we try to deliver the gospel
but just because it’s tough, doesn’t give us an excuse to quit or not to do it, it’s our calling
regardless of how the world acts, we can continue to be bold in the face of such opposition
because we know that God can overpower this world, and already has
Pharoah may think he’s the human incarnation of the egyptian god horus, one of the most powerful from their religion and largely a product of mankinds devising
but he’s no match for the real, true God of the universe
so while their is real evil out there, the power of God will always overcome that
so ultimately, things don’t necessarily go the way of the hebrews at first, but God’s people are resistant and resilient, with the strongest foundation that we could possibly have
so many times in the Bible, the greatest successes start out with bumps in the road and hard times like this
again, just think of Jesus’ story - we now have the greatest hope we could ever have, salvation and reconciliation to God, a great hope
but it took a lot of suffering along the way for Jesus, it didn’t just happen immediately
thinking of Joshua and the conquest of Israel, things had been rough for the hebrews at that time, they’d spent years wandering in the wilderness, they often had to fight
but they eventually wound up in a fertile land full of milk and honey
Hard times should not make us give up on long term hope, the people of God have every reason to be bold and keep moving forward, in all aspects of our life
Moses continued on in the face of much adversity, being bold, standing up to the face of pharoah, and really of the powers of evil itself
and he was able to do that because he had the power of God in his corner
and ultimately, the hebrews WERE victorious, they were freed from Egypt, and they DID end up in their own land
so if Moses, by the grace of God, was able to do these things, why can’t we make a big impact in our world?
even in the face of great evil, because we certainly do face a great evil in our world today
we see a straying from God, a downfall of morals generally in all areas,
the amount of murders, thievery, abuse
but also sin of the heart, sin of the inside, people just with sour attitudes
a great influx of just the powers of evil into this world
these are the things we face, but we can face it BOLDLY
like David faced goliath
Goliath was defaming God
each side was sending out their best guy to fight each other, so David took up the challenge
we can all be confident to face these huge challenges, because even though we may be “small” like david, we have God who is huge
So may we approach this world with all the boldness we should be
may we take the opportunity to make a real difference, approach things head on
and by doing this, spread hope and healing into a world who is straying into darkness and self destruction
Pharoah relied on himself, Moses relied upon God, and ultimately, we know who wins that battle
so let us be like Moses, instead of Pharoah