When a god Meets The God

Intro

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I just want you and nothing else

Today we will be in Exodus 5 where Moses, representing God, and Aaron, representing Moses go to meet with Pharoah and introduce him to Yahweh. Remember, Pharoah believes he and his family are descendents of Ra, the Sun god of Egypt. What happens when one who thinks he is a small “g” god meets The Creator God of the Universe? We’ll get there soon, but before we do, the way that Pharoah responds is exactly the way we see the enemy respond when God calls us out of slavery and into a relationship with the one true God. He responds by oppressing and afflicting the people even more than before in a desperate attempt to keep them obedient to him. As we talk about types and themes, I want to make sure that the theme here of spiritual warfare did not end here, but continues all throughout the rest up scripture, and that war is still raging on today.

Spiritual Warfare is Real

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.”

As we talk about something so easily misunderstood, I want to make sure we stay rooted in scripture. As we find passages and themes puzzling, we need to consider them against the whole of scripture. This theme is one present throughout the entirety of the Bible, and as we expand on what exactly it is, I thought Bob Sorge did a good job of summarizing it in his book, Glory: When Heaven Invades Earth.

“The nature of the enemy's warfare in your life is to cause you to become discouraged and to cast away your confidence. Not that you would necessarily discard your salvation, but you could give up your hope of God's deliverance. The enemy wants to numb you into a coping kind of Christianity that has given up hope of seeing God's resurrection power.”

-Bob Sorge

Luck, coincidence, and circumstance are all defense mechanisms to convince ourselves that the spiritual is further away than it really is.

In our culture, we are at greater risk of being spiritually numb, than “over spiritual.” There is an ongoing battle that we are fighting right now. The fatal blow to the enemy has already been dealt. We know the outcome of the war, but that does not by any means suggest that we can stop fighting now. Whether you fight or not, you are in the middle of a battlefield, and the closer to the front lines you get, the greater the attacks will be directed at you.

My story I want to share a story of when I had just come to faith and I was just on fire for the Lord. You know that feeling inside of you when you hear a spiritual truth and it just burns inside of you and you just have to share it with whoever is in front of you? I was sharing these profounds truths that were burdening me and I was sharing also sharing with someone I really respected at the time, my desire to go on an upcoming mission trip and that after that mission trip, maybe there would be others and that whatever the Lord wanted for my life would be what I wanted, no matter the cost. In my excitement in sharing these thoughts and feelings and desires, I was met with a single statement. You sound like you’re a part of a cult.

Eventually, this person came around to accept this radical change that has been done in my life, but imagine for a second a better tool for the enemy to use someone I respected to derail what the Lord was doing with my life. The enemy says, Ah, here is one who has found the path. God has called, he has responded, and as in this vulnerable state, I will attack him. I will make sure the words that he shares are twisted, perverted, misunderstood by those around him who don’t know the Lord.

Don’t get discouraged by road bumps. Don’t stumble off the narrow path to go around what seems like a wall you can’t get over. When you encounter trials, remember two things; One, whatever the trial and however bad it may be, it didn’t take God by surprise, and two, God will be with you. God said to Moses, “I will be with you.” Jesus said to the disciples, “I am leaving with you my spirit.”

Pharoah Meets Yahweh

Moses has been called to go back to his people in Israel and God reveals His plan. Moses will go back and represent God to Israel and Pharoah, and Aaron will be his mouth. The message Moses is to deliver is that God is going to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt into the promised land. We pick up as Moses, Aaron, and the elders of the people of Israel gather to hear the words and see the signs that God had given to Moses, and they worshiped.

(v.1-3) I know the god of the Sun, from whom I am descended, I know the god of the Nile, I know the gods who we serve and worship, but who is Yahweh? I don’t know Him, and even if I did, I will not let your people go. Pharoah is the embodiment of satan, king of the world, and when this small “g” god challenges Yahweh, God doesn’t just make sure that this pharoah knows who he is, He makes sure that the world will know the name of Yahweh. God put on full display his powerful right hand, and His faithfulness to His people. Later, we’re going to see God judge pharoah in a way that is going to be hard to understand, and it might seem harsh. Keep in mind that this is one who thinks he is a god, challenging the Creator God of the Universe. God is showing every generation to follow His character.

Why wasn’t this the battle between Jesus and Satan? Why didn’t God just destroy death forever in this moment? Those are good questions that you should ask! No matter how much study or research or pondering you do, the end of the train of thought is the same. God is sovereign, His plan is perfect, and all things are worked out for our good and His glory.

(v.4-9) Here comes that spiritual warfare we talked about. Oh, you’re scared of Yahweh’s sword? Feel my power. I’ve been a generous king to you. Let me show you why you should fear me and not the “lies” of this Yahweh. If they have time to think of leaving their burdens to worship this God, that must mean they don’t have enough work. I will show them who they should fear. The world says things like this all the time.

Exodus (7. First Audience with Pharaoh: Harsh Results (5:1–14))

God’s words are lies that keep you from conforming to the expectations of the world you live in and from enjoying life on your own terms

-New American Commentary

Pharoah is clearly a god in his own eyes. He can’t see beyond his own world, so in his mind, he is the only power that anyone should fear. He is the proverbial big fish in a small pond, and what a small pond it is. We experience people like this in the world constantly, and if we’re not careful, our tendency is toward creating little gods of ourselves.

(v.10-21) This is what spiritual warfare looks like. God has called Israel to come and worship Him. He has invited them into a new, better, more personal relationship with Himself. Israel is all onboard for this plan, right up until it doesn’t work out exactly like they are expecting. They hear they are being delivered, but they all have their own idea of how that should happen. God’s plan is not our plan. He, again, is not our cosmic genie. He has a plan that He will work out for our good and His glory.

Melvin I have another story of a friend, also related to the same mission trip. Are we noticing a theme? He had only weeks before heard the gospel presented in a way that he had begun to respond to! He was reading scripture and asking questions of our group, coming to church, and he was right on the cusp accepting Jesus. He got the approval and funding to go on the trip, got to Kyiv, Ukraine, and recieved a text message from his boss that his request off had no been approved. That was one of the first days of an 11 day mission trip. When the trip was over and we got back home, that fire in him had been quenched and the enemy won the battle. This friend is still seeking the truth, but it seems like trials keep putting him down. We are still praying for him, knowing that God is faithful.

When we don’t have something firm to hold on to when trials come, we will inevitably be tossed about by the waves of the seas. We will clearly see an example of this unrooted swaying later in Exodus, where the faith of the people of Israel is completely dependent on the circumstances of the day. The days where they are delivered and they see God’s hand, they praise Him. The days, like the one in this story, or when they are sojourning through the wilderness and find no water, they lose their faith and blame Moses and God. Life is full of waves. The sunny days with calm seas are the easiest to praise God, but it’s the days where storms have brought unrelenting waves that you need something firm to hold on to. You need an anchor. Praise God that we have been given exactly that.

Hebrews 6:19–20 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”

There is a quote that has been constantly repeated in our home from C.H. Spurgeon. “I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.” Trials like these are not exclusive to new believers. We experience trials all the time. Sometimes we call them bad luck or coincidences. Sometimes we say it was just bad timing. Mazevo family, those things do not exist. The spiritual is much closer than many of us would like to admit. Right here in this room is the presence of the God of the universe. Right here in this room, God is speaking to us. Corporately, yes, but also to you personally. I don’t know what’s going on in your life. I don’t know the trials that you’ve suffered. I don’t know what might have you thinking right now that there is no hope, but be assured of this; right outside of this door, there is an enemy waiting for you, and he wants nothing more than for your relationship with God to be severed eternally. Like Pharoah, he wants nothing more than to keep you as his slave, stuck under heavy burdens that will crush you.

But, Mazevo family, be even more assured of this, the God that gave His covenant name, Yahweh, to His people has indeed made a covenant with us. Jesus came, He died on the cross for our sins, and He is coming again in glory. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. We know the end, and we can rest in the end. But how good is our God that he doesn’t leave us there, to just suffer on our own in the meantime. God is here, right now, and His perfect plan is being worked out.

When I think of suffering, or when Marissa recites that Spurgeon quote, I always think of Job. God let Satan take the gloves off and hit Job with all he had. Job was still faithful and we read that even after losing his fortune, his children, the support of his wife and friends, he did not sin. He hadn’t seen Jesus yet, but he knew that God is sovereign. All that we have is the Lord’s, He can give and take away, and He is still good. In Job’s heart, I’m certain that the future words of Jesus brother James were echoing in his mind, James 1:2–4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Remember back at the end of Genesis when Joseph’s brothers were afraid of what he might do to them because they sold him into slavery? Genesis 50:20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The enemy is at work, scheming and plotting and hurling flaming darts, and God is at work taking those attacks and turning them into trials for our good and for His Glory. God loves to take the meek, the lowly, the broken, and use them for His work. He loves to take suffering, death, trials, and use them to bring you closer to Himself.

You have a weapon in this fight. Pray. Plead on behalf of your soul. Plead on behalf of your family. Plead on behalf of your brothers and sisters in this room. And when you plead, Spurgeon puts it this way;

“When you plead the name of Christ, you plead that which shakes the gates of hell and that which the hosts of heaven obey, and God Himself feels the sacred power of that divine plea.” ― Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Spurgeon on Prayer & Spiritual Warfare