A New Beginning
Notes
Transcript
last week we talked about the Hebrews finally breaking free from the grip of Egypt
they have been freed from their bonds by the work of God
and now God is providing strong leadership for them
and we know, that if they follow the path of God, God will lead them to the ultimate victory
additionally discussed was the institution of the passover celebration
God gave His reasons for the celebration, one of which was passing it on from generation to generation
as well as a rememberance of all the good things that God had done for them
So we left off the story when the Hebrews had made their way to Succoth
they had left the greenish region of the nile delta and traveled toward the Sinai peninsula, which is exceedingly dry
So they had a journey ahead of them to go
and that’s like life is, life is a journey
and just like the Hebrews had their guidance from God, we have our guidance as well in the Word and in the Spirit
and our life is a journey toward the promised land to be with Jesus Christ
we have our pillar of fire and we have our pillar of smoke
and we face the same desicions as the Hebrews face, are we going to follow? or are we going to murmur?
are we going to trust in God during the hard times? or are we going to want to go back to worldly comforts
the Bible says the friend of the world is the enemy of God, so we must choose
and it’s in those hard times where the rubber meets the road, they will reveal what kind of person we truly are
it’s easy to trust in and believe in God when times are easy, but what do we do when times are toughest?
so as the Hebrews face this tough journey, we will see how things played out for them, and hopefully be able to apply lessons to our journeys
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:
if you have a map in your Bible, you may know that the philistines lived along the southern coastline of what we now know as Israel
actually the gaza strip of today is roughly where the philistines lived, even the city of Gaza itself was philistine and mentioned in amos 1:6
so the easy route out of egypt and into canaan/Israel would have been roughly along the coastline, which would go right up into canaan
however, God wants something different
sometimes, we are just trying to live life how God wants us to, but things just don’t seem to be on a straight path
maybe things seem to be messing up, or maybe it seems like you’re lost
but what do we see in this verse? we see that God had a REASON for taking them along a strange path
and why? it was because God was working with them, He knew that if they encountered a lot of resistance then they would give up
so God is working with His people, and “meeting them where they are” in a way, helping them along in a way that will lead them to success
we as fallible people, we don’t know everything, we don’t always know what is best for ourself
but God DOES, God absolutely knows what’s best, and if we just simply trust Him, live simply according to what He wants, He will lead us along HIS path
and HIS path is the path we want to be on
imagine if they Hebrews had taken the “simple/easy/seemingly logical” path
they would have ran into resistance and would have likely given up and returned to Egypt
but through their trust in God, and deferring to HIS plan, they made it to the promised land
But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.
And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.
We see that Moses took the bones of Joseph with them
the two being mentioned together at this point brings up some interesting thoughts
for instance, Joseph went into Egypt at a great low, but yet ended up essentially a king,
he went from a literal pit into royalty
and if we think of Moses, we see that he started as the secret baby of a slave, and through the hand of God, was also lifted into royalty
this brings up a thought that the Bible mentions both in Samuel and in the psalms
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, To set them among princes, And to make them inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And he hath set the world upon them.
this verse speaks so much to what happened to the Israelites in Egypt
so we talked about Moses and Joseph, but what about the people as a whole?
they went into Egypt during a time of famine, but through God, ended up nearly destroying egypt with the plagues and being released from slavery
which brings the thought to us, where were we before we found God?
we are fallible, corruptible people, and we were headed for destruction before we found God
we know this whole story is imagery for what God would do for His people with the gospel
He takes us, just lowly people, each with their own myriad of problems, each of us corruptible and fallen, but yet lifts us up
He lifts us up and sets us among “princes”, and we will even be among Christ Himself in heaven one day
Think of the people and the situations that God has rescued people from, even when they totally deserved to be in those situations
God delivers hope to His people, He delivers grace, He delivers redemption for His people
and just as Joseph, Moses, and the Hebrews were taken from the lowest of places and brought into great heights, He offers to do the very same for us
but there is a very important element with all of this - these examples all followed the path of God
and they may not have been perfect, they made their mistakes
but on the whole, they followed God, they did what He asked them to do
and God absolutely delivered them
And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness.
And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:
He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Moses here proclaims another of God’s mercies, that, having redeemed His people, He was their constant leader and guide; as the Prophet also in the Psalms distinctly makes reference to both. (Ps. 77:15; and 78:14.) It was indeed a marvellous act of loving-kindness that, accommodating Himself to their ignorance, He familiarly presented Himself before their eyes. He might, indeed, have protected them in some other way from the heat of the sun, and directed them in the darkness of the night; but, in order that His power might be more manifest, He chose to add also His visible presence, to remove all room for doubt.
As to his saying that God always appeared to them, that they might march by night as well as by day, he does not mean that they went on continually without any rest, since he had just before mentioned that their first station was in Succoth, from whence they encamped in Etham, but merely informs us that the flow of God’s grace was continual, since the token of His favour and protection shone forth no less amidst the darkness of the night than at mid-day itself.
what is Christ to us today? He’s the light
God still provides us a “pillar of fire” to follow in Christ
and He’s unchanging, there for eternity
the Bible tells us that He will be with us always, even to the end of the age
What else is He? He’s the Good Shepherd
and we are His sheep, and the sheep should be following the shepherd
Psalm 23 talks about God being our shepherd, and that He leads us in green pastures and still waters
In the Psalm, David says his cup runneth over, that God gives to him exceedingly abundant
and the Bible tellss us also that the peace of God is beyond all understanding
that those on the path of God will not only be led by Him, but led to green pastures, still waters, the promised land, and peace beyond all understanding
and we see this happen to the Hebrews in this story? Where do they go? - to a land of MILK and HONEY
and they did this in the face of very tough circumstances
only having made it through by the leadership of God and the grace of God
a leadership and a grace that will always be with us
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea.
It’s not really known for absolute certainty where these places are, all we know is that they will camp by the sea
this sets them up for what would be a great act of God
but think if you didn’t know what was about to happen, like the Hebrews - IT MIGHT FEEL LIKE YOU WERE CORNERED
so, God led them to a place that may not have felt right, in fact it may have even felt dangerous
but they persisted in God’s plan, they trusted Him in a situation which may have seemed off
and by doing so, it set them up for one of the greatest events in the Bible to happen
so again, this demonstrates the importance of trusting in God’s plan and deferring to Him
For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.
And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.
So God is warning Moses here that Pharoah will be coming, so they even knew that this was going to be a confrontation
and we see that God will make it to where He will be honored in Egypt, and that they will know who He truly is
and in the last verse, we see “and they did so” - they obeyed God in a hard circumstance
even knowing that there was going to be a confrontation between them and the Egyptians
and we know that the Hebrews at this point are kind of like a rag-tag mixed multitude
and the Egyptians would have had a fairly advanced army for the day
but still, “they did so”, and God would deliver them
if we think of the situations we get in in our lives today, its often not even nearly on this level, though sometimes it can be
regardless, God would deliver them from being cornered
how many times have we felt cornered in our lives? probably many
but the same God that delivered them can just as well deliver us
And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled: and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?
And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:
And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.
And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.
But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-zephon.
Here we see the effect of the hardened heart
Pharoah had how many opportunities to stop what he was doing and to recognize God?
but he did not, he followed his own path, and here he is still on the path of sin, the path of self
and this has led him to essentially try to go to battle with God himself at this point
this is an unwinnable battle, leading him to destruction
the desire for selfish wants, the desire for the flesh, runs in direct opposition to wanting God, His path, and His ways
and this story shows us also how sin warps our mind
Pharoah had seen what God had done for the Hebrews, yet he still went after them
and if we look around at the world today, the sin that’s all around us, and people are essentially sticking their finger in God’s face
but we also see that these people are destroying theirselves, and therefore destroying the nation
AND THEY THINK THAT THEY ARE RIGHT
taking God’s path takes humility, we have to put ourselves, our thoughts, our wants aside, and just trust in and obey God
it’s this humility which will lead us to life, rather than to our own destruction