Hebrews 11:23-28

Faith Passed Down

Before we begin, I want to remind us of where we’ve been. We have been in a letter written to a group of Jews who have put their faith in Jesus as the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Hebrew Bible. We have a people who are being persecuted for identifying with the people of God, they are losing homes, jobs, their place in society, and their lives will be at risk in just a couple of years. They are weighing whether or not it is worth it to turn back to the Law or stay with Jesus. The author of this letter has for 10 chapters described how Jesus is worth following. But how does this text bring some sort of resolution, comfort, or encouragement to these people?

Like I mentioned earlier these Jewish followers of Christ were desiring to turn back to the Law, the way of Moses. Now in chapter three the author pointed out that Jesus is greater than Moses, saying that Jesus “was faithful to him who appointed him [the Father], just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses…” So the author starts this argument out by saying that Jesus is greater than the leader that you want to turn back to, hear today, we will see how the author makes the life of Moses an even greater testimony for life with Christ.

We start this story with a family. A family that is under direct persecution from the king. Exodus 1:13 says, “So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.” This had been going on for hundreds of years, and at the point this family comes onto the scene the king gave this decree, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile.” Here is where we pick up, v. 23 says, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” This is extreme persecution that the Hebrew people are facing, just for being a part of a group that they cannot leave. Persecution that not even the people this letter was written to could relate with. Yet, this family “[was] not afraid of the king’s edict.” How, how could they not be afraid when they looked at their child, their son, their newborn baby in the midst of persecution like this? I sure would be. the short answer is: They trusted God.

Exodus 2:2 tells us that when they looked at him, they “saw that he was a fine child,” Acts 7:20 gives us a little bit more detail into this. Stephen says that “At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight.” This still does not give us a lot of information but here is what I think we can conclude. Throughout the Hebrew Bible we see time and time again, the birth of a child signifying the blessing of God. Psalm 127 says “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb aa reward (is this hurtful to people in the crowd?). Harkening back to the original command of the garden “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” From this we can conclude that the ancient Hebrew people had a high view of childbirth, they knew the value of their child in the sight of God. From this view, this belief, they decided to trust God, disobey their government, and protect their newborn son. This is the faith that they walked in.

From this action Moses was saved, more than that he was taken in by the pharaoh’s household. He went from slumming it with the slaves to dwelling in the house of the king, being “instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians” Moses, for all intents and purposes had it made. What more could he want? He was adopted by the king’s family, he had the king’s riches, he had a great education, he had power. Yet, the author of Hebrews tells us that “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” Moses was in a position not too far off from the recipients of this letter. he had a choice to make; do I choose the path of success, luxury, and riches away from the God I know to be true, or do I align myself with His will, identify with His people, and choose the narrow path?

You know, I have never been in a life-threatening position with my faith being tested. But I have been in positions where I either choose God or I choose the world. When I was in college the group of friends that I had were not necessarily following Christ, some of them were vocally against religion. One of my biggest regrets is that I was known as the cool Christian who would hang out with them and have “fun” but still talked about God. I tried to live life with my feet in different camps. Not fully serving the world but not fully serving God. I knew that if I picked God completely, I would be rejected by my friends. And if I picked the world completely, I would be rejecting the God who I know to be true. I deeply desire to have the faith that Moses expressed. He actively chose to be “mistreated with the people of God [rather] than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.” This isn’t an easy choice, not for anyone. So how did Moses do it?

v. 26 tells us that Moses “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” This is fascinating, and I had never seen this before studying this text. First off, what does the text mean by “He considered the reproach of Christ?” Reproach means disgrace or shame; the suffering and death of Jesus was a shameful way to die in their culture. The National Institute of Health posted an article stating, “Crucifixion in Roman times wars applied mostly to slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians and foreigners – only very rarely to Roman citizens.”[i] This was not the death of a King, this was a death of shame, a death reserved for slaves and disgraced soldiers. Yet, Christ chose to enter into this suffering. A King, leaving His glory to enter into the muck of everyday humanity, knowing the death that would soon be upon Him.

I want to show this chart comparing the life of Moses with the life of Jesus:

Moses

Jesus

King’s family (Ex. 2:10)

Son of the King (John 17:1-5)

Set aside his royal title (Heb. 11:24)

Emptied Himself (Phil 2:7)

Rejected by those he came to save

 (Ex. 2:14; 5:21)

Rejected by the those He came to save

(Isa. 53:3)

Delivered the people of God (Ex. 3:10)

Delivered the people of God (1 Tim. 1:15)

So, when the text says that Moses “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt” he is, like we learned last week about Isaac, a type of Christ. A person in the Hebrew Scriptures whose life itself is a shadow of the life to come in Christ Jesus!

Moses “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt,” PBS wrote an article saying that in the time of Moses “Egypt had become the richest and most powerful nation on earth.”[ii] Moses left all of that considering the suffering life ahead of him, why? Why would he do this? The end of verse 26 tells us that “he [Moses] was looking to the reward.” What reward is Moses looking at?! What reward would cause someone to give up all of the riches and comfort attainable in their culture to suffer with a group of people he was barely connected to? What would cause us to do that? What reward would give us the strength, the courage, and the faith to choose suffering with the people of God over the success and comfort of the world?