Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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THE LORD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE TO DWELL WITH HIM THROUGH UNUSUAL WEAPONS AND UNIQUE WAYS.
HE USES A STAFF AND THE SPOKEN WORD AS HIS WEAPONS OF CHOICE.
HIS STAFF POSSESSED GOD’S PRESENCES AND HIS WORDS GOD’S POWER.
TODAY WE POSSESS GOD’S PRESENCES NOT IN A STAFF BUT IN A SWORD AND HIS POWER NOT IN OUR WORD’S BUT HIS WORD.
WE SEE HERE BOTH A PICTURE OF SALVATION AND SANCTIFICATION.
HE USES THE SACRIFICE OF AN INNOCENT TO COVER THE SINS OF INSUBORDINATE.
God was giving his prophet firsthand experience of salvation.
God showed Moses the wages of sin by placing him under his divine wrath.
But then God’s deadly wrath was turned aside—or “propitiated,” to use the proper term for it—by the blood of circumcision.
Blood is mentioned specifically because in order to be delivered from death, Moses had to be touched by the blood of a sacrifice and thereby identified with it.
It was not a full sacrifice, of course; nevertheless, that small portion of circumcised skin represented Gershom’s entire person, offered in Moses’ place.
Moses was saved from God’s wrath by the shed blood of a substitute.
As strange as this experience may sound, it reveals the one true way of salvation.
Every human being is a sinner who stands under the wrath of God.
Like Moses, we have failed to keep God’s law and thus are subject to God’s curse against our sin.
The only way to be saved from eternal death is for God’s wrath to be turned aside, which can only be done through an act of blood.
This is exactly what Jesus provided on the cross: a perfect sacrifice for sin, offered through the shedding of his own blood.
By dying in our place, Jesus turned aside the wrath of God against our sin.
He is our substitute, the one
Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved from God’s wrath through the vicarious sacrifice he offered on the cross.
There is no other way to be saved.
He gave Moses life through the circumcision of His Son.
He has given us the way of eternal life through the crucifixion of His Son.
HIS RESPONSE TO MOSES DISOBEDIENCE SHOWS THAT OUR LORD VALUES OBEDIENCE OVER SACRIFICE.
The smallest sin is an act of Cosmic Treason against a Holy God. - Jonathan Edwards
The LORD’S intent was not death but discipline.
This raises a more basic question: What was so important about circumcision?
Consider this contrast: When Moses refused to go to Egypt, God patiently helped him on his way; but when he failed to circumcise his son, God threatened to take his very life.
Peter Enns writes, “Moses can argue, pout, whine, and hold his breath about going to Egypt and God will deal patiently with him—but circumcision is another matter.
Quite literally, it was a matter of life and death.
But why?
For one thing, circumcision was the distinguishing mark of God’s people, a sign indicating membership in the covenant community, and thus it served as the proof of sonship in Israel, as Zipporah seems to have understood.
Furthermore, circumcision was a covenant sign that went all the way back to the patriarchs (see Gen. 17).
Therefore, if Moses intended to serve the God of Abraham, he had a covenant obligation to circumcise his sons.
This was also an important part of his preparation for the exodus.
Later, when the Israelites celebrated their first Passover, every male would be required to be circumcised (Exod.
12:43–49).
Moses had to set the example.
If he was going to lead the people out of Egypt, he himself had to keep the covenant.
How could he be Israel’s prophet if he neglected his spiritual responsibility to his own family by failing to include them in God’s salvation?
Moses’ failure to keep the covenant of circumcision nearly cost him his life.
His near-death experience teaches us at least a significant lesson about salvation in Christ.
We see the spiritual importance of receiving the sign of the covenant, which for the Christian is baptism.
There is a connection between the Old Testament sign of circumcision and the New Testament sacrament of baptism.
As Paul wrote to the Colossians,
The example of Moses teaches us to regard baptism with the utmost seriousness.
Although the sacrament itself does not save anyone, nevertheless believers are to be baptized.
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