Lips, Heart, and a Mighty Hand
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The first 8 verses of Exodus 6 record the Lord’s reassurances to Moses—reassurances of His power, His salvation; reminders that God has appeared, He has made a covenant, He has heard their groaning, and He has remembered His covenant promises to them. The Lord has promised to deliver them, to redeem them, to adopt them as His children, and to give them an inheritance.
What an amazing assurance from the Lord! In the midst of doubt and difficulty, the Lord speaks truth; He comforts His people with His character and His many benefits.
Moses goes to report all of the Lord’s amazing assurances and promises to that grumpy, angry, blame-shifting lot of Israelites:
9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.
The Israelites aren’t listening because of their discouragement and harsh labor. Moses’ word to them is being choked-out by the worries of this life.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”
12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”
Listening seems to be a problem; this is Moses’ major hang-up.
“If the Israelites won’t listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
And then Moses asks again:
30 But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
I understand Moses’ discouragement and timidity; I do. Granted, I’ve never had a task anything like the task the Lord gave to Moses. But I know what it is to speak with faltering lips; I’ve struggled all my life to varying degrees to speak clearly and plainly and properly. And I must admit, speech impediment aside, there are many weeks I wonder why anyone would or if anyone should or how anyone could listen to me at all. I understand Moses’ discouragement and timidity, I do.
Listening is where Moses gets all hung-up. Well, it’s more the not listening. The Israelites aren’t listening. No way is Pharaoh going to listen!
The Lord, at this point, assures Moses that no, Pharaoh absolutely WILL NOT LISTEN—and this (get this!) this is the plan of God; this (get this!), this is entirely the Lord’s doing.
------> If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to Exodus 6. If you are able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word:
28 Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”
30 But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, 4 he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. 5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
6 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
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Moses’ Faltering Lips
Moses’ Faltering Lips
We’ve heard Moses complain about his inability to speak well—this is not the first time. He won’t stop talking about his difficulty speaking. Like a dog with a bone, this one. He just won’t let it go.
This might be a summation of what Moses has said earlier, but I wouldn’t doubt it if this is Moses is dredging up his old excuse, using it again and again.
We, too, come up with excuses for not doing what God tells us to do. And, the bulk of the time, we repeat the same sorry excuses over and over again.
It takes some Christians years to get past their tired old excuses for not giving, not going, not witnessing, not serving.
Moses’ faltering lips aside, our excuses aside, remember: God’s call is always accompanied by God’s gifting.
If God is calling you to do something, He’s going to give you the strength and ability to do it. He’s not going to ask you to do something and then stand back, pointing and laughing at you when you can’t do it.
Every Sunday is an unmistakable reminder to me that whatever ability I have to preach, it’s from the Lord and not from this introverted fella with a speech problem. It’s the Lord who helps me say my “Rs” correctly and who gives me the strength to stand here.
The Lord gifts Moses to do what He’s called him to do, and we need to understand this: God is not asking Moses if he wanted to volunteer. He is ordering Moses to go.
Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt, he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”
God has the right to tell Moses what to do because He is Lord of Heaven and earth, Lord of all creation, of water, earth, and sky. He is certainly Lord over Moses. His commands are not invitations; they are orders to obey.
God’s not asking for you to RSVP “yes” or “no” depending on how you feel.
God’s demanding your obedience.
Moses keeps it up with the excuses. And the Lord continues to be the loving and gracious God who patiently teaches His servants how to serve.
God listens to Moses. And He answers his question.
Why would Pharaoh listen to me?
Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.
God gives to His prophet Moses divine authority.
Moses would be like God to Pharaoh. What verse 1 really says in Hebrew is “I have made you God to Pharaoh.”
Moses is God’s representative, His chosen prophet. When Moses stands before Pharaoh’s throne, he speaks with real divine authority. God Himself speaks and acts through Moses.
We need to keep in mind that Pharaoh considered himself to be divine—and so did all the Egyptians. This was basic Egyptian belief: Pharaohs were incarnations of the gods.
So, by making Moses God to Pharaoh, God was putting Pharaoh in his place.
Peter Enns explains:
In Egyptian royal ideology, the pharaoh was considered to be a divine being. So by calling Moses God, Yahweh is beating Pharaoh at his own game. It is not the king of Egypt who is god; rather, it is this shepherd and leader of slaves who is God. And this Moses-God defeats Pharaoh in a manner that leaves no doubt as to the true nature and source of his power: He controls the elements, bugs, livestock, fire from heaven, and the water of the sea; he even has authority over life and death. Moses is not simply like God to Pharaoh. He truly is God to Pharaoh in that God is acting through Moses.
Moses, of course, is not divine. There is only one God. Moses is simply one of His prophets. Yet Moses does represent God.
This is one of the Lord’s great mysteries: God has chosen human instruments to carry out His work; God communicates His message through human messengers.
Aaron was the mouthpiece of Moses who was the mouthpiece of God. When God had something to say, He didn’t shout it from the heavens. Rather, God spoke through one of His servants on earth.
This is the way God usually (almost always) communicates. In the OT, the Lord spoke through His servants, the prophets. And then, at just the right time, God sent Jesus—powerful in word and deed.
Upon Jesus’ ascension into Heaven, He gave His apostles and His people a commission to proclaim the gospel to the nations.
Today, God’s message is communicated through the Church. The words of the prophets and apostles, the words of Jesus Himself are recorded in the pages of the Bible.
It’s our responsibility to announce them to the world. This is what preachers do. When a preacher teaches the Bible faithfully, his voice is the voice of God.
What’s more, God has poured out His spirit on the Church so that both men and women [would] prophesy.
This is what some call the “priesthood of all believers.”
This doesn’t mean that every Christian is called to be a preacher. But it does mean that every believer is one of God’s messengers.
Every Christian man, woman, youth, and child is called to share the gospel and to speak the truth of the Bible.
Marcus Brownson, a nineteenth century pastor wrote:
Our Lord has no eyes, no feet, no hands to use now but those of His people in His Church which is His body. Each member has a function and an obligation.… As it was in the Church of the early days of Christianity, when men, women and even children went everywhere talking of the Savior and of redeeming love, so should it be today. Evangelism is the office of all believers. Every believer in Christ holds an office in the Church, the office of witnessing for Christ, and it is the highest, most honorable, most useful office in the world, “the office of all believers.”
This is a weighty responsibility. As Christians we carry Christ into the world. We may be the only genuine Christians that some of our friends and family members know. Their whole understanding of Christianity depends on our testimony. Therefore, we are Christ to them in the same way that Moses was God to Pharaoh.
To this, we are called to be faithful, as Moses and Aaron were.
Notice how today’s text concludes:
Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
For all of Moses excuses and repeating of those excuses, Moses was faithful in his calling. Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.
Think about what an encouragement this is to older Christians: Moses is a senior citizen. 80 years old—well past the age that most Americans retire.
Over the years, I’ve heard several church members say, “Well, it’s someone else’s turn. We’ve put in our time; it’s time for the next generation to step-up.” And they’re not wrong when they say that. But...
It’s tempting for some to think that their best years are behind them, that they’ve already accomplished for Christ what they’re going to accomplish. But no Christian gets to retire from being a Christian.
At this point, Moses had another 40 year ahead of him.
No matter how young or old we are, we should ask, “How do you want me to serve you, Lord?”
Close your eyes and ask the Lord: “How do you want me to serve you, Lord?”
Faltering lips aside, the Lord had something in mind for Moses. Hear me, friends: no matter your excuses, if you belong to Christ, there is something the Lord as for you to do.
Pharaoh’s Hard Heart
Pharaoh’s Hard Heart
Moses needn’t worry about his faltering lips—the Lord, we know, will give Moses the grace and ability to do what He’s calling him to do.
But what we see in our text is that Pharaoh wasn’t going to listen to him anyway.
Moses’ fear about Pharaoh not listening is confirmed by the Lord—the one who hardens Pharaoh’s heart.
No matter what Moses said, no matter the miracles he performed, Pharaoh wouldn’t listen.
“Have fun storming the castle, Moses!”
“You think it’ll work?”
“It would take a miracle.”
Pharaoh’s hardened heart—his stubborn resistance—is part of God’s sovereign plan.
“It’ll never work, Lord. Pharaoh will never listen.”
“That’s exactly right. That’s just precisely what I have in mind. I’m gonna harden his heart so that he will not listen to you.”
God is using Pharaoh’s rebellion to prove that God alone has the power to rescue His people.
Moses, like the rest of us, has a performance-based mentality. He assumes it’s up to him to get the results.
But, as we know, the results are not in Moses’ hands anymore than spiritual results in the church are in our hands today.
Moses doesn’t need to worry about the results. Moses needs to be faithful. Period. “You, Moses, are to say everything I command you to say.”
The Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart to show that only He can rescue His people. If Pharaoh could have been persuaded to let the people go, we might surmise today that Pharaoh was “a basically good person who decided to do the right thing.”
Instead, our wonder-working God shows His power to be supreme.
The idea that the Lord Yahweh does whatever He wantswith Pharaoh’s heart—specifically that hardens it, is both an evidence of the Lord’s control of all things including the mightiest king of the day and also evidence that Yahweh has done what the Egyptians thought only “gods” could do—weigh the heart and decide if its owner is worthy of eternal life or not.
This is God showing Himself to be greater than Pharaoh, greater than any other. His is the name above all names—certainly above the name of pharaoh.
This can spiral into some long discussions, as you can imagine. “Well, God didn’t really harden Pharaoh’s heart; Pharaoh had already hardened his heart. God just let him.”
“God wouldn’t harden someone’s heart, would he?”
Certainly, Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Pharaoh is responsible for his hardness of heart. But before Pharaoh ever hardened his own heart, God promised to harden it for him.
The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
Pharaoh illustrates a truth that rubs against our sense of “fair”:
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
God does this for His greater glory—as He makes clear in regard to Pharaoh:
For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
One of the great mysteries of God’s sovereignty is that the destiny of every human being rests on the eternal counsel of His will.
Nothing—nothing—is outside the purpose of His will, not even the heart of a king.
Moses’ faltering lips aren’t an issue for the Lord. And neither is Pharaoh. The Lord controls even Pharaoh, king of Egypt; the Lord controls every part of Pharaoh.
God’s Mighty Hand
God’s Mighty Hand
Eventually God makes a believer out of Pharaoh—not in the sense that the king of Egypt repented of his sins and embraced the Lord, the God of Israel, as his God—but in the sense that he was forced to surrender to God’s superior strength: God’s mighty hand.
he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
God’s mighty hand of salvation for the Israelites—the mighty hand that led them out of Egypt in an orderly fashion—is the same mighty hand of judgment that punished the Egyptians.
God uses both sides of His hand in the exodus. With His palm, He gently leads the Israelites out of slavery. And at the same time, He gives the back of His hand to the Egyptians.
God’s mighty hand which shows mercy and brings judgment is accomplishing one purpose: to reveal that He is Lord.
He’s doing all of this so that they might know that He is Lord.
And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
He’s doing all of this so that they might know that He is Lord.
There are two ways to know the Lord, the God of Israel.
You might know Him by experiencing His mercy in salvation.
You may know Him by experiencing His wrath in judgment.
Everyone—every single person—will eventually acknowledge that He is God.
He will, with His mighty hand, deal with His enemies in one of two ways: with mercy or with judgment.
On the cross, Jesus—the Son of God—became the offering that dealt with the wrath of God. Jesus took the judgment we deserve.
If we belong to Him, there is no wrath left. There is no judgment. There is only mercy, salvation.
If we ignore Him, reject Him; if we insist on going our own way, there is only judgment and wrath.
With God’s mighty hand, He separates those who are His from those who are not; those who know His mercy from those who only know His judgment.
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May we learn that our faltering lips, and any other excuse that we can come up with—none of them are greater than the gifting and call of God.
May our hearts be soft, receptive to the things of God. He will, by His grace, in His sovereign will, take our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh—for His glory and our good.
May we bow before the Mighty Hand of God and trust that He is able to lead us and guide us along; that He will mete out justice and mercy as He sees fit.
May we do just as He commands; may we worship and give our lives to Him alone.
May our poor, lisping, stammering tongues sing His power to say. May we sing of the greatness of our God so that all will see how great, how great is our God!