God Reveals Himself to Moses
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
As we enter the Scripture for today we find Moses eighty years of age. He had spent forty years in Egypt and forty years with Jethro, his father-in-law in Midian. During all of those years the eyes of God were upon His servant. God saw Moses steadily developing into the man whom He had chosen to lead His people.
At the same time the eyes of God were fixed upon the people of Israel. He knew their burdens, and He shared their sorrows,
1. God works at both ends of the line. While on the one hand God was training Moses to be a deliverer, on the other hand He was bringing Israel to the place where they would accept deliverance. This is always true in Divine leadership. If God sends forth a Philip to speak to the eunuch, He goes before and prepares the eunuch to receive the message. In the work of God there is perfect coordination of events. If the personal worker is sent definitely to some lost soul, that lost soul will be ready to receive the worker.
2. God always has a man. to meet every crisis. As we run our minds over the Scriptures as a whole, it seems to us that an Isaiah, a Jeremiah, an Ezekiel, and a Daniel, a Peter, or a Paul arose in the nick of time to meet distinctive emergencies.
The fact, of course, is that God in His omniscience had been long preparing each of these men for the crisis which He knew was coming. There are no "happen sos" with God. He sees the end from the beginning, and He works accordingly.
3. Men should ever be ready to act when they are commanded from above. Paul said, "I was not disobedient to the Heavenly vision." In the case of Philip and the eunuch we read, "And he arose and went."
Moses had been swift to act when he went in the energy of his own strength, but when God spoke to him, and commanded him to go, he was very loathe to obey.
Would that the church had always had an ear open to the call of God.
When God tells you what to do,
Start to do it;
He will surely see you through,
So, pursue it:
If to Him you're faithful, true,
He your foes will all subdue,
Needed strength He will renew;
Why not do it?
"When God tells you what to say,
Rise and say it;
Do not while the time away,
And delay it:
If God's message you convey,
And you faithfully obey,
He will prove your rock and stay;
Why not say it?
When God tells you where to go,
Don't forego it;
Do not wait till more you know,
God will show it:
Grace and help He will bestow,
Bless you as you onward go;
All you are to Him you owe,
Why not show it?
I. ALONE WITH GOD (Exodus 3:1)
1. The shepherd-life of Moses. It is refreshing to behold Moses keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. The shepherd-life is a life of privileges. Moses, mixed in the political, social furor of Egypt, had but little time to fellowship with God. While keeping the flock, he had marvelous opportunities to hear the Lord when He spoke to him. He was a shepherd, and, as he shepherded his flocks he learned many a lesson that proved full of value to him in the days when he shepherded the Children of Israel. The Lord of Moses was also a Shepherd, and we are His sheep.
2. Moses at the backside of the desert. The expression of our verse, "and he led the flock to the backside of the desert" is most meaningful. It is there, in the place uninhabited and quiet, that God found the opportunity to speak in a still small voice to Moses. At the same time, Moses was made ready to hear that voice.
Perhaps, there was a sense of loneliness on Moses' part. He felt that he was shut in with God, and shut out from many things which the flesh might have enjoyed. When we think of Moses at the backside of the desert, we think of many a lonely heart, sick and worn, or perhaps aged, shut in their little rooms.
Shut in from dale and glen,
Shut in from blooming bowers,
Shut in your lonesome den
Through trying, weary hours.
The world goes on its way
Unmindful of your gloom;
Alone you sit and pray,
Shut in your little room.
Yet, not shut in, alone,
The Lord is with you there,
He fills your heart with song,
He takes away your care.
Shut in you see His face,
His glories you explore;
You roam in realms of grace,
With Him whom you adore.
II. THE MINISTRY OF THE BURNING BUSH (Exodus 3:2)
In this verse we read, "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, * * the bush was not consumed." In this remarkable vision which Moses saw there are three suggested things:
1. A persecuted people. The bush burning was an apt portraiture of a people under oppression. The Children of Israel were indeed in the flames of affliction. They felt that the fire was hotter than they could bear. We need not be surprised, however, because in the world we have tribulation. If they called our Master, Beelzebub, they will call us the same. If they persecuted Him, they will persecute us. The truth is that it is given to us to suffer for His sake as well as to believe on His Name.
2. A preserved people. The bush was burning, but not consumed. This was the history of Israel up to that time. It has been the history of Israel up to this time. Israel has ever been burned, but never consumed. Other types of this same preservation are those of Daniel in the lions' den, the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, and Jonah swallowed by a great fish, but not digested. Jesus Christ plainly taught that we were safely shielded in Him against every wile of the devil.
3. A protected people. Preserved, yes, but also protected. God will not suffer His own to be destroyed. When we think of Israel during the centuries we can easily see how the hand of God led them out, and led them on. The Jew must ever remain the supreme and unexplained miracle of the age. Without a king, a prince, and without an ephod, they have been preserved on the one hand and protected on the other hand unto this hour. God's eye has been upon the sparrow; how much more has it been upon His people!
III. A HEART OF INQUIRY (Exodus 3:3)
Our key text reads that Moses said, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."
1. Taking time to turn aside. This is such a busy world that very few people are willing to turn aside from the rush in order to see or to hear God. The hymn says, "Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord; Abide with Him always, and trust in His Word." Too many lives are so filled with this and with that that they forget to hear the voice of God.
2. Seeking to see a great sight. Some one has said that there is many a bush ablaze with the glory of God, but only he sees who takes time to step aside and to take off his shoes.
We wrote a little poem not long ago on this theme:
Day by day I'll take my place,
Prostrate at the throne of grace,
As I see my Father's blessing from on high;
There, I'll cast my ev'ry care,
Leave it at the place of prayer,
And His peace and joy I'll share
While He is nigh.
There, within my close shut door,
I my Lord will oft adore,
Hid away from ev'ry vexing care and strife:
His dear Name I will repeat,
As I worship at His feet,
In my happy, blest retreat;
He is my life.
3. Inquiry and illumination. Moses stopped to inquire. The result was that God illuminated his mind. Whenever we seek to know God, He is delighted to manifest Himself unto us. Then shall ye know, when ye follow on to know the Lord.
IV. THE OBSERVING CHRIST (Exodus 3:4)
Here is the way the verse reads: "And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I."
1. Christ is looking and longing for hearts that look and long. What we mean is this; our Lord is watching us to see if we are truly and profoundly interested in the things of God. It is not the outward life that appeals to the Master so much as the inside heart-throbs, the promptings, the yearnings, and the longings of the soul. "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Man sees things as they appear; Christ sees things as they are.
We wonder, dear young people, if our Lord finds in us that spirit which yearns after Him, the spirit that will turn aside to look and to see,
2. The Lord calling with concentrated animation. When the Lord saw Moses approaching the bush He called out, "Moses, Moses." A repetition of words always portrays animation and intensity. It was thus that God called unto Abraham as, with lifted sword, he was about to slay his son. God was animated and cried: "Abraham, Abraham, * * lay not thine hand upon the lad!"
3. Christ uttered a warning of sacred significance. He said unto Moses, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Moses was about to approach into the presence of God, but he knew it not. God was instructing Moses lest he should ruthlessly and unwittingly draw nigh to Him in the energy of his flesh. The prayer the Lord taught His disciples began with "Hallowed by Thy Name." When we approach Him we must come in the spirit of reverence, and, as it were, with the sandals off our feet.
V. THE REVEALING CHRIST (Exodus 3:6)
"Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."
1. We have revelation with a pledge of perpetuity. When God said, "I am the God of Abraham" He held His blessings to one, but when He said, "the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" He showed that His pledge of favor was passing from age to age, from generation to generation. There is something, however, even more striking, because Christ said, "I am the God of thy father," thus linking up Moses with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and therefore with the promises vouchsafed to them. God passes His pledge of protection and blessing from generation to generation, from father to son.
2. We have a revelation with a pledge of the promises of God. God's promises pass from father to son, the same as do His grace and His mercy. God said unto Abraham, "I will bless thee." That blessing and everything it contained included every child of Abraham even unto this day. It particularly followed the line of blessing and of promise down through a genealogy of successful sons until Christ, the seed of Abraham, was born of Mary who was also, through her father, Abraham's seed.
3. We have a revelation of present aid based upon past favors. God seemed to say to Moses, "As I was the Father of Abraham and of Isaac, and of Jacob, so will I be a Father unto you. As I blessed them, I will bless you." We, therefore, as Christians, have a perfect right to plead God's past grace as a pledge of present favor. He, who has blessed, will bless; He, who has worked, will work.
VI. A THREEFOLD ASSURANCE (Exodus 3:7-8)
Three statements are made in the two verses before us. (1) "The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt." (2) "I have heard their cry." (3) "I am come down to deliver them."
1. "I have surely seen." What was it that God had seen? He said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt." The suggestion is that the God who was in Midian was also the God who was in Egypt a suggestion of the omnipresence of God.
What is it that God sees? Of course, we always think of Him as seeing us in our sins. We know there is not a word under our tongue but He knows it altogether. Yes, He knows every thought. We think of Him as seeing us in our deeds and acts, but the Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people."
These words are suggestive of a sympathetic Christ. His eyes are going throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in behalf of the needy. He sees our sorrows, and our struggles, our penury and our pain.
2. "I have heard." Israel had evidently been praying for God had heard their cry. Their prayers had come by reason of their taskmasters. They had evidently neglected their prayer-life and their fellowship with God until, in the hour of their need, they were driven to Him. The words, "I have heard" give us so much comfort. If He heard Israel, He will also hear us.
3. "I am come." First, "I have surely seen," second, "I have heard," and third, "I am come down to deliver." Our God is not only a God who sees and hears. He is a God of the stretched-forth hand. He is the God who rescues, the God who helps. As we weigh these words we cannot but think of how our Savior said, "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world." He came into the world because He had seen the ravages of sin.
VII. A THREEFOLD UNDERTAKING (Exodus 3:7-8)
There were three things which God promised to do:
1. He promised to deliver them from Egypt. This deliverance seemed almost impossible. To be sure, Israel had grown to great proportions numerically, yet the Egyptians had them wholly under their power. Israel was unarmed, while the Egyptians were armed. Israel was a people of slaves, while the Egyptians were the masters. The impossible, however, to God became possible. The Lord did not hesitate because there was no hope for Israel, humanly speaking. He faced every difficulty, every danger, every impossibility, and with all assurance said, "I am come down to deliver." There are never any question marks with God when He undertakes.
2. He promised to carry them through the wilderness. Here was another great promise. Deliverance was one thing; carrying them through the wilderness was another thing. Between Egypt and the land of Canaan there was a waste and howling desert infested with wild beasts and every seeming hindrance to travel. There was no water with which to quench thirst, and there was no food with which to satisfy hunger. Once more, however, the Lord faced that which seemed impossible, and said, "I am come * * to bring them up out of that land unto a good land." God counted the deed as done before the march had begun,
3. He promised to bring them into a good land, a land which flowed with milk and honey. That good land, however, was a land infested with Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. The good land, in other words, and the large land, the land of milk and honey, was not a land lying open and ready for their entrance. It was a land possessed by seven nations, strong and mighty. It was a land where the Anakim ruled, where the giants reigned, and where Satan held full possession. This meant nothing to God, for He was able to lead them through, and to lead them in.
AN ILLUSTRATION
GRACE FOR USE, AND NOT TO BE PLAYED WITH
"Grace is not only 'Donum,' but 'Taletum.' Grace is not given, as a piece of money, to a child to play withal, but as we give money to factors, to trade withal for us." Everything is practical in the great gifts of God. He plants His trees that they may bear fruit, and sows His seed that a harvest may come of it. We may trifle and speculate; God never does so. When a man imagines that grace is given merely to make him comfortable, to give him a superiority over his fellows, or to enable him to avoid deserved censure, he knows not the design of the Lord in the bestowal of grace, and, indeed, he is a stranger to the grand secret. God works in us that we may work, He saves us that we may serve Him, and enriches us with grace that the riches of His glory may be displayed.
Are we putting out our talents to proper interest? Do we use the grace bestowed upon us? "He giveth more grace," but not to those who neglect what they have. Men do not long trust ill stewards. Lord, help us so to act that we may render our account with joy and not with grief. Chas. H. Spurgeon.