Month: September 2022

Exodus 6:9 And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

The Lord had just spoken to the people through Moses, reaffirming His Covenant Promises, promising to redeem them from bondage and bring them to the Land of Promise. And now was the time! The surprising response to this great Good News was that they did not hearken: they heard, but did not listen and believe God’s words.

Why in the world wouldn’t people receive and believe the Gospel Promise? Is it too good to be true? Or, are they tired of waiting? Or, could they not accept the Word from a man like Moses? Or, did they think they did not deserve it? The text reveals the reason: the people could not believe because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.

We also are under cruel bondage to Sin and Death, and we suffer from the anguish of a broken spirit because of the human condition we find ourselves in. We can become so depressed and miserable that nothing and no one can lift our spirits. We can experience such anguish that we can’t believe. Bondage to sin is real, and Sin makes a broken spirit (anguish). The Law reveals my sin (I can’t just blame others), convicts of guilt, brings repentance, and leads me to the Gospel of forgiveness and the promise of life. Now the question is: can we hearken to and believe such Good News?

The power of the Spirit through the Gospel convinces us that Redemption has happened in Christ and the promise of Eternal Life (Land) is real. The miracle is that by God’s grace and power we hear and believe. The joy of the Promise lifts the depression. We experience the same joy that the Israelites felt when they passed through the waters. The Word and the Spirit gives faith to hearken (listen and believe).

Exodus 5:22, 23 And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me?

After Moses asked Pharaoh to let Israel go, Pharaoh responded by laying heavier burdens on them by demanding the same quota of bricks but making them gather the straw themselves. The people responded by complaining to Moses and blaming him for making them work harder, because Moses asked for exodus.

Moses responded by turning to the Lord (which was good) and questioning Him and blaming Him for evil (which was not good). Moses asked the Lord the same age-old question that every human asks: WHY? Why are bad things happening to us? Why did you involve me? It’s not fair! Where is Your presence and promised help? How long, O Lord? Why me? We don’t deserve this! And so on.

On the surface, to our impoverished minds and limited vision, why seems like a good and reasonable question. But in reality, it is a questioning and blaming of God that reveals pride and unbelief. We can’t deeply believe God is good all the time. We are too proud to admit that evil is my fault, that I am the sinner. Like Moses, like Adam, and like Job, every person tends to blame God when bad things happen and to take credit when good things happen.

Faith is the gift of God that knows: God is good, He knows what He is doing, He works all things together for good, and His timing is always right. Such faith is not possible for us; thus God must gift it through the Gospel. Because of Sin, we will experience pain and suffering, trial and tribulation, before seeing salvation and deliverance, glory and victory. Jesus did. For us. We will.

Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.

The Pharaoh’s response to the Lord’s command and Moses’ request was simple unbelief and disobedience, not believing in God and not believing God. The plain result of disbelief is disobedience, resistance, and rebellion. Pharaoh: Who is Yahweh? Why should I obey Him? I do not know Him. He is not my God, for I myself am a god and I have other gods.

Indeed, Pharaoh is right: Why should one obey a god he doesn’t even know? He doesn’t have a relationship with Him. A person may acknowledge He exists, but He is your God, not mine. If one cannot recognize that Yahweh has any claim on his life, why should he do what He says? His response follows from faith, or unfaith.

Today, the unbelieving world responds to God and His Word like Pharaoh. ”The fool says in his heart, ’There is no God’” (over me). The unbeliever may tolerate, or condescend to, your belief, saying, ”Whatever works for you.” Though many unbelievers are militant Atheists, militant Muslims, or other militant religion, many are like Pharaoh: ”You believe what you want, but don’t force your religion on me.” Either way, the unbeliever does not acknowledge his Creator, and so naturally does not have to do what He says. He makes himself a god or makes false gods for himself. So, of course, if he doesn’t know the Lord, why should he obey?

But the Christian says he believes in God. Well, if you really do, then why don’t you obey His commands? We don’t want to recognize this truth: every time we sin we are acting from unbelief. “What is not done from faith is sin.” We believe, but Pharaoh-ic unbelief remains in the forgiven sinner. Therefore, we repent daily since we sin daily, that is, we believe God is my Creator but we still admit we fail to purely and fully believe it. We receive forgiveness and then we respond in faith to the God of love that we know.

Exodus 4:31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped.

When Moses and Aaron got back to Egypt they gathered the elders of the people. Aaron spoke the words which the Lord spoke to Moses and did the signs before the people. The people responded with faith, believing the words and the signs. They were filled with hope when they heard and saw. After all these years, the Lord heard their prayers and cries, and He came to be with them to keep His Promise.

Just to hold on to a promise for 400 years, and pray in faith through several generations, is a miraculous work of God in itself. And now a glimmer of hope burst on the scene. What Joy! It was the word and the signs that caused the people to believe and worship. So also it seemed an endlessly long time until God visited His people in the form of a human baby. The angels announced the unbelievable Good News of great joy to the shepherds with the words, ”Unto you is born…a Savior, which is Christ.” And this is the sign, ”A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger.” The shepherds responded to the Gospel with faith and worship.

Every day and every week, when we hear the Word in the Gospel and see the Sign in the Sacraments, we believe and worship. No matter how long it seems, the Spirit fills the waiting time with hope and joy. We rejoice with worship. For while wait we have the Word and Promise.

Exodus 4:19, 20 And the Lord said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life. And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt: and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

In spite of Moses’ fears and objections, he obeyed the Lord and did as He said. He packed up his family and returned to Egypt. After 40 years in Midian, marrying and raising a family, It was not something he wanted to do, or even thought he could do, but God called, gave him the faith to obey, and equipped him for the mission. And in faithful response, he set off. Because of his obedient response the people of God will be delivered.

Just so: because of Jesus’ faithful obedience, God, through His life, death, and resurrection was able to deliver us from sin, death, and the devil. It was not quite as simple and easy as it might first appear. Jesus the Man agonized in Gethsemane ahead of His arrest and trial. He prayed: ”Father, I don’t want to do this, but if it is your will, then I will.” His perfect obedience resulted in our salvation.

We may resist obeying authority, loving our neighbor, telling the truth, or being a faithful husband or wife, but blessing always comes with obedience to God’s call, and, who knows, we may bring God’s blessing to others. Moses returned to Egypt, Jesus returned to earth, and we return to the world to save and bless others.

Exodus 4:10 And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

The Lord laid a powerful call upon Moses, even a heavy burden, to deliver God’s people. Moses’ first response was to sense his own inadequacy, making the excuse that he could not speak well. Of course, he was incapable of doing the job, for it was a bigger task than any human could achieve on his own. Every Prophet, Apostle, or Man of God that was called by God to speak His Word or carry out His mission feels sinful, unworthy, and woefully inadequate before the Holy, Almighty God. And he is. Who can do what God demands? No one can even keep the Commandments. Witness the excuses of Jacob, Moses, Gideon, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Esther, Mary, Peter, and Paul. Then witness how God used these men and women.

Every one of us is flawed, failed, and weak; none is righteous; all fall short. The only thing a sinful human can do is make excuses, rationalize, and justify self. He cannot serve and obey, do God’s will, save even himself, do any genuine good works, much less do great exploits for God. God must do it all, 100%. God could not find a man, so the Son of God Himself had to come and do it all for us. And Jesus did.

The Lord still calls us to be holy, do good works, obey His Commands, and, like Moses, do the impossible. The saying is true: ”God does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called.” And God, on account of Jesus, through the Spirit, does the impossible for us, in us, and through us: make us holy and live a life of good works.

Admit you can’t do it, but believe He can. God responded to Moses’ excuse: ”Who made man’s mouth?…I will be with thy mouth [v. 11, 12].” Instead of excusing ourself, we repent and admit failure, believe the Gospel, and trust God to do what we can’t. He can. He did. He does.

Exodus 4:1 And Moses answered and said, But, Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee.

Naturally, why should anyone believe a man who says, ”God told me?” It certainly would be hard to believe anyone who had been in the desert for 40 years and then came back with incredible news. This was a sincere objection on Moses’ part: Why should they believe me?

But the unbelief of Moses also shows up up here, for in 3:18 God said, ”And they will hearken to thy voice.” Moses plainly contradicts God’s Word: ”They will not listen.” Moses heard directly from the Lord in a personal encounter, yet he couldn’t fully trust the Word. The devil tempted Adam and Eve to doubt God’s Word, and she gave in. The devil tempted Jesus to doubt and He did not give in. Instead, He used God’s Word in faith to overcome him. Jesus did that for us, and He gave us His victory.

The same unbelievable and impossible Truth of deliverance and salvation has come to us in the Gospel. Through the gospel the Spirit gives us the faith to believe it. Like the people, I cannot by my own reason or strength believe, but HS calls.

God proceeded to give Moses signs and wonders to aid belief: rod becoming a serpent and hand becoming leprous. God gives us signs in Gospel and Sacraments to strengthen our faith. We respond by hearkening to the Lord.

Exodus 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

Moses anticipated the doubts of the people to whom he was sent, and, in fact, he raised his own legitimate question: Who are you? What is the name of the God of our fathers? How do we know Him? Did our God really send you? How can we know Him if we don’t even know His name? Tell us the Name so we can know Him and believe?

Knowing the Name of a person signifies that one knows the person and has at least some degree of relationship with him or her, and if we know the person we can trust him. So who is this God of Abraham? What is His name? We cannot believe an unknown. And, Moses, do you know Him?

God revealed His Name, thereby opening Himself up to a relational knowledge, so that the people can trust Him. He is Yahweh, translated as The Lord. He is ”I am that I am,” the eternally existing One. In the NT we know His name as Jesus. We confess: Jesus is Lord! Or, even better, Jesus is Yahweh! Jesus is the ”I AM.” We pray and access God in the name of Jesus. And in Acts 4:12, Peter proclaims: ”There is no other name…by which we must be saved.” Knowing Jesus, believing Him, and being baptized in His Name is Salvation, Truth, and Life.

Our response to the Gospel is “I know His Name! He is Jesus. I know Him. He is Yahweh, my Lord and Savior. I trust Him with my life.”

Exodus 3:11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

God called Moses to go to Pharaoh and bring forth His people out of Egypt. This would appear to all the world like an impossible task, and Moses was already afraid of the king. Indeed, it was impossible for a human being, but for God nothing shall be impossible. In fact, God did it all, with great signs and wonders. Moses said, when the waters were about to part, ”Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord [Exodus 14:13].”

Moses raised four objections to God’s call. The first was: ”Who am I?” He felt his own weakness, sinfulness and unworthiness. Naturally; who wouldn’t? This was the similar response of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Peter to the call of God. It is also our initial response to the call of God on our lives. When the Lord calls us to life and salvation through the Gospel we truthfully respond, ”I am not worthy of the least of all Your mercies.” This is true, but then He causes us to believe His Grace and receive Jesus.

The impossible task of forgiving our sin, saving our soul, and giving life to the dead has been worked and finished by the Son of God. Jesus is worthy! Our question, then, in response to God’s call on our life changes from ”Who am I?” to “Who is Jesus?” And we spend the rest of our lives working out the answer with thanks and praise, giving honor and worship, glory and dominion unto Him. ”For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”

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. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Moses natural reaction to being in the glorious presence of God was to hide his face for he was afraid to look upon God. He was on holy ground. Hiding from God’s holiness in guilt and fear is the first human response. Adam hid himself from the presence of the Lord in the garden; Job responded to God’s answer out of the whirlwind, ”I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Isaiah saw the Lord in glory and said, ”Woe is me! For I am lost.” When Peter saw the miraculous catch of fish he realized God was present in Jesus, and he responded, ”Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Our first response to God’s Word, to His Law, and to His Holiness, is to hide from God in guilt and fear. Then God speaks a word of Gospel, proclaiming Love and forgiveness. The love of God overwhelms the fear, and forgiveness takes away the guilt. Then we respond in faith and love. And like Moses and the others we will do anything for Him. The Gospel turns fear into faith, guilt into mercy, sin into grace, selfishness into love, and hiding from His holy presence into basking in His loving presence.

Both Law and Gospel must be preached and heard; both fear and love is the proper response; both hiding from God and drawing near to God is the human condition. This cycle repeats until the Day of His Glorious Appearing. Do not fear to fear, but do not stay there; repent and believe the gospel. Then rejoice and live.