Month: September 2022

Exodus 3:3-4 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 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.

Moses was in the back of the desert near Sinai when the Angel of the Lord (the preincarnate Son of God) appeared to him in a burning bush, but the bush was not burned up. Verse 2 calls Him the Angel; verse 4 says the Lord saw and God called. This appearance caught Moses’ attention and curiosity. Why was the bush not consumed? Many have pointed out the symbolism: God is with His people in their suffering (burning), but neither God, nor His people, nor His promise is burnt up (consumed).

This great sight caused Moses to turn aside to see. When he paused to look, God in the flame called to him. Moses responded correctly, in faith, knowing it was God calling, ”Here am I.” God got his attention; Moses looked; God called; Moses responded. This is how it worked with Isaiah, and Peter, and others. Many former Muslims in Asia report God appearing in a dream, leading them to a missionary or a Christian; then they hear the Gospel and are converted to Christ. What happened? They turned aside to see.

The Lord still works similarly in our daily lives today. Something happens, God came to our attention, and then we turn aside to see. We stop what we are doing, pause for a moment in prayer, open the Bible, or go to church. Then God calls us by the Gospel and we respond in faith. Every week we turn aside from daily activity to go to church and we end up hearing from God. Every day we turn aside to spend a few moments with the Lord in the Word and in prayer. The Lord is actually showing up and getting our attention more often than we realize. Therefore we turn aside regularly. It seems God approves of resting one day out of seven. Turn aside!

Exodus 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came unto God by reason of the bondage.

Moses, having been saved from the slaughter of baby boys, grew up and visited his people. In indignation and rage he killed an Egyptian slave master. The thing became known, and Moses had to flee for Pharaoh had sought to kill him. When that Pharaoh died, God’s people were still under oppressive bondage.

Because of the cruel bondage of slavery, the people sighed and cried. God heard their cry and took it as prayer. Romans 8:26-27: ”The Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Where was God? It’s been 400+ years since He promised. Now God would act.

The whole OT Exodus Event prefigures the NT Deliverance through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here the story prefigures our own response to the cruel slavery to Sin and Death that we experience in this life. We sigh and groan and cry out to God by reason of the bondage to Sin and Death. Although we suffer from our own sins and the sins of others, we still need a revelation from God regarding the depth of depravity and the strong hold of sin. When we see it, by the preaching of the Law, we sigh and groan and cry. Our groans reach the ear of God as prayer. He responds and delivers.

Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egyot commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

The children of Israel were multiplying and growing large in Egypt, posing a threat to Pharaoh. To avoid a potential slave revolt he ordered that all baby boys born in Israel be put to death when they are born. Killing infants and aborting babies is nothing new. Witness Herod’s slaughter of the babies in Bethlehem. Witness China’s one-child policy, resulting in the murder of millions of baby girls.

All people are commanded by God to obey the governing authorities, but what do believers do when the orders of a human government themselves disobey the clear Commandments of God? God-fearing people disobey humans in order to obey God. ”We must obey God rather than men [Acts 5:29].” The God-fearing midwives of Israel disobeyed human government in order to obey the Commandment of God, to save many human beings alive.

The absolute power of God supersedes the derived power of human authority, since humans can sin, err, and be mistaken. God cannot lie or make a mistake. Therefore, we may disobey authorities if we can clearly prove their orders contradict God’s Law. The case of the midwives may be a no-brainer, but sometimes the decision is not so obvious. Thus we should carefully know the Word of God.

In any case, God-fearers respond to God’s Word by saving lives. We know God’s will: “that all men be saved.” We, like the midwives, do what we must to see God’s will be done. This is what we pray.

Genesis 50:20, 21 But as for you, ye thought evil against evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them.

This classic verse may be used by us in various times of trouble. Joseph’s response to God’s ordering of events was simply to believe and teach: God is good! Easy to say, but not so easy to believe. God has a way of entering into our sinful world and messed up lives and making something good out of it. He knows how to make something good out of nothing good. We sin; God forgives. We break; God fixes. We write crooked; God writes straight.

The brothers were afraid to approach Joseph, fearing that in his powerful position he would take revenge. They repented and begged forgiveness. Joseph forgave, and went further, comforting and speaking kindly to them. He assured them of God’s grace and goodness, care and providence. He told them: ”Don’t be afraid of me. Fear God, and when you pay attention to Him you will find Him to be loving and kind, merciful and gracious. Trust Him.”

We respond in faith to God’s grace. Because of Christ we are not afraid to approach a holy God. We believe that He forgives, that He speaks kindly toward us, and that He means it for our good. We believe that God comes into our broken hearts and messed up lives to forgive, restore, and make it good. The Law says, ”Fear God, for you are evil.” The Gospel says, ”Fear not, for God is good.”

Genesis 50:12, 13 And his sins did unto him according as he commanded them, For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried in cave of the field of Machpelah, which bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

Jacob had commanded his sons to bury him in the land in the cave where the Patriarchs were buried. Jacob commanded this to be done because he believed God’s promise in the Covenant that his children would one day possess the Promised Land. The twelve sons also believed, and therefore obeyed.

God promised the Land to Abram, and 100 years later at his death all he had was a field with a cave. But Abraham believed God, and took the field as a guarantee of the fulfillment of the Land Promise. Jacob also believed the Promise demanding to be buried in that land. It took well over 400 years for his descendants to actually possess the promise. Nevertheless, Jacob responded with faith, and the sons responded with faith and obedience.

Jesus Christ promised us a Kingdom, which we do not live in just yet. But we stake a claim to the Land that we do not yet see by believing in Jesus today. We have been baptized and we believe the gospel: we have eternal life now; the kingdom of God is within us. The Holy Spirit dwelling in our spirit is like a field within the entire glorious Land which will be ours. We are buried there with Christ by baptism into His death waiting in faith and obedience for the revealing of the whole thing, no matter how long it takes.

Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them, everyone according to his blessing he blessed them.

Blessed to be a blessing. Jacob had been blessed by the grace and favor of God. In spite of his own sins, deceits, and failures through a long life of trials, God had been faithful to His Covenant Blessing. God blessed Jacob with the covenant made with his father and grandfather. It took a while, but Jacob learned through his experiences to trust God and receive Grace.

Now he passes on the blessing he received to his twelve sons, who became the twelve tribes of Israel. Each one received a different blessing, but all were blessed. Jacob learned faith through the things which he suffered. He learned that God was good and gracious, faithful, and promise keeping. This is the blessing he passes down.

We also have been saved by grace and granted eternal blessings. One of the duties and privileges we have is to respond in faith by blessing our children and the succeeding generations. We have been blessed to be a blessing. We bless our family by supporting the work of the church in preaching the Gospel and teaching the Word. And also the blessing we have received is passed on to others in our generation and beyond through prayer and witness, love and service, kindness and giving.

Genesis 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

In response to God’s redemption, protection and blessing Jacob blesses the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. He calls upon the Angel to bless them. The Angel had led Jacob, been with him, blessed him, and redeemed him from evil; and now he passes on that Angel to his grandchildren. This is the Angel of the Lord, who is the Second Person of the Trinity. As this Presence of the Lord has been with Jacob He will now be with succeeding generations, until the Promised Seed is born.

He prays that his name (Israel) will be on the boys and their offspring, as well as the name of Abraham and Isaac. In passing on the Patriarchs’ name he is passing on the Covenant Promise God made: the promise of a Kingdom, Seed, and Blessing to all people. The name, promise, and blessing is finally wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ. The children of Israel become Jesus who gathers the NT Church. In the believers in Christ the Name, the Presence and the Blessing continues, and endures for eternity.

Today, our response to Redemption is to pass on the Blessing to future generations through praying, loving, teaching, and supporting the work of the church. We pray for the growth of the church on earth. We make disciples of all nations, and we are his witnesses unto the ends of the earth. Through us the Lord blesses the present and following generations.

Genesis 46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.

Jacob responded to the good news: Joseph was alive and he was going to see him, and His God, the God of Isaac, was faithful to His Covenant Word by keeping alive the Seed of Promise. As he was about to leave the Land he paused to give thanks to God and worship Him and to pray for His continued protection as the Seed was entering foreign territory. Jacob was trusting himself, his family and household, and everything he owned to God’s faithful care.

We also do the same when embarking on a new chapter in our life. We thank the Lord for His faithful blessing and promise in our past and present, and we ask His continued blessing and protection for our future. And as a matter of fact, we do this every new day: we ”present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship [Romans 12:1].” We sacrifice our time to be with the Lord Jesus; we sacrifice our energies in worship, thanks, and prayer; and we sacrifice our selves and our own wants to be in service to others for their good.

Sacrifice and worship is our fitting, right and proper response to the personal faithfulness of the Lord to us in the sacrifice of the Son, and to His faithful promises for our eternal future life, both near term and long term, in Christ Jesus.

God responded to Jacob by reaffirming His Covenant and reassuring him that He would go down with him to Egypt and bring him up again to the Land. So do we journey with Jesus through this earthly life in the world until He comes to bring us to Himself in the eternal Kingdom. Praise the Lord!

Genesis 45:26, 27 And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not. And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived.

When Jacob heard wonderful, unbelievable Good News that Joseph was alive and ruling in Egypt, his heart fainted from unbelief. It couldn’t be; it was too good to be true; the joy was overwhelming. How could the loved one he gave up for dead still be alive? His prayers were answered; his hopes were realized.

A similar experience happened to the disciples when they saw the resurrected Jesus alive: “They still disbelieved for joy [Luke 24:41].” And for us, the Gospel of Life and Salvation is good news of great joy. We should be so overwhelmed with joy every time we hear the gospel that we become faint. The Law drives us to despair, then the Gospel lifts us to the highest hope. This is what happens to us when we hear the Gospel, repent and believe in remembering our Baptism, and receive the body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion.

But that’s not all. When Jacob heard the words of Joseph and saw the wagons, his spirit revived. The Lord gave Jacob further signs and tokens of the truth to confirm the impossible and strengthen his faith. So also in our lives: the Lord touches us with his presence from time to time to lift our spirits. Though we don’t always feel it powerfully

Genesis 45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph’s response to God’s gracious working was to believe the Promise and entrust himself to God’s Providence. It may look to the eyes of the world that the brothers were responsible for getting Joseph to Egypt, but the eyes of faith see God over the sins and behind the events to fulfill His Promise and work out all things according His Will. Joseph says, ”It was not you, it was not me, but it was God.”

In spite of our sins and failures, and in spite of all human and demonic attempts to thwart and abort the purposes of the Lord God, He still works out all things for good to effect our eternal salvation. Sometimes we can see the hand of God in the past, but we need faith to see the hand of God in the future. The Spirit grants spiritual insight and quiet confidence through faith in the Gospel. God gives us the faith to see the certain future, that God is in it, and along life’s journey He encourages us by showing how He has been working in our life up to this point.

Joseph is a type of Christ, but he is also an example for us. We respond in faith by confessing that God sent us; and not we ourselves. And we believe that He made us priests and kings, like He made Joseph father and lord and ruler. We didn’t make ourselves. God makes something out of nothing. He makes kings out of slaves and prisoners.