CHAPTER FOUR<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S IN A NAME?<\/p>\n
Exodus 3:11\u201322<\/p>\n
In Shakespeare\u2019s renowned play Romeo and Juliet, the character Juliet makes the following famous inquiry, \u201cWhat\u2019s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.\u201d What Juliet is suggesting in that quotation is that what matters is not the name something bears, but rather the essence of the thing itself. Whatever name we put upon a rose has no real impact on its attributes or nature. Essentially, Juliet was stating that names are things indifferent. While there is certainly some truth to Juliet\u2019s assertion that names are indifferent when speaking of roses, the same cannot be said when we come to the biblical view of names. In the Bible, a person\u2019s name often conveys a great deal about that person and is inseparable from his or her function, nature, calling, and purpose.
\nJust consider a few examples. Take the name of Abraham, which means \u201cfather of a multitude\u201d or \u201cfather of many nations.\u201d Abraham\u2019s name corresponded to his calling and role in God\u2019s plan; he was to be the father of many. Another example is the name of Jacob, which means \u201csupplanter.\u201d Of course, Jacob lived up to his name when he supplanted his older brother Esau by conniving his way into obtaining his father\u2019s blessing. If the meaning of a name is important for human figures in the biblical narrative, how much more is this true when it comes to the name of God.
\nIn the unfolding story of God\u2019s relationship with Moses, we are at the point where Moses has just been called to the Herculean task of serving as God\u2019s mediator. God has called him to be the human vessel through which God will deliver his people out of bondage to Egypt. Just after receiving this life-changing and challenging calling, Moses makes a request of God; he asks God for his name. God answers this request by sharing his name with Moses\u2014a name that, while short (just four letters in Hebrew), speaks volumes about God\u2019s nature, character, and attributes. In this chapter, we will unfold the significance and meaning of the name of God. We will see that, contrary to Juliet\u2019s viewpoint, there is much in a name!<\/p>\n
THE GOD WHO REVEALS HIMSELF<\/p>\n
One of the most striking aspects of the account of God revealing his name to Moses is the fact that God revealed his name to Moses! Think about it for a moment. Here is Moses\u2014a failed prince, a murdering fugitive, and a lowly shepherd\u2014asking God to reveal his name to him. Moses realizes that the task God has given him is great and that the Israelites are likely not to believe anything he says given his past. He is trying to obtain some type of revelation about who God is so that he can use this information with the Israelites to garner some support from the people. Notice how Moses poses the question to God: \u201cMoses said to God, \u2018Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, \u201cThe God of your fathers has sent me to you,\u201d and they ask me, \u201cWhat is his name?\u201d Then what shall I tell them?\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Ex. 3:13). Can you hear the anxiety latent in Moses\u2019 question? Can you see how his question reveals a certain level of audacity on Moses\u2019 part? After all, Moses is essentially asking the living and powerful God for his calling card!
\nMoses\u2019 anxiety and his inquiry are not surprising. In fact, Moses\u2019 actions are entirely understandable and rational, even if they are a bit audacious. The striking part of this encounter is that God actually answers Moses\u2019 question. Once again, God stoops down in amazing humility to further the redemption of his people. In an act of intimacy and amazing self-revelation, God tells Moses his name: \u201cGod said to Moses, \u2018I AM WHO I AM.\u2019 This is what you are to say to the Israelites: \u201cI AM has sent me to you,\u201d\u00a0\u201d (Ex. 3:14).
\nNow the name that God gave to Moses does speak volumes about who God is, but before we get to the glory of the meaning of his name, it is important to see the glory of the fact that God revealed his name to Moses in the first place. God did not respond to Moses by chastising him for asking such a question. He did not say to Moses, \u201cWho are you to ask me for my name?\u201d Instead, God revealed his name to Moses, and this tells us something about who God is. It tells us that he is the God who reveals himself.
\nThink about it for a moment. How do you know what God is like? Can you understand who God is from the creation alone? Well, you might be able to understand some of his power and attributes through the creation, as Paul tells us in Romans 1:20, but you could not come to a full understanding of God\u2019s plan of redemption by looking at the stars or the trees. The only way we understand God and the plan of salvation is through God\u2019s self-revelation in his Word. The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) states this truth as follows:<\/p>\n
Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation; therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church; and afterwards for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which maketh the holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God\u2019s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased. (WCF 1.1)<\/p>\n
God must reveal himself and his will to us so that we may know him and his plan of salvation for us. If God had not chosen to reveal himself, we would all be in the dark, lost in an estate of sin and misery.
\nBut the glorious truth of Scripture, which is revealed in this encounter between God and Moses, is that God has not left us in the dark. He reveals himself to us in a myriad of ways and, as the Westminster Confession states, \u201cit pleased the Lord\u201d to reveal himself. Our God is the God who reveals himself.
\nThe Bible is truly God\u2019s revelation of himself to us. It displays for us the progressive and unfolding plan of salvation. The Bible recounts how God revealed himself to his people through creation, covenants, dreams, visions, prophets, and, ultimately and most gloriously, through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the greatest self-revelation that God has given us. The writer to the Hebrews captures this point marvelously in the opening verses of that epistle: \u201cIn the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe\u201d (Heb. 1:1\u20132).
\nSo the first thing we must marvel at regarding God\u2019s name is the fact that he gave it to Moses. This is something that God had not done before, as he himself attests (see Ex. 6:2\u20133). He chose at this moment, and to this man, to reveal more of himself than he ever had before\u2014he chose to reveal his name. While what Moses experienced was extraordinary, we must always remember that God has revealed his name not merely to one man in history, but, through the proliferation and proclamation of his Word, he has shared that name with each and every one of his children. Even more than that, he has revealed to all his children the name that is above every name\u2014Jesus Christ! He is the God who reveals himself.<\/p>\n
THE GOD WHO IS<\/p>\n
We have seen that the mere fact that God revealed his name to Moses teaches us something about the nature of God\u2014that he is pleased to reveal himself to us. Now let\u2019s begin to explore what the actual name that God gave to Moses reveals about our God. The name God gave to Moses was \u201cI AM WHO I AM.\u201d What does this name mean? What does it tell us about God?
\nThere is a link between this name (\u201cI AM\u201d), which is translated as \u201cthe Lord,\u201d \u201cJehovah,\u201d or \u201cYahweh,\u201d and the Hebrew verb \u201cto be.\u201d While the meaning of God\u2019s name has broad implications, most scholars agree that one of the things it conveys is the active self-existence and presence of God. He is the God who had no beginning and has no end. He is the God who is self-sufficient and self-determined, owing his existence to no one other than himself. He is the God who is.
\nBut there is more to God\u2019s name than his declaration of \u201cI AM WHO I AM\u201d found in Exodus 3:14. For instance, in the following verse, God expands on his name: \u201cGod also said to Moses, \u2018Say to the Israelites, \u201cThe LORD, the God of your fathers\u2014the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob\u2014has sent me to you.\u201d This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Ex. 3:15). Whereas the revelation of the name \u201cI AM WHO I AM\u201d spoke to the self-existence of God, the additional self-revelation of God\u2019s name in Exodus 3:15 reveals the intimacy and relational aspects of God\u2019s character. He is not only the God who is, he is the God who is with his people.
\nIn Exodus 3:15, God reveals to Moses that he is \u201cThe LORD, the God of your fathers\u2014the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.\u201d God had entered into a covenant relationship with Abraham which was to extend throughout Abraham\u2019s generations. God was reminding Moses, and by implication the entire nation of Israel, that he is intimately involved with them and that he has not forgotten his covenant made to Abraham. By connecting himself directly with this series of patriarchs\u2014Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob\u2014God demonstrated to Moses that he is an intimate and personal God.
\nRemember why Moses asked God for his name; he was concerned about his ability to complete his appointed task and was anxious that the Israelites would not receive him because of his checkered past. When God tells Moses that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he was telling Moses that he would be with Moses as he had been with those who had preceded him. In other words, God was saying to Moses, \u201cI am the God of Moses.\u201d
\nThrough the revelation of his name, God was communicating to Moses that Moses would not be alone in his task. God is the self-existent God who is ever present with his people. He does not forget his people and he will not forsake them. In fact, in Exodus 3:16, God reveals that he has been carefully watching over his people during their time of bondage: \u201cGo, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, \u2018The LORD, the God of your fathers\u2014the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob\u2014appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.\u2019\u00a0\u201d
\nBy making reference to the patriarchs and by revealing that he has been watching over Israel this entire time, God is telling Moses that he will be with him as he carries out his task as God\u2019s mediator. He was reminding Moses that he is the God who was with Noah during the flood, the God who was with Abraham at Mount Moriah, and the God who was with Joseph during his imprisonment in Egypt. God was assuring and comforting Moses; he was reaffirming what he said to him in Exodus 3:12: \u201cAnd God said, \u2018I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.\u2019\u00a0\u201d God was informing Moses that he would not be alone. As Michael D. Williams notes, contextually within Exodus 3:13\u201315, the name \u201cI AM WHO I AM may well be taken as \u2018I will be to you as I was to them\u2019 (the fathers of Ex. 3:13), or \u2018I will be there\u2014with you in Egypt\u2014as I am here.\u2019\u00a0\u201d1 Moses knew he would not be alone.
\nOnce again, what Moses learned about God from his name is not limited in its application to Moses alone. While the promise of God\u2019s enduring presence had a unique application in the life of Moses as God\u2019s mediator, it is a promise that is shared by every person who is under God\u2019s covenantal care. The promise in Hebrews 13:5 is for every child of God: \u201cNever will I leave you; never will I forsake you.\u201d Particularly in the era of the new covenant, the church enjoys the promise of Jesus\u2019 enduring presence with his people as he promised in the Great Commission: \u201cAnd surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age\u201d (Matt. 28:20). Our God is the God who is and the God who is with us. Nowhere is this promise more tangibly felt than in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The promise of Isaiah 7:14 makes this clear: \u201cTherefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.\u201d God was not only with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses\u2014he is God with us!<\/p>\n
THE GOD WHO KEEPS HIS PROMISES<\/p>\n
When God revealed his name to Moses, he also revealed additional aspects of his character that are intimately connected to his name. His name not only expresses metaphysical realities about God\u2019s self-existence, self-sufficiency, and his active presence with his people, it also has covenantal and historical importance. God associates his name with his covenant promises and his mighty acts in history. He places his name upon significant historical places and items\u2014the ark, the tabernacle, and the temple. These covenantal and historical aspects of God\u2019s name appear to be the main emphasis in God\u2019s revelation of his name to Moses. As Michael D. Williams writes, \u201cWhile there may be some claim of existence in the name Yahweh it is the covenantal and historical reality of God that is fundamentally at issue in the name Yahweh.\u201d2 The main thing that God was communicating to Moses in revealing his name is that he is the God who keeps his covenant promises.
\nAfter God revealed his name to Moses, he gave further instructions to Moses regarding how to proceed. Essentially, God gave Moses a script to use when speaking to the Israelites. Note how God grounds his actions in delivering the Israelites in his promise:<\/p>\n
\u201cGo, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, \u2018The LORD, the God of your fathers\u2014the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob\u2014appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites\u2014a land flowing with milk and honey.\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Ex. 3:16\u201317.)<\/p>\n
Everything in this script is grounded in history (\u201cthe God of your fathers\u2014the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob\u201d) and covenant (\u201cAnd I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt\u201d). God\u2019s name is associated with his mighty acts in history.
\nWhat God was about to do in delivering the Israelites from bondage to the Egyptians was not a new idea, but grounded in history and covenant. As God was unfolding his covenant promise to Abraham (then \u201cAbram\u201d) in Genesis 15, God informed Abraham that his descendants would be in bondage to the Egyptians,<\/p>\n
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the LORD said to him, \u201cKnow for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.\u201d (Gen. 15:12\u201313)<\/p>\n
But God also promised Abraham that this enslavement and mistreatment would end: \u201cBut I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions\u201d (Gen. 15:14). This promise of deliverance from Egypt was later reiterated to the patriarch Jacob.<\/p>\n
And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, \u201cJacob! Jacob!\u201d
\n\u201cHere I am,\u201d he replied.
\n\u201cI am God, the God of your father,\u201d he said. \u201cDo not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph\u2019s own hand will close your eyes.\u201d (Gen. 46:2\u20134)<\/p>\n
God promised to bring back his people and Moses was enlisted as the human agent through which God would fulfill this promise.
\nThe name that God gave to Moses is his covenant name. It is a name that reminds us that God acts in history to keep his covenant promises. Moses had the assurance and comfort of knowing that the promise-keeping God was going with him. He had the knowledge that God was not only the God of the historical Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, but he was also the God of Moses.
\nThe comfort that Moses had in the knowledge that he was serving the promise-keeping God who places his covenant name as a seal upon his promise is a comfort that all believers share. In our world there are so many broken promises; this is such a painful aspect of our existence. If you have ever had a friend, spouse, employer, or parent break a promise, then you well understand the grief this action causes. The joy we have as believers is that we serve a God who never forgets or breaks his promises. The victory of Jesus Christ on the cross is evidence of how far our God will go to fulfill his promises to us. As the apostle Paul reminds us, every single promise God has made is affirmed in the work of Jesus Christ: \u201cFor no matter how many promises God has made, they are \u2018Yes\u2019 in Christ. And so through him the \u2018Amen\u2019 is spoken by us to the glory of God\u201d (2 Cor. 1:20). God\u2019s name reveals that he is a God who keeps his promises.<\/p>\n
THE GOD WHO IS ALL-POWERFUL<\/p>\n
So far we have seen that God\u2019s sharing of his name with Moses provided great comfort to Moses because God\u2019s name reminded Moses that God would be present with him and that God keeps his promises. Moses knew that he would not be alone in his task, and he knew that he could rest upon God\u2019s faithfulness to the covenant made with Abraham. But there is yet another comforting truth that God shared with Moses in the context of revealing his name; God revealed that he is the all-powerful God.
\nThe reason this revelation was important to Moses was that he was about to take on the mighty Pharaoh, his magicians, and his army. While having the revelation of God\u2019s covenant promise to deliver his people was certainly comforting to Moses, it was even more comforting for him to know that God had the power to fulfill that promise. God demonstrated this fact to Moses in two ways.
\nHe did so first by demonstrating that he had knowledge of future events. In other words, God showed Moses that he knew exactly what would happen\u2014that he knew the end from the beginning. For example, in Exodus 3:18, God revealed that he knew how the elders of Israel would respond to God\u2019s message delivered through Moses: \u201cThe elders of Israel will listen to you.\u201d God assured Moses that his message would be heeded and that Moses would not be rejected. God also revealed that he knew exactly how Pharaoh would respond to Moses\u2019 demand for the Israelites to be freed: \u201cBut I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him\u201d (Ex. 3:19). God demonstrated to Moses that he knows all things. He is, as the theologians put it, omniscient; he knows everything.
\nThe second way that God revealed his awesome power to Moses was by his declaration that he would stretch out his hand against the Egyptians and perform wonders among them (Ex. 3:20). This imagery is rife with the ferocious power of God. This anthropomorphic language of God stretching out his arm conveyed to Moses that God would be the divine warrior in this battle. Moses would not need an army to oppose Pharaoh because he had the mighty outstretched arm of the living, active, and all-powerful God on his side! God is not only omniscient, but he is also omnipotent. He is the Great I Am!
\nAs I write this book, our nation is in the midst of another presidential election. Elections are replete with promises. Candidates offer endless platitudes and promises to solve our nation\u2019s problems. Most people count these promises as what they all too frequently are\u2014empty promises. Very few politicians actually deliver on their promises. Part of the reason why they can\u2019t is that they simply lack the power to bring their agendas to fruition by themselves. When it comes to God, however, there are no empty promises. When God makes a promise he backs it up with his power to fulfill it. He is the God who can create all things out of nothing, flood the earth, part the Red Sea, and topple the walls of Jericho. Through the incarnate Son of God, God once again displays his almighty power as Jesus heals the sick and raises the dead. Even greater than all these amazing demonstrations of his power is the reality that through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God displays his power to conquer sin and death.
\nGod showed Moses that his name has power. Moses would one day see that power displayed in the parting of the Red Sea. After seeing God\u2019s mighty outstretched arm striking the Egyptians on that day, Moses led Israel in a song that included these words, \u201cWho among the gods is like you, LORD? Who is like you\u2014majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?\u201d (Ex. 15:11). The reality of God\u2019s omnipotence should fill all of us with great comfort, joy, and assurance. God has the power, evidenced by the completed work of Jesus Christ, to deliver us fully from our sins, from death, and from the sentence that once hung over our heads that required us to face the wrath of that very same all-powerful God. Our only hope for salvation is found in the name of the Great I Am!<\/p>\n
THE GREAT I AM!<\/p>\n
As we have seen in this chapter, when God revealed his name to Moses he also revealed volumes regarding his nature, character, and attributes. Through the revelation of his name, God demonstrated that he is the God who reveals himself, the God who is, the God who keeps his promises, and the God who is all-powerful.
\nIn addition, by revealing his name, God also revealed a bit about his modus operandi (or \u201cmethod of operation\u201d). As we\u2019ve seen, God\u2019s name is revealed in the context of history and covenant. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These are historical figures, and God related to them through his covenant promises, which he made in history. The entire exodus event is grounded in God\u2019s covenant promises made to Abraham hundreds of years earlier. God was delivering Israel from Egypt because they were his covenant people and he promised to deliver them.
\nGod\u2019s name reveals so much about him. It is amazing to think about how much information is conveyed through two words and three letters\u2014I Am. Of course, this first revelation of God\u2019s name in Exodus finds its organic and progressive fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ.
\nFirst, think of the name \u201cJesus.\u201d It means \u201cGod saves.\u201d The angel of the Lord commanded Joseph to give Jesus this name: \u201cShe will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins\u201d (Matt. 1:21). Jesus\u2019 name tells us about his mission and purpose.
\nBut there is more to the name of Jesus. The New Testament reminds us in numerous places of the power of asking and praying in the name of Jesus. As Jesus told his disciples in John 14:13, \u201cAnd I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.\u201d The New Testament also speaks of the eschatological judgment power of Jesus\u2019 name:<\/p>\n
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9\u201311)<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 name not only describes his mission, but it also reflects his lordship, divinity, and power.
\nWhile all of these aspects of Jesus\u2019 name reflect his divinity and honor as the Son of God, there was one moment in his ministry that is a direct corollary to the revelation of God\u2019s name in Exodus. During one of Jesus\u2019 exchanges with the Pharisees, Jesus spoke of Abraham seeing Jesus\u2019 day and rejoicing in it (John 8:56); this set the Pharisees into a fury. \u201cThe Jews then said to him, \u2018You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?\u2019\u00a0\u201d (John 8:57). Jesus replied with these powerful words reminiscent of Exodus 3:14: \u201cJesus said to them, \u2018Truly, truly! I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.\u2019\u00a0\u201d What was Jesus saying here? He was saying what God was saying to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Jesus was declaring that he is the self-existent and all-powerful God. It\u2019s no wonder that the Jews who heard these words wanted to kill him for uttering them.
\nLike Moses and the Israelites, outside of Jesus Christ we are all subject to bondage. Our bondage is not to the Egyptians, but rather to sin and death. Jesus, the Great I Am, has delivered us from this death. His name reminds us that he has the power to keep his covenant promises to us. His name reminds us that he has set us free. When it comes to Jesus, there is much in a name!<\/p>\n
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION<\/p>\n
1. This chapter focuses on the importance and meaning of God\u2019s name. Why are names important in the Bible?<\/p>\n
2. When Moses asked God for his name, God graciously responded by sharing it with Moses. What does this reveal about how God relates to us and how we can know him?<\/p>\n
3. What does the revelation of God\u2019s name (\u201cI AM\u201d) reveal about his nature, character, and attributes?<\/p>\n
4. When God revealed his name to Moses, he made reference to the patriarchs. What did this communicate to Moses about God\u2019s relationship with him and Israel as a nation?<\/p>\n
5. God revealed his covenant name to Moses and showed himself as a God who keeps his promises. Can you list some promises God has made to us in the Bible? How can the reality of God\u2019s faithfulness to his promises be used to witness to the world around us?<\/p>\n
6. How does God\u2019s name reveal his power?<\/p>\n
7. How does the revelation of God\u2019s name point us to the person and work of Jesus Christ?<\/p>\n
CHAPTER FIVE<\/p>\n
THE GOD WHO IS SUFFICIENT<\/p>\n
Exodus 4:1\u201317<\/p>\n
The Oscar winning film The King\u2019s Speech tells the story of Albert Frederick Arthur George, the man who eventually became King George VI of England. Albert (\u201cBertie\u201d) did not expect to become king. He only did so because his brother, Edward, abdicated the throne to marry a divorced American woman. Albert had always lived in his brother\u2019s shadow, but with his ascension to the throne, the spotlight was now on him. Albert had another problem: he was plagued by a stammer. He had become the king of England in 1936 during the build-up toward World War II. He would be tested by the onslaught of Adolph Hitler and Nazi Germany. He would have to speak to his nation through radio addresses. What type of confidence would a stammering king give to his people? The movie tells the remarkable story of how King George VI overcame his verbal obstacles through the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. By means of Logue\u2019s assistance, King George VI was able to speak and lead his people through a time of great trial.
\nLike King George VI, Moses was about to lead his people through a tremendous trial. Moses had been enlisted by God to be his leader and mouthpiece. He had been called by God to confront the mightiest military and political power on earth. But like King George VI, Moses felt utterly inadequate, insufficient, and ill-equipped for the task. In this chapter, we will see how Moses voices his insufficiencies and how God demonstrates to Moses that he is the God who is sufficient.<\/p>\n
THE INSUFFICIENCY OF MOSES<\/p>\n
One of the things about the Bible that provides me a great deal of encouragement is how honest it is about its heroes. This is really a testimony to the inspired nature of revelation. Most solely human histories tend to engage in a level of hagiography (or \u201csaint making\u201d) when it comes to telling the story of national heroes. The Bible is not like that; it portrays its heroes truthfully\u2014warts and all. This gives me encouragement because I have plenty of insufficiencies myself. The fact that God enlisted people in his service who were far from perfect gives me great hope that I can be useful in his kingdom. As we look at Moses\u2019 insufficiencies, you will likely share at least some of them. Let it be an encouragement to you that God can use flawed and insufficient people like Moses, and you, and me!
\nIn Exodus 3, Moses received God\u2019s calling on his life to lead the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt. But as the story turns to Exodus 4, we see Moses\u2019 personal struggle with this calling. He perceives the task as too great, and all he can see are his own failings. Moses is certain that he will fail because of his own weakness.<\/p>\n
Insecurity<\/p>\n
Moses\u2019 struggle with his own insufficiencies begins in the very first verse of Exodus 4 as he turns to God and inquires, \u201cWhat if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, \u2018The LORD did not appear to you\u2019?\u201d (Ex. 4:1). Here Moses reveals his own insecurities and lack of self-confidence. Moses feared that he lacked the integrity and credibility with the Israelites to complete his mission. He feared they would reject him\u2014and indeed there was some warrant for his fears.
\nThere were at least four good reasons for Moses to feel insecure about the Israelites accepting him as their leader and liberator. First, it had been forty years since his last contact with his enslaved Hebrew brethren. He had to wonder whether anyone would even remember him. Second, if they did actually remember him, then they would recall that his exit from Egypt was a shameful one. Moses had left Egypt a fugitive from a murder charge. He had to wonder whether anyone would accept him as a leader given his checkered and shameful past. A third reason they might reject him is because he had spent the last forty years in utter obscurity as a shepherd in a backwater town. He had to wonder whether anyone would think he, a second-rate shepherd, was qualified to do battle with Pharaoh. Finally, Moses had reason to be insecure about his acceptance because he was about to tell the Israelites that God had met him in a burning bush that was not consumed and told Moses that his name was \u201cI am.\u201d He had to wonder whether they would think he was absolutely out of his mind.
\nMoses had good reason to feel insecure about being accepted in his new role. But this was not the only inadequacy that Moses was experiencing as he contemplated the task before him.<\/p>\n
Incompetence<\/p>\n
In addition to feeling insecure about his reception by the Israelites, Moses also felt like he was not equipped for the task. Moses questioned his competency for the role of liberator and leader. Like King George VI, Moses felt particularly incompetent to be a spokesperson. \u201cPardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue\u201d (Ex. 4:10). God had called Moses to a task that required him to exercise a gift that he perceived he did not possess\u2014the gift of oration. Moses was struggling with the fear of failure which flowed from his sense of being incompetent for the task set before him.<\/p>\n
Struggling with Our Weaknesses<\/p>\n
It is easy to be critical of Moses\u2019 seeming lack of faith as seen in this text. After all, God had appeared to him and spoke to him out of a burning bush. What else does he need? How can he be fearful and faithless in the face of such glorious and personal revelation? But we should not rush to judgment here. Moses was human just like us. I can recall many times in my life when my sense of insufficiency, insecurity, and incompetence have led me to desire to run away from a calling. Have you ever pleaded with God to just send someone else? My guess is that, if you are anything like me, you have.
\nSo what do we do when we feel like running from God\u2019s calling due to our insufficiencies? We remind ourselves that fulfilling God\u2019s calling is not about our sufficiency for the task; rather, it is about God\u2019s sufficiency. We need to remember that it is not about our weaknesses, but about God\u2019s strength. This is exactly what God revealed to Moses as Moses struggled with his sense of insufficiency. God told Moses that he is the God who is sufficient.<\/p>\n
THE GOD WHO IS SUFFICIENT<\/p>\n
As we read through Moses\u2019 series of complaints regarding why he could not do what God was asking of him, we see God answering each enumerated complaint of Moses with a response that calls Moses to rely upon God rather than himself.<\/p>\n
Empowered to Serve<\/p>\n
Consider, for example, Moses\u2019 fear that no one would listen to him or believe that he was God\u2019s spokesman (Ex. 4:1). God replied to Moses\u2019 insecurity by giving him a demonstration of his power. Note God\u2019s response in Exodus 4:2\u20138:<\/p>\n
Then the LORD said to him, \u201cWhat is that in your hand?\u201d
\n\u201cA staff,\u201d he replied.
\nThe LORD said, \u201cThrow it on the ground.\u201d
\nMoses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the LORD said to him, \u201cReach out your hand and take it by the tail.\u201d So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. \u201cThis,\u201d said the LORD, \u201cis so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers\u2014the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob\u2014has appeared to you.\u201d
\nThen the LORD said, \u201cPut your hand inside your cloak.\u201d So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous\u2014it had become as white as snow.
\n\u201cNow put it back into your cloak,\u201d he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
\nThen the LORD said, \u201cIf they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
God countered Moses\u2019 insecurity through a series of visible demonstrations of God\u2019s power. God promised to authenticate Moses\u2019 ministry through signs and wonders. In other words, God would back up Moses\u2019 words with his own mighty deeds.
\nIn the Bible, signs and wonders are never merely random or arbitrary displays of God\u2019s power. Nor does God, as C. S. Lewis put it, \u201cperform parlor tricks.\u201d God employs signs and wonders as a means of confirming the veracity of his Word and promises. This is exactly how Jesus used signs in his ministry\u2014to confirm his Word, authenticate his role as the Messiah, and teach people about the nature and power of God. Of course, unlike Moses, Jesus performed his signs and wonders in his own divine power.
\nBut the power of these signs was not merely in the fact that God promises to perform them; there was also a message being conveyed through the nature of the signs themselves. God promised to perform three signs\u2014turning a staff into a snake, making a healthy hand leprous, and changing the water from the Nile into blood. Each of these signs was designed to strike at the heart of Egyptian pride and power. For instance, the cobra was an important symbol in Egypt; it was so important that it was used on the crown of Pharaoh. The cobra\u2019s national significance to Egypt compares to the national significance of the bald eagle to the United States. Accordingly, the turning of a staff to a snake carried the not-so-subtle message that God was sovereign over Egypt. The second sign, the hand becoming leprous, also struck at the heart of Egypt\u2019s power. During this time leprosy was rampant in Egypt; this sign conveyed that God was sovereign over this disease that was ravaging Egypt\u2019s population. God\u2019s sovereignty over leprosy is a theme that runs throughout redemptive history. Leprosy rendered a person ceremonially unclean and thus unfit to be in God\u2019s presence. There were times when God inflicted this disease upon people as punishment, as he did with the Egyptians, and other times when he healed people, like Naaman, of this disease (2 Kings 5:1\u201314). In the New Testament, we see Jesus exercising sovereignty over the disease as he heals lepers, thereby making clean those who were formerly unclean (Matt. 8:1\u20134; Luke 17:11\u201319).
\nThe last sign God promised to perform, the turning of the water of the Nile into blood, was really the trump card of these signs. For Egypt, the Nile was life itself. The Nile was central to Egypt\u2019s food supply and national economy. The Nile sustained the nation. By turning the water of the Nile into blood, God was stating that he could destroy this life-sustaining water and Egypt along with it. But there is more to this final sign than simply establishing God\u2019s sovereignty over the waters of the Nile. By turning the Nile into blood, God was directly challenging both the divine claims of the Pharaoh and the alleged power of the pantheon of the Egyptian gods. At least three Egyptian gods (Khnum, Hapi, and Osiris) were connected to the Nile; God demonstrated their impotence by turning its waters to blood.
\nGod\u2019s promise of signs and wonders provided Moses with great security that his people would not only receive him, but also that he would ultimately prevail over Egyptian power. God promised Moses that God himself would endorse Moses\u2019 ministry with divine authentication. Moses\u2019 insecurity was answered with the sufficiency of God\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
Equipped to Serve<\/p>\n
We have seen that, in addition to feeling insecure, Moses also felt incompetent. In Exodus 4:10, Moses expresses that he has \u201cnever been eloquent\u201d and that he is \u201cslow of speech and tongue.\u201d Once again, God answers Moses\u2019 sense of insufficiency with a promise of his own sufficiency: \u201cThe LORD said to him, \u2018Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD?\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Ex. 4:11). With these words God reminded Moses that God was the one who had created the mouth, the tongue, and language itself. Implicit in this declaration of God\u2019s sovereignty over speech is a promise to Moses that God can give him the words to say.
\nBut God was not finished addressing Moses\u2019 sense of incompetence with regard to his speech. In the following verse, Exodus 4:12, God makes the implicit promise of Exodus 4:11 explicit with this further promise to Moses: \u201cNow go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.\u201d God promised to be Moses\u2019 teacher, to give him the words that would be necessary to accomplish his mission. In an interesting parallel, Jesus makes a similar promise to his own disciples as they are nearing the time of carrying out the Great Commission and facing the prospect of doing this without Jesus being with them:<\/p>\n
All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:25\u201327)<\/p>\n
God answered Moses\u2019 sense of incompetency by reminding him that God was not asking him to do this in his own power or to make up his own words. Instead, God promised to equip Moses for the task and to give him the words that would not return void. Moses\u2019 sense of incompetence was answered with the sufficiency of God\u2019s equipping power.
\nGod responded to Moses\u2019 insufficiencies by reminding Moses of God\u2019s power. He never denied the reality of Moses\u2019 insufficiencies. In fact, the signs that God gave to Moses only served to further reveal them. For example, Moses displays his fear as he runs from the snake that was formerly his staff, and he is rendered ceremonially unclean by the leprosy he contracted from sticking his hand in the cloak. God wanted Moses to see and understand his insufficiencies, but he also wanted Moses to know that God is sufficient to make up for those insufficiencies. He reminded Moses that he is the God who is sufficient for our needs.<\/p>\n
A QUESTION OF FOCUS<\/p>\n
When we boil down this exchange between God and Moses we see that Moses\u2019 real problem here was not that he had insufficiencies, but that his focus was on his insufficiencies rather than upon God. In essence, when we wallow in what we lack, we are actually being self-centered. This is what Moses was doing. He was trying to measure up to God\u2019s calling when he should have realized that he could never do so in his own strength. Moses needed to be refocused upon God.
\nWe can witness Moses\u2019 self-centered focus in his exchange with God in Exodus 4. After God had promised to perform signs and wonders and teach Moses what to say, Moses was still focusing upon himself. Even in the wake of these great promises Moses declared, \u201cPardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else\u201d (Ex. 4:13).
\nAlthough it is impossible to know exactly what Moses was thinking here, it seems likely there were at least two dynamics at work here. First, his words in Exodus 4:13 may have been a last ditch plea based on Moses\u2019 sense of his insufficiency for the task set before him. But I think there is something else going on here. Moses\u2019 words also display fear, stubbornness, recalcitrance, lack of faithfulness, and his self-centeredness. After all of God\u2019s promises, Moses is still focusing on himself and his insufficiencies. God was not pleased. In Exodus 4:14 we learn that \u201cthe LORD\u2019s anger burned against Moses.\u201d In the verses that follow, God graciously offers Aaron to serve as Moses\u2019 mouthpiece, once again displaying to Moses that God\u2019s power is sufficient. But while God was gracious to Moses, it is clear that God was angry that Moses was still focused on his own inadequacies rather than on God\u2019s power.
\nThe mistake Moses made here is not unfamiliar to us. We are ever tempted to be focused improperly on our own strengths or weaknesses. Either way, whether we are feeling self-sufficient or insufficient, we are making the mistake of focusing on self rather than upon God. All that we do in God\u2019s kingdom is empowered by him. God\u2019s plan simply does not depend upon us. Our sufficiency is found in Jesus Christ. This is a lesson that Moses had to learn, and it is one that we need to learn, and continually relearn, as well.<\/p>\n
THE SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST<\/p>\n
Living up to God\u2019s calling and standards is an impossible task in our own strength. Moses realized this as he was assessing facing Pharaoh in his own strength. But there is a calling that God places on all of our lives that is even more challenging than leading the Israelites out of Egypt. In Leviticus 19:2 and 1 Peter 1:16 we read of this calling: \u201cBe holy, because I am holy.\u201d How sufficient do you feel in the face of that calling?
\nThe Scriptures unequivocally teach that we, in our natural state, are utterly insufficient when it comes to holiness and righteousness. What precipitated this insufficiency? The sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and all the sins we have wrought through our own personal disobedience to God\u2019s moral law precipitated this insufficiency. There was a reason why God stationed cherubim with flaming swords to guard the garden of Eden; it is holy ground and the unholy, meaning humanity, cannot dwell within its confines. As Paul reminds us in Romans 3:10, echoing Psalm 14, \u201cAs it is written: \u2018There is no one righteous, not even one.\u2019\u00a0\u201d This is our core insufficiency as humans: a lack of personal holiness and righteousness. This is what disqualifies us from God\u2019s presence. It was this lack of personal righteousness which led the psalmist to inquire rhetorically:<\/p>\n
Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?
\nWho may stand in his holy place?
\nThe one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
\nwho does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. (Ps. 24:2\u20133)<\/p>\n
Here the psalmist is probing at the most essential question of human existence. Who may dwell in the presence of God? The answer is only the one who possesses perfect righteousness\u2014who has clean hands and a pure heart.
\nBased on the standard of Psalm 24, every human after our first parents is unable to stand in the holy place. We are all utterly insufficient. This is the core dilemma of humanity\u2014God requires perfect holiness and we lack it. How are we able to escape this dilemma? We do exactly what Moses eventually did. We turn our eyes away from ourselves and our own insufficiencies to the God who is sufficient, particularly to the person of Jesus Christ.
\nJesus Christ is the answer to the psalmist\u2019s rhetorical question voiced in Psalm 24. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the one who can ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place. Why? Because Jesus alone has clean hands and a pure heart\u2014he alone has perfect righteousness. Jesus alone is sufficient.
\nUltimately, our sufficiency is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He has eclipsed the insufficient priesthood of the Old Testament by making one sufficient sacrifice for all our sins, as the writer to the Hebrews states:<\/p>\n
Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
\nSuch a high priest truly meets our need\u2014one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. (Heb. 7:23\u201327)<\/p>\n
As the writer to the Hebrews notes in this passage, we have a \u201chigh priest [who] truly meets our need.\u201d We have a high priest who is sufficient for our salvation. He is \u201choly, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.\u201d How can we ascend the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place? There is only one answer to that question\u2014through Jesus Christ.
\nJust as Moses learned, we must continually be reminded that our sufficiency is not found in ourselves. This is so vitally important for us to grasp, particularly when it comes to our salvation. In the sphere of redemption, we are so insufficient that we do not contribute anything to our salvation. Salvation is not about what we do, it is about what God has done. Paul makes this very point in 2 Timothy 1:9: \u201cHe has saved us and called us to a holy life\u2014not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace.\u201d Paul goes on in that text to remind us that Jesus\u2019 work in redemption is so sufficient that it provides us the assurance that he will complete that work in our lives. Paul states his confidence in Christ in 1 Timothy 1:12: \u201cbecause I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.\u201d
\nWhile Moses was worried about his insufficiencies to carry out the calling that God had placed on his life, his most pressing insufficiency was his inability to stand righteous before a holy God. God properly refocused the eyes and heart of Moses. God turned Moses from himself to God as the provider. The entire exodus event reiterates this point to Moses, the Israelites, and even to us today. God will bring his people out of bondage in Egypt. He does it in his power and his timing. He is the God who is sufficient.
\nAs believers we have many callings. We fill roles as children, parents, spouses, and employees. We need to look to God for strength and sufficiency in all of these areas of our lives. But the most important calling we have is to be holy. This demands that we look to the Christ who is sufficient, that we look to him \u201cwho is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us\u201d (Eph. 3:20).<\/p>\n
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION<\/p>\n
1. What was the nature of Moses\u2019 insecurity regarding his calling?<\/p>\n
2. How did God provide reassurance to Moses regarding his insecurities?<\/p>\n
3. Why did Moses feel incompetent regarding his calling?<\/p>\n
4. How did God provide reassurance to Moses regarding his incompetency?<\/p>\n
5. What was Moses\u2019 main mistake with regard to his evaluating his sufficiency for the calling God gave to him?<\/p>\n
6. How does Psalm 24 point us to Jesus Christ and focus us on Christ\u2019s sufficiency for us?<\/p>\n
CHAPTER SIX<\/p>\n
THE PROPHET, THE PHARAOH, AND THE PLAGUES<\/p>\n
Exodus 5\u201311<\/p>\n
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do people do bad things? These two questions have empowered atheists and challenged believers for millennia. Every time an earthquake, hurricane, or some other disaster strikes the United States there will inevitably emerge a theologian or televangelist who claims to have the explanation for the cause of the catastrophe. Often the reason given is the moral decadence of the nation. Similarly, when a person engages in an evil act such as a mass shooting, there will arise a pundit or psychologist who claims to have the explanation for what triggered this event. Typically, the explanation includes the childhood experiences of the perpetrator or the idea that he was influenced by violence on television, in movies, or in video games.
\nOffering answers to these two questions is a precarious task. We simply lack specific knowledge of God\u2019s will with regard to such historical events. We know general principles that we can apply to these events, but we don\u2019t know exactly why God allowed a specific disaster or evil act to occur. There are aspects of God\u2019s will that are not revealed to us, as Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us: \u201cThe secret things belong to the LORD our God.\u201d Accordingly, we must always be careful in daring to proffer answers to these two questions when it comes to events and actions in our world.
\nThis does not mean, however, that the Bible is without guidance regarding answering such questions. The Bible often allows us to see various historical events and actions through the eyes of God. We are sometimes given a divine perspective on why God allowed or caused certain events to happen. These moments are incredibly valuable in discerning why bad things sometimes happen to good people and why people do bad things. Yet, though such divine insights cannot necessarily be applied directly to explain God\u2019s purposes regarding specific events in our own time, they are nonetheless useful in helping us to understand these events and to trust in God as we experience them.
\nIn this chapter, we will explore one of those extraordinary divine perspectives that give us incredible insight into these two fundamental questions. We will witness a nation being assailed by a series of disasters and a leader who, despite these disasters, exacerbates the suffering of his people by repeatedly refusing to choose what is good and right. We will learn about the prophet, the plagues, and the Pharaoh, but most of all we will learn about the power and mercy of God.<\/p>\n
THE PROPHET<\/p>\n
As Moses\u2019 great confrontation with Pharaoh is drawing near, we must recognize that he has come a long way. Moses has traversed the spectrum from being a spoiled, prideful, and privileged son in Pharaoh\u2019s house to living as a humble shepherd in Midian, to being a hesitant and reluctant servant at the burning bush, and, finally, now, to serving as a faithful prophet and son in God\u2019s house. As he stands on the eve of the great battle with Egypt, he is a changed man. He is confident in his God, in his cause, and in his people\u2019s ultimate victory.
\nThe character of this new Moses can be seen in how he approaches the leader of the most powerful nation of his time. Moses and Aaron approach the throne of Pharaoh and they do not quiver, waver, or grovel; instead they proclaim to this mighty leader, \u201cThis is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: \u2018Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness\u2019\u00a0\u201d (Ex. 5:1). This was an incredibly bold act. Moses and Aaron were risking their very lives to make such a demand upon Pharaoh, but they did it without compromise. Note also what is absent from their words. There is no Moses in these words. Moses, at least at this moment, realizes that God\u2019s liberation of his people will occur through God\u2019s power, not his own.
\nMoses had lost his fear and self-centeredness. He is now confident and focused on God\u2019s power. What accounts for this transformation in his life? Moses was changed by the revelation of God. Moses had met the living God. He met him in the dark and lonely moments in the deserts of Midian where Moses repented of his pride and began to die to self. He met the living God at the burning bush where he heard the Great I Am proclaim a message of liberation regarding his people. As Moses and Aaron state in Exodus 5:3, \u201cThe God of the Hebrews has met with us.\u201d What changed Moses was God himself.
\nThe type of powerful transformation that we witness in Moses is paralleled in the New Testament and the ministry of Jesus. Consider, for example, the character of Jesus\u2019 disciples in the early part of his ministry. They come across as impulsive, dim-witted, and weak in the knees. They don\u2019t quite understand what the kingdom of God is about and they often completely fail to grasp who Jesus really is. Even at the crucifixion they still seem dense and frightful. Think of Peter\u2019s threefold denial of Jesus. But then these seemingly incompetent disciples become bold spokesmen of the gospel, even in the face of the Roman and Jewish authorities. They risk life and limb to advance the cause of Christ and expand the boundaries of the church. What happened to them? What accounts for their miraculous transformation? They met the living Christ and were filled with the Holy Spirit. They met the Great I Am.
\nThough we are not called as prophets or apostles in the same sense as Moses or Jesus\u2019 apostles, there is a parallel to the transformation that God brought about in their lives and the transformation he works in every one of his children. The Scriptures reveal that God takes great pleasure in what some theologians refer to as \u201credemptive irony.\u201d God enjoys using the foolish things to confound the wise and using weak things to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:27). He took a fearful fugitive like Moses and turned him into the mediator of the old covenant and leader of his people. He grabbed the runt of the litter in David and made him the greatest of Israel\u2019s Old Testament kings. He commenced his plan for the salvation of his people through a baby born in a manger. He sealed the salvation of his people through what seemed to the world a defeat of his own Son on the cross. This pattern of redemptive irony is present in every believer\u2019s life. God takes foolish people like us and makes us his children. He takes those who were at enmity with him and makes them his servants. Like Moses and the apostles, every believer is transformed by the power of the living God.
\nWhen the prophet Moses approached the throne of Pharaoh he came as a changed man. He did not come to negotiate. He came with a simple command that was not based on his own authority, but rather on the authority of the living God. He conveyed to Pharaoh the demand of God, \u201cLet my people go.\u201d Now it was Pharaoh\u2019s turn to encounter the power of the living God. How would he respond? Would he be transformed like Moses? Would he have a change of heart and obey the demand of God? We have seen what happened in the heart of the prophet Moses, but what will happen in the heart of Pharaoh?<\/p>\n
THE PHARAOH<\/p>\n
As we have seen, Moses\u2019 heart has been on a spiritual journey from love of self to love of God. Moses\u2019 faith has increased through his interaction with God, as has his willingness to trust and serve him. When it comes to Pharaoh\u2019s story, we witness the exact opposite dynamic. Pharaoh\u2019s heart begins like Moses\u2019 heart, hardened by self-love and pride, but, unlike in the case of Moses, Pharaoh\u2019s heart proceeds on a path of further calcification. Pharaoh\u2019s heart never softens; rather, it becomes increasingly resistant to God\u2019s love and will.
\nWe can witness the starting point of Pharaoh\u2019s heart in the very first encounter he has with Moses and Aaron. When they come to Pharaoh in Exodus 5:1 they make the following demand upon him: \u201cThis is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: \u2018Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.\u2019\u00a0\u201d God was not yet demanding the full liberation of his people in this statement. Instead, he was telling Pharaoh to allow his people to have the freedom to worship him for three days in the wilderness. Pharaoh responded to this demand with contempt, \u201cWho is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go\u201d (Ex. 5:2).
\nNow at first we may look at Pharaoh\u2019s reply and desire to condemn him on the spot for disregarding God\u2019s message, but such a knee-jerk reaction would be unfair. The key phrase in Pharaoh\u2019s response comes when he declares that he does not \u201cknow the LORD.\u201d This was a true statement. Pharaoh had not previously encountered God or his message. In many ways, he was just like the rest of us in this regard. When I first heard God\u2019s message through the Scriptures, I had a similar reaction to its claims on my life. Like Pharaoh, I said in my heart, \u201cWho is the Lord, that I should obey him?\u201d and \u201cI do not know the Lord.\u201d Every person who does not know God begins in the very position that Pharaoh occupied\u2014inclined not to accept God\u2019s truth. But God was not done with Pharaoh. This was just the beginning.
\nGod responded to Pharaoh\u2019s confession of ignorance of him by unleashing a series of events that were meant to ensure that Pharaoh and Egypt would \u201cknow the LORD.\u201d Between Exodus 5 and Exodus 11 God will declare numerous times that the purpose of his actions are so that Pharaoh and Egypt will \u201cknow the LORD\u201d (Ex. 7:5, 17; 8:10, 22; 9:14, 16, 29; 10:2). The first four chapters of the book of Exodus told the story of God\u2019s revelation of himself to Moses. This section is the story of God\u2019s revelation of himself to Pharaoh. The intriguing part of the story is the stark polarity in how these two men, Moses and Pharaoh, respond to that revelation.
\nThe main way that God reveals himself to Pharaoh is through the performance of signs and wonders. God brings a series of plagues upon Egypt in an effort to reveal his power to Pharaoh and his people. We will explore some of the theological meaning of the particular plagues and why God used them, but here we will focus upon the reaction of Pharaoh to this revelation. We saw in Exodus 5:2 that he begins this journey with an ignorant and resistant heart, just like all of us begin our respective journeys. Now let\u2019s see what happens to his heart as God reveals himself through the power of the plagues.
\nAs each successive plague comes upon Egypt, Pharaoh\u2019s heart has only one reaction\u2014it becomes hardened to God. Actually, that is an oversimplification of what is transpiring in Pharaoh\u2019s heart. In his commentary on Exodus, J. A. Motyer speaks about the \u201cvocabulary of Pharaoh\u2019s heart.\u201d1 Motyer\u2019s point is that when it comes to Pharaoh\u2019s heart and its progressive hardening, we encounter at least three different ways that this process is described. First, Exodus tells us that Pharaoh\u2019s heart became hard (Ex. 7:13). Second, Exodus declares that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Ex. 8:15). Finally, Exodus reveals that the Lord hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart (Ex. 9:12). Motyer notes that all aspects of this vocabulary come to a confluence in Exodus 9:34\u201310:1:<\/p>\n
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts. So Pharaoh\u2019s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.
\nThen the LORD said to Moses, \u201cGo to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them.<\/p>\n
Clearly, when it comes to the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart there are a variety of influences present, but what does this tell us about both Pharaoh and God in this process?
\nMotyer suggests that we can tell two stories about the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart. The first story has to do with Pharaoh\u2019s actions in hardening his own heart. Motyer writes, \u201cOne is the story of Pharaoh\u2019s moral choices, whereby his heart became increasingly \u2018set in its ways,\u2019 committed more and more irretrievably to a course of genocide regarding Israel.\u201d2 The point here is that Pharaoh is responsible for the hardening of his own heart through his own actions and choices. God had revealed himself to Pharaoh and Pharaoh chooses to respond with rebellion. With each rebellion Pharaoh becomes more entrenched in his own wickedness. His heart becomes harder with each sinful choice he makes.
\nBut, as Motyer notes, there is another story to be told as well. Scripture gives us<\/p>\n
[a] mere statement that from the perspective of the Lord as moral ruler of his world, the point of no return had been reached and the hardness of Pharaoh\u2019s heart must now be judgmentally imposed on him as the justly due consequence of what his own choices had made him.3<\/p>\n
The story of the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart reveals to us that there is a point at which God will no longer abide our rebellion but rightfully judge us for what we are. After repeated rebellions whereby Pharaoh hardened himself against the revelation of God, God judged him for his recalcitrance and sealed his heart of stone.
\nThe story of Pharaoh\u2019s heart should not be lost upon us. The dynamics that were at work in his life are not unique to him, even though the redemptive-historical situation in which they occurred was unique. Paul\u2019s use of the account of Pharaoh\u2019s heart being hardened in Romans 9:14\u201318 is proof that Pharaoh\u2019s case is not unique, but instead reveals general truths about God and his sovereignty over the human heart. God is never complicit in instigating or causing sin, but he is not required to stop us from having what we desire, even if it is sinful.4 In Romans 1:24, Paul makes this very point when he speaks about God giving over unbelievers, who had continually displayed callousness to sin and rebellion toward God, to their impure and evil desires. This cycle was present in Pharaoh\u2019s life. He hardened his hard and then, after his continual rebellion, God hardened his heart and gave Pharaoh over to his desires. But the cycle of hardening that we witness in the account of Pharaoh\u2019s heart is not limited to unbelievers.
\nWhile a Christian cannot ultimately sin to the point of being lost from the kingdom of God, he or she can become ensnared in a self-hardening cycle whereby the heart becomes calcified toward God. When this happens in our lives, we often bear severe consequences and we build up a tolerance to a particular sin. This portion of the Exodus account reminds us of the interplay between our choices and the sovereignty of God. But it is vital for us to remember that God uses even our sinful choices as a means to ultimately yield new growth in our lives. While recalcitrant unbelievers, like Pharaoh, are often given over to their sinful desires, God never allows his children to spiral relentlessly downward in a maelstrom of their own sinfulness. Through the work of his Spirit and his Word, God convicts us of our sins and softens our hearts, which yields confession and repentance on our part. God\u2019s sovereignty extends even over our sinful choices.<\/p>\n
THE PLAGUES<\/p>\n
The stark contrast between what happened in the hearts of Moses and Pharaoh teaches us about the power and sovereignty of God\u2019s will. It reminds us that the great difference between the believer and unbeliever is not the absence of sin, but rather the presence of God\u2019s grace in softening, convicting, and renewing the heart of the believer. Ultimately, the difference between Moses and Pharaoh was not that Moses was free of sinful choices, but rather that God chose to have mercy upon Moses. The contrast between Moses and Pharaoh teaches us about the sovereign elective grace of God. But what do the plagues teach us about God? What lesson should we learn from the series of disasters that befell Egypt?
\nThe plagues served many purposes. They were not simply an act of judgment upon Pharaoh and Egypt for rebellion against God and abuse of God\u2019s people. They also revealed to Israel that God is powerful and that he is able to save to the uttermost. But the plagues also were not meant for Israel\u2019s encouragement alone. Ultimately, the primary purpose of the plagues is to answer Pharaoh\u2019s declaration that he did not \u201cknow\u201d the God of Israel (Ex. 5:2). Accordingly, throughout the narrative of the plagues God has a constant refrain: \u201cyou will know that I am God\u201d (Ex. 7:5, 17; 8:10, 22; 9:14, 16, 29; 10:2). The purpose of the plagues was to convey the knowledge of God, not simply to Egypt or Israel, but to the world.
\nThe plagues fall into a theological category referred to as \u201csigns and wonders.\u201d In the Scriptures, when God performs signs and wonders he is generally doing so for a very explicit and twofold purpose.
\nFirst, signs and wonders often serve to validate the message of God\u2019s messenger or mediator. The plagues served to authenticate the ministry of Moses. They conveyed to Pharaoh and his magicians that Moses was not working on his own authority, but that he was a representative of the Lord. In the New Testament, Jesus used signs and wonders to authenticate his messianic role and confirm his divinity. The Gospel of John, with its seven signs of Jesus, is a great example of the authenticating power of signs and wonders.
\nA second purpose of signs and wonders is to point beyond themselves to a more significant truth. Yes, the plagues immediately revealed God\u2019s power, applied judgment to Egypt, and authenticated Moses\u2019 ministry, but they also pointed beyond these immediate events to a greater truth about God\u2019s patience. In Exodus 34:6\u20137, God revealed himself to Moses in a powerful way as<\/p>\n
The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.<\/p>\n
These two verses encapsulate the greater meaning of the plagues. God is long-suffering in his application of judgment. He provided Pharaoh and Egypt with ten plagues to spark repentance in them, but they refused to heed the repeated warning. God is patient. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read, \u201cThe Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.\u201d The plagues reveal that God is patiently merciful, but they also reveal that there is a point of no return: \u201che does not leave the guilty unpunished\u201d (Ex. 34:7).
\nThus, the plagues served simultaneously to reveal to the world that God is patient in judgment, that he is powerful, and that he can save his people. In these ten plagues is found comforting assurance for those who trust in God and horrific certainty of judgment for those who do not. Some theologians have attempted to say that the type of dynamic revealed in the plagues is reflective of an \u201cOld Testament God\u201d who was judgmental in comparison to the more gracious \u201cNew Testament God\u201d revealed in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. But in reality, the signs and wonders performed by Jesus, and the very proclamation of the gospel itself, serve a similar ultimate purpose as the plagues. The gospel, like the plagues, serves simultaneously to assure those who trust God of his power to save, and to remind people that, while he is patient, God will ultimately bring judgment upon those who reject his Son and fail to \u201cknow the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
THE \u201cWHY\u201d QUESTIONS<\/p>\n
But what about the \u201cwhy\u201d questions such as those we asked at the beginning of this chapter: Why do bad things happen to good people? And why do people do bad things?
\nThese questions lead us to several others: Why did Egypt suffer such awful devastation? Was it because God was unjust? Was it random? Why did \u201cbad things\u201d happen to them? What about the other question? Why did Pharaoh do bad things? Why did he disobey God? Why didn\u2019t God change Pharaoh\u2019s heart as he did with Moses? Though the Bible does not provide us with detailed answers to these questions, it does clearly reveal that God is just in his actions and sovereign over all things, even human choices and devastating events. Simply put, God is not required to give us answers to these questions. God was also not obligated to transform Pharaoh\u2019s heart as he did with Moses; we are not in a position to know why God chose to show mercy on one and not the other. This is not revealed to us and, as his creations, we are in no position to sit in judgment over his decisions. God is not, as C. S. Lewis put it, \u201cin the dock.\u201d Ultimately, the answer to these \u201cwhy\u201d questions is that God will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy (Ex. 33:19; Rom. 9:14\u201318).
\nThe real question that is so incomprehensible is not one of the two that are so often cited by unbelievers and that we have explored in this chapter. Instead the most bewildering question is: Why does God do good things for bad (sinful) people? The powerful sign that God provided to the world about his patience and long-suffering was not the ten plagues that befell Egypt. Instead, it was the plague of judgment that he poured out on his own Son on the cross. This is an utterly audacious act of grace. Paul recognized the audacity of the cross when he wrote these words in Romans 5:7\u20138:<\/p>\n
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.<\/p>\n
Sin is the reason that bad things happen in this world and it explains why people rebel against God. Sin answers the two \u201cwhy\u201d questions that commenced this chapter. But Jesus answers the problem of sin. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).<\/p>\n
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION<\/p>\n
1. Why do we need to exercise caution in explaining why bad things occur in our world?<\/p>\n
2. As Moses confronts Pharaoh, what evidence is there of Moses\u2019 spiritual growth? How does Moses\u2019 spiritual development mirror that of the apostles? Does his pattern of spiritual development have any corollary in our own lives?<\/p>\n
3. What does the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart reveal about Pharaoh? What does it reveal about God?<\/p>\n
4. In one sense the hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s heart was a unique redemptive-historical event, but in another sense it serves to establish a broader paradigm of how God relates to us and how humanity relates to God. How do Romans 1:24 and Romans 9:14\u201318 serve to support this statement?<\/p>\n
5. What purposes did the plagues serve?<\/p>\n
6. How does the person and work of Jesus help us to understand the \u201cwhy\u201d questions discussed in this chapter?<\/p>\n
CHAPTER SEVEN<\/p>\n
BELIEF, BLOOD, AND BREAD<\/p>\n
Exodus 11\u201312<\/p>\n
There is no doubt that social media websites like Facebook have drastically changed our world and how we relate with one another. Some of these changes have been extremely positive. For instance, these websites allow for rapid communication of news and events among our social groups. This has allowed for swift and coordinated acts of compassion and generosity. One example of this occurred in our local community when Facebook was used to quickly coordinate meals for a family that had a sick child in the hospital. But some of the changes brought by social media websites have not been quite so helpful. For example, they can be used for gossiping, bullying, and simply wasting time. Social media websites are a \u201cdouble-edged sword.\u201d
\nIt is often the case that technological progress and development results in both good and bad consequences. In fact, this dynamic is not limited to the area of technology. It is true of personal, business, and government decisions and policies. The prevalence of this dynamic in our lives explains why we have developed popular idioms like \u201cdouble-edged sword\u201d or \u201ctwo sides of the same coin\u201d to describe it with an economy of words. But these idioms also have application to the story of the exodus and the entire unfolding story of redemption.
\nThe Bible is ultimately the account of the application of God\u2019s mercy and his judgment. These two acts of God, his mercy and judgment, are often intertwined. They are often like a \u201cdouble-edged sword\u201d or \u201ctwo sides of the same coin.\u201d For example, when God caused the great flood in Noah\u2019s time, he was simultaneously exercising his justice against the world and extending mercy to his covenant people. The most profound example of this dynamic, of course, is the death of Jesus upon the cross. Through the sacrificial death of his Son, God exercised his judgment against our sin while simultaneously granting us mercy.
\nOf course, there is a major difference between the meaning of these cultural idioms and God\u2019s actions. When we employ the cultural idioms of the double-edged sword and two sides of the same coin we are implying that one action results in both positive and negative implications. But when God executes judgment and grants mercy through the same action, both edges of the sword, and both sides of the coin, are equally good and righteous. The exercise of God\u2019s judgment and mercy, so often found in the same act, both serve to reveal his power, majesty, and glory.
\nWe see this very same dynamic in God\u2019s dealings with the Egyptians, particularly in regard to the plagues pronounced upon them. Every plague suffered by Egypt had a twofold purpose. First, each plague was intended to judge the Egyptians for failing to acknowledge God and for failing to obey his command to let his people go. Second, each plague was intended to display his mercy to Israel by setting them apart from the Egyptians and securing their liberty from their bondage. Both of these aspects of the plagues served to display the glory of God.
\nIn the previous chapter, we witnessed the escalation of God\u2019s judgment and mercy as he unleashed the first nine plagues upon Egypt. In this chapter, we will focus solely on the tenth and final plague. While God had judged Egypt in the previous nine plagues, he had also displayed his divine forbearance by allowing time for Egypt to respond, relent, and repent. He even used escalation in the seriousness of the plagues to reinforce the reality of the coming final judgment for disobedience. But the time of divine forbearance had come to an end. It was time for the execution of God\u2019s judgment in the form of the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt and for the execution of his mercy to the Israelites in the provision of the Passover.
\nAt first, this chapter of Exodus may sound like a bleak one to read. Certainly, it is a sober chapter in the history of redemption because it involves a most serious judgment of God. But this chapter is not primarily about God\u2019s judgment. It is first and foremost an account of God\u2019s faithful deliverance of his people through belief, bread, and the blood of the lamb. Here we explore the meaning of the Passover and how it serves as a pattern for the work of redemption secured by the Lord Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
BELIEF<\/p>\n
Perhaps you have noticed that as this book has progressed deeper into the story of Moses and the exodus, there seems to be less and less of Moses. In the early chapters of Exodus, and of this book as well, the spotlight was on the life and transformation of Moses. We saw how God turned him from a prideful son in Pharaoh\u2019s house to a faithful son in God\u2019s house. In the previous chapter, we began to see Moses fade into the background a bit. Yes, he was the human instrument being used by God to announce and deliver the plagues upon Egypt, but it was abundantly clear that the face-off of the plagues was really between God and Pharaoh, not Moses and Pharaoh. This fading of Moses into the background becomes even more pronounced as we explore the final plague wrought upon Egypt. The spotlight is off Moses and decidedly fixed upon God.
\nYet, while Moses will progressively fade into the background in this account, he is once again employed as God\u2019s mouthpiece to pronounce the plague upon Pharaoh:<\/p>\n
Now the LORD had said to Moses, \u201cI will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.\u201d (Ex. 11:1\u20132)<\/p>\n
At this point, one has to wonder if Moses was feeling a bit frustrated and discouraged. Given what we know about his personality, it seems likely that he was experiencing feelings such as these. After all, he had marched into Pharaoh\u2019s presence nine times already, seen God perform miraculous things through him, and yet Pharaoh had not relented. One could even argue that it appeared that Pharaoh was prevailing in his confrontation with God. God had thrown nine plagues Pharaoh\u2019s way and yet Pharaoh was still standing firm in his resolve. This must have been frustrating for Moses. Now God was sending Moses to Pharaoh for a tenth time!
\nBut while Moses may have had his doubts about the effectiveness of the plagues, he continued in his faithful obedience to God. Based on God\u2019s command, Moses stood before Pharaoh for a tenth time and declared:<\/p>\n
This is what the LORD says: \u201cAbout midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt\u2014worse than there has ever been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal. Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, \u2018Go, you and all the people who follow you!\u2019\u00a0\u201d After that I will leave. (Ex. 11:4\u20138)<\/p>\n
Moses once again delivered God\u2019s message and once again Pharaoh refused to listen. We know about Pharaoh\u2019s refusal from the text itself. In Exodus 11:9 we are told that God had revealed to Moses that Pharaoh would not listen: \u201cThe LORD had said to Moses, \u2018Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt\u2019\u00a0\u201d; and in Exodus 11:10 we read, \u201cbut the LORD hardened Pharaoh\u2019s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.\u201d We also know that Moses was furious after this tenth meeting with Pharaoh, for Scripture say, \u201cThen Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh\u201d (Ex. 11:8).
\nWhile Moses had his frustrations, and perhaps some doubts, throughout his interactions with Pharaoh, Moses continued to believe and obey God despite what seemed like a series of triumphs on Pharaoh\u2019s part. Moses trusted in the veracity of God\u2019s words and he acted upon them. He not only believed God\u2019s words at a cognitive level, he also believed them at the volitional level. He heard God\u2019s word and he did God\u2019s word.
\nThis is one of the themes of the tenth plague and the Passover which was part of it. The final plague and the Passover set before us many stark contrasts. There is the contrast between judgment and deliverance. There is also the contrast between belief and unbelief. Moses believed what God said and did it, but Pharaoh rejected God\u2019s word and ignored it. But Moses was not the only example of belief in the account of the tenth plague; the entire nation of Israel displayed remarkable faithfulness in their response to God\u2019s word.
\nAfter God explained to Moses what would occur in the tenth plague and what the people of Israel must do to avoid this judgment impacting them, he sent Moses to convey his instructions and expectations to Israel. Moses was sent as the mediator of God\u2019s message. Like a modern preacher, Moses was called to proclaim to Israel the pathway of salvation from God\u2019s judgment. Moses immediately obeyed God, and he summoned all the elders of Israel to instruct them regarding God\u2019s commands:<\/p>\n
Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. (Ex. 12:21\u201323)<\/p>\n
After Moses explained God\u2019s instructions to avoid the judgment of the tenth plague, he then issued a command to obey God\u2019s instructions: \u201cObey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants\u201d (Ex. 12:24). But the question arises, how did Israel respond to this command to obey God?
\nIf you know anything about the Old Testament and the history of Israel, you know that the nation of Israel often failed in its calling to be a light to the nations. The Scriptures display that God\u2019s chosen people often chose to disobey his word and to do what was right in their own eyes. The Old Testament book of Judges is perhaps the most poignant example of this cycle of disobedience on the part of Israel. But in this instance in Exodus, Israel displayed remarkable faithfulness. After Moses commanded obedience, Israel rendered obedience. The first reaction of Israel was to bow down and worship the Lord (Ex. 12:27). This act of worship is followed by an unequivocal declaration of the Israelites\u2019 complete obedience to God\u2019s word: \u201cThe Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron\u201d (Ex. 12:28). Like Moses, Israel heard God\u2019s word and they did God\u2019s word.
\nOne of the lessons of the Passover is the vital importance of rendering obedience to God\u2019s word. God provided the means for Israel\u2019s salvation from the judgment of the tenth plague, but he commanded them to respond by embracing and believing this means of salvation. But even Israel\u2019s act of belief was a gift of God. We know this because of the example of Pharaoh as discussed in the previous chapter. God is sovereign over the heart and over the extension of his mercy and judgment. Moses\u2019 and Israel\u2019s belief was commendable, but it must be considered as a gift of God. The apostle Paul makes this clear in the New Testament when he speaks of the faith that believers exercise in accepting the truth of the gospel, \u201cFor it is by grace you have been saved, through faith\u2014and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God\u2014not by works, so that no one can boast\u201d (Eph. 2:8\u20139). This statement is equally applicable to the Israelites and their being saved from the judgment of the tenth plague. Moses and Israel exercised faith, but that faith was a gift of God.
\nThe Passover is clearly a type of the work of Jesus Christ in delivering his chosen people from the judgment of God\u2019s wrath. The Passover foreshadows the proclamation of the gospel. The Passover event also makes clear that salvation requires belief and faith in the message of God. Israel got this right and they were saved from the judgment of God. The same demand for belief is set upon every heart as the gospel of Jesus Christ is proclaimed and salvation is only granted to those who, by the gift of faith, embrace and believe it: \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved\u2014you and your household\u201d (Acts 16:31).<\/p>\n
BLOOD<\/p>\n
While faith and belief served as the instrument through which Israel gained access to God\u2019s provided means of salvation, that salvation also required another element\u2014the shedding and application of the blood of the lamb. God provided the following instructions to Moses regarding this second element of his plan of salvation:<\/p>\n
Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. (Ex. 12:3\u20137)<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s salvation from the tenth plague was to be sealed with the blood of a lamb. Each and every household was required to shed blood and apply it to the doorframe of their respective homes. While the blood of the lamb served numerous instructive purposes in teaching Israel about how God secures the salvation of his people, the two most significant functions of the blood revealed in the Passover account are that it served as a sign and as a substitute.<\/p>\n
The Blood of the Lamb as a Sign<\/p>\n
All of the plagues that God sent upon the nation of Egypt served to distinguish between Israel and Egypt. The judgment of God was not meant for his people. But it is particularly in the last plague that we see God commanding a demonstrative act on Israel\u2019s part to demarcate itself from the Egyptians. Israel was told to use the blood of the lamb as a physical and visible sign of its distinction from the Egyptians. Each household of Israel had to physically apply the sign to the doorframe of their respective homes in order to benefit from God\u2019s mercy:<\/p>\n
Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, \u201cGo at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. (Ex. 12:21\u201323)<\/p>\n
It was the physical presence of this sign upon the top and sides of the doorframe, as seen by the Lord, which yielded protection, safety, and salvation to the Israelites.
\nThe blood of the lamb was a physical sign that sealed the salvation of Israel from the judgment of the death of the firstborn. God often uses physical signs as seals of his promises to save his people from wrath. Circumcision served as such a sign in the old covenant economy. In the New Testament, the waters of baptism and the tangible symbolism of the elements of the Lord\u2019s Table serve similar functions. The Passover reminds us of the significance of the act of demarcating ourselves as being of the Lord through the means of grace that he has provided to us. One can\u2019t help but compare the household application of the blood of the lamb to the household baptisms of the New Testament. Consider, for example, the household baptism that occurred in the house of the Philippian jailer:<\/p>\n
They replied, \u201cBelieve in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved\u2014you and your household.\u201d Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. (Acts 16:31\u201333)<\/p>\n
As in the Passover, the household of the Philippian jailer believed God and applied the sign of his salvation. The Passover reminds us of the importance of the application of the signs and seals of God\u2019s covenant with us. It particularly reminds us of the work of Jesus Christ in protecting us from the wrath of God because the blood of the lamb was not only a sign, it was also a substitute.<\/p>\n
The Blood of the Lamb as a Substitute<\/p>\n
Something was required to die on the night of the Passover. Death and the shedding of blood were required. The options for the Israelites were their firstborn sons or the blood of the lamb, but the fact that blood was required was not up for debate. By requiring a substituted sacrifice for their firstborn sons, God was teaching his people the concept of substitutionary atonement. This act of substitution, of course, foreshadows the work of Jesus in the New Testament. In fact, the connection is made explicit by John the Baptist, who, upon first seeing Jesus declared, \u201cLook, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!\u201d (John 1:29).
\nThere are other parallels between Jesus and the Passover lamb. First, the Israelites were commanded to choose a perfect lamb for their substitute; the lamb was required to be \u201cwithout defect\u201d (Ex. 12:5). Jesus had no defect. He was perfect in every way, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us: \u201cFor we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are\u2014yet he did not sin\u201d (Heb. 4:15). The apostle Peter makes the connection even more explicitly:<\/p>\n
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18\u201319)<\/p>\n
Jesus Is the Perfect Passover Lamb<\/p>\n
Another parallel between the sacrifice of the Passover lamb and the sacrifice which Jesus made is the sufficiency of the act. The Passover event was a unique, one-time, redemptive-historical event. While the Passover event was to be remembered and celebrated annually, the actual historical event and the redemption it secured were unique. The sacrifice which Jesus made is a similar one-time event. While we remember the death and sacrifice of Jesus every time we celebrate the Lord\u2019s Supper, his actual death and sacrifice, and the redemption they secured, were unique, one-time events. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us of the unique, once-for-all sufficiency of the work of Jesus our Great High Priest: \u201cBut when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God\u201d (Heb. 10:12).
\nThe Passover event, particularly the sacrifice of the lamb and the application of its blood, is a powerful Old Testament proclamation of the forthcoming work of Jesus Christ. One cannot really overstate the explicit foreshadowing of the Passover to the work of Jesus. In fact, the connection is so overwhelming and the nexus so tight that Paul refers to Jesus as \u201cour Passover lamb\u201d (1 Cor. 5:7). Like Israel, we are all saved by the sign and substitute of the blood of the Lamb. As the apostle John reminds us in Revelation 12:11, the triumph of the church, its victory over the dragon, was secured \u201cby the blood of the Lamb.\u201d<\/p>\n
BREAD<\/p>\n
Although the Passover was a unique redemptive-historical event, God did not want Israel to ever forget it and its meaning. He commanded the Israelites to remember this event through an annual celebration:<\/p>\n
This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD\u2014a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. (Ex. 12:14\u201315)<\/p>\n
Israel was called upon to commemorate the Passover for generations. It was to be a \u201clasting ordinance\u201d and a \u201cfestival to the LORD\u201d (Ex. 12:14). God also explained the reason why the Passover should be commemorated for generations: \u201cCelebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come\u201d (Ex. 12:17). The reason the Passover was to be remembered was because it marked the commencement of the exodus from Egypt. The Passover marked the beginning of Israel\u2019s liberation from bondage.
\nRemembrance is an important part of our faith. God wanted Israel to never forget the work of redemption that he had wrought on their behalf. He instructed them to observe the ceremony even after they entered the land God had promised to them (Ex. 12:25). God even instructed them to instruct their children regarding the reason for this time of remembrance:<\/p>\n
And when your children ask you, \u201cWhat does this ceremony mean to you?\u201d then tell them, \u201cIt is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.\u201d Then the people bowed down and worshiped. (Ex. 12:26\u201327)<\/p>\n
Israel was called to remember their redemption from Egypt.
\nIn the New Testament, we see a similar call to remember our redemption. Jesus celebrated what became the Lord\u2019s Supper during the Passover feast. This Last Supper not only foreshadowed his imminent work of redemption on the cross, but it also demarcated a transition from the old to the new covenant. The Passover Feast, which required remembrance of the exodus, was now giving way to its fulfillment in the exodus realized through the cross of Jesus Christ. During the Last Supper, Jesus made a new covenant in his blood, the blood of the Lamb. He also instituted a feast to remember his soon-to-be-completed work on the cross. As Paul notes in 1 Corinthians 11:25\u201326, as he passes on the ordinance that Christ gave to him:<\/p>\n
In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, \u201cThis cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.\u201d For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord\u2019s death until he comes.<\/p>\n
Like the Israelites, we are to remember perpetually our exodus from bondage to sin, Satan, and death by celebrating with a meal.
\nWe have already seen that the Passover involved the shedding and application of the blood of the lamb, but there was another tangible element that was part of the Passover celebration\u2014the eating of unleavened bread. Why the bread? Why unleavened bread? What did this particular food have to do with God\u2019s redemption of his people from Egypt? There were some simple practical reasons why the bread was unleavened, as is revealed by Exodus 12:39: \u201cThe dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.\u201d But there is more significance to the centrality of the unleavened bread to the celebration of the Passover.
\nIn 1 Corinthians 5:7\u20138, the apostle Paul looks back to the Passover and applies its significance to the life of the new covenant church. Note how he uses the imagery of the unleavened bread:<\/p>\n
Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch\u2014as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.<\/p>\n
For us to fully understand Paul\u2019s point here we need to understand a bit more about leaven. Leaven is created by taking a small portion of existing dough and allowing it to ferment. The leaven is then added to a new batch of dough, which allows the bread to rise. But there is a risk in continuing to use the same leaven. Leaven could become infected or tainted, thereby leading to the spoiling of the new dough and the entire loaf of bread. Accordingly, it is important for health reasons to get rid of the old leaven and to create a new batch. But Paul is not primarily giving health advice in these verses; instead he is using leaven in a spiritual and metaphorical sense. He is calling the church to respond to the death of Christ by removing the old leaven of our sinful lives and replacing it with the unleavened bread of our new lives in Christ. In other words, Paul is calling the church to live in light of the redemption secured by the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ the Passover lamb.
\nWith Paul\u2019s words from 1 Corinthians in mind, we see that the unleavened bread served as a metaphor in the life of Israel. It was a stark reminder to them that, because of God\u2019s work of redemption, they were no longer in bondage to Egypt. With this new freedom came a new responsibility. They were not to carry with them the leaven of Egypt. It was time for them to separate themselves entirely from that prior bondage, both physically and spiritually. They were to leave Egypt in every way.
\nAs we have already seen from Paul\u2019s use of the unleavened bread imagery in 1 Corinthians 5:7\u20138, this principle continues to apply to the church today. When we embrace Christ as our Passover, we must change our lives. We must leave behind the old and embrace the new. As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:17, \u201cTherefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!\u201d
\nAlthough the Lord\u2019s Supper does not have to be celebrated with unleavened bread, the parallels between the Passover and this celebration meal of the new covenant should not be lost upon us. At the table of the Lord we eat and drink because he instituted the ordinance and we do it in remembrance of the one who led us out of bondage. Our response to such a great redemptive act is to live in gratitude to the one who redeemed us by casting out the old leaven and living for him in sincerity and truth.<\/p>\n
CHRIST OUR PASSOVER<\/p>\n
As I mentioned earlier in this chapter, there is not much of Moses in the account of the Passover. The focus here is on God\u2019s judgment upon the Egyptians and his mercy upon the Israelites. God draws a stark line of demarcation between Egypt and Israel. Redemption is afforded to those who believe in God\u2019s appointed means of salvation, embrace and apply the blood of the lamb, and eat the bread of their new life in remembrance of what God has done for them.
\nAs the pages of Scripture turn to the new covenant and the coming of the one who is the true Lamb of God and who is Christ our Passover, we see all of these shadows embracing their fulfillment. The purpose of the Passover is realized in Christ.<\/p>\n
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION<\/p>\n
1. Why does the focus of the book of Exodus slowly move away from Moses to God when it comes to the plagues, particularly the tenth plague?<\/p>\n
2. How did Israel evidence its faithfulness in response to the pronouncement of the tenth plague?<\/p>\n
3. What two purposes did the blood of the lamb serve during the Passover?<\/p>\n
4. What purposes did the bread serve in the Passover? Why was it unleavened?<\/p>\n
5. How does the Passover foreshadow the person and work of Jesus Christ?<\/p>\n
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