The following is Pastor Nate’s teaching transcription from Calvary Monterey’s 12/1/20 Tuesday Night Service. We apologize for any transcription inaccuracies.

At the close of Exodus chapter two, we were told that God saw Israel's distress. In fact, we were told that God heard their distress and that God saw their distress and that God was willing to come down and deal with their distress. Exodus 2:25, closed that distress of Israel with a statement, "God saw the people of Israel and God knew." With that, we're set up for the events of Exodus chapter three, that God has seen the difficulty of the people of Israel. He's seen them in their slavery in Egypt, and He's seen that they are now subjected to a Pharaoh who's forgotten Joseph who came before, and He now is going to move on their behalf.

But rather than move directly in the sense that He Himself comes in glory and He Himself brings plagues upon Egypt, He is going to send his man, Moses. He's looking for a servant, a messenger and ambassador, a prophet through whom He will deliver the people of Israel. Here in chapter three and four, we have the call of Moses, God's call upon Moses's life to be the figure that many years earlier Moses had thought he would be. But now at 80 years old, he is actually going to become. Let's start off reading in verse one of chapter three.

The Calling at the Burning Bush (1-10)

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

It says, "Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. And he led his flock to the West side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed." Now we'll stop in the narrative right there at that point, and notice a couple of things. First of all, just a couple of housekeeping measures. We've got the name of Moses's father-in-law given to us in verse one, and here his name is Jethro. In chapter two, we saw that he was named Reuel, and so there's a question as to why the double naming of Moses's father-in-law.

The name Jethro means abundance or superiority. It is possible that through his daughter's marriage to Moses who appeared to be a significant figure and a gypsy man. Jethro thought to himself, I now have a new identity. I've been given abundance and superiority, and perhaps from that point forward, he became to be known as Jethro. So perhaps he was known as both. But from this point forward in the book, when we see Moses's father-in-law, we're not going to see Reuel, but we're going to see Jethro spoken of. Another thing, housekeeping wise, to consider is the place that this occurred. It says in verse one that it came on the West side of the wilderness at Oreb or Horeb, the mountain of God.

Now, Horeb and Mount Sinai become synonymous from this point forward. So it's very possible that this is the Mount Sinai that ultimately Moses would receive the 10 commandments and the levitical system of worship and the sacrificial system, the law of God on that mountain, and that this being written in retrospect looks back and calls it the mountain of God. It's not that Moses approached it today knowing that it was the mountain of God. But later on when writing it, he's able to record this was Mount Sinai, this is the mountain of God. Now, a couple of things also to observe, first of all, the Lord appears to Moses. The angel of the Lord appears to this man.

Like I said, we saw at the end of chapter two, that God heard the people of Israel, and now He's responding to their prayer miles away on the backside of the desert by appearing to Moses. So often we don't know how God is answering our prayers. The people of Israel would not have been conscious of these events as they occurred. They were in Egypt crying out to God, and God was answering their prayer many miles away by appearing to Moses. Now, of course in Egypt, many could have said, "God does not hear us. We're not seeing any evidence that He's heard our prayer," but of course, nothing could be further from the truth. God had heard their prayer and He was answering it by appearing to this man.

You see, God works through human instruments. He could have come down directly and delivered Israel. He's certainly capable and strong enough to be able to do so, but God chooses to work through human instruments, and so He chose here to work through Moses. As we interact with this passage, one great question to be asking is if this is Moses's part, and this is what God called him to, what has God called me to? What is my part in His mission? What is my role to play in His kingdom? Now this figure, the angel of the Lord that appeared to Moses in the burning bush, there is a close connection between the angel of the Lord and the Lord Himself all throughout this passage and all throughout the rest of the Bible.

In fact, we're going to see in verse four, that when Moses talks to the angel of the Lord, the Lord responds. So there's a close connection between the angel of the Lord and the Lord. In fact, the Lord and this angel at times appear to be one in the same, yet at the same time, distinct from one another. This leads many to a surmise that the angel of the Lord is the second person of the Triune God head, the Son of God, that this would be the pre-incarnate Christ who before he came in human flesh, appeared as the angel of the Lord to speak to Moses, to fight for Israel and to lead His people in tangible form. This angel of the Lord appears to Moses in this flame of fire. It was a bush that was burning, yet was not consumed. Now, in the Bible fire that needs no fuel is considered divine fire.

This in one sense would foreshadow the natural phenomena of the plagues that were coming. God was going to bend the elements according to His will as He brought plague after plague upon the Egyptians. One commentator said, "This episode then presages the upheaval of the natural phenomena in the plagues and the crossing of the Red Sea. Bushes do not remain unscorched when on fire, but neither do rivers turn to blood. Frogs, flies and locusts do not normally invade a nation. Gnats are not formed from dust, hail and darkness do not fall and command. The firstborn of a nation do not die all in one night. Seas do not form walls of water. Moses would have been wise to learn a lesson from this burning bush, the God who is calling him is the God over creation. The natural phenomena do His bidding. All are under His control."

At the very beginning, Moses is learning an important lesson, God holds the elements and does with them as He wishes. But there might also be some symbolism here in the bush that is burning yet not burning, on fire yet not consumed. The symbolism might be found in Israel itself. In fact, there've been times in Christian history where the burning bush has become an emblem of the church being persecuted. Israel was in the fire of Egypt's persecution, yet they were not consumed. There of course have been times throughout church history where the church has been in the fire of governmental or cultural persecution yet has not been consumed.

So for many, the burning bush has become an emblem of God's ability to see His people through times of chaos or times of persecution. So perhaps this burning bush that was not consumed is emblematic of Israel itself. But of course, it definitely wasn't an emblem of God's presence. That's why in a moment we'll see God tell Moses to take the sandal off of his feet because he's in the presence of the Lord. Later on in the book of Exodus, when Mount Sinai is wrapped in smoke and fire, it symbolizes that God is there on Mount Sinai delivering the law. In Exodus 24, it'll tell us that the glory of the Lord is like a devouring fire on top of the mountain.

3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

So here this fire symbolizes God is present. Moses for His part, he turns aside to see this burning bush. Moses said, verse three, let's read of it, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses.' And he said to him, 'Here I am.'" Now, the interesting or peculiar detail here is that God did not call Moses until after Moses turned aside to look. The bush was there burning, but it wasn't until it caught Moses's attention and he made the decision to turn aside that God then revealed Himself further to His man.

This might be suggestive of Moses's relationship with the people of Israel. There they are on fire, they're burning, God is protecting them, they're not being consumed. But Moses needs to turn aside to see them. He's been gone from them for 40 years and it's time for Israel to be on his consciousness again. Remember when he was 40 years old? He wandered amongst God's people, the people of Israel, and he almost assumed that he would be a judge over them. That fire that had started many years earlier needs to rekindle within this man Moses's heart. He needs to turn aside and look at God's people afresh. When God calls Moses, saying his name twice, Moses replies, "Here I am." These are the words that Abraham said on Mount Moriah when God called him before he sacrificed Isaac.

5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

"Here I am." These are the words that Jacob spoke near the end of his life when reunified with his son, Joseph. "Here I am." These are the words that a young boy named Samuel said years later in Shiloh when he heard the voice of the Lord, and at the instruction of his elder, Eli, he said, "Here I am," and God began to speak to Samuel from that day forward. Moses says the same thing, "Here I am." It's the kind of thing that a servant of God says. "Here I am. Speak to me, lead me, show me what to do and how to guide these people." Then God said in verse five, "Do not come near, take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." Now, this sounds like a very biblical kind of thing for God to say, the place where you're standing is holy ground.

But this was in a sense some new information for Moses. There's of course plenty for us to go off of from the book of Genesis that teaches us of the holiness of God. But this is a theme about God's nature that is going to develop in the coming chapters and books throughout scripture, that God is holy. Now, at this point, we know that He has holy times such as the Sabbath, where on the seventh day God rested from all His works, rested from His creation and He Sabbath instituting the seventh day as a significant day. He also has some holy places like we saw at Bethel when He met with Jacob in the middle of the night. It was Holy ground. But here God's presence is dictated to Moses as a holy presence, and preparation is required to come to God.

He had to take the sandals off of his feet. Someone said it this way, "The presence of God demanded a holistic preparation of the one who would aspire to enter His presence. Therefore, to teach Moses this lesson, God set up admittedly arbitrary boundaries, do not come any closer, and commanded that he should also remove his sandals. This was a precursor, I think, to the law that Moses was eventually going to receive on Mount Sinai that taught that God is holy. He cannot merely be approached by sinful man. We must be prepared before we can be brought into His presence." And of course the whole sacrificial system of Israel was not something that Israel got wrong, as many progressive Christian teachers would have us believe today.

No, they got it right. They received that sacrificial system from God. It was preparing the world for the understanding that we need a ultimate sacrifice to be given for our sin, and that that ultimate sacrifice is God, the Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus did not die merely to exemplify love to his followers. No, he came to a tone for the sin of the world because God is holy and dwells in unapproachable light, yet God loves us and wants to bring us home to Himself. So our unholiness had to be dealt with through the cross of Jesus Christ, and Moses is getting a glimpse of that truth or that message when God says, "Take your sandals off your feet for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

And He said, verse six, God to Moses, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, 'I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings and I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.'"

Here God demonstrates that He has heard the people of Israel, and that He's seen their affliction. In fact, that's the way He speaks of it in verse seven and eight, "I've seen, I've heard, I know and I have come down." All of these are idioms describing divine intervention. Of course, God knows all things, sees all things, and is ever present, but He's using anthropomorphic language to describe Himself in human terms. "I've come to discover. I've seen, I've heard, I know, I've come down." This is no implication that God has limitations, but that He's a living person and does follow the stream of human events and can and does at times directly intervene in human affairs, and that's what He's going to do right now through Moses.

By the way, all of that terminology, I've seen, heard, know, come down, it ultimately points us to the ultimate coming down of God in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. At the time that I give this message, we're entering into another Christmas season, a time where believers celebrate the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the coming of the Son of God and God, the Son. God saw, God heard, God knew, and God ultimately came down. Jesus did not consider it a robbery to be equal with God. That's who he is. He is God the son. But he emptied himself and took the form of a servant that he might suffer and die, ultimately, the death of a cross for the sin of the world. Now, notice how God addresses Moses.

He says in verse six, "I'm the God of your father, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." I suggest to you, this was crucial for Moses. This was a very restorative word that God spoke to Moses. But Moses, remember, had been in a sense rejected by the people of Israel. He'd never been a normal Hebrew. He'd been a baby boy, baby Hebrew boy, but had been put in the Nile by his parents raised by his mother to a degree, but mostly raised in the household of Pharaoh. He was trained and educated in the ways of the Egyptians, and he apparently had come to learn that he was Hebrew, whether this was something he knew his whole childhood or had discovered later on in life.

But he knew that he was of Hebrew ancestry, but he didn't likely ever feel like one of the Hebrews. He'd certainly not suffered like the Hebrews had suffered, he'd not been treated by Pharaoh like the Hebrews had been treated like by Pharaoh, and so it might've been hard for Moses to feel that he was one of the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But here God says to Moses, "No, I'm the God of your father, the God of Abraham, your father, the God of Isaac, your father, the God of Jacob, your father." Moses is learning that he is not as cut off from God's covenantal people as he might have originally thought. He's in the family according to God.

Now, three times in this little paragraph, God tells Moses that He wants to bring the people of Israel to the land. To the land, a land that's flowing with milk and honey, a land that's good and broad. This is often a repeated promise to the patriarchs. Abraham had walked through the land and God said He would give it to His descendants after him. Jacob and Isaac, they looked for the land. They had to leave the land because of the famine, but now God is promising Moses the land once again. It would be a place unlike the Midianite Desert, that Moses was in. It would flow with milk and honey, meaning that produce was required, growth to place.

It was a place where cattle and bees would flourish because it was a productive, fertile place. Now God does mention that the Canaanites are already there, and He lists the various people groups that made up that Canaanite people. These are, and I should be preparing you for this as we move through the book of Exodus on into Joshua, where the sword of Israel comes against the Canaanite people. I should be preparing you as I have been through Genesis that the Canaanite people were a people that through God's long suffering nature, were being ripened for judgment. They should have known because of their proximity to Egypt. They had heard about Israel.

They should have known through general revelation even that so many of the things that they had been doing were of such grave evil that God was bound to lash out against them in judgment. To say it this way, God's judgment upon the Canaanites, the eventual judgment of God upon the Canaanites after centuries of His patience with the Canaanite people, was God cutting out a cancer that would harm the human species, and would ultimately harm the people of Israel were to bring forth the savior of the world. I just mentioned that because one of the main criticisms that people will bring against the Old Testament is they'll decry it as an overly violent book with a vengeful kind of God.

Look, God does have wrath, but it is so unlike the wrath of man. His wrath is slow to build it. It's filled with long suffering. It's very patient and kind, and the people of Canaan had that opportunity. Yes, they came into the land and went up against that military stronghold, the city of Jericho, God judged them, God took out that military town because they were ripe for His judgment. Even here now, years before, God is announcing the Moses, you're going to go in and take the land that currently belongs to the Canaanites.

9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Now verse nine, "Behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." Now this was the kicker for Moses. He's now going to be sent to Pharaoh. As all good news up to this point, I've heard my people, I'm going to deliver my people, and now Moses, I've got the big news, I'm going to send you to the most powerful man on the face of the earth that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

This is a prophetic calling that's being bestowed upon Moses at this point. Now, God is savvy in the way that He says things to Moses knows. Notice that He said, "I'll send you that you may bring my people out of Egypt." Actually he doesn't tell Moses that He'll bring them into the promised land. If you've read the Bible, you know that Moses did not bring the people of Israel into the promised land. Unbelief kept them out, and so Moses led them as they wandered in the wilderness for another 40 years. After his death and the death of that unbelieving generation, then Joshua brought the people into the promised land.

That's why Moses here is told, "You will bring the people out of Egypt." Now, before we begin looking at some of Moses's objections to this call of God upon his life, I thought it would be good to just simply consider how God prepared Moses for this moment. God prepared Moses for this calling upon his life. He's 80 years old at this point. I think on one hand that speaks to us or could speak to us of the truth that sometimes God takes longer to prepare us for the callings and the things He wants us to do in life. Then we often think Moses felt ready at 40, but was actually ready at 80.

But how did God prepare Moses over those additional 40 years? Well, for one, Moses learned how to be faithful in the smallest things. He was no longer a member of Pharaoh's household, but a member of Jethro's household, and taking care of Jethro's flock in an anonymous and forgotten place. So he was faithful in the small things. We've got to learn to be a people who are faithful in the smallest things so that the Lord might use our lives. He dealt with a flock of sheep. This was highly preparatory for Moses. Just as David was prepared by taking care of sheep, so Moses was prepared by taking care of sheep.

The flock of Jethro I'm sure bore striking similarities to the people of Israel, the way that they were, the tendencies that they had, the complaints that they offered, the same ruts that they would get into, I'm sure the sheep of Jethro often displayed, and Moses would have to learn how to patiently deal with the flock. I think that prepared him to patiently deal with the people of Israel, although he would lose his patience from time to time. I think another way that God prepared Moses during those 40 years was through solitude.

You see, the man or the woman of God who wants to be used by the Lord has to learn how to be alone with God. By alone, I don't merely mean without other human beings literally sitting next to you. That used to be what solitude means. But of course, in our modern technological age, you can be physically alone, yet not alone through devices and noise and human connection and the digital spectrum. Although, I think that's not even half what it is to have real human contact.

Human beings today have to actually make decisions for times of solitude, decisions to shut off all the screens and all the noise, and to just hear the voice of God. I'd encourage you to see so many of the noise makers of our modern time as intrusions on the solitude that God wants you to practice before Him. Not only that, but Moses had been prepared by experiencing a time of exile. Just being on the outside was important for Moses to endure. He occupied his time very well. He knew how to fill the space in that time of exile, and God was preparing him all the while.

Who Am I? (11-12)

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

So perhaps as you think of the way that God prepared Moses, you might be seeing ways that God is preparing your life today. Now, over the next couple of chapters, Moses is going to object to his new found calling with a series of questions for God, and we're going to look at those questions today. Rather than rejoice at what God was doing in his life, Moses got caught up in the reasons why this wouldn't work. So let's read the first objection in verse 11 and 12. "But Moses said to God, 'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.' He said, 'But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.'"

The first objection, the first question the Moses had was this, who am I? Who am I? Now, This is fascinating because previously Moses had felt imminently qualified to be the deliverer. In fact, Stephen in Acts chapter seven, looking back upon this scene, gives his commentary. He said, Acts 7:25, that Moses supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 40 years of age, he thought he was the guy, he thought everyone else would know that he was the guy that would be deliver the people of Israel.

But now at this time at age 80, Moses doubts that previous conviction, and he says, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Isn't this often the pattern that God's servants follow today? We believe for a moment we're the perfect answer for God's problems. Then as time whittles by, we grow discouraged and we began to see our own limitations, and we doubt that we would be the ones that God can use. Now, God is happy to have us emptied of ourselves, but He also wants us to be filled with Him."

As Paul said, in Second Corinthians chapter 12, "We can boast in our weaknesses because it's in our weakness that He makes us strong." Moses did not yet understand this truth. He did not glory in his weaknesses. He just said, "Who am I? I cannot do this. I am not the man that I thought I was," but he needed to set his eyes upon the Lord. That's why God said to him, "But I will be with you." This is the game changer. This is the thing that made Moses, the thing that made him effective, the presence of God in his life. God tells him, "I'll be with you and I will meet with you and you will serve God on this mountain. You will come to Mount Sinai and you will serve me here, you'll worship me here, you'll receive my word here, you will serve me directly here."

Who Are You? (13-22)

13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Moses in a sense is not only becoming a prophet, but also a priest before God. "Then Moses," verse 13 said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?' God said to Moses, "I am who I am." He said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.'"

Here we see Moses' second objection, and it was simple. "Who am I to tell the people of Israel has sent me? What is your name? Who are you?" Now in a sense, this might be connected to the fact that Moses feels ostracized from the people of Israel. He's not one of the Israelites. He's adopted the Midianite culture in way he grew up as an Egyptian. He's only Hebrew by race, by bloodline, but he's not a Hebrew in any other way. These people, they don't think that I belong to their God. So if I know your name, God, then I can prove that I've come from you.

Now, additionally, the people would want to know how God's nature and God's character applied to their situation. I mean, if God is who God says He is, then why are we suffering like we are if we're His covenant people? What is God going to do in response to His nature and our predicament? So Moses might be asking something along those lines as well. Hey, there are suffering people. Are you there, God, or not? Who is it that has sent me? Now, God responds with what appears to be an ominous statement when He says, "I am who I am." Now, this is not God's way of trying to speak mysteriously or keep His identity hidden from His people.

It's partly a way for Him to declare His self existence. This is a sharp form of monotheism in a sense, that God exists in and of Himself. I am who I am. No one made me, no one has defined me, no one has created me, I do exist, I have existed, I've always existed, and I always will exist. I am who I am. But it also speaks of a commitment from God to be with His people. One scholar said it this way, that this statement contains each tense of the verb to be and might be translated I was, I am, and I shall always continue to be.

Now the [inaudible 00:38:23] again, sound like God is trying not to disclose His name, but the formula might mean something like I am truly he who exists and who will be dynamically present with you there in the situation in which I am sending you, Moses. I will be active with you as you endure the trial of confronting Pharaoh. Now, the interesting thing is that this title from God eventually is adopted by Jesus in the New Testament. Acts, excuse me. John chapter eight verse 58, when they inquired of Jesus and asked him who he was, he said, "Truly, truly I say to you before Abraham was, I am." When he said that, they picked up rocks to stone him because they understood him as adopting this title from God Himself. The great, "I am who I am."

All throughout the gospel of John in fact, Jesus eludes to who he is. I am the bread of life. I am the good shepherd. I am the door. I am the light of the world. I am the way the truth and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the true vine. In a sense, what Jesus is announcing is, as God, he is all that we need. He is everything that is required for us. Years before Christ appeared, God gave Moses that same answer. I am who I am. I'm everything that you are going to need for this job in the future that's in front of you, Moses.

16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ 18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’

So verse 16, "Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob has appeared to me saying I've observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.' And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the King of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now please let us go a three-days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.'"

So God gives Moses these directions. It's very simple. He's to get the elders. These are the heads of the various clans and house groups throughout Egypt in the Israelite community, and he's to gather them together and tell them that God has sent him, and then he's to confront Pharaoh. Their request is very simple. They're to ask Pharaoh to let the people go a three-days journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord their God. This was just a moderate and limited request at first. It was not to be a request of total freedom forever. They weren't to ask Pharaoh to let the workforce of Egypt depart free of charge. That would ultimately be what occurred. But the first request was to be very simple, let us go three-days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord.

This would prove the heart of Pharaoh. He wouldn't even allow the people of Israel that limited freedom, let alone the major freedom of being set free completely. You see, God deliberately graded His requests, as someone said, a Pharaoh from easier a three-day journey to the more difficult, the total release of an enslaved people. This would have given a Pharaoh every possible aid in making an admittedly difficult political and economic decision. God is ramping up, in other words, to the ultimate request of let my people go.

But verse 19, God said, "I know that the King of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand."

19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

"So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it. After that, he will let you go, and I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and when you go, you shall not go empty, but each woman shall ask of her neighbor and any woman who lives in her house for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. You should put them on your sons and on your daughters, so you shall plunder the Egyptians." Now this ultimately was how the people of Israel would depart from Egypt. They would plunder the Egyptians and the Egyptian people would give their wealth to the Israelites as a way of saying, "Please do not return, please do not come back to us."

Because the plagues had grown so severe by the time Pharaoh told the people of Israel to leave, that the Egyptians hoped that the Israelites would never return. They had envisioned a life without the Israelites by that point, something they could not have imagined at the very beginning of Moses's interaction with Pharaoh. They needed Israel as a workforce, but they'd come to a place by the end where they were ready to live life completely and totally without them. Those are the first two questions or issues that Moses has with God. Who am I, and who are you? Who am I, and who are you?

For us, as we consider the Lord's plans and desires for our lives, it is good for us to know our own limitations, but we must not stop there. We must know who God is. The I am who I am, the one who is the answer to our issues and problems, who ultimately gave the gospel and so there's no solution that He does not give to us as His people. That God is the one who will see us through, that God is the one who will enable us to endure, that God is the one who will enable us to overcome. Do we have limitations? Absolutely. But God, He does not, and so He must be trusted.

God bless you, church. I'll see you again next week.