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Exodus 30:17-21; Furniture in God’s Tent – The Bronze Washbasin

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20120520_exodus30_17-21.mp3

05/20 Exodus 30:17-21 Furniture in God’s Tent: The Bronze Washbasin (38:8; 40:30-32)

We have been studying this section of Exodus where God describes how he, a holy God, will dwell with his sinful people. He described his throne room, where he would rule his people from over his covenant; and outside his throne room, his table, always full, his lampstand, always lit, and his incense, always fragrant; then in the courtyard, his grill, always burning, and now, finally, his washbasin.

Exodus 30:17 The LORD said to Moses, 18 “You shall also make a basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, for washing. You shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it, 19 with which Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister, to burn a food offering to the LORD, they shall wash with water, so that they may not die. 21 They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they may not die. It shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his offspring throughout their generations.”

And in chapter 40, we see this basin put in place.

Exodus 40:30 He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, 31 with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. 32 When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the LORD commanded Moses.

What was this basin for? What did it mean?

This basin was a reservoir designed to hold water. It was to be used for washing. Whenever they enter God’s tent, or approach God’s grill, they are to wash. This would serve a very practical function. Remember, the whole foundation of our ability to approach a holy God was the blood sacrifice of a substitute. Animals were slaughtered, blood was collected and applied, meat was butchered, prepared, and grilled. This was a messy, bloody process. The need for frequent washing is obvious. Of course, the whole point of sacrifice was the death of an innocent substitute in place of the guilty sinner to pay the price for sin; it all pointed to Jesus, the once-for-all final substitutionary sacrifice who takes away our sins.

Washing for Purification

When we think of washing, we think primarily of cleanliness and sanitation for health reasons. We wan to kill germs and prevent the spread of bacteria. That is indeed part of it. Especially in Leviticus, we see this idea of washing for purification and cleansing from various causes of uncleanness. We see that God’s laws were designed for the good of his people, for the health of his people, often in very practical ways. Proverbs picks up this idea of washing for cleanliness and takes it as a metaphor for moral and spiritual health.

Proverbs 30:12 There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.

How often have you had a big dirty smudge on your face and you didn’t even know it? Our own opinion of ourselves is often quite far from the truth. You can have sterilized hands but a wicked heart.

Isaiah begins his book by looking past the physical rituals in the temple to the spiritual realities that they are designed to illustrate.

Isaiah 1:11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. … 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

God is saying that the hands of his people are full of blood and need to be washed – not literal blood of animals, but the guilt of evil deeds, the neglect of justice, the oppression of society’s weak.

When Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees over the issue of ceremonial washing, he taught that:

Matthew 15:18 …what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Jesus, like Isaiah, pointed to the root of uncleanness, not physical but spiritual, not unwashed hands but wicked hearts, evil thoughts, destructive words.

Washing hands and feet is a picture that points us to our deeper need for cleansing our guilt before God. This is what Pilate was attempting to do when he turned Jesus over to be crucified; what he did was not just. He felt guilt.

Matthew 27:24 … he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”

Proper Hospitality

But cleansing was not the only purpose for washing. To understand this more fully, we need to think back several thousand years and try to understand a little about the culture of the middle east. There was a very important social aspect to washing. The primary mode of transportation was foot travel. Roads were dusty. People wore sandals. Washing feet was part of Abraham’s hospitality in Genesis 18.

Genesis 18:3 and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, 5 while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on–since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”

If you’ve ever been on a long hike, you know how refreshing it is to dip your sore feet in some cool water. Even in many homes today, guests are expected to take their shoes off at the door before coming in. Washing feet would be an invitation into the home to relax and enjoy fellowship. Failure to provide a guest with water for washing would be a deep insult, equivalent to saying ‘you stay outside; you are not welcome in my home’. When Simon the Pharisee invited Jesus to his house to eat, that is exactly what he did. He offered no water for washing. This social insult is the background for Jesus’ teaching that he who is forgiven much loves much.

Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. …

Simon is appalled that Jesus would allow this woman to touch him, because she had quite a reputation in the city. Jesus responds:

Luke 7:44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven–for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Jesus accepts the hospitality of a repentant sinner. God , by providing a basin in the courtyard of his tent for washing was extending hospitality, inviting the priests to refresh themselves, to come in to his presence and enjoy fellowship with him.

Jesus Washes Feet

Washing feet was not a pleasant duty. It often fell to the lowest of servants. There was another occasion when Jesus sat down to eat and no one had extended the hospitality of foot washing. It was his final meal with his own disciples. A common topic of discussion with them was which one of them was the greatest (Mt.18:1; 20:21; 23:11; Mk.9:34; 10:37; Lk.9:46; Lk.22:24-28). Apparently, not one of them was willing to stoop to perform the unpleasant and menial task of footwashing.

John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

There is stunned, awkward silence, until he gets to Peter.

John 13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

Peter apparently thinks this is a test. First, he refuses to allow Jesus to wash his feet, to which Jesus responds that washing is a prerequisite to fellowship with him. Peter then responds that he would like a full bath. Jesus points to the fact that he is completely clean, except for his soiled feet.

Justified – Sanctified – Glorified

This is very instructive for us. Jesus is drawing a distinction between the once-for-all cleansing that does not need to be repeated and the regular need for cleansing due to interaction with the world. It is the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sin (1Jn.1:7). The robes of the saints are washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev.7:14). This never needs to be repeated. But our feet become soiled from walking in this world. We need to be regularly washed with water. There is a distinction in the tenses of salvation. I have been saved; I am being saved; and I will be saved. The bible uses all these tenses; the past, present and future to describe salvation. The past tense looks at justification – ‘since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Rom.5:1). That is the past once-for-all completed never to be repeated or revoked declared not guilty never to be on trial again salvation. Then there is the process of being saved; the day to day continual battle with sin called the process of sanctification. Finally there is the future final salvation, by which we will be transformed to be like Jesus when we see him face to face. That is our future glorification. Justification, sanctification, and glorification; past, present and future salvation.

Means of Sanctification – The Word

This hand and foot washing is the washing of sanctification. In Ephesians 5, in the teaching on marriage that is to be a picture of the relationship between Christ and his church, we are told:

Ephesians 5:25 … Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

‘Christ …gave himself up for her’ – that is the past once-for-all justification. ‘That he might sanctify her’ – that is the ongoing process of salvation in the daily battle with sin. ‘presenting the church to himself in splendor’ – that is the final future phase of salvation; glorification. Today we are looking at the present process of salvation, the sanctification process. Jesus is right now in the process of sanctifying his bride the church. We see in these verses the means of our cleansing: the washing of water with the word. The primary tool for our cleansing is God’s word. The water for washing that is in the basin is the word of God. Why do we preach from God’s word every Sunday, why do we sing biblical truth, why do we teach bible studies, why do we encourage daily bible reading both individually and with families, why memorize bible verses? Because it is the word of God that sanctifies.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God’s word is potent! God’s word is powerful! God’s word has the power to penetrate past the outward actions and right into the thoughts and intentions of the heart. God’s word gets at the very root of our sin problem; our won wicked hearts. James talks about this sanctifying effect of God’s word in our lives.

James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Danger of Not Doing

The implanted word is able to save your souls. The present process of sanctification in the life of the believer is advanced through hearing; through receiving the word of God. The ongoing salvation process is producing in us the righteousness that God requires through the regular repeated application of God’s cleansing word. But James goes on to warn us that there is a danger of deceiving ourselves.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James warns that a common self-deception is that hearing is good enough. I showed up to church this week. I’ve done my bible reading for today. I’ve checked the boxes. Don’t deceive yourself! Hear, yes. Read, yes. But use it! Put God’s word into action in your life. Be a hearer and a doer. Apply the living word to your heart and let it wash and transform you. Take action! It is fascinating that James likens listening to the word with looking in a mirror. Do you know what the bronze basin in the tabernacle courtyard was made of?

Exodus 38:8 He made the basin of bronze and its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the ministering women who ministered in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

The high quality polished brass that the women used for mirrors was the material that was used to cast the bronze basin for washing. No longer look at your natural face in a physical mirror, but look into the soul-reflecting mirror of God’s word. But don’t look only. Do something about it! When you look in a mirror and see you have grime on your face, don’t walk away and forget about it. Wash it off! When you look into the perfect law of liberty that tells the truth about the condition of your heart, don’t walk away without applying his cleansing word to your heart. When you see that your desires are in bondage to sin, apply the gospel truth of Christ’s victory at the cross and walk in the freedom he purchased for you.

Grace and Response

We tend to emphasize the grace of God to the exclusion of our necessary response. We rightly focus on the finished work of Jesus for us, but we wrongly neglect the gospel truth that his finished work is the foundation and basis for our response. The bible is clear that our works contribute nothing to the finished work of Christ. The bible is also full of commands for action.

1Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Philippians 2:12 …work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Passionately pursue holiness, because God is at work in you to sanctify you. The foundation must be in place. The foundation is Jesus’ totally complete, finished, justifying work on the cross as your substitute. Without depending on that completely, relying, trusting, believing, you have no foundation and no hope. But once this foundation of faith is in place, the appropriate response must follow. Having been justified as a gift by grace, having the promise that you will be finally glorified, knowing that God is presently at work in you by his Spirit and through his word, pour strong effort and energy into your sanctification. Take Colossians as an example. Verse 5 begins with ‘therefore’, pointing back to the foundational finished work of Christ.

Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. … 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Read and apply the truth of God’s word to your own heart condition. ‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another.’

Remember what Jesus said when he finished washing his disciples’ feet?

John 13:12 …“Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. … 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

As you apply God’s truth to your own heart and life, then carefully, lovingly, with genuine care and concern, with all humility and with much prayer, serve one another by applying the cleansing water of God’s word to wash away the daily dirt that we accumulate from our interaction with the world. And remember,

James 1:19 …my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger…

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

May 20, 2012 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | Bible, cleansing, hospitality, Jesus, purification, salvation, Sanctification, Sin, water, word, works | Leave a Comment

Exodus 20:22-26; The Need for Sacrifice

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20111002_exodus20_22-26.mp3

10/02 Exodus 20:22-26 Worship and Sacrifice in Response to God’s Law

We are in Exodus 20:22-26. God has saved his people and brought them to himself. He has thundered from heaven and given them his expectations for life in relationship with him. The people responded with terror and begged Moses to intercede for them. The next section, roughly the next 3 chapters, is referred to as the Book of the Covenant, a name that comes from 24:7. This is a collection of case laws or examples of how to apply the ten commandments to specific circumstances in Israelite society. These examples are not exhaustive, covering every possible scenario, but instead give a broad sampling of issues so that anyone with a good portion of common sense could reason from the examples to the specific issue in question and apply the principles found here to render a judgment. We will see how this works as we go along.

Begins and Ends with God

This Book of the Covenant covers issues of social responsibility; how to live in community with other people, but it is instructive to note where God begins in these instructions. He begins and ends with worship. Worship is central. How we treat others flows out of a life lived in relationship with God.

Exodus 20:22 And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

In the context, these are God’s first words spoken to Moses privately after he thundered his ten words to all the people and they begged for Moses to serve as intermediary. God is speaking now to Moses and Moses is to relay God’s words to the people.

Right up front in the application of God’s standard is provision for failure. It’s as if God is saying ‘here is my perfect standard, and I know you can’t live up to it, so I’m letting you know up front that I have planned for your failure.’ What a merciful God we worship! What a great God, who understands the weakness of his people. What a compassionate God, eager to provide forgiveness for the failings of his people. Here is my perfect standard, and here is what to do when you blow it.

He is There and He is Not Silent

The first thing God highlights for us is that he is a speaking God. ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.’ They saw lightning and fire and smoke and thick darkness, they heard the thunder and they felt the earth shake. But what God wants them to take away from this experience is ‘you have seen that I have spoken.’ That is a funny way to put it. Not ‘you heard me speak’ but ‘you saw me speak.’ Your perception of me was that I have spoken to you. Our God is a speaking God. God reveals himself in words. Do we have any sense of appreciation for what a blessing this is? God could have been content to wrap himself in mystery and leave us guessing as to how we must please him. Throw our virgin daughters into the volcano, walk on fire and cut ourselves, cast our sons in the ocean, trial and error, see what seems to appease him and what has no effect. How do we know where we stand, what are the standards, what happens next, how good is good enough, have we measured up? Praise God, he has not left us guessing! ‘I have talked with you!’ Our God is a God who reveals himself to us in words.

The First Two Revisited

God goes on to reiterate the first two commands. The original reads like this:

Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Here by way of reminder he simply says:

23 You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

No matter how expensive or elaborate, you must not make physical representations of God. You must not give your worship to anything or anyone but me. I think we could turn this around and say ‘you must not make silver your god, nor shall you make gold your god. We are to worship only, exclusively, the one true God.

Sacrificial Altars

After this introduction and reminder to keep God first, God gives instructions on the construction of altars. ‘Here is my character and my expectations for life in relationship with me. You will fall short of my perfect standard. When you do, I have provided a way for you to demonstrate both the severity of your guilt and the greatness of my honor; I will accept the sacrifice of a substitute.’ An innocent animal must die in the place of the guilty person. Blood must be shed. The wages of sin is death. Listen to God’s gracious provision:

24 An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings

Right after the giving of the ten commandments, God points to the sacrificial system. Remember, this was the reason for leaving Egypt in the first place. They were to tell Pharaoh:

Exodus 3:18 … 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.’ (cf. Exodus 5:3,8,17; 8:8,25-29)

For those who have fallen short of God’s perfect standard, sacrifice is God’s provision to cover our sins and allow us back into his presence. Two of the primary types of sacrifice are mentioned here: burnt offerings and peace offerings. There are 5 types of sacrifice listed in Leviticus 1-7, the burnt offering being the first and foundational. This sacrifice didn’t start here, it was offered by Noah, Abraham, and Job, and although the word is not used, this was probably the sacrifice of Abel and originated after our first parents rebelled in the garden. The burnt offering is foundational, because it is designed to address our sin problem.

Leviticus 1:4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

The purpose of the burnt offering was to make atonement. The animal was accepted by God as a substitute, dying in the place of the sinner and making atonement, or covering guilt and bringing reconciliation. The procedure was to acknowledge guilt and symbolically transfer sin by laying the hand on the head of the animal, and then slaughter the animal and burn the whole thing (except for the hide) on the altar. This sacrifice is sometimes referred to as the whole burnt offering. The whole animal went up in smoke to God.

None of the other offerings happened on their own; they had to follow the burnt offering. The peace offering was to be placed on top of the whole burnt offering. The peace offering takes its name from the Hebrew word shalom. It is sometimes referred to as the fellowship offering or even the communion meal, because it celebrates the shalom that results from having sins atoned for. A portion of the sacrificial animal was burnt on the altar, and the rest was barbecued and eaten by the worshipers in the presence of God.

Deuteronomy 27:7 and you shall sacrifice peace offerings and shall eat there, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God.

The peace offering was a celebration of fellowship with God, that had been restored through the whole burnt offering.

Simplicity of Altars

God here gives clear instructions on how an altar for sacrifice is to be constructed. Make it out of dirt. If you use stones, use natural stones. No steps. Simplicity. The altar is not to attract attention. Dirt, rocks, nothing fancy. The altar is not what is important. What happens on the altar is what is significant. The blood shed, the death of the animal as a substitute sacrifice for sin – that is what is important. Two things in altar construction are expressly prohibited; if you wield your tool on it you profane it and if you use steps to go up to it your nakedness will be exposed on it.

First, use only stones as found in their natural state. Don’t use cut stones. Why would God say that using a tool defiles or profanes the altar? There was to be nothing about the altar that showed man’s skill or workmanship. We could argue ‘no, I’m making it ornate and beautiful, something worthy of God.’ God says, ‘no, your work pollutes and defiles it, makes it common and unfit for spiritual use.’

Isaiah 64:6 …all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. …

Even our best effort is offensive in God’s sight. It is God who accepts the offering to make atonement. It is God who saves.

Titus 3:5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy,…

Salvation is:

Ephesians 2:8 … not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Works will follow, but if we attempt to apply any of our own workmanship to God’s finished work of salvation, we pollute and defile it. Our good works are in response to God’s finished work of salvation and put on display that we are indeed God’s workmanship.

The second prohibition is ‘you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’ Steps were something the Canaanites used for their altars, and the Canaanites included sexually perverted practices as part of their worship. There was not to be even a hint of this among God’s people.

Also, steps would require human effort to ascend. God would allow no human effort in the way he was approached. There are no steps to climb up in our relationship with God. There is nothing we can do to bring ourselves closer to God. We cannot elevate ourselves. Steps would only expose our vulnerabilities and shame us. So there is to be no human workmanship and no human effort allowed when dealing with our sin problem, because our skill would only defile and our effort would only expose our shame. We are to acknowledge our guilt and our need for a substitute, and trust God to transfer our guilt to the sin-bearing substitute who is consumed in our place, restoring peace with God and opening the door to sweet communion with him.

The Blessing

Did you notice the gracious promise of God in this passage?

24 ..In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

When we approach God on his terms, humbly confessing our sin before him, refraining from applying the tool of human ingenuity or taking even a step of human energy, when we approach him by means of the appointed substitute, we can know that he is causing his name to be memorialized. He is putting his character on display. The fame of his name is being proclaimed. And that name is Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, God’s only Son put forward as the propitiation for our sin. The whole sacrificial system, the altar, the offerings, all point to Jesus! God says ‘I will come to you;’ this is the greatest blessing we could possibly hope for – God’s presence with us! The name ‘Immanuel’ means God with us. This is applied to Jesus in Matthew 1:23 (Isa.7:14), who is God with us, God in the flesh, God come down to us, to seek and to save that which was lost. I will come to you and bless you. We have this promise

Hebrews 13:5 … “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Jesus said:

Matthew 28:20 …And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

October 2, 2011 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | good deeds, good works, Jesus, offering, relationship, sacrifice, salvation, substitution, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 20:16 – Word #9 Uphold the Reputation of Others

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110911_exodus20_16.mp3

09/11 Exodus 20:16 Word #9 Uphold the Reputation of Others

We are studying the rules for God’s house, the standards for those he has redeemed and brought into a relationship with himself. We are to worship only him; we are to worship him in the way that he himself describes; we are to honor his name; we are to take time to enjoy him; we are to honor those he has placed in authority; we are to value the life he created; we are to honor our covenants as he honors his; we are to uphold the rights of those around us.

Today we look at commandment #9. This is primarily a command against the perversion of justice. God is righteous. He loves justice. He is truth. He hates the perversion of justice. In fact, Psalm 89:14 tells us that righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne or his rule. He expects us, his covenant community to reflect his truth and righteousness and justice in our interaction with one another under him.

Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

The wording of this command uses the language of the law-courts. It could be translated ‘you shall not commit perjury against your neighbor’, although the application is not limited to the courtroom. Listen to some of the applications of this command. Just a few chapters later in Exodus it says:

Exodus 23:1 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. 2 You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, 3 nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit. …6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked. 8 And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear–sighted and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.

In a society such as Israel, the evidence of eyewitnesses weighed heavily in the establishment of truth. To find out what happened, you asked someone who saw it happen. If you were out to get someone, you could attempt to abuse the legal system to do harm to an innocent person. If you were angry with someone and wanted to do them in, you could charge them falsely with a capital offense and have them sentenced to death. There were, of course, some safeguards built in to the law to protect from this kind of misuse.

Deuteronomy 17:6 On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. 7 The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

There must be more than a single witness to establish a case against someone. The witnesses must be cross-examined, and their testimonies must agree. The witnesses understood the gravity of their responsibility, because they would also serve as the executioners.

Deuteronomy 19:15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

So if you sought to do harm by bringing false accusations to court and it was discovered that your charges were false, the penalty that you sought against your brother was to be done to you. If you were trying to use the courts to murder someone, then you were to be executed. If you were seeking the payment of a fine, then you had to pay out the amount you were suing for. If our courts were to implement something like this, it would put a quick stop to many frivolous lawsuits!

Proverbs on False Witnesses

The wisdom book of Proverbs has a lot to say about the evils of false witnesses.

Proverbs 6:16 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 12:17 Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit.

Proverbs 14:5 A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.

Proverbs 14:25 A truthful witness saves lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful.

Proverbs 19:5 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

Proverbs 19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will perish.

Proverbs 19:28 A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

Proverbs 21:28 A false witness will perish, but the word of a man who hears will endure.

Proverbs 24:28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

Proverbs 25:18 A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.

God makes it abundantly clear that he cares deeply what we do with our words. God hates, calls an abomination, and will not allow to go unpunished, a false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among brothers. This is a serious issue.

Silent Witness

What may be surprising is that this command also condemns those who keep silent when they ought to speak up.

Leviticus 5:1 “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity;

A witness that refuses to testify and by his silence allows injustice to be done is as guilty as a false witness. Notice, witness is not what you do, but who you are. If you know the facts, you are a witness, whether you speak up or remain silent. You may be a good witness, or you may be an evil witness, but you are a witness.

Connection with the Third Command

This command is intimately connected with the third command. Being a witness has everything to do with establishing the character of a person. A false witness slanders the character of an upright person. A true witness helps to establish the true character of a person, whether to establish the guilt of the lawbreaker or to defend the good character of the righteous. Commandment 3 has to do with the slander of the name or character of God. Commandment 9 has to do with the slander of the name or character of a person created in the image of God. We are to actively defend and uphold the good name of those around us. We are to intentionally pursue the good reputation of our neighbor. This means refusing to use our words in any way that would tear down or undermine the character of another person, and this means not remaining silent when others engage in tearing down the good reputation of another, but speaking out in their defense.

We are His Witnesses

This should help us understand our role as God’s witnesses. In Isaiah, he says.

Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.

We are, because of our relationship with God, witnesses to his character and nature. We may be a good reflection of God’s character, or we may be a poor testimony to who he is, but we are his witnesses. Witness is not something we do; witness is who we are. Jesus said:

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Our Character as Witnesses

Our character as his witnesses is, according to Jesus, tied directly back to how we treat one another.

John 13:35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Paul in Ephesians 4 is praying for the unity of believers in the church, and contrasting their way of life with those who do not know Jesus. He tells us that as Christians,we must set aside or put away our old habits and way of life and to instead put on the new transformed life of the Spirit.

Ephesians 4:20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

We are to put away falsehood; instead we are to speak truth with our neighbors. And the reason he gives is that we are members one of another. He has been talking about the various gifts God has given his body the church to promote unity and to strengthen one another. Since we are mutually dependent on each other and organically connected to each other in this body he calls his church, we must deal honestly with each other. There is no sense lying to yourself! He tells us that the things that we say and the way we interact with one another can give opportunity to the devil. Did you ever consider that what you say could open the door for Satan to gain access to divide Christ’s body? He tells us to let no corrupting talk come out of our mouth but rather things that build up. Our talk can have a putrefying effect on the body, or our words can actually become the means of grace to our hearers! The power of the tongue is great both to do harm and to do good. We can spread infectious rottenness, or pour out the riches of undeserved kindness. We can build up with our words, which really gives grace.

In another ‘put off / put on’ passage, Paul again focuses our attention on what we say.

Colossians 3:8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. …12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

So the old pattern of lying malicious slanderous talk that comes out of our mouths is to be replaced by a reflection of God’s compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with each others faults, extending undeserved forgiveness, and love. Instead of tearing one another down, we ought to be overflowing with thankfulness, our hearts saturated in the good news about Jesus so that we can speak and sing encouraging upbuilding gospel centered things into each others lives. Notice, in both of these passages, the new self is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. If that is true, then even the legitimate wrongs and faults we see in each other will be lovingly and privately addressed, with a view to reconciliation and transformation, rather than publicly pointed out with a view toward condemnation.

Jesus Slandered

And remember when you are slandered, even by your brothers and sisters, Jesus understands what it means to be injured by the words of false witnesses.

Mark 14:55 Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56 For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. 57 And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.”’ 59 Yet even about this their testimony did not agree.

Jesus knew what it meant to be slandered, to be falsely accused, even to have his own friends turn against him. The Psalms reflect his heart.

Psalm 41: 6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. 7 All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. … 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

At the cross, Jesus even bore in his body the false accusations and slander we hurl at God. If we claim innocence from this charge, remember, Jesus said:

Matthew 25:40 … ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

To slander a brother or sister is to reproach God himself.

Romans 15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” (Ps.69:9)

Phillip P. Bliss, c.1875

Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
“Full atonement!” can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in Heav’n exalted high.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

September 11, 2011 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | church, community, forgiveness, Love, relationship, witness, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 20:4-6; Word #2 – How to Worship

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110717_exodus20_4-6.mp3

07/17 Exodus 20:4-6 Word #2 How to Worship

Who We Worship / How We Worship

The first of God’s ten words specifies that we must worship the correct God. The true God and God alone must be worshiped. YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the I AM, the one who is, the self-existent one; the God who has saved, redeemed and delivered us; the Father, Son and Holy Spirit must alone be the object of our affection and adoration. This one God demands our exclusive devotion. Our hearts are not to be divided. We must worship the correct God. His second word to us is that we must worship the correct God correctly. As the proverb says:

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 16:25; 21:2)

We were created to worship and we were redeemed to worship. There is a right way to worship the right God, and there is a wrong way. Nadab and Abihu (Lev.10) are eloquent witnesses to that fact, as are Uzzah (2Sam.6; 1Chr.13) and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). God takes himself and his worship seriously.

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Image Worship not Artwork

God’s people are prohibited from making images or likenesses of anything for worship. This is not a prohibition against artwork. Later in Exodus, as we will see, God himself proscribed the details of the tabernacle, including golden winged cherubim, embroidered pomegranates, and golden almond blossoms. God filled the artists with his Spirit. So how is making a likeness of something in heaven – cherubim; or making likenesses of things on earth – pomegranates and almond blossoms; as proscribed for the tabernacle acceptable, and what exactly is forbidden in this command? The pomegranates and almond blossoms and cherubim in the tabernacle were not intended to represent God. They were not to be worshiped. God’s presence was not physically represented in any way in that structure. God said:

Exodus 25:22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. (cf. Numbers 7:89)

God met with his people in the space between the two cherubim, above the mercy seat. The tabernacle was to be a symbolic space, a space appropriate for God’s presence. But nothing in the tabernacle represented God himself. God spoke out of the space above and between the objects that were there. The stuff in the room was furniture and decoration. Solomon made this clear when he built the permanent version of the tabernacle. He said:

2 Chronicles 2:5 The house that I am to build will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. 6 But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to make offerings before him?

In his prayer of dedication of the temple he said:

2 Chronicles 6:18 “But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!

Solomon understood the omnipresence of God. God is everywhere, and cannot be limited or contained, as the psalmist writes:

Psalm 139:7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

Invisible God

When Moses met with God, it says:

Numbers 7:89 … he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.

It doesn’t say Moses saw anything. It says he heard the voice coming out of the space above and between. God is not physical or material. God is invisible.

1Timothy 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God…

Jesus taught, in regard to true worship of God:

John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus taught that God is not physical. God is spirit. In the retelling of the Law in Deuteronomy 4, we are given elaboration and some of the reasons behind God’s command to make no images. Turn to Deuteronomy 4:

Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children–– 10 how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess. 15 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore, the LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. 23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. 24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. 25 “When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. 32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. 36 Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

The explicit reasons given for the second command in Deuteronomy 4 are

Deuteronomy 4:12 …You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice… 15 …Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure.

Don’t make physical representations of God because God has no form. Every image or likeness falls short of communicating what he is really like. When Aaron made the golden calf, he was not intending to lead Israel astray to worship other gods. He was giving them a representation of the true God to assist in their worship. The calf symbolized God’s strength and power and might, but it also wrongly symbolized God as localized and inanimate and sexual, and this improper worship led to a breakdown in society and morality. This is what Romans lays out for us:

Romans 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. …28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind …

God is Creator. Everything else is created. Any representation we make of God insults him and brings him down to the level of his creation. Someone has said that ‘in the beginning God made man in his image, and ever since, man has been trying to return the favor.’ Whenever we conceive of God as if he were like us, we are exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images, and we are not honoring him as God.

Worship and the Word

So, how do we honor God as God, worship him as Creator, and preserve the truth about God, the glory of the immortal God? How do we keep from making images of him either physically or mentally? Over and over in the Deuteronomy passage, we see the contrast drawn between seeing no form and hearing his voice. God spoke. God revealed himself, not visually, but audibly. God reveals himself in words. If we will honor God as God, then we will listen to his self-revelation. We will let him define himself. We must listen to all that he says about himself, all that he says in his word. We are inclined to cling to one attribute of what God is like to the exclusion of other attributes. When we do this, we are exchanging the truth about God for a lie and creating an image of him that resembles ourselves. For instance, ‘I like to think of God as Love. How could a loving God ever send anyone to hell?’ This is a false image of God that distorts what love really is and excludes the reality that God is also just. It takes one thing that God has told us about himself and throws out the rest. Or ‘I don’t get the concept of the trinity, but I just love Jesus so much!’ Friends, God doesn’t expect you to ‘get’ him, to understand him. He expects you to worship him! We so desperately want to bring God down to our level so that he is more comfortable to comprehend. When we do, we have traded the truth about God for a lie. We exchange his immortal glory for images. What we are left with is no longer worthy of worship. We must fight to continually tear down our mental image of God and listen to God as he defines himself for us!

The Image of God

1Timothy 6:15 …he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

We were created to bear God’s image. Humans were to be the visible representation of the invisible God. We have failed miserably at this. God is love and we hate. God is righteous and we lie and cheat and steal and deal falsely. God rules justly and we are selfish and greedy for gain. We have grossly misrepresented what God is like. But God reveals himself accurately in his Word.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. …14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. …18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus, being fully God and fully man, perfectly bears the image of the invisible God for us, accurately represents God to us. Jesus…

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God…

As much as we have written about Jesus by the eyewitnesses, we have no physical description of what he looked like. There is an unhealthy obsession by many today to try to identify the facial features, build, stature, hair and eye color of Jesus. The eyewitnesses could have told us, but they did not, because the image of God is not in physical features.

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

If we want to worship the correct God correctly, we will listen to all that he has to say about himself in his word.

This Matters

It matters that we worship the correct God correctly, because God claims to be a jealous God.

Exodus 20:4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

This is not jealous in the petty sense of suspicious fears and envious resentment, but the holy jealousy of a husband who will not share his beloved wife with another man. God says ‘you shall have no other Gods before me.’ God has rescued his people and he is giving himself in a covenant relationship (like the marriage relationship) to be exclusively their God. The consequences for betraying the exclusivity of this relationship are far-reaching. This does not mean that God punishes innocent children for their father’s sins. Deuteronomy 24:16 clearly states that is not the case. Rather, children often learn and repeat the sinful behavior of their parents. God will not say ‘I won’t punish this generation for their sins because they just learned it from their parents.’ If children repeat the sins of their parents, they will be punished for those sins, just like their parents were punished. God is just. But the great mercy of God is highlighted in the greatest numerical contrast in the bible. Third and fourth to thousands! God shows up to judge for three or four generations, but his steadfast love is for thousands! God will show his covenant faithfulness to thousands of those who love him by keeping his commandments.

1John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

July 17, 2011 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, occasional | God, image, invisible, omnipresent, word, worship | Leave a Comment

Disciple-Making Disciples; How Did Jesus Teach?

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20110116_how_did_jesus_teach.mp3

01/16 What did Jesus teach – about the Scriptures? (how did Jesus teach?)

We’ve been looking at Jesus’ final command to his followers before he left the planet, with a view to how we can carry it out.

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus commanded that we all be disciple-making disciples of him. We are to pass on information, character and passion that results in a transformed life. We are to have content, character and conviction that is contagious to those around us. We’ve been looking at what that means. We’ve looked a little at what some of the content is. We looked at what Jesus taught us about God. We examined some of the things Jesus told us about his Father. We looked at what Jesus taught us about himself. And we looked at what Jesus had to say about the Holy Spirit. If we are going to be followers of Jesus, we must embrace everything he taught. If we are going to make disciples of all nations, we need to know what to teach them about God.

All Disciples are called to Teach

But we also need to know how to teach. If the primary method of disciple-making is teaching, and if we are all called to be disciple-making disciples, then we all need to be equipped by Jesus to teach. I want you to feel the weight of this. I come over to you this morning during the last song and lean over and whisper in your ear ‘I’m feeling really sick and I need to leave. Will you teach God’s people this morning?’ What are you feeling? What’s going through your head? Now some of you might be secretly thinking ‘oh, I wish that would happen! I would love to have the opportunity to get up in front…’ Those of you who think that way – you scare me. You’re probably the ones I would not ask – for that very reason. Most of you however, would probably be thinking ‘I’m not feeling too well either. Where’s the nearest exit?’. That may not be a very plausible illustration. So lets get more down to earth.

*A member of a religious organization comes to your door wanting to indoctrinate you with their religious beliefs. How do you talk to them?

*A co-worker has been observing your character for the last 10 years and they come to you and say ‘okay, you’ve earned the right to speak. Tell me about this Jesus stuff’. Where do you start?

*A friend from church is facing some painful circumstances and they call you and ask ‘why is God letting this happen in my life?’ What do you say?

*Or one of your kids comes to you and says ‘Dad, I’ve been talking to some of my friends at school. How can we be so sure that what we believe is right?’. How do you instruct them?

Those are all real examples that I have faced personally, and I expect that you could add to the list of daily opportunities we are all given to teach and to make disciples. In Colossians 3:16, we are instructed to:

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whether we have a specific role that requires teaching or not, we are all called to teach one another. I take the time to say this, because I don’t want anyone tuning out at this point saying ‘this is about teaching and I’m not a teacher so it doesn’t apply to me.’ Every follower of Jesus is to be a disciple-making disciple, and teaching is essential to the disciple-making process.

How Did Jesus Teach?

So this morning I want to look at how Jesus taught. My focus today is not on the content of what Jesus taught, but his method of teaching. Now we might be tempted to look at Jesus’ use of parables and stories, object lessons and illustrations, probing questions and in your face rebuke and confrontation, and that might be helpful and instructive, but I want to go even deeper than method. I want to try to get behind how he taught. I want to try to get inside his head and his heart and see how he thought that motivated how he taught. Or to ask it another way, what was the foundation of his teaching?

Scripture the final authority in personal moral decisions

To give us some help seeing what was foundational to his life and teaching, we’ll start with his private conversation with the devil at the outset of his public ministry. Turn in your bibles with me to Matthew.

Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’ 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”’ 7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”’ 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.

Although Jesus was not intending to disciple the devil and make him his follower, this passage has huge implications for teaching. Disciple making is training in making life decisions as well as training in truth and doctrine. In fact the two must be one. Our life choices must flow naturally from the truth we embrace. And we see this in Jesus’ personal life as he faced temptation from the devil. He was faced with moral decisions and he made those in light of the written word of God. Three times in this passage, Jesus replies with the phrase ‘it is written’, and he quotes the Old Testament Scriptures. In fact, quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3, he articulates our utter dependence on God’s words in all of life. “It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus based his every life decision on God’s word.

Now I may be making an assumption, but I don’t think that when he was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness he stopped by the local synagogue to grab a Torah scroll. In the moment of temptation he didn’t whip out his pocket scroll and start spinning through it to find where it was written. This seems to indicate that he was deeply familiar with the words of scripture, that he had listened intently to God’s words read in synagogue each week, that he had studied and meditated on God’s words, that he had followed the advice of the Psalmist, when he says:

Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

There are implications we could draw from this passage about memorization and church attendance and personal study, but we will leave that for another time. It is clear from the way our Lord responded to the devil, that he appealed to the written word of God as his final authority in his own moral decision making.

Every little Word

Because of Jesus’ radical new teaching, many thought that he contradicted and discarded the scriptures, but he made it clear that this was not so. He says in Matthew 5:17:

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

In Jesus’ day ‘the Law’ or ‘the Law and the Prophets’ were ways of referring to what we now know as the Old Testament. Jesus explicitly states that he does not intend to abolish the Scriptures, but to fulfill them. He points us to the least stroke of a pen and says that it will not pass from the written word until all is accomplished. Jesus tells us that even the smallest parts of the letters that make up the words are significant. Not one part of God’s written word is trivial or unimportant. If God bothered to say it and have it written down and preserved for us, then every bit of it deserves our careful attention and study. Jesus tells us there are deep consequences for disregarding God’s word, but there is great reward for all who obey it and teach others to do the same.

Scripture the foundation of his own teaching.

Jesus then goes on to base his moral teaching on the precepts of the Old Testament Law, pointing us beyond the external keeping of the letter of the law, to the true goal of transformation of heart and desires. Six times in this passage on issues of anger and insult, lust, divorce, taking oaths, retribution and hatred, Jesus says “You have heard that it was said to those of old… But I say to you…” (Matt.5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43)

So we see that Jesus used the scriptures as the basis for his own moral decisions and as the foundation of his moral teaching. He explicitly says that he did not come to do away with the written word, but rather to bring it to fruition.

Scripture the final authority in controversy with religious leaders

Let’s look at how Jesus handled the scriptures when he was in conflict with the religious leaders of his day.

Matthew 15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”’

Jesus held up the commandment of God over against the tradition of men. He quotes the scriptures and says ‘God commanded… but you say’. He accuses them of making void the word of God for the sake of human tradition and he says their worship is worthless.

Listen to how Jesus talks. Jesus said things like:

Matthew 12:3 … “Have you not read …

Matthew 12:5 Or have you not read in the Law …

Matthew 19:4 …“Have you not read …

Matthew 21:16 … have you never read,

Matthew 21:42 …“Have you never read in the Scriptures…

Matthew 22:29 … “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.

Matthew 22:31 … have you not read what was said to you by God:

Mark 12:26 …have you not read in the book of Moses,

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures …and it is they that bear witness about me,

John 7:38 …as the Scripture has said, …

John 10:35 …––and Scripture cannot be broken––

John 13:18 …But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘…

Luke 11:28 …Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

John 8:55 … I keep his word.

John 17:14 I have given them your word,…

John 17:17 …your word is truth.

Mark 2:2 …And he was preaching the word to them.

Mark 4:33 …he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,…

Jesus appealed to the scriptures as the final authority in his controversy with the religious leaders of his day.

Scripture is historically reliable

I think it’s appropriate to ask a question here. We’ve seen that Jesus used the Scriptures as his rule for faith and practice. He anchored his own moral decisions and his teaching in the Scripture. He argued from the scriptures with the religious leaders of his day. But did he believe the scriptures? Let me clarify what I mean by the question: Did he view the bible accounts as true history, or as religious myth and fable designed to teach a spiritual truth? Jesus himself spoke sometimes in parables – fictitious stories that he used to communicate a moral or spiritual truth. In what category did Jesus place the Old Testament? Let’s look at a few examples.

Jesus refers to the Genesis account of the creation of mankind by God and the first marriage and assumes that it is true and factual (Matt.19:4-6). He refers to the prophet Jonah being swallowed by a great fish, (Mat.12:38-41) and to the wisdom of Solomon (Mat.12:41-42). He refers to Noah and the ark and the destruction of the world by the flood (Lk.17:26-27) and to Lot and his wife who turned into a pillar of salt and the fire and sulfur that God rained down in judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah (Lk.17:28-29, 32) as if they were real people and actual historical accounts. Jesus anchored his arguments on the historical events.

So Jesus took the bible to be true history, he took it as the final authority in religious controversy, as the basis for his teaching and as the compass to guide moral decisions.

Scripture a guide to Jesus’ Messianic office

Jesus also claimed the prophetic scriptures must be fulfilled, and that they were fulfilled in him.

John 5:39 You search the Scriptures …and it is they that bear witness about me,

Luke 4:21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

John 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”’

Joh 12:14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,

Mr 14:27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

Mt 26:24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him,…

Matthew 26:54 But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

Matthew 26:56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.

Mark 14:49 … But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.”

Luke 22:37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.”

John 10:35 …––and Scripture cannot be broken––

John 13:18 But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’

John 15:25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

John 17:12 … not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”

Jesus believed himself to be the fulfillment of prophetic scriptures. He took the bible not only as a guide in his moral decisions, but also as a guide in his Messianic role.

Jesus’ view of his own teaching

So Jesus believed the stories of the bible to be true and factual, and that it was the final authority in moral and religious issues. But Jesus’ bible was what we know as the Old Testament. Can we say anything about what Jesus thought about the New Testament?

We do know what Jesus said about his own teaching, and that he claimed to speak God’s words. He claimed that his teaching was absolutely true. He frequently said things like:

John 5:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

John 6:47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

Those who heard him were amazed at his teaching.

Mark 1:27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

Luke 4:36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”

Matthew 7:28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Jesus even claimed the same kid of Old Testament permanence for his own teaching.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Jesus’ view of the New Testament

But Jesus didn’t write any books. How do we know that his followers got it right? We know from any honest historian that the four gospels are considered to be accurate and reliable historical documents. But does Jesus have anything to say about what his apostles would write? Jesus told his disciples that they would bear witness because they had been with him.

John 15:27 And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

He promised them supernatural power to be his witnesses, in fact he promised the Holy Spirit to be their constant teacher and to remind them of what he had taught.

John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

So Jesus believed that the Old Testament was reliable and authoritative, and he believed his own teaching was on the same level, and he ensured by the power of the Holy Spirit that his disciples would accurately bear witness of him and speak with his authority.

If we want to be followers of Jesus, we will embrace what he taught us about the bible. We will embrace the bible as true and trustworthy, as the authority for life and faith, and what we speak and teach will be rooted in and saturated by the very words of God. As Paul said to Timothy:

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

January 16, 2011 Posted by pastorrodney | occasional, podcast | Bible, disciple, Holy Spirit, Jesus, New Testament, scripture, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 5:1-19; Whose Word Will Stand?

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100912_exodus05_1-19.mp3

9/12 Exodus 5:1-19 Whose Word Will Stand?

Introduction:

God has declared over and over that he cares about his people.

-Exodus 2:23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

-Exodus 3:7 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.

-Exodus 3:16 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.”’

God has sent Moses and his brother Aaron to declare the good news that God cares and has begun to take decisive action to deliver them from their oppression in Egypt so they can serve him. Moses is afraid that the people won’t listen to him or believe him, but they do listen and they do believe, just as God had promised, and they respond in worship. With the encouragement of this initial success, Moses and Aaron are now emboldened to bring God’s word to the Pharaoh.

Thus Says the LORD

God had given them the words he wanted them to say to the Pharaoh.

-Exodus 4:21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”

-Exodus 3:18 … 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.’

This is the first of over 400 times the phrase ‘Thus says the Lord’ is used in the bible. When God gave his prophet a message to deliver – usually a message of confrontation rebuking someone who is hostile to God – he was to introduce the message this way: ‘thus says the Lord’. But there are severe warnings about claiming to speak God’s words when God had not spoken

-Jeremiah 14:14 And the LORD said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed.

-Ezekiel 22:28 And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken. …31 Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

God takes his word very seriously. When he speaks, he demands that we listen, and if we will not listen, he says he will require it of us. Those who lie about speaking in his name when he had not spoken, he required the death penalty.

Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’– 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

This is a prophecy of the promised Messiah, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers”. This is the one who would fulfill perfectly the roles of prophet, priest and king. The crowning pinnacle of God’s self-revelation was his own Son, the word become flesh.

Hebrews 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

So Moses is foreshadowing Jesus when he comes to set the captives free. Jesus read God’s words about himself:

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Isaiah 61:1-2)

God’s Demands

Moses declares the word of God boldly to the Pharaoh:

5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”’

YHWH, the God of Israel claims ownership on this people that you are oppressing. You are forcing them to serve you. YHWH says ‘they are mine. They are mine, and you must let them go. They are to hold a feast to me’. God is claiming the right of possession on his people.

This is worded differently than what God had said to Moses. God had said in 4:23 ‘let my son go that he may serve me’ or in 3:18 ‘that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God’. Here Moses says ‘let my people go that they may hold a feast to me’. The word here translated ‘hold a feast’ is a word that describes a feast, festival or pilgrimage. Worshiping or serving God, even sacrificing, is indeed a feast or festival – a celebration. If we picture the Old Testament sacrificial system as a heavy financial burden where animal after animal simply went up in smoke, I think we are mistaken. Certainly there were sin offerings and whole burnt offerings, and what was offered to the Lord was to be the best of the best – they were not to offer to the Lord that which cost them nothing (2 Samuel 24:24). But this was not all. Listen to how God describes the sacrifices he demands of his people:

Deuteronomy 12:6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

… 11 then to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

… 17 You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, 18 but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake.

… 26 But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the LORD will choose, 27 and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but the flesh you may eat.

This would be more of a worship celebration, a family bar-b-cue in the presence of the Lord. Moses was accurate in describing what God demanded of them as a ‘feast’. This contrasts starkly to the service required by the Pharaoh. In this chapter the Pharaoh acknowledges that it is ‘hard service’ and in this chapter he makes it even harder, even to the point of being impossible. But listen to what Jesus says:

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

God is planning rest for his people.

5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”’

Pharaoh would understand this language. Other people groups would claim to speak on behalf of their deity, and there is evidence that other groups would go on pilgrimage from Egypt to serve their gods.

All is well up to this point. Moses and Aaron have obeyed the Lord and gone to the elders of Israel, and they received the words of the Lord and responded with belief and worship. And now they have gone to Pharaoh and declared God’s words. But here comes the crushing blow.

2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”

Pharaoh is not saying that he’s never heard of YHWH or that he doesn’t know anything about Israel’s God. What he is saying is that he has no reason to respect this God or listen to what he says. He says ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?’ Remember Moses’ question to God ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Ex.3:11) Moses is not unsure of his own identity. He is unconvinced of his qualifications and his ability to accomplish the task. The Pharaoh was certainly aware of Israel’s God YHWH, as he was aware of the many gods of the Egyptians and the gods of the surrounding nations. Simply as a matter of diplomacy he should at least acknowledge the God of his slave people. But instead he demonstrates a total disregard and lack of respect for the God of the Hebrews. He snubs their God and spits in his face. Pharaoh is saying ‘I am in charge here. I am the final authority. This so called God of Israel has no right to tell me what to do with my slaves. I do not believe in your God and I will not let Israel go.’

As shocking as these words are, they should not come as a surprise. God had laid out clearly what would happen ahead of time. God had already told Moses:

-Exodus 3:19 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.

-Exodus 4:21 And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

Pharaoh’s proud harsh response should be an indication to Moses that God is already at work, doing exactly what he promised, hardening the Pharaoh’s unbelieving heart in order to set the stage for his mighty acts of deliverance. But it seems that Moses and Aaron are a bit taken aback by his defiant response. Their response is less authoritative, more reasoned, more tactful.

3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”

Their reasoning seems to be that if we are not allowed to go, the Lord may punish us for our disobedience and that would be a greater loss to Egypt’s labor force than the requested pilgrimage. The irony here is that the Lord is about to fall on Egypt with pestilence and sword because of their refusal to release his son Israel.

But their persuasive speech leaves the Pharaoh unmoved.

4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!”

The Pharaoh now accuses Moses and Aaron of distracting his slaves from their hard labor. Pharaoh is still on his throne and he is still calling the shots in Egypt. He refers back to the problem addressed by his predecessor – the disproportionate growth of the Hebrew people – God has made them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the land, to the point where they are a threat to the national security. They are many and they must be kept in subjection. This Pharaoh is shrewd. He institutes a plan to demoralize Israel and discredit Moses.

Pharaoh’s Demands

6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”

Cut straw was an essential ingredient for sun-dried bricks to dry properly and hold together. This was apparently provided ready to use at the job site. The new demand was that the straw would be withheld and the slaves would have to scrounge for whatever substitute they could find and still meet the same quota of finished product. Pharaoh’s accusation is that they are idle. That is why they are asking to be released to offer sacrifice to their God. Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh saying ‘thus says YHWH’. Pharaoh calls the words of YHWH spoken by Moses and Aaron ‘lying words’. Remember the serpent in the garden? He questioned Eve ‘Did God actually say…’ (Gen.3:1) and then flatly contradicted God’s words saying ‘you will not surely die’ (Gen.3:4). His tactics are the same today. He seeks to undermine the word of God and God’s messengers. This hope of rest and worship that Moses and Aaron are enticing the people with are false hopes. God has not really spoken to them. I will exercise my authority to demonstrate who is really in charge by exponentially increasing the workload and demanding the impossible.

10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.”’ 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”

Pharaoh here directly asserts himself against the God of the Hebrews. Moses and Aaron had come to him saying ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel. ‘Let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ Pharaoh responds ‘Thus says Pharaoh’. Whose word will stand? Moses comes in the authority of YHWH saying ‘thus says the Lord’ and Pharaoh responds by a proclamation ‘Thus says Pharaoh’. God says that Israel is my people and they are to be released to serve me. Pharaoh says they are my slaves and I will intensify their service to me.

The Israelite foremen did their best to produce the same amount of bricks, but the demand imposed upon them was impossible. They were beaten publicly by the Egyptian taskmasters for not meeting the quota.

The Response of Israel

15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.”

At the end of chapter 2, it says that the people ‘groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard… and God remembered… God saw… and God knew. Here the people of Israel cry out again, but this time to the Pharaoh. Three times in these verses the Israelite foremen refer to themselves as ‘your servants’. The question in this passage is whom will the people serve? Will they serve the Lord? Or is their allegiance to Pharaoh? But the Pharaoh will not hear. He does not care. He has no sympathy, no compassion. In contrast to God’s heart toward the people, his heart is hard. The foremen think there must be some miscommunication. The quota has remained the same but he necessary materials to meet that quota have been withheld. ‘The fault is in your own people’ the foremen say to the Pharaoh. But the Pharaoh affirms their worst fears. You heard correctly. You must produce the same quantity without the necessary materials. And the reason – your request to go sacrifice to the Lord indicates that you are lazy and have too much time on your hands.

Whose Word Will Stand?

Here we begin to see the irrationality of a man who has determined to fight against God. Withholding the necessary materials will inevitably lead to reduced quality in bricks – the building materials he is using to build his kingdom. Anything built with this sub-standard product will not last as long. So he is ultimately hurting himself by his irrational and impossible demands.

Psalm 14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (cf. Psalm 53:1)

The Pharaoh has set himself against God.

Psalm 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his anointed, …2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 2:5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 2:6 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”

It is God’s word that will stand in the end.

1 Peter 1:24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

God’s word is good news. Good news of freedom – freedom from oppressive bondage – freedom to joyfully serve the one true God. Feasting. Celebration. Worship. Relationship. Knowing God. Life and life abundantly. The good news of reconciliation for sinners to a holy God through the once-for-all perfect sacrifice of his own Son Jesus.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

September 12, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | Jesus, joy, lord, prophesy, prophet, rejoice, sacrifice, word, worship | Leave a Comment

Exodus 4:24-26 The Leader a Lawbreaker

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100829_exodus04_24-26.mp3

8/29 Exodus 4:24-26 The Leader a Lawbreaker; Sins of Omission

Introduction:

Exodus is about God. It is about God and his power and sovereign authority over all of his creatures. God raised up Moses to be the reluctant tool he would use to rescue his people from bondage in Egypt to glad service to him. More important than what they were delivered from, God was delivering the Hebrew people to something – to life and life abundant – life lived in relationship with and worship of the one true God. God was delivering the people of Israel to himself – to be his. He called them his firstborn son.

God had prepared and shaped Moses to be his instrument to deliver his people. God called Moses and overcame his objections and excuses one by one. God invested him with his authority and gave him miraculous signs to perform, and promised that things would go exactly as he had ordained. But there was a problem with the family life of the leader God had called. God takes holiness very seriously and this sin had to be addressed. Moses’ lack of obedience must be dealt with before he is fit to lead.

4:19 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 21 And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’” 24 At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

The Ambiguity of the Passage:

The NIV tries to clear up some of the ambiguity of this passage by inserting Moses’ name in place of the personal pronouns ‘him or ‘his’:

NIV: 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met {Moses} and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched {Moses’} feet with it “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

Even the ESV and NASB insert Moses’ name in verse 25. The purpose is to clarify a difficult passage and make it more readable and clear. The danger in doing this is if the translators get it wrong then rather than making an ambiguous passage clear, they make it misleading. In this instance, the old KJV does a better job of translating the passage as it stands in the original:

KJV 4:24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. 26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

Even the word translated ‘husband’ could be translated simply ‘relative’. This leaves us with some questions. Who did the LORD meet and seek to kill? Was it Moses or his son? Most scholars agree that ‘feet’ is a euphemism for the genitals. Whose ‘feet’ did Zipporah touch with the foreskin of her son? Who was she referring to when she said ‘blood relative’? What did she mean by that? Was she angry? We don’t hear of Moses’ family again until in Exodus 18:2-6 where we are told that he had sent them home to stay with his father-in-law. Did they accompany him to Egypt and then he sent them away later, or did they go only as far as this lodging place and then part ways? The answer to these questions are simply that we don’t know. The grammar and syntax is simply not clear enough to say for sure. The context may help us a little, but in the end there is much that simply must remain a mystery.

We are dealing with a document that has been preserved for well over 3000 years. It is separated from us by multiplied centuries of time and by drastically differing customs and cultures so it should not be surprising that it seems quite foreign and even bizarre to us. If it was important for us to know exactly who did what to whom then God could have spelled it all out for us. It’s amazing the length of tedious detail in many of the biblical genealogies, but a story like this we are left puzzling over the pieces of historical narrative. But the bible was not written to satisfy our curiosity. The scriptures are given to us to communicate God’s truth. The goal is primarily theological. What can we learn about God and his ways? All scripture is meant to be useful – profitable for teaching and reproof and correction and training in righteousness, to equip us for every good work and to make us wise to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ (2Tim.3:15-17)

Background: Covenant of Circumcision and the Firstborn Son

It is clear that the main issue in the passage is circumcision. Moses’ son (and possibly Moses himself) is not circumcised. This brings God’s punishment, and Zipporah takes action and appeases God’s wrath by performing the deed. Let’s try to get an understanding of what’s going on by looking back to the origination of circumcision and what it means. Circumcision was first given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant between God and his people.

Genesis 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

God is making a covenant, or a contractual agreement with Abraham and his descendents. God is promising to bless them and to enter into relationship with them – to be their God. The physical sign or symbol of the covenant relationship between God and his people is to to be circumcision. Every son born to a Hebrew family must be circumcised on the eighth day. Failure to cut off the flesh meant being cut off from God’s covenant relationship.

Apparently Moses had failed to circumcise his own son. God had called Moses to be the one to lead his people, but he didn’t have his own family in order. So God was going to cut him off. In the preceding context, God had commanded Moses to announce to the Pharaoh that he considered Israel his firstborn son, and if the Pharaoh refused to release God’s firstborn son, God would kill the Pharaoh’s firstborn son. The next thing in the narrative is that God shows up to kill Moses’ firstborn son, because Moses failed to keep the covenant. God takes his covenant relationship with his people dead serious.

The Meaning of Circumcision

But what does this all mean? Certainly there are hygienic reasons for removing the excess flesh of the foreskin, but why would God choose to make this the symbol of his covenant relationship with us?

Colossians 2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

Paul makes it clear that the circumcision that counts is the circumcision done by Christ, severing our allegiance to our fleshly sin nature, the death and resurrection to a new life that is also pictured in baptism. Circumcision is a painful prospect, touching a most intimate part of our life. In our relationship with God, there is no area of our life that remains unaffected. The process of sanctification (or being made holy) can be very painful – cutting away the things that God says must go. God demands absolute authority and access to every area of our life. Speaking of our struggle with sin, Paul asks:

Romans 6:2 … How can we who died to sin still live in it? … 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. … 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Paul made it clear in Romans 2 that:

Romans 2:28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

This is not an innovation by the apostle Paul. The spiritual nature of circumcision was spelled out clearly by the Old Testament prophets.

Jeremiah 9:24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” 25 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh–

What was critical then – as it is now – is a relationship with the LORD. The outward symbol is nothing without the inward reality.

Jeremiah 4:1 “If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver…4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”

This is not a development of the later prophets. All the way back in the Torah itself, the law of Moses, we find the focus on the circumcision of the heart.

Deuteronomy 10:12 “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

This is the promise we have, that God himself will do this to us.

Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Evidence of Grace

When we see what circumcision is and what it signifies, we can see this mysterious passage in a new light. This is evidence of God’s grace!

24 At a lodging place on the way the LORD met him and sought to put him to death. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” 26 So he let him alone. It was then that she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.

Moses had neglected to do what he knew was required to be part of God ‘s covenant people. It was a sin of omission. God would have been just in cutting him off from his covenant people without warning, but apparently there is enough warning given for Zipporah to take action. That is sheer grace. Again we see a woman come to the rescue of the one who is to rescue Israel from Egypt. She, a foreigner, declares her status as a blood relative and does what Moses had neglected to do in his family. And God accepts her action. Abundant grace! Moses had sinned. He had failed to pass on this rite and the blessing of what it meant to his own sons. He had failed to include them in the covenant relationship that God had initiated with his people. He was called to lead God’s people into worship and he had failed to be a spiritual leader in his own family. It could have cost him the life of his firstborn son. But God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

God is serious about obedience. God demands holiness in his people, holiness that can only be found as a fruit of relationship with him through the work of the one mediator who shed his own blood for us and clothes us in his righteousness.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

August 29, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | Holiness, righteousness, Sin, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 4:1-9; The Unbelief of Moses and the Superabundant Patience of God

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100711_exodus04_1-9.mp3

7/11 Exodus 4:1-9 The Unbelief of Moses and the Superabundant Patience of God

3:16 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.’ 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.”

4:1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” 2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. 4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”-so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand- 5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. 7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. 8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

***

The unbelief of Moses and the superabundant patience of God

This passage is about belief in God’s word. The word ‘believe’ or ‘trust’ occurs 5 times in these 9 verses. The word ‘listen’ or ‘obey’ occurs 3 times. God has spoken. God has interrupted history and introduced himself to his servant and called him to a specific task. He has promised the outcome in detail in advance. Moses is a skeptic. Moses is struggling to believe. Already in the process of God’s revelation of himself to Moses, Moses had questioned the wisdom and the word of God. We will see in this passage the unbelief of Moses and the superabundant patience of God toward a questioning skeptic.

YHWH had said in 3:8 ‘I have come down to deliver’; in 3:10 ‘come, I will send you to Pharaoh’; in 3:11 Moses said to God ‘who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ God answered ‘but I will be with you’. In 3:13 Moses says ‘what if they ask about you? What if they ask ‘who sent you?’ What is your name?’ God answers ‘I AM WHO I AM. Tell them I AM has sent you; the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. Go to the elders of Israel and tell them ‘I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt.’ In 3:18 God says ‘And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt’ Then he says ‘ I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it’ He says ‘I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty … you shall plunder the Egyptians’.

But Moses is tripped up all the way back in verse 18. God tells Moses to go to the elders of Israel and he says ‘they will listen to you.’

4:1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”

This is a direct contradiction to the words of God. God says ‘they will listen’. Moses says ‘but look, God, they will not believe me or listen to my voice.’ Moses is projecting his own doubt onto the Israelites. He is struggling to believe God, who is appearing to him, so he assumes that the Israelites, who have not seen what he has seen will certainly not believe a mere verbal report of what he claims to have seen and heard in the desert.

A definition of belief:

The belief he is talking about is more than a recognition that certain facts are true. That is part of the question – Moses, what you say happened in the desert – did it really happen or did you just make this up? You had a real experience. Was it God or is there some other explanation? ‘Moses, we believe you. We believe you really had this experience and that it was really God. Now everybody, back to making bricks!’ That’s not the kind of belief we are talking about. This belief demands a response. This is what James is talking about when he says ‘faith without works is dead’ (James 2:14-26) That’s why Moses says they will not believe or listen. He doesn’t think they’ll have any reason to buy his story, and he doesn’t think that they will respond to his message. The word ‘listen’ could be translated ‘obey’, because when I tell my children to go and do something, the evidence that they heard me is the going and the doing. If they aren’t gone and it isn’t done, they I might ask ‘didn’t you hear me?’ And they might look up from their toys and say ‘yes, we heard you quite clearly. You asked us to go and do such and such.’ and they might look back down and continue to play with their toys. I am not an auditory specialist performing a hearing test. I wasn’t checking if your ears worked. In that setting listening and obeying are one and the same. If there is no action, they did not listen.

The cost of belief:

What does this mean for Moses and for the elders of Israel? God is sending Moses to Egypt to talk to the elders of Israel, to tell them that he is coming down to deliver them. The elders of Israel who are slaves in Egypt are to go with Moses to Pharaoh to ask for the religious freedom to travel into the desert to make offerings to their God. This would be a great risk for the leaders of Israel. God had already told Moses that the Pharaoh wouldn’t listen and that things would get worse before they got better. This could cost them their popularity, their positions, their families, even their lives! These leaders would have to trust Moses. Out of their confidence in him they would have to step out to do what he asks that they do. They would have to take Moses’ word for it that YHWH had met with him and sent him to deliver. What is the credibility of Moses? This would be the first time in over 400 years that anyone had claimed that YHWH had appeared to them. And Moses was raised by the Pharaoh’s own daughter. He was rejected once before by his people. Now he’s been exiled in the desert for the last 40 years doing who knows what. Why would anyone believe him? What reason would they have to trust him? They had hoped the new Pharaoh would bring some relief, but their hopes were soon crushed. What would cause them to hope in the words of Moses?

All this and more may have been rushing through the mind and emotions of Moses, but Moses had God’s word on the issue. Moses, they will listen to you. So Moses has his experience and his reasoning and his past failures and his fears over against God’s word to him. And Moses, the one who is to lead Israel in this pivotal event of history is swayed by his fears to disbelieve God’s word. God said ‘they will listen to you.’ Moses says ‘but look, they will not believe me or listen to my voice.’ One older author put it this way [1881]

“How hard it is to overcome the unbelief of the human heart!How difficult man ever finds it to trust God! How slow he is to venture upon the naked promise of Jehovah! Anything, for nature, but that. The most slender reed that the human eye can see is counted more substantial, by far, as a basis for nature’s confidence, than the unseen ‘Rock of Ages.’” C.H.Macintosh, p.159

The Patience and Perseverance of God:

God is so patient! God is so merciful. God is so kind. He is so long-suffering. He bears with the shortcomings of his servant. Remember, God is all-knowing. He knows the weaknesses of his chosen instrument. He knows exactly what he is getting himself into. He knows he is purchasing damaged goods – used, as is. And he plans to get glory for himself by accomplishing stunning things with broken people. God is so persevering! He doesn’t give up on Moses and walk away and say ‘Fine, if you don’t want to cooperate, I’ll find someone else!’ God takes Moses as he is and does everything necessary to overcome his unbelief and create in him the required faith.

Sign #1:

God answers Moses’ unbelieving statement with a question. ‘What is that in your hand?’ God already knew what was in Moses hand. It was a shepherd’s staff, a stick. God knew what kind of wood it was and where it grew and how old it was. He knew every knot and twist of the grain. He knew its weak points and exactly how much force it could withstand before it snapped. God’s questions are not for his benefit to learn from our wisdom and experience. When God asks a question, it is for our benefit to cause us to reflect on what is true. God wanted Moses to verbalize exactly what it was that he was holding on to. Moses says ‘Ahh, I’m glad you noticed. This is my supernatural wonder working miracle stick.’ Far from it. Moses looks in his hand and sees an ordinary stick. A useful tool for a shepherd, but just a piece of wood. Maybe Moses even remembered where he picked it up. A staff in ancient culture was a form of personal identification – because no two sticks are alike. It was useful for personal protection, and it was a symbol of the person’s power. Moses’ staff would not be an ornate scepter like the Pharaoh of Egypt would possess. It was the ordinary staff of a shepherd. After Moses verbalizes that it is nothing special – a mere ordinary stick, God commands him to throw it on the ground. Put yourself in Moses’ sandals. He doesn’t know what’s coming. This seems like a weird request. I told God that no one would believe that he sent me, and he’s telling me to throw my stick on the ground. Not sure how that relates, but whatever. This would be like God asking you, ‘What’s that in your back pocket? A wallet? Take out your personal identification and throw it on the ground. Take your handgun or your pocket knife or whatever you might carry for self-defense and throw it on the ground.’ Watch what happens:

2 The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” 3 And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it.

That must have shocked Moses. We chuckle at Moses running from his staff become serpent. Remember, Moses has his sandals off. He’s got bare feet. He’s just thrown down his main form of self-protection. And let’s picture if Moses is 5′ 8” then his staff is maybe 6 foot tall and thick enough to support his weight and be a useful tool herding sheep in the desert. Now he’s got a 6 foot long cobra rearing up and flaring out its neck and staring him in the face. I’m guessing it was a cobra because the cobra was the power symbol of the Pharaoh in Egypt, worn on his headdress and around his arm. Moses is barefoot and unarmed. No surprise that he ran. What is surprising is what God tells him to do:

4 But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”-so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-

If anyone knows anything about snakes the first rule is leave it alone! Stay far far away. But if anyone knows anything about catching snakes, rule number one is never try to catch it by the tail. Snakes are fast and flexible and strong and they can double back in an instant and strike. If you’ve got a snake by the tail, it can not only see and smell you, but now it can feel exactly where you are and it’s not going to miss. Catching a snake by the tail leaves you completely vulnerable to the venom in its fangs. God commands Moses to stop running away and stretch out your hand grasp or take hold of the snake by the tail. God has told Moses ‘I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt’. Now he is telling Moses to stretch out his hand and take a snake by the tail. The word that describes what Moses did is a different verb. He snatched at it or grabbed it cautiously. Moses’ obedience is impressive. God didn’t tell him what would happen. He didn’t tell him it would be safe or that it would all turn out OK. Moses didn’t know until it was in his hand that it was going to turn back into a stick.

By the way, I believe this was a real stick that really turned into a real snake. This was not some slight of hand trickery or illusion. The God who can speak everything into existence can surely turn a shepherd’s stick into a snake and back again. Notice again the stated purpose of all of this:

5 “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

The purpose is belief, trust, confidence. God’s purpose in the sign of the snake is to stimulate belief in the elders of Israel. The snake is the power symbol of Egypt. Moses has met with the One who holds all power in his hand.

Sign # 2

Moses is probably still a bit shaken and stunned by what just happened. But God doesn’t leave it at this:

6 Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.

Moses is told to put his hand against his skin by his chest. Again, Moses has no idea what to expect. This would be a terrifying turn of events. Leprosy was an incurable skin disease that banished the infected person from all society permanently. Moses, you thought you were lonely before! Now you’ve got leprosy. Even the Midianites won’t accept you now. You’ve become a total outcast. What God told Moses to do next was probably even more loathsome than taking a serpent by the tail.

7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.”

You never touch a leper. Leprosy is extremely contagious and God would give Israel clear laws about how to quarantine and control the spread of this debilitating disease. The main rule is that leprosy is spread by contact, so keep leprosy as far away from you as possible. Now God is telling Moses to take the diseased flesh of his hand and press it against the clean flesh of his chest. Again, identify with Moses. He didn’t know what was coming. He only knew the natural consequences of putting a leprous hand against clean flesh. The leprosy would spread.

7 Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.

Moses had been an outcast from his people for 40 years. Moses is now face to face with the healer of all disease – One who can make the outcast clean

Deuteronomy 32:39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

God alone has the authority over sickness and disease, over life and death. That is why the king of Israel was terrified when he received a letter from the king of Syria asking that he cure one of his generals of leprosy:

[the king of Syria] 2 Kings 5:6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.”

We can’t help but see how this points to Jesus. In the law there was a detailed procedure for cleansing a leper who had been healed. But never in history had a leper been cleansed of leprosy. That is what makes Jesus action so staggering:

Luke 5:12 While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 13 And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

If you touch a leper you contract leprosy. Jesus is the only one who has the cleansing power and compassion to touch the unclean and make them clean!

Sign # 3

Again the object is belief. God intends to create belief in his people by any means necessary. This is not intended to cause the Pharaoh to believe. God has already said that he will not listen, but he has promised Moses that the elders of Israel would listen:

8 “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. 9 If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

The Nile was the life of Egypt. Without the Nile river, Egypt would not exist. Here God is previewing the first of the ten plagues, and declaring his sovereignty over the Nile river and over the Egyptian god of the Nile, and over all of Egypt. Blood is a symbol of life and death, and YHWH is the true life giver. Egypt’s rebellion against YHWH would cost them the lives of their firstborn sons. Ultimately God would triumph over sin and death an hell by the blood of his own dear Son, shed on a Roman cross

1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

This is all about belief. But it is not about belief in Moses. It is about belief in God. God is the one who is the life giver. God is the one who is judge and can heal and make the outcast clean. God is the one who holds all power in his hand, even the power of that old serpent, the devil. God is the one who triumphed over him at the cross.

This should be so encouraging as we proclaim the good news of Jesus to unbelievers. It’s not our eloquence or winsome personality or flawless logic that will persuade someone to believe in Jesus. Paul was sent with this same purpose:

Acts 26:17 …the Gentiles––to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

We are sent, not in our own authority and with our own wisdom, but with the power of God to open blind eyes.

2 Corinthians 4:5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

God has the power to create sight, and he promises to be with us!

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

July 11, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | evangelism, faith, gospel, Jesus, patience, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 3:16-22; God Knows

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100704_exodus03_16-22.mp3

7/4 Exodus 3:16-22 God Knows

3: 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. 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.” 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.” 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. 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.’ 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.”

God made himself known to Moses. He told him that he has compassion on his people. He has seen, he has heard, he knows, and he has come down to deliver them. He is sending Moses to deliver them. Moses asks the question ‘Who am I?’ God clarifies that it is not who you are, Moses, that makes a difference, but who I am. So Moses asks God ‘Then who are you? Tell me your name. What are your credentials?’ God gives him the verb ‘to be’, He says I AM THAT I AM; I am the uncaused cause; I am the only independent being in existence, the self existent source and ground of all that is. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. I am the same God now that I was then. I am the same God who made the magnificent promises to the patriarchs, and I will keep those promises because I AM. I am that I am, and I am to be remembered in this way throughout all generations.

Now that God has revealed something of who he is to Moses, he clarifies his instructions. He had told Moses

10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Now he tells Moses to go and gather the elders of Israel. this is the first time in the bible that we hear of the elders of Israel. Genesis 50:7 talks about the elders of Egypt, but Israel had no need for structured leadership. Up to this point in their history, Israel was merely a family with promises that God would make them into a great nation. Now, during their 400 years of slavery in Egypt, God had taken them from an extended family of 70 people, to a nation that is a national threat to Egypt, organized with elders. Moses is to go to these elders, gather them as a group, and declare these words to them:

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.”’

Moses is to reiterate what is said of God in 2:23-24 and what he said to him in 3:7-9 that he has seen and heard, he knows, he cares, he remembers his covenant, and he is doing something about it. Moses is to introduce God as ‘YHWH, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.’ God wants the people to be reminded that he is the same God who made promises to the patriarchs and is now fulfilling those promises.

God tells Moses to tell them this: “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt.” This would be a mixed message to anyone. Imagine you are having a hard time with someone at work and God says to you “I have observed you and what has been done to you.” God knows what has been done to me – that’s good! But he’s also observed me. He knows how I’ve responded to the pressure. He’s seen me at my absolute worst. He knows every thought I’ve thunk and every motive of my heart. That is a sobering thought, is it not? It’s a sobering thought, but it is also a freeing thought. I have nothing to hide because I can hide nothing. God knows everything I’ve done, he knows all my sin. He sees my heart even more clearly than I do myself. He knows me more intimately than anyone else, and he loves me! Do you realize how freeing that is? I don’t have to put on pretensions or wear a mask and pretend to be someone I’m not. We have one who knows the good, the bad, and the ugly, and he still pursues us in relationship. This does not mean that God doesn’t care how we think or feel or act, or that we can continue to sin that grace may increase. No. God is a holy God. But he knows that we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph.2:1) and we cannot improve ourselves. He knows he is buying ‘damaged merchandise – used – as is’ and he has counted the cost that he will expend in time and labor and most importantly the blood of his own dear Son to wash us and heal us and restore us to mint condition and present us to himself as a people for his own possession, zealous for good works (Titus 2:14).

God says to Moses, tell the elders:

16… “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.”

God is making a promise to his people. The word translated ‘promise’ is simply the word ‘said’, the same word that is found throughout the creation narrative; ‘and God said let there be… and there was’. For God to speak is to promise. If God said, then what he said is as good as done. Tell them “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt”. In verse 7, God said that he had seen their affliction. Now he says he is going to bring them up out of the affliction of Egypt. Affliction has its purpose in the plan of God. Joseph named his son Ephraim, because, he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Gen.41:52). Jesus said:

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

God does not promise his people a trouble free existence from this point on. He does not promise them exemption from all affliction. They will continue to have their share of affliction. But the affliction of Egypt has served its purpose, and God will now bring the people up out of the affliction of Egypt. He will bring them to the land. God had promised to give his people the land:

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. …7 Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 13:14 The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.17 Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”

Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

[to Isaac] Genesis 26:3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,

[to Jacob] Genesis 28:13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14 Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. 15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Genesis 35: 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

Genesis 48:4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’ …21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.

Genesis 50:24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

God is promising to bring his people out of the land of affliction and to the land of six enemy nations. This would not be easy. God was preparing his people from the very beginning for what they would face. There would be plenty of obstacles to overcome, but God promised to accomplish what he had promised if they relied on him. This was a good land, described as ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’, a land abundantly overflowing with blessing.

What comes next is an amazing promise that God gives to encourage Moses. Moses has questioned his qualifications for the responsibility of representing God to the people. Then he questioned who it was that he was representing. If I go to the people and they ask who it was that sent me, what should I tell them that your name is? Moses has gone out to the people once before, thinking they would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand (Acts 7:25). Now, 40 years later, Moses is apprehensive about going back. Moses doubts the reception he will receive with the people who rejected him before. God gives Moses a staggering promise. Verse 18 says “And they will listen to your voice.” How can God say that? How can God know how the people will respond? This God, this one who says I AM, I am the ground and source of existence, I cause to be all that is, this God guarantees to Moses the future actions of free moral agents. God says to Moses, I am sending you, and I can tell you exactly how the elders of Israel will respond. How can he say that? This same God who is acting in Moses life to send him is also moving in the lives of the elders of Israel to prepare them to hear Moses and his message.

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

Not only will they listen, but they will go with you to Pharaoh. God gives Moses the script. When you and the elders of Israel go to the king of Egypt, this is what you are to say:

‘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.’

Moses and the elders of Israel are to ask politely for a week off. We’ve been slaving for you for 400 years. Can we please have time off for religious reasons? YHWH, the God of the Hebrews has met with us. Adam and Abel and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob sacrificed to YHWH. We have neglected to sacrifice to our God for the last 400 years. We will go out into the wilderness where we won’t offend your people or your gods to sacrifice to YHWH our God. This is a very reasonable request. According to ancient Near Eastern customs, the Pharaoh should have respected their request and allowed them to perform their required religious duties (Enns, p.107, fn.34). But God is seeking an occasion against this king of Egypt, as he makes clear by his prediction of what will happen, again another stunning statement of his sovereignty, and a gracious preparation for his people to brace themselves for what is coming.

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.

I am asking him to do something so reasonable and so modest that his rejection will demonstrate the depth of the hardness of his heart. God knows the future response of this pagan king to a question that hasn’t been asked yet. God knows exactly what it will take to break him and cause him to surrender. It will take more than military might or political power to move this king. It will take the divine intervention of a sovereign God. Moses, remember when you went out and saw the Egyptian striking down the Hebrew and you had compassion and were moved to intervene and strike down the Egyptian? I have compassion on my people, and I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt. It will take a mighty hand, and I am that hand. I will strike Egypt with all the wonders I will do in it. After that, he will let you go. I will work marvelous, surpassing, extraordinary things, things that are beyond anyone’s power to do. This word was used only once before, in Genesis 18:14 when God is answering the doubts of Abraham and Sarah over the promise of a son in their old age. “Is anything too hard (wonderful) for the LORD?” God is setting the stage for an epic display of his awesome power through the ten plagues. The Exodus is all about God and his glory. Listen to the first person pronouns: I know… so I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it.

And there’s the promise. Then he will let you go. You go to Pharaoh. He will not listen. I will strike Egypt with all (not some but all) of the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. What precision of prediction! What clarity of purpose! What encouragement of ultimate victory in spite of repeated setbacks! After that he will let you go. Rescue! Salvation! Deliverance at last! The Pharaoh will let you go. But that’s not all. God does exceeding, abundant, beyond all that we can ask or imagine.

Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

God is not merely going to rescue Israel from slavery in Egypt. He says “you shall not go empty”. God has a perfect plan. For shortsighted me, it would be good enough just to escape. Then I’d have to figure out how to make it out there. But God is going to provide for the needs of his people. He is going to bless them beyond what they could possibly conceive. And he promises this up front, so that when it happens, they can marvel at how awesome this God is. God says ‘I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. That’s a remarkable statement. This is a people who is so fearful and resentful that their government could tell them to throw the Hebrew babies in the river and they would obey. Now God says ‘I will give you favor in their sight’. They’ll give you anything you ask for. God’s sense of humor is beautiful. The mighty Pharaoh’s plan was frustrated by a handful women. Two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah who feared God. Moses’ mother, who creatively obeyed the king’s command by placing her baby in the Nile in an ark, and the Pharaoh’s own daughter, who raised his arch-enemy under his own roof. Now, God says you are going to plunder the Egyptians. But not because you were victorious in battle. I will get the victory and your Hebrew women will plunder the spoil. The most powerful nation of the world willingly, voluntarily plundered by women and children!

Paul prays for us that we would understand how lavish God is:

Ephesians 1:18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

God is awesome beyond our capacity to comprehend, he knows the end from the beginning, he holds the future in his hand, and he blesses his people far more abundantly than all that we ask or think! God has given us everything in Jesus.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

21 And I will give this people favor …you shall not go empty,

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

July 4, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | blessing, Foreknowledge, God, Love, promise, providence, will of God, word | Leave a Comment

Exodus 3:1-6; The Presence of God

http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20100606_exodus03_1-6.mp3

6/06 Exodus 3:1-6 The Presence of God

2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” 23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel––and God knew.

3:1 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. 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.” 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.” 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.

Moses, God’s deliverer to his people, descends from his high position as adopted son of the king to bring rescue, he acts on behalf of his people, but is misunderstood, rejected by his own people, and exiled into the wilderness. He sits down by a well. He rescues some women that have come to draw water, settles down with the Midianites, and marries Zipporah, the daughter of this pagan priest. Stephen in his sermon in Acts 7, tells us that Moses was forty years old when he was exiled from Egypt (v.23). Now, another forty years has passed (v.30). Moses, God’s chosen instrument to deliver the Hebrew people from Egypt is in the wilderness. Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the Pharaoh had died. The people hoped that a change in leaders would mean help for their situation, but if anything, things got worse. Their hopes were crushed. So they groaned. They cried out for help. They plead for rescue. And God heard. God remembered his promises. God saw. God knew. God, who had been there all along, working behind the scenes, blessing his people, was about to step to center stage and take decisive action to honor his promises. God had been at work preserving and preparing this man for the past 80 years to be his instrument to deliver Israel from bondage, and now, in response to the prayers of his people, he is ready to unleash his promised plan. Remember, this was all under the sovereign hand of God, who was working all things according to the purpose of his will. He had told Abraham half a century earlier:

Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. 14 But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. …16 And they shall come back here in the fourth generation…

So we find Moses, a shepherd in the wilderness. It is interesting to compare Moses with Jacob. Jacob too fled for his life from his home and met his bride to be by a well. He too tended her father’s flocks for twenty years, and in that time became independently wealthy, with flocks of his own greater than the flocks of his father-in-law. But we see Moses now at the end of forty years still with nothing of his own, still tending another man’s flocks.

He had learned shepherding and he is keeping and leading the flocks. In fact his shepherding takes him to the back side of the desert, maybe in search of greener pasture, probably weeks away from home. It is notable that in this time his perspective has changed. This was a journey that brought him west, in the direction of his former home in Egypt, but it was now the back side of the desert to him . It is in this obscure place that unsuspecting Moses will be confronted by the living God himself.

There is no indication that Moses was seeking this encounter with God. God took the initiative and got Moses’ attention. This is always the way it is. God initiates and we respond. Here we have the angel of YHWH appearing to Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Now we know the bible teaches that God is omnipresent, or not limited by space:

Jeremiah 23:23-24 “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.

Psalm 139:7-10 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.

I Kings 8:27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

So when God revealed himself to Moses out of the burning bush, we are not to think that God was at that moment limited or confined to that bush or that particular place. Just as we saw in the closing verses of chapter 2, when it says God saw and God remembered, we are not to think that God was becoming aware of new information or being reminded of something that slipped his mind, but that he was about to take action on behalf of those who needed his help. God chooses to reveal himself to us in ways that we can comprehend and relate to.

We also know from the bible that God is not material, He is spirit, and invisible.

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. (c.f. John 6:46)

Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

I Timothy 1:17 To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

I Timothy 6:15-16 ––he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

I John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

So when the text says that he appeared to him, that he looked, and that he saw, we are not to think that Moses was able to see God in the fullness of who he is. Rather, God condescended to reveal himself to Moses in a way that he could understand. God who is spirit, invisible and everywhere present, came down as it were and showed himself in a form that Moses could relate to. In this case a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. God has often used fire as a visible representation of who he is. A pot of fire is how God represented himself in his covenant with Abraham (Gen.15:17). He showed himself as a pillar of fire to lead the Israelites in the wilderness (Ex.13:21). He descended in fire to give Israel his law at Sinai (Ex.19:18). Ezekiel saw him as a fiery shape (Ezek.1:27; 8:2). Daniel saw him seated on a throne of fire (Dan.7:9). The apostle John saw him as one whose eyes were fire (Rev.1:14). The bible describes God as a consuming fire (Deut.4:24, 9:3; Is.33:14; Heb.12:29).

Fire and smoke draw attention, but they also conceal from view. Fire is both attractive and destructive. Fire will consume or purify all it comes in contact with. There is both attraction and separation. God is holy, and we are drawn to his holiness, but as sinners his holiness will consume us. This was the prophet Isaiah’s cry as he was brought into the presence of God:

Isaiah 6:5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Isaiah understood the absolute holiness of God and the consequences of someone who is not perfectly righteous entering into his presence. He was purified with fire.

So Moses is on the back side of the desert and sees a bush that was on fire but was not being consumed. Moses, having spent forty years tending Jethro’s sheep in the wilderness and trying to stay warm on cold desert nights, would probably be very familiar with how quickly a small bush like this would burn up and disintegrate into ash. What caught Moses’ attention was not the fire alone, but the fact that the bush was engulfed in flames but was not being consumed. This could serve as a picture of Israel in Egypt, in the midst of the fire of suffering, and yet multiplying rather than being consumed. This would also be a striking picture for Moses of God’s holy presence, and he, a sinful man, not being consumed by it. This is God’s mercy toward sinners made possible by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus in our place. However Moses interpreted it, this is what he saw and what caught his attention.

But the primary revelation came not by what Moses saw, but by what God said. God has revealed himself to us not in pictures, but in words. In John 1 and Revelation 19, Jesus is called the Word, and throughout the bible we see God as a God who communicates in words.

Our God is a God who has spoken. In fact, we have in our hands his word written so that we can have a reliable accurate trustworthy record of who he is and what he requires of us. God himself puts great priority on his word.

Psalms 138:2 … for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

Isaiah 40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

In fact, there are serious consequences for disregarding God’s word.

Luke 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

God reveals himself by speaking, telling us about himself. He calls out to Moses “Moses, Moses”. The repetition of a name in that culture indicates intimacy and endearment. Jesus confronted those who called him “Lord, Lord” but did not do what he said. They claimed to be close to him but did not really have any relationship with him (Luke 6:46, Matt.7:21-22). So when Moses heard his name repeated, he would understand that this is a friend, someone who cares deeply about him. So he responds.

God’s instructions are clear; “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” God gets his attention, calls out to him, and then tells him to stop. God is teaching Moses what he is like. He is not to be approached casually. He is holy. God initiates the encounter, and God lays down the rules of engagement. This is who I am and this is how I am to be approached. God commands that Moses remain at a distance, because a holy God cannot be approached by sinful man. Because God is holy, the place where he appears is holy. There was nothing particularly sacred about the geographic location or the dirt; the Jews did not consider it special, and we don’t even know for sure where it is. The presence of God made the place holy. This is the first time in the bible the word ‘holy’ is used. God is set apart, separate from everything that falls short and totally committed to promoting his own honor. He is in a category by himself. He alone is worthy to be worshiped. So God demands that Moses treat him with the proper respect. He is to come no closer. He is to remove his sandals and take the position of a slave in relation to his master.

Just who is it that is speaking to Moses here? The narrative begins by saying that the angel of the LORD or the messenger of YHWH appeared to him. In verse 4 it says that YHWH (or Jehovah) saw, and then it says that God (Elohim) called to him out of the bush. The angel of YHWH, YHWH, and Elohim (God) are all used interchangeably in this passage. Because in this passage God makes himself known in a visible way, this points us to Jesus.

John 1:18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jude points us to make the connection with Jesus

Jude 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

Jesus himself claimed to be the one who spoke from the burning bush

John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Here he makes the concrete connection with history. He claims to be the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is the very God that Moses’ own father worshiped. This is the God who made promises to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. This is the one true God, the omnipotent creator of all things.

Let’s look as we close at Moses’ response to the one true God revealing himself. God has initiated a relationship with Moses. God has established the terms of this relationship; he is to be treated as holy. He revealed his identity as the only true God who created all things and made promises to the patriarchs. When Moses understands who he is dealing with, he hides his face, because he is afraid to look at God. Over and over in scripture we are commanded to fear the Lord. We are told the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We see a proper humility before God knowing that a sinful human cannot hope to survive an encounter with the holy God.

Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Judges 6:22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the LORD. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.”

Judges 13:22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”

Isaiah 6:5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Our pride, our rebellion, our running after other things with the hopes that they will satisfy, our valuing of other things more than God invite his righteous wrath.

Isaiah 59:2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

And yet seeing God for who he really is is the one thing that will truly satisfy our deepest longings. And as believers in Jesus, this is what we look forward to.

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is .

Revelation 22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

June 6, 2010 Posted by pastorrodney | Exodus, podcast | God, Hope, Jesus, Trinity, word | Leave a Comment

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About

Hello, I’m Pastor Rodney. I’m glad to have the opportunity to introduce myself. Rodney & Deanna

I was called to pastor Ephraim Church of the Bible on February 27, 2005. My wife Deanna and I resigned from our jobs, sold our home, and packed up our four girls Jessica (6), Abigail (4), Emily (3) and Hannah (1) to move to Utah at the end of March. We arrived in Ephraim on April 6, bought a house and began to settle in (as you might notice in the pictures, God has since blessed us with another girl, Aliyah and a son, Isaiah).

I was born and raised in Minnesota, and attended Emmaus Bible College in Iowa, where I met Deanna. She was from Washington State, and when I graduated from college I followed her to Washington and married her. She is a nurse and shares a passion to serve and follow Jesus Christ.

I served as youth pastor for 8 years at a church in Mount Vernon, Washington, while working in the engineering department for a manufacturer of marine propulsion control systems. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there, but through a variety of circumstances we felt God directing us to Utah. We decided to stay put and be faithful doing what God had given us to do until it was unmistakable that God wanted us elsewhere. He made that unmistakably clear and we now are delighted to call Ephraim home.

Zedicher Family My passion has always been to teach the Bible as God’s Word, and see lives transformed as a result (including my own!). I believe God has the power to radically alter our lives through His truth. My goal is to study and understand what God has said, and communicate that in such a way that you are brought into contact with Jesus, who is alive and well today. We welcome all visitors, and our style is casual because God is more concerned with what’s in your heart than with what you wear. We emphasize worship of God because in worship we are fulfilling our design. When we declare to each other and to the world that God is our greatest treasure, He is honored, and we are satisfied. My desire is to teach the Word of God and give a firm foundation to your faith, so that you can grow deep and be fruitful and bring pleasure to our awesome God.
~Rodney Zedicher

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Preaching from the Pulpit of Ephraim Church of the Bible

Exodus 30:17-21; Furniture in God’s Tent – The Bronze Washbasin

Exodus 20:22-26; The Need for Sacrifice

Exodus 20:16 – Word #9 Uphold the Reputation of Others

Exodus 20:4-6; Word #2 – How to Worship

Disciple-Making Disciples; How Did Jesus Teach?

Exodus 5:1-19; Whose Word Will Stand?

Exodus 4:24-26 The Leader a Lawbreaker

Exodus 4:1-9; The Unbelief of Moses and the Superabundant Patience of God

Exodus 3:16-22; God Knows

Exodus 3:1-6; The Presence of God

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