Exodus
3:7 ¶ And the LORD said, I have surely
seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry
by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land
and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the
Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now
therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I
have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto
Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of
Egypt.
God announced to
Moses that he was aware of the suffering of the Hebrew slaves and planned on
delivering them from their bondage. He would bring them into the land promised
to them, the land of the Canaanite tribes he promised Abraham in Genesis 15.
But, notice that God is going to use Moses as a vehicle of His deliverance as
God often uses men to accomplish His purposes. We have a lot of negative words
in this passage like affliction, cry,
sorrows, oppression, and oppress
along with positive notions in response like deliver, bring them up, a good land and a large, and unto a land flowing with milk and honey. While
you might make a sermon about how God will deliver you from the bondage of your
sin and turn your life around I like the thought that God came in the form of
Christ to deliver us from death itself and Hell, to bring us up out of the
agony and termination of this life, to deliver us from the bondage of death.
Hebrews 2:14 ¶
Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on him the nature of
angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be
made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high
priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the
people. 18 For in that he himself hath
suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.
Moses has
knowledge and understanding of the Egyptian mindset, having been raised and
educated with them. He knows the anguish of being a Hebrew and an outcast as
well, a stranger in his own land, among his own people. Although he himself did
not suffer being a slave any more than Christ suffered in Hell he and Christ
did understand the suffering of the people whom they came to save, their
suffering and their fears.
Hebrews
5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when
he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto
him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he
obedience by the things which he suffered; 9
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto
all them that obey him;
Moses as a type of
Christ begins to break down at Moses’ all too human doubts and his eventual
disobedience that denies him entry into the Promised Land. But, this is a play
in which God the Creator plays all the parts, as Christ representing the
suffering multitudes trapped in the body
of this death, a phrase Paul used in Romans 7:24, although without the sin
that Paul was lamenting, and the Deliverer who saves His people.
Moses lacks the
foreknowledge and intent of purpose to be too much like Christ, as well as the
obedience to and trust in God the Father. But, he is a chosen vessel to bring
God’s word of deliverance from bondage to his people, as even we are. So, there
is another view of Moses in type, as the Christian who is uncertain, perhaps
unwilling, even afraid, to offer a testimony to the lost and is only able to
with God’s power on him or her.
The point is, your
people are dying and they are terrified of it, even as modern culture tries to
insulate us from death and the bondage it holds over our imaginations and
desire to live. We say, like the frightened child singing in the darkness they
fear, “death is a part of life,” but that is a lie. Death is an aberration and,
in fact, is part of the judgment over which Satan has, I am sure, gleeful
control. Even evolutionary biologists who do not believe in God insist that
death is not necessary to input into the definition of biological life.[1] God will use you, who escaped from death
itself, to go back into the Egypt of this world and bring the message of
deliverance to God’s people, while God Himself does the delivering and defeats
Satan, whom the Pharaoh is in type.
Luke
10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Colossians
2:13 ¶ And you, being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses; 14
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which
was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
15 And having spoiled principalities and
powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
And again;
Hebrews
2:14 ¶ Forasmuch then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the
same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who
through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The ideas
presented here are incomplete, of course, and there have been many great
sermons on the ideas brought forth by this passage of Scripture but the
typology, the metaphors, and the comparisons seem almost endless. I’m sure you
can do better than I’ve done.
Let’s go back to
the passage in question. God has announced who He is and has declared His
intention of sending Moses to Pharaoh to bring Jacob’s children out of Egypt.
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