How God makes Himself known. Exodus 7.1-7
Jesus throughout the Scriptures: Exodus (3)
Pray Psalm 32.8-11.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.
Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Sing Psalm 32.8-11.
(Hendon: Take My Life and Let It Be)
Teach me, LORD, how I should live; sound instruction ever give.
Let me never stubborn be; let Your eye watch over me,
let Your eye watch over me.
Though the wicked wail and weep, they rejoice whose souls You keep.
Trusting, we exult with praise, joyf’ly singing all our days,
joyf’ly singing all our days!
Read Exodus 7.1-7; meditate on verse 5.
Preparation
1. How would Moses and Aaron show that they were from God?
2. What would the Egyptians finally come to know?
Meditation
The story of Moses and Aaron and their mission to Pharaoh in Exodus 4-10 is a familiar one. We do not need here to rehearse the details of this story, but only to be succinct. On the authority of God, Moses called Pharaoh to release the people of Israel, bolstering his demands with a series of judgments meant to move Pharaoh to believe and obey.
Moses thus came by word and deed, proclaiming and demonstrating the authority of God to command obedience. And here again, Moses is a type of Jesus Christ. For Jesus came into a world hostile to Him, a world ruled by the powers of darkness, and He pursued His mission, by word and deed, of demonstrating God’s power to save and warning God’s foes of judgment to come.
Jesus, of course, faced a much stronger and more firmly entrenched foe than Pharaoh. He showed the power of God to overcome the power of evil by refusing the devil’s temptations, casting out demons here and there, binding the devil and his power, and beginning the plundering of his holdings—a work which continues until this day.
As Moses used words and miraculous deeds to deliver God’s people from their captivity, so Jesus did the same. But the mission of Jesus was all wrapped up in Him, to show that He is God and His words and power are the words and power of the eternal God, that He will save a people for Himself against all odds, and that all who resist Him will fall like Pharaoh’s army in a sea of judgment which will destroy them forever.
And on that day they will know that God is the LORD (v. 7), and that He has made Jesus Christ both Savior and King; and then every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2.5-11).
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
God told Moses:
-You shall speak all that I command you
-I will harden Pharoah’s heart
-I will multiply My signs
-I will multiply My wonders
-I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My people
-I will use great judgments (Ex. 7.1-4)
So, what was the point of all these signs, wonders, and judgments?
“And the Egyptians shall know that I AM the LORD,
when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and
bring out the children of Israel from among them” (Ex. 7.5).
And what two men were called to be “as God to Pharaoh” and as a “prophet”?
Moses, age 80, and Aaron, age 83. Two unlikely candidates for the long haul.
And yet, these two were exactly the two whom God chose and wanted for this job (Ex. 7.1, 7).
Jesus calls us daily to serve Him.
Young, middle-aged, and old. No age limitations, and retirement never an option.
And we do this “with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12.28, 29).
“We do so with reverence when our motivation is to honor God and to represent Him rightly to the world. We want the people in our world to see God as He is, a God to be worshiped and revered and served. And we serve God with fear when we remember that He is a consuming fire. The people in our Personal Mission Field need to see that reverence and fear in our lives if they are to believe it can be possible in theirs.” (quote taken from ReVision, 12/11/24, www.ailbe.org).
Your Kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven, and Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6.10) are not mere platitudes or wishful thinking. They are the prayer that Jesus taught us to pray. And when we pray that prayer, we are agreeing that His Kingdom is here on earth and His will is also done here on earth. And we are an active and obedient part of that will and Kingdom.
“I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies” (Ps. 119.125).
“Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them” (Ps. 119.129).
And what is the point of all His signs and wonders, and our obedience to His call, in word and deed?
It is so that we, and the “Egyptians” in our lives, will know that He is the LORD (Ex. 7.5) and besides Him, there is no other Savior (Is. 43.11).
Reflection
1. How can prayer help you prepare for the words and deeds you will pursue today?
2. How does the Kingdom of God come to us? How does it come through us? How do you expect to increase in the Kingdom today?
3. Whom will you encourage today in their walk with and work for the Lord?
[W]e know how unconcernedly the wicked oppose their iron obstinacy to the Divine threatenings, until they are forced into a state of alarm by violence; not because they are humbled beneath the hand of God, but because they see that by all their raging and turbulence they cannot escape from punishment… John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Exodus 7.5
Pray Psalm 32.1-7.
Pray for the lost people in your Personal Mission Field, that they would understand the message of God’s forgiveness and would come to faith in Jesus. Offer yourself to the Lord today to share the Good News of Jesus with someone.
Sing Psalm 32.1-7.
(Hendon: Take My Life and Let It Be)
Blessed are they whose sins the LORD has forgiven by His Word!
Pure their spirits are within; them He charges with no sin;
them He charges with no sin!
When in silence I remained, groaning in my sinful pain,
You Your hand upon me lay; all my strength You drained away,
all my strength You drained away.
I confessed my sin to You; You forgave me, ever true!
Let confession’s pleading sound reach You while You may be found,
reach You while You may be found!
When flood waters threaten me, You my hiding place will be.
O’er them I will rise above, buoyed by Your redeeming love,
buoyed by Your redeeming love.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
