God's Firstborn Son

We are in a series in the book of Exodus, so please turn with me and your Bibles to

Exodus chapter 4, verses 18 to 31.

Exodus 4:18–31

If you're not familiar with your Bibles, Exodus is the second book in the Bible, after Genesis,

before Leviticus.

Leviticus 4:18–31

Chapter 4, verses 18 to 31.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, we gather once again under the reading and preaching of your Word.

Because of our conviction that every word of yours is truth, that all of Scripture is

breathed out by you, and therefore profitable for us, and that it's able to make us wise

for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Even passages that we don't expect to be like that.

So we ask again that you will address us as you always do.

that you bring the conviction and comfort that only your Spirit can bring.

And magnify the name of your Son, Jesus, in this Word.

Lord, in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please, follow along with me as I read Exodus 4, 18 to 31.

Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him,

please, let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.

And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace.

And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, go back to Egypt, for all the men who are seeking your life are dead.

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.

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.

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son.

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.

At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

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.

So he let him alone.

It was then that she said, a bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision.

The Lord said to Aaron, go into the wilderness to meet Moses.

So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak and all the signs that he had commanded him to do.

Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel.

Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people.

And the people believed.

And when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction,

they bowed their heads and worshipped.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

Some of us have worked with leaders who are gracious and flexible.

They seem to have an endless capacity for sacrificing themselves and bending to accommodate other people's preferences and opinions.

But when that graciousness is taken to the extreme,

if they never stand up for their rights and views,

that's no longer being gracious and flexible.

That's being a pushover and a coward.

It's hard to know what they actually think and what they actually want,

which is very demotivating.

On the other hand, we've also known leaders who are resolute and uncompromising about their standards.

They are willing to endure much difficulty and push back from others to maintain their standards and accomplish their goals.

But when that resoluteness is taken to the extreme,

it becomes stubbornness and tyranny.

What we really want in the people we follow are those who combine both graciousness and resoluteness.

People who can both accommodate us and challenge us.

And God is the perfect embodiment of those two characteristics.

He is exceedingly patient and gracious,

but he is also unyieldingly holy and just.

And for that reason, he is worthy of both our love and affection and our fear and reverence.

We learn in this passage that the Lord delivers his people from slavery by the blood of his firstborn son,

that we might serve him as his children.

And in this account, we see the Lord's sovereignty and the Lord's holiness and the Lord's graciousness in turn.

And I'll go through those in that order.

So five times in this, in the preceding passage,

Moses made some kind of excuse, if you remember,

for why he could not obey God's command to go to Egypt to deliver God's people from slavery.

But after God's repeated assurances of his presence and power that he would go with him,

and God's patient and gracious accommodation of Moses' weaknesses,

he finally ascents.

And that dialogue between God and Moses was long and detailed in the preceding passage in verses 18 to,

but in this passage, in verses 18 to 31,

the passage is characterized by short, punchy, action-packed sentences.

And it conveys the fact that Moses follows through on all the Lord's commands without delay.

For example, Moses was commanded,

go back to Egypt, chapter 3, verse 19.

And chapter 3, verse 20,

I'm sorry, chapter 4, verse 19.

In chapter 4, verse 20 tells us immediately that Moses went back to the land of Egypt.

In chapter 4, verse 17, God commanded Moses,

take in your hand this staff.

And verse 20 tells us that Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

So he's obeying promptly everything God had commanded him to do.

But that doesn't mean Moses now has zero doubt and is full of faith.

Judging from verse 19,

it seems that Moses is still worried that there are people in Egypt who are out to kill him.

If you remember from chapter 2,

we were told that when Pharaoh heard that Moses killed an Egyptian man,

that he, Pharaoh, sought to kill Moses.

So Moses is worried that there's still a death warrant out for him,

that there's a bounty on his head.

Probably the reason why, after all these years, still hasn't gone back to Egypt.

But God patiently assures him,

go back to Egypt,

for all the men who are seeking your life are dead.

But remember, now Moses has a new life in the Midian wilderness.

He has a wife and he has children now.

So before he takes his wife and kids out of the only country they have ever known

and takes them to hostile territory in Egypt to rescue God's people,

he first must receive his father-in-law's blessing.

You can imagine the nervousness as Moses approaches his father-in-law.

And it says in verse 18,

he said to Jethro,

please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.

And Jethro, ever the supportive father-in-law he is,

says go in peace.

You might be wondering if this is kind of dishonest.

Why didn't Moses say,

the Lord,

the God of my forefathers,

has appeared to me in a burning bush

and he told me of all people personally to go and deliver Israel from their slavery in Egypt.

And by the way,

I'm going to take Zippra,

your daughter,

and your grandkids with me.

I mean,

that's,

imagine telling your father-in-law that.

That's a tough ask.

But I don't think Moses is intentionally hiding the full truth here from Jethro,

although that's certainly possible out of fear.

The whole account is so abbreviated.

And likely there was a much longer conversation.

And I think there's actually quite an appropriate reason why Moses says this,

that,

hey,

please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive.

Because that summary,

that reason parallels chapter 2,

verse 11,

where it says this,

Moses went out to his people and looked on their burdens,

and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,

one of his people.

That word his people is literally his brothers.

And the same word that's used here in chapter 4,

verse 18.

And so there's a pattern here.

40 years ago,

Moses had gone out into Egypt to see his brothers.

And that prompted him,

after seeing his oppression,

to want to try to deliver them by striking the Egyptian.

And now again,

Moses wants to go back to see his brothers in Egypt,

to see what's going on with them.

The parallel suggests that Moses is revealing his desire to deliver his people once again from their oppression.

40 years ago,

Moses failed.

He was driven out of the country,

with Pharaoh who was after him.

His own people rejected him as their prince.

But this time,

the story is going to be different.

Because now the Lord goes with him.

40 years ago,

Moses was rashly taking things into his own hands.

But this time,

he carries the staff of God in his hand,

which will ensure that Israel is freed.

And we see the Lord's total sovereignty

in what he says to Moses in verse 21.

He says,

The hardening of Pharaoh's heart

is a prominent motif

throughout the Exodus account.

And we're told that his heart was hardened

no less than 18 times

in a variety of ways.

Majority of time,

11 times or so,

it explicitly states that,

as it does here,

that the Lord was the agent of the hardening.

The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.

He says in Exodus 9, 12,

But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh.

Some other times,

five times to be exact,

the use of the divine passive construction

implies that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart.

It implies that the Lord hardened his heart.

So for example,

Exodus 8, 19,

it says Pharaoh's heart was hardened.

Who was it hardened by?

The implication is the Lord.

That's the divine passive construction.

So that's what it says majority of the time,

vast majority of the time.

But there are still other times,

three times total,

when scripture says that Pharaoh

hardened his own heart.

For example,

it says in Exodus 9, 34,

Pharaoh sinned yet again

and hardened his heart.

So which is it?

Is God responsible for hardening Pharaoh's heart

or is Pharaoh responsible for hardening his own heart?

The answer is yes.

God is fully sovereign over all of Pharaoh's decisions.

And yet,

Pharaoh is truly responsible for all of his decisions.

Some of us are uncomfortable

with the juxtaposition of those two realities,

but the author of Exodus has no problem

affirming both of those things side by side.

In fact,

the two seemingly contradictory statements

sometimes occur in the same verse.

Earlier in Exodus 3, 19,

the Lord said,

I know that the king of Egypt

will not let you go

unless compelled by a mighty hand.

The word mighty or strong

is the adjectival form of the Hebrew word,

the verb that is used here in Exodus 4, 21.

I will harden,

or literally,

I will strengthen his heart.

Meaning,

he's going to strengthen his resolve,

make him more stubborn

so that he sticks to his word

and refuses to let the Israelites go.

So there's a word play here.

On the one hand,

God will strengthen Pharaoh's heart

so that he will not let the people of Israel go.

On the other hand,

God will use his strong hand

to compel Pharaoh to let the Israelites go.

So,

he is,

in other words,

playing both offense and defense.

He is orchestrating

even Pharaoh's stubborn refusal

to reveal,

in order to reveal his glory and power.

That's why God raised up Pharaoh

for this particular time.

He says in Exodus 9, 16,

for this purpose,

I have raised you up,

Pharaoh,

to show you my power

so that my name may be proclaimed

in all the earth.

That's God's purpose.

One of my favorite movies of all time

is Life is Beautiful.

I don't know if you guys have seen that.

It's incredibly,

in the movie,

the main actor,

the Italian actor,

Roberto Benigni,

he stars in it as the lead actor,

but he's also the same guy

who wrote the script

and directed the film.

So,

he's the writer,

the director,

and the lead actor

in the film.

What's happening here in Exodus

is quite similar.

God is the writer,

he is the director,

and the principal actor

of Israel's Exodus from Egypt.

And what's the point of that?

So that in the end,

when the credit rolls,

God receives

all of the glory.

This is a hard doctrine for us

because

the values of liberty

and independence

and self-determination

are so deeply ingrained

in our culture.

I mean,

the state motto

of our upstairs neighbors

is live free or die.

Right?

And you might not know this,

but the Massachusetts state motto

is not as well known

because it's in Latin,

but when you translate it,

it's actually quite similar.

It says,

by the word,

well,

I mean,

by the sword,

we seek peace,

but peace only under liberty.

That's our motto.

So,

we're so used to this illusion

of control over our lives,

and we're so used to seeing ourselves

as the protagonists

of the story of our lives,

that it's very hard for us

to accept the reality

that we are not

actually in control

over our lives,

and that God

is actually in full control

over our lives.

Indeed,

he is in full control

over all of human history

and of the entire universe.

It's hard for us

in a man-centered world

to accept a God

who is truly sovereign.

The apostle Paul

understood this well

after citing the book of Exodus

and mentioning

how God hardened Pharaoh's heart

in order to show forth his power.

Paul writes that God has mercy

on whomever he wills,

and he hardens whomever he wills.

And then he anticipates

the objection.

Well,

you will say to me then,

why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will?

In other words,

if God hardened Pharaoh's heart,

then how can he also blame Pharaoh?

Pharaoh is helpless

to resist God's will.

I'm sure

some of you,

like me,

have raised similar objections

to God in the past.

And here's how

the word of God

answers that objection

in Romans 9,

20 to 23.

But who are you,

O man,

to answer back to God?

Will what is molded

say to its molder,

why have you made me like this?

Has a potter

no right over the clay

to make out of the same lump

one vessel for honorable use

and another for dishonorable use?

What if God,

desiring to show his wrath

and to make known his power,

has endured with much patience

vessels of wrath

prepared for destruction

in order to make known

the riches of his glory

for vessels of mercy,

which he has prepared

beforehand for glory?

The Bible doesn't try

to explain away

the tension between

divine sovereignty

and human responsibility.

It simply says,

who are you, O man,

to answer back to God?

When you crochet a scarf,

does the scarf talk back to you

and say,

I want to be a blanket instead?

When the comic book writer

Jim Starlin

created the character Thanos

to be a villain

in the Marvel Universe,

does Thanos talk back

to the author and say,

hey, I actually want

to be a hero.

Thank you very much.

Doesn't make any sense.

God created us from scratch.

He sovereignly orchestrated

our backgrounds,

our relationships,

our experiences.

He gave us all of our talents

and tendencies and temperaments

and he did all of this

for his glory.

That's his ultimate purpose.

That's what it means

to be God, the Lord, Yahweh.

I am who I am.

I will be who I will be.

He is by the very definition

of God's sovereign.

Nevertheless, God's sovereignty

does not erase human responsibility.

Though God is fully sovereign,

Pharaoh really is culpable.

He is responsible

for hardening his own heart

and refusing to let

the Israelites go.

And this tension in Scripture

is not a riddle to be solved

but a truth to believe

and to live by.

Because we are responsible

for our actions

and culpable for our sins,

we do our best

to discern God's will

and try to obey him.

But because God is sovereign,

we trust him

and rest in him

even when tyrannical kings reign.

Even when our lives

are out of control.

Life doesn't make sense

or work as God intended

if we resolve this tension

one way or another,

if we don't maintain the tension.

By telling Moses ahead of time

that he will harden Pharaoh's heart,

God is preparing Moses

for Pharaoh's stubborn resistance.

Don't be surprised, Moses.

Don't despair, Moses.

Pharaoh's resistance

is all part of my plan.

Even when you experience

the most devastating setback

of your career

or of your relationship

or in your health,

even when life

is not going according to plan,

even when you're facing

great hardship

or suffering in your life,

you can find comfort

in knowing the fact

that nothing happens

outside of God's

sovereign purposes,

outside of the loving hands

of our heavenly Father.

That's the Lord's sovereignty.

And then we see

the Lord's holiness

and his justice

in verses 22 to 26.

God instructs Moses

to say this to Pharaoh.

Thus says the Lord,

Israel is my firstborn son.

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.

The nation of Israel,

as Yahweh's chosen people,

and his special possession

is his firstborn son.

Having a child heightens

the protective instincts

in fathers and mothers.

And those who seek

to harm a child

incur the fierce anger

of the parent.

Not many of you guys

know who this person is probably.

Last month,

Cain Velasquez,

a former UFC heavyweight champion,

was arrested on murder charges

because he was chasing

and shooting with a gun

a man who allegedly

molested his four-year-old son

repeatedly at a daycare.

Obviously, he should not have

taken justice into his own hands.

That was a presumptuous

and unwise decision.

But it's not hard

to understand

the man's paternal rage.

In a similar way,

the Lord God

is getting very personal here.

Israel is my firstborn son.

And I say to you,

let my son go

that he may serve me.

And if you refuse

to let him go,

behold,

I will kill your firstborn son.

This is justice.

This is a preview

of the tenth

and final disaster

that the Lord

inflicts on Egypt

for Pharaoh's refusal

to let Israel go.

All the firstborn sons

of Egypt

will die

in chapter 11 and 12.

When announcing

Israel's impending exile

to Assyria

due to their sinful rebellion

against him,

the Lord says this

in Hosea 11, 1-4.

When Israel was a child,

I loved him.

And out of Egypt,

I called my son.

The more they were called,

the more they went away.

They kept sacrificing

to the Baals

and burning offerings

to idols.

Yet it was I

who taught Ephraim

to walk.

I took them up

by their arms,

but they did not know

that I healed them.

I led them

with cords of kindness,

with the bends of love,

and I became to them

as one who eases

the yoke on their jaws.

And I bent down

to them

and fed them.

This is how God

relates to his people.

As his son,

you can sense

both his intense affection

and heartache

in that passage

because of the rebellion

of his son Israel.

The Lord called him

and taught him

and brought him

out of their slavery in Egypt.

He taught his son to walk.

He took his son

by his arms

and healed him.

He led his son

with cords of kindness

and bent down

to feed him.

And yet,

his son repeatedly

rejected him,

rebelled against him,

and went after idols.

And Matthew 2.15

cites this passage

to say that

Jesus' sojourn in Egypt

is a fulfillment

of Hosea 11.1,

out of Egypt

I called my son.

Matthew is making

the connection

that Jesus

is the new Israel,

the true son of God

who was called

out of Egypt

to deliver his people.

That means,

if you are a child of God,

if you have repented

of your sins

and put your faith

in Jesus,

then in Christ,

you are God's son.

In Christ,

you are among God's people.

You're a member

of his family.

That means,

the Lord God,

the Almighty God,

cares for you

and protects you

with the same zeal

that a loving father

has for his child.

You are not

a helpless,

fatherless child.

The Lord's mighty hand,

your Father in heaven,

he is watching over you.

This truth must be

such a comfort

to believers

in parts of the world

where Christians

face severe persecution

for their faith.

Right now is the time

of God's patience

with evildoers,

but the Lord

will return in vengeance

and he will vindicate

his holiness

and he will execute

his justice.

However,

the Lord's holiness

is seen not only

in his dealings

with the enemies

of his people,

but also in his dealings

with his own people.

He says in verses 24 to 26,

at a lodging place

on the way,

the Lord met him

and sought to put him

to death.

Did you expect that?

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.

So he let him alone.

It was then that she said,

a bridegroom of blood

because of the circumcision.

This is one of the most

challenging passages

of scripture

to interpret.

Just to give you

one example,

one Old Testament scholar,

David Pinchensky,

just despairs

of interpreting it

all together

and this is what he says,

quote,

biblical scholars

love this passage

because it is

totally incomprehensible.

That's clearly

an overstatement.

It's funny nonetheless.

The reason why

it's so difficult

to interpret

is that it seems

to come out of nowhere

and it uses

a whole bunch

of personal pronouns

without making it clear

who it's referring to.

Why would the Lord

commission Moses

for this task

and then seek

to put him to death

before he can fulfill it?

Who is the son

that Zipporah circumcised?

And who is the him

that the Lord met

and tried to kill?

Even in verse 25

where it says

Zipporah cut off

her son's foreskin

and touched Moses'

feed with it.

If you look at the footnote

there on the word Moses,

it tells you in Hebrew

it just says him.

It doesn't say Moses.

It's most likely Moses.

That's why the translator

is trying to help us

by putting that in there.

So we can't be certain

that this is what

the passage definitively means

but here's my best attempt

to make sense of it all.

Exodus 4 verse 20

Exodus 4:20

is the first time

in the book

when we are told

that Moses had sons

in the plural.

We are only told

of the birth

of his firstborn Gershom

in chapter 2.

So now we know

that Moses had another son

before his return to Egypt.

And later in Exodus 18 verse 4

Exodus 18:4

we find out the name

of this second son

and his name is Eliezer

and it tells us

the meaning of his name there

and the meaning is this.

The God of my father

was my help

and delivered me

from the sword of Pharaoh.

Interesting.

He named him that

before the Exodus.

So he is referring to

God delivering him

from the sword of Pharaoh

who was trying to kill him.

So that helps us

that helps to make sense

of chapter 4 verse 19

because when God tells Moses

seemingly out of the blue

that all the men

who are seeking your life

in Egypt are dead,

Moses probably named

his second son Eliezer

after that assurance

that Pharaoh is dead

and his men are dead

who are trying to kill him.

So then Eliezer

was likely born

around this time

and his name

prophetically anticipates

God's deliverance

of Israel

from the new Pharaoh's sword

as well

just as Moses

is about to return

to Egypt.

So then according

to Genesis chapter 17

Genesis 17:10–14

verse 10 to 14

that's where God

makes his covenant

with Abraham

and he commands circumcision

as a sign of the covenant

and this is what it says

this is my covenant

which you shall keep

between me and you

and your offspring after you.

Every male among you

shall be circumcised.

You shall be circumcised

in the flesh

of your foreskins

and he shall be a sign

of the covenant

between me and you.

He who is eight days old

among you

shall be circumcised.

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.

Circumcision marked

Israel as God's

special possession

his chosen people.

It was the sign

of the covenant relationship

that they have

with the Lord

in the same way

that in the new covenant

nowadays for us

baptism

and the Lord's supper

function as signs

of the covenant

that we are included

among his people.

The failure

to observe

God's covenant stipulations

meant being cut off

from his people

meaning

they'd be excluded

from God's people

and circumcision

the cutting off

of the foreskin

was a very visual

representation

of that curse

of being cut off

you and your progeny

your future generations

will literally be cut off

from God's people.

That's what that sign

symbolizes, represents.

And so this is my best

reconstruction

of the event.

Moses' second son

Eliezer

was born around this time.

Moses was about

to take leave

of his father-in-law

to return to Egypt.

The eighth day

when Eliezer

should have been circumcised

had come and gone

but Moses still

had not circumcised him

and he was liable

to judgment

because it was his

responsibility

to circumcise his son.

So as Moses

and his family

are journeying

to Egypt

at a lodging place

on the way

the Lord met him

and sought to put him

to death.

This is very similar

to what happens

in Numbers 22

when Balaam

is expressly permitted

by God

to go meet Balak

but then later on

when he's on his way

he says

the angel of the Lord

came out

to oppose him

because his way

was perverse

before him.

We don't know

exactly what's going

on here

but the Lord

unmistakably

appeared to Moses

and Zipporah

and he made it clear

that he was there

to oppose Moses

and kill him

and maybe Moses

suddenly fell ill

maybe he is confronted

like Jacob

was confronted

by the angel of the Lord

and wrestled with him

all night long.

Apparently

whatever the case was

Zipporah knew

immediately

what the issue was.

She wastes no time

and takes a flint

a hard sharp stone

and then cuts off

her son's foreskin

and touches Moses' feet

with it.

The fact that Zipporah

knew exactly what to do

shows that she and Moses

has probably had

conversations

about this issue.

The fact that

only one son

is circumcised here

shows that

the other one

was already circumcised.

So maybe

Moses circumcised Gershom

according to the custom

of his fathers

since he was born

not long after

Moses left Egypt

and started sojourning

in Midian.

And since Moses

named his son Gershom

after a prominent member

of the tribe of Levi

it's clear that

he was aware

of his Jewish heritage

despite the fact

that he was educated

in the court

of Pharaoh.

However

with his second son

Moses had not

followed through.

Maybe Moses

had assimilated

Midianite customs

by then

or perhaps

he had an argument

with Zipporah

over whether or not

to circumcise

his son

Eliezer.

Whatever the case

Zipporah knew

that the lack

of circumcision

was the reason

for the Lord's

opposition.

And when she

cut off the son's

foreskin

and touched

Moses' feet with it

feet is likely

euphemism for

Moses' genitals

it says that

the Lord

let him alone.

Just as previously

he was rescued

rescued by

Hebrew midwife

Shipporah

and Puah

and then

he was rescued

by his mother

and sister

and then

he was rescued

by Pharaoh's

daughter

from out of the river

Moses is once again

saved by the

timely intervention

of a woman

this time

by his wife

Zipporah.

If Moses

is to lead

the nation of Israel

and call them

to keep their

covenant with the Lord

then he must

first ensure

that his own

household

is keeping

their covenant

with the Lord.

Similarly

1 Timothy 3

4-5

says that

elders who

govern

the household

of God

the church

must first

demonstrate

that they can

manage their

own households

well.

Neglecting

to circumcise

his son

was a grave

failure

on Moses'

part

because it

signified

that his

own family

is cut off

from the people

of God

that he has

the people

of God

the very people

that he has

been called

and commanded

to rescue.

How is Moses

to enjoin Israel

to take the

covenant of God

seriously

if he himself

has failed

to set an example

by doing so?

God is

holy

and he takes

obedience

seriously.

He is no

chummy old

body that

you can push

around and

presume upon.

God is

to

God

to

practice

church

discipline.

When someone

who claims

to be

a Christian

engages

in

demonstrable

destructive

sin

and refuses

to repent

the church

excommunicates

that member

and bars

him from

partaking

of the

Lord's

Supper

in order

to communicate

the spiritual

reality that

he has been

cut off

from God's

people.

That he may

not partake

in the

family supper.

This is not

to say that

Christians are

perfect.

We all

sin in

numerous ways.

But the

hallmark of

the Christian

is that we

repent of

our sins

and we

turn to

Jesus for

forgiveness

in faith.

A purported

Christian's

refusal to

repent brings

disrepute to

the church

and undermines

our gospel

witness.

And we

must uphold

the holiness

of God

as a church.

I used

this illustration

about a year

ago when we

were in Acts

Acts 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 but

it's very

relevant for

today's passage.

In C.S.

Lewis'

The Lion,

The Witch,

and The

Wardrobe,

Susan,

I think,

is having a

conversation with

Mr.

Beaver about

the prospect

of meeting

Aslan who

is the lion

that resembles

God in

this fictional

series.

And Mr.

Beaver says,

Aslan is a

lion,

the lion,

the great

lion.

Oh,

says Susan,

I thought he

was a man.

Is he quite

safe?

I shall feel

rather nervous

about meeting

a lion.

Safe,

says Mr.

Beaver.

Who said

anything about

safe?

Of course he

isn't safe.

But he's

good.

He's the

king,

I tell you.

Not safe.

God's not

tame.

He's good.

And he will

fiercely defend

his holiness

and justice.

But we can

rest assured

that he is

also gracious

to us

and merciful

to us.

And how

does this

passage

demonstrate

the Lord's

graciousness?

In a number

of ways.

First,

notice the

parallel between

verse 19

and 24.

It says in

verse 24

that the

Lord sought

to put

Moses to

death,

which is

similar to

how verse

19 describes

the men

who are

seeking

Moses'

life.

And that

echoes

Exodus 2.15

where he said

Pharaoh sought

to kill

Moses.

Seeking

communicates

intent.

Pharaoh is

only a man.

He's not

all-knowing

and he can

only be in

one place

at a time.

He has no

idea where

Moses is,

so he needs

to first

look for

him and

find him

before he

can kill

him.

So Pharaoh

seeks to

kill him.

But God

is different.

He is

all-knowing

and he is

omnipresent.

He is

everywhere

at the

same time

and he is

all-powerful.

And it

says the

Lord met

Moses.

God

didn't need

any time.

God

could have

killed Moses

in that

instant.

He didn't

need to

seek to

kill him.

But instead

God

communicates

his intent

to Moses

and Zipporah.

He gives

them time

to repent.

And when

Moses and

Zipporah do

repent,

he mercifully

relents.

we see

God's

graciousness

in another

way.

The

words

son

and

firstborn

son

are

repeated

throughout

this

passage.

God

says

Israel

is his

firstborn

son.

And he

says to

Pharaoh,

let my

son go.

And if

you don't,

I will

kill your

firstborn

son.

And this

is immediately

followed by

Zipporah

circumcising

her and

Moses'

son.

Not

coincidentally,

the death

of Egypt's

firstborn

sons in

chapter 12

is immediately

followed by

God requiring

circumcision as

a precondition

for partaking

in the

Passover

sacrifice.

He says

in chapter

13,

and immediately

after that,

God commands

Moses in

chapter 13,

consecrate to

me all the

firstborn.

Whatever is

the first to

open the

womb among

the people

of Israel,

both of

man and

of beast,

is mine.

Every

firstborn of

man among

your sons

you shall

redeem.

And when

in time

to come

your son

asks you,

what does

this mean?

You shall

say to

him,

by a

strong

hand the

Lord

brought us

out of

Egypt from

the house

of slavery.

For when

Pharaoh

stubbornly

refused to

let us

go,

the Lord

killed all

the firstborn

in the

land of

Egypt,

both the

firstborn of

man and

the firstborn

of animals.

Therefore,

I sacrifice

to the

Lord all

the males

that first

opened the

womb,

but all the

firstborn of

my sons

I redeem.

The firstborn

male animals

had to be

sacrificed in

commemoration of

the Passover

when God

judged the

firstborn sons

of Israel,

but passed

over the

sons of

Israel.

And all

the firstborn

sons,

humans,

had to be

redeemed with

payment to

signify that

they belong

to the

Lord.

They don't

belong to the

parents,

they belong to

the Lord.

So then the

ritual of

circumcision is

intimately tied

to the

observance of

the Passover,

which is then

connected to the

significance of

the firstborn

son.

And I think

this is the

reason why

Moses leaves

the pronouns

in this

passage

ambiguous and

doesn't clarify

whether it's

Gershom or

Eliezer that

is circumcised.

If I'm

correct in

thinking that

it was Eliezer

that was his

second son

that was

circumcised,

then by not

specifying that

the fact that

it was the

second son and

leaving it

ambiguous,

Moses makes

it easier

for us to

make the

literary and

theological

connection between

circumcision and

the redemption of

the firstborn son

during Passover.

And this is where

we see the

amazing grace of

God.

The only reason

why the firstborn

sons of Israel

were spared

during that

tenth disaster

was that they

followed the

Lord's instruction

to sacrifice

an unblemished

one-year-old

male lamb

and daub its

blood on the

lintel and the

side posts of

their door frames.

And this

sacrificial lamb

pointed to

Jesus,

the firstborn

son of God

who would die

as the atoning

sacrifice for our

sins.

That's why John

1 29 says,

Jesus is the

lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the

world.

1 Corinthians 5 7

says,

Christ is the

Passover lamb

who has been

sacrificed.

sacrificed.

It's because

Jesus,

the firstborn,

died in our

place that we,

God's people,

are saved and

called his

firstborn son

in Christ.

We,

all of us,

like Moses

and like Israel,

have failed to

keep our end of

the covenant with

God.

We've been

unfaithful to

him.

We have sinned

against him.

And if the

Lord had met

us in our

sin,

he would have

met us in

judgment.

to put us

to death.

But the

blood of the

son of God

atoned for

our sin.

And because of

Jesus,

instead of being

caught off from

God's people,

we can now come

to the table of

the Lord,

be adopted into

his family,

and call upon

God as our

father.

What should be

our response to

such mercy?

we see it in

verses 27 to

31.

In the

preceding passage,

God had

graciously accommodated

Moses' weakness

by promising to

send Aaron to

him to be a

spokesperson for

him because Moses

was not a good

speaker.

And that promise

is fulfilled here

when Aaron meets

Moses at the

mountain of God

and begins to

serve as his

mouthpiece.

And then when

they go to

Egypt and gather

the elders of

Israel and they

speak all the

words that the

Lord had spoken

to Moses and do

all the signs

that the Lord

had given

them, he says

in verse 31,

the people

believed.

And that too

is a fulfillment

of the Lord's

promise from

earlier on.

Remember when

Moses protested

in chapter 4

verse 1 saying,

they will not

believe me or

listen to my

voice.

But God had

promised Moses

in chapter 3

verse 18,

they will listen

to your voice.

And once again,

it's the word

of the Lord

and not the

voice of Moses

doubts that

proves true.

The people

believed and

that should be

our response

too.

When you hear

the good news

of Jesus Christ

preached, if

you're not a

follower of

Christ, you

should believe.

Entrust yourself

to the Lord.

And it says

in verse 31,

when they heard

that the Lord

had visited

the people of

Israel and

that he had

seen their

affliction,

they bowed

their heads

and worshipped.

That is the

appropriate human

response to

God's compassion

and salvation.

We are not

alone.

We are not

fatherless.

God has seen

our affliction.

He has visited

us in Christ

and we ought to

worship him.

That's why the

Lord God saves

us.

Remember what

the Lord told

Moses to say to

Pharaoh in

verse 23,

let my son go

that he may

serve me.

The word

serve is

sometimes also

translated as

worship.

We have been

redeemed from

our slavery to

sin that we

might serve and

worship the

Lord.

God does not

free us

from slavery to

sin for the

sake of freedom

itself.

God does not

serve us.

He frees us for

himself so that

instead of being

slaves of Pharaoh,

instead of being

slaves of any other

idols of our world

for that matter,

whether it's money,

success, fame,

lust, the approval

of man, that we

might instead be

slaves of Christ.

Sin always enslaves

us.

We delude

ourselves into

thinking that we

can enjoy sin here

and there in a

controlled manner,

at our convenience,

but sin instead

controls us and

masters us and

leads us ineluctably

to death.

True freedom for man,

for humanity, is

found only in

servitude to God.

It is only in the

arms of our

heavenly father that

we are truly known

and loved.

It is only at the

table of our

father's home that

we are truly fed

and satisfied.

It's only in the

service and worship

of our father that

we fulfill our

eternal creation

purpose.

Let's pray

together.

Lord,

Lord,

we worship

you.

We stand in awe

of you.

We tremble before

you because you

are holy,

because you are

sovereign.

but Lord,

we also

love you.

We love you

more than anyone

else in the

whole world.

We love you

with our whole

heart.

We lay down our

lives before you.

We dedicate,

we devote

all of our lives

to you.

because you are

a gracious

God.

Because you are

our father.

Because you

loved us

first.

Because you

gave your son

for us.

God,

help us to

believe

these truths

and live

in obedience

by them

for your

glory.

In Jesus'

name we

pray.

Amen.