God's Waiting and A New Start (Exodus 3:7-12)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to 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 has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and 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 that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
Introduction
There was a famous evangelist named D. Moody who defined Moses into three different stages. The first stage was defining Moses as “someone.” This someone is someone who can become someone and with value. When Moses thought that he was someone, God made sure to take everything away from him. God actually turned Moses into a murderer and fugitive. The second stage was “Nobody” and this was when Moses was living in the wilderness. During this stage, Moses realized that he had nothing in his life but when Moses was feeling this way, God raised Moses up as a leader to save his people. The last stage was “I am God’s body”; he realized that he was chosen by and held by God. During this time, God carried out His work through Moses and allowed great miracles to take place in his life. I am not sure what you think about this. Do you think you are somebody, nobody, or are you God’s body? What stage are you in? This did not just take place in Moses’ life but you also need to experience these stages in your life. We can see this process through today’s Biblical passage.
1. God's Plan
(1) God's concern
Verse 7 - This message is a very important message for us. When God looked at His people of His covenant, He had great focus and concern towards them. God knows, hears, and sees everything about you. Are you holding onto this right now? Then, to what extent is God watching us? Originally the word, “Surely seen” in Hebrew holds two meanings. The meaning that God is using is that God is watching His people with intent and absolute view. God has seen everything that has happened to the Israelites. Do you understand that God is also watching you the same way? You must live your life knowing that God is always watching you. It also says that God hears us. In Hebrew, “Heard” means that God is listening to everything without losing even a single word and cry. God hears all of our suffering, heartache, and groans. He also heard all of the cries of the Israelites. It also says that God knows the Israelites’ sorrows. This is not just God knowing but God is basically saying that He is feeling all of their sorrows and cries. God is saying that He feels exactly what the Israelites are feeling. We can see God’s great concern and love for His people. We must hold onto this. Ever since the Israelites were young, God saw and heard everything. It wasn’t just Moses that God was watching. We can see that God has great concern and love that He has for the people of the covenant. Do you believe in this? If you hold onto God’s covenant, then there is nothing for you to worry about. There is no need for you to go to others for comfort.
(2) God's plan
Verse 8 - What is the most important term here? It says that God will come down. God saw how much the Israelites were suffering so God was saying that He will come down and save His people. Do you have problems or difficulties? Do you have fears? If God saves you, then that is it. If God draws you out, then that is it. God has fulfilled His plan. There is something important here. God promised that He will deliver His people out to the place of the Canaanites. God is saying that He will replace the Canaanites with the Israelites. In a way, it is cruel by God. Because God is saying that He will wipe out the Canaanites and give their land to the Israelites. There are two important meanings that we must hold onto here. The first meaning is that the land of Canaan, it belongs to God. This land belongs to the people of God. God is saying that this land does not belong to the Canaanites but to the people of God. You think that your job belongs to you or your possessions belong to you. But nothing belongs to you but everything belongs to God. The second meaning, God is a fair and righteous judge. God didn’t just send out the Canaanites, it means that God’s righteous judgment will be upon the Canaanites and the land of Canaan.
Leviticus 18:24-25 “Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. 25 For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants.” - I didn’t share with you all of the sins that the Canaanites committed. If I shared with you all of the sins that the Canaanites committed, it will perverse the ears of our remnants. One of the sins that the Canaanites committed was homosexuality and they acted like filthy animals. Not only were they acting like filthy animals but they made the land of Canaan full of filth and corruption. This doesn’t just apply to the land of Canaan but this was the same reason why the Israel fell captive of Babylon. The Israelites were living such a filthy life that God made the Israelites become captives of Babylon, and left the land of Israel desolate. Something astounding here happened.
God called the land of Canaan as a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. God was calling the land of Canaan as a filthy land but then God calls this land a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey. This means that this land that was filled with filth, God will turn into a blessed land. Why is that? This is important. Through the blood of the young lamb, the Israelites, the people of God will go into the land of Canaan. What happened when the Israelites went into the land of Canaan, the first thing that they did was break down the wall of Jericho. The Israelites demolished and burned everything down. This was the process of God making this land righteous. God killed every living thing in the land of Jericho but God saved only one person, Rahab and her family. God only saved one person, Rahab who held onto God’s covenant of the coming Messiah. This is the power of the cross. Even though everyone dies, if you hold onto the cross, then you will live. Everyone demolished and fell into destruction but God saved one person who held onto God’s covenant and the cross. Great blessings came upon Rahab. This is because she became a child of God. May you become someone like Rahab.
2. God's Waiting
(1) God's time schedule
Verses 9-10 - God told Moses to go and to go to fulfill God’s covenant. What was this covenant?
When God called Moses, God commanded Moses to go to the land that He promised and said that He will give him a great blessing in Genesis 12:2, 15:13 “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 15:13 Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.’ ” - This wasn’t just a light message that God gave to Abraham but this covenant was fulfilled through Moses.
Genesis 15:13 - The torch covenant was given to Moses. That 400 years was over and during those 400 years, there were 600,000 fighting men of the family line of Jacob. If there is an army of 600,000 soldiers, that is enormous. God was preparing a great nation during those 400 years. This was all part of God’s perfect time schedule.
Verse 10 - Everything was prepared and now, God said that He will send Moses before Pharaoh. We must hold onto something here. During this time, Pharaoh was considered as one of the most powerful people. Pharaoh thought that he was as powerful as God and he thought that he was a god. But God sent Moses, a 80 year old shepherd before Pharaoh. Why didn’t God send a young Moses before Pharaoh? There was God’s timing here. Moses had a lot of problems and issues. He had great pride and self-ego but God broke all of that and waited till Moses let go of all of that. When Moses gave up on everything, that was when God said that Moses was ready and he should now go before Pharaoh.
(2) God's start
Verses 11-12 - 40 years have passed and he was living as a fugitive in Midian. Not only that but his own people rejected him in Egypt.
Exodus 2:14 “Then he said, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ So Moses feared and said, ‘Surely this thing is known!’ ” - Moses thought that he was the chosen person of God but the Hebrew people rejected and ignored Moses completely. But after 40 years passed, Moses gave up on everything and had a great realization that he was nothing. At this time, when Moses asked God who he was to go before Pharaoh, he didn’t say that because he was humble. Realistically speaking, he was old in age and he had no power whatsoever. Moses thought that there was no way for him to go to Pharaoh and to take his people out of Egypt. But the important thing here is that God was pleased with Moses’ confession of his powerlessness. God was waiting for Moses’ confession for 40 years. When does God use you? When you realize that you can do nothing and you are powerless. There is nothing that you can do.
Verse 12 - I am powerless and I can do nothing but God gives Moses a method. God gave him the answer that God will be with him. When we confess that we can’t do anything then God will show you that He will be with you. If God does it, then we will receive absolute answers and work more than a million army can show. What does God do? We must serve God. Serving God means that we need to worship God and serve Him. We are believing that God is the True God and we are giving worship with this absolute resolution and confession. Why must we serve God? God created us so that we can serve and glorify Him. This is what God wants from us? Who is God seeking? Those who can give all glory to Him. When you do this, then God will use you. You must know well that all of the works that Moses did before Pharaoh, it wasn’t the works of Moses but it was all God. It was not Moses’ power or wisdom. This was all God’s power and wisdom. When you hold onto God, it doesn’t matter if you are weak, powerless, or old. If you are God’s body, then that is all that matters. Receive answers.
3. Starting with God
(1) Cast aside your thoughts
Moses was filled with his thoughts and standards, and this was why Moses failed initially. The reason why Adam failed was because he was filled with his own thoughts. When we hold onto our own thoughts, then we will fail too. And, we will become deceived and fall into Genesis 3, 6, and 11.
Genesis 3:4-5, 15 “Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” - You need to discard your thoughts and follow God’s plan. Then, God’s covenant will come upon you.
(2) Cast aside what is yours
Cast aside all of your standards and greed. If you don’t do this, then you will have no choice but to face destruction like the Canaanites. If you can’t cast aside all of this, then you have no choice but to fall into the age of Nephilim.
Genesis 6:14 “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.” - When you enter into the ark of the covenant, God will work through you. God will save you and your family. Throw away all of your standards and opinions.
(3) Cast aside bias in favor of "your people"
Your own bias is living the life of the Tower of Babel. This is the quickest way to destruction as seen in Genesis 11:4 “And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’ ”
Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - Throw away everything and follow God, then you will receive a new generation from God just like Abraham. You will receive the blessing of recreation within your family line and a new generation of blessings like Abraham.
Conclusion
1 Peter 5:7-8 “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” - Are you holding onto the covenant of God? Then don’t worry. Cast aside all of your worries to God then God will care for you. What is the secret to your victory? Trust in God. When you hold onto God’s covenant, then the same blessings that God gave to Moses and the Israelites, God will give to you as well.
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