Exiting Egypt Chapter 3B P4

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3B P4

“Moses: A Reluctant Prophet”

Exodus 3:11-4:17

By Dennis Lee

But seeing that the Pharaoh wouldn’t believe got Moses to thinking, which brings us to his third excuse.

Read Ex. 4:1-9

Excuse #3 – The People Wouldn’t Believe Him

But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you’ (Ex. 4:1 NKJV)

Moses had a self-image problem. His fear was that the people would reject him, by denying his call and mission.

Now, the problem with this sort of argument has nothing to do with our precious self-image, but it has everything to do with obedience to God over our fear of man. The duty of a prophet, as it is the duty of every believer, is to obey God, and not argue against God’s calling, and whether or not the people respond.

Drawing people to Himself, arousing faith within a person’s heart, is God’s responsibility, not ours. Our responsibility is to surrender to God’s call and go. God is the one who quickens the good news into the hearts of the people to believe and trust in Jesus. Our job is to go and proclaim the gospel so that they can hear it.

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher… So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:14, 17 NKJV)

Now, God reply is that he would give to Moses three signs to show the people, two of which God showed Moses right there.

God would reveal Moses as His man through signs and wonders so that no one would question.

The first sign was the staff being turned into a serpent. (Michaela gives a good word on this in her blog on Friday night). But for our time together what I would like to focus on is that the snake in Egypt was an animal chosen to symbolize power and authority. Pharaoh actually wore the emblem of a snake on his crown.

And so, by turning Moses’ staff into a snake and then having Moses pick it back up again reveals that God is the ultimate power and authority and has authority and power over all the nations of the earth.

Now, as a side note, consider Moses. It said he fled from the snake, which means that the snake was no garden snake, but a dangerous viper, one bite and you’re a goner. But now God was calling Moses into greater faith, as he told him to pick up the snake from its tail. This is not how you pick up a snake. You are to pick up a snake by its head so it doesn’t turn and bite you.

And this is what I find interesting; up to this point Moses was questioning God about everything He said, and giving one excuse after another. So why not now? By putting out his hand and grabbing the snake by the tail, Moses was starting to exhibit some faith.

The second sign was that of leprosy. God afflicted Moses’ hand with leprosy, and then healed Moses through the same method Moses got afflicted by.

And so, what was God trying to symbolize through this sign? I believe that it was nothing less than God’s power over health and disease, and for that matter, life and death. You see, leprosy was one of the most feared diseases in the ancient world.

The third sign was for Moses to take water from the Nile River and pour it on the ground, and as the water hit the ground it would turn to blood.

The Nile was the life source of Egypt, providing the water necessary for drinking and for agriculture. The Nile was the very source then for life for the Egyptians. And so, what this sign would symbolize is that God has the power over the basic necessities of life, thus making it clear that He was the ultimate source and provision for life.

When I look at these three signs, they remind me of the signs Jesus proclaimed to prove that He was the Messiah and by that admission the Lord God Himself.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed (Lk. 4:18 NKJV)

Yet, even after all of this, Moses still was reluctant and gave God another excuse.