Who Do You Fear ?

[0:00] Well, this morning we're going to be back in Exodus, and we are finishing off chapter four.

[0:12] We're going to be reading from verse 18 to the end of chapter four. If you have a Bible, please turn there. If not, don't worry. page 114.

[0:41] Exodus chapter 4, from verse 18.

[1:00] 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.

[1:13] 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 were seeking your life are dead.

[1:24] 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.

[1:42] 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.

[1:52] 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. And at a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.

[2:10] 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.

[2:26] 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.

[2:42] 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 all the people.

[2:56] 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.

[3:07] This is God's word. And we ask him to bless the reading of it. Amen. Amen. This weekend is the coronation of the King of Great Britain.

[3:23] I wonder if any of us in this room has ever met Queen Elizabeth. Anyone ever met Queen Elizabeth? I don't imagine any of us...

[3:33] Yes? Eleanor? Wonderful. So you'll have an idea of this. Because I don't imagine any of us will really get the opportunity to meet the King.

[3:48] Maybe one day one of us or two of us. But if you were, if you were to meet royalty, how do you respond? I mean, Eleanor, was that a thing? Like, how do you act when you meet the monarch?

[4:04] Right? Wow. But there's a kind of etiquette, you know. And it says on the official website for the British monarchy, there's no obligatory codes of behaviour when meeting the monarch or a member of the royal family, but many people wish to observe the traditional forms.

[4:23] And so there's no shortage of websites with the do's and don'ts when you're meeting royalty. There's no shortage of examples of famous people who have got it right or got it wrong.

[4:37] Now, can you imagine? Can you imagine if you weren't just any old person? Imagine if you were Harry. Right?

[4:48] We all know what that means. Or perhaps even Meghan Markle. Right? We know that Meghan wasn't at the coronation. Now, she wasn't a part of the royal family.

[5:02] She's not got any hereditary ties. So it's a bit like that with Moses. Although he grew up in the royal family, he chose to disassociate with them.

[5:15] Now, imagine, like after this coronation weekend, imagine sometime after it, not just anyone, but Meghan Markle came back to Britain and went to the palace and confronted the king and demanded that he do X, Y, and Z.

[5:32] Imagine what that would be like. Now, we all have fears. This is where we are in Exodus. We have this fearful anticipation of Moses returning to Egypt and facing Pharaoh.

[5:45] Pharaoh. Albeit it's a different Pharaoh than the one who sought his life 40 years ago. And anyone else who sought his life is now dead too. Nevertheless, facing any Pharaoh back then was no small thing.

[5:58] And it's not just any old person who's gone. It's Moses, the reputation that he would have had. Can you imagine having to go to the most feared and most powerful man ruling over the strongest nation in the world and going with a demand for him to let over a million people leave?

[6:20] And being more familiar than his brother Aaron wouldn't make it any easier because Moses would have seen before how people were dealt with if they didn't act accordingly in front of Pharaoh.

[6:32] Now, again, this is Moses that has to do it. It's not any old person. Moses, the very one who grew up as a prince and then disowned the royal family and killed an Egyptian. That's the one who has to go back and confront Pharaoh.

[6:45] No wonder it took so much to persuade him. When he was in Egypt, it was either living as a Hebrew slave or living as an Egyptian prince. Be the oppressor or the oppressed.

[6:58] But Moses has been living in the countryside without all the politics and pressure. Back in chapter 2, it says that Moses was content to stay in Midian with Jethro, marry his daughter, and they had a wee boy.

[7:10] Moses worked as a shepherd over Jethro's flock. He came to Midian as a Hebrew by birth, but was dressed and identified as an Egyptian. But now it seems like Moses is neither.

[7:24] It seems like he doesn't want to be a Hebrew or an Egyptian. He just wants to live a quiet and peaceful life in Midian as a family man with a priest for a father-in-law and a job on the farm.

[7:35] Now remember this. At one time, as a prince of Egypt, his concerns were the affairs of Egypt. And then his concerns turned to his own people, the Hebrews.

[7:49] But now, when God is asking Moses to do this, Moses' concerns is in Midian with his wife and children and his home and his job. He's put down roots and he's found more reasons to stay than to go.

[8:04] And I think it's helpful to see this out of all the back of the excuses that he gives because Moses is a real person with a complex past, a confused identity, and a lot of good reasons never to go back.

[8:17] Now when God requires much, he gives much. God requires much of Moses, but what he gave Moses was more than most people will ever get.

[8:31] This isn't an ordinary man, and it's not an ordinary picture of how God interacts with humans. Much was required of Moses because much was given to him.

[8:42] And although God's call on Moses' life required an extraordinary service and sacrifice, it would also be fueled by an extraordinary relationship with God.

[8:54] It's almost like, when you read the story, it's almost like no one other than God could have convinced Moses to go back. And we can see this throughout history with great men and women called by God.

[9:08] Think about Paul, the apostle. Also, like Moses, the intervention in his life had to come from none other than Jesus himself. And then he was a man whose life was marked by great suffering for the name of Christ, more than most Christians will ever experience.

[9:25] Yet the extent of his suffering was matched by the extent of his relationship with the risen Jesus. The revelation and visions that he received, such that he wasn't even permitted to talk about them.

[9:37] And so for Moses, he has this great call on his life, and serving God in this way is going to require so, so much from him, yet God has given him an invitation to know God in a way that most people will never experience.

[9:55] And even at this point, even at the point where we get to verse 18, Moses has already experienced God in a way that most never will. But he still has a choice to make.

[10:07] What's he going to do? Is he going to come up with more excuses? Will fear of Pharaoh and fear of rejection prevent Moses from fulfilling this God-given task?

[10:27] That's a big question. Will fear of Pharaoh and fear of rejection from his own people prevent Moses from fulfilling this God-given task? What's the right response before God?

[10:38] Now, we can see in this passage the great help of a companion. Moses asks God, please send someone else. But what God actually does is God sends someone to him, his own brother, Aaron.

[10:53] And at this point, it seems like it's enough. It's enough for Moses. He doesn't need to think about Egypt. He doesn't need to think about Pharaoh. He just needs to take the first step and go out and meet his brother on the way.

[11:04] Folks, how much do we need one another? How much do we need a companion along the way? Ecclesiastes 4 says this, Here is someone who lives alone.

[11:16] He has no son or no brother, yet he's always working but never satisfied with the wealth that he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure?

[11:26] This is useless and a miserable way to live. And then he says, Two are better than one because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up.

[11:39] But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad because there's no one to help him. Having another beside you can give you help and encouragement and confidence to make the right response.

[11:51] It's in the second chapter of the Bible listed as the only thing in a good creation that is not good. The only thing in a good creation that is not good and is not good for the man to be alone.

[12:08] There's no lone wolf in God's kingdom. There isn't any. The lone wolf is actually the one who devours the sheep. Sheep are meant to live in a flock together. But the sheep that is alone is lost and in grave danger.

[12:24] And so for Moses, it's a really big help and encouragement that God gives him his brother. Yet here's the interesting thing. Moses seems more encouraged that Aaron, his brother, will be with him than he did back in chapter 3 when God said that he would be with him.

[12:44] Isn't that interesting? He's more encouraged that his brother's with him than he was that God said that he would be with him. Now Moses, this is just a journey that we all need to learn.

[12:55] Moses will learn in time how God's presence with him does far more than his brother's presence with him. Not that it's one or the other, but it's like a provision and accommodation of God until we are ready for something far greater.

[13:15] See, God gives us these wee provisions until we're ready for something far greater to draw us into a closer relationship with God. And the interesting thing that happens here is after this big encounter in the command of God, Moses goes in the wrong direction.

[13:33] I don't know if you've ever done that. You've ever went the wrong direction. I know many wives will be like, yeah, my husband's went the wrong direction plenty of times. But Moses goes back, not to Egypt and not to Pharaoh, but he goes back to Midian, to Jethro.

[13:49] And he says to Jethro, please let me go. It's like, is this a foreshadow of let, please let my people go? Moses goes to Midian and to Jethro and says, please let me go.

[14:05] And at least from Jethro he gets, go in peace. Now give me a wee second because there is an entire page missing.

[14:31] It's okay. No, okay. I'm down a page. We're getting away early. He goes in the wrong direction.

[14:51] Where are we? And so we have this kind of foreshadow to let my people go.

[15:02] So, many, many people are divided over whether it's right or wrong for Moses to go back to Midian.

[15:12] I wonder what it would have been like if Moses just set off from the mountain as God told him. Back in verse 12, God already said, now therefore go. Go.

[15:23] Go to Egypt. I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say. And Moses is like, send someone else. And he's like, Aaron's coming. He's going to meet you. And so not only has he been told to go, he's been told his brother's going to meet him, but he turns and goes in the wrong direction and goes back to Jethro and asks him to let him go.

[15:42] And then he takes the wrong companion. God has given him a companion, his brother, and he takes his wife and kids. I mean, it might look like there is some great consideration of Moses.

[15:57] You know, I'm going to tie things up with Jethro. I'm going to give his notice. To leave the farm job. And I'm going to look after my wife and kids. Now, I don't think God is in the business of, you know, destroying families.

[16:13] I don't think that's what God is doing here. I think perhaps God would have provided all of those needs. But taking his wife and kids to Egypt for this mission doesn't really seem like the kind of thing that your wife and kids want to be around for.

[16:28] And I think it's interesting that he doesn't really tell Jethro the nature of this mission or even this encounter with God. I wonder if Moses was up front about the nature of the mission if Jethro would have said, you're not taking Zipporah and the grandkids.

[16:45] No way. No way. But it's interesting. We learn these things as we go. And so he goes. And we get this sense as well that the Lord after Jethro says go in peace the Lord says to Moses go back to Egypt.

[17:05] Like why does he have to say that again? Go back to Egypt. You're in the wrong place. And he says all the men who are seeking your life are dead. And it's almost like Moses is thinking as long as it's on my terms if I can tie up family matters and do you know what as long as it's safe to go back.

[17:25] I'll just wait until God says it's safe. It's safe. All those who are seeking your life are dead. Moses is like oh I'll go back now. I'll go back. And so finally Moses goes he takes his wife and his sons ride on a donkey and they start to head back.

[17:44] And God says to him when you go back to Egypt see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I've put in your power but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

[17:58] And then you shall say to Pharaoh thus says the Lord Israel is my firstborn son I say to you let my son go that he may serve me if you refuse him to let him go behold I will kill your firstborn son.

[18:09] Now here's a question does Pharaoh have a choice? God says to Moses go and do before Pharaoh all these things and say before Pharaoh all the things that I've told you but I will harden Pharaoh's heart and if he refuses I will kill his firstborn son.

[18:32] Now is that fair? Well a simpler question is God fair? We know the answer to that. Yes God is righteous.

[18:43] Abraham says will not the judge of all the earth do what is right? The answer is yes he will. Does Pharaoh have a choice?

[18:53] What do you think? Do we have a choice? Do people have a choice? We all have a choice. Now what does it mean I will harden his heart?

[19:06] What has God taught? Is he doing some sort of mystical twisting of Pharaoh's heart? Or is there something about Pharaoh's heart that is predisposed to do the things that he's going to do?

[19:20] Think about it this way. Has not Pharaoh already enslaved the people of Israel? Yes. Has not Pharaoh already burdened them greatly?

[19:34] Yes. Does Pharaoh not want his own glory? He wants his own glory. Pharaoh wants his own glory. We will see next week in chapter 5 just what kind of predispositions Pharaoh has.

[19:50] But what does it mean that he will harden Pharaoh's heart? Well, think of it this way. This is what I think it means. Have you ever had a disagreement with someone? You don't need to say who was right and who was wrong.

[20:06] And if you've had a disagreement with someone, have you ever had a disagreement with a strong-willed person? And when you challenge them or when you disagree, do they drop their position immediately?

[20:26] What tends to happen if you disagree with a strong-willed person? It tends to make them even more strong-willed, doesn't it? It's like they have become more resolved in their position than they would have ever have been if you didn't challenge them in the first place.

[20:45] But it's like, oh, really? And they become all puffed up and stubborn. It pushes people further into their own resolve.

[20:55] Now, Pharaoh has a resolve. He has a resolve as the king of Egypt, the king of the world. He sees himself as a god. There is no other like him. How dare anyone challenge him?

[21:07] Who do you think you are? And when someone asks Pharaoh what, someone tells Pharaoh what to do, Pharaoh's like, I'm the one that tells people what to do, not you. And so God, by the actions, the things that he does and says, will push Pharaoh further into his resolve.

[21:25] That's what I think it means by God is going to harden Pharaoh's heart. He's not going to do some magic on his heart. He's just going to do things that's going to push Pharaoh into a corner and make him even more resolved in his predisposed hardness towards Israel.

[21:43] Does that make sense? Are we with this? Now, for hundreds of years, Egypt has not wanted to let this people go. And we will see that even before God compels Pharaoh with a mighty hand, even before that, Pharaoh insists that he will not let this people go.

[22:03] Who is Yahweh? That's what we're going to hear next week. And so this is what I think is going on. Pharaoh, the logical thing that Pharaoh should do is back down. If God is threatening to cripple the nation, the logical thing is Pharaoh should back down.

[22:18] But we know that Pharaoh has pride and stubbornness and he will not back down for anyone. And so, by God's words and actions and Pharaoh's stubbornness, it's like Pharaoh's going to cut off his nose to spite his face.

[22:34] God will still give him a choice. God always gives people a choice, regardless of our predispositions. But are we free? Nobody comes to a choice from a neutral position.

[22:48] We all have predispositions. And so we are free to make a choice, but we are bound by our own predispositions. God always gives people a choice, regardless of predispositions, but he will also likewise hold Pharaoh accountable.

[23:03] And so how will Pharaoh respond? You see, even the kings of the earth are called upon to respond rightly before God. No one gets a pass. And the question, this incredible thing about Israel being my firstborn son, the question is, what will you do with the son of God?

[23:23] Is that not still the question of the Bible? What will you do with the son of God? At this point, God lays out the end game. He says, Pharaoh, this is how it's going to go down. And what a striking picture.

[23:35] Israel's my firstborn son. Let my son go. And if you don't let my son go, I will kill your firstborn son. Now, I wonder if you remember the schoolboy threats on the playground.

[23:49] I'll get my dad. My dad's bigger than your dad. There are people in life with such a reputation that you just wouldn't want to mess with their family.

[24:01] I don't know if you've ever known someone like that. You just wouldn't. Don't mess. Do you know who his dad is? Don't mess with them. Imagine harming the son of someone powerful and terrifying.

[24:15] He just wouldn't do it. Now, imagine threatening to kill somebody's son in general. That's not a good idea. But not just anybody. Imagine threatening to kill a king's son.

[24:28] And not just any son, but imagine threatening to kill a king's heir, his firstborn son. This is what Moses had to say to Pharaoh. But the picture that is even more terrifying than that is that Pharaoh has kidnapped the firstborn son of Yahweh.

[24:49] That should be the thing that puts terror into the minds of people. He's kidnapped the son of the God and creator of all things. If there's anyone you don't want to mess with in this story, it's God.

[25:03] What will you do with the son of God? If Pharaoh refuses, it won't end well for him or his heir, his firstborn son. And we know, if we know the story, that this is pointing towards the climax of the plagues, the final plague, the death of the firstborn son, the Passover.

[25:20] This is the straw that breaks Pharaoh's back. And with this, Moses goes. And then we come to verse 24, which is one of the strangest parts in the Old Testament.

[25:30] And scholars agree this is one of the hardest parts of Exodus. So, brace yourselves, we're going to be here a while. Bear with me. I'm going to try and tackle this while still having room for ambiguity because I don't really know everything that's going on here.

[25:47] Nobody does. All the scholars have different opinions on this, but we're going to look at it. And so, after all the convincing, after all the things that God has given Moses to do and say, and after he gets him finally on the road, God suddenly tries to kill him.

[26:06] What on earth is going on here? Well, I want to say just a few things about this difficult section that are going to help us. Firstly, I want to highlight something about the original language.

[26:20] Secondly, I want to give us a reminder of the things that we can be sure of. And thirdly, I want to try and show us how this fits into the flow of the whole passage.

[26:32] So, firstly, the Hebrew. I'm not going to spend long on this, but whether or not we end up with the same understanding, it should be noted that sometimes our English translations actually do some of the interpreting for us.

[26:44] Sometimes this helps us, sometimes it leads us down the wrong path, but the English translations do some of the work that maybe shouldn't be done by the translators.

[26:58] And so, for instance, in this section, if you look at your Bible, verses 24 to 26, in the Hebrew, the only names that are mentioned are Yahweh and Zipporah.

[27:11] Moses' name isn't mentioned at all. In the Hebrew, everything else in this passage is either he, him, his, or you. And scholars have good arguments for different interpretations of who the he and the him is.

[27:28] But the point is, the point is, in the original language, these verses are far more ambiguous than we realize. And I think part of the reason why it's ambiguous is that we are supposed to wrestle and meditate on the Scriptures in particular parts like this.

[27:45] When the translators do all the work for us, we're not doing the work of meditating on the Scriptures. What does this mean? Who is it talking about? We're supposed to wrestle and meditate on these things.

[27:56] The more we meditate on the whole thing, the more clues we get to understand the small, less clear parts. And even at that, I think, I think doing this work of meditating and wrestling can bear fruit even if we don't understand everything.

[28:12] And so that's, the original language is far more ambiguous. It doesn't tell us who, who's trying to kill who and who's doing what. It doesn't tell us. It just tells us about Yahweh and it tells us about Zipporah and then everything else is ambiguous.

[28:26] Now secondly, we need the help of the reminders of things that we can't be sure of. And so, I don't know if you've read the whole of Genesis, but Genesis, the first chapter and the last chapter, the start and the end of Genesis, affirm to us that God is good and that God does good.

[28:51] Whatever God does is meant for good. That's what Genesis as a story tells us from beginning to the end that God is good. And among the other things we learn in Genesis prior to the Exodus is that when God gives someone a command, when God gives someone something to do, a mission, he expects it to be obeyed.

[29:12] And so even if it looks impossible, if he tells someone to do something, he will make sure that they're able to do it. Now think of Abraham and Isaac. Isaac was supposed to be the son of promise and Abraham was asked to sacrifice him.

[29:27] In Hebrews, it says that Abraham expected that God would raise him from the dead because when God has a mission, God expects people to do it, no matter what it looks like on the outside.

[29:39] The fact that God has given this mission to Moses, we shouldn't be confused, we shouldn't be wondering if God has changed his mind by trying to kill Moses.

[29:54] In everything in this account, Moses is the only one who's going to do this mission. And so whatever's going on, God still expects Moses to go to Egypt. So either God's going to raise him from the dead or God is going to provide a way to rescue Moses.

[30:14] And that's exactly what happens. If God wanted Moses dead, if God wanted anyone dead, they'd be dead. God has no mistakes.

[30:26] God doesn't have failed attempts. He knows the end from the beginning and he's sovereign over all. Thirdly, how does this strange section fit into the flow of the whole passage?

[30:39] You know, one of the things that I've wrestled with, if you remove these three verses, 24 to 26, if you just take them out, rip them out of your Bible, the passage flows wonderfully.

[30:51] It flows perfectly fine. Nothing seems strange. God tells Moses to go and he goes and he meets Aaron and he goes to Egypt and everything's fine.

[31:02] So it seems kind of random that these are here. And I wrestled with that. Why are they here? Because nothing in the Bible is random.

[31:14] Do they interrupt the flow? Because they're here. We can't rip them out. They're already here. If my training has taught me anything it's that a text in the Bible is not random.

[31:25] There's no random collection of stories. Rather, the Bible writers are very selective and deliberately designed. And if we want to understand a part we must consider the whole.

[31:38] So I'm very quickly going to go look at the whole book of Exodus, look at the story so far, look at the larger passage and then look again at this wee, small, strange section.

[31:49] And we're going to do this very quickly. If you think about the whole book of Exodus I want to ask a question. Who is the biggest threat in the book of Exodus? Who do you think?

[32:01] Who do you think? So this is the interesting thing. The biggest threat in the book of Exodus is Yahweh.

[32:13] A lot of us would think it is Pharaoh. But actually the biggest threat in the book of Exodus is Yahweh. And we learn as we go through that it is absolutely no contest. What is the biggest concern of the book of Exodus?

[32:27] What do you think the biggest concern of the book is? We get this idea that it's actually the revelation and glory of Yahweh.

[32:37] That's the biggest concern of the book of Exodus. It's the revelation of Yahweh to the world and the glory of Yahweh before the world so that all people will know that I am Yahweh. So that Israel will know, so that Pharaoh and the Egyptians will know, and so that the earth will know that I am Yahweh.

[32:54] And so have those in mind. The biggest threat in Exodus is Yahweh. The biggest concern is the glory of Yahweh. And then the story so far from chapter 1 to this point.

[33:06] Who's done the most rescuing? Who has done the most rescuing in the book of Exodus so far? It's actually been women. Women have done the most rescuing.

[33:17] We've got the midwives in chapter 1. We've got Moses' mum and Moses' sister. Pharaoh's daughter. You've got all this rescuing by women. And who's been rescued most of the time?

[33:29] It's Moses. Moses has been rescued. And so we need to have this idea in mind that what Moses goes through is a foreshadow of what Israel will go through.

[33:41] You see, the women play the part of the rescuer and Moses plays the part of the rescued. And then later, from this point onward, Yahweh will play the part of the rescuer and Israel will play the part of being rescued.

[33:53] And not only does chapter 1 to 4 open and close with rescue, but they open and close with great covenant overtones. The covenant matters.

[34:05] If you're part of the covenant, you will be rescued, but if you're not, you won't. You're either in or out, and it's a matter of life and death. And so, the whole book, the story so far, and think about Moses' initial encounter and the passage, the larger passage.

[34:25] What has been the big thing that has held Moses back? What's the big thing that has held him back? I think it would be fair to say that he fears Pharaoh and he fears the rejection of his people.

[34:41] He fears Pharaoh. Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? No, the people won't listen. He fears Pharaoh and he fears the rejection of his own people to the extent that he's willing to live and identify with those in Midian.

[34:56] He doesn't want to go back. And finally, thinking of this small, strange section, verse 24 to 26, it's very strange, but what is the takeaway?

[35:08] Why is God trying to kill Moses? Why does the woman rescue him? What has circumcision got to do with it and the blood? I think it's got to do with this.

[35:19] Who do you fear, obey, and trust? Whether we understand all of what's going on or not, I believe that by considering the whole book and the story so far and then the larger passage, it would be reasonable to say that the big point of this strange little section is who you fear and who you obey and who you trust and who you identify with is a matter of life and death.

[35:46] This is the whole, this is what's going to happen in the whole of Exodus. Who you fear, who you obey, who you trust, and who you identify with is going to be a matter of life and death.

[35:59] God's going to make a distinction with those who are in his covenant and those who are not, those who fear him and those who do not, those who obey him and trust him and those who do not. And so whatever reason, there's this failure from Moses to identify with the covenant community people.

[36:17] Moses, when he's out in Midian, has failed to identify with God's covenant people. He's not even enacting the only sign of the covenant, the only sign given is circumcision and Moses, for some reason, has abandoned it.

[36:34] A lot of scholars say that it was distasteful to Zipporah, but Moses gave in, compromised on that. And here's the thing, this sign of the covenant was given as a sign as the people procreate that if the skin wasn't cut off of that person, then the person would be cut off from the people.

[36:55] And somehow, Moses has failed to do this in his household. And I wonder if you can relate to this. Even nowadays with God's people, when you stop identifying with God's people, you are less likely to pass it on to the next generation.

[37:13] Is that not the case? When you stop identifying with God's people, what hope have your children got to be part of God's people? And so, for similar reasons, Moses' firstborn son or sons are not circumcised.

[37:27] And if Moses isn't identifying with Israel through the one covenant they have, then when it comes to the Passover, what will happen to Moses?

[37:39] It will just be like what happens to Pharaoh and his firstborn son. And so, I think this encounter says to Moses, Moses, you need to get to grips with who you are. You're confused.

[37:51] Are you a Hebrew? Are you an Egyptian? Are you a Midianite? Is it not the first thing that God says to Moses, I am the God of your fathers? He's a Levite.

[38:04] And so, Moses has to get to grips with who he is. You need to be part of the covenant people. And when it talks about the skin being cut off and touched to his feet, it's the same Hebrew word when the blood is touched to the doorposts in the plague.

[38:26] It's the same word. It's the same picture. And so, the only thing, the only thing that saves Moses here is the covenant by the blood. Covenant by the blood.

[38:38] Only by the blood. Isn't that right? And so, the problem is who should Moses fear? Should Moses fear Pharaoh? Should Moses fear the people?

[38:51] Or should Moses fear Yahweh? These things are not random. When you look at the start of our passage, God said to Moses, those who are seeking your life are dead.

[39:05] And to Moses, that's a comfort. But now we have God seeking his life. Who is it Moses should fear? Should Moses fear those who are seeking his life or should Moses fear Yahweh?

[39:17] And that's going to make all the difference. How can Moses stand before Pharaoh and deliver the people from Egypt if he fears man? He cannot. He can only do it if he fears Yahweh and knows who Yahweh was.

[39:31] How can he rely on the presence of Yahweh being with him if he doesn't know who Yahweh is and doesn't fear him? And so, if he is to deliver the commandments to the people of Israel, he cannot be in disobedience to the one commandment already given.

[39:48] If he is to deliver the covenant to the people, he should be identified by the covenant. If he is to mediate before, if he is to mediate for Israel, he should identify with Israel.

[40:01] And if he is to serve God, he should fear God above all others. If we have any hopes of fulfilling the task that God has given us and serve God, then we should fear God above all others.

[40:16] in this encounter, we see that he is saved by the blood, the very thing that Israel must trust in the final plague. You see, no one gets a pass. No one gets a pass because of who they are.

[40:29] Pharaoh does not get a pass because he's the king and Moses does not get the pass even if he's the very man chosen for the job. He doesn't get a pass. We all must respond rightly.

[40:41] God will always act rightly, but we must always respond rightly, no matter who we are or what our story is. We often think that we can contain God.

[40:53] We often think that we have God figured out. But as one writer said, this attack on Moses is very strange.

[41:06] This attack on Moses actually becomes an attack on the reader's understanding of who God is. And sometimes we need that. Sometimes we need shaking our understanding of who we think God is.

[41:18] And so, in the words of C.S. Lewis in the Narnia stories, talking of Aslan, talking of God, he says, he's wild, you know, not like a tame lion.

[41:32] God cannot be tamed, certainly not by his creatures. And so, who do you fear? Who do you trust and obey? Who do you identify with? And what do you do with the Son of God?

[41:44] It's only by the blood of Jesus that any of us can be rescued and know God. And this is what all of this is pointing towards. Pharaoh and the kings of this world have nothing on Jesus.

[41:57] He's the king of kings. And so, after this, Moses meets Aaron, tells him all the words and shows him the signs. Then they gather all the elders, tell them all the words and show them the signs and the sight of the people.

[42:11] And the people believe and they bow down their heads and they worship Yahweh. This is the right response. Believe and worship him. And I want to end with a simple quote again from C.S. Lewis and he's talking about Jesus as the great and fierce lion, Aslan.

[42:32] He isn't safe, but he is good. He's the king, I tell you. Let me pray. God, our Father, help us to respond rightly to your son, Jesus.

[42:49] help us always to fear you above all others, knowing that you cannot be tamed, knowing that you are the king of kings, knowing that every man, whether they are kings and whether they are called and the greatest mission that you have for them, every man must respond rightly before you.

[43:12] And so, help us to do so. Help us to fear you, knowing that you are good and knowing that you have provided a way for us to be rescued by the blood of your son.

[43:27] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen.