[0:00] . Having read God's Word, we now come to study it.
[0:13] And we're going to look at both of our readings. For those of you who like to have a text to go by, there are two texts. In our first reading in Exodus 3, the text is the combination of verses 14 and 15.
[0:30] Where God gives his name. And the second text are the mysterious words in Exodus 33, verse 18.
[0:41] Where Moses says to God, please show me your glory. So those will be our texts. The title of the talk is a slightly mysterious one.
[0:56] The title is Moses and his mother. Moses and his mother. Now you might say, but we didn't read about Moses' mother at any point in the readings.
[1:10] That's true. But I hope that by the end of the sermon, we've discovered an awful lot about Moses' mother. And the special lady that she was to Moses.
[1:21] I always like to tell you how the sermon will pan out. So the sermon will be in three parts.
[1:34] The first part will be a summary of Moses' life up until the time of his meeting with God at the burning bush. The second part of the sermon will be to understand something from both of our readings and especially our texts.
[1:51] And then to see a connection between our texts. That's to do with God in the burning bush and Moses' request to see the glory of God.
[2:05] And the third part of the sermon will be to say, what is the application for us now? Because all scripture is application. And it's important that we read the scriptures as living word relevant to us now.
[2:20] Not just as ancient history. The living God is as real now here in this place as when he spoke to Moses at the burning bush.
[2:31] So the sermon will be in three parts. The first part is a summary of Moses' life up until his meeting with God at the burning bush. Secondly, to understand something from both of our readings and especially our texts.
[2:45] And to see how they connect. And thirdly, something of application for us. Now, in the year 2012. So let's begin at the beginning. Part one.
[2:57] A summary of Moses' life. Now most of us learned of these things in childhood. The baby in the bulrushes.
[3:08] In that little boat. Is one of those early memories we all have. Let's put that into a context. Moses was born in Egypt.
[3:22] Moses was born in slavery. Moses was born at a time when God's people were slaves in Egypt. When they were treated very badly.
[3:34] When the Hebrew boys, the baby boys, were being killed by drowning. There was a deliberate policy of Pharaoh after Pharaoh. Pharaoh and of his government.
[3:46] To drown the Hebrew boys. They were frightened of them. And this was a way they saw that they could control and eventually destroy God's people.
[4:02] If we stop and think for a moment. And just think laterally. This is what they did to God's people. They drowned the baby boys. Pharaoh and his soldiers.
[4:15] But what did the living God do to Pharaoh and his soldiers at the Red Sea? He met him like for like. That's just a digression.
[4:32] Moses when he was little. Should have been thrown into the Nile and drowned. But. His parents made a lovely little boat.
[4:43] A lovely little boat. So that strictly he was put into the Nile. But he didn't drown. And they put his elder sister Miriam as a sentry.
[4:55] To watch over that little boat. As it was hidden in the bow rushes. And incredibly. Moses' life was saved by the most unlikely person.
[5:08] Pharaoh's own daughter. So Moses lived. When thousands. Of other little Hebrew boys died.
[5:23] If we think laterally again. Think of Jesus as a baby. In the same way. That Herod and his soldiers wanted to kill Jesus.
[5:36] Jesus lived. When hundreds if not thousands of other little boys. In Bethlehem and the surrounding areas. Died. So we see a parallel there.
[5:48] The living God rescuing someone. To do something remarkable for him. Later in life. So we're at the point.
[6:01] Where Moses' life has been saved. By the most unlikely person. Pharaoh's own daughter. And then. Moses' sister Miriam. Thinks very quickly. And she suggests.
[6:11] The most unlikely solution. To Pharaoh's daughter's problem. At that moment. How to look after this little boy. And that's that Moses' own mother.
[6:22] Care for him. Until he is of age. To live with. The other princes in the palace. And this is the first time.
[6:36] We come across Moses' mother. In our study. And we have to search the scriptures. To discover her name. She's mentioned twice. The pronunciation normally of her name.
[6:51] Is. Jochebed. That's J-O-C-H-E-B-E-D. That's how it's normally spelt. In our English Bibles. You'll find that in Exodus.
[7:03] 6 verse 20. And the numbers 26. 59. She's only mentioned twice. But what I want you to do is. Don't go with the English pronunciation tonight.
[7:13] We need to go with the Hebrew one. And the Hebrew one is. Jochebed. So I want you to remember that. It's going to be important later.
[7:24] Jochebed. This wonderful lady. Was put in charge of Moses.
[7:37] Her own son. At the most crucial time. Of his development. And during that time. His formative years. She is the one.
[7:49] Who taught him. Of the living God. Of the one true God. And of his ways. She is the one. Who prevented him.
[7:59] Being assimilated as an Egyptian. When he went into the palace. To do that. She must have actually had contact with him. Probably well into his teenage years.
[8:13] So Moses' mother. Not his father. But Moses' mother. Is the one. Who taught him. The most important things. About the living God.
[8:28] Moses then. Moves into. Pharaoh's daughter's palace. He's educated. As an Egyptian prince. And as. Kenny I told us. Last week.
[8:39] In the morning service. Potentially. Moses. Could have ascended the throne. As one of the princes of Egypt. So therefore. He had to be taught.
[8:50] How to run a nation. So the Egyptians. Gave him a university. Standard education. Something that God. Would eventually use later. To rule God's people.
[9:03] To guide God's people. And to judge God's people. God used of all people. The Egyptians. To teach Moses. How to govern a people.
[9:16] But there was more. In that education. There was something about. The knowledge of Egypt. The diplomacy of Egypt. And especially the magic. The dark secrets of Egypt.
[9:30] And all of this. Would eventually be used later. When Moses. Was commissioned. To go back. To Egypt. When he would be sent back.
[9:40] To rescue God's people. Because he would know. His enemies. Inside out. He knew their ways. He knew how they thought. He knew. Especially their magic.
[9:51] He knew what they did. But. Here's this Egyptian prince. By the age of 40. He still has a sense. Of being a Hebrew.
[10:02] Of one of God's people. And he discovers. A situation. Where. A Hebrew. Is being beaten. By an Egyptian. So he steps in. He takes matters.
[10:14] Into his own hands. And he kills the Egyptian. The trouble is. Word gets out. Word gets out. And he has to run.
[10:24] For his life. This Egyptian prince. Runs for his life. And he heads east. He heads east. Across modern Sinai. Into Jordan.
[10:34] And into what is now. Saudi Arabia. In what the Bible calls. Midian. And he hides there. On the run. For 40 years. He stays with the family.
[10:51] Of the priest. Of Midian. A man called Jethro. He marries one of his daughters. And he has family there. And he tends sheep. So here's Moses.
[11:05] On the run. From the Egyptians. It's the last place. He's going to go back. To. The Egyptians. Are probably. On the lookout. For Moses.
[11:16] To catch up. With him. But someone else. Catches up. With Moses. Before the Egyptians do. And that's the living God. At the burning bush. In our reading. Now that's the end.
[11:28] Of the first part. Of the sermon. To summarize things. Up to the point. Where Moses meets. With God. At the burning bush. And we're moving. Into the second part. Of the sermon. Where we're going.
[11:38] To focus. On our two readings. In Exodus 3.
[11:53] God meets Moses. At the burning bush. And the other way around. Moses meets God. And God says. In verse 6. I am the God. Of your father. The God of Abraham.
[12:03] The God of Isaac. And the God of Jacob. And then he commissions him. To go back to Egypt. To rescue God's people. With the promise.
[12:15] That God would do signs and wonders. And that in Exodus. And that in Exodus. And that in Exodus. And that in Exodus. Are recorded for us. By Moses. And that would involve. Plagues.
[12:26] Miracles. The institution of the Passover. And the dramatic escape. Across the Red Sea. As we've read. As we've read.
[12:36] Moses was very reluctant. To go. But he seems to be shifting. In his view. And then he asks this question. He asks God.
[12:47] What is your name? Because I will need to have your name. When I go back to meet with your people. To confirm. That my mission. Is of you. And God gives his name.
[12:59] In three versions. And this is our first text. And they're all linked. God says. He describes himself. As I am who I am. And these are all the words.
[13:11] And capitals. That you can see. I am who I am. And a little later. In verse 14. He calls himself. I am. And then. In verse 15. He calls himself.
[13:23] The Lord. Now what does all that mean? And it seems a very strange thing. To be given to Moses. To take back.
[13:33] To God's people. We need to understand. A little bit of Hebrew here. When God says. I am who I am.
[13:45] What he's actually saying. He's taking the Hebrew. Verb. To be. In English. It would be to be. Which apparently. In Hebrew.
[13:55] It's pronounced. Hi-yah. And what he's saying. About himself is. If someone is to be. That means they exist.
[14:07] And putting it in his fullness. He's saying. I am. The permanently living one. Who is completely timeless. So that's the first thing.
[14:19] God says. God says. God says. The second version of his name is. He says. I am. Has sent me to you. We need to understand.
[14:32] We can understand this in English. If the verb is to be. Now think back to school days. And for those of you who are at school. Think of grammar.
[14:42] If you have a verb. You express it in the first person singular. Then the first. The second person singular. Then the third person singular. And then there are ones after that.
[14:53] You maybe have this more in French. Or Gaelic. Rather than English. But. If you're going to take the verb to be. And express it in the first person singular. You get. I am.
[15:05] So God is actually saying. The same thing. When he says. I am. God then says.
[15:16] In Exodus 3.15. He calls himself. The Lord. In capital letters. The Lord. And he says. Say that I. The Lord has sent me to you.
[15:28] Now if we go into the Hebrew there. The Lord. In Hebrew. Is actually the verb. To be again. And it's not.
[15:38] The first person singular. It's. The third person singular. Which is the one. He. And what. It says in Hebrew. Is he is.
[15:50] He is. Now you might wonder. Why I've labored the point over that. But really. God is saying. Three times. Actually. The same thing. And he's putting it all in the context of.
[16:03] I exist. I exist. I exist. Timelessly. The trouble with our English Bibles. Because of a convention. That goes right back to the beginning of the Bible. Being translated into English.
[16:15] We have a disconnect. We don't realize. That the third version of God's name there. Is actually the same. As the first two. God is saying. So God is saying three times.
[16:25] His name. And they all mean the same thing. This is where we do have to express. A little bit of irritation. With the Bible translators. Because when they translate things into English.
[16:38] They begin to conceal things. That are actually very vivid in the Hebrew. Hebrew. Let's move on a little though.
[16:48] If we take. The term which is translated. The Lord. What does it actually sound like. In Hebrew. Remember I said earlier. The word to be is. Hayah.
[17:00] Well the term. The Lord. The theologians have worked out. Only in the last hundred years or so. That the correct pronunciation of this in Hebrew. Is Yahweh.
[17:13] Now in older English. That was always translated as Jehovah. The problem was. That when English Bibles. Was translated. They had a difficulty expressing.
[17:25] A Y sound. So they didn't use a Y. They used what other languages used. For a Y sound. Which is a J. If you go to continental languages. Or Latin.
[17:36] A J is a Y sound. So they preserved that. As it was taken into English. The trouble is. We pronounce a J. With a hard sound. A J. Not a Y. In fact.
[17:50] Gaelic is closer to the Hebrew. With the way that God's name is expressed. In Yehovah. Than Englishes. One last thing we need to see about God's name.
[18:02] Before we move on. And understand. The significance for our sermon. Is. Yahweh is a name. The trouble is. In English.
[18:12] It is always translated as. The Lord. But it's actually a name. Imagine in modern life. If you address someone. With a the in front of them. It would sound faintly.
[18:25] Odd. Imagine. Talking to our minister. From this morning. Kenny. I. We would say. In a familiar way. Would we say. The Kenny.
[18:35] I. No. And the same is true here. Because of the way. The word. Is translated. God's name is translated. Right to the scriptures. We end up with a sense.
[18:47] This is a title. Like the queen. Name. When actually. It is his name. And. Properly. Properly expressed. Although we don't quite.
[18:58] Have all the vowels properly. We think. But we think it. Yahweh. Now you might wonder. Why have I labored the point there? Let's come back to the burning bush.
[19:11] There's Moses. He and God are talking in Hebrew. What did. Moses hear. When God declared himself.
[19:23] As Yahweh. What did he actually hear? Because there's something lovely. And it's something very important. It's something that melted his heart. And it's happened three times over.
[19:34] Because in each of the. Expressions that God used for his name. The same syllable comes out. Of Yah. Yah. Yah. Yah. Yah. Yah. Moses heard something.
[19:50] He hadn't heard. For probably 70 years. He actually heard. His mother's name. Remember.
[20:01] His mother's name. Is pronounced in Hebrew. Yah. Yah. Yah. And that. First bit. Is actually a contraction. Of Yah. Yah.
[20:11] Yah. It's an expression. Of God's name. So there's Moses. Probably not having seen his mother. Since his early teenage years.
[20:23] His heart melts. Because the name God uses.
[20:35] Is the first part of his mother's name. And therefore the name she told him. The name that God was known by. And here is God expressing himself.
[20:48] In that name now. God's name. So God's name. And this is the point. For our text. God's name. Is actually expressed. In the first part.
[20:58] Of Moses' mother's name. So remember what God said. If we wind things back. To Exodus 3. 6. When it says. I am the God.
[21:09] Of your father. The God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. And the God of Jacob. Moses is probably standing there. With a tear. Rolling down his eye.
[21:20] Down his face. From his eyes. With a thought in his head. Yes. You are the God of my father. And my mother. And think back to his mother.
[21:32] She was the one. Who had been allowed to love him. When he should have been dead. Who had been allowed to care for him. And who had prayed for him. She's the one.
[21:44] Who had taught him. Of the one true and living God. Who Moses now meets. She was the one. Who had stopped him. Being assimilated. As an Egyptian. She was the one.
[21:57] Who had made him useful. To this one true God. Now. Here. Moses. At the age of 80. But what of his mother.
[22:11] She had been born in slavery. Lived. And died in slavery. She would never see the promised land. She lies now. In an unmarked grave.
[22:22] In Egypt. And yet. She is the one. That God used. To produce the deliverer. To nurture that deliverer.
[22:34] And if you think it through. To allow us. Even to worship. The one true God. In this place tonight. We owe her.
[22:45] An incredible debt. Our faith in Jesus. Depends on what she did.
[22:56] But a little aside. Just for. Something you might read sometimes. About God's name. You will find critics say.
[23:08] This is a bit strange. This is the first time. That God's name is mentioned. At the burning bush. So. This is the first time. God has expressed himself.
[23:19] As Yahweh. So wasn't it rather strange. That Moses was sent back. To God's people. With a name. That they did not know. But here's the confirmation.
[23:33] Because it's in Moses. The name. Is in Moses mother's name. We know. That the generations. Before Moses. Knew God. By this name. Yahweh.
[23:47] Let's look at our other passage though. Exodus 33. And the study here is much shorter. There's this interesting request. That Moses makes.
[23:59] He says. Please. Show me your glory. Now. When you read the theologians on this. They really struggle. To explain. Why he asked this.
[24:11] And remember. As I said earlier. Before the reading. The context is. Just after the golden calf. Just after God has. Warned his people. That he is not going to go with them.
[24:21] Into the promised land. After Moses has. Had to make a desperate. Intercession for them. Before God. And God relents. And then after all of that.
[24:32] Tense drama. Moses makes this request. Please. Show me your glory. What I want to do. This evening. Is offer you a very.
[24:43] Simple explanation. Very. Very simple. If we think of what we said. About the burning bush. That's where Moses. Met God as Yahweh.
[24:53] And therefore. Came to know God. Personally. Now this is important. To know God. Personally. Remember also.
[25:05] His mother's name. Yochaved. And the first part of the name. Is Yahweh. A contraction of it. What about the second part?
[25:16] Most of you can see. Where this is going. The second part of her name. Means. Is glory.
[25:28] Is glory. So the full meaning. Of her name. Is Yahweh. Is glory.
[25:42] And Moses. In his request. To see God's glory. Is saying. Yes. I know you personally. But. Let me now.
[25:53] Fully know you. Let me know. Something of you. That has been concealed. Up till now. Let me fully. Understand you. And let me know.
[26:05] The wonderment. I had from childhood. When I contemplated. My mother's name. Because I want to know you. Completely. Now that's the end of the second part of the sermon.
[26:19] And we'll move briefly on to the third part. And this is what's. What is the application for us now? There are three things.
[26:30] And then an appendix. The three things are this. Firstly. As Moses wanted to fully know. And understand the living God.
[26:42] That should be our desire as well. Even now. At this time in history. And it's still possible. We live in New Testament times.
[26:54] And the word testament there means covenant. We live in New Covenant times. And the way we come to know the one true God. Is through Jesus.
[27:06] Through Jesus Christ. Through that covenant that he inaugurated. At the Last Supper. And on the cross. And that covenant.
[27:19] That we confirm. And affirm. Every time we have a communion service. Jesus put it this way.
[27:31] And if I say that. People often ask. What are the most important verses of scripture? The truth is they're all important. But most people will say. John 3.16. For God so loved the world.
[27:42] But I'd say there's another one. That you need to join with that. And it's something Jesus said. In John 17.3. And there's some homework for you. As you go home. I'll read it to you. But John 17.3.
[27:54] Jesus said. And this is eternal life. To know you. The one true God. And Jesus as the Christ.
[28:06] Whom you have sent. And the whole emphasis there. And what he said. Is on the verb. To know. To know. So.
[28:16] And this is eternal life. To know you. The one true God. And Jesus as the Christ. Him you have sent. And the to know. When you look up your Bible dictionaries. Is used.
[28:28] In the same sense. That it's used about a husband marrying a wife. And the way they come to know each other. In marriage. With all the intimacy of it. So Jesus in his own words.
[28:40] Is saying. That through the covenant. That he. Was inaugurating. At that time. He. Was making an offer. That any of us.
[28:51] Man, woman, boy or girl. Could come into. Intimate relationship. With the living God. That's the first application.
[29:06] The second thing. Is. In our lives. All of us. Have had someone. Or. Or have had someone.
[29:17] Who has pointed us. To the living God. For Moses. As we've read. It was his mother. For each of us. It could be. A mother.
[29:28] A father. A friend. A spouse. A grandparent. A cousin. An aunt. An uncle. A Sunday school teacher. A campaigner's leader. Or a school teacher.
[29:40] Whether primary or secondary. There's someone. Who is key. In our. Journey. To the foot of the cross. So who is it.
[29:52] That directed you. Or. Who is it. That is directing you. And what I would say.
[30:02] Is if you've not come. To a saving faith. In Jesus yet. There is someone. Who is inspiring you. To come to the living God. To the very name.
[30:22] And. There is someone. Doing that. For you. glory. Thank you. and they're pointing you to the very name of his mother.
[30:38] Yahweh is glory. And here we've got to come back to Jesus, because the New Testament clearly tells us that the glory of Yahweh is in Jesus.
[30:54] And the reference, and here's some more homework, Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 14. And it reads, And the Word, meaning Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
[31:18] And that was written by John, who had the privilege to see Jesus' glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. It's also interesting to note who else he met there.
[31:29] He met a glorified Moses, transfigured Moses. But the New Testament clearly tells us that we are to be directed to Jesus in our covenant time, because in Jesus, the glory of Yahweh dwells.
[31:45] Moses' mother's name dwells in Jesus. But some of you might say, and this is still the second point of the application, I'm a person with a past.
[32:01] It's okay for people sitting around me. They've lived good lives. I haven't. I've done something bad. Maybe many, many years ago. But just think about Moses.
[32:14] When God caught up with Moses at the age of 80, Moses had been on the run for 40 years because of murder. And yet God chose him.
[32:26] So in the same way that God chose Moses, he can choose you. Think of Moses. He is the one who has written these early books of the Bible for us. He's the one who had to write down the Ten Commandments for us.
[32:40] You shall not kill. How do you think Moses felt as he wrote that and remembered what he'd done to that Egyptian? So Moses was a man with a past.
[32:55] He was chosen by the living God for great things. And so can you be. Don't write yourself off because the living God does not.
[33:07] The third point of application, and this is for those who perhaps have not come to saving faith in Jesus yet.
[33:21] Are you the sort of person who says, well, I would need an experience like Moses. I would need a bush to be burning in front of me for the living God to be in that bush, for the bush to not be consumed.
[33:32] Is that your condition on coming to faith in Jesus? Well, let me tell you. The burning bush is actually all around you at this moment, in this building.
[33:53] Think of the scriptures. God has expressed himself as flames of fire on several occasions in the Bible. One, as we've read, was at the burning bush.
[34:05] There were several others. But the one I want to bring before you is the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost, God came in power by the third person of the Godhead.
[34:15] Him was the Holy Spirit and came as tongues of fire and settled on his people individually. Individually. And that was to put himself into the lives of the believers.
[34:34] And he still does that now. And anyone sitting here who is a believer in Christ Jesus, who relies and trusts on him for everything, who has left his sins with Jesus to deal with, that person is the flame of God within them.
[34:55] So as you look around this building tonight, anyone who is a believer around you has the flame of God within them. The same flame that appeared at the burning bush.
[35:06] So you, as someone who perhaps does not know the living God yet, are actually in the midst of the flames of the burning bush.
[35:18] And on the special occasion that we call communion, all of those believers are gathered in these pews here. And as a corporate body, they reflect the burning bush again because of all the flame gathered together.
[35:38] And if you're out with the table, you're looking on and you're actually looking at the burning bush in the way that Moses did. And God does something to you from a communion service.
[35:51] He calls you by name. In the same way as he spoke to Moses, he speaks to you. And he's saying, come and join my people.
[36:03] Come and join my people. So please, think things through carefully.
[36:16] All you have to do is take that step of faith, call upon Jesus, trust in him, rely on him, have your sins forgiven through his sacrifice on the cross.
[36:30] Discover the awesome power of the resurrection. And then you'll discover what eternal life really means. As we've read, John 17, 3, to know you, the one true God, and Jesus as the Christ whom you have sent.
[36:50] And you'll also discover that in Jesus, the truth of Moses' mother's name is real. Yahweh is glory. That's the end of the third point of application.
[37:03] There's one little extra thing, an aside. I think it's perhaps for all the mums in here, all the mothers. We live in a very difficult and uncertain world.
[37:14] A world that tries to assimilate us and make us conform to its ways. And your role as a mum, especially in the early years of your children, is absolutely critical to teach them about Jesus.
[37:30] Absolutely critical to teach them about the Bible and all the wonderful things that are recorded here. And to help them discover the fullness of God.
[37:46] It might seem like a tall order, but prayerfully, the whole work depends on you. And I bless you in it.
[37:58] So just remember always, Moses' mother's name. And let that be an inspiration to you. Yahweh is glory. And see what it did for her son 70 years after she had taught him of the one true God.
[38:18] Now that now is the end of the sermon. Shall we stand for a very short prayer? Oh Lord our God, we thank you for this opportunity to come before you this night into this place.
[38:34] We thank you for this opportunity to offer you our worship. And may all that we have done in this place honour you. Go with us as we go to our homes.
[38:45] Please keep us safe as we go into a new working week. Bless those of us who are on holiday. And may this be a time of refreshment and relaxation. Bless especially our minister, the Reverend Ivermorton.
[39:00] And may he have a proper restful break. Continue with us in our final singing and go with us in all that we do. We ask all in Jesus' name.
[39:12] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Peace. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[39:22] Amen. Amen.