Exodus 6:1-13
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
2 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. 4 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. 5 And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. 6 Therefore say to the children of Israel: I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.’” 9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.
10 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
12 And Moses spoke before the LORD, saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?”
13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
Moses had faced Pharaoh had been rejected by his resistance to let God’s people go outside the country to worship the LORD. Now he heard from God what His response would be, just as he foretold as planned (Romans 9:17) already to glorify Him in that vessel of destruction (Romans 9:18, 22) whose unbelieving heart was hardened by God. The Almighty promised to move the king to let the people go and drive them permanently out of Egypt. The LORD reminded Moses who He is, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all who were promised His grace and a land as their own inheritance as a shadow of the heavenly (Hebrews 11:16, 39-40) to come in the end through the Messiah who is Christ Jesus. God therefore had been known to the patriarchs but not by name until it was revealed to the deliverer Moses, even though He had already made a covenant promise to each of them for the land of Canaan. This promised land was the one they traveled through as wayfaring strangers and pilgrims in that land on their way to a better heavenly one as a distant destination still unclear to them all. Now God heard the suffering of His chosen people in their bondage as slaves in a foreign land for four hundred years as planned that they might grow in number and be delivered in glory and grace. This is a foreshadowing of the deliverance from the bondage of sin all of Adam’s children are born in and would be delivered by the Messiah Jesus in due time. In Egypt the LORD told Moses He would use him to deliver them from their enslavement and suffering of their burdens imposed on them and redeem them by His omnipotent power and judgment on that land who oppressed His children. He would then receive them to Himself as His people and lead them into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob long before Joseph was sold into slavery in Egypt, rose to power to deliver the world from famine, and then enslaved out of fear that God’s people would take over. God honored His covenant with them and promised to deliver them all to give them their heritage in Him as promised. These things Je reminded Moses as He was about to begin the mighty wonders to deliver them by the hand of Moses as His instrument. But when Moses told these things to the people, they disbelieved because of their extreme and unending suffering of cruel bondage and mental anguish of hopelessness. They were broken in body and soul. Even so, Moses did as he was commanded and stood before Pharaoh with the ultimatum for the LORD to let His people go to worship Him. Moses first hesitated and complained to God that His people had not heeded the message and that he himself was ill-equipped with unclean lips of imperfection to deliver the message, as if the outcome was up to him instead of the LORD! The LORD simply replied by reaffirming the command to Moses and Aaron to His people and to Pharaoh to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt just as He had been saying all along. Do we doubt our own effectiveness and efforts to bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the promised eternal kingdom to come after the world is judged in righteousness? Like Moses, it is not up to our strength or ability to save men’s souls; that is God’s message and command, and we are but the messengers of His grace to forgive, deliver, and redeem them from a certain fate of judgment into a more certain inheritance in Him. We are to strengthen the weak hands (Isaiah 35:3-4, Hebrews 12:12) and knocking knees of fear and doubt to deliver the message of deliverance to life from certain death (Proverbs 24:11, John 5:24) and judgment (as Moses ended up doing) to those still in bondage to sin by hearing, believing, and receiving Him who died for us all who are chosen and called as His own.
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