Isaac – Praying Pint

52.x. Wilderness – 17.c. “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today”

Deu 30:11-20 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

It is an intentional choice of the heart and mind and soul to continually follow, trust, rely on, obey, and have faith in Jesus Christ. There is no middle ground. It is all or nothing and it is an intentional choice. We choose to humbly serve, honor, and obey in every aspect of our thoughts, words, and actions so that Jesus Christ is honored and glorified. If we give partial nods toward this absolute, we are not committed, nor have we chosen to give our whole self and all we think, say, and do to honor and glorify Him.

Being lukewarm is a denial of His worth to be honored and glorified and praised and worshipped. What kind of commitment is this to the one and only Son of God who willingly left heaven and came to earth to be beaten and nailed to a cross for our sins? Neglect of God’s Word will lead to being lukewarm at best. Neglect is an intentional choice. Neglect happens when we allow the busyness of life or sin to rule over our commitment to Him.

Our growth in the understanding and knowledge of God comes through His Word and the application of it through the Holy Spirit’s leading. If there is a lack of His Word in our lives we deny the importance of it and are intentionally choosing not to get closer to God. It would seem we fail to understand this principle. Can a person spend too much time in God’s Word? No. Can a person be affected by the lack of His Word in their lives? Yes

Take some time to look into your time in His Word. If you would be embarrassed should anyone know, then you have answered the question. It should be out of humility that we do this and not with pride. The more time we spend in His Word the more we will understand of His grace, mercy, and love. This understanding will humble you in ways that lead to reverence and the want to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all thoughts, words, and actions continually.

Spend time in His Word with an open heart and mind. Ask Him to fill you with understanding, knowledge, and wisdom.

52.s. Wilderness – 16.y. “That he may establish you today as his people”

Deu 29:10-15 “You are standing today, all of you, before the LORD your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God is making with you today, that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, but with whoever is standing here with us today before the LORD our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.

The national covenant made with Israel, not only typified the covenant of grace made with true believers, but also represented the outward dispensation of the gospel. Those who have been enabled to consent to the Lord’s new covenant of mercy and grace in Jesus Christ, and to give up themselves to be his people, should embrace every opportunity of renewing their open profession of relation to him, and their obligation to him, as the God of salvation, walking according thereto. (Henry)

None of them were allowed to consider themselves as exempt from the terms of that national compact, lest any lapsing into idolatry might prove a root of bitterness, spreading its noxious seed and corrupt influence all around. (Brown)

“To-day,” when the covenant-law and covenant-right were laid before them, the whole nation stood before the Lord without a single exception to enter inwardly, to make the covenant an affair of their heart and life.. (Keil)

There is no limit to the blessing of following Jehovah and keeping His word. It is open to all, from the highest to the lowest, to take hold of His covenant. (Elliott)

Fast forward to when Joshua was leading in battle of Jericho and they were told to destroy everything because of its great sin. Achan took some of the plunder and because of this sin God’s blessing of victory over the nations they were battling was absent. The sin of one had an affect on the whole. The whole nation of Israel stood in covenant with God. God’s covenant with the whole did not allow for willful disobedience of one. Achan was called out and his sin exposed that caused the break in the covenant with God. Achan and his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had. After they had stoned they burned them.

God’s fierce anger was released on them for the sin of one. Sin, our sin(s), have an effect on not only us individually, but others as well. We may think that to be the case but it is true. Greed, lust, hate, anger, pride, unkindness, lies, gossiping, backbiting, etc…… all have an affect on others, not to mention the disregard for God.

How many of us would be deserving of being stoned, save for the grace, mercy, and love of God? We do well to live with hearts and minds that honor and glorify Jesus Christ for the great grace, mercy, and love of God.

50.p. Wilderness – 14.v. “Stubbornness of this people”

Deu 9:22-29 “At Taberah also, and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the LORD to wrath. And when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God and did not believe him or obey his voice. You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you. “So I lay prostrate before the LORD for these forty days and forty nights, because the LORD had said he would destroy you. And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

The name Taberah means “burning,” and in Numbers 11, when the people of Israel first left Mount Sinai to head towards Kadesh Barnea and the Promised Land, they immediately complained, and God sent fires of judgment against them at a place they called Taberah because of the burning fires of God’s judgment.

Exodus 17:7 describes the naming of a place called Massah, which means “tempted,” because there Israel provoked the LORD by doubting His loving care and concern for them in the wilderness.

Kibroth Hattaavah: The name means “graves of craving” and was the place where Israel longed for meat instead of manna, and God gave them meat. However, it became plagued in the mouths of those with greedy and discontent hearts .

When the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea: Moses briefly remembered the rebellion at Kadesh Barnea, where Israel doubted God’s love for them and refused to enter the Promised Land by faith – rebelling against the LORD. Israel’s disobedience to God began with their unbelief. They did not believe God loved them and was mighty enough to bring them into the Promised Land. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to them. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of God’s past faithfulness to the patriarchs. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because of concern for the glory of God’s own name and His reputation among the nations. Moses asked for mercy upon Israel because they were God’s people.

Keeping these things in mind is also a way to refine our prayers. When we pray only for the things consistent with God’s glory, will we have our hearts set on the right things. (Guzik)

And it was not on this occasion only, viz., at Horeb, that Israel aroused the anger of the Lord its God by its sin, but it did so again and again at other places: at Tabeerah, by discontent at the guidance of God (Numbers 11:1-3); at Massah, by murmuring on account of the want of water (Exodus 17:1.); at the graves of lust, by longing for flesh (Numbers 11:4.); and at Kadesh-barnea by unbelief, of which they had already been reminded at Deuteronomy 1:26. The list is not arranged chronologically, but advances gradually from the smaller to the more serious forms of guilt. For Moses was seeking to sharpen the consciences of the people, and to impress upon them the fact that they had been rebellious against the Lord (see at Deuteronomy 9:7) from the very beginning, “from the day that I knew you.” (Keil)

50.l. Wilderness – 14.r. “You must not imitate their way of life”

Deu 9:4-6 “Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

Leviticus 18:3. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life.

Romans 3:27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

Speak not thou in thine heart,…. Never once think within thyself, or give way to such a vain imagination, and please thyself with it: after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee; to make way for the Israelites, and put them into the possession of their land; which is to be ascribed not to them, but to the Lord: saying, for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land; such a thought as this was not to be secretly cherished in their hearts, and much less expressed with their lips; nothing being more foreign from truth than this, and yet a notion they were prone to entertain. They were always a people, more or less, from first to last, tainted with a conceit of their own righteousness, and goodness, which they laboured to establish, and were ready to attribute all the good things to it they enjoyed, and nothing is more natural to men, than to fancy they shall be brought to the heavenly Canaan by and for their own righteousness; which is contrary to the perfections of God, his purity, holiness, and justice, which can never admit of an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one; to justify anyone thereby, is contrary to the Gospel scheme of salvation; which is not by works of righteousness men have done, but by the grace and mercy of God through Christ; it would make useless, null, and void, the righteousness of Christ, which only can justify men in the sight of God, give a title to heaven and happiness, and an abundant entrance into it; and would occasion boasting, not only in the present state, but even in heaven itself; whereas the scheme of salvation is so framed and fixed, that there may be no room for boasting, here or hereafter, but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee; namely, their idolatry, incest, and other notorious crimes; which sufficiently justifies God in all his dealings with these nations. (Gill)

When therefore Jehovah thrust out these nations before them, the Israelites were not to say within themselves, “By (for, on account of) my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me (led me hither) to possess this land” – “but because of the wickedness of these nations,” etc. – To impress this truth deeply upon the people, Moses repeats the thought once more. At the same time he mentions, in addition to righteousness, straightness or uprightness of heart, to indicate briefly that outward works do not constitute true righteousness, but that an upright state of heart is indispensable, and then enters more fully into the positive reasons. The wickedness of the Canaanites was no doubt a sufficient reason for destroying them, but not for giving their land to the people of Israel, since they could lay no claim to it on account of their own righteousness. The reason for giving Canaan to the Israelites was simply the promise of God, the word which the Lord had spoken to the patriarchs on oath and therefore nothing but the free grace of God, – not any merit on the part of the Israelites who were then living, for they were a people “of a hard neck,” i.e., a stubborn, untractable generation. With these words, which the Lord Himself had applied to Israel. Moses prepares the way for passing to the reasons for his warning against self-righteous pride, namely, the grievous sins of the Israelites against the Lord. (Keil)

We will never find joy, satisfaction, or heavenly peace when we look to our “Good Works” as a means or reason for Eternal life, Forgiveness, Blessings, or being made right in the eyes of God. Our “Good Works” are only good when done for the sole purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. When we live close to sin and entertain and tolerate it in our lives, when we neglect God’s Word and become complacent in our thinking about sin, and when we do not seek and desire to know more and more of God and His grace, mercy, and love, our thinking becomes like that of a dull foolish child. We go about our lives day after day in a state of self-acceptance and self-reliance and the sinfulness of our sin and the holiness of God escape our minds. There is no growth in this understanding when the Word of God is neglected or not studied with the intent of knowing and understanding God and the things of God. I fear that far too often the Word of God is neglected and in its place is what the world tolerates and accepts. How is the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives and lead, convict, encourage, give us peace, and grow our understanding when our hearts and minds are not purposed to honor and glorify Jesus Christ?

50. Wilderness – 14.f. “Take care lest you forget the LORD”

Deu 6:5-12 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

What God most wants from us is our love. We often think God demands a hundred other things from us – our money, our time, our effort, our will, our submission, and so forth – but what God really wants is our love. When we really love the LORD with all of our heart, soul, and mind, then everything else is freely given to the LORD. If we give the LORD all the rest – money, time, effort, will, and so forth – without giving Him our love, it is all wasted – and perhaps, all is lost.

God planned to bring Israel into an abundant, prepared land. In this abundant blessing God had for Israel, there was an inherent danger: That they would forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt. This cycle would be repeated through the history of Israel, especially in the time of the Judges. God would bless an obedient Israel, and they would prosper; they would begin to set their heart on the blessings instead of the LORD who blessed them; God would allow chastisement to turn Israel’s focus back upon Him; Israel would repent and obey again, and God would again bless an obedient Israel and they would prosper. (Guzik)

48.s. Wilderness – 12.y. “Do not take us across the Jordan.”

Num 32:1-18 Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, the land that the LORD struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.” But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the LORD has given them? Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the LORD had given them. And the LORD’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the LORD.’ And the LORD’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was gone. And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel! For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.” Then they came near to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance.

Num 32:23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.

Here is a proposal made by the Reubenites and Gadites, that the land lately conquered might be allotted to them. Two things common in the world might lead these tribes to make this choice; the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. There was much amiss in the principle they went upon; they consulted their own private convenience more than the public good. Thus to the present time, many seek their own things more than the things of Jesus Christ; and are led by worldly interests and advantages to take up short of the heavenly Canaan. The proposal showed disregard to the land of Canaan, distrust of the Lord’s promise, and unwillingness to encounter the difficulties and dangers of conquering and driving out the inhabitants of that land. Moses is wroth with them. It will becomes any of God’s Israel to sit down unconcerned about the difficult and perilous concerns of their brethren, whether public or personal. He reminds them of the fatal consequences of the unbelief and faint-heartedness of their fathers, when they were, as themselves, just ready to enter Canaan. If men considered as they ought what would be the end of sin, they would be afraid of the beginning of it.

Here is the good effect of plain dealing. Moses, by showing their sin, and the danger of it, brought them to their duty, without murmuring or disputing. All men ought to consider the interests of others as well as their own; the law of love requires us to labour, venture, or suffer for each other as there may be occasion. They propose that their men of war should go ready armed before the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, and that they should not return till the conquest of Canaan was ended. Moses grants their request, but he warns them of the danger of breaking their word. If you fail, you sin against the Lord, and not against your brethren only; God will certainly reckon with you for it. Be sure your sin will find you out. Sin will surely find out the sinner sooner or later. It concerns us now to find our sins out, that we may repent of them, and forsake them, lest they find us out to our ruin. (Henry)

44.x. “Wilderness” – 9.c. “‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you.”

Exodus 33:1  The LORD said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

Numbers 14:12   I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”

Ezekiel 3:19   But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Deuteronomy 9:6-13    “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.  Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.

Psalms 78:8   and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Acts 7:51    “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

Luke 17:26-30 And just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the time of [the second coming of] the Son of Man: the people were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, [they were indifferent to God] until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as it was in the days of Lot. People were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building [carrying on business as usual, without regard for their sins]; but on the [very] day that Lot left Sodom it rained fire and brimstone (burning sulfur) from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

This was a challenge to Moses and the nation as a whole. God told them they could have the Promised Land, but He would not remain with them in a close, personal way. “It is clear that the people felt that the promise of an angel to be sent before them was the lowering of a privilege.” If they were satisfied with that arrangement, it would prove they only loved God’s blessings and not God Himself. If they challenged God – pleading with Him for His presence, not only His blessings – it would show a genuine heart for God Himself. This was the first step towards spiritual restoration and revival in Israel. “To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions, if God was not with them? They saw that the realization of the presence of God, having this fellowship and company, was infinitely more important than everything else.” (Guzik)

Those whom God pardons, must be made to know what their sin deserved. Let them go forward as they are; this was very expressive of God’s displeasure. Though he promises to make good his covenant with Abraham, in giving them Canaan, yet he denies them the tokens of his presence they had been blessed with. The people mourned for their sin. Of all the bitter fruits and consequences of sin, true penitents most lament, and dread most, God’s departure from them. (Henry)

At length there was an end of ambiguity – God’s purpose was made plain – the people had shown themselves unfit for his near presence, and he would withdraw himself. So it would be best even for them; since, if they were about to show- themselves as perverse in the future as they had in the past, his near presence could only lead to their entire destruction. Some day they would so provoke him, that he would consume them in the way. (Unknown)

What would our lives be like if we would understand that the indwelling Holy Spirit is “God With Us” and “God In Us”? Do we go about our lives as if His presence is not there? Do we join in social and cultural worldly paths, pleasures, and non-God-honoring ways? Do we put on worldly ornaments of pleasure and act as if somehow we are honoring God? Do we act like those in the times of Lot and Noah who went about life without giving God and things of God a second thought? Are we neglectful and complacent? Can we expect the presence of God to bless our lives while we live for things of this world?

Oh that we would cherish the presence of God in such a way that every day we desire to know Him more and more so that we might honor and glorify Him more and more.

44.p. “Wilderness” – 8.v. “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people”

Exodus 32:11-14  But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

Deuteronomy 9:18-20    Then I lay prostrate before the LORD as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke him to anger.  For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the LORD bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.

Psalms 106:23   Therefore he said he would destroy them— had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them

Deuteronomy 9:26-29    And I prayed to the LORD, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

In his prayer, Moses first gave the people back to God. “LORD, they belong to You and not to me. Moses then appealed to God on the basis of grace. “LORD, we didn’t deserve to be brought out of Egypt to begin with. You did it by Your grace, not because we deserved it. Please don’t stop dealing with us by grace.” Moses next appealed to God on the basis of glory. “LORD, this will bring discredit to You in the eyes of the nations. The Egyptians will think of You as a cruel God who led your people out to the desert to kill them. Don’t let anyone think that of You, God.” Finally, Moses appealed to God on the basis of His goodness. “LORD, keep Your promises. You are a good God who is always faithful. Don’t break Your promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.” “Undoubtedly Moses was filled with compassion for the people, but his chief concern was for the honor of the name of God.” (Guzik)

Why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people? so as to think or speak of consuming them utterly; otherwise he knew there was reason for his being angry and wroth with them; but though they were deserving of his hot wrath and displeasure, and even to be dealt with in the manner proposed, yet he entreats he would consider they were his people; his special people, whom he had chose above all people, and had redeemed them from the house of bondage, had given them laws, and made a covenant with them, and many promises unto them, and therefore hoped he would not consume them in his hot displeasure; God had called them the people of Moses, and Moses retorts it, and calls them the people of God, and makes use of their relation to him as an argument with him in their favour; (Gill)

Do you ever wonder how often we may have displeased God with our actions? Do you ever think about how many times Jesus Christ, sitting at the Right hand of God, has interceded on our behalf? How many minutes and hours go by every day without a thought about Jesus Christ, God’s Word, and things of God? We live free from the guilt of sin because of the substitutional death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are not set free to live as we will or according to this world’s pleasure. We are to live in such a way that in all we think, say, and do, Jesus Christ is honored and glorified.

41.n. “I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.”

Exodus 6:1 But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’” Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

Carrying the story from the previous chapter, Moses was discouraged by what he thought was God’s lack of action and help. God’s reply to Moses showed that He wanted him to know that the Lord was in control of it all. Moses was discouraged because he was too impressed by Pharaoh and not impressed enough by God. God reminded Moses of the great name of God (Yahweh), He confirmed that he remained the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God, who would absolutely fulfill His promise to Moses. (Guzik)

“When all human help has failed, and the soul, exhausted and despairing, has given up hope from man, God draws near, and says, I AM.” (Meyer)

Though the patriarchs knew God Almighty, they did not know Him as extensively and intimately as He would reveal Himself to Moses and his generation. They knew the power of God but didn’t have the same personal relationship and revelation Moses would come to know. For us, God wants to be more than God Almighty – He wants us also to know Him as a personal, promise making and promise keeping God, whom we can trust in everything. Believers should ask themselves if they really know God. Moses was called to remember his God.

In even separate I will promises, God said, “I’m going to do it. You can count on me.”

· I will bring you out.

· I will rescue you from their bondage.

· I will redeem you.

· I will take you as My people.

· I will be your God.

· I will bring you into the land.

· I will give it to you as a heritage.

“Each of these verbs are in the Hebrew past (i.e., perfect) tense instead of the future tense, for so certain was God of their accomplishment that they were viewed as having been completed.” (Kaiser) As is all of God’s promises!

After Moses spoke what God told him the children of Israel were still stuck in miserable unbelief. They probably would have said that they did not doubt God, but they doubted the messenger – Moses. Because of their anguish, this is why Israel doubted both God and His messenger. Their centuries of slavery made them think like slaves instead of people of the covenant. Pharaoh was bigger in their eyes than God was. Ezekiel 20:5-9 shows why God was so small and Pharaoh was so big in Israel’s heart during this time. Ezekiel explained that they trusted the gods of their oppressors, worshipping the gods of the Egyptians. This is why they didn’t trust God, and His messenger Moses. The reason why God did not judge Israel at the time was because He didn’t want His name profaned among the Gentiles.

Many Christians find themselves in the same place. They find it hard to trust God and believe that He is for them. This is why Paul says we must not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:1-2). The children of Israel needed their minds renewed, and we do also. (Guzik)

41.a. “That they may believe”

Exodus 4:2 The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the LORD said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

That rod of Moses would part the Red Sea. It would strike a rock and see water pour forth. It would be raised over battle until Israel won. It would be called the rod of God. Not only did Moses’ rod become like a snake; it became a real snake that was frightening enough to Moses that he ran from it. We see the faith of Moses when he reached out to grab the snake when God commanded him to. The tail is the most dangerous place to grab a snake; yet Moses was unharmed. Moses did what God told him to do even when it was uncomfortable. (Guzik)

A burning bush that does not get consumed, the voice of God speaking directly to Moses, a staff turning into a snake, the snake turning back into the staff, Moses’s hand turning leprous and then being made clean and whole again, and a promise of turning the water from the Nile into blood were all given to Moses as confirmation of God’s power, sovereignty, and calling of Moses to lead the Israelites out of cruel bondage. There was no written Word of God or indwelling Holy Spirit. There were promises given to chosen faith-filled men of God, whom God visited via dreams or other means of confirmation, that were passed down from generation to generation. Imagine how hard it would be to believe the promises of a “Land flowing with milk and honey” and become a “great nation” while being in slavery for over 300 years. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year these chosen of God were to keep their eyes focused on the Promises of God. Obviously, there were those who did and there were those who did not, such is the life of faith or faithlessness.

Fast forward to today some 4,000 years later and we have been given; The Word of God, the recorded history of the Israelites, God’s miracles, faithful men, evil men, Jesus Christ the redeemer and savior of man, promises of judgment, heaven and hell, promises of eternal life and eternal torment, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the promise of Jesus returning to gather His people, and like the times of Noah – Moses – Jesus – to now there are those who believe and trust in the promises of God (though they seem far off) and those who disregard and reject them.