YouTube video sermon

Exodus 2:23-3:10

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 2. This is our 5th Sunday in the book of Exodus and we’re finally turning the page to chapter 3. So, if you’re wondering, we should be finished by the time Jesus returns.

As you’re finding your spot, let me just give you a little timeline or framework. Chapters 1-2 cover almost 400 years (technically, it’s about 354 years), from the time that Jacob’s family comes to Egypt during the famine until Moses is born. Then, chapter 2 is broken into two parts. We saw that the last two weeks. The first 40 years of Moses’ life are verses 1-15, and the second 40 years are verses 16-22. So, when we pick things up in chapter 3 Moses is about 80 years old. Then, look at this, when you get to chapter 3 – all the way through chapter 38 – it’s just one year. So, we’re coming off this sprint through two chapters – at least chronologically – and now we’re going to be slowing things down almost step-by-step and day-by-day.

Hopefully, you’ve found your spot. Follow along with me, now, as I read Exodus 2:23-3:10.

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel – and God knew.

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

“Speak, O Lord, as we come to You to receive the food of Your Holy Word; take Your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in Your likeness. For we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.”

Now, if you’ll remember, this entire story is set up in Exodus 1:8 with the words, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” Things prior to that were relatively good for both Egyptians and Israelites. Folks knew Joseph. They knew his faith in the one true God, and they were benefactors as a result of God’s favor upon Joseph. But then, we have a new king that grows up and doesn’t know Joseph or Joseph’s God, and that’s when things begin to go downhill.

Well, now, in verse 23, that king – the one who didn’t know Joseph – he dies. And this gives way for a new pharaoh to come onto the scene, and that’s the pharaoh that we commonly associate with the book of Exodus. That’s what’s taking place right there in verse 23 – out with the old, bad pharaoh, the one that didn’t know Joseph, and in with a new pharaoh.

But notice that the change in government didn’t result in a change of conditions for the Israelites, because the verse continues “and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.”

Now, I’ve looked back over chapters 1-2 in both the English and Hebrew text and I can find no explicit indication that the Israelites ever called out to God in prayer. Yes, in chapter 1, we have the Hebrew midwives who didn’t carry out the command of the pharaoh because they “feared God,” (1:17) but that’s not an explicit statement of prayer. Yes, we have those parallel passages in Acts 7 and Hebrews 11 that speak of the faith of Moses’ family, and even Moses himself. But still, there’s no explicit language that suggests the people of Israel were lifting their cries to the Lord.

You say, “Come on, pastor. Surely, the people were praying. They’ve been under extreme labor and oppression for hundreds of years. The Bible doesn’t actually have to say that they prayed for us to make that assumption.” That’s true. All that I’m saying is that there’s nothing explicit in the text (prior to chapter 2:23) that says they did. So, it could be equally valid that during all of this time the vast majority of the Israelites had fallen into pagan idolatry and were worshipping Egyptian gods.

And if you’re honest with yourself and you think about your own life, we’re guilty of the same pattern. Maybe not guilty for hundreds of years, but often times we’re hesitant to turn to the Lord, to cry out to God, to look to Him. We try to handle everything for ourself. We try to tough it out. We try to have a stiff upper lip. We try to push through all of these things in our day-to-day lives, and only when it becomes incredibly unbearable do we ever think of crying out to God.

But, even though the word “prayer” isn’t explicitly used here, notice that their cry “came up to God.” Listen, the exodus didn’t come about simply because people were in trouble; if that were the case, God certainly could have moved on their behalf prior to this point. No, the exodus was the result of a prayer of lament for rescue to the only One who could actually do something about it. And that leads us to the first point today…

God Recalls His Covenant (vss. 23-25)

In verses 24-25 notice that there are four (4) verbs associated with God: He hears, He remembers, He sees, and He knows. Now, we don’t have too much trouble understanding 75% of that. We get that He sees us and hears us. We’ve got that. We know Psalm 34:15 and 1 Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer.” We get that. And we understand that God knows everything. We know Psalm 139:1-4, “O LORD, You have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.” We get that God is all-knowing – He’s omniscient. Those are the parts that we understand; no, it’s the “God remembering” part that we need a little help with.

Well, suffice it to say that the Hebrew word zakar (translated as “remember”) never implies that God forgot anything or had anything pushed to the back of His mind. Rather, the word zakar is a way of talking about God applying His earlier covenant, rather than recollecting it. In other words, to say “God remembered His covenant” is to say that “God decided to honor the terms of His covenant at this time.” So, it’s really more about timing and application, than it is about a loss of memory.

And, what were the terms of the covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Number one: the general promise of greatness (already largely achieved). Number two: the general promise of blessing – including protection (now needing to be addressed). And number three: the specific promise to punish any nation that oppressed Israel (something that’s forthcoming). So, God hears, God sees, God knows, and God remembers His covenant. But what does that have to do with us?

Jeremiah’s prophecy to the nation of Israel, hundreds of years after the exodus, went like this: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

That “old covenant” – the one that was established with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the one that was put into action here in Exodus – has been superseded by the “new covenant.” And if you belong to God through Jesus Christ, then you belong to His eternal covenant, “His never-stopping, never-giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.” In your time of greatest need – whatever it may be – then, like the Israelites, you can be assured that God will hear you, God will see you, God will know you, and God will honor the terms of His covenant at the right time.

And in just a moment we’re going to slow down and remind ourselves of that, as we come to the Lord’s Table to remember His work of salvation. And now, I want us to see the second thing and that is…

God Reveals His Identity (vss. 1-6)

Outside of the Red Sea crossing, this might be the other major event of the Exodus story that we all remember – the burning bush. I don’t want to re-read these verses. We’re all familiar with the narrative. Moses is out tending the flock of his father-in-law and he comes to a mountain called Horeb. Now, this is quite likely the same mountain as Mount Sinai that we’ll encounter later. I hope that doesn’t confuse you. It shouldn’t.

We know that people in the Bible often had two names, and the same is true for particular places. In fact, if you ever had the opportunity to talk with Janie Plumley or Inez or any of the other “original family” from our own mountain, then you know that brooks and streams and branches and hills and mountain sometimes went by one name to one family and another name by another family. It’s really rather common.

What’s important is that Moses calls it the “mountain of God” (3:1). In other words, it’s the mountain where God shows up. And that makes sense if you believe (as I do) that Horeb and Sinai are one and the same mountain, because when God shows up on that mountain things happen. Here, God reveals His identity to Moses for the very first time. And later, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and all that Israel needs to be His faithful and obedient people.

So, we’re on the “mountain of God” where God shows up, and He shows up in a theophany. Now that’s a fancy word that basically means God appeared in some recognizable way to humans. You know, sometimes we might be talking to our friends about church or about some ministry or work that we’re engaged in and we’ll say something like, “God really showed up last night. God’s presence was real in that moment.”

When we say that we don’t literally mean that God left His heavenly dwelling and literally appeared to those of us gathered. At least, that’s not normally what we mean. We simply mean that God was working via the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of those that were present. But there are these occasional instances in the Bible where God shows up in a very real and literal way and people are able to literally see Him and communicate with Him, and He’s often associated with fire. And such was the case here.

Moses sees a bush and it’s on fire but it’s not being consumed. There’s a real, literal bush. This isn’t some figment of Moses’ imagination or some hallucination. There’s a real bush and there’s a real flame giving off real light. All of this catches Moses’ attention, and then in verse 3 we’re told that Moses turns aside to investigate this closer. When Moses turns toward the bush, God then begins to reveal Himself and He calls out from within the flaming bush, “Moses! Moses!”

I hate to even admit this, but I’m a big fan of the TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory. There are so many reasons why I shouldn’t like the show, but I really enjoyed the comedy. And if you’re at all familiar with the show then you know that Dr. Sheldon Cooper would always knock and announce the person’s name three times. When my uncle was our Worship Leader, he would often knock on my door and do the same thing. Now, the reason that I tell you that is because in Semitic cultures, addressing someone by saying his/her name twice was a way of expressing endearment or affection or friendship.

In fact, this kind of encounter happens to Samuel in 1 Samuel 3. It happened to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4). In Matthew’s gospel, when Jesus is on the cross, “He cried out in a loud voice ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Matthew 27:46). So, Moses would’ve understood that he was being called by someone who loved him and was concerned about him. Those of us that have received Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior know what it’s like to have Him call our names. Let me ask you: Have you met Jesus? Have you heard Him call out your name?

And God begins (in verse 5) to teach Moses about the holy nature of His presence. “Stop! Take your shoes off! The place where you’re standing is holy ground!” Now this is important – 15/20/30 minutes before this encounter, there was nothing particularly holy about this spot. It was just any old rocky and dirty spot in the Midian desert. In fact, this particular spot (wherever it happened to be) ceased to be holy after this event too. The thing that makes this spot holy isn’t the spot itself. What is it that makes it holy? (The presence of God.)

We certainly want to treat this church respectfully and we want to be good stewards of the building, but folks this place is just a structure. May we be on guard against worshipping this place, or any place, even places that are associated with the Old/New Testament.

God introduces Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers, “‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” God was alluding to His covenant relationship that we spoke of earlier, but God was also giving Moses a bit of personal history. The God of the burning bush was not an unknown God; He was the God who acted on behalf of these earlier generations. Notice that He does not say “I was the God” but “I am the God.” God’s people never really die; rather, we’re part of an eternal relationship through Christ Jesus. In fact, when Jesus was proving the resurrection to the Sadducees, He quoted this verse. He said, “Haven’t you read . . . in the passage about the burning bush? . . . He is not God of the dead, but of the living” (Mark 12:26-27).

So, they exchanged names. That’s the first step in forming a relationship with God. And that brings us to the final point…

God Relays His Plan (vss. 7-10)

Our God is a sending God. Notice three parts to this commission and we’ll be done.

First, God’s motive. It’s especially seen in verses 7 and 9. “I have observed . . . I have heard . . . I know about their sufferings. . . . The Israelites’ cry . . . has come to Me. . . . I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.” Earlier, we noticed how God was moved by an intimate knowledge of the slavery of His people. Here it is again. God hears the groans of people who genuinely cry out to Him.

In Luke 18:13, the tax collector beat his breast and cried out, “Turn Your wrath from me – a sinner!” Jesus said that the man “went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:14). A prayer that God hears is when a person genuinely cries out to God for mercy and forgiveness in repentance and faith. If you’ll cry out to Him, He’ll hear you and save you. It’s not about a magical formula. It’s about crying out over the misery of your sin and begging Jesus for mercy.

Second, notice God’s purpose. His purpose is to transfer His people. He will take them out of Egypt and put them in a place with milk and honey. It’s a land occupied by other nations, and we’ll cover that later. But God is going to save them from something (slavery) for something (worship and witness). That’s exactly what has happened to us in the gospel.

Third, and finally, see God’s plan. After revealing His great purpose of redemption, God told Moses the plan: “You’re it.” God says, “I am sending you” (v. 10). Our God is a sending God. Throughout the Bible, God sends people on different assignments covering a variety of issues. Joseph was sent to save lives in a famine (Genesis 45:5-8). Here, Moses was sent to deliver people from oppression and exploitation. Elijah was sent to influence the course of international politics (1 Kings 19:15-18). Jeremiah was sent to proclaim God’s word (Jeremiah 1:7). Jesus said that He was sent “to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). The disciples were sent to preach and demonstrate the power of the kingdom (Matthew 10:5-8). Paul and Barnabas were sent for famine relief (Acts 11:27-30), then they were sent for evangelism and church planting (Acts 13:1-3). Titus was sent to put a messed-up church in order (Titus 1:5).

Our God is a sending God. What’s He calling you to do? And more importantly, how are you going to respond?

“Father in heaven, we’re eternally grateful that You are a God who keeps His covenant. You keep Your Word. You’re trustworthy and true. So that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, whether good or bad, we can be assured that You will never leave us or forsake us. And because of Your Son and His willingness to die for us upon the cross of Calvary, we are in a covenant relationship with You. And just like the Israelites of old, one day You will return and gather us all home. Oh, what a glorious day that will be. Until then, we take this time to reflect upon and remember Your goodness, Your faithfulness, Your grace, love, and mercy through Christ our Lord. Amen.”