WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:01.520 Good morning, church. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.240 Today's reading is from Exodus 4, 18 through 31. 00:00:06.879 --> 00:00:15.439 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. 00:00:15.679 --> 00:00:19.359 And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 00:00:19.600 --> 00:00:26.079 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men who are seeking your life are dead. 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:32.079 So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:35.039 And Moses took the staff of God in his hand. 00:00:35.439 --> 00:00:46.640 And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before the Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power, but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:56.479 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, Let my son go, that he may serve me. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:01.280 If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:06.959 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:17.200 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. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:19.519 So he let him alone. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:25.519 It was then that he that she said, A bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:29.519 The Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. 00:01:29.920 --> 00:01:33.359 So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:41.120 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had set him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:48.079 Then Moses and Aaron went to went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:54.239 And Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:02:04.319 And the people believed, and when they had heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel, and that he had seen their afflictions, they bowed their heads and worshipped. 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:05.680 This is the word of the Lord. 00:02:05.760 --> 00:02:06.719 Please be seated. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:19.439 My name is James Rathman. 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:22.560 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:32.000 Yeah, uh thanks, thanks so much for being for being with us, and uh look forward to continuing through Exodus together this morning. 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:38.319 Um my father-in-law came by and he had a great father-in-law joke. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:41.520 He said, Man, this is quite an early winter we're having. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:43.599 I thought that was a good joke. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:45.280 So I'm gonna hold on to that one. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:47.919 It is early for winter to come back around. 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:50.479 Uh but it will be warm again. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:03:00.719 So uh this morning we will be continuing through Exodus, and we're encountering some strange passages in the text this morning. 00:03:00.800 --> 00:03:03.759 Uh, but really it's uh it's about transition. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:08.800 Uh so let's pray and we'll we'll look into this text. 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:12.879 Holy Father, we praise you for your loving-kindness towards us. 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:23.520 Lord God, we thank you that you gather us together to worship you, to give you our attention, to hold you up in praise. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:30.400 Lord, that our hearts might be properly oriented together as your body, with you as our head. 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:35.280 Lord God, we pray that you would be blessed in our worship this morning. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:47.599 Lord, that we would be receptive of your word, and that your word would be effective in our hearts to describe the world that we're in, to describe yourself to us, that we may know you truthfully. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:04:02.319 Lord, that we might be made plain before you and even gain a true knowledge of ourselves, Lord God, that we might come to you in repentance with the grace that you offer freely in Jesus Christ. 00:04:02.560 --> 00:04:04.319 Lord, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:05.039 Amen. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:12.080 So we're finally out of the burning bush section of the text. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:19.759 That was a long time that we spent in the text at the burning bush when Moses is being called to go back to Egypt. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:27.600 And it could have been just a cutscene from the burning bush to right into Pharaoh's court. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:43.120 We don't necessarily need this transitional text, and yet we're given a lot of text here, which was read this morning, to describe the transitional period from Moses' call to arriving in Pharaoh's court. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:49.040 So next week we will see the uh Moses and Aaron finally before Pharaoh. 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:54.560 But this week is just the leaving of Midian and the first arrival in Egypt. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:56.480 This week is about transition. 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:05.360 Now, we all experience transitional points in our lives when you finally make the decision to move. 00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:14.879 You finally make the decision to get married, to start a new job, to it sometimes transitions are just thrust upon you. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:21.360 Like you look forward to graduation and you work and you're so focused on it finally coming in May. 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:27.600 And then May arrives and you graduate, and that's exciting for like 12 hours. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:37.839 And then it's like, oh man, there's a whole world out here that I need to get a job in, and I have no experience. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.319 And that's often the way that transitions are. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:48.480 You know, our transitional month is January, which is uh Janus is the is the god or Janus, depending on if you're a fan of friends. 00:05:48.720 --> 00:05:51.920 Janus is um, I think it's spelled differently. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:57.759 But uh Janus is the two-headed god because he looks forward and backward. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:03.839 And he uh uh is about this sort of intermediary space. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:10.079 He's he's also the Roman god of uh uh of the thresholds of doors. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.079 And uh transitional spaces are, and that's kind of what January is. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:21.519 It's like we're we're there's still like one lingering holiday, and then it goes on, and we're we're looking forward to the future. 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:30.319 It's kind of this in-between space, and our lives have often the recurrence of these in-between spaces, these threshold places. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:38.480 And they can be some of the most challenging parts of our life because they're the most difficult parts to get oriented in. 00:06:38.720 --> 00:06:46.000 You're not in the new way of living yet, and you're not totally out of the old way of living. 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:55.920 And so, in the text today, we are shown what these transitional moments are like, what it means to finally move into that next phase. 00:06:57.199 --> 00:07:00.000 It's like the first day of school. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:04.079 We took my son to this school thing. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.319 We homeschool, so it's a school thing. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:07.759 It's like a one-day-a-week school thing. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:09.839 It was a big deal in our house. 00:07:10.079 --> 00:07:17.360 And uh he um we walked in and he was nervous but being very brave. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:23.199 And we're sat down in an auditorium, and we think we're in the right place. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:31.199 And in this moment where, like, before their names are called, we are all sitting there, like, okay, we don't know what's coming next. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:32.800 We're braced for what's coming next. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:37.120 Then his name is called, he's put in his class, and then you get into the day. 00:07:37.439 --> 00:07:41.920 This is that transitional moment that we're looking at in Moses' life. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:49.600 So, what we'll see is how to know when it's the time to leave. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:08:00.160 How when we finally make the decision to leave, the thing that you are met with is the challenge ahead. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:07.920 The relief of leaving is coincident with the challenge ahead. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:17.600 And then as we move forward into this new challenge, what's exposed in us is the need to change. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:25.199 We realize that the challenge that we're heading towards, we are not capable in our current state of facing. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:30.800 And so we need to be transformed in order to move into the challenge that is ahead. 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:35.039 And that gets exposed in these transitional moments. 00:08:36.320 --> 00:08:41.759 And then we finish our story this morning with the hope of what's to come. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:51.360 In all of these transitions for the Christian, there is a hope that is built into them that must be present to pull us through. 00:08:52.080 --> 00:09:02.000 So, Moses is leaving Midian, headed to Egypt, and he is brought to the time to leave. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:14.480 Verse 18, chapter 4, verse 18, 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. 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.120 And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.840 Jethro is Moses' father-in-law. 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:23.200 I don't know if he had as good of jokes as my father-in-law. 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:29.360 And he is a uh uh also the priest of Midian. 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.799 He is the highest authority in Moses' life. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:42.159 He lives within his household, he married his daughter, Zipporah, and Moses rightly goes to him to ask permission to leave. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:50.080 And Moses goes and requests permission to leave, and he shares with him, please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt to see whether they are still alive. 00:09:50.320 --> 00:10:04.480 Now, that is it not just Moses being coy, or this is a uh Hebrew idiom, you know, it's sort of an expression to say, like, see how they're doing, see how their lives are going, see how things are for my brothers back in Egypt. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:09.519 And Jethro grants him permission and says, go in peace. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:14.799 So he is able to part from Midian with this peaceful send-off. 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:19.120 That's a good thing and a real blessing that Moses has given. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.519 Verses 19 through 20. 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:32.960 The Lord then speaks to Moses, and it says, And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:42.559 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. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:49.519 It sounds like Moses needed a little extra nudging to go back to Egypt. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:57.120 He had gotten permission from Jethro, but then the Lord comes and speaks to him and says, Go back to go back to Egypt. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:10:59.600 Now is the time to go back to Egypt. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:01.279 And he gives them this encouragement. 00:11:01.360 --> 00:11:08.399 It's like he's showing that there's been a way by his providence that has been made for Moses to go back. 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:13.039 And the encouragement is, all the people that were seeking your life are dead. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:24.159 So what that means is that if in the back of Moses' mind was, if I'm going back to Egypt, it's actually just foolish because I left as a fugitive. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:30.559 And so when I go back, I'll just be killed by the men who sought my life when I left. 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:39.600 But now God makes clear the problems that caused you to flee Egypt are no longer present in Egypt. 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:44.879 You are going to face a whole new set of problems. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:56.399 A set of problems that are not like the ones that you left, but are new in character and of in characters, because, you know, they died. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:02.879 And so Moses is being told here by God, you're going to face something brand new. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:08.399 Now, this same theme is picked up on in uh the beginning of Jesus' life. 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:22.320 When King Herod is trying to kill all of the young, all the infant boys, Hebrew infant boys, uh, Joseph takes uh Jesus and Mary and they flee to Egypt. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:24.639 Egypt becomes a place of safety. 00:12:24.799 --> 00:12:34.799 But then God comes to Joseph and explains to him that all of the people who sought the boy's life in Israel have died. 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:39.919 And so now it's time to go back to Israel from Egypt. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:50.240 Now, you can see, strangely, this is the second time I've used this phrase this morning, but it's a reverse commute from Egypt to Israel. 00:12:51.279 --> 00:13:04.080 Now, what's happening there, and we can see why this is being picked up on in Jesus' story, is that the place of deliverance for Jesus will not be Egypt. 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:06.720 It will be Israel. 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:09.759 Israel had become the place of oppression. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:16.480 And Israel is the place where Christ will perform his exodus, the place that we are all freed. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:21.919 And so, by the same words, all the people who sought the child's life are dead. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:26.720 They are brought back into Israel from Egypt. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:28.799 But here's the first story. 00:13:29.120 --> 00:13:32.399 And Moses is given this encouragement that they are all dead. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:39.200 And so Moses takes his family, his wife, his sons, he has them ride on a donkey, and he went back to the land of Egypt. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:47.759 And Moses takes the staff of God in his hands, that symbol of power and authority that had been blessed by the Lord to perform many signs. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:54.159 So I think that there's something that we can glean here. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:58.480 How is it that you know when to go? 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:12.879 Like I know this is this is um oh as a pastor, I know this is something that you want me to be able to answer for you. 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.000 And I can't. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:17.600 Congratulations. 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:23.679 Your guys' problems, unfortunately for you, you know, they're your problems. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:27.679 These decisions are yours. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:33.039 And there's a sense in which you need to become a student of providence. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:41.200 You know, Moses had there's something, there's a positive and a negative that Moses receives. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:49.279 The positive encouragement is he is peacefully granted permission to leave from Jethro. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:50.320 Okay. 00:14:51.120 --> 00:14:52.320 Well, let's discern. 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:53.759 Should we be going? 00:14:54.240 --> 00:15:02.879 You know, the the the authority that's in my life in honest conversation has given me a peaceful exit. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:07.600 Okay, so that's probably that goes in the should probably go category. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:09.600 But there's this other issue. 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:19.360 Am I a fool to just walk back into the danger of my life being under immediate threat as I walk back into Egypt? 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:22.240 Well, that has now been removed. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:32.639 Okay, well, when providence lays itself out to you in such a way, then your responsibility now is to make a decision. 00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:35.120 And Moses here makes the right decision. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:37.200 It is time to go. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:39.279 It's time to go. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:42.399 That's what acting in faith is. 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:47.440 Acting in faith is not often. 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:50.399 Moses could have come up with plenty more reasons to not go. 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:54.240 In fact, he'll be given one by God in the next sentence. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.279 Of like, you know, this is kind of a crazy thing to do. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.200 Acting in faith is making the decision. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:05.279 Making the decision to follow, to say, this seems good. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:08.000 The time seems like it is now. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:09.919 And Moses does that. 00:16:11.759 --> 00:16:17.919 So there comes a time where it is your responsibility to do the walking. 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:20.559 Say, this seems good. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:22.159 Now seems like the time. 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:26.639 The obstacles have been cleared and the permission has been granted. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:27.840 The time is now. 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:42.559 Now, once that decision happens, you will probably experience a deep sense of relief just at the decision having been made. 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.240 Because there's this tension in this moment of is now the time? 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:47.200 When should I go? 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.519 You know, do I leave the job now? 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:51.360 Do I pursue this degree or that degree? 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:55.200 Do I um uh marry this person or break up with them? 00:16:55.360 --> 00:17:08.000 Do I the uh those sort, you know, life in those circumstances when there are those moments of tension, relief is brought just by making a decision. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:21.119 But once you make the decision, and once you start going, the obstacles that you face will become like suddenly crystal clear. 00:17:21.519 --> 00:17:25.119 It's almost like a veil gets lifted once the decision gets made. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.079 I know, I know you know this experience. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:31.359 It is that it is the experience of graduation. 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:42.640 Great, where that the focus, the intention, the difficulty, the endurance that it took to arrive at that spot, and then I have to make a career out of this thing. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:48.960 All of a sudden just becomes plain in your life and becomes salient to you. 00:17:49.440 --> 00:17:52.480 Well, God does this very thing for Moses. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:56.000 So Moses is walking now to Egypt. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:18:00.240 And what's the first thing that the Lord says to Moses in the next verse? 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:10.400 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. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:24.960 Okay, now remember, the miracles that had been placed into his power were given as signs to the Israelites, so that they would believe that he came to accomplish their redemption. 00:18:25.599 --> 00:18:32.240 But if you play out the story just a little bit, who are they being rescued from? 00:18:33.119 --> 00:18:33.920 Pharaoh. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:41.279 So what becomes immediately plain, you're going to have to talk to Pharaoh. 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:45.279 You're going to have to come and encounter. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:56.079 Ultimately, this story ends with you encountering the greatest power, coming face to face with the power of your people's oppression, if they are to be freed. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:19:02.160 Because it's one thing to go to the Israelites and say, the Lord really called me to deliver you. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.519 And they'd say, Great, you're going to deliver us from Pharaoh. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:07.839 So, like, when's your meeting with Pharaoh? 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:11.039 Moses would be like, Well, the signs were for you guys. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:12.880 I thought we'd just hang. 00:19:14.160 --> 00:19:15.920 You know, it it's it's plain. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:18.400 The problem becomes immediately clear. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:24.480 It isn't, I guess what I want you to see is, isn't that what transitions are like? 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.079 Isn't this actually what it's like out here? 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:35.039 And isn't it helpful to have this category that the scripture gives to us as we see it take place in Moses' life? 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:46.640 This expectation that when we move into something new, there will be things waiting for us that on this side of it, we can sort of uh greet from far off, but they're fuzzy and distant. 00:19:46.880 --> 00:19:53.680 But then when the commitment is made, they become salient and plain in ways which can be terrifying. 00:19:54.480 --> 00:20:00.240 Now, you will do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. 00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:02.160 Now, here's the good news. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:06.079 But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:12.000 The miracles that I have put in your power won't work. 00:20:13.839 --> 00:20:15.279 Congratulations. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.720 This is what you're headed towards. 00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:30.400 You're headed towards the highest power in the world to confront him with the power that I have given you, and his heart will be hardened and it will be ineffective. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:46.400 So the strength that Moses has been given by the Lord in these signs and wonders, which he can demonstrate, he is assured by the Lord won't work to soften Pharaoh's heart. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:58.160 And so if Moses is to go into Egypt with even a, he might have finally got himself over the edge and thought, well, you know, checked the hand trick one more time. 00:20:58.400 --> 00:21:01.200 Lepros, clean, leprous, clean. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:03.200 Okay, let's make the move. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:04.880 Into Egypt we go. 00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:09.279 And then and then God confronts him and says, Yeah, those won't, those won't work. 00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.640 Those things won't be effective. 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:24.640 Moses is the opportunity for Moses to trust in even the power that he's been given by God to be effective for the deliverance is removed. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:29.440 He must just trust in God. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:36.240 Just trust that God is greater than Pharaoh. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:42.400 That the gods of Egypt will be put to shame by the God who has called me. 00:21:43.920 --> 00:21:45.920 That's what will be effective. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:56.319 So God takes away from him this opportunity to trust in anything other than God himself, in God's call. 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759 He must walk in a faithful. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:01.759 In God alone. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:03.759 That is the source of his strength. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:05.920 That is the source of his hope. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:08.880 God is always winnowing things. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:15.519 It feels to us like he is making us more and more vulnerable. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:24.640 As we are pushed into these corners where we realize our only hope of deliverance is him and his action. 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:28.240 But it is not us becoming more and more vulnerable. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.920 It is us becoming more and more secure. 00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:37.519 And the only one who has the power to save. 00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:51.119 There is no more secure place to be than in obedience to the Lord, than in faithful response to the Lord's call. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:54.480 The dangers will make themselves plain. 00:22:57.359 --> 00:23:03.519 But they will only be opportunities for the Lord to demonstrate his greater power. 00:23:03.759 --> 00:23:05.440 So Moses walks. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:09.680 So it continues on. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:22.720 Moses is to name the highest of stakes to Pharaoh. 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.720 So you'll have these signs. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:29.519 Congratulations, they won't work. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:40.079 So you will need to bring this to Pharaoh into the sharpest relief, into the highest stakes before him. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:44.160 Verses 22 through 23 of chapter 4. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:49.359 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:55.519 And I say to you, let my son go, that he may serve me. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:24:01.200 If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son. 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:08.880 So you will not win Pharaoh over. 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:14.799 There is no appeasing Pharaoh out of the plan. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:27.920 He will be absolutely hardened, and you will bring into plain focus the highest of possible stakes against Pharaoh. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.799 Son for son. 00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:35.039 God says, Israel is my son. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:39.200 God is more powerful than you, Pharaoh. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:46.160 If you do not release the Lord's son, it will be at the cost of your own son. 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:55.599 This is an incredibly hard thing to say to the highest authority in the world. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:25:11.519 This is life and death at stakes of incredible intensity with the knife edge, the absolute precision of the Lord's own absolute justice. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:17.359 What is it that we are going to do when we pursue the call of the Lord? 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:24.400 We are pursuing the justice of the Lord, the rule of the Lord being manifest in the world. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:31.359 Yeah. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:39.519 This is an absolute rule and reign that we are going to pursue when we pursue the calling of the Lord. 00:25:39.680 --> 00:25:45.039 And so that means we are bringing to bear the absoluteness of his justice. 00:25:46.640 --> 00:25:49.359 You know this transitional experience. 00:25:49.599 --> 00:26:14.799 You know that when you are going to confess your sin to your wife, that you are exiting an old world of Midian, where things were tolerated and invisible, and you are entering a new world in which things will be exposed and brought under the absolute justice of the Lord, which is plain and clear. 00:26:16.000 --> 00:26:46.480 That when you finally need to confront your boss over some, you know, wrong dealings, when a truth finally needs to be made plain, you are entering this sort of transitional moment where things will be thrown up into the world chaotically, and your hope is that there is a God who delivers, that there is a truer justice that you are appealing to. 00:26:49.680 --> 00:27:00.640 Moses is being thrust into this, as this is brought, as this is made utter utterly plain before him. 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.680 So he makes the decision to leave. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:23.359 And once he's in the move, he realizes, whoa, I'm up against something way bigger. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:29.359 And I'm going to have to utterly depend upon the Lord. 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:41.359 And so here, once you gain this clarity in these transitional moments, the first thing to be exposed is the height of the challenge that you're up against. 00:27:43.039 --> 00:27:49.039 But what that simultaneously exposes is you're not in a position to face this. 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:55.680 Things in you will need to change to be able to face this. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:28:04.960 Have you ever had to bring to bear a challenge or a difficulty in a relationship? 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:12.799 And when you did, it didn't simultaneously reveal some way in which you were a part of it. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:27.039 You know, there's always this double revelation of there's this thing that needs to be named, and I'm appealing to the absolute justice that I believe to be in the world. 00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:34.160 And then you find if there is an absolute justice in the world, I'm under it too. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.440 And it is, it exposes my weakness in the midst of it. 00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:41.519 This is why we don't. 00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:49.440 This is why we make mutual agreements with one another to tolerate things with one another. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:54.799 And the deal is I tolerate this in you and I don't say anything. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:29:01.359 That way you can tolerate this in me and you don't say anything. 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:18.960 But when you take the risk and you make the final appeal to the absolute justice of the Lord, which Moses is being called to against the highest authority in the world, he will be revealed as under that absolute justice as well. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:22.160 And that is what happens in this next episode. 00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:26.480 Moses, Pharaoh's house is disordered. 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:37.039 And as he goes to expose that disorder, it will be shown to Moses his house is disordered. 00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:42.160 Verse 4, 24 through 25. 00:29:44.880 --> 00:29:55.759 I like this theologian named James Jordan, and he says that you can't take something like uh you can only take a few steps into the Bible before you step into the deep weird. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:29:58.880 Come with me. 00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:08.079 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:10.319 Not much for segues. 00:30:12.400 --> 00:30:26.000 Then Zipporah, that's Moses' wife, 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. 00:30:26.400 --> 00:30:27.920 Now this needs no exposition. 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:29.119 I think it is plain. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:34.799 So I'll move on to the next text. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.279 Apply this to your lives. 00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:47.359 In the transitions that you are facing when you speak with your boss or graduate from college, don't you see? 00:30:51.519 --> 00:31:00.000 This text is particularly difficult to interpret because there are pronouns without antecedents, which you should not do. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:03.599 At the lodging place on the way, the Lord met him. 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:07.839 Please, who is this him? 00:31:08.319 --> 00:31:10.400 And sought to put him to death. 00:31:10.640 --> 00:31:11.839 No help there. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:18.000 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:21.359 Now, oftentimes studying Hebrew is helpful. 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:29.599 This time it showed me that it does not say Moses' feet, it says his feet. 00:31:32.480 --> 00:31:37.039 And touched his feet with it and said, Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me. 00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:37.839 Okay, what happened? 00:31:38.160 --> 00:31:39.359 Let's just walk through the story. 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:41.279 They're staying at a lodging place at an inn. 00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:42.319 They're on their journey. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:44.400 Even the lodging place, this is important. 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:45.920 That's that transitional place. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:48.160 It's an in-between place. 00:31:48.640 --> 00:31:51.440 It's not Midian and it's not Egypt. 00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:52.880 It's on the way. 00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:59.440 This is where things will need to be clarified as we head into Egypt. 00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:19.279 Moses is walking into this new identity, no longer the shepherd of Midian, son-in-law of Jethro, husband of Zipporah, shepherd to their flocks, driver out of the Midianite scoundrels. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:39.279 Now he is stepping into the one who is called of the Lord, given the role of head of the sons of Israel, and being shown here that as the head of the sons of Israel, he will act as their deliverer. 00:32:41.839 --> 00:32:56.559 Well, the Lord, in that intermediary space, before he steps into the fullness of this new identity as he enters Egypt, the Lord meets meets him and says that he is going to put him to death. 00:32:56.799 --> 00:33:03.119 Now there are, of course, two options for the hymn here, who the hymn is. 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.599 One is Moses, that he met Moses to put him to death. 00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:12.640 The other is Moses' son, Gershim, which means sojourner. 00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:14.480 He's a sojourner in the land. 00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:24.960 Now, the reasons to think it might be Moses' son is that we see that Moses' son is the one who was uncircumcised. 00:33:25.440 --> 00:33:33.920 Now, circumcision is the sign that you are God's covenant people. 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:52.960 Circumcision is the sign which is given to Abraham in Genesis 17 by the Lord, where the Lord gives him the promise that he will be a great nation, that kings will come from him, and he will multiply, and he will be given the land, and he will be a blessing to the whole world. 00:33:53.200 --> 00:34:06.640 Now the sign of this promise, which he receives before he has the Son of Promise, is the sign of circumcision, that you and all the males in your household are to be circumcised. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:09.280 This is the sign of the Lord's covenant. 00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:15.119 And so it creates this separation, just as circumcision is a is a sign of separation. 00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:21.440 It marks the people of the Lord out from the rest of the world. 00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:26.239 It is God placing his promise upon them and saying, You are mine. 00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:34.559 So what you can call me by the rights of this sign and by the rights of my promise to you, you can say, You are my God. 00:34:35.760 --> 00:34:46.800 And I will say to those of you that are marked by this sign, you are my people, set apart, distinct from the world, belonging to God. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:35:12.639 So a reason to think that it is Gershem, Moses' son, who is being who is threatened to be killed here, is because Genesis 17, 14, when circumcision is given to Abraham, describes it and says, Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:14.719 He has broken my covenant. 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:17.360 So who is being threatened to be cut off? 00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:21.440 I'm going to go with the one who the Lord is threatening to kill. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:31.119 And it would make sense that Gersham, as we see in the story, since Zipporah circumcises him, he is uncircumcised and therefore to be cut off. 00:35:34.159 --> 00:35:44.400 But it is a very strange reading with this story that has been only about Moses. 00:35:46.400 --> 00:35:48.079 Directly speaking to Moses. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.960 The Lord is the one who comes and talks to Moses. 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:58.239 To read and hear, at a lodging place on the way, the Lord met him and sought to put him to death. 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:02.400 It is strange to consider that we are talking about anyone other than Moses. 00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:05.920 Just textually, that is strange. 00:36:06.559 --> 00:36:21.199 And so I think that while that is reasonable to conclude that it is Gersham, I think that the text points us more directly to consider that this is Moses who is being threatened to be put to death. 00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:35.599 There had been a Jewish tradition that gathered around this story, which was that Moses had been rendered incredibly ill, you know, like uh to the point of almost dying and unable to move. 00:36:35.760 --> 00:36:45.199 And so that's why Zipporah is the one who performs the circumcision, because Moses is so sick that he's incapable of circumcising him. 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:55.599 Um which goes into the category of, huh, maybe, which is an important theological category to have. 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:01.039 So the Lord comes to Moses. 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:08.639 I think the plainest reading is that he comes to Moses to threaten to put him to death. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:26.880 And I think that this makes sense, that it is Moses, partly because of what we saw in what Moses is meant to say to Pharaoh, which is, Israel is my firstborn son. 00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:39.599 Now you can see that this kind of works for Moses and Gersham, but the sons of Israel is the typical way of referring to Israel. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:47.280 Like when you when you read the Israelites in your Bibles, it's translating the sons of Israel. 00:37:48.239 --> 00:37:54.880 And Moses is the representative head, the mediator between God and the sons of Israel. 00:37:55.039 --> 00:38:01.519 He is in a sense, he in a sense represents to God the station of the sons of Israel. 00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:21.360 And so I think that we can conclude that Moses is the one who is being threatened in this station as the sons of Israel because of the uncircumcision of his son, which Moses is ultimately responsible for. 00:38:22.480 --> 00:38:26.880 So why was Gersham not circumcised? 00:38:28.400 --> 00:38:39.280 We get a sense of it from the text, but I think you can I think you you could just think about it and imagine what does the sign of circumcision mean? 00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:42.559 It means that we are a separate people. 00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:47.119 We are not Midianites. 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:58.800 The most fundamental thing about Moses and his family is not that he is the son-in-law of Jethro, the high priest of Midian. 00:38:59.679 --> 00:39:05.280 It is not that he is married to Zipporah, the daughter of the high priest of Midian. 00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:13.519 What's most fundamentally true about who Moses is, is that he is of the people of God. 00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:17.760 He is marked by the promise of the Lord. 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:23.519 But Moses has been in this in-between place of Midian. 00:39:24.960 --> 00:39:34.320 And I think Moses, in his forty years, had lived and was able to tolerate this sort of compromise. 00:39:35.360 --> 00:39:40.320 You know, Moses, Moses names his son Sojourner. 00:39:40.480 --> 00:39:53.599 Gersham is sort of named like, it's sort of like he named him like a person not connected to anything, which is an odd name. 00:39:54.079 --> 00:39:56.159 Could be worse, could be not my people. 00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:02.079 But he names him a person who is not connected to anything. 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:14.639 And in a sense, he kind of was, because he he wasn't really a Midianite, and so he couldn't just listen to his grandfather Jethro to find his orientation. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:23.039 And he's not really a Hebrew because he hasn't been marked by his father as a Hebrew person. 00:40:23.199 --> 00:40:27.440 And you can like, uh do you guys know about family dynamics? 00:40:29.599 --> 00:40:33.039 Hey, we're uh Moses comes to Zipporah and Jethro. 00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:36.079 I'd like to circumcise Gersham here. 00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:41.039 Circumcision means he's not a part of your family. 00:40:42.000 --> 00:40:44.960 It means he's a part of the family of God. 00:40:45.360 --> 00:40:48.800 And this is the most important dynamic in his life. 00:40:49.280 --> 00:40:55.840 To which Zipporah will say, That operation sounds pretty gross. 00:40:56.880 --> 00:41:03.760 And Jethro would say, I'm not going to have my grandson marked apart from who I am. 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:07.840 And Moses would say, okay, later. 00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:11.360 Well, yeah. 00:41:12.639 --> 00:41:14.639 Anyway, let's talk about the sheep. 00:41:15.679 --> 00:41:18.639 You know, I don't know if you guys have ever been a part of a family. 00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:25.119 But you can imagine that, you know, that's what it's like. 00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:33.039 Moses is, it is being exposed that his house is out of order. 00:41:35.440 --> 00:41:54.400 And the transition, if you're going to tell Pharaoh, your house is out of order, and you're going to declare there is an absolute justice of God in the world, you are under that absolute justice of God. 00:41:54.719 --> 00:42:00.480 And the very going to say it shows it right back on you. 00:42:01.280 --> 00:42:24.159 So Zipporah makes a quick move, pieces together what's happening, circumcises her son, and then takes the foreskin and touches either her son's feet or it may be feet, it may be genitals, it may be Moses' feet, it may be Gersham's feet. 00:42:26.159 --> 00:42:29.679 Once again, we're at the pronoun without an antecedent thing. 00:42:30.719 --> 00:42:44.559 The point is that we can see in the story is that God sees the blood from the circumcision, and he relents, and they are passed over. 00:42:46.079 --> 00:42:48.320 The son is spared. 00:42:50.639 --> 00:42:57.199 Zipporah yells this sort of epithet at Moses, it seems. 00:42:58.159 --> 00:43:07.679 The commentators tend to agree that this is a uh a slur to Moses, that Zipporah says. 00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:13.920 Which is surely you are a bridegroom a bridegroom of blood to me. 00:43:16.400 --> 00:43:22.000 Saying something like you're a bloody husband. 00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:23.679 Not like British people. 00:43:24.239 --> 00:43:35.199 You're you're uh you but you but you we are we are now forever marked by this this blood in this relationship. 00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:37.119 This distinction has been made. 00:43:37.360 --> 00:43:41.280 And Zipporah is not in the story again. 00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:47.599 Zipporah is not the one who sings the praise of Moses crossing the Red Sea. 00:43:47.679 --> 00:43:51.360 It's Moses' sister, Miriam, who sings that praise. 00:43:51.679 --> 00:43:59.679 And we see her once again when Jethro and Moses reunite, but Moses and Zipporah have no. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:03.360 No we're we have no reunion described between them. 00:44:03.679 --> 00:44:06.559 And Moses will marry another woman. 00:44:06.800 --> 00:44:14.000