Exodus 4:18 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.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
Pastor Kyle continues in our church’s series through the book of Exodus, and states that in this life there are no guarantees. Following God is not a magic potion for an easy life, but if we walk in the Spirit, aligned with God’s Word, Will and Way, our load will be lighter and our overall effectiveness will be will be higher. When we put God first in our lives, everything else is a lot less likely to go wrong. What does it look like when we put God as the top priority in our lives?
There are a few key lessons in this passage in terms of what Moses got right embarking on his journey back to Egypt and some not so right. First, he sought the blessing of Jethro before he made this big decision. There is a powerful lesson here about seeking the blessing of family and mentors in our lives. Honoring and respecting them is a part of putting God first in their lives as a way of life. We learn to lead as we follow well. God told Moses to go back to Egypt and did not need Jethro’s blessing, but asking for his blessing was not about seeking approval; it was about showing honor and respect for this man who had done so much for him. Later, God would give Moses the Ten Commandments, and one of them was to “honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Whenever there is something worth seeking their blessing, we should do it because that is part of being a person of honor and respect.
Exodus 4:19-23 And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 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. 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. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. 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.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’”
The second key lesson is to hold hope in one hand and reality in the other. God tells Moses that the ones who wanted him dead were dead, but also tells him that He was going to harden the heart of the new Pharaoh to not let the Israelites go. This reality translation: It is going to be amazing, but it is not going to be easy. Also, the whole death of the first born was actually started by the prior Pharaoh. God is just and looks at death differently than we do. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, therefore to live is Christ and to die is gain. The difference between Pharaoh’s edict and God’s is that God gave everyone a chance to repent, by grace offering mercy as a way out.
Some people say, “How can a loving God send people to Hell? In reality, God doesn’t send any people to Hell. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that “The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Jesus explains in John 3:16-18 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” God sent His own Son as the doorway into Heaven, and all we have to do is repent of our sin and receive Him as Savior and Lord to have eternal life. In Egypt, what God gave was a way out of this Judgment. And at the Cross, God gives every human being the same option out of judgment. So, if somebody refuses the free gift of Salvation that Jesus offers them, make no mistake, God is not sending them to Hell; they are condemned already by their sin and they making that choice all on their own to walk away from God’s love, mercy and grace. So essentially, they send theirselves to Hell.
Jesus, in speaking to this fact, said in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” There is only one way; it is narrow and few accept God’s plan of Salvation and take it. What is that one way? Jesus tells us in John 14:6 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on thing to get right on in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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