As we move to the Book of Exodus, chapters 1-4 introduce us to the Israelites being enslaved by the Egyptians. It’s amazing that any king of Egypt could ever forget what Joseph did for his nation, but this one did, and assumed the Israelites who had grown greater in population than Egypt, would one day side with Egypt’s enemies and escape the country. The king’s response was to enslave the Israelites and put restrictions on their ability to continue multiplying, by killing the male children born to the Israelites.
One of the amazing results of the Egyptians’ decree that the Israelites had to kill their male children, was when Moses was born, his mother kept him alive for three months, and then made a small boat out of reeds and put Moses in it, and set him adrift in the Nile River. As God’s providence would have it, one of Pharaoh’s daughters found Moses, and decided to adopt him. That meant Moses lived for forty years as a prince in Egypt.
Somehow Moses knew he was a descendant of the Hebrews, and one day when he saw an Egyptian slave driver mistreating one of the Hebrews, and as we read, he killed the slave driver. The next day two Hebrews were fighting with each other, and Moses attempted to intervene. One of the men asked whether Moses was going to kill them as he had killed the Egyptian. When Moses realized his murder of the Egyptian was known, he took off into the wilderness.
Again, God ordered his steps and he “happened” to come across some Midianite shepherdesses. He helped them with watering their sheep, interceding between them and some shepherds who were harassing them. As a result, the women’s father gave one of his daughters to Moses as a wife, and gave Moses the job as the shepherd of his sheep. While this might not seem important at first glance, Moses had forty years of leadership training as a Prince of Egypt and then forty years of training leading sheep. It seems the combination would be great experience for his next vocation: leading the people of Israel out of Egypt.
God called Moses in a most unusual and supernatural way: He appeared to Moses in a burning bush, but although the bush was on fire, it wasn’t consumed by the fire. Amazingly, instead of going along with God’s plan right away after such a clear and powerful demonstration of His presence, Moses argued and debated with God about his lack of qualifications for the task. He also told God he would lack credibility with both the people of Israel and the king of Egypt. Eventually, God got tired of Moses’ excuses and told him to just do it!
I don’t know whether you have ever been called by God to do something, and argued with Him about it. I have. In fact, my call to serve as a pastor came when I was seventeen. It wasn’t as dramatic as Moses’ call, but it was dramatic. Even so, I told God flat out I would not become a pastor, and struggled against becoming one for five years. Eventually I gave in, but I didn’t become a whole-hearted servant of Jesus until long after that. It comforts me to realize one of the greatest leaders of the Old Testament era, and one of the greatest leaders in all history, begged God not to put him in a leadership position. It helps me, and all of us to see we don’t have to feel qualified to serve God for Him to call us to serve Him!
In Mark 15, we read of Jesus’ trial before Pilate, His condemnation by the people (and not Pilate!), and Pilate’s agreeing to have Jesus crucified. We also read of Jesus’ crucifixion, and how the people mocked Jesus and challenged Him to come down from the cross to prove He was God’s Son. He could have done that, but He would not derail His purpose of paying the penalty for the sins of humanity for His own benefit. When Jesus died, one of the Pharisees, named Joseph, asked Pilate for permission to bury Him in his tomb. Pilate agreed, and the stage was set for Jesus’ resurrection. Not a single person believed it was going to happen. Otherwise, the women wouldn’t have come to the tomb early on Sunday morning to finish embalming Him, and every one of the remaining disciples would have been camping outside the tomb on Easter morning to get a first glimpse of their risen Lord.
Jesus had told His followers a number of times, at least three that are recored in the Gospels, that He was going to be handed over to the religious leaders and the Romans, tried, convicted, and crucified. But they were not to worry, because He would rise on the third day. Each time they heard the message the disciples, the women, and the crowds were either confused, misinterpreted it, or ignored it. It’s easy for us to wonder why, because we live on the resurrection side of Easter. We know Jesus rose from the dead. But had we lived in His day, believing would not have been so easy.
Thankfully, Jesus didn’t need an audience to rise from the dead, although I’m sure the angels of heaven witnessed it! More about that tomorrow.