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Old Testament 19 Exodus Stage 1 Job Liberty Home Bible Institute HL Willmington
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The speaker discusses the book of Job, highlighting various passages and their significance. They mention the eloquence and inspiration of the book, as well as its teachings on the resurrection of the body and the doctrine of justification by faith. They also mention Job's suffering and his eventual repentance. The speaker briefly mentions the behemoth and Leviathan creatures mentioned in Job, suggesting they may be dinosaurs. They end by introducing the exodus stage, which includes the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and the key figures of Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua. This is number 19 in a series of 80 Old Testament lectures. What we'd like to do in the beginning of this lecture is to perhaps go through the book of Job for just a few minutes and pick out some classic passages. I had some second thoughts on that. You remember during the last lecture I announced that that would complete the patriarchal stage. Let's take just a few minutes and sort of ramble through the book of Job because you find some statements here that you simply will not find anywhere else. The book of Job is one of the greatest books ever written anywhere as far as sheer eloquence apart from the fact that it is inspired word of God. I refer now to chapter 14 verse 1. We'll just read some of these without any comment on them. Man that is born of a woman is full of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not. This passage is often read at funeral services. And then in chapter 15, a very interesting, the first man in history to be called a windbag I suppose, then answered Elipaz the Temanite and said to Job, should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind? And so they had colloquialism and insults in those days even as we have today. In chapter 19 verse 25, and what a fantastic passage this is, and Handel lifted this from the pages of the book of Job when he wrote his great Handel's Messiah. For I know, verse 25, that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. So you do not have to wait to get to the New Testament to find information concerning the precious doctrine of the resurrection of the body. And here you find it in the book of Job. That's in chapter 19. And then again leafing through, I have certain passages marked in my Bible. In Job chapter 23, verse 3, Job says, O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. And this should be noted or should be compared to John chapter 1, because in this chapter we find a man called Philip that had just been led to the Lord Jesus, and he asked to go visit his friend. And he goes to Nathanael, and he answers then Job's question. He says to Nathanael, we have found him. Job says, O that I knew where I might find him. And Nathanael is told by Philip, we have found him. And I suppose that's the difference between the Old and New Testament. Chapter 25, verse 4, Job asks the question that Paul will answer. He says in verse 4 of chapter 25, How then can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Paul will answer that in Romans chapter 5, verse 1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And actually Abraham had experienced this even long before Paul, and perhaps at the same time that Job lived. And we've already seen that during the patriarchal study, or during the age of that patriarch, the life study of Abraham, in Genesis chapter 15. And Abraham believed God, and his faith was counted for righteousness. In Job chapter 26, verse 7, Job lists here a scientific fact, unknown in those days and yet known today, but prophesied even in those days. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and notice, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. How did Job know that? Well he didn't know it, God told him. Because in those days many of the best scientists felt that the, and taught that the world was flat, and there was resting on the back of a gigantic turtle, and this turtle was wading through some cosmic sea. But here he says, he hangeth the earth upon nothing. In Job 27, Job makes a statement that he will later regret. In fact, when we come to the end of the chapter, he makes two statements that will contradict this one. He says in chapter 27, verse 6, My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me, so long as I live. Oh, when a child of God makes a statement like this, then he's, and he holds saying, cruising for a bruising. Because later on, when he sees God, Job will change his tune, and his arrogance will, and self-righteousness will disappear, and Job will say, Behold, I am vile. And then he will say, Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in sackcloth and ashes. That reminds us of the little poem, When the danger least thou fearest, then the tempter's snare is nearest. And this is found in Job chapter 27. So even though he was a suffering saint, and he was suffering, not because of his sin, but basically because of satanic oppression, yet there was sin nevertheless in the life of Job, because he was a child of God with a sinful nature. Then continuing on as we flip through the book here rather rapidly, in Job chapter 38, God asks him, Job 38 and 39, a group of questions, and Job flunks both exams. One of the questions, we read, Where was thou, Job? You've been sort of bad-mouthing me, almost like Satan. Actually you're complaining that I'm losing control. Where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou hast understanding. In other words, where were you when I created this world? Then he says, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, where were you then? Of course the answer there was that Job was not around. That's in Job chapter 38. And then there's just a couple more passages here. In Job chapter 40, Job is told by God concerning a big animal. We talked about this animal some time ago in the creation stage. In fact, Job 40 and 41, two animals are mentioned. One is the behemoth, and this pretty well takes up all of Job chapter 40. And in Job 41, the Leviathan. In verse 15 of chapter 40, God says, Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee, he eateth grass as an ox. Lo, now his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar. And we said that we did not agree with some commentary. Sometimes they say a commentary is a commentator, and it doesn't really say anything. But some Bible students feel that this is simply a reference to an elephant, but I think it's far more than this. And this well may be God's description of a dinosaur or a brontosaurus, and that perhaps these animals did indeed live at the same time that Job lived. We do know that we've already discussed Noah. Dallas took them on board the ark with him. Now, in chapter 41, he speaks of a Leviathan. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook? Can you go fishing for Leviathan with a hook? Or his tongue with a cord which thou let us down? Can thou put a hook into his nose or bore his jaws through with a thorn? And he's saying, I can control the behemoth, and I control Leviathan. And we suggested in the creation stage that perhaps a Leviathan is a sea dinosaur. And I've come across a newspaper article since we made the lecture in the creation stage, and it's entitled, Loch Ness Monster Described in Study. And this sort of ties into Leviathan. Here I'd like to read about it. Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Loch Ness Monster, legendary inhabitant of a deep Scottish lake, is described by researchers as a long-necked creature with horns on its head. They based their impressions on a series of fuzzy photographs that they say showed the monster swimming in Loch Ness last summer. An artist enhancement of the picture makes the beast resemble a giraffe with a short snout. Well, it goes on and says that they take some photos of this, and the photos caused a fear last November when their existence first was reported. The researchers published a detailed account of their findings in today's edition of Technology Review, a publication of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. And here's a quote from this very well-respected newspaper. Although, the scientists say, we make no claim to being expert zoologists, we can find no combination of phenomena that account for these data, as well as the simple explanation that a large creature inhabits the loch, they said. The study was conducted by the Academy of Applied Science, a research group whose president is Robert H. Hines, dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire. And then it says, the study stirred up a new wave of speculation about the existence of the fabled monster. And one final quote here from the same article, George R. Zug, Z-U-G, curator of the Division of Reptiles and Amphibians at the Smithsonian Institution, said, quote, I believe this data indicates the presence of large animals in loch nests that are insufficient, is insufficient, to identify them. And so this leviathan well may be a sea dinosaur. And one final passage before we move on to the exodus stage. In Job chapter 42, in verse 10, we read, And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. In other words, when Job realized that he was to pray for them that had despitefully used him, then God turned his captivity. Do you know that the child of God, in the word of God, is commanded by the Spirit of God to destroy all of his enemies? Did you know that? Do you have any enemies? According to God's word, you are to destroy them. Now wait a minute, what kind of talk is that, Dean Wilmington? The best way to destroy your enemies is to pray for them and make them your friends. All right. Now, thus far, in these lectures, we have gone through the creation stage, Genesis 1 through 11. And then we just finished now the patriarchal stage, Genesis 12 through 50, and also the book of Job. And now we come to the third stage, the exodus stage. And we'd like to give you now a very brief introduction to the exodus stage. This would include the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The four most important men during the exodus stage would be Moses and Aaron, Caleb and Joshua. The exodus stage covers a period of about 325 years, and it includes the following key events. The captivity and deliverance of Israel from Egypt by Moses, the failure of Israel to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief, the giving of the Ten Commandments and the institution of the Sabbath, the building the tabernacle, the aimless wandering in the wilderness, the sin and death of Moses, and then the choice of Joshua as Israel's new leader. This is what this stage will introduce us to. And here in this stage, we read of a bloody river, a backed-up sea, and a bitter brook. We're told here of a golden calf, a talking ass, and a brawn snake. The book of Exodus records a burning bush in the desert and a bright cloud in the sky. And here in this stage, Moses ascends to the pleasures of heaven in Exodus 33, while another Hebrew by the name of Korah descends to the pits of hell in Numbers chapter 16. Let me give you now, after I've introduced the stage, let me give you an outline of this stage that you will have in your notes. It's a four-fold outline. I'm sorry, a five-fold outline. Number one, Israel enslaved in Egypt, and then Israel tested on the trail. And thirdly, Israel settled down at Sinai. Fourth, Israel denounced in the desert. And finally, Israel cleared for Canaan. Enslaved in Egypt, tested on the trail, settled down at Sinai, denounced in the desert, and cleared for Canaan. As our story opens up in the book of Exodus, we find that the children of Israel had lived in the land of Egypt for some 400 years. In fact, between the book of Genesis and the book of Exodus, there is a period of approximately four centuries. The Bible says that after the death of Joseph, there was a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph. Let's read about it. In verse 7 of chapter 1 of the book of Exodus, and that name literally means the going out, of course, and the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. This was probably during the 18th dynasty of Egypt. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when there falleth out any war, if we're involved in war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. And so they then set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pytham and Ramses. Well, the birth rate continues here, and so in verse 15, the king decides not only to enslave them, but to begin a systematic purging of their male baby population. And the king of Egypt spake unto the Hebrew midwives, and said, When ye do the office of a midwife, to a Hebrew woman, and if this be a baby boy that you bring into the world, he said, Kill him. But if it's a daughter, then she shall live. In verse 17, the midwives feared God, and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men child alive. And so in spite of that, then he issues another order, and in verse 22, not only to the midwives, but now to all of his people. In chapter 1, verse 22, saying, Every son that is born, ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. But the first part of the chapter, he simply gives a command to the midwives, and now to the soldiers, and to the population, that the Hebrew baby boys are to be drowned in the river. And this brings us to chapter 2, and we have now the birth of one of the greatest men that ever lived. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare son, and when she saw him, this baby boy now, that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could no, not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and dabbed it with slime, and with pitch, and put the child therein. And she laid it in the flags by the river's bank. Now even before we learn his name, we know of course this is the first mention of Moses, the mighty lawgiver of another of a later generation. And his sister stood far off to wit what would be done to him. And before we know her name, we know that this is Miriam, the older sister of Moses. And the daughter of Pharaoh came to wash herself at the river. And her maidens walked along by the riverside, and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the babe wept. So God caused it to cry just at the right minute psychologically. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. Now there was a moment there, I suppose, when the angels in heaven held their breaths, and the demons in hell hoped that this would take place. She could have drowned the baby. Oh, this is something that Pharaoh said should be drowned. And so drowned the little urchin. But she doesn't. The Bible says she had compassion on the babe. Well, now Miriam is watching this. And so notice what she does in verse seven. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Miriam. Now, she said, You know, I couldn't help but see this. Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? She'd excuse me, Your Royal Highness, but I happen to know a lady that could give you valuable service here. And she can nurse this child for you. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And Miriam, now the maid, went and called the child's mother. So she goes right to Moses' mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. Strange and wonderful and mysterious are the ways of God. Not only did Moses' mother, whose name was Jochebed, not lose her child as she thought he was going to lose her child. But now she's being paid by the daughter of the king who ordered his death in the first place to raise that child. Hey, you'd almost think God had something to do with this, wouldn't you? Well, you better think that God had something to do with it. And the child grew. And she brought him, that's Pharaoh's daughter, unto Pharaoh's, I'm sorry, his mother brought him into Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses. And she said, Because I drew him out of many water. You know, in the Psalms we're told that he drew me out of the waters. And every child of God, I think, has for a nickname, Moses. God drew him out of many waters. Well, Moses grows up in Pharaoh's court. But at the age of 40, he flees the land of Egypt. Now he does this for two reasons. One is given in the book of Exodus, the other we do not know until we come to the book of Hebrews in chapter 11. But in Exodus 2, we're told that he has to leave because he's involved in a murder incident. And what happens is this, that he sees one of the Egyptians beating up on one of the Hebrews. And so he jumps the Egyptian, and in the ensuing struggle, he kills him. I doubt if he meant to do it. He meant probably just to beat him up, but he kills him. So he buries his body in the sand. And the next day, he sees a fight again, and this time it's between two Hebrews. And one of them is the Hebrew that he saved the day before. And so Moses can't understand this. He said, look, you're all part of the same situation here, and you've got problems. Why do you fight among yourselves? Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? In verse 14 of chapter 2, the fellow that Moses saved the day before that, he said, who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Intendest thou to kill me as thou killest the Egyptian? And Moses feared and said, surely this thing is known. And so when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the house of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. So I said that there's two reasons, actually, why he left the land of Midian, or for Midian, the land of Egypt this time. One was because of his involvement in the murder, according to the book of Hebrews, because of his involvement with the Messiah. We're told in chapter 11, verses 24 and 26, when by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And so here we have an incident in the New Testament, where Moses left the land of Egypt, not only because of murder, but because of an involvement with the Messiah. For example, in the full passage here, it says, I read, let's see, I'm turning to this now, I read verses 24, and I'll read 25 here, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now notice, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. So one of the reasons he left is because of his concept of the Messiah. Now how much he understood about Jesus, we do not know, but he decided to side in with God's people and God's, the people, the God of God's people, I should say, rather than possibly remain and be the next Pharaoh. So he goes to the city, or he goes to the land of Midian, and this is in the heart of the Sinai peninsula, some five or six hundred miles south, almost due south of the city of Jerusalem, and three or four hundred miles, which is, would be southeast of the land of Egypt. And he's there for the next 40 years. He's 40 years old when he leaves the land of Egypt, and he'll remain for 40 years in the Sinai peninsula. He finds a wife among the Midianites, her name is Zipporah, and they marry, and she gives him two children. Let me just say something about the Midianites. These were the descendants of one of Abraham's sons. Remember he had eight sons from the three wives that he married. One was Hagar, and she gave him Ishmael, and then another was, of course, Sarah, which is his spiritual wife and only legal wife, as far as God was concerned, I suppose, at least before her death. She gave him Isaac, and then he married, at the death of Sarah, he married a woman named Keturah, and she gave him six sons, and one of the six boys was named Midian, and Midian then apparently leaves the land of Palestine and Hebron where Abraham lived, where he was brought up, and he goes to the Sinai peninsula and becomes the father of the Midianites. For the next 40 years now, the prince of Egypt becomes the shepherd of Midian. And then in chapter 3, we read these words. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Mount Horeb. This is also a name for Mount Sinai, or as the Arabs call it today, Jebel Musa, the Mount of Moses. The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. Now notice in verse 2 of chapter 3, it says, the angel of the Lord. And in verse 4, it says, the Lord himself. When he saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush. And you remember even before that, we have seen the phrase, the angel of the Lord, and we pretty well concluded then that when you find this expression in the Old Testament, the title, the angel of the Lord, it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is Jesus speaking to Moses. And so Jesus said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. Later on, Isaiah will say that, here am I, send me. Although Moses said here am I, but he didn't say send me. God's going to have to talk with him about that. And God said, draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy 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 upon God. Verse seven, and the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry by reason of their task, masters, for I know their sorrows. And he does, dear friends, he knows your sorrows. In the New Testament, in the book of Revelation, we read of seven churches, the church at Ephesus, the church of Smyrna, the church of Thyatira, and Sardis, and all the rest. And each of the seven messages that God gives to these churches, he begins by saying to the church at Ephesus, I know thy works. God knows what's going on. I know their sorrows. Verse eight, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Pezzorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And then he tells Moses, he says, Moses, I want you to go down there and tell that devil on the Nile, Pharaoh, to let my people go. Well, Moses now gives at least five objections why he feels that in the next few chapters that he cannot follow God's orders. He says in chapter three, verse 11, I have no ability. I can't go, Lord. I have no ability. In verse 13 of chapter three, I have no message. When I get down there, what am I going to say? In chapter four, verse one, he said, I have no authority. In chapter four, verse 10, I have no eloquence. And in chapter four, verse 13, I have no inclination. I don't even want to. Well, God answered all these arguments for Moses, just as he does for us today. And these arguments are answered in the New Testament, every one of them. God may be calling you as a student to special work. And you may be arguing with God, I have no ability, as Moses did. If that be your case, or your argument, that answer, or that question, that objection is answered by Philippians chapter four, verse 13. You may try to tell God, I have no ability. But God answered that by saying with Paul, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. And the objection, I have no message, is answered in first Corinthians 15, verses three to four. Paul says, for I deliver unto you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. That's your message, Christian worker. And then the objection, I have no authority, is answered by Matthew 28, verses 18 to 20. And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the earth. And then the objection, I have no eloquence, is answered by first Corinthians two, verses one to five. Paul says to the Corinthian believers, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And then the final objection, I have no inclination, is answered by Philippians two, verse 13. For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. God never calls a believer to do something that he doesn't give him the desire and the will to do. So all these objections are answered by God to Moses. And in fact, in chapter four, verses, by the way, a very famous passage here in chapter three, in verses 13 and 14, we've commented on it somewhat, but let me read them now. One of the objections, of course, is I have no message or authority. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I shall come to the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, and they shall say unto me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, Now, here is the great name for God. I am that I am. And he said, Thou shall thus say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you, the self existent God. I am because I am. Now you, dear friend, you are because your parents were, and your parents were because their parents were. On back to Adam and Eve. But God exists because God exists, the self existent one. That's all you need. You tell them the great I am sent you. And of course, in the New Testament, listen, seven times in the Gospel of John, our Lord Jesus describes himself in that manner. I am the good shepherd, and so on. I am the bread of life. I am the resurrection and the life. I am the true vine, and ye are the branches. I am that I am. And in order to give Moses a demonstration of his power, in chapter four, God works a twofold miracle. Number one, he turns his shepherd rod into a snake, and then his right hand temporarily becomes leprous. Moses argues, he said, Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken into my voice, for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee. And notice what God says in verse two, And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And God started with that. It happened to be a rod. It could have been a revolver. It could have been a rock. It could have been a rug. It could have been a hundred things, but it was a rod, and God used what he had, you see. And through that rod, that little stick, God blessed it, and later on it would defy the mighty Pharaoh of the powerful 18th dynasty of Egypt, one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world at that time. And then that rod, in the hands of a hundred or an 80-year-old man, would raise itself to the heavens, and the sea would part, and two million people would walk through on dry ground, if you please. Oh, what that rod, in the hands of a man given over to God, would rot for the good of mankind. Many, many years later, a man by the name of Dale Moody came back from London after visiting Charles Haddon Spurgeon for the first time, according to the story, with the words that he heard Spurgeon say over there ringing in his ears, This world has yet to see what God can do with the life of a man completely yielded to him. And of course, according to the story, Dale Moody said, By God's grace, I'll be that man. And the Lord said unto Moses, What is that in thine hand? And Moses said, A rod. And God said, Cast it on the ground, and he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it. And then the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand. And then God told him to put his right hand into his bosom, and he did that, and it became leprous. And then God changed the leprous skin back into a normal pink skin. So these two miracles, his shepherd's rod and his right hand, God convinces Moses finally now that he is to obey God's word. Well, in the next few verses, God then allows Moses to take his older brother Aaron with him. Moses had an older brother and an older sister. Miriam was the older sister. Aaron was three years older. He was the older brother, and he was the more eloquent of the two. And so Aaron goes, and later on, of course, Aaron will become the first high priest. Now, in chapter four, verse 24, we find one of the strangest verses in the Bible. I don't know a stranger verse than this verse here. Let me read it. There's a temptation to go past it, you know, because we just don't have the time, but I feel I must comment on it. And it came to pass, reading from chapter four, class, verse 24, by the way, in the end, that's an insight along the way, that the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. Now, can you explain that? Then Zipporah, his wife, took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin, circumcised her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. And so he let him go, and then she said, A bloody husband thou art because of the circumcision. The, as I say, tempting here just to dismiss in prayer and wait for the next lecture, but I believe this may have been, Moses may have been the first man in history to almost commit the sin unto death. Just as sure as there is a premature birth coming into the world before one is expected, by a few weeks, perhaps, or a few days, the Bible teaches that there is a sin unto death. And this sin can only be committed by a believer. And it's departing this world because of sin before God would normally schedule a person to depart. We know that in the New Testament, a number of the Corinthian believers had committed this sin. They were acting up at the communion service in 1 Corinthians 11. And Paul says, quit doing this, because, he said, for this reason, this sin of the communion table, sin here, many are sickly among you, and many sleep. Now, he didn't mean that many were sacking out at the Lord's table, but he meant that many of you have buried husbands and wives and children, the loved ones, because you've committed the sin unto death. And then another example is Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Sapphira committed this sin. I believe they're saved. I think the passage indicates that. But they committed the sin unto death. God removed them early. And then in 1 John chapter 5, verse 16, the Apostle John said, there is a sin unto death. And here I think Moses almost committed it. Now, get the picture. God had already told Abraham to circumcise himself, and all the male babies would be circumcised from that point on. This was to be the seal and the sign of the covenant. Now, Abraham knew this and passed this information on. I'm sure Moses knew it. Now, Moses had a boy by this time. His first boy was born. And he had two boys, and the first was born now. Apparently, he had not circumcised him. He was careless. And he may have thought, well, I just couldn't care less. Now, listen, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians or in 1 Timothy 3, one of the requirements for a bishop is that he be able to take care of his family. The scripture says, if a man know not how to take care of his own house, how shall he take care of the house of God? God is calling him now to become the pastor of the largest congregation in history, some two million parishioners, as it were. And he's carelessly now neglecting or maybe refusing to take care of the needs and assuming the responsibilities of his own household. And here God is perhaps ready now to remove him early. But his wife Zipporah, who apparently was not a very spiritual woman, but at least she realizes, this crazy husband of mine, I'd better step in or I'm going to be a widow here. And so she does the circumcising. He should have done it. But she doesn't and throws it at his feet. And what I'm saying here is, I believe that Satan attempts to get Moses to commit the sin unto death right now and thus thwart the plan of God to lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Well, the next lecture we'll see just how Moses is used by God to lead the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
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