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okay you can turn in your bibles to exodus chapter four exodus chapter four exodus four i'll begin reading in verse one then moses answered and said but suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice suppose they say the lord has not appeared to you so the lord said to him what is that in your hand he said a rod and he said cast it on the ground so he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent and moses fled from it then the lord said to moses reach out your hand and take it by the tail and he reached out his hand and caught it and it became a rod in his hand that they may believe that the lord god of their fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob has appeared to you furthermore the lord said to him now put your hand in your bosom and he put his hand in his bosom and when he took it out behold his hand was leprous like snow and he said put your hand in your bosom again so he put his hand in his bosom again and drew it out of his bosom and behold it was restored like his other flesh then it will be if they do not believe you nor heed the message of the first sign that they may believe the message of the latter sign and it shall be if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land and moses said to the lord o my lord i am not eloquent neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant but i am slow of speech and slow of time so the lord said to him who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute the deaf the seeing or the blind have not i the lord now therefore go and i will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say but he said o my lord please send by the hand of whomever else you may send so the anger of the lord was kindled against moses and he said is not aaron the levite your brother i know that he can speak well and look he is also coming out to meet you when he sees you he will be glad in his heart now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth and i will be with your mouth and with his mouth and i will teach you what you shall do so he shall be your spokesman to the people and he himself shall be as a mouth for you and you shall be to him as god and you shall take this rod in your hand with which you shall do do the signs so moses went and returned to jethro his father-in-law and said to him please let me go and return to my brethren who are in egypt and see whether they are still alive and jethro said to moses go in peace now the lord said to moses in midian go return to egypt for all the men who sought your life are dead and moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey and he returned to the land of egypt and moses took the rod of god in his hand and the lord said to moses when you go back to egypt see that you do all those wonders before pharaoh which i have put in your hand 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 son my firstborn so i say to you let my son go that he may serve me but if you refuse to let him go indeed i will kill your son your firstborn and it came to pass on the way at the encampment that the lord met him and sought to kill him then zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at moses feet and said surely you are a husband of blood to me so he let him go then she said you are a husband of blood because of the circumcision and the lord said to aaron go into the wilderness to meet moses so he went and met him on the mountain of god and kissed him so moses told aaron all the words of the lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him then moses and aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of israel and aaron spoke all the words which the lord had spoken to moses then he did the science in the sight of the people so the people believed and when they heard that the lord had visited the children of israel and that he had looked on their affliction then they bowed their heads in worship amen thus far in our studies in exodus in chapter one we meet immediately with the oppressor of god's people it is egypt and it is the pharaoh leading egypt in chapter two we have the birth of moses who will function as the deliverer the human agency by which each uh israel will be delivered out of egypt and then in chapter 3 you have a call a call narrative or a commission god appears to moses and calls him into service as the deliverer to lead his people out of egypt now chapter 4 continues that up until verse 17. so chapter 4 verses 1 to 17 continue that call narrative and then 18 and following goes to uh moses goes back to egypt so he's about 80 years old at this particular time he was 40 when he killed the egyptian and left to go to midian he has spent 40 years in midian and now he's back to engage with pharaoh and to engage in the task of leading israel out of that bondage so we'll look first at the reluctance of moses regarding the commission it's essentially what we find in this first section in chapter 4 verses 1 to 17. so chapter 3 god calls him to service he expresses a bit of reluctance in verse 11 and chapter 3. moses said to god who am i that i should go to pharaoh and that i should bring the children of israel out of egypt well that sort of reluctance continues in verses 1 to 17. so we'll look at the reluctance of moses regarding the commission and then secondly the return of moses to egypt in verses 18 to 31 but in the first place note the signs given to confirm moses in verses 1-9 moses asks the question of god moses answered and said but suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice suppose they say the lord has not appeared to you that's a good question it doesn't evidence a lack of faith on moses part for god but i think it uh indicates a suspicion in the heart of moses concerning the faith of israel toward god already we've seen where israelites had sort of rebuffed moses for his action in killing that egyptian that was one of the reasons why he fled into the land of midian so this question isn't expressing doubt in yahweh rather he's expressing concern for israel that they may not be convinced that he is in fact the deliverer of god's people and in light of that god tells him to engage in the first sign so verses two to five he tells him to take up his rod it's a rod a shepherd's rod that moses would utilize as he was shepherding the the animals that belonged to jethro and his family and then god tells him to cast it on the ground so he cast it on the ground according to verse 3 and it became a serpent and moses fled from it now this is obviously a very powerful display on the part of the living god able to change a rod into a snake and change the snake back into a rod robert alter said the shepherd's staff is his familiar possession and constant practical tool its sudden metamorphosis into a reptile is thus a dramatic demonstration to moses of god's power to intervene in the order of nature that will be repeatedly manifested in the plague narrative remember this is fitting and consistent because it is precisely over the forces of nature that yahweh will operate when he brings those plagues to bear upon egypt and then with reference to his command to pick it up notice what he says in verse 4 then the lord said to moses reach out your hand and take it by the tail i'm not a handler of snakes but the last thing i would ever do would be to grab a snake by the tail even a rube like me knows you grab it by the neck so that it can't bite you and i think that this manifests or evidences the danger involved and the trust expressed by moses to do that very thing so god calls upon him to pick up this snake by the tail and again robert alter says this the tail is the most dangerous place to seize a venomous snake and thus requires moses to trust implicitly that god will keep him from harm so notice the goodness of our god in this particular instance moses expresses concern in verse 1 that the people may not believe that yahweh had appeared to moses so god doesn't say to moses you just get in there and do exactly what you're told no god accommodates himself to moses and gives him a series of signs miraculous signs that moses can engage in with the children of israel to confirm and authenticate that he is in fact god's man that he is in fact god's representative if you've paid attention to preaching through the book of acts you'll know that that's often the thing that i say with reference to signs and wonders it's not to dazzle the audience it is rather to confirm the the the purse set that they are spokesmen for god so miracles come at the time of moses miracles come at the time of the prophets miracles come at the time of jesus and his apostles and in each of those instances those miracles confirm that the men speaking were in fact speaking the word of the living god miracles are not an end of themselves rather they help or affirm or confirm or authenticate the speaker that he is in fact from god almighty and so with reference to this first sign this casting of the rod on the on the ground it becoming a snake and then the rod the snake turning back into the rod notice what god says in terms of the purpose verse 5 that they may believe that the lord god of their fathers the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of abraham god of jacob rather has appeared to you so again it's to confirm the reality that moses speaks on behalf of god the geneva bible says this power to work miracles was to confirm his doctrine and to assure him of his vocation so it affirms the doctrine of the men that are speaking and again it's not like the charismatics or the pentecostals that see these miracles of these signs as the end in in and of themselves they're a vehicle they're an instrument they're a help to affirm the reality that the speaker is speaking on behalf of god mark 16 20 says and they went out and preached everywhere the lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs amen if you keep that in your mind i think that's a helpful way to approach biblical prophecy uh uh not biblical prophecy rather but the the signs and the wonders associated with those instances where god is giving revelation now after this there is a second sign and this one concerns the reality that god has the power to both create and as well to heal disease so he tells moses to put his hand into his bosom and to take it out again and it will have leprosy now the word leprosy in our english bible probably covers various skin diseases leprosy is literally hansen's disease and there are times or instances in scripture where what is being described is probably not hansen's disease so look at leprosy as sort of a catch-all for those things that affect the skin certainly that was a part of it hansen's disease but there are other skin diseases involved in the bible so the lord has the power to create disease and the lord has the power to heal disease now this will be helpful not only can to confirm the signs with reference to moses and his ability to speak for god but as well with reference to the to the conquest of canaan itself if you turn over to deuteronomy chapter seven this would be very encouraging news to the children of israel who are living in a land essentially of disease deuteronomy 7 after giving the the stipulation concerning holy war in 7 12 we see then it shall come to pass because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them that the lord your god will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which he swore to your fathers and he will love you and bless you and multiply you he will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land your grain and your new wine and your your oil the increase of your cattle in the offspring of your flock in the land of which he swore to your fathers to give you you shall be blessed above all peoples there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock and the lord will take away from you all sickness and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of egypt which you have known but will lay them on all those who hate you also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the lord your god delivers over to you your eyes shall have no pity on them nor shall you serve their gods for that will be a snare to you so a blessing for obedience would be the absence of those diseases that they had contracted frequently in the land of egypt but on the other hand turn to deuteronomy chapter 28. deuteronomy chapter 28 contains an extended or an amplifi an extended treatment or amplification of cursings and blessings blessings if they're obedient in the land cursings if they are not obedient in the land deuteronomy 28 specifically at verse 27 it says the lord will strike you with the boils of egypt with tumors with the scab and with the itch from which you cannot be healed the lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart and you will and you shall grope at noonday as a blind man gropes in darkness you shall not prosper in your ways you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually and no one shall save you and then in verse 60 moreover he will bring back on you all the diseases of egypt of which you were afraid and they shall cling to you so remember the children of israel knew god they had probably fallen into tough times in terms of their knowledge of him however so this is a learning experience concerning the god of israel so he is sovereign over nature he is sovereign over disease he is sovereign over life and death itself and this will serve as a comfort to moses it will serve as an encouragement to the children of israel and should hopefully horrify the people of egypt if it doesn't when they hear about it it certainly will obtain when they're burying their firstborn you'll see that that's in this chapter way before it ever transpires so the second sign the lord has power to create disease the lord has power to heal disease and then there's a third sign indicated in verses 8 and 9. then it will be if they do not believe you nor heed the message of the first sign that they may believe the message of the latter sign and it shall be if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land the water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land so again god bears long with his people i mean it should be no sign believe the word of the living god that's not the reality though and god knows that so god gives us graciously these various signs to affirm moses call and as well to aid the people of israel now this third sign isn't engaged and it actually becomes the first plague in a direct assault upon the god of the nile remember that when god brings these plagues to bear upon the children upon the egyptians it is also a judgment against the gods of egypt exodus 12 tells us that they had a multiplicity of gods and the nile was certainly one of them and so when god attacks the nile it sends quite the message to egypt in terms of one of their deities so those are the signs given to confirm moses in one to nine but then notice the additional remedies to assist moses in verses 10 to 17. so moses here expresses again two more aspects of his reluctance in the first place he says i'm not eloquent and in the second place he sends there's got to be somebody else you can send so moses himself is struggling in terms of this call and if we think about it it's pretty obvious just like when he throws the rod down and it turns into a snake what does moses do he runs from it what would you do you'd run from it if you were called to deliver israel out of egyptian bondage there might be a reluctance in your heart as well so let's not uh run to swift judgment against moses we may think wow god is being very gracious to you moses you need to step up and do what you're called to do but he expresses this reluctance and again we see the kindness and the goodness of god in dealing with him so notice in verses 10 to 12 it is this lack of eloquence now verse 10 some have suspected that the text demands that we see some sort of an inability in moses perhaps he stuttered perhaps he stammered perhaps he had some physical abnormality in which he couldn't speak nowhere else do we find that in scripture and very often when men are called to service uh to god's service they'll make a statement like this like saul for instance he came from lest the noble origin or gideon that was another sort of a response why would you why would you choose me so i don't think moses is saying i can't do it i have an inability or i have a scammering or a stuttering problem i don't think that's it at all again i think he's expressing his reluctance for the task he's probably not as good a speaker as he'd like to be and probably not as good a speaker as he would hope to be given the nature of the task that he is involved at he's got to stand before pharaoh he's got to lead a great horde of people and he's got to engage with his mouth and so perhaps this is again not an indication that he can't it's an indication that he can't do it that well and so moses says in verse 10 oh my lord i am not eloquent neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant but i am slow of speech and slow of time now notice the response of the lord in verse 11. so the lord said to him who has made man's mouth or who makes the mute the deaf the saying or the blind have not i the lord so what is god's comfort to moses god's comfort to moses is i'm sovereign i'm over your mouth i'm over the ear i'm over the tongue i've made all these things and therefore if i have called you into my service i am quite competent and capable to use what you have in order to accomplish the task it's not the case that god is looking for the most gifted and that's the one he seizes upon and that's the one he'll use no he chooses according to his good pleasure and because god is sovereign he's able to take a man who perhaps doesn't have great facility and great competence in speaking and nevertheless use him in a great way to speak remember the apostle paul in fact turn to first corinthians chapter two for just a moment first corinthians chapter two paul peels back as it were his own sort of uh psyche and shows us something about when he came to corinth this is a fitting and appropriate because this is the section we're in in the book of acts the third missionary journey it's likely he wrote first corinthians first and second corinthians during that missionary journey and then he spends a substantial amount of time in corinth in that second second missionary journey but in chapter two verse one and i brethren when i came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of god for i determined not to know anything among you except jesus christ and him crucified i was with you in weakness in fear and in much trembling and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the spirit of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of god so again god isn't looking for the most gifted skilled and competent because when he does that the most gifted skilled incompetent will be recognized as the most gifted skilled incompetent the reality is is that he uses a moses or that he uses the apostle paul such that when moses and paul do what it is that god called them to do the glory goes to god not to those men and that's precisely what he says but in a in demonstration of the spirit and of power that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of god no one could say wow because of the speaking of paul i'm going to go to heaven or no one could say oh because of the savvy of moses we're going to leave egypt no it's the glory of god these are the human instruments of the agents that god uses so he's not looking for the best and brightest necessarily he's looking for obedient servants that will step up or pony up and do what he calls them to do with the ability to equip them for the particular task at hand turn over to second corinthians chapter four another sort of illustration of this particular point second corinthians chapter four verse five for we do not preach ourselves but christ jesus the lord and ourselves your bond servants for jesus sake for it is the god who commanded light to shine out of darkness who is shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of god and not of us again it couldn't be the case that somebody says wow i owe my salvation to the apostle paul no i owe my salvation to the grace of god i owe my deliverance from egypt to moses that great leader that's so wonderful in speech no we owe our deliverance to god almighty commenting on this section in exodus 4 matthew poole says but indeed he was therefore fit for it because he was a servant of a sovereign god therefore he was therefore fit for it as the unlearned apostles were for preaching of the gospel that the honor of their glorious works might be entirely given to god and not to the instruments which he used so that's a great emphasis and i think it's very well illustrated here so after having asserted his sovereignty over moses and the reality that it's god that ultimately controls the tongue the mouth the ear he says in verse 12 now therefore go and i will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say so in other words you don't need to worry about it when god is on your side you don't need to worry about how you're going to do the job if the lord has called you to do the job he is certainly going to equip you for it so that's the first or additional another sign of his reluctance is this lack of eloquence but then notice in verses 13 to 17. this is his sort of last ditch attack this is the last straw for moses he's going to try one more time verse 13 but he said oh my lord please send by the hand of whomever else you may send so it's as if he says i think there's a book titled by this ti by this name it says here am i send aaron and i think that's probably what's in view in this particular instance he doesn't name aaron to be sure but the idea is to send someone else i'm not up to the task so on the one hand we might think wow he's reluctant he's disobedient no i think on the other hand he is reluctant because it is a daunting task it is a massive task it is a huge task and he already has had sort of bad experience in his or in egypt the time before when he killed that egyptian the next day he goes to break out break up the fight between the israelites and the one israelite says you're going to kill me like you did with that egyptian pharaoh gets wind of that he has to run or flee and go to midian so he's had experience this way so verse 13 he says here am i send aaron and we have the anger of the lord kindled against him in verse 14 a so the anger of the lord was kindled against moses and he said so god is long-suffering god is gracious god is patient and god nevertheless has this anger kindled to him but still responds favor favorably or positively to moses this is an amazing sort of expression of god's grace sometimes you'll meet people or perhaps you don't always it depends on the people that you meet that have this conception of the god of the old testament this warring blood shedding wrathful furious lord that send the israelites on these genocidal campaigns to go and to eliminate all the various ikes in the land of canaan look at the grace manifested by our god look at the long-suffering manifested by our god if you or i were god moses started to get lippy with us we'd probably just say go do your job don't question the authority here don't don't raise your you know reluctance with me i've given you a task now go but god doesn't do that sure his anger is kindled against him but he nevertheless undertakes on his behalf to notice the grace of the lord is seen in his answer to send aaron along with moses in verses 14 b and 15. is not aaron the levite your brother i know that he can speak well and look he is also coming out to meet you when he sees you he will be glad in his heart now the reality that he would be glad in his heart i think indicates that for that 40 years before moses fled to the land of midian but for that first 40 years of his life when he lived in egypt he probably maintained some clandestine uh contact with his family there is that reality that him and most aaron and moses know each other and so when aaron is called into service he's going to be glad in his heart when after 40 long years his baby brother moses comes back from midian into the land of egypt in order to engage in this task of leading the people of israel outs out of that the bondage they're in in egypt so aaron is the choice aaron is the man that is going to serve as assistant to moses and in verse 15 god says now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth and i will be with your mouth and with his mouth and i will teach you what you shall do so he shall be your spokesman to the people and he himself shall be as a mouth for you and you shall be to him as god that doesn't mean he'll worship you it doesn't mean you'll be deity it doesn't mean he will bow down to you but aaron's function will be as the prophet and moses function will be as god again not yahweh over israel but god speaks through moses and moses then communicates that to aaron and then in turn to the children of israel i think gill's comment is helpful here he says aaron was to stand between moses and the people and speak for him and moses was to stand between god and aaron and in god's stead and tell him what orders he had received from him and which he should communicate again you shall be as goddamn doesn't mean deity or idolatry or anything like that it's authority god chose moses as the sort of authoritative figure to lead the people out uh aaron would be his assistant or prophetic mouthpiece to communicate those things to the children of israel but along the way we'll see that moses communicates to the children of israel also and then verse 17 is a wonderful summary statement and you shall take this rod in your hand with which you shall do the sign sort of ties up the entirety of the chapter so you have these signs given to confirm moses and then these additional remedies to assist moses god's sovereignty to deal with his problem of speech and then god's blessing in providing aaron as an assistant to moses to carry out this task the signs will aid israel the sovereignty of god over moses mouth will aid moses and the addition of aaron will aid moses to carry out the commission for god and for israel so the call narrative is officially ended at this point so chapters three and four are a unit moses wandering around the the the planes there of horeb or uh the base of foreign he comes to this burning bush and god communicates these things to him now that brings us to the return of moses to egypt in verses 18 to 31. notice in the first place the return to egypt verses 18 to 20 just because you receive a divine call from the lord and a commission to deliver his people from egyptian bondage doesn't mean you should be discourteous or unkind to your relations notice in verse 18 so moses went and returned to jethro his father-in-law and said to him please let me go and return to my brethren who are in egypt and see whether they are still alive and jethro said to moses go in peace so moses doesn't go in there guns blazing yahweh has called me into service off i go no he shows courtesy he shows kindness he shows love and respect to jethro his father-in-law jethro his father-in-law has been very good to him we'll meet jethro again later on in the narrative around chapter 18. and then we have this assurance given by god in verse 19 that it's safe for moses to return back to egypt if you go back to chapter 2 for a moment you'll see why it was he left in the first place chapter 2 verse 11. now it came to pass in those days when moses was grown that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens and he saw an egyptian beating a hebrew one of his brethren so he looked this way in that way and when he saw no one he killed the egyptian and hid him in the sand and when he went out the second day behold two hebrew men were fighting and he said to the one who did the wrong why are you striking your companion then he said who made you a prince and a judge over us do you intend to kill me as you killed the egyptian so moses feared and said surely this thing is known when pharaoh heard of this matter he sought to kill moses but moses fled from the face of pharaoh and dwelt in the land of midian and he sat down by a well you could see a bit of reluctance physically speaking logistics logistically speaking on the part of moses so this is a great word of assurance moses has resigned to go this is just gravy on top of all the benefit that god has given him god didn't need to give him this assurance he's already asked his permission from jethro to go he's going on the task beautifully and obedient to uh obedient obediently to the lord but notice that god says in verse 19 go return to egypt for all the men who sought your life are dead then moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey and he returned to the land of egypt and moses took the rod of god in his hand it's the rod of god there it's identified as the rod of god not because it belongs to god and not because it was given to him by god but it's that tool that symbol that that token that emblem of the authority of god in invested in moses at this particular time and then with reference to the sons the sons are gershom we saw him in 222 and eliezer will be mentioned in chapter 18 at verse 4. now note the command of god with reference to his interaction with pharaoh so we're getting closer and closer to this meeting with pharaoh and again if you consider the particular situation facing moses he's going to have to stand before pagan king who has quite liked the reality that he has a a slave force and then moses is going to come and say you're going to have to let them go pharaoh's not going to like this he's not going to be thrilled with this and we'll notice that as we move through that particular aspect of the narrative but it will require some guts it will require courage and it will certainly require a particular message and it's god's message that moses is to bring to pharaoh so notice in the first place the wonders that will be done before pharaoh verse 21 the lord said to moses when you go back to egypt see that you do all those wonders before pharaoh which i have put in your hand and then notice this but i will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go this is a concrete expression of god's purpose in in dealing with pharaoh if you go back to chapter 3 at verse 19 he says but i am sure that the king of egypt will not let you go no not even by a mighty ant verse 20 so i will stretch out my hand and strike egypt with all my wonders which i will do in its midst and after that he will let you go so with reference to the hardening of pharaoh's heart we have several instances in the narrative where it says that god hardened pharaoh's heart again this will probably not cause moses to cry and whine and want to be an armenian this will comfort and encourage moses because ultimately god's sovereignty includes pharaoh the king of egypt as well there are several instances along the way where pharaoh hardens his heart as well now when we ask the question who does it first well the fact that god announces it indicates that it's god doing it but remember pharaoh's not innocent he's not what's called a tabula rasa which means a black blank slate he's a sinner who has prospered and profited from the slave labor of israel he is a wretched man and what god does in terms of hardening his heart is not an act of injustice but just the opposite it is an act of justice in romans chapter 1 when god gives them over to a reprobate mind hopefully no bible-believing christian says wow that doesn't seem fair but hopefully ever i'm sure actually some of them do but most bible-believing christians should say that's an act of justice divine justice why is he giving them over because they act like this or consider jesus in matthew 11 25 to 30. i thank thee uh father lord of heaven and earth without its hide these things from the wise and prudent but that it's revealed them unto babes for even so it was well pleasing in your sight he hid these things from the wise and prudent again you can hear people crying oh that doesn't seem fair it's an act of justice to hide from people that are wicked the things that may save them it's an act of justice and we need to get our minds wrapped around that so we have this expressed purpose of god in 320 i will stretch out my hand and strike egypt with all my wonders which i will do in its midst and after that he will let you go and then over in chapter 12 you can turn there just to see the purpose of god in the hardening of pharaoh's heart exodus 12 12 for i will pass through the land of egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of egypt both man and beast and ex and against all the gods of egypt egypt i will execute judgment i am the lord and then paul shines light on this judicial hardening of pharaoh in romans chapter 9. in romans 9 14 what shall we say then is there unrighteousness with god certainly not for he says to moses i will have mercy on whomever i will have mercy and i will have compassion on whomever i will have compassion so then it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs but of god who shows mercy for the scripture says to the pharaoh and this is a quote from exodus 9 16 for this very purpose i have raised you up that i may show my power in you and that my name may be declared in all the earth therefore he has mercy on whom he wills and whom he wills he hardens that's the reality of a sovereign god we go back to exodus chapter four and i want to quote at length john calvin because there are commentators that indicate that the hardening of the heart was nothing other than god's permission god just permitting pharaoh to do that which pharaoh wanted to do now certainly pharaoh did do that which he wanted to do but the language is not passive it's not simply permission but rather it's active god says i will harden his heart and i thought calvin's comment here was extremely helpful he says since the expression seems harsh to delicate ears many soften it away by turning the act into mere permission as if there were no difference between doing and permitting to be done or as if god would commend his passivity and not rather his power as to myself i am certainly not ashamed of speaking as the holy spirit speaks nor do i hesitate to believe what so often occurs in scripture that god gives the wicked over to a reprobate mind gives them up to vile affections blinds their minds and hardens their hearts but they object that in this way god would be made the author of sin which would be a detestable impiety i reply that god is very far from the reach of blame when he is said to exercise his judgments wherefore if blindness be a judgment of god it ought not to be brought in accusation against him that he inflects punishment but if the cause be be often concealed from us we should remember that god's judgments are not without reason called a great deep and therefore let us regard them with admiration and not with railing i think that is very appropriate and i think that is most excellent and that's the way we approach the living and true dot we are not called to defend god in the way of trying to explain away his sovereign dealings with this wretched pharaoh again he's not dealing with an innocent specimen of a human being and he just hardens his heart this man was committed as an enemy against god the god of israel and against his people so this is an act of justice and i suspect that this would indeed provide great comfort to moses not that moses would say oh great god's going to harden his heart my mission will certainly fail no he'd say oh great god is sovereign even over this so that what i undertake i'm not engaged all alone but the lord most high is over it all and then notice the identification of israel as first born in verses 22 and 23 then you shall say to pharaoh thus says the lord israel is my son my firstborn now the nation of israel was not the first nation but they were however the preeminent nation so that's what first born means it certainly means first born in the sense that a baby comes out of the womb ahead of others but with reference to theological uh some theological context firstborn simply means preeminent in ezekiel 16 3 which ezekiel 16 if you're not familiar with that passage it's really one to be familiar with it's basically the history of israel or god's dealings with the his uh the nation of israel and how he found them and how he blessed them and how they went a whoring from him and how he would bring judgment upon them and yet nevertheless he would bring blessing to bear upon them but in ezekiel 16 3 as god rehearses what happened when he found israel he says your birth and your nativity are from the land of canaan your father was an amorite and your mother a hittite so firstborn here doesn't mean the first one ever but it means preeminent remember the two sons of joseph manasseh and ephraim ephraim was the second born in terms of physical birth in jeremiah 31 9 he's called the firstborn ephraim was better than or highly more highly regarded than was manasseh david was not the first king in israel saul was and yet david in psalm 89 is called the firstborn jesus was not the first one raised from the dead but in some resurrection context he's referred to as the firstborn so in romans 8 29 jesus is called firstborn colossians 1 15 and 18 firstborn hebrews 1 6 and an illusion in 1223 and then revelation chapter 1 verse 5. now jehovah's witnesses will famously explain colossians 1 by saying first born means that he's a creature he was created by god that is absolutely positively not at all what it means just like israel wasn't the first nation on earth but was in fact god's firstborn the preeminent one the one entitled to the privilege and the one entitled to the blessing so the nation of israel is identified as the firstborn and then note the threat of god with reference to pharaoh if he should harm god's firstborn verse 23 so i say to you let my son go that he may serve me but if you refuse to let him go indeed i will kill your son your firstborn just like if somebody were to threaten your child what would you do oh that's okay that's wonderful no you'd want to threaten them back or promise them rather that if they go down that very unfortunate path you will be at the end of it to do great harm to them and that is precisely what yahweh says robert alter says framing the relationship in these terms lays the ground in measure for measure justice for the lethal tenth plague predicted at the end of the next verse since pharaoh has sought to destroy israel talking about this verse but if you refuse to let him go indeed i will kill your son your firstborn now on the way to egypt we meet with this interesting situation in verses 24 to 26 probably all of you are wondering about that section you're going to continue to wonder on because it's a tough section and the connection seems to be difficult but i think the connection hinges upon firstborn it's probably gershom that either it wasn't circumcised as were the israelites or wasn't circumcised at all i think that's what's the connection in terms of firstborn with reference to god's identification of egypt and the israel and then the reference to the egyptian firstborn that would be targeted for destruction if pharaoh did in fact hurt god's firstborn so then we have this interesting scenario with reference to the circumcision of the son of moses so notice in verse 24 it came to pass on the way at the encampment that the lord met him and sought to kill him it's kind of an interesting juxtaposition or contrast god is showing grace and kindness and provision to moses he is going sort of over and above telling moses you can go back to egypt now verse 19 those who are seeking your life are debt so so god has been abundant and profused in terms of pouring out these things and then we see that now he sought to kill him it's kind of reminiscent in matthew chapter 16 when jesus says who do men say that i the son of man am and peter says you are the christ the son of the living god and then jesus says you are are blessed simon barjona for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father who is in heaven i mean he pronounces him as blessed of god because he had this a bit of information revealed to him and then just dropping down in the context peter tries to keep jesus from going to jerusalem to die and jesus says get behind me satan so there's this this really quick flip that that happens there and the same sort of thing is indica indicated here so on the way at the encampment that the lord met him and sought to kill him then zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son probably gershom and cast it at moses feet and said surely you were a husband of blood to me so he let him go then she said you are a husband of blood because of the circumcision so likely zipporah understood circumcision the midianites would have practiced it it wasn't the case that it was simply confined to israel but israel circumcised in a particular way others did not so gershom may not have been fully circumcised and perhaps that was what was in view and i think what the longer or the sort of background is is that the family as a whole needs to be prepared as moses goes about the task of being the law giver to israel as the law giver to israel he himself has to toe the line and obey that law and so this was a necessary element involved in terms of preparation before he goes to lead the children of israel again there's a lot written on this i'm not sure that i understand most of it all i know is that zabor zappora basically saves the day because verse 26 says so he let him go then she said you are a husband of blood because of the circumcision there may be overtones as well or at least some background sort of substitutionary atonement relative to firstborn sons and that sort of thing you'll see that you know in verse 23. if i say to you let my son go that he may serve me but if you refuse to let him go indeed i will kill your son you're first born so there's this substitutionary blood atonement that some see as alluded to in here and perhaps the the circumcision ritual and the blood involved there at least indicates something of that as well and then finally we have the meeting of moses and aaron so after this time of call and commission and moses preparation and god's word to aaron now we see their meeting so verse 27 the lord said to aaron go into the wilderness to meet moses so he went and met him on the mountain of god and kissed him so moses told aaron all the words of the lord who had sent him and all the signs which he had commanded him exactly what we would expect this is all preparatory so that when they go and face uh pharaoh they're both singing off the same page then moses and aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of israel and aaron spoke all the words which the lord had spoken to moses then he did the signs in the sight of the people so we have what god said coming to fruition these are obedient servants they're doing what they are called to do and they're doing in the manner that god called them to do it and so what we have in terms of a response it will be short-lived the children of israel aren't always going to be believers they're not always going to stand in awe of the living and true god and they're not going to always worship him and they're certainly not going to give great obedience to moses every step of the way but they like us know something of the ebb and flow of the christian life but in this instance they respond favorably notice in verse 31 so the children or the people believe and when they heard that the lord had visited the children of israel and that he had looked on their affliction then they bowed their heads and worshiped so this is a great response in light of the mercy of god and i think for you and i as we come into church reflecting upon the mercy of god ought to be a great encouragement or provocation to us or instigation to worship and to praise and to glorify and honor him his mercy is obvious in our salvation his mercy is obvious in the cross work of the lord jesus in the life death and resurrection of the lord jesus on behalf of his people this is why theology is so important we need to know who god is we need to know what god does so that when we come into his presence whether it be private family or corporate with reference to church life we worship him in a manner that is consistent with all that he has revealed himself to us to be and i think that is a great way for this chapter to end with the children of israel bowing their heads and worshiping and just a couple quick thoughts and then we'll close first the reluctance of moses it demonstrates that he was a real man you know we might think that god would use angels to do his bidding but he doesn't god uses men and he uses earth and vessels so the excellence of the power may be of god and not of man you see that reluctance in moses his insignificance 311 his realism for one what if the people don't believe or people don't understand and then the assessment of moses he's not eloquent eloquent and he's not the right man for the job and we might further say he didn't have his son circumcised why not was he afraid to offend his wife was he afraid to offend his father-in-law that's what some of the commentators suggest that he was you know negligent at that level but the text doesn't indicate i've always found it difficult to make dogmatic statements with enigmatic passages passages that aren't very specific they're somewhat ambiguous and somewhat difficult to determine or ascertain i would say we ought to exercise caution with reference to making dogmatic statements that moses didn't want to offend zipporah i don't think that's probably in the ballpark secondly the sovereignty of god it's seen over rods and snakes hands and leprosy water and blood in the nile the sovereignty of god is seen over moses and aaron israel as a whole and over pharaoh and egypt in other words what the psalmist said is absolutely correct in psalm 115 he says it again in psalm 135 our god is in heaven he does whatever he pleases and that is obvious in the passage the specific emphases are throughout this section yay to uh highlight who god is not only for israel but also for moses he's going on this task and it will be most important that god be there with him well let's close in a word of prayer [Applause] our father we thank you for your sovereignty and we confess and see that it's absolute it's comprehensive it's over all things and while some may scoff at such a notion we rejoice in that and we thank you we know that you're sovereign over justin trudeau over president trump over all the nations of the earth all the leaders you make alive you kill you raise up the poor you you do all of these things according to holy scripture and in this we greatly rejoice and in this we find our comfort i pray that you would encourage our hearts now and strengthen us with might help us to walk by faith and to realize that the god who has spoken in these things is to be trusted a god to be worshipped to god to be glorified and as we have tasted of that grace and mercy and our own experience of the gospel i pray that our sunday worship would be marked by reverence and joy and with great zeal to worship our great god i pray that would affect us in our homes as well with our private times before you and and as families and i pray for all of the families in this church i pray for all of our children and our young people god may they see the reality that we we love christ that we want to honor christ and help us to to preach christ help us to teach him to our children and as well god help us to live in such a way that is consistent with that holy word we ask that you would go with us now keep us safe and be glorified in our lives and we pray through jesus christ our lord amen