Welcome back with me to Exodus chapter 2. I know I said I might dot around but I think it felt right to continue in Exodus into the second chapter this week. I'm going to repeat some of what I said before. Why? Because it's so true and it's so little understood.

The Bible is God's revelation of redemption of his people from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. Redemption is paying the price of freedom. Just as we were singing that hymn, what was it that paid the price of freedom? Jesus' precious blood. The Bible is all about that from start to finish. It's the redemption of God's people that he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Redemption from the kingdom of Satan.

Freedom from this kingdom of Satan which will condemn us for eternity. to the kingdom of God, bliss forever. And it's revealed explicitly in the New Testament. It's revealed in prophecy in the Old Testament, in poetry in the Psalms, in the history of the ancient peoples of which we're looking at now.

Israel, national Israel in Egypt. Genesis is about sovereign choice, choosing people out of the world. Exodus is about the redemption of his chosen people from oppression by Egypt, or was it Assyria, as we saw last week? But they just picture the spiritual reality for God's people. Because you see, the spiritual reality, these nations, these Old Testament nations, Israel, Egypt, Assyria, They just picture it because the reality is that God's people are multi-ethnic. His people is a multitude that no man can number.

Where from? From every tribe and tongue and kindred. And it says that, I showed you in Isaiah chapter 19, where God says, in Isaiah 19, 800 years before Christ came, in Isaiah 19, God revealed through Isaiah that His people where Israel, a third, and Egypt, a third, and Assyria, a third. Not mathematically, but symbolically. His people are from all races. And it's right there in the Old Testament, in the prophecy of Isaiah.

Redemption is the recurring theme in Scripture, right the way through. And it culminates in Christ, because we have, in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. And then in verse 13 of Galatians chapter 3, but Christ, Christ has redeemed us, paid the release price from that curse of the law. How did he do it? By being made a curse for us. For cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, it says in Deuteronomy. And he was hanged on that tree and poured out that Jesus' precious blood to pay the justice price for the sins of his people that his people might go free from condemnation.

Why do we need more than Galatians 3.13?

It's as clear as a bell, isn't it? It's shining there. It needs no other exposition. It's just there, clearly. Why do we need more? Why do we need Exodus? The answer, I believe, is because the wisdom of God is multifaceted. It's revealed to the believing people of God, who through their life on this earth are called to grow in grace and knowledge. It is revealed, the wisdom of God is revealed bit by bit.

We grow in grace and knowledge. We don't grow in holiness, for we're made holy in Christ. We're sanctified in Christ. He is our righteousness and redemption. He is all those things to us. But we do grow in grace and knowledge. I know, this sounds like the wrong thing to say, but I know far more now than I did 30 years ago. You would hope so, wouldn't you? I've learned more and more. We grow bit by bit in knowledge. It's, he says elsewhere in the scriptures, God reveals his truth layer by layer, precept upon precept, line by line. And this is another angle on it, another way of looking at the same thing.

Redemption, of course, requires a Redeemer. Redemption requires a Redeemer. If you read the book of Ruth, it is a clear theme in there that somebody is needed to redeem Ruth from her situation. And it needs a Redeemer, and Boaz is proven to be that Redeemer.

A redeemer is somebody who is qualified to redeem. Not everybody, just certain people, certain relatives could redeem in that system. Somebody who was qualified to redeem. Someone who is equipped to redeem. Because you see, in the book of Ruth, there was a man that was closer than Boaz who was qualified to redeem, but he wasn't equipped to redeem. He said, I can't do it, I haven't got the means to do it. It needs someone who is resourceful to lead the people out of their situation. Equipped, qualified, resourceful.

Moses was ordained by God. Moses was ordained by God. He was providentially raised up by God in these days, 1,500 or so, I guess, 1,400, 1,500 years before Christ came. He was equipped for the job, and he was equipped to picture Christ, the Redeemer. If you turn to Deuteronomy 18 and verse 15, this is Moses speaking to the Israelites. They've come out of Egypt by Deuteronomy. And it's a reminder, Deuteronomy is the second look at things.

And he says to them, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, capital P, from the midst of thee. of thy brethren, like unto me, and to him ye shall hearken. He's speaking of Christ. He's speaking of Christ, whom God would raise up, the prophet to his people. Not only is he a prophet, but he's the priest and he's the king to his people. And in a sense, Moses occupied those roles for the people of God in the Exodus and their wilderness wanderings. He raised up a prophet, one who would speak the truth of God in the midst of thee, of thy brethren. He must come from them. He must come from that line. And he says he's like unto me. Moses typified the Lord Jesus Christ. What are you to do? Listen to him. Hearken unto him. Hearken unto him, ye shall hearken. So then, Let's have a look at Exodus chapter 2, but first of all, we'll just dip back into Exodus chapter 1, verse 17.

An order had gone out from Pharaoh that all of the male babies that were born of the Hebrew women were to be killed at birth. Where did that order come from? I said, Pharaoh. We know where it came from. It came from that red dragon of Revelation chapter 12. It came from Satan. who is seeking to destroy that line from whom the promised seed of the woman would come.

He wants to destroy those people so that the seed of the woman cannot come, because he knows that the seed of the woman, according to the promise of God in Genesis 3.15, he knows that the seed of the woman will crush his head, will destroy him.

But the midwives, verse 17, the midwives feared God. The midwives feared God. What is it to fear God? It's to reverence God. Oh yes, those who are in their own sins facing eternity without a Redeemer need to fear God in terror of his judgment, for it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, for our God is a consuming fire. But these midwives didn't fear him in that way, they feared him with great reverence. They honoured God, they respected God, they believed God, and they wouldn't do what the order was from Pharaoh.

Many of the Israelites had adopted Egyptian idols. We won't turn to it, but if you read Joshua chapter 24, and in verse 14, Joshua tells them what they were like, just before they go into the Promised Land, he tells them what they were like, and he says to them there that, on the other side of the flood before Noah's time. They were evil. There was evil in the world. But he also says, and your fathers worshipped idols in Egypt.

Many of the Israelites had adopted Egyptian idols, but many had retained the knowledge of God. Many of them had been brought up to expect the return of Israel to the promised land of Canaan. They'd been told what God had said to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They'd been told about the gospel from Adam, right the way down, that promised seed of the woman in Genesis 3. They'd had that handed down, that by blood redemption, pictured in sacrificed lambs and their shed blood, that God would redeem his people from the curse of the law.

So these midwives They defied Pharaoh's order because it was Satan's order. They defied the order to kill the baby children. And they decided, they determined to obey God rather than men. As Peter said to the rulers in Jerusalem when they told him that you must stop preaching this Jesus, you must stop it. And they said, we'll obey God rather than men. You judge, what should we do? God tells us to do it, you're telling us not to do it. We're going to obey God rather than men. And they were not alone. They weren't alone in that.

In chapter 2 and verse 1, there went a man of the house of Levi and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And we can see who they are if you just turn over a couple of pages to chapter 6. Chapter 6 and verse 20. Chapter 6 and verse 20. The ones that are mentioned in chapter 2 and verse 1 is a man called Amram and took him, Jochebed, his father's sister to wife.

Now it sounds like that was an incestuous relationship. I think the translation there, or the way, some of the commentators think she was probably his first cousin rather than his actual sister. she bare him Aaron and Moses. And the years of life of Amran were 137 years. And if you turn to Numbers 26, we can see a little bit more about them. Numbers 26 and verse 59. And here they are again. Amram was the father of Moses and his mother Jochebed. The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bared to Levi in Egypt. And she bared to Amram Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam, their sister.

So that puts things in a bit clearer perspective regarding what we read here in Exodus chapter 2. In verse 2, the woman conceived and bare a son. When you first read it, you think that this was her first son, but it wasn't. It was her third child. Because there was already Miriam, the sister, and there was also Aaron, which we read elsewhere. He was three years older. than Moses. So this was the third child, Miriam, Aaron, and then Moses. And she saw that he was a goodly child, and she hid him three months. He was a goodly child. What does that mean? He was a goodly, goodly child.

Well, we need to compare Scripture with Scripture. And in the purposes of God and the Spirit's blessing upon his people, he's given us different views of the same thing. And in Acts chapter 7, in Acts chapter 7, we have the sermon that Stephen, the first martyr, preached to the ruling council and the apostle Paul when he was Saul of Tarsus. He was there amongst them. And by Holy Spirit inspiration, Stephen was able to cast more light on what he said here.

He was a goodly child. In Acts chapter 7 and verse 20, it says, in which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father's house three months. He was exceeding fair. We read right at the start, Hebrews chapter 11, and in verse 23, it says another strange word, that Moses was a proper child, a proper child. You think, well, He wasn't a plastic doll. Of course he was a proper child. No, it doesn't mean that. It means this. It means this.

These words, goodly, exceeding fair, proper, are all pointing to the fact that he was precious and favoured and singled out by God for God's purpose of redemption. God orders all things according to the counsel of his own will, for the good of his people.

He raised up, a long time later, probably a thousand years later, best part of anyway, the prophet Jeremiah. Very reluctant prophet to start with. And in verse 5, of chapter one of Jeremiah, God tells him this, and it applies to all that God uses. He says to Jeremiah, because Jeremiah was reluctant, he said, I can't speak because I'm a child, but God had told him, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.

Before you were conceived, I knew thee. And before you came forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. There's some wisdom in that verse. You know the way, I'm not going to go off on one about the way. Our society, in its sophistication, treats the unborn child. But is it not clear there? When it came to Jeremiah, before he was conceived, God knew him. Before he was formed in the womb, God knew him. Before he came out from the womb, I sanctified thee. I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

He did the same with Moses. Moses was a proper child. He was exceeding fair. He was precious and favoured and singled out by God for his purpose of redeeming Israel from Egypt. This baby son was God's redeemer of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Yes, I know it's all a picture of the true redemption of Christ, of his people. But this baby son born to Amram and Jochebed was God's redeemer, the proper child, exceeding fair, a goodly child for Israel.

You see, they hadn't seen it They wouldn't have seen it in Miriam, but they hadn't have seen it in Aaron, although he had a part to play. It was Moses that was the one who would be the redeemer to bring them out of Egypt. And God showed it. I believe God showed it to Amram and to Jochebed.

Just like when Jesus was born, Joseph, the betrothed husband of Mary, who was pregnant with the child Jesus of the Holy Ghost, and the angel revealed to Joseph that Jesus would save his people from their sins. He knew then that that which was conceived in Mary was of the Holy Ghost for the purpose of redemption of his people. And Mary knew that her son was, as she said in that thing that's called the Magnificat, the Song of Mary, she rejoiced in God her Saviour. She knew this was what it was. So, Jochebed, the mother of Moses, hid Moses for three months. She saw he was a goodly child, so she hid him for three months. She hid him for three months. There's a lesson there for us. Faith and trust in God doesn't deliberately court danger. It doesn't deliberately launch headlong into a rash scheme just because it says, ah, God will protect me. There's a lesson there for us.

Even the Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry, you'll read time and time again, he told them, don't tell anybody that you now know that I'm the Christ. Don't tell anybody what I've done for you. And when there was danger coming his way in Judea, what did he do? He went to Galilee, and he went round the Sea of Galilee and all that area. He avoided those who sought his life.

And there's a lesson there for us. Faith doesn't deliberately court danger. Nehemiah, I'm often reminded of this, that Nehemiah, when they faced great danger, yes, they prayed to their God, But they didn't just do that, they set a watch. They set a watch. They prayed to their God and they set a watch.

But when all practical means of safety, hiding, were exhausted, she couldn't hide him more than three months, he's starting to be heard, he's going to be crawling around soon. When all practical means of safety were exhausted, she trusted to the providence of God. And what did she do?

She hid him. where Pharaoh had ordered that he should be drowned. Pharaoh had said, take all the baby boys and drown them in the river. Jochebed hid Moses where Pharaoh had ordered that he should be drowned. She put him in a watertight covered basket, slime and pitch to make it watertight, picturing Noah's Ark and the Ark of the Covenant. She put him in that watertight covered basket and floated it in the reeds by the edge of the river. So it wouldn't be swept away, it would just float there in the reeds in the edge of the water. And maybe she did that, and here I'm speculating, and I admit that I've got no scriptural warrant for this directly, but maybe it was knowing that it was where the princess came to bathe.

Look in verse five of Exodus chapter two. The daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens, her maidservants, walked along by the river's side, and when she saw the ark among the flags, the reeds by the side of the river, she sent her maid to fetch it, and when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the babe wept, and she had compassion on him, and said, this is one of the Hebrews' children. This is one of the Hebrew's children. Ah, she had compassion.

Do you know, you know it says in Proverbs 21 that the heart of the king, whoever that king is, whichever ruler, whichever president, whichever, is in the hands of God. Don't be afraid at what this ruler might do or that ruler might do. The heart of the king is in the hands of God and I believe the heart of this princess was in the hands of God as well. We need to refer to a historian, a man called Josephus, and he says this, and I think it's quite credible, that this princess was the only child of this pharaoh, and she herself had no children.

And there's a question, was she moved by compassion to adopt? When she had compassion on him, was she moved to adopt? This is one of the Hebrews' children, she said. Maybe Jochebed, his mother, had thought, if the people of God, Israel, are going to come out of Egypt, then we need to put somebody into the Pharaoh's palace to get this law turned over and things changed. Maybe she thought that. I wouldn't be surprised that God had prompted her to think that. So she thought the most likely way of getting Israel out of Egypt is to have one of our own in the palace, with the power of the palace, to do it, and then we can go free.

So, meanwhile, Miriam, the older sister of the younger Aaron and the younger Moses, was watching, and his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Do you want me to get you a nurse from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child? She saw she had compassion and she saw that she probably wanted to keep that child and have that child. But she wasn't able to nurse the child because he was a baby. He needed his mother's milk, he needed feeding.

Shall I go and get one to do it for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. the heart of the princess is in the hands of God. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, take this child away and nurse it for me. Nurse it until it's old enough to come and live with me. And I will give you your wages. I will pay you for doing this. And the woman took the child and nursed it, and the child grew.

Is that not absolutely staggering? Moses was nursed, He was weaned, he was breastfed by his own mother. And not only that, but Pharaoh who wanted to kill him, his daughter paid her wages for doing it. Is it not absolutely amazing? And then, when he grew, verse 10, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She gave him to her. And Moses, the child, I don't know how old he would have been, but old enough to have heard the stories of the Israelites, he became the son of Pharaoh's daughter. And it says in Stephen's sermon in Acts 7 verse 21, it says that she, Pharaoh's daughter, nourished him, Moses, for her own son. She nourished him for her own son.

Under the threat of death from Satan's schemes, which is where Moses was born, he went to the pinnacle of Pharaoh's house, until in Acts 7.23, Stephen tells us a bit more. He was a full 40 years of age. 40 years of age. He'd grown up as Pharaoh's daughter, sorry, as Pharaoh's daughter's son, until he was 40 years old in the palace.

The God we worship today, who ordered all these things, is the God who doesn't change. Do you fear anything in this world? You look what God did then with Moses, with that child. He put him in Pharaoh's palace. He was subjected to all of the culture and wisdom and education and riches of that palace. Don't fear. Whatever your situation is, because God, as we know, causes all things to work together for good to those that love God, who are the called according to his purpose. And his kingdom will always triumph to the end, because the gates of hell, every scheme of Satan cannot prevail against it.

But all this time, and more to come, 40 years, the Israelites continued under harsh burdens. Next thing, the choice that Moses made. Verse 11, and it came, she called him Moses, and that's where he got his name from. It was Pharaoh's daughter that called him Moses. She called him Moses because she drew him out of the water. Drawn out is what Moses means. Verse 11, And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and he looked on their burdens, and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.

Why did he go out to his brethren? Why did he go out? Again, we refer to the Sermon of Stephen in Acts chapter 7. He says there, it came into his heart. Why did he go out? It came into his heart. How did it come into his heart? Because God put it there. God puts into the hearts of his people. It says of David, David says, that he found it in his heart to pray. Why did he pray what he prayed? Because God put it in his heart to pray. He found it in his heart to pray.

And although As it says again in Acts 7 verse 22, Moses was mighty in the wisdom of Egypt. He knew he was an Israelite. He knew he was from the Hebrew people that were under such affliction in the land. And he made a choice. Turn, as we read right at the very start to Hebrews chapter 11, to the faith gallery. Turn to Hebrews 11 and verse 24. In verse 24 of Hebrews 11, we read, by faith, Moses, by faith is the sight of the soul. It's what you see of a spiritual nature which is revealed by God's spirit to you.

By that which God's spirit taught him, when he was come of years, by faith he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He was the son of Pharaoh's daughter by adoption, but he refused to be called that. His Egyptian education, his privilege, his prospect, it hadn't erased his childhood learning, all that he'd learned of his roots and of the promise of God to Abraham. In verse 26, it says, he esteemed the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasure in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

He made a decision. He made a decision. When I was working, one of the things I did for several years was teaching and assessing how companies did their projects, but teaching them how to do them properly. And I used to do training modules. And I remember one of the things was decision making.

How do you go about making a decision in a project? Well, you could trust to having an absolute genius who just does it naturally, but they're very few and far between. How do you get ordinary people to do the decision making? Well, you get them to think about what are all the options, and then to weigh up all the pros and all the cons. and then by a logical process and by using the input of other people to identify the favorite and then logically you've picked the best choice.

Moses made a choice, he made a decision. He compared the riches that he experienced in the palace. compared the treasures of Egypt, because it was all there available for him, this world. Perhaps, and I think this is quite likely, he was even heir to the throne. If he'd stuck around, he would have been pharaoh of Egypt, because there were no other children, there were no other heirs, according to that historian.

And with it went, what it says there, the pleasures of sin for a season, in verse 25. Enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. And he compared that with what? The affliction that the people of God suffer in this world. And the reproach of Christ, the world's hatred for the gospel of Christ, and for the fact that God has a people that he's favored, and the world hates it. hates his people for thinking like that.

But he had thoughts for the recompense of eternal reward. For this life is fleeting, is transient. What is your life but a vapor? But a vapor, it's here today, it's gone tomorrow. But that which is unseen is eternal. And that latter recompense of eternal reward, overwhelmed all else, because he'd seen by faith, by the revelation of God, the pearl of eternal life. He was going to redeem Israel from Egypt. And it was a picture of the redemption that God has done for his people from the curse of sin in this world.

As Jesus said in Matthew chapter six and verse 19, it's in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter six and verse 19, He says this, lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Moses made that choice, thinking of the treasures in heaven. and not on earth, of which he had access to the ultimate. Moses made his choice, and I think, having made his choice, he was a bit kind of... flushed with courage and flushed with determination to get things moving and so he went out and maybe he would get his brethren on his side and then maybe he'd use his privilege in the palace to negotiate the exodus and he didn't consult God because look what it says in verse 12 he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew one of his brethren Verse 12, and he looked this way and that way.

And when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. He didn't consult God. He looked for men. He looked for men, not for God. and he acted rashly. It says in Proverbs 29 verse 25, the fear of man bringeth a snare. To fear men rather than to obey God brings a snare. Jeremiah 17 verse 5, cursed be the man that trusts in man and departs from the Lord.

He looked around for man, he didn't ask God, and he fled in fear because the fullness of God's time for the Exodus had not yet come. He fled because, though Moses thought it might have been his time, the fullness of God's time had not yet come. You see, in the course of redemption, Why did Christ not come as soon as the promise was made? Because the fullness of the time was not yet come.

But Galatians 4 verse 4, when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those who are under the law. But it was when the fullness of God's time had come. Jesus often said in John's gospel, my hour is not yet come. All sorts of things were happening. He said, it can't happen yet. My hour is not yet come. If we trust God, we need to learn patience, to wait, to wait for him to open doors, to wait for him to close doors. Moses had to wait another 40 years. We read that again in Stephen's sermon in Acts 7 verse 30.

By which time the baby in the ark of the bulrushes was now 80 years old. He was 40 years old when he fled from Egypt. He found the priest of Midian and his daughters, and he was given one for his wife, and he became a lowly shepherd there out in Midian, and he was 80 years old. His sights had been dramatically lowered. He was content to dwell with Ruul, the father of these daughters in Midian, and he was content to keep sheep. I wonder what he was taught in the Egyptian palace of Pharaoh. They would be taught that a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians. And here he is, potentially the heir of the throne of Egypt, and he's keeping sheep with a wife and sons and content to dwell until God's time came.

And all the while, the Israelites were suffering bondage, but in verses 24 and 25, God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham and Isaac and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel and God had respect unto them. God will not forsake his own. God's unchangeable purpose of redemption continued. He had respect unto them for the sake of his promise.

Is this the God whom you trust in and hope in? Do you believe in him? As Paul said to Timothy, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He is able. How is he able? He's able by virtue of the redemption. which he planned and purposed and accomplished in the blood of Christ.

Remember, it was not something that just happened. It was his decease that he would accomplish at Jerusalem that he spoke to with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. His dealings with Moses confirm that nothing is beyond his control. Just think for a moment as we close this. God's ordering of the affairs of Moses. God's ordering of the affairs of Moses.

He was the son of a slave who became the heir of Pharaoh's crown. He was born in poverty, but he was educated in a palace. He was of royal rank, but he became a lowly, despised, abominable shepherd. He had all the culture of the court of Pharaoh, but he was ordained to be Pharaoh's destroyer. He had all the wisdom of Egypt, and yet he was the object of childlike faith under the hands of the Spirit of God. He ran away from Pharaoh in fear, but God made him his ambassador to Pharaoh.

By him God gave the law to his people, and that was the forerunner of grace, the forerunner of grace. He was commended for being the faithful servant of God, and yet he died under judgment for when he disobeyed God by striking the rock the second time, he died under judgment alone on Mount Moab. He appeared on another mount with Christ and Elijah in glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. He was God's instrument to give the law to his people.

It says in John 1 verse 17, the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And why was that law given? It was given, Galatians 3.24, to drive the people of God to Christ. What is the purpose of the law? That we might be driven to Christ, to bring us to Christ. Why should we be driven to Christ? Because He is the end of that law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Is the God who did all this with Moses the God that you worship, that we worship and trust?

Is he for you in saving grace? Is he for you? Then who can be against you? Romans 8, 31. Who or what can be against you? It says in Psalm 89 verse 15, blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, the joyful sound of gospel grace, which is pictured here in another layer, in another line, in another precept, in another view, that Christ redeems his people from the curse of the law. And as we saw three weeks ago, was it? Psalm 4, verse 8. People who believe him, they lie down in peace and sleep, knowing that God keeps his people eternally safe. Amen.