The Birth of Moses

Q: What does the Bible say about the birth of Moses?

The birth of Moses is a powerful picture of God's providence and foreshadows Christ's saving work. The birth of Moses, as detailed in Exodus 2, showcases God's sovereignty over circumstances that seem dire. Despite Pharaoh's order to kill all male Hebrew infants, Moses' mother, Jochebed, is used by God to preserve his life. She constructs an ark to save him, which represents the protection and salvation found in Christ. Just as Moses was hidden and drawn out of the waters, we see that Christ, our Savior, also intervenes in our lives, drawing us from death through His work on the cross. This narrative highlights God's providential care and the foreshadowing of Christ's redemptive purpose.

Q: How do we know Moses is a type of Christ?

Moses serves as a type of Christ by representing God's elect, chosen and saved from death. In the sermon, Moses is depicted as a profound type of Christ, illustrating several theological truths. Firstly, like all male Hebrew infants, he was condemned to death under Pharaoh's law. However, he was uniquely spared, representing God's elect—those chosen for salvation. The ark in which he was placed represents Christ, the only security against death. Just as Moses, the 'drawn out one,' was saved from death, Christ came, bearing our sins, entering death Himself, and yet rising again, conquering death for the sake of His people. Thus, Moses’ life and deliverance prefigures the life of Christ, who saves all believers.

Q: Why is the story of Moses important for Christians?

Moses' story illustrates God’s sovereignty and foreshadows the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The significance of Moses' story for Christians lies in its demonstration of God's unwavering sovereignty and providential care in the lives of His people. Amid oppression and death, God's plan unfolds through the birth and preservation of Moses, who will eventually lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. This account serves as a rich foreshadowing of the Gospel, where Christ enters into our suffering, represents God's elect, and provides salvation through His sacrifice. The parallels between Moses and Christ remind believers of God's faithfulness and the deliverance that awaits in Christ, reinforcing the assurance of salvation for those chosen by Him.

Q: What does the ark represent in Moses' story?

The ark symbolizes Christ, serving as the means by which Moses is saved from death. In the narrative, the ark plays a crucial role as it represents Christ Himself. While all the other Hebrew infants faced death due to Pharaoh's decree, Moses was placed in the ark, which kept him safe from the waters that symbolized death. This illustrates that it is through Christ that believers find protection and salvation. Just as the ark bore Moses safely through the waters, Christ bears all of God's elect through the trials of life and the ultimate death. Thus, the ark serves as a strong metaphor for the assurance of salvation found in Christ, emphasizing that through Him, believers are delivered from the consequences of sin and death.

Turn with me to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 1, really our text will come from chapter 2, but Exodus chapter 1 first. I would like for us to see a picture of Christ and a picture of the gospel in the birth of Moses. That's what we're gonna look at for this Bible study. The birth of Moses.

Now, at the end of Genesis, Joseph, who became ruler in Egypt, called his father Jacob. You know, he was taken from his father Jacob, sold into slavery, sold into Egypt and he called his father Jacob and his name was changed to Israel and he told him to come live with him in Egypt. There was a great famine in the land and he would provide and protect him and So Jacob did. Israel brought his family, he brought his cattle, he brought everything that was alive, every living thing, to Egypt. And Joseph took great care of Israel. I'm calling Jacob's name Israel. That's his name. His name was changed. Joseph took great care of Israel and the children of Israel, which were his brethren.

And if you look at Exodus chapter 1 now, verse 1 says, these are the names of the children of Israel, or Jacob, which came into Egypt. Every man and his household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were 70 souls, for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died.

And all his brethren, and all that generation, 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. 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, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us. and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pytham and Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor, And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field. And all their service wherein they made them serve was with rigor. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives of which the name of the one was Shipra and the name of the other Pua. And he said, when you do the office of a midwife to them, to the Hebrew women, to see them upon the stools.

If it be a son, then you shall kill him. But if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said unto them, why have you done this thing and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women for they are lively and are delivered before the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses.

Now verse 22 says, And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. Now that right there is where the story of Moses begins. That's where it begins. That's why things came to pass the way they did. Verse 22, Pharaoh charged all his people.

He told the midwives, you just killed the boys and they wouldn't do it. And there were baby boys everywhere. So he said, all right, I'm making a new law. Every male child, just throw it in the river. Every female save a life. All right, now let's just read a few more verses, and we'll get into the picture, okay? Chapter 2, verse 1.

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son, and when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, She took for him an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to him. Moses was born, and when he was three months old, his mother made a little boat, an ark, that's a boat, and put him in it and set him in the reeds, the water plants coming out of the water right there on the river's edge. And Moses' sister kept an eye on him to see what would happen to him. Verse five, and the daughter of Pharaoh came down 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. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. And the maid went and called the child's mother.

Moses' sister is keeping her eye on Moses. while he's in this little boat on the edge of the river. Her name is Miriam. And Pharaoh's daughter, okay, Pharaoh, the one, the king of Egypt who made this law, Pharaoh's daughter comes walking by and sees this little boat and sends a maid to go get it out of the water. And when she opened it up, a baby was inside it. She recognized that it was a Hebrew baby. And while Pharaoh's daughter is processing all of this, Miriam walks over. She'd been hiding over there watching Moses and here Pharaoh's daughter and her maids and all of a sudden Miriam walks up and she looks inside that little boat and she said, what do you have there?

And Pharaoh's daughter said, it's a baby. Poor thing is crying. I'm sure it's hungry. And Miriam said, would you like for me to go find a woman who has recently had a baby who is able to nurse and feed this baby? And she said, that's a great idea. Go do that.

So Miriam went and got her and mother and Moses' mother and brought her to Pharaoh's daughter and said, it just so happens I found somebody. Pharaoh's daughter said to Moses' mother, all right, look at verse seven. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. 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, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it.

Boy, God's ways are so amazing, aren't they? Pharaoh's daughter said to Pharaoh's mother, if you will take this child back to your home, and if you will feed and care and love this child for me, I'll pay you to do it. Not only do you not have to throw your baby in the river, I'll pay you to do it. The end of verse nine.

And the woman took the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son, and she called his name Moses, and she said, because I drew him out of the water. After Moses was weaned, His mother brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and she named him Moses. And that means drawn out. She said, because I drew him out of the water, that's what I'm gonna name him. Drawn out, Moses.

All right, now that's his physical story. What I wanna do for this Bible study is consider some spiritual pictures in it. And I say some spiritual pictures because there are so many. I have preached this different ways. And I was really thinking about this and trying to decide which way did I feel led to preach it this time. And I feel led to preach it all the ways. There are many pictures of Christ in this.

I'm going to give you CliffsNotes this morning. Rather than us being here for a month going through messages, I'm just going to give you the CliffsNotes to many different ways that we can see types of Christ from this one account. So, if we were going to look at different messages, okay, if we were going to take the time to have different messages from this one account, I would name one of the messages, Moses' mother, a type of Christ, or Jochebed, a type of Christ, all right? This would be the characters in that message.

Pharaoh would represent the law. All right, Pharaoh's the law. Look back in chapter 1, verse 22. Pharaoh charged all his people saying, every son that is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive. That's the law that went forth. The king gave that law. That's the law. Pharaoh said it. That's it. That's the law. The unchangeable law of death.

That's what the holy law of God brings us to. Do you know that when we talk about the holy law of God? The only thing that it can bring this flesh to is death. You know what it says the wages of sin is? This is what the law says. Here it is. This is what it brings you to. The wages of sin is death. Death. You have to die. You have to die. So Pharaoh is the law. That river is death.

And every firstborn male had to go into it. Now, based on population estimates, I mean, this is a Google search. Don't put too much stock in this. But based on population estimates, they say that there could have been as many as 600,000 babies thrown into that river. 600,000 babies killed by the river of death. A great mass, a great many.

According to that law, along with every other baby, Moses had to go into that river. That was a law. That was a law. Moses had to go into that river. But he represents one of God's elect people. Moses represents God's elect. One who was chosen to be spared. And who made that choice? His maker did. His maker did. One whose maker chose to save a life. This is how his mother is a type of Christ. His mother is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You don't turn but Exodus 6 verse 20 and Numbers 26 verse 29 both tell us that her name was Jochebed. Her name means Jehovah glorified. It means Jehovah's glory. What is Jehovah's glory? Christ. Christ. Christ is Jehovah's glory. The glory of God is seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The glory of God is seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ.

So Moses' mother, she's the one who wrought the work of bringing Moses forth. She wrought the work of delivering Moses into this world, and she wrought the work of delivering him through that river of death. She's the one who made the way. Moses' sister, Miriam, represents the Holy Spirit of God that keeps a watchful eye on his elect. will not take his eye off of God's elect, even from birth, until it was time for the elect child of God to be led to Christ.

Kept a watchful eye. There comes a point in every child of God's life when it's time for that child to be led to Christ. That child's in the world and at some point it's time for that child to be brought to Christ. Miriam, representing God's spirit, brought Moses to the only one who gave him life. And had the ability to sustain his life. And that's exactly what God's spirit does for every one of God's elect. He leads that soul to Christ. I know exactly who this one needs to go to. I know exactly who this one needs to be brought to, called to.

Child of God is led to Christ, the only giver and sustainer of life. So Moses' mother is a type of Christ. We could enlarge that and fill in the blanks and have a wonderful message on Jochebed, a type of Christ. Another message could be titled, That Ark Was Christ. That ark was Christ. Pharaoh gave the law.

All had to enter the river of death. Moses, representing God's elect, entered that river just like everybody else. There was no difference in Moses or any of those other male Hebrew children. No difference. They all came from the same lump of sinful Jacob. And Moses entered that river just like every other child did. But Moses entered it in the ark. There was one difference. There was one difference.

This is the only difference in a child of God or any other soul on this earth. We are all cut from the same lump. We're no better. Paul said, are we better than they? Absolutely not. God forbid. You're looking at the worst of the worst. We're worse than they. But. But.

One thing made a difference. We all went in. We all went in. Moses went into that river just like everybody else. But one thing made the difference in life or death. And that one thing was the ark. All hope was in the ark. Moses entered that river in the ark. The ark touched the water, not Moses.

It was the water that killed every one of those babies. It was the water. That's what killed them. Dry land, fine. Throw them into the water, death. It's the water. The ark touched the water, not Moses. The ark sunk down into that river. in the stead of Moses. His life was preserved alive only because of that ark. That ark is Christ. That ark is the Lord Jesus Christ. All of God's elect people entered into the river of death in Christ. They died in Christ. They were buried in Christ. And all of them arose back out of it in Christ.

That ark is Christ. If we wanted to, we could have a message titled Pharaoh's daughter, a type of Christ. Pharaoh's daughter was one with Pharaoh. Just like Christ is one with his own holy and just law. Christ is one with that law. Christ is not against the law. Christ is the fulfiller of the law, the only one who carried out the law. Christ is the Savior of His people according to the law. He will not save His people outside of the law.

Moses was in the river just like every other baby, but Pharaoh's daughter saw him. All right. She came to him where he was. She did not see, she did not look upon all the other masses of babies. This is how, again, Moses is a picture of God's elect. She saw him. She saw him, and this is how it happened.

If you look at Exodus 2, verse 5, it says, And the daughter of Pharaoh came down. Now that's what Christ had to do in order to deliver his people from their death and their sin. He came down. Verse five, and the daughter of Pharaoh came down 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. When she saw it down there in the swamp, she said, go fetch it.

Hold your place right here and turn to Ezekiel 16. If your Bible's like mine, it's page 1047. Ezekiel 16, look at verse 1. It says, Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. Say that to them.

Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite. And as for thy nativity and the day thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None I pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person and the day that thou was born.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased, and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, Thy time was a time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God.

And thou became as mine." You became mine. What he's saying is, I had compassion on you. You were an outcast. You were a stranger, not of my nativity. You were vile. You were polluted, undeserving, undesirable. But in the merciful kindness of my gracious heart, I had compassion on you. And I delivered you from your condition. And I cared for you. And I restored you. And I redeemed you to myself. You became mine.

And that's exactly what Pharaoh's daughter could say to Moses. That is exactly what she could say to Moses. The very same thing that Christ said to his chosen elect. Go with me back to Exodus 2. Verse 5 says, And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side. And when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it." And that's what God's Spirit does for Christ. He fetches all of God's elect people out of their sinful, dying state, and he brings them to Christ. She sent her maid to fetch it, verse 6.

And when she had opened it, she saw the child. And behold, the babe wept, and she had compassion on him. She had compassion. I will have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. Look at verse 9. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto Moses' mother, take this child away and nurse it for thee, and I will give thee thy wages. That compassion caused her to say, I'll pay the price. I'll pay it. And that's what Christ's compassion caused him to say concerning his people. I'll pay the price. Redemption's price, verse 10.

And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, And he became her son. And she called his name Moses. And she said, because I drew him out of the water. She said, I drew him out. And that's what Christ says concerning all of his elect people. I drew him out. I drew him out.

It was my will. It was my word. It was my way. I accomplished this. And all of his drawn out Moses's say, Amen. He drew me out. He gets the glory. He's the one who did it. All right, one more. This one will be quick in closing. One more here in closing. We could have a message titled. Moses, a type of Christ. I may title this one the only one. The only one.

The law condemned all of those babies. The law killed all of those babies. Death took the victory over every soul that went into the river but one. One went into that river and took the victory over death. Only one went into that river and took the victory over death. It was a male of the first year, made just like unto his brethren, born of a woman, made under the law, In fulfillment of the law, he entered into that same death that all of his brethren had to enter into. But unlike all of the rest of his brethren, he came back out. He's the only one.

You're going to have to go into the ground. You're going to have to go into the ground. Every soul that has ever been born into this world has to go into the ground. Only one man. Of his own doing. Came back out. Conquering death. And through the conquering of that death.

Because he went through in is because he went through that river. Had it not been for the river, this couldn't be said concerning Moses as this picture. Moses, a type of Christ. Through the conquering of that river, through the conquering of that death, he was highly exalted and glorified all the way to the house of the throne. Who was on the other side of that river? Who pulled him out? Pharaoh's daughter. The king's daughter.

And this is what happened to Christ by his conquering victory over the death of his people. God the Father, because he endured that for his people, God the Father has highly raised him up. The law has said to Christ, well done, you entered into that death. Bearing the sin of his people, the law said, you have to die. And he did, he entered into that death. And he came back out and the law says, I'm satisfied, you did it. All glory, honor, and praise has been given to him.

You can see why I struggle for which picture to preach. I may never preach a single picture from that ever again. All of them are so glorious. I pray the Lord will make these to be a blessing to us, and I pray the Lord will let us see Christ. Pray he'll let us glorify Christ. All right. Amen. You're dismissed.

The Birth of Moses

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the birth of Moses?

How do we know Moses is a type of Christ?

Why is the story of Moses important for Christians?

What does the ark represent in Moses' story?

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The Birth of Moses

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the birth of Moses?

How do we know Moses is a type of Christ?

Why is the story of Moses important for Christians?

What does the ark represent in Moses' story?

Sermon Transcript

About Gabe Stalnaker

Comments

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