Moses
Covenant & Kingdom: Moses, 21 September 2014
22 09 14 Filed in: Sermons | Covenant & Kingdom
Big Idea: God made a covenant with Moses out of which he led the God’s kingdom people of Israel.
Introduction
In previous weeks we said the Bible is a big book. It’s actually a library of 66 books. We usually study it verse-by-verse, like looking through a microscope. This series will look at it through a telescope, examining the big idea of the Bible.
Covenant and Kingdom are woven throughout the Scriptures like a double helix is woven in DNA.
Covenant is a sacred treaty in which two parties become one. In ancient times, this always involved the shedding of blood by an animal to imply consequences for failure to fulfill the agreement.
God made a covenant with Abram, promising blessings to him and his offspring in order for them to bless the world.
Covenant is about relationship. Being. Invitation.
Kingdom is about responsibility. Doing. Challenge.
Life is filled with tension between being and doing, relationship and responsibility, being invited into relationship with God while also being challenged to represent Him and bless the world.
As we look at this idea of challenge, of kingdom, of doing God’s work in the world we are going to look at one of the most important characters in the Bible—Moses.
Who are you? That is one of the two most important questions you and I must address. The other is, “Who is Jesus?” Earlier this year in our series Who Do You Think You Are? we looked at the book of Ephesians and saw the ramifications of being “in Christ.”
Identity comes from many places. It begins with our name and family of origin. What does your name mean? Do you know why it was chosen for you? What messages did you receive as a child? You may be troubled to even think about the answer or you may recall great memories. We are a product of our past, for better or worse.
One of the great things about the kingdom of God—the church—is regardless of our past, God dictates our present future when we entrust it to Him.
Like Abraham, we are invited into covenant with God, surrendering our individual existence to become “one” with God and His people. We are given a new name—child of God. We enjoy the same rights and freedoms of God’s other children, including Jesus!
Like Joseph, we are a part of God’s kingdom, representing God and taking responsibility and authority, exercising the power of forgiveness.
There are so many fascinating Bible characters and few as important as Moses. You may be familiar with the stories of his life, but I want to encourage you to encounter them in a fresh way as if you had never heard them before.
Our story begins in Exodus 1. Joseph is Pharaoh’s right hand man providing provisions to his family and other Israelites in Egypt. A new king sees this growing Israelite population and makes them slaves, working the ruthlessly. Furthermore, he told the Hebrew midwives to kill all baby boys so the Israelite population could eventually die (1:16). When they refused, he ordered every baby boy thrown into the Nile river.
This isn’t pretty. It’s actually horrifying. The Bible can be quite graphic and disturbing…because humans can do some pretty disturbing things, as we see every day in the news.
A woman has a baby, hides him for three months, and realizes she can no longer hide him. She puts him in a basket in the very river where she is to drown him.
Pharaoh’s daughter sees the basket, opens it, sees the baby, and keeps Moses as her son.
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. (2:11-15)
Charles Swindoll says, “Here we see the beginning of a narrative that is all of our lives. We are blessed, broken and then we are used. Used by God.”
Perhaps you’re waiting for God to use you while He waits for you to be broken, not in a harmful way, but in a way that causes you to be desperate for Him.
Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
That’s lordship. That’s what it means for Jesus to be king, to be Lord. Die to yourself and live with and for Him. That’s the message of baptism, we die and then live.
Who do you think Moses thinks he is?
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (3:1)
If youʼre in the desert, embrace it. Go into it and pass through it. Moses embraces the desert and finds there the symbol and metaphor of the desert that is woven throughout Scripture: Desert leads to dependency on God.
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up.” (3:2-3)
Fire is the symbol of God’s presence.
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (3:4-6)
God knows Moses’ name. He knows his identity. He knows his past living in privilege in the palace and later hiding in the desert after committing murder. This is God’s invitation into relationship with Moses. Covenant.
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (3:7-10)
“And I have heard the cry of my people.” Not of “the people” but of “my people.” “I am their God because I have a Covenant with them. And I will stay faithful to them. And out of that Covenant security, Moses, Iʼm sending you to do the work of my Kingship.” This is God’s challenge for Moses to be involved in kingdom work.
God’s promises can be trusted. Where He guides, He provides. He doesn’t promise we’ll be happy and healthy all the time, but He honors obedience and faithfulness.
So Moses is excited, grateful for the opportunity to lead the people of Israel, and joyfully accepts the challenge. Hardly!
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:11)
And Moses says, “Not me! Anybody else but me!”
Why does he resist?
And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (3:12)
I will be with you. That’s a promise. It’s a promise that’s echoed throughout the pages of Scripture.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Ps 139:7)
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:20b)
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5)
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. (3:13-15)
God speaks to him about the Covenant: “I am the God of your Fathers. You are the Son of Abraham, the Son of Isaac, the Son of Jacob, that Identity comes from me and you know it!” And already we have the resonance of Fatherhood. Why are they fathers? Eventually we find that they are fathers because they are in Covenant with THE FATHER. But right now, in the unfolding revelation of Scripture, is a matter of life and blood and bone. But Moses hears from God, that God is in Covenant with him. “Youʼre mine.”
“And I have heard the cry of my people.” Not of “the people” but of “my people.” “I am their God because I have a Covenant with them. And I will stay faithful to them. And out of that Covenant security, Moses, Iʼm sending you to do the work of my Kingship.” And Moses says, “Not me! Anybody else but me!”
God invites Moses into relationship and challenges him to lead the people.
But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (4:13)
Have you ever said that?
Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. (4:14-16)
What follows is a series of exchanges between Moses and Pharaoh, ten plagues, the last a plague of death in which the first-born child and animal of everyone in Egypt was killed—except for those Israelite homes that had the blood of a lamb on the sids and tops of the door frames. The death angel passed over those homes which leads us to call the celebration Passover. Finally, Pharaoh lets Moses and the people go.
Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. (12:40)
God was their king. Isn’t that great?!
By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. (13:21)
Moses surely thought the worst was over. The exodus from Egypt was going great…until Pharaoh had a change of heart.
The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. (14:8)
The Israelites are furious.
Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (14:12)
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (14:13-14)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. (14:15-16)
The rest, as they say, is history.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (14:21-22)
The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. (14:23)
During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” (14:24-25)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen — the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. (14:26-28)
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (14:29)
And they all lived happily ever after! Hardly! For forty years they wandered in the wilderness, complained, disobeyed God, and drove Moses crazy!
Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” (19:3-6)
What is the “If?” It’s the Ten Commandments, not rules to follow, but instructions to obey.
Who are you?
Israel is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That may sound far from a group of Gentiles like us thousands of years later, but actually it applies to us. Through Jesus—whose live, death, and resurrection allowed us to be grafted into God’s story, we are a part of the kingdom. The kingdom is a people. It’s a people of priests. It’s a holy nation.
The Rest Of The Story
Moses leads the grumbling people for 40 years in the wilderness. There are highs and lows, but God remains faithful to Moses and the Israelites.
So what?
Without identity, obedience is just rules. With identity, it is an expression of love, something we desire to do.
You can’t make God love you more by obeying Him. We can never be good enough, but Jesus is and we take on His identity.
Moses understood his covenant identity and knew he had the backing of the King of heaven.
For the Israelites and many of us obedience without Identity becomes the mark of their lives.
You know itʼs a great thing to be obedient to the Lord, but he wants it to be out of your identity. And if you can be obedient out of your identity then you can function in power because you have received his authority. You see, identity and authority go together, and obedience and power go together. These are the key concepts of Covenant and Kingdom and they function as the Father, who is our King, reveals himself to us. Our identity is tied up with him. Because our identity is tied up with him, we are the children of God. And because we are the children of God we recognize that whatever he is, we are. Heʼs the King. We have royal blood running through our veins so we have the Kingʼs authority.
Because power is tied up with obedience, and obedience flows out of identity. The way that it works is this: We know we are the children of God and out of that authority of being the children of God we are able to dispense that power that God places into our hands because authority will always lead to power. Because power without authority is always tyranny. And God never wants that. He wants his people to break the bonds of tyranny. He wants his people to feed the hungry. He wants them to lift up the weak and the broken. He wants them to come, in his authority, dispensing power, breaking the chains of the Kingdom of darkness. And we can only do this successfully and sustainably if you know both your Covenant and your Kingdom calling.
Iʼve watched it so many times. The Kingdom becomes the subject. The Kingdom becomes the agenda. And people rush to do the works of the Kingdom and they begin to become detached from their sense of identity and they have no idea about the rhythm that is woven into their lives that is spoken of so clearly in Scripture: There is a rhythm of advance...and then return. There is a rhythm of working and resting. Of taking the works of the Kingdom and doing something for God and then returning and abiding in Jesus and being with him. And if you donʼt know that rhythm, you wonʼt sustain the work of God. Do you see that?
Itʼs so important that we hear this. Itʼs out of our understanding of our Father that we reflect that our Father is the King.
- Mike Breen
Credits
Ideas for this series taken from book of the same title by Mike Breen and 3DMovements.com.
Introduction
In previous weeks we said the Bible is a big book. It’s actually a library of 66 books. We usually study it verse-by-verse, like looking through a microscope. This series will look at it through a telescope, examining the big idea of the Bible.
Covenant and Kingdom are woven throughout the Scriptures like a double helix is woven in DNA.
Covenant is a sacred treaty in which two parties become one. In ancient times, this always involved the shedding of blood by an animal to imply consequences for failure to fulfill the agreement.
God made a covenant with Abram, promising blessings to him and his offspring in order for them to bless the world.
Covenant is about relationship. Being. Invitation.
Kingdom is about responsibility. Doing. Challenge.
Life is filled with tension between being and doing, relationship and responsibility, being invited into relationship with God while also being challenged to represent Him and bless the world.
As we look at this idea of challenge, of kingdom, of doing God’s work in the world we are going to look at one of the most important characters in the Bible—Moses.
Who are you? That is one of the two most important questions you and I must address. The other is, “Who is Jesus?” Earlier this year in our series Who Do You Think You Are? we looked at the book of Ephesians and saw the ramifications of being “in Christ.”
Identity comes from many places. It begins with our name and family of origin. What does your name mean? Do you know why it was chosen for you? What messages did you receive as a child? You may be troubled to even think about the answer or you may recall great memories. We are a product of our past, for better or worse.
One of the great things about the kingdom of God—the church—is regardless of our past, God dictates our present future when we entrust it to Him.
Like Abraham, we are invited into covenant with God, surrendering our individual existence to become “one” with God and His people. We are given a new name—child of God. We enjoy the same rights and freedoms of God’s other children, including Jesus!
Like Joseph, we are a part of God’s kingdom, representing God and taking responsibility and authority, exercising the power of forgiveness.
There are so many fascinating Bible characters and few as important as Moses. You may be familiar with the stories of his life, but I want to encourage you to encounter them in a fresh way as if you had never heard them before.
Our story begins in Exodus 1. Joseph is Pharaoh’s right hand man providing provisions to his family and other Israelites in Egypt. A new king sees this growing Israelite population and makes them slaves, working the ruthlessly. Furthermore, he told the Hebrew midwives to kill all baby boys so the Israelite population could eventually die (1:16). When they refused, he ordered every baby boy thrown into the Nile river.
This isn’t pretty. It’s actually horrifying. The Bible can be quite graphic and disturbing…because humans can do some pretty disturbing things, as we see every day in the news.
A woman has a baby, hides him for three months, and realizes she can no longer hide him. She puts him in a basket in the very river where she is to drown him.
Pharaoh’s daughter sees the basket, opens it, sees the baby, and keeps Moses as her son.
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”
When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. (2:11-15)
Charles Swindoll says, “Here we see the beginning of a narrative that is all of our lives. We are blessed, broken and then we are used. Used by God.”
Perhaps you’re waiting for God to use you while He waits for you to be broken, not in a harmful way, but in a way that causes you to be desperate for Him.
Jesus said “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
That’s lordship. That’s what it means for Jesus to be king, to be Lord. Die to yourself and live with and for Him. That’s the message of baptism, we die and then live.
Who do you think Moses thinks he is?
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (3:1)
If youʼre in the desert, embrace it. Go into it and pass through it. Moses embraces the desert and finds there the symbol and metaphor of the desert that is woven throughout Scripture: Desert leads to dependency on God.
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight — why the bush does not burn up.” (3:2-3)
Fire is the symbol of God’s presence.
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (3:4-6)
God knows Moses’ name. He knows his identity. He knows his past living in privilege in the palace and later hiding in the desert after committing murder. This is God’s invitation into relationship with Moses. Covenant.
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (3:7-10)
“And I have heard the cry of my people.” Not of “the people” but of “my people.” “I am their God because I have a Covenant with them. And I will stay faithful to them. And out of that Covenant security, Moses, Iʼm sending you to do the work of my Kingship.” This is God’s challenge for Moses to be involved in kingdom work.
God’s promises can be trusted. Where He guides, He provides. He doesn’t promise we’ll be happy and healthy all the time, but He honors obedience and faithfulness.
So Moses is excited, grateful for the opportunity to lead the people of Israel, and joyfully accepts the challenge. Hardly!
But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (3:11)
And Moses says, “Not me! Anybody else but me!”
Why does he resist?
And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (3:12)
I will be with you. That’s a promise. It’s a promise that’s echoed throughout the pages of Scripture.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? (Ps 139:7)
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:20b)
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13:5)
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. (3:13-15)
God speaks to him about the Covenant: “I am the God of your Fathers. You are the Son of Abraham, the Son of Isaac, the Son of Jacob, that Identity comes from me and you know it!” And already we have the resonance of Fatherhood. Why are they fathers? Eventually we find that they are fathers because they are in Covenant with THE FATHER. But right now, in the unfolding revelation of Scripture, is a matter of life and blood and bone. But Moses hears from God, that God is in Covenant with him. “Youʼre mine.”
“And I have heard the cry of my people.” Not of “the people” but of “my people.” “I am their God because I have a Covenant with them. And I will stay faithful to them. And out of that Covenant security, Moses, Iʼm sending you to do the work of my Kingship.” And Moses says, “Not me! Anybody else but me!”
God invites Moses into relationship and challenges him to lead the people.
But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” (4:13)
Have you ever said that?
Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. (4:14-16)
What follows is a series of exchanges between Moses and Pharaoh, ten plagues, the last a plague of death in which the first-born child and animal of everyone in Egypt was killed—except for those Israelite homes that had the blood of a lamb on the sids and tops of the door frames. The death angel passed over those homes which leads us to call the celebration Passover. Finally, Pharaoh lets Moses and the people go.
Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. (12:40)
God was their king. Isn’t that great?!
By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. (13:21)
Moses surely thought the worst was over. The exodus from Egypt was going great…until Pharaoh had a change of heart.
The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. (14:8)
The Israelites are furious.
Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (14:12)
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (14:13-14)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. (14:15-16)
The rest, as they say, is history.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (14:21-22)
The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. (14:23)
During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.” (14:24-25)
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen — the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. (14:26-28)
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (14:29)
And they all lived happily ever after! Hardly! For forty years they wandered in the wilderness, complained, disobeyed God, and drove Moses crazy!
Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” (19:3-6)
What is the “If?” It’s the Ten Commandments, not rules to follow, but instructions to obey.
Who are you?
Israel is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That may sound far from a group of Gentiles like us thousands of years later, but actually it applies to us. Through Jesus—whose live, death, and resurrection allowed us to be grafted into God’s story, we are a part of the kingdom. The kingdom is a people. It’s a people of priests. It’s a holy nation.
The Rest Of The Story
Moses leads the grumbling people for 40 years in the wilderness. There are highs and lows, but God remains faithful to Moses and the Israelites.
So what?
Without identity, obedience is just rules. With identity, it is an expression of love, something we desire to do.
You can’t make God love you more by obeying Him. We can never be good enough, but Jesus is and we take on His identity.
Moses understood his covenant identity and knew he had the backing of the King of heaven.
For the Israelites and many of us obedience without Identity becomes the mark of their lives.
You know itʼs a great thing to be obedient to the Lord, but he wants it to be out of your identity. And if you can be obedient out of your identity then you can function in power because you have received his authority. You see, identity and authority go together, and obedience and power go together. These are the key concepts of Covenant and Kingdom and they function as the Father, who is our King, reveals himself to us. Our identity is tied up with him. Because our identity is tied up with him, we are the children of God. And because we are the children of God we recognize that whatever he is, we are. Heʼs the King. We have royal blood running through our veins so we have the Kingʼs authority.
Because power is tied up with obedience, and obedience flows out of identity. The way that it works is this: We know we are the children of God and out of that authority of being the children of God we are able to dispense that power that God places into our hands because authority will always lead to power. Because power without authority is always tyranny. And God never wants that. He wants his people to break the bonds of tyranny. He wants his people to feed the hungry. He wants them to lift up the weak and the broken. He wants them to come, in his authority, dispensing power, breaking the chains of the Kingdom of darkness. And we can only do this successfully and sustainably if you know both your Covenant and your Kingdom calling.
Iʼve watched it so many times. The Kingdom becomes the subject. The Kingdom becomes the agenda. And people rush to do the works of the Kingdom and they begin to become detached from their sense of identity and they have no idea about the rhythm that is woven into their lives that is spoken of so clearly in Scripture: There is a rhythm of advance...and then return. There is a rhythm of working and resting. Of taking the works of the Kingdom and doing something for God and then returning and abiding in Jesus and being with him. And if you donʼt know that rhythm, you wonʼt sustain the work of God. Do you see that?
Itʼs so important that we hear this. Itʼs out of our understanding of our Father that we reflect that our Father is the King.
- Mike Breen
Credits
Ideas for this series taken from book of the same title by Mike Breen and 3DMovements.com.