Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTER 4
Schoolmaster to Christ
EXODUS CHAPTER 4
Scripture Reading: Exodus 4 (KJV)
Let us linger at the foot of Mount Horeb, at "the backside of the desert;" where the air is most healthful for spiritual constitution; where man's unbelief and God's boundless grace are made manifest in a striking way.
"And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." How hard it is to overcome unbelief in the human heart. How difficult it is for man to trust God. How slow we are to venture out on the naked promise of Jehovah. It seems that the most slender reed is counted more substantial, as a basis for nature's confidence, than the unseen "Rock of ages." With avidity, man seems to rush to any creature stream or broken cistern, rather than abide by the unseen ‘Fountain of living waters.’
We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard enough to set his fears aside. The consuming fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending grace, the precious, endearing, and comprehensive titles, the Divine commission, the assurance of Divine presence; all these things should have quelled every anxious thought, and imparted a settled assurance to the heart. However, Moses still raises questions, and God still answers them; and each successive question brings out fresh grace. "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod." The Lord took him as he was, using what he had in his hand. The rod he had used to tend Jethro's sheep was about to be used to deliver the Israel of God, to chastise the land of Egypt, to make a way through the deep for the ransomed of the Lord to pass over, and to bring forth water from the flinty rock to refresh Israel's thirsty hosts in the desert. God takes up the weakest instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends. "A rod," "a ram's horn," "a cake of barley meal," "an earthen pitcher," "a shepherds sling," all should be enough to teach us that when used of God, anything will do the appointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can be reached only by splendid means; but that is not God's way. He can use a crawling worm as well as a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east wind.1
But Moses had to learn a deep lesson regarding both the rod and the hand that was to use it, and the people had to be convinced.
"Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. "
This is a deeply significant sign. The rod became a serpent, so that Moses fled from it; but, being commissioned by Jehovah, he took the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod. Nothing could more aptly express the idea of Satan's power being turned against himself. This is largely exemplified in the ways of God. Moses himself was a striking example. The serpent is entirely under the hand of Christ; and when he has reached the highest point in his mad career, he shall be hurled into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his work throughout eternity's countless ages. "That old serpent, the accuser, and the adversary," shall be eternally crushed beneath the rod of God's Anointed.
"And the Lord said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom; and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow. And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of his bosom; and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh."
The leprous hand and the cleansing present the moral effect of sin, plus the way it has been met in the perfect work of Christ. The clean hand placed in the bosom becomes leprous; and the leprous hand placed there becomes clean. Leprosy is the well-known type of sin; and sin came in by the first man and was put away by the second. "By man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1 Cor. 15:21). Man brought in ruin, man brought in redemption; man brought in guilt, man brought in pardon; man brought in sin, man brought in righteousness; man filled the scene with death, man abolished death and filled the scene with life, righteousness, and glory. Thus, not only shall the serpent himself be eternally defeated and confounded, but every trace of his abominable work shall be eradicated and wiped away by the atoning sacrifice of Him who "was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil."
"And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land."
This was a solemn and expressive figure of the consequence of refusing to bow to Divine testimony. This sign would become reality only was only in the event of the other two being refused. It was to be a sign to Israel, and later a plague on Egypt.2
However, all this fails to satisfy the heart of Moses. "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant; but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue." Nothing except Jehovah's infinite patience could have endured such backwardness. Surely when God Himself had said, "I will be with thee," it was an infallible security pertaining to everything needed. How eloquent a tongue was necessary, when placed against "I AM"? Eloquence, wisdom, might, energy, everything was contained in that exhaustless treasury.
"And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say."
What profound, adorable, matchless grace – so worthy of God. There is none like the Lord our God, whose patient grace surmounts all our difficulties, proving itself amply sufficient for our manifold need and weakness. "I The Lord" should forever silence the reasoning’s of our carnal hearts. But, such reasoning’s are hard to put down. Again and again they rise to the surface, to the disturbance of our peace, and the dishonor of God, Who, in all His own essential fullness, sets Himself before our souls to be used according to our need.
When the Lord is with us, our deficiencies and infirmities become an occasion for the display of His all-sufficient grace and perfect patience. If Moses had remembered this, lacking eloquence would not have troubled him. The Apostle Paul learned to say, "Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake: for when I am weak then am I strong" (2 Cor. 12:9, 10).
This is the utterance of one who had reached an advanced form in the school of Christ. It is the experience of one who was not troubled because of lacking an eloquent tongue – finding an answer to every description of need in the precious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The knowledge of this truth should have delivered Moses from his diffidence and inordinate timidity. When the Lord graciously assured him that He would be with his mouth, it should have set his mind at rest as to the question of eloquence; if needed, the Maker of man's mouth could fill that mouth with the most commanding eloquence. In the judgment of faith, this is simple; but the doubting heart places far more confidence in an eloquent tongue than in the One who created it, but the natural heart cannot trust God. Even the people of God, when governed by nature, exhibit a humiliating lack of confidence in the living God. In the scene before us, we find Moses still demurring. "And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." Actually, this was taking away the high honor of being Jehovah's sole messenger to Egypt and Israel.
It is needless to say that divinely-wrought humility is an inestimable grace. To "be clothed with humility" is a divine precept; the most becoming dress in which a sinner can appear; but refusing to take the place that God assigns cannot be called humility. That it was not true humility in Moses is obvious from the fact that "the anger of the Lord was kindled against him." In fact, it had actually passed the limit of mere weakness. As long as it wore the aspect of excessive timidity, God's boundless grace bore with it, meeting it with renewed assurances; but when it assumed the character of unbelief and slowness of heart, it drew Jehovah's displeasure; and instead of being the sole instrument in the work of testimony and deliverance, Moses is made a joint – one of two.
Nothing is more dishonoring to God or more dangerous for us than a mock humility. It is not humility, when we refuse to occupy a position assigned to us by the grace of God, because of our not possessing certain virtues and qualifications. For instance, if Moses had possessed the measure of eloquence he deemed needful, we might suppose he would have been ready to go. But then his question would have been focused on how much eloquence was needed to complete the mission. The answer is simple: without God no amount of human eloquence would have availed – with God, the merest stammerer would have proved an efficient minister.
This is a practical truth. Unbelief is not humility, but thorough pride. It refuses to believe God because it does not find in self a reason for believing. This is the height of presumption. If, when God speaks, I refuse to believe, on the ground of something in myself, I make Him a liar (1 Jn. 5:10). When God declares His love, and I refuse to believe because I do not deem myself a sufficiently worthy object, I make Him a liar and exhibit the inherent pride of my heart. The supposition that we could ever be worthy can only be regarded as profound ignorance of our own condition and of God's requirements. Refusal to take the place which assigned by the redeeming love of God on the ground of the finished atonement of Christ, is to make God a liar – casting dishonor on the sacrifice of the cross. God's love flows spontaneously; drawn out by our misery. It is not a question about what we deserve, but what Christ deserves. On the cross, Christ took our place, so we might take His place in the glory. Christ got what we deserved, that we might get what Christ deserves. Thus, self is totally set aside, and this is true humility. No one can be truly humble until first reaching heaven's side of the cross; but there we find divine life, divine righteousness, and divine flavor. Regarding any expectation of goodness or righteousness, we are done with ourselves forever, and we feed on the princely wealth of another – morally prepared to join in that cry which shall echo through the spacious vault of heaven, throughout the everlasting ages, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory" (Ps. 115:1).
We should not dwell on the mistakes or infirmities of so honored a Servant as Moses, of whom we read that he "was verily faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after" (Heb. 3: 5). But, though we should not dwell on them in a spirit of self-complacency, as if we would have acted differently, we nevertheless should learn from such things those holy and seasonable lessons are manifestly designed to teach. We should learn to judge ourselves, placing more implicit confidence in God – to set self aside, that He might act in us, through us, and for us. This is the true secret of power.
We have already considered that Moses forfeited the dignity of being Jehovah's sole instrument in that glorious work God was about to accomplish. But this was not all.
"The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses; and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well: and, also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart. And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, wherewith thou shalt do signs" (Ex. 4:14-17).
This passage contains precious practical instruction. We have seen the timidity and hesitation of Moses, in spite of the varied promises and assurances furnished by God. Although there was nothing gained in the way of real power, although there was no more virtue or efficacy in one mouth than in another, although it was Moses after all who spoke to Aaron; yet Moses was quite ready to go when assured of the presence and co-operation of a feeble mortal like himself; whereas he could not go when assured, again and again, that Jehovah would be with him.
Does not all this hold up before us a faithful mirror, reflecting our hearts? Truly it does. We are ready to trust anything than the living God. When we possess the countenance and support of a frail mortal like ourselves; we move along with bold decision, but we falter, hesitate, and demur, when we have the light of the Master's countenance, and the strength of His omnipotent arm to cheer and support us. This should deeply humble us before the Lord, leading us to seek a fuller acquaintance with Him, so that we might trust Him with unmixed confidence, and walk on with a firmer step, having Him alone for our resource and portion.
No doubt, the fellowship of a brother is valuable – "Two are better than one" – weather in labor, rest, or conflict. In sending forth His disciples, the Lord Jesus “sent them two by two" – for unity is ever better than isolation. Still, if our personal acquaintance with God be not such as to enable us to walk alone, we shall find a brother’s presence of little use. It was the man whose companionship seemed to satisfy Moses, who later made the golden calf (Ex. 32:21). Often the very person whose presence we deem essential to our progress and success later proves a source of deepest sorrow.
However, at length, Moses consents to go; but before he is fully equipped for his work, he must pass through another deep exercise – he must have the sentence of death inscribed by the hand of God upon his very nature. He had learned deep lessons at "the backside of the desert;" he is called to learn something deeper "by the way in the inn." It is no small matter to be the Lord's servant. No ordinary education will qualify a man for such a position. Human nature must be put in the place of death and kept there. "We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead" (2 Cor. 1:9). Every successful servant needs to know something of this. Before he was morally qualified, Moses was called to enter into it. He was about to sound in the ears of Pharaoh the following deeply-solemn message, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my first-born: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn." Such was to be his message to Pharaoh; a message of death, a message of judgment. At the same time, his message to Israel was a message of life and salvation. However, before one can, on God's behalf, speak of death and judgment, life and salvation, he must enter into the practical power of these things in his own soul. Thus it was with Moses. From the beginning, we have seen him typically in the place of death; but this was different from entering into the experience of death himself. Hence we read, "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn, 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 his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision."
This passage lets us into a deep secret in the personal and domestic history of Moses. It is evident that Zipporah's heart had shrunk from the application of the knife to that around which the affections of human nature were entwined. She had avoided that mark which had to be set in the flesh of every member of the Israel of God. She was not aware that her relationship with Moses was one involving death to nature. She recoiled from the cross. This was natural. But Moses had yielded to her in the matter; and this explains the mysterious scene "in the inn." If Zipporah refuses to circumcise her son, Jehovah will lay His hand upon her husband; and if Moses spares the feelings of his wife, Jehovah will "seek to kill him." The sentence of death must be written on nature; and if we seek to avoid it in one way, we will certainly encounter it in another.
Zipporah furnishes an interesting type of the Church of our Lord.3 She was united to Moses during the period of his rejection; and from the passage just quoted, we learn that the Church is called to know Christ, as the One related to her "by blood." It is her privilege to drink of His cup, and be baptized with His baptism. Being crucified with Him, she is to be conformed to His death; to mortify her members on the earth; to take up the cross daily, and follow Him. Her relationship with Christ is founded upon blood, and the manifestation of the power of that relationship involves death to nature.
"And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead" (Col. 2:10-12).
Such is the teaching regarding the Church's place with Christ – a teaching replete with the richest privileges for the Church, and each member thereof. In short, everything is involved: the perfect remission of sin, Divine righteousness, complete acceptance, everlasting security, full fellowship with Christ in all His glory. "Ye are complete in him." Surely this comprehends everything. What could be added to one who is "complete"? Could "philosophy, "the tradition of men," "the rudiments of the world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons," "Sabbaths"; "touch not" this, "taste not” that, "handle not" the other, "the commandments and doctrines of men," "days and months, and times, and years," could any of these things, or all of them put together, add a single jot or tittle to one whom God has pronounced "complete?" We might just as well enquire, if, at the close of the six days' work, man could have put the finishing touch to that which God had pronounced "very good?"
This completeness should not be viewed as a matter of attainment, some point that we have not yet reached, but rather something for which we must diligently strive – the possession of which we cannot be sure of until we lie upon a bed of death, or stand before a throne of judgment. It is the portion of the feeblest, the most inexperienced, the most unlettered child of God. The weakest saint is included in the apostolic "ye." All the people of God "are complete in Christ." The apostle does not say, "ye will be," "ye may be," "hope that ye may be," "pray that ye may be:" no; by the Holy Spirit he states that "ye are complete." This is the true Christian starting-post: and for man to make a goal of what God makes a starting-post, is to upset everything.
But some may say, "have we no sin, no failure, no imperfection?" Assuredly we have. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn. 1:8). We have sin in us, but no sin on us. Moreover, our standing is not in self, but in Christ. It is "in him" we "are complete" – in Christ, with Christ, and as Christ; a changeless condition, an everlasting standing. "The body of the sins of the flesh" is "put off by the circumcision of Christ." The true believer is not in the flesh, though the flesh is in him. He is united to Christ in the power of a new and endless life, and that life is inseparably connected with Divine righteousness in which the true believer stands before God. The Lord Jesus has put away everything that was against the believer, and He has brought us nigh to God, in the self-same favor as that which He Himself enjoys. In other words, Christ is our righteousness. This settles every question, answers every objection, and silences every doubt. "Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified, are all of one" (Heb. 2:11).
The foregoing thoughts flow out of the type presented in the relationship between Moses and Zipporah. Let us now close this part and leave "the backside of the desert," holding on to its deep lessons and holy impressions so essential to every servant of Christ, and every messenger of the living God. All who would serve effectually, either in the important work of evangelization, or in the varied ministries of the Church of our Lord will need to imbibe the precious instructions that Moses received at the foot of Mount Horeb, and "by the way in the inn."
If these things were properly considered and accepted, there would not be so many running unsent – so many rushing into spheres of ministry for which they were never designed. Let each one who stands up to preach, teach, exhort, or serve in any way, seriously enquire about being fitted, and taught, and sent by God. If not, our work will neither be owned of God nor blessed to men. The sooner such a one ceases, the better for himself and for those on whom he has been imposing the heavy burden of hearkening to him. Neither a humanly-appointed, nor a self-appointed ministry, belongs within the hallowed precincts of the Church of our Lord. All must be divinely gifted, divinely taught, and divinely sent.
"And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him."
This was a wonderful scene of brotherly love and union – a scene standing in contrast with many that were later enacted in the wilderness-career of these two men. Forty years of wilderness life are sure to make great changes in men and things. Yet it is good to dwell on those early days of one's Christian course, before the stern realities of desert life have checked the gush of warm and generous affections; before deceit, corruption, and hypocrisy have dried up the heart's confidence, placing so many of us beneath the chilling influences of a suspicious disposition.
In many cases, such results are produced by years of experience. Happy is the one whose eyes have been opened to see nature in a clearer light than this world supplies. Such a person can serve their generation by the energy of that grace that flows from the bosom of God. Who can know the depths of the human heart as Jesus? "He knew all, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (Jn. 2:24, 25). He knew men so well that He could not commit Himself unto him. He could not accredit man's professions, or endorse his pretensions. And yet, who as gracious as He? Who so loving, so tender, so compassionate, so sympathizing? With a heart that understood all, He could feel for all. He did not allow His perfect knowledge of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from human need. "He went about doing good." Why? Was it because He imagined that all those who flocked around Him were real? No; but because God was with Him (Acts 10:38). This is our example. Let us follow it, though, in doing so, we will have to trample on self and all its interests every step of the way.
Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of nature, that experience, which only lead men to ensconce themselves within the enclosures of a hard-hearted selfishness, from which they look forth with an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody? God gives wisdom; but it is not a wisdom that locks the heart against the appeals of human need and misery. He gives a knowledge of nature; but it is not a knowledge that causes us to grasp with a selfish eagerness that we falsely call "our own." God gives experience; but it is not an experience that results in suspecting others. If we are walking in the footprints of Jesus, if we are imbibing and manifesting His excellent spirit, if we can say, "to me to live is Christ;" would we walk through the world with a knowledge of what the world is; while we come in contact with man, with a knowledge of what we are to expect from him; we are able, through grace, to manifest Christ in the midst of it all. The springs that move us, and the objects that animate us, are all above, where He is – He who is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever" (Heb. 13:8). This sustained the heart of that beloved and honored servant, whose history has furnished us with such deep and solid instruction. It was this which carried him through the trying and varied scenes of his wilderness course. And we may safely assert that at the close of all, notwithstanding the trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could embrace his brother, when he stood on Mount Hor, with the same warmth as when he met him, "in the mount of God." True, the two occasions were very different. At "the mount of God" they met, and embraced, and started together on their divinely-appointed mission. On "Mount Hor" they met by commandment of Jehovah, so that Moses might strip his brother of the priestly robes and see him gathered to his fathers, because of an error in which he himself had participated. Circumstances vary: men may turn away from one or the other; but with God "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).
"And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel; and Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshipped" (vv. 29-31).
When God works, every barrier must give way. Moses had said, "The people will not believe me." But the question was not, as to whether they would believe him, but whether they would believe God. When a man views himself simply as the messenger of God, he is at ease regarding whether his message is received or not. And though a brother’s edification is helpful and appreciated, it is not required in order to sustain a truly dedicated messenger of God. It does not detract from his tender and affectionate solicitude toward those whom he addresses. Quite the contrary; it preserves him from that inordinate anxiety of spirit that makes him unfit for calm, elevated, steady spiritual testimony. The messenger of God should always remember whose message he bears. When Zacharias said, "Whereby shall I know this?" was the angel perturbed by the question? No; his calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee: these glad tidings" (Lk. 1:18, 19). Before the doubting mortal, the angel rises with a keen and exquisite sense of the dignity of his message. It is as if he would say, "How can you doubt, when a messenger has actually been dispatched from the very Presence-chamber of the Majesty of heaven?" Thus should every messenger of God go forth, and in this spirit deliver the message of God as revealed in Holy Scripture.
Footnotes:
1
See Jonah.
2 Compare Exodus 7:17.
3
For more information on the church see God’s Church in Contents section of StudyJesus.com.
