Moses

Moses Was Not Aborted

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

Moses and Israel

Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 31 33 and 34

Most people do not realize that the life of Moses began when His mother chose to not allow the government to abort her child.

It is the same abortion process that is allowed in some states today.

The government ordered all the male babies of Israel to be destroyed and the female babies allowed to live to become sex slaves.

Abortion after nine months is nothing but murder, in fact abortion at any stage of a baby’s development is nothing but murder!

Abortion needs to be outlawed completely.

Moses grew up to be a great man and a great leader of Israel.

What is greatness?

Greatness as far as humanity can be said to be a high rank, a placed of elevation, a place of high dignity, a place of much power, a place with command of others, a place of swelling pride.

Guess what, almost every human being goes through a period in their lives when they want to feel that they are great.

That they are far above other people.

That they are important in this world and more important than most others.

We see rulers and presidents who have this feeling of greatness.

We see governments that claim greatness because of certain laws.

Today we see politicians who think they know more of what of what people need than the people do, especially parents.

This is called indoctrination, but this is for another lesson.

It is not wealth, nor influence, nor fame that gets the attention of God. It is humility!

Humility can be described as a state of mind that is well-pleasing to God!

It is humility that preserves the soul:

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

The Lord Jesus Christ is our example of humility as He is our example in all things.

Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

God greatest promises are to those who are humble in spirit!

Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Those who are contrite are all those are all those who are broken hearted because they have sinned against our Holy God.

We should all be ashamed that we were such sinners!

Moses was God’s man and the mediator between all of Israel and the Almighty God.

Moses was now 120 years old. His life was spent in 40-year increments.

Forty years as the grandson of Pharaoh.
Forty years as a lowly shepherd.
Forty years leading the Israelites to a promised land that he would not get to see with his own eyes.

*Deu 31:1 And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.
Deu 31:2 And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.
Deu 31:3 The LORD thy God, he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the LORD hath said.

It was finally time for these children of Israel to enter the promised land, but Moses was forbidden by God to do so.

His days had ended.

Moses said to these people that his days as a leader had ended because his death was approaching.

One of the greatest types in all the Bible was about to take place.

Joshua, Hoshea, Yehoshua in Hebrew would lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land just as Yeshua, Jesus will lead the Church into the New Heaven, the true Promised Land.

Even in his humility, Moses was a great prophet of Jehovah.

He was the Lawgiver to the Jews.

In fact, even at the time of Jesus, Moses was known as the Law Giver.

Notice that Moses had been prepared and then performed the work of God for 120 years.

Reminds us of Noah who built the Ark and preached to unrepentant sinners for 120 years.

Moses had known that he would not enter Canaan Land.

Deu 32:48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
Deu 32:49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
Deu 32:50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
Deu 32:51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
Deu 32:52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.

We must not think that Moses was on his death bed for he was not.

Deu 34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.

He could not go in and out. He could not perform the day-by-day function of leader to this people.

Nothing could be done to change this fact that Moses would not lead these people into the promised land, so Moses began to encourage them.

Great Spiritual leaders may come and go, but the message of God and the truths of God do not ever change!

As Christians it is our job to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ!

As we go through these days we call life, we find that we need strong encouragement most of the time, but the fact remains that sometimes we need a strong warning, as it is today as we see the end of the Church Age approaching.

The Church needs to wake up to these facts!

We need to understand the consequences of the decisions we make in this life!

We must understand that it is our faith that will provided that encouragement and it is our faith that we need to grow!

Though Moses would no longer be the leader of this new nation of Israel, he promised them that God would still with them.

The Lord will always fulfill the promises He makes, no matter what is going on in the world.

Joshua had proven himself to Moses and to God, and Joshua would lead this people into the Promised Land just as the Lord Jesus will lead the Church into the true Promised Land the New Heaven.

Before Joshua would take over in place of Moses, Moses had to complete that first copy of all the Law he had received from Jehovah and the people would first hear the first five Books of the Bible from Moses himself.

We sometimes forget that Moses was one of the greatest men that had ever lived.

We know that Moses was one of the two men that appeared at the time of the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ, Elijah being the other man.

God thought an awful lot of Moses and these Jews would do so also.

If anyone could offer encouragement to these people, it would be Moses.

Remember they had witnessed all their elders die in the wilderness because of their refusal to be obedient to God.

Another thing we should understand when serving the Lord is, that He will never send us into any place that He has not gone on before us to begin His work.

We see this today in places where God has called missionaries to specific places because the Holy Spirit has already been at work there.

Joshua had been prepared all his life to take the reins from Moses and he had never faltered.

These people had to realize that their strength did not come from the size of their army nor from their own abilities.

Their strength could come only from the LORD!

This is the same lesson the Church must learn and each of us that believe!

Our strength comes only from the Lord Jesus!

It should be the goal of every individual to want victory in this life and that victory can come only by the Lord Jesus Christ!

Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

It is the Lord Jesus Christ who is our refuge at all times and under all circumstances!

*Deu 33:26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
Deu 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.

That name Jeshurun could be said to be God’s “pet name” or “nick name” for Israel.

It could be phrased “the righteous little people” or “the dear upright people” for we know that Israel was a small nation at this time, but they were the people of God.

They were a people without a country!

The thing this world had better keep in mind is, that true Israel will be preserved to serve God during the Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ and there is nothing that this world can do about it and before this, the Lord will have removed His Church.

It does not matter that the world does not believe this!

Anyone with plans to attack Israel had best be aware God will always be on their side!

Remember from last week, God will rejoice in the destruction of all those who try to destroy Israel!

There is nothing in this world that you could compare to the power of God!

Jehovah will always be the Eternal Refuge of Israel!
Jehovah will always be the Saving Help of these, His people!

There is none like unto Jehovah God!
There is none that can compare to Jehovah God!

It was time for Israel to realize this truth and to be honest, it is past time for the world of today to know this truth.

Why does the world keep falling into the traps of evolution?

Why does the world keep believing it can control the outcome of sin?

Sin comes by the hand of Satan and is intended to destroy us all!

Tax revenues made from sin, would not be that important if governments were better stewards of its national resources!

God is the Dwelling-place and the Refuge of His people, and this includes the Church!

It is God the LORD who is our Protector from the storms of life!

If God sends us into the storm, then He will go with us and He is never far from us!

We are always trying to figure out what God is going to do, or to allow to happen in this world, but all the major things are written down for in the Word of God!

What we know is, that Heaven is a busy place as the Lord Jesus is preparing a place for all His children.

We need to keep the Lord Jesus Christ busy building mansions!

For Jesus is truly our refuge in times of trouble!

Not for those who reject the Word of God, but only for those who are obedient to all the Word of God and who diligently seek Him!

Jehovah is glorious in His majesty.
Jehovah has absolute sovereignty over ALL His creation.
Jehovah has power infinitely beyond comprehension or even resistance.
Jehovah is Divine in His character!

Isa 40:18 To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?
Isa 40:19 The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains.
Isa 40:20 He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
Isa 40:21 Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Isa 40:23 That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

This truth is so obvious today, but the truth of God is still rejected so people can believe lies!

It does not matter what the world believes, Israel dwells in the safety of Jehovah God every day as does the Church!

Israel’s God and God’s Israel.

*Deu 33:28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
Deu 33:29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.

Egypt had so many gods that some people would say they grew them in their own gardens.

This could be said of this world we live in today!

This could be said of the USA today, as America looks more like the world every day now.

I have this question that haunts me: “Why do we even want to be like the world especially the European Union”?

We had a war to be free from the Europeans to get our nation started.

Why do we want to be like them now? They have not changed for the better!

If America is Sodom, then Europe is Gomorrah!

We should want to be more like the vision of those who came to America to serve the Lord Jesus Christ!

If America would just repent, we would see so many good changes come in the form of God’s love!

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

There is coming a day when all of Israel’s enemies will be found to be liars.

In fact there is coming a day when all God’s enemies will be found to be liars.

They are liars because they follow their true god, Satan the father of all liars!

The Lord Jesus had these words to say:

Joh 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
Joh 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

There are many nations today that are becoming friends of Israel and they had better be truthful and for those who swear to destroy Israel they will certainly be found liars!

It was time for Moses to disappear off the scene and Joshua to take the reins of Israel, but before this happened the Holy Spirit still had some things to say about Moses.

As we study the Scriptures, we will find that there has not been another prophet as was Moses who did speak to Jehovah face to face.

Moses has now been buried in a place no one but God knows.

Deu 34:5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
Deu 34:6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

*Deu 34:10 And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
Deu 34:11 In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
Deu 34:12 And in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel.

Another thing we see is that when our own work is done, God will call on someone else to continue that work.

The work for Jesus Christ will not be complete until He returns to take His Church home to the New Heaven!

To be honest there were many great prophets to accept the cause of God after the death of Moses, but God spoke to them in a different way.

Moses was a type of Christ, and this could not be said of all the prophets that followed even though they too were great men of God.

They were to be more like the preachers and Pastors of today, but they did many times show the power of God.

As it did to Moses, death will sometimes reveal to us all the missed opportunities where we made the wrong choices in this thing called life.

These things may cause us sadness, but the main thing today in the Church Age is, “to get your name written down in the Lambs Book of Life”.

Moses is in Heaven because he had the “faith” of Abraham!

We can only get to Heaven if we have the “faith” of Abraham in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Abraham believed God!

Moses had requested to see the glory of God and because he was a sinner, he could not, but he has now seen all the glory of the Lord.

Death is that place where the man of God steps into the glory world just as Moses did.

Israel was now prepared to enter into the Promised Land.

All that old bunch of naysayers had died and gone on to the grave to await their future in a burning Hell, but Moses had taken that young nation of Israel and with the help of God formed them into a mighty army.

We should understand this is the job of national leaders to prepare our nation to moved forward in a productive manner and not be brainwashed into something that suits them.

God does not want an indoctrinated youth!

Communism exist today because the youth of those nations were indoctrinated and it is happening in America today.

God wants a youth brought up having been influenced by the Word of God.

Moses drew closer to God as he had gotten older.

Moses was a liberator.
Moses was a prophet.
Moses a lawgiver.
Moses was the father of Israel.

Moses had done all these things because He had believed God and followed all the Word of God.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Moses had made a record of all the things God had done to make Israel a great nation.

All these things were done to Israel so that one day not too far into our own future and of Israel, there would be a King again to sit upon the throne of Israel and the promises God had made would be fulfilled.

Moses longed to know the Lord personally and intimately, and this was the driving force in his fellowship with God and is our example of how we can do the same.

Jesus Christ said:

Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

All the Word of God is true, and we had better know that it is!

Amen

Human Behavior Toward the Truth

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Behavior of Israel

Book of Deuteronomy Chapters 12 14 and 18

In our world of today the existence of our Creator God is denied and this is what skeptics do, but this is simply a copout.

We see that most of the nation of Israel had the same thought. They either asked for more proof or they asked for a clearer proof.

In order for Israel to do this, they had to deny the things God had already shown them and He had shown them many miracles and many other things!

All those ten plagues shown to Pharaoh, the crossing on dry land at the Red Sea, the water from the rock, the manna, and the many other miracles God had shown them.

It is the same today!

If we used the evidence God has already given to us, we would conclude that God does certainly exists and what we see did not come about by some accident.

These Jews had witnessed clear demonstrations of the power of God!

Just like today, they simply tossed that evidence away and said no evidence does exists.

This is the way of the unbeliever!

They believe what they want to and slander everyone who disagrees with them!

We see this in our world today and we see it in the politics of today.

When we mention the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus, they say it was impossible that it took place.

Even today virgins can have children with the use of artificial insemination.

When we mention the parting of the Red Sea again, they say it was impossible.

When the destruction of Pharaoh and his mighty army is mentioned, they say it did not take place, but you can still find the remnants of Pharaohs army on the floor of the Red Sea.

All the things of Creation and the Prophets are all treated this same way!

Doing these things means to them that the Bible is a book of fables.

The Bible tells us of a God who is a friend of humanity, and the world does not want such a God!

The Bible teaches us of the faithfulness of our Holy God and since this cannot be seen in humanity, then it certainly must not exist at all.

It takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe in a Creator yet, these people would rather believe a lie just so they do not have to acknowledge a Creator.

Just like Israel, the world has allowed such disbelief and deception to rule in this world, where they cannot prove anything, they say they believe.

Responsibility requires two things:

1) Sufficient information
2) The ability to obey

If there is any possibility that God exist, and He does, then we had better be obedient to His Word!

Hesitating to acknowledge the existence of God, is then a criminal action toward our children and grandchildren deserving of severe punishment which God has said will certainly take place.

There are two great pillars on which the revelation of God must stand:

A) Miracles. Impossible to humans yet not to God.
B) Prophecies. Not one prophecy has failed up to today’s history and the Word of God will always be found to be true.

We worship the same God as does these Jews!

God simply told Moses, these are the things they will do, when they go into the Promised Land to possess it.

*Deu 12:1 These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.
Deu 12:2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
Deu 12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

We know of the Ten Commandments given to Israel, we call these the Moral Laws, but there were in fact 613 commandments given to these Hebrew people and God simply says for as long as you are on this Promised Land you will observe these statutes and judgments.

Some of those they never did!

This was a commandment!

Today people worship everything from animals to gold and some even carve out their own gods and they worship them in as many ways as they can and much of that worship includes perverted sexual expressions.

Those who say there are no gods and who go another way simply worship themselves as little gods while making demands upon all other people.

When man is worshipped, then it leads to the worship of science, the worship of medicine, the worship of business, the worship of government, the worship of sports figures, and today the big thing is the worship of “power”.

The greatest downfall of these things is the short lifespan of humanity and as they die off something new will always creep in to make itself known.

Problems arise when we become enemies of each other and meet in this battlefield called life!

When we understand these things, then we will understand God’s Judgment.

All those places of false worship were to be destroyed because only Jehovah was to be worshiped and this has not changed today.

We can read about all these laws from chapter 12 through chapter 26 in this same Book of Deuteronomy.

To worship Jehovah begins with “obedience” and the world and much of the Church has forgotten this first rule of worship.

There is no worship without complete obedience to the Word of God!

This is not a brief time event, it is for the rest of our lives and why should we think God changes, when the same Bible says He does not ever change.

The same Bible still says that the Word of God is never going to change!

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

True worship means we are incredibly careful to be obedient to the Word of God.

To keep all His commandments.
To keep all His laws.
To keep all His regulations.
To keep all of His statutes

This way we never have to guess if we are doing right, if we are obedient to the Word of God!

Deu 26:16 This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.

These Jews were to utterly destroy all the places of false worship.

We can understand this when we realize the confusion that would come from a worship service that took place in a house that once taught false worship and blasphemy.

Even if we knew that we were worshipping the true God, those on the outside could not be sure!

These places had to be destroyed no matter how ornate they were.

Any false worship is an affront to Jehovah God!

All symbols of false worship were to also be destroyed.

1) So, for the Church we must understand that we must reject all false worship.
2) We must never compromise with the false worship of the world.
3) We must have nothing to do with “idolatry” and false worship anywhere in this world.

This is what God demands and we can readily see where so many of the mainline denominations have failed in this early commandment of God and these things will never change.

So there is no such thing as Chrislam!
There are no other roads to Heaven but by the blood of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ!

Deu 11:16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deu 11:17 And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

Psa 81:9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

We serve a Holy God, and we must make ourselves to be holy with His help.

*Deu 14:2 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

The basic meaning of “holiness” is to be “set apart” or “separation from the ways of the world”.

If we see God as our Father, then why in the world would we want to do things that He is opposed to?

God is absolutely distinct from all His creation and is exalted above them in infinite majesty.

Exo 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

Since we know these things and believe these things, then why don’t we act like it?

Lev 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

It is like we are making demands of our Holy God to be allowed to live as we wish and then be accepted into His world.

This is not going to happen!

We must strive to be holy as is our God!

The Holiness of God is the moral and ethical standard by which we must live!

God sets the laws we are to follow, and it is He that is the standard in obedience.

God will not break one of His own laws and neither should we!

*Deu 18:13 Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.
Deu 18:14 For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.
Deu 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Psychics, fortune tellers, palm-readers, diviners, are no more than self-proclaimed prophets of the New Age movement.

Almost everyone that lives want to know more about the future and use these charlatans to try to find out their future.

They want the blessings of all these false gods they have heard of all their lives.

Many of them have now heard of Jehovah and they want the blessings of Jehovah without making a commitment to Him.

Well guess what, Jehovah tells the entire world about a future so grand that no one wants to believe it.

They think it should be given to them freely and it is!

The one thing God demands is a commitment and the world does not want to commit to Him.

They want only good things to happen to them as they live their lives, but guess what life is not fair!

They want more and not less.

They want everything done their way without making a commitment.

This is not the way the Lord Jesus Christ works so, much of the world seeks out the occult world and its promises.

To Israel a Prophet of God was the actual voice of God and this was certainly true of God’s true prophets.

Moses was an incredibly old man at this time and the children of Israel were worried that Moses would soon die, and they did not know what would become of them.

We should be aware that God appointed each true Prophet, but the Priests were selected according to the line of the tribe of Levi.

The job of the Prophet was to speak only the words God gave them to speak and the test of that prophet was the fulfillment of those Words of God!

The prophet spoken of in verse fifteen would be the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just as Moses was the founder of God’s Kingdom with Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ would be the founder of the Church.

Moses was the mediator between God and the children of Israel, and our Lord and Savior is the Mediator between God and the Church.

The Lord Jesus Christ was a Jew from the tribe of Judah.

We should understand that God cannot communicate with humanity because of our sin.

He will communicate with us by and through His own Son Jesus!

*Deu 18:16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.
Deu 18:17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.
Deu 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

We should clearly understand that God will never fail to speak directly to those who love Him.

This is the greatest purpose of the Bible, the direct Word of God to His Church!

We have the complete Bible and there will never be another book added or chapter or even one verse.

We have the complete Bible, and we also have our Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ and we also know He will never change, and He cannot die so He has an unchanging Priesthood.

There will be no one else beyond the Lord Jesus Christ!

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
Heb 1:4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

The Bible will not change, and the Lord Jesus has already warned those who would change the Word of God in any way!

When the Lord Jesus Christ stepped upon the scene in Israel the religious leaders of that were still looking for the fulfillment of this Scripture!

John the Baptist emphatically told them it was not he, but it was Jesus who was the Lamb of God.

Philip declared it was Jesus.

Most all the people who knew the Scriptures at that time, said Jesus was that promised prophet.

Jesus Christ declared that He was that promised Prophet.

Joh 5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
Joh 5:46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Joh 5:47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Jesus Christ claimed that He fulfilled the requirements of that promised Prophet.

Joh 12:49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
Joh 12:50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

Even Peter declared that the Lord Jesus was that Prophet.

And Stephen at his execution, boldly proclaimed that the lord Jesus Christ was that promised prophet.

Act 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear.

If we believe the Bible as we say we do, we will believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Redeemer, and He will soon return to take us home!

Amen

Church Leadership

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

Spiritual Leadership for Israel

Book of Numbers Chapters 16 and 17

We must understand there is a great danger in going outside of God’s plan of salvation!

In fact there is no plan of true salvation outside the “Grace” of God!

There is also great danger in taking a role in the leadership of the Church without being called of God to do so!

What is one of the biggest problems in America? Our leaders have no fear of God, and this is one of the signs of the last days.

As for the Church, God has given us all we need to know how to worship Him and serve Him properly!

To all who know they are called of God, they should do their absolute best to walk in obedience to the Word of God and follow the lead of the Holy Spirit.

Without the Holy Spirit living within you, the Word of God cannot be clearly understood.

The Bible is a Spiritual Book when it is taken from the right source, the “Received Text”.

The seeking of power and authority other than the power of God will be the downfall of this world!

Just look at this man Putin who feels like he has the power to rule any nation he so chooses.

There is only one power God allows any government and it is the power to serve the people and that according to the Word of God.

Certainly not to be lord over God’s creation. This is the thing that the Devil seeks!

The was an Israelite named Korah who grew disgusted with the leadership of Moses, but remember Moses was God’s chosen leader.

Because of the unbelief of the Israelite people, Moses had just turned the nation of Israel around and led them away from the Promised Land by the orders of Jehovah.

Num 14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
Num 14:22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Num 14:23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Num 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

Korah and his allies were now ready to act and filled with anger, they sought to take the leadership away from Moses.

In reality, this was an insurrection against Jehovah God!

It was God who instructed Moses to move away from the Promised Land and no human being would have been able to take control of this young Israelite nation to lead them to the Promised Land.

If not careful we could see some typology here. No one but Jesus can lead us to the true Promised Land, the New Heaven, and the New Jerusalem.

Korah was the ringleader of this rebellion. He too was a Levite in fact, he was a cousin to Moses.

Korah led a group of 250 men who were not just men, but leaders well known to the tribes of Israel.

Num 16:1 Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Some were even Levites.

When they should have been encouraging all the tribes of Israel to be obedient to God, they began a total rebellion to God’s chosen men.

By the way this is happening today to those chosen men who preach the truth of the Word of God.

Much of the world just does not want to hear what God has to say!

Korah and this group of rebellious men felt that Moses and Aaron had assumed too much authority and they were ready to take over the reins of Israel and lead them into the Promised Land, where God would have destroyed them.

It is God that makes these kinds of decisions not man.

Heb 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Heb 5:2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
Heb 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

It is not man who decides what is holy and what is not holy. This too is decided by God Himself!

Num 16:5 And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.

God does not like to see these things!

Num 16:20 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Num 16:21 Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

God was so angry with this group of men that He sent them straight to Hell without first dying.

Moses received His instructions again:

*Num 16:23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 16:24 Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Num 16:25 And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.
Num 16:26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
Num 16:27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.
**Num 16:28 And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the LORD hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind.

We should be careful if we decide to challenge the Word of God for this is the same as challenging God Himself!

Evidently these rebellious men had joined their tents together so they could meet and discuss the intent to go against Moses and Aaron.

A tent is also called a tabernacle.

We can see that rebellious talk will bring a large crowd.

Moses had challenged these unruly men according to the Word of God to a trial by fire.

Moses just said that God would speak for Himself.

Num 16:16 And Moses said unto Korah, Be thou and all thy company before the LORD, thou, and they, and Aaron, to morrow:
Num 16:17 And take every man his censer, and put incense in them, and bring ye before the LORD every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers; thou also, and Aaron, each of you his censer.

We will also notice that this trial by fire would take place at the entrance to the Tabernacle of Testimony.

This would be the place where God would choose the men to be His leaders.

What does God always do before He brings final judgment? He gives a warning.

This is a biblical truth even though He does not have to do this.

Remember these rebels were official representatives of the nation of Israel.

It was also these same men who had agreed to the believe those ten spies rather than Joshua and Caleb.

Jehovah was ready to lead this nation into Canaan Land, but they had said no.

It was too late now, just as it will be too late for all those reject the truth of God once God has removed His Church at the rapture.

Will God take judgment upon a group of people for the sin of one man? No never.

Remember God looks into the heart!

God said:

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Not only were these who were innocent to depart, they were not to take anything from them, which would include words of rebellion.

The only ones left were these wicked men and their families and those who did not walk away from this rebellion some 250 people.

There were four ringleaders of this rebellion. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and On.

We see that prayer still worked for the Lord listen to the words of Moses, but “judgment” was still coming to those who were guilty.

Judgment will always come to those who reject the Word of God!

As this group of rebels faced Moses and Aaron the hand of God fell upon these rebels.

The Lord did something new in this “judgment” that had not been seen before and I do not believe it has been seen since.

God opened up the earth and sent these rebels straight to Hell.

*Num 16:29 If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then the LORD hath not sent me.
Num 16:30 But if the LORD make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the LORD.
Num 16:31 And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
Num 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
Num 16:33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.

Moses said, if these rebels die a natural death, then he Moses was not chosen of God to lead them, Moses said he could be considered an imposter.

What is the truth?

Heb 10:29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

When we start doing what we think is right instead of doing what HGod says is right then we have chose our own path to destruction.

Remember we have no righteousness within us. We are accounted holy only because we have the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not know how to do right unless we are doing what the Word of God says!

No doubt that the Lord had told Moses what He would do.

These rebels went straight to hell to be tried by the fires of Hell and they are still there today realizing they should never have questioned God’s man Moses.

Joh 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

We need to pray for our Pastors and Church leaders who are called of God, and it will show by the way they preach Jesus Christ!

It was Moses who had selected Aaron by the Word of God and there would be a separate test for Aaron.

*Num 17:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 17:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man’s name upon his rod.
Num 17:3 And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod shall be for the head of the house of their fathers.
Num 17:4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.
Num 17:5 And it shall come to pass, that the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.
Num 17:6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, even twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron was among their rods.
Num 17:7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.
Num 17:8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

If we cannot see these things as they have happened, we must at least see that God does not like a bunch of complainers and most all of us complain far too much.

We must understand that nothing happens that God is not aware of and that He could stop if He chose to do so!

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

All the things of this world are moving along according to the plan of God!

We should understand that a “rod” used by the Israelites could have been from any tree and they were sometimes formed as that of the staff of a shepherd.

This rod used here seems to be the rod of the tribe of Levi and may not be the same rod Aaron used earlier.

Aaron’s name was written on the rod of “Levi” and eleven more rods were gathered from the other tribes and their names were written upon their rods.

These rods would be from dried wood none of them being green.

The rod used in this manner was as an emblem of authority.

We should understand that God has it in His power to appoint His Pastors and other men of God.

God’s method of choosing is far different from the way we would choose.

This person would serve under God.
This person would serve under the Lord Jesus Christ.
This person would be filled with the Holy Spirit because they had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and are obedient to Him.

All others are false!

If this person does not promote the truth of God, then they are not God’s man and God has the power to deal with them.

God holds this power over all His chosen servants!

Today, everyone called of God are chosen to be a type of Jesus Christ so it should be easy to see who are true to the Word of God and who are not.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only perfect priest which means those chosen today are not perfect because they are only men and their importance comes by preaching the truth of God, which in the original manuscripts is also perfect!

When we attack the Priesthood, we take the chance of attacking the men God has specifically called into the ministry.

When we attack our Pastor, we are attacking God, we are attacking the Lord Jesus Christ.

We know that Korah and his cohorts attacked Aaron and God sent them straight to Hell where they would be judged by the eternal fires of Hell.

It was God who established the position of High Priest and God would defend His choice.

Heb 5:1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
Heb 5:2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
Heb 5:3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
Heb 5:4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

Every priest, or pastor, or whatever their title must serve as being like the Lord Jesus Christ!

If they don’t preach Jesus, or the Blood, or the Virgin Birth, and all the truths of Him written in both Testaments then they are false and not called of God.

All Aaron had was the first five books of the Bible and then he only had the part that Moses had written up to that point which was the moral law and the Book of Leviticus.

Even today some people murmur against any Pastor when the ten commandments are mentioned.

The world rejects most all the Book of Leviticus because of what it teaches about being gay and abortion.

Moses obtained twelve staffs, one from each tribal leader as was Aaron.

The purpose of this is stated: the staff that belonged to the man God had chosen would sprout and this man would be the one God had chosen.

A simple enough test but it required a miracle.

It was the rod of Aaron that sprouted, and Aaron was the High Priest and the line to the priesthood would continue from the line of the tribe of Levi.

All the grumbling and murmuring must come to an end.

This priesthood is not accountable to man but accountable to God and this has never changed.

Complaining and murmuring are not of pleasant to the ears of God and if we are to please Him.

True faith says we trust everything God does so there is no place for murmuring and complaining!

Murmuring and complaining are of the Devil!

If our Pastor is declaring the Word of God from a legitimate translation then those words came from God and that Pastor is just the messenger God has chosen.

God wants His children to know, respect, and honor His chosen messengers!

Aaron’s rod sprouted, budded, and blossomed and produced almonds.

None of the others did so.

The tribal leaders knew from that point forward the Levites were priests, and the High Priest would be a Levite.

The point of God’s ministers is to produce fruit, just as the rod of Aaron produced fruit.

Bearing fruit is the purpose of the Word of God.
Bearing fruit is the purpose of God’s chosen men.
Bearing fruit is the purpose of the Church.

The “Lost” cannot know the truth without the truth being told them!

Bearing fruit means to stop walking in the ways of the world and walk in the “Fruit of the Spirit”!

1Co 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Eph 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

The fruit of the Spirit is being welcomed into the family of God and a home reserved in God’s New Heaven.

It takes Spiritual Leadership from God’s chosen men to reach the Lost with the Truth!

Amen

Rebellion and Complaining

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Murmuring of Israel

Book of Numbers Chapters 13 and 14

As Christians we must realize that when put our own personal preferences before our focus on God and the Word of God, we are stepping toward idolatry!

We must learn to follow Jesus even when it seems things are against us! He sent the Holy Spirit to be with us all our days.

Being a Christian will never be easier than it is right now, until we get to the Glory World.

In fact we already know things are going to get worse here on Earth before the Lord returns.

Murmuring and complaining reveal to God just how far we are veering from true faith.

In fact these things can reveal a total lack of faith, a lack of trusting in the Lord.

Grumbling and complaining about the way God does things is dangerous!

Israel began showing their lack of faith when they did not accept that Canaan Land, the Promised Land, would be as God described it.

Lev_20:24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.

We must understand that being negative to the truth of God will defeat us and then destroy us!

A negative attitude is always unwilling to face the facts!
A negative attitude will reject the truth of every situation!
A negative attitude will almost always lead to open rebellion!
A negative attitude will cause an unwillingness to listen and follow the truth!
A negative attitude about the Lord Jesus Christ will lead you straight to Hell!

At this time in this new nation of Israel, they had an unbelieving attitude, and it was separating them from our merciful God.

We should understand that Jehovah God will only tolerate such rebellion for a limited amount of time!

God knows our heart and God knows when our heart will never change.

Gen_6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh:

We could say that the striving of the Holy Spirit is not a physical thing but that it is the energy God uses to place the truth into our minds.

It could be called convincing or persuading, all taking place in our mind because of what is taking place in our heart.

The heart is deceitful, and this is the first place that the Holy Spirit chooses to do battle within us.

We call it Holy Ghost Conviction!

God had led these children of Israel to the entrance to Canaan Land and Israel refused to enter even though God had commanded them to and told them He would be with them.

We should understand that negativism and defeatism does not set well with God because cannot be defeated and he will never feel defeat.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not defeated when He went to that cross on Mount Calvary, He was the Victor, Satan was the loser.

Our God cannot be defeated, neither can the Son nor the Holy Spirit!

Instead of just entering the Promised Land as commanded by the Lord, this unruly mob decided they wanted more proof of the truth of God.

How many are out there today who are seeking proof for the existence of God when the sites if God’s Creation is proof enough.

Anyone that believes this world came about by accident are just foolish!

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Jer_17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

God does not need to explain anything to us, we should be able to see the world we live in did not come about by some accident!

Israel chose out twelve men to go into Canaan Land as spies to see if the land was as God described it.

These were not just random men, but men who had leadership qualities and could be trusted, or this was what was intended.

It is at this time that Moses began to push forward a young man named Joshua (God saves).

Remember Moses could lead the Children of Israel to the Promised Land but only Joshua (Yeshua) (Jesus) could lead them into the Promised Land.

Canaan Land would include the lands of Israel today, plus Lebanon, and much of Syria.

The mission was conducted, and the spies left to make an assessment of the Promised Land for forty days.

One of the places they looked at was Hebron and God had already made a promise to Abraham about Hebron.

Gen 13:14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward:
Gen 13:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
Gen 13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.
Gen 13:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
Gen 13:18 Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

God does not ever forget His promises!

These spies returned after a forty-day mission and a report was given to Moses.

Was the Promised Land as God had said?

*Num 13:26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
Num 13:27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

1) The land did flow in milk and honey.

This land was fertile, very productive, and fertile. We may see some typology of our own lands here in America but especially Israel.

The proof was in some of the fruit that these spies brought back with them.

This land could easily provide food for the new nation of Israel.

Their livestock would find plenty of grazing land and water was available.

It was a wonderful land because it was land, that God had chosen for His people.

It was the Promised Land.

What had the Lord told Moses while these children of Israel were still slaves to Egypt?

Exo 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Exo 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

Some of the promises of God were ready to be fulfilled, but there are always those who see a dark side to everything.

Reminds me of some of my own family.

*Num 13:28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
Num 13:29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.

Nevertheless, is a word that should never been used in the English language!

Nevertheless is a word that stands in opposition to the truth!

In other words, “even though everything is just like what Jehovah the Almighty God said and even though He will be with us at all times, the same God who destroyed the Egyptian army, which was the mightiest army in the world, those people look to be too strong for Jehovah God”.

To hear ten of these spies those cities were so strong that no one could defeat them.

These men were defeated before they even started!

Putin thought that the Ukrainians would be this type of people and just melt before the Russian Army but that has not happened.

When we look out upon the world, we can see some mighty scary things and the thought of Nuclear War is a scary thing, but when you travel with the Lord there is no obstacle that is so great it can overcome God if we are obedient to Him.

No power on this earth can overcome the power of the Almighty God!

God had already given these children of Israel Canaan Land and He was not going to change His mind.

So what, there were some men that looked like giants.

The Jews are a shorter than average race of people and most every basketball player today would look like giants to them and even today there are a few men and women who are extremely large.

The Amalekites were a wicked people:

1Sa 15:18 And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

They were also warlike:

1Sa 15:32 Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
1Sa 15:33 And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

God commanded the Hittites to be destroyed they were so wicked along with those other nations:

Deu 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deu 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:

To not enter the Promised Land as commanded by the Lord God, was to reject God!

There were two, Caleb and Joshua, who saw no problem in being obedient to God.

We should understand those ten spies were exaggerating and distorting the truth saying that God had led them to their death.

God will never do such a thing, but even if I die, I will still be with Him in Heaven before this carcass of a body ever drops to the ground.

These men brought an evil report when God was seeking strength and courage like that of Caleb.

The same strength God is seeking from the Church.

Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

This wicked distortion of the truth turned the hearts of these people against God.

This is what is happening in our world today! There is a wicked distortion of the truth, or we could say truly little truth from the leaders of nations.

*Num 14:4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
Num 14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
Num 14:6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
Num 14:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.

This wicked report spread through the people like Covid 19, and the words of Joshua and Caleb were not heard at all.

They all put on their mask and waited for this virus to kill them just like this world has done for more than two years.

All they could think of were cities with such strong walls they could not toppled.
Men so strong they did not need weapons.
Even giants that could not be stopped.

No one talked about the “Grace of God”.
No one talked about the miracles they had seen.
No one remembered the angel of death.
No one talked about the “fire of God” or “the cloud” that had led them there.

Fear becomes an overwhelming force, when we allow it to take hold of us and many have during these last two years of Covid 19.

Some people are still so afraid they will still not leave their homes and a new delivery mechanism has been put in place by many retailers.

Nothing brings us into bondage as quickly as fear, but the Lord teaches us how to harness our fear.

2Ti_1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

When we have the Holy Spirit living within us, we have no reason to fear anything in this world!

We do not belong to this world any longer!

Rom 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

All the Israelites were grumbling in unbelief, the whole assembly!

Not a single person beyond Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb were trusting God.

They did not believe God could lead them to take control of the Promised Land.

It is said that no race of people can wail like the people of the East, and I can believe this even today!

The more this people expressed their fear the more they feared.

This people felt they would be better off to just die in the desert and God said “ok” if this is what you want, then this is what you will get.

Joshua and Caleb could not change their thoughts.

*Num 14:8 If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Num 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

These two young men did their absolute best to change the minds of this people but could not.

In the least, to rebel against the God who saved them, would bring dire consequences.

We know that even when we have the truth of God, most people will still fear what this world holds for them.

We will find that the rebellious lost of this world have such a great fear of this world they will want to destroy God’s people and we see this today.

They do not want to hear what God has to say.

God will not tolerate unbelief and rebellion from any person for very long, and remember, they are already sentenced to damnation unless they repent.

Joh 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

When we fear this world more than we fear God, then one day God will show us why we are wrong, when He shows us why we should have feared Him.

Jud 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

God condemns rebellion:

1Sa 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

We should understand that God is serious about the truth versus the lies of this world.

As Christians we have the truth of God!

We do not have to argue or run from the lies of this world!

All we need do is stand upon the truth of God and He will take us home one day to our true home the true Promised Land!

Amen

Having Order In Our Lives

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Camp of Israel

Book of Numbers Chapter 2: 1, 2, 34 Chapter 9: 15-18; Chapter 10: 35, 36

I do not know about anyone else, but when I was lost and out in the world, I lived one chaotic day after another.

The very first day I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior, I began to have “order” in my life.

As Israel began what would become a forty-year journey from Egypt it started as a journey in chaos.

They had no home.
They belonged to no nation.
They lived in tents.
They did not know where they were going.
They did not trust their leaders.
They did not have enough food or water for more than the next day.
They owned the clothes on their back and truly little else.
The riches they borrowed from Egypt could not buy them anything.

Psa 107:4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
Psa 107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

The Book of Numbers gives us a permanent true record of the “wilderness wanderings” of Israel.

In the forty years that Israel wandered in the wilderness, all those who lacked faith died off and a new generation became a mighty nation because they began to trust God.

Again, we ask ourselves why we need to know these things and that answer is simple.

We can grow in our own faith and see the Love, the Grace, and the Forgiveness, of our Almighty God as we study this new nation of Israel.

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Rom 15:5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6 That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1Co 10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
1Co 10:8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
1Co 10:9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
1Co 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

These are some exceptionally good reasons to study the Old Testament and all the Word of God.

We learn that it is in our nature to fall into unbelief and rebellion. We have a sin nature.
It is in our nature to complain and grumble about the life that has been dealt to us. We all think we deserve more than we have.

It is our relationship with our Holy God where we learn that we have purpose because there is purpose behind everything the Lord does.

The first thing they needed was “faith”!

The first thing we all need is “faith”!

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Let’s begin in Chapter 2.

*Num 2:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Num 2:2 Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father’s house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.

By placing the Tabernacle in the center of the camp, God made it known that He dwelt in the midst of His people, and He would be their guide to the Promised Land.

We simply cannot trust this road the world is on and only God can tell us how to get to the true Promised Land!

Num 2:17 Then the tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.

The children of Israel began to see that they were indeed a mighty army.

We should not forget that even though these people had been slaves all their lives, Moses had been trained in military tactics and before God decimated the Army of Egypt, that army was indeed the supreme army of that part of the world.

That thing now history, we need to focus on the Almighty God, and this was to be the first lesson for this new nation of Israel.

We must trust our Creator, our Maker!

Another thing we should see is, that under the right conditions our God will indeed live amongst His people.

In fact this is the goal of Jehovah God.

God wants to live amongst all those who love Him!

Every tribe was to pitch their tents in one area. There was to be order.

We should understand that the family is important to God, and we should do our absolute best to keep the family intact.

Today most families are broken, each going their separate ways.

1Ti 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

We should all know our place in the family.

It is God who dictates where we live, when we are born, and it is God who appoints the bounds of our habitation, just as He did Israel.

Eze 20:6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
Eze 20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

It is not up to other nations or the United Nations, to dictate the lands that God gave to Israel!

We see that God has made His house, the Tabernacle, to be in easy reach from all points of this new nation.

You see God is always available to meet our needs if we only trust Him.

He is just as close as a prayer and He knows all our thoughts!

Even today, God dwells in the midst of each and every true Church, but do not expect Him to be where the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ are not welcomed!

Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together “in my name”, there am I in the midst of them.

His name is the Lord Jesus Christ!

The only way this nation of Israel would advance was to give God, Jehovah, the prominent place in the midst of its people.

The only way the church can advance today, is to give the Lord Jesus Christ the prominent place in the Church and follow Him!

We must follow all the Word of God which gives us direction, peace, and order!

The Church that was once a mighty army is now filled with wimps and compromisers and taught to bow to the will of man’s laws.

God will guide and bless only those who follow His instructions and walk in the direction He points out to us!

God’s directions are given to us in the Word of God and by the Holy Spirit who lives within every true Christian!

The standard of the Church is still the Lord Jesus Christ, and we must place our tent under His standard and stand fast as the family of God.

It is called obedience.

*Num 2:34 And the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses: so they pitched by their standards, and so they set forward, every one after their families, according to the house of their fathers.

Remember Moses is a type of Christ Jesus.

We need to do exactly what Jesus says to do!

When we go against the Lord Jesus Christ, we are going against God!

Eph_5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

There must be absolute compliance to the Word of God!

The Church that does not obey God is not then a Church, no matter what the Church leaders say!

We do not have the authority to question the Word of God!

Psa 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

If the Word of God is settled in Heaven, how do we think we can change what God has given to us?

Col 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:
Col 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;

We have victory in Jesus only as long as long as Jesus rules in our heart! Remember what Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 6 says.

God will only show up to our gatherings if we are obedient to Him!

God will not live in a house filled with disobedience to His Word.

Chapter 9 Verse 15

*Num 9:15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.
Num 9:16 So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

This cloud is symbolic of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Act 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; “and a cloud received him out of their sight”.
Act 1:10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

How will the Lord Jesus return to Rapture His Church?

Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And we must not forget about the day the Lord transfigured before some of His disciples.

Luk 9:34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
Luk 9:35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

We must understand that the Lord uses the clouds to cover His glory to protect the earth from mass destruction until He is ready to reveal Himself on the day of Judgment.

Mar 9:7 And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

This world will witness the awesome power of the Shekinah Glory of the Lord about seven years after He removes His Church!

Peter, James, and John just got a little taste of the Glory of God, the Shekinah Glory.

2Pe 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2Pe 1:17 For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2Pe 1:18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.

This was the same glory that appeared over the Tabernacle during this wilderness journey of Israel.

Rom 9:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
Rom 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

Every Born-Again Child of God will witness the Glory of God when we meet Him in the clouds:

2Co 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2Co 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

It was this same Glory of God that led these children of Israel through the wilderness those 40 years.

This same cloud changed its appearance at night so these children of Israel would know that the Lord is God of the Day, and He is also God of the Night!

You see it is only by the Lord Jesus Christ we have purpose and direction for our lives!

*Num 9:18 At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
Num 9:19 And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.

This would have been an impressive sight to witness but in the end, it is not these things that get us closer to the Lord, it is that fact of “faith”!

These children of Israel knew without a doubt that the presence of God was with them at all times, yet it did not stop their rebellious and sinful ways.

We should understand that at the command of God we need to move and at the hovering of God we need to stand still, and, in both cases, we must know that the Lord is with us at all times, good or bad.

If the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle these Children of Israel knew they were to stay.

If that cloud moved from being over the Tabernacle, then it was time to pick up their things and move.

God uses the Holy Spirit who lives within us to show us these things today.

What did Jesus say?

Joh_16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Joh_14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh_14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

These people of Israel had the Tabernacle, but each believer is now a Temple of the Lord.

1Co_3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

We should understand that this Cloud and this Fire does give us an idea of just how powerful our God is.

All the things of Creation should fill in the blanks of just how powerful our God is if we have any questions!

And it was the death, the burial, and the resurrection of our Savior, that teaches us He is God forever and He is not afraid to use that word and use it often!

God guides us still today and He will continue to guide us until He takes us home to be with Him forever if we are obedient to Him!

*Num 10:35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.
Num 10:36 And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of Israel.

When we accept the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and the Holy Spirit enters into us to remain forever, we will find that the Holy Spirit (He is God) will be faithful in leading and guiding us step by step, day by day, until we reach our final destination (the New Heaven) and even then, He will never leave us.

God has promised to be faithful to us throughout our entire journey to the glory world!

Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Joh 16:14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
Joh 16:15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

If we take the time to read the Word of God, we will understand that we are on the winning side!

We will face trials and tribulations in our walk with the Lord, but the Lord promises us victory and rest throughout an eternity.

God promised this new nation of Israel if they would trust Him, He would be with them and provide all their needs just as He does the Church today.

Moses began each day warning the world that those who hated the Lord should just get out of the way.

We know our enemies are lurking all around us as they were Israel and still are, but this will not change the end result of victory for the Lord and for those with saving faith.

God is our dwelling place if we love Him, and He will always be!

This great march to the Promised Land had finally begun.

In type this represents the journey of every new believer.

I remember well my forty-year journey in the wilderness of sin, but the Lord Jesus Christ ended that journey and has set me on the path of righteousness to the true Promised Land.

When the Lord Jesus Christ arose from that borrowed tomb, He gave the death blow to His enemies and our enemies, and they will truly be scattered in Hell because they chose to be there not because they were destined to be there.

They will flee before the Lord!

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen

Freedom Comes At A High Price

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

Freedom Through the Blood

Book of Exodus Chapter 12

Those ten plagues had crippled the economy of Egypt and had God stopped at this point those children of Israel would have remained as slaves of Egypt.

All those ten plagues had affected the Egyptian people much more than this rich king who was full of pride and arrogance.

There would be one more plague, but this one would be vastly different from the others.

The Passover deals with the “Judgment” of God, but also the Deliverance of God!

God began a principle in the Book of Genesis that will be followed throughout all the Bible.

Heb 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

In the Book of Genesis we know that the sin of Adam and Eve brought the curse of destruction to this world we live in.

We are seeing the results of this curse increasingly today, in what many call climate change which is the reality of that curse upon this world.

Before Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, God made clothes for them from the skins of animals.

This demonstrated the principle of forgiveness through the shedding of blood.

Later we saw that it was Abel’s sacrifice that was accepted by the Almighty God.

Gen 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

This principle of “Freedom” through sacrifice is repeated throughout the Bible.

We see it here in the Book of Exodus as the “freedom” of the children of Israel would require a Blood Sacrifice.

Before these children of Israel could be set free, they had to pave the way for a new beginning.

This thing of escape from the tyranny of the world would be documented on a new calendar which the Jews still use today.

What do we know now that we have accepted the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation? Sin has an extremely high cost!

*Exo 12:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Exo 12:2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

The Passover deals with the “Judgment” of God but also the “Deliverance” of God.

This “Judgment” will be upon all those who cannot accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ!

This “Judgment” will be upon all those who are evil oppressors, those who are ungodly, and those who are unrighteous in this world.

The “Deliverance” will take place to all who believe in and diligently follow the Word of God and the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We should notice that the beginning of this new calendar for the children of Israel did not begin on the day of the Passover but fourteen days before the Passover.

We should understand this gap as a type of “grace”.

My new calendar began when the day I was “Born Again” to a “New Life”, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit coming to live within me.

Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Notice I have no righteousness of myself, but now because the Holy Spirit lives within me I have the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

All the sins of my past are forgiven! My new life had its beginning when I realized I was a sinner and in need of a Savior.

For the children of Israel, their new life would begin from the month in which the Passover occurred not the day of the Passover.

The Passover was the most significant event in the history of Israel and is still celebrated today.

Those who practice true Judaism still observe the Passover today, but they have no place to offer their sacrifice.

The Passover marked the very night that God “delivered” the children of Israel from the tyranny of Egypt, which is a type of the world we live in today, where we see persecution increasing and the taskmasters still delivering their slave tactics.

This first new month was called Abib which corresponds to March and April on the Roman Calendar.

The word “Abib” means “a young head of grain”, “an ear of corn”.

The beginning of a new life for the nation of Israel was marked by a new calendar.

The life of Jesus Christ was also marked by a new calendar.

When the Lord Jesus arose to New Life and left that borrowed tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, to a life to live eternally in a New Heaven it astounded the world so much that the world measures its seasons and its history from the date of the Birth of Jesus Christ.

This should be enough proof for all the world that the Lord Jesus Christ is a real Savior, a real “Deliverer”!

****Exo 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
Exo 12:4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

We next see that Israel is now called a congregation, a Holy Community by the Lord God Himself.

A congregation is the people of God who gather to worship Him or to hear the Word of God!

We also see that each household, each family, was to celebrate the feast of the Passover.

Each family or group of people were to secure one lamb on the tenth day of the month of Abib.

This lamb was to be singled out from the flock and appointed to death four days before it was to be sacrificed.

For four days they were to keep this Lamb separate and feed and care for this lamb.

When the Lord Jesus was beginning His ministry John the Baptist said:

Joh 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
Joh 1:36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Notice also each person was to eat the Passover meal for them self.

This is the same way we take Jesus today, individually, then the family, and then all the congregation.

This describes the worship of the Church, the Body of Christ.

We then share what we learned in the Congregation, take it home to our families and then as individuals we become Ambassadors for Christ.

This lamb was to be without blemish, or we would say perfect.

*Exo 12:5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

Any animal less than perfect offered for sin would be an abomination to the Lord.

An animal that had no reason for their life to end so abruptly, which represents pure innocence.

Each sinner represents one who is guilty of breaking all the laws of God.

Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

The acceptance of the yearling goat was allowed for those who were poor, who might have an animal more for its milk rather than its market value of wool for clothing.

A male animal would be considered superior to the female animal in this sacrifice for sin and therefore more appropriate for a sin offering!

Lev 1:10 And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.

This Lamb was to be a type of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Lev 21:21 No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.

The Lord Jesus Christ would be both High Priest and King of Kings.

This lamb was to die in the fulness of its strength!

Before we move on let us see another important thing.

Verse three said “a lamb”.
Verse four said “the lamb”.
Verse five says “your lamb”

If you do not have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, then He is not your lamb!

Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

*Exo 12:6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

A few things we should note here is the things of this fourteenth day.

1) When we read the whole congregation, we should think there was some great gathering of the people.

We should understand this as the head of each household.

In type we know the whole nation is seen as a nation of priests, just as each Christian is to be a priest to his own family.

Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

It is the family that was begun first in the Book of Genesis with Adam and Eve being the first family and Adam being the first head of that family and the priest to his own family.

2) We should also understand that it was not just the chief priest and the elders and not just the scribes and the Pharisees who put Jesus to death, but also by the vote of the people.

Mar 15:9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.
Mar 15:11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
Mar 15:12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?
Mar 15:13 And they cried out again, Crucify him.
Mar 15:14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
Mar 15:15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

In fact, I also have to take my own responsibility for the death of Christ Jesus, because it was because of my sin and the sin of everyone that caused our Savior to be put to death.

3) On this fourteenth day the Lord Jesus died between the evenings.

Between the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the month of Abib (Nisan)

If we study the Scriptures, we will see that the Lord Jesus died at the exact time that the lambs at the Temple were being slain which would be at our three o’clock, or the nineth hour.

This would have been just before that soldier pierced the Lord with his spear because the Lord Jesus gave His life, no one took it from Him.

Joh 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Joh 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

When we consider this and then add to it all the things that happened.

It was finished: No more would lambs need to be destroyed for the forgiveness of sin.
It was finished: The veil was rent we can go before the Lord at any time without the assistance of some priest.
It was finished: The earthquake declared the power of God.
It was finished: It was the end of His suffering for our sin.
It was finished: The Lord Jesus was forsaken by His Father and that was now over, and His fellowship was restored.
It was finished: Satan was forever defeated.
It was finished: It was finished, Jesus had made “atonement” for all our sins.

One man wrote: Though millions of sacrifices had been offered; yet nothing was done to purchase redemption before Christ’s incarnation… so nothing was done after His resurrection, to purchase redemption for men. Nor will there be anything more done to all eternity.

Like our lesson states “Freedom Through the Blood”.

It is all about the blood of the Lamb!

*Exo 12:7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

In the twelfth chapter of Exodus we never see lamb in the plural because there was only one Lamb that could accomplish what God required!

As the blood is to life, it is also the essence of sacrifice! Essence meaning the nature of our being that distinguishes it from all others.

God did not make any of us alike! Until the sin of Adam and Eve, we all became sinners.

It was the blood applied on the outside of the house that kept those saved on the inside of the house!

Notice the blood was applied in the shape of the bloody cross of our Savior.

It was an act of “faith”. If you believed God would save you behind the blood applied to your house, then you would be saved.

If you did not have this “faith” and did not apply the blood, then you would see the death of your first-born child and the first born of your animals.

Heb 11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

The Lord Jesus Christ was our substitute:

Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

So many things we see in this passage from the Book of Exodus.

Once the blood was applied it was safe to eat the Passover meal!

We must make sure that we are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We must make sure our families are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We must make sure our homes are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We must make sure the place we gather to worship is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.

When the Blood of Jesus is applied to our homes it becomes a public profession of faith!

Our “faith” is to be in the promises of God just as He promised the Children of Israel at this first Passover.

*Exo 12:8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Exo 12:9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

This lamb sacrificed for freedom was to be eaten.

It was to be roasted and not boiled and eaten by those inside the house.

A journey lay before these of God’s people and this food would give them strength.

Jesus said:

Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

It was to be eaten with unleavened bread.

The Leven represented sin and there was no sin in the house that is washed in the Blood of Jesus.

Joh 6:48 I am that bread of life.
Joh 6:49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Joh 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

The “bitter herbs” would forever remind them of the bitter days of their slavery in Egypt,

This is a picture of our own slavery to sin.

Our hearts are always to be broken over sin.

Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
Joh 8:35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.
Joh 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

For the children of Israel this lamb was to be prepared in a peculiar way and this way was never to be deviated. These are God-given instructions!

God given instructions are never to be changed!

One of the many things we see in these things is that the Church is to be family-centered!

Few are today.

Most of the Churches of today try to please those sitting in the pews when God instructs them to preach the entire Word of God.

We must accept the Lord Jesus Christ exactly as He was prepared and offered by Jehovah God!

There is no other way to be saved, Jesus said so Himself!

Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

None of this food was to remain in the morning.

*Exo 12:10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

What we see is that the “death” of this sacrificial lamb has become the food for life!

That lamb was to be eaten the same night it was slain.

The rising sun was to see no part of the slain lamb.

No part of Christ is to be left out! We accept Him as He is, the truth of eternal salvation!

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

In like manner the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ is complete, it is not a progressive thing over the period of our lives!

Our salvation is not in the process of being accomplished, it has been accomplished.

It is accomplished immediately upon accepting the work of Christ for our salvation!

One man wrote, “For God’s suffering Lamb the dark night of “Judgment” is no more, and He lives on High eternal sunshine of Divine favor and love”.

And how shall we eat the Lamb of God?

*Exo 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover.

We must clearly understand that today, not tomorrow, but today is the day of salvation!

2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Upon hearing the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ we are to immediately accept Him, repent and rush away from this world and begin our New “Born Again” life.

Our new life marching toward the Promised Land of the New Heaven!

We must wear the right clothes and not get entangled in this world again, this world has no benefits!

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

We must wear the right shoes.

Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

We must lean on our Savior for we cannot travel alone. Just as Moses had the staff of God, the Lord Jesus Christ is our staff.

Psa 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psa 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
Psa 23:3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

We are only pilgrims passing through this wicked land.

1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

We are always to know that the Lord Jesus could return at any moment, and we must expect it!

We must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the substitute for our own “Judgment”

*Exo 12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.
Exo 12:13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

As we have studied this Pharaoh understood when Moses laid down the staff, he carried it was in defiance of the false gods of Egypt and Pharaoh accepted that challenge and Pharaoh chose the wrong side.

Pharaoh finally accepts the defeat of his gods when he said, “Go then, serve Jehovah; and bless me also”.

The children of Israel gave the glory to Jehovah at this time, but they were a rebellious bunch.

They did not behave as if they owed any gratitude to Moses or Aaron.

Deu 32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
Deu 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
Deu 32:18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

The “Judgment” of God is harsh on those who reject Him!

God was speaking to the children of Israel through Moses and God said:

1) I will pass through the land of Egypt as a destroyer in “Judgment”.
I will enter every house of the Egyptians and kill the first-born child of both man and beast.

2) God said: “I will do the same to your houses and if I do not see the blood on the door posts of your houses, I will do the same to you.
You will escape this plague if I see the blood.

3) God said again: Against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute “Judgment”.
Animal worship was an important part of the religion of the Egyptians and some of these Jews never forgot this and it caused problems all the days of Israel till God dispersed them through all the nations of the earth.

The blood that was placed on the door post and over the door should remind us of a bloody cross.

This blood was not a token to the Children of Israel, but to God for them!

The Destroyer would Passover each home where the blood could be seen!

This method of deliverance involved the sacrifice of innocent life.

This is the only method for complete deliverance!

This method requires faith in the Almighty Covenant Keeping God!

Mar 14:22 And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body.
Mar 14:23 And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it.
Mar 14:24 And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many.
Mar 14:25 Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ is that Lamb of God who was sacrificed for each and every sinner and will save each and every believer!

Amen.

The Power of the Living God

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

The Power of God

Book of Exodus Chapters 7 through Chapter 10

It is in these Chapters we begin to see the awesomeness of the great “I AM” in the fact that “He can control nature” and does.

Though the word “nature” has no exact meaning to those writers of the Old Testament who were inspired by the Holy Spirit, to give us the information that He deemed we needed, so the word “nature” does not exist.

In the Old Testament, Jehovah alone, is seen in all things, through all things, and over all things!

We have no reason to question the Holy Spirit!

In the New Testament the term “nature” is used as the force, the laws, and the order, of this world, including all humanity.

In this sense, it is still Jehovah who has absolute control of, given the circumstances, of all things called nature or natural!

Psalms 104 gives us the best understanding of nature.

We can understand the workings of nature as the things that God has put in place to keep this world livable.

Listen as the Holy Spirit describes some of the things of our Messiah.

Pro 8:22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
Pro 8:23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Pro 8:24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Pro 8:25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
Pro 8:26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
Pro 8:27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
Pro 8:28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
Pro 8:29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Pro 8:30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
Pro 8:31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.

As Moses begins to confront this Pharaoh, God shows His power over the natural world.

*Exo 7:1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Exo 7:2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

What we see here is that Moses is authorized to speak and act in the name of Jehovah.

Moses has in fact been given some divine power to do things that are above the ordinary course of nature.

The Lord Jesus speaks of these things.

Joh 10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?
Joh 10:35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
Joh 10:36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Joh 10:37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
Joh 10:38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

Aaron would act in the true sense of a prophet.

Remember a true prophet could only speak the words God had given them to speak, when speaking of Jehovah!

We should understand that this power given of God, was not to be abused.

In today’s meaning of the word, our own Pastor would fit this description as he too is to teach us the message given to Him by God Himself.

He is to teach us, to awaken us, and to enable us, to fulfil the will of God!

The true Pastor has a lot of responsibility to his people and to the Lord!

Our job is to pay attention and apply these things to our everyday life.

As Jehovah told Moses, in the end this Pharaoh would send the children of Israel out of his land.

In doing so he would recognize that he was no god but only a puny human being.

All these things being true we all question the next verse until we understand why.

*Exo 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
Exo 7:4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
Exo 7:5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

We can understand the hardening of the heart when we realize that the “mercy” and the “grace” will lead to the softening of many hearts to the reality of a loving God, but there will always be those who reject the Word of God, and that same Word of God will harden those hearts in their rejection.

We see this in the Atheists of today who will get incredibly angry at those who have the message of God, such as Moses, and make attempts to close the mouths of all Christians.

This Pharaoh was not an atheist, but he considered himself a god which is not far from being the same as an atheist who denies the truth of the One God Jehovah.

It is the Word of God that hardened this Pharaohs heart as it does so many today. To deny the Word of God is to make yourself a little god just as this Pharaoh had done for himself.

People just hate the truth of the Word of God because it points out their sin and it is a sin to treat people as slaves and above that, your personal slaves!

Jehovah already knew what was going to happen and this Pharaoh was making the choice to destroy himself, just as all those who reject the Word of God today!

This is the reason Jehovah made Moses to be a god in the eyes of Pharaoh because this Pharaoh had no concept of a Supreme God.

When we serve Jehovah, He has already given us the words to say, His Words. We are His messengers just as the angels are His messengers.

Moses would then give Aaron the words to say which were the same words God had given to Moses.

If it had been really easy for the children of Israel to leave Egypt, they would never have recognized that Jehovah had made them free from this tyranny.

We should keep this in mind as we see Christian persecution today!

Those who reject the word of God are then requesting to see the wrath of God, this will be His final judgment upon them, but they could also see many things against them in this world.

Jehovah told Moses all of Israel will leave Egypt and notice that God already states that these children of Israel would be used as His armies to take the Promised Land from those wicked evil nations that we have already mentioned.

There is a purpose behind everything that God does. He does not ever second guess Himself!

All of Egypt would know that there was a God who had more power than any presumed power of all their false gods.

All of Canaan Land would know that the God of the Children of Israel was much more powerful than their own false gods!

It would be the plagues that would prove this fact.

There is no science behind what God does!

What was Moses and Aaron supposed to do?

The same thing we are to do today. It is called “faith”. We are to trust that what God says He will do He will certainly do!

God has not changed His methods today and He has not lost any of His power!

*Exo 7:6 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.
Exo 7:7 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

We should remember that it is “disobedience” where Adam failed, and it is still disobedience where we all fail today.

We sin because we are sinners and not sinners because sin.

We see here that we are never too old to serve God!

He will keep our health until our purpose has been fulfilled and then He will take us home to a mansion prepared for us by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isa 46:4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
Isa 46:5 To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

There is no one like Jehovah God!

God will meet the needs of all His children, especially those He has called for specific purposes!

We must allow God to be our strength because we are just puny weak humans who truly need our God!

2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2Co 12:10 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.

Then God showed to Pharaoh the “rod of power”.

We know the “rod of power” for the Church is the Lord Jesus Christ!

*Exo 7:17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

To the Egyptians the Nile River was the great god and the river of life.

God will now show His power by making the Nile River to be a river of death.

Now we should not understand that the Nile would just change to a red color as many false believers and some scientists have stated.

The Nile from the border of Egypt and throughout Egypt turned to real blood just as God said!

The Nile, after its three main sources runs northerly for about 1150 miles.

There are none of these sources that feed the Nile in all of Egypt and Egypt gets little or better said, no rain.

The nation of Egypt receives on average three inches of rain and most of that is along the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nile River has not changed its course for six thousand years the only river to do so.

The Egyptians have said all these years that they did not need the rain because they had the Nile River.

There was blood throughout all of Egypt on this day the Lord turned the Nile into blood and the creatures in the river began to die.

For seven days the River Nile remained this way and all other sources of drinking water.

“Hopi” the Egyptian god of the Nile could do nothing about it.

Pride was a great enemy of this Pharaoh.

So, God was not yet finished.

Exo 8:6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

God proved that the elements of nature are under the control of Jehovah God.

God will now prove that the animal world is also under His direct control.

“Heket” the Egyptian god had the head of the frog, but he could not stop Jehovah!

The first plague proved that God is the only Living God, the God of the Redeemed.

The second plague will prove that God has no equal in all the gods of Egypt and not in all the world.

This swarm of frogs ruined most all property and left the threat of disease everywhere.

God loves all His creation, but He could not allow this puny Pharaoh to have a victory.

The Word of God is not just the command to go forth as God’s messengers.

The Word of God gives clear and precise guidance every day of our lives!

God told Moses exactly what to do and this is all Moses had to do.

Moses did not have to add anything to the Word of God nor does anyone today!

We will see that Jehovah gave this Pharaoh chance after chance to stop his foolishness and Jehovah does this for every national ruler no matter who they are.

The false god “Heket” was powerless!

As servants we need to know our God in a personal relationship, and we need to know His Word.

Nothing in this world is as important as these two things!

The Egyptians had another false god, and he was “Geb” the god of the dust of the earth.

Egypt had plenty of dust because there was no rain.

*Exo 8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

There is this place called the United Nations and they should have only one agenda.

To stop the oppression of the people of this world but they try to interfere in all levels of society with an agenda.

This is so far down their lists of things to do they, just like the rest of the world just overlook all the nations that do this and now have one agenda of Climate Change in which man can do nothing to stop.

Our world is dying!

Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

We must never forget who is in charge of this world He has created for us!

Jer_31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:

There should be no slavery anywhere in this world!
There should be no oppression of any people anywhere in this world, but all the world governments are leaning in this direction!

These things are opposite to the Word of God!

Can you just imagine all the dust of Egypt becoming lice!

Lice are parasitic insects that can be found on people’s heads and bodies, including the pubic area.
Human lice survive by feeding on human blood. Lice found on each area of the body are different from each other.
The three types of lice that live on humans are:
Pediculus humanus capitis (head louse),
Pediculus humanus corporis (body louse, clothes louse), and
Pthirus pubis (“crab” louse, pubic louse).

Only the body louse is known to spread disease.

Ole “Geb” the Egyptian god of the dust could not answer the prayers of the Egyptians who were suffering.

They had another false god named “Khepri” who they thought as the god of all creation.

*Exo 8:21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.

Again Pharaoh rejected Jehovah the One True God.

There are few insects that are a more a nuisance creature than the fly!

On this day in Egypt the skies were no heavy with flies it was like clouds blocking the Sun.

They were so heavy that the things they landed on were covered beyond recognition.

Every place a person tried to stand, or sit, or lie down was covered with flies.

They covered everyone.
They filled all the houses.
They blackened the ground.

They too could cause disease and did.

Judgement is coming to those who reject the Lord today, but there is still time to repent.

It was too late for this Pharaoh, and he was witnessing the wrath of God and ole “Khepri”, the Egyptian god of creation could not do anything to stop it.

It is at this point where Jehovah began to separate the Children of Israel, so we should note that they, the Children of Israel now believed Jehovah to be the One True God.

This Pharaoh began to play his silly games with God, but God, will not be mocked!

*Exo 9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.

The Egyptians had a goddess of love and protection, and they loved this goddess, but she could not stop this plague. Her name was “Hothu”.

As Pharaoh continued to defy Jehovah, God continued to show this Pharaoh his gods were useless against Him.

We should understand that as Moses spoke to Pharaoh of the next judgment, this Pharaoh was always given space to repent before that judgment occurred.

Jehovah will never change from this even during all the things of the Book of Revelation!

The Egyptian economy was destroyed after this plague, and it was already suffering dearly.

Animals in this age each had a part in the daily way of life of all people. For transportation, for work, for food, for skins, for clothing, and for trade.

This would have been a wonderful time for this Pharaoh to repent but he still chose to defy the Living God.

It makes no sense at all to bring the “Judgment” of God down upon us!

1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

The Lord Jesus judges by what He sees, and He can see into our heart. Nothing can be hidden from Him.

This Pharaoh was daring the Lord to bring His judgment with no concern for his nation, nor its people!

The word “murrain” means a great mortality would come because of this plague and remember God had isolated the children of Israel from these next plagues but one. The last one.

Most everyone has heard of the Egyptian goddess “Isis”, but her powers were also non-existent.

She was known as the goddess of medicine and peace, but she is just another idol with no powers at all.

*Exo 9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
Exo 9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
Exo 9:10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.

A boil, also rendered as the botch, is a burning sore like an inflamed ulcer with blains meaning violent ulcerous inflammations.

These things were not just upon the human but also upon the animals.

There was nothing the false goddess “Isis” could do to help her believers.

Now they might have wiped the dust oof of her, but this did not change anything.

There was another Egyptian goddess name “Nut” who was the goddess of the sky, let’s see if she faired any better.

*Exo 9:22 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.
Exo 9:23 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.

As we know the nourishment of all crops come from God’s life-giving rain.

The sky is another part of God’s creation, and He has complete control of all the things that come by what we call nature!

We should understand that the “Judgment” of God is coming to this place called earth and you cannot run from it nor can you hide from it and your personal gods will be of no help to you!

According to the climate war mongers, the storms are getting more severe.

I personally cannot say that things are much different where I live than they have been all my life.

I can remember hotter days and colder weather, long dry summers, and wet winters.

This storm the Lord is referring to here will be the second greatest of all storms. The storms of the final judgement will be even worse than this one!

There will be no true peace until the Lord of all peace returns to cause peace on this earth.

The goddess “Nut” herself could do nothing to help Egypt except to sit upon her shelf and give that blank gaze.

This storm was catastrophic to the Egyptian people. Remember God had isolated the Children of Israel.

But Pharaoh was a stubborn man.

There were still some green twigs and trees that had not been destroyed and the goddess of the sky could do nothing because she could not hear the plight of the Egyptian people.

There was another Egyptian god who is said to control storms and disorders and his name was “Seth” but he was just another idol.

*Exo 10:12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.
Exo 10:13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.
Exo 10:14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the coasts of Egypt: very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

If there were any food source left these locusts would devour it.

What have seen so far?

You can claim to be a Christian but not saved, but it will not stop the “Judgment of God”.
You can be an Atheist, but it will not stop the “Judgment of God”.
You can be a Religionist and ignore the truth of God, but it will not stop the “Judgment of God”.
You can just a skeptic, but it will not stop the “Judgment of God”.
You can believe you can manage all the things of this life yourself but there are things out there that only Jehovah can stop!

Believing there is no such thing as a Loving God, will not stop the Judgment of God!

There is only one way to avoid the “Judgment of God” and this is to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and not be here when “God’s Judgment” comes for it is coming!

Jud 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
Jud 1:15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

And God was not through yet because this Pharaoh was a fool!

*Exo 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
Exo 10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
Exo 10:23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Of all the things that God has done now God would show the world that “Light” is a creation, in fact we could say God’s very first creation!

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

In the act of Creation God had separated the Light from the Darkness and God would show this Pharaoh that His power to do so had not diminished.

It was so dark no one could see their hand in front of their face as we would say.

Even in this this Pharaoh had too much pride to give in to the “Lord of all Power”!

Nah_1:3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Everyone who lives knows a little about the Egyptian God “Ra” but no one could see “Ra” to wipe the dust off of him for even he was only an idol who had no power at all.

All these things just made this Pharaoh angrier, and he just threatened the messengers of God.

Remember the Pharaohs of Egypt were said to be the gods of all power, but they could not control their own destiny every one of them died and none of them have returned!

*Exo 10:27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.
Exo 10:28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in that day thou seest my face thou shalt die.
Exo 10:29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.

All these things had happened to the people of Egypt.

This Pharaoh was rich enough that they were only a nuisance to him and to his person and his family.

It would take something that hit this Pharaoh that he actually loved to ever break him and even this would not last exceedingly long.

Why are we as Christians hated in this world, especially today?

We are seeing a world grow more into Socialism and Communism.

The leaders of these nations are tyrants, or they will soon be acting the part of tyrants as we see in our own nation today.

Look even at France and Canada and you will see these things taking place.

They do not truly know the One True God, the Lord Jesus Christ but are idolaters or even Atheists which are an abomination to God.

Christians who are true to the Lord Jesus Christ, are seen to be weak, and meek, but they are also the object of God’s favor.

We could say Christians true to the Lord Jesus are the complete opposite of the national leaders of this Age and we will live in conflict with each other.

Just as this Pharaoh and to him Moses, who was just a messenger of God.

We will never agree with each other on the raising of families.
We will never agree with each other in what to teach in our schools.
We will never agree with each other in politics.
We will never agree with each other in any of the social circles.

This separation cannot be overcome without first there being a close personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, the God that they have all rejected!

We cannot compromise with these who reject the Lord Jesus Christ!

They belong to Satan whether they know it or not!

God will humble this Pharaoh!
God will humble his nation!
God will humble the Children of Israel!

Amen

God Our Deliverer

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

A Deliverer To Lead

Book of Exodus Chapters 3 and 4

We should understand that when God wants someone to step up and lead His people, He will make His will known to that person and even to those that need to be delivered or led to freedom.

We should also understand that when God selects us to do something then He will empower us to do that thing!

When Moses defended that Israelite to the death of that Egyptian, he thought no one had seen him.

God knew He was going to choose Moses, so this thing had to be made known.

God will not allow the sin of His leaders to remain hidden from the public!

This thing ended the first 40 years of Moses life as a prince in Pharaoh’s court.

Moses went to the Midianites because they were in fact distant kin to the Israelites, and he felt he would be welcomed there and he was, and it was at this time he found himself a Gentile Bride.

Great typology can be seen in the life of Moses.

After learning much about the military and the ins and outs of government, Moses next spends 40 years as a Shepherd with his Gentile Bride.

We can see that God had His hand upon Moses all the days of His life.

We should also understand that we may never know the process God uses to select people for specific uses.

All Christians have been called by the Lord Jesus Christ as we learned from Matthew Chapter 28.

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Mat 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Mat 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We are told how we are to live after we are saved:

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Tit 2:15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

But God does call others for specific special purposes such as the Apostles, including the Apostle Paul, and here we see Moses, but there are many more.

Moses had lived the life of a prince until he became a murderer.

We should understand that YHWH, Jehovah, the I Am of the Bible, does not need anyone’s help to accomplish what needs to be accomplished.

He allows His creation, the humans to serve for Heavenly rewards.

Moses would spend the next forty years leading a rebellious nation to become a legitimate nation called Israel.

God has had His hand upon Israel since that day.

*Exo 3:1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

It is this Moses, who was called to be the Deliverer of Israel, and yet not a word was said to him until he was 80 years old.

Mount Horeb is actually a chain of mountains with Mount Sinai being called the Mount of God.

God had been watching Moses and placing him in certain positions to learn how to lead a nation.

God uses this method with most of those He calls.

It is a shame that what we get to choose as leaders here in America, they are most all career politicians who know nothing about how real people live.

They make laws that they excuse themselves from following.

It was refreshing to see a man such a Donald Trump come out to lead our nation for those years he did, and we need more like him, but the water of the political swamp is so deep it is hard to overcome.

Moses had been in God’s training camp for 80 years and it was time to put him to work, but remember God will not force anyone to do what He ask of them.

We learn many things here of the workings of Jehovah God.

Moses married a gentile woman who had dark skin and there was nothing wrong with that.

The color of the skin is never mentioned in the Bible in a negative fashion.

The 613 commandments had not been given to Israel at this time.

We did see Jochebed and Amram the parents of Moses had married both descendants of Levi which would soon be a commandment of God for reasons that God will state for us as they lived in the Promised Land.

Moses had left the riches of Egypt to live the poor life and he was happy with his new life.
Moses had left a throne behind to walk as a shepherd.

Again we see the typology in the Scriptures as the Lord Jesus Christ left the wonders of Heaven to walk as the true Shepherd here upon Earth.

What does a shepherd do?

They see that the sheep have food and water.
They guide the sheep to safety.
They seek and save any lost sheep.
They protect the sheep even willing to give their life for the sheep.
They keep the sheep separated from the goats.

We should know that God’s call does not come to any particular profession.

God seeks particular hearts, hearts that are willing to serve.

It takes a particular people to be servants of the Almighty God!

It takes people of great “faith” to succeed in the army of God!

*Exo 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

It would be a great sight to see an object in flames and yet no burning was occurring.

This should bring to mind those three Jewish boys and Jesus, walking in the flames of that oven that belonged to Nebuchadnezzar.

It should also bring to mind that those in Hell will burn for eternity, but Hell’s flames cannot consume them, but they will feel the pain of those flames.

As we read this passage, we should note that this Angel of the Lord is the Lord Himself.

In this verse it says, “the angel of the Lord”.

When Moses observed this great thing, he knew that he needed to take a closer look.

If Moses had just passed on by, with no concern for this thing, God would have chosen someone else to lead the Children of Israel away from bondage to Egypt.

*Exo 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

Now if we read this verse carefully, we will begin to see that it was the Almighty God who was speaking from that burning bush.

What is the first thing we need to do when God calls out to us? We need to respond.

Moses was seeing a portion of the Shekinah Glory of God.

We will notice that once the Lord began speaking, He had much to say to Moses.

This message was urgent because the Lord called Moses’ name twice.

There are only ten places in the Bible where we see this double calling.

Where we see the title Lord written in all capital letters, we know that we are speaking of Jehovah the God of the Bible! (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit)

*Exo 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Moses was approaching a place of Holiness.

Moses was approaching the perfect God and our perfect God considers all His creation to be evil at this time.

Holiness belongs to God alone!

Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

It is from God’s Holiness where we get God’s “Goodness”!

Luk 18:19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.

This is also a place where the Muslim mock Jehovah by taking their shoes off to do a mocking prayer to Allah or the Prophet Mohammed.

The Muslim Allah and Jehovah are not the same God. Allah can mean multiple gods and it does.

There is only one God, and His name is Jehovah who to Israel is (Yahweh)!

We can only be made perfect by the “Grace” of God, Jehovah through the Lord Jesus Christ!

We begin to be “Holy” once we are a home for the Holy Spirit!

We cannot be servants of God unless we are called of God, realizing that we are filthy sinners and repent and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We cannot even repent until we are filled with the Holy Spirit, because we will not understand the Word of God.

Jehovah said let’s be clear about this Moses!

*Exo 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

We had better understand that when we are in the presence of God, we had better be respectful.

God is my friend, but He is not my chummy friend!

God is my Heavenly Father, but He is not just “the man upstairs”!

I must be respectful, humble, and reverent.

God has a sense of humor, but He can never be the center of my jokes!

God is my Heavenly Father, but He cannot be my grandfather. God does not have any grandchildren!

We make a serious mistake when we always seek the arm of God when we should be seeking the face of God.

Luk 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind.
Luk 12:30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
Luk 12:31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.

We serve the only God who can truly fulfill His promises!

God would say this same thing to us today. “I am the God of Abraham”.

Rom_4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Rom_4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Those who have the “faith” as of Abraham are those who are saved by “Grace”!

We serve a God who knows all things that go on in this world!

*Exo 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Exo 3:9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Exo 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Can you just imagine the prayers going up from God’s people just in a place called Afghanistan today?

Add to that all Christians in North Korea, China, Iran and the many other places where good Christians are doing their best just to survive the cruelty of this world and their corrupt governments.

God hears their cries, and He will not hold back very much longer.

We should be calling out to God also! Maybe not just for ourselves but also for them!

God was deeply concerned about the suffering of these people and at this time a Deliverer could lead them to safety by the hand of God.

Note: This is the very first time in the Bible that Jehovah called these children of Israel, “His people”.

Jehovah has been connected to Israel ever since that day!

So has the Christian, if you can see that all these things are written for those who love the true Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was God’s intention to deliver Israel from bondage just as it is God’s intention to deliver all those held by Satan in bondage.

We have to want to be delivered!

We must make our voices to be heard in Heaven!

Note: “I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians”.

We should understand that God is able!

God is able to do everything He has said He would do!

God has the physical power to do as He wishes in this world that He has created by Jesus Christ!

Where would the nation of Israel dwell? In the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

These people were so wickedly evil and immoral that God decided they did not need to live.

Our world is approaching this type of wickedness today and God will do the same thing!

We will read further of this Promised Land and know that we also are promised a land much better that any land of this earth!

Since God had claimed these descendants of Abraham, He certainly would not allow them to be oppressed for very long.

Moses knew this Pharaoh very well for he had once called him grandfather.

In my words Jehovah said, “look Moses just be my voice and I will do all the work it will take to redeem my people”

How can we miss the typology of Jesus Christ here?

After making many excuses, Moses says when they ask me for your name, what should I tell them?

*Exo 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Were these people ignorant of God?

We could ask this same question today and the answer is that yes, most people are ignorant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the only sin that cannot be forgiven.

God did not come down to deliver these people because they were all believers.

God came down to deliver them because He made a promise to Abraham!

Many of them remembered Abraham, but they did not remember the Almighty God!

These people had lived in Egypt and understood the many gods of Egypt and to Moses, at this time he knew he needed a name to tell them.

God settles things really quick for Moses.

At this time Moses did not believe he would be accepted, nor did he believe some new god would be accepted.

We can just imagine the anger of Jehovah, but Jehovah does what Jehovah wants to do anytime Jehovah wants to do it!

We might ask ourselves just why would such a God as our God Jehovah want to deliver anyone on this earth?

What does this name “I Am” mean? Jehovah is saying, I am the true God who is beyond the reach of human intellect, and I cannot be contained by my own creation!

For our own benefit, why would we want a God who will not reveal Himself.

Jehovah says this is just who I Am!
Jehovah is independent of His creation.
Jehovah is absolute, He is complete in Himself.
Jehovah says “I Am” eternal and I can make you eternal also!
Jehovah says “I Am” unchangeable for there is no need for Me to change everything I do is perfect.
Jehovah says “I Am” life!
Jehovah is the One God who seeks to have a personal relationship with us, caring for us, and providing for us.

Moses continues with his excuses.

*Exo 4:10 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.

Excuses are said to be pleas that are offered to be free of guilt or to seek a pardon because of some fault we think we have.

Moses made every excuse he could think of to try to avoid what the Almighty God had told him to do.

The thing we must realize is that the Lord God Jehovah, will not ask us to do things that He will not equip us to do!

Excuses are in fact rebellion!

What did Moses mean?

I try to teach a Sunday School Class and I can relate to these words Moses used here, for I definitely am not an eloquent speaker.

I believe this is the reason the Holy Spirit works in me to prepare a lesson every week.

I am not at ease when I stand before any size group of people, but I know I do not stand alone.

Without God’s help, I could not stand before my class every week.

Moses felt some of these same things and he was standing for a moment in the Throne Room of God.

I am not sure, but I believe Moses is the only man in the Bible that did not fall on his face in fear as they stood before God.

We must understand we should be very careful in the way we approach the Living God!

What God required was not a man who was an eloquent speaker.

God requires men who will speak the unchanging Word of God!

Remember God had already shown Moses how He had control over the human body by turning Moses’s hand to a leprous hand.

Leprosy will spread all over the body eating away at the flesh.

Leprosy is a type of sin in the Bible and leprosy will eat away at the flesh until it causes death.

God had told Moses how He also had control over our environment.

So God said to Moses, “who made you”?

*Exo 4:11 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?

If we cannot understand that Jehovah God is our Creator, we will never get very far with Him!

God has reasons for everything He does!

It is true all of our sicknesses come because of the curse which comes by sin!

Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
Gen 3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Many things happen to our bodies because of this and many from other man-made remedies.

It is also true that God can heal anybody from any sickness or any deformity at any time if He so desires.

Ask Isaiah:

Isa 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Isa 35:6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.

Ask Jeremiah:

Jer 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Jer 1:9 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.

Ask Ezekiel:

Eze 33:22 Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

Eze 3:26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
Eze 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

One preacher said when we want to serve the Lord “just get out of His way”.

Just agree that the Lord can do all things and then put Him to the test and agree to serve.

*Exo 4:12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

If I can get out of the Lord’s way on Sunday morning, then He will be my mouth and He will do the same for every teacher and preacher who preaches the truth of God.

When we make excuses, we are being irreverent and ungrateful to our Holy God!

You see the Lord offers opportunities!

Opportunities to build treasures in Heaven.

Mat 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mat 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

God is always looking for those with a servant’s heart.

God is always looking for those who are teachable.

God is always looking for those who make themselves available.

As Christians we are already filled with the Holy Spirit.

Moses did not have this option, but if Moses chose to obey, God the Holy Spirit would be with him all the days of his life.

We know how Moses chose and we know that Moses became one of the greatest characters in the Old Testament.

We know that by the power of God, Moses led the Children of Israel out of Bondage and took them on their journey to the Promised Land.

Exo 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exo 14:22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

You see Moses had to have “faith”!

Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

Before these things could be true, we see Moses beg Jehovah and the Lord relented and gave Aaron to be the spokesperson and Moses as a type of God.

Exo 4:13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.
Exo 4:14 And 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.
Exo 4:15 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.
Exo 4:16 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.

God will have His way and it would pay for us to less like Moses when the Lord calls us to be His servant!

God looked into the heart of Moses and knew He had selected the right person!

It was Moses who had to believe God!

Amen