Messiah

Approximately 400 years went by after Joseph died in Egypt. We watch in amazement as the family of Abraham is being preserved through the great famine that is consuming the entire region. As part of God’s plan, Jacob leaves Canaan with seventy of his family and relocates to the area of Goshen in Egypt. The small family clan of seventy grows into a fledgling nation of over two million men women and children. In Exodus chapter one, we read that the new Egyptian leadership does not remember Joseph and fears that the Hebrews will rise up and over take the Egyptian empire.  

Before going any further into the story of the exodus it’s important to revisit a prophecy God gave to us in the book of Genesis chapter 3:14, 15. “So the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between your seed and the woman’s Seed; He shall crush your head and you shall bruise His heel.’” This is the first mention of the gospel in the bible. The prophecy is saying that the Messiah (Christ) would enter the world through a virgin birth and when He does arrive He will crush the satanic rebellion. Although the Messiah will have to suffer He will ultimately overcome death and reclaim the world which He created.

Friends we are living in the middle of a universal, cosmic spiritual battle. A battle where an evil, fallen angel wants to pull you away from the Father God, capture your soul in an attempt to thwart God’s plan of salvation. In the past, Satan has used various people to carry out his plan. A couple names that really stick out in my mind are Haman, Herod and Hitler. In chapter one of Exodus, Satan uses the Pharaoh of Egypt to order the genocide of the Hebrew nation. Satan knows that the Messiah was promised and coming to planet earth, so if he can eliminate the chosen line of Abraham he would effectively cut off the Messiah from being born into the world.

In the Exodus story, as the soldiers go door to door throwing Hebrew babies into the Nile, the mother of Moses is able to conceal him for three months. When it becomes increasingly impossible to muffle the baby’s cries, Jochebed fashions an ark (basket) out of bulrushes, seals it with pitch and places it near the water’s edge among the reeds. When the Pharaoh’s daughter comes to the river to bathe she spots the basket, opens it, and Moses begins to cry on cue. She immediately has compassion on him. I’m so glad God made women just the way He did! Women are so incredibly nurturing, caring and the main sustainers of life. They were created so different than men who really were designed to hunt, kill and destroy while women on the other hand just want to protect their young even to the point of their own death. 

The bible teaches that as we get closer to the close of history, this natural affinity to preserve life will diminish and mothers will begin to abandon their babies. If you have been watching the news over the past decade you are probably aware that this is exactly what is happening in our world today. So if any woman out there is pregnant and considering having an abortion, I beg you to consider life for your unborn child. Even if you can’t understand how you will provide for your child there are many other options out there to consider. One option is to complete your time, have your baby and give him to a family who will love and care for him. Baby Moses is going to be saved by the Pharaoh’s daughter then preserved in the house of the man who was trying to kill all male Hebrew children. Only an almighty, all-knowing and all-powerful God with a great sense of humor could have choreographed that scene in the life of Moses. 

It’s interesting to me that even when the chips are down and all odds are against the child of the living God that He can open up opportunities even through our enemy’s doorways. In fact, in the book of Romans 8:28 we read this “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”. We just finished the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis and saw over and over again how God preserved Joseph’s family. Here once again God is preserving Moses who will one day lead the nation of Israel out of their current bondage in the land of Egypt.