Tag Archives: God

Bible, Israel

God sometimes takes unusual ways

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When Israel leaves Egypt, God lets his people walk along the trade route towards modern-day Eilat. The goal was taking them to the mountain of God in Midian, as He promised Moses in Exodus 3:12: “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

The area of Midian is today where the place Neom arises. Neom should also include the mountain of God (Jebel al Lawz) or reach to its edge.

Now there is an unexpected turn. God is leading them to an impasse on the left bank of the Gulf of Aqaba, to the Sinai in the Red Sea desert.

They stayed near Nuweiba. The Pharaoh thinks: They are lost. Therefore, I can bring them back. I deliver them from Moses who is leading them astray.

But behind all of it is God, who brings together piece of piece to show his glory. God has a clear purpose. We read in Exodus 14:4: “I will show my glory to Pharaoh and to all his army, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.”

God sometimes takes unusual ways. Some we never understand, others we later understand what God intended. It’s the challenge of faith to endure.

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sometimes an unexpected extraordinary path

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God does not always act as we expect, but in ways that increase our trust in God. One such story is the Exodus from Egypt.

There is a direct route from Egypt into the land where milk and honey flow. The way to Gaza. But the Philistines were a strong war nation. They came from Crete and had tried to conquer the Egyptians. Since Pharaoh managed to stop them, he made a deal with them. They defended the north flank for him and he gave them wheat in return.

This is how we can understand Exodus 13:17: “God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”

This was the risen God let Israel take a detour. God knows what he can lay at us. That is why he sometimes lets us take an unexpected, extraordinary path.

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Why a sacrifice? Isn’t belief in a forgiving God enough?

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The image of the Passover lamb in Exodus 11 is a preview of the cross of Jesus.

In order to understand the picture, we have to look back to the first sacrifice. When human beings wanted to decide for himself what should be good for him, he lost the familiar relationship with God and hid from him. He realized that he had nothing to offer God and stood before God without anything. Mankind tried to cover himself, but it was only fig leaves.

God took an animal, slaughtered it, and gave them the skin for clothing. Only through a skin could man continue to exist before God. Man experienced the result of turning away from God’s orders. Someone had to die because of their disobedience. They were made aware of the consequences of turning away from God. Death is the result of missing the aim – of sin.

The Passover sacrifice adds a deeper aspect. The Lamb appointed by God protects from judgment. The point is to trust and do God’s instructions.

In Jesus we now have a place to put our sins away. At the same time, it is a place where the victim experiences reparation. God does not simply ask us to forget, but he carries our burden in Jesus. In this way he understands us even in our need because he has suffered through it himself. God is not a distant God, but a God who helps us. He is close to us.

At Passover, Jesus uses the bread of the Exodus and the cup of redemption as a sign of renewed faith. The Lord’s Supper is an expression of the belief that Jesus died for me on the cross as the Passover lamb and rose again at Easter and that I have a part in his resurrection power. Death does not have the last word in my life.

Death and resurrection of Jesus is an offer of reconciliation that we can step into. It is not about religious accomplishment and not about a fig leaf, but about trust in God. We don’t create a path to God, we take up His offer of salvation.

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God is the light of the world

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God says to Pharaoh, “I am the light of the world. It’s terrible when I’m excluded.” In the darkness there is disorientation. There is no plague more terrible than total darkness in hearts.

God asked Moses to release the darkness so that the Egyptians might know their condition. It got dark for three days. This is the absolute disorientation. But in Exodus 10:23 we read, “The people of Israel had light where they lived”.

God wants to redeem people and show them the way out of darkness. Everyone chooses for himself whether he wants to remain in Egypt or join the people of God.

The plagues are about the revelation of the power of God against the power of the gods of Egypt. The first plague affected the Nile, one of the most important gods of the Egyptians. This is about the main god: the sun. Re or Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. This means that the sun itself is a god and therefore was not created by a divine being. From this sun god the pharaoh borrowed his power, authority, and name.

David writes in Psalm 27:1: “The Lord is my light and my salvation”.

In Isaiah 49:6 it says about the Messiah: “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

John writes in John 3:19, “This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light.”

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If you do not learn from history

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It doesn’t usually rain in Egypt. They did not depend on the sky, but on the Nile. With Moses, instead of rain and blessings, they feel the harshness of the hail. Those who meet God’s blessings with coldness will be hit hard.

God let’s Pharo say in Exodus 9:14: “For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.” The grace of God is exciting. From verse 20 we read, “Then whoever feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh hurried his slaves and his livestock into the houses …23 the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt… 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel were, was there no hail.”

The god of the air (Nut) could not help the Egyptians, the pharaoh feels compelled to speak of YHWH as the “Thunder-God” (Exodus 9:28). The earth belongs to YHWH (29).

Sometimes people say that if God only intervenes more clearly, then people will also listen to him. But the reports teach us that only a few took the right steps from the experience.

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Losing the savings

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The fourth plague is about a fall of values. The insects destroy the stores. If you only rely on your savings, you lose what makes up your life.

From now on God separates his people Israel from Egypt. The exciting thing is that Jesus said he would take care of his children. Since from this plague onward a distinction is made between the land of Goshen and the rest of Egypt, we can see that here the gods of preservation are put to shame, such as Buto, a tutelary goddess.

After a separation has taken place between God’s people and Egypt, we see Pharaoh offering compromises. “Go, offer sacrifices to your God here in the land” (Exodus 8:21).

Moses replied, “Let us go three days’ march into the wilderness, and offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, as he commanded us” (Exodus 8:21).

What does this journey of three days mean? It is the way of death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, who rose from the dead on the third day. This is the prerequisite for being able to serve God.

Exodus 8:22 describes why the Israelites were unable to serve God in the land of Egypt: “We must offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, which will cause offense to the Egyptians.”

The reference to the divine sacrificial lamb in Jesus is and remains a stumbling block. That someone has to die in our place is unacceptable to the man who wants to establish his own righteousness.

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The message behind the frogs

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The ten plagues are a model for the apocalypse of Revelation.

For the ancient Egyptians, the frog became a symbol of life and fertility because it brought fertility and thus life to the otherwise barren land with the alleged Nile flood. The Egyptian goddess of childbirth, Heqet, was depicted as a frog or with a frog’s head.

With the second plague, the message to Pharaoh was, “I, God, give life to every house and take it away, whenever I will.” Pharaoh thought he could determine who should be born and who should die.

The truth is, life is not doable. We can do many things, but it is God who gives a yes to every life and he can end every life when he wants.

Being born and dying affects every house. What is a good divine order can cause much hardship and misery through misuse. What should be a blessing becomes a plague.

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Worship God – even in misery

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“Then the people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had taken care of the Israelites and seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped him” (Exodus 4:31).

They recognized their misery. But they had not yet heard that God had mercy on them. They were still in the midst of misery. There was still nothing to be seen of salvation. The only new thing was God’s Word – His promise. And that was enough for them. They take it in faith. That was their insurance of salvation. That bowed them down and made them worship their God!

It’s the same for us today. As humans, we are mired in misery. But then comes the Good News: Jesus wants to free us from slavery! We can entrust ourselves to Jesus. The situation itself has not changed at this moment. But Moses and Aaron assured the Israelites: God will save them. This insurance is sufficient. They bow in worship.

Those who can praise God before completion gain the strength and courage to trust in God even in the face of difficulties. Whoever invites Jesus into his life also receives the certainty that he will accomplish everything. In Philippians 1:6 Paul writes, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

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Moses reacts reservedly to God’s calling

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Moses knows it’s not an easy task. Therefore, he rejects God’s commission. Once he had been a royal prince. Now he’s just a poor shepherd. That may have been embarrassing for him. Because it says in (Genesis 46:34): “Every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” He also spent the very best years of his life, from forty to eighty, in no man’s land. His best manhood was wasted with roving. Now he is old. Who will still expect much from an 80-year-old man? What a failure from a proud height!

God doesn’t make mistakes. Continue reading Moses reacts reservedly to God’s calling →

Bible, Jesus

God reveals himself in a thorn bush

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God introduces to Moses himself as the I AM. Not as the Creator. God is defined by being, not by action. This is exciting. We in the West are touched by action. In the East one defines oneself in being. It is important whose son or daughter I am and not what awards I have received. Maybe we should fix our identity more in being. If we have given ourselves to Jesus, then we are children of God and that is enough. We love God because he is and not because he does something for us.

The second thing to notice is that God does not reveal himself in a way that can be disposed of by calling his name. He doesn’t fit into our thinking box. He defines himself as a God who is related to us humans. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He spoke to all these forefathers. He promised everyone that through Israel he would bless all peoples. God keeps his promises. God keeps his word.

It is also noticeable that God reveals himself in a thorn bush. In fact, one would expect something else. Kind of like the shepherds in Bethlehem. Heaven opens and the glory of God becomes visible. Throughout the Bible it becomes clear again and again: God reveals his love in suffering. We see that by Job. Then when everything fails, then God is there. Not as a consuming fire, but as a light in the darkness. Just as he also appeared at Pentecost over the first church in tongues of fire and thus pointed out: In the midst of all your troubles I reveal myself by being with each and every one of you and enlightening you. Jesus endures our suffering and supports us in our suffering.

Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’