In Exodus chapter 1, we learned the danger of an abusive civil government on people's personal and economic freedom. We see this from the oppression of the Egyptian government upon Israel.
In Chapter 2, we saw how God listened to the groaning of his people. God answered their prayer by sending a man to deliver them out of Egypt.
Here in chapter 3, we are going to see the realization of God's answer to his people's suffering by calling Moses. It is my goal in this article that by sharing with you the calling of Moses, we will also realize the nature of God's calling of Jesus as our Deliverer as well as the nature of the calling of the church. In sharing with you this message, I would like to focus on the nature of Moses' calling about goals, power, and obstacles to overcome.
The Church is called to become a witness for Jesus who alone has the power to deliver people from their sins.
Consider the goal of Moses' calling. The goal of Moses' calling was to deliver Israel out of Egypt and to bring them into the Promised Land. By achieving this goal, God wanted to teach his people the importance of worship and maintaining communion with him.
However, since God is holy and no sinner can approach him, he gave them his law as his standard for righteousness for the people of Israel to realize their need for a Savior. Not only that, God also gave Moses the instruction to build the Tabernacle to show Israel their constant need of God's presence if they wanted to succeed in the Promised Land as a young nation.
The same message is emphasized throughout the Bible:
All men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
And that is why we need a Savior to be delivered from the power of sin. And that's the very purpose of Jesus' coming here on earth.
And those of us who have been delivered from the power of sin share this common goal to become witnesses of Jesus (Acts 1:8). And so let the church be reminded about the nature of her calling.
We are not like Moses. No one living today receives a calling similar to Moses. No one is called to deliver a nation from political and economic oppression in a literal and external way. In that sense, Moses calling was unique.
However, this does not mean that the calling of the church is lesser than Moses. We could say that the task of the church today is far broader for it is no longer concerned with just one nation and is not simply confined in the political and economic spheres. The scope of the church's mission now is global, "to the ends of the earth" and holistic for it includes all of life.
Of course, it starts first from within ourselves, our families and friends, our neighbors, our countrymen, and the whole of creation that suffered the consequences of sin. And none of us has the power to achieve this mission and so our goal is to simply serve as witnesses of Jesus who alone has this power to deliver people from their sins as well as the entire creation from the consequences of sin.
The power of the calling of the church is the Holy Spirit Himself.
Moses raised two questions when God called him. The first question focused on his inability to perform the task whereas the second question had something to do with the identity of the God who called him. Notice here the change that took place in Moses' life at this point. After receiving God's call, Moses' immediate response was to look into himself. In contrast, the younger Moses was a self-reliant man who failed in his attempt to deliver his people from oppression. The middle-aged Moses was now more conscious of his inability.
The Lord removed Moses' question of identity by giving him the assurance of his presence and the sign confirming that God indeed called him: worship at Sinai.
Moses' second question had something to do with the identity of God who called him. Moses asked for God's name. God replied that his name is:
I am who I am.
This name of God still puzzles me. Bible commentators said that this name of God signifies that God is eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, and independent. God has an existence different from all other existence. He is the source of all beings that exist. All existence is derived and dependent on God. Such is the answer of God to Moses' question. And for God that answer is enough. The fact that such an eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, and independent being assured Moses of his presence is sufficient enough to empower Moses to fulfill his calling.
In the New Testament, the church received the same promise. Jesus said that he would be with us to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:20). With the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, we were given the assurance that we already received the power to become witnesses of Jesus (Acts 1:8).
God has already anticipated in advance the difficulty in fulfilling the calling of the church.
In fulfilling his calling, Moses would confront two types of difficulties: political and economic.
We see this political type of difficulty through the refusal of Pharaoh to allow Israel to leave Egypt and worship God at Mount Sinai. And so God said that to break such political obstacles, he was going to strike the Egyptians with his wonders.
The second obstacle is economic. We know that as a result of tyranny, Israel had been reduced from free men and women into slavery. As a result, they were economically exploited by Pharaoh to the advantage of his kingdom.
However, God promised to reverse the situation for they would not leave Egypt empty-handed. They were going to plunder the Egyptians by making them favorably disposed toward Israel. As a result, the Egyptians would give them silver gold, and clothing.
In the case of our Lord, he overcame three great obstacles before starting his public ministry. We saw this during the wilderness temptation. He overcame the temptation related to an illegitimate way to satisfy one's hunger, to put God to the test, and to attain power over all kingdoms of the world. In a way, we could say that the first temptation was economic and Satan wanted Jesus to satisfy his hunger by resorting to magic. The third temptation on the other hand is related to mankind's old ambition to rule the world apart from God. Jesus triumphed over them.
In fulfilling the calling of the church, the people of God might be facing similar obstacles. They might face both economic and political difficulties. But the church needs to constantly remind herself that God shall supply all her needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). And she also needs to remember that all authority in heaven and on earth has already been given to Jesus (Matthew 28: 18).
Conclusion
In this article, we learn that the goal of Moses' calling was to deliver Israel from Egypt, that the assurance of God's presence was his power to fulfill his calling, and that God had already anticipated in advance the obstacles that he would be facing.
Through Moses' calling, we also see that Jesus came into this world to deliver his people from the power of sin, that except from that suffering on the cross the Father never left Jesus, and that Jesus overcame the obstacles as he inaugurated his public ministry.
Likewise, the goal of the calling of the church is to become witnesses of Jesus, the power of her calling is the presence of the Holy Spirit himself, and God knows in advance all the difficulties that she will be facing. The apostle John said:
For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1 John 5: 4-5).