The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Sixteen - L Jun 23, 2019 by: John Herbert | Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Audio Study Notes PDF https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T007_20190623.mp3 Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Today we will look at what Hebrews Chapter 11 teaches concerning Moses. The full text of the message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday June 23rd 2019 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 16L ‘Let Us Go On’ 1). Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. The faith that Moses acted by ‘when he became of age’ could only be based upon that which God had said concerning what awaited the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob with respect to rulership and inheritance. Things that would have been known throughout the camp of Israel. a). He would have grown up fully aware of the presence of Joseph’s bones in Israel’s midst, and what those bones said about Israel’s future. b). Then if we compare this with what we are told in the Book of Acts – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. We can only conclude from this that not only would Moses have been aware of the oath sworn by the Children of Israel to Joseph regarding his bones and what this oath portended, but that it would be him, Moses, that God had chosen to be the one to deliver Israel in fulfillment of that which God had revealed to Joseph – Ge 50:24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Now, Scripture is silent as to when Moses had received the knowledge that he would be the one to deliver Israel from Egypt, but it clearly happened while he was still in Pharaoh’s palace, before he was 40 years of age and therefore a considerable time before the burning bush incident. c). Although Scripture is silent as to the detail of this occurrence it seems likely that because of the faith exhibited by his parents that God had revealed this to them at a time prior to Moses’ birth. And it remains possible that not only did Moses’ mother teach him as she raised him in Pharaoh’s palace, but that God may have confirmed this to Moses personally. d). Whichever way it was is really of no importance in and of itself, otherwise God would have made it known to us. What is significant is that Moses knew that he was the one God would use to be Israel’s deliverer with a view to them receiving the rights of the firstborn with respect to rulership and the earth. And understanding this takes on further significance because of the type Moses forms, which we will come to later – Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. As with Amram and Jochebed, Moses’ parents, Moses did not fear ‘the wrath of the king’, but instead ‘forsook’ [abandoned] Egypt, being prepared to patiently endure the time that would elapse between being told that he would deliver Israel and this event being brought to pass. And in this he was staunch and steadfast ‘as seeing Him who is invisible’. And this is at the very heart of having faith to the saving of the soul. e). And so, putting Hebrews 11:24-27 together we can know that Moses understood God’s plan and purpose for His firstborn son, Israel. And therefore, knowing which nation God had chosen to be the preeminent in the earth, he turned away from Egypt and all that it had to offer because he knew God’s hand was against them and that they had been rejected. And he knew what God had promised to His own firstborn son and the certainty of His promise. f). And we can readily apply this to the situation we find ourselves in today. We know and understand God’s plan and purpose for both His adopted firstborn sons, Israel and the yet to be adopted Church. We know which are to be the preeminent nations in that future Day, Israel on the earth and the Church from the heavens over the earth. And we know that the total destruction of Gentile world power will precede this. g). This is why we are admonished in – 1 Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. This is why we are told in – Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And will help clarify what we see in – Heb 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And Moses is a great example of the faith and patience we should imitate. h). And then we come to the type, with Moses forming a type of Christ. It is without doubt that the Lord Jesus knew He was to be Israel’s deliverer at the time of His first advent, something that would reflect back on what Moses knew. i). And as with Moses, he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. And as with Moses in the type, the Christ was rejected in the antitype. j). Now we saw with Moses that he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king and this would find its parallel in Christ’s attitude to the cross – Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And for both Moses and the Christ a period of time would have to elapse between that which God had stated and the fulfillment of God’s purpose. That which is revealed in the type will be fulfilled in the antitype. 2). After Moses had abandoned Egypt there are 3 significant events in his life that we will look at that continue the prophetic type. The first we will look at is in – Ex 2:21 Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” While separated from Israel, Moses took a Gentile bride who gave birth to a son whose name, Gershom, literally means ‘foreigner’, demonstrating for us that those who will fulfill the antitype of Zipporah, forming the Bride are to be ‘strangers and pilgrims’ upon the earth. And interestingly Moses first met the one who would be his bride by a well of water as she came with her sisters to draw water for their father’s flock. a). And in this of course we have the prophetic type for Christ taking a ‘Gentile Bride’ while He is in a far place separated from Israel. This is the same type we have seen in the Book of Ruth, where Ruth, a Gentile, a woman of Moab, marries Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. Ruth in this type, pictures for us the faithful Christian and so we realize that the Gentile Bride that will become the Christ’s Wife, also seen in Zipporah, can only come from among the eternally saved, only from those who are within the family of God – Ge 24:4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” And this is what we also see with Zipporah who is part of Reuel’s family, a family that consists of 7 daughters, all of whom are unmarried and therefore virgins. b). In one respect Reuel would picture God the Father to whose family all Christians pictured in the 7 daughters, belong. But then, from another perspective the name ‘Reuel’ literally means ‘friend of God’. And we may remember that there is one person who is called the ‘friend of God’ – Jas 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. And so, in Reuel’s 7 daughters we can see the family of God, all Christians, and in Zipporah specifically, we can see those who are Abraham’s seed [the friend of God] and heirs according to the promise – Ga 3:7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And if we return to the picture given in Genesis Chapter 24 of the search for the bride for Isaac, we will remember that Abraham’s oldest servant met Rebekah by a well of water as she came to draw deeply from it. Just as was the case with Zipporah and Moses. c). Putting all this together then gives us the first of the 3 prophetic events seen in Moses’ sojourn in Midian, the type that pictures for us the Christ taking a Bride from among the Gentiles – Acts 15:14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. d). The second event goes hand in hand with the first taking us to the Lord’s present work on our behalf, as the Bride is ‘built’ during this dispensation – Ex 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. During the time of his separation from Israel Moses was ‘tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law’. And in the same way, the Lord at present, also separated from Israel, is tending the flock of God, Christians. He is the ‘great Shepherd of the sheep’ that we see in – Heb 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The same great Shepherd we see in Psalm 23. e). So, pictured in the time Moses spent in Midian tending his father-in-law’s sheep we have a type for the present dispensation where the Lord is ministering on behalf of Christians in the Heavenly Tabernacle. And then through the picture of Moses taking Zipporah as his wife we have a type for the fulfillment of Christ’s present work revealed at the Judgment Seat. f). And that seen through both of these types, the fulfillment of Christ’s present work and the revealing of the Bride, must be completed before the 3rd prophetic event can be brought to pass - Ex 3:7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” During the time of Moses absence from Egypt, the Children of Israel were subjected to such intense persecution at the hands of the Assyrian Pharaoh that they had nowhere to turn except to cry out to the God of their fathers to deliver them. And although Israel has been subject to intense persecution throughout the time of the Lord’s absence from the earth the context for the verses in Exodus Chapter 3 take us to the time of the Great Tribulation and the Assyrian of that day. Deu 30:1“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. Hos 5:15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” 6:1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. When the Children of Israel cried out for God to deliver them in the days of Moses, they had no idea that God would send back to them the one whom they had previously rejected. So in the same way, in that future day when the intensity of Israel’s persecution becomes so great at the hands of Antichrist that they are forced to cry out once again to the God of their fathers to deliver them, they will have no idea that God will send back to them the One whom they had previously rejected and crucified. But nonetheless this is exactly what will happen. And in that Day they will look on Him whom they pierced in the antitype of that seen in - Ge 45:1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 3). Heb 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Moses kept the Passover ‘by faith’ having believed that which God had said concerning the death of the firstborn. And it is through the keeping of the Passover that a distinction was made that night between Israel and Egypt. a). Both God’s firstborn son, Israel, and Satan’s ‘firstborn son’ pictured in Egypt died that night, but God’s firstborn son, because of the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs as a substitute was raised from the dead in a figurative sense, as was Isaac. b) Egypt however, being separated from the Passover, had no hope of resurrection – Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. The entire nation of Israel is seen to act by faith here. And it is in this sequence of events that we find the prophetic type for Israel in that future Day. Passover will be fulfilled following the Lord’s return to deliver His people from the hands of Antichrist. And as matters then still involve the right of the firstborn to rule, so Satan’s firstborn son, the Antichrist, and the Gentile nations under his control will be utterly destroyed as pictured through the might of Egypt being overthrown in the Red Sea whereas God’s firstborn son will be raised in resurrection power. c). Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ” That which God said concerning Israel recorded in Exodus Chapter 4 has never been rescinded. Israel is God’s adopted firstborn son and has continued to hold that position from the nation’s inception. d). And this statement alone there would be enough to explain the continued anti-Semitic persecution the nation has experienced from that time forward; a persecution that will reach its zenith during the final 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation – Psa 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: These verses look prophetically to Antichrist’s 10 nation confederacy whose stated aim is to ‘cut off’ Israel ‘from being a nation’. And although these verses take us specifically to a day yet future, what is expressed in them has been Satan’s intent from the day that God adopted Israel as His firstborn son. In fact from the moment God declared that the Woman would have a Seed who would crush the serpents head. e). This is the reason behind every hate crime, every pogrom, every gas chamber. If Israel is no more then, Gentile world power continues, as does the present system of rulership that controls it. f). But such an end for Israel is impossible, because God has spoken, even from the beginning, concerning this – Ge 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; Jer 33:24 “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them. 25 “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26 then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ” Ge 4:15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. Ge 7:23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. Ex 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And for the Gentile nations who set their hand against Israel under Antichrist’s leadership in that future day there will be a price that has to be paid – Ob 1:15 “For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. Zch 1:15 I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped—but with evil intent.” God will use the Gentile nations to bring Israel to repentance, but these nations under Antichrist will act with ‘evil intent’, going far beyond that which God deems necessary. g). And as we know the ‘evil intent’ will manifest itself in the extermination of 2/3rds of the Jewish people – Zec 15:8“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, At present estimations this would take us over 9 million Jews. And along with this as ‘vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold’ for doing so – Rev 6:8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. As we see, a quarter of the Gentile population of the earth will also be killed which will take us to well over a billion people. And all of this during the final 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation. h). This is the time of trouble that the world has never experienced before and will never see again – Mt 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. We will continue with this next time though – if the Lord is willing The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible - Part Sixteen - L Jun 23, 2019 Speaker: John Herbert Series: The Word of God - A Survey of the Bible Category: Sunday Morning https://s3.amazonaws.com/cornerstonejax/sermonfiles/T007_20190623.mp3 Download Audio x
Refresh A Recap from the Sermon Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, Today we will look at what Hebrews Chapter 11 teaches concerning Moses. The full text of the message can be found by clicking the PDF button. Sunday June 23rd 2019 The Word of God A Survey of the Bible – Lesson 16L ‘Let Us Go On’ 1). Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. The faith that Moses acted by ‘when he became of age’ could only be based upon that which God had said concerning what awaited the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob with respect to rulership and inheritance. Things that would have been known throughout the camp of Israel. a). He would have grown up fully aware of the presence of Joseph’s bones in Israel’s midst, and what those bones said about Israel’s future. b). Then if we compare this with what we are told in the Book of Acts – Acts 7:23 “Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. 25 For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. We can only conclude from this that not only would Moses have been aware of the oath sworn by the Children of Israel to Joseph regarding his bones and what this oath portended, but that it would be him, Moses, that God had chosen to be the one to deliver Israel in fulfillment of that which God had revealed to Joseph – Ge 50:24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Now, Scripture is silent as to when Moses had received the knowledge that he would be the one to deliver Israel from Egypt, but it clearly happened while he was still in Pharaoh’s palace, before he was 40 years of age and therefore a considerable time before the burning bush incident. c). Although Scripture is silent as to the detail of this occurrence it seems likely that because of the faith exhibited by his parents that God had revealed this to them at a time prior to Moses’ birth. And it remains possible that not only did Moses’ mother teach him as she raised him in Pharaoh’s palace, but that God may have confirmed this to Moses personally. d). Whichever way it was is really of no importance in and of itself, otherwise God would have made it known to us. What is significant is that Moses knew that he was the one God would use to be Israel’s deliverer with a view to them receiving the rights of the firstborn with respect to rulership and the earth. And understanding this takes on further significance because of the type Moses forms, which we will come to later – Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. As with Amram and Jochebed, Moses’ parents, Moses did not fear ‘the wrath of the king’, but instead ‘forsook’ [abandoned] Egypt, being prepared to patiently endure the time that would elapse between being told that he would deliver Israel and this event being brought to pass. And in this he was staunch and steadfast ‘as seeing Him who is invisible’. And this is at the very heart of having faith to the saving of the soul. e). And so, putting Hebrews 11:24-27 together we can know that Moses understood God’s plan and purpose for His firstborn son, Israel. And therefore, knowing which nation God had chosen to be the preeminent in the earth, he turned away from Egypt and all that it had to offer because he knew God’s hand was against them and that they had been rejected. And he knew what God had promised to His own firstborn son and the certainty of His promise. f). And we can readily apply this to the situation we find ourselves in today. We know and understand God’s plan and purpose for both His adopted firstborn sons, Israel and the yet to be adopted Church. We know which are to be the preeminent nations in that future Day, Israel on the earth and the Church from the heavens over the earth. And we know that the total destruction of Gentile world power will precede this. g). This is why we are admonished in – 1 Jn 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. This is why we are told in – Ro 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And will help clarify what we see in – Heb 6:11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. And Moses is a great example of the faith and patience we should imitate. h). And then we come to the type, with Moses forming a type of Christ. It is without doubt that the Lord Jesus knew He was to be Israel’s deliverer at the time of His first advent, something that would reflect back on what Moses knew. i). And as with Moses, he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. And as with Moses in the type, the Christ was rejected in the antitype. j). Now we saw with Moses that he forsook Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king and this would find its parallel in Christ’s attitude to the cross – Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. And for both Moses and the Christ a period of time would have to elapse between that which God had stated and the fulfillment of God’s purpose. That which is revealed in the type will be fulfilled in the antitype. 2). After Moses had abandoned Egypt there are 3 significant events in his life that we will look at that continue the prophetic type. The first we will look at is in – Ex 2:21 Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. 22 And she bore him a son. He called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.” While separated from Israel, Moses took a Gentile bride who gave birth to a son whose name, Gershom, literally means ‘foreigner’, demonstrating for us that those who will fulfill the antitype of Zipporah, forming the Bride are to be ‘strangers and pilgrims’ upon the earth. And interestingly Moses first met the one who would be his bride by a well of water as she came with her sisters to draw water for their father’s flock. a). And in this of course we have the prophetic type for Christ taking a ‘Gentile Bride’ while He is in a far place separated from Israel. This is the same type we have seen in the Book of Ruth, where Ruth, a Gentile, a woman of Moab, marries Boaz, the kinsman redeemer. Ruth in this type, pictures for us the faithful Christian and so we realize that the Gentile Bride that will become the Christ’s Wife, also seen in Zipporah, can only come from among the eternally saved, only from those who are within the family of God – Ge 24:4 but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” And this is what we also see with Zipporah who is part of Reuel’s family, a family that consists of 7 daughters, all of whom are unmarried and therefore virgins. b). In one respect Reuel would picture God the Father to whose family all Christians pictured in the 7 daughters, belong. But then, from another perspective the name ‘Reuel’ literally means ‘friend of God’. And we may remember that there is one person who is called the ‘friend of God’ – Jas 2:23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. And so, in Reuel’s 7 daughters we can see the family of God, all Christians, and in Zipporah specifically, we can see those who are Abraham’s seed [the friend of God] and heirs according to the promise – Ga 3:7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And if we return to the picture given in Genesis Chapter 24 of the search for the bride for Isaac, we will remember that Abraham’s oldest servant met Rebekah by a well of water as she came to draw deeply from it. Just as was the case with Zipporah and Moses. c). Putting all this together then gives us the first of the 3 prophetic events seen in Moses’ sojourn in Midian, the type that pictures for us the Christ taking a Bride from among the Gentiles – Acts 15:14 Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. d). The second event goes hand in hand with the first taking us to the Lord’s present work on our behalf, as the Bride is ‘built’ during this dispensation – Ex 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. During the time of his separation from Israel Moses was ‘tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law’. And in the same way, the Lord at present, also separated from Israel, is tending the flock of God, Christians. He is the ‘great Shepherd of the sheep’ that we see in – Heb 13:20 Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. The same great Shepherd we see in Psalm 23. e). So, pictured in the time Moses spent in Midian tending his father-in-law’s sheep we have a type for the present dispensation where the Lord is ministering on behalf of Christians in the Heavenly Tabernacle. And then through the picture of Moses taking Zipporah as his wife we have a type for the fulfillment of Christ’s present work revealed at the Judgment Seat. f). And that seen through both of these types, the fulfillment of Christ’s present work and the revealing of the Bride, must be completed before the 3rd prophetic event can be brought to pass - Ex 3:7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” During the time of Moses absence from Egypt, the Children of Israel were subjected to such intense persecution at the hands of the Assyrian Pharaoh that they had nowhere to turn except to cry out to the God of their fathers to deliver them. And although Israel has been subject to intense persecution throughout the time of the Lord’s absence from the earth the context for the verses in Exodus Chapter 3 take us to the time of the Great Tribulation and the Assyrian of that day. Deu 30:1“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. Hos 5:15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” 6:1 Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. When the Children of Israel cried out for God to deliver them in the days of Moses, they had no idea that God would send back to them the one whom they had previously rejected. So in the same way, in that future day when the intensity of Israel’s persecution becomes so great at the hands of Antichrist that they are forced to cry out once again to the God of their fathers to deliver them, they will have no idea that God will send back to them the One whom they had previously rejected and crucified. But nonetheless this is exactly what will happen. And in that Day they will look on Him whom they pierced in the antitype of that seen in - Ge 45:1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 3). Heb 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. Moses kept the Passover ‘by faith’ having believed that which God had said concerning the death of the firstborn. And it is through the keeping of the Passover that a distinction was made that night between Israel and Egypt. a). Both God’s firstborn son, Israel, and Satan’s ‘firstborn son’ pictured in Egypt died that night, but God’s firstborn son, because of the death and shed blood of the Passover lambs as a substitute was raised from the dead in a figurative sense, as was Isaac. b) Egypt however, being separated from the Passover, had no hope of resurrection – Heb 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. The entire nation of Israel is seen to act by faith here. And it is in this sequence of events that we find the prophetic type for Israel in that future Day. Passover will be fulfilled following the Lord’s return to deliver His people from the hands of Antichrist. And as matters then still involve the right of the firstborn to rule, so Satan’s firstborn son, the Antichrist, and the Gentile nations under his control will be utterly destroyed as pictured through the might of Egypt being overthrown in the Red Sea whereas God’s firstborn son will be raised in resurrection power. c). Ex 4:22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ” That which God said concerning Israel recorded in Exodus Chapter 4 has never been rescinded. Israel is God’s adopted firstborn son and has continued to hold that position from the nation’s inception. d). And this statement alone there would be enough to explain the continued anti-Semitic persecution the nation has experienced from that time forward; a persecution that will reach its zenith during the final 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation – Psa 83:3 They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, And consulted together against Your sheltered ones. 4 They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” 5 For they have consulted together with one consent; They form a confederacy against You: These verses look prophetically to Antichrist’s 10 nation confederacy whose stated aim is to ‘cut off’ Israel ‘from being a nation’. And although these verses take us specifically to a day yet future, what is expressed in them has been Satan’s intent from the day that God adopted Israel as His firstborn son. In fact from the moment God declared that the Woman would have a Seed who would crush the serpents head. e). This is the reason behind every hate crime, every pogrom, every gas chamber. If Israel is no more then, Gentile world power continues, as does the present system of rulership that controls it. f). But such an end for Israel is impossible, because God has spoken, even from the beginning, concerning this – Ge 1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; Jer 33:24 “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them. 25 “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, 26 then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’ ” Ge 4:15 And the Lord said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. Ge 7:23 So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive. Ex 3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. And for the Gentile nations who set their hand against Israel under Antichrist’s leadership in that future day there will be a price that has to be paid – Ob 1:15 “For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. Zch 1:15 I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped—but with evil intent.” God will use the Gentile nations to bring Israel to repentance, but these nations under Antichrist will act with ‘evil intent’, going far beyond that which God deems necessary. g). And as we know the ‘evil intent’ will manifest itself in the extermination of 2/3rds of the Jewish people – Zec 15:8“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: 9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, At present estimations this would take us over 9 million Jews. And along with this as ‘vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold’ for doing so – Rev 6:8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. As we see, a quarter of the Gentile population of the earth will also be killed which will take us to well over a billion people. And all of this during the final 3 ½ years of the Great Tribulation. h). This is the time of trouble that the world has never experienced before and will never see again – Mt 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. We will continue with this next time though – if the Lord is willing