Go Down, Moses, Way Down to Egypt Land

Here are some thought on Exodus Chapters 3 and 4. Hope you like them.

God calls Moses to do the work the work that he already wanted to do, but at first Moses refuses. We know from chapter 2 that Moses wanted to stop the plight of Israel in Egypt, but when God calls him to end it he makes 5 excuses before finally, reluctantly agreeing. Why the change of heart for Moses. First, Moses had tried once before and failed, so that must have made Moses feel even more incompetent. However, the first time he tries to stop the Israeli slavery he is trying to do it his way and not God’s. But God still has his plan, and he is still committed to using Moses. Partly this may be because, as Hybels states, Moses had God’s heart. God was always going to save the Israelites; he was just waiting for the right guy. Moses was that guy, and partly he was the right guy because he tried once before and failed. HE wanted what God wanted, justice for the Hebrews. Still, it is ironic that Moses wants no part of what he first wanted to see happen.

Here are a few other quick observations on these chapters. I n verse 25 of chapter 4 we have Moses’ wife, Zipporah saying “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”. Now from the English it is unclear if she is talking about God or about Moses, but it doesn’t really matter. Both ways we have a foreshadowing of Christ. If she is calling God that, then it is obvious to make the jump. Later in the NT we are told that Jesus is the Bridegroom and the church His bride, so her statement is just prophesy. However, we have the same foreshadowing of Christ if she is speaking to Moses here as well. Moses is going to be the savior of Israel. He I going to be the High Priest. He is going to be the intercessor between God and His people. Does this sound familiar? Jesus later becomes the Savior of All, the High Priest, the Intercessor. SO we have here a foreshadowing of thins to come- a bridegroom of blood.

One more quick observation about the text. Jump back to the firs paragraph. We have Moses refusing the call he once so desperately desired. And then he makes some excuses, and then he finally does what God had called him to do. Notice something first though. One of the excuse he makes before God is that people are not going to believe him. He is worried that the story just seems to far fetched. And can we really disagree with Moses here? If God audible spoke to YOU though a burning bush, and told you to go and tell people, wouldn’t you be worried that no one would believe you? I know I would. But what happens in the end of Chapter 4 of Exodus? We have Moses first tell his brother Aaron what happened to him, and then Aaron, as God had proscribed, telling all the people what Moses tells him. And what happens? First Aaron believes him, and then we read in 4:31 “And he people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshipped.” Not only do the people believe Moses account, they have a semi revival right there. They bow down and worship God. Moses fears were completely unnecessary. He was worried for naught. What God had planned He was going to do. This included preparing people’s hearts to receive the message that God had sent out through His servant Moses.

Here is a quick application for us. What God has planned, even if we have tried and failed in the past, He will bring about. HE was already at work preparing our brother and people’s to hear the word that He want them to hear. We read earlier in Chapter 4 that God is going to harden the heart of Pharaoh, and in the same way He has softened the heart of Israel so that they may receive Him with gladness. What God has called you to do, He will prepare the way for you to do it. There is no need to fear. That is not to say that we won’t be afraid, Moses was, but if we are faithful and obedient even through the fear, we will be able to see God’s mighty had work, and we will get to be the tools by which He does it.

One more quick observation: The people believe and worship God not because of what He has done, but because of only what He has promised o do. All they know at this point is that some dude and his brother- Aaron and Moses- have said God is going to rescue the Israelites. But they worship anyway. This needs to be our attitude. We don’t worship God based on what he has done. In fact, often He will not do anything until we have worshipped. I am willing to bet that if the Jews did not worship Him, he would have pulled the plug on the whole operation. We see Him do exactly this later. But they do, and so he is faithful. What He has promised to do He I going to complete. This is exactly the predicament we are in as Christians today. We have promises from God, and we need to worship Him in light of these Promises, and who He is. We don’t have all of them yet. Sometimes we are still slaves in Egypt. But freedom and the Promised Land are not always as far off as we think. Let us bow down and worship, for we too have a Savior who will lead us home.

Cross Country

So next week Sarah and myself are driving to Georgia for our commissioning ceremony from the Baptists. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it at the same time. Why, you ask? Well we have a 10 month old who will be coming too. Driving with a kid is much harder than driving alone. Anyway, everything else in Amherst is pretty good. I am supper busy because I wont be here next week, and stuff needs to get done. I hope to write more tomorrow.

Dialogue with your Comments

Let us first examine what I said in light of the Scripture left by Chris. His conclusion was that since creation declares God's glory it must therefore be for Him. However one does not necessitate the other. First we must realize that no where do I say God is not Glorified through Creation, no where do I say that His glory is not revealed through Creation. I would not argue with the psalmist. These verses, however, do not speak to the why of creation. The first motivations of God is what concerns us here, and not the after effects of said creation. That God receives Glory through creation does not mean that He created to receive Glory. It is just a given that what ever God does it would give Him glory.

My argument was not that God received Glory from creation, but that He could not receive any more Glory by creating than by not creating. If He were to receive more glory through creating than not creating, than we can speak of God as having a deficit, of being on need of something. How is this so, well if one has more of something, than under different conditions one would have less, thus a deficit. God can not lack anything by definition though. This then forces me to say that God receives the same amount of Glory whether He created or didn't.

This then would lead to the conclusion that although God surely receives Glory though Creation, it was not His motivation for Creating. Muslims would say different. God can only receive Glory through creation, and creation can only exist with God. They both need each other. This is not the case in Christianity, God doesn't need th Universe for anything, including Glory.

Which brings me to my next point- the Trinity.

I would say, with out a doubt that the Trinity is a Biblical teaching. Where do I get my proof, multiple places. Lets take a look. I first refer us to

John 14

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

It is pretty clear her that Jesus resides in the Father and the Father in Him. We also read that if one looks upon Jesus it is the same as seeing the Father. Now for a few more verses.

Romans 8:9

9You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

This Spirit of God is also the Spirit of Jesus. Christians belive from various Scriptures that Jesus lives inside of them. How then can the Spirit also live inside? The answer is that the Spirit contains all that the Father and Son are, or to put it a different way, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit in the On.

Also we know that Paul was a very strict Jew. Worshiping anything but the one true God would be blaspheme, and against Levitical Law and his conscious. But we read in

Philippians 3:3

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

How can we worship the Spirit if it is not equally God. And how can we say there is one God unless there is a trinity, a single God manifesting itself in three persons. We know from

Deuteronomy 6:4 that

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

So the Lord is one, but three persons. More than this, the words in Hebrew here for the Lord is one is actually a word that is also used for weddings. Here two become one. It is the same verb. The Lord is one actually refers to a plural becoming a singular, just a little further proof for the Trinity in the Old Testament, although there are plenty more.

It may not feel right ot say that the Father is in the SOn, or visa versa, but that is just the case. It it definitely beyond me to explain how this works, however the Biblical evidence for it is incontrovertible. The Trinity is what makes Christianity unique. It also speaks to the truth of Christianity because it is not simple. We could not have made this up by observation like a gaggle of Gods who act like us (i.e. Greek Myth, etc.) of a monotheistic God who is transcendent and beyond all understanding, (i.e. Mormons). We have a personal God who lacks nothing. He is in relation to things with or without the Universe, is Glorified with or with out the Universe, and is Eternal, with or with out th Universe.

God is manifest in three persons, all equally God, and all equally Persons. Sure they play their own unique role in this creation saga, but they are all in each other. This is beyond comprehension, and at times doesn't sit right, but that doesn't make it any less awesome or true.

"Universal" Questions

I want to first say that all that is to follow maybe completely wrong, but it is what I have been thinking about lately, so here goes:

My wife is discipling some women, and during one of here meetings the question was raised "Why did God create the Universe?". And I hope to explore this question in the following Blog.

First it must be asked, what is meant by Universe. You may think it self explanatory, but in fact, me and Sarah talked for hours about this questions, and we were in fact talking about two completely different things. The Universe may be taken to mean everything that is made. That is to say, all Matter, Energy, Etc. This would include Humans. However, we can also talk about the Universe as everything that is not Human. I make this distinction because as a Christian, I believe that humans are not just matter and energy, but also Spirit. Now since this spirit is eternal, and the Universe is not, I believe that it is a fair distinction to make. The Universe then, becomes everything that is transitory. This doesn't include God, angles, demons, and Humans.

SO then the question, "Why did God create the Universe?" is really two questions. Why did God create everything but Humans, and why did God create humans. Let us answer the first question. Why did God create the Universe, taking Universe to mean everything but humans.

I would say that God created everything in the Universe for humans. Now I know that this sounds very human centric, so we need to back up for a little. What are all the possibilities for the creation of the Universe? Either He created it for Himself, for Angels, or for us. I feel these are the only options of answers for this question since these are the only things that are immortal and can appreciate Creation.

I think it is self evident that God did not create the Universe for Angels, since, although Scripture speaks of them entering creation occasionally on divine missions, the Universe is not their primary habitat. They exist out side of it, and enter only occasionally.

So therefore, creation was either for us, or for Him. SO why do I say He did not create the Universe for Himself? That is a little more complicated. First we need to know about God. One of the answers to the question of why He created is to Glorify Himself. And at first glance this seems pretty reasonable, but I tell you it is not. God needs nothing to Glorify Himself. Because God has community within the Trinity, each side is constantly lifting up and glorifying the others. They are in constant relation, giving each other praise, and honor, and love. Now this seems hard to grasp, and I admit I fully don;t understand, but this is the Christian world view. God needs nothing. He is complete in Himself. He lacks nothing. To say that He created the Universe to give Himself glory implies that He is not glorified, or at least not enough apart from the Creation- and this is false. God would receive the same glory with or with out creation, He does not need it.

So that brings me to us. I realize that my last two arguments seem contrite, and at some point I will go further in depth about them, however, they are the Christian beliefs, so I leave them to stand on their own for now.

That being said, there leaves one possibility left. God created the Universe for us! How exiting is that. But this raises further questions, like why would he create all this for us, and the simple answer is that through the Universe God is revealed to us. He created it all to show us who He is. He created the Universe for us so that we would have a home. He created the Universe so that we might Glorify and Worship Him. Now I know I just said that He doesn't need the Universe to glorify Himself, and just a second ago I said that we can Glorify God through His creation. Am I contradicting myself? I think not. I may be playing semantics here, but semantics are sometimes very important. The fact that we can glorify god through His creation is different than Him receiving Glory through his creation. How is it different? Simple. We are the subject, not God.

It is not that He receives more Glory through the Universe, but that we can understand His Glory through creation. For some reason, God made us to need material things to understand. And therefore, without material things, we would be lost. Now maybe we could have been created differently, but that is not the point. The point is that we are what we are, and therefore, we need creation to know God. He interacts with us through this Universe. It is not a matter of God's needs, but rather of ours.

But more than that, we read in Scripture that everything God created was good, and that God then gives Adam the world to look after and work. He gives him authority over creation in allowing Adam to name the animals.

See, because God is good, he wanted to give good gifts to us, i.e. the Universe.

But then the question is why did God create us? Or if we include humans now in Creation, why did God create the Universe? Or even why did God create? As was already stated, God lacks nothing. He needs nothing. Other religions would say that God created the Universe because it is how he is Glorified, or even able to be in relation to things. One thing, be it human or God, even if he has everything, can not have relationships with out an other. Therefore, some monotheistic traditions would say, God needed the Universe to be in relation to something. But this means that God lacked before the creation.

However, a Trinitarian world view could never say this. Because God is manifest in three persons, each unique, but each God, each having all aspects of God with out the other, and in no need, but in relation to the other two. See God the Father is God, he contains in Him God the Son and God the Spirit. That Same can be said of God the Son. They are all fully God, but they are n constant relation to each other. The closest parallel I can draw, and I think it a air one since we were created in God's image and likeness is a Human being. We all have a mind, spirit, and body. In each is contained all that is that person. When you see me, you say that is Nate. But I also have a mind and spirit that are equally me. Now the analogy isn't perfect, but you get the idea.

So God, as I said before doesn't need the Universe, as some would argue. Why then did he create?

I am going out on a limb here, ans this may possibly be heretical, though I don't think it is,
and I am going to say that God created for Creations sake. My basic argument is as follows, of God is good, it follows that all the does is good. God created, therefore creation must be good.
But I would go further than this and say that it was better to create than not to create, because God created. Why was it better to create? Well, as previously stated, it can't be better for God, so who then is it better for? It is better for creation. Let me say that again- it is better
for creation to exist than to not exist. This is the same for the individual. Often people ask would it have been better if I had not been born? The answer to that question is no. It is always better to have existed than to not exist.

This is a hard concept to grasp. How can we even think of ourselves as not existing? I can;t think of a way that we can, but press ahead we must.

Why would it have been better for creation to exist? Because it is through existence that one can come to know God. There is no other way. It is in fact gibberish to speak of something that doesn't exist as knowing anything, or even being known by anything.

SO if we didn't exist we would have no way to know or be known by God. We would not be able to Worship the King of Kings, know the One who formed us in the womb, never be able to revel in His divine light. It is for this reason that I say it must be better to exist than not exist. And God must think this way also, else He, being all light and goodness, would not have created.

I know that this is very metaphysical and theoretical, and even hurts my brain to think about, however, i feel it is worth pondering. It is hard to think of non existence, however it is also necessary.

So that is my rant this week. Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to submit questions, it will help me flush out my arguments as well.

School Is In

We have planted the Northampton Church, and without any advertisement it ran out of programs. We were also almost full in Amherst. This week with school back we should be full. Anyone want to plant another church- the fields are ripe.

Anyway, with school in we are wicked busy, but it is a scheduled busy, so it is good. I will have dedicated writing time each week, and hope to post a lot of crap, so be ready. I planned bad today though, and this will end the blog. Hope all of you are doing well.