The God Who Delivers Title
God who saves
Exodus 2:1-10, 10th Sunday after Pentecost, August 21, 2011
Among the characters in the Old Testament, Moses is a man of unparalleled charisma. He is a hero among heroes. He is recognized as a greater figure in the history of Israel than Abraham, who is said to be the father of faith, or Elijah, known as a superpower. The proof is the fact that the most important book of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch, bears the name of Moses. Moses was also the person who led the Exodus event, which became the historical background of the nation of Israel. His biography is so dramatic that it has also been made into a movie. Moses also appears with Elijah in the legend of the Mount of Transfiguration, an important scene in the process of Jesus' public life. According to the Bible, Moses was born of Hebrew descent, but he was adopted by an Egyptian princess and lived as a prince. He was accidentally involved in a murder and fled to the wilderness of Midian. There, he received a mission from God on Mount Horeb to rescue the people of Israel who were living as shepherds and then living as slaves in Egypt.
In the process, he won the confrontation with Pharaoh of Egypt, and eventually achieved national liberation. In the process, many surprising things happened. Ten plagues came upon the Egyptians, and the Red Sea was decisively parted. After that, he led the people of Israel and lived in the wilderness for 40 years. Just before the people of Israel entered Canaan, he gave a Japanese speech in a place called Moab and gave up his life. His biography is recorded in the four books of the Pentateuch except Genesis, namely, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The fact that the story of one of the Old Testament characters is contained in all four books is a clear proof of how important Moses was in the history of Israel, as mentioned earlier.
‘Dry it out’
The final part of the story is the story of this baby growing up and adopted by the princess. Moses must have been old enough to wean. The princess named her adopted son Moses. The meaning of the name is 'take out'. This name suggests what Moses will do for the nation of Israel in the future. Moses later rescues his people from the water. This is the irony of history. The Egyptian princess who rescued Moses from the water is Pharaoh's daughter. Pharaoh later fights with Moses. When Moses delivers to Pharaoh the command of the Lord to send the Israelites out into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord, Pharaoh refuses with all kinds of excuses. It was not until the tenth plague, in which all the firstborn sons and firstborns of the Egyptian household died, that Pharaoh left Moses and the Israelites. If Pharaoh's daughter had known that this was going to happen, she might not have saved Moses. The battle between Pharaoh and Moses was not settled in the tenth plague. One more important final match remains. That is the event connected with the meaning of the name Moses. This is the climax of the Exodus that we usually speak of. Here's the story.
After the tenth plague, Moses received permission from Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out into the wilderness. They crossed the wilderness and began their long journey to Canaan. Pharaoh overturned his decision and sent the horsemen, who boasted the best fighting power of the time, to pursue the Israelites. I can imagine how desperate the hearts of Moses and the Israelites must have been when they heard this. The people of Israel are not soldiers. There are also the elderly and young children. It is almost impossible to evade the pursuit of the horsemen. To make matters worse, the Red Sea was set before them. A lot of people would have thought they were dead now. At God's command (Exodus 14:16), Moses stretched out his hand with his staff over the Red Sea. Then the Red Sea parted and the Israelites were able to cross on dry land, and Pharaoh's horsemen who followed were all buried in the sea. Needless to say, how moved this story must have been for the people of Israel. I wouldn't get bored even if I listened to it over and over again. This scene was transmitted through the song of Moses (Ex 15:1-18) and the song of Miriam (Ex 15:19-21).
Does the Bible romantically and ideally insist on nonsensical facts? Are you trying to comfort the losers of history with plausible coaxes? no. The Bible is not just a superficial phenomenon of who is stronger now, but is looking deeper into history. I see that there is one who rules the world with greater, or even incomparable, power than an empire that displays unparalleled power. He is Jehovah God. If you look at history only superficially, you won't see it. Only political, military, and economic power are visible. When we look at history with new eyes and the eyes that the Bible presents us, we can see the more fundamental power of life. Seeing it and living it is faith. Israel described it as the Red Sea incident. At the center of the incident is Moses, who was rescued from the Nile River.
baptismal community
We Christians cannot be satisfied with the story of Moses. Moses was nothing more than a political rescue of Israel. Politically, he is a hero. He is a great jurist who perfected the law. All of them are worthy of imitation. That was his role. Not all human problems are solved by his role. Even when politically liberated, people still cannot escape from existence like the water. Filled with anything, it's still lonely, anxious, and internally conflicting. There is no true rest. The reason lies in the fact that humans cannot escape the limits of creation and live with the existence of sin. Life itself is like the Nile River, or the Red Sea. No one, no ideology, no system can get us out of here.
It is Jesus Christ who can deliver us from here. God has now delivered the entire human race from the waters of sin, death, and the limits of creation through Jesus Christ. Does this sound like a simple doctrine? Jesus was crucified helplessly by Judaism, representing the religious power of the time, and Rome, representing the political power. This is a repeat of human history. What happened to Israel by the neighboring empires was repeated again. God has solved this problem in a completely different way than ever before. He raised Jesus Christ from the dead. He promised that those who believe in him will receive resurrection life. So we are baptized in his name. Through the baptismal ceremony, which means being immersed in the water and then coming out again, that is, being rescued from the water, we have joined the destiny of Jesus Christ. That's right. The God who delivered Moses from the Nile and the God who delivered Israel from the Red Sea delivered us from sin and death. He is the only one who can rescue us from the swamp of despair and emptiness. Praise the glory of God.