Right Hand of God

In the song of Moses in Exodus 15:6, the phrase 'right hand of God' is used twice. It is used again in verse 12. It is a figure for the effectual power of God.  It is the seat of His administrative authority.

Exodus 15:6 Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Exodus 15:12
You stretched out Your right hand, The earth swallowed them.

Moses understood the 'right hand of God' and had the authority to  carry out God's desire for His people. As I started to investigate this phrase I was thrown back into Genesis and started working my way through it and then on to Exodus to get the fulness of what God intended for this. The right hand of God is something to sing about and the deeper one digs into that phrase the greater the gold.

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ has ascended to a unique magnificent position of ultimate authority. He is not literally sitting on God's right hand. As a child I used to think of this scene as containing big fluffy clouds and Jesus Christ sitting on God right side physically. This phrase means so much more than that. It is not static, it is a dynamic position.

who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Romans 8:34

Jesus Christ not only intercedes for us, he is the way of access to the Father through the gift of holy spirit.

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. Acts 2:32-33

This has an important  relational significance for us:

 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4

Why? The Word says it beautifully in Ephesians 1:18-23:

18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

When we realize the fullness of this, we, like Moses and the Israelites, we want to sing about it!

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A Bit About Idolatry

Several years ago, I tried to follow a 'read through the Bible in a year' plan. In fact, I've tried it several times. For me it was like eating a juicy piece of steak and swallowing it whole. The enjoyment of savoring its taste is in the 'chewing'. We have taste buds for that very purpose.  We need to allow our spiritual 'taste buds' to savor the words of God.

I loved 'chewing' on Genesis last year.  I learned so much about God's grace and His incredibly unmatched love for us. Genesis really lays the groundwork for the whole Bible. We not only learn about God and His dealings with people; we also learn about His competition, the devil. The devil seems to disappear after Genesis 3 following Adam and Eve accepting his suggestions. He became the god of this world. We discover in the same chapter in Genesis that because they listened to him things would not be easy. There would be 'thorns and thistles' in life as a result. The devil hides and eludes out and out exposure throughout the rest of the Old Testament to the point that people get mixed up and attribute the evil that occurred as God's doing. Lucifer was a spirit being and it takes spiritual eyes to recognize his actions.

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:4

I have stalled a little in writing about the events in Exodus involving the plagues of Egypt. I am humbled by the God/Moses connections and the great detail of deliverance that is exhibited in these pages of Exodus. There is so much in this section and I am really still 'chewing' little by little, but I am in awe about how this section is loaded with lessons of deliverance for God's people. 

In order to get the full truth of this record, it is absolutely imperative to start with an important principle of God's love:

I John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Physical light has wonderful lessons for us.  The fact that visible light breaks up into the colors of the rainbow is amazing! Light contains healing properties and is a disinfectant. Just google 'properties of light' and see the awesome complexity of the properties of light! The greatest thing about light is that it 'dispels darkness'. Jesus Christ is the light of the world. He was foreshadowed in Genesis 3:15. His purpose was to expose the secret ploys of the devil (I John 3:8b).

Moses was a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. God made known His ways to Moses and the children of Israel saw His acts (Psalm 103:7). Moses was aware of the idolatry that existed. Ancient Egypt had many gods. The Nile River, because of its abundant supply to the people of Egypt, became an object of worship through a multi-god system of dependence. As the 'light' of God focused on the Nile River, it was the idolatry that was the ultimate cause of calamity. Only God could remove the calamity as was the case of the second plague when frogs (another object of idolatry) overran the area. The magicians couldn't remove the frogs, only God could and God did it!

Moses represented God because the spirit of God was upon him. The spirit of God was upon certain men and women in the Old Testament. The rest of the people could just see God's acts and learn. Moses got some great tutoring in God's ways. The 'burning bush' incident lays it all out. Today, the spirit of God is available to anyone (Romans 10:9-10). It is God who can light up the dark crevasses of idolatry and clean 'em out. Moses was the meekest man on the earth. He is a lesson for us to not allow heaviness, condemnation, hardness, guilt, feeling of unworthiness and ultimately fear to deprive us from basking in the light of a wonderful God.

Happy New Year and may it be filled with many 'burning bush' moments!

God and Moses- Application

After Joseph, things really went downhill for the Israelites. Moses, by a miracle of God, had survived and like Joseph, was involved somewhat in the court of Pharaoh. It was not however, an exact comparison, but it gave Moses reason to think he could help his Israelite brothers and sisters.

In Acts 7, there is a record of his venturing out to check on his brethren.

23 And when he was full 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 him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian: 25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.26 And the next day he shewed himself unto them as they strove, and would have set them at one again, saying, Sirs, ye are brethren; why do ye wrong one to another? 27 But he that did his neighbour wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? Acts 7:23-28

The incident that ensued, resulting in trouble with Pharaoh and the failure of the Israelites involved to see anything but intrusion on Moses part, became discouragement to Moses and what he thought his calling was all about. He was alone and on the run. God had not appeared to Moses yet from the burning bush, so he had not received the detailed plans of God as to how he was to help his brothers and sisters.  That would come another 40 years later when the Israelites cried for help. In the meantime, Moses found life and family in Midian that kept him busy and learning.

It is important to understand and realize that people don't 'call' people to do God's work. God does and He is the one who provides the timing, strength, learning and support to carry His plan out!  People who love God and "have it in their heart" to help can enter into the rest and ease of God's peace knowing that God will provide the right timing, place, people and details that guarantee success. It's a matter of  listening to the still small voice ( check out Elijah in I Kings 19:9-18 which is a similar predicament) not the 'naysayers'. It helps to ignore them! Focusing in on our relationship with God is not dependent on what others think and provides very rich moments in life.

Moses- His Background

In Genesis, the lives of many people are recorded, starting from the first man and woman in the beginning and ending with the formation of a nation of God's people. Exodus focuses primarily on one man in a relationship with God, leading his people out from bondage in a land controlled by others, toward a life of freedom and establishment.

Moses life scheme is interesting*.  He was raised in the courts of a pharaoh with his mom as a nanny. He had privilege, wealth and education. His mom would have taught him about God and the people he came from. He lived 40 years in that environment. When he saw an Egyptian abusing one of his own people he got involved and killed the Egyptian. His own people did not consider his intervention heroic and Moses ended up alone and in trouble. He fled Egypt to Midian (Arabia). There he spent another 40 years as a shepherd, in an entirely different environment than his first 40 years. He worked in an rough, rugged country entirely different that what he was used to.

Who were the people of Midian? In Genesis 25:1-6, we can find out where they came from:

Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.

God is the great weaver of His word.  The history of the Old Testament people is interwoven and great learning for us.  I don't have to understand everything or speculate why God did some things. If we just keep reading things become clearer. We humanoids love to speculate and make judgements. We can even go so far as to go off the rails on God's Word at times, but thankfully if we develop meekness along the way, our loving God has some nice little gems awaiting for us throughout His Word. God never changes in faithfulness and love for His people.

*Interesting Link from Josephus (historian):Chapter 9:3   http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/ant-2.htm

Exiting Genesis- On to Exodus

Studying Genesis has been a wonderful experience. I have learned much and there is a whole lot more to learn. I have been so thrilled to see the grace of God in His foundational book. Yes, Genesis is the 'Old' Testament, but it is still about a God who is faithful and loving in a world that is much less than perfect.

God's people never have to be static. Gaining entrance into different avenues of learning is important in life and knowing when to move on is even more important. Sometimes we find ourselves involved in something that we enjoy, so we stay awhile. Nothing stays the same and if we are too dug in too much it is hard to see beyond the limits.  God's blessings are dynamic and He will help us rearrange and remove limits.  That is part of life. It is our opportunity to grow. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ blew open 'the sky's the limit' cliche.

After Joseph and his generation died in Egypt and other rulers rose up that had not known Joseph and the good that he did for Egypt, things got quite a bit tougher for the Israelites. God was still around but the environment became more pressurized and unfriendly. God could still work in that setting as evidenced in Exodus chapter 1:12:

¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

Things in and of themselves are not necessarily ruts, but they can become one easily if we don't watch it. One man's run is another man's rut. We all have different needs and paths for growth. When the telltales signs of the winds of change start to blow we need to pay attention and listen to God for direction. Trusting in Him in our prayer life and learning, He will provide 'plain path'.

In chapters 1-2 of Exodus, the record of the birth of Moses is illuminating. The ruler of Egypt had asked the midwives to kill all the male babies that were born in that time period. Moses was born at a dangerous time. Mose's mother hid him for 3 months and then set him afloat on the Nile with sister Miriam looking on. Pharoah's daughter happened to find Moses when she heard him crying. Mose's tears in the reeds that day on the Nile meant big things for the Israelite nation and the Christ line . She decided to take Moses as her own and even hired Mose's mother (unbeknownst to Pharoah's daughter) to be the nanny. Moses was then safe from the slaughter that was going on.  Moses was educated and brought up in the privileges of Pharoah's house. Eventually Moses would be the man who would lead the children of Israel out from under the bondage of the Egyptians and back toward the land of God's promise.