MOSES
MOSES
Sunday, April 21, 2013, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Acts 28:23: “They appointed him (Paul) a day, there came many to him unto his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the Kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets, from morning until evening.”
Luke 24:27: “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He (Jesus) expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
Moses’ name means “drawn or pulled out of the water”. He was handpicked by Jehovah before he was born to liberate Israel. Moses was “elect” of God as God’s mouth piece. He was Israel’s chosen deliverer.
He was born into the Levitical Priesthood both from his Father, Amram’s family and his mother, Jochebed (daughter of Levi). 1 Cr. 23:13-14:, “The sons of Amram Aaron and Moses; and Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister to Him, and to bless in His name forever. Now concerning Moses, the man of God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi.”
Moses’ portion was the life of faith. Moses possessed a Levitical heritage that would one day empower him to ascend the top of the mountain as the anointed priest of Yahweh. In the historical Psalms, Moses is called the sent “servant” and “chosen” of the Lord.
His life is highlighted throughout the New Covenant by Jesus and the Apostles. In the Hebrews hall of fame, 11:23-29, Moses and his parents are listed among the mighty men and women of faith. His faith is declared to be a prophetic testimony of Jesus Christ.
“He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”
For those who are elect of God for Kingdom purposes and destiny, their lives are not their own. The Lord will take us to the back side of the desert to break us, and ultimately prepare us for His calling and commission.
How many are glad they were not chosen and given the same Kingdom Faith assignment as Moses? However, Korah and Moses’ sister, Miriam were presumptions enough to think they were as anointed as Moses.
We are all anointed, but we are not all Moses.
Whatever mantle/anointing the Lord has placed on his “elect” individually and corporately cannot be usurped by another. Each of us has a special place, giftings and callings in the Lord’s Kingdom. Let us all “be” content/happy to be who God has called us to be.
Moses first attempt to fulfill his calling to rescue God’s people was carried out in the vanity of self-effort and self-reliance. He was 40 years of age when he killed the Egyptian.
Yet God would prepare an instrument of phenomenal success from these ashen circumstances of dismal failure. The One whose finger would carve the Law into Sinai’s stone was fully cognizant that Moses’ failure was due to self-reliance.
Acts 7:22: “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.” Moses was no ordinary child. He became a mighty prince and orator. But God’s sovereign plan would lead His chosen through the desert for 40 years, to learn the ways of the wilderness. All the wisdom and knowledge acquired in Egypt’s institutions of learning were hardly adequate to make him ready for his divine assignment. He would need new credentials.
The “somebody” had to become a “nobody”, left to be tossed about in the throes of lonely desolation. God’s man or woman must be drained of all self-sufficiency, molded in obscurity with the kind of meekness that refuses to shrink back from future publicity and scrutiny.
Ex. 4:10: Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
After an extended time in the desert, we learn to like the isolation. Then it takes God to moves us out of the desert into His purposes.
Only through divine discipline could the rod of Moses ever become the “rod of God”. Through this necessary processing, Moses, the “somebody” who had become a “nobody”, ultimately became a “god unto Pharaoh.”
Ex. 7:1: The Lord said to Moses, “see I have made you a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you…”
The prince of Egypt met his Maker and his match on the back side of the desert at Mount Sinai; also know as Horeb (which means “dryness, heat, waste, solitude”). This protracted trial of faith would equip him to lead his church into that same barren wilderness and place of testing for another 40 years. Moses’ submission to God’s authority and his faithfulness to God’s plan would one day bring him back to Horeb with a larger flock.
The divine intention is thus established---God begins His program with a man or woman, and then consummates that extended objective in and through a people, a family.
Ps. 106:23: ‘Therefore He (God) said He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach (the gap in a broken wall), to turn away His wrath, lest God should destroy them.”
Gal. 3:19: “Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator…”
Moses was a mediator and reconciler. A peace-maker will consistently model God’s chosen plan of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Num. 12:3: “Now the man Moses was very meek (exceedingly humble), above all the men which were upon the face of the earth”.
His love for his nation was without peer. Jehovah was ready to disinherit this rebellious people and wipe them from the face of the earth. But Moses interceded, appealing to the honor of the Lord’s name in the eyes of the nations, in spite of Jehovah’s desire to make of him (Moses) a new and greater nation.
“The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generations. Pardon, I beseech you, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of your mercy, and as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. The Lord said, ‘I have pardoned according to your word.’”
God took Moses’ humble and excellent “spirit” and put it on the 70 elders multiplying Moses’ into a many-membered man.
We are not to covet another’s ministry, life, favor, respect, blessings, gifts, spouse, home, family, success, etc. We are to desire Godliness with respect and honor of a humble and excellent spirit.
Moses was a mediator, deliverer, reconciler and intercessor. During the Exodus, Jehovah’s chosen instrument encountered a fierce adversary, Pharaoh, the king and the god of Egypt. This is a type of the “prince” and “god” of this world.
John 12:30-32: “Jesus answered, This voice came not because of Me, but for your sakes. Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Me.”
Moses first encounter with Ramses was his demand to freely worship the living God (Ex. 5: 1-2). We must be very clear that the ultimate issue of the universe is worship. All conflict on the human planet centers in this issue of worship---whom will we worship and how will we worship? There is a tremendous resistance to worship both outside and inside the Church.
Outside political forces have arranged themselves in an unholy alliance with the free worship of God. Our nation has entered into unholy alliances for oil with Muslim nations. God has given us all the oil we will ever need for our needs. The Bible is clear that when we enter into alliance with the heathen we open our borders for them to bring in their gods.
Inside the Church, religious tradition, political correctness and political manipulation have made further unholy alliances with heathen gods.
The Holy remnant or mature church is presently staring down the global demonic strategy of “the great red dragon” – the spirit of anti-christ – the beast system---whose devilish intent is to assassinate and abort the Godly Seed. (Rev. 12: 1-5).
The tactic of the beastly system has not changed. It is to wear out (mentally afflict and harass) the saints of the Most High. Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ request was the additional order and burden for the Israelites to gather their own straw for making bricks.
The continual and constant pressures of financial hardship, troubling health, relational conflict and job-related stress drain God’s people of spiritual energy and deplete their emotional resources.
2 Tim. 3: 8-9: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do those also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.”
Pharaoh tried to kill Moses who was born to Amram and Jochebed. Eventually, the Red Sea swallowed up Egypt’s king and his army. In that Passover season of deliverance, Moses’ church in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) bankrupted the land of the Nile.
Today our government has submitted our security concerning Islamic extremist to the oversight of the Muslim Brotherhood. The M.B. is the world’s most influential and largest political organization in many Arab states and was founded in Egypt in 1928 as a Pan-Islamic, religious and social movement of Islam.
President Obama has entered into a treaty with this organization.
Prince Alaweed ben Talal is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and has been on the international scene for many years. We have prayed for him over the years at Wednesday night prayer. His net worth is estimated at 27 billion and considered the most influential business man in the world.
The great red dragon (the beast system of the anti-christ) is presently aiming to exterminate the Overcoming Church, the many-membered Body of Christ. The devil is giving it his best shot.
Herod attempted in vain to destroy Jesus Christ, the Pattern Son, and consequently died under the judgment of God. Jesus Christ finished the work that the Father had given Him to do. His death on Calvary’s Cross rent the veil from the top to the bottom, releasing everything that had been hidden for ages and generations.
Jesus the Seed of both Abraham and David became the heir of all things in heaven, in earth, and under the earth. All spiritual blessings are His to own and dispense, supplying every human need. He inherited the “land” and the “throne”, the earth and the right to rule it.
When Jesus was praying after he rode in to the city riding on a donkey, he prayed, “Father glorify your name”. There was a voice from heaven saying, ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again’.”
Moses was chosen by God to resist Pharaoh. Jesus was preserved from Herod’s demonic wrath through his resurrection from the dead. The church of the 21st century is being empowered to overcome the ancient serpent that became a fiery red dragon ---the beast systems of the world.
Moses’ assembly bankrupted Egypt. Jesus rent the veil and released all things. The Overcoming church will arise and walk in all that Messiah died for! All creation awaits the manifestation and unveiling of the Son, Jesus Christ, through a many-membered body of sons and daughters.
Right now in many hidden places around the world an immeasurable company is being trained in the school of the Spirit. Just as God put Moses’ excellent spirit on the 70 elders, Jesus’ excellent Spirit has filled and will continue to fill His Church until we are mature enough to crush the head of satan.
Korah and his rebellion were swallowed up in the earth. Miriam was covered with leprosy. Yes, there are many usurpers, but there are also many “elect” for such a time as this.
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Eastgate Ministries, Inc.
Scripture from K.J.V. and N.I.V. as indicated. I entered into the labors of Kelly Varner, Moses, the Master and the Man-child. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those whom I entered into their labors.