Heaven’s Hero, Moses
Heaven’s heroes are people who chose to trust and depend upon God despite the alternatives that the world offers. Heaven’s heroes are people who believe that God will provide for their needs, believe that God will protect them from their enemies and believe that God will bring to pass His promises in their lives.
Most Christians fall shorts of being a hero in the faith all of the time because they mess up and fail to follow God’s Word, Will and Ways for their lives. Even those listed in Hebrews 11 messed up at times, but we must all remember NONE OF US ARE BIG ENOUGH TO MESS UP GOD’S ETERNAL PLANS AND PURPOSES FOR HIS PEOPLE {Jer 29:11}.
MOSES MESSED UP
Moses messed up in a big way by killing an Egyptian {Exo 2:11-12}, yet we find him listed in Hebrews 11 and God still used him to lead his people into the promised land. Even when God’s people mess up He remains faithful, gracious and merciful to them {Lam 3:22, 2Tim 2:13}.
MOSES HIDDEN IN GOD
Moses’ parents seen that their child was no ’ordinary child’ {Exo 2:2, Acts 7:20, Heb 11:23}. All parents believe their children to be beautiful, Moses however according to Jewish tradition was believed to be an exceptionally good looking man, Josephus a Jewish historian says "that those who met him, as he was carried along the street, forgot there business and stood still to gaze at him". It is believed that because of his exceptional beauty it was recognised that the hand of God was upon his life. All children are a gift from God {Ps 127:3} and so like Moses’ parents we should seek to protect them from the evil of this world. It is a God given responsibility of parents to be a good example to their children and to train them in the ways of the Lord {Deu 4, Pro 22:6}. However, like Moses’ parents there comes a time when parents have to let their children go and trust them to God {Exo 2:1-10}.
MOSES MAKES GOD HIS CHOICE
Moses grew up amongst the Egyptians, he was well educated by them, he witnessed the pleasures of the Egyptian world but Moses never forgot to whom he belonged. As Christians we find ourselves placed in a world that has it own philosophy and pleasures on offer, therefore we must never forget to whom we belong. As God’s people in the world today we are ambassadors of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are representing the Church of Jesus Christ and we are image bears of a holy God {2Cor 5:20, 8:23, Gen 1:26-27}. The world’s estimation of Jesus and His Church is formed by what they see in you.
By faith Moses made a choice to be associated with the people of God and to aspire to spiritual satisfaction. Moses gave up honour for disgrace, pleasure for pain and treasures for trust in God. Moses made God his choice because he believed that what God had to gave in this life and in the life to come was of greater value than all that the world had to offer {1Pet 1:3-9}.
By faith Moses chose to follow God’s instructions to keep the Passover, instructions that were unusual and unfamiliar to the people of God. The people of their community who were not Israelites may have thought that they were a strange bunch.
The world today may think that Christians are strange because they refuse the pleasures of sin and seek to live according to God’s spiritual directives. The apostle Paul says that the Gospel is foolishness to the world but to those who believe it is the message of salvation {1Cor 1:18-25}.
It was the willingness of Moses and the people of God to follow God’s instructions that preserved their lives from death and destruction {Exo 12:1-30}.
Making God and His spiritual directive your choice in the world today may mean being mocked and laughed at {2Pet 3:3, Jud 18}, saying no to the pleasure of sin and going without while others become rich may seem to the world unusual. But like Moses by faith we must continually look forward to God’s great reward, to the pleasure and joy of eternal life with Jesus where there is no pain, sickness or tears, we must look forward to the honour of being seated with Jesus in heavenly places and we must look forward to the treasures that are in store for us in our eternal dwelling place {2Cor 6:10, Matt 6:19-20}.
MOSES’ VISION OF GOD
Moses kept going in his walk of faith because he had caught sight of God. In an evil world Moses persevered, opposed by an evil king, he persevered, criticised and mistrusted by his own people, he persevered. When the king would not let his people go Moses persevered, when the peopled moaned about him, he persevered, for forty year wondering in the wilderness Moses persevered.
Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush altered the course of his life {Exo 3-4:15}, Moses once ran from the King now because of his experience at the burning bush he was prepared to stand firm and not be moved until God brought the victory over the evil king.
As God’s people today we can encounter God, for Jesus said if we will "seek we will find" {Lk 11:9}. It is possible for God’s people today to have a burning bush experience which is to hear the voice of God and to see the manifestation of the power of God. In our place prayer we will find God, in our place of worship we will find God, in the study of His Word we will find God, in the Church of Jesus Christ that is built up as a dwelling place for God we will Him {Eph 2:22}. If we meet with God we can do nothing else but go on in our walk with God.
Moses was not a hero in the faith all of the time and nor can we get it right all the time. However, we can desire to pursue the goal of our faith which is to please and serve god in this life and spend eternity with God, to seek an encounter with God that will alter the course of our lives and to follow the instructions of God’s Word that will preserve our lives from spiritual death and destruction.
