Robert Morris - Moses and Zipporah
All right, we are in a series called Divinely Inspired... No, that's the Bible. Divinely Human. And so, what we're talking about, and we're just going through people in the Bible that are our heroes, men and women greatly used by God, divinely used by God. But I'm kind of showing you the human side. And I'm not showing you the human side to embarrass them or to put them down. I'm showing you the human side of them, and I don't think they would mind at all. It's in the Bible. God put it there for a reason. I think He put it there to encourage us that we can be human and still be used by God.
And I want you to know that. And so, I'm going to drill this home. I'm going to continue this series for the next seven years ... I think I'm going to go to Easter, I really do, because I just feel so strongly about it. But anyway, so we've talked about Abraham and Sarah. We've talked about Peter. This week, we're going to talk about Moses and his wife, which you may have never heard of, Zipporah. And so, you have to understand. Let me give you a little background. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then Joseph. We did the series, Dream to Destiny. Joseph became the second most powerful man in Egypt. He moved his family there. And there were 70 people in his family in Egypt. 70. But God blessed the Israelites, and they grew, and they began to outnumber the Egyptians.
And so, it says, a pharaoh arose that did not know Joseph, and so he began to oppress them, and then he enslaved them, and they were enslaved 430 years. And so, God came up with a plan to release his people from slavery and take them back to the promised Land, or to Canaan, and He decided to use a man named Moses. So, we're just going to do like we've done in all the rest of them and just read a lot of scripture and read his story. Okay? And then we'll have some points and some funny things throughout. All right, so Exodus 2:1, it says, "And a man of the house of Levi", I'm going to tell you why I underlined it, "went and took as wife a daughter of Levi".
I just want you to know, Moses was of the tribe of Levi. At this time, God had not set the Levites apart to be priests. That was later, during the law. But God knew. He knew at this time that He would do that. So, this is what we call the Levitical priesthood. You may have put the two together: the Levitic, of the tribe of Levi. All right. "So the woman conceived and bore a son..." Oh, I forgot to just remind you of something. So, because the children of Israel grew and were becoming mighty, and Pharaoh got afraid of them, he commanded the midwives that when a Hebrew woman had a child, they were to take that child and throw that child in the river if it was a male child. But the midwives feared God, so they didn't do it. And so, when the Pharaoh said, "Why aren't you doing this"? They said, "Well, the Hebrew wives are so strong that they give birth before we get there, and so there's nothing we can do about it".
So, then he commanded the women to throw the babies in the river. All right? And so, here's where we pick it up, "the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch", in other words, so it would float, "put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. And his sister [that's Miriam] stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river".
Now, this is unusual, divine. That's divine, because the daughter of Pharaoh wouldn't normally bathe in a muddy river. But she "came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children". Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?' And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Go.' So the maiden went and called the child's mother". So, now the mother is going to get to spend more time with her son. "Then Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought in the Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, 'Because I drew him out of the water.'"
Some have said Moses means water, but it actually means to be drawn out. So, that's where he gets his name, Moses. So, this is where it starts. So, that's divine. That's divine that God saved his life for the purpose that God had for him. I wonder how many times God has actually saved our lives for the purpose that God has for us and we didn't even know it. Like, we could go one way or the other at an intersection, and if we were to go one way, we could be in a fatal car accident, and we just feel like going the other way. And yet, we see this in Scripture. So, that's divine. All right? That's Exodus 2:1-10. The next verse, we're going to see if he stays divine or if he gets a little human.
Exodus 2:11. "Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown", by the way, now he's 40 years old, "that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren". Now, I love the Bible, personally, I just, I love the Bible, and it's a lot funnier than many of you think. Watch verse twelve. "So he looked this way and that way..." By the way, Moses is writing this, he's just honest. So, he looked both ways, "and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand". Okay? That's human. He murdered someone and hid the body in the sand. That's human. Acts 7, remember, is the message or the sermon that Stephen preached. And it goes from Abraham all the way to Jesus. It's a great encapsulation of the Old Testament.
So, let's go to Acts 7 and watch why he did this. Acts 7:23. "Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed..." In other words, he came up with his own in his own wisdom that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by His hand, but they did not understand. He supposed his brethren would have understood that they would have been delivered by his hand. Okay, hold on just a moment. Let's think about this. He's going to deliver Israel one Egyptian at a time, Okay? That's human.
See, God can come up with this plan to deliver the whole nation at once, but you and I, one at a time with our own fists. Let me give you another word for that. That's stupid. And then he's going to hide each one in the sand. Stupid. This is Moses. Okay? I'm just saying he's a human, all right? Now watch the divine, though. Verse 26 of Acts 7. "And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them", that's Hebrews, "saying, 'Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?' But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made your ruler and a judge over us?'" Watch this. "'Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' Then, at this saying, Moses fled", that's human, "and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons". And when he was 40, "when 40 years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him", we know later that's Jesus, "appeared to him in a flame of fire, in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai".
Okay. That's God. But now he's 80 years old. 80 years old. Is it possible that God took 40 years to work the self-sufficiency out of his life? Or is it possible, let's say it this way, that it took Moses 40 years to realize he couldn't do it by himself. And so, God shows up. Here's the great thing. He's an imperfect human. I heard about this quote this week, and it's possibly attributed to Dallas Willard, but I couldn't verify that. But here's the quote I want to put on the screen. "Of course, God uses imperfect people! They're the only kind that exist"! Okay, so God shows up in a burning bush and starts talking to him. Now watch, human again. Exodus 3:10, "'Come now, therefore'", this is God speaking to Moses through the burning bush, "'and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who am I?'"
Who am I? Wondering how many times we've said that. "'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.'" Okay, that's human. Who am I? By the way, just so you know, the answer, nobody. You're nobody. That's who you are. I really don't need somebody to do anything that I do. I just work through people. So, this is not even a valid question, Moses. Who am I? Now, look at verse 13. "Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?'" Okay, here's his next question. Okay, who are You? Who am I? Who are You? That's human, by the way. I love God's answer: I am. Have you ever heard that phrase, "Whom shall I say is calling"? That's basically what Moses said. "Whom shall I say is calling"? And God said, "Just say, 'I am.' That's who's calling. I am, that I am".
Then verse 1, Exodus 4:1, "Then Moses answered and said, 'But suppose...'", I just want you to remember how many times Abraham said, "But suppose". "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" That's human. This is the third excuse Moses has come up with. Who am I? Who are You? Suppose they won't listen. Okay, watch the divine show up. Exodus 4:2, "So the Lord said to him, 'What is that in your hand?' He said, 'A rod.' And He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it". That's human; a smart human, by the way. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.'"
Now, I'm surprised that Moses didn't say, "You reach out your hand and take it by the tail". "...(and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand)". That's divine. See, we're going from human to divine. From human to divine. That's divine, hear me? I don't know if you're hearing me. That's divine. You've never done that. No one here has ever thrown a stick down, and it became a snake and then picked it up by the tail and it became a stick again. No one's ever done that. No one ever did what Peter did, walked on water. These are divine things, all right? Now, you would think after that that Moses would stop arguing. Verse ten, "Then Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent.'"
Now, I love this, that most people, I don't think, you've ever seen. "Neither before nor since You've spoken to Your servant". He's saying, I couldn't talk before You talked to me, and I still can't talk even after You've talked to me, I can't talk, "but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue". I want to ask you something. Is that true? Most people believe that's true. Most people say, you know, "Moses had a speech impediment". "You know, Moses wasn't a good speaker". You say, "Well, the Bible says so". No, the Bible doesn't say so. Moses said so. What we have in the Bible see, I don't know what your occupation is. Whatever it is, you know more about that than I do. Would you agree with that? If you're a teacher, construction, medicine, whatever it is, you know more than I do. Okay? I'm just telling you, I probably know the Bible better than you. Probably. For sure, actually. That's not true. And I can prove it to you by the Bible.
This is what Moses said about himself, and everybody thinks it's true. I'm going to make a big point of this in just a minute, but let's go back to Acts 7 and watch what Acts 7 says, where Moses says, "I am slow of speech and I'm slow of tongue". Remember that, all right? Acts 7:22, "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians", says the Bible, "and was mighty in words and deeds". So, you're going to believe what Moses said about himself? Or are you going to believe what the Bible said about Moses? He was mighty in words. Here's the reason I'm making such a big deal about this is because what you believe about yourself might not be what the Bible says about you.
"No, Pastor Robert, I couldn't do a small group. I'm not a good speaker". Who says you're not a good speaker? And by the way, God's answer is, "Who made your mouth, idiot"? He didn't say, "Idiot". But, "Don't tell Me you're not a good speaker. I can take care of this. You don't understand, Moses. I don't need your ability. It's not your ability that's going to do this. It's My ability that's going to do this". And this is a big point to me because I've had more people tell me, "You know, Moses wasn't a good speaker". No, Moses said he wasn't a good speaker, but the Bible says he was mighty in words. The Bible says this. We just read it out of the Bible. Y'all heard about the Bible? It's God's Word. Then, by the way, he goes, and think about this just before we go into this next thing. You might have thought you weren't a good speaker either after speaking to sheep for 40 years. And 40 years earlier, he thought he could deliver Israel one Egyptian at a time.
So, God's taking all this stuff out of him. And then, by the way, I'm not going to read it for time, but then he says, "Lord, send someone else. Send someone else". Okay, I want you to think about this. Who am I? Who are You? What if they won't listen? I can't talk. Okay, all right. Since you've done all that, just send someone else. Okay. I'm wondering if I'm just wondering, I'm just wondering if God wanted to say, "Shut up! Shut up"! Like He had to, you know, with Peter, "Shut up. You have taken up two precious chapters in My Bible arguing with Me, two chapters, Exodus 3 and 4, arguing with Me. And this that I'm asking you to do has nothing to do with your ability to do it. It has everything to do with My ability to do it through you. Everything. And you just keep arguing with me about it".
All right, so he finally, after two chapters, he finally decides to go back. Why did God put these chapters in the Bible? To let us know that humans argue with God when God calls them to do something. So, Exodus 4:18, "So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, 'Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.' And Jethro said to Moses, 'Go in peace.' Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, 'Go, return to Egypt'", and then He throws this in to help so he won't be so scared, "'for all the men who sought your life are dead.'" Okay, but here's what I'm going to give you: four Ms. In other words, four words that begin with the letter M to help you remember the point that I'm about to make. All right? So, the first one is mission. He gets a mission from God. What's the mission? "Go to Egypt. Go back to Egypt and deliver my people".
So, he gets a mission from God. He didn't make this mission up. He didn't come up with it in a late-night planning session. He got it directly from God. So, he gets a mission from God. Then verse 20, "Then Moses took his wife and his sons". Notice he's taking his family with him because that's very important for what we're about to see, "and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt". Or, "he began returning," is the best way to say this. "And Moses took the rod of God in his hand". Okay, here's the second M: ministry. The Rod of God was the ministry. By the way, before he laid it down, in the Bible, it was called the Rod of Moses. After he laid it down, it was always called the Rod of God.
This is very, very important. Whatever your gift is... he was probably very gifted with that shepherd staff because he was a successful shepherd for 40 years. You probably have some ability that you are very gifted at using that ability, but it will always be your ability until you lay it down. But after you lay it down, it becomes God's ability. And by the way, also, you better watch out, because your ability can turn around and bite you at any time. See, a lot of people fail not because of their weaknesses, but because of their strengths. Boy, that was so good. You just don't even understand how good that was. That was good. So, he gets a mission from God, and he gets a ministry from God. He didn't call himself in the ministry. God called him in the ministry. And then look at verse 21. "And the Lord said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I put in your hand.'"
Okay, here's the third word: miracles. That's wonders and signs. He gets a mission from God. "Go to Egypt". He gets the ministry, the Rod of God, which you had to lay down before it became the Rod of God. And he gets miracles. And God, here's what's funny to me, God says, "And don't forget to use the miracles". He wouldn't have had to tell me that. I would have said, "Oh, you don't think I'm from God? Watch your stick. And stand close to that end right there. Stand real close to that end". He would not have had to tell me, "Don't forget to use the miracles". It's the first thing I would have used. And then verse 22 and 23, "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, "Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go, that he may serve me".'"
Now watch how God gracious God is, because He warns him before the plagues ever start. "'"But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn".'" Which was the 10th plague. He had nine other plagues, and God told him at the very first, "This is where this is going to end up, if you don't repent. I'm going to kill your son". It's pretty strong, and it's pretty gracious of God, too, to do that. But here, what did Moses get? What's the fourth M? He got a message. And notice, he got it from God. He didn't make any of this up. He didn't make up the mission. God told him what the mission was. He didn't call himself in the ministry. God gave him the ministry. He didn't try to produce miracles on his own or try to make up pretend like he was doing miracles. God gave him actual, authentic miracles, and God gave him the message. So, to me, just look at the four again. He got a mission from God, he got a ministry, he got miracles, and he got a message.
Okay, here's my point. It looks to me like he'd be ready to go, don't you think? So, the next verse is the biggest twist in the Bible, I think you'll ever see in your life. You ever seen a twist in a movie? This is the biggest one. Watch this, verse 24, "And it came to pass on the way", or on the way back to Egypt. Let me say it this way, where he was camping out at the encampment, "that the Lord met him and sought to kill him". What?! And it doesn't say the Lord met him and sought to stop him. It says the Lord intended to kill him. He's 80 years old now. God is going to kill Moses, and start all over again, the Old Testament type of Christ. This is amazing. The Law came through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus. Mount of transfiguration; it's Jesus, Elijah, and Moses.
The most central figure in the Old Testament is Moses, because the Old Covenant came through him, and the New Covenant came through Jesus. And those are the two covenants that are contrasted through the whole book of Hebrews. By the way, Hebrews was written to Hebrews to tell Hebrews if they didn't start living like Hebrews, they'd always be Hebrews. Just a little theology for you. This is Moses, and God is going to kill him and start all over at 80 years old. Why? Well, look what happens next. Verse 25, "Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses feet, and said, 'Surely you are a husband of blood to me.' So, He [Capital H, that's God] let him [small H, that's Moses] go". So, God let Moses go. "Then she said, 'You are a husband of blood!', because of the circumcision".
Okay, so why was God going to kill him? I'll go right to the bottom line. This is why you need to come to the marriage conference, because Moses was going to preach something that he wasn't living in his own family. You see, the children of Israel had been enslaved 430 years, and he's going to go back and reinstitute or reimplement circumcision. The reason why I had all in my notes, but I realized I didn't have time to cover it is because circumcision represents salvation. It represents the circumcision of the heart, the Bible says, where God cuts the flesh off. And by the way, in Colossians 2, you can read it, It happens when we're buried with Him in baptism that He circumcises our hearts. So, it's very important to God. But he's going to preach it, and his own sons aren't circumcised. But why are they not circumcised?
Now, Zipporah was a strong woman, I would say, because she takes it into her own hands and does it. But how did she know to do it? How did she know that's what God was upset about? Here's the reason. I believe Moses told her about circumcision, but he didn't teach her. And I think she had the same response that Abraham had. "You want to do what to my son's what"? And she said, "No, we're not doing that". And Moses didn't teach her how important it was to the Jewish people. He told her, but he didn't teach her. So, men, I'm not trying to get on to us, but he was not the spiritual leader of his home. He was this great man of God that we know was used greatly and divinely by God. But he didn't teach his own wife about the things of God and how important they are. And this is a scene that's unbelievable.
And again, I told you, she has a strong personality. I mean, it says she picked up a sharp stone, and she circumcised her son, and throws the foreskin at his feet. This is a bloody scene. This is an angry scene. Picks up this stone, "Come here, will you, boys, and pull your pants down". "Mama"? Hey, have you ever thought about this? Do you know how old his sons were at this time? Most theologians believe, we don't know for sure. Most theologians believe they were in their thirties. Well, there was a lot of men on that one. Well, think about it. 40 years earlier, he showed up in Midian and he took a wife. We know that Zipporah was older than he was because she died before Moses did, because he took a second wife. Possibly they were divorced. We don't know that. Most believe she died, but she's older.
And one of the reasons we believe she was older is because she passed the age of childbearing after she had the two sons. Because she only had two. She didn't have any more, and because she died before Moses did. And he lived for many, many years after she died. So, he takes a wife. He has two sons. He goes there 40 years before. So, they're probably in their 30s. They're at least in their 20s. They've definitely passed puberty. So, I just want to say something. You don't want to be circumcised in your 30s, but you definitely don't want to be circumcised by your mom with a sharp stone. Here's what I want you to think about. This is a fight. This is a marital fight that's angry and bloody. And then, you want to hear the real kicker? Moses sends her back to live with her father.
That's what a lot of people don't know. He sends her back with her two sons. In other words, Moses and his wife were separated, and they were separated during the time of Moses' greatest ministry. All the plagues happen in Egypt. Bread from heaven, the water from the rock, the parting of the Red Sea, all happened, and his wife and his sons didn't get to see it. I'm just showing you the human side. Do you follow me? This is unbelievable. Here's one of the reasons I wanted to say this. I'm not trying to bring up a bad memory, not trying to say anything negative, and you don't need to raise your hands, because it's a lot of us. But anybody come from a broken home? Anybody's parents separated or divorced, or have you been separated or divorced?
Okay, here's what I want you to know from this story right here. God can still use you because Moses and his wife were separated, and God still used him, but I know they were separated. Let me prove it to you. So, Exodus 4 is when this happened, and then all the plagues, and then the crossing of the Red Sea, and then the water from the rock, the bread from heaven, all that. And then we get to Exodus 18. And remember, Zipporah's father was named Jethro. All right? Not Clampett, all right. Just Jethro. Okay? Exodus 18:1, "And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard..." The reason he heard of all God had done was because he wasn't there. But we're going to see who else wasn't there, "heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back".
So, after this fight, he sends his wife back and says, "You go back and live with your father... with her two sons and Jethro", verse five, "Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. Now he had said to Moses, 'I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her". In other words, "Take her back, and these grandkids. I'm too old for this. I gave her away". "Who gives this woman to be married to this man"? "Her mother and I". I did a wedding one time, and this guy was not a good speaker. He didn't want to speak in front of people. He was scared to death. It was the father of the bride. And so, we went over it and over it. "Here's your one line. It's four words".
I remember thinking, "It's four words. Four. 'Her mother and I. Her mother and I.'" Rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, the whole afternoon before the wedding, his father's walking around, "Her mother and I, her mother and I. Her mother and I," rehearsing his four words. We get to that place in the ceremony. I look at him. "You got this. I know you got it". "Who gives this woman to be married to this man"? He looks straight at me and says, "My mother and I". You had one line! Verse 8 says that Moses, "told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done".
Okay, so why did he have to tell his father-in-law all that had been done? Because he wasn't there. But who else wasn't there? His family, his wife and his kids. You know what's sad? You may not, Moses was in ministry. Most of you aren't in ministry, but God's called you to do something. I just want to ask you men something. Are you including your wife and your kids on what God's called you to do? Do they see what God's called their father to do? Are you making an impartation to them? You are making an impartation, but are you making a good one? Moses' kids never saw the Red Sea part.
You know, it reminds me of a story. When I was in seminary, this student, I heard about this student. So, I wasn't there when it happened, but I heard about this student. We had this liberal professor, and he was always trying to explain away the miracles in the Bible. I don't know why. He just always said, "Now science tells us", and he just tried to explain why, this student would argue with him. He was real conservative. He'd gotten saved, like I had, out of a bad background and drugs and all that stuff. And he just believed the Bible like I did. "But the Bible says it's true. What would be too hard for God"? And so, he would argue with the professor. And finally he realized, "I'm not going to get anywhere, I'm just going to quit arguing".
So, the professor one day explained the crossing of the Red Sea, and he said, "Now, we know through science and history that at this time it was drought stage for the Red Sea. And so, where the Israelites crossed, it was only about six inches deep, so it wasn't that great of a miracle". And this student went, "Ha"! Like that. He just couldn't hold it anymore. "Ha"! And the professor said, "You know, I'm tired of you questioning science". He said, "Why are you doing that? When I said, 'This wasn't that great of a miracle'"? He said, "I wasn't laughing because you said it wasn't that great of a miracle". He said, "Actually makes it more of a miracle to me". He said, "Well, why would it make it more of a miracle that they crossed the Red Sea when it was only six inches deep"? He said, "Because the whole Egyptian army drowned in only six inches of water"! Just think that's funny.
All right, so I want to show you one more thing. Not only did Moses have problems with his family, he had problems with his brother and sister. I don't know if anybody here has ever had problems with... Never mind. Numbers 12:1-2, "Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses", again, this one of the funniest verses in the Bible, people pass over the humor, watch, "because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married", this is after Zipporah died, "for he had married an Ethiopian woman". Now watch this. Now they're speaking against him because he married a woman from Ethiopia. "So they said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?'"
What did that have to do with his wife? Nothing. That was their excuse. Most people, by the way, I've learned after years of working with people, I've learned that when they complain, there's normally something else that they're mad about. So, they spoke against him because of his new wife. But they said, does God speak only through Moses? Doesn't God speak through us, too? Now, I didn't read you the end of verse 2, so let me read you the end of it. Verse 2 says, "So they said, 'Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?'" Watch the end of it. "And the Lord heard it". Verse 4. "Suddenly", you better watch out for the suddenlies in the Bible, "the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 'Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!' So the three came out". I mean, they said, "Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn't God used us too"?
And the Lord said, "Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, go to My room and wait for Me. I'll be in there in a minute". Verse 5, "Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam", not Moses, "and they both went forward. Then He said, 'Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings...'" And by the way, this is the guy that was separated from his wife for the greatest part of his ministry. I just want you know, you can be a human and still be used by God, "'and he sees the form of the Lord.'" Amazing! Then watch this. "'Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?'" And then He executes judgment and then yet gives mercy like He always does.
Here's my point though. This is a human who'd had a fight with his wife and was separated from her, and yet he still did the ten plagues. He still spoke to a rock and water came out of it. He still held his rod up and separated the Red Sea, and he still went up on Mount Sinai and came down with the Ten Commandments. He was a human with human failures, and God still used him. But here's what I want you to notice about this part. You need to understand that when you become part of Christ's body, you don't have to defend yourself anymore. God will defend you. So, I'm going to drive this home week after week after week until we get it that even though we're humans and even though we still make mistakes, God can use you in a great and a divine way.
I want you to bow your heads and close your eyes, and I want you just take a moment and say, "Lord, what are You saying to me through this message"? And, you know, as we get further into this series, I want you to just begin asking the Lord specifically, "How do you want to use me"? I know I really think we're all getting it that God can still use us even though we're humans. But I want you to just take some time and start saying, "Lord, how do You want to use me"? And you might even ask Him, "Is there someone that You want to do something divine through me that would help that person"?
Lord, we want to tell You, thank You that we are flawed humans, and yet because of Christ, and 2 Peter 1:4 tells us, we've become partakers of the divine nature, and that everyone You used in Scripture was just a human. But You use these men and women of God to do great things for the kingdom. Lord, will You use us to do great things for your kingdom? In Jesus' name, amen.