1 FAITH

The faith of the parents of Moses enabled them to hide their son three months. According to the secular historian, Josephus, God revealed to Amram, Moses’ father, that a son would be born to them who would be brought up in a surprising way and become a deliverer of the Israelite people. He shared this information with his wife Jachebed. They were both greatly afraid because attention would be brought to them, but God enabled Jachebed to deliver the child easily and therefore not make much noise to attract attention. This happened just as Amram’s vision had indicated. It is easy for us today, knowing this, to see why the Bible says that it was by faith that they hid Moses for three months. The historian, Josephus, continues to relate how that after three months, Amram became afraid that the child would be discovered and that the child, and himself, too, would be killed for having disobeyed the command of the king that all male babies were to be killed. So they placed the baby in God’s hands by putting him in an ark or cradle made of reeds with slime plastered between and over the strips so that it was waterproof and would keep the child safe and dry. The cradle was then placed in the river among the reeds and Moses’ older sister, Miriam, stood at a distance to see what would happen. 

According to secular sources the king’s daughter was named either Thermuthis or Bithiah, depending on the historian. She was evidently the only child of the king and she herself had no children.  

When she saw the cradle in the reeds by the river current she sent one of her female slaves to retrieve it. When she opened it and saw the little child she felt sorry for him. When this happened Miriam was near and offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child. When Thermuthis agreed, Moses’ sister, armed with the authority and assignment to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child, Miriam, went to the child’s mother and brought her to Thermuthis. The child readily accepted the Hebrew breast whereupon the child was entrusted entirely to the mother. Thermuthis named him Moses which comes from “Mo” which means water and “Uses” which means to be saved out of. Moses was the seventh generation from Abraham if we count Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Caath (the son of Levi and father of Amram), Amram and finally Moses. This bit of history helps us appreciate the meaning and beauty of God’s Word which says, “By faith, Moses’ parents . . .” They exercised faith, which is  “. . . confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). Moses was persecuted and forced to be concealed, but because they saw that he was “. . . no ordinary child . . .” (Acts 7:20), they acted by faith. We do not know how much they “saw” him in the spirit and to what degree he was merely physically exceptionally attractive. But we do know they acted by faith because that is what Hebrews says.

There evidently appeared in Moses something uncommon; the beauty of the Lord sat upon him, perhaps as an indication that he was born to great things. In actual fact, much later in life by conversing with God his face should shine as Exodus 34:29 tells us it did as Moses came down from the mountain. “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.” Perhaps the beauty of baby Moses was a kind of prophesy or revelation of what bright and illustrious actions he should do for the deliverance of Israel, and how his name should shine in the sacred records. Sometimes however, not always, but sometimes physical appearance is a reflection of what is in the mind or heart of the beholder more than on the face of the beholden. The obvious example for us today to recognize and follow is the prevalence of faith over fear. They were not afraid of the king’s commandment recorded in Exodus 1:22, “Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.’” That was a wicked and a cruel edict, that all the males of the Israelites should be destroyed in their infancy, and so the name of Israel must be destroyed out of the earth. But Moses’ parents did not so fear the Egyptians as to give up their child. They considered that, if none of the males were preserved, there would be an end and utter ruin of the congregation of God’s people and the true religion, and that, though in their present state of servitude and oppression, one would praise the dead rather than the living, yet they believed that God would preserve his people. In the face of slavery and death, by faith they believed that the time was coming when it would be worth while for an Israelite to live. Some must hazard their own lives to preserve their children, and by faith they were resolved to do it. They knew the king’s commandment was evil in itself, contrary to the laws of God and nature, and therefore of neither authority nor obligation. Faith is a great preservative against the sinful slavish fear of men since it sets God before the soul, and shows the inferiority of the creature and its subordination to the will and power of a vastly superior God.

Next we see a record of the faith of Moses himself. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, whose darling he was. She had adopted him for her son, and he later refused it. Notice what a great temptation Moses was under. Pharaoh’s daughter is said to have been Pharaoh’s only child, and was herself childless. Having found Moses, and saved him as she did, Thermuthis resolved to take him and bring him up as her own son; and so he stood likely in time to be king of Egypt, and he might thereby have been serviceable to Israel. He owed his life to this princess and to refuse such kindness from her would look not only like ingratitude to her, but a neglect of God’s great power that had placed him where he was and that seemed to position him for his own advancement and his brothers’ great advantage. But notice how glorious was the triumph of his faith in so great a trial. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter lest he should undervalue the truer honor of being a son of Abraham, the father of the faithful. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter lest it should appear to be renouncing his Jewish faith as well as his blood relation to Israel. No doubt both these would have happened if he had accepted this honor; he therefore nobly refused it.

“He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (11:25). He was willing to take his lot with the people of God here, though it was a suffering lot, that he might have his portion with them in the next life, rather than to enjoy all the sensual sinful pleasures of Pharaoh’s court, which would be but for a season, and would then be punished with everlasting misery. In this great pivotal decision Moses acted rationally as well as nobly and religiously. In one decision he conquered the temptation to worldly pleasure as he had done before to worldly preferment. The pleasures of sin are and will be only short; they must end in speedy repentance or in speedy ruin. However, for a Christian leader, if our lives are going to have influence by the decisions we make and the values we hold, it should be clear that the pleasures of this world, especially those of a high position, are often the pleasures of sin. We cannot enjoy them without deserting God and His people. A true believer will despise them when they are clearly viewed in such terms. None of us likes suffering, but in the big picture, suffering is to be chosen rather than sin. More evil exists in the least sin than can exist in the greatest suffering. It greatly alleviates the evil of suffering when we suffer with the people of God, joining them in the same interest and animated by the same Spirit.

Moses regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. See how Moses weighed the matter: in one scale he put the worst of religion— disgrace for the sake of Christ and in the other scale the best of the world— the treasures of Egypt. In his judgment, directed by faith, the worst aspects of religion (suffering) was more weighty, more valuable, than the best of the world. Even today the disgraces of the church of God are the disgraces of Christ, who is, and has ever been, the Head of the Church. Now here Moses conquered the riches of the world, as before he had conquered its honors and pleasures. God’s people are, and always have been, a disgraced people in the eyes of the people of the world. Christ accounts himself disgraced in His followers’ disgraces; and, while He shows interests in their disgraces, those disgraces become riches, greater riches than the treasures of the richest empire in the world since King Jesus will reward them with a crown of glory that does not fade away. Faith discerns this, then determines and acts accordingly.

The time when Moses by his faith gained this victory over the world, in all its honors, pleasures, and treasures was "when he had grown up,” (11:24). This was not during years of impulsive or an immature, spontaneous whim for something fanciful, but in his years of experience, to the age of forty years—when he was great, or had come to maturity. Some would take this as detracting from his victory, that he gained it so late. They might criticize him that he did not make this choice sooner; but it is rather an enhancement of the honor of his self-denial and victory over the world that he made this choice when he had grown adequately mature for thoughtful and intentional judgment. He was able then to know what he did and why he did it. It was not the careless act of a child or youth, that some whim appeared more important than gold, but it proceeded from mature deliberation. It is an excellent thing for persons to be seriously religious when in the midst of worldly business and enjoyments, to despise the world when they are most capable of relishing and enjoying it.

What was it that supported and strengthened the faith of Moses to such a degree as to enable him to gain such a victory over the world? It was because he was looking ahead to his reward as verse 26 says, “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.”(26). Some say the reward was deliverance out of Egypt, but undoubtedly it means much more than just that; the glorious reward of faith includes position and joy in the other world. Heaven is a great reward, surpassing not only all our deservings, but all our conceptions. It is a reward suitable to the price paid for it—the blood of Christ; suitable to the perfections of God, and fully corresponding an answering to all His promises. It is a very satisfactory reward, because it is given by a righteous Judge to righteous persons, according to the righteous rule of substitution; His righteousness for my sin. Believers may and ought to fully appreciate and value this reward; they should acquaint themselves with it, approve of it, and live in the daily and delightful expectation of it. In this way it will prove a land-mark to direct their course, a north star for their compass, a load-stone to draw their hearts, a sword to conquer their enemies, a spur to quicken them to duty, and a beverage to refresh them under all the difficulties of doing and suffering work.

Yet here by his faith we have another instance of the character Moses, namely, in forsaking Egypt: “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (27). The result of Moses’ faith was that He forsook Egypt, and all its power and pleasures, and led the people of Israel out of it. Twice, actually, Moses forsook Egypt. First as a supposed criminal, when the king’s wrath was raised against him for killing the Egyptian where it is said he feared, not with a fear of despondency, but of discretion, to save his life. We will learn more of this a few lessons from now. Secondly, forty plus years later he left as a commander and ruler in Israel after God had employed him to humble Pharaoh and make Pharaoh willing to let Israel go. This second trip from Egypt especially demonstrates the predominance of faith over fear; it raised him above the fear of the king’s wrath. Though he knew that the king’s wrath was great, and leveled at him in particular, and that it marched at the head of a numerous host to pursue him, yet he was not dismayed, and he had the courage and faith to say to Israel in Exodus 14:13, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.” Those who forsook Egypt must expect the wrath of men; but they need not fear it, for they are under the conduct of that God who is able to make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain the remainder of it. The principle upon which Moses’ faith acted in his motions was that He endured, as seeing him that was invisible. He bore up with invincible courage under all danger, and endured all the fatigue of his leadership responsibility, which was very great; and this by seeing the invisible God. Christian leader, look at the invisible God. The God with whom we have to do is an invisible God: He is so to our senses, to the eye of the body; and this shows the folly of those who pretend to make images of God, whom no man has seen, nor can see. By faith we may see this invisible God. We may be fully assured of His existence, of His providence, and of His gracious and powerful presence with us. Such a sight of God by faith will enable believers to endure to the end whatever they may meet with on the way.

Still we have in Hebrews 11 another instance of the faith of Moses recorded in verse 28, “By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.” Though all Israel kept this passover, yet it was by Moses that God delivered the institution of it. And, though it was a great mystery, Moses, by faith, both delivered it to the people and kept it that night in the house where he lodged. The passover was one of the most solemn institutions of the covenant between God and his people. It was a very significant illustration of the Messiah. Its first observance was extraordinary: it was in the same night that God slew the first-born of the Egyptians. Though the Israelites lived among them, the destroying angel passed over their houses, and spared them and their belongings. To entitle them to this distinguishing favor, and to mark them out for it, a lamb must be slain. The blood of that lamb must be sprinkled with a bunch of hyssop upon the lintel of the door, and on the two side-posts. The flesh of the lamb must be roasted with fire; and it must be all eaten that very night with bitter herbs, ready to travel with their clothes on, shoes on their feet, and their staff in their hand. This was accordingly done, and the destroying angel passed over them, and slew the first-born of the Egyptians. This not only opened a way for the return of Abraham’s posterity into the land of promise, but also is the back story for the annual passover celebration still observed by the Jews today. The Christian application is not difficult. Jesus is that Lamb, He is our Passover, He was sacrificed for us. His blood must be sprinkled; it must be applied to those who have the saving benefit of it. It is applied effectually only to the obedient who apply the blood. Wherever this blood is applied, the soul receives Jesus’ righteousness by faith, and lives in him. This true faith makes sin bitter to the soul, even while it receives the pardon and atonement. All our spiritual privileges on earth should stimulate us to set out early, and go forward, in our way to heaven. Those who have been marked by the passover blood must ever remember and acknowledge God’s free and distinguishing grace.

Christian leaders today, like Moses, see the invisible and act on it. We will not be afraid. We will “see” the promised land and by faith lead others to it. They, in turn, will lead still others to it. Be a Moses today. If you see only with your natural, physical eye, you are not seeing the whole picture.