God's Plan of Salvation - 3
Between the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and and the call Abraham there lie many many years. It is not for us to speculate how many centuries pass before we enter the realm of properly recorded history. However our story of the Plan of Salvation must turn now to the call of Abraham. It was one man who had been disobedient to God and now it is to a single individual that God reaches out to begin the whole wonderful process of reversing the effects of the Fall and of redeeming his creation.
The most important verse for study is found in Chapter 12 where we read, "The Lord said to Abram, "Leave your country, your relatives and your Father's home and go to a land that I am going to show you. I will give you many descendants and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing."
Now there are several things here that we must note. Firstly Abraham is called to leave behind everything that is familiar and journey under the guidance of God to where he does not know. To give up forever your country, relatives and home is a major commitment. It is the kind of response God is looking for. Unlike elsewhere in the Bible we find no record here of Abraham having demurred. We get the distinct impression that Abraham simply agreed.
The next thing we need to note is the promise that Abraham is going to be led to special place and that he is going to be blessed with many descendants and he is going to become in reality the Father of a great nation.
So in Abraham we see the beginnings of God's plan of Salvation. This great hero of the Faith responded totally and willingly to God. Listen to what it says in Hebrews in that great Chapter 11 , "It was by their faith that people of ancient times won God's approval. It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God's word so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen..........It was faith that made Abraham obey when God called him to go out to a country without knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as a foreigner in the country that God had promised him. He lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob who received the same promise from God. For Abraham was waiting for the city which God has designed and built, the city with permanent foundations. It was faith that made Abraham able to become a Father, even though he was too old and Sarah herself could not have children. He trusted God to keep his promise. Though Abraham was practically dead, from this one man came as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, as many as the numberless grains of sand on the sea-shore."
So wrote the author of the letter to the Hebrews. Not that we should think that in some Abraham was a saint and perfect human being. Rather we should clearly and simply acknowledge that Abraham was a big a sinner as we are. Read the story for yourself again tonight and you will find that to be true. He fell by the wayside on a number of occasions. And that's one of the real points isn't? He was a man! An ordinary human being just like us - responding in faith to the call of God.
And that was enough to get God's plan underway. This great Patriarch became the father of God's chosen race the Jews. For it was through this race that God would prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah.
And so having called Abraham time passes and many things happen to his descendants until we come to that next great marker in God's Plan of Salvation.
We come to Moses and in particular we come to that time when the people of Abraham are enslaved in Egypt.
In looking up my Bible Dictionary I came across this little description of Moses which I thought was worth sharing. "Moses: The great leader and lawgiver through whom God brought the Hebrews out of Egypt, constituted them a nation for His service and brought them within reach of the land promised to their forefathers."
In those few words we have summed up the prime role of Moses in God's Plan of Salvation.
However let us now look at this in more detail. For in each stage of the Plan God reveals something new about himself and his work. Now Moses had been well prepared by God before his mission and call was sent forth. He had been brought up in the Egyptian court he learned to read and write and was taught many skills by what was undoubtedly the most advanced civilisation of the day. On top of that he spent many long years in the wilderness after committing murder albeit to rescue someone else.
And then came the day while he tended the sheep and goats of his Father-in-law Jethro that the Lord spoke to Moses. He was there at Mount Sinai with the flock when he saw a bush that was burning except that it wasn't. So being curious he went up close to see what going on and it was then that the Lord spoke to him. And not only did he speak to Moses but he revealed to Moses for the first time his name - something which in those days was regarded as being of extreme importance in a way which we will never understand - I AM said God that is my name!
And so the plan of salvation continues to be unveiled through the Passover event the people will be drawn together and set out for the promised land.
However let's see this in perspective God's plan may be at work here but the people concerned are not saints. They are ordinary folk like us. Moses procrastinates - he doesn't want the job at all - he tries the patience of the Lord. And then having failed to circumcise one of his sons, probably at the behest of his wife who was a not a Jew but a Midianite it takes the threat of his own death before the circumcision is accomplished.
As if that wasn't bad enough the people of Israel leave Egypt and have no sooner left than they start to grumble about the Lord and his workings! In their second year out and almost at the promised land the people rebelled against Moses and Aaron and God - as if they hadn't already rebelled - because if you recall they had already set up a Golden Calf and descended into paganism. However this final rebellion with lies about Giants inhabiting the promised land and their desire to return to Egypt and their lack of trust and faith in God led to a real punishment falling upon them from God. He told them that because of their rebellion no one now over the age of 20 would live to see the promised land and that they were to be condemned to forty years of wandering in the desert until those now living had died out before they would be allowed to enter the promised land.
So as you can see God's Plan may be taking shape but it isn't without difficulty and open rebellion from those should have been grateful.
But nevertheless we can see how it begins to take shape - firstly there is perfect creation and then wilful rebellion bringing with it the painful consequences of the Fall. We see Abraham the great hero of the Faith responding to the call of God and founding the Jewish people and now we see Moses - we see God revealing himself and his name to Moses. We see God coming amongst the people in great power and majesty. We see the chosen people being led out of slavery to the promised Land and we see the continued sinful rebellions of both Moses and the people and yet in spite of this God still works out his plan. I think it was worth quoting here the following assessment of Moses :" As a leader of his people Moses was not only equipped technically through his Egyptian upbringing and training but was also on a much more fundamental level, a supreme leader by being a close follower of his God by faith. Such a man did God raise up to lead His people from bondage to promise. Time and again, beginning with Moses first interview with Pharaoh right down to the war with Midian on the eve of Moses death, Israel failed to have faith in the saving power of their God in all circumstances, broke the commandments, and rejected God's leadership in rebelling against Moses through whom that leadership was manifested. Moses own family let him down: witness Aaron's weak defection over the golden calf and Miriam and Aaron's jealousy of his position and criticism of his marriage. Great indeed was Moses meekness and forbearance through all this; he was constantly interceding with God for sinning Israel and pleading with Israel to be faithful to their delivering God. The wonder is not that Moses sinned openly once but that he did not more readily despair of the "stiff necked and rebellious people" and his consequently onerous commission and fail them many more times. That he was a man of enduring faith in the invisible God and so jealous God's name can alone explain his achievement."
And that I suppose about says it all. God chose well in Moses and Moses was faithful to God - but please note that doesn't mean he was in some way better than us or less sinful......rather despite it all he remained faithful to God.
However we must for the moment leave the unfolding of God's plan and return to it tomorrow.