The Invisible
THE INVISIBLE
Moses made a choice…a choice based upon faith. Your faith will determine your choice…in everything you do. Out of so many possible amazing, specific examples of faith associated with the life of Moses the author could have presented, why this choice? Because it encapsulates the entirety of his life…a life lived by faith in God.
This passage states how Moses through faith recklessly abandoned the fame and riches and pleasures and ease of Egypt in order to fulfill God’s destiny for his life. And then it says he kept right on going “because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.” Moses never looked back, never longed for his old life again. Egypt is always symbolic in the Bible for sin and oppression and godlessness. Some of us need to escape Egypt by faith and never look back!
Here the author returns to the contrast between the “seen” and “unseen” or “visible and “invisible.” In other words, Moses kept his eyes (had faith) in the “invisible” One, God Himself and His Kingdom, as opposed to placing his total trust in the material world and only those things we can see, touch, or feel. He had faith in a spiritual realm, and it was this kingdom that guided his life and choices.
This decision (faith is action and choices) to trust God for his course (path, plan) in life explains every other detailed, subsequent action or decision of faith that Moses would be forced to make throughout his life in the role of deliverer of God’s people.
PASSOVER
It was this decision by Moses early in his life to follow God “no matter what” that made it easier for him to make future life and death decisions for his people, as recorded by the author in our next example of his faith. Much later when Moses returned to Egypt, not to live there, but to deliver God’s oppressed people, God warned Moses that the death angel would come and execute judgment on the gods of Egypt (the final plague). The life of every firstborn son and male animal would be taken on a specific night.
However, if God’s specific instructions for a sacrifice were followed exactly (obedience by faith) and the blood of the required sacrifice was smeared upon the doorposts of their homes, then the death angel would “pass over” those homes. The Israelites would not be harmed. This would become a religious festival for the people of God from that time forward (the Passover Feast of course).
God gave Moses this directive for all of God’s people. The killing of so many lambs or goats? Such detailed instruction for the sacrifice and the meal following (Passover)? Spreading blood on the doorposts? At the time, this was all strange indeed.
The life and death of thousands of children were in the hands of Moses. It was an extraordinary amount of responsibility. But, by this time, Moses had learned to trust fully in his God. It took faith to explain (demand) to his people how this strange, bloody ritual, which was not yet instituted by God, must be followed. It took faith for Moses to believe it, act upon it, persuade his people to accept it, and ultimately save his people.
CONCLUSION
Like Moses, get out of Egypt and never look back. Trust in the Lord’s ways. Apply the blood of Jesus Christ to your doorpost so that you will be saved from the death angel. God is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). His rewards and His blessings are far deeper (in comparison to those surface, shallow, carnal pleasures) and much greater and endure far longer than any rewards this world can offer. Simply put, the pleasures of this world cannot hold a candle to the ultimate rewards of God.
Do we believe that? If we are not living as though this is a fact, then we do not believe. If we are not taking actions and making decisions for our lives based upon these truths, then we do not believe. Faith is action, decisions, lifestyles, and choices.
THE INVISIBLE
Moses made a choice…a choice based upon faith. Your faith will determine your choice…in everything you do. Out of so many possible amazing, specific examples of faith associated with the life of Moses the author could have presented, why this choice? Because it encapsulates the entirety of his life…a life lived by faith in God.
This passage states how Moses through faith recklessly abandoned the fame and riches and pleasures and ease of Egypt in order to fulfill God’s destiny for his life. And then it says he kept right on going “because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible.” Moses never looked back, never longed for his old life again. Egypt is always symbolic in the Bible for sin and oppression and godlessness. Some of us need to escape Egypt by faith and never look back!
Here the author returns to the contrast between the “seen” and “unseen” or “visible and “invisible.” In other words, Moses kept his eyes (had faith) in the “invisible” One, God Himself and His Kingdom, as opposed to placing his total trust in the material world and only those things we can see, touch, or feel. He had faith in a spiritual realm, and it was this kingdom that guided his life and choices.
This decision (faith is action and choices) to trust God for his course (path, plan) in life explains every other detailed, subsequent action or decision of faith that Moses would be forced to make throughout his life in the role of deliverer of God’s people.
PASSOVER
It was this decision by Moses early in his life to follow God “no matter what” that made it easier for him to make future life and death decisions for his people, as recorded by the author in our next example of his faith. Much later when Moses returned to Egypt, not to live there, but to deliver God’s oppressed people, God warned Moses that the death angel would come and execute judgment on the gods of Egypt (the final plague). The life of every firstborn son and male animal would be taken on a specific night.
However, if God’s specific instructions for a sacrifice were followed exactly (obedience by faith) and the blood of the required sacrifice was smeared upon the doorposts of their homes, then the death angel would “pass over” those homes. The Israelites would not be harmed. This would become a religious festival for the people of God from that time forward (the Passover Feast of course).
God gave Moses this directive for all of God’s people. The killing of so many lambs or goats? Such detailed instruction for the sacrifice and the meal following (Passover)? Spreading blood on the doorposts? At the time, this was all strange indeed.
The life and death of thousands of children were in the hands of Moses. It was an extraordinary amount of responsibility. But, by this time, Moses had learned to trust fully in his God. It took faith to explain (demand) to his people how this strange, bloody ritual, which was not yet instituted by God, must be followed. It took faith for Moses to believe it, act upon it, persuade his people to accept it, and ultimately save his people.
CONCLUSION
Like Moses, get out of Egypt and never look back. Trust in the Lord’s ways. Apply the blood of Jesus Christ to your doorpost so that you will be saved from the death angel. God is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). His rewards and His blessings are far deeper (in comparison to those surface, shallow, carnal pleasures) and much greater and endure far longer than any rewards this world can offer. Simply put, the pleasures of this world cannot hold a candle to the ultimate rewards of God.
Do we believe that? If we are not living as though this is a fact, then we do not believe. If we are not taking actions and making decisions for our lives based upon these truths, then we do not believe. Faith is action, decisions, lifestyles, and choices.