Passage: Exodus 6:14-7:7
Speaker: Mitch Kim
Series: Coming Home – A Journey Through Exodus
Revealing God’s Name
Sometimes I feel intimidated to be a pastor at Wellspring. So many are accomplished scholars, respected leaders, successful business people, and probing thinkers here that I wonder, “What am I doing here? Isn’t there somebody better for this job?” Then I read about Moses, and I’m comforted. Moses was not simply to speak to powerful people; he had to confront the most powerful man in his world, Pharaoh. No wonder Moses exclaims, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me?” (Exod 6:12). I often feel the same way. And perhaps you feel intimidated or inadequate to the calling that God has for you. Yet in Exodus 6:14–7:7, we see that God prepares us as priests to represent Him that the nations might know that He is the LORD.
First, God prepares us as priests (Exod 6:14–25). The first response to Moses’ inadequacy is a reminder of his family; God had been preparing Moses from before birth. Priests came from the tribe of Levi, and we see the emphasis in this genealogy on how Moses and Aaron are in the line of Levi (Exod 6:16, 19–20, 25). Moses and Aaron didn’t volunteer for this job to speak to Pharaoh, but God had prepared them from birth. Similarly our preparation as a priesthood is not because of our natural birth of a certain tribe but our new birth as a child of God; we are in Christ a holy priesthood (1 Pet 2:5), and God has been preparing us as priests from our (new) birth. We are, literally, born for this.
And priests serve to represent Him (Exod 6:26–7:2). The priests role is not to demonstrate their own inherent authority but to represent God. The LORD reminds Moses, “I am the LORD” despite his own hesitations (Exod 6:26–27) and declares, “See I have made you like God to Pharaoh” (Exod 7:1). Moses represents God, speaking what God has commanded. This is in line with Adam’s original calling as an image of God (Gen 1:26–27), representing God’s rule to the ends of the earth. Yet Moses, like Adam before him, ultimately fails. Yet where Adam and Moses ultimately fail, Jesus Christ is faithful; Jesus is the perfect representative of God. And when we trust in Christ, we are conformed into his image more and more. As a result, we also represent Christ; we may be the only Jesus that the world ever sees. So why ought we to represent God well?
God prepares us as priests to represent Him that the nations might know that He is the LORD (Exod 7:3–5). God will work through Moses’ words and actions to demonstrate signs and wonders, showing his great power. Why? “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” (Exod 7:5). His goal is not only to bring freedom for his people from Pharaoh but that the Egyptians might know that He is the LORD. Similarly God works through our words and actions to show forth HIs power that the nations might know that He is the LORD. We are simply representatives through whom His authority shines.
So what? I began this by sharing how intimidated I sometimes feel to be a pastor at Wellspring. However my heart gains confidence as I realize that God prepares us as priests to represent Him that the nations might know that He is the LORD. As a result, we must obey; we take the next step. That’s exactly what we see in Exodus 7:6–7, for Moses and Aaron “did just as the LORD commanded them” (Exod 7:6). May we do so as well.