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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Chapter 15 The
Song Of Moses (ch 15:1 - 21) Chapter 15 is entitled
the song of Moses because once As I have said many time
so far, I believe that the whole event of these plagues, Israel's stay in
Egypt, and their subsequent freedom, is prophetic of the Great Tribulation at
the end of this age. There
are so many parallels. One
parallel is this song of Moses. In
Revelation 15, verses 3 and 4, those who survived the beast and his mark
sang the song of Moses.
If you read that song, you will note that it is not the same song
that is seen here in Exodus 15. That
being said, the content is similar, and the reason why the song in
Revelation is sung is the same as it is in Exodus.
Both I will comment on this
later, but I believe this song has prophetic significance, especially
near the end of this song. If
you read Revelation 15:3 you will note that the song sung by those who
survived of the beast was called "the song of Moses and the song of
the Lamb". This song
was not only Moses' song, it was Jesus' song.
Because the Revelation account calls its song the song of Moses,
there has to be a connection made back to Exodus 15, and if that
connection is made, then by the same token "the song of the
Lamb" statement must refer back to Exodus 15 as well.
For this reason, the song sung here in Exodus 15 is just as much
about Jesus as it is about Moses.
The song begins with,
"I will sing unto the Lord, for He is highly exalted." The God
of Israel, who is the God of the Christian as well, is "highly
exalted". He is above
all there is. There is no one greater than Him.
He sits on the throne of the universe and rules over all things,
both material and spiritual. This
is something that we need burned into our hearts.
And as is clearly seen in the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, He is the God of all nations, whether they accept Him as their God or
not. He will have the final
word over all the affairs of every nation on earth.
The book of Revelation makes that quite clear. The last part of verse 1
states that the horse and its rider have been throne into the sea.
This of course is speaking of the Egyptian army.
These Egyptians trusted in their army.
Throughout the Old Testament you will see many times the term
"horse and rider". It
is often referring to man's trust in himself.
Note the word
"LORD" in verse 1. It
is actually the Hebrew word "Yah", a shortened form of
"Yahweh". Verse 2 says, "the
Lord is my strength and my song. He
has become my salvation." The
Egyptians put their trust in their army of horses and riders.
Moses, Aaron, and Israel
knew their strength was in God. They
often wavered throughout the trying times they just came out of, but at
this moment, they knew their strength was in their God.
Too often Christians are more like Egyptians, that is, working
from their own strength, when in fact, we should be working from God's
strength. Actually, God uses
the weak and foolish, as the apostle Paul would often say.
He uses such people because they have little human strength or
human wisdom that gets in the way of doing God's work.
Those people must rely on the Lord instead of themselves. Also in verse 2 the song
goes on to say, "He has become my salvation."
Notice a couple things here. We often think in terms of God
giving us salvation, and in one sense of the word He does.
But even more basic than that, God Himself is our salvation.
He has not only given us salvation.
He has given us Himself. Note also the personal aspect here.
The song says that God is "my salvation".
It does not say that God is "our" salvation, although
he is that too. But before
any since of community, or sense of "our", there must be a
sense of "I". First
comes personal salvation to the individual.
Being a part of a group who is saved will only work if the
individual is saved. Another
way to put it, is that the health of any group, of any church, is only
as good as the health the
individual member has with Jesus. In the last part of verse
2 we see that Moses and Israel
praised God because He is both their God and their father's God.
Their fathers would be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, along with all
the other fathers of these people.
Usually when the fathers of Israel
are mentioned in the Bible, they refer to the above three men. In verse 3 we see
something that is not "religiously correct" these days. It
says that "the Lord is a warier."
The term "Lord, capital letters, refers to Yahweh.
This name of God means, "I AM" and is often used in
conjunction with God's covenant, but here it is used in reference to the
Lord being a man of war who fights for His people.
We often think that war and violence is a fault of man, but God
is a God of war. He has
fought, and He will fight His enemies, until all enemies are put under
His feet. One thing we should note
about God being a man of war is this.
We should not confuse what this means in this day when Islamic
extremists believe in fighting a holy war, as the so-called Christian
Crusaders did in the middle ages. God
is the one who does the fighting. We
do not commit acts of violence as Christians. God does that for us.
As the Bible states over and over again, "vengeance is mine,
says the Lord." Christians
are not to be avengers.
The second part of verse
3 says, "the Lord IS His name."
Back in Exodus 3:15, God told Moses that Israel
was to remember Him as "Yahweh", or "I AM".
It is clear that Israel
did remember the name of their God. Verses 4 and 5 speak of
the Egyptian army and how God drowned them in the bottom of the sea.
God's judgment, His condemnation that led to death forEgypt, was Israel's salvation. The same will
be true at the end of this age, when Yahweh will do the same for Israel. Verse 6 speaks of God's
"right hand'. Now there
are a few people who believe that God has two hands because of this
verse and other similar verses. This
is only picture language. God
is a spirit. Jesus Himself
told us that in John 4. The
term "right hand" is simply a Hebrew idiom, and it always
suggests and points to the power and authority that God has.
In the first part of
verse 7 we note that in Moses' thinking, The last part of verse 6
isn't "religiously correct" these days either.
The song speaks of God's "consuming anger" that is like
a fire. God does get angry. His
anger is holy. It is not
based on nastiness. It is
based on His perfect sense of justice.
Because He is just, He does get angry. At this point I will
point out that in the Bible we see both anger and wrath associated with
God, and with Jesus. They
are not the same. Anger is
anger as you and I would define it.
Wrath is a stronger word. It
is more like an explosion from within, and uncontrollable explosion.
God is very patient, but sooner or later His patience is over
taken by His wrath. His
patience can no longer hold back His anger, so it explodes in wrath. In verse 8 we see how
powerful God really is. Moses
says that "by the blast of God's nostrils the waters piled
up." God blew from his
nose, so to speak, and the waters of the Red Sea formed two walls,
dividing the water so Israel
could pass through on dry ground. Once
again, the word "nostrils" is idiomatic. God really doesn't
have a nose. In verse 9 we see the
words "I will" four times.
These are the words of the Egyptians.
These are also the words of satan as seen in Isaiah 14:13.
It is a good exercise to see how many times we use the word
"I". We use the
word a lot. "I"
promotes us. "I"
is really the enemy of God, and it sure was in the case of the
Egyptians. The power of
"I" penetrates the world but will fall to the Lord in the end.
In verse 10 we see the
comparison of the mighty
army of the Egyptians to God. Egypt
and all of its men of war and horses was easily and simply defeated by
God with just a breath from His mouth. How powerful is the God that we
serve? Jesus will do the
same at the end of this age as He comes back in the last great battle,
which actually won't be a battle. Jesus
will win the battle with a word from His mouth. In verse 11 Moses asks,
"who among the gods is like you?"
There is no one like the God of the Jews.
All other so-called gods are no gods.
They are man made gods, figments of man's imagination, home made
gods. None of these gods are
real. There is only one true God. Some people suggest that
because of the way this verse is worded, and other verses like this,
that there are actually other gods.
There are many other gods being worshipped by various cultures.
I do not believe this. I
think that the Bible makes it pretty clear that all these other gods,
really aren't gods. They're
man made portrayals of the gods they want, and demons use for their own
purpose. Again, in verse 12 we see
mention of the right hand of God. As
I said before, God does not have a right hand. God is a spirit.
This is a Hebrew idiom that pictures God's authority and power.
When you see the phrase "the right hand of God" in the
Bible, you see God in His power and authority.
Jesus Himself is said to sit at God's right hand. Again, Jesus
isn't literally sitting at God's right hand, because God does not have a
right hand. God is a spirit.
When the Bible speaks of Jesus sitting at God's right hand, it
means that Jesus is sitting in a place of power and authority with God
His Father. We've seen God as a man
of war in this song. Now in
verse 13 we note that God is a God of love.
He loves those He has redeemed.
The word "redeemed" is an important word in the Bible.
When speaking of God redeeming His people, that means, He has
purchased our salvation. When
it comes to Also in verse 13 we note
that God will guide His people to His holy dwelling.
In terms of In verses 14 through 16
we see that this song is not just speaking of the nation of Egypt. It says that "the
nations", all the nations of the world will tremble and be gripped
with anguish. So even beyond Egypt, the other nations of the world would hear about The words "the
nations' are words that are often seen in the book of Revelation.
As in the days of the Exodus, so shall it be at the end of this
age. The nations of the
world will be gripped with fear. We
see that plainly in the book of Revelation.
We see In verse 16 we see that
fear and dread will be on these nations until Many Futurists believe
that the godly Jews at the end of this age will also pass through as the
Jews did back here in Exodus. They
will pass through the mountain that splits in two and escape to a place
called Petra. I believe in the last few
verses, and now to the end of this song, we have switched from Verse 17 states that God
will bring Verse 17 speaks of the
dwelling place of God, His sanctuary.
I see this prophetic of the New Jerusalem that comes down from
heaven that we see in the last two chapters of the book of Revelation.
The New Jerusalem is seen as the dwelling place, the sanctuary of
God in Revelation. It was
typified in the tabernacle of Moses, and the Another reason why I feel
these last few verses are actually prophetic is verse 18.
The song ends by saying that God will reign for ever and ever.
These words we see in the book of Revelation.
When the New Jerusalem comes to the New Earth, it is at that
point that God will rule for ever and ever on this earth.
All enemies will have been subdued and God will rule, and He will
rule on earth. When Jesus teaches us to pray for the Kingdom to come to
earth as it is in heaven, that prayer will finally be answered at this
time, at the end of this age. As I mentioned at the
beginning of this chapter. We
see the song of Moses sung as well in Revelation 15.
In my thinking, that clearly links this song of Moses to
prophecy, and the end of this present age.
I don't think it is therefore too much of a leap to suggest, as I
have often suggested, that this whole event, from Joseph being sold into
Egypt, to Israel being freed, is prophetic of Israel from 70 AD when
they were sent into slavery so to speak throughout the world, to the end
of this age when they are gathered back into the land God promised them
in the Abrahamic Covenant.
Verse 19 simply sums up
that God had We've just seen the song
of Moses. Now in verse 20 we
see the song of Miriam. Miriam
is the sister of Moses and Aaron. She is called a prophetess.
This is the first mention of a prophetess in the Bible.
I think she is called a prophetess because the song she will sing
is prophetic. It is from the
heart of God. Prophecy
doesn't always mean foretelling the future.
It can mean to simply speak what God asks you to speak. Miriam led other ladies
in her song and dance, and the playing of
tambourines. It is a
simple song of exalting God who has destroyed the enemy of
The
Waters Of Morah And Elim (ch. 15:22 - 27) Verses 22 through 24 tell
us that Preachers often point out
the fact that these people had just seen the mighty hand of God working
for them, and now they are complaining.
That is the tendency of humanity.
We complain at the drop of a pin.
That being said, we can give a bit of credit to these people.
They had drank little to no water for three days, and when they
finally find water, they can't drink it.
Most of us would complain as well if we were in that situation. Poor Moses, as usual, he
receives the brunt of the complaints, and that is only natural.
He is their leader. They
then ask him, "what are we going to drink?"
So what did Moses do?
The only thing he could do, and that was to cry out to the Lord,
as we see in verse 25. That's
the thing any leader of God's people should do.
That's what God's people themselves should do as well.
Notice the word "cry".
This was no simple little "give me water please"
prayer. This was Moses
crying, interceding on the behalf of his people, which in fact were
God's people. If we would
have more church leaders today crying out to God in intercession for His
people, we'd have quite a different church.
I am sure of that. Also,
if church leaders today would better understand that the people they are
to lead aren't their people, but God's people, we'd have a much
different church as well. I
suggest that we need that different church. God came to the rescue
again in verse 25. Moses
picked up a piece of would, through it in the water, and the water
became drinkable. The text
does not actually say that the Lord told Moses to throw the wood into
the water, but it is implied. The
text does say that the Lord showed Moses the wood.
It is only logical that the Lord
told Moses to throw the wood into the water.
As was often the case with Moses, and us to, God has us
participate in the miracle. God
could have just made the water drinkable, but He made Moses do
something, which was meant to be an act of faith on the part of Moses.
That is the way God often works with Christians today.
Too often we expect God to do whatever we request, when in fact,
He wants us to participate in His work that produces the miracles. In verses 25 and 26 we
see the first decree that God gave There is a few things we
need to note with this decree. One
is that it was only in affect when Note also that God told The words "I am the
Lord that heals you" are the topic of many Evangelical, and
especially Pentecostal sermons. We
need to understand that healing is not a New Testament thing.
We often quote Isaiah and say that by the stripes of Jesus, His
whipping stripes, we are healed, and there is truth in that, but we
can't exclude the fact that God healed prior to the whipping of Jesus. Verse 27 ends this
chapter. We see twelve springs of
water, one spring for each tribe of Israel. We see seventy palm trees.
I don't know how many elders there were in Israel
at that time, but later on in their history I do know that they had
seventy elders. There might
well have been seventy elders in Israel
at this time. The point here is simple.
God provided rest for His people. Just to let you know, the
Bible college I attended in the mid 1970's was called Elim Bible
Institute. One of the
distinguishing features of Elim Bible Institute is that no matter when
you attended, whether 1921, 1941, 1961, 1991, or 2011, it was a place of
real worship to our Lord. Besides
the good education one received, there were daily times of worship with
songs and instruments, with hands raised in adoration to the Lord Jesus
Christ. |