Lesson #03

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

EXODUS 3
Lesson #03
GOD’S CALLING

• Memory Verse: Exodus 3:14

• Moses was now 80 years old. Usually at that age people think about retirement and relaxation. How can God use a person in his advanced years, especially when he is isolated in the wilderness?
• Read Rom 11:29
• According to this passage, God does not make mistakes when He calls a person to a specific task for the kingdom of God.
• Moses’ 40 years of training in the wilderness has ended.
• What did Moses learn that made him a good leader for the Israelites?
• He primarily learned patience.
• To learn patience takes time.
• Moses would need patience because the Israelites were a fickle, stubborn people. God called them “stiff-necked”. (Exo 32:9)
• He learned to wait on God and to trust Him.
• He gained valuable information regarding the wilderness and how to survive in it.
• God would use this information later as Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness.
• Principles from God’s wilderness school of training for service:
• Training is necessary before God can use you.
• God’s training is light for a light task ahead. His training is moderate for a moderate task ahead. However, His training is heavy for a heavy task ahead.
• Moses’ task was to be heavy. Therefore, it took 40 years in the wilderness to accomplish this heavy training.
• Training means to shake up, to separate the good from the bad, to sharpen the usable characteristics, to destroy the unusable characteristics, to cleanse, and to transform.
• If you are not faithful to God in the training process, God will put you to the side for awhile because you are not ready for leadership.
• Training is accomplished in solitude, obscurity, and discomfort through a period of time. This training period specifically enables the believer to better hear and understand the voice of God.

• Read Exo 3:1-6 The miraculous call of God
• Horeb, the mountain of God (1)
• There are many who think that Mt. Horeb and Mt. Sinai, where God gave Moses the 10 commandments, are both the same mountain. The geographical location is in dispute, though the traditional location is said to be Jebel Musa (literally the mountain of Moses) on the Sinai peninsula. This mountain is 7,632 feet high. However, there are other possible locations that are equally qualified. We will explore this later in our study.
• Horeb means = a fresh inspiration.
• Sinai means = bush.
• “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him…”

(2)

• In the Old Testament, the phrase, “angel of the Lord (Jehovah)”, specifically refers to the appearance of Jesus Christ as the second member of the Holy Trinity.
• In this case in Exo 3, how do we know this refers to Jesus Christ?
• In the book of John, Jesus made specific statements using the phrase “I AM”. (“I am the bread”, “I am the light”, “I am the door”, “I am the good shepherd”, “I am the resurrection”, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”, “I am the true vine”) This is the same identification of His name that the angel of the Lord says to Moses in Exo 3:14. The Jewish leaders understood the meaning of Jesus words for they sought to stone Him for blasphemy. (Joh 10:31-33)
• God’s voice in the flames of the fire.
• Heb 12:29 says, “For our God is a consuming fire.”
• God’s presence in the bush.
• The bush is symbolic of Israel.
• God’s plan was to work in and through Israel.
• The bush is not consumed because God will not permit Israel to be totally destroyed. (Jer 30:11)
• “…I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob…”

(6)

• God often identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Old Testament.
• Of what significance is this?
• These are the three patriarchs of faith established by God through the covenant of faith given to Abraham. Individually they are prefigures of the Holy Trinity.
• Abraham prefigures God, the Father, who gave His son.
• Isaac prefigures Jesus, the Son, who offered himself as a sacrifice.
• Jacob prefigures the Holy Spirit, who by grace brings change in the life of the believer.
• What unique principles do we see in this passage that relate to hearing God’s voice of direction?
• The believer must be aware of the presence of the Lord even through mundane things that suddenly appear extraordinary. (2)
• A willingness to change direction is essential. That may mean a change of priorities in life.
• A willingness to hear from God is essential. (4)
• A willingness to clean up your life and ask for forgiveness of sin is necessary in approaching God. (5)
• A humble spirit before God is pleasing to Him. (6)
• Read Exo 3:7-10 The calling of Moses

• “…unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey…”

(8)

• God always redeems from something into something new. He redeemed Israel from bondage into freedom in the promised land..
• The new testament believer is redeemed from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God, from darkness into light, from slavery to sin into the freedom of holiness in Jesus Christ.
• “flowing with milk and honey”

is a unique phrase that always refers to the promised land and identifies its characteristics.

• The land of Israel is divided by topography and climate into 4 areas.
• The top left quadrant has the most rainfall where farmers produce syrup from fruit (called honey). The top right quadrant has the next lowest amount of rainfall. This area contains both farming (honey) and cattle from which milk is produced.
• The bottom left quadrant has the next lowest rainfall. This area contains only cattle ranching. (Milk)
• The bottom right quadrant has the lowest rainfall with only a few herd of cattle (Milk).
• “…the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.”

(8)

• This is a list of the pagan tribes of people that lived in the promised land. They were not united tribes and did not have a central government. They did not possess all of the promised land, only random sections of it.
• The Canaanites were the largest Semitic group of people that inhabited the area of the promised land along the coast and to the north and also the Jordan River Valley.
• The Hittites were a large Indo-European group of people that in about 1800 BC established an empire in Asia Minor. They descended from Heth in Gen 23:3. A group of Hittites inhabited the area of the city of Hebron in the time of the books of Exodus and Joshua.
• The Amorites were a desert people who came from the East and were scattered in the hill country on either side of the Jordan River with a high concentration of them on the East side of the Jordan River.
• The Perizzites were a people about which little is known.
• The Hivites come from one of the sons of Canaan in Gen 10:17. They settled primarily in the area of Lebanon.
• The Jebusites were descended from a son of Canaan in Gen 10:16. They lived in the area of Jerusalem for at that time the city was called Jebus.
• What promises does God give for His people?
• Deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
• The promised land that God gave to Abraham in Genesis.
• A deliverer, Moses, who would lead God’s people back to Israel.
• These three promises to God’s people in Egypt are the same three promises God gives to the world through Jesus Christ:
• God promises the sinner a deliverance from the world system (Egypt = Satan’s kingdom).
• God promises the sinner eternal life in the Kingdom of God (the promised land).
• God promises all of these through a deliverer, Jesus Christ.
• “…I will send thee unto Pharaoh”

(10)

• In God’s plan of guidance, He gives the believer only the first step and a broad outline of the plan.
• Moses’ first step was to go to Pharaoh.
• What do we learn about God from this passage?
• God reveals himself as omniscient (all knowing). He constantly knows the condition of His people.
• In this capacity of knowing their condition, He is also sensitive to their feelings and merciful in His actions.
• God reveals himself as holy and unapproachable by man’s sinful nature.
• God reveals himself as omnipotent (all powerful) with an ability to act in and through history according to His will.
• Read Exo 3:11-22
• Moses’ hesitancy:
• Moses makes some wrong responses to God’s calling, and this is where many believers stop and never see God use them:

• “Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

(11)

• This is a false sense of humility. Notice that Moses says “I” three times. He is thinking that he must do this in his own strength.
• To serve God, you must know who you are in Jesus Christ, for the believer has no worth or power in himself. All worth and power comes from God through the Holy Spirit.
• This is a very important kingdom principle:
• Read 1 Cor 1:27
• God could not use Moses 40 years earlier because Moses was too strong. After 40 years in the desert, Moses was now weak, without influence, power, or wealth. Now God could use him.
• We will see that five times Moses will try to put aside God’s calling. (3:11, 13; 4:1, 10, 13)

• “…what shall I say unto them?”

(13)

• This is doubt regarding God’s calling.
• God does not debate with Moses regarding the calling. God only reassures Moses of God’s presence.
• “…ye shall serve God upon this mountain.”

(12)

• It is because of this verse, and the meaning of the name Mt. Sinai, that many people feel that Mt. Horeb and Mt. Sinai are the same mountain.
• Therefore, when Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt, he knew exactly where he would take them.
• “…I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

(14)

• What exactly does this name mean and what is its significance?
• The meaning:
• The name, I am, is formed from a tetragram of 4 Hebrew letters, YHWH, which we pronounce Jehovah. However, no one really knows how to pronounce it. The Jews treated the name of God as something sacred, too sacred to say. Therefore, over time, they forgot how to pronounce it.
• The meaning of the phrase, “I am that I am” is = I am the one who is. In other words, He is the self-existent God who has always existed.
• The significance:
• The name “I AM” is open-ended.
• Jesus completed the open-ended aspect by adding descriptive nouns:
• I am the bread, I am the life, etc.
• These descriptive nouns indicate that God meets certain specific needs in man’s life.
• It means God is a living God who is always present no matter what epoch of time.
• Read Heb 13:8
• God is the covenant God of the past, the compassionate God of the present, and the consummate God of the future.
• “…this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”

(15)

• The name, “I AM” is the eternal name for God, the Father. (Psa 135:13)
• The name, “THE WORD” is the eternal name for Jesus, the Son.(Rev 19:13 Joh 1:1, 14)
• The name, “THE COMFORTER” and “THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH” are the two names for the Holy Spirit (Joh 14-16)
• What tasks was Moses to perform for God?
• He must go to Pharaoh.
• He must present himself before his people as their leader sent by God.
• He must share the message of deliverance and promise to his people.
• He must lead his people out of Egypt to Mt. Sinai (Mt. Horeb) and then to the promised land.
• What promises are given to God’s people?
• A promise of deliverance from Egypt. (17)
• A promise to RETURN to Israel (17)
• Pharaoh will eventually listen to Moses and let them go. (18)
• In three days after leaving Egypt they will worship God in the wilderness. (18)
• When Pharaoh does not let them go, God will perform miracles. (19-20)
• They will come out of Egypt with gold, silver, jewels, and rich clothing. (22)
• The word, “borrow” in verse 22 means to collect wages that are past due. The Israelites had served without pay for hundreds of years. When they came out of Egypt, they would collect these past wages from the Egyptians.

HOMEWORK
EXODUS 4
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Exo 3
• From what you learn in Chapter 3 about the nature and character of God, what in this lesson meets the needs in your personal life today?
• Preparation for Exo 4
• Read Exo 4:1-9
• What is the message of leadership in the rod and the serpent?
• What is the message of leadership in the hand and the leprosy?
• What is the message of the blood on the land?
• Read Exo 4:10-17
• What is Moses’ rod supposed to symbolize?
• Read Exo 4:18-31
• What marital problem did Moses have with his wife Zipporah?
• Through all of this chapter, what were Moses’ excuses for not obeying God’s calling?
• Memory Verse: Exodus 4:12