It's good to be back again for another series. I see the dark nights are beginning to close in on us. But the good news is it's only about 16 or 17 weeks to Christmas. Can't wait. I want to read a number of scriptures tonight, please. Beginning in the book of Exodus chapter 1. Exodus chapter 1 and commencing at verse number 7. Perhaps verse number 6. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more mightier than we. Come on, let us deal wisely with them. lest they multiply, and it come to pass that when they fall without any war, they join also unto our enemies and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore did they set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Ramesses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew, and they were grieved because of the children of Israel. Verse 15. And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shephra and the other Phua. And he said, when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew woman, and see them upon the stools. If it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. Verse 20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son. And when she saw him, that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. And the sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side, When she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew woman, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go, and the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter. And he became her son, and she called his name Moses. And she said, because I drew him out of the water. Now, turn over to the book of Deuteronomy, please, and chapter 34. Deuteronomy chapter 34. And verse number seven. And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. Verse 10. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent them to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel. And finally, in the New Testament, a brief reading in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11. Hebrews 11 and verse number 23. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured to seeing him who is invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, which the Egyptians, a saying to do, were drowned. Now that's all I want to read and thank you for your patience in that rather lengthy reading of the scriptures. Now, it has been my exercise for these meetings to take up a character study that I have never embarked upon before, and that is the life of Moses. And what I want to do tonight is just to try and give an overview of the life of Moses and then a few brief thoughts with regard to his birth. It was once said by Theodore Epp of the radio Bible class that few studies had affected his life and ministry more than the study of the life of Moses. And well it will be for us if these studies on these evenings would have the same effect upon us. The Bible records many details of the life of this man. In Deuteronomy 33 and 1 and Ezra 3 verse 2, he is called Moses, the man of God. In Deuteronomy 34 and 5, he is Moses, the servant of the Lord. When God called Joshua to replace him, he said, Moses, my servant is dead. In Deuteronomy 34, 7, where we have read tonight, we read that his lifespan was 120 years. And that 120 years has often been divided up into three parts. 40 years in Egypt, thinking he was a somebody. 40 years in the wilderness of Midian, learning that he was a nobody. And 40 years leading God's people through the wilderness learning what God can do with a nobody that is totally yielded to himself. When he died, Deuteronomy 34 7 that we have read says, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. He was truly a remarkable man. Deuteronomy 34 10 says that there arose not a prophet in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. Indeed, when we come over to the New Testament, we discover that it was he alone with the prophet Elijah that was privileged to stand with Jesus. on the Mount of Transfiguration, a tremendous moment and a great honour. It's interesting to notice that his life story is told on the page of Scripture right from birth to death. For Elijah, whom I mentioned a moment ago, he is just introduced at the beginning of his ministry as Elijah the Tishbite, he was of the inhabitants of Gilead, 1 Kings 17.1. Moses was a man on such intimate terms with God that it says the Lord speak to him face to face as a man speaks to his friend. And yet, in spite of that, like all others, he was a man of like passions such as we are. When he relied on self, he experienced failure and weakness. When he relied on God, he experienced victory and strength. And the key to that victory and strength in the life of Moses was communion with God. And the divine commentary of Hebrews chapter 11 shows that the secret was faith. By faith, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king. Through faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea on dry land. This then was the great underlying secret of the life of Moses. It was all by faith. And like Enoch who lived long before him, Moses would realize that without faith it is impossible to please God. And that is a principle which still applies today. Paul said, we walk by faith and not by sight. And it is faith that pleases God. You know, in the matter of salvation, for example, The Bible says, by grace are you saved through faith. There's a whole lot of people who would like to think that by grace are you saved through feelings. But it is not feelings that saves us all, it is faith, and faith in Christ. And it is faith in Christ alone that enables us to maintain a daily walk with God from day to day. What a great mistake we make when we think that men like Moses were extraordinary in their qualities or strength of courage. To do so is to miss the real vital point, that they are all only people of weakness, but through faith they were made strong. They obtained promises. they subdued kingdoms. And it is to be noticed that it was not faith alone, but faith alone in the right person. Not in themselves, not in a system, not in a church, not in a denomination, but faith in God. Jesus said, have faith in God. The man called Norman Vincent Peden, who was a great preacher of positive thinking theology. Now, I don't know whether the man was a genuine believer or not, but I would kind of doubt it. He told people that If they lived by the theory that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, nothing would be impossible. But then, he went on to say, if you're not a Christian, for example, say you're an Islam follower, well then just say I can do all things through Muhammad who strengthens me, or through Buddha who strengthens me. You know, I mean, It is only from the God of glory through the person of Christ that we receive sufficient strength from day to day. And indeed Moses had that faith. Faith is not a special quality for certain persons. It's available to all men. And true faith commits itself to God, expecting that God will work out his purpose in the individual life, and thus, as I've already quoted, we walk by faith and not by sight. It has been said that there are at least five elements to true faith. There must be a sense of helplessness and nothingness. It's the idea of being poor in spirit, of ourselves spiritually bankrupt. The one who truly reaches that point and casts himself upon the Lord is the person who can say with Paul, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Then true faith involves an absolute assurance of being in God's will. A person cannot believe God and have faith if they are not confident that they are walking in the will of God. Someone has said that to know the will of God is the greatest knowledge. To find the will of God is the greatest discovery. And to do the will of God is the greatest achievement. There must be total commitment and surrender. so that God may work out his will and purpose in a believer's life. One of the purposes of presenting oneself to God as specified in Romans chapter 12 is that you might know that good and perfect and acceptable will of God. True faith must be fed by daily study of the word. Only then can one be built up in their holy faith. I was speaking last night down in the People's Hall in County Down, going through Bible studies in the book of the Acts, and we were in Acts chapter nine. And there's a verse in Acts chapter nine which says about the early church that they were edified and walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. They were multiplying. You see, there had to be edification before there could be multiplication. And the only source of edification for the child of God is the Word of God. And only as we feed upon the Word of God do we enjoy the blessings of God, and is God's truth blessed in the extension and expansion of the Church of Jesus Christ. You know, entertainment programs, gospel concerts, and all that sort of thing, edify nothing, really, at the end of the day. The only thing that edifies is God's holy word. May God help us to continually feed upon it. That we might be built up in our most holy faith. There must be a willingness to act in dependence upon God. Faith alone, depending on the faithfulness of God. Brother quoted in prayer that lovely verse from Isaiah, that he shall not fail. So we stand on the promises of God and we claim them by faith and we depend on the faithfulness of the Lord. A person with true faith will act by faith and go forward with God irrespective of what obstacles may lie in the way. Moses had no doubt great intellectual powers through his learning in Egypt. But it was not these abilities that gave him success. It was rather the faith toward God that was in his soul. Someone has said that his faith sufficed to do what other qualities without faith would have failed to do. And of course, this walk of faith had to be developed. It wasn't learned in a day. And then the passage that we have read in chapter two of Exodus, we have the beginning of God training his servant Moses. After his first failure in Egypt, followed by 40 years in the backside of the desert, the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter learned to believe and trust God as he shepherded sheep in a strange land. His first great attempt at the emancipation of his people turned out to be a tragedy because it was conducted in the energy of the flesh. And he was allowed to feel in order that he might learn the lesson that Jesus taught, that the flesh profiteth nothing and without him we can do nothing. God permitted that faith to teach his servant these lessons and so Moses was forced to flee to Midian where probably he may have abandoned all hope of ever delivering God's people. Up till then you see Moses believed that he was God's man and maybe he took pride in it. He thought that Israel would recognize him as the deliverer, but they didn't. In fact, the reaction when he first came to them was, who do you think you are? Who gave you authority to be a ruler over us? Ah, you know, I remember when I rededicated my life to the Lord back in 1970, 19 years of age, I thought all the believers would rejoice, you know, how wrong I was. One dear old sister who is now with the Lord and who in later years was more kindly disposed to me to be fair to her, I actually took her funeral service. Way back in those days in 1970 on an occasion in conversation with others about assembly matters, I made a personal opinion comment And she turned on me and she said, sure, what do you know? You do nothing for the assembly anyway. And she went on to say that both my mother and I were carried away with every wind of doctrine. It kind of knocks the pride out of you, you know. And God indeed has a way of doing that and teaching you that apart from him, we're absolutely nothing. In exile and solitude, Moses was reduced to nothing. In fact, he became so convinced of his own unsuitability that God had to work hard upon him to get him to where he wanted him, as we'll see God willing in evenings to come. What was happening out there in Midian was that Moses was learning to die to self. And once again, in this 21st century, as believers, we need to be continually reminded that we have died with Christ, that we might live on to God in Him. God had separated Abraham from the nations of the world and promised him a seed greater in multitude than the sands of the sea. He made with him an everlasting covenant. Note the word everlasting. We dealt with the covenants on one occasion many years ago. It's an everlasting covenant. That the land would belong to his seed forever, and it still does. The promise was confirmed to Isaac and Jacob, And after a personal encounter with God, Jacob was renamed Israel, a prince with God. His 12 sons were the fathers of the 12 tribes. And although God had shown Abraham that they would be taken down into Egypt, where after the deaths of Joseph, a new dynasty arose and a pharaoh who knew not Joseph. And so the people of Israel in Egypt had actually According to Joshua 24, 14, begun to worship the idols of the heathen. They were taken into captivity, probably thought all future hope was gone. But you see, no matter how dark things get for Israel, God will always remember his everlasting covenant of promise. And so a man would be prepared to lead them out of bondage and that man's name was Moses. And once Moses was totally surrendered to God, God would use him to do mighty things for the deliverance of the enslaved people. There are no limits even today to what God can do with such a person, one who dares to believe and obey and walk by faith alone. A Christian must ask, am I willing to be counted dead to my own will, to my own energy, to my own ambition, Am I willing to go where God wants me to go and do what God wants me to do even when it seems a humanly impossible task? Moses became that kind of person. And the scripture reveals to us what God did in him and through him once he had him under complete control. You see, God wants to have his people under complete control. That's what Paul said in Ephesians chapter six, or was it chapter five? He said, be ye controlled by the Holy Spirit of God. A person out of control is out of fellowship with God and can't be used by God to the full extent a person controlled by the Spirit of God, there is no knowing what God can accomplish through them. Now the life of Moses presents a number of contrasts. He was the son of a slave, but he was adopted by a princess. He was born in a hut and he lived in a palace. He inherited poverty and he grew up in unlimited wealth. He was a leader of armies and a keeper of flocks. He was educated in the court and he dwelt in the desert. He was a fugitive from Pharaoh, but an ambassador for God. He died alone on a mountain in Moab, but he appeared with Christ on a mountain in Israel. No man officiated at his funeral, yet he was buried by God himself. Now, as I have said, the background to his birth was the bondage of Israel in Egypt. And as we consider this man, there are perhaps two ways that we can see him. We can see him personally, and we can see him typically. In his personal life, there are many lessons to learn as to how God raised him, trained him, and used him. Looking at him typically, we see him as a type of Christ. Deuteronomy 18, he said, The Lord, thy God, will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thy brethren, like unto me, unto him shall ye hearken. All of that we will see, God willing, in the future. So now tonight, we want to begin with the birth of Moses. Exodus 2, verses 1 to 10. In that passage, we are not told the names of his parents, only that they were both of the tribe of Levi. And it says that when he was born, his mother saw that he was a goodly child. Now, the word goodly refers to form and to beauty. It's the same as Hebrews 11, 23, where he is called a proper child. The word means beautiful and well-formed. Stephen uses the same Greek word in Acts chapter 7 verse number 20 where it's translated that he was exceeding fair. Acts 7 20 shows along with Exodus 2 verse 2 that his mother hid him for three months. Now what kind of national circumstances was Moses born into? It was a particularly sad time for the nation of Israel. They were a nation of slaves in the land of Egypt. However, if you read chapter one carefully, they were experiencing a population explosion to the point where Pharaoh, as we read, was greatly concerned And the fear he had was that the Israelites would become so numerous that they would rise up in rebellion and align themselves with Egypt's enemies and overthrow the government and take the throne. It says in Exodus 1, verse 7, that they were fruitful, increased abundantly, waxed exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. So Pharaoh made a decision. He decided to make them slaves and sent taskmasters over them. Taskmasters who would afflict them with burdens of hard labor as they built for him the treasure cities of Pithom and Ramesses. Now there were three things at work here behind the scenes. Of course, you know, you have to realize that it wasn't just a matter of Moses versus Pharaoh. It was God versus Satan. Satan had his man in the form of Pharaoh. God would have his man in the form of Moses. And the power of Satan was centered in this evil king. You know, Satan has always directed his power against Israel and the Jews. He did so here in Egypt, and he failed. He did so in the days of Esther, and he failed. He did so at the birth of Christ, and he failed. Now, of course, the purpose was the genocide of the entire race, because if Satan could wipe out the Jewish nation, that would prevent the coming of the promised deliverer. the seed of the woman. And let me say, nothing has changed, he's still at it today. In modern history, he used Nazi Germany, Spanish Inquisition, the Six Days War in 1967, the 70s Yom Kippur War, and he failed in every one of them. But still in spite of all attempts, Israel prospers. Why? Because God is on their side. And have God before them who can be against them. Well, so someone I can understand Satan trying to prevent Messiah coming. But since he has come, why continue the onslaught? Well, you see, today it's all about trying to prevent Messiah's second advent. There's a scripture in the A.V. which reads of Israel that they shall look on him whom they have pierced, but it's an unfortunate translation. It ought to be that they shall look to him whom they have pierced. And in a day of greater bondage than Egypt ever was, when the world is dominated by the man of sin, a godly remnant of Israel will look alone to Christ and call upon him. And Jesus pointed out that he would not return until they called upon his name, saying, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So today Satan still tries to exterminate the Jewish nation to prevent a remnant of repentant persons eventually calling upon the Lord and thus he imagines so foolishly that he could prevent the return of the King. God has made a decree. And God has decreed that in spite of satanic action and man's rebellion, I will set my king upon the holy hill of Zion. So while we see here the power of Satan at work through Pharaoh, we also see the power of God at work in the lives of godly persons and the power of faith. Now Exodus 1, 13, the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. The word means severity and cruelty. Yet the more they afflicted them, the more they grew. Seems to be always that way with Israel, you know. The more you persecute them, the more they grow and expand, the more they prosper. So Pharaoh reckoned that more drastic measures were needed to be taken. Little did he realise that it would be one of those very drastic measures that would actually be the downfall of the nation. You know, Adolf Hitler thought he could solve what he termed the Jewish problem by murdering six million in the gas chambers. And today the devil is so blinding the minds of modern men that there are people going about trying to tell us now that the Holocaust never happened. But while World War I provided a land for the people, World War II provided a people for the land. As multitudes of Jews hunted out of Europe fled back to their homeland. How often the devil oversteps and outsmarts himself and was foiled by his very own weapon. Pharaoh, who he was using to frustrate the purposes of God, is used of God to nourish, bring up Moses, and to be God's instrument of deliverance. How remarkable the providence of God. Take this land here for an example. As a result of the Good Friday Agreement, One of the organisers of terror became the Deputy First Minister. Shared power with the First Minister, a born again believer. Some of the Deputy's own family got saved and witnessed to him before he died. And I can't judge, but I would not be at all surprised if the late Deputy First Minister is now in the glory, saved by grace. Truly God's ways are not our ways. So Pharaoh, a power for evil, gives the midwives that attended the births of the Hebrew children instructions to kill all Hebrew sons. However, Exodus 117, the midwives feared God. Here's another power at work, the power of the fear of God. So the midwives did not obey the word of the king, and God dealt well with them. because they obeyed him rather than man. The names of the midwives, Shifra means beauty and Fua means splendid light. Truly in a dark and dreadful day, they were a splendid light of beauty. and testimony for God. Just as we today are called to shine as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, Campbell Morgan said, the dark days give excellent opportunity for lights to shine. And it says that God rewarded the midwives with houses. In other words, Those who honoured God in preserving the Hebrew babies were honoured with children of their own. So when the slaughter of the babies couldn't be accomplished through the midwives, Pharaoh made a general decree throughout all the land that all Hebrew male babies were to be cast into the river. The Nile to Pharaoh was the equivalent of the gas chambers to Hitler. Thus it was necessary for Moses to be hid by his mother for three months. Now, if you compare scripture with scripture, you will find, as I have briefly alluded to a moment ago, That the pressure brought to bear upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians had a great detrimental effect upon many Israelites. And the indication is that under pressure, some of them departed from the living God and turned to idolatry. Such a conclusion can be drawn from Joshua 24, 14, where Joshua said, put away the gods that your fathers served in Egypt. There's a similar passage in Ezekiel chapter 20. And because it's less familiar, I want to turn to it briefly for a moment, just to read a couple of verses. Ezekiel chapter 20. And the Lord says to the prophet in verse number five, say to them, thus saith the Lord God, in the day when I chose Israel and lifted up my hand onto the seat of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand onto them saying, I am the Lord your God. In the day that I lifted up my hand onto them to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had aspired for them, flowing with milk and honey, get this bit, which is the glory of all lands. And it still is. But look at verse seven. Then said I unto them, cast ye away every man the abomination of his eyes, and defy not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled against me. and would not hearken unto me, and they did not every man cast away the abomination of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. You see, that's a tremendous passage really. And for the benefit of a millennialist, If you read the latter part of the chapter, verse 33 to 44, it speaks of the future restoration of the remnant, as do many other passages, not least of all Revelation chapter 12. Well, says Ezekiel, the people defiled themselves in Egypt with idols and rebellion. Even after they came out, they didn't forsake the Egyptian idols, and such was the idol of the golden calf, because the calf was one of the things that Egypt worshipped. It has its origin there. Yet, God always had a faithful remnant. And so it was in Egypt. Even amongst the idolatrous corruption, there were some Israelite families that remained faithful to Jehovah. The parents of Moses, named in chapter 6 verse 20 as Amra and Jacobed, were a shining example of this. They believed God and had confidence that he would deliver them out of Egypt. This was the third power that was at work. The power of evil, the power of the fear of God in the midwives, but now the power of faith in the parents of Moses. No doubt, They were aware of God's promise to Abraham that in the fourth generation after his death, the Israelites would be delivered out of Egypt. When therefore Moses was born, the 400 years were drawing to an end. Moses was one of the fourth generation and his parents felt they had good reason to believe that their son would have an important part to play in Israel's deliverance. Whether or not they completely understood it, Moses was God's sovereign choice to lead the people out of bondage. You know, the question has sometimes been asked, why did God not choose Aaron, the older brother, for this task? But then God does not always do the things that we assume to be logical. God had a special plan for Moses and while Aaron would be part of it, Moses was the specific individual whom God had chosen. Perhaps it's a case of the great scriptural principle of God taking up the second man in preference to the elder brother. The faith therefore of Moses' parents caused them To make a choice which would not only affect their immediate family, but the entire nation. How important for Christian parents to recognize that children are a gift from God, loaned to them by God for spiritual training. It's not enough to provide them with physical and material things. They must be trained and taught spiritually, like Timothy. who was taught the scriptures by his mother and his grandmother. The parents of Moses showed him a good example. They walked by faith. They demonstrated it at Moses' birth. And when the baby was 12 weeks old, could no longer be hid, they prepared for him an ark of bulrushes. Hebrews 11, 23 speaks about their faith in this respect. and later Moses would show forth the same faith in forsaking Egypt and refusing the honours of the king. The parents of Moses were practically unknown as members of a nation in slavery. Yet they are listed in Faith's Hall of Fame, Hebrews 11. It shows so clearly that God does not reward for being famous. but God does reward for being faithful. And so to us the Lord would say today, be thou faithful unto death and I will give to thee a crown of life. We may travel a while here as strangers, unnoticed by those who pass by, but the Saviour shall crown us in glory to shine as the stars of the sky. We may live in a tent or a cottage, or die in seclusion alone, but the Father who seeth in secret remembers each one of his own. We shall shine as the stars of the morning with Jesus the crucified one. We shall rise to be like him in glory, eternally shine as the sun. I'm reminded just as I speak of that other little hymn which says, In land or store I may be poor, My name unknown, my place obscure, But of this I have the witness sure, O bless the Lord, I've Jesus. Looking at the example of the faith of Moses' parents, we see tremendous truths about the realities of faith. It says in Hebrews 11, 23 that they observed that Moses was a proper child. They saw more than just a newborn baby. They realized that this was a birth in the sovereign purposes of God for the nation. You see, the Bible says, Hebrews 11, 1, that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. And here we have a couple hoping for the deliverance of Israel and somehow it seems to have been revealed to them that the evidence of that deliverance lay before them in the form of Jochebed's boy child Moses. Come across the years to a manger in Bethlehem where a greater than Moses is born And the shepherds sent by God came to visit, and told of the angelic announcement, Mary pondered these things in her heart. see them a few days later when they bring Mary's boy child to the temple. And old Simeon took the baby in his arms and said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Moses would deliver his people from Egypt, but Jesus would save his people from their sins. And the point is that in both cases, those who walk by faith could see what others couldn't see walking by sight. well might Paul pray that the eyes of our understanding would be opened. Remember that occasion when by night a great host besieged the city of Dothan where Elisha was and to his faithful servant the prophet he said fear not He prayed to God that the young man's eyes might be opened. And when they were, he saw that the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire, the angel hosts of God. Yes, by faith, Moses' parents saw what other people couldn't see. But then secondly, we see that their faith was active. And because of faith in God, they had Moses three months. Having faith that God had a purpose was not enough. They had to act upon it. Faith overcame their fear. Of course, faith and fear can never abide together. And so they were not afraid of the king's commandment, Hebrews 11, 23. Just as the three Hebrew slaves were not afraid of the commandment of the king in Babylon and would not bow to worship the image, but were preserved by God in the fiery furnace. Johnny Cash said they wouldn't bow, they wouldn't bend, they wouldn't burn. And what about Daniel himself? He had no fear of the king's decree, continued with his public prayer life, and God preserved him in the lion's den. If you go to 2 Chronicles 22, you read of another child hidden in a day of great persecution. His name was Joash. And Jehoshapheth, the daughter of King Jehoram, hid him. So they slew him that, hid him for six years. And in his seventh year, he became king and did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. Sometimes, in days of difficulty and departure, we are tempted to think that we should give up, that there are no faithful ones left. Make no mistake about it, God will always have his faithful remnant hidden here and there. When Elijah complained that there was no one left but himself, the Lord showed him that there were yet 7,000 in Israel that had not bowed to Baal. The third thing is that faith takes risks. At the time of Moses' birth, it was commanded by Pharaoh that all male babies were to be killed, so his parents must take risk with their own lives to preserve the life of the child. The time came when they could no longer conceal him in their own home. So the mother of Moses made a little ark of bulrushes, dubbed it with slime and pitch. She put the baby in it and laid it in the flags by the river Brink. It involved a great risk and great faith to entrust a little baby to that little ark. It involved committing him entirely to the Lord. If he were to live, the parents must face the fact that he was as good as dead. For the chances were that if he were discovered by an Egyptian, he would be put to death. But then on the other hand, this little ark declared the mother's confidence in God. Perhaps she was thinking of how many years before God had preserved Noah and his family and a host of animals in a much larger ark. By faith, Noah prepared an ark to the saving of his house. By faith, Jochebed prepared an ark to the saving of her son. The little ark was designed by the heart and hand of faith, a vessel of mercy to carry a proper child safely over death's dark waters to a place of safety ordained by God. Acts 7.20 describes Moses at this point as being cast out, but in being cast out, he was being cast upon God. At this point, when his parents realized that they were helpless and the child as good as dead, then God steps in and God begins to work. By faith, Moses' parents led whole upon the sovereignty of God. They trusted Moses to God's keeping. After, of course, having committed themselves to God firstly. The Bible commands all believers to do the same. Psalm 37 5 says, commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. All Christians should be able to say with Paul, I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day. God honoured the faith of the parents and provided for the needs of the child. So the child is in the ark, and the ark is in the water, and now two daughters come on the scene. There's Miriam, the daughter of Amram and Jacobet. She was the sister of Moses, and then there was the daughter of Pharoah. Now look what it says about Miriam. It says that she stood afar off to see what would be done unto him. C.H. Macintosh suggests that in taking up that position, she revealed that she was not of the same measure of faith as her mother, and perhaps that might be so. It reminds us of Peter, you know, on the night of Christ's betrayal. It says of him that he followed afar off to see the end. Poor old Peter. He thought it was the end of everything that night. It was all over as far as Peter was concerned. Little did he know it was only the beginning. And so Miriam had no doubt deep interest in the faction but perhaps a lack of the faith that was in her parents. You will note that in Hebrews chapter 11 there is no mention of Miriam's faith. Jochebed did not stand afar off to see what would happen to her child. Her faith may well have been mistaken for indifference, but no, her heart was fixed, trusting in the Lord. Next upon the scene comes Pharaoh's daughter and her maidens. She has come to wash. And as she walked along the river bank, she saw the little ark and sent an attendant to fetch it. And at this point, there are a number of unanswered questions. Did the mother of Moses deliberately put the ark there because she knew it was the king's daughter's bathing place? Had she hoped that the princess would take pity on the child? Is it possible that when the ark was opened, that the princess realized that she was part of a Hebrew plot, but needing an heir to the throne, she went along with it thinking that she could adopt him and turn him into an Egyptian prince? If so, she was greatly mistaken, because she might take the child out of Israel, but she would never take Israel out of the child. Whatever the case, the ark is opened, the child is seen, and he begins to cry. The princess' heart is touched, and although she recognizes a Hebrew child, she has compassion upon him. Here is the beginning of the divine response to a mother's heart of faith. and it's brought about by a baby's cry. Rationalism, scepticism, infidelity, atheism would laugh at such an idea. But faith can also laugh and faith always has the last laugh. The two kinds of laughter are very different, you know. The former laughs in cold contempt at the thought of divine intervention in the trifling affair of a royal maiden's walk by the side of the river and a little baby's cry. The latter laughs with gladness at the thought that God is in control of a maiden's walk and that the baby cries at just the right moment. and overcomes all political and religious prejudice by an infant's tears for the glory of God. How good is the God we adore. If God was ever in anything, he was surely in this. Salvation provided for the nation through Moses. You know, as it was said of Esther, For such a time as this art thou come to the kingdom. It could equally have been said of Pharaoh's daughter, for such a time as this art thou come to the river. Here is a Gentile unbeliever from the very home of the Jewish oppressor, used of God to save and preserve not only Moses, but the nation of Israel that Pharaoh hated, and eventually all believers upon whom would come the promises of God through Jesus Christ. And it is no exaggeration to say that Moses saved from the waters of Egypt eventually resulted by God's grace in Christ to you and I been saved from the judgment of hell. Truly he maketh the wrath of man to praise him. It is then at this point that the sister Miriam springs into action, appearing suddenly to suggest that she could go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child. Now, unless Pharaoh's daughter was extremely naive, surely, she must have realised at this point that this was a setup. Or did God blind her understanding to fulfil his own purpose? We don't know. Whatever, Pharaoh's daughter agreed and said, go, and Miriam went, and she called the child's mother. Can you imagine the joy that must have filled the mother's heart? to know the boy was safe and was to be returned to her to nurse him. Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, his ways are past finding out, Romans 11, 33. Can you grasp the picture here? Jochebed takes the child, her child, and is paid by the palace to nurse it. Just think of it. I think it must have been the first occurrence of state benefit and family allowance. It was all of God. A peasant woman, a slave's cottage, a condemned baby, and the very state that condemned the child is now paying for his upkeep. What praise must have ascended to God in the home that night? And what about God's marvelous dealings with us? The psalmist said, he sent from above. He took and drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and them that hated me. The wisest plan that Pharaoh could come up with was destroy all the baby boys to protect the Egyptian nation. that God worked in such a way to preserve Moses and reveal the foolishness of Pharaoh. For in the end, Pharaoh was forced to give room and board and provision and training to the one person who would accomplish the very thing that Pharaoh was trying to prevent. Pharaoh's wisdom was turned to foolishness. Satan's devices were defeated. Job 5.13 says, God taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the forward is carried headlong. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 comes to mind. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than man, and therefore no flesh should glory in his presence. Let God alone be glorified. May he be so in our lives also for his name's sake. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank thee for thy word. And we thank thee for the way in which thou didst work.