READING FOR JUNE 18, 2024: EXODUS 5, EPHESIANS 2, PSALM 55:9-19 EXODUS 5 Notice in all these exchanges between Moses and Pharoah, Moses always asked Pharoah to let the people go; he never just leaves without permission. He is following the principle Paul develops in Romans 13 of obeying the governing authority, even an evil one. And evil Pharoah was by construing this request to worship the one true God as evidence that the people were lazy. Pharaoh exemplifies evil leadership. Any work supervisor, teacher, or parent who requires an unfair burden of work is following in Pharoah’s footsteps and likely will experience a Pharoah-sized disaster.
In the short term, the Israelites suffered and blamed Moses. Leadership is no walk in the park, even when serving God. In fact, the people implied it was Moses’s sin that had caused this crisis. At this point, it is impossible not to sympathize with Moses. He rightly took his concerns to the Lord. God’s plan had thus far made life worse for Moses and His people than it was before they had begun to obey God. Of course, God’s perspective is far greater than any person, church, denomination, or nation. If we obey Him, life might get worse in the short term from a worldly perspective, but His ways are far better and grander than ours.
EPHESIANS 2 Paul says that, before knowing Jesus, the Ephesians were dead people, walking in the ways of Satan and that everyone else was in the same position. Recall in Psalm 55:1, David said, “No one does good.” Also remember the chart from our Ephesians 1 study that, although there was considerable disagreement on other points, both John Calvin and John Wesley saw the Bible as clear on the point Paul makes here: We are all dead in our sins and objects of God’s wrath before receiving Jesus by grace through faith. This, however, is one central point where the Gospel is currently under attack!
The language used by those who distort the Gospel sounds good and is partially true. It states, “We are all God’s children no matter what we believe because we all possess God’s image (Gen. 1).” The complete truth is that because of the fall in Genesis 3, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God. That’s the bad news, the reality that we all must first accept. But thanks be to God, in our hopeless condition, God loved us. He sent His only Son to die, paying for our great sins. Now we can be raised with Jesus to heaven forever more because of Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” In our utter sinfulness we are incapable of making ourselves acceptable to our holy creator God. It is God’s grace that saves through the faith He provides. More good news (vs.10): once saved, we find new purpose in life doing the work God provides us.
READING FOR JUNE 18, 2024 CONTINUED: EPHESIANS 2, PSALM 55:9-19 Paul now begins to work out the interpersonal implications of this foundational truth. As we are learning from the Old Testament, only Abraham’s circumcised descendants (Israel) were people of God’s covenant. The covenant and the Mosaic lawcreated a separation between Israel and the Gentiles. BUT NOW: “But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Eph.2:13-14).
Finally, we can now live together as God’s children of faith. We all have equal access through Jesus the Son in the Holy Spirit to God the Father (vs 2:18). We are, as the Gaither hymn says, “a part of the family of God.” We are all built on the same unchanging foundation of the prophets, apostles, and Jesus--accessible to us through God’s word. We all should be growing together as a holy temple or dwelling place of God. We can unite in love for God and each other around this work of Jesus, while not letting anything or anyone sow discord by distorting our understanding of this unique work by God on our behalf.
PSALM 55:9-19 David begins to identify the nature of the threat against him, along with some precise requests. His request for God to divide their tongues reminds us of how God frustrated the attempts of the people at Babel to construct a tower to heaven. Thus, this threat likely included a conspiracy against him. David said all this was not the worst part, though. What really troubled him was that a long-trusted friend was involved, someone who had even participated in worship with David. Perhaps some of us have had this experience. No wonder David is so distraught. The timing of this threat is not mentioned. It is interesting, though, that David, himself, was guilty of murdering his faithful friend Uriah. Then much later, of course, one of Jesus’s closest ministry partners, Judah, betrayed His master leading to Jesus’s death.
David now petitions God to take their lives away their lives. This is quite a drastic measure, but David is convinced their actions are evil (which could be defined as acting against God) and that they endanger the city (vs. 9-10). Notice also that David does not take this action himself but prays that God would do so in accordance with Deuteronomy 32:35-36: “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution; In due time their foot will slip. For the day of their disaster is near, and the impending things are hurrying to them. For the Lord will vindicate His people, and will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, and there is none remaining, bond or free.” In fact, his words in verses 18-19 begin to convey the same confidence that rings out in this passage from Deuteronomy. Could it be that the very act of prayer builds hope and courage where there was none beforehand?
