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Our thanks for tonight's message is taken from Exodus 3, verses 16 to 22. When God called Moses to go to the Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses asked two questions. Firstly, he asked, "Who am I?" Who was he to undertake such a difficult and dangerous mission? God's response was that it didn't really matter who he was, as long as God was with him. Secondly, Moses asked, "Who are you?" If God was with him, Moses wanted to know what God's name was. God revealed himself as The Great I Am, the eternal, unchangeable, self-existent, and self-sufficient God.

Once Moses had received the answers to those two questions, God proceeded to give specific information as to what he wanted Moses to do. Very seldom would a man receive such explicit instructions in carrying out God's work, but God did that to Moses. In this instruction, God had a message for the Israelites and he had a message for the Egyptians. Tonight, we want to draw spiritual lessons that we may apply to our lives through these two messages.

Firstly, the message for the Israelites. God told Moses to go back to Egypt and speak to the Israelites, and he told him exactly what he must do and say. Verse 16: "Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, 'The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.'" Verse 17: "And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey."

If this message sounds familiar, actually, God had already said all these things to Moses at the beginning of chapter 3, verses 7 and 8. So God was simply repeating his promises. Moses' responsibility was to take God's message and repeat it to the elders of Israel exactly what God had said to him. This is a very important principle for all of us to follow. God has also given us his message as recorded in his word. Our responsibility is to take God's message and repeat it to the people exactly as he has revealed it to us. Our message must never be based on our own ideas, opinions, and suggestions. It is not man's word about God, but rather God's word to men. Just as Moses must not go to the Israelites and give his own personal interpretation of the meaning of the burning bush, or what he thought about who God is and what God would do, he must simply repeat what God had already told him. The words he must repeat to the elders of Israel were the very words of the Almighty God.

God's message to the Israelites contained this wonderful truth about who he was. Basically, it was about what God had done in the past, what God was doing in the present, and what God would be doing in the future. Why do we say that? Notice God first introduced himself as the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. In other words, he was the God of the eternal covenant, who had established a personal saving relationship with his people. He knew his people by their names, each and every one of them—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—and he had a long history of loving and caring for his people.

Well, the Israelites might say, ‘But that was in the past; what about the present?’ At this present moment, God was at work to save his people. How do we know that? That was why he appeared to Moses in the burning bush; that was why he commanded Moses to tell the elders of Israel that all this while, he was watching over them. He knew and cared about what was happening to them. He was ready to do something about it. The Israelites had been enslaved for about 400 years—it was so long that they feared they were forgotten. But all these past 400 years, God was paying close attention to their suffering, and God said—look at the last part of verse 16—"I have surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt." So, the Lord was the God of the past, who had promised salvation to the patriarchs. He was the God of the present, who has sent Moses to save his people, and he was also the God of the future, who would bring them into the Promised Land. Verse 17: "And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey."

Salvation is not only to be saved from something—that is only one part of salvation—but it also includes being saved unto something. When God rescued the Israelites from slavery and captivity, he did not just leave them in the wilderness, but he brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey. So, in a sense, Moses' message to the elders of Israel was that the God of the past, present, and future had sent me to you with this message: that just as he was faithful in the past to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he was also faithful to you in the present. At this very moment, he was watching over you; in fact, all this while, he was watching over you, and now he was ready to execute his sovereign plan. He would not only deliver you out of the oppression of the Egyptians, but he would also bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey.

My friend, how can we apply this truth into our lives? You and I have come to know and believe in this same God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus Christ is the God of the past in that he entered human history when he came into this world. He died on the cross to save sinners from their sins, and he was risen from the dead. Jesus Christ is the God of the present—he's always watching over us, even at this very moment, and he knows all about the events that surround us: our sufferings, the troubles that we face, every aspect of our lives. Jesus Christ is also the God of the future, in that he not only promised to save us from sin and eternal damnation—which he did—but he also promised to bring us into eternal glory. One day, our Lord Jesus will return, and he will bring all of us to be with him forever and ever. Do you believe him? He's the God of the past, present, and future—yesterday, today, and forever.

Our second point is the message for the Egyptians. By the way, the elders of Israel were the leaders of Israel. From here, we can see that God had entrusted the care of his people to a group of men who were given spiritual oversight. Later on, even after Moses became their leader, these elders continued to play a prominent role in the lives of God's people. The New Testament Church is ruled by elders (Presbyterians). We all know that, but actually, this principle goes all the way back to Exodus. Israel was theocratic in that God was their ruler, but God had raised those elders to take care of Israel's spiritual needs, just as God, our Lord Jesus, is the head of our church. The battle belongs to Jesus Christ, but he has raised up elders and pastors to take care of our spiritual needs. Therefore, Moses must first go to the spiritual leaders, the elders of Israel.

But there was another reason why God had commanded Moses to gather all the elders of Israel together and speak to them. Because God did not intend for Moses to approach Pharaoh alone, but with the support of the elders. That was why God said in verse 18: "And they shall hearken to thy voice; and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel." In other words, once Moses had persuaded the spiritual leaders of Israel that indeed God had appeared to him in the burning bush and given him explicit instructions, together with the elders, they would deliver this message to Pharaoh. Look at the last part of verse 18: "Unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, 'The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.'"

The interesting thing is that they were asking the Pharaoh for only three days off, but we all know that God had already promised to lead Israel all the way out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, right? Was God not completely honest with the Pharaoh, and was it a lie? Most certainly not. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Some theologians explain that the Pharaoh had no right to know the truth. That is beside the point, because that will not explain whether God was completely honest or not, and whether this was a lie or not. The best explanation is that Moses and the elders did not say anything false. Initially, they simply requested for a three days' journey into the wilderness.

You see, what was more important than the number of days was the purpose of the request. What the Israelites were requesting was for permission to go into the wilderness and meet their God. In particular, they wanted to worship God; they wanted to restore their covenantal relationship with God by offering sacrifices for their sins. Remember, from the very beginning, the Exodus was for the glory of God

—this entire book was for the glory of God. Therefore, the real question was not how long the Israelites would be away or where, but whether or not the Pharaoh was willing to let them glorify God. So that would be the question. God knew Pharaoh's deep hostility toward his glory. He was not willing to share his glory with anyone; Pharaoh wanted all the glory for himself. He was not even willing to give God three days of glory. So God began with a very modest request to expose the heart of Pharaoh. That was the reason why God said in verse 19: "Even in this modest request, I'm sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand."

God is omniscient, and he knew how hard Pharaoh's heart was. He knew that their request would be denied; even if it was only for three days, Pharaoh would refuse to let his people go. And God knew what it would take to bring Israel out of Egypt: it would take his mighty hand to do so. Then verse 20: "And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go." Here God was revealing, step by step, how the Israelites would be saved. First, Pharaoh's heart would be hardened; then God would stretch out his mighty hand, and they would be plagued by all the wonders God would perform in their midst. That would include the ten plagues he would inflict upon the Egyptians. It was only after that that Pharaoh would let God's people go.

Some people think that God does not know the future or that God is open to possibilities and anything can be possible, or that God's plan can change according to the circumstances. But the God of the Bible, the God of the burning bush, the God whom you and I believe in, is not a God who changes His plans or mixes things up as He goes along. On the contrary, God ordains whatever happens to work according to the eternal counsel of His perfect will. That is our God, my friend. Do you think God does not know about our lives, our families, our church? He has ordained everything according to the eternal counsel of His perfect will.

Take our Sunday school, for example. Today, we see a lot of new faces, as in new teachers. Some of the old teachers had stopped serving because of other commitments; others were called to return to their home countries like Singapore or Malaysia; yet others had left the church for one reason or another. And God has raised up other teachers to do the work. God knows what it takes to remove a person from service and to install another person into service. Deacons were nominated and elected; deacons resigned and were removed from services. God has ordained Pastor Khoo to lead this church; after Pastor Khoo, it is me; after me, there will be someone else to lead this church, if it is God's will for this church to continue until He returns. Nothing happens by chance or coincidence, but by God's appointment.

God knows what it takes for our families to draw closer to Him. Sometimes, He may allow certain trials and tribulations to come into our lives, whether it be the loss of our jobs or sicknesses, to cause us to drop everything else and turn to Him. He may even allow us to continue in our disobedience and rebellion and suffer serious consequences before we humble ourselves and repent. God knows our hearts, just as He knew what was in Pharaoh's heart. He is omniscient; He knoweth all things. So God knew what it would take to bring Israel out of Egypt. In fact, after God had performed all His wonders, not only would Pharaoh let His people go, but he would be so eager to get rid of the Israelites that his own people, the Egyptians, were willing to give them whatever they needed for their journey.

Look at verses 21 and 22: "And I will give these people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: but every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians." This is a fulfilment of the promise that God had given to Abraham in Genesis 15:14. Let me read for you Genesis 15:14: "And also that nation, referring to Egypt, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance."

The word "borrow" simply means to ask or to request, and the word "spoil" means to plunder. Basically, the Egyptians would be plundered. Was it wrong for the Israelites to plunder the Egyptians? Some people look at it as if the Israelites were stealing from the Egyptians. The truth is that God was making sure that His people would be paid for all the work they had done for Pharaoh, which was only fair. Remember, all this while God was watching over the children of Israel. He knew how the Egyptians had treated them. Do you think God will not deal with them? Do you think God will allow His people to be short-changed?

Later on, when God gave His people the law, He made sure that it was stipulated in His law that slaves must never be sent away empty-handed and that they must always be compensated for their labours. You can read about that in Deuteronomy chapter 15. The same thing had happened when Israel returned from Babylon; they were given gold and silver on their return trip to Jerusalem. My friend, isn't it comforting to know that God will not let His people be short-changed?

Have you ever been deceived, cheated, and short-changed? Sometimes we get so upset about being cheated. Perhaps someone had told you a sad story about his financial situation—that he was struggling to provide for his family. You felt touched and compelled to give, and you gave a lot of money. But later on, you discovered that he actually spent that money to go for holidays, and everything he said to you was a lie. Would you not feel betrayed and cheated? Would you not be frustrated? Most certainly. But our God knows everything. He knows what you have done; He knows how you have been cheated. He knows everything about you, and surely He will deal with that person. You may not get your money back from that person, but God would bless you in many different ways. Ultimately, God knows your heart, and He knew that you gave out of love, and surely He will reward your good deeds, would He not?

So for 400 years, God was watching over the Israelites. Now the time had come not only for them to be liberated but also for them to be compensated as well. All this was done for the glory of God. We will stop here, and when we come back, we will continue with chapter four. If you have forgotten whatever I've said, I pray that you will remember this most important point: the God whom we believe in is the same God of the burning bush, the same God who commanded Moses to go and tell the elders of Israel that "I am the God of your forefathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." He is the God of the past, the God of the present, and the God of the future. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Let us pray.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for enabling us to consider this portion of Scriptures, and we pray that we will apply this truth into our lives, that we will draw spiritual lessons from the message given to the Israelites, that Thou art the God of the past, the present, and the future. Just as Thou hast been faithful to their forefathers, Thou art also faithful to us too, and Thou at this very moment art watching over us. There is never a moment in our lives that we can escape Thy watching eyes, and Thou wilt also accomplish what Thou hast promised to do in the future. Our Lord Jesus will come, and He will bring us to be with Him forever and ever, and we pray that we will apply all these truths into our lives.

Our God who knows all things and who is always watching over us, He knows what we are going through, just as He knew how the Egyptians had treated the children of Israel. For 400 years they were in slavery; it was so long that they feared they were forgotten. Sometimes we also think likewise. Forgive us, O Lord, because our God will never forget, neither will He forsake us. He is always watching over us, and He will not let His people be short-changed. Thanks for all these wonderful truths. May we learn to apply these truths into our lives. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.