Becoming deliverers like Moses
BY PASTOR ED DE GUZMAN
The saga of restoring man to his original intent has been a recurring theme in the Bible. When God called Abraham, He wanted a race out of the wicked population that will one day bring forth a model of rulership.
Genesis 22:17-18 says, “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
The history of mankind has always been a struggle of righteousness over wickedness. Movies like Starwars and Superman show the inner longing of men for somebody who has an extraordinary ability to save mankind from a wicked rule.
We go back to the Bible and see that God has the solution. When man sinned, his perspective became a paradigm of poverty and defeat. When man sinned, God provided a way of restoration.
This can be summarized when we read the book of Obadiah.
Obadiah 1:21, in various translations of the Bible, says, “Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD’s” (NIV). “And deliverers shall go up on Mount Zion to rule and judge Mount Esau, and the kingdom and the kingship shall be the Lord’s” (AMP). “Then saviors shall come to Mount Zion ,to judge the mountains of Esau, And the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (NKJV).
When man fell to temptation and sin in the Garden of Eden, all his life had been characterized by curse, poverty, slavery, pain, thorns, deterioration, struggle, abandonment, and seclusion from grace.
But God provided a way out. In Genesis 3:16, God prophesied the coming of a Saviour who will one day crush the head of the oppressor and bring back mankind to His original intention.
The theme of Obadiah has been recurring in the Bible in different shades of stories.
State of helplessness
Men and nations today are in a state of helplessness.
Isaiah 42:22 so aptly describe them: “But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, And they are hidden in prison houses; They are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, RESTORE!”
History tells us the sad state of man and of nations ensnared in holes, plundered, spoiled, in prison houses, victims licking their wounds, feeling ignored and abandoned. Israel has been an example of this.
Then, Isaiah 42:22 shows the condition that ensued as Israel’s punishment for not recognizing the Servant of the Lord and the day of His visit among them.
Ever since the fall of man, when he abandoned his rulership, people, nations, and generations had been enslaved, unable to fulfil their destiny.
Israel was in such a sorry state when God called Moses. God called and separated him as the deliverer of Israel.
In a nation with a mind of poverty, as a result of many years of slavery, the Israelites had forgotten their divine calling.
The history of mankind has always been a struggle of righteousness over wickedness.
Call to blessedness
Genesis 12:2 -3 tells us the Lord’s plan for Israel. The passage says, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 22:17 goes on to reveal God’s commitment to His chosen nation: “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.”
God wants the destiny of a nation to be fulfilled. He calls for a leader who will rescue them and lead them out of slavery and bring them to their designated land of freedom and prosperity.
In Exodus 3:7-8, the LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusite.”
Israel had to go back to its original calling. Years of staying in Egypt made them think it was the normal life–that it was normal to be intimidated and to tolerate the poor treatment of God’s people who had a glorious destiny to fulfill. Moses was set aside by God as a determined deliverer. God used his impulsive behaviour to send him to the wilderness for 40 years so he could be reformed from the way Egypt had educated him. At the appointed time, God showed Himself to him to show His plan for Israel.
God was true to His strategy that would make Moses a deliverer as mentioned in Obadiah 1:21.
Mount to Zion
The best way indeed to prepare a deliverer is to come to Mount Zion. Great men of the Old Testament were met by God in Mount Zion. It is this meeting that converts men into rescuers and mighty men. It is through this meeting that the tasks to accomplish are laid down.
But more than the accomplishment, God’s mission is knowing Him. The highest aim of God was for Moses to know His ways and become intimate with Him. Knowing God and His ways was the key to move with boldness.
God wants the destiny of a nation to be fulfilled. He calls for a leader who will rescue them, lead them out of slavery and bring them to their designated land of freedom and prosperity.
This encounter with the Divine imparted to mortal men His purpose and power to accomplish them. Gideon, Deborah, and David all met God in the Zion of His presence and such encounter gave them the boldness to meet their challenges with confidence.
David was the warrior whose limited experience showed us that with dependence on God, he could slay the giant Goliath and free the people and rescue them from the oppression and shame.
Psalm 110:1-3 -The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth.
Empowered by the Spirit
Psalm 110:1-3 carries the same concept that when God sends His Rod of Strength or Mighty Scepter, the people volunteer.
So we find here that on the day the people hear the Word that the Deliverer heard from God, the Holy Spirit comes and enables them to accomplish great tasks.
This is the reason why Moses could not be intimidated by Pharaoh. Several times, the Pharaoh allowed them to go but would later change his mind. But the man of God refused to be intimidated.
It is the same today. Jesus says, “…upon this rock I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).
The Church has to persevere and be on the offensive. Deliverers are forceful people advancing the Kingdom (Matthew 12.11).
Matthew 12:11, “And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize—a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.”
Let the deliverers seize the Lord’s pre-ordained destiny for them with the most ardent zeal!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Pastor Ed de Guzman is Vice Chairman of Intercessors for the Philippines and Senior Pastor of Christ is Exalted Community Church at My Place in Jesus Fabella, Katipunan, Quezon City