Exodus 1v1-2v10

The God Who Remembers (Part 1)

Main Point: God uses the cruellest enemies of His people as His tools to bring blessing for His people

Introduction to Exodus:

In February last year the European parliament backed a resolution stating that the Islamic state known as ISIS was guilty of genocide against Christians, Yazidi’s and other religious minorities. In the UK, members of parliament signed the following statement: “the beheadings, crucifixions, shootings, burnings, other murders, torture, rape and extensive violence being perpetrated by the Islamic state against Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq… clearly falls within the definition of genocide.”

In the words of Hilary Clinton this was a campaign deliberately aimed at destroying not only lives, but wiping out the existence of Christian and other religious minorities in the Middle East in territories controlled by ISIS.

Well I’m sure that’s not new to you. I’m sure you’ve heard about the attacks of ISIS against Christians in the Middle East.

But it raises the question. Why has God allowed His people to be attacked? Has He forgotten His people?

Closer to home, we might not be facing anything near that kind of persecution, but isn’t it true that we also sometimes feel forgotten by God?

When you struggling financially… When you don’t know where your next meal will come from… When you feel like your marriage is falling apart… When you feel like a failure as a parent… When you feeling depressed…

Don’t you sometimes feel abandoned by God?

Well at first reading our passage this morning seems to support the idea that God does forget His people.

The book of Exodus picks up where Genesis left off. Remember how Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. But he rose to power, stored up food for the drought and in this way He saved God’s people. All the Israelites come to Egypt to buy food. And they settled in Egypt.

Clearly God was looking after His people.

But then right from the beginning of Exodus things start to go wrong. Joseph and his brothers die. A new king comes to power in Egypt who doesn’t know Joseph. And under this king’s rule, the Israelites suffer the cruellest oppression; labour camps. harsh slave masters who work them ruthlessly, infanticide, mass murder, ethnic cleansing.

You think of the holocaust in the 1940’s. Think of Cambodia in the 1970’s. Think of Rwanda in the 1990’s. This is ethnic cleansing in almost Egypt 2000 years before Christ.

And it’s specifically aimed against God’s people. God seems silent. He seems to have forgotten His people.

And so it’s a great relief when we come to chapter 2 verse 23. And suddenly its as if something triggers God’s memory. If you can just look there.

“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

So it seems: after about 400 years of forgetfulness, suddenly this terrible king dies and suddenly God remembers. Oh yes, these are

my people. I made a covenant with them. I should probably come to their rescue.

That’s how it appears when you read it first time.

But surely that can’t be right?

Surely God isn’t like an old man with Alzsheimers.

Surely God doesn’t forget what he said.

Surely there must be something deeper going on.

And that’s what we are going to see in the next two weeks. We will see that actually God never forgets. God never forgets His promise. God never forgets His people.

In fact I don’t think verse 24’s a statement about what happens next… As if chapter 2 comes to an end and then …God remembers His covenant. No I think it’s better to read this as a summary of what’s been happening throughout these two chapters. Throughout this time Israel have been crying out to God. And God has been listening. He’s been concerned. And He’s been acting in a behind the scenes kind of way. God has been remembering His promise.

And you can see this if you look at verse 24 again. Notice what it is exactly that God remembers. Verse 24.

“God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.”

And so we need to remember: what was this covenant God made with these men? Well you can see it up on the screen. Here’s one of the key promises that gets repeated to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.

Genesis 15v5. This is spoken to Abraham. He took him outside and said, “look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “so shall your offspring be.”

Then Genesis 26 verse 4. This is spoken to Abraham’s son, Isaac: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky….”

Genesis 28 verse 14. This is spoken to Jacob: “Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth.”

And so you can see the repeated promise. He’s going to increase their numbers. He’s going to make them multiply so they become like the stars in the sky or dust of the earth.

With that in mind, it completely changes how we read Exodus chapter 1.

Jacob arrives in Egypt with His children. Notice how many descendants He’s already been given.

Chapter 1 verse 5: “the descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all;”

That’s quite a nice little group, similar to what we’ve got here this morning. But it’s hardly a great multitude.

Well look at verse 7. Joseph dies. His brothers die.

“But the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.”

You see God hasn’t forgotten His promise. He’s keeping it. He’s growing His people.

And so that’s an encouragement to us. God knows how to multiply His people. God can take this little group of about a hundred people and He can multiply us so that just like the land of Egypt was filled with His people, so we can fill our suburb. Wouldn’t that be wonderful, if our city and our suburb was filled with people who love Jesus. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Maybe you think our 5 year goal of growing to 420 people’s too ambitious. Well God can multiply His people. Let’s pray that he’ll do it.

But we need to be prepared: if He does do it, not everyone will be thrilled.

In fact, for this king of Egypt, this is a big problem. Look at what he says in verse 9

“Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they’ll become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

And so that sets the scene for the battle of Exodus chapter 1. In this chapter we have a battle and it isn’t just Pharoah against the Israelites. This is Pharoah against God. God wants the Israelites to grow. Pharoah wants the Israelites to shrink. Pharoah is fighting against God.

But I’m sure many of us grew up watching Tom and Jerry. And if you think of all the Tom and Jerry cartoons. The recurring theme is pretty repetitive. Tom is out to destroy Jerry. But what happens over and over again? Tom lights a bomb. But it blows up on himself. Tom sets a mousetrap. But it snaps down on his tail. Each of his attempts to destroy Jerry ends up backfiring on himself.

And that’s pretty much what we see in this chapter. Pharoah’s attempts to destroy God’s promise end up backfiring and having the opposite effect.

And so by the end of the chapter we’ve got no option. All we can say is, “surely this isn’t just a co-incidence. Surely there’s a secret force at work. Surely we can detect the hidden hand of God.”

Let’s pick up the story again in verse 11. Here’s Pharoah’s first attack. We’ll call it Operation Oppression.

Here’s the thinking behind it: Those of us who’ve had kids will know that the whole process of giving birth and raising a child. Its hard work. It requires energy. It requires time. And so it’s the kind of thing

you do when things are going smoothly in your life. If life’s too hectic. If you just struggling to survive, then surely you’ll be reluctant to have more kids.

So this is Pharoah’s plan: oppress the Israelites. Force them into hard labour. Work them ruthlessly. So that when they get home at night: The last thing they’ll think about is making a baby. All they’ll wanna do is go to sleep.

That’s what we see in verse 11. “They put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labour.”

Verse 13. They work them ruthlessly. They make their lives bitter with hard labour in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labour the Egyptians use them ruthlessly.

Notice the harsh language. Oppression. Ruthlessness. Bitterness. Hard labour.

And so surely this plan will work. The Israelites will be deterred from having kids.

After all, who would choose to bring a child into such a bitter life?

Well look at verse 12. Here’s the effect of their oppression. Notice what it doesn’t say.

It doesn’t say: the more they were oppressed, the less their numbers multiplied.

That’s what you’d expect. That’s what the Egyptians expect. That’s not what it says.

But notice, neither does it say: “even though they were oppressed, yet they still continued to multiply.”

No it doesn’t say that. Its even stronger than that. It says:

“the more they were oppressed, the more… they multiplied and spread.”

In other words there’s a direct link here between the increase of their oppression and the increase of their growth.

How can that be?

Surely there’s a secret force at work.

Operation Oppression backfires.

But that doesn’t stop Pharoah. It actually just makes him even more cruel. If he can’t stop the Hebrews from having kids, well then he’ll simply kill the kids as soon as they are born.

That’s Pharoah’s second plan in verse 15. And he goes behind the scenes and he meets with two of the midwives who help the Hebrew mothers to give birth. And he commands them to kill every Hebrew boy. Verse 16. When you helping the Hebrew women in childbirth, as soon as you observe them on the delivery stool, if it’s a boy…, you must kill him;”

What a cruel command. This is behind the scenes. It’s secret slaughter. And surely this will work. If all the boys are killed, eventually the population will die. Surely nothing can stop Pharoah now.

Well it just so happens the two women Pharoah goes to are remarkable ladies. They’ve got incredible courage. Look at what they do in verse 17.

“The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.”

Now you need to imagine how frightening this must have been? This isn’t just like disobeying your parents or your teacher or your boss. It isn’t like disobeying the mayor of your city. It isn’t even like disobeying your president. You need to realize, Egypt was the superpower of its day.

To disobey this king was to rebel against the highest human authority.

But it’s even worse than that. Not only is this king very powerful, he’s also viciously opposed to your people.

These are Hebrew midwives. And this king is ruthlessly opposed to the Hebrews. He’s already demonstrated his ruthlessness.

And so I don’t know about you, but I want to know what gives these women such courage? How do they find the strength to stand up to such a man? Well you can see the answer repeated twice in these verses; verse 17 and verse 21. It’s the fact that they fear God.

You see God is more frightening to them than Pharoah. In other words, they realize its more dangerous to oppose God than to oppose Pharoah.

Isn’t that something worth thinking about for ourselves?

Is there maybe a person or a circumstance or anything in our lives that we fear more than God? Is there anything that’s so threatening to you that it might stand in the way of your obedience to God? whether its fear of a person or failure or shame or of rejection or of sickness or of death. Whatever it is, the way to counter such fear is to have an even stronger fear of God.

That’s what makes these women so strong.

And so these women get something that even the king of Egypt doesn’t have. I wonder if you can see it in verse 15?

These women get named. Their names are recorded.

This is remarkable because here you’ve got a Pharoah who’s obsessive about his name. He will go to great lengths to try and preserve his name. He will build pyramids to try and preserve it. He will make sure that he’s buried in a casket of gold to try and preserve it. He’s obsessive about the preservation of his name. But not once in

Exodus is this king named. And scholars and historians have searched and speculated to try and work out: what was this Pharoah’s name? No one knows. And yet these two ladies, simple, obscure midwives. Their names are recorded and remembered today. Shiphrah and Puah. These are women who feared the LORD.

But the important thing to notice here is that once again Pharoah’s plan backfires.

You see, it isn’t just that these Hebrew boys get protected. It isn’t just that none of these kids are killed. Its that through this evil plan, even more kids end up being born.

Look at verse 20. Notice how God rewards these midwives.

“So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God,” what did He do? “He gave them families of their own.”

Now these midwives, who couldn’t have kids before, now they too are having kids.

You’d think that maybe Pharoah can start to join the dots. There’s a powerful force at work here. Someone’s protecting these people. It’s probably better just to back off.

That would be a logical conclusion. But instead Pharoah just becomes even more enraged.

In verse 22 he comes up with his cruellest plan so far.

No longer does he act behind the scenes. Now he speaks openly to everyone. Verse 22

“Then Pharoah gave this order to all his people: “Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile”

And so this is mass murder. It doesn’t matter who you are, if you see a Hebrew boy anywhere in the land you’ve got every right to pick

him up and throw him into the Nile. In fact that’s your duty. If you don’t do it, you are breaking Pharoah’s command.

Just put yourself in the shoes of the Hebrew mothers. You trying to hide your little boy. All around you there people who might kill him. You can’t let him be seen. You can’t let him be heard. You’ve got to muffle his cries at night. You’ve got to bury his nappies. Don’t just throw them in the rubbish in case someone finds them.

Amazingly in chapter 2 there’s one mother who manages to hide her boy for three whole months. And eventually it’s just too difficult. The neighbours are becoming suspicious. The secret police are closing in. And so eventually in her desperation, she builds a basket. She coats it with tar and pitch. She puts her little boy in it. And she places him in the Nile. The suspense reaches a climax in chapter 2 verse 4. Presumably his mother can’t watch.

And so in verse 4, his sister… stands at a distance to see what will happen to him.”

Will he be discovered by an Egyptian?

Will he be tossed into the Nile?

Will he be eaten by a crocodile?

It’s a desperate situation.

But its at this point we see the clearest demonstration of God’s power. Now we really see Pharoah’s helplessness. It’s actually comical. It’s filled with irony.

In verse 5 notice who it is who rescues this little boy. It’s Pharoah’s own daughter. The daughter of the man who’s trying to kill him is the very one who saves him.

In verse 7 notice who it is who nurses this little boy. It’s his mother. And so now instead of having to hide him from Pharoah, its

Pharoah’s own family who are asking her and supporting her (presumably financially) to raise him.

And then verse 10, notice the name that’s given to this boy. Pharoah’s command was the every Hebrew boy should be thrown into the Nile. But Pharoah’s daughter names him Moses which sounds like the Hebrew word for drawing out. Why? because she drew him out of the Nile.

You can’t miss it. There’s even humour here. God is clearly making fun of Pharoah. You can’t fight me Phaorah. You helpless to stop God’s plan.

And so by the way, can I speak to anyone who’s an unbeliever here this morning. Maybe you are rebelling against God, rejecting His way.

Will you not learn from Pharoah? You cannot win. You helpless to fight against God. Maybe today’s the day that you’ll join the dots and submit to Him.

And in the coming weeks we are going to see how this little boy, Moses becomes the great deliverer of God’s people. But it all starts here with this cruel plan of Pharoah. The very plan he uses to try and destroy God’s people, that’s the instrument God uses to deliver His people.

What a great truth this is for the people of God!

The cruellest persecution of Gods people is simply His tool to bring deliverance for His people.

And you know where we see this most clearly: it’s at the crucifixion of Jesus. That’s where we see the devil and the human enemies of God raging against God’s king. That’s where the opposition to God’s people reaches its climax. It’s at the cross.

But at that same cross; that’s also where we see the climax of God’s blessing… and His faithfulness …and His salvation for His people.

It’s the same event. It’s where mankind does his worst. Its where God does His best.

God uses the cruellest persecution of His people to bring the greatest blessing for His people.

But of course that’s often difficult for us to see. We mustn’t make light of the suffering of these people. They are groaning in their slavery. They are being ruthlessly oppressed. Babies are really being snatched from their mothers and thrown into the Nile. This is a terrifying and bitter time for God’s people.

And so no doubt they do feel abandoned. No doubt they do feel forgotten.

And so this is a special word for you this morning if you are suffering. If you feeling abandoned by God.

Even when it feels like God is absent, He will never abandon His people. Even when it seems like God has forgotten, He’ll never forget His promise.

And this teaches us where to look to be reminded of His presence. If you anything like me, we often look at our circumstances. Did I have a good day? Are things going well in my life? Am I feeling happy?

But our feelings and our circumstances can lie to us. That’s a wrong place to look. Don’t look at your physical prosperity. Don’t look at your physical health. Don’t rely on how you feel. Instead look at the promises of God. Cling to those promises. That’s where you’ll see God at work.

On the screen there’s a picture of a man called Robert Jermain Thomas. He was a Welsh missionary who lived in the 19th century. He had a lot of potential as a missionary. He was excellent at learning languages. And he had a longing to preach the gospel in Korea. But you need to understand that in those days Korea was practically

closed to outsiders. It was very difficult for outsiders to get in. And they were violently opposed to Christianity.

But Thomas has this longing to take the gospel to this country. He

can’t sleep at night. He was so concerned. And so when he hears

about an American trading ship thats sailing to Korea, he gathers a

whole lot of Bibles and he gets a job on the ship as a translator.

But as the ship sails up the river towards the capital city of

Pyongyang , they get a warning from the Koreans to leave. Ignoring

their warnings, the ship continues on its course. And when they get

stuck on a sandbank in the river they get attacked by the Korean

army. The ship gets set on fire. The sailors try to escape by jumping

into the river. Some of them drown. Some of them are by killed the

waiting soldiers. You can see a picture of the scene on the screen.

And so at the age of just 27, this promising young missionary who’s

sacrificed everything to take the gospel to Korea, he gets killed as

soon as he arrives.

What’s God doing? Doesn’t He have a purpose for this man’s life?

Well Thomas never lived to see the fruit of his efforts. But God was

working behind the scenes. The Korean soldier who killed Robert

Thomas was a man named Chun kwon Park. And he describes how

just before he killed Thomas, he saw him put his hands together and

say a few words and then he offered him a Bible. Later Chun kwon

Park would read that Bible and he would be saved. Some of the

other Bibles Thomas had brought on the ship managed to find their

way on shore. An 11 year old boy named Chir yun Choi got three of

those Bibles. He got saved. Someone took pages from some of the

Bibles and stuck them to the walls of their house. And as time went

on, people began to read these writings on the wall. And slowly, after

Thomas died, God used the Bibles to save many people. There’s a

picture of some Korean evangelists who were saved during the

Pyongyang revival in 1907 shortly after Thomas had died. And so you

see from an earthly perspective, Thomas’ missionary life was a

failure. But from perspective of faith, God was at work. He was

fulfilling His promise. He was multiplying His people. He was building

his church.

Once again the saying comes true: the blood of the martyrs is the

seed of the church.

The cruellest efforts of God’s enemies to persecute His people. They

become His tools to bless His people.

This is the God Who never forgets

Let’s pray