Sermon on Exodus 4
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm
G.S. Munro. Scottsdale-Bridport Presbyterian Church, Sunday, October 12th, 2003.

1. What if They Won’t Listen? (1-9 ) - The place of Signs in Scripture and Now

A few years ago now, John Wimber’s Signs & Wonders movement caused all sorts of controversy in Christian circles. People like Wimber say we should expect God to do supernatural miracles just about every time Christians get together. They assert that we should actively seek signs and wonders in our ministry of the gospel, and that if we don’t see them, it must be because we don’t have enough faith. Are they right? Has God in fact commanded us to ask for signs and wonders? Has He promised that, like Moses, we will be able to do miracles that will make people take notice of what we say? That was one of the questions that occurred to me as I read this passage from Exodus 4. What is the place of signs and wonders, back then in the bible, and now, here today? And so I took a quick look at the whole of Scripture to see what the Word of God says to us about signs. And I want to share with you this morning what I found.

 There are two main words the bible uses to describe these things. Exodus 4 uses both those words, translated here in the NIV as signs and wonders. In verse 8, 17, 28, and 30 God calls what Moses will do in His name, signs. In verse 21 he refers to them as wonders. These two words, in Hebrew as in English, are synonyms, that is they refer to basically the same thing, but with a slightly different emphasis. The word sign emphasises the purpose of the event – that it is a symbol, a flag, a beacon that points to some great truth beyond the act itself. It bears witness to the testimony about God. The word ‘wonder’ on the other hand emphasises the unusual and awesome nature of the actions and events themselves.  The bible uses these words interchangeably, but it uses them in about the ratio we see here in this chapter. That is, it speaks of signs far more often than it does of wonders, because it is not the thing itself, but what it signifies, that is important.

 The first thing to know when it comes to signs in the bible is that signs are not always unusual or “miraculous”. In fact, most of the signs in scripture are quite ordinary or mundane. For example, in Genesis 1, the lights God creates in the sky – the sun, moon and stars, are called signs. God says, “let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.” Likewise, God designates the rainbow as the sign of His covenant with Noah in Genesis 9. In Exodus 31 and Ezekiel 20, the Sabbath Day is called a sign, whose purpose is to show that the Lord is holy. And in Genesis 17, Abraham is given the sign of circumcision. Just last week we saw that God gave Moses a very ordinary sign when he commissioned him to go back to Egypt – he said “this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” The sign was simply that it would happen! Again, in Exodus 12, the blood that the Israelites put on their doorposts in the Passover, is called a sign, as is the festival of unleavened bread itself. God uses all these, and many other everyday things, as signs in the bible. He also calls certain people signs. Several of the prophets were said to be so, including Isaiah. He and his sons, who had names given them specially for the occasion, were to be signs to Israel of what God was going to do. Ezekiel and Jeremiah also became signs through the dramas they acted out. So signs are not always miracles.

 In fact, even in the bible, miraculous signs are few and far between. Most instances where God gives a sign involve something from everyday life that God takes and uses as a pointer to something about His character or purposes. Even the word “wonder”, is used in this way. For example, the Covenant Curses of the Sinai Covenant - Deut 45:45-48 – are called signs and wonders, even though they are simply words - God saying through Moses what will happen to the Land if they worship other gods. Signs from God are often simply what God says will happen. That is, a sign is often in the form of a prophecy.

 Second, more often than not signs from God witness against people who rebel, or warn others not to do the same. For example, in the wilderness, Korah and his followers rebelled against Moses and God destroyed them. The book of Numbers calls these men, and also the censers they used in their false worship, signs against those who would rebel.  Signs are more often than not in scripture a sign AGAINST someone, not for them. So the presence of signs and wonders, far from indicating faithfulness to the Lord, is often an indicator of an unfaithful people. And almost always in scripture, it is an indicator of a people of little faith. Those who know the Lord best need a sign the least. Here Moses is given these signs not because of his great faith, but because of his lack of faith! The same was true of Gideon when he asked God to make the fleece wet or dry as an indication that what God had promised would happen. Well if God said it would happen, why did he need a sign? That is why the New Testament says that signs are for unbelievers, not for believers. And why Jesus said it is “a wicked and adulterous generation that asks for a sign” God sometimes graciously gives signs and wonders, unsolicited, but the only times in scripture we see people seeking signs, is where they have little or no faith.

 The third thing you will discover when you look at the overall biblical teaching about signs and wonders, is that they are always given for the one purpose. That purpose is best expressed in Deuteronomy 4. There we read that the reason God gave all these signs to His people Israel was that they may know and believe that he is the one true God. He tells them:

 ³⁴Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

³⁵You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. ³⁶From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. ³⁷Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, ³⁸to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

³⁹Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

 Signs point to God. They are signposts leading to His love and His salvation. We don’t usually get obsessed with signposts. It would be rather strange if, instead of going to St Columba Falls, we sat down and stared for hours at one of the signs pointing us in the direction of the Falls, wouldn’t it? Even if it was a nice sign. Even it was an unusual sign. In the same way, we mustn’t get obsessed with signs and wonders that are meant to point us to the person and works of God. It is the God they point to that we must be obsessed with, not the signs themselves.

 Another thing about signs, even signs in Scripture. Miraculous signs and wonders are no guarantee of authenticity. The bible tells us in more than one place that false prophets will also perform wonders and signs, and we must be discerning and test everything against the Word of God. It is faithfulness to the Word of God, not the presence of signs and wonders, that determines the authenticity of what a church is doing and teaching.

 Miraculous signs are also no guarantee of true faith. It is simply not true that if we can do signs, people will be more likely to believe. People sometimes say that they would believe if only God showed them some miracle. But they are deceiving themselves. Many who saw the signs of Jesus did not believe. John 12:37 records: “Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” In fact the Temple leaders sought to kill him because of the signs he did. And even if they don’t have that effect, signs can be downright injurious to faith, even signs that really are from God. People sometimes have spurious conversions based on awe of signs rather than faith in the Person the signs point to. Like Simon the sorcerer in Acts chapter 8, which records that “he followed Phillip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.” But as subsequent events show, his faith was merely in the signs of God rather than in the God of the signs.

 But we still ask with Moses, “What if they won’t listen to Us?” What if people don’t believe what we say about God? Do we need to seek miraculous signs? No. Because we have the greatest sign of all, and I’ll say more about that in a moment. But let’s go on to verses ten to seventeen, where we see Moses try God’s patience with another excuse.

 2. What if I Can’t Speak? (10-17)

Like Moses, we can think that we need something special to make people take notice. And sometimes, because our faith is weak, God will grant something unusual. But even that is not enough for Moses. He comes up with another excuse not to be God’s mouthpiece. Verse 10:

Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

 Does that sound familiar? Is that how you feel about your faith? That you couldn’t possibly explain it to someone else, because you’d get all tongue tied or something and might not know what to say?

 Well look at how God answers Moses. The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹²Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” Do you believe God? Moses didn’t. Now he’s really pushing his luck. Either Moses was very brave or very stupid. His response is “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” And just as well for Moses that God is long-suffering and holds back his righteous anger. Instead of zapping him with a thunderbolt and granting his request, he graciously allows Aaron to help out with the public speaking.

 I think the bible obviously holds Moses up as a negative example here. There are plenty of things about Moses for us to try to copy, but this isn’t one of them! The New Testament is quite plain that Christians are also sent on a mission from God, to tell the world that Jesus is Risen. And His promise is the same as that to Moses. Jesus told his followers, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” and he promised them “I will be with you, even to the end of the age.”

 3. The Rescuer Returns (18-28)

- Moses the Ready Rescuer  - 18-23

Well, in the next verses we see that after forty long years, Moses is at last ready to rescue his people. And he sets off to Egypt, with the blessing of his father-in-law Reuel, to do just that. But first, Moses himself must be rescued one more time! This time by his wife, as we read in verses 24 to 26.

 - Wife to the Rescue! 24-26

It’s a strange little interlude, one of those places in scripture where we wish that God had expanded a bit on the text! It seems that even though Moses had forty years earlier rejected the life of an Egyptian and identified with the God of his Hebrew forebears, in Midian he had not identified his family fully with the covenant God made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, by circumcising his son. God’s anger burned at Moses for his irreverence. But his wife stepped in and did the necessary deed – you might say, just in the nick of time!

 - Brothers Re-united 27-28

Then in the next verses we see the re-union between the two brothers separated for forty long years from each other. It must have been an emotional time! And together they go back to Egypt to begin the Great Goshen Revival! They enter north-eastern Egypt where the Israelites live.

 4. The Great Goshen Revival! (29-31)

- The People Believe the Word

Moses and Aaron told the people all that God said. They also performed the signs. But it does not say, they believed simply because they saw the signs. It does not say the signs and wonders produced faith. The purpose of God-given signs is always to affirm the gospel message. The best that signs can do is gain a hearing for the gospel. That’s what happened here. Signs themselves cannot create true faith, nor are they necessary to make people believe. And it was not when they saw the signs that the people fell down and worshipped, but when they heard that the God of their forefathers cared for them and their misery. The signs got their attention, sure, but it was the message of God’s active love for them that convinced them and caused them to worship Him. And it is the same with us. It is the gospel of grace, that God in Christ has come down to save his people, that the God of the universe is personally concerned for you, that will change lives, not miracles and wonders. It is when people meet their creator in the face of his Son who died for us, that they fall down in worship.

- God’s Word & Works Still Change Lives Today

The only person in the bible told by God to ask for a sign, was the wicked king Ahaz. He was given the greatest sign of all, the sign of Emanuel, God with us. That is, the prophecy about the virgin being with child and bearing a Son. And when the Pharisees asked Jesus for a miraculous sign, he replied, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

The sign of Emanuel and the sign of Jonah. That is all we need in the end, to know what the Israelites now knew at the end of Exodus 4. That God cares for His people and wants to give them life. Jesus was God in the flesh, come down to live with us, to live for us, to die for our sins, and to rise to life so that we may know life.

As the apostle John wrote:

“Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:30:

All we have is the bare Word of God. But it is enough. It is enough.