Hebrews 11:25 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Hebrews 11:25

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‘Choosing’ is a very well selected word to translate the original. Moses saw through Egypt; he believed the word of God. He saw the future for God’s people, he saw no future for an Egyptian prince among God's people: faith sees, and it believes, and it acts. Obviously God was involved through the work of the Spirit, but it came into Moses’ heart to visit. That means more than to relieve, to help them. There was this altercation with an Egyptian overseer. Moses had to stand against this Egyptian’s ruthlessness and his endeavour to injure an Israelite, and the ensuing conflict resulted in the death of the Egyptian and we are told that ‘Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known’ (Exodus 2:14). But here in Hebrews, we are taught how to understand this correctly. What did he fear? He feared the loss of instrumentality. He feared that if he stayed he would be executed, and then he could have no more part in the deliverance of the children of Israel. But he didn't fear Pharaoh’s wrath: he did not fear it during his subsequent interviews with Pharoah, even when he was standing in his presence (11:27). He had obeyed God in visiting the children of Israel, and he had been right to defend the Israelite against injustice, but now events were forcing him to leave Egypt in order for him to play a future part in the deliverance of Israel. Moses was given tremendous privileges. He became the first inspired penman of holy Scripture, the inspired penman of a greater portion of God’s word than any other inspired writer. He covered in his history, 2750 years of history of the typical church in the Old Testament. He gave all the laws and the moral law of God, which survives throughout the New Testament period as the rule for the life of the believer. He gave magnificent prophecies. He was a type of Christ in more respects than any other type of Christ in the Old Testament. He saw God face-to-face; he actually performed more miracles than any other servant of God in the entire Bible except the Lord Jesus Christ. He was buried by God himself. What honours fell to him! And how did it happen? By coming out of Egypt, seemingly the most illogical act you could imagine. But that is the lesson of the life of Moses to us.

Application

How do we think about Christian effectiveness and influence? ‘What we want is somebody great. If only in these days we could have a politician, who became a frontbench MP and a significant person and somebody making the headlines, even a Prime Minister, somebody noticed and significant speaking up for our cause: that would do something.’ The life of Moses and the life of every other instrument of God in the Bible says the opposite. God takes him out of the place where, according to human wisdom, he had potential for mighty things, and instead casts him into affliction and poverty with zero influence and zero hopes of accomplishing his great mission in life. From that God makes him the greatest servants of God in the entire Bible. So we learn our reasoning from the Bible. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of the word that we function and operate. Isn’t it astonishing the amount of applause there is in the church of Christ now? Applause for every preacher, applause for every instrumentalist, applause for just about anyone. It is so fleshly. There is absolutely no place for applause of human instruments in the church of Christ. It is the destruction of a vital principle that says that only God may receive our worship and our praise.

Young people have got to plan their future. You have found the Lord but you have got to plan your career or what you do or where you study your chosen subject. You have got to do all these things responsibly; you have got to give it mind and attention. But if you are saved, the devil will come to you, even as you do these things and he will inflate your desires and afflict your mind with worldly and materialistic aims and aspirations, and he will sway your thinking so that these are the big things in your estimation. Yes, you have got to do the thinking, you have got to pray for help and take sensible decisions. And at the same time, you have got to avoid having your mind filled with material objectives and personal ambition.

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Hebrews 11:25 Commentary and Bible Study