Moses' Ark and the Providence of God | Sermon 10/30/2022

I'm one of the pastors at Crossroads Church in Sandy, and it's been my pleasure to get to know

Wade and the work that is happening here over the last many months and to meet and get to know some of the families here as well.

And I am thankful that we're partners in the gospel. We pray for you regularly.

In fact, on the last Sunday of every month during our Sunday school hour at 9 .30,

we devote that time for corporate prayer, and one of our elders was leading that and leading the church to pray for Apologia Church.

So know that we pray for you, we stand with you in the gospel, and we are thankful for our partnership in the gospel.

And I'm honored that I get to open up the word from Exodus this evening, this

Reformation Sunday as we call it. And no, I'm not addressing necessarily one of the great solas of the

Reformation, but the Reformers preached Christ from the whole

Bible. And even as we open up to the book of Exodus, we are reminded that our salvation is in Christ alone.

So Exodus chapter two, verses one through 10, is the story of Moses' birth.

Since I have been studying Exodus recently, I wanted to open up to this text, probably familiar to most of you, and consider it in a little more detail.

So if you'll follow along with me, beginning in verse one of Exodus chapter two,

Moses writes these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a

Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bowl rushes and dabbed it with bitumen and pitch.

She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the riverbank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him.

Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river.

She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child and behold, the baby was crying.

She took pity on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew's children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall

I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go.

So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.

So the woman took the child and nursed him. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son.

She named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.

Let's pray. Our gracious God, we thank you for the

Bible. We thank you that you have not left us in the dark, but you have revealed yourself to us.

You have revealed your gospel to us. We pray Lord, even as we consider these words from the book of Exodus that you would encourage and strengthen us in the truth of your word.

I pray that you would help us to focus our minds attention or to the truth contained in these pages and help us to find our rest and our joy and our delight and our savior, our

Lord Jesus Christ. For it's in his name we pray, amen. One of the things

I love about Moses's birth story is how obvious it is that God was working through every single one of these events to accomplish his purposes and to preserve

Moses's life, even though God is never mentioned in the narrative.

Do you notice that? It doesn't seem that everyone thinks this way though about this text.

One particular commentary I was reading when studying this text, it's in the interpretation commentary series, it's on the book of Exodus and I really enjoy this commentary.

The author of this commentary makes great insights. He understands the structure of the whole book.

He makes connections between passages. It's been a great commentary, which is why I was surprised to read this statement in his commentary on this narrative.

Here's what he said. These human beings, Moses's mom, parents,

Moses, these human beings could have failed and God would have had to find a different way into the future with the possibilities then available.

The non -mention of God must be given its full weight. So I read that and I thought, what?

Things just happen to work out. It just happened to go this way and God used it, but if they would have failed,

God would have had to figure out something else. I don't think that statement's right.

God is all over the narrative, though he's not mentioned in these 10 verses.

God set Moses apart from birth for a special purpose. God clearly intended for Moses to pass through the waters.

God wanted Moses to grow up in Egypt under Pharaoh's nose. There are no cosmic accidents and there are no historical accidents.

God is sovereign and in his providence, he orchestrated each one of these events through the free actions of these people to confound the wisdom of Pharaoh and to foreshadow

Israel's coming exodus. There's nothing coincidental about it.

There was no plan B because God always executes plan A by his providence. Let me read you a definition of providence from the 1689

London Baptist Confession of Faith, chapter 5. Maybe you know something about this confession.

Maybe. 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, chapter 5.

God, the good creator of all things in his infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things from the greatest even to the least by his most wise and holy providence to the end for which they were created according unto his infallible foreknowledge and the free and immutable counsel of his own will to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.

That's a beautiful statement. If you're wondering what that means, ask Pastor Wade later.

Beautiful definition of providence. Here's how the Bible says it in various ways. Isaiah 46, nine through 10.

Remember the former things of old for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me.

Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.

How about Proverbs 19, 21? Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the

Lord that will stand. Psalm 135, five through seven.

For I know that the Lord is great and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the

Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Whatever God pleases, he does. Proverbs 21, one. The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the

Lord. He turns it wherever he will. Proverbs 16, 33.

One more. The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the

Lord. Are there any random occurrences in this life? There are no accidents in human history.

The decisions of the king, the casting of lots, the roll of the dice, the patterns of the weather, all happen according to the providence of God.

And that includes the details of Moses' birth. And that includes the details of your life too.

So much theology and glorious truth in this narrative. What I want us to see is how

God in his providence orchestrated Moses' deliverance to be a pattern for his plan of salvation while confounding human wisdom and mocking his enemies in the process.

So that's a mouthful, but that's where we're going with this text. So let's look at the text first.

Notice first God's providence in setting apart Moses from birth for a special task.

So Moses is born of the house of Levi. He's a special baby from birth. All parents think their babies are special, and indeed they are.

They bear the image of God. But Moses has something special about him.

Look at verse two. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

So she saw that he was a fine child. Something stood out.

Well, what was it that made his parents know? John Calvin said he must have had some kind of mark to distinguish this.

Maybe. A .W. Pink said Moses' parents would have received some kind of revelation from God.

Well, maybe. Clearly he was special, but what does it mean that he was a fine child?

There's a couple of places in the New Testament that comment on Moses' birth. Hebrews 11 .23. By faith,

Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful.

So he was a fine child. He was beautiful. He was exceptionally good -looking, maybe.

A Gerber baby. No, he was beautiful in a special way.

Acts 7 .20, Stephen's speech sheds even more light on Moses' birth. Here's what

Stephen says in Acts 7 .20. At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight.

Fine child, beautiful. Beautiful in God's sight.

So whatever Exodus is getting at here, it is clear that God had set apart

Moses for a special task. Moses had called him for a special purpose, and what was it?

Well, here's another way we can translate Exodus 2 .2. In fact, this would be a more literal translation of Exodus 2 .2.

The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was good, she hid him three months.

Now, why is that significant? The child is born, she sees that he is good.

Now, remember, Moses not only wrote Exodus, he wrote Genesis. And in Genesis chapter one, we get the story of creation, where God speaks, and he sees, and he calls it good.

God says, let there be light, and he saw the light, and it was good.

Moses wrote Genesis one, Moses wrote Exodus two. Moses is intentionally alluding to the creation narrative.

Whatever God's special task is for Moses, God is going to use Moses to be an agent of redemption to bring about this renewal, this restoration to the way

God had originally made the world, but has been corrupted by sin. In the narrative,

Moses is a savior. God's creation project is gonna be carried forward by this child.

And when I say creation project, what do I mean? Well, when God made the world, he created human beings in his image, placed them in his place to rule on his behalf.

And God is gonna work through Moses to have his people under his place and rule and blessing to show the world what it looks like to bear the image of God.

So God's answer to the evil intentions and actions of mighty

Pharaoh is this baby boy. You remember the context of where we're at in chapter two? Pharaoh has decreed that all the male

Hebrew children should be cast into the Nile. That's where we're at.

First, he told the midwives to kill the babies. They said, no, thank you.

So then he said, we'll cast the baby boys into the river. And God is now confounding

Pharaoh's plans through this child. It reminds me of Psalm 8 too, which says out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger.

Pharaoh has power. Pharaoh has edicts. Pharaoh has armies. God is establishing one baby is the answer to Pharaoh.

Set apart to save God's people out of bondage. We know that our salvation followed the same pattern for when our

Lord Jesus was born, the angel said to Joseph, what? You should call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.

So we're gonna come back to this theme of confounding Pharaoh's wisdom, but notice second, God's providence in delivering

Moses out of the waters of death. God is going to work through Moses to lead

Israel through the waters and into the wilderness. But first, Moses must pass through his own waters, the waters of death to life.

Look at verse three. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and dabbed it with bitumen and pitch.

She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. Our English translations, again, don't make the connection obvious.

So let's make it a little more obvious. Moses's mother put Moses in an ark.

The same word that is used in Genesis for the ark is the word for this box here.

She puts Moses in an ark made with pitch.

It recalls the flood narrative and the story of Noah. Moses, again, wrote

Genesis. He wrote Exodus. He wants us to make these connections. When Noah was born, his dad recognized that Noah was special.

Remember what he said? This was Lamech in Genesis 5, 28 and 29. When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son and called his name

Noah, saying out of the ground that the Lord has cursed. This one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toils of our hands.

So Lamech sees Noah and says, this is the one who's gonna bring rest, who's gonna bring relief, who's gonna be the one to undo the curse.

Noah is presented in the narrative as a savior, not capital

S Savior, lowercase S Savior. Noah is the one in his family that God preserves, tells him to build an ark.

And when he brings the waters of judgment, Noah passes through these waters of death to a mountain and is spared.

And he leaves the ark as the kind of first man of this new creation.

Noah had a baptism to undergo first. Moses had a baptism to undergo.

It's really an incredible story. I used to think when

I read this, why in the world would his mother put him in the water? Is that gonna be any one of your plans, first plans, moms?

Okay, we gotta save our child. Let's put him in the water in a box. What about crocodiles?

You ever think that? What about the crocodiles? That's where my mind goes. Why not just try to hide him?

Try to smuggle him out? Well, they really had no other options. And so maybe, maybe, this is maybe a bit speculation, but maybe

Moses' mom knew the story of Noah, knowing that he was special and delivered through the waters.

And maybe as an act of faith, she said, this is going to be the way God is gonna rescue this child.

We know his parents did walk by faith. Hebrews tells us that. Again, by faith,

Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw that the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

Did Moses' mom think that God would deliver Moses like he delivered Noah? Maybe. But here he is, safe in the ark.

Could her actions have failed? Well, from her perspective, yes.

She didn't know exactly how it was all going to turn out. But from God's perspective, no way. This plan was never going to fail.

As one commentator said, Moses was never safer than when he was in that box in the river because God's providence was guiding him.

God didn't plan to deliver Moses some other way, like hiding him in a wagon and pulling him by horses.

No, the deliverance through the waters was intentional. Moses' salvation was intended to follow

Noah's salvation. He must pass through the waters of death, the waters of judgment, the waters of the

Nile that are supposed to consume his brothers. But out of these waters, passing through these waters,

God saves life. He delivers Moses, and then Moses will be the one to deliver

God's people by doing what? Leading them through the waters of the

Red Sea. You think this is intentional? There was no plan

B, friends, because God designed redemptive history to fit these patterns to make sense out of the great salvation that has come to us in Jesus Christ.

Throughout the history of redemption, and specifically the history of Israel, God providentially governed history in such a way to prepare us for the coming of Christ and the salvation we would experience in him.

Why did Jesus say, I have a baptism to undergo? He had already been baptized by John when he said those words.

I have a baptism to undergo, and how great is my distress until it's accomplished? What was he talking about?

He was talking about the flood of God's wrath that he would undergo to bear the penalty for our sin.

Passing through judgment and into life. God has orchestrated the details of Moses' birth because they are following patterns that point us to the great salvation that we have been given in a great savior.

I have a baptism to undergo, Jesus said. And we too who are united to Christ by faith have passed from death to life.

Third, notice God's providence in mocking Pharaoh and his plans.

I think mocking is a good way to put it. Why? Because Pharaoh wants the babies to be killed.

How? Cast them into the Nile. Okay, well, put the boy into the

Nile, the very thing Pharaoh wants, and this one is gonna come out of the Nile to destroy

Pharaoh. Let's consider the details. Moses' mother puts him in a river and probably asks his sister to follow him.

See what's gonna happen. Follow the boy. Miriam, Moses' sister, is watching.

Clearly, they're not expecting this to be the end of the baby boy, and we know it's not. The daughter of Pharaoh of all people, the daughter of Pharaoh, finds

Moses. You see God's hand in this? She finds him, opens the box, and sees it's one of the

Hebrew boys, and she doesn't toss him into the river. That was

Pharaoh's command. No, what does the text say? She had compassion. She took pity on him.

Look, God's people are not the only ones capable of showing compassion.

We know that people, even unregenerate people, bear the image of God, and in God's common grace, they still act sometimes in compassionate ways, though it is not ultimately glorifying to God because it is not wrought by the

Spirit. Nevertheless, the image of God is still borne out in their person, and in his common grace, they can act with compassion, and that's what she does here.

She has compassion on Moses, and some would say the actions of this

Gentile woman are meant to remind us that God's purposes for salvation are bigger than Israel.

In fact, Exodus 12 .38 tells us that when the Israelites leave Egypt, others went with them.

Some of the Egyptians went, too, and so maybe that is a reminder that God's purposes for redemption are bigger, even here in Exodus, than this one particular nation, but notice the clever tactics of Moses' sister.

Verses seven and eight. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall

I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go.

Who does she go get? So the girl went and called the child's mother, in verse nine, and Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.

So the woman took the child and nursed him. Is God in the details? I mean, how can we miss it? Let me say two things here.

First, God mocks Pharaoh in these details. Perhaps we should say

God triumphs over evil by confounding their own schemes. Pharaoh, cast the babies into the

Nile. Okay, we'll put this one in the Nile, and this one who's delivered out of the water is going to be raised by your own daughter in your house, and you're gonna pay his mom to nurse her own child, and he's gonna grow up with the best education imaginable in Egyptian civilization and be trained and equipped so that he can topple your kingdom at the right time.

Again, listen to what Stephen says in Acts 7, 20 through 22. At this time, Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God's sight, and he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed,

Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son, and Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the

Egyptians, and he was mighty in words and in deeds.

Thank you, Pharaoh, for giving Moses a world -class education so that he could write a literary masterpiece like the

Pentateuch. You see, God confounding human wisdom?

God is all over the narrative, and just to pour salt in Pharaoh's wounds a little more, look how the birth narrative ends in verse 10.

When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.

She named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.

You just wanna say, don't name him that. This would be like Richard Nixon's daughter naming her child

Watergate. Here, meet your grandson,

Watergate. I drew him out of the water. Meet your grandchild drawn out of the water.

Guess what, Pharaoh? Your death will come through the water, and this one drawn out of the water is gonna be your demise.

Oh, the irony in this chapter. Friends, God's plans for his people are never in danger of succumbing to the evil actions of men or the evil devices of Satan, never.

I mean, I can't help but think of Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage? And the people's plot in vain.

And then what does God do in verse 4 of Psalm 2? He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision.

Pharaoh is trying to exterminate God's people, and God is just laughing, foiling his every move.

Look, a word of application. Whether it's moral evil or what we might call natural evil, whether it's the oppressive, persecuting intentions of evil men or the attacks of Satan himself or the suffering that we endure,

God's people are never in danger of succumbing ultimately to that evil.

Yes, there's no guarantee that we may not lose our lives in serving Christ and suffer greatly, but our inheritance is secure.

Our salvation is certain. God's people are safe under God's providence and will be brought to their heavenly homeland.

As Paul says in Romans, they are more than conquerors through him who loved us. When Moses was floating along a river in crocodile -infested waters,

God was confounding Pharaoh's wisdom and triumphing over Pharaoh's evil schemes.

When Jesus was hanging on a cross perceived as a criminal,

God was triumphing over the rulers and authorities bringing redemption to the nations.

God's plans are never in jeopardy. Second, let narrative details like this remind us that God cares for his people down to the details of their lives.

Some of us need that reminder every week. Some of us need that reminder every day, like me.

Some of you here might be tired. Some of you may want the pain to go away. Some of you can't see any good in the affliction that you might be enduring.

Some of you can't make sense out of the trial you're in. Some of you can't figure out how that person could be so mean or she could be so mean or he could be so mean.

I mean, I can't imagine anything more difficult for a mom than giving up her child. But Moses' mom did it as an act of faith.

It's almost as if God is saying now at the end of this birth narrative, I told you to trust me.

I told you to trust me. You see, God wanted

Moses' mom to be able to nurse her son. He just wanted her to get paid for it too. Oh, the kindness.

Look, the promise of this narrative is not that every amount or experience of suffering in this life is going to eventually make sense in this life.

It's not the promise, but it does teach us, and it is a reminder that God works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

God cares about the specific details of our lives. He really does.

He really does. And he's working his plans through those specific details.

Look, some commentators may want to say, look, we need to take the non -mention of God seriously.

They may say that the plans of these people could have failed and God would have had to find a different way into the future with the possibilities then made available to them, but don't buy it.

Can our plans fail? Absolutely, of course. But if they fail, it is because God will work through our failure to display his glory and work it for our good.

How many instances in your own life can you look back and see failure, failure, failure, and now years later see, wow,

God was working through it all. God makes no mistakes with his people.

Everything in these 10 verses scream at us that God is sovereign, governs the world by his providence.

Even in the details of Moses's birth, we get a glimpse of the salvation that is coming to Israel through Moses.

Moses passes through the waters for salvation. Israel will pass through the waters for deliverance.

Moses is put among the reeds of the Nile. Israel will pass through the sea of reeds. Moses's mom plunders the

Egyptians by getting paid. The women of Israel will plunder the Egyptian neighbors when

God delivers them with a mighty hand. Moses's life foreshadowed

God's coming redemption. Friends, God's purposes never fail.

He declares the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose.

Even in the most insignificant, the seemingly meaningless, the most unintelligible circumstances, and yes, even the most painful of trials, that you can't figure out,

God is there. There are no do -overs for God.

All his ways are perfect. All his ways are purposeful. All his plans are for our good.

When you lose sight of that, turn your gaze back to Jesus.

Set apart from birth to save his people from their sins. Taken to Egypt to escape

Herod's murderous plan. Faithful to the Lord to fulfill his mission,

I have a baptism to undergo. And how great is my distress until it is accomplished.

Jesus did not undergo his baptism into the flood of God's righteous wrath like Moses by going into water.

No, he did it by going to the cross. And he didn't have to be compelled to drink the cup.

He reached for it willingly. He did it in obedience to the

Father and out of love for sinners like us.

He embraced the cross for our salvation.

And when we are tempted to question God's providence over our lives, then let me just encourage you to look back to the cross.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word.

We thank you for this narrative. We thank you how, oh God, you delivered

Moses and confounded the wisdom of Pharaoh. We thank you that you care about the details of our own lives and you have accomplished our great salvation in delivering us from the tyranny of Satan, from the bondage of sin and death.

Lord, I pray that each one of us would live in the freedom and the joy of the salvation we have been given.

And know, oh God, that you are working all things after the counsel of your will in our lives for your glory and for our good.

we look to you in faith and pray these things in the name of Christ our Savior, amen.