Word of Encouragement (08/25/2022)

The second why-question Moses asked the LORD was, “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?’” He was giving God another reason that destroying Israel was not a good idea: it would bring dishonor to the name of God among the peoples of the world, especially the Egyptians who had to let Israel go.

Should God care? If people can say, “I don’t care what other people think!” how about God? If people have an inherent value, which cannot be taken away by other people’s opinions, how about God? Is he not infinite in glory and honor in Himself? If people can have enough self-confidence and self-respect not to be destroyed by other people’s gossip or criticism, how about God? Should He care about what His little creatures say about Him?

Yet God cares. He told Ezekiel regarding Israel’s exile, “But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came” (Ezek. 36:20-21). Judah’s defeat by the Babylonians profaned the name of the LORD since people concluded from it that Judah’s God was not strong enough to defend it. Judah’s exile was God’s doing; it was God’s punishment for Judah’s ongoing rebellion and idolatry. People wrongly interpreted it as the LORD’s weakness. Yet, God had concern for His holy name.

This was not because God was insecure and lacked self-assurance. He is God! If He cared about the profaning of His holy name, it was because it was not right. Not only was it wrong because they misunderstood what God was doing; but it was wrong also because mere creatures cannot mock their Creator, who is holy and just and good and merciful. This is against God’s created order. This is happening only because the human race has fallen in sin. But God will not, and cannot, allow this to continue. So, on His appointed day, “...at the name of Jesus every knee [shall] bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11).

So, Moses was right to remind(?) God what killing off the people of Israel would do to His reputation among the peoples. And the LORD relented. (We will talk about why more in-depth later.) But this could not be the ultimate solution, could it? Would God “save His face” by ignoring the seriousness of Israel’s idolatry? But punishing Israel, as He would do by casting the Israelites out of the promised land, would not solve the problem, either, would it? By it, God’s name was profaned (Ezek. 36:20). The ultimate solution would come in Jesus Christ. By His sacrifice, He would satisfy God’s justice as well as redeem His people. You see, God sparing Israel at Mount Sinai was not God’s ultimate answer to Moses’ prayer; it was answered when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem us.

How wonderful this is! When Moses interceded for Israel, could he have imagined that this was what God would do for His people? Never in a million years! So, we can have the assurance that He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). How can we not pray?

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