God Raises Up a Deliverer

Text: Exodus 1:1-22, Exodus 2:1-22, Acts 7:23-29

A malicious villain, an endearing protagonist, an impossible circumstance, and an unsuspecting hero—these are some of the elements we’ve come to expect from a good story. But for me, the best part of a story is a great rescue—because in every great rescue, there’s a moment of great faith. It’s the moment when it seems there’s no way out, like the villain is going to have his way.

Of course, I also dread those moments because they’re suspenseful, terrifying, and sometimes brutal. The protagonist comes to a point where she has to depend on something greater than herself, to have faith that a deliverer will come to her rescue.

The Israelites had reached that point. Enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years, they had been subjected to harsh labor and treated ruthlessly. And if that wasn’t enough, their children were being murdered! The darkness and oppression surrounding Israel during their time in Egypt is unfathomable.

God had promised to make them into a great nation and to bless all the nations of the world through them (Genesis 12:1-3). But how was this going to happen when they were enslaved?

Enter Moses, a man whose life was marked by the Lord from birth (Exodus 2:1-10). God chose this man to deliver Israel, and He gave him a desire to protect them. But Moses was a complicated, imperfect, temperamental man who once killed an Egyptian he saw beating an Israelite. In a panic, he fled the scene and headed for Midian, where he saved seven young women from some ill-intended shepherds. See? Complicated. When God opened Moses’ eyes to the oppression of his people, his heart was moved to defend them, however imperfectly (Exodus 2:11-17).”

Moses was God’s chosen deliverer, born to save the Israelites. In him, God continued to fulfill His promise to bless all nations of the world through Abraham’s offspring. Israel’s deliverance through Moses pointed directly to our coming deliverance through Christ.

Both Moses and Jesus were born under an edict of death, as both Pharaoh and Herod ordered the murder of all male children under two (Exodus 1:22, Matthew 2:16). God called Moses and the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, and He called Jesus up out of Egypt after Herod’s death (Exodus 3,14; Matthew 2:19-21). The Israelites did not initially recognize Moses as their deliverer, just as the people didn’t understand that Christ had come to deliver them from sin and death (Acts 7:25, Matthew 12:38-40).

Every deliverer in the Old Testament, including Moses, foreshadowed our ultimate Deliverer, Jesus Christ. And every act of deliverance in our past is a promise from the Lord to also deliver our future.

Friends, our deliverance—from whatever it may be—is already in the works. Just as the Lord had a greater purpose for Israel’s oppression (Genesis 15:13-16), He has a greater purpose for our suffering, too. Deliverance might not look like we expect, and might not come exactly when we hope, but it is coming. Even when we can’t see God working, when we feel like He no longer sees us, He’s working for our deliverance (Isaiah 64:1-4).

As we study the life of Moses together, let us be reminded of the deliverance we already have in Christ Jesus. May our eyes be opened to the way the Lord is working on our behalf, right now, in whatever our circumstances may be.

Let’s trust His past faithfulness for our future deliverance. May this be for us a moment of great faith in our own rescue story.