When Moses was born the Hebrew people had been living in Egypt for quite a time. Initially under the protection of Joseph and Pharoah and welcomed as honored guests; they had become an oppressed and enslaved nation. Fearing their growing strength, Pharaoh ordered every Hebrew boy to be thrown into the Nile. But one mother’s courage defied the king’s decree. She hid her child as long as she could, then placed him in a basket coated with tar and pitch and set him afloat on the Nile river. By God’s providence, Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby and raised him as her own.
Moses grew up amid the luxury of Pharaoh’s court, yet he never forgot his Hebrew roots. His passion for justice—and his temper—would define much of his life. When he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses struck down the oppressor and hid the body in the sand (Exod. 2:11–12). When the act became known, he fled to the wilderness of Midian, where he spent forty years as a shepherd, husband, and son-in-law to Jethro—waiting for the day when God would call him to lead His people out of bondage.
By the time we reach Exodus 3, Moses had already spent those forty years in Midian tending sheep. Then, before a burning bush, he encountered the living God—the God of Adam and Eve,
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God entered into Moses’ world in such a way that he would never be the same again. When God called to him from the bush, He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (v. 5). What made the ground holy? The presence of God made it holy. As R.C. Sproul wrote in his classic The Holiness of God: “God alone is holy in Himself. Only God can sanctify something else. Only God can give the touch that changes it from the commonplace to something special, different, and apart.”
The God who spoke to Moses from within the burning bush is not only holy—but faithful. While many Hebrews believed that God had forgotten them, the Lord reminded Moses that He is not only all-seeing, but full of mercy: “I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings” (v. 7). Then God said to Moses, “And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt” (v. 10). To this, Moses humbly replied, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”
All that Moses saw in himself was his own failures and weaknesses. But for God, it didn’t matter how weak Moses was, for He delights to use the foolish to shame the wise and the weak to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:26–31). What the burning bush reminds us of is not only that God is holy, or that He is omniscient, or that He is faithful to His promises, but that God uses people not because He needs to, but because He wants to. Just as God did not need Noah or Joseph to address the problems of the world, He did not need Moses. The marvel of the story of God and the people He chooses to use has more to do with that fact that He invites people like us into His mission and the story He is telling.
There is a Mediator Who Stands in Your Place
After God revealed Himself to Moses as Yahweh—the covenant-keeping God—He commissioned Moses to return to Egypt. Understandably, Moses questioned, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” God assured him, “I will certainly be with you” (Exod. 3:10–12). And when Moses was to speak to the people of Israel, God instructed him to say, “I AM WHO I AM has sent me to you” (v. 14).
One of the characteristics that distinguishes the God of Abraham from the gods of Egypt is His faithfulness—He keeps His promises. This is expressed beautifully in Exodus 6:2–5, where God tells Moses, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.” God’s faithfulness is not only in His name but in His actions, His compassion, and His unwavering remembrance of His promises.
Do you remember Leah—the “ugly” wife whom Jacob did not love? Not only was Judah born to her, but so was Levi. About five generations later, we read in Exodus 2:1 of a man from the house of Levi who married a daughter of Levi. Together they had three children: Miriam, Aaron, and Moses.
It was after Miriam and Aaron’s birth—but before Moses was born—that Pharaoh commanded every Hebrew son to be thrown into the Nile (see Exod. 1:20–22). Yet from this very family, God raised up the leaders who would deliver His people. Moses would lead Israel out of bondage, serving as a type of king who would shepherd God’s people through the wilderness. Aaron would become God’s priest, and through him the priestly line would continue (Exod. 28:1–29:9). Miriam would be identified as a prophetess (Exod. 15:20–21).
Don’t miss this: God used all three—Moses, Aaron, and Miriam—to lead His people out of Egypt, yet Aaron and Miriam would serve the people under Moses’ leadership (see Mic. 6:4). But it was to Moses, that God said, “I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.” And when Miriam and Aaron forgot their place and Moses’ God-ordained role before Israel, God said, “Now hear My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. “It is not this way for My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, that is, openly, and not using mysterious language, and he beholds the form of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?” (see Num. 12:1-8).
Follow the Deliverer Who Leads His People Out of Bondage
Moses stood before Pharaoh and Israel as a type of shepherd-king—a mediator and prophet who spoke on God’s behalf. Listen to how the Lord described Moses’ role:
“As for you, you shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My armies, My people the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I extend My hand over Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.” (Exod. 7:2-5).
When Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh, they declared, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Let My people go.’” (Exod. 5:1). Pharaoh not only refused but mocked the God of Israel: “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go” (5:1-2). To prove that no one would command Pharoah of Egypt, he made the Israelites’ labor even harsher, forcing them to gather their own straw while maintaining the same quota of bricks.
What followed was a succession of ten plagues, each designed to expose the impotence of Egypt’s gods and, in many cases, to mock them directly. The first nine fall naturally into three escalating triads:
- Plagues of defilement: water turned to blood (7:14–24), frogs overran the land (8:1–15), and gnats or lice tormented Egypt (8:16–19).
- Plagues of destruction: swarms of flies invaded (8:20–32); disease killed Egypt’s livestock while Israel’s remained unharmed (9:1–7); and boils afflicted people and animals alike (9:8–12).
- Plagues of devastation: hail mixed with fire ravaged the land (9:13–35); locusts devoured the remaining crops (10:1–20); and darkness—a direct assault on Ra, the sun-god—covered Egypt for three days (10:21–29).
Each judgment demonstrated Yahweh’s sovereignty, yet Pharaoh’s heart only grew harder. Enraged, he shouted to Moses—who stood before him as God’s representative: “Get away from me! Be careful, do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you shall die!” (10:28).
The cognitive dissonance of Pharaoh towards the God of the Israel was not only irrational, but insane! He was dealing with the God who He could not defeat, for in the words of the apostle Paul, it was the equivalent of the clay pot accusing the potter that He had no rights over what He created (Rom. 9:19ff.). In essence, Pharaoh’s heart cried out to the God of Moses, “Who are You to tell me what I can and cannot do?”
Before we shake our heads or point our finger at Pharaoh in disgust, we must ask ourselves: What has God commanded us to release or submit to that we have resisted with the same question— “Who is Yahweh that I should obey His voice?”
Live in the Victory of the Lamb Who Triumphed Over Every Power
Before the final plague, Israel was commanded to take a male lamb without defect and keep it for four days—long enough to confirm it was spotless and long enough for it to become, in a sense, their lamb (Exod. 12:1–6). On the fourteenth day, the lamb was to be slaughtered at twilight, and its blood applied “on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it” (v. 7). Afterward, the entire household was to eat the lamb together (vv. 8–11).
For what purpose was the perfect and spotless lamb slaughtered? We are told why in Exodus 12:12, “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.” Who would God strike? The firstborn sons—both human and animal—and the gods (elohim) of Egypt. These “gods” were not merely lifeless idols but spiritual powers, demonic forces that animated Egypt’s sorcery and who also held Pharaoh and his people captive[1] (see Deut. 32:17; 1 Cor. 10:20–22).[2]
So what fueled Pharaoh’s hatred of Yahweh and his oppression of Israel? His sin and pride, certainly—but beneath that rebellion lay a demonic conflict. The showdown between Moses and Pharaoh, Israel and Egypt, was not merely political or personal; it was spiritual warfare. As Paul later wrote, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).
Every plague before the tenth was a call to repentance—a chance for Pharaoh, for Egypt, and even for any Hebrew who had turned to Egypt’s idols, to turn back to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But only through the blood of the lamb would anyone experience deliverance and victory. But, why the firstborn?
At the summit of Egypt’s pantheon stood Ra (Re), the so-called “god of gods,” depicted with the head of a falcon and the solar disk encircled by a cobra—a symbol of divine power and kingship. Pharaoh was worshiped as the son of Ra, and his own firstborn son was regarded as the next embodiment of divine rule. In one decisive act, Yahweh crushed the head of Egypt’s god for the purpose of liberating captive Israel and any Egyptian who wished to turn to the true Creator, and He did it through the blood of the lamb!
Conclusion
Through this series, you’ve been reminded of the true and better Adam who embraced a tree for our redemption and life. You’ve seen the true and better Isaac, who carried His cross to the place of execution for sins we committed, that we might become children of God through His willing death. There is a true and better Israel, who pursued the unfaithful bride and redeemed her to be clothed in white, never again enslaved to sin. And there is a true and better Moses—the Prophet who perfectly represents God, the High Priest who intercedes for us, and the flawless Shepherd-King whose lordship demands our obedience.
Behind Egypt’s gods stood a master deceiver—the father of lies, the ancient serpent—who twists truth and opposes the purposes of God. When Moses stood before Pharaoh, he wasn’t merely confronting a ruler; he was standing against the spiritual powers of darkness. In that moment, Moses foreshadowed the One who would intercede perfectly on our behalf.
Jesus is the true and better Moses—the long-promised Deliverer, the Lion of Judah who became the Lamb of God to set captives free. He alone is the sinless Son of the Father, who took on flesh and dwelt among us—the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. But His death did more than address our guilt; it triumphed over sin, death, and every power opposed to God’s kingdom. Through His cross and resurrection, Jesus destroyed “the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14), and “the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).
When we turn to the book of Revelation, we witness a dramatic, global reenactment of the Exodus story: the seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls each unleash escalating judgments, echoing the plagues that struck Egypt. Yet, just as Pharaoh stubbornly hardened his heart, so too does humanity in the final days. Scripture warns, “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands; they continued to worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see, hear, nor walk. They refused to repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts” (Rev. 9:20-21). So we must ask regarding ourselves: “Who is Yahweh that I should obey Him?”
The true and better Moses, the Lamb of God, was slain to liberate us from such things. For the true Christian, Colossians 2:13–15 declares our victory:
And when you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Col. 2:13-15)
If you are in Christ, your victory and freedom are found in the Lamb who reigns as the Lion of Judah. Jesus is the true and better Mediator who stands in your place. Jesus is the true and better Deliverer who leads His people out of bondage. The true Son of God is your salvation—before whom every ruler and demon, all who are rich and poor, those who are known and unknown will one day bow. And on that Day, may Revelation 12:10–11 be said of you:
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. (Rev. 12:10-11)
[1] “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they will not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4)
[2] “No, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?” (1 Cor. 10:20-22)
