Peter Misselbrook's Blog
Feb 25 2020 - Acts 7:30-50 – God who sees and hears and comes down to rescue

In revealing himself to us God accommodates himself to our understanding, describing his actions in homely, human (anthropomorphic) terms.

Stephen describes how God appeared to Moses at the burning bush and said that he had seen the oppression of his people in Egypt and had heard their groaning and had now come down to set them free. What a wonderfully dramatic picture. But it’s more than a picture, it is a reality borne out by the events that follow. God is with Moses, enabling him to perform signs in Egypt. Indeed, it is God himself who, through the plagues, has come to do battle with Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. God has come to rescue his people and to bring them into freedom. He comes to bring them to himself, enabling them to live with him and before him. The Living God is with them, leading them out in a pillar of cloud and of fire, through the waters of the Red/Reed Sea, on to Sinai, through the desert and ultimately into the Promised Land. He has come to “tabernacle” among them.

Such descriptions of God are more than figures of speech. Anthropomorphic language is more than accommodation to our limited understanding. God has ultimately revealed himself to us in the man, Jesus Christ. God has seen and heard and has come down to rescue. Jesus is not God dressed up in human form but God incarnate – Immanuel, God with us. In Jesus, God has entered into our world, into our situation, to rescue us and set us free. The person of Jesus, the cross, the resurrection and empty tomb are together the single act at the centre of history that provides shape and meaning to all of history.

Looking at our world in all its injustice, confusion and pain we often cry in exasperation, “Why doesn’t God do something? Why does he not come and sort things out? Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down...” At such times we need to remember that God does see the plight of our world; he does hear its cry, and God has come down to set the captives free. Nor is he now absent. God is at work in the world through the Spirit and in the power of the risen Saviour to transform hearts, lives and communities. We just need eyes to see it, for it is, in one sense, a hidden work – the seed that grows by itself. We need also the courage to act as an answer to our own cries, to be active agents in God’s transforming work through the power and presence of the risen Saviour. God is pleased to see and hear and come alongside hurting people through us.

Nor should we forget that a day will come when God will again rend the heavens and come down. The God who has seen and heard and who came down to our rescue in the person of Jesus shall come again to transform all things. The kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ and he will reign for ever and ever.

Living God, we thank you that you heard the cry of your damaged world and came down to heal and to save in the Lord Jesus. We long for that day when he will come again and make all things new – when pain and alienation shall be no more and all hurts are healed. Help us now to bear witness to Christ as we work towards the mending of a broken world. Help us to hear the cries of those around us and to be ready to come to their aid.

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Feb 25 2019 - Exodus 13:20-14:31 – Crossing the Red Sea

It is vital that the Children of Israel know who has brought them out of captivity in Egypt and who is leading them to the Promised Land. It is not Moses, it is the Lord himself. This is made clear to the Israelites through a visible symbol of the Lord's presence; a pillar of fire and smoke which never left its place at the head of the party of travellers. By this means the Lord led them in the way they were to go, taking them towards the Red Sea.

We are also called to be a pilgrim people; a people led by God towards the inheritance he has promised us. His presence with us may not be visible in a pillar of fire and smoke, but it is none-the-less real. He leads us by his word and by his Spirit. His word sheds light upon our path and directs our steps. His Spirit reminds us that Jesus is with us, shows us his glory and calls us to follow him.

But Pharaoh and his officials soon decided that they must have their slave labour back. Pharaoh sent out his great army of chariots, horsemen and troops to pursue them and drag them back to Egypt. Meanwhile, the Lord led his people to make camp at a point where they have the sea in front of them and Egypt behind them.

The Israelites are terrified as they see the army approaching. They have nowhere to go. They are convinced that they will now die in the desert; it would have been better to remain as slaves in Egypt. But Moses tells them, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still" (14:13-14). They need not panic, nor will they have to fight for their lives, the Lord will save them. They need only trust the Lord and watch what he will do.

The Lord tells Moses to get the people moving on towards the sea. The pillar of fire and of cloud then moved from before them to behind them. The Lord stands between his people and the Egyptians, giving light to the one and darkness to the other and keeping the two armies apart. At the Lord's command, Moses raised his staff and stretched it out over the sea. The waters of the sea are driven back by a strong wind so that the Israelites could cross on dry ground with a wall of water to their left and to their right.

As the Egyptians follow the Israelites through the sea, their chariot wheels get bogged down in the soft ground and the army is in confusion. Again, at the Lord's command, Moses stretches his staff over the sea. This time the waters roll back and the entire army of Pharaoh is drowned.

"That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant" (14:30-31) – well, at least for a while.

God not only breaks the powers that enslaved his people, he destroys them. His people need only to trust him and they/we shall see his saving power and have cause to sing his praises. He is with his people and he places himself as a guard between them and those who threaten to destroy them.

Lord God, I often wish that you would lead me visibly as you did the Israelites. Help me to trust the promises of your word and to know that you are with me by your Spirit. Make plain to me the path that I should tread and help me to follow faithfully in the footsteps of my Saviour. Help me to see that the very situations that seem to threaten me are opportunities for you to display your saving power. You have placed your Son between me and those forces which threaten me; you have worked for my protection and their destruction. There is nothing that can separate me from your love towards me in Christ Jesus. I rejoice in your salvation.

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Peter Misselbrook