An entire people were slowly dying because of a poison that they had ingested. One of the people, however, found an antidote. He took the antidote and was cured. When he realized that the antidote was plentiful enough for everyone to have some he began telling other people about it. Some believed him and took the antidote but many others simply rejected it. Still others were not content to just refuse it but they began to give this cured person trouble for telling them about it. Eventually, all those who had been poisoned and refused to take the antidote died, while those who took the antidote lived.
The key idea of this passage, that the author of Hebrews lays out for us this morning is ultimately, people are divided into two groups. Those who have faith in the words of God and escape judgment and those who refuse to believe God’s Word and receive judgment.
Trust in the words of God (biblical faith) saved Moses and the people of Israel from judgment. Before we begin to look at the passage I want to make sure you understand that deliverance from judgment does not mean absence of trouble. It means that we escape the punishment of God. We may still experience some consequences from others who would seek to harm us. But through faith we receive God’s undeserved favor.
I want to start this message by giving some background. These last three verses on the life of Moses seem to be linked together through the theme of escaping God’s judgment. Those with biblical faith will escape God’s judgment. Those without faith will experience God’s judgment. In this passage there are three items we notice connected to biblical faith.
I. Faith Saved the People from the Judgment of Plagues – v.27
The first item we notice in this passage is that faith saved the people from the judgment of plagues. We see this in verse 27. The author says, “By faith he [Moses] left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.” Now commentators disagree on the instance about which the author is speaking. Some see this as the time when Moses fled Egypt after murdering the Egyptian taskmaster. The difficulty with this understanding is the author says Moses did not fear the wrath of the king. However, the passage in Exodus states that Moses feared as he fled. Those who hold this view would say that Moses may have feared getting caught but didn’t fear the wrath of the king. I think saying this is trying to find a way to make the view fit.
The other understanding of this passage is that Moses is leaving Egypt with the nation of Israel after they had endured nine of the plagues. Seeing the passage this way brings us to Exodus 10 and 11. After the plague of darkness, Moses confronts Pharaoh. Pharaoh offers a concession in letting the Israelites go but Moses would not bargain with Pharaoh. Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave but wanted their herds and flocks to remain behind in Egypt. But Moses said that they would take everything. Here, Pharaoh blows up and tells Moses to never come into his presence again because the day he saw his face he would die. Then Moses fearlessly tells Pharaoh that his own son was going to die because of his refusal to listen to the Lord and let the people of Israel go.
Throughout this period Moses continued to trust in God’s Word that the people would be set free. The author of Hebrews in verse 27 says that Moses endured. How was it that Moses endured? Moses endured when the Israelite people complained against him as they began to suffer harshly at the hand of the Egyptians. The people were being beaten because they could not meet their absurd quota of bricks. Moses endured because it looked by all outward accounts that the initial plagues had no effect to cause the Egyptians to release the Israelites. But Moses continued to listen to the Lord. Even when he was experiencing this great pressure from the Israelites to “lay off” because of the Egyptians’ harsh treatment he persevered. When Moses had come to the end of his rope he believed God when He said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he shall let them go, and under compulsion he shall drive them out of his land.” And the Lord had a message for Moses to deliver to the Israelites. “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”
Here is where Moses’ endurance comes in. Though it doesn’t seem like things are at all going well for the people of Israel, though it looks as if these initial plagues only made Pharaoh spiteful against the Israelites and though it made his magicians cocky that they could duplicate the plagues (though they couldn’t remove them) God was about to do something very special. Because Moses believed God and did not quit, because Moses endured, God said, “I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there, in order that you may know that I the Lord, am in the midst of the land. I will put a division between My people and your people.” This is what took place; God kept His people from the plagues. Moses’ faith in the promises of God caused God to make a distinction between His people and the Egyptians. Now the Israelites would be free from the judgment of God. They would be delivered from these plagues while those without faith would receive them.
What does the author mean when he said, “He endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.” The word translated “seeing” in this verse describes human perception. Though Moses couldn’t see God because He was invisible, yet Moses perceived that what God told him was true. His faith caused Him to perceive not just that God existed but that what He told Moses would come to pass. The turning point for Moses comes in Exodus 6, when Moses questioned God about His promise to deliver the people. God said something special to Moses to cause him to trust what He said. He told Moses, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, [the] LORD, I did not make myself known to them. I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan.” God goes on to promise that now He will fulfill His covenant with them and bring them up from Egypt to the Promised Land. God used His special covenant name, the LORD, with Moses. Moses saw the faithful covenant keeping God, the LORD. Moses saw God. That is, He perceived God’s character as being trustworthy. He heard God’s words and knew that they would be fulfilled. He endured as perceiving Him who is unseen.
II. Faith Saved the People from the Judgment of Passover – v. 28
The second item we note in this passage is that faith saved the people from the judgment of the Passover. We find this in verse 28. The author says, “By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.” The final judgment to fall upon Egypt was the death of the firstborn. Every firstborn male throughout Egypt would be killed. But God made a way to escape the judgment. He told the Israelites that every family was to take a lamb. They were to take a lamb without defect and kill it. Then they were to take the blood and put some upon the threshold of the door of their home. When the death angel saw the blood on the doorposts he would pass over the house and not kill the firstborn.
Only their faith would deliver them from this coming judgment. Unless they believed what God told them then the firstborn in the home would perish. Here we can understand what biblical faith is. It is not just believing intellectually, in your head, what God says is true. It is believing with your will also. What I mean is that a person might say, “I believe God will kill the firstborn if they do not place the blood on the door of the home” but they might not do anything about it. The question we have to ask is, “Does this person have genuine biblical faith?” The answer is no. If they had genuine biblical faith, their faith would cause them to act. Their faith would cause them to take the lamb, according to God’s instructions, kill it and sprinkle its blood on the doorposts.
Think with me in this scenario. What would have happened in the household if the person heard God’s Word but thought, that is too cruel to kill the lamb. I will just cut the animal and take some of its blood and place it upon the doorpost. Would that household be safe from God’s judgment? No it wouldn’t. It wasn’t the animal’s blood itself that saved them. Their faith in God’s Word caused them to obey God’s command. God would know the difference between those who truly believed Him and those who didn’t.
The reason God did this was to show the spiritual lesson of redemption. He wanted them to see that as the shed blood of the slaughtered lamb redeemed (or bought) the firstborn from the judgment of the death angel so this foreshadowed a coming redemption when the Messiah would be slaughtered and have his blood shed for the sins of mankind so they would be rescued from the judgment of eternal death (eternal punishment) through Him. He didn’t want the picture changed because they would miss the significance of what God wanted to teach them.
In the same way that a person who changed God’s instructions for the Passover would experience judgment, so will those who change God’s instruction to receive deliverance from eternal judgment. God’s Word to us to receive eternal life is very clear. He tells us to repent our of sin and put our trust in the fact that Jesus died for our sins so we might have the righteousness that leads to life. But there are people who say, “Well I don’t need to repent, I’m not that bad.” Or they might say, “Oh I believe that don’t you think I’m trying hard enough to be saved?” Others might add to Christ’s work on the cross by saying, “Well of course Jesus died for my sin and I can get to heaven if I only keep praying and doing what’s right.” But God will only give you His righteousness as a gift to be received by acknowledging you deserve the wrath of God and putting your trust in Jesus’ work on the cross as your sin bearer, the one who bore your punishment. Even as the Passover lamb bore the judgment of death the firstborn was to receive so Jesus bore the judgment of eternal death that we were to receive.
Again what the author emphasizes here is that the people of Israel through faith were delivered through that faith. And there was a distinction between Egyptians and the Israelites. Whereas there was absolutely no commotion or disturbance in the Israeli district of Egypt there was complete and total judgment and chaos in the Egyptian quarter. The Scripture says that among the Egyptians there was not one home in which someone was not dead. God does not play with judgment. When He says He will bring judgment He does. He brings it according to His Word. And since the Egyptians did not believe God’s Word they found God’s judgment severe and sure.
III. Faith Saved the People from the Judgment of Perishing in the Water – v. 29
The last item we note in this passage is that faith saved the people from the judgment of perishing in the water. In verse 29 he says, “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.” Again we observe that there is a distinction made between the people of faith, the Israelites and those who antagonized them. At this point in the Exodus narrative we find that Pharaoh, after letting the Israelites go, changes his mind, assembles his army and his chariots and sets off in pursuit of the ragtag band of Israelites. As the children of Israel become trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army the people cry out to the Lord. In this moment Moses tells the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.”
In faith, the people walked down into the Red Sea with a wall of water on their right and a wall of water on their left. And as the Egyptians pursued the Israelites into the midst of the Red Sea, God began to cause their chariots to become stuck in the ground. What had been dry ground for the Israelites became impassable for the Egyptians and soon the proud attacking army became a confused and frightened group. Before they could escape they found themselves perishing under the crushing waves of God’s judgment.
In this instance in the narrative we note that there is a ramp up in the distinction between the two groups. This isn’t just about temporary judgment anymore. This is permanent judgment. Moses said that those you see here today you will never see again. The Israelites, through faith, were being protected from God’s judgment. They passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground. Their enemies, however, perished in the waters. They experienced final and complete judgment. The Egyptians never bothered the Israelites again. There will come a day for us as believers when our enemies will be destroyed. Now I am not talking about people who want to be our enemies. The Scripture says that as much as within you live at peace with all men. I am talking about our spiritual enemies.
Our spiritual enemies are the world, the flesh and the devil. Let’s discuss these for a moment. For these three entities seek to keep us from following the will of God. Even as the Egyptians sought to keep the Israelites from leaving and doing the will of God, these spiritual enemies in our lives seek to do the very same thing. When the Scripture talks about the world in this way it is talking about the world system. This is the system set up under Satan that seeks to prepare the world’s inhabitants to receive the Antichrist. This system covers the gamut from the ecumenical movement that wishes to join all religion together (this will take place under Antichrist) to the system of music, media, and philosophical systems that desire to keep us from taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
The flesh is simply our propensity to sin. Before we were saved the flesh had complete reign over our lives. And because of this we developed certain propensities to sin in different ways. Some of them might be seen as debased such as immorality, adultery, uncleanness, or drug use. Other people might have propensities for “upper class” sins such as seeking power for self-advancement, gossip, backbiting, explosive anger, self-absorption or depression. We all have various tendencies toward different sins. Before we were saved we were unable to control them. Now we are able to overcome them because Christ lives in us and we can live by faith in the one who loved us and gave Himself for us. Yet these sinful desires continue to wage war against us. And we must fight them as enemies as Peter says in 1 Peter 2. Finally, the devil is the last enemy. He and all his demon host seek to assail us and cause us to doubt the Word of God. They want us to back down, give in and turn from the purpose for which Christ has called us in bringing the Good News of the gift of eternal life. These three enemies will one day be past. Paul said in Philippians that Christ, when He returns, will change our lowly bodies into the image of His glorious body. And never again will we see these who have assailed us. And we will be glad to get rid of them.
However, there is another group that will likewise experience God’s righteous and eternal judgment. They are those who reject the Father’s free gift of eternal life by the sacrifice of His Son. We can’t call these people enemies. Friend, if you are here and have never received the righteousness of Christ available to you then let me say, believe God’s Word concerning His Son. Receive Him as your Savior today. Repent of your sin and believe that Christ paid for your sin by the shedding of His blood. He is the spotless lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Give up your own attempts at being good enough to get to heaven. Trust only in Him allow the blood He shed to be sprinkled upon your sin and receive the perfect righteousness He provided for all who will receive Him.
Now let me speak to you who are believers. You have been rescued from judgment. But are you content to sit around and worship God while other people are perishing without faith in Christ. The Scripture says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. They need to hear the Word if they are to be saved. They cannot be saved with a general knowledge of God or Jesus. They need the clear teaching of the Word to receive God’s righteousness through faith in Christ. Are you willing to go to people with the Word of God so they might understand the terrible condition they are in? Are you willing to go to them that they might recognize the great gift God has offered them through His Son? If we are set as an army to accomplish God’s purpose in bringing people to know Him through His Son then the gates of hell shall not prevail against us.
Please recognize that the only thing that has kept us from the wrath of God is His grace in bringing us to His Son through faith. We have been justified as a free gift through faith and we, in mercy toward those without Christ, need to present to them the bread of life. We need to have compassion upon those who are perishing so that they might not experience the judgment of hell. Will you, who have experienced God’s grace, be so unloving as to not speak to others of both the judgment and grace of God? Please recognize that you have been delivered for a purpose. You have been rescued from judgment through faith. If you have believed then will you also speak?