Ordinary men and women who know God
When Moses and Aaron first walked into the palace to confront Pharaoh, they knew they were meeting with a man who thought he was a god. Truth be told, he did have unimpeachable authority to have them drawn and quartered on the spot, without question. But these men confronted him anyway. They were ordinary men upon whom the grace of God was abundantly poured out for such a time as this. Notice how Pharaoh responded.
He said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” That’s a question for the ages! A question every single one of us, every person who has ever lived has had to answer. Or will eventually answer with the truth. Who is the Lord? Why should I obey Him? The Pharaoh had the wrong heart but he asked the right question. And every single person on the last day, the day of judgment, will either enter into heaven because he or she has bowed the knee by faith to Christ and obeyed His voice, or will enter into eternal damnation after he or she has bowed the knee to Christ. The Bible says, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should 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.”
The Pharaoh then says, “I do not know the Lord…and I will not let Israel go.” It is an honest answer. At least the Pharaoh knows what he doesn’t believe. How many people know that? The hardest people to reach with the Gospel are the people who think they believe in Christ but really do not. They are cultural Christians who know about Jesus and may even go to church, but they do not know Him. Their lives do not bear the marks of repentance and faith and obedience to Christ.
Moses and Aaron persisted and told Pharaoh they spoke for the Lord, the God of the Hebrews. They asked him again to let the people go worship God, and added, “lest he fall upon us with pestilence or the sword.” This first warning was given to the Pharaoh to let him know there would be consequences for his disobedience. Again, the courage and confidence of Moses and Aaron to confront Pharaoh is critical here, and it comes from their relationship with God. Moses was just a man, but a man who had been with God, had heard His voice and seen His power, and now was ready to do God’s will. It was the same with the Jesus’ disciples.
They were ordinary men and we can easily catalogue their selfishness and sinfulness and betrayal in the Gospels. But these same men, filled with the Holy Spirit, would stand before rulers and leaders of Israel and astonish them with their boldness. “They were uneducated, common men…(but the rulers of Israel) recognized that they had been with Jesus.” You and I, too, have been with Jesus. Though we have not seen Him, we know Him and we are in Christ, and He is in us. When Spurgeon preached on the life of Moses, he had this to say to his listeners: “Do you still stutter? Are you still slow of speech? Nevertheless, go on. Have you been rebuked and rebuffed? Have you had little else than defeat? This is the way of success.… Toil on and believe on. Be steadfast in your confidence, for with a high hand and an outstretched arm the Lord will fetch out his own elect, and he will fetch some of them out by you.”
Ordinary men and women who know and are known by our extraordinary God: that is who we are. Go, speak in His name and with His authority!