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Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

Mark Finley

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

02 The Burning Bush


You will remember that in our last lesson, we noticed in this first in a series on Exodus, the journey from Egypt to the promised land. You'll remember that we studied the fact that although Satan tried to destroy Moses' life at birth, God changed, transformed that curse into a blessing. And that when the Egyptians lorded it over, the Israelites and these taskmasters were cruel to them, God still blessed them. Here's the lesson from our first Sabbath school study this quarter. God miraculously works with his children in spite of the devil's attempts to thwart and destroy.

That the sovereign God has a plan for your life and mine, and although at times it'll appear as if the devil is winning with Jesus and through Jesus and because of Jesus, we can be victorious. God for Moses turned the curse into a blessing and he will turn every curse that the devil throws at you into a blessing. Now let's pray and then we're gonna start lesson number 2. Father in heaven, thank you so much that you turned curses into blessings. Thank you so much that when the devil oppresses us that you are greater than the evil 1.

So Lord bless us as we study this lesson, help us learn divine insights, I pray thee in Christ's name, amen. The title of our lesson is The Burning Bush. God meets Moses at the bush. But before we go there, we need to look at Exodus chapter 3, verse 7 and 8. Exodus 3, verse 7 and 8.

There are 2 words in these verses that deeply impress me. And the Lord said, their sorrows. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians to bring them up out of that land into a good land in a large land, a land flowing with milk and honey under the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Pisidites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now notice what scripture says. It says, the Lord said, I have surely seen.

The word of interest there is see. God sees our sorrows. God understands our heartaches. God knows our difficulties. And then it says, He hears our cry.

God sees and God hears. What a God we have. When we face challenges, when we face difficulties, when we face heartaches, God sees it all. We're not left alone. When we cry out to him in the darkness of our night, God hears that.

And notice God acts for Israel. He says, Your suffering is enough. Your heartache is enough. Your sorrow is enough. And it says, he has seen our affliction.

He hears our cry. And he says, I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and bring them to a good land flowing with milk and honey. The story, this is really the story of the gospel. God sees our cry in our discouragement in sin. He sees our cry in our guilt.

He sees our cry in our shame when we failed him. God sees our cry and He comes down to deliver us, to bring us to the goodly land of grace, the goodly land of salvation. So just as God led Israel out of Egyptian bondage to the promised land. So he leads us out of the bondage of sin, out of the shackles of Satan, out of the prison house of evil, to the land of freedom and grace and goodness in Jesus Christ our Lord. Then you look at the larger picture.

God is leading his church today from the Egypt of this world. Yes, we go through the wilderness. Yes, at times we fail, but God is going to get his church to the promised land. God meets Moses at the burning bush. Exodus chapter 3, verse 1 to 6.

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro. Remember he was 40 years in Egypt, 12 brought up by his mother, 28 educated in the University of Egypt, but he had some things to want to learn. So God led him out there into the wilderness. Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked and behold, the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed." I don't know if what Moses was thinking about that, he probably didn't understand spontaneous combustion back then, or he might have because of his Egyptian upbringing, but this was not spontaneous combustion of a bush because it was hot in the desert sun. Not at all. And Moses said, I'll go now turn aside and see this great sight. Why?

The bush is not burnt. So the bush is in flames, but it's not consumed. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he said, draw not near, put off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.

Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God." Why does God say that he's the God of Abraham, Isaac, and the God of Jacob, because God had made a covenant with them that through them and their families, the earth would be blessed. It didn't look like anybody was being blessed from the earth. It didn't look like that Israel was fulfilling its purpose, being imprisoned in the Egyptian culture, being imprisoned by the Egyptian armies with the taskmasters lording over them. But God is saying, I am going to fulfill the covenant that I have.

I'm going to fulfill the covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, Jacob. I am going to lead my people out of Egyptian bondage. Moses saw the, under Sunday's lesson, first paragraph, Moses saw that the burning bush was not being consumed by fire. Thus he knew he was seeing a miracle and that something dramatic and important must be taking place right before him. As he moved closer, the Lord told him to take off his shoes.

It was a sign of deep respect. The Lord promised the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, that their descendants would inherit Canaan, a promise Moses surely knew about. God is saying to Moses, I am reliable, I am trustworthy, I am truthful, I will fulfill my word. Every promise, you remember that old song? Every promise in the book is mine.

Every chapter, every verse, every line. Every promise in the book is mine. We can claim the promises of God and know that he is reliable. Now, some people are concerned because in Exodus 3, verse 2, it says, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him. Who is this angel of the Lord?

Is it an angel or is it God himself? Later on, it says in verse 6, when God speaks to him, he says, I am the God of the Father, of thy Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so what about that contrast there? In verse 2, it says the angel of the Lord. In verse 6, it says he's the Lord himself.

He's God himself. Really not very much of a conflict there. The word angel in the Hebrew language there means messenger. So it says here, I am the messenger of the Lord. In other words, Jesus Christ comes down, the all-powerful Christ, the almighty son of God, the 1 who represents God to man and man to God.

So Jesus comes down. I like the way it is put here when it talks about the concept of the angel of God. You'll find this under the note in Monday's lesson, second paragraph. Do not be confused with the title, Angel of the Lord, as a depiction of Jesus Christ. The term angel itself simply means messenger, and it always depends on the context.

There are many instances in the Bible where the angel is to be interpreted as human or divine. For example, and it gives us a number of Bible texts, this angel of the Lord not only speaks in the name of the Lord, but he is the Lord himself. Jesus is God's messenger to communicate the Father's word to us. So this is the messenger of God, Jesus Christ himself, veiled there, his veil, his glorious veil, speaking to Moses. And he says, I know the affliction of your people.

I've seen their heartaches. I've heard their cry. Think about it. I want you to grasp this. Christ himself comes down to speak to Moses that Moses is gonna be the deliverer of his people.

God is with his people always. Why did Moses wanna know God's name? Now you talk in Exodus 3, verse 13 to 22, it talks about when God says, I'll let my name pass before you. Verse 13, Moses said unto God, behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and shall say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me unto you, "'and they shall say to me, what is his name? "'What shall I say unto them?' And God said unto Moses, I am that I am." What does it mean I am that I am?

Moses, I am everything you need. Moses, you need strength, I am strength. Moses, you need wisdom, I am wisdom. Moses, your people in the wilderness wandering need food, I am the bread of life. They need water, I am the water of life.

I am the I am. I am everything you need. I am your all-sufficiency. God speaks to you, to me today. Lessons speak to us from the Word of God.

God says, I am your sufficiency. God's name represents God's character. God's name represents God's authority. God is the 1 whose character of love and grace and power and strength will deliver Israel. God is the 1 who has authority.

He indeed is the sovereign God. He is Yahweh. Now, in the Bible, in the Old Testament, there are really 2 names for God that are, there are many names for God, but there are a couple that are really significant in the light of this Moses story. First, Yahweh points to the fact that he's a personal God. He's the God of his people.

He's the God of the covenant. He is close and intimate God who intervenes in human affairs. He's the almighty God. He is the God who miraculously intervenes by his power. But also, he is a God who demonstrates his moral power by his love and his care.

He is the same God as Elohim, a mighty, strong, transcendent God, the God of all people, the ruler of the universe, the creator of everything. So Yahweh, personal, intimate God, knows his people. Elohim, the sovereign God, the almighty God, the all-powerful God. What an incredible God that we serve. Now Moses is still concerned so Moses gives excuses.

He says, who am I that I should go there? Then he says, who are you that's sending me? And he says, what if they don't believe me? And he says, I'm not eloquent, I can't speak. So God answers every 1 of Moses' objections.

Moses says, who am I? And God says, yeah, you might be a shepherd, but you are the 1 I have chosen. Moses says, who are you? And God says, I'm the God of the universe, all-powerful. Moses says, what if they don't believe me?

And God says, I'll show you something. Exodus chapter 4, verse 1 to 17. Exodus 4, 1 to 17. What if they don't believe me? Moses answered and said, but behold, they'll not believe me nor hearken unto my voice, For they'll say, the Lord has not appeared unto you.

The Lord said to him, what's in your hand, a rod? God always begins with what we have, not what we don't have. What is that in your hand? What talents has God given you? What abilities has God given you?

God says, use what you have and I'll bless it. What's that in your hand? All I have is a rod, Lord, an old stick. It was the stick that I led the sheep with. It was the stick that I beat off the wild beasts with.

It's just this old dirty stick that I leaned on looking out for my sheep. But a rod and God are enough. And he said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail.

And he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand, that they might believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee. And the Lord said further unto him, Put your hand in your bosom. He puts his hand in his bosom here and it turns leprous. He takes it out and it's healed. And then God says to him, it shall come to pass, if they will not believe these 2 signs, nor hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river.

Pour it upon the dry land, and the water which thou takest out of the river will become blood on the dry land." Wow. Moses, If they don't believe you, take that rod. It'll become a serpent. I want you to get the significance of this. The Egyptians believed in the serpent god.

A cobra was on the head of the pharaoh on his mask. When I say cobra in his head, I mean on the mask that they put on him, on the turban that they put on his head, it was a snake of a cobra, sign of authority. And what is God saying? I have authority. Then the God of healing, and what is God saying?

Put your hand in your bosom. I am the God of healing I am the God of authority and then he says sprinkle the blood upon the water Through the blood of Jesus Christ there would be eternal deliverance But the gods of Egypt They depended on the Nile but the gods of Egypt would not have authority over the God of heaven. So in all of this, God is challenging the gods of Egypt. God is saying, Moses, who are you? The 1 I've chosen.

Moses, who am I? The sovereign God. Moses, what if they don't believe you? I'll tell you something, Moses, if they don't believe you, we're going to perform signs to show that I am the God over all the so-called false gods of Egypt. I am supreme, I am sovereign, I have all power.

So Moses still makes another excuse. God says, Moses says, verse 10, Exodus chapter 4, Moses said unto the Lord, Oh my God, I am not eloquent, there neither hithtofore nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. The Lord said unto him, who's made man's mouth or who makes the dumb or the deaf or the seeing or the blind? Am I not the Lord? I'll therefore go and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say.' And he said, O Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of whom thou wilt send.

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well and also behold he comes to meet thee and when he sees thee he'll be glad in his heart. Thou shalt speak unto him and put words in his mouth, and I'll be with thy mouth and with his mouth." There's a couple of things about this. First, God would have prepared Moses to speak to Pharaoh, but because of Moses' lack of faith, God chose to use Aaron.

But God would put words in Moses' mouth that he would speak to Aaron. 2 great lessons. 1, God does not call the qualified. God qualifies those he's going to call. The second lesson I think that is incredibly important about this is that when we fail God, God's going to still try to find ways to use us.

There is another lesson and that is at times God has a plan A, but that plan A fails. So as a result of that, God goes to plan B. If you have not been faithful in the calling that God has given you to witness, God may have a plan B to use somebody else, but you're gonna miss out on the blessing. Never lack faith that God can keep you, that God won't use you. Never lack faith that God will not pour out his spirit upon you and use you to powerfully speak for him.

He is the God who equips. He is the God who enables. He is the God who moves in our lives in powerful ways so that we can do exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think. Thursday's lesson closes with an unusual story in Exodus chapter 4, 18 to verse 31. Moses returns to Jethro, his father-in-law, and says, let me go.

And so Moses is gonna go. Just as Moses is gonna go, the Lord threatens to kill him. I mean, that's strange indeed. How do we understand this strange story? What lesson?

Moses had neglected to circumcise his son and Moses was disobedient. As the result of that, Zipporah performs the circumcision. Why? What about this story? Moses was a leader and God holds leaders to higher standards.

You may be an elder of a church, a deacon of a church, you may be a Sabbath school teacher, you may be a personal ministries leader, a pastor, but God holds us to higher standards. If God would have allowed Moses' disobedience to continue, That could have in jeopardized all of Israel and it could have limited the miracle working power of God. Here, Patriarchs and Prophets, page 255, 256. On the way from Midian, Moses received a startling and terrible warning of the Lord's displeasure. An angel appeared to him in a threatening manner, as if he would immediately destroy him.

No explanation was given. But Moses remembered that he had disregarded 1 of God's requirements. He had neglected to perform the right of circumcision upon their youngest son. He had failed to comply with the condition by which his child could be entitled to the blessings of God's covenant with Israel. And such a neglect on the part of their chosen leader could not but lessen the force of the divine precepts upon the people.

Sapphora, fearing that her husband would be slain, performed the rite herself. And the angel then permitted Moses to pursue this journey in his mission to Pharaoh. Moses was to be placed in a position of great peril. His life could be preserved only through the protection of holy angels. But while, now get this, don't miss this 1, but while living in neglect of a known duty, he would not be secure, for he could not be shielded by the angels of God." God blesses our obedience even if the devil tries to attack us.

The blessing comes when we are faithful to God. We lose the blessing when we are unfaithful to God. I pray that the central lesson that you get from Sabbath School this week is this. The blessings of God come upon those that are faithful to God. Let's pray.

Father in heaven, even when Satan tries to attack us, even when Satan tries to destroy us, even when Satan tries to thwart heaven's blessings, When we are faithful to you, the blessings of God are poured out upon us from heaven. The blessings of internal peace, the blessings of joy, the blessings of happiness. We may not always see those blessings. They may come wrapped in different packages than we recognize. But, O my Father, we thank you that we are called to witness for you.

We know that you will equip us for witness. Help us to be faithful to that task. In Jesus' name, amen. This media was brought to you by AudioVerse, a website dedicated to spreading God's Word through free sermon audio and much more. If you would like to know more about Audioverse, or if you

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Sabbath School 3rd Quarter 2025: Exodus

02 The Burning Bush

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Other Teachings in Series

01 Oppression: The Background and the Birth of Moses

22m

02 The Burning Bush

22m

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