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Awesome Hands – part 42

“ A man of the house of Levi”

In the previous study, we saw that the Lord works mightily with His people and His flock.

He causes situations to come to our lives that are many ways just like the rest of humanity. How they are different is all in the details.

The difference in how we live through them is in how we know the Lord is working it all of His own counsel for our ultimate spiritual good.

In the study today, we are going to continue to look into the types and shadows found in Exo 2 to see if we can glean what the Lord is admonishing us with by those same types and shadows.

2Ki 20:10 And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees.
2Ki 20:11 And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.

1Ch 29:15 For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.

Psa 57:1 To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

“The woman conceived and bare a son”

If we are given the sight to see and the clarity of mind to look close enough, we can see in the entirety of scripture, a pattern which emerges which shows is the is, was and will be nature which is Jesus Christ.

With Moses, we are going to see that from his birth, Moses has be predestinated to be a savior to God’s chosen people.

Out of those same people, God the Father has divided them into tribes which have very purposes and functions according to His will.

For the tribe of Levi, they will be chosen out to tend to the needs of the priests and this is where baby Moses has his start.

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

1Pe 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
1Pe 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

From before Moses was born, God has set into motion the things which would call Moses into a life of which he had not chosen and to which he would ultimately be used to “save many people alive”.

Out of all the nations of the earth, God called the weak Israelites to confound the wise Egyptians. In Truth, the wisdom that the Egyptians had couldn’t even interpret the Pharaohs dreams, so the Lord brought in one of His people to get the job done so to speak.

Fast forward to now, and we are going to see that God is going to choose out a servant from a very particular tribe for a very specific purpose for His people.

In this way, Moses is chosen among his brethren to serve God, yet we haven’t even seen him being born yet and certainly Moses couldn’t have had faith yet to do what God was going to tell him to do, but we will get to that in a moment.

Exo 2:1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.
Exo 2:2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.
Exo 2:3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.
Exo 2:4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

We, like Moses, have been predestined to be a servant unto our Lord our God. From the foundation of the world, we have been chosen to be a people unto the Lord for His purposes.

For most of our lives, we have been focused on our lives and what our purpose is but if we are only given to see a baby Moses being conceived and placed in an ark of bulrushes, then we will know just how precious we are to the Lord’s plan for all of humanity.

In and of ourselves, we are not important but what we are being formed into is of GREAT value to the Lord.

God called the Israelites, and now He is choosing Moses to serve Him. Moses life is going to start off in a type of baptism seeing as Moses mother creates an ark of papyrus.

Moses mother does this after a period of three months to show us that there is a process in which the Lord is working all things after His own counsel.

If you are still not convinced that the workings with us by the Lord today are not the same as when He formed Moses in his mother’s womb, let us read from another place in scripture about those who ride upon the safety of “bulrushes”.

Isa 18:1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
Isa 18:2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the RIVERS have spoiled!
Isa 18:3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
Isa 18:4 For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.
Isa 18:5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
Isa 18:6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.
Isa 18:7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.

In this story of Exodus, God’s people and “His land” have been spoiled by the Egyptians but there is about to come a time when it will be God’s people who will spoil the Egyptians.

This all takes place as we see a baby Moses emerging on the scene being delivered via an ark. First however, we know there is a process which the Lord uses to grow us up so that He can use us in the capacity of being a savior to His people ….. in order to bring them to the place of the name of the Lord, mount Zion.

“The Pharaoh’s daughter … saw the child”

 In all of the Lord’s workings, He prepares a way before us so that His plan can continue to be established for those in this age He calls His people, so that everyone else can be called to be His people later.

This preparation is no different for Moses in Exodus and for us in our own lives. As I am reading these verses, consider that this story is about Moses, is about Christ, and is about Christ’s body. If you doubt this, I hope that will change by the end of this study.

Exo 2:5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.
Exo 2:6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.
Exo 2:7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

Notice, it is Moses sister who was standing afar off and “watching” what would become of Moses. IN this, we can see a type been shown to us in that Christ has a bride who looks after His people. It is the church of God, who is looking for safety of those who are being “spoiled by the rivers”.

All the while, Moses sister sees the Pharaoh’s daughter and wisely asks if she should fetch a nurse to look after this child when the only possible nurses that could be sought at this time and day and age, are those who could feed this baby at the breast.

Exo 2:8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.
Exo 2:9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

The scripture doesn’t say this, but I would venture to say that Moses mother was very joyous and very pleased that her son was not going to die. After all, she could have just thrown him in the river as I am sure some others did at the commandment of a mere man!

However, she prepared as much as she was able, a way for her son to possibly, if only by a miracle, survive this almost certain death!

Indeed, just like Moses we are drawn out or rescued from the “river which spoils the land”!

Now, if you think I have lost my mind in pointing out these types and shadows and that we cannot possibly be being told these things through this very “simple” story, let us see how the rest of Moses youth plays out.

“I drew him out of the water”

Yes, indeed! Are you being drawn up out of the water? Are you being sent to certain death by baptism only to be risen and rescued up out of the water by the living God our Father?

What then, are you and I and everyone else who are chosen in this life in such a way, being givne salvation to go and do with our new found life?

Exo 2:11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
Exo 2:12 And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
Exo 2:13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
Exo 2:14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known.

Oh, there is a lot to learn from this pattern we are being shown but alas I am short on time!

In our lives, it is no different that we want to fight for God and country. It is no different that we feel a loyalty to those whom we relate to in the flesh. Indeed, we are willing to die for the flesh and those whom we are in concert with.

It is when our calling is challenged, that because of our “own actions,” we doubt the calling we have been called to.

“Who made thee a prince and judge over us” is something we will all want to run away from in our due time.

In Truth, we are CALLED to be kings, and priests and judges over many, many things but we all initially do not know it nor count the cost of such a calling.

We often fear the things the Lord has caused in our past as reason enough to doubt what it is we have done and why we have done it.

However, even in our running away and “deciding” that we will do what is necessary to avoid the “reaping of what we have sowed”, we will often find that the Lord has indeed already laid out the foundation of what will happen to us next.

Exo 2:15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

The point in our life that the Lord causes us to come to Him of no doing of our own, just shows us what our true purpose is.

Exo 2:16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
Exo 2:17 And the shepherds(H7462) came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

Moses, as a baby was cast into a “river of death” of which without the Lord’s blessing, would have surely resulted in him dying.

Now, we see that Moses growing up and has gone “to a well” from which Moses will be used to stand up against shepherds and help those “ seven women” whom are of one Father.

Why are we told there are seven daughters? These are none other than the church to whom we are sent. Do you doubt this? Just who are the shepherds?

H7462

ra a h

raw- aw’

A primitive root; to tend a flock, that is, pasture it; intransitively to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension to associate with (as a friend): – X break, companion, keep company with, devour, eat up, evil entreat, feed, use as a friend, make friendship with, herdman, keep [ sheep] (- er), pastor, + shearing house, shepherd, wander, waste.

Listen to how God speaks about those shepherds who drive away those “daughters of His” who are there to do the work of the care of HIS FLOCK.

There are many times this same word is translated in Hebrew as many different English words, but I will only be focusing on a few of them for the context of this study. Here you, the prophet Jeremiah.

pastors, 7

Jer_2:7-8(2), Jer_3:15, Jer_10:21, Jer_12:10, Jer_22:22, Jer_23:1-2 (2)

Jer 2:6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
Jer 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
Jer 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors (H7462) also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Jer 10:21 For the pastors (H7462) are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
Jer 10:22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons.

Jer 12:10 Many pastors (H7462) have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
Jer 12:11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart.
Jer 12:12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.

Jer 22:21 I spake unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice.
Jer 22:22 The wind (H7307- ruach) shall eat up all thy pastors (H7462), and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

Contrast these previous pastors with the following pastors:

Jer 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15 And I will give you pastors (H7462) according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jer 3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
Jer 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

Who then, I ask you, is Moses, who then is Christ, and who then is His Christ? We are not left to wonder!

Jer 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors (H7462) that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
Jer 23:2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors (H7462) that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
Jer 23:4 And I will set up shepherds (H7462) over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
Jer 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

“An Egyptian delivered us…”

 Indeed, it is us who come to the well, and are used of the “ruach” to “eat up” and drive out the shepherds who would not have the flock of God looked after with His “water from the well of Life”.

Jer 22:22 The wind (H7307- ruach) shall eat up all thy pastors (H7462), and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.

Exo 2:18 And when they came to Reuel (friend of God) their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?
Exo 2:19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.
Exo 2:20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.
Exo 2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah (BIRD) his daughter.
Exo 2:22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

It is the very flocks of God we are sent to that do not recognize us for who we are. They see us initially as a foreigner, a mere Egyptian, but indeed we are of their own kin! However, it is we who are used of God to come to the well and be helpers of those who are caused to be at the well with us.

As a result of this driving of the “pastors” away , who walk after the “imaginations of their own hearts,” we are given FELLOWSHIP and MARRIAGE to the heavenly mind of Christ.

It is Zipporah, meaning “bird,” who awe are given as a wife. We are given marriage to that which soars in the heavens.

It is the Word of God and the Spirit (ruach) of God which are used to cause us to be STRANGERS in the Land, and we as the body of Christ as strangers TOGETHER!

Act 13:17 The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.

Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
Heb 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Heb 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
Heb 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Heb 13:3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

In God’s due time, this whole process will be used to make each of us the “pastors” of which come to the Lord’s people and to His flock in order to provide water for them from the “well of Life.”

Exo 2:23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.
Exo 2:24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
Exo 2:25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.

God will hear His flock’s crying of bondage, as He always did and has, and He will send His “pastors of righteousness” who are after His own heart, so that they can feed and nourish the flocks of God with understanding and knowledge of Him and His Son!

The water provides the Life!

Jer 3:15 And I will give you pastors (H7462) according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.