Faith in the Word of God Persevers

Vol 2 - No 1, January 1, 2005

Faith in the Word of God perseveres:

The book of Genesis opened with God's creation and a man and woman in paradise with the provision of eternal life for the taking. However, they chose not to believe the Word of God and brought death on them and all that followed. Genesis closes about 2369 years later with Joseph being placed in a coffin. "And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." - Genesis 50:24 - 2624 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

.

When he died, Joseph was second in command of Egypt where he and his fellow Israelites had lived in comfort. But as the book of Exodus opens a number of years later we find the Children of Israel had grown to where they outnumbered and were mightier than the Egyptians. A new Egyptian king who didn't know Joseph had come to power and he was afraid of the Hebrews. He reacted by placing them under forced labor overseen by cruel taskmasters but they multiplied all the more. He then ordered the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah to kill all male Israelite babies at birth. (This was one of many attempts by Satan to destroy the seed of the woman out of whom would come the Man of Faith, God's Savior of mankind.) However, Shiphrah and Puah "feared God" and thwarted Pharaoh's orders. They allowed the male Hebrew babies to live, reporting to Pharaoh they were unable to follow his orders because the Hebrew women had their babies before they could get to them - Exodus 1.

The Lord was now dealing exclusively with and through the Children of Israel but anyone, Israelite or otherwise, would have had to have faith in God's Word in order to be right with God. Such a person would have recognized their sinful nature and offered the blood sacrifice of animals as Abel first had been instructed to do. They would have circumcised their boys at eight (8) days of age as Abraham had been instructed. And they believed they would be freed from the bondage of Egypt and return to the Land of Canaan as Joseph had been promised. Their "obedience of faith" was based on what God had said and promised, for without faith it is impossible to please God - Hebrews 11:66 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

.

It was now God's time to fulfill His Word. He ordained Amram and his wife Jochabed, both of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, to be the parents of Moses who He chose as the human instrument to carry out His will - Exodus 2 & 6:20. God then used the midwives Shiphrah and Puah to save Moses from death. Amran and Jochabed had an older daughter named Miriam (Exodus 2:44 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

) and a son named Aaron, who was born three (3) years before Moses - Exodus 7:77 And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

& Numbers 26:5959 And the name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bare to Levi in Egypt: and she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister.

. The Bible does not indicate exactly when Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew male children killed but there apparently was no problem when Aaron was born. The order was in effect when Jachabed gave birth to Moses. Since faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:1717 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

) then God must have revealed to Amram and Jochabed what they were to do in order to save Moses. "By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.- Hebrews 11:2323 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.

.

After Jachabed could no longer hide Moses she made an ark out of papyrus in which she placed him. She put the ark in the reeds at the water's edge of the river and left it there with her young daughter Miriam nearby to watch. By the providence of God the daughter of the Pharaoh who had ordered all Hebrew baby boys killed came to the river to bathe and found Moses crying in the ark. The tears of Moses induced her compassion and Miriam then came forward and offered to find a Hebrew wet nurse to care for the child. Pharaoh's daughter told Miriam to do so and Miriam brought her Moses' own mother who was thereafter paid from the royal treasury to care for her son.

No amount of planning and scheming by a man or woman could produce such results because of all the variables. It was God who worked all this out according to His plan. All Moses' parents had to do was to believe God's Word and follow instructions in the obedience of faith. And so the faith of a believing father and mother activated the ungodly and unbelieving household of Pharaoh in order to fulfill God's purposes. This pattern of behavior will be observed many times in the history of the Bible. The Apostle Paul explains how it operates in those whose faith is placed in God's Word today. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He That searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:26 - 2826 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

.