Exodus 6, Luke 3

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - Brandon Hatmaker

"God is great and Jesus is coming."

(Exodus 6)

God is speaking. Just look around. You can hear Him loud and clear. Anyone who doubts that isn’t looking hard enough. Seek and you will find.

In Exodus 6, God takes the “mic” and reminds Moses who he’s dealing with. He tells him in verse 1 that Pharaoh will let the Israelites go because of His greatness, not any man’s (vs. 1, “…because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." He reminds Moses that He is the same God who lead prior generations yet chose to make himself known to him (vs 3 “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them.” God reminds him that He does not forget His covenants and that He hears the groaning of His people (vs. 5 “…I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.”) And God reminds him of their amazing future (vs. 7 “… I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.)

These are the same promises that were made, and fulfilled for us through Christ. May we always remember His greatness. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

(Luke 3)

John the Baptist didn’t waste any time in dealing with the crowds that came to him. Right out of the blocks he reminded them to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” and to stop thinking that they inherit anything of eternal significance because of their bloodline. I thought it so amazingly profound when he said, “do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. This is a huge foreshadowing of the coming Christ and covenant through His blood.

These words raised questions in the minds of those present. And they asked how they could produce this kind of fruit.

To the crowd, John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." To the tax collectors he said, "Don't collect any more than you are required to.” And to the Soldiers, he replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."

Not one answer had anything to do with going to the temple. Not one dealt with a ritual or sacrifice. Not one dealt with maintaining the Sabbath as an act of worship. Instead, each answer to how they would produce fruit “worthy of repentance” had to do with how we treat other people.

There is a way of Jesus that John was referring to. It is a reflection of the opportunity we have to show our love to God, and respond to His grace, through sharing grace and love to others.

Father, each of us has fallen in our flesh. Each of us has chosen poorly in life at one point or another. We’ve all said and done things we regret. We’ve all made decisions at the sake of someone else. Through your Spirit, we ask that you change us. Give us the desire and ability to share your grace and love with others through extending it personally. Help us to grasp the magnitude in which you shared it with us.