Exodus 5:22-7:25; Psalm 23; Proverbs 5:22-23
Our Father is a faithful leader guiding His people throughout history with anointed leadership, Scripture, the Holy Spirit and prayer. God used Moses and Aaron to speak on His behalf, to demonstrate His Power when the Israelites were in Egyptian captivity. Even when Israel lacked faith in God’s redemptive plan and Moses became discouraged, the Lord still moved forward in rescuing them. Moses’ staff becomes an object of God’s power and authority as it turns into a snake. His staff then swallows the Egyptian magicians’ staffs turned into snakes.
God’s goodness to never give up on His people, to guide and correct us when necessary carries over into the beautiful 23rd psalm. He is our Great Shepherd with His own staff and rod, not out of sadistic pleasure but out of His love for us. It is always for our good, as we learn to walk in the footsteps of Christ.
By contrast, Pharaoh’s hardened heart depicts the wicked who refuse to obey God’s correction. Rejecting His truth, His light, darkens the mind and sears the conscience. The Lord will eventually give them over to their sin (Romans 1:21-25; 28). Disobedience is not freedom but eternal slavery.
God’s staff of righteousness is the perimeter by which we live our lives. Boundaries are for safety yet we must trust in our Father’s wisdom, operating within His commands. The Israelites didn’t demonstrate faith in Egypt until they were shown God’s signs and wonders.
Jesus rebuked the religious leaders who demanded a sign from Him to prove His Sonship (Matthew 12:38-41). They hated Jesus’ ministry and condemned Him to the cross. Yet this was not the end. Just as the Lord prophesied, this generation witnessed the ‘sign of Jonah’ as Jesus overcame death and lives today. What other wonder do we need? Blessed are those who acknowledge the Lord’s goodness and authority without demanding a sign and walk in obedience (John 20:29).
Grace upon grace,
April
redeemed in grace 
In this text, it looks a lot of confusion is created. Both Biblical characters, Jehovah God and His only begotten son, Jeshua are mixed,
Please be aware of the sonship of Christ and do not make him into your god, but worship the same God like Jesus worshipped. He did not pray to himself nor asked others to pray or thank him, but to thank God and to pray to the Only One True God, the God of Israel, Who is an unseen eternal all-knowing Spirit God.
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Thank you for your comment. As a Christian the Bible in its entirety of Old and New Testament reveals the Godhead Trinity. Jesus is the Son of God and He is God (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:1-3) In His Sonship Jesus fully submits to the Father while also maintaining full Deity as God (Hebrews 2:5-11). Jesus is the only way to have a relationship with God (John 14:6-11). You are correct that we pray to the Only One True God, but He is God of Israel and all nations because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Praise God! The ‘Shema’ still holds true (Deuteronomy 6:4) and yet God’s ways and thoughts are not like ours. Everything in the Old Testament foreshadows what He purposed in the New Testament under a New Covenant with His people through the work of Christ, being fully man and fully God. If Jesus were not fully God as well, His sacrifice on the cross would not be acceptable and we would all still be dead in our sins. I hope this finds you well and thank you again for your response. Blessings.
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Shalom.
According to the Bible (which we consider the infallible Word of God) the God of Israel is not a Trinity, but a Spirit God Who no man can see and Who is only One and not two or three.
Jesus was seen by many who did not fall death. There where even people who were able to see Jesus and come out of death.
You write “If Jesus were not fully God as well, His sacrifice on the cross would not be acceptable” Why not? It is just by a man proving to God that he can keep to God’s commandments that man can show his respect to God and having put his own will aside to do the Will of God can offer himself in an unselfish act. That way the ransom offering makes sense.
Do you know Jesus said that not his will but the Will of God would be done? In case Jesus is God it would always be the Will of God that Jesus did.
Why also would God have to do as if He died to save mankind. He just could have destroyed the first people and have re-created some new people. He also did not have them to suffer them for millions of years. In case Jesus is God this would make him a very cruel being, is it not?
Also it is very cruel to have mankind waited such a long time before he then would have done that theatrical act and have mankind still suffering such a long time after he so called saved mankind. Remember we still have to suffer a long time even when we are already so many centuries after the death of Christ, And do not forget that after World War III or Armageddon there shall still be a 1000 years before the Kingdom of God shall be a full reality, and all would be able to live for ever.
You also say “and we would all still be dead in our sins”. So why did God wait such a long time before coming to earth and faking that he was tempted, because God cannot be tempted? And why did he wait such a long time before faking His death and for what reason? God can not die, being an eternal Spirit Being he also does not have bones, flesh and blood. Jesus clearly says to his disciples he is not a spirit (though God is Spriit (so would have lied again), and asks his apostles to see his wounds that proof that he is a human being. Jesus also tells his disciples he is the son of God, like God also declares Jesus His sent one, His authorised one, His High Priest and most of all His son. Why should God have to be His own High Priest and when He is an all-knowing God does He not lie then when He (as Jesus) says He does not know when he would return or when the end times comes, because it is also known to God and not to him?
Perhaps it is not bad to think about those matters and to wonder if you are not caught up in human doctrines?
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Hello again. Thank you for your thorough response. It means you are a man of conviction, zealous for God. Unfortunately I am very sad that we disagree on Who Jesus is. To your question about the sufficiency of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross only as a man because He was able to obey the Law perfectly: Romans 3:23 teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Isaiah says even our righteous acts are like filthy rags before a Holy God (Isaiah 64:6). Men cannot keep the law perfectly because we are utterly sinful. Jesus could not as only a man, kept God’s Law perfectly. The Law was intended to show us our inability to do so and need for a Savior. This is the beauty of the Gospel. Jesus, being fully God and fully man, was able to keep the Law perfectly. He came to fulfill the Law – “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4). I encourage you to read the book of Romans, Hebrews and the Gospel of John.
Let’s not forget the many miracles Christ performed. Only God can raise Lazarus from the dead, heal the blind, make the lame walk, heal the sick and demon-possessed. These miracles have spiritual meaning of course, but the ones who received Jesus’ compassion were physically blessed as well. We are all in need of God’s truth to help us see, we need the Great Physician to heal us. God incarnate came to do just this for a helpless human race. For “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His Glory, the Glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). So yes you are correct to say that Jesus came from the Father- yet this does not nullify Jesus’ Deity as Lord and His Glory. The Trinity is a mystery in which I by faith believe God to be God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
If Jesus was only a man He could not have been with Jehovah God since the beginning of Time as John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:1-5).
Paul also writes of the superiority of Christ in the Godhead (Colossians 1:15-23).
I have enjoyed speaking truth with you and hope to do so in the future. If you would like to continue a discussion please email me at : aprilwbox@icloud.com as it is a better forum for lengthy conversations. I’m more than happy to debate this wonderful question: Who is Jesus? My prayer is that the Lord Jesus will not be a stumbling block to you, but will be a reason to boast in the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18-31).
Blessings in the name of Jesus,
April
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