Sing the song of Moses to remember God
God also said to
Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your
fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Exodus 3:15
God wanted to be remembered throughout all generations. He made a way
for His people to be saved through the shed blood of a lamb. That blood
was to be painted on the doorposts of their houses. And when He saw the
blood, He would allow the Angel of death to pass over - leaving the
family and oldest son who was appointed to die to remain alive. And
then God made a way for the saved people to cross over the Red Sea. And
after they learned of His commands, roamed through a desert for 40
years, and delivered to the edge of the Promised Land, God told Moses,
"Now write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites
and have them sing it, so that it [the song] may be a witness for me
against them." Deuteronomy 31:19
It wasn't that God was against Israel...it was that the song would
remind them at some point in time, how Israel came against God. But,
God would be compassionate and receive His people once again...because
He is God and His Promise holds true. The song Moses was to record was a
song of all God had done, all the people had done, and all God was
going to do in the future [very, very, distant future] through the faith
and perseverance of His people, and through the outstretched arm of the
LORD (see Deuteronomy 32). And when Moses finished reciting all the
words to all the people, he said to them; 'they are not just idle words
for you - they are your life!'
When Jesus came, He too wanted us do something so that we remember Him.
We read that "when the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at
the table. And he said to them, ' I have eagerly desired to eat this
Passover with you' and he took the cup and then the bread in order of
the Passover meal and, "gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them,
saying, "This is my body given for you, do this in REMEMBRANCE of me."
Luke 22:15-19 Earlier he had told his followers that He was the bread
of life...that he was the way and the truth and the life...that in Him
was life and life everlasting. By taking that bread, they were in
agreement with Him.
When we look ahead to the word we are given in the last book of the
bible, Revelation, Chapter 15, we see a picture of the completion God
promised to Israel in the song He told His people to remember Him by.
"And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
"Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
4 Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed."
After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished." Revelation 15:3-8
Revelation Chapter 16 gives us a glimpse of those plagues. There will be plague
of boils, blood, fire, darkness, frogs, hail, and earthquakes. Those
were the same plagues poured out onto Egypt in the time before the
Exodus of God's people. This is not a coincidence. He has a plan of
redemption - in every generation - and we have a choice to either
believe in Him or not. And He has made it clear, from the beginning.
What I am telling you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your
reach. You don't have to ask a great theologian for understanding, or
go to the ends of the earth for a sacred teaching. God has made it very
near to you in His Word - the bible.
What a picture. God has from the beginning wanted us to remember Him.
How are you remembering God today? Have you received His Passover
Lamb? Have you received His Messiah - Jesus? I pray that you have so
that you too can sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb.
Deuteronomy 32 - The Song Moses is commanded to teach Israel
"Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe greatness to our God! "The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation.
Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
But the LORD’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
"He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
the LORD alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him.
He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fatof lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
"But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
"The LORD saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
And he said, 'I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
"'And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend my arrows on them;
they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
I would have said, "I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,"
had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, "Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the LORD who did all this."'
"For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!
How could one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up?
For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves.
For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter;
their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
"'Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.'
For the LORD will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
Then he will say,'Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!
"'See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever, if I sharpen my flashing sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.'
"Rejoice with him, O heavens;
bow down to him, all gods,
for he avenges the blood of his children
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
and cleanses his people’s land."
