There came a time in the life of Moses when he made a choice to associate and identify himself with the people of God. Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:24-27).
We read of the early disciples, after they had been beaten for the sake of the Lord Jesus, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name” (Act 5:41).1
Think of Daniel, who purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king’s meat (Dan 1:8). Daniel’s three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, refused to bow to king Nebuchadnezzar’s idol and were willing to die for their faith in God (Dan 3:16-18). Joseph refused to sin against God in being with the wife of Potiphar (Gen 39:7-9).
In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, as a priestly function. He warned of the danger of becoming like the world, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Rom 12:2).
Writing to the Corinthians, Paul warned against becoming linked to the world. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah (52:11), he urged, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you” (2Co 6:17).
The apostle John warned of loving the world. He wrote, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1Jn 2:15-16).
Moses turned his back on the wealth and pleasures and prestige of a life in the palace of the king of Egypt. To him, reproach for Christ was worth far more than all the treasures of Egypt because he looked forward to the recompense of the reward (Heb 11:26). It is interesting that the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews, inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, would refer to Moses in connection with reproach for Christ. Although Moses lived long before the Lord Jesus Christ walked amongst men, he suffered reproach and criticism from his own people, as did the Lord Jesus.
Moses’ care for God’s people is reflected in his prayer to God for someone to lead them into the land of promise. He prayed, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the LORD be not as sheep which have no shepherd” (Num 27:16-17). Interestingly, we read of the Lord Jesus, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Mat 9:36).
Moses stood between the people and the Lord and interceded for them, asking forgiveness for their sin and offering his own life on their behalf (Exo 32:32). The Lord Jesus was the Good Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep (Joh 10:11). Isaiah wrote of Him, “He hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa 53:12).
Moses’ choice reflects a deep faith in his God and a love for the people of God. His eyes and his heart looked forward to a future day of reward. Moses persevered because he kept the invisible God and Christ before him. He valued future glory more than present and temporary pleasures.
You and I have never seen the Lord Jesus with our natural eyes, but we see Him by faith. Peter wrote, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1Pe 1:8).
Paul wrote in the book of Romans, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18). He also wrote, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2Co 4:17).
Very soon, we shall see Him and be with Him and be like Him forever. Until that moment, beloved of the Lord, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb 13:13-14).
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
