Moses Setting Forth the Judgment Activity of Christ during the Tribulation Period

In the previous study of Moses as a type of our Lord Jesus in His work of grace which He came to perform, we were delighted to see how fully he set forth Christ in the work of His first coming and His gracious offer of salvation to those "who will take of the water of life." But Moses also typifies Christ as we think of the judgments of plagues that fell upon Egypt. Moses had left Egypt when his brethren "understood not" that he was their Deliverer (Acts 7:23-27), but he was to return again for God had further service for? him with his people.

As Moses was to come again to the land of Egypt as a deliverer, so our Blessed Lord is to come again to this old world as a Deliverer. When Moses reappeared in Egypt, he found bitter suffering and persecution among the Israelites at the hands of the Egyptians. "The Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:7-10). He is sent of God to do a tremendous task.

Israel has been through tremendous suffering since their rejection of the Lord Jesus and just before He left He said unto them, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord" (Matt. 23:38-39). Then just after this as He talks to His disciples on the Mount of Olives concerning His second coming, He speaks of persecutions and sufferings, and speaks of the ''great tribulation" time, (Matt. 24:21), such as the world has not yet seen. The whole of Matthew 24 speaks of this period of suffering, and gives this exhortation: "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh."

When Moses returned to Egypt, judgments began to fall upon a rebellious Egypt. When the Son of Man shall return the Bible speaks of judgments to fall upon a rebellious world. "Behold the Lord cometh with myriads of His saints, to execute judgment upon all and to convict all that are ungodly among them of their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 14, 15 R.V.). And in the book of Revelation there are many symbols of judgments which are to come upon this wicked world.

In God's appointed time Moses appeared among his brethren who were still in bondage. "And when the forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of Sinai an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush" (Acts 7:30). And God said, "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt" (Ex. 3:10). That Moses returned from the land of Midian at the expiration of the forty years, at God's bidding, to deliver his brethren, shows that is was done in God's appointed time. In God's appointed time Christ will appear among His people to deliver them. "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:26, 32). Hence according to the Word of God the second coming will occur at God'9 set time. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened . . . . . . . and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:29, 30). "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, . . . . for the powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke 21:25, 26).

Moses found his people in terrible affliction. God had seen their suffering and heard their cry and called unto Moses: "I have seen the affliction of My people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning, and I am come down to deliver them. Aand now come, I will send thee unto Egypt" (Acts 7:34). Christ, too, when He appears in His coming will find His people Israel in terrible tribulation. "For thus saith the Lord: we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned unto paleness. Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" (Jer. 30:5-7).

Moses' activity in Egypt is marked by frightful tribulation coming upon the Egyptians, a type of the world. Moses, the instrument through whom God worked, afflicted the Egyptians with plagues, leading the children of Israel from among them, and shewing God's power through him. "And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I streatch forth my hand upon them" (Ex. 7:5), "for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servant, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. And in very deed for this cause I have raised the up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth" (Ex. 9:14, 16). A full account of all the afflictions of the Egyptians together with the activity of Moses is given in chapters 7-11 of the book of Exodus. Christ's activity in judgment is marked by plagues answering to those which fell on Egypt. God through his prophet reveals to us the condition of those days. "And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them. And the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands" (Rev. 9:6, 20). Indeed, the entire book of Revelation is an account of the frightful tribulation through which the people pass.

The brethren of Moses are delivered from the suffering entailed in the plagues. God spoke through Moses to Pharaoh telling him this: "And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, and I will put a division between my people and thy people: tomorrow shall this sign be" (Ex. 8:22, 23). And as Moses spoke, "Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail" (Ex. 9;26). And he commanded the children of Israel to say, "It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses" (Ex. 12:27). A remnant of Jews will be delivered from the suffering entailed in the plagues during the tribulation period. The Jew is set forth as the woman: "And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and for times and half a time, from the face of the serpent, and the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:14, 17). How often God's mercy was extended to "this stiff-necked and gain-saying" people, and He will yet show His grace and mercy to them.

Moses came a second time to God's people Israel, performing these wonders and he was accepted by them. "This man led them forth, having wrought wonders and signs in Egypt" (Acts 7:36); "And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant, Moses" (Ex. 14:31), and followed him. Christ will come a second time in power and glory, and He will be accepted. "And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13:26); and "thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power" (Ps. 110:3), saith the Lord.

Moses was instrumental in bringing Pharaoh's host to utter destruction. "And the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.. ..And the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. . . . But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea.. ..and the Lord saved Israel. . . . and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. . . . And the people feared the Lord, and His servant Moses" (Ex. 14:26-31). Christ, likewise, shall be instrumental in destroying the army of Satan by the breath of His mouth. "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming" (II Thes. 2:8). "And to you who are troubled rest with us r when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power; when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, . . . ." (II Thess. l:7-10a). Glorious triumph! "The King of Kings and Lord of Lords!"

Then, welcome, thrice welcome,
     ye tokens of God.

What else but His coming can
     comfort afford?

What presence but His set this
     prisoned earth free?

O, Star of the Morning, our hope
     is in Thee!