THE BABY IN THE ARK

EXODUS 2:3

A. "WHEN SHE COULD NO LONGER HIDE HIM, SHE TOOK FOR HIM AN ARK OF BULRUSHES, AND DAUBED IT WITH SLIME AND PITCH, AND PUT THE CHILD THEREIN; AND SHE LAID IT IN THE FLAGS BY THE RIVER BRINK"
  1. This brief record of Jochebed's effort to save the baby Moses is heroism in its dazzling form:
    1. Consider it in the light of the circumstances she undertook the venture; at the time when the law in Egypt provided the destruction of every male child - Ex. 1:16
    2. Consider the faith Jochebed had to dare the law of Egypt to save her child
  2. What must impress the thoughtful reader is the ingenuity necessity develops:
    1. She built an ark for the salvation of the little babe
    2. She placed the ark with the baby at the brink of the river Nile - the place where the princes came for her baths
    3. She charged Miriam, who was about 15 years of age to babysit
    4. That took a combination of invincible faith and undying love to undertake that which many other mothers in Israel were lacing
B. THE BABY IN THE ARK
  1. The deeper meaning of the story of the baby in the ark:
    1. Behind the venture of Jochebed to save the Baby in the ark is the divine design to prepare the way to save Israel out of Egyptian bondage
    2. It began in a little ark at the edge of the River Nile
    3. Just like God used the manger at Bethlehem to introduce the Saviour to the world - Luke 2:7
  2. Pharaoh had no idea that the little boy his daughter adopted as her son, was God's agent to set the slaves free:
    1. Pharaoh was thinking that Moses would someday occupy the throne in Egypt
    2. But Moses had other plans - Heb. 11:24-26
    3. His saintly mother had prepared him for a different mission
    4. How mysterious are the ways of God - Rom. 11:33-36
C. WHAT A TIMELY LESSON FOR THE MOTHERS IN MODERN ISRAEL
  1. God's special commitment to Christian mothers:
    1. He designs that they shall safeguard the life and health of the children by placing them in the ark of salvation
    2. No other being, among men, are more suited to safeguard the health, the life, and the future of the sons and daughters in Zion
  2. He honored motherhood with the bringing up the Son of man for His mission in this world:
    1. Mary was that divinely chosen agent
    2. She gave Jesus the basic training for his work - and she did a good job - Luke 2:51-52
  3. That adage, "She that rocks the cradle rules the world" had, indeed, a prophetic message to the mothers in Israel:
    1. "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it" - Prov. 22:6
    2. To the mothers that do their work well God says, "Thy work shall be rewarded" - Jer. 31:16
  4. Mothers in Israel:
    1. How secure is the ark of your faith for those precious sons and daughters God has given you
    2. Will they be sheltered against the viles of Satan in this crooked and perverse world
    3. Can God honor your efforts in their behalf
  5. Think of the meaning of the babe in the ark:
    1. Provided by mother's love and faith
    2. Honored by Pharaoh's daughter
    3. Prepared by the divine directive to become the Saviour of his enslaved people
    4. Used by God and the nation as one of the worlds greatest lawgivers
    5. Here is food for sober and prayerful thinking by all parents about their responsibility in making the lives of their children secure even as Jochebed did for Moses


Design © John Bryant 2011