Exodus 4:22-23 - God the Father

Exodus 4:22-23
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’

Message: God the Father

Time: Most likely this book was penned by Moses. The book covers a period of approximately eighty years, from shortly before Moses’s birth (c. 1526 BC) to the events that occurred at Mount Sinai in 1446 BC. The Bible's message of redemption appears in Exodus as well: though the children of Israel were enslaved in a foreign land, God miraculously and dramatically delivered them to freedom, provided the Law, established the system of sacrifice, and gave instructions on building of His tabernacle. God began to fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

What the Lord is Saying:

As I look at the concept of the Trinity, biblical monotheism is not unitarianism that teaches that God is one, similar to Islam, and Father, Son, and Spirit are not persons of the trinity and therefore not deities; they believe Jesus was a man, was savior, but from the standpoint of exemplifying a life worth emulating. They have other beliefs about scripture itself being subject to human error. But this Tabletalk study that I am doing is focused on studying the Reformation doctrine of God.

Today, the focus is on Father God. Much of the defense of scripture often centers on Jesus being God and the Holy Spirit, but God the Father is also revealed in Scripture as the first person of the Trinity. In Exodus 4:22 and 23, Yahweh (Lord) states that He is the Father of Israel - Thus says the Lord, “Israel is My son." and So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me’. This is the first mention in scripture of Israel's sonship. This is to speak to Pharaoh as each monarch at this time referred to himself as the son of the Sun. Thus the son idea was common in that day for a ruler to refer to himself as having the favor and divine protection of his parent. Thus, there is not a literal Father / Son relationship between God and Israel but the father / son language is given to express the familial relationship between the two and the close relationship between the two.

Here are other examples of Father:
Psalm 103:13
Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

Proverbs 3:12
For whom the Lord loves He reproves,
Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delight

Jeremiah 31:9
“With weeping they will come,And by supplication I will lead them;
I will make them walk by streams of waters,
On a straight path in which they will not stumble;
For I am a father to Israel,
And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

Hosea 11:1-4
1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, 
And out of Egypt I called My son.
2 The more they called them,
The more they went from them;
They kept sacrificing to the Baals
And burning incense to idols.
3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them in My arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,
And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;
And I bent down and fed them.

Jesus frequently referred to the God of Israel as His Father. As I studied the gospel of Mark, Jesus often stated that only the Father knew things as He was living as the son of Man and in those moments looked to Father God, as we do today. He came alongside us.

Mark 13:32 - But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Mark 11:25 - Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions.

Mark 1:9-11 - 9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;11 and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

Promise: An earthly father will do whatever is necessary to protect and provide for their sons and daughters. Our heavenly father is an even better father and nothing can stand in the way of His care for His children.

Pray: Father God, I surrender to You. Thank you for revealing yourself to me and to mankind. You are my forever father and thank you for taking care of me always and protecting me. I see often how much my father cares for me and it is a great picture of your love for me. Thank you for giving me such a great earthly father and using him to show me how You love me.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with January being about the doctrine of God.