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Christ is the same, "They understood not". Their eyes were blinded, their ears were
stopped, their hearts were hardened. At length however Israel cry unto the Lord, "and
their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage" (Exod. 2: 23). Their cry brings
back the deliverer they refused. The Lord spake to Moses out of the burning bush and
said:--
"I have surely seen the affliction of My people . . . . . I will send thee unto Pharaoh"
(Exod. 3: 7-10).
Moses was sent in the name of Him Who was the great I AM, and was assured of his
success by the twofold sign of the serpent and leprosy. He Who came to be the Saviour
must have power over Satan (the serpent) and over Sin (leprosy), so Matt. 4: records the
temptation, and Matt. 8: the first defined miracle. It was Moses' high destiny to have
foreshadowed Christ in more ways than one. He was to have been both "Apostle and
High-Priest", but by reason of human infirmity this honour was shared with his brother
Aaron.
A greater than Pharaoh is soon to mount the throne, and a greater tribulation than that
of Israel in Egypt will follow. The apocalyptic judgments will be appalling greater than
the plagues of Egypt. Men will once more harden their hearts instead of repenting. Israel
will cry again to the Lord, and "the day of vengeance" will be in His heart. He Whom
they rejected shall come back to them and "so all Israel shall be saved". They shall look
upon Me Whom they have pierced", saith the Lord. And when Israel do at length see
Who it is that is their deliverer they will say, as we can never so fully say:--
"Surely He hath borne OUR griefs, and carried OUR sorrows, YET we did esteem
Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted!" (Isa. 53: 4).
Moses was inspired to speak of his own typical character:--
"A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me;
Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you . . . . ." (Acts 3: 19-26).
The truth of the postponement of the purpose of God relative to Israel is much more
than a theory. Israel through all these centuries have experienced the terrible reality of its
effect upon them. The hour of their deliverance draws near, "the second time".