Bitterness is created when you harbor a hurt in your heart. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Bitterness writes down every single slight and offense. Bitterness is like an iceberg. You can only see the cold top of an iceberg, but most of it is submerged Bitterness exists when you have a cold heart toward someone, yet most of the resentment is still below the surface.
Stephen tells us Moses was forty years old when he made a momentous decision. He could continue to live in palace and enjoy all fringe benefits of being the grandson of the Pharaoh but he decided to turn his back on the trappings of royalty and identify with the plight of the Hebrew slaves. He knew that choice would cause him to suffer alongside them.
There are several similarities between the life of Moses and the life of Jesus. But while there are similarities, there is no real comparison because Jesus is incomparable. Actually, Moses looked through the prophetic telescope and predicted the coming of Jesus. The greatest difference between Moses and Jesus was that Moses was a man. He was a great man, but he was just a man. Jesus was the one and only God-man. Moses delivered God’s law, but Jesus did something much greater; He demonstrated God’s grace.
When Jesus was on the mountain, the Bible says He was transfigured. Jesus was changed from an ordinary looking man into a figure of light with brilliant beams radiating from his body. The reason His clothes became white was from the light emanating from His body. This is a very important event in Jesus’ life, because it confirms He was not merely a man. He was God in the flesh. For most of His 33 years of human existence, His human flesh obscured and veiled His Deity. But at this time, His true divine nature was revealed.
Thousands of people are thrill seekers and live on the edge simply because they want the temporary reward of a rush of adrenaline or a new buzz. But the thrill is only temporary and they have to look for the next big thrill and they are constantly unfulfilled. There’s nothing wrong with seeking fun, adventure, and pleasure unless it becomes the driving force of your life. If it does, then you lose.
The Transfiguration of Jesus is a preview of a coming attraction—the Second Coming of Jesus. It will be a powerful attraction, too, strong enough to raise the dead and to rapture living Christians. I’m not going to be around to read the Second Coming headline, because when Jesus comes, I’m going to be meeting Him in the clouds.
The Exodus is not just an historical story about God delivering the children of Israel. It is a story about what has happened to every one of us who are children of God. We have been set free from the bondage the slavery of sin and that’s the picture portrayed when the children of Israel come out of Egypt. A message about when God sets you free and the characteristics of this freedom and how he deals with us in much the same way he dealt with the children of Israel.
Moses resisted all the compromises of Pharaoh. He said, “No, we’re going to go! Not only are we GOING to go, we’re going to go all the WAY! Not only are we going to go all the way we’re going to take our FAMILIES with us. Not only are we going to take our family with us, we are taking all of our POSSESSIONS with us!” Where have you drawn the line? Do you say, “Well that’s as far as I’m going. I’m a Christian, but I’m not going to go all the way with Jesus. I’m just going to stand on this side and make sure I have my ticket to heaven.” or “I’m going to really get fired up, but I’m going to leave my family out of it!” If you have gone all the way and you say, “I’m going all the way with Jesus. I’m taking everybody I can with me and I’m taking everything I own, everything I possess, and it all is going to be offered to God. That’s what total commitment is all about.
Somebody needs to tell Indiana Jones he will never find the Ark of the Covenant, because it is in heaven. How did it get there? I don’t know but the Bible says there it is! The beautiful thing about the temple is that this temple in heaven is the dwelling place of the power of God but the glorious news about the temple is this all of this is in the future. The temple John measured at the beginning of the book is going to be in Jerusalem; the temple we see at the end of this chapter is in heaven but right now there is a temple of God.
