Moses
The significance of Moses in God's plan was that he was the one chosen to lead the Israelite's out of Egypt and he was the one whom God gave the first written law for man.
Leading the Israelites out of Egypt was not
going to be any simple task. The Israelites were the slaves of Egypt and
Pharaoh was not exactly willing to part with them. God had to use Noah to
persuade Pharaoh that it was by order of the one true God that the Israelites
had to be set free. There were many plagues
brought upon Egypt because of Pharaoh's stubbornness. All the waters of
Egypt became blood, then frogs covered the ground, then all the dust of the
ground became lice, then swarms of flies, then all of Egypt's cattle was killed
but Israel's were not, then the Egyptians had boils form on their skin, then it
rained hail and fire from the sky, then locusts covered the face of the earth,
then darkness fell for 3 days, and finally the angel of death went out over
Egypt and killed the first born son of every house that was not marked with
blood.
After all this, Pharaoh let the Israelites go. And after the Israelites
had gone out of Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind again and sent his armies after
them. This is when Moses and the children of Israel cross the Red Sea.
But
lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it:
and the children of Israel shall go on dry [ground] through the midst of the
sea. (Exodus 14:16)
And I, behold, I will harden the
hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour
upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. (Exodus 14:17)
And the Egyptians shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have gotten me honour
upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. (Exodus
14:18)
¶ And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to
go [back] by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry [land], and
the waters were divided. (Exodus 14:21)
And the children of Israel went into
the midst of the sea upon the dry [ground]: and the waters [were] a wall unto
them on their right hand, and on their left. (Exodus
14:22)
And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea,
[even] all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
(Exodus 14:23)
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. (Exodus 14:26)
And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his
strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the
LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (Exodus 14:27)
And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, [and] all
the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so
much as one of them. (Exodus 14:28)
And after the Israelites were out of Egypt,
the Lord said to Moses:
Ye have seen what I did
unto the Egyptians, and [how] I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto
myself.
(Exodus 19:4)
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then
ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is]
mine: (Exodus 19:5)
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are]
the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 19:6)
So God called Moses up to the top of Mt. Si-nai and gave him the 10 ten commandments on two stone tablets. These commandments are the first written laws given to man by God.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. (Exodus 24:12)
The children of Israel were commanded to follow these laws given by God, but they were also commanded to make an altar to make their sacrifices upon. If a man breaks any part of the law he is guilty no matter how insignificant his offense is, and an animal sacrifice had to be made if he wanted that offense to be forgiven.
And Moses said, Thou must
give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the LORD
our God.
(Exodus 10:25)
You may be asking yourself at
this point what the deal is with all of these animal sacrifices that are being
made. Why does God want people to kill animals to make up for their
sins? Why couldn't he just have them write I'm sorry 500 times on a rock,
or spend a day in silence? What is the significance of an animal
sacrifice? Animal sacrifices are part of every man's salvation
throughout the Old Testament. The reason they are so significant is
because it is the shedding of blood that makes for remission of sins.
There is life in the blood and it is the blood that gives life so this is also
the reason why it is forbidden to drink blood.
For [it is] the life of all flesh; the blood of it [is] for the life thereof:
therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no
manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh [is] the blood thereof: (Leviticus
17:14)
And almost all things are by the
law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews
9:22)
It is the shedding of this life giving blood that is the only thing that can wash away a sin and this is why animal sacrifices are so important to a man's salvation during this time. Later we are going to see another case in which blood is shed for the remission of sins, except this sacrifice will be the last sacrifice that will ever have to be made.
We're going to fast forward to roughly 4000 years after Adam was created and find ourselves at probably one of the most significant times in God's plan, the life of Jesus Christ.