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Kalamazoo SDA Church

The Exodus & God Almighty

Daniel Ferraz

The Pharaoh That Knew Not Joseph

The plan for prayers is that they get answered.

And the wonderful thing about prayer is that God guarantees through Jesus Christ that they will be answered.

And there's this wonderful passage in the Bible that says, if we know that He hears us, we have the petitions that we ask for.

Now, if I'm talking to a friend, I need to be in the close proximity so that they can hear my voice.

So if I know my friend can hear my voice, I know that they can hear what I'm saying and what I'm communicating.

So if we know that we are close enough to God so that He can hear us, we know that He will give us our petitions.

Now the work that we have to do as his children is to get into a position that we can hear him and he can hear us.

And we may go month after month, year after year, without God answering our prayers apparently, and we just wonder, is this all there is to religion?

I'm reading a book that I want to share with with you elders and we'll probably need to study it through prayer meeting time.

It's a prayer written by a man that was contemporary with Ellen White.

I've been reading this book recently, and he writes, the title of the book is With Christ in the school of prayer.

The only thing that gave him away that he wasn't an Adventist was that he spoke about Sunday school.

Otherwise he would speak about the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus as our high priest, and interceding for us.

He spoke about the chapter in Luke, chapter 11, where the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray.

And 1 of the things that is highlighted is that God wants to bless His people with more than just the earthly things.

He wants to bless His people with spiritual power.

He wants His children to experience divine miracles in their life.

That's the kind of God that the Bible tells me exists.

Friends, I pray that we can know God more so that we know He can hear us.

And it's a powerful thing when we know God hears us because if He hears us, He will answer our prayers.

If we're close enough to Him to know His will and to ask a right, keeping to the conditions, He will answer your prayers.

And if He's not answering our prayers, if He's not answering my prayers, maybe there's something hindering my closeness to God.

Title of the sermon today is actually part 2.

We looked at the amazing account that the Bible gives us.

And 1 of the reasons I'm going into this kind of history and archaeology of the children of Israel and Joseph that brought his father and his brothers into Egypt is because we need to have an answer to people that say these stories in the Bible are just made up and they're exaggerated.

You know, and that they try to explain the miracles by, you know, some natural phenomenon that are described in the book of Exodus.

The story of the Exodus of the children of Israel out of Egypt is the most awesome story of deliverance in the whole Bible.

So wouldn't you think that the enemy would try and discredit the account of that story?

Now if we believe the Bible, and there are still some Christians around that do believe the Bible, but there are many seminaries that teach that there are no miracles that can take place because we only believe what we can see.

So we need to have an answer and what we are finding lately in these days that we are approaching the soon return of Jesus Christ is that there are more and more archaeological discoveries that are proving that the Hebrew nation lived in the Nile Delta in Egypt.

It's a hard thing to go and dig in the Nile Delta because it's a flood plain.

And so to dig, you need to put up barriers to keep the water away and be able to discover what is hidden there, what God, I believe, has preserved for our time so that we, as we come close to the second coming of Jesus, can realize that this word is actually true.

And scientists are coming up with evidence that proves it.

And so we looked at this amazing story of how Joseph was taken prisoner to Egypt...

...And he is able to interpret the pharaoh's dream.

And we found out that there is archaeological evidence that speaks about a man who was a leader, a helper, second in command for Pharaoh.

And the Pharaoh is named as Pharaoh Josa.

And he has inscriptions and artifacts that show in this pyramid of Saqqara.

This is the oldest pyramid and it has record that there was a pharaoh there by the name of Joseph and fragments of the statue of Pharaoh were found there and on the base of that Inscription there was a name of a man called Imhotep He was Chancellor of the king of the lower Egypt chief under the king.

He was administrator of the great palace, hereditary lord, high priest, Heliopolis, Imhotep, the builder, the sculptor, the maker of stone vases.

National Geographic writes about this in 1995 that Imhotep was an architect and he also helped build the step pyramid.

So what we're seeing here is evidence that Joseph helped in the building of the largest pyramid in Egypt.

And this, he was actually worshipped 1, 400 years after his lifetime because of the great things that he did for Egypt.

What were some of the great things that he did for Egypt?

The record shows in National Geographic that Imhotep saved his country from a famine, which is exactly what Joseph did with the help of God.

This is the stone that in Aswan, in the Niles, in the cataracts of the Nile, which give account of Imhotep, that this is a copy of archaeological finds of the time of the Pharaoh of Joseph, which we're being told was Pharaoh Joseph.

When we compare the Inscription on that stone to the Bible account, we see that there is parallel.

There's a description of the distress of Pharaoh because he has a dream.

He doesn't know what it is and what it means.

And Joseph, after being 2 years forgotten in prison by the cup bearer, suddenly the cup bearer remembers that there was somebody that helped interpret his dream that got him out of prison and Joseph said to the cup bearer, please remember me when you get free.

And as it so often happens, Even a friend will forget you.

And so he comes and interprets the dream, 7 fat cows, 7 skinny cows, and the 7 skinny cows eat the 7 fat cows.

And Joseph gives the interpretation of the dream.

And he says there's going to be 7 years of plenty, Pharaoh.

You need to stock up with all the grain you can.

You need to build granaries to hold all of this plenty that will be given to you.

The God of heaven is giving you this dream so that you can prepare.

As the Pharaoh said, well, who can we find?

Who can we find that would be so able to do what needs to be done than Joseph?

Pharaoh says this about Joseph, Genesis 41, 40-44, You shall be over my house and according to your word shall all my people be ruled." In other words, Pharaoh is saying, whatever you say, the way we should govern Egypt, you go ahead and we'll do it, Joseph.

Only in the throne will I be greater than you.

And he made him ride in the second chariot.

So Pharaoh has the first chariot and Joseph has the second, which he had.

And he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.

And archaeology is coming up with evidence that shows that there was such a man that saved Egypt from famine.

If we can believe the story of the Exodus, that God was with them, Jesus was with them, and that God parted the Red Sea at 1 of its deepest points and had prepared for them a place where they could go over on dry land.

Moses Refused

We should never open the Word of God without prayer.

The Bible itself says that nobody can understand the Word of God without God's help.

And you see, when we really are open to the Holy Spirit, we will be blessed.

I'm going over them, this is a series of sermons that I'm sharing with you for 2 reasons.

First of all, to show that what many scholars and people of renown have considered to be just fable or just myth is actually true and can be, there is sufficient evidence in archeology to support the accounts of the Bible regarding the story of the Exodus.

The miraculous plagues in Egypt, the miraculous deliverance, the miraculous opening of the Red Sea.

All of these things, we need to know that they are true because learned people with degrees are telling us that these were just stories and they joke about it.

So that's the first reason, to show that there is sufficient evidence in archaeology that we can believe these stories.

You know, because when somebody comes along and says well, these are just stories, you know, you can't take them seriously You don't believe in those do you especially the first 11 chapters of of the book of Genesis?

Friends what we are finding is in the last century and in the last 25 years we are finding amazing discoveries or archaeologists are finding amazing discoveries in the Nile Delta that show that the Israelite people actually lived and built houses in the northern part of the land of Egypt.

And this is something that really strengthens our faith.

The second reason why I'm sharing stories from the Exodus is because Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 1 to 12, we heard verse 13 being read today during our offering time, but from those 12 verses, we see that Paul tells us that everything that was written was for our admonition.

It was for our warning, for our learning.

And then he says something very interesting that in my Bible in the margin, it says that they were types.

And you know what that means is that very often in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, there will be stories, there will be the sanctuary service, and all of those things were a mirror or a miniature of the real thing.

And so as I look at the story of Exodus, as I read Paul under inspiration, that he says that these stories were for our admonition, for our learning, and they are types, what I deduce from that is that the things that happened to God's people, and they're wandering, they're complaining, their delay in entering into the heavenly Canaan, into, sorry, the earthly Canaan, is a story, is a parable that fits us today.

I don't know if you have ever grappled with the thought, aren't we here a little bit too long?

Friends, when we understand that the children of Israel and their story is a type, and we are the anti-type, we are the reality, we can see that we have a lot of praying to do if we want to get to the promised land.

And so we went through and saw in part 1 the Pharaoh that knew Joseph.

And we saw that the Pharaoh that knew Joseph, Djoser, the step pyramid at Saqqara, around 2630 before Christ, was actually built by somebody known as Imhotep, which we discovered had the same kind of details in his story as Joseph.

There were fragments of the statue of Pharaoh Josa in this step pyramid, And at the base inscribed were the names of Josa and Imhotep.

And he was the chancellor of the king of the lower Egypt, chief under king, administrator of the great palace.

This is Imhotep, hereditary lord, high priest of Heliopolis.

And Imhotep was the builder and the sculptor and the maker of stone vases.

We looked at National Geographic and we saw that Imhotep was an architect.

And he, of the step pyramid, the physician, a priest, a founder of a cult of healing.

Now this is what they did with him as he had helped the Egyptian nation.

In National Geographic, January 1995, describes Imhotep, this man, who saved his country from a famine.

And we saw that Charles Wilbur discovered this boulder in 1890, and on this boulder were written that there had been, the annual flooding of the Nile had failed.

And this was in harmony with the dream that Pharaoh had, and Joseph was able to interpret and show the king, the Pharaoh, what he needed to do.

Then we looked at how he was elevated to number 2 in Egypt.

Imhotep fits the characteristics of Joseph.

Friends, I am so encouraged by these things.

In part 2 we looked at the evidence of ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus according to the Biblical Archaeology Society and evidence of hard labor and brick being made.

And these frescoes, these artworks actually showing that.

So we can deduce from this evidence that it was the Israelites that helped build up the riches, the wealth of Egypt.

The Bible tells us that they not only were building bricks, They were also engaged in hard labor in the fields.

And here we have another depiction of harvesting and of gathering and of working in the fields.

And we looked at how Moses was miraculously preserved from death, amen?

Moses was the deliverer that was to come.

By the way, if any of you would like a book which is a compilation of the writings of Alan White on the story of the Exodus, just ask me and I might have a spare copy for you.

I know the children have loved it and I'll be sharing a little bit from that today.

Moses, look at how this parallels our Savior, how this type and anti-type fit together.

And what happened was that the pharaoh took Moses the first, made a decree that all the baby boys should be killed.

Even though he commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill all the baby boys, they did not follow his command, and Moses was kept from that fate.

And then we see that Jesus had a similar decree.

A king was going to kill, try and kill the deliverer again by killing all of these babies, the baby boys.

In researching for this morning's Sabbath service, I looked at François Duplessis.

François Duplessis is an Adventist archaeologist who fell in love with archaeology in Lebanon in 1966 when he saw an ancient Phoenician sarcophagus and his passion for biblical research continues today.

Since then, he has traveled to the important archaeological sites in Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Turkey, and Armenia.

And if you've ever seen on Amazing Discoveries, you may have seen some of his presentations.

Now Moses was born, according to biblical chronology, 1530 before Christ.

That is during the time of Tutmoses when he ruled from 1532 to 1508 BC.

Aaron, his brother, was born just before Tutmoses I came into rule in 1533, a year before Tutmoses came to be king.

And you may have wondered about this, but all of these historical facts help us understand with more and more clarity the story of the Israelite exodus.

And Then we have the story of the daughter of Pharaoh.

The daughter of Pharaoh, according to archeology, is Hatshepsut, And she was the 1 that brought Moses out of the Nile, who was there just floating in a basket.

And she, being the pharaoh's daughter, adopted this little boy.

And the Bible tells us very little about the time from when he was with his mother for a period of around 12 years, and then from that 12-year period to his manhood.

As we look at this, we see the detail of this story.

We see the hand of God in this deliverer's life, Amen?

Do you know that God wants to show his hand in your life?

Whatever situation, friend, you may be in, Don't give up.

I want to encourage you to be like Moses, who refused.

In the majority of cases, he was a good man.

But Look at what the Bible tells us about him.

He refused to stop believing the word of God.

We need to have a similar spirit as Moses.

And look at what a delicate and dangerous beginning he had.

And friends, so often we in our own life can see as we look back that God has his hand, his mighty hand of deliverance and preserving our lives.

That is not to say that there isn't hardship and suffering and death, yes, we see that, we saw that all around.

We saw that all around this story of how many hundreds of baby boys were killed.

Friends, but hard though it may seem, God still promises in the darkest time of our experience, He promises us deliverance, and Moses and Jesus are assurance of that fact for you and I today.

So I looked at this and I saw how little detail there was here in Exodus chapter 2 verses 10 and 11.

The Meekest Man in Midian

Kind Father in heaven, we ask for you to give us your blessing, in Jesus' name, amen.

Today we want to carry on in our story, actually it's the fourth part of the Exodus and God Almighty.

But before I get into that, I just wanted to share with you that life can sometimes take some twists and turns, But in the end, if we are listening carefully to the voice of God and alert to our opportunities, he can make good come out of any situation, amen?

And that's a bit of the story of the exodus, the hardship and the trial and the difficulty that the men went through, the leaders went through.

Have you heard, anybody heard of Levi Strauss?

Did you know that in 1853, Levi Strauss sailed to San Francisco, he went west, hoping to sell denim tents in the gold rush to the miners.

Finding little market for his tents, Strauss prayed about what to do with all his cloth and all his rivets.

He was inspired to take a few pairs of cloth and make them into pairs of pants.

Out of this tough cotton material, he fastened the stress points with the tent rivets.

The rugged pants and overalls were an instant hit with the miners and lumberjacks because of their remarkable durability.

He patented the invention in 1873, and the rest is history.

He patented that invention 142 years ago.

He had a goal, he had a mission, he thought he was going to make all of these tents.

But in the end they turned out to be something different.

And often what we start out in life to do doesn't always end up being what we are led by God.

And a similar story is with God's people and the Exodus.

The exodus of millions of Hebrews out of Egypt, we are told in the Bible, happened around 3, 500 years ago.

It shows us that there's no limit to what God can do for His people, especially as we approach the borders of the heavenly Canaan, my friend.

God is all loving, He is compassionate, He is powerful, but often He will take men and women through a path in their life that they did not always expect.

You remember the story of Joseph, for how long he was in prison, how long he must have thought that God was abandoning him, and for how long he was in a dungeon, until God raised him to be second in command to the Pharaoh that knew Joseph.

And then there came the Pharaoh that knew Moses, or Moses was born at a time when Thutmose I ruled from 1532 to 1508 BC.

That was right in the year that The babies were killed because the children of Israel were growing too much and were becoming too powerful.

And the privileged position that the Hebrew nation had was now coming into question.

All of this was predicted to Abraham that his descendants would be as the sand of the sea and as the stars of the sky and that they would be enslaved by a nation for 400 years or 430 years.

Today we'll be looking at part 4 of Almighty God, the Exodus and Almighty God.

And we look at the story, we pick it up, and we'll go to the book of Acts, chapter 7, verse 22 and 23, and we need to remind ourselves that Moses was in Egypt for 40 years, learning all of the customs, all of the building and war strategies that the greatest nation on the earth had to offer.

And so the Bible says, and Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.

And then the Bible says here in verse 23, when he was full 40 years old, it came into his heart to visit the brethren of Israel.

He wanted to go and see how they were doing.

Now Moses was in Egypt for 40 years and he was being trained, no less, to be the successor of Pharaoh, the ruler of the then known world.

By the laws of Egypt, all who occupied the throne of the pharaohs were to be worshipped as God.

But Moses now goes and sees the predicament, the plight of the Hebrew people.

And we know the story and we can pick it up in Exodus chapter 2.

And the Bible tells us that Moses saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew.

Now I want you to understand that Moses had been taught that he was to be the deliverer of the nation.

And so He was yearning to be able to deliver God's people.

And the Bible tells us that as he saw an Egyptian striving with a Hebrew, that he took a hold of him.

In fact, if you read it from Acts 7, 24, seeing 1 of them suffer wrong, he defended him and avenged him that was oppressed, and struck him, struck the Egyptian.

For he supposed, listen to this, he supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them.

But the Bible says that they did not understand.

They did not understand that Moses was to be a deliverer.

And so he thought he would take this need of the Hebrew people to be delivered into his own hands.

And it's a strange thing because these people were not ready to be delivered.

Could you imagine being enslaved and they're not ready to be delivered.

What that means is they didn't understand.

They didn't really realize that there was something better.

They had grown accustomed to where they were enslaved.

And It's amazing how you can get comfortable even in slavery.

And the Bible goes on to say that the story continued.

He looked this way and that back in Exodus chapter 2.

It's interesting how you can find the details of the story in Exodus and Acts and other parts of the Bible.

Back in Exodus chapter 2, verse 12, he says, he looked this way and he looked that way and he saw that there was no man and he slew the Egyptian and he hid him in the sand.

He was so convinced that he was to be the deliverer and Look at how he was going about it.

He was using his own might, he was using his own strength.

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