(Exodus) Exodus 6:14-30

Now, we have here something that, to me, is very strange. In the midst of all of this, these difficulties, God is very careful, He's very careful to give us the families again. That's important as far as the Old Testament is concerned.

It's very important to know who we're talking about. And the genealogy became all-important. In verse 14, these be the heads of their fathers' houses, the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel.

And again, here we go through all of this. And I'm not going to go through it, friends, because I'll be honest with you, all it is is a bunch of names. I could go to sleep reading these names.

But just because they're a little boring to me doesn't mean they're not important. It just means it's not a thrilling record here of anything. Except of God.

God was very, very, very insistent that the genealogies be recorded, that we know who we're talking about. And He has the same thing for you and me today. He wants us to be His children.

And He wants us to be sons of God through faith in Christ. But we want to be sure about that. We want to be sure about it.

Now, in verse 16, these are the names of the sons of Levi, according to their generations. And this will come up later, and it's important. You have Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

These were the three sons, and they are the ones that will take the tabernacle through the wilderness. It's quite interesting. The children of Israel today, the average Jew could not tell you what tribe he belongs to.

But back here, they had to be sure of these things because, you see, it's a genealogy leading to Jesus Christ. And then we have, in verse 18, the sons of Kohath, Amram and Ishar and Hebron. And you will notice that Amram's named after the father of Moses.

And here we have verse 20, "...And Amram took him Jachibed, his father's sister to wife, and she bare him Aaron and Moses, and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred thirty and seven years." Someone has asked me the question, well, Aaron was Moses' brother. Well, when Aaron was born, didn't he have the same problem they'd have with Moses? No, Aaron was older than Moses, and the decree of old Pharaoh hadn't probably been put in at that time. It was not until he saw the way they were increasing.

Now, you have here this genealogy that we have before us, and I'm going to pass over it and come all the way down to verse 26. Now, "...These are that Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. These are they which spake to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt.

These are that Moses and Aaron." In other words, at this juncture, when both Pharaoh and the children of Israel themselves, the circumcised would not accept them, the uncircumcised would not. And Moses is pretty discouraged. Well, what about it then? Well, it's at this point that God gives his background of who he is.

He has to be who he claims to be before he can deliver the children of Israel. There are those today that try to tell me that the virgin birth is not essential. May I say to you, it's absolutely essential.

Then somebody comes and says, Well, you don't have to believe the virgin birth to be saved. Now, will you listen to me very carefully about this? When I came to Christ, I never heard of the virgin birth. You don't have to trust his birth to be saved.

You trust his death and resurrection to be saved. But wait just a minute. When you are saved, you'll come to know him.

And when you come to know him, you'll find out he's virgin-born. And if he was not virgin-born, then you made a mistake in trusting him because he's not who he claimed to be. So you see, it's not essential to believe the virgin birth to be saved.

But no one who's been saved will deny the virgin birth. They cannot. This thing, my friend, is very important and essential.

Moses and Aaron have to be who they claim to be. They are in the family of Levi. They belong to that line.

And their father and mother are Amram and Jochebed. You see, this man Moses was brought up in Pharaoh's court. They're 40 years.

He's been 40 years out yonder in the desert of Midian. He's married the priest of Midian's daughter. Now, here he is back in the land.

Who are you anyway? Well, here's who he is. The credentials are very important. In fact, they're all important here.

Now God, on that basis, renews His call to Moses and to Aaron. Verse 28, "...It came to pass on the day when the Lord spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt, that the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I am the Lord. Speak thou unto Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I say unto thee.

And Moses said before the Lord, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?" Moses again making excuses, you see. It's not a very pleasant task that he has. He's been rejected all the way long.

He says, after all, I'm Moses. My father and mother, Amram and Jochebed, and we're in the line of Levi. Levi was the son of Jacob, and Jacob a son of Isaac, and Isaac a son of Abraham, and God made the promises to Abraham.

I'm in the right line. But he doesn't have very much faith. He said, they've rejected me, and I hesitate to go.