| Believing With Reverence...Exodus 1:17-21 By Timothy W. Burnett |
| To believe God's word is to have the confidence and trust in His word unto acting upon it and receiving the benefits promised by God. Simply believing God's word that He raised Jesus Christ from the dead results in being filled with holy spirit. According to Romans chapter 4, for this believing is accounted unto us for righteousness. A study of God's rightly divided word shows that believing God's word is directly related to reverencing His word. This is nicely exemplified in Exodus 1:17-21. According to Exodus 1:17 the King of Egypt told the midwives of Israel to kill the newly born sons, and to spare the daughters. This has spiritual significance because it was one of many attempts by Satan to destroy the seed of the woman prophesied of in Genesis 3:15. Verse 17, "But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children." The word "feared" is a bad translation from an earlier known Hebrew word that meant to reverence. Please note all of Israel did God's will by obeying the King of Egypt in several areas. But in this case the midwives did not obey the King. Instead they obeyed God. And God blessed them in return. "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty...because they feared [reverenced] God, He made them houses [families of progeny]." (1:20-21). It is God's good pleasure to deal well with those who reverence Him and act upon His word. From the context of the rest of God's word, it can be seen that the midwives did not suddenly start reverencing God. Matthew 26:38-45 records another man who had great reverence toward God. Jesus Christ knew the time of his crucifixion was close, and he was very anxious and nervous. As always, he went straight to his Daddy. He asked if it were possible, to let this cup pass by him. He then finished each prayer with the following, "...not as I will, but as thou wilt." What great reverence he had for his Daddy at this time. Finally in verse 46, he stood up and said, "...let us be going." He acted according to God's will, rather than his own. He grew up learning to reverence God's word. By the time he was anointed with holy spirit he was ready to begin walking with God by the spirit in him, and serving Him in the ministry of reconcilliation. Because he reverenced God's word through his life, he was built up and ready to act on God's word that came to him by revelation. God dealt well with His dearly beloved son. He raised him from the dead and gave him a new glorious body. God sat His son at His own right hand of authority. Having freely given His son all things, He has now freely given all things to his people during this Age of Grace that we live in now. As it is written in Romans 8:32, "He that spared not His own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall He not with him also, freely give us all things." In the name of Jesus Christ, we have access to all that was freely given to him. We have great examples of reverencing God in the Old Testament and Gospels. We can look at our Lord Jesus Christ and see how he reverenced God unto doing His will. Now we can enjoy the fruits and bounty of Jesus Christ's victory by reverently believing to receive all God's promises in every part our lives. Here's a promise to act on, "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19). Praise God and Amen! |