Gadfly's Muse

Exodus 11-12: A Solemn Salvation

Image:  Patterns, 2019, Severna Park, MD

Exodus 12:40–42 (NKJV) ⁴⁰ Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

I bet that was one scary night.

In chapter 11, vs. 3, it says that "Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people." I bet he was.  And I bet he was even "greater" in the sight of the Israelites.  Their opinion of this crazy guy and his equally crazy brother had changed a lot.  They didn't think he was crazy anymore.  He was the prophet of this great God Yahweh and this God and this man were not ones with whom to trifle.  Those nine judgments that came on Egypt had brought it just to the edge of ruin.  Crops lay desolate in the fields after all the hail and locusts.  The people still walked around with the scars of boils and the memory of the lice.  And those days of darkness... oh man... was that scary.  

When Moses started talking about God killing off every first born child and beast in the nation, from Pharaoh's own house right down to the lowest servant working the mills, then I imagine everyone was shaking in their boots.  

The Israelites paid attention.  They listened to those detailed instructions about this new Passover event.  In 12:28 it says that they "went away and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did."  There was not mumbling and grumbling... this was serious business... death was in the air.  As the sun sank down below the horizon and the shadows engulfed the houses I can imagine the trembling knees, anxious expressions and heartfelt prayers for mercy that rose up that night.

They say that there are no atheists in foxholes... I imagine that there weren't any in Egypt that night either.  However only One God came to bring judgment and only One God came to bring salvation in the face of judgment.  Many a mother wept that evening and even in the house of Pharaoh there was no discussion.  He called for Moses and Aaron... by night... and said... "Go!"  Then he added something extra... he looked at Moses and pleaded... " and bless me also."

Pharaoh was shown great mercy that night.  He survived the Lord's judgment on him, his people and all their gods.  He lived to see another day.  His terror drove him to make this request... sadly the terror did not last and I have to assume, neither did any hope for his soul.  

God made it clear in this passage, that "God makes a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." (11:7).  God comes to save those who hear His Word, tremble at His Power, rush to embrace His offer of mercy, cling to His promises and seek to serve Him with their hearts, hands, head and hope.  And the whole promise of salvation which prompts this consuming focus which we call "faith", is meaningless apart from the reality of terrifying judgment.

Notice the detailed instructions given to the Israelites for the keeping of this ceremony.  Notice that it was to be anticipated... preparation to celebrate it had to start weeks ahead of time.  Look carefully at how they were to dress, what they were to do in cooking the meal, how they were to conduct themselves.  The whole point was to recreate that sense of solemn holiness... that tingling sense of anxiety... that flooding insight which reminds us of just how puny we are and just how awesome is our God.  Think of how they, through the years, were to revisit that night so as to be reminded of what it means that they were special... that God had chosen them, as unworthy as they were, to be kept from judgment and to be brought out of the land with an impressive display of mightiness.  This was the Passover.... and it was holy indeed.

Now, Jesus is our Passover.

When Jesus shared His last meal with His disciples He brought this annual celebration to an end.  In its place He instituted a New Covenant celebration - the Lord's Supper - and all those Jewish features went out the window.  The features went out... but the solemn holiness and meaning carried over.  The New Sacrament, the Supper of our Lord, is even more impressive, even more holy, even more terrifying to contemplate if we do it justice than the first Passover.

When our Lord brought judgment on earth at the Cross it was focused entirely on the Passover Lamb.  There He made a difference between His People and the "Egyptians" which now we know, means all who do not belong to Christ.  There He laid upon His Son the full and complete punishment for our sins that still yet remains to be extended onto His enemies.  It was a terrifying thing when the darkness came down, the earth trembled and the veil of the temple was torn.  But that is nothing compared to what yet is in the future.

On that day the people of God will stand secure under the blood of Christ but there will be wailing in the land.  That is what the Supper means... we need to consider it carefully, attend it with humility.. and tremble before the power of our Great God.

General Assembly: Reflections, Observations, Trivia and Other Non-Sense

Image:  The Crew, 2019, Hilton Anatole, Dallas TX

2 Corinthians 8:4–5 (NKJV)⁴ imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. ⁵ And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.

This Assembly was somewhat strange for me.

First of all, due to my general decrepitude arising from my severe arthritis and the delayed hip replacement surgery, I was not real mobile and I was not real stable.  More than once I had brothers I had never met come up and ask if they could help me.  One guy stopped me and said he noticed my shoe was untied and then proceeded to fix it... right there in the hall way.  I walk with a walker these days and that's no fun but it sure gave me an opportunity to see how much mercy there is among Christians.

The young men who came from Severn Run EPC (of whom there are 3 in this image) were invaluable.  They carried my stuff when we went out to dinner and were very solicitous of my company.  I had a great time with them and am very much in their debt.  

So, first of all, this GA taught me a lot about the humility of receiving.  Paul, in the passage above, learned that lesson as the wider Church that he served responded to the sacrificial displays of love he had received.  It is sobering but it makes an impression that I don't think will ever go away.  I will not forget the kindness I was shown.

Secondly, this GA was focused.  I don't remember any previous GA where there was such an earnest desire to "get to it" and talk out the issues.  We went into this GA with the very real threat of division looming over us.  The deep concern over such issues as ReVoice and the push for opening up vital Committee membership to non-ordained people ( among others ), registered itself in attendance.  We had a higher attendance (1500+) of commissioners and the highest participation by Ruling Elders in my memory and, I think, ever.  People came out... they came prepared to speak their mind.. they came prepared to work on holding true to what we believe but also finding ways we can continue to work together.  I am generally pleased with the work that was done and the manner in which it was done though I have some major heart issues with the solidifying movement toward a "militant party spirit" among those who want the denomination to change its thrust and general ethos.  They did not win on many issues but they intend to keep up the pressure.  This is a worry to me.

Thirdly, I was encouraged by a small but increasingly influential body of young and old men who are committed to rigorous study, intense worship and vital preaching.  The group in this image was one part of that body though not its entirety.  Greenville Theological Seminary, the Davenant Institute and other fellowships are doing good work in getting young men excited about God's Word, Thoughtfully Considered, Soundly Preached and Steadfastly Obeyed.  God has greatly encouraged me over the past few years about the upcoming generation.  They are still very much a minority among those whose agenda seems to tilt the balance in Evangelism more toward the emotional and subjective and away from the thoughtful and objective challenges of Christianity.  It's not an "either/or" but a balance that we need.  It's good to see some indications that the balance is being sought.

Lastly, I left the Assembly with the nagging doubt that the forces which could divide us are still a concern.  This is not a time for smugly thinking that "we" have won, but a time should be actively seeking a way to "hear" those upper level concerns that are driving the "progressive" group so as to see what truth is there.  We do have to find the right way to address cultural issues such as the role of women, the rise of disenfranchised peoples, the aching sadness of depravity and the disastrous extent to which too many kids raised in Christian homes are deserting the church as soon as they reach college age.

The progressives are at least thinking about those things.  I don't like many things in their manner of addressing the problems and their 'disciplined party-spirit' is, to me, a deadly threat to the whole principle of Presbyterian polity.  But... they are being used by God to raise up legitimate issues that we must face.  We did some good work at GA this year in addressing some of those issues but the voting on several was very close.  There is much left to do.

In addition to the above, I am very encouraged by the fellowship we had together.  Sitting and talking with other thoughtful men, sharing our pipes and tobacco, partaking of some excellent beverages and hearing life-stories that served to build a sense of brotherhood... that was good... and, I think, that's the way God intended it to be.

I pray that the Lord will give me a new hip, another year of service and some ability to contribute again.  But if He doesn't, I am content. 

Exodus 8-9-10 : Forecast - Sunny With 100% Chance of Frogs

Image:  "Waiting", 2019, Severn Run E. P. Church

Exodus 8:22–23 (NKJV)²² And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which My people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, in order that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of the land. ²³ I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be.” ’ ”

The plagues on Egypt as recorded in these chapters would read like a Vaudeville farce if they weren't so serious.  There is something ludicrous about people standing ankle deep in frogs, scratching like mad at the lice, swatting flies left, right and center.  We might be tempted to chuckle.

The chuckling stops when the hail begins, the livestock start falling dead in the fields, the people going mad with crippling boils and the locusts attack.  In Egypt I imagine the people were close to panic...the very foundation of their society was just about destroyed.  And then.... and then... there came the darkness.

There was absolute darkness for three days!  On the best of days these Pagans were superstitious.  Now... after having endured all these previous horrors they rightly knew that this darkness was the most ominous indeed.  

If this God could "rob" the sun of its light... hide the moon .... cut off all means of moving around outside the house... there was nothing He couldn't do.  Therefore this darkness was correctly understood as the pause before the storm.  I imagine the hairs on the back of their necks were curling away.  I think their hearts were pounding and that they were screaming at their leaders... "let these people go... we cannot stand against their God!"

It was right there that the message came across and was understood.  The first few plagues that God brought on Egypt were those which, in a sense, represented the ordinary trials of life in a fallen world only more intense.  All of the bad things that happen to us in life, both personally, as a group, as a nation, as human beings in general, represent the judgment on the sin in this world.  Because the world does not repent... because it refuses to hear the warnings of the Church given to it as Moses gave warnings to Pharaoh, so God continues to show forth His power.  Tsunamis pound the coasts, hurricanes cut huge swaths through a continent, earthquakes level cities, plagues continue to arise in spite of the advances in medicine.  In short, God is now as He has in the past and will continue to do, demonstrating that man needs to repent.  In these "ordinary" judgments the church also suffers.  For we have sinned and it is only right and proper that we suffer also during this life for our sins and the sins of our parents.

But as the judgments on Egypt demonstrate there are judgments which will not fall equally on Christians and on their enemies.  There will be judgments, as the Revelation given to John clearly states, where the Church of Christ will be separated, and this for a reason.  The Egyptians, in their agony, must have looked at the herds that remained in the Israelite pastures, the clear skins they had in distinction to those with boils, the light they had in the prevailing darkness and the Egyptians must have been astonished.  "They must have something we don't have!  Their magic must be very powerful indeed!" or other some thoughts must have occurred.  But as God clearly intended they finally had to admit... this means that they have a God who is greater than all other gods.  The Egyptian "gods" could not match His works and could not protect Egypt from them.  There was a message here and it was clearly understood... at least by some.  Not all the Egyptians left their cattle out in the fields and their cattle did not die.  Sinners are a stubborn lot but God has a way of getting through.

The greatest witness that is open to the Church is the witness of being a distinct people that God loves.  If the people of God are so immersed in the world that they cannot be distinguished from it, then there is no way for the world to see Christians as being different in this regard.  Like all the worshipers of false gods and like the atheists and other unbelievers, they suffer the hardships of the world... they are not specifically, as a category, more prone to success or failure than the pagans... in other worlds they have nothing to commend them as a separate people, a different nation.

But, when the people of God are separate from the world.  Even if they are purchasing food at the same super-markets, they can and should be visibly different.  Their body language, dress, conversation, openness, concern and, yes, joy... communicate that difference.  They are heavenly minded and they do worldly good.  In Japan when the Tsunami hit, the Christians there rushed to the scene.  They fearlessly helped those who were stranded among the radiation leaked from the reactor.  As the surrounding people of that area fled away it was the Christians who came to help.  And it was noticed.  Japan has been lost in darkness for centuries but now, though still incredibly small, there is a larger Christian community than ever in living memory.  They stand out... they are noticed... and God's power continues to sustain and uphold them in the face of outright contempt from some elements of Japanese society.

It is the Christians that continue to survive in the face of slaughter.  God is still making a distinction in this world and will continue until the darkness at last heralds that time is about to end.  God help us to give evidence of His glory and His mighty protective hand and complete our witness now as He did then. 

Thursday Evening: This is Brutal - but we got some important stuff done

image:  Sparkling Conversation

I'm writing this while I wait at the airport for my first connecting flight home.  I'm ready.  Yesterday's session went until after midnight last night.  I've been running on about 5 1/2 hours of sleep a night and I am not alone.  The planning for this GA was entirely unsatisfactory.  We should not be acting on important issues with blurry eyed commissioners who got pretty grumpy as the hours kept piling up.

That said, we did some good work before we closed for the evening.

We passed a resolution that affirmed the "Nashville Statement" as a public proclamation of our essential position regarding questions on homosexuality.   We affirmed "The Gospel and Sexual Attraction" as stating a position that is in conformity with our theological and ministerial objectives and helpful for ministry in Christ's Church. (I was the one who wrote the motion that was passed.... ahem... he says humbly).  We established a study committee to build a PCA specific set of guidelines and aids for further ministry.  

These are just a few of the things we packed into a grueling day.  I am ready to come home.  My flights could not be changed so I had to leave but the GA is still going on.  I pray that these two guys will have the strength to bear up.

General Assembly Thursday Afternoon: MTW Report - Good News and Not Good News

 

The Mission to the World (MTW) committee is the primary missionary sending and coordinating entity in our denomination.  It is always encouraging to hear of our denominational work around the world and that is the scope of it.  Our missionary outreach is extraordinary for our relative size.  MTW recruits missionaries, sees to their training, oversees their placement, provides for their continued on site support and supervision.  They are a tremendously important committee.

This year the chairman reported with tears that this past year it had come to light that there were reports of unacceptable situations and treatments of some of the female staff members.  The chairman reported the prompt and extensive actions that were taken to identify and address these issues.  An independent organization was contracted to investigate the overall operation of the committee and that the recommendations and conclusions were aggressively implemented.

This is how Christian organizations should deal with the discovery of sin.  It was openly confessed and sincere repentance evidenced.  There was no hint of seeking to suppress the facts.  Though it was a sad thing yet the work of the Spirit was evidenced.

 

General Assembly 2019 - Thursday Morning - Membership in the NAE, continue or not?

image

3 John 11 (NKJV) ¹¹ Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) is a loose association of professed Christian churches in the US.  It started out, years ago, as a means of cooperation in evangelical outreach.  The PCA has always had a publicly visible role in this group.  Our stated clerk is the clerk of that organization also.  

Over the past 20 years this organization has become increasingly involved in social justice causes that many in our denomination find distasteful.  The national chairman has given testimony before congress and identified himself as speaking for the membership churches and then advanced positions which our denomination has never approved and perhaps would repudiate.  

This is the second time that a General Assembly has been asked to cut off our membership in the NAE.  It is being passionately debated on both sides.  Those who wish to stay in say that we should not lose a forum for presenting our views and exerting influence.  Those who are opposed have argued that we have obviously lost such influence and that the larger majority do not listen to us very much.

Vote:  845 to 590, stay in the NAE

I don't think this was wise but that's what being a Presbyterian is all about.  We just have to trust that God will work in this decision in His inscrutable fashion.  

Well, moving on.

General Assembly 2019: Serious Issue, Serious Concern, Serious Discussion

 

https://www.crownandcovenant.com/product_p/ds535epub.htm

Yesterday the Overtures Committee on which I serve passed an overture that commends this report to the wider church as "as a work consistent with our standards and and helpful for answering questions arising in  the culture regarding same-sex attraction and how the church should minister to those who struggle with this sin."

I fully support this recommendation and indeed made the initial motion to adopt this position (slightly amended).  The complex questions that are hammering away at the Church of Jesus Christ in today's culture require clear sighted answers.  Some of the major headings are:

(1) Anthropology - should the church recognize homosexual attraction as an innate aspect of some human sexuality?  This is  a fairly modern challenge.  For most of church history, homosexual attraction was treated as a moral choice and thus was fundamentally no different in essence though greater in degree than other sinful tendencies.  There are many ramifications of this view.  

(2) Apologetics - how should the church answer the widespread cultural public relations campaign being prosecuted by the militant homosexual lobby?  This might seem not so complex after all since all we have to do is quote a few passages of scripture.  That simply cannot be the answer.  The wider audience to which we are speaking simply do not hear such arguments and the average lay person is not equipped to add the kind of sophisticated argumentation that has to accompany scriptural references.  The Church needs to clarify both content and form for its apologetic stance.

(3) Ministry - how is the church to minister to those who are facing this attraction, whether within the Christian "family" or who are trapped in the culture outside the church?  This is the question that occupied most of the discussion thus far.  There are serious differences with the PCA here.  The passion stems from a desire to build some bridges to those who want to know how to deal with their own passions.  This is especially serious to those pastors who are working with college students.  The knee jerk reactions that are being promoted by the homosexual lobby are a severe challenge.

These are just a few of the issues as well as an overview of the kind of speeches that are being made.  The small book that I reference above is a very good resource for all of these questions.  I endorse it (obviously) and recommend anyone who wants to be better grounded in these areas to read and study.

Opening Day: General Assembly 2019, Overtures Cmte

Psalm 122:1–2 (NKJV) ¹ I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.” ² Our feet have been standing Within your gates, O Jerusalem!

TE Sean Lucas from Independent Pres Ch, Memphis, TN opened the Overtures Cmte today with a short sermon on Psalm 122.  

He shared good thoughts.  Especially on the truth that coming to GA is, in fact, also coming to the house of the Lord.  It was good to be reminded that it is a privilege to do God's work and it should, God willing, be a joy.

Too often the work of the church, because it is work, can appear more burdensome than it is.  Jesus' words that His burden is light reminds us that whatever toils we face or loads we carry, we do not toil nor bear by ourselves.  The Lord Christ is with us, His Spirit comforts us and gives us strength.

We have much to do in this committee... the issues regarding Same Sex Attraction alone could test our humility and our passions.  Yet this also is the Lord's business.  He has decreed that we face this issue at this GA... He will guide us and I pray that it is His will that we find unity in standing strongly for the teachings of Scripture and with Holy Love share not only the gospel but also the appropriate empathy for those who struggle with sinful passions.  

May God be with us.

Pray for us.

 

 

 

Exodus 7:8-25 - What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate

Image: Full Tank, 2010, Bertram, Tx 

Exodus 7:22 (NKJV) ²² Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.

Another great movie line that has now become pretty much part of American culture is from "Cool Hand Luke."  That fat, old and greasy prison warden looks down on the smart mouthed prisoner and opines: "What we have here is a failure to communicate!"  Everyone present knew that the prisoner (Luke, played by Paul Newman) was in a "heap of trouble" and things were going to go downhill fast.

The verses we read today could be a virtual replacement for that scene.  Moses and Aaron do their thing.  Aaron's rod becomes a serpent... "OK, we can do that also" says Pharaoh's magicians, and they do.  Aaron's serpent eats their serpents and then turns back into a rod.  Pretty impressive.  Pharaoh shrugs his shoulders and walks away. Hmmm.

God says, OK, it appears we are not communicating and tells Moses and Aaron to turn all the water in Egypt into blood.  And they do.  Now that is impressive.  Pharaoh looks over at his magicians and they scramble around and do something similar.  Now, I don't for one minute think it was as extensive as what God did through Moses.  God turned every bit of standing water in the land into blood.  The magicians probably pulled off what modern people call an illusion and turned some water in a bucket red.  

Pharaoh was a bit taken aback I imagine but still... the magicians did something similar... "it's probably just another trick only more extensive" he probably thought and went his way.  Meanwhile the Egyptians, as is always the case when governments make bad judgments, had to pay a price.  They had to dig in the dirt to find good water.  You would think that someone, somewhere, would be saying - let the stupid slaves go.  This ain't worth it.  But stubborn sin is a curse in and of itself and Pharaoh had a double helping.

I think, far too often, we are more like Pharaoh than we like to admit.  We read the scriptures... we hear God speaking to us in them... and yet, when push comes to shove, we have to admit, we don't want to give in... we don't want to change... we are happy with the way things are.  This is the kind of blindness that can be fatal if not healed.  We may be happy, relatively, with the way things are but that is because we do not see just how impoverished, crippled and devoid of joy we really are.  Sin is a powerful hallucinogen.  It cuts us off from reality and in so doing traps us into misery... the worst type of which is that misery we don't even recognize.

The cure for that condition is the grace of God which comes in power and clarity.  It consists of a movement of the Holy Spirit that cannot be denied.  No longer do we think in terms of "it's just a trick, like other tricks."  We stand with our mouths open and with a gasping cry we call out "How could I have been so blind!"  That is where it starts.  The "failure to communicate'" is cured.  And suddenly an entire new world opens up to us.  A world in which God's words no longer threaten but comfort.  Where there is light instead of darkness.

We find ourselves saying: "I never knew it could be this way!"  This is grace, this is the gift of God made possible to us through Jesus Christ.  This is the Gospel.  

Pharaoh had to get his mind right... the biblical term for that is repentance... and that is what we must all do.  We are often not so far removed from Pharaoh after all.

Genesis 5:1-7:6 - You and Everyone Else Will Know!

Image:  A Beautiful Thing, 2019, Severna Park, MD

Exodus 6:6–7 (NKJV)⁶ Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷ I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

Exodus 7:5 (NKJV) ⁵ And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

I can imagine that first encounter between Moses and Pharaoh with some high clarity.  Not that I know what either of them actually looked like but anyone who has dealt with powerful and proud men in authority and ordinary citizens coming to stand before them, can recognize the words and almost hear the tone.

Moses here is not at all the man he is going to be in a few more days/weeks.  He is there somewhat under protest (with more protests to come) but God has over-ruled him and there he is.  You can almost see the apprehension in his bearing.  He says what he has to say but I don't imagine there was any great conviction in it.  All he wanted to do was get out of that room with his head still on his shoulders.

Pharaoh, on the other hand, along with his advisers, must have been terribly amused.  "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice...?" He sneers.  "I do not know the LORD.." This God you mention, I don't know of any such Deity... not even among the nations that I respect.  What is He to me?  

Pharaoh then punishes the Jews for their impertinence by adding to their work load.  Moses and Aaron scurry out of the throne room.  The Israelites are pretty upset.  Moses goes back to God and he wants out.  The last thing he wants to do is go back to see Pharaoh.  He whines to God: "Your own people have not heeded me.  Pharaoh has not listened to me.  I am a man of uncircumcised lips... Why in the world would Pharaoh listen to me now."  To say that Moses is a reluctant prophet is to put it mildly.

God knows all that Moses said is true.  The problem is that neither Pharaoh, the Israelites or even Moses himself "KNOW" Him as He really is.  The problem is that they are still darkened in their understanding of just Who they are dealing with.  The thread that ties these verses together is God's intent to change that: (1) (6:7) to the Israelites - "Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God..." (2) (7:5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt...."

Moses had some knowledge of God at this point because he had some experience of God.  It was not as life changing as Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, but he knew God... shall we say... a little bit.  The Israelites... well, they really haven't had any experience of God very much at all.  Just a dim recollection of Him.  Pharaoh.. as far as God goes was entirely ignorant... he had no experience of God whatsoever.  And this is the key.

We have to watch the change in Moses and the Israelites and Pharaoh from this point on.  See how they change as the manifest power of God, the majesty of God, the overwhelming Holiness of God, begins to penetrate their consciousness.

A person may know a whole bunch of stuff about God, in effect, in theory.  It is when the experience of God, that which comes in regeneration for believers, that which comes in judgment for non-believers, descends on them then all that theoretical stuff takes on a whole new level of importance.  What changes is "understanding."  We "understand" things when we find ourselves able to "experience" those things in some such way that we can internalize them. 

I was re-watching "Good Will Hunting" the other day.  The genius kid (Matt Damon)is being put in his place by his psychologist counselor (Robin Williams).  What he says is, (paraphrase):  "You think you know Michelangelo because you have read some books.  You can talk about his art... his sexuality... all kinds of stuff.  But you have never laid on the floor of the Sistine Chapel and gotten lost in his art.  You don't know Michelangelo at all."   It is one of the great scenes in cinema history and it is absolutely true.

"Knowledge" is related to "understanding" as "propositions" are related to "experience."  Knowledge of God is coming to Moses and to the Israelites and to Pharaoh by special delivery.  And at the end of their experience of God they will all be changed... one way or the other.  This is God's plan for all of history.

God has arranged the history, not only of the Israelites, but of the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, and ultimately the whole world, so that the world will know that He is God.  He will be made known by His mighty works of deliverance and demonstrations of power.  These works will be there for the entire world to see.  The Holy Spirit will work to bring experience to bear such that those who are among God's people will know of these works and will understand.  The rest of the world will know of these works when God's hand of judgment comes on them as it will on the Egyptians.

Knowing Him as God is why we are here...