Moses is considered to be one of the greatest believers in human history. He is one of the only believers to ever be called God’s friend. He endured hardship as a spiritual leader that few have ever faced. His ministry was to a generation of rebellious believers who all died in the dessert because they would not trust and obey God. I wonder sometimes if we are living in a similar generation. I know many Christians with a great deal of bible knowledge whose lives don’t match their understanding. At times and in areas of my life, I can be counted among them. This discussion will look at the faith of Moses and how he used his imagination to visualize his choices and choose the will of God.
Moses had choices that we will never have. He was the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was raised as a prince of Egypt and it is possible that he could have been Pharaoh. He was educated in all the technologies of Egypt, which was at that time, the most advanced nation on the earth. He had access to the wealth of the richest and most powerful nation on the earth. Moses could have done anything or had anything he wanted. He could have simply stayed in Egypt and lived a life of luxury and ease. One day he took a good look at his own people, the Hebrews who lived as slaves to the Egyptians. He investigated their beliefs and came to believe in the one true God they worshipped. God revealed to Moses that one day, he would be used to free them from their slavery.
It was at this point that Moses began to make his choices about serving God or serving himself as an Egyptian. The book of Hebrews explains what Moses did to clarify his choices and make the decision to serve God. It is this process of seeing with our minds that interests us in this study. The scripture passage that we will be studying today is Hebrews 11:24-27. Let’s look closely at the exegesis of the Greek and draw some conclusions for our own lives.
Heb 11:24-25 give a summary of the great choice Moses made.
Vs 24 After he had become great – He was very accomplished as a speaker and a man of action. Stephen (Act 7:22) says he was mighty in word and deeds.
Vs 24 – refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter – He rejected the position of privilege that was available to him as her adopted son
Vs 25 chose instead to suffer hardship along with the people of God rather than enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin – Moses chose to take his place in God’s plan for his life and reject the opportunity to live the easy life.
In verses 26-27 the writer explains the mechanics of how Moses made such a momentous choice.
Vs 26 – considering – this is our old friend hegeomai which I have been discussing for the last 3 articles. It means to guide your imagination. It means to visualize something using the mental faculties God gave our minds. Moses used the mental faculty of imagination to visualize his choices.
Vs 26 – In his mind he visualized the treasures of Egypt and the life he could have lived as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Like movie clips he watched different scenarios that could have occurred had he chosen to stay in Egypt. He also visualized his life with the people of God. He generated clips of different scenarios that he imagined might occur were he to choose to reject Egypt and identify himself with God. Moses used his imagination under the action of hegeomai to visualize his choice and all the ramifications of his choice.
Vs 26 he was looking at his reward – Moses saw in his mind that the pleasures of Egypt while fun for a time, ended badly. He also saw that life with God, while hard for a time, ended very well. He saw that God would give him eternal rewards for his faithful service in time. As he visualized these two different lives and where each one ended up, he realized that eternal rewards were far more valuable than temporary pleasure. By seeing all of this in his mind he was able to make a choice that gave him the most value in the long run.
The word looking is very interesting – apoblepo – means to look away from one thing and focus upon another. He looked away from the treasures of Egypt and the scenarios of temporary gratification and he focused his mind on the eternal rewards. The word is an Imperfect Active Indicative which means Moses kept on looking away from the pleasures of Egypt and kept on looking at his rewards. He made his choice to believe that eternal rewards with God were more valuable and he habitually looked away from his temptation to sin and habitually focused on the benefits of serving God.
Vs 27 Moses not only used his imagination to visualize his eternal rewards which became a great motivator for him, but he also used his imagination to visualize the person of God. The writer says that he endured as if he could see He who is unseen. Moses lived his life, made his choices and chose to endure by visualizing the unseen person of God.
Allow me to summarize what Moses did so that we can draw benefit for our lives in Christ. Moses used hegeomai which is the God given ability to imagine different scenarios of life, like movie clips. He used his imagination to see both lives he could have lived based on his choices. He saw his life in Egypt and his life with God. By visualizing both of these lives, he was able to determine which one brought more benefit to him. When he had realized that life with God gave him eternal benefit, he decided to give his life to God. Having made this decision, he trained his mind to look away from the images of his life in Egypt and look at his reward in Christ. As he struggled to endure in his life in Christ, he kept an image of God in his mind that reminded him of who and what was truly valuable. This was the thought process that Moses used to make one of the greatest decision in history. We have been given the same ability to use our imagination the same way Moses used his. Let me explain.
As Christians, we have been placed into an eternal union with Christ. In this union, we share all that He is and all that He has. We share His position of privilege at the right hand of God and we share His wealth as the owner of the universe. This position in Christ has given us untold wealth in every area of life. We have spiritual blessings for time and eternity and we have material blessings for time and eternity. I hope that your church has been faithful to teach you all the blessings we possess in Christ so that you can visualize them and use them to motivate you to faithful service.
I suggest that you write down some of the blessing you know that you possess from your union with Christ. There are so many that it should be easy to find at least 10 things of significance for you. Write these down in a list. Take the first one and try to make a mental image of it. Imagine yourself at salvation when you received the blessing, see yourself now possessing the blessing and see yourself as having it until the day you leave this life for the next. Here is an example:
One of the things we are given at the moment of salvation is the indwelling of God-Holy Spirit. He indwells our bodies making our bodies His temple. I visualize His presence in me as a light inside of my chest. This light warns away demons who might want to take a peek inside and even live there. He keeps demons from being able to take possession of me. His presence inside me also is the seal of God on me that indicates His ownership of me. From His command post within my body, God-Holy Spirit executes His ministry to my mind. He reveals the meaning of the word to me, provides divine guidance, gives me insights into people and life, encourages and comforts me in my struggles. The ministry of GHS is the greatest blessing I experience this side of eternity and I make His ministry real to me by visualizing His presence and work in my life. As I generate these images of His person and work, I tell myself that He is there and that He loves me, He has answers for me and will never leave or forsake me. He will indwell my resurrection body for all eternity. That is awesome!!
Father, teach us to use our imagination to see the truth in action in our lives and enable us to put your word into practice so that we might impact our loved ones to trust in you.
