Exodus 3:16  Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:
17  And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
18  And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.
19  And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20  And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
21  And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:
22  But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.

God chooses individuals for places of leadership. Whether good leaders or evil leaders, God puts people in places of leadership and He uses them for His glory. In the book of Exodus we will see that the Pharaoh that Moses was to deal with was chosen by God for His glory. That Pharaoh would not benefit from God’s choosing him. In fact, that Pharaoh would draw the entire nation of Egypt down and then he would lose his life by drowning in the Red Sea.
In our current world events, there has been much attention paid recently to the attempted assassination of President Trump a year ago. Mr. Trump has stated before and repeated it again recently that God protected him. There is no doubt that God is being gracious to Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump needs to be saved. God is long-suffering. God is using Mr. Trump to slow down the devil’s plot against Him and against Israel. So far, Mr. Trump has not benefited from God’s choice of him. He is a very defiant man who is too full of himself. He needs to repent and be saved.
In our text, God was continuing to prepare Moses for the task He had for him. Unlike Mr. Trump, Moses was a man of God. He knew the Lord, but he needed to know Him as the LORD. He needed to stop arguing with God.
Moses was told to gather the elders of Israel together and tell them that the LORD God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had appeared to Moses. The elders needed to be reminded of their connection to these men of the past. God was reminding them of His faithfulness. God will never forget about the nation of Israel.
Moses needed to reassure these men that the LORD God had visited them and that He saw what was being done to them in Egypt. As we have mentioned before, it is difficult for us as people to be willing to accept God’s leading when times are tough. We have no problem accepting His leading when things go the way we want them to. We need the tough times to get our attention so that we will obey what God wants of us.
In verse 17, God continued to tell Moses what he needed to remind the elders of. The nations presently occupying the land that would be renamed Israel, would be driven out of that land. Many would be destroyed. That land would be known as a land flowing with milk and honey.
God assured Moses that the elders would hear him. Moses was to lead the elders before Pharaoh and remind him that the LORD God of the Hebrews had met with them and that the Pharaoh needed to let the Hebrews go a three days journey to sacrifice to the LORD their God.
Moses was also told that Pharaoh would not let them go. God knows the heart of each person. He knows when a person is beyond the place of repentance and salvation. It is not a good thing to resist God to that point.
God would begin to do wonders before the king and after God was done with the king, he would let the people go. This would be a test of further endurance for the Hebrews. It was a test they were not prepared to take, but they would not have a choice in it. It was also a systematic destruction of the greatness of the nation of Egypt. They would not like that either, but it was long overdue.
God told Moses that His work over the next short while would cause the Hebrews to be given favour in the sight of the Egyptians. The Hebrews would not leave Egypt empty handed. They would not flee with just their clothing. The Egyptians would shower them with whatever they would ask for.
The Egyptians would be glad to part with their goods as the Hebrews prepared to leave them.
We see that God was going to take away the wealth of Egypt and give it to His people. They would not steal it. They would not need to fight for it. The Egyptians would gladly give it to them. God told Moses that the Hebrews would spoil the Egyptians. Not only would the land be greatly hurt by the plagues, and the firstborn be killed, but the wealth of Egypt would be transferred to the Hebrews without any government scheming.
Currently our government is trying to do some wealth redistribution. They want to gain more of the wealth of the people. Certain wealthy people will keep their wealth but others will lose theirs and give it to the government. The WEF plan is that by 2030 the common people of this country should own nothing and be happy. The plan the government is looking at is the system that China is using. It is a merit system. If we the people “behave” ourselves, the government will give us a certain amount of money each month. If we do not “behave” ourselves, they will withhold money and food to get us to comply with their wicked plans.
It will be interesting to see how far the government will actually get with their plan. We know that Egypt would lose their wealth, because God said so. We also know that Canada is morally bankrupt already and the economic collapse is in God’s hands. It is foolish for anyone to assume that they can trust the governments with their lies. A nation that defies God will not be blessed by God.
The same God that would take the wealth away from the Egyptians is the same God that is in charge of world affairs today.
The Bible does not give us the minute details of what is coming, but we do know that there is big trouble ahead for the world. Prior to the worst trouble, the Lord will come in the clouds and take the true New Testament saints out of this world. The frauds will be left behind together with those who do not even claim to be saved. The antichrist will come on the scene as the peacemaker. Those left behind will embrace him. They will believe his lies in a greater way than what we see south of the border right now.
The wise person does not put his trust in man. The wise person is the saved person who trusts in the Word of God. We need to live in this world, but our treasure needs to be in Heaven. We need to be careful to encourage the lost to know the truth in these last days. We need to take Hebrews 10 seriously:

Hebrews 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The time is short. Empire building is for the lost. The saved need to be encouraging others to know the true God. Don’t be deceived into joining a religious social club. Be sure you are a part of a true local church.
Pastor Bartel