“Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.” – Exodus 2:1-2 

Scripture reading: Exodus 2:1-10

Looking at the special infancy of Moses, we see that Moses’ mother “saw that he was a fine child” (v.3). Literally, she “saw that he was good.” Exodus 1 already alluded to Genesis, because Exodus continues the covenant revelation of Genesis. Genesis 1 speaks often of how God saw the good creation. Someone reading Hebrew wouldn’t miss the same refrain here, his mother “saw that he was good.”

Why use this creation-type language? When God delivers, it is like a re-creation. In the flood event of Genesis, God uses creation terms as He delivers His people from judgment. The New Testament says that anyone who is in Christ Jesus is a new creation, the old has passed and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17). We also await a new heaven and a new earth where there is complete deliverance for the people of God, the home of righteousness (2 Peter 3:13).

Here God prepares a deliverer associated with new beginnings, a new land, a new creation, if you will. This newness is part of what makes this infancy special. Moses will be used to deliver God’s people and bring them to a new land. He will be a saviour of sorts, picturing the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, the reason why we can live in hope of a new heaven and earth, and the reason we can be new creatures, saved and delivered by Christ, so we can serve God as His new creatures.

Suggestions for prayer

Thank the Lord for His transforming grace that makes us new creatures in Christ. Pray for the opportunities to display that new creation before a world in need of spiritual transformation.

Rev. John Vermeer is the pastor of Doon United Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa.