Faith's Calculus: The Case of Moses Text: Hebrews 11:23-29
Introduction: The Tyranny of the Seen
We live in an age that is drowning in information and starving for wisdom. Our world is utterly captivated by the tyranny of the seen. What can be measured, what can be photographed, what can be bought, what can be felt, what can be tasted, this is what our contemporaries call "reality." Everything else is relegated to the realm of private opinion, subjective feeling, or religious sentiment. The material world is the real world, they say, and everything else is just a story we tell ourselves to get through the night.
But the author of Hebrews crashes this party with a wrecking ball called faith. Faith, as we have been learning in this great chapter, is not a blind leap into the dark. It is not wishful thinking. Faith is the exact opposite. Faith is what enables you to see. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is the organ of perception for ultimate reality. It allows you to see the invisible scaffolding that holds up the visible world. It enables you to see the Author behind the story, the King behind the chaos, the eternal weight of glory behind the light and momentary afflictions.
And there is perhaps no greater case study in this kind of sight than the man Moses. Moses was a man who had everything the visible world could possibly offer. He was raised in the halls of power of the greatest empire on earth. He had access to the best education, the finest food, the most extravagant wealth, and the highest social status imaginable. From a worldly perspective, he had it all. And yet, by faith, he threw it all away. Why? Because he saw something better. He saw Someone better. Moses performed a kind of spiritual calculus, a cost-benefit analysis, and concluded that the fleeting pleasures of sin and the treasures of Egypt were a fool's bargain when compared to the reproach of Christ and the reward that comes from God. This was not an act of irrational religious fervor. It was an act of supreme, clear-eyed sanity.
The faith of Moses, as we will see, was not a private, internal sentiment. It was a rugged, world-altering force. It began with his parents' courageous civil disobedience. It led to his own radical renunciation of privilege. It empowered him to confront a tyrant, to endure hardship, and to lead a nation through impossible circumstances. This is the kind of faith God calls us to. It is a faith that sees, a faith that chooses, a faith that endures, and a faith that obeys.
The Text
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
(Hebrews 11:23-29 LSB)
Faith's Godly Disobedience (v. 23)
The story of Moses' faith begins before he could exercise any faith of his own. It begins with the faith of his parents.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict." (Hebrews 11:23)
Here we see faith expressed as righteous civil disobedience. Pharaoh, the supreme magistrate of the land, had issued a wicked and genocidal edict: all newborn Hebrew boys were to be thrown into the Nile. This was the law of the land. But Amram and Jochebed had a higher allegiance. They feared God more than they feared Pharaoh. Their faith gave them courage to defy a tyrant. This is a crucial lesson. The state is not absolute. When the laws of men command what God forbids, or forbid what God commands, our duty is clear. We must obey God rather than men. This is not rebellion for rebellion's sake; it is submission to a higher authority.
But notice the reason given. They hid him "because they saw he was a beautiful child." The Greek here implies more than just physical attractiveness. Stephen, in his sermon in Acts 7, says Moses was "beautiful in God's sight." His parents saw something of the divine favor and purpose on this child. They saw with the eyes of faith. They were not just protecting their son; they were stewarding a promise. They saw that this child was part of God's plan, and they refused to allow the murderous decree of a pagan king to thwart the purposes of the sovereign God.
Their faith was not a guarantee of an easy outcome. They put their own lives at risk. But they understood that true security is found not in appeasing tyrants, but in trusting the living God. Their courage was the seedbed from which the great deliverer of Israel would grow.
Faith's Great Refusal (v. 24-26)
The faith modeled by his parents took root in Moses' own heart, leading him to make a monumental choice.
"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, regarding the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward." (Hebrews 11:24-26)
This is one of the great renunciations in all of history. Moses had a royal title, a place in the line of succession, and all the power and privilege that came with it. He "refused" it. This was a conscious, deliberate act of the will, fueled by faith. He made a choice. He chose affliction with God's people over the "passing pleasures of sin."
Let's not spiritualize this away. The pleasures of sin are real. The treasures of Egypt were vast. The text acknowledges this. Sin offers pleasure, but it is always "passing." It is temporary. It is a flash in the pan, a fleeting vapor. Moses, by faith, was able to see the long-term consequences. He saw that the path of worldly pleasure was a dead-end street that ended in judgment. He chose instead the path of suffering with the covenant community, because he knew that was the path to eternal life.
But the most astounding part of this passage is the reason for his choice. He regarded "the reproach of Christ" as greater riches than all the wealth of Egypt. How could Moses know about the reproach of Christ centuries before the incarnation? This is a stunning statement. It tells us that the story of redemption is one unified story. Moses understood that to identify with God's suffering people was to identify with God's suffering Messiah who was to come. He knew the promise given to Abraham. He understood that God's people were afflicted because they were the people of the promise, the line through which the Savior of the world would be born. To be reproached for being one of God's people was to share in the very reproach that Christ Himself would bear when He came to His own and His own received Him not. Moses saw the cross, dimly perhaps, but he saw it. And he calculated that sharing in the shame of the coming Savior was an infinitely greater treasure than anything Pharaoh's storehouses could offer. Why? "For he was looking to the reward." Faith sees the future. It lives in light of the final accounting.
Faith's Fearless Endurance (v. 27)
This faith-fueled choice then empowered Moses for his confrontational mission.
"By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the rage of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen." (Hebrews 11:27)
Now, some might see a contradiction here. Exodus 2 tells us that after killing the Egyptian, Moses fled because he was afraid. But that was forty years before the Exodus. This verse is referring to his departure at the head of the nation of Israel. After the ten plagues, after the final confrontation, Moses led the people out of Egypt with a high hand. At this point, he did not fear Pharaoh's rage. Why? What had changed in those forty years in the desert? He had met God at the burning bush. He had received his commission. His fear of man had been eclipsed by a holy fear and awe of God.
The secret to his endurance is given to us: "he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen." This is the heart of the matter. Faith makes the invisible God more real, more present, and more weighty than the visible, threatening tyrant sitting on the throne. Moses fixed his gaze not on Pharaoh, but on Yahweh. He lived his life in the conscious presence of the invisible King. This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. When you see the unseen God, the threats of mortal men shrink to their proper size. Endurance is not a matter of gritting your teeth and trying harder. It is a matter of seeing. Who are you looking at?
Faith's Obedient Trust (v. 28-29)
Finally, we see Moses' faith expressed in specific acts of obedience at the climax of the Exodus.
"By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land, and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned." (Hebrews 11:28-29)
Faith is not an abstract belief system; it acts. God gave a very specific, and frankly, a very strange command. Take a lamb, kill it, and paint its blood on your doorposts. Stay inside. Trust that this act will save you from the angel of death. From a human perspective, this is foolishness. What can lamb's blood do against a supernatural plague? But Moses' faith was not in the efficacy of the blood itself, but in the promise of the God who commanded the act. He obeyed, and he led the people to obey. And the blood worked. It was a sign of their trust in God's provision for salvation. This, of course, is a magnificent type of Christ. He is our Passover Lamb. It is His sprinkled blood that causes the judgment of God to pass over us. We are not saved by our own works or merits, but by taking refuge under the blood of the Lamb.
This active faith then led them to the shore of the Red Sea. They were trapped. Pharaoh's army was behind them, and an impassable body of water was before them. All visible escape routes were cut off. But God made a way where there was no way. And "by faith they passed through." They had to take the first step onto the muddy ground before the path was fully clear. They had to act on God's promise. And what was the instrument of salvation for Israel became the instrument of judgment for Egypt. The very same waters that delivered the people of God drowned their enemies. This is a constant pattern in Scripture. The gospel is an aroma of life to life for those who believe, and an aroma of death to death for those who perish. The cross, the ark, the Red Sea, they are all instruments of both salvation and judgment, depending entirely on which side of faith you stand.
Conclusion: What Do You See?
The life of Moses confronts us with a fundamental question: What do you see? Do you see only the visible world, with its threats, its treasures, and its fleeting pleasures? Or has God opened your eyes to see Him who is unseen? This is the difference between a life of fear and a life of faith. It is the difference between a life of slavery to sin and circumstance, and a life of freedom and endurance in Christ.
By faith, Moses' parents saw God's purpose in a baby and defied a king. By faith, Moses saw the reproach of Christ as a treasure and refused a kingdom. By faith, Moses saw the invisible God and endured a tyrant's rage. By faith, Moses saw God's promise in the blood of a lamb and escaped God's judgment. By faith, Moses saw a path through the sea and witnessed God's salvation.
This same faith is offered to us. The reality we are called to see is not a distant promise, but a present one. The Christ that Moses saw dimly, we have seen clearly revealed in the gospel. The reward he looked forward to has been secured for us at the cross and resurrection. The invisible God he endured to see has made Himself visible in the person of His Son.
Therefore, we are called to make the same calculation Moses made. We are to weigh the passing pleasures of sin against the eternal weight of glory. We are to esteem the reproach that comes with following Jesus as greater riches than all the treasures the world can offer. We are to endure, not by our own strength, but by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is the one who is unseen, and yet, by faith, He is the one we see most clearly of all.