“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”.
As Moses arrived at Mt Horeb with the people of God, his Father-in-law Jethro pays him a visit. Jethro by the way is not really his name. Jethro is a title defining a societal rank. His name was Reuel (Exodus 2:18).
With Reuel’s visit, we realize the greater purpose for the Exodus program. Reuel was a descendant of Abraham through his third wife Keturah (Genesis 25: 1-2). It is recorded that Abraham gave that side of his descendance what is today called Saudi Arabia to settle in. It seems that they did not continue in the faith of Abraham but adopted the paganism of the area, thus we find Jethro, a descendant of Abraham as a pagan priest of Median.
Jethro witnessed the life of Moses as a seeker. Like Abraham in Ur, Moses was not satisfied with he had learned in Egypt (Hebrews 11:8-16; 24-28). Moses was not going to put up with the magic tricks of the Egyptian priests. He wanted the real thing. He searched for God with all his heart; that’s why he found Him (Jeremiah 29:13). Jethro also was a seeker. He probably knew about the God of Israel but thought He was dead, or maybe asleep.
Whichever the case, this God, this Creator of Heaven and earth was on the verge of doing something that would meet all His seekers for generations and generations even until today. He was about to make such a grand entrance on the scene of World History that it would not be forgotten for generations, not even until today.
As Jethro received knowledge of all God had done to Egypt in order to free His people, he returned to the faith of his ancestor Abraham. He said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God (Exodus 18:6:12).
A greater Exodus is coming, a time is coming when people will not say anymore, “blessed be the Lord who delivered His people from Egypt”, but rather, “Blessed be the Lord who brought back His people from all the nations where He scattered them”. This will have the same effect as the first Exodus. Like Jethro, the whole world will then know that God is the Lord of all the earth. In the greatness of His presence, in the acknowledgment of His greatness, our puny will our petty earthly concern seem; our like nothing will all the earthly objects of adoration of the earth will seem.
May it be soon Abba, even in our days!