Hebrews 11:23 "By faith Moses' parents hid him for 3 months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict."

We finally moved on to verse 23 this week!

But before he did that, Dr Tong spoke a little about the Chinese new year, and how we should treasure our time on earth. He referred to Psalm 90, perhaps one of the oldest poem in human history, whereby Moses wisely asked of the LORD to teach us to number our days (90:12). Tong said that many people say that time is money, and that got to be the worst definition, because money cannot buy time. He then gave his own unique definition of time:

1. Time is Life - In that the time you would be given on earth is exactly the same as your lifespan.
2. Time is opportunity - In that all opportunities and possibilities exist within the realm of time alone.
3. Time is a record - In that all that you will ever do in life, each moment would be a record and nothing will escape the eyes of God.
4. Time is a faithful witness - In that time is completely impartial, quietly witnessing everything you have done in life.

He ended this segment by encouraging all not to waste even a single moment of their life - i.e. their time.

Dr Tong then invited Hao Hao to play for one last time (he is leaving for Shanghai this week), and also invited an Indonesian preacher (his name is Aida I think), who was the first graduate of Tong's Reformed Institute in Indonesia. Now he has been assigned to Bataam to head the ministry there. This person spoke in Indonesian and Tong translated into Mandarin. He spoke of how he is determined to promote Reformed Theology, although it is not popular to do so, because it is the Word of God that should be at the center of our faith.

Tong then asked him if he had encountered difficulties during his studies. He said yes, and related an incident when he and his girlfriend went for a short mission trip, and they went for a swim at the seaside. A huge wave came and swept the girl away, and she drowned. Aida said that his girlfriend promised him that she will support his ministry to the extent that she will work to support him through seminary, and that encouraged him greatly to study, so the loss was a great blow to him; but he persevered. Tong remarked that many a times, God will allow great catastrophe to come to mould someone He would use mightily.

The session started with the revision of verse 22 about Joseph. Tong must really be impressed with this character, because he is just not letting him go easily. He spoke fondly about Joseph's ability to rise above his circumstances, and stand firm against temptation. He kept emphasizing that although Joseph could very well have enjoyed life in Egypt, he prophesized correctly that the Israelites should leave for the promised land, because he knew firstly that despite the wealth, the land is NOT the final place that God has given them; and secondly, he knew the Egyptian would discriminate against the Israelites because they would not eat with them (Genesis 43: 32). Again, he remarked that the problem with many Christians today is simply that we do not know what is temporal, and what is eternal.

Tong pointed out further that the Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years, a period of time similar to the silence of the Bible between OT and NT. During the first period, the Israelites became enslaved by the Egyptians because they have forgotten about the promised land and the covenant. And Moses was sent to deliver them. During the second 400 years between OT and NT, the Israelites rejected and persecuted prophets, and God allowed them to be enslaved by sin, and Jesus Christ came to deliver them from sin. So the exodus was sort of a preview of the salvation plan.

He then spoke about the midwives who disobeyed the king's order to slaughter newly born Israelites. The main theme centred around how being lawful is not necessarily equivalent with not sinning; and breaking the law not necessarily equivalent to sinning.

He spoke about Romans 13, the chapter on submission to authorities. He mentioned the specific seminar he has done on this topic (Kingdom, Church, Authority) and how the expository preaching in KL spent lots of time on that chapter. He insisted that when the Bible says all authorities come from God (and Tong insisted that all authorities, including those that come after a political revolution come from God), the simple implication is that God's authority is above all other authority. So the Christian must pledge first allegiance to the law of God above the laws of man, and be subjected to the rule of God over the rule of man.

He cited the example of abortion. One can abort a baby and be perfectly lawful, but one would have committed a sin although no laws were broken. On the other hand, when the law forbade religious freedom, one would have broken the law when choosing to worship God; but certainly this is no sin, because religious freedom is not a right received from sinner-formed governments, but a God-given human right. He said that he preached on this during a seminar in Hong Kong, and the archbishop of the Hong Kong Anglican church came and thanked him for reminding him that the right to worship is not a privilege given by the government (the bishop was about to negotiate with the China government over Hong Kong people's basic rights).

It was quite comical because when Tong kept pounding on how Christians should be the judge of human laws and be obedient to God rather than man's laws, I see a very solemn audience staring back. I supposed law-abiding Singaporeans are not used to this sort of preaching... they half-suspect that some ISD people will come and arrest him for saying all that... ha ha.

He ended the session talking about baby Moses. I had a little problem here translating the names of Moses' parents, because Exodus did not specifically mention their names. I did a search using my concordance, using the key words "Moses" and "father" and could not come up with anything. Alas, the names of his parents were hidden in some genealogical description in Exodus, Numbers and 1 Chronicles. Your homework would be to find them... ha ha. Now you know how frightening it is to translate for Tong.

He spoke about the marvel of God's work, in arranging for Moses to be nursed by his own mother but protected from the slaughter since he was adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh. But the parents did hide him for 3 months, until probably his crying was too loud by the 3rd month. Now that the mother is the official nurse maid, she could allow Moses to scream and shout as much as he wanted. How clever of God!

Tong digressed a little and spoke about how little babies are like cute-barbarians. They are so cute, but you cannot reason with them because no logic make sense for them. Nonetheless, Tong said that little babies and children are the conscience of humanity, because they instill compassion in us. He said that if a person likes to be with children, it is likely that he is compassionate and closer to his conscience (which I surely agree).

He then spoke about how Moses' parents must have spent lots of time making sure that the basket that carried him would not sink. They must had made the basket by hand, lovingly crafting it because his life was at stake. He said that as parents, we always go the extra mile for our children, and we should let them know this, especially when things were made by our own hands (being stronger than simply buying things). Tong said that his late mother would stitch by hand the name Stephen Tong on all his clothing, until 1 week before he got married (so that his wife will take over the task). He remembered the love of his mother as expressed in this way till so many decades later. After his wife took over, she used a marker and spent just 1 second writing his name instead... very funny.

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.