BONUS: The Introduction To Exodus

Welcome to five-minute Bible your daily guide for your daily reading. Today is a bonus episode where we introduce the book of Exodus. Now before we open up the book of Exodus we need to pause and reorient ourselves in time between the final verse of Genesis.

The 400-Year Gap Between Genesis and Exodus

In the opening line of Exodus stands a gap of roughly 400 years more time than the entire history of the United States exists between these two books. And as we remember Genesis ends with a family settled in Egypt.

And then 400 years later we see Exodus opening with a nation that's enslaved there and scripture is largely silent about what went on in those four centuries. Now we know that faithful men and women lived and they died during this long period of waiting.

They were raising families and worship trusting the promises that they would never see fulfilled. Their names are unknown to us but they're not unknown to God and one day we will share eternity with them.

Exodus as the Continuation of Genesis and the Creation Mandate

Now Exodus begins by deliberately reaching back to the opening pages of Scripture. In fact the very first words of the book are they were fruitful and they multiplied echoing God's original blessing on Adam and Eve in Genesis 128.

And that's not accidental because even under oppression God's creation mandate is still advancing. Pharaoh may try to enslave God's people but he can't stop God's purposes. And from there Exodus begins to tell the story of how God turns this fruitful multiplying and growing people into a nation.

Israel is being crushed by Pharaoh's tyranny threatened with extinction on every side and reduced to forced labor. And yet God raises up Moses a deliverer who's gonna confront Egypt with the power of God and judgment and deliver God's people through a defining act of salvation in the Old Testament called the Exodus the book.

Sinai, Covenant, and God Dwelling Among His People

And that way does not end with freedom but it ends with God bringing his people to a mountain called Mount Sinai where he gives them his law and he establishes his covenant and he instructs them on how a redeemed people are going to live in his presence.

Exodus does not close with Israel entering into the promised land but with the glory of God filling the temple and God not only rescuing his people but coming to be their God and to live within their midst.

A lot of Edenic themes are happening here. Now as we begin Exodus I want you to ask the following question what kind of God remains faithful to his creation purposes even when his people are enslaved and forgotten by the world.

Redemption as the Restoration of Creation

And Exodus answers that question clearly with mighty acts of redemption. You see the key pattern of Exodus is creation is being restored through redemption. Pharaoh attempts to reverse God's blessing by crushing the Israelites fruitfulness and multiplication.

And yet God responds by multiplying them even faster making them even more fruitful than before. Israel grows precisely where Pharaoh tries to destroy them. And this intersects directly with our everyday life.

We often assume that suffering means that God's purposes are somehow stalled out. And yet Exodus insists on the opposite. God's work is often advancing most powerfully where it appears most threatened.

Redemption does not replace creation it rescues it and drives it forward. And this even unmistakably points to Jesus because Moses is a deliverer but he's only a shadow of the greater deliverer to come.

Christ, the Passover Lamb, and the Tabernacle

The Passover lamb in the book whose blood shields Israel from judgment anticipates Christ the true lamb of God whose blood rescues us from sin and death. When the people of Israel cross the Red Sea we're it's foreshadowing a salvation that's coming through judgment where Christ will have the waters of God's wrath poured out on him so that we could walk away free.

The tabernacle prepares the way for the ultimate dwelling of God with man in Christ through his spirit. And just as Exodus begins by echoing Genesis 1 the gospel reveals Christ is the one who restores God's original design redeeming creation by giving his life for it.

Reading Exodus with Patience and Hope

Now as we move into the book of Exodus I want you to remember this long silence does not mean abandoned promises. God works on timelines far larger and frankly more beautiful than you. And I could imagine much bigger than a single lifetime regeneration.

Now tomorrow we will begin Exodus chapter 1 where God's blessing collides with human charity and where the God who creates life proves once again that he cannot be stopped. And with that I want you to read your Bible carefully devotionally and joyfully.

May the Lord use his word to sanctify you completely and we will continue our journey tomorrow. God bless.

You.