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Today, we're going to be looking at the book of Exodus and Before we get into the word, why don't we open with a word of prayer? Dear God our loving and gracious father merciful kind-hearted long-suffering.
May the words of our my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable. In your sight this evening in Christ name we pray. Amen. So the book of Exodus is Part of the Pentateuch or the Torah the first five books of the Old Testament.
In the book of Exodus we get to see the author of the Pentateuch his life began. In the book of Genesis Moses is not the character in the book. But he is given divine revelation from God as you remember last time and we look at the book of Genesis.
We got to see two main divisions. We got to see four main events creation fall flood and The tower and then we saw four main characters. We saw Abraham Isaac Jacob and Joseph. Jacob's name got changed to Israel and what God begins in the book of Genesis and picking this one man and Giving him this weighty promises to make him a nation.
To bless him and that through him all the nations would be blessed we get to see Unfold in the book of Exodus. So in the book of Genesis we get to see Joseph bring all his brothers his kinsmen the the family of Abraham the family of Israel into Egypt and From Exodus, we're going to see how they become a nation and move forth from here.
Now the out my goal this evening is once again to give you an outline of the book of Exodus so when you go from here, you have some pegs a mental pegs in which you can Lay out the book and then as you study it, you can see how the various pieces fit together.
But while we are doing that, I want us to have a focus on Christ. What do we see of Christ in this book? And how do we and this book in particular applies very closely to the life of a believer it applies directly to our Salvation first Corinthians 10 talks about how this is the events in the life of Israel are meant.
To foreshadow the salvation that you and I go through in Jesus Christ. So as you're listening to what God does in the life of Israel. You want to be thinking what God has done in your life as well, and we want to look to Jesus Christ who is Our Savior the Savior of Israel and the Savior of you and I today now if I want to lay out the book, there's a couple of ways many ways to do this one of them would be Rescue, you know as we think of Exodus when you think of Exodus just look at the signpost and say exit.
You know, we're getting out of here. That's really Exodus leaving now. That's rescue from Israel then you have Revelation from God about his righteousness and his laws and then you get to see something of a Rest or the abiding presence of God in the midst of his people.
So those could be three ways you can look at it. But I think the easiest way for you to remember when you walk out of here is this the first one is the ten plagues. The second one is the ten Commandments and the third one is a little bit of a stretch, but you can think of it as ten articles in the tabernacle ten plagues ten commandments and The tabernacle ten.
I'll try to show the math as we go through it. So with that I want to give you a big meta theme before we dive into the first section the ten plagues when we think of Exodus. Not a lot of questions come into our mind because we just normally look back and say wow God.
But when you talk to an unbeliever a lot of things Short-circuit their mind, you know, how can these things be are these natural phenomenon that are just blown up by people? What about all these sacrifices of lambs, you know, we need to call Peter, you know, maybe we need to Pharaoh poor guy.
Look at all the trouble that he and his nation go through and by the way. You know, this nation is devastated and they're going to go to another nation called Canaan and those people are going to be all wiped out.
This doesn't compute to an unbeliever. Does God? Just cause suffering and evil but it's God a merciful and compassionate God as we will see in Exodus 33 and 34 is God a God of peace and Justice that works out his righteousness even in these spilling of blood in the destruction of Egypt and we will see in the end of our as we get into Joshua in the Depopulation of Canaan as God's people come into the land.
I'll give you a quick hint and then we'll get into the text. Why was the Sacrificial lamb necessary lambs in their multitude necessary because of sin. Why? Did Pharaoh and Egypt go through these tumultuous times in their land?
Because of sin if you want to think of one nation that just reached the pinnacle of Evil in that time that cannot be anything other than Egypt and we will we will look at that and then we'll when we later come Into the promised land in Canaan.
What does God say about the land that? Spits the people out of the land because their Iniquity was full and God was executing justice and bringing righteousness even through his judgments so we as believers can have already know this but I think it's good for us to be reminded of this as we walk through The narrative of history in the book of Exodus with that said let's look.
Open your Bibles to Exodus chapter 1. And right there in Exodus 1 1 to 7 you get to see this continuation from Genesis here are these 12 sons of Israel who come into this land and in verse 7 you see the people of Israel were fruitful and Increased greatly they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them.
You need to remember what was it that brought the people of Israel into Egypt. There was famine. There was no food. And God raised up Joseph. God rescued Egypt through this man Joseph who interpreted the deep dreams that God had given to Pharaoh and Pharaoh trusted Joseph and Gave him authority over the land and for these people to settle in Goshen and here they multiplied.
So what was just a family now becomes a nation as they multiply and grew in the sovereign plan of God. Now before we go any further sometimes we can Receive these times of plenty and we can forget that there's a greater purpose that God has in the in our lives.
What was it that God promised Abraham? He said this land of Canaan is what I have promised to you. And I'm going to bring you and have your people settle here, and this is 430 years later that this whole People of God will get out of that land and while we are in the times of plenty We can start to lose sight of the long-term promises.
What is it that God has in our lives? And so while we're going through this book you want to be thinking this is God's sovereign plan. Working itself out in the life of this nation now. What happens in verse 8 and beyond sets the Circumstances in the life of this nation that will propel that Exodus you know while we're all comfortable here We're going to be sitting in the seats if there is a fire in this room.
We'll be quickly looking for those exits. And here is the fire that begins as this new pharaoh who comes here this man who looks at this people Sees them not as a people who are a blessing to Egypt rather But rather sees them as a threat in times of war and he says I need to subjugate.
I need to assert my sovereignty. I need to assert my rule over these people so that I control them rather than I am overrun by them. So that's his motive as he comes and says. As you can just scan through the rest of chapter 1 this pharaoh decides to enslave these people.
He decides to put in hard labor and to break the backs as it were of the people. In fact when that doesn't work he says now I'm going to try to kill the babies and so the He orders the midwives to kill them, but they don't and then finally he says every male Child needs to be drowned so if you want if you're thinking of abortion and the issues that we have here today.
This is you know multiplied a hundred times fold here is a king who despises the people of Israel. God said to Abraham those who bless you I will bless and those who curse you I will curse and here you get to See this evil that is brought upon the people of God will have ramifications and God will bring about justice.
So that's a context in which you get The Exodus birthed out. God is going to bring his people out, and he does he has a strong purpose in fact this morning. In Romans 9 you heard how the arm of the Lord was revealed in the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.
And God is going to bring glory to himself even as he works out his purposes in the life of his people as We read in this book so with that we now come to Moses. So in chapter 2 we get to see this little baby Who is just too cute to kill the mom puts him?
I mean, that's I'm not making this up, so if you want to hear more about the life of Moses. Don't just read Exodus read Acts 7 where Stephen talks about Moses read Hebrews 11 where the author of Hebrews talks about the faith of Moses, and it's then the purpose of God in in Moses life and Moses mother who decided this this baby ought not to be killed so she puts him in the basket.
God rescues him brings him right into the door of Pharaoh's Household and there he grows to be this Mighty guy of learning he gets to study things that the Lord will use later when the nation leaves the leaves Egypt and goes through the wilderness and gets ready to enter the promised land.
In fact. There is one of the way you could divide the books of the Pentateuch as a whole actually. It's through the lives of life span of Moses. Moses spends Actually some of you. Maybe some of you were there this morning when I quizzed you the young ones 40 years in Egypt before he flees Pharaoh for having killed The Egyptian soldier and then spends 40 years in median in different kind of learning and then the last 40 years are as he leads the people out of the promised land out of Egypt and Toward the promised land so those are the life span as you wear, but if you look at the amount of text in the Pentateuch the first 40 years are part of Chapter 2 and the second 40 years is also part of chapter 2 and chapter 3.
So there's not much given in terms of what happens in the life of Moses because this book although Moses is a central character. He is a type of Christ as God uses him to redeem his people he it's the book is not about Moses.
The book is even not about Israel. The book is about the Redeemer of Israel the Redeemer of Moses. God himself. What you're going to find is the book begins with the evil and Pharaoh's heart that God is going to judge but the people that are rescued from the hand of Pharaoh are just as evil and rebellious as the nation that they were rescued from and You you always want to look at?
Exodus and Leviticus as twin books. Exodus shows the salvation as the people are rescued physically from Egypt and it pictures the salvation. The justification that we get you want to think of the Passover lamb, and how we are saved and then Leviticus.
We're going to unpack the more technical aspects of this book as we look at what the sacrificial system is all about. How is it that God sanctifies his people so as we are being made more holy? Next time we will be looking in the book of Leviticus.
But in Exodus we just get to see that we have a great God a Savior God who rescues his people. So in in the beginning Chapters of Exodus we get Moses who's rescued. Moses who gets to see his people oppressed is has righteous indignation and kills this Soldier and he thinks his arm of flesh can rescue but what he soon realizes is he is now a fugitive.
Moses this murderer and fugitive has to run from the law and flees from Egypt and there in Midian Where he is just a shepherd not really. No longer in the royal palaces no longer enjoying the pleasures and Hebrews 11 talks about this he did not count these pleasures as worthy and Here God would teach him a different kind of lesson and with that we come to Genesis Exodus chapter 3 and in Exodus chapter 3 we get to see a very interesting Event happen a key event in the turning point of this book.
So Exodus 3 end of verse 1 Moses comes to Horeb the mountain of God and The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked and behold the bush was burning yet.
It was not consumed so God here appears and it uses angel and We get to see God speaking through this book. In verse 4 the Lord Yahweh saw that he had turned aside to see God called to him out of the book out of the bush Moses Moses and he said here I am and then you know God talks about The the place on which he is standing as holy ground and he says I am the God of your father.
The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and this reminds Moses of the covenant that God had made to the nation of Israel to the people of Israel in the person of Abraham and God is here to redeem his promise.
In fact, if you move up to the end of chapter 2 you get to see the people of God in verse 23 Cry out to God for help and in verse 24 God hears their groaning. He remembers their cover his covenant and God saw God knew and God acts on behalf of his people.
So here you get to see God revealing his purposes. Here is what I'm going to do do Moses Moses. You thought you could rescue the people it failed you fled. You are here now as a wilderness and nobody and an in a no-man's land and I'm gonna take you and you are going to be my agent as I bring the people out of Egypt and you get to see this interesting dialogue.
Moses like anybody else but me Lord, but God has provides for Moses's weakness and sends Aaron and He sends him to the people but there is one thing that I want to point out in this text. And I think this is helpful for us to remember in verse 13 Moses says to God if I come to the people of Israel and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you.
And they asked me what is his name? What shall I say to them? God said to Moses I am Who I am. Say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you. What is the name of God? Remember, this is 400 years that these people have been in Egypt that the knowledge of God and then the people of God.
They know that they are descendants of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and this is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that they need to bow down to and this is the eternal God the self-existent God and this God Will come down in human form in the put me in the person of Jesus Christ and in the Gospel of John you get to see Jesus talk about the I am I am I am I am and the people are reminded of this powerful encounter that Moses had with God in the bush as it preceded the redemption of people out of in redemption of Israel out of Egypt and likewise Jesus will be the one who will provide redemption for everyone who would trust in him so with that we come now to Pharaoh.
So Moses comes back the people are initially not sure sure but they say okay, we will do this. We look forward to God's redemption. But what happens when God God prophesies Moses. Pharaoh is not going to say, okay I'll let my let your people go he is going to be hardening his heart and I'm gonna harden his heart and I'm gonna show my glory through the Stubbornness of Pharaoh as I show the who I am as a God of heaven and of earth.
Now from Pharaoh's standpoint you it's pretty straightforward to say you remember what? This is the the original Pharaoh in Moses time had died is the next Pharaoh and Here is this man who has this enormous economy is the most military his military his his Political power his economic power.
Everything is transcendent he has absolute domain over the land and he has this massive group of people that provide for him free labor and he has power Prestige and he has no need to negotiate or given to the to the request that comes from these Israelite people under Moses so he is going to assert his sovereignty and he is going to do it freely.
He is not going to just say oh, you know, I I'm gonna have this Bargain with God. I'm gonna act in such a way so that God's glory may come through. He is going to exert completely fully his evil will in Resisting the will of God and he's going to see both the hand of God in his in his midst though all the people in Egypt in fact throughout the land will get to see who God is in the in the Person of Pharaoh resisting God and getting to see the power of God.
So with that, let's quickly look at the ten plagues That happen and how this power struggle if you will we talked about the tug-of-war Thing in here is Pharaoh thinking, you know He's got all the power not recognized not realizing that who's on the other side is God Almighty and God is going to show him that there is no man who can withstand God's sovereignty and so when Pharaoh begins he's going to start with power and his prestige and soon he's going to start negotiating and Ultimately, he's going to capitulate as he realizes that this is someone he cannot contend with.
So the ten plagues that you have here if you look at Exodus chapter 7 we get to see the first plague the water turning into blood and in fact, you can look at each of the Egyptian polytheistic gods that are worshipped and and God shows himself not just as a God of Israel as a local deity a God just of this people in this land.
But rather a God of heaven and earth his rule Transcends into all nations into this most powerful nation in the land at this point in time this Egypt and its gods God is sovereign over so you have the water that turns into blood that it stinks and Pharaoh's heart is hardened verse 22 of chapter 7 and Then the second miracle the second plague of frogs that over Power the land frogs that are meant to stay in the water come into the land.
They come in such copious quantities that Pharaoh recognizes that this is just horrible. He looks for relief. He promises freedom. In fact, if you look in a chapter 8 verse 8, he starts to bargain. He says, you know plead with the Lord to take away these frogs.
And I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord you get to see already his power starting to crack. He thought he was all-powerful, but he is not and then in verse 15 Once again, you see that when he gets a respite he hardens his heart.
And then you look at the third plague the light of the lice or gnats or mosquitoes these gnats that come from the dust and these things Once again come into the land overpower them but Pharaoh's heart once again is hardened.
In verse 19 the the magicians actually said there they have been trying to reproduce these these Miracles these plagues and they were successful until now, but when it comes to the gnats They say this is the finger of God they recognize that this is God acting.
But Pharaoh's heart is hardened and does not listen. And once again, if you look at verse 19 as God had said here is this what we studied as Concurrence in in Sunday school a while back here is Pharaoh freely and completely giving no rain to his his wickedness as he lives out his desires and God Sovereignly also will harden Pharaoh's heart.
In fact, when you look at the terminology that is used you get to see the active hand of God hardening Pharaoh's heart in the The end of the the last five plagues and God Decreeing that sovereignly even before the plagues begin and through this in the especially in the first five plagues you get to see how Pharaoh's heart is hardened as he willfully and stubbornly refuses to see and acknowledge the God of heaven and earth and then you have the Land with flies once again in chapter 8 verse 28 you get Pharaoh Bargaining I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God and then he says, you know Negotiating I won't give you the whole deal.
I'll give you part of it. Don't go too far away and Once again, he is hardened and then in the fifth plague livestock in chapter 9 verse 6 These are diseased and dies and Pharaoh once again in verse 7 is hardened.
The sixth plague boils chapter 9 verse 10 These covered both man and beast once again Pharaoh's hardened and then in the seventh plague hail and here there is a warning God tells the people there is a hail coming and those people in in Egypt who?
Recognized already everything that God is doing say, you know, maybe I ought to listen and they bring their cattle in and they are safe whereas those who don't Lose their cattle and everyone loses their crops.
Once again Pharaoh begs at this point his demeanor changes from this Powerful King to one who recognizes he needs he needs help and relief in verse 27 of chapter 9 You get to see this plea that Pharaoh has once again He promises freedom, but he he is hardened and then you have the locusts that take out everything that is left one more bargaining from Pharaoh and he reneges on his promise and then you come to the ninth plague, which is the thick darkness that covers the land and Here you get to see as the culmination of the plagues come to place.
All the people in the land have seen that this is the hand of God. But Pharaoh is completely blinded to the danger the precipice that he's standing on and with that We come to the final plague the death of the firstborn in chapter 12 verse 29.
In chapter 12 verse 29 we get to see this Judgment of God at midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon and All of the firstborn of the livestock and you get to see this cry Great cry in Egypt for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
And then in verse 31 He summons Moses and Aaron by night and said up go out from here from among my people both you and the people of Israel go and serve your Lord as You have said take your flocks your herds as you have said and be gone and bless me also.
So here you get this God displaying his power in the life of Pharaoh and in the Egyptians until they say you can leave and So that's brings us the first part of the book of Exodus. Here is a power encounter where Yahweh demonstrates that he is completely Powerful not just over nature.
These are not just miracles. You know, there are descriptions of how these happen. There are winds that come up and bring these The flies into the land and then they take them out. So all these things God predicts he brings forth and you have to think about it.
How is it that these things happen that there were so many of these happening in time? God makes all of these happen and brings them according to his sovereign will accomplishes the work that he has in his direction of history and then he showcases himself as God that these people would know who God is and they would bow down before him and the people of God would get to worship him with awe and Reverence.
And in fact not just the people in Egypt and the Israelites but people throughout the nations as the people hear of what God does they're going to be Trembling as they recognize that there is a God who lives among the people who works for his people and this is the true God Who was sovereign over heaven and over?
Now There is one thing I skipped and that is in chapter 12. You get to hear the Passover the last plague is Powerful in its magnitude, but it is also powerful in the manner in which it is executed here.
You have the angel of death you have death coming through the land and God Rescues people through this means of the Passover you have the lamb that needs to be slain and the blood posted on the lintel and that is a Guarantee of protection for the people who would trust in God.
Jesus is our Passover lamb. When John the Baptist looked at Jesus in John chapter 1 he said behold The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world as Jesus celebrates a last Passover with his disciples He would soon die on the cross and in his death He would accomplish that blood sacrifice once and for all it is finished and he will accomplish Redemption for his people and then you.
So let's keep moving on so and it's not just here and if you look at chapter 13 you get to see the presence of God in leading his people through but in verse chapter 14 It's not just the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire.
But God deliberately moves the people in the desert so that Pharaoh says hey, you know what I made a bad deal I lost all my slave labor. I was overwrought with the grief and sorrow and now it's time for me to go get these people who are just wandering in the wilderness.
And capture them again, so he gets his elite troops. You know it calls the chariots here if you want to think of it chariots at that point in time in military were like the Most sophisticated weaponry, you know here were these guys with these wheels with spokes.
And they they were nobody could withstand them. That's why they were the leading nation you can think of. I don't know the mother of all bombs. Whatever it is that we have today that is able to Execute military power you know hey, I have this weaponry.
I can actually execute again. Let me do this one final stance and make up for all the loss that Egypt has had and that's what Pharaoh's thinking as he heads down towards the people and the people are hemmed in between these mountains and the Red Sea and God says I'm going to show you these people 400 years who were over you you will see them no more and then you know the rest of the story Moses raises his hand God opens the sea and takes the people through and Pharaoh thinks he can go and get get them, but instead God destroys his army through the waters and in fact as you read through 1st Corinthians 10 you get to see how the people who followed Walked through the Red Sea first Peter talks about this walking through the water as God rescues his people now.
You would think right here after seeing chapter 14 and chapter 15 where this song of praise as people just see this Amazing way in which God has rescued them that they would be a people who are Filled with gratitude how many of you can look back at your day of salvation and say I remember how Wretched I was and how grateful I was for my king.
And then you look back at the years that followed and those times when that heart of gratitude Was replaced with a heart of selfishness and with choices that brought dishonor to your God. And that's really what we see in the book of Exodus in the end of 15 you get to see people Complaining against their God because the water was bitter and God provides in chapter 16 the people once again complain verse 2 the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness and then God says I am about to rain bread from heaven and he provides manna not just one day but through their entire 40 years that they will be in the wilderness and God is a God who provides for his people.
And in chapter 17 you get to see something very very interesting so once again, there is a time when there is a Need for water and instead of praying to God and asking for God the people quarrel with Moses and as the people thirsted there from water and grumbled against Moses Moses cries out to God and God says pass on before the people taking with you some of the elders of Israel and Taking your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile and go behold I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb and you shall strike the rock and Water shall come out of it and the people will drink and Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Now this is a moment once again where the people Passed today would say this the people have been taken out of Egypt. But Egypt has not been taken out of them just yet and that's what Leviticus is about as the people are going to get sanctified they are still if the mindset of the land that they came out of and they are complaining and What is it that they are really complaining about?
They're complaining about Moses because he's their representative that they can see before them. But ultimately they are complaining against the God who just mightily rescued them out of Egypt saying this God is Incapable of providing for our needs we are grumbling.
Gungan Smith's right pastor Mike's talked about this a while that this is their heart attitude this is all they they had forgotten the great powerful redemption that they have experienced coming through the Red Sea from the plagues and Instead they were caught up in thirst.
Questioning the character of God one of the commentator said They were upset with Moses and they would have liked to get rid of him and if they had Long enough arms, they would have tried to get rid of God as well.
And so here God symbolizes this Work and in fact the rock that we are talking about here in first Corinthians 10 for this rock is Christ. He is the one who is with them in his very presence providing for them and this striking of the rock Symbolizes what it is that the people really want to do but God is a gracious God.
He is merciful. He's compassionate. He's slow to anger and he will provide for them even in the midst of their rebellion and they will get to see that their God is a God who provides so With this whole section.
We've gotten to see The Ten Commandments the ten plagues and the rescue that has happened. Let's now move on to the next section. Which is the Ten Commandments in chapter 19 you get to see the Mosaic Covenant.
This is a conditional covenant that God makes to this people. The people are no longer in the presence of Egypt Pharaoh and his armies they will see no more they are out here in the wilderness and God makes a covenant with the people but it is a covenant that they need to Obey and the people willingly say yes we will we will do all that God asks offers and so in chapter 20 you get to see the Ten Commandments and What is the most important of all the commandments verse 2?
I am the Lord. I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the land of slavery. It is the person of God the Redeemer God on the basis of which these people are to obey the revelation of God.
God says I am the God who has rescued you. I am the one who has redeemed you and now I'm going to tell you what it is. That pleases me. Here is my law. That you are now covenanted to be My people and to follow me now when you think of the Ten Commandments.
Let me just say this right off the bat. No one has been able to keep those Ten Commandments except Jesus. Jesus as the perfect man is the only one who's been able to fully and completely keep the law of God as exemplified in the Ten Commandments.
Jesus would then summarize all of the law and the prophets in those two really weighty Commands that is to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself. We as believers Are not under the Mosaic law we are not Required to keep the law as it is given in the Ten Commandments.
Listen to me very carefully and in its outflow. So you're going to look at the next several chapters that are going to break it out in the life of Israel. What is it that they are? How does these Ten Commandments?
Work themselves out in the life of the people and every single one of them that is that comes forth from here. Can't find at least one or two of the Ten Commandments as its root as it works out in application now.
What is it that the believer today is called to do every single one of these commandments? Is repeated in the New Testament for the life of a believer, so you don't need to necessarily go to Exodus 20.
But you have the entire New Testament talking about the law of God that is revealed in much greater Precision and color and definition in the New Testament in. In the Ten Commandments you have you shall not murder.
And what is it that Jesus tells us when he talks about those two laws love God and love your neighbor? If you were to call your brother Raka if you had anger against him you have already broken this command.
There is a much greater clarity as the law that is revealed in Sinai to the people of Israel is now given in much greater clarity in the person of Jesus Christ. We've got to see the one who has fulfilled all of these commands and shown us What it means to live a life that is pleasing to God so I want you to just keep that in mind as we go Through the Ten Commandments, so you have the first four commands that relate to God.
No other gods before me verse 3 do not make a carved image bow and worship them. Do not take the name of your God in vain verse 7 and remember the Sabbath to keep it. Holy. In fact except for the Sabbath law everything else is Repeated in the New Testament, and these are things that talk about.
How do you honor God with your life and with your worship you must keep him and him alone as central and in fact in? Chapter 19 you have the covenant. Chapter 20 to chapter 32 you get to see the Ten Commandments and the Over and the working out of the law that is given to Moses and Moses at the end of this grand revelation as he's bringing down the commandments and the and the regulations and the And the instructions for following God as he comes down.
We'll see that the people who covenanted in chapter 19 have already broken the very first command to Not bow down before other idols. So the people will once again Abandon what they thought they could do because they cannot but these laws will showcase the character of God they will show the righteous requirement of of God what it is to be a people of God and follow after him and.
So you have the first four commands talking about relationship to God and then the last Six commands talking about relationship to our neighbor or love to our neighbor. Verse 5 honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land.
So that's verse 12 and then you have You shall not murder verse 13. You shall not commit adultery 14. You shall not steal 15. You shall not bear false witness 16 and you shall not covet verse 17. These talk about these provide the basis of our human society today.
What is it that how is it that we are to live our lives today? Here is God revealing his divine commands that showcase what is good and it is on the basis of God's revelation that we who are made in God's image can Flourish as we live out our lives, but it is impossible for us on our own to keep these commands.
But rather we have Jesus Christ as the forerunner who fulfills it on our behalf Provides us his righteousness. So we are considered justified and then he empowers us by his spirit so that we can follow with a willing and full and Joyful heart to keep this in our lives so what you see here in these several chapters that follow Exodus 20 is the Working out of what that means for the nation of Israel while they are following After God, but we come to.
We come to chapter 32 and you get to see this golden calf that the people make these people rebel willfully. You can almost picture this here is Moses up 40 days in in the top of the mountain. They can see the fire they can see the cloud and yet you get to see what is the nature of Our hearts that it would want to make gods of our own making.
I have seen a golden calf In Egypt and that's what I would rather see something that I can tangibly touch rather than the God of heaven and earth who rules from heaven and so what we see then is this intimate conversation between Moses and God as God Talks about the righteous requirement of the law that he has just given of destruction of these people and motive Moses interceding on behalf of the people and once again you get to see the type of Christ as Moses Prays for these people as Christ prays on our behalf today.
You get to see the discipline that is brought about as Moses comes down. He sees this chaos that is reigning in the camp and the people of Levi Respond to the call to bring judgment upon those who have run amok and what is it that they have done by worshiping these false idols and Indulging in revelry they have brought shame upon the name of God and those who would.
And there is death that happens in 3 ,000 people who die because of this sin and then you have an atonement that is accomplished as Moses once again in chapter 32 verse 30 praise to God these people have Sinned the great sin.
But now if you will forgive their sin if not. But now if you will forgive their sin, but if not, please blot me out from your book that you have written. But the Lord said to Moses whoever has sinned against me I will blot out from my book.
But now go and you get to see this heart of Moses. Oh, he almost reminds you of Paul in chapter Romans 9 to 11 talking about this heart that he has for the people of God that they would be Forgiven and that they would have a right relationship with God.
Now right in this midst of this catastrophe you can think of Exodus 20 with the law and all this grandeur. It was not just the outworking of the law, but there is something much more transcendent that is given.
I'm we'll get to this in a moment and Moses coming down and what he sees here is a people who have rebelled once again gone away and then God Forgiving and restoring the people even in his judgment, but in chapter 33 you get to see something really really Beautiful as you get to see the heart of Moses.
He has gotten to see the hand of God through all of these the plagues and the Red Sea and even in the provision in The wilderness and he says I won't know you I want to I want to see your glory and God is gracious and compassionate and hides him in the rock once again.
He cannot see God face to face but In the end of chapter 33 while my glory passes by I will put you in the cleft of the rock I will cover you with my hand and I will take away my hand and you shall see my back.
But my face shall not be seen. One of the commentators called is the afterglow, you know, this is that this is just Isaiah 6, you know, I undone I won't undone you Moses, but I get this you get to see the afterburner kind of thing.
You know It's like Zooming past and so in the chapter 34 you get to see the name of God in verse 6 the Lord passed before him and proclaimed Yahweh Yahweh a God merciful and gracious slow to anger. Abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness keeping steadfast love for thousands forgiving Triniquity and transgression, but no means clearing the guilty and you get to see this nature.
What is it in the heart of God? We have a God who loves who is compassionate merciful and that's the God that Moses gets to see and the people of Israel will get to worship now in chapter 35. You get to see the covenant renewed in a sense as the people Respond with willing hearts to everything that was revealed in.
You now have the In the end of chapter 34 you have the covenant renewed and you have Contributions for the tabernacle that the people willingly and wholeheartedly bring forth now that brings us to the third part.
So we've seen the ten plagues. We've seen the Ten Commandments and that brings us finally to the Tabernacle in already in in the regulations that were given there was instructions to the Tabernacle and here you get to see how this is all worked out and the tabernacle itself is built and it is made ready for the people of God to worship their God in their midst and I'd like you to just imagine this I Think roughly you can think of four Coats of the tabernacle in a base and a football field, you know, is that it's pretty huge and if you think of a rectangular piece of Courtyard, which has got pretty much linen and boards that are holding it up you have an entrance to that door, which has a curtain and as you enter the curtain, the first thing you see is the altar the altar of Burnt offering so that is the means in which atonement is made so God provides for this means because in the other end that that's where the people are entering and in the other end you have the Tent and in the very end of the tent, you have the Holy of Holies.
You want to think of the layout you have the court? Courtyard you have the tent and the tent is divided into two you have the holy place and the most holy place or the holy holy place and in the holy holy place you have The Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat and the cherubim that symbolize the presence of God as a cloud comes and rests upon It so you have God and you have the people and between them you have the provision that God has made you have the sacrifice that that needs to be made in the In the altar of burnt offering you have the bronze labor of bronze basin of it water in which you have purification and cleansing for the priest and then you have the the veil that enters into the Tent and as you think of the tabernacle God dwelling in the midst of his people and you think of the word Tabernacle itself or the tent what you ought to be thinking of is John 1 14.
John 1 14 says the word became flesh and Dwelt among us he lived among us and in the Greek is Kainos, which is he tabernacled among us. This is really Everything you look in the Old Testament of the tabernacle ought to point to your heavenly worship.
And it all points to Jesus Christ because it's only in the person of Jesus Christ. We have access. He's the one who dies on our behalf. He's the one who provides purification. And then as you come into this holy place You see on the right side the showbread for the 1012 tribes.
You get to see on the left side the seven The candlesticks the lamp Lamp stand and you get to see how the people of God were meant to be a Light unto the nations and then you see right in front of you before the most holy place.
Because you have a veil that is Separating the holy place from the most holy place you have the altar of incense which symbolizes the prayers of the people. Morning and evening the priests would come here.
We'll get to see all of this in in the rest of the Pentateuch As its work works as it is worked out but you get to see how morning and evening the prayers are made and The priests can only come thus far and no more because there is a veil.
And through the veil once a year the high priest alone can go through and that we sang the song the veil Was torn when Jesus died on the cross. The people had this symbol when they sacrificed the Lamb.
For their sin that God had somehow Covered their sin. What they didn't know was the cost of their sin was not just that one lamp. It would be the cost of The Son of God himself. That he the perfect man who is fully God Would die a horrible death on their behalf on your behalf in order.
That you and I can have access not just into the courtyard not just into the holy place But into the very throne room of God that no Israelite other than the high priest had access to. You want to look at Hebrews 9 as you look at what this means?
Hebrews 9 unpacks the tabernacle for us and shows us how Christ is our Great high priest who has entered heaven on our behalf and intercedes on our behalf for us. So as we look at the book of Exodus I don't want you to just be thinking of the exits exit from the world as God saved you exit from your Trials as God's hand is powerful in your midst to rescue you.
But rather you want to be thinking of the revelation of God you get to see the will of God What is pleasing to him as his? His righteous law is revealed and you want to revel in the presence of God in your midst as we have a God who dwells among us.
Let us pray Our loving and most gracious father. We thank you that Through the pages of scripture through the lives of the Israelites you have shown us Your character and your power and your goodness help us.
Oh father even today In the various places where each of us are if there's anyone here who does not know you we pray that you would rescue them. If there's anyone here who's struggling in their walk, I pray that Lord you would show yourself powerful and empower us and I pray father that you would make us a people who?
Sing forth like Moses did in Exodus 15 of your Almighty power at work in each of our lives in order to bring you all the glory and honor in Christ name We pray.