Exodus

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.

Exodus as the Second Book of the Pentateuch

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.

Israel in Egypt and the Rise of Pharaoh

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.

The Burning Bush, the Divine Name, and Moses as a Type of Christ

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.

The Ten Plagues and God's Judgment on Egypt

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.