A LOOK BACK…

We saw that God chose a people to be in a special relationship with Him—to trust Him and not in their own ways. This was an act of grace—they did nothing to earn or deserve it. He chooses to work through messy sinful people || We learned that God made a covenant with Abraham to give him many descendants and that his family would be blessed by God to be a blessing to the rest of the world—showing them all what He is like.

SOME BACKGROUND...

Years later Abrahams son, Isaac, had his own son named Jacob—his name was later changed to Israel—meaning “struggler with God.” The Hebrews would then be called the people of Israel after Jacob (Israelites). Jacob had twelve sons. One of his sons, named Joseph, ended up living in Egypt. Joseph invited his family (about 70 people) to join him to escape a horrible famine that covered all the land. While living in Egypt, the people of Israel grew into a very large nation. After Joseph died, a new King of Egypt (who did not know Joseph) feared Israel because of their great numbers. He treated them horribly and made Israel his slaves. Their slavery lasted 400 years (just as God had promised in GN 15). But God promised He would bless His people…and that is what Exodus is all about…God Rescuing…

BIG PICTURE FOR TODAY…

God rescues His people from slavery/oppression. God gives them the law to show them how to live with Him as their God (the Law showed them how to live in freedom compared to slavery). God gives His chosen people a way to atone for their sins and live close to Him. They were to be a people who display God's glory to the nations. But…they rebel again and again and choose to live in their own ways—doing what was right in their own eyes (determining good and evil for themselves) which led to death and separation from God.

JUST LIKE US...

Sometimes when we read these stories we tend to keep them at arms length. “Why would they keep doing this?” “Why do the Israelites keep disobeying God after he clearly was with them, providing for them, leading them?” The truth is, as we tell and read these stories today, my prayer is that we see ourselves. We see how we too struggle with obeying, with grumbling, with sinning against God…and I also pray we see that the same God that loved them and made a way for them to relate to him is also pursuing us, loving us, disciplining us and desiring to give us life and relationship as we strive to obey/love him.

…SCENE ONE: ISRAEL RESCUED…

[LT=LOVE THREAD]

EX 1-2
[LT GOD RESCUES BABY BOYS] Israel oppressed by Pharaoh || baby boys commanded to be killed||

EX 2
[LT GOD RESCUES BABY MOSES] Moses born and life saved || adopted by pharaoh’s daughter|| Moses grows up, kills Egyptian, flees Pharaoh, lives in Midian || marries Zipporah

EXODUS 2:23-25
[LT GOD REMEMBERS HIS COVENANT]

EX 3-7
[LT GOD CALLS MOSES]
-- MOSES ENCOUNTERS GOD in a burning bush at Mt Horeb
-- GOD CALLS MOSES to be the deliverer of his people || Moses is a type of savior, a foreshadowing of Jesus (LT)

[LT GOD RESCUES ISRAEL]
-- MOSES HESITATES: God tells Moses his name [I AM WHO I AM] and promises to be with him. He promises him that pharaoh will let his people go, and that they will plunder the Egyptians!
<ch 4> God gives him instruction and two miraculous signs (staff/snake, hand/leprous) to help him prove his story
<ch 5> MOSES CONFRONTS PHARAOH
Pharaoh made it more difficult and the people got angry with Moses
<ch 6> GOD PROMISES FREEDOM for his people reminding Moses to tell them this good news
<ch 7-14> GOD JUDGES EGYPT Moses tells Pharaoh to let God’s people go...Pharaoh refuses

—> GOD SENDS PLAGUES:
This is an act of love for Israel (God revealing his power and rescuing them) and an act of judgment (against Egypt and its powerless gods)

EACH PLAGUE ATTACKED AN EGYPTIAN GOD
1. NILE WATER TURNING TO BLOOD: turning the Nile to blood was a judgment against Apis, the god of the Nile, Isis, goddess of the Nile, and Khnum, guardian of the Nile. The Nile was also believed to be the bloodstream of Osiris, who was reborn each year when the river flooded. The river, which formed the basis of daily life and the national economy, was devastated, as millions of fish died in the river and the water was unusable.
2. FROGS: Bringing frogs from the Nile, was a judgment against Heqet, the frog-headed goddess of birth. Frogs were thought to be sacred and not to be killed. God had the frogs invade every part of the homes of the Egyptians, and when the frogs died, their stinking bodies were heaped up in offensive piles all through the land
3. GNATS: Gnats was a judgment on Set, the god of the desert. Unlike the previous plagues, the magicians were unable to duplicate this one and declared to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19)
4. FLIES: Flies, was a judgment on Uatchit, the fly god. In this plague, God clearly distinguished between the Israelites and the Egyptians, as no swarms of flies bothered the areas where the Israelites lived
5. DEATH OF LIVESTOCK: The death of livestock, was a judgment on the goddess Hathor and the god Apis, who were both depicted as cattle. As with the previous plague, God protected His people from the plague, while the cattle of the Egyptians died. God was steadily destroying the economy of Egypt, while showing His ability to protect and provide for those who obeyed Him. Pharaoh even sent investigators (Exodus 9:7) to find out if the Israelites were suffering along with the Egyptians, but the result was a hardening of his heart against the Israelites.
6. BOILS: Boils was a judgment against several gods over health and disease (Sekhmet, Sunu, and Isis). This time, the Bible says that the magicians “could not stand before Moses because of the boils.” Clearly, these religious leaders were powerless against the God of Israel.
7. HAIL: Hail, attacked Nut, the sky goddess; Osiris, the crop fertility god; and Set, the storm god. This hail was unlike any that had been seen before. It was accompanied by a fire which ran along the ground, and everything left out in the open was devastated by the hail and fire. Again, the children of Israel were miraculously protected, and no hail damaged anything in their lands.
8. LOCUSTS: Locusts, again focused on Nut, Osiris, and Set. The later crops, wheat and rye, which had survived the hail, were now devoured by the swarms of locusts. There would be no harvest in Egypt that year.
9. DARKNESS: Darkness, was aimed at the sun god, Re/Ra, who was symbolized by Pharaoh himself. For three days, the land of Egypt was smothered with an unearthly darkness, but the homes of the Israelites had light.
10. DEATH OF FIRSTBORN MALE: The death of the firstborn males, was a judgment on Isis, the protector of children.
-- In this plague, God was teaching the Israelites a deep spiritual lesson that pointed to JESUS. Unlike the other plagues, which the Israelites survived by virtue of their identity as God’s people, this plague required an act of faith by them. God commanded each family to take an unblemished male lamb/goat and kill it. The blood of the lamb was to be smeared on the top and sides of their doorways, and the lamb was to be roasted and eaten that night. Any family that did not follow God’s instructions would suffer in the last plague. God described how He would send the destroyer through the land of Egypt, with orders to slay the firstborn male in every household. The only protection was the blood of the lamb on the door. When the destroyer saw the blood, he would pass over that house and leave it untouched (Exodus 12:23).
-- 1 COR 5:7 teaches that Jesus became our Passover when He died to deliver us from the bondage of sin. While the Israelites found God’s protection in their homes, every other home in the land of Egypt experienced God’s wrath as their loved ones died.
-- This grievous event caused Pharaoh to finally release the Israelites.

-- Israel rescued and plundered the Egyptians (just as God said they would)

CH 14: RED SEA…God rescued them there too!

…SCENE TWO: COMMANDS TO OBEY…

EX 16-19
ISRAEL GRUMBLES || [LT GOD PROVIDES FOR HIS PEOPLE]
-- Although Israel was now free from their slavery to Egypt, they still questioned Moses, questioned God and did not trust that HE was going to do all HE promised HE would do
-- Their grumbling started on the banks of the Red Sea and continued throughout their wilderness wanderings
---15:24 NO WATER
---16:2-3 NO FOOD
---16:27-28 DISOBEYED COMMANDS ABOUT GATHERING MANNA
---17:2-3 NO WATER

- But God still delivered them proving again and again his mighty power and showing them again and again he would do what he promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob || God gave instructions and they agreed to obey Him

EX 20
[LT GIVES BOUNDARIES TO HELP PEOPLE LIVE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A HOLY GOD]
- God gives Moses the 10 Commandments. The people hear God and are afraid

EX 21-31
- God gives Moses lots of law, statutes to help them know how to live in obedience to him and have life and relationship with him He also gave Moses instructions on the tabernacle which would be the means for the people to relate to him and receive temporary forgiveness for their sins (sacrifices)
-- [LT RESTORES RELATIONSHIP]

EX 25 instruction on the tabernacle, furniture and their function, priests and their duties, sacrifices

EX 32 || THE GOLDEN CALF
-- Israel rebels against God
-- God disciplined their sin
-- Moses intercedes, God judges
-- He is holy…sin brings about death and separation…obedience brings life and relationship

EX 33
[LT GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISE EVEN WHEN WE SIN]
-- God would honor his promise and deliver them, but they had to obey him or they would experience discipline || this is a pattern that is going to be repeated over and over (we will talk about this more next week)
-- God would reveal his glory to Moses and establish his relationship with him, showing him favor (33:17)

EX 34
[LT GOD REVEALS WHO HE IS TO MOSES/INVITING RELATIONSHIP]
-- This is a very special part of this story
-- God reveals who he is to Moses, for all of us to see and hear too!
-- Even in the midst of a people who continue to sin and rebel against him, he continues to pursue and forgive
-- Moses intercedes for the people (a type of Jesus again)
-- God reiterates his covenant with Moses…he will do what he said he would do

…SCENE THREE: A WAY TO RELATIONSHIP…

EX 35-40

-- The rest of the book of Exodus is all about the tabernacle, the priesthood, the different furniture and their purposes, and the sacrifices. This is a significant set of instructions for Moses and the people of Israel. Because of their sin and God’s holiness their remains a problem in our relationship…sin separates and kills
-- God had promised to Abraham/Isaac/Jacob that he would make Israels’s descendants many, that he would give them the land and that all the world’s inhabitants would be blessed through them. In order to do that, there needed to be a way for sinful people to maintain their relationship with a Holy God. So God gave them a temporary way…a way that would someday be completely permanent, but for now was required of them over and over for their forgiveness.
-- He gave PRIESTS to be mediators between sinful man and God. They helped minister in the tabernacle (sacrifices, duties, prayers) and were the only ones allowed inside the tabernacle.
-- He gave RULES for them to follow so that they would know what God expects and would ultimately see that their sin made them unclean making it impossible for them to fix that on their own.
-- He gave them FESTIVALS to remind them of God’s goodness and their absolute dependence on him for everything.
-- He gave them ANIMAL SACRIFICES to remind them that sin brings death just [like he had told Adam and Eve]. These sacrifices reminded them that the only way a sin could be forgiven was through the blood, through death.
-- All of this was pointing to a permanent solution in Jesus…the Perfect High Priest (sitting down at the right hand of the Father, job done), The Perfect Spotless Lamb and The Acceptable Sacrifice (no sin, only one sacrifice needed), The Way to the Holy of Holies (no longer a need for a veil to separate us from the presence of a Holy God).

OUR TAKEAWAY FOR TODAY…

-- God rescued Israel from slavery/oppression. He is still doing that today, in us…1] salvation/justification 2] salvation/sanctification

-- God gave Israel the law to show them how to live with Him as their God (the Law showed them how to live in freedom compared to slavery). God gave Israel a way to atone for their sins and live close to Him. He has done that for us in Jesus! We no longer have to go through Priests or serve in the tabernacle or temple or offer sacrifices for our sins. Jesus is the perfect acceptable sacrifice…who died once and for all for our sins. When he said “it is finished” he meant it…there were no more steps, restoration had been complete, redemption and forgiveness of sin has been accomplished in his death and resurrection. We have life and relationship through the finished work of Jesus!

-- Israel were supposed to be a people who displayed God's glory to the nations…they did that imperfectly. Jesus, as the Messiah displayed the glory of God perfectly…and now in us, as imperfect people…Jesus displays his glory in us and enables us to be more and more like him, image bearers of God

-- But…as we saw today and will see next week even more…the Israelites rebelled again and again and chose to live in their own ways—doing what was right in their own eyes (determining good and evil for themselves) which led to death and separation from God. And sadly…we also experience this up and down cycle in our lives. I’m thankful for the forgiveness we have in Jesus…it motivates me to live my life for His glory…knowing that even when I rebel…because of the grace, mercy and love of Jesus…I am forgiven…man, what peace we have in knowing that truth!

RESPOND, REFLECT & COMMUNION

I would like to give you a chance to respond to God…

—> LETS TAKE A MINUTE TO THANK HIM, RESPOND TO HIM, CONFESS OUR SIN TO HIM, EXAMINE OUR HEARTS BEFORE COMMUNION…

—> WHAT IS JESUS SAYING TO YOU TODAY?

—> WHAT IS JESUS ASKING YOU TO DO?