God’s Story Is Our Story: From Genesis To JesusSample

Reflecting on the last week: The Exodus is to Israel what the cross is for Christians: the great redemptive act of God in history. These chapters tell the story of God confronting the idols of Egypt (personifications of the things God curses: frogs, the sun, the nile, livestock) and Pharaoh himself (a living personification of injustice Ex. 1:16). God uses Pharaoh’s evil stubbornness to reveal to the watching world that he is more powerful than the idols and Pharaoh, because he is the only God (Ex. 9:16). Remember: God’s mission is to restore creation, overturn the curse and bless the nations. But the nations cannot break free from the curse as long as they are enslaved to idolatrous worship and Pharaonic injustice. This makes the Exodus a critical page in the story of God’s mission. In fact, God does not arbitrarily choose to rescue Israel. He chooses them, because they are the progeny of Abraham, the family through whom God’s blessings (life, love, justice and mercy) would be unleashed onto the nations (Ex. 19:3-6). As long as they were slaves, God’s mission was stalled, but once redeemed out of slavery to worship their heavenly father, they were freed to pursue their calling. The Exodus ought to make us ask a few questions today: 1) What cultural idolatries dominate our contemporary landscape (consumerism, materialism, secularism)? 2) What injustices do we participate in? Turn a blind eye to? 3) How are we enslaved to these ideologies/desires? Jesus set us free from idols and unjust lifestyles so that we can partner with him in his mission to make disciples of the nations (Matt 28:18) and build his kingdom of life, love and justice (Mk. 1:15).