Today, we begin a new series. For the next while we will be hearing God
speak through the book of Exodus. I begin this series with some trepidation.
I say that because I’ve never preached through a book like this one. It is
forty chapters, after all. I did preach from Job, but that was more like
highlights from that book. This will be different. Add to that the fact that
the book is written in three different genres. The first part of the book is
a historical narrative about Israel being brought out of Egypt. The next
part of the book is God’s Law which Moses received on Mount Sinai. The last
part of this book is the description of the Tabernacle, a section that I
expect to be filled with much symbolism. So, I expect that my working
through this book and understanding it well enough to preach it to you will
be quite challenging. Thus my trepidation. But I must say that I am also
rather excited by the prospect of spending time here. God has already shown
me some things from my brief time of study thus far. I am expecting new
facets of Scripture to be opened to me as I pursue my studies. So, do
yourself a favor. Pray for me. Pray that I will study hard because there is
much for me to learn. Pray that the Spirit will reveal to me something of
the treasures of this portion of Scripture. And pray that the fruit of all
of this will be sermons that the Spirit will use to reveal more of the
beauty and depth of the Gospel to you. And while you’re at it, pray for
yourselves that your hearts would be prepared to hear the Spirit speak from
this part of the Word of God.
I want to do two things today. First, I want to give you a bit of an
introduction. I want to give you a peek at some of the themes in Exodus. As
a part of this I want you to know what I hope to accomplish in preaching
from this book. Then, I want to look at one theme of the book and open it up
for you.
The introduction. One of the basic themes of Exodus is the idea of knowing
God. So, we read, ‘I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God,
and you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out from
under the burdens of the Egyptians.’ [Exodus 6:7] That is a knowledge of God
that is tied to being blessed and we will find many examples of it. But
there is also a knowledge of God that is tied to being cursed. So, God says
of the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, ‘And I will harden
Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh
and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah.’ [Exodus
14:4] That theme of knowing God is key to the book, and it affects my basic
goal for this series. My goal is not to help you understand the book of
Exodus, nor is it for you to learn certain skills of interpretation of the
Bible – though both of these things are good and are likely to happen. My
goal is that you would get to know your God better than what you do now. The
goal is not to educate you. The goal is that you become pious and Godly
saints. It is my intention and hope that you would grow in your
understanding of God’s ways, and God’s heart by our study of this book. I
want you to know God in blessing.
Let me deal with something else now. Why study Exodus? Wouldn’t a series on
something like the Gospel of John be better when it comes to knowing God?
Consider the big picture of Exodus. This book is the story of Jehovah's
rescuing His afflicted people and establishing a covenant relationship with
them, all by means of a redeemer. Sound familiar? Exodus is about the
Gospel. As we look at Israel in the book of Exodus, we are looking at
ourselves. Israel is the Church, chosen and saved by her God and on her way
to the Promised Land. In this book we will see Israel in different
situations. We will be able to see how she relates – both well and poorly –
to her God. And as we watch Israel, we will be able to see ourselves better,
as we relate – both well and poorly – to the same God. As we watch Israel
work at understanding what it means for her to be the Church, we will be
able to understand better what it means for us to be the Church. And so,
Paul writes, ‘Now these things happened to them [Israel] as an example, but
they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has
come.’ [1 Corinthians 10:11] Exodus is about the Gospel, and it looks at
that Gospel in ways that we haven’t. We have much to learn about the Gospel,
about being the Church, from this book. Do you see why I’m a little bit
excited?
Now, to the second part of today’s sermon. I’m going to pick up on another
theme in Exodus, one that we find in our text, and open it up for you. This
theme shows itself in the first word of the book. The very first Hebrew word
of Exodus is a conjunction, usually translated as ‘and’. As you, no doubt,
remember from your days of studying grammar, a conjunction connects: rice
and beans, bat and ball. But what is this ‘and’ at the beginning of Exodus
connecting? Well, what is before that ‘and’? The book of Genesis. That ‘and’
is connecting Exodus to what went before: the history in the book of
Genesis. It is interesting to note that Leviticus and Numbers also begin
with the same conjunction, ‘and’. The point is that these first five books
of the Bible, the books of Moses, are really one story. They are all
connected. And so, Exodus looks back to Genesis and looks forward to … what?
What is the climax of the story? What comes after Deuteronomy? The entrance
into the Promised Land. The history of the five books of Moses is the
history of Creation, the Fall, the calling of a people for God, all leading
up to their entrance to the Promised Land. What we have in the first five
books is the story of the whole Bible reflected in the history of Israel.
These books give us a picture of what God is doing with His Church
throughout the ages. So, we could say that we, here today, are at a point
after the Red Sea, after Mount Sinai and somewhere in the desert, not yet
arrived at the Promised Land.
There are many avenues branching off from this one thought. Let me take you
down one of them. Ours is a religion that is rooted in history. Christianity
is all about what God does in history. Of all the religions of the world, in
this we are unique. And that ‘and’, along with the opening verses of the
book, reminds us of this. It glances back at what God did before in calling
out a people for Himself – Jacob and his sons – and leading them to Egypt,
there to be welcomed by Joseph. These opening verses look back on what God
has done and then look forward to what God does next, after Joseph. God is
at work in history.
Now, let’s take a closer look at this history. Something has happened
between the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus where Moses picks up
the story line again. The children of Israel have changed. At the end of
Genesis Israel is an extended family of seventy some people. By the time we
get to the beginning of Exodus they have become a multitude of people who
fill the land. Is there anything significant in this? Absolutely. God is at
work in history. In Genesis He promised Abraham that his seed would be as
numerous as the stars. What we see here, in Exodus, is our God keeping His
promise. But notice some things. This is where the lessons lie. First, it
looks so normal. God’s acts in history aren’t dramatic. The sign that God
was at work in the life of Israel is that the people were having babies. Do
you see that God moves His plan forward through history by very normal
means? Secondly, notice that God works behind the scenes. Moses doesn’t
shout at us here, ‘Hey, look at what God is doing!’ God is not even
mentioned in this morning’s text. Rather, God acts quietly in the flow of
history behind the scenes. And then, there’s a third thing that might be
easily missed. There’s a gap between the end of Genesis and the beginning of
Exodus; a gap between Joseph and Moses. It’s a gap of 430 years. Four
hundred plus years of no miracles, no prophets, no big events. Just people
having babies. For 430 years. Four hundred thirty years into our past would
be 1576. That’s a long time ago. Do you see that God is not in a rush? Three
lessons.
Now, it is clear that there are times when God does very dramatic things:
the Red Sea was parted. There are times when He is so very obvious: the
pillar of fire separated Israel from Egypt. There are times when He acts
quite abruptly: one moment Egypt was a world power and the next its army was
a mass of drowned corpses. God does act in these ways – but not usually. Our
God is still at work in the normal events of life, quietly and patiently
acting behind the scenes. And in all of this He is moving us toward the
Promised Land.
And you are a part of all of this. Way back when, it was Israel that was
being used by God. But history moves forward. Now, your God is using you to
accomplish His plan for history. Sometimes it doesn’t look like anything is
happening. Sometimes you don’t see how what you do makes any difference. But
your God is quietly moving things forward. He does that as you live for
Christ day by day in the normal activities of life. Your faithfulness to
Him – along with the faithfulness of all the other saints – will ultimately
result in all of us getting to enjoy the Promised Land when Jesus returns.
The need of the day is Christians who simply live faithfully for Christ day
in and day out, for you to live faithfully. It is by ordinary means of
faithful living that God will achieve His goals. And one day you will be
able to look back on this history and see how critical your faithfulness was
in God’s plan.
