The Exodus - Josh Morris

I believe this person is Jesus and we looked at the text where Jesus says it was him that was there with Abraham and that Abraham rejoiced to see him.

Let’s review what the Bible says about being able to see God.

John 1:18 (NLT)

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

(This is Jesus speaking)

John 5:37 (NLT)

“And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face,

John 5:38 (NLT)

and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you.”

(This is Jesus speaking)

John 6:46 (NLT)

“(Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)”

Colossians 1:15 (NLT)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation

Jesus is God. He is a member of the trinity and he is God but if we were to see the full glory of God it would kill us because of our sin.

So a mediator is needed to stand between us and God. The Bible describes Jesus as that mediator.

The passage we just read says that Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God.

Jesus came in a non-glorified body as a man (laying down his divinity) as we talked about in the humanity series. He did this so that mankind could approach him and know him without being devoured by his glory

The general idea is that in the Old Testament, he appeared as a man or in a non-glorified body when in the Holy Land but as a glorified image when outside of the Holy Land

We will see this a lot today with the story of the Israelites in the Exodus.

Before we get to the Exodus, I was looking at all of these instances of appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament and I was wondering about creation. It seems that Adam and Eve could have been walking in the garden with God the father because they had not yet sinned so they would not be restricted from seeing his glory. But because we don’t see God the father in any kind of human form in the Bible, I kept wondering if maybe that was Jesus then too. Then I started thinking about creation itself. How was the world created? It was created with the word. He spoke creation into existence. Genesis 1 starts with “In the beginning” and then describes the way God spoke creation into existence. The book of John is about the life and ministry of Jesus. The very first verse of the first chapter of John starts with “In the beginning”. Everyone would recognize this as a reference to Genesis 1. In the beginning was the WORD. The word is the Logos, it is the spoken word of God but it is also clearly talking about Jesus. Look closely at the passage now with the eyes of Jesus as the creator and the one who walked in the garden with Adam and Eve.

John 1:1 (NLT)

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:2 (NLT)

He existed in the beginning with God.

John 1:3 (NLT)

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

John 1:4 (NLT)

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.

John 1:5 (NLT)

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

This would be enough for me, but I was looking for somewhere where it might be stated even more clearly.

Colossians 1:15 (NLT)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

Colossians 1:16 (NLT)

for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

Colossians 1:17 (NLT)

He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

Christ, with the power of God, creates the world and he partners with mankind and even adds mankind to the deed. He gives us his incredible creation and partners with us and gives us dominion over the world. Yet Adam and Eve then give the deed over to Satan through the fall and the story of Jesus continuing to show up and work through his family (Israelites) is so he can take back what mankind lost in the fall. Adam and Eve didn’t uphold their end of the covenant so God makes a covenant with Abraham and then fulfills it himself in order to undo what was done at the fall. All of the appearances of Jesus that we will look at in this series are the times where Jesus is breaking into the world and working to partner with mankind again to create an avenue for him to restore creation to what he intended.

Now we come to the part of the story where he had made a covenant with Abraham and he was multiplying the Israelites and they were growing into a mighty nation so Satan decides to put them under the control of a maniacal leader named Pharoah who oppressed them. Now Jesus needs to partner with mankind again to free the Israelites so he can get them to the land he has promised them.

It was Jesus who met with Moses and told him how to deal with Pharoah and it was Jesus who gave him power to confront the Pharoah and the miracles of Jesus caused the plagues to happen on the Egyptians that were holding them as slaves. It was Jesus who spoke to Moses from the burning bush. Moses didn’t speak to a burning bush. It says he spoke to God who was speaking from the midst of the burning bush.

Exodus 3:2 (NLT)

There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.

When you see the “angel of the Lord” here, this is actually one word in Hebrew and it is AngelYehovah.

Quite a few times in the Old Testament we see this AngelYehovah person show up but most of the time, this person speaks as God himself and is acknowledged as God. That’s what happens here in Exodus 3 as well. He is called AngelYehovah but then look two verses later at how he is described.

Exodus 3:4 (NLT)

When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

The angel didn’t show up in the middle of the bush and then move over to make room for God. This is always how Jesus is described in the Old Testament when he shows up in a glorified form but he is God and speaks as God and is worshipped as God. This AngelYehovah speaks as God himself and even makes the statement I am that I am. That happens here at the burning bush with this AngelYehovah. He also says in this instance

Exodus 3:15 (NLT)

God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.”

So the AngelYehovah is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In Genesis he is called a man because he shows up to Abraham in the form of a man. Here in Exodus he is referred to as the AngelYehovah because he is showing up in a glorified form and this remains consistent throughout the Tanakh.

Exodus 24:9 (NLT)

Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain.

Exodus 24:10 (NLT)

There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself.

Exodus 24:11 (NLT)

And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!

Here we see 74 people go up on to Mount Sinai and they all see God.

This is Jesus (AngelYehovah) that they see because they can see his feet and legs.

He invites them to eat because he is entering into covenant with them

This is classic Jesus, he eats with people and brings them into the covenant and he reveals who he truly is over a meal.

He ate with prostitutes and tax collectors. He ate a covenant meal with the disciples right before his crucifixion. After he rises again he sits with the disciples from the road to Emmaus and it is in the breaking of bread that their eyes are open to see who he is

They can’t see his face which is common when Jesus is presenting his glory

Seeing his face would be too much glory for us and it would destroy us

We only see his face when he is in a non-glorified form

Remember Moses wanted to see his face so bad on the mountain and Jesus put him in the crevice of a rock and passed by where he could get a glimpse of his glory

His face is described as glowing with brilliant light

Remember that when Moses got a glimpse of God’s glory, his face was glowing as well when he came off the mountain

This is what makes the Aaronic Blessing so special to me.

It is found in Numbers 6:24 and when I used to close out the services at the end, we always ended with the Aaronic blessing. Knowing the his face will devour you because he is so holy and we have sinned, now listen to the blessing and see how meaningful it is.

Numbers 6:24 (TLV)

“‘ADONAI bless you and keep you!

Numbers 6:25 (TLV)

ADONAI make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you!

Numbers 6:26 (TLV)

ADONAI turn His face toward you and grant you shalom!’”

Then it is here on Mount Sinai where the Bible says that the Angel Yehovah (Jesus) carved the commandments into the stone

This gives a whole new meaning to the instance in John 8 where a woman is caught in adultery. He, yet again, takes his hand and carves something and he shows that the law was created for relationship and not condemnation

I’ve often wondered why he almost sounds like he is refuting the law in the sermon on the mount. He says, you’ve heard this but I say this.

Only the law-giver can amend the law

He calls us to a higher standard as the one who created the law in the first place

Here is one more very important appearance of Jesus in the story of the Exodus.

Deuteronomy 34:5 (NLT)

So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, just as the LORD had said.

Deuteronomy 34:6 (NLT)

The LORD buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but to this day no one knows the exact place.

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