Exodus 6:2-27 - The Seven Promises of Redemption

The Word Read

Please remain standing for the reading of the Holy Scripture. Hear the Word of the Lord from Exodus 6:6-9:

Exodus 6:6–9 ESV

6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

Behold, brothers and sisters, this is the Word of the Lord. Please be seated.

Exordium

Dear Church,

I invite you to open Holy Scripture to Exodus 6:2-27. The Israelites have just learned that Pharaoh has no plans to let them go, nor does he care to decrease the new afflictions he has brought upon them. The foremen squarely put the blame on Moses and Aaron. “If you hadn’t shown up, things would have remained the same. Now, you’ve just made them worse.” It’s a sad state is it not? The Israelites were oppressed and treated as slaves already. Things were not actually going well before Moses and Aaron showed up.

In our passage today, we are going to see seven wonderful promises Yahweh gives to Moses. Moses, in turn, is to tell the people these words. Unfortunately, the people do not listen to Moses which means they do not trust in Yahweh’s words.

The sermon title is, “The Seven Promises of Redemption.” The sermon will have two sections, 1) Exodus 6:2-13 - Yahweh’s Promises of Deliverance, and 2) Exodus 6:14-27 - Genealogies of Moses and Aaron.

Exodus 6:2-13 - Yahweh’s Promises of Deliverance

Exodus 6:2–13 ESV

2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. 10 So the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

At the end of Exodus 5, Moses was obviously dejected. His leadership had been rejected by the people. Moses is at a loss because Pharaoh had not let the people of Israel go. However, the Exodus had already begun and, praise God, He will get glory over Pharaoh.

God speaks to Moses and reminds Moses that He is Yahweh, “I am the LORD.” If you have your Bible open, you’ll notice that verse 8 ends with the same assertion - “I am the LORD.” The passage is framed by the same wording to reveal that all of this goes together. This is called an inclusio.

The Lord told Moses He revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do you notice how the preposition “to” is used before each name? This shows us that Yahweh revealed Himself to each of these three men individually. Furthermore, the same God who is speaking to Moses is the same God who revealed Himself to the patriarchs. He revealed Himself as El-Shaddai - God Almighty. He is the One who is all supreme, sovereign, and almighty. He alone holds all things in His hands. This same God was worshipped by the patriarchs and is still worthy to be worshipped by Moses, Aaron, and the people of Israel. The same God worthy to be worshipped by them is still worthy of our worship today. We gather today to worship Him through Word and worship. It is our great delight to glorify Him today and everyday.

The established covenant Yahweh speaks of in verse 4 is a reference to Genesis 17:1-8. Now, the offspring of Abraham sit in Egypt crying out and this great God of covenant faithfulness heard their cries as they were held as slaves. I can’t get over that truth. Yahweh, God Almighty, rules the entire universe. He knows where every single atom is in the galaxies, and He heard the groaning of His people. The incredible tender-loving compassion of God is on display. I would pray that we would never grow weary of hearing and meditating on the Lord’s compassion to us through Jesus Christ. It was His kindness that led us to repentance. Have we forgotten this? Have we taken the Lord’s compassion and grace for granted? The Lord heard the cries of the people of Israel and He hears our cries today. He is like a loving father who hears they cries of his child. The father lovingly comes to the child’s aide to help. God is compassionate and loving to us today.

How many times have we had this experience: We had a rough day. We’ve lost our tempers on family, friends, co-workers, neighbors etc. Or we’ve given into to that habitual sin we hate so much. We feel like the scum of the earth because we know we’ve sinned. We feel it and we try to hide from the Lord. Yet, the next day we wake up and things seem better. We come to the Father in our devotional time, repent of our sinful thoughts or actions from the previous day, and then experience the flood of God’s forgiveness and grace. It just overwhelms us. It’s as if we are standing under a cliff and a waterfall of Christ’s love falls from the throne of grace and mercy upon our souls. As Lamentations 3:22-23 states,

Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

What an incredible promise for those while Jerusalem is being ransacked by Babylon in 587BC. And what an amazing promise for us today. God’s love, compassions, and mercies never fail. This merciful and compassionate God is going to act on behalf of the people of Israel.

In Exodus 6:6-8 we see seven incredible promises of deliverance. I will go through all seven of these in their historical context, and then I will show you how all those promises relate to us in redemption.

The promises of deliverance start with “I am the LORD”, or “I am Yahweh.” The people of Israel were not delivered because they were worthy in and of themselves of deliverance. They were not delivered because they had been especially faithful and obedient. The reason the Exodus comes to pass is because Yahweh is a God who is faithful to the covenant He made. The Exodus will occur, not because of the people of Israel, but because of Yahweh. All of the seven promises that follow are rooted in Yahweh’s covenantal faithfulness. Furthermore, “I am the LORD” is an assertion of identity for the people of Israel. Their very identity, the core of who they are, is directly connected to Yahweh and the covenant He made with the patriarchs.

Here are the seven promises: 1) I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. The people of Israel are promised they will no longer sit under the egregious afflictions they’ve suffered for decades. 2) I will deliver you from slavery to them. The people of Israel will be a free people. 3) I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. The wording for redeem speaks of a kinsman-redeemer. This reminders us of the story of Ruth where Boaz was her kinsman-redeemer. In the exodus, the Lord redeems the people of Israel and He does this by the 10 plagues. 4) I will take you to be my people. The people of Israel are adopted by Yahweh and are going to be birthed as His nation. 5) I will be your God, and you shall know I am the Lord your god, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. The people of Israel will know the Lordship and supremacy of Yahweh. 6) I will bring you into the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Yahweh will bring the Israelites up out of Egypt and bring them into the land of Canaan. 7) I will give it (the land of Canaan) to you for a possession. Think about this, since the time of Abraham the people of Israel have been sojourners. Now, the Lord is promising these people will possess their own land!

These are seven wonderful promises Yahweh gives the people of Israel as they look forward to the Exodus. He will provide for His people from the beginning of the Exodus until the very end.

Now, I want to show you how these seven promises are also true in redemption. Before I begin, the seven promises of redemption only belong to those who are in Christ. If you sit here this morning and are not a Christian, these promises are not your’s. However, my prayer is that you see how wonderful these promises are and you’ll desire to have them. You’ll see how much the Lord loves, treasures, and takes care of His children in Christ as we see these seven splendid promises of redemption. Like the promises given to the people of Israel, the promises of redemption are only for those who are in covenant with the Lord through person and work of Jesus Christ. The promises given to Israel are rooted in the statement, “I am Yahweh.” Our promises are rooted in the statement, “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9). We experience a spiritual exodus, not because of our own works or worthiness, but because of Christ Jesus. Furthermore, our identity is directly connected to Jesus, the bridegroom, and initiator of the New Covenant.

Promise 1 - I will bring you out from under the burdens of Satan and sin. 2 Corinthians 4:4 reveals that Satan is the god of this world who has blinded the eyes of unbelievers from seeing the glorious gospel. The burden he puts unbelievers under is heavy. Also, the power of sin is an oppressive burden crushing all who sit under it’s power. Yet, Jesus says these words in Matthew 11:29–30 “29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” In the first promise of redemption, the heavy burdens of Satan and sin cast away, and we find rest for our souls in Jesus. We have the promise that Christ brought us out from under the burdens of Satan and sin.

Promise 2 - I will deliver you from your slavery to Satan and the power of sin. In salvation, we become free of being under the god of this world and the power of sin. Though the enemy had at one point blinded us, we now clearly see the glorious gospel. God caused us to see our sin and our need for Christ. In John 8:34, Jesus says that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. Upon salvation, we are no longer slaves held in a dungeon under the powerful master of sin. In salvation, Christ burst into the dungeon, frees us to becomes slaves of the light. We have the promise that Christ delivered us from our slavery to the enemy and the power of sin.

Promise 3 - I will redeem you with an outstretched arm with great acts of judgment. Sin is like oil spilling from a tanker into the ocean. Everything the oil touches is soaked in hideous black slime. We need a Savior to cleanse us from our grotesque, treasonous, anti-God black sin. The death of Jesus on the cross was horrible, brutal, and inhumane. Death on the cross was a terror. Yet, thanks be to Christ for His loving sacrifice whereby by His loving redemptive work we were redeemed. We have the promise that Christ redeemed us.

Promise 4 - I will take you to be my people. Christ takes a people for Himself and births them into existence. The language here is deeply covenantal. It can also speak of a child being adopted. A child in foster care faces the heartbreak of being removed from their biological family. Some may wait years to finally hear someone say, “I am going to adopt you. I will take you to be my child.” Overwhelming joy and gratitude fill the child. This is what happens to us as well. As 1 Peter 2:10 reminds us,

1 Peter 2:10 ESV

10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

We have the promise that Christ has taken us to be His people.

Promise 5 - I will be your God. What an incredible promise. The God of creation, the God of redemption, the God of gods, and the Lord of lords is our God. When we take the promise, “I will take you to be my people” and the promise “I will be your God”, do we not get the entire story of Scripture. The storyline of the Bible is God creating a people to be His for His glory in the redemptive work of Jesus. As the adoptive child hears “you are my child,” they also hear, “I am your Dad/Mom.”

We have the promise in Jesus that the triune God is our God.

Promise 6 - I will bring you into the eternal promised land. This is the promised land Abraham longed to see. A glorious promised land that puts the Biltmore and the Taj Mahal to shame. An inheritance that is so incredible that our minds cannot comprehend it’s beauty. How do we get to this promised land? We cannot get there by ourselves, the Lamb of God leads us home and brings us into paradise.

Christ has secured the promise of the eternal promised land.

Promise 7 - I will give you the eternal promised land to you as a possession.

In Christ, glorification is our future and we will possess the eternal promised land. Strangers living in foreign lands do not own property. They cannot for their aliens. Likewise, this world is not our home. We are strangers and aliens as we pass through this life. Like the Israelites we own nothing in this world. However, we have an eternal home that awaits us. We have the promise of obtaining the eternal promised land.

Brothers and sisters, here are our promises of redemption and they belong to us because all of the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus. If you are not in Christ, these promises are not yours to hold. I pray that you see the beauty of what could be your’s if you repent. I pray that the Spirit of God is convicting your heart in this moment. I pray you would hear the warnings of the thunderclaps and the trumpet blasts of heaven calling you to repent of sin and find solace in the Gospel of God. Only then will you experience what many of us already have—these seven promises are golden drops of honey from the throne room of heaven, dripping into our hearts and souls and providing us with incredible hope and security.

In Exodus 6:9 Moses tells the people of Israel about these promises, but it is of no significance to them for they do not listen because of their broken spirits and their harsh slavery. You can imagine their circumstances. They believed Yahweh would free them immediately, but alas only more afflictions have come. Their beat down. It appears as though Pharaoh’s strategy to break them has worked.

Yahweh does not relent. He tells Moses, “Go tell Pharaoh to let My people go!” You can almost feel Moses’s consternation, “My own people won’t listen to me, you want me to tell Pharaoh to let us go!?!?” Regardless of what the people of Israel believe, and despite the appearance of failure, the Exodus is coming soon. The seven promises of deliverance will become a reality.

Exodus 6:14-27 - Genealogies of Moses and Aaron

Exodus 6:14–27 ESV

14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. 15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. 20 Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. 21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23 Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites by their clans. 26 These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts.” 27 It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.

How many of us get to genealogies in our reading plans and think, “Oh good. I’m tired this morning. I’ll just skim read all these names!” Yet, genealogies play a significant role in Scripture. There are a slew of reasons for Moses’s and Aaron’s genealogy, but I will tell you the three most important reasons.

First, the genealogy tells the readers that Moses and Aaron are in the lineage of Israel the person. Second, Aaron’s family is the priestly line. This line, here in this genealogy, covers the time of the Exodus until the end of the book of Judges with Phineas. Third, and most importantly, in the Lord’s eyes Moses is the chief leader and mediator and Aaron is the priest. This is significant because they are to be the unchallenged leaders for the people of Israel. We see this becomes a problem with another person in this genealogy, Korah. Korah leads a rebellion against Moses and Aaron Numbers 16. The results are catastrophic as the Lord swallows up the households of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Those who come against God’s mediator and high priest face God’s punishment.

We know that Moses, as the mediator, and Aaron, as the high priest, point to Jesus Christ who is the Mediator and the High Priest. Jesus Christ is the great mediator of our sin and the great high priest who continually intercedes for us. He is the rightful head of the Church and He is the rightful head of FPC. Furthermore, He is the leader of our homes and our very lives. How has He been the leader of your life and your home this week? Have we given ourselves fully to Him surrendering each part of our days to our great Mediator and High Priest? Could we confidently say that He has been the unchallenged leader of our lives? Or, would it be more accurate to say there have been areas of our lives where His reign and rule was challenged by our own pride, arrogance, and sinfulness? Did our egos usurp the King of our lives? Did we take authority over our hearts, minds, and lives?

Christ Jesus truly is the unchallenged leader. We may not this today as the god of this world blinds the hearts and minds of unbelievers. We may not see this in this world as sinners rebel against their holy Creator. We will not see the reign and supremacy of Christ fully even in our own lives as we give ourselves to sinful passions. However, there is a day coming when His reign will be made visible and every knee will bow before Him. All will confess, Christ is Lord.

Conclusion

As we leave today, let us remember the seven promises of redemption: 1) We have the promise that Christ brought us out from under the burdens of Satan and sin, 2) We have the promise that Christ delivered us from our slavery to the enemy and the power of sin, 3) We have the promise that Christ redeemed us, 4) We have the promise that Christ has taken us to be His people, 5) We have the promise in Jesus that the triune God is our God, 6) Christ has secured the promise of the eternal promised land, and 7) We have the promise of obtaining the eternal promised land. Let us go in confidence these promises belong to us in and through Christ Jesus.