Exodus: Learning to Dwell with God
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Learning to dwell with someone can be a challenge. As your lives begin to get intertwined, inevitably areas of friction come to light.
During my first year of college, I lived with two guys - Scott from Michigan and Dave from Warsaw, IN. We got along fairly well. We were all a polite to each other and generally had reasonable habits - but that was the only year we lived together. We lived on a floor that had several other rooms with 2-3 guys in each room. One of the guys on the floor would have the tape of the month. He would play only that album on his music player every day, all month long. It would be okay if you liked that kind of music, but if you didn’t, it was hard to escape from it.
During the fall semester of my senior year, I rented a house with two other guys. They were both fifth year seniors who were going to graduate in December (just in time for Danielle and I to get married). We took turns preparing dinner, doing the dishes, and some of the household chores. I found at one point that I would get very frustrated with the fact that one of the roommates would let the dishes pile up in the sink for hours before he’d get to them. It would drive me crazy - but being the non-confrontational guy that I am, I would internalize it and move on.
Whether it’s college roommates, your spouse, or even your kids - for the first time (at their birth) or the second, third or fourth time when they come home - there is always an adjustment.
As I’ve been taking time to study and read the book of Exodus over the last week or so, it’s become so evident to me the much of the book is laying out the foundation for Israel and God to dwell together. We often only think about the exodus in terms of the big adventurous parts (which we will cover), but we seem to mentally skip over the details the cover more than half of the book! Today, we’ll consider the history of what happened, but we’ll also consider a bit of what God did to help Israel adjust to having God dwell with them.
Background Info:
In the book of Genesis, God blessed Noah and promised to not flood the earth again. God called Abraham and entered into a covenant with him, promising to make him a great nation and to give him land. When the book ends, Abraham’s family through Jacob is roughly 150-200 people. They have retreated to Egypt in order to be rescued from a famine. Main characters have all died, and the book closed with Joseph being embalmed in Egypt - with a promise to bring his body back to the land of his forefathers.
As we dive into the book of Exodus, we get to pick up God’s storyline of history where Genesis left off - learning quickly that the safety and the prosperity in which we left God’s people has fallen into slavery. As we walk through the book, we’re going to learn three primary things:
God delivers His people (ch. 1-18)
God delineates a covenant (ch. 19-24)
God designs a tabernacle (ch. 25-50)
We will also get to see how we are a bit like the people of Israel and God is still doing those things for us through Christ.
If you’d like to open your Bible’s to the book of Exodus, we’ll generally be walking through it, looking at various passages along the way.
The first thing that we get to see is that...
God Delivers His People from Slavery - demonstrating His Sovereignty (ch. 1-18)
God Delivers His People from Slavery - demonstrating His Sovereignty (ch. 1-18)
We find that roughly 350 years have passed (Ex. 12:40 - less 80 years or so for the life of Moses) and the family of Jacob has become a small nation. We also learn that Joseph, once the prime minister of Egypt, has been forgotten by the Pharaohs and Jacob’s family has fallen out of favor. Being the size and strength that they are, they become a threat to the king of Egypt and are subsequently enslaved, forced to make bricks. Because of the way that they were continuing to grow, the Pharaoh told the Midwives to kill all of the baby boys. It’s difficult to know if any actually lost their lives, but it appears that the midwives not only covered for the Israelite women, but the women themselves had children without the aid of the midwives.
So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
It is in this time period into which we find one of the main character’s of the book is born - Moses. His mom gives birth and tries to nurse him quietly. When she can no longer keep him quiet, she places him in a basket in the Nile, where he is picked up by the daughter of the King. Moses’ sister is standing nearby and offers to find a mother to nurse the baby for the princess. Moses then gets to be raise by his own mother, but then also seems to get some of the privileges of life in the palace. He gets a sort of dual citizenship - as an Israelite and an Egyptian.
Around the age of 40, Moses seeks to avenge the mistreatment of one of the Israelites and kills an Egyptian who was beating that Israelite. When he discovers that his “secret” act was found out, Moses runs away to the wilderness, to Midian - which is on the border of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba on the Arabian Peninsula.
As the conditions continue to go from bad to worse, the people cry out to God and God responds.
During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Side Note on Lament: When you and I encounter difficulties and trials - do we cry out to God? Do we turn to Him in hope for His aid? Do we trust in his promises? Sometimes those challenges are extremely difficult, especially when it seems like the goodness of God has run out and our circumstances overwhelm us.
The Bible calls the kind of groaning a “lament” - or as Mark Vroegop defines it - “a prayer in pain that leads to trust.” The Psalms are full of these kinds of prayers - in fact roughly 1/3rd of the Psalms are laments.
Just like the people of Israel encountered this challenge and cried out to God - I believe it’s okay for us do to the same. To see a beautiful example of this, let me encourage you to read Psalm 77 - in the Psalm you’ll find raw emotion in difficult circumstances, but also a foundation of trust in God that remembers times in the past in which God has been faithful.
As we continue looking into that time of God’s faithfulness - the Israelites have returned to and remembered what God did here in Egypt. This time of slavery and persecution became the key event that demonstrated God’s faithfulness in Israel’s past.
Back to the storyline in Exodus: So Moses is in Midian and is actually at Mt. Horeb or Mt. Sinai. It is there that God calls Moses through the burning bush. Moses reluctantly agrees to do what God has asked of him.
As he prepares to head back to Egypt with his wife, son, and his older brother Aaron, God warns Moses that this will be difficult and He tells him:
And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
Did we just read that right? Did God say that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart? And beyond that - that God would kill Pharaoh’s son? This seems is a very challenging thing for us to consider - or at least challenging for me. In fact over the next several chapters, there are roughly 5 more times when it is says that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart (7:3-5; 9:12; 10:20, 27; 11:10), 4 times when it says that Pharaoh’s heart was simply hardened (7:13-14, 22; 8:19; 9:7), and 2 times when Pharaoh hardened his own heart (8:15; 32) (Dever, 92). I wish I could that that I fully understand this - why would God do that? Why would God harden Pharaoh’s heart - producing the result that he won’t the the people go? One thing that we can see is the God is actively working - He is not passive.
Mark Dever writes, “Circumstances do not determine God’s plan; God’s plan determines circumstances.” (Dever, 93)
As we consider God’s sovereignty - which is essentially His rule or reign over everything - we have to come to the startling conclusion that this does not mean that things will always be easy or even good. Does God ordain wicked actions? It certainly seems like it. We may not always like it or understand it, but it gives us an opportunity to trust that God knows what He is doing. God seems to have ordained the Judas would follow Jesus for a few years and then betray Him. He seems to have ordained that His Son would be rejected by the very people that God called to be a blessing to the world, in order to truly accomplish the promise that He made to Abraham.
(possibly include story at FBC - pastor leaving abruptly, thrust into a difficult position, some unwise choices, breach of trust by leaders and a friend. While none of that was pleasant, God used those difficulties to prepare my heart. I don’t know that I can say with Joseph - what they meant for evil, God meant for good - because I don’t think they meant anything for evil, nor did I, but God was working something broader and grander. I think He was teaching me things I needed to learn - he was preparing me to leave.)
Moses and Aaron come to the people of Israel in Egypt and they tell them all of the things that God will be doing - probably even that God will harden Pharaoh’s heart. The people respond in an amazing way:
And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.
After talking to the Israelites, Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh. In fact, Pharaoh reveals that he has no idea who this God is - and frankly doesn’t care.
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”
And so begins a few months of plagues that demonstrate God’s power. Some of the miraculous signs can be imitated by Pharaoh’s magicians - others are too great for them. During this time, Pharaoh becomes more and more obstinate and makes life more difficult for the Israelites - they respond with grumbling and seem to now want to just stay in Egypt (they stop believing) - but Moses and Aaron press on.
Eventually, God institutes a feast called the Passover - calling the Israelites to kill and roast a lamb, putting its blood on the doorposts and lentil’s of their houses. They are to quickly eat the meal and be ready. At night, the angel of the Lord passed through all of Egypt, killing the firstborn of humans and animals - except for those in the houses with the blood on the frames of the door.
This tragic night finally broke Pharaoh’s heart - temporarily - and he told the Israelites to leave. In fact the people of Egypt wanted them out because of the pain that they sent them off with silver and gold.
So the Israelites proceed from that area - over 600,000 men (not to mention the women and children) - some estimate over 2 million people - they begin to journey toward the region of Sinai - where God initially called Moses.
In order to protect the people from a potential war with the Philistines - God had the Israelites cross into that region through the Red Sea. As they approached the bank of the sea, they could feel the pressure of the Egyptians coming behind - 600 chariots and an army of soldiers. The Israelites cry out and Moses replies:
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
God then calls Moses to lift up his hands and tell the people to walk toward the sea. A wind from the east divides the waters and they walk through the midst of the sea on dry ground - with a wall of water on either side. An Angel of the Lord moved behind the people of Israel and guarded them from behind, protecting them from the on-coming Egyptians.
As the Israelites make it through to the other side, the Egyptians enter where the water should be. The ground begins to get soft and the wheels of the chariots sink in mud. God then causes the water to close in over them - saving the Israelites from the Egyptians for good.
Over the next couple of months the Israelites continue to march South East toward Sinai.
As they are marching forward - the Israelites two more times of doubting before they reach Sinai.
Israelites demonstrate lack of trust in God as they grumble for food - God provides Manna (Ex. 16) - Moses later recounts that they should not live by bread alone (Dt. 8:3)
Israelites test God over water - because the water was bitter. (Ex. 17:1-7)
In the final element of this part of the journey, Jethro (Moses’ Father in Law) acknowledges God’s sovereignty after seeing what God did for Israel (Ex. 18:11), and advises Moses regarding judging the people and sharing the burden (Ex. 18:13-26).
In this action packed first section of the book, God demonstrated His sovereignty to the people of Israel, Egypt and to on-lookers as He rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
From here, the story begins to slow down as the people reach Sinai. It is here that..
God delineates a covenant with His people (ch. 19-24)
God delineates a covenant with His people (ch. 19-24)
Where the first part of the book dealt with a great deal of action and activity, these last chapters cover less than a year.
At Sinai - God calls the people to enter into a covenant with Him and the people agree
Ex. 19:4-6 - God’s testimony and promise
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
Ex. 19:8 - The people respond
All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
So the people are then called to prepare themselves for the conditions of the covenant. They are to bathe themselves and to remain pure. After a couple of days, a cloud descends on Mt. Sinai and God speaks to Moses there.
It is here that God gives Moses The 10 Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17) - after hearing the ten commandments and the awesome display of God’s power through the thunderings - the people asked Moses to speak for God and coward away in fear. They are afraid.
Moses then returns to the mountain as God gives him The “Book of the Covenant” (Longman III, 75) - Ex. 20:22-22:33)- various laws about worship, life, morality, retribution, etc.
The People Agree to the terms of the covenant (Ex. 24:7)
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
These few chapters deal with a lot of details about how the Israelites should live. It’s difficult to know how much time actually passed, but it does not seem to be very much time.
Moses is then called back up to the mountain to wait - to simply remain there at wait on God (God was going to give Moses the tablets on which the covenant had been written). How do you and I do when God calls us to simply wait? It is so difficult. In Moses’ case - not only was he waiting, but Joshua was with him there. Aaron and the Israelites were down below. On the seventh day after God gave this command to wait, God called Moses into the cloud the displayed his glory on the mountain. Moses was there for 40 days as ...
God describes His tabernacle - the symbol of His dwelling with His people (ch. 25-40)
God describes His tabernacle - the symbol of His dwelling with His people (ch. 25-40)
Moses receives instructions for the tabernacle (the tent of worship and dwelling) and it’s elements (ark of the covenant, table, lamp stand, altar, priests garments, oil, consecration of priests, altar of incense, rules for Sabbath, and God even names two people who are especially gifted to do the work).
During this time, the people began to be anxious and want to get moving on. They cry out to Aaron, asking him to make them an idol as a representation of God and an object of worship. It appears they lasted little less than a month before breaking their covenant with God. The very first commandment said that you will have no other gods. The second called for them to have no idols. In their impatience they did both and worship a Golden Calf - stating this is the God who led them out of Egypt. (Ex. 32)
This is the third time that they succumb to temptation - the first was grumbling for food, the second was testing God over the water - and now - they are worshipping an idol.
Moses comes down the mountain and sees the idol worship and in a fury breaks the stone tablets containing the law, grinds the golden calf into powder and forces the people to drink it by mixing it in their water. He then ordains several priests to kill roughly 3000 people.
Moses confesses the sin of the people and in a beautiful sign of humility, offers his life instead of theirs (Ex. 32:31-32).
So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
The Apostle Paul demonstrated a very similar love for the people of Israel, longing that they would believe - willingly foregoing eternity for their sake.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
In response to this act of betrayal, God commands the people to leave Sinai - except without his presence.
God reiterates the covenant and the people mourn over their sin - demonstrating a sincere repentance. They even removing their ornaments which became the temptation to make an idol. What are the things that we need to put away in order to keep us from sinning against God?
It seems as though there is a real change beginning to happen.
Moses then intercedes - longing for God’s presence to go with them. - (ex. 33:12-14)
Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
God agrees to move forward with Israel
Moses returns to the mountain to replace the tablets containing the commandments and the covenant. It is here when God presents himself to Moses and declares what Dever calls the riddle of the Old Testament:
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
In response to God’s statement, Moses once again intercedes for the people of Israel and asks that the Lord will go with them...
And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
God then renews the covenant while Moses is there on the Mountain with him for another 40 days.
This time, the Israelites seem to stick to it. They wait patiently for Moses.
When Moses comes down, he not only has the commandments and the covenant, but he has the instructions for the tabernacle - the symbol of God’s presence with them.
Moses calls the people to bring offerings of specific materials in order to be used to make the tabernacle, its ornaments, all of the utensils for worship, and the robes for Aaron the priest. Moses also has specific instructions for two men who have been gifted by God especially to complete the assembly of the tabernacle.
The people respond in a big way, bringing offerings for the tabernacle (more than what is needed) - in fact they have to be asked to stop bringing things. The Tabernacle is erected nearly one year after they left Egypt - on the first day of the first month (Ex. 40:17).
God’s glory rested on the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35) -
From then on, as they journeyed, the cloud would raise up when they needed to move. When they travelled during the day, God’s presence appeared as a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.
As I have read through this book many times in the past, I missed many of the details and the timelines. In studying this, there is really not much time that passes from the chapter 12 until the Tabernacle is completed in chapter 40 - just one year. During that year there is the passing through the Red Sea, three instances of the people falling into temptation, an initial covenant agreement and a renewal, Moses spends about 80 days on the mountain with God. When the people finally get right with God, they respond with glad-hearted generosity.
This process of learning to dwell together was challenging. After 430 years in Egypt, the people had grown comfortable in their own ways and were familiar with some Egyptian ways. Now they were set apart as a people, unique unto God - and the adjustment took some time.
There is one final element of the Exodus that I think we need to consider.
God through Christ delivers us from slavery to sin, delineates a covenant, and dwells with us by the Holy Spirit.
God through Christ delivers us from slavery to sin, delineates a covenant, and dwells with us by the Holy Spirit.
Consider these similarities between the Exodus and Jesus.
Like Moses, he was born when other boys were being killed (Mt. 2:16-18)
He escaped to Egypt for asylum and then departed from Egypt - Mt. 2:13-15; 19-20
Baptism (Red Sea) - Mt. 3:13-15 -
Time in wilderness (40 years/40 days)
Overcoming temptations:
bread Ex. 16:3/Mt. 4:1-4
Testing - Ex. 17:1-7/ Mt. 4:5-7
Worship - Ex. 32/Mt. 4:8-11
Law/Covenant with the sermon on the Mount - Ex. 19-24/Mt. 6-8
Tabernacle was erected as the symbol of God’s presence with Israel - Ex. 25-40/Jesus came to dwell or “tabernacle” - John 1:14 -
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus then sealed the covenant with His blood by bearing our sin on the cross, dying in our place and resurrecting to new life - conquering the power of sin.
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Beyond that - Spirit dwells within us - as our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19; John 14:16-17)
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Closing thoughts:
God’s sovereignty is a mysterious and serious thing. I don’t fully understand it, but I’m growing in my ability to trust God - even in the midst of circumstances and truths that seem so difficult.
God heard the laments of his people and responded - will we cry out to God in hopeful expectation that He will do what He has promised in His word?
Will we walk with God in obedience as He dwells within us by His Spirit? Will we willingly adjust to God’s way of doing things? After all - He is God!
Friend - if you are not yet a follower of Christ - will you get serious about your sin, repent and turn to trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ? He offered his life as the perfect sacrifice for your sin and mine. The Bible says,
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Throughout the remaining pages of scripture - the exodus becomes a defining moment in Israel’s history. God’s strong hand and outstretched arm of salvation from Egypt became called the Israelites to remember.
For us, the cross of Christ became our demonstration of God’s strong hand and outstretched arm as he conquered sin and death.
Give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let’s pray.
Benediction: