Hope of Israel…pt 2

Good morning again, it is still great to see everyone. We have been testing the technology that allows us to stream the whole service, and so I am pleased to see that at least so far, everything is working. I am happy to know that many of you were actually able to join us online for the entire service so far. That is fantastic! So, since I have already welcomed you I will spend a few minutes reviewing what we talked about over the lsat few weeks.

You see, we are in a series called Hope Reborn. Why in the word did we name this series, Hope Reborn? Well, because as we look at Scriptures we can see that God has given us hope, and then we have squandered that hope away. Not just us, but situations that are outside of our control seen to steal our hope from time to time. Our kids/parents/teachers/bosses/employees/animals/weather are all things that typically steal our hope away. Well, at least it steals our hope away when we allow it to. We will get into that later, but for now I want us to remember this past year, or maybe that past situation that is still kind of haunting you and effecting you and your decisions. You see because ultimately we are looking for hope to be reborn into our own lives. Once we have hope again, well, then it will all be okay. Until then, well, this situation/person is just hopeless...

Now, ok, so heres the deal....obviously we are all in church so we know in our heads that really what i just said is un true....the problem though is that we really kind of....if we are honest with ourselves…we really live in such a way that says things are hopeless. Now, Im not just talking from a vacuum here because I have definitely been there, and frankly I am sure there will be times I feel like I am there again. But, what if…what if we din’t have to live like there was no hope? What if we could face each day of our lives in such a way that we really truly know, not just from knowledge, but from experience that there is actually hope.

Well, thats actually why we titled this series Hope Reborn, because I actually believe it is possible for us to change our perspective to one that allows us to see the hope that God has already put into our situation. However, in order to do that, we need to look at a little more history and learn a little more about God’s story with Israel.

So, in this series we have looked at creation…we have looked at the fall, when sin entered the world. Last week we look at the history from Adam all the way up to the formation of Israel. Now, we didn’t dive deep into that history, but kind of took the highlights. So, this week I want us to continue to look at that story, because Thursday is Christmas Eve and I would really love for us to all understand how Israel and Jesus are so deeply connected. The thing is, this isn’t just some stories that take us through history…this is ONE Story that takes us through all of history. So, lets take a brief look and see how Israel as a nation actually gets to Egypt.

Israel to Egypt

OK, so do you remember last week when I talked about the hopelessness of Israel because there was a famine throughout the whole land, or the whole Earth. Remember, this caused great distress because Israel was a person that has now grown into quite a large group of people that are all looking to him for food. Well, Isreal learns about some food that is in Egypt. Look at

Genesis 42:1–2 ESV

When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.”

You see, in the previous chapter we learned about the severe famine throughout the whole Earth. Then Israel learns about there being food in Egypt and he tells his boys to go get some food. Its amazing as you look at this passage we can see that Israel is a bit confused about why the boys are just looking at each other. Like, they didn’t really want to go all the way to Egypt, but dad tells them that they better go. Now, you may or may not know the reason that they might feel a bit uncomfortable to go to Egypt. You see, Egypt is going to remind them of a pretty heinous sin that they committed against their brother Jospeh. We aren’t actually going to get into that right now, but I want to encourage you to be here in January as we have a series called Rebooted where we will actually talk through Joseph and what all took place there.

Anyway, so Israel sends his sons to go get some food and through a series of events they are all invited to come and live in Egypt. The whole family get to come to Egypt and not only that, but they are given the best area in Egypt to live. In

Genesis 45:9–11 ESV

Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’

So we see that somehow Joseph, Israel’s son, is in charge of Egypt. Now if you don’t already know that story you will need to come back in January to learn about that.

However, the important fact to make note of is that there is a famine that is spread throughout the whole Earth and Israel has no hope…Israel trusted God and God is faithful and so God brings Israel out of a famine and into Egypt where there is food.

Now things aren’t always peachy there in Egypt. Take a look at what happened later in

Exodus 1:8–10 ESV

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

You see, the blessing of Israel later was turned against Israel…Why do you think that happened? Well, actually they were not in the place that God had promised them. They were in a foreign land, and maybe they were pretty comfortable having everything handed to them in that place. Joseph calls them in when he is about to Die and tells them this,

Genesis 50:24–25 ESV

And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”

Ok, so Joesph reminds them first of all that God has made a promise to them as a nation. Therefore, they will need to listen when it is time to move on and go into their new home...The Promised Land. That’s really important, because of what happens next in the story. Remember we just read in Exodus that a new king came into power and he had no ties to Joseph or the Israelites. So, he decided to make the Israelites into slaves in order to control them. Pharaoh even required the the Egyptian midwives to kill the male Israelites to prevent so many from being born. The problem is that the Egyptian midwives feared God more than they feared Pharaoh, so they allowed the baby boys to live. Well, that caused the Egyptian Pharaoh to say,

Exodus 1:22 ESV

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

Now, again this family, that has become a great nation, has lost hope. They were once great in the land, and now they have been cheated, and turned into slaves for another people. The thought they had it all figured out based on what God gave them through Joseph…However, it was just as easily taken away as soon as a new leader was put into power. For any that had put their hope in the land, or in the politics of the kingdom, they have just seen that hope disappear…

Does that sound familiar to anyone? I mean come on, let’s just be honest, how many of you either in person or online have put your faith in something and then had that thing, or person, fail? That’s hard when that happens isn’t it? I mean, if you have your faith in our political system you will be failed. If you put your faith in your family you will be failed. If you put your faith in LRBC or in me as the pastor…I can promise you that you will be failed. That hope will become hopelessness as you realize that the person, place or thing that you put your hope in has failed…has not lived up to your standards. So, then you have a choice. Either put your faith in something else, or put your faith in the one that never fails!

God heard the cry’s of his people, so God brought up a man named Moses. Moses is a very important figure in the OT because he is the man that lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He is, from their perspective, their human savior. Actually let’s take a brief moment and look at how...

Israel leaves Egypt

You see, God brought Moses up in an amazing way by protecting him from the law of killing all Israelite male babies. We can read about that story in Exodus 2…It is an amazing story. I’m not sure if you all believe me when I say these are amazing stories. We will come back and some point and look at these stories more in depth, but for now, don’t just trust me, go read it for yourself this week. Anyway, in Exodus 2 we see how Moses was spared from the Egyptian death law and actually was able to grow up as Egyptian royalty. You heard me right…An Israelite boy, who was supposed to be killed, grew up as Egyptian royalty. I’m telling you, you have to read the story here.

So, all of this is happening and then look at

Exodus 2:23–25 ESV

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.

God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, this is a little confusing based on the english understanding of this terminology. Does this mean that God forgot? I actually love the explanation of Douglas Stuart here.

Exodus 6. Summative Reminder: Severity of the Oppression and God’s Concern (2:23–25)

In covenantal language the term “remember” (zākar) should not be misunderstood to suggest that God was somehow unaware or unconcerned previously. The Bible consistently portrays him as intervening at various times for various purposes, though rarely as soon as humans, self-centeredly, would like. Indeed, this particular remembering comes at the end of no less than 430 years of captivity (12:40)! Thus the emphasis is on ongoing covenant: God’s promises never stopped being valid, however seldom most Israelites may have called upon him to honor his promises in the past. The average Israelite likely knew at least something about the Abrahamic covenant, and it may be useful for the modern reader to realize that the term zākar, “remember,” is idiomatic for covenant application rather than recollection

So to put that all into English for you... In other words, to say “God remembered his covenant” is to say “God decided to honor the terms of his covenant at this time.”

So, God brought up Moses and used Moses to remove the Israelites from Egypt and led them to the Promise Land. However, there are a few hiccups along the way. Multiple times the Israelites complain about how hard life is, then they decide to worship idols instead of the God that literally saved their lives…Then we move into the final opportunity for them to enter the Promised Land and look at what happens. I mean, look at what these people do after God has provided for them day after day. God tells them to go and take the land that he has promised them and this is their response.

Deuteronomy 1:26–33 ESV

“Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.” ’ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.

Did you catch that…Basically they just said “Theres no way we can do what God told us to do.” How insane does that sound to you. They are reminded about what God has done for them, but its to late for them. This is God’s response.

Deuteronomy 1:34–36 ESV

“And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’

Caleb may go up because he has wholly followed the Lord…But that’s not the end…Eventually Israel does enter the Promised Land under the new leadership of Joshua.

Israel enters Promised Land

Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land in,

Joshua 1:10–11 ESV

And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.’ ”

Actually you can read through that story throughout the book of Joshua. Israel lives in that land for quite a while. However, it doesn’t last forever. You see, there are times of Judges because the people of Israel were not living Holy lives. The book of Judges shows us a downward spiral of the Israelites and how they are oppressed and saved, oppressed and saved, multiple times. Then we have a time of Kings and we see that the power of leadership corrupted the man that God initially chose as a king over Israel. Saul started off well, but then took matters into his own hands. Then we have David and finally Solomon, who was the wisest king because he actually asked God for wisdom. There is a problem though because after Solomon died, the Kingdom was split into two kingdoms. There is Israel, the northern kingdom and there is Judah, the southern kingdom.

During this time the Israelites incorporated the worship practices of other nations into their lives, including hte worship of their idols. This action led to the downfall of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel was taken by the Assyrians and the Southern kingdom of Judah was exiled by the Babylonians. This is how...

Israel is removed from Promised Land

Now this experience of being exiled from their home, from the place that God had promised to them. Well, that caused a great many of them to begin to think through what had taken place. You see, they had no temple where the priests could offer sacrifices, so the people began to gather in groups for prayer and to study the Scriptures. It’s actually really possible that during this time many of the Jewish Scriptures were written down and compiled by editors and scribes. These Scriptures made clear why the people of Israel suffered the great humiliation of being exiled. The Jews learned that this exile did not happen by accident. The Lord God allowed it to happen, because the people turned away from God and sinned, forgetting especially the commandment of Exodus 20:3: “Do not worship any god except me.” The failure of this command is what led to their current hopelessness. However, it does’t end there does it. Thankfully it does not. You see, there are prophecies that will happen from this point on and they will talk about the great hope that will be coming. They will talk about how what they currently see as hopeless, will in fact turn around. However, as we saw before, things are not always done in the selfish timing of man. Things are always done in God’s timing which is always perfect, and never late.

Now, I am sure that there are various times where the Israelites in this story might argue that God could have intervened more rapidly. However, if God had intervened more rapidly then the people of Israel would not have learned what it means to truly trust the God that never fails. We have seen the failure of the Egyptians and the riches of the Israelites there. We have seen the failure of the men who refused to enter the land that was given to them, and how that truly caused hopelessness in all of Israel. Then we saw the failure of the kingdom of Israel and how they decided they wanted to be ruled by a personal king, and not a personal God. We saw that kingdom split through a civil war. Then we saw that both of those kingdoms fell to outside sources. We see the hopelessness of everything the Israelite knew and loved was taken away from them.

The thing is, what I love about this story…God is not finished with this story yet. Actually look with me to one of the prophecies that is spoken during this time,

Hosea 11:1 prophecy

Hosea 11:1 ESV

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

So, from this prophecy we can see that there is something coming…there is something happening…There is a new hope in the future. Come on Thursday night and learn how Jesus is the Better (and True) Israel…Join us as we see hope reborn for the Israelites, and we see Hope Reborn for you and me...

—Prayer—