Our Redemption Story

The Redemption

The book of Exodus is a continuation of the book of Genesis. Genesis concluded with the story of Joseph and him being the Pharaohs right hand man. Joseph was the reason that Egypt survived the 7 year famine and through the famine Joseph’s family inhabited the land of Egypt. The Israelites in Egypt started through Joseph and they were originally respected among the Pharaoh.

After the death of Joseph he was soon forgotten and a new Pharaoh took control of the country. The new Pharaoh hated the Israelites and knew that if they revolted against them that they would win due to their number. The Pharaoh would force the Israelites into hard labor in order to eliminate them.

He also commanded that every new born baby boy be killed the moment that they are born by being thrown into the nile river. This is a two fold purpose because it kills the Israelite males but the Nile River was also considered to be a God to the Egyptians so they were offering a sacrifice to their god through throwing the babies there.

The nurses are the ones who were called to throw the babies into the Nile but:

Because the midwives feared God and did not do what the Pharaoh had commanded God blessed them. God allowed for them to thrive and have their own families.

Throughout this terrible time for the Israelites God brought them a savior.

Israel was in need of a person who could redeem them from this terrible way of living and now we will read the story of his birth.

Moses was born at an unlikely time but will become the leader of the Israelites.

1. God is in Control

Exodus 2:1–10 NLT

1 About this time, a man and woman from the tribe of Levi got married. 2 The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a special baby and kept him hidden for three months. 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she got a basket made of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch. She put the baby in the basket and laid it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. 4 The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him. 5 Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, and her attendants walked along the riverbank. When the princess saw the basket among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it for her. 6 When the princess opened it, she saw the baby. The little boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This must be one of the Hebrew children,” she said. 7 Then the baby’s sister approached the princess. “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” she asked. 8 “Yes, do!” the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby’s mother. 9 “Take this baby and nurse him for me,” the princess told the baby’s mother. “I will pay you for your help.” So the woman took her baby home and nursed him. 10 Later, when the boy was older, his mother brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her own son. The princess named him Moses, for she explained, “I lifted him out of the water.”

The redeemer that God brought onto the scene is a baby that was born despite the command to have all male babies killed.

Moses was born in a time in which he would die but his mother kept him in secret for a couple of months in order to prolong his life.

Once he was too old to hide him she made for him an ark built for a baby.

This is the second time we have seen an ark that is the means of salvation. The first ark brought about the salvation of the world physically the second ark brought about salvation for the Israelites.

This ark in Exodus is put into the Nile in hopes of prolonging the babies life but little did the mom know that her son would become a son in the Pharaoh’s court.

She at first must of thought that her son was going to die but God had plans for him to ultimately rescue and entire nation.

So many times we want to put limitations on God and forget that he is in control of everything.

Whenever the ark was sent away the person that opened it was none other than the daughter of Pharaoh!

When she opened the ark she then sent to get a Hebrew woman to care for the baby and the woman was Moses’s mother!

Moses was then raised as an Egyptian in the family of Pharaoh. The name moses means to draw out but the ironic thing is that Moses was drawn out of the nile but he will also draw the Hebrews out of Egypt.

God can use terrible situations and turn them into great things when we are obedient to him.

How does the fact that God protected Moses in the basket encourage you that God is in control?

How did Moses mother’s faithfulness to God benefit her relationship with Moses?

2. Moses’s want

Exodus 2:11–15 NLT

11 Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. 12 After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. 13 The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight. 14 The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” 15 And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened, and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. When Moses arrived in Midian, he sat down beside a well.

Moses killed a man!

Moses who was raised by the Egyptians knew that his people were the Hebrews and that they were being treated terribly by the Pharaoh.

Moses was fed up with this injustice that he had seen so he took the matters into his own hands. This is ironic because Moses will eventually be the “hero” of the Hebrews but it was not at this moment.

We can so often get so ready for something to happen that we will say to God that if doesn’t open up the door then we are going to kick the door down completely. But God is patient with us during these times.

He acted on his own timing and instincts rather than waiting on God’s timing. So many times when it comes to acting and doing things it is easy for us to take matters into our own hands rather than praying and giving it to God.

Like Moses whenever we act on our own timing we will typically get into a way worse situation than where we started.

He was then found out and even judged by the other Hebrew people in the city.

He then had to run for his life.

Moses who had his life set forever because he was Pharaohs grandson is now on the run for his life because he had just killed a man.

The problem is that Moses allowed for his own priorities to come in front of God’s Priorities for his life. Moses wanted the problem to be fixed at that moment and time but that was not the time for the Israelites to be delivered.

Was it right for him save the Hebrew possibly but Moses instantly knew he was in the wrong because he hid the body. He then ran for his life because he had just killed an Egyptian.

During our lives it is easy to allow our emotions to get in the way of Gods timing.

3. How did Moses’s 1st attempt to deliver the Israelites from Egypt fail?

4.How are you trying to fix issues in your life on your own? How can focusing on God’s timing rather than our own fix these issues? (Friendships, Relationships, Sports, etc…)

3. God’s Timing

Exodus 2:23–25 NLT

23 Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. 24 God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.

The Israelites have been praying and complaining and seeking God to help them for over 400 years! But yet they still prayed for deliverance. The Israelites were in terrible conditions and they were still faithful to pray and seek God.

God never forgot them nor did he neglect them but rather it was not in his timing to deliver them at that moment in time.

God knew his people and God listened to their prayers and concerns. God did not just know of them but God knew absolutely everything about them.

God knew they were searching for a way out.

God knew that they were praying for deliverance.

God knew them and saw them but that was not the time for them to be rescued.

Sometimes God doesn’t open opportunities for us so that we are completely relying on him.

What is it that you have prayed for but it never happened? Did you continue praying even though it wasn’t answered immediately?

We can learn from the Israelites perservance but also that God’s timing is always better than our timing. God allows for things in our life to happen to draw us to himself.

5. When have you prayed for something and it didn’t get answered right away? Did you continue praying or give up? (Salvation of a friend or family member, etc…)

6. How can we not get discouraged when our timing doesn’t line up with God’s timing?