(Exodus 1:1-7) A Promise Given, A Promise Kept (Single)

This morning I have a $20 bill.

Fresh, crisp, and wrinkle free.

May I suggest,

for every one of these we possess we are trusting our government to keep their promise.

You see a $20 bill - is a promise.

I hate to tell you today - but It's not really worthy anything.

It is a tender.

A Public note.

In fact, as I read it – this note is the legal tender for all debts, public and private.

In other words it's an insurance document.

The only real money out there is silver and gold, diamonds.

But - in order to help us not have to carry around bars of gold everywhere

our government holds a bar of gold and instead issues us an insurance document.

In this case a $20 bill.

Every time I use a $20 dollar bill

I am trusting my government to keep its promise that this will be worth $20 worth of gold.

In fact, we are so trusting of our government we don't even use $20 bill that much.

We rely on plastic cards that say we have $20 instead of actually holding the paper document.

Our entire monetary system is based on trust.

This morning I would like to challenge us to trust the promises of God

Today - we are looking at Exodus -

A Book that ushers in a new age in the history of humanity.

The book of Exodus contains some of the greatest display of God's power anywhere in the Bible.

It is a book that points us to the power and majesty of God.

And this morning we are looking into the first 7 verses of the book of Exodus.

It is perhaps a section that does not get the same level of attention - that the rest of the book receives.

That is we all talk about the 10 plagues,

but rarely do we talk about the genealogy of the first 7 verses .

However, I would challenge us that - you can’t really understand the rest of of Exodus

> Unless you first understand the first 7 verses of Exodus.

Why is that?

The first 7 verses are not merely - a list of names.

But they tell an important part of the story of the Exodus.

Because those first 7 verses explain to us that all the Miracles of God in Exodus are ultimately about God keeping his promises.

The Genealogy,

the formula,

the details he includes

are all meant to help us remember the promises God gave to Israel

And to help us realize that God is faithful to those promises.

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Exodus 1:1–7 ESV

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. 7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

The First Seven verse of Exodus remind us -

God is a promise keeper

And this text will help us understand how we can trust God to be faithful to his promises.

The first understanding we should have from Exodus is that -

1) Israel was promised bound. (Exodus 1:1-6)

There are several reasons from this text

that we should understand the book of Exodus as being about God keeping promises.

> To begin with,

why does Moses restate the genealogy of Jacob?

Exodus 1:1–5 ESV

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5 All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.

Each of these names are the households of Jacob.

What eventually will be called the 12 tribes of Israel.

Why does he place this genealogy here?

It's not because we can’t get it from anywhere else,

because all of these names could have been found in the book of Genesis.

And it’s the same author - Moses.

So the genealogy is intended to make us consider what God is doing with the children of Jacob.

> Further,

Moses explicitly tells us that Jacob, Joseph, and all of his generation died in Egypt.

Exodus 1:6 ESV

6 Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

What is the significance of that?

- We're supposed to realize Jacob's children dying in Egypt is a problem.

- Were supposed to realize there is more to the story then just an >>> exit, right stage to Egypt.

It is almost as though God’s plan has been derailed.

And finally,

Exodus is meant to be sequel to Genesis.

You cannot understand either the book of Exodus or Exodus 1 without understanding it is a sequel to the book of Genesis.

Exodus picks up where Genesis left off.

The first five verses of Exodus record genealogy the children of Jacob.

Exodus is meant to continue the story from Genesis.

In other words

– we cannot understand the book of Exodus

>>>>>>>>>>>>without understanding how God is keeping the promises he made in Genesis.

The first understanding we should have is that Israel is promised bound.

God has made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

… and thus the tribes of Israel are promise bound.

Consider the promises from the book of Genesis, that are partially fleshed out in Exodus.

Let’s first consider

a) The promises to Abraham. (Gen 12:1-3, 15:4-6, 17:1-8)

He will make his children into a great nation, and bless the nations.

Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)

1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Children will number the stars.

Genesis 15:4–6 (ESV)

4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Further, lets consider,

b) The promises to Isaac. (Gen 26:23-25)

Genesis 26:23–25 ESV

23 From there he went up to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.

In essence, the promises to Abraham were extended to Isaac.

And Finally, consider

c) The promises to Jacob (also called Israel). (Gen 32:27-28, 35:9-15)

Genesis 35:9–15 (ESV)

9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

In essence, God extends the promises of Abraham to Jacob.

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So what does Genesis teach us that is important for us to remember as we begin Exodus.

What is Moses pointing us back to!

God has promised Abraham that he will

bless his children

make his children to number the stars

make his children a great nation

and bless all the nations through him.

And extended that promise to Isaac, then to Jacob.

And so,

the departure of Abraham’s children to Egypt seems like a derailment of God’s plan.

Has God forgot about his promises?

Is God slack in keeping his promises?

[[[[[ Those are some of the questions posed at the end of Genesis and the beginning of Exodus. ]]]]

It causes us to look to the pages of Exodus - to find out how God is going work things out.

Another understanding, Exodus 1 teaches us is -

2) Israel had forgotten their God.

I admit that this is an argument from silence.

And I recognize that arguments from silence are not the strongest argument that can be used.

And you will often hear me say, be careful because that's an argument silence.

What you don’t know, can kill your theory.

But I use it here because I think it is a strong argument from silence,

and there's a lot from the rest of Exodus in the book of numbers that reinforce it.

And,

Fortunately the ideas not my own invention,

but a reality that many scholars have noted.

And an important question we have to ask,

is what is the spiritual state of Israel at this time?

So what is the basis that I can say-

Israel has forgotten their God.

a) Exodus 1 and 2 has a shocking absence of the name, LORD.

It is found all over the place in the book of Genesis.

From Exodus 3 and on it has a major role.

YET,

Exodus 1 and 2 are surprisingly silent.

Where is the name of the LORD?

In fact the closest reference to God at all is in Exodus 1:17.

Exodus 1:17 ESV

17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

> Additionaly,

b) Moses asking the name of the Lord in Exodus 3:13 shows Israel has forgotten.

Exodus 3:13–14 ESV

13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”

Why does Moses ask by what name he is to share with his people?

It implies he doesn’t know it.

> And Finally,

c) It is surprising Exodus 1 and 2 we do not see Israel crying out to their God.

It strange that no where in Exodus 1 and 2 do we see Israel crying out to their God.

Given the ruthless slavery

and male genocide of Exodus 1

>>>> we would expect that those who trust in the LORD, to call upon the Lord for help.

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What this surmounts too is — is that Israel likely had forgotten the name of the LORD.

They had forgotten who the LORD was.

How the LORD blessed Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even Joseph and his brothers.

The memory of their ancestors was probably fading.

But even more important- their memory of the LORD was fading.

Israel seems to be disappearing in Egypt.

From an ethnic standpoint it looks like Israel is going to die in Egypt.

From a spiritual standpoint looks like Israel is going to die in Egypt.

By what nobody expected was the birth of a nation.

Another understanding, Exodus 1 teaches us is -

3) The unexpected fulfillment: The birth of a nation. (Ex 1:7)

From an outside perspective Israel should have been swallowed up by the Egyptians.

The death of Jacob and his children

should have been the end of Israel as the people - not the beginning.

But something strange has happened.

Look down at Exodus 1:7.

Exodus 1:7 ESV

7 But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

The intensity of the language here sometimes is missed by us.

In English you can see that bit repetitive.

But in the Hebrew uses four separate verbs to describe how they were prospering.

One of these words is really interesting.

Our ESV translates this increased greatly,

which in most cases is talking about swarms or fish or other animals.

You can imagine swarms of frogs coming out of a lake ... and now you have the picture of Israel growing in swarms.

It uses the word strong twice to intensify this idea that they are growing.

This verse uses what is perhaps the strongest language you could use to describe Israel abundantly growing.

They are feeling the land like a swarm of bee's.

But remember –

they were a people who are forgetting their ancestors

and even more likely forgetting their God.

The death of the sons of Jacob in Egypt, should have amounted to the end of Israel.

Yet there growing in swarms.

How?

Why?

While Exodus 1 and 2 do not properly give credit to God ...

- Being the sequel to Genesis

- and given that God has given Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob promised to bless their children

... I think we know how and why they are growing like swarms.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Because the Lord is blessing them just as he promised.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

CONCLUSION:

God is a promise keeper

And this text help us understand how we can trust God to be faithful to his promises.

We as Christians rest in the promises of God.

We trust that God will be-

Merciful and gracious

steadfast and faithful

never forsaking us

abounding in love

always working things for our good

always with us

giving us strength when we are weak

And we trust that one day he will keep his promise to return

and take us with him to a place

>>>>> where Christ had already won the victory over everything - including sin and death.

>>>>>>>>>>>> A Place where we can rest in a perfect world, illuminated by the very magnificence of Christ.

Our faith is built on nothing less… then the promises of God.

Sometimes we struggle with

remembering,

trusting,

and rejoicing in those promises.

Don’t we?

We doubt God's

love,

goodness,

wisdom,

presence,

his power.

Heck,

sometimes we get so distracted with our selves that we forget about God's love, goodness, wisdom, presence, his power.

I don't say that to make us feel guilty.

Because there is a great irony in the text.

>>>> Don’t take this as a sermon to make us feel guilty.

This text should be a powerful comfort to us,

even if we are praying, I believe LORD, help my unbelief.

I want you to zone in on this today - because when I realized the irony of this, I was blown away.

Consider

God is not keeping his promises to people who have simply forgotten about the promises he made.

God is keeping his promises to a people who don't even know his name, much less the promises he made to them.

Wow

God could have said … you forget about me … I don’t have to keep my promises.

But he didn’t - he is keeping them.

If God will keep his promises to a people who doesn't even remember his name or the promises -

Don't you think he's going to keep his promises to his adopted children

the ones he sent his very son to die for.

Exodus starts out with 7 fairly small insignificant verses.

There not as flashy as the rest of Exodus

But in there own way … they teach us that we worship a great and mighty God.

The God of the Bible is not like other Gods.

The God of the Bible is not like any God we would make up.

He is so much better.

Ladies and gentlemen -

our God is a promise keeper and we ought to trust God to be faithful to his promises.

Every one of us more often than we want to admit fails to be but we ought to be.

Every one of us more often than we want to admit doubts or forgets what we ought never to doubt or forget.

We do that … we are a people prone to wonder from the God that we love.

But May remember we worship a God who keeps his promises,

even for the people who forget his name.

Lets leave here today

resting,

remembering,

and rejoicing

that our God is faithful to his promises.

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a) When do you struggle with trusting God? What heart attitude contributes to this?

b) Make a list of the 5 promises in Scripture that can encourage you during times of doubt.

c) How do these verses teach us that God will keep his promises to us?