Two Pillars & the Purposes of God- Exodus 13

Have you ever just sat and watched a baby? I mean, have you ever just sat and watched them play, coo, and grab at things? They move their arms and legs and seem to have zero purpose.

We know that they are learning and growing, but we also can observe that babies do not have purposes. They do not wake up thinking, “What can I accomplish today?” “Alright, I need to get five feedings in, and I need to start working on building up my neck strength.”

No, babies do not do that. They are incapable of having a purpose. As we consider children and adults, things change drastically. Children love to have fun, learn, explore, and play. Adults have careers and hobbies and seek to accomplish those plans.

Why do I bring this up? Because this morning we are discussing the purposes of God. There are things in Scripture that we can be absolutely sure of. God loves His children, God is holy, God is in complete control. But another thing, and one that perhaps we forget to frequently, is that God is purposeful.

That is to say, God has a reason for everything that has happened, is happening, an d will happen. Ultimately, His purpose is to glorify His great name. Secondarily, His purpose is to cultivate the image of Christ in His children. To a degree, we all would acknowledge this and believe it. These are not so difficult to acknowledge.

It is in the midst of daily life, though, that we often forget this truth. We have a rough day where everything that could go wrong does. We receive bad news about our health or retirement. We are prevented from doing something we want to do.

We also forget this when it comes to different parts of the Scriptures and the life of faith. We have before us this morning a wonderful reminder of God’s purposes woven through chapter 13.

I would like us to keep this thought in our hearts and minds:

God always has a purpose for everything that happens…even if I cannot see it.

Keep this thought in your hearts and minds, let it be as second nature to you as breathing, for the time will come when you will be tempted to doubt the purposes of God, but this passage before us this morning is a comfortable reminder for the believer.

I. God’s Purpose in the Feast- 13:1-16

Before we dive into our present chapter in Exodus, I believe it would be profitable for us to turn our attention to Paul’s words in Colossians 2:16-17.

Colossians 2:16-17 “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

Before the foundation of the world, God had His plan of redemption in place. This wonderful work of God, whereby He planned to save His people through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son, is one of the wonders of God’s interactions with humanity.

This plan was revealed first in Genesis 3:15 and then, as the Second London Confession says, “by farther steps” through the Old Testament. Types, shadows, pictures, tangible things and celebrations and feasts that all anticipated the coming of the Messiah.

A. Remember Your Past- 13:3a, Eph. 2:11-12

God commands His people to “remember,” remember what happened that night when the Lord delivered you out of Egyptian slavery. Each year this feast was celebrated, and each year the people were reminded of the torturous living in Egypt. Remember the turmoil of your souls, the very depths of your depression and hopelessness.

And we New Covenant believers have this same command in Eph. 2:11-12. Remember our hopeless estate before God saved us! Headed to hell with a ferocity and great desire, the Lord stooped down and saved us. Remember your past as we celebrate this feast!

B. Remember Your Sin- 13:3b-7, 1 Cor. 5:6-8

Leaven, as we see from the New Testament, is like sin, and therefore we remember our sinfulness and need for God to step in and help. It is a purifying feast, designed by the purposeful God to purify His people.

Israel was no more deserving of God’s deliverance than the Egyptians were of God’s grace. Let this truth humble us as we walk in this sin-saturated world.

C. Remember His Law- 13:8-10

God commanded the observance of this feast to remind His people of His Word. God delivered Israel from bondage, and each year this feast reminded them of this deliverance but also of His Word. Moses writes, that this feast would be:

a sign on your hand

a memorial between your eyes

“that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth.” (v. 9)

This feast was so immersive that Israel could not help but have the Law of the Lord in their mouths and hearts and eyes.

D. Remember the Cost- 13:11-16, Acts 2:22-23

Moses tells Israel what to do when they enter the promise land. They are to redeem the firstborn because, as God told Moses in 13:2, the firstborn is His.

We see the cost of Israel’s redemption: the death of the firstborns of Egypt. Likewise, this feast and annual reminder pointed to the death of the ultimate firstborn: Jesus Messiah. God’s purpose in this feast was to point forward to the coming of Messiah and His eventual death. Redemption is costly.

God’s purpose in the feast was to help Israel remember their past, their sin, His law, and the cost of redemption. Brothers and sisters, as we celebrate the feast of the Lord’s Supper, these should all stand out in our hearts and eyes. But God has purpose in the way as well.

II. God’s Purpose in the Way- 13:17-22

By way of analogy, I see this connected to the daily walk of the believer. While the feast was annual (and our observance of the Lord’s Supper on the fifth Sunday of the month), this deals with daily life.

A. God’s purpose often takes us a way that does not make human sense- 13:17, 1 Cor. 1:26-31

I love how Moses records that phrase “although that was near.” God is not interested in efficiency for efficiency’s sake. His purposes do not make sense to the human mind. It would have made better sense, from a human perspective, to go through Philistia. But the LORD who knows all things knew it was better to take another route.

When we hit a phase of life that does not pan out the way we think it should, we would be wise to submit ourselves to the sovereign leading of our gracious God. God works quite differently than humanity does, and God is always good and just to His children. Another comforting truth is that...

B. God’s purpose is tailored to our level of maturity- 13:17-20, 2 Cor. 12:7-10

This is a further expansion on our previous point, but it bears mentioning. As we consider the entirety of Scripture, we can see that God deals with us individually. He does not expect from Peter the same that He expects from David. Church history teaches us the same. We read of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, who were about to be burned at the stake for preaching the gospel. Latimer tells Ridley, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as shall never be put out.” We think, I could never do that! Well, God deals with us based on our maturity and He gives grace necessary for the task (cf. 2 Cor. 12:7-10).

The Lord’s purpose is to make you like His Son, Jesus, and He adapts to our level of maturity to help us grow.

C. God’s purpose is always accompanied by God’s presence- 13:21-22

Of all the points we have discussed thus far, this is, to me at least, the most encouraging.

God gave Israel tangible evidences of His presence: the two pillars. Smoke by day, fire by night, these never departed from Israel on their wilderness journeys. It guided them by day and night, showing them the way that God wanted them to traverse.

Wouldn’t you have loved that? Would that not be awesome to have now? I mean we walk outside and there is the pillar of smoke, guiding us to work and to appointments and to meetings. Or, we go to take the trash out at night and there is a giant pillar of fire lighting the way.

We joke about those type of scenarios, but I imagine that most of us, at one point or another, find ourselves a little jealous of these visible manifestations of the presence of God. But brothers and sisters, God’s purpose is always accompanied by God’s presence. We have something better, as the author of Hebrews would say comparing to two covenants.

John 14:16 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,”

Matthew 28:20 “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?””

We may not have the visible manifestation of God’s presence, but we have something better: His indwelling.

God always has a purpose for everything that happens…even if I cannot see it.

I imagine that many of the Israelites were like us today, struggling with believing the LORD even though both we and they saw God’s miraculous actions. The purpose of this chapter is to remind us that God always has a purpose for everything that happens…even if I cannot see it.