Into Egypt

Intro: READ THE TEXT The book of Exodus is one of the most popular and well-known sections of Scripture, in both Christian and secular worldviews. Culture has expressed interest over the years with this book, even going so far as to make films from the very events of the book. From the animated film “Prince of Egypt” to “The Ten Commandments” that gets played around Easter every year (I always found that strange, by the way. I’ll come back to that.)

People are familiar with the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea, even if they aren’t Christian. The themes and events are lodged into the many in our world. Yet we also know that it is often scoffed at, seen as a fairy tale, and deemed mythical.

Even then, sometimes we as Christians look at Exodus through a lens of only seeing it as a historical event that had meaning to the Israelites. We know the story, but we don’t see how it fits into our own lives. We don’t see how it fits into our understanding of salvation, the church, and our calling as His people. And I pray that this sermon series will help us to see that this book holds great significance to us today. To understand the Exodus and the Pentateuch is to understand who God is, what His promises are, and how He is saving a people for Himself and His glory. And its a story, His story, we are part of this grand redemptive story ourselves.

CTS: The book of Exodus is central to understanding who God is and His promise of salvation.

Exodus and the Pentateuch - Background

First, let’s begin with some background to help us walk through the book.

Author: Moses. Modern critical theory has tried to say that Moses didn’t write this book, and that this book was written much later as a mythical fable with purpose to encourage the Israelites as they came back from Exile. Though there is no doubt that this book would be an encouragement to the Israelites who came back from exile, it is no fable and there is clear evidence that this was written in accordance with the actual events. Alongside the other four books, Moses writes most of the Pentateuch, with some sections that are written by other authors that deal with situations that Moses couldn’t have written himself, like his own death.

Another clear point to the authorship of Exodus and the Pentateuch being by Moses is that these five books are often called the Book of Moses. Remember, this five books were not originally set to be read together as one. Jesus himself refers to Moses as author numerous times in the Gospels. For example, in the story of Lazarus and rich man going to hell, the rich man tells Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers so that they could see him and believe in the afterlife. Abraham says in that story:

Luke 16:29–31 ESV

29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Jesus also said of his own death and resurrection that it was foretold in the book of Moses on the road to Emmaus:

Luke 24:25–27 ESV

25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Pretty clear evidence from Jesus himself that Moses wrote Exodus and the rest of the Pentateuch.

The historical nature of Exodus: Though we have no documents outside of the Bible that describe the event of the Exodus, there is evidence that at two points of Egyptian history that there were a people that were enslaved by Egypt. 1 Kings 6 reveals the date of the very Exodus itself, and that there is evidence that Egypt had a group of people enslaved at this time.

In addition, some might say, “why isn’t there any Egyptian records of this plagues and exodus?” The Egyptians were a very proud people, as most nations and people are, and they don’t tend to record devastating losses or events like this. This also gives us more confidence in the Bible itself, because over and over again we see unflattering events and actions by God’s people, yet we see God’s faithfulness. These writers had to humbly record every wrong, failure, and sin of Israel. These Scriptures make them unique among ancient documents and give credence to its accuracy. One scholar puts it this way:

The exodus “cannot possibly be fictional. No nation would be likely to invent for itself, and faithfully transmit century after century and millennium after millennium, an inglorious and inconvenient tradition of this nature.” - Professor Nahum Sarna

Finally, some want to discount Exodus and the Pentateuch because of the claim that these things recorded are impossible. There have been documentaries and books written, trying to explain away these incredible feats of nature, the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. And sure, from a human perspective, these seem impossible. But the Bible, though written by humans, doesn’t waver on showing that it is first and foremost a divine document about God who works in history to bring about His plan and purpose. God is God, and he can bring about the most spectacular and unexplainable acts like plagues, because He is the one who spoke creation into existence. By his very nature, these feats are possible and done by a holy God who reveals Himself as all-powerful and able to, even when it doesn’t make sense to us. Just because it doesn’t make sense to us doesn’t make it not true.

I. The Seeds of Promise (Genesis Overview)

I’ve intentionally framed this sermon with the theme of seed. I begin with this first point because of the needed “previously on.” Some of you may watch some TV shows that are serialized that require you to have watched the episodes in order so that you understand what is going on. Sometimes, a show will do that to refresh the memory, or worst case scenario, a new viewer would be able to get sort of an idea of what is going on.

I’m giving you a previously on here at this point so that if you haven’t read Genesis or you have and need a refresher, you could be able to get some themes and ideas from that book to help you understand this one. Genesis through Deuteronomy are meant to be read as one continuous document.

430 years have passed between the end of Genesis and Exodus. That’s a long time of silence. Reminds us of another long period of silence Scripture, between Malachi and Matthew. And the need is still the same. Salvation from slavery!

The seed of the woman:

The book begins with creation and the eventually the Fall of Man. This is the beginning of humanity’s history. God is the Creator. God created everything good. Satan, the deceiver and one who rebels against God, tempted Eve. Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God’s one command. Sin then entered into the world in Genesis 3, which we commonly call the Fall. Death has come upon humanity and the earth. Yet God in His grace promises a seed that will come and defeat the Enemy, the tempter, and will crush the enemies of humanity, sin and death, and this he will come from Eve. A promise made to Eve and to humanity that one will defeat the enemies of Satan, sin, and death.

Genesis 3:15 ESV

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

From then on, we read Genesis looking for this seed. Adam and Eve multiply, yet sin still abounds. Rebellion continues. Noah shows some promise, but he doesn’t stop sin and defeat it. So we continue to look.

The seed of Abraham:

We then come to Abraham, a curious person to be focused on. He’s old. His wife is barren. They have no children. This guy is gonna be the seed bearer? God tells him to leave his homeland and go to a new place, Canaan. It is there that Abraham settles and then receives the promise that his offspring will bring about a large nation, very large people, that will bless all nations. Sarah his wife is told this and she laughs, but she has a son named Isaac. Abraham dies, and Isaac goes forth and starts a family. He has Jacob and Esau, and its in Jacob that the promise of the offspring continues. Jacob then has 11 sons, one of them being Joseph. He is sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers because he has a dream that shows that they and his own father will bow at his feet. Joseph goes through some stuff of servitude, imprisonment, but eventually becomes the right hand man of Pharoah, second in command, because he was able to interpret Pharoah’s dream about a famine, and he then planned on his behalf how they would get through that famine. Jacob and his brothers come to Egypt, in search of food during the famine, and its there that eventually he reveals himself to them. God put him there to save his family.

Genesis 50:20 ESV

20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

The seed of promise continues on, God is faithful to his promise, and we now have a family of Israelites in Egypt.

Other themes of note:

Other events throughout Genesis are important to note that contribute to this theme that God keeps his promises and is gracious to sinful humanity. The ark Noah built is a picture of salvation for God’s people from the wrath that is deserved, His judgment against sin. God commands that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac, yet provided a ram to take his place. This points us to salvation through God’s provision of sacrifice. Joseph suffers so that his family could be saved. Salvation is abundant throughout Genesis. And it continues on through Exodus.

Will God keep his promise in Genesis? He has done so in spectacular fashion so far. Will God change his mind? No.

Application: Our lives as Christians are rooted in the past, in the story of God. And as much as it seems like all of these things we read are not applicable to us, this is a poor reading of Scripture. This is our history. And the promise made to Eve, the promise made to Abraham, the seed motif is our history, because Jesus is this seed. He is the snake crusher. He is the seed of Abraham, that in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He is Israel, the fulfillment of what they were called to do, to be a blessing and light to the nations. We then are made His people, and we are called His church. This is your history, yet it is His story. This isn’t about Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. They are all characters that God uses to bring about His plan of redemption, of salvation. They all point to His glory.

Church, we must read and meditate and know that we are part of God’s story right now. This life isn’t ultimately about you or me. It’s about God’s glory and His plan. The plan isn’t finished. The seed has come, but full victory is awaiting. We are then called to point every part of our lives, every part of creation, our families, our jobs, our churches, to the glory of Jesus, the Messianic seed who saves the world.

And you must know, you have a part in this story. God has not called you to sit back and sit idly by. You are part of this incredible life, this incredible story of salvation for the nations. Each one of you. And each one of you and your part in it is just as important as anyone else’s. Is God faithful? Just look backward to how faithful he is to keep His promise.

II. The Threat to the Promise (Conflict of Exodus)

The seed continues:

I know, you’re probably thinking, we’re 20-25 minutes in and we haven’t even touched Exodus yet. Here we are now, caught up to the text. And the beginning of Exodus shows us the continuation of the story from the very first verse. Though the ESV translation I’m reading from (and most others) don’t include this word, in the Hebrew there is an “and” as the very first word. That shows that the story continues.

The story continues by showing us that the 12 sons of Israel came down into Egypt. The amount of people that came total was around 70. But they all died in verse 6. Huh. None of those men ended the snake crusher. None of them defeated sin and death. The story doesn’t stop though, because they had children who had children.

These first verses should remind us, particularly in verse 7, of Genesis. They were fruitful and multiplied. God showed his grace upon these Israelites and multiplied them. They grew strong and mighty, and the land of Egypt was full of them. God is faithful to keep his promises.

Genesis 35:11 ESV

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.

We die, but God keeps his story going. But that story has inherent conflict, because we live in a broken and fallen world.

Though my sermon text isn’t technically advertised through verse 8, I do want you to see it. I want you to see that verse because I want to set up the conflict and what is going to come.

The threat to the seed:

God’s people are enslaved because the Egyptians are afraid. The current Pharoah isn’t like the one hundreds of years before. He forgets what Joseph did, and begins to enslave Israelites to do work. He doesn’t want them to get any ideas and try to overpower his nation.

Not only that, Israel has been here for a long time. God not only needs to save Israel from Egypt; he also needs to get Egypt out of Israel. The threat of false worship must be rid out of his people. We will see that addressed in the law and in the need for true worship that God will set up in the latter half of the book. It is the basis of the Mosaic covenant.

And it’s here that I want you to see that with this threat comes God’s work through it, His salvation in such clear form. God will hear his people and save them. Later in Exodus, we read this:

Exodus 2:23–25 ESV

23 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. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

The threat to us:

And we are not unlike these Israelites, for all of humanity faces the threat of the Enemy. Pharoah is framed as an enemy, part of the seed of the snake crusher. We are under the reign and rule of the snake crusher, for he is described as the prince of the power of the air. We were part of that ourselves.

Ephesians 2:1–2 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

But God hears and has planned our redemption, our threat of eternal death, and he has planned it from the very beginning. Jesus is answer to our plight. Jesus our Savior will lead us from slavery and death.

III. The Fulfillment of the Promise (Salvation in Exodus)

The book of Exodus is broken down into three sections. I’m using phrasing from a biblical scholar for this book outline: It is broken down like this:

A. Israel in Egypt: the Savior (1:1 - 15:21)

The majority of the action of the book is God’s working to fulfill what is seen as theme verses of the book. It is God saving his people from slavery, to fulfill his promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is to fulfill part of his grand redemptive plan of salvation for all nations.

Exodus 6:2–8 ESV

2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”

B. Israel at Sinai: the Companion (15:22 - 24:11)

This is where God then takes Israel through the wilderness to Sinai, showing his powerful presence through the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of smoke by day. He would lead them bring the covenant to them at Mt. Sinai. This covenant is not a salvation covenant, but how God is going to take His people that He has save by his gracious hand, and then form them into His people, to be holy and a light to the nations. He will show them how they are to live to bring him glory, and this section focuses on the Law that he gives, the standard of holiness that they are to live by.

C. Israel around the tabernacle: the Indweller (24:12-40:38)

The third and final section of the book focuses on worship and the command to build a tabernacle and annoint priests to lead the people in worship. Right in the middle of this section is seen the continued sin of Israel with the golden calf episode, and God having to continue to remove Egypt our of Israel. This breaks up the focus on worship, showing us that God must teach us how to worship and dictactes how it must be done. But it also shows in glorious manner at the very end of the book that God dwells with his people, showing his presence would be with them and that his promises will come to fruition.

For God’s Glory:

The end result is ultimately the glory of God. God gets all the credit for salvation. God transforms his people. God reveals Himself and shows them how to live. God is the main character, and His people are pointing to His glorious exodus and work. The promises of God continue and never fail, and He is faithful to keep his promises, and He is gracious and merciful. Only he can get the glory

Exodus 34:6–9 ESV

6 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, 7 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.” 8 And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 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.”

Church, do we recognize that God gets the glory for all things? We are often glory-stealers. We often like to take credit for things. Pride is always an issue, as is prevalent throughout Scripture. God reminds us that it is all of him and none of us. Would you glorify him today? I’ve said this many times before, and I know your intentions are often to be an encouragement, but more than anything else, I don’t want to hear “good job” or “good sermon” Pastor. I want you to say, Praise God. Glory to Him. I’ve been convicted by God by His Word.

CONCLUSION: THE CHRISTIAN LIFE DEFINED BY EXODUS

In the Gospel of Luke, at the transfiguration, on the mountain, Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus when he shows his glory. This is crucial, for what happens here informs us that the life of Jesus is considered to be the Exodus for us. Philip Ryken says this

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Exodus, God, and Christ

It is significant that Moses was present because the word Luke uses for Jesus’ departure is the Greek word exodus. Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus about his exodus. That is to say, they were talking about his crucifixion and resurrection, when he would pass through the deep waters of death to deliver his people from their bondage to sin and take them to the glory-land. This explains why Jesus was crucified at Passover. He was the Passover lamb (1 Cor. 5:7) who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). Many of the words the Old Testament uses to describe the exodus from Egypt—words like ransom, redemption, and deliverance—are the very words the New Testament uses to describe Christ’s work on the cross.

Jesus would come out of Egypt as his life was saved from a tyrannical dictator:

Hosea 11:1 ESV

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

Jesus would be baptized in Jordan, paralleling Israel’s journey through the Red Sea.

Jesus would go into the wilderness and be tempted, but where Israel failed as a son of God, the Son of God would obey perfectly and overcome temptation by faithfully obeying the Word of God.

Jesus would go and teach his Sermon on the Mount, paralleling God revealing his law to his people. These teachings would inform what it means to be God’s people in the NT, in the kingdom.

The entirety of Christ’s life and work is mirrored in Exodus.

Exodus—Saved for God's Glory Exodus, God, and Christ

What all these connections with Christ show is that Exodus is not just a story of salvation, but the story of salvation. Israel’s deliverance from Egypt anticipated the salvation accomplished once and for all in Jesus Christ.

The story of Exodus is our story, or really, us in God’s story. We need a liberator. We need a Savior. We need the presence of the seed promised. We need hope of a promised Land, eternal life. That is all found in Jesus himself.