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The Waters of Marah (Exodus): After three days in the desert without water and finding a bitter spring, the Israelites became bitter and started grumbling. Yahweh had saved them and was leading them — why was the journey still so difficult? The Lord was good and faithful; he was testing them to teach them to listen to him and trust him for their needs. They had so much to learn. Recorded on Nov 10, 2024, on Exodus 15:22-27 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

So, we’re working through the book of Exodus in a sermon series called Journey to Freedom. And we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. About 3,300 years ago, the ancient Israelites were slaves in Egypt, the greatest, most powerful kingdom on earth. They cried out in their bitter suffering, and Yahweh — the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them. But it was the holy Presence of Yahweh himself who fought for them and delivered them with a mighty hand and mighty acts of judgment. We saw the Ten Plagues, which culminated with the Passover when Pharaoh finally relented and let the people go. Then, last week, we saw the final crushing blow against Egypt in the parting of the Red Sea, the crossing of the Israelites through on dry ground, and the destruction of Pharaoh’s army who was pursuing them. The Israelites were finally free, just as Yahweh promised. He freed them from the judgment of their sin in the Passover through the sacrifice of a substitute. He freed them from death by allowing them to cross the Red Sea; he made a way where there was no way. Pharaoh couldn’t hurt them anymore. They were truly free! Well, wasn’t the Exodus a great story? So…why is there so much story left? We’re only on chapter 15 out of 40 for the book of Exodus. And there are three more whole books of the Bible before the Israelites finally enter the Promised Land in Joshua. How could this be? Why does the rest of the journey take so long? And, as we’ll see again and again, the journey had many trials, many circumstances that seriously tested the faith of the Israelites. They were free, but they hadn’t yet arrived. Have you ever been frustrated as a Christian that you weren’t farther along in your journey? Have you ever thought you had kicked a certain temptation or were done dealing with a struggle, only to have it come roaring back into your life? I have. Those times can feel so defeating. Have you ever wondered why, after following Jesus, perhaps for many years, the circumstances of your life suddenly seem to be crushing the faith out of you? Lord, what are you doing? Haven’t you already rescued me? Haven’t you already saved me by your grace? Why are things getting more difficult? Why does it feel like this journey just keeps going on and on? Are you trying to break my faith? Lord, what are you doing? If you’ve ever felt that way, this sermon is for you. Well, if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 15:22.

Exodus 15:22–24 (NIV), “22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” After crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites were buzzing with joy and excitement. Yahweh had fought for them; he had done it. When Pharaoh’s army was bearing down on them, and their backs were up against the Red Sea, they couldn’t imagine anything other than slavery or death. But God made a way where there was no way. Moses and Miriam led the people in a song of praise for the victory earlier in chapter 5. Eventually, on they went, following Moses, God’s chosen prophet and deliverer, who was following the Lord God Almighty in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. But then a day goes by, and another, and another. And the water starts to run low and then, perhaps, runs out. You and your kids and all your flocks and herds are thirsty. This is a real problem, and the attitude of the people starts to change. Then (finally!), they found a spring, but they couldn’t drink the water because it was bitter. It wasn’t good water. From whatever joy and excitement they had when they started, their hearts turned marah, bitter. They named the spring Marah, which means bitter in Hebrew. This summer, we went through the story of Ruth, and you might remember that Naomi, Ruth’s mother-in-law, called herself Marah when she returned to Judah because of all the terrible losses she suffered in Moab. This whole place represented bitterness for the Israelites, and they started to grumble. On the one hand, their complaint is not unusual/inappropriate. They needed water to live. They were traveling through the hot desert wilderness, and you can’t survive more than a few days without water. However, on the other hand, these same people just saw God do incredible things. He came and rescued them. He fought for them. He was currently leading them, by the way. Again, did they really think God would do all that just to let them die of dehydration? That would make no sense. But then again, with each step forward with no end in sight, no rest/water in sight, maybe they started to wonder about this Yahweh God. How much do we even know about him? Will he be faithful to us? Can we really trust him? So far, the jury’s out. But don’t you think they had expected to find water sooner with the Maker of the heavens and the earth leading them? So they go to God’s chosen representative and ask Moses, “What are we to drink?” How would Moses respond?

Exodus 15:25–26 (NIV), “25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” The people were thirsty, God was not meeting their expectations for this whole Exodus business, and as a result, they had become bitter and were grumbling. So “Moses cried out to the Lord.” He brought the issue to God in prayer. In response, the Lord provided a smaller but no less important miracle than the parting of the Red Sea. “Take this piece of wood, Moses, take this tree, and throw it in the water. That will heal the water, you will be able to drink, and you will live.” Amazing. Do you think the Lord somehow missed the needs of his people as he led them? No. Do you think the Creator God, who spoke the universe into existence, would have trouble providing water in the desert? No. So, what was he doing? Why didn’t he lead the Israelites directly to water and a place of rest and comfort after all they’d been through? We got a clue last week when Moses wrote that the Lord knew the Israelites weren’t ready for the Philistines and did not lead them on the shortest route to Canaan. Because God had a bigger plan. He didn’t want them to merely survive; he wanted the Israelites to flourish in a covenant relationship with him. He didn’t want them to merely be free people and not slaves; he wanted to form/transform them into the people he had intended them to be from before the creation of the world. He wanted to bless them and, through them, bless all the nations of the earth as he had promised Abraham. But according to this bigger plan, they needed to learn some things first. Just like you get tested in school to see how well you’ve learned a subject, so God would work as a teacher for Israel. So, God would test his people. Three days without water was a test, the first of three tests we’ll consider in the next few weeks. But the Israelites had to learn to listen to/trust Yahweh. Could they trust the one who brought such severe judgments against Egypt? Was his word always helpful? Despite the failure of their bitter grumbling (which was a faith problem or imagination problem, as we talked about last week), the Lord was still compassionate and gracious. He provided what they needed, showing himself to be faithful not only to save but to sustain them, even in the desert. But he went beyond this kind provision; he made a promise, too. “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” So far, we’ve seen Yahweh act as a judge, savior, sustainer, teacher, and now a healer. He wants the Israelites to know him, and this is who he is. Now, someone might wonder, “Does this promise mean that if you obey God’s commands and decrees, you will always be healthy?” Or, “If I’m sick and the Lord isn’t healing me, is this some kind of punishment for sin?” The answer is probably not. There are some sins that may have physical consequences, but years later, Jesus was asked this question, and he taught that illness and affliction are not always related to individual sins. Indirectly, all pain and suffering are part of the fallen condition of this world, which is the result of sin in general. However, without jumping anywhere else in the Bible, I think we might better understand this particular promise of God for healing when we think about the order of the story so far. Let’s think about this: when did God save his people from Egypt? When they had perfectly paid attention to his commands and kept all his decrees? Did God make their obedience to the Law a precondition for their salvation? No. God saved them by his grace before they even received the Law at Mount Sinai. But, in the context of already being saved and already having a relationship with him, God says that if they were careful to listen to him, he would not bring his judgment down on them as he had on Egypt and would heal them. They didn’t have to be afraid of him. They could trust him. This wasn’t some sort of prosperity gospel. They already had a relationship, so God would provide for them. If they needed water, they needed to learn to look to him to provide water. If they needed healing, they needed to learn to look to him to be their healer. That doesn’t mean they never had to look for water again or go to the doctor again; they just needed to look to God as the ultimate provider for their needs. After so many years of living as slaves in Egypt, they had a lot to learn — but they would learn who God is, how to trust him, and how to follow him. Wouldn’t they? I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, let’s finish our story with v. 27.

Exodus 15:27 (NIV), “27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.” This is God’s word. So after three days of thirst, anxiety, wondering about God, and then grumbling against God, God not only miraculously provided water for them at Marah but then led them to Elim, a place of real rest and restoration. God’s promise foreshadows the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai. But I agree with commentator Peter Enns, who sees Elim as “…a reversal of the desert environment and a foretaste of things to come” in the Promised Land. (Exodus, The NIV Application Commentary, p. 324). The people were saved; they were freed, but they had not yet arrived in the Promised Land. But Elim gave God’s people rest and provision to continue their journey. God is a teacher, but he is a loving teacher. Just as the Lord tests his people to help them learn, so he provides rest and resources for them to make it to where he is leading them. But even when his people lose faith, even when they are slow to learn (as we’ll see in the weeks ahead), even when they grumble, stumble, and fall — God is still faithful. This is really the whole message of the Bible. This world is a mess, and we contribute to the mess in big ways and small ways. We need forgiveness. We need life. We need to be led according to a wisdom greater than our own. Even when we are saved, we can be so easily shaken. We, too, can be slow to learn. But because of the person and work of Jesus Christ, because of his righteousness and the power of his Spirit, even when we grumble, stumble, and fall, we do not have to be lost, we do not have to become bitter because God is still faithful. If you’ve put your faith in Christ, you are saved. You no longer have to worry about whether or not God loves you or accepts you because he does, and he will in Christ. This summer, I listened to The Lord of the Rings books on Audible. It was something like 54 hours to get through all three books. And they are just the best fantasy books of all time. But when at the end of The Return of the King, when the ring of power is destroyed, and the evil king Sauron is defeated, you’re expecting the story to be about done. But on Audible, I realized I still had hours and hours left of the story. I thought, “What more could the author need to say? Isn’t the story done?” The answer was no. The victory had been won, but the story was not yet done. If you’re a Christian today, then the same is true for you. The victory in Christ has been won, but your story is not yet done. Are you on chapter 15 out of 40? God only knows. But like the ancient Israelites, in Christ, you’ve been saved from slavery and delivered from death, but you have not yet arrived in the Promised Land of the new heaven and earth. There’s more story to tell. There’s still more of the journey to make. But God will preserve you, and he will be your teacher and healer as well. And you will need to learn to listen to/trust in him. Hebrews 12:7–11 (NIV), “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children…God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” You will be tested like Marah because God loves you, and he disciplines those he loves. He has a bigger plan going on. He wants you to flourish, not merely survive. But the Lord will also lead you to times of refreshment like Elim. He will give you what you need to make the journey. But if you do learn who God is, how to trust him, and how to follow him, it will produce a great harvest — a harvest of righteousness and peace. And in his time, he will lead you home as a new creation, saved and sanctified. And your story will be just another testimony to the goodness and the faithfulness of our God. Let us pray.

Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus): The first real test of faith for the Israelites came when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after them. Caught at the Red Sea with nowhere to escape, their options seemed to be slavery or death. They couldn’t imagine how God might save them — until God made a way. He fought their battle and led them to freedom. All they had to do was trust him. Recorded on Nov 3, 2024, on Exodus 13:17-14:31 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

We’re working through the book of Exodus in a sermon series called Journey to Freedom. And we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. About 3,300 years ago, the ancient Israelites were slaves in Egypt, the greatest, most powerful kingdom on earth. They cried out in their bitter suffering, and Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and the God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, heard their cries and sent Moses to lead them to freedom. Despite repeated opportunities to let the Israelites go, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, hard-heartedly refused. But after ten escalating plagues, where Yahweh brought divine judgment down on all the false gods and goddesses of Egypt, Pharaoh finally relented, and the Israelites were set free. Today, we’ll see the first real test of faith for the Israelites in their Exodus out of Egypt when Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after the Israelites. Would this be the end of this whole unlikely plan? Would Moses and Aaron (and probably many other Israelites) be killed? Would the remaining people die as slaves? Or would God do something? Would Yahweh fight on behalf of his people and deliver them as he promised? Could they even imagine God doing something like that? Could they trust him? Have you ever had that thought? Can I really trust God to rescue/deliver me? Well, if you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 13:17. This is the famous story of the parting of the Red Sea. And we’ll unpack this text as we go.

Exodus 13:17–22 (NIV), “17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.” 20 After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” So, the Exodus had begun. And, surprisingly, God himself was there, leading his people out of Egypt in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. He didn’t just send Moses as his prophet to lead his people; he went too. No one can see God and live, but God’s holy Presence was with them. Commentator Douglas Stuart writes, “…the Israelites knew all day every day that God was present with them. Here was a supernatural, huge, and visible reminder that Yahweh was at the head of his people as they marched or encamped, whether by day or by night.” (Exodus, TNAC, p. 328) That would’ve been wild to see, right? Now, even though Moses wrote that the “Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle,” we have to remember that this wasn’t an army. These were former slaves who had never been trained/organize to fight anyone. They weren’t well-armed. They didn’t have chariots or horses or anything like that. They had women and children; they had flocks and herds. They were a slow-moving mass of people. They were easy targets. But God knew all this. And he knew that if he led them on the shortest road to Canaan, the land he promised Abraham, they would run directly into the Philistines, another powerful kingdom and one that wouldn’t welcome them with open arms. God knew they weren’t ready for that kind of warfare, even though the way was shorter. So what would God do? Where would he lead them if not to Canaan?

Exodus 14:1-14 (NIV), “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon. 10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” We can look at a map and see that God’s solution to avoid the Philistines to the northeast in Canaan appeared to be to turn around and head to the southeast. This would entice Pharaoh to attack them, thinking they were lost or confused, and deliver the Israelites right into his hands with their backs up against the Red Sea. What was God doing? Now, sometimes pain and suffering can drive people away from God, but sometimes it can drive people closer to God. Fear can have the same effect and the Israelites were terrified. I can’t imagine a more threatening/fear-producing situation than having the most elite fighting force on the planet, the hundreds or perhaps thousands of chariots of the Egyptian army with all their troops and officers racing after you. These were professional and experienced warriors. They were organized by seasoned officers. And they were well-armed. They had the best military technology of their day. At the same time, you’re trying to escape on foot (unarmed and barely organized) with everything you hold dear — your wife and kids, friends and neighbors, and all your earthly possessions. How many would die before the rest were slaves once again? It made the Israelites forget all the signs and wonders, all the plagues, and everything Yahweh had just done. They immediately lost faith. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” This situation reminds me of Moses having to run to Midian. Could this possibly be God’s plan? What kind of plan was this?!? But I love how Moses answers these frightened people in v. 13. “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Could that be true? Let’s see…

Exodus 14:15-31 (NIV), “15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” 19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. 29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” This is God’s word. I love how God responds. He’s not worried. He’s not intimidated by the Egyptian army. “Why are you crying out to me?” He says, “Tell the Israelites to move on.” God’s on the move. This is like the Passover story from last week. They were to eat the Passover meal with their cloaks tucked into their belts, sandals on their feet, staff in hand — ready to run. Judgment was coming, but salvation was coming, too. Again, God says, get ready to move! Then, as Moses held his staff up in obedience to God’s word, and as the Angel of the Lord moved from the front of Israel to behind them to stand between them and their enemy, God sent a mighty wind to part the sea and make a way to cross from slavery to freedom, from death to life. When the Egyptian army tried to pursue them through the sea, they recognized that Yahweh was fighting them on behalf of his people. But it was too late. They couldn’t escape. It was utter destruction for Egypt and total victory for Yahweh. The mightiest king of the most powerful kingdom of the world, with all his money, power, and fame, and with the best of the best of his military might, was no match for the One who created the heavens and the earth, who sustains all things by a word of his power, and who is limitless in power and wisdom and glory. It wasn’t even close. The Lord chose to make a people for himself; he made promises for their future, and then, in the fullness of time, he saved them by fighting for them and providing a way of salvation that no one saw coming. Does that sound familiar to anyone? It should. This is a pattern we see throughout the Bible — God saving people by his grace and according to his wisdom and power, and people having to respond by believing in him and trusting him to do what he promised he would do. In other words, the parting of the Red Sea is a big sign pointing forward to Jesus, where this pattern finds its ultimate fulfillment.

Now, how might we apply this text to our lives today? Well, there are so many helpful lessons from this story. Lessons about the danger of pride in worldly power, God’s miraculous power to intervene and save, and so much more. But one thing this passage illustrates is the limited imagination that sometimes plagues God’s people. Yahweh had just miraculously delivered the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh. If God could do that, was there anything he couldn’t do? And if God was in the process of rescuing them and was leading them himself, wasn’t it likely that he had better plans for them than to let them die in the desert? Did they really think God was so incompetent? But in their minds/imagination, the only options were slavery or death. The Israelites had an imagination problem. Now, this is understandable. They’d been slaves for over 400 years. Slavery was all they knew. They couldn’t imagine how God might redeem them or that God had something better planned for their future. Instead of trusting the Lord and venturing out into the unknown with courage/optimism/faith, in a twisted way, Egypt felt safe. Slavery was the monster they knew. Can’t we just go back to Egypt? Now, maybe this resonates with some of you today? Have you ever resisted obedience to God because you knew it would result in changes that seemed scary? I remember having that thought at one point. Something like, “I’m pretty sure that God is real and his word is true, but if I really believed that, a lot would have to change in my life.” That’s a daunting thought. Maybe you had the thought that staying in the mess would be easier than facing your fears? That’s an imagination problem. It’s also a fear problem and a lack of faith problem (of course!), but I think they’re usually first imagination problems. Despite God’s track record of 100% faithfulness to us in the past, we just can’t imagine all the good God might do in calling us out into the unknown. But what can we do? Well, this is why the Bible is so important. It’s stories like this, and so many others in God’s word, that expand our imaginations about who God is, what he is capable of, and how sure we are when we trust in him — even when our circumstances are bleak — even when all hope seems lost. We’re strengthened by the truth as much as we’re sanctified by the truth. “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” (Eph 6:14a). In addition to the Bible, we need people like Moses — whether it be a husband to his wife or a parent to her child or a friend to a friend or a pastor to their flock — we all need people who can speak the truth in love to us when our fears are big, and our imaginations are small. Moses said, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Here, we see Moses growing into the courageous leader God knew he could be when he called him. And this was exactly what the Israelites needed — a bold leader who encouraged them to obey God and not give in to fear. After the Lord delivered them in this incredible way, Moses said, “…when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” (v. 31). We aren’t much different than the ancient Israelites. We all need the truth of God’s word and other believers to speak the truth in love into our lives. But the best way to expand your imagination about who God is, what he is capable of, and how sure we are when we trust in him is to look to the cross of Christ. What seemed to be the bleakest of circumstances, and when all hope seemed lost, came true in the brutal death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Had the devil won? Had God’s plan for salvation failed? Not at all. But at the time, the disciples couldn’t imagine how God might redeem the death of Jesus or the good God had planned for their future. They, too, had an imagination problem. But just as God miraculously delivered Israel through the sea (a symbol of death), so God used the cross (another symbol of death) as another miraculous means of divine deliverance. The cross wasn’t a defeat; it was actually God’s plan to deal with the penalty of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus, the true Passover Lamb. Jesus died the death that we deserved. But the disciples didn’t realize how far off they had been until they found the stone had been rolled away, and the tomb was empty. No one expected Israel to defeat the Egyptian army. But no one expected a resurrection, either. In both cases (and so many others throughout salvation history), God did it all. He fought the battle and won the victory. The only thing God’s people have to do is put our faith in who God is, believe in what he is capable of, and rest in how sure we are when we trust in him. So today, if obedience to God’s word will bring major changes into your life and the fears start creeping in because you can’t imagine how God might use it for good, just remember that you can trust him. And as we’ve seen time and time again, the only place he will lead you will be for his glory and your good. Let us pray.

The Passover (Exodus): Very few things formed the identity of ancient Israel more than the story of the Lord’s Passover. God brought divine judgment against Egypt and its gods in an unmistakable tenth plague. However, God also graciously made a way for salvation through the blood of a sacrificial lamb. Yahweh had done it. The Israelites were finally free. Recorded on Oct 27, 2024, on Exodus 12:1-13, 29-42 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

We’re working through the book of Exodus in a sermon series called Journey to Freedom. And we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. The people God rescued were the ancient Israelites who suffered greatly as slaves in Egypt about 3,200-3,300 years ago. Egypt was the most powerful kingdom in the world. Despite the brutality of their situation, Yahweh, the God of their ancestors (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), had allowed them to grow in slavery from seventy people as an extended family to be large enough to be a nation within a nation. But the more they grew, the more the Pharaohs were threatened by them and oppressed them all the more. The Israelites cried out to the Lord, and Yahweh sent Moses to lead his people out of Egypt, just as he had promised Abraham 430 years earlier. Moses was a Hebrew but was adopted by the royal household of Egypt before spending 40 years in exile in Midian. So Moses and his brother Aaron went back to Pharaoh with miraculous signs and wonders, but Pharaoh didn’t believe in Yahweh and stubbornly refused to listen to his message. Last week, in chapters 7-11 in Exodus, we saw that Yahweh gave Pharaoh chance after chance to repent by sending a series of escalating plagues. But after the first five plagues, when Pharaoh only hardened his heart in response to each plague, the Lord, to quote Paul, “…gave [him] over in the sinful desires of [his] heart…” (Ro 1:24). So, as Yahweh sent five more plagues, he hardened Pharaoh’s heart to execute divine judgment in a way the world hadn’t seen since the flood. Moses warned Pharaoh that the tenth and final plague would bring the destruction of every firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt — from the greatest to the least, including Pharaoh’s own son. Would the Lord do such a thing? Would Pharaoh finally repent? Would this be the start of the Exodus and the liberation of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt? We’ll see. But this chapter and the story of the Lord’s Passover is one of the most important chapters in the whole of the Old Testament scriptures. Very few things served to form the identity of Israel more than the Passover. But for us today, few things serve to explain and point forward to the work of Jesus Christ more than the Passover. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 12:1.

Exodus 12:1–13 (NIV), “1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household. 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. 7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs. 10 Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover. 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” In this text, we have Yahweh’s instructions through Moses and Aaron to the Hebrew people for the first Passover. Or, to put it another way, this was how they could survive the tenth and final plague. This was going to be such a defining moment for Israel that it would change even how they measured time. The month they were freed from Egypt — the month of Aviv — would mark the start of their year (between March and April for us today). But the people were to arrange themselves according to their households and maybe include some neighbors so they had enough people to share one Passover lamb or goat. The sacrificial lamb or goat was to be a one-year-old and without defects, meaning they were to represent a pure/holy offering. No one was to gorge themselves alone; they needed to share it and burn any leftovers. They had several days to arrange all this, but the whole idea was to “Eat it in haste.” Roasting the meat was the fastest way to cook it. Bitter herbs and unleavened bread were the fastest ways to prepare bread and vegetables. Eating with your cloak, sandals, and staff meant eating like you were ready to run. All this was a sign of how soon the Lord would deliver his people. He said he would free them from being slaves in Egypt, and if they believed Yahweh, they needed to be ready to leave everything they’d ever known. This was a huge act of faith. Egypt was where their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had all lived. The Israelites had spent 430 years in Egypt. The United States has been a country for only 248 years. Imagine if, in another almost 200 years, God told our ancestors to get ready to leave for another country that none of us had ever seen. If this happened today, God might tell us to pack the car and leave it running while we ate the Passover meal. The whole point was to be immediately ready to go. Judgment was coming, but salvation was coming, too, and God would do it soon. v. 12 makes it clear that the primary focus of Yahweh in the Ten Plagues was to demonstrate the utter lifeless, useless power of the gods of Egypt to save. Every Egyptian household, from the greatest to the least, was going to experience a temporary act of divine judgment, revealing to them the absolute authority of Yahweh God, the one true and living God who is sovereign over life/death, nations, kings, and idols. How would they respond? Would the Israelites finally be set free? Let’s jump down to v. 29 to continue with the first Passover story.

Exodus 12:29–42 (NIV), “29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. 31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.” 33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!” 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians. 37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves. 40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.” This is God’s word. Some passages of Scripture are like a wedding; they’re a celebration bringing love/hope/joy. Others are more like a funeral; they might cause us grief/remorse/conviction. But some, like this one, might leave us thinking, “Woah. Is this who God is?” Now, the start of the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt should be a celebration! After hundreds of years of suffering and brutal abuse as slaves, they were finally free! And not only were they freed, but the Egyptians gave them so many valuables and clothing that it would provide for their needs during the whole time in the wilderness. They defeated and plundered the greatest kingdom on earth without a single sword or spear. The Israelites obeyed God and took shelter from divine judgment under the blood of the Passover lamb. So God saved/delivered/freed them and provided for their needs in one night. Yahweh had done it; he kept his word. God’s people sang psalms of praise for what God did here for generations after this. Now, when we think about the Passover from the perspective of the Israelites, it’s clearly a victory worthy of celebrating. But if you’re like me, you might also be wondering about the tenth and final plague of death. How are we supposed to celebrate in the presence of all this death and destruction? The first thing to see in the text is that the Egyptians weren’t confused about what happened. They knew this was an act of divine judgment. They didn’t think this was unfair. Yahweh had given Pharaoh and the people of Egypt repeated chances to repent and believe. But they refused. Yahweh said his judgment was primarily aimed at the pantheon of gods and goddesses that were worshipped in Egypt. But they understood completely that the death of every firstborn was a judgment against every single household. They were in the wrong. They had failed to worship and serve the one true God. The Egyptians saw that if they continued on this path, they would all die. As horrible as this final plague was, it was a merciful warning. This is why the Pharaoh asked for a blessing when he finally relented and let the Hebrews leave. They understood the message. But I suspect the problem many modern people have with this story is not whether or not God effectively communicated his message of judgment to the Egyptians or that he freed the people of Israel in this incredible way — but that God exercised his right to divine judgment. I’m not sure if it was different in different times and places, but we people hate the idea of judgment today. Even when we’re wrong, we don’t like to be told we’re wrong. We love the idea of justice, but we hate judgment. As a result, many people reject the idea of a God who is a judge and who can condemn us. Can a God who judges us be a loving God? 

Well, there are far too many things to say about this for any one sermon. But I’d like to close today by reminding you of what the Bible says is the real problem with the world (sin) and what God has done about it that is the basis for the good news of the gospel. Now, everyone has moral standards — things they believe to be right and wrong. And I think most people believe they’re basically decent people, at least most of the time. But I bet if you saw a transcript of your thoughts for a week (maybe even a day!), you’d see that you don’t even meet your own standards, much less God’s standards! Well, according to the Bible, this is a sin problem, and the problem goes all the way down to our core. We have a heart problem. Jesus taught this in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. The seed of murder is found in the dismissive anger of the heart (Mt 5:22). The seed of adultery is found in the lust of the heart (Mt 5:28). Or later, in Mt 12 when he said that the mouth speaks what the heart is full of (Mt 12:34). All our other problems, emotional/relational/economic/education/political problems are, first, heart problems. Ever since the fall of Genesis 3, even when we know what is right, we fail to do what is right and often long to do what we know is wrong! Even our secular people know this is true; there’s a problem within us. My social media feed is full of supposed cures, ranging from meditation to psychedelics to diet/exercise. No one really believes that nothing’s wrong with us. However, the problem is worse than most people think because sin is enslaving. Our sins master/control us. As John Stott wrote in Basic Christianity, “Sin not only alienates; it enslaves. It separates us from God and it also brings us into captivity…It is more than the wrong things we do; it is a deep-seated inner sickness. In fact, the sins we commit are merely the external and visible indications of this internal and invisible illness, the symptoms of a moral disease.” (Stott, John R. W. . Basic Christianity (p. 74). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.). Like the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, so we are slaves in our sins. Now, try as we might, we can’t break the chains or free ourselves from this bondage just as Israel couldn’t free themselves. A good God couldn’t overlook sin and be just. But what could he do? If God were to simply snap his fingers and eliminate all the sin from the world, he’d have to eliminate every human being, including you and me. Because, as we’ve seen, the problem is both out there and in here. This was the significance of the blood of the lamb. Without it, the Israelites would’ve been no different than the Egyptians. But because of his great love, God made a way for people to be forgiven and freed from the power of sin and no longer under the penalty of sin, which is death. This is the basic message of the gospel. As sinners by nature and by choice, we need the saving grace of God. We need a savior! Sin enslaves, but Jesus saves. In the gospel, we see who God is, what he saved us from, and how he did it through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about the Passover is a big sign pointing forward to Jesus. The Last Supper of Jesus was a Passover meal because Jesus was the true Lamb of God. He would die on the cross as a sacrifice in our place to make atonement for the sins of the world. During the first Passover, the people took refuge under the blood of the lamb and were saved by grace through faith in God and obedience to his word. In Jesus, there is an invitation for all people to find the same refuge today. It doesn’t matter how good you’ve been. It doesn’t matter who or what you’ve worshipped in the past. There is still safety, life, love, joy, and peace for all who take shelter from divine judgment under the blood of the Passover lamb. God is patient and kind; he doesn’t want anyone to perish. So, there is a way of salvation for all who call on the name of Jesus. Today, would you put your faith and trust in him? Would you give your life to Jesus? Would you trust him for the forgiveness of your sins? “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Gal 5:1a). Would you find your freedom in Jesus? A text like this may make us think that the main message of the Bible is one of judgment and condemnation. But, friends, when you step back and you see the good news of the gospel, you’ll see the main plotline of the Bible is one of rescue, not judgment. Let us pray.

The Plagues (Exodus): The ten plagues in ancient Egypt represent a systematic victory over and judgment of the Pharaoh and gods of Egypt by the one true God, Yahweh. We are given many opportunities to humbly repent in life. But can anyone actually stand under the judgment of God? Yes, but only because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Recorded on Oct 20, 2024, on Exodus 7:8-24 by Justun Hart.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Bricks Without Straw (Exodus): When God told Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go,” Moses did exactly what God told him to do. But the suffering of the Israelites got worse, not better! The truth is, in a broken world, obedience to God’s word is no guarantee of short-term prosperity. But this doesn’t mean that God has abandoned you or that no good will ever come from times of suffering. Our God is faithful to redeem. You’ll see. Recorded on Oct 13, 2024, on Exodus 5:1-6:12 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

We’re working through a sermon series on the book of Exodus called Journey to Freedom. And we’ve said that Exodus is a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. The first few chapters of Exodus describe the bitter suffering of the family of Abraham and Sarah (ancient Israelites) when they were slaves in Egypt, the most powerful kingdom in the world at the time. We’re introduced to Moses, who would go on to be the mighty prophet and deliverer of Israel for Yahweh God. But his story was not this smooth rise into power. It didn’t seem to go according to any sort of plan. But God was faithful, and he didn’t abandon Moses even after his forty-year exile in Midian. But when the set time had fully come, God sent Moses, born in Egypt and adopted into the royal household of Egypt, back to Egypt to redeem his people who were still enslaved in Egypt. But this was a mission Moses didn’t want. Maybe he thought he was too old. Or maybe after his first disastrous attempt at leadership, he doubted his leadership abilities. But Moses gave one excuse after another before asking Yahweh just to send someone else. But God was merciful (and patient) and provided miraculous signs to verify his message and calling. He also allowed Moses’ brother, Aaron, to help him speak and lead. But the most important thing God promised was his own Presence. Yahweh would go with Moses. So Moses packed up his wife, Zipporah, and his two sons and went to Egypt to do this crazy thing God called him to do. In Egypt, Moses and Aaron spoke to the elders of the Israelites and shared the message God gave them: that Yahweh God, the God of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was going to deliver them from Egypt and would bring them out into the land he had promised them. They performed the signs, as well, and the Israelites believed and worshipped the God who had seen their suffering, heard their prayers, and had concern for them. Chapter 5 picks up the story in the courts of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. How would he respond to Moses and the message and miracles of Yahweh God? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 5:1.

Exodus 5:1–9 (NIV), “1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.” 4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.” 6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.” So that didn’t go well. But this was only the first of many meetings between Moses and Aaron and Pharaoh, King of Egypt. It’s interesting to think that Moses, adopted/raised by an Egyptian princess, and the current Pharaoh probably grew up together. We’re never told if they had been close before Moses fled to Midian. Historians are not settled on which Pharaoh this would’ve been, but many believe it could’ve been Ramses II, known as Ramses the Great. Well, whoever he was, in response to the famous “Let my people go” line, Pharaoh arrogantly asks, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh and I will not let Israel go.” Moses tried to tactfully make it clear that there might be serious consequences if this request was ignored. But not only did Pharaoh disdainfully ignore Yahweh, but he also decided to punish the Hebrews out of spite. He thought the Hebrews were lazy and didn’t believe Moses and Aaron had a message from God. He told the slave drivers and overseers not to listen to what he considered to be lies. (“Did God really say, ‘You must let the Israelites go?’”) But would Yahweh have some secret up his sleeve? Would he miraculously provide straw to make bricks? How would he do what he said he would do? Let’s see.

Exodus 5:10-23 (NIV), “10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’ ” 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” 14 And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?” 15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” 17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.” 19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.” We know from Chapter 1 that the Israelites were doing the back-breaking work of building store cities for Pharaoh. And they were already suffering bitterly as slaves. But now, they had to do the same work and meet the same quota without the supplies they needed. This was a serious problem, and they knew they were in trouble. They were being beaten every day for not meeting this impossible quota. The Israelite overseers didn’t have any luck appealing to Pharaoh, and afterward, they let Moses and Aaron know how they felt about their great rescue plan. “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Moses, in turn, let God know in prayer how he felt about this great rescue plan. Moses could’ve prayed, “What are you doing, Lord? Wasn’t Pharaoh supposed to let us go? We did exactly what you asked, but it only made things worse!” I wonder if Moses thought about running back to the safe obscurity of Midian. This was the second rejection of his leadership from his fellow Hebrew people, and they made it clear how they felt about all his help. The text implies that some time had passed, but eventually, maybe after Moses had waited to see if some miracle was coming…Moses started praying. And this is so helpful. When you’re upset, when things aren’t going your way, in the middle of the storm, when the miracle hasn’t happened yet, you better start praying. The Lord cares about you. And he knows what’s happening. Bring your praise and your problems to him. Well, how would God respond?

Exodus 6:1-8 (NIV), “1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” 2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord [Yahweh]. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord [Yahweh].’” In response to what seemed like a huge setback to their rescue plan and a second rejection of Moses, Yahweh El Shaddai, the Lord God Almighty, says, “Now you will see what I will do…” Do you want to see some crazy stuff? Do you want to see some fireworks? Just watch. Just you wait and see what I’ll do. “I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” Pharaoh won’t get away with his arrogance or his abuse. He had asked, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him and let Israel go?” God tells Moses he’s about to show Pharaoh just what he’s capable of. But Yahweh isn’t just out to make Egypt pay for their idolatry or their enslavement and genocide of the Hebrew people. We also see God’s heart for his people when he promises, “I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God…I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession.” This isn’t a setback. This is a setup for a cosmic showdown. But how can Moses know that God is able to accomplish all these things? What is the basis for these promises? It is God himself. vv. 2 and 8 bracket all these promises with a repeated statement of God’s identity and his covenant relationship with Israel. I am the Lord/Yahweh. I will do all these things because this is who I am. I AM WHO I AM. The I AM will do all this for you.  I’ll stake my name/reputation on it. What an incredible answer to prayer! Can you imagine if you were at a low point in your life and God gave all these promises to you? I will rescue you. I will defeat your enemies. Out of all the peoples of the world, you will be my people, and I will be your God, and I will provide all that you need. You just have to trust me, and I will do it. If I was in trouble and prayed for help and God answered my prayers with half of what he promised here, I’d be undone. This would be the ultimate source of security and hope, right? “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Ro 8:31b) Let’s see what Moses and the Israelites thought about all this.

Exodus 6:9-12 (NIV), “9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor. 10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?” This is God’s word. Well, our text ends at a low point. Pharaoh hadn’t listened to Yahweh because he didn’t believe in him or his word. The people hadn’t listened to Yahweh’s amazing promises because they were so discouraged. Their suffering had broken their spirit and killed their hope. And Moses was ready to quit again. This is the second time Moses mentions something about his ability to speak. He literally says he is of uncircumcised lips (faltering in the NIV). Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean he had a speech impediment, but it’s possible. However, I suspect the problem had more to do with his self-confidence in doing what God called him to do. After he gets going with this whole prophet/deliverer role, Moses delivers all kinds of speeches. At any rate, next week, we’ll see the “outstretched arm” and the “mighty acts of judgment” of Yahweh El Shaddai. But today, we’re still in the struggle. We’re still in the dark valley, and we’re not out yet. God promised a rescue but hasn’t done it yet. Maybe some of you can resonate with that today? Maybe some of you are in the desperately uncomfortable time between the prayer and the answer to prayer, between the problem and the solution? Now, obviously, none of us are in the exact same situation as ancient Israel. But I know that some of us are in the middle of something difficult, while all of us will be there at some point in life. What do we do? How do we wait for relief/deliverance and not lose our faith? How can we keep from becoming so discouraged we stop believing the promises of God? Well, we’ve said that Exodus is a great picture of the gospel and the Christian life. This chapter of the story is a helpful reminder that even those who are known by God and have been saved from the power of sin and death by faith in Jesus Christ still live (for now) in a broken world. So, unfortunately, things can sometimes get more difficult even when (as Moses found out) you are being obedient to God’s word. Doing the right thing can sometimes make things worse in the short run. This can be very disorienting if your expectations are wrong. Maybe it’s your expectations about timing. Commentator Douglas Stuart writes, “God’s timing only sometimes coincides with our expectations, and his idea of the hardships we need to go through only sometimes coincides with our idea of how much we can take.” (Exodus, vol. 2, TNAC, p. 169) Or maybe it’s your expectations about pain and suffering. That if you’re a good person, then good things will happen to you. This is the underlying belief of karma. Basically, everyone gets what they deserve. But this is not what the Bible teaches. In fact, the foundation of the gospel is that God doesn’t treat us as we deserve, he treats us as Christ deserved and treated Christ how we deserved on the cross. So if hardship in your life may or may not be what you deserve, what else might God be doing with those painful seasons? In The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” (The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics, p. 604) Very few things drive needed change like pain and suffering. Now, on this side of eternity, we rarely see the full picture of all the good that God is able to bring out of any certain painful situation. But, As Tim Keller writes, “Just because you can’t see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn’t mean there can’t be one.” (The Reason for God, p. 23). God reminds us of his nature in Isaiah 55:8–9 (NIV), “8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” So, obedience to God’s word is no guarantee of short-term prosperity. In fact, it might lead to more struggle/suffering/pain/persecution. But, as we see in the Exodus story, this doesn’t mean God has abandoned you or that no good will ever come from the times when you’re walking in the valley of the shadow of death. Our God is faithful to his promise, and he is a redeemer. You’ll see. He brings life out of death and beauty from the ashes. He turns mourning into dancing and groaning into shouts of praise. But nowhere is this seen more clearly than at the foot of the cross. Jesus suffered and died on the cross in humiliation. He was subject to injustice and abuse. And he wasn’t just a good man; he was perfectly obedient to the word of God. He was “tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Heb 4:15b). Jesus did everything right. So why did God allow him to suffer? Was he abandoned by God the Father in heaven? No. There was a plan. And it would be the greatest act of redemption in the history of the world. Out of the brutal and unjust suffering of the Son of God, the Father would bring the greatest possible good. So, while we wait, let’s resist discouragement and doubt, let’s pray and trust the God who sees/hears/cares for us, his people, in Christ. Let us pray.

The Burning Bush (Exodus): When Yahweh God sent Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses clearly had fears and doubts about his ability to do what God called him to do. Yahweh graciously (and patiently) provided his name, miraculous signs, and other help. But what would guarantee success? God promised, “I will be with you.” Recorded on Oct 6, 2024, on Exodus 3:1-4:17 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

Well, today, and for about the next six months, we’ll be working through a sermon series on the book of Exodus called Journey to Freedom. For the last two weeks, we’ve said that Exodus is a wild story, but it’s a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. We’ve also said Exodus is a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. Chapter 1 started something like 3,200 or 3,300 years ago when the ancient people of Israel were suffering bitterly as slaves in Egypt. Would God keep his promises to the family of Abraham and Sarah? Would he be faithful to save? Last week, in Chapter 2, with the birth of Moses, we saw God’s rescue plan start to unfold. However, Moses’ disastrous first attempt at helping his people led to his exile in the foreign land of Midian. Was this God’s plan?? Well, today, in Chapter 3, forty years have passed. Moses married Zipporah, the daughter of a pagan priest named Jethro, started a family, and worked as a shepherd for his father-in-law. And for many years, that was it. It probably seemed like God was done with him. Have you ever wondered about this for your life? Maybe things haven’t turned out how you thought they would, and you wonder, “Is this it, or does God have something more for me?” Maybe a bigger question for Moses would be, given his first failure, would he be able to handle it if God called him more? Well, God’s not done with Moses. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 3:1. This is a fairly long text, but it’s all one story, and we’ll unpack it as we go. 

Exodus 3:1–4:17 (NIV), “1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” Forty years have passed there in Midian. Moses was now eighty years old. After all these years, if he ever considered his ability to lead, Moses must’ve felt like a failure. His attempts to lead in Egypt resulted in precisely zero people following him and Moses having to flee for his life. Now here, forty years later, not only is no one following him, still, but he wasn’t even leading his own flock of sheep! He was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. At any rate, Moses had led the flock far from home, to the far side of the wilderness, to a mountain known as Horeb and later as Sinai. Probably because of this encounter, and later, when the Israelites came back to meet with God there after they had escaped from Egypt, Horeb (Mount Sinai) became known as the mountain of God. But here, Moses writes that he noticed a bush on the mountainside that was on fire but not burning up. This would’ve been very strange since no one else was nearby. Moses went closer to investigate when the angel of the Lord appeared and spoke to him. He told Moses he was the God of his ancestors, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” In the Bible, this kind of encounter with God is known as a theophany. A theophany is when God appears in some form to human beings. If you’d like more teaching on this, two years ago, we did a sermon series called Encounters with God on some of the most well-known theophanies in the Bible. These divine encounters always reveal something of God’s character or nature, but they also often reveal something of God’s plan for humanity. God shows up for a purpose. In this theophany with Moses, God says three incredible things: he’s seen their misery, he’s heard their prayers, and he’s concerned about their suffering. Does God care when we go through times of pain and suffering? Absolutely, yes. He says, “…the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.” So what? “So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” Four hundred years earlier, God promised Abraham that he would do this. And God keeps his promises. God is faithful to save. This is just one more example of the 10,000 in the Bible. But now (unexpectedly, if you’ve been paying attention), God’s plan is to send Moses back to Egypt, back to his adopted family in the royal household, back to lead his birth family, the Hebrews/Israelites, out to freedom. God saw/heard and now had come down himself to rescue his people. But what if it worked? If this plan worked, it’d be world-changing stuff, the kind of thing people might study/talk about for thousands of years. Moses, you want to be a leader? Here’s your second chance. But this was probably way bigger than anything Moses ever dreamed of. How do you think Moses felt about this? After so many years? Now, Lord? Me, Lord?!? How would you feel?

Exodus 3:1–4:17 (NIV), “11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” 13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. 16 “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 18 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. 21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.” Moses responded to this incredible theophany with two questions: “Who am I?” and “Who are you?” Let’s take each of those in turn. Who am I? “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” What qualifications do I have? I can’t even lead my own flock of sheep, and you want me to go to an enslaved people (who rejected my leadership once already, by the way) and try and lead them out of the most powerful kingdom on the planet? It’s not a bad question. Moses had serious reservations about his ability to do what God called him to do. But look how God responded in v. 12, “I will be with you.” God wasn’t just sending Moses; he would go with him. God was calling Moses to join him in the work that he would do. His calling wasn’t based on the strength of Moses’ faith, abilities, wisdom, beauty, wealth, or anything else. The plan of God, the calling of God, was entirely based on God’s strength, his wisdom, his resources, and his loving commitment to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Who am I? “It doesn’t matter,” says the Lord, “I will be with you. My presence is all you need. My presence will guide and sustain you. The elders of Israel will listen to you, you will plunder Egypt as you leave, and you will come out of Egypt and worship me here at Mount Sinai. I will be with you.” Well, if that’s the case, then who are you, Lord? What is your name? Whose presence will be with us? Now, in Genesis chapter 4, Moses says that people had started to call on the name of Yahweh all the way back during the time of Seth and Enoch. But Yahweh had other names that people used from time to time, like the more generic title God (El) or God Almighty (El Shaddai). Moses likely had some knowledge of God from his birth family, the Hebrew people in Egypt. But here, understandably, being called into this official role representing this God to Pharaoh (and to his own people as well), he wanted to know what official name he should use. Yahweh replies with an incredibly profound statement: “I AM WHO I AM.” It’s as if God says, “My name is life, I am being/existence itself. I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. I am the one who was and is and ever will be. Who am I? I am.” This is what the divine name in Hebrew means: Yahweh, I am. But why, you might wonder, is the divine name of Yahweh translated as LORD in all caps in our Bibles today? Well, this substitution of Yahweh with LORD follows an ancient Jewish tradition out of respect for the divine name. However, the problem with that is that most Christians today do not understand that “Lord” in all caps in the OT is meant to be the personal name God gave to Moses here at Mount Sinai. Reverence for God is good and right, but we cannot lose the personal knowledge of God that he wants us to have about him. The Creator, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, the God who entered into a covenant relationship with the family of Abraham and Sarah, saw the suffering, heard the prayers of his people, and came down to rescue them. And his name was Yahweh. Would the Presence of Yahweh be enough to overcome Moses’ fears and doubts?

Exodus 3:1–4:17 (NIV), “1 Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” 2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” 6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. 7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. 8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.” So, in addition to the promise of his Presence, Yahweh graciously (and patiently!) gives Moses miraculous signs to validate/verify Moses’ divine calling/message both to the Hebrew people and the Pharaoh. Just like Jesus’ ministry, the miracles would testify to the truth of his message. The snake represents Yahweh’s power over death, and the leprous hand represents Yahweh’s power over disease. Those signs aren’t hard for us to understand, but the meaning of turning water from the Nile into blood is a little obscure. However, Egyptians believed in a whole pantheon of gods and goddesses, including Hapi (Hah-pee), who was believed to be the god of the Nile River flood. Hapi was associated with the abundance and life only possible because of the water of the Nile in an otherwise dry/desert climate. Hapi was broadly worshiped because the Nile was the main symbol of the abundance, life, and security of Egypt. I believe the third sign, of water to blood, represents Yahweh’s authority over both the abundance/life/security of both Israel and Egypt, but also Yahweh’s supremacy over Hapi and, as we’ll see throughout the Exodus, over every god and goddess of the Egyptians. Yahweh was the one, the only one, who was sovereign over life/death, healing/disease, abundance, security, and over any/every other ruler, authority, or power in heaven or on earth. Now, surely, these signs would help calm Moses’ fears and doubts, right? Yahweh’s own presence would go with him. And his miraculous power would testify to the truth of his message. What more could he want?

Exodus 3:1–4:17 (NIV), “10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” 11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” 13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” 14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. 15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. 16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. 17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.” This is God’s word. So, Moses would learn again and again that Yahweh is slow to anger, but he does get angry. After repeatedly questioning God, not so much about God’s faithfulness, but about his own ability to do what God was calling him to do, and after God repeatedly, graciously answered his questions and promised his own presence and miraculous signs, Moses still asks God to send someone else. Yahweh’s anger burned against him. No kidding, right? But just as he would do later with Jonah, Yahweh doesn’t give up on Moses. He allows his big brother, Aaron, to help him fulfill his calling. But with that, Moses, the Hebrew slave by birth, the Egyptian royalty by adoption, the murderer, the immigrant to Midian, the family man and elderly shepherd, became the unlikely prophet and deliverer of Yahweh God at one of the greatest turning points in all of human history. Did God pick the right guy? We’ll see. Would Yahweh’s presence be enough? Would the miraculous signs be convincing? Would Aaron be helpful? We’ll see. Well, there are so many big lessons from this text, but for now, I’d like to leave you with just one thought. If Moses had believed/trusted the very first thing Yahweh had said, he wouldn’t have needed anything else. Remember what God told him? Moses asked, “Who am I that I should go…?” And how did God respond? Who are you? It doesn’t matter. “I will be with you.” One of the great themes of the Exodus story (and the whole of the Bible) is the power of God’s holy and loving Presence among his people. Moses wouldn’t go back to Egypt alone. He had the Presence of Yahweh with him. Israel wouldn’t go into the wilderness alone. They would have the Presence of Yahweh with them. They would have to learn how to live with God’s holy Presence in their midst. But if all this was true and if Yahweh was who he claimed to be — sovereign over life, death, disease, idols, and empires — then they would have nothing to fear. But,  don’t you see? If this was who God was, then this is who God is today. He saw the suffering of his people and he sees the suffering of his people today. He heard the cries/prayers of his people, and he hears the cries/prayers of his people today. He was moved to action to bring freedom and justice into a broken world and he will be moved to action today. But today, because of the person and work of Jesus, we have the Presence of God here among us and within us today. After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit, the very personal power and presence of God, was given not just to a mighty prophet or to a pastor or priest, but to every man, woman, and child who believes in Jesus and trusts him to be their lord and savior. Do you have fears and doubts about what God might call you to do or about God’s plan for your life? Would you rather God send someone else in your place? Just like Moses, you, too, have the Presence of God. So, in Christ, you, too, have everything you need. If you need a miracle to testify to the message of the gospel, I have no doubt our God will give it. If you need a coworker or your older brother to help you, I’ve no doubt our God will send them. But the one who is here among us even now, He is everything we need. Let us pray.

Moses Flees to Midian (Exodus): Chapter 2 tells the story of Moses’ birth and adoption into the Egyptian royal family, which seems to set him up to be the great deliverer of the Hebrew people. However, after his disastrous first attempt at helping his people, he was forced to flee to the land of Midian. Had he squandered his chance? Was this God’s plan?? Recorded on Sep 29, 2024, on Exodus 2:1-25 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

Well, today, and for about the next six months, we’ll be working through a sermon series on the book of Exodus called Journey to Freedom. Last week, we started by sharing that Exodus is a wild story, but it’s a story of liberation, of God rescuing and redeeming a people for himself. And we saw the context of this story was the bitter suffering and oppression of ancient Israel when they were slaves in Egypt, something like 3,200 or 3,300 years ago. Things went from bad to worse and culminated in the wicked command of the king to commit genocide against the baby Hebrew boys. They desperately needed God to intervene. But would God be faithful to save? If you missed that intro to our series, you can always go back and watch or listen online. But we said that besides being a great story, Exodus is a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. That in Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and are led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Well, today, in Chapter 2, we’ll see the rescue plan of God start to unfold with the origin of Moses. But it doesn’t go at all how you’d expect. In fact, by the end of Chapter 2, we might have more questions than answers about God’s rescue plan. If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 2:1. Chapter 2 has three parts with a little epilogue at the end. Here’s part one…

Exodus 2:1–10 (NIV), “1 Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. 3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. 4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. 6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” 8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. 9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him. 10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” Part one is all about the birth story of Moses, who would become the mighty prophet and leader of the Israelites out of Egypt. Here, Moses writes that his parents were both of the tribe of Levi. Later, we learn that Moses’ father’s name was Amram, and his mother was Jochebed. Now, Chapter 1 ended with what? With the wicked command of Pharaoh to kill all the newborn Hebrew boys. Moses was born during this time. Imagine the fear that Amram and Jochebed must’ve felt for their son. Jochebed did her best to hide the child as long as possible, but when she couldn’t any longer, she made a papyrus basket coated in tar and pitch. In other words, she waterproofed this little container so she could hide her baby among the reeds along the bank of the Nile River. Perhaps this was close to where they lived, so she could visit as often as she could. But then, the worst-case scenario happened. He was discovered. And by none other than one of the members of Pharaoh’s own household, his daughter, a princess of Egypt. She went to the river to bathe and likely heard the cries of this little one. It was his cries that went up to the princess that moved her heart. She felt sorry for him. She knew this was one of the Hebrew boys her father wanted to kill, and she took pity on him. But then, the boy’s sister came and offered to find a nurse for the boy. Later, we learn that this was Moses’ older sister, Miriam. Commentator Douglas Stuart estimates Miriam to be between six and twelve years old when this took place. If she was part of our church, she might be part of Gospel Kids Midweek. If you work with kids, imagine having bold little Miriam in your small group or class! But it’s such a beautiful little detail in this story that because of Miriam’s quick thinking and courage, Moses’ birth mom, Jochebed, who had to give up her son, turned out to be the one who was hired to care for her son. She could’ve been ordered to do this by the Princess, but she was given the dignity and worth of being paid to do this work. I’m sure this would’ve been so hard for her as a mom. On the one hand, what a relief this would’ve been! Not that she wanted to give her son up for adoption, but this situation was far better than death! But her son was not only going to live; he would have a very different set of opportunities being adopted by the princess and raised in the household of Pharaoh. Of course, she probably would’ve wondered if Moses eventually would forget about her and their family and his ancestry. Historical evidence suggests Moses would’ve been about three or four years old when he entered Pharaoh’s household. Later on, we learn that as an adult, Moses would have a relationship with Miriam and also with his older brother Aaron. He wouldn’t forget about his birth family or his ancestors. But at this point, unexpectedly, Moses the Hebrew becomes Moses the Egyptian and an adopted member of the royal family no less! What a reversal! Now, before we continue, I must say that so far in our story, the women have all been amazing. Remember Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives who defied the evil command of Pharaoh, who feared God more than they feared the king? Here in Chapter 2, we have bold little Miriam, we have faithful Jochebed who trusted God with the life of her baby, and we have a compassionate Egyptian princess. God used all these women for his redemptive purposes. Ladies, how might God work in and through your lives? So what are we to make of this dramatic change of circumstances here at the end of part one? Well, what if Moses really would grow up to be the man God would send to deliver his people from Egypt? If that’s true, then this was a brilliant move. Get Moses out of the slave community and into the most powerful, wealthy royal family on earth. He’d have the best education for leading/governing a people you could possibly get. Moses would learn wisdom, how to work with people, how to command loyalty, and how to inspire people to do great things. He’d grow up with the next generation of royalty. Now, Moses wouldn’t become the next Pharaoh, but maybe he could be like Joseph had been and be second in command. Is that what God was planning here? Let’s find out.

Exodus 2:11–15 (NIV), “11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.” Well, that didn’t seem to go according to plan, did it? According to the book of Acts, Moses was forty years old when he went to visit his people and “watched them at their hard labor.” This was likely around the Nile River delta, where the Nile River emptied into the Mediterranean Sea. Generations earlier, Joseph had secured an area called Goshen for his people. But the Hebrews were building several store cities around that area, too (Rameses). But while he was there, he saw firsthand the suffering and brutal treatment of his people. He saw an Egyptian, likely one of the slave masters mentioned in Chapter 1, beating a Hebrew man. And he identified with the man being beaten. But instead of using his position in the royal family to lobby for better conditions for his people, Moses looked this way and that way (which suggests that he knew this would be wrong), and he attacked and killed the Egyptian and hid the body. What he had seen was surely wrong; it was a terrible injustice. But his solution was just as bad. In a burst of vigilante justice, he murdered a man and tried to cover it up. Maybe he thought he got away with it that night. But by the next day, when he tried to intervene again, this time between two Hebrew men, it became clear that someone had seen what Moses did. It wasn’t hidden. Moses was right to be afraid. Murder was a capital offense. But even worse, as a member of the royal household with a Hebrew background, Moses could be guilty of treason if it was believed that he was trying to lead a rebellion of his own people. But then, the Hebrew people (his people) didn’t welcome him with open arms, either! When he tried to use his status and royal education and training to lead and govern justly and wisely, what did they say to him? “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” This must’ve been a shock for Moses. It must’ve felt like he was a stranger in his own land and that he had no people. You see, Moses was a Hebrew by birth but an Egyptian by adoption. No doubt, there were some in the Pharaoh’s household or other Egyptians who never accepted him as one of their own. “You’re not one of us.” And no doubt, there were some Hebrews (maybe these men here) who resented his life of luxury growing up in the Pharaoh’s household while they suffered bitterly as slaves. So Moses had to run from his adopted family because of what he had done. But he was given no quarter from his birth family either. Was this God’s plan? To have his mighty prophet, who was supposed to lead his people out of captivity in Egypt, leave Egypt? To commit murder, be rejected by his people, and then run for his life to Midian, the middle of nowhere?!? What kind of plan is this? Have you ever wondered about God’s plans for your life? Have you ever cried out to God, asking him what he was doing or why things seemed to be getting worse instead of better? I’d be willing to bet that Moses prayed some of those prayers as he fled to Midian. So Moses traveled east, across the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, toward the Gulf of Aqaba, and most likely into modern Saudi Arabia. Did he just squander his first chance to help his people? Had he completely failed to be the leader his people needed? Would he ever get a second chance? Would he even be able to make a new life in Midian? Was any of this part of your plan, oh God? Part three, life in Midian…

Exodus 2:16–22 (NIV), “16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock. 18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?” 19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” 21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.” Chapter 2 takes us from what seems to be the providence and protection of God around the birth of Moses to his exile in Midian. But I like this part of the story. Though he’s alone and is a foreigner in a foreign land, Moses still cares about justice. So when shepherds were mistreating some women at a well, Moses intervenes yet again. But this time, he doesn’t kill the men. He was able to get them to leave and didn’t let them do anything more serious to these women. Then, though he was raised in the Egyptian royal household, he started serving them. He watered their flock and drew water for the women as well. When the seven sisters returned home and their dad, a pagan priest of Midian, heard what happened, he was like, “Where is this Egyptian?” He probably thought, “This sounds like a good man…and I have seven daughters.” So he said, “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.” So they went back and invited him to stay with them. Eventually, Moses married Zipporah, one of the daughters of Reuel, who was also known as Jethro. In time, Moses and Zipporah had a little boy of their own and Moses seems to come to terms with his new reality. As a consequence of his disastrous attempt at doing justice for his people, he was now a foreigner in a foreign land. He had been rejected by the Hebrew people. He had a death sentence from his adopted people in Egypt. Now, he was a foreigner in Midian. Commentator Douglas Stuart writes, “He was a failure as a deliverer of his people, a failure as a citizen of Egypt, unwelcome among either of the nations he might have called his own, a wanted man, a now-permanent resident of an obscure place, alone and far from his origins, and among people of a different religion.” (Exodus, TNAC, p. 101) None of this seemed like it would be part of God’s plan. Did God even have a plan? If our story ended here, it might seem hopeless. But then, Chapter 2 ends with an epilogue that seems to give a glimmer of hope.

Exodus 2:23–25 (NIV), “23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. 25 So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.” This is God’s word. Ok! So here, at the end of Chapter 2, two pivotal things happen that signal that this will be a rescue story. First, the people start to pray. If you go back to Chapter 1, the Israelites were suffering bitterly, but it never says that they cried out to Yahweh God. They never prayed for God to be faithful to the promises he made to Abraham and Sarah — promises to bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them — promises to make them into a great nation and give them a place to live (Promised Land). But during this time of suffering, the people remembered the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and cried out for help. The second pivotal thing was that the Lord heard their prayers. He heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw them and was concerned about them. His heart was moved with pity and compassion just as the princess was moved by the helpless little baby she found among the reeds in the river. And the Lord knew what he was about to do. God did have a plan. Despite the unexpected twists and turns of Moses’ story, we’ll see next week in Chapter 3 that Yahweh God isn’t done with Moses. So it was according to the infinite wisdom of God that his deliverer would spend the first half of his life learning to lead and govern in Egypt but the second half of his life learning humility and patience in obscurity there in Midian. What an incredible plan! No one could’ve predicted this! But today, instead of focusing on how we might apply this text to our lives as we close, I’d like to show how clearly this story points forward to Christ and to the gospel. The vital clue is slightly obscured by the NIV translation of the papyrus basket back in v. 3. The Hebrew word translated basket is literally the word ark. It’s the same word Moses used back in Genesis for Noah’s Ark. Moses saw his birth story as repeating a pattern where God graciously provided saving from a watery death through an ark. And just as Noah and his family was preserved by God to start a new chapter in history, so Moses would be used by God for the same purpose. Does this pattern remind you of anyone else? But even more, Moses was born into slavery in Egypt and under a sentence of death. But in the providence of God, Moses was saved by grace from the Nile River. But not only was he rescued from death, he was adopted by a Princess. He went from a child of slavery to a child of the royal family. In Christ, we, too, were born into slavery, not in Egypt, of course, but into slavery to sin. As slaves to sin, by nature and by choice, we were separated from God, and we, too, were under a sentence of death (“For the wages of sin is death…” Ro 6:23a). But the good news of the gospel is that because of the gracious providence of God, he not only rescued us from death God did this by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life, die the death we deserved on the cross for the sins of the world, but on the third day rise again from the dead. (“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ro 6:23) So today, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you will not only be saved from sin and death, but you too will be adopted as a beloved son or daughter of the Father in heaven, a member of the royal household of God. Did you know that? Did you know this was and is and ever will be God’s plan for your life? It is. So today, let us put our faith and trust in him. Maybe today you’re struggling or suffering, not as a slave in Egypt, but maybe life is hard right now. Don’t forget the pattern — the pattern of God’s saving grace, the pattern of God doing unexpected things not only to save us but to adopt us, to give us his whole kingdom. Let’s look back to these patterns and use them to help us trust in him. For the Lord sees us, he has compassion for us, even in our suffering, he hears our cries, and he will, in his timing, be faithful to save. Let us pray.

Slaves in Egypt (Exodus): This is the beginning of our series on the book of Exodus, called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the Christian life. Is God faithful to save? Recorded on Sep 22, 2024, on Exodus 1:1-22 by Pastor David Parks.

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This message is part of our Exodus series called Journey to Freedom. Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah. Exodus is also a picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. Join us as we make this journey to find true and lasting freedom.

Sermon Transcript

Well, today, we get to start a brand new sermon series on the book of Exodus in the OT called Journey to Freedom, which will run through March. But I’ve been working for months to prepare for this series, and I can’t wait to share this story with you. Exodus is an ancient story, something like 3,400 years old, and, as we’ll see, it’s a wild story. But really, Exodus is a story of liberation — of God working to rescue and redeem a people for himself, freeing them from slavery and leading them to the land he promised to the family of Abraham and Sarah (i.e., the Promised Land). Along the way are heroes and villains, cosmic battles between good and evil, folly and sin, and incredible grace, mercy, and love. It’s a story expertly told. But one of the things I want you to see throughout this whole series is that Exodus is a wonderful picture of the gospel and the Christian life. In Christ, we, too, are freed from captivity to sin and death and are led through the wilderness of life by God’s Word and Presence as we make our way to the Promised Land of the world to come. This is our Exodus; this is our journey to freedom. Do you think there might be some valuable lessons we might learn about our journey from this first Exodus? Absolutely. But today, as we start this series, we’ll see what life had become for the Israelite people suffering in Egypt. And we’ll see a clear need for God to act/intervene/send a savior. The question is: Would the Lord be faithful to keep the promises he made? Is God faithful to save? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Exodus 1:1.

Exodus 1:1-7 (NIV), “1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin; 4 Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher. 5 The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt. 6 Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, 7 but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” Exodus is the second book in the Bible and is the second of a five-part series known by two terms: the Pentateuch, which means five books in Greek, and the Torah, which means the Law in Hebrew. These five books, including Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, were written by Moses, the mighty prophet and leader of the Israelites during the time of the Exodus. Now, to say that these writings have been influential is a ridiculous understatement. No one, after Jesus Christ himself, has had a more significant impact on human history than Moses and his five books. Over half the world’s population considers his writing to be Holy Scripture. Exodus begins by picking up where the book of Genesis left off. Genesis begins with a collection of stories of creation. The creation of the heavens and the earth, of human beings, of work and marriage and life with God, of the catastrophic problems of sin and death, of the start of a rescue plan of God through the family of Abraham and Sarah, of the growth of their family into the twelve tribes of Israel, and then of how they wound up in Egypt because of a famine and the elevation of Joseph to be second in command over all of Egypt. Genesis records that Abraham had a son named Isaac, and Isaac had a son named Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God. Israel had the twelve sons and adopted sons listed here. Between the twelve sons and their families, they had 70 people total when they went down to Egypt. That’s a big extended family, but nowhere close to a nation. But in Genesis 12, God made several promises to Abraham and Sarah about their family. Genesis 12:1–3 (NIV), “1 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. 2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” God promised them people and a place. He promised to make them into a great nation, and he promised a land he would show them — the land of Canaan, the Promised Land. Here, Moses writes that in the generations after Joseph and the seventy, “…the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.” The Israelites went from only seventy to millions of people through exponential growth over hundreds of years. God’s original blessing of creation, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth, was being fulfilled, but his specific promise to make the family of Abraham into a great nation was being fulfilled. Now, it might seem strange to us to start a book with a genealogy, but beyond connecting us to the story started in Genesis, this was normal for them. In traditional cultures, the family or tribe is in many ways more important than you as an individual. It defines you and is the main marker of your identity. This isn’t our culture. We’re much more individualistic (for better and for worse). But not only would it have really mattered to Moses what the family history was for the Israelite people, but we must remember that he was writing after the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for at least 300 years. They needed to know their true origin and identity. They needed to know about the promises of God for their people. But this is all happening in the wrong place, right? God had promised Canaan to Israel, not Egypt. How would they get out of Egypt?

Exodus 1:8-14 (NIV), “8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” 11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.” When Israel went to Egypt, they had incredible favor there because of Joseph and the work he did during the famine. The Israelites were shepherds, which the Egyptians looked down on, but in the providence of God, Joseph became second only to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, so his family enjoyed protection and lived in the land Joseph secured for them. But Joseph passed away, and so did the Pharaoh, who knew what Joseph had done for the Egyptians. As the royal dynasty changed, so did the political winds, which turned against the Israelites. Pharaoh made his case against the Israelites, saying they had become so numerous that if they didn’t deal with them more shrewdly, Israel might become an ally of one of their enemies and be a physical, political, and (likely) economic threat to them if war broke out. Few things are more effective in politics than making another group the source of all your problems and playing the us vs. them narrative until everyone in your tribe is angry and afraid whether the threat is credible or not. This other group might be a different ethnicity, religion, or economic class. This was certainly true for the Israelites. No longer appreciated and protected, they were seen as a threat precisely because they’d been so fruitful in Egypt. Unfortunately, God’s promises and blessings didn’t prevent them from experiencing injustice and oppression in this broken world. In some ways, they seemed to make things more difficult for Israel in Egypt. The truth is no one is immune from suffering here. But Israel was suffering bitterly. Moses writes that they were given slave masters. They lost their freedom. They became slaves and were forced to do hard labor in building cities, working construction, and in the fields. They were worked ruthlessly. But despite how harshly they were being used and abused, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread. This wasn’t going to put anyone’s fears to rest. How would Pharaoh respond?

Exodus 1:15–22 (NIV), “15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live. 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?” 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” This is God’s word. So, things have gone from bad to worse. But it’s not that surprising. Once you get people whipped up with anger and fear of a certain group (ethnic, religious, etc.), it doesn’t take long to get to the point where violence or even genocide, as we see here, seems justified. So, when enslavement and harsh labor didn’t slow down the growth of the Israelites, Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill all the newborn Hebrew boys. Can you imagine? Imagine hearing about this command when you or your wife were pregnant. Imagine the terror and anguish this would’ve caused. What were the midwives supposed to do? This was no small command. At this time in history, [Egypt map slide] Egypt was the greatest and most powerful kingdom on the planet. No one else was even close. They were in what historians call the New Kingdom period of Egyptian history (about 3,500 years ago). By this point, they were in something like their 18th or 19th royal dynasty and were more prosperous than at any time before or since. The Great Pyramid of Giza had been standing for over a thousand years. Their Pharaohs were worshipped, and their gods and goddesses were famous. And who were the Israelites? Some shepherds without a kingdom or a home of their own? Who was their God? Where was his temple? Where was his power to save and deliver his people? But God bless these women, Shiphrah and Puah, and their example. These brave ladies stood up to the most powerful man on earth because, Moses says, they feared God more than they feared this earthly king. Kill us if you want, oh king. But there is a King and Judge above even you. He is the Maker of the heavens and the earth. He is the One who is sovereign over life and death, not you. So, because of their faith and the strength of their character, Shiphrah and Puah defied the wicked command of Pharaoh. But then, when Pharaoh questioned them, it seems they might’ve bent the truth a bit about the vigorousness of the Hebrew women in childbirth. Although, who knows! Maybe it was true what they said about the Hebrew women. This could be a good case study for an ethics class. Is it ok to bend or even break the truth to prevent the senseless destruction of perhaps tens of thousands of helpless children? Well, God knew what they did, and he knew their circumstances, but he didn’t punish them for defying the king’s command. So, Chapter 1 ends with Pharaoh going around the midwives and ordering all his people to throw baby Hebrew boys into the Nile River. Imagine the relief young families would’ve felt hearing the midwives had successfully defied the king only to realize, in horror, that any one of their Egyptian neighbors might now try and kill their babies out of obedience to their king. This would’ve been moral insanity — utter Satanic chaos and brutality. But this is where our passage ends. There’s no relief here in Chapter 1. There’s no savior and no rescue plan yet. There’s no real sign of hope other than the fact that the Israelites continue to be blessed with children. So, for now, the Israelites are slaves. All this pain and suffering, discrimination, and brutal oppression form the context for the Exodus. This is the darkness that needed the light of God’s saving grace. This is the evil that needed the justice of God’s against sin. These are the chains that needed to be broken. The question is: Would God do something? Would God keep his word to the family of Abraham and Sarah? In Genesis 15, he promised that after 400 years of being strangers (and even slaves!) in a country not their own, the Lord would punish the slave masters and would bring them out with great possessions into the land that he had promised them. Would the Lord be faithful to keep the promises he made? In many ways, the whole book of Exodus is an answer to these big questions. Is God faithful to save? But just wait. Wait and see what God would do. Next week, with the story of the birth of Moses, we’ll start to see God’s rescue plan unfold. But for now, as is true for much of the OT history of ancient Israel, we feel the weight of the burden of sin in the world. And we cry out to God to do something about it. Is God faithful to save? Can we trust him in this? Is he able to accomplish his will in this broken world and bring redemption and freedom, or will the same old gods of worldly kingdoms, the false gods of money, sex, and power, win once again? We’ll see. But for now, as we close this morning, I’d like to point out this chapter of Israel’s history reminds us of our need for freedom today. Slavery still exists in the world, but there’s a bigger problem. Everyone everywhere, man/woman, rich/poor, young/old, slave/free is in bondage to the chains of sin and death. Try as we might, we fail to perfectly love God and perfectly love our neighbor. The truth is we just are not good enough to save ourselves. Therefore, we need God to act/intervene/send a savior. But the good news of the gospel is that God has already done everything we need to be saved. He sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. He came and lived the perfect life, then died on the cross in our place for our sins. But on the third day, God raised him from the dead. So today, Jesus is the King of the kingdom of God. He reigns and he rules but first, he saves. Have you trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sins? Have you received life everlasting in his kingdom? If so, then you, too, are part of the Exodus. You, too, are on a journey to freedom. And together, as a church and with the whole company of the saints, we are making our way to the promised land of the world to come. It’s a wild story. But it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Let us pray.