Exodus

Introduction: From Favor to Bondage

The book of Exodus begins by showing the children of Israel going from being a family of seventy honored guests in Egypt to becoming a nation of thousands held in captive slavery. This progression mirrors what happens to many people who fall into sin. What begins as something enjoyable and seemingly harmless eventually becomes painful and destructive.

In Scripture, Egypt is often a type of sin, and Pharaoh is a type of Satan. Going into Egypt is like entering into sin, and trusting Pharaoh is like trusting Satan. Anyone who has fallen into sin understands this trap: it looks good at first, but eventually everything falls apart.

Fear, Oppression, and a Deadly Decree

As the Israelites multiply, Pharaoh begins to view them as a threat. In response, he makes a horrific decision: he orders that all firstborn Hebrew male children be thrown into the Nile River. The Nile was an extremely dangerous place, filled with deadly predators such as Nile crocodiles. Because the Israelites were enslaved, they were forced to face this painful and terrifying reality.

God Preserves a Deliverer

During this time, a woman named Jochebed gave birth to a son named Moses. God provides a miraculous plan to preserve his life. Jochebed places Moses in a basket and carefully positions him in the Nile, ensuring that he is discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter as she bathes.

Pharaoh’s daughter adopts Moses, and in God’s perfect design, Moses’ own mother is chosen to nurse him. Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s palace under the care of Pharaoh’s daughter.

The Three Stages of Moses’ Life

It can be said of Moses’ life that:

• He spent the first 40 years thinking he was somebody.

• He spent the next 40 years believing he was a nobody.

• He spent the final 40 years discovering how God can use someone who feels like a nobody.

After forty years in the palace, Moses witnesses an Egyptian slave master abusing a Hebrew. In anger, Moses kills the man and flees into the wilderness.

The Wilderness: God’s Place of Refining

The wilderness is a place of testing and refining. God often uses the wilderness to prepare people for a greater purpose. Those whom God intends to use are frequently tested, refined, and shaped in isolation before being sent into public ministry.

Moses experiences this process during his forty years in the wilderness.

The Burning Bush: A Divine Calling

Toward the end of Moses’ time in the wilderness, he encounters a burning bush that is not consumed. While bushes catching fire were not uncommon in that region, a bush that burns without being consumed is something worth stopping to observe.

When Moses approaches, God speaks to him from the bush and commissions him to return to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel from slavery.

God Raises a Deliverer

God hears the cries of His people and raises a deliverer. This pattern appears repeatedly in Scripture, particularly in the book of Judges, where the people cry out to God, and He raises a deliverer to rescue them.

This pattern also reflects our own lives. We attempt to do things our own way, fall into trouble, and then cry out to God, who graciously delivers us.

The Ten Plagues: God’s Power Revealed

Moses returns to Egypt, and God sends ten plagues upon the land. These plagues are significant because the Egyptians worshiped many gods. Each plague directly confronts and exposes the powerlessness of an Egyptian god, demonstrating that the God of Moses is greater than all the gods of Egypt combined.

Passover: A Way of Escape

The final plague brings a way of escape. God declares that the firstborn sons of Egypt will die, but those who sacrifice a lamb and place its blood on their doorposts will be spared. The angel of death will pass over their homes.

This event is the origin of Passover, and it serves as a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ. Just as the blood of the lamb protected the Israelites, the blood of Jesus covers our sins so that death passes over us.

The Hardened Heart of Pharaoh

After the plagues, Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave. During the first five plagues, Scripture says Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. During the final five plagues, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, confirming Pharaoh’s chosen rebellion.

Crossing the Sea: A Picture of Baptism

Pharaoh soon changes his mind and pursues the Israelites. God miraculously parts the sea, allowing the people to cross on dry ground. When Pharaoh and his army attempt to follow, they are drowned.

This event serves as a picture of baptism. While baptism does not save us, it symbolizes our new life in Christ: we come up out of the water, and our sin is left behind.

Testing Continues: Complaints in the Wilderness

One might expect the Israelites to respond with gratitude and trust, but instead, they begin to complain about food and provisions. Rather than trusting God, they long for their former life in Egypt.

This reflects the struggle many people face after being delivered from sin—continually looking back and romanticizing the past rather than trusting God for the future.

Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments

At Mount Sinai, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. The number ten is significant, representing covenant. The Israelites were freed through ten plagues and given ten commandments as part of their covenant relationship with God.

Although the people eagerly agree to obey, their commitment quickly falters.

The Golden Calf: Failure in the Wilderness

While Moses is away, the people fashion a golden calf and worship it as the god who delivered them from Egypt. This moment reveals the true condition of their hearts.

The wilderness exposes what is within us.

God’s Presence Among His People

God establishes a meeting place for Israel, instructing them to build the Tabernacle. Within it is the Ark of the Covenant, where God’s presence rests between the wings of the cherubim.

The Tabernacle consists of:

• The Outer Court: sacrifice and cleansing

• The Holy Place: light, incense, and provision

• The Most Holy Place: the Ark and atonement for sin

The book of Exodus provides detailed instructions regarding its construction.

Conclusion: Still in the Wilderness

The children of Israel camp around the Tabernacle as they journey through the wilderness. The book of Exodus ends with the people still in the midst of testing—not yet in the Promised Land, but learning to walk with God.

The story reminds us that deliverance is immediate, but transformation is a process.