Latest / Reformed Thinking / Exodus: The God Who Rescues and Reigns | Thomas R. Schreiner

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Exodus: The God Who Rescues and Reigns | Thomas R. Schreiner · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome back to Reform Thinking. Today we are taking on a well, a
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substantial topic. We're doing a deep dive into the
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book of Exodus and we're going to try and look beyond the big
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cinematic moments, you know, the plagues, the sea parting and
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really focus on the the structural design of salvation
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that's being laid out. Our sources are helping us trace
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these huge concepts, covenant kingship, and God's very
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specific, very elaborate plan for how He can safely dwell with
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his people. Yeah, and our mission today is
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really to pull out the main theological ideas from all this
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material. We have to get a clear handle on
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the differences between two key agreements.
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First, that guaranteed 1 sided covenant God made with Abraham
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and second the conditional requirements that get introduced
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later in Sinai. And if we do that, we can see
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how the whole story fits together.
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Exactly, from the Passover lamb all the way to the floor plan of
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the Tabernacle, it all acts as this comprehensive picture that
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points ahead to the work of Christ.
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So for you listening, this analysis really helps explain
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how salvation is structured throughout the Bible.
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It shows that grace, it always comes first.
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And we're going to examine why Israel's immediate, and I mean
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immediate failure right after getting the law wasn't just some
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historical oops. It was a necessary theological
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lesson. It was meant to teach us
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something about the human heart and to show that an external law
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just can't fix an internal problem.
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OK, let's unpack this. And to do that, we have to start
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with the promises that came first, the ancient oath that
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really anchor the whole story of Israel.
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To get the Exodus, you absolutely have to start back in
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Genesis chapters 12 and 15 right?
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Our sources all define the Abrahamic Covenant as a covenant
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of pure promise means a contract that is 100% guaranteed by God.
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And that's in sharp contrast to the Mosaic law we get later.
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A very sharp contrast. The establishment of God's
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Kingdom on earth was secured through this prior deal and it
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all rested on three very specific, non negotiable
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promises. OK, let's break those three
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down. Children, land and this
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worldwide blessing. What did those promises look
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like right at the moment of the exodus?
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Well, you can see this fulfillment starting to happen
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in real time. The first promise, children or
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offspring, was God's oath that Abraham's family would be as
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numerous as the stars. And at the end of Genesis, that
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family is tiny. It's Jacob's descendants, maybe
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70 people moving into Egypt. But Exodus opens by showing the
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first powerful fulfillment of that promise.
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That growth is just explosive, especially when you think about
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the political situation they were in.
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It is, I mean, despite Pharaoh's systematic effort to kill them
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off, which our sources frame is that ancient conflict, the
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serpent's offspring trying to crush Abraham's promised seed.
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The people multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the
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land was filled with them, their survival, their sheer numbers.
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It was proof that God's Soggar and Word was in control, not
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Pharaoh. So that visible population boom
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confirms God is at work. But the second promise, the land
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that was completely unfulfilled at this point.
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That's right, God swore to give them Canaan.
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But when Exodus starts, they're landless, They're slaves.
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They are economic prisoners in a foreign country.
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So the sources are clear, God's purpose in delivering them was
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specifically territorial. He was rescuing them to bring
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them into the land He had sworn to their fathers.
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The rescue mission was basically the execution of an old real
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estate deal. And that third promise, the
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worldwide blessing, the hope for global redemption that was still
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way off in the future. It was a future hope.
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This blessing is about the renewal of the whole world
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through Abraham's final descendant.
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And clearly at the time of the Exodus, that hadn't happened.
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The world was still, you know, trapped.
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So we have one promise visibly starting, a second one is the
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immediate goal, and the third one reserved for much later.
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But the big question is why these promises were guaranteed
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in a way the Sinai agreement wasn't.
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What makes them unilateral? OK, this is where we have to
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look at that strange ceremony in Genesis 15.
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The promises are guaranteed because of how the Covenant was
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made in the ancient world, two parties would ratify A treaty by
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cutting animals in half and walking between the pieces.
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A serious oath. A very serious oath.
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It basically meant if I break this deal, may I become like
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these dead animals. It was a self curse.
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But in Genesis 15 something different happens.
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God tells Abraham to cut the animals.
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But then God alone as a smoking firepot in a flaming torch
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passes through the pieces. Abraham is asleep.
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He's a witness, not a participant.
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So God takes the entire obligation on himself, yes.
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That action meant that God would unilaterally make sure it
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happened, and he would take the curse of failure on himself if
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needed. The fulfillment depended
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entirely on God's integrity, not on human obedience at all.
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That changes everything. It means Israel's security isn't
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based on their behavior, but on God's own character.
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It's a built in safety net for their entire existence.
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The sources use a great analogy for this.
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The Abrahamic Covenant is like a trust fund.
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A trust fund, OK. It's established unilaterally by
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the benefactor who is God. He signs the papers.
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He guarantees the future wealth, the offspring, the land, the
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blessing, based purely on his signature.
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The beneficiaries. Abraham's kids can't forfeit
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that fund, no matter how badly they mess up.
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The security is tied to the benefactor's signature, not the
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beneficiary's performance. And this guarantee, then, is
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what drives the whole Exodus story.
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God doesn't rescue Israel because they were suddenly good
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people. No, He does it because he
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remembered those promises he made to the patriarchs.
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Rescue was a sovereign act of faithfulness.
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It was a debt God willingly took on himself.
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The text says. He heard their groaning and
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remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with
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Jacob. That's covenant execution.
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And this is where the revelation of God's name I Am becomes so
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significant. It's more than just a title.
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It's a declaration of his identity as the covenant keeper.
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He appears as the living act of God who is now, in this moment,
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stepping in to fulfill those specific ancient oaths.
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The name Yahweh is a statement of His absolute reliability.
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He is the one who is and who keeps His word.
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Here's where it gets really interesting.
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Because after being delivered by pure grace, based on a
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unilateral promise, Israel gets to Mount Sinai and enters a
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totally different kind of agreement, one with a serious
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condition attached. The shift is huge.
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We go from the Abrahamic covenant guaranteed to the Sinai
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covenant, which is all about conditional requirements, the
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sources explain. This new agreement structure
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looks a lot like an ancient Suzerain vassal treaty.
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So you have a relationship between a great king and a a
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subject nation. Precisely.
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Yahweh is the great king, the Suzaran.
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He just proved his power by defeating Egypt.
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Israel is a vassal he just delivered, and now the king
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imposes obligations on his subjects.
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The whole law is designed for Israel to live under the King's
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authority. But we have to stress the
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sequence here. The sources are so clear that
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grace precedes obligation. This is not legalism.
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It's so important not to get that backwards.
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The deal wasn't if you obey, then I'll save you.
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God first gives the historical prologue.
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Remind them he already saved them, He carried them on eagle's
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wings. He introduces the law by saying,
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I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt.
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So obedience was meant to be the response to redemption, not the
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way to earn it. But even with that gracious
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start, the deal had a clear if, then structure.
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Their special status depended on performance.
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The core condition is spelled out in Exodus 19.
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If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, the reward
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for that was huge. They would be God's treasured
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possession, a Kingdom of priests, a holy nation.
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That was their job description. Yes, to mediate God's presence
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to the world, just like Adam was supposed to do in the garden.
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So their status as a treasured possession was completely
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dependent on them keeping up their end of the bargain, and
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that introduces a risk that just wasn't there with Abraham.
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That is the central theological difference.
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The Mosaic covenant depended on human performance.
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It had stipulations, and if they were broken, it led to
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consequences. Even up to the deal being
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broken. It was a conditional arrangement
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and that conditionality immediately revealed something
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about the people. It revealed the internal defect,
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as our sources put it, it showed them they couldn't do it.
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The law itself was perfect, but when you apply it to a stiff
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necked and unregenerate people, it shows its own inability to
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save them. It works like a mirror, exposing
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that deep seated flaw in the human heart.
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The law was designed to show sin for what it is, to show that
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external rules can't fix internal corruption.
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Let's look at the 10 commandments themselves, the
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Charter Regulations. They function as more than just
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A to do list. Right.
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The first four define the King's authority.
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The number one rule is exclusive worship of Yahweh.
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The ban on making images is about asserting God's unfettered
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character. He can't be managed or contained
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or shrunk down into something we can control.
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He demands to be the one and only object of their devotion.
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And the rules go way beyond just external actions.
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They go straight to internal desires.
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They absolutely go to the heart. You see this most clearly in the
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10th Commandment, the one against coveting.
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Our sources say this is the diagnostic tool for the whole
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law. How so?
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The commandment says you shall not covet your neighbor's house
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or wife or anything he has. What a person covets in their
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heart shows what they truly worship.
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It shows where they're looking for satisfaction.
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So if you're coveting your neighbor's stuff, you're not
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trusting God to provide for you. You're breaking the first
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commandment in your heart. That's it.
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Coveting is the root. If you fail to trust God for
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satisfaction, you will eventually break the law
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externally. If you don't trust Him to
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protect you, you might murder. If you don't trust Him for
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provision, you'll steal. The Sinai agreement demanded
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total internal loyalty. Which means that breaking these
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rules isn't a small thing, it's an act of rebellion.
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Every single violation, theft, murder, adultery, is
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theologically an act where the person declares themselves
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sovereign. They claim to be their own Lord.
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They're repeating Adam's choice to define good and evil for
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themselves. To make this conditional nature
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really clear, let's go back to the analogies.
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The scholarship one is helpful. Yeah, the Sinai covenant is like
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a conditional academic scholarship.
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The scholarship is given out of the donors generosity.
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That's the grace the rescue from Egypt.
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It wasn't earned, but the deal comes with the condition.
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You have to maintain a 3.5 GPA or you lose a scholarship.
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The student didn't earn the initial gift, but their
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performance determines if they keep it.
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And in this case, failing the GPA, disobeying the law means
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the termination clause kicks in. That's the Deuteronomic
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principle. If Israel fails to obey the
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covenant, curses activate disease, defeat, and eventually
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exile from the land. The whole system was
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probationary and it's so different from the Abrahamic
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trust fund, which they could never lose.
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And the moment that law is given, the flaw is exposed.
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Israel immediately breaks it by worshipping the golden calf.
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The speed of this failure is just staggering.
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It's incredible theological trauma.
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The covenant is ratified, the people all agree to the terms,
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and while Moses is still up on the mountain getting the
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details, they're down below pressuring Aaron to make an
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idol. They commit blatant primary
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idolatry. They violate the very first and
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most important rule, exclusive worship.
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Our sources call it a representative reaction.
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It wasn't a one off mistake. It showed the true stiff necked
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condition of their hearts. It was an act of high treason
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against their new king. They tried to manage God to make
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him into a physical thing that they could control, which is a
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direct violation of his unfettered character.
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So Moses comes down the mountain, sees this, and he
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throws the stone tablets, shadowing them.
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And we have to be clear, this isn't just a fit of anger, this
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is a theological demonstration of a legal fact.
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It was a dramatic announcement that the conditional deal was
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off. The physical shattering of the
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tablets symbolized that the Mosaic Covenant, the agreement
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they just made, was null and void.
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The legal bond was severed because the human performance
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required to keep it active had failed instantly.
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So if the Sinai covenant is the signed contract, Moses smashing
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the tablets is the legal proof that the contract has been
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terminated. Exactly.
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It's like tearing up a signed contract.
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When your business partner commits fraud on day one, you
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destroy the document to prove the deal is off and under the
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terms they agreed to, Israel deserves to be completely wiped
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out. Which brings us to this crisis
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moment where Moses intercedes. He somehow saves the nation from
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annihilation. How does he argue their case
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successfully? His intercession is it's a
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brilliant theological move. He avoids appealing to the Sinai
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covenant completely. He can't.
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He can't. That contract demanded their
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destruction. If he had appealed to their
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obedience, they would have been gone.
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So he skips over that conditional deal entirely and
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goes back to the ironclad guarantee.
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He invokes the patriarchal covenant, the promises to
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Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses basically argues you swore
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by yourself to make these people a great nation.
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If you destroy them now, what will the nation say?
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Your reputation is online. Your promise has to be
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fulfilled, not for their sake, but for your name's sake.
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And God spares them, not because they repented, but because of
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His faithfulness to that prior unconditional oath.
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But even with that forgiveness, there was an immediate
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consequence. God refused to live among them.
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His Holiness required it because the people were so corrupt, so
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stiff necked. God said he would not live
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inside their camp or His Holiness would consume them.
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So the attentive meeting gets moved outside the camp.
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A physical symbol of their separation.
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A very stark physical illustration of their corruption
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and the need for distance between a holy God and sinful
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people only Moses, the mediator could go out to meet with.
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Him and this whole crisis leads directly to that crucial
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revelation of God's character in Exodus 34.
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This is one of the most important passages in the whole
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Bible. Moses asks to see God's glory,
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and God proclaims his own name. He proclaims himself as merciful
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and gracious, slow to anger, and a bounding in steadfast love and
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faithfulness. But it's balanced.
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It's not just grace. It's carefully balanced.
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He is forgiving. But the passage also says he
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will by no means clear the guilty.
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He keeps steadfast love for thousands, but he maintains
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justice. So this covenant renewal was
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based entirely on the revelation of God's sovereign mercy, which
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itself is rooted in the Abrahamic promise.
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Grace wins out, but justice is never forgotten.
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So what does this all mean? We've gone from promise to law
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to failure. And the big question left for
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Israel was how can a holy God who almost destroyed them for
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their sin possibly live in the middle of their camp?
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And the answer, the architectural answer is the
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Tabernacle. The fundamental purpose of the
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Tabernacle, which is detailed so carefully in the rest of Exodus,
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was exactly that to provide a secure, ritualistic way for God
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to dwell among his people and maintain fellowship with them.
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It was the solution to the problem.
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The golden calf created the Tabernacle.
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The tent of meeting was the physical proof that God had
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forgiven them and was willing to stay with them.
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But given God's holiness, that terrifying presence that demands
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lethal judgment on sin, the Tabernacle had to be more than a
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tent. It had to be a kind of elaborate
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safety mechanism. It was there to guard divine
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perfection. That is its core function, our
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sources say God's presence is terrifying and beautiful, and we
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just can't survive a casual encounter with his unmediated
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purity, Right? So the whole structure with its
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different levels of access, the outer courtyard, the holy place,
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the Holy of Holies, and the strict laws and the veil, all of
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it was necessary to prevent that deadly clash between God's
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perfection and our imperfection. So the sacrifices in the
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priesthood weren't just random rituals, they were survival
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requirements. They were necessary for
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purification. The fact that the bronze altar
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is the very first thing you see in the courtyard shows that a
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sinful person can't take a single step toward God without
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blood atonement first. The distance, the veils, the
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rules, they were all there to make sure that anyone who
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enjoyed fellowship would not die.
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The way you're describing this, protecting people from this
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immense sacred power, it makes me think of the analogy from our
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sources. It's a powerful 1.
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You can think of the Tabernacle as a nuclear containment vessel,
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or maybe a deep sea diving bell. God's presence is the immense,
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dangerous power source the structure provides, the
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regulated shielding, the layers of fabric and hides and walls,
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and the strict safety protocols which are the sacrifices and the
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priesthood. This whole elaborate system
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allows that dangerous, necessary power to live safely in the
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middle of the camp instead of destroying it.
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Let's talk about the details that connect the Tabernacle back
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to Genesis, the whole restoration of Eden idea.
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The Tabernacle was clearly designed to be a microcosm of
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the cosmos. The outer court represented the
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earth, the Holy place with its lamps represented the skies, and
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the Holy of Holies represented the invisible heavenly realm
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where God dwells. But even more than that, the
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materials and the layout were direct callbacks to Eden.
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How so? What are the specific link?
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Well, think about it. The entrance was from the east,
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just like Adam and Eve were exiled eastward from Eden.
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The inner veil had cherubim woven into it, guarding access
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to the Holy of Holies, just like cherubim guarded the way back to
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the Tree of Life. The gold, the precious
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materials. The gold, the precious stones,
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the colors representing the cosmos, it all signals that this
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building was meant to be the place where God was restoring
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the fellowship that was lost in the garden.
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It was the first step toward reclaiming creation.
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The last piece of the tabernacles meaning is the idea
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of divine rest. This connects back to God's
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sovereignty. Yes, the Tabernacle was where
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God rested among his people. And in the Bible, divine rest
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isn't about God being tired. It signifies the completion of a
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great work followed by enthronement.
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Just like after the first creation.
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Exactly just as God rested on the 7th day after creating the
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world, His presence resting in the Tabernacle signified His
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triumph over His enemies in Egypt and His formal
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enthronement as the sovereign King over Israel.
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He was now officially reigning from His new earthly palace,
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right in the middle of His redeemed people.
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OK, so now we move from the building itself to the specific
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actions that make God's presence safe and forgiveness possible.
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And that whole process of redemption starts back in Egypt
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with the Passover. Let's talk about the blood on
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the doorposts. What's the main theological
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message there? The Passover established the non
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negotiable principle of substitutionary atonement.
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The event required the violent death of a lamb and its blood
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was spilled instead of the blood of the first born son.
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This one act established for all time the biblical rule that
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redemption requires a life for a life.
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A substitute has to die to save the one who deserves judgement.
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And this act also made Israel's own status perfectly clear.
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They were receiving unmerited mercy.
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They weren't saved because they were better than the Egyptians.
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Not at all. Our sources are very clear that
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Israel deserved judgement as well.
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They were infected with idolatry and sin just like their
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neighbors. They were spared only because
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they responded in faith to God's specific command to apply the
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blood. The Lord passed over the houses
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because He saw His provision, the blood, not because he saw
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the moral quality of the people inside.
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It taught the nation that rescue from wrath comes only through
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God's provision. The analogy for this makes that
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separation between merit and provision so clear.
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The Passover blood is like a validated train ticket.
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The conductor is judgement moving through the train, ready
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to remove anyone who hasn't paid the passenger.
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Israel is broke, they can't pay and they deserve to be thrown
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off. But a benefactor, the lamb, pays
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the full price and provides the ticket.
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When the conductor comes, he only looks at the ticket.
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It proves the price was paid by someone else.
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The passenger is safe. Their own worth is completely
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irrelevant. The paid ticket is everything.
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And tied to the Passover was the rule about removing all the
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leaven. What's the theological meaning
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of that? Well, it commemorates how
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quickly they left Egypt. No time for the bread to rise.
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But it has a symbolic purpose too.
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In Scripture, leaven often represents corruption, evil,
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sin. So the requirement to get rid of
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it symbolizes the removal of evil and sin from the lives of
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God's delivered people. It's a response to grace.
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Those who have been saved are now called to actively purge the
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leaven of sin from their lives. Now let's go inside the
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Tabernacle to the very heart of the atonement system, the Mercy
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Seat. Where was it and what made it
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the most sacred spot on earth? The Mercy Seat, or Caporeth,
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which means covering, was in the innermost room, the Holy of
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Holies. It was a solid gold slab on top
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of the Ark of the Covenant with two cherubims overshadowing it.
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This was the specific spot where Yahweh promised he would
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specially meet Israel. So it was God's throne on earth.
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It absolutely functioned as God's throne.
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The biblical picture is that God is reigning from His throne at
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the mercy seat between the cherubim.
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And because this was the place where forgiveness, the covering
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of sin, happened on the Day of Atonement, it showed the God's
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reign over Israel was a gracious and saving reign.
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His rule was defined by his willingness to forgive.
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The rules for accessing this place just under score that
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terrifying gap between our sin and God's holiness.
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The access was so limited because God's terrifying and
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beautiful holiness can't just be walked into.
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The Holy of Holies was reserved for the High Priest and only
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once a year. This extreme separation was
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there to guard the perfection of the divine presence from being
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contaminated, which would ensure God could stay without
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destroying everyone. The analogy for the mercy seat
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really helps capture the scale of those protocols.
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Yeah, you can think of the mercy seat as the throne inside a
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sterile isolation room. The king is there, but because
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the whole world outside the camp of Israel carries the deadly
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virus of sin, he has to be behind multiple barriers.
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The. Compartments.
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The Veil. The compartments, the veil, the
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rules, only the designated specialist, the high priest, can
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enter, and even he has to go through rigorous decontamination
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protocol, sacrifices, washing before he can approach, just to
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survive in the presence of the Holy. 1 So we laid out the whole
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framework of the Exodus, the unilateral promise that created
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the nation, the conditional law that showed their sin, and the
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gracious provision of the Tabernacle that let God live
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with them. Now we have to connect all these
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Old Testament types to their New Testament fulfillment in Christ.
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And the Exodus paradigm itself, that pattern of salvation, it's
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clearly not just a one time historical event.
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No, it becomes the permanent model, the absolute template for
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God saving work. The rescue from Egypt served as
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the permanent model or type of God's salvation is the absolute
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surety of his will to save. This pattern was so central that
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centuries later, when Israel was in exile, the prophets promised
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a new exodus. They said God would deliver them
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again, just like he did from Egypt.
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You can even see the cosmic conflict playing out right from
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the start. Pharaoh trying to kill all of
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Abraham's children is a typological conflict that goes
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all the way back to Genesis 3. Pharaoh is acting as the
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serpents offspring trying to destroy the line of promise, and
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this points directly ahead to Herod the Great, who is also
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depicted as a king from Satan's line trying to kill Jesus, the
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ultimate offspring of Abraham. Even small details like Moses
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fleeing into exile foreshadowed Jesus's own flight into Egypt as
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an infant. So Israel failed its calling to
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be a Kingdom of priests under that conditional sign ideal,
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just like Adam failed in Eden, and that role then needed an
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ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
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That whole job description is perfectly fulfilled in him.
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Jesus is the true Israel and the true Adam.
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He succeeds with perfect obedience where they both
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failed. He is the faithful priest in the
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order of Melchizedek who intercedes for his people
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forever. And crucially, he does it based
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on his own shed blood, not the blood of animals.
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And he's the true king. And he's the true King, seated
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at God's right hand, the victorious enthroned sovereign.
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So Christ's work is called the New Exodus.
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How does this new Exodus fix the problems and failures of the
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first one? The first Exodus, amazing as it
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was, only freed Israel from political slavery.
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The new Exodus that Jesus accomplishes frees God's people
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from a much deeper slavery to sin itself.
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The Passover points directly to Christ is the Lamb of God.
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Paul tells us Christ is our Passover Lamb.
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His one sacrifice establishes the new Covenant and provides
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full eternal atonement, which replaces the temporary animal
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sacrifices. And the deepest resolution is
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that Christ fixes the human heart defect that made the
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Mosaic covenant fail from the start.
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That failure was the lesson of Sinai.
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External rules can't change the unregenerate heart of a stiff
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necked people. The old covenant reveal how bad
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the problem was. The New covenant, through
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Christ's sacrifice actually provides for the renewal of the
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heart by the Holy Spirit. It solves the root problem of
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internal corruption that Sinai could only expose.
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And the final step is the extension to the church.
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We now take up Israel's job. The New Testament says the
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Church, all believers, Jew and Gentile, fulfills the spiritual
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role of Old Testament Israel. We are now called the Kingdom of
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priests and a holy nation. We have direct spiritual access
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to God through Christ our High Priest, but a key difference is
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that the church is a spiritual reality, not tied to a political
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government or a single piece of land.
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And that spiritual reality is why there's no physical temple
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today. Because Christ is the true
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temple, the physical barriers are gone.
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God now dwells in His people by the Spirit.
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And this brings us to the ultimate end.
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The Exodus was the new creation of Israel.
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This all points forward to the final new creation in
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Revelation. In the New Jerusalem, there is
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no physical temple. Why?
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Because God and the Lamb are the temple, and God dwells of His
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people face to face forever with no veils or walls needed.
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So to wrap up our deep dive, we saw God's Kingdom move forward
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through a unilateral promise to Abraham that guaranteed the
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nation's survival. That was followed by a
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conditional test at Sinai that revealed the depth of human sin.
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And finally, all of this was secured by a gracious provision
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in the Tabernacle and Passover, a system that made it possible
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for a holy God to dwell safely with sinful people.
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A quick, clear take away for you, the listener that connects
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all this to your life. The whole arc of the Exodus
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teaches us this lasting principle that God's gracious
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redemption always comes before and makes possible our obedient
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response. We were saved by His prior
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promise and then we were called to live as a holy people.
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And maybe consider this final thought, building on that idea
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of divine rest. If the temporary Tabernacle
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showed God's triumph and rest as king in the middle of a sinful
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camp, what does it mean for your life today that Christ, the true
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temple and our eternal high priest, is right now seated at
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the right hand of God? Ponder the certainty of that
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Abrahamic promise, a promise that secures your eternal peace
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even when your daily struggle against sin shows that human
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defect is still there. A powerful idea that puts our
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struggles and our hopes right where they belong, on the
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finished work of our true King. Thank you for joining us for
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this deep dive into the promises, the performance, and
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the dwelling King. We invite you to continue your
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study of the Exodus narrative.