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Voddie Baucham - An Introduction to Exodus · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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Speaker 1: If you have your Bibles with you this morning, open
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Speaker 1: them to the Book of Exodus, the second book in
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Speaker 1: the Bible, Book of Exodus. As you know, it is
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Speaker 1: our practice to engage in systematic exposition of the scriptures,
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Speaker 1: and so we preach through books, and we preach through
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Speaker 1: Old Testament books and then New Testament books, and when
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Speaker 1: we go back and forth, we preach through different types
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Speaker 1: of books. And if you'll remember, although we've been through Genesis,
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Speaker 1: it was quite a while ago that we went through Genesis.
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Speaker 1: We've come back to the Pittitude to the first five
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Speaker 1: books of Moses, also known as the law books. But
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Speaker 1: in the meantime we have also been through the Book
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Speaker 1: of Daniel and now through the Book of Revelation, and
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Speaker 1: so we have spent time in prophetic books. We spent
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Speaker 1: time in a number of the psalms. Even after preaching
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Speaker 1: through Daniel, before we finished Revelation, we came back and
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Speaker 1: went through selected psalms. So we're in a different type
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Speaker 1: of literature in the Old Testament. And having closed the
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Speaker 1: book on Revelation on last week, it's time for us
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Speaker 1: to open the book, so to speak, on Exodus this week.
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Speaker 1: So my job today is to give us an overview
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Speaker 1: of Exodus. As is our practice when we begin a
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Speaker 1: new book, we like to suggest some tools for you
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Speaker 1: as you follow along, and I've brought a number of
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Speaker 1: those today. There may be others that we recommend. For
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Speaker 1: a number of reasons, it's difficult to find books on
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Speaker 1: Exodus that we would recommend wholeheartedly. One I'll talk about later.
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Speaker 1: There are trends in modern scholarship as it relates to
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Speaker 1: the Pentituke, the result of which have been an approach
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Speaker 1: to Exodus, an approach to the Pentitouk in general, but
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Speaker 1: especially an approach to Exodus that is less than biblical.
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Speaker 1: It's called redaction criticism. I'll say more to it, more
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Speaker 1: about it in a few moments. But one book is
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Speaker 1: trimp Er Longman's book How to Read Exodus. And we
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Speaker 1: may have mentioned a couple of his books before, how
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Speaker 1: to read Proverbs, how to read Genesis, but his book
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Speaker 1: how to Read Exodus. As you can see, it's a
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Speaker 1: short book, but very helpful as you try to understand Exodus.
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Speaker 1: Then there are a couple of commentaries, but we try
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Speaker 1: to give you one that's more pastoral in nature, and
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Speaker 1: one it's a little more academic. In nature. These will
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Speaker 1: be more along the pastoral side. The Message of Exodus
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Speaker 1: by J. Motyr is one that we'd recommend, and again
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Speaker 1: it's a shorter commentary. And then there's a two volume
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Speaker 1: commentary by John Kurrd on Exodus, and it's this one
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Speaker 1: here that I recommend as well. This first volume is
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Speaker 1: chapters one through eighteen, and so it'll take us a
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Speaker 1: while to get through chapters one through eighteen, so you'll
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Speaker 1: be okay with that first volume for quite a while
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Speaker 1: as we work through this book. Listen to this and
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Speaker 1: this is from Triple Longmen in the book to which
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Speaker 1: are referred earlier. Without a doubt, Genesis is an important book,
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Speaker 1: providing the foundation to much that follows. It deserves close study.
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Speaker 1: That said, in its ancient context, it is the preface
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Speaker 1: to the Book of Exodus. To be more exact, we
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Speaker 1: must remember that the first five books of the Bible,
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Speaker 1: Genesis through Deuteronomy, are really a single literary whole that
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Speaker 1: goes by various names, the Books of Moses, the Torah,
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Speaker 1: the Pentateuch. Genesis is the introduction to the real focus
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Speaker 1: of the Torah, the founding of Israel as a nation. Thus,
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Speaker 1: the Book of Exodus assumes tremendous significance as it describes
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Speaker 1: how Israel escaped its captivity in Egypt, received the law
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Speaker 1: that defined it as a nation, and built a central
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Speaker 1: worship site, the Tabernacle. Genesis provides a background to prepare
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Speaker 1: the reader for hearing the story of the Exodus. So
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Speaker 1: it was important to understand the unity first of all
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Speaker 1: between all of the Penteituke, but specifically the unity and
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Speaker 1: the connection between Genesis and Exodus. In fact, if you
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Speaker 1: look at the first paragraph there in Exodus looked their
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Speaker 1: beginning of verse one, these are the names of the
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Speaker 1: sons of Israe who came to Egypt with Jacob, each
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Speaker 1: with his household, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Isachar, Zebulin, and Benjamin,
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Speaker 1: Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the descendants of
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Speaker 1: Jacob were seventy persons. Joseph was already in Egypt. Then
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Speaker 1: Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.
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Speaker 1: But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly.
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Speaker 1: They multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land
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Speaker 1: was filled with them. Obviously, this is a continuation of
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Speaker 1: what we've seen in Genesis. Genesis has brought us up
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Speaker 1: to a place where we have seen the reunification of
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Speaker 1: the family as they have made it through this famine.
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Speaker 1: We see the way that God has used Joseph to
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Speaker 1: bring them through this famine, and the way that God
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Speaker 1: has used Joseph to give them favor in Egypt and
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Speaker 1: a place to live in Egypt. So here in this
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Speaker 1: first paragraph there's a bridge connecting Genesis and Exodus. So
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Speaker 1: a couple of questions that we have to ask whenever
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Speaker 1: we start a book. Number one, who wrote Exodus. The
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Speaker 1: short answer is that Moses is the author of Exodus,
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Speaker 1: since he's the author of the Pentateuch. Exodus witnesses to
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Speaker 1: Moses's writing activity in a number of places. Exodus seventeen fourteen.
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Speaker 1: Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a
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Speaker 1: memorial and a book, and recite it in the years
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Speaker 1: of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory
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Speaker 1: of Amelek from under heaven Exodus twenty four to four.
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Speaker 1: And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.
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Speaker 1: He rose early in the morning and built an altar
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Speaker 1: at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars. According
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Speaker 1: to the twelve tribes of Israel, and then the Exodus
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Speaker 1: thirty four, verses twenty seven and twenty eight. And the
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Speaker 1: Lord said to Moses, write these words, for in accordance
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Speaker 1: with these words, I've made a covenant with you and
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Speaker 1: with Israel. So he was there with the Lord forty
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Speaker 1: days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water,
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Speaker 1: and he wrote on the tablets the words of the Covenant,
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Speaker 1: the Ten Commandments. Now there are, however, numerous objections to
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Speaker 1: this assertion and the generally accepted theory in much of
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Speaker 1: Old Testament criticism of the documentary hypothesis, or you may
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Speaker 1: have heard J. E. DP in first the J for
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Speaker 1: Yahueh and those portions in the Pentituke where Yahueh is
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Speaker 1: the dominant term used, and E for Elogheim where Eloheim
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Speaker 1: is the dominant term used, D for the deuter or
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Speaker 1: deuteronimistic portion, and P for the priesthood, arguing basically that
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Speaker 1: there are these different groups of individuals who wrote the
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Speaker 1: Pentethuke and brought the Pinetuke together. Again, we reject this idea,
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Speaker 1: noting that God makes it very clear and the texts
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Speaker 1: make it very clear, that Moses is the author of
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Speaker 1: the Pentituke. We also recognize that that doesn't mean that
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Speaker 1: Moses was the one who actually penned it in its
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Speaker 1: final form, that there were writings of Moses that were
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Speaker 1: no doubt collected and put together by scribes, just as
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Speaker 1: Paul oftentimes in his letters, where we'll see, for example,
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Speaker 1: when Paul says, look at how big letters I write
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Speaker 1: you in my own hand. He had ammanuencies, he had scribes,
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Speaker 1: he had individuals who wrote. Luke the tribal companion of
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Speaker 1: his who wrote oftentimes on his behalf. But yet the
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Speaker 1: authorship of the Pentitude is mosaic in nature. Another controversy
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Speaker 1: is when Exodus was written, and there are a couple
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Speaker 1: of possibilities. We don't know exactly when Exodus was written,
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Speaker 1: and we don't know exactly when the events of the
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Speaker 1: Exodus took place, but there are some clues. The clues
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Speaker 1: are biblical and archaeological. The evidence gives us two possible dates,
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Speaker 1: one in the fifteenth century BC and the other in
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Speaker 1: the thirteenth century BC. As to when these things took
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Speaker 1: place to biblical texts irrelevant to the date of Exodus,
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Speaker 1: The first and most direct statement is in one Kings,
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Speaker 1: chapter six and verse one. Listen to this First Kings
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Speaker 1: Chapter six, verse one. Turn there in the four hundred
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Speaker 1: and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out
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Speaker 1: of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of
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Speaker 1: Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which
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Speaker 1: is the second month, he began to build the House
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Speaker 1: of the Lord. So we have a very specific date
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Speaker 1: as to when Solomon began to build the House of
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Speaker 1: the Lord, and a very specific reference as to how
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Speaker 1: long that was after Israel came out of Egypt. Now,
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Speaker 1: because we know with specificity what date is being referred
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Speaker 1: to in Kings, and that's nine sixty seven BC, then
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Speaker 1: we know that the date of the Exodus would be
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Speaker 1: fourteen forty seven BC or thereabouts, allowing for the possibility
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Speaker 1: of rounded off numbers, so that put sit in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the fifteenth century BC. Again, there are others
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Speaker 1: who argue with that date, but the second relevant passage
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Speaker 1: just judges chapter eleven and verse twenty six. That one
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Speaker 1: is less clear immediately and takes a little more work
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Speaker 1: to understand, but it harmonizes nicely with the passage in
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Speaker 1: First Kings. So what we're reading about is an exodus
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Speaker 1: that took place somewhere in the middle of the fifteenth
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Speaker 1: century BC, around fourteen forty or so BC. But what's
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Speaker 1: the structure of the book. There are a couple of
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Speaker 1: opinions as to how it's best to structure the book,
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Speaker 1: but they all center around the same sort of ideas. First,
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Speaker 1: the traditional view Israel in Egypt. That will be chapter
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Speaker 1: one through chapter thirteen, verse sixteen. The second section is
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Speaker 1: Israel in the Wilderness that will be thirteen seven teen
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Speaker 1: through eighteen twenty seven, and then Israel and Sinai that'll
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Speaker 1: be nineteen one through the end of chapter forty. Matyr
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Speaker 1: has a different way of breaking the book down. It's similar,
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Speaker 1: but he says, first, it's Israel in Egypt, and that's
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Speaker 1: the idea of the Savior one to one through thirteen sixteen.
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Speaker 1: His second one is a little different. It's Israel in Sinai,
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Speaker 1: so he takes that from thirteen seventeen all the way
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Speaker 1: through twenty four eleven. And the third one is Israel
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Speaker 1: around the Tabernacle twenty four to twelve through the end
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Speaker 1: of forty. So he has the Savior, the Companion, and
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Speaker 1: the indweller. Longman offers a third perspective. First, God saves
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Speaker 1: Israel from Egyptian bondage chapters one through eighteen. Secondly, God
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Speaker 1: gives Israel his law chapters nineteen through twenty four, and
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Speaker 1: then thirdly, God commands Israel to build the Tabernacle chapters
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Speaker 1: twenty five through forty. There's also a chiastic structure in Exodus.
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Speaker 1: I promise you I did not make this up. I
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Speaker 1: know I always talk to you guys about kiasms. They're
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Speaker 1: all over the Bible. It is a very important storytelling
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Speaker 1: tool to use a chiasm. And remember, a chiasm is
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Speaker 1: a structure that's kind of like a one sided cross.
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Speaker 1: As a story is being told, and in order to
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Speaker 1: make the point, I'll do it as I usually do,
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Speaker 1: and I'll kind of move along here in order to
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Speaker 1: demonstrate the chiasm. First of all, there is building for Pharaoh.
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Speaker 1: That's chapters one through five. That's a right here. B.
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Speaker 1: There is the Lamb of God that's chapter six through twelve.
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Speaker 1: And in C you have the companion God that's chapters
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Speaker 1: thirteen through eighteen. D you have the grace of God
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Speaker 1: and the Law of God chapters nineteen through twenty four.
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Speaker 1: Now we start going back remember right before that we
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Speaker 1: had the companion God in thirteen through eighteen for c C.
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Speaker 1: Going the other way, the indwelling God, and that's twenty
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Speaker 1: five through thirty one. Remember B was the Lamb of God. Well,
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Speaker 1: B on the other side is the golden Calf. I
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Speaker 1: remember A was building for Pharaoh. A on the other
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Speaker 1: side is building for God and building the tabernacle. So
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Speaker 1: there is a parallel between the first half of the
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Speaker 1: book and its movement and the last half of the
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Speaker 1: book and its movement. There's another structure that we can
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Speaker 1: look at in Exodus. Currt points this out, and it's
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Speaker 1: the mosaic structure. It's interesting. I hadn't seen this before,
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Speaker 1: but these notice these five points of similarity between the
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Speaker 1: story of Moses and the story of Israel. First of all,
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Speaker 1: in Exodus two, verses one and two, Moses is born
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Speaker 1: a slave in Egypt under oppression and persecution and the
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Speaker 1: victim of a murder attempt. Exodus one eight through twenty
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Speaker 1: two Israel born slaves in Egypt under cruel bondage, and
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Speaker 1: Pharaoh attempts to murder males. Secondly, in Moses' life, in
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Speaker 1: Chapter two, verses three through ten, he undergoes a water
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Speaker 1: ordeal and is delivered. In the life of Israel, in
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Speaker 1: chapters fourteen and fifteen, Israel undergoes a water ordeal in
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Speaker 1: the Red Sea and they're delivered. Thirdly, in chapter two,
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Speaker 1: verses eleven to twenty two, Moses escapes to Midian. In
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Speaker 1: chapter sixteen through eighteen, Israel escapes to Midian. Fourthly, in
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Speaker 1: Exodus three, there is a theophony of the burning bush
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Speaker 1: at Mount Sinai. So God appears in the burning bush
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Speaker 1: at Mount Sinai in Israel. In chapters nineteen and following,
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Speaker 1: there is a theophany and a revelation to Moses on
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Speaker 1: Mount Sinai. Fifthly, in four chapter four, verses one through seventeen,
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Speaker 1: Moses is unfaithful and doubting, but God responds with miracles.
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Speaker 1: And in the remainder of the Toroh, Israel responds by
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Speaker 1: being unfaithful to God, but God gives miracles. So, in
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Speaker 1: a sense, there is a parallel between Moses's life and
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Speaker 1: the life of Israel. But what's the message of Exodus?
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Speaker 1: If I were to put it in one short, succinct statement,
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Speaker 1: the message is God delivers his people four and two himself.
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Speaker 1: God delivers his people four and two himself. In that
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Speaker 1: we see a number of different themes. First, we see
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Speaker 1: a picture of the covenant keeping God. There is a
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Speaker 1: reference or a number of references to the covenant that
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Speaker 1: God made with Abraham. Look for example, in chapter two,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty four. And God heard their groaning, and God
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Speaker 1: remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.
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Speaker 1: So again God heard their groaning. There are a lot
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Speaker 1: of people groaning all the time. There are people groaning
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Speaker 1: all over the world. Israel was not the only nation
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Speaker 1: enslaved to another nation. There have been other peoples who
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Speaker 1: have been enslaved. However, God hears Israel in a very
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Speaker 1: unique way and for a very unique reason, and that
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Speaker 1: is because of the covenant that he made with Abraham.
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Speaker 1: Turned to Exodus, chapter six, verses four and five, and
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Speaker 1: we read it, I also established past tense, my covenant
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Speaker 1: with them to give them the land of Canaan, the
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Speaker 1: land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have
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Speaker 1: heard the groaning of the people of Israel, whom the
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Speaker 1: Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
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Speaker 1: So there's a connection here with the Abrahamic Covenant. However,
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Speaker 1: there is also this idea of a distinctly mosaic covenant.
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Speaker 1: Go to chapter twenty four and look at verses seven
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Speaker 1: and eight. Then he took the book of the Covenant
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Speaker 1: and read it in the hearing of the people, and
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Speaker 1: they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do,
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Speaker 1: and we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood
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Speaker 1: and threw it on the people and said, behold the
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Speaker 1: blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you,
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Speaker 1: in accordance with all these words. This is the establishing
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Speaker 1: of a covenant. So we have the Abrahamic Covenant, but
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Speaker 1: now we have also the Mosaic Covenant. They relate it
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Speaker 1: to one another. This is very important because our understanding
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Speaker 1: of these covenants is actually what sets us apart as
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Speaker 1: Reform Baptist from the rest of the Reformed world. Our
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Speaker 1: understanding of these covenants is different. And oftentimes we think,
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Speaker 1: for example, about baptism, and we think about infant baptism,
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Speaker 1: and we think about the way we understand church membership,
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Speaker 1: and we know that in the rest of the Reformed
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Speaker 1: world they practice infant baptism and they understand the church
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Speaker 1: to include save people and lost people. They understand the
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Speaker 1: church to be a mixed multitude. They understand the church
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Speaker 1: to be not only believers, but also believers Covenant children
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Speaker 1: are part of the church. It's because of their understanding
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Speaker 1: of the continuity of this mosaic Covenant. As Reform Baptists,
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Speaker 1: we do not see that same continuity. It's because of
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Speaker 1: our understanding of the Mosaic Covenant that we differ on
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Speaker 1: the issues of baptism and church membership. Understand that it
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Speaker 1: is because we have a different way of viewing the covenants.
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Speaker 1: It is not just because of the way we interpret
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Speaker 1: the word for baptism. It's because of a different way
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Speaker 1: of viewing the covenants. So as we walk through Exodus,
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Speaker 1: we'll also understand why it is that we're Reform Baptist
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Speaker 1: and not something else, and what is different between us
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Speaker 1: as Reform Baptist and others in the Reformed world. Again
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Speaker 1: brothers and sisters in Christ, but very distinct in the
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Speaker 1: way that we view the church, very distinct in the
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Speaker 1: way that we view membership in the church, and therefore
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Speaker 1: very distinct in the way that we view the front
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Speaker 1: door to that membership. There's also the idea of the
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Speaker 1: one True God. That is an unmistakable theme in the
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Speaker 1: Book of Exodus, the One True God. We see that
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Speaker 1: in a number of ways. We see it in the
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Speaker 1: Ten Plagues before. In the introduction to the Ten Plagues
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Speaker 1: look at chapter seven and verse five. The Egyptians shall
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Speaker 1: know that I am the Lord when I stretch out
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Speaker 1: my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of
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Speaker 1: Israel from among them. There's an amazing statement. They will
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Speaker 1: know that I'm the Lord. It kind of goes to
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Speaker 1: what we heard earlier. People know that God exists, they
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Speaker 1: know that there's a God. The Egyptians knew that there
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Speaker 1: was a God. God demonstrated that to them. He presented
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Speaker 1: evidence to them. Did they convert because of the evidence? No,
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Speaker 1: they did not. Their hearts were hardened because of the evidence. Now, granted,
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Speaker 1: some Egyptians came out with Israel Amen. So yes, there
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Speaker 1: were some who believed this, but for the most part
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Speaker 1: they did not. But God did not say I'm going
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Speaker 1: to give them this evidence so that they will change
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Speaker 1: their minds. I'm going to give them this evidence, and
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Speaker 1: they're going to ec accept this evidence. He says, He's
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Speaker 1: going to demonstrate something to them that will be undeniable,
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Speaker 1: and he did. He did precisely that the first plague
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Speaker 1: water turned to blood. That's seven fourteen to twenty four.
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Speaker 1: Look at seven seventeen. Thus says the Lord. By this,
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Speaker 1: you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, with
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Speaker 1: the staff that is in my hand, I will strike
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Speaker 1: the water that is in the nile, and it shall
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Speaker 1: turn into blood. He said, Well, this you're going to know.
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Speaker 1: And it's important to understand something here. It's important to
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Speaker 1: understand what I just said. God is not trying to
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Speaker 1: convert Egyptians. God is not doing this in hopes that
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Speaker 1: somehow he can convince them and they will come and follow.
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Speaker 1: He knows their hearts. The second plague frogs seven twenty
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Speaker 1: five to eight fifteen. Well, we find in chapter eight,
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Speaker 1: verse ten, and he said, tomorrow, Moses said, be it
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Speaker 1: as you say, so that you may know that there
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Speaker 1: is no one like the Lord, our God, so that
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Speaker 1: you may know. The third plague NAT's eight sixteen to nineteen.
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Speaker 1: And then the fourth plague flies eight twenty to thirty two.
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Speaker 1: In the middle of that fourth plague, there's another statement
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Speaker 1: in verse twenty two. But on that day I will
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Speaker 1: set apart the land of Goshen where my people dwell,
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Speaker 1: so that no swarms of flies shall be there, that
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Speaker 1: you may know that I am the Lord in the
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Speaker 1: midst of the earth. Now he's saying, I'm going to
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Speaker 1: do something unique in this plague. I'm going to set
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Speaker 1: apart this place where my people are, so that you'll
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Speaker 1: experience this and my people won't, and you'll know, you'll
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Speaker 1: know who I am. The fifth Plague Livestock nine one
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Speaker 1: to seven, the sixth Plague Boils nine eight to twelve,
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Speaker 1: the seventh Plague Hail nine thirteen to thirty five, the
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Speaker 1: look at verse fourteen, chapter nine. For this time, I
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Speaker 1: will send all my plagues on you yourself, and on
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Speaker 1: your servants and your people, so that you may know
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Speaker 1: that there is none like me in all the earth.
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Speaker 1: The eighth Plague Locusts, chapter ten, verses one through twenty.
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Speaker 1: And right there in chapter ten, verse two, what do
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Speaker 1: we find, and that you may tell in the hearing
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Speaker 1: of your son and of your grandson, how I have
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Speaker 1: dealt harshly with the Egyptians, and what signs I have
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Speaker 1: done among them that you may know that I am
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Speaker 1: the Lord. The ninth Plague Darkness ten twenty one to
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Speaker 1: twenty nine, and then the tenth plague, the Death of
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Speaker 1: the Firstborn Chapter twelve, verse twelve. For I will pass
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Speaker 1: through the land of Egypt that night, and I will
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Speaker 1: strike all the first born in the land of Egypt,
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Speaker 1: both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt.
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Speaker 1: I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. Each one
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Speaker 1: of these plagues struck directly at the heart of Egyptian paganism.
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Speaker 1: Each one of these plagues proclaimed that God is God.
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Speaker 1: Then there is the Red Sea. God demonstrates that he's
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Speaker 1: the one True God and the Red Sea Exodus fourteen
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Speaker 1: four and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will
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Speaker 1: pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and
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Speaker 1: all his hosts, and the Egyptian shall know that I
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Speaker 1: am the Lord fourteen eighteen. And the Egyptian shall know
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Speaker 1: that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory
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Speaker 1: over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen the Golden Calf.
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Speaker 1: That episode, there is the demonstration that God is the
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Speaker 1: one True God. Not only is the one true God,
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Speaker 1: but there's also this theme of God as the saving
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Speaker 1: God that runs throughout the Book of Egypt. The Book
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Speaker 1: of Exodus. First he saves the baby in the basket,
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Speaker 1: which by the way, is reminiscent of Noah and his ark.
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Speaker 1: Second he saves Israel through the blood of the Lamb.
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Speaker 1: And thirdly he saves Israel in and through the Red Sea.
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Speaker 1: So he is the God who saves. He is also
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Speaker 1: the God of fiery holiness. We see that first and
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Speaker 1: foremost in chapter three in the Burning Bush, when there
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Speaker 1: is a bush that burns and yet is not consumed.
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Speaker 1: This this approaches the bush and he's told stop, don't
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Speaker 1: come any closer. Take off your shoes. Why because this
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Speaker 1: is holy ground, the fire, the holiness. Secondly, there is
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Speaker 1: the pillar of fire. We see this throughout the book
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Speaker 1: of Exodus, all the way through to the end. There
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Speaker 1: is this pillar of fire. Then there is also the
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Speaker 1: idea of the golden calf and the consuming fire, the
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Speaker 1: holiness of God. He is also the present God. We
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Speaker 1: see this also in the burning Bush, the God who
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Speaker 1: is present, the God who meets Moses face to face,
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Speaker 1: the God who meets Israel on the mountain, and the
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Speaker 1: God again who meets Moses there as well, the cloud
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Speaker 1: and the pillar being present there with his people, and
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Speaker 1: ultimately the tabernacle. That's the whole idea of the tabernacle.
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Speaker 1: Listen to the way the book of Exodus ends, chapter
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Speaker 1: forty verses thirty forty thirty eight. Then the cloud covered
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Speaker 1: the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord
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Speaker 1: filled the tabernacle, And Moses was not able to enter
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Speaker 1: the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it,
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Speaker 1: and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout
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Speaker 1: all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from
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Speaker 1: over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.
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Speaker 1: But if the cloud was not taken up, then they
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Speaker 1: did not set out till the day that it was
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Speaker 1: taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on
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Speaker 1: the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night.
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Speaker 1: In the sight of all the House of Israel, throughout
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Speaker 1: all their journeys, God is present. That's the picture of
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Speaker 1: the tabernacle. But what about Exodus and the rest of
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Speaker 1: redemptive history, Because again, remember, our understanding is that all
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Speaker 1: of scripture is there to unfold for us God's redemptive
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Speaker 1: work that is ultimately manifested in the person and work
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Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ. So how do we connect this Old
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Speaker 1: Testament narrative to the work that God does in saving
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Speaker 1: us from our sins. Well, it's easier in Exodus than
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Speaker 1: most anywhere else in the entire Old Testament, because these
29:31
Speaker 1: themes carry on throughout, and in fact you've already heard
29:34
Speaker 1: them and probably made many of these connections in your mind.
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Speaker 1: But first, this idea that out of Egypt I call
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Speaker 1: my son Exodus chapter four, verses twenty two and twenty three.
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Speaker 1: Listen to this, then you shall say to Pharaoh. Thus
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Speaker 1: says the Lord Israel is my firstborn son, And I
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Speaker 1: say to you, let my son go, that he may
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Speaker 1: serve me. If you refuse still let him go. Behold,
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Speaker 1: I will kill your firstborn son. Matthew. Chapter two, Jesus
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Speaker 1: has to flee to Egypt. Mary and Joseph have to
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Speaker 1: take him to Egypt, and Matthew refers to the prophecy
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Speaker 1: that out of Egypt God will call his son. Jesus
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Speaker 1: is faithful Israel. He is the firstborn son, and he
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Speaker 1: is rescued out of Egypt. Remember the irony here, of course,
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Speaker 1: is if you don't let my son go, I will
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Speaker 1: kill your firstborn son, the firstborn of Israel. Doesn't die.
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Speaker 1: Why because the blood of the lamb is put upon
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Speaker 1: the door post. But God calls his son Jesus out
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Speaker 1: of Egypt, and when he comes back, ultimately his end
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Speaker 1: is to die as the firstborn son, but for his
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Speaker 1: blood as the lamb, to be the blood that he
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Speaker 1: delivers us from the death that we deserve. The connection
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Speaker 1: here is unmistakable. We understand the work of Christ better
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Speaker 1: when we understand the work Exodus better. Secondly, the idea
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Speaker 1: of the tabernacle in the beginning was the Word, and
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Speaker 1: the word was with God, and the word was God.
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Speaker 1: He was in the beginning with God. We know that right.
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Speaker 1: And we know that everything was made through him, and
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Speaker 1: apart from him nothing was made that has been made.
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Speaker 1: We know that right. But when you go down to
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Speaker 1: verse fourteen, what do you find in John one and
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Speaker 1: verse fourteen? And we beheld and the word became flesh
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Speaker 1: and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory
31:46
Speaker 1: is the only son of the Father, full of grace
31:48
Speaker 1: and truth. That word that is used there for dwelt
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Speaker 1: among us is tabernacle. He tabernacled among us, not a
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Speaker 1: pillar of cloud, not of fire, but the son of
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Speaker 1: God himself tabernacled with us. You understand Jesus, You understand
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Speaker 1: the tabernacle bondage and the deliverer. We were all slaves
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Speaker 1: to sin in the Egyptian bondage of sin, and we
32:35
Speaker 1: were delivered by one who is greater than Moses. And
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Speaker 1: the Book of Hebrews makes it clear that he is
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Speaker 1: one who is greater than Moses, the sheep and the shepherd.
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Speaker 1: There's a tremendous theme here. You know. You could also
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Speaker 1: look at the Exodus in terms of three forty year
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Speaker 1: periods in the life of Moses, the first forty year
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Speaker 1: period when he's in Egypt, and then he spends this
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Speaker 1: middle forty year period where in the desert in being
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Speaker 1: what a shepherd? What's that got to do with anything?
33:04
Speaker 1: The last forty years he's wandering around in the wilderness
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Speaker 1: as a shepherd for God's sheep. Who is Jesus. He
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Speaker 1: is the good shepherd, the lawgiver on the mountain. Jesus
33:26
Speaker 1: comes to give the sermon on the mount. He comes
33:31
Speaker 1: to the Mount of Beatitudes, and he says, you have
33:35
Speaker 1: heard it said, but I say unto you to What
33:39
Speaker 1: does he refer when he says you've heard it said,
33:41
Speaker 1: he refers to Moses and to the ten Commandments that
33:44
Speaker 1: Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. In other words, Christ
33:48
Speaker 1: is announcing that he is the true lawgiver and in fact,
33:51
Speaker 1: the greater lawgiver than Moses. Moses was only a tight
33:56
Speaker 1: In Christ, we have the fulfillment of that He is
33:59
Speaker 1: the law. But beyond that, he's the lawkeeper. He keeps
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Speaker 1: the law. He keeps the whole law. So whereas Israel
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Speaker 1: says we will do this, and we will obey, and
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Speaker 1: they did not, Christ, the true and faithful Israel, keeps
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Speaker 1: the entire law. But beyond keeping the entire law, he
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Speaker 1: is also our sin bearer, which is why Paulkins say
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Speaker 1: God made him who knew no sin, to be sin
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Speaker 1: for us that we might become the righteousness of God
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Speaker 1: in him, so that in Christ all righteousness is imputed
34:33
Speaker 1: to us, and we are seen as lawkeepers as well. Finally,
34:42
Speaker 1: the blood of the Lamb, this clear reference to the Passover,
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Speaker 1: this clear reference to the Passover. That is powerful, not
34:53
Speaker 1: just because there's some symbolism that we can grab onto
34:56
Speaker 1: if we try really hard, but it's power because every
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Speaker 1: week when we gather here, we gather before this table
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Speaker 1: in front of me. And every week when we gather,
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Speaker 1: we eat the bread and we drink the cup, and
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Speaker 1: we remember the Lord's body and his blood, the blood
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Speaker 1: and the New Covenant. But remember what is the source
35:22
Speaker 1: of that They are observing the Passover? What is the
35:26
Speaker 1: Passover about? The Passover is about remembering that night when
35:31
Speaker 1: they prepare in haste to leave from Egypt, remembering when
35:34
Speaker 1: the blood was sprinkled on the doorpost, remembering when they
35:38
Speaker 1: were saved from the death Angel and Christ shares that
35:41
Speaker 1: meal with his disciples and pours into it greater meaning.
35:50
Speaker 1: And every week when we gather before this table, we
35:54
Speaker 1: are reminded of the greater Exodus. We're reminded of the
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Speaker 1: greater Passover. We're reminded of the greater reality to which
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Speaker 1: all of these things point. And we are reminded that
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Speaker 1: we are saved not for wilderness wandering, but we are
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Speaker 1: saved for communion and fellowship with this God who is
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Speaker 1: holy and righteous, with this One who tabernacles among us
36:34
Speaker 1: and beyond tabernacling among us through the presence and power
36:37
Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit now in dwells us as the
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Speaker 1: tabernacle and dwelled the nation of Israel. Right there in
36:46
Speaker 1: the middle of the nation there was this tabernacle, and
36:49
Speaker 1: their entire identity is tied up with this tabernacle. When
36:56
Speaker 1: a spirit comes, he descends, how there's tongues of fire,
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Speaker 1: and he now in dwells us individually as believers, just
37:10
Speaker 1: as the tabernacle in dwelled Israel as a nation. So, yes,
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Speaker 1: there is a gospel connection to Exodus, and all of
37:26
Speaker 1: the things that we read here in Exodus will be
37:29
Speaker 1: of great benefit to us as the people of God.
37:34
Speaker 1: And yes, there are incredible similarities between us and the
37:42
Speaker 1: people of God in the Old Testament. And we will
37:45
Speaker 1: see ourselves again and again in Israel. And our tendency
37:51
Speaker 1: will be to say, I can't believe they blew it
37:53
Speaker 1: like that. But let me say from the outset, don't
37:57
Speaker 1: you dare because you blow it like that, not just
38:04
Speaker 1: every week, but every day. Your golden calves are in
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Speaker 1: your heart, your idols are there. They're all around you.
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Speaker 1: But thanks be to God, our deliverer has come, one
38:28
Speaker 1: who is greater than Moses, and one who delivers God's
38:33
Speaker 1: people permanently. My prayer for us as we walk through
38:39
Speaker 1: the Book of Exodus is not just that we would
38:43
Speaker 1: become familiar with another book in the Bible, but that
38:48
Speaker 1: we would deepen our understanding of and appreciation for redemptive
38:53
Speaker 1: history as a whole, and for the work that God
38:57
Speaker 1: has done to bring about the redemption of his people
39:01
Speaker 1: through the person and work of Christ. My prayer for
39:05
Speaker 1: us is not that we would just go through a
39:07
Speaker 1: collection of familiar stories. Oh how awesome the baby in
39:14
Speaker 1: the basket. Oh how awesome his mother gets to be
39:17
Speaker 1: his nurse. Oh how awesome they have all these plagues.
39:22
Speaker 1: Oh how awesome they go through the Red Sea. Oh
39:24
Speaker 1: how awesome the chariots are burned, Oh how awesome. These
39:28
Speaker 1: are wonderful stories, granted, but unless we understand their greater significance,
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Speaker 1: they don't have much meaning. Because ultimately, if all we
39:42
Speaker 1: have is this, then we are hopeless, because we have
39:49
Speaker 1: a deliverer who delivers us and then gives us a
39:53
Speaker 1: law that we cannot keep, and we have a God
39:58
Speaker 1: whom we cannot approach, and we need someone to approach
40:03
Speaker 1: this God for us, and will never ever ever be
40:07
Speaker 1: able to approach this God ourselves. However, when we connect
40:11
Speaker 1: Exodus to the rest of redemptive history. We have a
40:14
Speaker 1: benefit that exodus can't explain and its totality because we
40:22
Speaker 1: have a greater deliverer. We have a greater deliverance. We
40:28
Speaker 1: have this law on our hearts, and we have this
40:33
Speaker 1: God in dwelling us in the person of the Holy Spirit. This,
40:38
Speaker 1: my friends, is good news. Let's pray, Father, thank you
40:53
Speaker 1: once again for reminding us of the glorious nature of
41:02
Speaker 1: our redemption in Christ. Grant by your grace that as
41:11
Speaker 1: we have heard today, and as we continue to hear
41:14
Speaker 1: throughout this journey, that we would make much of Christ,
41:20
Speaker 1: that He would be magnified in our presence, magnified in
41:24
Speaker 1: our midst. Grant Lord, that we might see our need
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Speaker 1: for a savior, and how Christ has met that need
41:43
Speaker 1: in an all sufficient manner, so that all of those
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Speaker 1: who come to Him in repentance and faith will be saved.
41:58
Speaker 1: For this, praise you, and we thank you in Christ name. Amen.