Exodus
Introduction to the Generations Series
Well, church, it’s good to see you. It’s good to be with you today. My name is Jared Romy, and I’m one of the pastors here. We are currently in a series called Generations, where we are looking at the Bible from Genesis to Revelation—front to back. I’m pretty excited about how it’s launched and how all the components are coming together, from the displays in the lobby to our kids’ connection and the resources on the web.
It is really going to be helpful if you get the chart we’ve provided. Have it on your phone, your tablet, or download it and print it out to bring with you. It’s what we’re basing these conversations and these sermons off of. You can make notes on there, and they’ll be great to file away and come back to later. I really encourage you to get those; they are available every Wednesday by the end of the work day.
We’ve got a lot to cover today, so let’s get to work. Turn in your Bible to Exodus. Exodus is the second book of your Bible. It is the sequel to Genesis and the prequel to Leviticus. In Genesis, God was in the beginning, He created everything, and He began to raise up a people. Yet, we find the book closing with Joseph in Egypt, and Jacob and seventy of his sons arriving there. Seventy people—that’s all that made up the Hebrew people in chapter one as they headed that way.
From Seventy to Three Million
What you need to know about these first couple of chapters is the timeline. Roughly 430 years take place during chapters one and two. Chapters three and four cover about 40 years, and chapters five all the way through forty cover only one single year. There’s a lot of time early on, and then the narrative slows down.
We know Moses is the author of this, writing while they were wandering in the wilderness. As the book opens, we see those seventy Hebrew people in Egypt, but they are about to increase greatly. By some estimations, the Hebrew people grow to three million strong. Three million people in Egypt! They are slaves, oppressed people at the bottom of the social ladder. They are the blue-collar workers of Egypt—the construction workers doing the bidding of the empire—but they are fruitful and growing in number.
Pharaoh doesn’t like that they’re growing so large. He even commands the midwives to kill all the firstborn males. But the midwives didn’t like that, so they started concealing these babies and hiding them from the terror of Pharaoh. In chapter two, we see something very interesting: the birth of Moses. He is from the tribe of Levi, and his mother is fearful for his life. She conceals him as an infant as long as she can, and then she hides him in a basket in the reeds along the Nile.
Pharaoh’s daughter comes down to the water to bathe and finds this baby. She has compassion on him, knowing he is one of the Hebrew children. She takes him, gives him to a nursemaid to raise him for a while, and eventually takes him as her own son. She names him Moses, which means “to be drawn out.” It’s interesting because God is going to use that language a lot in the book of Exodus. He says, “I’m going to draw my people out. I’m going to come down and draw them out of Egypt.” Even in Moses’ entrance into the world, we see a parallel between his life and what God is going to do with the Hebrew people.
The Making of a Leader
Moses grows up in Pharaoh’s household. We see him in movies like The Prince of Egypt as Pharaoh’s brother, and while we don’t know for sure if that was the exact relationship, he was certainly part of that household. One day, he goes out and sees an Egyptian beating a slave, and Moses kills him.
Moses is a murderer. He hides the body in the sand, thinking nobody saw it. Later, he tries to settle a quarrel between two Hebrew slaves, and one of them asks, “Who made you prince? Who made you judge over us? I saw what you did to that Egyptian.” Moses gets scared because he realizes his sin has been exposed. He flees to Midian.
While he is in Midian, he protects some tribal women from shepherds who were trying to take their water. Their father invites Moses in, and Moses eventually takes a wife. All during this time, God hears the groaning of the three million slaves in Egypt. We have a compassionate God who hears the cries of His people. He hears the cries of your own heart. He is a compassionate God, but He is also a holy God who brings judgment, as we’ll see. He remembers His covenant with Abraham—the promise of land, seed, and blessing.
In the wilderness, Moses is being developed. He is spending time in the desert to prepare for the desert that is to come. While he is there, he sees a bush on fire that is not being consumed.
Exodus 3:2 (NASB)
The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
Moses turns aside to see this great sight, and God calls out to him. God tells him to take off his sandals because the place where he is standing is holy ground. We need to approach God with a sense of reverence and holiness. If not, He will make us approach Him that way. God identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Exodus 3:6 (NASB)
He said also, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
God tells Moses, “You’re going to deliver my people.” Moses asks, “Who do I tell them sent me?” You have to remember, for over four hundred years, these people have been in slavery, watching the polytheistic customs of Egypt. I can’t help but wonder if the stories of Genesis had become a legend or a folktale to them. To put 430 years in perspective, that is twice as long as the United States has been in existence. God tells Moses, “You tell them I AM sent you. I AM THAT I AM.”
The Power of God and the Plagues
In chapters four through six, we see Moses and the people being prepared. Moses struggles a lot as a leader. If you’ve ever been in leadership and had problems, be encouraged. Leaders have problems. They need to trust God, pay the “dumb tax,” and learn from their failures. Moses is insecure; he worries about how he speaks and feels inadequate. Yet God always reaffirms him, saying, “I will be the one who delivers your people through you.”
Typically, when we read Exodus, we think of Charlton Heston, the Red Sea parting, or the ten plagues. But the primary focus isn’t a man or an experience; it’s about God saying, “I AM THAT I AM, and you shall have no other gods before me.”
When Moses goes to Pharaoh, Pharaoh turns up the heat. He demands the same quota of bricks but takes away the straw. Making bricks was an arduous process involving mud and clay, and Pharaoh was intentionally oppressing them. But God promises deliverance again. I’m so grateful that God passionately pursues His stubborn, self-willed creation. If I were God, I would have been done with us back in the Garden. But He is faithful to His promises.
In chapter seven, Moses is eighty years old when he starts his ministry. Chapters seven through twelve cover the ten plagues. These plagues were gnarly and vicious, affecting the economy and the people of Egypt. Most of these plagues directly opposed an Egyptian god. It’s as if God was saying to each of their idols, “I’m bigger and more powerful than the thing you’re hoping in.”
Throughout this, the Hebrew people are protected. During the seventh plague—hail—it fell on all of Egypt, but not on the land of Goshen where the Hebrews lived. Then there is the story of Pharaoh’s heart. God tells Moses early on that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart.
Exodus 4:21 (NASB)
The LORD said to Moses, ’When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
Later, we see that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. It’s both. God used Pharaoh as an example of judgment to wake people up and show the Hebrews that He cared for them. After the plague of darkness—which struck at Ra, the sun god—comes the final, most deadly plague: the death of the firstborn.
The Passover Lamb
God prepares a way to protect His people through the Passover. I find it intriguing that God provides a lamb just when He needs to provide a lamb. He did it with Isaac, He does it here, and He does it later with Jesus.
Exodus 12:3 (NASB)
’Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.
Listen to the description of this lamb and see if it doesn’t ring true for another Lamb you know. It had to be without blemish.
Exodus 12:5 (NASB)
’Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
They were to take the blood and put it on the doorposts and the lintels of the house. They were told to eat in haste, with their belts on and staves in hand, ready to move. When death came to Egypt at midnight, it passed over any house marked by the blood. In Egypt, there wasn’t a single household that didn’t experience death. Pharaoh finally says, “Take your people and go.”
So Moses rallies three million Hebrews, and they leave slavery. God draws them out and takes them into the desert. They follow a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Wouldn’t that be awesome? To just look up and say, “There’s the fire, that’s where God is moving, let’s go there.” It would make my life a lot easier at times!
To give you perspective on the size of this group, if you gave every person a three-by-three-foot space and every family a small tent, this camp would cover ten and a half square miles. In our city, that’s like the area from Clovis Avenue to Marks, and downtown to Woodward Park, completely filled with people. That is what Moses had to lead through the wilderness.
Getting Egypt Out of the People
They reach the Red Sea, and the people are overwhelmed with fear because Pharaoh’s army is chasing them. God parts the sea, and they walk across on dry land with walls of water on either side. You would think that after seeing this, the people would finally trust God completely. But in chapters fifteen through seventeen, they start grumbling. They complain about the water and the food. They even say, “At least we had onions in Egypt!”
This is why we say it was less about God getting the people out of Egypt and more about getting Egypt out of the people. They couldn’t shake their old worldviews. But God is a God who says, “No other gods before me.” He provides manna and water from a rock, and He defeats the Amalekites.
Moses is struggling, so he goes to his father-in-law, Jethro, for advice. Jethro tells him, “You can’t do this alone. Raise up men to help you.” Moses does, and they finally arrive at Mount Sinai. This is where we move from the power of God to the holiness of God.
The Constitution of a Nation
Every nation needs a constitution, and God gives them one in the Ten Commandments. We often think of these as just ten rules, but they are the foundation of their relationship with God. The very first thing He says establishes the theme of the whole book.
Exodus 20:1 (NASB)
Then God spoke all these words, saying,
“You shall have no other gods before me.” No hopes in Pharaoh, no hopes in Moses, no hopes in yourself. He tells them not to make carved images.
Exodus 20:4 (NASB)
’You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.
We might think we don’t have idols because we don’t have little statues on our mantels, but we have subtle idols today: approval, success, beauty, money, power, and control. God says, “I don’t want any part of that.”
He also commands them not to take His name in vain.
Exodus 20:7 (NASB)
’You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.
This doesn’t just mean avoiding profanity; it means not using His name flippantly or frivolously. It means not playing the “God card” to get a business sale or attributing trivial things to Him in a way that drains His name of meaning. We use His name with power, hope, and confidence.
Then He gives the Sabbath. God didn’t need to rest because He was tired; He did it to set an example for us. We work hard for six days, and on the seventh, we reflect on who He is and what He has brought us out of. Sadly, I think the Sabbath has been lost in Christianity today. Physical rest is good, but Sabbath is about dealing with sin, reading His Word, and getting charged up for the work ahead.
He tells them to honor their father and mother. As a youth pastor for ten years, I saw how hard this was for kids in abusive homes. Parents, we need to live in such a way that our kids want to bestow that honor. And adults, are we honoring our aging parents with respect and care, or just waiting for Christmas to see them?
He gives laws against murder, adultery, stealing, and lying. These laws govern the people, but they also reveal God’s nature and show us our need for a Savior. The law was never meant to be perfectly obeyed; it was meant to show us that we are inadequate and that we need atonement.
The Tabernacle and the Golden Calf
In the final section of the book, God gives instructions for the Tabernacle. It was a portable place of worship with an ark, a table of showbread, and a bronze basin. It was actually a model of heaven. There was only one entrance, facing east. It was exclusive. This reminds me of a carpenter who once said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.”
While Moses is up on the mountain receiving these instructions, the people down below get scared. They go back to what they know and make a golden calf. They engage in sexual worship and idolatry at the very base of the mountain where God is speaking. Moses comes down, draws a line in the sand, and three thousand people die that day.
We’re only a year out from the Red Sea! How have they forgotten? We want to judge them, but then we look in the mirror. We have tasted the kindness of God, yet we still do the things we don’t want to do. We still create our own little idols.
As the book ends, the glory of the Lord fills the Tabernacle. God’s presence was among His people. This makes so much sense when you get to the Gospel of John, where it says that Jesus came and “tabernacled” among us. He dwelt among us.
Church, are you living a life with no other gods? Are you fighting the temptation to follow idols? Are you submitting yourself to the one true God? It’s not about an experience; it’s about God pursuing you.
Let’s pray. Father, thanks for the book of Exodus. Thanks for the hope we have in You and Your grace to pursue Your people. I pray we learn from this and trust in You more because of it. Do a mighty work in us. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.