Exodus

“The Road To Redemption”

I. Chp. 1-18 Let My People Go

1. Chp. 1-4 The making of a man of God
2. Chp. 5-10 God versus the gods
3. Chp. 11-15:21 Moving day
4. Chp. 15:22-18 Under His care

II. Chp. 19-24 A special treasure, a holy nation

1. Chp. 19 Time to meet your maker
2. Chp. 20-23 What does God want from us?
3. Chp. 24 Sprinkled in the blood

III. Chp. 25-40 Living among His people

1. Chp. 25-31 A place to dwell among them
2. Chp. 32-34 Oh, that rule!
3. Chp. 35-39 Time to build
4. Chp. 40 Filled with God’s glory

Exodus 1: 1-22 – “Stuck In Egypt”

I.) Intro.

It has been said that history is nothing more than His —- story! We saw this when we went through the book of Genesis. That book started with God & the birth of creation, yet strangely, Genesis records more of man’s failure than it does God’s success. Look, for a moment, at the final verse in Genesis (50:26), as we read that Joseph died, & was put in a coffin. That is the end result of man living apart from God, a wooden box in a land not where God intends him to be. Since the third chapter of Genesis, we read that death came upon creation because of man’s sin. Folks, we live in the realm of death; sooner or later, we all will have to deal with it.

Even this week my family is coming to grips with the reality of losing a loved one—our little dog has doggie cancer. As bleak & dim as death is, it still serves as a teacher. Death teaches us that apart from God, our lives are a failure. As great a foe as death is, there is still something that conquers death. God has overcome death. In fact, right after man’s failure, He began to purchase mankind back from the jaws of death as we read in Gen. 3:21, “…for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”

So, you ask? Well, we are told in Heb. 9:22 that “…without shedding of blood there is no remission.” So God knew all along of man’s rebellion & even after the fall shed the blood of an innocent animal to make a covering for their sins.

The name Exodus was given at the time of its translation into Greek. The word means “exit, way out, road out or departure.” The Hebrew title follows the pattern of naming a book off of the first few words of the book, “These are the names…”. Thus, the rabbis call it “The Book of Names”—this is the title of the book in Hebrew. How fitting this is in light of the book as a whole. You see, Exodus is all about God creating a “road out” for mankind from death’s bondage; the road is a road towards redemption.

There are three main sections to the book:

I.) Chp. 1-18: Let My People Go – In this section, we shall see that it is all about God getting His People out of Egypt. The main focus is the Lord raising up a man to be a deliverer, & the process by which God will use him to free His people.
II.) Chp. 19-24: A special treasure, a holy nation – The next section deals with God revealing His attributes to His people. So, we will see that God does not just call His people out of something; He calls them to something as well.
III.) Chp. 25-40: Living among His people – Finally, we will discover God’s purpose for all people, which is to dwell with them in fellowship. We shall see this in God commanding them to build a tabernacle.

In this, we see a parallel to all of us, in that God desires to free us from sin, call us to Himself, that He might dwell with us!

The author of the book is none other than the main figure of the book, Moses. His life is broken apart in this book in groups of forty years:

I.) Chp. 2:1-15: His first forty years are seen in Pharaoh’s place. So, for forty years he thought he was something when he was nothing.
II.) Chp. 2:16 – 4:31: His second forty years were spent in the desert of Midian. So he spent the next forty years thinking he was nothing when he was something.
III.) Chp. 5-40: His last forty years were in the wilderness as the leader of God’s people. So the last forty years he realized that God delights in using nothing to accomplish something.

The book also reminds us of four great events that point to events in a believer’s life:

I.) The Passover: The judgment of God upon sin passed over the people of God because of the shedding of innocent blood. Of course, this speaks of our conversion when we confessed our need for Jesus & His blood was sprinkled on the doorposts of our heart.
II.) The crossing of the Red Sea: This is where God took a bunch of people & made them His people. We speak of this work when we say that we are a new creation. This happens at the same time of our conversion, when we are brought out of bondage with the world & into His kingdom.
III.) The giving of the law: Here God brought to His people at Mount Sinai the realization of His character of Holiness. For the believer, this is our growing process as we get into His word & realize more & more who He is.
IV.) The construction of the tabernacle: This is God’s provision for dwelling with man. It is here that we see that God desires to dwell with us in spite of us, and it is all based upon what He has done for us.

II.) Vs. 1-7 Keeping His Promise

Vs. 1 The word “now” is not how this book starts in the original language; rather, it starts off “And”. So? Well, what this shows us is this is nothing more than the sequel to Genesis. Moses goes back to give us some important information as to where he left off in Genesis.

Let me make several points here that are needed to fill in the gaps:

A.) These seven verses fill in a time frame of over 430 years. The reason this is important is that this was not some arbitrary time frame—it was an exact time frame according to God’s plan to reach the world. Turn with me now to Gen. 15:13: “Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.’” But why this four hundred-year period, and why did God allow them to go through persecution afterward?
1.) Clearly, God used Egypt to bless Israel, not only in protecting them from the famine but also in protecting them from dwelling in the land of the Amorites, who were far superior in number. They were given, you will remember, the land of Goshen. So God causes a famine to send them to a nation that was fiercely prejudiced, as they believed themselves racially superior to all people.
2.) Furthermore, God had a plan that needed to be carried out towards the Amorites. Gen. 15:16 says, “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” What an amazing statement this is.

When they left the land of promise, they were 70 strong; when they re-entered the land 430 years later, they were over 2 million strong. God had promised that He would greatly multiply His people, and He kept His promise.

III.) Vs. 8-14 Another Brick in the Wall

Vs. 8 When Stephen told this story in Acts 7, he says that the people grew and multiplied in Egypt “till another king arose who did not know Joseph.” The word “another” in the Greek means another of a different kind. The Pharaoh that was in power during Joseph’s time was Egyptian, but according to Isa. 52:4, the Pharaoh of this time was Assyrian—he was a different nationality altogether, and during the time he came into power, he ran out the Hyksos, who ruled during Joseph’s time.

Vs. 9-10 It appears that God’s blessing upon the Israelites became obvious to all. At times, you can tell God is blessing in direct proportion to how much warfare you are experiencing! Too often, I hear Christians say, “I don’t know what I’ve done wrong that God is punishing me for.” Perhaps it is not that you’ve done anything, but rather that God is preparing you for something still greater!

IV.) Vs. 15-22 Enmity Between God’s People & the Devil

Vs. 15 Here we are told of the second phase of the enemy’s plan, “killing all the male Jewish boys.” This is not new; Satan tried it through Cain as he killed his brother, Herod would try it in Jesus’ time, killing all the male children two years old & under, and of course, Hitler & Stalin tried it as well. There has always been enmity between God’s seed & Satan’s seed.

So God raised up two midwives who were probably over all the other midwives. Now most often, midwives were chosen because they were barren themselves. These two gals, named “beauty & splendor,” were used by God. It always amazes me that God seems to place people who seem insignificant or perhaps thought of as cursed to be used for His purposes.

Have you ever wondered why God has chosen you? Perhaps it’s not for what you have but for what you don’t have.

Vs. 16-17 The fear of the Lord was the reason why they did not do as Pharaoh had requested. The question often comes up here—is it all right that they lied to Pharaoh?

1.) We don’t know that they lied to Pharaoh. Verse 19 tells us that they said the Hebrew women delivered faster than the Egyptian women, so the children were already born prior to their arrival. It could be that they just decided not to arrive in any hurry, thus what they said was true.
2.) Second, there is a higher law to obey, and that is God’s. Clearly, what God rewards here is not the way in which they acted but rather the reason why they acted (verse 21). It was because they feared God that the Lord looked upon them.

Notice the twofold blessing here:

1.) Vs. 20: First, the nation was blessed by the obedience of these two ladies. Folks, when we choose to obey God, no matter who we are, the nation is blessed because of our obedience. Mothers, never think of your role as unimportant—because of your obedience, this nation will have a future.
2.) Vs. 21: Look at this carefully—here were two ladies that we traditionally believe were barren, yet because they feared God, they were blessed with children. Do you see the point? What was Pharaoh putting to death? Male children! The Lord placed these gals right with the rest of the mothers there in Egypt. Folks, a lot of times God brings us through things to test our hearts, then blesses us with what tested our hearts to begin with. May I just say that there are no wasted days in the classroom of God’s grace? Every day is vital—pay attention!

Vs. 22 Here was the last of Satan’s plan, & it involved the Egyptians—to get the nation to be involved with the killing of the Israelite boys. In all of this, what we see is the reason that led up to God bringing forth a redeemer, and the fact that He uses ordinary people.