This week the excitement ratchets up. If it was a movie playing out the music would be more tense and the theater lights would begin to fade.  The book of Multiply by Francis Chan has led us through Genesis and into Exodus. Just as the name implies, there is going to be some movement. Not only in people moving around but moving spiritually and emotionally.

In the past few weeks we have learned about the beginning with Adam & Eve and then the character of God. As His children squander a good deal in the garden, God gets involved directly with his people and even makes a covenant with Abraham to bless his family and generations to come. This session now covers the exciting drama between two contenders; Pharaoh and God.  The reigning Pharaoh at the time Exodus opens is an evil Pharaoh in nature, most likely the most evil person in the Bible up to this point. He is so powerful and into himself that he truly believes and acts as though he is a god himself.

God’s promises have held true to this point. He had said that the Abraham’s descendants would be “as numerous as the stars in the sky”, and that they have.  They were slaves in Egypt at the time under Pharaoh’s rule, but multiply they did. Their population actually grew to the point where the powerful Pharaoh was concerned that they outnumbered his own army and that if it continued they would have the shear numbers to overrule the country of Egypt. This did not happen immediately, but took over 400 years. The first two chapters of Exodus seems brief but it was very long. Almost so long we don’t even comprehend the situation. Essentially four generations in a slavery situation where it was hard labor with no relief in sight. From inside and outside, it sure did not look like these people had a god at all, let alone a good and powerful god.  But God’s truth and promises were a solid foundation in this tragic times. He foretold of these times in Genesis 15

Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. – Genesis 15:13-14 ESV

From that scripture, we can see that God’s plan was right on track. God’s people were in an impossible situation without any hope of relief. But the almighty God had set the stage for the one of the greatest redemption events in all human history.

Somethings got to be done

On top of all the building drama of 400 years of slavery, Pharaoh makes the bold move to oppose the growth of the Israelites by making a command that all Hebrew babies were to be drown in the Nile River. From this tragic situation, where literally thousands of children were murdered,  Moses shows up. He was targeted to be thrown into the river but God intervened through his people and Moses actually gets found by Pharaoh’s daughter and raises him up in Pharaoh’s own family. As Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s palace and received royal treatment, he still knew internally that he was connected to these Hebrew slaves. He ends up fighting for his people and gets in a situation where he murders an Egyptian and flees the country into the wilderness. As God’s plan of redemption begins to unfold, it is in the wilderness where Moses meets God for the first time.

²³ During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵ God saw the people of Israel—and God knew. – Exodus 2:23-25 ESV

It is important to see, what God id about to do is directly related to His covenant with Abraham. It is recorded that God “saw” and God “knew”.

Exodus 2:23-3:22

What stands out to you about Moses’ encounter with God in this passage?

It was actually the curiosity of Moses that triggered the whole situation. When he saw the burning bush, he did not become defensive or even flee, he moved closer. Then the bush speaks directly to him, and mysteriously instructs him to take of his sandals because he is standing on holy ground.

There are two key questions in the dialog with Moses and God at this point. Moses asks God, “Who am I” and the second “Who are you?”. We might think that Moses is “beating around the bush”, but they are the most fundamental questions we could ever ask, because everything in our lives – not only here and now, but for all of eternity – is based on a right answer to those two questions; Who am I, and who is God?

Answer Number One

God answers Moses in an odd way. The question was “Who is Moses” and God responded with “I will be with you”. So if we catch it, Moses is a man that has God with him. Or he is the one with the most powerful God. Now that is not a label that can be shunned, but can easily be discredited when not understood.  From the very beginning, God’s people are known as those whose God is with them. It is His presence with us that enables us to accomplish the tasks He gives us.

Answer Number Two

In response to Moses’ next question “Who are you?”, God simply says “I am who I am”. This is not discrediting and if we understand it, clarifies more than it camouflages. The “I am” speaks of His eternality. He has always existed and always will. There is not concept of I was or will be, he is. In Genesis 2 we heard of the personal name “Yahweh”, translated “the LORD”, which carries the significance of God’s statement to Moses “I am who I am”. Yahweh is used over 600 times in the Old Testament. (3x more than simple name for God “Elohim”)

Burning Impression

There is really no way we can capture what Moses must have truly experienced at that bush. He walked away from this sheep because he saw something remarkable – a bush that was burning without consuming – but he had no idea that he was actually walking into the presence of the living God.

Release the People

God sent Moses back to Egypt to rally the troops and head out of slavery and into the land that He had promised to give Abraham. The tension that had been building for 400 years had now come to a point where the action was gong to begin. Moses goes toe to toe with Pharaoh demanding him to release his workforce, and meanwhile, rallying the slaves to revolt.

As we read the next section, be aware of God and His relationship with His people…

Exodus 5:22-6:13

What does this passage reveal about God and His relationship to His people?

Just as we saw in the accounts of creation, the flood, and the tower of Babel, we are seeing that God controls every aspect of the world He created, and He will not share His authority with anyone. He fights for His own glory and proves that He is the ultimate power and only true God.

Passover Lamb

All of the battles with Pharaoh comes to a climax in the 10th plague finally gets to Pharaoh. God warned that unless Pharaoh released His people, every firstborn in the land of Egypt would be killed. Pharaoh calls God’s bluff and it is tragic….

²⁹ At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. – Exodus 12:29-30 ESV

Just as he is faithful to keep His promises of blessing, God is also faithful to carry out His warnings of wrath.

God provides Pharaoh the option to make the right decision, and Pharaoh does not release the people. Consequences become real, but the decision to be independent did not send God away, God offered a redemptive option for those who believed… take an innocent lamb as an offering and smear the blood around the door of your house, and you will be spared the slaughter. How strange the offer, how profound the method.

It’s not that the Israelites didn’t experience God’s judgment because they were better people. They escaped God’s judgement and wrath simply because they trusted (had faith) in the sacrifice provided by God.

How does God’s provision of the Passover Lamb for the Israelites help us understand Jesus’s sacrifice for us?

Through the Red Sea

Even though the dramatic death of every firstborn in Egypt convinced Pharaoh to release the slaves, he soon changed his mind and chased after them. The drama peaks at the water’s edge with the Israelites had their back to the river and Pharaoh’s army approaching, the great “I am” shows out…

Exodus 15:1-21

How did the Israelites describe God’s act of redemption immediately after He led them out of slavery?

Think through this Exodus story for a moment. Though God sometimes makes direct statements about who He is and how we should relate to Him, He often reveals Himself to us through His actions…

What do God’s actions in Israel’s exodus teach us about God?

 The story of the exodus sets a paradigm for what God’s redemption looks like. How have you seen God’s hand at work in your own life?

Forgetful People

The story does not end with the slaves being free in the promised land, and we need to understand, where we are is not the end of the story either.  Just like in our own lives, we get great blessings and encouragement from the living God that says “I will be with you” and yet, we slither right back on the thrown and unroll the scroll of our agenda, with selfish endeavor.

Time and time again, these saved, redeemed, highly favored people forget the big story. They responded to the great God with a critical, bitter heart and complained.  It is hard to believe, but they actually longed for the days when they were slaves back in Egypt. (such a reminder of the moments when we reflect on the “good old days” and don’t put into perspective where God had taken us and spared us.

What does Israel’s tendency to forget God’s redemption and begin complaining teach us about humanity?

What can we do to keep focus on who God is and what He as done?

This week call on the Lord to give us each increased faith to believe that He will come through on His promises, no matter how desperate the situation appears.

Next session preparations…

To keep the momentum going, really try to read your Bible each day this week during your devotion time, the following chapters will be aligned with where we are going next week.

Exodus 19
Exodus 20
Exodus21
Exodus22
Exodus23
Exodus24

For a little insight on next weeks session, you can watch the following video by Francis Chan and David Platt

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.