Sermons

The Story of God: The Exodus
Exodus 1-14

Let’s recap where we’ve come in our study of the story of God.  We started with Eternity Past, and saw that God has always been; there never was a time when He was not.  And we saw that from eternity past God has always been full of joy in beholding His perfections as each member of the Trinity saw His perfections perfectly displayed in each other.

Then we saw that God’s joy in His perfections made Him want to create a universe in which He could display the glory of His perfections – so He could share with us His joy in beholding His perfections.  So in Gen 1 and 2 we saw that God created a universe, and a world, and a paradise – and in astonishing goodness and mercy God created Adam and Eve – giving them life, bodies, each other, everything they’d ever need, and most precious of all – the heart-satisfaction of knowing Him, trusting Him, beholding Him. 

And He said they would have this forever if they would just trust Him as their merciful Creator to provide for them everything they needed, and to tell them what’s good and what’s not good.  But we saw in Gen 3 that Adam and Eve did what we’ve all done – they wanted to be in control, they wanted to decide for themselves what was good and bad, so they rebelled against God.  And so God punished them and brought His curse upon the world.

Then in Gen 4 through 11 we saw that sin deserves God’s punishment – as God destroys everyone on the earth except Noah and his family, and we saw that sin spread throughout the entire world – so that in Gen 10 and 11 we see that there’s no one calling upon God, no one trusting God, no one walking with God.

But then, in great mercy, because of what Jesus would do on the Cross thousands of years in the future, God brought His saving power upon a moon-worshiper named Abram – and promised Abram that He would make Abram a great nation, give them an amazing land, and that through his offspring He would bless every people group on the earth with changed hearts, complete forgiveness, and the heart-satisfaction of knowing God – and that all this would happen through what Jesus would do.

So now, as the story unfolds, we are expecting Abram’s offspring to become a great nation and have a wonderful land.  So Abram has a son named Isaac, and then Isaac has a son named Jacob, and then Jacob has twelve sons, the youngest who’s named Joseph.  You’ll need to read this for yourself, but God orchestrates events so that Jacob and his family end up in Egypt during a time of famine where they have all the food they need.

But then things get ugly.  Jacob’s sons massively multiply, so much so Pharaoh decides to enslave all of them.  So there’s the offspring of Abraham, enslaved in Egypt.  God had promised that they would be a great nation with an amazing land – but instead of being a great nation – they are slaves, and instead of having an  amazing land – they are stuck in Egypt.

Now at the time Egypt was the world’s superpower, and Pharaoh was an absolute dictator.  Pharaoh controlled all the food, all the money, all the soldiers, all the power in the surrounding regions.  Israel was powerless under Egypt.

So they cried out to God to save them.  To see that – let’s turn together to Exodus 2.  If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we’ll bring a Bible to you.  Exodus 2 is on page 46 in the Bibles we are passing out.  Look at Exodus 2:23-25 –

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.

So God remembered what He’d promised Abraham and Isaac and Jacob – that they’d become a great nation in an amazing land.  And God decided to deliver Israel from Egypt.  So what does God do to deliver Israel from Egypt?

God raises up Moses, gifts him to work miracles, and calls him to go to Pharaoh, work the miracles before Pharaoh, and tell Pharaoh to let God’s people go.  But then look at what God says in Exo 4:21 --

And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

God says He will harden Pharaoh’s heart so Pharaoh will not let the people go.

Now let me try to explain this.  All through these chapters we read both that God hardens Pharaoh’s heart and that Pharaoh hardens his own heart.  And the reason we read both is because both are absolutely true. 

First of all, Pharaoh really hardens his own heart: the Bible teaches that the decisions we make are authentic decisions for which we are fully responsible.  And, at the same time, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart: the Bible teaches that our decisions are ultimately under God’s sovereign authority.  Now there’s mystery here.  I’m not sure how both of those can be true.  But they are.  So here’s what’s going on here: God is really hardening Pharaoh’s heart – with the result that Pharaoh willingly, freely, authentically hardens his own heart – and refuses to let the people go.

But why would God do this?  Why does God harden Pharaoh’s heart?  Look at what God says in Exo 11:9 –

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."

God could have brought just one wonder upon Egypt, and softened Pharaoh’s heart so he immediately let Israel go.  But God wants to multiply his wonders in the land of Egypt – so God hardens Pharaoh’s heart – so there will be a multiplying of His wonders in the land of Egypt.

And why does He want to multiply His wonders in the land of Egypt?  It’s because He wants everyone to know that He is God.  We can’t look each of these Scriptures up.  But you can see that He wants to show Israel that He’s God in Exo 10:1-2; to show Pharaoh that He’s God in Exo 9:13-14; to show Egypt that He’s God in Exo 7:3-5; and to show the whole world that He’s God in Exo 9:16.

So the reason God hardens Pharaoh’s heart is so God can multiply His wonders in Egypt – so Israel, Pharaoh, Egypt, and all the world will see that God is God.  God could have worked just one miracle, and freed Israel – but then it would not have been as clear that God is God.  So instead God hardens Pharaoh’s heart so he refuses; and God multiplies wonder after wonder after wonder after wonder so everyone can see that God is God.

So God’s purpose is not just to deliver Israel.  God’s purpose is to deliver Israel in such a way that everyone on earth will see that God is God.

And that includes us.  One of the reasons God worked these signs and wonders, and had Moses write this down in Exodus, was so that this morning I could preach this passage, so that this morning you could see that God is God – and know that God is God.

So ask yourself – do you know that God is God?  Do you really know that God is God?  Thousands of years ago God multiplied His signs and wonders and miracles in Egypt, and had Moses write this all down, so that today you could see that God is God.

So how does God show us that He is God?  Read this for yourself, because I’m not going to be able to cover all the details.  But let me give just you an overview of what God does.

First God starts with a miracle that sets the stage, in Exo 7:10-13.  Aaron and Moses go to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh says “prove yourselves.”  So Aaron throws down his staff, and it becomes a snake.  But Pharaoh’s heart is hard, just as God said.

Then God brings ten plagues.  First -- God turns all the water in Egypt into blood, in Exo 7:14-25.  Moses and Aaron tell Pharaoh that God has sent them, telling him to let Israel go, but he has not obeyed.  So Aaron stretches his staff over the Nile – and it turns into blood.

Now some of you might wonder if this really happened.  But you’ll have to admit that Moses writes this as literally happening.  And let’s put it into perspective.  Back in Gen 1:1 we read that this same God created the universe – which means He can turn the Nile into blood.  That’s small potatoes for God.  So we don’t need to come up with red tides or sunsets making the water look read.  What happened was that God turned the entire Nile River into blood.

But Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, just as God had said.

Second, God causes frogs to fill the land, in Exo 8:1-15.  God tells Moses to tell Pharaoh: “Let my people go – and if you refuse, I will cause frogs to swarm throughout Egypt into your homes and bedrooms and bed and ovens and kneading bowls.”  Pharaoh refuses, Aaron stretches out his staff, and frogs start coming from everywhere.  But Pharaoh hardens his heart, just as God said.

Third, God causes gnats to fill the land, in Exo 8:16-19.  Aaron stretches out his staff – gnats were on all the people and animals.  But Pharaoh would not listen, just as God said.

Fourth, God causes flies to swarm everywhere but Goshen, in Exo 8:20-32.  God says to Pharaoh: “Let my people go, and if you don’t, I’ll cause flies to swarm all over everyone in Egypt.”  And that’s exactly what God did.  Flies swarmed everywhere.  But Pharaoh hardens his heart, and refuses, just as God said he would.

Fifth, God kills all Egypt’s livestock, but spares Israel’s livestock, in Exo 9:1-7.  Again, God tells Moses to say to Pharaoh: “Let my people go, or God will kill all your livestock, but He will spare our livestock.”  That’s exactly what happened.  But Pharaoh hardened his heart, just as God said.

Sixth, God brings boils on all people and animals, in Exo 9:8-12.  Boils are like huge pimples on your skin; extremely painful.  And God brings them on all the people and the animals.  But Pharaoh is unmoved, because God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, just as He had said.

Seventh, God destroys their crops with hail, in Exo 9:13-35.  God says to Pharaoh: “Let my people go, or I will bring terrible hail which will destroy your crops and livestock.”  Then God says that Egyptians can protect their crops and livestock by bringing them under shelter.  And some did.  But then God brought hail and destroyed everything that was left out in the open – but the hail did not fall on Goshen where Israel lived.  And again, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, just as God had said.

Eighth, God brings locusts on Egypt who eat whatever is left from the hail, in Exo 10:1-20.  But Pharaoh is stubborn, because God hardens his heart, as God had said.

Ninth, God brings darkness for 3 days except in Goshen, in Exo 10:21-29 -- absolute pitch black everywhere except in Goshen.  But God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, as he said he would.

Tenth, God kills every firstborn son in Egypt, in Exo 11 and following.  This is absolutely just of God.  Keep in mind that since God gives life, he can also take life.  And keep in mind that Egypt had knowingly turned their backs on God.  So God is absolutely just to do this.

But here we also see an amazing picture of God’s mercy.  If we are talking about justice, Israel deserved to all be killed, because none of them had lived a life of perfect trust in God.  But God established the Passover.  Every family who killed a lamb and smeared its blood on the doorposts would be spared.  God would “pass over” that household and not kill the first-born son.  And every year from that point on the nation of Israel would eat the Passover meal, remembering how God had spared them.

And thousands of years in the future, when John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he said: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”  And the night before Jesus was crucified was the Passover; He celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples, and took the bread and the cup and said – this is my body; this is my blood – poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins.  The Passover pointed to what Jesus would do on the Cross.

Had not God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, the world would not have had this amazing picture of both God’s justice and mercy – in what Jesus would do in the future.

So at midnight, God killed all the first-born sons of Egypt, but passed-over the homes which had the blood of the Lamb smeared on them.  As a result, Pharaoh told Moses to take the people and go.  So they did.

But it didn’t stop there.  In Exodus 14 we read that Israel left Egypt and God directed them towards the Red Sea.  But again, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart – so when he hears that they were stopped at the Red Sea, he sends his armies to bring them back.  So what happens?  Egypt’s armies are behind Israel, and the Red Sea is before Israel – and God parts the Red Sea, and Israel crosses on dry land.  But when the Egyptian armies try to cross – God has the Red Sea come back and drown all of them.

So God delivered Egypt from Israel.  But God was doing much more than just delivering Israel from Egypt.  Through this, God multiplied His signs and wonders so Israel, Pharaoh, Egypt, and you and me could see that God is God.

What does God want us to see about Him?  Lots of things.  But let me mention three that I think are emphasized here:

First – we see that God punishes all who rebel against Him.  That’s clear, isn’t it?  God is slow to anger.  God reveals Himself clearly.  But if we persist in rebelling against Him, God will punish us.  So – can you see that God punishes those who rebel against Him?  So stop rebelling against Him.  Ask Him to help you.  Ask Him to change your heart.  He will.

Second – we see that God forgives all who trust Jesus.  That’s the story of the Passover.  Israel deserved God’s punishment just as much as the Egyptians did.  But the Israelites were under the blood of a Lamb – which is a picture of what Jesus would do.  So if you trust Jesus, if you surrender your life to Him and receive Him as your Savior, Lord, and Treasure, you will be completely forgiven for all of your rebellion against God – past, present, and future.  So trust Him.

Third – we see that God rescues all who call on Him through Jesus.  Israel was in a hopeless fix.  They were enslaved by the supreme world-power.  But they called upon God – and God rescued them.   What do you need to be rescued from – confusion about a decision?  God will give you wisdom.  An empty heart?  God will satisfy you with Himself.  Financial pressures?  God will guide you and provide for you.  Bondage to a habit or area of sin?  God will meet you and empower you and free you.  God rescues all who call on Him through Jesus.

So see that God is God – and stop rebelling against Him, trust Him, call on Him.