Overview of Exodus

2 December 2007

I.  Introduction

Redemption is one of the compelling themes of the Bible.  We are all born in bondage and under the rule of a cruel and powerful Pharaoh.  God liberates us and smashes him.  The picture of this in the Old Testament is in the Book of Exodus.  I want to show that it is our story too (shadow/reality).  The Book has its title from the LXX.  Exodus means departure.  But the MT is entitled these are the names.  It links us to Genesis which closes with the twelve sons of Jacob in Egypt and outside the land of promise.  In Egypt, God will form them into a nation, liberate them, establish his presence, and lead them back to the land of promise.  It is a manifest display of his faithfulness to his word to Abraham.  Subject:  God’s holiness and power is revealed in redeeming his people from Egypt and in establishing their covenant identity and in warning them to persevere in that identity in order to reflect his holiness and power.  See 6:26, 19:5-6, and 40:34.  Purpose:  To establish the conditions for the divine presence.

II.  Outline

I.  In Egypt 1:1-15:21    The Birth and Liberation of a Nation

A.  Introduction 1:1-22

B.  God calls and commissions Moses as a deliverer.  2:1-4:31

C.  The contest with Pharaoh ends in his destruction and Israel’s deliverance.

5:1-15:21 [Strong man]

1.  God convinces Moses.  5:1-7:7

2.  The execution:  The ten plagues defeat Pharaoh.  7:8-11:10

a.  The prologue:  Moses presents himself at court.  7:8-13

b.  The epilogue:  Moses mediates the defeat of the court.  7:14-11:10

3.  The exodus:  The nation departs, experiences deliverance, and celebrates

the destruction of the court.  12:1-15:21

a.  The Passover is instituted as a perpetual remembrance of divine power

and their redemption.  12:1-13:16 [Lord’s Table/I Corinthians 5:7]

[Sovereignty]

b.  The pursuit by Pharaoh results in the destruction of the court in the Red

Sea and the nation’s deliverance through the red Sea.  13:17-14:31 Appl:

c.  The Song of Moses celebrates the divine deliverance.  15:1-21

II.  At Sinai 15:22-40:38 Revelation for a Nation to Meet with God

A.  Journey to Sinai:  God tests the people, they fail, and he graciously

provides for Them.  15:22-18:27

B.  God makes a covenant with his people.  19:1-24:18

1.  Prelude:  God proclaims the necessity of obedience through Moses.  19:1-25

2.  God issues the moral law.  20:1-17

3.  God expands the covenant 20:18-23:33

4.  The covenant is ratified by the people 24:1-18  Appl:  law/grace and the

necessity of obedience (old/new covenant/if/then) [Ability]

C.  God establishes the place of his meeting with the people.  25:1-31:18

[How and where we meet with God]  See Hebrews 8:1-5

D.  Aaron and the people rebel and counterfeit the place of the divine

presence and God judges them.  32:1-34:35 [They choose a different way.

Appl:  Today]

E.  The people repent and follow God’s plan for the place of the divine

presence, and God fills the tabernacle with his glory.  35:1-40:38  Appl:  the cultus was at the center of the nation (three tribes on each side).

Tragically, the nation forsakes its calling as priests, falls into idolatry, and repudiates its covenant loyalty.  The divine presence departs.  The result is bondage and the promise of a second exodus from Babylon.  But the pattern continues.  Israel as a Son of God fails.  See Exodus 4:22.  God raises up a new son.  See Isaiah 49:3.  Jesus goes down into Egypt.  See Matthew 2:13-15.  This is a citation from Hosea 11:1.  In 3:16, Jesus is baptized as a parallel to the Red Sea.  In 4:1, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness … for 40 days and 40 nights.  See Exodus 34:28.  In 5-7, he delivers as a greater Moses a greater law.  John presents to us his majesty as the fulfillment of the place of the glory presence of God.  Illus:  He is the light of the world; he is the bread of life; he is the Lamb of God.  See John 1:14 (tabernacled/shekinah glory).  In Luke 9:31, Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration speak to Jesus about his exodus (departure).  Thus, he succeeds where Israel failed.

The importance for us is that we need a greater Moses to effectually lead us.  We need the divine presence to empower us.  But we must learn from their failure.  See I Corinthians 10:11-12.  Our redemption means that God makes us holy that he might abide with us and manifest his presence.  It is grace that makes us so but the evidence is obedience to the covenant.  Illus:  Matthew 28:20.  It is critical that we embrace that a holy God presses us to holy living for which we will be persecuted.  See Revelation 12:6, 14-16.  As such, we manifest that we too fulfill the purpose of Exodus.  See Revelation 1:6.