EXODUS
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the Introduction to Exodus. The book is a record of how a family of seventy is rapidly grown into a nation of about 3 million people. Born and nurtured through the painful birth pangs of Egyptian cruelty, the young nation is divinely delivered from the cruelty and tyranny of an unbowing Pharaoh, and protected, fed and lovingly nurtured by the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The birth and the physical deliverance and sustenance of the infant nation by God pictures our spiritual deliverance from the slavery of sin and how our loving Saviour nurtures us through the spiritual wilderness of this fallen world.
I hope you will learn, get challenged, and inspired to love, obey and serve our loving Saviour the more.
EXODUS 1
It was in the cruelty of Egypt where God decided to incubate a small clan of His people to be birthed into a great nation. The Egyptians believed that they were superior to all other nations and for fear that the Israelites may overpower them, they decided to suppress and enslave them under heavy and rigorous work. The logical question here would be, 'why would God intentionally put His people under such oppression? That is the same question we ask today when we go through difficulties. But it's important for us to remember the following when God allows difficulties in our live as His children:
1. It doesn't mean that God is punishing us. He was not punishing Israel.
2. Sometimes, difficulties are God's way of preparing us for a greater purpose and blessing. All the suffering they experienced would be swallowed up and vanish in joy of the great deliverance that awaited them.
3. Difficulties help us to see the power of God and teach us to trust Him as we see Him solve our oppressive problems.
4. Difficulties display God's power for the world to see when He delivers us from trouble. The nation around heard about God's deliverance for Israel.
5. Difficulties are a time to judge the ungodly. Many times the deliverance of the righteous is accompanied by the judgement for the wicked. It is amazing that the more the Egyptians afflicted and suppressed them the more they continued to increase, vs.12.
No amount of oppression can suppress or thwart God's plan for our lives. God used the Egyptian midwives to show favour to His people. He rewarded these midwives not because they lied to Pharaoh but because they risked their lives to do what was right. There never lacks a reward for those who choose to honour God by taking a stand against evil when it's risky.
If the caring hand of our beloved Saviour chooses to lead you through an uneasy path, don't complain or fret, it may be the very stepping stone that our all-knowing God will lift you beyond your imaginations in the sight of your enemies.
God does not waste suffering in the lives of His children.
EXODUS 2
With Pharaoh's heightened cruelty to eliminate God's people, it almost seemed like God had forgotten all about His people and was doing nothing to deliver them. But, He was working behind the scenes for their deliverance. The question would be, why was it taking too long? In His grace, God was also giving the wicked nations of Canaan to repent, (Gen. 15:16).
It's interesting that God decided to use the man Moses from the lineage of Levi whose father had spoken disgrace concerning him (Gen. 49:5-7). His mother was selfless and resolved to save her baby. She saw her son as a special gift from God, risked her life to save his and refused to give up hope when all seemed not to work. Let alone risking their lives, there are many mothers today who would not give up a career for the sake of their children. God had heard the cry of Israel and was preparing their delivery behind the scenes.
Don't lose hope in prayer and begging God about your problem even when heaven seems silent. God hears every groan and sees every tear of His children's desperate cry. Moses was the deliverer, but he needed some preparation for the task. How did God prepare him?
1. A Godly home. Moses' parents saw him as a special gift from God.
Parents, we do well when we realize that our children are a gift from God and we've a God-given responsibility to bring them up to serve Him. It took Moses' parents great faith to hide him in the same river where other boys were being thrown.
2. Special teaching. He was trained from the palace of Egypt, the best of the best at the time.
3. Failure. Moses failed in trying to use his own strength to deliver his people who rejected him in turn. He was not ready. Failing is a way of being prepared for greater responsibilities especially if we are willing to learn from our mistakes.
4. Waiting. Moses came down from being a prince to a lowly despised shepherd. God would keep Him waiting for 40 years. Many people find 4 years too long to prepare for ministry. Sometimes God keeps us on the waiting bench because He is preparing us for greater responsibilities or because there are important lessons we must learn. While doing a dirty menial task, Moses learnt humility and to depend upon God and not his own abilities. He would later be referred to as the meekest man on earth.
The metal had been long enough in the Smith's furnace and it was all ready to be bent into whatever shape the Master desired. He was prepared not to seek his own glory but the LORD'S alone. The man was ready! Show me a man who is this schooled and I'll show you a man God will use greatly for His glory.
EXODUS 3
The time now was ripe for God to deliver His people; and the man for the job was Moses. From a burning bush that displayed His power, God appeared to Moses. That the bush was burning but not being consumed also pictured how Israel was not consumed or utterly eliminated by the fiery cruelty of the Egyptians. God's people may go through fiery trials but these trials are not meant to destroy but to refine them. It's interesting to compare the Moses who 40 years ago was self-confident in how he slew an Egyptian in trying to defend his people and the Moses at the burning bush. Here, he argued with God of how unworthy and inadequate he was to be the deliverer of Israel.
From the wilderness of Midian, Moses had learnt vital lessons on how to lead and tend after the flock only this time God wanted him to lead and tend after the human flock. As Moses would later find out, the human flock needed a leader who had learnt humility, patience and total dependence upon God to lovingly shepherd the flock. Upon realizing that he was before the presence of God, Moses bowed down in humble adoration to the God of his fathers. We need to learn to approach the presence of God with unfeigned brokenness and contriteness.
Knowing that there were many gods in Egypt, Moses knew that Israel needed to know Who this God was. He gave His Name as the self-existing, eternal and unchanging God; the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. He never changes and had not changed from the promises He made to Abraham. Praise Him, that the same unchanging God Who heard the cry of His people is the same God we serve. He is our God. It had taken long, but God heard their cry and had finally come down to deliver His people.
Moses was comfortable and content being a shepherd but God had great plans for him. God wants to use us to take the message of hope and deliverance to many who are enslaved by the devil around us. Unfortunately, many of us feel content with our earthly preoccupation and continue to entertain the whispering of the devil who says, you can't do it.
God is ready to use you for greater purposes that bring glory to Him, are you?
EXODUS 4
Moses understood the gravity of the task that God was assigning him. But, he was afraid because he had nothing to convince Israel that indeed God had sent him to deliver them. No resources, position or eloquence to influence anyone. Moses needed to stop looking at himself and look up to God Who was calling him. God never orders us to do something that He is not ready to provide the resources, grace or whatever it takes to do the task.
It's easy for us to assume that God only uses special skills and abilities but doesn't rule out simple ordinary things in our lives that are surrendered to Him ; your voice, a hammer, a pen, a broom, a gospel tract etc. Just as we do many times, Moses felt that his excuses for not doing what God required of him were valid. After Moses surrendered his shepherd's rod to God, it changed to the "rod of God" in vs.20.
God can use in a great way what is surrendered to Him. He fed the multitude with a small boy's lunch when he surrendered it to Christ. He used muddy water to heal Naman of an incurable disease when surrendered to do it God's way. When God assigns us a task, ours is to trust and obey, He will lead, feed, guide and provide. What excuse do you have for not obeying God? "faithful is He that calleth you has called us, Who also also will do it" (1 Thess. 5:24)
EXODUS 5
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EXODUS 6
Pharaoh tightened his grip on the people and things seemed to be getting worse. God sent Moses to inform Israel what He wanted to do for them; deliver them with a great deliverance, make them His people and be their God, give them the land of promise. Israel refused to believe Moses and so he didn't see how Pharaoh himself would hearken to him. Even though that must have been a hard and lonely task, Moses still obeyed God. Sometimes, heartaches and problems may make people doubt God's message and His love for them. You shouldn't stop trusting or declaring the power and the goodness of God just because things seem not to be working.
But, God was not asking Moses to do the task by his own abilities. God would do the work Himself and Moses needed to just do what God ordered. Every promise that God gave here was fulfilled to the letter. In fact, God attached His Name "I AM the LORD" to these promises at least 5 times in this chapter, (vv. 2,6,7,8 & 29). He also said, "I WILL.” The Patriarchs had known God's Name as Elshaddai, the Almighty Who could do all He promised them but they died without seeing it all; now Moses and Israel would see His power incaction and God live up to His Name. Many people would obey God when it's easy and when everyone is agreeing with them, but it takes a man or woman of genuine faith to obey God when things get hard and unsupported by the majority.
The genealogies were to establish Moses and Aaron as the bonafide leaders of God's people. Possibly, mentioning Moses' parents would remind and encourage Israel how this same God had miraculously delivered the infant Moses from Pharaoh's sword. When problems get bigger and beyond us, we could see them as an opportunity for us to see God demonstrate His power. When difficulties seem to be overwhelming and getting worse, remember God's promise to Moses and to His children, "I AM and I WILL”.
EXODUS 7
God said that He had made Moses a god to Pharaoh. Pharaoh himself considered a god, God had made Moses a powerful person to stand up to Pharaoh. God said that He would harden Pharaoh's heart so that He would judge Egypt and so that Egypt would know of God's great power. But God also said He would harden Pharaoh's heart so that He would deliver His people with a great deliverance. Why does God sometimes allow our problems to get bigger before coming for our rescue? The bigger the problem or opposition the greater the deliverance would be, the more the power of God is seen, the more glory to Him and the more joy to us.
No doubt Moses and Aaron's task was both enormous and risky but one thing guaranteed them a sure victory over the dreaded Pharaoh, they "did as the LORD commanded them..." As they threw down the rod that became a serpent, the Egyptian magicians also did the same but Aaron's rod swallowed up theirs. The devil is a master counterfeit. In fact he has some powers to play the counterfeit. He is not all powerful but God is. God's power is greater than the devil's; 'greater is He Who is in us than he who is in the world'. Always, our best way to have the LORD on our side fighting for us is simply to do all that He has commanded us in His Word. That way we are assured of a sure victory over the enemy and his schemes.
By turning water into blood, God had started His judgment upon Egypt and her gods and delivered His people. Again, all Moses and Aaron needed was to do as the LORD commanded. God can do a great onslaught on the devil's turf and in delivering those held captive by him if His (God's) children and servants are obedient to all He says. He can and wants to use us.
As God wanted to deliver His people from the slavery of Egypt to serve Him, so also He desires to save us from serving sin and Satan to serve the true and living God. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who are still serving sin and yet Christ has bought their freedom with His own sinless blood. Are you allowing sin, satan or self to enslave you?
God wants and can deliver you from their grips.
EXODUS 8
Among the many gods that the Egyptians worshipped was the River Nile because it was their source of life. Therefore, turning the waters of the Nile into blood was a way of God showing His power and judgment to the Egyptian gods. They also had another god called Heqt, that was pictured by a frog; a symbol of resurrection. The Egyptians got to see as the frogs were brought forth in their numbers and destroyed at once that the LORD's creations are no gods and that He has power over them all. The lice and flies defiled the people, a terrible blow to their worship system because the Egyptians could not worship their gods unless they were spotlessly clean.
The magicians could counterfeit Moses' miracles of turning the rod into a serpent, water into blood, and bringing forth frogs but they couldn't bring forth life out of dust. The devil's counterfeit has a limit. Today, people are so crazy with the so-called miracles, but we need to be aware that counterfeits are the devil's best tool for deceiving people.
Like Pharaoh, the devil doesn't release people from his bondage without a fight. He doesn't like to see people set free from His grip and that of sin. He is okay with people not going too far from him or rather making little compromises, partial obedience and serving God and him at the same time. He loves that because he knows that if you live like this, you are still his slave.
Have you bought into the lies of the devil that you can't be fully sold out to God?
Moses insisted that they were to get out the devil's jurisdiction and control to serve the Lord exclusively. God warns us like Lot to flee the city of destruction and not to look back but many Christians are reluctant and some even like to linger nearby Sodom in Zoar, saying is this not okay? Interesting that even after Pharaoh saw all this and was cautioned by his magicians that, "this is the finger of God", he still remained stubborn and unbowed.
Stubbornness and rejecting God's clear Word and warning blinds people to the truth, and when people continue in this path, like it was for Pharaoh, judgment is inevitable. Like God judged Pharaoh and all Egypt sparing only Goshen, He will judge the unrepentant world with their rulers. Praise God that we, His people will be kept or protected from the wrath to come.
EXODUS 9
This is the fifth time God was sending Moses with the message "let My People go". It's possible that Moses was getting tired but he kept on doing what God commanded. Don't get discouraged or stop obeying what God has ordered in His Word just because it seems difficult or not to work. God did not intentionally harden Pharaoh's heart but He simply confirmed that Pharaoh had chosen a life of resisting God.
Pharaoh was given many opportunities to obey but they only revealed the hardness of his heart and God let him have his way. One of the ways God judges a man is to let him have his own way. But God can use any person or situation to bring glory to Himself. In other words, Pharaoh thought that He was competing with God but God would use his resistance to bring glory to Himself. "Even the wrath of man shall praise Thee..." (Psa. 76:10).
Pharaoh pretended to repent and called for God's help but he was not genuine because he turned around and disobeyed. That brought severe judgment to his family and country. Our insincerity and hypocrisy with the Lord affects us and our families adversely. In the midst of judgement, God showed mercy and spared the animals of the Egyptians who took His warning seriously and brought their animals out of the field. God shows mercy to those who take His Word seriously.
Please Lord don't let me have my way but help me to take Your Word seriously and to be completely sold out to Your will.
EXODUS 10
God told Moses that more than judging Pharaoh and Egypt, He also wanted Israel to teach their subsequent generations about the power of God. We're to share with our children and subsequent generations about our deliverance by the LORD.
Upon being warned that Egypt had been destroyed, Pharaoh decided to let only the men go (vs 11). Later he allowed them to go as families but leave their cattle, but Moses insisted that they would go with their entire families and cattle. God wants to deliver His people with all that they are and have. We must come to the Lord with what He has blessed us with. Many claim to be saved and to love the Lord, but they have left their children and wealth to the devil. While it's not for us to do the actual deliverance for them, we must pray and claim deliverance for our children, wives and husbands. We also must dedicate our God-given resources to serve Him.
By threatening to kill the messengers of the LORD, Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's gimmicks had crossed the line and as such come to end. Moses and Aaron's job was risky, but God protected them. We are not to fear, but take God's message wherever and to whomever He leads us. He will get the job done as we watch; and even though claiming our families may be with much resistance from the enemy, we will have greater joy and a bigger story to tell of how God fought us.
Don't fret or lose hope because of the much resistance you may be getting from the enemy in claiming your family and freedom over dominating sin. The greater the resistance, the greater the victory and joy will be to you and greater glory to God.
EXODUS 11
Pharaoh had clearly proved that he was not ready to submit to God's express commands and so his games had come to an end. As Pharaoh would soon find out, for anyone to stubbornly oppose God's clear commands is fighting a losing battle. We must learn to submit to God's instructions in His Word and not wait for a calamity to happen.
To deliver His people, God Himself said, "I will go out...". Make no mistake about it, when it comes to the deliverance and protection of His people from the enemy, God takes special interest and He is fully involved. The judgment was going to be catastrophic. All the Egyptian first borns, the carrier of family dreams and the quality of religious, political, dynastical and social strength died but there was complete peace among the children of Israel that even a dog didn't bark. God made a difference between the Egyptian and Israel.
To the Egyptians, the Israelites were slaves to be abused and mistreated but to God they were His special chosen people and He defended and delivered them with a great victory. It doesn't matter how the world or our enemies view us or what they do and say about us, it's enough that we belong to and are loved and cared for by the God of Israel like the apple of His eye, (Zechariah 2:8, Psa. 17:8).
EXODUS 12
After many years of slavery and oppression by the Egyptians, God brought Israel out of Egypt with a great deliverance. They came into Egypt about 70 people and now they had multiplied to about 2 million despite all the oppression. Satan's opposition and oppression of God's people doesn't stop them from advancing to where God wants them to be.
The Israelites were to exercise their faith by killing an innocent lamb and applying its blood on their doorposts as the LORD commanded. The same way we are saved by putting our faith in the shed blood of the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. Israel was to celebrate this as the feast of Passover as a reminder for the older people and a learning for their young people. We must not forget Calvary and also, we are to be deliberate in creating curiosity in our children in order to teach them about our deliverance.
No stranger or an uncircumcised person was to eat the Passover. No one who is not identified with the Lord is to partake of the Passover (Lord's Supper) because circumcision identified God's people then. God delivered them with a great deliverance but as always, there came with them "mixed multitudes". These mixed multitudes "fell a lusting" and led God's people in complaining and desiring the life back in Egypt (Numb. 11:4ff). It's the mixed multitudes, people who may be church members, choir members, church leaders, Sunday school teachers but have never been genuinely saved who push to import worldliness in the house of God today.
Please remember, no amount of intimidation by the enemy can hinder God's plan and purpose for His children but also God demands exclusive worship by His children. He has redeemed and set us apart unto Himself to serve Him exclusively.
EXODUS 13
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