1. Salvation for God’s People
Week 4 • Day 1
One of the most challenging moments in my life was when I saw the door close on my dream career. All the blood, sweat, and tears that I had put into this particular pursuit felt like it had been all for nothing. In the season of life that followed, I was forced to wrestle with whether or not I believed that, “God is good” and “He is in control”. These phrases sound so cliche, right?
There are many situations we face that make us doubt that God is good and He still rules over all things. In the moments where it seems like everything is going against us, we doubt that God will remain faithful toward us as His kingdom people. It is hard to find hope that we will one day return to God’s good kingdom place when the world seems like it is crashing all around us. In these dark moments, have you ever cried out, “God! Where are you? Are you still there?”
I’d imagine these same sentiments were strong in the hearts of Abraham’s descendants during their time in Egypt.
The book of Exodus continues right where the Genesis story ends: God’s family of people are located in a foreign kingdom place under the foreign rule of Pharaoh.
Under the faithful God-centered rule of Joseph, Egypt blossoms into a place of blessing that provides for God’s image-bearing people across the world during a global famine. Through Joseph’s faithfulness, the gospel of the kingdom breaks through and turns the desert land of Egypt into a nation which taps into the Garden river of life that was always designed to flow out from Eden to the nations! It’s no coincidence, then, that Exodus opens by showing how Israel was fruitful, multiplied, filled this foreign land, and grew to become “exceedingly strong”.
But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. - Exodus 1:7
It wasn’t until a new Pharaoh rose to power in Egypt that God’s blessings suddenly morphed into the reason for Israel’s oppression. Now, under the unfaithful serpent-centered rule of this new Pharaoh, Egypt turns into the next anti-Eden place that would oppress God’s people treating them as slaves rather than dignified image-bearers who rule on God’s behalf.
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burden.
So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” - Exodus 1:8-11, 13-14, 22
Imagine the kind of questions the Israelites would have had over the next 400 years of oppression. Does God still rule and care about His people? If He does, why are we enslaved? Did He lead us into a foreign place simply to suffer? Is the kingdom place that was once promised to our father Abraham now out of reach? Were we entirely wrong about this God? It’s at the peak of these doubts where we meet the central character of the next 4 books of the Bible: Moses.
GOD’S RESPONSE: THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM
Moses’ life begins by highlighting God’s rule. Amidst the orders of Pharaoh to kill all boys born to the Israelites, Moses’ mother manages to hide her newborn son in a basket (or “tebat” the same Hebrew word for “ark”). This “ark-like” basket floats down a river and just so happens to reach Pharaoh’s daughter who just so happens to raise up Moses as her own. God continues to orchestrate events to lift up Moses who just so happens to rise to a position of power within the ranks of Pharaoh.
Here is the million-dollar question: could Moses be the serpent-crusher?
Later on, when Moses eventually learns of his own Hebrew origins, he withdraws from his position in Pharaoh’s household to associate himself with the Hebrew people. Here, Moses comes face-to-face with the brutal oppression of his people and acts in his rage by killing an Egyptian slave master. We aren’t explicitly told that Moses’ defensive actions are wicked or serpent-like, but at the very least this scene forces us to speculate about Moses’ candidacy as the faithful serpent-crusher.
Now, as a fugitive of the Egyptian authorities, Moses flees to Midian. In the middle of this chaos, Moses sees something strange atop Mount Horeb (tier 3), amidst a bush (tier 2), in a flame of fire (tier 1). Moses is called to take off his sandals as he approaches this holy 3-tiered garden-like place where the Lord has appeared to him! The Lord says:
“I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
… God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ” - Exodus 3:7-10, 14
After 400 years of slavery, God chooses Moses to become the next representative of the gospel of the kingdom. God was going to rescue His people from slavery, return them to the place flowing with milk and honey, and restore the dignity and rule of His image-bearers. Once more, we wonder if Moses is the serpent-crushing descendant of Eve who would finally reestablish “I AM”’s rule over the serpent kingdom? Let’s watch how Moses responds to YHWH’s (“I AM” in Hebrew) calling.
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” - Exodus 3:11
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”- Exodus 3:13
Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ” - Exodus 4:1
But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” - Exodus 4:10
But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. - Exodus 4:13-14
Although the text does not explicitly attribute these doubts to the kingdom of the serpent, our suspicions about Moses continue to mount. One would expect that the great serpent crusher would have a “faith-no-matter-what” attitude in all things similar to the test of Abraham and Isaac. Yet despite this excuse-filled killer, YHWH chooses to bring the Israelites out from Egypt into His promised kingdom!
EXODUS (PT. 1): REESTABLISH AND RESCUE
In a story you may be familiar with, YHWH rains down a series of 10 plagues to crush the Egyptians. YHWH reestablishes that He has always been the one true ruler over all things, including the gods of the Egyptians.
This sequence culminates at the infamous 10th plague in which God kills the firstborn sons of all those in the land of Egypt (in response to Osiris - judge of the dead and patron deity of Pharaoh). Thankfully, in the same way YHWH provided a sacrificial ram to be a substitute for Isaac, YHWH instructed His people to sacrifice a substitutionary lamb and paint its blood on their doorposts so that the destroyer of the firstborn (see Ex. 12:23) would “pass over” the Israelites.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight….“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” - Exodus 12:5-7, 13
The gospel of the kingdom breaks through once more as YHWH reestablishes His rule by crushing Pharaoh and his gods through the plagues. Then YHWH completes His rescue mission for His people even when the Red Sea and the Egyptian army stood in their way! In a song of thanks, Moses recounts:
For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. - Exodus 15:19
EXODUS (PT.2): RETURN AND RESTORE
The rest of Exodus continues to show how God would return His wandering people back into the promised land place and restore His image-bearers so they would rule in a way that loves God, loves others, and obeys the boundaries of YHWH. Pay attention to this very similar garden-like choice facing Moses’ generation.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. - Exodus 19:5-8
Just like God had placed certain boundaries in the Garden of Eden, Israel’s end of the bargain was to listen and obey the Lord’s commands as they developed into a larger nation. 613 commandments were given to Israel (including the famous first 10 commandments) that talk about the ways in which the people of Israel would use their delegated rule to love God (no other gods before me, keep the sabbath, Lord’s name in vain, etc.) and love their neighbors (murder, adultery, covetousness, etc.)! Once again, here is how Israel responds to YHWH’s law they had just received…
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they [Israel] said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” - Exodus 24:7-8
The next set of instructions shows God’s desire to dwell with His family during their return journey since they weren’t in the promised land quite yet. Moses is given instructions to create the portable 3-tiered, garden-like tabernacle on earth (Courtyard, Holy Place, Holy of Holies) so that God’s place - guarded by the veil of cherubim - could be in the midst of His people wherever they went!
And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It shall be made with cherubim skillfully worked into it…And the veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy. - Exodus 26:31, 33
There I will meet with the people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests. I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. - Exodus 29:43-45
YHWH has reestablished His kingdom rule over Pharoah, rescued His people from a serpent-like regime. He is now actively returning them to the promised place. His people were committed to use their delegated rule to love God, love others, and obey YHWH’s commandments in the law. Could this be the end of the serpent era?
GOD’S RESPONSE: THE SERPENT CRUSHER?
Unfortunately, it did not take long for the Israelites to disobey and bend their knee to the serpent. While Moses had ventured up to the top of Mount Sinai (tier 1) to meet with the Lord, the rest of the elders of Israel remained halfway up the mountain (tier 2) and the camp stayed put at the base of the mountain (tier 3). Aaron along with a significant portion of the community at the bottom of the mountain did not want to wait for Moses to return from his 40-day trip into the Lord’s presence. Instead, these image-bearers determined that it was “good” to build an image they could comprehend; a calf that represented the Egyptian god Apis (see plague 5).
Although Moses’ actions up to this point have been cause for concern, the next scene offers a “serpent-crusher” type of response that resembles the sacrificial faith of Abraham and Isaac.
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” - Exodus 32:30-32
Once again, our kingdom narrative oscillates between the serpent-like actions of mankind and the faithfulness of YHWH enacted through one faithful servant. On the one hand, God decides to justly handle the sinful actions within the camp the way He sees fit. On the other hand, God continues to be slow to anger and merciful towards the descendants of Abraham due to Moses’ intercession.
“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” - Exodus 34:6–7
Even in the bleakest of circumstances, God remains on the throne! Out of Israel’s situation in Egypt, God was able to reestablish His supreme kingdom authority in the hearts and minds of His people by crushing the rule of Pharaoh and instituting His rule of law, by rescuing His kingdom people as they ran for their lives across the Red Sea, and by making the sojourning Israelite camp His kingdom place via the portable tabernacle. God was faithful to the promises that He had made!
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” - Exodus 6:7-8
Yet the story is far from over. All of the events of Exodus take place at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God was preparing to lead His people back to the promised kingdom place - the land of Canaan that was promised to Abraham. God was still molding His beloved family of people into a kingdom of priests who use their delegated rule to love God, love others, obey God’s laws, and spread His glory throughout the world!
Would the gospel of the kingdom fully break through and be successful? Interestingly, after a whole book in which Moses is able to approach the Lord (i.e. the burning bush, Mt. Sinai, the tent of meeting, God passing by), we are told that Moses is now unable to enter the tent of meeting to speak with God.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. - Exodus 40:34-38
The fangs of the serpent and his kingdom remained embedded deep within the hearts of Israel. Exodus leaves us wondering how would Israel ever find a way to enter into God’s presence again without being utterly destroyed because of their allegiance to the kingdom of the serpent? Could YHWH still work through Moses to make him the serpent crusher? For now, Exodus leaves us anticipating that this same YHWH would one day orchestrate the same type of Exodus for His family of people. This time, it would need to be an Exodus from the kingdom of the serpent!
Share the Gospel: Even in the bleakest of circumstances, God remains on the throne! Out of Israel’s situation in Egypt, God was able to reestablish His supreme kingdom authority in the hearts and minds of His people by crushing the rule of Pharaoh, by rescuing His kingdom people as they ran for their lives across the Red Sea, and by making the sojourning Israelite camp His kingdom place via the portable tabernacle.
