Foundations for Faith

So today we're going to look at Exodus.

Let me just open in prayer.

Lord, we see in Exodus you exalting your name,

you declaring who you are,

and forming a people for yourself who will worship you.

Lord, we want to join in that worship even this morning

as we think about these things, as we listen or talk,

or all that we're doing, Lord, let it be worship to you,

and let your name be exalted among us.

In Jesus' name, amen.

So the book of Exodus,

the big picture,

is Israel is being formed into a nation.

There are two parts to that, two major parts.

First 18 chapters is all a narrative

of how, where Israel is at the beginning of the book,

being oppressed by Egypt,

how God intervenes

and miraculously delivers his people

from slavery to Egypt.

the last roughly half of the book

is the establishment of the nation,

kind of setting up like a constitution, if you will,

and providing instruction and law.

We have the giving of the law at Mount Sinai,

the Ten Commandments,

and then a bunch of other corollaries,

I guess you want to say.

And then we have

the instructions for the tabernacle.

So the tabernacle is to be central to the life of the nation.

And so we get all these detailed instructions.

And then, at the end,

they built the tabernacle.

The book is bracketed by

one of the themes I want to look at

is the name of God.

Who is this God?

Name in the ancient world

was the embodied character.

And who is this person?

And we see him give his name to Moses

at the burning bush early in the book.

Much later in the book,

God reveals himself to Moses.

Moses asks to see his glory.

And God reveals his name again,

and it's about who he is.

At the very end,

we have the very last few verses of the book

are God's glory coming to rest on the tabernacle.

It's this amazing climax to the whole book

when God's glory fills the tabernacle.

It must have been just an awesome,

like really awesome,

like not modern awesome,

experience to see.

So in the ancient world,

people could always point to an epic story

about their origins,

about where they came from,

about who they are.

And that's what the epic said.

It said, this is who we are.

These are our values.

Certainly, the moral and spiritual identity

of Israel is captured in its laws,

including those we find in Exodus.

And literarily, it's an epic tale.

We have the epic hero.

We have Moses,

through whom God delivers his people.

And there are more aspects of epic

that I won't go into.

But that's what it is.

And we see throughout

that God wants to make his name known.

He wants to make himself known

both to Israel

and to Egypt

and the surrounding nations.

He wants to reveal who he is.

And we see,

as we talked about in Genesis,

how God made a promise

way back in the Garden of Eden

after Adam and Eve sinned.

He said, this,

I'm going to fix this.

Right?

In Genesis 3, 15,

he says,

he makes a promise

that your seed

will crush the head

of the serpent,

though the serpent

will crush his heel.

So,

we see now in Exodus

God's plan moving forward

as we have seen it

since the fall.

So,

that's sort of the big picture

of what we have.

I don't know why I'm waving these around.

What we have

in the book of Exodus.

One thing to keep in mind

that I don't think I've really mentioned

is that really,

the Pentateuch is one book.

It's really one book

and it's broken up

for convenience.

And,

but it's really,

it's really one complete whole.

So,

so this is like a section

of the Pentateuch.

It's probably,

there are times when it's really helpful

to remember that.

So,

we need to always keep in mind

what's happened before.

And,

most of us are

pretty familiar with that.

So,

we remember,

you know,

the creation

and the fall.

We remember the call of Abraham,

which we,

you know,

barely talked about

in the last two weeks.

But,

the beginning of God's

narrowing his plan

for redemption

to Abraham

and his seed,

his descendants.

and here we see it

progressing.

So,

in the very beginning

of the book,

chapter 1,

let's just start,

I'm going to just read

from verse 7.

But the people of Israel

were fruitful

and increased greatly.

They multiplied

and grew exceedingly strong

so that the land

was filled with them.

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 burdens.

They built for Pharaohs,

store cities,

Pithom and Ramses.

But the more

they were oppressed,

the more they multiplied

and the more

they spread abroad.

And the Egyptians

were in dread

of the people of Israel.

So they ruthlessly

made the people of Israel

work as slaves

and made their lives

bitter

and 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.

And then as

the scene setting

continues,

we see Pharaoh

trying other ways

to limit the growth

of Israel

and in fact,

you know,

kind of like starve them out.

Let's work them to death,

right?

Let's have all

the male children killed.

They're working

toward an extermination

of the people of Israel.

So,

so that's the scene,

right?

And it's this

awful oppression.

It's the worst

kind of work

that you and I

can imagine.

And there's a lot

of work

in our world today

that is pretty tedious

and pretty meaningless.

And as,

as things get worse

for the people of Israel,

he then makes demands

on them

that are impossible

to fulfill.

They're to make bricks

without straw.

So the straw,

they have to go

collect the straw,

which is a necessary

component of these bricks.

They have to go

collect it,

but they still have

to meet a quota.

So it's a very,

obviously,

it's very difficult.

Note,

in the very beginning,

just those words,

then Israel was,

were fruitful,

the people of Israel

were fruitful

and increased greatly.

They multiplied

and grew exceedingly strong

so that the land

was filled with them.

They are fulfilling

the creation mandate

of,

of,

be fruitful

and multiply.

So that's just,

I don't know.

There's an echo there

that I think

is probably intended.

So,

in chapter 2,

in verse 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

and God heard their groaning

and God remembered

his covenant

with Abraham,

with Isaac,

and with Jacob.

God saw the people

of Israel

and God knew.

To me,

that's just so powerful

how he looked

and he knew.

He knew

what it was like

for them.

He knew

how horrible

and difficult it was.

And in that knowing

there's,

behind that,

there's compassion

and care.

It matters to God.

And once again,

we get this reminder

that God is personal,

that he is love,

that he's concerned,

that he hears prayer.

He seems uninvolved

during these years,

perhaps.

Where the heck

is this God

that we've heard of?

But he's there.

And we know

he didn't wait around

for Israel

to ask for help

in the sense that

he didn't know

until then

the situation.

He knew the situation.

And it was part

of his plan

and it was part

of something

he was working out.

But the people

wouldn't have been

aware of that.

So then in chapter 3,

we get

God calling

of Moses.

So this is

obviously

a significant

passage

as we approach

the,

Moses approaches

this burning bush,

this strange phenomenon.

And

when God,

when Moses

asks,

so the Lord,

the Lord

tells him

what's going to,

tells him

he's seen the affliction

and he's going

to deliver them.

and Moses

says,

what is the,

what is this

God's name?

The people

are going

to want to know.

And 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.

So this

name,

and we've all,

we've all heard

some of this,

you know,

I don't think

I'm saying

anything revolutionary.

In this name,

I am

who I am,

he expresses

his self-existence,

his,

he's,

he's,

we talked about

the creator-creature

distinction,

he's completely

other.

We can't,

we're,

we are

who God

made us.

We are fully

dependent on God.

We have no breath

apart from God.

But God

depends on

nothing.

No one.

He is

life itself.

He is

himself.

He is

who he is.

He is,

he will be

who he will be.

He's

unchanging.

There's no

other reference

point

to talk about

God.

There are no,

you know,

if,

in the,

in the conception

of the people

of the world,

there are lots

of gods.

But

God,

Yahweh,

this I am

is

not a part

of that picture.

He is not

one of those

gods.

He is not,

he is not

like us

except in that

he has made us

in his image,

but he's not,

he's not

barren better

than us

and just,

you know,

a pure,

more perfect

version

of humanity.

That's not,

he's himself.

notice that

when Moses

approaches the

burning bush,

God says,

take off your

sandals

because this

is holy

ground.

And there's

an interesting

kind of a

contradiction

or a paradox

here.

It's holy

ground.

He is,

as we learn

throughout

scripture,

he is

holy,

holy,

holy,

completely

other,

completely

pure

and beautiful.

And,

and yet,

he invites

Moses to

take off

his sandals

and approach

and hear

him.

God is

both,

we've talked

about this

before,

God is

both this

transcendent

other

and present

with his

people.

So there's

this presence

here that's

really there

and it's

utterly

holy

and

Moses,

like all

the rest

of the

people,

is a

fallen

human

being,

sinful,

corrupted

by the

curse and

by his

own sin.

In the

fall,

he fell

with the

rest of

us.

But God

can be

present

with him.

And so

here again,

we have

this paradox

of this

holy,

pure God,

transcendent

and other

and this

sinful

humanity,

but God

is making

it possible

and that's

what the

whole Bible

is about,

right?

God is

making it

possible

for him

to be

with his

people.

And again,

the very end

of the book

we see

his glory

descend on

the tabernacle.

That's where

he's going to

meet with

his people.

So we

see this

kind of

tension

between his

holiness

and his

presence,

his desire

to be

present.

And as we

think some

more about

his name,

we're just

going to

park on

this idea

of his

name for

a few

minutes.

Toward

near the

end of

the book,

Exodus

33,

I might

have used

bookmarks,

but

who

thinks

of that?

Exodus

33,

in

verse

18,

so a

lot has

happened,

right?

They have

crossed the

Red Sea,

they've

been

delivered,

the law

has been

given,

the people

have

rebelled

with the

golden

calf,

and here

Moses says

to God,

to the

Lord,

this

Yahweh,

this

Yahweh,

this

Yahweh,

what verse

was I

saying?

18,

sorry,

and he

said,

God,

Moses says,

please show

me your

glory,

which is

what God

wants to

do,

right?

He really

wants to

do that,

and we'll

see that

through the

plagues,

but we'll

get back

to that.

Show me

your glory,

glory,

and God

said,

I will

make all

my goodness

pass before

you,

and will

proclaim

before you

my name,

the Lord,

which is

the I

am,

and I

will be

gracious to

whom I

will be

gracious,

and will

show mercy

on whom I

will show

mercy,

and God

explains what

he's going

to do,

that his

glory will

pass by,

and Moses

will be

hidden in

this rock,

and see

just the

back of

God,

because he

can't see

his face

and live.

And then

in chapter

34,

after

two more

tablets

are made,

the Lord

descends in

the cloud,

and stood

before him

there,

and proclaimed

the name

of the

Lord.

All of

these

occasions

of Lord

are this

covenant

name,

Yahweh,

this name

that he

is his

relationship

name with

his people,

right?

The Lord

passed before

him and

proclaimed

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

fourth

generation.

So here

again we

have the

giving of

his name.

So this

name,

he still

is,

I am,

but in

giving this,

he embodies

his character

and who

he is.

So we

have this

God who

most of

this,

you know,

a couple of

sentences,

most of

it's about

his mercy

and his

grace and

his forgiveness.

But he

also includes

his justice

and he

will by

no means

clear the

guilty.

And here

we have

this,

this tension,

it's a tension

for us,

right,

between

God's love

and mercy

and God's

judgment.

judgment.

And

Christopher

Watkin

writes,

the marriage

of justice

and grace

in Exodus

33 stands

in stark

distinction to

the way

those two

principles are

wrenched apart

and opposed

in contemporary

political and

social discourse.

He gives

the example

of political

discourse about

crime,

law and order

kind of things.

And we

have,

you know,

on the right,

you know,

this sort of

throw the book

at them,

lock them up.

Obviously,

I'm,

you know,

caricaturing

them.

But there's

this,

you know,

it's the law,

they have to

obey it,

we're going to

punish them.

And on the

left,

we're more likely

to see this

compassion,

well,

you know,

it was because

society was like

this that they

did this,

and we can

work toward

reform,

and we

can,

yeah,

rather than

punishment,

let's not be

so punitive,

that's not

helpful.

And these

two,

these two

things,

justice and

grace,

are divorced

in our

society to

a great deal.

But God

sees them

together.

They are

together.

He is

always just.

He is

always

merciful.

and how

that works

together,

of course,

we see

in the

New Testament

with the

coming of

Jesus,

and on

the cross,

God

executes

his perfect

justice,

and pours

out judgment

on his

son.

And in

that,

we see

his mercy,

this judgment

Jesus takes

for us.

We deserve

it.

He takes

it.

and here

in the

cross,

we see

God

knitting

together

his

justice

and

his

mercy.

So,

these,

again,

I've talked

about how

so many

of these

themes

that arise

in these

early,

in the

Pentateuch,

run through

all of

scripture.

And this

theme of

justice and

grace runs

through all

of scripture.

And we'll

see,

and we see

in the

context of

this section

of Exodus,

Israel has

rebelled,

grossly rebelled

in building

this golden

calf.

And God

is angry.

And they

have sinned

greatly,

even as

they're being

established as

a nation,

right?

This whole

thing is

going on,

and the

people,

you know,

they go

rogue.

They reject

his rule.

They want

this figure.

And they've

been told,

no,

no figures,

no pictures,

no golden

calves.

And yet,

God has

mercy on

them.

And Moses

intercedes,

and God

forgives,

he relents

from his

judgment,

and he

goes with

them in

their journey

to the

promised

land.

So,

justice and

mercy.

in the

scriptures

always go

together.

And they

can't be

separated.

There's no

justice without

mercy.

There's no

mercy without

justice.

You can't

just say,

oh,

never mind,

it doesn't

matter.

Because there's

wrong being

done.

There's people

who are being

harmed.

And his

name is

being besmirched.

who uses

that word?

I don't

know.

So,

he's getting

a bad

reputation

because people

are rebelling

against him.

Right?

And I'm

sort of making

it sound

almost silly,

but it's

huge.

And he

can't just

let it go.

Remember,

he is

perfectly

holy.

And he

can't just

hang around

while sin

goes on

and not

eventually

deal with

it justly.

So,

that's the

name of

God revealed

for the

first time

in the

burning bush.

Now,

let's just

go back.

We jumped

ahead.

And now,

we're going

to go back

to the

plagues

and what's

going on

there.

So,

I'm not

going to

read all

that

but I

assume

that most

of us

are familiar

with that.

In the

plagues,

God is

executing

judgment

on the

Egyptians

who have

rejected

him.

And Pharaoh

in particular

is singled

out as

the source

of this

rejection

and rebellion

against

God.

Pharaoh

flatly

refuses to

acknowledge

this God

of Israel.

Pharaoh

sees himself

as God.

and his

people see

him that

way.

That's

part of

the thing

in Egypt,

right?

In the

plagues,

God

judges.

In the

plagues,

God

demonstrates

his

sovereignty

over all

nations

and all

peoples.

He is

sovereign

over

and

the

individual

plagues

each

confront

one of

the

so-called

gods

of

Egypt

and

God

shows

them

up

like

they

are

powerless

against

these

judgments.

These

gods

can't do

anything

about it.

He

strikes at

the heart

of their

religion

and their

beliefs

and

demonstrates

who he

is.

He summons

nature to

do his

will.

These

plagues

are not

natural

occurrences.

Sometimes

here,

well,

you know,

there were

a lot

of

locusts.

But

these are

miracles.

It's not

just that

there happened

to be

a plague

of locusts

and God

used it

for his

purposes.

Now,

God

does do

that.

There are

natural

occurrences

that God

then uses

for his

purposes.

But here

we have

something

different

and we

see it

in the

ways

that this

plays out.

So a

plague will

affect all

of Israel

but not

Goshen

where the

Israelites

live.

Like,

that's just

weird,

right?

That doesn't

happen

naturally.

And we

see God

can turn it

on and

turn it

off just

like that.

Moses

prays and

the plague

ends.

The more

Pharaoh

hardens

his heart,

the more

glory God

gets.

So God

is getting

glory through

demonstrating

who he

is.

In this

case,

his power,

his sovereignty,

and his

care for

Israel,

his people.

So God

demonstrates

who he

is,

and the

more Pharaoh

resists,

the plagues

get,

they ratchet

up,

right?

And there's

this systematic

destruction

of the

nation of

Egypt.

Crops are

destroyed.

You know,

we have

this weird

and terrifying

darkness

that lasts

longer than

it should.

We have

in this

picture,

sometimes it

says,

Pharaoh

hardened

his heart,

and sometimes

it says,

God hardened

Pharaoh's

heart.

One of the

things I find

really interesting

about this

is this

kind of

bugs us,

but there's

no sense

in the

scripture

itself,

as it's

telling this,

that Moses

or the

people were

bothered by

this.

So,

there's

something

that we

don't get

about how

this works,

that they

either understood

better or

just accepted

better than

we do.

We don't

want to

see God

hardening

someone's

heart and

then punishing

them for

that,

right?

There's

something that

strikes us

as unjust.

But,

there's a,

there's a,

what's the

right word?

I don't

know what

the right

word is.

There's

this sense

that these

things go

together,

right?

That,

that Pharaoh

hardens his

heart,

God hardens

his heart,

Pharaoh's

responsible for

hardening his

heart,

whether God

creates that

in him or

not,

right?

Pharaoh is

held accountable

for his

sin.

And,

again,

this is a

thing we see

throughout

scripture,

that there's

a sense in

which God

is controlling

all things,

everything.

And yet,

we are

responsible,

human beings,

we are

responsible before

God,

and we'll

be judged

for our

sin.

So,

that's where

I'm going to

leave it,

because it's

pretty,

it's a

difficult,

it's a

thorny issue,

but I just

want to point

out that the

Bible doesn't

see it as a

thorny issue.

And sometimes

I think we

see it that

way because

we don't

understand who

God is,

and we

don't,

we just

don't grasp

his

otherness,

and his

love,

and his

justice,

and all of

these things,

we just,

we're fallen,

and our

hearts are

twisted with

sin,

and we don't

understand it,

and we look

at these

things from

our own

viewpoint,

which is

fallen,

and deceived,

and confused.

So,

so then,

so these

plagues happen,

the plague of

the firstborn

is the

culmination of

this,

and Pharaoh

says,

okay,

fine,

get lost.

Israel is

saved from

slavery to

Egypt,

and Egypt

is judged

for its

rejection and

defiance of

God.

Israel is

saved through

that judgment.

God has

mercy on

Israel,

and he does

not have

mercy on

the hardened

people of

Egypt.

Now,

there were

people,

apparently,

who believed

God,

and we see

that it was

a mixed

bag that

not only

Israelites

by birth,

by ethnicity,

not only

they left

Egypt,

but there

were others.

There were

others who

went along

because they

saw this

God,

and they

were like,

okay,

I want to

be on

his side

because he's

really

something,

and he's

not,

he's,

he's,

he's not

what our

gods are.

So there

were people,

so it's not

that,

that God

only had

mercy on

Israelites

and not

on

repentant

Egyptians.

He did,

and they

went,

they went

along with

Israel

and the

Exodus.

Throughout

these passages,

God is

calling them

out of

Egypt,

not just

out of

Egypt,

out of

slavery,

but to

something,

right?

God says,

let my

people go

that they

may hold

a feast

to me

in the

wilderness.

Let my

people go

that they

may worship

me.

Let my

people go.

And the

point is

always

worship,

the honor

of God,

reverence

for God.

The people

are not

just freed

from slavery

so that they

can

have their

pleasures and

do whatever

they want.

Like,

there's a,

you know,

there's

certainly,

there's

certainly joy

in being

released from

slavery and

all that

work,

but at the

same time,

we see

the challenges

of freedom.

You know,

when the

Israelites

complain to

Moses,

they're saying

things like,

we should

have stayed,

we should

have stayed

back there

because it

was better.

We got fed,

we got,

you know,

whatever,

taken care of.

But now,

it's different.

Freedom is

hard.

We have to

make choices,

we have to

take responsibility,

we have to

trust God.

There was a

sense in which

a life of

slavery,

and I'm not

in any way

saying it's a

good life,

a life of

slavery takes

some of that

responsibility

off,

takes away

your choices,

which is

sometimes a

relief.

I think

we've all

experienced

that.

If you

narrow your

options for

something,

it gets a

little easier.

So,

what I want

to contrast

is what

freedom in

scripture looks

like with

what freedom

in our

culture looks

like.

Our

culture,

the United

States in

particular,

but,

you know,

largely in

the West,

but freedom

is our

God.

As a

people,

we're all

about freedom.

That's what

the Declaration

of Independence

calls for.

We're free

in the

Constitution

to pursue

happiness.

That's the

Declaration.

In the

Constitution,

we have

certain rights

that we

are free

to pursue.

and to

take advantage

of.

But this

freedom,

in the

conception

of most

of our

culture,

is a

freedom

for

our

individual

pursuit

of what

we want.

It's a

freedom that

says,

I can do

whatever I

want,

and I

don't want

anyone

telling me

otherwise.

Right?

It's a

freedom that's

in conflict

with serving

one another,

it's

individual,

self-focused,

and encourages

claiming and

securing one's

rights to

live as one

pleases,

regardless of

any law,

any written

law,

or any

moral law.

Which is not

to say that

there aren't

people in the

world who

aren't

moral,

self,

but if

we look

behind,

if we

could see

as God

sees,

the

motivations

of the

heart

of

falling

humanity

apart from

Christ,

we see

something

self-focused,

self-serving,

I do this

good thing,

and many

people do

good things,

I do this

good thing,

I serve

others,

in order to

feel better

about myself,

maybe,

to look good

before others,

maybe,

to gain

power,

maybe,

we can't,

it's dangerous

to try and

impute motive

to people

when we

just don't

know it,

and I don't

want to

suggest,

you know,

that,

well,

I do want

to suggest

that all

people apart

from Christ

are essentially

sinful,

and they are

essentially bent

inward,

and they are

serving their

own interests.

That's true.

It would be

wrong to not

appreciate the

many good

things that

people apart

from Christ

do,

and that's

by the grace

of God,

right?

God restrains

evil so that

people are not

as sinful as

they could be,

but that is the

grace of God

that he gives

to us.

Apart from

that,

this would all

be much more

obvious,

and there

would be

no good