The Story of Exodus

One of the reasons we love Christmas carols is that they are thick songs. They have layers and depths that draw out biblical patterns and connect themes from all over the Scriptures. And no carol is thicker than the Advent anthem, “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” The Rod of Jesse from Isaiah, the Key of David from Revelation, Wisdom on High from James 3, Desire of Nations from Haggai—Christ is invoked in all of these and connected to a vast array of biblical themes: salvation from the depths of hell, relief from death’s dark shadow and the grave, scattering the gloomy clouds of night, walking the paths of God, filling the world with heaven’s peace. It’s good to sing songs like that.

It’s especially good to sing that Advent anthem as we preach through the book of Exodus. Two verses of the song hearken to these pivotal chapters in the Bible.

O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes, on Sinai's height,
In ancient times didst give the law
In cloud and majesty and awe.

And of course, the opening verse that connects Emmanuel from Isaiah and Matthew to Israel’s captivity in Egypt and the exile to Babylon.

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

As we finish out this Advent season and draw this year to a close, my task is to review the first 19 chapters of Exodus, to recap and remind us of what we’ve seen, as we enter the Christmas season and prepare for a new year. And let me just say that reviewing the sermons from the fall in order to prepare the sermon for today was incredibly rich and rewarding. As I reread the sermons from the other pastors, I was moved by the deep reflection on the themes and patterns of the book as well as the careful and wise and relevant application of those themes to our lives and our church. So my plan for this morning is threefold. First, I just want to review the story of Exodus 1-19. Second, I want to ask “Who is Israel in this story?” and in doing so to ask, “Who are we as the people of God?” And third, I want to ask the major question that has dominated the book of Exodus thus far, “Who is Yahweh?”

Review the Story

Let’s review the story in three parts:

• The Call of Moses (1:1-6:13)

• The Judgment on Egypt (6:14-13:16)

• The Wilderness and the Mountain (13:17-19:25)

Phase 1: The Call of Moses

The book opened with a genealogy of the twelve sons of Jacob and their families, the seventy people who journeyed to Egypt to escape the famine. In Egypt, they are fruitful and multiply, and fill the land. A new Pharaoh arises and begins to oppress God’s fruitful people. The people are enslaved, ruthlessly forced to do bitter work in the cities and the fields. The fruitfulness continues, and Pharaoh escalates, attempting to cull the people by killing the sons of Israel in the cradle at the hands of the midwives, and then by ordering all the people to drown the sons in the Nile.

But faithful women—from Shiprah and Puah who deceive the tyrant, to Moses’s mother Jochebed and his sister Miriam and the unnamed daughter of Pharaoh—these women rescue the sons of Israel, and especially the baby Moses, whom God will call to deliver the people from bondage. Exodus opens with echoes of Genesis 3: a serpentine king dealing craftily with God’s people, and then transforming into a dragonish tyrant who seeks to devour the sons of Israel. The war between the woman and the serpent, and between her seed and his seed, has come to Egypt.

And so we follow Moses for the first eighty years of his life, forty spent in Pharaoh’s palace, and then forty in the wilderness of Midian. We see his compassion for his people and his zeal to protect his brethren from Egyptian oppression. We see his confusion when his first efforts fail, as he flees from Pharaoh’s wrath. We see his protection once again, as he saves the daughters of Jethro from greedy shepherds at the well, winning the hand of Jethro’s daughter Zipporah and having a son by her.

At the center of this section of the story is the call of Moses on the mountain of God. There, God tells Moses that he has heard the groaning of the people and he is sending Moses to lead them out of bondage in Egypt into a land flowing with milk and honey. Pharaoh will not let the people go easily, but God will compel Pharaoh with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. To authenticate Moses’s calling, God gives him the ability to do signs—a staff into a serpent, hand to leprosy and back, and to change water into blood. In the face of Moses’s unbelief and inadequacy, God supplies Aaron to be his mouthpiece, and sends them to Pharaoh with a message. “Israel is my firstborn son. Let my son go that he may serve me. If you don’t, I will kill your firstborn son.”

We see Moses return to Egypt, while his Midianite wife seals her and Moses’s commitment to Yahweh by circumcising their son Gershom and touching the blood to Moses’s legs in an anticipation of the Passover to come. Moses returns to the people, wins their confidence, and awakens their hopes for deliverance.

But his first efforts to petition Pharaoh fail, as Pharaoh scoffs, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey his voice? I don’t know Yahweh, and I won’t let Israel go.” Not only that, Pharaoh responds to Moses’s demand by flexing his muscles as king of Egypt. He increases the oppression, demanding more bricks from the Hebrews, while supplying no straw for the work. This is not what Moses and Israel expected. In the face of Moses’s confusion, God reiterates his commitment with a sevenfold promise: “I am Yahweh. I will bring you out from under these burdens. I will deliver you from slavery. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God and you shall know that I am the Lord, and I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I will give it to you. I am Yahweh.”

And with that, the first phase of this story comes to an end. From oppression and death on the banks of the Nile, to a burning bush on the mountain of God, back to the palace of Pharaoh with a staff and a promise, God has called out Moses and taken him on a strange eighty year journey to bring him right where he wants him.

Phase 2: Judgment on Egypt

Phase Two of the story shows God making good on his promises by bringing judgment on Egypt and saving his people. We see God do ten great acts of judgment in the face of Pharaoh’s ever-hardening heart. In three escalating cycles of three plagues, we watch as Moses and Aaron deliver the word of the Lord, and Pharaoh, with a stubborn and impenitent heart, refuse to yield to Yahweh’s power. The judgment on Egypt begins with the waters of the Nile turning to blood, and then God begins to fill Egypt with a total judgment. From the waters to the amphibious frogs, from the frogs to the gnats emerging from the dust of the ground. From the ground to the air, with swarms of flies. From the air to animal flesh, as the livestock of Egypt perish. From animal flesh to human flesh, as the Egyptians break out in boils and sores. From the flesh to the sky above, as thunder, hail, and fire fall on Egypt, and then as locusts swarm on the east wind. And then finally the plagues reach the heavens, as God turns off the lights in Egypt and plunges them into a darkness so deep that they could feel it. And then the culmination, the final judgment falls on Egypt’s future as Yahweh makes good on his threat. Israel is his firstborn son, and in the face of Pharaoh’s defiance, Yahweh slaughters every firstborn in the land of Egypt—small and great, rich and poor, man and beast.

But in the midst of this judgment, Yahweh shows mercy. The blood of a lamb, painted on the doorposts of a house, causes the Destroyer to pass right over. This final act of judgment and mercy, of death and life spared because of the blood, this night of hope and fear—Israel is commanded to commemorate every year in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast, this memorial, reminds the people of God’s faithfulness and what his mighty hand is able to do.

With the final act of judgment, Pharaoh’s resistance finally breaks. He sends the sons of Israel out in haste. And God’s people leave Egypt, but they don’t leave empty-handed. In fulfillment of God’s promise and in obedience to God’s command, they leave Egypt laden with Egyptian wealth—gold, silver, jewelry, and clothing. More than that, they don’t leave Egypt alone. The power of Yahweh has enlarged the boundaries of the people, and it is a mixed multitude of Hebrews and Gentiles that throw their belongings over their shoulders and make their exit from a decimated kingdom.

And with that, the second phase of this story comes to an end. From the palace of Pharaoh to the banks of the Nile as judgment falls and fills the land of Egypt until the cries of Egyptian mothers fill the night sky, Yahweh has made known his power and delivered his people, bringing them out of bondage just as he promised.

Phase 3: The Wilderness and the Mountain

Phase Three of the story takes us into the wilderness, as a million people follow a pillar of cloud and fire as it leads them on a circuitous path through the desert until they reach the edge of the Red Sea. At this point, Yahweh hardens Pharaoh’s heart once more, and Pharaoh regrets his decision and sends out his chariots and army to bring the slaves back to Egypt. With their backs to the wall, the people cry out in fear and they witness Yahweh once again get glory over Pharaoh as he makes known known his power and his salvation.

Moses raises his staff and the Red Sea parts, and the people cross on dry ground, while the pillar of cloud and fire protects them and drives the Egyptians into a panic. Then, as the last of God’s people reach the other side of the sea, Moses stretches out his hand again, and the walls of water come crashing down on the pursuing Egyptians. Horse and rider are thrown into the sea, as Yahweh triumphs gloriously over his enemies and saves his people once again.

But this is not the only triumph for Yahweh in the wilderness. A few chapters later, the Amalekites seek to make Israel their prey, coming out to attack them in their weakness and vulnerability. But again, Moses stretches out his hands and the armies of Israel, led by a young leader named Joshua, prevail whenever his hands are raised. With Aaron on one side and Hur on the other, Moses keeps his hands raised from morning till night, so that Joshua overwhelms Amalek and his people with the sword.

In the midst of these threats from enemies, the people of Israel also face the hardships of the wilderness—hunger, thirst, and the threat of death. But God provides for them again and again, sending quail to cover the camp, pie-crust from heaven to cover the ground, turning bitter water to sweet, and then bringing streams of water out of the rock. Whatever threats his people face—whether enemies or hunger or thirst or death—Yahweh is with them and among them to provide for them and keep them alive in the desert.

At this stage in the story, Moses reunites with his father-in-law Jethro, who gives him some excellent advice about managing the people and paves the way for a transition to a discussion of the law by which God’s people will be ruled. After leaving Jethro and journeying from Rephidim, the people arrive at Sinai, at the mountain of God, the same mountain where Moses received his call and commission. And there, with a thick cloud and thunder and lightning atop the mountain, Moses meets with Yahweh yet again, this time at the head of a mixed multitude of a million people.

And with that, phase three of this story comes to an end. From the fallen kingdom of Egypt to the Red Sea, from the Red Sea into the wilderness, and through the wilderness to Sinai, Yahweh has borne his people on eagle’s wings, delivering them from their enemies, sustaining them with miraculous provision, and bringing them to himself at the mountain of God, just as he had promised.

Who Are We?

Now that’s the story as we’ve read and preached it for the last few months. So what does it teach us about who Israel is and about who we are? Because that’s what we’ve been laboring to see. The stories of Scripture are thick; they establish patterns so that we can learn to know ourselves through the story of God and his people. And so I have three lenses for us to see ourselves from this story.

First, we are groaners. Like Israel, we groan in the face of the oppression and hardship of this broken world. Whether it’s the long-term chronic oppression at the hands of wicked people, or the short-term terror and fear of impending death, whether it’s the threat of hunger and thirst and natural hardship, or the threat of violent and hate-filled enemies, we feel the weight of life in a fallen world. We groan in our slavery. We labor and toil in the shadow of death. We mourn in lonely exile here. And in the midst of our groaning, we cry out to God for deliverance. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Second, we are grumblers. As Pastor Jonathan reminded us again and again, there is a difference between groaning under the weight of the brokenness, wickedness, and pain of this world, and grumbling accusations against God. But like Israel, we too chide with God. We quarrel with him and with each other. When Moses first arrived with his three miraculous signs, Israel believed and worshiped Yahweh. When the deliverance didn’t come immediately, they complain and blame Moses for making them stink in the sight of Pharaoh. When God brought the ten plagues on Egypt, the people welcomed his deliverance. When that deliverance was swiftly followed by being trapped at the Red Sea, the people cry out in fear and again blame Moses for bringing them out to die. When God throws the horse and rider into the sea, the people sing and praise him for their deliverance. Three days later when they can’t find water, they complain against Moses again. Then God turns bitter water into sweet. A few days later when food is hard to come by, the people again grumble and complain, wishing that they were back in Egypt. Then God provides magic pie crust from heaven and fills their bellies with bread and quail. Again water runs low, and again the people quarrel with Moses in anger and test God in unbelief. Even at Sinai, when the people finally draw near to the God who has cared for them every step of the way, they shrink back in fear and demand that Moses alone deal with the Lord.

And so it is with us. When God’s deliverance doesn’t look like we expect, our unbelief immediately rises up. When the Christian life is harder than we expected, we grow nostalgic for the good ol’ days of bondage, romanticizing the suffering of our past in comparison to the hardships of the present. In the face of trials and suffering, we so easily take on a spirit of fear to fall back into slavery, rather than walking in the spirit of sonship that we’ve been given in Christ. We are fearful. We are unbelieving. We complain and we quarrel and we protest and we accuse. We are grumblers. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Finally, more important than our groaning and more important than our grumbling is this simple fact: we are beloved children of God. As we saw last week, we are his treasured possession, his chosen people, his holy nation. Israel was his firstborn son. In Jesus, we too are his sons and his daughters. Not only that, but we’re kings and priests. We are a royal priesthood, called out by God to worship him, to minister his grace to others, and to extend his kingdom in the world. Deeper than our groaning, deeper than our grumbling is the simple fact that we belong to Yahweh. He has purchased us. He has brought us to himself. We are his and he is ours. Come, O Come, Emmanuel.

Who Is Yahweh?

This brings us to the final and most important question in Exodus 19. It’s the question on Pharaoh’s lips: Who is Yahweh that I should obey him? It’s the question on the lips of Moses and the people of Israel, “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?”

And as Pastor Jonathan and Pastor David have said at various times this semester, this is what the entire book of Exodus has been about. Again and again we hear the refrain: “Then you shall know that I am Yahweh your God. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh.” “Then you shall know that there is no one like Yahweh your God.” “Then you shall know that I am Yahweh in the midst of the earth.” I am doing all of this so that “my name may be proclaimed in all the earth, so that you may know that the earth is Yahweh’s, so that you and the Egyptians and the whole world might know that I am indeed Yahweh.” The book of Exodus is an education in Yahweh. So who is he?

As with the first question, I have three lenses for us to view Yahweh.

First, Yahweh simply is. He just is. I Am Who I Am. In other words, Yahweh is God, and his God-ness simply means that he is. He is independent and self-existent. You and I depend on God for our existence. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” But for Yahweh, “I just am.” He depends on no one. He has no needs, no lack, and he is utterly unique.

Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

There is no one higher, nothing more fundamental than Yahweh. We worship him because he does not need our worship. He is full and rich and overflowing and holy. He is Reality itself and there is none like him. That’s who Yahweh is.

Second, Yahweh is the Author. He is the Creator and the Covenant Lord. He is the Causer of All Things That Are. He is Ultimate Being, and he causes all things to be. He is the author of the story, and we are his characters. The whole earth belongs to him. He is omnipresent and everlasting. He is everywhere and every when. And because he is everywhere and every when, he sees and knows everything. He hears and knows everything. And because he is the Covenant God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he sees the oppression of his people, he hears the groaning of his people, and he acts to deliver his people. Yahweh is the Author, and he sees, he hears, he remembers his covenant, and he acts in faithfulness.

And because he is the Author, he is omnipotent. He is sovereign over all things. No one can stay his hand or say to him, “What are you doing?” He shows his power with precision. When he brings the plagues on Egypt, he does so with laser-like intentionality. Flies here, but not there. These livestock dead, not those. Boils on these people, not those people. Darkness in Egypt, not in Goshen. Here, not there. Those, not these. This is the Author of the story, intervening in his story with unfathomable precision and intention so that we would know that he is Yahweh.

And he’s not just sovereign over nature. He’s sovereign over the heart. The king’s heart—indeed, everyone’s heart—is a stream of water in the hands of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. He hardens hearts and he softens hearts. He shows that he is Yahweh because he and he alone can touch and transform the deepest part of who we are.

Finally, not just the independent God who Is, not just the Author of the story of his glory, but Yahweh reveals himself as a character in this story. He’s not just everywhere. He’s here, in this particular place.

• In a bush that burns but doesn’t burn up, so that this place (not that place) is holy and Moses, you should remove your sandals.

• As the Angel of Death, moving with precision through the land of Egypt, slaying the firstborn in every house, unless there is the blood of a spotless lamb on the doorpost.

• In a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, guiding the people on a strange and unexpected path through the wilderness to the Red Sea.

• As a Man of War, Yahweh our Banner, who fights for his people with a mighty hand, piling up the waters with a blast of his nostrils, destroying his enemies with the greatness of his arm.

• As Yahweh who provides, bringing quail on the camp, bread from heaven, and water from a rock.

• As Yahweh our healer, who turns the bitter water sweet and lavishes his mercy and kindness on his people despite their grumbling and complaining.

• As the fire on Sinai, causing the earth to quake and the mountain to smoke, bringing his people to their knees in cloud and majesty and awe.

• And finally as Father, our Father, who saves his sons and daughters and guides his sons and daughters and comforts his sons and daughters, and is with his sons and daughters wherever they go. That’s who Yahweh is.

The Table

So what threads have we seen woven together throughout this story? What have we learned in the thick story of Exodus? That we groan, we grumble, and yet we’re loved by Yahweh, by the Holy God who is independent and self-existent; the Covenant God who is Creator of all and the Author of this story; the God who reveals himself on the mountain, at Passover, at the Red Sea, in the wilderness, at Sinai, and here at this table.

For the God of Exodus is still with us. So come, ye who groan. Come, ye who grumble and complain. Come, ye beloved sons and daughters of the Father. Come to the Table, where we say Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, who mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.