Exodus Devotional | Exodus and Easter, Day 2: Timeless and Unchanging Truths
The Book of Exodus
The Greatness of God to His People in Need
Exodus and Easter, Day 2
“Then the Lord said, “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.” - (Exodus 3:7-10)
I’d like you to read Exodus chapter 3 today--read it a few times and pay close attention. I know most of you now have the time to do this--you’re cooped up at home! So, fight the urge to click play on that Netflix show (I really hope you’re not watching Tiger King!) and pick up your Bible.
What I want you to see are the amazing parallels between what God is doing with Moses and Israel here and the even greater thing he does with Jesus and his church. Remember, the accounts we see here, in Exodus, are true! The Lord orchestrates and uses real events to show how he his working his long-range plan to save us, not just from certain circumstances and specific trials in this life, but from sin and eternal condemnation in death.
Here’s what I’m seeing as I read Exodus 3:
Just as God calls out to Moses from a burning tree (the “bush,” depending on ancient Hebrew translation, may have very well been more like a tree), God calls out to us from a bloody cross.
God comes to where Moses is--and Jesus leaves Heaven to come to where we are.
Just as God knows (remember, not merely an intellectual “knowing,” but an sympathizing and empathizing one) the despair and burden of his enslaved people in Egypt, God knows the slavery to sin we find ourselves in--and it hurts him alongside of us.
God tells Moses of his plan to send him, a shepherd, to free his people--Jesus is sent by the Father to be the Good Shepherd who will free his people from sin and condemnation.
Moses isn’t just a foreshadowing of Jesus, he’s sent out like John the Baptizer, declaring a message to Pharaoh and Egypt that the Lord is coming to rescue his people.
The signs (miracles) God gives to Moses, as proofs of God’s authenticity and power are just foretastes of Jesus’ signs and wonders--his miracles of cleansing (leprosy) and his power over life and death (the dangerous viper).
God’s promise to be the God of his people and to claim them as his own are fully completed in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, establishing an eternal people for his own possession (read 1 Peter 2:9-10!).
The name God gives for himself (I AM) is the very name Jesus claims (“Before Abraham was, I AM.”)
The Promised Land of Canaan, which God assures will belong to his freed people is an earthly guarantee of an eternal land--the New Heavens and New Earth, that we won’t have to fight to claim. Jesus will (and now, has!) won it for us.
Where the Lord strikes the land and people of Egypt, Jesus becomes stricken on our behalf.
Where the Egyptians (gentiles, to the Hebrews) are not included in the promises, Jesus expands the greater promises to peoples of all nations, tribes, and tongues.
The Bible is living and active--though its words were written down--now, thousands of years ago--God continues to reveal timeless and unchanging truths to us. I hope you’ll join me in finding hope, encouragement, and peace in the miraculous metanarrative of the Bible. It’s the gospel of Jesus, played out over thousands of years. The same God, working his great plan...just as he was, he still is, and always will.