Exodus Devotional | Exodus & Easter, Day 1: Greater Things to Come
The Book of Exodus
The Greatness of God to His People in Need
Exodus and Easter, Day 1
“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.” - (Exodus 2:23-25)
As of Palm Sunday, we’ve followed along the true story of how God led his people out of captivity and across the Red Sea. We’ve seen his mighty works and his faithfulness to fulfill his promises. Out of terrible darkness, God has birthed a people for himself and the testimony of his devotion to the Hebrews and his commitment to his glory will spread far and wide across the world.
This Passion Week, the days leading up to Easter, I want us to reflect on how these events are a wonderful foretaste of the greater liberation, salvation, and promise of the gospel. As mankind languished under the curse of sin, the Lord was not blind. Just as God knew--not merely intellectually, but he cared--he already had his plan in mind and was working it.
Ephesians 1 tells us that God chose us in Christ, before the foundations of the world were laid. That is, before the universe creating words of God in Genesis 1 were uttered (“Let there be light!”) God had a special plan in place for the rescue of mankind from sin. He’d already predestined a people for his own possession. He’d already set things in motion for his own Son to be sent down a river to be raised by another mother, to become a shepherd, and to set his chosen people free.
I want to take this week to see Jesus as the greater Moses and our slavery to sin and eternal death as the greater captivity. I want us to see the greater darkness of damnation being illustrated in the darkness of Egyptian captivity.
Take this week to return back to our readings in Exodus, chapters 1-14. Search for and find the preview of the birth, the life, the ministry, the cross, and the resurrection of Jesus in these chapters. It may feel like a bit of a hunt, but it’s worth the time and effort to open the Bible and pray for the Lord to show himself and his plan to you.
Take a few moments and write down what you know of the gospel--what is it? What is Jesus’ role to play in it? Why did the Lord take the sort of action the gospel tells us about?
The book of Exodus tells us God’s salvation story on behalf of Israel. What is your salvation story? What did the Lord do in your life to save you from your sin and make you his?
Pray--pray for your self this week, as selfish as that might seem at first. Pray for your soul and for the faith God gives to his chosen people. Ask the Lord to fill you with the hope and gratitude that comes with being liberated from sin and promised an eternal life hereafter.