Thursday Night Bible Study

Exodus 13-Exodus 14:14

"Let's Get This Show On The Road!" • 11.18.10 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Bible Study

Intro

- God has taken the children of Israel out of the land of their slavery. Now, we look at the beginning of their life with God.

- They are freed from the wicked bondage of the world, but they are not free from any obligation. They are God's people. They are the recipients of redemptive promise.

- This section begins a national relationship that Israel will have with the Lord. The people of God are freed from slavery and are now free to serve God.

- I think you'll find some very strong corollaries to our lives in Him as well.

Text

• Exodus 13:1,2 : "Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.'" : The people of Israel have journeyed from the city of Raamses in Egypt to the city of Succoth which represents a 25 mile trek.

- Two million people traveling with most of their possessions was an amazing sight to behold.

- When they stopped in Succoth, a border city, the aerial picture would have been bigger than anything that we have seen on record.

- When they got there, God spoke to the people through Moses. As much as Moses had been His mouthpiece to Pharaoh, so now He will be God's mouthpiece to His people.

- When God speaks, it is always a command. God wants something from His people. He wants them to set the firstborn of everything over to Him.

- The word "consecrate" means to "sanctify," "dedicate" or "separate" to the Lord. Whether from the cattle or from the kids, God wanted them to consider the firstborn of all, His.

- God can ask them whatever He wants. He is God. Their firstborns were a token to Him of their allegiance and love for what He had done for them.

- The firstborn was what God took from Egypt. The firstborn was considered the best. Israel was considered God's firstborn.

- The point here is that God has taken them out of the world and now expects their best and first to be given to Him. Is God first in your lives?

- Check you time. Does He get your first and best? Check your talents. Are they at His disposal? How about your treasure? Who receives the first?

- God doesn't want our leftovers. He doesn't want our spare energies. He wants our first thoughts to be directed toward Him, our first energies spent for Him and our gifts given to Him.

- Does He need anything from us? No. We need to do these things because we need to be reminded who our Lord is and where His authority extends!

• Exodus 13:3-7 : "And Moses said to the people: 'Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. On this day you are going out, in the month Abib. And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And no leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters." : Egypt was a house of bondage. It was a place of cruel slavery and they would have remained there if it hadn't been for the Lord and His strength of hand.

- Remembering what God has done for us is a key component of redemption. Reminding ourselves of where we have been and what we once were without God, keeps us thankful.

- One wonders "How would it be possible for me to forget that?" They have just watched their God decimate the Pharaoh and the land of Egypt.

- They left in haste on a horrendous night of mourning the loss of all firstborn children and cattle. How could one forget such a traumatic event?

- Certainly, we never forget, but we often move on, that is, until something outside of ourselves stops us and makes us consider. That is what the Feast of Unleavened Bread was all about.

- This is what baptism and communion are about for us today. We don't have feasts, but we have these things that God has left us to continually do.

- The Hebrews were to keep this in the wilderness and even when they came back into the land of Canaan. They would keep it just as God had said.

- We mentioned last week that this spoke of living a life without the corruption of the world. When God delivers us from sin, we are to live a life that is separate from the world. This is the lesson.

- Principally speaking, this feast speaks to us of the incongruent nature of bringing worldliness into this life with Christ. They don't belong together and shouldn't even be "in our quarters."

- In other words, there should not even be access to it! Don't keep it nearby!

• Exodus 13:8-10 : "And you shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’ It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year." : This service will continue to be a memorial, as well as a teaching tool in the future.

- This meal would be shared with sons and daughters, a new generation, who would have no idea of the suffering of their people.

- Moses tells the parents: Tell your kids! Tell them often why it is that you do what you do! KIds will ask, "Why do we read the Bible?" or "Why do we take communion?" Tell them.

- This is done because of what the Lord did for me. This is my story. He brought me up from an evil nation bent on my destruction. God delivered me from slavery and freed me to serve Him.

- Notice that this was to be on their hands, between their eyes and in their mouth. It’s going to be all over them! It would be like a brand on their hand and foreheads.

- For those who have seen an orthodox Jew, you will see them with a little box on their foreheads called “Phylacteries.” These little boxes contain little pieces of scripture.

- However, if this was meant to be taken literally, you’d need one over your mouth as well! God does not want some physical reminder. He wants this to infiltrate their hearts!

- God wanted this to be fresh in their memories and to often be on their lips. He wanted them to share their story and He wants us to do the same.

- The sense of this is that what God has done for us should color our every perception.

• Exodus 13:11-16 : "And it shall be, when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, that you shall set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shall be the Lord’s. But every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. So it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all males that open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.'" : God has done something for the people of Israel but don’t miss this: That is only the half of it! There is a future to be mindful of!

- Moses uses the word "when" in verse 11. This is a certainty. God is going to bring them into the land of the Canaanites. He swore it to them and He will give it to them.

- When they come into the land, they are to redeem the firstborn of their nation with a lamb. Otherwise, the cattle would be kiled. All firstborn children were to be redeemed by a lamb.

- The point is that you are buying back from the Lord that which is His. The price is a lamb. That lamb is the price for every son and daughter, the lamb being Jesus Christ!

- This is done to let the next generation know that God had redeemed His firstborn Israel at the expense of Egypt's firstborn. This ceremony would remind them of God's strength to redeem.

• Exodus 13:17,18 : "Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, 'Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt." : The people of Israel would have likely wondered in retrospect, why it was that God took them by an indirect route. The Via Maris goes straight to Canaan. A few points here.

- God is not worried about your destination. He knows where you are going, but that is secondary to what He is doing! He needed to build something into the character of His people.

- Second, He knows what His people can handle. He chooses the trials in our lives carefully!

- Seeing the Philistines in their might as a nation, would have been too much for the Hebrews.

- The trauma that they had endured needed to pass before they saw war. This is the natural reason why God led them toward, although, there is also a great supernatural reason as well!

- The principle here is that God knows the best way, even if it's not the most direct way. God knows His people's capacity best. Take my story for example!

• Exodus 13:19-22 : "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, 'God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.' So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people." : God led the people personally. He was literally with them. In the middle of this seminal journey, God was with them in visual manifestation at their waking and their sleeping.

- It's interesting, but the cloud and the pillar are not visible today. In fact, it stopped being visible once later in their history. But now, in their infancy, the people needed this manifestation.

- When you began your walk with the Lord, wasn't it this way? God led you and spoke clearly.

- Over time, you found that this was not as strong. His word began to feed you and you became aware of His leading.

- He will lead His young ones always, but the younger in faith, the stronger the manifestation.

• Exodus 14:1-4 : "Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 'Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zemphon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.' And they did so." : God's chosen route for the Israeli's would confuse the Pharaoh into believing that they were lost and this was His plan.

- The Pharaoh would look at what was going on and think that they were confused, which would put them in a tactical advantage.

- God would harden Pharaoh's heart, so that He would pursue them. They still don't believe in the Lord, so this will literally be their final exam.

• Exodus 14:5-9 : "Now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people; and they said, 'Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?' So he made ready his chariot and took his people with him. Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with captains over every one of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zemphon." : Just a few days have passed and the hatred in the hearts of the Egyptians returned. Their entire work force was now gone. "Why did we do this?"

- They would now have to do the work themselves and that was not an option!

- This army coming after Israel was well advanced and overtook them by the Red Sea.

• Exodus 14:10-12 : "And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, 'Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.'" : Notice the words again of verse 10: The Pharaoh drew near! The world will not give up quietly. The enemy will not stop His pursuit of you!

- When a person leaves the world, the enemy takes it personally!

- One would think that the people of Israel, fresh from watching God deliver them, would stand up and laugh at the Pharaoh. Instead they fear. The lesson should be incredibly clear.

- No matter how much we have been delivered from, no matter the presence of God with us, we will default to fear.

- Granted, an entire army is coming after them. They lifted their eyes and saw a fiercesome sight. Unfortunately, they did not raise their eyes high enough. God had not left them.

- They cried out to the Lord, but that did not relieve their anxiety. They lashed out in irrational fear towards Moses! "Did you bring us out her to die?" "Didn't we tell you to leave us alone?"

- Their faith is being tested. When we are young in the faith, the tests produce this sort of thought. We believe that it was better in the world that we just were freed from!

- As easy as it was for the world to forget their pain and latch onto their hatred, so also is it easy for the child of God to believe that his slavery and misery wasn't all that bad!

• Exodus 14:13,14 : "And Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.'" : The first thing that we need to be told when confronting a difficult issue is "Do not be afraid!"

- "Wait Frank, I am only human!" I know. Fear might be natural, but it can also be controlled, not because we are mighty, but because of God in our lives.

- Moses with all boldness says, "Stand still." Stand firm. Hold to your position! Our first instinct is to retreat. Moses tells them to stand there.

- When they do, they will see the salvation of the Lord. Literally, they will see "yeshua!" What a powerful message for us! Stand firm and watch what yeshua/Jesus will do for us!

- Every difficult circumstance is an opportunity to stand in faith and watch God go to work!

- These Egyptians, this problem, this situation, will not be seen again after the Lord deals with it! He will fight for you as He fought for Israel.

Conclusion

- The life in Christ is a continual battle to follow after the Lord and trust Him when it's random or a seeming trap!

- Many of us need to hear the words of Moses: Stand and see Jesus! Stand there and watch Him work. He hasn't failed yet and He won't fail you now!