Exodus: From dwelling in bondage to dwelling with God

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Exodus 1 starts with Yosef (Joseph), the servant of the Pharaoh that a future Pharaoh either accidentally or on purpose chose to forget. Pharaoh did not want to remember Yosef’s actions because he would have to admit that his office as Pharaoh was strengthened by Yosef’s actions many generations before.

This account is not just about a wicked king but the story of how the God of Israel began to fulfill the prophesy he gave to Abraham.

This book, as all the Bible, is about the actions of the Creator, not just the actions of Abraham, Yitskhak (Isaac), Ya’akov (Jacob), Yosef or Moshe (Moses).

It was not a coincidence that Moshe left Egypt when he was 40 years old. It was no coincidence that Moshe came back to Egypt when he was 80 years old.

Why did God put them through this? Is God doing unfair things to unfair people? Is God unfair? We can get involved with world issues. We can look at how bad the Egyptian taskmasters were, how evil Pharaoh was, how sinful Israel was.

Every human being in the history of the world has face the same issues, the same tests, that Adam and Khavah (Eve) faced.

The world knew God as El-Shaddai, they knew His terrible power, the Flood was relatively recent history. God’s plan has nothing to do with whether we live or die, if we die young or die at old age. His plan will happen whether we have flood or famine.

God is preparing a people to live with Him. In Exodus, God tells the people to build a temple so He can live with them. He was testing out the entire nation of Israel. Did they pass the test? No, they failed it. They failed the same test Adam and Khavah failed. They didn’t trust God.

Moshe was drawn up out of the water and that is where his name comes from. Moshe died in the 11th month of the Jewish calendar so most likely he was born in the 11th month. They mourned for him for 30 days after his death and they entered the promised land a couple of months later. Moshe was drawn out of the water when he was 3 months old. Yeshua was also drawn out of the water and when He was drawn up, the Spirit came upon Him.

God had His hand on Moshe from the time he was three months old. It was God’s hand that brought him to kill the Egyptian taskmaster when he was 40 years old. God brought Moshe to Yitro (Jethro), and Moshe lived in Midian for 40 years. God brought Moshe back to Egypt when he was 80 years old. God took Moshe through the wilderness for another 40 years, and he died there at 120 years old.

God is still in control to this day. He also has His hands on our worldly affairs. We don’t like where our country is going? God is the one who is ultimately in control of all the current events you watch on the nightly news.

How often as God personally delivered someone? He sent people all the time. He doesn’t make war Himself, He uses people to do it. He uses His creation to kill His creation. The book of Exodus shows us what it’s all about. We have ignored God’s word, we prefer to follow what people say about God. Paul rebuked this tendency in people, when he said we are not of Peter, Apollos, or Paul, we are all to be of Yeshua.

The house of Israel were bought with a price, the death of the Egyptians. When they left Egypt on the 15th day of the first month, the children of Israel they had to count their first-born. We need to look at this and ask God what He wants of us.

How do we eat God’s words?

We think we want to know what is going to happen at the end, it’s here in Exodus. Before they were brought into the wilderness, they were brought to Mt. Horeb/Sinai. They were there for 80 days to partake of food of His word. They didn’t have orchards, grape vines, no barley, no wheat. All they had was matzah (unleavened bread), and in a spiritual sense, they all died at Mt. Sinai. He took them to poisoned, bitter water. God purified that water but why did He take them there? He wanted the to see that He is their Healer. He can purify water and heal illnesses. That was their first test. They had to face death. They responded by getting mad at Moshe. They didn’t see God’s hand in it. It took God 40 years to heal them. Many people don’t want to be healed by God. They don’t want to walk in His world because His word is narrow and hard. The entire nation of Israel had to learn to walk a very narrow path, one person at time.

When God brought them to the mountain, He brought them to prove them. He wanted to test them. We don’t want to be tested because that takes time.

The Bible is God’s way of life, how He lives, how He is and He wants us to make Him a place to dwell among us, in our midst, with us. His Tabernacle was the most beautiful place.

He wants us to be holy, just, good and clean. We will be the gold and silver of God temple, but that is purified seven times in fire.

Why are we here? We are here because we hope for something. We can’t hope to live forever in flesh and bone. The Kingdom can’t be inherited by flesh, blood and bone.

God told Moshe to take Aharon (Aaron), Khur (Hur) and other leaders to go to the Mountain. God told Moshe to strike the rock and when the rock was struck, those elders saw the miracle. God wanted those 12 elders to see the sapphire, the glow.

Who else saw this? Yokhanan (John) in Revelation saw it (Rev. 1:12–16). He didn’t recognize Yeshua since He didn’t look the same way He looked in the flesh. Yeshua’s voice didn’t sound the same way it sounded in the flesh.

God gave Moshe three simple miracles to show the children of Israel who he was. The rod turned to a snake and back; the hand that went from clean to leprosy and back to clean; and the water turned to blood and back. When the leaders saw this, they knew Moshe was sent by God, yet they questioned him over and over. It’s easy to blame the leadership and criticize them but they didn’t see God’s hand in anything. All they saw was Moshe and Aharon over and over and their attention was focused on Moshe’ and Aharon’s actions, not God’s actions.

God wanted to know if the children of Israel would obey Him. Every test He placed upon them was a test of trust and obedience. He wanted them to hear and respond to His word.

We are supposed to have certain meetings with God at certain times of the year when they can be part of Him and live with Him but it didn’t work out very well. We see that from history.

There’s so much to go through and so little time. We see what Elohim did and what He did in that first year when He brought Israel out of Egypt. He brought them out of Egypt in the first month. When He brought Israel out of Egypt, He said that they were His harvest. He harvested them out of the Egypt, every tribe were the barley, not the wheat.

At the beginning of the second year of the Exodus, they prepared His house, His home. It was not the home of men. Abraham looked for a home built without hands. We read in Revelations that God is going to bring down that city built without human hands.

God said through Paul that He began a good work in us, and He will complete the good work (Phil. 1:6). We are to be living stones (1Pet. 2:4–5). We will surround the Creator of Heaven and Earth and His son. There will be no temple there because the Temple is there all the time. The Temple is the people He saved.

There are 12 gates, named after the 12 tribes. He told the Samaritan woman that she will enter the Kingdom through Israel.

Anyone who is the Messiah is a new creature (2Cor. 5:17-25). The old is passed away, and all things are new.

God was in Messiah reconciling the world to Himself, no longer recognizing their transgressions. A clean slate, it’s all new. He doesn’t pay attention to our sins, transgressions and iniquities.

We are to be ambassadors to reconcile people to God.

After the golden calf was made, they were reconciled to Gold. The children of Israel were willing to give much to be reconciled to Him to the point that Moshe had to tell the children of Israel to stop giving because the coffers were overflowing with gifts. They wanted Him to dwell with them.

Speaker: Richard Agee. Summary: Tammy.

Banner image: Gustave Doré (1832–1883), “Moses Comes Down From Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:25, 20:1-17),” La Grande Bible de Tours, Wood engraving, Public domain (U.S.), Wikimedia Commons, 1866.