David Pawson - Exodus 1

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THOUGHTFUL THOUGHTS 11.9.26 BY JOHN DUNNING. 

The Jewish Exodus & ours…

PROLOGUE - The Jewish Exodus & ours - The story of our faith…

I had a Jewish neighbour who became a good friend, and we started to have discussions about Jesus being the Messiah. He said he had to see that the New Testament was not a new religion but was the fulfillment of prophecies from the Old Testament. After many discussions he became a disciple of Yeshua, (Jesus to you and me!). 

His Orthodox Jewish rabbis had never allowed discussion on Isaiah 53, so he didn’t realise that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecies for the Messiah.

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Paul teaches Gentiles that our faith goes back to Abraham (found in Galatians 3:6-9);-

“Abraham, our father of faith, believed God, and the substance of his faith released God’s righteousness to him. So the true children of Abraham have the same faith as their father! And the Scripture prophesied that on the basis of faith God would declare gentiles to be righteous. God announced the good news ahead of time to Abraham: “Through your example of faith, all the nations will be blessed!” And so the blessing of Abraham’s faith is now our blessing too!”. (Paraphrased).

God’s grand plan of salvation started with one man (Abraham), and his family and then his descendents, who formed the nation of Israel. Jesus said “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), and the Jews were given the task of being “a  light to the Gentiles”, (Isaiah 49:6, 60:1-3, Luke 2:32). This means that Gentile disciples of Jesus should see that our roots go back to Abraham. Paul teaches in Romans 10 that whilst there is a veil over the eyes of most Jews at the moment, he goes on (in Romans 11) to say that God has not finished with the Jews. 

This is also the story of Gentile believers, as well as Messianic Jews. So with that thought, we continue on with the story of OUR faith… Last time we had a look at Abraham, and now we look at the story of Moses. 

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THE GREAT ESCAPE.

Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible, called the “Torah”. Although we say Moses wrote Genesis, that was only achieved by God’s revelation to him, as he obviously wasn’t around during the period covered by the book of Genesis. However, the other four books were written from his life. Exodus to Deuteronomy is a mixture of narrative and legislation, (ie. how God’s family must live.) 

As we come to the Exodus period, bear in mind that Jesus discussed Moses’ part in this journey with Moses! When? 

Well, during the transfiguration of Jesus, a few disciples saw Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. (Matthew 17:3). 

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So what were they discussing? Luke tells us (9:31) that Jesus spoke with Moses about the Exodus. (Jesus was also now about to bring about another great Exodus.) So in studying this time what God did through Moses in the book of Exodus, we see another “shadow”, which also can teach us something further about the significance of the cross of Jesus. What Jesus did on the cross brought about our freedom from the power Satan had over us, by enslaving us from sin, (ie our Exodus). It also means that Jesus believed the Exodus account (which some so-called “theologians” have denied as being impossible), and in the resurrection of the dead, as Moses and Elijah were there with Him, (which sadducees denied the reality of.)

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THE FIRST EXODUS IS REMEMBERED WITH A “PASSOVER”, TO THANK GOD.

-The Israelites were in Egypt 400 years;– ended up as slaves. (Although they remained free in Joseph’s time, it is interesting that Joseph always knew the Israelites were to leave Egypt as he instructed that his bones must be taken with them when they go.) 

-Jumping forward, but before the slaves escaped in the “Exodus”, God sent Moses to demand the release of the people. Pharaoh hardened his own heart seven times by refusing to obey God. Eventually, we see that God allowed the hardening of the heart of Pharaoh for the final three times. Each plague brought down on the Egyptians by God related to one or other of their superstitious beliefs in their various gods, including even the tenth plague, as Pharaoh even proclaimed himself to be a god. 

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a). The angel of death passed over the Israelites IF they had obeyed by putting ram’s blood on the door-post of their home the night before. 

Then the creator of everything had His angles of death pass on by that house.

b). Many Egyptians chose to be included with the Israelites in following the one true God by leaving Egypt behind and obeying God instead of Pharaoh, and followed Moses out of Egypt! They simply left while they had the chance of a lifetime, rejecting Pharaoh.

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See also Exodus 12:5. The Israelites killed a male lamb, (a ram), and put the blood of the ram on the doorposts, so that the angel of death would pass over on the night before they walked to freedom. 

This is still remembered today every year by the Jews at Passover 

and still today no bones of the ram may be broken, to be eaten at Passover.

The ram must not have had any bones broken.

John points out that is why Jesus didn’t have any bones broken.

(Picked up by John 19:33). This is yet another “shadow” of God’s rescue plan.

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ANOTHER EXODUS DEEPENS THE MEANING OF “PASSOVER”.

Jesus shares that all this is still relevant to us! Jesus’ last “Passover”, Christians call ‘The Last Supper’. As Jesus asked that it be used in future to remember what He was doing, it continued on until we eventually came to call it “Communion”, but the disciples used it as a meal, as the passover was.

Jesus used the meal to remind His disciples of what He was about to do. Jesus was about to bring about their own Exodus of an escape from the slavery of sin, which leads to death. (All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23.) Jesus used the meal to remind them and teach that by His disciples by His death and resurrection, He was going to free us from Satan’s grip, which only He could do. 

So in this way we see that Jesus used the first Exodus as a “shadow” to teach about another Exodus that He was to bring about for us.

It’s surprising that so many Jews still haven’t seen what the Passover teaches about the Messiah as each part of that special meal had special significance. 

Paul tells us there is a “veil” over the spiritual eyes of the Jews, but adds (in Romans 11:26) that one day they will understand, and already many have – and the writer has met some of them!

The ‘Old’ Testament has many pictures of God’s plan of salvation, which were fulfilled in the New Testament, showing how the whole Bible hangs together. It all points to God’s plan of salvation from the start from the evil one. 

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EPILOGUE

In spite of all the miracles, Pharaoh hardened his heart against God. So, God allowed him to continue to harden his own heart, to his own detriment. 

Paul teaches us in Romans 1:24 & 26 that God can deal with us according to the level of the responsiveness of our hearts. In the parable of the sower, different types of soil resulted in the seeds responding differently according to the type of soil. 

1) Some people harden their hearts…

2). Whilst others are responsive to God. 

Jesus’ parable of the sower is about types of hearts and how each type of heart responds to God differently.

The point is, that hearts that respond positively towards God, receive a positive response in turn from God. (Jesus’ parable of the Sower in Matthew 13.)

All the hard work has been done by Jesus Christ… Now you can be part of another exodus, which is the escape from the evil one. In the New Testament we are redeemed first, and then empowered by God’s Holy Spirit to live life God’s way; (Acts 2:38). 

Joshua said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve”. 

Messianic Jew, Bob Dylan sings in the song he wrote, “You gotta serve somebody”! 

Without Jesus, we remain stuck in our sin. Jesus gives us the “way out”. (Which is the meaning “Exit” in cinemas - which comes from the root word for “Exodus”.)

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The Jesus Movie can be viewed at this link… https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch/jesus.html

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Do share this study with your friends…

This is John Dunning signing off from “Thoughtful Thoughts” for another week.

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If you want an Exodus from sin, read Acts 2:38 in the Bible for more information on escaping from the evil one to join God’s family.

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PS. To help pray for the ‘suffering church’ see;- https://barnabasfund.org/nz/pray/daily-prayer/#previous-dates

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